My post was selected by Blogadda

Hi guys….

A bit of news I forgot to post

I received this last month

This was for my post 911?

Congratulations! Your post has been selected by BlogAdda as one of the top posts for this week’s ‘Tangy Tuesday Picks’. Here is the link where your amazing post has been featured http://blog.blogadda.com/2009/07/28/blogaddas-tangy-tuesday-picks-jul-28-09

BlogAdda has started ‘Tangy Tuesdays’ and ‘Spicy Saturdays’ where BlogAdda picks up good posts from Indian blogosphere and serves it to the readers on tuesdays and saturdays. This way, good posts are acknowledged and readers get to read quality content.

I am so glad that my post was selected. Thanks to Blogadda for choosing me(ear to ear grin).

Back on Track!!

Hello fellas and fellis….

Looking at the comments on my blog…not many people missed me…alas that’s the bitter truth of life…

Although I am quite happy with the hit counter and the speed with which its increasing….(My new mantra…stop being bitter and see the silver lining and all that crap spewed by my friends and well-wishers and Moi as well)

I will not let this renewed enthusiasm to write the nonsense I write, die down so easily.

I was dealing with the silent killer for a few days, ’stress’ as the guys in white-coats put it.
The thing about it is…it just creeps on you without a sign of warning. I am sure all of us handle it in everyday life in some form or other.

I was working at a extremely stressful place for nearly a year and recently quit that job. That is the start of all the positive things I want to bring back in my life.

Mind is such a weird thing….if you are happy everything looks wonderful…even a cloudy morning whereas even a sunny day spells doom when you are in the dumps.

I am still dealing with some things but am getting there…slowly. The key is to bounce back and not let anything or anyone make you feel this way.

Hurrah!!! to a fresh start.

Tag ‘o’ Mania

Amit tagged me recently and I thought this as a good way to put up something on my blog after ages. Here it is

A.Attached or Single?
Attached and very Happily

B. Best Friend?
Very many good friends…

C: Cake or pie?
Cake it is

D. Drink of choice?
Water or Orange Juice.

E. Essential item you use every day?
Laptop and mobile.

F. Favorite color?
Red

G. Gummy bears or worms?
Neither.:)

H. Hometown?
Nagpur- The orange city

I. Favorite indulgence?
Reading and watching movies

J. January or July?
January when in India. July since I am in UK.

K. Kids & their names?

None so far.

L. Life isn’t complete without?
Family and friends, good food, good books and travelling to new places.

M. Marriage date?
Dec’99

N.Number of Siblings?
2 older sisters

O. Oranges or Apples?
Oranges and more oranges.

P. Phobias?

Dirty Restrooms.

Q. Quotes?

‘Whatever Happens, Happens for the best’

R. Reasons to smile?

a good joke.

S. Season?
The winters in India and the summer in UK.

T. Tag people:
Anyone reading this post and finding the tag interesting.

U. Unknown fact about me?

I am a good cook.

V. Vegetable?

Tomatoes.

W. Worst habit?

I hate exercising.

X. X-ray you’ve had?
Arm and chest Xray.

Y. Your favorite food?
Pasta.

Z. Zodiac sign?
Aquarius.

911?

I have recently started watching a Hindi TV series called Ladies Special. I like it cause its refreshingly realistic compared to other sagas dished out these days.

It is a story of four women who are travel together in a train called ‘Ladies Special’ in Mumbai. It revolves around their day-to-day lives and issues faced by them. One of the protagonists is ‘Pooja’ who is married to a guy who is evil personified. He constantly keeps a watch on her and is abusive to her physically and mentally. In spite of being educated and earning well, he is very mean and cruel and uses his physical strength to control her.

I have a friend who is going through a similar situation. The worst part is she is in USA without a support system of family and friends. SHe comes from a middle class family with parents who are retired and an elder sister who is also facing problems in her marriage. Not being financially independent has added to her woes and in spite of knowing the risks, she has decided to go back to her husband.

‘Domestic Abuse’ which was a word I had read many times and seen in movies has now become a reality. This word does not only mean physical abuse but even mental and psychological in which the abuser will use words, body language and other means to steal your self confidence, respect and wear you down to gain complete power over you.

A recent government survey said that one in every three Indian women are victims of Domestic Violence and the numbers are escalating each year not taking into consideration the number of unreported cases.

India has a Domestic Violence act, that was passed in 2005, but the long held attitudes about Domestic violence in India makes deliverance of justice remote. With the cases dragging for years together, do the abused women have any actual relief?

In addition, the social stigma attached to Divorce or going against family integrity stops many women from taking any steps. Financial Independence is another hindrance in the path of getting any relief. Even though this law has, many such provisions the relief is hard to come with the cases adjourned and bribes being paid by the husbands to stall cases.

Does it ultimately boil down to a woman’s fate or luck? If she has good luck, she will be happily married or say ‘Uska naseeb hi kharab hai’. Do we just shrug our shoulders and let other people deal with it?

What do I say to her? How do I comfort her? There is a whirlwind of emotions and questions in my mind and depressingly no answers.

P.S: The views in this article are mine and I have written only about violence against Women. I am aware that even women abuse men and there is no intention of disregarding this fact.

Papa kehte hain

Its said that ‘Most girls want to marry a guy just like their father’. That says so much about Dads. ‘Fathers Day’ gives me the chance to say thanks to my father.

My dad is the strong silent types. Anyone who meets him for the first time will get slightly intimidated because of his quietness. He is bad at making conversation and sometimes can sit alone for hours together lost in his thoughts. Very people know about his funny bone and the laugh which comes from the bottom of his soul when he finds something amusing

I remember my childhood days, he used to teach me maths which was a dreaded subject and encouraged me to follow my dreams and passions. He gladly funded my different hobbies be it my painting classes, guitar classes or joining a book library in summer holidays.

He very enthusiastically enjoyed, my initial experiments with cooking. He always appreciated the food I made, which was mostly unpalatable and sometimes undercooked(Which even I could not eat myself). Though he is not very verbal with his affection towards my sisters and me, his support and guidance speak for itself.

I always marvel at his practicality and foresightedness. I have learnt so much from him about taking decisions and thinking practically.

On ‘Fathers Day’, I would like to tell him that I love and respect him so much. Thank you ‘Baba’ for giving me such a great childhood. For making me capable of taking decisions and facing the world. For standing by me through my good and bad decisions and never saying ‘I told you so’. For giving me the courage to face my bad decisions and to celebrate the good ones.
Thank you for your vast reservoir of patience and above all for being so kind and understanding and for being my Father.

The Mad AD world

Its no fun sitting in front of the idiot box after coming to UK. In India, I used to switch channels whenever any ads featured between programmes. But now I miss them so much.

Here the same boring ads for debt cancellation, Injury claim and some travel companies run over and over again in the same dry tone.

I find Indian ads so much more entertaining and lively. There is colour and music and a sentiment added to selling of the product. Who can forget the old ads that became so famous. Here are a few of my favourite old ads.

1) The twirling girl of Nirma Washing Powder

2) Lalitaji and the ‘Dhoondhte Reh jaooge‘ campaign surf campaign.

3) Jab main chota Baccha tha- Bajaj Bulbs

4) ‘Buland bharat ki buland tasveer‘ – Humara Bajaj

5) ‘I Love u Rasna‘

6) Vicks ki goli lo Khich khich door karo

7) Lime and lemony Limca

Kuch khaas hai hum sabhi mein…Kuch swad hai….kya swad hai zindagi mein- Cadburys dairy milk

9) Jalebi ad from Dhara

10 ) Karram Kurram- Lijjat Pappad.

The best of them was ‘Mile sur Mera tumhara‘ campaign. Whenever I hear that song old memories come rushing back and I feel so proud to be an Indian. Here’s the video for you all.

Did you all not hum to the tunes of these ads? Did you not sing along when the ad was telecast?

Now think hard and let me know which were your personal favourites.

When times are tough, the tough get going!!!

I got this video clip from ‘Zeeshan’ who wanted to motivate me .
I dedicate this clip to all my friends and people who are fighting to survive in today’s times.
For some its an everyday fight to just survive. I am sure most of us will remember this time in future and take it as a test of determination and patience and above all HOPE.

Let not Hope be lost.

As Winston Churchill said :

The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.

Magical Parenting

I have the privilege of being an aunt to 1 niece and 2 nephews. One of them has already surpassed me in the height department ages ago and is on the brink of arming himself with a razor to mow the barely sprouted undergrowth under his nose. He is the only son of my eldest sister.

The other two chipmunks are twin kids of my middle sister. Both A (Girl) & B (Boy) have just been potty trained and are on the category of ‘ I can express my feelings in words now’ age. Though I met them when they were tiny bundles, I do get regular updates from my sister about their latest antics.

After a recent update from her I got to know ‘What all parents do to fool a child into eating his/her food’. Here is how it went…

‘A’ was refusing to eat her food so her dad ‘D’ said

D: If you taste this new dish mom made, you can speak to ‘Princess Snow white’.

Skeptical though she was ‘A’ relented and finished her food. So my sis and Bro-In-law decided to call up Snow white.

My sister snuck up in the bedroom and called on Bro-in-laws cell phone pretending to be Snow White. ‘A’ was left utterly speechless with wonderment when she came to know that Snow white wanted to speak to her.

Snow White: What are you doing ‘A’?

A: I just finished my food.

Snow white: You are a big girl.

A: What are you doing Snow White?

Snow White: I am playing with Seven Dwarfs.

A: Dad, you know Snow White is playing with seven dwarfs.

Now, ‘B’ had to speak to one of his favourite cartoon characters ‘OSO’.

So ‘D’ rang back on my sister’s cell phone and this time my sister became ‘OSO’ and ‘B’ was mesmerized that his favourite character was talking to him.

I think its time for me to make a call home and check up with my parents about things they did to fool me .

And here I used to think Parents are simple folk.
Who knew what goes on in their mind!!!!

P.S.: The kids are aged 3 and in that age when they are still ready to believe everything parents tell them.

Its raining ‘creativity’

As you all know I recently moved my blog to my own domain name. When I decided to do that I went through a really exhausting time deciding which template to use and how could I make my blog look nice and appealing.

While surfing on the internet I came across really amazing and absolutely brilliant designers who are letting people use their templates for free.

I would like to acknowledge their work in this post and thank them for their hard work and creativity and letting me use their stuff for free.

My blog template is from ‘Template Mama’ and the cute Comments Blinkie and the other colourful buttons are from another Creative lady called ‘April Showers’.

Friends do visit these blogs and have a look at the wonderful assortment of Templates and accessories you can use to decorate your blog.

Happy Hunting!!

Hobby Horse

Since childhood my parents were very particular that all of us (Me and my two elder sisters) had a wide spectrum of choices in the arts and crafts field. They let us follow our creative pursuits and explore our natural talent.

As far as I can remember I have attended ‘Kathak Classes’ (Indian Classical dance), Singing lessons, drawing and painting, Judo and Karate, Guitar Classes.

The dance classes fizzled out after the excitement of one summer. There was a hobby class near our house and mom diligently took us to all the lessons. She also bought us a pair of ‘Ghungroos’(Musical anklets…I really don’t know the English version). The fun part was to tie them to our legs and make as much noise we can rather than actually practicing the steps.

My music lessons died a horrible death. I was in grade 6Th and my mom took us to a renowned singer who stayed close by. My good friend ‘M’ also joined the class with us. There were many other girls with us including one who was out of tune and completely oblivious of it for the entire time I was there in spite of the teachers best efforts. She sang with all the gusto she could muster which reminded me of a donkey’s bray (Bitchy!!!). Also ‘M’ and I were more interested in the outside world rather than singing ourselves hoarse. One day, we were asked to all sing together, I thought it was more fun to just move your lips without bringing out the sound. It went on for a few sessions when one day I got a firing from mom since the teacher had complained (Spoilsport). ‘M’ was my naughty confidant in all these escapades. The turning point was the day ‘Tuneless babe’ was asked to sing a number. The moment she started braying oops..I mean singing, ‘M’ and I just could not hold it. We literally rolled on the floor (we used to sit cross legged on the floor) with laughter. It was just uncontrollable. My teacher decided she did not want to waste any efforts on me and I was promptly kicked out from the class (She fondly remembers my naughtiness now).

I loved drawing from early age and people said I had a knack for it. My grandfather used to drop me and pick me up from the class for many years since I started the lessons in 5th grade . I enjoyed it then and I still do but haven’t dabbled in it since a few years.

I took up Judo and Karate for a year and actually enjoyed it. It needs a lot of dedication and practice and I got a yellow belt. If you ask me to defend myself now, the only thing I can do is scream my loudest which will be totally inspired by ‘Tuneless babe.

Guitar playing is akin to riding a bicycle. You can never forget it once you’ve learnt how to do it. Just need to shake off the stiffness from my finger.

And finally ‘blogging’. It’s my latest hobby and hope I will enjoy it for many years.
It’s helped me make friends and I am interacting with fabulous writers. Its opened avenues for me I had never thought of. I want to turn this hobby into a full time profession by doing content writing and also taking this website to a new level.

Hey!! you guys with the online jobs are you listening?