a day in the life of india

prior to moving, i had thought that living here would give me lots to write about.. this has clearly not been the case. perhaps i have been too distracted by other aspects of my new life.. i came across this times of india project today however, which seems like fun, and brought to mind my lack of india writing/observing:

Cows sunbathing on expressways. Bare-bodied sadhus on cellphones. Chappal combats in Parliament. Spitting and urinating in public places. Chaos, golmaal, jugaad... all pieces of a vast multi-cultural mosaic called India.

The Times of India invites the entire nation to come together to help create this mosaic, with A Day in the Life of India. All you need to do is to shoot a photo or video , draw a cartoon or just tell us a joke , on anything you feel makes India, India.

the contest is open till march 15, 2011 and you can visit www.day.in to enter. some of the suggested themes are:

Chalta Hai India: Don't we all know the infamous "I don't care" attitude. Dumping garbage on roads, playing cards at work, cops sleeping on duty... the list is endless!

Pushy India: We love pushing and shoving, be it in a bank queue, on a public transport or at ticket counters.

Overloaded India: Typical scenes of over-usage of capacity of all kinds... remember the famous Fevicol ad?

Bizarre India: We inherit the strangest of customs, rituals and superstitions and pass it on generations after generations, like idols drinking milk, walking barefoot on fire, etc.

Golmaal India: Bribery, underhand nexus, cutting corners, phoney red lights, touts and fake brands.

Jugaad India: We invented this phenomenon. It is all about bending and bypassing rules to get a job done.

Chaotic India: We live in complete disarray, no lane driving, chaotic parking, queues for procuring ration and temples on Thursdays...

Technicolour India: A medley of colours that India is... ghagra cholis, kitschy trucks, Holi ke rang, etc.

Incredible India: The beauty and heritage of India, the monuments, wildlife, beaches and the resplendence of festivals.

Sign of the Times: The happy-go-lucky use of English in India. Remember all the times you have seen signs saying "child beer" or heard people entering a building from the "backside".

i'm sure i won't enter the contest, but it'd be nice to begin my own 'a day in the life of india'..

monday grace

1. family. the unconditional love and acceptance of family is something that i am only now appreciating. no matter my tantrums, my shortfalls, my peeves, they are there, solid and unwavering in their support and shelter. none of us are perfect, and my relationship with various family members may be complicated and fraught with various tensions. but at the end of the day, i can count on the cushion of their love and familiarity to comfort my weary spirit.

with this realization comes yet another: even now, i cannot truly comprehend the depth of parental love. as a child, i used to mock and shrug off my mom's comment that i would understand when i became a parent myself. how long it took me to begin seeing the wealth of emotion, patience and angst behind that statement.

2. being in the same country, the same city as raudat tahera. i recall a long ago comment made by someone in cairo, of that land being hard on people, filling their path with difficulties. my immediate thought was that any hardships were surely mitigated by the presence of rasul husain. despite the various evolutions of my faith since then, i know that i would rather be in the presence of raudat tahera than not. i have unfortunately not made the most of this blessing so far, but i intend to remedy this from today, inshallah.

monday grace

if i could hold on to a moment of bliss
if i could use it as a charm,
a light in the dark

if i could collect those moments,
weave them into a blanket
so i would always be warm,
always surrounded by joy

my plan to collect such moments is through writing them down here. for a long time, i've thought about doing something similar to a 'three beautiful things thursday' but just never got around to it. this is the perfect time to start, i believe. i KNOW that while everyday is not great, there is something good in every day, but it is so easy to lose track of that, to not see the forest for the trees. this will not only help me to take stock of my week, it will also give me beauty to collect, and it will take me farther on z's 'fake it till you make it' mantra!

so here goes!

1. my work and colleagues. i am SO thankful to be doing work that fulfils and engages me, that i am good at, that makes me feel productive and allows me to participate in creating a better world. and i am just as awed to have colleagues who are my friends, who are dedicated to their cause, who are good, decent people.

2. internet. i cannot imagine my life without the internet. i wouldn't be able to work from home (or in another country for that matter!) for one, i would have to rely on expensive phone calls and snail mail to communicate with my family and friends (not at all the same as email, chat and facebook) and i would miss out on all the wonderful blogs and websites i daily consume.

3. chocolate. really, that stuff is awesome. even better with nuts, biscuits and rice crispies. never fails to make me feel better, and it even works as a mild pain reliever. (my eyes are now straying to the 5 star bar on the dressing table, which i don't want to open because H got it for me, and it reminds me of the first chocolate bar he gave me, which i didn't open for at least a month, and then consumed over another month :)

4. following the events in egypt over the past week have been inspiring. it is wonderful to see the unity and spirit of the people there, and it brings back many fond memories of my four years there. i have so many friends who are either from there, living there or have a vested interest there.. it is way past time for mubarak to leave and for egypt to move forwards. i would love to go back there one day soon, and for the country to be in a much better state than when i had left, inshallah!

train reading

reading on the mtr during my daily commute to work is something i'd been doing for SO long. having a book in my bag was like having my wallet, phone or keys with me. it was part of my routine, it was familiar, it made my day that much better. i never paid attention to the station announcements as i was too engrossed in my current read; instead, i had memorized the colors of all the stations, so that as i soon as i looked up from my book and out the window, i would know where i was and how many more paragraphs could be read.

not only have i missed my reading addiction in the past few months, i have also missed the mtr. two days ago, i took my new book onto the local train and happily got through an hour long journey. i had to pay more attention to the stations as my color codes don't work here, but that's okay. that sense of familiarity, of owning the journey, of being transported away from my conscious self; these more than made up for the lack of air conditioning, the uncomfortable seats, the unknown stations. holding that book felt like holding a charm, one that would ease my way in this new land. it reminded me of h's advice to find and hold on to the familiar; this is one way to hold on to myself..

november 29, 2010

i'm not sure whether i was looking forward more to nov 3 or nov 29 this year! i was very keen to blog about the 29th, more just to see the date on the blog than anything else perhaps! as fate would have it, i had no computer access that day, being on a surprise weekend trip with H to celebrate our joint birthday :)

one of my teenage fantasies was to marry a fellow saggitarian. i recall hours spent in the school library browsing through a huge almanac on zodiac signs.. the page regarding saggitarius couples was perhaps the most worn out!

not only is H a fellow saggitarian, but we actually have the same birthday- if only all my fantasies came alive so sweetly ;)

it was a wonderful day, a wonderful weekend; thank you H. and for H, thank you fate!

connected

some time ago, i was having a conversation with ck regarding what it means to be 'home'; in (semi) jest, i noted that recording what makes me feel at home here, or what makes our new apt into a home would make for interesting blogging. coincidentally, a few days later, after a long and impatient wait (on my part), we finally got the internet set up at home. i don't consider myself to be all that much of a techie or online freak, but when i saw my persona-fied browser open up with all my bookmarks and history, i was literally floating with happiness. sitting with my laptop on the bed, i felt like i was finally home.

being online the last few days has made me feel much better, less homesick. i am able to communicate with my friends and family now, read the news, catch up on my fav blogs and websites; all of this adds to my feeling of being home. this is a state of mind, nothing to do with possessions and material objects. those have their own place in making our apt into a home, but this sense of connection is far more important at present :)

playing house

i'm married!! it's been less than a week, but the past few days in our new apt have been so busy and filled with the mundane that i almost don't remember being a recent bride!

i was worried about how the wedding would pan out, but alhumdolillah, everything went well. there were the usual hiccups and dramas and tensions, but overall H and i both enjoyed ourselves. i was the most nervous right before the nikah, but once that was over, i calmed down and everything went smoothly. i recall sitting in the thaal in hk and listening to various not so fun wedding experiences and memories; i am glad and thankful that my memories are all happy and fun :) in fact, compared to my initial month in india, the period of the wedding was far better! in the words of p and jh, it is no surprise, as i am generally happier when H is around :P

as we settle in to our new place, and get used to sharing living space, i feel like i am playing at house! i cannot believe that we are in fact married; that i am married! everything is so new and novel..