Moving thoughts

Thoughts in my head these days
-How do I know how many books to put in a box so that it isnt too heavy for the movers to carry? If I can carry it is it fine?
-Will the pots and pans box hold up?
-I hope the power/cable/water/gas at the new apartment is ready
-will the cleaners do a good job of cleaning the old apartment?
-where did I put all my jewellery?
-will there be any bugs at the new apartment?
-will the roads/traffic be ok from new apartment to the office?
Huh...I can't wait to move!

Marathon plans, dealing with hypochondria and indian television

I have signed myself up for the Marine Corps 10KM marathon and have been training for a couple of months now. Since I have never been a running person, it took me some time to actually get to a stage where I can now run a few miles and not drop dead! Starting from the stage where I could hardly run a few minutes to being able to run for 45 minutes, I have come a long way. The training is tough and there are days I wish I could just run the 6 miles without having to actually 'run' but as they say 'no pains no gains'! And pains there have been aplenty. i have this weird pain in my ankles some days, the legs hurt almost whenver I train, and yesterday while I was reading this article, I suddenly realized my feet were hurting too(yeah I do display mild hypochondria)! Consequently, I have spent most of my day at work today researching plantar fasciitis. I know I might NOT be afflicted with this disease, but the chronic worrier that I am, I have decided to stretch double time from today, try not to wear heels (i can hear my beautiful highheeled shoes crying for attention), and be on the lookout for any symptoms that might signal the onset of the condition! My obsession is atleast helping me make a few good changes in my lifestyle...hope they stick.
On a different note, I was talking to my sis today and we both were lamenting the degradation of indian television. Ekta's Kahani Hamare Mahabharat Ki, Dadagiri etc featured high on our bitchlist. We still remember lining up in front of the tv not so long ago(ok..about 6 years ago) to watch shows like Tu Tu Main Main, Khichdi, Shaktiman(yeah we are two crazy siblings who watched this show and also zipped around like shaktiman..haha) etc and not blinking an eyelid when watching them! Ofcourse I also remember the glory days of Nukkad, Hum Paanch, Yeh Jo hain zindagi and the like, that my sis missed coz she was too young to care. And look at what television has degraded itself to now? There was a controversy about this show Dadagiri(is that even a name?) where this hostess(ugh) slaps this contestant because he didnt win and he slaps her back and what do you know, the whole crew comes on stage and starts assaulting this contestant verbally and phsically. Most of the gaalis I heard blew me away. I swear I have never heard of some of the words before and some other really burnt my ears and I ran for cover! Apparently my sis was watching one of the episodes of Dadagiri with my ajji(grandmother) where a contestant is punished by dunking his head in a commode(yeah thats right) and my ajji ran away from the tv, into the puja room and stayed there till she forgot what she saw.....I bet my reaction would have been running away too(not to god though). Sigh....what happened to good old television?

Religion and stuff

I was blog hopping as usual and saw this post on the Mad Momma's blog. While the post itself is not controversial(some people might disagree), the comments sure fired a storm. Some of her readers seem to have taken offense to this:

And then people want to know why the lower castes want to opt out of the system and convert to a casteless society - be it Buddhism or Christianity. I’ve never stopped thanking my forefathers for the choice they made.

When I originally read the post, I never realized this line could provoke people. It merely seemed like a statement of personal opinion...but boy! were there fireworks or what!
A lot of people took offense because they thought she was demeaning Hinduism and extolling the virtues of Christianity. A lot of commentators wrote how she was worng in saying that and some even talked about Christianity and conversion! While its the reader's prerogative to feel bad or angry at what they read, it definitely is stepping over the line to lecture someone about how their opninions are wrong. I would not do that even with my good friends because differences in opinion are what makes us so diverse. Can I not sit in my livingroom and say what I think about anything at all? Why do we have to be so intolerant of diverse opinion? As long as we are not imposing on others or not hurting others in any way, how is it bad to hold ones opinion dear to one's heart? I do not like it when people lecture me about my life. I have had this happen so many times:
Have a kid now, dont wait too much, you are getting old, buy a house now, you need to invest
you should have done this...done that....wth? Of all the things I get to hear, its the "dont wait anymore to have a kid" that pisses me off the most. I have had people(women), who I was talking to for the second time ever say that to me! And all the while, I have held my anger and frustration back and politely nodded. SO here is what I am confused about.
There are two issues here. One is that we live in a so-called free society where (ideally) there is tolerance for whatever religious, societal beliefs and opinions we hold. Like MM holds the opinion that she is glad she is of a particular religion, so do those commentors BUT they seemed to cross a line when they hopped over to HER blogspace and tried to bully her! This then brings me to the second issue I am concerned about, When people seem to step over the line, should you give them a piece of your mind, or be polite and ignore them?

Blogging

Why does one blog? Why do I blog? Frankly, I do not know.
Some people blog for venting out their frustration, some to get noticed, some others to keep in touch with their creativity and some others just because its THE thing to do. Me? I blog for no reason(or a combination of the above). I have never given it any thought. Maybe blogging makes me feel like I am documenting my ideas so that I can read them sometime in the future and muse about what my life was like once. But there are diaries for that......so that cant be it! I blog because I want to blog. Maybe thats why I do not blog so frequently. Because I do not know why I want to blog, I am not passionate about it. Maybe I should sit down and think about what drives me to blog and then I would be more excited about blogging often! Until then......

Varalakshmi Vratam

I performed the Varalakshmi Vratam puja today and here are some pictures.

You can learn more about Varalakshmi Vratam here.



I offered Semiya Payasam, Pulihora, Garelu(vada) and fruits as prasadam!

Nerdiness score!

Oh Johnny!

The last week saw John Edwards confess to an extramarital affair with Riele Hunter and apologize to his supporters about lying when he was a candidate for president. Post the confession, the MSM(Main Stream Media) went on a dizzy frenzy analyzing the affair, playing the blame game and just generally trash talking Edwards. Suddenly, everything John was knows for, the numerous cases he fought for the downtrodden, the issues he fought for, the things he represented, was erased and now he was reduced to this sex crazed narcissist who cheated on his ailing wife. Although moralilty and fidelity are important in a marriage and I would think lowly of any person (man or woman) who would not stick to these qualities, these are more personal issues which I would rather the husband and wife talk about and sort out(if they want to). I dont care if my leader is a womanizer to the extent that he/she is a 'good' leader and thinks about the greater good. I dont care for a leader who is on one hand, the epitome of fidelity and morality and on the other, goes about declaring unneccesary wars with countries by lying to the whole country and fabricating documental proofs. In my view Bush 43 was the worst president of all times in spite of probably being the best husband ever(huh) and Clinton was one of the best presidents in spite of being a little weak in the fidelity department! Still, here we are, letting a lying, scheming, war creating president scott free but impeached a president who might just be one of the best presidents in recent times. The irony of the times!