The Freaking Silent Treatment :-/

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I sit bewildered on my seat in my everyday bus wondering why my friend is not talking to me since past three days. I tried to make conversation a few times; only to be replied in monosyllables. I have scratched my head thinking about the possibilities that would have upset her. I couldn’t find any except the fact that I sat on her window seat the other day. (If you have read this post you would know what am I talking about)  But that didn’t seem the reason enough for subjecting this silent treatment upon me. Frustrated, I asked her what was wrong with her? Don’t even ask me the stupid reason she gave me for her so-called three day ‘maunvrat’.

I don’t know, how many of you would agree to this post, but yes, I am ranting about the silent treatment people give you when they are angry/upset with you or with anything for that matter.

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Your husband forgets your birthday, you give him the silent treatment. Poor guy goes bonkers thinking what wrong he did this time. You see your girlfriend having a chat with another guy, you stop talking to her for next ten days till she develops dark circles around her eyes thinking what upset you so much. You are not studying properly or you don’t behave well in front of guests, Mother India gives you silent treatment till you circle around her for the day saying sorry for God knows what.

I mean what do people think when they start this ‘shut up’ spree and not talk for hours and days altogether with the person they are angry with. What is it that goes inside their minds behind subjecting poor people around them to the silent treatment? Will Godly powers descend on the other person and he/she would know by meditating as to what has angered or upset the other person so much? Or would they be able to read the mystic expressions that arise on the swollen face?

I mean, TALK, for God sake; Speak up what’s wrong. Scream and let the other person know what’s going on inside that brain which is churning negative thoughts at the moment.

I agree that when you are upset with somebody you don’t feel like talking to them. But what good does staying quiet give? Neither are you going to get the apology you are expecting nor is the other person ever going to realize what was the mistake on their part. So say whatever you want to say. May be when we are angry we never realize the effect our silence has on the people for whom our silence matters. It kind of shatters them. (Read the poetic version of this sentence here)

How many times have we read about the importance of communication in relationships? Yet, we fail to exercise the same when we get upset. I don’t know how many of you who read this would follow it but the next time you get upset with somebody, remember to let them know the reason about your being upset. It would save the other person from pulling their hair out with unnecessary guesswork and you from keeping the frown for a longer period of time.

Nostalgic Sunday Smells !!!

A few days back I received a mail from Indiblogger informing about the Ambi Pur ‘Smelly To Smiley!’ contest to write about the nostalgic memories that I associate with different smells or fragrances in my home. The contest looked interesting because there are various things or times that you can associate ‘nostalgia’ with, but ‘nostalgia’ and ‘smells’ ?? Haven’t heard of it often, right? Dug deep down the memory lane to find a few nostalgic beautifully smelling memories..

Today, every Sunday is a treasured day coz of the most obvious reason of being away from the routine rut.  But back then, as a kiddo, Sunday used to be a fun filled day with wonderful things to be done. Things that I looked forward to doing back then and which bring smiles even today. Here’s a smiling ‘smell’ nostalgia of my Sunday as a child.

Aah.. Sunday it is !!

My favourite day of the week for sure

Freedom of waking up late

And having a whole day to play with mates…!!!

The Sunday morning breakfast

That smell of yummy aalloo parathas,

Dipped in butter

Feasted on with lots of laughter and chatter…!!!

The Sunday bathing

That smell of shampoo; allowed only once a week

With all gusto, mom washed my hair

Which was one of the million ways that showed how minutest of me she cared…!!!

The Sunday lunch

That smell of delicious curry in the house

Filled with scrumptious veggies and more

Eating with mom’s hand and filling myself up to the core…!!!

The Sunday outing

That smell of Popcorn and Candy floss

Zoo and the Lake were the favourite places to be

And entire evening, my eyes twinkled with glee…!!!

The Sunday fun activity

That smell of crayons

Filling up the drawing book

Seeing a proud smile on dad’s face when he had a look…!!!

The Sunday dinner bells

That smell of paneer and naan

Gorging on ice-cream after that

Whilst walking down hand-in-hand with mom and dad…!!!

The Sunday Routine

That smell of coconut oil

Hair carefully oiled and braided at night 

To be prepared enough for the upcoming week’s dust and pollution fight…!!!

The Sunday night beauty

That smell of story books

Sleeping in mom’s lap after the stories

Drifting into dreamland filled with daisies…!!!

 "This post is a part of ‘Smelly To Smiley Contest’ by Ambi Pur in association with Indiblogger"

Dance Baby, Dance !!!

Last few months have been amazing for a ‘Reality Dance shows’ freak like me. If you follow them, you would understand why am I saying this. Or even if not, you would have probably guessed by now that three ‘Reality Dance Shows’ are running from past couple of months on three different GECs. (General Entertainment Channels, duh !!)

Zee airs a yet another twisted version of their immensely popular dance show

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(Dance India Dance) called ‘Dance India Dance – Super Moms’. While Sony on the other hand is running its sixth edition of Jhalak Dikhla Jaa – Dancing with the Stars. And while two competitors are airing shows on similar themes, how could Star Plus trail behind? They too have inaugurated their first season of their reality show called ‘India’s Dancing Superstar.

So the dance lover in me (which is strictly and totally restricted to only and only watching the Dance shows and never attempting to practice a single step myself :P) is thrilled. From watching the celebrities to watching commoners move to different dance forms so well, what more could I have asked for?

Come every weekend, I am hooked on to the television screen at the time of these shows. I keep hopping channels to watch the performances on every show. And if I have time on hand and these shows are running their repeats, there is nothing in the world that can stop me from watching or rather re-watching these shows subjecting my poor family to the torture of watching the same shows again ^_^

And if you are talking about DID Little Masters, (which by the way is a past

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season) all hell broke loose if I missed even a single performance of those amazing kid performers. Especially the performance of Faisal Khan from Mumbai who won millions of hearts with his out-of-the-world dance moves. Last week, Faisal was on the show DID - Super Moms (And by the way, which moms look and dance like the ones on the Show? God, they are so amazingly beautiful and brilliant dancers) along with other kids from DID – Little Masters to support the current show participants. And my heart yet again melted seeing him dance with such ease and poise. The judges’ appreciation flowed whilst calling him the deserving winner of his season. :)

While Dance India Dance brings common people to limelight giving them their 15 minutes of fame (well not just 15 minutes in some cases, a few of these performers from DID have gone to become celebrated choreographers and are still enjoying fair share of limelight); Jhalak Dikhla Jaa on the other hand, cashes on the celeb factor by making celebrities from all walks of life dance to the tune of Samba and Rumba or Jazz and Contemporary. While a few celebrities find dancing a cakewalk, struggles of a few can be easily seen from their performances. By the way, how can you expect Kris Srikant to be good in dancing?   

I find these reality dance shows highly creative and entertaining. What I also realize is the amount of efforts these participants put behind each performance. How else do you expect them to perform with such finesse in a span of a week’s time?

With these shows on the block, I now have a fair idea about the difference between Contemporary and Lyrical contemporary style, the fact that your legs need to be pointed and that there is something called Broadway Jazz and Waltz ;) May be, well, just maybe, sometime when I find enough motivation to put on my dancing shoes I would atleast have enough amount of information for starters. Till then, where’s the remote ??? 

Little Brother.. Yeah .. You have grown up :) :)

I still remember the day you came into our lives. A day before Rakshabandhan. 12^th August 1992 it was!! While I waited near our mommy, the doctor told me that I have a baby brother to tie rakhi the next day. I was thrilled. I remember tying a smallest rakhi on your teeny-weeny hands and you looking at us (me and Bhavika) through your small Chinese looking eyes. It’s been twenty one years and you have grown into an adult. Of course, your Chinese looking eyes are still the same size :P :P But yes, you have grown up all these years from a cutest looking toddler, to a sweet 7 year old to the slimmest teenager and to a handsome adult today.  

Jacks, (as I always call you) you are one of the best things to have happened to us. You bring in the much needed humour and enthusiasm in our lives. Of course, you are laid back when it comes to your own studies :P

The fondest memories we have of you as a child are about you calling a programme as ‘Ghambhda Mix’ instead of ‘Bhangra Mix’, your penchant for strictly and only wearing pants as a four year old toddler, your craze for Parle biscuits, your urge to become a Police officer at the age of ten, your illegible handwriting (which are illegible even today :P) your quoting a strange figure of eighty five lakh one thousand and ninety nine for every question that had to be answered numerically and of course your incomprehensible takiyakalaams (eg. hi, meri dosti world cup, kaisi ho??.. or Bret Lee cut spinle ki speed mein). These are just a few examples and you know there a whole lot others which I can’t mention here (Lest, I get killed by you for publicly exposing them :P).

But, funny memories apart, there are times when you warm our hearts beyond limits. The most rational and mature stuff you say to us sometimes (only and strictly sometimes :P:P ) makes us think that yes, you have grown up. Every time you come to pick and drop us at the bus stop, every time you go and buy ice creams for us at the oddest hours, every time you buy us something or the other from your limited pocket money, every time you go and get things repaired which we have carelessly fiddled with, every time you have dragged our scooty for getting the puncture repaired, every time you say sorry when we get angry, every time you care for mummy and us, we cannot thank God enough for the sweetest brother we have in you.

Yes, we do get angry at you when you don't study well or when you don't behave well, we don’t allow you for outings often, you are not given the privilege to roam around at places and times you want and not to forget your limited pocket money. But I know that someday you would understand that all we did was for your own good. 

As you finish twenty one today, all we wish for you today is that you live a happy and healthy life always, scale newer heights in your career and achieve all your dreams. You are officially grown up now. Remember, that we are always with you whenever we want to fall back upon. And keep loving us as you always have. Wish you a very happy birthday.

P.S. Jacks, I write this post of behalf of everybody at home.

Super Woman… Who??

Super Woman – off late I have been hearing this tag quite often. I was watching a certain reality show, whereby a celebrity wife was called a ‘Superwoman’ by her ‘celebrity because of marrying a celebrity’ husband. He praised her abilities to manage things so wonderfully and balance things with such ease and poise. The way she took care of her own career and family responsibilities, she was a super mom, super wife, super daughter, super person blah blah blah... Good enough. 

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But I found it a little humorous. I mean, of course I don’t know that celebrity personally; but at the end of the day, she is a celebrity with amazing amounts of moolah at her disposal.  Not to forget, the riches of her husband. She is in glamour world and we all know how lavish their lives are. I wondered what ‘managing’ would these celebrity ‘superwomen’ be doing. I mean, they have this huge army of people who manage their lives; right from their secretaries, to dietitians  to fitness experts, to beauty experts, to hairstylists, cooks, drivers, astrology guiders, to nannies for their children.. phewww.. I mean with such a large battalion at disposal for each and every task, what kind of ‘managing’ would these celebrity superwomen be doing actually? Well, may be they ‘manage; to order their troops for whatever they want to look like, for whatever they want to eat, may be they ‘manage’ to order their children’s nannies to pick their children from schools in a particular coloured car.. :| Well, maybe that’s what they call ‘managing’.

Okay, okay I know I am sounding like anti-celebrity or something. But let me tell you I am not. All I mean here is that when you have so many resources at your disposal; you obviously tend to ‘manage’ things better. Gosssh, how many times have I managed to use the word ‘manage.’ Anyways, the point here is, who would you call a ‘superwoman’?

Would you call a woman as ‘superwoman’ who struggles with time everyday to meet her professional and personal commitments? Those thousands of working women who wake up early to pack lunches for their children and husbands, who rush around the mad house in the morning trying to make their children reach school buses and then catching trains & buses themselves to reach their offices. Offices – places where they might still be struggling to prove their mettle compared to their male counterparts, where possibly she would be taunted for taking those extra leaves which she might have taken to tend to her sick children, a place where the so called glass ceiling does exist but everyone out there is just trying to push it under the carpet.

The same woman is worried about what would she cook in the evening and shops for the necessities while returning from office. A woman who would be equally tired when she reaches home, but still manages to help children with their homework and run the remaining errands. The same woman's weekends are even more hectic with all the pending work at her disposal. Yet, she does all of this jugglery to keep the family going. And yet at the fag-end of the day, somewhere inside her, she nurtures a guilt within that she cannot make enough time for all the things she wants to do for her family.  And of course, not to forget those scores of ‘housewives’ (as they are called) for their unwavering dedication and non-stop efforts for running a house. Now that’s what I would call a ‘superwoman’. Would you?

Look around, we all have such ‘superwomen’ around us who struggle in their own ways to keep us going.  Appreciate them. Appreciate their struggle, their efforts, their small endeavors.

Next time, you think your mom doesn't cook delicacies every day, just try and remember the struggle she puts up even for the most routine work. Next time, you think your wife isn't able to give enough time to you, have a look at the hard work she puts in to make her home look good or the help she extends to the children with their smallest of the small errands.

Why is it that we need a Woman’s day to celebrate the beauty, the enigma, the struggle and the efforts of a woman? This post thus comes at the oddest time and away from the so called single day dedicated to celebrating womanhood.

Go ahead, tell the woman in your life, be it your mom, your wife, your girlfriend or your bhabhi that she is a superwoman and you appreciate the struggle she puts through for making your life a little easier. Do it and I am sure, you would not mind seeing her beaming from ear to ear. Not much effort for what she puts in. Isn't it?