Head Lice and Bands

While chatting with fellow EA members from the US, UK and Australia I came upon a piece of information I was not aware about my nic name. Nits as most of my friends call me is another name for Head Lice. However, as I work in a Dutch organisation I also came to know that there is a very popular band called the Nits. Of course we in India have National Institute of Surathkal which shortens to NITS as well. In short wherever I go I am super popular.

Its amazing sometimes how if you talk to people from different countries they have different opinions and understandings of the same thing. I still love this nic and thank a certain Anshul from Chandigarh to have given me this legendary name. 

          

How different are weddings?

I never thought I would be blogging about a wedding especially after the Royal wedding itself. This blog thankfully has nothing to do with the Will-Kate show in England. This is about the way weddings are conducted in different countries across the world. Now why did I think I should write about? Actually in my office of about 500 people, an astonishing 25 countries are represented and people of some nationalities have a little more to say than the others. Hence I was sitting with a Pakistani and a Dutch and somehow we started to discuss our customs and traditions and all those womany stuff which I never thought I would discuss during office hours.

The Pakistani guy had recently attended a family wedding and was sharing his pictures with us. while seeing the pics the Dutch guy was amazed at the colorful dresses and backgrounds and the jewelry and 1000 dishes for the guests. He commented that it looks like a village fair and quietly asked "what would such a procession cost?" At that we tried explaining to the Dutch guy about the reasons and importance of such color and what great value it holds for people from India and Pakistan. The dutch guy then told me what I already knew about how weddings are done in the West. Both the girl and the boy leave home after 18 and have to fend on their own. When they think its time to marry they inform all their relatives of the date, time and venue and lo! the wedding is done.

If we were to compare the weddings of commoners in India/Pakistan and UK/USA apart from the color and the noise and the celebrations the cost would be a big difference as well. Of course India being such a big country there are vast differences geographically and culturally in the magnitude and the way weddings are done. North Indians (where I come from) are famous for big shot weddings with a lot of dancing, jewelry, fancy dresses, fireworks, lot of dowry (I don't support it) and plenty of egos involved. In the south and eastern India the color and the flavor is the same if not more but the amount of money involved is not as much. 

With the wedding season hitting its peak in India I do have a lots of wedding invitations lined up. Also some of my dearest friends and cousins will be marrying in the coming 2-3 years. It was really interesting to have such a discussion in the places I least expected. I hope I get to attend some European or American wedding as well. Do share your experiences. 

How tolerant are we??

I was there. In the city of Bombay, forgetting all about my placements, end semester exams and my parents' anniversary. I witnessed the city come to an abrupt standstill at the hands of terrorists like never before. Heroes were lost and not for the first time. The turmoil lasted for 4 days some would say but for many across India and Bombay it still continues. My point however is not "What happened on 26/11?", but "How was it different?". Agreed the magnitude and method was very different, but how WE handled it was much the same. Blame games, sacking of useless politicians and then their reappointment, money being wasted to keep the main accused alive and once again getting manipulated by Pakistan are things that have happened every time. So why is 26/11 any different?

It forced me to think how tolerant are we? How much can we take? Why do people still live in India after all this? Why does everyone who has an opportunity to run away from the country doesn't go? Some would say everything is the same everywhere. Terrorism is everywhere, true, but in other places your leaders do everything in their power to bring the guilty to justice. Some of you would say, that western countries are racists and look at all Asians with a look of suspicion. I remember during my Europe trip my passport was checked at least 3 times on every train and every cop looked at me like a piece of filth. But in my opinion, this life is still better than no life. Moreover, if they didn't look at US like this, they would be terrorized just the same. It is only people looking like you and me who make bombs and blow them too.

Maybe because I am in a different country, maybe it is the 26/11 thing getting to me, but I am feeling a lot more safe here in UAE. I maybe wrong but I havent really heard of many terrorist strikes outside India/Pakistan. Leaves me wondering how much do we Indians can tolerate.

How old am I??

In India:
Some arbit fellow (SAF): hello how do you do?
IITian: I am good thanks.
SAF: So what are you doing?
IITian: I am working for an MNC in AbuDhabi.
SAF: wow. How old are you?
IITian: I am 22, am a fresh graduate from IIT.
SAF: nice nice. You IITians are the cream of the country. You must be so proud. Your parents must be so proud.....blah blah blah blah for 20 mins....ends with.... Are you people from the ET??

In UAE:
SAF: hello how do you do?
IITian: I am good thanks.
SAF: So what are you doing?
IITian: I am working for an MNC here in AbuDhabi.
SAF: What?? how old are you?
IITian: I am 22, am a fresh graduate from IIT.
SAF: (shocked, after 5 seconds). Why are you here? Didn't you get a job in India? Did you not study well at college? Do you have some relatives here? Whom do you stay with? It is very important for you to do......blah blah blah blah blah.....

This has happened with me at least 20 times till now, both in India and Abu Dhabi.

Thank GOD its Thursday !!!

I have been dying to write a piece with this title since I came to know that I will be working on Sundays for some time to come. But now that I have started it I don't quite understand what is so special about working on a Sunday. So what you might miss some F1 races and some early starting EPL matches because of office but that's about it. On the plus side you don't have to go through the monday morning blues and you already are having fun on the weekend when the entire world is just waiting for it. So I think its a positive thing.

So, I landed in UAE after 2 days of sleepless turmoil and in the midst of thick fog. I didn't know whether I was dreaming or flying when I came out of the airplane at the Abu Dhabi International Airport. The temperature was about 20 degrees and I was shivering to say the least. The city is awesome to start off. Huge multistory buildings, infinite luxurious taxis, rich people around you all the time, Indian restaurants and shops at every corner and the most important thing is people do know Hindi (or maybe it's Urdu) here. The office is nice and the people around me are too good. I met 4 IITB guys and all are typical IITB junta, I just had to mention that I am from the UK wing and I was accepted. It seems Muchhi-Dopa-Sagu-Khan-Shanty-Anni-Kunnu are internationally famous these days.

After 1 full year I will have the opportunity to wear those thick leather gloves again and stand behind the sticks to keep wickets. Apart from cricket, inter-company football tourneys also occur and the center forward in me is getting excited again. I do miss some people back in India. I have their pics on my comp and on my table here. Don't know if all the feelings are reciprocated but I guess in life you can't get everything you want. To end on a brighter note, some more guys are coming from IITB and after that there is no stopping this gang of chilled out Indians in a chilled out place.

We’re all the same people, yaar

While watching the Pakistan vs New Zealand cricket match taking place in Abu Dhabi, I was wondering what people of Pakistan think about the situation there country is in. Daily suicide attacks killing hundreds of civilians means no cricket can be played in Pakistan because no country thinks it is safe enough to tour. The situation has definitely worsened after the Sri Lankan cricket team was attacked some months ago. I wonder why people agree (or should I say don't hesitate as much) in touring India and Sri Lanka where the terror threat is still there, even if not as pronounced as it is in Pakistan. Is it because of the mindset of people of the respective countries or is it because of the very different history of the two countries?

History: Post 1947 Pakistan attached itself to the US and became a toy in the hands of the US authorities. On the other hand India did not align itself to any of the cold-warring countries and headed the Non-Alignment-Moment. It was because of this approach that both countries progressed so differently in the years following independence. Pakistan was constantly used as a playground by the US for keeping watch on erstwhile USSR and Afgan rebels and Chinese development. India on the other hand developed independent trade policies and laid the foundation for an economic superpower.

People: The difference of mindset in people is evident from the fact that Indians value and respect heroes from all religions and cultures. In India a Dilip Kumar can change his name to A.R. Rehman at the age of 21 and still be worshiped. In India Sampooran Singh Kalra changes his name to Gulzar so as to not lose himself in blind religious prejudice and fanaticism, and then go on to be the most successful and praised individual in his field. Rehman, Gulzar and another muslin Resool Pookutty won oscars early this year and the entire country went mad. I cannot remember any such incident in the history of Pakistan. In fact Yousuf Yohanna concerted to Islam and became Mohammad Yousuf.

We Indians define ourselves by nationality, they define themselves by religion. We often hear that people from India and Pakistan are the same in every sense just separated by a border. Both countries and people have similar lifestyle, similar tastes, similar perspective about things. But really??

Acknowledgments: "Counterpoint" by Vir Sanghvi (must read, though some opinions are very harsh and might be unacceptable to many)

The Fairer Sex

I am sorry I ever wrote this post. I am deleting this post on public demand. I apologise for my remarks. They were totally uncalled for. I do not understand anything that goes on with girls inside college campuses, primarily because I have never cared enough to find out about it. So, if possible Please forgive me.

The Naked Dance

Being someone who really liked Roadies and KBC I was looking forward to the recent reality shows that have created such a flutter everywhere. I had to write a piece on it as it gave an easy topic for my embryonic blog, one on which I could rant on and on and on. But I do not intend to inflict any such calamity on any of my readers (if there are any at all). What I do intend to do is to highlight the stark contrast in these shows.

They portray very different parts of our society. In one place there is the open, outgoing and dare I say a very shameless part of the society who is not scared to bare it all in order to get a "simple life" in the form of a household, a husband and typical Indian family. On the other hand we have the ordinary, shy and dare I say a quite naive part of the society who for a bit of fame and glamour/money do not realize that they are being pulled into their own deep pit of shit.

I know you people will ask me the the first thing that why do I watch these shows. Well, have you read the story of the king who was fooled into wearing invisible clothes. Everybody laughed at him. Similarly, these shows bring laughter in my life because the only thing I see them doing on TV is a naked dance.