The SisterHood Clan

Born and bought up in one of the flats in Bombay, they went to rule the place. This is the story about the Sisterhood Clan with whom no one messed.

The place ran according to their whims and fancies. They always had their way as they had the power, the power of five. The only way to become a member of the clan was to be the female gender and be related by birth.

Their luck was going to run out soon. They were going to be part of the history. It was the beginning of the end. The prophecy was out there on the wall. The birth of a boy in the family was going to change everything.

The Sisterhood Clan was aware of the prophecy; so they started wielding their power on him. They made him do things that he won’t do. They tried to turn him a member of their clan. They had put earring into his ears, a bindi on his forehead and a pony out of his short hair. The only thing they could find was a dress of his size. The manhood in him survived that day.

That was not the end. They tried to expose him when he came out after a bath wearing only a towel. They laid a trap to call him in the hall to find something. As he went on the search, without knowing behind his back an effort was made to pull the towel with a camera ready for the click. The boy knew how to tie strong knots so the towel did not gave in. To make fun of him they even gifted him a pair of inner vest and underwear on his birthday.

The kid being divine never complained, accepted everything with a smile. To maintain their control over him, they decided to make him pay “protection money” every year and that too to each member of the Sisterhood Clan.

To make everything look legitimate they tied a Rakhi across his wrist and in return he would hand out the money. No body found it suspicious. Being the youngest in the family he could have chose not to give in, but there was a time for the end to come and so he obliged.

As the kid grew and mingled with the Sisterhood clan, they found it hard to hold back their emotions and the affection that was developing among them but no one dare to talk about it.

The boy’s charisma had the clan in awe. He was treated with love and affection by each member of the clan. They accepted the boy in their fold and the clan ceased to exist. Each one of them vowed to protect the boy when he would need their help. The boy too promised to help them in their need but mostly in their tasks which turned out to be a day to day affair.

The tradition of Raksha Bandhan is still followed today and the money handed out in return for the rakhi tied. Only now it represents the affection of a sister and the money a token of gift from a brother.

The boy is none than me who put an end to the Dangerous Sisterhood Clan without any fights :)))))))

Let me give a brief description of each member of the Sisterhood Clan who helped me learned the ways of life (I was going to write a book soon on how understand a women and put an end to the guys misery, but they made me promise not to reveal the secrets of women).

Sister I: She was the "Ringleader" of the Sisterhood Clan. She was the one responsible behind all the harassment & pranks played on me. Nowadays, the only thing she wants is to see me get married. One must have heard about the “list”.

Sister II: The “Talented”. She taught me all the tricks of the trade. She is so talented and could learn anything that she wants. I picked up that trick from her. I used to act as her assistant and she as my boss. I happen to have sign a non-disclosure agreement so cannot reveal much.

Sister III: The “Book Keeper”. Everything that she did was by the book, so much so that almost everyone got influenced and they began to read books. Thick and heavy books which I thought were meant to use as means of weapon in a fight, now I end up reading them.

Sister IV: The “Loudspeaker” who would warn if someone was coming when they were pulling their tricks on me. She still likes to believe that I was born to serve her. Her favorite line is “What have you done for me?” The irony is I do end up serving her. She is the one who is responsible for me developing so much patience.

Sister V: The “Kid” of the clan, she would run errands for them. For her my phone no. is the IT helpline no. which she dials every time any of her gadgets starts acting weird. I also end up being a counselor and at times polishing my skills of being a “pakav” (boring) on her.

The Day Bombay Flood

I was in the morning shift that day, deep into my work and no time to look here and there. Unaware of what was going on. Every time I popped my head up, I would see one of the managers, supervisor or someone else looking out of the wall-sized windows. I turned to look outside and it was raining.

The clock ticked three and there was no sign of anyone telling the morning shift to leave. Few people from the evening shift turned up; still there was no sign of leaving the place.

I was running out of patience, so when I saw my superior walking towards me. I got hold of him and asked him about leaving for the day. He took me to his superior asking if I could be released. “If he thinks he can manage, then let him go” was how he replied. I wondered why he would say that but I was going to find that out soon.

I was happy to leave the place and had given my usual Colgate smile to my friends who saw me standing at the lift door and telling them that I was leaving for the day. What I did not know was how soon the expression on my face was going to change.

As I got out of the lift on the ground floor, and walked towards the main entrance, I could see water gushing in and half of the building space disappear in it. I stood there for a moment and looking amusingly as the water was been thrown forcibly back on the main road from the nallah (drain) that stood besides our office building.

As I stood there contemplating my next action, I found two other colleagues of mine who were also wondering what to do now. Soon the three of us decided that we will go out through the second entrance which had the road connected to the main road which happened to be the only way out.

The water level was relatively low on the road but as we got on the main road, it kept on increasing and reached up to my waist height. That reminded me of someone telling in the office that two people had ventured out but came back as the water level had submerged their bodies with the exception of their heads.

The water had so much force that it was dragging people with it; human chains were formed for safe passage of people from one side to the another. Even the cars that were left on the road were moving with the current of the water.

We kept moving ahead only to find that there was a drain kept open in the middle of the road which was acting like a whirlpool, somehow we manage to keep hold of ourselves and overcome it. Once that hurdle was clear, the water level kept receding low and we kept walking towards the railway station which was at a good distance.

My colleagues made a call to their families through a local PCO as the cell phone networks were jammed and informed that they were safe and coming home. I on the other hand did not call up my family thinking that I had just a 10 minute distance to reach my house.

Once we reached the station we bid goodbye to each other. Normally, I used to catch a bus to reach my place which was not there today, thanks to the rains. There were auto rickshaws parked on the side of the road but none agreed to take me to the destination, so I ended up walking to my home.

By the time I reached home it was already 5:30 on the clock. In normal circumstances it does not take more than 15-20 mins to reach home and back to work by the bus, but it almost took more than an hour to reach home.

The rest of the morning shift stayed back till the next morning. To pass time they played antakshari and then they were back to work as there was nothing else left to do. There was hardly any food left in the cafeteria as nobody saw this coming.

I reported to work the next morning only to hear that people (the morning shift which decided to stay back) who come from far away places decided to walk all the way to their homes in case they don’t get a lift in between. The transportation system was still down but a few vehicles were plying on the road.

News channels kept flashing the news of people stuck in their cars, buses and how they were being rescued provided food and shelter by strangers and then they were people who lost their lives to this day. Stories were being told by colleagues about animal carcass flowing down and conditions in their area.

What is pathetic to see that even today the disaster management that was formed to tackle such situations is nothing but an utter failure where if it rains heavily, places still get flooded and every time we keep hearing the beaten line “This time we are well-prepared and equipped to handle such situations”.

Tagged: Seven Wierd Things About Me

It was raining tags and awards on the other blogs that I keep visiting, still the weather was warm and sunny during the day and cold in the night at my blog. I was caught unawares when Shewtz decided to send some tag clouds over to my blog. I could do nothing but let the tag rain.

Here are the seven weird things about me that you don't know:

Collection of Chocolate Wrappers: I have a large collection of chocolate wrappers. I am not chocolate lover but I do collect the wrappers. I also have collection of key chains and calendar cards. The only one active is the chocolate one. Read this post to know more.

Junkie: I am already preparing myself to keep busy with junk that I collect and hope to put some good use after my retirement (which has a very long way to go). Here is a snap of some of the junk I have. The only thing that I have created something is a fighter plane that was made from the wood chunks that I found on the terrace as a kid.

Gory Stuff Make Me Laugh: I find gory stuff funny something that others don’t.. I loved the scene in the movie ring (the Japanese version) where the girl comes out of the TV set. For that matter the scene in the movie Saathiya where Rani Mukherjee accident takes place, I found myself laughing amused by the way the accident takes place and so fast.

Adding Numbers: I picked up the habit of adding numbers on the number plates of the vehicles plying on the road when I used to walk to home from classes, due to boredom. The result of that act resulted in that I can add up numbers really fast and other things too.

Reading Newspaper Twice a Day: I read newspaper twice a day. Sometimes when I have nothing to do, I just go through it once again. On Sundays, I do it anyways as I keep some articles for later reading.

Watching Movies: I can sit and watch movies all day thanks to Star, HBO, Pix, Zee Studio and now WB channels. Sometimes I even watch them from in between or watch two movies simultaneously. Till now, I have watched three movies at one go.

Perfectionist: Yup I have the perfectionist keeda in me. If something is not done the way it should have been, it causes stress to me unless set right!!

I am sending this tag cloud to Rashmi, Deepali, Adisha & Chriz

Gals & Mate, Have Fun :))

Tales of A Tall Guy

 



Everyone has high expectations from the tall guy as he walks on the streets people keep looking up to him, which makes him happy from inside.

He is always susceptible to head injuries especially when he is getting down from the BEST buses (of which he got hit many times) and also while entering & exiting his building premises. The tall guy can also hurt himself when he enters houses with lower ceilings and the fan is going in circles and has to make sure that he does not raise his hands.

The tall guy is very easy to find when the meeting point is in crowded places. All one has to do is look up and there he is standing tall. He also has no difficulty in finding people in such crowds. The tall guy is smiling now.

The world is not kind to him as he has to struggle with his day to day routines be it with chairs which are shorter than his knee length, has to cramp his legs when in the backseat of cars and also been used as a height measuring scale for others.

Come rain or shine, the weather always plays tyrant with him. The sun rays often find its way to fall on him making him sweat, while others stand behind as if he is a big tree providing shade. During the rains, no matter what the tall guy carries to protect himself from the rains, he always finds his pants wet. Being tall helped him during the day when Bombay was flooded; the water was up to his waist height!!

The tall guy struggles to find a girl who is taller as he is. All he could see is pretty faces in small sizes :( Finds hard to maintain relationships with them as they keep looking up to him and he keeps looking down causing a sprain in his neck. Should he carry a small stool with him when he goes on the date next time? He is wondering what couple would they resemble when he gets married, the Amitabh-Jaya or Abhishek-Aishwarya?

People keep asking the tall guy about his secrets of him being so tall. All he would say is that it is in his genes :)

He would always find people trying to bring him down to their levels when he visits the hair saloon and has to lower himself in the chair. He even finds people trying to reach his level when they try to keep their arm on his shoulders.

He has a hard time finding variety for his shoes as getting shoes of his size are not available everywhere.

The tall guy always stands out, be it a group photo, meeting or get together. Even his attempts to hide himself to take a small nap or work on the small drawing etched on his notepad fails miserably. At times he finds others trying to hide behind his back but he has nowhere to go :(

Even the bed in which he sleeps is small, his feet keeps dangling out.....
 

Unwanted

Bharat never thought he would be seeing this day in his life. He was lying on one of the beds of the old age homes. He lay awake in the endless night wondering how he ended up here.

His own daughter Veena had thrown him out of his house saying that she could not afford to take care of him anymore and that she had her own children to take care off. Her husband had left her and it was him who brought back her to his place and encouraged to work.

Finding himself on the streets he called up his only son Vijay who had settled abroad who suggested that he better take shelter in the old age homes. Not once did he say that he would try to resolve the issue or that he could stay with him.

With the help of his friends, he found himself a place to sleep at night in one of the old age homes. Though retired, the 63 year old decided to take up an accountant’s job to fend for himself.

As he closed his eyes, tears kept flowing down through his face as he tried to sleep with troubled thoughts haunting him…

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This story is actually based on a news piece that I came across. This is just one of the realities of our lives where when people get old they are thrown out on the streets by their children or left at old age homes as they cannot or don’t want to take care of them. No section of the society is untouched by this phenomenon.

What I fail to understand is what prompts this decision even when they are aware that it’s wrong and how they go on to justify it. Parents go on to make sure that their child gets the best of everything they could provide, so what changes the relationship between the children and parents when they grow up?

My best guess is that as children get more involved into their lives they tend to become detached to parents who are less involved. Then they just start treating them like any individual they come across without giving a thought what they had done for them (Their normal justification would be, they are suppose to do that).

My question is what should a parent do to make sure that they are taken care of in their old age? The problem is that at most times one can not do anything about it. Coz when one is raising a child that is not the question that haunts them, its only when they reach a stage in their life where the tables are turned and the children need to take care of the parents, that they come to know how successful they were as parents.

At the most, parents can make sure that they make a will and do not disclose about it any other member of the family and avoid transferring properties in the names of their child if the children don’t treat their parents properly.

What such adults do forget is one day they are going to finding themselves in the same situation and who knows they could find themselves at the mercy of their own children…

The Review

I saw the TV premier of the movie “Slumdog Millionaire”. There has been a lot of controversy involved around this movie especially the way India has been depicted and the debate brought on by an actor’s blog. Also wanted to watch Frieda Pinto’s acting whether she is good enough to share the limelight with Hollywood stars.

When the movie first released, I hardly felt the need to watch it somehow I had the feeling that the movie was not that good. So ever after winning 8 Oscar awards, I still did not change my mind on watching this movie. When I saw the promos of it being aired on the television, I made sure I watch it to find out the truth whether it deserves the hype or not.

Here is my verdict. The movie failed to make an impression on me and I am glad that I did not go to the theatre. The story of an underdog who goes on to become a millionaire, if one has watched closely enough it is a typical Bollywood dished out movie with a Hollywood style of finishing to add to the overall taste (just like a pinch of salt perhaps).

I am thinking of catching up with the other nominated movies to know how this movie went to win the Oscars. There were heavy contenders as far as I know from the story plot. I am wondering how a movie goes on to win a Best Picture or Best Director award without any members of the cast being nominated for their roles while this was not the case for the other movies nominated under the same categories.

There is no denying in one fact though, the word “Slumdog” will be used as a racial slur against Indians. Regarding the debate that has been brought by the actor’s blog if one has watched enough Bollywood movies; they would realize that the common man is no more part of the Indian society. Most of the movies would show the actor hailing from a rich family and they live in palatial houses, which most of the Indians can only dream of buying. Where is the Amol Palekar who represented the common man? Somehow I have this feeling of him getting replaced by Abhay Deol (with the exception of certain movies). Something that is close to reality and people could relate to. Why is that Hollywood movies tend to be closer to reality whereas ours far away from it?

The movie showed the life of the people who we choose to remain ignorant about. I liked the Taj Mahal scene the most where Mumtaz was said to have died in a road accident. I don’t believe the movie is good enough to win the Oscars; somehow my interpretation of a movie winning an Oscar would be based on how the movie moved one in a certain way and the feeling remaining in the end or making one think even after it had ended. This movie fails to do so.

Frieda Pinto is hardly there on the screen. A 5-10 min role which makes it hard to tell about her acting abilities. I hope she is good enough to get signed by Hollywood. I also hope that she is aware that this won’t last long that coz not many Indians or for that matter Asians do not have things going for them. One’s looks matter a lot. No doubt Ben Kingsley (real name Krishna Pandit Bhanji) who played Gandhi had a longer stint coz no one could not make out, that he was of Indian origin and not white as he is mistaken. Bend It Like Beckham is a good example, the lead star Parminder Nagda got overshadowed by Kiera Knightly who had a small role and went to working in big budget movies. As for Dev Patel, he seemed to carry just one expression through out the movie.

In the end, the real winners were the slum children who played the main characters childhood coz there lives have been transformed in a big way and hope that they are able to make the best out of it and stay on top of whatever comes their way.

I am proud of A.R. Rehman and Resul Pookutty for making India proud :D