Solo Shanghai

Looking through the window - China Eastern Airline

It is mandatory for the editors to attend the international fairs that get covered in our magazine. This time it was my turn to visit one such exhibition to be held in Shanghai, China. I had been abroad many times before. But this was to be my first time alone. So, I was having a mixed feeling – a little fear and more of excitement and thrill. 

The day, as it approached, my  concerned colleagues arranged everything for me. Visa, air tickets and the logistics, everything was ready for me to carry along. The day arrived. It was time for me to leave for Shanghai alone on a midnight flight. I started from home to the airport at around 9.45 pm, taking enough time for me to solve any unforeseen mess-up.

Ummmm....okay.... o_O

Immediately after reaching the Netaji Subhash International Airport in Kolkata, I went through the formalities of departure and immigration check. Everything happened smoothly making me feel good. Before the security check, I had to wait for about 15 minutes as it was yet to start. The moment it started, I completed my check and went to the lobby. I saw many Chinese passengers and as usual, I assumed them to be the local Kolkatan Chinese going to their native place or grandma’s place for the vacations. I also thought of them to be tourists who are on their way back home. I saw many Indians who looked like businessmen on transit. While observing, face-reading and imagining endless things, something irritated my nose. Eew!

The lovely young lady in front of my seat

The male washroom was a few metres away and it smelt really bad! I was once again disgusted, as I was when leaving for Hong Kong late last year. I felt embarrassed too in front of all these people from our neighbouring country. Thought, what they would think of us, the Indians! I wondered why we cannot have as swanky an airport as Hong Kong! What’s lacking in our country?! I found the answer in no time. Resources are not a problem in India, people are. The proof of how ill-mannered majority of the Indians are is available in every government office buildings, on the corners of the staircases and on the corners of the footpaths and pavements. I got disgusted and tried to divert my mind by thinking something pleasant. Thankfully I didn’t have to suffer much here.

Finally the wait was over. The flight MU 556 has announced its boarding. I joined the queue to board…
Click here to continue... 

Travelogues - coming up

I wanna go everywhere :)

I love to travel. The destination does not matter as much as the journey - for me. When I was a small girl, the moment we reach our destination after a long drive, I used tell my father, "Oh no, why did we reach so soon? I wanted the drive to last a little longer!" I have always enjoyed travelling, be it in a car, bus, rail, a ship or an air-plane. Since I love to travel so much and I have in fact travelled quite a lot, it is time for me to start writing my travel experiences here. Agree? So, sit back, relax and enjoy this virtual journey through my travelogues, along with the other things in my blog. Watch this space for some exotic journeys! :)

2012

Looking forward to a new positive beginning

This thought has been brewing in my mind since the day of the earthquake and the destructive tsunami in Japan on March 11, 2011. A few days prior to this, New Zealand suffered a severe earthquake too. Both these events resulted in huge loss of lives and properties. After these two devastating events, I have observed that the only obvious reaction amongst people of different age, size and genre has been “Is this the end” “the end of the world has started”, “2012 predictions are going to be true” and so on and so forth. Till recently, to be precise, till the day of release of the movie 2012 , nobody even thought in these ultimate lines. The movie has had a great impact on peoples’ minds. People are tweeting about these above-mentioned events on twitter and people are expressing their concern/fear/survival strategies on the day when the planet Earth will just crumble and vanish in the vastness of the universe. I could not believe my own eyes when I saw websites dedicated on dreams people dream about 2012 and as how everything is going to end! Are they kidding me? I am disgusted and amused at the same time.
You must have heard of the book The Secret by Rhonda Byrne. I have read the book and have also seen the video made on that book. I totally agree with the formula and I have experienced the effects of visualising in my own life. Hence, my point here is, since many people are actually visualising the end of the world and they believe that it is going to happen in 2012; this way, these people actually want it to happen by asking for it to happen. All the negative and destructive thinking of people around the globe is actually creating the negative event in the same pace it is being imagined, talked about and feared. I believe that if you think of one thing a lot and visualise it in your head/mind repeatedly, you end up having it. My belief is not baseless I know. This belief has been quoted many times in many forms before. Some of these include, “imagination is the life’s coming attractions” and “be careful what you wish for, lest it come true”.

Me at Disneyland Hotel & Resort Hong Kong

Whatever happened in Japan and New Zealand and in India in 2004 were absolute natural phenomena. If you think rationally, it does not predict the end of the world or the beginning of the end of world as well. I really pity those who are so petrified anticipating, contemplating the end of the world or are scared to die. Death is also an absolute natural phenomenon. People will die and that is the only truth, regardless of the 2012 predictions coming to reality or not. So, my point here is, why panic so much and waste our time over something so unimportant? Yes, “unimportant” because even if it was to be true, we, mere human beings cannot do anything about it. So, instead, we can resolve to live a happy and healthy life and think of wonderful things that can happen in the future. Instead of worrying on “can-happen-negatives” we all can dream/visualise about what we wish to happen and want to happen. You would love to know that when right-minded and well-balanced people together in communion and consensus think good and positive, the extremes warned about can be warded off making good things to happen instead.

51 more reasons...... why it's great to be a woman

While thinking of it......I realised, everyday is a Women's Day! It's a fact. .....and to add weight to my this statement, I have some more reasons (apart from the obvious ones): :)

1. Working / Earning is not mandatory.
2. We always get place to sit when using public transport.
3. We don't have to stand on the queue to get tickets.
4. We don't have to worry about the purse when we shop with men
5. We can marry rich and then not have to work
6. Men take us on all expense paid trips
7. Easy to get a ride
8. Men hold the door open for us
9. Jewels look good on us
10. We're better manipulators
11. We always end up sleeping in the bed when we fight with our other halves - you guys get the couch
12. We don't worry about receding hairline.
13. We can easily show our disappointments or disapprovals (sometimes without even saying a word!)
14. Even strangers show care if we are in trouble. Men have to manage themselves
15. We can cry in public. Men can’t
16. We don't have to worry if we lose the fight
17. Sweat is sexy on us
18. We get candies, flowers and jewellery all the time because men screw up so often
19. Women are cleaner
20. We're more flexible - physically
21. When women get upset, we don't destroy property or hurt people - we just take it out on the world in general because we can
22. It’s easy for us to make friends
23. We can do makeup anywhere
24. If we do heavy purchase we don't have to carry those things. Men are there
25. We have a higher tolerance to pain
26. Most women actually look good in short shorts – men DON'T.
27. Women who don't wear underwear are considered sexy and wild, when men do it, it's rather disgusting
28. We have mastered civilized eating - we don't embarrass our friends or make loud bodily noises in public
29. We don't have excessive amounts of body hair
30. We don't spend 45 minutes in the toilet
31. We are always smart
32. We can throw a punch at a man and not get hit in return.
33. We don't have to lie to boast ourselves better
34. Women sweat less
35. Women smell better
36. We can be late to office
37. We don't get embarrassed when buying tampons
38. We have better fashion sense
39. We're better shoppers
40. We don't have to make fools of ourselves to impress a man
41. Men don't know what our 'girl talk' is all about (and I'm not gonna tell you)
42. We don't have to drive when on a date
43. An ugly woman can use makeup and get a new hairdo to become presentable - ugly men are just ugly
44. Women look better naked
45. We know that rhythm doesn't only pertain to dancing
46. When women are short, we're petite.  When men are short, they're just short
47. There are many hands to lift us when we slip on the ground. Poor men they have to get up on their own
48. And we don't have to feel shy about falling down
49. Women's conversations generally consist of more than just "uh huh, yep, ok, then – bye"
50. Women don't need an excuse to be in a bad mood
51. The remote control is not an extension of ourselves 

To my male readers: No hard feelings guys! Just having fun with this one! :) 

International Women's Day

Today, on International Women's Day, I felt like uploading one of my articles that I wrote during my tenure in The Asian Age as a Sub-Editor. I am yet to find the article on my laptop. So, here's sharing the scanned copy of the newspaper publication. :) I sincerely hope you'd like it.

An article on International Women's Day (Click to see it large)

The Story of Seven Brothers

FYI, it's just a pic, don't use as reference :)

Have you ever felt lost and undecided while deciding on what to wear to work? The mornings on weekdays for me are like clockwork. The clock decides what I do next and when I get out of the house. So, most of the time, I do not have time to think anything. I run on auto-pilot and do my morning rituals like, brushing, bathing, eating, packing tiffin and getting ready. Now, comes the difficult part – the getting ready part! Deciding on what to wear, used to take me almost 5 to 10 minutes every day. I used to open my closet and go through the shirts/tops and trousers and stare at those getting confused on what to wear for that day. Well, one day I decided to save this clothes-browsing time and started thinking of a solution.

I have an aunt (she used to be my neighbor in Delhi and used to feed me delicious South Indian fare) who now lives in Chennai. She used to tell me that every day of the week has a colour code. According to her, on a particular day, we must wear a particular colour. I remember her saying that astrologically, it helps to have a good day as well. Complicated? Not really. Since I remembered the colours and their respective days, I decided to find my solution of clothes-browsing here. I thought and came up with this poem. I have taken a print out of this poem and stuck it on the inside of the closet door. Here I am, sharing the poem with all of you:

The Story of Seven Brothers

Here is a story of seven brothers,
Six of them were crazy about colours.
Monday is the eldest, who loves to wear white,
As, white seems to make him feel alright.
Wearing the colour red to enjoy,
Tuesday wishes all happiness and joy.
Wednesday is the most productive teen,
Who loves it if you give him the colour green.
Being in the middle of the brothers’ row,
Thursday prefers primary yellow.
Friday is cool and loves the grey,
Blue in any shade means Saturday.
Sunday is the laid-back lazy son,
He seems to be happy with anything on.
Remembering their unique colour choices,
Respectively wear them for sure success!!!