My (Rainy) Days in England..

Today is a sunny day (amidst days of storm and incessant rain) and this rare event encouraged me to write this blog that I have been procrastinating about..

A rare sunny day..and yes, that's my shadow! 

I have completed almost 5 months in the UK. It seems like a long time, but honestly, it seems to have flown away. Studying for a Masters is not an easy task, as I  have realized. Living alone in a new country just adds to the challenge. However this is not to say I am not loving it! Every day is a new experience, and I continue to be overwhelmed on a daily basis. Southampton is a beautiful, historic, student friendly city, different from New Delhi in every way. It is an unfamiliar territory, and yet I feel safer here than I ever did back home. Things seem easy and convenient here. Having friends from all over the world make me aware of my own ignorance about their cultures, ashamedly so. Meeting new people also gives me new insights into what they think about India, and I love to enlighten them about the wonderful land that is India. Bollywood movies and songs seem to be something that are universally loved, maybe because of the colours or the music, or just the energetic dance moves that accompany these songs!

There are  many different things that can be said about the British food (Tea and Scones,  fish and chips)  British mannerisms (Please, I'm sorry; thank you!) or about the weather (' It's raining!' 'Well what do you expect, its England!'); but the thing which is most interesting to me is how genuinely cheerful and friendly the people seem, and you can strike up a wonderful conversation with anyone just by talking about the weather. That seems to be the common topic, over which you can talk for hours, making a new friend in the process. (and if you can master the British sarcasm.. well then, you shall fit in perfectly here)

Oh! How can I forget the English accent , that's loved universally, and which reminds me of the Harry Potter movies, and of childhood when I was so desperate to speak 'like them'. Sadly though, I have yet not mastered it, although I hope to before I leave this country.

United Kingdom has been the mystical land where all my favourite characters from Enid Blyton's imagination lived. It was the place of boarding schools, of prim and proper school children,the land of Hogwarts, of Sherlock Holmes. Home of the Queen, home to the oldest universities in the English speaking world. It was the place from where Titanic left for its maiden voyage (interestingly, the port was Southampton). It is home to some of my favourite authors. It  is a place I had always wanted to visit, and now studying here is like a dream come true.

The clouds gathering in... 

And as expected, the sun has hidden amongst the clouds, and the sky is grey once again..

Looking Ahead!

I have changed a lot of schools and have moved to many new places throughout my life, thanks to my father being in a transferable job. This instilled in me a natural love and excitement for new places. Any apprehensions I would ever have about moving would soon be replaced by the excitement that yet another adventure was waiting for me, as for me, moving to a totally new city and meeting new people was nothing short of a great adventure. I loved exploring the city and discovering its charms, and shifting into yet another house which we had to make our very own home was something which I loved. As I grew older, however, the nomadic life lost its fun; settling in a new city was not as exciting as it once seemed,  it could never replace the loss of old friends and familiarity.
Soon however, the transfers became less frequent, and now I have been living in the place I call home for some 7 odd years.
Now , once again a time has come for me to move. To a whole new country, not just a new city or another state. This time it is going to be harder than it has ever been, because this is the first time when I will be going alone and not with my parents. People expect me to be excited and enthusiastic, and I try. But the feeling of losing all that is familiar to me takes over. The realization that I am an adult hits hard. This doesn't mean I am not looking forward to this new phase, one which will definitely be one of the most amazing years of my life. In two weeks, I will have everything I've always wanted as a child : the freedom to explore myself and the world, ability to make my own decisions and living my life the way I want to. Certainly, this is like a rite of passage into adulthood which everyone in this world has to go through at some point in their lives, to grow up into a well rounded individual. It is just hard to believe my time is already here!

Here's to the next one year, which is going to be one hell of a ride, with experiences to last a lifetime!

"The only thing that is constant is change."

The Threshold...

A while ago, travelling by train, I remember noticing a small boy sitting in his father’s lap and playing the ever classic game every kid loves- let’s pretend. The boy was pretending to drive a car, with his gear being a lever that is used to change the inclination of the seats in the train. Seeing this little kid made me reminisce my own childhood, when I too loved to pretend -sometimes a teacher; or a young woman in college; and sometimes not unlike the little boy, loved to pretend –drive, sometimes in my father’s car.

As kids, we loved to pretend to be adults, and growing up seemed to take forever.  We wanted to be adults too, so that people would take us seriously, and we would have the independence we so desired in our childhood days.  Growing up took a long time, but when it finally came, it came suddenly, and isn't nearly as much fun as we imagined it to be as kids. Yes, we are taken seriously now, and yes, we have all the independence we require, but somewhere along the way, we lost the desire for these things. How ironical is it that now as adults, we wish to go back to the childhood, when everything was simple, everything was pure. The world was black and white. Everyone was a friend. An enemy was someone who had a different favourite colour than you did. Today, as I stand on the brink of becoming a graduate in a few months’ time, I wish to hold on to the last bit of the child in me that is still alive. I wish to do all the crazy things, and not be judged. I want to be as carefree and as inquisitive as a child, and as optimistic about the world as one. I want to believe in the good of everyone, and forget that there are dark places on this earth too. I want to sing and dance with joy at the first rains, and I want to jump in puddles and make a complete fool of myself.  I want to squeal with happiness when I am happy, and I want to bawl, quite literally, like a child when I’m down. I want to be able dump all my problems on my parents and then forget about them altogether. I want to sit and dream about my hopes and wishes. There are a lot of things I want to do before I am officially a graduate, but most of all, I do not want to grow up…

Ye Dilli hai...meri jaan?

Manual to avoid rape? 

The horrifying rape case has once again, brought to surface what people prefer to ignore. The ‘dark’ sides of the world. We do not want to acknowledge that it exists, for it might make our illusion of a perfect world less of a reality. Every time such an incident happens, there are protests and debates and concerns about the safety of an average woman in the city, and as time passes, everyone soon forgets it. Except the victim, and until the next time. And, the next time anything like this happens, the cycle repeats itself, without any meaningful changes taking place. I’m not trying to blame the government or the general citizens of the city here. I myself am a citizen but what am I doing to prevent such incidents from happening in the future? Nothing! Except vent out on my blog. And will this help in any way? I don’t know. Except hope that someday someone reads this and feels what it is like to be a woman in the capital city of India. Is being born a female such a sin that we have to be cautious of our lives daily? Or is working and studying and being out late at night an offence that we must be punished for? Delhi talks of being a metropolitan city with opportunities for anyone from any walk of life. But what good are these opportunities if the basic safety of its citizens and especially women remains an issue? I do not have freedom of expression (fear of being arrested under some IT act prevents me from voicing most opinions now!) ; I cannot be sure about my safety if I am travelling alone in the city. But the girl in the said incident wasn’t travelling alone. So maybe I shouldn’t travel at all, and not voice my opinions as well. I should just sit at home and accept all that is happening; perhaps praying to God that something like this never happens to me or my friends….and that the city that I have grown to love maybe wouldn’t provide me with reasons to hate it every day.

A Silver lining in the Darkness...

My Blackberry had been trying to get my attention with its blinking red LED before it finally went out of power. "There goes my connection to the world!", I remember thinking; and indeed it was true! Without a computer or any sort of internet connection, the phone was my gateway to the world, and suddenly I felt all alone.
No, this isn't something I experienced while travelling through the high reaches of the Himalayas or through the deserts of Sahara. This was experienced in the comfort of my house in the capital of India, when a power grid failure left almost 18 states powerless for about 20 hours in 2 days. Power backups last only so long before they also die out, and for busy professionals (or for pseudo busy student like me!) the hours without power seem daunting!Technology has seeped in so deeply with our lives that we realize its importance only when we do not get access to it. Seemingly easy works became a huge task for me without power and without any gadgets to use; and thus began a series of many "firsts" for me.

For the first time in a very long time, I could see nature in its purest form (or as pure as it can get in polluted Delhi!) The chirping of the birds combined with the gentle drip drop of the rain, produce a music so peaceful that I couldn't help but wonder why hadn't I ever noticed it before. Without the computer,internet or a TV for entertainment, I got once again carried into the charm of reading books, and not the e-books, the actual, paperback versions of novels I loved. The yellowed old pages seemed so familiar and welcoming, like home. As I sat down to write this article on a piece of paper; my fingers missed the strokes on the keyboard and I half expected the red wriggly line to appear every time I wrote a word whose spelling I wasn't too sure of.....yes that is an alarming (or maybe comical?) situation, I realize that!
With all that, this was the first time in months I got to spend some time with only myself for company, and it wasn't so bad! True, power failures like these cause a great inconvenience and chaos in general, but they also give an opportunity for people to spend some "me" time. So, maybe, it isn't all bad !


  

Happy Father's Day

Father’s Day- An American concept, celebrated with equal gusto in India. It was probably started as a male egoistic issue (if they can have a Mother’s Day, why not one for us too?!); but today it stands much larger than that. It stands for the celebration and recognition of the one man in your life who continuously sacrifices his present just to secure your future; and does so without any complaints on the way. His dream is not to see himself on the top of the world, rather his children, when he can prouldly say – “That’s MY child up there!”

It is said not a thousand fathers can replace a single mother, but doesn’t the same hold true for fathers as well? Can anyone ever replace a father? The feeling of safety when you’re with him; the feeling that everything will be alright; that nothing can ever go wrong as long as your father is there.  Your father may not always express his love, may scold you sometimes, may make fun of you, but that’s what makes him your dad! Without him, you wouldn’t have anyone to conspire against your mother, no one to share secrets, no one to joke and goof around with.

When I think about my father, I realize that all of the things I’ve written above have been written with him in mind. He is the one person I know I can always rely on, regardless of the situation. I know he will always sacrifice his own needs just to complete my wish, and for that I respect him. He’s the pillar of patience, and rarely, if ever, he gets angry with you, you must know it is completely your own fault.  In the family he’s the ever smiling one, the one who always cracks jokes (and laughs loudly at  them while we wait with a straight face for him to finish) to lighten us up.

My father has a deep wish that his two daughters go for a walking spree at unearthly hours (for us, not for him maybe!) and/or go with him wearing red top and black jeans.  While the “walk at unearthly hours” is not going to be possible in the near future, I can promise to go somewhere with him wearing that red top-black jeans combo (he surprisingly has a good dressing sense when it comes to his daughters, thank God for that!)

Pa, please know that while we’re always fighting with you , we love you a lot!

(With inputs from the Elder Sis)

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY PAPA!!! 

Twelve days of...Driving!

Every day, as I wake up early and go sleepily to learn driving, one phrase comes in my mind every day, invariably– courtesy the advertisement for Ceat tyres- “the streets are filled with idiots!”. The ad very rightly shows cars having to stop suddenly when a person comes on the road from apparently nowhere; and the vehicle having Ceat tyres, is able to stop suddenly within inches of the ‘idiot’ and prevents the accident from happening. And indeed, this is true! The streets of Delhi are undoubtedly filed with idiots. And no, my “almost sleepy” state has nothing to do with this, for once behind the wheel, I am quite wide awake!

First of all, there seems to be an unspoken rule of “mode of transport, no bar” on the so called ‘main roads’. So, from cars to buses to autorickshaws to two wheelers- you name it, it’ll be there! Half of the roads are blocked by the parked cars nearby the residential areas. And then there are the fruit sellers with their carts, all on the same road. Now all of this wouldn’t be a problem if people were intelligent enough to move in their lanes , and save everybody the trouble. No, the autorickshaws have to move on the right side, obviously very slow ,and the buses will suddenly in sweep from the right  to stop at a bus stop on the left, when you are purposefully driving on the left side to stay out of trouble. That’s not all, while the bus comes and you are suddenly forced to brake, there will be children/ women/women with children who will glare at you for the narrow escape they had! But aren’t they supposed to follow the “look left, look right, look left again, then cross the road” rule? Or  is that rule not applicable anymore?  And as though this is not enough, the drivers of two wheelers think that they own the road just because they can squirm through any amount of space. So there you are at a turn, watching intently right and left before turning, very nervous, when a bike zooms past you. Now if you were moving, there would surely been an accident, and of course the person in the car is at fault. Before you recover  from the shock of the ‘almost accident’,  the cars behind you start blaring impatiently and you are forced to make a move quickly, or else bear the wrath of the angry Delhite. For a novice driver like me, the daily driving lesson is very scary, for I am in the constant fear of running over someone and it may not even be my fault! Nevertheless, each day I learn a new lesson, and vow to never become like the idiots I encounter daily on the roads...and if I ever see myself transforming into one, well... there come in the Ceat tyres to save me from the accidents!