Laws (loss?) of the Land

How or why do people get away with so much destruction of public property, murder, rape, communal/terrorist attacks and other such crimes? And...importantly, why doesn't it matter any more, unless a *celebrity* is involved? Is our law administration system flawed? Most of the crimes seemed to fall into a particular category and a pattern is soon visible - that of belonging to one of the several cases where, if I dare say, Indian law seems to be failing! These thoughts plagued my mind whenever I came across a disturbing article in the newspaper. I never intended to pen-down these thoughts, but had to give a way to the constant mounting disappointment in me.

Read this article : After 36 years of misery, a fresh hope of death
The first thought that crossed my mind is why the hell did the culprit get only 7 years of sentence? Isn't the crime he committed as serious as a murder? In reality, I believe,its worse. He caused the poor lady to not have any life of her own, banished to a mere ward bed for about thirty six years. What kind of justice system is this? Directly or indirectly, isn't it in the criminal's favour?

Kasab's case is one more saga of never-ending twists.Only God knows when the victims' families would get some respite and when his *trial* comes to an end!

A brief search on the net tells me that the average age of a criminal case(i.e. from the time of committing a crime to the culprit getting punished) is somewhere between 5 years to 40 years or more!! Unbelievable, isn't it? Well, with such a law administration system as the backbone for providing justice to its people, I'm sure countries like India can promise only so much.

Quicker resolution of cases and stricter punishment to those who violate the Law may hopefully,bring in some good changes to the system.
While our great politicians strive hard to break this country into tinier bits and pieces, let us only pray that some common sense dawns on them sooner or later. Then probably,we might have bills passed in the Parliament for amendment of the Law Administration in the country.

Fingers crossed!

Do you post?

Yes, do you post? Not scraps or blogs silly! Do you post letters (not mails / mail chains) ?
When was the last time you actually posted a letter?
With due credit to this *Internet age*, I must say, people have almost forgotten how to write letters.
There was this interesting conversation at the lunch table today - My friend mentioned that she'd dress up her kid as a post-box for the fancy dress event at his school! Reason? Well, so that the kids are aware of a thing called 'post box' existed once upon a time :)
We talked about our school days, when we kept in touch with friends/cousins in another city, through letters.
I remember waiting for the postman to deliver that day's letters. He would make his rounds on the cycle of his, going house to house, every afternoon at around 3 pm. Nothing stopped him. Not the rains. Not even the sultry heat of the coastal city.
I dint receive any letters on most of the days. But on the day I got one, it'd fill me with an unusual sense of joy - something you feel when you get a surprise gift. My cousin and I wrote letters to each other. Every letter had the same opening & closing lines - "Hi, How are you? I'm fine" / "Bye, ta ta " followed by some stupid hand drawn cartoons saying "bye". We both treasure those letters as precious tokens from our childhood.
Going through those letters now makes me fall out of my chair, laughing! They seem absolutely hilarious now.
Do e-mails/facebook/orkut have the same feel? Can one treasure one's childhood/adolescence years through these community sites or emails? Can the 10 year back scraps bring me the same joy as a 10 year old handwritten letter?

Pre-Wedding Blues

One of my cousins is getting married next week. Though we've been planning on spending some time together, it dint really work out. Finally we could coincidentally meet at my parents' place the other day.
After casually yapping about the shopping details, the discussion moved towards 'pre-nuptial anxiety'.
Anxious and excited, my cousin was really in a confused frame of mind. She isn't even married yet, but is already worrying about losing her freedom! She worried about how she'd mingle-mix with her soon-to-be-husband's family. All in all she was a very stressed. I could connect to her very well..actually could understand her thoughts because I've been through it not long ago!

I remember feeling anxious, restless and stressed out as my wedding date drew closer. I wondered if I'm going to lose my freedom forever. Silly thoughts like being addressed as 'aunty' possessed me :) The whole idea of setting up your own home, scared me no end. I thought I'd be doomed to the kitchen and all such mundane chores that come with an independent setup! Shopping for long hours , running around for petty things & going to bed dead tired, dint help either. Actually, I started worrying about all the finer details of the wedding arrangements, inspite of being aware that my dad is already taking good care of them. I fussed about not getting enough time to relax. Complained about having to work till about 3 days before my wedding ( yeah, leave planning is not my cup of tea!).All in all, I'm ashamed to admit that I made life miserable for myself and others around me.
I recollect how I nagged poor hubby dear with all my growing fears/anxieties. I'm really grateful to him for lending a patient ear to my rants. He'd calm me and reassure me that he is going to be by my side through thick and thin. To this day, he stuck by his word and never shies away when it comes to helping me out with the dishes, cooking or any of the other household chores. I should admit,I'm very proud of him.

I digress though. Yes, pre-wedding blues are common. Every person has his/her own way of reacting to losing that 'single' status. There are people like my husband, who really look forward to it, enjoy and treasure every moment - since marriage is 'once in a lifetime' thing. And then, there are others like me, who get hyper-stressed and worry about every little thing.

If you are interested in reading more about 'pre-wedding-blues', you can find a good article here

Take me to your heart

It was a nice,cool November evening. I got into the bus after a tough day at work, plugged in my phone radio and tuned into a local station, for some respite. Back in 2005,Hyderabad dint offer the variety of radio stations it does now. We had only a handful to choose from!

As the bus began to move, chilly winter breeze greeted me with gentle tingles.Soon it grew darker and the sky wore a lovely blue hue, only to be lit by a bright full moon. Then it happened. The local station started playing this lovely song after a ton of irritating commercials. But yes, the wait was worth it.Till date, this song scores high on my list of favorites.I fell for the lyrics, almost instantly. The ambience seemed magical, transporting me to a romantic world. All these memories froze in time for me and playback whenever I listen to this song, filling me with pure ecstasy.


The song is : "Take me to your heart" by ML TR.
Listen to the song, here
Lyrics
Hiding from the rain and snow
Trying to forget but I won't let go
Looking at a crowded street
Listening to my own heart beat

So many people all around the world
Tell me where do I find someone like you girl

(Chorus)
Take me to your heart take me to your soul
Give me your hand before I'm old
Show me what love is - haven't got a clue
Show me that wonders can be true

They say nothing lasts forever
We're only here today
Love is now or never
Bring me far away

Take me to your heart take me to your soul
Give me your hand and hold me
Show me what love is - be my guiding star
It's easy take me to your heart

Standing on a mountain high
Looking at the moon through a clear blue sky
I should go and see some friends
But they don't really comprehend

Don't need too much talking without saying anything
All I need is someone who makes me wanna sing
(Chorus)

Silent? not anymore!

Tired and bored after a hectic day at work, my husband and I crashed in front of the TV for some respite.While flipping through the channels, a cute little elephant on Nat-Geo caught our attention.
This little fellow is an orphan rescued by one of the organizations. He lost his parents, thanks to the endless greed of our 'great' human race.

As the show went on, I made a chilling discovery. After being a silent witness to heavy poaching for over two decades, this creature is up for a revenge on the humans! In Uganda,elephant numbers have never been lower or food more plentiful, yet it is observed that these creatures blocked roads, trampled through villages & destroyed crop, apparently without cause or motivation.
To me, elephant is a benevolent giant. Except in a few rare cases (I thought), where an elephant is crazy, he wouldn't attack the humans or for that matter, any species. This show added a whole new dimension to my thinking!


In India, elephants are worshiped and considered sacred.Ganesha Chaturthi is one of the biggest festivals this country celebrates. However, unfortunately, this country also witnessed a lot of elephant poaching, which is evident from their diminishing numbers.

Greed for more has always pushed man to commit some of the deadliest crimes against nature. It is established that the once thriving species like tiger,elephants are very fast becoming endangered. Given all this, I wonder whats happening to man's compassion towards animals? What is the common man doing about this? Is he ignorant? Empathetic? It upsets me when I come across articles like this in the newspaper: Memorial amidst tiger reserve.
Are we protesting against this? What can we do about it? How can we make our voices heard? My search is still on...

Dynamic Priorities?

If you are looking for techie stuff, this is not the correct link. Sorry!

So what exactly am I talking about?
I'm talking about the choices we need to make / the priorities that need to be revised/revisited in our day-to-day lives (dynamically).
Life is full of choices - why? isn't what you get to do in the next hour, your choice? or may be atleast somebody else's choice imposed on you? ;)


Its ultimately your choice to have a healthy lifestyle (or not to?), to excersie , to spend the day the way you want to, or to be happy or not to? My observation is, typically, people are very clear (I'd say at a very high level), about their general priorities revolving around family/career/health. I'd call it a hypothetical situation.Why? Because lost in our daily humdrum, we (yes, that includes me) never actually pay much attention to what is more important or dear to us!

X wants to spend more time with the kids but couldn't due to demands of his ambitious business venture.
Y wants to take aerobic classes, but just could not, due to work related stresses.
Z wants to wake up early everyday..only that 'day' is yet to come!


So what does one gather from these different scenarios? That sometimes (or is it most of the times?) we just plainly stop seeing our actual priorities due to demands from other spheres of our lives.....only to wake up one day and start cribbing?
What could be the reason?
Heres a definition from Physics

Inertia : The innate force of matter is a power of resisting, by which every body, endeavors to preserve in its present state, whether it be of rest, or of moving uniformly forward in a straight line.

Yes! the culprit is inertia to change,to revisit our priorities dynamically...or so I believe :)
I'd encourage readers of this blog to kick off a discussion (in the form of comments),so as to get different perspectives.

Adios!

No time to stand and stare!

I had this tea-table conversation with friends at office, the other day. There was a mention about my blog & a casual inquiry "Mind not idle?" . Pat came my reply "no time to reflect!".Its been a while since I last wrote. There were many things that kept me busy. I prefer not to digress now. I may write them out in a separate blog.

I'm sick and stayed away from work yesterday and today. This gave me a lot of free time. I preferred to stay in bed yesterday, owing to my weakness. I'm a lot better today and was thinking,re-thinking about my reply "no time to reflect??" Yes! its so true. I haven't had time for myself (solitude). Though its nice to have something to do, keep you busy all the time, I believe its also equally necessary to have these moments of solitude, where you are just lost in your own thoughts and have a chance to connect to / rediscover yourself.

Coming back to what I wanted to share through this blog... "no time to reflect", quickly brought back verses from a poem I studied at school - " no time to stand and stare" . I still remember how pissed I used to be for having to study these poems, which at that age, never made any sense and seemed a total waste of time. Ironically, now, I keep recollecting verses from different poems I studied, every now and then! They make absolute sense now and I'm really glad that I got a chance to read the work of some great poets.

So here you go, this is the poem that came back to me today. Its called "Leisure" by William Henry Davies, a Welsh poet.

Leisure by William Henry Davies

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this is if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

Its raining men!

At last it started raining here! After playing a month's hide-n-seek,the splendid monsoon has finally arrived. Whoa!what a scotching summer it had been!

Contrary to the popular notion that rains are gloomy and depressing, I believe rains bring a lot of cheer and vitality, especially to tropical countries like India. This is the time to connect to the nature - tune into the cute melodies from a varied species of birds & observe the tiny little saplings sprouting from the moist soil. This is also the time to go on a 'dragon-fly-chase' mission. I can go on and on..there are so many little joys that the rains bring with them. Its as if the whole place has suddenly come alive!

Somethings I love to do when its pouring like cats and dogs.

a) Cozy up with a good book, taking breaks to watch the rain.

b) Listen to some nice, loud and lively music

c) Have hot mirchi bajji + ginger tea...yum.. & a delightful conversation with a loved one.

d) Go for a stroll with my husband, soon after its stops raining.

Oh lovely! Its raining out there, even as I type this blog! Let me rush out!

Catch you later folks..

F.R.I.E.N.D.S

No! This is not a blog dedicated to the super famous TV show.

Last Sunday we watched the movie "New York". Though the film predominantly belongs to the 'serious movies' genre, the first one hour revolves around the lives of 3 friends & their happy college days....

The movie brought back many memories of the free spirit of college life & the fun/laughter filled days at moto.

I remember how sad we were when leaving the college and hostel. How I imagined all my good/care free days to have come to an end. How much all of us (my friends gang) wished to get back to that life - those yapping sessions till late in the night, those walks in the campus , those birthday celebrations & bumps! :) , those 'combined study' sessions just before the exam! Wow, those were great days and will be cherished for the rest of my life.

I should say I have been fortunate to have a similar phase in my life, again! The last few years in Motorola were college life - part 2 for me :) At moto, what started as a group of 3/4 people hanging out for lunch/snacks soon became a big gang of 10-12 people! There were funny bday celebrations ( I still rmr how we've put up Suman's photo with Chiranjeevi in the cafty, on his bday), great bakra-banao sessions, TT/Cricket/Caroms wars, Outings, 'Get-to's at homes, Movies,Temples & finally interview preps! "Hang out together and have great fun" was the motto.......Time moved on, and so did folks in the gang.

Friends come and go, but the mark they leave on you is indelible. That's how life is.

This post is a celebration of the wonderful friendships I had and is dedicated to all my friends! Thank you guys! :)

Driving lessons..

Driving has always been a nightmare for me! :( I look at people driving/riding in Hyderabad and always wonder how the hell are these people still alive??

Autos/bikers overtake you from left/right with absolutely no heed to traffic rules/police. Driving in hyderabad is like playing road rash, except that this is REAL and is your LIFE!

Sitting in the front seat (next to my husband,who drives the car), I often wish I'm equipped with those rods/sticks/whatever they use in road rash - to bang their competetors - in my case, bang all those who change their lanes in the laaast minute/rashly overtake from left.

Now,talking about my driving skills. I've learnt car driving earlier but am soo used to being driven around, that I never really cared much about my driving. Mistake! BIG mistake! As if this is not bad enough, I always get confused between left & right! Picture this - me guiding somebody on a busy street , with people behind honking the life out of us. In this chaos, when the person asks me "which turn?", I say left, with my hands pointing towards right!!

Given all this background, I'm now planning on re-taking the driving lessons ;) and am actually planning to drive in Hyderabad! Wish me luck!

The pursuit of happiness...

I heard this phrase for the first time, on TV, while watching a trailer of the movie "The Pursuit of Happyness". It puzzled me , made me wonder "what an interesting phrase!" The pursuit i.e. chase/quest for happiness? Isn't this the core of Hindu philosophy? The quest for the ultimate truth, the quest for constant happiness devoid of worldly miseries? (it also happens to be one of the phrases in the United States declaration of Independence,which goes - Life, Liberty , and the Pursuit of happiness). It got me thinking...

All of us, in our day-to-day hurried lives keep telling ourselves - ' let me get that,I'll be happy', 'let me achieve this, that'll put me on top of the world!' and so on and so forth. Have we really been happy on getting *that* ? Yes, may be for a few hours/days. After that? Well, we have something new to *achieve*, something new to *buy/get* aaand are unhappy/at unrest until that is achieved!

How weird, isn't? The underlying goal (if I may say so) of every human being is to be happy - which we think, can be attained - may be buying a house, getting an admit into the most coveted University, high paying job , beautiful/handsome spouse ...and the pursuit continues...

I'm not different! I keep falling into this trap every now and then. However, of late, I started realizing that one can never truely be happy by pursuing 'happiness' . Happiness can only be found within.

My favorite quote goes "Being happy does not mean everything is perfect, it means that you've decided to look beyond imperfections..." Perfect!! isn't it? :)

But as they say, 'its easier said than done' ! Will post on this topic again, once I succeed ;)

Nostalgic memories!

While searching for something, I stumbled upon some of my old mails today. One of them is from my cousin and the other from a friend. Both of them wrote to me while I was at WIPRO,Bangalore, undergoing fresher's training.

The content of their mails is pretty much similar - inquire about my well being and convey that they missed me. I remember how these two mails ( sent on the same day, coincidentally) made me feel so nostalgic, five years back! They brought back the same memories today, when I read them once again! :)

My first blog!

This is my first blog and am super excited about it! :)

Blogging is one thing that had been at the back of my mind for quite some time now. I've been putting it away, thanks to my ..err..laziness!

So what do I write about? Well, about anything under the sun - anything that catches my attention, anything that I've been musing about - absolutely anything!