Not a good start :-(

The year 2015 has not kicked off on a very good note. I wished for a peaceful year but half way through its very first month and I had to witness the layoff drama in my company for the very first time in my life. I didnt get the pink slip and i am safe but i have lost 3 of my good friends and one among them being someone i respected a lot as a sincere and hardworking employee. 

What hurts me even more is that he is being portrayed as a Non Performer, the reason why company showed him the door. He actually paid the price of foolish tactics of the company. 

On one hand, they had recruitment drive few months back when all of us wondered the need for so many people. On top of that, they kept on recruiting MANAGERS... 1 manager for every 4 employees??!!!  why dont promote these employees to become manager? why not recruit people who would actually work - managers dont work. They manage and create ppts and invent new rules to be implemented within the team...

with these unacceptable reasons given to hardworking employees to be shown the door, no wonder all of us are living in fear with anger within us. But cant blurt it out since we have families to take care of and we dont want to lose our jobs... What a blackmailing game it is...

The Epic Year of my life - 2014

With just two more days left for this year to come to an end, i can say that this had been the most memorable and wonderful year of my life. Blessed with a Baby Girl - Navyaa. Sleeping and waking according to her, playing with her, running around her, praying for her... Becoming a mother is the biggest blessing of life. Honestly, I had been pretty occupied with her and spent such a less time to know what happened to the world. With whatever I could listen or read, some heartbreaking incidents took place - Malaysian Aircraft going missing. We cannot even imagine the pain and grief of the families of the passengers on board that ill fated flight. Another such incident occured yesterday with the Air Asia flight. I pray that they could atleast find out what happened to that flight. Peshawar attack on innocent school children. Floods in J & K. Something good which happened was Mr. Modi becoming the Prime Minister of India. No idea how quickly he can turn the future of India toward betterment but have got some faith in our PM who speaks up. 

On personal front, apart from having Navyaa in our lives, have got many events lined up - 3 weddings to attend. My nephew turned One. Our nana ji completed 90 years of his life but unfortunately we lost him the same year. Have been super busy managing office and home but with family support, it had been good so far. 

God knows what this coming year has in store. I know it cannot be all happy 'n' merry but pray for less harsh time. Wishing all of you a Very Happy n Prosperous New Year - 2015!!!

Heya... The Life has Changed...

Heya...

It had been over an year that I have not written anything on my blog. Boy, what an eventful year it was...

 

My new status: I am a Mommy now... !!! Blessed with a cute little Baby Girl, whom we have named as Navyaa on 26th Feb, 2014.

 

Life changed since then... Actually it changed much before that, when we came to know that we are expecting the baby. Had never taken care of myself like that, had never eaten such healthy food, so many fruits and so much of coconut water. Enjoyed every bit of royal treatment given to me by family and friends and people at office. As the time to the D-Day drew closer, my anxiety multiplied.

 

When finally admitted to hospital, in no longer than 15 minutes so many procedures started which actually scared me. Almost closed my eyes when I was laid down on the operation bed, coz operation theatre is a scary place to be in. And then, hubby dear arrived and took my hands in his... That was reassuring. I could not believe my ears when I heard the first little cry of my baby. I kept on asking repeatedly if my baby is fine, coz I had not seen her. So many thoughts running around in my head in those few moments, till one of the doctors from the team brought her and put her on my chest... I HADVEACTUALLY GOT A HEALTHY BABY!!!

 

And ever since then I actually realized the importance of my mom's favourite dialog - "jab tum maa banogi tab pata chalega ke humko tumhari itni chinta kyun hoti hai". I realized that almost every single minute; even now, when today she completed 4 months. Every day was and is a new day with her. Is she getting enough milk, why is she so dull today, is she looking weak, why is she not falling to sleep, why is she sleeping so much??? All negative thoughts just to ensure if she is fine...

 

It's so amazing to see the journey of creation of a baby and how he learns so many things on his own. How she learnt where to get her milk from, how to convey that she is wet, how to fall asleep, how to smile, laugh, roll over on her tummy, 'speak' all those funny things; which we of course don't understand... I sometimes call her 'kudrat ka karishma'... Funny it is I know, but that's my reaction when I see her do something new...

 

Now all of a sudden priorities have changed... who cares about the favourite TV shows, forget about watching a movie, look for a clean place to eat where she can also lie down comfortably, 1 am is too early to sleep, do multi tasking, revise all those nursery rhymes and learn the bed time stories...

 

And now is the time to join my office. Only if someone tells me that I have an option to quit my job and stay home... How can I leave her behind and miss so many activities which she will do now? It's already so hard to stay away from her during our practice sessions where I leave her with her grand parents almost throughout the day...

 

But that's what life is about. Have to leave her behind only to come running back to home and play with her... Always pray to God to keep her healthy and active. God bless her...!!!

??

Question mark coz am not sure of what to feel… Sad with the current state of our nation with rising number of crime against women; happy that Nirbhaya, as we call her, has left for a better world; angry with amazing statements given by some of the ‘leaders’ of the nation showing off how high they think about women; confused about whom to believe; thankful that am safe till now or insecure about my future life??

I have also travelled in buses and my criteria of boarding a bus, if I am late, was that there are few passengers in there. But now, guess, I should look for 3:1 ratio of women:men to board a bus. Today, I read in paper about Pondicherry government thinking about making overcoat compulsory for female students!!! I mean, what are they trying to prove? Which era are we living in? We are happy with MNCs coming to our country who bring lot of money with them but are not ready to adopt the culture of equality among genders. How can a school girl in a skirt ‘provoke’ men to rape her? It’s not about who wears what, it’s about who thinks about what… They say that girls wear provocative cloths and that is what makes men rape them. Excuse me… What would they say about a 45-year old man rape his 65-year old retired school teacher aunt? Was that lady wearing skirts?? I bet not. Agreed that there are cases where females act irresponsibly (considering the time and place they live in), but please don’t blame women for rape…

It’s about the upbringing. If a child sees his father treating his mother or sister like maids, he will be brought up with that mindset – females are just servants. Fortunately, I am part of families where my father helps my mother in kitchen and so does my brother, where my mother’s views are sought for, where daughters are encouraged to study and work and daughter-in-laws are not treated lesser than daughters. And yes, everyone know their limits and culture and know how to maintain a balance between new ideas and old idealogies. That’s the upbringing of our families…

And those who say that females are made to stay indoors (that’s their ‘maryada’ as ‘Sita’), can I infer that men will always be Raavan?? Can’t they change themselves to better person and make this place safer and cleaner?? I mean, on one hand you bow down your head in front of goddesses and on the other hand you don’t realize that goddesses are also females??!!! You can respect an idol but cannot respect its living avatar….

When I saw the 2nd episode of Satyamev Jayate, I was heartbroken. Again, they say, females should do this, do that and be within limits, what would they say of animals who sexually abuse kids… boy or girl?? Were they wearing or acting provocatively? NO. Those animals are mentally sick.

Read in an article online where the writer stressed that punishing the culprits will not solve the problem, it’s the change of mindset which would give justice to all the victims. Agreed. But to add on, government should please prosecute some of the accused quickly and publicize their executions so that another animal waiting for its prey should think 10 times before committing the crime. If caught, I could be punished AND YES, ACTUALLY PUNISHED. What do we keep on waiting for? Why do these criminals have to be fed in jails for so many years? They know that they would keep on going and appealing in numerous courts, then eventually get sentenced and live long in those jails. If God forbid, government wakes up to actually execute them, their families would appeal to President on the grounds that they have already been through lot of punishment.

Who will teach policemen? Who would teach us? As stated by Nirbhaya’s friend, so many auto-wallas and bikers and cars slowed down but did not help them. Shamelessly, I think even I would have acted the same way because I don’t know if those asking for help genuinely need help or it’s a trap to mug me. But a profusely bleeding girl could have melted someone??

So, who needs to change? Police, government, men at large and all of us. Teach your kids to respect all. Men, please don’t show your dominance. Everyone has a major role to play in this world. We cannot do what you can and in the same way, you cannot do what we can. Please make it a safer place to live in….

Happy Teacher’s Day!!!

I don’t know how, but today (on THE Teacher’s Day), I just happened to think about my school while I was sitting in my office cab and spotted a school on the way (and I had no idea that today is THE Teacher’s Day).

From that moment onwards my journey was fun. I went back to the memory lanes of my school days. Not that I enjoyed those days as most of the students did/does. Have not been punished much and rarely bunked classes but I was favourite of most of my teachers; not all. That’s what I miss the most.

Due to my father’s transferrable job, I had been to 8 schools and of course, graduation and post-graduation colleges. To adjust to new school every time quickly was no fun task. To join, to adjust and to become teachers’ favourite….hmmmm… I think most of the time my looks did the trick. Don’t go by my current looks but I used to look like geeky, who could do no masti or shararat. I remember many of my friends calling me “kitaabi keeda”. There were occasions when my entire class was on punishment, while I along-with few other geeky kids would be allowed to sit.

All of a sudden, I felt like getting out of the cab, quit the job and go back to school life. Every teacher was unique. One of my history teachers in Delhi, who was definitely close to 60 years of age but wore nice makeup, high heel sandals and dye her hair. One of my English teachers, who could be seen entering the school running with parantha in her hands, screamed at top of her shrill voice and walked in the class bare foot (I am trying to refrain from naming them here). My computer science teacher (whom I totally adore), who actually imbibed in me to think logically always and whose nishana to hit with small piece of chalk on anyone talking was so accurate. My sports teacher in Jaipur of whom almost entire school was afraid but he encouraged ME to play whatever I wanted (and so the entire class had to play that sport ONLY ‘coz that was chosen by me).

But I never had good repo with any of my Maths teacher (ironically, my father was a Maths teacher during his younger days for some time). There was and always will be something wrong with that subject.

Still remember my entire class failing Chemistry 12th Pre-board exam not once, twice or thrice but 4-5 times (except only few 2-3 rare species students) and our sir looking helplessly every time.

And it’s not only School days… how can I ever forget my college? Now that’s where I did some masti. Bothering one of my lecturers every time by asking some question knowing that he does not know the answer and mind you, my questions were never stupid. Only fun part was that I already knew the answer but not him and the multiple changes of expressions on his face at that time.

My economics lecturer during MBA days, who was driven crazy (and I mean that literally) by us... and my MBA friends, am actually not getting his name. If you remember, please update that in Comments section (hint: I used to imitate him in hostel)

No offence to any of my teachers for remembering all the fun things about them but I believe in something, which goes like this: as soon as you become a Teacher, you earn yourself some funny nicknames, you would always be made fun of, you would always be criticized at that time BUT you would always be LOVED the most and remebered by your students (except for few exceptions, of course).

Thanks to all my lovely teachers for making us what we are today. We never believed that you made a difference in our lives when you were teaching us but we can feel it now. I can go on and on to list down each of my teachers but then I would have to write a book….

HAPPY TEACHER’S DAY again!!!

The Kings and the Beggars....

This is bad. Just now after posting a random blog, I realized that that was my 1st blogpost of the year 2012!!!

What has happened?

1. I have been too busy with lot of things at office and at home...

2. Whenever I am getting time, I just look forward to sleeeep...

We had been looking for another house for rent and I must say that there have been moments when I just couldn't stop laughing, when I wanted to hit the landlords/brokers right on their faces, when I was disgusted...

I mean, such small house, with a pipe running through the master bedroom, a bathroom which was not meant to be and the landlord asking for 16-18K rent and 2.5Lakhs deposit!!!!!!!!!!! Even if we could say that we heard it wrong, he was probably asking for 1.5Lakh deposit and not 2.5, still I wanted to hit him and wake him up from his dream....

While roaming on one of the streets, I spotted a To-Let board hanging on one of the houses. N (Mr. Hubby) called up the Contact person and enquires if it is still up for renting out. (U: Uncle, N: N)

U: Where are you working?

N: (tells his company. I won't reveal the name, but it's one of India's top IT companies)

N: How much is the rent that you are expecting?

U: How much can you pay??

(What ???)

N: No, you tell how much?

U: 23 K (23 or 25K, I don't remember it now)

N: Oh, sorry. That's out of our budget...

U: Haan, thats why I asked you na. How much can you pay...

I mean, hello, are you trying to make fun of us? "Since you work in XYZ company, I know you cannot afford my house"

We have seen and met and talked to so many people in past few months and seen such locations and flats that I am amazed. I feel that landlords think that they are the kings and we are beggars. Can ask any damn rent and 10 months deposit...

Don't they realize what 1.5 L or 2 L means to a service class couple??!!

And BROKERS....Wow...

B: Madam, we have a beautiful flat right on the main road

I: Is it? Which apartment (since I knew almost all the good apartments on the "main" road)

B: Madam, its actually just 500m inside from the main road. You come and see madam

I: Sure, 500m? I don't want to walk too much inside...

B: Yes madam. You come and see tomorrow at 10 am

10 am and we are there and we keep on calling Mr. B and as usual he won't pick up our call initially. Then, after 6-7 attempts Mr. B picks up our call and finally arrives at the "main" road after making us wait for on-an-average 20-30 minutes and tells us to follow him

100m -> 200m -> 400m -> 800m -> 1km -> 1.5-2km and after taking 20 turns, Mr. B stops at a lonely small apartment...

I: You said 500m from main road...

B: Madam, this is close only madam. I took you from another route. Anyways, your cab will come here madam (I mean, how can he guarantee that my cab will come there? And I am not looking for main road flat only for my cab... I just don't want to live in lonely area)

And no points for guessing... the flat never turned to be worth waiting for and coming for...

I know I might be sounding too rude and frustrated, but YES, I am frustrated... There was a time when I actually told this to N: "I wish these landlords do get into a position that they come to us for our house for rent and then I will ask unbelievable rent and deposit...Just to make fun of them"

At your own Risk...

Chatrapati Shivaji Airport, Mumbai, Check in Counter:

Me (all scared, clearing my throat): ummm.... I have some mangoes with me. Can I take them with me in cabin??

Aunty (scary aunty, without looking up at me): No, only 2 dozens allowed. You have to put them for check in...

Me (I can almost hear my heartbeat now): umm... but I have only 2 kgs of mangoes. I think I can take 8 kgs in cabin... (this dialogue could have costed me my life)

Aunty (scary aunty): No, put them for check in

Me (last try, I show the 2 kg pack to aunty): See, this is a small pack

Aunty (scary aunty): Ok. Take it with you in cabin...

Moral: Never ever take panga with Air India aunties. If you still want to take, do it at your own risk...