Neha's Blog

Mumbai v/s Delhi

2012-02-13T02:07:00.000+05:30

Had I written this post two years ago, I would have attracted at least 100 bashing comments on this space. But these days, even the most controversial topic gets a mere 100 page views, which means 5 comments which are from people I know very well. Some time back, I used to nag them and force them to read my post and leave a comment. But these days I have stopped that too. When I get a new comment notification which is once or twice a day, I remember it then that I had written something one two days ago.

Earlier, my routine was - switch on laptop, log in to gmail, open blogger, moderate comments, check dashboard, read the new posts, comment there and then start the daily work. But these days I open blogger once in two three days. Comments can be directly moderated through gmail. This means the workaholic lazy me doesn't bother to check the blogger dashboard at all.

Anyway, this post is not at all about how pathetic you think I am or how awesome I know I am; but it's about a war.

Now, whenever I think of a clash between two rivals, the first few things come to my mind are- India and Pakistan cricket match, Australia-England cricket match (though it's not as popular as India-Pakistan, but observe Tony Greig closely when they clash and you will know what I mean), Nadal-Federer clash, Manchester United-Chelsea chash, SRK-Aamir clash - the list is entertainingly superb. One such rivalry is between Mumbai and Delhi too. Worse than some of the encounters mentioned here.

It so happens that Mumbai and Delhi are two of the biggest cities of India. I have no idea how the war started between the two, but it doesn't take long for any of them to make fun of the other. Some of the things are hilarious, some claims are superb. Delhi is called as the hub of rapes, while Mumbai is supposed to be one of the safest cities.

Now I have not lived in Delhi for more than a week, thus I cannot really comment on it, nor am I gonna speak high of Mumbai just to make this post controversial, but all I am going to write about is whatever funny, amusing and insulting things about the cities written at different places.

This year around, Mumbai saw winters. Real winters. The temperature dipped down to 8.5 degrees. And it has been too windy because of which it becomes impossible to commute by an auto without a jacket. Many people posted about how cold it was in Mumbai. Of course Delhi people thought that Mumbai guys were exaggerating and they couldn't take the little cold. It has been around 3 degrees in Delhi. But what they failed to see was that we have NEVER ever seen the winters. We sweat 24x7, 365 days. It's impossible for us to survive without fans/air conditioners. For us, this WAS cold, damn cold. Sitting in your house in Delhi wouldn't have given you any idea, nor visiting this place after staying in 3 degrees.

One funny remark I read on this was - Mumbai people, what you call cold is "let me go out in full pants instead of shorts" for us. To which someone replied - yeah, your floods are drizzle for us, big deal. I was laughing my heads off after reading this remark. How funny it is when people want to prove how superior their city is.

Another one was about summers - when someone said that Delhi people are so unlucky. They can neither come out during day in winters due to extreme cold, not in summers due to heat strokes. A night, only men can move out as ladies get raped. The counter attack for this was the murders and underworld of Mumbai and how pathetic the crowd and eve teasing was in Mumbai too.

But what took the cake was the Metallica concert which got cancelled. How people attacked one another at that time. Mumbai people calling Delhi guys irresponsible while Delhi guys calling them unfortunate not to even have had a concert there.

And the clothes - Delhi people are more brand conscious than Mumbai people. Mumbai people are more helpful and friendly than Delhiites. Who is more cool, who spends more, amazing Delhi weddings, paani puri vs golgappa, batata vada vs bonda, kanda vs pyaaz and what not. Phew.

But it's still always amusing for me. I really don't care about how superior or inferior my city is. The only thing I don't like is that people overreact most of the times. They can't take a joke on themselves. And if I was as popular now as I used to be, then you would have known what I exactly meant.

So people, peace. This is just an observation. I do not intend to hurt anyone. I love my city as much as you love yours. Read the post neutrally and you may, just may like it in spite of my awful style.

The other side of life

2012-02-08T01:00:00.004+05:30

If there is one state of India that I have explored the most - it has to be Maharastra. From Maharashtra-Gujarat border to Maharashtra-Andra Pradesh border - I have visited almost all the districts. I have lived in big cities, small villages, towns, farms, huts; slept on floor, terrace, under the sky, among the hills. It has always been a different experience, and with each place, the feeling of coming close to visiting the whole of state you live in is great.

A month or so back, I made two short trips to small villages of Maharashtra called Lonore, Varoshi and Parkhande. These are small villages where there are plenty of agricultural plots, and I had gone there for an official visit. Some legal work which involves site visit and inspection. I will not go into the legal part, but the places were beautiful.

The image above is the plot that I visited in Lonore. This is how a typical piece of land looks like in most of the places in this season.

The lady is growing vegetables in the backyard. They use some for home and sell the remaining in the market.

The typical kacchi sadak that takes you to those plots.

The hand pump. Rustic memories. Soul of a village. It carries so many stories for so many of us. There was one hand pump right behind my school in Umbergaon. I have seen a few in other parts of Maharashtra, but none in Mumbai. Since it reminds me of my childhood, it will always remain special. This was at Varoshi.

That's Pinha in yellow and Mangli in white and pink. Met them at the site. Since the time I clicked them, they were roaming around me with the curious expressions on their face and hopes that I would click more pics. And I did. Each time I showed them the clicked picture, their eyes would lit. Since it was a work visit, I couldn't click much as I was talking to the local people too.

This is where those kids stay. Their grandfather gave me a lot of information.

And that was it - two visits in those places. I am not a professional photographer, so the clicks will neither be edited nor be nice. They are random and work related in most of the cases. Still they manage to remind me of what I want to remember. Fair enough!

Small Joys and such else

2012-01-27T00:56:00.001+05:30

That awesome feeling when you fit into your old LBD and it looks good on you? Well if you are a girl who is nearing her 30s, you would know exactly what I mean. Ah it feels weird to even write this down. Dress and me? That too an LBD? Ew, that's too feminine. But I have to attend a party in some fancy pub and I was looking for an appropriate outfit for that. Finally found one and it fitted perfectly. Ah, talk of small joys.

And talking about joys, today was Australian Open Semi Final between Nadal and Federer. Nadal won the match and what a game it was. After Federer winning the first set in a tie breaker, Nadal won the next three and won the game. Most of my friends are Federer fans and some who are Nadal fans, they started following him after he started winning the matches. Very few have actually followed his matches when he was rising on clay court. But well, that's another story.

Another update - I got my third tattoo done. It's on the wrist - a kanji symbol of love. The meaning of my name is love, and I wanted a pretty simple one, thus went for it. Here is the image:

Ah I always have so much to say, but I lack patience most of the times. Another vacation awaits me *fingers crossed*. I hope that materializes too. But all these things are too trivial to even bother about unless you love me and stalk me and want to know what's happening in my life and want to follow me wherever I go (ah, sounds flattering!), so well my life story info can simply be summed up.

In other news, most of you know about me and Guria by now. The bond, friendship, love, ass licking - whatever you want to call it. And it so happens that these days we rarely get time to talk to each other. We miss that and we keep mentioning it on facebook all the time. Both of us read the old posts we wrote, or some mail thread, or chat discussion just to remember and to smile. We need that daily to go on in life.

And each time while reading those old writings, we realize that nothing has changed between us while everything has changed around us. Be it circumstances, timezone, lifestyle, priorities (no, we ain't each other's priority. We are well above that) - and still, everything between us is the same. No I don't have to blog about it and flaunt, but I want a record of everything. It can be done over e-mails, but this is the place from where it started, where we met and the bond grew stronger. This blog and her blog will always remain the dearest to both of us for many reasons. One of them being us.

I miss her being in India when we planned so many blog posts over phone, we talked for hours, small things hurt us, smaller things made us happy beyond imagination, our lives - so different yet so connected. We faced many challenges in the form of people. They made fun of us for saying these things aloud; but I don't blame them. Narrow minds cannot be changed. We might have given them explanation too if it affected us, or if we knew what it was exactly. Thus we ignore.

And she says that I inspire her to blog. I love to read her, and I intend to inspire her all the time if she becomes regular here. So G, here is another inspiration for you!

Love

2012-01-24T00:01:00.000+05:30

I have scribbled endlessly on pages about what love is. Sometimes in my heart, sometimes in my mind, sometimes on a tissue paper and sometimes on blog. Each time, the words changed, moods changed, but love remained constant. Sometimes, the mind didn't understand a word I was writing, and yet, it all made sense. The definitions of Love changed each time, but the meaning remained the same..

Does it make sense? I guess not. It's complicated enough for me to understand. I would not expect you to get the point a bit. But again, a lot of introspection results into such philosophies. But still, it's better that they get out of your system as soon as possible.

Coming back to the topic - love. What do you think love is? We say that each person has a different definition of love. But when you think of it, the definition depends more on the person's characteristics than the interpretation of love.

Love is simple, pure and unconditional. You love the person, that's about it. Nothing comes in between you and the person - no expectations, no insecurity, no jealousy, no ego - nothing whatsoever. Everything else is a result of our thoughts, our mindsets and our upbringing.

Love is. That's all. No strings attached.

Perverts, Go die!

2012-01-08T00:34:00.002+05:30

Let me warn you before I start this post - Each word written in it is the truth, each incident/example mentioned here is my personal experience. After reading the post, if you think that I am sexist and talking like a feminist, then you are right.

I call myself a small town girl. And I have all the reasons to say so. I was brought up in a small town where everyone knew everyone. It was almost impossible to go unnoticed even while having a barf gola during summer vacations, as someone would spot you and tell your parents. People there were innocent, men looked at us like their own children, guys took care of us like they would of their own sisters; until hormones hit them. But even then they never misbehaved or told her anything directly as they feared that the relationship might get spoilt.

After spending 15 years of my life, I shifted in the city of Mumbai. From each and every known face around me to the most crowded jungle - the transition was not a pleasant one for me. Dad had given me one whole list of what not to do in the city; one of them being not talking to strangers.

After settling down in hostel, my life began in the mad city. First day of classes and I took a bus to my destination. Since the stop near hostel was where the bus started from, I didn't face any problem of rush. But while returning, it was pretty crowded. I somehow managed to get in and like many others, found some place to stand. After a few moments, I felt a hand brushing on my butt. I thought it would have been a mistake and thus ignored. After a few more minutes, I again felt a hand touching my thighs. This time I was frightened as I had never experienced such a thing in my life. I moved a bit so that I could avoid whatever and whoever was touching me. This time around, the same pervert pressed his body against me. I got so scared that I got down at the next stop and took a cab to the hostel.

I remember having a sleepless night and I was too scared and embarrassed to even share the experience with anyone. I didn't have class the next day which was a relief, but I knew I'd have to face the same thing again the day after tomorrow. Cab everyday was out of question because of long distance. It'd cost a lot of money and in hostel life is anyway not so comfortable that you can afford the luxury of hiring a cab each day.

Reluctantly, I discussed this with a hostel senior. I would cut the crap about our discussion, but she told me that it was a very normal thing and all one could do was to be careful as to where and how to stand so as to prevent such perverts from feeling you in such situations. I learnt the art pretty quickly too, but still they somehow found a way just to brush their hands at various parts of body while walking or getting down.

That was one of the incidences. Each day, so many females come across such perverts walking on the street. They touch on your thighs while walking, take advantage of the crowded places and purposely touch their shoulder to yours in the hope of touching boobs, some even pinch on boobs in crowd and no, this is not an exaggeration! This actually happens.

I have even had people following me in lonely streets and empty subways of Churchgate station with their d!ck in their hands. Such a thing has happened thrice so far. Yes so far as I don't think such perverts can ever go off the streets. The reason is simple - we are too embarrassed to complain. And too busy to even care. We have become so used to such things that unless something major like an attempt to rape or actual rape happens, we will never raise our voice.

I have even come across so many autowalas who stare at women all the time through the rare view mirror. They touch their hands while taking/giving change, and they do it purposely. Some even pass by very close to a girl and take that exact cut where the girl is standing just to make her jump out of fear and laugh or lust at her.

I have been a "victim" of verbal sexual harassment at workplace too. I do not believe that sexual harassment has to involve physical assault. Talking dirty also falls in that category. I had to leave my job because my boss was a pervert who used to talk dirty with girls all the time in the name of "friendly environment".

So yes, men are perverts. And I am not a kind of feminist who will write any-men posts and hate them. I love men, all the men I know, but I don't mind shooting such perverts whenever they misbehave. Filing a complaint? I think I will consider that option.

PS: People, I am not talking about guys in general here. It's a pity I have to clarify that after reading Sid's comment.

PPS: I was dressed in full clothes during these incidences. I never travel/walk on roads in my shorts or spaghetti tops. Thus your theory of - men stare as women wear revealing clothes stands bullshit here!

Latrophobia

2011-12-29T18:44:00.000+05:30

Thank god the blogger does not deactivate your account if you do not blog regularly. December has been one of the busiest months for me. And it continues to be busy. I don't remember a single day when I was home, except well for today. That too, because finally my body gave up and I am too tired to function today. There is a business trip in Raigad District tomorrow, and I have to be fit for that.

I don't think I have ever blogged about this, but I am very scared of doctors. I cannot visit them when I am unwell. It's a kind of phobia. When I am unwell, I will do everything possible - from regular tablets like crocin and such to dadima ke nuskhe; or I will call up a doctor friend and ask him to recommend me a medicine for whatever illness I have. He is strictly against it as it's not advisable to prescribe to medicines without checking the patient; but he gives in most of the times!

My problem is that I cannot visit a doctor for my illness. I have this phobia that they will end up voicing out some illness which is incurable or unheard of. Same thing happened yesterday too. It took me great courage and 8 days of non-stop headache to visit a doctor. So far I was thinking I was suffering from migraine, but I was wrong. And my fears came true yet again when the doctor announced that I was suffering from cluster headache.

Cluster headache? I had never heard about it. I started to panic. I asked him what exactly it was, he was about to explain when a nurse came running as there was some emergency. I waited for him for about 20 minutes in tension. Finally he explained to me what it was exactly. He said it was not a bad kind of headache, but it may cause a lot of pain when the attack is at its peak, and the pain may last for days too. He was worried as he knows me well, and after the examination diagnosis, he said it was a bit serious and I should be careful, but other doctor friends said that it was not so bad. I hope it is not.

And thanks to the headache and medication, I have finally got a day off. I am not working right now and resting. I guess these medicines may have its side effects such as weakness, but yeah I am feeling totally drained out. And resting at home. And blogging to finally after so many days. I miss this place.

In other news, I celebrated my birthday this month. Friends threw a bring in bash for me. That's such a teenage thing to do, and I had so much fun. We got drunk on Irish Cream, watched The dirty Picture (which is an awful movie), talked all night, went for lunch the next day, spent the evening with family and met other set of friends for dinner. In short, it was a wonderful birthday for me. And loads of gifts too.

And new year is approaching too. I don't have fancy plans. I will be working on the 31st, a small house party at a friend's place and back home the next day. Wish you all a very happy new year in advance. What are your plans?

Philosophical Nostalgia

2011-12-12T22:16:00.000+05:30

A year or two back, I remember writing a post on how boring philosophy is. And I had started that post with a super philosophical paragraph. I always thought it was beyond me and my feeble understanding. But life and time teach you so many things. It surprises me sometimes when I go from normal to philosophical effortlessly and in no time. It's not a big deal, really. All you have to do is talk some positive and intellectual shit using a few heavy words. Elaborate a simple sentence in a profound manner and dang - you are a philosopher.

I meet so many people each day. Everyone has a different take on life before and after a few drinks. And it's amusing to hear about their stories. How sad/happy they are before drinking, and two pegs down how things change suddenly. How senselessly sensible they become, how they look at life and talk about it. If only they applied all those principles in life, they wouldn't be drinking with friends.

I guess it's to do with age as well. I remember discussing about girls, boyfriends, heartbreaks, crushes, movies and such else during college. Then came the time when we discussed about work pressure, performance, target, promotions, lay offs, career options, marriages, family etc. And now mid-life crisis has hit us so bad that each of our discussion revolves around life and fight to survive. All of us have some or the other problem, nobody is entirely happy in one's life.

We fight. We work. We slog our asses off just to be happy, and at the end of the day, are we really happy? If I talk about me, I don't have any social life as such. There were times when I met friends without any reason and whenever I felt like. Now, I have to think 10 times before making such leisure plans with them. We go to fancy restaurants, good multiplexes or a nice holiday destination, but none of the meetings take place outside college, on marine drive, checking wallet before planning a movie, eating in fancy restaurants only when we get some birthday treat - that time was happier.

And no, I am not unhappy. Maybe I miss the simple and less complicated life. I miss the carefree and responsibility free life. I miss those nonsense conversations about nothing. And I miss being happy without any reason. Just a good sunny day made me happy, finding a 100 Rs. note in old book or bag made me jump with joy, birthday preparation started with shopping almost a month in advance.

Looks like I got lost in the memory lane. Philosophy can turn into nostalgia too I believe.

Just another post

2011-12-04T15:01:00.000+05:30

The biggest disadvantage of not having anything stored in your draft is that when you want to update your blog and don't know what to write about, you are stuck. Busy times are back again. Monsoon season is usually a relatively free time for us professional. I happened to discuss it with a friend who has his own firm too, and he pointed it out. When I see the trend for my firm as well, monsoon slows down the business. Weird it be, but it's true.

Everyone is aware about Mumbai monsoons. Because of that, lectures get canned too. I love to work all the time, but these days, I miss my free time when I can just spend some time with myself. Since I am good at multitasking, I talk to people while working. But I miss reading, and writing. I miss blogging - reading as well as writing. Some days, when I get a bit of free time, that time I don't feel like logging onto blogger and write something.

Ah I sound lost. Rather, I am too happy to care. Happy as I am finally writing something. Happy because finally I am so busy with work that I don't have time for anything. And this happens to be my birthday month too. I turn a year older.

I visited Goa last week. It was a fantastic trip. Very much rejuvenating and well deserved. I am right now at a time when I take a vacation when I need to. I want to take my next vacation when I want to. I can do that easily as I have my own practice. I have Pondicherry and Auroville on cards. Let's see when it materializes.

That's about it for now. There are many things to write about on my mind, but I am not in mood to write about those. I shall be back soon, pretty soon!

Typo story

2011-11-24T16:18:00.000+05:30

So many of my posts are a result of conversations I have with people around me. A few people I love to talk to are not in the same town as me. Thus the only contact point is messengers and/or e-mails. I remember those days when I used to share an e-mail thread of 100 + mails with a few people within a span of an hour. Yes, there is always an option of calling up, but e-mailing has its own charm. And no it's not boring or pathetic if you really love the person.

And so the story starts. Now, people around me are amazing, that goes without saying. But they are mere mortals after all. And they make a lot of mistakes while typing. A few mistakes can easily be overlooked, but when one makes more typos than the actual sentence, you can be sure that it is written by Guria.

Now a days, she blames it on auto-correct. Yeah yeah, I believe her. Her each typo is epic. It makes me laugh like crazy for sure. While she apologizes for the typo, she makes a couple of more of them. Ah, she is mad.

Funnier thing is, she makes typos even when she types out an emoticon. Every single time. She gets it right in third of fourth attempt. Just to cover it all up, she starts praising me as she knows that's the best way to embarrass me. Kids will be kids.

And now I know I shall be murdered for this post. But I solemnly swear that each word of this post is true. And it was long overdue as well as I had told her more than a month back that I'd blog about this. The busy me and lazy me never got to write this one.

And finally I take a break, after almost a year. After a very refreshing trip to MP last year, this year I go to another beautiful destination. I shall blog about it if I have the patience and interest, otherwise see you soon with yet another rant.

Beauty of thoughts

2011-11-12T15:23:00.001+05:30

It's one of those days when you are itching to write something. Words are beautiful. They can express your heart, your mind, your soul. They have the power to hurt you, to make you smile. They have the power to possess you as well as to destroy you, they can make you and break you at the same time. They flow naturally sometimes; at the same time, they can make you chase them to find the correct ones.

Each one of us creates stories in mind. For every situation we face. Especially while sitting idle, while travelling. Even while reading, the mind wanders. It creates stories on paper, it writes them, and erases them. Each time, the mind creates a new world for you - a perfect one. Things work as they are written. There are no surprises, only happy instances. No sorrows, no pain, no grief. Just a happy journey lasting for a few moments. A scene you can die for, a moment you can wait for your entire life. It looks so beautiful, surreal and pure, perfect beyond any perfectness.

Words have magic. Words have feelings. They can breathe. They have a heart that beats. You can hear them breathing if you listen to them carefully. You can feel them casting their spell on you. You can't help but fall in love with this magic. There is an invisible cord that pulls you closer each time you read and feel them.

Have you ever felt the words? Reading a book for the first time, and reading the same one 10th or 20th time - the feeling is different. Each word feels like a verse on those tattered yellow pages. The fading title resonates with your own life. This be the same book that grew up with you and grew old with you. Its pale skin reminds you of its loyalty towards you. It is almost worn out, but it has retained its magic as yet. Howard Roark is still the guy you desire and you have a passion for, John Galt is still a mystery which is too good to be true. Atticus Finch is the hero we need right now.

These books talk to you. They answer your questions. They become your companion in loneliness. They absorb your tears and don't complain. They love you back - more than you love them. They stay locked for months and years, see you getting close to other books. They age in depression. You can smell their sadness when you open them, you can see the patches of their dried tears on the otherwise crisp white paper. They have lost their youth behind waiting for you, but still embrace you without complaining.

They stare at you when you are lost in your scotch and forget to acknowledge them. They stay close to your heart when you hug the sleep, they will fall hard on the floor and don't move until you pick them up and lock them once again. They keep aging, tattering, shedding tears, waiting for you to acknowledge them.

It's all about words at the end. Words written on them complete them. Words written by you in your mind define you. Each time you write a line, you change. And your words accept you. It's a power to create this world in your mind. It's a power to create such thoughts. And this power is addictive. It takes you everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

And this power is beautiful..

Why judge?

2011-11-08T01:31:00.000+05:30

This blog-world always manages to amuse me. When you are good friends with bloggers, and talk to them more or less on regular basis, and you are girls, then stories are bound to be discussed. If you have been blogging for more than a year, you tend to develop a bond with your readers. You may communicate with them through other mediums like mails, chats, facebook and such else.

I have a few friends too whom I met through blogging, but I talk to them even outside the blogs, more or less on regular basis. And we discuss about various things. One of such topics was about the blog content. I have a personal blog, so do most of the people I follow. Though rarely, but we do discuss blogs, especially when we have a post that's inspired by some conversation or comments.

One such discussion I'd had with a blogger friend about her style of blogging. Someone told her that she came across as a very different person from what she really is in real life. Well, it was a bit surprising to hear it as people have so much time to analyze posts and compare the real you and the blogger you!

Talking about me, even though I have a personal blog and I am honest about what I write here, I may not always write about my feelings for that particular subject matter, I am sure most of us don't do that. Thus judging a person from blogpost is not too accurate.

A person may write all sober stuff on blog, but in real life his/her sentence may not be starting without any abuse. A rude person on blog would actually be very humble and vice versa. And common, unless you want to settle down with that person, why would you bother about how that person writes/sounds on his/blog?

These social networking sites have spoilt us. We take them way too seriously. I was one of them too. Such things really mattered to me earlier. I took the social networking sites way too seriously. It really mattered to me what people did and what was happening in their lives. I have come out of that stage now. I don't even know what I have on my profile. I have disabled all e-mail notifications. I don't even know these days how many comments are there on each my post. 5 on an average per post? Or maybe less. I do get a lot of page views even today. And followers keep increasing too, but no comments as I don't read them. Don't I miss that?

Another discussion I'd had was about typos. I know so many people who make at least 3 typos per sentence. Some of these typos are classic. Some of them are a result of auto-correct too. This typo story deserves a separate post. Until then, STOP JUDGING!

I blog because..

2011-10-23T03:43:00.001+05:30

It has been around 2.5 years since I started blogging. In such a short time, I can proudly say that I have experienced almost all kinds of pleasures/pains you can think of in respect of blogging. I have met people, made friends, and enemies, I have blogged about people, I have been blogged about a few times, took part in a couple of competition and didn't win, changed blog templates, left comments on other blogs, won and gave blog awards and what not. It's an endless list. When I think about those days, I always feel good. How people took pain to read you every time, link your blog while giving away an award, acknowledged you, wrote about you and your blog.

And I used to write so well! Whenever I read any post written a year before, rather before say May-June 2010, each one is nice. Different subjects, variety of topics, variation in the style and language, flow of the post - everything was so good. No, I have never been a brilliant writer, not even above average; but blogging is all about expressing and if you can do that effortlessly, you are a good blogger.

But not many people think the way I do. I happened to meet someone recently who had a very strong opinion about blogging. According to that person, ranting or blogging about personal life is a waste of blogging. One must put one's writing skills to a good use. Well, I obviously disagreed as I only rant these days. It's been so long since I have written about people or observation. I like ranting. There is a disadvantage too. One year down, i won't be able to say that I wrote well a year ago; but that's ok. And I do call this blogging too sir even if you write me off as a blogger/writer.

Apart from ranting, I get the strong urge to write on legal topics. There are so many things people are not aware about, and they should know. But I lack patience. I deal with law books all day. Blogging is a vent out zone for me. If I see a lot of legal gyaan here too, then I will have to abandon my own blog.

And I blog when I am extremely happy, or extremely sad, or extremely angry, or extremely stressed out. I cannot blog in normal mood. I prefer to do my work, or I talk to people, or I simply chill out.

I love to talk. I love to talk about things around me, people around me, me and such else. I cannot be fake here. No pseudonymous identity for me, no happy face when I am sad, no praising when I don't like you. I don't advertise my life here, but I don't make up things too, just to blog. And I love to write about such non-sense without being concerned about anybody or being judged. It feels so nice when this crap is out of your system.

I blog because I love to.

I wish I was dumb

2011-10-19T01:20:00.001+05:30

Well, you have got to be dumb if you want to connect to most of the people around you. When I say that I wish I was dumb, I certainly think that I am smarter than most of the people around me. Or, let me put it this way - most people around me think that I am dumb. Well, this happens to be a general perception about girls as people think that girls don't have brains, they can only crib and nag, shop, make guys spend money on them. Well, it's true to an extent, but you cannot judge everyone on the basis of this perception right?

Before you decide to leave this post thinking I am turning all feminist, or start cussing the male species around and all set to leave a heated comment, wait. I am not going to do either of these. I am a feminist, but I love men. I respect them and can't think of a life without them. And I will keep loving them even if they are the ones who think I am dumb.

Coming back to the topic, which happened pretty early this time around - only two paragraphs of non-sense rants and I am back to the header. How many times have you faced a situation when people think that they can take you for a ride and lie to you about various things thinking you will never find out the truth? I am not trying to be sexist here, I am sure even men would be facing such situations, but right now I am talking about such situations faced by a few friends and even me.

One day, a friend and I were discussing about our relationships. Now, when two girls meet, a lot of bitching is bound to happen. And it's fun too sometimes, just to clear your mind and move on. And we started discussing about how guys lie to you, and how they think we believe them. There is no distrust here, but if one is going to lie about things the other person already knows about, that kinda explains it all.

Funny thing was, none of us came out of the relationship on these grounds. None of us tried to confront that person just to show that we trust them completely. It is wrong too I guess, as deep inside your heart, you know that the person keeps lying to you. But, is confrontation the only way out? The person would have lied as he didn't trust us enough. Maybe buying his excuses was our way of showing that we trust you. But at the end of it all, it was our smartness that made us find out the truth some or the other way, even without being nosy about it.

Thus the header - if I was dumb, I would have avoided so many heart breaks at various stages of life. All because I used a bit of my brain, kept my eyes open, I had to go through a sad phase. This was years and years ago, when I was a teenager. Almost a decade gone and I still retain my smartness much to my fury.

These days, I am seldom taken on a ride by someone, and whenever I am, I catch it, always. And I still see it happening with friends. They know it too, still keep quiet. And keep giving one more chance, without realising that it is somewhere affecting the relationship, the trust factor which is a base of any damn relationship. Had we all been as dumb as people assumed us to be, our life would have been happier. Well, maybe.

And I hate to end a post on serious note. Not that I am funny or amusing always, but I rarely get into boring rants mode. And damn, since the time I have been told that I digress from the main topic all the time, I have become a bit conscious about writing my post. So all you wonderful people, I shall stop listening to you if you ever talk about the header connection with the post ever in the future. Ah, just kidding.

The header story

2011-10-10T04:01:00.000+05:30

OCDs are usually weird. I have already written a post about my OCDs here (you can choose not to click, you know). The list mentioned there didn't include quite a few points which I can think of right now. I don't know whether you can call them that, but I am too particular about these things.

Now, I have not been blogging regularly, reasons best known to me. I click on new post, start writing something, erase it and start it all over again. I don't know how many times I have done so. When I am unable to write anything, I simply go to edit post, delete the saved draft and log out. I cannot keep a single post saved in drafts. It makes me feel restless. Any incomplete work makes me feel so. Either I have to complete the post, or discard it completely. Or I mail a copy to myself if the post is amazing, which happens rarely.

Music - I am genre agnostic when it comes to music. I can listen to any damn song if it sounds good to my ears. I love to play the song I really like on repeat all day, for days. People around me go crazy as they get irritated after listening to the same song. I don't blame those poor souls, for I can be very irritating at times. Or maybe all the time. Who cares!

Coming back to the reason behind this post - the header story. I mentioned in my previous post that I keep digressing from the main topic of the post and talk about everything else. Well, same thing happened this time around too. That's how I am, deal with it. I cannot stick to a plan and write. I write whatever comes to my mind - while drafting an agreement, or while talking to a friend, while listening to music, while watching tv. when I have so many distractions, how can you expect me to stick to a topic.

Thus I shall digress, each time I write. Not purposely, but it happens. Always. When I decided to write a post about headers, I thought I would write something funny about headers, but as usual, got digressed :P

So all you wonderful people who are still clueless about the connection between the post and the header, you may continue to be so. You are anyway going to read me as your love for me is blind (lucky me). For the rest of you, stop looking for the link between the post and the header; there ain't any!

I be old

2011-10-05T18:54:00.000+05:30

Certain headers can get you so much of attention. This one is my gtalk status right now. And almost everyone on my gtalk list asked me why did I have such a status. Even those who seldom speak with me, or who have a perpetual DND status.

For me, age has never been an issue to worry about. I have never been secretive about my age either. It's silly to hide one's age, especially when you already have wrinkles on your face and you still claim to be hovering somewhere in between 25 to 28. And no, this is no exaggeration, I know people who claim to be in their late twenties even though they have crossed the thirty mark a few years back.

Well, I am sure they do have their reasons for pretending to be so young. And fears too. A friend is 32, unmarried. She loves one guy and is going around with another. The guy she is in love with wants to marry a good looking girl as he happens to be the brother of a well known bollywood actress. For him, having a hot chic as his wife is very much necessary thanks to his "social circle". They keep going in and out of the relationship. The other guy in her life is a backup, if things don't work out with this one, then he is always there.

No, don't judge her. Maybe you would have done the same thing if you were her. Age and loneliness can make you do weird things in life. Another friend is in her late thirties and single too. She happens to be a very good looking girl, very intelligent and independent. But well, she was betrayed by her guy and now it's too late and difficult for her to find a guy she would be happy with thanks to our Indian society and its mentality.

As they say, you should never underestimate a woman unless you are talking about her age or weight. It stands true in most cases. Even those who claim that they don't mind disclosing their real age/weight are usually dishonest. Usually, not always.

Ah, this is so typically me. I start talking about one point and digress to something totally different. I have been sulking about being old - not because of aging, or wrinkles (not that I have any), or greying of hair (that I have many), but just thinking about my age suddenly makes me feel oh-so-old. There is so much I have done, there is so much to do, from career to personal life, and such other things.

And there is still an ongoing process of understanding people around you. Because you care. About them and about yourself too. You get either hurt or get happiness in the process. You think something and it turns out something else.

There I digress again. In a totally unrelated news, people have been praising the upcoming movie Rockstar's music a lot. AR Rehman has composed music for a movie after quite some time. People are usually biased about him. They are telling me that his music takes some time to grow on you, but slowly and surely it will, which I highly doubt. It's pretty much ordinary, with not so good lyrics. Talk about hype and bias.

Getting Inked

2011-09-27T01:09:00.001+05:30

I got my first tattoo done in June 2009. It was pretty late for me as I wanted one for quite some time. But getting something done on your skin which is permanent - it takes guts. And there are many myths about tattoos especially when it comes to the pain part. Who would want to get a permanent design done on body and bear pain too? The thought itself is insane, or so says my mom at least.

One of the most important things you have to remember before getting a tattoo done is the selection of design or the words/phrase/name of the person and such. Since it's a permanent thing, it's utter foolish to get the name of your spouse tattooed. People these days get divorced at the age of 45 too. Imagine having the name of your divorced better half on your hand! Always be very practical and remember that nothing but a tattoo lasts forever!

Selecting a design you like, or you can associate yourself with is very much required. When you ask a girl what kind of a tattoo she wants, her first answer will be - I want a fairy/butterfly/star done. And 6 out of 10 girls will have at least one of these objects tattooed. Their imagination does not go beyond shoulder and ankle when asked about where they want a tattoo done. And last but not the least, their fixation for coloured tattoo. They want all bright colours in their tattoos. They forget that we Indians usually have wheatish complexion. Colours become dull/light after the tattoo settles down on our body. You need a flawless white skin tone to carry off coloured tattoos. Or select colours which do not have to remain bright to look dull - like maroon, green - which happens to be the basic colour of the ink.

After taking out all my frustration on the typical girly tattoos, coming back to the selection of design part - remember, this thing will stay on you forever. Get a tattoo done of such an object that you can relate to, or love (excluding lovers/husbands). Like your parents' name, face portrait of your child/sibling/yourself, a verse or phrase you swear by, a bird/animal you like - anything you know you will never hate or get bored of.

Then comes the shape and size of the object. This goes hand in hand with the place of tattoo. How big/small the tattoo is, placement of which also depends on its visibility to you. Some people prefer to have a tattoo on their back, so that others can see those even when they wear a slight low back gown. or on wrist, neck, face, ankle - these are the places where you can spot it easily. I have two tattoos so far, and both are on my upper arm. they are placed in such a manner that I can show/hide them whenever I want to. My profession does not allow me to have visible tattoos, thus this arrangement suits me quite a bit.

The most important part - the pain part. People, tattoos are done by machine that has a needle at its end. This needle pierces your skin, goes deep inside till the fourth layer of your skin, while the process happens, you tend to bleed too - thus it pains. I would not say that the pain is unbearable; otherwise you wouldn't have seen so many people getting their whole body inked. The pain is there, and you can bear it. Initial 5 odd minutes, you feel a lot of pain, then your body gets used to the sensation. Wherever there is a bone, it pains more, less where there is flesh.

After getting the tattoo done, the healing process is equally important. Remember, it's a wound. Your skin is pierced thousands times. The ink has gone deep in and it is settling down. You need to take care of it just like you take care of your wound. Wash it with an anti-bacterial soap, apply the gel recommended by your tattoo artist 3-4 times a day. Keep your tattoo clean, let it breathe and don't overdo anything - sunlight or hiding it behind covers.

A tattoo heals within 15 days. The first layer of skin peels off, and the fresh layer comes back - on the ink that has been pierced in. This results into a bit dull effect of the tattoo, as the colour of the tattoo has been settled on your skin. That's why it's important to select colours wisely if you want a coloured tattoo on Indian skin. Remember not to pull out the peeling skin, as it may result into embossed effect of the tattoo which doesn't look so neat. The skin will come off on its own. And your tattoo will be a part of your skin in a few days.

Ah, that's about it - the whole lecture on tattooing. I have been thinking about writing on this topic for quite some time, but somehow this post never took a shape. Finally I have written the whole damn post on tattooing. If you have any other questions about tattooing, google it.

Yet another post

2011-09-25T02:22:00.001+05:30

Yet another night, yet another post I begin to write, about all those things which keep happening in my life - again and again.

To begin with, teaching is shaping up well. Students are scoring good marks, weekend lectures are happening due to examination pressure and weekdays are spent with friends and fun. All in all, a good life.

Sometimes, things happen in a very strange manner. You don't even realize when some relationships become so very close to you. You don't see or talk to each other regularly, but there is always a connection between you and them. You can somehow sense their thoughts and feelings, you can feel their presence even though they are not around. Does it happen to you? It does to me at least.

And such relationships I cherish. I remember the time spent with them. I miss them when I am having a good time with my friends around - at dinners, over drinks or while watching a movie. They can make you remember them and miss them even when you are in a crowd.

Those regular here must have known by now who I am talking about. I do that in every second post these days. Reason is simple - it soothes me. As much as a road trip does, or scotch does. And it makes my blog a personal diary, and a few people try to read in between the lines too, and end up offering me some advise, but I am much more sane than I come across.

And hell, I am written about too. My dear friends write about me on their blogs, they acknowledge my presence and love me much more than I love them. They miss me when I am not around, they panic when I am not contactable. Ah, what would be life without them?

In other totally irrelevant news, I saw two movies recently - speedy singhs and Mausam. Both the movies are bad. Speedy Singhs is quite an ok one, but I don't know why it was made as there have been similar movies made in past - on the same theme and with the same community too. Russell Peters is totally wasted in it. Rather, he should stick to his stereotypes racist jokes and stand up. He excels there.

And Mausam - the less I say, the better it is. It is one of the worst movies ever made. It is full of various riots and terrorist attacks, bomb blasts etc. since 1991. And somehow the lead actors end up becoming a part of each of it - directly or indirectly. And still they survive. Phew, this happens only in hindi movies.

So all you wonderful people who have reached the bottom of this page, I have saved you from a disaster right now just as an incentive for reading the whole post. What? No more awards are accepted/distributed here for being a nice reader. It was a trend of 70s.

Thoughts..

2011-09-18T02:23:00.002+05:30

Sometimes, so many thoughts are running through your mind that you don't know where to begin from. Whether to blog, or save in drafts, or just tweet away, post status updates, save in mail draft, word file, write a diary, ponder, forget, cry, run away, accept, embrace, give up, fight back or simply ignore them. No matter how hard you try, they haunt you always. Our mind is that way.

Talking of mind, what do you think would be our mind? Heart is an organ, but mind? Where is it? Does it have a form? How come it controls us so much? How can it be an integral part of us and still remain non-existence in being?

Ah, too much of philosophy can kill me you know. My so called non-being mind is always so damn philosophical that I wonder - does it really stay somewhere within my personality? I have always been so carefree, or careless whatever you want to call me. The kind of thoughts I get when I am sad or low are damn scary to say the least.

Yes, the thought storm is at its peak at the moment. I don't say that I am sad or happy right now. I am just in a different mood. When you keep running in life, and suddenly lose all your strength just before the finish line because you are tired, mentally and physically. You want everything to stand still, but nothing does. You are stuck and trapped. Everything is moving but you. That is the worst feeling to have when you cannot afford to slow down in life. Nothing interests you, not even work you are in love with, to an extent that even your survival does not matter after some point.

But still you survive. And how! Hiding the tears, faking a laugh seem like childhood things to you when you stand there, still alive, right before the finishing line. It kills you each second, making you weaker by each moment, and that weakness makes you all the more stronger.

There is a turmoil in your heart. Or is it there in the mind? Or it's not there at all? Can an illusion create such an impact too by lurking around, making sure that you actually believe it to be true? Illusion is such an easy way out from this. But if only you could call it an illusion...

Relationships

2011-09-03T01:23:00.002+05:30

The header itself is dripping philosophy. Well, you can do justice to such posts mostly when you are in the trans mode, or feeling extremely emotional/sentimental about certain things or people. On any normal day, you will end up being diplomatic and write it in a very politically correct manner. I am blabbering now. Well, a slow and boring day can do that too you.

For the past 4-5 days, I have not been in blogging mood at all. I have not even read anything. Nor am I planning to read any in the coming 4-5 days. I like such short breaks. I like the hibernating feeling once in a while. I like to cut off completely from some part of the world that involves technology. Our life is full of it these days. You can't even afford to keep your cell phone off for 24 hours. It's a mad mad world.

And this technology has made us more emotional, touchy and angry about so many things. Especially relationships. Earlier, long distance relationships had a lot of suffering as there were not many means to contact each other. These days, it has become a pain in a$$. You video-chat with the person sitting across miles and oceans, you get angry when he/she doesn't turn up on time or turn up at all, you get frustrated as you are feeling low and can't even hug him/her, you smile the moment you see the person appear online. Ah the technology!

I feel wonderful when I get to connect to people who are not in the same continent as me. But I talk to them whenever I want to, I get to see them, share those small things which were otherwise not possible anymore. But when the person is within your reach, when that person comes back in the same country that you live in, and is just couple of hours away, and you are unable to meet him/her or connect to him/her on regular basis, it becomes frustrating before you even realize it.

It happened with me twice. I was within the reach of the person and could not meet the person or met for a very short period. When they were in India, I couldn't even talk to them because they had their families around them since they were meeting them after a year, and we were anyway connected online. I even fought with one of them on this matter.

Later on I was thinking about it - it was my love for them that was making me angry. They might be feeling the same frustration when I am not reachable, or I have certain commitments.Funny thing is, these people are a part of my virtual world coming real! But they have managed to be a part of me, my life like they had always been around.

Ah, the boring stories of me and my mind. Someone correctly said - expectations lead to disappointment. And the series of such frustrating disappointments result into boring blog posts too which you can choose to ignore. Hah, anyway nobody reads me these days :P

Free Gyaan

2011-08-20T22:09:00.000+05:30

After reading the header, do I hear you say that you have got this so many times? It happens with almost all of us. When we are young, from watchman to milkman, elder brother to grand father - everyone comes and gives us gyaan on various things!

As a kid, I was always told how to behave, how to dress, how to talk and various other things. I was brought up in a small town in Gujarat. People there were pretty orthodox. Anything above the knee after the age of 10 was a sin! Wearing a short top on denim? Gosh, you are such a cheap girl! Yes, people are still this orthodox even today!

A few people still raise their eyebrows when they see my tattoos, or see others wearing short dresses for a party, or a girl smoking.Well, I do know that each of us is entitled to an opinion, but when the opinion comes across as a negative remark, the problem starts then. We commonly know it as generation gap!

So far, I was thinking that there exist a vast gap between me and elder people around me. I used to crib about how my mother does not approve of certain things that I do, certain clothes that I wear, certain kind of music I hear and movies I watch, late night parties, sleep overs etc. I always used to argue with my mother about how my friends were allowed to do certain things and I wasn't. Now, they don't tell me anything anymore as I am grown up. I have become "wise enough" to know what's good for me and what's not. Nobody gives me any lecture anymore on what I should or shouldn't be doing.

Well, I was under the impression that I was a very "modern" girl until now. I happened to meet a friend's teenage daughter. I was talking to her. She was telling me about how her life is, what kind of a lifestyle she and her friends and plenty of people of her age have, how they party, have boyfriends since standard 7, how almost all her friends have a blackberry and an iPhone each! Phew! I was amazed to say the least. I couldn't give her a lecture thanks to my mindset of the "modern girl", but I realized that our parents are at least honest. They voice out what they feel about the way we live. We pretend to be cool about many things we ain't comfortable with.

I will continue to live under the pretence, because I know how I felt about the gyaan I got from everyone around me. Whatever I think is good for me may not be so for someone else. Bah, I feel old suddenly!

Making a difference

2011-08-18T00:50:00.000+05:30

Anna Hazare and his arrest is making a lot of noise all around. I am neither with him, nor against him. My reason is simple - there are too many complications in this game. Fighting corruption is sidelined completely. People are taking part in rallies, candle march and such other sh!t like it is going to help. No I don't have an "nothing will ever make any difference, so don't do anything" attitude. But I don't believe in wasting my time and energy behind headless things either.

I come across sloguns like - Anna nahi aandhi hai, Desh ka naya Gandhi hai! Why can't you let him be an individual simply? Is it necessary to compare every non-violent person with Gandhi and others with Azad or Bhagat Singh? I found "Subhash Chandra Bose's death was faked" story more interesting than these theories.

Anyway, I have blogged about this earlier too. But I mentioned it again as a very interesting incident happened yesterday when I was travelling. Since Anna Hazare got arrested and was missing for more than two hours some time after his arrest, there was naka bandi at almost all the busy corners of Mumbai. At one such corner, I spotted a traffic police taking bribe!

Here, you have one man who is going to jail for introducing the Jan Lokpal bill, and on the other side, he is, to an extent responsible for the bribe given and taken at the time of Naka bandi!

We have all kinds people around. A very interesting incident happened today again, this time it was an autowala who helped me. I have a huge collection of books. When I shifted to a new house, I had kept my books at a friend's place as there was no place initially. I got these books back today. There were more than 200 books of all different sizes. I had my laptop and three huge bags full of books with me. My autowala was a Muslim guy and building watchman was not around. This happens whenever you need them. I asked the autowala whether he had kept a roza and was fasting or not. He said he was. When we reached my building, he insisted on helping me with the bags. I was refusing constantly as I couldn't even have offered him water after he would get the bags. He didn't listen to me, gave me the lightest bag to carry and he carried two other bags which were too heavy.

I was feeling so guilty about it as I knew he would not even be able to have water after that. When he dropped the bags at home, I offered him some money. He refused to take it. I kept on insisting that he should take it as I would feel very guilty about it, but he didn't listen to me at all. He just smiled and left. I could not even ask for his name or contact number, but I am sure god will bless him wherever he is.

After seeing him, I have realized that WE have to change. Nobody will be able to make any difference unless and until we all do it on individual level. Stopping corruption is a conscious effort that each of us has to make. No rallies will help you if you are going to pay 100 Rs. for breaking the signal as a bribe to aviod further complications!

Happy and Not so happy moments

2011-08-13T23:40:00.001+05:30

Time flies. Around this time, a year back, I didn't know what the hell was going on in my life. It was probably one of the most difficult phases for me. Things are not perfect now, but not so bad either. Back then, each day felt like a year, each moment crawled slower than the snail. And as they say, you know who your friends are when you are going through a rough phase. Same thing happened with me too. There were a few people who stood by me, whenever I needed them. And I was fortunate enough to have more than one such friends in my life.

Another blessing was my two year old niece - one year old then. Her constant mischief, growing up days and her love kept me going.

Such madness can keep anyone going.

Many things changed during this period. My blogging reduced drastically and replying to comments became zero. My readership could have been negative too if it was not for you wonderful people.

I complete two hundred posts. No matter how much one claims that one does not care about number of comments and readers, but you do care. If you didn't, then you wouldn't blog on a public platform at all! Yes, we don't always blog on topics that others like, but we never blog about topics others hate. Bah, I rant so much!

And I got my second tattoo done. I had blogged about the first one too. Check archives to see it.

I am off to Pune for two days. It's a very random trip, no bookings done anywhere whatsoever! And India lost the match! Sigh!

In other news, my darling Guria is in India. I so wanted to go and meet her, but it won't be possible. I hope to meet her, and soon enough.

And India lost the test series. One of the most pathetic performances ever given by the erstwhile world number one test cricket team. I am sad again!

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

2011-08-11T01:13:00.000+05:30

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder or popularly known as OCD. So many of us suffer from it. It is not a good or a bad thing. It is just there inside us. I don't know whether there is any cure for OCD or not, but if it drives you mad, then please go look for its cure!

You might have heard this from many people that they are cleanliness freaks. Erm, to be honest, cleanliness freaks is more of a fashion statement than an OCD symptom thanks to Monica of Friends. But I do know certain people who suffer from an extreme case of OCD when it comes to cleaning. A friend of mine suffers from such an OCD. She has to clean each and every corner of her room. Everything has to be kept in its own place. She does not like it if you leave the mobile charger in the switch board, or comb on the dressing table, or clothes behind the door. She even arranges her wardrobe in colour coordinated manner - all blacks together, whites together, different sack for formals, semi formals, casuals, Indian wear, Sarees - phew!

When we were doing our masters together, we had gone to pune to appear for the exam. Now I suffer from OCD too. I cannot study in a very clean room. I have to have all my books around me when I sit down to study, whether I refer to them or not. I sit with the books of other subjects too, whether I have that exam or not. This makes me realize that I am done with my studies now. Ah I miss it!

Talking about my OCDs, my worst OCD is about reading. Once I start a book, no matter how pathetic it is, I have to finish reading it. I will give up on my sleep, my peace of mind behind that awful book, but I have to read the whole damn thing!

How clean is your desktop? I have to have items in odd numbers on my desktop. 3, 5 or maximum 7. More than 7 items on desktop makes me uneasy. Each night before sleeping, I clear chat history if it is there. I cannot keep any mail unread. If I am in hurry, I will open it and close it again, but I will not leave it unread. Any unimportant mail goes directly into trash. Trash is cleared too before logging out. Checking privacy setting every now and then is another habit!

And those calculations. I have this irritating habit of adding the digits of car numbers while travelling. If I miss out on one, I become too restless. It is my best passtime while travelling. Even when I am walking and pass by any parked vehicle, I calculate the digits. I keep a track of milestones. I look for patterns in them. If any of the milestone is missing a pattern, I feel weird. When I was in college, I knew which pole had what number plate it. On railway tracks, the kilometres are mentioned on a plate, and I knew the whole pattern by heart! It scared my friends a lot, but that is how my mind worked then. Now I no longer look for milestone or pole patterns, though digit counting continues.

Another habit was of remembering phone numbers and account numbers. I remember most of my friends' mobile numbers even today. I remember all my past and present account numbers. I remember my debit and credit card numbers, BB Pin, room numbers of the hotels I have stayed in so far - I am way too obsessed with numbers.

Too many OCDs! Phew! But none of them drive me crazy anymore. There is no extreme restlessness feeling when I skip some number calculation. It is still there in case of reading, but that's that. I read only fiction, so it does not as such harm me, but yeah, I suffer from OCD. So, what are your OCDs? Or there is only one?

Copy and Copyrights

2011-08-01T22:57:00.000+05:30

Disclaimer: I am forced to write this post as there are various leading newspapers and magazines which are publishing blog posts without taking prior permission of the original author. Read on if you want to know about copyright laws and/or have been the victim of copyright violation, or come back to read when you become one!

Every now and then I keep reading about how blog posts are being used by leading newspapers and magazines as a part of their regular content. Irony is that these newspapers and magazines do not even bother to take a prior written (or even oral) permission from the authors of the original content. Posts are getting edited, tweaked and published shamelessly!

Around a year back, when I was as lousy a blogger as I am now, my posts were copied too verbatim by a site twice. They didn't even give a linkback. They simply mentioned my name as the author. No blog link anywhere, nothing. I sent them a mail informing them that I would take a legal action against them for publishing my posts without taking my permission. They immediately removed my posts and promised me that they would never publish my worthless content ever! Ah, what a loss for me!

I lost an amazing opportunity to be a famous lousy blogger, but I know a few amazing bloggers whose posts were copied recently. These magazines and newspapers are respected and reputed names. When a newspaper recently copied a blogger's blog post, upon asking the newspaper editor said that they gave proper credit to the blogger. The blogger's permission was not obtained before publishing the post. Further, it was edited too. The matter will be resolved soon, but the way it was treated on social sites like twitter was very disappointing. A few replies were rude and vague.

I have a very simple question: For how long these newspapers and magazines are going to take blogs and blog posts lightly? We write posts for ourselves. When we see other media channels making money and gaining readership by using our content without even taking our prior permission, it violates our copyrights that we have on the content.

For any medium that wants to use any content of any person, first that medium has to take a prior written permission from the author. Upon the terms and conditions agreed upon by the author and the printing medium; due credit, publishing and re-publishing of the content, number of times the content to be re-published, period over which it can be re-published and such various terms are decided.

In India, when a literary, artistic or dramatic content is copied without prior permission, or plagiarised by someone; it is protected under Indian copyright act. Further, Information Technology Act 2000 has certain provisions too for the protection of original content especially softwares.

When a person whose content is copied without his/her permission, it is called as Infringement. There are certain acts which do not amount to Infringement. (Kindly click on the links I have provided. They are useful for you as they give you an insight of the laws relating to copyright to protect your original content). As per the Indian Copyright Act, when a person violates your Copyright, he is punishable with an imprisonment of minimum 6 months, but which may extend to three years; and a fine of minimum of 50,000 which may extend to 2,00,000 or both. There are various punishments for various kinds of Infringement, which can be found in the Indian copyright Act. You can contact me too if you want to know about a specific infringement punishment.

It is a serious offense to copy someone's original content. These days, the leading newspapers and magazines are publishing original content of bloggers without their prior permission. Isn't it sad? Our blogs are protected under Creative Commons License. This license does not give permission to non-owner to copy the content of the blog without blog owner's permission. Still, these newspapers and magazines shamelessly steal content from blogs so that they don't have to pay any money to the writers for such articles. Further, they say that they are a huge platform and they are obliging bloggers by publishing their posts and giving them due credit. This, according to them is much more than the monetary compensation. For such a feature, they don't even find it needful to take the permission of that blogger. And a few fools like me still swear by ethics!

There is a difference between Plagiarism and Copyright violation. When someone uses your original content unde his/her name and claiming it to be his/her original content, it is called as plagiarism. While copyright violation is when someone uses your original content, publishes or re-publishes it without your prior consent, it amounts to copyright violation.

Yes, I am angry. And I have written this post so that in future when famous brands copy your content without taking your permission or without giving due credit, you can refer to this post to know whether or not they have violated your copyright. You can even contact me in this matter as I have done my masters in Law in Intellectual Property Laws. I have written a thesis of 200 pages on Infringement. Whoever is interested, I can mail them a copy for their reference. Mind you, that theses is my copyright, so dare you borrow it to copy and publish it in your "famous" newspaper!

Rules

2011-07-29T15:01:00.000+05:30

Almost everyone knows how wonderful mumbai monsoon is. More so because of the famous floods of 26th July 2005 where so many were stranded, lost home, lives, valuables and trust on BMC. Yeah yeah I know BMC sounds more like an abuse, but it's full form is Bombay Municipal Corporation. I am surprised as to why it has not yet been changed to MMC - Mumbai Municipal Corporation? Or the B stands for Brihanmumbai? Ah, anything is possible here.

Talking about Mumbai rains and floods, every year, the Government claims that they have a better drainage system this time around, and every year it fails. That's consistency I must say. We get scared every time it rains continuously for 2 to 3 hours. We panic, leave work and head home to avoid getting stuck again in the floods!

And there are bomb blasts too, happening every now and then in Mumbai and everywhere else! But that deserves a separate post which I am hoping I don't have to write next time.

After talking about everything but the main topic of this post, let me get back to the main topic - Rules. Yes we all break them, but we forget that they are for our own good! A similar thing happened with me recently. These days, there is a fine of 300 Rupees if you smoke in a cab. You see the No smoking sticker on almost all the cabs. There was a rule too in between about smoking ban in vehicles - public transport as well as private vehicles. But that didn't last even for a day!

This rule is being followed by many cab drivers. I asked one driver whether people followed the rule or not. He said that people don't really follow the rules. Nobody listens to the cab drivers. They smoke nevertheless. He even said that the police officer who had hired his cab was also smoking inside the cab. This ban has a reason behind it. Since the cabs are pretty old and work on CNG, if there is even a bit of leakage, there can be a fatal accident. It's a very very valid reason for banning smoking in the cab, but for how long the rule will be implemented? If a policeman smokes inside the vehicle, then how can we expect others to follow them after seeing this?

I have seen this so many times that at the time of traffic jams, traffic police bikes even go from the wrong side. I understand that they might be getting late for their duty, but if such a step causes more jam or inconvenience, then they should at least ensure that they have other traffic cop to take care of the jam there!

Yes yes I know it's easy to talk about such things. But what else to do? At least talking about it may help to improve the situation a bit!