To Each His Own

A few years back:

Sir: Do you really have to prove your point every time Suchi?

Suchi: ehhh? Maybe or maybe not I am not sure. ..but what do I do if he is wrong.

Sir: just make your point and leave it. We all live by our own experiences and time teaches us many things. We have our own journeys.

Suchi: but Sir… what if he is wrong.

I remember Sir remained silent. My adolescent mind did not allow me to interpret the silence then.

After spending years with various kinds of people around me I have chosen to remain silent.

I have realized that topics such as atheism vs theism, monogamy vs polygamy, vegetarianism vs non vegetarianism, science vs religion, evidence vs faith etc are topics which are very sensitive and have no full proof answers.

For every man who propagates monogamy you can find a man who propagates polygamy.

Amongst the various reasons a monogamist might give, one could be being loyal to his wife.

Amongst the various reasons a polygamist might give, one could be that his wife is not sexually active and so his basic needs are not satisfied. He therefore has the freedom to go elsewhere. Amongst the various objections a monogamist might have, one could be that this is against morals and society. A polygamist might say that due to lack of fulfillment of his basic needs he is extremely frustrated and the repercussions are very unpleasant.  A monogamist might choose to live with the repercussions while a polygamist might not. A monogamist might say that the society does not accept it but a polygamist might say that he does not care about society.

Is the polygamist wrong? Each of us are governed by different principles and priorities in life. The monogamist chooses to stick to the morals which might lead to sexual dissatisfaction while a polygamist might fulfill his needs and be sexually satisfied. Let us not get into the pros and cons of being sexually satisfied and dissatisfied. It can be a topic for another day.

In the process we have forgotten people who choose to practice celibacy. 

So, is it hard to say that each one is practicing beliefs what best suits them? Is it hard to say ‘to each his own’.

A few days back I was talking to my colleague about vegetarianism and the conversation was being heard by another colleague. Needless to say that he cannot have a meal without meat and I cannot have a meal with meat. Among the many statements I made one was ‘I left meat eating to avoid cruelty to animals’ to which he says ‘aren’t you being cruel to the plants.’ I smiled and I left the question unanswered, or I chose to remain silent. For sure I understood that just the way he has a strong belief in eating meat I have a strong belief in not eating meat. For every point he makes to support his argument I will have my own set of arguments to go against his point. Silence and acceptance in difference in opinions is the best that could be done.

Is it not the best to say ‘to each his own’

I believe that  ‘ye duniya bharose par kayam hai’. The closest English quote I can think of is ‘It is hope which keeps you active. The translation is 'the world is surviving/sustaining because of hope.' For a man who is driven by science, analysis and logic this statement is gibberish. For a man who is driven by faith this statement might be one of his drivers to his outlook in life.

Now who is right?

Have we heard of right brained and left brained? While a scientist might spend his life finding logic and evidence of the past a painter might spend his life creating paintings of the future. While one man chooses to dig the past the other man chooses to the paint the future. Who is right here? Each might find the other insane.

To cut this short is it not safe to say ‘to each his own’

For every theory which comes up with some evidence I find another theory negating it. The internet is full of articles supporting Richard Dawkins and you will find an equal number of articles negating it. When Richard believers talk of evidence, people who do not support Richard challenge the evidence and the process of measurement. (Radiometry has its own limitations). An atheist might choose to believe a theory which is governed by proof but has its own limitations, challenges and flaws a theist might choose to have faith. An atheist might question the existence of God while a theist might question the limitations of science.

What is right – evidence or faith? Faith is blind and evidence is flawed, limited and challenged by scientists every now and then.

I choose to believe -- to each his own.

Everybody has the right to believe what they think is right because everybody interprets things in different ways. I therefore feel that right and wrong is not absolute. It is relative.

Being a wise man Sir knew that each person understands life in his own way and with his own experiences. He also knew that I would take my time to understand this and to allow me to learn things on my own he chose to remain silent.  Just the way I choose to remain silent when it comes to strong beliefs.

When I see people around me  trying hard to prove their point, passionately  trying to prove that the other person is flawed, illogical  and irrational, having a strong  belief that they are right and others around are wrong I see a couple of things. One, their passion and belief attached to the point they are trying to make and two the inability to understand that we are all different, with different views, thoughts, journeys in life, tastes, priorities, dogmas, experiences, beliefs, values and needs. The only thing common is the need to be respected and understood.

Will I be able to understand that the passion which drives me to believe something drives someone else to believe something else. Let us respect the differences. When we learn this we remain silent just the way Sir had done. He wanted me to learn it in my journey called life.

A relation is cultivated by not only enjoying the similarities but also respecting and appreciating the differences. The latter being more important.

Falaknuma - Behavior of a comman man

So, we three pretty ladies are all decked up to set the evening on fire. We are all going to dine at Taj Faluknuma. Yeah! the palace. If you think we have all been invited by our guys for a date then ahh!! how I wish it were true. And if you are thinking that we three are dating each other then please, don't let your thoughts get too wild - Think straight :P

We are about the reach the venue that we realize that we need some one to guide us through our way. I tell the driver to stop at a convenient place so that I can enquire.

Suchi: Ye Falaknuma ka rasta kaon sa hai ( what is the way to Falaknuma?)

She: (pointing towards a road) Vo rasta le do (take that route)

Suchi: Vo, thik hai ( that, ok)

She: (with a heavy Hyderabadi accent) tation bol rahe na tum (you mean the station right?)

I paused as I went blank. Did I hear the right thing? Are we talking about the same thing? Well, both are talking about Falaknuma.

Gathering myself….

Suchi: nahi, uppar jana hai, hotel ( no, I need to go up, the hotel)

She: to phir ye road lo ( then take this road)

We all take the route as instructed by her. I am still stumped. How can the same noun “Falaknuma” mean so different to different people. While I associate Falaknuma to a royal palace the same Falaknuma means a station to someone else. To me it is a place to date and to someone it is a place to board a train to commute for daily living.

While talking to the driver I tell him that it is not her fault at all. She answered what a common man would answer. Is it my mistake as I did not know how to ask the question? Or is it no one’s mistake as both were  talking with their own mental frame.

This the kind of difference in the economic level we are dealing with?

I feel guilty to belong to the elite class of the country. I feel bad. I feel very bad. I feel bad for a commoner.

Should I give up my dinner and experience at Falaknuma palace for the experience which people at Falaknuma station are going through?

Well, I choose to forget the incident and enjoy my dinner. I continue heading towards the royal palace.

However, something still haunts me – how should I feel when someone says that I am a nice selfless person. Should I safely say that they are lying?

Will I not visit Falaknuma (palace) again? I guess I will.. and again I will choose to ignore the station and enjoy the palace. …The behavior of a common man.

A Day with Stress

Ok! So I start my day on a happy note, as usual singing. I had my meeting with my Australia team and I am happy. Things can surely be better but they are very good for now. 

I am called for a meeting in Hyderabad office and I am in no mood to sing after the meeting is over. Now, if you are another employee working in the corporate sector I don't have to tell you the reason behind my feelings. One amongst the countless reasons in office. 

I am in a stage -- I am in a bad mood, mess with me at your own risk. Ah! I think this is an exaggerated statement.

I was in this exact situation in March and the lesson that I learned was that I had spent more than usual time brooding which is a shear waste of time and the next time I am in such a situation I am not going to brood. Fortunately life gave me a chance to test my self in just 9 months. While I was in full mood to brood I made a conscious effort to get out of it. It required a lot of self talking and pushing to myself to get into action.

At the end of the day I realized I could do so. I managed to brood less, be more productive and forced my mind to divert towards a better reason. 

Am I happy with my performance? I dont know. I will have to contemplate on this once again after a month once things settle down to check my performance. The last thing I want to see is that the incident did not strengthen me. Nevertheless it has been an experience of its kind which needs to be One day at a time.

3 or Multiple Idiots

Yesterday the police refused the candle march at People’s Plaza. You should not take much time to guess that as of now A.P. is ruled by the Congress.  I inadvertently came across a different section of the society today. To express my views I have given them names. Please note these characters are fictitious and any resemble to anyone dead or alive is purely based on your perception and discretion.

Rahul comes from one of the elite families of this country. He does not bother if onions are Rs 20/kg or Rs 60/kg.  He never had to go to the market. His chief chef’s assistant does the grocery shopping for him and the money is paid from one of the banks which is being filled right from the days of his great grand father. Rahul does not have to worry as even if he  and his mother do world tours all his life he will never go bankrupt. Why should he ever bother on what is going around with the common man? Though he might pretend to do so.

There are many Rahuls around us. People who are paid fat salaries, travel only in business class, have 3 chauffeurs and 6 maids at home, and can think of nothing else but a Paris or a London for a holiday. 

Manish  is a guy who benefits a lot from corruption. He has a lot of money and he uses this money to get more money and also use this money to bribe others. He recently took bribe to get the driving license made for Anthony and Manish used a part of this money to pay Madhu to get his passport renewed faster. Manish has always been in a win win situation and made the most out of this corruption. 

Robert, Anil and Ratan are company leaders. Their companies benefit a lot from it. Whom will they bribe if Raja is not around?

Kabil is a guy who loves democracy and has full faith in it. He says that all you need to do is to ask people to vote and get done with it. After all making a law is Government's job. His main argument is that 50% of the people don’t vote. These 50% people should get themselves to vote. Once this is done we should leave it to these elected people to rule the government. 

Laloo  is from Bihar. He does not care about the Jan Lok Pal bill. His idea is simple – as long as I am good in Bihar I care a damn. 

Lal just does not care what is happening around him. The world is fine as long as he is fine. His social networking updates include his trip to North India, liking the movie page he watched at PVR today.

Manmohan  has no opinion. He  does not know what is happening around and he is not blessed with the brains or an interest to know what is happening. He is either unaware of things or is told by others what is happening around. He eats haleem and then updates this on Facebook.

Atal  is a poor man. He is an auto driver,  has 3 children going to school, wife is a cancer patient, parents are old and both are heart patients. He has to work so hard for his living that he has no time to know what is happening in the country.

Kiran, Arvind, Bhusan and Anna are engineers, doctors and lawyers of this country. They are the citizens who are burdened with corruption. Tired of paying taxes, fed up of bad roads, worried about inflation, angry with people around who ask them for a bribe if they want something resolved in their Property Taxes.

Soni is a woman. My!! A woman and her charm. She is a responsible Indian citizen  with 40+ years of experience in the Indian Govt. She is a very broad minded woman who believes in taking opinion from all across before deciding anything. She takes advise from a 64 year old  Italian born Sonia who acquired her Indian citizenship in 1983. Sonia's husband Rajiv was involved in a major scamp in India which brought him crores of rupees. Baba is an aggressive man. He asked Sonia to give the money back as the money belongs to the nation. But, Soni is a woman with a big heart.  Soni  asked Baba to shut up  as  Sonia needs the money to make her trips to Italy and New York to meet her family. After all a woman has the quality to nurture her family. And only a woman can understand the pain of another woman.


As mentioned earlier Soni  takes opinion from many. She says that it is the duty and responsibility of the Government to listen to all and then make a law. Soni feels that Kiran, Arvind and Anna form a minority and world’s largest democracy should take the opinion of 1.2 billion people of the nation. The 1.2 billion comprises of not only Rahul, Manish, Madhu, Anthony, Robert, Anil, Ratan, Raja but also Laloo, Lal, Manmohan, Atal along with with the minority Kiran, Arvind and Anna.

The best dialogue of 3 Idiots is – Usko Ignore kar. ( Ignore him)

Can the Kirans, Arvinds and Annas of this nation Ignore the Rahuls and Manmohans and continue fighting for the bill against corruption?

Sahyok Chahiye -- Support is needed

While reading about Indian History in my school text books I always wondered what did Gandhi have to get public on the road.

I had planned to reach People’s Plaza by 6 PM today to be a part of the candle march but courtesy heavy rains and traffic jam I reached at 6:47 PM. I reached with a laptop in a laptop bag and a dupatta to cover my head. This is how prepared I was for the march. 

I look around. There are approximately 150 people. The crowd is shouting slogans such as “ vande mataram, bharat mata ki jay”. I stand with the crowd without shouting the slogans as I wanted to be a silent supporter. In no time a gentleman saw me without a candle and offered a candle from a box of candles which he might have got for people like me.

The slogans continue and this time I hear something different

Twinkle twinkle little start, Anna is a super star.

Congress paisa paisa karti hai, jan lok pall se darti hai

Ye sarkar nikammi hai, Sonia jiski mummi hai

Iss desh ko bachao, Sonia ko bahgao.

The candle wax started melting and hurting and an unprepared person like me did not know what to do. Immediately a supporter comes to my rescue. She brings a paper cup and sticks the candle to it. 

The flame of my candle is blown off due to the wind and drops of rain. Immediately a supporter offers his candle to light mine.

We then start walking around the ground. A dead rat was lying on the path which the supporters were to take. A gentleman quickly kicks it to the side so that the other supporters don’t stamp it.

As I am looking around I notice that 80% of the crowd comprises of the youth (yuva). Among them is a man walking with crutches.  

A few yards from the rat lies a big stone. Another gentleman quickly tries to lift it to remove it from the path. It was indeed too heavy for him to remove. Another gentleman immediately helps him to lift the stone and in no time the huge stone was out of the way for the comfort of the supporters. 

By now my candle is burnt out. Another gentleman offers me a candle from his box.

The march continues. 6 policemen are sitting at a distance waiting for something violent to happen so that they can take charge. Nothing happens. I look around. There are approximately 500 people. 

This is called support.Gandhi also might have done something similar. That is what history tells me.

Billions of Dollars...

Yesterday I made a failed attempt to watch Murder 2. It is suppose to be a movie highlighting human trafficking. However, while watching the movie I started doubting the intentions of the director. I was not sure if the director was trying to expose the pain and suffering of women who are victims of human trafficking or have countless obscene scenes with semi nude women with a hope that it might be a box office hit. 

While watching the movie is a person to feel the pain of the victims or is a person to get sexually provoked? 

Amongst the countless blogs I read online I also read Sunitha Krishnan’s blog. She is one woman who always leaves me dumbfounded. If you and I happen to share the same interest of blogging I am sure by now you would have figured out how intensely I read your posts and my deep routed desire to comment or share my own views on your views. However, I have read every post of Sunitha Krishnan along with the comments of her readers but have not got myself to share my views. Is it because I am aghast or is it because it is hard for me to believe that such horrendous acts can even be true? I know for sure it is not the latter. 

I do not know what to say when I read that human trafficking industry is one of the richest industries of the world.... billions of dollars … 

I still think I am Cool!

·         I have not yet played Farmville. I have not played Angry Birds either.

·         I don’t have GPRS activated on my mobile.

·         I don’t have a broadband connection at home.

·         I have not read any of the Harry Potter books nor watched any of the movies

·         I keep myself away from screens - TV, laptop, smartphones.

·         I belong to the era when Apple and Blackberrys were fruits and not electronic devices; I like it this way.

·         I can live on music. Indian music.

·         I still don’t understand English songs.

·         I relate myself to Hindi Bollywood songs from the 70s, 80s and 90s the most.

·         Mukesh is my all time favorite singer.

·         I still feel that the flirting and naughtiness in songs such as ‘mere dil me kasak si hoti hai, yu hi tum mujhse baat karti ho, gore rang pe na itna guman kar, hai hai ye majburi’ is timeless.

·        ‘Bheegi bheegi raaton me and dilbar dil se pyare’ are more sensuous than bheegi hont tere.

·        Nikaah, Umrao Jaan and Namaste London are the movies I can watch countless times.

·        Manoj Kumar is the most dashing man I have ever seen.

·        I still greet many of my acquaintances with 'namashkar or nasmate'.

·        I still touch the feet of my elders.

·        I still greet my cousins and friends living in the west with ‘kaise ho’ and not with ‘hi!’

·        I am a vegetarian by choice.

·        I know how yummy tandoori chicken or butter chicken is; I still choose not to eat.

·        I don’t eat eggs. You read it right – I don’t eat cakes, waffles, cookies and pastries. I still survive.

·        I still find coffee the hottest drink.

·        My idea of a perfect romantic time is walking together for hours by the beach.

·        My idea of perfect understanding is sitting together for hours and saying nothing,  just listening to each other’s silence, being with each other and with yourself without the fear that anyone is getting bored.

·        Yes! I believe you can listen to silence as well.

·        A cup of coffee or hot chocolate in a less crowded place is a great date. Any coffee would do.

·        You don’t have to buy me expensive dresses or jewelry. Expensive gifts do not appeal me. I just don’t know what to do with them.

·        A BMW does not turn me on. A Maruti 800 which you use to take your friend’s mother to the hospital is a perfect turn on.

·        Shopping is not my hobby nor is it a stress buster. I do not understand retail therapy.

·        Malls are not a place to shop. It is a place which I use as a common point to meet my acquaintances.

·        I don’t go to malls when I visit different cities. I find them all the same except for the size.

·        I don’t have 10 pairs of shoes. I don’t feel the need for it.

·        I shop only when there is a need.

·        Most of the dresses I wear are gifts from any cultural or religious events.

·        I think I have enough dresses. My mother does not think so.

·        and...I still think I am cool

Aam Aadmi

The policeman came home to arrest me.

What have I done?
Policeman: We have to arrest you?
Why?
Policeman: You support terrorism.
How?
Policeman: Yes! I have records that I can show you?
What records?
Policeman: The terrorist is still alive though he was sentenced to death long back.
How am I involved?
Policeman: He is still alive but he is being fed, his security can be compared to the security of any popular politician.
So?
Policeman: You have paid for his living and security.
Sir. I have not. What makes you think I have paid? I think you have reached the wrong person. Do you know who am I?
Policeman: Yes, you pay heavy taxes and you are a common man.

Happy Birthday Kasab

Mothers will remain mothers

Suchi: I will have to go to Sydney for some office work. It is going to be a hectic trip. I am new to the team, have to learn quite a lot, need to deliver the deliverables in a short time. It is going to be very stressful. Will have to start working on the itinerary now. 

Maa: Will someone come to pick you at the Sydney airport.

Suchi: The whole world is worried about something else and you are worried if someone will come and pick me up or not. 

Maa: What will you eat?

Suchi: Maa!! There is a fully working office there. I will eat in the office and my company is not going to keep me hungry for sure.

Maa: But still, you must find out about food and transport and all. 

Suchi: Ok baba!  I will find out how the food and transport works and I will get back to you. 

Maa: Take care of yourself.

Acquaintance, Friend or a perception of Love

 I see him and all I know is that I want him. I manage to get his telephone number from my friend who happens to be a close relative of his.

I call. He is busy. It is Christmas Eve. We decide to talk after he is done with his party. He calls.  We start talking. In no time I realize I am in love. ‘Love at second voice’ something similar to ‘love at first sight’. We speak for 4 hours. The clock strikes 1:00. It is indeed late. We decide to discontinue our conversation. He says  he will call me back. 

I am waiting. It is a week, and I am still waiting. I decide to call him. He does not answer the call. In a few minutes time I get a text ‘busy, will call you later.’ 

I wait. Days pass. It is weekend time. I decide to call him again. He does not answer the call again. After sometime I get a text ‘busy, will call you later.’

What the heck does this ‘later’ mean? I hate the English language. Words such as friends, sorry and later are misused all across.

Days pass. I can think of him and nothing else. I want to call him again. This time something stops me. It is ego. I think  – if he does not want to talk to me I can’t force him to do so.

In a few seconds I am enlightened – ego is bad for health. With a desire to remain in good health I call him. He disconnects the call. There comes a text ‘busy, will call you later.’

One fine day my phone rings. I jump out of joy. We start talking. I say – what happened, you thought of me after such a long time. (What a silly girlish question). He says he was busy. He tells me all that he did with his friends who had come over from USA, Europe and Somalia. Well! Who cares? All I know is that you did not talk to me. 

In our conversation I catch a very nice statement.  He says ‘we are friends’.  I am glad to know that he considers me his friend. I am yet to figure out if I considered him my friend or not. All I knew then was that I loved him. 

The conversation lasts for a few minutes and that is it. We are running short of words. 

A few days later I text him. No response. I text him again after a few days. Again no response. Well the messages I had sent had no content per se. They were all silly forwards.  Ideally there was nothing to respond, but I was expecting one. I guess I was being unrealistic. I don’t know why. I call him again after a few days. He answers the call and says that he is going out for a party and will call me later. I reply  that I am also out for a party and I might get late. He says that we will check at night if we are free to talk. I agree. I am done with my party. I text him. He does not respond. 

Such series of incomplete conversations and text messages continue for quite some time. It is very obvious that I am desperately trying to talk to him and he is very politely avoiding me.  Either he does  not understand or he chooses to pretend not to understand. 

One fine day he adds me to g talk. I am thrilled. He then sends me one of the silly forwards. I dance. I am happy.

I decide to call him. Well! He answers. I am pleasantly surprised. He answers my call without sending a routine text message. During our conversation he ensures that he reminds me at least once that we are friends. 

Within a few days time we start talking to each other almost 2 or 3 times a week. Needless to say every conversation has the word ‘friends’ in it. 

One day I tell him – hey I think we should meet.  He says ‘yes we should.’ I sense that he is just not serious. After a few days I repeat my statement. He is the same. 

Our periodic calls continue, and as always he reminds me that we are friends. 

One fine day he tells me – hey we should meet, long time.

Hurray!!!

We decide a time and a place and just 3 hours before our meeting he calls me and tells me that he has work. He says he will try his best to finish work soon so that we could meet if not for lunch at least for coffee. I am  disturbed. Here I plan to take the relation forward, and there he is hell bent upon avoiding me, my calls, my messages and our meetings. 

 We could neither meet for lunch nor for coffee. His work took the better of him.

I am truly disappointed. I just do not know how I can tell him how much I want to be with him. 

Finally I decide to leave things to time. I force myself to divert my mind from him. With great difficulty I manage to succeed. 

One day:

‘hey, what are you doing this weekend’

‘nothing planned so far’

‘coffee’

My! Finally!! Looks like my 14 years of exile is over.  He decides to meet his friend. Good! I mean something to him at least. It is a different story that he meant something much more to me. 

The D day arrives. We meet. A good meeting; time flew. I could not believe that I was waiting for this moment for months together. 

Time up, meeting over. Back home.

He finds me online. He pings. He asks me about our coffee meeting. I said that I enjoyed it. He says that he hardly gets along this well with anyone. I am one of his special friends, and I am his best female friend. I knew he was honest.

 After a few days he confronts. He says that he thinks that we get along very well and we could be great partners. 

I sigh. I am yet to figure out the meaning of the sigh. Was it a sense of victory or achievement? Something which I so desperately wanted? Was it his attention that I seeked? Which I finally got. Was it an unfulfilled desire? Which  finally got fulfilled after months of trial. Or was it stubbornness? Stubbornness to get him.

I tell him – though when I met you for the first time I had different intentions, today I think we are better off as friends.

 

I am walking on the terrace.

My friend and my mother ask me a very nice question. ‘if you liked him so much why are you refusing his proposal now.’

Why did I do so? Why did I backfire with the same word – friends. 

Did I sub consciously give him what he asked for? All these months I tried to take things forward while he cut me off by calling me his friend. He might not have realized what his avoidance could do to me. In fact, I myself did not know the impact of the avoidance till I did not face his confrontation. 

It made him my ‘friend.’

Now and then he kept asking me about us. I always comfortably choose to use the magical word –friends. 

He still talks to me, pings me, emails me and at times we meet; however we are just friends.

His avoidance had changed my love to friendship, which surprisingly I was not aware of. It was his confrontation which made me realize this. I do not know how this happened and when did this happen.

 I also realize another thing -- I never called him my friend. I never considered him my  friend. It is always he who chose to call me a "friend". Yes, I chose to remain mum whenever I was addressed as a friend. But being mum does not mean consensus.  And, yes! I also chose to use the same word 'friend' as a defense. I don't know why. I guess it was the safest then.

Today as I think about him I realize that it might not have been love at all. It might have been something which I perceived as love.

I know about pre-mature aging

Earlier it was Amway and now it is Oriflame. Business models that hinge on the direct selling models. 

These companies have targeted similar markets and have trained their consultants meticulously.  They show their consultants a few directors, double directors and triple directors who have started looking extremely gorgeous, are making close to a lakh a month, have started clearing their loans, are going on a company sponsored holiday to Singapore and what not. All thanks to the MLM model. These consultants are all set and geared up to become the next director of the company by targeting people similar to them.

Things like 'we are expensive, but you will use just one third the quantity of cream/powder you are using now. ..effectively you save in the long run ..do you know about pre-mature aging, the pollution  these days causes... blah blah.. the UVA, UVB, ...dark spots....this company is different, the products are different...just try  it once, I am sure you will love it....we do not invest in retail shops so that we can save our money which in turn saves you money as well.. we are excellent...look at our catalogue..give me the item code " etc. 

These days I find the Oriflame business ( read cosmetics business) across office. Women have taken the consultant's role to earn more and their target market is office! Using the common sales fundas they try to sell as much as possible. 

I am also living in the same world, so I too get contacted by these consultants with their catalogues. The consultants are trained not to take "no" as an answer. So, once I refuse they use their trained sales techniques to persuade me further. I being me have already made up my mind. Unfortunately,  any amount of pre-mature aging or UVA does not impact me. 

After a while (read, trying all possible "we are different, try once, you will glow, ....") comes the next technique -- emotional blackmailing -- hey cant you buy anything for me. Well my answer in my mind is -- no, I can't. However, in the process of not being uncivil I don't say so but just tactfully move away.

Nowadays I have people pinging me desperately trying to sell a toner, or a body wash or shampoo to me. 

Well now I have seen enough of them and I am sorry as my answer to each one of you is a no. 

And yes, I know about pre-mature aging, I know about global warming , I know how good you are and I have also figured out your company's sales training material.

Thanks, but no thanks!!!

Cricket To Corruption

 When India won the world cup my nation was on the roads dancing. When India beat Pakistan my nation was on the road dancing. The joy the celebration was incredible. It went to an extent of insanity. 

I could not be a part of the crowd (read insanity) as I always think that a game is a game and winning or losing it should not become a prestige issue or a matter of life and death.

India Pak match is always taken as an India Pak war. I am yet to understand why.

If India wins a match people dance on the roads as if we have won a war and got back POK .

Facebook status messages only have information around the match. The YouTube videos  uploaded talk only about cricket.

Cricket is really a religion and one of the players is considered god.

I reached a stage where I thought – I wish my nation would unite so much for matters other than stupid matches. I wish my wish is granted.

DPL was to start in a few days and I thought – Gosh! this madness will continue though the degree might vary. 

A few days later out of the blue came Anna Hazare and his Jan Lokpal bill. There was a revolution in my nation. 

Facebook status messages changed from cricket to corruption.

Almost all supported Anna Hazarre. Almost all messaged against corruption except a few fancy, high class, educated Indians who are either not sure or thinking or condemning or not bothered as they are about to take the next flight to the US with a hope that they will be the next in line to get the green card. 

People united; they were on the roads  shouting slogans, lighting candles (though I am not sure of the purpose of the candle apart from adding to global warming)  and what more DPL,the religion, was set aback. 

My wish was granted. I am proud of this nation. I am proud of the nationality I hold. 

And yes – I too love cricket. As far as supporting Anna is concerned I was silent and till now I am silent. You will interpret my silence the way you want to. It is an interpretation after all.