(K)notty issues ....

Man generally thinks (assumes) that u see one mom, u have seen them all..however, his creative juices overflow with enthusiasm when he (along with his/her friends) checks out the latest dudes/chicks at college/work....afterall, variety is the spice of life !

But with respect to Hindu (esp Tamil Iyengar weddings , to be precise- somethign Ihave grown up with, literally), I have a submission : no matter the age, social standing, venue or the bride or the groom or anything to do with a hindu wedding, I must admit its ALLLLLLLLLLLLL the same ! Right from the nischiatartham to the coconut (play) at the end of the muhurtham its like shutter-click-shutter-click- .... and one could replace the bride and groom (with new sets of bride-groom) and I can assure you with veracity that they all look stunningly and astonishingly similar !! Upto the slightly yellowed dhoti of the groom to the way the hair is parted (or fallen apart) to the MIL applying (read streaking) the poor SIL’s eyes with kajal (chambor or to the (now ancient sounding) brick red madisaar podavai that somehow looks that the cat has dragged the bride to its end ... and the bored looking audience!!

Of course, in the initial years, as a youngster dragged to these weddings along with my grandparents meant manna to me - it meant days of bunking school and coming home (call it lugging) with plastic bags of vettalai packs of coconut , dried betel leaf(which got passed on to the maid, somehow), probably a rupee or so (which in promptly went into our rust coloured post office shaped piggy bank) and yes, the icing on the cake (not literally, stupid) the laddoo and khara boondi (which was the prize for attending the function, which needless to say would melt in our mouths (or be stored in little plastic days to be distributed – this quantity being directly proportionate to the proximity of ur relationship with the bride/groom, pref the former) !

Not to forget that the ladies back home once back from the weddings would compare the texture, colour and quality of the blouse pieces (recvd as gifts in innocuously packed in little brown paper covers – the paper covers later migrated to zip locs for those NRI type weddings), and you could consider lucky (even luckier than the bride?!) if your mom/aunt /grand mom received these from the bride’s mom (or the groom’s) .... it’s almost a sin to refuse these....although I heard that recently NRIs have migrated to swarowski (sic!) as return gifts ! Sometimes, makes me wonder why we as parents cringe when our little one wants return gifts for her/his birthday! Haven’t we demonstrated that a little pampering is good for our egos ?

But, really the male counterparts who do most of the running around (ferrying us to and from the venue, the groom, father of the bride /groom, the best boy(s)) don’t really get much in return, except probably a few (decently) decked females scurrying around as if it were the G9 conference in attendance!

It only makes is realise that we have gone through several stages of evolution at these weddings - from (a) stealthily stealing those laddoos into your mouth in your childhood to (b) stealthily stealing glances at wannabe-husbands- and ogling males in your teens to (c) discussing which ‘aunty’ was the most badly dressed in your late teens again to (d) declaring to yourself that you need to have a better wedding (read flashier / hotter groom) in your early twenties to (e) declaring that you would fund you own wedding once u earn the rokda to (f) settling for a grander wedding than you thought and discarding your holier-than-thou thoughts of a simple temple wedding having given into threats, endearments and what not from the grand aunt you never thought existed) in your (hopefully) early thirties to (g) discussing why a man/lady shouldn’t marry once you have had your second blood mary or single mart, depending on your gender (or not) !

Man (and woman) does truly evolve !!

Oh ! and did I miss out to stage H, I, J (which incidentally begin with hoarding gold/money/ULIPs for your daughter’s wedding) slowly evolving to .....

....and the great Indian saga continues..... ..not to speak about Inter culture (clutter?) weddings that are oh-thats-the-norm-sweetz nowadays, but let me save that for the next blog...

Till then, ur son/daughter would be busy updating his/her blog on FB/twitter declaring (and almost ensuring u positively faint) "I Do" online to someone u positively dont approve! Global Village, anyone?

thamasoma jyotirgamaya (lead us from darkness to light)

Elements of darkness, shrouded with fear
the fear of the unknown with the lure of the dawn...
For whither we live , the passages there, is
there a light really at the end of the tunnel?


Economics making perfect sense, laughter a little more,
Anxiety in that underbelly tugging at ur heart, and more.
Leisure I have learnt, is a state of mind. For
the mind is still at peace even in a mumbai train.


To train the monkey within, to train yourself, a little
a slippery puddle there, a slip here, is all part of the game !
For I must know that my direction is set, to many whom
it seems aimless, directionless or with no purpose,,


To just be yourself, to detach from worldly pursuits, this
is a wonderful opportunity, no more..


No fear anymore, the anxiety is gone,
to welcome the sunshine every single morn...
To rise and fall and wish for a miracle,
isnt all this part of life's cycle?

Home school

It is strange but true that child is the father of man(or woman). In every respect. To teach patience, tolerance, respect, truth, honesty and many more virtues generally considered the stronghold of human existence. My daughter, all of 5 years (or less with a few months to her 5th birthday) has taught me all that and more. Not only to me, but to all ‘adults’ in the family – incl her grandmom and dad.


Which is funny actually,coz she thinks she is emulating all these qualities (or rather learning) from us. But in reality, we (re) learn these from her. In every sense of the word. Her anecdotes range from the obscure to her outsourced activities @ school (perhaps this outsourcing gene is a gift from her dad !)…


Full of innocence, she relates her while day to us (till the wee hours of the morning to her grandma of course)on how she managed to get brownie points from the homeroom teacher, to what menu she has planned for her birthday to why she doesn’t want to ride her (newly acquired) bicycle, to what exotic (read foreign) locales her classmates have returned from , to why her classmate is angry at her dad (for not having fed her breakfast that morning )


Whew! Combined with Tom & Jerry, Chota Bheem and “ the new adventures of Hanuman”, its almost like running a crèche! And am not complaining. After years of seeing her awake only for a few hours, thereby missing out on critical and exciting milestones , I finally gave in to be a full time mom to help her with her learning…


Which has ended in she rather teaching me a lot about life, its simple pleasures and the fun involved in just not doing anything ‘monetary’ – a junior Seth Godin, perhaps..its time for me to take “The Dip”


Ciao...and cya soon !

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Shine.com - Telecom Industry India. Telecom News and Telecom Companies in India.

required : Human VAS services !

A tryst with an astrologer / fortune teller (even a parrot in good old India) is like going to your gynaec who has delivered you from ur mother :) She knows what you looked like (or didnt) in the first few hours of ur touchdown with Planet Earth, who you resmbled (or didnt) and how they always found the newborn to resemble someone who is probably a good two generations behind you !

Anyways, astrolgers can do more than that - they throw loaded words at you, and combined with the malefic (or mysteriously friendly) planets at you in full throttle, so much that one begins to wonder if Planet earth and all the ozone depletion isnt that bad at all !!

Astro gazng into the past - this is the easiest.. present they can do better coz once they know ur D.o.b, any previous referals to Linda goodman, and soon you find nodding to all the conjured images of your persona, your gynaec histrory and what not..

Except that they dont tell u anythign FOR SURE of what lays in the future..its almost like the mumbai ( or any other city's) met dept sayign its gonna be sunny when all you can see is the August rain laden clouds roaring while you drive (cursing the road traffic) to office!

They even tell u what u need to wear (now, dont get any more ideas...was referring to the gem stones) in which finger down to the caratage that would auger well with your persona ( or is it your skin ?!)

Which brings up the point -why dont they just bring in the entire servies dept while at it : doctors (to heal all the further illnesses), lawyers (for all present, past and future legal issues incl property engagements/disputes), gemmologist (for the stones, silly), a mandir replete with the entire Hindu pantheon , courier services for those esteemed NRI clients , and , u guessed it right a panditji to conduct the numerous havans/pujas that u r expected to perform!

Quite a VAS service that would be... Is anyone listening? Or is the entire drama a psychological gimmickry ! btw, please spare the poor parrot ! Trainign is everything...its always trained to pick the most 'gullible card to add to the 'trap' :)

QED (simbly questioning) !!

yup! after procrastinating enough , and being lazy and (hopefully) overcome the writer's bloc , finally managed to sign in today - question is : "does habit make a man?" or "does man make a habit"? ... Life's questions confront you , well, all the time:

• Is it considered rude to be truthful?


• Are u making a compromise by stating the facts everytime?


• Is tact a weapon or a necessity today?


• Are friendships defined by lunch meetings( and more imp decided on who picks up the tab (( or doesnt))?


• Is marriage a compromise/fight from start to finish?


• Is it ok to trust yourself lesser than you trust otehrs (esp ur near and dear)


• what defines ok?


• if you havent read MG's "my Experiments with truth" till date, is it an offence to the father of the nation?


• What defines motherhood? sacrifice? supreme love? discipline? putting yourself last?


• what is the link between love, like and lust ? Do only the mind and body decide this- or is there something else?


• Who determines what is fashion?


• Does money determine how much you can spend for urself EVEN IF you are currently out of a job?


• Is it absolutely necessary for both parents to work? Is a sit-at-home father as accepted (and viable) as his wife who is a homemaker? Will the child still be looked after well?


• What determines your attitude towards life? upbringing? social influences? circumstances? hurdles? risk taking ability ?

whew! looks like Feb is bang on (with qns , qns and more qns)...! answers hopefully will start trickingly trickle before I hit my next birthday (oops, thats around the corner).. cake, anyone?1