Simple remedies to cheer you up on those gloomy days...

Daily Thought: SOME PEOPLE ARE LIKE SLINKIES. NOT REALLY GOOD FOR ANYTHING BUT THEY BRING A SMILE TO YOUR FACE WHEN PUSHED DOWN THE STAIRS. 1. When choking on an ice cube, simply pour a cup of boiling water down your throat. Presto! The blockage will instantly remove itself. 2. Avoid cutting yourself slicing vegetables by getting someone else to hold while you chop. 3. Avoid arguments with the Mrs. about lifting the toilet seat by using the sink. 4. To treat high blood pressure: simply cut yourself and bleed for a few minutes, thus reducing the pressure in your veins. Remember to use a timer. 5. A mouse trap, placed on top of your alarm clock, will prevent you from rolling over and going back to sleep after you hit the snooze button. 6. If you have a bad cough, take a large dose of laxatives, then you will be afraid to cough. 7. You only need two tools in life - WD-40 and Duct Tape. If it doesn't move and should, use the WD-40. If it shouldn't move and does, use the duct tape. 8. When confused remember, everyone seems normal until you get to know them.

Sing and dance and Jhoom Barabar till you drop dead....of boredom!

“Don’t bother going for jhoom bararbar jhoom”, warned my friend who came back with a head-ache. But the ticket were already booked and I couldn’t give a ditch, and after reading the review warning me that it is a movie with one star, I was ready for the worse, and I was not disappointed.It was lousy, indeed! The movie was supposed be without any story, with Amitabh, dressed in vague clothes (Why was he there?) dancing with two dozen dancers, singing one ridiculous song again and again (Why?). The crude Abhishek and confused Preeti were supposed to bore the audience with their spinning yarns while they waited to receive their respective relatives at London station,(train service in London is unpredictable too?) and falling in love within two hours(Wow! do people fall in love in just two hours by just chatting, or climbing esclators backwards and having a tattoo painted?). Lara Datta was supposed to look stunning in her acting and her proficiency in using abusive language(Funny! Preeti and Lara excel n abusive language) and Bobby Doel was supposed to steal the show with his fabulous acting of biting his fingers. I was warned of that loud music and those classy drums with loud music is still ringing in my ears (my ear drums need a make-over). Are you going to see it? Well it is Yash Chopra films and how can you miss it? It is directed by Shaad Ali (you liked Shaad Ali's Sathiya and Bunti Bubbli too, didn't you,) and you will get to visit London and Paris and see Pakis-Hindus-lovey-dovey. so go ahead…..enjoy the popcorn and Samosas, relax and be a judge…..we are used to watching meaningless movies, aren’t we? So go watch and jhoom barabar Jhoom till you drop dead..of boredom!

I have a right to Choose.....

I have traveled thousands of miles in this life, and met scores of couple of supposed-to-be-happily-bliss-couples, but I still have to meet a perfect couple. The type of emotional support that a person needs changes from one stage of life to another. The type of emotional support that her family provides may not be what she really needs after certain age. True! But as she grows older, she learns to discover and know herself. If she is single, she has already learnt to control her emotions and she knows that she, herself is responsible for her own happiness and there is no body else on whom she should depend. She builds a wall around her, and learns to protect herself against all the bullies. She becomes stronger as she grows older. A married women lives all her life with expectations of being recognized and appreciated by her spouse, children, extended families, eventually losing her own identity, in trying to please others, when she is older, she realizes that all her life she has only lived for others, compromising, tolerating and the cycle goes on and on, the emotional support that she was expecting from others may not be there. Life is just give and take and emotional support always will come from anybody whom you care, they may or may not be your own family. Loneliness is a temporary phase that everybody goes through, married or not. It is phase of boredom. This can be easily replaced by different interests. The conjugal bonhomie between couples may remind her of what she is missing, but when she sees those heated arguments, that sloppiness in men, his vices, his drinking habits, womanizing, his long hours in front of TV (or computer), during the week-ends while the wife helplessly awaits for an outing, it is during those spells of unhappy couple, that she starts blessing her stars. Single woman may become conscious about her single status when she comes across a very happy family of husband, wife, and child/children. This may leave her totally demoralized but only temporarily. And when a married woman, sees her single friend, carefree and liberated, being able to support her-self and live with dignity, while she is chained to life-long-imprisonment of ungrateful and selfish family, it can leave married woman totally demoralized, which her own family may not even know. Absence of commitments (marriage is one great commitment) may make single woman reckless and intemperate during the age, when she is young and wants to explore everything independently but a mature, single woman is not reckless, she knows her responsibility and is in charge of her life. She has been free to do what she likes and she does that with responsibility knowing that she has only her self to please. Married woman has obstructions and rules to follow, (don’t do this, don’t go there, don’t talk to this one, must call him, what will people say, think of family prestige, etc) so she is always craving for independence and she is the one, who destroys her self-esteem in the long run. The sense of security that a marriage brings is priceless to those who have no faith in themselves to make their own life secure. A majority in the society always look down upon single women because they are jealous of her bravery. Societies have their own imaginations and they feel every single woman is unhappy, easy catch, unworthy and an object of pity. High time they realized that woman, sometimes chooses to be single and will be ready for commitment, only if she finda a worthy man. She will not clutter her space with society-must-haves. Her single status may make some men think that she is easily available. Warding off these roving eyes would be a tough task for that woman, who is weak and has not yet mastered the martial art. A man complements a woman and vice versa if there is understandings on both the sides and willingness to respect each other. There is lot more to the life, than a marriage. I think, woman can stay married, but only if she has some space to stretch her emotions and desires, if she has no danger of being stripped off her identity, if she has a companion, who is under-standing, caring and loving. He is the one, who will be tolerated in her old age.

Women don’t gloat, men don’t take offence

Circumstances play a very important role in our life. Being happy, single or married, is our choice. A married woman may be happy but distressed if she is not free to expand her interests due to her priorities towards her families. An unmarried woman can be happy but sometimes lonely if she does not have many interests. Society pressure is there for women to get married and settle down, because she is more capable of shaping a secure home. If she is talented and also earning, then the pressure is more, because men are the weaker sex and they need a talented wife to steer their life. Society has always pampered men, and here too, woman is pressured to get married so that men can have a secure life. Indian society is not used to seeing men cook or sweep at home. The world is changing, true, many men are helping their wife, change the nappies, but those men live in nuclear families. Men in joint families are still pampered. So woman is expected to marry so as to release her mother-in-law off her duties towards her son. What are the advantages to a woman who gets married? She gets a companion, who can accompany her for late night shows, act as a buffer in this bully world, and support her financially if she is not earning herself. She can enjoy these pleasures if she is blessed with husband who is caring, not having any vices and supportive. But alas! Like all normal human beings, we cannot be blessed in all things. Second choice is the endurance. If the woman has the tolerance of overlooking few drawbacks, then she can hang on. If she has enough faith in herself, then she can walk out of the painful marriage. What is life for single woman? It is accepted in today’s world if the woman is financially independent. People envy the strong and independent woman and only the jealous ones will pressurize single woman to fall into a trap. People who are conservative are the ones who cannot accept the changing society. An independent, strong woman is capable of showing the world that getting marriage is her choice and she will take it herself when the time is ripe and nobody else should worry about that.

Walks by the beach? Ugh!

My friend Rhea is fed up of going to jogger’s park everyday. She say, oh same track! Same trees (how do I plant new trees everyday for her?). So boring! So boring? Taking walk in Jogger’s park seems boring to her. She fails to see the beautiful, blooming flowers on the hedges or the soft sea-side breeze that caresses our cheeks. She is bored of same walks and need new scenery every day. “Okay! Where do you want to go?” I ask her. ‘Let’s go to Juhu beach for a change.” She says So we decide to go to Juhu beach for a change in scenery and environment and a different variety of walks! Am I glad I went for a walk to Juhu Beach? Certainly not! Not a good idea at all! Going to a beach, walking on soft sand and enjoying the sea-breeze as the waves flap and roars, is the luxury enjoyed in only western world. The waters in western world are dark blue and are in sharp contrast of light blue sky that can be seen at the horizon where the sky seem to touch the waters. At Juhu beach, the sky is light blue, the waves flap and roar too but the water is grey, yes grey and the sea-breeze stinks! As we trudged by the shores, we had to dodge the dirty-black-end-wave and walk carefully as the whole beach was covered by loosely scattered carpet of soaked-plastic bags, empty bottles, rags, decayed-flowers, etc. I think this dirt and mess does not upset anybody, because children, and adults, happily bathed in these dirty waters, splashing water on each other, playfully and jumping and diving between the waves. There are children playing cricket, happy family and friends soak in dry sand, couples (old and new) refresh their daily news and the hawkers move around, between the crowd selling their unhygenic snacks. The weather is sweltering, even the water is warm and there is too much crowd at the beach. I still prefer my Jogger’s park.