The Girl Child

This is the first time I am addressing a social issue on my blog. Sometimes we are so preoccupied with earning our daily bread that we forget that we live in a society where there are some very unfortunate people who are not even given a chance to live like they would want, get educated, earn a living, especially girls.

While browsing through the channels on TV mostly looking for a good movie to pass my time with, I came across a show on National geographic, where a some village in the southern part of India was being shown. The first thought that came to my mind was “Oh! they want to show how poor and illiterate people are in India”… Another typical characteristic of channels like these.  I had almost hit the next button on the remote when this lady who was talking in flawless English appeared on screen.

She was Mrs. P.V. Sandhya President of the Arti Home trust in the district of Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh. She was explaining how she tried to convince a young couple in the nearby village to not abort a girl child that the wife was carrying which had been illegally determined in her 5th month of pregnancy.

The show went on to explain how the not only the rural , but also the urban middle class population in India are obsessed with a boy child. “it’s just for the sake of carrying their family name and empire forward” were the words of a middle aged divorced educated upper middle class lady, who was forced to abort her baby since it was a girl. She was brave enough to report this to the police and her case is still pending in some court in Hyderabad. She also recounted stories of her closest friend who was made to have 5 abortions, all because it was a female, and is still mute to all the injustice happening to her in hope of bearing a boy child someday.

Arti home is an organization which gives abandoned children especially girls a chance to learn, earn a living, and life on their own terms. It takes care of the general well being, medical and educational needs of any child which is left at the doorstep or handed over to them by unwilling parents. Mrs. Sandhya, recollected how there were many cases of parents leaving an unwanted girl child at their doorstep in the middle of the night and if it was a particular rainy night the baby stood very little or no chances to make it till morning till she was discovered by them. They went on to construct a concrete crib at the gates of their nursing home so that if the parents wanted to leave the child without revealing their identity, at least the child could not be affected by climatic conditions and stood a chance at survival. “If your baby is a burden to you, please leave it here…” it said.

Surprisingly the very next day of the construction of the concrete crib, a old couple were leaving a 3 day old baby girl and trying to escape when they were found and ushered in the home by the watchman. The baby’s condition was critical, and was transferred to an ICU immediately under expert medical care. Mrs Sandhya then made the grandparents of the child (who were there to abandon the baby) sign a official document handing over the responsibility of the child to Arti home.

Sadly the baby could not survive even under the medical care, as she was 3 weeks premature. It was heartbreaking to see such a beautiful creation of God succumb to the irrational and ignorant mentality of the people who had borne her.

This moved me so much that I looked up Arti homes on the internet, found their website and decided to help in whatever way I could. I also had the opportunity to talk to Mrs. Sandhya, and ask her about the kind of help that was required in her organization apart from monetary help. She informed me that they were in constant need of vitamin , and calcium medication for the children, and also books.

Unfortunately they do not have a point of contact in Mumbai, but there is an office in Hyderabad. If any of you reading this are from there please do make sure you visit their website(http://www.vftrust.org/), see the work that they are doing and if you think there is any authenticity in what I have said above, help in any way you can. Or you could just donate money like I have, via net banking or your credit cards. It’s just a mouse click away.

Long time No C

Technorati Tags: blogging,vanishing

I think we’ll have to make that very long time no see….

I know i almost vanished from the whole blogging scene, make all you readers(assuming there are lots 😉 ) think i wasn’t as faithful to writing as u thought i was. It wasn’t my fault u see, the techies in office blocked all kind of bolgging related content, and lets be honest here ppl most of us blog in our free time in office. 🙂

But now i’m sure the next question u wud be asking is why did it take 2 months for me to get an internet connection at home?? Well yes part of me was too lazy too actually go to the reliance office to ask about the broadband service and the other part was too busy with work (i can see a lot of you saying… yeah right 😉 ). Anyways, it was not until i fell terribly sick on Wednesday that i was forced to take 3 days of leave from office that i could finally find the time to call the reliance guy and get things done. (Those of you who r wondering about forced leaves well, u get the point…. u don’t ok it was not at all forced, and i loved it ha ha.. )

So here i am back again, happy that my blog is breathing again, and i have this heavy weight lifted from my chest and i no longer feel guilty that i’m not faithful to my blog.

So i will try my best to write as much as possible and not give u guys another chance to complain.

See u around ppl…. 🙂

And it Rains in Mumbai!!!

Its raining…………. Nah not men….. It’s just raining. You might think cats and dogs, so clichéd. Its raining elephants!!!!

 I had a first hand experience of the phenomenon called “Mumbai Rains” a few days ago. Why do I call it a phenomenon? Well, you’ll have to see it for yourself, but picture this:

A hundred or so people on a road not wider than your living room coupled with 20 Auto rickshaws, 3 BEST buses, and not to mention the roadside thela’s selling everything ranging from bhajia and cutting chai to china made mobile phones. Oh! and did I mention a heavy rainfall? And as if that was not enough the road was flooding already with ankle or in some places knee deep water.

 As me and my friend made way through the running water trying to guess where the pot holes might be, a weird sense of belongingness swept through me. It seemed as though after a year of living in this city I had finally become one with it. Within minutes I had started ranting about how bad the rain was and the drainage and the system and the MET department and the likes. I also managed to argue with an auto rickshaw wallah, for the reason that he would prefer to stretch his legs and sleep in his auto rather than taking some helpless drenched girl to her destination.

 Just then a girl my age taps me on my shoulder and says “Hey there’s no point. Where do u wanna go?”  “Rajawadi”, I said, some drops of water going into my mouth as I said that 🙂 “Ok we’ll go together” she ordered, and I just meekly trotted behind her.

 It seemed so funny that when the whether was hot everybody wanted the rains to come. And as soon as the heavens opened up, well……. “Why does it rain so much here? I wonder when will it stop??” If nothing else Mumbai can make teach you irony. 😉

 Yes, Mumbai is a city where you can get poked in the eye by the umbrella of a passerby, curse the system a zillion times, get stuck in jams, fight with commuters of locals for one centimeter of space, which actually is not even enough to accommodate half your … ahem behind 😉 , talk to complete strangers as if they were always your friends and go to Bandra – Worli Sea link at 12 in the night just to turn back because of the traffic jam caused by all the people who want to experience it before the toll booth gets operative. Lol 😉

 But in spite of the potholes, the rains, the humidity, the crowds……. Yeh Mumbai hai mere yaaarrrrr…………. And I’m proude to be a Mumbaikar. 🙂

I have been Tagged!!!

Yes yes you heard it right. I have been tagged for the first time ever, and by none other than Preeti Shenoy herself.

When at first I was relatively new to the blog world, I had no idea what being tagged was. (Yeah I know it’s kinda sad…. I’m a slow learner, cant help it 🙂 )

But lately I have been reading a lot and I mean a lot of blogs and I have understood that being tagged is no less than an award. It means people want to know you, people want to read your stuff (however bad you think it is), and most importantly people visit your blog and leave comments hee hee.

And to get tagged by Preeti is such an honour, trust me. I completely adore, and respect and loooooveee her blog….

Thanks a lot Preeti. 🙂

So here goes:

5 things I love about myself:

1. I love the fact that, I can manage to write some good if not great stuff, and that the counter on my blog increases day by day. It’s a real pleasure to know that people agree with you and like what you write.

 2. I love it that I get excited at the smallest pretext of any new thing to do. Be it going on a picnic, or buying a new pair of jeans, anything. My friends tell me that I’m just a 12 year old (or maybe 2 😉 ) in a 24 year olds’ body, and I like it that the child in me is still alive.

3. I love it that in some matters I am more level headed and practical than my elder sister. I don’t mean to brag here but four years of hostel life and then 2 years of living independently has taught me a lot. (Dips if you are reading this, please don’t get mad )

4. Call me boastful or whatever but I love the fact that I looove to read. And like most people who say reading is their hobby, well for me it’s more like an obsession. Just give me anything to read. If I don’t have a novel handy, I will read a newspaper, RD, or even Femina , Filmfare, (and cosmopolitan too 😉 ). But I just can’t live without reading. I also cannot gel with people who say “Uhhh! Who’s gonna read such a thick book. I don’t like reading” Although this thing I don’t exactly love, since you should always try and meet different kinds of people, but since this post is about knowing me more so…..

5. I love the fact that I’m not like a lot of typical girls. What do I mean by typical? Well, the kind that always have matching sandals and handkerchiefs, and eye shadows, and stuff. I love the fact that I have more guy friends that girls, and a lot of them are of the opinion that I should have been a guy. Coz somehow guys find it unusually natural to be their natural swearing, smoking, talking about some hot chick self in front of me. 🙂 Don’t get me wrong, I love the colour pink, but I think thats about it, to the girly stuff that I have in me. (…pssst…. I got 0% in the How Girly are you quiz on Facebook 🙂 )

Phew…. This was a difficult one. It took me more time that writing a short story for Jason’s Contest.

Okay, now I guess I have to Tag some people: (Wait do I have to Tag 5 people or more, since this is about 5 things….. I told you I was an amateur still 😉 )

 I Tag:

 Aditi (I know you quite well, but still, wanna see how you write this one)

Jason (The one who comments here….. You can do it in my comment box if you don’t have a blog)

 Aniket (Want to know more about you)

 Sid (Since you comment regularly on my posts 🙂 )

 Gughanx (Want to know more about you too)

 Sameer (Since you love praising yourself, here’s one more chance 😉 )

 Caught Offside (Since I loved your latest story)

And the rest of you please feel free to do the tag in my comment box if you wish. Consider yourself tagged!!!!

This happens only in INDIA

Yesterday, I thought was just another mundane day. The same old job, the same people, and the same work. Little did I know I was going to be a witness to a mind numbing incident.

 I left at 5.30 from work yesterday, frustrated doing and redoing the same code a zillion times. As I was getting into my bus, I thought “Why is my life so boring, and regular? I want to do something exciting” I never thought god would fulfill my wish in such a dramatic and scary way.

Well the bus moved on as usual, and I tuned into a Radio station, with the RJ as usual bickering about unimportant stuff. The usual traffic, pollution and honking going on in the background, didn’t bother me at all. I’m seasoned to Mumbai now. Just then a shiny white car passed by and caught my attention.

“Wow” I thought, “What a Car Man!! I wish I had one, so I could turn on the AC listen to Hotel California and go home in peace without one drop of sweat on my forehead”

As I was fantasizing about my “chauffeur driven dreams” I heard a horn blazing. It was the same dream car. Only difference was the windows were rolled down, and a fat burly man was shouting something incoherent near the window that I was sitting by.

For a second I did not understand what was going on. Then the driver of our bus started shouting too. That’s when I realized both men were shouting obscenities at each other.

“Ah! Men” I said to myself. “They never leave a chance to shout and insult each other do they?”

It had so happened that at the turning the big shiny car driver had cut through the wrong side of the bus and might have lost a little bit of control as our poor unsuspecting driver could not know there was a car on the wrong side.

Now I think  a ground rule here in India is that if u have a white shiny car and a bus, it’s always the bus drivers fault. I thought it was over when both drivers were done shouting obscenities. But no, this shiny car driver almost in Hollywood style swerved his car and brought it at a halt right in front of our bus, screeching tires and all in play here.

Four huge men got down and tried to pull the driver down from the window. Suddenly one of them hit a large wooden stick at the door. The drivers head got saved. Since they could not get the driver out, all of them barged in, the one with the huge stick too. They started beating up our driver black and blue. Dragged him out of the bus and started hitting him with the stick.

Luckily the driver escaped and ran through the bushes near the road, to safety.

I was scared out of my wits and for a minute could not believe what just happened was true. It looked like a typical Bollywood scene where some goonda’s come to beat up an innocent man for no fault of his.

The only smart thing I could do was note down the license plate number of the car and gave it to the security head of our company explaining him the whole incident.

It turns out that it was the car of a politician’s PA, and that lodging a complaint would be fruitless. Luckily the head of security knows this politician personally and will go to his place today. But I don’t think anything at all will be done in this matter, after today.

So in India if you are not a politician or a part of a Bhai Gang (Which is the same anyways) you can beat up innocent people in the middle of the road, take law in your hands and manage to get away with it.

So although the physical pain will go, only thing hurt and bruised that will remain is the bus drivers’ pride and self respect.

30 Questions

I found this very interesting post on Preeti Shenoy’s blog and thought of putting it up here too. Well the actual reason was to make people forcefully give comments lolz.

There are no rules except if you read this you have no other option but to answer the questions, and yes be creative, honest, witty anything you like…. oh well be urself, make urself known…..

Also i’m putting up my answers here just FYI. I put it up on preeti’s blog too.

So c’mon people get to work…. and dont just read and leave coz if you visit i’m gonna know….. i have Site meter (look at the sidebar…)

Ok enough of threats….. The questions:

1. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought?

2. How much cash do you have in your wallet right now?

3. What’s a word that rhymes with DOOR?

4. Who is the 4th person on your missed call list on your cell phone?

5. What is your favorite ring tone on your phone?

6. What are you wearing right now?

7. Do you label yourself?

8. Name the brand of the shoes you’re currently own?

9. Bright or Dark Room?

10. What do you think about the person who took this survey before you?

11. What does your watch look like?

12. What were you doing at midnight last night?

13. What did your last text message you received on your cell say?

14. What’s a word that you say a lot?

15. Who told you he/she loved you last?(please exclude spouse , family, children)

16. Last furry thing you touched?

17. Favorite age you have been so far?

18. What was the last thing you said to someone?

19.The last song you listened to?

20. Where did you live in 1987?

21. Are you jealous of anyone?

22. Is anyone jealous of you?

23. Name three things that you have on you at all times?

24. What’s your favorite town/city?

25. When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper and mailed it?

26. Can you change the oil on a car?

27. Your first love/big crush: what is the last thing you heard about him/her?

28. Does anything hurt on your body right now?

29. What is your current desktop picture?

30. Have you been burnt by love?

 

And now my answers:

1. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought?

Wow the new colour of my hair really suits me 🙂

2. How much cash do you have in your wallet right now?

Exactly Rs 247……. I counted the small change too 🙂

3. What’s a word that rhymes with DOOR?

MORE

4. Who is the 4th person on your missed call list on your cell phone?

Bharat Mama

5. What is your favorite ring tone on your phone?

Californication- Red Hot Chili Peppers

6. What are you wearing right now?

Salwaar kameez……. I’m in office yaar 🙂

7. Do you label yourself?

Nah!!!

8. Name the brand of the shoes you’re currently own?

Nike

 9. Bright or Dark Room?

Bright Room any day

10. What do you think about the person who took this survey before you?

Since i got this from Preeti… I think she’s a wonderful person. 🙂

11. What does your watch look like?

A watch!!! Lolz….. Ok no seriously, its black completely, dial strap everything…..

12. What were you doing at midnight last night?

Talking to my mom about everything under d sun and sleeping in her lap after a looongggg time…… I miss her ….. sniff sniff

13. What did your last text message you received on your cell say?

 Hello! Your Vodafone bill of Rs 680 has been emailed to amrita.bhatia@techmahindra.com.  Only Vodafone messages me these days…. 😦

14. What’s a word that you say a lot?

Wat D F….. Yeah Right!!! Get Lost!!…. Whatever!! Kuch Bhi!! ….. Ok I can go on and on with this…. I talk a lot… 🙂

15. Who told you he/she loved you last?(please exclude spouse , family, children)

My Best friend Aditi…

16. Last furry thing you touched?

A kitten….. She was separated from her family and hungry. Me and my friend fed her milk and kept her away from a stray dog…. 🙂

17. Favorite age you have been so far?

22….. I could kill for being 22 again

18. What was the last thing you said to someone?

What’s wrong with all the guys in the world yaar!!! They are such big Chauvinists

19.The last song you listened to?

Six feet from the Edge- Creed

20. Where did you live in 1987?

Akola my hometown…… I was two at that time…. 🙂

21. Are you jealous of anyone?

Sometimes I get jealous of my bro who gets to come home at any time of the night without even giving an explanation of where he was. But it’s all momentary.

22. Is anyone jealous of you?

Lots of people lolz…… nah!!! I don’t think anyone can ever be jealous of me…

23. Name three things that you have on you at all times?

My Face wash, Wallet, and cell phone

24. What’s your favorite town/city?

Mumbai and Pune. Sorry can’t choose one

25. When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper and mailed it?

A month ago……. But I won’t tell you to whom 😉

26. Can you change the oil on a car?

Yeah!!!

27. Your first love/big crush: what is the last thing you heard about him/her?

That he was studying medicine somewhere in Pune.

28. Does anything hurt on your body right now?

Yeah my heart….. Ok that’s cheesy…… nope not right now but my head will surely hurt after the amount of work I do today…. 😉

29.What is your current desktop picture?

It’s a pic of fog in the forests of Kodaikanal….. Company wallpaper

30. Have you been burnt by love?

Not yet….. And I don’t want to either…..

Happy Answering!!!!! 🙂

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Added later:

Copy paste these questions in the comment box and give your answers after each question.( If you give only the answers with the serial numbers it wont be much fun as one has to keep scrolling up to look at the questions)

I can’t think of a Title!!!

I’m Frustrated frustrated frustrated….. Why??????

Coz nothing, absolutely nothings seems to be going right at this point in time.

I tried like hell to get into a B-school, but didn’t work out. Its not like I wanted IIM A,B,C and d likes, just a normal, decent B-school, but nope, no luck there.

I absolutely, positively hate my job (Ok i know everybody does) and don’t even get me started on why I hate it. All you IT ppl will know what happens after almost two years of slogging and then being kicked right, left and centre like a football between projects, managers, and team mates, not to mention Locations.

My mind is so cluttered with negativity i feel like running away this instant without informing anyone and ya without my cell phone (Ah!! Pure bliss that would be). But no cant do that.

My leaves didn’t get approved for the month of June. I so badly wanted to go home. I haven’t been home after diwali ( Well actually i have for a weekend, but two days at home does not count) and I have accumulated more than 20 leaves, very miraculously i must say, and i just want to use half of them,…… but no cant do that too……. aaaargggghhhhhh….

My mom is vacationing with all her kitty party friends in Mahabaleshwar as i speak and i feel like getting up packing some clothes and get into the next bus to Mahabaleshwar……..

So right now my mind has just one process running…….. Should I? Shouldn’t I? Should I? Shouldn’t i????

So someone puh-lease help me take a decision…….

 

P.S: this is the first time i am writing so openly about my life and if some of you find it absolutely disgusting, then please please ignore it, but don’t stop visiting my blog……. this is just an outburst of emotions which required to come out somewhere……..

Of Novels and Movies

 I am an avid reader of fiction novels. (Nothing amazing about that I know) Its like I cant sleep without reading something, and my Mom is the one to be completely blamed for this 😉 . Well actually I’m thankful to her, coz she was the one to introduce me to this wonderful and enchanting world of books. These books transport you to a world which is hitherto unknown to you, and I have always marveled at the skill that writers have to describe each and every thing in a book with such great detail that you can actually feel and see it.

 But I have always had a slight grudge against people who make movies out of novels. I mean it is always so convenient, pick up a novel, give the writer loads of money and make a movie out of it. Just saves the producer all the work that goes into actually thinking about the story, writing a script etc. It’s all virtually served in a platter in the form of a novel.

 The most recent transition I’ve seen of a novel to a movie as Twilight. I generally don’t read love stories for the simple fact that they are unbelievably surreal. But Twilight was different, although being a vampire story, I could still connect with the character of Bella Swan. Seeing the movie was like a slap on the face of my imagination. None of the characters could do justice to what Stephanie Meyer has portrayed them to be, especially the main characters Bella and Edward Cullen. The book is written in first person from Bella’s perspective, and the movie has cut out so many vital aspects of Bella’s emotions that a person who has not read the book would find it absolutely boring.

 Another disappointment was The Da Vinci Code. Yes lots of people appreciated the movie, but I’m sure very few of them would have read the book. Because the book is much more fast paced than the movie, and they had to actually skip important parts from the book, so as to cram it in 2 to 3 hours. Also Tom Hanks could not be imagined as Robert Langdon, as is the opinion of Aditi my very good friend.

 The only movie that did any amount of justice to its book was Godfather, and people who have read the book and seen the movie would be nodding in approval right now 😉

 So I just feel making movies out of novels should be banned or something, even in India ( remember Hello aka One night at the Call center, and ya 3 Idiots on Five point someone, I’m so not looking forward to it 😉  )

 What do ya think ppl?????

Post No 2

 

 

 

 

Ok, so I had promised to come up with something sensible and sweet….. I hope this post counts in at least either one of the categories.

 I watched the sweetest Animation Movie of all times today…… Finding Nemo….. Yeah yeah I hadn’t seen it for so long, but it was worth all the wait.. Why? Well there could not be a better time to watch it then now.  Why again?

 Firstly some of you might have read my post titled Confused, and the confusion if anything is rising by the minute. Even the Jyotish feels so. He says my Ketu is going on. As if I know what that means.

 But lately I was under the impression that nothing can go right in my life. I was so frustrated. It was like the whole world had conspired to do things against my wishes.

Today when we got our ratings in office for this years Appraisal, I got quite a surprise; not the good one… the jaw dropping disappointing one. Some of you might know what I’m talking about.  

 So I sunk in deeper in my mode of confusion depression or whatever you wanna call it. I thought there was nothing left to go wrong with me or my life.

 I just switched on the computer and stumbled upon this movie (Finding Nemo) which has been neglected for quite a long time. So I decided to watch it, just for the heck of it, so that by the end of it I would feel sleepy and not have to turn around in bed till almost morning to finally fall asleep.

 Little did I know that this movie would move me so much. It’s a tale about courage, about never giving up, about trusting your friends, and living for others more than yourself.

 Coz when you actually believe this, nothing can go wrong in your life. The movie bought tears in my eyes more than once. I know girls cry all the time in movies but this one was genuine; it was from d deepest, innermost corner of my heart where I seriously felt the same as Nemo’s father.

 Juts when he had met his son after so many obstacles and just when he had though that it will all be fine, they had to face another big obstacle where nemo and their friend get trapped in a fishing net. But they finally manage to come outta it.

 That when I felt , no matter how hard it is I’m gonna come outta this…… yes I am!!!!!

NaBloPoMo

I know the title looks like some gibberish a five year old might have scribbled, but its not.  It Stands for National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo.com). It’s basically a blog marathon where you have to put up one post every single day for 31 days.

The theme for May is SWEET, but it’s not compulsory (As if i can ever write sweet stuff). I don’t know if i can keep up with this humongous task. It’s difficult ya know….. what with nothing to do in office, and at home, no important meetings or client calls, no friends in Mumbai, and ya most importantly all the laziness and the “I’m not in the mood to write” excuse; I’ll be glad if i can write five straight posts in 5 days.

Nevertheless, i promise to try ( dunno who I’m promising….. doubt if anyone follows this….. maybe i’m promising myself). And ya all of you who do stumble upon this blog by mistake i encourage ya’ll to try it too. After all no one’s gonna punish you if you don’t be honest and sincere in completing it (that’s the reason i joined 😉 )

So that’s it i did it…… i joined and wrote my first entry for the blog marathon….

Afterthought: if you are reading this do be kind enough to leave your comments so i get encouraged to write more stuff everyday (Ok Ok……. just put a comment to boost my ego….. everyone likes it…. 😉 ) Whatever the reason…….. Just comment OK!!!

So let’s see if i can come up with something sensible tomorrow….. More importantly something SWEET….