And we were O.K.

Received this via email I am not sure who the author is.. it may not even have originated from an Indian but yet I am sure most of us can relate to it.. so with due respect to the creator and with additions of my own in italics…

To all the wonderful kids who were born in India , grew up in the 60's,70's and 80's and survived :

First, we survived being born to mothers, some, whose husbands smoked and/or drank while they carried us.

They took aspirin, ate whatever food was put on the table, and didn't get tested for diabetes.

They were mothers who did not check their blood pressure every few minutes. (mine didn’t)

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets, and when we rode our bikes we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking or going out on our own. (nd all those longs walks up the mountains and along the streams with none to guide but just the dogs)

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or airbags. [Our car would have been the most rickety since it had to go through the terrible tea estate roads. Needless to mention that only an Ambassador was built for it. Thinking about it now, I still cannot believe that my Father, instead of repairing the door which would not close [the mechanics had already closed shops after our late night movie] asked me to faithfully hold onto it while driving up a 20 km long treacherous mountainous road (Mundakayam to Kuttikanam)… I dont remember my Father looking back even once to see if I was still there! And recently when I mentioned this to him he feigned ignorance:) ]

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle. (ahh the water was the purest!)

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this. (dint we all? and most still do…)

We would share a dosa, dip a chapatti into someone else's plate of curry without batting an eyelid. (I hope the current generation still enjoys this)

We ate jam sandwiches or pickle on bread and butter, raw mangoes with salt (& chilly powder) and drank orange squash with sugar and water in it.

We ate at roadside stalls, drank water from tender coconuts, ate everything - Bhel Puri to bhajias and samosas, but we weren't overweight because WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING! (there was no dearth of games.. we made games out of nothing…but now the kids can have all the PS$.. and still be bored)

We would leave home in the morning and play all day during the holidays, we were never ever bored, and we were allowed freedom all day as long as we were back when the streetlights came on, or when our parents told us to do so. No one was able to reach us all day by mobile phone or phone. (those were the days!)

And we were O.K.

We swam with an inflated tube which we got from somebody who was replacing their car tyres.

We ran barefoot without thinking about it, if we got cut we used iodine on it which made us jump. We did not wash our hands ten times a day. (Wash hands?)
And we were OK.

We did not have parents who said things like "what would you like for breakfast, lunch or dinner".

We ate what was put in front of us and best of all, there was never any leftovers. (but now we have to push and prod them to eat..)

We fell out of trees numerous times, got cut, broke bones and teeth. (We jumped from one tree to another and my younger sister was the leader!)

We ate fruit lying on the ground that we shook down from the tree above. (and how tasty those were!)And we never washed the fruit.

We had a bath using a bucket and mug. We did not know what shampoo and conditioners meant.

Yet this generation of ours has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

Please pass this on to others who have had the luck and good fortune to grow up as kids in India in the 60's 70's and 80's.

Eid Mubarak

Belated Eid wishes to all...

Some of us here in Kuwait were off duty for 5 days and this post took time to complete. On the first day of Eid we thought of driving with a cousin and family to Abdali which is close to Iraq border but dropped the idea since it was raining. The rains which had abandoned Kuwait since a few years are now back. It was still drizzling and the weather moody, so we selected the 360 mall to spend the day. Being the first day of Eid and early in the day the place was almost empty. Malls in Kuwait are normally crowded since this is where everyone hangs out.

I had always wanted to take a few snaps and finally got the chance.




Was always facinated by these decorations.


This one goes all the way to the ground floor....

Beautifully Symmetrical



The big children (Hubby and his cousin) along with the children had the Game Zone in their minds specially the bowling area and hence we started from there. It was empty and everyone had a good time toppling the pins.





For hunger, we tried the newly opened Asian express but all their items were too sweet to my taste. The kids had selected the much tried Charley’s Sandwiches and I wished I had joined them instead. We got out of the mall in time for coffee and hot samosas at home.

The ultimate source for many!

The latest campaign in the name of terror is from Idea and one may have seen Junior Bachan urging the nation to talk for India.

I guess the entire nation has been talking much on terror and even major police officers are busy doing their talks.

As for Idea, are they out for publicity?

Will the fund thus collected go for the purchase of safety gears or will the public be left in the lurch as usual?


If their main site shows the following:

*The campaign is an initiative of mobile operator, IDEA Cellular, which has a subscriber base of over 53 million across the country. The campaign will be supported across print, television, digital and outdoor media space. The funds accumulated from calls initiated from the network during the 'Talk for India Hour' will be donated to the Government.

Their terms and conditions shows thus..

Talk for India

Terms to be displayed on www.talkforindia.in
1. Idea will contribute an amount equal to Net Income from all voice calls originating from Idea numbers and made within India between 8:36pm and 9:36pm on 26/11/09 towards procuring safety gear for the police force.
2. Idea reserves the right to disburse the amount to a body / entity/ organization / person or to divide it amongst a number of bodies / entities / organizations / persons suitably identified by Idea for the purpose.
3. The process and time of disbursing the amount shall be solely at the discretion of Idea.
4. The time and manner of contribution will be decided solely by Idea.
5. Subject to Mumbai jurisdiction only.

Why did Idea Cellular chose to put the second condition if the money is going to the government of India?

Should one care?

Just keep talking....

The five pillars that MM Singh will uphold

While searching the net to know the significance of MM Singh’s visit to US, I landed on this particular page and the five pillars.

Supposedly, these are the five pillars that our Prime Minister will uphold while in the US soil.

1. Strategic cooperation that includes arms sales, joint military exercises and joint military cooperation in combating maritime piracy off the coast of Somalia in the Gulf of Aden. (There are significant new sales on the horizon, up to $18 billion worth of contracts, for which American companies are competing)

2. The second pillar of the U.S.-India relationship is that of energy and climate change (India currently emits about 4 percent of the world’s greenhouse gases)

3. A third pillar is in economics, trade and agriculture. (Two-way trade with India was about $5 billion in 1990, rose to $14 billion in 2000 and reached nearly $50 billion in 2008, according to U.S. trade statistics.)

4. Cooperation in education ( India will open up the higher education sector to greater foreign investment)

5. Cooperation in science and technology ( $30 million science and technology endowment to be used for joint research and development, innovation, and commercialization.)

Hopefully we shall also hear MM Singh say that Pakistan needs to stop exporting terror etc etc etc etc...

Pazassi Raja

Now that I have grumbled and rumbled enough on terror let me write a few words on a movie that the whole family enjoyed over the weekend. The theatre was packed even on the 3rd day of its show here in Kuwait.

It was none other than “Pazhassi Raja”. Had been reading about it before the release of the movie from fellow bloggers who in turn led me to others.

Pazhassi Raja (Theatrical release name in Kerala: Keralavarma Pazhassiraja) is a Indian multilingual biopic magnum opus film directed by T. Hariharan, and written by M.T. Vasudevan Nair. It stars megastar Mammootty in the title role, and R. Sarathkumar, Thilakan, Kanika Subramaniam, Padmapriya, Manoj K. Jayan, Peter Handley Evans, Harry Key, Linda Arsenio and Jagathi Sreekumar in other major roles. The film's music score and soundtrack are done by Illayaraja. A part of the score was produced at the Hungarian National Philharmonic (Hungarian State Symphony Orchestra), Budapest.[6] The sound designing is done by Academy Award winner Resul Pookutty. Originally filmed in the Malayalam language, the film is dubbed in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi. The film released on 16 October 2009 across Kerala with a record 130 prints.[7]

Crtsy: Wiki

Think this is the first time that I have sat through such a long movie (3 hr 20 minutes) without being aware of the time. The sound (Oscar fame Resul Pookutty) and the cinematography were brilliant.


Mamooty’s acting was good and had his usual style and maturity. (His performance in “Loudspeaker” was also very good and the actor still has much to give the audience if only the directors and producers would let him and I also believe he is at a stage where he can be choosy if needed)


But in my opinion the actor who stole the show was Saratkumar. His portrayal of the character Edachena Kunkan, Pazhassi Raja's army chief was superb.


(Searched low and wide for a photo of Sarath Kumar and this was the only one I could find)

crtsy: http://popcorn.oneindia.in/title/5539/pazhassi-raja.html

Manoj Kumar and Padmapriya (one of my favourite heroine) also acted well.


Every movie will have its flaw and one was in the portrayal of those playing the Brits.

I also believe that this movie will evoke an interest in history. At least it did in my household! As soon as we returned home, hubby and the children were more interested in satisfying their curiosity than their hunger. They googled and yahooed and passed bit and pieces of interesting information. Son also wanted to know why he is not studying the great Raja and the other heroes in his history classes and I heard him muttering the same in his sleep too.

Hats off to all those who worked for this movie!

Hail to those great warriors who laid down their lives for the soil. May the memories of their valor and sacrifice echo forever.

For more reading:

http://malabardays.blogspot.com/2009/10/pazhassi-raja-film-opens.html ( by blogger Nick Balmer - My interest in these events started about a decade ago when I first read the tale of Thomas Baber tracking down and killing of the Rajah on the 30th of November 1805. Thomas Baber was my great great great great uncle)

http://varnachitram.com/2009/10/16/review-roundup-pazhassi-raja/

The road to terror .......

Soon it will be one year since we viewed the shocking scenes from Mumbai and there still remains many questions unanswered. The following news caught my eyes this morning.

According to top officials, the bigger concern for the government is to crack the sleeper cells that both Headley and Rana were in touch with to conduct attacks here. While the arrests may have delivered a blow to those plans, the fact remains that trained terror cells were here for this purpose and they have not yet been busted.

What a reassuring report! Even after a year we still haven’t discovered those Indians who helped the terrorists and now because of Headley we have this exercise just to satisfy the nation’s curiosity.

and..

There is no record of Rana’s departure from Kochi but a few days later, there is evidence of him surfacing in Mumbai.

Does this happen only in India?

Recently when we went to UAE, our passports were kept at the hotel reception and we could have it only when we vacated the hotel. I am sure this is the law in many countries and while applying for a Visa it is mandatory to supply the address of the hotel / place of residence.

I am aware that even in India we have similar laws but do we really have the luxury of not following it even after so many incidents?

Please take a look at a travel advice given to US citizens..

At the Hotel

Foreign security services have well-established contacts with hotels that commonly host conferences and meetings with international participation. Some even have their own office within the largest hotels. If the local intelligence service considers you a significant intelligence target, you are likely to be assigned a room that is equipped to monitor your in-room conversations and phone calls. To avoid this, it may help to make your own room reservation in a smaller hotel less frequented by foreigners.

In many countries, you will be asked to surrender your passport when registering at a hotel. This is a routine procedure, as hotels must submit a daily report to police on all registered guests. Although a routine police procedure, be aware that this information may also be reviewed by a local intelligence service looking for targets of opportunity. Don't forget to get your passport back at the earliest possible time.

But then if one thinks that our government has been sitting idle in all matters then no. We have now signed the world largest defense deal with US worth $ 10 billion which may bring in 126 fighter aircraft to our Air Force.

The Indian Air Force Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) Competition, commonly known as the MRCA Tender, is an ongoing competition to supply the Indian Air Force with 126 Multi-Role Combat Aircraft. The Defence Ministry has allocated Rs. 42,000 crore for the purchase of these aircraft (Approx. US$10.5 billion).[1]

While I do agree that our fighter pilots deserve the best aircrafts and that our Air Force needs to be strengthened, I wish the same enthusiasm is shown in every other aspects of our security.

Can we leave our internal monitoring / governing in shambles and expect our armed forces to secure our country?