Shopping blues

This year  we had the good fortune of going with my in-laws for Onam Shopping. Good fortune because being the generous folks they are, they were planning to buy  something for me as well. So, off we went with the entire family entourage for festive shopping.

Mummy had elaborate plans for her grandchild. Thanks to my non-existent fashion sense, she has almost given up on me . Once in a while she try to encourage me with stories of her old bell-bottom pant Bangalore days and urges me to buy at least a new pair of jeans and throw away my 3 year old faded jeans. I , on the other hand ,was proud of the fact that I can still fit into something( or rather the only thing in my wardrobe) that I had brought three years back. Why would anyone need more than one pair of jeans anyways.

That being the backstory , Mummy had pinned all her hopes on her only grandchild to hold her fashion traditions high. We proudly marched into brand factory, with my lil imp leading from the front. She knew exactly where to find her stuff and Mummy was more than proud of her self sufficient ways. I left them on their own , and wandered off to find something for myself. The princess is not going to like anything we select for her, a fact that I knew already and something that Mummy is going to learn the hard way before we are done for the day.

Soon I could hear a loud commotion coming from the other end of the shop . My family is blessed with the best vocal cords in business, touch wood, and  never had any difficulty in attracting an audience no matter where they are. Mummy and the lil imp were having an argument over the selection of clothes, which went something like this ,

"I dont like it"
"But Sanju, this will look beautiful on you"
"No"
"Its so nice, just try it"
"If you buy it, you can wear it..I don't want it, not in my life"
"Sanju.."
"No..."

 Things were getting a bit dramatic here. I noticed that my better half was watching the whole proceedings with an amused look on his face. He  is so annoyingly proud of his daughter's theatrics and often says proudly "She will become an actress when she grows up".  I rolled my eyes at him and  pitched in to handle the situation. After few minutes of pleading, cajoling and threatening, she finally agreed to try something on..Thanks to the festive season, there was a large queue  before the trail rooms. I suggested that she try on her new clothes on top of what she is wearing.Ms attitude wouldn't budge. We had a small argument over this, and she was garnering sympathetic glances from some morons who were waiting for their turns outside the trial room. .

We got into the room when our chance came and thus  began the ordeal of trials. After trying about half a dozen clothes, she decided that she wanted to buy only 2.Meanwhile people who were waiting outside were enjoying the live commentary of what was going on inside

"Amma, put that button.."
"I dont want to try it.."
"Amma, is this how you wear it, you don't know anything.."
"I wont wear it, Promise.."

Mummy dejectedly put back all the clothes that she has picked up with so much hope. I could sense the realization dawn upon her that her fashion wavelength doesn't match with a single soul in the family. I felt sorry for her and  convinced her to buy a pista green kurta for herself . It was looking good on her and I guess that cheered her up a bit . The trip ended with Mummy making an announcement that it is the last time ever that she is going to take up such an adventure . Thankfully she also added that she would continue to fund our shopping on special occasions, but would not accompany us by any means.

Looking at my lil imp showing off her loot proudly to my parents later that day,I had a flashback of the times when I and my sister used to go shopping with our parents. My father would sleep peacefully in the waiting area of the shops, while my Amma struggled to manage our shopping tantrums. Not to this level maybe, but almost there. I couldn't
stop musing to myself "what goes around, comes around!!"

Baahubali..

Baahubali , more than a movie, I would call that as an experience. Totally enthralled by the scale and opulence of  the director's vision, it wouldn't be an exaggeration if I say that I stayed open mouthed during major part of the movie. Creativity is a blessing  not everybody has, and to push the envelope in any art to this scale is indeed an inspiration.

 Every element is explored and detailed to the smallest atom possible..be it the waterfalls that occupies a good half an hour  when the movie canvas unfolds or the war scenes in the climax . The characterization of each protagonist needs special applause. I always have a soft corner for movies with strong female characters. Remya Krishnan stands out in her feisty maharani role,so does Anushka shetty though meaty parts of her role might come out only in the next installment. Just a little pinch of disappointment with the casting of Tamannah, she is  too demure and frail and looks out of place in the role of a female warrior.

The hero and villain of this movie have set new benchmarks for what people will look forward in epic dramas. I haven't seen such a charismatic hero with an amazing screen presence on the big screen in a long long time. Prabhas is a revelation, and he carries the magnum opus on his broad shoulders with much elan. On the other hand Daggubati  with his beefy frame and steely stares exudes pure evil, rightly so as expected by his character. Last but not the least, the surprise element..the one character who leaves the spectators in turmoil- Kattappa . Satyaraj, as the trusted warrior slave emotes effortlessly as only a veteran of his stature could.

The beauty of the movie is not just in its characterization, but also in the way the story unfolds keeping the viewer on the edge of the seat. Only weak link could be the superficial romance between the lead pair in the beginning, but we tend to forgive it on the sight of the magnificent feast that awaits us later on. At the end of the day, the question remains unanswered - Why did Kattappa kill Baahubali? Is Baahubali really dead? The nation wants to know :) Whatever be the answer , I would still watch the second part, because S.S Rajamouli is one wizard who knows his craft well. Take a bow sir, we are confident that the magic would continue..

PS: On being asked if his new movie "Loham" can be called an action thriller, director Renjith made a very relevant statement. He said that we are living in an era of movies like Baahubali, so there is no point in making action movies anymore..whatever actions can be shown on screen, people have already seen it.Well said, couldn't agree more to this!!

Lets have Mercy...

Aruna Shanbaug - A name that has been haunting me  for the past two days. A human being bedridden for almost 42 years in a vegetative state, nothing less of a nightmare and a situation well beyond my comprehension. The gross inadequacy of  our judiciary in serving the right punishment to the culprit is not something that is disturbing me.That is a taken.Even the wildest criminal of all in the Nirbhaya case will walk scott free in few years time.What is disturbing me is the picture of a women who had to stay in a vegetative state in a closed room of a hospital for 42 years .In few articles, I saw a beautiful young lady all of 25 years, and in some I saw a helpless old lady with no teeth and gnarled limbs confined to her bed. To think  that this transformation happened in a closed room with no sense of what is happening around her, is deeply disturbing.

The first question that came to my mind is- why was she denied Euthanasia??? Why would anyone want to stay in that state with no hope of improvement for a long period of 42 years.She would have died many deaths during those long never ending years.Who had the rights to decide that she should stay in that state for these many years? She did have close relatives, who could have decided to releive her of her sufferings. Of course they didnt want to have the blood on their hands. It is a big decision, and takes lot of courage. It is easy to choose the safest route, abandon her, leave her to her "fate" .

With all due respect to the staff of the hospital who took care of her, could they ever judge what she was going through?Once their shift is over they would all go back to their own lives , with family, kids and other small small joys of life.All the while Aruna's soul stayed strapped to her  body forcefully. Would any of these nurses who celebrated the court's verdict of denying Euthanasia, volunteer to stay strapped in a bed for atleast one week with no kith and kin nearby??They should have allowed her to die peacefully long time back. Unfortunately we all want to be "good samaritians". We all want to be kind, take care of the ill and all other crap.

Taking care of Aruna for past 42 years was not kindness. In my opinion, it was pure brutality. They should have let the soul free and releive her of her sufferings. But no, everyone was being "kind". In that case, its high time that we redefine kindness and humanity. Imagine aging from 25 to 62 all confined to a bed, totally dependent on strangers who were merely acting out of sympathy for you.

For a moment, think about it.Would anyone willingly prefer that fate? Wouldn't you rather die?? I would..In a hundred lives, I would definitely prefer death than her fate. Infact, anyone in a sane state of mind would prefer that. Everybody deserves a happy and fulfilling life. If a person is too physically helpless  to acheive that, then he/she should be allowed to rest in peace. Its high time that we understand the "Mercy" part of Mercy killing..May her soul rest in peace.

Missing..

When you have a 5 year old at home, you know exactly where to check when stuff go missing - under the drawing room sofa cushion, unused drawers ,inside the school bag, bottom end of toy basket..the list goes on . So when Achan informed me that the wardrobe drawer key was missing, I was totally cool.However when the key was not found after searching all the usual hiding places, I decided to have a one to one with the main suspect.Desperate times call for unconventional means..

Investigation - Scene one:

"Sanju, did you see the wardrobe drawer key"

"No amma, I didn't"

"I was wondering if you accidentally put it in you bag and took it to your dada's house today"

" Hmm..that is possible..I might have taken it, but I dont remember"

Now that is a lead. I called up daddy to check if the key has found its way to Sujai's house.He did a thorough search, but the results were negative

Investigation - Scene two:

" Sanju, the key is not there in dada's house. Did you see anybody taking it?"

"No Amma, Last time I saw it on top of the drawer itself, under the newspaper where it is usually kept"

" hmm..thats very sad"

"what happened? Why is it sad?"

"Amma had brought lot of ice-creams and chocolates for you and kept it inside that drawer so that dada wouldnt take it. Now that key is lost, it will all get spoilt"

(A thoughtful pause..intriguing BGM..)

" Amma, Now I remember where it is.I threw it behind the old computer that is kept near the wardrobe"

Mind you, that was the most discrete and the last place that we would consider searching for the key.After the key was found from the said mentioned location..

"Sanju, Why did you throw the key away?"

She looked at me very innocently and said. " One day Ammama scolded me for not writing my homework properly. So when she was in the Kitchen, I took her drawer key and threw it away to punish her. I didn't know that you had kept ice-creams and chocolates in there for me. "

 Ice creams and chocolates were obviously not found in the drawer and that made somebody very angry.As usual, I blamed it on her dada and  compensated with my emergency supply of chocolates in the fridge

Moral of the story: No mystery is too big, for we have ice-creams and chocolates in this world..  :)

The curious case of compulsory feminism

I have been planning to write this piece on the  infamous “My Choice” viral video starring Deepika Padukone for sometime now. Numerous spoofs (it even had a dog version) later, the hullabaloo has finally died down. It might be a lil late to talk about it, but again it’s my blog and my choice ..ya right :-)

So coming back to the video, starring a bunch of ladies having a bad hair day(or is it Migraine? ) making proclamations about the choices they have. The target audience, ladies and gentlemen is the latter addressed category. Personally, I have problem with few of the ‘choices’ mentioned in the video. And some of the statements don’t make any sense whatsoever.  For eg:

“I am the snowflake of the snowfall and you are the snowflake” - Excuse me?

 “Don’t be fooled if I come home at 6 PM” – Gasp Gasp..  And face palm

 “My choice – to love temporarily or lust forever” + ”My love for you cannot be replaced” – Will you make up your mind please?

The last statement is proof that the video has got a serious identity crisis. It is like those people who try to be hip by following the latest fashion trends and end up as pathetic wannabes.

A chic black and white video, some disconnected “bold” statements and a popular face to bring in some drama is all that you need for women empowerment? True, the world does have its share of MCPs, but my humble opinion is that there is no need to declare a war against them to proclaim your empowerment. Simply ignoring them works most of the time.  I don’t think truly empowered women run around in tousled hair, pointing fingers declaring their empowerment. C’mon, we have better things to do!!

Why not go out there, do something for the cause, then shoot a video about it? It should be all about making the “right choice”.

The disorder of the order..OCD

                                     

They are everywhere. You meet them everyday and they look like normal people. You should closely watch them to identify the difference.Having had the good "fortune" of being a friend/colleague of few people with the obsessive compulsive disorder, I can identify one from miles away. With some practice, you too can do the same. Here are some tips that could help you with it..

:-) They cannot survive without their to-do lists,reminders & checklists. Dont dare to check their  phone even by mistake,unless you want to put yourself in danger of serious nervous breakdown .Sample reminders/checklists - " brush teeth" , "take bath - thrice" , etc..

:-)  If you are travelling with them, your whole journey is sorted.They will have min 3 copies of tickets and all other documents(of the entire team) kept in 3 different bags. They will pack food and other supplies to last an entire year for a small family. The "3 different bags" is a reality, even if you are travelling for a week's time. Sometimes they will have an additional bag squeezed in somewhere inside one of those 3 bags..just in case..

:-) Dont offer to clean up their stuff.They are anyways going to clean it once more after you are done. Nobody cleans better than them

:-) They will always check,cross-check,re-check and RE-RE-CHECK . Dont take offense, just ignore

:-) If you have an OCD person in the team, always always follow the process

:-) Plan A,Plan B and Plan C are a given, and they would have usually thought about D,E & F as well

:-) Their neatly stacked verses your  "neatly piled" wardrobe would always give you an inferiority complex. The cloth stacks are usually found to be in a straight line & colour coordinated with equal distance between the stacks

:-) They will usually have the most spic and span households.They will happily spend a long weekend on cleaning, mopping,organizing the wardrobe etc.. One thing out of place, and the hell breaks loose!!

In short if you have an OCD spouse, God bless your soul..


Pic courtesy: http://cognitivebehaviortherapycenter.com/

Vacation colours

Hello dearies..Wanted to share with u the happy news that I got promoted to 1 A from PP2A. Though technically I dont understand why it is called a 'promotion', since I  have lost a PP and a 1 , just 1A remains. Anyways, the good thing is that now I will officially be a 'chechi' to all those irrelevant kids in PP1 and PP2 .Ha, take that you dumboss...

Vacations have begun, and I have been trying to find options to keep myself busy. Last week, I found a hidden treasure!!!.. A set of 5 bright colored nail polishes that Amma had kept hidden from me for a while now. As usual she freaked out when she found me coming out of the room with a handful of nail polish bottles. It took some effort from me to convince her to let me keep them all for a while under two conditions..I wouldn't try applying them anywhere else other than my nails..and I wouldn't try on more than one color at a time. It was fine with me too, since I had kept aside a set of color pens that Dada had bought me last week . Color pens and nail polish are a good combination I tell you..Even if Amma manage to remove the nail polish the color of the pens would stay on(wink,wink..)

Misfortune strikes , and one of the bottles fell down from the table when I was trying to rearrange them, creating a beautiful brown design on the floor. It was really beautiful if you ask me , covering the entire area below the Dining table. But I was not sure whether Amma would like it. There was no point hiding it. So without much ado, I broke the news to her.I made special efforts to assert and insist that  it is no fault of mine. She came running and stood there analyzing the situation, her mouth opening and closing like the gold fish in our aquarium. I looked helplessly at Bapu, hoping that he would help me.

Bapu to the rescue.Before Amma could start her tirade, Bapu started scolding her for giving me the nail polish bottles.Meanwhile I quietly slipped out of there and got back to watching Pogo. Amma started looking around for nail polish remover to clean up the mess. I was not sure whether she was referring to the blue liquid that I had found along with the nail polish botttles, which I had safely kept away  in my secret location. I kept quiet. I wanted that bottle for some other experiments. Amma couldn't find the remover(obviously), and  she started trying other available options..harpic, glass cleaner, brass polish..nothing worked it seems and she was getting even more frustrated.

For some strange reason, she was pissed off that I had no regrets in creating the mess. Then she asked me to help her clean up.I tried to make her understand that I am a kid and making me work would make God angry and he would punish her.She looked at me incredulously,shook her head and got back to the task at hand. She was giving me dirty looks in between.I was hoping that Dada would come  and rescue me soon.

Update:

Dada did manage to pacify Amma once he came in. Next day we bought two bottles of nail polish remover and Amma managed to clean it up. These mothers I tell you, get worked up so much at times.I should have closed the bottle properly.Amma seized the bottles from me and 'hid' them behind her ornament box in the small drawer in our wardrobe.  She thought I was busy with pogo, but I was not(evil grin) . Taking them out immediately may not be a good idea, I would advice myself to put that  off till next week.The TV stand is too plain, and badly in need of some colorful designs.Maybe I should keep that as a surprise for Mom when she comes back from Office next week. Will keep you guys posted :)

with lotsa luv,