‘Frankly Speaking’, this one is beyond my understanding…

‘It is unlawful for Muslim women to do job in government or private institutions where men and women work together and women have to talk with men frankly and without veil.’

Like all other diktats, this one too is vague and open to interpretations. But the result is going to be the same.

Closed minds, closed eyes, closed ears and closed hearts.

Questions

What about Muslim men who work and talk frankly with (non Muslim) women at work?

Shouldn’t we ask ALL women to be veiled?

Who cares if someone finds it as obtrusion to his/her freedom.

Who cares.

I hate it when religion is yet another reason to push a woman down.

I do not understand ‘because they are men, and men are different’ explanations.

I do not agree to ‘We wouldn’t change our beliefs’.

I am open to change.

And yet.

Do not force your beliefs on me.

A woman should be able to wear a veil if she wishes too.

And not forced if she doesn’t.

A new journey

Trying to walk ahead of her tiny steps,

she moves to open the iron gate.

Hoping to reach there before I can stop

the cruel time from moving ahead.

Children for hire

For those who still employ kids as labors, there is an excellent site. You get them at real cheap prices.

Affordable.

Convenient.

Non resisting.

Silent.

Good performance.

No complaints either.

WoW!! I wish I could use their facilities. There is only a small hitch that prevents me from doing so. I have this obstructive trait which people call as ‘conscience’ and that makes me feel revulsion against those who treat kids as commodities/slaves. If only I could get this hitch out of my way….. like so many other people…. I would have got a good value for my hard earned money..

What do you think?

In case you are still wondering what this is all about, please visit here.

A million advices for looking younger…

and none to get to age gracefully.

Every day is a mother’s day…

and yet it’s good to make one day more special than others.

I see no harm in ‘father’s day’, ‘mother’s day’, ‘daughter’s day’, ‘uncle’s day’, ‘pet’s day’. and so on… Yes, someone might have had a brilliant business motive behind these concepts, but I don’t mind. Just like every day is a festival for us (esp Indians), and yet festivals are marked with so much celebrations and rituals. I am sure these ‘days’ serve the same purpose.

Just to make someone feel ‘extra’ special!

Yeah, you should have seen expressions on my (and A’s face) when Diya came back from school, folded her hands and said ‘GotBle Mummy’ (read ‘God Bless Mummy’) and we received a hand made card with her ‘painting’! I know she is too young to know what she said and what the day was all about. But you should have seen our hearts melting away!!

I feel special. I really do! Now I am waiting for daughter’s day to come up with some really good and loving ideas!

(and to all ‘mothers’ out there- Hope you had been made to feel special and wanted as well! )

No, I would not mend my ways…

.. and would continue to watch movies like:

I am sure you won’t even ask what this movie is all about…and I would congratulate on making such a wise decision (of not asking).

There is no story.

I am sure there was no ‘written’ script for the actors either.

Songs? Only one that I liked – only for its danceable tune…

Lyrics – dont remember them

Dialogues – not worth mentioning!

Cast – Wish Arjun Rampal hadn’t done this role… Otherwise he looks ‘superb’, as always. Love Lara Dutta. Riteish is adorable. Akshay is ..hmm… as he is in all other stupid comedies..

Review – None

TimePass – with difficulty

Induces laugh – only when laughing gas is used in liberal quantities (pun intended). Otherwise, I did force quite a few ones on myself! After all, had to justify the money spent on the ticket!

One highlight of the movie – loved loved the dresses sported by the three actresses in the pic above. (yeah, I am shallow like that!)

pic from here

Raj – by Gita Mehta

As much as I loved this book for using pre-independence Indian history as the backdrop, I still found it lacking in the characterization of the central character ‘Maharani Jaya devi’. I would have preferred to know more about her rather than the names dropping that the book indulges in, and which went a little too far, in my opinion.

There is a beautiful narration of how the power passed from the able hands of a Maharaja to the greedy hands of British and then subsequently to the nationalist party of free India. Whether or not it went the ‘right’ way is not even debatable.

I fell in love with the Maharaja’s character (Jaya devi’s father) and wanted it to live a little longer in the book 🙂 Jaya devi, the central character, displays lot of potential but fails to achieve anything significant. Her emotions, as a woman, could have been expressed in a better manner considering the special times and situations she was in. Also, certain decisions she made in her life appeared to be out of her weakness and not love or any other purpose. For example, her brief liaison with Arun Roy, the nationalist was beyond comprehension to me.

Overall, I found myself enjoying the book, though certain parts towards the end did tempt me to skip pages! And I would give it 2.5 out of 5 as the rating..

Nine lives – by William Darymple

Some stories are so fictitious that they  make you wish you had never allowed yourself to get sucked into them.

And

Some books are so real that they want you to explore further and get in touch with what lies beyond that ‘real’ image.

Nine lives qualifies as the later case for me.

It makes me want to shed the usual ‘tourist’ character that we normally assume while travelling.

It makes me want to explore my country, her people with a renewed zest.

It makes me love my own life even more!!

It made me look around, observe and relate to each and every character depicted (from the author’s own experiences).

It makes me write what I have seen and known.

With so much positive influence that a book generates, a ‘bad’ review is least expected, isn’t it?

pic from here

The most (ab)used defence in India…

I am being framed