Mission accomplished

I bought it in November 2002. And attempted at least half a dozen times to start on it but never went beyond the first 30 pages. No its not a bad book nor does it have a boring beginning. It was my sheer laziness and the daunting size of the book (700+ pages) that kept me from going right ahead and finishing it.

It has been on my to read list for 4 years and this year it was upgraded to the resolutions list of "must do" in 2007. And I am very proud to announce that I have finished reading Leo Tolstoy's the LOVELY "Anna Karenina"



Its a beautiful book written so amazingly well. I loved every bit of it. The man had such a fantastic understanding of human thought process that its startling.

Now that I have actually finished one of the resolutions for this year (and that too in first quarter itself) I have some hopes for the rest of the year.

Yummy!

I made this chocolate cake!!! It had V licking his fingers (he belongs to this rare species which doesn't enjoy chocolates) and so this has turned out to be a huge success. Only now I hope I can make this again.

To do

Some of the topics I want to blog on - Caffeine, Tress stress, Summer Holidays, hydrophobia exercisophobia

I will write them sometime.

If Men Could Menstruate!

I found this absolutely delightful article written by Gloria Steinem here

It was first written in 1978 for Ms.Magazine.

A recent interview with Gloria.

Crazy world

I was talking to a friend of mine today and she says she is busy with her daughter's graduation day coming up in two weeks. Her daughter is FIVE! The graduation is from nursery to first standard. And what more the child has to give a 2-3 min speech on her experiences in school. Two other kids from her class are asked to do the same; one of them on their future plans. A five-year-old with a future plan! My friend decided include her daughter in speech writing process so she asks her what she liked about her "3 years" of school experience. The little one thinks for a while and says "I like that we play on the swing every day" hardly the stuff for the speech so my friend insists to think harder. Then the girls says "I liked it when we went on that picnic from school." No help there eh.

I wonder how the mother of the five-year-old with the speech to write on the future plan is getting along. But then that would be easy...just tell your plans for your little one.

But I am guessing the toughest part would be to get the children byheart the speech and say it in front of the whole school and its parents.

Does someone know a regular school which doesn't ask five-year-olds about their future plans or how much the software engineer father earns or insist that the mother be a graduate but not working? I am kinda beginning to panic about the education my kids will get...

.

Life's biggest lesson - Patience! Too bad it doesn't come easy and even harder to practise it.

More action heroes

Here!

Action Heroes Online

This is the brief I got - "When did you flip a situation so you could resist, when did you give back as hard as you got? When and how did you choose to confront? When did you become an Action Hero?"

Here's my story
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It happened when I was 18.

I was returning from a pooja at a family friend's place and I was wearing saree for the first time and hence a very big day. It was two in the afternoon on a Saturday. The street that I was walking down was not crowded but not deserted either. I had walked down that street for years so I was not thinking anything but about the day. Suddenly an auto pulled up next to me, three men were inside apart from the driver, they tapped on my shoulder and I turned around assuming they were looking for some address. One of the men inside asked me "barteeya" as in "will you come?" It made no sense to me. What does he mean "will you come?" then he pulled out some money from his pocket and grinned. I was so ashamed, scared and shocked all at once. Somehow managed to shout at him and they sped off. My home was a good half kilometer form that place and I was shivering with fear and was doddering along and the auto reappears at the next curve and the guy tries to grab me inside. I use all my strength and try to slap the guy. He laughs and auto goes away. All the while the other two men in the auto are looking away and the auto driver is looking ahead as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening. This happened in front of a shop where I went to buy groceries every single day since I was 6 or 7. Not one guy there budged even as I walked on with my hand bleeding (I had a cut when I my glass bangles broke trying to slap the guy).

The story doesn't end there. I go home and mom freaks at the site of me. Entire neighbourhood gathers around and my dad's called from office and I tell him lets go to the police station because I had noted the auto number plate. But that never happened because everyone convinces my parents that going to the police will spell doom on my future(!!!). Nobody would listen to me. Everyone talks how bad the city is getting and goes back home.

I came down with fever didn't dare to go out for the next week and jumped every time an auto slowed down near me for a long time after that. I also convinced myself that I had somehow managed to look inviting that day and brought it on myself. I dreaded wearing sarees for a very long time after that and thought ten times before I wore anything else.

Then may be about two years later when the incident didn't hurt as much to think about I realised that it was not my fault, I didn't ask for it. It was a big moment and since then I have not taken such things lying down. I carry a paper knife / screwdriver with me all the time and haven't hesitated to pull it out when just shouting hasn't helped. And at times just Bisleri water bottles have come in handy.

I have even stepped into police stations and lodged complaints without male company. (It's a different matter that nothing has come off it)

It was a big lesson learnt that people don't have the time to help other people and it is up to you to take care of yourself!

Blank Noise Action Heroes Online

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