Yet another PL season

P.L (Prep leave) has always been a time for experimentation. The most ideal(idle) time to devote uninterrupted college-less hours to any new unexplored activity. This is the period of maximum patience, when even the most hitherto seemingly uninteresting activity starts to look all exciting. One of the recent far-fetched pastimes I took up last semester was ... uhm ... SKATING. That too, in my drawing hall. Much to the annoyance of my parents. The whole idea seemed so novel, last PL ! It felt wonderfully satisfying skating all over the house.. very liberating.  (and even more fun bumping into parents and getting them irritated. ) It gave me a sense of doing something in life. The speed, the force with which I would turn around at the corners of the room... most entertaining ! 

  This time around, I've taken myself by surprise. I've been attending Chinmaya Mission's session for three consecutive days now. I am 100% sure that I would never have managed the time for any such session during normal college days. What's more - I never imagined I would be blogging on this subject when I attended the first session either.

 These sessions have been a part of Chinmaya Mission's 'FAST Management' programme ( Fear, Anger, Stress, Time Management)  by Br.Sattvik Chaitanya for 5 consecutive days from Monday through Friday.  (Of these, I attended the last three.) His presentations, using his laptop and a wireless mouse, have been very well-structured, and he has used this form of visual communication most effectively to systematise his session.

 His talks have been thought-provoking. The most interesting point he brought out - although very tangential to the topic itself - was the whole idea of Hindu Fundamentalism, and his idea of exactly what led to the origin of political groups based on Hinduism.  The talks set me thinking about a bunch of new things, to say the least. 

 According to him, every hour of pre-midnight sleep is infact an equivalent of two hours of sleep.Interesting. He mentioned this in the context of time management, and went on to describe how one could save considerable time if this "fact" was used to one's advantage. Now, PL being the time for absolute lukkhagiri, what better opportunity or time of the year would I get to test such theories? So I actually set out to try something I never imagined myself capable of doing except on Diwali days - waking up at what I previously considered "unearthly" hours ! I actually attempted an "Early to bed, Early to Rise" today ! Went to bed at 10.30 pm (as against my usual 2a.m) and I must admit, although I fell asleep only at around 12.45am -  I woke at 5.50am, UNBELIEVABLY HIGH by my standards.

 I'd planned meticulously. After moving my bed to my study room(solely with the objective of waking early) , ensuring the room was mosquito-free, testing and setting up my music system's alarm clock( in addition to my cellphone's alarm) to play loud music at 5.30 am and discussing with my father the possibililty of a scared watchman rushing to our home at the sudden blast of early morning music, :  the Jan, feeling like a farmer, finally went to bed at 10.30pm. 

  I was to read "My Experiments with Truth", Gandhiji's autobiography, for sometime before I actually tried to fall asleep. NOT that it's a boring book.. far from that, actually - I've completely loved it so far! 

 I woke this morning(dawn, actually), had a bath and continued to read for 3 hours. A pah! to my parents for ridiculing me, making fun of me and challenging me that I would n't wake a minute before 10a.m. <> 

Incidentally, I'd begun to read an abridged version of the Bhagwat Gita earlier this week. 

 So to those who asked me a "Whatsup" in the past week (and might do so over the next 3 days) - it's the Gita,Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography and a final conclusive Chinmaya Mission session exclusively for the youth on "Attract and Achieve"( how to attract exactly what you want in your life, how to stay focussed and achieve it)  that'l keep me occupied. :)

Good Luck, Obama !

I have no idea why I am this excited about the US Presidential Elections. Let's see, now.

1)  Monsieur Barack HUSSEIN Obama. It's amazing how his campaign has successfully managed to drop his middle name from public memory altogether.  The McCain campaign's attempts to keep reminding the people of Obama's middle name have n't quite worked. They've been wanting to capitalize on the general American mistrust in Muslims (post 9/11) by highlighting his Islam factor, but wow, people just don't seem to want to hear much of it.

2)  Sarah Palin has got so much more publicity ( good or bad) than Joe Biden! Be it all those millions of dollars (150000$ to be precise.. ROFL !!) that GOP spent on her hairdo/ makeup/wardrobe, debates on whether she had sufficient experience to deserve her candidature,  or deliberations on why McCain finally zeroed in on her for his running mate. I cannot help but feel that the only reason McCain has chosen her for his running mate, inspite of all his repeated claims of Palin being a " born reformer"  is because she strongly represents everything that is American - again, a complete contrast to the situation with Obama, given his mixed background factor. Mixed ? That's understating things. It almost looks confused to me ! His father was a "raised Islam" who finally became an atheist. His mother was raised by non-religious parents, while Obama himself is a Christian. Phew. Someone should remind the family's future generations of the remaining options - Hinduism, Buddhism or turning agnostic ; that'd make them complete in having explored every possible religious status.

3) McCain is a paavam thatha. At 72, perhaps it would be better for him to relax at home and spend time with his grandchildren ! ( I heard he has cholestrol problems.)

 Happened to watch the final round of the Presidential Debates. McCain seemed to have a temperament problem, he seemed extremely angry throughout the debate. His powerfully offensive, aggressive attitude towards Obama and his constant accusations were a huge turnoff. This contrast became even more obvious when compared to Obama's cool, calm, patient smiles while answering every one of McCain's charges. Cautions never to return McCain's anger, Obama handled McCain skillfully well and deservingly emerged as the winner of the final round. And I really think McCain should've stopped harping about how he disapproved of Obama's selective taxation policy (higher taxation for the richer) especially because Obama had already given him a lengthy justification and was finished with expressing his views. To questions of whether the candidates had been hurt by each other's campaigns, I remember, McCain definitely looked defeated. 

4) I don't quite understand why Indians particularly prefer Democratic candidates over the Republicans. The Bush administration certainly did enough to try and push the Nuclear Deal through and even got an FTA signed recently. I don't understand why people insist Democrats would have done more.

5) It is interesting to note that while Obama has 50% support and McCain 44%, 6 % are undecided. Is it really possible that they're confused ? After so many months of intensive campaigning, don't they know the candidates and all their policies on healthcare, taxation, economy and even their janma-kundlis? It infact seems more likely that they are hesitant Obama-supporters, unwilling to support him openly in view of his background. I also wonder if there will be another situation of the Bradley effect ! ( the black who ran for Governor : every poll predicted he would win, but it turned out he finally did not !) .

6) The outcome of this election is going to make history no matter who wins ! Interestingly, Obama, at 47, will be amongst the youngest Presidents in history to get elected. McCain at 72, the oldest !

Obama becoming the President of the United States would mean a HUGE image makeover for the USA. As Shashi Tharoor pointed out, for one, relations for the USA with other nations can only improve with him as President. Personally, I would like to see a situation where the conventional American racist would have voted for an African-American :) . And on the downside, Obama's protectionist fundas and him not believing in offering too many H1-B visas are a little daunting. (Especially because my brother is in SFO and he needs an H1-B!!).

Anyway, Obama is leading comfortably. :) Dixville Notch (which has a history of voting for Republicans since 14 years!)  has voted for him, and has, well, "Voted For Change".

(Jan suddenly realizes she has a Mobile Communications viva scheduled for the next day, abandons the post and hurries away.)

The TamBrahms' hot favourite - PAPPU CAN'T DANCE, SALA !

I have n't been to a wedding since a few months now. Parents wanted me to attend one today, though. Some close family friends of ours. TamBrahms.
On mom's demand, I return from college at 6pm and head for the marriage venue by 7. ( Parents give up on me and go an hour earlier to the venue). I have all the time in the world ( unlike my dear, super-panicky mother) and I patiently wait for 10 minutes at the bus stop and catch a 374 to Vile Parle.
I enter the marriage hall, and I wonder for a second if I've landed up at the wrong place. But no, I spot my mom there !
What greets me is a blast of music.
Very near the entrance, a group of saree-clad mamis and veshti-clad mamas danced to PAPPU CAN'T DANCE, SALA ! The group looked terribly excited, while the poor saastrigaL ( pundits ) looked on, helplessly and bored.
The dance group would periodically keep an eye out for possible options to victimise onlookers. Every few minutes, a new shy mami or a reluctant mama would get dragged onto the 'dance floor'. This protesting mami / mama would then perform some extremely ridiculous, thoroughly embarrased jig and run off at the first possible opportunity, having satisfied the excited dancers and thus having generated some laughter.
A suitable DJ is quickly appointed from amongst the lot of relatives, who scans through lists of songs from several CDs and changes the track at the most inappropriate, offbeat points. This is followed by disapproval from the crowds, but the frustration is shortlived because the new song more than makes up for the uncomfortable, untimely switch between songs ! "Nagada Nagada" is next, while "Crazy Kiya re" and "Mauja hi Mauja" follow.
Finally, the best of them all, " Zara zara touch me" ( that sidey,miserable Katrina Kaif song) is played. And WHOA ! All the mamas are suddenly excited !!! New mamas step onto the dance floor, old ones get a sudden burst of energy, while several even attempt to waltz with their shy wives ! The group then attempts a quick mix of jive/salsa /ballet/ Bhangra and God-knows-what-other forms of dance.
I had a great time ROFLing around.
Needless to say, I was hiding, careful not to get spotted and victimised by the dance group. Mom did try to damage my efforts, by calling out to me loud enough for half the world to hear, but I was quick to escape. And today, I can bravely declare , head held high up in the air - I'm proud of my abilities of recognizing imminent dangers, changing locations and figuring out new hiding places when required.

Anyway, today was the engagement day, and hence dinner was the typical South-Indian one. Sambar, Rasam, Curd with some five hundred million curries, complete with some much talked about payasam. ( The mamis, ofcourse, religiously performed a complete post-mortem of the dinner, as if it had some shocking variety to present. While all I did was concentrate on eating as fast as I could.)
In the meantime, rice and sambar had already been thrown over my plate( uhm... a leaf ), and I realised it was an emergency - I HAD to finish it off before more food was hurled onto the 'leaf'. I panicked, increased my speed, but in vain - the Rasam guy was already hovering around my table, watching, WAITING to load my 'leaf' with more food. I tell him "No, thanks", skip Rasam and heave a huge sigh of relief at the thought of having bought myself more time to eat.
These meals, more often than not, are like extremely lengthy examinations. Something like an IEM or a Software Engineering paper, where you need to race against time.
Tomorrow is the Muhurtham and the Reception, so I'l blog later if I have more stories.

PRAXIS' Clothes Collection Drive from 22nd August to 1st September

http://203.200.89.222/yuva/epaperpdf/1982008/1982008-md-hr-9.pdf

VESIT's T20 match !

Once upon a time, I had a lot of respect for the post of a General Secretary at VESIT. It undoubtedly was (and perhaps still is) the most challenging post that VESIT could offer to a student. A GS' requirements have not changed much over the past 3 years. Tremendous patience, a cool / calm head (remote traces of brains will do,too.) , an exhaustive network of friends and acquaintances ( so as to create suitable pools of workforces for various events ), great listening abilities, superb communication skills, good leadership, lots of talent, excellent public relations skills, great HR skills, and ofcourse ability to become an easy-to-use / efficient interface between the *&%^*& principal/administration and the students. But above all,  a leader is characterised by his/her sense of ethics, maturity and his/her ability to take the right decision over the best one. 
This year, a GS needs to have all of the above and more ! Whether one likes it or not, one simply must accept the fact that ISTE is the intended replacement for 4 societies, and hence is of utmost importance. ISTE needs to get incorporated into VESIT's activity circle. The GS, therefore, needs to have policy-making abilities, since the formative years are crucial to ISTE's deployment. I see only 3 people in my batch who can handle this situation, and sadly, none of them will contest tomorrow. There go all the good GSes !

Its just 5 days since college has begun, and there's a sudden, mad fight for this post. There's a sudden need to bring back all the lost honour, glory associated with the post. But hell, VESIT cannot survive with controversial or impulsive heads. I sincerely wish we had good people to step into Gore's shoes. Tomorrow's election will be no different from a T20 match, so nobody can make any predictions. VESIT definitely needs a GS who can atleast be half as good as Gayatri Kannan or Shreyas Gore were. The mood / atmosphere is not going to be too different from the Lok Sabha session during the Trust Vote.
I don't remember the last time VESIT had competition for the GS post in the Students' Council. What I do know is that it simply cannot have been as murky before. You can almost smell the tension on the fourth floor corridor. Never before have GS elections been so absurd, so crazy and so unpredictable. Catch the action, live, tomorrow at 1pm at VESIT. Known devil or unknown angel ? ( courtesy : Nadi )- Watch the two warriors battle it out !
I realise I have remained completely neutral in this support-'so-and-so' game. So it turns out I might be 'Election Chair' for tomorrow. I sincerely hope I remain alive to continue blogging :-)
And I hope atleast now people will believe me when I say, for the last time, I DO NOT intend to contest. ( I shall conduct.) Peace out :-)

PS :
Urgent : Riot Control Police required at VESIT. Date : 26th July. Time : 1pm onward.
Preferred workforce : Ankit Shah, Manish Narang( Captain of the team), Ameya, Chetan, and anyone else willing to stick their necks out.
Required ammunition : Dungbombs, Stone-proof head guard, reinforced rubber under clothing, pepper spray, knives, automated, self-creative shields.

The whole world is married !

Or so it seems, to me, yet again !

In the past year alone, I'm sure 9 out of every 10 people I have known have suddenly declared themselves married. Okay - committed, married, whatever ! ( Oh , and I think the 10th in every such set is me ! )
Two friends in the past week ! WTF ?! At this rate, single people like me will not have anyone left ! Or I'd have to choose from the pool of divorced people. Most people of my age either are in a relationship or have already been through one (or many).
I'm starting to feel like a happy, japa-mala clutching, wise, pohonchi-hui grandmother, watching all her children settle down in life. What , am I seriously that old ?!
No. I'd rather remain single. And in any case its a much better option than putting up my height, weight, position of nose on face, breadth/width of forehead and other such irrelevant data along with nice fresh sparkling fotu on some Matrimonial site !

Allright, Congratulations to all you committed fellows and fellis.
Those who are single, please remind me of your existence. I can then change the title of this blog !
Mulaanno, Krupaya ithhe attandance dya !

Hi to all

Yeah, I've started blogging. so Hii !

India has 28 states, eh ?

The states of India are Maharashtra, Madhya Pradhesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, ......... and SouthIndia.

• The capital of the state SouthIndia is Muddraass.


• Muddraass lies somewhere inside Kerala, and the people of Muddraass talk Muddraasi.


• Kerala can sometimes be inside TamilNadu or outside of it, depending on the position of the sun during the day.


• Andhra Pradesh ? - uhm.. yeah, somewhere on the map.


• Karnataka -? non-existent. Or most likely inside of Muddraass but outside TamilNadu.


• Coming back to Muddraasis : These specimens can speak "Keralite"(Now, that could n't possibly be "Malayalam",could it??) . Oh, I'm confused. Don't they speak Muddraasi ?


• Amidst all this confusion - One thing's for sure - People in Tamil Nadu certainly speak Tamil. The name of this place proves that.


• But then, some Mudraasis may be Keralites, depending on whether you were suddenly reminded of the existence of the 'city' of Kerala the instant you opened your mouth.


• There is no such place as Hyderabad (Forget, for a while, that Microsoft is located there).


• Banglore ? No... I must stop now !


• Certain obvious things that I need not mention here,( but will still do so for the sake of completeness ) : the idli-sambar factor, excessive use of coconut oil, the law-abiding nature of SouthIndian Citizens, the 'never-stick-your-neck-out-for-anything' ness ,and oh yeah - WHAT THE HELL IS "thambi" ?!

Poor PM. He could give up crying over the 11 % inflation and considering uniting all these places and giving them just one single, nice, easy-to-remember name : MUDRASS. And request them to stick to just one language - MUDDRAASI.

Let me know if I have missed out any other symptoms. I'll add them. :)

( Dedicated to OP, MN, TS, PV and all such folk)

The Third

They are the quintessential members of the Third Gender. Coated in cheap rouge, thick kajal, powder and lipstick, they dress in colourful blouses and saris in a grotesque parody of womanhood as they roam in groups and accost pedestrians. Unlike an average beggar, they have unique strategies : they prey on passersby, who will part with their cash sooner than be embarrassed.
Eunuchs or hijras have been in existence since the 9th Century BC. The word derives from the Greek "keeper of the bed" because the eunuchs were in popular demand to guard royal harems (a household in which women would live, forbidden to men). The practice is believed to have started in China where, at the end of the Ming dynasty, there were as many as 70,000 eunuchs in the grand palace itself and many thousands more waiting to fill vacancies in the royal quarters.

India is the only country where the tradition of eunuchs is prevalent today. Their number is estimated at 1 million, with Mumbai having over 25000 of them.
They have been caricatured in Hindi films, but by and large the films have portrayed them as bizarre comic elements. Either that or they usually show them as individuals who help the hero woo the heroine, or who take care of a lost child, displaying hearts of gold. Yet, in either case, films have probably helped in some way in at least subconsciously informing us of their existence and accepting their presence. That films can do incredibly much more, like depict some reality and shed light on their situation, create awareness and help them get acceptance in society, is a different story altogether.
The popular picture is they create problems; that they steal children and castrate them forcibly to make them into eunuchs or that they are all into prostitution and are the biggest transmitters of STDs or that if you don't give them money, they will curse you to a life of impotency.
Most of it is untrue. What they do of course is beg and extort money. At traffic lights where they beg openly or during weddings or after births when they come to our homes and demand money. In fact, they are amazingly organized. All eunuchs belong to a small group consisting of a guru and a chela, called a toli. Each small group is accountable to a bigger group and so on. Each group is assigned a territory and turf battles are rare. Being so organized has even helped them get into politics.

So why this article on this community of strange-looking individuals who at a quick, careless glance merely present to you an ugly, hopeless sight?

Get these eunuchs to shed their hijra mannerisms and speak in "normal" tones, and you will hear them talking about their hopes, aspirations and fears. They will tell you that they had become eunuchs either because they felt like women trapped in men's bodies or they had ambiguous or abnormal genitalia.
That answers the question of how these hijras ever came to be. Some are naturally born eunuchs, although this is a relatively rare occurrence. Most others are castrated males. Castration isn't always by force. It is an often an option chosen, out of compulsion, by those exhibiting abnormal sexual tendencies. People just like you and I, without the resources and money to carry them through a normal social life and therefore forced to join a group that would take care of them, sustain them and understand them. They prefer this to the otherwise humiliating life they would face. Humiliation from us, of course.

Sadly, it is by taking advantage of their discomfort and embarrassment at their own existence, that they make their living. The community has a complex network system, which informs them of every happy event in the neighbourhood – be it weddings, housewarmings or childbirths. Their demand and inspection of a newborn even carries an ulterior motive. On rare occasions when the baby is born a eunuch, the hijras insist that the baby is given to them. Often, the families will comply to avoid humiliation in society, and the group will take the child away to their ghettoes to raise him as he should be: as one of their own. This is the beginning of the vicious cycle. The turning point in the life of a person who could have otherwise possibly led a normal, healthy, social life had only his sexual status been understood and accepted by his family. And again, by us, of course. Perhaps it is worth mentioning here, that it is frankly astonishing where and how all our self proclaimed “broad-mindedness” and modern, “westernized” minds disappear when it comes to the issue of these already-suffering, oppressed individuals.
NGOs have now sprung into the picture, with the Dai Welfare Society (Mumbai) and Samara (Bangalore) working tirelessly to improve the conditions and job opportunities of eunuchs. Recently, at Bangalore, over a hundred eunuchs took part in awareness programmes with a view to sensitize the public to their plight and to highlight how they are often ridiculed, berated and even beaten up for begging on the streets. They also insist that this does not deter them from continuing to beg for a few rupees. Eunuchs say they have no other job alternative. They allege that they are often forced into begging and prostitution. “Given an option, eunuchs would never beg,” says Soumya, director, Samara, an NGO that works with sexual minorities. Many eunuchs, she said, were interested in tailoring, but the lack of job opportunities forced them to beg. “I want to earn a decent living but no one wants to employ me,” said Nagarathna, who dreams of being a seamstress. Samara hopes the awarness programmes will help her dream come true.

Being denied access to an opportunity is what classifies a person as underprivileged. It is sad to see eunuchs discriminated and denied their most fundamental rights. Difficult as it might seem, we absolutely must remember that these people are as much worthy of respect as we are.
Lepers, AIDS affected. and eunuchs. A decade ago, AIDS patients were ill-treated and misunderstood. But now, awareness and hence their acceptance is increasing. Let’s hope eunuchs too get accepted, and that a decade from now, we will see these tremendously gifted people settled as doctors, lawyers, teachers and engineers, making a valuable contribution to society.

We’re living, for sure. Let’s also let live. And let’s not forget their dignity.

(Article for VK '08)