Talk about culture shock! I had thought I would get it when I first go outside India. May 2007- London. nothing. i loved it there. Singapore. well not really. i mean sure the food sucked initially n i was homesick n lonely but things r getting better with time...n thts not really a culture shock. so what is culture shock? having to walk a lot? naah..thats just laziness-inertia :P having to cook on my own- well im nt doing tht so tht doesnt even count :P really really really short clothes...yeah that could probably have been 1 thing, but I guess its more of wistfulness of not having the kind of figure or confidence to b able to ever carry such clothes; than a shock. plus before hand where i was coming and what to expect.clubbing!! ah yes that could have been the closest, but a) i dont have the money to go clubbing. and b) i never went clubbing even in India, and wen I did it was as much of a culture shock for me there as well. so what is culture shock n why does everyone go on and on about it???? i had no idea...but i was perplexed n this thought struck me every now and then.

One such morning, on my way to college, as I was looking at the perfectly spaced, perfectly shaped, perfectly manicured trees spawned across Singapore, with the polite beep in the bus every time some one wanted to alight and the patient polite queues for buses everywhere.., wondering in a country where everything is so disciplined, that people dont walk bare feet on wet grass, women dont go out without makeup and dont even come back home without makeup that makes them look morning fresh all day through... even trees know exactly what shape n height to stop growing at, would people even know the emotion called shock??? the word itself is too aggressive to fit in the "genteel" ambiance created all around, blanketing any "raw" display of emotion, a question broke my chain of thought...

"hey are you married??"
'What?"i looked at the girl sitting next to me, surprised. "Oh, no no..I just generally...", I smiled back half-apologetically...I had casually put my gold ring in the left-hand ring finger. Hindus don't have a lot of significance to the ring, they have so many other ways to make their women demonstrate their marital status! but for the rest of the world..where a ring is all it takes you from enjoying single-hood to stressing over visiting in-laws,..that one small ring makes the world of a difference. So consciously I put it back on...

but old habits die hard. and my habit of playing with my ring and switching it between fingers was no different. and so over the next few days i was asked this same question many many many times. until it almost started feeling the easiest conversation starter with me. well thanks to the girls who at least talked to a loner like me...at least they tried to make friends with me. but honestly, while i was conscious of the fact that i was talking to ppl (or rather they were talking to me), and it was nice to start making friends in an alien place,..the marriage thing was getting a bit out of hand!!

for it always took the same course...
"Hey are you married?"
"Umm oh no..this was just...i was just playing with my ring.."
"Ohh! (smile) but you must have a boyfriend!"

... wasn't this the exact same conversation I had hoped to flee when I left India??? Oh well..people are the same everywhere just people...

so I sighed and carried on. Reached my class and opened my laptop..my ring still (unconcsiously of course ) on the left hand ring finger...when I heard an excited voice right behind me...even before listening I knew what it was going to be...
"Oooo!! soooooooo cute! is that your baby??"
WHAT??????!!!!!!!!!!!!! wait...thats the wrong question..you're supposed to ask me if I am married...
"What?? which baby??"
And she pointed happily at my laptop
"Ahhhhh....no , its not. its just a wallpaper I got from the net!!" ........

apparently not only married people wear rings, they also put their babies/kids pics as the backgrounds on their laptops...though im not sure if that really counts as a part of culture shock people are pretty crazy about their kids everywhere. thats more of perhaps an age shock. people have started realising what my parents already did, many years ago...I'm old enough to get married and have kids...by the Indian societal standards of course

and talking of culture shock..i have safely put my ring away elsewhere and my laptop wallpaper just has trees n birds.

People

Its interesting how people fight over differences in color, religion, geographical boundaries and God-knows-what-not. Yet people are just that. People. They're the same across all differences. children of all ages, religions, regions and nationalities are equally dependent on their mothers, though their degrees of confession & expression may differ. Mothers are always willnig to give up their own happiness and comfort for their children; and those who are not are not so because of the color of their skin or teachings of their religion. Grandparents are equally lovable and needed by all children while growing up. And children who miss out on bedtime stories from their parents/grandparents miss out equally on the love that is their due. Priests are always smiling, accepting & forgiving, no matter what religion they preach. And those who are not, exist in all religions. The beautician will always be a smiling good natured chatter box who would have a knack of making other women share their burdens with her and feel better. Though I dont remember ever seeing anyone else ask the beautician if she had any problems. Students invariably sleep in lectures and hate homework, tests and exams no matter what age, stream or university they belong to. finding "true love" is the never ending "Holy Grail" of mankind. And aren't we all equally stressed out by visiting in-laws???

its interesting to see how despite the obvious similarities, people keep focussing on man made differences of religion and geographical boundaries and fighting to control more and more resources. and its even more interesting to see how more and more people happily or blindly play puppets in the hands of such petty greed. its amusing to see that so much of advanced education, technology and globalisation (and name-what-you-will) fails to instill this one basic fact in our hearts and minds. that we're all the same. People. Just that.

Faith

"What is God?" ... the eternal question, a subject that has been fervently asked, debated & contested since time immemorial. A subject on which countless books & theories exist, each with its own set of followers, from scholars to commoners, scientists to religious fanatics. A subject which has plagued each and every one of us at least once in our lives, for reasons good or bad. A subject that has ironically taken as many lives as the number of ways in which it has preached non violence & universal love.Yet it is surprising how different the definition of each group is from the other, how distinct all the theories are; and how steadfastly each group holds its own theories with completely unbending minds; how it consequently fails to convince any of the other ideology..for everyone is equally rigid & closed to anything that isn't already in line with their own thoughts. So how are these so called scholars really different from religious fundamentalists credited with most of the global terrorism? But that's another question for another day.

Right now, the thought foremost in my mind is , "what is God?". While today isn't the first time this question has risen in my mind, it certainly is the first day I spent meeting people of so many varying, or rather conflicting, beliefs in 1 day. These people are not scholars or fundamentalists. These are just ordinary people like you and me who get up every morning to juggle everyday activities & responsibilities of work, family and friends. Housewives & office goers, students and teachers alike. Each has his own battles to fight, his own pain to bear. And each does this in his own way.

On my way to home, I see some housewives engrossed in prayers in a temple. I wait for them to finish, for I want to be an audience to the talk that I know will follow. Their talk to my science-trained modern ears sounds like a lot of superstition. A lot of nonsensical beliefs. God doesn't demand protocol. Religion does. God doesn't mind how you pray and when you pray, as long as when you pray, you do so whole-heartedly. It doesn't matter what the idols look like, or even if they are there, you can just look at the sky or close your eyes and look inwards and pray. But these are my beliefs. For them, these apparent superstitions are a way of life. A means of strength. Just as the self-belief of one of my friends. He refuses to believe in the existence of God. For if there were a God, so many bad things such as the World Wars would not have happened. For him, we all are responsible for our own actions and their consequences. We make our own destiny and as long as we believe in ourselves, we shall never fail.

These are not different religious ideologies. These are two entirely different trains of thought, two extremes of the spectrum. Most people, including me, lie somewhere in between. We believe in God, pray when we can as we can, ask for strength and move on to fight our battles. believing that God helps those who help themselves.

So no matter what we think God is, no matter what religion or ideology we believe in and no matter what rituals we practice, if any, no one knows what God is. No one has ever seen Him and no one knows if God is a paranormal concept or an intuitive instinct within our hearts....but we all need an additional source of strength. A feeling that makes us feel that we are not alone and that some one is watching over. at times to blame for our own mistakes and shortcomings and at others to thank. at times to help compromise with situations and at others to fight. God is just another name for Faith. What you believe in is all that matters. Our beliefs, our faith is what keeps us going. May be that's why people say "Have Faith".

Happy Independence Day

Abhinav Bindra clinches India's first ever Gold

Jai Hind!! :)

much as a proud and elated Indian I am at the news, I hope I dont start seeing abhinav bindra in every possible ad on TV selling anything & everything from hair oil to cars. and i hope abhinav bindra doesn't lost his focus and love for the sport amidst all the advertisements & publicity ( & ofcourse quick buck)

and i hope that all the 24*7 news channels in the country dont keep playing 24*7 abhinav bindra's life history & his hair stylist's life history and his tailor...err i mean personal fashion designer's life history...and the life histories of all his teachers, parents, neighbours, dogs, cats....

and i also hope no frustrated attention-seeking person from the interiors of the country sues abhinav bindra for disrespecting the religious sentiments by praying with his shoes on (nevermind God, its the religion that demands protocol!) and that of the nation by wearing the wrong attire..oh no that happens only to women in this country...oh well you get the idea

and at the end of it, i hope Abhinav Bindra doesn't get so sick of this senseless sensationalism and decides not to play for this country again. I hope India doesn't suffer a few idiotic Indians idiocy.

so what do you think..am I being too hopeful ?..i think i am! :)