Blogodyam

Memories Gushing back!!

2008-02-22T08:09:00.000-08:00

Huh..started blogging on Feb 21 an odd day!!! Is it the reason why nothing is coming to my mind as to what to post or is it the long forgotten memories which are kicking me back again. Yeah, I think, it is the memories which making me go Paranoid. As if I am sitting in front of 50 other students and reading out my essay loud. Looking at their expressions, giggling, smiling, trying to understand what crap I am reading out, trying to see when the class is going to be over, trying to point out my grammar and spelling mistakes.!! Hmm, it was during my 5th grade.

We used to stay in Sindri, Bihar(now a part of Jharkhand), 20yrs back, a small township which mainly consisted of employees working in Government company where my father used to work. It had one decent School and there used to be heavy competition. Somehow due to lack of grey cells, I lost in the competition and hence had to compromise with Hindi medium government school. All was well, when one fine day a friend of my father who was getting transferred to some other city, advised my dad to get me admitted in a good reputed (English medium) school situated in the next town, where his daughter was studying and I could be replaced as she was leaving the school. My parents were elated by the news, but it hit me hard. I remember I got pale by hearing the name of the school itself, as it was a missionary school. Not speaking English, was always an inner fear.

Soon, the day came when I was to go to this missionary school along with my parents to be interviewed by the Principal of the school to see, if I was eligible enough to be admitted there. I silently tip-toed into Principal’s room and I still remember how scary the room looked and that was the first time I ever saw a Nun. All the fears locked deep inside my heart came kicking out of me. I was asked various questions by the Principal and my replies were mostly in silent nods or a simple ‘YES’ or ‘No’!! Gosh I remember the look on my Dad’s face. When the interview was over, we were then asked to sit outside till they call us. It was a wait of no hope for my parents. A little while later, my dad was called inside principal’s room. I tried my best to listen what was going on inside, and I could here my dad requesting the Principal for one more chance and to see how I could excel in the results! To my dismay the Principal agreed on the condition that I should clear all the subjects in the final exams, if not, I would be expelled.

I had to join the school very next day and already 3 months of the school was over there. It was a nightmare from day 1. Each and every moment there was moment of challenge and disparity. School was very strict, If any teacher hears us talking in Hindi, resulted in Fine, and had to stand outside the class. I had no friends and was always lost in thoughts. I cleared all the subjects that year except for English and surprisingly low marks in Hindi subject as well. Being a daughter of south Indian parents, even my written Hindi knowledge was bad. My parents were given one more warning and I was promoted to 5th class(I was hoping that they would expell me!!). By the mid term, I was hopeless as ever in English and was looking forward to join back my old school.

Suddenly a new twist in my life, as my dad got promoted and were transferred to Delhi, the capital of India!! (don’t know why, promotion is generally attached with transfers in Govt. Companies in India). Slowly as I was getting used to this new school, again the same fear pounded inside my heart once again. This time a new school, a new place, a new city..dont know what more I have to go through. It was a again a difficult mission for my parents to get an admission for me after reaching delhi; both my brother and sister easily got admissions. My parents tried in the same school my sister got, which was a relatively new school and the principal agreed on the same conditions as in my previous missionary school, that I should be able to clear all the subjects in my finals!! Huh!!

Well I felt Delhi would be a rude shock to me after what I have gone through in my previous school experience but to my surprise it welcomed me with both hands. There were students who were kids of people from all spheres of life , unlike back in Bihar, where everybody knew everybody’s parents and hence the immense competition and pressure. Lack of constant comparison with neighborhood children relaxed me. Second surprise came in the form of my Principal who turned out to be our Math teacher as well. By God’s grace, I was good in Math, because the math taught here was already taught in my previous school as it was an ICSE board(math is tougher there!). My principal was impressed by my work and used to show my notebook as an example for others. This small act resulted in a whole lot of friends in class and thus another leap in my self-confidence. My dad made a habit to read newspaper every morning to all 3 of us. I used to voluntar for speaking out current news during morning assembly in school. Later on I never saw a red mark in my report card. …After all these years, this blogging has again brought me back to the same stage, where I would be reviewed by thousand strangers!! All the old memories gushing back and forth. .. waiting for my little sun-shine!!

Chinese Checkers!!

2008-02-25T09:10:00.000-08:00

Walking through Sports section in Walmart, my eyes fell on Chinese Checkers board game. Geee …I was so happy looking at the game, as if I have met some long-last friend. For lazy people like me and on top of it, a seemingly never ending winters in Boston, this game grabbed all my attention and immediately bought one. My husband had no idea about the game which surprised me and made me all the more enthused to teach him. As it is, it was weekend, he had no other way to escape my new found love!

As soon as we came back home, made a nice tea and some Pakodas for appetizers. Quickly opened the game and started arranging all the marbles on the board. The first question asked by my husband was, ’ is the game invented in China?’. I, with my half knowledge, confidently said ‘Yes of course!’ . But later when I googled it, I found that this game, surprisingly originated in Germany with different name. Later on, an American gave the name of the game as ‘Chinese Checker’ to make it feel more exotic!! Therefore, this is one more Gyanodayam for me, that there is nothing Chinese in Chinese Checker game other than the name!

Well, to share the good news, out of 20 plays, that me and my husband played, I won 18 of them, and other 2 just to make him feel good..he he!! But I know there is one person, who gives me stiff completion in this game and that is my 70 year old Ammamma(My materal grandmother!). When I was in India last time, I spent a good precious time with my ammamma and she loves this game. We used to play this game together every day of my stay with her. I saw how happy she used to be, like a small kid, whenever she defeated me. It made me happy to see that I could give this little happiness, during this stage of her life.

Height of Immaturity!!!

2008-02-26T08:37:00.000-08:00

When I saw this actor for the first time in movie ‘Parampara’, I was like uggggghhhhhh…At that time I was sure he won’t survive longer than 2-3 movies more. But all my assumptions proved wrong when son of Actress Sharmila Tagore, Saif Ali Khan, gave an awesome performance in ‘Dil Chahta Hai’. He improved upon his acting by leaps and bounds!! And then came series of movies like ‘Kal ho na Ho’, ‘Salaam Namasthe’, ‘Being Cyrus’ etc and he eventually became one of my favorite actors. Coming to his personal life, he first got married to Amrita Singh, who was almost 10years older to him and had had two daughters too in that marriage. At that time I felt may be love is blind. Then once success came to his feet, he dumped Amrita and started dating some White girl. I felt ok, this happens, cos he married to Amrita just at 22years of age and may be at that age he took a wrong step. But no, one cant do same mistake twice. Now, again he dumped his previous girl friend and is dating Actress Kareena Kapoor who is 10years younger to him!! Its funny that Saif doesn’t find a girl around his age!! And quite sarcastically Kareena dated Shahid Kapoor who was couple of years younger to her for 4 years till she got hooked up with Saif. Well may be love is blind again. I accept that there should be no age bar in love, but then one would expect maturity with age. Saif at the age of 38 gets a tattoo on his right hand of Kareena’s name, whom he has been dating just over couple of months!! Does he know tattoos are permanent and that he might have to surgically remove the tattoo in case he dumps Kareena. A person who is always in and out of relations, I felt this act of tattoo is a height of Immaturity and I read somewhere that whole film industry is laughing on his act.

Games such as Boxing worth a game!!

2008-02-28T09:11:00.001-08:00

I never understood games such as these. Why such games are played in the name of sports! One man hitting another man, how good is that game in society? I don’t see any kind of sportiveness in such games but more of barbaric, next to hooliganism. On top of it games like WWF which is popularized by media people, should have been banned long time. Sports hazards are involved in lot of games, I agree but games such as these is like watching a crime in the name of entertainment . There is one more game, called Fencing, which I guess is far more dangerous. Surprisingly barbarous games likes dog-fighting, hen fighting are banned unlike where men fight with each other like animals are not banned till date.

WII - A Gaming Revolution!

2008-03-03T14:46:00.000-08:00

I guess my blog is becoming more of sports oriented but I couldn’t stop myself from writing what I have experienced this weekend. WII, a gaming revolution. My husband has been nagging me since months (funnily he is bread-earner and I am home-maker, but I behave as if I have to spend my hard earned money [:p]) to buy this WII stuff. I was under the impression that this is again some video game which is hooked to TV and played, which didn’t raise any kind of interest to me. With price tag of nearly $350 along with the gadgets, I was no way for it.

We went to my husband’s colleague’s house this weekend ..its been ages since we went to anybody’s house this winter..so the family get-together was a welcome relief for us. Their kid was so excited about this WII game which they bought and he insisted to play that. I know even my husband was as much excited but he made sure that he doesn’t bring those expressions on his face, but I got the message..i guess its telepathy! Few minutes later my feelings were no different from my husband. More than the game I was amazed by its technological innovation. Absolutely wire-free, it so accurately catches our hand moments, as if we are playing in a real time environment. What attracted me to the WII was, unlike other computer games such as XBox, PS2 games, this ground breaking technology expects us to stand, swing and move. On contrary to my blog about Boxing, I loved boxing game in WII, because it actually perspired me and a good catch for a couch potato people like us. Moreover I was kicking the avatar choosen by my husband in that virtual environment and was having a gala time..:)). I heard some doctors too are using WII game as rehabilitation method for physically challenged people. Isnt it great!

At the end of the day, my husband was happy, not only did he get chance lo play with WII but also convinced me to buy one. On the way back home, we tried digging out all the game shop outlets, but to our dismay WII consoles are heavily sold out and are not available in the market. To my surprise, its not available anywhere online as well. I don’t understand the reason behind its non availability, is it a strategy or poor production planning. Anyways right now, we both are eagerly awaiting to make WII ours too, till then we will keep on digging all the shops.

Filmfare Awards - 2008

2008-03-04T11:28:00.001-08:00

Once again thanks to Internet, got to watch the prestigious award show of Bollywood finally. Though there are hell lot of award shows, I prefer watching Filmfare Awards, of all, since childhood. Since last two shows of Filmfare, it has become a Black-Tie event, though lot of them don’t follow it, but still there’s lot of significant improvement. Just like our movies, our award shows, are full of colour, masti, lights, music and controversies!!! This year Saif-Shahrukh made a comeback as hosts after 3years. First time, when they hosted the show together, it came in the news, that it is one of best shows ever hosted with such a good sense of humour and I couldn’t agree less. This year again it was their turn, to bring out the magic which they first brought on-screen through movie ‘Kal Ho Na Ho’. This time it was a bit rude, bit loud, bit sarcasm than the last one which might have come as shock to lot of film fraternity as there were some direct attacks. I hope people take this sportively. Well as one of the ‘Aam Janta’, I would like to post some of my likes and dislikes of the show, in terms of performance, fashion, hosting, awards etc.

Likes

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Kareena and Preity zinta looked gorgeous among all the heroines. Kareena’s sexy saree and matching earrings were simply superb.
Among men the list is big :) . Hrithik looked smart as ever, but he seemed lost throughout the show. Ranbir Kapoor dressed well. Neel Mukesh looked dashing.
Watching my favourite Hindi comedian Arshad Warsi having nice time laughing throughout the show. Surprised to see Tollywood hero Raja, and he seemed to enjoy the show too.
Award going to Aamir Khan for ‘Taare Zameen Par’ as Best Director. I think this is high time Aamir should leave his promise of not attending any film awards in India other than National Awards. Though he doesnt mind attending Oscars!!
Deepika Pandukone’s stage performance was simply awesome. It was a bit long performance but she showed immense stage confidence. Surprisingly, Vivek Oberoi’s performance was very captivating too.
Kareena acknowledging Shahid’s effort when giving her speech accepting best actress award for ‘Jab We Met’. I never thought she would take his name after they split! That’s a good maturity she showed.
Shahrukh-Saif performance was itself a highlight of the show. They commenting on Amitabh for not inviting them to Abhi-Ash’s marriage in a very funny way. This really requires lot of guts. Had it been in Tollywood, if any actor giving indirect comment on Chiru, there would be strike in AP!!
Rishi Kapoor’s life time achievement award. He looked cute as ever. Dimple saying she lost her heart to him 35years back and never got back and Neetu Singh applauding for it.
Akshay Kumar taking Nariyal award sportively.

Dislikes
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I have to mention this first!!! Gauri Khan’s tanned look and horrible choice of makeup and gown on top of it. She looked one of the characters in ‘Men In Black’ :)
Bipasha Basu’s hairdo and horrible choice of gown.
Deepika Pandukone’s face didn’t match with her choice of gown either. She looked uncomfortable but her face looked stunning as ever.
Music director of Saawariya, didn’t even tucked in his shirt in that black-tie event. At least all those nominated should have followed the rules.
Shahrukh-Saif’s towel performance. It was too much to be digested. That part could have been omitted.
Karan Johar’s voice. I guess he had bad throat, that part could have been transferred to somebody else.
Akshay Kumar’s performance as finale event. I could see people getting bored by it.
Darsheel Safary being nominated among Best actors award category. It seemed both unfair to him and other senior actor. He should have been given due recognition as Best Child actor and there was no such category at all.
Some film technicians were not given the opportunity to speak on mike. Technicians, musicians and actors should be treated equally, everybody should get chance to express their gratitude. That is one thing that I like in Oscars which is not there in our movie award shows.
Amitabh’s family missing. It seemed deliberate. Last year Shahrukh khan was missing. Hmm when will they all grow up.

Crazy 8's

2008-03-05T09:51:00.000-08:00

Jayashri tagged me with the "crazy 8's" so here I go!Crazy 8's8

Things I am passionate about
1. My Husband
2. My Sister
3. My Parents
4. My community in Orkut
5. My blog
6. My Sarees
7. My Friends
8. My Trips so far around the world.

8 Things I want to do before I die
1. To own a big independent house somewhere outside India and enjoy for some years
2. To own a big Independent house in India too :) and settle down there.
3. To give Bharatnatyam performance on stage again.
4. To visit all 7 wonders of the world.
5. To visit all continents of the world except Antarctica may be.
6. To get myself a small tattoo.
7. To go on luxury cruise
8. To be able to either adopt a kid or support an orphan till he grows up.

8 Things I say often
1. Good Good
2. Mast(telugu ppl will know what it is)
3. Oh Shoot
4. Hmmmm
5. Vorni(telugu ppl will know what it is)
6. Kannalu (that’s how I call my husband)
7. Oh
8. Aaakali :)

8 Books I've read recently
1. The Kiss – Daniel Steel
2. The Sky is Falling – Sidney Sheldon
3. Windmills of the Gods – Sidney Sheldon

8 songs I could listen to over and over
1. Songs of Happy Days Movie
2. Songs of Kishore Kumar
3. Hit songs of Asha Bhonsle
4. Songs of Geetanjali
5. Songs of Shakira
6. Songs of Jodha Akbar
7. Marriage song from Murari and Pelli Pustkam
8. Few songs of Chandamama

8 Things that attract me to my best friends
1. Speaking my mind.
2. My concern for them
3. Sharing everything without any secrets.
4. Can call me anytime they feel like
5. Same kind of thinking
6. They just call me and feel good about it.

Happy Holi !

2008-03-22T12:28:00.001-07:00

Following my daily schedule, I came online to check if any of my family members are online and nobody was there. Waited for an hour or so, but no sign of them! Having lost the patience, called on my sis’s mobile, only to hear lot of commotion on the other end. I asked why she didn’t come online today barely able to hear her, to that she yelled ‘Hey NRI, don’t you know today is Holi and we are outside, enjoying!!!’ . Listening to that I felt so sick and depressed. I could feel the smell of those Holi ‘Gulals’ and ‘Gujiyas’!! When in India, before my marriage, I avoided Holi in its full festivity for three years, because the holi colour did lot of damage to my skin in the past, but I used to enjoy the other aspect of Holi, i.e., sweets and bhaang!! For those who don’t know what ‘Bhaang’ is, it is a traditional drink, made out of milk, ghee and spices. It is said that it releases anxiety and gives energy to play Holi. After marriage, when we shifted to Bangalore, it was as good as staying in USA, cos I never used to find traces of Holi there too. Now, when I look back, its been 9 years since I played Holi with full zeal, forgetting the time till it used to be evening, drenching ourselves in all possible colors and nobody used to recognize each other’s face. Spending an hour in the bathroom, using ‘SURF’ rather than soap to remove colors from the skin. Infact the holi fever used to start 2-3 days before just like diwali. Buying colours, deciding which old clothes to wear, what sweets to be prepared and to be careful while walking down the street, don’t know when the color bomb will fall on you from one of the balconies. All my mom’s friends used to gather together along with their kiddos, and used to make Gujiyas in large scale. It used to be such fun. But with time, bad chemicals used in Holi colors, changing attitude of people, the real magic of Holi is diminishing slowly everywhere ditto with the magic of Diwali too. Due to all restrictions like air pollution and sound pollution caused due to crackers, diwali has not been like it used to be once. I don’t know if these restrictions are good or not, but these festivals are part of Hindu culture or rather I should say part of Indian culture and it should be enjoyed in its pure essence with better quality colors during Holi and better quality crackers during Diwali!! Well, whatever it is, I cannot enjoy these festivals as long as I am on foreign lands but atleast I had been there and done that. I only wish that these festivals don’t extinct away with time, as I want my kids to experience them too when we go back to India. Till then ‘Holi Mubarak’ to all the readers.

Allari Naresh – The next Rajendra Prasad?

2008-04-04T11:41:00.000-07:00

I guess every telugu person will agree that Rajendra Prasad’s movies brings smile to every person who watches his movies. I heard somewhere that even though Chiranjeevi has biggest fan following in Andhra, but still every telugu family can see Rajendra Prasad’s movies more than once just to enjoy the humour. Now its ditto with Allari Naresh. Though he is not as famous as other top actors in Telugu movie industry, he is consciously choosing all comedy movies and making a mark. . I feel more than any emotion, making the audience laugh is a biggest task for an actor. Just few months back I saw Allari Naresh’s first movie ‘Allari’, and I couldn’t digest the movie at all. But his last movie ‘Seema Shastry’ which I saw, was a 100% hilarious movie I have seen during recent times. I have seen a significant improvement in his acting skills too. I hope he chooses such movies too in future and becomes a legend in comedy movies unlike others who choose stereotypical macho guy roles!!

My 1st year in US!! Huh!!

2008-04-11T15:48:00.000-07:00

So much has happened since last 1 year yet time went by with such great speed. One year in USA, huh! Before coming here, I made a lot of preconceived notion about this country. Like most of the fellow Indians, I felt whole of US is like New York, Chicago..with high rise buildings everywhere and busy life almost like our own Mumbai. Even so I went to Germany with the same notion 3years back and to my surprise, the place we stayed was such a laid back city. I dreaded the hustle bustle of India during my 2years of stay in Germany. After coming here, I realized why Indians adjust to this country very fast than any other country in the world. The shocking fact for me was Americans are more cultured and traditional than Europeans which I used to assume otherwise. So here is how my past 1 year in US was:

Approach : Americans are very friendly in approach than the kind of experience we had back in Germany, ofcourse the blame goes to our lack of deutsch language proficiency. But as much as Americans are approachable, Indians are not as approachable. May be because of population of desis here, that one desis doesn’t give a damn about other desi, even if we look at them and give our sweetest smile. Or there is some certain Quickstar/Amway danger that they see, everytime an Indian smiles at them!!! Hmm cant blame them either, even we were pulled into the above marketing gimmick, but thankfully we came out of it in right time. So I better don’t go into this subject!!

Disappointment: Next thing was, I had a tough time accepting the fact that there is almost nill public transportation here except until you are staying in Downtown(main city area!!!). Almost for everything you have to depend on Car. With so much scarcity of Petrol all over the world, an American would take out a big Dodge just to go to next mile!!! That’s really sad isn’t it!

Experience: The other thing I learned here is, you are nothing here without a CREDIT HISTORY. If you are an Alien(foreigner) over here, for everything like purchasing car, or getting a credit card you need to have a good CREDIT HISTORY. Well the name itself tells, if you want to survive in US, start taking credit!!! So for newcomers like us, due to lack of credit history, our car loan, insurance, credit limit, etc everything sucked, which actually results into less savings than our counterpart back in India. Well to gain some, we have to loose some!

Incident: Next came our terrible car accident. It was like just death approaching in front of us, that suddenly we were given chance for another life by Yamaraj! Our car was Totaled(that’s how Americans refer to total damage of car!). But I was amazed that how quickly, we were taken care of during the accident and everybody from the Cop(police) to general public were co-operative. Bought a new Camry after the accident and just loving it.

Places: Had the opportunity of visiting Niagara falls, which i dreamt of since a long time. It was as breath-taking as it was in my dreams. After that even got a chance to see Big Apple(New York downtown!). Enjoyed in the sands of Cape Cod beaches of Boston. Cherished the falls colors in White Mountains, New Hampshire

Missed: Missed my brother’s house warming ceremony. Missed to see my new born nephew. Missed my best friend’s wedding.

Best part: My hubby got a good job. I got a chance of meeting lot of my virtual friends face to face which was another high for me!

Worst part: Wasn’t able to make through the h1 lottery system. I keep wondering why the H1 rule changed only when I landed here. Other worst part, I could not climb up the next stage of my life. Hmm well that’s fate!!

Already 30!!!!

2008-04-24T11:53:00.000-07:00

10 years back I was scared when I was leaving my teens and entered my 20’s. Now 10years later, the same fear has creeped inside me. I turned 30 on 17th April. Thankgod, I was vacationing in California otherwise the fact that I am approaching middle age would have made me go mad. But to say so, my birthday this time was one of the memorable ones. For the first time in my life, had the opportunity of cutting two surprise cakes, may be this was God’s way of telling that ‘Be happy my child, you are not that old yet :) !!!' .

My friend SRV whom I met through orkut, insisted that we meet when we visit Sanfrancisco. I was not so sure as were spending only 2.5 days there. Somehow I convinced my hubby, and agreed to meet SRV in an Indian restaurant for dinner on 16th night. Then again she insisted to visit her home first and then we all can leave together for dinner. We agreed as it was on the way. The route from San Francisco to Fremont, where SRV stayed was horrible. Roads were too bumpy and as we rented the car there, we were under the impression that there was something wrong with the car but later we realized it had nothing to do with the car but the road conditions were such. Anyway after nearly 45 minutes drive we reached SRV’s apartment and as I knocked her apartment door. There she was standing with the birthday balloons. For a second, I didn’t understand what was it that she was holding, as it was still 16th and moreover SRV didn’t show a clue that she knew about my birthday while we talked on phone. Actually I was so surprised that I didn’t react!!! Later she even brought a yummy cake for me which I cut and relished eating it. SRV’s hubby had lot of work that day, but still he took time for us and we all went to Sarvana Bhavan for dinner. Food was simply awesome there. Later after dinner we all roamed around Bay Area, Silicon Valley, Santa Clara area till 12AM in car. It was amazing to see all those areas, as it reminded me of Bangalore, with all software companies, desi shops, desi restaurants and hardly one can see Americans there. As it was late to go back to our hotel, we opted to sleep in SRV’s house.

My phone started ringing from the night itself. First it was my sister, then to my surprise next call was my Father-in-Law and Mother- in-Law. This is the first time after my marriage that they have called me and wished me for my birthday. Surprisingly even got a call from sister-in-law(hubby’s sister) and her hubby to wish me. Hmm it was too much of happiness for me to weigh!!

Next day on 17th morning, we went back to our hotel and checked out as we had flight to catch that evening for Los Angeles and we headed to San Jose to my relative’s place. After nearly 1 hour drive, I was surprised with yet another cake from my relative. This time again, I had no clue that she knew about my birthday. She prepared some awesome dishes for lunch and had long hearty chit-chat all together. Soon it was time for our flight and we had to bid adieu to San Francisco and one of my memorable day.

My West Coast trip!

2008-04-28T16:24:00.000-07:00

Thanks to my swollen foot caused due to 8 day trip, my post about my West Coast trip took time to shape. This is my first long trip after coming to US. You already might have got a little peek into my trip through my last post. I would like to share (torture u!!) some really memorable moments during the trip.

My hubby is currently working in software division of a Hotels brand which has likes of Sheraton, West Inn, Le Meridian as their brand hotels. So, we got employee rebates in the above 5 star hotels, which we otherwise might have not afforded : ) . We started our trip on 15th april 08 and returned back to our abode on 23rd april 08 with our first stop at San Francisco.

San Francisco – What impressed me most about the place, is its streets. Almost all streets in San Francisco are steep and hilly. The way people parked their cars in those almost 70 degree inclined roads, was worth watching. The most correct example for this is Lombard street which is known as Crookedest street in the world. What is awesome about the street is not its crookedness, but the approach to that street which was so steep, that while driving, we feared we will fall/roll back. Hubby had to put one leg on Breaks and one leg on Accelerator!!! Other than this, the major thing to visit San Francisco is obviously Golden Gate Bridge. I always wondered why the bridge is called Golden Gate when infact it is red in color. So after visiting Golden Gate Bridge, I had gyanodyam, that its called Golden because, with the amount of iron used in the construction of the bridge is equal to that of Gold!! Other things we covered in San Francisco were China Town, Twin Peaks, Golden Gate Park, Union Square, Transamerica Pyramid, Pier 39 and Embarcadero. Outskirts of San Francisco, we had a glance at Bay Area too.

Los Angeles – Our next stop after San Francisco was Los Angeles, where we arrived on 17th April. Our hotel was just adjacent to Universal Studios. The best part of the trip, we rented a Mini Cooper to travel around LA. The first thing we visited after arriving LA, is Hollywood Boulevard, the world famous street where the venue of Oscar awards rests, The Kodak Theatre. Other than Kodak Theatre, the street is famous for Hollywood Hall of Fame stars, where the whole pavement of the street is embedded with star tiles with names of some famous Hollywood stars. One memorable part of this trip is, I had a glimpse of Kodak theatre from inside and it was truly mesmerizing. After the Hollywood Boulevard, we headed to Beverly Hills, where many Hollywood stars reside. Though I didn’t get glimpse of any Hollywood stars about whom I had knowledge of, but homes there were simply out of the world. Other things we visited here were Paramount Studios, Universal Studios, Hollywood Sign and Rodeo Drive. Gyanodyam I had in this trip was about Hollywood Sign, that it was just an advertising gimmick of some Real Estate people to attract people to invest in that area, it had nothing to do with Hollywood as such!!

Las Vegas- Our next and last stop in the trip was Las Vegas, and the trip could not have ended with a better place than Vegas. I was appalled by the energy the city oozed. I was under impression that Vegas comes to life only during nights, but no, its cheerful and lively 24/7. There is nothing particular to see in Vegas but yet there is so much to see that for us 3 days were not enough. Luckily we stayed in Planet Hollywood Hotel, right in the heart of Vegas strip. Enjoyed some free shows in different hotels of Vegas strip. Enjoyed one paid show known as ‘V-The Ultimate Show’ was true to its name. We missed the real Gondola ride when we visited Venice 2yrs back, so got the opportunity to ride one here in the staged up Venetian. After loosing some 20$ in casino, didn’t attempt much of our hands further in gambling clearly knowing our fate in such things!!! The most attractive part of Vegas is not only its Casinos, but how each hotel, based on particular theme, have decorated their casinos, lobbies, shops etc. For example our hotel, Planet Hollywood was based on Hollywood theme, Newyork Newyork hotel based on Newyork Skyline, Luxor hotel based on Egyptian art, Caesars Palace hotel based on Greece art and so on so forth!..

Gamut of Emotions!

2008-04-29T09:58:00.000-07:00

This post is solely for my friends whom I have made through my (was) community in Orkut. 2 days back I decided to delete my Orkut account, that meant cutting off myself from the community which I created two years back. A community which was became part of my soul. It was just a click of button to delete the account, but it led to whole lot of emotional turmoil. I was emotionally divided into two parts. One said, I did right thing and the other telling me it’s a foolish act. To top it all, my hubby was let down by my decision. He was shocked and angry at the same time when I told him I deleted my Orkut account. He got all the more agitated when he observed that I disconnected my landline and did not attend calls of my friends who were trying to get in touch with me to know why I vanished suddenly.

I used to keep telling my hubby that this community gave me some kind of identity in the society, a kind of self-confidence which I never had till now. Now all of a sudden when I deleted the account, my hubby questioned me, where has my identity and self-respect gone?? He accused me that I don’t know how to fight the odds and with disconnecting myself from friends, is an act of cowardness. He says when somebody did something wrong, then have the strength and courage to tell that person straight forward. He knows, how much time I used to dedicate for the community, now when its gone, he questioned me how am I going to spend my day without it??!! Join another networking site?? I replied that I would try to spend time by exercising, reading novels, blogging, making friends in our apartment. To that he asked me what if the mentality of the people in our apartment doesn’t match that of yours? I said may be then I will do some voluntary job and make myself busy. He then asked what if you don’t see an eye with somebody there too, will u leave that too? For the first time, I could not defend myself to what my hubby was arguing because I know deep inside, that what he was saying was right. He said with coming out of the community, the person with whom I was pissed off, I made that person winner/correct. That person would give a damn about you, and here you would be sitting depressed giving away all the hard work you did.

I knew that one day I would have to give away the community to somebody as I could not carry it on for ever. But I wanted to come out of it in dignified manner. This time I feared that I may loose dignity if I stay longer in the community. I have been really hurt by one of the members of the community who once was supposed to be my very good friend. Her sharp remarks/comments made a deep impact on me. She was the one who remarked that I should rest and give community to someone else as I was stressing myself!!! Yes i said previously that as the community is getting hacked constantly, i should quit, may be this will resolve the problem, but not that i am stressed!! She never understood that the community could never be a stress to me as its my brainchild, I was just worried that it should be out of all kind of hacking problems. Her every comment/post later, whether it was genuinely positive or not, I was finding her every word negative. To say the least, when there were sharp remarks from her, other friends/members of community remained silent and none defended me though they later expressed me privately yes, what she did was wrong. Everybody wanted to play the safe game and even I thought I should do the same, play the safe game! Remain silent!

I know I received lot of appreciation for my work in community. With the same enthusiasm I tried to protect the community, tried to solve problems, tried to bring together all. I didn’t want a situation where my out of control nature would hamper the sanctity of the community. I know it will take only two days for everybody to forget me. I am happy atleast now the community is in the hands of a person who is better in control of her emotions, has better judging power than me and ofcourse a darling for everybody in the community. Will miss you all and the happenings in the community with my whole heart!!

Mere Papa - Person who taught me the value of Money!

2008-05-10T13:38:00.000-07:00

No other best day to write about my dad other than his birthday. Called him at 12AM India time to wish him, but he was sleeping by that time. Again called him in the morning hours of India, and my bad luck he was gone to Temple and as usual forgot to carry his mobile along. Well that’s my dad forgetting things. He gets confused between all kind of remotes and keeps forgetting which one is for which!!!

Had I been writing this blog few years back, I wouldn’t have guts to write about my dad. Thanks to my marriage, things have changed. We are three children to our parents. During our growing years, dad had a very strict persona, due to which me and my elder brother were always afraid to talk to him. With my brother, it was a typical father-son relationship. Till date, if my brother has to say something to dad, he has to pass on the message via mom. My younger sister, is the only one who has guts to fight with dad, sit on the lap of the dad, enjoy a movie sitting along with dad and laugh with each other.

Born on 10th May 1945(according to his official records, though he doesn’t remember when exactly he was born), did his B.E in electrical engineering from Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh. Got his first job in Delhi, way back in 1970 and since then he never got to go back to Andhra Pradesh to settle down. He got married on 16th May 1972.

Lot of his discipline has rubbed on me. Since past 30 yrs I have seen him, he never misses his morning yoga. Personality wise he hasn’t changed much since 30yrs, other than the receding hairline and some white hair hear and there. His morning yoga habit is one thing, none of his kids have inherited, much to his chagrin. He always detests material possession and believes in simplicity and honesty. When as a child, I always used to wonder why some of my dad’s colleague used to have their own home, stylish furniture, new car while we didn’t had. But as I grew up and understood, why his colleagues were better off financially and not my dad, I started respecting my dad more and more. Like any other hard working middle class, engineer, all the electrical repair work at home is taken over by him. He simply loves playing with electrical gadgets and bringing it back to working condition. Other than this, he has innate passion for Indian classical music and dance. He would sometimes travel some 45kms to attend classical music programs alone!! This is one more arena, where we kids have let him down. He wanted one of us to learn classical music but none of us showed interest during our growing years and now its bit late. Though I tried to possess his another passion and learned Bharatnatyam for 5yrs and later discontinued. He still urges that I should continue learning Bharatnatyam if I get chance!!. His another quality which I love, is his concern about pollution in general. He would go out of his way, to do whatever possible which prevents pollution. Though he possesses a car since last 15years, he rarely uses it to travel to his office which used to be 40kms from our home. Now at the age of 63, he still travels in buses(he sometimes has to change 3 buses) to go to his office and would never take out car.

The only thing which I don’t like about my dad is his temper and we could never suspect when he gets angry. Though with age and two grand children, he has mellowed down a lot. Surprisingly he keeps asking my mom every other day, whether I have called and this insight makes me emotional. Daddy, Papa, Nanagaru, you should celeberate atleast another 40 birthdays. Happy Birthday!

U Me Aur Hum – A good attempt by Ajay Devgan!

2008-05-13T08:51:00.000-07:00

Yeah I know, its been long time since the movie got released and I am giving very late review but I cant stop writing about it, since I got to see the movie yesterday finally. I don’t know whether Ajay Devgan choose to direct a movie on Alzheimer’s in commercial point of view, as now a days such movies have become a trend it seems or was it really with sensitive point of view. Whatever could be the reason, Ajay as a first time director, has crafted the movie very well. I personally liked this movie more than ‘Black’.

In the first one hour, when Ajay Devgan was trying to woo Kajol, there seemed to be no magic between both of them considering they are real life couple. But when the story takes total U turn after first one hour, both Ajay Devgan and Kajol gave their best performances and chemistry between them was prominent. The best scene in the movie was where character of Ajay Devgan realizes that it is he who is dependent on his wife and not vice-versa is very well and honestly enacted. Kajol who is any day a better performer than Ajay Devgan did a good job enacting as an Alzheimer’s patient.

Finally, I cannot stop telling the negative points of the movie. As I told the first one hour of the movie was a bit drag. Secondly, Kajol’s makeup or was it that there was no makeup on her. Her face through most part of the movie lacked the spark. Even the costumes specially worn by Kajol, it seems she consciously choose only Black and white color which did nothing to her looks otherwise. Ajay for his next movies should choose better music directors and lyricists.

If anybody still out there, who haven’t seen the movie, please do see the movie and enjoy the well conceptualized and sensitive movie.

Blog – How did the word originate?

2008-05-13T09:13:00.000-07:00

The above question came into my mind just few moments back and the right place to look for the answer was obviously Google.

So here is the copy-paste of the new Gyanodyam I had about the word ‘Blog’ and its origins :
‘It's a shortened form of the word "weblog" or "web log."The word weblog has been around since 1993. Originally, it was just a computerized record of the requests handled by a webserver. Then, it started to mean a website run by single human being, often in the form of a journal. A log is a chronological recording of events by ships at sea. Hence a blog which is an online diary is generally in the chronological form. The earliest known use of that meaning was in 1997. 1999 marks the first recorded use of the shortened form "blog."’

Hmm so isn’t this an interesting piece of info!

My Wildest Fantasy !!!

2008-05-19T07:05:00.000-07:00

Hey Friends, have you all had any wildest fantasy. If at all you have any, then pick up this tag from my blog and write about your wildest fantasy.

For me, my wildest fantasy is to get married all over again, with none other than my hubby ofcourse but in a different set up. I want to get married in the church with a flowing white gown and a tiara on my head!!! I want to see all men in my family and my hubby’s family in Tuxedo!! It makes me smile to imagine elder woman in my family in a formal western gowns, so I will spare them with their sarees itself in my fantasy. The best part of my fantasy would be, when I would kiss my hubby after the ceremony, all our folks should look with admiration but not faint away with the shock of their lives..he he!!! I love the way, the wedding cake is decorated in western countries, so I would like to cut one of those dream wedding cake in my fantasy. To see each of the couple in our families, ball dancing together(oh man! I just cant stop laughing imagining the scene!!) in wedding reception.

Note to Desis(Hindus Specially) :- Being a Hindu myself, here I am not trying to ridicule our culture. I love our culture and our marriage ceremonies too. This is just to share with you all, the fantasy, I have always dreamed of because fantasies are something which remains a fantasy. May be if I would have born as a Christian, my fantasy would be that of a Hindu marriage :) . So this post is just for fun, nothing serious..nothing religious!

Does this happen only to me??

2008-05-20T07:22:00.002-07:00

I keep wondering, does this happen only with me!!! Yesterday I pushed myself and took the work of cleaning my kitchen. Married ladies would know, how much time it takes to clean the kitchen!!! So it took nearly an hour or more to make my kitchen spot free. Today morning I remembered I have to set milk for curd, so I put milk for boiling on the stove and stood right there watching it so that I can switch off the stove when it starts to boil. Was standing patiently for 15 minutes, when suddenly I got a call on my mobile which was kept in my bedroom. I didn’t budge from my place and let the call go. After 2mins again somebody tried to call, and now I felt it must be something urgent. I ran to bedroom and picked up mobile and my guess was right it was my hubby. I was coming back to kitchen when he requested me to look for some phone number , so reduced the flame of the stove and went back to bedroom to search the number requested. Then as a curse, I forgot about the milk, and kept on talking to him while looking for the number. And there it goes my day of hardwork..waaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh….

And to tell you, this is not the first time, there is something about this milk boiling curse. There are some rare times, when I carefully take out the milk from the stove before it gets spilled out of the dish. But as a curse, whenever I clean my kitchen stove spot free, the next day milk has to get spilled to ruin my day :(((( ……ee bahut naa insafi hai

Big B’s Blog !!!!!

2008-05-21T15:16:00.000-07:00

Was hearing about our very own Big B’s Blog since long time and got the chance to peek at the famous blog. Being such a famous personality, it was hard for me to believe at first that it is indeed, he who is writing the blog. I guess Aamir Khan’s blog is inspiring all celebrities to try their hand in blogging. Unlike Aamir Khan’s writings, AB’s posts are more deep, extensive, philosophical and very much literary kind of work. Its sheer joy to read his English literary which is as pure as his Hindi. Its indeed great to see every single day a new post from him, imagining his busy schedule, age and larger than life personality.

The only thing which kept me bugging was this particular post in his blog http://blogs.bigadda.com/ab/2008/05/15/day-28i/ about all this issue of misunderstanding between him and Shahrukh. He seemed to be very politically correct and trying to put an image of Mr Nice in front of all readers. First he apologizes to Shahrukh by saying ‘If there has been, for any reason whatsoever, a lapse or error on my part I wish to apologize for it right here and now. If any expression or opinion of mine, deemed or otherwise towards Shah Rukh has been the cause for any grievance then I am sorry for it. I have never deliberately or with any false intent ever meant or said anything towards him, or indeed any colleague or member of my fraternity in my 40 years as a professional.’ Then he goes on to praising Shahrukh and his wife for being so nice to them!!! And then finally saying that he wants to end this issue. With all this what he wrote, I personally found it very immature!! For me, either he should have come out clearly about what went wrong or shouldn’t have bring up the subject in a public blog. When the whole world knew and saw that people like Pretiy Zinta, Kajol and Karan Zohar were invited to Abhi-Ash’s marriage particularly excluding Shahrukh, then how does he want to make readers believe that nothing went wrong between them!! Had he been so nice, why couldn’t he simply end the cold war by inviting Shahrukh to marriage. As per my filmy knowledge, before this cold war started between two, both of them were invited to each other’s home for every function and specially for holi where both families used to celeberate together. Hmm baat kuch hazam nahi hui!!!!!

Now I am eagerly waiting for Shahrukh’s Blog ;))))!!!

Outrageous Accusation by Mr. George Bush!

2008-05-28T09:14:00.000-07:00

I hope I have heard it right that Mr. George Bush, President of United States of America, accused India as well as China for the global food shortage!! I tried to search in google about this controversial statement made by Mr. Bush and here is that statement -

"There are 350 million people in India, who are classified as middle class. That's bigger than America ... and when you start getting wealth, you start demanding better nutrition and better food. And so demand is high and that causes the price to go up."

And soon after I came to know about this issue, I got a forward mail, which I wanted to share with you all.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
GERMANY:
The Melander family of Bargteheide - 2 adults, 2 teenagers
Food expenditure for one week: 375.39 Euros or $500.07

UNITED STATES:
The Revis family of North Carolina - 2 adults, 2 teenagers
Food expenditure for one week: $341.98

JAPAN:
The Ukita family of Kodaira City - 2 adults, 2 teenagers
Food expenditure for one week: 37,699 Yen or $317.25

ITALY:
The Manzo family of Sicily - 2 adults, 3 kids
Food expenditure for one week: 214.36 Euros or $260.11

MEXICO:
The Casales family of Cuernavaca - 2 adults, 3 kids
Food expenditure for one week: 1,862.78 Mexican Pesos or $189.09

POLAND:
The Sobczynscy family of Konstancin-Jeziorna - 4 adults, 1 teenager
Food expenditure for one week: 582.48 Zlotys or $151.27

EGYPT:
The Ahmed family of Cairo - 7 adults, 5 kids
Food expenditure for one week: 387.85 Egyptian Pounds or $68.53

ECUADOR:
The Ayme family of Tingo - 4 adults, 5 teenagers
Food expenditure for one week: $31.55

BHUTAN:
The Namgay family of Shingkhey Village - 7 adults, 6 kids
Food expenditure for one week: 224.93 ngultrum or $5.03

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now tell me guys(I know only desis read my blog!), aren’t you angry with the statement that Mr. Bush made. What made me particularly angry, that is he expecting us not to eat nutritious food because it raises the cost of food!!! Moreover as far as my General Knowledge goes, India is self sustained for its own food. What is wrong in consuming what we grow in our own country!! Hmm its sad to see US, crying for oil over Iran, Iraq and other south east countries and now its crying for food over India and China.

My new Enemy, My Neighbor !

2008-05-29T08:50:00.000-07:00

They just shifted to our neighborhood just last week. Seeing their kids, I was happy that every morning I can keep looking at their cute little house and their kids playing in it. I felt with warm summers, the sight of my neighbors in the mornings would make my day.

But no I was wrong!! It has been a nightmare since last 5 days. Our neighborhood kids get up early in the morning at 5 a.m and start shouting at their best of squeakiest voice. Imagine early in the morning at 5’o clock for late risers like me, its one big blow. They keep on making those awful sounds till morning 9.30 AM. The worst part, I cant complain about them to our apartment management!! I guess we have to bear with our new neighbors till someday they plan to shift to some other place.
My husband has been teasing me that may be this is some plan of my father, to make me get up early in the morning :( . Hey by the way I have taken a photograph of my new neighbors and have pasted it below. Can you see their house/nest in between those leaves????

Atlast Justice been Served – ‘Nitish Katara Murder case’

2008-05-29T14:31:00.000-07:00

I am not sure if any of you are aware of this famous case until you are from Delhi. This ghastly incident happened just before my marriage in Feb 2002. I was deeply moved with the plight of Nitish Katara’s mother, Neelam, who fought for the case indefinitely. I used to read and absorb every bit of the news relating to the case and somewhere deep in my heart used to pray that justice should be served.

For those who don’t know about the case, here is the gist-
Nitish Katara, 24yr old business executive, son of an IAS officer was in love with Bharati Yadav, the daughter of famous Uttar Pradesh politician D.P.Yadav. D.P.Yadav himself was involved in many criminal cases. As a perfect bollywood movie story, D.P.Yadav’s family was not happy with the relationship of Nitish and Bharati and threatened Nitish with dire consequences in past. On the fateful day 17th Feb 2002, Nitish and Bharati attended a common friend’s wedding. Bharati’s brother Vikas and his cousin were also present at the wedding. They took Nitish from there for a ride never to return back home! The following morning his body was found on a highway battered and burnt to death. Soon after the murder, Bharati Yadav was sent to U.K for further studies. Bharati’s brothers were soon abducted but case went on till now and they were not found guilty till few days back. In between Bharati Yadav had to come to India, because of some legal visa formalities and hence she had to be present in court for the Nitish Katara murder case testimony. There was a huge media hype and thankfully media supported Nitish Katara’s mother who was fighting for justice. When Bharati Yadav was questioned in the court about her love affair with Nitish, she simply denied of any relationship and said they were just very good friends. Apparently the lawyer standing for Yadav’s requested Nitish’s mother to sit in back rows of the court during Bharati’s testimony!!! Media went ballistic about this whole issue and I couldn’t agree less. It’s said that Bharati Yadav went into lot of pressure from her family to give a false testimony. Inspired by ‘Rang De Basanti’ movie, there were silent candle light morchas too at India Gate for justice for this case as well as another famous Jessica Lal murder case.

There are many famous pending cases in Supreme court and High Courts of India, which have been running on since years. Many including me never had faith on the Indian Judiciary system. But lately there have been some pleasant verdicts from the Indian courts. In the past, Santosh Kumar Singh who was found guilty in famous Priyadarshan Mattoo murder case was given a death sentence by High Court of Delhi. Now in this Nitish Katara murder case too, Vikas Yadav and his cousin have been found guilty at last on 28th of May 2008 and will be soon given their punishment which could be either life-term imprisonment or death sentence. Mr D.P.Yadav’s political life has also been said to be dwindling. Better late than never, I have started seeing some hope and realized that truth indeed wins.

A class for Manners!

2008-06-03T08:39:00.000-07:00

The other day while I was learning to drive car, my driving instructor asked me, my qualification. Upon flaunting my P.G degree, she quoted that all Indians are generally well educated and most of them she met were Post Graduates. For that moment I felt proud. On the same day in evening we went to Indian Grocery store in our place. The whole parking lot was full, except for the one right in front of the store. There were some couple of Indian families standing in that parking lot and were chatting merrily. We waited for couple of minutes, and one of them even saw us, waiting there to park our car. But they didn’t budge from their place until my husband had to honk the car. Then they moved out of that place giving an angry look at us. I bet if we were not Indians, they would have moved right away and may be even would have felt sorry. I was so irritated by their behavior and started to say ‘Typical Indian mentality’ but had to hold back myself. May be if this happened in India, I wouldn’t have minded it infact this wouldn’t have been an issue at all. But being outside India since 3 years, there is a definite change in me. Here we get so much used to basic courtesy that if somebody doesn’t show back the same courtesy we become offended. When driving on main roads, when a car which is trying to merge from sub-lanes to main road and if we stop our car and give them right to merge first, people here(USA) will wave their hands at us to say thanks. Even when there is no zebra crossing on the roads, here if somebody is trying to cross the road in a busy town, traffic from both directions will stop immediately to let the person cross the road completely. While getting into a bus or train, even if there would be long queue waiting, people will maintain patience and not try to rub each other just to get in first! Do we even bother about such things back in India, well I never did but now I do!! What is shocking is that even outside India, when it comes to Indian gatherings, the behavior of our desis is almost the same as in India.

Most of the Indians, even in rural India, are now a days pursuing atleast a bachelors degree. But saying so, how many are learning basic manners of life? Do we give enough importance to courtesy in our day to day life? We Indians generally boast upon our multi-culture, multi-traditions, history etc and that includes me. But we don’t get ashamed of scribbling on historical monuments, having a picnic near historical places and leaving our trash right out there, leaving our own historical mark!! Don’t you think being courteous, showing respect to our country’s properties could make India much more beautiful place to stay! But how do we bring this change? Well fortunately I have learnt a lot during all these years but how about people staying in India. We keep saying that what we are, we have that in our genes/blood and nothing could change that. But somewhere we have to do the beginning, changing the attitude of the people, and that has to start from the roots, from the schools! We should have a separate class for ‘Manners’, it should be instilled within us since childhood. Right from schools, children should be taught basic courtesy, respect for our country’s property like historical monuments, rivers, roads, parks etc.

Now when there is so much of economic development in India, I keep asking friends here, who have been settled here since last 10-15 years, whether they are willing to relocate to India, for which most of them didn’t show interest. For most NRIs here money is not the issue, but it’s the respect and people’s good manners which NRIs feel they will miss once they go to India. I am a fierce loyalist to India and I cannot control myself if anybody tries to say anything against about my country. But when it comes to Indians, I always fall short of the words in support.

P.S. I am not trying to say that each person abroad or to be precise developed countries are good in every which way. Similarly i am not trying to say every Indian behaves irrationally. I am just trying to emphasise on good public behaviour which most Indians lack.

Book Tag

2008-06-05T09:08:00.001-07:00

Tagged by Jaya

The rules:
Pick up the nearest book.
Open to page 123.
Find the fifth sentence.
Post the next three sentences.
Tag five people, and acknowledge the person who tagged you

“And they’re still lurking out there somewhere.” “ Does the FBI know about them?” “Yes.”

This is from ‘The Partner’ by John Grisham. I tag this to Sridevi, Reema, Vaibhav and Sameera . Sorry i dont have fifth person to tag!!

Supporting Parents or Compromising with our Old Age?

2008-06-05T12:54:00.000-07:00

I know, I know the title of my post will raise many eyebrows, specially men, married men!!! This is the most common problem I hear from many of my friends, specially woman complaining that half the money earned by them goes to parents of the husband (not the parents of wife!!!). And in many cases the parents of a guy, do not even complain and enjoy the luxury of free salary every month from their son. There are two very crucial things in this case :-

1. Why only guy’s parents should be supported, why not woman’s parents after marriage?
2. Now when we are supporting or giving away what we earned to parents, are we expecting or would expect same from our kids too when we grow old?

In most of the cases, I have heard guy’s saying that its their ‘dharm’(duty) to support parents, because their parents worked hard for their studies and upbringing! Well then why do men don’t believe that even woman’s parents didn’t do any less hard work. Even if a woman is earning her own money, she is still not free to give some part of her earning to her parents as would the men do without even discussing or letting know the wife!! This is something to do with our age old woman’s oppression. Talking about oppression ‘Dowry system’ is again one of the contributing factor for this problem. When a father of a daughter gives dowry for her daughter then he will start expecting the returns from the son. Other than this In India, parents spoon feed kids till they are 24 or till they get married or get job and that’s where the problem starts.

I believe both husband and wife should not part with their earnings with either of the parents until necessary. Before you think I am insensitive, let me tell you, even I have parents and if God’s grace is there, would soon become parents too one day. We too will get old some day. I am not saying when parents get old, ditch them in some old age home and enjoy. No, but personally when I get old I would like to spend my time in old age home with my age people far away from the tantrums of daughter-in-law or son-in-law that too with my own money :))!! Well, what I say is just don’t support parents just because you have to. Support them whenever they have the need for it but not on the cost that your own old age is dependent on others! More than the money, see that you are there when they require you near. If we keep sucking out our hard earned earnings to our parents till we ourselves reach middle age and not enjoy life when we should, then once we get old then we will start expecting the same with our kids to look after us! When will the cycle stop?? I know there can be some exceptions, as some parents may have more dependency but one should try to work out the budget and make our old age self sustainable.

I actually like the system in these western countries, where kids are on their own by the age of 16 and even for studies they work hard, earn their own money and graduate. This way parents do the duty they had to do and rest of the life they live happily enjoying the money they earned without bothering about their kid’s education or marriage!!!