Examine what is said, not her who speaks

Is that possible that you can get blues any time of the week?? I always thought, you get blues on the weekend when you're alone or if you're sad or depressed.

I am not sad today, not depressed either. Infact, I've been happy today.

I finished with my presentation today morning by working the whole night yesterday. Sent it by afternoon despite shitty internet connection. And my future boss told me, he likes what I've done.
That made me happy...always does when I feel I have achieved atleast something out of all that hard work. I guess, it's the same with everyone, right?
Tonight, I still have some work to do but once its over, I'm going to call it a night and relax. No, no..not by sleeping early. That is not going to happen cos my body refuses to go off to sleep at unusal times. I am going to watch DARK WATERS, its supposed to be a thriller movie starring Jennifer Connelly. I didnt watch it watch it before but lets see how good it is. Time to get a bit scared, eh? GRRRRRRRRR....

Hi there,

Phew! Finally, the festival is over and I am back in Ahmedabad. It was a delightful time back home. Meeting all family friends once a year is not a bad deal. This time around, I missed my sister. She would be there normally, making Rangoli(a drawing outside the house made of chalk and filled with coloured sand) and we'd be laughing and teasing each other while lighting lamps.

This time, I was there, doing things alone-making rangoli, eating my mum's food,spending time with my parents and brother.But somewhere I missed her. I know she is happy in her house, with her husband but I still do. Some shots of the moments.

And today, its been back to work. I'm working on a presentation for the travel agency that I shall have to submit to the agency here on Thursday. Tomorrow is Eid so the agent wont be there. Thank God for that as it gives me time to perfect the presentation.
Also today was a day when I came back to Ahmedabad and had to do the socialising on my part. Meet the uncles, go to sister's house with sweets, etc etc...Thankfully, now I have sometime to myself I thought I'd write a bit.

Hope you guys doing well and are having a blast as well. How was Diwali in NZ Skip? Do the Indians there celebrate it? Any idea? LJ? How about the UK? You guys, would love to hear how it was in your country. Adios for now!

The classic. MY evergreen favourite. The Eagles. In Bremen, Germany, I sang this song almost everyday. Know why? I used to live in the WG called "HOTEL CALIFORNIA". Enjoy!

HERE IS WISHING YOU ALL A VERY PROSPEROUS TIME AT DIWALI. THE DAY AFTER DIWALI IS ALSO THE BEGINNING OF THE HINDU NEW YEAR. WE WILL BE IN 2062 AS PER THE HINDU VIKRAM SAMVAT YEAR. HOPE THIS TIME BRINGS YOU ALL THE JOYS YOU DESERVE AND GOOD LUCK YOU CRAVE.

GREETINGS!

Hi,

Since the last few days, havent had much time to write what with work and studies and solving all the problems around me. But just thought I'd say hallo to all and let know that all is well.
Yesterday went to an AIESEC party at the trainee flat. Enjoyed myself there for about 2 hours. Came back home and felt like the dead but contented dead. Thought I'll take a nap and in the due course, went to sleep completely and getting up real late today. So lots to catch up on.
The diwali festival starts from today and today is called DHANTERAS. Meaning, the gold buying day. They say, if you buy gold today, by next year, it is doubled!! Well...I plan to buy a ring for myself. White gold. But am thinking hard if I ought to..resources are a bit scarce at this moment. Lets see. Will let you guys know if I do.

I'd come back a bit later to read all the blogs that I havent been able to read for sometime now. Hope you're all having a good time.

Good day!!

Cheers!

Mumbai, India — Greenpeace today released a report that emphasises no need for capacity addition of electricity generation through thermal power plants (TPPs) in Maharashtra (1). "The current shortage in the state can be easily met through energy efficiency and reduction of transmission and distribution losses (T&D) without adding a single climate threatening megawatt to meet growing demand," said Soumyabrata Rahut, Greenpeace Energy campaigner.

Millions of lives and a multitude of species will be lost if the average global temperature increases by 2°C. To prevent this, global greenhouse gas emissions must start to fall irreversibly by 2015.

Guys this is the article that came with my latest newsletter from Greenpeace. I admire the work they do and I hope it can get as many supporters as possible. Please take a look at the article published down below.

PROBLEM:'PATIENT'MUMBAI IN INTENSIVE CARE UNIT; BOMBAY MUNICIPAL CORPORATION'S SOLUTION- STICK A BAND-AID.

Starting September 20, the BMC is on notice. It now knows the problem. And there is a solution too. Citizens have begun to Switch for Mumbai in small ways. It is now for the BMC to do its part. Mumbaikars will hold the BMC accountable and see how it acts to rally the city to fight the climate change crisis.

Problems seem to be cropping up from left, right and center these days. If you remember I told you about the nosy neighbours in the new apartment that I have moved to. Well...its worse now. The society men in general seem to have a bone to pick with women- Single women in the society.

Since the day I moved in, there have been problems. First, I was not let to take my luggage to the appartment by lift. I had to get my brother and some help to do it manually- carry the refridgerator, the bundles of clothes, tables, tv, everything by stairs.
Then came the problem with water. They kept on telling my landlady that the taps were open and I was wasting water. Even when I and my brother were not present in the appartment and were not even in the city!

When I was in Mumbai and my mother came to stay with my brother for a few days; my sister who recently got married came to stay there too..after all, she doesnt get a lot of chance to stay with her parent anymore! When my brother in law came to see her at night, he was asked questions in the rudest manner possible by a couple of drunk men sitting-one of them was the Society secretary. My mother was furios and my brother-in-law angry as hell.
Today, my friend Priyanka moved in with me. Her room, the third bedroom in the house which was empty was occupied today. And this is what happened today:

We have certain hours when the water is given to the block of appartments which include 2 hours in the morning and 1 hour in the evening. She cleaned up her room in the morning and in the evening set out to clean her bathroom. She had the flush on and bamm come these drunk men( yes drunk again today) and start banging on the door.

We were all shocked and we opened the door with me, Priyanka and my brother standing at the door asking these 5 guys what the matter was. One of them barges into the house and and starts looking at the taps in the house. Finds them closed tight. Says the water is still running from somewhere and then, starts getting rude. One of the men starts shouting that we are irresponsible; what is to be expected, after all, we're just single women, with no understanding. Priyanka gets angry and retorts back asking him to mind his language and telling him off for wrongly accusing us.

The other men in the meanwhile are staring at us. I am wearing a short skirt and Priyanka is wearing her shorts. Then, they start getting rude. One other among them tells us, that this collective society is not meant for women who are living alone. Well..we says, go talk to the land lord.

The man threatens to get us vacated. My brother is furious and says, we wouldnt want to live in the society where there are ill mannered people anyway. I try to be polite and tell them to go and talk to the land lord if they have any problem with us staying there and get the plumbing of the society checked. Obviously it is faulty since we have our taps closed. They disagree loudly. The lady next door comes out, scared and tells us not to talk to them.
The men start going down the stairs. Mind you, this is no youth, they are old men...leering at us. They go down and start telling off the other other single girls living just below us. Same scene repeated with some obscene language as well this time. The girl mutters and closes the door on their faces.

Her flat mate comes out in a minute and starts shouting when the guys are leaving. Priyanka goes down to her and finds out this is a regular occurance. With girls living alone, they get an opportunity to shout at them and try to create a scandal. Priyanka and I are furious. We are not going to live in this appartment for more than this month. This is too much.

One of the men from the group comes up and starts talking to us calmly. We try to respond calmly telling him to please ask the others to behave in future and not come banging at our doors when its no fault of ours. A lady comes up and tells the men that if one more time a woman is shouted at in this block of appartments, all the women will stand up. The men dont pay much attention to it. Here is one woman who stood up and I respect her for that. The other men come straight up, dont talk just stare. We felt like there were insects crawling all over our legs. WE CLOSE THE DOOR repeating again to talk only to the land lords.

THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED AN HOUR BACK. I am surprised and shocked. What is this city coming to? The more advance it goes, the more backward it becomes! At one time, I used to feel the safest in Ahmedabad and in my home. Is there no security anywhere now?
I wonder what is happening. On one hand, we're talking in India about Equality, awarding women who are at the top position, revere their hard work and determination and consider them more than equivalent to men. On the other hand, we face these problems. Isnt this the biggest ever shame of my country then? To treat women like this? Any answer to this?

I feel agitated today after I went through this. The rest of the problems are personal. But this is general problem. I am proud to be born an Indian but today it gives me a bad feeling. My country cant be like this! There was a time when it was blind and went on with killing daughters and widows with their husbands. But I thought that stopped long back!! It was the work of the uneducated or tyrants who wanted to rule people in the name of castes.We have politicans to do this today. But the public in general-I thought, we are civilised now. THEN WHY THIS??

Finally! After trying hard, I was able to reduce the size of the original pictures and here they are!! My sister's wedding pictures- only some of them though. There are about a hundred pics and I have very little space here. Think I will go for the Pro Account now. Let me know how you like the pics.

Exhaustion drips from every bone of my body today.

Last week had been hectic. I flew over to Mumbai last friday and came back today morning. Until then, had been busy with meetings and new deals. But the great part was that I met my friend who had flown over to meet me in Mumbai. Had funtime with him. And we said goodybe at the airport with him travelling back to France and me on my way back to Ahmedabad.
The flight tickets were almost impossible to get but finally I got an AIR INDIA domestic flight. Terrible flight, felt like it was a local bus. Full of Gujaratis coming from London, crying kids, old bickering couples, newly weds-all coming to India to celebrate Diwali which is on 21st Oct. Now had it not been an unearthly hour, I'd have enjoyed seeing the expressions on their faces, the enjoyment on their faces to be back in the homeland, the adjustment from crowded London to overcrowded Mumbai. But then, there was something else which irritated me-the departure.

The flight was supposed to depart at 0100 hours but did so only at about 0230 am. As a result, I arrived late at about 0330 back to Ahmedabad, with my brother waiting patiently outside the airport for me to land. Poor soul had been waiting for more than an hour. We reached home and my mother was there waiting for me. She'd arrived to take care of my brother during his exams with me gone.

Woke up late in the day and chatted with her for a while. I think, I am going to move back to the old house. This house..well, lets say, its not exactly my kind. First, I have to invest a lot in the empty house. Second, the society is a bit rigid with its behaviour. Not my kind of place to live where I will be asked by my neighbours who comes to my house!! Apparently these people here think, if a girl lives alone, she has to be a loose cannon. Amazing to know that I can see that in a modern city as well. (sigh) I am going to move back. Atleast that house was furnished had quiet surroundings and no nosey neighbours.

Then, went to the most important person at this time in my life-my lawyer. Hes been really good, my lawyer has. Assured me that I had nothing to worry about. On the 11th Oct, he represented me in the court as my lawyer and did the necessary. Now, we have been given the next day in the beginning of November to present our case. Hopefully, it should work out. But atleast the calls have stopped and the banks dont harrass me anymore.

In the meanwhile, I have a lot of work to do and studies to finish. I am not completely without hope yet with my studies. Maybe I will be able to give my exams on time and not postpone them to another semester. HOPE STAYS.

Today has undoubtedly been one of the worse days of my life. I woke up in the morning with cold and cough. But was still going on quite ok, cleaning up the rest of the house and working. Thankfully, I do seem to be coming across some good business prospects at last.

But it wasnt before long when I got a call from my mother. Someone has been harrassing my parents by asking for my whereabouts. The last few days the calls had been frequent. In the last two days, there had been calls from someone who wanted to know where my boyfriend(obviously whoever this person is doesnt know we've broken up) is and where I might be.
Then today, someone abused me on the phone to my mother. My father keeps on getting these calls on his mobile. As suggested by my lawyer I had asked my mother and father to ignore these calls. This is just a response from my ex husband's side to scare us into paying more to the banks. He must have received the legal notice sent by my lawyer(this time I got a good one; expensive but atleast he knows what he's doing and is on my side).
My father though, today committed a blunder. He picked up the phone of the so called guys from the Collection Department of the bank and talked to them. These are the guys who sometime back, when I told them very politely that I had paid my share and was not liable anymore told me to go and sell myself but get the money. My father talked to them and they scared him into believing that I shall be either be arrested for fraud(which is an immpossibility as I have already paid my share of dues and am legally not responsible anymore) or I shall be killed.
My father agreed to pay. And he didnt even consider my lawyer's advice and just went ahead. Didnt tell me anything. Just talked to them and told them he will pay. I was told by my mother who had the sense to call me. I wept with frustration of all this. Why Oh why did he do it??? Especially when we're not in the wrong??
I called up my lawyer and told him of my father's doing. My lawyer sighed in frustration and told me in no uncertain terms that he had warned us not to give in. In his place, he stood absolutely correct. What was the point of sending the legal notice and notifying all that I was free of liability if my real intention was paying the liability of that bastard of my ex husband?
I felt lost. I could see(still feel that though at a lesser measure now) my future slipping away, my plans to succeed in life going far away from me. I wept, not cos my father agreed-not only cos of that. I wept cos these guys know my father cares so much and they are emotionally blackmailing him. My father is the guy who will not listen to anyone once his mind is made up. What do I do? I kept on thinking till late afternoon. So depressed I became that I fainted in the kitchen while I was cooking lunch for my brother.
Nothing made sense to me. I was in a limbo.

My brother, thank God for his good sense, who was there with me, tried to calm me down, stem my tears. Talked to my father and asked him ..practically begged him to talk to my lawyer. I shouted at my dad for the first time in my life today and am not proud of it. I was always taught to respect elders but sometimes..I just cant help but feel so ..disconnected from him!!

By evening, I had restored some of my normal faith in myself after an unrestful sleep. But in the sleep,something magical happened. I saw the lady in bright red, with halo behind her, telling me that I was not to lose hope. I have come so far and fought enough against injustice. I must not give up now.
So there it is, I am back in myself again though not completely. I still am very shaken but atleast I grasp the situation now. My lawyer will make amends to the mistake made by my dad.
The whole day went by full of negative intense emotions but thank God for that dream. Wonder who she was? A Goddess for sure?!

Its 0330 Indian time and I should have slept long back but sleep eludes me today. My mind is still a whirlpool of thought and no matter how hard I try, I am unable to stop it.I think,I shall read some more blogs. Maybe that will calm me down.

Hope tomorrow is better than today.

Until later.

Today has undoubtedly been one of the worse days of my life. I woke up in the morning with cold and cough. But was still going on quite ok, cleaning up the rest of the house and working. Thankfully, I do seem to be coming across some good business prospects at last.

But it wasnt before long when I got a call from my mother. Someone has been harrassing my parents by asking for my whereabouts. The last few days the calls had been frequent. In the last two days, there had been calls from someone who wanted to know where my boyfriend(obviously whoever this person is doesnt know we've broken up) is and where I might be.
Then today, someone abused me on the phone to my mother. My father keeps on getting these calls on his mobile. As suggested by my lawyer I had asked my mother and father to ignore these calls. This is just a response from my ex husband's side to scare us into paying more to the banks. He must have received the legal notice sent by my lawyer(this time I got a good one; expensive but atleast he knows what he's doing and is on my side).
My father though, today committed a blunder. He picked up the phone of the so called guys from the Collection Department of the bank and talked to them. These are the guys who sometime back, when I told them very politely that I had paid my share and was not liable anymore told me to go and sell myself but get the money. My father talked to them and they scared him into believing that I shall be either be arrested for fraud(which is an immpossibility as I have already paid my share of dues and am legally not responsible anymore) or I shall be killed.
My father agreed to pay. And he didnt even consider my lawyer's advice and just went ahead. Didnt tell me anything. Just talked to them and told them he will pay. I was told by my mother who had the sense to call me. I wept with frustration of all this. Why Oh why did he do it??? Especially when we're not in the wrong??
I called up my lawyer and told him of my father's doing. My lawyer sighed in frustration and told me in no uncertain terms that he had warned us not to give in. In his place, he stood absolutely correct. What was the point of sending the legal notice and notifying all that I was free of liability if my real intention was paying the liability of that bastard of my ex husband?
I felt lost. I could see(still feel that though at a lesser measure now) my future slipping away, my plans to succeed in life going far away from me. I wept, not cos my father agreed-not only cos of that. I wept cos these guys know my father cares so much and they are emotionally blackmailing him. My father is the guy who will not listen to anyone once his mind is made up. What do I do? I kept on thinking till late afternoon. So depressed I became that I fainted in the kitchen while I was cooking lunch for my brother.
Nothing made sense to me. I was in a limbo.

My brother, thank God for his good sense, who was there with me, tried to calm me down, stem my tears. Talked to my father and asked him ..practically begged him to talk to my lawyer. I shouted at my dad for the first time in my life today and am not proud of it. I was always taught to respect elders but sometimes..I just cant help but feel so ..disconnected from him!!

By evening, I had restored some of my normal faith in myself after an unrestful sleep. But in the sleep,something magical happened. I saw the lady in bright red, with halo behind her, telling me that I was not to lose hope. I have come so far and fought enough against injustice. I must not give up now.
So there it is, I am back in myself again though not completely. I still am very shaken but atleast I grasp the situation now. My lawyer will make amends to the mistake made by my dad.
The whole day went by full of negative intense emotions but thank God for that dream. Wonder who she was? A Goddess for sure?!

Its 0330 Indian time and I should have slept long back but sleep eludes me today. My mind is still a whirlpool of thought and no matter how hard I try, I am unable to stop it.I think,I shall read some more blogs. Maybe that will calm me down.

Hope tomorrow is better than today.

Until later.

Hi there,

Thought I'd give you an idea of how the dance is when you'd already seen the picture and appreciated them. Let me know how you like this. Enjoy!

Thanks WENDLANE for showing me how to go about this.

No, really!! Am serious. Today seems to me like I've been dancing on all fours.

Didnt sleep at all yesterday night due to the journey in the bus, on horrible roads, from my parents'place to Ahmedabad. Reached in the morning at my new abode with my boxes (The luggage that I posted from Germany arrived at my old man's house. Hail Deutsche Post!)

Somehow I caught a rickshaw,paying twice the price due to large amount of baggage and early morning and came home while my brother went to fetch his motorbike which he had safely parked at my sister's house. The only thought running in my head then was my bed.
Of course, I had forgotten, the house is still a mess and I had to clean it and keep things in order. WHAT'S MORE is that there are no fans and that I had still to ask my land lady to get them installed. What with Navratri excitement and holidays, no one was at hand to install them before.

So, I told myself "No biggie. This can be done. Maybe I will rest later on."
And so began my day-starting from washing the kitchen, scrubbing all the grubby parts(the last tenants must have used a lot of oil cos all the shelves were greasy), scrubbed the floor and washed it clean. Mopped it and all. My brother, God bless him, helped me by cleaning the bathrooms. He did NOT a very thorough job of it but then, maybe I am just a bit too much. I like things to be done with perfection. No matter, atleast he helped! I cleaned up the bits which were remaining and washed the utensils and crockery which I had packed in sacks. Dancing on all fours, didnt I tell you?

Basically the reason behind it all is this- all the crockery, steel utensils, copper pans, etc hadnt been used since my sister married in July and left them in the cupboard. So I thought it would be wise to clean all of it up.

I didnt have a mop or a broom or for that matter anything to eat, no gas to cook, nothing to drink. Thought, I'd better push off for the bazaar and buy the ration for the month and some things to clean up the rest of the house.

My goodness,have things become expensive!! I came home loaded with food,etc and arranged them in order. So..now I have enough to eat and a fully installed kitchen. I patted me back and me and my brother went off to the land lady's to remind her to get the fans installed. Was in for a big shock. ON top of the rent I am paying, I find that she has no intention of getting any fans installed or anything done. She said if I wanted it, I was free to put them up but she would not be able to spend any money on it. I could have cried of frustration. But a look at my brother's face(horror is a small word to describe it)I decided to keep my mouth shut. I got the fans, cheapest ones which made a big hole in my pocket. Nonetheless, atleast we are not going to die of heat and stuffiness.

I can weep with the expense of all this. I have hardly earned anything since I came back from Germany and my savings box shows bottom now. A couple of business prospects are looking bright but like everything in life, they would take their own sweet time too. On the other hand, I have a dear friend coming to Mumbai on Saturday so am excited about it. He has a business proposition and I think I can work on that as well. But that should take time to begin as well. In the meanwhile, I think,I am going to take up my old profession, teach English.

And now, enough. I just wanted to let it all out. I still have to study so I guess, I'd study for a while now. I still need to get up early tomorrow and get the last thing remaining for the kitchen-gas connection for the stove, so that I can cook.

Hope you guys are having just as great a time as I am. Until later!