Moved

My blog has a new home now. Visit shilpadesh.wordpress.com is the new place you need to visit to get the latest thoughts. Also, please update your links to include my new url.

Move to wordpress?

I have been thinking of moving to wordpress for a while now. It offers so much more ease of interaction(replying to comments etc) than blogspot does. But I feel like I am cheating, talking about the merits of wordpress and talking about ditching blogspot on this blog!

Hope for India

I am happy today. Happy that divisive politics has been voted out and hope and intellect are in. I am looking forward to what kind of ministers will be included in the cabinet. I am excited that Rahul Gandhi is working his way up from the grassroots rather than land the top job. I am also happy that the likes of Modi might never see power at the National level. But more than anything else, what I am most happy about is that the Left has been left behind by us. No more arm twisting, bargaining, anti-development crap will be entertained. Manmohan Singh has been a good PM and now with this verdict, more power to him.
I think the BJP lost because it never talked about what it would do if voted to power. The only thing they talked about was what the UPA did wrong, using Modi to criticize Priyanka, projecting an 81 year old as the PM and Modi as the future of the BJP. That, I think was the biggest mistake. If they continue to project Modi, they will face a bigger loss next time.
I think the Left did so badly was because they never did anything good while they were a part of the last government. And they tried to stop the nuclear deal and caused to government to almost fail over the issue. I am sure the drama they caused, caused their downfall.
I am impressed by the way Rahul handles himself, although, sometimes he comes across as too rehearsed. I like the way he decided the INC will go it alone in UP in spite of pundits suggesting otherwise. It paid off. I like the way he praised Advani after the BJP's defeat in the 2009 elections. That shows class, and a good upbringing. I hope he, along with the other young guns, get positions of power in the NEW Manmohan Singh cabinet.
The only thing I do not like is that the PM, yet again, is not an elected representative of the people. Although the people who voted for the INC knew he was the PM candidate, he should have contested from somewhere(some strong INC constituency, is he was scared of a loss). We do not want this precedent of the leader of the largest democracy in the world being an appointee!

You bring out the Hyderabadi in me

Inspired by OJ's take on You Bring Out the Mexican in Me. It is warm but cloudy today and I miss my city more than ever.

You bring out the Hyderabadi in me.
The haus and the nakkos,
and the abbis and the hallus,
the aiseich and the kaikos in me.

Each of those times
when I see a lake and i
compare it with Tankbund,
and then rattle about when
the Buddha was submerged.
For the umpteenth time I say current for power.

You bring out the Hyderabadi in me.
When panipuri reminds you of
endless trips to the chat bandi.
When shopping means a trip to Sultan Bazar,
a little stream of water is musi and
a wide open road is Raj Bhavan road.
When an overpass is a flyover.

You bring out the Hyderabadi in me.
You have multiplexes umpteen but you are still
enamored by RTC crossroads.
The Koti, the Abids,
the Charminar and Falaknuma in me.

You bring out the Hyderabadi in me.
When you have hot sticky days and
warm summer nights.
When camping reminds you of sleeping on the roof,
and running downstairs when it rains.

The Nizams, Golkonda, Gandipet,
the Qutub Shahi tombs and Paradise in me.
The Ramoji film city, Annapurna studios,
Chilkuru and Shilparamam in me.
You bring out the Hyderabadi in me.

You bring out the Hyderabadi in me.
When everything is done hallu hallu,
the language is hyderabadi(not hindi),
Barracks is Barkas and signal is singal.
When everything in the past is parsun.

When I look back to the days spent
in my beloved city, I sigh
because everything I do today
Brings out the Hyderabadi in me.

Being an older sister.

I read IHM's post on what she does not like about being a mother. It hit a sweet spot and I was smiling while reading, so much so that I 'force-tagged' myself to do a 'what I don't like about being a daughter' tag! Now I want to twist the tag a little bit and write about 'Things I love/hate being the older sister!'

There are so many wonderful things about being an older sister, but growing up, there were also moments when I felt people did things that made me roll my eyes! Now I look back at those moments with a smile and would kill to go back to those fun days.

Things I love about being an older sister

• You are considered the coolest person in the world by the younger one.
• She always tries to emulate your mannerisms and copy the way you dress, walk, talk etc!
• Your input on important issues(what to wear, who not to invite to the birthday party etc) is considered the most important.
• You are the smartest and most beautiful person in the world for you sister(and vice versa)!
• There are some secrets that only you are privy to(God Promise etc required though)
• If there is an argument at home, no matter what the topic, the younger one always supports you.
• You can do no wrong according to the younger one.
• She is always telling you that you will be fine, whenever you feel down or depressed about something(still does)
• You always had a giggle partner when you wanted to make fun of the weird people(friends, family) visiting.
• You are allowed to share all the jewelery, watches and clothes now whenever you visit.
• She 'Loves' all the gifts you get her!
  

Things I used to dislike(but now love) about being an older sister:

• You are always called 'tai'(older sister) by everyone(parents, grandparents included).
• You are expected to be the epitome of good behavior. If you misbehave, the younger one does too!
• You are required to tag the younger one along to your friends' get togethers(those were the days when the younger ones were considered pests.......sigh....not anymore)
• You are an infidel if you support the parents when they ask the younger one to not eat the bar of chocolate because she is coughing and sick.
• You are always expected to be more mature and understanding.
• You were asked for Disney wrist watches and Tweety mugs as gifts, but could never share them!

Thinking of all those fun years we spent makes me smile as well as cry at the same time. Why do we have to grow up and move so far away!

The many talents of the rich and the famous!

Padma Lakshmi was(is) a model and has modeled for many top designers. She also appeared in a few movies that failed miserably at the box office. One would naturally have expected her to be active in the modeling and movie world. But she has myriad of talents. She has written a couple of cookbooks. One of them(from 1999) lists the Tamil version of curd and rice(thayir sadam) as 'Easy Exotic' food! Another of her cookbooks has pictures of her slurping the result of her cooking adventures! (Maami has blogged about this here). Most of her recipes are a twist on the traditional and the reviews are nothing great. She also co hosts a competitive cooking series Top Chef. She has just unveiled her jewellery collection too. Most of the jewellery designs are a modern take on the traditional and are nothing extraordinary. Model, actress, chef, designer, all rolled in one! Is she really multi-talented or is it a gift of her fame? A little bitchin' never hurt anyone!

Ego

We don't take our egos with us when we die. We all know that. Why, then, some of us insist on maintaining the inflated ego and prefer being the arrogant loner in the family, when all the others are begging you to patch up? Why do people spoil the sanctity of the 13th day(after death) of their own mother by participating in a shouting match and yelling and bad mouthing their own sibling and sibling's family? This letter is to the one who caused a lot of pain to people I love a lot.

To the one whose ego is bigger than her brain,
Is your ego more important than the fact that your mother died and this day was the day we remember her? Are you happy now that we will associate this day with how cheaply you behaved rather than mourn the loss of ajji and pray she has found heaven?
When my sister, who must be a good 45 years younger to you, understands how one should behave in civilized society, why can't you? Your 65 years have not given you enough humility to even accept an apology, forget giving one, even when you are wrong. I am amazed at what you will be able to teach your grand kids about your parents, when you treated them like shit in their last days. What will you teach them about family? What example have you set for your 2 children(who are as useless as you are) who have learnt from you that ego is more important than relationships. Will they also treat you like crap the way you did with your old mother? Remember when she, with tears in her eyes, begged you to talk to her, and you turned your dumb-ass head away? Will your stupid daughter do that to you as well? Your younger brother also begged you to speak to your mother. But you have a heart of stone. He had tears in his eyes when you shouted and sullied the memories of your mother on her 13th day. I wish I was there to drag you and throw you out of there. I wish I was there so I could see and learn how not to behave.
I wish I could actually write all this to you. I wish somehow, someone we know reads this and lets you know of the contents. I wish I was there to tell you how disgusted I feel about you.

~Disgusted mourner

Oh, and by the way, wake up, it is 2009 not 1950. Do not torture your DIL for having 3 daughters.