5 things to do for the society - an hour weekly?

1. Plant and water trees, plants at home and near our home for the area atleast one. My neighbour planted around 300 trees and he water them regularly. Atleast I could see in my road he has planted on both sides plants and he water them. The mountain near our home people regularly on saturday and sunday water the plants. When they can take out sometime why cant a housewife or everyone of us? UNLESS SOMEONE LIKE YOU CARES A WHOLE AWFUL LOT, NOTHING IS GOING TO GET BETTER.  We might end up creating artificial towns and cities :( as shown in the movies. Ok that is little too much ;)

2. Reduce and Recycle. Separating dry and wet at home/source level before disposing it.

3. We went to the public library in Chengalpattu children's section, it has decent collection of books but awful arrangement. Cant blame them, British council library in Pune is no less then I guess its of no use to think about a public library. Whole collection of Enid blyton, children encyclopedia, Harry potter collection, Tulika books are kept here and there not in order. One has to go through everything to select book. Why cant we volunteer our children and involve ourself in organizing a library? is it not feasible if there is one closeby? It took less than half hour to organize one shelf.

4. Never throwing garbage on the road ever.

5. Note to self: Stop writing about all these and start doing something about it :p

Feminist view of Kannagi statue

I was listening to "take it easy policy" song...In the song there is a line, we have Kannagi statue but not Seetha's (Kannagi silai than ingundu seethaiku kallal silaiyethu?) True Kannagi burnt Madurai for her husband. Seetha proved herself pure by going in to the fire. In a Malechaunistic society obviously they will order and make a statue of Kannagi only :p. She burnt Madhurai along with innocent kids and good human beings???
.
Another story Shiva's, Shiva will cut Ganesha's head in anger! What kind of god will kill a little boy out of sheer anger and just to prove his power? if there is any other inner meaning i really would like to know. In most of the stories bad guys get to see the god easily. Kamsa, Hiranya Kasibu....all Rakshashas they get killed by the god, whether killed or blessed they get to see the God easily. Good people has to do thapas for years like Pagiratha? Why?

Indra's story if i start I will go nuts..he is the one who made mistake and punishment is to Agalikai? and many more story can be read in Vinayagar puranam we just started and put a full stop immediately after few pages.
Swami vivekananda seems to be reasonable but Is bramacharya or all those things taught to  him can only be followed by Vivekananda cant it be followed by women, again women is degraded in the story here and there, I guess it was written by a guy. Whether in Mahabharata/Ramayana any story women's condition is pathetic, what they did is not even close to the punishment they got and in India woman have curfew, girl children are still raped in buses. Pathetic. I dont even know whether to continue saying sare jagan se aacha...Really?

Success vs failure

Yesterday my friend posted a quote in FB about success and failure, it goes something like this, "To attain success one has to go through failure, many people didnt realize that and once they fail in something they shut themself off and develop fear to try something new or avoid taking risks". True failure is the stepping stone to success.

Immediate thought that crossed my mind is "If one has to treat success and failure in the same way, what is the point of keep on running behind and taking risks" I guess that is a nice way to escape from things and convince oneself from doing nothing, to become a lazy person. We Indians read too much of these Bhagavat gita (I know only few quotes here and there) and other things and get contented with what we have so new inventions and technologies are happening somewhere else where they constantly want to improve everything?

Especially another thing to feel proud to be an indian woman is here a married woman has the luxury to sit at home and enjoy life doing nothing except taking care of the family. But for a guy become contented, is it possible to survive in this fast world? Atleast we do need the basic necessities to be fulfilled.

RT Phase I

I feel success is very subjective, for some it is having a collection of jewelleries, for some it is accumulating and flaunting their wealth, for some it is looking young, for some it is being healthy and fit, for some it is having peaceful life, for some it is swimming and crossing 100/200 miles without giving up and so on. Success or goal what one feels might not sound interesting to another, that is what make each human being unique and beautiful. Is it not?

But I can be contented and say what is the point of running behing something nonstop
as I am not the sole breadwinner of my family ;) :P. Men in India poor souls I guess they cant think that way, have to work, earn and may be can get early retirement and enjoy! till then it is run run as fast as you can is it not?

Proud to be born as a woman!

I used to envy guys standing in a corner and talking for hours!
I used to envy men who used to backpack and tour around the world alone!
I used to envy their freedom in many ways!
I used to envy their friendship!
I used to envy how they not get in to silly fights!

But nowadays everytime I see a tiny little baby,
I felt so proud for being a woman!

Arithu arithu manudarai pirathal arithu!
Athilum kun kurudu indri pirathal arithu!
Athanilum mangaiyarai pirapatharke mathavam seithida vendumama! So True!


Be ........lated Happy womens day hee hee to all the great women out there!


Random thought phase1:

Though it is embarrasing to write about it, recently in our apartment we faced this problem, people threw it in the toilet I guess wrapped it in plastic covers!!!. So gobbling that embarresment I am writing about it.

How to dispose sanitary napkins outside:
1. Always carry a plastic cover as you carry a sanitary napkin.

2. If you are outside  when you dispose it, if you dont have plastic cover, wrap it in any newspaper, wastepaper then throw it in the trash.

How to dispose it at home:

1. Place the sanitary pad into its plastic wrapper if you have saved it. Otherwise, wrap it several times with toilet paper.

2. Put the sanitary pad into the trash. It's helpful to have a small wastebasket in your bathroom for this purpose. 

 

We all know it, but still when I use public toilets I could see the pads lying there just like that, and thats even more horrible than using our (indian) public toilets. And in our apartment we faced plumbing problem with 2 weeks blockages and flooding. When we asked the reason,  person who did the cleaning was shy enough and said he found plastic bags and sanitary napkin in the toilet pipe, and society people made a notice to inform the owners and tenants. I should say most and all of the people in my apartment are educated. So if it is the case in a place like this no wonder our public toilets are horrible. So when we convey awareness about sanitary napkins in schools I guess we should add this point too, how to dispose it without disgusting other women. Still it needs lots of guts to throw it like that! bravo to them :P

 

Random thought Phase II

Is it possible to demand our government atleast to keep the toilets in tourist attractions clean? Is it possible to hand it to private companies and if they didnt do their job well sue them off? I am absolutely upset, another thing I envy about men, they dont need toilets but for women it is horrible to go out and find the toilets in non usable conditions with no water. ugh One simple example: Pune Sinhagad fort toilet

Laughing therapy

Recent cinthol ad, the conversation between Journalist daughter in law and doctor mother in law in a positive

Rags

way robbed my heart, we need more ads this way than the usual irritating making fun of the relationships. Nowadays even the serials are better thanks to my parents and inlaws, I hate to see them but no way I could escape coz I could hear it from anywhere. But really some of the serials are really good especially the dubbed ones, as the costume is different than the usual its more fun to watch. Having said that, I learnt few hindi words because of the serial Tu tu main main, hillarious serial and coz of darling Raageshwari, the lively bubbly singer. Golden days :p

Does it happen in any of the house? "Newspaper I dont know what it has, why dont you finish your bath and

breakfast and can read it all day, its not going to go anywhere", the usual dialogue from mom whenever dad is immersed in the newspaper or on a weekend if the kid is watching TV first you both go, take bath have your breakfast/lunch depending on the time..in a high irritated voice. And the answer will be one can hear a mumbled "mmm"..it has thousands of meaning, why dont you leave me alone, its a weekend, I want to relax and not do the routine. But thats what makes the family fun.

We had a jokes day on Sunday and it turned out to be really fun. We remembered some forgotten jokes though it was a repetition, after a long time hearing it made us laugh a lot.

Samples:
Teacher to a student: Tell me do you know where is Everest?
Student:  I dont know.
Teacher: Stand up on the bench
Student: Will I be able to see then?

There was big accident in a railway station, around 20 people got killed in an accident and only one escaped and he was standing in a platform, so the police rushed to the spot and enquired what happened to the person.
He will say, it was because of the wrong announcement, they said the train will come on platform no 2, and everyone got frightened and jumped from platform no 2 to the railway track.
Police asked him then how come you were so clever and got escaped from this?
The guy said I came to commit suicide so I decided to stay on the platform but the train came on the railway track??????
 
Doctor was demonstrating how hazardous alcohol is to one's body
Doctor: Do you even know what alcohol does to your body. Let me demonstrate. He took an empty cup and in one he put a worm and poured alcohol in to it, worm died of alcolhol and told them did you see what happened?

One of the patient: Yes alcohol kills worms in the body.
Doctor: ??????

Blonde got a economy ticket to london and she went and seated in first class, didnt budge to move from there when the flight attentent told her its not her seat. So the flight attendent after persuading her a long time gave up and went to the pilot and told him. He said ok I will take care. He went straight to the blonde and told her something, she said thank you and went and sat on the economy class happily.
Flight attendent was confused he asked the pilot what did you say, in no time you were able to make her leave and get seated in economy class.
Pilot said, I told her the first class wont go to london, only economy class will reach london on time. ;)

Have a great day!
 

Perseverance

Very difficult thing to follow in life? Doing exercises is something I am not so happy to persist...I like to do but whenever I want to...But for the past few days we in the family and my neighbour try to persist and achieve doing exercise everyday for 30-45 with a thought for the day in the end. But I managed to run and started walking after 2-3 days and today even reduced the number of rounds which no one know :p. But still I did some exercise accountable.

The next step in the discussion (Discussion only but attaining is not anywhere near) was trying to find out the 18 qualities and what we lack what to do about it. Significance of 18 steps in Sabarimala was listed in a site. Thanks to them. Just copy pasting it here. The first 5 steps signify the five indriyas or the senses (eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin), the following 8 the ragas (tatwa, kama, krodha, moha, lobha, madha, matsraya, and ahamkara), the next 3 the gunas (satwa, rajas and thamas) followed by vidya and avidya.

1. Ears (sound) - Listen only to good talks avoid listening to gossiping that strengthen our Ego of finding fault with others and feel us superior.
2. Eyes (sight) - See things that are good and create inner inspiration. Avoid sensual sights that trigger unwanted desires in us, like sexual content or material possessions. But those things that meet our basic needs of life and not that fulfills our wants (greed).
3. Skin (Touch) - Stimulating touch (sex) is to be avoided. Enjoy sense of touch of japa-maala (rosary beads) that helps in chanting God's name. Feel the feather soft of flowers and feel that we should show that soft compassion to others.
4. Nose (smell) - associate smells of flowers and scents related to Lord's pooja. Pay attention to addictive smell of food.
5. Tongue (taste). Eat very satwic food that does not create addiction and over-indulgence like sweets and spicy hot foods. Eat food that are healthy and natural. One can eat natural sweets like dates, raisins and honey
6. Kama (Desire or possession)
7. Krodha (anger when desires do not get fulfilled or when desired possession is lost).
8. Lobha (greed to fulfill the desire or not allowing anyone partake in one's possession),
9. Moha (Infatuation of the obtained result or having the possession).
10. Mada (pride of getting the desire fulfilled or having a possession)
11. Matsarya (Jealousy that others should not get what we have fulfilled our desire or when others have a possession that we have.)
12. Tamas: The Inertia (not to do action) or lazy or sluggish attitude is Tamasic. This is overcome by doing getting up early in morning having cold-water-baths doing pooja or worship. We dont want to do these because we are lazy in doing this. Only by doing these we overcome Tamasic nature.
13. Rajas: Action oriented with the feeling of "I". By constant mantra Japa of Saranam Ayyappa, this I doing the action feeling get diminished.
14. Sattva: Goodness. The feeling of I am good is also a Ego feeling. That also should be transcended as Krisha says in Gita. Feel everyone who are doing bad are doing due to ignorance. We should not ignore them, by by compassion help them to grow out of it.
15. Raga: The strong likes or attachments that we use in making decisions. This is possible only by developing Bhakthi to Ayyappa. This means to surrender all likes to Lord for the common good.
16. Dvesha: Same way the strong dislikes also should be given up in making decisions. Also through surrender attitude (Bhakthi) we can transcend this attitude.
17. Avidya: The Knowledge about physical material things alone is Avidya. Vidya is the knowledge of Truth. By attending satsangs of Guru alone will help to gain the highest knowledge.
18. Ahamkara (Identity): All the attachments is summarized as this one factor, the identity felling of "I". This is the final step or block in learning about one's self. 

Thought for the day!

Photocourtesy: AIMS.ORG

One of our friend says,
"Whatever happens, Keep smiling."
which reflected my thought which I heard from one of my favorite cousin. And I so ended it with Yes, Smile is the only curve that makes everything straight!"

She contemplated it with the Akbar Birbal story..All for good. Akbar got his finger got cut and birbal will say, "all for good Maharaj dont worry!" Akbar will get irritated and say what my finger getting cut and bleeding is for good, in that irritation he'll put him in jail and to make his restless mind right, he will decide to go for his favorite game, hunting in the forest, he will be caught by tribes. And these tribes on seeing the cut, drop the idea of offering him to their goddess. So Akbar will remember birbal's word all for good and as soon as he return to his palace, he will go and apologize to birbal and will share what has happened and will raise the question ok birbal what is good about you going to jail?, Birbal will say, Maharaj if i was not in jail, as i have no cut in my body I wouldve been offered to god!..So Whatever happens, happens for good! Keep smiling! Try to find the positive side of it, if not surrender yourself to god, it will reduce your worries..Right?

Teenager in the group said, "Early bird catches the worm", if you learn things and do good in your office you will get appreciation from your boss and will lead to some good benefit. I was surprised for his age, nice right?

Old person in our group said, though there is 1000 things you wanted to do, focus on one thing at a time. absolutely, right one for me :(

Whoever agree or disagree please do share your thoughts! Will revoke an interesting discussion..dont you think so? 

What is important?

Learning is fun always...its exciting to learn new things...But once I learn, the problem arises when this question comes, how am I going to apply this, is it really that important? I loved learning digital marketing...and for the first time I got good teachers and I learnt it well...what am I going to do with it, I will be marketing someone else's business...as I am not going to start my own anytime sooner or anytime at all as I am absolutely having no skill in management and to have my own business I need it for sure. I am not going to do MBA noway.

For now thinking marketing someone else's business for them to earn money doesnt interest me much though digital marketing on the whole is an exciting arena. Starting my own is one of the passion or may be I like the idea of starting my own business :). But yesterday again I came across missing person ad in Pune, 75yrs having alzhimer disease gone missing, it has been 48hrs. He need insulin as he is diabetics. So I guess its necessary to start an FB page for them to use. And yay I can use my social media marketing skill.

So lets come to the title, what is important in life to you? I really would like to know from each and every one. As indians we are so senti I am sure I will hear my parents, my kids from many. Yesterday my son asked me what do you like the most? I really cudnt answer.

 Nature? Rain? Flower? Kashi said Peaceful life for everyone. Peace in country. Sounds like he is competing for Mister world :p. I hear that answer from Miss worlds all the time. Just kidding. But yes he is right peace is important not only for country for us too inside and outside. Yesterday I saw 59th filmfare awards and Salman khan beautifully combined peace and love together in his dance performance. Heart with doves...wow.

What a Random thought! Happy Valentines day to all the lovely human beings! and to my family members and friends!

What goes around comes around!

What you give is what you get? is it not? if you show your angry face do you think the opposite person will smile and change your mood unless it is your mother ;).....I feel if we smile most of the time we get the mirror reflection, smile from the opposite person, if we have a grumpy face opposite person wont even try to be friendly with us. The story happy, sad, grumpy, bashful, sneezy, dopey explains different emotions?! to kids?  This is what is random thought why unnecessarily I remembered this emotions story...I dont know.

Anyway I was listening to minibytes in Vijay TV, and andrea!!! reflected or said exactly what I thought.

What goes around comes around if people understood that then this world will be a beautiful place to live. If you do something bad to someone, may be you might not get the punishment immediately but definitely someday in some form you will go through it, you might/might not realize you are going through that because of because of it :) haa haaa anyway let us think good and do good or think bad and do bad it is up to each one! But i do believe what you give is what you get!

Dead animal Removal in Pune?

Today morning around 830am I saw a dead horse near my area. As I dont have any number I tried to reach few of the people I know so that they could call the relevant people. But at around 930 I happened to go on the same street and found the dead horse still there and people just drive around it. So came home and got the corporation number from my neighbour, called them and they gave me a number 9689931704. I tried the number they said it was only for small animals I have to call another number 9623600820. I dont even know what was he saying but this I could understand clearly from what he said that he has nothing to do with dead animal removal. Again I called the number given under dead animal removal in www.puneinside.com. They gave me another number as it wont come under their juridiction, 8237718276. By the time I was tired and hungry and gave up..Some one would've called by the time hopefully and it mightve removed.

Do you ever had this kind of experience? Is there just one number I could call they will do the needful? I got blue cross number in Pune, hope it might work in future. 020 - 65266491

I used to see dead dogs, cats, dead cow in the hiking path....whom to call who will take action? If anyone know about it do please leave a comment. Thanks in advance.

And also sometime there will be street lights on till 11oclock in the morning, if you know the number do let me know..Am I sounding like Shankar's Anniyan? ewww I am not I am also like the million dont care indians. But at times my conscience makes and asks me to do few things.

Love makes things run in its pace?

Today morning I wanted to see some songs, whatever channel it is, whether Hindi or Tamil its all filled with duets in different forms either in happy mood or in a sad mood. Love between two grown ups or the affection towards your little one, parents, siblings etc is what makes the world go in its pace. Is it not? That is what makes the humanbeings life lively. That is what make us lead a meaningful life. What if there is no love or affection, and we have to work, earn, eat, entertain. Will that be fun? There wont be any purpose to being alive or is there? Atleast one should have a single soul who could reciprocate their love otherwise do you think life would be interesting?

Till few months before I was part of the crowd who says haa these directors they just give more and more romantic movies. DDLJ, Taal (Dont fall in love rise in love), You've got mail, Alaipayuthe and many more in the list are taken in different forms again and again. There is more crisis in the real world than falling and failing in love. Whether we like it or not, there is next gen ready to fall in love. And yes these movies are for them. Love, affection is what runs each and every soul to do things till the end of their life. Otherwise what drives a father to earn and take care of the family, or a youngster to go around the girl/guy thinking that is the more important work than anything else.

20-30 is the time to focus and achieve and fall in love, for some everything happens so easily or seems like it.

i feel its just a proximity effect, most of the people who fell in love might be working together or worked together, studied together or studying together, lived in the same area or living in the same area etc. Its very rare to fall in love with an unknown person who is far off  and doesnot even know him/her in person, may be in this computer era that might be possible. Love makes the world go around :)

But I could understand why Baba made a place in people's life, his wordings are so simple and true to the core ----> Love all Serve all!

Indian way of eating!

This is something we always use to discuss at home. We cook for hours together and finish it in 10-15min max? But my friends who are in SG and in USA say people there cook for 10 min (sandwich, salads etc) and eat for an hour. Same way when we go for hiking I used to take lemon rice, curd rice or veg briyani...If it is a chill weather would long and love to have hot samosa, chai, onion pakoda and the purpose of doing hiking will get compromised there ;) We live for food and we love food so much and end up doing 3 times a day cooking fresh food. True or false? Today when I saw this image through my cousin in FB it just crossed my mind and I am sure many could relate to it :)

 

And few of us use knife and fork to eat dosa even Indians. I used to wonder how could they do this to Dosa. They are killing the true essence the enjoyment of eating Dosa with hand :p.

5 things to do from Home

Tiny Ideas to kill time:

1. Teaching basic computer skills to old people, maids, housewives, thirunangaigal (third gender) and to your loved ones for a fee? (Am I doing it, should never ask I hate that question btw)

2. Creating theme based story books for kids, with the collection of best indian authors and foreign authors, there are loads of websites to give a heads up on the books collection for a particular age. For example goodreads.com, wccls.org, storytimeathome.blogspot.in etc, or simply type "books for so and so age" you will get n number of websites to select books.

3. Story time for kids, 2 and 3 is important in India as the public library is scarce and kids are intelligent and curious to the core :)  For the option 2 and 3 once it is created find your targeted audience, moms and dads ofcourse are the first choice, and then schools. Any other you could think of? add it in the comment might be useful to someone. Already littlereadersnook and my little chatter box is doing a good job on the same. If you want to be their competitor provide the best than them..Quality matters right?

4. Making paper bags out of newspaper and selling it for a fee to medical shops, book shops and for return gifts or teaching kids/women/men who are begging on the street these kind of few craft works will help them lead an independent life. And this would be another way to reduce plastic usage.

5. If you know how to stitch, making cloth bags and distribute it in grocery and veg shops for a fee will again reduce plastic usage, if people forget to bring bags from home, they can buy these bags.

Any product from pencil to giant machines creating it with good quality will definitely reach the customer no matter what. I feel in India quality of product is poor for poor/middle class people. Upper/Rich has no problem, they could get the quality they want from anywhere around the world.

I missed the magnetic boards available in US and tried to make one and succeeded in doing it.

Instead of using/wasting white paper everyday,

One can make it in a cheaper way by just putting the slate (small version of blackboard :p) and stick it with cellotape. And you are set to write your grocery list, to do list etc with chalk. This is cheap and can be reused. Slate cost around Rs. 6 - 10/- Cellotape may be 5/-

Doodle pad can be fit with a magnet and can be used to do the same thing...I just reused the magnet from my fridge magnet. I am sure one could find magnet in normal shops.