The sorry state of affairs in India

After watching the movie Shubhas Chandra Bose on TV yesterday, I was discussing with one of my friends about the role women played in the INA formed under Rashbihari & Shubhas Chandra Bose.
From the link below, what can be felt is too strong a grief to write about :
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2008083150170500.htm&date=2008/08/31/&prd=mag&

A gesture to remember

This post comes because of someone's suggestion, but the incident it is about,is one that truly touched my heart.

Actually in more ways than one, today has been a good day- I got a very heartening news about a friend and the final seal on Dad buying a new car (nagging really helps sometimes!).
Now there is something I have never understood- how do people always understand whenever I am not well- both in the way I answer my phone (as is claimed by one and all) or as happened today in my depot- the "dullness" on my face ! I would like to believe that I do not take myself too seriously, and such 'vulnerably embarassing' incidents always put me on an unsure foot. So coming back to today at office (which is the C& F -Carrying & Forwarding- area of biscuits). To everyone I 'looked dull and defintely unwell' .The lady who assists me in 'Information Management' at work -my Depot MIS(thats what she is officially called),Anandi, went home as usual for lunch, but came back with a bag in her hand, containing freshly prepared "rasam,rice,chutney, vegetable and aplam". This was because Rasam is supposedly helpful in cold, and would help soothe my throat (which was going hoarse with my incessant coughing since morning). At the risk of not matching up to expressing what I actually felt at that moment, I would put some words to it-I was absolutely,deeply, touched by this sweet gesture-something so commonplace as a supposed cold/fever to be rewarded with such a thoughtful act, made me truly feel special. And I thanked God in all sincerity, for all such pleasantly surprising support that I have,in my current loner-like existence.

P.S: While penning this down, I noticed "Jodha Akhbar" on TV on a Tamil Channel, but on 'um-muting' it,I was shocked to hear Hrithik speak such flawless Tamil- well, why was I even surprised ;)

Ek aur khayal..

Saath nahi rehne se rishte nahi tuta karte,

Waqt ki dhund se lamhe nahi chhuta karte,

Log kehte hain mera sapna tut gaya,

Tuti hai neend, sapne nahi tuta karte...

Welcoming 2009

A very Happy New Year to all..and me..

It was a special New Year's eve celebration this time, alone at my place in Madurai. I did the small things that I felt like doing - from wearing the clothes i havent worn since my France visit, enjoying watching kids performing in a dance competition in my colony, dancing to some of my favorite numbers, reading " The Fountainhead", attending phone calls(some from unexpected people)and cutting a cake at the exact moment of the clock chimming 12.

But I think the best thing about ushering in this new year was the reminiscing I did, and how it made me feel- The difference between the New Year eve of 2007, 2008 and now 2009- from the overwhelming feeling of loss and pain to an unsaid unwritten but purely felt joy - not with the world around but the world within, the realisation of something about myself which I had never expected or credited myself to possess in this intensity- strength-conceivable in all possible dimensions and expressions.

It had nothing to do with a better future being expected, but the absolute realisation of today's existence and the sheer human capacity to live both by seizing the moment: CARPE DIEM

I just pray this graph continues with the same slope...in my mind at least... :)

Kya baat hai..

An SMS that was sent by Vaishali few days back, that I really liked:

Kitabon ke panno ko palat ke sochti hun
Yun palat jaye zindagi meri toh kya baat hai

Khwabon mein mujhe har roz milta hai jo
Hakeeqat mein mil jaye toh kya baat hai

Kucch log matlab ke liye dhundte hain mujhe
Bin matlab jo koi aaye toh kya baat hai

Katal karke toh sab le jayenge dil mera
Koi baaton se le jaye toh kya baat hai

Apne rehne tak toh khushi main dungi sabko
Gar kisi ko meri maut ke bad bhi khushi mil jaye toh kya baat hai

India's encounter with Terror

Nothing can be said about the Bombay terror attack that would be enough to explain or describe the gruesome incident. The sheer audacity of the terrorists to lay out such a well thought out plan in action in the financial capital of the country is more agitating than anything else.Sadly one realises that in the past half year, the number of such incidents and the speed of their moving closer to one's doorstep has been on a continuous rise, and unfortunately has kind of made us (and I do not want to look at the government /politicians as a separate body here) - "complacent" towards them.
That 60 odd hours of horror,blood,fight and counter-fight on the streets of a democratic nation,has to be witnessed,that a constant coverage by the media ( whether true to the spirit of media or sensationalist cannot be commented in this sensitive time), that a fleeing of the visiting England team (when a day before it was our Indian cricketers refusing to tour Pakistan for the same reason), that a 'demonsatrtion by the Bombay-ites protesting against the government' and several such blog posts,citizen comments and media bytes would RESULT in anything, still needs to be seen.And it is here that the agitation and restlessness within every individual may not get a positive, collective, solution- oriented vent if not channelised properly.
Two nights of sleepless helplessness,shock and grief has left me so disturbed that it is difficult to imagine how the people caught in the midst of it all would have handled it. And what infuriated me further, was the way the Media and guests invited to join their discussions kept mentioning the "Spirit of Bombay"- Is there truly any "Spirit" that is being glorified here, does any Bombay-ite - socialite, hawker or service personnel have any other option??? Do the citizens of the country, be it a Delhi witnessing blasts or a Jaipur temple being targeted, or a series of blasts haunting Assam, have an option but to resume their daily life- either as a submission to the 'practical requirements of life' or 'the inevitability of it all with no solution ever coming since time immemorial'?! To make it a feel good
factor by calling it the SPIRIT of Bombay,is using the people's tenacity or helplessness as an easy veil
to hide behind..and not something I as a citizen would want to allow.
I still wish I knew what is to be done- not just the resignation of a Union Minister, not just a strategic "Crisis Management Cell" or a "RAW & Counter Terrorism Cell" but a committed, collective STRONG indication to nip this ruthless terrorising in the bud, and find a Solution to the misplaced mindset of these people( Even as a person belonging to a similar age group as the perpetrators of this crime, I was just not able to understand what would or could make them internalise terror to the extent of brutally spattering it around)
As my brain refuses to stop thinking about it, and my heart feels immensely grief-stricken, I hope that as I battle all of this with my day-to-day demand of job and life (to sell biscuits even on a Sunday because of the corporate target pressure), and as each of us would be forced to, this time around a solution be found, and personal prioirities do not push the complacency back to the forefront.

Ye kaisa rang hai?

And I cannot help but wonder why anyone would 'color' me "Mercury"..........................