Me: "Excuse me, how do i reach Majestic from here?"
Stranger: "Take a right in the second signal, first left, third right,......diagonal left......... straight......... signal........"
Me (profoundly confused): oh ok! Thanks.
Some instructions faded instantaneously and a few more mocked at me, needless to say, i was lost again. To remember the directions, be it a simple(what others like to call it as) left and right is such a painful, arduous and exhaustive task. There are cases of me steering the car right while the rest of them are shouting "left left left!..." The biggest ordeal is when i reach some place with great difficulty and while leaving they ruthlessly say "Take the same route, it will take you to your place". I will be confounded with the very idea of it!
Leave alone that! The greatest tragedy of my life is when im the sole person traveling in an auto and compelled to give instructions to the reckless auto-walas. Hopelessness adorns their face while im desperately deciding on left or right. Many-a-times, they give me a deadly look when i say "take right" and in reality there is a huge building standing straight in the way!. Someone told me that girls usually have left/right confusions... hmm... some relief!
However, its not just the left/right im confused about... It took me few months to get accustomed to the campus roads in college while my friends took few minutes to digest the whole map. Every time i took a turn, i was mystified and stupefied to discover that the road actually connected to canteen.. or administrative block or library! Sometimes, i get this feeling of deja-vu when i see some roads.. I see familiar buildings, trees.. and then comes the realization that i have been there almost every day but from the other side of the road!
How unmindful and stupid of me, i think sometimes! Why don't i remember the directions when everyone else around me knows it by-heart. "You need to concentrate while driving" is the most popular advice i always get from people. But, No matter how hard i concentrate, i can hardly remember few turns.. many more? im lost for sure. Its like asking a color-blind person to concentrate more on colors!
Every-time i take a bus, i make it a point to remember the directions.. well-equipped with a beamy idea of mobile-holding-hand as right and the other one left, I memorize every turn it takes, find a landmark for every turn.. and this goes on effortlessly for the first few turns.. few more diversions, i start to wonder where the bus took the first left! It hardly takes few minutes to contemplate that i lost the track yet another time!
Well, I have to admit, It was never easy for me to take complaints about my short term memory for directions. Sometimes, I yell at them... stop talking... remain stone-cold.. try hard to concentrate where i am! But, Nevertheless, i still have to ask them which way to go! I see no end to this drama......
P.S : I was googling for directions confusion and i hit this interesting blog, nicely written. Im very much convinced that im not the only ONE ;) One suggestion was to note down the directions. Guess i will start that one :)
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Love amidst Caste
Rahul: Maa, I wanted to talk to you about something, by the way, what do you think about Neha?
Mom : ??!! well, She is nice, good looking, smart, adjusts with everyone.....
Rahul : Maa.. I.. I love her and I want to marry her.. what do you say?
Mom : What?!? our community will never accept her, what do i say to our relatives.. what would our neighbors think about us.. how could you do this to me.. Have you talked about it with your father? All these years we take care of your every wish and this is what you do to us in the end?
Many of my friends have gone through the trauma where you are compelled to choose your parents or the one you love. If you gamble for the reason behind it, im sure most of them hit the same result - Caste.
Who on earth introduced this caste system? Who is to be blamed? Parents - for not budging from their track for their own son/daughter's happiness? or us - who disobey to follow the traditional path? or the Society?. Is this caste system doing any good? If not why do we still hold on to it?... The moment i ponder over these questions, it puts me in deep chaotic musings.
Going back to history, Caste system evolved based on the type of work done by the individual. This led to the rise of thousands of traditions all across India diversifying the nation. Hundreds of languages, thousands of dialects evolved. We proudly declare India as a nation of diversity. With that said, think about the complexity it brought.. its limitless. Each religion split to various caste then sub-caste then sub-sub caste.. the list never ends. oh well, that's just for a region! Different region had their own customs and traditions, yet again caste-sub-caste list grew.. phew!
Find a partner of your own religion, your own sub-sub-caste.. marry the person with whom your kundalis match and lead a happy life. If you change the track and love someone, understand that person and then wed, you are a spoilt brat! Well, Im not criticizing arranged marriage here - Its a very good system followed from ages. There might be scientific reasons for the kundali match. No offense. But just don't close the door on its counterpart.
Today, one of my friend was explaining about her recent endeavor to convince her parents. Its the moment you talk about your love, turmoil starts. You will be the target for various emotional blackmails - why did you do this? If you had loved someone of our caste .... well i mean sub-caste we would have still agreed. How could you expect us to accept. What would our relatives talk about us?.....
They blame us for not respecting their views and we blame them for not heeding to our emotions, for not understanding us. This blame-game never ends.
Great love stories are dead - Some more perish - yet many more blossom.... There is however one advice for everyone, no matter what situation you are in, never lose hope, Face it, it is always less lethal than imagined!.. have patience, im sure you will find some way out.
Sometimes we love with nothing more than hope. Sometimes we cry with everything except tears. In the end that's all there is: love and its duty, sorrow and its truth. In the end that's all we have - to hold on tight until the dawn.
Mom : ??!! well, She is nice, good looking, smart, adjusts with everyone.....
Rahul : Maa.. I.. I love her and I want to marry her.. what do you say?
Mom : What?!? our community will never accept her, what do i say to our relatives.. what would our neighbors think about us.. how could you do this to me.. Have you talked about it with your father? All these years we take care of your every wish and this is what you do to us in the end?
Many of my friends have gone through the trauma where you are compelled to choose your parents or the one you love. If you gamble for the reason behind it, im sure most of them hit the same result - Caste.
Who on earth introduced this caste system? Who is to be blamed? Parents - for not budging from their track for their own son/daughter's happiness? or us - who disobey to follow the traditional path? or the Society?. Is this caste system doing any good? If not why do we still hold on to it?... The moment i ponder over these questions, it puts me in deep chaotic musings.
Going back to history, Caste system evolved based on the type of work done by the individual. This led to the rise of thousands of traditions all across India diversifying the nation. Hundreds of languages, thousands of dialects evolved. We proudly declare India as a nation of diversity. With that said, think about the complexity it brought.. its limitless. Each religion split to various caste then sub-caste then sub-sub caste.. the list never ends. oh well, that's just for a region! Different region had their own customs and traditions, yet again caste-sub-caste list grew.. phew!
Find a partner of your own religion, your own sub-sub-caste.. marry the person with whom your kundalis match and lead a happy life. If you change the track and love someone, understand that person and then wed, you are a spoilt brat! Well, Im not criticizing arranged marriage here - Its a very good system followed from ages. There might be scientific reasons for the kundali match. No offense. But just don't close the door on its counterpart.
Today, one of my friend was explaining about her recent endeavor to convince her parents. Its the moment you talk about your love, turmoil starts. You will be the target for various emotional blackmails - why did you do this? If you had loved someone of our caste .... well i mean sub-caste we would have still agreed. How could you expect us to accept. What would our relatives talk about us?.....
They blame us for not respecting their views and we blame them for not heeding to our emotions, for not understanding us. This blame-game never ends.
Great love stories are dead - Some more perish - yet many more blossom.... There is however one advice for everyone, no matter what situation you are in, never lose hope, Face it, it is always less lethal than imagined!.. have patience, im sure you will find some way out.
Sometimes we love with nothing more than hope. Sometimes we cry with everything except tears. In the end that's all there is: love and its duty, sorrow and its truth. In the end that's all we have - to hold on tight until the dawn.
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