Where are the Purists?!

Yesterday I had the pleasure of watching the India vs. Pakistan Twenty 20 match...Didn’t get to see the full match but I did manage to catch the highlights. What a thriller!! I enjoyed every minute of the game and I loved the final bowl over to decide the winner. It was exciting, adrenalin pumping and fun all the way. I have not enjoyed cricket like this for a long time now. It’s not too long, its great entertainment for the crowds, its a mela atmosphere with cheerleaders getting into action every few minutes, drums playing round the clock, the batsmen and the bowlers seem to be having their share of exuberance and most importantly (for the cricketers!!) its pots and pots of money!!!!!!!!!!!

I know several friends of mine who enjoy only the longer version of the game; I wonder what they would have to say about this really shortened adaptation of the game!!!

The match fixing, the slump in Indian cricket (thanks to a ‘gentleman’ called Mr.Chappel) had taken away my interest in the game for some time. With T20 I am back!!! CHEERS!!!

My beliefs vs. My friendships

For some time now I have been battling this dilemma in my mind....whether to go with my values / beliefs or to stick to new friendships that I have made in the recent past.

I am quite against the idea of having children working in any kind of circumstances. Call it the righteousness in me or the background of my exposure in the development field, but I can’t fathom children working in homes leave alone working in difficult circumstances such as coal mines, firework factories etc. A few friends of mine do have young children, within 16 years of age, whom they have as full time help in their homes. In India it’s illegal to make children work and recently child labour in homes was also recognised as an offence and made punishable. I have been toying with the idea of gently telling these friends of mine that I don’t think what they are doing is right. I am not sure how it is going to be received; are they going to be offended?

How do I deal with my conscience? What answers do I give myself when I see those children? Do I choose friendship over something I believe in? I am grappling with this predicament and hope I can sort this out soon.

My greatest fear...

In the last couple of months, there has been 3 deaths in the building where i live. The first two were natural deaths while the third one has shaken everyone in the building. A young mother of two children (boy aged 4.5 and girl aged 2.5 yrs) died suddenly one morning. No one knew what had happened; she died alone at home with her daughter beside her. What happened to her? why didnt she call any of us for help? was she sick, depressed?? what would happen to the children? Several questions remain unanswered. Chhavi is gone but we are left grappling with various questions...

This unfortunate incident has driven home several points. One, life is too unpredictable; no one knows whats going to happen to them tomorrow. Second, death has always been a distant reality for me till now. I have read in several places that death is the biggest fear that people have. When i used to read this, it used to touch me at the cerebral level only. This incident has hit me hard; it has instilled a fear in me of losing my near and dear ones.

It has instilled the fear of death in me...

Pangs of growing up!

My daughter turned 3 during the peak Indian summer this year. She has been a talkative child from the time she has learned to speak! Her memory for names and people has been phenomenal from a young age. Slowly, i see her friends circle expanding. She has her set of favourites with whom she is very paly with all the time and another set with whom she blows hot and cold from time to time.

I see groups being formed and sometimes she is part of it and sometimes she is not. I see her getting upset when some of her friends dont play with her and alienate her..

I dont know whether it is common for every mother to feel so but I do feel bad when my daughter is left out and she feels upset. My maternal instinct wants me to reach out and help her in such situations. But i hold back and tell myself that she will learn to deal with such situations and all this is part of life.

Whether or not my daughter realises this or not i dont know but i can feel the pangs of her growing up!!

Oh freedom! I Love you..

I am writing this blog post from Afghanistan…a place that would never have been on my list of countries that I would love to visit!! Nevertheless work has brought me here and when I was asked to go from my office I didn’t batter an eyelid for a second and thought this would be an opportunity to go to a country that I wouldn’t imagine going to.

As the plane lands in kabul all that one can see is barren land all around…brown, dry and depressing. The airport is full of army helicopters, bunkers and broken down aircrafts and so on.. again depressing….As I enter the airport a passport control officer spots me and points to my bindi and says u! come here! I instantly realise that I am standing out (in the plane from Delhi there are only 2 women and I am one of them) in a crowd because of my bindi!!! Alarm bells starting ringing!! Why is he calling me? What have I done?? Nevertheless he was only trying to help me by clearing my immigration as fast as possible. Gosh! The evil mind that I have!!!

I was supposed to be booked at an ecotel hotel and I was excited about being in a ‘resort’ in a city like Kabul!! I near the hotel and the driver gets off and opens the door. I ask him very innocently whether we have reached because all I can see is a fortress in front of me! The gates of the fortress open and there is the ‘resort’! I swallowed hard and came to terms with what I was seeing in front of me. If I was to compare this place with some hotel in India it would probably be like a two star hotel! Anyway, I have lived in terrible conditions in the past and as usual I was quick to adjust myself to this new situation as well.

Minutes after I settle in I am called for a security briefing! Curfew rules, cover your head, wear full sleeve clothes, radio handset to everyone, no moving out alone anywhere, no shopping (yes! No shopping!! U read that right!!), no eating out, no public transport etc etc. I was expecting this so it was not a surprise to me. Though what struck me hard and I am still thinking about it is how much we take our freedom for granted back home. Small things upset us; we crib about freedom of expression, movement etc etc and here is a place where your life is at risk every minute of your life; life is unpredictable and need to be cautious even while you are indoors or sleeping. Are we not glad that we can go for a drive whenever and wherever we want you? Are we not glad we can go to any shop any time of the day? Are we not glad we can move around anywhere without people keeping track of where we are?

So for all those of u who are reading this post put your life in perspective. Stop cribbing about the small things in life, live life to the fullest, make the most of what u have now coz u never know when it is going to go away from u, live in the present moment and most importantly enjoy your freedom!