Helloooooo! I was away for about two weeks because my dad was unwell. But now he is fine and here I am. And I am really glad that a few people did ask me about my blog not being updated - can’t tell you how nice it feels to know that people actually read my blog – whoa! ;)
I went to Thiruvananthapuram (the good old Trivandrum) first and now I am in Kochi. I used to hate Trivandrum as much as I used to love Kochi, but now I guess age and time have mellowed me down and I think Trivandrum is not that bad after all.
And with times, I noticed new aspects of these cities, or rather, old but previously ignored “facts” came to fore. Facts like:
1. It is not easy to be beautiful or glamorous in Kerala; especially during the summer months. You sweat and sweat so much that anything closely related to make-up looks unbearable. You cannot let your hair loose 'coz one minute in the sun and all of it sticks to the nape of your neck (ewwwwww). You can wear nothing but cotton if you want to be comfortable, and denim on your skin is torture. You have to leave your face clean and plain because whatever moisturizer, sunscreen (or one of those thousand and one things) you apply on your face, it slides down your temples in a minute as you perspire. You could use waterproof make up – but then again I am sure even that could be very irritating. So as you can guess, only the naturally beautiful ones get credit here, and must say, they deserve it.
2. Every third person in Trivandrum is called Biju. My husband was the one who made this observation, but I think I agree with him. Biju is perhaps the most common name in the southern parts of Kerala. I wonder why the name is so very common. The name is not very popular towards the north though. Again, what does that name mean? Keralites are infamous for meaningless names, especially of two syllables. I could dedicate an entire post to that! But Biju is also the name of one of my closest friends, and so I will for now not make too many comments. He might as well reply with a list of infamous Reshmas!
But hey – people from other parts of India usually give their kids sensible names – so maybe I should find out how Biju Patnaik got his name to address my curiosity – what say?
Added after Googling: Biju in his name is the short form of Bijayananda – which I guess is the equivalent of Vijayanand – which has a meaning! Sigh!
3. Where do you find the nastiest people? On buses in Kerala. I am not kidding – anyone who has traveled by State/privately owned buses in Kerala (the intercity ones, not long distance) would nod their head in agreement. Your perfectly polite bus-stop companion would give Cruella a run for her money once she enters the bus. Ones who are standing curse the ones who are seated but still refuse to hold your parcel/bag (yes, they are very capable of being downright rude and refusing to help you out) only to turn into the same once they find a seat. If you lose your balance and trip or stamp on someone’s foot – may God save you!
I still have 3 days to go before I leave for Bangalore. I hope I will be able to (re)discover many more interesting facets of the place before I do. Because despite everything, I really do love my Kochi (and well, I am ok with Trivandrum too)!
March 18, 2009
February 27, 2009
V the people
It’s a bit late – but still, how did your Valentine’s Day go? Don’t ask me - we don’t celebrate V-day. We have nothing against people who do, just that we find it commercialized and kinda, stupid, if you ask. Why do you need a day to express love? I relate to mother’s and father’s days though. It seems hypocritical, but I think we take our parents for granted all the time. So a day to make them feel special seems like a good idea.
“So won’t you be taking your partners for granted as well?” is what you will now ask! Let me ask you something – who do you think celebrates V-day more? A couple spending their 15th anniversary together or 18-20 somethings? Cootchie cooing to each other 20 hours a day and then again getting mushy on V-day – give me a break guys!
Agreed, I am not romantic in the “usual” sense of the word. I think candle light dinners are the most boring things ever – and I would yawn to death halfway through. I also cannot imagine my husband lavishing cards, chocolates, and gifts on me every other day. God – I would so want to divorce such a guy! But yes, I do understand that there are many couples who really enjoy these, and I am not saying this is despicable. I only want to say, spare me!
But why am I discussing this at this late hour? Because last day, I came across this V-day supplement, featuring love notes people had sent to their valentines. First of all, I don’t understand why you have to put it in the newspaper for the whole world to see, but again, maybe that makes them feel special, and is a major surprise to know that person took the trouble of doing that for you – so fine. I was very amused by a few – of course I read them all after one caught my eye. That much of hypocrisy is fine with me ;)
Some were very interesting, here are a few for you (of course, names have been changed to protect MY identity):
1. “To Mrs xyz Sinha from abc Sinha” (so that people know it is his wife that he is proclaiming his love for)
2. “Dear anonymous from xyz Kumar” (Now – how on earth is the girl, who this is meant for, know it is her? Atleast if he had put in the girl’s name and signed off as anonymous, she would know someone loved her!)
3. To my grizzly bear from ur hairless bear (eeeeeeeeeeks – how can someone survive this! I’m sure there must be some interesting story behind those pet names, but I really don’t want to know what it is!)
All men out there - please tell me, I really want to know: do you mean to say you enjoy being called grizzly bear, honey bunny (yes, that was another one of the above list), or cootchie poo? Don’t you want to have a heart attack and die when you girlfriend calls you all that in public? I for one cannot stand women who get all mushy and call their boy friends or husband “baby”. Baby? Yuck! How do you bear with it?
Now I guess all of you think I am extremely boring and unromantic. I don’t think I mind though. If I were a guy, I’d rather spend my life alone than with someone who calls me all that. But well, in my defense I would like to say that I am not unromantic, I am just a different kind.
And what floors me? The one who needs to know, knows that well. So mum’s the word !
“So won’t you be taking your partners for granted as well?” is what you will now ask! Let me ask you something – who do you think celebrates V-day more? A couple spending their 15th anniversary together or 18-20 somethings? Cootchie cooing to each other 20 hours a day and then again getting mushy on V-day – give me a break guys!
Agreed, I am not romantic in the “usual” sense of the word. I think candle light dinners are the most boring things ever – and I would yawn to death halfway through. I also cannot imagine my husband lavishing cards, chocolates, and gifts on me every other day. God – I would so want to divorce such a guy! But yes, I do understand that there are many couples who really enjoy these, and I am not saying this is despicable. I only want to say, spare me!
But why am I discussing this at this late hour? Because last day, I came across this V-day supplement, featuring love notes people had sent to their valentines. First of all, I don’t understand why you have to put it in the newspaper for the whole world to see, but again, maybe that makes them feel special, and is a major surprise to know that person took the trouble of doing that for you – so fine. I was very amused by a few – of course I read them all after one caught my eye. That much of hypocrisy is fine with me ;)
Some were very interesting, here are a few for you (of course, names have been changed to protect MY identity):
1. “To Mrs xyz Sinha from abc Sinha” (so that people know it is his wife that he is proclaiming his love for)
2. “Dear anonymous from xyz Kumar” (Now – how on earth is the girl, who this is meant for, know it is her? Atleast if he had put in the girl’s name and signed off as anonymous, she would know someone loved her!)
3. To my grizzly bear from ur hairless bear (eeeeeeeeeeks – how can someone survive this! I’m sure there must be some interesting story behind those pet names, but I really don’t want to know what it is!)
All men out there - please tell me, I really want to know: do you mean to say you enjoy being called grizzly bear, honey bunny (yes, that was another one of the above list), or cootchie poo? Don’t you want to have a heart attack and die when you girlfriend calls you all that in public? I for one cannot stand women who get all mushy and call their boy friends or husband “baby”. Baby? Yuck! How do you bear with it?
Now I guess all of you think I am extremely boring and unromantic. I don’t think I mind though. If I were a guy, I’d rather spend my life alone than with someone who calls me all that. But well, in my defense I would like to say that I am not unromantic, I am just a different kind.
And what floors me? The one who needs to know, knows that well. So mum’s the word !
February 24, 2009
Game Plan
A few of days ago, all of a sudden I began to miss my childhood. People who know me well know that it is perfectly normal for a weirdo like me to have such thoughts - so let's not get into that discussion. I was thinking about the wonderful times I had when I was a little girl - when I used to spend almost all free time playing with my gang of friends. And what games they used to be! I am sure today's kids might have not even heard about those.
These games, unlike the sophisticated games of today, involved running around, screaming in excitement, shouting, quarrelling and were thoroughly enjoyable. We fought like cats in the playground, but the next day we were back to friends :) These really installed in us the qualities of teamwork, leadership, and negotiation much better than most of the summer camps of today. Not to forget, it probably gave us all the exercise we needed. And we looked forward to the afternoons so much that I'm sure none of the shows on TV today, if presented to us then, would have kept us back home.
Most of the games of those days involved a maidan, a couple of twigs or a few stones, and at most a rubber ball. What do kids today play and play with? Cricket, football, tennis, table tennis, badminton? Classy huh? What about seven stones? Has any one of them heard about budhiya kabbadi (this game is known by various names - so probably half of my generation has not heard of it either, but it involves two circles drawn on the maidan some distance away from each other, two teams, one team all set to "catch" the other team members, who try to rescue the budhiya in distress - which is another member of the team - in the other circle), or gilhari-mungphali? How many of them might have enjoyed a simple game of kabbadi or kho-kho? There are so many more if we start to list them down.
Where have these games gone? I really think there should be a revival of these, and an effort to bring kids out of homes to the playgrounds. I believe there already is an initiative in this direction, I guess in Mumbai - I vaguely remember having read about it. Would it not be fun? But again, will today's kids enjoy it? I feel we must not be prejudiced – this generation of kids can also be child-like, who knows! ;)
And yes, this must involve not just children, but also grown ups who often miss their childhood and these lovely games, when confronted with other games grown up people play. What say?
PS: Please share the wonderful games that you fondly remember from your childhood! I'm sure all of us would love to refresh our memories!
These games, unlike the sophisticated games of today, involved running around, screaming in excitement, shouting, quarrelling and were thoroughly enjoyable. We fought like cats in the playground, but the next day we were back to friends :) These really installed in us the qualities of teamwork, leadership, and negotiation much better than most of the summer camps of today. Not to forget, it probably gave us all the exercise we needed. And we looked forward to the afternoons so much that I'm sure none of the shows on TV today, if presented to us then, would have kept us back home.
Most of the games of those days involved a maidan, a couple of twigs or a few stones, and at most a rubber ball. What do kids today play and play with? Cricket, football, tennis, table tennis, badminton? Classy huh? What about seven stones? Has any one of them heard about budhiya kabbadi (this game is known by various names - so probably half of my generation has not heard of it either, but it involves two circles drawn on the maidan some distance away from each other, two teams, one team all set to "catch" the other team members, who try to rescue the budhiya in distress - which is another member of the team - in the other circle), or gilhari-mungphali? How many of them might have enjoyed a simple game of kabbadi or kho-kho? There are so many more if we start to list them down.
Where have these games gone? I really think there should be a revival of these, and an effort to bring kids out of homes to the playgrounds. I believe there already is an initiative in this direction, I guess in Mumbai - I vaguely remember having read about it. Would it not be fun? But again, will today's kids enjoy it? I feel we must not be prejudiced – this generation of kids can also be child-like, who knows! ;)
And yes, this must involve not just children, but also grown ups who often miss their childhood and these lovely games, when confronted with other games grown up people play. What say?
PS: Please share the wonderful games that you fondly remember from your childhood! I'm sure all of us would love to refresh our memories!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
