Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Priceless dads, terrible husbands!!!
I find it completely stupefying and baffling that dads can be so sweet and understanding when it comes to their daughters grave mistakes but ironically very demanding when it comes to a wife's petty mistakes.Wonder how can two such characters exist in one person ???
Now you guys must be wondering where does all this philosophy come from? Well like any other "WISE" person would quote I would say "EXPERIENCE"..ehmm.!!
My mom has a habit of frequently visiting her hometown leaving my dad at the mercy of my non-existing culinary skills. I used to hate those days because that would mean I need to enter the kitchen and "ACTUALLY" cook! Ironically even if my cooking was a total disaster my dad would never complain.I had even served him burnt food a couple of times because I would not have the time to redo it all over again .He would always reassure me that the food is "just fine" however bad it tastes.
The same" sweet" dad becomes a very different person when my mom returns from her hometown.He fusses about food not being tasty or refuse to eat a certain curry because it doesn't have enough oil/certain spice is not just right or demand a certain curry to be made when everything is all set to eat .
It becomes even more funny when my mom and dad have a fight. Say if I pitch in between them and try to sort things out from stewing up and bring him food (which he refused to eat the day before) unknowingly, he would still eat it.
Mom and me have a constant ongoing joke regarding my dads behaviour.I even tease her by telling her not to be jealous seeing the way I get royally pampered by my dad.
Wonder why this demarcation exists?
Is it because he understands that I am relatively new to this that he is lenient with me or is it because he loves me more(that cant be the reason!!).... or is it because he is being just NICE to me while showing his true nature to my mom??? God only knows!!
Monday, October 29, 2007
"Meaningless! Meaningless!"
2 "Meaningless! Meaningless!"
says the Teacher.
"Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless."
3 What does anyone gain from all their labors
at which they toil under the sun?
4 Generations come and generations go,
but the earth remains forever.
5 The sun rises and the sun sets,
and hurries back to where it rises.
6 The wind blows to the south
and turns to the north;
round and round it goes,
ever returning on its course.
7 All streams flow into the sea,
yet the sea is never full.
To the place the streams come from,
there they return again.
8 All things are wearisome,
more than one can say.
The eye never has enough of seeing,
nor the ear its fill of hearing.
9 What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.
Ecclesiastes Chapter 2
Pleasure is meaningless
10 I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;
I refused my heart no pleasure.
My heart took delight in all my labor,
and this was the reward for all my toil.
11 Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done
and what I had toiled to achieve,
everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;
nothing was gained under the sun.
Wisdom and folly are meaningless
13 I saw that wisdom is better than folly,
just as light is better than darkness.
14 The wise have eyes in their heads,
while fools walk in the darkness;
but I came to realize
that the same fate overtakes them both.
15 Then I said to myself,
"The fate of the fool will overtake me also.
What then do I gain by being wise?"
I said to myself,
"This too is meaningless."
16 For the wise, like the fool, will not be long remembered;
the days have already come when both have been forgotten.
Like the fool, the wise too must die!
Toil is meaningless
18 I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. 19 And who knows whether that person will be wise or foolish? Yet they will have control over all the toil into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless. 20 So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. 21 For people may labor with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then they must leave all they own to others who have not toiled for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. 22 What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun? 23 All their days their work is grief and pain; even at night their minds do not rest. This too is meaningless.
Ecclesiastes Chapter 3
12 I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. 13 That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God.
18 I also said to myself, "As for human beings, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. 19 Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath [b]; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless. 20 All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. 21 Who knows if the human spirit rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?"
22 So I saw that there is nothing better for people than to enjoy their work, because that is their lot. For who can bring them to see what will happen after them?
Ecclesiastes Chapter 4
4 And I saw that all toil and all achievement spring from one person's envy of another. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind
Ecclesiastes Chapter 5
2 Do not be quick with your mouth,
do not be hasty in your heart
to utter anything before God.
God is in heaven
and you are on earth,
so let your words be few.
3 A dream comes when there are many cares,
and many words mark the speech of a fool.
Riches Are Meaningless
10 Those who love money never have enough;
those who love wealth are never satisfied with their income.
This too is meaningless.
11 As goods increase,
so do those who consume them.
And what benefit are they to the owners
except to feast their eyes on them?
12 The sleep of laborers is sweet,
whether they eat little or much,
but the abundance of the rich
permits them no sleep.
15 Everyone comes naked from their mother's womb,
and as everyone comes, so they depart.
They take nothing from their toil
that they can carry in their hands
Ecclesiastes Chapter 6
10 Whatever exists has already been named,
and what humanity is has been known;
no one can contend
with someone who is stronger.
11 The more the words,
the less the meaning,
and how does that profit anyone?
12 For who knows what is good for people in life, during the few and meaningless days they pass through like a shadow? Who can tell them what will happen under the sun after they are gone?
Friday, September 14, 2007
Popularity
One of the things that surprises me most is the need to "Be the most popular one " around . Why does it matter to us as human beings what other fellow beings think of us? Why cant we be satisfied with who we are ? Why do we need that extra NOD from others? Why does it matter " If I have left my mark in history or not"?
Often Wonder if we are not in a mad race of getting Noticed at all times..?? When will it be possible for us to be happy with who we are.. not pretending.Just being plain happy with ourselves, not caring what others think of us.
What surprises me even more is to what lengths people can go to get NOTICED. How many of us end up exploiting naive people around us in an attempt to go higher in the ladder? By the way this is also termed as being "street smart". What I would be interested in knowing is what does one feel when one is at the very TOP of the ladder? Does it embarrass one to look down the paths of his/her growth or do they get camouflaged by thier achievements and all the extra NODS of recognition?
How many of us get up in the morning and think "Today I should be a better person than I was yesterday"? Well not many including me..
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Story of "How I got Duped..."
I am having a hearty laugh over my stupidity. Can't roll on the floor and laugh as I am in office.People might think that I have gone completely crazy.
One Background Info before I get on to the Gist of the story. Meant for all people who don't know me personally " People at my home are trying to get me married off. So they have put my profile in various matrimonial sites and other mediums too" I keep checking these matrimonial sites once in a while to keep my mom updated if I happen to see any good profiles as she is not a computer literate.I hate to do it,but I have no other option.
To tell you the truth I look up the sites to have some fun too.I have seen so many weird guys in these sites.Guys who have completely gone crazy,Guys who try their luck. I have seen only around 5 good profiles in the past 6 months since I have put my profile in this site.
So I was surprised when I received an Interest from this profile
http://bmser.keralamatrimony.com/cgi-bin/viewprofile.php?id=R439887
with this message : " Hi I am a doctor, has done MBBS, MD & DCH, living in Bangalore. Right now preparing to do FRCS / MRCP, London to specaialise in Surgeries. Siince, I too belongs to ur community & cast, ur profile made a keen interest on me. I found ur profile interesting, hence, this contact & wish to initiate a dialogue. Could u kindly go thru the profile of mine here & if u too like to take this forward, then contact me only thru my personal email id, dr2008frcs@yahoo.co.uk
Also, attach one of the snaps & matrimonial profile id of the girl therewith where I too shall reply u back with few more of my snaps as well as supplimentary information / details of me & my family which u may needed to proceed further. If possible, try to add & chat with me online thru Yahoo Messenger soon where I too online rite there now only to know & understand each other a bit more better while going ahead with the proposal. Waiting for a speedy response to my personal email id from ur side. Regards "
There were a couple of things in his profile that piqued my interest .One of things was him being a "Doctor". I have immense repsect for that profession and I have always wanted to be one(One of my childhood dreams:-)). There were couple of things in his profile that made me slighlty uneasy. He kept mentioning in his profile about his Rich affluent family(coming from a middle class family I didnt know if it would work out) . I also found it wierd that he mentioned that he was" all alone" in his apartment(I cant think of anybody who would put that in a profile ???) . Inspite of professing to be a very learned person he had made silly spelling & grammatical mistakes.I felt there was something fishy about the whole thing but was not able to pinpoint anything. Hence thought of catching him online before proceeding further on this.
Our chat started with usual "HI's" and went on to where we stay. He again mentioned about him being all alone his apartment. That should have given me the clue(Stupid me!!). I asked him where he did his graduation and PG? He evaded the question and said that he wants to talk to me over the phone. I was not interested, as I am not fond of talking to strangers, but there are times when we have to just bite ones teeth and go through it.This was a one such time. He was evading all my questions or was giving me vague answers. He asked me what I do on weekends. I mentioned about going out for movies with friends. I was dumbstruck when he asked me If I would call him next time I go with my friends.I explained to him that we hardly know each other and it was too early. He tried to reason by saying that post marriage I would have to go with him and not with my friends for movies, so he does not see anything wrong with it. I was stupefied by his answer.
After the call , he went on to flatter me by saying that I have a lovely voice and he feels like hearing it always. I asked him if he didnt think he was going a little overboard? He responded by saying he was just being frank and was telling what he felt.
I wanted to confirm that he was a jerk(as I had got suspicious by then), so asked him to send his detailed profile and photo along with contact numbers. This guy sends me some ex-models photos without any details. That was when it became all clear to me. I understood that it was all a farce, so asked him to send me photos in more casual surroundings. I did not get any reply for that mail.Anyway I got my answer. I didn't need him to confirm it.
You know what...... I thought I was making a smart move by talking to people online before meeting the person.Now I realize there are so many frauds out there who are waiting with a BAIT.Had I been naive, I would have fallen for his stories of him being a US citizen or his MBBS FRCS stories.Thankfully yahoo msnger has a way of blocking messages from people( Hats off to the devleoper who thought of adding that feature to yahoo messenger. I don't know how I would have handled it otherwise). To this day I get teased by friends and my mom whenever I talk of chatting to future grooms. I had wanted to prove to my mom that her age old ways of meeting strangers at home was boring and Look what I got to see when I tried to do it on my own :-) One hell of an experience!!
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Rhyme's twisted..
"ba ba black sheep,
have you any wool,
that's none of your business,
shut up and go to school"
I hope to get a comment for this at least :-)
Friday, March 2, 2007
Mood swingss...
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Sindhuu....
You guys must be wondering why I chose her as the topic of my post today.I just had a chat with her. Having a chat with her is so refreshing.She is one breath of fresh air for me at least(I am STRAIGHT if thats what you are wondering).I don't think she would like the idea of me writing something about her though!This will have to remain my little secret :-) Hopefully I do justice to the person she is...
I met Sindhu in Hyderabad during my ELTP(Entry level Training program) days.I get Nostalgic whenever I think of the city "Hyderabad ". It is a great historical city.I simply love that city!!So much romance is in the air ...the lake view in the night..awesome!!! I am talking of the "VIEW" not its "STINK".For your own SAFETY you are ADVISED to be further away from the lake while enjoying the 'View' (or Tightly clip your nose if you are near the lake:))
Ok getting back to the topic..Let me give some background on who Sindhu is...
She is no different from any other lady on the street.Hmmmm... fair,short, slightly plump and somebody who is unkempt.She doesn't have time to deck up like a lady, but she is pretty decent to look at. But the minute you talk to her.You will know how different and unique she is.She is truly one of kind.She represents peace and calm to me. By peace I don't mean peace in the usual sense.She has peace within herselves which seems to emanate to others who talk to her..
OOhhh My GOd!! Even I can write such philosophical stuffs!! I didn't know if I was capable of that. Amazing!!!
Sindhu is a south Indian(Tamil Brahmin) coming from a very influential family .She tore down all my prejudices regarding Brahmins (like being selfish, self centered, ruthless people who would stoop to anything to get their things done even at the cost of hurting people:)) and also about being Rich. Being born in a middle class family and having seen the way rich kids get treated at school, I just never mingled with them.Rich people were certainly off my limits. Inspite of Sindhu being everything I abhorred, I could never stay away from her.
We were staying in two different apartments but within walking distance(one street away). I was staying with a Sindhi family along with another fresher.We had a small room for ourselves. Sindhu was staying with two other nice girls(Ms.X and Ms.Y) who were also fresher's . Thankfully they had a separate apartment (I could go and stay over whenever I felt like). We being lazy girls we never thought of cooking and eating..What were restaurants built for? Cooking was a grand affair.Once in a while we would make something as grand as Thaiyir sadam(curd rice) , upma or tea. Believe me it is ' TRULY ' difficult to make them :-) You need to have "exceptional " culinary skills to make that.Kidding:-) Actually we had better things to do than 'COOK'.We used to chat endlessly,Come to think of it over nothing. But it was fun:-)
Sindhu is an ardent admirer of Swami Vivekananda..I really don't know who he was ..I haven't read any of his books either.Inspite of she being his fan, she has never bored me with his puranams(history) either. But whoever he was he must have been good.I am telling this only because I know Sindhu and she is really good.
She is a pretty easy going kid.We had a great time in Hyderabad together.She is lazy like me ..one of the reasons why we are still friends.She loves Ice cream.She is little stupid and adamant too..she feels the urge to eat Ice-cream when she has wheezing.I mean when she is really sick!! How stupid can one be ??? Then what else.She wants to remain a spinster all her life.We could never get around to talking some sense to her.She still holds on to the same theory.Ironically she gets proposed left and right.( I wonder why men always end up proposing the "Forbidden Ones".Guess it is more exciting to play Devdas for a while :)). Jokes apart she is the most lovely lady I have met so far.
I came to know who she was when the training period was getting over(two months) .We were told that some of us would be posted to Bangalore and the rest had to stay back in Hyderabad. Since we all got recruited from Chennai , everybody had their eyes on Bangalore inlcuding me. Since it was much closer to our hometown.Some people were trying to butter up (maska marofy) the trainers to get posted in Bangalore.Some girls were lying that they were getting married and their "Would be's "were in Chennai.Some guys were making up stories of their parents being sick...total disgusting lot or you can see them as funny cartoon characters.Everybody has different take on it. I found them funny as well as disgusting :-)
One Sindhus roommate (Ms.X) wanted to go to Bangalore too.Her mom was sick and she needed to be near her hometown.She kept worrying over where she would be posted and would be often seen only talking and worrying about it.Sindhu had a wheezing problem because of Hyderabad's extreme climates.So we all felt that she needs to go Bangalore. I also wanted to go.It took more than 16 hrs to Bangalore and 10 hrs to my hometown.Don't know if there is much closer route,but it would anyway take about 20 hrs at least and man I have no pleasure in traveling for so many hours in a train alone:-)Ms.X's father kept reminding her to go tell the tutors about her ailing mother and hence try to get her posting to Bangalore.But Ms.X being forgetful did not do it.
The D'day came when we would be told where we would be posted.We kept all our fingers crossed.Funnily though we were asked to pick up LOT's :-) So none of the recommendation and buttering up was useful. I wanted to give a "High five" but nobody was in a mood :-) I got posted to Bangalore.Sindhu got Bangalore. I was happy .Unluckily Ms.X got Hyderabad. I was sad for her.Then Ms.X started crying.I had a shock of my life!! I have never seen anybody cry like that in all my life even in a death ceremony. I just couldn't take it.I wanted to laugh..I know 'Bad timing'. I am supposed to empathize with her ill fate.But I just couldn't do that...When one decides to get a job and you are told you might get posted anywhere and you agree on it.Then why all this DRAMA??? I was pissed off with her!! I hate people who try to get sympathy in this way.I believe in one philosophy" You got to do it if you have to do it" Anyway nobody was asking for my opinion and I got Bangalore what does it matter if Ms.X has a problem.So I kept quite.I tried telling her in my own way to stop making a fool of her selves before others.Most of them were laughing at her openly which I don't think was NICE either.Grrrr!!! By the way Ms.Y also got Hyderabad too , so Ms.X would at least have company. Ms.Y was pretty decent in my eyes. she took this in very calmly.
After all this 'hungama' the next day our tutors made another twist in this story by telling if anybody wants to exchange places they can do that. Among 30 of us,24 got Bangalore and 6 got Hyderabad which includes Ms.X and Ms.Y. Only two people wanted to stay in Hyderabad and unluckily they were BOYSss.And as the man to man bonding goes,they exchanged with their friends.Can't blame them. Some were trying to brain wash all the people from Andhra to stay back.Since we are not a very mingling gang(meant we kept to ourselves) , nobody offered to help us.Then madam Sindhu just decides to stay.I was amazed!! Which Idiot would do that knowing you are sick and who needs to get out of this place as soon as you can, but Sindhu would!!! Actually there was no need for that, Ms.X had got used to the idea that she had to stay back..and above all we hardly knew each other(2 months).Why this sacrifice? Well that is Sindhu...
She was not trying to impress anybody.It is just the way she is.Ms.X initially refused to take it and made all the necessary fuss but took it at the end.I was disgusted!!Sindhu never even let Ms.X thank her.And the Irony was that I had to be with Ms.X in Bangalore :-(
The day we left from Hyderabad ,Sindhu and Ms.Y had come to send us off. Ms.X was crying again.I couldn't stand it!! So refused to even go and console her( For those who dont know me I can be really mean when I choose to be).When she felt better, I talked to her but I made sure that she knew that I was not totally pleased with her. I am sure she would have got my message. I can be totally blunt if I want to :-)
Ironically today Ms.X is my 'Real' good friend.I know, Soundssss.. funny right??? Ms.X is a Kid who refuses to grow up.She had her own (stupid) reasons for the behaviour,which I am not ready to delve in NOW.I tease her even today over that episode.This is my way of getting back at her and making her face the Real world :-) I may be wrong in trying to play GOD or trying to play Moral police .I am not PerFeccttttt... either. But I Love her and I think that justifies it.May be not...GOd knows???
One thing I long for is that I wish I could have had more time to spend with Sindhu. She came to Bangalore to see us(me and Ms.X) after 2 long years. We had a good time. She seems to have become thin,that lazy dog cant even eat!! Ms.X had been to Chennai to see Sindhu off when she was flying to Canada.
Sindhu today is doing her M.S there. She tells me she has got friends from different races(White,Black, Chinese) and they are all nice people.NO sign of Shilpa Shetty's "Chicken curry" Racism there:-) I am happy for her.I wish her the Very best!!!
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Another Valentinesss.. day
I spent my valentines day with a bunch of girl friends . One of them actually wanted to spend it in a mall ,so that she can get in the festive spirit of "Valentine's day.."and feel less depressed. But we ended up holing in our old dreary HOSTEL.In fact one of them bought us chocolates to treat each other since none of us had "so called" BOY friendsss..I know what you are thinking....We are a desperate bunchh..YEsss ..we are..Thankfully none of them thought of roses to brighten our moods.. Night started of with the usual "My life Sucksssss!!!" talks, went on to Office life(from weirdos to cute ones). Then the topic changed as expected to "What is wrong with us..why aren't we taken..???" We consoled each other by telling the apple story(where the rotten ones get picked first and good ones remain on the top ..so they get picked last) . I did not like the apple story very much.....
Then there was this really funny incident that my friend narrated..where she was standing across the road...and a bunch of teenagers(13 -14 yrs) who were playing football on the other side of the road asked " 'Aunty' can you plzzz pass us the ball ???" and she did not understand who they was addressing and hence didn't bother to answer..Only on second thoughts did it register to her that they were actually addressing her. We seem to have progressed from being called as ' Akka(sister) to Aunty'.. We are in a phase where we find it slightly difficult to digest the FACT that we are ACTUALLY ...growing Old.Suddenly 33 seems to be the right age to marry ( There was a time when we thought people who reached 33 were really old though :-) Not Anymore...)
We kept asking "Where the hell are all these morons(our future husbands) holed up in?" . I suggested this great idea of beating up our husbands after our marriage for giving us all this stress and tension. Nobody seemed to like my Idea though:-( They felt that our Pooor ...husbands might also be going through the same stress that we go through...Whatever..I don't think men are capable of any emotions at all...I know I sound cynical. No the truth is I do believe they are very much emotional like us..except they are taught that they shouldn't be emotional .Emotions are supposed to be girly stuff and that doesnot seem to suit their manly image. I remember my cousin (age 10) who was bullied and ridiculed for crying ....while I was allowed to cry at the same age. Doesn't make any sense....
We departed with the hope that we will not be seeing each other again on the next valentines day at least. I recall that we said the same thing for the last three years...though :-) Pretty interesting Valentines day..isn't it??? Even I feel so..
Saturday, February 3, 2007
Selfless Love.....
- copied from the Internet ,but liked the thoughts expressed
How many us are ready to love/respect a person who shows no interest in us or our well being ? Very Often the answer is a BIG "NO" followed by "You must be crazy to even suggest it" .
In an Engineers language, we are ready to treat others with respect and love only
if ((condition(1..n)==true) or (at least conditions(a smaller list) == true)) then
{
I will do so,..so.. and so in return
}
else
{
get lost I have better things in life to do than waste my precious time over you(I can conquer this world ,with the time I waste over making things right between us..just kidding:))
}
For the above "If construct"
Some conditions which could vary from {getting my my due respect and my space,get my award etc.. }
If condition true then I will {help you in work at home,office,or let u take the remote at home:)) }
We humans don't like to do any favours for anybody without having a ulterior motive behind it.It could be
- recognition in the form of an award
- love in return,
- respect,
- or just a look of appreciation(we thrive on Attention),
- monetary benefit etc...the list is endless.
"Why should I? "
"What do I get from doing this?"
"How is it going to help me? Will it bring me closer to my dream ,else why waste my energy on it?"
"Whats the whole point ?"
We are not ready to be good to others until it is reciprocated in some form.
It is quite difficult to fathom the meaning of selfless love and even more difficult to practice it in our daily life's.
For example
- Can I try not to get pissed off with that auto driver who is trying to make a quick buck by charging me double or triple of what he should be rightfully charging..??
- or when he refuses to budge an inch when it rains like crazy even though he has no potential customers in sight
- or say, that colleague who is trying to put you down in front of your co-workers/boss for no other reason than "getting visibility".
- or that guy who is honking like crazy in a traffic jam while trying to get ahead of you even though you know for sure that there is no way he is going to make it:)) Wonder if people realise that they are actually racing each other to reach their final destination -"their grave".Anyway who cares what I think , the thought was about not getting provoked in traffic jams.
I think love begins with forgiving .
What I speak may seem so far fetched, and sound like a "impossible to attain" kinds.But as the saying goes "Nothing is impossible". If one works at it, one can... (Oops! I sound philosophical!).
OK..Got a bad habit of going on and on about a topic that's currently on my mind ,often not considering the infinite patience of my readers.So stopping my lecture here.Good day!