Friday, February 25, 2005
Short Sabbatical
It will be a while before I post something again. We are moving to a new apartment and I'm not sure how long it will be before we can get internet. Anyway, it's not like I post regularly even with internet all 24 hours :-) ; but since there is a valid reason this time, I thought I'd mention it. :-) ginsoakedgentleman calls my link : gowriwrites...not so often. Very appropriate ! Thanks for the link shomo & Thanks to everyone else who's blogrolled me ! (I will return the favor soon :-) )While I am in a benevolent mood, thanks to those who haven't, but read my blog nonetheless. Ok, while I'm at it, thanks to everyone who wasn't included in the above categories. It's highly unlikely that they are reading it, however ! Think I am overdoing it...Awright, catch you ASAP !!
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
The "number" game
I always felt that in India, the government made rules and policies keeping the interests of the minority communities in mind. Always careful, not to hurt their feelings. In Karnataka too, the larger interest of the Kannadiga populace was often ignored to appease the minorities. Of course, neither of the situations appealed to me, as I belonged to the group that was at the receiving end. I always wondered why the larger group had to make sacrifices to satisfy the smaller ones. Why were the policy makers partial to them? Why was the step-motherly treatment meted out to the majority? As if to placate me, there were always individuals and organizations that would rebel against the injustice done to us, the majority.
I doubt if this attitude of the government was received with the same rage in the wake of the nation’s freedom. And I wonder if the people who raise their voice against similar regulations today, are not justified in doing so.
Let me narrate a story. There was once a mother with her two children. The older one was a healthy, strong boy and the younger one was scrawny and slightly crippled. When they cut the cake, the younger one got a larger piece. When they fought, the mother took the little one’s side. When rules were made, they didn’t apply to him and when he made a mistake he was always excused. The older sibling accepted all this, at first approvingly and later grudgingly, but still, said nothing.
Soon, the boys were older, and the skinny second child grew up to be a strong man, the cripple reduced to a small inconvenience, and started living a normal life like his elder brother. Now there was hardly any difference between the two, but the favors never ceased. He still got the lion’s share and still escaped rules.
Now, is the older brother not justified in being infuriated at this? Is he not right in expecting fair treatment, now that they are equals? What should the mother do? Spoil him further, in order to escape his wrath and let him turn into a monster? Or lay down the rules on him and play fair, now that the two are equally advantaged? The former might give her temporary respite from incurring his wrath, but in the long run will spoil him, leading to the doom of all three. The latter, though will be received with much displeasure at first, will ensure peace in the long run for the threesome.
As a young nation, when the minorities are minorities, in every sense of the word; it is not unreasonable to give them a few benefits. No one will oppose that, and no one did. When their numbers are large enough and they no longer are a meek minority with no voice of their own, should we still make policies that protect their interests at the cost of inconveniencing the majority? Should everyone belonging to the majority faction suffer, just because there are large numbers of their kind? In doing so, are we raising what will grow up to be a troublesome force? Isn’t it high time we stopped the privileges and started treating them as equals and not as the under-privilged?
PS: India and Karnataka are just examples. I quote the situation there because, I have lived there and can comment. The argument, however, applies to most nations and states faced with the issue of a "not so minor" minority. Or so I think.
I doubt if this attitude of the government was received with the same rage in the wake of the nation’s freedom. And I wonder if the people who raise their voice against similar regulations today, are not justified in doing so.
Let me narrate a story. There was once a mother with her two children. The older one was a healthy, strong boy and the younger one was scrawny and slightly crippled. When they cut the cake, the younger one got a larger piece. When they fought, the mother took the little one’s side. When rules were made, they didn’t apply to him and when he made a mistake he was always excused. The older sibling accepted all this, at first approvingly and later grudgingly, but still, said nothing.
Soon, the boys were older, and the skinny second child grew up to be a strong man, the cripple reduced to a small inconvenience, and started living a normal life like his elder brother. Now there was hardly any difference between the two, but the favors never ceased. He still got the lion’s share and still escaped rules.
Now, is the older brother not justified in being infuriated at this? Is he not right in expecting fair treatment, now that they are equals? What should the mother do? Spoil him further, in order to escape his wrath and let him turn into a monster? Or lay down the rules on him and play fair, now that the two are equally advantaged? The former might give her temporary respite from incurring his wrath, but in the long run will spoil him, leading to the doom of all three. The latter, though will be received with much displeasure at first, will ensure peace in the long run for the threesome.
As a young nation, when the minorities are minorities, in every sense of the word; it is not unreasonable to give them a few benefits. No one will oppose that, and no one did. When their numbers are large enough and they no longer are a meek minority with no voice of their own, should we still make policies that protect their interests at the cost of inconveniencing the majority? Should everyone belonging to the majority faction suffer, just because there are large numbers of their kind? In doing so, are we raising what will grow up to be a troublesome force? Isn’t it high time we stopped the privileges and started treating them as equals and not as the under-privilged?
PS: India and Karnataka are just examples. I quote the situation there because, I have lived there and can comment. The argument, however, applies to most nations and states faced with the issue of a "not so minor" minority. Or so I think.
Friday, February 11, 2005
Blast from the past
No, I'm not giving you a link to some golden oldies here. MTV does that I think, or is it Channel V? I cannot remember which one. Anyway, I'll take you back to an "age" when we did not have MTV, Channel V and the like in our drawing rooms. A few people had it and sometimes we stuck a pin in the cable going over our antenna to catch the signal; or better still tied the cable to our antenna, which the cable operator very promptly undid on one of his routine inspections. He never complained, though I'm sure he could easily track the antenna down to the house. Perhaps, he did not want to offend a prospective customer. It seemed to work too; one by one, all of us were hooked.
That was the early '90s and for the first time we saw trailers of movies on TV. We saw film stars being interviewed in their plush homes, showing off their wardrobe and dogs. We saw cricket matches live from Australia at 4.00 in the morning, with no "rukkawat ke liye khed hain" and no Hindi commentary. We were overawed. We actually participated in contests with the hope of winning. We looked forward to Friday nights, for the double Bonanza we got - Close up Antakshari followed by Philips Top Ten ! For the first time, we didn't want to go to Swathi hotel to have North Indian dinner; instead we insisted our parents pack it home for us. That's when it started I think.
No one wanted to play anymore. Before, you could tell if Mahabharath had started on TV, on a Sunday morning by looking at the streets. Now, it was always deserted, with or without Mahabharath; but always with Cable TV. The only time children would come out to play was when there was a power cut in their house or in the cable operator's. After, generators came into vogue, this stopped too.
Atleast, we got our share of skipping, kunte bille, lock-and-key, i-spy and gate-gate. I pity the ones who came after us. They never heard of these games I think. Even now, sometimes on some streets, I see kids playing, but it's almost always cricket. ( With the kind of hype that surrounds the game, that's hardly a surprise ). I wonder what the little girls do. Doesn't anyone play, "Crocodile, crocodile can we cross the golden river" anymore? Doesn't anyone play, "Gate, gate, which gate do you choose" and then form a human chain to move from one gate to another ? Wasn't it this bond that built friendships, that lasted for years? Where is that bonding? Where is that laughter? Where is that camaraderie ? Is it a thing of the past? Buried, never to be unearthed again ?
That was the early '90s and for the first time we saw trailers of movies on TV. We saw film stars being interviewed in their plush homes, showing off their wardrobe and dogs. We saw cricket matches live from Australia at 4.00 in the morning, with no "rukkawat ke liye khed hain" and no Hindi commentary. We were overawed. We actually participated in contests with the hope of winning. We looked forward to Friday nights, for the double Bonanza we got - Close up Antakshari followed by Philips Top Ten ! For the first time, we didn't want to go to Swathi hotel to have North Indian dinner; instead we insisted our parents pack it home for us. That's when it started I think.
No one wanted to play anymore. Before, you could tell if Mahabharath had started on TV, on a Sunday morning by looking at the streets. Now, it was always deserted, with or without Mahabharath; but always with Cable TV. The only time children would come out to play was when there was a power cut in their house or in the cable operator's. After, generators came into vogue, this stopped too.
Atleast, we got our share of skipping, kunte bille, lock-and-key, i-spy and gate-gate. I pity the ones who came after us. They never heard of these games I think. Even now, sometimes on some streets, I see kids playing, but it's almost always cricket. ( With the kind of hype that surrounds the game, that's hardly a surprise ). I wonder what the little girls do. Doesn't anyone play, "Crocodile, crocodile can we cross the golden river" anymore? Doesn't anyone play, "Gate, gate, which gate do you choose" and then form a human chain to move from one gate to another ? Wasn't it this bond that built friendships, that lasted for years? Where is that bonding? Where is that laughter? Where is that camaraderie ? Is it a thing of the past? Buried, never to be unearthed again ?
Friday, February 04, 2005
Then and There
I miss going to Commercial street, at 3.00 in the afternoon, to shop, to avoid the evening rush.
I miss going to the Ganesha temple near my house, when I needed to pass an exam.
I miss going to Soumya’s house, a 5 min walk from my place, whenever I felt like going.
I miss her mom’s kajjaya and khara avlakki - with garlic in it.
I miss calling up Brinda and talking for hours, even though we were always relieving the same moments over and over.
I miss the unexpected guests, dad’s friends, Deepu’s friends, and making coffee for them and hunting for some snacks to accompany the coffee.
I miss Sethu, dropping home almost every evening, and regaling me with stories about cricket matches and trying to get me interested in cricket.
I miss going to Rekha’s house for Sweety’s (her pom) birthday. (She will protest on my calling Sweety a Pom, she insists it’s a different breed, whose name I cannot remember)
I miss advising Varun, my young and enthusiastic upstairs neighbor, on the best books to buy for the next semester.
I miss meeting up with Dipti and catching up on the latest gossip about her classmates and lecturers.
I miss going on a morning walk with Sahana, which was more of a stroll; for we were more interested in talking, than in burning calories.
I miss Soumya’s advice on just about everything under the Sun.
I miss anna’s kobri mithai, made of Kobri (desiccated coconut), instead of kayi (fresh coconut); just because the name said so !!
I miss going all the way to Sheshadripuram, with Deepu to have the best chaat made on a pani puri gaadi.
I miss the alu bonda from “namma bondada angadi”, next to the Friends’ Library.
I miss the people, the streets, the autos, the tastes, the smells and the sights of Bangalore.
I MISS Bangalore !!
Honestly, with all that, I never had the time to jot it down while I was there. You know why I love my life here? That’s why !
Thursday, February 03, 2005
Workout works out !
I just got back from a workout at the gym and I can't tell you just how good I feel. It takes great drive to get up and put on those shoes and tracks and get to the gym; but once you get there it's pure magic ! I must admit that I don't go the gym as often as I should, but when I do, which is, 3 times a week on an average, I feel lighter and better. I MUST go everyday !! If you don't, you must too !!
Tuesday, February 01, 2005
Of commas and colons
It's February !! So, you cannot wish people a "Happy new year" without getting the stares and the "Pal, it's a month after the 1st of Jan" look. That doesn't stop me from wishing you a "Happy new month" however !
I was reading an excerpt from a book called "Eats, shoots and leaves", a book on punctuation for the sticklers (and the others !!) . For those who know where to place the apostrophes and the dashes, and when to replace the semicolon with the comma, it's an amusing read; and for those don't, it is a revelation.
Sethu rightly pointed out that the titile would take a different meaning if one were to omit the comma. One other interesting peice of information I gathered from the excerpt - The right way to write time, in figures ! ( Wish I could also fit in a "Wright" there ! ) For example, how do you write Seven Thirty in figures? I bet you thought it was 7 : 30. Well, if you did, you are wrong. It's not a colon between the digits; it is a full stop. 7 . 30 it is !! There is also a link to a punctuation test on that page which is rather simple if you paid attention in your English languge class, back in high school.
Here's the link to the page : http://www.eatsshootsandleaves.com/excerpt.html
Before I finish, I have to add a witty verse I picked up at the page:
"A cat has claws at the end of its paws.
A comma's a pause at the end of a clause."
I was reading an excerpt from a book called "Eats, shoots and leaves", a book on punctuation for the sticklers (and the others !!) . For those who know where to place the apostrophes and the dashes, and when to replace the semicolon with the comma, it's an amusing read; and for those don't, it is a revelation.
Sethu rightly pointed out that the titile would take a different meaning if one were to omit the comma. One other interesting peice of information I gathered from the excerpt - The right way to write time, in figures ! ( Wish I could also fit in a "Wright" there ! ) For example, how do you write Seven Thirty in figures? I bet you thought it was 7 : 30. Well, if you did, you are wrong. It's not a colon between the digits; it is a full stop. 7 . 30 it is !! There is also a link to a punctuation test on that page which is rather simple if you paid attention in your English languge class, back in high school.
Here's the link to the page : http://www.eatsshootsandleaves.com/excerpt.html
Before I finish, I have to add a witty verse I picked up at the page:
"A cat has claws at the end of its paws.
A comma's a pause at the end of a clause."
Monday, January 24, 2005
Picture this....
- A baby lying on its back, throwing up its cute little hands in the air and smiling at you.
- A hot cup of fresh filter coffee at 7:00 on a Sunday morning, with the Newspaper for company.
- Walking in the rain, with a close friend, on a familiar crowded street, sharing a bag of hot pakoras.
- Watching someone make it to a bus, after chasing it some distance.
- Reading “Pass” on a result sheet.
- Getting up at 4:30 in the morning to start on a trip with family or friends; stopping at a road side restaurant at 7:30 for hot idli-sambar and coffee.
- Playing Antakshari at the marriage hall of a cousin’s wedding, the night before the muhurtham.
- Opening gifts.
- The walk back home after a morning jog.
- Sleeping on your bed at home, after being away for a while.
Its raining movies !
Sethu and I have watched so many movies in the last fortnight ! It wouldn't be wrong to say I've watched more English movies in the last few days than I have in my whole lifetime, in fact I've lost count of the number of flicks we've seen. The best ones I thought were - Remember the Titans, an old one, but very good nonetheless, The Terminal for Tom Hanks' brilliant performance and Harold and Kumar - a complete laugh riot !
I also watched and for the first time understood an awesome Tamil movie - Nayagan. With Mani Ratnam calling the shots and Illayaraja scoring the music and Kamal Hassan playing the lead, it cannot be an ordinary movie. It was the most touching movie I saw in a long time. Kamal Hassan is so good as Velu Naayakar that you almost believe you are seeing the man himself in flesh and blood. The story, screenplay and direction are in one word - impeccable. I had heard that Mani Ratnam was a great movie maker, now I saw for myself. Its a 'must see'.
I also watched and for the first time understood an awesome Tamil movie - Nayagan. With Mani Ratnam calling the shots and Illayaraja scoring the music and Kamal Hassan playing the lead, it cannot be an ordinary movie. It was the most touching movie I saw in a long time. Kamal Hassan is so good as Velu Naayakar that you almost believe you are seeing the man himself in flesh and blood. The story, screenplay and direction are in one word - impeccable. I had heard that Mani Ratnam was a great movie maker, now I saw for myself. Its a 'must see'.
Thursday, January 20, 2005
Parent Trap (read Net)
I love reading mail, personal mails, not forwards. So what do I do when i haven't got any new mails in my inbox? I shamelessly check Sethu's and my bro's mail !! Not all mails, just the ones that are marked read and are from someone known to me ! (Deepu, urs is the last mailbox i raid, don't worry !)
This morning, I thought i should peep into daddy's mailbox. I created his email id for him, so, I am entitled to see it. Besides, there are only mails from me in there. :-) I logged in and was in for a Big surprise. Firstly, anna has been checking his mails regularly, there was not a single unread mail ! And to think, he asked me when I first arrived here, if he had to connect to the internet before logging into yahoo ! Secondly, I saw a single unread mail which said, "Card Details". I clicked on it and saw that anna had managed to send a card to Sethu for his birthday !! I clicked on the card, and saw that he had done everything perfectly, the card header, footer, message, everything was in place. He had also chosen the date of delivery of the card as 22nd, and not left the default "today" option as is. But there was one small mistake because of which the card would never land in sethu's mailbox. He had missed the "_" in the email id. I will tell him about it and I am sure he will correct the mistake. I just told him yesterday the steps to follow to send a card and he has managed to do it all by himself ! There's just one thing I can say, I am proud of you anna !
This reminds me of something Brinda had told me sometime back.
Brinda's mom too, like my dad knew nothing about computers when Brinda had left for the US. She said, she had just created an e-mail account for her mom and had taught her to chat. During one of her stopovers, she had mailed her mom from the transit lounge in the airport and by the time she had arrived in the US, she had her mom's reply to the mail, in her Inbox; much to her delight !
It's not easy learning stuff at their age, but they do learn. It just makes you realise how much you mean to them !
This morning, I thought i should peep into daddy's mailbox. I created his email id for him, so, I am entitled to see it. Besides, there are only mails from me in there. :-) I logged in and was in for a Big surprise. Firstly, anna has been checking his mails regularly, there was not a single unread mail ! And to think, he asked me when I first arrived here, if he had to connect to the internet before logging into yahoo ! Secondly, I saw a single unread mail which said, "Card Details". I clicked on it and saw that anna had managed to send a card to Sethu for his birthday !! I clicked on the card, and saw that he had done everything perfectly, the card header, footer, message, everything was in place. He had also chosen the date of delivery of the card as 22nd, and not left the default "today" option as is. But there was one small mistake because of which the card would never land in sethu's mailbox. He had missed the "_" in the email id. I will tell him about it and I am sure he will correct the mistake. I just told him yesterday the steps to follow to send a card and he has managed to do it all by himself ! There's just one thing I can say, I am proud of you anna !
This reminds me of something Brinda had told me sometime back.
Brinda's mom too, like my dad knew nothing about computers when Brinda had left for the US. She said, she had just created an e-mail account for her mom and had taught her to chat. During one of her stopovers, she had mailed her mom from the transit lounge in the airport and by the time she had arrived in the US, she had her mom's reply to the mail, in her Inbox; much to her delight !
It's not easy learning stuff at their age, but they do learn. It just makes you realise how much you mean to them !
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
Nothing much......
Everytime i read someone's blog, I am tempted to update mine. Nothing much happening here. Just recieved a parcel from Brinda and Rekha. It has quite a few goodies from Bangalore that my daddy dearest has sent for me. Rekha has thoughtfully sent Tirupathi Prasad and a sticker of Lord Venkateshwara, both of which have been forwarded to their rightful place. How I love the Tirupathi Ladoo !
It's 5:00 and i feel like having a cuppa coffee, but i just remembered, I have to fetch the clothes from the laundry...........
It's 5:00 and i feel like having a cuppa coffee, but i just remembered, I have to fetch the clothes from the laundry...........
Saturday, January 15, 2005
Dec 31st 2003
Its already Jan 15th and perhaps too late to give my account of the last year. But, the year was so good, that I simply have to write about it, in spite of myself.
If the way you bring in the year is any indiaction of the things to follow, 2004 sure proved it. For the fist time in my life I attended a New Year party. So what if it was on a cousin's neighbour's terrace and the crowd consisted of schoolkids?? It was great fun!
Every other New year's eve other than this one was spent at home or at a friend's/cousin's place in Bangalore where we would invariably watch TV and convince ourselves that this was what everyone else did too. Oh, how I pitied my poor cousins who lived in smaller cities than Bangalore! If we, living in such a "happening" place, did nothing more than call up a couple of friends at 12:00 to wish them, who, had little to do themselves on that much awaited night than pick up the phone on the first ring; what would these kids do??! I saw what they did on the night of Dec 31st, 2003.
I was in Mysore, as part of a training program and was put up at an uncle's place. It was the 31st of Dec and after having had so many uneventful 'Dec 31st's didn't expect much from this one. My cousins, however, had been busy the whole day, shopping and making arrangements for the "party" which I was to attend too. At 8:30 that evening I went to the neighbur's terrace. My cousins were already there and so were the neighbours kids and most other kids who I had seen play or chat with my cousins. They were early because they were the hosts. I soon realised that we only had hosts, no guests, barring myself and a 12th standard kid who thought it was a hep party and came rather fashionably dressed. Soon, there was no host, no guest and we all mingled freely despite our age differences and kicked off the party. We played games - Dumb Charades, Antakshari, Queen of Sheeba et al. And, What's a party without food and drink? There was plenty of that too, and most of it home made. We had Sandwiches, pakoras, Gulab jamoon and other mouth watering stuff. At 12:00 we cut the cake and music was turned on full blast and we all danced for some time till parents summoned their kids home.
It was 1:00 by the time we got back home and what a time we'd all had! Especially myself, who had expected so little that I was overwhelmed by the experience. I soon understood that the city you lived in didn't matter, what mattered was the willingness and the interest of the people involved to make things happen. What made this party enjoyable and thus successful was, the camaraderie of the kids and their enthusiasm to come together as a team and do something, so that everyone could have a good time come evening. And, how well they managed to accomplish that! 2004 will go down as one of the best years' of my life and this will be the first (literally too) reason for that!
I just read what I've written so far and I see that I have deviated completely from what this post was originally to be about. So much so that I changed the title.
PS: It was originally called "The year that was....".
If the way you bring in the year is any indiaction of the things to follow, 2004 sure proved it. For the fist time in my life I attended a New Year party. So what if it was on a cousin's neighbour's terrace and the crowd consisted of schoolkids?? It was great fun!
Every other New year's eve other than this one was spent at home or at a friend's/cousin's place in Bangalore where we would invariably watch TV and convince ourselves that this was what everyone else did too. Oh, how I pitied my poor cousins who lived in smaller cities than Bangalore! If we, living in such a "happening" place, did nothing more than call up a couple of friends at 12:00 to wish them, who, had little to do themselves on that much awaited night than pick up the phone on the first ring; what would these kids do??! I saw what they did on the night of Dec 31st, 2003.
I was in Mysore, as part of a training program and was put up at an uncle's place. It was the 31st of Dec and after having had so many uneventful 'Dec 31st's didn't expect much from this one. My cousins, however, had been busy the whole day, shopping and making arrangements for the "party" which I was to attend too. At 8:30 that evening I went to the neighbur's terrace. My cousins were already there and so were the neighbours kids and most other kids who I had seen play or chat with my cousins. They were early because they were the hosts. I soon realised that we only had hosts, no guests, barring myself and a 12th standard kid who thought it was a hep party and came rather fashionably dressed. Soon, there was no host, no guest and we all mingled freely despite our age differences and kicked off the party. We played games - Dumb Charades, Antakshari, Queen of Sheeba et al. And, What's a party without food and drink? There was plenty of that too, and most of it home made. We had Sandwiches, pakoras, Gulab jamoon and other mouth watering stuff. At 12:00 we cut the cake and music was turned on full blast and we all danced for some time till parents summoned their kids home.
It was 1:00 by the time we got back home and what a time we'd all had! Especially myself, who had expected so little that I was overwhelmed by the experience. I soon understood that the city you lived in didn't matter, what mattered was the willingness and the interest of the people involved to make things happen. What made this party enjoyable and thus successful was, the camaraderie of the kids and their enthusiasm to come together as a team and do something, so that everyone could have a good time come evening. And, how well they managed to accomplish that! 2004 will go down as one of the best years' of my life and this will be the first (literally too) reason for that!
I just read what I've written so far and I see that I have deviated completely from what this post was originally to be about. So much so that I changed the title.
PS: It was originally called "The year that was....".
Happy Birthday Deepu ! Jan 15th
Everyone reading this, other than sethu and deepu; ( I doubt if anyone else reads this !) wish my dear brother Deepu a Very Very Happy Birthday!! Also wish him health, success and prosperity. He deserves all that !
Have a great year Deeps!
Have a great year Deeps!
Changed the name of my blog
Wondering why u haven't noticed the change? Well, I changed it right back. Last night, just before dozing off, i was thinking of all the interesting people in my life so far who should find a mention in my blog; and suddenly I thought it would be appropriate to re-christen my blog to "Of the people; For the people; By Gowri". After all, its about people that i was going to write and the name fit the bill perfectly. Soon after i woke up this morning, afternoon actually(!) I did what was required. Somehow, when i logged in again to see the new name, it didn't seem quite right. The meaning was alright and i also thought of dedicating a piece to explain the change; but it didn't sound good.
I realised that a wordy title gives away too much about the content to the reader and narrows down the spectrum of subjects for the author. As a result, the reader might not be interested in reading at all after having concluded from the title what to expect and the writer might suspend writing certain articles as they do not do justice to the title.
"Life Is Beautiful" is succint and nice; I'll stick to it. After all, Life Is Beautiful. Touchwood.
I realised that a wordy title gives away too much about the content to the reader and narrows down the spectrum of subjects for the author. As a result, the reader might not be interested in reading at all after having concluded from the title what to expect and the writer might suspend writing certain articles as they do not do justice to the title.
"Life Is Beautiful" is succint and nice; I'll stick to it. After all, Life Is Beautiful. Touchwood.
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
Thought Provoking
I was reading a blog just now and there was a link in it to a page that had something to do with the rehabilitation of the Tsunami victims. Curiuos and concerned as I was, as it had to do something with helping child victims I followed the link. As i read, i realised what a worthy initiative it was. One had to contribute a mere Rs. 225 to put a kid back to school. The package a kid got would contain everything a child would need to go back to school, starting from a pencil to a school bag. So far so good.
Now i wanted to know how one could contribute and soon enough saw a part of the page dedicated for the purpose. What caught my eye was the last question there, which said, "How many Children would you like to help?" A question fair enough alright, but what was not all right was that the default minimum was 5! As I mentioned earlier, I have the highest regard for the person who took the initiative for such a noble cause, but I am afraid he might be losing a number of prospective donors because of the minimum of 5 children they would have to sponsor. There might be a lot of people, for whom, Rs. 225 towards the cause would not be a burden at all and would be willing to contribute. The compulsion that they must sponsor a minimum of 5 children which would bring the amount to Rs 1125 might hinder many a concerned person from doing his/her bit.
A student who could have easily spared half his pocket money might not be able to do so anymore. A housewife who decided to forgo a few expenses and help might not be able to help anymore.
The needy should not lose help they most definitely deserve because of a dearth of charitable people. So also, the humble but large hearted should not lose an oppurtunity to give because of a hurdle like this.
Now i wanted to know how one could contribute and soon enough saw a part of the page dedicated for the purpose. What caught my eye was the last question there, which said, "How many Children would you like to help?" A question fair enough alright, but what was not all right was that the default minimum was 5! As I mentioned earlier, I have the highest regard for the person who took the initiative for such a noble cause, but I am afraid he might be losing a number of prospective donors because of the minimum of 5 children they would have to sponsor. There might be a lot of people, for whom, Rs. 225 towards the cause would not be a burden at all and would be willing to contribute. The compulsion that they must sponsor a minimum of 5 children which would bring the amount to Rs 1125 might hinder many a concerned person from doing his/her bit.
A student who could have easily spared half his pocket money might not be able to do so anymore. A housewife who decided to forgo a few expenses and help might not be able to help anymore.
The needy should not lose help they most definitely deserve because of a dearth of charitable people. So also, the humble but large hearted should not lose an oppurtunity to give because of a hurdle like this.
Sunday, January 09, 2005
I did it!
Finally! Someplace to put my thoughts other than my head. My husband created my blog today, something he has been wanting me to do from when he was just a friend.
Its 1:00 pm now and we are wondering what to have for lunch. I long to have hot 'tili saaru anna with tuppa'. oh how i loved that when my mom made it for me just after i had recovered from the flu! Its a feast, after having bread and milk for three full days. I remember how i would dream of having Peas Pulav, Nan with Paneer matar when i would be down with fever, and how my mom would promise to take me to Swathi hotel as soon as I recovered. But the day i recovered, i would get hot Upma with ghee for breakfast and Upma for a change would be the most delicious food. In the afternoon it would be 'hand mixed and hand fed' anna-saaru, with a little bit of pickle. Curdrice was forbidden till the next day. Oh how i wish to have all that!
I love to live in the past. whenever i write anything it has to have a bit of the past in it. But I love yesterday more than i do today and i now feel that in a way it means life has been good. We crib about each day being so monotonous and life being so boring, but as we grow old we cherish those very days. why dont we appreciate it while we have it? Beats me!
Its 1:00 pm now and we are wondering what to have for lunch. I long to have hot 'tili saaru anna with tuppa'. oh how i loved that when my mom made it for me just after i had recovered from the flu! Its a feast, after having bread and milk for three full days. I remember how i would dream of having Peas Pulav, Nan with Paneer matar when i would be down with fever, and how my mom would promise to take me to Swathi hotel as soon as I recovered. But the day i recovered, i would get hot Upma with ghee for breakfast and Upma for a change would be the most delicious food. In the afternoon it would be 'hand mixed and hand fed' anna-saaru, with a little bit of pickle. Curdrice was forbidden till the next day. Oh how i wish to have all that!
I love to live in the past. whenever i write anything it has to have a bit of the past in it. But I love yesterday more than i do today and i now feel that in a way it means life has been good. We crib about each day being so monotonous and life being so boring, but as we grow old we cherish those very days. why dont we appreciate it while we have it? Beats me!
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