Mini's Scripts

Well, not only this is the first question that we learn to answer to, it is also the first step towards your identity. To begin with me – I was told by my benevolent family members that I had the most number of names written on the rubber sheet on which I had spend my initial baby months. And as I grew up, I used to boast in front of my schoolmates by counting each name on my fingers (back then counting up to 10 was considered an achievement) which would sound anything from Meenakshi Sheshadri to Manisha! Ewww! The basic criterion was that they had to begin with letter M. And when the admission time came – I was assigned the synonym for micro (Mini!). Thus began my conflict with my name. Sometimes my name was justified according to my height, and sometimes it wronged me by making people think of me as the youngest/single child of my parents. Add to it, a surname (Kumari!)L, which doesn’t even resemble my father’s name or clan, instead diminishes my super-puffed Rajputaani shaan. ...

Oh! How I hate going to Southall here! I wish I could tell! Although people call it- Little India, I dread if most of them have seen the real India! After going for the first time, I had decided that I will never visit again. It reminded me so much of Janpath , Lajpat Nagar and Sarojini Nagar markets in New Delhi, India, minus the stray. :) Yet, the memories of having mouth-watering Indian dishes weakened my determination. Reaching Southall , we went to a temple which was within walking distance of the rail station. Unlike regular temples in India where for a rule, I never saw Durga ji with Ram and Sita ji's statues in the same room, I was taken aback when there were 6 of my fav gods ( in their own rights) , darned in their finest. In this particular moment of Godly confusion- I bowed to Radhe - Krishna - as it was my grandfather who had introduced him first from an array of pictures of Gods and Goddesses, while I was a kid. I felt happy inwardly as I had done j...

India has abundance of EVERYTHING and shortage of NOTHING, just that all of it is distributed unevenly. I mean look at the climate, while some parts of the country are freezing, some are wet, few normal and some dry like a desert. Some literate, most illiterate, some peace-loving and most fighting. Yet, everyone is busy with their own lives to least care on how it’s affecting their living area (not drawing room. Huh!)! I was time-wrapped at least eight months back to the lifestyle in India and began comparing it to that in the UK and felt myself fortunate that I have seen a better form of civilisation. No offence to my nativezens, but India sure needs lots of polishing and punishments to set itself on the right path. Know why? See this -

Watching cricket was in my 'things-not-to-do' lists and I am still dumbfounded as to how did I end up watching it LIVE! I was familiar with them as people/celebrities who were basically cricketers who featured in lots of commercials, endorsing anything and everything that they could lay their hands upon. :) The stadium was full on a week-day which is quite a surprise as people here are totally professional on weekdays and go pubbing/relaxing on weekends. The mad Indian crowd screaming India-India! Jeetega bhai jeetega India jeetega ! Seeing their icons play in front was too much for many who had come from remote areas of the UK just to watch India play. And then there was the big ' Tirangaa ' hoisted near and around the stadium. Talk about ' jhandaa lehraana ' on the angrezi soil. Phew!

Whats wrong with the weather here. Just as it seemed that the temperature would be reaching +20 deg , it began to rain and then freeze. Even the weather forecasts were all wrong. It was to drizzle at 4 pm and when we went out at 5 to a local grocery store, it began pouring rain. :( sad that the 'pouring' part was not even mentioned. The weather here definitely sucks! So what do I write about....hmmmm....a blank mind is --- ugghhhhh obviously blank. Just the plain old advice that always comes for all- NEVER EVE LEAVE YOUR JOB DURING RECESSION. NOT EVEN IF YOU ARE NEARING THE RETIREMENT AND PLANNING TO TAKE AN EARLY RETIREMENT. :O My cure for such awful times - When you cannot think anything, when your mind is empty. just hog whatever is present in your fridge or start cleaning up the mess you have made around. (P.S - Mess can mean anything from room to relationship. IMs are a blessing for the latter)

Yesterday after watching one of the best Indian movies ever- Anand... I sat and cried till my eyes went dry :) and I'm still dumbfounded that how something as simple as dialogues (minus the present sound effects) could turn me into a cry-baby. Vijeta was good in showing the NDA in all its glory. And 'Bawarchi' was :)... I like it! Is it true that there are no more Bollywood movies worth watching...Dasvidaniya was good, most are gross. Hence proved that none can beat Vinay Pathak in playing the 'bechara type' hero, not even SRK in RNBDJodiiii! One again he played a bechara in 'Straight' and the actrees of the movie looked weird. I mean how can someone dress up so gross by smearing so much kohl! Yikessss! Help me! I did not know that the director wanted to portray an Indian woman in a worsen la-jhola-chaap style.

If an Indian was beaten up in Australia, let me remind you my friend, many more are beaten up by Indians themselves in 'holier than thou' India. It might go unnoticed in metros, but this phenomenon is as common as grazing cattle in the rural parts. I remember once seeing a thief get thrashed like an animal, after he was caught stealing in the train. Surprisingly, these 'human threshing machines' even managed to learn about his caste & religion from him and kept insulting him with this new anecdote that they had obtained. End result: No railway police's involvement. Action taken: The thief was thrown out of the running train in a desolate jungle. (P.S- I don’t think he survived) If India has suddenly stood up and noticed the issue, it’s because of our news-hungry media. We just can’t seem to have enough of our self-established supremacy in world-affairs. While we are beaten or abused by anyone and everyone across the globe, in India we enjoy doing the same to our...

The Times UK edition carried a shocking headline - High-skilled foreign migrants entering Britain to halve, Jacqui Smith says - leaving me to turn my dentures into organic paper shredders while saying WTF whenever finger breaks came in between. In brief, this is what was said, by the mighty Ms Smith, “All workers now coming to the UK from outside the EU have to meet the requirements of the Australian-style points-based system, which allows us to raise or lower the bar on who can come here. We recognise that migration continues to play an important role in the UK, at the same time as we are giving greater support to domestic workers so that we can all come through the recession stronger.” She has also asked the Migration Advisory Committee to look at the economic contribution made by dependants of all migrants entering under the points-based immigration system. Ms Smith confirmed that skilled jobs will have to be advertised for a minimum of two weeks in Jobcentre Plus branches bef...

I do not mean to be rude or even praising the whole affair of Valentine's day, but for a confused mind like mine, I simply thought and thought and nothing happened and the next day, I was raising a toast to St. Valentine. Guess! On-way cronies like me never change. Am still a die-hard Barbara Cartland fan! Leaving the refreshing weather and dash of red in everything around me, I suffer from my daily attack of joblessness. After almost 5 months, I have found out some of the few important things to do before one comes to UK. A NIN (National Insurance Number) must be top priority, get it and then you are ready to job-hunt, next is a bank a/c and the last is a JOB. But as said, finding a job is not easy during recession. To be eligible to work with great names, you must have a greater Indian corp experience, else most of the recruitment agencies play the same flute- You need to have atleast six months of UK experience! Huh! After working on the same set of keys on the keyboard, using t...

Being idle at home, that too all day long, I can't seem to find anything else to read apart from the evergoing US' War against Terrorism and the 'Recession'. The same RECESSION has diverted ‘human participation and curiosity index’ from global warming and bin Laden to ones savings account. It has just taught us how wrong is splurging on unnecessary things. Dear me! It also includes limiting food consumption. Well, hasn’t the recent crisis showed us how the Bush govt has led the world in financial showdown after it (reason being approval of numerous funds and multibillion war projects like Iraq and the ever-evading Mr Laden). As the wise men say that there is nothing to gain by sitting over past follies except learn, so let’s count out the ways in which a common man/woman can save as the future looks bleak if not bright. *Always deposit your money in some safe place apart from banks (the current Indian ICICI dissolving rumour gave enough sleepless hours both in and out o...

28th November - The day when I completed my previous blog without giving a second thought to the attacks in Mumbai. Out here in the UK, it really did not matter to me. Just sheer gladness that I was no longer living in India and don’t intend to anymore. While the firing was going on, my journalist friend asked me as to why was all this happening. And the reply which came naturally was – because we had asked for it…because we as Indians no longer care about which part of India was being bombed. We wake up, go to our respective offices, vote when we are required to and little do we get bothered about what is happening around. We simply do not have the time to question these people whom we have painstakingly selected to make a fool of the whole system of which we are the beneficiary. Well, isn’t this the perfect set up of DEMOCRACY! Our slumber was shattered by a bunch of youths from Pakistan, who started their journey from Karachi port on November 13th, crossed the Arabian Sea unde...

Celebrating one month and exactly 10 days of my arrival to this country otherwise a vast refriiiigeratorrr….. My teeth is not getting relief from constant clattering as the omnipotent cold has surrounded me from all sides… my poor nose that begins to run after spending 20 minutes outside the home, and then there are its cousins- my big ears and little palm that become numb in the process…again my friends, mind you, even the famous Levi’s cap and muffler cannot stand the Fridge’s deathly cold pangs. As understood, it’s that time of the year when the temperature fidgets between 0-5 degrees, with the minimum pointing to an early morning snow or even frozen dew.

Finally... Here I’m! Coming to UK was never in my 'to do' lists. I was working like a robot on instructions about applying for passport, applying for visa, medical tests, journeys, farewell parties, until the final moment came when I bid goodbye to my parents at the Kolkata airport at 4:15 am on 17th Oct 2008. It was a day of 'many firsts' - my first air travel, my first foreign trip, my first aerial view of earth and clouds...hmmmm...what bliss. During the eight hrs flight, I was either sleeping or eating or watching whatever silly stuff the monitor could offer me. And before I could realise, it was landing time. I was glad and shocked that I had come so far from home. There were many surprises in store. Like a curious kid, I was always pulling my window shutter up to see outside and lowering it when sunlight reflecting sharply, blacked out my vision for a while. I know that I must not be biased, but Kolkata sure looked all dirt and gravel, and poor Ganga, she look...