For better or for worse, Happy New Year

I know its Christmas time and the air around is filled with lots of festivities and joy, but it also translates into being busy for a stay at home mom, with my daughter having her holidays, my blog has been pushed to take a back seat. 




But heres wishing that all my readers and fellow bloggers had a very merry and cheerful  Christmas and wishing for a new year that comes with loads of love, luck, happiness and more of good things for all of you. (please leave your wishes too...need them lots and lots!) May it being with it the gifts of joy, goodness, passion, humanity and empathy for all of us. 


Though we all know about the prophecies related to year 2012, we shall all welcome the year with grand celebrations as always, that is what HOPE is all about, such is life. LIVE ON.

The End of the Mayan Calendar is scheduled for December 21, 2012 (give or take a year). The possibilities of what this “end” might mean is an increasingly hot topic on the Internet, in conferences, printed articles, and in discussions all over the globe.  This is because it just might be an incredibly important moment in history -- e.g., the end of history!



For more information on the year 2012 and 2012 prophecies read this article: 2012 Prophecies This powerful article explains everything about the year 2012 and how it relates to the Mayan Calendar. It explains various 2012 prophecies and the significance of the year 2012.


You may also enjoy the article "2012 Problem" by Ralph Miller. It is more of a shamanic view of the year 2012 and the 2012 prophecies. It combines the ancient wisdom of the sacred plant "ayahuasca". You can read this fascinating article on the year 2012 here: 2012 Problem

I also read here ( It says, Every significant Internet provider around the globe is currently in talks with access and content providers to transform the internet into a television-like medium: no more freedom, you pay for a small commercial package of sites you can visit and you'll have to pay for seperate subscriptions for every site that's not in the package.) now this worries me. But looking at the blog, I would rather like to believe that the author has made such remarks to garner more publicity for himself than anything else. Still got my fingers crossed.




How can we forget when how we welcomed the year 2000, even then  the world was going to come to an end, gadgets, phones, machines were not meant to work in the 2000 format, knowing all this we partied harder, so for better or for worse, Happy New Year! 

Destined to...live

With many crusaded dreams,

Painful cherished moments

Cruelly crushed creatures,

Live life to your fullest

We are often told.

Close my eyes see stars,

Even with open eyes, see stars,

Darkness makes them black,

Man makes them blue.

How does one live, love or forgive

What never is what you want

You get only what you deserve

What you are destined, fated

But who knows, who decides?

Child like pleasures,

Man like passion

Woman like misery

No you don’t know it,

No you don’t care.

That’s how I shall keep.

That's how I shall try to

Live.

Compliments

My days’ started off wonderfully. I got the 2^nd most beautiful comment in my life!  (But both of them haven’t come from my husband, or boyfriends for that matter.)

I know I never write about personal stuff much, but don’t know today am typing this, will find out only later if I post this or not.

Coming back to the compliment I received, ohh, the only thing that could beat it was if it had come from my husband, or just any other guy instead of this sweet girl.

She saw me at the gym, lazily working out, I am THE laziest member of the class, even the instructor says so, but I’m also the only one who’s been attending his class from the start, so I guess it evens it out.

After the class, we met in the changing room, she started hesitantly, “May I say something to you?”, and I was like, OH no, here it comes, what could it be, my shoes my top or my pants, or even worse, is there a tag stuck behind my back…gosh!

“Ya, sure tell me” with a small smile that took more force than those push-ups!

“Your face…”

My hands instantly go to my face, what?

She continues, “Your face is very attractive, your features are very nice…”

I relax and even blush, “Oh thank you, that very sweet of you.” I can’t take criticism but I don’t even like getting compliments, it embarrasses me. I know they mean well and good, but still I happen to look at the person suspiciously.

“When I saw you I felt like I wanted to keep looking at you, could not take my eyes off your face”, she adds.

Well now I was almost blushing, has this person been a guy I would have swelled, but as she was a female, made me wonder, think and even suspect her motives, see I told you na I get suspicious.

But later when we spoke and I figured out she was not a lesbian and meant no evil, I felt swell! It made me so happy that I hope I dint gain some inches with the swelling!

Giving compliments is a mean task, especially to a stranger, so kudos to this girl, whose name also I dint get. But even otherwise, one needs to put aside his/her ego and to give a compliment, more so if it to someone of the same sex.

But there are some compliments which somehow sound like insults. Any accolade or praise, even though meant in good spirits, that leave you confused is a bad compliment. They strike you like, no she dint just say that, not in front of an audience!

 “You are looking nice today”, don’t I look nice on other days?

“Your hair’s looking good, where did you get it cut?”, are you saying my hair’s not nice, but only coz of the cut it’s looking good?

“Are those your real eyes?”, no I’m wearing artificial eyes!

 “That dress makes you look thin”, Am I fat?

“Wow, is that a natural tan?”, yes I was born dark, nothings fair.

“You have a very photogenic face”, does this mean I don’t look good in real?

Another of these confused compliments that most of us receive while growing up is, you can do better. Why isn’t what I did good enough? Why you want better?

Your daughter in law is very good”, identified and accepted as a perfect bali-ka-bakra (sacrificial goat) cause “good daughter-in-law” here means, dumb, as in both stupid and mute.

But the most dreaded compliment that no woman wants to here has to be, “congratulations, your baby bump is so cute”, when you are not even pregnant! I’ve stopped congratulating people till I’m 100%sure that she’s expecting.

Another female oriented compliment-cum-insult has to be, “you drive pretty well for a woman”, and I don’t have any words for this one.

Once a very long time back, a friend of mine had tagged me as “a tit-for-tat person”, later she tried very hard to justify saying she meant it in a good way, but I was not. It was for this same person that I had got into a fight with my seniors at work, and she was saying this to the same senior “That’s how Pooja is, let it go”

I remember, I colleague of mine got engaged to this jerk of a guy from the same office, and when I found out, the best I could say was “good for you”, she not knowing that it was not a nice compliment took it as a congratulatory remark.

I know it tough to get over some of these compliments, but the best possible way to deal with them, as per my experience is, to ignore them. Say a thank you, with a smile and let it go, as innocently as it was said, take it like it was not meant to be that way. Maybe the speaker is not as fluent with her language skills as you are. Most of the times, the person’s intentions are innocent, but even it not, thank you works best, as it’s like a missed shot for the person. It will annoy the person when you don’t flare up or get hurt as per his/her expectation.

Have a good day! And make sure your compliment are just what they ought to be.

A Starry Sunday

Yesterday two “stars” were in Indore. I’m not naming them because I don’t want to give them any more publicity than they already have garnered, as it is, these days it’s pretty easy to guess who one is talking about, as the options are limited to those who have a film releasing in the near future.

Well we, ,my husband and me, were unaware of this fact (habit of not reading the newspaper on Sundays is a bad one and needs to be changed ASAP), and happened to take our daughter for a fun filled Sunday at the same place, my daughter happens to love that particular mall’s play zone. But we were in for a shock. 

The moment we entered the mall we were faced with a sea of people, not knowing the gravity of the situation, we assumed it to be limited to the ground floor only. Thinking the floors on higher levels would be better off we started towards it.

But only the ground to 1^st floor escalators (lifts were closed, and even the escalators were not functioning), were passable. On the next level we realized we were stuck, security people would not let us go down thinking we (a least interested couple holding a scared 5year kid) would mob the stars and the audience would not let us go upstairs thinking we would take away their precious prized positions.

As it is someone later told us, that the mall’s staff was all busy keeping the crowds in control behind the tight ropes, so there was no one available at the play zone. So now going down was the only option left.

Somehow we managed to get a “spot”, actually an envious spot, on the same escalator through which we had come upstairs. The view was great from here, we could see the stage clearly and at the same time, there was no-one pushing or pulling us either. We had more than once requested, demanded and even pleaded the security people to help us leave the mall, but they told us, as the crowds was getting larger the gates had been closed so as to keep new people from arriving.  So finally we accepted the fact that we were destined to give the “stars” a glimpse.

Stuti, my daughter, wanted to know where did so many people come from and why, it’s the biggest pool of people she had ever seen, and when I explained to her about the star crazy public, she innocently asked me “so Mumma, all these people have come from all over India?” and she was shocked when I told her no beta, they all are from Indore only, but then she had to ask me where do these people go on other Sundays? To which I had no answer.

After waiting for more than an hour (an hour for us, more than 2-3 hours for many who had come since a long time to get to see these actors), being told another 10-15 minutes for more than 10 times, the stars finally arrived. Arrived they did! To mikes not working, bouncers hitting and pushing the crowds, and whistles all over the mall. Did I mention the air-conditioning or ventilation was also not doing its job properly!

What happened was complete chaos, not at all properly planned, ridiculously managed and even pathetically executed. Temperatures were rising, tempers were flying and people were getting more and more out of control. To add to all this, 2-3 glass panes, huge glass panes, fell off from escalators on the ground floors. Thank God no injuries were caused.

First of all such events, I feel, should not be planned in enclosed places, and even if they are the authorities should make sure their infrastructure is appropriate not for the crowds anticipated but for the actual numbers. And if you are having such stars come, don’t advertise, as it is, word spreads, by leaking it the media you are inviting the general public, then don’t tell them how to behave.

 

On talking to a few of the security people, I found out they had not anticipated such a turn around. Hello, what do you expect? In a country where actors and cricketers are only second to God, who would miss this opportunity, especially on a Sunday?

I think, even our public is to be blamed. Can someone please explain to me, yes I’m an idiot, what does a guy get when he sees a beautiful actress (only after she’s layered herself with tons of makeup), on a stage, just waving her hands to generally everyone or rather no one, after waiting for more than 2-3 hours and shoving and pushing the crowds, and also fighting with the guards? After being treated like a jerk, he still is happy just seeing him and her on stage?