Being Social

Five days back I had been cursing my cell phone. Who even invented that gadget! I understand it is very useful in a lot of ways. But, those muted group conversations irritate me. I do not want to be a part of those random conversations, and I don't want to see those random pictures shared. Every once in a while I have to take the effort to clear such conversations and remove those 152 odd numbers of random forward images that get shared. Secondly, with these cell phones in hand, you make yourself available at all times, to those who have your number. One can show our unavailability by not picking the call. But still with the mobile beside us, we get invaded by such calls which we do not want at the moment. Well of course I have the option to not to have a cell phone and set my own standards to go about my life without it. Or simply, I could just leave my mobile at home when going to some places. But what to do, a single girl living in a city away from home, is always expected to c...

A long sabbatical yes. In that time, I had realised something, which is highly highly relevant to Indian mothers (especially those that of the daughters). Well, what can I say, most mothers are control freaks (on their children). Some 2 years back, I was 23 years old (as in, an adult able enough to understand life, work, and in parents' view, grown enough to take up the responsibilities of a marriage life). Even then, whenever I am at home and my mom wakes up (not completely, but still in her half closed eyes) from her small afternoon/evening nap, the first thing she does is call out my name and ask where am I or what am I doing. I used to find this irritating, invasion of my 'self' time. Then, out of frustration one day I sat down to think, why does she do that? Why does she want to know where I am? What am I doing? I am an adult for *&$^&) sake! Then it dawned on me. It is a very common scene in Indian households, to find the mom as the sole caretaker of he...

When I tell you - "24 hours is not enough!", how well do you understand this phrase? Well, I never understood before! But now....I do. So the fortnight long sabbatical from my blog. And also why, being a designer myself, my view of my first Kala Ghoda Festival which ended on the 15th of this month, is not yet featured in my blog. I will come back to it in my next post! But now (before I forget the premises), there is something else that I would like to write about. CAUTION: This is a little too personal for my blog's taste and style. Yet, I wanted to put it out there in the Universe. Source: http://blog.runrun.it/en/create-your-opportunities-and-get-noticed/ In my professional world, people consider me to be an architect. My friends and relatives think either I am working as a Civil Engineer or designing buildings in an architecture firm. And as of me, few months back I decided 'Designer' best suits my skills. But lately, based on some office talks ...

Source:  http://www.vishwagujarat.com/entertaintment/dhanu-shamitabh-bachchan-first-look-of-movie-shamitabh/ Movie reviews are not my cup of tea but SHAMITABH ....................... I have a friend, who sits through the cast, crew and sponsor credits that gets enlisted after the movie completes. When I had come to know of this practice of his for first time, I was thinking - "What's the point? Weird it is!". But Shamitabh made me realise the point. It made me sit through the last listing, up till the sponsors. Such is the effect that Shamitabh instills on its viewers. Of all the elements that bind a movie, clearly for R.Balki, in this movie, the storyline takes the front seat, which is augmented by Ilayaraja's smooth, trendy, pleasant to the ears BGM and soundtrack. Will the story standout without the music? No Doubt! It will make a classy and 'touchy' bestselling novel!  On the other hand, will Ilaiyaraja's music (BGM in particular) make ...

I am 25, working away from home, living by myself and single since the last 5 years. In these 5 years, my few little dreams have come true, I had reached at least one milestone in my life, made friends internationally and still pursuing my dreams in every little thing. Basically, I am living my life embracing the pitfalls, rising like a phoenix and gifting myself for my milestones, all independently and responsibly (or so I think!). While all these were happening to me, people / friends in my circle were also stepping up the ladder in their lives, facing their own challenges and reaching their milestones. And one common milestone among most were either marriage, proposal acceptance or becoming a mom! And I was here, being me, having a great social and professional life but an uneventful personal life. My personal life was not empty empty. I played violin, shopped, expanded my book library, ran a marathon and what not! And I did enjoy them. But also, I secretively craved ...

I recently read this somewhere: 'If those whom we begin to love could know us as we were before meeting them, they could perceive what they have made of us.' (just don't go down yet...*peace*) . . . . . . . . Every time I read or get reminded of this, I take my time to process the essence of this beautiful statement. It deserves that honour. It makes so much sense! May be is this why people say, it is always better to marry a friend? Of course you need attraction & 'feelings' towards that friend, to fall in love. But if you find that love in your friend and that friend understands what has he, as a person, as an individual, since that moment you fell in love with him has made of you, there's nothing more precious a gift than that. My eyes caught this beauty when I was (am) in that phase of my life where eventually I succumbed to reality and met my first prospective 'would-be', arranged by my parents! :| Till then, the dogma I had ...

Apparently, 'Kolam' is a tribal community of around 2,00,000 people distributed between Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, who speak the Dravidian language, also called 'Kolam'. Being a Tamilian myself, yes, this was a new found information for me. And, no, I am not here to doodle about the Kolam tribes. Reputedly, 'Kolams' are a cultural phenomena of interlaced, complex dot and line paintings drawn using rice flour or chalk powder. These are painted at the entrance of the house, on cleaned and graded ground surface sprinkled with water mixed with cow dung. Yep! Two completely different meanings, all part of India. That's the amusingly admirable land of immeasurable diversity - a mini world within the world. Moving on, these latter Kolams are predominantly a cultural inheritance of the South of India. Its cultural variations in form and practice can be seen as Rangoli in other parts of India like Maharashtra, Delhi, etc. In the South,...