I got a speeding ticket a couple months ago.
I signed up for traffic school
There's an online option. Yayy! I don't have to spend 8 hours in a classroom!
I enrolled
I clicked on the "Start Course" button
First thing I see...
A gal with brown sunglasses in a light blue BMW convertible!
Now that's called really rubbing it in!
Groan!
Inspired by Chirag's haiku
Public Awareness!
Its hard to stay mad..... at the absent minded man who makes you Wai Wai at 2.46 am, decorates it with two grapes and a bit of coriander, and presents it with a flourish and a bon appetite!
So what's new?
I was watching a public awareness ad in morning
Awards for everyone!
Yesterday i saw Star Screen Awards, and i was wondering what the awards function have become...just a song and dance show?
It could have been any one of us.
So, winning Cuckoo's Trophy of The Month has made me greedy for more...
What's our Future?
This is the question that stares at IT grads fresh out of college.
The slumdog euphoria is in full swing.
A discussion in class today sparked these thoughts.
Am copying the instructions for making this straight out of Chirag's post...
"The way to do this is really simple. Randomly select three blogs from your blogroll and just write first line, it will all be connected and will make sense, give a title"
Have fun :-)
Why is negativity more powerful than positivity?
Why does a sneer have the power to wipe off a smile?
Why does a cold shoulder have the power freeze a warm embrace?
Why does fear win over faith?
Why does ego win over love?
Why is it easier to destroy than it is to build?
Why is suspicion more instinctive than trust?
Is this natural or conditioned?
I think it is a mix of both...sigh...
I am reading all these articles where people are protesting against movies like "Slumdog Millionaire" because it projects India as a poor, not very nice country.
I haven't seen the movie yet, but have heard and read a lot about it. Of course :)
I wonder why all the uproar? Because the movie won awards, and we are jealous? Because what it says is true and are ashamed that the truth is out there for everyone to see?
There are other movies made about issues in India (Firaaq for instance). But they have not become so popular, and hence no protests?
Look at the other movies that are made in Bollywood. Where the lead couple sings and dances in Switzerland and almost everyone lives in mansions. That is also not the true face of India, then why no protests against that?
What is the true face of India that we want the world to see then? I think about the day to day life of an average Indian, and what story can we make out of it? I don't know :(
I loved Swades, but wasn't that also projecting how bad the Indian villages have it?
What story would YOU like to show? Which reality in India would you want non-Indians to know about? Can you recommend any recent movies that make you proud of India? That you would love to see winning top awards? Taare Zameen Pe maybe?
I am not saying that poverty and struggle is all there is in India. But I would like to know HOW we can separate ourselves from the poverty that is there on each and every traffic signal, on all footpaths, just about everywhere? Please do read this post by someone who works with slum dwellers everyday. See what she has to say about portraying this side of our country.
Slumdog Musings by Anouradha Baskhi of Project WHY.
Would really love to see comments on this one!
I can start off and say I would love to see a movie about the Chandrayaan...and without the song and dance trappings!
Edited to add:
And about how the role of the Indian woman has changed over the decades! Maybe something with three generations of Indian women in it! I can see a huge huge huge difference between the life, way of thinking, everything about my nani's life and my sister's daughter's life. They both live in modern day India!
Edited again (1/20) to add:
Just wanted to say that this post is not about dissing India, or supporting Slumdog.
I just want people to think about good things that they would like the rest of the world to know. Good things, like the ones I have listed above (at least I like them!)
For the uninitiated, please read the first two parts of the series :)
Raymond and Debra
Raymond and Debra - II
So...we were both working from home today, and went out to lunch. It was a Friday afternoon, and the restaurant was packed with people. We got our table, ordered our regular food and were sitting yawning and waiting for our food to arrive, busy in our own thoughts. One of the thoughts in my head being, all these people are talking and we are not. And that is fine, because we know everything that is there to be said anyway :) We don't have any catching up to do.
Then I started paying attention to conversations that were loud enough for me to hear.
As usual, there was an Indian on a table of maybe 10, giving investment advice to anyone who cared to listen. It made me wonder why do typical Indian men talk only about money and stocks?! Boring...so I tuned into the table next to me.
Two colleagues, a guy and a girl out on their lunch break. The girl was talking non-stop. And her statements made me chuckle...
"I am so dying to get out of this place, but I can't right now because of (*whispering*) you-know-why"
(This one was repeated a lot many times. I was dying to know why :)
"So I hear you go home, get online and work from home. Really? People do that?! I can't be bothered to carry my computer home. Its too much trouble to get connected. You know what I mean?"
(You kidding me? I would stop breathing if I could not "connect")
"I have worked in Novell, and then in an educational setup. You know what I should do now? Medical. I should get into the medical field. You know what I mean?"
And then the very next statement....
"You know what I have always wanted to do? Open my restaurant. We're thinking of a pizza place in the mall. You know like how you go to the mall and you get hungry? You know what I mean?"
(This one...you go to the mall and you get hungry, really made me laugh!)
And for some reason, the guy responded to this with "Baseball or football?"
Well, they do rhyme with "mall" and he was after all a guy, he had probably zoned out and was thinking about some game!
Then she started talking about her mother-in-law. And how she would not want her to come to her pizza place. Because she would mess it up. And then in a whisper...
"You know what I am scared of? That she will touch the baby!"
(My eyes went quite wide at this one!)
"Its not like she is my mom. You know what I mean?"
(Groaaannnn...I don't want to listen to this anymore)
We were done eating by then, and were SO sleepy! We tried to figure out whether we should sleep on our table, or the bigger one that the 10 people were sitting at, or in the car. We decided on the car since the table looked too hard to sleep on. And there was a tiny risk of being chucked out on the street ;-)
The husband, by the way, heard not a single word of the conversation. He loves his chicken too much, I guess :)
I rather liked this new version of Raymond and Debra ;-) No talk necessary, just eat and sleep :)
I have recently started contributing to a blog called "Giving it a shot". It is a very interesting blog, where we can contribute ideas for a better India, a better world!
Here's my latest contribution there. Do drop by! And also catch up on the other innovative (and often very simple) solutions to common problems.
