Random things in my head...

Writing ‘Whts up??’ instead of “What’s up??’ looks so much cooler.

I really don’t like it when people answer with a single alphabet when you ask them something …. Like ‘K’ or ‘S’. I am guilty of it too… but seriously how long does it take to type out ‘YES’ or ‘OK’.

And on the same note, people going ‘hmm’ when you have told them something on a serious note or you have asked them something is really frustrating. I mean, think about it, you have just told something of momentous importance to someone. And their response is HMM … now I don’t know what that other person is thinking … whether they are offended … or whether they think I am some kind of loony brat … yeah alright! I am guilty of this too. But I am just saying … think about it!

I have to watch the second part of Virumaandi. What?!?!? It’s a long movie especially if you start watching it at 1:30 AM in the morning. Yes! I am only watching it now. Oh... I watched Naan Ee and how cute is the movie… the final dance at the end credits by that “Ee” is kick-ass!!

ZOn the subject of movies…  I have mixed feelings towards SKYFALL. And I read a lot of mixed reactions to it too. I still think Sean Connery was the best BOND ever followed by Pierce Brosnan… And the movie by itself had only some scenes that were true Bond Style … the rest of it seemed like a bollywood / kollywood masala movie. Yes I also know it has been a while since it has released and I am only now talking about it.

Again, Les Miserables – the movie / musical was slightly too long. And it could have maybe been cut shorter. There was just too much singing in the end with typical masala elements in it … but it was a good one. And boy! Can these people sing! And I thought Russell Crowe looked as dashing as Hugh Jackman in the movie. I am partial towards Hugh Jackman.. Wolverine …

I can’t believe that I have so much of stuff going on inside my head and that too mostly about movies .. Err….

Seriously what is the big deal with reading ‘The Fountainhead’? That’s the fourth time in two days…I haven’t read it (I gave it up!) but it’s like a constant presence on everybody’s must-read lists. I have to read it and find out what the hype is all about. 

I have to work this weekend! :-( and that too from 5 am on Sunday morning till 10 am …

I really need to arrange my cupboard!! It’s getting hard to find stuff to wear to office everyday… a tussle between the cupboard and me is not what I want in the mornings, right after my tussle with the alarm clock… 

And I am going to India… Soon… :D

I want to get my own blog domain this year like this WWW.AISHWARYA-ANANTH.COM… that’d be cool eh!! :) By the way did you know people can gift blog domains too? Yeah I am shameless that way!! :P 

The blog @ thebloggess.com is awesome. How awesome? THIS A.W.E.S.O.M.E. – the Barney Stinson way… Hilarious …… I haven’t laughed so hard in recent times!! Oh wait! I did... When I had that laughing fit while playing rummy … or one of those times. I can’t recollect which time now. Which I think is probably good. Something about living longer and all that!!!

Ok! I really do have a lot of stuff going on inside my head… Why is the book Cloud Atlas so slow?? I also want to read Oath of the Vayuputras … Like right now!!

Sidin Vadukut’s blogs are funny!!! They really make me laugh out loud… which is not a good thing at work!

If any of my office folks are reading this, I have finished my work! And that lllloooooooonnnnnnnggggggg technical call that I am on and have been on for the past 2 days is not finished yet!! But I have nothing to contribute there… So…

But the topmost thought on my head …. I loved those flowers I got at work! :) They cheered me up to no end and I am thrilled… I love getting flowers and that grin on my face refuses to fade!! :) :) :) Thank you! :-)

A walk in the rain...

I like rains.

Not the heavy downpours. Oh well! Them too sometimes! But only when I am in my cozy room with a hot mug of tea by my side watching the rains pelt down!!

But mostly I love the light drizzles. Especially at night. When you can see them twinkling under the light of the lamp posts. When you can walk under them and not really get soaked to the skin, but get just a little wet, like you have been through one of those rapids or those fun rides at an amusement park. The ones that leave you glistening like you just had some dew drops fall on you. Those ones.

They are magical. They are captivating.

They make me feel special. Alive almost. When they hit me, I like to hold my face up to the sky and have them fall on my face, each one rolling off like they belong there but then again like they don’t. Reminiscent of how invariably they leave their mark even if they have rolled off. A streak of the water droplets running through my face. And not in the form of tears. Now if that’s not bliss, I don’t know what is!

My Christmas – 2012 was like this.

Faint drizzles, a solitary avenue, flashes of rain shimmering under the yellow light of the lamp posts, melodious music from the phone I carry with me always and a slow, silent, introspective walk. It was beautiful. It filled me with a sense of calm. A sense of peace after a long time.

A week after that was New Year’s. Readers of this space will know how much I have been looking forward to 2013.

These things are significant to me. Festive Days, New Year’s, Birthdays, Key dates, Milestones… they are important to me.  To me, they mark a new beginning. A fresh start. At any time during the year. It’s my way of seeing that things can start afresh however bad they have been so far.

New Year’s was close to perfect as well. It drizzled again. I held my face up to the sky.

It’s definitely a new beginning.

Early morning high! :) :)

Things that give you a high right in the morning!! :-) :-)

For the unaware, that's my post / article...  :-) :-) 

Glad that it reached so many people...

Thanks Glad2bawoman!! :-) :-) You got a very nice forum there and plenty of reach! :-)  

Glad to be a Woman!

You call her Braveheart, Amanat, Damini, Nirbhaya.

You admire her fighting spirit and courage.

You call her the Nations daughter.

You give up celebrating New Years because you say you are grieving for her.

You say you won’t disclose her name to the public for fear of shame, stigma, or protests by people over that.

You grieve with her family. You compensate them monetarily for their loss.

You announce that you will bring in new laws to reform this.

You show outrage at this act. You say that you are seething with fury. You condemn it. You hold candle-lit vigils.You conduct peace marches. You sympathise. You empathise. You preach that this will change.

Words like Capital Punishment, Death Penalty, Chemical Castration, Lifetime Imprisonment, Amendments to the Rape Act, all get bandied about.

And yet, nothing happens.

NOTHING. EVER. HAPPENS.

And anyone who even starts a change will be subdued until they are in a minority.

And yet again, this girl’s death will just become another statistic.

And these words will just remain that. WORDS.

And the country will continue to function like how it always does.

I am sorry; am I sounding too cynical? Too matter-of-fact?

Does that bother you?

Can you really blame me for it?

Just a few days after an entire nation’s protest, shock and outrage at this ghastly act, I read about another girl who was molested again in a moving bus again in Delhi. I read that a woman who was raped, went to the police station to file a complaint and she was raped there again. I read that a girl was being molested by her own brother for 3 years until she reported it.

And we are a country that says that we celebrate our women. Why, we say that our country IS a woman, and we call her Bharata Mata. Mother India.

Really!! Wow!! Now if that’s not an ignominy, I don’t know what is!!!

It’s my helplessness that’s making me write this. I seethe with fury every time I read about another act of violation of a woman’s dignity; much like anyone other girl. I feel that cold rage sweep over me every time I feel a man’s eyes wrongly on me; much like any other girl.

And yet I am helpless.

Because it has been drilled into me by every single person during my formative years that I AM A GIRL. That I am not supposed to wear that. That I am not supposed to go here. That I am not supposed to go alone. That I am not supposed to walk like this. That I shouldn’t attract attention to myself. I did ask questions. I did retort back. I did say that I can take care of myself. I rebelled in the ways that I knew. And yet, when I stepped out there, onto the roads, I knew they were right. It is a JUNGLE out there. Ages don’t matter. Looks don’t matter. What you wear does not matter. What matters is that you are a GIRL. That you are a member of the opposite sex. That you can be looked at, felt up, groped at, pinched, prodded, cupped, pushed and shoved just because you are a female. And that it doesn’t cease. At any time. Day or night. Indoors or Outdoors.

After a while, the questioning stops but the fear doesn’t. And in the place of those questions, other traits came up.

The survival instinct. The sixth sense that tells you when a man is getting too close for comfort. The strategic cover-up that happens when you know that a man’s looking where he is not supposed to. Of how to hide from roving eyes. Of what to do with sharp heels in a crowded places. Of how to use safety pins for in crowded buses. Of how to use the elbow jab when pushing through a crowd.

It’s a fight every day. And it’s never ending.

Yes! I am scared. But more than that, I am proud of the fact that I am a female. That I am a woman. I celebrate the fact that I was born a GIRL. And how much ever I lament the fact that guys have it easier than girls, I would never give up being a woman for anything.

Because how much ever men call us the weaker sex, we are really the stronger sex. Ask a guy to walk in our shoes for just one single day and they will know what stern stuff we are made of.

And the best and worst part of it is that, they are the ones who made us this way.

Twisted Irony!!

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This post also appeared here -- http://www.glad2bawoman.com/empowerment/you-speak/glad-be-woman and here -- http://pravasiexpress.com/index.php?desktop=&article=351