Dakshayini edathi

She is short, but stands tall,
One with very few words
Yet the words you can't miss
Or forget

Never seen her laugh or cry
Hard to think her soul is dry

In times tough and hard
She held them strong as a fort

It rains in me
To walk down the way again
Lacking the comforting sight in white

Meet the PM (Ex PM)

It's been more than 3 years and at least for the first two years, the literary Raji was sound asleep as the mother Raji was trying to fit 20 hours of official and personal work into 16 hours everyday. I gave birth to my second daughter in March 2017 and loved the maternity break that I only got to start after her birth. I have been reading one book or the other since then and for me - reading and writing goes hand in hand. So here I am - Starting my Nth innings of vigorous activity completely unapologetic of the hibernation and unwilling to come up with any logical reasoning, at least for the reading bit.

So last week, I had my WOW moment - I actually met an Ex Prime Minister and he spoke to me for 10 seconds at the most - Now that is equivalent as to winning an olympic gold for me! I spent the next few hours sharing and tweeting the video/photo of the book signing.

Mr. Brown and Ms. Sarah Brown was at SouthBank centre to talk about his time in politics and his current work since retirement from mainstream politics - basically to promote his book. It was meant to be a candid conversation but was more formal than a BBC breakfast show. However, I have always enjoyed watching him talk - political debates, interviews, election propaganda  - the man is natural in front of a crowd. This time was no different, he walked and talked with great energy. I had trouble catching up with him when he jumped from one topic to another and basically covered 40 years of his political life in less than 20 minutes of his opening statement. 

I was alarmed at how easily celebrities interacted with mere mortals here. There were no mobs calling out slogans, no black cats or body guards. He took his time, shook hands with everyone waiting in line for his signature, spoke something relevant to the person, apologised for the wait time and thanked with the same bright smile even to the last person in the line. I do agree that politics runs in his blood and he is trained to react in a certain way to make the recipient happy irrespective of what goes on in his mind at the time (Yes, I do remember his microphone accident). However, I also believe that being accessible and living like a common man is what makes a true leader in a democracy. 

Whats in a name!

the answer is .. a LOT!

When I call the GP, they ask for my DOB instead of my name, My colleagues rely on self-complete options of mail and chat applications to connect to me, When I'm asked for my surname on phone, I'll start spelling it without them prompting, If I have to fill up any documents with my husband, I have to go around convincing people that he is indeed my husband even though our surnames are different because I chose to keep it that way... The list goes on. But this post is not about how Indian names are handled in the western world. In fact this is about how important your full name is!

I had to write one test the other day for our VISA extension and my DH completely ignored my middle name while registering. So on the day of the test, I woke up at 5 to revise everything I managed to gulp in the previous day, arranged food for DD for the whole day, reached the center on time after 90 mins commute only to be sent back home because I had my middle name missing when I registered. All my efforts to convince them with originals were in vain. That's a good 5 hours and £70 washed away in the waters !

Lesson learnt: Always spell check your name, Husbands are not smart enough to remember your full names all the time!

A train journey

My mom was tensed as usual seeing many guys in my coach. I tried to make my way through the highly crowded compartment when my sister and mom chose to stand outside and spy on my neighbors for the 8 hour journey. After I got to my seat, I got busy settling my things, when suddenly a guy, a smart young man in his mid twenties called me to tell that my sis wants to talk to me. Without giving a proper acknowledge to my messenger, I moved to say b-bye to amma and sis. These days talking to strangers, that too guys, that too in front of amma is a strict no-no to me.
The train started and I maintained my highly made up mature look. This being the first evening train to Bangalore from Palakkad, there were many sleeper ticket travelers and I had to share my berth with another family till Coimbatore. There was no chance of sleeping off as I would have done usually. I finished my dinner and desperately waited for the family to get down in the next station. All of a sudden I heard a hi
It was him again, the same messenger guy. I gave a least interested smile back and started to play around with my mob. He had decided not to stop... The conversation went like this…

He – it’s very boring right?
Me – Yeah!
He – Which berth?
Me – 25
He – going to Bangalore?
Me – Ya
He – Software engineer?
Me – Yeah (A very disappointed one this time) … and you?
He – I’m into yoga. I’m a yoga trainer

Something lit up in me. Wow, I got a chance to get free ka advice that too at a time when I desperately wanted one … I have grown in size sideways, so much that I had to give off all my favorite salwars to my sis since I could not get into any of them. My BMI is in the brim, another half kg would brand me over weight… I have low bp, I’m anemic, and my legs get swollen if I sit for a long time… In short, I have all the ailments and concerns of a woman in her 30s and I’m years behind 30 (***winking***). Conversation continued like this…

He – I was also a software engineer till 3 years back.
Me – Oh I see… Were you into yoga from childhood?
He – Yes, but I never thought of it as a career. Now I’m happy that I chose it. 80% of our customers are software engineers.
Me – Obviously… when you pick a city like Bangalore where 80% of the total population is into IT
He (smiling) – that’s true

We talked for the next 1 hour. There was no telephone number exchange. In fact I don’t even know his name. I asked him many questions; he answered them patiently as he would have done to any of his students. According to him, Yoga is a vast science. There are almost 80,000 to 100,000 asanas and most masters in Yoga will manage to learn only a few 100s. Yoga is about letting yourself free, it is not something that is restricted by do's and don’ts. It should be part of our lifestyle and not for reducing our weight or for toning, although they are guaranteed after-effects of yoga. There is no dieting required for yoga. In fact he says that there is no point in refraining from anything you like in order to maintain your figure. That will cause a disappointment, sometimes that we won’t even notice.

I was relieved. Alas, someone told me that there is no point in dieting :) When the train reached Bangalore, we got up, bid good-bye and All-the-best and moved out in two different directions. I was happy for meeting him, a composed individual whose sole aim in life was not to earn money.

How many times do we pay attention to people around us? How many times we smile at kids playing around? Life today is governed by money, driven by power and guarded by fear.

Go green :)

Certain revelations sets in you a little late .. sometimes you discover it when someone else tells you. Something like that was imposed on me lately when Jay discovered that green is my favourite colour. His justification to the observation is that knowingly/unknowingly I pick green in things I wear, homewares that I purchase, bed covers, choice of paint and even my blog template. I thought over and found it quite right, so from then green is my favourite colour, purple is picking up fast although. Recently I purchased a room curtain for my drawing room and I chose purple from all the colours there, and even my new blackberry is purple :)

Knowing my fancy over favourite colurs, Jay gifted me 2 T shirts for this onam - One green and the other purple :)) Well, I thought of writing this post after another realisation. Recently I find myself eating lot of Kiwi and you know why, it looks brilliant with those fine black seeds in the green background... the loveliest fruit according to me ... and of course, it tastes good :))

Maybe a li'l longer

I requested, I demanded, I protested - Finally I won!!!
I got relocated to a developed country on work, plainly because I wanted to join my hubby there. Back from home 90 miles looked less, its just 1.5 hours in train... which meant that I can commute daily to office from home. I was excited.
It was not that easy...
Work was getting hectic, simple routine jobs which demanded your complete attention even on weekends
More time on train and no time for me(leave alone my husband) at home made me restless
I fell sick, got bedridden for weeks together...
Now I feel giddy thinking of the work that awaits me next week...
Was it all worth it???
I look forward for the life that my mother had at my age ... a comfortable job next to home, return home on time with ample time for family, calm weekends with parents/grand parents, cooking was never a task, we never missed our favourite TV shows and took turns to share the days happenings....
Maybe I have to wait a li'l longer ....

The White Tiger - review

A very frank and plain representation of the present state of India seen from varied angles. The narrator is a common man who is proud of what he has 'achieved' over the years despite being born in a poorest of poor families. Very fast moving book written in simple English. There are many instances where the author has portrayed things very innocently, mostly by ignorance. The comparisons and perceptions are written in a fresh new style. On a whole, a good to read book - which you can carry for a one day trip :)

And thanks to the book, I didn't know what's so unique about a white tiger....

PS: I'm aware of the fact that I didn't start my post with a preface explaining my hibernation. That was intentional coz i have no excuse ... I was just lazy!!!