Yes, she did win...but..

This I wrote 2 days before Shilpa Shetty won the “Celebrity Big brother”. I had no idea, she would win, then!!! I am happy that she won, like any other Indian expatriate in UK/Ireland. But....

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Today was Friday. It’s usually a welcoming day for me, mainly because I can sleep till 10:30 am the next day, which happens only in 2 days a week. But since the “celebrity big brother” started on channel4 with shilpa shetty, this day has one more specialty. Its when the inmates get evicted through public votes, at 8:30 pm.

Now a little history here. I never used to watch this show, till shilpa came into the scene. Mainly because I didn’t know UK celebrities much, to get myself hooked. Instead I watched "friends", "ghost whisperer","desperate housewives" or "scrubs".

First, anxious to know, how an Indian is going to survive in a foreign atmosphere, among foreigners, like every other expatriate, I started watching it. Later, it induced in me a sense of nationalism.

I saw and read news/blogs about the controversy related to shilpa, during that show. So, I will never mention it here. Let the sleeping dogs lie.

But today, I am writing because, I feel hurt, in a kind of way. Would any Indian, have been hurt like me? I don’t know. Today being India’s Republic day, I don’t know why ironically, I was destined to hear it, may be like all the Indians who were watching the show.

Ok, coming to the point, today also shilpa was saved from eviction, by public votes, in spite of her being nominated repeatedly for it, by the inmates. So after Cleo and Jo got evicted, the inmates were chatting, and suddenly shilpa put forward a question. She asked “Is there a lot of Indians in England?” Yea, may be she might have been wondering if not for the Indians’ votes, who were those guardian angels who were constantly saving her from eviction , every week.

And as answer Dirk Benedict (btw he is American) told her “yes, millions, millions, millions…there are millions of them. And they have an average of 3 kids in a family, while the Brits have only one. “ . And he didn’t stop there.

He went a little further and predicted: “ Soon, the Indians population in England would soon increase to such a level that finally a Nehru or a Gandhi will become UK’s prime minister!!!”. He said that with such negative attitude and a bad smirk, in his face , that I felt really bad!

Now, is that my problem, that I felt bad?. I am sure that shilpa must have felt bad too, because it was written all over her face, on hearing that. I felt insulted. But there is another side. I could have laughed at the irony of a comment about “a Nehru or a Gandhi” becoming Britain’s PM, when East India Company/British monarchy, ruled India for more than 200 yrs!!! And that too just 60 yrs back. WOW! Within 60 yrs, if the tables could be turned, to this extent, shouldn’t I be beaming at his prediction!!!

God! And that too, I was destined to hear it on January 26!!!! And Dirk doesn’t seem to have a single clue about what Gandhi/Nehru is to India.

Another fact is that I have never learned to make fun of another nation’s Father. Be it Cuba, US, UK or Pakistan. I was never taught to. Just like I was never taught to make fun of another person‘s father, and that too, in front of him. Mocking a “father of a nation”, to that national, how does it feel???? I feel bad…

I was just wondering “If some one told you, this, about YOUR nation’s Father, what would you feel? How would you react?”

And if this was told to me, I would have taken my time and energy to make the other person realize, the value and importance of Gandhi/Nehru to each Indian, so that he wouldn’t repeat it to any other person, be it Indian or non-Indian.

Note: this has got nothing about the show. This is just an outlet of my emotions. May be I am just over-reacting or may be I am not.

Once upon a time there was.....

Once upon a time there was this little girl, who always thought that the reflection she saw in her mirror was not hers. When she turned 16, for the first time she came face to face with life. On her next 10 yrs of her roller coaster ride with life, the simplest and the best lesson she learned was ‘to err is human’ and that humans always erred. She also learned that she too was, such a human. But one thing she never learned was to ‘let go’, and move on. Every single hurt and pain, she carried on her back, until one day, her back literally snapped. She learned that in order to start with a clean slate, she has to let go, everything. While on bed, recovering from a 90% disability to a mere 33% disability (which later turned to less than 3%), she realized the simple luxury of walking without pain. She shed off everything from her back (and her mind), and started off again, learning from the basic process of walking . It was her second life.

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Once upon a time there was this little boy, who was the youngest of eight kids. Surviving on limited resources made him a fighter and a non-quitter, till he won. He just didn’t want to get lost in a crowd. He became rough with the kind of life thrown upon him .Numerous insults and failures, made him look life in a mocking way. Life made him, sarcastic. His only aim in life was survival; he made his own paths, walked on his own way, alone. But he never compromised.

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Until…one day..

The little boy found the little girl..

But now they were not little any more. Boy was 29 and girl was 26.

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The boy was browsing through a marriage portal, for his elder brother, when he stumbled upon the girl’s picture. He went to other pages, ignoring that, till he felt the urge to come back to her page again. Her eyes had started haunting him. He thought he saw pain and innocence, there. He bookmarked her page. That afternoon, he tried to do a blind go, by trying her id in messenger.

When the girl came back after attending an official lunch, there was an off line message waiting for her, from a stranger. She was hesitant, and as usual, skeptical, to reply. So she ignored him. But he was not the one, who would let go. The fighter and the non-quitter he was, he succeeded in persuading her to give him, her mobile number, that day itself. On March 21, 2004 at 6pm, he called her for the first time. It was just the beginning.

His family wanted to wait for another 2 yrs, because his elder brother wasn’t married. Her father told her that it will be now or never. But he had promised her, that he would marry her, no matter who was against them. She tried hard to believe him, though her previous life experiences warned her.

On June 30, 2004, she saw him for the first time in her life. On the next day, while on her car, they exchanged rings engraved with each others names, without their parents’ knowledge, but God as witness.

Before he went abroad on August 2004, he came to her house with his parents. It was roughly decided that they would get married on January, 2005. But neither family really didn’t want that to happen.

On December 2004, he came back to India, quitting his job with just 5,000 INR in his bank account. He didn’t have a job, neither had he the money. But he had the drive and confidence to build everything from scratch.

The little boy and the little girl got married on January 27, 2005 with borrowed money from his friends.

They survived for the next 45 days, with his only 5000 INR and the little money that she had saved on her bank account. She was just too proud to ask her parents. On March 15, 2005, he went abroad, with a new and better job. On August 15, 2005, she joined him, and now they are together with God’s grace. They have come a some what long way, through thick and thin, and now there are more miles to go, together. Hand in hand….

On this January 27, 2007, it’s their 2^nd wedding anniversary.

To the little girl and the little boy, for his non-quitting fighting spirit and for her honesty and love….God, be with them!

.....And this is more, which I wrote on my first wedding anniversary.



note: This post is dedicated to Swati aka Pinx,cos she asked me how did I meet my husband, 2 months back and I replied her I will post it during our wedding anniversary..

The storm that struck us....

Being an Indian, especially being a Keralite, I was never used to storms or gales for that matter. So last week, when I was kept awake at nights due to the shrieks and shrills of the heavy storm, the first thing that came to my mind was the tornados in US. I could feel our house vibrating, in the wind with its shrill noise, almost deafening me. [Houses here are not made up of bricks and concrete as in India. They use plaster of paris, for walls and stuff with thermocol like stuff in between them for heating insulation !!!] I could feel strong cold wind forcing thru the key hole, with the whistling sound. I saw the sky dish antenna that was mounted on a house top across us, coming down. I also saw the basketball pole, crashing down with a thud. And for the first time, I wanted to think about the reason why sky-scrapers are not allowed in Ireland. The highest building I have seen here was just 5 stories high.

Next day, I came to know about the worst storm that was going to hit northern Europe.

http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/story.asp?j=207748972&p=zx7749678

My husband was working late and I called him and told to remain there, till the storm subsided . Even after 11 pm, he was stuck there. He tried going to the parking lot, but told me later that he couldn’t get his balance, to walk over there, because of the storm trying to sweep him off his feet. And finally when he tried to get home, with his manager, his (manager’s) car broke down.

Later we came to know that a lot of people were killed in UK, because of the storm. And next day, my mom called me and enquired, as Indian news channels were breaking that news. By Gods grace, Ireland escaped the worst, while part of Britain and other N.European countries were not so lucky. Luckily we didn’t suffer power cut.. Because without power, our heating system would have crashed and at temperature much below 0 deg Celsius, we would have frozen to death.

Ironically, I was seeing the film ‘Tornado Warning’ in TV at that time…

Trivandrum- thru take off and landing...

They blocked y360...they thought it was 'dating' site....Can you believe? y360! a dating site?
How could I survive, without blogging?
All the proxy sites were blocked...
So yesterday Chandra, sent me a mail, about an article, about the different ways to get through ...
and thanks to him, one of the ways worked!!!!
yea, there are limits, like I cant edit my blast, photo, page settings and worst of all, I cant got to my friends list or page...

But still, on the brighter side, I CAN post blogs and READ comments...
From zilch, I reached here...
thanks Chandra!!


Posting some video blogs....which I painfully took, while my ears were bursting..LOL

Take off from tvm

Tvm aerial view

Landing in tvm

Muscat -through photos...

We had to stay in Muscat on Dec 30,2006 for almost a day cos of transit delay....As it was Eid that day, no shops were open. But still we managed to wander around, cos they stamped us temporary visa for 72 hrs in Muscat.

MUSCAT-VIEW FROM TOP

MUSCAT-CITY FROM TOP

HUMAN EFFORT TURNS DESERT INTO GARDENS

RESULT OF DROP IRRIGATION ...*hats off*

...AND THIS TOO...

SEE THE FLOWERS..ITS ALL OVER THERE NEAR FOOTPATHS...

LU LU SUPERMARKET....

IN SEEB AIRPORT..

PS: As all blogspaces are blocked in office, i will be able to log in y360 only on weekends! Please bear with me, for not commenting on ur blogs , till our broadband at home is ready...hopefully after 3 weeks!

***so bye...till next sunday!!!***