What does X mean to you?

X of the A to Z Challenge

Honestly, I have run out of topics to write on as this challenge having written a blog nearly everyday! Therefore, my topic today is the very letter X!

X is one letter in the alphabet that means so many different things!
While it is used to make weird sounding words that are generally used in playing Scrabble, or make words that sound as though they start with Z rather than an X -for example, Xena (remember the warrior princess?) or Xenophilius Lovegood, or Xavier the letter X itself has several interesting facets and uses that no other letter of the alphabet has.

Here are a few uses of X

x - sizes are denoted in XL, XXL. Here X stands for Extra.
x - differentiator - The X-factor, The X-Men
x - Used as a multiple 2x, 3x etc. or used as the multiplication sign
x - cross mark/ incorrect
x - unknown variable in algebraic equations. This was always the dreaded letter back in school where the question to a complex algebraic equation was as simple as find the value of x!
x - In Roman language, X means 10
x - rated movies are meant for adults
x - represents the unknown or to cite an example - Person x

These are some of the uses of x I could think of.  Let me know in your comments if you can think of any more!

Working from home

W of the A-Z Challenge

It never ceases to amaze me what technology has done. People separated by thousands of miles are a phone call away. One can not just speak to these far off people but also see them! Gone are the days of snail mail where letters would take months to get delivered.  Internet speeds have gone up radically and have changed the way we communicate, watch tv and even work.  Working across borders has become so much easier despite different time zones.

I work for a company that interacts with other countries may thousand miles away.  But what makes it easier is the flexibility that allows me to work from home. All I need is my laptop, a high speed internet connection and I am set. I don’t really need to travel every single day all the way to my office on congested roads where all forms of transport jostle for space.  Working from home is a boon for many like me who prefer to not spend their time traveling, atleast not everyday! But the problem of working from home is that everyone around you thinks you are on a holiday and that I am free to do everything else!

And yes, it can become a holiday if you don’t have the right attitude to working from home. It is extremely easy to flop on the sofa in your pyjamas with the laptop and find yourself reaching out for the remote…or start cleaning up and clearing up the kitchen and rearranging things…or opening the door to the neighbors and engaging in long conversations…or getting your kid home and starting to play with her!  Well, no one can be blamed, if they think you are on a holiday then!

A few tips for people to not succumb to the many temptations of wfh (working from home) –

1. Get dressed as if you are going to office
2. Set up a home office – a table space in the quietest room in the house, a phone connection, a high speed internet access, a printer if need be are all musts
3. Get a back-up internet source and a power supply source if you work from India where there are power cuts
4. Don’t get your kids home
5. Don’t run errands and stop cleaning and clearing up the house!
6. Work during office timings as you would at office and in the same routine including breaks
7. Be available on phone or office messenger
8. Tell everyone around you that you are working and have deliverables just like office going folk do and you are not available to do anything else
9. Deliver the goods without getting distracted
10. Go to office if you have one sometimes at least or it can get boring to work in solitude every single day!

Nursery Rhymes - Not that innocent!

N of the A to Z Blogging Challenge

I sing a lot of nursery rhymes to my baby daughter these days.  We learnt these very same nursery rhymes as kids and they continue to be very popular still. However, as an adult, I have now started delving deeper into some of the lyrics that seem downright violent.  After some research, I discovered that many of these are not as innocent as they seem.

It is funny to know that the story behind many of these nursery rhymes alludes to political histories, atrocities, diseases, and religious intolerance!

Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water
Jack fell down and broke his crown and
Jill came tumbling after

Going up the hill to fetch a pail of water sounds bad enough, and poor Jack broke his crown, is probably much more serious than a happy occurrence! How poor Jill must hurt after tumbling down the hill!

Three blind mice, three blind mice,
See how they run, see how they run,
They all ran after the farmer's wife,
Who cut off their tails with a carving knife,
Did you ever see such a thing in your life,
As three blind mice?
Really? Cutting off tails of blind mice with a knife? – This rhyme actually refers to Queen Mary 1 of England burning and executing three Protestant bishops

Peter Peter pumpkin eater
Had a wife and couldn't keep her
He put her in a pumpkin shell
And there he kept her very well!
The Poor poor hostage wife!

Georgie Porgie pudding and pie
Kissed the girls and made them cry.
When the boys came out to play,
Georgie Porgie ran away.
Certainly not the right rhyme I would like to hear in this day of violence against women!

Sing a song of sixpence a pocket full of rye,
Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie.
When the pie was opened the birds began to sing,
Oh wasn't that a dainty dish to set before the king?
The king was in his counting house counting out his money,
The queen was in the parlour eating bread and honey
The maid was in the garden hanging out the clothes,
When down came a blackbird and pecked off her nose!
Everything about this is violent!

Goosey goosey gander,
Whither shall I wander?
Upstairs and downstairs
And in my lady's chamber.
There I met an old man
Who wouldn't say his prayers,
So I took him by his left leg
And threw him down the stairs.
This probably refers to the anti-Catholicism wave in England’s history where Catholic priests were hidden in secret chambers in houses.

There are many more poems that I wouldn’t like to sing to my baby girl anymore, but well, perhaps it is best to not look too deep into the meaning unless it is not downright explicit. I will continue to sing Ring-a-ringa roses to her.  She’ll not know how it alludes to the bubonic plague!

For more such rhymes you may be interested in links below.

References-
http://www.funlinksdaily.com/10-nursery-rhymes-with-dark-origins/
http://bookdirtblog.blogspot.in/2011/10/15-most-disturbing-nursery-rhymes-youve.html
http://listverse.com/2012/11/28/10-sinister-origins-of-nursery-rhymes/

Myriad M Musings

M of the A to Z Blogging Challenge

I thought of a variety of topics I could write an M post on –

Magnificent Mangoes, Mini Marathons, Maudlin Motherhood, Mythical Mahabharata, Manic Mondays, Memorable Moments, Multi-tasking Moms, Magical Memories, Majestic Mountains, Mad Mornings, Mainstream Movies, Mythical Moorings, Melancholy Melodies, Mysterious Murders, Melodramatic Movies, Mellifluous Melodies, Maximum Mumbai, Multifarious Mumbai, Minimal monochromes, Mischievous Monkeys, Menacing Monsters, Messy Marriages, Mundane middle-class, Malicious Magazines, Misty Mornings.

But Alas! The M day got over by the time I finished finalizing my topic, and now I am just leaving you with a few beach photos of Marvelous Mauritius where I had a Merry trip to break from the Monotony.

The Reliance Digital Store Experience

With an increasing number of gadgets, shopping for electronics is an activity that has become almost as frequent as shopping for clothes!  With an increasing dependency on gadgets and electronic appliances, a reduced life of these electronic items and rapid change in technology that makes our gadgets obsolete in a few months, a trip to the electronics store is usually a must for me every time I visit a mall.

Indiblogger came up with a fun contest that entailed visiting a Reliance Digital store from a select list and blogging about the experience. I chose to visit the Reliance Digital Store at the sprawling R-city mall at Ghatkopar.

A couple of other bloggers had visited at the same time, and we were welcomed by the store manager Arun.  We first presented the printouts of the emails we had from Indiblogger, and gave him our identity details.  Once these formalities were over with, a quick store tour was arranged for us. 

The store

The store manager giving us insights on the store

The store
The store itself was quite huge - about 15,000 sq feet.  Spacious aisles and spaces made movement much easier and the specially designed lighting that was conducive for shopping made for a pleasant visit.  There were designated areas for experiencing various products and appliances and well marked out zones for each product.

A large display of TVs

Kitchen appliances

The spacious gaming experience zone

The Customer experience

The theme of the Reliance Digital store was ‘happiness’ said the manager. And indeed, they had done much right from having the guard to greet customers to decorating the store with bright balloons, and brightening the atmosphere. Unlike a lot of stores, where for example, dummy mobiles are used instead of the real ones, Reliance Digital believes in enhancing the customer experience by allowing them to use and experience any gadget they fancy.

With the latest array of Smart phones, TVs, home theaters, gaming consoles, and other appliances, Reliance allowed its customers to try out everything in specially designated areas. There was a home theater room where one could experience sound, a huge panel of TVs where comfortable sofas were kept for easy viewing, a spacious gaming area where several kids and adults could be seen trying out the X-box or the PS3 and a mobile zone where mobile geeks were seen trying out the newest and exciting phones.

The Home Theater Room to experience sound

Playing on the PS3 using a motion controller

TV viewing

Checking out the latest mobiles

Knowledgeable staff
What was particularly good, was the helpful and knowledgeable staff who were very helpful in explaining features and functions of every gadget, no matter how expensive or inexpensive it was.  I was looking out for blenders, and the sales executive, patiently answered all my questions and even gave me a demo.

Product and service support
The third thing which Reliance scores on is its after sales service which it promises is excellent. I hope it is indeed so!

At the end of the store tour, the store manager, took pictures of us, asked us to take pictures if we pleased and instructed his staff to answer any questions we had. We were promised a goody bag and an ipod shuffle at the end of the visit. Although, this was not given at the time we went to visit the store, the store promised to send it to us later. All in all, I was happy with the experience and came away a happy customer with my blender as well!

This post was written for an Indiblogger promotional contest  http://www.indiblogger.in/indistuff/4/. All the views in this post are mine.

Pedestrian rants

Walking has been well established as a great exercise for years now, and getting chores done around the block by walking to them instead of taking carbon emitting vehicles is an added bonus.  Unfortunately, in the city of Mumbai, one can’t help but rue the state of affairs for pedestrians. I live in the suburb of Chembur and find it downright depressing and difficult to walk outside the confines of my home within a radius of a km without stumbling or falling at least once.  If for the able it’s an onerous task to walk around the block. I shudder to think of how the disabled, old or pregnant manage! Every step I take is riddled with questions for the BMC and government in the order of difficulty I see in tackling the issue –

• Why can’t that broken tree that has been lying on the footpath for the past two months be cleared up? Are the authorities waiting for the monsoons to break more trees so you can do away with them at the end of the year?
• I know there is a need to dig up roads and footpaths for work around pipes and cables, but can the rubble be cleared up from the footpath once the work is done? And can the road be restored to its former condition instead of callous dumping of the rubble on the road making it uneven and potholed? The same goes for demolition of encroachments or slum rehabilitation projects. The rubble simply lies there for years!
• Desilting the drains is great, but when will that filth get cleared away?
• Can we have those absolutely scary open manholes covered and have the covers in line with the footpath?
• The road on which the Chembur-Wadala metro is built near the Fine Arts Auditorium road  is really narrow and cannot house pedestrians, speeding vehicles, parked vehicles, bus stops and encroachments. How do we cross the road and where do we walk? Can we have a signal somewhere on this road near the Golden lawn restaurant to help us cross and a footpath to walk on?
• Is there a lack of civil engineers at BMC?  I see people walking off footpaths solely because the footpaths go up and down, up for a while, then there’s a gate, and down we go and narrowly escape slipping.  And this too, near a school for disabled people! Can we please have more leveled footpaths?
• I know people love hawkers, but the station road has absolutely no place to walk. Stringent vigilance or fines need to be meted out to free up some space on the road.
• Lastly, we need more open spaces to walk!  The Gandhi Maidan is the only large ground for a huge radius around. While two corners are used as urinals or dumping garbage, the other corners and sides of the ground are used by smokers, drug addicts and gamblers who have made this ground a den for their activities in broad daylight. Safety of women is highly compromised with high fences, very poor lighting and the presence of antisocial elements. Can we have at least some lights on the ground, lower fences and regular security checks to ensure safety?

I can’t expect any change in the attitude of bikers and vehicles who believe pedestrians should not exist on roads and try and loudly honk this breed away or speed up when we try to cross, but a few simple measures of clearing up the filth, rubble, broken trees, defunct encroachments, fixing manhole covers correctly, and leveling of footpaths, and the addition of signals at junctions will certainly go a long way in ensuring safety of pedestrians. 

Fatwa Fever

The Fatwa fever is on in India! Maybe that word should be a permanent Oxford dictionary addition if it already isn’t.  

Kapil Sibal tried to put one on Social networking. It triggered more twittering and dis’liking’ and sniggers from the social media community. Anna came along and is still trying to put a fatwa on corruption and alcohol. Madhya Pradesh has reined in beef-eaters while even the glorious Sun has not been spared by fatwaing the Surya Namaskar. The biggest joke of all is the ban on showing the pink elephants and statues at Uttar Pradesh. Amidst the new, how can old one’s be forgotten – Muslim clerics are already up in arms against Salman Rushdie stepping into India for a popular literature fest. A few more fatwas that should be issued soon by various Hindu, Muslim, Brahmins, SC/STs, govt. etc.-

• If Maya’s elephants can’t wave their trunks, people are here forth barred from waving for anything, riding bicycles and using sickles to harvest their crops.
• A fatwa should be issued on fat and unfit Abhishek Bacchhan from dancing (and being in movies) and a fatwa on Sonam Kapoor and Imran Khan on acting.
• Citizens and tourists should not be allowed to eat anything but boiled vegetables so as to not hurt the religious sentiments of other communities including Jains and imprisonment for those who dare eat beef/chicken/pork or anything else not in the list of allowed eatables.
• There should be a fatwa on traffic policemen who aren’t of any use anyway on Mumbai roads.
• A fatwa should be put on pedestrians who try walking on footpaths annoying squatting hawkers and bikers who drive on them if there are no hawkers.  
• A covert ban on Tendulkar making his century would ensure TRPs and advertisers getting their due
• FDI fatwa continues and the movie association should follow suit and issue a fatwa on Hollywood to protect the interest of the wonderful Bollywood movies such as Rascals, Don2 and Ra One getting neglected despite their ‘wonderful’ stories.
• A fatwa on all of all of yoga (not just the surya namaskar), pilates, kickboxing, for religious reasons, no-westernization reasons etc will be great so I have a convenient excuse to stop exercising.
• A fatwa on Brahmins and higher castes to reproduce given that future increasing reservations will ensure they die of malnutrition anyway or they will go abroad
• Thanks to Sibal, a fatwa on social networking in office will let me be more productive and go home early!
• I wonder if a fatwa on the Rupee will rein in exchange rates at their current levels and if a fatwa can be issued on rising petrol prices
• Last but not the least, after we exhaust all the fatwas, could we please have a fatwa against passing more fatwas and end this fatwaing?

Courtesy - Google Images

The democracy which India is supposed to be is now a fatwacrazy. It is insane that if a girl is molested, she is the one blamed for it since she was wearing a sleeveless shirt and not the lecherous man who did it. A motorist almost runs over a pedestrian and shouts at him for being in the way when he is breaking a signal. Unless power hungry politicians, moralistic clerics and wrong populist measures are reined in, the one thing – freedom - we prided ourselves on and thought we are better at than China will also cease to exist and leave little hope in a country desperate to shine.

Rickshaw Realities - The Other Side

We hate them.  But we need them.  I speak of the ubiquitous lifeline of Mumbai, The Rickshawwallahs.  I have written and unwritten this (deleted I mean) blog several times, sympathizing with the 'bechare' rickshawallahs and then casting aspersions on the same damn rickshawallahs.  In here, I ask the reader of only one thing – perhaps hate them a little less even though the most commonly used word in their vocabulary in the early morning rush hour is NO-GO, their meters are usually fast, they constantly strike, blow loud horns, spit disgustingly on roads all the time and drive recklessly!

For the past month, the lack of a personal vehicle has forced me into the rigmarole of hailing atleast 5 rickshaws before I get one to go and then inch my way on the LBS marg and the bumpy stop and inch ahead climb to Powai. I must say, these rides have given me a fair view of the other side of the lives of these supposedly bad guys and almost feel sorry for them for all that they have to bear. Perhaps there are certain myths and certain realities which commuters need to understand.

On Roads

Mumbai is a tough city (except the roads which are sadly very weak).  Bad traffic jams anywhere you go at any time of the day, do not make a rickshawallah’s life fun.  We the commuters, get utterly frustrated after that one hour of ride for the rest of the day.  Imagine being stuck on those roads with constant loud honking and pollution equivalent to smoking a hundred cigarettes every hour. What is also not seen is the health hazards that they probably face due not just the pollution but also back aches that the terrible roads and the very make of the rickshaw must give them.  Of course, you might say, they have enough vices of drinking and chewing paan and spitting out on the roads that make them deserve all the other health problems they have, but perhaps if lives weren’t as tough, they wouldn’t have these very problems.

On Havaldars (Traffic Policemen)

‘H&*#mi saale’  resonated with all rickshawallahs I spoke to, with reference to the traffic havaldars. ‘! Being stopped just for the sake of taking a bribe, or for pure harassment for breaking no real rule isn’t something we can take, but being gareeb and less chance of being influential, havaldars stop them all the time to extort money.  Perhaps it would be a good thing if they actually stopped them when they do break rules, one would think.

On MNS and the Marathi Manoos

‘Raj Thakrey, MNS, Shivsena vagere madam, ugich halla kartat.  Tyanna fakta votes payje’ –(Raj Thackray, MNS, Shivsena, create unnecessary trouble.  They want only votes). Infact, the Marathi rickshawallah, spoke on behalf of the ‘bhaiyyas’ saying they are very sincere and hardworking unlike their lazy Marathi counterparts.  I was surprised to hear the ‘Marathi Manoos’ say this.  But apparently, vote bank politics is something that every aam aadmi has realized.  These rickshawallahs, condemned the burning down and ransacking of the rickshaws recently of those poor bechare rickshawallahs who must have lost so much with the destruction of their medium of occupation. 

On Strikes

Rickshaw strikes lead to mayhem in commutes across the city furthering their image of the bad guys, but sometimes, it’s a few errant rick wallahs, which force all the other ricks off the roads with threats of violence if they don’t do so resulting in heavy losses for the day for everyone including the ones who cannot afford the strike.  Sadly, at the end of the day, with not much achieved, it’s the commuters and the rickshawallahs who both lose out.

On Traffic and NoGo

When 10th Rickshawallah I hail says ‘Udhar bahut traffic hian, No Go.’, I do want to tear my hair out, but the 11^th one sighs and takes me in, and says, ‘Madam, what to do, People get into our ricks for a little bit instead of all the way, then get off in the traffic to walk off leaving us in the lurch in the heavy traffic.’  I can’t help but think, well, that is a different point of view!

On High Costs

Inflation has hit every aspect of one’s life in a city like Mumbai.  Although fares have increased to Rs 12 minimum now, still, really is it enough yet?  After comparing the local transport rates in other parts of the world, Mumbai still charges a piffling Rs 12 for the first km as compared to an average of $5 (Rs 300) plus tip in the developed countries.  Maybe if the rates were more reasonable, meters would not be as fast and the rickshawallahs less reluctant to ply between their non-routine destinations.  Where capital costs are concerned these aren’t too low either, with Rs 1Lakh towards the permit to be renewed every three years and Rs 1.5lakh towards the vehicle.  Fuel charges are separate.  A rickshawallah typically makes around Rs 700 on a good day of which he pays Rs 200 towards the lease of the rick and Rs 100 for fuel. 

Day vs Night

I had no idea, rickshawallahs worked in shifts.  Well, they do. The ones who drive at night prefer the day, since obviously the number of people who take ricks are more and the earning capacity is more.  The ones who drive in the day almost wish they did so at night when the traffic wasn’t so bad and it wasn’t so hot.  The night rickshawallahs are also under constant threat from drunks and louts who take rickshaws for the fun of it and threaten to beat up drivers if they are charged for the ride.

Ambition

Most people consider rickshalwallahs as those ‘chote log’ and expect to be respected in return.  Granted that they probably do not earn as much as the one’s using their vehicle do, but still, I wish every person providing a service was respected atleast a little bit. Most rickshawallahs, have kids in good schools and hope they study well and not become rickshawallahs.  One rickshawallah I encountered from outside RK Studios, turned out to be a talented mimic who demonstrated his skills and gave me his card for his services in entertainment and hopes to get a break somewhere in that field.  What I am saying is, it’s time we stopped referring to the rickshawallahs in the ‘poor trashy category’.  After all, they are trying to get out of being poor. 

I do not condone the harassment that commuters are subjected to when there are constant strikes, are cheated and charged more and unethical practices by a humongous proportion of the rickshawallahs. But it helps to realize, not all of them are wicked. Most are out to earn their daily living. Hopefully, the next time I get frustrated due to the non-cooperation of this community, perhaps I could remember that they have their reasons probably to not go somewhere. Whatever it is, the relation between Mumbai and its rickshaws will continue to clash but the meter will continue to run.

Passing Words

Independence Day is around the corner now, and no, this is not another blog on patriotism, which some of my blogger friends have covered very nicely indeed. Right now I wish I could be completely dependent on someone dependable to just memorize some stuff for me.

It was way back in 2000, that I opened my first Yahoo account.  That was my first ever account in anything and I loved it.  I coined a simple id and a really easy password quickly and used it happily for two years.  And then, I also got a bank account with an ATM card, my second ever account.  Well, these were the only two accounts for I ever had to remember anything and this happy state of affairs continued right through my college and then I landed my first job and boom!

I had a new bank account opened- a new password for debit card, net banking had three passwords, the demat account had one more password, gmail caught up with me, my office assigned a new email to me and a separate login account for its intranet, I opened a demat account, my dad sent me his internet banking account credentials to manage, I got a couple of credit cards from different companies with separate login credentials! I don’t want to even start on the other string of my online accounts on facebook, twitter, Netflix, iphone, apple, itunes, indiblogger, various  random sites such as shutterfly, retail stores –Macy’s, Target, Kohl’s where I had accounts and so on and so forth.  Each account that I opened told me that I should not write down my password anywhere lest it fall into wrong hands.  I tried memorizing and using those password remembering devices that locked with another password. I really tried.

But well, security is all important of course. One has to keep updating those dastardly things at different frequencies of a month, quarter or in a year.  The brainwave of writing them down and stowing them into a locker with a real key which I don’t have to remember (unless it’s a combination lock!) didn’t work for me since I forgot to update that hallowed sheet!  Still, security is what is key for various accounts of different levels of importance and hence the different requirements – no caps, no small caps, mandatory special symbols, spaces, my name should not be in the id or password, date of birth is not allowed either in either, no consecutive letters, no consecutive numbers, it cannot be simple, it has gotta be a jumble of preferably some indecipherable non word which is atleast 10 characters long!  To remember passwords using the blessed link ‘Forgot Password?’ one has to remember answers to weird questions.  I was given the idea of putting the same answer for all, sadly the same answers were not accepted either! And the buck didn’t stop there. Now it’s the ids that make  me miserable  with new accounts demanding new jumbles of my name as my id since there was no availability of even a pathetic mix backwards and forwards of my first, middle, last name and date of birth  (maybe I made that id and forgot the id and password!).

At this point in time, I am pretty much living on my credit card which I had fortunately linked to my bank account to be debited automatically. Since I have pretty much forgotten all my debit card pin numbers, and the banks have already reissued me new cards thrice, I am too sheepish to ask for more and for fear that they will freeze my account due to suspicious activity! My bank account online has locked on me after entering the incorrect password 5 times and I cannot reactivate it as it requires my atm pin which I have forgotten and reactivating the atm card with a new pin requires atleast the phone ‘TIN’ whatever that is!  I am in trouble! I hope now, the sabziwallahs in Mumbai accept credit cards soon or I will have to turn to my friends and family for cash (I know that’s a good excuse, right?) or sell jewellery for cash! Now I can only pray that my credit card bill has been paid for and my salary continues to drop into my account. God help me!

It's raining Discounts!

SALE!, Discounts, Deals, Going out of Business, All Things Must GO!, 50-80% off, Clearance, Special Offer!  These are indeed magic words. Magic for the retailers and magic for the buyers.  They mean only one thing…’SPEND!’ 

I needed that ultra colorful now ugly winter scarf I bought after winter which I wore only the day I bought it.  Groupon is so cool too.  I really did need to indulge myself on a New York cruise for $50 on a cold biting day.  Well, no, I didn’t need it, but it was cheap!  I also spent more getting to a salon across town since I bought the ‘deal’ on Living Social. 

I need to buy a new wallet now.  I am waiting for the season end sale to start.  My old purse does not fit in my all my discount cards from Macys, JC Penny, Kohls, Target, Shoprite, Airlines, Hotels and also need to have space for all the mailer coupons they keep sending.  Hopefully, I will buy something at Macy’s season end sale (spring/fall/summer/winter), there is also a Macy’s sale during Christmas, Thanksgiving, July 4, Labor day, Black Friday, New Year or the Biggest two day sales all year. Well, no dearth of sales.  I am sure I can get a deal!  Jewelry anyone?  These wonderful sales include diamonds.  We got 70% off on one I bought.  70%! Really. They do have excellent margins and do make money by selling high value fine jewelry at throwaway prices.  I should probably check and see if I can buy gold for half the high price these days back home.  I don’t need to invest in the stock market then maybe.  The returns if I sell the discounted gold will be phenomenal no?

Drat these discounts!  I am running out of space in my cabinets with all these coupons, mailers, cards, tired of deleting and clearing my bombarded email accounts and wasting my time on searching for these deals. Are they really kidding me by selling everything for half the prices and still staying afloat! I have to be on constant alert to not default on the payment of bills in those million accounts. If I do miss out, which I do sometimes, I end up paying more than what I would save which is sad.  And I absolutely do not revel in standing in harrowing queues at fitting rooms which are usually inundated during a blowout sale. There is also plenty of chaos and everything is dumped higgledy-piggledy on hangers, floors, dumpsters.  What happened to the fun of shopping in peace?

How I wish, there were no more sales, coupons, rebates etc.  That everything was fairly priced for all and I wouldn’t have to waste my time finding these wonderful deals.  I hate Groupon and Living Social! They make my life more difficult.   

 Money saved is indeed money earned, but if I don’t spend on worthless things at all, perhaps that will be more money earned and more space around me to keep what I do need! 

The Non-Returning Indians

'I am going back to India', I said.  'Why?' said one Indian.  ''Are you kidding?' said another Indian.  'Really?' said a third Indian. 'Oh!,is there a problem?' said a fourth Indian sympathetically, 'Didn't you like it here?' said a fifth with amazement in his/her voice...oh well, you get the hang.   

Celebrating Independence - The tri-color on Empire State Bld New York 

Every time I hear this question, I feel a sense of shame mingled by plenty of sadness.  I understand people migrate for various reasons – better job opportunities, more luxury, more money, better lifestyles, peer pressure, family pressures, better infrastructure, to see the world, travel more and a myriad other reasons.  Some of them do return back while many of them make the new country their new home. Based on my interactions with the various NRIs  (Non Returning Indians -for the rest of this blog) in the West and the Middle east, I would cast them in the three categories below:

1.  The one's who believe that India is a great country with wonderful traditions and culture and they will teach all about it to their kids – but from a distance.  This variety watches cricket matches with great fervor, celebrate all festivals more devoutly, listen to Desi Radio, watch  as many Hindi movies as possible, in their frequent 'potluck' parties and do try genuinely remain connected to their memories and culture of 'Des'. They also participate in the India independence day parades, attend bhangra classes and try to explain Diwali and cricket to their non Indian colleagues. Their homes are usually decorated with Indian artifacts and despite all the cuisines they try, they have to have Indian food regularly. A large part of this group also claims, they will return to Des in a few years if given a suitable opportunity.  Of course, they say this every year for a good many years till their citizenship gets processed, and sometimes even after that. This group also ardently discusses politics in India and how everything is still in shambles and tut-tut the system and the government not wondering once if they are doing a thing about it. Most of my lovely friends here belong to this category and I do not really blame them for not wanting to return or not being motivated enough to return from the cosy lifestyles which most of the developed world leads.

2.  The second variety is the one's who detest the fact that they are Indians, and would rather be passed off as Mexicans/South Americans (who have the same skin and hair color) and distance themselves from everything desi as far as possible. This variety usually comes to meet family for special occasions such as their own weddings or their siblings weddings. They usually strut around as if the NRI tag were pinned to their backs and expect respect because of that even if they maybe really nobodies in the other country! They typically turn up their noses at Indian rituals, festivals and beliefs, Bollywood, Indian clothes and everything that’s not American. They will also follow baseball and American football passionately and will try to be utterly indifferent to a World cup win in cricket. If there is some positive development they see in India such as a small mall in a sleepy town, they say, India tries badly to ape the west 'where they are from.' This variety feels that a dollar is a lot of money in India and flinch when to pay for anything remembering the prices of the last time they were there. They also try to develop an accent however fake it might be, and listen to only western music and pretend they never heard of the movie DDLJ. This variety, if single, also tries to seek out non Indian girlfriends/boyfriends/ spouses to further distance themselves or prove to themselves that they are indeed global citizens.

3.  The third variety is the ones who long to go back desperately and would do so if they indeed had the means to do so but cannot for lack of any kind of job back home.  This variety is mostly found in the middle-eastern countries where thousands flock to earn a basic living leaving home, heart and their families behind. This variety usually spends most of their lives lost in the memories and dreams of returning one day to their families with enough money to not have to work away from their home towns.

The India Independence Day Parade New York

The NRI's who do return do so for the following reasons

1. Visa issues or work permit issues where the host country refuses to allow them to live or work
2. A spouse wants to return because of visa issues around seeking jobs
3. Family back home
4. Health problems
5. Do not get a job or get kicked out of the existing job
6. Need to raise kids and get scared when they see teenage culture in America
7. Are crazy (To the propounders of the NRI faith, I belong to this category who does not have any real reason to go back and I don’t see why a reason is necessary to go back!)

 In the crazy category, there can be several variants,  

1. They go back for the sake of being in India and closer to their roots and believe they don’t need a reason to go back to their own country
2. They belong to the SRK Swades category who wants to go back and make a difference. I have only read about such people but I certainly wish more existed.
3. Those who believe that there are more conveniences in India. I can identify with this variety.  I probably missed my Shobha Bai, the cook more than I probably missed all my family! Ah!, the luxury of being served and not having to do everything on your own!
4. Those who think there are more opportunities to grow professionally.

I have ceased to think about the wrong and right of this whole matter of moving out or moving back.  Everyone has a right to a better living and if India cannot provide the standard they seek, migrating is a good option. Brain drain is a real issue for India and the insufficient infrastructure and lack of opportunities is making talented people India so needs to move forward, move further away from their homeland and not wanting to return to a land replete with bureaucracy, corruption, pollution, traffic jams and lopsided development.

The good news is the fact that India is making tremendous development and its sheer population is attracting large investments by foreign companies leading to an abundance in opportunities and development of talent. This is actually attracting a glut of long gone NRI's to return and allowing several others who would have otherwise left for greener pastures, to stay on. However, again, there is still much that needs to be done in the areas of infrastructure and better living standards in every city and town.  Being one of those hopeless optimists about India, I am indeed returning (not next year but in a few more days!)  and exhorting others to join me as I look forward to the day when the decision to migrate becomes not a must, but a choice.  

Random Ramblings

I have been finally been given my first blog award, ‘The Adorable Blog’ by my fellow blogger Lipsy.  Many thanks to you for this honor!  Her award is here.

Since, this also entails me to write those 10 random things about me, here goes-

I love

1. watching the motley of people in big cities on their daily commute
2. walking the streets of wherever I am without a destination in mind- alone.
3. browsing through a physical bookstore and the high that I get when I make a purchase
4. reading the comments I receive on my blog! Thanks all for the support!
5. all desserts.  Infact I start my meal with a dessert.  Why not start and end the meal with the best part!
6. the songs and dances in Indian movies! They are way better than any broadway musical!

I hate

1. a cluttered desk and a cluttered home
2. cooking! Though I appreciate those who cook well., seeking to emulate them usually ends up in disaster!
3. lending my prized books.  Everybody knows they don’t come back!
4. packing before travels.  I always wish I got my bags magically delivered with all that I wanted!

What comes around of course has to go around, and I would like to pass this award on to the very talented bloggers- 

Cybernag

Arti

Tanvi

Sabera

I will really appreciate it if you sent this further on in the blogosphere and mention those 10 random things about yourself if you haven’t already done so and link me in!

Richa

A Picture NOT Worth a Thousand Words?

‘A picture is worth a thousand words’ said Napoleon Bonaparte.  Some famous pictures are also worth thousands of dollars.  Okay.  I understand that.  But can a mere scrawl be classified as a picture worth a thousand words and several thousand dollars?  Apparently it can.  A guy I don’t know said Abstract Art is a product of the untalented sold by the unprincipled to the utterly bewildered!

A painting by Barnett Newman

How I agree with this quote, on visiting one of New York’s exalted museums on Modern Art.  This is not to disparage the Whitney Museum of Art or MoMA or anyother. But seriously, it did feel at the end of my visit, that all Modern art and so called abstract art is a huge con.  A racket meant to deceive people into calling absolutely silly stuff they call‘Art’.  Art critics or artists may feel offended by an absolute layperson like me talking on a subject which I have no authority on.  But, let me give you examples and you might just agree.

In the museum I visited, exhibits included honestly- a graph paper drawn by pencil, a square, a few rectangles, just a plain colored canvas with a line across it, scrawls that a two year old might draw, some random squiggles in multiple colors or in one color, a few threads hung on a hanger, shoes hung outside a boxing ring, some scraps of colored paper on a wall, some twisted ropes in no particular shape and several such.  I can understand art in nature, in a leafy or in a bare tree, in water, in the sky, in living beings, in buildings, in objects.  But seriously, just lines in a commonplace graph?  Come on! And people pay millions for this!  Why, I almost regret paying the few dollars that I did to enter the museum!

Moreover, all these paintings are described in so many words.  A single rectangle might be described to have perfect symmetry (well isn’t that expected of a rectangle?) or if it is a trapezium, describe it as a rectangle with imperfect symmetry and then go on to call it Bold, Charming, Evocative, Reflective, Callous, Mystic, Timeless, Lyrical, Strong, Touching, Expressive, Deep, Raw, Powerful, Amazing, Rebellious, Anarchic, Idiosyncratic, Nihilistic, Avant-Garde, Surreal, Symbolic, Blunt, Imaginative. 

I would probably describe it as insipid, inane, silly, absolutely unimaginative, hollow, fake, is that art?, a scrawl, a line, trash!

A painting by Rothko that recently sold for $18 Million

Take this one exalted artist for example, Rothko who has several famous paintings to his name. Do gaze at the painting and see for yourself, what wordplay transforms the painting into!  ‘Rothko happened upon the use of symmetrical rectangular blocks of two to three opposing or contrasting, yet complementary, colors, in which, for example, "the rectangles sometimes seem barely to coalesce out of the ground, concentrations of its substance.’

When criticized about the lack of substance in these large paintings, Rothko retaliated, “I realize that historically the function of painting large pictures is painting something very grandiose and pompous. The reason I paint them, however . . . is precisely because I want to be very intimate and human. To paint a small picture is to place yourself outside your experience, to look upon an experience as a stereopticon view or with a reducing glass. However you paint the larger picture, you are in it. It isn’t something you command!”

Well, okay, if he and the art world insists.  Maybe one could stand infront of a gaudily painted wall and experience that instead of paying a million bucks for the same experience.  I would rather go anyday with a painting that has some real art in it instead of something that I can or a five year old can draw. I hope the Renaissance days return with more landscape paintings or still life paintings or portrait paintings (Realism and Impressionalism), less esoteric symbolism, and more substance instead of deceptive squiggles and scrawls described in flowery language and given a fancy name.  Let the picture be worth a thousand words rather than a thousand words that make the picture sell!

Boogieing to the Bollywood Beat

“Indian movies are extremely inane with no sense or story or message in them and it is time they stopped having silly songs.”, said a friend of mine to me. I was zapped momentarily at someone casting such aspersions on my favorite entertainment avenue!

“My dear friend”, I refuted him, “Bollywood is not a charity organization that makes movies for the sake of passing moral messages about righteousness or education or the evils of casteism or awareness about some obscure disease or empowerment. Movies are first supposed to be entertainment and then everything else is a bonus if it makes money. If they are not supposed to be entertaining, the producers might as well make documentaries which are a completely different genre. There have been wonderful commercial movies with meaningful social messages such as ‘3 Idiots’ on the education system, ‘Udaan’ on the ambitions of a young aspiring writer etc. However, if these social movies were not entertaining as well, who would watch them? The message wouldn’t hit the nail then anyway. A fantastic movie like Sholay would never have happened if it was only about the message.”

Melodrama, Romance, Music, Horror, Action, Titillation, Tragedy, Comedy, Meaningful cinema, Fantasy all bundled in one is one genre. Bollywood. In my head I agree though, sometimes movies get too silly for words. It is not uncommon to have a grisly death sequence in a comedy movie when the dying guy flashes back with his heroine dancing away on the Alps all of a sudden, and in the next moment onto the Pyramids with a retinue of dancers behind them! An audience not used to the Bollywood way of things might just get befuddled, but wait, there is more. As soon as the Hero’s ‘Mom’ is disparaged by the villain, the hero gets superpowers to thwart 10 goons against him, and he saves the heroine, the mom and everyone goes home happy while he goes to dance against the backdrop of an exotic waterfall with his heroine! But then, even Hollywood can boast of enough terrible movies. 2010 saw enough dumb movies such as Tron which was made from an old superflop, the Last Airbender by an otherwise wonderful director M Shyamlan, the Last Song, Sex and the City 2,..well you get the idea. For every one good movie, there are strings of ludicrous movies, be it Bollywood or Hollywood.

Scene from Raja Harishchandra, first Indian movie

The Indian Cinema industry has been prevalent for almost a century now with the first movie, Raja Harishchandra being made by Dadasaheb Phalke way back in 1913 (well, there’s a Marathi language movie on that too!). By 1930’s the industry was producing well over 200 movies per annum. And now, Bollywood comes up with more than 800 movies every year and that does not even include the other regional Indian cinema which has not all diminished in stature. Amazing. There certainly are reams that I can write on the history of Indian cinema and its development through the decades but you can just flip to Wikipedia for all that factual information. In a few lines, Hindi cinema has seen a wide variety of themes every decade, drawing inspiration and stories from epic tales such as the Ramayana and Mahabharta, history, social themes, books and ofcourse plenty from Hollywood including even the term Bollywood which has its roots in combining Bombay, the heart of Hindi cinema and Hollywood!

But what characterizes Hindi cinema, is its unique ability to be enjoyed by a widely different audience which I cannot stop emphasizing. Having studied marketing, I can well say, how difficult a task that must be. Catering to even slices of a teeming mass of culturally, politically, linguistically, economically, regionally, religiously and socially different billion people is certainly a daunting task. Just when I thought, Bollywood is transitioning to cater to a more urban intellectual and affluent audience that can afford expensive tickets at multiplexes and to international audiences targeting overseas sales, there came up ‘Dabangg’ a typical ‘formula’ movie with a super star as a cop hero, a villain with no scruples, interspersed with some unnecessary songs, an unnecessary heroine as an accessory, the omnipotent mother, plenty of action, melodrama and boom. A smashing hit! A movie liked by the so called urban intelligentsia as well as the rural masses. That is certainly tough to understand!



'Dola re dola' dance sequence from movie 'Devdas'


Refuting my friends point about not having the song and dance routines, “Well, that’s what Indian cinema is about!...I utterly detest the Indian movies without the songs and dances in them. All those beautiful haunting melodies by Lata, Asha, Mohd. Rafi etc, not ever existing! That’s unbelievable. And not having Shiela ki Jawani to save an utterly inane Tees Maar Khan or not having Dhan ta nan in Kaminey to keep the audiences grooving is terrible news too! Think about classics such as HAHK, DDLJ and all other fluffy SRK movies that the nation adored, and we are transported to exotic locales in Switzerland or US which most Indians would never have seen otherwise. No songs in those movies?! Bah! They wouldn’t be 1/10th as good as they are today. “

I guess, I am a die-hard bollywood buff with its melodrama and song and dance sequences and for all its detractors, I just need to say, we ought to be proud that our entertainment industry is one of the biggest in the world even as it caters to such difficult markets. Bollywood has so much potential to not just create entertainment, but also to showcase India’s rich culture in the international arena, delineate positively the burgeoning intelligent population and foster self confidence in Indians. Again, entertainment first, and then the messages!

Krazy about the Kindle

As this is my first blog of the new year and decade, I wish you, my dear reader, a very Happy and a Wonderful New Year!

 

I remember a class in school once in which we envisaged a future world in 3000AD that would have kids having no more books and them scribbling on tablet like computer devices. Well, with the advent of the e-reader and tablet devices, I believe, we are slowly getting there. Imagine, kids not having to carry those heavy satchels that we once did. One device would do it all.

eBooks started way back in 1970 with the advent of Project Gutenberg that still works to digitalize and preserve books. From a limited selection formerly available to a limited audience, eBooks have come a long way in threatening the paper and pulp books. Amazon can be credited with developing the first hardware to read e-books, the e-reader. The Amazon Kindle is a product that I cannot help eulogizing over and over again to anyone who will or will not listen.

At a tiny 8” x 5.3” and as slim as a 100 page notebook, the Amazon Kindle has a capacity to carry 3,500 books, if one can read that many in a lifetime! It is a miraculous device with benefits that totally outweigh real books. Reading tomes such as Tolstoy or Tolkien feels much lighter than it actually is! I can read in the flight, in the train, on the beach, in the park, in the gym and what’s more, I never fall short of choice as I can carry my own personal library wherever I go! If I want more, I can simply browse to the Amazon store and buy books wherever I am to be delivered within seconds! If I am driving, and can’t read, I can make it read aloud to me. I can increase the font while in the gym and make it autoscroll. The embedded dictionary as a super fast reference certainly helps my vocabulary. The Kindle apps in various other devices, help me flip between devices as well. I can highlight, book mark pages,  share them over facebook and twitter, make notes and read more than I ever did!  What more could a book lover really want? Unlike backlit devices such as the Ipad and other tablets, this magic tablet doesn’t even strain my eyes anywhere, and it beats me, why one would read in the dark anyway!

I can almost now imagine an exam question now. Cite the differences between an ebook Reader and a real book in a history lesson in the near future! Well, the pros I have stated above. The only thing I do like in books not available in the Kindle , is…is… well there is nothing I can think of now!

Those individuals, who smell the paper in old books, love the sound of turning pages, enjoy delicately handling crumbling paper, cringe about e-ink and decry the new eReaders and eBooks should just have a reality check and check foolish sentimentality. It wouldn’t hurt to think of all the paper and trees that will get saved as more and more books go the e-way. eBooks and eReaders are here to not just stay, but to take on the real books. Maybe I should just start collecting hard copies of books now. They probably will be very rare a few years down the line and might sell for a fortune!

Cheers to the New Year and  Happy Reading!

A trip to Yosemite Valley

Towering trees, bumbling bees; Azure skies, peaks old and wise
Snowy pebbles, brooks that babble, Mystic mountains, springs and fountains
Plains some mossy, still lakes all glossy; Icy cloaks, pines and oaks
Skulking bears, prancing reindeers;Scampering squirrels furry, coyotes in a hurry
Rains and thunder, Nature’s wonder; Glistening snow, eyes that glow
Hills and vales, Treacherous trails; Winding roads, Glaciers once flowed
Myriad hues, beauty so true; Blue and Golden, resplendence beholden
White and green, a splendid scene; Pristine white, shimmering moonlight
Sculpted boulders, fire that smolders; Zephyrs trance, a verdant dance
Pindrop silence, sweeter than violins; A trickle of water, frozen in winter
Glorious clouds, Beauty endowed; The Great Half dome, God’s own home?

Mother Nature has drawn one of her priceless canvases in Yosemite National park with an elegance that makes her splendor even more beautiful. Big is beautiful at this national park known for its old wise sequoia trees that are the biggest in the world, the tallest waterfalls and the most challenging of peaks protecting themselves from nosy humans by the sheer force of nature again.

I fortunately was permitted to see this priceless picture on a sunny day while it was splashed with a pristine whiteness on the myriad hues of greens and yellows. I hated to sully the whiteness of it with my footprints. While I could not stop Aahing and Wowing and taking pictures, I realized that it was one of those places where a mere camera lens could not capture even a 50th of the beauty that the live canvas possessed.
Someone rightly said, when nature has a project, she is a genius at work. From the bare leafeless tree to the ice laden pine, she ensures each season has something wonderful to look at. I fall short of words here, to describe the endless vales of snow covered pines and cones that I saw and went past, the winding valleys covered with mist and sheer drops below overlooking unbelievable vistas making us want to stop at every twist and turn where there was space to stop and gaze.

Despite all the human advancement, nature still makes man feel miniscule on just seeing the vastness of what She can create. The United States has certainly preserved the park well, and I am pretty thankful and privileged to see such beauty in this world where almost every piece of habitable land has been captured by humans.