Traffic Etiquette linked to family structure…

Well you might find the link a bit odd but I have a strong argument to back it up. See, it all started this morning when I pleased as punch that I will be reaching office relatively in time (which means only 10 minutes late) gets road blocked by a gentleman talking on the phone.

So Man is driving slow infact crawling and we are talking 10 o’clock in the morning road blocker who is the worst kind, the bane of all of us simple folks who just want to reach office in time. I honk and curse but Man does not care, he shifts close to the divider and that is the only acknowledgement of my efforts. So okay, I am flexible I hie off to the left and run parrellel to him to vent my spleen and lo and behold Man is concentrated on the phone, talking to biwi…talking to girl friend….talking to…who cares. The point is Man got me thinking.

Is traffic etiquette related to family structure. See those cities which follow the extended family or the joint family as we call it, like Ahmedabad, you would assume has a strong community feeling. But no here is the surprise they are indifferent, I guess living within the community structure makes you develop contempt for it, I mean when you are living it everyday, do you care…Naah.

So you don’t care if your are blocking the road by driving slow, parking in the middle, dropping somebody off at the crossing by just stopping at the crossing…or any of the other convenient things that saves your time at the cost of others. Who cares…they are all family no, we are one big family so what if I delay you, it is all part of the give and take.

But look at the West or Mumbai closer home, here we have Nuclear families, single parent families, they are all in a hurry, no time as they don’t have an extended family member to take up the slack, so they are in a perpetual hurry. What this means is they understand that you are also in a hurry and don’t want to waste time with a road blocker. So they will park where there is parking and walk down to where they actually want to go, drive on the left or park when they are talking on the phone, act like the crossing is there for a reason and not as a drop of zone. All this because they value their time and know that as an individual you also value yours. And they have no rights on you to waste yours and vice versa.

Well, that my argument and I am sure it is worth a working hypothesis, now who will conduct a research to validate it…..over to you.

Where is my HERO

Sorry folks, to burst your bubble, this is not a personal eulogy, nor a rhetorical question – it is infact a philosophical one inspired by my viewing of Rowdy Rathod…

Watched the movie and was mostly caught either holding my head in my trembling hands or watching with my mouth inelegantly agape. What was in the movie – where did it start – what happened in between – what and why was the end… so many questions and so few answers.

I came out of the movie – drove home at 1.00 am and came to a grave conclusion, I am no longer an indifferent movie goer, I do not want only three hours of entertainment and hilarity, I want to take something away from a movie – some emotion – I want to relate to the movie on a personal level… I guess for me commercial movies are out…. Sad but so true.

Coming back to Rowdy Rathod the hard hitting reality I took from the film is that everybody wants the next guy to be the hero, I know what is wrong, I protest vehemently but only through my eyes and if brave through my mouth, but oh no you wont catch me acting on the protest, I am nobodys hero, I am looking for one – somebody who will fight my demons and make me safe… How pathetic – how like a Victorian miss… I swoon. You catch.

Look at big bad policeman with tears in his eyes because wife is with gundas… and when wife gets mad and like the favourite Durga Ma style, kicks the badman in his whatnots.. husband / policeman claps and cheers with the masses, how is that for true reality..hindi style…She is my Hero..WOW

Pleee..uze save me from this endorsement of our hardcore loser mentality. I wish all of us have the gumption to correct our own mistakes, fight our own battles and clean our own shit… is it too much to ask for..i don’t think so.

Here to the new idea – Me – I am my HERO…

Self-aggradation at its most effective..

Move on - don't close the book- just turn the page

You might have heard of this fable where a man lost his gold chain at home one night and was desperately hunting for it. After a few hours spent hunting at his home he gave up in frustration claiming that as the light at home was dim he anyways would not be able to find the necklace there and would instead hunt for it in a better lit place. So saying he shifted his hunt to the streetlight which was a more conducive and will lit venue for a search.

A passerby on seeing his activity asked him what he was looking for and he replied that he was looking for his lost gold chain. The passerby to assist him in his search asked him where exactly he had lost it, to which the man replied that he had lost it at home. The stunned passerby asked him why the hell was he looking for it here then, to which our man replied that as the light was poor at his home he thought he would have a more fruitful search at a better lit venue which is why he was hunting under the streetlight, rendering the poor passerby speechless…

Now you would say what an idiotic man and you are right but how many of us have done the same thing. How many times have we thought that there is a better place in this world which will revert all the things that we have lost. And how many times have we looked for something we have lost in the past even after we have moved on.

I have taken two learnings from this story which I can share with you

1.       Do not look for something you have lost in the past in your present or future, it is a futile exercise

2.       Whatever you lose or gain will be at the same place where you lost or gained. That is rewards and punishments are meted out at the same place.

If you have any other additions to make to this, you are welcome..

A Fine Line

There is a fine line between being concerned and being a busybody, that defines empathizing and irritating. The same goes for confidence and arrogance one being warm and the other being abrasive.

The only sticky point here is that it is easy to view this in others, but when it is in yourself do you see it… No I don’t think so. After all the universal failing of all of us is to see oneself in the positive light and judge the other on a guilty till proven innocent filter.

But hey, this is the challenge, how does one go about seeing oneself the way other see him/her. My idea is to have an open free for all on the internet, ask all your facebook friends to talk about one fine line that you tend to consistently cross and you promise to return the favour, off course do not try to keep the equi quotient by being as nice or nasty as the response given, be objective – if you do so maybe you can shame the other person to return the favour..

The other more safer and less public option would be just limit the question to a personalized one to one with your friends and family, this might also give your good insights.

But the conundrum here is that the person who is arrogant or a busybody will never check on this as he will believe his perfection as given.

So where do you fall – person A willing to check out the worlds view or person B believe your mirror of excellence.

Beautiful Poetry

I am not a poetry person but being human and a thinking one at that, one cannot help but be affected by the beautifully presented words in poetry which express sentiments that you have never been able to articulate and therefore appreciate all the more. The nuances of the sentiments poetry generates differs from person to person and sometimes even within yourself as you grow older and experience life the meaning and appreciation of a special line in a poem changes.

(on a lighter vein the same goes for cartoon comics and strips - I learned to appreciate Astrix and Calvin very differently as an adult where the play of words held special significance)

Anyways to get back to poetry I am sharing some beautiful poetry that i saw on my trawling through the net.....  

Enjoy.....

Trees by Joyce Kilmer

I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

It is such a simple and touching poem and the last two lines are so humble and self effacing that it touches your heart.

Another line which i feel like a slam in my heart is

I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

From Out Of The Night That Covers Me by William Ernest Henley

The peom that never fails to depress me with its futility is the Charge of the Light Brigade.

Anyways this is all for now....

If you want to enjoy some more on this subject visit http://www.writers-free-reference.com/10poems.htm

The Weekend blog post

Another week has passed and I seem to be where I was before. Except a bit sicker and definitely hoarser. The pace of work seems to be the kin to a snail and we are definitely chaffing at the bit. But hey what do “this is life” na…

Nah, that is what I feel like saying to all those soothsayers who just want to murmur platitudes and say you expect too much (meaning “you self-indulgent sod”)

Anyways as you can see life is not peachy cream anymore and I have developed a short fuse which is not helping matters. Talk about rabid, if this is what thirties does to you I really do fear the fourties…

But for now my resolution of the weekend is to fill myself up with good cheer and hope that it will waft out to my exterior aura to project peace and quiet..

Let me see what my horoscope has to say..

Broken Promises

Welll....there we go again, breaking a promise to myself - "Promised that I would be religious on my blog"

So here I am with a backlog of 5 days of posts to be fulfilled in one strong burst of verbage...

I wonder which is more criminal a broken promise to yourself or all those which are littered across the countryside made at various tight corners of your life... goes to show that a woman who sticks through her promise to others would be solid gold on self made commitments.

Anyway I am degressing...

I wanted to take a strong view on the educational purpose of our syllabus and when are we going to get rid of all the non relevant stories and talk about current issues which can provide relevant application to the students and develop them towards being a more responsible citizen.

I will be going into details on a clean week - starting Monday

Till then - Enjoy the weekend...