What's in a Name? Therez lot in a Pet Name

Sexypear! Oops I means Shakespeare has rightly said that what’s in a name. People took it seriously and started referring to each other using pet names. Couples calling each other cutie pie, janoo, shweetu…, parents calling their kids chunnu, munnu, tunnu…, friends referring to each other with their own versions is quite common. And one such pet naming ceremony happened in our office too on Wednesday. Even I was given many pet names. Not that I didn’t have any before.

Bachpan mein my brother’s friends used to call me Naana Spot (coz there was a villan named Spot Nana in yesteryear’s Bollywood flick) as I used to be a trouble around them. Then came the petname DJ bestowed upon me by my college friends for reasons better known to them. And on Wednesday I was given some more names by my colleagues.

It so happened that a contest kinda was rolled out for our team wherein you are supposed to name your neighbor in a funny way. So it was decided that the placement would be such that no one crosses the limit of mocking some one’s name or surname. So it was decided as Name_(petname given by your neighbor)_Surname. And today when I came to my desk I was surprised to see four funny names for me which I thought I would share with you:

• Sangeeta “Main apni favourite hun” Iyer (the famous dialogue from Jab We Met)
• Sangeeta “Enthu-Cutlet” Iyer
• Sangeeta “91.0000 FM” Iyer
• Sangeeta “Meow” Iyer (though this I am not sure why meow”

It was fun. A good welcome for me to start a grumpy day :)

Ladder of Love – Life is but a journey

Love is as much of an object as an obsession, everybody wants it, everybody seeks it, but few ever achieve it, those who do will cherish it, be lost in it, and among all, never... never forget it.

- Curtis Judalet

It’s a very famous line in Bollywood movies that “mein tumhare pyar mein kuch bhi kar sakta hun”. But very few people live up to their promise. The moment a hot chick passes by, the dogs run after the meatJ. Ha ha ha. In today’s materialistic world filled with different options to lead your life, people have somewhat forgotten the real meaning of LOVE. It’s high time that we flip through the pages of the dictionary to reach the word LOVE.

There is a famous Greek saying - A heart that loves is always young. And this has been proved right by 70 year-old Liu Guojiang and his 80 year-old wife Xu Chaoqin in China. Over half-a-century ago, a 19 year-old boy fell in love with a 29 year-old widowed mother only to be criticized by friends and relatives because of the age difference and the fact that Xu already had children. Hence the couple eloped far off and decided to live in a cave to live and love each other in peace. The couple had to face numerous hardships. Sometimes Xu felt that she had tied Liu down and repeatedly asked him, 'Are you regretful? Liu always replied, 'As long as we are active, life will improve.'

As a token of love and the best gift a husband can give to his wife, Liu began and continued for over 50 years, to hand-carve the steps. And it was a surprising discovery that the wife was gifted 6000 hand-crafted steps by her husband so that his wife could get down the mountain easily.

However like any other love story, this love story also came to an end when 72 year-old Liu returned from his farm work and collapsed and passed away in Xu’s arms. The love for his wife even after death is seen when no one was able to release the grip he had on his wife's hand even after he had passed away. 'You promised me you'll take care of me, you'll always be with me until the day I died, now you left before me, how am I going to live without you?' Xu spent days softly repeating this sentence and touching her husband's black coffin with tears rolling down her cheeks.

WOW! Such kind of incidents does force you to believe in love, commitment and beauty of relationship.

P.S. You can see their story through this video too

Guide To All Future Parents

Paul makes Totaram jobless

I guess the picture says it all.

Child Prodigy

One more day of feeling like a loser. Yes you read it right. i sometimes get this bout of low-lying attacks :) Today I happened to see L'il Champs - Dance India Dance in the afternoon and there came the first contestant from Mumbai - Ananya Kurup all of just 5 yrs old performing to a Bharatnatyam piece. Watch this video and you will be surprised:

Ananya's audition video - Link

She is all set to make it to the Guinness Book of World Records as the youngest classical dancer. She started dancing at the age of one when i dont even remember what loserpankti i was into when i was a year old. She is just in Junior KG student but has mastered all the 10 dance items required for an arangetram (graduation of classical dance) for which people usually finish at the age of 11 yrs old.

Aur ek jale pe namak: She is also a scholar and good at studies and aims to become a doctor. Wow already nishana maar liye itni choti umar mein. And look at me. Still clueless what to do with dis useless life :) Forget having talent, I am toh not even good at studies. My mother still looks at my marksheets to confirm that i have reached till doing my PG. She had lost all hopes. She was to marry me off after eight std. Imagine i was such a big DUH.

On a serious note its good that these talent shows are giving chance to both performers (to showcase their talent) and viewers (to wake up and notice the richness of talent in India).

Marriage Mirage leads to Sex Change

Many things has been said and done about the institution called MARRIAGE. Majority of the public want to take admission to this institution for a secured future (or sometimes for reasons better known to them) while some might want to stay out of it. And I am one of them (well at least as of now). Whoa! Good this article wont be read by my parents else I am screwed up.

Well the word Marriage is highly debatable and I am writing this article in favor of No- Marriage-required section of the society. With increasing competition and peer pressure to stay ahead in the rat race, it leaves very less room to this sometimes demanding commitment to people who cannot balance many cups on their already filled trays. It’s high time that parents stop succumbing to societal pressure and force their kids to bend down to this herculean obligation when the kid is not prepared for it. Many parents treat marriage as a mammoth responsibility that they want to shed off asap not realizing the kid’s agony. Many people who are unable to deal with this, ends up giving up on their lives or mess up with their now married life or retort to ways that would stop the wagging tongues.

One such case that I read was of a woman lawyer from Puri, Orissa. This lady in her mid 30’s took a desperate step of changing her sex as her family was forcing her to get married. She was not prepared for marriage as she did not want a family life which is being forced on girls in our society that is dominated by males and girls have no voice of their own. As a result of this, she did not inform her family about this and also threatened to commit suicide if she was not allowed to have the surgery done.

The woman submitted an affidavit stating her willingness to undergo the Sex Reassignment Surgery (SRS) operation that was performed on 29th June 2010. During the operation process that went on for 7 hours long, her female organs were removed and male organs were set in her body. She was injected with hormones to develop masculine attributes like a male voice, beard and moustache. The lady seems to have stated that “I feel free now. No one can force me to marry. It is better to become a man to get rid of sufferings met by women”.

Well I hope at least one parent (having a narrow approach) whose daughter/ son is of marriageable age reads this article and stops bugging their children. The only message I would like to give to the parents (including mine) is that: Wake up!!! Stop succumbing to societal pressure because at the end of the day society is not going to be there when you need help while your children would be there by your side. Support them. Don’t push them into what they don’t want to get into. The son/ daughter is your child not your source of duty fulfillment.

Monkey - Man

“Until he extends his compassion to all living things,

man will not himself find peace”

- Dr. Albert Schweitzer

The other day there was this one particular forward mail in my inbox that was really touching and made me think about the difference between man and animals. And now after this mail I was forced to place animals on the top in terms of compassion.

The two blind men in the photo were thirsty and wanted to drink water at the RagiGudda temple, Bangalore. However, they were unable to operate the tap.

This mother monkey opened the tap for them, allowed them to drink water, drank some water herself and then closed the tap before leaving the scene. Not only did the monkey have brains to help the needy people but also close the tap after use thus avoiding water wastage (either of which humans fail to do most of the times).

This is the most wonderful story that I have read in a long time and to think that there are still people in this world who don’t believe in the ‘humanity’ of animals. And worse of all, there are still so-called educated people who exploit these animals in the name of experimentation.

But, animals, for the most part, seem far more advanced than humans. We human beings are so involved in all this caste/ creed system that we fail to understand the word HUMANITY. However, animals don't have any kind of caste system. Maybe some day we human beings will learn from them. And its high time that humans recognize animals as equal though different, intelligent and emotional and compassionate!

wieder zurück - I am back again!!!

Finally I am back (hopefully) with a bang!!! (not that my readers were missing me :). After a long-time fight with the internet service providers, I am now having a connection working in proper condition. Hope it continues to stop hindering my blogging abilities.