Chew On That

Did you hear that? Did you hear Shahid Afridi's apology after he was charged with ball tampering? Well, that's not the real issue. I'm not a big cricket fan or anything, but what was Afridi thinking? Since how many years has he been playing cricket? 15 years? Did he think it was 1950? When there weren't TVs and one wouldn't realise he was sneakishly biting the ball? You know, I wouldn't even call it sneakish. He wasn't even trying to hide what he was doing. And he apologised soon enough (which is good) without denying any of the charges. But what was he thinking? I find it difficult to believe that he did it under immense pressure after his team losing a string of matches recently. Can pressure do that to a person? To a person who knows he's on TV? TV and that match being watched by crores of people across the globe?

I'm truly, sincerely, honestly, genuinely surprised at what Afridi did.

The Climb

Miley Cyrus writes the nicest songs. After her Ready, Set, Don't Go in 2007, The Climb is the next song that I can relate to word-to-word. My friends listen to me talk about how I enjoy all the free time I have, the movies I watch, the shopping I do, the people I meet, the things I do. Most of them envy me. If my friends knew my priorities right, they'd know that the things I tell them are only one side of the coin. The other side is a struggle, a battle that I lose every once a while. A battle with myself to remain focussed, determined and motivated. And to believe that this is the road that leads me to that little dream I'm dreaming. Living alone in a big city with no one to tell me what to do and what not to do, having total control of my life, with parents relinquishing all control of me, it's hard to remain focussed. And with my parents putting in all their trust and belief in the decisions I've taken, there are times when I doubt myself and feel totally lost and confused. This is where the song comes, and inspires me to go on. It's not about what's waiting on the other side, but the climb.

Here are the lyrics of that song that inspires me so much.

The Climb, by Miley Cyrus.

I can almost see it
That dream I'm dreaming, but
There's a voice inside my head saying
You'll never reach it
Every step I'm taking
Every move I make feels
Lost with no direction
My faith is shaking
But I, I gotta keep trying
Gotta keep my head held high

There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose
Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb

These struggles I'm facing
The chances I'm taking
Sometimes might knock me down, but
No, I'm not breaking
I may not know it, but
These are the moments that
I'm gonna remember most, Yeah
Just gotta keep going
And I, I gotta be strong
Just keep pushing on

Coz... There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose
Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb

P.S. I'll put up the song on a flash player for you to listen to sometime soon. When I have access to a PC. For now, enjoy the lyrics.

Time For New Year Resolutions

Ooh, I love making new year resolutions! They're so much fun to break. Ok. They are not. I made resolutions on the eve of my birthday and need I say, I hardly ever followed them :(

Now is my second chance. To make another set of resolutions. Except, this time I'm going to follow them. Sincerely. They're imperative for what I've planned for my future. Very important. So here are my resolutions for 2010, not in any order.

1. Write a poem/song: This one figures in my resolutions almost every year. I want to write a song, or at the least, a poem. No. A song. That's easier, right? I'm amazed at how a poet manages to compare silky flowing hair to a broomstick so beautifully. I can just never do it. This year I'm going to work hard at it.
   
2. Stop eating 'unreal food' for lunch and dinner: The only reason this is here is because I just got yelled at for not eating 'real food'. Apparently, maggie and marie biscuits come from a parallel universe and are not 'real'.
3. Learn to find the greater of two given fractions: Ramanujam is avenging me. I know it. I still remember, that evening, as a little girl learning the beauty of halves and one-thirds when I had invented an easy method of 'sorting' fractions in the ascending order. I had ridiculed the famous mathematician for not 'seeing' the simple method of doing it. Of course, the logic made no sense whatsoever (which took me months to realise), but hey, you can't blame a little girl for putting in so much thought into fractions. Well anyway, Ramanujan was offended and he cursed me to never learn working with fractions and till today, fractions bring me to my knees. And I am not going to let Ramanujam win.
4. Learn a new language: And it's called Gibberish. I've come to realise it's very useful for a person planning to pursue MBA. Wish me luck.
5. Learn to lie: I can't lie. Blame it on my birth date. But I need to know how to lie. I've seen the benefits of it. Besides, lying is a creative activity. It needs wit, presence of mind, prudence and creativity. People who can lie make convincing story-tellers. And that is why I need to learn this art form. For animation's sake.

About the year that passed, I don't even remember the resolutions I'd made. I was 21 for a major part of the year and true to the astrology book I'd read somewhere, it definitely was a 'happening' year. Lots of ups, lots of happiness and lots of downs, lots of sadness both at their extremes. New experiences, new insights, it was as if I was given a crash course on life. I hated it, but I managed to weather through it and emerge wiser and confident than ever before. I didn't realise it then, but I needed it for otherwise, I'd have been a lost soul. Now, I know what I want. I know exactly what to do. With the road forward visible with such clarity, I couldn't be more ready to embrace the year ahead.

Wishing all of you a very happy and a prosperous year ahead.

Happy New Year!

Parking Blues

Does car parking send chills down your spine? Fret no more, because here's a solution. I found this article here. It says,

Dumbfounded at the thought of parking your car in a small space? Don't worry, now scientists have developed a mathematical formula that will help motorists park perfectly.

The formula, developed by Prof Blackburn from the University of London's Royal Holloway College, begins by using the radius of a car's turning circle and the distance between the vehicle's front and back wheels. Then, using the length of the car's nose and the width of an adjacent car the formula can tell exactly how big a space needs to be for your car to fit.

By applying this to basic parking guidelines, one can work out exactly when to turn the steering wheel to slide in perfectly, The Telegraph reported.

So next time you find a small parking place, stop the car, get your pens, pencils, erasers, scratchpads, calculators out, use the formula and calculate exactly when and at what angle you need to turn your car, then find a giant protractor to turn the car by exactly that angle and if you've made no mistakes in your calculation, congratulations. You've successfully parked your car! Parking a car could never be easier and so much fun!

The Little Sacrifices She Makes

The incident just happened. It's almost insignificant, but what struck me after that is what is making me write this post. Mum had come home for lunch. She wasn't supposed to come home today, but she had to because she had forgotten some documents that she needed at work. While mum was searching for the documents in a folder, I was arranging lunch in the kitchen. I noticed there was dal and curry enough for just one person (We thought there was enough food for two and so no lunch was cooked). Instinctively, I served all of the dal and a major quantity of the curry along with rice on mum's plate and handed over the plate for mum to relish. As mum began to eat, I went back into the kitchen and served rice and the remaining curry on my plate. Since there was no dal, I picked up curd from the refrigerator to mix with rice. I then went to the dining table where mum was having lunch and sat down. When she saw my plate her jaw dropped. "What?" I asked.
"Why are you eating rice with curd?"
"Because I want to eat rice with curd today"
The pathetic liar that I am, mum knew I was lying.
"Did you serve all of the dal on my plate?", she asked.
"Ummm... yeah"
After a second's silence she said, "I'm supposed to do that for you."

That was when it struck me. God alone knows how many times mum compromised with her things just to make me or my sister or my dad comfortable, and the number of times such small sacrifices go unnoticed. We don't even realise that mums do these things. They do all these things without complaining, ever, without even hinting that they're doing it, without expecting anything in return. And what do we give them in return?

That is why they say, "God cannot be everywhere, that's why he made mothers"

Incredible !ndia

No words. Let the video say it all.



Incredible !ndia.

Pepsodent Bachche Jhoot Nahi Bolte

If it were in my power, I'd have given this ad an award. Why, you ask? It's because of what the ad teaches children - Jo bhi khaao, sach bataao (Whatever you eat, say the truth) - to be truthful.

Children, mischievous as they are, are always scared of their parents for soiling their clothes at school either due to playing on a muddy playground or due to spilling food on the clothes while eating, more so when they eat something that's forbidden, like ice-creams, ice-candies and chocolates.



In this ad, a little boy (named Satya) spills ice-cream on this trousers and is scared about what mummy would say when she sees it.
His friend says, "What's the big deal? It's just ice-cream!"
Satya replies, "What do you know? Germs, Painful teeth! My mummy loves my teeth more than she loves me".
His friend asks, "Satya, don't you brush your teeth?"
Satya says, "I do. Everyday. But... Orange juice!!"
"Orange juice?"
"Yeah, I'll lie to mummy!"
"Satya from Satya's mouth?", the friend says sarcastically.
"If it fell on your pants wouldn't you have lied?", Satya mocks.
"No."
Satya reaches home. Mummy asks, "Whose pant is it?"
He says, "Satya's! Shall I narrate the story?"

Pepsodent Bachche Jhoot Nahi Bolte. Awesome ad!

Fame Is Overrated

Everybody has favourite actors and favourite actresses and go gaga over every little trivia they hear about them. I've always found this weird. I've never had a "favourite" actor or an actress. I still don't. Ask me who my favourite actor/actress is and you'll find me scratching my head and mumbling.

I find it difficult to like a celebrity just because he/she looks good, acts well, sings well or does his/her job well. This is especially true for actors and actresses. I opine that most people in the film industry have taken a shortcut to fame, or at least, most people aspire to become an actor because it's easy money and instant fame. It just takes one movie for one to become a talk of the town. Suddenly everybody knows him, people flock around him for autographs, people start favouring him. He/she becomes the king/queen! I find absolutely no meaning in this. What's there to admire about the person that you've to start collecting every picture you can find of the person, risk your life to get an autograph? The person hasn't done anything so great to warrant such admiration and importance. I would never take an autograph of Ranbir Kapoor, Hrithik Roshan, Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan or any other Khan for that matter, even if he came in front of me and said hi, neither would I ever take an autograph of Aishwarya Rai, Katrina Kaif or any of the female actresses. They (and by they, I don't mean only the people in the list above), or I should rather say, most of them have either had it easy being star-kids, or have their heads in the clouds, or are famous only because they have a pretty face even though they don't really have talent, or worse, have compromised with values. I find the importance that they are given as unnecessary and uncalled for. There are pages and pages and sections dedicated to these "Page 3" celebrities. Why isn't there at least half a page in the newspaper dedicated to people doing social work or are working for social reform?

I have nothing against the star-kids or pretty-faces being famous. Film industry is business, and the producers would always want to make what sells. If pretty-face-no-talent works, then use that. If the star-kid tag works, then use the star-kid. It's the fact that people "worship" these celebrities is what I find odd. I find it odd when people keep pictures of their favourite actors and make them their wallpapers. The least I can do is appreciate when they've done well and criticize when they haven't; and appreciate beauty and handsomeness when the actress/actor looks good on screen, and cringe when they look horrible.

I always admire people who have started their life from scratch and then went on to do great things in life, who have pursued their dreams against all odds and have returned back to the society selflessly; the people who are socially responsible whose lives inspire us to be better people. For me, these are the real celebrities. These are the people whose autographs I'd love to keep. These are the people for whom I'd scream that I've seen them when I do. These are the people that deserve being given importance and admiration. These are the people that really deserve to be famous.

Arranged Marriage

A discussion with a friend today compelled me to make a post on the highly debated topic. This post is not about love vs. arranged marriage. These are just some thoughts/fears I have about the whole process before you tie the knot, be it love or arranged.

How does an arranged marriage happen? The parents choose the boy/girl. The boy and the girl meet, they talk, talk and talk some more. Finding that their expectations from marriage match, they decide to get married. Is that all? Is the matching of expectations all that is needed to decide to spend the rest of their lives with each other?

Honestly, the concept of an arranged marriage freaks me out! Now let's say, the expectations of both the sides are a 100% match. You now see the personal traits and compatibility of both sides. Obviously, when you meet a new person you are nice to the person. The other person will be nice to you too. How do you really know if the person is good or bad. Ok, nobody is a 'bad' person. So let me put it this way. How do I know we're compatible? Do I say we're compatible when our expectations match and there is a good chemistry between the two? The chemistry is always good when things are good. When situations are adverse, that's where it really matters. Will we be compatible when things go bad? Or are we going to fight over the silliest of matters? I know fights are inevitable when two people live together, but it's ok when the fight is over something that really matters. Fighting over silly matters is a big pain. I hate fighting and arguing, and would do anything to avoid it. When I get married, I really would want to know the not-so-good side of the person. More than the good part, it's the bad part that I want to know. Everybody has got good qualities, which is not something that you need to worry about, and bad qualities, which you cannot take for granted. I need to know if I'll be able to put up with the annoying qualities of the person for the rest of my life. Is it possible to know what these qualities are before one gets married to the person? Or is it going to be a surprise-surprise moment after marriage? Of course, marriage is a life-time commitment and one would (at least, I would) accept all the annoying qualities and accept the person for what he is, unless it is an immoral quality that is totally unacceptable.

... which is why I think, personally, I believe love marriages make more sense. I have nothing against arranged marriages. In fact, my marriage would be an arranged marriage if things are as they are at present (You never know the future ;) ). In a love marriage, you know everything about the person, the good and the bad (and the worse) before you tie the knot. You'd have had fights and you would know how both of you deal with it. When you marry the person, you already know how the rest of your life with that person is going to be. Maybe your expectations are not the same, but the love that you have for the person will let you make small compromises with expectations, and make expectations match. To quote Canara Bank's tagline, "You change for the ones you care". The only downside is the heartache when one side refuses to accept certain qualities and the couple breaks up (before marriage, of course). Heartaches are painful and nobody would want to go through them a second time, but a heartache before marriage is better than a heartache after marriage.

Now that I think about it, love marriages and arranged marriages are not so different except for the two facts that in a love marriage you fall in love before marriage and in an arranged marriage you fall in love after marriage/engagement; in a love marriage you choose your partner and then tell your parents, and in an arranged marriage your parents choose a prospective partner and then let you know. It's the matter of how much of the person you know before you tie the knot that makes all the difference.