The King’s Ballad

Long ago in a faraway land, a king reigned with seven queens.

The fair ladies loved each other and were seldom jealous of the king’s affections;

Until one such day when the court jester played a prank so mean,

It almost threatened to end the king’s reign.

He sowed the seeds of hatred amongst the queens,

They squabbled and gossiped each day till morn.

The poor king could take no more

And so left for the countryside to do farming chores!

Whilst in the country the king thought of a plan

He mused, ‘Let me bring back much needed peace to the land’.

He summoned his minister to his aide

‘Let us make haste’, he said and end this tirade.

So they pondered and sought a solution,

‘A poem, a poem’, said the king, could be the magic potion.

A song to praise each queen and win her over

Added to that a gift of heather and clover!

And so poets were summoned from across the land,

To compose pleasing lyrics for a band;

‘Bring along a ballad, a poem or a song’, they were told

With a promise to be showered with gold two fold.

They came from villages, hamlets and towns,

All eager to make the gold their own,

Alas, none was a success with the queens

Whose bickering by now had reached a crescendo!

His Majesty threw up his arms in vain

He asked ,‘Isn’t there anyone to put an end to this shame?’

There came a knock on the palace door,

Outside stood an old hermit, his clothes all but torn.

The hermit was ushered in as soon as he was seen,

Said he to the king,’ Sire, let me speak to the queens’!

And so he sang them a sweet song

With lyrics telling them where they were wrong.

And so the story ends here, my friends

The queens stopped wrangling and became good wives.

The king reigned for many a good year to come,

And this story became quite a lesson to some!



"I Got Married" - and how

   Marriages r truely made in Heaven! What fortune (or call it fate) that your life partner is decided by the Gods themselves and then are traced by the natal chart on earth, especially if you are Indian and a Hindu in that. As always the Gods never give your parents the address or the phone number of the prospective groom or bride and so they end up searching high and low in all the four directions. And this is no easy search, mind you. It is a tedious, frustating, hair splitting and time taking process (few months to many years). The ladies who got married in a span of say, a fortnight after the search process began, i consider lucky :) cos i don't think they had to put up with numerous dress rehearsals, Q n A sessions, serving tea n snacks routine etc. Ah! I do have some good memories of the search my parents did for my marriage and all that was done to please prosperous (if not prospective) grooms n the parent-in-laws in waiting.

   As with the custom across most parts of India, especially the South, the 'look out process' began even before I finished my college. In fact, I believe there were enquires for me when I was in my final year at high school ! (Gawd, people can be mad, asking for a minor girl's hand in marriage). During college years, I vividly remember all the family events and weddings I was taken along to. And I do remember the fuss my mother used to make with regard to the clothes and gold ornaments (especially the gold jewellery) that accompanied them. Ouch! I used to so much hate wearing all the jewellery with the already heavy and unmanageable silk saree in the swealtering heat of my native place. Add to that the site of curious 'relatives' (women I would never before have seen in my life), wanting to see the design on my bangles and necklace. This they achieve by pulling you to one side, feeling the jewellery and sometimes weighing it in their hands. In my place, this is one way of judging the status of people. Heavier the gold, more the money one is supposed to have. And then the news will travel...about there being a girl of marriageable age belonging to so and so community, whose parents have x amount of wealth and status, the attributes of the girl (this obviously includes the height, weight, complexion, general health and appearance ). You can bet that by the time you get back home from the family function, the postman would have dropped off a couple of 'Jatakams' (natal charts) at your doorstep, much to the joy of your parents. After that it is but a matter of time, be fore decisions are taken and God willing, wedding preparations are made. In my case, it was a long long time before the wedding bells actually rang to change my destiny forever :)

   I vividly remember the day I got married....well who wouldn't!! I remember only too well how anxious and nervous I was what with so many strange people staring at me. On top of that I was frequently reminded not to show my teeth or smile too much !!..eee, this was my day at last and I don't get to rejoice on it? Truth is, it was my side of the relatives and my mother especially who did not want comments from the groom's party with regard to my teeth. (Not that I have bad teeth... in fact I have very good, well aligned sparkling white teeth cos I religiously brush twice a day and that too with Colgate). Hmm...but it so transpired that many years ago, someone,somewhere in my native place happened to make a rather rude remark about the bride's teeth in the wedding hall. I suppose she had 'rabbit teeth' or whatever, but the comment spread like wildfire and did not go very well with the groom's party and so they stopped the wedding. Now I understand why girls are told to keep their mouth shut and not speak during the 'bride viewing' process (when the groom's folks go n see the bride for the first time). Dental health can make or break a wedding. My advice to girls...brush,brush,brush....floss,floss and floss. 

   Well, my teeth did not cause any concern at all, but the conscious effort not to smile n keep up a very demure look, added to the sleeplessness of the past few nights, did me in. I fell almost sick the night before the actual wedding took place. I am sure this caused lots of concerns in both camps, but I was oblivious to the chaos, preferring instead to slip into the medicated sleep I was put into. I woke up fresh as a daisy on the D-day, and lo and behold the wedding took place without a hitch.... I was finally married! I cannot ever forget the relief I felt when the 'Thali' (Mangalsutra) was tied around my neck. I smiled so much thinking of the fact that I was now "Mrs. so n so". Finally, my parents duty was over and they could take the rest they were so much in need of. I was also happy with the fact that I did not have to go through anymore 'Tea and snacks" routines, no more having to be the prospective bride, getting analysed by all and sundry at functions etc.

    Marriage is a learning experience as it teaches you about adjustment and temperament. Looking back at my wedding photographs, I do feel I could have smiled a bit more :) Its true I have conveniently forgotten the day and date of my wedding...now it seems a very long time ago. But the whole time, I think I have been smiling inside, thanking my stars I got married to a really wonderful person.

  It has been a long time, precisely 3 years since i last blogged. God! How long is that! So long that Abhi-Ash have completed 2 yrs of married life, Benazir is in heaven and Dr.Manmohan Singh is in his second term as PM, not to forget that the US has its first Afro-American President. Ah, n not to mention the Wall Street crisis or the recent Swine flu pandemonium.Well, lots of other historic events have taken place, but sorry to say at the moment I cannot recollect them all. But some things have remained the same: The war on terror does not want to end, drought and AIDS continue to take its toll the world over and as global temperatures continue to rise,the polar ice caps r rapidly disappearing.

 Now, I have to question mself as to why i stopped posting on my blog.Hmmm...let me think..lack of time..a lame excuse :) Lets just say, I got caught up in a busy life...after all I GOT MARRIED!!!

The Spirit of Africa

When I think of Poverty, I think of the Africans;
They are poorer than I, but stronger in their resolution.
They have an indomitable spirit, a never say die attitude.
They don't have water or education
And they inhabit areas with scanty vegetation
Most people have never seen a home or a proper life
Oh! the poor souls; they have only seen a lot of strife.
Wars and famine have ravaged their lands;
And turned the fertile soil into dusty sands.
But the people there toil from dawn to dusk
In coal mines and barren fields
Afterall, they must also eat.
Aids Virus, malnutrition and starvation deaths
Genocides and Locusts; They have witnessed all
Still they move on with life
From the Masai people to the bantu tribesmen,
From the Sahara desert to the Congo basin,
The valor and spirit of the African soars
Great African Land,I salute thee!

Beauty and The Beast

I have always hated the way i looked in most of my photos.The reason being that i could never accept myself for what i am.I have always felt something majorly lacking in my face.That's the word for it.... Beauty!

Think beautiful face and you may see the image of Aishwarya Rai flash before your eyes. I won't blame you for that b'cos I would think the same.These days her face has come to define beauty or so think most people.After all she is one of the "most beautiful" women in the world and she has also been compared to the beauty of the Taj Mahal.WOW! isn't that great. Wish i was she.

"Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder" is an age old quote.But it is true.What may seem beautiful to some eyes may not even be pretty to others.In todays times, looks sell more than personality.And people are willing to go under the surgeon's knife to get that "Glam Doll" look of a Bipasha Basu or a Celina Jaitley.These people and scores of "stars" like them have come to be the so called benchmarks of beauty.Gone are the days when people were accepted as they were..looks, personality et all. Sad! :(

But in the haste to look like the demi gods and goddesses of the big screen, most of us completely forget that everything we see, is in reality make believe.Believe it or not, but with the right kind of make-up and make-up artist, appropriate light effects, camera angles, a good photographer and a good camera, most of us could be transformed into gorgeous beings.True, Aishwarya is beautiful, but catch her sans make-up, viola.... she would perhaps look plainer than the average plain Jane.No wonder the "Stars" hate being caught on camera without the add ons (read make-up).If you ask me, the real compliment for most women looking beautiful these days should go to Revlon,Avon, Lakme,Chanel,Maybelline,Estee Lauder, Shiseido etc...etc. But for their foundations,lipsticks,mascara,eye liners,eye shadows, face powders and what not more.And not to forget the ingenious ways in which women use these cosmetics.

Why are we so obsessed with good looks? Is it that looking good can get you places or land you that plum job? Or is it in our genes? I for one have always been insecure about my looks.... that's because i have been the subject of ridicule in my younger years.I have been told very often that "Gorapan"(fairness) is what counts.It makes you look beautiful.Dark people cannot look nice leave alone seem beautiful.But i havn't seen any drastic changes on the faces of people who have applied tonnes of fairness creams.Maybe it bleached their facial skin, but it did nothing to change their perspective or thought process of how they perceive beauty.But that is another matter altogether and i shall dwell on it some other time.

So, if looking beautiful requires the application of creams and lotions, lipsticks and lip liners, shaving, waxing and threading ... i shall prefer to be the Beast.

Quotas Galore - Who wants one !

Ever heard about Quotas? Well, i did. When i was a small girl and we had to travel down south to visit my cousins, my father who was an officer in the IAF, used to reserve train tickets using the Defence quota.That was the only quota i knew of back then. But now, everyone knows about Quotas.

A Quota means : A number or percentage, especially of people, constituting a required or targeted minimum. In India it has come to be of much importance and a hot topic of debate, these days. The recent ruckus that was created by the striking medicos opposing reservation of PG seats for OBC's has long ceased to be fodder for the press.But what is happening in India these days in the name of reservation is not going to pave a way for our future growth and development.There is no point in reserving seats for the underprivilaged in colleges if they have been denied primary education in the first place.By reserving 27% for the OBC's in the IIM's and IIT's , we are not going to achieve anything, if students from these categories can't clear their 10th standard in the first place.

The government should ensure that all children in India are given education in the first place. They should be taught the importance of education and how it can improve their lives.This will prompt them to pursue higher education.Hopefully, it will inculcate an atmosphere of competition amongst the younger generation.No one stands to gain from the quota system,least of all the SC's, ST's and the OBC's.Bring in the Quota and these people will stand to get tormented by people of the so called high castes.Hasn't this happened before in India?Why can't the Government learn a lesson?Competition and quality will take a beating if quotas are brought in.Competition, since students will compete to get the lowest possible marks instead of getting good marks.We may cease to find those hardworking students, as hardwork will know no meaning in the student community.As a result we will have people with lesser and lesser knowledge.This will affect quality in the long run.Don't be surprised to find quack doctors, engineers or architects in the near future.All a result of Quota policy.

And the government needs to make clear its stance on who it calls Other Backward Castes (OBC's).We seem to be getting into the rut of creating more and more demarcations in India, a country which is already divided on the basis of culture, language, religion and what not.And now we have people clamouring to become backward and most backward.In no time, you might also find new castes and communities being created just to avail the benefits of the "Quota".

But agree or not agree on this matter, there is a hidden benefit in this Quota system.As Children will not need to work very hard and study too much, they can atleast play or spend time in extra curricular activities.Atleast it would do us a lot good to see smiling kids on the streets, unlike these days where one only gets to see kids lugging very heavy school bags.

Think about it :)