Ahead of The PM

For a change today, it was good to see an interesting picture on the front page of the Time of India. Our Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh was standing in line with his wife to cast his vote and ahead of him in the picture were three ordinary denizens, looking most bewildered.

Looking at that picture, it just made me think, as to what would I have said if I were among those three there. Well, for one, after the initial shock, I would have exchanged some pleasantries, enquired upon his health. Well, may be something that one wouldn’t do, but I would have loved to do it, take his autograph. We do take autographs of all those glitzy hollywood/bollywood stars and well the cricketers then why not of this gentlemen who has held so many important positions and is called the father of liberalization?

I still wonder what those three did. Most likely, just kept looking back, with a stren face or a bewildered expression and went about their business. 

What would you have done?

 

PS: Will try to upload that picture.

 

Relativity

There is something sublime in explaining difficult things in a simple manner and I believe it is only possible withvery few people who have done it in the past and I am sure very few, who would be able to do it in future.

An excellent example of such simplicity is:

If you touch a hot stove for 10 seconds it will feel like an hour.

If you sit next to a pretty girl for an hour it will feel like 10 seconds.

That’s relativity!

- Albert Einstein

 

What’s in a name?

Shakespeare didn’t think it mattered to give a name to his play, but the play still was given a name – As you like it.

Every entity, every place, every person has a name and with it comes an identity. What happens when this name is violated – misused or mispelt? The implications could be small or big, but whatever they might be, people cannot take it easy. The aggression is justified, as your identity cannot be played with. People have difficulties in learning names and very often they forget the fact that learning to pronounce other’s names is as important as we expect the others to know ours.

Very often, I find many people calling or writing my name wrong. When it comes to my surname, I am yet to come across someone new who has got it right in the first instance. It is justified if a foreigner who is not aware of the Indian pronunciations and words happens to pronounce the name wrong. But, I cannot understand why my own folks have such an issue. To my parent’s credit, my first name is quite a simple name, with three English consonants, each separated by a single vowel ‘a’. My surname also runs on more or less similar lines. The north Indians write it as ‘Mansa’ or ‘Manasi’ and many of the south Indians or all have their own way of writing my surname, ‘Pama Raju’ (when it is a single word) or ‘Rama Raju’ or the best and the most common one is ‘Padmaraju’ (I wonder where did that ‘D’ come from).

My sister has her own issues with her name. Being the youngest in the family, she was christened with names contributed by every important member of the family. She finally ended with seven unofficial names and among them, three were adopted as official. She prefers to be known by just one simple name, followed by our surname. Quite justified, but in order to achieve the correction, it is a long and dedicated process that she needs to endure. My husband too makes his presence felt, with his surname – ‘Ayalasomayajula’. It is quite a long one and many just give up trying to read it, even before trying. Trust me, if you have not tried reading it, then just do it once, it is quite simple and just lengthy. He says that his name is a point of discussion in every new meeting that he attends.

I am sure that each one of us would have had some issues with people, calling our names in their own sweet ways, but it’s truly irritating sometimes. I think that this happens primarily because of the lack of attention that one pays to listening or reading a person’s name. With my experiences, I put in the extra effort to learn to pronounce any of the tough names I come across. Most often, I realize that the person is more than happy that I am trying to learn their name right.

So Shakespeare, sir, I think there is a lot in a name and we need to be attentive with them .

PS: I have a very bad habit of christening my immediate family and friends with pet-names. I know that some of them are not too happy with them, but I do it because I love you all and not for any other reason.

 

Faith

Faith is a very interesting word. Every person has his or her own definition for it, which one defines it on the basis of one’s faith. Whether it is that strong belief in one’s own values and principles or the belief in God, every person draws his force to achieve their ambitions and aspirations based on their faith.

My mother is an extremely religious person and her daily routine is embedded with a lot of prayer and rituals. Initially, this habit used to irk me, but I have come to accept that her faith in God is everything for her. The belief is such that every issue in life will be handled by God (her faith) and for this she does some more prayers (than the routine ones). There would be a lot of other peripheral prayers such as bhajans and chanting of mantras, etc that would go with this package. I believe in God myself and yes trust in that super power to help me be content with myself. But, I feel there is an inherent difference in our belief. Trying to explain this might end up being controversial and also quite lengthy, so let me just say we both have our own faith which gives us our strength.

I got thinking about faith when I happen to visit a temple with ma. Apparently, the last time she visited this temple, the priest had requested her for some donation, which by means of sheer miscommunication turned out to be a huge one. As it wasn’t a constraint for her, she did it and also took it in a positive way that the God herself wanted something like this from her and it is for the good of the family. I have no problem with the donation, but the way it was conveyed or incorrectly conveyed is an issue. It is apparent that the priest is a street smart person and knows who could possibly afford such donations. Donations have always been easy to come when the name of God is involved. It isn’t a discovery to say that donation, if not in the name of God, is a herculean task to achieve. I cannot blame people too, at least when one donates to a temple, one knows that at least some of the resources would be used for feeding the poor and the needy. The same cannot always be trusted when we give a supposed needy individual.

But what happens when this belief in God and faith for many is exploited and abused? Or one form of faith is imposed on the others? It becomes one of the most despicable of things to deal with. An example of this is the latest addition of a temple to our colony. The idea of a temple was nice; it didn’t intrude my life in any way. Plus, unlike many other temples around the city, it is very peaceful with very few visitors. Some folks feel that the builder constructed this temple to undo his past wrong doings. We shall leave their motives aside for now. But then, wait till you know about the red cherry on top of the cake. The core set, who set up this temple, couldn’t just let us live in peace, wasn’t that obvious? They installed two speakers, exactly in front of our house; unfortunately it is located geographically at the center of this colony. So, these days our mornings start with a jolt with bhakti songs (tunes mostly sourced from movies) and sometimes with some sanskrit chantings. The tolerant Indian mentality is prepared for such gross invasion of privacy during Navratri and other puja times, but day in and day out makes life – miserable!

I am not sure for how long exactly that I will be able to put up with this, but then I might have to turn a rebel soon. I do not know how passive resistance works here. Do you guys have a solution for such an invasion?

Till then, I will get some ear-plugs from the chemist.

Have a Happy Independence Day!

 

The obvious

Time and again I have had this problem that the most obvious of things are repeated and when I say that I mean that people tend to write about the same old topics in a different way. Words twisted, changed sentences or a change in presentation. It could simply be anything and I end up telling to myself that isn’t that so obvious, why do you even have to write about it??!!??

Some of the famous and widely used topics are about women, the relationship between man and woman and so on and so forth. Marriage hence is the essential offspring and tends to find place in loads of topics. Trust me, it is an essential part of life whether you agree to the concept of it or not and as the entire society has been organized around this for many, many years now, it is but obvious that many a times there are references to this. The references to women and the chemistry between the sexes are so often repeated that I hardly see a single advertisement on TV that doesn’t have a woman in it, even if there is no need for a woman to be there in that.

It has happened to me a number of times that I thought an answer to some question to be pretty obvious and an absolute no-brainer when someone says just that and earns the required brownie points. I have remained baffled for long as to what is it that makes these people say just the obvious and think that they have solved the next breakthrough in science.

Over the years I have learned to speak out some of the most obvious and earn some credit for it. It is not that I have to prove myself, but it is more to prove once again that in this world, the most obvious is not obvious to many.

 

To the “New” life!

Sitting here in this hotel room if there is one thing that I realise it is this - If there is anything that’s permanent then it is’ Change’.

There is a sudden change in my being, my life, my relationships how I used to look at them and how I see them now. I am at the beginning of a completely new chapter in my life that once started would never ever come back to where I am today. Strangely, I have no complaints against it either. I suppose somewhere down inside there was this want for things to change, to start this new chapter.

I love my life!

 

@ Work

Sitting at work, an observation hit me hard once again. All said and done, men of any nationality do seem to be very nice to women, to start with at least; its civility and chivalry at its best.

There is a definite advantage being a woman and making use of it does make some sense to the pragmatic mind. Now the purists might say that this isn’t ethical, but then, will this be coming under the banner of ethics and all, if a lady has not in specific asked for it and then got it as a result of her sex? The answer is clearly, No. Firstly, the woman never even thought of something like that and secondly she didn’t want the help. Well at some point of time it does help one’s cause to make life livable, I personally think it should be used, but like all things life, caution and discretion is a must.

So being a women at work and making the most of it because of the simple reason that you are a woman and not have to do anything to get that is a flattering proposition. I for one, never seemed to have understood why and have asked many of my close men friends. They have this wonderful smile on their face (surely thinking about that last incident which they are relishing it again now) and just say, “Understand madam.” Hmm… I guess my readers did understand and can probably throw some light on this. One of the burning topics that I have been unable to unravel and my guess is, no one really has been either. Comments and observations as always are welcome.

 

Heroplane

My daily bus drive to office takes me around the city in about an hours’ time. The best part of the morning ride is the view of the airport runway. Many a times the timing of our bus has been such that the aeroplane just about lands or is about to take off. The alignment during take off is perfect. The front wheels are exactly in middle of the lights that are placed for marking this. There is hardly any level of deviation to this.

To me, the take-off, airborne flight and landing have always been a matter of awe. Fine, I heard people yelling that science has progressed so much and all the jibberish and so on, but I insist on writing this blog. I insist on capturing those innocent and pristine memories of childhood when I used to stand in my balcony and wave at those helicopters or an occasional plane that flew over our house. And assume that they can actually see me and they do wave back, just that I can’t see that they are waving. Sometimes even go running behind the plane in an attempt to chase it. I remember my little bro calling the Airport, Hairport and the Aeroplane, Heroplane. It has kind of stuck on and mostly all of us at home still use the same name. It instantly brings a smile on our faces and throws one into reverie of the golden period.

Looking at the surface from a height of thousands of feet for an acrophobic can be a quite exhilarating experience. I never miss the window seat in my journeys. Well if the plane crashes then I might as well see my last descent. Some would say, what a pessimistic way of travel, but then I look at it otherwise. I am in absolute awe of the latest Boeing 787. The pics sent were courtesy one of my Aerospace engineer friend. This guy is scared of flying, for the simple reason that he kinda knows what could be wrong because of such and such noise. Good gracious! I didn’t take that branch in my engineering; otherwise added to my fear things would just have been “flights of fantasy”.

And yes, I am soon to get a Boeing craft as a gift from the same “Aero” friend. Will update the blog with a pic, as and when I get it.

This post is dedicated to the same “Aero A” friend.

 

Can’t think of a title!

Ahh!! I finally get some time to start this new year on my blog. 2006 seems to have gone past in a whiff. Thought it was just my perception, surprisingly many people have concurred on this. In a way, it feels good.

2007 is here and we are soon to hit mid Jan. I am yearning for a pause: a pause from duties, responsibilities, ambition and relationships. Not that I am vexed, but then life a little slow paced would probably suit me a lot better. May be just take a year off and go around India. Splendid!

But, the flip side of all this is that am enjoying myself tremendously. Just read about the ephemeral and ever changing factor in life conveyed as a simile through Water. Yes, I quite agree to that.

Coming in touch with long lost friends, one always ends up being jittery as to how would this meeting be. The moment you meet the void automatically fills up and there seems to be a continuum of time. The magic of the days gone by rekindles itself and results in the best.

This year, has started on a similar note. Lets see hows the desert safari this year )

 

Urge

The urge to blog comes up at the most inopportune moments. Worst time is when the lights are out and am cozily wrapped up in my blanket. I think am at my scribing best at that time and totally loath the idea of changing status quo. Chances are rare when I have overcome my “Garfieldian” tendencies to open my lappy and start scribbling.
Presumably this situation is similar with many of us. Some I heard, have their brainwaves in the loo (man! What a place!!??!!) . I wonder what all are the other places/times when the bulb glows. (doesn’t that phrase immediately remind one of the scene when Jerry has a brainwave to tackle Tom? It does for me )

So whenever or whatever, I hope the bulbs keep popping for you when required all through the coming year.

Yippie…. 2007 is coming soon.