Look What I Found!

I am sure it happens to you. There you are cleaning your cupboard and you unearth old trivia which transports you to another time. Like when you come across an autograph book with emotional farewell notes from school buddies or when you find a handmade card crowning you as the world’s best mommy! Suddenly your heart gets wrapped in nostalgic mist of distant memories.

I don’t usually enjoy nostalgia. It’s imprisoning. It makes me sentimental. Though it doesn’t surprise me one bit. For as long as I remember, I have always been a sentimental person. Simple things for me can be strangely moving. 

 

My throat tightens when I see an old picture of my father as a young hockey captain. The picture is a reminder of life’s impermanence.  Also the fact that there is no way I can rewind the reel. 

I find myself filled with longing when I discover little booties of my son but can’t really tell why I feel the way I do. Sometimes words desert you in strange ways that you begin to wonder if any writer can ever describe what you are feeling.

Today I stumbled upon an old college notebook. The last page of the notebook is full of mindless scribbling and doodling.  Perhaps, a boring lecture on a late summer afternoon led me to spew angst and anxiety on paper.

It s a trivial but have you ever wondered why boys tend to doodle geometric shapes while girls draw faces and flowers?

And why it is so satisfying to doodle when we are on the phone?

Apart from doodles, my notebook has some juvenile poetry scribbled on the last page. There is something about adolescence which makes us poets. And it doesn’t really matter if the poetry is awful. After all, it’s our little secret. Crushes, heartbreaks, longings, frustrations, confusion and rage find vent through verses. Interestingly when I try to write poetry today, it eludes me completely. And the last page of my diary today has e-mail addresses, telephone numbers of electricians and plumbers and carelessly scribbled grocery lists. Sigh!

While rummaging through papers, I came across my school report card. The general remark section says: It is a pleasure to have her in class. She is neat and does her work regularly. However, she is a shy child and needs encouragement to speak in public. 

Some things never change.Speaking in public remains my worst nightmare.

Picture Courtesy: Google Images/Policymic.com/allisalearntowrite.blogspot.com

I Me And Myself

‘Great minds talk ideas, average minds talk events and small minds talk people’. 

Call me what you want, I'm going to indulge in some people talk. It is quite possible that I will end up upsetting relatives and friends. Never mind, I hope to sail through privacy settings. Now don’t get all judgmental, it is human to crib about something which repeatedly tests your patience. 

 

 I am talking about people who are so full of themselves that they can burst any moment. Let me bracket such lovely people into following categories for easier understanding.

Smug Braggers: They are a classic example of an obsessed psyche in an overdrive - my achievements, my kid, my house, my dog, my root canal. In short, they are in a perpetual self-congratulatory mode.

Me: You have a lovely house. 

Smug Bragger: I know. We hired an interior designer. Gave him a free hand – no budget. 

Me: Someone I know? 

Smug Bragger: (shrugs) He's expensive. I don’t think you can afford him. 

This actually happened when we moved to Gurgaon.

Me: I want to visit my brother residing in Chicago. But look at the rising air fares! 

Smug Bragger: Frankly, with the kind of money I make, air fares don’t bother me at all. 

Neither does inflation, I am sure.

Me: So, how was the company picnic? 

Smug Bragger: I couldn’t go. But it was a flop. You know the organization feels headless without me. 

I am sure they had a gala time.

Me: What’s your house number? 

Smug Bragger: Enter A block and take my name. Everyone knows me. Just say Audi waale sahab ke ghar jaana hai. 

Simply Audacious.

 
Name Droppers: The art of name dropping is a skillful habit. The name bomb needs to be dropped casually with indifferent ease. To be fair to the fairer sex, this category is specific to men who are on the upper rung of the corporate ladder. Here are a few gems.

Name Dropper: After the meeting, Mukesh said, yaar, why don’t you join me for dinner? I refused. I had a flight to board. 

Poor Nita Ambani! She was waiting to serve dal dhokla in gold plated cutlery.

Name Dropper: Murthy was after me to join his organization. I told him, I am happy where I am. When you rise ahead of your peers, people tend to resent you.

No wonder Infosys slipped from the perch.

Name Dropper: Arnab keeps inviting me for his debates. What’s the point? He is always interrupting. 

Yes, it takes some swallowing.
 
Such people are great entertainers if you treat their ego trip like a pleasurable game. Give them a long rope and have fun. 

Nosy Snoopers: These people are interested in every minute detail, including the price, the size and the brand of your undergarment. Some do it out of sheer inquisitiveness. Some wish to fish in troubled waters. Some derive sadistic pleasure by watching you squirm.

Nosy Snooper: Did you pay for your daughter’s medical admission? US vacation kitne ka pada? Did you take a home loan for the house? Only one son? Doosra hua nahin, ya kiya nahin ? (Couldn’t conceive or didn’t try?). 

Me: Please mind your own business. We are not even friends. 

How I wanted to say this!

When your reputation and upbringing are at stake, you try to mumble an incoherent reply. Or wish you didn’t exist. The good thing about such people is that they are willing to divulge their  personal details- 85.3 K for the sofa,10.2 L for son's admission and 12.3 K for the dress. Favorite position, frequency, fantasy – everything from corny to crass is ready to tumble out. 

Fake Boasters: These people rise from modest backgrounds but sudden name and fame results in severe indigestion. Bloating and gas actually. A stint abroad alters their accent and speaking in their native language is akin to blasphemy.

Fake Boaster: After the show, the reporter asked me a question in Hindi. You know my Hindi na? I could barely speak.

 The lady belongs to Lucknow and her father was a Principal at a government school.

Fake Boaster: I cannot survive a minute without air-conditioning. 

Were you conceived in Kashmir, dude?

 
Nay Sayers: These people are always right. So they will disagree with whatever you say. Contradicting gives them a social high. Nothing personal. It's just a habit.

Me: Nice weather. 

Nay Sayer: Nice? It’s damn stuffy. 

Me: Ms X is looking lovely . 

Nay Sayer: After a visit to the spa, who wouldn’t? 
 

Digvijay Singh maybe?

Me: Food is amazing.

Nay Sayer: Huh? The dessert is too sweet.

Know-It-Alls: These people are real sweethearts- helpful to the core. They are like vending machines. You drop a coin and they are ready with opinions and solutions.

Me: We are thinking of disposing the ancestral property. 

Know-It-All: You should sell it off and buy on the Dwarka Expressway. No need for a broker. Main hoon na. Vaise I know one buyer. (Takes out his phone and begins calling.) 

Wait!! Hello? I am yet to take a final call.

Me: I have adenofibromyoleptotitis. 

Know-It-All: Now listen carefully. Take 650 mg cipronorfloxodoxycycline thrice a day, before food. Take it with warm milk. It comes in brown and white cover. Remember to take the brown one.

Antibiotic prescription. Dosage? 

Seriously!

Am I cynical or have you met such people too?

Picture Courtesy: Google Images/www.kootation.com

Background Score

It breaks my heart when Arthur Schopenhauer says, “Journalists are like dogs. They begin to bark whenever something moves.” Not fair. 

On the judgment day of Sanjay Dutt’s trial, television crews camped near the court premises to give us the first sound bite. Reporters were seen adjusting their cameras and tapping their microphones to avoid any last minute glitch. Just when Satish Maneshinde, Sanjay’s lawyer began speaking, there was chaos as reporters jostled and wrestled to capture the moment. 
Interestingly, there were some unsavory animated voices coming from the background. Sample a few: 

Abbe dekh ke, cable hai. Saare giroge.

Neeli shirt wale, haath neeche kar.

Mike upar kar yaar, sir phodega kya.

Taar kheench. Taar kheench.

Side ho, yaar Side ho na. Kitni baar bola hai. Sunta kyon nahin be?

None of them is manufactured. And I didn’t even have to strain my ears. Remaining perched on a building for the sake of a perfect camera angle or waiting in the sun can be demanding. And then to jostle to set the microphone closest to the speaker’s mouth, even as the rival reporter places his arm pit over your nose on a humid hot afternoon is indeed commendable. 
 Needless to say, one has to be attentive at all times. If you go for a piddle to bless the nearby bushes, a historic moment can be lost forever. As for the rival channel, he will needle you by announcing, “Your channel is first to break this news.”

At a time when the allies of the government are leaving in a huff and rats are abandoning the sinking ship, it is the duty of reporters to observe whether Mulayam was actually smiling or grinning after any meeting. The twitch of his eyebrow, the squirm of his lips and the tenor of his mumble is of utmost national importance right now. Naturally, television reporters are the first ones to tell us about the flip-flops of whimsical allies who are throwing tantrums and blaming it all on ideological differences. The television reporters tell us whether we are safe for a few months or doomed to be killed either by the tiger on land or the crocodile in water in 2014.

While jokes about the ubiquitous television question, “Aapko kaisa lag raha hai,” have been done to death, the question remains an all time favorite. If a family member is sentenced to jail, the others are bound to be shocked and upset. Trust the inquisitive nature of some reporters. 
Reporter: Sir Dutt parivaar ka kya reaction hai?

Lawyer: Sab upset hai.

Reporter: Matlab kya bahut upset hai?

Lawyer: Kafi upset hai.

Propriety deters them, but what they really want to ask is, “Kitna upset hai, thoda detail mein batayie.”

All this for the benefit of viewers. No wonder, reporters and camera persons are indispensable despite the raucous background scores. Mind you, this is one background score which is ekdum original.

Picture Courtesy: Google Images/Instablogs.com

Every Child Matters

(This is a guest post written by Goutam Gurha for a social endeavor by ISB and iDiya http://www.isb.edu/idiya/) 

The paradox of our times is that we have premium hotels and luxurious condominiums on the forefront but ugly slums in the background. We have air-conditioned schools for the affluent but no access to education for the underprivileged. Nowhere else do we get to see the stark contrast the way we do in Gurgaon, the Millennium city. How many of us care to find what goes on in the life of construction workers who sweat and toil to give shape to the modern structures?

It took a small boy to drive me out of my comfort zone. It was lunch time and I was waiting for a friend to go for a movie. I saw  children  emerging from a day care center with  parents who worked at a nearby construction site. Casual chit-chat revealed that a seven year old could do addition sums with amazing ease. “Who taught you this?” I asked. The impish kid pointed towards a day care worker and said, “Didi." 

Mission

This is how I found out about the remarkable efforts of ‘Mobile Creches’ an NGO which works with the children living on the construction sites of Delhi and NCR. The Construction Industry in India employs around 30 million workers who work in extremely dangerous conditions where unequal wages are paid to men and women. The childcare and educational amenities are completely absent as are maternity benefits for women. Conservative estimates tell us that there are 300,000 children in and around Delhi alone. ‘Mobile Creches’ has more than six hundred day care centers partnered with builders like Ansal, Vipul, Raheja, Vatika and Unitech to make sure that each child matters.They provide child care services to more than 14,000 children through multiple partnerships.
Had it not been for Mobile Creches, the seven year old boy I met, could be looking after his  younger sister and not studying at the center. The same is true for other children. The older kids can attend  school since volunteers and day care workers from Mobile Creches take care of their younger siblings.


Rationale

There is strong rationale behind the initiative to ensure health and quality life of children living on the construction sites. Every child matters. Growing up, it was an unspoken understanding that education is the only way towards accomplishment. Without emotional interactions and intellectual stimulations during childhood, there was no way of knowing who I was.

No wonder they say "if children live with criticism, they learn to condemn. If children live with hostility, they learn to fight. If children live with shame they learn to be guilty. If children live with acceptance they learn to love. If children live with recognition they learn to have a goal. And if children live with approval they learn to like themselves."
What are our children living with?

Undeniably, early childhood stage is the most critical period when the foundations for health, learning capacities and social behaviors are laid. Research shows that approximately 90% of brain development takes place during the first five years of a child’s life. Hence an early intervention enables children to develop into capable and confident individuals.

Nurturing Childhood, Sowing Change

Mobile Creches uses a proactive strategy which aims to provide a level playing field for disadvantaged children and strengthen the human resource of the country. Impressed with their work I visited a community crèche which had provisions for immunization, health care for pregnant women, sick children and young toddlers. Meetings, street theater, melas and campaigns by volunteers ensure health and education of children in urban slums. 
What's remarkable is that a great deal of comprehensive research, policy analysis and  documentation goes in to provide a just and caring world for young marginalized children.

Get Involved to Find Solutions

The best part is that one can get involved by having fun and not necessarily by contributing funds.
· Running in a charity marathon and rediscovering the athlete in you.
· Working on a community project with children and building their self-esteem.
· Start an employee volunteer club and retain talent for your company.
Like me, if you believe that every child has a right to the joys of childhood, you can visit a centre, become a volunteer, sponsor a child or support the Mobile Creches Corpus Fund. Mobile Creches is accredited by Credibility Alliance, a consortium of NGOs, hence accountability and credibility are well established.


Impact

Unfortunately, I was unable to volunteer for this organization but it inspired me do my bit.The fact is that child labor, illiteracy and poverty are so intertwined, that if we do nothing about it, all three will continue till the end of time. And the unfairness in our system when it comes to health and education is distressing. While we have equal rights, a level playing field is clearly missing.
When Gita, a nine year old girl living in an urban slum says, “School is fun. I don't like to do the household chores,” or when Ram Singh, a labor from Bihar says, "I want my son to be a doctor," we owe it to them. And it is not about charity. It is about equal rights.

For me, these are immensely satisfying stories. It’s time we did better things and not necessarily bigger things.







Pic Courtesy: Mobile Creche
Website: www.mobilecreches.org
Email: mail@mobilecreches.org

Address: DIZ Area Raja Bazaar,Sector 4, New Delhi,110001 India
Phone: + 91 11 23347635, 23363271

Best Sellers

thecatsite.com

Ever since I began my literary journey, writing has pepped up life in more ways than one. With the boom in e-commerce, we bloggers and aspiring writers seem to be in demand.

While A, B & C (Amish, Bhagat and Chauhan) became published writers and made their millions, most of us earn zilch from writing. We don’t mind it at all. It gives us hope - someday, maybe... As Amishputra Tripathi says, if you are a writer, the first step towards success is rejection. It comes with the territory. Amish was rejected more than twenty times and so was J. K. Rowling. There is little point in writing, if you cannot deal with rejection.

However, being creative passionate souls, writers are suckers for some respect and appreciation. After all, we write to nourish our soul, initiate discussion and create awareness. Money? We simply love the guy who said that a good reputation is more valuable than money. That said, the way to a writer’s heart, as with most other creative souls is to serve dollops of appreciation. Then watch us slog as we strain our neck muscles and suffer from tendonitis or tenosynovitis.

On to the main course. The exciting times began with various blogging platforms organizing contests for aspiring writers. Since most of us are on-line shoppers well versed with bits and bytes, things automatically fell in place. I launch a product. You write about it. I showcase your articles. Both grab eyeballs. Win-win. And the cake is not without the icing. A slew of prizes – tablets, phones and air fares are great lures. There is something for everyone - movie tickets, books and assured gift vouchers.

So each time a new product is launched, irrespective of whether it is a split end demolisher or new cooking oil, FMCG companies jostle for our attention. They announce a blogging contest with attractive prizes. And the generous souls that we are, we oblige them by the magic of our fingers tap dancing on the keyboard. The fixation to involve the ever rising blogging community is a smart advertising strategy which serves the purpose admirably. Both ways.

If you thought that it is easy, you are as mistaken as Himesh is about his acting abilities. Imagine writing an engrossing article worth thousand words about your braids or about your nightmares with curly hair? Even as I write, my mail box tells me that twenty awesome bloggers will get a chance to test drive Tata Nano for a week (with fuel) if they write about their test drive experience. Whatever the experience, only an idiot will criticize his tryst with Tata’s bundle of joy.

Meanwhile, magazines are luring writers by announcing a ‘Reader’s only’ issue. I am not sure if this boosts magazine sales but it sure creates a buzz. Brunch (HT publication) did it. Femina is doing it. As I said, the generous souls that we are, most of us happily oblige without demanding any remuneration. The publication houses oblige us by publishing our articles. Consequently our social quotient inches up while we patiently dream of becoming Amish Loaded Tripathi.

Meaningless Is Awesome

 

“How was the flight?” I call a friend after she lands in Bangalore.
“Cool.”

“How’s the weather?”
“Awesome.”

“And your office?”
“Sexy.” 

I realize that cool is a sexy word with awesome usage. And the word sexy is so awesome that it can be used in cool ways.

The funny thing about sexy is that it can be innocent, deliberate, offensive and complimentary depending on the subject and the context. Type the word on Google and it leads to images and videos which can be a nightmare of any parent with kids. Unlike cool and awesome, sexy is an age appropriate word. Kindergarten kids describing their candy as sexy can make any parent squirm. 

Then there are some who believe that a sexy woman is one who enjoys having sex. It is all about the subject and the context. National Commission for Women chairperson said that girls should not get offended if roadside Romeos make passes at them by calling them sexy. Addressing a packed audience of women she said, “If boys tease you by calling you sexy, you should not get provoked. Instead you should take it as a compliment. Sexy means excitingly beautiful and charming.” Huh?
Any roadside stranger calling a woman sexy deserves one tight slap.

The thing with some words is that once they become viral, we recognize them more in colloquial speech than in literal terms. Cool they say was first used as slang in forties to label a new style of jazz which was different than ‘hot jazz’. Today it can be used to describe Modi’s speech, Priyanka's tattoo, Sachin’s sixer or a Dairy Milk chocolate. A thorough stomach cleanse in the toilet can be cool too - even sexy or awesome. There is a certain positivity attached with these three words. I mean, you cannot call Modi's arm pits or Mulayam's nose sexy. Or cool.Can you?


Since I use the word awesome often, I was amused to read that British poet John Tottenham hates the word awesome so much that he started a campaign to stamp out the word. He created bumper stickers and T-shirts for his movement to ban this ‘superlative meaningless’ word.
A comment on his post was very interesting. “Why does anything we say have to have a meaning? Meaningless is awesome. Somebody should tell this Brit to lighten up and bloody p**s off.” Article

Apologies for wasting your time on a topic as obtuse as this. But after enough soap and soup, I was in mood for some idle chat. Remember ‘meaningless’ is awesome. Just like an old Govinda movie.
I bet no one can look as cool as he did in yellow pants singing that awesome song – Meri pant bhi sexy, Meri shirt bhi sexy hai.


Picture Courtesy: gobollywood.com