sad to be leaving

It is sad that I have to leave this place and go to the heat and dust and traffic of the city -that too in May,when it is at its worst.

It was a wonderful interlude, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. I had lived in the hills in my childhood and loved it . So, it had been my dream that I would spend at least a year in the hills again. This interlude has been a dream come true.

Nowadays there is a lot written about people neglecting old people. It is truly painful
Few years back, a lot was written about harrased brides...mothers-in-law harrassing young women for dowry. That is also painful
Now put the two together. A woman harasses her daughter-in-law when she comes newly wed into the household.
But when old, this same woman has to be looked after by the now middle aged, but the same,daughter-in-law. Are you surprised, she does not get much loving kindness?

I would like my old age to be:

I would like it to be like the sunset pictured below.

Beautiful, bright enough but not the glaring brightness of the midday sky.

Giving happiness to those around.

Fading quickly..not lingering on.

some more pictures

When I was a girl, I used to visit our village about once a year. An urban girl is made to feel useless and alien in a village. We do not possess the skills taht the village girls have. They can carry pots of water without spilling. We cannot. They can roll out perfect papads we cannot...the list goes on. This prevented me from appreciating village life. So sad...missed oppurtunities!

Today was our new year, but I forgot about it. Late in the day, I hurriedly rectified the lapse in a very abbreviated manner.

I am not really fond of an extroverted display of religion. Of late, I believe that it causes more harm than good. Religion is personal. It should be kept so. In particular, the Hindu religion, emphasises the personal equation with the Supreme Being as the essence...so why these processions and pujas ? Ours was not originally a congregational religion. It is being made so nowadays.

we the people

We, the mediocre people are the majority...how many geniuses do you know and also, how many absolutely undiluted idiots are there(not counting those with medical problems)?

So we, the intelligent-but-not-genius people, must unite and stick up for our right to be recognised as the majority whose wishes are supreme.We make up this world. We do the most important jobs that are the essential cogs in the machine of civilisation.

mediocrity

Usually, mediocrity is a baaad word. It is as if being mediocre is a sin. But as I had previously said, who would the geniuses look down upon? Mediocrity has its uses....you can't be in high spirits all the time, you can't eat chocolates all the time, you can't be smiling all the time. The pleasure is in the perceived change. Genius is appreciated only because the rest of us are mediocre.
Hence the praise of mediocrity.

Blogging is an egoistical pursuit. You have your say. People comment only after you finish and if you dont like their comments, you can delete them. You are all powerful in this world of communication. But then, if your blog is well-read, you may get sued by ndtv or some such corporate giants..so not so powerful after all.

mediocrity

The reason I had started my old blog and continue this is a protest against deriding mediocrity. I ahd posted about that and am happy to see many similar views in blogsphere...and not surprisingly all of them are middle-aged women.

From my old blog

On growing old

I think the two things that make old age painful is losing ones energy and ones memory....not losing ones good looks as is the popular perception.When one is 10 years old, anyone above 15 seems old. Then, when one is 20, 40 is old. At 40, 70 is old and so on. So the definition of old age is very flexible. When young, we think it is sad to be old. Of course, old age when one is feeble, helpless is awfully sad.But as one grows older, there is a sense of liberation. As we leave the insecurities of our teenage, we become more confident. In our twenties, we become independent and that's a source of happiness. In our thirties, we become parents, learn to handle professional responsibilities.We really grow. We are not so worried about what others say, we are sure of ourselves, more confident about doing what we want.What I find most liberating about being old is the freedom. A young girl cannot chat with strange people, auto drivers, co passengers in a bus. Now, I just have nice conversations with strangers---I give free advice on anything I feel like, even if they dont like it, they tolerate that nice old lady. You can bargain with impunity.... It is liberating. What is not nice is the loss of energy...I see a hill but I know I cant trek up to the top...it's sad.I envy the young their energy

blogging

Blogging is a satisfying activity. You can write what you feel like.
The old id through which I was blogging is my general purpose id. Hence the new id for this blog.