Global Indian?

"Bobby Jindal wins the Governor's election in Louisiana becoming the first Indian American to lead an American state.."The moment the news broke on television channels, Jindal’s ancestral village in Kanpur erupted in celebrations, with relatives and friends distributing sweets and dancing bhangra..

India, on the road to being a global super power, seems to be suffering from this disease.. Any achiever whom we come across with the least connection to the motherland makes us feel better, bigger and truly global.. India may not have done anything much in harnessing their talents and helping them grow but we feel so good to associate ourselves with Indians who have achieved elsewhere..In the last couple of years, at regular intervals, the papers have been filled with reports about "Indians” such as Bobby Jindal, Norah Jones, Sunita Williams, etc who have all done the country proud in the USA or in space.

Indian school children light diyas, villages and towns in remote corners of India distribute sweets, dance in joy, and the cameras chase the drivers, aunties, uncles and village postmen for their views — all because the son or a daughter of a former resident who quit the country fifty years ago has achieved an iota of success thousands of kilometers away.

But at some point reality bites.. I get to read about people like Bobby Jindal who has never visited his ancestral home and doesn't have plans too.. Norah Jones Shankar, dropped her last name long back.. Yet we have this new found confidence in us.. For us, the grass is always greener outside India.. We have never acknowledged the achievements of people with greater abilities within our country.. We are a land of hypocrites.. Media has a big part to play in this.. giving hyper and excessive coverage for the smaller achievements and giving more importance to the lifestyle in the west..

Just hoping for a day when this state of our nation would change..

The Compact Disc!

Me: Pa, I bought a music CD today.. Lets listen to it..

Pa: Music CD??

Me: ok ok, before you could ask.. A music CD or a 'compact disc' is something like yourcassette tape which plays music.. Its a storage device and you can listen to a lot of songs - close to a 100 songs with just one CD!

Pa: Wow! What nice things they invent nowadays.. ok ok, play some old songs, we'll listen to it

Me: ok.. Here goes.. "Paatu paadava.. paarthu pesava....."

Old Songs were being played for a while and Pa was completely impressed. After a while he called out to me..

Pa: Hey, come fast, come fast...

Me: What happened?

Pa: I think the songs on this side are over.. Turn the CD and play it from the other side..!!

Me: ??!!!!! :-)

Crush!

Me: Pa, You know what happened today? One of my colleague has a crush on her team mate and..

Pa: What?? Your colleague crushed someone??

Me: No no!! I said she has a 'crush on someone'..

Pa: Crush? What does that mean?

Me: 'Crush' means to begin to like someone, to have an attachment to a person...

Pa: Oh like that.. hmm.. let me frame a sentence with the word 'crush' so that i understand better.. (Filled with inquisitiveness and excitement!)

"I have a crush on my Pet dog".. Correcta??

Me: Duh!!!!!!!

Paati..

Miss her a lot these days.. :-(

Five things.. :-)

**Got the idea for this post from another blog.. Anyways.. Here goes..**

Five things i plan to do before i die:
* Take my parents on a tour abroad to a country of their choice
* Start an orphanage and a school for the needy
* Learn to play a Casio keyboard
* Own a house facing a beach
* Go on a vacation every year with HIM

Five things i can do:
* Remain silent for however long..
* Paint on glass, fabric and pots
* Be patient and caring
* Laze around for hours
* Dream and achieve

Five things i cant do:
* Be assertive
* Live without friends
* Tolerate stupidity
* Swim/ Drive
* Be very traditional and orthodox

Five things that attract me to the opposite sex:
* Sense of Humour
* Intelligence
* Sensitivity
* Humility
* Deep eyes

Five Turn offs:
* Smokers
* Alchoholics
* Show offs
* People with 'I know it all' attitude
* People who back stab

Five things i say the most:
* Shit
* I'll kill you!
* Saddddddd..
* Shut up!
* I would love to.. But then...

Unconditional love...

Read this wonderful article worth sharing.. Trying to learn and implement it.. Written by Swami Vivekananda..

I once had a friend who grew to be very close to me. Once when we were sitting at the edge of a swimming pool, she filled the palm of her hand with some water and held it before me, and said this: "You see this water carefully contained on my hand? It symbolizes Love."

This was how I saw it: As long as you keep your hand caringly open and allow it to remain there, it will always be there. However, if you attempt to close your fingers round it and try to possess it, it will spill through the first cracks it finds. This is the greatest mistake that people do when they meet LOVE...

They try to possess it, They demand, they expect... And just like the water spilling out of your hand, love will retrieve from you. For love is meant to be free, you cannot change its nature. If there are people you love, allow them to be free beings. Give and don't expect. Advise, but don't order. Ask, but never demand. It might sound simple, but it is a lesson that may take a lifetime to truly practice. It is the secret to true love. To truly practice it, you must sincerely feel no expectations from those who you love, and yet an unconditional caring."
Passing thought...

My Golu.. My pride.. :-)

Fair weather friends!

Yesterday i happened to call up a friend to remind her of another close friend's bday.. I'm this kind of a 'reminder service' for my group of friends cuz they are the typical "oops! i forgot!!" types.. :-)

She was really thrilled n happy listening to my voice when i was actually scolding her for forgetting bdays as always.. i asked her "whats the matter with you? Hows your health now? not been eating a lot of ice creams again isn't it?"and she goes on to say.. I haven't.. But know what? Am really happy to get a call from you.. from the time i've come here, I've only been getting calls from so called friends or relatives who suddenly want to know how i am, whether everything is fine or i need something... These people were never around when i actually needed them.. When i was a nobody there in India.. Just because i've come here to do my higher studies and have found a decent job, all of them want to revive their relationship with me.. I'm so glad u called up amidst such Fake people just to re-assure me that there are true friends as well.. "

I was quite happy speaking to her, but what she said somehow made good sense to me.. Just when a person tastes success, there are a huge bunch of people who crop up from nowhere.. people whom you wouldn't have heard of for years together but suddenly they want to know about you, make some reason to get into your good books..

I feel disgusted about such Fake people who keep in touch just because they would be getting some benefit out of you rather than wishing good for the person..

I would rather remain with a few good for nothing but true friends, than have friends who are with you just because you are successful in life..

Pookalam

We had a 'Pookalam' competition at office today.. For those who dont know what a 'Pookalam' is, It is an arrangement of flowers and leaves. Poo - means flower. Kalam means 'special shape'.. Generally during onam, people prepare intricate designs with flowers and decorate their homes with it..

I wanted to break out of the monotony of work and decided to just participate in the competition. This is the first time that i had done something like this.. Though i'm good at drawing, i have never tried out flower arrangement.. What better opportunity, so i decided to go for it..

Then came the BIG question of what would the design be.. and one of my friends came up with an idea of depicting the face of a 'kathakali' dancer. (Kathakali is the most famous dance form that originated in Kerala).. All of us were thrilled with the idea.. Just pulled up a bunch of friends and off we went to the market to buy flowers..
We went to the Tippasandra market, which was filled with flowers of different colours.. bought a lot of them.. roses, jasmines, lillies, marigold...... We were suddenly stuck.. we didnt know what to do for the black colour which would be needed for the eyes...There is no flower which is black in colour..

My criminal brain came up with an idea.. I said, "lets buy a brinjal and peel the skin, carve it out for the eyes of the dancer.." ;-) All of us burst out laughing.. but we had no other choice because the competition would end in an hour and we had no time to argue..Just went ahead with the plan of buying the brinjal..

Reached office in 10 mins and started off.. I was the bakra who had to do the drawing.. :-) Did a free hand drawing of a kathakali dancer's face and must tell, it came out quite well.. much better than i had expected.. Then all of us started arranging the flowers and leaves that we had got.. I peeled out the brinjal and carved the eyes.. silently put the remains of the brinjal back into the bag so that we dont get caught.. ;-) Finally we were done.. We were all more than happy at the way it turned out..

Then came the judge.. I explained to him what a pookalam meant and why we chose the face of the kathakali dancer.. How it takes around 6-8 hours to paint a kathakali dancers face.. how much dedication and effort is needed to do it.. in the same way, we have put in a lot of hardwork and sincerity to this..

He said "you definitely deserve an award for your dedication and hardwork.." I just said, "True. But more than the award and the applause, it was the satisfaction and the thrill of participation in the competition that gave us more happiness.."

Now, that was some modesty isnt it? ;-)

Get out of the 'Work' mode!

Looking out of the window, feeling the cool breeze hitting my face, there i was, sitting in a cab, wondering how the streets of Bangalore are still lit up and live at 12 in the night.. People still fresh with energy, listening to some roaring music on their ipods and working on their laptops, trying to finish some project or paperwork..

I was going back home - Tired after a hard days work.. Suddenly felt a drop of water hit my face and when i turned to look at who it was, i found a colleague of mine, silently brushing off her tears.. I just pulled out a hanky and gave it to her.. "The kajal looks beautiful in your eyes.. Dont let them go away with ur tears" i said.. She just tried to smile and took the kerchief from me and wiped off her tears.. Before i could ask, she replied.. "Thanks! I was just missing someone terribly..". Saying that she started off her story..

Her name was Neha. She was newly married and has come down to Bangalore from a small town in Delhi..Just started chatting with her and she was telling me about how she fell in love and got married to this guy who worked with her in her previous organisation.. Both of them were madly in love with each other and he would take care of her as if she were his precious baby.. Getting her gifts every now and then, taking her out to scenic places every weekend, loving her so much that she would be down to tears.. but tears of Joy..

And today here she is, with tears in her eyes again, but because she is craving for his love and time.. He is busy trying to get his career right and slogging day and night to meet his deadlines.. He works so much that she hardly gets to even see him when shes at home. She has taken up a job now.. so that she could keep herself away from her pain.. All i could tell her was "Dont worry! Things would be fine soon.. Just speak it out to your hubby"

Left me thinking.. Whats it like to be working 24/5? To be answering customer calls and handling irate client e-mails??To get into a world of mails and processes and applications and not have time for family or friends?

A lot of us get into the 'work' mode and refuse to come out of it.. We find so much pleasure in trying hard to meet/achieve a deadline or a target that some one has committed to some one else for his/her benefit.. Little do we realise that theres a bigger and a better world beyond work too.. There are people who need us and our time and presence.. May be an ailing mother, a newly wed wife, a friend, a brother, a neighbour or even a pet... We may be struggling hard at work to keep them happy, but most of the times what they need is our care and support and not money..

A Gentle reminder: Please make time for your loved ones.. No matter how busy you are.. Show them you care.. "Kya pata, Kal ho na ho.."... :-)