Citizen's ask

What do I expect from the MP?

1. First and foremost, ensure that the police force is happy, healthy and gets the salary on time. Once the basic needs of the police force are taken care of the security and law enforcement will automatically improve.

2. Put in place a good infrastructure with a vision. That is, when a newly built road is scraped and dug, we feel cheated. This should not happen when we are spending crores of tax payers hard earned money to build good roads. The MP should ensure accountabilty of the allotted budget.

3. Accountability for the Toll collection on the highways. If you are charging people for certain facilities, the least you can do ensure these facilities are atleast there! There are 2-wheelers in the middle of the highway, bullock carts, tractors driving on the wrong side of the road, farmers spreading out the cut crops on the roads for vehicles to crush them etc. And then we wonder why do accidents take place on the highways.

4. Ensure all schools that fall under his control, have proper washrooms! No two ways about it. This is a major factor for girl students dropping out of schools. Before we pass bills like Right to Education bill, we need to address the issues leading to poor attendance.

5. Lead the people towards sustainable development. Take necessary steps to help people understand the need to maintain a healthy balance between nature and human development, protect and respect the bio-diversity around them.

These are just a few issues which I feel should be one of the priority tasks. Also, one need not be armed with degrees and medals from prestigious colleges. S/he just needs a sensible outlook, a conviction to work with integrity, and faith that sincere efforts do pay off well. 

Stuff dreams are made of

Me: I dreamt that i am going to office.
Me again: Nothing surprising here.
Me: In a "popti" green saree.... Driving a convertible called 'cavala rotor'
Me again: Wait.. what?!
And, the office is in a temple's premises...!

I am not sure if i should be happy about the convertible, miserable about being in a saree, dreadful about the shocking green or bummed by the office being in a temple premises.

With this I woke up with a heavy head and hoping that that I didn't just see into the future. I don't think I can work draped in a saree.

As I struggle into my swimming costume to leave for the pool, I pondered over my sense of fashion - jeans and a T-shirt. A sweatshirt on colder days.

I look over at my roomie sprawled in her bed and snoring away the dawn. In couple of hours this human frame will transform into a SFW well-dressed girl, with appropriate make-up, ready to take the workday head-on.

Whereas, I would be chuffed at having woken up early and spent a good hour at workout in the pool. So, not much thought will go into dressing up for work.

I have come a long way with my clothing. But, it still makes my roomie frown and expect much more from me as far as my fashion sense goes.

With these thoughts I dive in and let the cool water wash over me and kick these musings out of my mind.

I have recently started swimming regularly and loving every bit of it. Any form of exercise has always made me happy and calm. However, weight loss has always been elusive. (More on this later.) Since I had learnt swimming in my childhood, I quickly became used to the water and was able to manage on my own without the snarky coach passing demotivating remarks about how I am succeeding with my plans to drown.

Time flies when you are in water. Be it a in a swimming pool or in the shower. You feel you've just entered but the watch has a different story to tell.

The thoughts that I left outside the pool about my disastrous sense of fashion quickly latched on as I climbed out of the water; successfully making me brood on my way back home.

I reach home and I see the transformed humanoid yelling an energetic "good morning" to me. Needless to say, so much love around and it becomes impossible to brood over silly things. I quickly dress up SFW and join my roomie for breakfast. She looks me up head to toe,  and with a hint if an appreciative smile says "someone's dressed up well today!"

Well, what can I say...

Pigeon-attack!

Pigeons (n): an idiot species often confused as 'birds'; lives in buildings, are full of shit - one organism can shit-bomb an entire car, single ass-edly; no sign of intelligence has been so far been reported among this common-place species. Upon observation, one may well be reminded of certain human groups, who, suprisingly, may be defined as above.

My musings over pigeon behaviour has been a result of me whiling away my time by
A. sitting in a coffee shop, with a view of the bustling street outside

B. Sitting on my bed, looking out of the window where, much to my annoyance, a pigeon(s) would often sit

C. Others, like: I once saved a pigeon's life by bringing my car to a screeching halt when I suddenly noticed it was "crossing" the road. I was taken aback at the sight of a bird walking! I helplessly honked;it scurried and zigzaged out of the way. The.bird.was.walking.!

Once I even taught a pigeon to fly! It was sitting on the window sill, ready to shit-bomb. I immediately ran and made wild gestures and loud sounds to make it fly away. It "ran" from one end to the other and back again, not knowing what to do. I bit my upperlip, calmed myself, and just pushed it off the sill (¡facepalm!). It almost fell to the ground but then it realised the power of its own wings.

Jokes apart, these species is known to have pushed the real birds out of their habitats, and are the bullies of the bird world. So guys, please, do not encourage the breeding of pigeon communities. They also spread illness among humans.

Over.and.out.

Decoding pk

The recently released movie pk has received extreme responses. For me, it was a thorough entertainer with new kind of humour, storytelling, and exceptional acting from Aamir - as always! He takes the passion for film-making to a totally different level.

The message that struck me deep down moved me and the emotion that flowed through was strangely unsettling and comforting at the same time.

Every person leaves home to find something...some purpose. On the way we may get lost, may get blinded by some fascination and lose track, get into bad company, break a heart and get ours broken too. What WILL happen is we WILL learn a new way of life, WILL get stronger, WILL become smarter, and hope to get back home, successful. Almost all of us would also have dreamt big, made friends (sometimes, regretted later), succumbed to desperation and take the twisted a d strangest of the measures, only to get back on track. Then there are some who are out to prove something to someone; may fail miserably and just give up and drift away...away from joy, away from love.

But, then there are some who go through hell and still manage to wake up day after day, with a glint of hope and a bundle of faith, to face the day. It is for these precious ones that i pray. For there are times in our lives where we may slip and fall through. It is at such times that we just need that one person who we can just look at and draw strength from. For it is that assuring look, that makes us brave.

May God bless these beautiful and vulnerable people with that one person, a real friend, who will help you return home; it would indeed mean the world to them!