Life is easy kya karein

Vacations are a great time. We never did anything in our school vacations. I do not remember my parents getting stressed about which classes to put us in. For that matter, my Mom never even planned a trip for us. Our Mama ghar was in the same lane Fatehpur Galli where we lived. My Nana Nani ie my maternal grandparents had passed away much before I was born. going and staying there was not going to be fun. So I used to go and spend my holidays at my Dad s Nani ghar. So I have met Dad s Nana, Nani, two Mamas and Mamis. My Dad s maternal cousins were more like my cousins and more my age too.Seven people from that family are no more. Then a house which I liked visiting was Mom s mama ghar ie Mom s maternal uncle s house, which was in our lane. I called them Mama and Mami. I have spent time with them. They are no more. I am scared when I talk of people whom I have such fond childhood memories of and they are no more. Death is the eternal truth. One vacation I learnt embroidery from a rel...

Read about the Indian children back from Norway. Don't know who I was feeling more bad for : the parents, the children or the grandparents. The truth shall never be known. This force feeding thing is so prevalent amongst mothers. All of them feel if they feed the child with their own hands, the child will eat better. These mothers assume the child doesn't know his stomach or when he is full. All the mothers feel they can decide the child's appetite. I think that is so unfair. After a point, the child knows he has to eat 4 rotis or whatever has been decided by his overindulgent mother. He may get obesity or a paunch or be lethargic, does anyone care? if anyone interferes, the mother is all protective and says The mother thinks she knows the best for her child. We are talking about a moral dilemma out here. The child almost has no choice in deciding how much to eat. What to eat? is another question. Here , the mother plays an important role in cultivating healthy food habit...

Cricket coaching has started in a big way at Shivaji park. The amount of women playing cricket is good to watch. Spotted really small kids learning cricket in Achrekar cricket academy. Nine year old kids teaching six year olds, how to catch the ball. It was really sweet how the small kids were struggling to catch and I thought that boys knew how to catch a ball from their mother s womb. Emptied my swimming bag and found a small dried red flower. It still had a lovely fragrance. The Holiday season is on. Everyone wants to do Hongkong Disneyland, Orlando or Dubai with their children. I told someone Dubai is awful and I did not hear the end of it. They thought I had gone mad. My vacations were always at my cousins' house. We played the whole day and ate whatever was cooked at home. vacation did not mean pizzas and pastas. Vacation did not mean shopping bonanzas. Vacation was going to different cities in your car and experiencing a place. Living at the temples, dharamshalas or Dak...

What is up with these men? They are loosing all the stuff we read about in those romantic novels. Chivalry went out long time back. Now the men are so meek and weak. I know I am on an offending spree these days. So all these so called men who are doing reasonably well in lives are so so scared of their wives. Let me rephrase this, they put all the blame of things they can't do on their wives. Actually they are so double faced. In front of their wives, they portray one picture. Behind her back, they are normal. Or may be normal is when they are with their spouses. The men these days pretend so much. Even in a group, what the men speak around their wives is so different to what they speak when she is not within hearing distance. Today s women doesnt want to stick to 'Holier than thou' image but the men are totally into it. When I was in college, the men were cool. You met them, you met their friends and their girlfriends and you met their cousins too. Nowadays, the men lik...

Guess what? I write about bosses and all my friends who have never worked wonder what kind of bias is this. I write about relationships and my friends who are into different stages of relationships wonder what am I up to. I dare not write about religion. I think all will be offended one way or the other. I used to be very serious about religion. In my house , God, temple and Puja were not the things one joked about. These were grave matters. All followed it without anyone asking you to. So I believed in God naturally as my environment provided it to me. When I took up Philosophy as my major in college, I started wondering. The meandering thoughts, the various writers with their own views on God was so different from the Ramayan, Mahabharat and the Bhagwat Geeta I knew about. No shlokas only some Greek n Latin sayings. I had confused Philosophy with Theology which is the study of religion. There were only three students majoring in the final year. We had 2 teachers. Nothing was casual...

In organizations in India, bosses have a peculiar way of behaving. I am sharing with you about them whithout taking names. Don't ask questions and do not expect answers. One boss was a Britisher. He wore a black band on his arm on our Republic and Independence day. WHere did he get a job? In India , of course. I am ashamed to say that all the people in the company were Indians and no one including me had the courage to say a word to him. It was like these are his idiosyncrasies and he is better left alone. Who was sleeping with whom, was all hearsay. Though, I saw a lot of undercurrents in a lot of companies. But I did not see anything.One saw locked cabin doors, late night meetings, joint sales calling, coming to work very early, leaving office really late, crackling chemistry in the meetings, a look that stayed lil longer, a smile that was meant for only one in the crowd, kind of hints. Earlier, I was foolish and would say something about the boss to the person he was having ...

When I write about Jharia and Dhanbad, I feel so far away from it. A friend wrote that past is but an inventive land. I don't know if I am creating happy memories. If I am then am I being truthful to myself? When I think of school or college, was I really happy that time? Or am I comparing it to my current life and deciding that was a happier life? I don't know if in my desire to write well, I am writing only good things. Is it to impress you I say 'all is hunky dory'? When you ask me "How's life?" , its a a very big question for me. You don't ask me, how I am. You want to know how my life is. My life is me, my family, my friends, my married life, my social life, my relationships, my child rearing abilities, my reading, my writing, my health,my ever changing views and much more. When you ask me How is life, are you expecting me to look into all this and the choices I have made? Are you wanting me to justify my decisions? Why does your question torme...

So now that yesterday passed off smooth, we can all heave a sigh of relief. Anyways, when a natural disaster strikes, there is almost no warning given. Life is dealing the cards and we just have to play the game. The game rules are changing too. I met a few school moms whom I have never met before for lunch and have come back upset. No, the lunch was very good and so were all the women. This time the upset is very personal and menial if I may say so. All those mothers were young and beautiful. They were so well groomed and appropriately dressed for a pot luck lunch. All said the right words. In fact, all got the right dishes and made by them. Even the serving plates in which the dish came to the hostess's house was appropriate. Nothing over the top, just right. The food was tasty and healthy. The mothers knew what they wanted from the school. Their children went to the best tuition teacher in their area and the best dance teacher. The dance teacher was not Shiamak Davar a big nam...

We hoard things. We hoard emotions. We hoard people. We hoard cards, notes, photographs, CDs, cassettes, shoes, bags, books, clothes, children s clothes. What is this thing with hoarding? It has to do with not letting go. when ever I have asked my friends to remove stuff, I have met with a lot of resistance. I know I have crossed a boundary when I am telling you to remove your own stuff. People have very nice answers where the rebuttal is hidden. Friends say' Its like Oh have such fond memories.' Working people say " Where is the time, I am so busy." Rich people say " All my stuff is new and unused." Old people say' I cant keep throwing everything like you young people. Its our hard earned money.' Married people say Its the spouse who is the collector of junk in the house. Married women say My mother in law doesn't allow me to remove anything. Some blame it on the joint family set up. Other women say its all children s stuff and they wil...

Some days when I have all the joys in my life, I want to crib. I am happy to have my family and self healthy. I am in the top 2% income group if I get an English newspaper at home. I have all my basic needs met. So my mind is free to wander. Its easier to go downhill than uphill and my mind knows all of Newton s laws. It actually follows it. The thing called soul or the higher self wants to be upwardly mobile. So after the material bit, I want to be up on the spiritual plane also. Maslow's law of needs gets applied here. I am dissatisfied with my life and myself first. The actual reason being today I had to share my swimming pool with two other women. And they swam faster than me. I can create competition in the most relaxing of the environs for myself. The other day in the Yoga class, there was a big discussion about whether we should start the air-conditioning in the hall. The two teachers were of opposing views. Me and a retired Sociology professor wanted the natural environme...