My first day at Zurich

The way it looks for our drawing room

Flowers my DIL brought fro me on the airport to welcome me, arent they beautiful?

Yesterday is tarted at 5.25 from Chennai, quite a peaceful flight from there to London. But as soon as I reached there , i came to know that my connecting fliught to Zurich has been cancelled due to the fog and for the next flight ZI had to wait for3-4 hrs and even then they made us sit in the plane for one extra hour. I thought that if the same thing had hapopened with Air India, all of us Indians would have said so easily that theya re very irregular, dont take care etc etc.But here British airways did the same thing and we took it quitely. I have seen that in inflight services, no asirlines can match to our maharaja, its only their desk people who spoil the image.Our flight people are all so nice, sweet and caring, whereas i have travelled with AA and now BA, none are on the par at all.

Terminal 5 of the London airport is like a big shopping mall, with so many shops and restaurants and ample space for seating evrywhere and the facilities for internet and phone.But I wish that atlease there should be one phone both Manned, becuase with these automated ones, lots of travellers like me were more puzzled than able to make a call.

I went to take some tea and asked what is that spiced tea or what type of spices you put..and a very pleasant voice told me in Hindi...le lo, bilkul indian jaisa ha..with sugar inide....and I was so happy to see a helping Indian on the counter. That way even in the flight from chennai there was hardly any foreigner. Even while scanning the hand baggage..one britisher said..Namastey:), I had heard that britishers have a stiff upper lip, but was pleasantly surprised to see them talking jovially...but even their desk people are also sometime not very helpful:(. My flight was at 4 PM and till 3.15 they didnt show any details regarding the gate or anything....talk about their efficienciy..isnt it giving the stress to travellers?

I breathed in relief when I took off from London and we reached Zurich by 7 PM....wasnt I happy to see my children:):)..This is a beautiful city so much so that it looks like a dream. Tram goes from just outside our house. Its so beautiful to watch the view outside, sitting in your home.

NOT WITHOUT MY DUAGHTER...BETTY MEMOODY &

This is one book which I read at a stretch...8 hrs:)...very touching and interesting also. The story is about an American women who married an Iranian living in America for last 20 years and quite Americanised. But how he changes and once they go to Iran for 2 week holiday, he doesnt want to come back and wouldnt let her even. Then the living conditions in that country are so unhygienic and unpleasant to her, that she wants to get out at any cost, she can do so thru the embassy, but then her daughter cant as in Iranian law, children are under the custody of father. her daughter doesnt want to live in Iran, so how she fights the odds all laid against her, she has nothing in her favour and refuses to go back without her daughter. The laws are really barbaric over there and highly against the women. Its her arduous journey back to civilisation that is very chilling as well as inspiring.

If you want you can read the synopsis of the story here

After reading this book and thousand splendid suns, I would never want to go to these countries even as a tourist, i am so scared. And I realise the freedom we enjoy in India.My country is really great, After going thru such an experience only, one can value the freedom and democracy which we all seem to abuse all the time.

MONDAY MORNING NEWS

Today the first news I read and it rose my spirits is....Sunday pastime: professionals turn vegetable vendors..
rice from the boot of toyota corolla, mangoes from a ford endeavour, vegetable from a santro.......on Sunday mornings at Besant nagar..professions are selling these, all organic, and most of them are doing it as hobby, as stress buster:) and some utilising their land.

Otherwise most of the things I read make me feel that we are not a grown up country but the country of juveniles..otherwise i cant imagine grown ups lauding Sanjay dutt and cheering him in Calcutta as he has suddenly remembered all the places where his parents dwelled, rested etc......

Then this srilankan crisis..its really sad to see innocent people trapped between devil( LTTE) and sea(GOVT). I really wonder where all the people were when LTTE bombed the innocents, even today its LTTE who are hiding behind civilians, nobody asks them to come out and fight like honest soldiers, if they are what they claim.The situation of Tamils there is exactly the same as that of our people in kashmir. But instead of urging the LTTE most of the people are telling govt. to stop.Though i have lost a few readers of my blog because of my frankspeak, but I want to say the truth without being biased. Any terrorist group and in any country must not be supported..come what may.

Yesterday we went to a wedding reception, there the bride was looking like a doll with all the jewellery..I counted , she was wearing 6 sets with armlets and waistband and then golden beads braided in her hair.The best thing about SHAPAD here is they serve you sitting. I never liked eating standing while decked up in fineries.One of our friend told me that each dish has a specific place on the banana leaf and it denotes its importance. he even invited me to come for a proper tamil food where his wife will tell me all the details also, I felt so bad as I was leaving......But here dessert is a very big casualty..most of the time it is watery vermicelli and one sweet or icecream. Second thing that I wondered about was that I went in a salwar kameez, could not dare to wear sari due to the heat and the bridegroom as well as few others were wearing Suits and were not sweating even so much as I was. But I pitied the children..young kids were dressed three piece suits, I know that they must be feeling very uncomfortable..for children the first criteria must be comfort, and then appearance.I like going to receptions here just for one thing..watching myriad color and combinations of silk sarees, and jewellery, I love watching them:) here I noticed that nobody pays any attention to foot wear, with beautiful sarees most of the women were in slippers...quite surprising for me.

And now friends, today I am leaving to Zurich,aqnd having butterflies in my stomach:) Of course I will keep blogging and give you all the details of the places I visit, so till then....

FIVE THING I LOVE ABOUT BEING A MOTHER

Smitha and Deeps tagged me for this. For me motherhood came every early in life, so i have literally grown with my children. I still cannot forget the feel of holding my firstborn in my arms, though it was 32 years back:) and since then my life revolved around my two angels. Every decision in my life was taken with their welfare in my mind and for me quality time and quantity time concept never existed and so many times a wife or a woman stepped behind being taken over by a mother. There are so many things I love about being a mother....

1--With the birth of my children..I had 2 people in my life who were totally my own......its a very exhilarating feeling, cant be expressed in words, though today their property rights lie with their spouses:) but the bond I have with them is unique, none can change it.

2--I used to love it when my daughter used to favour me blindly in any argument, situation in the family.........ma is always right, sometimes to the extent that I used to ask her to keep quiet:), and then she wouldnt sleep till I tucked her in and said good night:). My daughter is my second one, and when I was expecting, my family wanted another son, but i fervently wished for a daughter and when she came my joy knew no bounds, and she was thoroughly pampered by everyone.and still she was called..mummy ki chamchi, mummy's pet:)

3--When I had children, I didnt have the assistance of Internet or books ( I read only Doctor Spock), so whenever somebody suggested something, I applied it:), like bathing them in water with brandy( though in my family nobody drank alcohol) or cooking egg for them when I hated the smell, I still cant drink in the glass in which egg has been poured.whereas for them I prepared everything...boiled egg, poached, egg roll to give them nutrition, though now my views have completely changed and I dont believe that for nutrition we need to give non veg or egg.

4-- I feel so proud and happy when anyone who meets my children praises them and tells me that i am very lucky to have such well mannered and affectionate children........its like Tata's getting the acclaim for Nano:)

5--Children multiply your happiness...now because of my two..I have two more wonderful people in my family who love me.

Though now they are grown up still whenever they are sick, I want to be with them. For me being a mother means to support your children without being judgemental( though many times I may have hurt them by being judgemental but everybody learns by mistakes), be behind them in every step of life. These two people have taught me...
to be completely selfless in thinking is possible sometimes:).
There is no life without them.


I shall keep on adding to this post of mine:). As for tagging I think most of the bloggers I know have been tagged already, so please those of you who want to do it are invited to take this tag

..Kuch aisa bhi

lately i have been feeling very lethargic and not feeling like writing anything.
Now there is something which interested me......

In a couple..Aakash and Anita..both are working AK is earning less and not getting promotion for last two years inspite all hard work , he is very frustrated and that reflects inn his day today behaviour. An is a very devoted mother to their young daughter who has a hole in her heart and needs to be operated as soon as possible whenenevr she is in good health and for that operation need to take care, which both of them being extremely busy are not able to do properly.Once she is ready to be operated...Ak gets a project which will be completed in 2 days and for that he will get promotion also...so he wants it to be postponed for 2 days only......but it is too late and the daughter dies on the table, he is shattered and his wife also goes away as she holds him responsible for the loss.
What do you think about it?
For me it is a very tough situation to decide the right and wrongs but in the end I can say only one thing that at the time of grief both the spouses must support each other instead of starting the blaming game.

KK is a big industrialist, meets Devika, falls in love and they mary and life goes routine where KK is always busy with his bussiness, not able to reach on even any personal occasions, but when devika gets pregnant he is jubilant and arranges everything but she aborts as she doesnt want her child to grow without father, he is crestfallen and they drift apart and look for a divorce....but then they realise both of them are wrong and patch up and start a new life.
Here its a good advice to the men to take out time for the family and for the women to see the perspective behind their busy husband.

Amit a mumbiaker marries Shuchita a girl from Jabalpur..very happily married but the chinks appear in their armour slowly......Shuchita being a small town girl is extremely suspicious of the free behaviour in Mumbai...suspects her husband all the time....here once in a party she calls one of his friendas Bhaiya..and everybody makes fun of herand she gets hirt,..this thing even i dont like....we make relations..bhaiya bhabhi etc because they put a boundary on a realtionship and we believe in the sanctity of our relationships, thats why in Indian environment a father can nevr think of dating his son's girl friend (like in Bold and beautiful), a MIl can nevr eye her SIL,---------yeh bhaiya ur bhabhi hame ek bandhan me bandhte hain aur ham apni maryada ka paalan karte hain, isme koi pichdapan nahi ha, na hi naam lene me koi adhunikta......

The fourth couple is a young boy who is not getting any flat in Mumbai and for that he tries deceit, but when he realises that he could be breaking somebody else's family for getting his home, he repents and clears everything and then he gets his flat also:)

This is the story of Sirf:)

Yesterday i went to meet Cess..my blogger friend... at YWCA and then we went to Spencer plaza and she did some shopping, then we had lunch at Pizza hut. She is a very sweet girl, and i really enjoyed our time together.

TWO THOUGHT PROVOKING POSTS

I saw this link at Swats post and read this...Since i also feel on the same lines I am posting the link here...
http://advertisingh.blogspot.com/2009/04/kasab-bastard.html

Then I bought Whirlpool Fridge and washing machine and I was quite happy with both of them, when I suddenly saw this post...I am really surprised to see this attitude...please go thru it....

http://gouridange.blogspot.com/2009/04/never-fall-into-whirlpool.html

A special candidate who needs our support

*Chennai: *At 30, E Sarath Babu of Madipakkam in Chennai seems to have
achieved everything. The owner of the successful FoodKing Catering Services
Pvt Ltd, he has a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from BITS,
Pilani, and a management degree from Indian Institute of Management,
Ahmedabad.

And, now he is contesting the Lok Sabha elections as an independent
candidate from Chennai south seat. He has chosen the constituency as it is
his home ground and also 90% of the electorate are educated.

"India has been witness to some sad incidents in the past 10 months. The
26/11 attacks, an MLA beating up an engineer to death in UP and a mother
selling her baby for Rs6,000 in Andhra Pradesh were defining moments for me.
I decided to join politics and bring about a change," Sarath Babu, whose
life reads like a rags-to-riches story, said.

Sarath Babu's mother sold idlis to support her children. Having seen the
harsh realities of life, Sarath Babu believes that youth have the honesty
and the ability to make the country a better place to live in. "I want to be
a beacon of hope for the youth," he said.
Sarath Babu is confident that he will achieve his goal. After all he had the
guts to spurn lucrative job offers and start a business of his own. The
catering facility, which started with an investment of Rs2,000, generates a
revenue of over Rs7 crore with branches in Goa, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad,
Rajasthan, Bangalore and Chennai.

"I did not start my business to just make money. I wanted to create
employment. I would like to follow the entrepreneur- politician model to
uplift the poor. If I can inspire 100 people to start their own ventures,
they will in turn give jobs to about 300 people and that will make for a
healthy state of affairs," he said.
Many of you might have heard of Sarath Babu - The son of a road side idly vendor who under extrarordinarily difficult circumstances, did his engg from BITS Pilani and MBA from IIM Ahmedabad..and instead of looking for a job as most people do, decided to create jobs by being an entrepreneur in catering business... with an intention to support undeprivlileged people, a community that he too was once a part of. He is now contesting as an independent candidate in South Chennai Constituency which goes to polls on 13 May. Obviously he doesn't have muscle or money power. But we can help him with the power of Mouse and word of Mouth.

Source..email from his both alumni.

APNA ASMAAN

I saw this Movie just now and a good and different movie. This is the story of a middle class couple...Irfan Khan and Shobhana whose child is autistic. How this changes their life...neighbors shun them, MIL blames Shobhana, Irfaan gets frustrated and they are living an insipid life...where mother is always trying to treat her son, though the doctor says that he is not a patient, he is just differently abled, the boy Bodhi is very much interested in painting but both parents totally ignore that, they specially mother wants her son to be a mathematician which she couldnt be. Just by coincidence Father comes to know about Doctor Satya(Anupam Kher) who has made a medicine which can change the brain, he gets it and once in a fit of anger injects her son with that. The son is changed, he becomes a wizard in maths, his mind works faster than a computer, becomes a prodigy, starts doing shows, gets endorsements and become a star, but he is no more their old loving son, but an arrogant, cruel, teenager who is into everything including drugs etc. Now the parents want their old son who was not so sharp but human.
here a line by the doctor ( Rajat Oberoi) is very poignant..why all parents want their children to be doctor or engineer, when will they understand that every child has his own liking and sphere, and then......Think before you dream because your dream may come out to be true.
and at one place Shobhana also says...geniuses come and go, but its only good people who make this world beautiful to live in.

The movie is a little slow in the beginning, but then gets the speed:), there are 3 songs with beautiful words.

The gist is....sab ka apana apna asmaan ha.

last week i went to Hyderabad, there in our building there are three young couples, all three men are very nice and social and helping BUT only one of them leads a happy social life, whereas the other two cant do much, why? Because their wives are not interested in exerting themselves at all, and this set me thinking.......A man's good nature comes to naught if he doesnt get a supporting wife, and so it is very important for the girls to have a caring nature, and it shows the importance of woman in this world:)

One of the highlight of my trip:)........I met Smriti...my blog daughter:) and thoroughly enjoyed my rendevous:)

ELECTION AND MEDIA

Now.a day election fever is on, and whenever I switch on TV..some anchors seem to be perpetually saying....Sharad yadav( or some other politician )Unplugged....mothers of all battles..Varun...................

and the anchor keeps asking inane questions which are neither important for the country, nor the politicians are going to answer and public's time and money both are wasted. I want to ask media..

Why dont they bring the MP, MLA from each and every constituency everyday on TV rather than the same big leaders again and again on all the chanels and asking them same questions, getting same answers? and then ask the one who are sitting MPs..what they have done in the last five years for their place?

what are the plans of the first timers for their constituency?

and then keep track of them..If every politician just takes care of his/her own constituency the whole country will progress.it would be much more effective than just asking everybody.....
what is your take on Varun's speech?
Are you truly secular?

I agree that varun has given a bad speech, but did he really deserve to be booked on NSA? Is he a terrorist?
On one side we allow all the bahubali's and known dons to stand for election and on the other side we book someone under NSA for verbal crime only.

Then Akshay's drama at LFW..totally offensive to my sensibilities.he doesnt even remember that he is a Padma shree, I really wonder should the people be given Padma shree so casually? who dont have any decorum about their public behaviour? and can go to any length for the sake of publicity?

People are crying for shifting of IPL, I also cry but for different reasons....first IPL people must have their priorities right, elections are much more important than any game or anything else, if they were patriotic they should have shifted the dates than shifting the venue, but forget that, these are commercial people, will do anything for money. I am only sad because our country lost a big business opportunity and temporary employment for many.

lastly i find it very amusing to see..

Mallika sarabhai ..not owning any car

Rahul gandhi......not owning any car( I wonder how does he multiplies his money so fast..in the last election he had 22 lakh, this time he has 2.5 crores)

One last thing..today in the paper I saw the group photograph of the the team helping with Miss India in TOI.... and the sitting arrangement is gender biased:)..all the women sitting and men standing behind them:), didnt expect it from the people of Femina and wonder why none of the women protested::)).....or they dont mind privileges , here equality doesnt matter--tch tch...my dear friends, if you really seek equality then stop taking privileges( though I dont advocate all this equality bussiness literally---I go for the essence))

and friends I am leaving for Hyderabad today and will be back after a week:), so till then I will ck the comments only:)