C'est La Vie;That's life

So much hoopla about womanhood, feminism, and what's right or wrong, extreme or mild versions of it, am suddenly feeling a urge to clarify my views on this topic. Quite bizarrestrangoweird that it never crossed my mind all these donkey's years, to actually think of what being a woman meant to me, leave alone write about it. Anyways, let me just sit down and make an attempt to de-clutter all the muck and mud surrounding this mess. One word pretty much bottoms it down, and I've given away the punchline in my title anyway-  EQUALITY.  As simple as that. What goes for the goose goes for the gander. Except, what both genders physiologically can and can't do- pregnancy and childbirth, hormones, work that involves upper body strength etc. Even the latter is kind of debatable, with sports being a levelling field right now - yes, that was meant to be "punny" :-) Anything else that is possible for both genders, like education, work, choosing a life pa...

So, the ability to use language as a mode of communication is one of the main differentiating factor between us and the rest of our primate friends. It gives us that crucial "one-up" to dominate the earthly scene, making us feel all superior. Of course, we easily gloss over the fact that some of us can share so many other traits with the animal kingdom - don't we have enough samples of sly foxes, wise owls, slimy weasels, scared chickens, sharp eagles, vain peacocks etc all around us? Makes one raise an important, poignant question: are we so different after all? Me thinks nah, not so much. More on this topic, it's also fascinating that there are around 3000-6000 languages spoken by us humans around the world (as per our friend "Wise Wiki"). In India, even if you're linguistically-challenged like me, there should be an average of at least two languages acquired over a life time by each person (this is my own extrapolation, so please don't ana...

We all have given, received and returned or exchanged gifts throughout our lives. It's one of those inevitable, endless, at times dull social etiquettes that has been going on for many centuries, right? In an idealistic Utopian world, gifts should be given without any 'quid pro quo' or any expectations in return, but in this real, greedy world......who are we kidding? Yeah, yeah, we've all heard the worn-out and cliched, "its the thought that matters" kind of saintly statements, but you better have high monetary standards for your thoughts, folks. Else, be ready to incur the wrath of some very hostile hosts for the rest of your social life. Also, i've a honest confession to make. The people who have mastered this gifting technique have my full-blown, unabashed greenest envy. The way they enter a party or a house with a neatly, glossy-wrapped, present that looks like it's taken them years of thoughtful planning, makes me feel like a Neathandral woma...

The following content is purely a figment of my observation, and hopefully an unbiased, sort of warfront reporting of what's happening in the homeland. So, if someone is offended, well....don't take it personal, relax, take a chill pill... On a heavier note..... - If you love diversity, variety or sugar and spice in your life, this is the place to be. More so, if you choose to stop and savor every minute of it, you start noticing the subtle yet rapid changes that are happening in a dynamically changing society, of today's India. - The role of media has undergone huge transformation, atleast from what it was a decade back. Open debates and political discussions, exposing scandals and trying to get the truth out of "shady" matters are welcoming changes, but in this process a lot of focus is given on sensationalism and the media getting into a "witch-hunt" mode. My take is, we're in the process of refining the 'fourth estate' and taking ...

Thanks to the friend who recently pointed out how we think "Recycling" is an alien, Western concept to India, wherein it's been a part of our "gene psyche" for centuries already. Of course, solar panels, rainwater harvesting etc. are all newer conservation ventures in India, due to dwindling resources throughout the world, more so in populous country like ours. But, what about re-using and recycling within homes? It's definitely not trendy. Been here, people are doing it already. Ok, i'll go with food first. I'm extremely nitpicky about wasting food, which traces back to my middle-income upbringing. My parents' used to literally lament about the food left-overs "going down the drain" through the garbage disposers whenever they come to America. Never struck odd to me there, but now that i'm living in India and having to see poverty directly, every single day....it pains me too to think about gallons of food that we've blissfull...

One enviromental walkathon and lo presto....i morphed into a more sensitive and caring for Mother Earth "me". Started with the basics - no leather, more cotton (not sure if the cotton trees would be happy about this), and definitely NO silk. I've been good so far about not buying and avoiding silk as much as I can (they had to mummy-wrap me on my wedding day), thanks to a book that i read when young, which graphically described about how the silk worms die in their cocoons during the silk-making process. The author thus successfully managed, to emotionally scar the heck out of me - for life. Ok, so I decided to venture further and explore new frontiers. No plastic bags for groceries was next on the agenda. My neighborhood shop keepers who used to sweetly coo in my ears (sales people here can go either extreme- be very rude and ignore you completely or start stalking you behind with overt politespeak) whenever i go in, are starting to hate me now and asking me, "W...

The following content is purely a figment of my observation and is directly and intentionally connected to real life situations and people. So, if someone is offended, well....don't take it personal, relax, take a chill pill... Ok, after that loosely-construed disclaimer, on which I took a painstaking, laborious, thoughtful, five whole minutes to come up with....on to the main topic. I've waited for a while to ramble on what i've seen, heard and reasonably projected observations of my homeland and here it goes. On a serious note... - India can best be described as an old, rusty but still-working machine. Looks messy and cranky on the outside, but once you're in and get settled, one comes to realize that there's a vague sense of order and things do go in a strange, but definite pattern. I guess that's what keeps us going on and not disintegrated already into anarchy. - A country that's only 63 years young has still a viable, democractic government, seems ama...

Not going to have a debate on religion, this would be only an academic curiosity here. So, please don't throw any "stone bytes" on me, folks. We just finished reading briefly about Darwin's evolution theory as a part of our homeschool science. Simply put, this theory means that we have all descended from a common ancestor and through successive genetic accumulation, spread everywhere. You must have heard of too many apes and the chimps joke which are too stale to throw in here, so i'll hold them back for later use. In India, all science books across the country dutifully follow the evolution theory, probably because most of these books are published in the United Kingdom where Darwin came from. On a related topic, the 'Darwin centre' at the Natural History Museum, London is a must-visit (my own plug here, free service). Back to my question - how does a majority Hindu country like India which also believes in the Trinity theory (Brahma -the Creator, Vishnu ...

Let's talk about a simple, common question that comes up within 2 minutes of any decent conversation - "Where are you from?" Here's what i do. If i'm anywhere in India, it's always a matter of direct curiosity to know if i'm a Northie or Southie (apparently Eastie or Westie doesn't count). And by that point of time, i can almost see their overactive brains already sorting out my physical features, linguistic slang, mannerisms and millions of other trivia to get some idea of my statehood. They have to know this otherwise their cerebrum would burst into pieces. Headless busts don't make great conversation partners, right? So, in order to avoid any bloodshed, i'll have to declare solemnly, "Chennai", because that's the place of my schooling, college-ing, working etc. Simple, you would say. But, see this is when the fun starts. If i'm already in Chennai and someone asks me "Where are you from?", i'll have to rack...

That's the tourism industry's slogan. I would add more - a mile away from heaven, gateway to paradise and heaven on earth. Beautiful and lushy landscape brimming with tall coconut trees, calm and soothing backwaters, the grand Arabian coastline, bustling countryside, rich culture....I could go on and on. Loved every minute of it. Spending the night on a houseboat cruising through the paddy fields, watching the golden sunset, waking up to birds chirping in the morning...... a unique experience to be cherished for a long time. Cleanliness was another feature that strikes you wherever you go, even in the tiniest of hamlets and fishing villages. ......................................................................................................... One thing that I have always found interesting is that Kerala has a "matrilinear" society because of the fact that descent and inheritance are traced through women instead of men. For e.g, children take their last names from ...

Yoga is great. Your body feels fresh, mind feels cleansed, chakras (whatever and wherever they are) get awakened from their long slumber, yada yada....agree. But, what about the poor body parts that have to be tortured along the way with an end result that makes you look like a perfectly twisted pretzel? You start out with great expectations of a novice. It always looks easy when an expert yoga master does it, right? Believe me, it's not. The whole operation is as complicated as, for a lack of an alternate analogy - neuro-surgery?. Well, I personally have no idea how tough neurosurgery is, so it's all an approxi-guestimation here, folks. Back to the yoga, your entire body starts to get kneaded and shaped like baker's dough, while your limbs starts to groan and plead for some sympathy....if you don't stop and listen even then, they start screaming that chakras can please be damned or go sky-diving, they wouldn't care. Finally, after what seems like eternity and y...

Let me tell you that writing this kind of piece when I'm forced to time travel is not easy. For starters, remembering my childhood and reliving memories of old roads and dilapidated towns makes me feel as young as a fossiled dinosaur. Or maybe as fresh as a Harappan stone. Sigh. Ok, moving on, I am actually going back to the days when horse carts did exist in the Indian cities. I think some of the villages and small towns still have them but no more in the metros. In the 60's, our quaint part of the Chennai city had only horse carriages to carry passengers for short distance travel. Animal rights activism was unheard of then. And, of course, walking was also the most used mode of transportation to get around. Boo to you treadmillers. Then came the rickshaws pulled by humans. Very inhuman indeed, but no one knew anything different. And what about bicycles? Well, that was the popular transport to get to schools or offices. Boo to the cardios and....nah, forget it. I'm tired o...

People in India take it for granted. Returned Indians feel uneasy and uncomfortable about it for a while. And, finally and sheepishily start accepting it. I'm talking about the " Sir " and " Madam " business. Almost everyone in the service industry in India seem to have that respectful voice one would use in front of a royal court when they talk to you. In a restaurant, for e.g., you order a coffee and they go, " Your highness, Madaaaam ....here's your coffee". Or something equally regal-sounding. The first time my maid addressed me ' madam ', I went "Huh, who me?". I didn't get it. What happened to my poor name which I have almost forgotten in the past months. Why the 'madam'? Sounded even feudal to me. And, strange. After all, coming from an egalitarian society like America, this reaction is natural. Right? But, thou aren't protesting too much, you may ask? To be honest here, I actually kind of like it. You want ...

So many changes all at once. Moving half way across the world is not so easy as I had thought. Originally what you envision is a casual adventure to the tropics, a romantic interlude with the motherland and loads of similar delusional thought processes. Reality is otherwise. Little do you realise that there is something called "packing" and the equally boring, laborious, hard process called "unpacking". Add the paperwork, house and school hunting, getting a household running and you start swearing never to move anywhere, anytime. So, forget about blogging. In my sincere attempts to turn into a 'couch watermelon', I haven't even got out of my recently assembled sofa for the past one month. Even if that meant staring at the daunting sea of cardboxes that were surrounding me. Yeah, I have gone through that kind of a dare. And, I'll be backkkk sooooon......see, my keyboard is excited too!