Apathy

Apathetic is the state I want to be in. Take me there....faster.

Equal ??

Women need to stop asking for special treatment. If you want to be equal, please be prepared to take on equal responsibilities. For starters:

1) Stop tagging the "I am so sacrificing and nurturing for my loved ones" line. You are nurturing the ones you love. Why on earth do you deserve special mention for that? Doesn't the man take care of his family too? Doesn't he put bread on the table everyday for his wife and his kids? What makes your contribution any bigger?

2) Stop feeling self-important because you take care of the home and hearth. Any work is hard work - whether its working in the office or taking care of the home. A man, too, has to work hard. He has to get through bad bosses, snigerring colleagues and oppressive work schedules. He is working as hard as you are, for the family. So, get over yourself!

3) Stop feeling good simply because you are a woman. You are a woman merely by chance. Stop starting sentences with "I, being a woman....". You can use that sentence when you have just performed a feat of extreme physical strength, not otherwise. You aren't different, you are just another person until you have done something worth mentioning.

4) Stop asking for special treatment. Do not expect respect because you are a woman, ask for respect because of the person you are.

5) Your identity is not defined by your child bearing capabilities, child rearing skills or execution of cooking recipes. You maybe the breadwinner or the homemaker, its not about your role, its about your ability to choose, and, having chosen to execute the role to perfection. If you do something well, you deserve praise.

Nice lines

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
my soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
for the ends of Being and ideal Grace.

I love thee to the level of everyday's
most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.

I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;

I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.

I love thee with a passion put to use
in my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.

I love thee with a love I seemed to lose with my lost saints

I love thee with the breath, smiles, tears, of all my life!
And, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death.

- Elizabeth Barrett Browning
P.S. I have taken liberties with the punctuation

Indulgence and Denial

For long I have heard both sides of the argument about leading life - one for denial and one for indulgence. I myself had difficulty picking one over the other in the past. But now I think I know. I choose indulgence - indulgence with life. If you have to live, indulge yourself. Aspire to do big things, dream impossible dreams, covet passionately that which gives you pleasure, have the courage to do something for the first time only for the thrill of it, dare to take risks and see if things work out, love as if you can never get hurt, listen to your heart and use your mental faculties to do what it asks you to. Denial is not for me - if I have to live, I shall live for small moments of happiness, for short happy memories, for physiological triggers which make the happy centers of my brain light up. I shall not live for some intangible entity called salvation, some elusive entity called everlasting peace, for ego boosts derived from self-imposed sacrifices, for an obscure promise of freedom from desires and the cycle of birth and rebirth. I shall make all those mistakes which you deny yourself with such difficulty, and I shall gather all those lessons which you preach about, but haven't taken yourself. I shall live life the way its meant to be lived - with prudence and wisdom gained from indulging myself, not with rules laid down by others.

Big fat raindrops and puddle pleasures

Yesterday we went out for dinner and while coming back it started raining. Big fat raindrops started falling in copious amounts. B kept complaining that he couldn't see the road while driving. I, of course, was looking out of the window and enjoying the rain. I could understand his inconvenience, but, couldn't help feeling warm and fuzzy inside because of the rain.
The rain reminded me of my childhood - spent in Shillong. In Shillong it used to rain often and it used to rain much. My mother would always complain about clothes lying in the clothes line wet for days. But, me and my sister never had anything to complain about. We loved watching those fat raindrops falling down noisily on the wet soil making big puddles, and drenching the clothes on my mom's clothes line. It would be cold and wet inside the house too, because we never had any centralized heating. So we would just huddle up in a huge quilt and look out of the window at the falling rain.
Schooldays again were a big bother for my mom. She would wake us up, get us dressed and then make us wear hideous raincoats and our huge, unsightly gumboots (I hated those raincoats, I have never understood why raincoats have to be so ugly, I haven't seen a decent looking raincoat anywhere till date!). Then we would walk to school splashing and kicking, never missing a puddle while she would reprimand us all the way for not trying to stay dry. Once in school, we would take off our gumboots and wear socks and shoes which she would bring with her in a bag. It was a long ritual carried on everyday, and many a times it would rain for several days incessantly in Shillong. But I don't remember me and my sister getting tired of it ever. My mom of course hated it.
Yesterday while looking out of the window, I smiled to myself because yet again I could enjoy the rain while B did the complaining and ferrying me across. I thanked him and my mom in my heart. My childhood cannot come back, but for now at least I could still afford the pleasure of not complaining about big, fat raindrops :)
And when we reached home, while getting down from the car, I looked around for a puddle to jump into.But alas! I didn't find any. The "puddle pleasure" apparently wasn't available then. I shall keep looking though.

Whats the noise all about ???

It is very simple.......



There is only one prayer I have - May I be able to do unto others what my heart tells me to, and not what they have done unto me.

There is only one thing I aspire for - To be able to give my best in whatever I do.

There is only one thing that I love - my"self", and all those whom I love are a part of that "self".

There is only one thing that I respect - courage, and I make no exceptions based on situations or consequences to acts of courage.

There is only thing I believe in - love. Love can do wonderful things to us.It can make us better human beings with bigger hearts.It can stir our minds, give us courage and enlighten our souls.It can create empathy and compassion.It can make us selfless and generous.Love alone is the only religion the world needs.

There is only one thing that I look forward to eagerly - a joyful smile on a loved one's face. There is something magical about that smile, it brightens up your day and makes you feel grateful to be alive.

There is just one thing that I fear - being disappointed by someone I love. Disappointment is neither measurable nor tangible. True disappointment comes when you do not expect anything from a person.You see that person as a part of yourself with all that you consider good and worth standing for, you then decide to give up your everything to this thing of beauty that you worship. Then one day you wake up to a stranger. Your thing of beauty is broken and a part of you is gone.

There is only one prized possession I have - my freedom. I shall not give up my freedom for anything. My freedom is priceless to me.

There is only one thing that makes me sad - the human state.The fact that the human being is a sad, dissatisfied creature makes me sad.

Never say never

There are very few things in life which one never regrets, whatever be the consequences. One of them is falling in love.