An Award!!!!

When a jeans and tee shirt kind of lady gets nominated for the Oscars, she has to don an evening gown and try to look comfortable in it. When I have two fellow bloggers nominate me for an Award, I have to do the same, and post something that is considerably longer than 100 words.

This is the Award that was passed on to me by Failed Experiments & Experimental Failings and Voices in my Head. Thank you Sujata Ravi and Emmy Leigh.

This particular award is for blogs participating in the a-z challenge and with fewer than 200 followers, to give them a bit of a boost.
To accept the nomination I have to fulfil these requirements:

1. Post the award on my blog
2. Thank the blogger who gave me the award and link back to their site
3. Post 11 random facts about myself
4. Answer 11 questions that the presenter of the award has asked
5. Nominate 11 new bloggers with fewer than 200 followers that I want to pass the award on to
6. Ask my nominees 11 questions of my own

Here are 11 random facts about myself- 

1. I always wanted a daughter, but ended up having two sons. Now, I can't imagine being the mother of a girl

2. I still have the stuffed toy doggie that someone gave me on my second birthday 40 years back. And I love her as much now as I did when I was a child

3. I would go through multiple mugs of coffee everyday, till I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism, and asked to stop completely. Darjeeling Tea is my current poison

4. I am addicted to Sudoku, and cannot start the day before solving the daily puzzle in the newspaper

5. I started driving after I turned 34, and took swimming lessons a month before my 36th birthday. Haven't learnt any new skills since then

6. Till a few years back, I thought it took supernormal ability to run anything longer than 5 kilometers. I've got four full marathons under my belt now

7. Growing up, I wanted to be a scientist. I ended up with a degree in business management

8. The first story I finished was a Harry Potter fan-fiction. I owe the awesome community of HP fan-fiction writers a debt for getting me to believe in myself as a writer

9. Many of my "virtual" friends are much dearer to me than real life ones

10. I don't like the colour pink, precisely because it is so closely associated with a gender

11. My pile of "To Be Read" books doesn't just threaten to topple over, it does so with alarming regularity


Here are the 11 questions Sujata asked -
1) What does your name mean? Do you like your name? Have you ever wanted to change it?
I was named for the heroine of War and Peace. I love my name, and have never wanted to change it.

2) Why did you start your blog?
Five glorious years get over in July! I never thought I would last as long as I have.

3) Tea or coffee?
Tea, because coffee has been banned for medical reasons

4) If you could revisit a  day or a certain period of your life, what would it be?
I am happy in the Now, but would love to meet my father again
 
5) What’s your favourite thing about the internet?
The friends I have made

6) Do you think all this technology and social media has made us better or worse at being social?
No. But it has changed the definition of "close friends"

7) What’s your favourite food?
Chocolates. Need you ask?

8) Are you a city person or a country-side person?
Both. I feed off the pulse of the city, but  will be equally happy in a village (though in a different way)

9) If you won the lottery, what’s the first thing you’d buy or spend on?
I'm not sure I really desire anything that money can buy all that much. Will probably keep it aside for later. 

10) Why did you decide to do the A-Z challenge this year?
I've been a part of it since it started, and it has become a habit.

11) Describe yourself in 4 words.

That's easy- "A Mother of Two". Once you become a mother, everything else is secondary



The 11 questions that Emmy asked -

1) What’s your favourite TV program?
I don't watch TV

2) If you were buying a book for someone who doesn’t usually read, what would you buy?
Depends on who it is. I'll try to pick a book they would like.

3) Fiction reading or non-fiction reading?
Fiction over non-fiction any day, though I like non-fiction too

4) Do you read more than you write or write more than you read?
Have written precious little in the last few years.

5) What’s for breakfast?
Oats and milk

6) Type or handwrite?
Both. When I don't have access to a computer, I scribble on whatever piece of paper I find.

7) What was your favourite childhood tv or book character?






I wanted to be Fatty from the Enid Blyton series

8) How do you think the world will end?
The way science predicts it will. I am certain we will not blow ourselves up.

9) Radio/music or TV in the background?
Neither. Love the sound of silence

10) Housework: love it or loathe it?
You must be joking right? Loath it, though I try to ignore it as long as I can

11) How good are you at doing what you know you should do?
Fairly good. When I am convinced something needs to be done, I generally do it

Now to nominate a couple of blogs that are a part of the challenge
1) Apocalypse Now
2)  This Crazy Writing Life
3) Princess of Procrastination
4) Bronx Tales and Inner Musings
5) The Furry Tale Chronicles
6) Writing in the Rain
7) Writing for Pleasure
8) Lots of Crochet Stitches


Eleven questions of my own.
1) If you could be one character from fiction, who would it be?
2) Is there any one character who you think is pure Evil?
3) Betraying your friends, or betraying your principles- which is worse?
4) Mathematics or Literature- which subject did you like more in school?
5) Would you dance in the rain, or run for shelter?
6) Favourite word(s)
7) If money was no object, where would you go for your next holiday?
8) If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
9) The one colour you will never wear?
10) Favourite drink?
11) Where do you see yourself in 11 years?

That's it. See you again tomorrow with an easy post of 100 words :-)

On A-to-Z Roundup

Two years back I signed up for my first marathon thinking six months was enough to make myself ready. I fell ill, needed surgery and was off training for three months. I was in bad shape at the start, but lined up intending to run as much as I could. Once I started, there was no question of not finishing, and I did. My first full-marathon was transformational.

The A-to-Z Challenge was no different. I was intending to take a blog-break, but decided to go with the flow as long as I could. Twenty-six drabbles later, I am still alive!

THANK YOU
for dropping by and commenting- I will
visit all your blogs, someday soon!!!

_____

A drabble is a story told in exactly 100 words.

And for completing the A-to-Z Challenge, Elizabeth Mueller awarded me this awesome badge. Thank you, Elizabeth. I shall wear it with pride.

Friday Challenge: What is Important?

Twenty million. Two followed by seven zeros- that's how many people live in the city that I call Home. Walking is an occupation fraught with danger- the pavements that have not been claimed either by the buildings that line them, or by vendors, sport potholes that can swallow up a grown man. Pedestrians are forced to share road-space with vehicles, animals and numerous construction projects. Walking in Bombay is not for the faint at heart, and it is never something undertaken without purpose.

When Crazy Jane issued her Friday Challenge # 29, I am sure she did not intend me to risk life and limb. But I needed to clear my head, and since that is what she promised her Friday Challenge would do, I decided to risk it. I put on my sneakers, and went for a walk. To "not think of what you have to, should, might, or can't do. No doing at all. Just a walk to remind yourself of the most important thing." I had no idea what that most important thing would be, but I was sure I would discover it during the course of the walk.

I dodged traffic, I sidestepped people, I nearly stepped on the tail of a sleeping dog, but realisation of "what is  important" remained elusive. I found my way to the flower market. There were flowers of every hue and colour. Orchids and lilies. Marigolds and hibiscus. Roses and chrysanthemums. An overdose of colours and textures. Of shapes and sizes.

It was all very beautiful, but something was wrong.

Was it the blue of the orchids, which any child would tell you came not out of Nature but out of a bottle? Was it because traditional mango leaves didn't quite go with the exotic orchids? Was it because the purist in me disapproved of the strings of thermocol beads strung around the floral garlands?

I tried to remember Crazy Jane's instructions - "breathe in and out and notice the colours, the smells, the sounds and...". I was on my third deep breath when realisation dawned- there was an overdose of colours, but there there no smells and no sounds. I could not taste and I was not allowed to touch. It was only colours, and shapes and the indication of textures.

All of a sudden, I realised "What. Is. Important." It is important that you engage all the senses in whatever you do. It is not enough if you are only seeing, or tasting, or hearing, or touching- you need to do all of them.

But what is perhaps most important is that while doing it, you have to feel. Because without feeling, even the most varied sensory experience is meaningless.

See, smell, touch, hear, feel. And let each of them, overtake your life.
____

A couple of days back, Debra: She who Seeks passed on the Prolific Blogger Award to me. Debra describes her blog as 'Random Thoughts on Random Subjects with No Real Purpose in Mind'. She may choose to say that, but her's is one of the most organised blogs around. Ever so often she picks a theme and analyses it to the smallest detail. Right now, she is dealing with Labyrinths, and if there is something about them that you always wanted to know, stop by her blog before you look anywhere else.

This is an Award I have received before, but that doesn't mean I can't pass it on a second time. This Award goes out to all the participants of NaBloWriMo 2010. Whether you have posted every day, or not, this Award is for you for having the courage to start.

Angelic smile, and an Award

He was listing out his grievances; I had heard it all before, and was barely listening. One sentence hit the mark, "Everyone scribbles on my books."
"Who scribbles on your books?", I demanded. "You are the one who scribbles on our books."
"Not at home. In school."
"Who does?"
He named names.
"Why don't you tell Teacher?"
"I am afraid."
"Then I'll tell her."
"Yes. Do."

That triggered the Mommy-alarm. "Are you sure you don't trouble them?"
Angelic smile.
"Because if Teacher tells me you trouble them, I'll be really angry."
"Then don't tell Teacher. Nobody scribbles on my books."

_____

A drabble is a story told in exactly 100 words.

Vicki Rocho @ Rambles & Randomness passed on the "One Lovely Blog Award" to me a couple of days back. If you haven't visited Vicki yet, you are missing one lovely blog. Check out her post, Kissing up to Karma, and help her spread a bit of unexpected happiness.

Since I have already received the Award, I am not passing it onto anyone right now. But I reserve the right to do so when I have the mindspace to list some more Lovely Blogs.

Thank you Vicki, and thank you EVERYONE for reading.

I'm Literacy Builder Award

This week, I received a wonderful Award from two wonderful bloggers. If you asked me to pick one Award over all others, I would pick the Literacy Builder Award- literacy and education are two related issues that are very close to my heart, and if I had to choose one cause to dedicate my life to, it would be Literacy. Naturally, I feel privileged to be given this Award.

What makes receiving the Award even more wonderful is the fact that it was passed onto me by two ladies I am privileged to know and call my friends. Jan Morrison and Margot Kinberg are both knowledgeable people, talented writers, and great bloggers. But what makes they both so wonderful is that they are both wonderful human beings. Thank you Jan and Margot- you don't know how much it means for me to get the Award from you.

The rules for the Award are simple -

1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you this award.
2. Display the award logo on your blog site.
3. Tell us five of your favorite words and why you like them.
4. Pass the award on to three bloggers you feel are excellent literacy builders, and link to their sites.
5. Contact the bloggers you’ve chosen and let them know about the award.

It was really difficult to narrow down my list of favourite words to just five, but I managed ultimately-

Serendipity- I fell in love with the sound of the word- isn't there something intrinsically appealing about the sway of the waveforms as the word enters the airwaves- but over the years, it has come to become the leitmotif of my life. My life seems to be a necklace of serendipitous beads, and I am richer for it.

Inertia- often used with negative connotations to describe someone lazy or obdurate, I prefer to stick to the meaning vested on it by Newton. Of inner courage and strength of character, of courage of conviction, of not being swayed by empty arguments. Of a person continuing on a pre-destined path unless convinced to move from it by a convincing reason.

Juggernaut- there is nothing appealing about a destructive force that crushes everything that comes in its way, which is precisely why I like the word. Jagannath is a Hindu God, who's idol is taken out of the temple in an annual procession. Vast crowds take up to witness the procession, and legend has it that the chariot bearing the idol crushed all the people who came in its path. From the Divine to the destructive- would anyone but a word even attempt such a journey?

Universe- a word that embraces all that was, all that is, and all that would ever be. Everything we know is contained within the Universe. It is so vast, the human mind cannot even start to comprehend the vastness. And yet, each of us is an intrinsic part of the Universe, and are as vast as the Universe itself.

Mamma- when this word is uttered in a crowded place, dozens of heads will swivel to locate the source. Uttered in affection, in command, in exasperation, in pleading- it is the most beautiful word invented.

Nobody does more for the cause of Literacy than a Teacher, and I am passing on this Award to five* outstanding teachers  - 

Chary @ Bronx Tales & Inner Musings 

Jemi @ Just Jemi
Shannon @ Book Dreaming
Stephanie @ Hatshepsut: The Writing of a Novel
Theresa @ Substitute Teacher's Saga

I know some of you may not like passing on Awards, but do pass this Award on. We cannot do enough to create Awareness about the need for Literacy/ Education, and this is just one more way of doing so.

* yes, I know it should have been three, but all rules are meant to be bent a bit

One Scared Mamma

When it was time to fetch the kids, I couldn't find them anywhere. With mounting panic, I ran around, calling out their names. I found them on the tenth floor. 

"What are you doing here? You know you are not allowed", I sobbed, collapsing in relief.

"But Mamma, Little Anita is scared of cats, and there are cats on the stairs. So we left her home."

"Just because you are doing good, doesn't mean it is okay to disobey your mother", I yelled.

I know I should be proud of them, but right then, I was just one scared Mamma.

_____

A drabble is a story told in exactly 100 words.

Jayne @ A Novice Novelist passed on the Versatile Blogger Award to me. Since I have already received the Award, I will thank her for it, and place it on my shelf. Thank you, Jayne- I treasure this Award. 

It was a dark and stormy night

"It was a dark and stormy night...", began Stella. Her granddaughter groaned, "but Nana, why do all your stories being the same way?"
"Because stories always begin on dark stormy nights."
"And then something nasty happens, and after a couple of twists and turns, everything works out fine. Right, Nana?" Stella nodded, though she didn't quite like the tone her granddaughter was using.
"But, Nana, it is dark and stormy tonight. And because there is no electricity, you are telling me stories. What's nasty about tonight?"
Stella smiled. "True. Forget that one. I'll tell you a story about my childhood."
________

This is a drabble (a story in exactly 100 words), based on the prompt for Jenny Matlock's 18th Saturday Centus. No points for guessing what the prompt is.

It is inspired by the countless evenings when I would sit on the balcony with my grandmother, hearing her tell me stories from her childhood.

My grandmother was one of my dearest friends, so this is as good a time as any to pass on an Award that I got from a dear friend who also counts her grandmother as her first real friend. Hart Johnson who herself is a great hoarder of Awards passed on the Awesomous Maximus Award to me a couple of months back.
I'm going to pass the Award onto a few Awesome people I met AFTER I received the Award-
Leigh @ That's Write - not only do we share a birthday, we were born in the same year- weren't we just meant to be friends?
Mary @ Giggles and Guns - she loves her family, laughing and a good mystery. I love her.
Julie Musil - one of us is definitely channeling the other - we often end up blogging about very similar stuff on the same day. Isn't that fun?
Tina @ Life is Good - we have so much in common, it is almost uncanny, and I am not just talking about the fact that we would compete with each other to fall off a bar-stool when sober.
Barbara @ The Middle Ages - one half of Deb and Barbara, I seem to be where she was a couple of years back- which gives me hope.
Jules @ Trying to get Over the Rainbow - if you have ever loved a grandmother, you have to read about her love for her's.
Girls, I love you all.

So there you are, six new people for you to get to know better, and one less hoarded award for me!

And after visiting all those blogs, if you have some time, do drop by at Burrowers, Books & Balderdash to hear me wondering how we managed without YA in our life?

Rain, rain go away, and an Award

"In case of emergency, cut rope" says the hoarding.
How many of the city's millions can the raft hold?

I haven't seen rains like this in the city in a very long time. Officially, the Monsoons last for a little over three months from mid-June to end-September, but in reality, the city gets a few days of heavy rain followed by a week or two of only mild showers.

The Monsoon hit the city early this year, and poured almost continuously for nearly two weeks. I was certain the rainfall meant for the entire season was used up in those few weeks, and that we would only have mild showers after that. But I, like every other self-appointed meteorologist in the city, was in for a surprise- this has been one long season of days of heavy rain alternating with days of mild rain- there have been practically no dry days in the last three months.

Auto-rickshaws don raincoats to protect
passengers from the rain and splashing puddles

"Why is the sky crying so much?", the kids keep asking me. They are fed up of being cooped up indoors, and no longer find much pleasure in splashing through puddles. I wish I knew- all I know is that it is one mega tantrum the sky has been throwing.

It wouldn't be too bad if the rains did not disrupt life in the city the way they actually do- waterlogged roads, slowing down of public transport, soaring vegetable prices because transportation trucks are affected, a sudden spurt in water-borne diseases. I guess we should be happy we don't have floods, the way other parts of the subcontinent do.

Rain, rain, go away. We have enough water in our reservoirs to last us till next year.
______

The Awards seem to keep building up, so maybe it makes sense to pass them on as they come, rather than wait to first clear the ones I am hoarding.

Alex of Alex J. Cavanaugh passed on the SuperCommenter Award. It doesn't seem to come with any strings attached and I pass in onto Margot Kinberg of Confessions of a Mystery Novelist. She is the Professor of Mystery Writing, and for the longest time, I was so much in awe of her obvious brilliance, I never even dared leave a comment. I am glad I stopped lurking, because I now know that she is as wonderful a person as she is bright.

Rakshabandhan - the Tie that Protects, and an Award

[Come August, for a few months, Bombay comes alive to the spirit of Festivals. Hindu, Muslim and Christian. Festivals from the region, festivals imported from other parts of the country. It is one long Celebration.]

Raksha bandhan. The Tie that Protects. The thread that a sister winds around her brother's right wrist. The promise made by the brother to stand by his sister come what may.

Rakhi. A simple band of woven thread. Bracelets of silver or gold. Decorative beads strung on sacred thread. Even cartoon characters stuck on a piece of ribbon. Sometimes kept on till they fall apart. Mostly removed at the end of the day.

Rakshabandhan. Originally a Hindu festival celebrated in parts of Northern India. Thanks to Bollywood movies, today a social function to celebrate the bond between brother and sister.

_____

A drabble is a story told in exactly 100 words.

For more photographs of 'Rakhis' being sold in the city markets, click across to my photography blog Snapshots of Bombay.

And since it is a day when girls in India honour their brothers, and because I don't have any brothers, why don't I pass on the most 'girlie' award I have to some of my favourite men?

Many moons ago, Carol Kilgore of Under the Tiki Hut passed on the Sweet Blog Award to me. While passing it on, she said, "here are others who have blogs much sweeter than mine." Thank you, Carol, that is quite the nicest thing to say.

The men I am passing the Award onto may not quite want their blogs to be 'called' sweet, but all of them are definitely 'sweet' in the nicest possible way-
Al @ Publish and Perish
Alex @ Alex J. Cavanaugh
Cold as Heaven
Galen @ Imagineering Fiction (you may be MiA, but you are not forgotten)
Lee @ Tossing it Out
Marvin @ Professor Old Silly's Free Spirit Blog (I know you will not pass it on, but that's okay)
Stephan @ Breakthrough Blogs

Thank you, all of you.

Old Man and the Tree

What do you think of when you see this man sitting under a tree?

A holy man contemplating the mysteries of the universe? A sage waiting to dispense knowledge among his followers? A religious pacifist wishing people would understand that no religion preaches hatred.

What if I zoomed back, and showed you in his true setting?

Wouldn't you agree he makes an unlikely proprietor of a shop that sells plumbing supplies.

Looks can be deceptive, can't they?

_______

I have been really guilty about hoarding awards, and am determined to pass at least some of them along in the next week.

Sometime in April, Mason Canyon at Thoughts in Progress passed on the One Lovely Blog Award to me.

I know longer remember the rules of passing it on, so am going to use my discretion, and pass it on to five awesome bloggers who have truly lovely blogs, which I look forward to visiting (they are also four people I really like, but that's a different story) -

Margot Kinberg at Confessions of a Mystery Novelist is a genius- there is no other word to describe her. Each post of her's can be the basis of a dissertation in itself, and she comes up with one everyday.

Patricia Stoltey - friend, philosopher, guide. 'nuff said.

Karen Walker of Following the Whispers writes with so much honesty, it is impossible not to be carried along.

Clarissa Draper of Listen to the Voices has a lovely blog - book reviews, writing tips, characterisations, she has them all. She's also an awesome commentator.

Hart Johnson of Confessions of a Watery Tart- it seems almost like nepotism to give an award to my Thursday Twin, but her blog defines lovely for me.

Hoard it, flaunt it or ignore it. This Award is honoured to have been passed on to each of you.

Drabble Dare, and an Award

That temple is not native to Bombay- it has been patiently put together by immigrants in a bid to create a home away from home.

Those brightly-coloured statues would feel more at home on a busy Madras street, where they could hear people conversing in Tamil, not Marathi.
The only person comfortable in her surroundings is the cat- she will feel at in home anywhere.

There are stories waiting to be told, but somehow, I never got down to telling them. And now I have passed the challenge onto you. Tell the story behind the picture in exactly 100 words.

Once you are done with the story, you could mail it to theburrow360 (at) gmail dot com by Thursday (July 22, 2010) midnight GMT. Hurry!!!

_____

A drabble is a story told in exactly 100 words.

Laura Eno from A Shift in Dimensions awarded me the Fabulous Flash Award. In case you haven't visited Lauras' blog, you should. She writes the most amazing stories, and she writes them in 1,000 words or less. The amount of tension and humour she compresses into just thousand words is more than what a lesser writer would do in a complete novella.
Coming from Laura, the Award is equivalent to an Oscar for me. The only difference is that nobody is compelling me to make a speech!
I am supposed to pass the award onto four people, but I do not know of that many people who publish their Flash Fiction and/ or drabbles. So, I reserve the right keep the Award with me for now, and only pass it on when I find a sufficient number of worthy recipients.

Who's Versatile?

“So you think you are a versatile genius”, I was asked during my interview to get into b-school.

“Genius, no. Versatile, I try to be”, I replied.

I got through.

Apparently, I am not the only one who thinks I am versatile. About a month back, Debra gave me this-

Then a couple of weeks later, Amber gave me the same award again.

Last week, Jemi gave me this variant of the same Award-

Yesterday, both Ella and Jan passed on the same Award to me. Even a person as thick headed as me had to take the hint- I could not ignore the Versatile Blogger Award much longer. Though I hoard awards the way Victorian heroines did love letters, it was time to pass this particular Award on.

The Versatile Blogger Award in both its variants comes with its rules-

(a) Thank the person(s) who gave it to you- I adore all five ladies in different ways, and if you havent’ visited their blogs yet, please do.

(b) Share seven things about you– taking a cue from Jan, I am sure I can dig out seven things that will show my versatility

(c) Pass it onto fifteen other versatile bloggers – now this is the difficult part, and the main reason why I have been putting this off. So many of you are so versatile, it is hard for me to pick 15, and only 15. Time to break the rules, me thinks. I am going to pass it on to a single person- the person who, I think, is the most versatile of the lot. She blogs about music, she blogs about summer, she blogs about family, she blogs about friends, she blogs about happiness, she blogs about sadness- and she does it everyday and she does it all in verse. Yvonne Lewis of Welcome to my World of Poetry.

And since I have been drabbling for the last couple of weeks, here are seven things about me, expressed in exactly 100 words-

I first spoke in public when I was three, and haven’t looked back since

Their fur is loved off, but I still have many of my soft-toys from childhood

I love knitting, but only if the pattern is really complicated

I made it to sports teams in school because what I lacked in skill, I made up for in enthusiasm

I think some of the weeds in my garden are prettier than the plants

I stack books everywhere, but still don’t have enough place to put them

I leant to develop and print my own photographs- photoshop is more fun

______

Saturday is the day I normally reserve for photographs, so here is one of a flower that bloomed on my birthday.

Calliandra emarginata

Is it so difficult to just talk?

Last week, the Canadian goverment refused to grant a visa to a retired high-ranking official of the Indian Army, citing the "poor human rights record" of the Indian Armed Forces as the reason. In addition to taking it up with the Ministry of External Affairs, the retired official went public with the rejection. One news channel carried the story, and before you knew it a pandora's box had been opened. Within the space of a few days, dozens of such cases came to light- the Canadian government had apparently been refusing visas to people who served in the Armed Forces, any Intellegence Agency or the Police for several years.

As a sovereign country, Canada does have the right to refuse to grant visas to anyone, but it was the reasons being cited for doing so that had people fuming. One man who had served in the Punjab Police during the height of terrorism had been told that he was not being granted a visa because he had actively or tacitly approved of the harsh measures being taken by the Police to stamp out Terrorism in the state. Indians old enough to remember those days could not help but be struck by the irony of the statement - most of the masterminds of the Terrorism in Punjab had acquired Canadian passports and were funding the entire operations from the country.

As always, in controversies of this kind, the public was quick to suggest solutions- deny visas to all Canadians wanting to visit India, take it up very strongly in the United Nations, cut all economic ties with Canada, etc, etc. Personally, I thought that what the Indian Government did was the only sensible thing - they had taken the issue up with the Canadian Government, and provided evidence to prove that men in Indian uniforms had a much better record in maintaining human rights than those of most other countries fighting the kind of insurgency and terrorism that the nation was actually facing. But as far as the public was concerned, none of it was enough- they wanted action, and they wanted it now.

But in all the hullaboo, I couldn't help thinking why and how Canada and Canadians had become The Enemy. In blogland, I know and like several Canadians - Jan Morrison, Elspeth and Ann spring to mind. I have two other Canadians who are good virtual friends. I have another real friend who is now a Canadian. If I do not agree with any of them, I can talk to them and sort it out. Why then can nations not do the same thing?

If a person is unaware of the real facts, and is taking major decisions based on the misconception, does it make more sense to educate him, or to fight him? What if the person is actually a nation? Doesn't the same logic continue to apply?

Why is it so difficult to talk, and to listen?

_____

And for something a little more fun. Ann Elle Altman of All Write for Coffee passed on the Sugar Doll Award to me a very long time back. Even though I love receiving awards, I am very, very lax when it comes to passing them on. So lax, in fact, that Ann has even stopped blogging since then :-(

But pass on this Award I will, because there are a whole bunch of Sugar Dolls who I want to acknowledge-

Chary, the wonderful teacher, mother, person and writer from New York

Ella, Lisa and Nikki, because they all define Sugar Doll

Lisa, who just can't stop blogging about a difficult period in her life

Mari, for being herself- though she may say Slug suits her more than Sugar Doll

Tara, the Princess of Procrastination who will always have you in splits

Trudy, for being awesome despite having such a tiny kid at home

and

Clarissa, because what goes around comes around

They are not the only Sugar Dolls in my life, but I tried to stick to people who don't seem to have got the Award, and who I haven't passed anything onto yet.

A Compliment a Day, and an Award

I am feeling really lazy, so instead of working on a new post, I am recycling one that I wrote in July 2008 .

A compliment a Day

“Hey, that’s a really pretty dress. You look great in it.”

“I’ll kill to have hair like yours. How do you keep it looking so good.”
‘That colour really suits you – I do think peacock blue is a most beautiful colour, don’t you?”
“Where did you get that handbag – I have been looking for something just like that for ages.”
There are better places to be in than the early morning local train on Mumbai’s Western line. In fact, there are better places to be in than Mumbai.
Get woken up by the ringing of the alarm clock at 7 am, brush your teeth before you are fully awake, stumble into the kitchen, nearly burn your tongue gulping down a scalding cup of tea, shower, change, check that you have your purse, mobile and keys in your hand-bag, pick up the daily paper and tuck it unread under your arm, bang the front door shut, hail three autos before the fourth agrees to take you to Bandra station, fret and fume at the traffic lights, silently curse the pedestrians who prefer walking in front of your auto to being on the pavement, rush onto the over-bridge, grab the last remaining seat on the 8:57 local, catch your breath, open the newspaper to check if the government has fallen or India has lost yet another cricket match.
No wonder then, the only expression you see on people’s faces is a vacant one. Surviving in this City is so tough, who has the time to Live?

Which is where the compliments come in.
The unwritten rules of Mumbai local trains are clear. You avoid eye contact and NEVER speak to someone you do not know. But one day, I found myself standing next to a lady wearing such a pretty dress, I couldn’t but comment on it. She was clearly shocked that a total stranger had complimented her, and barely managed to stammer out a thanks, but five minutes later, I found that a secret smile was still playing around her lips.
Without intending to, I had introduced some colour into an otherwise grey existence, and I was sure that in her current state, she would inadvertently pass her cheer along – a seat given up on the connecting bus, a receptionist greeted with more than a polite nod, perhaps another compliment that made someone else’s day.
I decided then and there to pass one genuine compliment every morning. It had to be sincere – if your nose is red from sneezing, you know the person doesn’t mean it when you are told you are looking great – and it had to be something the person herself believed could be true. To make one person happy per day, everyday.
What is one person in a city of over twenty million? Does one person even matter among the six million that uses local trains everyday. Maybe not, but if even some of those people pass the happiness along, and some of the people they pass the message onto pass the message along further… well, you do the maths!
And even if they do not, making one person happier for a couple of minutes is better than nothing at all.

And since we are talking about compliments, Al over from Publish or Perish made me blush (even beneath my enviable natural tan) while passing on the Sunshine Award to me. "Rayna is from Bombay in India", he said, "and blogs about life as she sees it. I would encourage you to visit- Rayna has an interesting take on many aspects of life."

Thank you, Al. I really cherish the Award, and your kind words, even if it has taken me nearly three months to acknowledge both publicly. And if you haven't visited Al yet, you should- not only is he a few weeks (months?) for self-publishing his novel, he is an awesome photographer, and you always find some wonderful nuggets on his blog.

Al passed it onto twelve bloggers, and I guess I would have to restrict myself to the same number. Which is hard, because if sunshine makes my day, every one of you is my sunshine. But let me try and pick a dozen, and to make life a little easier for me, I am sticking to people I already knew when Al passed this award on. In no particular order -

Jane Kennedy Sutton - for being such a wonderfully positive person- if I hadn't seen one particular post of her's several months back, I would have thought she didn't have a care in teh world, except to spread happiness

Marian Youngblood - I named a flower after her, 'nuff said

Hart Johnson - no list of Sunshines would be complete without my Thursday Twin

Clarissa Draper - in this life and a past one, she has always been my sunshine

Jan Morrison - has it been only about six months that I have known her? Seems like forever.

Dipali Taneja - a chance comment that I almost did not leave on a blog of a friend who I happened to meet because of a series of accidents got Dipali to my blog. If that is not Serendipity, what is? We were just meant to be

Lady Fiona - she's got snow in her backyard, while I am sweating gallons everyday. We live in such diverse places, but have so much in common

Diane L. Wolfe - she's promoting her fifth Circle of Friends book, but still finds time to leave insightful comments- oh that I could be like her

Elizabeth Spann Craig - another incredible lady - not only are each of her blog posts a gem, her comments show how well she's read your post

Patricia Stoltey - my first blog Award came from her, but even otherwise, she would have been up there on my list of personal Sunshines

Mason Canyon - not only does she put a lot of effort into making her blogs interesting for us, she's always there with a comment

Sonia Marsh - there is so much I admire about this lady, I can't start to ennumerate them

There it is a dozen ladies who are each my Sunshine. And I haven't even started listing the people I met in blogland in the last 75 days. With so much Sunshine, no wonder it is so hot here.

From Me To You Picasso

I promise to play catch up with Awards this week.

Over two months back, Ann at All Write with Coffee handed over the 'From Me To You" Award, only she called it the "From Me To You (Picasso)" Award, and gave it to me because she liked some of the photographs I had posted that week!

I'm exercising my poetic license, and am passing it on to bloggers who touch the heart with the visual images they create -

Al of Publish or Perish

Heather of I'm not Hannah

Faith of Sacred Dirt

Fifi of Fififlowers

Fiona of On a Quirky Quest with Lady Fi

Jan of Crazy Jane

Marjorie of Everything Emerald

Patricia of Patricia Stoltey

SueAnn of SueAnn's Journey

Each is an incredible artist, and I salute them all.

And here's a photograph of a flower that bloomed in my "garden" earlier this week. One of the several varieties of jasmine, Juhi, with their mild fragrance always take me back to my childhood.

Jasminum auriculatum

Prolific Blogger Award

Considering how much I love receiving awards, I really should get better at passing them on.

A couple of weeks back, the awesome Patricia passed on the Prolific Blogger Award to me. Patricia is a person I really admire - a published author, her posts on writing are insightful, her photographs are as good as professional, and she gives so much of herself to promoting other writers.

I don't need to do anything special on receiving the Award, but I do need to pass it on to seven other prolific bloggers. Since I am doing the April A to Z Challenge, I thought it made sense to pass the Award onto the people doing the challenge with me. In alphabetical order -

The Alliterative Allomorph

Alex

Arlee

Carol

Cathy

Hart

Lady Jayne

Lisa

Marjorie

Melodygreen

Niki

Shannon

Trevor

Trudy

Wanda

Yvonne

Thank you all for dropping by at my blog, and I look forward to seeing how the Challenge unfolds with each of you.

And this post describes the genesis of the Award.

Happy 101 Award

My blogger pal Anne Elle Altman from All Write with Coffee passed on this Happy 101 Award to me for "making ...(her)... cry". I'm not sure if making someone cry is a good thing or not, but Ann is so much like me in so many essential ways, I think crying could well be synonumous with happiness even for her.

Before passing on the Award, I am supposed to list ten things that make me happy. There are more than ten of them, but I will try to restrict it to ten, and if you find the mix of obvious, profound and mundane a little weird, I will have to agree with you -

a) Thing 2 and the things he says
b) Thing 1 and how he says them
c) The smell of rain hitting the parched earth
d) Flowers blooming on my potted plants
e) Curling up with a mug of steaming tea and a good book
f) The determination in the heart of youth who have everything stacked against them
g) Seeing people give, not as an act of charity, but because they want to see things change
h) Discovering a gem of a book, and finding out that it is not the only thing the writer has written
i) Running, even without hitting the zone
j) Watching the sunset paint a masterpiece on the sky

I would love to list out all the people who make me happy, but the list is much longer than just ten. To be honest, everytime anyone stops by to leave a comment, it makes me happy. And when the number of hits goes up even without people leaving a comment, it makes me happy. This Award is for all of you reading this. Leave a comment, and I will tell you why it is for you.

Kreativ Blogger Award

The Kreativ Blogger Award was the first blogging award that I really noticed, and everytime I saw someone being nominated for it, or nominating someone for it, I wondered if a time would come when the award would be passed on to me.

And when Gutsy Writer, Sonia Marsh, passed the Award on to me, guess what I did? I got so excited about receiving the Award, I totally forgot about passing it on. It has been over a month since I got the Award, but when it comes to passing on things, better late than never.

The instructions passed on to me by Sonia are -

1) Thank the person who sent the award. [Thanks so much Sonia. This was the Award I always dreamt of winning- almost the equivalent of the Oscars or a Grammy for me. It would mean a lot coming from anyone, it means much more coming from you].
Copy the award to the blog and link to their blog.

2) List seven things people don't know about me:

a) When I was young, of the many things I wanted to be, one was being an astronaut and going to Mars. The adventures I had on Mars would fill a couple of books, if I can remember them.

b) Seeing me go all dippy eyed around babies and young kids, you would perhaps not believe that I first touched a baby at the grand old age of 32 - my own!

c) I grew up in a tiny mining colony where I followed by geologist father everywhere. I've climbed hills and waded across streams into which uranimum wastes had been pumped. Then, a few months before my 12th birthday, I became a city slicker, and have remained on ever since.

d) Every couple of months, I used to go off any food that had the ability to fly, run or swim. I've now accepted the fact that it is unlikely that I will be able to turn vegetarian on a permanent basis, so have stopped trying.

e) I am equally bad with faces and with names. But once I have placed a person, I will often remember random bits of trivia about them.

f) When I dance, I don't have two left feet (or even two right ones)- what I have are one left foot and one right foot. They just happen to be screwed on backwards.

g) Verbal history can trace my family back for generations- right down to the time when my ancestors were swinging on trees.

3) Nominate seven bloggers for the award, link to their blogs, and leave comment to let them know of their award (now, this is the most difficult bit, because so many of the blogs I follow are brilliantly Creative, it is near impossible to narrow it down to just seven.)

A. Ann, All Write with Coffee
B. Diane, Spunk on a Stick
C. Elizabeth, Mystery Writing is Murder
D. Elspeth, It's a Mystery
E. Hart, Confessions of a Watery Tart
F. Margot, Confessions of a Mystery Novelist
G. Patricia Stoltey

I am sure the Kreativ Blogger Award has already been passed on to each of you. You can have it one more time with all my love.

Thank you, again, Sonia for passing this Award on to me.

See you later, folks!

Indus Ladies- Woman's Day Contest

I got an e-mail from IndusLadies telling me that my entry The Tale of Two Women has made it to the Top Ten in their International Woman's Day Contest.

To say that I am thrilled is a bit of an understatement, but Vasanti is such a compelling story, I am not too surprised. The post is dedicated to her, and to the smile that never leaves her face- not even when she is nursing facial injuries incurred while playing rugby.

Award Day -- The Circle of Friends

My blogger friend, Patricia Stoltey, passed on this wonderful Circle of Friends Award to me last month. I was quite overwhelmed by the Award, because I am greatly in awe of Patricia and of how she manages to do so many things so well at the same time, while still remaining such a wonderful and interesting person. Coming from her, the Award really means a lot to me.

According to the rules, I must pass the Award along to five blogging friends. To me, choosing who to pass an award to and who not to pass an award to is one of the hardest decisions to make. I have met so many people in blogosphere, who have very unobstructively become a part of my life. To cull that list to just five is a very hard thing to do, which is perhaps why I have been putting off passing on the Award for over two weeks.

Though I have finally narrowed the list down to five people, I want all my blogging friends not on the list to realise that I do appreciate them a lot.

I hereby pass on the Circle of Friends Award to -

Hart Johnson of Confessions of a Watery Tart - though strictly not a blogging friend (we met long before I even though of starting a blog), she's my Thursday Twin and if I leave her out, I may as well not go through this exercise.

Jan Morrison of Crazy Jane - from posting pictures of her dollies, to giving discourses on Buddhist Paramitas, to getting people walking through her Friday Challenges, Jan is a delight to have around. We vibe so well, I am pretty sure we were related in a past life.

Dipali of Of This and That - no list of my blogging friends would be complete without Dipali. She doesn't blog often (and has been blogging very infrequently the last few months because of health reasons), but she never fails to leave comments on my blog, and is a really wonderful person.

Donna B of Mystical Journeys - I met Donna only a couple of weeks back, but we've been through very similar journeys. If shared experiences make you friends, Donna is mine.

Faith Pray of Sacred Dirt - I met Faith (and yes, she does insist that is her real name) less than a week back, but it took me only two blog posts to realise she was a kindred soul. Not yet a friend, but someone I think will soon become one.

So there it is, five people who I resonate with them on a personal level, and am proud to call my friends. I do hope you visit these blogs and find some new friends here.