I'm back!!
If anybody noticed that I was gone that is!
And while I'm not really interested in blogging, I'm forcing myself to, in the hope that I get back into the blogging groove.
And I'm hoping that it goes well.
Goa was brilliant. As usual. There were only two things that sucked, the brain-melting heat and the absolute lack of a nightlife.
But they weren't unsurmountable obstacles. After all when your with friends, every thing's fun! And we just tried our best not to venture out to much in the heat.
The food, the company, the surroundings, the water, the people. Every thing was absolutely perfect. I went para sailing and on the banana boat. And maybe it's just my over-adventurous Arien soul but I found the para sailing thing quite boring actually. It was nothing extraordinary to be there safely strapped in and just looking around. I much preferred the banana boat.
Think I need to try bungee jumping or sky diving.
Everything we did in Goa had a bittersweet feeling to it though. At the stage I'm at right now, waiting to see in which direction life takes me, I could be anywhere, doing anything tomorrow and I might never be able to up and go with these very same people ever again.
A random chocolate pancake stop at Infantaria, crunching into a huge crab claw at Souza Lobo's, checking out good-looking firangs at Cocktails and Dreams and Mambos. Everything could possibly be the last time I ever did this with these people. And there were plenty of hugs and I wonder where we'll be 10-20 years from now.
Ok, I'll stop with my obsessing over the future now. I KNOW you've probably had enough by now.
Anyway, I read this post at theMadMomma and like her posts usually do, this one got me thinking as well.
Why is it that we always bitch about the city we live in, all the while taking full advantage of all the city has to offer? Why is it that so many NRI's living abroad, find it okay to complain about the lack of facilities in India and whine about the heat and the terrible traffic while appearing to be blind to the so many wonderful things that have happened instead of staying and striving to make things better.
Like Madhavan said in Rang De Basanti, "Koi desh perfect nahi hota, usse perfect banaya jaata hai."
Where was America when it first gained independence, it recognised slavery and didn't accept the American Indian on an equal basis. They weren't given the right to vote until 1924 and women were allowed to vote only in 1920. It took a hundred years for slavery to be abolished and even then African-Americans did not enjoy the same rights and freedom as white people. That took almost another century.
England's Magna Carta protected the barons from unfair treatment by the king and no mention was made at all of the peasants. Nothing at all.
And these are the countries we look upto as the epitome of perfection without realising that they didn't come into being that way but were made that way. And India is still a young country, it may take her a while but she'll get there eventually. And I may be just an overly optimistic person with excessively rose-tinted glasses, but the way things are going, I see that happening in a few years.
And like the OA's friend did, why not get into the government and be the change that you want to see. Most of India's brain power seems to be going abroad and we are having a serious problem of brain drain.
I love Bombay from the bottom of my heart. I was born in this city and I would be quite happy to die here. Dirt, pollution, heat, over-crowding, traffic be damned. It's my city. And as long as it's given me a place to live and work and eat, why would I possibly bitch about it?
If you're so disgusted by the pollution, dont take your car out more than is absolutely necessary. use public transport as much as possible. The heat? Help the world beat global warming and recycle and re-use as much as you can. Dirt? Stop throwing stuff out of the train window everytime it passes the Mahim creek. It's a river not your personal dumping ground.
And if you're unhappy with something the government's doing, do everything that's constitutionally possible, write letters, file PIL's to find out more about the problem, contact your local ward development officers. Use whatever options are available to you, but for heaven's sake just don't lay back and whine and moan!
Same goes if your happy, it seems to me that a lot of people in government offices and institutions are disinterested in their jobs because it doesn't seem to make a difference to anybody whether they do a good job or bad. And if you appreciate something that's done well, TELL THEM! It won't hurt you to thank them and say a few words of appreciation. It might not make a difference to you but it will to them.
And I swear the next time, somebody complains about Bombay, I'm gonna tell them to shove it where the sun don't shine.
If anybody noticed that I was gone that is!
And while I'm not really interested in blogging, I'm forcing myself to, in the hope that I get back into the blogging groove.
And I'm hoping that it goes well.
Goa was brilliant. As usual. There were only two things that sucked, the brain-melting heat and the absolute lack of a nightlife.
But they weren't unsurmountable obstacles. After all when your with friends, every thing's fun! And we just tried our best not to venture out to much in the heat.
The food, the company, the surroundings, the water, the people. Every thing was absolutely perfect. I went para sailing and on the banana boat. And maybe it's just my over-adventurous Arien soul but I found the para sailing thing quite boring actually. It was nothing extraordinary to be there safely strapped in and just looking around. I much preferred the banana boat.
Think I need to try bungee jumping or sky diving.
Everything we did in Goa had a bittersweet feeling to it though. At the stage I'm at right now, waiting to see in which direction life takes me, I could be anywhere, doing anything tomorrow and I might never be able to up and go with these very same people ever again.
A random chocolate pancake stop at Infantaria, crunching into a huge crab claw at Souza Lobo's, checking out good-looking firangs at Cocktails and Dreams and Mambos. Everything could possibly be the last time I ever did this with these people. And there were plenty of hugs and I wonder where we'll be 10-20 years from now.
Ok, I'll stop with my obsessing over the future now. I KNOW you've probably had enough by now.
Anyway, I read this post at theMadMomma and like her posts usually do, this one got me thinking as well.
Why is it that we always bitch about the city we live in, all the while taking full advantage of all the city has to offer? Why is it that so many NRI's living abroad, find it okay to complain about the lack of facilities in India and whine about the heat and the terrible traffic while appearing to be blind to the so many wonderful things that have happened instead of staying and striving to make things better.
Like Madhavan said in Rang De Basanti, "Koi desh perfect nahi hota, usse perfect banaya jaata hai."
Where was America when it first gained independence, it recognised slavery and didn't accept the American Indian on an equal basis. They weren't given the right to vote until 1924 and women were allowed to vote only in 1920. It took a hundred years for slavery to be abolished and even then African-Americans did not enjoy the same rights and freedom as white people. That took almost another century.
England's Magna Carta protected the barons from unfair treatment by the king and no mention was made at all of the peasants. Nothing at all.
And these are the countries we look upto as the epitome of perfection without realising that they didn't come into being that way but were made that way. And India is still a young country, it may take her a while but she'll get there eventually. And I may be just an overly optimistic person with excessively rose-tinted glasses, but the way things are going, I see that happening in a few years.
And like the OA's friend did, why not get into the government and be the change that you want to see. Most of India's brain power seems to be going abroad and we are having a serious problem of brain drain.
I love Bombay from the bottom of my heart. I was born in this city and I would be quite happy to die here. Dirt, pollution, heat, over-crowding, traffic be damned. It's my city. And as long as it's given me a place to live and work and eat, why would I possibly bitch about it?
If you're so disgusted by the pollution, dont take your car out more than is absolutely necessary. use public transport as much as possible. The heat? Help the world beat global warming and recycle and re-use as much as you can. Dirt? Stop throwing stuff out of the train window everytime it passes the Mahim creek. It's a river not your personal dumping ground.
And if you're unhappy with something the government's doing, do everything that's constitutionally possible, write letters, file PIL's to find out more about the problem, contact your local ward development officers. Use whatever options are available to you, but for heaven's sake just don't lay back and whine and moan!
Same goes if your happy, it seems to me that a lot of people in government offices and institutions are disinterested in their jobs because it doesn't seem to make a difference to anybody whether they do a good job or bad. And if you appreciate something that's done well, TELL THEM! It won't hurt you to thank them and say a few words of appreciation. It might not make a difference to you but it will to them.
And I swear the next time, somebody complains about Bombay, I'm gonna tell them to shove it where the sun don't shine.
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