Glorifying terrorism...???

The front page headline in Times of India this morning saya 'Jehadis may get nukes, warns PM'....it caught my attention no doubt! So, I read the report very carefully word by word, thrice! And I did not find the mention of the word Jehadi even once in the story....yes there was mention of how the PM was worried about the country's nukes falling to the wrong hands, read terrorists. The report says that the PM 'sounded a chilling warning about the dangers of nuclear technology falling into the "dangerous hands" of terrorists and called for greater vigil'.......

I very much endorse the PMs view and ya if it falls into wrong hands, the consequences will be disastrous, no doubt. But I have certain issues about the headline and the story. Jehad is an Arabic word that means Holy War and jehadis are those who wage the war. So, is Times of India trying to say that terrorism is a holy war, by calling the terrorists jehadis?? Did the PM actually use the word Jehadis in his speech.....I was not present there nor did I see it on TV, so I do not know what exactly was said by the PM (I have a feeling that the word was not used...) Or did the reporter think that the word Jehadi will aptly describe terrorists??

Just because some morons use the name of religion to justify their evil acts does not mean that the entire world should accept that!! Those morons can name their act as Jihad, Honour Killing and such other names, but at the end of the day if the media and the public endorse the terms used, is it not showing acceptance about the whole thing at some levels?? I really do not understand the why that word was used in the first place. Terrorism has no religion....thats what everybody says....but the use of this word in the front page of the leading English daily of the country certainly does not reflect so!!

Bundle of joy......

I am on cloud nine these days.....the next generation of my family has arrived!!! My niece (brother's daughter) came to the world on 2nd of June at about 11 in the night. Right from the moment I came to know that Bhabi was expecting, I was wishing from the bottom of my heart for a daughter....now my prayers are answered!!! Everyone in the family is extra excited these days days!!!

All of us came with with our own choice of names and now we have more than 10 names to choose from.....bhaiya will have to draw a name out of the hat....she is going to be the 1st one in the family to be named through draw of lots!!!

My choice of names are Riffat (high).....Falak (star) and Nayyab (very rare, exclusive)....will have to wait and see if any of these names come out of the hat or not. All of us were looking for names that start with S, Z, T,P...definitely not with A.....we have had enough of being the first one in the line for exams, viva, injections, practicals and many other unpleasant things....we don't want that for her!!!

Definitely not looking for a daaknaam, specially after all I had written about daaknam's in one of the postings.....but I guess she will invariably end up having one. One of my friend rightly puts it by saying daaknaam's are so much part of our culture.....somewhere or the other one is bound to spring up!!!

Welcome to the family....here is wishing her a very happy, successful and adventurous life ahead....go girl, the world out there is waiting for you, make us all very PROUD of you!!!

Getting even with a narcissist.....

Some people live under the illusion that the world owes its existence to them, I have done this.....I have done that......had it not been for me ....blah blah blah!!! I had to interview this guy (professional hazard you see!!!!) and once he started shooting from his lips, he was not stopping. Trust me even a tsunami, earthquake....nothing could have dented him. I was sitting there wondering how on earth can someone actually say something like that????

The day did not start very well for me, got a vehicle that sucked big time in the heat to reach the place. Finding out the place took a lot of time.....well if this much time needed to find out a WORLD FAMOUS location, I never even want to be famous, forget about being world famous!!! Mister Big Shot.... was not in by the time me and my colleague landed there....guess you do not qualify to be a big shot till you keep people waiting to meet you without any evident reasons.

Sample of some of the things he blabbered about......he runs an organization and on being about expansion plans to other cities, his response was 'people go to worship religious places, those places never come to people'. All people those who matter in Bollywood miraculously are associated with him, in other words owe their staggering success to him alone.....what would we ever do without Bollywood, huh!!!

He had the gall to claim that certain areas in the city were planned and developed by him.....they were just very thick jungles before he actually decided to take pity on us mortals and plan out that place. Next he started rattling 'out of the world' figures to put across his success story.......and in between all this crap talk he complemented me on my looks......so now you can guess where his concentration was all this time!!! No I am not even getting there about his crap......I have heard better compliments in my life!!!

After about a week of this disastrous interview, I was traveling with my brother. It was extremely hot and I was not feeling well, so I drank tender coconut water from one of the roadside vendors......suddenly I had a wicked idea and I did not throw the outer covering of the tender coconut water after I had finished drinking. We has to pass through the area that the man had claimed he planned and developed.........once inside the place, I asked my brother to slow down the car and I actually dumped the coconut husk just in front of his building.....yes, I did it.........ohhhhh! It felt so good, just can't tell you how much.

So, next time you are really pissed at someone and cannot do anything about it, trying doing this.....it gives you a kick, a heady feeling I must say.....just throw caution to the winds....... do it and ya do lemme know how it feels afterwards!!!

Caught off-guard....completly

The shirt with multi-coloured fishes printed all over suddenly, caught her attention, it fascinated her.......she examined it for sometime and asked me why the fishes are out of water and not moving! I told her they were printed, so doesn't make a difference anyway! 'Huh....as if printing things makes all the difference', she muttered....clearly I failed to convince her.

Now she wanted to know why was the second shelf in the cloth rack empty.! 'To let kids get inside and play', I said...... she wanted to get inside and see for herself. I warned her, if you get inside once you cannot come out. She was going out with her family, so she decided not to risk going in....

She wanted to know where was I headed, I said the same place where she was. 'I am going bowling', she declared, daring me, now what do you have to say? 'I will go with you' I said.....'do you know what it is and how is it done' was written all over her face. I had absolutely no clue about any blowing alleys in Delhi.....I bet she read my confused expressions!!!

Suddenly she had another thought, how will you go there? 'I will go with you' I said.........no chance she counters, papa is driving, mama sits next to papa, dadi, Puneet bhaiya, Rishu and I sit at the back, so there is no space for me! She has a valid point here, so I suggest she I can take her place and she can sit on my lap. No ways she says....kids do that!

I suggested that I could follow her in another car. She looked around for sometime searching for some divine intervention to keep me out of her plans with her family........... .and suddenly she had it!!!! She turned and told me why don't you get inside the clothes rack........huh, serves me right for so much of arguing and putting ideas into a kid's mind....!!!!!

Btw...never got across asking her name!!!

Boundaries across bedrooms, living rooms and kitchens

Going back home to my paternal place in Assam in the month of November/ December used to be an annual occasion that I used to relish in those days. Playing in the fields with my cousins and other kids till it becomes dark, relatives pampering you as if you have descendant from some other land, those impromptu picnics aha.....those were the days. Gone are those days now, today I hardly find time to spend with my parents as we stay in separate cities. Someday I am going to write a description about those memorable picnics that we used to have!!!

My paternal place is located very near the India - Bangladesh border. Once when I was visiting there the Commandant of the BSF battalion that was posted there came to meet us. Apparently he was my father's student when he used to teach in a college at Nagaland, he took us on a tour of the border. It was a once in a lifetime experience for many of us. So, about 15 of us consisting of cousins, aunts, uncles, brother-in-laws decided to go and see those places near the border.

I came across a very strange house during the trip. There was this house where two brothers lived with their families, and the dividing line between the two countries ran right in the middle of the house. So, you have one brother who is an Indian and the other brother who is a Bangladeshi legally living under the same roof. One family's kitchen is in India, dinning room and loo in Bangladesh, and bedroom again in India and vice versa. So, what you get to do if you stay there sometime is cook in B'desh, eat in India, sleep and shit in B'desh or it could be the other way round depending on which brother's family you are staying with!

I was awed on seeing this and it actually took some to sink in. Trust me when you are actually standing in that house, you will just be overwhelmed. There was a stump like erection in the middle of the house which is supposed to be the demarcating line between the two countries. I never got another opportunity to go back and visit that house. This time when I go back home and if I find time to visit my paternal place, I will definitely go and visit that house. It has been more than 5-7 years since I saw that house, I just want to see if anything has changed with time in that house.

Today when there is so much talk about borders, countries, division and violence in the name of country religion, cast and creed it actually feels surreal to come across something like this. I am sure both the brothers have their own share of dislikes, tiffs and fights but they live together in 1 house as citizens of two countries, it actually feels good to know about something like this!!!

The Mystery of Spices.....

Delving deep into things has this ability to throw up surprises that you never really apprehended. This happened to me while I tried probing about the mystery of spices!! Did you ever think that there could be more to garlic, than being a spice that gives you a foul breath? Definitely not the right recipe if you are about to embark on a romantic evening with your partner! If you thought so, you are mistaken.....the Greeks and Egyptians believe garlic to be aphrodisiac and whats more, even modern science has seconded that through research.

This is not the part of any research paper, rather a movie brought these things and many other things to light for me! I was watching The Mistress of Spices and came across many interesting uses and qualities of spices that I never knew before, except probably for very few of them. I simply loved the movie just because of the way the properties of various spices were described. I have tired to put down some of them in here......

Chandan: - to erase bad memories
Til :- is a nourisher
Garlic : acts as an aphrodisiac
Saffron : attracts love
Cinnamon : helps in making friends
Kalo Jeera (black cumin seeds) : protects against the evil eye
Bharmi oil : cools down the entire system
Meethi(Fenugreek) : gives strength
Ajwain(carom seeds or bishop's weed) : builds up confidence
Fennel (Saunf) : perseverence
Hing (Asefoetida) : antidote of love
Tulsi (Basil) : for remembrance
Crushed Prishniparni burnt with lotus roots in the evening could bring back someone who is estranged
Powdered almond and keasr boiled with milk : for sweet words and remembering love buried under anger
Neem leaf : it is an anti-septic
Mustard seed : to send someone away from you
Cardamon : is to bind true love
Rendi oil from castro : to massage in joint pains and arthritis
Black pepper (with lime soda) : brings out your deepest secrets in the open
Lotus root: is for a lifetime of deep loving.......

The various ingredients used in supari are due to certain qualities present in them. The supari is for intoxication, the shreeded cocount is for uttering sweet words, the fennel seeds aid in digestion and the cardamon is to make words last forever. Of course, all those mentioned spices must be taken in certain quantities in combination with certain spices and at a certain time to get these results. So, the next time you need to dig a secret out from someone you could try serving lime soda with black pepper. You might just get lucky with this not so well known secret recipe...!!!

Lethargy, cell phone, ring tones et al.....

Zzzz...Zzzz...Zzzz....feeling very sleepy today, don'y know why!!! Feeling lethargic.....may be the ascent of summer in the horizon is the cuplrit. A colleague got married last night, so half the people in office turned up by mid day today. Lost my phone two days back, I was going to the market to meet some friends. When I got out of office had the phone with me, probably dropped it while I was getting in the rickshaw....pocket trouble you see. No there was no hole in it, but sometimes things just drop from the pocket of that particular trouser.

After I reached the market, about 5 mins from my office....put a hand in my pocket and its gone!!! The first few moments I did not know what to do, couldn't go back to office, couldn't call up anybody.....felt utterly lost and alone without my phone. Had a haunch that my friends will be in the pastry shop, so just headed in that direction and fortunately found them there. Next, called up the customer care guys and told them to block my number and dispatch a new SIM card. This just made me wonder how dependent we have become on our cellphones.

It was not very long ago that all of us used to know phone numbers by heart...well there were actually very few numbers for us to remember.

Today the scene is completely different, just show me 1 person who does not have a cell phone.....anybody and everybody has it. Back in my hometown cell phones were not actually a fad say about 2 years ago. Trust me I did not know anything about operating one and had very limited knowledge about its functions. Of course I knew you could make and receive call with it from anywhere....but thats about it.

When I was first coming to Delhi I got in touch with a friend through email and she asked me to come over to her place and stay for sometimes. Most of the communication was done via emails and she gave me her phone number as well. She knew the dates when I would be travelling, but had asked me to call her when I was starting from there. So, decided to call her up.....and when I dialed her number instead of the traditional sound of a phone ring, all I got to hear hear was the song Purani Jeans aur Guitar....my first thoughts were, there was some kind of cross connection and my call had reached some other place, so disconnected immediately!!!

Tried to call again...still the same result and this happened for about 3-4 times. So not knowing what else to do, just thought will go ahead with my trip. She knew about the dates, so my guess was she will be there to receive me. Throughout the journey I was worried if I could not find her..... had some other numbers as well...so if I am in any trouble, I can easily call up some other friend. Finally, when I landed in Delhi, tried calling her again and this time decided to actually find out who picks up the call. She did pick up the call and it was then I realized that the song Purani Jeans was not due to any cross connection or something, it was the ringtone!!!

So much for my lack of knowledge about cell phones, caller tunes and ring tones!!! Got a new phone today , got back contacts of people who matter to me......but let me tell you 2 days without a phone seemed like never ending. How things have changed with mobile phones and other technology....how much I have changed from the time I landed in Delhi till now.... I have all the important contacts now with me saved in a Google document, will get a ring tone soon and probably a dial tone as well....everything is indeed changing!!!! Ezra Pound said 'there is no reason why the same man should like the same books at eighteen and forty-eight'. Change is after all the only constant thing in life.....

Bye bye hibernation, Hello blogging.......

Its been a very long time since my post.....actually can't even remember when I last posted without taking a reference. I was not buried deep with work that I did not have time for blogging, had access to internet at all times and the pc was at my disposal but don't know why I was not doing this! Seriously, I have been thinking why this was happening to me and trust me, I could not come up with any satisfactory explanation.

I have been thinking about many topics and they just remained in the 'pipeline'. In fact I had written and rewritten them endless number of times......but all in my mind. Somehow, they never materalized...but thats now gonna change. Pensativo, I have finally decided to listen to your tic tic tic and actually come out of the hibernation!!!

I am often asked questions about my blog, how I got about wirting it, why I write and don't I feel uncomfortable writing out a virtual diary online. I understand that there are strangers reading this blog, but I don't think that I'hv written anything out of this world. Stories about going live on air, a schoolday fiasco, expriences in an airport, bidding farewell to a friend who will never come back, funny and interesting incidents that keep on happening all the time.......and I am sure this happens to everbody.

So if I put these things up in my blog I do not see any harm in it. At the most what will happen is that, may be I will end up making new friends through this and I don't mind that. I also pretty much like the fact that people that I have never met, never heard of and possibly will never meet actually read my blogs and put comments too!!!! Oh...its a heady feeling and actually thats what keeps me going...:)

Stranger in your own backyard

The feeling of nostalgia and the feeling of being a stranger, in surroundings that you were once dead familiar with have a bizarre connection. I found this out the hard way…went to my Alma Mater; Assam University after about 2 years, just wanted to reconnect and try to have a feel of things as they used to be. First, the university is completely unrecognizable these days…with constructions going on all around the campus. The entrance gate is beautifully erected, and with all the security there, makes you feel that you are in some new place. During my days the facilities were not that good, but things definitely look bright for juniors.

It was pouring heavily that day, perhaps an indication of things to come. I went to my department, anticipating many things. There were lots of students filling in and out of classrooms, but none of the faces were recognizable. But that’s understandable given the fact that everyone has moved on, and new people have come to take over. A new lab has come up in the room where we used to sit and belt out the latest chartbusters at the top of our voices. It suddenly felt as if I was in some other place and I had never been there before. Change they say is the permanent thing in life and things surely are changing. None of the professors or lecturers was present in the department and the people from the support staff were also missing that day.

The very nook and corner that we used to lord over once suddenly seemed unknown and unreachable, new people have entered there. My attempt to feel and savor what my classmates and me had at one point of time fell flat. I just went around the department trying to see the places where we used to hang out, where we used to have classes and where we grew up. Yes, there were traces of my memories and that was enough for me. This is the place where I spent the best 2 years of my life. The place that brought in lots of fun, laughter, tears, frustration, misery, joy, failure and success in my life.

Whatever little I have achieved today professionally, I owe that all to this department of mass communication located in this remote place. This is a special place and even though none of the students here recognize me here, the traces of memories that I could find here is a pleasant feeling. It’s an eerie feeling to actually go and see that your territory has been taken over and you are a stranger in your own backyard…but it is worth the effort of just going there and having a glimpse of the place.

Naam ar daaknaam

Angur, khajur, biscuit, bedana, submarine, poltu, laddu, bui......do not try to find any similarity among all these, you may not find any!! These are some of the weired naam and daaknaam that I have come across, trust me I do not want to be in the shoes of all these people, no matter how happy, how rich or how famous they are!!! For all those who have not seen The Namesake, 'daaknaam' is 'nickname' in Bengali. Imagine being stuck with such names and nicknames for your entire life....

There was this person called Fedai..... and he was famous by that name. Once someone wanted to send a wedding invite to him and we could not find out his real name or his so called 'good name'!!!! Everyone knew him by his bad name :) and the poor guy got the invite in that name.

How can I forget the most intriguing daaknaam I have ever come across....there are two guys named Azir in my mama's place.... I do not know why one is known as Poison Azir and the other is known as Danger Azir. The first time I heard those names I thought both were criminals and perhaps one had poisoned someone to death..... and the other one must have must have made a bomb go off somewhere.... hmm those were the only reasons I could think of! The truth was an absolute bouncer to me, apparently both are well behaved gentleman, but they are known by those strange names just like that!!!! Imagine your parents being called by those names....Its weired how people get stuck with such naams due to no fault of theirs!!!

I was reading a book a few days ago and the main female protagonist was named Temple. Imagine someone having names like masjid, mandir, church or for that matter mosque. Bet they do not need to go to any place of worship, they are Chalta Phirta places of worship after all :), imagine having someone like that in your family.....

A friend's relative is named submarine, just because the father had heard about submarines for the first time and was so fascinated by the whole thing that he ended up naming his poor daughter Submarine. So, does it mean that if someone is fascinated by t.v, radio or mobile phone, they will end up naming their poor child after that, OMG.....food for thought surely!!!

Guys and gals can you tell me about the weirdest naams and daaknaams you have come across???