A bond of love called Rakshabandhan...

This full moon day our hearts are in brim

Feeling of faith and serenity in mind.

We light the lamps and our hears glow

Radiance of happiness and peace are in flow.

Harmonious homes are like streams of joy

Flowing and flourishing the landscape en route.

Nobility in heart and character in deed

Righteous homes alone make a beautiful State.

Sisters will tie the thread on the brothers

Abiding them to do only what is right and clean.

Put the Kumkum and blessed rice on the head

Where will dwell right thoughts and noble action. 

                                    by A.P.J.Abdul Kalam

Its that time of the year again when we four meet, my younger brother, sister and our Big bhaiya. Thankfully we have been able to keep up with the tradition. Met them with their families this Rakshabandhan day. 

Its another walk down the memory lane. Its almost like reliving our childhood. Some things have changed and some are still the same. Changes are in the type of Rakhis and our bond of love is certainly the same, we pull each other's leg, laugh a lot and have a great time together. As far as Rakhis are concerned, those days colourful big Rakhis were a craze. I remember our brother would want us sisters to get him the biggest Rakhi. Probably he must have been around 10  years old then. Those Rakhis were made of sponge... layers of it and they were huge. They would be atleast 3- 4 tiers, had 'Mere Bhaiya' written on them and the boys loved sporting them. This was way back in the 1980s! Then as we grew up he didn't like the big Rakhis, wanted us to get the smaller and more sleek ones. That had beautiful messages on them.  When he was in college, he would insist on the still smaller versions of the sacred thread symbol of  love between brothers and sisters.

After he started working, he'd like just the fine, really neat thread  so that he could wear it on his wrist all year long. In fact its difficult to get such rakhis in the market now, so most of the time my sister ends up making them with sillk threads, We tie two Rakhis each one is a decorative one and the other being a plain thread, that our brother can wear all through the year. Its a tradition that our brother replaces his old Rakhis with the new ones every Rakhsbandhan day.

I also share a very special bond with my cousins, they are 3 brothers. I have been sending them Rakhis by post  as they stay in another state. Over the years the only time I write a letter in Hindi and post it along with the Rakhis is for them. Its a yearly ritual that I follow. Now all three of them are married and have kids, the number of Rakhis that I sent also has gone up with the arrival of my nephews. My aunt and uncle also make the customary call every Rakshabandhan day. That call is also very significant in our lives now. We spoke just last evening.

This festival reminds us that the bond of love between brother and sister is unique. Has the bitter sweet memories of childhood and the growing up years. One finds the first best friend in one's sibling. A friend for life. 

Thinking of my brothers and sister; sending them lots of love and best wishes.....

Written for http://indiblogeshwaris.com/2013/08/that-tuesday-thingy-brothers-and-sisters/

Images have been taken from google, with due credits

Is being a girl a crime.... a curse for the family?

I was watching a short film by Evan Grae Davis titled "It's a girl". According to him these are the 3 deadliest words in the world. He reinforces what I know just like millions of  women around the globe. Also, he talks about what women face in today's liberalised, privatised and globalised world. Oh, we have made moon almost our second home. We are reaching out to the other planets to find if life is possible there. In fact women, women of Indian origin have captained some of these projects. This is reality, there's reality of another kind too, the reality of female infanticide, gendercide and violence against women. 

A woman faces this violence right from the time she is in her mother's womb in the form of Female infanticide . Gendercide is a major concern in countries like China and India. The male to female ratio is as low as 120:100. Evan Grae Davis is a film maker and has been travelling around the world. He knows many unbelievable facts and has statistics to support them. He talks about a woman in South India who was married off to her brother in law as her sister could not bear a male child. She in turn had girl child one after the other. She killed the child right after her birth and did this 8 times. She showed the small heaps of soil where she had buried her children in the field close to her house. She had no emotions forget showing any regret while talking about the issue. But she touches us with the harsh reality of a woman's life especially in developing countries and among the less privilege. She says that she did not want her children to have a life like her own. Davis says that this story moved him the most, he felt shock and hurt. 

According to UN, Violence Against Women is a huge public health issue and a violation of human rights. It results in a wide range of physical, mental, sexual and reproductive health issues for both men and women, compounded by women who are afraid to report the violence she faces. With little access to healthcare, education and opportunity, many women are left open to abuse.Up to one in three women experience physical or sexual violence in their lives.Violence against women is all about power. It is the attempted domination over her life by her abuser.Violence against women is NOT a private or family issue. It is a community and public health issue affecting not only the abuser and his victim but everyone around them.

Affluent societies also have their issues pertaining  to women. There still is inequality in almost every field. Closer home, in India we have to deal with monsters such as the female infanticide, dowry and its evils. They are the topmost concerns both for the government and the society. There have been stringent laws against the two but that too look just drops in the ocean. Female infanticide is prevalent in some states so the government has made it illegal to determine the sex of the foetus. Our girls are still being killed for dowry. Yes we have progressed but whats the use when we still have this stigma attached to us. Our women don't feel safe in our cities or villages. Don't they deserve the little pleasures in life. Pleasure of living without fear, of having hopes and nurturing dreams or are the dreams, hopes and right to make choices meant just for the privileged? Is it a crime to be born as a girl? I have no answers to this... do you?

This takes me back to my own life. I was born  pre mature  at just 7 months. My mother nursed me (literally) to good health. My family did everything possible to keep me alive. Mom was very young at that time; she always believed in me, her first child and had enormous faith and hope. She says that at One, I was one of the healthiest looking child around. Coming from this background  it amazes me to hear about such brutalities to little girls and the violence that women face.

A girl deserves the right to live, a right to live without fear and to soar in the sky like the falcon.... Can we give her that. Or is it asking for too much!

Give her the wings so she can fly

Give her the hope so she can dream

Give her the chance so she can give you the future

Remember she is the mother of the generations to come

                           link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeSYN2c8f_A

This post is written for the Idea Caravan and Indiblogger in association with Franklin Templeton Investments. Franklin Templeton Investments partnered the TEDxGateway Mumbai in December 2012.

My idea of a perfect roadtrip

Life is a journey, bring it on... Head on!!

What: A road trip

Where: Kanyakumari to Ladakh - Incredible India!

When: May - June, 15 days

The vehicle  would be the good old Scorpio, and Bryan Adams, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Deepak Chopra, stand up comedian Kapil Sharma, Angelina Jolie and ofcourse my husband the companions.

The reason why Scorpio is the chosen vehicle, simple akhir Dil hai Hindustani! Time tested and reliable. Good enough for seven of us. Ofcourse we are travelling light. We have ample time at hand exploring India and getting to know each other.... a little at a time!

The company: 

Bryan Adams... Ohh the man with the voice to die for and who has a legacy of chart busters, my kind of music, music player can rest often. His voice will be the music to the ears even when he isn't behind the guitar. Summer of 69 to Run to you....all the way! What fun would that be. May be we come up with another album on this tour, " India head to toe'

Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the youth icon, the man of the moment, the captain cool. He'll double up as the fitness expert, trainer for us to keep the endurance during the long road trip.May be by the end of the trip we all will have a physique that we are proud of and would've perfected the helicopter shot.... howzaat! 

Deepak Chopra, doctor and coach of well being, will be our spiritual Guru. The safety of the trip will depend on our willpower, levels of motivation and grace of the almighty. Chopra will keep us motivated and yeah there can be yet another bestseller from him after the trip.

Stand up comedian Kapil Sharma, brilliant that he is at his job. He'll keep us all entertained. This man sure has a funny bone and can bring smiles instantly. He is a laugh riot. Laughter is the best medicine, so we'll laugh our way to the top.

Angelina Jolie, the woman who does charity and is a champion of adoption. She can add an Indian child to her global brood, the female company that I'll have. She can double up as Lara Croft for the others. Can get some interesting parenting tips from her. Will we be able to perfect the 'one leg" pose? Why not, there will be enough time to rehearse that.

Not without my dear husband, he loves the long drives and road trips it'll be a perfect opportunity for us to embark on the tour. I need him around for many reasons, topmost being  he is an expert in handling me, years of coaching have gone into that! When the world sees all calmness and peace, he can see the volcano ready to erupt. He is a master mariner so that'll make him the perfect navigator for the trip. He will also be our photographer capturing the wonderful and magical moments.

Have got the road maps in place, list of things to carry is ready and bags are packed. Have double checked everything. Its certainly once in a lifetime opportunity so can't take any chances. Here we go.....

We begin from Kanyakumari, ofcourse breaking a coconut and hailing the Bappa for our successful road trip. All of us bring with us just the basic things that we'll need. Roles are all chalked such as arranging meals, driver's roster and making the weekly schedules. To do a good turn everyday and being prepared was the motto of the Girl Guides. Getting to use that.

Meals will be in the local, rustic places so we'll get a taste of all the states that we pass by. Not just the highway on the plate it'll be, all the roads on the plate! GPRS will certainly keep us on track. We'll cover a distance of over 4000 kms. Having fun in the great company...

This post is written for the perfect road trip, Indibloggers facebook.com/AmbiPurIndia

A drop in the ocean...

We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.

~ Mother Teresa

There's calmness in the turbulence

There's an order in the chaos

There's rhythm in the noise

There's harmony in the discord

There's movement in the stillness

Moving is being alive, seeing hope, nurturing dreams, having whims and fancies, being in love, being human!

Humans have their date with time every now and then, do we make the most of it? Don't really know but life goes on... as a matter of fact. Have heard the phrase, life awaits you, you are invited. How true! Its when one gets the realisation to stop existing and start living. When one starts living, a new being is born with new energy and zeal. The individual understands the purpose and goal in his life. There is peace and contentment that brings about harmony with his surroundings.

Time heals, time waits for none... Be up! be going and be with the time. Now is the time....don't postpone it!



This post is written for Indiblogeswaris #ThatTuesdayThingy http://indiblogeshwaris.com/2013/06/that-tuesday-thingy-premiere/

image courtesy: http://jackholesrealm.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/water_drop.jpg