So I was wondering what I should write about today. How about something uplifting and not about me for a change? Since the Persian Ladki is a gemini and can also swing into a happy mood, I have decided to make today's post somewhat of a funny one.
India is a land of plenty. Plenty of people, plenty of culture, plenty of poverty, plenty of options, plenty of homes, plenty of history, plenty of food, plenty of languages, plenty of dirt, plenty of religions, and plenty of rules that no one follows!
I feel so connected to India and although there are plenty of Indian habits and rules that get on my nerves, there is so much more that also draws me here. Bollywood, sugarcane juice, chatpata street food, my favorite falooda ice cream and biryani, the plethora of desserts (pedas, gulab jamuns, ladoos, barfis...yummy), the chai, the visit to the gurudwara, the rains, and the festivals are just some of my favorite things about this land of plenty! I can never get enough of these and can ignore the not so nice or senseless things for their sake.
An empty mind is not really a devil's workshop, but a time to reflect on the things that perplex me. So here I am sharing some of the topics that bemuse me about Indian lifestyle.
I once read this book Kamasutra for women and in its pages the author Dr. Vinod Verma has listed amongst other things,ways in which a woman can seduce her man. A woman should dress well and adorn herself with jewels and scents. She should always be well groomed. She should cleanse herself daily and feel like a goddess. As I read the book I wondered if the author also had a book with similar content for men. I couldn't find anything even remotely close to it on google. So unfair right?!
The issue I take with this a whole different one. A majority of Indian women are nothing like the women Dr. Verma describes in his book, or the women depicted on temple walls or those ladies that have been part of India's history. They were not wealthy either but always ensured they were well groomed if nothing else. If I was a man, I would never ever be attracted to Indian women of the middle and lower caste. Now you would argue that I am generalising and yes I am because this is predominately what I witness around me. In no other country will you find women wearing socks with sandals, or women chilling at cafes dressed in gaudy pjs. And have you ever peered at their unkempt nails or chipped nail polish? Gosh haven't these women ever heard of acetone! No wonder their men cheat! But hold your horses gentlemen, I am not giving you the excuse card. You have some stepping up to do yourself.
I have asked a number of rickshaw drivers and shop owners and even men of calibre why they won't trim the hair that grows on their ears and why the nail on their pinky finger is so long. I am yet to get answers. Men here also apply nail polish. Ladies you have a lesson to learn from your male counterpart! I recall even asking one man, how do you expect your wife to be attracted to you when you have hair on your ears? His answer seemed quite plausible. "Doesn't she have to be presentable too?"
I rest my case!
Have you ever wondered why there are so many Indians around the world? I believe they exist practically in every country! Pop comes my response, 'it is because there isn't enough room for the plenty of Indians in their own country. So they export them!' Now I beg to ask, how can a country with a majority of poor and homeless people afford to mate when they have no rooms or even homes of their own? I would like to know where they manage to make out. Even if curiosity will kill me, I am determined to find out just how they manage to pop out so many children. Not to mention, even those with homes, barely get any privacy. Hmm...
The plenty of Indians around the world take their Indianness with them. This is the beauty and ugliness of being Indian in a foreign country. Most Indians from the villages and small towns have the habit of drying clothes on window panes and balconies without realising that they are accumulating dust and also destroying the aesthetic beauty of the neighbourhood. And they take this habit with them wherever they go. You can tell where Indians live by glancing at the balconies in London. Even if they have a dry balcony, no one really understands its purpose. For them a dry balcony is for storage and a balcony to dry absolutely everything. Pfff. As I hunt for a home, I have rejected several societies on account of this annoying lifestyle of their existing residents. Please spare me the view of your underwear!
And I really don't understand what issue the Indian government has with shisha (aka hookah)? They permit smoking cigarettes at restaurants and cafes but throw a fit when it comes to those very cafes serving shisha. To make it all worse, they have passed a new law that states restaurants can now serve shisha in a designated smoking zone. Yay! Hold on, but you have to refrain from food and even water in that zone. Brainless! Why in the world would you keep people away from water? In fact when you smoke shisha, you should stay hydrated. The government is causing more damage with their idiotic rules!
Something that has been getting on my nerves is the introduction of the Adhaar card! It is a akin to a social security card and everything Indians do now lies at the mercy of their adhaar number. As this card is so damn crucial, you would expect that there would be fixed offices where you can apply for one. Wrong! I went to some 20 locations that I was directed to one after the other to apply for my adhaar card until I finally found one station that had a working adhaar machine only to be met with a power cut as I approached my turn to apply. Yes, you can laugh about it. I would too if I were watching this in a Bollywood movie. So our government issues new policies, but cannot institute the means or channels to help citizens act upon them. Ab aam janta kya bole? We just stand up for the national anthem at cinema halls. Modi Ji aap thoda rules ko realistic banane ka kasht karenge?
The babas too, that eventually get arrested in sex scandals, the babas that turn businessmen by manufacturing or marketing everything from natural oils, to denims and the babas that become film actors never fail to amuse me! And to think of it we have been believing in them as messengers from above. There is never a dull moment in India!
Hey bhagwan keep your eye on India because mera bharat hai mahaan! My India is a country of idiosyncrasies and there can therefore never be another India!
India is a land of plenty. Plenty of people, plenty of culture, plenty of poverty, plenty of options, plenty of homes, plenty of history, plenty of food, plenty of languages, plenty of dirt, plenty of religions, and plenty of rules that no one follows!
I feel so connected to India and although there are plenty of Indian habits and rules that get on my nerves, there is so much more that also draws me here. Bollywood, sugarcane juice, chatpata street food, my favorite falooda ice cream and biryani, the plethora of desserts (pedas, gulab jamuns, ladoos, barfis...yummy), the chai, the visit to the gurudwara, the rains, and the festivals are just some of my favorite things about this land of plenty! I can never get enough of these and can ignore the not so nice or senseless things for their sake.An empty mind is not really a devil's workshop, but a time to reflect on the things that perplex me. So here I am sharing some of the topics that bemuse me about Indian lifestyle.
I once read this book Kamasutra for women and in its pages the author Dr. Vinod Verma has listed amongst other things,ways in which a woman can seduce her man. A woman should dress well and adorn herself with jewels and scents. She should always be well groomed. She should cleanse herself daily and feel like a goddess. As I read the book I wondered if the author also had a book with similar content for men. I couldn't find anything even remotely close to it on google. So unfair right?!
The issue I take with this a whole different one. A majority of Indian women are nothing like the women Dr. Verma describes in his book, or the women depicted on temple walls or those ladies that have been part of India's history. They were not wealthy either but always ensured they were well groomed if nothing else. If I was a man, I would never ever be attracted to Indian women of the middle and lower caste. Now you would argue that I am generalising and yes I am because this is predominately what I witness around me. In no other country will you find women wearing socks with sandals, or women chilling at cafes dressed in gaudy pjs. And have you ever peered at their unkempt nails or chipped nail polish? Gosh haven't these women ever heard of acetone! No wonder their men cheat! But hold your horses gentlemen, I am not giving you the excuse card. You have some stepping up to do yourself.
I have asked a number of rickshaw drivers and shop owners and even men of calibre why they won't trim the hair that grows on their ears and why the nail on their pinky finger is so long. I am yet to get answers. Men here also apply nail polish. Ladies you have a lesson to learn from your male counterpart! I recall even asking one man, how do you expect your wife to be attracted to you when you have hair on your ears? His answer seemed quite plausible. "Doesn't she have to be presentable too?"I rest my case!
Have you ever wondered why there are so many Indians around the world? I believe they exist practically in every country! Pop comes my response, 'it is because there isn't enough room for the plenty of Indians in their own country. So they export them!' Now I beg to ask, how can a country with a majority of poor and homeless people afford to mate when they have no rooms or even homes of their own? I would like to know where they manage to make out. Even if curiosity will kill me, I am determined to find out just how they manage to pop out so many children. Not to mention, even those with homes, barely get any privacy. Hmm...
The plenty of Indians around the world take their Indianness with them. This is the beauty and ugliness of being Indian in a foreign country. Most Indians from the villages and small towns have the habit of drying clothes on window panes and balconies without realising that they are accumulating dust and also destroying the aesthetic beauty of the neighbourhood. And they take this habit with them wherever they go. You can tell where Indians live by glancing at the balconies in London. Even if they have a dry balcony, no one really understands its purpose. For them a dry balcony is for storage and a balcony to dry absolutely everything. Pfff. As I hunt for a home, I have rejected several societies on account of this annoying lifestyle of their existing residents. Please spare me the view of your underwear!
And I really don't understand what issue the Indian government has with shisha (aka hookah)? They permit smoking cigarettes at restaurants and cafes but throw a fit when it comes to those very cafes serving shisha. To make it all worse, they have passed a new law that states restaurants can now serve shisha in a designated smoking zone. Yay! Hold on, but you have to refrain from food and even water in that zone. Brainless! Why in the world would you keep people away from water? In fact when you smoke shisha, you should stay hydrated. The government is causing more damage with their idiotic rules!
Something that has been getting on my nerves is the introduction of the Adhaar card! It is a akin to a social security card and everything Indians do now lies at the mercy of their adhaar number. As this card is so damn crucial, you would expect that there would be fixed offices where you can apply for one. Wrong! I went to some 20 locations that I was directed to one after the other to apply for my adhaar card until I finally found one station that had a working adhaar machine only to be met with a power cut as I approached my turn to apply. Yes, you can laugh about it. I would too if I were watching this in a Bollywood movie. So our government issues new policies, but cannot institute the means or channels to help citizens act upon them. Ab aam janta kya bole? We just stand up for the national anthem at cinema halls. Modi Ji aap thoda rules ko realistic banane ka kasht karenge?
Hey bhagwan keep your eye on India because mera bharat hai mahaan! My India is a country of idiosyncrasies and there can therefore never be another India!
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