IS God some external entity?

I am a chicken when it comes to something that can hurt the body, even a small prick. Even after becoming a mother, I need someone by my side whenever I have to undergo a blood test. So going through the labour was a mammoth task for me!

Discovering Vivanta

Welcome to Vivanta, my realm. I am Ruhaan, just an ordinary guy here but that doesn't stop me in introducing you to the amazing society we have here.

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Few months back I was surprised to find a familiar but unexpected face sending me friend's request on my Facebook account. I should confess that more than surprised I was actually pleased to find the presence of my cook on the famous social networking site. He is a hard working guy from different part of the country migrated to Bangalore for regular income. We often advise him to take proper rest as he works in too many houses. But he needs money to send home! Where was the scope of anything else until the advent of cheaper and affordable smart phones? He asked us to order one for him online. And few days later after he got his new gadget he was on Facebook.

In a densely populated country like India where Per Capita Income is calculated around Rs 7,378/Month, owning a laptop is a luxury that only few percentage can afford. On top of that operating a laptop requires a basic understanding of computers and most importantly a relaxed life. With elementary education taking backseat in below poverty line's life, the former is impossible. And the relaxed life factor - well, you gotta be kidding! In our country we work like donkeys to make the ends meet.

So, I would say the invention of cheap smart mobiles is nothing short than a miracle to us. But we have more than the general reasons to celebrate Mobile social networking. Though in recent years, it has helped Indians to express themselves more candidly, handle their social as well as personal issues more maturely, given them voices to fight against issues, given them international exposure that has  broadened their mindset and perspectives, and above all given everybody an alternate source of entertainment. Still, there is another far greater effect of mobile social networking.

You see we used to make everyone around us uneasy with our poking gaze and brazen manners. We

img courtesy www.oshoworld.com

have this birth right of trespassing into the personal life of others. I used to get irritated when while waiting for a train at station, or my turn at a bank or traveling in metro, people waiting idly would just scan me from top to bottom and stare at me unabashedly. Only few would engage in static activities like reading or listening music using headphones. The national past-time was gawking. Men would stare for obvious reasons but even women were not left behind. Staring and making a mental note and comments about others lifestyle, would make anyone uncomfortable. I am sure all of us have been in such situation and unknowingly all of us have been doing the exact same thing. Sprouting from this seed of boredom was our impatient attitude that would drive us in breaking queues, getting into ugly scenes for space in a packed bus or trains and letting our creative streaks erupt as ugly graffiti at improper places.

But recently these things have begun to change. No more people are sitting idle and gaping at each

img courtesy www.firstpost.com

other. With minds happily engaged in browsing through tweets, checking that little red icon in FB profile, or whatsapp an interesting PJ to old college friends, we have become tolerant while on move. We are no longer concerned if the lady sitting beside is wearing a saree or jeans, or if the swarm  outside passport office is swelling or if we are hanging on that pole in the overcrowded bus for more than an hour. We are no longer a nation of bored housewives who would sit before television cutting veggies or tired husbands whose world only revolves around work or family. We are no longer a nation of retired old men who sit idly counting hours in a day or MILs whose only goal is to exercise control on their DILs. Our ladies and men are now socialites, multi-talented, strong opinionated and confident lot. Because we are lot more connected anytime, anywhere. We take absolutely no worries and it looks like finally we are arriving to become a nation of cool people. 

After all, forwarding the forwarded message is the forward thing to do in these forward times.


P.S.: जल्दी फॉरवर्ड करो, मार्केट में नया आया है :D


"I am participating in the #SMWBangalore activity at BlogAdda in association with Social Media Week Bangalore"

My win over a trepidation

"Darr ke aage jeet hai - Success is beyond fear", though it’s a tagline for Mountain Dew but I can't agree with it more as I drove to office. Fear is fear. It is nothing big or small. We all have our own battles against our fears. I have won one such battle.

People complain about Bangalore traffic but it makes me happy sometimes when I am behind the wheel, waiting in the traffic. I drive occasionally so you might say that's why traffic doesn't bother me much but I tell you there is another reason for that.

For a long time I had an unusual phobia to ride a bicycle. While my friends and peers would ride bicycle to school, to city market, or just to play, I was struggling to make friends with gravity. To me man riding on two wheels was a far greater invention than the wheel itself. After many years of attempts I gave up. But one day my mother, on a pleasant summer evening persuaded me. And eureka! It was magic when while riding I turned back to see that my mom was no more holding my cycle. I was super confident. But then I realized that I was a grown up and my peers were already driving scooters. To my dismay I found learning scooter again was an impossible task to me. It was too heavy for lean me. I thought of giving up. But then what is life if we stop trying. What remains in life if 'to give up' becomes a habit. That's a shame!! So, after few years of trying, untrying and retrying, I bought a light-weight scooter. And I learned. But I learned something else too. That driving is not just a struggle to win over personal inhibitions but in India there is an additional challenge for girls - to ignore the mocking and staring eyes. Initially, the comments, the chases, the stares, and even attempts to hit me or touch me or make me fall scared me but then one of my experienced friends advised me that ‘ignoring is bliss’ while driving.

For a girl who struggled to ride a bicycle, I can now drive a car. But it became possible only after years of crusading against my fear and not giving up. I smile when they crack jokes about 'lady driving'. As, I understand that maybe my driving is not as perfect as a guy but I have earned it. There are lot more men too who are not able to overcome their fear for driving. So even if I drive badly, I have the courage to try irrespective of the judgmental eyes.

As the tussle with fears continues, I have discovered that trepidation for doing anything is just a crawling spider. The more one let it to crawl in the mind the more it entangles the mind in its web. So the best way out is to kill this spider with constant hammering of YES I CAN DO IT and this spider will turn out to be a myth. The feeling of winning over any fear is simply ecstatic. I have felt it and what about you?

This is why I hate travelling by train early morning.

Travel by a train in India early morning and it becomes impossible to look outside the window. For instead of enjoying the beauty of a rising sun or admiring the hues of trees and fields, one gets to witness our fellow citizens adding fresh ingredients to national manure. India still has 597 million people defecating in the open. It is not a funny sight but one which make our heads hang in shame. More than 60 years of Independence and still our India is not literate and capable enough to provide our women, children and people right and dignity to proper hygiene and Sanitation.

credit: healthydunia.com

Literate? Yes, because the problem is not solely about awareness and poverty. But something else too.

We do have lack of sanitation facilities and the lack of hygiene amenities are the reason for feeble health, a rise in ailments like cholera, diarrhea as well as incidents of rape cases. Lack of setup is a big hindrance but another lesser known yet prevalent factor is - Indian households are not willing to have the lavatory at their homes thinking it will impure their houses where they place the idols of their deity as well. They believe defecating in open far off field keep their home and surrounding area clean. Some households that do have the sanitation facility have members who still prefer going outside. So apart from providing the infrastructure, a shift from superstitious and ignorant thinking is required.

Illiteracy, population and poverty form a vicious circle and can be eradicated with initiatives like - 'A toilet for Babli' by Domex. I even appreciate the recent campaign ads by Vidya Balan stressing the importance of having Toilet. This level of participation, celebrities are expected to showcase instead of just posing with a broom for shutterbugs. I hope these messages reach everyone who is unaware of the harms of defecating outside.

The Domex Toilet Academy

Domex, HUL’s flagship sanitation brand, currently runs the Domex Toilet Academy (DTA) programme. Domex Toilet Academy was launched on 19th November 2013. It aims to become a sustainable and long-term solution to provide sanitation that benefits the local community and helps stimulate the local economy. The Toilet Academy makes toilets accessible and affordable, while promoting the benefits of clean toilets & good hygiene. Their effort has resulted in bringing the change in the villages of Maharashtra and Orissa and it aims to build 24000 toilets by 2015 in rural areas faced with the problem of open defecation.

You can bring about the change in the lives of millions of kids, thereby showing your support for the Domex Initiative. All you need to do is “click” on the “Contribute Tab” on www.domex.in and Domex will contribute Rs.5 on your behalf to eradicate open defecation, thereby helping kids like Babli live a dignified life.

Hats off to Domex for a meaningful and much needed campaign!

This post is written as part of the Domex #ToiletForBabli campaign in association with indiblogger Happy Hours.

Love in a Glass Bowl

It was the first month of my wedded life. After a hectic month of marriage celebrations in our hometown, I was in Bangalore. Mr. H had all the home setup from his bachelor life thanks to his mother. I had still not joined my office but Mr. H had resumed work after marriage vacation. 

As fate has it, as soon as I came to his house, all the previous domestic helps assumed that I would be an efficient house keeper and left the housekeeping jobs without informing. Before we could realize and get new helps, I was doing all the jobs. Mr. H felt really bad. But I was feeling super excited that I can manage everything. Finding it difficult to persuade me, he would often make some excuses to take me to dinners outside to best places. 

One day even the cooking gas gave up and I called Mr. H who declared that we will dine out. But my mind was scheming something else. I was sitting idle whole day when among the huge collection of Mr. H books, I had found Nita Mehta's microwave cooking booklet. 

At this point, I must reveal the other reason for Mr. H dinner requests. I was a terrible cook having no experience in cooking; being the youngest pampered one in my family. 

I quickly ran through the pages of the mini book and selected Microwave Veg Pulav. Among the other culinary adventures that day, it was the first time I was doing microwave cooking in my life and boy, I was really nervous of this experiment. I never used to like most of Mr. H's kitchenware as they were not maintained properly by the maids. But there was this glass Borosil bowl which was still in its pristine form.  It motivated me further to try. I followed each and every step of the recipe diligently. And I could also do other jobs meanwhile, one of the best advantages of microwave cooking.

It took just 30 minutes to prepare. There was no need to transfer the dish to another vessel as the colorful meal looked beautiful in the bowl.  The perfect transparency told a great culinary story of each grain of rice, draped in the colors of the spices along with the veggies & dry-fruits which retained the color and shape. The blend of rice, spices and everything else created a great concoction of colors and hues, only accentuated by the aroma which filled the house! I never had thought I could cook, let alone prepare delicacy as wonderful as the dish was looking! By the time it was done, I felt like being transported to a magical heaven. 

The bell rang, and I opened the door for Mr. H. Before I could say anything, Mr. H beamed up as he breathed in the whiff and headed straight towards kitchen to find the cuisine. He just said, 'How?' looking pleasantly surprised and I could see how proud he was feeling to marry me. I was elated with joy. But the real test still lingered. Is it only the aroma or the flavor too? Before I could serve him, he quickly got the camera to save the sight of my culinary achievement of lifetime.

We were really hungry by now. Looking at my concerned expressions Mr. H smiled to me and said, 'Don't you worry, dear, Pizza-hut is not far from here!' 

We both had a hearty laugh and commenced to relish our dinner. To this day, I remember it as my best culinary adventure and that charmed bowl, is still my favorite vessel. After all, I cooked with my heart and served my love in it!

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I cooked this post for My Beautiful Food contest in Indiblogger.