Monday 30 October 2006

Child labor---is this the RIGHT way???


I saw lots of blogs against child labor. Lots of opinions, lots…. Heard a lot…seen a lot..(not in y360!).  I know children who are working , personally….. in fact I grew up in a place, where there were a lot of poor people living in colonies, just on the back of my house, separated by a single wall. Every single day, till I was 15,  I saw, I heard their life. Their sorrows, their screams, and above all…. their hunger. And one among them (just a single one, among the hundreds!) was she. She was the mother of 5. Her husband was living in alcohol 24/7. She used to bring milk to our home. She had terrible Asthma, cos of the regular beating she got from her husband. Every nite, we heard her screams along with her children’s. Soon, she was down with illness, her 5 kids cried in hunger. And very soon the eldest of them, then she was my age (8), came to us. She was hungry…just simply hungry. We could give them, food for once.. for 5 kids… next day when they were hungry again, she came to us and begged my grandfather(achachan) to give her some job, so that she can feed 5 rumbling stomachs and pay for her mom’s medicines. She needed money…not food!!! Finally my grandfather asked her to bring cow dung (that was available at her home). He said that just cos of her heart-melting begging (I was the witness to her begging!). She came with cow dung and my granddad gave her Rs 2 for each basket she bought.(with 2 Rs we could buy 2 kilo of rice, then!) That day she earned 10 Rs. Next day too she came. But we didn’t want it anymore. But my achachan bought it and gave her money. Soon our home was filled with cow dung. Still my achachan didn’t ask her to stop just cos, he knew her family situation….


 


Soon she started working in other homes as maid(as that paid her more!).


Every single child who is working will have a similar story to tell. By abolishing child labor like this, does the govt solve their poverty??? Are they seeing their hunger stricken faces??? Do they hear their hungry screams????NO…NO…they just go and abolish child labor….without solving the core reason or root of the problem. By doing this , what are they thinking to achieve??? Why are they blind to the reasons which forced them to work???? Why don’t they go and take a look at their family?? And why, don’t they solve their hunger first and then abolish child labor, next??? Is their any law to feed hungry children???? Then why are they preventing their only way to satisfy their hunger???


 


Is this the right way to approach child labor???? By simply making law to prevent child labor, can they themselves be sure that those children are fed and protected???? NEVER…NEVER…this is another wrong way….an entirely wrong way… why we are all blind to the hunger behind those child labourers??? Why don’t we solve that first, rather than trying to prevent their only way to food????


 

Thursday 26 October 2006

A doctored photo... ;-)

Image1
This image I got as a foward mail...I was sooo fascinated by it, that I wanted to share it with you...


More digitally manipulated (aka fake) photos in news? >>>>> here
Technorati Profile

Friday 20 October 2006

Dreams !


I am sure that almost everyone in this world must have had odd or weird dreams/nightmares in their life. By dreams, I am not going into any Freudian interpretation of dreams. Just simple (silly) dreams, we all see. And rarely…very rarely we find some of them happening later, in our life. It may be related to us or may be not. But there we are witnessing it happen and wondering why and how did we dream that incident days, months or years back.


I dream a lot. I being a funny, stupid dreamer, mostly, I dream bollywood film scenes [of course in colour] and very much sci-fi things. Two days back I dreamt that BMW cars were growing in my backyard as pumpkins do!!! And one BMW was 31 years old, growing in my backyard!!! Gosssh!! Aren’t I thinking much forward in time????Image


 


One advantage with my dreaming is that , at that instant, I wake up and tell about my dream vividly to whoever sleeping beside me. And then I go back to sleeping. So next time, when I wake up, I wouldn’t have any idea, what I dreamt. But my roomie/whoever-sleeps-with-me will know what I dreamt!!!


 


My ex-roomie, priya knows well about my aamir khan-juhi chawla, abhishek bachan-rani dreams. I used to see a complete song sequence in dreams. Eg: “Akele hain to kya gham hain…. and yeh hawayein..zulfon mein tere..". I have seen them completely in two separate dreams!


 


But there is also a darker side to my dreams.


 


Sometimes, very rarely I dream death.


 


My earliest memory goes back to school. I was staying at my mom’s family home. One day I saw the death of an old man in my dream and as usual I woke up and told about it to my dad (who was sleeping near me). I gave him all the details like, his home is opposite my dad’s family home, and it’s a 2 storied building and that he has a habit of walking in the balcony with a newspaper in his hand. Funny part was that I have never seen this house in reality. I went back to sleep and in the morning, later I couldn’t remember it.


 


Two months later my dad came and told me, that man you dreamt died yesterday. And I was like “Who? What?”. And he told me the story. There WAS a house like that opposite his family home [where I used to go once in a year for vacation]. There was also this old man who is my dad’s friend’s father, living there. [He came there lately from his daughter’s house, so I have never seen him]. Dad didn’t give many details and we didn’t discuss it further.


 


Now, coming to present, 3 months back I dreamt that one of the Malayalam film actresses died. Again I told the details to my hubby and slept. Next day he told me that, I had told him that she is going to die, and the latest Malayalam serial in which she was working is going to stop midway [I have NEVER SEEN that serial in my entire life!!!] . My hubby, being his first experience with me, mocked at me, as long as he can.


 


After 3 weeks we heard in news that this actress is bed-ridden and the projects in which she was working are being stopped. Now that made his mocking, less. Day before yesterday he called me, and told me “Did you read malayala manorama? “[online Malayalam daily]. And I said no. “She is dead. The actress you told about, 3 months back”. And I didn’t say anything.


I really really hope I don’t see such dreams in future!


Now my biggest fear is what if I start dreaming about the death of whom I am close with???


 


note: the actress was Sreevidya.


 


Wednesday 18 October 2006

Book Club!



In our office we have this book and gift club, where we get books (cookery, fiction, baby books, history, DIY, yoga etc) and gifts (photo frames, lamps, soft toys, albums etc) at a very low rate (for us, of course!). Usually they put together some books of the same author and sell them as a bulk, at a much reduced rate.[no..not used books..they are brand newImage!] When I came here 7 mths back, I wanted to buy the latest Harry Potter.[ Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Book 6)] .At EASONs it was on display and the price….15€. ofcourse it was hard back, but still 15€ was too much! Any way my husband bought it for me. But after that I never wished for a book to be boughtImage. Instead I joined the library (7€/yr). But later I couldn’t get time to visit library so often.Image

 


So when I noticed this book club [it was already there…but I was a little bit late to find it out…], I found that the price was very cheap..I mean u can get 3-4 books[of the same author] for 7-8€Image. Compared to EASONs that was the best deal ever.


 


Last week I bought these 3 books by Tina O Reilly . One book in shops costs almost 6-7€. But I got 3 books, for 8 €!!!  And wasn’t I so happy? And this week what did I get?


 


4 Dan Brown books [Angels and Demons, Da vinci code, Deception point, Digital fortress] for just 8€!!!!!Image


Ok, now don’t ask me about what I think about Dan Brown books. Anyway both the movie and book was NOT banned in Ireland, which has 95% Roman Catholics. But I think it was banned in India[am I correct?Image]. I am yet to read them. Any way I am not prejudiced against his books. So with a clear mind, I am going to read them.Image


 


Oh! and one more thing. I bought a small but complete atlas, too [6€ ]. All the atlases I have, were published before Gorbachev’s  perestroika.[I was in school at that time..and after school I never referred atlases. So in GK I am almost 15 years behind!! Image] So I needed a latest one, very badly. Another thing is that almost daily, me and hubby quarrels on the facts based on different countries [even on flags!], usually during news time on TVImage. So I need something handy to prove my stand. [Internet is banned at home!Image]


 


Note: that photo’s the latest from book club! Long live our book club!


 


PS: while I was checking India in that Atlas, I found that the whole top portion in India’s map[Kashmir portion] that I used to study in school is missing now. It says administered by China/Pakistan , claimed by India…. Indian maps [made in India] used to be different!!


 


PSS: technically this seems to be my 150th blog.. But really I didn’t want to post the last 3 blogs. So this will be my 147th. Sorry FriendlyFriend!Image


 


Entry for October 18, 2006


Image

Tuesday 17 October 2006

See reply from MR venturist(he says he is a guy!)

<<<PartI


venturist v has sent you a message

Sent To: Swathi-is a cartoon,now


RE:

Looks like Mahila Mukti Manch has issued a fatwa against me. I will try to reply soon.

I don't know you or your husband. I found your blog from Madhu's blog (another blabber mouth).

-------------Swathi-is a cartoon,now wrote:

> My hubby's own well wisher-all y360 wives are fighting FOR him!!!


 

venturist v has sent you a message

Sent To: Swathi-is a cartoon,now


RE:

Just to set the record straight, I am a man. I have been with guys but your husband is so not my type.

After reading your blogs, I started hating word "Hubby". Don't know why?

-------------Swathi-is a cartoon,now wrote:

> My hubby's own well wisher-all y360 wives are fighting FOR him!!!


........and this seems to be some one who got really confused with all the ACTION going on..... 


Maddy has sent you a message

Image


  • Maddy
  • ImageOnline Now
  • Maddy Alps, M

Sent To: Swathi-is a cartoon,now


RE:

it is not visible? anyways i have one question Why do you tell always people that you love your husband very much do you really like him?

Does he really gives you love, sex and care as much as you need? iam just confused thought to get to know it from you?

Maddy
-------------Swathi-is a cartoon,now wrote:

> My hubby's own well wisher-all y360 wives are fighting FOR him!!!


.... and when i changed the settings NOT to receive any more messages....i got this!!!


Connect to me on Yahoo! 360°

Sent to: Swathi-is a cartoon,now


Hi! What's up with all this name calling by Mahila Muktee Manch?? I was keeping it all civil. BTW I don't know who this joker Maddy is? You guys have been bashing me for last two days. I wanna reply to some of things your friends are saying about me.


  • Accept: Click here to connect to venturist v's personal page and begin creating a page of your own.
  • Deny: venturist v is automatically notified that you've denied the invitation. You can include your own message.
  • Ignore & Delete: This invitation is deleted from your inbox. venturist v is not notified.

 

Monday 16 October 2006

A message-from my hubby's wellwisher!!!


I get so many messages every day. Some from “unknown” readers about my blog. Some from “known” readers. Some “abusive”…some “can-we-stay-in-touch” type  and lots and lots of invitations. Usually I reply , if I think they “need” one. And ignore “abusive” mails w/o even going thru it twice.


 But this is the first kind I got…the writer may be some one I know[some ppl I know wants to hide when they want to comment on my blogs] , who wanted to say his heart out and couldn’t use his real name ,cos of reasons unknown!!!


 Or he may be someone totally stranger to me.


But I am so happy that he is a well-wisher of my own HUSBAND [or may be to the entire male domain????] what else do I need, when some body speaks his heart out for my own darling HUSBAND. Shouldn’t  I be the proud wife, that I am not the only one who loves him so dearly?Image There are others in the universe who loves my husband much more than I can even ever think about.Image


 
See this… and read this…


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


 


venturist v has sent you a message

Sent To: Swathi-is a cartoon,now


Stop patronizing your husband

Your husband sounds like a nice guy but it bothers me the way you patronize him. It sounds like you are implying that you are hot and he is not but you are with him because he is a nice guy. You don't have highlight what he is not. He is nice, good for you!! But you don't have to publicize that on net and especially what he lacks?


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Dear friends….open ur eyes….read it… u were reading my blogs for nearly more than 1 year now..and didnt u realize this?


 


I was patronizing my husband in my blogs… I didn’t have anything else to do …. You should have realized this much more than MR.venturist did and told me that…[oh! So nice of him….my eyes are overflowing, seeing his concern for my hubby]


 


I didnt have to publicize on net what he lacks??? Oh my god! Didn’t I realize that???


 


I am implying that I am HOT (finally it dawned on at least one guy!, thanks venturist! after all my attempts are not complete waste!!!Image)


 


Your husband sounds like a nice guy but it bothers me the way you patronize him --- oh!  I am sooo touched… even if tomorrow if ever I fails to bother for him, I am soooo touched that there is at least MR. venturist who can replace me in a better way! Look! He is bothered about the way I TREAT my HUSBAND!!! dear venturist, u really do have a heart of gold!!!!!Image


 


Good god! Shouldnt I be convicted for husband-ill treatment?


But still I am happy that there is some one else in this world, who cares for MY HUSBAND even if I fails?Image


Thank God for so much compassionate people, in this BIG BAD world!Image


 note: To all wives (would-be-wives)out there in 360. Donot get jealous of me, for such a gold-hearted well wisher for my husband. this is a hard-earned one.... all credit goes to me... and i am not going to lose/share this wellwisher of my hubby! he is such a gem!


latest: on a humble note, my hubby thinks i can swat flies better than replying mr.venturist! ooohhhh...btw, am i again patronizing my hubby????


PART 2 >>>>



Friday 13 October 2006

A complete Duh-uh! moment

Recently there was a blog by Sab, about the “duh”s u make. And I was thinking so hard to recollect my latest “duh”. And did I find it, no? As though I never make one? Seriously, do you think so? I have almost got 3 Phd's in making duh’s and  forgetting them at the same instant.



2 days back, we had a quarrel. [ahhh…nothing new..it happens every 60th second!]. the reason: I have asked him a zillion times to put used clothes in laundry basket. But will he ever? Noooo…. First I told, then I  requested, then begged, then scolded, then shouted, then screamed… [each way per day !]. Finally I QUARELLED and decided that I was going to i-am-not-talking-to-him-anymore phase. [usually it wont last more than some minutes, but this time, I thot I am going to make it last….for hmm…days?? Did i? ok, now that was my first ‘duh’ thot!]



Ok..so it started… I pulled my best frown face[usually i dont have to try hard!] and avoided eye contact with him in all possible ways.



Now theres a little bit history about my exceptional ability in using small instruments:

I have this huge inability to use handy things like wine-opener, can-opener, etc. in fact I can NEVER EVER use it properly. Whenever I tried, with tuna cans, either I cut my hand or spill all the tuna chunks on the floor.  And wine opener, I haven’t even dared to use it! Even its appearance scares me. Now what’s this behaviour called? Opener-o-phobia???Image



Now coming back to present,  I found this unopened French wine bottle in fridge and wanted to have it. Now what? It has got this massive cork sitting on top of it. And I have a wine-opener(?) with me. Ok.. I am not going to ask him. I am not going to be dependent on him for every silly thing.Great me! See, I have my pride. After all I am not that dumb! OK, I haven’t used it. So what? Its no big deal! There is a first time for everything. What if tomorrow I may become the wine opener expert?



When thots reached this level, I took the opener and tried to poke it into the cork. Ok…now push hard into it. Its not going in. No..its not the right way. Or is it? ImageWhy is it twisted at the end? I gained all my strength and pushed the twisted end  into the cork.  When I thot it was done, I  pulled the two ends of the opener up and …………..

What did I see????


1)       The cork is still on top of the bottle.

2)       But the twisted metallic end of the opener is there pierced into the cork.(!!! how did that happen?)Image




3) And the opener which lost its important part is on my hands!!! Image
4) And there was myself looking at the bottle+cork+metallic end and my opener alternately!



 
But I have my pride left with me. I am still in my no-talking-to-him phase. I put the cork-bottle-openerpart in the fridge. Let it be there. I cant have wine. So what? . I still have my pride, which is so important.Image



I went to bed. [still not talking to him!]Image



Yesterday, evening when I opened the fridge, the wine bottle was still sitting with its cork-opener hat. And I just tried pulling the cork. It came off… and that was my  famous “duh” moment.



..and the story :

He saw this wine bottle with opener hat in the fridge and removed the cork[just the cork, didn’t remove the opener from cork!Image]. Then he placed it neatly back , so that now I can open the bottle, but the opener end  is still on top of the cork!!!!Image

I couldn’t restrain any longer. I went and asked him[now, pls forget my pride] “how the hell did you take this out and replaced it back?” And to my utter dismay, he bursted into laughing. “I should give u an award for screwing that opener end into the cork. [screwing?Image]Usually ppl do the other way. Tell me, did u use opener to remove cork or cork to remove opener? Seriously, what did you do?”

And me???

Tell me which is more duh?

Doing it?

Or some body[whom u have quarrelled with] finding it out, and keeping mum till YOU go to him?


Or still being mocked at for that?

Thursday 12 October 2006

My Prawn-Theeyal!!! (yummy!)


Prawn Theeyal (kerala style) is a dish that takes alot of time and patience to prepare(for me at least!Image). And this is the result  of my second attempt [first time, coconut was burned a little bit!].Image I was so proud of the result of  my patience that i wanted others to know [who knows the taste as well as hardships behind this dish] that I am a good cook , if i want to... he he he...Image and ofcourse to show-off!!!
self-compliments are absolutely necessary, to increase ur self-confidence.Image
note:the recipe with which i made is my own amma's. The recipe written here is not mine. i got it from  here. Image .

but amma's and this are same. [saved my time, typing :-))Image but i have added my comments in brackets :-)) ]Image

note: i am not responsible for any kind of burnt charred coconut [happens every first time Image]
veggies!!! prawns can be replaced by shallots(kochu ulli).then it will be "ulli theeyal"
-----------------------------
Prawn Theeyal Recipe
-----------------------------

Ingredients
Prawns(Chemmeen) - 1 kg
Tamarind(Puli) - As reqd
Oil - 3 - 4 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Small onions(Kunjulli) - 10 - 12 nos
(quartered)
Green chillies - 3 - 4 nos
(slit)
Curry leaves - A few
Ginger - 2" piece
(finely chopped)
Garlic pods - 2 nos
(finely chopped)
Coconut chips(Thenga kothu) - 1/2 cup

For masala:
Grated coconut - 1 cup
Small onions(Kunjulli) - 2 - 3 nos
Peppercorns(Kurumulaku) - 6 - 8 nos
Fenugreek seeds(Uluva) - 4 - 6 nos
Chilly powder - 1 heaped tsp
Coriander powder - 2 - 3 tsp
Preparation Method
1)Cook prawns in water along with salt and turmeric powder.

2)When cooked, add vaalampuli diluted in around 1 cup of water.

3)Heat oil in a pan or a kadai.

4)Splutter mustard seeds.

5)Add small onions, green chillies, curry leaves, ginger and garlic and fry, till the onions turn light brown.

6)Add the above into the prawns.

7)Heat up a pan or a kadai.

8)Add coconut, small onions, pepper and fenugreek seeds and fry well.

9)When the coconut turns nice and brown, take the pan off the fire. [imp: dont burn it!!!!]

10)Add chilly powder, coriander powder and sauté in the heat of the pan.

11)Grind the above into a fine paste.

12)Add it to the simmering curry.

13)Let the curry simmer on a very low flame for around 30 mins, till the gravy thickens.

14)Shake or tilt the vessel now and then so that it doesn’t get burnt. [do that only if u r an expert :-) else use ladle, like I did!]

:- Do not stir with a ladle. [dont listen to that!]

15)Fry coconut pieces( 1*1 cm) in another pan. [optional]

16)Add the above fried coconut pieces into the curry.[optional]

:- Serve warm. [or re-heat in micro wave Image]
:- It tastes best when it is prepared in a meen chatti.[not available for NRI's, as well as in cities!!]

courtsey: here

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