Woman

Nah!! This is not an attempt at celebrating woman's week. Yes, woman's WEEK, that's what an advertisement mentioned it today on Radio...anything for business.

I keep away from ranting on this space. I believe each one of us have enough problems and issues ourselves to hear about others problems. But I cant help myself. This post could turn analytical and maybe philosophical too. So read it at your own risk, I am not to be blamed.

Woman - Dont expect me to be saying anything unique apart from what has been said everything about woman. The source of life, the inspiration, the destructor......Each one have their own definition of a woman.

She laughs when she is supposed to cry, cries when she is supposed to laugh, takes everything in her stride and behaves as if all is well......is she mad? I mean why doesn't she just cry when she wants to cry??

She feels like crying for no reason. When everything is fine, she feels like breaking down. People around her don't understand why she is feeling low. They either term it as nonsensical or troublesome. Even when she is depressed, she has to cook for her family, take her of her kids and husband, behave as if everything is normal.

There are days when a lady would just go blank, depressed, down, low. Everything hits at the same time. When nothing seems to work, when things are worse even if they are fine, when people around her are insensitive even when they try their best, when everything around is void, when there seems to be no meaning for her being. When there seems to be no sense of anything, when no amount of consoling helps, when everything is irritating, when she throws a fit around for no reason.

But this doesn't leave her helpless, its the state she cant avoid. It comes and goes according to its whims, on which she has no control. She has to live through it.

But why does a woman feel depressed or low even if everything is fine? Its her way of repairing herself. Its her way to rejuvenate. Seems weird, but that's how it is. But if asked why this painful way? I have no answer.

When such a situation arises with your sister, mom, wife, friend please support her and lend her a shoulder to cry. Trust me, it goes away in a day or two and she is all kicking ass then. But when she is low, don't dismiss her saying that she has no better work, don't ignore her, listen to what she has to say, don't blame her. Dont let her mood swings affect you, instead, cheer her up. Just lend her an ear.

Show that she is an important part of your life, show how she makes your life meaningful, be patient and show her how special she is.

We are 'like this only'

Came across these fabulous facts on we, Indians. All the points are so true. I myself can identify with so many points here...And I am proud about being an Indian. Read on and enjoy.

1. Everything you eat is savored in garlic, onion and tomatoes.

2.. You try and reuse gift wrappers, gift boxes, and of course aluminum foil.

3. You are always standing next to the two largest size suitcases at the Airport.

4. You arrive one or two hours late to a party - and think it's normal.

5. You peel the stamps off letters that the Postal Service missed to stamp.

6. You recycle Wedding Gifts, Birthday Gifts and Anniversary Gifts.

7. You name your children in rhythms (example, Sita & Gita, Ram & Shyam, Kamini & Shamini..)

8. All your children have pet names, which sound nowhere, close to their real names.

9. You take Indian snacks anywhere it says 'No Food Allowed.'

10. You talk for an hour at the front door when leaving someone's house.

11. You load up the family car with as many people as possible.

12. You use plastic to cover anything new in your house, whether it's the remote control, VCR, carpet or new couch.

13. Your parents tell you not to care what your friends think, but they won't let you do certain things because of what the other 'Uncles and Aunties' will think.

14. You buy and display crockery, which is never used, as it is for special occasions, which never happen.

15. You have a vinyl tablecloth on your kitchen table.

16.. You use grocery bags to hold garbage.

17. You keep leftover food in your fridge in as many numbers of bowls as possible.

18. Your kitchen shelf is full of jars, varieties of bowls and plastic utensils (got free with purchase of other stuff)

19. You carry a stash of your own food whenever you travel (and travel means any car ride longer than 15 minutes).

20. You own a rice cooker or a pressure cooker.

21. You fight over who pays the dinner bill.

22. You live with your parents and you are 40 years old. (And they prefer it that way).

23. You don't use measuring cups when cooking.

24. You never learnt how to stand in a queue.

25. You can only travel if there are 5 persons at least to see you off or receive you whether you are traveling by bus, train or plane.

26. If she is NOT your daughter, you always take interest in knowing whose daughter has run with whose son and feel proud to spread it at the velocity of more than the speed of light.

27. You only make long distance calls after 11p.m.

28. If you don't live at home, when your parents call, they ask if you've eaten, even if it's midnight

29. You call an older person you never met before Uncle or Aunty.

30. When your parents meet strangers and talk for a few minutes, you discover you're talking to a distant cousin.

31. Your parents don't realize phone connections to foreign  countries have improved in the last two decades, and still scream at the top of their lungs when making foreign calls.

32. You have bed sheets on your sofas so as to keep them from getting dirty.

33. Its embarrassing if you're wedding has less than 600 people.

34. All your Tupperware is stained with food color.

35. You have drinking glasses made of steel.

36. You have mastered the art of bargaining in shopping. 

There's a video on youtube on similar lines - here.

Ways to beat boredom

Yes!! you guessed it right!. I am bored! Did everything, pinged friends online, read blogs, passed comments, did some office work after logging from home, finished house chores...

But BORED. You walk up and down in your room, scan 360 degrees to figure out if there is anything interesting, Nothing!!! To complicate, I am lazy to move out to feed my hungry stomach!!

I am hungry, but lazy to cook, Oh I am also bored!! Weird isnt it? No its not. It happens with any NORMAL human being and I am absolutely, insanely normal :-D

There are some interesting ways to beat your boredom. Its fun!!!

- Watch any song and dance from Indian movies - with MUTE. Just watch the shakes and moves without any volume and see how much fun it is!!

- Go dig your kitchen, count the rice grains in your stock. Improves your math skill

- Make prank calls to your bank's customer service executive. Take revenge. Bully them; just do once what they do always with you. There's no sadistic pleasure than this :-D (Wicked smile)

- Pick your nose. Clear and make way for health paved with boogers :-P

- Fill a large bucket of water using a seive. Grow your wisdom!!

- Scratch yourself. No!! nothing weird. Definitely a feel good factor

- If you have someone beside you, pick lice from his/her head. Hygiene around you, anytime good.

- Try reading a book while the pages face a mirror. Its challenging!!

- Untie all of your shoe laces, tie them back. There are more than 15 ways to tie them!!

- Blog about being bored!!!!

Yeaaayyy!! Here are 10 points. Try them and beat your boredom to death people!!

What are your favorite ways? Share them  :-)

Timeless

 

 

As we walk, 

amongst loneliness, 

lost in time, 

deep in thought;

 

Chasing shadows,

black and gray,

Hazy yet subtle,

clear yet complex.

I am the master.

I am the slave.

I own this beautiful world,

but no place to rest.

As the wind carrasses,

As the palms sway,

As the waves crash, 

Lightning strikes.

Life is so simple,

Life is so beautiful.

Open your eyes,

Open up your mind,

Embrace it with smile. 

PS : These thoughts flowed when I saw that picture. Its not clicked by me; for obvious reason being that I am in that picture. It was shot at Santa Cruz beach, CA. For people who prefer colors to B/W, here is the color version of the picture - Timeless

Life

He was the luckiest child on earth. His mom and dad looked after him with all the care in the world. He was protected from the harshness of this cruel world by his ever protective parents.


He was very very happy, contended and at peace. He spent most of his time clinging to his mother, safely under her shadows, never venturing away from her sight even for a moment. He thought it was only bliss until one day.

He could never forget that unfortunate day in his life when he had to be separated from his parents and siblings. He was angry. He asked "Why me?" But he had no answer. He was jealous of his sibling who would remain with his parents while he would never ever see them again. His parents convinced that it was for his good. The person whom he would be going with had promised them that he would provide the child a better life than the one he had. But he did have a wonderful life right now, isn't it? But what he didn't understand was his parents were struggling to meed their ends meet. They did not want their children to struggle, so they took this tough decision to send this child away so that he could get a better life.

Mom and dad were heart-broken to give away their son, the only consolation was that the gentleman promised their kid a better life, whereas the kid thought his parents forsook him. He was young enough to even know what it meant to be forsaken.

Soon, he was shifted to a new place, from there he was taken to one more home. He got a luxurious room all for himself, he was very happy. He soon forgot his parents and started enjoying his new life. Life was once again fun, no one disturbed him. He had lot of friends who were of his age. They seemed very happy, life went on.

One day, he was taken away and in a jiffy broken and poured to be fried into a pan.



PS : Thank you Neha for prompting me to write on this :-)

Indian Movies, Masti and Emotions

I assume most of you know Hindi. So far, there has been no 'videshi' reader yet!! :-P

Before you jump into any conclusion, NO I am not writing a post in Hindi.

My ever-lasting source of fun and a good laughter is watching old Indian movies. You know, those kind of movie where the hero and the heroine were bulky and shapeless and with paunch. I am not saying its a crime, they represented common man. Not everyone has a 6 pack or a size zero or flat abs!!

Those movies where the actor wore green pant, yellow shirt and red shoes...Govinda types. Those type of movies where dances were like exercises taught at schools.

1 - raise your right hand, 2 - raise your left hand, 3 - right foot forward, 4 - left foot forward...types.

Those type of movies where hero is poor, has a sick mom, a sister yet to be married, who is financially weak and falls in love with a rich chick kinds....


More than any of these, those movies where dialogues just give you a high!! yeah a high or is it low??? Certainly it makes me laugh.....

Ajee sunte ho, munna ke pitaji............

This is a wife seeking husband's attention. Do we find this in movies nowadays? Now its "Rizwan..my son is no more"

Pithaji, maaf kardijiye.....

Those formal mouthing of dialogues!! Did everyone speak so formally in those days? It seems very made up and rehearsed. They are full of emotions, overdose of emotions. Were people over-emotional then?

Swaami, main dhanya hun

Vats, is baaliko ko andhar le chalo

Taj unke kareeb nahin hota jinke kareeb khauf hota hain - one of the dialogue from Mugal-e-azam
Yeh aap kya keh rahe hain bhai saab?

Unki aatma batak rahi hai.....The ghost!!

Yeh kya anyaay hai bhagwan!!

Bhagwan, maine aaj tak tumse kuch nahin manga, aaj pahli baar kuch maang raha hun

Once again, I know its redundant to mention it, but I nudged Gautam to utter few dialogues he could recall. I was sure he will come up with never thought about dialogues. Thats why I encourage him to participate in discussions with me!!

Here are his lines......

hamari iccha yeh hai ki, ye duniya itna zaalim na ho...

kitna sundar upaay balika

He even recalled a Britannia 50-50 advertisement that went on the lines of old movies

premalatha, ye duniya kitna zaalim hain...

kyun na hum kahi jaakar atma hatya kar le

kyun na hum britannia 50 50 khaakar zindagi ka aanand lein

There are few classic dialogues; I bet these are universal to India and that they are available in all languages. The names never change, the tones never change, the style never change....

Mein tumhari bachche ki ma banne wali hoon......(the helpless pregnant lover)

Bhaiyyyaaaaaaaaaa!!!.................(the all protecting elder brother)

Ramu kaka...(omni present bawarchi)

Ek baar mujhe ma kehkar pukaaro beta....(with an earnest look)

Doodh pi lijiye....(On the first night, a shy wife telling her newly wed husband)

Bhabhi, tumhare haath ki chai peene ko man kar raha hai ...........(Love oozing out...a loving brother-in-law yearning for bhabhi's haath ki banayi hi chai!!!)

Bachhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaoooooooooo..................HELP!!!!!!!!!!!

Maa, mein first class pass hogaya maa!!

Driver!! gaadi roko...

Yeh behcaari begunah hai...Thats all your honor.

This can go on and on....

Just fast forward and think about the dialogues in movies now. Its all "Yo!" , "Dude", "Saala", "Kaminaey"......

The world is a global village, so our communication is also inspired...mix of this and that!!

Sample this....

jhakkaas

thok dega tere ko saale

kya samjha apun ko

mamu nahi

boley toh apun ko bhi kuh kuch
holey raha ha biddu

oye..milli...milli....sun na...kya hai munna? hum sochraela ke apun ko settle hone ka

All said and done, its our staple diet in entertainment!

And yes, please mention your favorite dialogue from old movies while commenting :-)

Main ja rahi hoon.....main ja rahi hoon.............Alvida.

:-P

An ITSY-BITSY information

I could not follow a word of his speech, it was all mumbo-jumbo

The shelves were filled with purse, needles, pins and other such knick-knacks.

These are simple sentences we use in our day to day life. Whats special about them you may ask. Nothing much, except for these playful phrases - kinck-knacks, mumbo-jumbo.....

The pleasure we get by playing around with words, in turn coining new phrases as words. That's how a language is enriched. Same with English. It has evolved so much, its never the same as it was.

Idioms, phrases, words are poetic when rhymed. In order to enhance the poem, one tends to use meaningless or irrelevant words as long as it fits in. But its not restricted to poems alone, we use it everyday.....from dilly-dallying at work.......to running helter-skelter trying to cross the crowded street.

Repeating parts of words to make new words is called REDUPLICATION. They are coined for nothing more than the enjoyment of wordplay. The words making up these idioms have no meaning in themselves. They have an effect only when combined. Also, only one word from that word pair does have some meaning and pre-exists. The other pair is added to just enhance the effect.

E.g chit-chat.
Chat itself is diminutive form of chatter. 'Chit' in itself is meaningless.

There are different types of Reduplication.

Exact - These are used as baby talk to make young kids understand and learn the language. Idioms like
Bye-bye
Bling-bling
Goody-goody
blah-blah........

Rhyming - They are just like Cockney rhyming slang, where normal words are replaced by rhyming words. Few idioms here.
Lovey-dovey
Okey-dokey
Nitty-gritty
Boogie-woogie
chick-flick
teenie-weenie
hodge-pogde
hocus-focus
walky-talky.....

Ablaut - Suggest motion, like it is 'this' now and 'that' later. Words like
ding-dong
tick-tock
zig-zag
riff-raff
pitter-patter................

The above phrases ; if observed has 'i' in the first word and an 'a' or an 'o' in the second word. Does anybody have any idea why? If so, please enlighten me.

Second observation is that ABLAUT REDUPLICATION are sometimes ONOMATOPOEIC
(onomatopoeia are words that sound like the objects they name or the sounds those objects make).

The room was so silent that I could hear the TICK-TOCK of the clock - Perfect example of a phrase which is both ablaut reduplicated and also onomatopoeic.

Another one, a famous rhyme!! Now stand up and sing along people!!......with actions............

I hear thunder, I hear thunder,
Oh. don't you?
Oh. don't you ?
Pitter Patter raindrops,
Pitter Patter raindrops
I'm wet through, I/m wet through.
To enjoy a onomatopoeic story - please click here -A CRACKLING story. Don't ever miss this piece; I am telling this for your own benefits :-D

And as usual, I was discussing reduplication with Gautam. We brought in few more phrases in Hindi.

table-vable saaf karo
chai-vaai pilao
shaadi-vaadi
pet-vet...

But these phrases don't seem to be reduplication. Why because the complete word is just paired with totally incomprehensible word just for the flow of sentence; and they don't actually form a new meaning in itself; unlike the reduplicated words.

I hope you all enjoyed this itsy-bitsy information. Now enough of my mumbo-jumbo, I am off to play see-saw!!

:-D