Hossanaa.....

A song which reminds me of sweet memories......

Err and Forgive!

So it's like this. If you err [!] in India, you say 'sorry' and move on. After all, you are from a forgiving nation.. Especially sighted in terms to crimes/remarks against women. [Uncalled for outrightly disrespectful remarks fall under Crimes!] And the free flowing crimes can come from anywhere. Be it a layman, who is rather expected to make these remarks..; even people in power [who are SUPPOSEDLY educated] can bark their mouth off! What happens next?
Don't fret! Nothing that would cause change our choc-a-bloc life in anyway! LIFE GOES ON AS USUAL IN INDIA. Crimes against women happen AS USUAL. But Who cares! Apparently a handful in this oceanful country!

Reason for this ire: http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/enjoy-rape-remark-sinha-s-sorry-fails-to-cool-anger/article1-1150927.aspx?hts0021

Way to go Ranjit Sinha! My deepest sympathies for your wife [If you have one] and a hope that you have No daughters!

Rakhi

This was an essay I had written for a friends little daughter for her school competition last year. Thought Rakhi is an apt time to put it up on my page too. To the lovely bond between brothers and sisters! :)


Hi Brother,

Don’t get surprised on receiving this email. You know your sister better than that. It seems like I met you a year or back so… whereas it not even 40 hours since we parted.

Somehow, different time zones, different countries .. The time I left on is doing that to me.
I still don’t believe how stupid the travel agent could be by mixing up the dates of my departure.. Causing me to miss Rakhi.

Suddenly, all the years of our growing up & togetherness is hitting me. You remember the times when we used to be our back up for each other in tuition? Or when with that modest pocket money we used to buy b’day gifts for each other…or...the time when....oh well, there are just so many times to remember between us!

London’s cold climate makes me feel even more cold & makes me want to run back to India.. I don’t know why females need to go away from the people that they love the most.. Fathers, mothers, brothers, etc….Maybe the jet lag is making me sound more sad so. But I can’t help regretting I had to part from u just 3 days before Rakhi.

Am I sounding like a sad record form the sad songs that you absolutely hate on my iPod? You better not say that..coz tomorrow when I call you India time for Rakhi, I better see a somber mood on you. & yes, that means I hope you have fixed up the web cam, so that I can See you as well!!

I know if I write any further this letter will definitely go unread. So, before you get any such thought, I’ll say bye.. & you do know how much I miss you brother!
Love & lots of best wishes forever,

Your Sis.

Thank You

Today, the first Sunday of August is celebrated as friendship day the world over.

Now, I've never been for the getting mushy over friends on friendship day Only.. so its as usual a day for me like any else. Though from the last couple of years I do look forward to hear specifically from a couple of friends. [Exceptions are there to every rule..? :P ]

I do ofcourse love my friends [who doesn't?!] as I truly believe its such a wonderful boon to choose friends in our lives... Such a boon to have relations whom we love without any force, any obligation... But yet, I have never felt the need to go shopping for cards & bands & celebrations on this day.

However since the past year or so with more & more friends reconnecting over the Internet, friends are constantly in touch in the virtual world.
Some become so connected, that life seems so good with them in it.
Among intelligent conversations, arguments, mad laughter times & a whole lot of things what normal friends do... we share everything; except the abnormality that most of them are miles & miles away.
Still they stay comfortable snugged within the heart like the old strong wiry creepers who cling to your heart and keep it binded! :)

Today, as since morning my phone has been beeping away with 'happy friendship day' messages &  calls; I have been replying to each & every one of them, wondering that have I really made them happy for them to hold me special?
Thinking more on it made me wanna give into this day's celebration from my side over here.

Here's my small bit of acknowledgement for the wonderful friends that have touched my life & made it beautiful over the years.
Even with distances, arguments, indifference, cold wars, no talks at times... there have been/are moments of laughter, care, understanding, comfort & the realisation of a meaning each relation has brought.

To my most dearest friends, who are an important part of my life:

Thank you All for adding happiness, beauty & value to my life in every way. I cherish each & everyone of you and it goes without saying I am always there.

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World Environment Day

World Environment Day.

This day makes more and more sense with each passing year that we humans are successful in abusing Mother Earth beyond acceptable limits.

For someone like me who is passionate about Nature and the Environment, I was all participative in the Environment week celebrations at work.

A part of it was to come up with innovative ideas for saving the environment. And came in some really good ideas! While I cannot take any ideas from office contributions to put it up under my name - I am putting up ideas suggested by one of my dearest friend. I had asked him for his inputs on saving the Environment and I was Surpocked [Surprise + Shock] with his long email of ideas. With his permission, this goes on my blog page - as my acknowledgement for his contribution as well as for the good ideas presented.

1.  The Traffic police should start charging fines which should include planting of trees according to the severity of offense committed. [Loved this one]
2.  There should be 1Re. donation towards the "cause green" on every online purchase made (as we see a boom in Online shopping ) [Absolutely!]
3. New societies which are coming up should be made compulsory to leave SEZ land alone. [NOT at all sure if the selfish Govt. can leave the profit calculations out of this]
4. Car pooling should be implemented forcefully with strict laws. [Hmmm...]
5. Schools should mandatorily teach children how to recycle/reuse newspapers as they are the next generation. [Should start rightaway!]
6. We should discourage brouchers and pamphlets distribution, which would decrease usage of unwanted paper. [AGREE]
7.  New building constructions should include solar paneling.
8. Every house should have a rain harvesting plant/ plan.
9. Use of bio-fuel should be encouraged.(For the unawares - it is condensation of natural waste like animal excreta, fruit residual like sugar cane, coconuts, hay etc.. are made in a block for usage in household and also in industries ) [Good idea]
10. Every society should be taught to make bio gas.
11. Purchase only after clearing your stock of food , to prevent overstocking and wastage.
12. Use of solar cookers by families to be encouraged.
13. Individual houses should be encouraged for natural fencing between two houses - by planting trees rather than Cutting trees and fixing fences for separation.
14. Water usage should be calibrated as per family members and there usage.
15. Use of bicycles should be encouraged for short distances.

These were some of the bright and quite a few very implementable ideas. Each idea even if followed partially till we make a habit of it, would make a difference. Let's take a pledge to ourselves to try and minimise our carbon footprint as much as possible. Happy Environment day.

....& not forgetting - Thank you Dr. Joshi for your contribution! :) .. & Congratulations for earning a place on my blog! ;)

9 myths about Solo Women Travellers!

Solo travelling gets a lot of piqued interest in India. Though I belong to modern twin cities of Hyderabad- Secunderabad; I yet have to yet meet a solo female traveller in person.

Wherever my travels take me & I meet new people, different people express different thoughts about my travelling on my own. There are myths that people harbor about female travellers and here are the oft heard ones that I keep hearing - which sometimes irk me, sometimes get me amused.
Here are the Top 9 that get to me!

1. You must be stinking rich to afford solo travels - Well, I would love to get this true! I plan for each of my trip well and save and save for each trip! Its MY passion - so no one but I takes care of it from planning to executing to everything on between!
2. You mustn't be normal. - Seriously I have had people say this to me more than a few times. I guess in India if a girl travels on her own, it probably is considered abnormal. There is nothing like being abnormal though. It's about following your passion, even it comes to chasing it solo. 
3. You must be an 'advanced' person!: Whatever this means - the message I always get is that travelling on your own means you are one among the flighty types. Just becoz a girl travels solo, they are not looking for Flings! Rather any sane seasoned solo traveller will vouch that is far from the truth.
4. Your family must be too independent - Independent I am. But, Sometimes people express in a way that drives the message that the family does not care enough- to allow you on your own. Far from the truth. Infact I have to give my itinerary details in detail to my family before every travel..& I don't mind that. 
5. It must be easy for 'someone like you' to go out and meet new people: Generally solo travellers are ambiverts if not extroverts. It's a part of the necessary learning in travelling. But not always it is easy to do that. New people always give new vibes, and not all vibes make you feel comfortable.Your guard is a little more high in certain places and yes, I do feel shaky on certain grounds [Literally!]
6. We can be adjusted: I can talk of myself on this. While I am a non fussy traveller, people assume that just becoz I'm on my own, I can shift to the middle train seat, sit in the back seat in some travel car, change of balconied room in some hotel, adjust in the next batch of someplace to let some 'together people' together, etc. Well, I take pains to do all the above mentioned so that I get it right for me. So, while I am an accomodating person mostly, I do not adjust for certain things. Myth to be broken - we cannot be 'adjusted' as anyone pleases at All times.
7. You would get so bored and lonely - Not at all! Ask any of the ones from us; why - that's the precise reason we travel alone so that we can cherish the "my time". I for one, am a big champion for the 'My time' concept. So I am nor bored not lonely... 9 out of 10 times I am blissed out during these very travels.
8. Men are creeps for female travelling alone. - From my personal experience I can say that it is far from the truth. Ofcourse you'd agree continuing chatting up with someone after the basic acquaintances are made and you can sense the body language and listen to your personal GPRS - your Gut. And the times I have interacted with them, I have found they are absolutely normal people, not creeps waiting to lure any female traveller! Sad myth this. [This does not imply to go around loose in making new acquaintances - go with your gut, but Never Ever leave your guard] ... And lastly,
9. It is WRONG to do that!: This statement one can hear only in India. How a female should operate in the Indian society is so wired into the Indian psyche, that quite a few Men have told me it is Wrong to travel like that, as females are not built to stay without support, travel being out of scope. 

Well, to respond to that, I take a walk away from these people rather than telling them away - coz walking away leads me to another new destination!

There is one more thing  I missed out on which I Have to add. That being:

"Don't you drink?.. oh come on it's OK, you can order a drink. You travel so much..surely you would not be a teetotaler" When I'm clear enough with my reply, I don't  understand the need to not believe or question it. I've heard this on two specific occasions - by males and I made sure I was far-far away from those people from then on. [Mostly hotel aquaintances who start off making small talk.. and then try to get friendly.] My safety antenna would have been touching the sky then!!

Those are the few things I have encountered time to time which makes my resolve more stronger to break them. Not to prove a point really - but to just to revel in one of my passions.

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