beauty!!!!!

I have never seen them single. They always stand in groups…as I n hundreds or thousands. Dressed in a striking yellow and brown attire they stand under blazing hot sun ;bright and vibrant. And when they sway with grace to the sudden rush of the wind when my car passes by, they bring a smile to my face too. even when the scorching rays of the sun dig through their gentle skin and eventually dry them up, they stand with their head dropped –together. Sunflowers -In my opinion it’s one of gods most beautiful creations. To me they show the beauty of standing united. What a sight it is when you see the group with dark green leaves, light green stems and bright yellow flowers with a dark brown pollens…!

lymphosarcoma of the brain!!!!

It was the typical morning rush. The usual chaos at manipal hospital signal was at its peak. People who are rushing to work, cab drivers honking to glory even though the signal is “RED”, people crossing the road squeezing through the vehicles instead of the zebra crossing a few inches away for the fear of losing the pedestrian signal. I was standing there looking for a rick after by driving class. There were none to be seen. There is beediwala who is happy with his sales till then sitting under the tree looking amused that I am waiting at infy bus stop for the infy bus 2 hours late. “someday il complaint in some online forum about him- selling cigarettes in public place that too right in front of a famous hospital, making me a passive smoker!! Huh…” – I thought. Suddenly, I see an auto coming from far, its far behind in the chain of cars and buses at the signal and it looked empty. I started waving my hand to catch his attention and tried all my auto catching skills; he dint seem to bother- Y!!! as the signal changed and auto came closer I see that alas..its not empty – there is a cute looking girl there. L phew…I stood there looking out for other autos and then my eyes caught this cute looking girl staring at me ( errr???) , smiling ( did she really smile?) , waving her hand…(is that me she is waving at?? ). Chain of thoughts…..Have I seen her somewhere? She looks familiar…lemme smile back and I shoot one of my most charming smile. She shouts…where are you going? I shouted back…koramangala… U ?? ( as if I know whom I was speaking to!)She : I am going only to EGL but I think u can get in, I’l drop u.My mind is still racing against time to find out how on earth do I know her. Almost paralelly the auto driver also said…”banni madam..hum apko drop karenge”. In a fraction of second, I decided to get in. Ok…ive got in… god she looks so familiar. I KNOW her. DAMN- my memory! She smiled and instantly asked in Malayalam …u stay here? I was like…”yeahhh I do”. Hmmm she is a mallu. So all those searches in the north Indian database end. How do I know…is she from my school? Naa…college? Nooo… infy – now that’s huge DB and its hard to find. She says: Dhanya , ur still wid infy right? U got married? GOODNESS she even knows my name! DHANYA –WHAT IS WRONG WID U!!! am I suffering falling prey to amnesia? God, im forgetting so many simple things these days…this is how mohanlal lost memory in thanmathra... short term memory loss – ghajini…OOPS>>>> NAME NAME… I should be thinking of her name…!! shucks, this is someone I knew even before I got married. Who?? How?? Me: Yea..im still wid infy, and yea im married. Where are you working now? ( I keep flashing my teeth now and then eagerly to assure her that YES I recognize u as much as u recognized me!!)She: IBM, I switched in 2006 Is she my direct friend? Or friends friend? School friends friend? College friends friend? Acquaintances? Have I gone to lunch with her? Race… Arathi…is she Arathi’s friend? OH YES…she is…but what on earth is her name? heaven sake!! I atleast remember how I know her! Thank u god. But please help me remember her name. for the next 10 seconds the only name on my mind was ARATHI…trying to match all letters …arathi’s friend ..name starting with A,B,C… Meanwhile our conversation is still on, about marriage, her work,kid etc etc…. Is it Jeena….no…that doesn’t suit her. This girl even brought a proposal for one of my roommates. She is a Christian. J…her name starts with J….Joy, jeena, jessy, jane, jincy, jisha….AHHHHHH YESSS Finally…JISHA. J I flashed a million dollar smile, eyes twinkling, and a bigg sighh of relief…I asked : Jisha, naatil okke pokarundo? J J J

the so called uncultured keepers of culture!!!

A lot of incidents over the last few weeks have kept me thinking, questioning, reasoning and not just in peace with myself, my existence. I was born into this world with an XX chromosome. That being so, I was categorized as a direct descendant of eve. My creators were considerably liberal in bringing me up and I became more liberal once I was out of home after 21 years of grooming at home. I think what made me what I am today ( strictly w.r.t my views n thoughts n character J ) is my schooling, my days at college , incidents in my life during the grooming years. Six years back when I left my hometown and settled here I tasted the sweetness of new status of “independent” - ofcourse sweetness is followed by bitterness too. An independent girl, settled in a strange city, attracts a lot of talk and attention from neighbours, family friends and generally everyone. I had my good times and bad times. But I was at peace. I felt that it was slowly going to be a woman’s world, that India was finally opening its eyes, that people were learning there is more to a woman than being a daughter,wife, mother, housewife n blah blah… That she had the right to follow her dreams and ambitions. But dear god!!…i was so wrong!!! I might be terribly wrong, or mebbe I am in a total feminist mood today, but I find majority of the Indian population (educated and non educated) with the “superior” XY chromosome find the incidents in mangalore so absolutely right. Damn, I open the times of India daily to read more than a dozen of molestation, rape and assault cases on women. Not even children less than 2 years or old ladies spared from this mental and physical agony. Where are the ram sevaks? Why, don’t they think that abusing a woman is not as per the Indian culture? Or does our culture give license for everyone of the “family name carriers” a license to pass a comment, give a “passing touch” on the roads and lots more… I am fed up of signing women’s petitions – online and otherwise…I’m fed up of burning within, I’m fed up of feeling guilty that because of that one Y chromosome im a lesser gender, the gender who is taught and expected to be meek and soft. A gender whom everyone teaches morality. A gender whose freedom is restricted to kitchen. I am both amused and shocked that a fellow Infoscion thinks of a housewife as a hippo who cooks, cleans and washes the dishes. I mean how much more do we take?I am not a sita who will live by the line – “bhoomiyolam kshemikkuka”. I have crossed the limits of my patience. I look around at all the male species around me with doubt. Do they think of me in the same way? Am I seen as a cleaner? Cooker? A dish washer? A HIPPO – come’on ive lost considerable weight ….Aaargh! I read that the vanar sena is now threatening not to celebrate the day of love. There can’t be any love and peace. No, they want agitation and violence. That is against culture. I mean how am I to take that people in love dint meet when this day was not so popular? What is it that irritates them? I wonder…and can never understand mebbe. It looks to me like, if I don’t have any fun in my life, then u have no right to have any fun in yours too. aren’t they interested in building a nation? Spreading brotherhood? Don’t they want their wives, daughters and sisters to be able to walk free on the roads without having to worry about what form of attack would it be? Can we not live without safety pins , pepper sprays and the line “tumhare ghar pe maa behen nahin hein kya? Unse kaho”??? The sena and every one of d other lot needs to realize and accept that todays woman is much more than what he was taught and what he would ideally want it to be. She is as good , if not better than him in most things. Dear god, please bless me with a daughter only when the world is ready for her. I don’t want her to go through the same emotions and helplessness that I feel. PS to my male friends: no direct offense meant to anyone. J