Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Wordpress beckons

I am finally moving to wordpress. I never did like the name of this blog and wanted to change it for a while. I kind of started experimenting with wordpress and finally have decided to make the change today.

So please update bookmarks and RSS feeds to http://onelife2live.wordpress.com

....dont know how long all of this will last. It is possible that I may just get bored and say 'enough of it all'.

Saturday, March 10, 2007

Justice??

Did the gods who created this beautiful world also create mankind and his disasters?

Did the gods who created innocence and children also create Nithari and Child Labour?

Did the gods who created Love, Chemistry and Magic also create Jealousy, Sadness and Heartbreaks?

Did the gods who created Motherhood also create the need for a 'Women's day'?

What kind of poetic justice is this?

Sunday, March 04, 2007

Character of a City

What makes a person like a city or dislike one? Many a time I have used in my conversations with people, the term 'character' for a city. This thought comes from listening to the 'Dilli' song from 'Delhi Heights'. It is a pretty cool song and I thought it was a nice collage of Delhi.

Anyway, going on to the character thing. In every discussion, there have been enough defenders for each of the large cities.. the Delhi ones swear by Delhi...of course, the Mumbai-kar loyalists are the loudest and definitely Chennai has its bunch of lovers......a friend from Chandigarh claims nothing like her city...

But the thing about Bangalore...its a strange one...folks staying in other cities view Bangalore as this cool and fun place to be, which it is...but the number of detractors today that Bangalore has inside amazes me (for whatever reason) . Today most of the folks from Delhi or Chennai staying here dont like Bangalore.....given a chance, they would quickly shift out...

To me, its not so much about the traffic and infrastructure etc...its more about what can you associate with the city, what I call the character. Character is the essence or ethos of the city that needs to be felt. For me, when I travel or visit any city, if I can get a sense of that, then I consider my visit satisfying.

At some point, people have stopped making an effort to like Bangalore or understand the possible character of the city. When I started living here in Bangalore, it still had the 'small-town' nature, very laid back and it was just a clean beautiful city. Now I think Bangalore is in a confused awkward adolescence stage. Shes no longer a small kid nor is she an adult yet equipped to handle the growing up...yet the city is still an all-inclusive city which has accepted all into her folds (despite the politicians)

Like any city, there are the problems. But it's not all bad...
Well, maybe a Rabbi song for Bangalore is what is needed to prod folks into making an attempt to like the city ...

Friday, March 02, 2007

What's with stereotypes?

What is with stereotypes? For all the loud claims of our nation being such a diverse melting pot of cultures, I think we also probably have the largest number of stereotypes. Of course, there is absolutely no scientific thought to this claim…
But over time, we have built such strong stereotypes…

Of course the most I have encountered are about the Madrasis and the Sardars. While it is a guaranteed laugh for many a party, I actually there are quite a few people who do believe the stereotypes. The fact that a CNN-IBN can run a poll on North Indians and South Indians and perpetuate the stereotypes is probably a proof point. It’s almost a sort of urban legend….people have heard the same stories so many times in different contexts that it becomes a reality…

So therefore Delhi-ites are all showy….the Madrasis (of course that’s half the country) are the ones who don’t know to enjoy life…they just love their curd rice….etc etc…

Well, this post was a result of Ideasmith’s post on ‘Men from the Metros’. So women, pick your city and you know how the men are….Somebody create a guide for the women!! :)

At the least, it’s a great read!!

Moments

The moment has passed..
And the world is new..
Did not know that
New roads appear everyday

But then the question stays..
Do I wake up now?
Or wait for the demons to sleep?
Or will that never be?

I long for the moments of familiarity
But now I know that day is gone
So wake up to a new moment..
For the new demons and angels await

Wake up, oh child in you…
For the world is too beautiful
To not see it through
The eyes of the child….

~ Me