You are What YOU Think!

Autumn does seem to be the time to get out of hibernation . For all those who love rain and the grey sky and the falling leaves , this is the time to take a walk... A walk back to the life? That's yet to be decided! Destiny is unknown. As they say you should know where to go before you start. But you have to start somewhere to reach somewhere...or rather anywhere...so instead of staying stuck at this point for long i'm gonna take a walk...a long walk!

In Jammu , when the government decided to withdraw the land given for Amarnath temple lot of riots and public attention followed.Not to mention the hartals...that too across the country! In Orissa when a young adivasi woman was stripped in public,what did follow? Except for a few women activists arguing for “women's rights " and a 36- hour general strike called by the All Adivasi Students' Association of Assam, has anybody seen any common man involving in such fights for justice? Any hartals? The state government generously declared a compensation -“The Adivasi woman who was stripped will be given Rs 1 lakh as compensation and a job in the government.” Ok. Now what will follow? What would be the attitude of the colleagues if she joins the so-called job offered in the government. Will she get the respect due for her? Who'd marry her? What about the condemned looks she'd have to bear for the rest of her life? Would it be same if instead of the adivasi woman, it was t...

Marriage – one of the biggest things in your life! You are supposed to perform this ritual religiously – a tradition exampled by your ancestors, a ritual that is more or less regional, whether you want it or not. Regionalism contributes to the discipline of marriage in facets such as grooming a person for the ritual to the actual matchmaking process. Kerala known for its affinity to religion and tradition gives marriage second most priority the first being social status. Well yes, one need to act within the boundaries of the society to some extent , especially in a place where people are more interested about the happenings at their acquaintances' places as much as theirs. But shouldn't we be a bit liberal if somebody wants to widen the borders? “I'd rather marry my daughter to a lesser educated guy from our religion than a more qualified guy from other religion”, comments a middle class working woman from an educated background. This clearly gives us insights about the pri...

Up and back! Hmm...10 months...sounds like a big gap. Well then thinking about the changes hibernation has brought about in the thought process, let's assume all is for good! And I wish MYSELF a happy blogging :-)

When a beautiful young lady who is remotely acquainted to you, the acquaintance might be brought about by the death report in news papers, how would you react? On your free-time you might speculate on the possibilities of her death. After a while you may dwell this subject into your sub-conscious mind. Later when you meet some one even remotely related to her, and if the curiosity still persists, you’ll try to get more details about her. You and I know that no two people’s perspective is same. As you move around asking her acquaintances about her, you’ll get a varied but some what high level description of her character and her life. This is beautifully portrayed in Paulo Coelho's "The Witch of Portobello.” I am not sure yet as to which attribute pulled me towards the book -Identification the with character or the way the story was moulded. Well I was in for a surprise when I reached the final pages. I couldn’t put the book down without going through the beginning again. An en...

Switch on CNN .Everyday they acquaint us with the miseries and wretchedness and poverty of many less privileged people around the world. Strangely the ratio of interest in those news increases with respect to the factors as country, religion, occupation, etc. If there is a sense of equality among the people everywhere and people stop offending or defending in the name of patriotism, the news would have moved the heart of most of the normal people. Lots of people strive for food in Africa, plane crashed and people died in Brazil, soldiers and innocent civilians die every day in the Middle East, deluge deprives many of their homes in India and the miseries continue to elate. Most of it catch our attention when it poses some threat to us in one way or the other -if the misery involve someone from one’s country, caste, religion, working class ,etc… thus goes the prioritizing factor. X: 30 people are feared dead in last week’s bomb-blast Y: That’s terrible. Were there any Hindus in it? How ...

During my childhood days, when going abroad was the privilege of the riches, some of us, the so called middle class people, treasured a secret dream - fly out of India... The society where I grew, if you are a girl , the purpose of your birth would be to get married and make children and take good care of the family. So the only other way the girls could perceive their dream was to marry some one living abroad...completing the so called duties of the society and secretly fulfilling their desire to go abroad... When it had an addendum of ‘status-symbol’, the parents of the marriageable (or even younger) girls started an early groom –hunt which inculcated the illusion among those prospective grooms that they are worth some value. Things started getting worse when the only thing of demand was the locale of the groom’s work…with an exception that the value on the countries changes with time….from Persia to Gulf Countries to London to USA… If I had not been outside India, I may also have th...

In a couple of weeks, I will be packing my bags and leaving Germany forever. I have almost reached the end of my Europe expedition... I have learned a lot during my last 8 months stay here, thanks to the loneliness, without which I wouldn’t have went out and explored a life outside us! Well it turned out that the more places you go, the more people you meet, the more humble you become...once you realize all the variety of stuff that exist you'll realize your worth ...that you are just a small human being in this whole pool of energy and life. And at some stage you stop taking things, which you are used to, for granted. I never realized the worth of India until I came abroad. I started exploring more about the places in India and its culture after coming over to Europe. I love Germany and I love India ...both in its own ways.... Many people find me stupid when I turned down my offer for extended stay in Europe. Well i don’t know if its the familiarity or concept of home-country that...

In one of the trips organized by Indians here, I was sitting with some of the kids/teens and we were playing puzzles. Then one gentleman, somewhere in his 50s, sitting near by, invoked a conversation. For our convenience we'll name him as X. X: So do you study here? Me: No, i work here, for an IT company. What about you? X: I work at the Consulate. Me: Oh that’s great; I was telling these kids about the coat of arms (in our case Emblem) and its origin. Do you know the significance of those 4 animals girding the abacus? X: Yeah, its not animals. Those are 4 lions. Me: Well I was talking about the animals beneath that... in the abacus. In fact I noticed it recently while I was going through my passport. X: Oh, is it? Me: Yeah. There are 4 animals guarding 4 zones - the Lion in the north, the Elephant in the east, the Horse in the south and Bull in the west. But i assumed you'd know it. X: Well come on. ..We were given training on this when we joined .But that’s long time back. Wh...

*PM - Project Manager **TM-Team Member ***ZCOM - The Company they both are working for. A telephone conversation between a PM and TM who are in two different continents in this "Flat" world. PM: So tomorrow on you should be physically present at office from 9 am to 5pm! TM: But i don’t see the point why i should come to "this room" and work as long as the work is done. PM: I need you to be present at office from 9 am to 5pm! TM: But isn’t it a bit awkward when the so called Office is a single room with 3 computers and 3 telephone lines? The only difference between office and apartment being the key numbers –you have to use another key to open your office room! PM: I can’t take it anymore. I got complaints from lots of people. Because of your working style, the work and efficiency of lots of employees of ZCOM are affected. TM :( Soliloquy) What the ****!!! What has it got to do with the people who are physically present in an entirely different country in another con...

Frankfurt…the enchanting business city...that adorns one of the most developed countries of the world...A nation whose economy and culture and technology amazes many intellectuals including the anti-Nazis... Often during your voyage to explore the hearts of the city, amongst the professional call- girls and vivid food courts, you pause a while and wonder if you have crossed the city limits...a bit scared you re-check what you have seen just a second before...the promising youth…the so called next generation -men and women - lying on the streets - injecting these drugs into all possible orifices of their body...natives pass-by them everyday and take them for granted rendering them more convenience…and foreigners like us pause and gaze for a while wondering if this is another tourist attraction! One of my acquaintances told me that, a couple of weeks ago in one of the city streets; he witnessed a pet being doped by his master?!! I have heard that no man is perfect. And a country constitu...

Stranger: So…You’re new in this place? Victim: Yea Stranger: Here with your family? Victim: No…I work here Stranger: Staying alone? Victim: No…with my colleagues Stranger: All girls? Victim: No…it’s a company guesthouse. Stranger: All bachelors? Victim: Yea Stranger: Is it an Indian Company? Victim: Yea Stranger: [After a pause] that’s new to me – Indian company providing mixed accommodation. Victim: [soliloquy] “Tell me something which I don’t know”. Stranger: How do you find it if you are living like that for a long period? Victim: Experiences vary with people. It’s good as long as you keep the bad things to yourself. That’s my halt. Bye...Nice meeting you. Stranger: I hope you enjoy your stay here! I have heard that there are people who enjoy at the expense of other people’s ego. Well, beware of such strangers because they will prey on you under such inescapable circumstances as lifts, trains, etc where you are forced to wait so that you can at least run away. And sardonically, such...

Girl: I am planning to get married Listener: Wow Great. Tell me more Girl: It’s a pre-arranged wedding .I don’t know him pretty well. Situation 1: Listener1: Wow, you are a gem. Even though you are educated, you still respect and obey your elders and their decisions. You will definitely have a wonderful married life. My blessings! Situation 2: Listener2: What? Are you crazy? Or are you desperate? How can you marry someone whom you don’t know? You don’t even know if you are even compatible…Come-on...Think twice before doing anything stupid. And don’t marry because every other is doing so. Why is it that the same thing is interpreted differently in different situations? Or is it the Perspective that plays the major role. People have moved ahead in almost all possible walks of life. But still, when it comes to certain traditions, some people find it comfortable to hold on to certain perspectives, which may appear stupid in this time of life. Well then again what is stupid is also relativ...

Came across a nice show in CNN-Comedy Central! Today it aired the "looking forward to” cliché’ used by George Bush and explanations on how “not looking forward” he actually is! Check it out some time :-) http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/the_daily_show/index.jhtml Well since the election time is approaching…what would be the intention of such a video other than a good laugh to the non-voters?

Last weekend i went to my friend's place for dinner.As i was strolling between the blended flavours of indian food and german rain i came across a book named "The World is Flat". Well as the author has intended, the title of the book did capture my attention , that i forgot that i am a guest and should maintain a converstaion with them.Instead i pulled a chair and started with the preface of the book. http://www.thomaslfriedman.com/ After reading a page or two, i got a picture of how the software industry in India is being viewed and what infosys has done to bring attention to their place.Still i was trying to get the feeling which made the author come up with such a name. As usual turned to wikipedia for some help http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_is_Flat Even when humans try hard to maintain and project the curves, i was wondering why Freidman was so into flattening the curves of Earth.Do i lack aesthetic sense when i say i would prefer a world that is more natural...

When life began , it was focused to develop in a more general aspect...and even so long after the establishment of Theory of Evolution , why is it that such a thing called "Gender Inequality" exist in most of the places? If you think .. what made me think about this all of a sudden..but if you have gone through some of my writings..you could have easily made out that i am a prospective chauvinist...unlike the existing ones:-)Well i was having a small talk with my new instructor at gym where he introduced me a japanese lady-his friend.And since we were in a health club ,our talk was also oriented in that way.This lady who had a medium look/built (reference would be any ordinary woman whom you'd see in your every day life -ftv models are not to be considered at this point or any other points which are to follow:-)) told us that she is considered to be one of the obese ladies in Japan.And its hard to get clothes for her ,since in general ,the women there are small,cute and f...

When I had some leisure time, here in Germany, I thought of improving or rather acquiring the so called feminine quality – dancing! I was on the look out for a short term course, when one evening I got a flyer from an established dance school here. Without much second thought I registered online – for the Singles’ course. http://www.monika-bauer.de/ When it was 2 weeks prior the date of commencement of the course, I started getting mails about the course/reminders/and some other cheering mails – all in Deutsch. Since dance is more of action than words I was kind of too much optimistic and hoped that my Ignorance of German wouldn’t stand in way of my zeal. And the day come, after much waiting, so did rain. I reached there 10 minutes early. Most of the people were already present and so was the instructor who appeared somewhat young for a teacher…a cute girl in her early twenties. Well , I couldn’t stop observing the fact that people were sitting in pairs, on my way to the nearest availa...

Just to give an insight of my environment- i work for an IT company and is currently at Germany for a period of 1 year.Five months have passed now and a couple more to go.I live with 2 of my colleagues -one a girl and another a guy- and my compatibility with them is equal inspite of my chauvinistic approach-i find it equally hard:-) Well..most of the time i find it difficult to adjust with them and rest of the time so do they.And within this last 5 months when i thought i have found the minimum safe distance(which is the MAX) that need to be maintained, to be in peace , i couldnt help but witness the poor wreckage of the shield that enhanced the beauty of the lamp at the dining table. Well i pity this guy - my apartment mate-who tried to win the situation by muscle power...and unlike old situations i kept silent...well what more good/harm can be done to an atmosphere which appear to be frustrating , dominating and heartless ? I used to be kind of frustrated during the last few months ,...

Last sunday, after a long lazy day, i went out with a book and camera .After roaming around clicking some photos ,trying to learn photography, i ended up in the middle of the main shopping street which was comparitively less crowded .A man , not German from appearence, was playing songs and singing....it was not so bad as it caught my attention...that prompted me to get a seat in the nearby bench ..where i got acquainted with this beautiful and intelligent iranian lady. Never had i had any such high opinion about a girl who is just 2 years elder to me. Never assumed a girl from middle east to be such intelligent,well versed and outgoing...well...it did bring some insight or rather changed my insight about Iran.She was doing her masters in philosophy at Holland after studying software engineering.She spoke German more fluently than i have expected.I was amazed.But when she asked me about my friends here...i was silent..confused... said i stay with my colleagues...but we werent exactly i...

As usual...i was wondering about the purpose of life. Had a quite interesting talk with a friend of mine..cousin to be exact...which provoked this new thought process. Well i wasn't planning to generalise the subject, and hence as usual i started stating and trying to prove how chauvinistic and stupid men could be at some point...As the converstaion started heating up..it turned out that every action,every logics were in some way or other linked with the primary traits that men-primitively apes-had...some faithful traits of evolutions..still clinging to them!Ha!Now they've got something to hold the blame for!! As it turned out that the sole purpose of life was REPRODUCTION! And NORMALLY what ever action/cause men has /have been doing in the normal course of life...in one way or another is targeted at finding a suitable spouse to pass on the genes to the next generation! And strangely,most of the activities men/women have been doing consciously or subconsciously had this hidden ...