Mirror mirror on the wall

“Mirror mirror on the wall,

who’s the fairest of them all?”

I happened to watch an episode of Oprah Winfrey Show the other day. And I was surprised to hear about Jenny. “So who’s Jenny?” you ask.

Jenny is a 28-year old woman who has already had (hold your breath) 26 plastic surgeries!! She decided to go under the knife because "My ex-husband told me that my nose was too big, that my boobs were too small, so eventually I got a boob job to stop the comments.” And from then on (albeit clichéd), there was no stopping her. She was 25 when she first had her brow lift. So if you consider the fact that she is only 28 years old now, it implies that she had 26 surgeries in a span of three years (??)!!!

Mind boggling figures those. She has had Botox, cheek implants, three nose jobs, veneers on her teeth, three lip implants, two boob jobs, three breast lifts, and liposuction on her arms, stomach, hips, thighs, and knees. Jenny says that the total cost of her plastic surgeries is about $80,000.

Look closer and frankly decide. Is that close to “perfection”? What is perfection? And is it possible to attain perfection?

(To me, that appears fake...plastic, if you will).

Meet the new kid on the block… the surgery addicts! Sure, you’ve heard of drug addicts, alcohol addicts, smoking addicts….but ‘plastic surgery addicts’??? At first, it seems easier to pass off such cases as ‘freaks’ or as exceptions. But then, it mirrors an alarming trend. And it’s not just one person.

I was surprised to see there were more such cases. These are of course, extreme cases of excessive ‘obsession for perfection’. There are many other individuals who are just as eager to get a ‘makeover’; it is just that they don’t have the resources, the knowledge, or access. So what is with this whole ‘appearance’ thing? Why is it that when some people look into a mirror, all they can see is imperfection? Sure, we occasionally stare at the mirror and wonder why the noise is a wee bit pointed, why the hair-line is receding, why the lips are too thick. But to be obsessive to such an extent defies logic.

Today is the age of ‘looking good’.

Want to impress your prospective employer? Your boyfriend? Or your Boss? Then look GOOD!

Infact, personality nowadays is grossly mistaken for appearance. People are engaged in improving their looks and forget about themselves in the process. In turn, their confidence and performance hinges on their looks. They end up believing that improved looks is a solution to all their problems. And let’s not blame these hapless souls alone. Today, guys don’t want to date girls; they are interested only in ‘chicks’, ‘babes’ and ‘hotties’ who have swinging busts and butts. So you have self-obsessed women undergoing face-lifts, breast implants, nose jobs, liposuction and the works. They try to fit in because they crave for social acceptance.

And society does nothing much to ameliorate the situation. We have models with wafer-thin bodies sashaying on the ramps. On what account they are ‘models’ to others, I have no clue. They would sure give the under-fed Somalians a competition!

But not all women bow owing to social pressure. For some people, it’s more of a psychiatric problem; a sense of feeling inferior on account of their looks. In Jenny’s case, her husband’s comment triggered it off. And like any other addiction, it never ends with one. You change your nose a little to realize that it doesn’t suit your face, and then you ‘change’ your cheeks, brows, lips and so on to make it ‘perfect’. Then you want a hot bod, so then the tummy tucks and liposuctions are resorted to. This is known as Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD), which usually strikes people in their teens. It is when the subject is obsessed with how she looks and is constantly worried on that account.

A clear case of lack of self-esteem and self-loathing.

And that is what exactly needs to be tackled. People should realize that they are worth more than what they weigh, what their nose looks like or what colour they are. Until then, we’ll hear of stories weirder than that of Jenny’s.

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Quote for the day: "Say nothing good of yourself, you will be distrusted; say nothing bad of yourself, you will be taken at your word. "

My tour- through photos....

"Yahan har kadam-kadam par dharti badle rang,

Yahan ki boli mein rangoli saath rang;

Dhaani pagdi pehane mausam hai,

Neele chaadar saare ambar hai...

Nadi sunehri, hara samundar, hai yeh sajeela,

Des rangeela, rangeela...des mera rangeela...

Des rangeela, rangeela...des mera rangeela..."

-FANAA

Pictures speak a thousand words....

so here are the sights and colours of India....

Lights...camera....FOUNTAINS !!! Atop Moti Magri, Udaipur

Udaipur Palace....didn't take d interiors...it would've made me

poorer by 200 bucks !

Birla Temple, Jaipur

Hawa Mahal, Jaipur

Raj Ghat- Gandhi Samadhi...

Bahai Temple, Delhi

Qutub Minar, Delhi - Up close and personal !

India Gate, Delhi

Rajpath, Delhi

Agra Fort (where else...at AGRA !)

THE Taj Mahal !

A Beautiful panel.....at the Taj

Suban Allah !!!!

Golden Temple, Amritsar

Sarson da khet-- Roadside snap! (taken from within the bus!)

Sar KATAA sakte hai lekin sar JHUKA sakte nahi ! - Wagah Border...

Rock Garden, Chandigarh

Ermm....another 'rock garden' perhaps....!! Palampur

(reminds u of "saathiya".....yea??)

Snow-capped mountains....Palampur again...

Church of St.Johns in the Wilderness...

The evening sky...AMAZING isn't it?

The monk (who sold his ferrari?? lol)

"Footprints on the 'snow' of Time" ...

On our way down from Gulaba....

PICTURESQUE or what??!!!

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.....

Hadimba Temple, Manali...(Roja was shot here ppl!)

Solitary grazer ??? ;-)

Har har Mahadev ! Ganges....Rishikesh

Haridwar.....

Well, frankly the WHOLE process of uploading these pics has been really tiresome. Heck, more than the tour ! I had close to 400 pics; and choosing a few to represent the kind of exposure I had was definitely an arduous task in itself. But the pleasure was mine !! Truely amazing places; don't you think?? I hope you've had as much fun watching these pics as I had posting them (and visiting these places!). Hope this 'motivates' you to go and explore India. And not like I claim to have seen the whole of India...but believe me, go check out the places.

It IS MIND-BLOWING !!!

So here's to Incredible !ndia ....

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Thought for the day: "Try and fail; but never fail to try ."

Long time

Hey there,

So finally the new year has come. Oh boy ! can't believe that one WHOLE year just went by. Time DOES fly, doesn't it? So here I am after quite a while. Not that there was a dearth of things to talk about. For instance, our North India tour; it was AMAZING !! I never imagined I'd see sooo much of India...the Taj, Golden Temple, Jallianwala Bagh, Wagah Border...and even SNOW !Truely a gratifying experience in every sense of the word !

And then there was the Hari Sri alumni; a 2nd reunion within 2 months (boy, we can't get enough of it!). And not to forget, the epoch-making execution of Saddam Hussein at the very fag-end of the year.

But every passing year is witness to metamorphosis- individually, in a family, in the society and in the world as a whole.The world is just not the same as you saw it when you went to sleep last night. It is upto us to make sense of the changes occuring around us; to grab the essence of the ever-changing life and to make the most of what we have. So as we turn another page in history, here's me wishing you all the best in life.

May Success be your mantra.

Hope- the wings on which you soar high.

Peace- what you pray and yearn for.

Courage- to see you through the weary paths in life.

Love- the only thing you believe in.

Experience- the one thing you can trust.

Wisdom- let each passing year add more to the account of wisdom.

Happy New Year folks !!!

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Thought for the day : "Do unto others as you want others to do unto you."

For auld lang syne

I'm back after an AMAZING weekend.This has been, undoubtedly, one of the best weekends in the recent past. The thing is, we had a small reunion of schoolmates. It was GREAT fun ! I was meeting most of 'em after a gap of 2-3 years; that was the best part. Most, infact, NONE of 'em have changed drastically, in looks or spirits !!

Nikhil KD is STILL the clown, mouthing funny one-liners and jokes; count on him to give all of us a good laugh.Gopi is also essentially the same; ek dum bindaas, "who-the-hell-cares" attitude. Keerthi is also the fun-filled gal I knew; ever-caring and TOTALLY herself. And so on and so forth. I could go on and on. But in short, that meeting transported me to the erstwhile part of my life which was latent.

All at once, I wished with all my heart that I could go back and be part of 12 Science,at Hari Sri, once more.If I could just relive those days. Oh boy ! how I wish...The saddest part is when everyone leaves. Somehow it feels as if a part of me is gone. And God alone knows if I'll ever meet them again. Sounds pessimistic...well maybe. But the fact is that most of them are placed in plush jobs and good companies. Excepting, of course, some jobless people, like me ! We will all move on with our lives. Things are going to be different. We will all have to assume responsibilities.

Well, as they say, "Do not cry because it is over, smile because it happened".

Of course, the internet is turning out to be a BIG boon. You may laugh off sites like Orkut, etc. But believe me, it helps to remain in touch with people. As also emails, chatting, SMSs. So that way, it is better. And we could meet up like this, once in a while. Meeting face-to-face has it's charms; heck, it's better !!!!

So that's it. You could say that I'm "school-sick" (like "home-sick" or something !).

Miss those days...

Let me end with a song appropriate for the occasion:

Verse One

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

And never brought to mind ?

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

And auld lang syne ?

Chorus

For auld lang syne, my dear

For auld Lang syne,

We'll tak a cup o kindness yet,

For auld lang syne !

Verse Two

And there's a hand my trusty fiere,

And gie's a hand o thine

And we'll tak a right guid-willie waught,

For auld lang syne

Chorus (repeat)

For auld lang syne, my dear

For auld Lang syne,

We'll tak a cup o kindness yet,

For auld lang syne !

Translation

****************

Should old acquaintances be forgotten

and never remembered

Should old acquaintance be forgotten

For old long ago

For old long ago, my dear

For old long ago

We will take a cup of kindness yet

For old long ago

And there is a hand my trust friend

And give me a hand of yours

And we will take of a good drink/toast

For old long ago

For old long ago, my dear

For old long ago

We will take a cup of kindness yet

For old long ago

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Though for the day:" Make new friends and keep the old...one is silver, the other gold."

My everyday bus journey

Ok,so you are intrigued... Why should I write about such a mundane thing as a bus journey?

I started commuting by bus regularly only after I joined college. My school was a stone's throw from my house. Hence I used to walk to school. Otherwise I occasionally went by bus, but autorikshaws mostly for other purposes. Also since we owned a car, mom used pick us up or drop us off. But that was till I joined college. After that I had to travel by bus. And then I realised there is more to this. One has to be a 'regular' bus traveller to get the 'joys' of travelling by bus. What I say further pertains to the travelling I've done in my locality (Thrissur). I don't know what travelling out of this State is like. So here goes a brief (and hopefully) enlightening account of my daily bus journey.

There are peak times in a day (obviously) ; mostly in the mornings, when students are trying to reach their institutions , and when employees are scurrying to reach office. And believe me when I say that that is one heck of a time to travel by bus !! Buses come screeching down, packed with people. They compete among themselves to reach each bus-stop and grab the most number of commuters. They come at you as if they will strike you.

Then you board the bus. Hmmm....here the 'interesting' part begins. Morning travel has a disadvantage- people bath and come! You ask me- how is that bad?? When you are at the receiving end of all the water dripping down from women's hair, you will know !!! That is one thing I just cannot fathom. I guess women have no time (or maybe patience?) to dry their hair. Then as I stand in the packed bus, I also get the "opportunity" to identify soap/shampoo brands- How?????

I happen to be a wee bit taller than the average Malayali woman. Consequentially, my head (in effect, my nose) is above most women's head. That is when I am subjected to the' smell' (for lack of better words!) emanating from their heads !! It's mostly a sickening mixture of oil and the soap/shampoo (whatever !). The least said, the better !

And then, the usual prodding, pushing and what not as the impatient travellers try to board and leave the bus. You get stamped once in awhile. Also, men 'accidentally' (intentionally, rather) brush past you.

Another issue is being a student. Here, we are given concession for travelling, much to the discontent of bus owners, who obviously resent it ! Hence, we students are greatly loathed, and the bus conductors try making it difficult for us in every way possible. They bark at us, prevent us from sitting in seats (if they are vacant) ; their logic being that those who pay full amount 'deserve' it.

There have been incidents in Kerala, where buses intentionally took off before the students boarded them, causing injuries to many. Some even shower abuses. Needless to say, I've become more 'thick-skinned' (as they say) !! But not all of them are so mean. There are bus conductors who do not bother us much. But nevertheless, conditions have to improve.

Driving by the bus-drivers is another issue. They go at such alarming speed and drive so carelessly, one fears for one's life. There have been moments when I've thought that the bus is taking us straight to Heaven! They obviously have to be on time, but they are mostly reckless. Hence, we are left swaying from one end to the other, praying we get out of it alive !!!

So that pretty much sums up my experience in buses.

Till next time.........adios !

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Thought for the day: "If you can't see the bright side of life, polish the dull side."

English vs. Malayalam

Let me begin with what got me writing on this topic.

At college, as part of our Communication Aids and Methods course, we were asked to do a public speech. The catch was... it was to be in MALAYALAM ! Now, the funniest part was most of us had problems doing that ! Surprising? Well, I do not think so. It is strange , isn't it?? Your 'mother tongue' is an alien to you and the 'supposed' foreign language ( I hate calling English that !!) is what you prefer.

And before I get into more of this, let me tell you one thing. I am not among the many people who are "proud" of the fact that they don't know Malayalam well, and say so haughtily. I was born and educated till my 4th in Dubai. Obviously, I missed out on the basics of Malayalam and had to learn from scratch over here. Needless to say, it was never my cup of tea. But I did quite well till high school, after which my main language was Hindi. But of course I speak Malayalam very well !

I always wished and desired that I could talk (as in for a PUBLIC SPEECH) and write in Malayalam & English with consummate ease. Like, perhaps, Kamala Das (a.k.a Kamala Suraiyya !). In fact, I believe that it is a great loss. I thus, have lost out on great writers and poets , and of course, their works. And I have , frankly, not been motivated to pick up and read a Malayalam book. Primarily because I feel that my understanding of the intricacies of the language is inadequate.

But the fact I'm trying to highlight is this : We must try to promote our mother-tongue as far as possible. What is happening is that most schools are working hard on improving the English of students. Fair enough. But it should never be at the expense of the mother-tongue. The Kannada-English row in Karnataka is ample proof of 'language politics' (that is of course, another issue in itself. Let's not detour !)

Coming back, parents, teachers and the umpteen number of "Spoken English" classes stress on, perhaps, getting a British, American or whatever diction ! But fail to realise that students hardly mouth their own language properly !

Basically, what I suggest is that there should be a fine balance in the education policies regarding languages... let's give equal preference to both the mother tongue and English. That way, no one misses out on the best of both worlds !

As for my speech, it went quite well...I escaped with minor bruises.

Apo shari. Pinne kaanam ! ha !

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Thoughts for the day : "The limits of my language means the limits of my world."

"Language is the dress of thought."

Life is like a .....BUS RIDE !!

Hi fellow human beings. I have not been able to write for a loong time because I was busy with my exams. And that horror too has past. Let's just say, "good riddance to bad rubbish". And here I present before you a concept which I got whilst I was travelling by...bus !

Our life is pretty much like a bus ride.You start off your journey planning a route, or maybe not.

You are hopeful, enthusiastic; apprehensive, maybe. People walk in and out of the bus (life). Some give joy, some give pain. Some are a pleasure to have around; and you just wish some people didn't come at all ! Nevertheless, they all leave imprints on your heart. The ride is bumpy at times. And at times the weather is calm and sunny ! Then there are some unexpected detours one has to face, or one comes at crossroads...where choosing the right step could become one of life's greatest challenges. In the end, we reach somewhere...was it where we planned to go? How was the ride? And is it the destination that matters....or is it the journey itself?

And were you in the driver's seat?

Take control of YOUR life....Why?! Because it's YOURS.

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Thought for the day: "Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation. Your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others think you are."

I Have a Dream

Before you people think that I write only poems on LOVE (for some reason, I'm motivated in that direction most of the time !!), here's one.....

I Have a Dream
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I have a dream of a bright tomorrow,
Of a world which is devoid of sorrow;
Where communal clashes are a thing of the past,
Love and respect are here to last.

Women and men share equal rights,
Feminists and chauvinists are out of sight!
Children have fun laughing and singing;
Where each day is a new beginning.

Nature is loved and cared for by all,
To prevent the Earth from further fall.
Farmers are eager and ready to toil,
Prosperity reigns; and not turmoil.

I have a dream of a bright tomorrow,
Of a world which is devoid of sorrow.
"Such a day will I ever get to see?"
"YES!" confirms the Hope within me.

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Thought for the day: "Life consists not in holding good cards, but in playing those you hold well."

LOST LOVE

LOST LOVE
-----------------

Years have sped by, time has flown,
To forget you- that is what I had sworn;
To wipe off your memories from my heart,
To live on, knowing that we are poles apart.

But often on silent, lonely nights,
When the moon is shining bright;
Your thoughts come stealthily to my mind,
And prod other memories left far behind.

Of times we had, both good and bad,
Of tears we shared and fun we had !
But what went wrong, I have no clue;
But as long as it lasted, I know it was true.

You have touched my life in many ways,
I try explaining, but just cannot say.
But you have moved on and so must I;
Must accept the truth, though with a sigh.

Time heals all wounds, but not this one;
The scar remains; the harm is done.
Memories are to be treasured, or so they say,
That’s why you remain in my heart to this very day....

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another of my creations, people !! hope you liked it...Comments are very much expected !


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Thought for the day : "A successful person is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks that others throw at him or her. "

FOR YOU

For You
========
Emotions aplenty, words are few;
How much you move me, you have no clue.
My days are lonely, nights are blue;
Please do believe me; what I say is true.

To have you by my side – is all I care,
Your departure is much more than I can bear.
My dreams with you I want to share;
With you I want to climb Life’s stairs.

You are my anchor, you are my light;
Without you…Oh! It is just not right!
So on this mystic, moonlit night,
For you this poem, I dare to write…

Please come back like the morning dew,
And do refresh my heart anew.
Emotions aplenty, words are few…
How much you move me, you have no clue....

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Thought for the day : "Worry is like a rocking horse....it keeps you going, but gets you no where."