Are you for "Women's Reservation Bill"?

Women's Reservation Bill - From the moment I heard about this bill, I have been against it.
I have been trying to convince myself that this is a good thing - but I know it is not!

Lets start with seat reservation in public transport.
I was not ok with the fact that there are reservations for women in buses. If we are looking at equality of gender, how does reserving some quota of seats in buses constitute for equality?
Aren't we being overly partial to women when we reserve seats for them? Isnt the "equality balance" out of balance?
After much thought and some discussions with a few friends over lunch, I came to the conclusion that maybe I am wrong with reservation of seats in buses. Maybe thats ok - given the kind of men who travel in buses and take advantage of the fact that a woman is next to them.
Volvos dont seem to have "women only" seats- which kind of makes sense given the kind of people who use volvos. This proves that the "reservation in local buses" is actually to prevent eve-teasing and that these reservations in buses dont necessarily have anything to do with equality.
So as of now, I'm FOR "reserved for women" seats in buses..

Coming back to gender equality:
What does equality mean? Is equality achieved through reservations?
Isnt equality something in the mind? Would merely reserving a few seats for women in every field make sure equality is achieved?Is it even a stepping stone towards achieving equality?
I doubt it.

Coming back to Women's Reservation Bill:
Why am I against it?
a. In the name of gender equality and equal rights the wives and daughters of existing ministers will come into power. They most probably would become puppets in the hands of their fathers/husbands. Where's the equality?
b. If a woman really had it in her, to raise to power on the political front, she could do it all by herself without having to use reserved seats!
c. What happens after women get elected due to the 33% reserved quota? Will they be able to handle all the pressure and the dirty politics? If they cannot get elected to the assembly seats on their own(and have to rely on reservations) how will they fight and sustain their positons?

In a nutshell, reservation of assembly seats for women - WONT work.
Aggressiveness is the key - not reservations.
If women are not agressive enough to get to the seats on their own, then they should not!

Are you an egotist?

How do you decide if someone is an egotist?
Forget everyone. I keep wondering if I have a super ego.
Harsh says I do. But I think he does too! :) So, I'm not sure which one of us has a bigger ego!

How do you measure ego levels?
I wish there was a thermometer like device to measure this.

On another note,
What do call some one who is VERY stubborn? Do you still call him/her stubborn, or is it the ego that is showing up as stubborness??
How about, a very high self-esteem?At what level does high self esteem and ego become one and the same?

I thought looking into a dictionary will help me out, but here's what I found:
Self-esteem: a feeling of pride in yourself
Ego: an inflated feeling of pride
Stubbornness: the trait of being difficult;resolute adherence to your own ideas or desires

I'm more confused than ever!
A slightly darker shade of self-esteem and stubborness, and it seems like it cannot be differentiated from ego!

What do you think? Have you been successful in trying to differentiate one from the other?
If so, do you use some kind of a device to figure this out? ;)

Cant wait to hear(read) your thoughts on this! :)

Wolf Moon!

Last weekend's moon looked so lovely and alive॥

Although I got to see it only for a few minutes I remember it like I am seeing it now!
My so called romantic husband and the rest of the gang couldn't wait to go select their wines! :( Sigh! So I only got a few minutes with the moon..

I wish I was traveling by bus to someplace on Saturday! A window seat, some KennyG breathless, and the moon in its full splendor would have been a time well spent! (Oops! Did I just forget to mention my husband? :)

On an afterthought, maybe our venue for last Saturday nights' party should have been the terrace! Hmm... Romance, Wine and the (magnified)moon would have been a nice combination :)

Here's a pic of the Wolf Moon




It looks so fragile... !
No wonder then, that the heart, love and the moon go hand in hand! :)

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Image Courtesy: Sam Javanrouh.
Sam clicks some wonderful photographs. Have been subscribing to his photoblog for over 3 years now.
Here's the link to his blog.
I'm sure Chan can learn a few tricks from him :)

Am I frank?

Had fun this weekend as well!
This time the bahana was Pragya's treat..
Guys who dint get to attend this treat, keep counting! :)
You'll get to take all these treats when you get back! :) (And.. we'll get to enjoy an extra treat for every treat you guys get! We'll join you for all your treats remember? :)

Anyway, the Saturday treat put me in thinking mode on Sunday.
All because, I realized, that I'm a very frank person.
Well, this is not the first time this has dawned on me. I used to be frank as hell before, but I used to at least have a slight hesitation before talking my mind out to anybody. The hesitation seems to have vanished off late.
I whole-heartedly lay the blame on Harsh for this(Blaming him, makes me lighter(literally!) and its the easiest thing to do :)

Anyhoo.. back to my frankness.
The degree of my frankness seems to depend on the company.
With family, frankness is minimum. (On a scale of 0 to 10, it would be 5)
With colleagues and aquaintances, it is a bare minimum. (Guess I would give myself a 3)
With friends, it is a maximum. (Around 7 I guess)
And with hubby, it would be the maximum of maximum(.. so the higher side of 10).

Now, if my frankness, is dependant on the company I have at a certain point in time, that would mean that Im not actually a frank person.
If I were really a "franky" :) I would have behaved the same with everyone which is not the case.So, I conclude that Im not a frank person.

Coming to friends.. Im frank.
(I'm yet to figure out, what kind of frank I am, with them. Whether, I am
Frank(1) - meaning I talk my mind after thinking or
Frank(2) - meaning I talk my mind without bothering to think what I'm talking which results in people thinking that I'm a frank person :) Voting on this one, is now OPEN folks! :)

However, after being frank with a friend, maybe a day later, I might repent what I told him/her.
I picture the person being hurt/upset thinking about what I told them.
Are all frank people like this? Im sure they are not..

So what does this make me? A frank person, in the making? (That was supposed to be funny! Laugh!)
Like Harsh puts it, I have to decide what I am.

If I decide to go the 'actual' frank way.. I should learn to speak my mind and forget about it.
OR
Dont say stuff at all, which will later make me brood the next day!

Which one am I gonna be?
I prefer the first - but I know its gonna take a long long time!
I hope I can get to master this by when I'm 60! (But then, I'm 18 from the past so many years, I dunno when I'm gonna turn 60! :)

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By the way, I was serious, when I said votings are open..
Let me know, what you think I am - Frank(1) or Frank(2) in the comments sections! :)

What if?

I was wondering..
What if, my kid decides to continue blogging, on this blog of mine, after me!?
That would be "sooper cool". All I would wish for then, would be a laptop with an internet connection in heaven or hell - wherever I am! :) heh

WTH?

Why am I frustrated?
I wonder why we should be working on shifts!
Especially when, we are given a 30 minute notice, for a night-out in office. I cant work from home because, the time lines for each activity to be carried out is not fixed. We dunno when we should start and when we should finish.
What if something comes up while I'm traveling!? Seriously, BS!

I am waiting for a day when Indian IT resources are no longer seen as cheap labor.

Vasudha!

I met Vasudha last weekend. I accidentally met her in Nilgiris, when I had gone grocery shopping.
Yup, we haven't met, even though we were a stone's throw away from each other! and Yes, the event is big enough to be posted on my blog :)

That lady has not changed one bit(except for the amount of weight she has lost!).
The ever bubbly, "jumping with joy" lady! I hardly talked when I met her.
I was as usual, too full of emotion to even talk to her! Now, how screwed up is that?

Meeting her there, led me to think about all those lovely times we spent hanging out together.
Lunch meetings, Chai meetings, her stories of her manager (Man! I'm never gonna forget those manager stories EVER! We could make a movie out of it! heh)
She's the only one who thought that there was something fishy going on between Harsh and I! :) I still cant figure out how she smelt that!
I remember avoiding meeting Harsh whenever she was around! heh

I would love to have those days back! :)

Happy Republic Day!

A conversation with Anup over lunch has got me thinking.
We were discussing about the Republic Day parade that took place in New Delhi yesterday.
When I was a child(read, until I got married :), dad would force me(and brothers if they were around) to sit in front of the TV to watch the parade.
I'm not sure for how many years he's been watching the parade - but there's one thing that's always the same. His excitement. I'm amazed at how excited he gets when he watches the parade.

I wonder, how many of us actually watch the parade on TV?
I dunno many people who do. Will we make our kids watch the parade? Will they be interested in it?
It seems to be the same thing year after year - it seems like the same commentator (with a dull voice) compering year after year.
The respects paid at Amar Jawan Jyoti, the twenty-one gun salute and the bravery awards given out, leave me with goosebumps every year, but I still think that we need to bring in some change in the ceremony.
Maybe everything will fall into place, if the comperer on Doordarshan is replaced by someone more cheerful and bubbly!
Or maybe, I should be physically present at Rajpat, to feel the emotion in the air.
Maybe watching it on tv spoils all the fun.

At the end of it all, I will end up watching the grand parade whenever I get a chance. I will end up paying my respects to the National anthem whenever it is played. I will end up having goosebumps when little kids walk away with awards for their bravery - I would do all this - just to experience the oneness that everyone feels on this day.

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A sidenote:
I would love to, someday take my kid along, to watch the Republic Day celebrations in New Delhi.
Maybe, say, after twenty years or so, I might come back to this post, and update this section of the post with my experience and my kid's experience! :)
I hope you would still be a faithful subscriber to this humble blog of mine, to read these updates! :)

What would you be?

If God was to give you a chance to be someone else - by someone else I mean, any other animal except human, what would you wanna be?

Dont smile at this question! You might be asked this one day, say in a business school, or in a corporate interview, or while being interviewed by a prospective bride/groom!
You better be ready with an answer! :)

Personally, I would want to be:

a. An Ostrich.
First option, is this because, I think a bird represents a woman human in many ways. Dont ask me why!I dunno know. And if you, wanted to turn into a bird and you are a guy.. I declare u gay! :) Sorry! about that but it is MY blog, and MY thoughts you are reading :)

Being an ostrich would be wonderful. I'll have long fit legs, that I can bare to the world :P
I'll have beautiful feathers that can make me fly short distances. (No more flight tickets!)
I'll have strong legs, that can kick anyone's ass royally!
I'll lay big and thick shelled eggs which are hard to break! (What am I even blabbering!)
I'll have a long neck and black feathers! (Well.. black feathers are mostly found on a male ostrich, but we'll assume that female ostriches have it too!)

OR

b. A monkey!
Every time, a monkey enters my house(Yes.. this has become a frequent thing now!) I have almost been terrorised.
But, by the time they leave, after messing up my dining table, I cant but adore them!
They look so cute, with their tiny face, their smile (which is supposedly to scare away humans/enemies) and their intermittent scratching of their scalp!
What I adore the most, is the way they eat a banana! They neatly peel away the skin, finish up the fruit, and then eat the peel too with great fondness. And if there is a baby monkey with the dad/mom monkey, it is a sight to watch! :)

Anyway, I know this is a crazy post, crazier than the others.. but what the heck.. it is MY space.
I'll blabber.. U read! :)
I get more hits on my page, and you get to pass some time fruitfully! So its a Win-Win aint it? :)

Beginnings.

Is there a period in time which you think is apt to start off something.. or restart something that you had stopped doing a long time back?

My mom and dad check for an auspicious date/day/time before they carry out something really important. I havent seen anyone from my generation do it - although I seem to follow something of this sort.

For me new beginnings, have to start off at the beginning of the new year.
If the new year is nowhere near, I wait for a new month to begin.
If that too, is, say twenty days away, I wait for a new week to begin.
If there is no time to wait for a new week, I wait for a new day to start.
I just cannot decide on something, and start doing it from this moment. Somehow it doesnt feel right at all!
Maybe I need sufficient time to psyche myself up, before I start something new.
Sometimes I think it is procrastination, but no, it is'nt, because I start off the task the moment the decided date/day/time becomes present!
Do you think this is wierd? :)
I hope Im not the only one who thinks this way! :)

Suit up!

Last week @work, I saw a couple of guys all suited up.
I must say, they all looked smart! Every single one of them!
I dunno what it is about suits but it makes me go gaga about anyone who's wearing them.
They seem to get added attention, they look more sophisticated,and somehow seem to make sense all of a sudden! :)
I hope, in the future sometime, Harsh lands up with a job which forces him to suit up atleast 4 times a week! :) (Not that he doesnt make sense right now! :P )
Coming to me, Im still waiting for my turn to suit up! :)
I still remember going to Allen Solly once, with Chan and Chai, and trying out a suit. I had declared back then, that I would buy atleast two of these when I travel for my first onsite assignment. Thank God! I didnt buy any! :)
Im still waiting for an opportunity to get suited up though :)

Glee!

Has any of you watched an English series called "Glee"?
If not, please take my word for it, and watch it!
It is a story of a high school crowd, who join a music club called Glee. They practice to compete for the sectionals and regionals. The main guy is Cory Monteith. Im in love with him! :) He's famous among the girls, has chubby cheeks and is stupid! :) What a combo! :) heh And man! can he sing!? Here's one of the songs from glee.
One of the few TV soaps that livens me up, episode after episode.
Waiting for the next season to start now!
A few other soaps that might interest you:

1. Dexter (My personal favorite! Glee comes after this one)
2. How I met your mother
3. The Big Bang Theory(Harsh's favorite! I guess! :)
4. House (Pragys's favorite if I remember right.)
5. Wire (I didnt like it one bit!)
6. 24 (Was interesting until the 2 season, and then it got repititive. Now that Anil Kapoor is in it, it might have got interesting!)
7. Heroes (I could get past only 2 seasons!I wonder whether they originally made it for kids!)
8. LOST(Haven't watched it yet.. will download a few episodes now.)

Different people.. Different shades.

Ok. So here's a post that I have been wanting to publish for a long long time.

I have been in Bangalore for more than twenty years now. Bangalore is home. I have seen it grow from the garden city and pensioner's paradise to what it is today.
I am currently posting this, from my house. My neighbor on the right is from Delhi and the neighbor on the left, from UP. The neighbor opposite to me is from Kerala.
Diversity.
The diversity is so much, that the shopkeeper/vegetable vendors/Auto wallahs reply back to me in Hindi, even though I speak to them in Kannada.
Sometimes I feel bad. What is Bangalore coming to? Will the local language vanish into oblivion? Will there be a time when I would have to go out of Bangalore just to listen to/talk in Kannada?
But then, I realized that's how a city or a metro is!If Bangalore has to progress as a city, the only way for it to happen would be if people from all over India(and other countries) come in and contribute to its economy.
So yes, I'm at peace with having so many languages being spoken in Bangalore.
Now, I don't feel sad. It is one of things that I am proud of.

But there's one thing I'm worried about.
Tolerance.

Here's why:
I travel a lot by cabs these days, owing to my erratic work hours.
My co-passengers as expected, are from various parts of India.
Late in the night, once, when we were traveling back, the driver was playing Hindi and Kannada music loud.
A lady, shouted at the driver telling him to switch it off and told him to play Telugu songs.
I ask why? And she casually says "because I do not understand either of the languages".
I ask her, how long has she been away from her home , she says she's been living here for ten years.
My problem with people is not that they do not learn the local language.In the end, it is their choice to learn or not to learn.
My problem is that, many people don't seem to have the tolerance. The tolerance for other languages.


Ok. So what do we do now? How do we overcome this? I have no idea!
I am currently trying to be tolerant about people who are not tolerant about other languages than their own in a city filled with people speaking languages from all over India :)

On a serious note, I really think that something has to be done to foster tolerance among people in Bangalore. Else we are going to be in a lot of trouble in the near future.

Phew! Feels good writing this post at last!

Breakdown!

The coming weekend is a big one.
A big one because, I would be cooking for twelve people! I can barely cook edible dishes for Harsh and me.. let alone twelve people!
I have been preparing in my head, a list, of all the things I'll make..
I hope it turns out the way, it looks and tastes in my head :)

Sigh.. I'm tired of waiting for my cooking to get better!
My instincts tell me that one fine day when I wake up in the morning, I would be blessed with the eternal knowledge of food and cooking.
My hands would work magic with food like how Pragya's and Bindi's hands do.
But then, Harsh tells me that my instincts suck! So, all I can do is wait and see! :)

Wish me luck!

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Update:
The dishes came out quite well! Didn't expect it at all :)
So yea, I CAN cook afterall...

My organizer..

Have you ever wanted something dearly, and have never been able to find exactly what you wanted even though you look around really hard?
Well, I have always had this problem with clothes and shoes. I always have wanted an organizer with

• a black hard cover,
• big-but not big enough to carry around,
• evenly spaced out dotted lines-the space big enough to hold my handwriting, and make it look small,
• non-blotting paper that can hold Parker ink,
• a monthly calendar for my monthly plans, and
• a complete page for every day(Believe me, it is hard to find organizers with a full page for Saturday and Sunday!).

Been looking for such an organizer for almost 2 years now.
I have never been able to find what I wanted until this year! All the more reason for me to believe that this is somehow going to be a dramatic year for me with full of surprises!

Anyway, so the gist of this post - Yup, I found THE organizer I have always been looking for :)
It makes my life all the more organized, or at least I think it makes me more organized!

I cant believe that I have a post on my blog, solely dedicated to my organizer!

Now I am hoping that I find the same kind of organiser for next year as well!

Happy weekend guys!

How's the new year treating me?

Yesterday, Bhavesh calls me up, and asks me if there's some good news coming his way from Harsh and me. Apparently, he got this idea from one of my posts..! Seriously! Are my posts so ambiguous!? :) Anyway..
I intended to start this post with this line:

"This is it! It is happening!"

But then I realised Bhavesh would call again asking what happened in just a days' time.. so I'm getting straight to the point! :)

I like the way the first week of new year has turned out.

Monday was filled with excitement for the new year, after that, the excitement slowly fizzed out!
I kept wondering what the heck was wrong with me. One day into a new year/new beginning, and Im already tired of work.
But then, I forgot what I was expecting for this year. Good work - Actually, I was expecting work that I have not done before.
And I am getting it now.. one by one..
Until now, I was irritated by the fact that Im working extra hard these days, but then getting out of my comfort zone, was one of the biggest resolutions for this year..!
So yea.. This is it! It is happening! :)

I'll publish this post now, and pester my lunch mates to come out for an early lunch!

Oh btw.. We are out of gas at home, so I havent been cooking for a week now.
Suprisingly, I miss cooking! Initially, I thought I missed my routine, more than the cooking, but then nope, i actually miss cooking!
And whats even more surprising is, Harsh misses my cooking too! :P Now, how cool is that! I was on cloud 9 when I heard this :) So, the dishes I cook do not taste all that bad! :)

Until later,
Have fun and keep telling yourself "aall is well"!! :)

First day of two thousand and ten

The new year's morning sun.. an orange ball of fire was hidden behind the clouds as it brought the new year's first day into brightness.
The birds chirped away to each other.. "did you know that today, the humans begin a new year?Lets hope it turns out to be a good year for us too! May the worm population grow exponentially so we dont have to wake up so early just to catch a worm."
The air was unusally warm for a January morning. Very few joggers were seen outside.
It was good to wake up so early on the onset of new year and welcome it with open arms.
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Well... I would have loved to do all this. But who am I kidding!? :) I ended up sleeping until 10 AM. Woke up to mom's call asking me what I was upto.
Had a lovely new year's eve. Lots of (local) wine - thanks to Anup, Pragya and Ambili. We even learnt how not to open the cork from a wine bottle ! :)
Happy new year guys!
I was hoping to begin the new year with meditation and the like... but who would have guessed that I would begin the year, by being in a state of nirvana for almost 3 hours, before the dawn of a new day! :) heh
Life rocks.. and I promise that this is how my life is going to be for this year, and many more years to come!
Cheers!