Back to School... A Walk Down Memory Lane!!!

I walked into a Staples store the other day and there were these posters that advertised some interesting 'Back to School' offers. Colorful stationary, school bags and all other interesting school accessories. Wished I was in school still.

June is the month schools reopen in Bombay. June was the month I loved because of all the new school time goodies we got to buy. New books, new uniforms, new school bags [if we managed to wear and tear the old one ;)], new ribbons to tie our plaits, new pencil boxes, new fountain pens etc etc...

We are almost at the end of June and I remembered that I had promised myself a post on what I miss about my times at school. So here it is in completely random order... just as it came to mind...

• My school itself - St. Agnes Girls' High School, Byculla!!! I miss the huge campus walking in and out of its gates.
• Calling myself an Agnesian - especially in the presence of girls from Gloria's and St. Annes. (do not know why!!!)
• Red House, Blue House, Yellow House and Green House - Red House being mine and my favourite :).
• The colorful slides, monkey poles and the towering yellow giraffe in the primary school garden.
• The framed rhymes that were displayed across the hall in the ground floor of the primary school building. Somehow those pictures and rhymes always had me awestruck... I have stared at them endlessly.
• The playroom that was full of colorful toys and games. I guess it would charm me even now... as much as it did when I was in primary school. It's the kid in me to blame again :).
• The audio visual sessions we had where we were treated to some nice movies.
• Moral Science as a subject and the notebook with colored pages for it.
• The huge black piano and the 'singing' classes we used to have.
• The famous freeze-bell.
• Lining up on the grounds and the assemblies that followed.
• Sitting cross legged in those assemblies and the knee-fights that followed ;)
• Playing Sunday Monday on the building stairs
• The samosas, ragda and bhel in the school canteen - and the gossips about how someone found a cockroach in the canteen food :D
• Sports Day - and the compulsory attendance rules for non-participants like me :)
• The Inter-school sports meet (cannot recollect the name) and the endless cheering we did for our school.
• The Agnes-Mary's girl school - boy school fights and wars :)
• Annual Prize Distributions - and how my parents clapped with pride when I stepped up on stage to collect mine :)
• Open Days and the exhibitions of books, craft work and needle work and the complimentary packet of Simba wafers from mom :)
• Prefects with their sashes and belts - checking our nails, rolled down socks, shorts, badges and what not.
• Flag hoisting and singing the national anthem on Republic Day and Independence Day
• Taking turns in class to sit on the last bench - learnt to play book cricket on one of those days :)
• The entire class getting punished and made to stand in a straight line on the tarred road in the hot sun.
• The chemistry, physics and biology labs - including the skeleton in there :)
• PT classes, Sir Andrew and his English and the way the girls took his case.
• The green benches in the corridors that served as our lunch tables in the primary school and the huge lunch room for senior school too.
• All of the teachers there... they all had something special about themselves and that could make another blog post by itself!
• Baking classes and Ms. Farida and her ways!!! I remember we once ate up the extra cheese after making a dish. We got one of her 'You girls are made (read made, understood mad)!' for that. :D
• Color dress days at school on special occasions.
• Going around the whole school distributing sweets to all the teachers on my birthday.
• Standing in front of a whole class of girls singing 'Happy Birthday to Priya' :)
• Falling down, getting bruised and having that red medicine applied on to it.
• The morning prayers and news being read out on the intercom.
• The raffle forms for donations that we had to collect. There were another 25 odd Agnesians in the campus where I lived. Imagine rushing to every house before the others did.
• The science journals that we needed to complete in senior school with diagrams and experiment observations.
• The Science Exhibition we had in Class X. We went on to win it and participate in the inter school competition too. We did up something on Garbage Recycling and were super excited about it.
• The huge library we had and the librarian Ms. Pramila Pant!!! Some of my friends got her convinced that my classmate Sriya and I were twin sisters :)
• Polishing the black shoes and washing and applying white polish to the PT shoes - a weekend task that my sisters and me did dutifully to avoid lectures from dad.
• My school uniform - loved the smart white uniform-red tie combination.
• Waiting for the school bus to come and pick us up in the mornings and searching for the 'Blue' bus every evening :)
• Travelling by BEST to school after seventh standard.
• Walking, talking, breathing, road crossing with Nancy Drews and Enid Blytons!!!
• Different subjects like arts, crafts, baking, community living, social service etc
• Identifying hills, rivers and state capitals with different colors on the outlined maps of India for the geography exam
• Standing in line to collect our corrected answer papers. Totalling and re-totalling the scores hoping the teacher had made a mistake.
• The Khandala retreat in class X.
• Picnics every year - from Hanging Gardens to the Planetarium to Esselworld and Tiku-ji-ni-wadi.
• Collecting the hall tickets for the board exams, the school farewell and finally walking out of school with our SSC marksheets :(

I told you it was a long list. I am sure I have missed out a lot of other memorable things. Probably because I got carried away thinking about these. Would love to read your opinions on this.

Whether you were from Agnes or not, I am sure my school day memories would have taken you back to your own!!! Spare a moment and walk down your memory lane. You will come back smiling :).

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dil toh bachcha hai ji...

It has taken me over a month now to get over the fact that I am a year older all over again!!! I am one step closer to stepping out of my 20's and it is a somewhat weird feeling.

I am not of the vain variety who dreads growing old. I do not hear an 'aunty... aunty... aunty' echo when younger ones call me 'aunty'! I do not freak out when I see that odd silver strand on my head. Well, atleast I do not yell loud enough to let the neighbours know :)

Aging, according to many other like minded people, is a state of mind. And thankfully for me, I have managed to keep the child in me alive and kicking! There's a thin line between holding on to the kid in you and being kiddish and immature. I am guessing I haven't crossed the line. Maybe the grown-ups around me can answer that. :)

I was reminded today of all the fun things I did as a kid. Took this chance to list out some of them.

School
I miss everything about school. From classes to special classes, homework to handiwork, black shoes to white sneakers, uniforms to 'colour dress' days, Open Days to Annual Prize Distributions, Class I to Class X... I miss it all. I still remember how we had this freeze bell rule at school. Whenever it was time for class after a break, we would hear 2 bells. The first bell was called the freeze bell. It was like a game of statue. You stand still and do not move for a good 30 seconds or so. On hearing the second bell we were to line up and get to class. Funny and peculiar it may sound, but we did it day in and day out. So much that I miss it till date. Loads of memories from school time are flooding my mind now. I think I will save them all for another post.

Summer Vacations
You call it jealousy or you call it reminiscing old memories but I simply cannot stop envying all the school kids in my apartment. Their summer vacations are on... and they are in the best of spirits. This part of the year used to be the best in all my years at school. I loved making that day long train journey from Bombay to Madras for a 2 month vacation with my grandparents. I miss all those long warm summers that I spent with them and everything they did to make my vacation even more special. Love you thatha and paati!!!

Doordarshan
Satellite transmission and DTH services have taken the television by storm. Channels have run into triple digit figures. Reality shows are the order of the day with melodramatic serials not far behind. Kareena Kapoor can throw a tantrum about missing her favourite saas-bahu serial, only to see Saif recording it for her to watch later!!! Cut back to a few years ago (few is not an understatement... the kid in me adds :D). Doordarshan was our only source of entertainment on television. DD-I and DD-II were more than enough to keep us entertained. I miss all the TV shows I watched on Doordarshan as well as the movies that were telecast over the weekend. Nukkad, Wagle ki Duniya, Mungerilal ke Haseen Sapne, Jungle Book, Circus, Fauji, Byomkesh Bakshi, Tehkikaat, Mahabharata, Ramayana, Superhit Muqabla, Chitrahaar, Daawat, Udaan Surabhi, ... Oh I miss them all!!!

Bedtime@9.30p.m.
The Parent's Rule Book at our house clearly stated that we needed to get to bed by 9.30pm. That ensured we caught up on all the sleep our body needed. Over the years I have been wishing my family a good night's sleep later and later on the clock. I cannot remember when was the last time I went to sleep as early as 9.30pm. It is well past midnight by the time I retire for the day. Crazy lifestyles need a little order too. I have decided to consciously work on this. Early to bed and early to rise (the bigger challenge!!!) will surely make me healthy, wealthy and wise... on second thoughts let us make that - healthy, wealthy and wiser :)

Fancy Dress Competitions
I miss the many fancy dress shows I participated in. My mum looked forward to these more than me :). I remember getting dressed up as Baby Krishna once and as a Hawaian girl on another occasion. I won prizes for both :). We had these annual functions in our residential complex for Diwali and New Year's Eve. The whole process of deciding on what we're going to dress up as, preparing for it and going up on stage and enacting it out was a wonderful experience. I also participated in some group dances for some of these functions but somehow the Fancy Dress Competitions linger on in my mind. I will look up some of the pictures and hope to P.S. them to this post.

Kid Books
Tintin, Asterix and Obelix, Noddy, Chacha Chowdhary, Target, Tinkle, Champak, the complete Enid Blyton series, Secret Seven, Famous Five, Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys - I am sure all or most of these feature on your list of favourite childhood books. I used to eat, drink, walk, talk, yawn, sleep and breathe books. Somehow, over the years I have not been able to devote as much time to books. I still love reading all of these books. I actually enjoy it even more when I read them now. I remember bringing down the library shelves in our clubhouse to find the best of books. Since I could get only one of them issued per week I would hide my personal selection behind some books that were rarely ever touched by the others. This would ensure they remained there for the rest of the week :). The best part would be the glances others shot at me when they saw me climb up a chair to reach the top-most shelf. The glance would be followed by a feeling of awe and shame put together when they noticed that the top-most shelf stocked books as heavy as micro or macro economics, physics or nuclear research. They thought they needed to learn a few things from this whiz-kid called ME :)

Fun Games
There used to be a host of games we kids would play every evening. Played a lot of interesting outdoor games like Catch 'n Cook, Blind Man's Buff, Kho-kho, Lagori, hopscotch (Googled this out... we used to call it 'Tippar' or 'Tipri' :D), Kitty Kitty Coming, Chor Police, Saakhli, Langdi, Hide 'n Seek, GoooooooollllllddddddSssssppppppott (that's how we used to yell it out :D) and many more. It has been years and years since I have even made a mention of these games. I have not seen kids playing all of these in the last so many years. Let your kids be kids and let them come up with silly yet interesting games like these and give it a name of their choice. Urge them to use their PC games and TV videogames as stress busters when they are much older.

*******

Wow!!! This post has been such a refresher. It took me back down memory lane and brought back many pleasant memories... each with a smile on my face. There sure are a lot of other things that may come to my mind. Will share those on my blog space later.

My take on growing up would be - Grow up as you are doing anyways but remain a child at heart always. I love to pamper the kid in me. I try as much to do everything I loved doing as a kid. This post has only helped me strengthen my stand. The kid in me is happy! The kid in me is jumping with joy! The kid in me is waiting for more! The kid in me is nudging me to hum along... 'dil toh bachcha hai ji' :)

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Have you seen your golden house yet?

Got this story as an email forward. Food for thought I must say!!!

the house with the golden windows

The little girl lived in a small, very simple, poor house on a hill and as she grew she would play in the small garden and as she grew she was able to see over the garden fence and across the valley to a wonderful house high on the hill – and this house had golden windows, so golden and shining that the little girl would dream of how magical it would be to grow up and live in a house with golden windows instead of an ordinary house like hers.

And although she loved her parents and her family, she yearned to live in such a golden house and dreamed all day about how wonderful and exciting it must feel to live there.

When she got to an age where she gained enough skill and sensibility to go outside her garden fence, she asked her mother is she could go for a bike ride outside the gate and down the lane. After pleading with her, her mother finally allowed her to go, insisting that she kept close to the house and didn’t wander too far. The day was beautiful and the little girl knew exactly where she was heading! Down the lane and across the valley, she rode her bike until she got to the gate of the golden house across on the other hill.

As she dismounted her bike and leaned it against the gate post, she focused on the path that lead to the house and then on the house itself…and was so disappointed as she realized all the windows were plain and rather dirty, reflecting nothing other than the sad neglect of the house that stood derelict.

So sad she didn’t go any further and turned, heartbroken as she remounted her bike … As she glanced up she saw a sight to amaze her… there across the way on her side of the valley was a little house and its windows glistened golden… as the sun shone on her little home.

She realized that she had been living in her golden house and all the love and care she found there was what made her home the ‘golden house’. Everything she dreamed was right there in front of her nose!

The little girl's story higlights the fact that we tend to, more often than not, take what we have for granted. We tend to conveniently overlook what we have and how much it matters to us. The grass on the other side of the fence always seems greener. What is not ours appears to be bigger and brighter than what we have just earned.

It pays to be ambitious in life with newer milestones being set everyday. But it pays even more to spare a few moments to celebrate what we have already achieved.

The little girl in the story represents each one of us. I am only hoping each one of us have seen our golden homes... shining back at us with a smile :)

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The 2-minute Magic Spell

'Mummy bhook lagi hai' mumbled two little hungry kids... 'Bas do minute' said the mother... and quite rightly so in the midst of an exciting television ad jingle a yummy platter of noodles was ready in two minutes flat!!! Oh yes, I'm talking about everyone's favourite - Maggi Noodles!!!

If you're in your twenties or thirties and if you have not had Maggi... then you've probably just landed from some other planet. Maggi was and is my favourite kitchen rack item. It takes you just two minutes to decide to want to eat Maggi, then just about two minutes to get it ready and if you're really hungry... just another two minutes to slurp it down :)

Amit's ode to this favourite snack of mine prompted me to write this post. Apparently Maggi completes 25 years this year... 25 years of filling hungry tummies in the quickest possible time! It sure is quite something. I'm quite impressed by the different variations that the Maggi family has tried to offer over the years... somehow though the original Maggi Masala will always remain my favourite.

As kids, my sisters and me were even part of the Maggi Club. We used to get these fancy Maggi memorabilia, Maggi Club pin-up badges, loads of mailers from the Maggi Club etc. The mailers would be something that we waited for longingly... who else would be kind enough to mark letters to some less-than-10-year olds :) Maggi did!!! It connected with us right then... and the bond continues to last right through... up to now and am sure for a long way down the future. It is almost as if the 2-minute magic has cast a spell to last us a lifetime :)

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Generation Fast Forward!

The young and trendy like to be referred as Generation Next... but the generation that's catching up loud and clear is Generation Fast Forward - a generation branding that I've done for the kids of today, clearly much quicker in thought and action than most of us who'd want to call ourselves GenNext just coz it sounds cool.

My little niece, who's as little as one does so many things that we would have probably never imagined when we were that age. She does everything from humming a lullaby to put her doll to sleep to walking around so matter-of-factly with a mobile when someone calls. She even speaks in some kind of language that she understands so well and speaks with a 'you don't understand this??!!' attitude!

When we were kids, we were known to be sweet, cute and cuddly. Kids of today are not just all of that but are also smart, intelligent and quick!

Here's a conversation I heard at a bookstore between an affluent mom and her smart little kid, a young guy all of 7 years maybe:

Rich Affluent Mom (RAM): Come on son, we've picked up enough books for yourself.
Smart Little Kid (SLK): Yes mom, just for Rs.2000. We can add some more to it. Check out this one, its ONLY Rs.675/-
RAM: Don't you think its expensive, son!
SLK: It's really worth it, mom! I've read about it somewhere and it is really worth the price (economics pro in the making... I never knew to judge if things were worth their price at 7 years of age!!!)
RAM: Son..!!
SLK: Come on mom, be a sport! You could even pick a copy for yourself!!!

Now how mean was that! Just imagine your own kid not willing to 'share' his books with you. Imagine him/ her asking you to get yourself your own copy of music, books or whatever else. I'm sure the kid didn't mean to sound rude, he was just being practical and detached... Now whether that's a good sign or a bad sign or no sign at all... I'm really not sure. Somehow that conversation struck me... and in a way made me believe that Generation Fast Forward have ways of their own... ways that may shake you up at times.

I'm intimidated at times... sometimes amused!!!

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50 and running

2009 is probably yet another year with a lot in store for all of us. Our year-end posts will take care of summing that up :)

Among other things, 2009 marks the golden jubilee of 2 of my favorite comic characters - Asterix and Obelix!!! Just wanted to let them know how much I love them and the rest of the Gauls :)

I've read practically every one of the 33 titles and I doubt if I'll ever get bored of reading them up over and over again. The names of each of the Gauls - including the cute li'l Dogmatix - is something that always charms me.

The complete Asterix collection is definitely worth its space on your bookshelf - and mine too. Did I hear someone saying 2009 is good to go gifting??? :P

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Collect Your ‘Good Stuff’ Bags

(Here's the script I used for my 'Inspire your Audience' speech at CCTM. With this I finished the Competent Communicator series. I'm eagerly waiting to pursue my Advanced Communication track now.)

Picture this. It is eight in the evening. Rohit is at his office desk, busy with his conference calls. A few blocks away his wife Rita is busy at work, delivering some important presentations. Just another long day at work for the couple. At around 10 pm the two of them meet up and drive down to their home. They open the door of their apartment… the lights suddenly come on, there are balloons all over and a complete festive setup. There was a huge cake on the center table… ‘Happy Anniversary Mum n Dad’ read the icing on the cake. On the sofa… their 8 year old daughter was huddled asleep… with a frown on her face. Her parents had forgotten their own anniversary and she could not manage to stay up late enough to remind them!!!

How often have we felt just as sorry as Rohit and Rita?


The world we are in today almost literally personifies the phrase ‘Survival of the Heartless’. As mean as it is… that is how it is.

I want to spend the next few minutes trying to inspire all of you to slow down, look around and take stock of all the smaller, yet sweeter things in life.

Let me share a story with you all. It is written by Robert Fulghum and he calls it ‘The Daddy Prize’.

Molly lived with her father and brother. She was a little school girl. Molly would pack the lunch bags for all three of them every morning. Each bag would get a share of sandwiches, apples, milk… and sometimes a note or a treat.

One morning Molly gave her father two paper bags as he was about to leave. One regular lunch sack. And an extra paper sack.
"Why two bags?” Molly’s father asked in a hurry.
"The other one is something else.", she said.
"What's in it?” her father asked – more irritation in his voice.
"Just some stuff – take it with you."
Not wanting to get late for work, he stuffed both sacks into his briefcase, kissed Molly, and rushed off.

That’s how fathers are. Practical, to the point and always in a rush. But when it comes to their daughters there is an inevitable soft corner. Fathers of daughters would agree.

Coming back to the story…
At midday, while hurriedly gulping down his real lunch, Molly’s father tore open the other bag and shook out the contents. Two hair ribbons, three small stones, a plastic dinosaur, a pencil stub, a tiny seashell, a marble, a used lipstick, a small doll, two chocolate kisses, and thirteen coins.

He had a momentary smile on his face. The next moment he remembered he was getting late for a meeting. He swept the desk clean – into the dustbin – leftover lunch, Molly's junk, and all. There wasn't anything in there that he needed.

All those of you who are fathers here, just look back at the many moments you felt nice when your children did whatever little they could to make you feel special. When we were kids, my sisters and I would plan for weeks about what to present our parents’ for their birthdays or anniversary. The end result would not be so happening… a hand made paper card with doodles and wishes in our scrawly handwriting. But my parents were always sweet enough to speak so high about it. They would even put it up on display for a couple of days and boast about it to any visitors who dropped in. It felt really good.

Molly’s father sensed similar pride… unfortunately his ruthless demands at work did not let the feeling sink in. Wonder how Molly would react to her father dumping away her gift.

That evening Molly went and stood next to her father while he was reading the paper.
"Where's the bag?", she asked.
"What bag?", he asked without even looking out of the paper.
"You know, the one I gave you this morning."
"I left it at office, why?"
"I forgot to put this note in it."
She handed over a note and continued… "Besides, I want it back?"
"Why?", Molly’s father asked, surprised.
"Those are my things in the sack, Daddy, the ones I really like – I thought you might like to play with them, but now I want them back. You didn't loose the bag, did you, Daddy?" Tears puddled in her eyes.

He lied to her that he forgot the bag at office.
She pleaded with him to bring it back the next day… she was embarrassed.
He agreed.
As she hugged him with relief, her father unfolded the note that had not got into the sack: "I love you Daddy.", it said!!

He realized then that what the bag had was definitely ‘something else’. Molly had given him her treasures. Love in a paper sack. And he had missed it. Not only missed it, but had thrown it in the dustbin because "there wasn't anything in there that he needed."

Molly’s dad was filled with remorse. How often have we felt that way? How often have we hurt someone, maybe even without meaning to? I’m not sure if we can entirely blame Molly’s dad… coz probably each one of us here have done something similar to what he did… not just with our children… but with any of our near and dear ones. What I like about her dad is that he realized his mistake and set out to make amends.

After putting Molly to sleep, he rushed to office. He reached just in time before the cleaning staff began their work. He picked up the dustbin and poured the contents on the floor. He sorted out the trash looking for each piece of Molly’s treasure.

He washed the items and spraying the whole thing with breath-freshener to kill the smell of onions. Next he carefully smoothed out the ball of brown paper into a semi functional bag, put the treasures inside and carried the whole thing home. The next evening he returned it to Molly, no questions asked. The bag didn't look so good but the stuff was all there and that's how Molly looked at it.

After dinner he asked her to tell him about the stuff in the sack, and so she took it all out a piece at a time and placed the objects in a row on the dining table. It took a long time to tell. Everything had a story, a memory, or was attached to dreams and imaginary friends.

To his surprise, Molly gave the bag to her father once again several days later. Same bag. Same stuff inside. He felt forgiven. And trusted. And loved. And a little more comfortable wearing the title of Father.

Over several months the bag went with him from time to time. And came back each time too.

In time Molly turned her attention to other things...found other treasures… she lost interest in this game. Her father was left holding the bag. Molly gave it to him one morning and never asked for its return. And he still had it. He called it the ‘Good Stuff’ bag and kept it forever.

Spend some time thinking over the possible number of ‘Good Stuff’ bags that you may have turned down. Simple day to day incidents are potential moments to treasure.

I remember an incident from my family. My cousin sister was elated one Friday morning to see her jeans tearing away at the bottom. She badly wanted to have the torn jeans effect that her cousins from Bombay had. That evening when she came back from college she was shocked to see that our grandmother had neatly folded and stitched up the shabby looking trousers. My cousin was mad at her and yelled and howled. Poor grandma didn’t get the point at all. She was only trying to help. Fashion fads had taken priority over a loving grandma’s gesture. Today my cousin repents her impulsive reaction… all’s well between the two of them now. :)

People who truly care about you go that extra mile to give you their affection, love and respect. Good stuff may not always be tangible. It could be something as simple as a smile or maybe someone going all out to help you with something you are working on. At times you may not need that help, but that does not take away the warmth from the help someone offers.

Things today have become so materialistic, that we fail to appreciate their genuinenesss. ‘Whats in it for me?’ is what we ask ourselves before doing or accepting something.

As we grow older, our life revolves around work and money. Our families, parents in particular, slowly seem secondary. Money and work are important, but what is even more important is to strike a perfect work-life balance. We must not forget that we work only to lead a better life… not to stop living at all.

There are so many opportunities where we can collect our ‘Good Stuff’ bags. But we’re just too preoccupied to even spot them. Leave alone the pain we cause when we overlook the feelings behind the bags.

Take a couple of moments more… slow down your pace… contribute to the ‘Good Stuff’ bags of people around you… collect your ‘Good Stuff’ bags… if nothing else it will keep you smiling even when you’re sporting a toothless smile!

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My list for Santa...

Christmas is just around the corner... and so are cakes, pastries, Christmas trees and Santa Claus :)

I did my schooling in an English Convent. Christmas was as much a part of my annual festival calendar as Diwali, Pongal or Ganesh Chaturthi.

Christmas at school meant singing Christmas carols, putting up plays on the life of Jesus (played the role of a shepherd in the manger where Christ was born - this is what happens when you're in an all-girls school :P), wearing coloured clothes to school on the last day before the Christmas holidays and secretly working out a Santa wish list :)


Somehow Santa Claus seems just as real as he is imaginary. Somehow I wish to believe he's packing his bags somewhere in the North Pole with stuff for me and all of you who believe in him.

Here's a sneak peek at my Santa wish list this year... in no particular order :)

• Return Tickets to Bombay... i'm missing my frens there like crazy!!!
  
• A yummy chocolate cake (like the one's Enid Blyton spoke of in her books) with zero calories... :P
• A super-natural power to go kill those who master-minded the Bombay terror attack and other acts of terror.
  
• A laptop of my choice... Dell's Studio 17 in Tangerine Orange is my choice for the moment :)
  
• More of Abhishek Bachchan on the silver screen... and less of Katrina Kaif :P
• Big time hits on my blog space... the new look better work ;)
  
• The power to dream or wish for things that are possible... it hurts when your dreams remain incomplete... :(
  
• On second thoughts Santa, please make that last one... the power to believe that incomplete dreams are only dreams that take longer to realize!
  
• Additions to my Lucknowi Chikan suit collection... i can already sense one of Santa's elves coming along with them:)
  
• A nice boss at the new job... i wonder if bosses feel just as weird when they're going to have a new subordinate!!!

Ten items on the list!!! I've been moderately good through the year :P... so Mr. Santa please start packing up my stuff right away :)

Merry Christmas all of you!!!

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Tales on Rails

(Here's the script I used for Project 3 of Toastmasters at the Chennai Covansys Toastmasters Club [CCTM]. Won the Best Speaker prize for this one too :-). Do read through and leave me your valuable comments)

Chennai’s sweltering summer is draining us all out!!! We’re all complaining about the rising temperatures!!! Summers – however hot they were – somehow always brought a lot of cheer and excitement when I was schooling in Bombay. Summers meant summer vacations. Summer vacations meant visiting my grandparents in Chennai which also meant the fun-filled 36 hours of train journey from Bombay to Chennai.

We have so many micro societies formed within society in general. Societies that get formed in residential colonies, societies at work, jogging track societies and the like. All of them have their own charm and personify a sense of belongingness. For me, the 36 hour train journey every summer was nothing short of a society on wheels.

Bus journeys are too short. Flights may get you frequent flyer points and pretty airhostesses, but traveling long distance by second class is one of the most entertaining experiences and I’m very sure all of you would agree.

We used to travel by the Madras Mail almost every year. We’re a family of five and the first thing that would be debated over before any journey would be the luggage count. We always had a minimum of 7-8 bags, plus of course the last minute additions like the big basket full of breakfast, lunch and dinner, the water can and an extra bag for all our footwear!!! Dad tried really hard to explain how one pair of footwear would be good enough for the two month vacation. Somehow that never worked with us.

I have come across a cross section of all sorts of people during my journeys. It’s like a stage on the move with people of all types making an appearance!!! As kids we would strike quick friendships with the other kids in the compartment and have a good time together. We would come up with interesting games to play - right from ‘who climbs up to the upper berth first’ to ‘count the tunnels as they pass’!!! As I grew up, I became more of an observer. Constantly munching something seemed to be every passenger’s delight and only pass time. We were quite a hotel-on-rails ourselves. The big basket had everything from yummy idlis for breakfast to packed tamarind rice for lunch. Not to forget the be all and end all of every South Indian’s meal – the curd rice – mum would have it all in place for us.

While traveling by train, you have just two interesting things to do… eating and watching others while they are eating!!! There was once this Gujarati family traveling along with us. Small eats and snacks are an absolute must for them. The ladies in the group actually prepared an elaborate bhel puri for their entire group – complete with all the ingredients. We had fun seeing them make it and they had fun as they ate it all up.

There was this other occasion when there were a group of Marwadis traveling to Chennai. They were busy playing cards throughout the journey. Never seen more enthusiastic card players after that!!! So much that after a while almost everyone in the compartment had joined them in their game of cards!!!

When we’re talking about train journeys, we just cannot overlook the vendors selling all kinds of stuff – right from eatables to toothbrush and toothpaste for the forgetful travelers. It would be an interesting sight to see little kids blackmailing their parents to buy them something from almost every vendor who caught their attention. I did that too, as a kid.

There’s this small town called Daund on the Bombay-Chennai route. This place is supposedly notorious for dacoits and train thieves. All the elderly men in the compartment would ensure that the window shutters are closed before sleep time. They would advice everyone else to be careful of their belongings. On one such night journey, when we were all asleep there was this thief who got in somehow. I was asleep on the middle berth. All of a sudden the train screeched to a halt and I woke up with a start to see this hooded person running away from near my berth. Apparently, Mr. Thief was trying to snatch my chain just as someone else who had been robbed had pulled on the train’s emergency chain!!! The entire compartment woke up. Some people tried to chase the thief. Others helped to check if everyone’s belongings were safe, while a few others offered to stay awake and keep vigil for the rest of the night.

The best part about all these journeys would always be when we reached Chennai. No matter how absurd our first impressions about our fellow travelers were, we would have struck quite a few good friendships through the journey. I’m surprised about how we would feel sorry to be parting after that brief stint together. But that’s the way it is. We tend to gel beautifully with our co-passengers on the move. Irrespective of where they’re from or what religion they follow. Wonder what makes it so difficult to respect and accept people as they are in the journey of life!!!

Have we become an intolerant lot? People living together for decades just can’t stand each other now. The recent attack on north Indians in Maharashtra, the attack on Biharis in Assam and other similar incidents of regional intolerance are not something we would want more of. India has often been quoted as a burning example of unity in diversity. Are we failing to live up to it? ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakum’ – is an ancient Sanskrit scripture from the Rigveda!!! Literally translated it means ‘the entire world is one family’. This term has been coined nearly 5000 years ago when nationalism as a concept didn’t even exist – leave alone regionalism. It surely subscribes to mutual coexistence and respect for each others beliefs and values. Think about it… can all of us together help make Vasudhaiva Kutumbakum a reality – train journey or otherwise?

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To Wish or Not to Wish

(I used this script for completing my Project 2 of Toastmasters. Had a couple of goof-ups while delivering the content but managed to win the Best Speaker prize for this one :-). Do read through and leave me your valuable comments)

Valentine's Day, Women's Day, Mother's Day, Doctor's Day, Grandparents' Day, Send-A-Hug Day, Bubble Bath Day, Respect Your Cat Day - browse through the internet or walk into a nearby novelty store and you will find almost every day of the year tagged as some interesting, sometimes bizarre day!!! Do these days really add cheer to our lives or are they merely money making gimmicks of the commercial world around us? To wish or not to wish, is the question.

Are you a Valentine's Day critic or do you love it's 'love is in the air' feeling? Do you care to stop by and wish your family doctor on Doctor's Day or do you prefer to munch down an apple and keep the doctor away? Do you appreciate the idea of having these designated days? Do you need to have these designated days? Till a few years ago who cared about all these days? I've asked myself these questions often and probably so have you!!!

Today's consumers, like teenagers are a confused lot. Extremely vulnerable and easily exploited by the media. Television, radio and print media are giving bloated publicity to these special days and events in their own interest. So far they have been successfully exploiting us.

TV serials and reality shows ensure such days and events get coverage. It is interesting how they pretend to connect with their audiences whilst they are busy cashing in on their rising TRPs. In Bombay, I've seen the Times of India selling print space to its day-struck readers to convey their wishes in print. You'll get to see 2-3 pages of crammed up greetings on most of these days. Just imagine... Valentine's Day morning and you're wading through scores of sweet nothings that are best kept private.

All this media hype has definitely left a strong impression on the minds of the youth. We tend to attach more importance to these coined days than to our festivals and cultural events. When it comes to Diwali or Pongal, I’m curious about its origin and history. When it comes to Women’s Day or Daughter’s Day, I don’t really care about their origin. For me, it’s more an opportunity to expect designer wear and diamond accessories!!!

Special days and events are heavy on the wallet too. But as long as the money is taken care of do we hesitate before getting those roses and rings at a premium? A special occasion say some… mindless consumerism say others!!!

Days like Friendship Day and Rose Day are a big thing on college campuses. They can create quite a psychological impact on young minds. Just go back down memory lane and you’ll most likely find yourself sulking about how you did not get as many Friendship Ribbons or Red Roses… unless of course you were the reigning Rose Queen or Mr. Popular!!!

Specialized treatment for some could also create a feeling of being left out for some others. For example, doctors get truck-loads of cards on Doctor’s Day… imagine how you would feel if you were a paramedic, compounder or personal assistant to a busy doctor!!!

There’s a lot of hysteria around these days. To be a part of the crowd or not is a tough decision to take. The retail industry has exploited fatter pay packets of the consumer by endorsing these events. Hotels and resorts come up with trendy ideas and packages to celebrate special occasions. Shrewd florists, greeting card and gift shop vendors – they all just add to the commercial chaos around us!!!

So should we put a stop to all this? Well, maybe not. There are two sides to every coin. I also look forward to these events for a variety of reasons.

They give us so many more opportunities to celebrate – so many more avenues to express our feelings. Forgetful husbands often bear the brunt for forgetting their wife’s birthday. Women’s Day is a wonderful opportunity to calm down your angrier half!!!

Days that recognize specific professions have an interesting pull factor. Vocational courses could attract more students – imagine having Plumber’s Day or Vegetable Vendor’s Day!!!

Another positive out of all this is the booming retail industry. Income generation has become a lot easier for smaller players like flower farmers and suppliers. A lot of employment opportunities are generated. Including chances for idle politicos, self appointed moral police and thugs who go about vandalizing flower shops and hotels!!!

Celebrations to me are a way of life. To celebrate or not is a personal decision. What and how to celebrate is also a personal decision– these should be respected. Special occasions and days can be celebrated in a sober way too. It’s the thought that matters... we do not need to be thinking out loud to express our feelings just because everyone around does it. Do it your way – is what I feel is best!!!

And here’s something interesting. Today, the 8th of April happens to be ‘Paint a Picture of a Bird’ Day!!! I’m all set with my drawing sheets and paints. Go grab yours quickly… coz tomorrow could be another special day!!!

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