Marriage and blogging

Well, first of all congrats to me for reaching my 101st post (yes, the last one was my 100th!!)...

Is marriage detrimental to the hobby called 'blogging'? So, many blogs that I used to enthusiastically follow, have died a sudden death after the authors got married.
Even worse is when people have painfully deleted or made their blogs 'private'...
So, coming back to the question, is marriage detrimental to the hobby called 'blogging'? One argument can be that blogging is a sand-bag for loners, so once a person is married, they dont need unknown audiences over the web; they have just earned the right to torture one single person with all their monologues...
Another reason can be that they no longer want to share their lives.... they don't have much that can be 'shared' anymore ;)...
Whats your take dear readers??

If - by Rudyard Kipling

Yes its a classic... and most deservingly so....

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

Experience of a first time voter :)

Got up at 6.30 AM (Yes, I had a 10 AM meeting so had to rush..). Took bath. Prodded my dad to show me the way to the polling booth. Walked in. Confirmed the name of 'my candidate' (I believe in voting for 'Party', specially during Lok Sabha elections). Like a child being admitted to a new school, I was looking around for directions. From the slip counter - to the name list one- to the Madras ink one... and finally I go there press the button. Yippee!! I have voted!!

I am in my mid-20s but never got a chance to vote, there was an year's delay in getting the election I-card, then my name was missing from the rolls of the next elections, then moved to Bangalore for a 4 year stint... this year, at last I voted....

By the way, I think we should have some kind of postal ballot system; at least for students who are away from their home towns, people who have just shifted to a new place (they should have the right to vote atleast for their old constituency till they get a new one).
If I try to look around, 95% of my friends in Bangalore are not from Bangalore - so their votes are lost - another about 75% of my friends in Mumbai are not from Mumbai - their votes are lost too...
Think about the students in IITs, RECs, IIMs etc... this is the cream of the nation. But they cant vote... quoting an example, if a student happens to do her engineering and masters in another city, and happens to work there for 2 years after that.... a good 4+2+2 years of her voting go in vain.... No surprise, political parties don't care about the 'educated' youth....

#$%$%^ recession!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hmmm.... so my gut instinct tells me I should float my resume again. Bloody recession!! just hate it!

The 40-over carnival

Colourful jerseys, weird coloured (golden! silver!) helmets. Film stars with designer glasses. Fancy names - kings, superkings, knights. One brand on the sleeve, another one of the helmet, and yet another one on the chest. Toned sexy models dancing enthusiastically at every instance the ball crosses the white rope - irrespective of whether the shot was a shot-or-misshot.

Well, lets not deny its an exciting format - and hence a huge marketing opportunity but such an overly stretched schedule doesnt help the cause of the other formats of the game. The senior players who never got time to play Ranji matches are suddenly going all out to prove themselves for the club teammates.... life is always a mixed bag. So, lets crib some and enjoy the rest :D

For better or for worse?

Singlehood. Independence. Fun. Friends. Love. Romance. High. Marriage. Couple. Family. Responsibilities. Compromises. Changes. Adjustments. Busy. Trapped. Lost. Different.

Is marriage a progression from a fun-filled life to a sad one? If the answer is a definite yes, why get married? Perhaps girls marry for stability and security; and guys?? Why should they get married. In fact why should even girls get married!! Why!! So many of my friends and cousins have got married recently. Each says life is 'different' after marriage (and they say it with a sad 'gone are those days' kind of tone)... My question is if marriage worsens one's life... why get married? I am about to get get married (Thank you Lord!) in a couple of months and when I see all these married people around me trapped under the burden of the societal pressures and norms... I get a little scared and ask myself time and again: "Are all marriages like this? Should I expect the same from my marriage too?".... All rational decisions are made towards betterment of one's current state; I am marrying by choice.... I am looking forward to my married life... no doubt there will be difficulties and changes but overall I hope our (me n ofcourse my A) marriage makes us happier. If it does not, probably we would have done some definite damage to our lives by getting married.

The reason I would not vote for Congress

First, let me discuss things that I would do if I were to become PM
1. Uniform civil code.
2. Abolishing reservation of all kinds/ forms.
3. Urgent focus on Terrorism and Naxalism.

------

Now, lets come to the title of the blog... Why I would not vote for Congress

1. They are the biggest perpetrators of the divide-and-rule policy in this country... probably they inherited this from the British era. Be it V.P.Singh or Arjun Singh, there will always be somebody in the Congress to carry on the brigade of reservations. No doubt smaller regional parties do it too, but their impact is the same, 'small, regional'.

All the while that they chant about secularism, they would never dare to talk about uniform civil code in this 'secular' country. If they really care to bring the vast muslim majority into the mainstream, they need to bring them to a common modern day civil code. But No! Congress's self-interest favours the muslim voter to remain poor/ illiterate/ backward - So, they could not care less about social progression/ modernisation of the muslim society.

Just as the British, Congress's divide-and-rule is apparently for the benefit of the weaker classes.
I am sure if Congress comes to power they would enact the reservation bill and would never talk about bringing a uniform civil code in this country. Thats why I would not vote for Congress


2. I have not an iota of doubt in saying that Congress is ultra-soft on terrorism.
- Taliban is knocking at the door and 'honourable' Mrs. Gandhi says communalism is a greater enemy of the country than 'terrorism'. Does she even realise the magnitude of the danger India is facing from terrorism.

- Be it Mr. Antulay's remarks on the death of Hemant Karkare or the 'enquiry' into the Jamia Nagar shootout.... The Congress govt. has time and again insulted India's real heroes! (How could you doubt the integrity of your own special anti-terrorist squad's operations?? that too w.o. any legitimate indicators/ proofs??!! makes me gasp in horror!)

Here, I am sure that Congress would continue to be soft on terror.


I know we are short of good alternatives, but just wanted to put forward my views on why am I striking off Congress from the list......

Since past year or so, I have started hating Congress....

18 till I die!

I was hopping n' jumping around the house yesterday when a thought crossed my mind and I asked myself "How old do you feel 'A'?. The prompt answer was 20->>> no, 19->>> no, I feel 18... yes I still feel 18.

Of course there have been times when I have rumbled about crossing the mid 20s mark.... The thought that it was a good 7-8 years back when I crossed that '18' mark made me sad. I used to roll my eyes in disbelief - "8 years since 18! Gosh!"
But (giving a break to modesty) let me admit that today I feel happy to say - "8 years since 18, but I still feel 18! WOW!"

Probably this is the question we should ask ourselves every birthday - "So, how old do I feel?"

PS: While 90% of this achievement is solely because of me, let me thank another person for this.... My Mr. A**... Love is the best anti-ageing cream!

Mr.M.K.Gandhi

Well, to begin with let me admit that I have not been a big fan of Mr. Gandhi (Not that I did'nt respect him, just that it was a 'borrowed' sense of respect i.e. not coming from within). Then what brings me to this subject? Well, I was in Ahmedabad for work purpose; I visited the Sabarmati Ashram there, despite taunts from my boss explaining the heaps of pending work I had in hand. I thought he was just panicking as the work wasn't that much. So, coming back to the topic of Sabarmati Ashram. Once in the Ashram, I (once again) was deeply moved by the history of our independence movement and finally ended up purchasing "My experiments with truth" (for just 100 bucks, I guess this was a subsidised price though).
I am still just about half way through this book... but Mr. M.K.Gandhi has already transformed into a Mahatama for me. Well, he is still not my ideal, as I do not believe in a lot of things that he preached... but yet he has risen to the level of a Mahatama for me.
I was expecting his autobiography to be a drab; but quite surprisingly I am finding it very interesting. Primarily because he has been brutually honest with the book - It reveals a lot of unknown facets of the man India hails as 'Father of the nation'. And reveals the world (not just India) during that century through the eyes of an Indian.
Also, I think he is a good story teller (though I am reading the English version)... He doesn't dwell on a particular topic for too long. It moves quickly from his personal life to social issues and back.
... More about the book (and why I disagree with Gandhiji) later once I finish reading this! For now, I will leave you with the images of Gandhiji's hut and room at the Ashram...

'Divisive' politics

I have been hearing a lot of political parties using the word 'secular' to gang up against a particular one - apparently they always are looking to present an 'anti-communal' front. (nothing new, we have been hearing that for a long time...) . They say B** is a 'divisive' party.

My question is: Is being 'anti-communal' enough? Communalism divides our population into broadly 80:13:2:5 sections. Which is bad, but in my view not as bad as the other kind of division i.e. the caste.

Casteism divides our society hundreds of n1: n2: n3: n4...... sections... but guess what!!: nobody terms these parties based on 'caste ideologies' divisive!! In my view these parties are much much more divisive then the 'commual' one! We should be anti-divisive and not just anti-communal.
One good thing that this 'communal' party has done (in my view) is that it has not divided people into thousands of caste-based sections: Gujjars, Jats, OBCs, Scs, STs, Brahmins, poor brahmins,
rajputs etc... which in my view is great because I think casteism is the worse enemy of country.
If we can't unite the 80% first, how can we dream of uniting 100%?
What we need to understand is that a division is a division. So, if asking votes on grounds of
religion is bad, why do we not consider voting on grounds of caste as bad, if not worse?? So,
media doesn't make a hue and cry when the likes of Mayawati act as a 'messiah' of the so-called
backward castes; on the other hand Advani is criticized hoarsely for talking about 'Hindu
Rashtra'.
Going back 60 years, the country's politics was still dominated by religion, but not so much by castes. Haven't we actually regressed??
The best way to unite people is to erase the divisions, not harp on them day in and day out! But thats what the political forces and the media (alike) have been doing - So, its ok to say that xxx is a Gujjar leader, yyy is an OBC leader, zzz is a Rajput leader... but saying Mr.A is a Hindu leader in - Oh! he is a communal politician!! Agreed, but what about the other leaders being divisive. Religion-based parties should have no place in a secular country; but, you know what, the same should go for caste-based parties.

The British used 'divide and rule' and partitioned our country; these numerous political parties are partitioning our parliament on the basis of caste!!! x% seats for such a such caste. y% jobs for such a such caste... and so on!

A division is a division is a division.

PS: There is a strange way that the word 'communal' is used in the Indian context but shall discuss that later sometime...