Baby highs and lows

It was Sunday early morning 6th of July, , 2008,an emergency , and Meera, my sis,drove mom ,dad and me to the maternity home just 10 minutes away fom home. Reached the maternity home and a few tests and scans later, decided to go in for a C-section at 8:00 am.spoke to Gans who was at mumbai airport boarding a flight for b'lore...he asked me to hold on till he touches down B'lore...I smiled and told him I'll be ready with the gift when he touches down....At 8:12 am, a cute lil Bonny boy was born and half hour later I was shifted to my ward...the nurse brought a small bundle covered in soft white towel and showed the bundle to me...though I was sadeted I could see wide eyes staring back at me and surveying my face closely...I couldnt believe my eyes...this cute package had been creating havoc inside me for the past nine months and now he is finally out in the cold world....then Meera's mobile rang and I could hear Gans scream on the other end "hey I recieved Meera's sms...i am so sorry, I wasnt around for the C-section".An hour later, Gans just appeared from nowhere and planted a kiss on my cheek and cried on seeing our lil bundle....Mom, Gans and Meera immediately got on the job of caring for lil one...I was too sleepy even to keep my eyes open...the baby needed to be fed...the nurses suggested a local dairy's milk to be given fighting protests from mommy and Gans who insisted on either a high quality milk or formula....I tried feeding him the second day but was too sore from my surgery so he had to be given something else apart from mother's milk..and the nurses again suggested the local dairy milk....the next day the bonny boy turned into a bony boy and the weight loss was vey evident.we were worried but the pediatrician assured us that there was no cause for concern as weight loss is common....we werent convinced and meera and gans drove him to a neo natal speciality hospital where upon examinaton he had to be admitted to the ICU.Apparenty t was a severe case of dehydration and bacterial infection due to something he was fed with.The docs sounded the "critical" Alarm....it hadnt even been 72 hours for the lil one and his life was in danger already....of course, these facts were hidden from me for reason that I was under recovery myself...but Gan and Meera ran from pillar to post for different scans and blood tests for the lil one, he was under heavy medication and drips from his third day...the joy we were reveling in two days back turned into our life's biggest nightmare.I was separated from my baby winthin three days of his birth and the lil one stayed in ICU FOR 5 DAYS.Two of which being extremely critical.The day the doc gave us the "Out of danger" sign , we were so relieved we were taking him home afterall....he was going to live...

u can imagine the agony and truama all of us would have been thru...am blogging this really unpleasent episode only to tell all those reading my blog that please take care of ur precious one as soon as he/ she graces this world...if the mother can feed then please go for it the first hour itself and if she is unable to feed for some reason then give him doses of formula only even if the docs insist on some cheaper brand of milk.....coz ur baby deserves the best...

When Big is Beautiful

Well , am finally at the stage where i may have to wait for just 2 weeks for my bundle of happiness to arrive....enjoyed shopping for the lil one , clothes , cradle, toys and all.....

There waz a time when i was getting bigger, I would look myself in the mirror and give a snarl, but the getting bigger in pregnancy makes me wanna show off my bump....the bigger I get the happier i feel and for some strange reason, Gans is also ga-ga over the bump, he looks at it proudly and if I even try and wear clothes that might camouflage the bump, he flies off the handle.....

This is the only time when you are forgiven even if you put on 10 to 15 kgs.....who sayz only small is beautiful......

Maternity excitement

Havent blogged for a while now....hey by the way, thanks Sree for your concern , am doing just fine my dear girl.....its just that the third timester of the 9 and a half month ordeal is taking a toll on my general fitness.....the fatigue and the heaviness...I call it the the 3rd trimester jitters...and also the excitement of the fact that I will be seeing the face of my sweet angel in just 11 weeks......

well, its amazing how the maternity period can be so difficult yet so enjoyable....the heart burns , heaviness, vericose veins, and numerous discomfort but just thinking of the miracle that you will be holding in the end make the effort worthwhile.....

I have only been daydreaming about my baby in the past few weeks....have become such a zombie....but guess this phase is one of the sweetest phase in ones life....Gans is very excited too...and has been collecting info on how hw can help during labor....

A Tale of Two Cities

Am presently enjoying my maternity break at my in-laws place back at Jamshedpur, the steel city. Frankly loving the attention, loving being overfed ( appetite seems to be an unending saga), but just detesting the "much bigger me" and have resolved to get back to my original size at least a month after the delivery.One thing that I am enjoying the most though is the quiet peaceful town that Jamshedpur is.What a respite from the noisy, dust spurning city that Mumbai is.Living in Jamshedpur almost feels as if I have descended onto an uninhabited land, untouched by dust, pollution, crowds most importantly TRAFFIC.

Most People living in Mumbai would surely agree with me when I say the peak hour trafiic in Mumbai in a hot summer day can be equalled to a third degree torture.Ok maybe I was going too far , but definately second degree torture.Waiting on the endless Western Express highway for the antline of vehicles to budge when the suns rays burn your skin, the sweat soils your clothes and the dust and grime makes it impossible for you to convice those nosey parkers that you bathed in the morning.You enter the well lit corporate office and the snazzy rooms with clean walls looking like a drab apology to your posh surroundings(yeesh! how I hate to be in that position). Anyway, bottomline is, Mumbai gives you all the patience you need to live in conditions unsuited for basic comfortable living.The city teaches you to grow up, put up with consistant honking and pan spitting, smell of rotten garbage and sewage, in short , it teaches you to put up with a lot of shit.

Thats why coming to a small clean township like Jamshedpur, you feel as if you have descended in somesort of a luxurious resort.The peace and quiet, the clean roads , non honking and non pan spitting public, and a meagre 4 to 5 vehicles plying on roads canopied by tall green trees seems like such a luxury fit only for the king to enjoy.You hardly find dusty and chipped of concrete multistories huddled with people breathing down each others necks. I have only seen independent houses with beautiful gardening spaces .Looks like everyone here has acquired a flair for gardening. The Roads are lined with tall trees to provide shade when it gets too sunny.And at a given point in time, there are only 4 to 5 vehicles plying on the roads.Inspite of these luxuries that the jamshedpurians enjoy, my ma and pa-in-law say that the traffic is bad, and the dust is killing and pollution is at a rise.

It hit me then" my city may not have given me all the basic comforts required for a peaceful life, but what it has definately given me is the patience to take the discomfort" Since I am not exactly living in the lap of luxury, I am satisfied with even basic requirements for a comfortable living.

In the name of God

Will not feed you with another dose of movie review....but watched "Khuda ke liya" last weekend and simply loved it...words cannot be put to understand the experience ...if you are looking for something sensible , hard hitting and gets you fodder for those thinking cells, "then dont miss it".......

“It was the best of times; It was the worst of times."

I wonder how many of you have seen the award winning movie" Hazaron Khwaishen Aisi". Friends kept telling me not to miss it but the lazybones in me never got around to pick up the CD. Last weekend, with nothing much on my agenda, I asked Gans to pick up the CD for me. The curiosity about people raving was too tempting to resist. And it was truly worth the watch.

In short, the movie, as quoted in some review “is how three extraordinary people change the course of their lives in a span of 10 years during the Indira Gandhi regime and Emergency." I would like to rephrase the jist in a more lay manner as “how 3 extraordinary people follow their individual dreams, realize the dream they are living turned out to be nightmares”

The opening lines of the title song says it all"Hazaroon Khwaishein Aisi ki har Khwaish pe dum nikalen"

I agree that life never follows the course you plan for it. Most of have seldom fulfilled living the dream we dreamt. I agree circumstances, lack of grit and determination, have an important part to play in not realizing that dream. But sometimes there are instances when the dreams are all fulfilled and realized only to discover later that the dream you lived and realized has ruined you.

Coming back to the movie. The movie kicks off at a time during the late 60s (Indira Gandhi Regime) with agitations against corruption, Satyagrahas by Gandhians, wannabe power mongers of the then "Infamous Youth Congress", confused bourgeoisie youth wanting to embrace socialist and communist ideals, the starry eyed middle class youth infested with ambition and ruthlessness in their journey to prosperity, and of course last but not the least the dangerous nexus between beaurocrats, businessmen and bum lickers of politicians. Plot revolves around 3 strong determined individuals who have their lives carved out for themselves. There is Siddharth, the son of a retired high court judge, who is chasing the communist dream, the starry eyed Vikram, son of a Gandhian, who dreams big bucks and the doe eyed Lady of steel, Geeta, whose dream is to support her lover, Siddharth at any cost.

Eventually all the three Delhi University graduates pass out to follow their individual dreams, they live their dreams.Siddharth joins the Naxalites and is a geurilla fighter for the oppressed somewhere in Bhojpur, Geeta, married to an IAS officer, leaves him to follow her dream of supporting Siddharth in his struggle and Vikram bags a huge contract of converting a Dilapitated Palace into a Five Star hotel and there is no looking back, before he knows it, he is a sucessful businessman. All of them have realized what they wanted to. Then comes the dread of emergency and indiscriminate arrests of all and sundry, this brings their well nestled lives to conundrum, and la....before you blink they are shattered and Vikram is left demeted with Geeta to care for him in some godforsaken village where she teaches in an elementary school and Siddharth is left nowhere after the disintegration of the Naxals, and is studying medicine at the age of 35.They lived their dream but dreaded it.

I know most people during the 70s were fascinated with the concept of Socialism and political awareness was at its peak among the youth.Most Delhi Universitietes harboured a dream to be a Naxal or a member of the communist movement.There were communist groups formed in the hostels.Colleges became political battlefields.Those were the times when awareness and rebellion was at its peak , so was oppression and corruption. The movie beautifully captures the romance and the passion of that era, when people had a purpose beyond just making money and flying abroad.

In Dickens’ words “It was the best of times; It was the worst of times."

What Goes Around Comes Around!!!!!

Last weekend Gans and I decided to get into a more social mood and make all those long overdue visits to relatives. Part of it came out of constant prodding from Mom and Gans' uncle. Finally, we decided, let’s do it and get over with it!!!! Little did we know that we would come back smiling and with some wisdom in those dense head of ours.

Our First stop was at an aged couple's home, my Granmas' brother. The Grandpa was 84 and his wife probably three to four years younger. We had been postponing our visit for about a year, so it was natural for them to be a lil bit cross with us. We couldn’t avoid the visit this time around coz there was my Granma’s younger sister who was visiting from US, and wanted to meet Gans (da groom her grand-niece had chosen).So we wore our best sober clothes, to visit the octegenarians.Arrived there about one hour late and thought that this would have understandably sparked off displeasure from the "British Raj Generation”. So, there we were, blew it all up from the very start. As we entered we could feel the warmth in their eyes and smiles on those soft wrinkled lips. We were glad to see that our late entry had not irked them a bit, and even if it had, they probably had learnt to deal with the "Laid Back Coke Generation".

The first thing we noticed was that the home was neat, Spartan, huge and uncluttered and happiness seemed to emanate from every corner. It was bright with colorful floral curtains and lots of space. The gracious hostess, who was about 81 or 82 years old, asked if we wanted coffee or tea. Our polite refusal to cause them any kind of inconvenience did not go down well with her "hospitable" instincts. She insisted and we put forth our preferences after which the poor lady smiled and reconfirmed our requests but swapped our preferences.Gans politely smiled and corrected her. Then she rose from her chair, and we noticed she was a complete hunchback owing osteoporosis. That moment guilt pangs had hit the peak and we collectively wished we could have insisted on having nothing and said we were there to see them. Both Gans and me involuntarily rose to help her out, only to receive an "I can handle myself” kind of a look from her. We backed out due to fear of being misunderstood. Then I followed her to the kitchen in the next two minutes, thinking that she could do with a lil bit of company in the neat spacious kitchen. She just ushered me into the living area and asked me to be seated. I obediently took my seat. Then she came in, her weary shaky hands holding the tray that somehow looked bigger than her delicate lil hands. She offered us the beverages (again the wrong ones) and took a deep breath to sink into the Armchair.

Conversations drifted from pleasantries, to sundry enquiries of wellness till we started warming up in our chairs and were comfortable enough to recline ourselves and lend our ears to the enriching experiences of the wise souls. There were talks on how Gramps had carefully steered clear of corruption during his 41 years of holding High bureauracratic positions in the Central Government, how he repelled the those rotten eggs of his dept by being as rude and nasty as possible, how he intimidated the corrupted bureaucrats of other nations during his tour as a UN official in Chile. We were naturally amazed at the experiences and to think that this High level bureaucrat was sitting in front of us wearing simple white cotton Kurtha and Pajamas and perched on this recliner in a Spartan home and treating two youngsters with the glories of the past. One would expect a man of his stature to carry airs and live in a mansion with an army of attendants to wait upon him, but there they were the happy simple couple. Of course our delicate and dainty lil’ hostess added that much needed homely touch to the conversation by mentioning about the comfortable huge houses and abundant house-hold help that was available during those glorious days and how she really hated to see so many people help around and never appreciated the plethora of attendants in the good old days. She looked wistful for such help in today’s date when she actually needs it.

The stay at their home which was initially intended to be 15 minutes, stretched a long two hours. And no we weren’t forced to stay, we enjoyed it.

We learnt too many things that day. We understood how important it is to connect with people (both of us hated socializing), how our mere concern and desire to meet certain people can bring them so much happiness, how honesty may not be able to buy you comfort and luxuries, but may fill your sack with happiness and peace of mind abundantly, and how we must never have preconceived notions about how boring or interesting some meetings might be.

I guess this visit had definitely made us wiser, happier and most of all made us smile.

On our way home, Gans looked at me and said" we'll also grow old together one day and long for a visit from youngsters and would tell them about the good old days, and they would curse us under their breath." Life is a full circle.

PS: The next stop of our visit to be featured in the next blog….watch the space

Smart Women and Loosers Attract

Well, wonder why I see these things more and more each day.....Is it that there is a dearth of good men around or women in General have are too smart to a fault...whew! These are true stories that happened in front of my eyes and any resemblance to any person dead or living is not co-incidental.

Scenario 1:

A smart girl who works for a HR Firm in a metropolis. She is beautiful, dashing, well dressed, neat, stylish and Fashionable, knows her mind, loves Soft Rock, Hollywood romantic comedies, Jim Morrison, Brad Pitt, Meg Ryan, Bollywood and Kajol.She is the very smart suave career woman, focused on building a career. In short she iz what you would call a Rock Chick.....She has a boyfriend who is good looking but such a looser in life, lives off his girls' earnings and blows up da money mainly on Booze, beats her up whenever he gets high and Highly possessive....Finally the smart cookie, manages to dump the squib after a huge emotional conflict...The breakup hurts her a lot as she really loved the guy and he was a high school sweetheart...Of course the break up is heavy on the guy as well, but after all he was da cause for it thus it waz well deserved.....then she finds this sympathetic shoulder smartass kinda guy, okie looking, not a looser, planning to get a green card and is chasing our dear lil Rock Chick like mad...both hook up and rock chick sees love in life again, the guy splurges on her, the best hangouts, the best outfits, the guy brings out confidence in her which is a good thing..3 months later he gets his US Visa and flies to Uncle Sam in search of Employment and Green Card, leaving his Rock Chick behind...She carries his photograph in her bag, has his voice as a ring tone and caller tune, has a framed photo of them both on her work desk....the relationship tries hard to survive for a staggering period of six more months after which she is perplexed by his indifference and disinterest, he comes to her land only to tell her its over.....then she finds this extremely sexy, suave, handsome colleague who has seen her thru the previous relationship and was secretly harboring feeling for our beauty, jumped and the first chance, wooed her with flowers, gifts, coffee outings, then slowly they became cozy dinners and then they officially announced the "committed" status, when the mother of typical Tambram hunk disapproves of the social nicotinelizing (if dats a word), social boozing , career minded and modern bahu in da family, the hunk, turns out to be a Mamas Boy....Rock Chick is confused to the hilt though he career is in its peek....

Scenario 2;

A super intelligent well groomed career girl with a great job and numerous offers flooding her practically every day. Hot property in the Corporate houses, well networked, oozing confidence, will never take no for an answer when it comes to closing Business deals, Star performer in her team, intimidates Men. She loves her Archies with piping Coffee, gushes over Brad Pitt (he is really the taste of Sophosticated women), loves Ally Mc Beal and Friends and loooves most of all to hang out with friends for a smoke , chai and some cheese sandwiches.She had been dating this light eyed, non looker, non performer, looser, since her college days,when he swept her off her feet with some silly love song he sang, and from that day on our lil dynamo had her heart set on da dude, she had seen the world , met a lot of interesting men along her career, partied with corporates, but she stuck to this ol’ damp who was struggling to do something in life and was trying a pathetic hand at the Real Estate Business, as she had the responsibility of a commitment and she was a strong believer of "TRUE LOVE"....but unfortunately the ol’ damp did not share the similar belief and sentiments, building up an inferiority complex came naturally to him, especially during all those social occasions when she would take him out for her corporate gatherings. He would spot a young Tart who may not be as intimidating as his girlfriend and flirt endlessly, looked for easy tarty lays everywhere and banged them left right centre as a tonic for his ego, till the lady found out one day, and dumped him immediately and then had a girly night out with a lot of booze and dance, but in spite of all this she camouflaged all the hurt she felt inside....now shez single, ready to mingle and come out of the seclusion she waz in for months.....

Seanario 3:

Highly skilled, talented , articulate, and pretty young thing. Most had hardly seen a 13 year old with such IQ and were fascinated with the young thing. Everyone thought there was no match for her in the world. She was too good for anyone. Loved her Fredrick Forsythe, Sidney Sheldon, Broadway musicals, and a small dose of Bollywood to go along with the concoction. She was a dreamer and dreamt of the white Knight on a steed who'd sweep he off her feet, thank fully she didn’t have to wait long before the real Knight surfaced from nowhere and blew her mind off....he was handsome (extremely goodlooking) , stylish, rockstar Dude who came with the frills of being rich.She was elated and could believe she had found the love of her life so early, when people wait for 30 till they set their heart on someone, she had found her soulmate at 13...so what if his IQ doesn’t match that of hers, she will manage to live on conversations revolving around the 80's rock stars....she will keep the more intellectual discussions for the family and friends, she will cook for him, keep his house, his dog...she had stars in her eyes.....the relationship went along smooth sailing for 8 years, then trouble started brewing in her paradise....She had run out of the 80's rock star anecdotes in her stock , so had he....so she started being satisfied with the silly conversations or non conversations they had....she realized it would be very difficult to get along with a person with famine for ideas.......he was the typical stud who like to be complimented for his good looks by beautiful women and fell into the trap of glamour and glitz though he claimed that he loved his pretty young thing a lott...she tolerated his philandering only for the reason that he seemed to be still madly in love with her.....he abused her, and cheated on her and always came back with a puppy dog face she couldn’t resist.....she took all the shit from him, and they were engaged to be married , just when she thought engagement would change him, she learnt of a few more disturbing activities of our Hero, she wanted to call off her marriage but couldn’t owing to familial ties...don’t know what to say.


Seanario 4:

Smart, Intelligent, well dressed, pretty, bubbly and ultra charming. Very ambitious girl and wanted to be a top notch corporate figure. Did everything she could to work towards her goal. Did internships, socialized with people who mattered, studied to get into various colleges. The journey was interrupted by a surprise co-passenger who had similar dreams and she fell madly in love with the beautiful stranger. He was a cool dude, the kind most women would die for. As soon as she expressed her undying love to her, he laughed it off as an infatuated lil girl. But the more he got to know her, meet her, he realized she was a woman with grit, strength and stuff (the grey kind).So he fell for the girl head over heels. As soon as he proclaimed his love she had to move city. She kept the faith and so did he. Letters, mails, cards, phone calls were the most awaited tidbits in her life. She was as bubbly as ever and love had given her more strength and grit. Slowly the correspondence seemed to be thinning from the dude's den. She was worried, she would try calling him up. He would always seem to be "out of calling area", "Busy", or "Switched off”. Sometimes she would go weeks without any communication from the mate, weeks turned into months, months turned into half an year. NOW, she had had enough, she decided to look her man up herself. She visited his town .Set up a date at an appointed place and time. The guy showed up 3 hours behind schedule, with friends and some booze and fast bikes. She was horrified. How could the ambitious, sincere and level headed boy turn into "The Perfect Brat”. She waz dissapointed.The guy being as insensitive as he could be, was shocked to see her, as he thought she might have left the hangout after waiting for him for an hour or so. So he turned a good 3 hours late. That was the end of it all. She left him with the bad company he had gotten into; after all she had many more ambitions in life to look forward. But yes this one did hurt, and hurt her bad, though thankfully not bad enuf to leave a scar.


So you see now, Most of the smart women end up with Big Time Losers, and why????There are too many such stories to fit into my blog, but all of them have the same underlying themes to them. Well the girls did move on with their lives eventually, some found true love, and some compromised on the losers, some got smarter and decided to dump all men and turn Lesbians (well not really!!! just kidding.), but ya some made up minds to steer clear of the disturbed sex, Sigh!!!!!
But one underlying factor was that they were all smart with the wrong men.

Why are Smart women mostly attracted to Losers, Beats me!!!!!!!

FLOWER POWER......It hurts.....

Well I am sure most of us will agree that "vulnerability exists under the shadow of certain strengths." Here I speak for those millions and Millions of "Career oriented women who are all Hard core professionals in our field of work, maybe successful even, and some of them have surpassed men in their respective fields. But.....when it comes to personal relationships some of us can’t help feeling that we have failed badly, though there might be no fault of ours. Well, first of all these intelligent women have to fight a stigma against powerful women.....Men would praise you for being intelligent , beautiful , sharp, witty, funny etc..etc....they may even respect you for the same , but when it comes to being in a position of power, all the beauty and intelligence is forgotten and you are being examined as an intruder into the Male domain called POWER. And once you take the coveted position there is only mud slinging, bickering, false accusations to look forward to. So there goes your personal equation with male colleagues

Well, lemme get back to the main topic here...so I was saying, the power women has not only to fight the stigma of being what she is, she is also made to harbour guilt for being so strong .Well, if you are unmarried and powerful, then you will be pitied for not being able to find a guy who can match your power, your status. Most men who come with the Power Tag attached, would love to go in for a docile homely wife, and some that want intellectual stimulation at home, would look for an intelligent, articulate and smart woman, whom they can show off, but one who would at least try to act as a second fiddle to them infront of their colleagues and the miniscule few who can handle equally powerful women are so rare that it is unlikely you could sieve them out of such a population of ego maniacs. So the only option is a lesser powerful mortal, who can handle a more powerful wife. And such guys are fine with such women, if fact most of such women seek the lesser mortals to avoid ego clashes, but then you have relatives harping on the fact that he earns lesser than you or isn’t as smart, then starts the tiff about why the girl had to be so overtly ambitious and not concentrate on building Home and family before it was too late....blah...blah...blah..... So the vulnerability springs from the guilt factor that is forced upon the poor Lass.She suddenly is forced to wonder if she is the one ruining all her chances for a happy life and a wonderful relationship, though she may seem this tough nut at the work place .Also she feels she has failed her parents for not being able enough to get a groom worth her "salt".....so there goes another relationship spoiler......bugger!!!!!

And if the woman in topic is married then Heaven help her coz then the so called well wishers would surely pity her Husband even if he happens to be in a more powerful position and if he is not then you cannot escape the bickering. A lot has been said about Men who cant handle more successful spouses, so lemme not get into that, but then, I personally think that this phenomenon is slowly decanting as, more and more men are able to handle Flower Power…thankfully…..but then there are always those rotten eggs…u know…and another dampening effect


Thus the seed of guilt is sown into the mind of the unsuspecting dame for not bothering about"more important" aspects of a happy life. At this point she is so vulnerable she is most likely to get hitched to a spineless nincompoop who may be just strong enough to hold her up in this moment of vulnerability but cannot handle her social status........so there so goes again, another relationship blunder.......



Then comes sibling rivalry, esp. if it is a brother.....the male ego hurts there, he may be all proud of his sister and all dat, but if he is for some reason not as successful, then he would secretly harbour these hurtful feelings which might be another let down......
So all in all her self worth takes such a beating inspite of being so successful, that she starts blaming herself for all the sour relationships in her life.......
No one understands that a strong successful women sometimes, " is also just a girl standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her".........She can be vulnerable too, like china in your Hands........Well "Notting Hills" dont happen all the times, do they......
Whew! So much apologising for FLOWER POWER!!!

What is in it for me???

Have you ever wondered how much importance a certain section people give to this line in their lives ...its as if this line decides the entire course of their lives....It is the
key factor for choosing friends(FRIENDS WITH BENIFITS), choosing Jobs, helping people...every single aspect of their lives governed by that teeny weeny little devil inside their heads asking" whats in it for me?"


Franky, the sorts make me snort in exhasperation.I recon it must be really tiring for people who always wonder about the "added benifits" before they even smile.I mean imagine debating with yourself about whether you should go ahead and shake your hand with the oblivious stranger you have just been introduced to when you have just a little over a split second to react before he might think you are rude. Well, am I kidding myself? The sorts dont even bother if they appear Rude to a stanger so long as he doesnt fit into the so called "Friends with Benifits" category.

The sorts might honestly think they are "Gods Gift to the dumbass world", but let me tell ya...even "friends with benifits can leave ya hi-nd-dry, when the the going gets tough. So watch out!!!!

Well, I dont deny the fact that all of us are looking to win some brownie points with important people around us, it is but natural.But that doesnt exactly mean that it should be the base of our friendship with them.

Mumbai is for "Mumbaikars"

All this hoopla about Mumbai for Maharashrians is such a disheartening episode in the history of one of the largest melting pots of the world.
I am not making a political statement neither is it some kind of a regional point of view, but just an ordinary citizens' disgust about the whole razzmatazz.I have been living in Mumbai for 2 years now and have been really amazed with the metropolitan culture of the city. Have noticed the warm smiles and pride of being a mumbaikar irrespective of their region, religion or even nation. Have noticed people from all walks of life amalgamate beautifully in the melting pot of varied cultures. They love their Mumbai, and would be always prepared to defend it to the hilt if anyone even tries hurt their citys' sentiments.Mumbaikars are a clan of their own, they do not belong to any particular community or Nationality or Linguistic group. They speak a distinct language of their own, carry a distinct attitude and tolerance which is exclusive to them only. Just hint them on even considering a change of location and they'll cringe. They love being where they are and would definitely not swap cities with anyone for anything.For me Mumbai always stood for strength and Oneness of the people in times of crisis (not to forget the 7/11 and the July 22nd Train Blasts). The best thing about the place is that the citizens are always there for one-and other. I have noticed that this " Non-Maharashtra’s bashing" hasn’t gone down well with Mumbaikars(when I say Mumbaikars , I mean Maharashtrians too).I know of Maharashtrains who are so hospitable and so ever welcoming. There is this Maharashtrian Colleague in my office who is such a warm person and always goes out of his way to make me feel more comfortable in this big city. Because I am an outsider and new to the metropolis, I used to have certain reservations about the city, but he always was eager to help me out with any information I needed about different places in the city, so that I get more comfortable here and still keeps reassuring me that Mumbai is not such a bad place to live in after all. So when the so called "disgruntled local community" is not disgruntled at all about accepting people from other states, who is getting offended may, I ask? Well it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to deduce this as a political Gimmick, I still wonder if trying to disintegrate the strength of the MumbaiKars is going to help them in anyway.There are people who are still strong about their defence for the city inspite of being someone form the victimized community, but there are others also who are left disillusioned by the city of dreams and all that it has to offer.I feel if there is any sentiment that the so called disgruntled localite group should express on so many cultures prevailing in the metropolis, it should be that of pride and their chest should swell on being the original inhabitants of such a beautiful canvas of cultures, instead they have taken a stance of chasing away ironically those very people who Make Mumbai what it is today.But for this khichadi of Cultures, Mumbai would not have half the charm it holds today.Hope realization dawns on those that are ignorant and we the mumbaikars start co-existing once again, like one big happy family.

This too shall pass!!!!!!

TAARE ZAMEEN PAR

Very rarely do I feel really touched by a Hindi Movie.Perhaps I am the biggest critic of the Hindi Movies, I love to hate them, criticize them , rip them apart and finally bury them.
The genre of so called comedies that are being churned out dime a dozen are just a rehash and concoction of an attempt to insult the intelligence of the "esteemed" audience.

Anyway, this is not what I am writing about.Au contraire, I am here to rave about a sensible Hindi Movie I have seen in recent times which gives me some hope that the Hindi Movie Industry is still capable of making sensible cinema.

Last week I saw this extremely sensitive movie called Taare Zameen Par.I havent seen such cinema in Hindi for a very long time.It stayed in my mind long after I left the Theatre, and I am still waiting to get over it.It sure is like an infatuation,(who says you cannot be infatuated by a movie or fall in love with a movie).

Most of my friends came out of the Theatre secretly identifying themselves with the protagonist, Ishan Awasthi, a dyslexic kid. I say secretly, because there still exists a stigma about being identified as abnormal.But how can it be abnormal when most of us confessed to have had learing disorders when were young.We were just normal creatures.The perfect ones( if any) were abnormal.

Most of us were weak in at least one particular subject when at school. Either we couldnt understand what was being taught or failed to see the logic in the subject.Be it English or Maths, we would commit the same mistake over and over, inspite of being corrected at least ten times before.Some kids luckily got over it and devised a new method or trick that would help them stop comitting the mistake but some of the not so lucky ones stuck with the flaws for long.

All of us will have these little skeletons coming out of our little kiddie closets, wherein there would be confessions about difficulty in reading, writing or grasping certain things, which we might have eventually gotten rid of.

What we dont realize we still look down upon or feel sorry about any kid that might have major learning disabilities, when we could have been that kid.We have been there and done that, so instead of looking down upon a dyslexic child , why not for a change instill in him the confidence to move on with the disorder.

These kids are only normal, hyperactive, their brains work very fast and they are intelligent. It is just that they find difficulty is recoganizing alphabets , hence cannot read well, as their memory is not very good.Morover, English is such an illogical language that even normal people cannot understand the logic behind the spellings, how does one expect Dyslexic kids to appriciate the meaningless spellings.

Getting back to the movie, it really is an eye opener to all those people who always heckled slow learners and parents who pressurised their childern or teachers who were rude.

These children can teach you a thing or two about Humanity.