GOING ON VACATION

Now a days Chennai has a pleasant weather, i have done a lot of shopping and my cook is coming............ Life cudnt be more bliss than that:)...........and to top it all i am going to make a month long trip to my home town --- isnt it strange that we women may be married for 32 yrs and still we call our parents home our hometown:....when i got married, one our friend commented on this-----yaar yeh ladies kitne bhi saal ho jaaye shaadi ko fir bhi aise hi kahengi---hmaare yaahn aisa hota ha waisa hota ( how many yrs u may be married but women always use my home for their parents home) though it is a different matter altogether that parents always used to consider the girls as PARAYA DHAN.

In my time parents used to say for everything--go to ur Sasural( in-laws) and do whatever u want as if inlaws are going to be more accommodating than parents:). And at inlaws whatever u did..may be right but wrong according to them.....has ur mother taught you this only? and it was enough to make girl fiercely protective towards her mother and start defending or attacking whatever came to her.

Now when i think with an unbiased mind..again according to me:),

is it really worth defending ur parents when their ultimate motive was to get u married off any how?

Does the life run according to rights and wrongs?

What is better---bringing peace in the family and living harmoniously or sticking to the righteousness?

Isnt sometimes better to be selfish and look after ur family , because sometimes certain duties in life make ur own life very unpleasant.

If there is a conflict between two relationships whom shud one choose and what should be the criteria?

I have seen many girls and boys even facing unpleasantness in their families due to their extreme attachment to their parents, so is the attachment wrong? what is the parameter to judge all these things?

If ever u r on the cross roads where on one side is ur children's safe future, a family and on the other side is ur identity-.............?

i am leaving all these questions open to my readers to tell me what they think, I havent found perfect answers for all these things so far.



But now i see the trend is changing:)

THE LAW OF THE GARBAGE TUCK

One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was really friendly. So I asked, 'Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!'

This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, 'The Law of the Garbage Truck He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you. Don't take it personally.Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets.

The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks takeover their day. Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets,so...Love the people who treat you right. Pray for the ones who don't.Life is ten percent what you make it and ninety percent how you take it!

Have a blessed, garbage-free day!
Source-email

A WEEK OF FESTIVITIES

This last wek has been extremely busy one for me, as we have so many festivals in this fortnight
SHARAD POORNIMA-- I made some kheer and left it out in the moon light for the night, to be eaten next morning.It is considered to be good for health.AHOI ASHTAMI--on this day I do the fast for the health, wealth and long life of my children( actually earlier women used to do it for the boys only but i always did it for my children---daughter and son both). In the veenong we do pooja AHOI MATA and I make sweet and salted KHANKRI , and to compliment it i make all the pther things also sometimes chola and dahi bada, golguppa.
DHANTERAS---This is the day for shopping, so we buy something and went to wish a few people. Buying something today is considered auspicious.
CHOTI DIWALI---We light 21 diyas this day and do pooja and decoration of the house.
here in Chennai--all the celebration is done on this day, as the next day is amavasya and women fast---I asked a girl.....dont u question this tradition why only girls fast not boys? She replied--nobody is asking us or compelling us, this is the tradition , and we follow it happily and voluntarily.
DIWALI---- We celebrate the return of Lord Rama from his 14 yrs exile to his home.So on this day we make sweets, bring crackers, dresses and all that. And we worship Lord ganesha and Godess lakshmi. Ganpati is always worshipped first while doing any pooja, he removes the hurdles in life and brings harmony and wellness. While laksmi is the goddess of prosperity.
This year while going to friends places wishing them, taking sweets, we went to wish to NETHAJI MERCY HOME also, we took the dresses for all the children and chips ( actually they said dont bring sweets). The children there are so nice, well mannered and lovable. It gives me immense pleasure to watch them, meet them..
I am puting up a few photographs of crackers, rest tomorrow:)
Today we will do all pooja of Laksmi Ganesh and all that in the eveningThis is my diwali:), so much fun, how was yours?
WISH YOU ALL A VERY HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS DIWALI ! ENJOY THE FESIVAL OF LIGHTS!

MY OBSERVATIONS

• So many preconceived notions we have though slowly people are changing and in few things girls are hell bent upon changing the mindset of people:) I want to know why, why people think like that? These are few observations which are coming to my mind now and i have noticed them.........
• Why a girl who is fashionable cant be brainy also?
• why we always want men drivers? (cant put our life in the hands of a girl)
• and in the house maid servants are prefered?
• In my house whenevr any LIC agent or MF ppl come they want to talk to my H only, though i am equally knowledgable about finance and investments?
• why people say--maruti is a girl's car,as if car is driven by physical force?
• Scooter is for girls and bike for boys?
• Why it is said that beauty and brains dont go together(nobody says that handsome boys cant be intelligent).
• why in the movies, as long as the girl is bad she wears mod dresses, the day she starts changing, she comes to saree or salwar kameez? is the dress so important or what is inside?
• Why a son-in-law, who takes his wife for vacations and pampers is a godsend gift but a DIL who wants to go out and be pampered is spoiled?
• why if a woman sacrifices and does something for the society she is hailed as a great person, but doing the same thing for her family....and the family is exploiting her.
• A girl is more adept at cooking and stitching॥means all these things while worldwide best designers, tailors and chef are men:)।
• adding a few more

------------ The list can go on, but i want you people to add it your observations, so come on ,tell me......
adding a few more----and i am guilty of this----any technical problem...ask Papa, my daugher changed this attitude of mine, when she did her masters in computers she said--ma i can do this, and slowly slowly she cud do any and evrything and i realised that for most of the works, instead of physical strenght , sharp mind and patience is more required and gender has nothing to do with it:)
One more....anybodyganwar,simple and a villager is a good hearted honest person, and well dressed smart urban people are not.
anyon less educated or not at all is always better in everything than an educated girl---these are all filmy perceptions:)

MY WEEKEND

http://calcuttaglobalchat.net/calcuttablog/2007/09/10/laaga-chunari-mein-daag-2007-mp3-bollywood-hindi-film-songs-download/

http://movies.sulekha.com/hindi/mere-baap-pehle-aap/pictures/5.htmhttp://www.techsatishdesi.com/2007/09/dhol-live-hindi-movie-links.html media.movietalkies.com/.../hallabol-2007-1b.jpg

This weekend of mine was full of activities and fun.In Chennai--I came to know that Nov. Oct are the rainy season, so we have wet days, with off and on rains and then all the festivities around.
I saw four movies and i will tell you a little about each of them...my perspective.....
HALLA bOL....dint like it at all, because everything is so plastic here,didnt expect this from a director of many good movies.The way Ajay devgan....behaves is so artificial..BTW i think he is the biggest weakness in this movie,looking no good, acted no better.He is looking so washed out, not a patch for a character of super star, god save us if we have super stars looking like him.The way he is harassed and the way problems are solved , nothing has any creditability about it.no good music, nothing appealing about it. they have taken a very good point to make movie....to speak up against injustice..but made a joke of it.
MERE BAAP PEHLE AAP-----it starts a very good comedy and ends with very good emotions.the good points I liked are.....
the song-----hawaao ke paro par----after s long time old time melody with sensible words.
Acting----Akshya khanna, paresh rawal, both are very good, but the best is Genelia, she is so natural and endearing that a comnplete delight to watch and then Om puri........OMG-he is hilarious with his mannerisms and then Rajpal yadav..I just love him,.and then a Small cameo by Naseeruddin--so many of my favourites in a single movie...real bonanza for me
Locales....beautiful Kerala, with those white sari clad women,snake boat race.....
The tuning betweerrn akshay and paresh is v.good and their feel good bickering about each other touches the heart, the relation ship between father and son is something to really enjoy.
a good movie by Priyadarshan--i dont know its box office collection but i liked it.
DHOL...a time pass comedy--but the chemistry between the foursome---Tusshar,Kunal khemu,Sharman and Rajapa Yadav is worth watching, entertaining.
LAGA CHUNRI ME DAAG--I read everybody saying this is an old time movie and regressive one where are the families like that who are suffering, but when i saw i found...
yes i reminded me of an old movie by Mumtaj;;Aaina----but that had a total old time treatment of the idea.
Dont we still have poverty and families who have nothing to fall back upon
Is it not a truth that girl without any degree or proper education....how can she earn money? even for boys, earning too much too soon doesnt come from any satraight way.So for Rani to take prostitution is not regressive--its only the demand of the the situation., what is different here is......
Seeped into the problems and hurdles in a moment of weakness--mother(jaya) herself asks her daughter to go to any length to get money---though she feels pangs of guilt later.When the family comes to know---they dont abuse and humiliate her like normal movies--where the whole family is taken care by the girl and then have the guts to heap insult on her...no here first her younger sister feels bad for her sister and acknowledges her sacrifice, and then father even...its so progressive attitude which I loved........and then the hero--Abhishek..who wants to marry not because of any pity, but he loves her....i am yet to see a single movie(except the old one Anita or this Julie) where a hero loves a call girl and wants to marry her.
The scenes between Konkona and Kunal are very enjoyable and some places Konkona's dialogues are also very powerful. She is the highlight of this movie
It has some beautiful scenes of Zurich and I liked this song--jara gunguna le chalo
the only thing i didnt like is---they have in a certain way glamorised prostitution----nobody can have this type of money and lifestyle even with prostitution.
And this obsession of being a son or having a son, children should be just children,

Then I chked out RAINTREE--the first ecotel hotel here, more about it here

When I went to see

When i went to see Golu to my neighbor's place, I met their daughter, we just started talking about each other.She told me that she is a qualified engineer and so is her husband who is working in London. She was also there but when her son grew up a little..he is 11 yrs old now...she felt that she could not live there . I asked her the reason, she told me.........

There culture is so different, by the time children are 16, either they want to live independently, or if they live with u, they want to have a separate key and dont want you to interfere in anything...like who they bring to their room and all that.........
His son.....quite mature for his age...also said that he is a misfit there presently,because if he doesnt conform to the culture he doesnt get any friends or circle, and since he is more into Indian mindset, he cant conform. he wanted to study in India till 12th atleast.
So she has come here to stay for the formative yrs of his son. Her husband remains in London, both of them keep visiting each other as often as they can and their pockets permit:).
When i discussed it in my home, my children say this is not true for everybody.But i think there is truth somewhere in between..........I remember one of my friend who used to go to visit her daughter in NY in 90's, and this is what she used to say...
Renu, there so much of liberty is given to children that they turn out to be quite rude and stubborn, i keep telling my daughter to look after them(She was working) and teach them our Indian culture of respecting elders.
But of course, not everybody is rude there and polite here, its all individualistic traits also and then upbringing, atmosphere all around them. so is this ABCD (american born confused desi) syndrome exists ? or it is all in our minds? Even in many area in India also my chilkdren keep saying-----mom times change ho gaye hain ab,aap apne times se kuch bhi compare mat kiya karo:)
Change is all around..in thinking,in affordability,in view points,lifestyle and change is imminent also,but one thing we must never change is.....our ethics, our culture and our morality. Assimilating ourselves in our adopted country is a very good trait, and praiseworthy and required also........but it can be for the language,dress, celebration, education all that, but our values must remain intact.
i feel it very strange to say......middle class values or small town mentality, because it proves that only middle class has values not upper class......of course for the lower class it is said that hunger and poverty cant be the upholders of values..........Even upper class people who must have never been in the middle class ever, feel proud to say.......I still have that middle class values:).This is the only thing where middle class is glorified:)
So what do you, since many of you are living in a different country, what is your take, and what do you think is the best way to maintain everything-------or do you think it shouldnt be maintained?

SPECIAL DAY FOR SPECIAL PERSON IN UR LIFE

http://www.karwachauth.com/karwa-chauth-vrat-katha.html

SPECIAL DAY FOR SPECIAL PERSON
Its one of the most beautiful moments of married life when a wife fast for the long life of her husband.It started in the times when people lived for others, cared for others more than the self.This is a special day where wives are pampered by their husbands and inlaws and made to feel special. Where they fast but still prepare a sumptuous dinner for the family to celebrate.

But alas! this was in our time, now a days when either the wives demand from their husbands to fast or the husbands fast themselves to show their solidarity with the wives, that special feeling is gone. because now no one is special as both are fasting and may be cooking, so I think the other things should also change, I feel very sorry to see the present state of affairs where in the name of equality all our special moments are loosing their charm slowly and slowly, I just hope that better sense prevails upon the younger generation and instead of always demanding, they start thinking of doing things. Why earlier mothers were revered so much, because they did so much for the family without demanding, but where will today's mother go? What sort of ideal they will make for their progeny?In our society man was the provider and woman home maker. man brought security- financial and physical for the woman and woman made a home for him to come back to. What a beautiful combination! none was better or higher as per se, but any one who didnt do his job properly was considered lousy.Man was admired and respected for his earning ability and women for her house keeping and beauty.But there was no comparison between them,like one cant make comparisons between a lock and key, as they are not equal in looks or work but both are useless without the other and work well combined together.Actually comparisons are odious as they can be made only between two basically similar things, which they are not.So when and where and how all this equality business started I dont know, but it has messed up all things beautiful, Where earlier the girls used to be feminine, soft ,caring, and working hard to give their family a good life( I am talking about in general terms, not the aberrations), todays girls are turning into hard, aggressive,stubborn persons, with a self centric mind, with a I,ME,MYSELF syndrome.And frankly they are fighting their battles quite un fairly, like they stil want the husband, to bring money into the house and keep on doing everything the man are used to, but they dont want to keep their side of bargain

.I feel the real equality lies in fulfilling one's duties with a sincerity and diligence and honesty whether its a boy or a girl.Instead of makings our daughters behave like man, we should feel proud of having daughters,people who have daughters are the privileged one, as its their daughters who turn others houses into homes,Specially in our culture Kanyaadan is the biggest daan, and when we perform this we should fully comprehend the meaning of this, its not a ritual only.

I have completely digressed from the topic:), on 17th is karva chauth. On this day womaen get gifts from their husband, mother and mother-in-law. One day before they put henna on their hands, buy new bangles. i still remember that when i was in Delhi..Lajpat nagar used to have such a festive look, with all decorated shops selling Sehri items. certain people eat goodies in the early morning and it is called Sehri.And on this day age is no bar, women of all ages dress up so well, doing SOLAH SRINGAR its a sight to behold. Then fast is kept on this day, in the evening pooja is done..its different in different people...like some places women get together and do it, in my place we do it at home only and a Baayna is given to MIL--its a sort of gift only and given as a respect to the person who gave us our husbands and who has a very important role in making our life happy.

Then in the evening after looking at the moon and doing the pooja, women open the fast. I still remember mychildhood, my father who was never home early, will come in time on this day and go on the third floor of our house to see the moon and their in the mohalla all the husbands wud be found on the terrace:). it was such a pleasant feeling to see all that.

festivals are meant to be celebrated in spirit and then they bring a bonhomie among the people, but if everything we start analysing and argueing..why shud only women do it, why cant men do it and all that, then they loose all the sweetness.When we love each other then we dont see what all one is doing, its all about doing something for the other,all the festivals mean to strength some relation ships.

like--Rakhi--bhaidooj---brother sister

karvachauth....husband wife,DIL & MIL

ahoi ashtami....mother -children,

and they bring a cohesiveness in the family. I fully enjoy all the festivals with full fervour and instead of thinking what others are doing for me, i always think what I am doing for them:)

SO JUST ENJOY :)

MANORAMA SIX FEET UNDER

I read so much about it that it was on my must see list. it is a low budget movie with good story and crisp editing. This is the story of a down and out writer (Abhey Deol) who is working as PWD engineer. He wants to be a big writer and writes a novel Manorama but name and fame eludes him and he is living a mundane life with a wife(Gul Panag) and a child.One day a lady(Sarika) comes to him saying that she is the wife of the local MLA..Rathore(KUlbhushan Kharbanda) and she wants him to do some detective work as the hero of his novel does. The reason beig...in this small town she cant get any detective, and he is to spy upon her husband and take photographs to prove his adultery.She pays him handsomely. He agrees and finds himself trapped into a world of power,politics,deceit, greed and crime. How he comes out forms the story.
Now I will tell u what I liked in the movie...
acting..all the actors have done very well, specially Abhey deol,Vinay pathak as rustic cop, and Raima sen looks really good. But Sarika is looking very old and haggard.
Suspense is very good, till the end i cudnt predict much:) inspite of my bollywood trained brain:).
A semblance of reality is maintained through out the movie.
But i wud have preferred...
Abhey deol looking handsome.....small town people need not to be looking ugly and ordinary,I always liked Farukh shaikh and Amol palekar in those middle class roles.
Gul panag was looking very aged and dowdily dressed, even ordinary sarees and SK may look good if worn properly,why show her so unbecoming.
But all in all a very good movie with a taut screen play......only 2 songs are there...nothing else taking u away from the main story.It engrosses u completely without any beautiful locales, designer dresses and melodious music and big stars....isnt it a magic?

after thought-doubly tagged

just now i remebered that i forgot to mention one of my biggest addiction.....to keep the things forever, cant discard anything easily,and for the cards I get, i wud never part, have so much emotional aattachment to them.Its only my daughter when she was unmarried, whenever she came, she cleaned up the things whatever i said,completely disregarding my protests:), not that I minded:), I always felt happy to see her taking my charge like that, now of course she doesnt have time for all those nitty gritties:), so things are piling up:)
and i wud like to tag Sanmerci also, I really want to know her addictions:)

DOUBLY TAGGED

I have been tagged long back by Balvinder and I am quite late in doing the post.and then i was tagged again by Deeplydip...so doubly tagged. Here I am supposed to tell about my five addictions and then pass on the tag to five other people.......yeah i think it is this only.....and yes I must link the person who tagged me. Now let me see what are my five addictions...normally addiction I say to the things i cant do without, may be good ,may be bad also:)

1...The first thing i cant do without in the morning is...my cuppa tea:), really addicted to it, I take 4 cups minimum in a day, and i dont like anyone telling me to take less or not to take, even if i say tentatively...I have taken enough, now i shudnt take any more, I prefer the answer......koi nahi ek cup aur chalega:)..means hardly matters, u may take:). And that too i dont like any and everyhing, I prefer my Red label-nature cure, Since i dont get it here in Chennai, i bring it from either Hyderabad or UP.

2....Hmm.....cant stay without looking for comments and my blogs and my friend's blogs,it has become my daily routine to share my day on the blog.
3...cant live without books, I have been reading a lot from my childhood, even in those days whenever there was load shedding I will corner a lantern and continue reading, my mother used to get very angry with my concentration, but then as a reward also, she used to get me books.I can read anything be it a political magazine or Femina, or Grihashobha and then fiction also, it may be MBs or Loodlum, or Vikram seth or Jhumpa Lahiri, Enid Blyton or Bhagwati charan warma, Shivani i love them all and have quite big collection at my home though getting spoiled now.

4...I am a matching freak, cant go out without matching proper accessories with my outfit, cant wear sports shoes with my Salwar kameej or sari,however my family may insist me on this, for me with sari only a delicate chappal will go ,nothing else:), can never go walking in my nighties:), for me evrything has a time and place for it:) and for me propriety is more important than comfort:)

5...I am addicted to my family, cant do without them:)
and now for tagging people, I tag Starry night,ugich konitari ,Cess, and save the rest:) numbers for future ताग्गिंग.

HALDI KUMKUM

http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/vasu/traditions/chapter16/adiv3.jpg

I like this tradition of Haldi Kumkum very much. It is prevalent in mahharashtra,MP and southern states.Most of the time two times in a year..once after 14 January and second time either in navraatri or in Shravan maas, women perform it.best part I like is that evryone is dressed to the hilt:)..in silk, Kanjeevarams, sarees,jwellery and here in Chennai with Malli poo(mogra flowers).

For this they invite all the ladies home, some people give the invitation by offering Sindoor Then at home..... they welcome you with Turmeric and Sindoor. You sit there. Then they will give you few things...like fresh coconut,few betel leaves..sachet or small fancy boxes of turmeric and Sindoor, some money ..coin...Supari and some small thing to eat.With this they may offer you some small gift also. In these days in Dewas the whole market used to be full of small items, as people buy in bulk, may be a spoon, box,bag anything. Then in the end you are offered some sweet saunf and dabbed with Itar(perfume). This tradition is considered to be very auspicious.
yesterday i went to two houses and was amazed to see their Golu and pooja preparations and i have two more invitations:). So much fun:)

MARATHON MOVIE WEEK

This last sunday I saw three movies in a day..my max record:) and then one after next day.Since all of u must have seent hem I am just going to tell u what I liked or didnt:)

First i saw--ONE TWO THREE--comedy, three people--paresh rawal,Suneil Shetty and Tusshar with same name-lakshmi narayan ..go to Pondy for different jobs and then the comedy of error starts......for the sake of adding names, we have Samira reddy,Esha deol, and Tanisha with Upen patel. I liked Sameera reddy, Esha, as usual looks dumb.

next one was DE TAALI----very light comedy about 3 friends---Paglu( Reitesh) ,Amu( aayesha Takia) and Abhi (AftabShivdasani). Abhi is forever falling in love and getting out.For once when he is serious, the girl (Rimi) is there for all wrong reasons and the story is all about Paglu and Amu doing all they can to save their friend from marrying her.
I liked Reitesh and Rimi.

Now the OSO---as everybody knows everything about it:).I am not going to qwrite anything:).I loved the music and Deepika.

Then AGGAR.......its a new age movie, with murder,suspense, betrayal and all. story line is different so I liked it.Its about how people can manipulate the things and people, but all is well that ends well, for once i was happy to see the good winning in the end unlike some earlier movies like Aksar.

India Needs A Prime Minister Like This

The views of Patriotic Australian Prime Minister ! Prime Minister John Howard - Australia .

Muslims who want to live under Islamic Sharia law were told on Wednesday to get out of Australia , as the government targeted radicals in a bid to head off potential terror attacks.

Separately, Howard angered some Australian Muslims on Wednesday by saying he supported spy agencies monitoring the nation's mosques. Quote: 'IMMIGRANTS, NOT AUSTRALIANS, MUST ADAPT. Take It Or Leave It. I am tired of this nation worrying about whether we are offending some individual or their culture.

Since the terrorist attacks on Bali , we have experienced a surge in patriotism by the majority of Australians.' 'This culture has been developed over two centuries of struggles, trials and victories by millions of men and women who have sought freedom' 'We speak mainly ENGLISH, not Spanish, Lebanese, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, or any other language. Therefore, if you wish to become part of our society . Learn the language!'

'Most Australians believe in God. This is not some Christian, right wing, political push, but a fact, because Christian men and women, on Christian principles, founded this nation, and this is clearly documented. It is certainly appropriate to display it on the walls of our schools. If God offends you, then I suggest you consider another part of the world as your new home, because God is part of our culture.' 'We will accept your beliefs, and will not question why. All we ask is that you accept ours, and live in harmony and peaceful enjoyment with us.'

'This is OUR COUNTRY, OUR LAND, and OUR LIFESTYLE, and we will allow you every opportunity to enjoy all this. But once you are done complaining, whining, and griping about Our Flag, Our Pledge, Our Christian beliefs, or Our Way of Life, I highly encourage you take advantage of one other great Australian freedom, 'THE RIGHT TO LEAVE'.'

'If you aren't happy here then LEAVE. We didn't force you to come here. You asked to be here. So accept the country YOU accepted.' Maybe if we circulate this amongst ourselves, Indian citizens will find the backbone to start speaking and voicing the same truths. If you agree please SEND THIS ON and ON
to as much as Indians you know

MY HYDERABAD TRIP

last week i went to Hyderabad for a week, and i really felt that i have crossed the state, i mean there was difference in many things, but the best thing was the weather.........it was so pleasant over there, no sweating and no need of AC.............what a relief it is:). I observed many things like....

Hyderabad is changing and developing very fast like none other city.

it is much cheaper than chennai---their all the fruits were in abundance and with good quality and the rates were much lower.

Now the attitude of people is changing and its no more a prerogative of children to say...we dont want to live with parents or voice their choices. i met many families all young people in their 30..s and working and saw their parents are not ready to live with them permanently inspite of them requesting, pleading whatever. They will come and go:) as they want. Now the parents are exercising their right to their life and what a way....................I was happy also and sad also. happy becuase now they are no more dependent on their children and have let go......their emotional baggage and they are no more.....bechaare...........or to be taken for granted.

Sad ...because with this attitude a very beautiful bond.......is going to be changed, because young people may demand their freedom to live the way they want as their right, but they are very reluctant to give the same right to their parents willingly and I feel the equations are going to change very much in the next 10 years.. Because parents child bond was such, that whatever the children did, but in their hour of need, parents used to forget all the hurt and humiliations and were always a pillar of support, no righteousness, self respect,boredom, nothing came in between....
Then i saw that Indian railway system needs some drastic changes. Like so far there is no help for carrying the luggage, coolies are there ,many, but sitting idle..why? because they always demand exorbitant money, some give in but most people end up taking their luggage themselves. and it becomes a vicious circle......they dont get much customers, so they demand high money......... and carrying luggage is not possible for everybody, So my suggestion is..



either the rates must be fixed for coolies and there should be adherence to them by force(otherwise nobody listens here.). this is better, because in a country of a big population, we must solve the problem with engaging the people, not machines..

We can provide them some trolleys...and for them there should be ramp on all the platforms.

any other suggestions?

and I highly dislike this idea of tip everywhere? It increases the expenses to a totally different label, so why? earlier the tip was for an exceptional service, now tip is mandatory,, even if u dont give the tip, they round off the amount, like may cab bill was for 252/ he rounded it off to 260/-.

i read somewhere that what an irony........a person earning 30000/ or so giving a tip to a person

earning more than him? that is the way it happens in five star hotels. While the tip was earlier from the elite to the workers, now tip is everywhere, only the amount varies. If in a hotel---bearer is serving us, he is doing his duty , and getting paid for that from his employer then why tip? same way a cab driver is not taking us anywhere free, so why tip? Even in Rajdhaani express, in the end of journey.........that fellow comes asking for the tip.....this is the limit, can u believe it, even if 100 people give 10/- he will get 1000 in a day. does he deserve it?

The same rage I felt , when Bindra got 1.5 crores for shooting in a game, and till today he is being felicitated by someone or other, while M C SHARMA ,( and many others like him) our best man, dies shooting at the terrorists and gets only 5 lakhs.... life of an important officer worth only 5 lakhs.......and then we say we have shortage of good men.......and I fully believe that his family will get this money also after lots of harassment only, so have we lost our mind or priorities?

Tell me what do u think about it?