Mumbai , Pune and me !!

People say that there is no such thing as love at first sight , I disagree !! Of course there is love at first sight , because that's what happened to me when I first caught a glimpse of the wonderful city called Mumbai . 5 years of being used to the sleepy laid back rude Bangalore , it was a pleasant surprise to me to see a city which completely the opposite , the sheer energy of the city captivates you , the structures of the city which are like mammoths , huge wide roads , you can why it is called the 'city of dreams' or 'the maximum city' . Any person rich or poor , young or old will probably have one thing in their mind once they set their eyes on Mumbai , 'I want to be a part of it , share the vibrancy , intensity and the pulse of it' . It is indeed joyful to see it I'm sure it must be an experience to live out there . I think if you call Bangalore or Pune cosmopolitan then you must cast your eyes on this brilliant city called Mumbai . It belongs to every cast , creed culture of India and even outside . In spite of it's humongous population , the city is ever accomodating and must I start on the shopping !! phew , it's a pleasure to shop out there , rudeness out there is something like a punishable crime ! you hardly will come across rude people ! I guess it's only bangalore which houses swindlers , lazy people , the rudest population which think themselves to be extremely smart (that is a lethal combination mind you) . Honestly I didn't feel like leaving that colourful city !! next came Pune . Pune felt like home , familiar shops , familiar roads and oh so familiar ex neighbours and friends . With a few changes here and there, it's almost like Bangalore minus the rudeness and the stupidity . It tore my heart to leave it , every second I was thinking of the possibilities of coming back there , the place which truly is my home and is a part of me . Bangalore is nice but NOTHING compared to Pune , it's got a pleasant combination of the vibrancy and colour of Mumbai and the climate of Bangalore , what more can anyone want . I realized that along with the tremendous shopping I carried a part of Pune's spirit with me to Bangalore which will remain with me throughout and which I will cherish unconditionally !!

tweet tweet !!

Now I have been meaning to do this for a long time but just haven't found the time to write about it . I'm referring to the preposterous way poor shashi Tharoor was attacked for his tongue in cheek reply to a journo's enquiry whether he'll be travelling in cattle class to which he wittily replies 'absolutely in cattle class in solidarity with all our holy cows.' Another ludicrous thing which was happening at that time was the congress party's so called 'austerity drive' . Now I blame Shashi Tharoor for the tweet because he ought to know that when it comes to sense of humour , Indians and particularily Indian politicians figure somewhere in the bottom of the list . He ought to know that humour is a non - existent word in our typical Indian politician's dictionary . I suppose none of the party people ever realized that while portraying their 'holier than thou' attitude they were making perfect idiots of themselves not only in front of the Indian media who can forgive them by saying 'yeh log tho aise hi hain , inka kuch nahin ho sakta' but also in front of foreign media who probably are confounded by the ridiculous behaviour of us Indians . As for anybody saying that he ought to have been working towards solving constitutional problems instead of tweeting , well this two way communication of a politician towards the 'aam junta' is by far a unique and great idea . Assuredly his methods are unconventional but they are for the best , he does not wear a hypocritical plastic veneer but replies straightforward enough which is far more appealing than the standard oh so predictable replies of the Indian politician . Addressing the austerity drive I want to say that austerity is a sort of dead concept in our society , no wonder the congress gave it up so soon . A perfect example to prove that is our Great Indian middle class , a family having a maruti suzuki will strive to get a Lexus or an audi , those having an Audi will want a BMW or a mercedes Benz - s class and those having the mercedes benz will try getting a rolls royce . That's the way things are going nowdays . Nobody is putting up a facade of 'simple living , high thinking.' Everybody wants to buy luxury with their hard earned money and there is nothing wrong with that because all of us are entitled to some amount of pampering and leisure and if we can afford it then why not?? . Of course if Shashi Tharoor was using the Tax payer's money to live in a 5 star hotel or travel first class then that is something else , but he claims it's out of his own pocket and come on guys having been the author of so many successful novels and serving the UN for so many years , we can safely assume that he's sufficiently well off to afford his own accomodation . So the point being if he wants to live comfortably , then what's all the hue and cry about??? At lease he's not putting up a pretense like 90% of our politicians do !!

Twilight Rediscovered

Now before i start talking about anything I must shamefully confess that I was once a twilight fan . My obsession with the series was so much that I thought it might overtake my first love (Harry Potter) . Merely saying that I liked the series would be an understatement . I was obsessed with it . However I was recently watching the movie and I realized I couldn't bear to proceed beyond a point , the very same movie which I had watched with rapt attention and every song of the movie is on my play list . Now I'm not saying that the movie is bad but it is no Oscar winning movie either ! Speaking strictly about myself I can say that twilight for me was a sort of escapism , my journey into a make belief world where the hero is this super gorgeous hunk who once on casting his eye on Bella (our sweet miss goody two shoes delicate darlin') decides that it's his bounden duty to protect her from come what may . Everything is perfect and things seem so hunky dory but ooooh wait we have a minor drawback .. the hero is apparently a vampire and what attracts him more than anything else is scent of the blood of his lady love . Stephanie Meyer portrays a self battle within the hero who is battling his thirst for Bella's blood and his unconditional love for her . This being meant to add another attribute to our gorgeous hunk sounds a little repulsive to me . Twilight series I feel is not meant for any intelligent grounded female , unless you want to kid yourself on imaginary concepts such as these . 'give it a rest girl and come back to earth . As for guys who like twilight ........ 'ewwwwwwww . what do YOU people see in that book?' . . Reading it once is ok but being obsessed with it . uh uh , not good , these are golden words of advice coming from an ex-addict herself !!

Indian men = MCPs

Now I know as soon as you read the title you'll say 'whoa , what a feminist !!' . Probably I am , but with good reason . I have been brought up in an environment where obviously everything is equal for boys and girls . But in spite of this I can't help but notice an arrogance in all my male counterparts , young and old they all have a tendency to bully females , have a rather condescending attitude towards girls like 'hey we're letting you do stuff but never forget whatever you do we're far far superior to you.' . I find Indian men by and large a set of arrogant , stupid , immature , crass idiots . I don't know how they are in other countries so I can't comment on them but they probably will be loads better than our Indians . It can't even be blamed on our culture because our culture has always given equal importance to both both Gods and Goddesses . It seems that our ancestors were probably more liberal minded than our present generation . Of course thankfully our condition is not that bad as compared to the many taliban dominated countries , but it is not exactly something to be proud of either . Who are the shiv sena to comment on how women have to dress . Who is Pramod Muthalik to go bashing up girls in a pub , for tarnishing our culture . If that is the case aren't the boys guilty of the same ??? . Who are they to call themselves the so called 'guardians of our culture' . Why is it a taboo if women drink and smoke whereas if men do so it is considered a part of their 'manliness' . These are some questions which when asked are neatly avoided and twisted into another form of question or allegation back upon us . I am not saying that ALL Indian men are chauvnistic pigs , there are obviously exceptions but by and large they are one hypocritical set !! It is one quality which is probably ingrained into them in their infancy as soon as they can make out the difference between boys and girls !! I think it is the society to blame in general which is still following the age old tradition of 'beta ghar ka chirag hain'...... tho beti kya hain ??? . If we call ourselves a fast growing superpower with modernization creeping into our culture then it is about time we rid ourselves of silly notions such as these and hammer the true meaning of equality into one and all !!!!!

Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

I can call myself a fan of Charles Dickens . Ever since I've read David Copperfield I find his style of writing adorable . Despite the varied criticism which he has received regarding the pessimism and cynicism in his books I find his writing extremely charming . This book has the protagonist (Pip) writing in first person and describing his life from childhood to adulthood . He is born an orphan and raised by his shrew of a sister who is 20 years older than him . The only person in whose company he finds solace in is his sister's husband Joe who is a blacksmith , who cares for Pip . One day he is called by a Miss Havisham who is the richest person in that countryside for the purpose of entertaining her . Seeing Miss havisham's beautiful yet arrogant daughter Estella Pip feels a burning desire to prove himself to be gentleman so that he can be worthy of her and not cringe with shame at the sight of her . He wants to be something more than just an apprentice to a blacksmith in his life . As good fortune would have it , he suddenly discovers that he is being adopted by a mysterious guardian who wants to send him to London to learn the nuances of becoming a gentleman . Obviously Pip's happiness know no bounds and he is whisked off to London . From here the story unfolds into Pip's experiences in London which is dominated by a society which believes in judging people only by the money which they have and care nothing about the value of character or integrity in a person . The story goes on to take dramatic turns in characteristic Charles Dickens style .
I would recommend people to read this book not for the story line , not for the characterization but the wonderful way in which Dickens has described Old England . For if you have grown to love England the way I have through the countless Enid blytons and other British novels then you will enjoy Dickens describing the countryside , the marshes , the dirty streets of London immensely just as I have . The book has so been named because of what expectations people have of Pip and how he tries or fails to keep up to their great expectations . Read it if you are a Charles Dicken's fan , read it if you liked his previous novels like David copperfield for there are many similarities . And last of all read it if you love Old Britain like I do !!!

The Diary of Anne Frank

This book is the diary of a girl who keeps a detailed account of her short life during the period when the Germans had driven the Jewish on their land into hiding . It captures the various phases of adolescence she passes through , the turbulent emotions of a teenager and the sensitivity of a child . The family consisting of her mother , her father (Otto Frank) and her older sister (Margot)go into hiding in a small hidden apartment called the secret Annexe . Apart from her personal feelings and thoughts Anne keeps an account of the current happenings during the Hitler rule . On the 4th of August 1944 they German security police stormed into the secret Annexe and arrested the Franks where they were taken to the Auschwitz concentration camp known to be the most deadly of the camps . The brutality of the Holocaust strikes you then when scores of Annes are gassed out , made to do tons of manual work which is beyond them their main fault being their birth . The Holocaust will remain a black mark in our history and no amends can ever erase it , as it will remain an ugly reminder to how low human beings can stoop . Anne finally succumbed to scabies and died on september 3rd . Her father , Otto frank being the only survivor in the family came back to the Secret Annexe where among other documents he found Anne's diary . Discovering that she nursed an ambition to become an author he made a great deal of effort in trying to get her diary published . It happens to be one of the world's most cherished documents now and many countries have it published in different languages .
Anne shows extraordinary maturity for a teenager and even in those horrible circumstances the Franks try robustly to lead a normal life . It s an extremely touching book and very insightful.

IF - RUDYARD KIPLING

If

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

This has been one of my most favorite poems . It is about a father who's advising his son on how to cope up in the world . I think this is what is called 'golden words of wisdom' . I remember reading this poem in my eighth grade and falling in love with it instantly ! I especially liked those 2 lines 'if you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two imposters just the same .' He's asking his son to neither let success nor failure get in his head . I get nostalgic whenever I read this poem . I'm transported to my 8th grade classroom !!!