Hey there… It has been two-three months and I haven’t been updating my blog as regularly as I used to… Cant even think of excuses… But yes, it takes extra efforts to borrow somebody else’s laptop and if the internet is slow, there are no second thoughts of updating my blog. And the major problem is that whenever I get a laptop, I am out of thoughts and when I am full of thoughts I never have a computer. I do write them in my diary, but because I don’t carry it along everywhere with me, the thoughts go nowhere beyond my diary’s reach.
Hmm… ok… Instead of giving pointless explanations, I should better proceed writing about something else… Hmm… NEWS?? What I have been doing all this semester?
• Well to begin with, I recently read Nishaan Prabhakar’s blog and really liked it, especially his way of writing and sense of humour…
• I have realized I have been eating only this in Manipal more than frequently.
- (At Manipal Juice Center): papaya juice.
- (At Anand Bhavan): plain mysore dosa and orange juice.
- (From Nandini Milk Point): packet Nandini toned milk, mentos lime, kachha aam or melody.
- (At Himalaya Mess): veg-thali, curd and lassi.
- (In a shop near KMC):nariyal pani- meetha pani with patli malai- ahaa… this small shop gives the sweetest coconut water. I am now a regular customer in this shop. Even the uncle (I mean, shop keeper) cuts the coconut so skillfully and looks very gentle-gentle. I like the shop.
- (At Vinayaka): Lime juice and mentos lime, kachha aam or Cadbury shots.
- (At Snack Shack): Death By Chocolate.
- (At Campus Summer Park restaurant in Udupi, which is now my new favourite): Palak soup, dal-khichdi or palak khichdi (palak khichdi depend on whether I had palak soup or not)
- (At parota point): methi parota, muli parota.
- (At Tasty Bites): Rajasthani dal-khichdi
- (At any other eatery): Sweet-corn soup and palak paneer sabzi
- (From the paan shop at TC, sometimes): Meetha paan without supari.
• I hate ants and am extremely allergic to them. And they seem have taken over my room. I mean they are everywhere you can see and everywhere you cannot. Because of those tormenting creatures, I cant keep any food in my room. If I do, I suffer tremendously and keep scratching my body and scalp for the next half an hour and also sneezing. I am always looking of ways to get rid of them and one of the successful ways has been spraying dettol hand-wash on them. They die instantly. I know it sounds cruel, but they are 10 times crueler with what they do to me.
• The next irritating creatures royally lazing around in my room are lizards. Not just my room but the whole flat. I am amazed to see the number of lizards in a 3-bedroom flat. I can easily estimate without even counting that there would approximately be 2 lizards per WALL… yes, easily. And half of them are not any bigger than your index finger. They would suddenly creep out from the least expected places. At least spare the small unavoidable places which can not accommodate a person who finds lizards disgusting and wants to stay as far from them as possible. Please lizards, please, spare the toilets and bathrooms.
• And yes, my room is further uncomfortable as it is in the second floor with no proper ventilation making it unbearably hot. Even I, who would sleep under a blanket without a fan in summers, sweat nowadays. At least I am spared from the power-cuts others suffer of, because of the flat being a part of the MIT hostel.
• I get amused by seeing people brush in the morning. I mean, everybody brushes their teeth (including me) but what amuses me is that some, actually many brush for almost half an hour, with so much of strain and a bored expression as if it is a lot of important work. The funniest thing about this is that they would actually be brushing their teeth in absolutely wrong way- as in different from what dentists suggest.
• I have been realizing that my crush’s and my way of living is quite similar. There have been quite a few coincidences which I have noticed which I am sure nobody knows about. Ha!! I absolutely dote upon my crush. :D:D:D
• And people I will actually harm you if you say I sleep a lot. Paavam I don’t. Last week, I might not have slept more than 30-35hours the whole week. Think of it, average of 4-5 sleep-hours per day. Certainly it is not a lot and less than many reading this (are there any, first of all!??!?) it is just that I sleep at untimely hours which makes you think so.
Achha, I have a lot more to write about, actually a lot more to copy from my diary... Will do it soon... :)
Byee for now... Have to start studying for the mangazine journalism exam tomorrow. WISH ME LUCK!
Monday, November 24, 2008
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Questions and doubts...
Nowadays, it is least astonishing to find an atheist among your friend circle. Roughly ¾ths of this population has lost faith in God. It is one of the latest trends. For many it is considered equivalent to your level of clairvoyance and a proof of how knowledge has widened your wisdom. There are many who chide at the concept of God and bawl heavy dialogues basically mocking the existence of God with no substantial backing.
And the believers on the other hand believe in it, only because they fear it and neither do they have a substantial reason for believing. There are many whom I know who fail to give any explanation and end up answering like, “I know he is there and I believe in him with complete faith. It is upto you now to believe it or not.”
And there are also many who give inane reasons like, “Why else do you think there are happenings around the world whose source no-one knows about? Who else do you think looks after you in your tough times? How is there supernatural stuff in this world noone has an answer to? It is he, god, who supervises all that is happening in this world and guides us. Everything in this world is predecided, we are just puppets to perform the task decided for us.
I know these sound illogical and misguiding, and if it is the only explanation provided by the believers, then there is no surprise to see the increasing number of atheists. And the result is that the upcoming atheists have no proper reasoning to support their atheism and merely opt for it due to lack of proper guidance and valid reasoning.
And in this crowd of growing atheists, I found one undying hope in a believer whose ideas never palpitated even after receiving much criticism about supporting the concept. While talking to her in this context I felt a little inspired. I was impressed by one thing: finally somebody who firmly believed in religion had a reason to believe in it. As we were arguing, she said that it is one of the ways that checks that a person does not cross his limits. A religion gives one a set of rules he must follow to live a decent harmless life. And the rules aren’t set by any common man. They are set by an intellectual keeping in view the psychology of man and the rules best suited for him. They have been followed over generations now and widely accepted because of its feasibility.
It was then a question arose that how can a single person decide what rules should every man and that it should be a decent level of sense everyone should have to not cross limits and be in control. A simple answer to that is “Every man has their own definition of decency and vulgarity. If man is let to abide only to the rules set by himself, why would he make a rule for himself then at the first place. He would do whatever he wishes to with no sense of guilt which would lead to absolute chaos. If man is guided by a set of rules provided by his religion and he agrees to follow it by the fear of the supreme power of almighty, why not? It is only profiting to have such a concept.
As I was writing it down, a question arose in my mind, “Till when can you fool around with humans, creating illusionary characters (lets not debate on this for now) for him to fear and abide by some rules? It is like taming an active kid to sleep by frightening him with tales of ghosts and other scary creatures. After a period, the child will outgrow to such stories and find solid explanations to defy its existence.
“Has the time come in human’s survival to outgrow the subsistence of God???”
And the believers on the other hand believe in it, only because they fear it and neither do they have a substantial reason for believing. There are many whom I know who fail to give any explanation and end up answering like, “I know he is there and I believe in him with complete faith. It is upto you now to believe it or not.”
And there are also many who give inane reasons like, “Why else do you think there are happenings around the world whose source no-one knows about? Who else do you think looks after you in your tough times? How is there supernatural stuff in this world noone has an answer to? It is he, god, who supervises all that is happening in this world and guides us. Everything in this world is predecided, we are just puppets to perform the task decided for us.
I know these sound illogical and misguiding, and if it is the only explanation provided by the believers, then there is no surprise to see the increasing number of atheists. And the result is that the upcoming atheists have no proper reasoning to support their atheism and merely opt for it due to lack of proper guidance and valid reasoning.
And in this crowd of growing atheists, I found one undying hope in a believer whose ideas never palpitated even after receiving much criticism about supporting the concept. While talking to her in this context I felt a little inspired. I was impressed by one thing: finally somebody who firmly believed in religion had a reason to believe in it. As we were arguing, she said that it is one of the ways that checks that a person does not cross his limits. A religion gives one a set of rules he must follow to live a decent harmless life. And the rules aren’t set by any common man. They are set by an intellectual keeping in view the psychology of man and the rules best suited for him. They have been followed over generations now and widely accepted because of its feasibility.
It was then a question arose that how can a single person decide what rules should every man and that it should be a decent level of sense everyone should have to not cross limits and be in control. A simple answer to that is “Every man has their own definition of decency and vulgarity. If man is let to abide only to the rules set by himself, why would he make a rule for himself then at the first place. He would do whatever he wishes to with no sense of guilt which would lead to absolute chaos. If man is guided by a set of rules provided by his religion and he agrees to follow it by the fear of the supreme power of almighty, why not? It is only profiting to have such a concept.
As I was writing it down, a question arose in my mind, “Till when can you fool around with humans, creating illusionary characters (lets not debate on this for now) for him to fear and abide by some rules? It is like taming an active kid to sleep by frightening him with tales of ghosts and other scary creatures. After a period, the child will outgrow to such stories and find solid explanations to defy its existence.
“Has the time come in human’s survival to outgrow the subsistence of God???”
Sunday, October 12, 2008
MINNIE Mouse Pen-stand
Well!!!! Hiiiiiiiiii………
I recently made a very cute Minnie-mouse pen-stand. Actually that day I had pepsi and cup-o-noodles in the night and was left with the empty cans. Looking at the two pepsi cans and the cup-o-noodles plastic bowl which was of a slightly bigger radius than the pepsi cans I was reminded of the three circles used in a mickey mouse cartoon- two for its ears and one for its face. It was then that an idea struck me to make a Minnie-mouse pen-stand out of it. So I cut the pepsi cans into half and painted them black. The cup-o-noodles cup was painted skin colour. Then I stuck them together with fevicol (the two pepsi cans side by side with a little distance between them) and made holes in the cans and put a satin ribbon through it and tied it like a bow. Then I took a thick sheet of paper, cut in the size of the cup-o-noodles circle and drew the eyes, nose and mouth for the Minnie mouse. Made holes in the cup and the sheet and tied them together so that the sheet covered the mouth of the cup. That is all. A simple and yet extremely cute pen-stand! I love it! Will upload its picture once I take a photo of it. Hmm… The sheet can easily be opened and the cup-o-noodles cup would be used to keep small things like eraser, sharpener, nail-cutter or stapler and the other two cans can be used for keeping the pens.
I recently made a very cute Minnie-mouse pen-stand. Actually that day I had pepsi and cup-o-noodles in the night and was left with the empty cans. Looking at the two pepsi cans and the cup-o-noodles plastic bowl which was of a slightly bigger radius than the pepsi cans I was reminded of the three circles used in a mickey mouse cartoon- two for its ears and one for its face. It was then that an idea struck me to make a Minnie-mouse pen-stand out of it. So I cut the pepsi cans into half and painted them black. The cup-o-noodles cup was painted skin colour. Then I stuck them together with fevicol (the two pepsi cans side by side with a little distance between them) and made holes in the cans and put a satin ribbon through it and tied it like a bow. Then I took a thick sheet of paper, cut in the size of the cup-o-noodles circle and drew the eyes, nose and mouth for the Minnie mouse. Made holes in the cup and the sheet and tied them together so that the sheet covered the mouth of the cup. That is all. A simple and yet extremely cute pen-stand! I love it! Will upload its picture once I take a photo of it. Hmm… The sheet can easily be opened and the cup-o-noodles cup would be used to keep small things like eraser, sharpener, nail-cutter or stapler and the other two cans can be used for keeping the pens.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Pappu CAN dance!
Even when I was nothing else, I was always a dancer. Dancing was always something I cherished since countless time. But there were many cranky depressing times when I did not feel very great about knowing how to dance. I would notice other people dancing and conclude that every second person on earth can dance well. Hmm… I am a little wiser now. I have now realized that what if there are better dancers than me. I feel good not in knowing that I am the best dancer in the world but in ruminating that dancing is the best thing I know.
Some of the very early memories I have of dancing are:
I was in Pune, 42 Rastapeth, visiting my grandparents. I fail to remember any other details of my visit or even the house but I retain that one day I was dancing to my own singing in the hall, when tatha (grandfather) quietly came in and saw my solitary performance. He was quite impressed by it and had persuaded my mother to joining me into a dance class. I think it was how I was made to join the Bharthanatyam classes.
My first stage performance if I am not wrong: “Chane ke kheth mein”. Umakka had taught me the steps for the song and I had danced in my mother’s office programme tapping the same steps as Madhuri Dixit had in the film. I was quite happy after getting my first limelight. There were many dance performances from then on. Some bharthanatyam performances my dance teacher used to arrange and many others where I used to choreograph songs, teach them to my friends and synchronize with them.
Third memory is that of my first day in dance class. Appa had come to me one day when I was five and had asked me whether I would like to learn Bharathnatyam. Unaware of the long strange word I had asked him what it was. He told me it is an excellent dance form and I would definitely like it. Those days I was really fascinated by the colourful green masks people wore for mohiniaatam and kathakali. Excited I laid one condition, I would learn it only if I get to wear such masks for dancing. My father agreed and I registered myself for the dance class. I perfectly remember my first day there. I had thought of it as a summer camp thingy, so I had taken green marbles with me to entertain myself, just in case. I had seen boys playing with it and wanted to play too (still want to, though could never understand the game) and somehow had got hold of a handful of them but had not got any time afterwards to play with it. So I had thought of taking it along to the dance class and finally play with it there. I had hidden it in my dupatta which I was supposed to tie around my waist. I had loosely tied the duppatta around my waist, while careully keeping the marbles there. As I reached the class, the first thing my dance teacher did was untie my duppatta as it was very loose (the dupatta is supposed to be tied extremely tightly) and so went my marbles rolling everywhere on the ground. My teacher certainly had not expected it and eyed me suspiciously and being a shy girl at that time I simply blushed. The rest of the session was very boring for me. All through the hour we had to hit the ground hard first with the right leg and then with the left and with hands folded around the waist. This was clearly nowhere as interesting as I had imagined dancing thin-thak dhin-thak thai in green coloured masks. But several months later, I started enjoying it, when we actually started dancing rather than merely thumping our feet on the ground. Even then, I did not consider Bharathnatyam to be the greatest of things, but now, I know its importance and feel proud to identify myself with.
Some of the very early memories I have of dancing are:
I was in Pune, 42 Rastapeth, visiting my grandparents. I fail to remember any other details of my visit or even the house but I retain that one day I was dancing to my own singing in the hall, when tatha (grandfather) quietly came in and saw my solitary performance. He was quite impressed by it and had persuaded my mother to joining me into a dance class. I think it was how I was made to join the Bharthanatyam classes.
My first stage performance if I am not wrong: “Chane ke kheth mein”. Umakka had taught me the steps for the song and I had danced in my mother’s office programme tapping the same steps as Madhuri Dixit had in the film. I was quite happy after getting my first limelight. There were many dance performances from then on. Some bharthanatyam performances my dance teacher used to arrange and many others where I used to choreograph songs, teach them to my friends and synchronize with them.
Third memory is that of my first day in dance class. Appa had come to me one day when I was five and had asked me whether I would like to learn Bharathnatyam. Unaware of the long strange word I had asked him what it was. He told me it is an excellent dance form and I would definitely like it. Those days I was really fascinated by the colourful green masks people wore for mohiniaatam and kathakali. Excited I laid one condition, I would learn it only if I get to wear such masks for dancing. My father agreed and I registered myself for the dance class. I perfectly remember my first day there. I had thought of it as a summer camp thingy, so I had taken green marbles with me to entertain myself, just in case. I had seen boys playing with it and wanted to play too (still want to, though could never understand the game) and somehow had got hold of a handful of them but had not got any time afterwards to play with it. So I had thought of taking it along to the dance class and finally play with it there. I had hidden it in my dupatta which I was supposed to tie around my waist. I had loosely tied the duppatta around my waist, while careully keeping the marbles there. As I reached the class, the first thing my dance teacher did was untie my duppatta as it was very loose (the dupatta is supposed to be tied extremely tightly) and so went my marbles rolling everywhere on the ground. My teacher certainly had not expected it and eyed me suspiciously and being a shy girl at that time I simply blushed. The rest of the session was very boring for me. All through the hour we had to hit the ground hard first with the right leg and then with the left and with hands folded around the waist. This was clearly nowhere as interesting as I had imagined dancing thin-thak dhin-thak thai in green coloured masks. But several months later, I started enjoying it, when we actually started dancing rather than merely thumping our feet on the ground. Even then, I did not consider Bharathnatyam to be the greatest of things, but now, I know its importance and feel proud to identify myself with.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
NAAM KA DAAM!
Names! What is not in a name? Shakespeare made his “name” by saying what is in a name! ahh… there is so much to it. We come to know a lot by just its name. Let us consider people’s names for instance. Here in India, you can know a person’s religion, status, background, the region he belongs to, caste and what not.
There are some legendary names like “Jai Pratap Singh” which in itself denote power! And Kumar’s, Kapoors and Khans are as it is very famous for their connection with the film industry.
While some names picture timid meek fellows like “Kishan Sansarovar” or “Nandan Tomar” or of a south Indian pimp like “ murlidharan muthuswami”, some names make us imagine tappori gundas like “raju misra” or “lakhan yadav”- Waah! Naam mein hi dam hai! Furthermore there are some names which sound of a person highly qualified like “Animesh Mukherjee” or “Deepak Acharya” or “Prajakta Deshmukh” and many sound as a musical tune like “Jignesh Mehra” or “Geetanjali Oberoi”. And not to forget the many Rajs and Rahuls who sound totally filmi in every sense.
Well. There is another category of interesting names- the surname of parsees. They truly represent the occupation and economical status of people. There are railwanis, mathurawalas, tyrewalas, daruwalas, botliwalas and the list goes on. Don’t they sound a little comical?
And yes. Now is the trend of having inimitable extraordinary names. Well the craze for it goes to such an extent that you will come across names like “Labadhi” or even “Vidhdyut” (electricity). There is, many times confusion created by unisex names like “Monu” or “Swapnil”. There are some people in my college who are often regarded as persons of opposite sex because of their names. Naming some of them, I would mention – Roshan, Shakti, Anadi and Yatharth.
Time for secret revelation. Well, I cant help but mention one very personal thing here. Umm… hehehe.. I have in mind already thought of some names for my children. (cheeks red!) well. I have come up with two names for now – Dhwani and Satvika. Dhwani means melody and satvika means pure character. I find both of them very appealing and lovable. Hmm… By the way, I came up with the name Satvika during our history class in the first semester. Our history teacher was once telling us about the schools of thought when he mentioned this name and told its meaning. I instantly made my mind to name my daughter “satvika”! And hey! I have the copyrights of these names so please don’t try copying any of the two names. Haan, you can otherwise copy the other mentioned names similar to Veer Singh Chourasia and all...
So! I end this post here. TATA!!!
There are some legendary names like “Jai Pratap Singh” which in itself denote power! And Kumar’s, Kapoors and Khans are as it is very famous for their connection with the film industry.
While some names picture timid meek fellows like “Kishan Sansarovar” or “Nandan Tomar” or of a south Indian pimp like “ murlidharan muthuswami”, some names make us imagine tappori gundas like “raju misra” or “lakhan yadav”- Waah! Naam mein hi dam hai! Furthermore there are some names which sound of a person highly qualified like “Animesh Mukherjee” or “Deepak Acharya” or “Prajakta Deshmukh” and many sound as a musical tune like “Jignesh Mehra” or “Geetanjali Oberoi”. And not to forget the many Rajs and Rahuls who sound totally filmi in every sense.
Well. There is another category of interesting names- the surname of parsees. They truly represent the occupation and economical status of people. There are railwanis, mathurawalas, tyrewalas, daruwalas, botliwalas and the list goes on. Don’t they sound a little comical?
And yes. Now is the trend of having inimitable extraordinary names. Well the craze for it goes to such an extent that you will come across names like “Labadhi” or even “Vidhdyut” (electricity). There is, many times confusion created by unisex names like “Monu” or “Swapnil”. There are some people in my college who are often regarded as persons of opposite sex because of their names. Naming some of them, I would mention – Roshan, Shakti, Anadi and Yatharth.
Time for secret revelation. Well, I cant help but mention one very personal thing here. Umm… hehehe.. I have in mind already thought of some names for my children. (cheeks red!) well. I have come up with two names for now – Dhwani and Satvika. Dhwani means melody and satvika means pure character. I find both of them very appealing and lovable. Hmm… By the way, I came up with the name Satvika during our history class in the first semester. Our history teacher was once telling us about the schools of thought when he mentioned this name and told its meaning. I instantly made my mind to name my daughter “satvika”! And hey! I have the copyrights of these names so please don’t try copying any of the two names. Haan, you can otherwise copy the other mentioned names similar to Veer Singh Chourasia and all...
So! I end this post here. TATA!!!
my favourites!
Since childhood I was fascinated to be unique and different from others in all possible ways. And unknowingly my choices have been very different from others. Here are a few examples.
My favourite colour: guess! No, you would not be able to guess it. It is ORANGE. I seriously feel it is such an under-stated colour. It is so pleasant and charming, plus a colour for the energetic and happy crowd but it somehow remains in thick layers of dust whenever colours are being mentioned. Dunno why!
My favourite fruit: again, hardly anybody would be able to guess it right. It is pomegranate. Ahh.. it is so yummy. Well even that a history behind it. When I was a child, I had once peeled almost 3-4 pomegrantes together. And as I was peeling them (is peeling the right word?!?!?) my sister appreciated my efforts saying how attentively I was peeling them, with so much concentration. I had puffed up with pride and nothing ever tasted sweeter than the pomegrantes that day! And seriously I don’t understand the craze for mangoes.
My favourite vegetable: this is known to many (atleast all those who read my blog, that is my family) hmm.. it is spinach.. ahh… I love it. It tastes great. Maybe I am a female popeye( and equally powerful too) .
Hmm… that is all about having strange favourites. Now my favourite movie. Well, it would not be as unique as my other favourites. So don’t expect me to come up with idiotic movie names like naagin or aabra-ka-daabra.
Hmm.. sooo… my favourite movie is “saathiya”. It has always been my favourite movie with ideal kind of romance. I don’t know why of all the romantic movie I chose this one. Maybe it is because, it was the first movie I had seen after actually knowing what “love” is. Adolescence had just struck me that time and I had finally entered the dreamy gates of romance. Perhaps prior to that I used to see movies without actually taking in whatever was shown. Ha! Movies before were similar to my “monster poem” which I had posted earlier. And hence, seeing sathiya I was able to actually comprehend whatever was being shown and somehow relate myself to the word “love”. Which is why I truly adore the movie.
Chalo then, bye for now. Not much time in hand for me to write any further.
My favourite colour: guess! No, you would not be able to guess it. It is ORANGE. I seriously feel it is such an under-stated colour. It is so pleasant and charming, plus a colour for the energetic and happy crowd but it somehow remains in thick layers of dust whenever colours are being mentioned. Dunno why!
My favourite fruit: again, hardly anybody would be able to guess it right. It is pomegranate. Ahh.. it is so yummy. Well even that a history behind it. When I was a child, I had once peeled almost 3-4 pomegrantes together. And as I was peeling them (is peeling the right word?!?!?) my sister appreciated my efforts saying how attentively I was peeling them, with so much concentration. I had puffed up with pride and nothing ever tasted sweeter than the pomegrantes that day! And seriously I don’t understand the craze for mangoes.
My favourite vegetable: this is known to many (atleast all those who read my blog, that is my family) hmm.. it is spinach.. ahh… I love it. It tastes great. Maybe I am a female popeye( and equally powerful too) .
Hmm… that is all about having strange favourites. Now my favourite movie. Well, it would not be as unique as my other favourites. So don’t expect me to come up with idiotic movie names like naagin or aabra-ka-daabra.
Hmm.. sooo… my favourite movie is “saathiya”. It has always been my favourite movie with ideal kind of romance. I don’t know why of all the romantic movie I chose this one. Maybe it is because, it was the first movie I had seen after actually knowing what “love” is. Adolescence had just struck me that time and I had finally entered the dreamy gates of romance. Perhaps prior to that I used to see movies without actually taking in whatever was shown. Ha! Movies before were similar to my “monster poem” which I had posted earlier. And hence, seeing sathiya I was able to actually comprehend whatever was being shown and somehow relate myself to the word “love”. Which is why I truly adore the movie.
Chalo then, bye for now. Not much time in hand for me to write any further.
Phir bhi family hai hindustani!
Haven’t updated my blog since so long. Main reason is that whenever I start writing, I get extra conscious about whatever I would be writing about and quit writing. Last time I updated my blog, my sister had told me that I include unnecessary details making it boring for the readers. And since I get easily influenced, whenever I sit to write anything, I feel I might be making a big deal about simple things. And then, I feel inferior when I read good blogs. Makes me feel that I talk rubbish when people write such sensible things. That made me not write anything all this long.
Anyways, one single point that made me write again. I had this post saved as a rough draft for a long time, but because we recently celebrated Independence Day and ethnic day at our college I thought it would be the right time to post about this.
As you might have already guessed, I am going to talk about our country and what makes me proud being an Indian.
Ok. So when I was in Germany, I was often asked questions about India and Indian culture. I many times used to be speechless, because there is nothing which can truly be called a uniform Indian culture. The country is so diverse that making a general statement would not be fair. And neither the speaker nor the audience would have the patience to talk about or listen to, the difference in different parts of the country. Even simple questions like Indian food, Indian language, Indian wedding or Indian attire were too difficult to be answered.
And then one day, a girl questioned our unity too, commenting that how can we call ourselves a secular nation when there are communal riots every other day. Hmm… good point, made me seriously wonder. As far as Germany is concerned, people I met were hardly religious, so others religion hardly made any difference.
Anyways, I realized the most important aspect of Indian culture. According to me it is neither unity nor diversity. Yes, it is indeed amazing how beautifully we all live together despite the difference. But more importantly, I find it incredible how we relate to everybody as our family. Even an autowala or a shop-owner would be called “bhaiya” by everyone. It bonds people in an altogether different level. Yes, other people might argue that the respect level is still the same, it is just that we don’t refer to them as our family members. But according to me it does make a difference by calling somone as our own. I find it wonderful how parents scold their children if they call elder by their names and ask them to add a family-relation-suffix according to their age difference. Bhaiya, didi, uncle, aunty!!! I still have the same habit of using these words even while talking to my immediate seniors in college. And that is why I hate manipal’s trend of using the word “boss” to talk to people unknown. I feel it makes others more distant to us by using “boss” rather than calling them “uncle”. “Uncle or Bhaiya apna apna sa lagta hai!” (the words uncle or Bhaiya sound more familiar, intimate and personal.)
Anyways, one single point that made me write again. I had this post saved as a rough draft for a long time, but because we recently celebrated Independence Day and ethnic day at our college I thought it would be the right time to post about this.
As you might have already guessed, I am going to talk about our country and what makes me proud being an Indian.
Ok. So when I was in Germany, I was often asked questions about India and Indian culture. I many times used to be speechless, because there is nothing which can truly be called a uniform Indian culture. The country is so diverse that making a general statement would not be fair. And neither the speaker nor the audience would have the patience to talk about or listen to, the difference in different parts of the country. Even simple questions like Indian food, Indian language, Indian wedding or Indian attire were too difficult to be answered.
And then one day, a girl questioned our unity too, commenting that how can we call ourselves a secular nation when there are communal riots every other day. Hmm… good point, made me seriously wonder. As far as Germany is concerned, people I met were hardly religious, so others religion hardly made any difference.
Anyways, I realized the most important aspect of Indian culture. According to me it is neither unity nor diversity. Yes, it is indeed amazing how beautifully we all live together despite the difference. But more importantly, I find it incredible how we relate to everybody as our family. Even an autowala or a shop-owner would be called “bhaiya” by everyone. It bonds people in an altogether different level. Yes, other people might argue that the respect level is still the same, it is just that we don’t refer to them as our family members. But according to me it does make a difference by calling somone as our own. I find it wonderful how parents scold their children if they call elder by their names and ask them to add a family-relation-suffix according to their age difference. Bhaiya, didi, uncle, aunty!!! I still have the same habit of using these words even while talking to my immediate seniors in college. And that is why I hate manipal’s trend of using the word “boss” to talk to people unknown. I feel it makes others more distant to us by using “boss” rather than calling them “uncle”. “Uncle or Bhaiya apna apna sa lagta hai!” (the words uncle or Bhaiya sound more familiar, intimate and personal.)
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