It's all for nothing...all for nothing.

SHIFTED!!!

2012-02-15T18:14:00.001-08:00

http://uditadailymusings.wordpress.com/about/

Ghalibiana!

2011-08-01T22:59:00.000-07:00

Above: Ghalib as depicted by MF Husain

The internet is a wonderful thing. And I think so because otherwise,I would have not come across this wonderful 'work-in-progress' of a Professor from Columbia, Prof. Frances Pritchett. Reading his works and exploration here, was an out of body experience.

Here, take a look.

http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00fwp/#fwp

The 'Ghalibiana' section particularly interested me. I also plan to download some of the readings mentioned for Islam in South Asia. They could be a very interesting read.

As, for now, I shall ponder over what a Ghalibiana, ' One time, at night, he was lying on a cot, looking at the sky. Seeing the apparent disorder and lack of arrangement of the stars, he said, 'The task done out of self-will is usually done in a disorderly way. Look at the stars-- how badly they're scattered around! No order, no arrangement; neither pattern nor design. But the King has the right over everything; no one can breathe a word.'

Thoughtlings

2011-07-31T11:43:00.000-07:00

Spending all my time cooking. Loving trying out new recipes! Often scurry between the kitchen and Google! Have so far, made quite edible dishes! The Garlic dip, The thin-crust pizza, The baked potatoes with cheese! Quite a feat. I cook, Sis and Mother hog! So far, so good!
Wonder how will I find time to do all this once college begins. Realize now, how difficult it is for working women to be juggling home and work, both, for years. My mum did for 27 years! They're still the most grossly underpaid. Even those not working - home-makers - are utterly exploited. A home-makers in India is not even counted as contributing to the GDP. Sad, no? while in Mumbai, every second house, a woman has some work she is doinf form within her home - art and craft classes, a creche, or a tution centre, a cooking class.
Work is seen when one traverses great distances, sits on a chair that gives the individual a backache, blinds himself in front of an unfriendly screen for a good 8-10 hours and comes back home - a living dead.

I hope that people begin to believe that work-from-home is as much a work as it is from a desk-at-work. Yet again once can see my partiality towards Mumbai. But then that is how that city is...it teaches people to believe that each and everyone one of us is an employer- and an employee.

2011-07-17T14:38:00.000-07:00

Sharing a new look to the blog/ Hope it makes me write more everyday. Long to write, but somehow paper plastic keys can never replace what a paper and pen can do to you. They work a different charm. Paper is like the land you own. A screen with empty white space never tempts me.

2011-07-06T09:06:00.000-07:00

Today was a nebula of thoughts, interspersed with breaths.

Fools of Paper Degrees !

2011-07-03T01:49:00.001-07:00

Most of my parents' friends and most of my parents' friends' children also have degrees. This doesn't mean that they've managed to find the kind of work they wanted. Not at all; they went to university because someone, at a time when universities seemed important, said that in order to rise in the world, you had to have a degree. And thus the world was deprived of some excellent gardeners, bakers, antique dealers, sculptors, and writers. - Paulo Coelho in 'The Witch of Portobello'

Sad that paper degrees produce the food that we eat. I'd rather know the variety of Mangoes that grow, than learn the ethics of nonsensical journalism.

Rearing to go!

2011-06-10T09:23:00.001-07:00

Rearing to go!

By: Udita Singh (Lady Sri Ram College, University of Delhi)

The first two days at CCS have only strengthened my belief that one learns more in a healthy working environment than in the confines of four walls. The past two days have been filled with many interesting observations about the internship, and the most attractive factor to me was how efficiently it had all been planned for us. Many of us, including me have had little experience in field research and methodologies. But just after two days and two workshops – one on research methodology by Vipin, our research guide and a workshop on efficient usage of internet as a research tool, have insofar yielded good results.

Having said that, it’s not all serious stuff here! We had a couple of ice-breaking games amongst the twenty of us, and that certainly helped us loosen a bit. Also, sitting together at lunch in the kitchen has been a good idea, as sharing our lunches has only got us closer!

There is definitely a lot brimming here! I sense plenty of enthusiasm, vigor and excitement in A-69! People teeming with ideas, thoughts, opinions, counter-arguments – I believe I could not have found a more ‘intellectually-inclined’ batch to be a part of.

As a communications intern, interested in the field of development communication – I wish to make it all a two-way process i.e. ensure that I have a give-and-take outlook towards the internship program.

I am definitely charged up and rearing to GO!

2011-05-11T22:59:00.000-07:00

'Shiploads of love. Only love. In containers and vessels and ports and
anchors. In whales that swim along the ship with you. In the fresh fish that u catch
and eat. In the pillows that you hug. In the mirror that you look into. Only
love! Lots of it. "

CCTs: In the Indian Context

2011-05-11T22:43:00.000-07:00

The right kinds of policies need to be formulated for the right kind of action to take place. CCTs or Conditional Cash Transfers are not a new approach in dealing with health, education, genders issues around the world. Conditional Cash Transfer programs provide cash payments to poor households that meet certain behavioural requirements. As part of World Bank’s ‘safety net’ policy, they have been vastly used in Brazil, Cambodia, Turkey and Chile and generated favourable, targeted response in the sectors of education, health and nutrition. The benefits of the CCTs in these countries have been keenly observed by other countries, especially in the developing world and often the models have been replicated.

India too is now experimenting with the CCTs, especially in the PDS and health sector. Due to the constant high prices of food, fuel and fertilizers, it is difficult for the poor to survive on what is left. Food is the largest subsidy sector of the government, followed by fertilizers and fuels. But these are
clearly not reaching the targeted beneficiaries. CCTs can keep a check on the diversion of subsidies to those who are wrongly benefiting. The government has spent hundreds of millions of dollars, from external funds as well as its pocket, to formulate policies and Yojanas over the years for almost every issue under the sun; ICDS, PDS, NREGA – those who have benefited from these schemes are clearly less in number than those who have been excluded but ought to have been under their
ambit. It can easily be argued that, CCTs may be more result-oriented that the previous government schemes as they get to the crux of the matter. They also have a better chance of reaching the intended beneficiaries. Hence, this situation has necessitated the need to explore alternatives, where CCTs may be the right answer.

CCT will first and foremost give a minimum income guarantee to every household, even though on a conditional basis. In the case of health, as published in the Lancet in June 2010, India’s Janani Suraksha Yojana, a CCT program that pays to get women deliver their children in a health facility, was saving newborns’ lives and lowering the number of stillbirths. The research done by IHME, stated that though there were state-to-state variations, the results showed a positive picture. The conditions might also include getting prenatal and postnatal health care treatments, and
encouraging young children to undergo growth monitoring, immunization, and periodic checkups.

But how do these women get out of their homes? In rural villages, poor and uneducated men often do not allow their wives to go to a hospital. They do not dare to challenge their status in their societies. Going alone to the hospital is a scary picture to them. Hence, they fail to take advantage of the incentive the government has to give to them. But the CCT has been investing in women. It is the women who receive the money. This is eventually trickles down to the family. As an example, in
two of the poorest states in India — Bihar and Uttar Pradesh — the number of women giving birth in medical facilities soared from less than 20 percent in 2005 to nearly 50 percent in 2008.

Similarly, in March 2008, ‘Dhanalakshmi’ – a CCT scheme for female children for insurance cover was introduced in Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Punjab.

In the case of PDS, CCTs will work to lot of advantages. PDS is known to be riddled with a lot of loopholes that have left people with little faith in its efficiency. During most of my field visits, most people had only one thing to complain about: ‘we have no ration card’. The CCT will evade these procedures. It will be more like a barter system between the beneficiaries and providers. But is conditionality necessary? The answer is yes. There is no other way to make people understand
the need and urgency of certain issues. Many families still do not know what malnutrition even is, though they will have a child suffering from it at home. It is by no means, as argued by many ‘demeaning’ in nature. One has to take the context into study and then pilot something as radical as the CCT.

But like all programs, they have their disadvantages too. Large amounts of cash will siphoned off for the program, the corruption bug will eat a major portion of it. CCTs require a lot of infrastructure of be already in place- it presumes certain social structures pre-exist. For example- A family gets 250 PM, if a pregnant woman in the family goes to the local PHC and gets certain vaccinations and monthly health check-ups done. But where and how does she go if there is no PHC or if it is at a
distance of 7-10 KMS from her home? It also makes the State seem like it is washing its hands off its very role and responsibility- it is paying for it has failed to do in the past so many years in spite of the formulation of numerous schemes and yojanas. There is no monitoring mechanism in place yet. Does the government plan to link the UID project to the CCT programs for their monitoring?

It is best to look at a policy with a cynical outlook, yet have an open-minded approach. While the CCTs may seem promising as a venture that have never been tried in India and still in their pilot phases, they need to be carefully planned and designed so as to be more inclusive and targeted as other social schemes.

Living In The Fear Of Eviction

2011-05-11T22:35:00.000-07:00

At a short distance from the Singhi basti, is the Indira Gandhi International Airport. From the basti, every five minutes there is a plane that flies very low, nearing landing at the airport. The children of the village enjoy chasing the airplanes till they are out of sight.

But the people of Singhi basti in Rangpuri Pahari, Rangpuri live in constantly fear of eviction. It is one of the three bastis in the area, the other two are the Sapera Basti and the Kabadi Basti. Time and again the people occupying Singhi Basti have faced the wrath of the police. During the Commonwealth games too, they were asked to move out of the area, however, at the time, the police decided to let them stay and did not bother them.

Now, for the past three days they have been harassed by the police constables who come in large numbers, create havoc in the area and demolish about jhuggis, each time they come. According to the men in the basti, they abuse, misbehave with women, and hit them with laathis.

The people in these areas are nomadic in origin. Many are from the surrounding areas from Rewari in Haryana and some are nomadic tribes from Rajasthan. They have lived on the disputed DDA land for the past fifteen years in makeshift tents, and 'kutcha', since they have no land rights .The land adjoining has Rangpuri Pahari on one side and Mahipalpur village on the other side. Typical of an urban squatter settlement, it has about eighty jhuggis and the people here domesticate animals.

Mr.Mamraj, a worker of BVD who works in the area, along with fifteen people of the Singhi Basti went to meet the SHO in the Vasant Kunj Police Station. He said here had been no prior notice from any authority on any demolition. According to the SHO, Ishwar Singh, these cannot continue to live here. He is adamant and has given seven days for the removal of the jhuggis. However, these people cannot move from a land they have been living on for the past so many years in a mere seven days.
Their children, occupations, all need to be taken care of prior to moving base.

Alfa, a resident whose entire jhuggi was brought down by the laathis of the policemen, says,’I do not know what to do. I have five members in my family. I cannot sleep with my son and daughter-in-law under one roof. They destroyed one of the two jhuggis I had. We were not even given time to take out necessary household items from our jhuggis’.

The women say the police even destroyed the makeshift bathrooms they had constructed for the women to bathe in. Now the women do not know where to go. The men can bathe in the open, but it is not possible for them to do so.

Radha, whose jhuggi was completely brought down, was only left with skeletal remains of the jhuggi. She said, ‘I was cooking when the policemen came day before yesterday, in the afternoon. I told them they cannot demolish my jhuggi, and started abusing me. One of the policemen even slapped me and hit my son. They broke my earthen pot, threw sand in my wheat and said they will throw us in jail if we stop them.’ Her sister’s son Shankar, also burnt his hand in the fire due to the chaos that pursued outside.

Their goats and hunting dogs have been rendered shelter less and are dehydrating in the heat. Out of fear of the policemen, none of them have dared to put their jhuggis back again or taken their belongings from the mess that they left behind.

The people living here have no fixed livelihoods. Some sell chickens, work as rag pickers, the women make toys, much work as daily wage laborers. The men go to the chowk and if they find work they come home late, if they are unlucky, they come back, without any money. A day most of them do not earn more than rupees 80-100 a day, some even surviving on rupees. They have no proof of identification though some have smart cards that have recently been issued to them. It is also for the first time that a few names from the squatter were taken in the Census. None of the three
bastis have access to clean drinking water. Radha says they take cans everyday to nearby villages in Mahipalpur to get water from the hand pumps there.

Chanda has a weakness in his left leg. He cannot find any work and is usually at home. On the 21st, when the police came to the jhuggis, they decided to bring his jhuggi down. Others in the area complained that he is not in a position to fend for himself and he should be let off. However, not before hitting him. He eventually ran off into the small jungle near the squatter in order to save himself. His wife, Chaman was abused and hit, as their three children cried on.

On 21st evening, the jhuggi of Badri and Prem was razed to the ground, their belongings taken and put into a deep pit. It was then set on fire. The smoke from it was bellowing even a day later. Twenty jhuggis were destroyed in the past three days. Some, like Badri’s were put on fire after being demolished, while their respective residents were away on their daily work.

The families now fear the return of the policemen. They will continue to live in a state of despair, unless the government takes time to hear their grievances, instead of continuing to denying the very existence of such nomadic tribes in the capital.

(Written as part of internship with CRY in May 2011)

Cocoon.Shrooms. andme.

2011-01-29T23:21:00.000-08:00

I like my Cocoon

I'm safe here,

its a paphian city I live in

emancipating me from ripples of thoughts,

that come flooding by otherwise.

I like my Cocoon

Coz I have skies that tellspeak

and lands where no one bereaves

I like my Cocoon

It's something you will envy

with much love I have built it

With endurance I have made it's walls

With peace I have sprinkled it.

You are unwelcome here,

unless you relieve your senses

of all that, that manifests in you.

Then come by for day

a short trip maybe

we could sing

'Lucy in the sky with diamonds'

and then you will see,

how life is on a shroom.

It's always a mirage

2011-01-29T10:47:00.000-08:00

Edit
It's always a mirage
by Udita Awani Mohan on Saturday, January 29, 2011 at 8:36pm

It'll sway you, take you places

It'll make you feel good, for the while it is alive

It'll make you ponder on why how things can be so good.

It'll amaze and shock

deprive and devastate

yet make you love with love.

It'll hold on,

see if you can make it work

test and maybe succumb

to all that lies within it.

I write not because my heart swells with it's thought.

I write not because I want to hear those words

I write because it's it's always a mirage.

And it always fools me.

I feel poetry-ish

2010-12-29T07:04:00.000-08:00

'You know, sometimes it feels that if you want something really badly and really pray for it, the whole universe seems to conspire to get you what you want. And so I found you. That's how deep sea-divers find pearls. That's how astronauts see stars so close that they extend their hands and seem to touch them. That's how an athelete runs his last minute the fastest and so his heart even skips a beat. That's how a cactus blooms to it's most extreme beauty, and then the bed is laid for it's death. That's how a kingfisher finds his last fish for the winter in the frozen pond. That is how the farmer, prays for the rains, and on the last day of the monsoons, start the rains.'

2010-12-22T05:56:00.000-08:00

It's an absolutely absurd world. Of all the lovely religions of the world, that ever taught us that cheating and treachery were sins, we have the best of scams and corrupt practices coming to the surface. Whoever said we come clean to worship?

Octobre

2010-10-05T04:07:00.000-07:00

It's a warm sun
that spills on my skin
rains have lessened
and the roads don't slip

Some flight of stairs
and a left and a right
All I care
are my two feet that run bare

Aghast, a cat wonders
'how is that girl quicker than me?'

and then she sees that the girl has wings of October all over her..

2010-10-05T04:05:00.001-07:00

We, the wailing
are forever thinking,
thinking and observing,
observing and criticizing,
criticizing and lamenting,
lamenting and thinking..,
If not here, if not there,
If not now, then where.

We seldom live by our words
we often curse the bad
and then we go to churches and temples
and ask a certain someone to forgive us
what sins do we talk about?
what lives do we live?
we are no less than the dead
we are the wailing whom we bred.

It's walking that I love

2010-08-17T03:15:00.000-07:00

'Walk in Day, Walk in night
walk side by side
walk light o' light'

I walk because every stride I take has an emotion stringed to it. Like it's tied to my feet. I go on long walks when I can...Infact just today it pured pretty heavily here..I must buy a beautiful umberella today and watch out for some walks later this week. I'd really like that...have so much contemplating to do :)

'Walking on grass, or a cobbled street.
Upbeat, yet the mind's at peace
two feet and my thoughts'

I don't measure my steps
I don't retrace them
They just land where the next one stops.

It isn't the end, it's the beginning

2010-08-17T03:13:00.000-07:00

I believe seeing death from, the last few minutes before the body gives way, are life-changing for many who witness it. In Hinduism, the body is put on a funeral pyre and it slowly reduces to ash. I find it a very violent way of the last rites taking place, so electric crematoriums are opted by many in India now.

11th August, a junior of mine in college , Tejaswee Rao, succumbed to her illness- Dengue, failed blood transfusion, multiple organ failure and eventually a double cardiac arrest. I cannot bear to imagine the girl with the most radiant smile all sorrounded by these ugly machines. I kind of have given up my belief in god, whatever little that I had.

To see your child wither away, in matter of twelve days is more than our grief as her friends. It has left in deep shock, so much so that I did not cry untill I saw her body being wrapped in a red cloth for our last respects.

and then we heard a noise. the electric crematorium. It rained heavily that day in the city. the heaviest downpour the city saw in this monsoon season.
An animal-lover, ever so happy, helpful and bright, loved by all her professors..
I believe like others, the mere death of somebody does not mean that person is no more. Mentally the person is always with you, its only the physical absence that is painful.

I love you TJ. The cats in the cafe will miss you more, so will tom outside the college gate
R.I.P young one.

Juxtapose Day 1

2010-02-13T03:37:00.000-08:00

Finally, the weekend with juxtapose all over! The ghost of last year came haunting again, but contrary to what I had dreaded, we all did well. Starting with Mallika's event, Newspaper designing was terrific.. Quiz, my love was giving me jitters initially but once we got the upper seminar room to ourselves, we managed pretty well...A little running around as usual..participation certificates and stuff. According to one frequent quizzer in the Delhi circuit, the prize money and the timings were let-downs..I couldn't agree more..but well, till the time we have MG around in this college, every cent spend will have to be 'reasoned out' .. for her..MEETS and not FESTS , are the appropriate events to hold. GOD. Lady, get a life. We stand outside your office for two weeks, waiting for one goddamn appointment with you and here..you give us this shitty philosophy of how the Journalism department ought to hold academic meets and not fests. (I mean, was she always like that, or did Shashi leaving her make her behave like that?!)..ok. whatever. But, I must say, holding any position in college, say a secretary or a president, ain't easy. You have to lick a lot of shit. But, where do you not, anyway?

So then, the day ended with a lovely musical performance by Sajid Akbar, shy and reclusive...and reminded me so much of a guy I knew.. hehe..No- I wasn't getting all emo in those rains and the stringing of that guitar!
So yes, perfect- my idea of a life that isbein well led - light rains + dark clouds looming+ a sweet guy who agreed to sing for free for us ladies :) + us, not running away till the time he finished playing in the lawns + getting drenched but still rooting for your artist, who gave us some beautiful songs..perfect :) We gave him a small 'dholak' as a momento, and that which he absolutely adored...bas, yahi toh chahiye life mein .. :)

With that my year as secretary for 2009-2010, came to an end. I lost elections to become the president, which was more relieving than disappointing, since I need to badly work on my health, which is so sad right now ( I feel like a scarecrow!) . I hope the incoming union will do much more than I did. I frankly adore my HOD, Vartika, and I cherish a few conversations I had with her more than any post in college.. :)

P.S- I have started 3 books simultaneously. I will finally get time to read them all :) God, I write like Roma's father in Unaccustomed Earth, I feel like I'm writing a retiring speech!

The Way Today

2010-01-18T19:22:00.000-08:00

The tip of my pen is broken
but the resolve to write every morning doesn't die.
Here in the garden of papers, life never seems caught
Those words of the fool, the intelligent, the teacher and the taught
resound and traverse distances
to which I, the traveler has found her way,today, I say.

JONATHAN...

2010-01-14T21:21:00.000-08:00

Emancipation from the shackles
which once tied me
of loves and bonds
that once owned me
feels like Jonathan, the seagull
to fly so high
free-spirited above, in the sky

Emancipation from the shackles
of dreams and thoughts
thoughts, that once I bitterly fought
to stay where they were
and let me live
Jonathan, the seagull
You help ...

Play On..

2010-01-02T20:11:00.001-08:00

The radio plays
I hear a certain song
Gone are those days
when the words felt strong

Now, they barely matter
as the listeners are long gone
The music doesn't matter
neither does the song

Words that point to the future
Glimpses of what is about to come
I can't really see
But, strangely, the words talk to me

I'm here right now,
wh...ere it all began
I have no clue,
But the radio still plays on

So I sit on a chair
and wonder it at all, things have been fair
Those words are they true?
Meaningful, yet few
Do I live those words today
Am I part of that great song
What more do I say,
Except that its the same song..I listened for long..

The Earth That Was His

2010-01-02T20:10:00.001-08:00

A new Sickle for the harvest that never paid
laid instead, the farmer to his grave
The locusts swarm stonger than ever
Nothing for the old man's prayers..

Greens and the fodder
broken barrages
nothing for the market
except unfulfilled promises

The good earth failed to give
Life to seeds that he sowed
betray...ed by soil, that was his
the Old man left for his abode..

AND...

2009-10-20T08:01:00.000-07:00

Cheese.beaches.books.autobiographies.cats.dogs.water. MUMBAI .black. and. White.diaries.scribbles.CORNETTO.Crying.Spectacles.prawns.WRITINGS.seagulls.postcards.letters. citi cafe.lychee swirl. paharganj.kurkure.basketball.sun.water.seas.cheap thrills. vintage.sea shells.old test papers.memoirs.writers circles. postcards. Oceans. 24*7. HYPOTHETICAL. love. drunk sailor. JUNO. Kiss and blog. Jumpers. Bombay FORNICATOR. The sexual life of Catherine M. CHRISTINE Briellat. Nuri Bilge Ceylan. Climates. Torrentz. Gunpowder. YETI. Dips. Mashed POTATOES. Multi-religious? . Those stupid boyfriends! The even more stupid me!

LENKA...and me.

2009-10-20T07:57:00.000-07:00

I'm just a little bit caught in the middle
Life is a maze, and love is a riddle
I don't know where to go
Can't do it alone
I've tried, but i don't know why

Slow it down, make it stop
Or else my heart is going to pop
Cause its to much, yea its alot
To be something I'm not

I'm a fool, out of love
Cause I just can't get enough

I'm just a little bit caught in the middle
Life is a maze, and love is a riddle
I don't know where to go
Can't do it alone
I've tride, but i don't know why

I'm just a little girl lost in the moment
I'm so scared but i don't show it
I can't figure it out
It's bringing me down
I know, I've got to let it go

And just enjoy the show

The sun is hot in the sky
Just like a giant spot light
The people follow the signs
And sicronise in time

It's just, no body knows
They got to take it to the show
Yea

I'm just a little bit caught in the middle
Life is a maze, and love is a riddle
I don't know where to go
Can't do it alone
I've tried, but i don't know why

I'm just a little girl lost in the moment
I'm so scared but i don't show it
I can't figure it out
It's bringing me down
I know, I've got to let it go

And just enjoy the show

Just enjoy the show
I'm just a little bit caught in the middle
Life is a maze, and love is a riddle
I don't know where to go
Can't do it alone
I've tride, but i don't know why

I'm just a little girl lost in the moment
I'm so scared but i don't show it
I can't figure it out
It's bringing me down
I know, I've got to let it go

And just enjoy the show

Just enjoy the show(x2)

I want my money back(x3)

Just enjoy the show

I want my money back(x3)

Just enjoy the show

France: Couverture Maladie Universelle (CMU)

2009-10-19T04:16:00.000-07:00

The French love two things the most in their life: their country and their wine! But we can safely add another love to this- their medical bills! The country boasts of the strongest public health insurance program in the world, based on the socialist insurance model, wherein contributions to the scheme are based on income. The Frenchman thus enjoys excellent medical care and facilities at a price that would make any American envious! The French insurance system reflects solidarity : the more ill a person becomes, the less they pay. This means that for people with serious or chronic illnesses, the insurance system reimburses them 100 % of expenses, and waives their co-pay charges.

Established in 1945, the program has since undergone numerous changes, in terms of the sections of people it covers. The government of Lionel Jospin put in place ‘Couverture Maladie Universelle’ (Universal Health Coverage, CMU),based on the principle of solidarity, that guarantees financial protection to everyone in need of healthcare. About seventy five percent of the total health expenditures are covered by the public health insurance system. A part of the balance is paid directly by the patients and the other part by private health insurance companies that are hired individually or in group (assurance complémentaire or mutuelle, complementary insurance or mutual fund).

With 4 physicians per 1,000 people; 8 hospital beds per 1,000 people; reimbursements ranging from 15%-65% for medication to 95%-100% for pregnancy and childbirth; option for public or private sector hospitals, its seems a rosy picture. But all does not seem well.

Firstly, in the US there is some stiff hospital competition. Majority of the hospitals in US, resemble 4-star hotels. The hospitals in France, especially the public sector run, are known to resemble physics labs! Secondly, since 2007, there have been some changes for EU citizens residing in France, introducing restrictions in their access to the health care system. This affects inactive individuals – those who do not have a professional activity or are looking for work, or students. The reason for those limitations is that France has to conform to the European community rules, like the other countries in the community. But these are bound to have direct consequences on the social benefits in France. Thirdly, About 36 percent of physicians work in public hospitals or establishments. They are in essence public servants, and the amount they are paid is determined by the government. However, 56 percent of physicians work in private practices because of the difficult working conditions in hospitals. Lastly, in recent years, regional authorities have taken a growing role in policy-making and negotiations.

While there are issues that the French state is dealing with in terms of expenditure, there can be no denial that the medical policies followed by the government over so many years have proved to be beneficial both for the citizens and the country, with increasing medical tourism. In 2005, France spent 11.2% of its GDP on healthcare, one of the highest amongst the developed countries of the world.

The French health care service is certainly costly to maintain, but it remains one of the best in the world, offering a large choice of general practitioners and healthcare specialists.

The Young and Their Yoga

2009-10-19T04:07:00.000-07:00

With almost a war-like situation being waged against hypertension, insomnia, spondilitis, sore eyes and obesity among other lifestyle diseases increasing occurrence among the youth, they are now on the road to realization. Realization that long hours online and being slouched up in front of the Idiot box, are going to lead them nowhere.
Across India, Institutes like Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga (New Delhi) and Kaivalyadhama (Lonavala, Pune), have contributed substantially in reviving this ancient Indian tradition among the youngsters today.
Namita Dubey, a student at LSR and a member of the DanceSoc says ‘ Yoga was probably the best thing to happen to me over my summer break. I feel much more fit and can now stand the long hours of rehearsals more easily now. ’
Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga (MDNIY), at Ashoka Road, is under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare offers a Yoga Programme for Children (YPC) for one month during vacations in October and May. It also offers a Diploma in Yoga therapy and Yoga studies for duration of two years and one year respectively. Seminars and workshops are also held at various intervals to disseminate and exchange research outcomes among young practitioners.
Kaivalyadhama is another such research-cum-training Institute located among the greens at Lonavala. It offers scientific research facilities, is a retreat offering programmes in yoga, naturopathy and ayurveda and also houses a Yoga Teachers Training College on its 150-acres of parkland. It is all set to host the 6th International Conference on Yoga Research and Synthesis. One of the main topics it would cover is the inclusion of Yoga in the Modern Education System.
With debates rearing against the patenting of Yoga by Americans in India, and with Yoga becoming a 225-billion dollar industry, it remains to be seen how this wonderful ancient gift to us can be used by not only the young, but also as a tool to improve the quality of our manpower.
Institutes like these can contribute a lot to a nation like India wherein lifestyle disorders are on the rise due to increase in the per capita income of its people. A healthy, energetic and productive youth force is the need of the hour and hence, a lot of young people are now opening their doors to yoga, partly because of it also being a hot trend in the West among Hollywood stars. (Popularized in the West by Beatles guitarist George Harrison).
Yoga with its numerous benefits has the potential to attract AND benefit a lot of people, so don’t forget to enroll yourself in a Yoga training centre near you and say
NAMASTE TO YOGA!

PANDORIC PAHARGANJ !

2009-10-02T23:28:00.000-07:00

‘A hippie’s dream,

That colourful road I walked

The backpacker smiled at me….

And so about it I now talk....’

Paharganj can best be described as a small sub-city of Delhi. Located in the heart of New Delhi, right opposite New Delhi Railway Station, it is perhaps the most exciting place to sit and watch the world go by. The vibrant colours and dizzyingly delicious fragrances fill up your senses. Not to miss the Hindi love songs jingled beside heartbreaking ghazals, the ‘international’ friends you make! The new lingo you learn while you overhear a ‘maal’ conversation….well, it’s all for free!

The street that runs through Pahar Ganj is called Main Bazaar, and it is lined with shops, cheap accommodations( Hotel Shilton, Milton, Prince, Heart, Ajay, Kamal, Hari Piorko and you name it!) , cafés, and carts selling everything from cold drinks and cigarettes to small pictures of Shiva or Vishnu, street vendors without carts, beggars, cows and stray dogs. Here you can buy bananas, books, tattoos, clothing, fans made from peacock feathers, jewelry, toothpaste, whips, exotic teas, ittar, flavorful hookahs (Whips? Is this a normal souvenir item?!). You can have henna painted on your hands, hail a rickshaw or taxi, have your shoes repaired, buy a rug, or – of course – have chai.

The traffic on Main Bazaar is an assortment of foot traffic, motorcycles, rickshaws (auto and bicycle), small cars, larger cars, a few way-too-big delivery trucks, and plenty of cows interspersed throughout. As my friend and I sat in the little café across the street for a quick lunch, no fewer than five elephants passed by! (Sadly, I was in too much shock to pull my camera out. Next time!)

And for the foodies, there is the all time favourite, Sam’s Café (recommended even though they fake their accent and serve the food cold if you don’t warn them to death). It houses all possible continental, Lebanese, American breakfast and Indian on their menu. I give thumbs up to the tuna-sandwich and fried rice! The second pick would be Club India Café and Restaurant that welcomes you to its third floor and rooftop sitting with some amazing graffiti all along the walls of the stairs up. It’s a multi-cuisine café with some good popular music, and you get the view of the bustling sub city is complimentary!

For those who thinking about writing a book on Delhi, this is the best place to start!

For my love of Paharganj, I feel it's my duty to inform you guys that Paharganj is going in for a makeover, finally for the Commonwealth Games next year. Concretised roads, Facade makeover for the hotels, underground ducts for electricity and telephone lines, new street furniture and lighting etc. and the newspapers seem to be flled with it. It would attract more people to Paharganj, but care should be take that its charm is not lost in this transformation.

As we walked down the busy road and smiled at some friendly passerbys, I realized that this wild, magical and subtly shocking place did for me what Gregory David Robert’s Bombay did for him. You will come across a lot of ‘lin Baba’s’ and a lot of ‘Prabakers’ ….and if it fails to fill up your senses, you will never feel them coming alive ever!

The Sun Is As Much Mine As The Night

2009-09-28T05:43:00.000-07:00

‘Short Sharp Shock’. ‘Solino’. ‘We Forgot To Go Back’. ‘Head-On’. Common to all these films is Fatih Akin, a German filmmaker of Turkish descent. The 30-year-old director is a child of globalization: he samples and remixes elements from a diversity of cultures, material easily available to his generation for the first time. The son of Turkish immigrants, he has begun to accept the constant attention he gathers on his German-Turkish identity and is known to make films that bridge gaps between the two cultures.

But he has not yet abandoned the journeys between Germany and Istanbul that have stood at the center of several of his films — including the breakout success in Europe of his dark, violent love story, "Head-On.”. It went on to win the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival.

In Fatih Akin's cinema, the lives of German Turks are a recurring theme, their struggles and their confusion about two different cultures.

His first feature-length movie, ‘Short Sharp Shock,’ a ‘Mean Streets’-style looks at three friends — one Turkish, one Greek and one Serbian — trying to get ahead, or at least survive. The film could have disappeared in the sea of Quentin Tarantino-inspired movie violence produced in the late '90s, but quiet moments between the Turkish father and his troubled son stand out as more powerful than any spurts of blood in the finale.

‘The Edge of Heaven’, another of his many works, has its similarities in theme and some settings to ‘Head-On’ but it also reflects a more mature approach. The focus on parents and children may stem from Akin's experience of becoming a father in 2005, when he and his wife had a son.

Still, ‘The Edge of Heaven’ takes up the subject of cultural conflict for Turkish migrants that played to such powerful effect in ‘Head-On.’ Those conflicts are universal, Akin insists, rather than specific to the two countries.

‘What I'm always trying to say is, this Turkish-German gap, you know, or this connecting element of the two nations, or systems, or worlds — you can change that and put other things instead,’ Akin said. ‘Mexico and the U.S., same thing.’

In a politically controversial incident, in 2006, he was investigated by German police after wearing a T-Shirt with a Nazi swastika, equating the George W. Bush administration with the Third Reich. Akin defended the T-Shirt as being "more than mere provocation" and emphasized: ‘Bush's policy is comparable with that of the Third Reich. I think that under Bush, Hollywood has been making certain films at the request of The Pentagon to normalize things like torture and Guantanamo. I'm convinced the Bush administration wants a third world war. I think they're fascists.’ Being a loud thinker, he has forever been vocal about his views.

Alanis Morrissette - ''Ironic''

2009-07-06T23:43:00.000-07:00

This song is pretty me, I like to listen to it a lot. Here is some for you. :)

http://video.canadiancontent.net/45596830-alanis-morissette-ironic.html

An old man turned ninety-eight
He won the lottery and died the next day
It's a black fly in your Chardonnay
It's a death row pardon two minutes too late
Isn't it ironic ... don't you think
Chorus

It's like rain on your wedding day
It's a free ride when you've already paid
It's the good advice that you just didn't take
Who would've thought ... it figures

Mr. Play It Safe was afraid to fly
He packed his suitcase and kissed his kids good-bye
He waited his whole damn life to take that flight
And as the plane crashed down he thought
'Well isn't this nice...'
And isn't it ironic ... don't you think
Repeat Chorus

Well life has a funny way of sneaking up on you
When you think everything's okay and everything's going right
And life has a funny way of helping you out when
You think everything's gone wrong and everything blows up
In your face

It's a traffic jam when you're already late
It's a no-smoking sign on your cigarette break
It's like ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife
It's meeting the man of my dreams
And then meeting his beautiful wife
And isn't it ironic... don't you think
A little too ironic... and yeah I really do think...
Repeat Chorus

Life has a funny way of sneaking up on you
Life has a funny, funny way of helping you out
Helping you out

The Man in the Uniform

2009-07-06T22:21:00.000-07:00

My attraction to the ' men in uniform' isn't superficial or in anyway related to the way they look. Its just something about these men that makes you just gaze at them. My Dad was in the Police, but that's one service I despise. I treat them as plain crooks and the biggest criminals ever.

Uniform, for me spells class! I remember watching Pearl Harbour, and Ben going dancing with the local girl on the island..hahah! so romantic :) But going beyond all of the frivolous stuff, I genuinely think, they are a world apart fromthe men that comprise civil society. Not only would they be more chivalrous, but also much more confident of themselves. Even a simple conversation with them would make a lot of sense...and their no-nonsense attitude and utter respect for people, espcially women around them makes one feel so much more safe.

I know a 'man in the uniform'. not exactly in the services, but in merchant navy. And I am proud to confess m totally smitten by him!

The other day, Rajat Kapoor made a very interesting point though, on his talk show, Lounge, that when one gets married to man in the uniform, you also marry the profession. Thats because it can be tough...emotionally as well as financially. Many of my friends from the army background often say its easy for them to adjust in absolutely any place on this earth since they have been always on the move, had atleast eight group of friends, chanded half a dozen schools and much more of that. But its not always been easy- leaving behind friends, establishing new contacts, familiarizing with new situations, geographical locations, emotional support network..its difficult, but also that is exactly the same reason that makes them so strong in life.

Another reason for my personal fascination with the uniform, could be attributed to my fondness for the American TV series, Army Wives! I've been perpetually hooke dto it from the last season on. And I must say, to allthe women who marry into defence homes, hats off to you! :)

And lastly, this post is a small tribute to Sandeep Unnikrishnan, after whose news of death, left me crying as if I had lost someone I knew very well. We're all so proud of you :) R.I.P

First year at LSR..

2009-04-29T01:21:00.000-07:00

I remember during my boards, sitting on the last desk scribbling on the last page of notebook..''to-do-list' for college...There i was at my dreamy best again...new clothes, new shoes, other typical girly things...but first year was much more than that!!..
It started with my coming second in the freshers quiz!! i got a coffee mug :) and my first certi from college..the first are olways special..no matter what they are about!! i made friends with shambhavi..the girl who came first..and we're thick pals today!
IIT-K trip came next where the train journey ended in two things- a very tired me and 3 new friends!!! Kanpur reminded me of history book in 8th or 9th...where we learnt about the uprisings and stuff..the sad part..so many heritage-quality buildings we passed..all in an extremely bad shape..i mean it could be such a beautiful, historical town. But ASI is busy repairing other shitty stuff. anyway, our entire chandni chowk is in shambles..nobody seems to care. :( so...not disgressing from the topic, which i really need to learn.. Antaragni'09 was pure fun! some weird encounters, weirder people, lovely company, sumptuous food( the cheese paranthas and biryani!!) ..farhan akhtar..were the best bit! and oh..i'll mention Pranav too..i won't be rude..like him...he's worth a mention.
I then got elected as the Journalism Deptt, Secretary , which i think is going to prove to be a very tough task. but i'm all game for it.
the farewell for the seniors was a plain hit!..everybody liked the decorations and agrima , the president of the Journo Union..like always...handled everything perfectly!..i'm looking forward to the freshers party now..and to make a lot of changes in the Journo. deptt.
throughout the year chilling out like the first thing on my agenda..staying in college till as long as i could, hitting City cafe, heading to North Campus, the huge no. of rickshaw rides with friends, The party at Ivy, the Miranda House Philo fets that we won, The Journo fest of LSR!! ( HOW CAN I MISS THAT!! ) ..a really old friend of mine, Jerome turned up there..totally surprising me!
AND whenever i get down to blogging, something crazy come up...as usual..to be contd. :(

Fireflies in the Garden

2009-03-30T03:02:00.000-07:00

Its really strange but this happens to me whenever i happen to watch a good movie. like just the other day, I saw Fireflies in the garden...and ever since I have been thinking about how its so easy when we tell people to move on and forget about the not-so-good things that happened with them. I remeber telling myself when a friend of mine, whom I didnt know very well, died in car crash , that its ok..You didnt really know him...but the fact that i had seen him twice..his face just kept flashing in front of me...The truth is that you might move on in terms of things changing around you, or moving to a new place or moving around with different people and even growing up makes you partly forget what happened to you..but i doubt that we really move on mentally. I mean those not-so-pleasant moments do linger around in our minds.
This movie was about a boy whose father was a total control freak and got after the kid for like evry single baseless thing. it starts with a scene when the boy and his parents are in the car and the father starts off on how he shouldnt be sticking to the window to see the view coz he's dirtying the car. The boy reacts by hiding his specs and when asked about where his specs are..he he says he lost them.. ( so me :) He actually does that purposely so as to get off thecar . his dad actually stops the car and asks the boy if he knoes the way back home. he asks him to get out and leaves him in the rain to find his way back. He stops the car and asks the boy if he knows the way home. all that time the mother simply cant open her mouth and defend her child..coz she's become so numb to events like these..she tries to sop the father but fails. the boy gets out..and he starts running in the field with his arms up towards the sky as it rains. that's a beautiful scene...and it continues with him growing up as he's running in the fields.
present day he goes to visit his parents from NYC, and as he reaches nearer to home, he is informed that his parents had an accident when they were driving back home. his father- whom he despises no end, survives, while his beloved mother, whom he never blamed for all that happend to him as a child and in fact loved he all the more, has died.
So instead of a homecoming party, there is a funeral. As it happens in the next few days his wife turns up. they're having marital probl;es so he really doesnt expect her to come over for the funeral..but when she does...he is so vulnerable that they make out as the funeral is taking place below..that was once scene i really coulndt hold myself from laughing incontrollably, i mean.....ppl can be that crazy!!!.. gradually he realizes that his mother did indeed die happily as she found another person who she could confide in foe a good three years...a professor friend of her husband's. Her son is really happy to know that even though she lived with a son of a bitch under the same house for several years and tolerated her husband's contro freak nature and tyrannous mood swings, she found solace in a man who loved her truly.
The boy then recounts the day when his father dragged him to the garage and closed him .....

CAT, the cat !

2009-03-26T00:43:00.000-07:00

This is CAT, the cat !!

thisadorable lil creature has been on campus, hovering around the cafe ever since I've been in college and much before that too. All the fat that she has is only...wonly...coz of the food that she steals from the girls plates while they're munching on butter chicken. CAT absolutely refuses th have any sort of sasta shit..The amount of kurkures and dosa and samosa bits I've showered on the young lady has all gone waste...she will not have anything veg or sasta come what may. there is this really funny thing about her..she keeps brushing her tail around surfaces that she likes..my orange bag remains her favourite..and the best part..like when i'm about to leave her, I end her play time with me with this slap that i give and I really rough CAT up..and she runs away ok....but then still, inspite of the bad ending and all the shit i give her...the next time she approaches me with even more love ..and those mesmerizingly buttony eyes are like a treat...i mean i could gaze into her eyes all day long...she's one of my favourite cats on campus.

And then there si this mad-hatter ..she's CATS aunt , m pretty sure but like sh'e really wicked..she has this phobia of people around her and she runs marathons in the cafe if anybody tries to misbehave with her. She's a real bitch...she aint b'ful either..light brown ugly lil thing..and her tail is chopped off too!!..ahhahah! m sure some rat must've chopped it off..i could just fling that cat outta the window...coz she simply refuses to make friends with me!!..or infact anybody ! ..there is another reason why i hate her..she scratched me real bad when i came to college for the very first day..SHE PLAYS SO HARD TO GET!!.

But CATS a fine lady. We have a mutual admiration society..

i cant imagine leaving her after my 3 yrs..im gonna take her with me, wherever i go!. thats for sure. That reminds me, i havent seen CAT for about two days now, If the cafe committee has decided to get rid of her..I'm going to KILL THEM.

Relationshit ;D

2009-03-12T01:37:00.000-07:00

<--- Everybody say 'HI!' to Gael !!! :)

Its freakily funny. comically tragic. despisingly painful. irritatingly cute. gives you tons of shit once you're over with it. Some retire from it, some plunge themselves into deep wells for it..some drown themselves in wine for it...Devdas'es and Dev d's are everywhere.

I aint no Paro though.

I'm so out of the casual dating phase..and so glad m out of my awfully embarassign teenage years..i mean m going to be 20 ..so i find solace in thinking that a year older, and one grade more in maters of the heart! Now, its like so funny...i mean every other person i see around myself..i begin to critically analyse them!...My HOD'S WORDS SUDDENLY RUMBLE IN MY HEAD ... once said...'' You, in course like journalism, should develop a habit of critically analysing .......'' ..and loook at me!..such a wonderful thing i have deveoped..!!

I've seen myself in dreams..with the guy i was dating..and always thought ...great!.BINGO!..HE'S the ideal man...i mean shit!!! i discussed marriage plans...and wait...even names of our kids...!!!! TODAY, i do nothing but laugh my ass off on these thoughts!!..i was going through a couple of love letters written back in school..and i find them so hillariously funny!!!

AND NOW, look..i just developed a soft corner for Mexican guys!!...totally random...but then m so floored my Gael :)

much of my Love Potion,

Udita.

Pic Click -1

2009-03-05T20:01:00.000-08:00

bOMBAY TO mUMbAI !

2009-02-25T00:11:00.000-08:00

My fascination with mumbai began at a very tender age.. when for my summer holidays the only place we could think of was Mumbai and so my mum, tisha (my elder sis) and I inevitably landed there every year! The beaches (Chow-pa-tee! esp.) , the morning walks at the beach behind Yari road after which the routine thing would be to sip on fresh coconut water.., meeting up with cousins and relatives, ending the journey with sobs ( and tons of moolah! :P ) god!...those 12 days used to be bliss! away from Delhi..thats the only place I looked forward to visit throughout the year.
As a young girl, my mum grew up in mumbai..or rather Mumbai grew into her!..she still says that her heart lies in 'Bombay' ! ...I can only agree, because for all of us, the place where we have spent our formative years is bound to be a place we grow fond of. Just like our parents, the second thing close to us remains the towns and cities we spent some of the best years of our childhood. She was in boarding school at Panchgani (Maharashtra) ..a lil' rainy town which now is a popular getaway for mumbai'ites. The school- 'Kimmins' was an all girls school and she reminded of the day when Amma ( as I fondly called my maternal nani) left her with the nuns who were as wicked as can be..poor thiong she wailed for Amma real bad..but then she had to get used to it one day! the nuns there used to cook everything and as a 6 somthing she really couldnt identify what she was eating was veg or non-veg..so basically she happily ate all that was given to her....looking back she says she would never have eaten non-veg had those nuns not introduced her to it! she remembers days when she couldnt tie a knot in her boxers ( lil' girls hose days were required to wear boxers so that they were comfortable! ) and so the nuns used to come to her rescue! Her only luggage was a large trunk ( the only object that the girls could get with them) in which all her clothes and some books were kept. There was an all boys school in the vicinity, St.Peter's. My maternal uncle ( now a full-time writer-poet living in Delhi) studied there in his initial years of schooling..Mum still recalls how they used to meet in the Church during the prayers every Sunday and he always got her some toffees she really liked and she gave him some marbles and other stuff. It was a routine that all the girls and the boys were supposed to follow..!
A few years back, the three of us, ( mum,tisha and I) took a trip down memory lane !... while on a trip with some other families to Mahableshwar and Panchgani..we decided to trek down to the school. And, boy my mum was all emo :) it was beautiful and yet so moving for her to walk down those same corridors where she had run in her boxers as a kid. We could hear kids wailing in the same dormitory where she was left in the same state..howling away and kicking ..asking parents not to let go. we had visited during the beginning of a session so it was bustling with activity! Mum showed us her trophy that was kept in the office that she had won as an athelete with 'Gita Mohan ' still clearly visible on it! walking in the gardens of the school, we came across a massive jackfruit tree. She said that all the girls were really frightened to stand under the tree, afraid that one of those E-N-O-R-M-O-U-S jackfruits will come down on them! It was the star attraction of the school though...a good 180 years old tree! back then, Panchgani used to be cut-off from the rest of Bombay in the monsoons, for a good 2 months. Since it lies in the windward part of the Western Ghats, the rains there are torrential, extremely fierce winds and overall it can be quite like London- grey, depressing at time without much sunshine.

TO BE CONTINUED........... :)

NDTV Greenathon Campaign- Cleaning Yamuna

2009-02-11T23:18:00.000-08:00

The Yamuna campaign was part of a larger campaign of the NDTV Greenathon in collaboration with an NGO- ''Sweccha'' taht takes up environemental issues and its target group are the youth of the country. Its founding member, Vimlendu Jha is also a singer with a Delhi-based band ''Jigri''. The proceeds of this country-wide campaign (Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore among others) that will take up various areas of environmental concern around the country like Carter Road, Mumbai and the Yamuna, Delhi, will go to TERI, who will use these funds to bring light to very tiny rural villages across the country. uptill the last count the campaign had collected 1.5 crore, the source of which were ordinary people, actors, industrialists. Preity Zinta was the face of the campaign that went on for 24 hours with live telecast of it throughout on all the channels under NDTV.

My sunday are usually spent lazing around the house, doing nothing constructive as such. But this particular sunday ..the 8th of February was one of those few days that actually got my butt moving! We, a gang of 6 girls, left for Qudesia ghat on the banks of the Yamuna..travelling in Delhi is one heck of a task in itself..bargaining with the autowallahs..really hones your debating skills..! but anyway..we managed to reach the CS...and then ISBT and eventually walked a good 3 kms to our destination!
I still remember this band ''Jigri'' playing some amazing tracks..'' Daulat badi hai ya..shauhrat badi hai ya..kismat badi hai ya mohabbat??!!...''...!! Jigri, Advaita, Parikrama made the day( they closed the evening with some rocking music..I caught it on television as we guys left early by around 4).
anyway we got going with our implements..spades et all..! we had to fit into these really sturdy gum boots and bright red gloves..! we didnt mind the stench..or the attention that we got from people standing and staring at us from on top of the bridge on the yamuna..they seemed amused, and their expressions seemed to say'' what do you think you guys down there are doing..with the cows and dogs?! '' we cleaned quite a bit ..in two shifts...
I realized that this river, the Yamuna that once flooded the banks and almost half of delhi a few decades back..the river that flowed through Chandini Chowk ( its is said on moonlit nights the moon's reflection used to fall on the water and hence the name chandini chowk!) and the Red fort
..was today a mere drian-like body ...extremely narrow..nothing as what we call a mighty river..it seemed to be bleeding bad.
we guys collected a lot of muck..and the water was not even near any shade of blue..a very unpleasant grey..the waterbed itself had become grey. we fished out a condom!( an XL! :p ), a one rupee coin, tons of discolored idols ( that real bad plastic paint on them that had not washed away after been in water for a long time, which meant, very obviously nothing was degradable leave alone bio-degradable), a shell and dont be too happy..you will never find a shell in the river with the state that it is in today..that shell was attached to some greeting card or something.. a box of matchsticks..very fresh.. which meant that as we were working our asses off clearing up the heaps of muck..some nincompoop threw it in the water down the river.
and now the story of two more nincompoopy's ....as we were scavenging the water for black gold..:P.. two (obviously) looneys women walk down to the bank and empty out a milk packet into the river..the tragedy here is..they were very well aware of a cleaning drive taking place there..and they had the cheek to do what they did! '' nai , nai beta, hum toh bas milk phek rahey hai'' ...i know milk doesnt pollute....but its just crazy n frustrating to be witnessing the sight.
what I really felt about was the fact that the turnout was really low...over 24 hours some 5000 people must have come and gone. Delhi going by stats, is a million plus city ..well on its way to a poulation explosion..and 5000 is really sad..as that TATA green ad says...we're all sleeping! all of us..not voting ..not moving..all sleeping!

A thousand splendid minutes of reading..!

2009-01-30T00:03:00.000-08:00

Finally i got hold of this book that i was really aching to read...A thousand Splendid Suns..and o boy!..it shook me to tears. For someone who doesnt like flowery language much, i found the book really simple to read, with simple vocab yet very emotionally moving.My fascination with him began in mumbai on a family trip. I was browsing through my cousing sister's book collection ( who usually gets gifted books to her on her birthdays!) ..and i came a across this book. It was 'The Kite Runer'.. and it turned out to be a great fiction experience..the way the words portrayed emotions of the characters was outstanding..and i realy cant critique his work you know :) like Barkha Dutt, he remains my second favourite writer, after Enid Blyton!
His second novel that i got to read much after it got released was 'A Thousand splendid....' its really close to my heart coz i relate the chracter of Mariam mother to someone i know. So its pretty deep there. you know, this is one thing i love in stories, people created can help you connect with similar people you know. For different people, these characters signal thnigs that only you know. theyre, literally, take a place in your world.
A storyteller is probably the happiest man. He lives in his own world of characters and places and time and spaces. How many of us actually manage to create a world of own? how many of us can tell stories so mesmirizingly well that people experience a train of emotions.
Arundhati Roy ( there is a very interesting anecdote i have about her..I'll tell you later!) said,' there isnt really any difference between non-fiction and fiction. theyre just two more ways of telling stories.' just like narratives seem to be catching up thesedays.
............

TO BE CONTINUED................

(m cravin bhelpuri, so m running outta the campus to catch some! :P )

PURPLE CHEESE??!!!

2009-01-29T23:45:00.000-08:00

Firstly, for those who think its a frivilous, another personal , silly, whiny blog..ITS NOT!!!..
Secondly, its my second attempt to create a blog..so people APPRECIATE!!..gimme a PAT on the back..Virgo's seldom give it a second shot!
Thirdly, IF YOU ARE FINDING SENSE HERE....uh-uh..go away some place where you probably might just finally sort-of find it.
Fourthly, Im not doing this to impress someone or to act like some pseudo-intellectual..I'm doing it to just simply write :)
Lastly, I HATE ALL FORMS OF IDEOLOGY. This word..'ideology'..is very non-sensical to me and i fail to make any sense of the ideologies we are taught. POSITIVISM, DETERMINISTS, LIBERALISTS, FEMINISTS. .....*bullshit*....PURE BULLSHIT. bloody they expect us to think that the world is all goody and evrthing is fine or will be fine....when the world is nowhere today, when you have a millions dying for unthinkable reasons..AND, they have the cheek to tell us to be 'RATIONALE'..to be a 'POSITIVIST'. My *** .

PS- The blogs called so, because of my irrepressible fascination for cheese and the color purple. Simple. btw, there is a kind of cheese called, 'Blue cheese'( its a very foul smelling cheese found up in the alps and only one tiny village there specializes in its cultivation)...Purple cheese, sadly, does not exist :(

I see it all dancing!!

2009-01-29T22:55:00.000-08:00

A zillion times I'm asked as to what I want to pursue after my graduation as a student of journalism...and I seem to give the most desired answers..BUT frankly..I'm just finding my rake..I don't know where I'll end up...A sunny, quiet Tuscan village..or Auroville..or what il end up as..mebbe an animal farm caretaker.. look after every animal I know :) I'll be more than happy dedicating my life to animals.. :)

So, before I digress from the topic, which i absolutely love to do ......I just want to do so much.. I feel like I'll burst one day with the kinda stuff I want to do...and really when people say that life is too short..I now tend to agree with them..

okay..im not serious blogger..i cant write heavy stuff..that dont mean i dont like writing....i write for myself :)...and now in this journo thing....m learning to write for others !!!!!!

anyway..we have really interesting courses this sem...International relations...social psyche and mass culture..Reporting and editing....but most interestingly..we have this really cool course..Research Methodology in one of the future sem's..so I'm looking forward to that too!
(As I continue writing on my this post, after my results are already out, I must add that I have successfully landed in the second-year! yipee!!!)

Ambar mam will be taking our paper on advertising most probably. Bindu Menon might just return after her study leave. I hear Shikha mam will be taking a leave to study now. Our Orientation is on the 15th of July, so I'm definitely looking forward to meeting my juniors and briefing them about the journalism deptt. also, not to mention- the Freshers! yayy! :P anything to do with celebrations and I get all excited!

Might just start my preparations for the civils this year itself. But I'm yet to chalk out it out properly. French is getting difficult day-by-day, so I really need to start studying seriously 'coz the exams are in september and I really don't want to screw by birthday by messing up my French paper! :(
I have my eyes on the sufi-kathak thing, so if that gets going..I'll be so loaded! but its good in away, it'll keep my mind off certain things.

so, there is really a lot to do, a lot to learn. and being the keen learner that I am, m all set fr my second year ! :) CHEERS!