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Aug 27, 2007

These Superstitious Lazy People

She started to wash the vessels, after dinner. He was torn between the TV and her. He increased the TV volume, went into the kitchen and stood near her, as a show of support. "What happened to the maid?" he grumbled.

She sighed, "She wanted to visit some Godman and so, she won't be coming tommorrow. And I won't have time in the morning..."

He snorted "Why do you employ these kind of people?"

She shrugged and said "Well, she is fine otherwise .."

He growled "These Superstitious Lazy People! They want to believe all their problems can be solved without hard work! Illiterate and stupid ..."

The news anchor on TV mentioned the next news, would be about a starlet's sensational problem. "Well if you can manage here, I will go and wear that belt and watch news."

"Belt?" she queried.

"Yeah, today morning, the Tarot card reader on the news channel said, I would be successful if I started something new today. So I purchased the belt advertised on TV. You know, no exercise and no diet, yet fantastic weight loss.."

Aug 21, 2007

Why did She feel Guilty?

It was a strange email. She stared at the sender's id, it was a new one.

"Do the following, on the next Friday, to bring prosperity and happiness to your family.

1. Cook what you love the most, even if your family dislikes the food.

2. Watch your favourite program on TV for atleast 30 minutes, even if the entire family, wants to watch something else.

3. Buy something you love, for yourself, even if you dont need it.

4. Insist that other family members cook your dinner for you and clean the kitchen after dinner.

5. Wear what you like the most, even if your family members dissaprove.

6. Get something for your parents.

7. Have contact with a friend, you had, before you got married. Meeting personally would be more beneficial, but if thats not possible, talk over phone or send an email.

8. Take care of your feet. Ask someone to massage it for you or get it done professionally.

9. Don't let anyone who abuses you, get away with it. Remember on that day, they are abusing the Goddess Lakshmi, who will be within you. And if you put up with even verbal abuse, they will have to face the wrath of Goddess Lakshmi.

10. Forward this email, within a week, to all the married women you know, from a new email id.

Do not discuss this email with your family or friends. It would take away all the benefits of this cosmic order given by Yogi Shri Jyoti Narayan, a devotee of Goddess Lakshmi. And your family would have to face the consequences of your indiscretion.

If you fail to follow the instructions, bad luck would fall on your husband within 5 days. But if you follow it, your family would experience prosperity, within 5 days. And Goddess Lakshmi would reside in your home, forever".

She stared glumly at the email. What would her mother in law think about her? What about her husband and children?

If she went ahead with it, her family would think she was selfish and would disapprove of her. Perhaps she should delete the email and forget about it, she thought. But hadn't her grandmother said it was important for girls to be unselfish. She decided to follow the instructions.

Later that night, after brooding over the email again, just as she was about to fall asleep, a small voice within her wondered, "Why did she feel guilty, over taking care of herself?"

Aug 20, 2007

Aargh Diaries - Wives aren't Women

On my way to the pantry, stopped near a female colleague, who had been talking a lot, about how she gives her son everything he wants, blah, blah, blah..

"Why do you want to ruin your son's life by giving him everything he wants instead of everything he needs. Now he is going to think its the duty of every woman in his life to take care of him and agree with him. And what kind of relation would he have with his wife; who wont live upto your standards in his eyes? And if she has a boy, she is probably going to express her resentment by giving your grandson everything he wants and getting the male approval from him, continuing the cycle.."

and hurried away before she could throw a heavy file at me, into the pantry to hear Mr.C say "Well, wives aren't women".

Since motherhood was on my mind, couldn't resist asking "So Mr.C, your mother wasn't a woman or wasn't a wife?"


Logically legitamate but socially, it makes you feel as if, you are working in a freezer, in the Artic, before global warming era.

I dont understand why women have to be idolised in one relationship
and demonised in another relationship
Whats the big deal about women
Why not just treat her as human.

Hmmm, atleast I have achieved equality at work
The men and women hate me, equally.

A kind colleague whispered, "How can you abuse mother, don't you realise its against our culture.."

Aargh!
A married mother isn't a natural guardian or atleast a co-guardian of her child, and a divorced woman had to go to Supreme Court because the RBI would let her open a fixed deposit in her child's name..

And we have women dying every 5 minutes in our Mother Worshipping Nation, due to childbirth and
a mother in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh or Pakistan has a better chance of survival than the Indian mother. But losing to them on Maternal Mortality Rate isn't as important as losing our men's cricket team, losing to their cricket team.

Please! We care more for Munnabhai, than the Indian mothers.

Well I dont enjoy working in a freezer, so nodded quietly, with apparent remorse to the colleague's comment.

PS : Thankfully Munnabhai's bail plea has been granted, and the office is busy discussing him, bailing me out of my, "Mother Mess".


Aargh Diaries is a fictional series and Aargh is an Anonymous, Annoyed, Reasonably, Good Human.

Aug 8, 2007

Hindus will Hang

Hindus will hang - their heads in shame,
if Criminals justify Crime, in Hinduism's name
Irrespective of religion let justice be the same
If we dont stand up, we are also to be blamed.

Aug 7, 2007

Silliest Yet Best

The silliest yet best invention in my life at the moment - The Mute Button on the Remote Control.

Why?
1.I dont have to listen to the ads. (The Best invention would be the remote which recognises the ads and surfs automatically for a channel without ads and with sensible content. Heard they have already made the remote but are unable to test it due to lack of a channel, it can switch to.)

2.I dont have to listen to film stars saying the latest movie is equal to Hollywood standards, blah, blah, blah

3.I dont have to listen to the news and then wonder, why I hear about the floods in Bihar from BBC and not the Indian Channels.

4.M factor - I dont have to listen regarding Monica Bedi,Munnabhai,Mahesh Bhatt, Movie song cricketers celebrated their victory with etc.

5.Ex-cricketers criticising current cricketers for anything and everything.

So whats the Silliest yet Best Invention in your life.

Aug 4, 2007

Munnabhai LLB

If the colours of our Flag were to be changed for artistic reasons, there would be an outrage.If the tune or the lyrics of our Anthem were to be changed for artistic reasons, there would be an outrage.Yet when our laws and legal procedures are misrepresented in movies and serials, there is just an audience.The first thing they teach you about law - "Ignorance of law, is not an excuse"Yet not just the vast illiterate population, even the literate are ignorant about the law.The purpose of cinema is to entertain, but we seem to "know" about law and sex, only through it.

Its amazing to hear people say, Sanjay Dutt has suffered.What about the illiterate millions, who are stuck in a whirlpool called our legal system.They dont have access to good lawyers, and its not easy to wait for decades and take days off to attend courts. And they cant afford to visit the Supreme Court or High Court, if justice is denied in lower courts.

If the Arms Act is so unfair, why not attempt to change it?Sanjay Dutt has had a parent and now a sibling in Parliament.What have they done to make the legal system better.Instead of voicing pain over just Sanjay Dutt.

Why doesnt the film fraternity, attempt to make a difference to our legal system?It doesnt have to do much.For starters it can just stick to the truth when it comes to depicting laws and legal procedure.Instead of creating its own laws.

It might seem a trivial issue.But it just makes me sick, when I see these misrepresentations.Forget the leaders, "ordinary" people gave up their lives and lifestyles for our freedom.And doesnt the concept of freedom include, our own laws?

We need a revamp, throw out the outdated laws, speed up the procedure, and leave alone more courts, let there be no judicial vacancies.But for a revamp to happen, misrepresentations must stop and awareness of the reality must begin.Tragically instead of expecting the lawmakers to take the initiative, I wait for a, Munnabhai LLB.