The "Why-Me" Syndrome!!

The SC okayed the quotas...... lovely!! All the more reason for me to try for IIM-A in my next birth! I fail to understand the need for discrimination 60 years after Independence... And if there is a need for discrimination, why isn't it positive discrimination....???


Born with 46 chromosomes,not unlike other humans, still discriminated..... why? Because of one chromosome... just bloody one chromosome, and have to be discriminated for life...not positive that is! Discriminated,yes,we are..... but I don't see special quotas for us in educational institutions. The reservation in trains,buses etc thankfully offers some respite from the everyday head to toe "checking out" that we are subjected to.

Most of us belong to the "General" category who get no special favours such as subsidised fees or reserved seats.... why? Just a feeble attempt to undo the discrimination faced by the SC/ST/OBC's ancestors by the hands of "General" people's ancestors!Ludicrous, it is.... for you can't offer special privileges to people who have not suffered. I condemn the atrocities that were committed by my ancestors on the aforesaid ancestors but I don't think I have to pay for it by trading my "seat" with their descendants who have only seen privileges because of "one certificate". Why do we have to pay for something that we have not done?Rather than reserving seats, why doesn't the Govt. open many more institutions? There's no lack of land.... they can very well utilize one of the many malls, which are used mainly as afternoon picnic spots by families.

I really don't think that there should be any reservations for anybody... let everyone work up the ladder themselves.Let there be fair play. And there shouldn't be discrimination too.... we may be the fairer sex, but we definitely aren't the "weaker" sex. But then, hasn't this same thing repeated since times immemorial.... I only wish atleast the next generation finally opens its ears to listen to it and has the spine to stand up for it.

Main Tulsi Kiske Aangan Ki.......?

For people who've known me since my 11th std days, may think that I'm referring to one of the guys I've liked, but sorry to disappoint you folks.... this blog bears no resemblance to living or dead! This blog comes out of the exasperation that I feel when I'm married off everyday to someone in the fictional world! That makes me ask this question:Main Tulsi kiske aangan ki?!!

Why Tulsi, you may ask....Well, for the antics that I've been upto since the past year and half,makes my friends and their boyfriends call me Tulsi! Why I act like Tulsi is another SERIES of blogs altogether!Ok, on second thoughts, I'm flattered by my sobriquet "Tulsi"... after all not everyone has the guts to act like one in real life!OK so enough of immodesty,let' s come to the point i.e Main Tulsi kiske aangan ki?!!

I've been married to at least 5 guys....all fictional of course by my BELOVED friends! My college gang..Ajay,Aanchal,Ankit,Hetvi and the rest are planning to marry me off to some "Typical Patel" who'd be the world's biggest parsimonious creature!The other contender is a guy from my class(Whom I'd obviously not name!!)Rao wants me to marry Atal Bihari Vajpayee for some reason, that too in Nalla Sopara!!Jay wants me to marry somebody from UP/Bihar so that he can talk to me in Bhojpuri!!And he says he'd love to see me in a Saree with the ghungat and fluorescent orange sindoor with at least 3 kids! Ewww!!!!!!! Yeah. yeah I know I need to change my friends quickly! It is at times like these when I wonder Main Tulsi kiske aangan ki?!!

Its when after setting up all the possible people on earth with someone or the other(My Tulsi genes are work)you feel whom do you have?That one exclusive shoulder on which only you have the right to lean on and cry isn't even there,you have to make do with udhaar ke shoulders!!No, I'm in no way implying that I'm desperate for a guy... its just that sometimes, it becomes really difficult to avoid the VOID!! But then the next morning if not as cheerful as the previous one,is only more cheerful!! At least you know who all are your true friends and who all will not mind being your udhaar ke shoulders in your time of need! See,there's a positive in every situation!

But still one question I'd like to ask: Main Tulsi Kiske Aangan ki?? (I just hope my "aangan" is either in Cuffe Parade or Alta Mount Rd...the soil there is REALLY fertile for Tulsi like me to bloom!!!)

Harry Potter and The Magician With Words!

No,this ain't Harry Potter's eighth book,its just what I think about J.K.Rowling. People may either like her work,or they may rubbish it, but theirs no avoiding this Mistress of Words!! People who have read the Harry Potter series may argue that their was no extraordinary vocabulary that was used or the grammar,too was slack at times, but what intrigued me the most was the use of etymology(the science of origin of words), intricate meaning of the names and the reason behind naming them! Mind blowing,to say the least!(And yes this blog isn't out of the fatigue due to the marathon completion of "Word Power Made Easy"by Norman Lewis... a must read!)

For starters,lets start with the protagonist,Harry,coming from the word Harried,meaning to annoy,trouble more precisely from the root Hergian,meaning "at war". Wasn't Harry always troubled and at war with Voldemort?? Ah,Voldemort, mort coming from Latin Mori,meaning "to die", and like we know Voldemort didn't want to die. His follower,Lucius Malfoy,derives its origin from Latin Lucifer,meaning Satan and the morning star.That explains his white hair and evil behaviour.His son Draco Malfoy comes from Greek drakonem, meaning serpent like,the one with a deadly glance.Don't we think of serpents when we think of Draco? And even his Slytherin house had a serpent as its symbol. Their last name, Malfoy, has Latin root Mal, meaning not good,evil....This explains a lot,doesn't it?

Albus Dumbledore,has Alba in it,meaning the colour White...remember the silver beard? Remus Lupin,the DADA teacher, comes from Latin lupus,meaning wolf..... he was a werewolf!! The friendly ghost,Peeves, comes from Latin perversus,meaning "perverse, capricious, silly,".This very much describes Peeves' antics!! Remember the sadist Dolores Umbridge, of course you do! In Latin "Dol" means sad,gloomy,macabre....getting my point?? Molly Weasley, the loving mother of the Weasley kids,derives her name from the root Mol as in soft,warm...its the same thing in molluscs! Aragog,the creepy tarantula in the second book/movie comes from two roots,both Latin, Ara from Aracnoids,spiders and gog from agog,meaning leader.... he was actually the leader of spiders!! How much have we loved Harry shouting Expecto Patronum to get rid of those demented dementors, and James' stag comes to Harry's rescue.... Patronum comes from Latin Padre, meaning Father!

Harry Potter seems so different when reviewed like this! I was in awe of Ms.Rowling when i first began to decipher these names!I'm sure there are many more and its just a matter of time before I decrypt them!

P.S: Special thanks to Norman Lewis,the author of "Word Power Made Easy", www.dictionary.com, www.http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?l=m&p=14, all teachers at TIME's verbal dept. and Aanchal for sharing the bewildered expressions with me when we first deciphered Harry Potter names!!

Pehla nasha, pehla khumaar..........

It's been ages since we felt the first rush of adrenaline yet it feels like just yesterday when we threw those furtive glances and expected just the same back!! We've been infatuated and liked a million people after after that "first guy", but HE still and will always hold an almost pristine place in our lives,won't he? They don't lie when they say that Love makes the world go round!!

Please don't misconstrue "first love" as "first crush" because both of them are entirely different credences.This is about the first guy who made you wonder and ponder over your existence, who made your heart skip a beat, who made you change your telecom company, who made you forget all your likes and dislikes, who made you forget who you really are and you don't mind losing your identity along with a lotta other things (I meant din ka chain and raat ki neend!No double entendres here!)

It was naive,the callowness of which still gets a smile on our faceswhen we go through melancholy in life.But what makes me wonder is that, what is it in this love that pecularizes it from all the other loves to follow? Maybe the mere fact that it was the "FIRST" thing to happen? Or maybe the fact that,this guy was the one who became the identikit for the perfect guy we keep looking for! Ambiguous it is,and its the ambiguity of first love that makes it so special.