The new Face of India!

SO here I am...writing almost good 8 months after my last post...Allow me to rephrase that...I am writing ON my BLOG after almost 8 months. I have been writing...and thinking. It is a perennial process. It ends up in my journal, only for personal viewing, but some of my thoughts seep in to the ever expanding world wide web....

So after all the blog reading about the whole SLUMDOG aspect, absorbing different viewpoints, watching the movie..TWICE...once with a friend from the communication background....and the other time alone..co-incidentally I had a companion in this French Lady, who is also a translator of Indian books written in English..to french.

First time watch I got very justified criticism and appreciation for the movie..the next time gave me a different outlook to India.

A country of masses. Of distinct variety. Of Juxtaposition of races and cultures, a melange of traditions, an epitome of heritage, the yearning for learning, the open gates for knowledge, the transfusion of ideas, the openness to be a part of the world.

Where are all these thoughts hailing from? Yesterday, After a long day, i decided to give myself a much needed break and go to the gurudwara, Bangla Sahib, with the serenity around its "sarovar" (lake), and the tesselation on the marble floor, the smell of the sweet prashad, the silence amongst 500 other believers, it was the next thing to divinity.

That thought lures me everytime i pass the Holy Place.

Just outside, street urchins loittering on the street walking hand on shoulder, barely 4 years old...holding a cigarette.BLASPHEMY. To make matters worse, I heard one saying, "its ok...its just for 4 rupees."

The childlike innocence of their strut and demenour changed into this adultrated version!It seemed they had already lived their childhood. So have most other kids.

The result? Entry Into Juvenile Homes, and after googling out what happens in these homes, I dont know what is worse. Let them be exposed to the menace of the "Oh so wonderful world" or expect them to be rectified of thier mistakes in the "safety" of the Juvinile homes.

So here I am, sitting on my a**e "thinking and writing" what COULD be done....while everything is already being done outside...
I think to myself...how helpless do I feel...and then the cliched.."But what Can ONE person do to improve it all...."..........

Quote unquote New York times: I rather not name the reporter:

"Until Bindra’s win, India’s population of more than one billion seemed to be collectively shrugging at all the Olympic carryings-on generated by China, its neighboring emerging global-market superpower.

Perhaps that is not surprising. India’s performance at the Olympics has lagged behind even tiny countries whose populations and gross domestic products are just a fraction the size. In Athens, India took home a total of one medal, a silver, also in shooting. The last time India won gold in the Olympics was more than a quarter century ago, when the men’s field hockey team came out on top in the 1980 Moscow Olympics. This year, the hockey team failed to even qualify for the Games."

Honestly....the first time i read this article...i was furious....thinking...how the F**k can this one person write so much...making it so convenient for her to be the party pooper...here the whole country is enjoying the moment of the Gold medal coming in...and she is errrr....praising with all the notions she has about how "successful" we have been at the past Olympics...

And, i was like...Thats it...Im gonna write about it and put down all my fury of what she has to say in my own sweet little blog....and then when i pasted the article, read it again (Only to aggravate my angst , so that i write about it as passionately as possible)....It struck me then...

She says: India’s performance at the Olympics has lagged behind even tiny countries whose populations and gross domestic products are just a fraction the size....

Its so funny, Us...Indians...Happy with whatever we get...the "Chalta Hain" attitude by most of us is taking us great guns...I bet half of the people wont even know that we won a gold, let alone in what sport...and by who!!!

Is that how we stand? United? I mean how many of us actually get the goose bumps wen we see the flag, and how many of us actually stand in attention while singing the national anthem....or are we all in the rat race? To do well....to get the x amount of money in the account, to own that gold set...to go out every Saturday, to live by each day...for each ones own!!

I recently got this answer to this one question i asked..."What do you want to be 5 years from now?"....He replied..."HAPPY"...thats it....no mention of I to own a house...a company...nothing....just HAPPY....

How many of us actually think of consciously doing a good deed a day? How may of us actually wanna do something for the society?

How many of us actually feel strongly about the soldiers...the athletes, are furious about the way the parliament deals with votes and money...is it just a "BREAKING NEWS"....or does the news actually break you???

How can one persons views affect zillions around you...How can one person be the change agent....The only thing that one person has to do is..Belive in himself...the reaction might just start on its own!!!

Kudos Abhinav....You made us real Proud....we got 12 more days...and thats just till the closing ceremony....so its only for the athletes...

Hope we all make us proud one day!!!

IDLI IDLI everywhere....

So we have always known that India has been known for its diverse culture...everybody gets a piece of the pie....may be coz the pie is so huge....and this is not a indirect hint towards the bombastic number referring the increasing population shown off proudly in front of the AIIMS gate...

It actually refers to the vast cultural diversity where everyone chooses what to wear and what not to wear...So while all the women think the white bangles on their arms are a burden in Rajasthan....Manish Arora thinks it is fantastic and actually makes a collection inspired by that!

So let me take you to my lazy idle Sunday back in my flat in Delhi...I would be too lazy to make lunch...and the healthiest thing in my kitchen closet would be this packet of ready to make idli’s...all I had to do was add water put in the microwave for exact 3 minutes and outcomes these yummylicious round idlis....and for all those who get inspired by this....it comes in variety...rava...masala...rice...whatever you want!!!

And now....I am well...errr....blessed to be in the land of Idlis...so wherever I go...I see idlis...and they are not made outta a packet...they are made from the scratch...and they come in shapes....and sizes...

They are round...square... triangle....yellow...white....with veggies....godd..The list is endless...!!!

I have eaten Idlis on an average 5 days a week....for breakfast....wid the same vada...(I usually consider the vada as its unhealthy cousin) the same chutney...and the same sambhar!!

I used to think...oh what the hell....it’s my Sunday lunch just not on Sunday....and just not as lunch....till one day...I got back home (to my family friends place...where I have been blessed to stay for the last 2 months) and the Dadi comes and tells me there is langar kept in the kitchen from her trip to the gurudwara in the morning....and there I was ....the delight shown very pleasantly on my face reciprocated on the dadi’s face....

I changed my clothes...washed my hand and was almost imagining how the Kada Prasad would taste, and if there’s Parsada Roti, or puri??? And I step in the kitchen....to find....well...Idli!!!

Yeah the Gurudwara served Idli as the langar....well I was exposed to yet another dimension of cultural adaptability....for all those south Indians who liked to have langar and loved their favourite food there...or maybe even those Punjabi’s who loved Idli so much that they wanted it in the langar!!!

Well what is clearly evident is that adaptability is the key focus...so here I am....having eaten the pongal and the idli’s and what nots....

One thing’s for sure...my Sunday lunch back in Delhi is going to have to change....just for a little while...till I miss the round White Idli yet again......

Circles and Grooves

We live...we breath to live..and we live to breath......right??
Well most of us don't agree on that..its coz we take the air for granted...But its when you taxing (the famous art of smoking a hookah and keeping the smoke inside till the pipe circulates and come back to you) is when you realize that the air you breath is what you need!!!

Satisfaction in life is like a circle...If its not a regular circle..it will wobble...if its got a dent then it will look for groove to fit it in and make it function like a lever system to make it work....Sometime that lever acts as a catalyst(the air which we need..or the companion you seek) and sometime it jarrs and slows down ur actions (like the chewing gum stuck on ur shoe...or the plastic bag on ur cycel wheel)
Sometimes...its a full circle...very rarely...The ones who have it..know its a full circle..they just need another cirlce to sing a song...and ride along the city streets where all the irregular circle and oval have fallen down...

So its very difficult being a circle...youll find your own....one day...very soon...I am sure!!!

Flipping the scrambled eggs!

You see this white lil wierd oblong shape thing....
its wierd that if i wud call it egg shaped and you will be able to think more clearly...but lemme just call this "thing" this white oblong thing...kinda narrow on top...broad at the base...or may be vice versa....
so you see this white egg shaped thing...nothing bigger than sumthing which may be held in ur hand....has an outershell and wen shook...feels its got some random fluid inside...
can you guess wut it is??
Or is that i have called it egg shaped...that you have closed your imagination and resigned to calling it an egg???
Ponder over that....

My point was not to confuse you...
Its yet to begin...my point....not the confusion!
so yeah...The egg...(ooops...i just gave it away)....anyway wuts done is done....yeah the egg....i crack it and i see this sumwut clear fluid wid this yellow circle in between....very very distinct i may add....2 different properties....2 colors...but both make up an egg....
The white...(its white only wen u cook it....but its still referred to as egg white...whilst the yellow is yellow....wierd!!)is healthier than the yellow...

so yeah you can see those 2 distinct colors in the bowl...and you wonder...wut shud you cook....french toast...omelet...scrambled eggs..may be raw??(only the talented few may be able to convert it into a fried or a porched from this stage)

you decide on the omlete....the fluffy thing....wid may be veggies in it....or just simple milk....may be just salt!!!

Nowww....you beat the egg....this is where the melange begins....you see the white and yellow mixing into this homogeneous mixture which you intend to cook...into this one pan cake...

I want to bring your attention to this...
you crack the egg---- see 2 parts----mix both----make 1 part----eat it in many parts(bites)....

so thats your omlette....
Putting it on the hot pan...you see it cook and now flipping it is the best...yet most difficult part....its cooked...you know you can smell it...you just need to be extra careful to flip it....just to ensure that its one whole big omlette....

Going thru all the efforts of the above mentioned steps...just to ensure that you get your scrumptious meal...i say kudos...go for it....

U scoop your spatula...and u kinda have a hunch its too soon...but u dont wanna take a risk...for a later time...coz u fear that it mite burn the egg....u flip it....
Just that 1 seconds haste....scrambled your fluffed egg....
Now wut you doing is simple...you flipping your scrambled egg...and you moan and you groan that its gotten ruined and it not an omlette...and now you eating scrambled eggs on toast...
may i get ur attn here again....
so u crack the egg....see the 2 parts----mix both---make 1 part....accidntly break it into many parts----and eat it---

Do you really feel the difference??? i mean actually....or is it just that you know that you wanted to eat an omlette and its "become" scrambled...is causing the difference??

Its not always about what we want...or about how we want it....its quite often about many external factors....here.....timely flipping...heat of the gas stove...amount of eggs beaten...non stick pan.....

in our lives....its about expectations....distance..

.time.....emotions.....anger...fear....

At the end...we end up eating the same egg....probably scrambled....but its got the same amount of salt you put in the omlette....and eaten with the same nos of toast....just probably cooked longer...or maybe ever shorter...

We just need to enjoy this one...this time...hoping the next time we get it right....and we eat it wid the same toasts...off the same stove...(but you never know you probably intended to make scrambled.....just got a call in between...so it became an omlette)

Enjoy it either ways....but more than that cherish it....who knows when the chickens stop laying eggs????