You know what harassment looks like?

You know what harassment looks like?

A 13 year old girl followed home from the rickshaw stand by a labourer on a cycle.

You know what harassment looks like?

A 14 year old girl followed from her home to her tuition by a fat man making lewd gestures with his fingers near his crotch. 

You know what harassment looks like?

A 14 year old girl too scared to go back to her tuition. 

You know what harassment looks like?

A man trying to get a feel of a teen's breasts in a 5 minutes auto ride after dark.

You know what harassment looks like?

Not having the option of getting down from the auto because you're too scared about not getting any other transportation back home.

You know what harassment looks like?

 Having your breasts compared to melons

You know what harassment looks like?

Having to hear young boys sing "pee loon " as you walk down the road.

You know what harassment looks like?

Hating the songs for ages after that

You know what harassment looks like?

Having to change routes because it's dark and you're walking home alone. 

You know what harassment looks like?

Feeling unsafe in your lane when one of the street lights breaks down. 

You know what harassment looks like?

 Men and women staring at your cleavage

You know what harassment looks like?

Feeling the need to cover up  your cleavage.

You know what harassment looks like?

Covering your face with your bag because some random guys have started clicking pictures of your girls with their phones at your bus stand.

You know what harassment looks like?

Having to do that everyday.

You know what harassment looks like?

Knowing your sister will be harassed and she's barely 10.

You know what harassment looks like?

Coming back home to hear your 11 year old sister recount her scary story of how she was followed home from the bus stand. 

You know what harassment looks like?

Witnessing the same fat guy that followed you ages ago, masturbating outside your house.

You know what harassment looks like?

Instinctively knowing that the fat guy probably harasses the students of the all girls school opposite your home. 

 
You know what harassment looks like?

Having to explain what harassment looks like.

You know what harassment looks like?

The fatigue from the countless times you've explained what harassment looks like. 


Street harassment is something all women are handed on a ready plate and told to deal with. Because, "men will be men" and "such is a women's life"; so on and so forth. 

This post is completely based on my and my sister's experiences. 

Most women will relate. A few men will try to imagine. Some will understand. Most men will dismiss it as another write up by a bitchy, whining women who thinks her life sucks.






 

Resolutions, races and well it's 2014 already!

Hi!

It's the first day of the year and well after eons I've made new year resolutions (thanks to my sister). And one of the resolutions is writing a blog post everyday. I don't know how I'll manage it but a girl can be ambitious, right? 

I just randomly said that I want to like to write 365 blog posts in the next one year. Well, for the last few months maybe, I have been sort of not-so-inclined to write; in the sense that I have not gotten time to put my thoughts down to paper. I had a lot of things I could write about; probably; but never did. That's really pathetic of me. Sounds really pathetic.

Anyway, first day of the year and here I am. 2013 was amazing and I was pretty  morbid about it ending yesterday but I guess it's fine. 

Today was definitely fun. For the the first time I went to see a derby race. It was undoubtedly amazing! Half of the crowd were fashionistas waiting for cameras to click them. The other half were people like me; excited about the races. 

I have been wanting to go for a few years and Calcutta has a huge and amazing racecourse and I have always wondered about horse racing. 

I don't like horses that much, because they stink. Or I should say that the horses I  have encountered stunk. I think the well kept ones, don't. Horse are possibly one of most beautiful animals (and someone told me, one of the dumbest.) It was an amazing experience; to see those horses gallop. I wish I had gambled. though. Somehow that didn't happen. 

Even though we didn't gamble, I predicted the winner and he won. Beginners luck? I chose that horse coz the jockey was cute. He was lanky and very very thin! 


The race lasted for hardly 3 minutes. Before you realise it, it gets over! And there you have it, a winner. 

The first race was cancelled for some reason. We missed the 2nd one because  we were busy eating, and looking around and trying to find our box. We saw the next three races.

A pleasant start to the year, I hope the good things continue. That's what we all want, don't we?

It's 2014! That's gonna take a little while to sink in. I am expecting a lot of changes to happen this year. Jittery about them, excited about them. I mean, it's weird that you can be both excited AND scared about the same thing. 

But here I am. A new challenge; a new year and this will sound a bit cliche; a new beginning. New year= new beginning blah, blah, blah. 

See you tomorrow!

And yes,
A very happy new year to all!

Yummy cuteness in a mug

Today I baked a cake.

 In under 5 minutes. 

In a mug. 

In my microwave. 

I used one of those Internet recipes. 

To my surprise it turned out to be delicious. I had expected it to be less than mediocre. I know that many people have always known the joys  of microwave cooking but for me this was a novel discovery. I have always been apprehensive of cooking things in the micro, always dismissing it as   something people who can't cook or are too lazy do. I mean, it's a quick fix. The cake was easy and hassle free. 

I would have clicked a pic if I wasn't busy gobbling it up

And I was wrong. Sometimes, even people who enjoy cooking don't want to spend hours in the kitchen(Not that I am implying that I spent all my time in the kitchen. I don't) So it's not laziness. Okay, maybe sometimes it is laziness. And tremendous hunger. And less time. Whatever the reason be, the food turns out  to be great. For me it won't replace conventional cooking methods but once in a while it could be fun.

I tried it today because I came across an article listing things that can be made in a mug. I love lists. Mugs are pretty good too. And the pictures looked great. I wanted to try it. It would take only 5 minutes of my time. And the instructions were easy. So I made a cake. And it turned out great. Then I got excited. This was a great quick fix. When you're craving cake and don't want a store bought one and certainly don't want to spend an hour, measuring, beating, greasing, baking, de-moulding; this is the thing to do. Find a recipe you like. (There are plenty online). I added my own variations to the one I found by the way. And it was egg less. Just imagine: A dessert for one in a mug. Ready in 5 minutes. I saw the time. The actual cooking took only 3 minutes. Prep time was two.

After I made and ate the cake I found a french toast recipe. Ya, french toast in a mug. How cute is that? I got back to work but at around four when my sister came home I made french toast. In the micro. In a cute little mug. With very less fat. And it was yum. 


I tried an omelet too. My own recipe. Nice and fluffy.

So I am pretty excited now. I am going to try countless  microwave recipes. I plan to make a nutella cake soon. And this time I will remember to take pictures. So that I can show off on facebook.


P.S : I have never blogged about food but this is my second post in a row about food. What has gotten into me? 

M: M n Ms

Maida is here to stay in my life.  I think I must have used thousands of kgs of maida in the last four months. In the bakery, whatever we make requires maida. You just can't escape from it. Actually I should say flour, but we Indians tend to call atta flour. Technically, atta is whole wheat flour and maida is called flour. 

Anyway, maida with sugar; maida with butter; maida with eggs. There is maida in everything we make. It's intriguing how one ingredient can taste so different in different recipes and in different proportions. 

I taste every product I make. Before joining my course I have hardly consumed  maida. I have never really baked cakes, nor do we use that much maida while cooking. Except in pasta.  I love pasta. Making and eating it. 

My mom has been a friend for a long time now. I think it was three years ago, when she had accompanied me to Pune, where I had gone for an interview. Those three days I had her all to myself. After a long, long time. Those three days we bonded over cheese spread sandwiches and murku for breakfast. That's when she became my friend. 

I am glad I am close to her. I am glad I can be myself with her. I am glad she doesn't judge. I am glad that she is so generous. I am glad she is my mom. 

Memory is one of my favourite words. We all have a story to tell because we all have memories. And memories matter. What would you be without your memories. Think about it. And that is why Mneme is my favourite Greek Goddess. The muse of memory. I have named my laptop after her. 

Monsoon is my favourite season. And it has hardly rained in Mumbai; this year. It has hardly rained anywhere ; this year. I miss rains. I miss getting wet in the rain. I know, it sounds weird; but I still love jumping in puddles. 

Moody, is the first thing you will notice about me. Ok, maybe not the first thing. But if you know me well, you will know that I am moody. That I have no control on how fast my moods change. And if you are close to me, you have somehow handled my moods pretty well. My mom, my sister I, AK, A, Kaniti have all dealt with my mood changes with elan. Thanks! 

Mixed bag. That's what this post is. There were so many things starting with M that I wanted to write about and I just could not decide. So I decided to write about  all of them!

K: K...not Kiran!

Kashmir. Raipur. Russia. Ahmadabad. Denmark. 

My roomie and I  were playing connections the other day. And yes, it was fun. It had been ages since I have played any game. Or turned to any sort of entertainment that does not need me to switch on my laptop. 

I used to love playing such games. Still do. We played a lot of board games and card games at home; as a family. Rack-O, Monopoly, Uno are some of our favourites. 

Then there is the memory game. Even though I am absent minded, I am pretty good at memorising consequent words. Wonder why I can't mug up boring notes! 

We have forgotten the value of such games. I don't want to sound preachy, but these games do help in bonding. I know I am close to my parents because they made it a point to spend time with their children. They made sure we spend quality time together. Some evenings we sat together in the living room and three of us- my mom, my sister and me sang songs; while my dad sat back and enjoyed the songs. On some days we just chatted about our day. 

On Sundays, we all read newspaper supplements after breakfast. We subscribe to 4 dailies so there are a good number of supplements. My dad is big on telling jokes. My sister and I know most of them so we take turns in delivering the punchline. He calls us his shahgirds. This word is sort of untranslatable but loosely translated it means that we are his disciples. His able students. And we will carry forward his legacy of making people laugh. 

I dont' tell much jokes here. Probably it's a father- daughter thing. Like singing countless songs is a mother- daughter thing. 

My parents have given us a lot of freedom. Both of us can voice or views, debate, argue, discuss. We have talked about so many things with mom and dad. Intelligent discussions. And learnt a lot. Such openness has broadened our horizons. 

We should all take time out from our laptops and smartphones, from our TV and our social networking, from gossiping and cribbing; to spend time with our loved ones. To talk, to play, to bond. 

Discovering great music

One of my favourite memories, and something I'm very thankful for:


The day I watched A Lot Like Love, liked the song Brighter than Sunshine and googled it. And discovered my god, my singing inspiration - Aqualung. 

~WeirdTalkingDragon




Thanks WTD for your memory! Aqualung is one of my favourites too. I got to know about him because of you. So double thanks!

I am smart now

I got a new phone in February. A smartphone. Very smart. I was very excited. For the first time I  would be able to experience the thrill of browsing the net through my phone! The very next day I went and subscribed to the Vodafone 1GB Internet data pack.

As instructed by more-knowledgeable-already-using-smartphones-for- ages- now-mortals I downloaded my first few apps(whatsapp, facebook for android) Every click was accompanied by caution. What if I am using too much data? The novice that I was(and I feel still am) I was very scared of crossing the 1GB limit. I ended up just using 200 MB in the 1st month.

And because of the "net on my phone" I downloaded a game called WordSearch. It's a wonderful game. One has to look for words in a jumble of seemingly random letters. My mom and my sister started playing it, hogging my phone. I still haven't been able to beat my sister's high score.

In the next month I did better. Realising that "net on my phone" does not use up that much data, I breathed easy and started using the Internet more often. 

To use the "net on my phone" I don't have to switch on my phone. I don't have to wait for it to connect to a wi-fi network. I don't have to switch it off when I am done. If I need to google something I can instantly do it. I downloaded twitter a few days ago so that I can promote my business on the go. I downloaded some pretty useful apps like Sound Hound and some pretty useless ones like Talking Tom. Though I was slow to catch on, I am doing a lot on the "net on my phone."

I am still a bit amazed by it all. I still use my laptop to blog. But, I am learning to download songs directly to my phone and even saw a couple of YouTube videos. Yes, I am getting the hang of it. Yes, the "net on my phone" sure is fun with Vodafone. And yes, I am luvin it. 

You could just drive by

"Sexy!"

That's what my sister said while browsing through pictures of the Audi A8. She was literally drooling over a car! And the other day she was over the moon because she had touched an Audi. 

Almost every guy I know reacts in quite a similar way while admiring a car. 

As for me, I can't differentiate between cars. I can't tell from one make to another. If my life depended on recognising cars I would probably die. The only cars I can recognise without having to read what's written on it is the Maruti 800(we used to have it), Chevrolet beat(we have it now) A Santro (my Mamu used to have one) Getz, and ambassadors. Well, you get the drift.

For me a car is to be used to drive from destination X to destination Y. As simple as that. Why should I care about the make of a car?

A week or so ago I asked A how good a car Indica was. What started with a simple question turned into a full fledged lesson of sorts about cars, their make, identifying cars and so on. I was intrigued. There was so much to know about cars, so much to find out. From the next day  I started paying more attention to cars, peering at their logos to see their make. This new hobby is somewhat interesting. Unfortunately, I  cannot identify cars even now and so my interest is dwindling. 

The other day I thought to myself. If I ever buy my own car, I will not bother deciding which one. I will fix on a budget and ask A or my sister or my cousin bro to advice me on a good car. Not just suggest, maybe even choose for me. I really wouldn't care less. I don't have a dream car, thank you very much.

I do have to learn driving soon though. I keep putting it off. Soon, soon, very soon. 

I am not attracted to cars. I will listen to anyone talking about cars with whole hearted interest. If they say that a particular car is amazing and sexy I will agree. If they point to a Merc and say it's a BMW I will agree. I am sure these knowledgeable people know a lot about cars and I appreciate their knowledge. I am enthusiastic about new knowledge and will grasp whatever new facts my brain takes in. 

Cars are useful and if they are so interesting to most guys and a number of girls who am I to open my mouth?

P.S: While typing this I searched for images of an Audi A8 and The Maruti SX4. What I understood was both had four wheels and were car shaped. 

Just want to write today.

It is my sister's b'day tomorrow and she has given me strict instructions  not to wake her up at twelve coz she is very sleepy. She is sleepy on the eve of her b'day. ( ah well, in her defense she got up really early today) 


Ah well the cake that was to be cut at midnight will be cut tomorrow. And now I have a craving for cake. Will wait till tomorrow. I do have a lot of will power. 


I am the only one awake at my place right now. And it is pretty early. And the person I was chatting to online has dozed off. Since I am wide awake I want to do something. I have been reading loads of blogs lately and now that I need something to do I don't feel like reading any of them. And so I am thinking. Randomly. And writing. I don't even know if I will post this. Maybe I will. I am curious about the reactions. I kind of know that I probably won't. But still. 

My sister is turning 13 tomorrow. I am trying hard to remember what it was like to be 13. All I remember about being 13 was my first proper, live human crush ( Earlier crushes were on non-human animated characters like Li from card captors and Dimitri from Anastasia.) 

You have to agree he  is attractive!

Don't laugh, 12 year olds of 2002 did have crushes on fictional guys. HP fans all over have crushes on Sirius Black, Fred and George Weasley, James Potter and Oliver Wood. And they are all fictional. Anyway, the point is that's all I remember about being 13. And the fact that I wasn't doing well in school. My marks were down the drain. So school- wise 13 not a good time to remember.

I don't really know what I am thinking of. There is a lot to do tomorrow. Maybe I will sleep. Or maybe not just yet.  

Maybe I will write some more tomorrow. Maybe another useless blog-post. Maybe just another musing in my notebook. Whatever. 

“Words, is oh such a twitch-tickling problem to me all my life.” 

-Roald Dahl, The BFG

. 

It's only words

This morning my father was reading out a text when my grandma asked him who had sent it. He said "P from Delhi, T's gharwala" (Gharwala: The  man she lives with, i.e her husband) I found the statement so funny that I almost burst out laughing ( I say almost coz we can't really burst out laughing at some situations.) 


It is not essentially a funny statement. I wanted to laugh because of the way it sounded- old Hindi film-ish. No one uses such phrases anymore. 


There is a tremendous gap in how we speak and and how our parents spoke. Forget Hindi, words old English   bu-shirt (half sleeved shirt)  are so much out of league that I have forbidden my dad to use it. He now tries hard to remember to say Half sleeved shirt instead. 


Infact, even my sister's lingo is very different from mine. ( There is, after all a 9 year gap between us) She has a favourite set of phrases  that she sprinkles generously in all her conversations. 


"How dumb" is used for any situation, regardless of what she actually thinks about it. Then there is "Awara types" (Awara basically refers to a useless person, who roams around because he/she does not have any work/commitments/responsibilities)  She may exclaim- "Kitne Awara type ke ho"  or greet me and mom with "Hello Awara ladies! "


She uses phrases without reason, it may or may not apply to the what is happening around her. But I tell you, it's fun.It's even more fun when my father gets scandalised when he hears her refer to her friends as "bakwas", dhaba or anything that sounds like an insult to him. He does realise that this is the way we speak, he accepts it but can't help but be bemused by it. 


I often end up using some phrases used often by people I am close to. My friend Kaniti used to say Jhat a lot. I picked it up from her and both of us use to splash it everywhere. (example Jhat jolle na tor: Ok I can't translate this, sorry) AK and I used to use "Kya pharak parta hai" ( It doesn't matter) and "Amar kichu jaye ashe na"( It doesn't affect me/I don't care) 


I, for my part love to say ainwayi  (  Which means just like that in punjabi) It's something I use often. Many of us exclaim "sahi hai", "mast" when something meets our approval. The 50+ people can keep being amused/bemused by the words around them.   I think having a having a specific lingo is fun. It is ainwayi, after all.