The peoplewho truly make India Shine

It had been an action packed weekend in the best possible way. The long Raksha Bandhan/Independence Day weekend meant an exciting whirlwind of extended family get togethers, cousins staying over for the weekend and oodles of family bonding which left me in a state of happy exhaustion. So when Monday rolled around, I decided a relaxing massage was in order but since all the spas were closed for Independence Day, I decided to try my luck with the friendly neighbourhood malishwali (lady masseuse). My tentative query was met with an answer in the affirmative that she was indeed working "Only for my special old customers" and she would be there in an hour.

The stage was set up for an hour of indulgence in my improvised 'home spa'. The fragrant essential oils had been blended, the scented candles lit and I was just getting ready to hit the play button on some of my favourite music, when she conversationally asked me about the relevant merits of buying an Acer vs. an HP laptop. Now the Good Lord knows I am no electronics expert but I did my best from the little titbits I have picked up from my smarter and geekier friends. She politely thanked me (while making a mental note to counter check with more 'with-it' customers I'm sure) and then told me she was planning on picking up a laptop for her school going kids. "Education is important and I want them to have every advantage" she said. I smiled and nodded and silently doffed my cap to the courage and patience of this lady.

She started of as one of the many masseuse in a neighbourhood gym and when tariff wars made mobile phones affordable for many more people she capitalised on the opportunity to turn entrepreneur. It was hard work, harder still if come sun, shine, rain or hail a customer appointment meant a commitment which had to be met, even if it entailed arriving half frozen walking in the cold winter fogs or risking heatstroke in the blistering summer months. She persevered however, building up her client base bit by bit, her modes of transport marking the milestones on the road to prosperity, long walks being replaced by a cycle and eventually a motor scooter. She battled more than one setback on the way, be it a road accident which left her bed ridden for a couple of months or the loss of income when her husband quit a stable factory job for a not so successful stab at entrepreneurship. However she persevered through it all and now she dreams of a much brighter future for her children. "I walked into a mall for the first time yesterday Didi" she told me proudly, "However I was not shy at all since I knew I could buy the best laptop for my children" .

Bravo Chanda! I salute you and the millions more like you who are not waiting around for the Government to help or the babucracy to dole out favours. They make use of the opportunities which the India of the 21st century has to offer and build upon these with the sweat of their brow to create success stories which are inspiring and humbling for a child of privilege like me. This is truly where India is shining and may many more of her toiling millions continue to craft success stories like these.

Happy Independence Day Everyone. Jai Hind.

My New Year’s Prayer

As we bid farewell to the second of the New Year’s days,
hear my simple entreaties Dear Lord I pray.
Not participating in Miss World so won’t say please end all war and strife,
(Though yes I humbly ask for peace and happiness in everybody’s life).
My wishes are more plebian but I still ask with all my might,
Dear God will you please please pretty please abolish cellulite!
And though for others I may cook and bake,
may celery sticks form the bulk of my food intake.
And believe me I did always lament,
That I have not the patience of a saint.
So help me God that I am not an acerbic witch,
when dealing with the friendly neighbourhood bitch.
And also help me be patient demure and coy,
when well meaning aunties trot out eligible boys
And dear lord deliver me from the he-men who swagger and strut and flirt and think they are ‘it’,
when in any civilized society they would be deemed misfits
These dudes drive me outa my mind,
so can you please send my way the men who are loving, giving, witty, bright and kind?
And Lord If it’s not asking for too much in a potential urbane mate,
may this wonderful wonderful man also be single and straight?

Merry Christmas

I spent a heavenly two hours this morning or atleast heavenly by my lights as I curled up on my couch wrapped up in a quilt, it's warmth ably supplemented by a cup egg nog (or was it the other way round?!) and a slice of plum cake within easy reach. While I toasted my feet before the room heater, A Christmas Carol that most beloved of all beloved Christmas stories warmed me to the cockles of my heart.This is a Christmas tradition with me, and a favourite part of one of my favourite festivals. Every year Charles Dickens'beautiful yuletide fable of the true meaning of Christmas tops my holiday reading list and each year it moves me to tears while in the best traditions of great literature also offering new dimensions which may not have struck me on previous readings no matter how numerous.

But since Christmas is a time of bountiful plenty, here is a list of some more of my favourite things that make the Yuletide gay :)

Family and friends

Christmas is the season of reunions, shopping expedition and warm family dinners on cold winter nights. It is the season when friends dine out, crappy food, ambience and service still make for a fantastic evening because of the joy, love and camaraderie shared by the group. Christmas is also the season when my friends return home from the far flung corners of the globe to share new adventures and revive old scandal, laugh, tease, gossip and transport me to that wonderful world where we are all forever eighteen.

Christmas Trees

Small and large, short and tall, white and green, trimmed with snow, tinsel or lights I LOVE them all ( though I admit to a partiality for vintage classics). My tree usually goes up in early December and dismantling it post the New Year is usually so heartbreaking that I have sometimes procrastinated the evil hour almost till the time when Valentine hearts rather than Christmas holly was the decoration of choice!

Plum pudding....
....and plum cake and mince pies and yule logs and stollen and gingerbread men and........well you get the picture :)

Vintage Christmas movies

Its a wonderful life,Miracle on 34th Street, Meet me in St Louis (has any version of 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas' come close to Judy Garland's original? NAAAAH) etc etc I love them ALL.

That was my quick list and I'm sure everyone has their own lists of everything that goes into making this one of the most wonderful times of the year. A very Merry Christmas to all and in the immortal words of Tiny Tim "God bless us, every one!"

Appreciating Gaia on Environment Day

In ancient Greece the Earth was personified as Gaia and worshipped as a Mother Goddess or Great Goddess in the Greek pantheon. For the ancient Greeks, oaths sworn in the name of Gaia were the most binding of all. But then of course this was the pre -plastics that choke the earth, pre- fossil fuels that spew poisonous fumes into the atmosphere, pre- factories that pollute the waters of our rivers -world.
Worry not, this post is not meant to be another diatribe against the terrible damage that we are inflicting upon the environment. So I will not talk about how by the year 2020 (a mere 11 years away) less than 5% of the Amazon Rain Forests will remain in pristine condition and 1/5 th of central Africa's forests will have disappeared due to climate change. Nor will I discuss that many central and eastern Himalayan glaciers will melt by the year 2035, nor express my horror at the fact that 5 lakh humans will lose their lives due to a fallout of climate change by the year 2030. I won't even talk about the fact that an entire island nation: The Maldives will become uninhabitable by the year 2050. No I'm sure these and other equally horrifying statistics were read/seen/heard by all of us through the various media on World Environment Day which just passed us by on June 5th.In short, I will not preach to you wake up and smell the (pesticides laden?) coffee because there is no rewind button on this horror movie called global warming! Instead I will focus your attention on the theme of World Environment Day 2009: "Your planet needs you-Unite to combat Climate Change".
Yes our planet needs us, but not half as much as we need it,because (NEWSFLASH!!) the Earth is the only planet that we have to call home!! So instead of sanctimonious sermons and pious preaching, I shall just list a few basic measures to give our planet a helping hand. After all you don't have to be an ancient Greek to show Gaia you care!

AT HOME

• Conserve water by not letting the tap run while shaving, washing your face, or brushing your teeth. Go that extra mile by installing shower heads with low flow so that you can be squeaky clean without being an Eco criminal!
• Use heaters with timers to conserve electricity
• All the macho men out there , use an electric razor or hand razor with replaceable blades instead of disposable razors. You will go a long way towards reducing waste and the ladies will love you as much (if not more) for being well groomed AND Eco considerate!

Use towels for drying your face and hands instead of tissues that are used and thrown away. Also, hang your towels to dry so that they can be reused several times. You are after all clean when you use them!

Instead of getting your own individual copy of the daily paper, catch up on the news with the copy in your office or public places like coffee shops. However if you need your news fix with your morning caffeine/OJ/breakfast cereal/current favourite breakfast food, do the responsible thing and RECYCLE

When packing your lunch, opt for reusable containers for food storage instead of wrapping the food with aluminum foil or plastic wrap.

Switch off all the lights and appliances when you are not in a room or when stepping out of the house. Also unplug chargers as they continue to consume even if they are not charging. Pssst double whammy Eco tip: Saving energy also helps reduce air pollution.

Don’t place lamps or TV sets near your air-conditioning thermostat as it senses heat from these appliances, which can cause the air-conditioner to run longer than necessary.

When cooking dinner, match the size of the pan to the size of the heating element to lower energy wastage.

When you are feeling your laziest, don’t throw clean clothes in the hamper to avoid hanging them up! Wear jeans more than once

AT WORK

• Need your morning caffeine fix? Don't we all! Just remember that using a washable mug is an environmentally-friendly alternative to non-biodegradable styrofoam or plastic cups.
• Leave a cup and reusable bottle for water at work to eliminate buying drinks, which get served in plastic cups, or bottled water. 80% of plastic bottles are recyclable but only 20% are actually recycled
• When you need a pad for lists and messages, turn over an old document and write on the back of that instead
• Take a printout only when absolutely unavoidable
• If you must print, use recycled sheets instead of fresh ones whenever possible. The trees you save will thank you........with loads of life giving oxygen
• Speaking of oxygen......a fabulous way to cheer up your workspace is with a lil potted plant. It looks good AND removes pollutants from the environment while generating oxygen for you
• Lower your office’s carbon footprint by seeing computers, monitors, printers, copiers, speakers and other business equipment to their energy saving feature and turning them off at the end of the day
• Turning off all unnecessary lights, especially in unused offices and conference rooms is an easy way to save energy

WHEN STEPPING OUT

• Cut down on your fossil fuel consumption walk or ride a bike over short distances (great for toning the legs too) and carpool or use public transport whenever possible for longer distances
• Buy a car providing better mileage (watch your money grow as you help save the environment) and always maintain the optimal pressure in your car tyres
• Always carry a cloth bag with you when out shopping……..makes it easy to say no to plastic

And the simplest of all..........Plant a Tree!! Here's to a greener planet and a happier, healthier you!!

Bura na maano holi hai!!

• I LOVE Holi! I love the colours, the gujiya, the fun and the frolicking with family and friends. However I HATE the eve teasing, the fact that every lout on the street seems to equate this festival with license to feel up women at will. And while the police force makes the usual noises about how they are making adequate bandobast to ensure that women on the streets are safe, experience has taught me that self help is usually the best help. So here are a few tips which may help you have a fun AND safe Holi
• Move around in groups: Single women are always viewed as soft targets on Holi so make sure that you always move around in large groups with family and friends
• No is not a dirty word: In fact it's a very useful one to use when you don't want some stranger pawing you with his dirty hands. If you are uncomfortable with strangers or even casual acquaintances with a none too friendly glint their eyes playing holi with you just say no. If they pout there is always that old chesnut (that eve teasers usually use on Holi) to fall back on "Bura na maano Holi hai!"
• At a party be very careful of what you eat or drink: Bhang is often mixed in your pakoras,gujiyas,thandai etc and if you are knocked out or high you are very very vulnerable. Keep a centralised police number in your city (in Delhi it is 100, 011-100 from cell phones ) on speed dial on your cellphones. This has helped me out in a dire emergency on two occasions.
• Carry pepper spray with you: The modern woman's best friend! Just use it responsibly so that you don't end up temporarily blinding a friend by mistake!

Wish you are your families a fantabulous holi. May the holi ke rang truly be the colours of joy.

Caught in the cross-fire

I had hit Delhi Haat yesterday to sample some of my favourite momos with fruit beer after a long long time(why long?that's a story for another day) and yet avoid the weekend crowds and the accompanying dangers of being jostled around by asweaty mass of humanity. As I was preparing to enter the Haat I stopped dead in my tracks on seeing the photograph of an emaciated young woman with a steel claw instead of a hand.The picture was on a poster for an exhibition of photographs inside and I decided to have a dekho while I was at the heart. I spent a truamatic 15 minutes at that exhibition and yet I'm glad I went.

The exhibition titled "Caught in the Cross fire" highlighted the plight of civilian casualties of armed conflicts and the illegal trade in arms.Though I'll admit that the presentation could have been better, the photographs themselves were outstanding.Spanning the work of photographers across two decades and almost all the continents, they ranged from the startling to the heart-rending.

Though all the photographs were eye openers, those of children, some no older than 10 or 11, enrolled as child "soldiers' by guerilla 'armies" were especiallydisturbing. One particularly poignant one was of a young girl, not more than 15-16 who was enrolled as a child soldier in Uganda.She was wearing a London school sweatshirt when chances were that she hadn't probably seen the inside of even a primary school and would probably be dead long before her 18th birthday- the age at which any one of us would have enrolled in university.

The exhibition is currently on in 16 countries across the globe.In New Delhi it's on at the Delhi Haat till the 15th of October.Please do visit if you can.Alternately visit

http://controlarms.org

and please do sign the petition.