What would you choose?

What would you choose if were to choose between

A high paying challenging industrial job OR an Academic life full of excitement?

Being obedient to someone you respect, and as a mark of it relinquish your independent thought,  OR invite animosity from that revered person, for choosing your mind?
You can argue that you may not revere someone who demands your subjugation, but what if you are bound?

Question the irrational priest/soothsayer/godman that swindles the obstinately gullible leaving him offended big time, OR keep quiet fearing maniacal expletives from all directions?

Comforts of home OR an adventurous independent life away from home?

Be candid when one of your peers asks you for an opinion  OR you know...
**
Wake up at the break of dawn to go on an hour-long walk OR stay asleep for that one hour?
These days it's been the former for me, thankfully!


*****
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/apr/05/rising-india-surrender-national-dignity

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/174656/thane-deluge-buries-10-alive.html



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Current Song :
Pehla Nasha from the movie "Jo jeeta wohi Sikandar"

"Chaahe tum kuchh na kaho
maine sun liya
Ki saathi pyaar ka
mujhe chun liya
Chun liya Maine Sun liya"

I invariably need change

There have been long stretches of consecutive days when my music player was stuck in the "Repeat one song" mode. The recent one I was tethered to was Sar Kiye by Strings. When I was not listening to the song, I would be humming the bit of

"Sar Kiye Yeh Pahaar
Daryaon Ki Gehraiyon Mein
Tujhay Dhoonda Hai

Aa Bhi Ja Aik Baar
Meray Yaar Aisay Na Looto Meray
Mann Ka Qarar

...
Ho..
Ho Gaya Hai Tumsay Pyar..."

I often told myself that I'd only listen to a song till I get tired of it and then go to rest of the playlist. The problem was - I never seemed to feel I had listened to that piece of music enough and be caught by that single melody eternally.

While it is good to appreciate what's exceptional, being stagnant due to it is not a favourable state of mind for me. It was not just music that would keep me bound to a single masterpiece. The genre of books I read has not changed for a long time. I have been cooking the same delectable entrées (very few) when it's my turn to cook. I better explore other recipes before my roommates get bored of the same old sprouts saaru, vangi bhath and soppu saaru.

Only when we explore the world of food, music, art, science and technology, and learn of outstanding works, aroma, tastes, discoveries or inventions do we keep the spark inside us alive. Change seems to be the driving force for me; and I'd like to keep it continuous. For example, a new set of clothes or accessories can be a feel good factor for you to do a good job in the lab, though both are not connected to each other in any way without you.

 
*****
Current Song:

My Name Is Anthony Gonsalves from the old Hindi movie Amar Akbar Anthony

"You See The Whole Country Of The System
Is Juxtaposition By The Hemoglobin In The Atmosphere
Because You Are Sophisticated Rhetorician
Intoxicated By The Exuberance Of Your Own Publicity
 ...
My Name Is Anthony Gonsalves
Main Duniya Mein Akela Hoon
...
You See In Such Accentuating Circumstances
Who Can Ask Me Perclude From Such Extravagance
'''
 You Se The Coefficient Of The Linear

Is Juxtaposition
By The Hemoglobin Of The Atomospheric Pressure In The Country
..."

That powerful thing!

I’d been looking into the eye since I-don’t-know-when. The eye was in great distress due to a beautiful thing. I had seen a tattoo on a guy’s arm, in the library a couple of months ago that read “Destroyed by something beautiful”. How true, I thought. So much of my precious time had been destroyed trying to calm the poor eye down. 

Gradually the eye turned red. It then started to lacrimate. And was left frustrated since I was seeing the source of tribulation, yet could not do much to bring about relief. It’s not a good feeling not to be in control of what’s happening to you. 

After spending a considerable amount of time in front of the mirror I removed the eyelash that was stuck up in my eye.

 ***

Some words of gossip among girls " Do you know that I know that she knows that I know?"

*****

 Current Song:

You and I by Scorpions

Exploitation legitimised; Robbery legalised

It's not uncommon in our country to find complicated memorandums of understanding (MOUs) generally drafted by a single party, for the other in the bilateral agreement to simply accede without questioning. I'm talking about the Grand Indian weddings. Lets look at the the farce step by step


1. Demands of the groom's family for the bride's parents to fulfill:

a) _____ kg of Gold jewellery. (the forward class can demand platinum too) ; and the number in the blank is variable.

b) A plot of land in ________ city. Fill in the blank with the biggest town around.

c) Grand silk sarees (meaning obscenely expensive ones)

d) A sedan.

e) Wedding to happen in best wedding hall of the city; food, decoration and all other arrangements have to be excellent.

f) Bride's family under the control of groom's. (sometimes after the wedding there are possibilities of role-reversal :D )

It's basically day-light robbery of the bride's dad's hard earned money. In fact, it's a strange act in which the groom, incapable of earning his own wealth, steals someone else's with the society's earnest approval!

(please fill in, if you know more of such demands)

Oh by the way, you come to this step after the initial screening which I have written in my post at  http://srilakshmidj-spectrum.blogspot.com/2010/12/normal-0-false-false-false-en-in-x-none.html


2. The bride's family say that they can't find a better match for her and simply acquiesce.

3. At the Wedding:

Of course, there are numerous rituals.

You see a huge number of people, most of whom neither the bride, nor the groom recognizes.

Guests pass comments on everything around, and are easily annoyed at the slightest aberrancy in comforts at the wedding hall, which means all fingers are pointed toward the bride's father. He should have had taken care of everything, you see.

And someone in the crowd is always match-making, paving way for next such drama.

There is music- at some occasions it's light classical, blaring bollywood at some other.

Women are all decked up like walking-talking jewellery and silk-clothes shops.


4) After the Wedding

The poor father of the bride is left with a hole in his (both) pocket(s).

And, generally the couple keep on fighting with each other over compatibility issues.


5) The country calls this the custom/tradition.

*
When I was new in Boston, I had seen a couple getting married in front of the Public Library. There were just four guests, a priest, and a photographer at the occasion. How simple it was.


**
PostScrpt : This is not a generalization. There are exceptions, with really happy couples, without above mentioned issues.

Title is suggested by my Dad
****
Current Song:

"How Do Ya Feel Tonight" By Bryan Adams

"i feel so high - no one else would know it
i don't know why i feel the way i do
i can't let got - and i'm not scared to show it
cuz being here feels right
tell me - how do you feel tonight?"...

"is there anybody dreaming
dreaming of a better day
when everything goes your way"....

'Tall, Dark, Handsome' to 'Fair and Handsome'?

I still can't believe that there are tonnes of ads on TV, endorsed by the celebrities (unskilled 'stars', not actors) for skin-lightening products, that are ridiculously stupid, fooling the gullible. First it was about girls. Dark skinned girls apparently were 'not beautiful'. So, they would not be offered jobs; neither be married off. Girls would use these "No.1 cream-with-american-formula-for-'some-biotech-word' " and suddenly they find lucrative jobs and get proposals from "handsome" men.

How can they correlate fair complexion with beauty? Even when they do, how can any intelligent person say that one has to be beautiful to be hired for a job? As a conclusion, we can definitely say that the ads are made by morons, for women with low self esteem foolish enough to think that they can become pilots, singers, actors (no, superstars), journalists etc simply because they are fair.

In a country where the institution of marriage is held sacred and revered, how can a trivial issue like the colour of the skin be a major deciding factor? If a man does not want to marry a dark-skinned woman, so be it. Why are they making it look like it's the girl's fault that she was born with dark complexion.

As if this nonsense were not enough, they have launched fairness creams for men! When did men start feeling the need to look fair?? Have the girls started to prefer Fair and Handsome men to Tall, Dark and Handsome?


*****
Current Music:
Some Tamil rhapsodies

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Current favourite line :
Never a step backward, never a moment of weakness - Ernesto Che Guevara

My Stone Collection