Tuesday, November 10, 2009

TOW Cricket

Cricket is one of the things I love to hate.

I dont like the fact that people can get so mad at one thing. Passion is fine, good for you. But how much time and emotion can you invest in a sport? I personally consider it a waste of emotions and not to mention time. Not that I dont spend time shopping or just watching some other crap serial.. but thats not waste ... not to me for sure;) I am seriously amazed how we can follow something so closely, pray for the team's win, fire crackers when the team wins and sulk the whole day when we lose (oh so often) . How we are able to load some players with countless "Bharat ratna" and millions of advertisements... and yet let the other sports or poor millions die in oblivion. How we are able to raise some "Ganguly" to a certain pedestal one day and throw stones at his house the other. I am simply baffled by the amount of emotion involved in it !!!! We probably find it difficult to realise that the real war between India and Pakistan was at Kargil or the real heroes were the NSG guards who saved Mumbai and not the wildly held notion of Sachin saving or not saving India!!!

But for all my apathy (hatred is too small a word) towards the game, I am still fascinated by one quality of it... its ability to unite people. Somehow in India it has cut across class. Men irrespective of their age can discuss the sport for hours and watch it till eternity. Somehow everybody has an opinion on who should have been sent to bat first and whether there should have been an extra fielder on leg-side!!! I have seen people stop on the way to Vaishno Devi and ask for latest score... people posting the scores and discuss later on my office discussion portal... unknown people bound together by a common thread "Cricket". Men who would otherwise push and shove each other in a local train are at peace if there is live commentary going on!!!

I sincerly wish that all those who cheer for one country can stand together and work for that country too... that if we can accept one Dhoni to lead Indian team, we can certainly tolerate other people from Bihar as well...that the way we think Indian cricket team should be the best team in the world... we think that India should be at the top of the world too... and probably be as passionate about this cause too!!! Amen!!!

Saturday, September 26, 2009

All that hatred

damn these mood swings. I am in a boring terribly irritating mood... God save anyone who comes near me today... Either he/she will die of boredom or I may just try my luck at murder. So heres a collection of all things that I hate, may hate or nearly hate.. Inshort I am going to yell and swear all my way. Its my blog and I will curse all I want, you are free to curse me in your blog or in the comments section ;)

  • I hate the way USA acts.. like a spoilt rich brat... "American way of life cannot be compromised" ? You keep on leaving your room messy and someone will clean after you? Isn't that what other countries are for? We are tired of being your mom or your hired help... stop acting like a kid. Grow up. Take responsibility.You clean the mess you made of environment.
  • I hate the way China acts, like a school bully. Start eating your own lunch and stop snatching from poor Bhutan, Nepal and Tibet's boxes. We are not giving you even a tiny bit taste of Arunachal Pradesh. Stop yelling or flexing your muscles. You must be aware that no good kid on the block talks to you or atleast nobody wants to.
  • I hate the way Pakistan acts, as if we are all hypnotized and believe whatever they say. You say, you will help in ending terrorism? How, by calling the leaders to Iftiyar party? Destroying it Gandhian way... Kill your enemies by Love? Somehow I am not amused.
  • I hate the way some of the Indian politicians treat us all like dumb uneducated ignorant folks. Those who cannot read court orders that say "Stop building your sculptures and start building roads". Or those who cannot make out that the way you are preparing for Common Wealth Games is the way an ideal Engineering student prepares for a viva... last moment. Hoping that there is no power cut, no rain and that there is a God, answering the harried prayers that were done instead of the preparation.
  • I hate the way we common folks act, infact I hate that more than any of the above. We act as if there is no relation between cause and effect... as if mere wishing could change things... I wish, the streets were clean.. I wish the politicians were more answerable to us... and that news channels showed news instead of gossip... that someone would do something about everything... and that I had a gennie... yeah wishes do come true... we don't have to as much as lift a finger.
Thats it for now... I feel better ;)



Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Change Request

After 3-4 weeks I went to CMP again. CMP is Corporate Mentorship Programme where in employees of my company spend 2 hours a week with kids from two orphanages ...kinda "mentoring" them... wherein we are all addressed as "Bhaiya" or "Didi" ... and our aim is to be that in long run... to become someone they can rely on... probably be an elder sibling who can guide and mentor them. One who is not as strict as a teacher and yet not just a fun buddy.
Anyways.... so today they were being taught "Etiquette"- Table manners, general courtesy, etc etc. Things like:
  • Leave your seats for elderly and other needy people.
  • Open and hold the door for elders and other people.
  • Do not take other's things without asking. Always return back things in good condition and with thanks :)
Hmm... pretty impressive... We should teach kids to be courteous for an ideal, happy society.
But then I remembered an instance from "Shantaram" - a book on real life story by Gregory David Roberts. This man is in Bombay, India and leaves his seat for an old man in a local train and he is scolded by his Indian guide for being an idiot and hence having to stand. He is advised, if you can not see an old / disabled/ pregnant ...in short needy person in discomfort due to standing... do not see... turn your face away... look away. You ain't supposed to give your seat!!! How convenient :) And well ... I am not very proud to say, this is what is actually done. As if your looking away will take the pain away... or in general... if you can ignore something it ceases to exist!!!
I dont remember how many times I have lent books that were never returned or how many pens I have lost that were kept at the desk. I do not see any deliberate intention of theft here, but yes may be we are too careless to worry about minor things... Or may be deep down within we believe in "Vasudhev Kutambkamb" ( treat the whole world as your own brother) and think its okay to be casual in dealing with brothers. :)
We certainly know what is right and what is not. The way things should ideally function. The things that should be taught to kids. But somehow in the long journey of life..from 18 onwards we tend to forget some of the unimportant lessons of life.
I am reminded of an intersting quote, "Conscience is the most flexible material in the world. Today, you cannot stretch it over a molehill ; while tomorrow it can hide a mountain." Sometimes I wish, conscience were more visible, more tangible... some thing like an itch... you just cant ignore it!!!! If you see something going wrong, you cannot help but scratch!!!!! This is one of the change requests I am going to give to the creator when I meet Him ;)

PS... Poulomi... I know your "Little Women" is with me. I intend to return it when we meet next

Saturday, July 25, 2009

India Shining!!!

"India Shining" has been a phrase that was used extensively at one point of time in India and has been more or less forgotten now... However the phrase has somehow stuck with me. Though the parameters for this shine were never defined, I believe it must be some interesting financial and social term that I will never understand. Hence, I labelled some moments as my own "India Shining" moments.

One was when I saw an advertisement of Rajasthan Tourism in Denmark. Cant describe how happy I was to realise that we are trying to sell Rajasthan soooo far off...

And then I again noticed "India Business Report" in Denmark as well. Guess the world is really interested in how much money we are minting and where we are heading. Sahi hai

Next one was when I saw "Hare Rama hare krishna mission" people on streets in Aarhus in Denmark. Yeah I agree that this is religion and not nation... still.. I liked it. I liked to see all those people with Western faces, citizenships and upbringings wearing sarees and dhoti-kurta, singing hindu hymns so loudly, telling about Lord Rama and Krishna to all. The words "Rama" and "Krishna" with a certain accent seemed interesting. Well... this means slowly we have people accepting that Christ may not be the only God. :)

And the last one in the list was when I watched this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HaImMwP134 ... all foreigners singing "Jai ho" from the movie "Slumdog millionaire" !!! Well... may its not an Indian movie... but the language is certainly Indian... and getting the world dance to our tunes... well that is something ;)

Friday, July 24, 2009

Lolz

This is no place to write (office)... this is no time to write( 6:30 in the evening... for others to go home, for me the best time to work)... this is no day to write (Friday!!!) and this is certainly no reason to write( not to be mentioned).

I should be rather sad and totally embarrassed at myself. The reason is not to be mentioned... I told you once!!! Anyways, had it been just sometime back, I would have been soooo totally embarrassed and gloomy the rest of the day and may be weekend and some days after that as well. But I have now begun to forgive myself. I have now decided not to be sad and embarrassed about reasons I may not remember in another 2-3 years. I will not regret trivial things. I cannot change a lot of things, I cannot be a lot other things, I can't get a lot of things, but that has to be accepted, isnt it? Life doesn't anyways give you all that you want. I was always able to laugh at myself. I donot get offended very easily, but the recent change is that I have now begun laughing at myself alone!!! I can now laugh if I fall down walking alone or in a crowd, I can laugh if I make blunders in office. I can... I can. Probably its because I have overused my capacity to be sad, gloomy and embarrassed. Probably because I wanted to try a different way to react. Probably because I have realized I donot matter to people as much as I matter to myself. Probably because I am just bored and need a good laugh ;) Anyways, I like it this way.

I am soon going to make a collection of all the blunders I or people close to me have made. A collection of stories behind the gyaan vaanies :D. I am sure I wont be able to publish it on moral ground, but it will certainly give me the much needed laugh :P

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Look back

Tenth CBSE board results were declared today. One of my friend's younger brother gave the exam this year. He got good marks (atleast we considered it good when we were in tenth standard) and yet he was sad... very sad. A few marks less than a friend, one mark less in science and two in maths is enough to unsettle you. This seems to be the most important thing in the world and you can go to any limits to ensure you do well. The whole world revolves around boards. I read news of kids committing suicide because they could not take pressure of exams or because the result was not good. This becomes a thing more worthy than your life and if you fail one exam you fail the exam of life.... I am not trying to say that we should abolish exams, thats not the point. I believe that we should teach kids to work hard and still accept failures sometimes. Life is not fair afterall.
Anyways I remembered that long..long time back I must be in the same stage. I did not take studies very seriously untill college first year and I am sure I did not cry after boards... but I am sure I must be greatly disappointed because of some exam some time. I have also been sad that I made some silly mistake in maths or was not fast enough to write in my social sciences paper.... It felt nice to know that, that was not the test of life... that theres more to life than a few exams here and there. That these are phases of life and that they pass. Today when I look back at my tenth board I can just smile at the thought that I considered it so very important. It felt good to hope that this is also a phase of life and that phases pass... someday I'll be able to look back at today with a certain fondness and smile... So heres to that day :)

Monday, May 11, 2009

Delayed yet there

Perhaps the only interesting thing in my life these days is the weekends... when we teach kids. Hence, probably more than necessary posts will be dedicated to the same. We 3 girls teach 4 girls basics of Hindi, English and Maths. They do not go to school and obviously lack the motivation at home to study. We try as much as our impatient and lazy selves allow to teach them.

But somehow, no kid prefers study to fun. I know for sure my brother and I would have turned into road side ruffians had it not been for my parents. And if that is not there, it is difficult to retain interest in studies. We are thinking about bribing them with chocolates to study :)

One of them is quite young and its a delight hearing her "one tu thlee... " Its fun when she and her teacher fight over whether the alphabet she wrote is beautiful or not and should she repeat that. But at the same time, its not easy to have attention of a five year old. Yesterday after 90 minutes of repeating "A B C", one of my friend suddenly stood up and said, I cant do this. I could understand her plight quite well. Its not easy not shouting, not scolding and yet not giving up when all you say falls on some uninterested young ears.

I was almost on the verge of crying after repeating "Na, Na main EE ki matra NEE" countless number of times and hearing "Na, Na main EE ki matra EE" another countless number of times. I didnot know what I was doing wrong or how could I make her understand that. There must be something I could do. Something to hold her attention longer than 25.5 seconds, long enough to know basics of language!!!

Two of them are almost of the same age and one is faster at learning things than the other one. Today I overheard a conversation where the faster one said with a sigh, "She is so slow and what do I do". Immediately the other one lost whatsoever interest she had in those books, claiming that she is not fast enough and can never learn. I could say that the other one is a bit elder and hence a bit faster. But I guess, thats not the case when you have 40 kids in a class almost all of the same age.

I understand we are not professional teachers and perhaps a formal degree can teach you a lot. But I still believe it takes a lot of patience, dedication and understanding to teach a batch of kids in school. To be able to find that one troubled soul in a shouting and impatient lot, not to kill innocent questions by a lost temper, to channelise the competition in a healthy direction, to maintain interest in books. I know I have never been hit at school and I can not claim to be an ideal student. It must have been difficult controlling your anger sometimes. So heres a delayed thank you to my nursery and KG teacher, Apte ma'm... Thanks for teaching me "One, tu, thlee and A, B, C and Aa, Aaa, ee..." :)

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Back to basics

For some time Miss X, a good friend has been asking for some alternative career options. She happens to be comfortably placed, qualified(as per degrees) software engineer, working half an hour a day, staying in the office for 7 hrs, claiming to be working for 9 hrs and extracting a salary worth my 12 hrs. So X, heres a list of jobs that one can take without any additional degree and too much of pain in case one wants to quit/ gets kicked out of a comfortable paying job.

1. You can play agony aunt on newspaper. Its easy and not to mention fun when people ask you what to do if they are sad that their parents are not allowing them to own a pet or that their colleagues are playing dirty politics or gossiping against them, etc etc...

2. You can play Love guru on the radio. With nearly zero direct experience on love and all types of love experience vicariously, trust me only sane, home-breaking advice can come ;)

3. You can always work as an apprentice at a beauty parlour. That is as close to an air conditioned office one can go, without working. And if you are bad enough, you'll be asked just to do the fetching and cleaning stuff ;)

4. One can(not you X) start teaching kids at home. One can also open a creche.

5. Anybody with one bit creativity ( that can be learnt) one can start teaching art, craft, mehndi, silaai, kadhaai, bunaai, cooking, etc at home. What should be your target group depends on your skills and your ability to tolerate kids.

6. With a little internet working skills, one can start online trading/ getting tickets booked/ pay utility bills/ sell and buy things on net. You can also start blogging and earn from that or may be contribute and earn from fan-fiction/ soap story writing.

7. You can also buy cheap stuff from Sarojini nagar and sell in sector 25, Noida.

8. The easiest way to be a parasite still remains being a house-wife. Just try to look so frail that you are never asked to do any house work.

PS. This is first cut of available career options. I'll update the list when I find more suitable jobs for you. Happy working. :)

As promised and decided, here are the additions:
9. You can get associated with any newspaper/tv/ etc etc and start going to different dhabas and restaurants and comment in the new outlets. The known foodie you are, it may be good for all. One(not you again) can also get paid to shop and comment on the shopping experience!!!

10. A new coffee shop with some good coffee, tea and snacks can be opened. Imagine a rainy day and a cosy shop serving good chai and pakoda... I'll certainly be your first customer

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Hindi meri matrabhasha hai

We recently started teaching (recently means about 4 months) to some small kids who do not go to school. We teach them basic Maths, Hindi and English.

And today I realized it’s a lot easier to teach Hindi than English. With Hindi if you know the alphabets and maatrayein, you can make words and sense. But in English, you have to know words to make sense. For example, if you have to write “Ladakaa”(boy) in Hindi, you can teach Ladakaa = La + Da + Ka + aa. You just teach the kids to split the word into smaller parts and then write each one of them. But how do you make one learn to write “Boy”, well… Boy = B+O+Y. that’s it… no reason, no breaking into smaller parts… hai to hai types

I suddenly felt like singing “Jai Bharati” and proud to be an Indian and “Hindi hai hum watan hai Hindustaa hamara”… but then I also felt sorry that I haven’t read as many Hindi authors as English, that my blog and writings are in English and that slowly I am becoming more comfortable in English than in Hindi

I will try to change that. I hope to someday read Maithili Sharan Gupt, Mahadevi Varma and Sumitra Nandan Pant out of interest and not out of compulsion like in school times. But if I fail, I’ll take that guilt to grave.