My lil drop in the Ocean November 16, 2009

We often forget how fortunate we are and how thankful we should be for everything we have and also for certain things we don’t have.

Patriotism drives a lot of things I do.

I also feel deeply for the young children on our streets, who do not have Roti-Kapda-Makaan and basic education.

Forever, I have felt responsible to do something for them and forever, I’ve been running away from it.

I have always strongly felt that guaranteeing education for children in our country will bring us one step closer to improving conditions of living and eventually make India one of the most  powerful nations in the world.

Today, I took one lil step towards that responsibilty. And I feel so much better already. So very much better, that its made me blog again (all the love my blog has received from tweeple has also helped greatly).

From tomorrow, 17th of November, 2009 , I start classes for poor children and young women in the area, who live on the streets and work in houses in the locality for a living. English and Math. 2 hours a day, 2 days a week.

 

This is a part of something much bigger that I am working on at the moment and planning to implement soon(will keep you updated).And I know If all I do is plan, I wont get any where. So  I start here.Baby steps

 

 

I know my classes aren’t going to change the world overnight, but its my little drop in the Ocean, and I believe, every drop counts.

Im telling myself its ok to feel detached, but it isnt. July 16, 2009

Love Thy Neighbour March 29, 2009

I studied for 2 years in an Indian school in Saudi Arabia and another 6 years in an Indian School in UAE, after which I moved to India.During the time I spent at school in the Middle East, I’ve played, studied,danced, and done everything else that kids do at school with other children who hail from our neighbouring country Pakistan. The only time I had anything against Pakistanis was during a India-Pakistan cricket match in Sharjah.

I dont know where the hatred grew.Maybe it was Kargil that hurt me.All those men who dedicated their lives so that we can goto bed in peace everynight. Maybe it is all the bollywood movies where a Pakistani is, in most cases, the bad guy.How many movies have a Paki guy as the good guy?It just doesnt sell. 

I told myself, that there is no point in hating something so much for reasons I have no control over.Its just negative energy.And just when my hate level was decreasing, 26\11 happened.And this time I was deeply hurt.I cried.They raped my country.I cried.

Again, I had all those unanswered questions in my head.Why does Pakistan do it?Is this what the people of pakistan want?Is this hatred there somewhere deep down in the heart of every pakistani?I thought about it so much that eventually it reached saturation and  the questions started fading.But I was hurt, and the hatred remained.

I came back to Dubai and joined my new office.Dubai is a spectacular city literally built up from nothing by Indians (Mallus in particular) and Pakistanis.Everytime I meet a Pakistani, there is an awkward pause in the conversation after the ‘Where are you from?’ question.My face  gets the ‘hurt’ look and I go speechless.

After two such incident with people who have been really nice to me(A paki guy at work even helps me with my bags when I juggle with my camera , handbag and gym bag), I told myself , that its not the people of Pakistan and I told myself that I shouldnt keep such hatred.

I’ve improved in the last couple of days.I had some interesting converstaions with Paki taxi drivers on my way to and from work. About how similar Lahore and Delhi are and about holi celebrations in Lahore and projects coming up in Karachi.And the less hatred I accumulate, the more positive I feel.The more positive I feel, the happier I am.

I cannot hate every Pakistani because of the actions of its leaders.I wouldn’t want anyone to hate me for the things that the guys who run our country do. 

Lets just follow what JC said, ‘Love Thy Neighbour’ (even if he is a pain at times), because they are all not realy Bad people . 

Live, let Live and Love.

Dubai…and my slice of it March 11, 2009

Dubai.I dont know what to think of this city.Is it messed up ?Or is it only the slice that Im being served that is messed up?I look around and see people who are either so busy making their careers that they dont value their relationships or people who put so much into relationships that even relationships themselves dont matter.(Confusing, I know!)

Makes me wonder if values and relationships are really that meaningless.Do people here literally live by the phrase ‘Business is the business of building relationships’ and build them for solely business?

I hope there is more to this city than what I see of it today.More of the Dubai I left years ago.

 

*(I apologise to people suffering from phobia of the word ‘relationship ‘for its excess use in this post )

The strangest connections…. March 9, 2009

I was shocked to see my mother ,who usually socialises mostly with Indians,happily chatting away with an arabic looking female at the reception area of my brother’s bulding.What shocked me even more was that she had found the strangest connection with them.When I walked over, she introduced me.She then turned around and told me that they were Syrian Christians, like us(Nasrani)!The only difference being that they were actually ‘Syrian’ and we were Syrian coz our ancestors were either Syrians or Indian Namboodaris converted by the syrians who came on the same ship as St.Thomas. Appa insists thatour ancestors were syrians and that that explains his bald patch!When he was in Iraq, the Americans even called him Saddam’s brother (Coz of his Middle Eastern looks. I know Saddam was not Syrian!)

Back to the real syrians.They were suprisingly overjoyed to meet us and even invited us over.My Appa went on to discuss prayers in ‘Suriyani’, which was an indication that we were gonna be standing there and talking to them for a loooooooong time!

Amma even thinks lil ‘Lucas’ is cute and even mentioned he is a lil older than our lil Mary aka Kunjus!!!(Hope this doesnt turn out to be like the half a dozen guys my mom promised to get me married to when I was a baby)  :D !

so where are you from…?? March 8, 2009

I went for lunch the other day with 3 other Indians(2 Mallus and a Mumbaiker) , a Pakistani, 2 Iranians, and an Egyptian lady(Hey, does this sound like the beginning of a ‘people on a plane’ joke ??;) ).Somewhere during lunch, some one asked Fake Mallu 1, ‘So, where in India are you from ?’ and he said ‘Bangalore’. Fake Mallu 2 said ‘Im from Bangalore too .’ And when asked , I very honestly said Bangalore.

‘Hey, are we on a table filled with fake Mallus ??’ came a comment !!

 

Fake Mallu1 and Fake Mallu 2 have never been in Blore for more than 2 days !

Ive decided, ill just say Kerala next time, even though i just dread being called a Malabari !

Music for all kinda Souls October 14, 2008

Quick post to Introduce you to this Amaazzzzzzzzzzzzing set of Radio stations from the AOL Radio guide.Click Here.

Koramangala Bites October 8, 2008

I had terrible Pani Puri here today.The only good thing about it was that it inspired me to write this post.

I cannot let People keep having terrible Pani Puri and never know how good this stuff realy tastes.So,Im not only gonna tell you where you can get the best Pani Puri in the whole of Bangalore, but also wat I believe are the best places for Momos, Chinese, South Indian, Coffee and much more.

I know many of you might not agree with the list below, some like my dear friend Sandy may even say, ‘Hey, all this is in Koramangala and Koramangala is not in Bangalore’. To the first lot, all i’ll say is,give it a try.To the second lot,you cant disown the best part of the city.

Lemme start with my favourite.

1.Pani Puri : In front of Maharaja Hotel, 4th Block, Koramangala.For those of you who have never had roadside Pani Puri before, yes I said in front of Maharaja Hotel coz its usually at road side stalls with a bright red piece of cloth hung on a side. 

The mouth watering Pani Puris served here will keep you coming back for more.

2.Momos : Popsies, A Tibetian place,near Jyothi Nivas College(Guys,stop pretending you dont know where that is coz which ever part of Bangalore you are from, I bet you know JNC).Popsies is situated next to Empire Hotel (yea, the mallu place) and in the lane right across the road from Chung Wah.

3.Anythin South Indian & Great Coffee : Sree Krishna Kafe, 1st Floor, above Kairali Restaurant,next to Anand sweets,Canara Bank Road, Koramangala.Their Idlis melt in your mouth and they serve the crispiest of Dosas along with a variety of yummy chutnies.A lot of coffee lovers I know have admitted that the coffee here is one of the best coffees they’ve had.SKK was also in the running for the Best Coffee in Town which was a competition held by TOI.

4.Chinese : China Pearl.Just a lil down the road from Sree Krishna.The Best chinese I’ve had till date.

Now  you know where to head for Pet-Puja when ur in K-town!!

Thats all for now…Im just heading off to sleep now..Good night People….sweet dreams..and yep…stay away from those bed bugs

Mutiny in Print October 7, 2008

Oh…btw…Mutiny is out in Print now and you can subscribe to The Mutiny Magazine at www.mutiny.in. It’sjust 300 bucks for an annual subscription,if you are in India and 25 dollars, if you are else where.And you stand a chance to win an Apple Iphone.If you already have one, dont worry, you can give it to me if you win.

Good night , once again!!

I’m Back… October 7, 2008

Hi People…

Im back to blogging again.I have to say, it took me while to figure out what my username and password are.

Why am i back?Well, I need to talk to someone and i realised that the best option was to talk to no one\everyone thru my blog.or maybe that’s just an excuse and maybe the real reason is coz I keep feeling that my ‘current love interest’ deserves to be with someone like the famous blogger-turned-Author he is a Big fan of.Or, maybe im just trying to calm my restless soul.Maybe,just maybe,ive just totally lost it.Or maybe Im just thinking too much!! 

For the last 3-4 months, ive been travelling around like crazy.I had so much to tell and so many pictures..and wrote not a word..and now that I have nothin exciting to write about and havent touched my camera for the past one month…ive decided to write. So here goes

 Moving to Dubai has changed my life, but not my outlook.Now I live a life that has 0 percent fun in it. I have no idea what I do all day .I know all those who are reading this and who know me well must be saying to themselves…”you never had any idea wat you were doing all day” .Very true, the only difference being that then it was coz I had too much to do and now I have too little to do.

I hope Appa is not reading this coz whenever I do the ‘I have nothin to do’ act, he reminds me of all the work and attention that needs to go into Gulf Bazaar.Which reminds me, today I came up with a logo for GB. Nope, im not gonna attach it here for 2 reasons, 1.Its too Basic , 2.Where is the fun if I show it to you now .

Friends, hmnnn…for someone who has lived with friends most of her life, living with family is like living on another planet and I miss my fellow earthlings . My newest friends here are , My sister-in-law, Honey and my colleague, Mohini. i dont wanna tell you how old they are coz of the ‘don’t reveal a woman’s age’ thing, but all I can say is my SIL(yea..im using the conventional abbreviations )is my age and Mohini is much older. And when i say much, read as ‘much, much’. I keep talking about everything under the sun when i get hold of them coz as you can imagine, I have a lotta things to say…but no one to talk to. What about the rest of the office???I dont even wanna start telling you about it.

If you goto North Kerala, you will see a lotta businesses run by Muslim Families, and the place I goto everday(temperorily, till my Internet City office gets furnished) is one such place.You will find, a head of the family, his brother ,his brother’s second wife’s son, his first wife’s brother’s son, his second wife’s sisters brother in law and so on and so forth. These guys are like the Mafia. Everyone to the CEO to the guy who runs the canteen are related. And wat am I doing there? Well…hmnn..where do i begin..lets see..ok..here we go. You see, My Appa Happens to be the CEOs BEST FRIEND !!Now that’s a relation and so that makes me the CEOs best friend’s daughter and that’s relation too. Double !! Jokes apart, I go there coz that’s where my Appa works.He is the Managing Director there and so till the DIC office gets ready, thats where ill be.With the Mafia .

Btw, I do go swimming and running these days and believe it or not…Ive lost 2 KGS!!!hehheehe…Yes Guys, all the ‘you wont recognise me in 3 months from now’ is finally happening.Yea, I know I said that 3 years back, but sooner better than later . And, oh, btw, to celebrate, I spent the last 3 days hogging and am now terrified to go anywhere near the weighing machine. )

I think ill call it a night now.This is quite long for an ‘Im Back’ post…so until tomorrow…Good night People…Sleep tight…sweet dreams..and yea…Dont let the bed bugs bite you!

 

P.S.If you are still hanging onto that ‘tomorrow’ in the last line, yea…I plan to carry out this torture everyday now ,Why should I be the only bored soul around ?