Mothers Day Special - To, 'Dear Mom'.... From, 'To be Mom'

*********************Disclaimer******************

Contents below are openhearted feelings of an expectant daughter towards her mother.

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Mother - is that solid foundation on which the family grows.
Mother's day, celebrated to honor mother, motherhood & maternal bonds..
I believe, this is one of the purest days which is celebrated across the globe;
Love for a mother is absolute and unconditional.

This year's mother day is somewhat special to me-
I am on a Journey of an expectant mother, who is fast approaching the juncture of motherhood.
Every step closer to motherhood; reminds me of my mom, her feelings, her sacrifices;
Every closing chapter of this journey makes me realize, how the bonding between a child & mother is developed.
Truly, this journey will be ever lasting and I will cherish it for the years to come.
Before I move ahead to kick start the next chapter of this journey, I would like to take a pause and thank my Mom.

To,
Dear Mom,

Thank you, for all these years, you have been a rock solid support and a great inspiration not only for me but for all the other people associated with you.

As I enter into the last lap of my first pregnancy, I am filled with both excitement and nervousness.
Every passing day, greets me with different challenges; while dealing with them, my mind constantly replays all the childhood memories, 'the nautankis', 'the nakhras' that I used to do with you.
Every single memory draws a thin smile on my face.

Here I am, at that facet of life, whereby I can very well relate and co-relate all those.

It is a kind of flashback:
Anxiousness: I can now understand your anxiousness when you wouldn't see me for hours together,
Similarly my heart goes for a toss when the baby doesn't move for couple of hours - surely he is playing trick on me, the way I used to do.

Diet Math: I never understood that complex math on the diets and things to eat - the carbs, the proteins, the starch and what nots....
Today it is just so easy, I feel, as if I am the master at it, when I have to do the same for the baby.

Your yells and shouts to finish that glass of milk - which I hated the most, none of your tricks, none of the flavors that you added ever worked -  For me it was just Yucks!
These days even normal milk, feels like heaven - I gulp it down in one shot.

Results: I still remember, the nervousness on your face during my results; I was the one who used to say "Arey just chill mummy, paas ho jaaungi"; similar is the feeling as I wait for my down syndrome, blood sugar, sonography and other results, it is your comforting and encouraging words "Kuch nahi hoga beta, everything will be alright, Just chill" keeps my nervousness down.

No Injection: Those scary injection dramas that I used to create, the entire neighbourhood used to know, despite being ill, this girl won’t take that needle.
Today, I happily deal with them, needles and syringes – bring it on, it’s like walk in the park.

Patterns: The way, you used to know each and every pattern and behavior of mine, it is the same with the baby, the movement, the flutters, the kicks - I am just used to it.

Mom, I may have brushed aside all your discussions about the challenges, the sacrifices, the effort and the feelings.. I may have undermined when you said "tum logo ko kya pata kaise kiya ye sab".
Yes true, I was naive enough to understand all these, but Mom, isn’t that what kids are supposed to be? ;)

However, I think, there are certain things in life; you have to experience, to feel it.
Those sleepless nights that you have had growing us, mine has just begun :)
I guess, this is just the inception of motherhood, for more lessons, I know where to look at.
Thank you Mom for everything - Happy Mother’s Day!!


From,
To be Mom (Your Daughter)

P.S. missing the December vacations was my first sacrifice, what a way to start the list, I am sure it will keep on growing ;)

I will leave you all with this wonderful video:

Ref: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHvjTLOtq0U

Kuch नही karne ka मान्सिक Pressure!

Jack and his daily thoughts!

HE returns home from office, after completing his nine-to-five daily job & calls to The Ladyship
'Hey Hon, I am home' .. No response, as usual to his first call.
'Hon, I am home, where are you?', emphasizing his presence this time.

The Lady responds, 'Up here in the Kitchen'

Drawing himself up to the kitchen, he meets the Lady, embraces her from behind and plants a gentle kiss on her shoulder.

In a cheerful tone, she uttered,
'Jack, you know, at this time of the day, I am always in the kitchen, by now you should know where to find me'
'Anyways, how was your day?'
'Yeah, good, same as always, nothing exciting, The boss had this meeting..' sensing weariness in the response she cuts him in middle,
'Never mind, you were right not exciting;
On the contrary I have some exciting news!'

Lemme guess, 'You pregnant?' 
'No baba, I had that "thing" 3 days ago...'

Hurriedly, she continues with her saga..
'Kiku Sarda, the comedian, has been put behind bars, for mimicking some self proclaimed GodMan, how pathetic it could be?, you also write comic and satire, better beware!'
'Also do you know, Priya Malik from Bigg Boss 9 was eliminated, but I would tell that Bigg Boss this season is...'

'Uh Huh', Jack responds and slowly descends away from the kitchen to the living room,
Thinking about his humdrum life,
'Get up at 6, take shower, get ready, reach office by 7:30. 
Go through the same turmoil in office over and over again, end the day by 5;
Come home, stare at laptop and phone for hours and hours together, 
Dine at 9, Sleep by 10. 
Despite having so much spare time time, main Kuch Nahi karta, nothing productive'

This is not the first time this thought has crossed his mind, he says thinks about it everyday..
He could still hear The Lady murmuring about Bigg Boss.

But Today, he was determined,
Stationed himself on the chaise lounge, grabbed his laptop, launches browser and impetuously starts typing 'F.a.c.e.____'
Guess what?
He inadvertently enters the rabbit hole of Facebook.
Spends good amount of time there and totally forgets about the purpose why he grabbed the laptop.

Snapped back from his fairy tale of Facebook by The Lady. 'Here Hon, Garma garam masala chaai' and concludes the story, 'Don't you agree that this season of Bigg Boss was dull ?'

Nodding, Jack carefully takes the cup and mumbled,
'Ye Facebook aur Priya Malik ke nakhre, mujhe aage nahi badhne degi'
[In other context, this could have been a kernel of another Mahabharata episode, but The Lady was too engrossed with her story]

Sipping his masala chai, he thinks, 'Seriously yaar kuch toh karna padega.'
                                                               ~~~~~~~~~~
Please don't mistake Jack as meagre.
He has spent good 8 years in IT industry and earns heftily.
"Bhagwaan ka diya sab kuch hai hamare paas.." dialogue from Welcome movie fits aptly to Jack's family.
It is just, that he has a lot of spare time and is desperate to utilize it in a constructive manner.

Pulling his beard while he ransacked his muddled brains for some means of escape from this horrible thought..
"Tinggg" heard a message on his phone from one of his friend DK,
His eyes grew wider, as message read as 'Bhai, kuch socho , khaali baith k bore ho gaye hai'.
It could be mere coincidence, but was sufficient enough to temporarily ease his thoughts.

Unwinding a little bit, Jack thought he was not the only one going through this, here was another his colleague, a friend working in the same industry with same experience having the same feeling.
Taking a deep relieving breath, he said to himself  'Yay! I am not the only one!'

Immediately decides to talk to his close aides, Rajesh, Savy, Kapse, Ritesh, Alok, Ashwin, Bipin to understand more..
Almost everyone had the same feeling and reaction;
'Yaar kuch nahi kar rahe, Life has become stagnant' some suggested 'charity', some 'marketing', while some 'Chodon yaar aise hi sahi hai..'

Everyone is sailing in the same boat of saturation. Its that era where most folks feel the pinch of stagnancy.
Don't know whom to blame, ourselves, the age, or the predetermined daily drills ruled by our Industry!

Hearing all the chitter chatter, The Lady walks up to the living room, sank herself into the armchair beside the lounge.
Cleared her throat and said..
           'Hon do you know, there are parents, very old parents who carry the burden of 
           their capable children throughout  their entire lifespan, hoping one day their children
           will understand and take their own responsibility. 
           Poor parents fail to understand that their children are pre-occupied with worldly 
           whims and fancies.

          There are people who, despite having all the resources, choose not to capitalize on 
          them. These are the ppl who come under category one -  
          Beta kuch kar lo, Zindagi ban jaaygi  - They deal with different kind of pressure.
          
          Then on the other hand, there are folks like you; qualified, well established, 
          well settled.. 
          But then, want to break the shackles of the mundane life.
          Always trying something or other, Innovating, which is necessary to keep the 
          spice going.
          Point to note, there is a very thin line, between trying and trying too hard; 
          Setting personal milestone and competing with yourself is a good way to track 
          progress, but it becomes real tricky when they start pushing too hard and 
          start blaming themselves. 
          They come under category two -  'Main Kuch nahi karta!' 

          You see; Logo ko aksar kuch karne ka Pressure hota hai, lekin..
          Aap logon ko kuch नही karne ka मान्सिक Pressure हैं ".

           What this does is, it makes you victim of 3 C's.
           You Crib, Cry and eventually are Confined to the trap of negativity.

Jack was still wondering, where did all these come from -
Kuch नही karne ka मान्सिक Pressure .

'Now Hon, Stop pulling your beard, its dinner time, I have prepared bitter gourd' - she chuckled at the astonishment drawn on his face.

'Bitter gourd Arrrggggg!, 
Geez, its another kind of pressure I have to deal with now.. ' - Jack burst out with laughter.

Bean-bugged!

On a sunny Saturday morning, the temperature was scorching high; the best thing to do, during this time is to visit some mall.
As it is, it was pending for long time, so we decided to give it a go.

Started off with some pretence shopping, glancing at luxury goods, scanning frozen dead animals, browsing through list of novels; during this entire process, I realized that my wife took a detour and landed herself in women's accessories shop...

Suddenly I heard my wife calling for me..
'Hey Hon, look what I found', [she had found her favorite nail polish color].
'My favorite Nail-Polish!, I have been looking for this, for months together, the texture, the color, Finally, I am soooo happy!'

I could sense the excitement in her expression!
For me, it was just another 'Red' color, but I didn't had enough courage to get into a debate related to textures of red, because I knew the end result ~ I would loose.

'Yeah, that is very awesome, take two', I responded.

After grabbing the nail polish, we stepped into a furniture store, thinking we will buy something big.
Looking around, we decided to treat ourselves with a bean-bag, [eventually everything boils down to the budget ;)]

Although ,buying it was not a simple decision, I was in dilemma.
The reason for that was, here, when we buy bean-bag, we have to buy the bag and its pellets (or fillings) separately. Ideally for a decent size of bag, you would need two 100L pellets.

At first, I decided against it, because filling the bean bag can create a big mess, imagine how much mess two 100L pelltes can create if it spills on the floor.
But then, the pleasure of sitting on it and having a coffee! cannot be compared to anything else.
'Forget it, I am buying, will deal with the mess later', I said to myself.

After the exciting shopping experience we returned home.

                                                     ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~

The first thing I did, after having my arvo nap, was decided to fill the bean-bag.
A helping hand was provided by my second half. We successfully managed to fill the bag, without a single spill.
I was feeling proud, 'No mess, yeah!'.
Now, time to live the dream - Its coffee time! 

Lying on the bean bag, having my coffee -  the experience was truly pleasing.
My pleasure was short-lived, when I heard. 'Hon, have you seen my nail-polish' ?
Without even thinking, I responded, 'Nope'
'You removed everything from the bag, Remember?', she responded anxiously.
I was forced to think, this time, taking a wild guess, I said, 'Oh yeah, its on the table' 
'Nuh-uh, there isn't any, Hon' came a slight bitter response.

This was it, it was - 'The break-point'; I had to move my lazy butt to join the search....

After 15 mins of futile search, around the one-room kitchen, she started getting edgy,
At the end of 30 mins, I gave-up with a typical response -
'Yahi hoga, kaha jaayega, pair lage hai kya uskey?'  [It will be somewhere here only, don't worry]

It was one nasty look from her, that brought me back into action.
Eventually, we both gave up considering its all gone.

                                                     ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~

Sunday morning: I decided to look again for it. I had personally named the mission as "Finding NaPo"
In full swing, I turned the cupboard upside down,
Opened the vacuum [even though the room wasn't vacuumed, i wanted to be sure], 
Checked all my pockets, triple checked my bags,
Checked the daal & aate ka dabba as well, the files and every possible thing..

Looking at the chaos, I had the feeling as if, there was a IT raid in our house!

'Naaa nothing', I said to my wife.

She asked, 'Have you looked into the drawers'?
'Yep', saying so, I headed towards the drawer.
'Oh, get out of the way you've had a man's look - let me take a proper look', she nudged me aside.

'Still nothing'; it was high time to call off mission "Finding NaPo".

                                                     ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~

Sunday evening: It was 24 hours since she had lost her favorite nail-polish,
I could feel for her, poor lady, found her favorite nail polish after months; and didn't even get a chance to open it!

One thing, I did was, since Saturday, whenever I wanted to sit, it was only on the bean-bag;
At-least I was happy for that. Wanted to call it Cheers!, but the situation didn't demand so.

Grabbed my phone, skimming through the twitter news; came across a saying by Richard Branson:
    "Complexity is your enemy. Any fool can make something complicated. 
      It is hard to make something SIMPLE!"

While I was fiddling around on social media, somewhere in my subconscious mind, mission "Finding NaPo" was still on...

Closed my eyes, carefully walked through the dark lanes of my memory, tried to recap.
We have turned the entire house upside down, looked every nook and corner, still nothing..
'Gaya toh, kaha Gaya'

I realized, every time, I turn the bean bag upside down, I hear some noise.
At first, I thought its a wooden cork that is needed in the bag to keep the pellets away; similar to what a party spray foam has!
Wanted to cross check, but somehow, my mind was not prepared to handle the mess it could cause while opening and searching through the fillings.
This was the only reason, I stuck with the concept of wooden cork!

Recalled, even yesterday, after the bag was filled and when we flipped it, we heard a noise!
My wife, asked 'Hon, what is that...' ; I convinced her with my concept of wooden cork!

On a second thought, 'Naaah, it doesn't have to be that complex.... '

I immediately turned the bean-bag upside down, held the cork firmly, so that it wont slip anywhere else, opened the chain and decided to look at my imaginative wooden cork..
To my surprise it was the Nail-Polish!
[It is quite possible, that when I was about to fill the bag, the nail-polish, lying aside the fillings, could've slipped into bag without my knowledge]

Seeing this, my wife was thrilled!
Leaving everything aside, she immediately wore it. Clearly her excitement was palpable.

After the dust settled, she amusingly convicted me and the bag, 'You and your bean bag tried to choke my poor nail polish in a bean bag!' 
to which i countered, 'rather, you bugged my bag, it was no longer a bean-bag, it was bean-bugged!' 

No matter what, it was a complex mystery to solve, you gotta agree that Richard Branson has got a point here, now, we all can call it a Cheers!

Malda Riots - Rather than Religion, Let Peace rule Humanity!

On a very ideal day, I would avoid writing or debating anything related to religion, coz it hurts sentiments of ppl. - We gotta respect it!

Even more than that, I believe we are in that era whereby religions should not be holding us or bothering us.
Unfortunately, my belief stays with me, as there ain't a lot of people who line up with this.

Recent unsolicited Pathankot Terror Attacks, Malda Riots which killed and destroyed innocent lives, is the only reason why I am penning down this annoyance!

On one hand our Jawans, fought bravely with the terrorist keeping the country safe; and on the other hand we have serious internal issues like the Malda Riots!

The basic difference between Pathankot and Malda -  in Pathankot we were dealing with external terrorism; whereby in Malda, there were anti-social elements, hiding behind the name of so called protest;
Who knew that they had different intentions altogether?

Malda Riots - How it rolled over.. 
Azam Khan comments on homosexuality.... [I choose not to publish the comments] 
In response to Azam Khan's comments; Kamlesh Tiwari targets Prophet Muhammad.. [I choose not to publish the comments] 

The minorities are offended and are seriously offended, they demand nothing less than Execution for Tiwari.
Not only this, they stage protests country wide!

One such protest was held in Malda.
The protest was meant to demand hanging of Tiwari, but what happened?
         Innocent people including police office injured!
         Women molested and dragged!
         Temples attacked, Shops, Police Stations, Public property vandalized!
         Private and public buses torched!
         Train services disrupted!
         Section 144 invoked!

Question is: Out of whatever happened so far;
        "What, Which and Who is Tiwari among those impacted?"
        "Why isn't same reaction been shown against Khan?"

When will all these people understand that, these are just Political gimmick!

Looks like this has been the custom of every protests!
Be it, Azad Maidan Riots in 2012; Patidar Reservation Protest and others.

Luckily Charlie Hebdo, is not in India, because somehow, we don't show the consistency when it comes down to 'Freedom of Speech'.

Biased Media - 
Under all these, one thing that prominently added fuel to fire was - the Biased media.

Rightly put, purpose of journalism is: "To provide citizens with the information they need to make the best possible decisions about their lives, their communities, their societies, and their governments."; 

But evidently, the purpose of journalism has been redefined in this era:
"Get as much as TRP's as you can, no matter what it takes; Demean, Degrade, make your own verdicts; Ultimately create such impression that citizens believe that world a scary place!" 
- True Journalism is long dead!

While our media was busy showing the path that terrorist took to enter, where the first victim was killed , questioning our brave soldiers capability on Pathankot Terrorist attack;
At the same time, there were some narrow-minded elements, who were taking innocents for ride, molesting women, beating the police, torching the buses, breaking the laws!

Rather that questioning the brave-hearts and their working style, shouldn't they focus on their job, their responsibility and depict a fair journalism to cover the right story - Malda Riots!
Instead they decided to choose otherwise.

A detailed coverage about Yakoob's death, a Dadri incident attracts all the attention not only from media, but from political leaders as well; the Guardians of Tolerance, where all over, returning every possible thing!

Malda Riots clearly depicts; 
Lack of governance from West Bengal government..
Biased media - which has lost its integrity, and hence rightly termed as - The Presstitutes
Finally how easy it is for bunch of morons to tear apart the Law!

      Why is it that these riots like Malda are not being even covered?
      Why is it that every time these perpetrators are let off?
      Why is it, that people are instigated so easily?

Apparently, there is more to Malda riots, than what it meets the eye; some say it was pre-planned conspiracy!

For all those who justify violence, in the name of minority, please remember
“Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.” 
      - Martin Luther King Jr

Try to be that kind of minority!

I wont say that an Hindu, Muslim or a Christian is in danger..

I wont say that an Hindu, Muslim  or a Christian  is attacked...

It is always, Humanity, that is in danger and is being attacked!

Riots happening in the name of Religion, is a slow poison not only for India, but all over the world!

I can only hope that "Rather than Religion, Let Peace rule Humanity!"

Free Basics - Nothing is Free!

Free Basics, a program initiated by Facebook, which aims to provide free access to basic internet services to a billion people all over the world!
It sounds really simple and definitely a great step in connecting people.

But the moment you start asking "HOW", it starts getting murkier, some Internet pundits are calling it as Walled-Garden and some saying its against Net Neutrality;
Facebook on the other hand is providing its own justification.

No matter what justification is provided, i have to agree with the pundits here that "Free Basics" should NOT be accepted in its current state.

I ain't a master, when it comes down to the technical explanation about Free Basics and how it works, but have some basic understanding.

Let me introduce you one of my real life experience, which can very well be aligned to the concept of "Free Basics".

One fine day, while we (I and my wife) were strolling on the streets of Melbourne; we came across a auction shop holding auction on household, electronic items and other items, there was a sales guy who was promising cheap and free items.

There were quite a few people there, so we decided to have a look (we were the newbie to this world of Auction)
The auction started, the sales guys gave few freebies and within minutes we got free items ~as promised by the guy.
We had to shell some from our pockets for the cheap stuffs.
After the big ticket was auctioned, we went out of the store, did a  quick math and found that what we got was peanuts or maybe less in return; as compared to what we paid.

In Zuckerberg's concept of Free Basic, [Read here Zuckerberg's impassioned op-ed in TOI ]
He has hit the emotional button and gave an example of farmer Ganesh (a newbie to Internet)
In my example, we were Ganesh (a newbie to Auction);

Ganesh uses Free Basics which offers Free items, whereas in my example the auction store was Free Basics which offered Free items.

The salesman of the auction store can be related to RCom (telcos) which is partnering FB in India for Free Basics.

According to Zuckerberg; Ganesh benefits from Free Basics; Agreed - We also benefited from auction store.
But question is; Was it really worth?
We need to focus on other side of the coin - The Loss!

The most important thing to note is, even without our knowledge (subconscious influence) we spent from our pockets, for getting the so-called cheap and free items;
Similarly with Free Basics even though it claims to be free, you may not know where and what you are being charged!

People can argue that auction is Legit and the auction guy didn't force us to shell out, but the point is Auction offered free and cheap stuffs, which Free Basics is offering as well..
we risk of differential charging from Telcos which end users may or may not be aware of!

Furthermore, with Free Basics monetary loss is secondary, but providing restricted information, reducing Internet experience and Telcos acting as gatekeepers (monopoly) is dangerous.

Like what Tim Berners-Lee rightly said:
               "Something Which is Branded Internet, it's not Internet"

Talking about data:
Today, there are nearly 1 billion websites. If we consider that there are 3.5 billion users of the Internet, 1 out of 3.5 such users also offers content or services.
All this would stop if the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) or telecom companies (telcos) are given the right to act as gatekeepers.

If I were to draw an analogy, a perfect example would be:
Marriage/function halls has tie up with catering(s); customers are bound to choose from them, this leaves them with very limited option.

India, has shown a lot of restrain against Free Basics.
Sensing the market loss, Facebook immediately started “Save Free Basics” campaign. The message that was manifested such, as if "India was in Danger and was on the verge of being considered as Under Developed."
Below is the snippet of the message.

Considering the imminent threat, some of my Patriot friends, immediately pushed the Send Email button.  - Yeah We Support!

Well, its not only India, but Egypt has also banned Free Basics!

Let me not be cynical about "Free Basics", but accepting it, with its current state raises concerns.
This is definitely a good step forward in connecting people and joining the world, but certainly not the best way.
The best way forward is to have an open, honest conversation about the pros and cons, discussing and securing the loopholes.
Honestly for me, if I were to define Free Basics in one sentence it would be
               "Free में basically कुछ नहीं  है" (Nothing is Free)

I started my post with one more terminology: Net Neutrality, this can be simply explained as follows:
           People can voice concerns for  Facebook's Free Basics on Facebook! 
This is power of Net Neutrality, which Free Basics threaten to take away - Not immediately, but eventually.

What can you do?
If you feel Free Basics is NOT good, then you can show your support to Net Neutrality by visiting http://www.savetheinternet.in/
TRAI has issued another consultation paper asking once again, if we want Net Neutrality. This time, it's about differential pricing - Airtel Zero and Free Basics/Internet.org type services.

Should you wish to take action, please note the new deadline is 7th Jan 2016