Its funny how easy it is to get  sucked into being materialistic in the world today, with the up-to-the-moment expensive toys , gizmos, collectibles screaming for our attention!! Have the “Best-things-in-life-are-free” days gone away?? So I decided to write down my list of the ’simple pleasures’ of life to prove that the best things in life are indeed free…errr.. or atleast inexepensive )

The list randomly goes as-

1. Sitting on the beach with my toes buried in the sand, watching the waves hit against the shore
2. Lying on the soft green grass of a recently mowed lawn
3. Gazing at the stars
4. Catching the different patterns clouds tend to make in the sky
5. Going for a long walk on a quiet street when everyone else is asleep
6. Standing by the doorway on  a moving train, enjoying the wind caress your hair
7. Having ‘chaat’ with your friends in those little stalls  by the beach side
8. Talking the night away with your buddies leaning against parked cars in your neighborhood
9. Swinging on the porch
10. Having a ‘make over’ day with your girl friends
11. Sleepovers!!! )
12. Karaoke Nights
13. Turning on your stereo real loud and dancing away
14. Cooking with your friends
15. Having a heart-to-heart conversation with a 4 year old
16. Going biking with friends on a cool summers day
17. An evening spent with close ones just traveling down memories lane
18. Sleeping ) )
19. Having ‘garma garam’ pakodas along with ‘cutting chai‘ (tea) on a rainy day
20. Family get-togethers  on special occasions
21. Bumping into a long lost friend out of the blue, and catching up on each others lives over a cup of coffee
22. Picnics!
23. Day Dreaming )
24. Going on nature treks
25. A passionate kiss ) ) )

If you’ve ever been to a Catholic communion party, you would know that its celebrated exactly like a wedding!!..the same traditions of a bridal gown, the cermonial entry – accompanied by throwin of confetti,a wedding march, cutting the cake, first dance..bla bla..im sure u get the picture..

It had been a long time since i’d been to a party, so i did what i usually do at times like these-look inconspicuous! which seemed to work, for sometime atleast like when they had the first set of waltz dances (thank goodness!!)

but then..these darn MCs!! It seems they take great pleasure in dragging you out to the center floor, ike this MC in particular who dragged me every single time after that..

 

Today was one of those days where God showed me His sense of humor :O)

 

I was once again dragged onto the stage when they were calling 10 young ladies.By now i was tired of resisting.

 I thought it would be a silly game, and I was being a good sport.My sister and a friend were dragged too, so i was not exactly alone.Standing there center-stage with 9 other women wasn’t exactly frightening,but something about the mischeiveous glint in the MC’s eyes scared me..What was he upto???

 

Satisfied that there were 10 victims on tage, the MC then announces.. “I want all the ladies to to get me a  gentleman’s belt”

 

For an instant i froze…the next instant i look around me..and everyone’s vanished!!!! I almost fainted with panic..when it struck me ‘ Aveena, you’re dad’s a gentleman too you know (of sorts..lol)”

so I rushed to my dad’s seat and wouldn’t you know it, he wasnt to be seen anywhere.I gave up and slowly sneaked to where my seat was hoping nobody would notice me dropping out of the game..only to find my seat taken by two adorable, dashing young men-aged 7 and 9.

 

The 9 year-old points to the 7 year-old and says “He has a belt”

 

And I was like ‘WHAT!’…I immediately brushed off the suggestion.It was ridiculous!I tried to grab a chair from nearby and sit down inconspicously, but the MC announces..”I want all the 10 women on stage with the belts”

 

Darn those MCs!!

 

I looked back at the little kid..considering..’I couldn’t take his belt!!wouldn’t be a criminal offence!?wouldnt i get arrested?!”

However, amusingly it seemed the little kid really wanted to offer me his belt.He isnsisted i take it!

After hearing the third call from the MC again i banished all my second thoughts,gulped down my fear and on confirming with the little kid that his pants wouldn’t fall off and recieving a sweet smile in response,I took his belt on stage.

On reaching the stage , I noticed that the 10 women had been reduced to 8, including me..Obviously Anrica and my friend had disappeared off the scene!’why did I have to be so honest!?’

‘Great now I’d be the laughing stock!getting a little kid’s belt.I felt like a fool! I wished I was a bit forward enough like the other 7 women and had the courage to ask a GUY for his belt!

 

My thoughts were inyterrupted with the MC then saying that the next step in the game was that the women should bring the gentlemen onto the stage

 

Would my embarassment never end!!! Now I would be seen on stage holding a tiny belt belonging to a litttle kid who probably couldnt even tie his shoe lace by himself!!

 

I rushed to the boy,who offered me the sweetest smile which melted my heart and with all the courage and dignity I could muster, I escorted him onto the dance floor waiting for the whoops of laughter I was sure I would recieve.

But, there were none!

 

I didnt have time to think further,because the MC then announces that the next step would be that the girl then put on the belt for the gentleman.

 

NEVER IN MY LIFE HAVE I HEAVED A BIGGER SIGH OF RELIEF

 

Thank God I was honest.Thank God I wasn’t forward like the other girls.Thank God I didnt ask any of the young guys out there for their belts and most of all thank God for the little kid..

 I quickly got down to one knee and simply intsructed him to keep turning as I put the belt on him.Obviously, I was the first to finish that task. By then the little kid had really won my heart..

 

The MC then said that the final task  was to DANCE with the escort.. and the best dancing couple would be chosen as the winning couple.

 My heart sank!Please God, let it not be a waltz!Imagine how awkward that would look! The heights of embarassment!!

 

Thankfully God heard my prayer..as I heard a fast number being played in the back ground..

 So there i was dancing with this little Prince Charming. I had to keep up with him..cause it was obvious that dancing to him meant using the entire dance floor space.By then, I just let myself go free and wild,become a little kid again. I actually noticed my partner was quite good looking for a 7 year old.This guy was a sure shot heart throb of the future.

I came to know my prince charming’s name was Allan.. We talked for a while about his school,play time, hobbies…he was sooo cute!!

 

In the end..Allan and myself didnt win the prize..but I didnt care.

 I was convinced that we made the cutest couple…and that I would never for a long time to come forget my little prince charming- Allan

 

 

 

Addiction is such a powerful thing..

The ability to control a person. We, humans pride ourselves of being the smartest living beings created- with the ability to think, reason, analyze, calculate and make decisions. Yet, all these skills become disoriented just by something as an addiction.

Enters one’s life subtly, an uninvited guest or otherwise, and slowly becomes a vital part of your life. Getting into one is easy, getting otta one is twice as difficult!

Ever been an addict?

Ever craved that next glass of sparkling wine, or the next smoke, without which you feel you just cannot survive.

If you’re sitting smug thinking that’s not me, think again. It’s not just the alcoholics, the junkies or the chain smokers who’d stand guilty.

Every one of us is an addict of something or the other. If we only just sit back and reflect-

Is it coffee? your newspaper? your new car? your significant other? Television? your favourite soap? Books? movies,? shopping? the telephone? yourself???

Many of the songs we listen to have something to do with addiction- I want to break free, Break away, Addicted, Bad Medicine

You’ll know it for sure when you wake up in the morning and it’s the thing that keeps you going on through the day.. your priorities change, abstain from it and you’re incomplete..or at least that’s what you think. What stage you’re in depends on who is in control- you or your addiction.

I myself am no exception, an addict..but yet I am a conqueror. So what makes an addict a conqueror? The difference is who your savior is…mine helped me out of my addictions. Get free!!!

Had to work late on an urgent assignment and so it was inevitable that I would wake up late the next morning and my entire schedule would go hay wire. I couldn’t catch my usual bus at 8.15 am which would let me reach office comfortably at 9.30 am. Not today, it was 8.30am just before I left the house. The only word ringing in my head- “Run!!” (If I crossed the 9.45 am mark, I would be marked as absent for half the day)

I caught myself before a silent curse could escape my lips, as two buses sped by before I could reach the bus stop.

Little did I know that probably God wanted me to be late so that I could meet my “Un-identical Twin”

As I neared the bus stop, I noticed a young woman hail a taxi. She was fair with curly locks and wearing casuals a stark contrast to my wheatish complexion, nearly straight hair, and formal wear. I rushed to her requesting to share the ride with her (who knew when the next available rickshaw would pass by!). She agreed and we were off.

For the first few minutes none of us talked and we both sat silently watching the traffic and me nearly cursing the huge public buses (that I normally travel in) that were blocking the entire road. Darn, I was going to be late!

I decided to divert my attention and break the ice with the kind young woman.

Me: “Do you usually leave at this time”

She: “It varies, sometimes I’m earlier, sometimes later”

Me: “You work?”

She: “Yes in Fort for a travel company, and you?”

Me: “In Santacruz, I’m into writing”

(Silence)

She: “I’ve never seen you around, are you from Navagaon?” (the bus stop/place we caught the rickshaw from)

Me: “No, I stay in between the two bus stops, so I prefer to walk to Navagaon and catch a bus from there”

She: “Are you from Mary Immaculate School?” (The local school)

Me: ” I studied there during my initial schooling years. The rest of my schooling was done in Kuwait”

She:” For me it was the opposite. i was born and bought up in Kuwait, and then I joined here.” (which was true for me as well, as I was born in Kuwait!)

Me: “What’s your name”

She: “Raveena” (I laugh) “What’s yours?”

Me:”Aveena”

She: “How long have you been working in this company?”

Me: “Nearly 6 months now” (Its her turn to laugh)

She:” Another coincidence, I’ll be completing 6 months in my company as well”

Me: “Do you live in Navagaon?”

She: “Do you know Syndicate Bank, I live a building away from it” (I smiled)

Me: “I live in the building next to Syndicate Bank”

We were nearing the station now.. and I reached for my wallet to pay her half (my share) of the fare. She refused but I insisted, handing her the money.

As she was heading further to my destination, we halted the rickshaw temporarily at the side of the road. I expressed how glad I was to have met her that day.

As I got off the rickshaw, I noticed her wallet that she was still holding in her hand. It was exactly similar to the one I owned prior to my current wallet, which I had unfortunately lost in a railway station.

I couldn’t help but smile the rest of the train journey to my office.

And…what time did i reach office?

9.46 am

 

This post was long overdue, but on public demand (namely Viral I had to go ahead and write this.

My company had planned a week’s training for us in
Delhi..and as always, I was excited at the prospect of seeing a new place, especially when the new place happens to be the capital of your country..(it awakens the patriot within you)

Having lived in Mumbai for two years now, I was totally in awe when I reached
Delhi..the place was huge!! We locals of Mumbai get easily impressed on the following two factors:

1. Space
2. Greenery

And
Delhi seemed to have that in abundance. On our way to C.R.Park (where we were scheduled to stay), I couldn’t help but gape at my surroundings. It was almost as if I were in some foreign land. The streets were big enough to accommodate four lanes, which can only be seen in Mumbai’s National Highways, ornate with trees…simply beautiful. I was already in love with the place and had sworn to myself that I would settle down in this place and my bones would be buried here.

I was in for a big shock.

Seeing the whole of
Delhi in a weeks time is next to impossible especially when you have to manage work and leisure. Viral (who was also accompanying me) and myself chalked out plans to visit the Qutub Minar, India Gate ( two eminent historical monuments of
India) and visit the metros ( a drastic contrast to our Mumbai local railways).

We ventured out on our own, ofcoarse we could do this on our own, our nation has buses, rickshaws just like Mumbai, we were in the capital for crying out loud, what’s to be afraid of? At first I thought, us not getting richshaws (a sickly green and yellow) easily was just our bad luck..but I soon realized that finding rickshaws, let alone empty ones was a task in it self. Then another thing surprised me, there was no meter system that was followed. This allowed the drivers to charge us anything under the sun, and we were helpless as we were not aware of the prevailing rates.

I tried forgetting all of that and shifted my focus to our sight seeing. The Qutub Minar and the India Gate are breathtaking. Again I could feel the hidden patriot stir within me. The sight of the iron Ashoka Pillar in the Qutub that’s almost 2000 years old and the podium where the President gives the speech on republic day thrilled me! Dusk was approaching and Viral decided that we should leave but I decided to linger a bit..I just couldn’t leave the site.

It soon got dark and I reluctantly relented to Viral’s insistence that we leave. And would you know it, we couldn’t find one , and when we did, some simply refused to take us to our destination ( for no apparent reason), and then there were some who started quoting us double the fare . What cost us around 45 Rupees would now cost us around 85-90 Rupees! I was furious..Just because we were tourists doesn’t mean that we could be looted. I refused to accept their rates and decided to continue searching until we got a rick that charged us the right fare, despite Viral’s disagreement. Viral was concerned about my safety that I simply brushed off . I then recalled a delhi local from my head office jokingly telling me “ After eight, a girl roaming on the streets of
Delhi is either raped, or murdered, or both. If she does manage to survive all three, she is considered to be of ‘loose’ character”

Suddenly Viral’s concern seemed to make sense. Again I relented and we got into a richshaw that charged us 80 Rupees.
Delhi was starting to loose its charm.

The next day Viral and myself were really hungry and were tired of eating at the guest house, and didn’t want to leave the premises on account of it being Holi (a festival of colours..celebrated by throwing colours at each other) We called up the helpline to inquire of Mc Donalds. To our astonishment, the call attendants weren’t even aware of the place we were living in. Inspite of repeated explanations about us being new to
Delhi, it some how didn’t get through to them. After three hours of trying, atleast a hundred phone calls, we finally managed to get the number of a nearby ‘Pizza Hut’. So we had our lunch at 3pm.

I was convinced by now, that Delhi is just a developed ‘village’!

(Sigh)

I would end it there, overlooking other inconveniences that we faced as just nitty gritties of life. But, on reaching back to Mumbai, I was glad.

Mumbai may be cramped up, polluted, chaotic…but it’s home! And I was where I belonged.

After reading my earlier blog, “Dressed to kill…Whom is the question?” an interesting discussion broke out-Why do women go through all the pain (or is it?:) to groom themselves, to doll up… to look good???

This led me to create this poll that I’ve been meaning to do for a long time…So go on and vote….

lets see if we can together find the answer to the million…make that zillion dollar question:

Poll: Why do women dress to kill?

I’m a pretty ardent patron of the Mumbai local trains- that also happens to be the lifeline of countless(6.1 million to quote a figure) other Mumbaikars living in this hyper city…God forbid, an event occurs that causes the railways to close, the entire city feels almost handicapped… for those of you alien to this Indian city, a ride in this commuting system will leave you memories to last a life time (better or worse..well, i’ll leave you to be the judge of that)

A single step on to the station and you feel the very air around you charged up with energy..Its hard to freeze time at the station,there’s so much happening, all around you are people..rushing..some to catch a train, others rushing back home.

After an endless wait in one of the many queues to buy a ticket, you rush to the monitor to check the train schedules. On finding the right platform, you join the already gathered crowd ..all waiting..as if to greet a very important person.

When the train approaches the platform, you see people around you prepare themselves to ‘charge’ into the train..just like maybe..soldiers bracing themselves to attack on an unsuspecting enemy. Your heart starts to pound wildly inside your chest and gritting your teeth, you brace yourself.

And even before the train comes to a halt, people jump into the entrances…and if you’re not ready, you can be sure you’ll be knocked down with the charging crowd…the passengers battle into through the narrow passageways toclaim their reward- a seat in the cramped up compartments..and within seconds there’s not an empty space in the compartment save the ceilings..all around you, you see a blur of different coloured clothes, bags, faces sweaty with the heat.

A single bench that ideally was meant for three passengers now fits three and a half of them. The alley way in the compartment has people stuffed like sardines, some standing on single foot…not because it’s a yoga technique..but because there simply isn’t any space.Through all the chaos of people chatting , laughing, arguing, babies crying, you will see a hawker squeezing his/her way through the people trying to get Rs5-Rs10 for the little trinkets they try to sell.

You watch the stations go by..and hope that with every station, the crowd will lessen. On the contrary, the train seems to get even more packed..and you can feel some one almost sitting on your lap.

Counting the stations in your mind, you fight your way back to the doorway, even if your destination is two stops away, because that’s the only way you’ll manage to squeeze your way out in time…And once your station arrives…you can see a sea of faces waiting on the platform ..braced to charge into the train as it slows to a stop…Your heart starts pounding wildly again and you brace yourself..and when the time comes, you find yourself fighting your way out against the wave of people rushing to enter..and before you know it, you’re out…you heave a sigh of relief and whisper a small ‘thank you’ to God.

You then join the rush of people heading towards the nearest exit.

Another train journey comes to an end, your heart resumes its normal beat…for now..and you know that you’ll be back again…soon

I went shopping the other day with an aunt, looking for a nice comfortable pair of jeans, when this attendant walks up to me and offers me this kiddie’s jeans pair.  I sweetly replied, “thanks but my little sister doesn’t need any more clothes.” Little startled the attendant replied, “Ma’am this is your size”. Whoa! That pair could have easily been three sizes smaller than mine. I would only try and get myself into that if I wanted to…. maybe…try out a suffocation stunt…but as I politely smiled and looked around..sure enough, all around me were girls trying to stuff themselves into..what looked to me as kid’s clothes..and right besides me was my aunt clucking her tongue, the disapproving look on her face…

Oh Boy! And then it started..what I called the ‘Old Mothers Tale’ that usually starts with “Now-a-days these girls have no shame…..” and well the end is never really predictable..

Ever heard of the saying -”Fashion is all about eventually becoming naked”..that kinda sounds scary..Are we seriously going back to the ‘Garden of Eden’..Adams and Eves prancing about happily.

But what shocked the living daylights outta me was this ‘dress to kill’ thingy might as well have been literal. 

Take the 16th century era in Venice! Only then women stuffed themselves in horrifying steel cages armed with hooks and hinges, worthy for chastening criminals….more commonly known as corsets.

Or the consider the time of footbinding where a five-year old girl’s feet was wrapped with binding  so tight that it would bend the toes under, break the bones and force the back of the foot together. And the purpose of this torture? to produce a tiny foot, the “golden lotus” that is three inches long and considered to be exquisite and enhanting. This trend emerged from a legend that is believed to have taken place in 920 A.D.

AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!

If that’s what the past held and considering the present, I really prefer the eventually naked bit to the torturous past!And I’m sure I’ll have all the backing of my fellow womenfolk..including my ‘Old Mother Tale’ Aunt

Imagine stepping out of your house walking across the street and suddenly, the sky above you darkens..and you think..hey its not the monsoons yet!! and before you can even blink, you’re bombarded with ..frogs!! (yuck!! ewwww)

 Don’t worry, I’m not narrating a scene from some weird flick, but the citizens of Odzaci,Serbia were left stunned when they experienced  an unforecasted, sudden f(r)oggy shower….actually stopping traffic and sending people scrambling for shelter.

Another ‘global warming’ side effect? Apparently Not. So what caused this freaky incident? Climatology expert Slavisa Ignjatovic soothed everyone saying that it was a mere whirlwind that sucked up the frogs from a near by pond and released them in Odzaci.

Please note the expert also claimed that such an occurance is a familiar scientific phenomenon.

For those of you who aren’t aware, such an incident is also recorded in the Bible when God sent a plague to punish the Egyptians when they refused to release the slaves Israelite they had tortured for many generations.

I guess the only obvious solution is..Do Not leave your house without an umbrella!! You never no if the phrase ‘raining cats and dogs’ might actually eventualize! 

The Policemen in Gujarat, India sure have been working lately, working on their delectable side that is. No longer will you find the haggard, gruff, sweaty cop patrolling about becasue more than 8000 of  these uniformed guys are out to beat the heat in their new snazzy ’scented’ uniforms.. The ingenious, au courant creations are specially designed by India’s National Institute of Design (NID) and are expected to be put to use by the end of the year(not really summer time then)

So the next time you get stopped for speeding, don’t be surprised if your senses are tickled with fresh whiffs of rose or lemon or maybe jasmine…well, look on the bright side, atleast now being asked to pull over or getting a ticket will become a more pleasant experience!!