Blog = Pseudo Intellectual chauvinism

Feminism.............. Wohhhhhh this word ticks off "many" people and I assume that the majority of those "many" would be men. Yes, this is true, but surprisingly in recent times there are lesser younger women who associate themselves with this term. I am writing this blog as an offshoot to a discussion in class. My professor made a comment that "my husband is a feminist, he will not do the car oil change for me, he does dishes, and he cooks too ". I understood what she meant, " breaking away from traditional gender roles" is as simple as she described her husband's trait. To me then, feminism works wonder for both men and women. Why is that the word feminist arouses strong emotions and reactions. And please to all those reading, dont start cursing under your breath. And some how I do realize why many dislike the word. I know many people perceive feminism to be equivalent to men bashing. As a lay person, Feminism to me means providing

Recently it was my husband's birthday. Birthdays are fun, but they bring along some anxiety with them. The million dollar question- What present shall I get him? I can brainstorm this issue and still never arrive at a satisfying conclusion. So lets begin.. If your husband is finicky- you can not buy clothes, shoes etc etc (if he doesn't wear it, I will feel bad) If he is tech savvy- then he knows what is the best thing to buy, read all the freaking reviews and even know a better place to get a decent deal. If you had earlier asked him to prepare a wish list (I tried that too), then all the things were so expensive (I could not spend that much money). If your husband prefers tangible things, then all other ideas such a surprise trip, and other fancy ideas can be thrown out as well. (Last time I bought him a package of guitar lessons, I am not sure if he thought it was the best present). If you are too finicky then you dont want to be repetitive and give something similar to wha

What is it with me being so unsportsmanlike...... Well sports isn't all about skill , or is it!!. Ever since Colts lost to Brady, I would side for any team playing against the Patriots. But Giants held a special place, after all they are somehow linked to Manning. I am so thrilled to see Giants win the NFC championship. It was an extremely exciting game and I am openly wishing and secretly praying that Giants score a big upset and trample the Patriots. Well may be thats going a bit toooooooo far, but a wish is a wish. Siding with the underdogs is a not so rare phenomenon. Like if Roger Federer had lost to Tipsarvic, it would have been exciting.

Let me tell you a story related to India. No it is not related to Information Technology nor a tale on the land of fakirs or Taj Mahal or Gandhi for that matter. It is about beautiful girls from India, and my attempt to convince my colleagues That they truly are Indian. It started when I forwarded the email I received, carrying the Kingfisher calendar (featuring the beauties from India) to my friends. So my white friends reacted that "they look like any people in the world" “…Well I countered with “ Why is so difficult to accept these girls as Indian .” It seemed as if my friend wanted to say that “no you guys cannot be that beautiful”. It struck me that my friends had a narrow view about a billion people, and that I should help them better understand that these dames are truly and purely Indians, as I am or technology support girls working in the office are, likewise they are “Indian” models. “Ah no” …well “ mixed breed ” was what they were most ready to c

My husband left yesterday for out of station on an office visit. This meant that I was alone in my apartment for 2 days and 1 night..... Well what does that leave me with. Finally some alone time..... or back to bachelorhood days (as my husband teased me) or that I will be eagerly waiting for him to return, counting every hour? Yes, counting every hour is precisely what I did. And as I am writing it, I am truly ashamed of it. I suddenly had this feeling that just because one spends all their time with their partner or is habituated to living with someone, it is hard to go back to being one your own.. I told my husband that it is hard to imagine how people live alone. And then he said to me that living alone is not a problem, but once you get into the habit of living with a partner, then it is hard to go back to living one. This reminded me of a lecture on social psychology in my undergrad that for people who have not been in love, Love is not a big deal. But for someone who has experie

I am in state of shock, well the shock is wearing off slowly but still, the COLTS loss to Chargers today was very disappointing... Could we have played better, I think so. May be I am one of those fans who is only satisfied in a win (may be not a true fan then), but we failed to deliver as a team in the crunch time. Sports psychology man, I think it really counts. Coming from the bottom, and then clinching a victory is not a very common trait to possess. " Confidence " .... may be Manning could work on. When we lost, I was feeling like one should stay away from attachment. But no ya... life goes on. Colts you rocked.. Hopefully better performance next time. However it makes me realize how good TOM BRADY is. Like Shailesh says " with Patriots you have to play all 4 quaters". However I am enjoying my interest in Football. A sport I could barely make sense of a year ago.

Hats off to Aamir Khan for directing this movie. He has made a splendid movie, right from the heart. It carries a beautiful message, and has brilliant performance. Aamir comes at the interval and is present only in the second half. He is selfless in the sense that there is scope for every actor in his movie to have their space, ample screen time and deliver their best performance. The little one in the movie Darsheel is brilliant. For all who dont mind crying while watching movie, there is ample scope for you. Go watch everybody... you won't regret.

I have just gotten off the phone with one of my friend. She had called me to discuss an email that had been circulating to my list serve in school. The email highlighted an incident in Chicago where a Hindu person is accused of burning alive his daughter and son-in-law because she married a person of lower caste. Such emails which highlight atrocities are common to our social work list serve, however the last sentence of the email read " Hindus carry and live with their caste wherever they go". I took great exception to this statement as it was clearly making a judgment on all Hindus and especially since it was coming from all another fellow Indian. I cannot speak for all but I know of many people who have come a long way in denouncing the caste system and working towards a India which does not practice discrimination. Spread information as against propaganda....

The word ORKUT is synonymous with many thoughts, some good and many bad. Well after a hiatus of I dont know how many months, I am back on orkut. I have mixed feelings.... 3 months back I had told my sister to delete her orkut account and concentrate on her board exams. I know what she will think when she gets to know of it. But anyways, since the usuage of phone to call not-so-near friends has gone down (at least by me) so much that I am sure I will make positive use of orkut. I am also glad at the many measures initiated by orkut to make it private..