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Our French Mis-Steps

Our Team had completed the basic level of French Language training last year and this year we thought that we would take advantage of the 'lean' period between the projects and go a step forward in French. However, the French Language institute had less faith in us that we had in ourselves and told us that they would need to assess whether we have remembered enough to go for the next level. They informed us that they will hold an assessment over phone for each candidate and then evaluate whether we can go ahead. Many of us made the examiner's day by providing her enough material to laugh about for at least a couple of days. Here are some snippets of the conversation. All of this happened in French. What you see below is the exact translation in English. Snippet 1: Examiner talking to Punjabriti (name changed) Examiner: Do you have children? Punjabriti: Yes, I have a daughter. Examiner: How old is she? Punjabriti: She is three years old. Examiner: Do you also have a son? Pun

Change

When I slow down, the world goes by, so fast that it's nothing, but a colorful blur. I stand still, and try to make sense, of all that's happening, without and within. All things that I hold dear, vanish one by one. Everyone who is near, is changing with the tide. And it is then when I feel it, As slow and quiet, as the blooming of a rose bud, the small but sure changes in me. It is a comfort, to say the least. While the world's not constant, I, too, am changing with it.

Extremists Never Learn

The serial blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad, including the one in the trauma center, has brought the focus back on Terrorism. Never before has a medical facility been targetted. The cold-bloodedness in these attacks is increasing. It is unfortunate that these organizations think that they have a right to end so many lives and traumatize countless other people who are not directly affected by these incidents. The dreams that end with these attacks are countless and priceless. However, extremists fail to realize that they have never been successful in this. People always bounce back. No market has ever been shut down because of this, no place has ever been boycotted. People still tour Kashmir at the slightest indication of peace there and they will keep doing that. So what are these Organizations trying to accomplish by these terror acts especially since they do not have even one success story to boast of in the past? Markets are still crowded near Diwali. People still go to movie halls

Can it ever be?

Moving On

Deep inside, there's a knot that doesn't dissolve. A pain that refuses to be revealed, to flow out. A few tears that linger and sting my eyes. A little worry, that shouldn't be as now your pain isn't mine at all. A little sorrow for the wrong step that led us here. But life goes on, and I will too till your memory doesn't hurt and you are nothing but a speck of dust to an eagle soaring high above.

Intrusive Us

To even mildly religious people, the post may sound blasphemous. So please proceed with an open mind. I have just recovered from a long session of Bhajans and Kirtans carried out at our neighbour's place with the loud speaker turned on to its full volume. And the singers were so hoarse that they sounded like a pride of wild cats fighting. I tried my best to shut the noise off but ultimately gave up and the chaos became a part of the background noise. And I do mind that because otherwise the background noise often comprises of the sweet song of a koel that lives on a mango tree behind our house. Considering the regular occurance of such events, it surprized me that this was the first time I asked my self why? Why do we shout at the top of our voices to let the rest of the world know that we are praying? Why do we assume that everyone else would want to hear us pray? and Why do we decide that listening to us pray is good for everyone living around us? More than praying for our peace

Awards - Most Modern Person of March 2008

Who is modern? Being Modern, what does it truly mean? To me it means someone who can defy the world and stick to their principles and can view the world without a bias. Bravery, Self-respect, and Non-judgemental attitude are a few attributes that are essential aspects of a modern human being. On this blog, I am making a very humble attempt to recognize these undefeatable, courageous forces of humanity that are contributing towards making this world a better place. I am starting out with "The Most Modern Person" award and intend to recognize a new person every month. This may later branch out towards the "Most Modern Woman" and "Most Modern Man" categories if we get enough contenders (the more, the better). The award for the most modern person of March 2008 goes to Salim. For more information, please refer: Man agrees to buy wife to save her from flesh trade Some people have expressed that he has sacrificed a lot by accepting a wife who had become a prostit

Broken Dreams

I was on my way back from office when we passed a house under construction. Unexpectedly, the first thought that struck me was that 'here stands someone's dreams' in the making. The subtle delight and sense of satisfaction and pride that comes when a dream is on its way of coming true was palpable in that incomplete abode. But the joy was shortlived as I remembered the tragedy of countless homes and buildings that were gutted during the Latur earthquake in 1993, the tsunami in 2004 that was caused by an earthquake in the Indian Ocean, and for that matter even the attack that demolished the World Trade Center in 2001. All that was material and physical including the property, human lives, money was accounted for, but all that was implicit was lost. All the dreams woven inside the bricks, the pillars, the steel bars, the walls, the rooms, the homes, and the offices, were broken and lost forever. Here is my tribute to this huge disembodied loss. A dusty curtain slowly lifts, t

Maruti Suzuki Zen Estilo

I am back to crib about another advertisement. This time one on the radio. I wonder if you have heard that cheeky ad in which a family friend calls on the landline number of a friend couple. Their child who sounds anywhere from 8-11 picks up the phone. I don't remember the exact words but the conversation goes something like: Adult: Hello Child: Hello Adult: Beta, papa ghar par hain? Child(mimicking the adult): Beta, papa ghar par hain? Adult: Kya? Child: Kya? Adult(getting a bit worked up): Beta, mummy ya papa ghar par hain? Child (in exactly the same tone): Beta, mummy ya papa ghar par hain? Adult(gathering patience): Beta? Child(in the same tone): Beta? Adult (Angry) : Beta? Child (mock-anger): Beta? Tag line: "Looks like some one is still not back from their Zen Estilo test drive" Now the Adult and the Child on the phone were really good actors. They conveyed a lot through their expressions. But other than that rest all is awful. Child is awfully rude. Moreover, what

Jane Eyre - The Implausible Modern Victorian Woman

When I first started reading Jane Eyre, I had expected to find the protagonist to be a materialistic socialite like Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind or, at best, a prig like Fanny in Mansfield Park. The last thing I expected was a woman who could very well be my idol today in the way she follows her heart and mind and takes strong decisions. It is hard to believe that Charlotte Bronte wrote this novel in 1857. Jane Eyre, the protagonist is an intelligent, passionate orphan who is being raised by her rich aunt who is not too kind to her. She gets her education in a charitable school, Lowood, and emerges as a much learned, passionate, but sensible woman. Her many talents include a flair for languages, painting and sketching. She is hired as a governess for a french girl, Adele and falls in love with Mr. Rochester, her employer. They are about to be married when something from Mr. Rochester's past intervenes and makes it impossible for both to be married. Jane refuses to be M

Counting Smiles

On my way to work today, I counted smiles. It is a 20 minute drive from my home to office and as my husband took care of the driving part, I spent my time chatting with him and also counting the number of people that were smiling while travelling. In the entire journey, I counted (hold you breath) two people who seemed to be smiling heartily. One was this young lady (somewhere in her early thirties) who was all wrapped up in a shawl and was presumably walking towards a bus stop alone. She must have remembered some incident that tickled her and made her smile spontaneously. Her whole face was lit up and she was oblivious to all around her, too engrossed in her own pleasant thoughts. The second was the driver of a mini-bus carrying students to some school. He was chatting with the bus conductor who stood right behind the driver and they seemed to be sharing a joke. His smile was good natured and I was able to judge the type of joke that they shared. It was surely not lewd or slapstick. I

Religion - To Each Their Own

I am a Hindu. That goes to say that I follow Hinduism. I have friends who are Sikhs, Muslims or Christians. While there are some common beliefs in all religions, every one essentially follows a religion of their own. Religion cannot be imposed, it can only be felt and faith makes you a follower. According to your up-bringing, your personality, your values, you choose to accept few things and discard few things that the religion teaches. In Hinduism, I admire the in-built spirituality, the flexibility, the openness and the practicality, especially as defined in Geeta. But I shun practices that pollute air, environment, water etc. Many rivers, such as Yamuna and Ganga, suffer because of these practices. On every bridge across Yamuna in Delhi, Government has built huge net boundaries to prevent people from throwing offerings into the river. But the energetic Hindus religiously hurl flowers, polybags into the Holy River. It is sad to say the least. I consider myself a worshipper of the sup

Public Mis-awareness Campaign

A recent ad on TV, which claims to be a public awareness campaign, shows a self-important 10-year old telling his family about his scores in various subjects. The conversation goes on like this: Family: "Maths?" 10 yr old with mock disappointment: "93" Family: "Science?" 10 yr old with mock-er disappointment: "96" Family: "And what about Rahul?" 10 yr old with a wide grin and thumbs-down: "0" Family: "Why?" 10 yr old with absolute delight: "Chicken Pox. He didn't come to the school at all." Family smiles nastily as if Rahul has acted foolish by contracting chicken pox. And all this in the name of a "public awareness campaign" for a Chicken Pox vaccine. I would request the great people behind this ad to spare us their concern for our well-being. Some other child falling sick should raise nothing else but compassion in everyone. But these amazingly conceited people make completely innocent kids

Sanyasini - My interpretation

Here is a small sketch that I made some time back. To be frank, this sage was not intended to look like this. Atleast not her expressions. But it is her expressions that I find most enigmatic. The lady is clearly a sage, a glamorous one though, but her eyes don't suit her face. In fact, I was about to erase them and draw them again but then I guess the general aura that these eyes are giving this plain sketch made me change my mind. To me the eyes don't seem like those of a sage (sanyasini or fakiran). They are seductive and convey a desire that a sage is not supposed to have. In fact would be considered sinful. She seems to be inviting or rather challenging onlookers to try to break the eye contact. She looks coy and carries the airs of Scarlett O' Hara in Margaret Mitchel's novel "Gone with the Wind". She looks like the one who by raising her little finger can make men fall all around her. But then this personality does not seem proper for a sage, does it?

In Search of my Purpose

For the past few months, I have been pondering upon the purpose of my existence on this earth. Everyone has a purpose or, as Po Bronson says in his book "What should I do with my life?", a calling. In fact, it is this book which has helped me to get motivated enough to attempt seeking my calling. Anyways, Po Bronson's book talks about many who have faced the same dilemna that I am facing and have successfully found answers to this. One important step towards figuring your purpose out is to figure out what you really feel about. So as a first step I will try to figure out things that I care about. Hmm, so here it is: 1) I definitely feel angry when I see any kind of a bias - Race, Gender, Caste, Color. 2) I feel angry when people litter or talk thanklessly about trees, rivers, animals, and nature in general 3) I feel angry when someone tries to impose their views on someone else through force and violence 4) I feel sad when I hear about people cheating others 5) I like stu

Rose Bud

Morbid Warning: If you don't like to read about death, I would advise you not to proceed. The writing is, however, the least I could do for a cousin to whom justice was denied even after she died. No one knows who killed her. The only thing that is known for certain is that she had last been seen with a school friend at the market. The school friend accepts that she was with her but did not know where she went after the market. No one knows how she was killed. However, she was found with a wound on her head next to the railway tracks where the high speed Shatabdi Express runs. Some say that she was drawn in by a passing train. But her wounds were too few for this kind of a ghastly accident. No one knows how she died. Whether it was because of excessive bleeding from the wound on her head or some internal injury invisble to the entire world? All that is known is that she died in the hospital with her hand on her wounded head so that her bandage as well as her right hand were c

Happily Re-married

It is all too easy for us to suggest that someone remarry after losing their spouse. But once someone does this, we go ahead and make life hell for the couple. Hypocrisy is too much a part of our society. Most of the times, after losing a spouse, the bereaved spouse does not consider a remarriage for emotional reasons or society. Well-meaning relatives keep on suggesting that they find someone suitable and marry again. This happens mostly if the bereaved is youngish, lets say less than 45. But marrying again is not an easy decision to take. Will you be able to love the new spouse the same way you loved the first one? Will your new spouse be comfortable with you? If you have children, you are worried how they will react to your marriage. Or how your new spouse will react to your children from the previous marriage? If all of these things work out, you get trapped in that very Indian question, what will people say? Or if you are lucky and all of the above work out, you worry about how m

Sunrise from my balcony

Date: 1/15/2008 7:06 AM 7:13 AM 7:17 AM 7:21 AM 7:23 AM Colors of the sky reflected in the windows of the apartments across the road

Artist

Nature paints new pictures everyday. Each different, and each beautiful. I have the priviledge to be able to view sunrise from my balcony though the sunset is hidden behind high rise buildings. Each sunrise is unique and reminds you how lucky you are. The color of the sky changes as often as life changes its course. Yesterday, I saw flocks of small birds diving around in the sky, today it was eagles who were circling the orange sky. When the sun appears above the horizon, its crimson sphere is reflected in the apartment windows across the road and at times you have to stop and wonder whether you are actually witnessing this haunting exchange or is it a dream. The fumes of a high flying jet approaching the sun are glowing red and discernible from a great distance. Slowly the last star is extinguished and the entire sky turns bluish White. Half-an-hour after the sun rise, if you look at the sun, you will never be able to believe that this is the same forbidding monster that was so gentle

At the beginning

This is the title of one of my favorite songs sung by Richard Marx and Donna Lewis. The song also featured in the animated movie "Anastasia". The music and the tune is energetic and pleasant and makes you feel happy. For those who are interested, here is a link to the video: Video - At the Beginning Here are the lyrics for those who want to karaoke :-): ----- We were strangers Starting out on a journey Never dreaming What we'd have to go through Now here we are And I'm suddenly standing At the beginning with you No one told me I was going to find you Unexpected What you did to my heart When I lost hope You were there to remind me This is the start Life is a road And I want to keep going Love is a river I wanna keep flowing Life is a road Now and forever Wonderful journey I'll be there When the world stops turning I'll be there When the storm is through In the end I wanna be standing At the beginning with you We were strangers On a crazy adventure Never dreamin

Indians are not Racists - and lets prove it.

Well, I have never seen cricket as dirty as in the current India vs. Australia cricket series. Everything that can go wrong has gone wrong. Wrong decisions, tiffs, arguments, and the worse of them all, a ban on Harbhajan Singh who has been accused of Racial abuse against Andrew Symonds. News channels are going crazy about this and all over the net there are angry comments for and against both the teams. If Australian team is making the racial discrimination story up to wrongly implicate Harbhajan, it is a dirty trick to play. But at the same time, if Harbhajan (which I doubt) did hurl racial abuse at Symonds, that is wrong too. To people who advocate racial behaviour against Symonds just because there is an attitude problem in the Australian team members, I would like to say that this is not acceptable. Any kind of a discrimination against anyone is not acceptable. Especially we, Indians, should not become a part of this dirty, regressive behaviour because we have long been on the rece

Taare Zameen Par

which means "Stars on the earth" is a movie about a 9 year old boy, Ishaan, who suffers from dyslexia, which his parents and teachers fail to understand. As a result he undergoes physical and verbal abuse when he fails to pass his exams or fails to interact well with the children of his age. His family removes him from his school and packs him off to a boarding school so that he can be disciplined and get rid of his "attitude problem". Being separated from his family, breaks Ishaan's spirits and he stops painting, at which he is really good. A temporary arts teacher is pained by Ishan's silence and tries to find out the cause of his depression. He reads his notebooks and identifies Ishaan's condition as dyslexia which had also affected him in his childhood. After this, he visits Ishaan's family and tries to make them understand that their child needs emotional support. At first the father is defensive but later realizes the truth. By this time, with

Men, when will you get used to women around you?

I was shocked by the horrifying molestation of two women by a mob on the New Year's Eve. But the report published in HT today about a survey they conducted in Metros like Delhi, Mumbai, Kokatta, Bangalore and Chandigarh, is all the more shocking. Have a look at it and please tell me that you were not one of those 500 men they questioned: Indian males rear their ugly heads What will it take to make these men look at females without passing any judgements about their characters? If a girl is having fun in a bar, who are you to decide whether she is a one-night stand material or a woman you want to marry and keep hidden inside your homes. She has not asked you to judge her. Guys, please accept that it is her life and only she has the right to choose how she wants to lead it. Yes, females have lives of their own too. To start from the basics, guys please bear in mind the following things: 1) Women are human beings. 2) They breathe, think, feel, and live like you do. 3) Not being "

Safety - A right denied to Women

Ok, alright, A Happy New Year to all. But I really hope that the New Year teaches a really good lesson to those hooligans who took upon themselves the task of ensuring that atleast two girls in Mumbai never feel secure again in their lives. On New Year's Eve, these 2 girls stepped out to celebrate the occassion but fell prey to a perverted mob of men who molested and humiliated them. If you want to be shocked, click on the following link: Mob molests 2 Women on New Year's Eve These girls had as much right to be out on road on the New Years Eve as the monsters who molested them. Who gave these men the assurance that they could get away with such a lecherouos and criminal behavior? A little drink and holiday spirit brought out the demons inside these men and bared them for all to see. The girls were ultimately saved by the police but I am sure that nothing can heal the scars on their psyches. The thought that these men will now go back to their offices amongst female colleagues,