The Voice In My Head…

Imagine this: A young marriageable girl from Tiruchi. The parents anxious to get a “good” husband. There must have been much rejoicing in the Jenita household when the boys family agreed to the marriage with their son, an Infosys employee. To make it better, the future son-in-law for the Jenita family was from the US - a “prestigious” alliance no doubt.

The young girl, though an MBA herself, must have no doubt been excited. And then there must have been the wedding. Again undoubtedly, dhoom-dhamal. The Jenitas must have proudly told family & neighbors about the “good catch” their daughter had got. Sweets. Saris. Flowers.

And then the day she had to depart for the US with her husband and his family. Tears. Her parents must have come home from the airport, taking solace in the wedding photographs, feeling now they had finally done all they could for their daughter.

Now she was “settled” in life.

At what stage did dreams turn into nightmares for the girl Smalin?

In a shocking case of dowry-harassment, a 23-year-old pregnant woman was beaten by her husband and in-laws and thrown out of a moving car, while she was in the US. The 7-month pregnant Smalin Jenita was comatose till a week ago, and had sustained 52 fractures while being harassed for dowry by her husband and his family in the US.

Perhaps we’ll never know. Perhaps we’ll never know if from day one she was harassed by Christy Daniels, the man who was meant to be her life mate. We’ll never even know how she got pregnant, whether she had a good union with her husband.

What we do know is that shortly after her marriage, Smalin got pregnant. And we do know that even in her seventh month of pregnancy, she was being harassed, beaten - and ultimately thrown out of a car! - by her husband and in-laws. We know she was abandoned in a hospital in the US in a coma. We know her family in India wasn’t even informed by the in-laws of her condition. We know it was only by the intervention of a kindly good Samaritan, a Pakistani doctor in this case, that these matters were brought to light. More details here & here.

(Smalin is currently in the ICU at Mehta hospital in Chennai. She and her unborn child are in stable condition. Besides the 52 fractures suffered, Smalin is now paralysed on the left side due to the brain injuries she suffered)

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This film is set on the epic poem ‘Beowulf’ (more details, worth the read, here), part of which goes like this:

But a warrior of Hygelac’s
heard of Grendel’s doings;
he was the strongest of men
alive in that day,
mighty and noble.
That man called for a ship,
said he would cross the ocean
and help the king who needed help.
Wise men urged him
to that adventure
though he was dear to them.
They examined omens
and whetted him on.

So the good Geat chose
the bravest warriors,
fourteen of them,
and that crafty sailor
led them to the land’s brim,
to the ship.
They readied the ship
on the waves under the cliffs
and the warriors stood at the prow
as the water wound against the sand.
The warriors bore
into the ship’s bosom
bright weapons,
fitted armor.

It is a very (very) long poem, 12 “episodes” long, you can read it online from start to finish here. Apparently in the UK the poem has national epic status and most children go through their basic school levels having studied this poem.

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If you’ve read the blog over the last two days, you’ve probably noticed the little “Snippets” box top right with my Yahoo! Avatar on it.

It’s up by special request from a friend of mine who works for Yahoo! developing the avatars in Pune Bangalore.

My “Snippets” box will feature actual bits & pieces of my day in it and my avatar dressed up as close to what I’ve been wearing. And I’ll also be updating the box often, sometimes more than once a day (at least, this is the plan!).

Hopefully I’ll help Yahoo! make better avatars for all of us in the future

Further to this post, a Guest Post by Sakshi Juneja. Click on Image below to visit the author’s blog.

Before I begin, let me throw open a controversial question;

“How would you describe a high maintenance woman?”

Well, in my opinion she is someone who acts all pricey, loathes discomfort, demands attention (practically 24X7) and can never have enough pairs of shoes.

And my dear friend, Melody, is a fine example of such a breed.

Okay, now before you guys thrash me out here for using Melody as an example when I could have picked anyone from the likes of Aishwariya Rai (now Bachchan), Mallika Shares-a-Lot or Rakhi Sawant Paris Hilton - I do have my reasons and therefore deserve a fair hearing.

My very first experience with your lady’s high maintenance self was couple of months ago. And let me clear this as well, until this episode, I too (like most of you out there) was totally floored by her “girl-next-door” impression – which is such a sham, I tell ya!

So a bunch of us friends were out for an evening, madam was riding along with me in my chota-sa-thakela Santro. Everything was going hunky-dory and then my car’s cooling system gave way. Within minutes (and I have a witness), Mell had moved her butt from my air-con-less ride to another friend’s Ford Ikon. And when I expressed my annoyance, I was told these very words – “Saks, I really can’t take the heat”. I mean WTF!!

And that was only just the beginning!

The more I got to know her, the more exposed I was to her being high maintenance; “Saks we can’t go to Hawaiian Shack - it’s too LS for me”, “Saks please confirm the list of invitees for the weekend with me – I can’t be seen with ‘just’ anyone”, “Saks I can’t sit on your scooter – the helmet will ruin my hair”, so on and so forth.

A week back I accompanied Mell for an NDTV Show hosted by Rajat Kapoor. She was one of the three guests invited to express their views on a particular topic. And no guesses here, the topic was “High Maintenance Women” and no, you don’t need Einstein’s brains to figure that it was me who pushed her to go for it.

Needless to say, with Mell around entertainment is sure shot guarantee!

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The latest Blog Meet - the Blog Brunch in Hindustan Times, 19th November, 2007

(Click to enlarge & read entire article)

One thought & one correction though -

-> 1148 registered blogs in Mumbai? Where-huh? Wha-huh?? No one told me I had to register?

-> Bloggers in Mumbai have been meeting offline for a while now (long before the two years mentioned in the article). I attended my first meet two years ago (in Jan of 2006) and if I remember right, Amit told me there was about 8 meets in 2005 itself!

First, a toast, to Sakshi Juneja, my “Online Better Half” - Together we’re “The Online Ram-Lakhan” (she’ll quickly point out that she’s Lakhan, the younger one), “The Mumbai Blog Mafia” (hahah!), “The BuHu girls” (BuHu, being copyrighted to the King) [anything else you wanna call us people??!]

If the blog brunch was a success (& going by the feedback we got, it’s fair to say it was!), it’s largely due to her. So then, “to you Saks, I raise my (e)glass! Cheers for being the rockstar that you are!”

Also, a special thanks going out to the (very very) nice people at who came through for Saks & me by helping us clear out our brunch debts. A lot of the people who had confirmed just did not show up, most without even informing us in any way (how rude!) and we had to pay for the numbers confirmed. If Saks & I do decide to plan another blog meet, we might have to start taking money in advance.

Now to the brunch! Since Saks was busy doing most of the important things, I enjoyed myself at the Blog Brunch meeting a new set of interesting people!

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Or, if you want to be more precise, I’m going to die on:

That’s Death Clock’s prediction for me.

I actually googled the word “die” and reached there.

No, am not usually morbid, but this has been an unusually dramatic day.

I’m so drained. And to think, I’ve got half a decade century more left to go (after being informed that 5 is not equal to 50) sigh.

** Stop googling stupid words like “die”.

** Stop listening to ‘Fix You’ on repeat. Listen to Joyce Meyers Podcasts that you’ve been downloading for just this day.

** Talk to insane friends (like this one in particular. It helps if like her, your friends are very insane)

** Walk 10 mins on treadmill (you will lose 10 calories and apparently it’ll help “release hormones” so I was also informed).

** Eat Dinner. Also Eat Chocolate Honey Crunches (you’ll put on at least 400 calories but the chocolate releases endorphines, feel-good hormones)

** Ponder on how many hormones your body is releasing.

** Flip Channels. Watch only the good uplifting stuff:

1) Rob Schneider in The Animal (for one of these days, any Rob Scheider film will do)
2) Cool Runnings. Listen to insane, funny and inspirational stuff like: “a gold medal is a wonderful thing. But if you’re not enough without one, you’ll never be enough *with* one” (realise that success is from within)
3) Favorite Seinfeld episode - The Parking Garage (I actually think of this episode, without fail, every single time I’m in a car park).

** Realise Kramer just said something you need to hear (sorry though, just a little after the clip above):

“Well, I once saw this thing on TV with people who are terminally ill. Everyone of them believed that the secret of life is just to live every moment.”

** Decide to live in the moment. Look in the mirror (and realise you’re gorgeous! )

** Look in the mirror and make faces at yourself (make them until you’re laughing out loud that you’re making faces at yourself).

** Put all your favorite dance songs on your winamp. Now turn the volume up LOUD. Sing along (even if you don’t know the words). Dance (yes, you can, no one’s watching).

** Bend forward. Get on your tippy toes. Now start moving your butt, legs and arms to your favorite Salsa song (feeling better already, aren’t you?!)

** Blog (hey, it always makes me happy!)

** Count your blessings.

** Read the Bible, or View this (click presentation)

** Hold God’s hand (and let love sink in!)

** Send me an email (melodysvoice(at)gmail.com - I’ll mail you back an eHug. Hey, what are friends for?)

Why did I watch the movie? For many reasons.
(a) I like watching movies. Most of you who’ve dropped in before know that going to the movies is something I find fun and do often.
(b) Because of it being partially shot in India. I am completely drawn to watch English films with anything Indian in it. This includes the Indian actors.
(c) Also because Brangelina were staying at the Taj Mumbai for lot of their shooting in Mumbai and many of my friends actually met with them and their rainbow-esq family. And I am fascinated by the gorgeous lady and her thick lips, by her humanitarianism and her outspoken non apologetic lifestyle, which though I do not endorse, I respect the courage she has to be honest about who she is.
(d) Because of Daniel Pearl. And Marianne Pearl. Because of the story. Their lives. I wanted to see the movie, because I wanted to read the book and never got down to doing it. I wanted to see the movie because it was big news for a long time. And because there are so many dynamics that go into everything we see on the news.

When I watched the movie, I was impressed by all the aspects that go into making a good movie. The cinematography was great. The scripting was excellent. The actors all did a great job. (a) was complete.

The scenes not only in Mumbai but also in Pakistan and other places in the movie impressed me. The reality of it all came out so strongly. I felt the heat of the place even in the air-con theater. I could even smell the filth at times, and hear the swishing of the jameen ka kapda as the floors were washed. (b) didn’t fail to satisfy either.

As far as (c) Angelina is concerned, all I can say is - wow. Angeline is so brilliant in the film, she embodies Marianne Pearl so well, that one almost forgets about points (a) & (b) and is lost in point (d) the story, she’s telling. Her look, her accent, her performance, as a good actor should, all led to making point (d) the story, completely overtake the audience.

Unfortunately the theater was barely filled - my friend next to me remarked how ironic it was that it was so empty and that the same theater would be house full for Saawariya the next day! Barely filled or not though, we all felt the same way. We all breathed in deeply at the same points. We all cried - to whatever degree, internally or externally - at points together. We all had our hair stand on end as the reality of the brutality tried to sink in.

After seeing the movie, I also present to you point (e) which I realized only after watching. Point (e) comprises of the strength of character displayed by Marianne Pearl. Because of the love story between her and her husband. Because of the supernatural strength of rising above the situation she displayed, despite the obvious utter complete breakdown.

This story is not only a story of an individual. It is a story of nations at war. Of politics. Of principles. Of character. Of love between husband and wife. Of suffering. Of finding strength to rise above it.

For all the reasons (a) to (d), I recommend you to see the movie. For reason (e), I urge you to see it.

On a night long long ago (oh well, it was in Dec of ‘05), I read my Bible before sleeping. There was some stuff on Virginity that touched me enough to post about it the next day. Which I did. End of story?

Almost.

Thanks to Google, my post is picked by earlier this year by an atheist, who slams my views and starts a blog war. And tons of post all over the desi blogosphere about whether desi girls were having sex or not, about virginity in general and seemingly every tangential topic under the sun.

I submitted my first article to the Hindustan Times a while back. The ed called me just before it was frozen for publication asking what my byline should read. “Write whatever you like, whatever you think of me” I told him. “Well, I can’t write the first thing that comes to my mind about you is” he says. I am now intrigued! “What is the first thing that come to your mind about me??” I ask.

“Naturally,” he says, “that you’re a virgin”.

Wha-@#*$-huh???

I somehow just do not get it: what is the fascination is with my sex life, or rather the lack of it?

Within just the last week, several references were made to it:

Close friend: You know, she’s telling people she doesn’t believe you’re a virgin!
Me: Why should I care? I am answerable to only God and myself. Even if I was a saint (which I’m not) people would talk about me anyway.

Another time, two friends discuss me, in front of me:

Boy X: You know you’re not getting any from her
Boy Y: Of course I know. She’s the most famous virgin in India.

My very First (!!) conversation with happening blogger on gTalk:

Happening blogger: So you are a virgin for religious reasons is it?
Me: there we go again! Everyone wants to talk about my bloody virginity

Same blogger later on in the talk:

Me: Yesterday someone said that I am the most famous virgin in India
Happening blogger: Nope. That would be Mother Teresa.

Happening Blogger is a non Catholic. I am suitably shut up. I hope everyone else is too.

— Update —
Further to this post, some more jokes! Some are just not man enough to post their “funnies” here directly.

plus, An Oriental Eye Test

Kapil tells us to observe this image and try to decipher what’s written.

If (like me) you still can’t make out what’s written; try pulling the corner of your eyes to make them look like those of a Chinese person.

Makes me wonder what is this newest find saying about me!

Insomnia is my new middle name. Another up-all-nighter. On the up side though, have been listening to some of my favorite songs on YouTube. Here’s three of them:

Love changes everything ~ Sarah Brightman (no one else does justice to the song)

Lovefool ~ The Cardigans (with a so cute vid!)

Fix You ~ Coldplay (do you know I’m obsessive compulsive? once on a 15 hour+ flight, listened to Fix You on repeat mode the whole way)