2011

2011, 

• an year filled with surprises
• Uncertainties
• Wonderful experiences
• Heart breaks
• Patch ups
• Fun and frolic 
• Broken friendships
• Some newly formed bonds
• Some people who i believe were there only to leave
• Some who will probably be there till the end. 
• Moments that changed my life altogether
• Memories that i'll cherish till i am alive...

2011 gave it all...Waiting for 2012, expect it to be even more uncertain....adventurous...wonderful...hope to learn some good lessons for life :) :) 

                 


Happy new year everyone :) May it be a lucky year for all of you :)

Boys,Girls and FRIENDSHIP!!!

Not the most original topic in this world, in fact this is one of the most discussed topics, I was just curious to know what others feel...Is pure friendship possible between a boy and a girl or is there always some gender tension between them? I am not saying just friends, but best friends...they share secrets, care and understand each other...Is it true that however good friends they may be, one of them or at times both end up falling for each other...


Can there not be a boy and a girl who are there for each other when ever they need their best friend without being tagged as lovers by the stupid people around??? Why is it an issue when a girl and a boy claim to be each other's best friends...they have the same affection and care for each other the way a best friend from same gender would have...


There are so many movies that have thrown light on this topic...in 99% of those the boy and the girl end up entering a romantic relationship...Movies that show the Girl-Boy friendship...just friendship are rare which in turn makes this very thing unacceptable in a country like ours where movies too play a great role in controlling the mind set....


I just wrote it out of curiosity :) Opinions are welcome!!! 

The lioness

The lioness, known to be more powerful, hard working and courageous than The Lion, in this case Lioness is my amma. No doubt she is a LEO by birth. She is the embodiment of honor loyalty, faithfulness, and trust, she is very brave and stays cool, cool enough to think with her brain and not heart like me and hence takes full control of everything. She is competent, independent, very very hardworking. She inspires everyone with her skills,with the hard work she does to bring us up, never lets us down, always encourages us to be the best. 


Amma, my brother's first love, my first best friend...
You can hardly find her sitting down and taking rest, i hardly remember any such scene in last 19years of my life. She gets up at 4am, takes care of everyone's likes and dislikes, does preparations for everyone so that we can go to our work without any problem. I did mention in one of my previous posts, My paati is a very good cook, Amma surely has inherited the cooking skills...she is AWESOME. 


She is the coolest mom I have ever seen, I would often be late when ever i am out with my friends,my friends would get a scolding at their home for staying out late at night, she is cool and calm, all i need to do is keep her informed of where I am, according to her Freedom is the best way to keep kids disciplined. What ever it may be, for me its just the trust she has on me. We can talk freely about our crushes, the college romance that we come through...and she actually takes it all like a friend does...advises on what to do and what not but never forces us to do anything that we don't want to.


 Shravan and I are 17 and 19 respectively still she calls us small kids. Puts up with our fights(no less than cats and dogs fighting), our tantrums, bad moods, and at times a very rude behavior. 
She never allows me to do the household chores even if i volunteer to help her, while girls of my age are often into all this because their mothers want them to learn everything. Not that my mother is ignorant, just that she feels its the time to study for me, when time comes i'll learn it, fair enough right! We are the most lucky kids in the world, we have the Best Mommy!!!

                                                


Not quoting any incidents, as they are personal memories, beautiful ones...and they belong to us!! just us.


The hard work she has been doing all this while in her life has now begun to spoil her health, I pray nothing but good health, peaceful life for her. 
Long Live amma. May GOD give you all the happiness in the world. 

Navarathri

Navarathri, not just a festival, it brings back very old memories too... Having lived in north india and being a south indian by birth I have had the chance of celebrating it according to both customs and traditions...


In north Navarathri is celebrated by fasting for nine days, worshiping nine different forms of Shakti and then on the ninth day, navami nine small girls are called upon to their houses, considering them as The incarnation of The Goddess and worshiped. Though the small girls are pretty much unaware of all this and are very happy with just the gifts, money they get in form of 'Prasad'. 


I remember how we dressed up in lehengas and me in my pattu paavadai, dressed up as cute little devis in our traditional attire early in the morning, me and my friends all of 9-10 years were invited by aunties of the neighborhood, we would still be at one house getting all the rituals done and Uncles (aunties would be busy doing preparations) from the neighborhood waiting to take us to their home.  It use to be an all girls toli(gang) and we would feel like VVIPs on that day! at the end of the day it would be a real good collection of pooris, halwa, all having different taste, but each one tasted good as it had the real love and bhakti of all the aunties. Golden days those were, felt like we are the most important people that day!!! I miss those old days when I see small girls in their cute dresses :) and for one second I really feel bad about having grown up :( 




Now, the south style Navarathri...

 

I have loads and loads of memories about that too...the Golu memories...It was at my granny's place that i had my initial experiences of golu...playing around with my cousins who would come down to paati's place for golu. Paati keeps a grand Seven Step Golu, evenings would be spent with guests coming over, singing keerthanais, eating sundal, kesari, looking for blouse bits and small gifts like bindis, miniature combs, mirrors to be given to aunties who come home to receive Vethalai Paaku, kids would often get beautiful clips that would be latest in market... best part is, whenever kids failed to come, the remaining gifts would all be ours :) small innocent kids we were...Till 2000 this was Golu for me, then we had to move out of delhi, Appa got transferred and we had shifted to Bareilly. No south indians, in fact we didn't know any one in this totally alien city. After a lot of persuasion Amma began with the Golu ritual of navarathri in 2001 with a small Three Step Golu with just a few toys and since then we have come a long way  with a lot many toys and Seven step golu :) Now in lucknow we have a lot more south indian friends, and we celebrate Navarathri beautifully, the way it should be, wearing the traditional paavadi daavani, eating sundal, kesari...nothing has changed over years, just that i have grown up :) 

Everyone has a BFF!!! Really??? Think again

BFF, Best Friend Forever...heard this term?? very common right, but wait is it true that some one who is your BEST FRIEND at one point of time remains so FOREVER? If you say yes, YES not just for the sake of saying but truly mean it then you are one blessed person on The Earth. What is the thing that makes only ONE friend from many get this BFF status? There is some kind of magical bond in it that surpasses all the evil things like jealousy, ego...you trust them the most and receive the same trust in return...it is selfless, it doesn't depend on looks, status of either of them, but ,just the inner self. It is some one with whom you share the strongest bond of friendship. Calling or messaging at any time of the day is never an issue, you get scolding for saying 'Thank you' or 'sorry' and taunts for being too formal, but everyone loves all this...

Fine that was about a best friend, but my question is: Is this permanent?? When we say nothing other than change is permanent in this world, how can this be?? Even this changes, and just short separation is enough for that to happen and sometimes just happens because you have found some one who you feel is a better friend, and don't even bother about the first one who was with you at all times when you needed them....but it hurts a lot when this happens, even if it breaks, it would hurt for a while but then it'll be fine, its worse when that person who was the BFF at one point of time becomes a JUST FRIEND
kills every time you think about the times you were together...but that is life, and it has to go on...

Appavum naanum

DAD IS A PERSON WHO IS VERY KIND, 
OFTEN KNOWS WHAT IS ON YOUR MIND.
HE IS SOMEONE WHO LISTENS, 
SUGGESTS AND DEFENDS.
IN ALL THAT YOU DO, 
DAD's LOVE PLAYS A PART.
THERE IS ALWAYS A PALACE FOR HIM, 
DEEP IN YOUR HEART.
AND WITH EACH YEAR THAT PASSES, 
THE LOVE STRENGTHENS, 
I AM EVEN MORE GLAD, AND PROUD, 
JUST TO CALL YOU MY DAD...

Appa, one person I love the most in this world!! I look up to the knowledge he has, irrespective of the subject, topic he can start a conversation on almost everything under the sky. He is patient, never takes decisions in haste. He works so much, on his toes all day yet takes time out for us, never made us feel that he doesn't give us time. He has never said 'NO' to me for anything, what ever I wished, he has always made it come true before I asked for it.


When ever I think of him, memories just come and overflow, there are so many memories and such beautiful ones that I neither have words for them nor can I put them all here. I have spent nineteen long years under his shadow, and it has been a beautiful life so far.


I still remember how he used to get me ready for school, made me wear my uniform to my shoes...he did that till I was 10 years old!!! Just hair was Amma's department. He taught me to ride my cycle, he would come along with me and my brother to play cricket in chilly mornings during winter holidays, yes I do remember the first time I rode scooty, with him sitting behind to help me out. Appa, you are the only one who knows the trick of waking me up at 4 am, even Amma has never been able to do that till now.
I don't know if he remembers but I do, long back we went to his Chitti's place in chennai on Shankar thatha's cycle...I haven't met them since then, it was around 12 years back, I hardly remember anything but yes I remember each and every part of that cycle ride. We also went to Mandavali that time, it was a train journey though but it was just SHRUTI and her APPA travelling, that is the best thing about all those journeys.
Our recent trip to bareilly, he left me there at hostel and came back, I cried all day in my room, I had already begun missing you Appa.


Appa, you have been there with me at each and every step of my life to support me, to protect me, to pick me up when I fall. I want you to be by my side till my death, I can't even imagine my life sans you.

Happy Birthday Appa!!!
May you be hale and hearty forever and ever...

Independence for me means...

Yes, I know The Independence Day just went, and yes I also know that it is never late to state what you mean by this term. I am not going to talk about the independence we got long back in 1947, I am just going to talk about what it means to me, my perspective.


Independence to me means Being able to express my views on anything and everything freely, fearlessly, without bothering about what someone might say.


It means to pursue my dreams without any second thoughts about what the society (read Loud mouthed jobless people) might say!!


It means living my life the way I want and not the way others want me to, i don't think anyone other than I, Me, Myself have the right to order me to do something!


Independence in our country for a girl like me means to roam around on my scooty with my friends, freely at 8 pm in night without bothering about the Roadside romeos and the good for nothing guys who disrespect women, who are the main reason for a mother telling her daughter to come home before it is dark.


It means being able to punish all those Male Chauvinists In the society who disrespect women in any way! 


It is just about taking life the way it comes, the way I want to shape it and not stop just because the society won't accept that.


It is just about living without any boundaries, yet knowing the line where to stop.

Stuck up mid way from Indianism to Westernism

India is a country of ethics and is very famous for its culture,but as the westernisation is spreading its arms the youngsters are getting deep into it and turning out into a non indian form...Of late the trend has been to follow whatever is done in the west and it is becoming a sort of in-thing to be doing it...Indians have started aping the west completely and the western influences can be clearly seen in our behavior, culture, attire and even language.

Is it due to  liberalization of economy that we are also attempting to liberalize our life style.

Then, why not also follow the west in the matter of discipline and work culture instead of merely picking up all those habits which would not help in taking us forward.

Talking in their local language is a prestige issue for many, they are embarrassed in doing so, well I personally think they should be ashamed if they think so.

The worst part is, some people who go abroad for a short span , return to our country and behave as if they are in some alien world.

It is very unfortunate that today’s generation has very little knowledge about their culture, traditions & their roots. This is not their mistake but the mistake of their parents who do not enlighten their children about their roots,about their rich cultural heritage.Contradictory to it Parents feel proud in giving the western values to their children. Children are brought up in this atmosphere. They are thus kept miles away from Indian culture. There is no harm in giving the knowledge of other cultures and traditions as Indians have made their presence felt in every part of world and in every field, it is very necessary that they should have at least the basic knowledge of their culture, traditions and their language, they should know where their roots lie and further pass on all these values to their children. 

On the whole I want to say that in a race to reach the top we must not leave our roots, westernization in terms of work, technology and development is good but aping it merely because it is an in-thing is foolishness. At the moment we are nothing but stuck up mid-way...neither are we fully Indianised nor westernized which is even more troublesome.

       

living alone...a new experience

Living alone, I till now have not known what it actually means as i have never experienced it. To be on my own for a month, uhh it is indeed a big responsibility, washing your clothes as I won't have a washing machine, taking care of all my necessities on my own as amma won't be there running behind me to remind me of every single thing, eating chapati every day (i cant stand it for more than 2 days in a row) . Take care of myself as appa or shravan wont be there for protecting me. There won't be any net connection hence no chatting with friends...

Though these things are making me feel sick but when i think of the other side of this staying alone thing i.e. becoming responsible, independent, meeting new people and learning new things during my stay at the hostel and training at THE IVRI would teach me a lot, i'll have a lot to study, gives me some hope that i'll be able to manage.

I am moreover not going to some alien place, its bareilly the place where i have spent 7 years of my life, I'll meet my old school friends, teachers... I am sure its going to be a fun filled experience.

My best friend!!

Some people spend their entire childhood fussing and fighting with their siblings and  wishing they were an only child.  Some spend their childhood in perfectly harmony. Well, not perfect, but almost.  There are also those who have no other little person in their daily life to fuss with or to hang out with.

I was lucky,I got the opportunity to grow up with a younger brother...During the years our relationship has evolved and grown in many ways...Today on his 17th birthday, i just wanted to share some of that happiness with everyone and also remind him of the good and bad times we have had together in all these 17 years. 

I first of all am not able to believe that my kid brother is 17 today, he still is that naughty little boy for me, running behind me or should i say chasing to irritate me and me running away out of fear. The one i used to play cricket with, have had the best times of my life with him. From sharing a cupboard to sharing secrets, we have come a long way and so has our special bond.

Now, about my brother......

What to say, he is the sweetest, cutest, smartest and the best brother in the whole world!!! But every girl thinks her bro the best, doesn't she? And I am no exception :D

We have had some of the biggest fights, i should say we have big fights (i am not joking...these fights are as bad as WWE fights) daily, and amma has got used to them so badly that the day we don't fight she asks us if we are alright!!! But these fights are all short lived, we are back together within no time. 

We usually visit our grand parents in chennai every year, it is a long long train journey usually....the compartments of GT and Tamilnadu express really are a big part of our fun filled memories...the cup noodles, chess, playing cards...and unforgettable chats we had when we were supposed to be sleeping! 

Though we can never stay together peacefully, we can never be at peace when we are away from one another... Its rare that we are away from each other for a long period of time, and every time such a situation has come up, we have known how important we are in each other's life....and have missed each others presence badly....at least i have!!We have often shouted at each other, been rude but the special bond of a brother and sister that we shared never lost its magic.These fights....they seem to continue till we are alive......that is what brings us closer....

It was nice growing up with someone like you - someone to lean on, someone to count on...someone to tell on!!!

Happy Birthday Channu :) This post was specially for 

you :* Love you loads!!!

En Chella Paati

My Grandmother...

She inspires me, encourages me, and helps me keep going at each step of my life...

She has been a real hard worker through out her life. She would beat any 16 year old easily with the amount of work she does at the age of 72. From her I learnt to work hard to achieve my dreams. She taught me that nothing is impossible in this world if you truly want that to happen and work for it. She is my best mathematics teacher ever.The one who taught me to be independent, that women can do anything and everything.

She is also the best cook...every time i visit chennai i am bound to put on weight as i obviously cannot compromise with the delicious food she cooks. She is definitely as dear to me as my amma appa and brother are...the closest family member...so close that as a child i used to force her to get onto the train while returning back to our place and that my amma could happily stay back at chennai with her sisters and appa . I sometimes feel she is far more updated with the current world than my mother is. She not just gives tips to her daughters about the house hold chores, but shows same amount of interest in learning to operate a computer or a mobile phone!Being her only grand daughter i have always been pampered by her...in short i am her chella pethi ;)

Its been more than a year since i met her while she came over to our place after so much of persuasion, can't forget the way we discussed about my future plans, studies and everything like best friends do...She has been more than just my granny, she is my best buddy who I am sure would stand by my side in every ups and downs of my life. Looking forward to meet her after a long time....

The letter and the key!!!

 Like everyday it felt like a very normal day at college today until I decided to skip a lesson ( too boring to attend it without sleeping ) actually a two hours long lesson ( enna kodumai sir idu) as i wanted to finish off some work that unfortunately is still pending!

After amma came back from school we had to go to the post office for posting my training letter. I had to get a document printed from a near by cyber cafe, now we were all set for the letter to be sent

We reach the post office and amma asks for the envelope with all the documents to be sent....

Me checking the bag "Amma letter illa :( "

Amma "ena di solara? nalla check pannu, irukum"

Me: "illa amma, checked :( ayio maranduten"

Amma: "Kadavule, ena oru arivaali ponnu."

Me: (Wanting to laugh but unable to as i feared Amma would slap me) Sorry amma :( I'll come my self tomorrow and post it.

Amma: "Ok, so now you are responsible for that. I am not driving tomorrow."

Me: Ok amma :(

So now we left the post office and went to a supermarket for buying some stuff that amma had to. Bought all the things we had to and left for our home. Amma parked the car, I took the bags and went near the stairs.

Amma: "Kadavule, when are they going to repair this lift!!!"

Me: " Give it to me amma, just 4 floors, i'll carry it for you"

Amma: (You don't have an option after what you did today kind of expression) "Seri."

(Climbed till first floor)

Me: "Amma, aathu saavi????"

Amma: " I told you to take it when we were leaving, right!"

Me: (Mind voice: when what why where) "apdiya"

Amma: "enna di ipdi muzhikara"

Me:" I don't have it, when did you tell me?? I thought You have it"

Amma ( her mind voice:I'll kill you) : "You even said you have taken it"

Me ( clueless) : "Idu eppo"

Amma: Now??

I called up my brother who was studying in his coaching center like a good boy, and told him we are coming to take the key.

Amma and me back into the car.

Amma ( tired, angry, annoyed): "Ena Shruti, Unaku arive illa di."

Me: "sorry ma, please i am very sorry"

Amma(evil grin on her face): "Have you fallen in love or something??? You have become so absent minded"

Me (paavam, oru payan vazhkai veena poganuma?) : "Po ma vera velai illa, B.tech mudika taavu teerardaam"

Amma: I have to drive 10 kms again :(

Me ( busy with my phone)

Amma: "keep it inside, this is the reason for everything that is happening today"

Me(kept my phone like good girl): "Amma, shall I drive if you are tired?"

Amma: " We need to be back home safely ma, you just keep quiet."

Me: Ok :( sorry!!!

We finally reach coaching center, get the keys, back home!!!

At the parking

Amma: "Again four floors"

Me: "i'll carry the bags :( "

Amma: "Kizhiche, inda oru bag edutundu taduki vizhama vandu seru"

Me ( My image total damage) : "Seri"

We enter inside our house

Me: "Semma day la ma, we got something interesting to talk about in the future."

Amma(oda pada pora look)

Me(just to change the topic): "You want water???"

finally gave her a bowl of ice cream and she cooled down :) :) :)

Enaku semma relief.

Seriously memorable!!!! I have one more stupid story of mine that i can share with my kids :) :) :)

beauty...just about the skin color???

Well, this post has been written out of frustration, irritation and annoyance....

This annoyance, frustration and irritation is caused after listening to uncountably high number of arguments saying "Fair is Beauty", typecasting and making fun of people on the basis of their skin color! and stupid fairness products which unfortunately are even more in number. Especially in India the  obsession with fair complexion refuses to end even today, and  is very disturbing. Some people may claim that we have become a progressive society and such stereotypes no longer exist in our society, but I say it does exist and it is very unfortunate.

 A standard ad in the matrimonial column of any indian daily says " Wanted an extremely Fair Woman for a handsome guy" and this proves the beauty norms of our country very clearly!!! Besides that, there is an ever increasing popularity of the fairness creams, skin tone lightening powders and what not. Ever imagined the mental state of a dark girl with a lot of potential, who is competent enough but is demoralized and discouraged just because of her skin color! is this right??? I say its absolutely wrong! This not just discourages her but no wonder it also pushes her into using these good for nothing products, loosing her self confidence and her originality too...why just talk of women here, these days even men have fallen prey to these useless stuff...the definition of a perfect man "Tall Dark and Handsome" has changed to "Tall Fair and Handsome" :( :( more over the famous people like Shahrukh Khan, Suriya, Priyanka, Katrina and many many influential people encouraging it by endorsing these products is even more disheartening as there are so many people who idolize them...and in an urge to become like their favorite stars turn towards these products!!!

Isn't this high time to stop judging people just based on their skin color? Aren't we mature enough to look beyond the skin deep beauty? 

I personally think we need to wake up and stand against these meaningless issues. These things are doing nothing but strengthening and supporting social bias thus hindering in any kind of progress that we apparently believe to be happening in our country...

This is just my view, everyone has theirs right! :) :)

Festival of colors, Holi!

Just like many hindu festivals, Holi has a mythological story of its own....

Holi is not only about colors and sweets. It reminds of the divine and eternal love of Krishna and Radha. It also reminds one of Narashima, Prahlada and Hiranyakashyapa and thus the fact that ‘Truth and Humanity are invincible forces in the Universe’.

This was the mythological significance of the festival of colors. Now comes its part in my life. 

I have been brought up fully in north india, hence, holi has been a part of my life since I was a toddler.

One day before the holi festival Appa would buy us colors, water baloons, and our water guns. I remember getting a water gun that had a small water tank, wearing that like a school bag would make us look like some farmer who sprays pesticides over his crops.Now comes 'THE DAY'.  On the day of holi, in the morning...not very early Amma would take out some of the oldest clothes for me and my younger brother.Apply some oil on our face so that it is not difficult to take the colors off once we are done with playing. Appa would fill a bucket with colored water and some balloons, thinking we would splash the water and the balloons on others, but on contradictory all that color would end up on us as we were the youngest in our society. After playing for a couple of hours we would look so colorful and so unrecognizable that even Amma would take a minute to realize that we are Shruti and Shravan...Then she would spend next one hour on trying to remove all the color. No matter how hard she tried, color had to stay for next three days... 

As we grew up our Holi gang expanded, we shifted from Delhi to bareilly. Here we played holi in the local park with not a bucket but a big drum of colored water, powdered colors that would go off easily transformed into pakka colors that wouldn't go for whole one week! Students going to school like 'AVATAR' characters was a common sight as holi colors refused go off even after holi vacations got over. We shifted to 'OUR' home finally in bareilly after 6 years of our stay in rented houses in the city. Our new home was an apartment, apparently the first apartment in the town hence was famous. A holi party was arranged by the residents. Best thing about it was that Amma who had never played holi in all these years of her stay in Shahjahanpur, Delhi and Bareilly played her first holi! Had our first well organized holi, sweets, thandai and the colors. Sad thing about it was that, it was our last holi in Bareilly. Appa got transferred to Lucknow. 

In lucknow holi became limited to having sweets, visiting friend's place, they visiting ours. Playing holi became limited only to Shravan who had his toli .... Well, not really! I did stop playing holi after we shifted from bareilly to lucknow due to lack of a proper group but it all changed this year! Our first Holi at our new apartment, all of us played like we used to, every year. We had an awesome holi party arranged at our apartment, colors, sweets and also a cricket match. Though i won't call it a perfect one as the most important part of the family, my little brother was in delhi...far away from us :(  :( and everyone missed him. Next time i am sure it will be an even better holi as he'll be there with us. A more colorful one.....even more fun filled.