Too much

RO #2 Have just uploaded the toughest thing  I have ever written, for a contest held by penguin. I think I was holding my breath till it was over. 

Wrote my own story. My own lovestory, that is. AND it was tough! But it was fun. Brought back the memories. 

I think everyone should do it, if not for the public then for themselves. It's worth it 

P.S This is more than a oneliner, it's a small note. I am still calling it a oneliner.

P.S2 I have been writing about love for the last three days, for different contests. And now I am tired. Not of love but of writing about it. 

P.S3 And now I am sleepy. 

Ciao. Cheers. Bye. Goodnight

Well, I am bored.

I am bored of giving status updates on fb and still wary of tweeting so I am going to give random oneliners here. It doesn't really matter if you like the post coz I am doing this coz facebook is getting really really boring and I have decided that my blog should therefore be my only interaction with the world. Oh but I have to use facebook to inform people that I have updated my blog. So I do sort of depend on fb. And I still like fb. Unlike some people, who think they are too Uppity for fb and its anyway passe. 

And now that I am back to blogging, it feels good. So all I have been doing since I came  back from class is reading blogs. And dreaming of winning contests I have entered. 

Anyway I am bored of giving explanations for my random oneliners

So my RO for today is ( I am calling it RO coz I can't keep on typing random oneliner)

RO #1 You know you live in a hostel when "hunger" has a new meaning. 

So now you know, that I am not only bored but quite hungry and should have opened my packet of Wai Wai. But now that food has come I will go check out what is there and if it is not appealing I have my packet of wai wai. 

Pyar Vyar; Shaddi Vaddi

Suicide or Murder?
Love marriage or arranged?

That's the million dollar question!

Is the question actually valid? Why do we even need to choose between the two? Why does it have to be so black and white?

Say boy and girl meet each other. They fall in love and decide they want to marry each other. And they do. End of story. 

OR

Say parents like a prospective spouse for their child. Said people like each other enough to decide to get married. And they do. End of story. 

But things are not that simple. We Indians have this need to choose one of the two. Endlessly praise one and criticize the other.

We just like to complicate things.

So let's start again. Boy meets girl. They fall in love. They want to marry. Boy meets girl's parents. Girl meets his. Parents disapprove. She is not tall enough. He does not earn enough. She does not have siblings. He has too many. His house is at the wrong place. Her dress is at the wrong place. He speaks differently. She eats differently. She has short hair. He has long hair. 

"You simply can't marry him"

"There is no way I will let you marry him."

"But we are in love" 

"Yeh pyar vyar chodo. Shaddi Karo, Ghar basao." (Forget that . Get married  and settle down. )

There are very few lucky people whose parents are okay with them falling in love and marrying anyone. 

So what about arranged marriage?

That must be good. After all our parents know what is good for us. But ain't they humans too? True, they will look into every aspect of the prospective spouse-family, background, career prospects. But that certainly does not determine a successful marriage. 

Its not about which way of meeting your partner is better.  Its about building a successful, happy marriage.  So why do we need to decide which is better? If you meet a person on your own, well and good. If your parents or relatives introduce you to people when you are ready to get married, that's fair enough. How you meet your spouse should not matter. What should matter is that you are ready to spend the rest of your life with this person.  



This post is written for the Love Marriage ya arranged marriage contest on Indiblogger, organised by Sony Entertainment Television. Their new show Love marriage ya arranged marriage revolves explores the debate between love and arranged marriage.  Check out their facebook page here
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Cross your fingers and wish on a black car

I smile whenever I see a mail van. When I was a kid wishing on mail vans was very popular. When you spot a mail van you make a wish and cross your fingers. You can only uncross your fingers when you see a black car. This is how your wish will come true. All my adolescent and teenage years I have done this. I remember one day I had seen a mail van on the way to school and crossed the  fingers of my left hand. I didn't open them the whole day because I hadn't seen a black car. In the evening I saw another mail van so crossed  the fingers of the other hand too. And then waited on the road across my place for a mail van.


So whenever I see I mail van I feel like wishing for something. And then I smile. They remind me of the time I was allowed to be silly and stupid. Not that I am not silly or stupid now, but I am not supposed to be.


Remember wishing on your eyelash? The stray ones that would sometimes fall on your face? We used to call it wish hair. Even today, whenever I see a stray eyelash on someone's face, I urge them to wish.


So what did you wish on as a kid? And what is it that you wished for? I am curious. 


I think the next time  I see a mail van  I will wish for more time to blog. 

Faith

I am a Hindu because I was born in a Hindu family. Being a Hindu is of no consequence to me. Believing in God is. My faith does not depend on rituals.

Around a year back I had gone to the Kali temple in Kalighat, with Kaniti.  It was my first visit. We went there to buy a pair of shakha, pola(bangles that married Bengali woman wear) for my bhabhi. And it is an experience I am not likely to forget. For all the wrong reasons. We were buying stuff outside the temple when we decided to visit the Goddess inside.

There were more than several pundits trying to lure people in. One of the pundits told us that he will help us offer Puja for Rs 22. We decided to go with him. He made us buy some stuff. Flowers, sindoor, a red cloth, red thread, some bangles and prasad. And then he took us to a place we could keep our shoes. We took off us shoes and followed him. He took us for a darshan through the “V.I.P” entrance so that we young girls could avoid the crowd. We saw the idol and then he took us to another room where we could offer our puja.
He made us sit separately because we are not of the same caste(Kaniti is a Brahmin which I am not) All my life I have never been asked my caste as if it’s such an important thing. That was the first time.

We sat for a while and he called us in turns so that we could perform puja. And then the something we were not expecting happened. He asked for 1500 bucks. He said it’s an offering to Kali. I was shocked. I told him I didn’t have the money and that he had said the puja could be done in only 22 rupees. He said that was for the things we had bought. Both Kaniti and I were shocked. He kept on arguing with us and at one point turned nasty. For a moment I was really scared.

I explained to him that we had no money and offered a Rs.50 note. He looked offended and then said we could come back to the temple and give money when our wishes came true. We nodded in agreement and went outside.

When we went to the place our shoes were kept, we were in for another not-so-pleasant-surprise. The pundit asked for his service fee. I don’t remember how much we paid him but I think it was around 100 bucks.  After that I just about had enough money to go back home.

As soon as I got on the bus I rubbed of the red “tikka” from my forehead. I was feeling so sickened. As soon as I reached home I recalled the story to my Mom. I was so disgusted I tore off the red thread from my hand and went for a shower.

Religion is made ugly by such people. To them it’s just business. A money making scheme. I would rather to stay away from anything which holds no meaning for me. And certainly not something that involves mixing worship with money. The pundit was trying to fleece us in the name of God. We, as educated young girls were feeling victimized. And I don’t ever want to feel that way when it comes to my faith in god. My faith remains unshaken and my stance against  rituals is stronger now.