I too had a love story

I recently finished reading, "I too had a Love Story," by Ravinder Singh. Why should you read this book? Because it's author's true love story that met with a tragic end. And, yeah it's quite filmy. The flow is seamless, English is very Indian, and of course the bookworms can finish the book in one sitting. So if you love, love stories, though you may not be necessarily romantic at heart, and looking for a very very light read, this book is definitely meant for you. In fact, the whole box set by Ravinder Singh is a light read.

The box set contains 3 lovely love books.

1. I too had a Love story
2. Can Love Happen Twice
3. Love Stories That Touched My Heart

In midst of muttu's cries and smiles, i've managed to finish the first and the third and i am all eager to start with the second one. Talking about the third book, "Love Stories that Touched My Heart," the book comprises 24 love stories written by various newbie authors and edited by Ravinder Singh. It also includes a love story by one of our blogger friends as well. Guess who? Of course it has to be Dr.Roshan Radhakrishnan who blogs at http://www.godyears.net. This is one book that you'd love of all the three, given the variety it brings to the fore. All love stories are exceptional...some make you smile, some make you cry and some may leave you cold hearted and some are good enough to send a chill down your spine.

So what are you waiting for? Go get one for your shelf.

Muttu and the Dim Light

 My Muttu

You have to see this to believe it!!!But for me it's a routine thing: to watch my baby chat with his dearest friend, the dim light, on and off. And I tell you, it's a sight to behold. My going-to-be-four-month-old, holds silent sign conversations with his dim light friend in his bedroom. He smiles. He chuckles. And goes huh...huh...huh...huh for a while, while communicating with his friend. Seeing him do this often, i've made it a point to include the dim light in all our conversations as well. Pointing towards the light i tell him more often than not, "muttu speak to the light, while i am filling your feeding bottle; muttu stop crying, rather share your grief with your light friend;  "muttu, look, look here's your light friend and now have your milk, and stop being so fussy and cranky." Of course, muttu obeys: he's too small to fall into the disobedience trap. In fact, i carry out the routine chores in the house, leaving him in the company of his light friend and muttu will keep staring and will keep conversing with it for quite some time...though this technique has not come to my rescue in the recent times. Anyway, be it dawn or dusk the dim light is always on in his room.

Post written as part of Freewrite for Write Tribe. (Both my kids are down with viral, so pardon me if i am unable to visit and comment on your blog posts.)

   

When dreams turn real

She woke up with a start. Breathless, she found beads of sweat dotting her brows. A raw fear passed through her. Shaking herself out of the dream, she rushed to the washroom to get ready for the airport. Draped herself in a lovely yellow colored mulberry silk saree that hugged her picture-perfect frame perfectly; a black dot on the forehead and long silver jumkas that almost reached her shoulders followed.

The clock struck 3: Time to leave for the airport, she thought, as her hubby's plane would land anytime.

At the airport, passengers and visitors were running to and fro. There was a huge ball of fire on the runaway: airport officials were announcing of a crash landing.

The dream was unfolding right in front of her eyes: could she shake off this as well, she thought.

The post is part of 9-sentence fiction hosted by Write Tribe Festival of Words- 3

'Bloody Maths'

Oops!!! Did I just say that? But then being a dabba in Maths, I believe, this is the most apt and most honest word that describes my feelings towards the subject, SERIOUSLY. My Maths papers were always dripping with blood marks, sorry red marks, so much so that if you squeeze it, you’ll get enough red to fill an IV bottle.

 Hmm…Did you say, I am exaggerating? Huh! You should have seen my answer sheets.

On hindsight, Maths periods in school were ultra-devastating. The sight of the teacher in itself gave me heartburns, because I knew, once again, I would have no answer to her volley of stupid questions. In fact, i cherished those days when she was absent - haash chalo aaj jaan chutti.

However, I believe, despite my huge dislike for Math, I might have hated this subject a little less, had my Maths teacher being a little less serious-minded. (She was a devil in angels clothing.) When she knew that three-fourths of the class is weak in Maths, instead of throwing her weight around, she could’ve helped us by being friendly and innovating new methods of teaching us. But no, she thought she was right in being stern and serious and it was our fault and fault in our stars if we were not doing well in Maths.  (Perhaps, she took pride in the fact, that only the best and brightest could clear her question papers.) 

Damnit!!! How could she find fault with students when all that she did was scribble some formulas on the board and then go blah…blah…blah…about them. Hello mam!!!This is something that even a kid from 12^th standard could do. Being a teacher, that too a Maths teacher, you should’ve been more careful and devised ways that made Maths seem less devious and easy to understand.  But no, you struck to your conventional methods and made life hell for us kids.

And yes, only my father knew how to put you in place during those PTA meetings. Was he not right in arguing with you, when he said, (no he shouted from rooftops for the entire school to hear), that when his kid could score good, better and average marks in rest of the subjects, how come she always failed in Maths. So, there was something wrong with the teacher and not the student. Of course, the Maths teacher used to go numb and dumb in front of my father. She had no right answers to my father’s relevant questions. Sadly, only when my father’s voice boomed across our  school corridors, were the only times she realized that probably she could do something to help me do better. But the next day, she was her usual self, ranting out formulas to the board. Hmmm…some people never change.    

                                                                    ***

Tenth standard prelims were just over. The teacher had summoned my father once again. Of course, there was no change in my Maths marks. AGGRRRRRR…SHE HAD LITERALLY PAINTED MY PAPER IN RED.

Who will talk down whom was the big question in my mind now? Will my father be the winner as usual, or my Maths teacher will have an upper hand.

Ohmigod…You won’t believe this.

For the first time in my schooling years, the Maths teacher and father spoke cordially. It was literally a bolt from the blue for me then. In face, all their seriousness had been swept off in thin air. My Maths teacher was in a jolly good mood and told my father that she had set the paper really tough, so all the red marks mean nothing. And since, I was able to reach the border line I am quite capable of scoring far more and better in the boards.

Her words seemed unbelievable to my ears. I stood there...simply stunned. 

The post is part of cadbury5Star contest held in collaboration with indiblogger . 

               

English Vinglish

Every human being should know two languages: the language of society and language of signs. One serves to communicate with other people, the other serves to understand God’s message.

―Paulo Coelho

Literally speaking, the world eats, speaks and sleeps English these days. And there is no argument here. With 67 countries using English as their first or second language, English automatically scores over Mandarin as the language of the society. It is the most WIDELY SPOKEN, most WIDELY READ, and most WIDELY WRITTEN language of the world, a language that's capable of single-handedly linking several nations together. In fact, going forward, Chinese will speak more of English than Mandarin, thereby becoming the number one English speaking country in the world.

Flags of English speaking countries

    

So, when Coelho spoke about language of society, in all probability, he meant English. It is no more considered an elitist language, but the language of a common man…language of AAM AADM in India...the language of the masses… a language that’s powering the growth of modern India.

The rise of BPO and KPO culture in India, in turn, the rise of urban middle class can be solely credited to increased use of English language. The city of Bengaluru is best known as the “The silicone Valley Of India” because of its ever growing English speaking IT populace. Little wonder, even Narendra Modi, BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate, keeps harping upon the importance of English education in all his election speeches. 

For us Indians English is our second language. But some of us are so fluent in English that we can give any native speaker a run for their money. Many from affluent families have, in fact, ditched their native tongue and have taken to speaking English almost all the time: and I proudly proclaim that I am one of them.  I speak English at every given opportunity. Some people, including my dearest mom is not in favor for this. As she calls me: ANGREZ KI BETI.  But what I want to tell her is: "Mommy dear why don’t you understand that if i know the language what’s wrong in flaunting it, more so when English is being treated as the IT language of this century. Moreover, you made it a point to get me educated in an English medium school, so you too, in a way, acknowledge the rising importance of English across the globe.  So, then why bother me now."   

Why should you learn Queen’s Lingo?

    You become a part of the educated and sophisticated crowd. Your status gets elevated automatically. 

     Your confidence level shoots up and it positively contributes to your personality.

     You can earn your bread and butter with ease, what with IT companies coming up in every nook and cranny.

     You get to read the best of the books, from Salman Rushdie to William Faulkner.

     You can travel anywhere in the world for work and education as universe becomes a level playing field. 

Inspired by its growing importance and acceptance, all my non-English speaking neighbors have put their children in English medium schools. Though they are pakka Gujjus and can hardly speak and read the language, but these locals have not let these disadvantages deter their spirit. On the other hand, their steely determination to introduce their kids to the word’s most widely used language has inspired them hire tutors to help their kids cope with it. 

So if given an opportunity to go to UK for further studies, i look forward to pursuing English literature and creative writing; that too from none other than Oxford University. Yes, to be the best, you've to be among the best. Yours truly  being an aspiring author, a degree in English literature from UK, I believe, will help me polish my skills as a writer and probably will be my passport to international fame and prosperity. Considering the Queen’s Lingo originated here, I believe this is the best country to polish my English reading, writing skills.

About a year ago, I thought my English was par excellence, until one of my colleagues pointed out that I make silly punctuation errors. Okay, fine, I will work on it, I told her.  This colleague of mine is quite allergic to Indian authors and being an editor for a decade this female finds all Indian authors BELOW AVERAGE. In her words “the kind of punctuation errors these published authors make is really sickening. How could they? Indian writers are really pathetic in grammar, and that’s the reason why I don’t read them. I only read foreign authors”.

Point taken. For this colleague of mine,  grammar is the be all and end all of English. "Damn with the story" she says, " first of all, get your grammar correct." So of late, influenced by her pep talk I’ve started  Grishaming a lot. Mitch Albom and Dan Browns have taken  over Chetan Bhagat and Preeti Shenoy.  But then we do have good Indian English writers, and plenty of them in fact, who have made us proud on the international scene. These extraordinary writers of Indian origin  include Salman Rushdie, Jhumpa Lahri, Arvind Adiga, Amitav Ghosh etc, etc. And who’s the writer of  'A Suitable Boy? Ya, Vikram Seth. All these Indian authors have great  body of work to their credit. But one common thing that binds these authors is their foreign degrees. So, you see, they are not purely home bred authors. If it were not for their foreign degrees, I don't think these authors could have come this far. In other words, it is by virtue of their foreign degrees they could come up with truly great work of art that got them international attention and accolades.

So, if at all, I am given an opportunity to travel to UK on study visa, I look forward to studying English Literature and creative writing in the company of greats. Who knows if i am able to pursue this course, i  may even bag the Man Booker Prize, going forward. Ouch!!!Did i say that.

This post is part of Knowledge is Great contest being held on Indiblogger. 

Choice

"It's pitch dark outside; seems to be a forest.”

Ragini could hear her heart beat violently against her chest. It was now or never for her. The tyre couldn’t have chosen a better time to get punctured. Somewhere, behind the bushes she heard a tiger roar. Time was running out of her hands. She had a choice to make: become a wild’s animal prey and have her body torn apart, or be a prey to her kidnapper’s animal instinct and have her dignity torn into pieces.

Ragini jumped out of the car and ran toward the jungle wiping away her tears.

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.

Chotu Dada

“Me...I'm CHOTU DADA.”

“Ah!!!… What? Chotu Dada?”

 “Hmm…that’s an interesting name?”

“Do you think so?”

“Yes?”

“Ah!!! I've been named so by my friends." And I too think they've given me an interesting name, probably because of the job i specialize in?”

“Oh!!! So, you've undertaken a job as well."

“Yes, protection of Sonu, Monu, Shambu, Tina, Meena, Rohan, Sohan who live on streets against beggar mafia goons.” 

“Oh! “Protection of kids living on streets against beggar mafia.” That’s a great job, you are doing.”  

“Ya, and, please don’t go by my looks.  I am ferocious creature, though I am only 2ft tall, my jaw can beat a tiger’s jaw hands down, my nails can be likened to a cat’s, my athletic skills can make a Cheetah jealous, moreover, I am more cunning than a fox could ever be.”

“That’s a great combination of varied skill sets. I am impressed.”

“Now, can you elaborate on your job a little?”

“Why not. My gang consists of 6 members. All ferocious and dangerous like me. We can easily nose beforehand, any trouble that’s about to brew on the city streets. My street friends can manage their basic needs easily. But what bothers me more is their security. Beggar mafia groups are lurking around every street corner. So I and my gang members have to be on high alert and protect our friends from them. Once they fall into their clutches, you know what they’ll do to them. They can maim them, blind them and then turn them into beggars in no time. I don’t want my friends to go through these suffering. You people have done precious little about the safety of street kids, so me and friends have taken it on ourselves to fight these mafia people tooth and nail."

                                    X_________x____________X

P.S. - According to official figures, as many as 44,000 children fall into the clutches of the beggar mafia in India each year and of these, hundreds are deliberately mutilated. However, some charities say that the figure could be as high as a million. Most of the victims are under ten.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1127056/The-real-Slumdog-Millionaires-Behind-cinema-fantasy-mafia-gangs-deliberately-crippling-children-profit.html#ixzz2qnUGFRMg 

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.

Hollow Love!

He was bald, bent and black;
She was brown-eyed, beautiful, but blind;
Love blossomed, despite the bothering differences.
Her blindness is curable, said the doc
She wept in joy; but he in sadness, for the differences might bother them now.

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.

Make-up Mess On My Engagement Day

The day of my engagement had dawned. Draped in a dark beatroot kanjeeveram saree I felt like a beauty queen. My mother and siblings seconded my views. ‘You look gorgeous’ said my mother. (Yeah! I was nothing less than an Aishwarya Rai for my mother.) I was on cloud nine.

However, a phone call from Max after the engagement ceremony shook me up from my dreams. “What had you done on your face,” taunted Max from the other end.  ‘Your make-up was monstrous today, and did you get that dirt off your face? He inquired, with a tinge of sarcasm in his voice.

I didn’t like the way he spoke to me.  So, without wasting a minute I lashed out at him, left, right and center. I spat out as much venom as possible through the phone.

This phone call from my fiancée became a conclusive proof for me that your people are your people, after all. That is your mother and siblings. They will appreciate and applaud you, and be by your side, come what may. I must be really looking good on the day of engagement. Why would my mother and sister lie to me, after all? Of course, layers and layers of concealer and foundation were applied by the beautician to cover up all those blemishes and innumerable pimples on my face to better my looks. And I believed all that make-up made me look best among the rest.

Now in hindsight, that is after a couple of years, when I look through my engagement pics I feel, my make-up was undoubtedly loud. And while looking through Max’s eyes, it was somewhat monstrous as well. 

Two Golden Gifts From God – Aryan n Ayaansh

5 Special Gifts That’ll Help Safeguard Their Future

Just 20 days ago I was blessed with my second sweet little bundle of joy − Ayansh. My cutie pie turns 20 days old today and the first best gift that we as responsible parents have bestowed upon him on his arrival on this earth was to get his umbilical cord preserved. We did this because we were told that the preservation of umbilical cord would safeguard our child from various life threatening diseases such as cancer, thalesemia, diabetes and lots more. More than anything else, even my elder son Aryan would benefit from this preservation, we were told. So without giving way to afterthoughts we decided to get Ayansh’s umbilical cord preserved for a decent sum.

I know in case of Ayansh we set things off in the right track by preserving his umbilical cord, now the next big step, I as a concerned parent who’s worried about her kids future would be to get a child’s insurance policy. I and my hubby have been contemplating on taking HDFC’s Children’s Plan since we had Aryan in our midst eight years back, but so far haven’t done anything about it. Now with the arrival of Ayansh I believe things will have to move on a war footing.

The third best gift I believe would be to introduce my kids to the world of Books. Books have been a source of inspiration for me and I believe a single good book is equivalent to a 100 friends. And I want my kids to follow suit. Books are an epitome of knowledge and intelligence. It’s one of the best investments I as a parent would love to make on my kids; and not on gold and diamonds. Such valuables can be stolen but values and wisdom gained from books stays with you forever.   

The fourth best gift that comes to my mind is Higher Education.  These days, everyone seems busy getting a masters degree for him or herself. In other words, everyone is busy studying hard. Now to make my kids stand tall among the rest, I wish to be instrumental in helping them bag the best degrees from highly renowned and influential colleges. If they have the aptitude and the spirit, I may don’t have to do much, just a wee bit of financial help will do, and they on their own would make it. 

Last but not the least: Good Values. Every day, our news channels and newspapers are filled with negative stories. Stories of rape, murders, cheating, killing, kidnapping so on and so forth, dominate the media channels.  Since our kids are growing up in this hostile environs it’s difficult to keep them away from these happenings. So the best thing that I can do for them so that they could make out good from the bad, right from the wrong, is by making them aware of good values.  For this, I’d inspire my kids to read the Bible, attend Sunday masses, and read other spiritual and moral books. I’ve been doing this and it has been helping me a lot and I believe this is something which even my kids could gain from.

These are the first five gifts that came to my mind immediately on seeing the title for this post. Hopefully, with God's grace, I wish to gift these precious gifts to my darling lil ones sooner than later.

Cheers   

This post is a part of the 1001 Gifts Activity by HDFC Life in association with BlogAdda

Tyrant Toms Terrorizing Jerrys

Media, these days, has its daggers drawn out against some tyrant Toms and rightly so: starting off with the Tejpal case to the newbie on the block, the retired Supreme Court judge A K Ganguly. (Here the culprits have followed one definite pattern though, targeting the juniors; because vahan shayad dal jaldi gale.)

Both Tejal and Ganguly have been accused of sexually harassing their juniors. When Tejpal’s case was out in the open, I was smiling away gleefully; at least …at least someone had the courage to spill her guts and pull the rug off from a high-flying boss’s feet. At least, at least, someone this time had supporting parents who didn’t mind their daughter playing the role of a victim cum protagonist in a sexual harassment case. At least, at least someone this time had not let ‘sab chalet hai' attitude come in her way of seeking justice and  then blindly sweeping the incident under the carpet.

Anyway, I am damn sure; this was not one of rare incidents. The bosses’ misdoings must be famous all along among his acquaintances and friends.  While most of them might have turned a blind eye to his immoral acts, some might as well have given in to his wild fancies. After all, the entire question boils down to who’ll the bell the cat? Specifically, when the cat here in question is mighty powerful and comes with political strings attached.  What is difficult to digest though is how come the watchdogs of democracy who frame and propagate laws, even sexual harassment laws for that matter, so easily distance themselves from the very laws they had come to be associated with?        

The retired Supreme Court judge AK Ganguly was reported to have made sexual advances towards his intern, despite her clear and vocal disapproval. The advances were made on her on Christmas Eve last year at Delhi’s Le Meredian Hotel.  It is being reported that the intern literally ran out of the hotel room, while the judge followed her down to lobby offering apologies.

Both these men come under the fatherly and grandfatherly figure category. The Jerrys' must be of their daughter’s age.  Apparently, what appears from both these cases is that it’s easy to victimize junior most employees, who are yet to familiarize themselves with the ways of the corporate world.

That said, even senior female employees are not safe from the evil designs of their bosses. My hubby once mentioned that his boss, an oldie and an IIM graduate at that, had proposed to one of the senior most female employee.  Nope, she was not unmarried. In fact, she was a mother to two adorable kids. Nope, she never wore skimpy clothes. In fact, she was always draped in complete 9 yards. Nope, she never once showed any inclination towards any relationship. In fact, on hearing her boss’ indecent proposal, she decided to opt for ‘work from home’ option.

Okay, agreed, there may be several women who’d love to climb on the back of their bosses and then stand on their shoulders to climb up the corporate ladder, but that doesn’t mean all women are cut from the same cloth and will give into bosses unreasonable fantasies and demands.

I hope, these two high-profile cases awaken all wayward bosses from their slumber and don’t take a women’s dignity for granted. I hope, these two powerful men get an appropriate comeuppance for outraging a women’s modesty outrightly.