May 18, 2009
May 16, 2009
May 11, 2009
Happy mother's day!
I was telling my mother about someone who works with me, and referred to him as a "foreigner". My mother asked me which country he comes from and when I told her he is an American, she pointed out that I am the "foreigner" and not him! I felt immensely proud of her, I have always felt, I admire her for her intelligence, her kindness, her affection, her attention to detail, her reasoning, her individuality, her courage, her strength, her patience, how she respects people for what they are rather than what they do for a living. There are several times when I have told her she cannot understand this and that, like when I speak about my work and she asks me questions. She tells me she cannot understand only those things that she has no interest in or has no use for, but everything else she can. She is very confident in her expression, so very right in her attitude. I always used to get irritated when she used to force a friend to have something to eat or drink when they come home, she even offers coffee to the milk-man on cold mornings - I now understand this is what is being human all about.
She has always been there for me, every single time I needed her. I have only grown proud of her with time. As far as I understand it, being my mother is a tough job. When I was a kid, our maid servant's daughter used to come and wait for her mother in our backyard. My mother used to give her some snacks while she waited. Her nick name was "Putty"( which means "little one" in Kannada, and sometimes my dad refers to me like that). So if at all my mother used to call her "Putty" I used to create a ruckus! The only other kid my mother could show any affection was my sibling. No one else. Years later when our pet dog used to bark uncontrollably when my mother used to just talk to our neighbour's new pet pup from our garden(oh yes, we do "talk" to our pets), his reactions used to remind me of myself! She forgave us both heartily for it.
And I love my mother for letting me be whatever I am. I call her Amma, ammu, ammi, maaaa, mom, and sometimes by her name! I love her name, and I bet if someone heard both our names and had to guess which name is the daughter's, they would probably think hers was!(Oh yes, mine is such an old fashioned name!) Amma, I love you.
Happy mothers' day to all!
She has always been there for me, every single time I needed her. I have only grown proud of her with time. As far as I understand it, being my mother is a tough job. When I was a kid, our maid servant's daughter used to come and wait for her mother in our backyard. My mother used to give her some snacks while she waited. Her nick name was "Putty"( which means "little one" in Kannada, and sometimes my dad refers to me like that). So if at all my mother used to call her "Putty" I used to create a ruckus! The only other kid my mother could show any affection was my sibling. No one else. Years later when our pet dog used to bark uncontrollably when my mother used to just talk to our neighbour's new pet pup from our garden(oh yes, we do "talk" to our pets), his reactions used to remind me of myself! She forgave us both heartily for it.
And I love my mother for letting me be whatever I am. I call her Amma, ammu, ammi, maaaa, mom, and sometimes by her name! I love her name, and I bet if someone heard both our names and had to guess which name is the daughter's, they would probably think hers was!(Oh yes, mine is such an old fashioned name!) Amma, I love you.
Happy mothers' day to all!
May 05, 2009
Recession…
What good recession has done to us:
1. Going green. All the hoopla about conservation, environment – well how about saying being environmentally friendly is being nice on our pockets. The environmentalists had been shouting from the rooftops and not many corporates even took notice – now that energy conversation means lesser electricity bills, saving money by recycling etc everyone is getting the message! Just see the change! If you are a business, not going green can mean going green with envy to see your competition making more money. Years ago I used to wonder where we are going.Now I know we are on track!
2. Ever paused and thought about your money. Especially in India among my generation, saving for rainy day seemed almost mythical. Savings seemed to be something that old fashioned people(read parents) did! Saving was never a discussion to be done openly. You would probably get ridiculed if you mention saving, planning etc when economy was going great! What seemed to be a private matter(savings!) is now public, people, ads, media, forums talk saving. Its not out of fashion to be talking about saving money! I used to think US of A was leading the world in teaching consumerism, but I see a lot of awareness being created on saving, and ads boasting of frugality!
3. A couple of years ago, I used to wonder -look at our banks, the way things never looked up, the way overseas banks seemed to give so many benefits, so little guarantees sought. Our folks only seemed to be so painfully old fashioned. I somehow could not understand how they planned to survive against such competition that any customer would find irresistible. There you go! Boom –the bank that used to exist yesterday is now gone! No one knows how or why! Again, it turns out that it’s the “values” that really weren’t in their right places and brought down whatever!
Being middle class in India, means being weighed down by “values”. You like it or not, you have to take it. There were times when I was almost sure it could take us nowhere. I don’t claim to be the most honest person or the fairest or never to have done anything wrong– but there were sometimes when I played fair and lost the game, now when I look back they don’t even seem like disappointments, but at a certain age – certain things seem big and important - I had felt cheated. I would tell my mother – had she not taught me the crap(I meant “values”) I would have been far more successful!
I somehow feel all the disappointment melt, and in fact some “joy” when I put all the “blame” of my not making something on my mother. She gives me that knowing smile followed by an affectionate hug, which probably make all those disappointments worthwhile! Haha. Opps, now I almost homesick!
The bottom line is "values" are here to stay, you like them or not, you stick by them or not! When going gets tough, the tough get going!
1. Going green. All the hoopla about conservation, environment – well how about saying being environmentally friendly is being nice on our pockets. The environmentalists had been shouting from the rooftops and not many corporates even took notice – now that energy conversation means lesser electricity bills, saving money by recycling etc everyone is getting the message! Just see the change! If you are a business, not going green can mean going green with envy to see your competition making more money. Years ago I used to wonder where we are going.Now I know we are on track!
2. Ever paused and thought about your money. Especially in India among my generation, saving for rainy day seemed almost mythical. Savings seemed to be something that old fashioned people(read parents) did! Saving was never a discussion to be done openly. You would probably get ridiculed if you mention saving, planning etc when economy was going great! What seemed to be a private matter(savings!) is now public, people, ads, media, forums talk saving. Its not out of fashion to be talking about saving money! I used to think US of A was leading the world in teaching consumerism, but I see a lot of awareness being created on saving, and ads boasting of frugality!
3. A couple of years ago, I used to wonder -look at our banks, the way things never looked up, the way overseas banks seemed to give so many benefits, so little guarantees sought. Our folks only seemed to be so painfully old fashioned. I somehow could not understand how they planned to survive against such competition that any customer would find irresistible. There you go! Boom –the bank that used to exist yesterday is now gone! No one knows how or why! Again, it turns out that it’s the “values” that really weren’t in their right places and brought down whatever!
Being middle class in India, means being weighed down by “values”. You like it or not, you have to take it. There were times when I was almost sure it could take us nowhere. I don’t claim to be the most honest person or the fairest or never to have done anything wrong– but there were sometimes when I played fair and lost the game, now when I look back they don’t even seem like disappointments, but at a certain age – certain things seem big and important - I had felt cheated. I would tell my mother – had she not taught me the crap(I meant “values”) I would have been far more successful!
I somehow feel all the disappointment melt, and in fact some “joy” when I put all the “blame” of my not making something on my mother. She gives me that knowing smile followed by an affectionate hug, which probably make all those disappointments worthwhile! Haha. Opps, now I almost homesick!
The bottom line is "values" are here to stay, you like them or not, you stick by them or not! When going gets tough, the tough get going!
May 01, 2009
Jeezzz….
I suddenly find myself wondering will I really get to meet someone who is “made for me”. I sometimes don’t feel great when I see people I know talking about their “love”. I wonder when will I get my turn. Whenever I thought I was in love, it seemed its pure imagination! Now it makes me smile, but I would be greatly be disappointed at my own findings then! A couple of time I thought of “risk”ing to take the chance, I never was able to take it! So I guess I don’t think arranged marriages kill the fantasy of “finding” the right person. I know what kind of a person I do not want to spend the rest of my life, but do I really know what kind of person I want to spend the rest of my life with. And when some married people crib about all the difficulties, I wonder if they can be true! Just today someone told me, I am so lucky to be single. For God’s sake can someone also tell me why? They tell me to enjoy as long as it lasts, but what is “it“? :) I think it’s a nice feeling to have someone fully for myself, hopefully every feeling I feel matters to him, the smile on my face would matter to him. I tell myself I have better things to do, but sometimes I let my mind wander, wonder about these things, sometimes it makes me happy hoping - he probably sings well, may share reading interest with me and so on, sometimes it makes me sad. I wonder if the sadness is true or wallowing in some kind of self pity at someone’s “sympathetic” comments! It is more like - “who cares, it will happen when it is meant to happen, I cant be sad hoping one day someone will make me very happy forever, I have to find my own happyness and live it! So let me keep having fun..When that my “someone special” comes along will just have more fun.”..But sometimes like now, I want to be sad(Oh damn it!)...
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