"Princess" & My Overview

I dont know if I should encroach upon any issue belonging to a foreign nation and voice my opinion. But reading through a couple of books on the derogatory condition of women living in Saudi Arabia, my heart seethed with anger at the lowly life imposed upon these hapless women and myself being a woman, I could not restrain my voice upon knowing the suffering of another woman.

Recently while surfing through an e-library I stumbled upon a book called "Princess" penned by Jean Sasson. Jean Sasson is an American writer a good chunk of whose books revolve round the women of Middle East. Jean stayed in Saudi Arabia for over a decade and this gave her an opportunity to peep into the lives of Saudi women. The one I am going through right now relates the experiences of a Saudi princess 'Sultana' who was the youngest of her 11 siblings. She shared her gruesome lifestory with Jean and insisted on her story to be written and made public. She wanted to reveal the painful inner life of Saudi princesses shrouded under the disguise of sparkling jewellaries and high life of the royals.

 The story brought forth the hypocrisy of Saudi men who bound their women by forcing them to follow stringent customs of medieval period while they themselves roamed around freely and easily got away with the commitment of the most forbidding heinous acts of adultery and rape. It is shocking how teenage girls are married to sagging old men fourth times their age and mothers have no say in the marriage of their daughters. How a woman for petty violation of Muslim custom is stoned to death or drowned in the pool by none other than her own father while men go around violating women and their rights as a human being.

"Princess" by Jean Sasson is a real eye opener to the distressing condition of women born & rotting in Saudi Arabia. I feel that being born as a stray dog would provide one far more better life than the one lived by a woman there. Atleast a street dog has freedom to do what it feels like, but women, considered nothing more than a piece of flesh and machinery for reproduction, have their entire life controlled and maneuvered by the will of the men clan.

The book gave me an insight into the state of women in Saudi society as nothing more than a herd of cattle, ready to be sacrificed any minute for the pleasure of the opponent sex. Sultana through this book has made an appeal to the women ,fortunate to live a life of freedom, for coming together to help uplift the condition of women in Saudi Arabia as the men tied to the barbaric medieval time wont pursue the change for the betterment of the fairer sex. I wish I would know a way to contribute to the cause.

I too had a love story

Recently one of my friends told me about a book called "I too had a love story". I have read "Love Story" by Erich Sehgal but "I too had a love story" was an unknown name to me. I have never heard or read about the writer. Then I got to know that this is the debut book of Ravinder Singh, a software engineer in Infosys, who has given an account of a sad love story here. Since Erich Sehgal's "Love Story" ended with the untimely demise of the girl the hero was in love with, I immediately had a hunch that this book by Ravinder Singh too would be sad in undertone for the titles of both the books are quite akin to each other, but I had least idea that the tale told in the story relates Ravinder's personal experience. Upon my friend's positive feedback, I downloaded the pdf version and went through it.

The love story circling around the two main characters, Ravinder himself and his girlfriend Khushi, whom he met through Shaadi.com, was portrayed beautifully.It was a perfect love affair though an unconventional one, because Ravinder met the girl hardly twice face to face. But physical distance was never a hindrance to their booming affection for each other. Even before meeting one another in person, they fell madly in love and decided to tie the knot. Their frequent communication on phone throughout the day, chatting on net, exchange of mails and snaps contributed to the formation of a beautiful relationship. They both were faithful and committed to each other and I was quite carried away by Ravinder's honesty and committment to his girlfriend, very unlikely trait to be spotted among guys of today's generation. Their love story had a slight resemblance with my own, because I too met my hubby through a matrimonial site. My hubby too popped the question even before seeing me in person and we, too hardly met twice or thrice before taking the vow of marriage. Yes, we were glued to each other on phone almost all the time, but since he lived in one city and me in another, the chances of meeting each other were very rare. Perhaps, this sets the trend for modern day love affairs where distance is bridged via technology. Internet and mobile have become an integral part of our life so much so that the thought of living without them seems an impossible phenomenon.

Anyway, coming back to the story, the romance was growing strong between Khushi and Ravinder with the passage of time and both of them got inseparably attached to each other emotionally. Ravinder could not spend a day without talking or chatting with Khushi and same was from her side too. Just when their betrothal date was fixed right on 14th February 2007 (the year I got married too in the month of November and had everything been going perfectly, Ravinder too would have married Khushi in November 2007 only) , Khushi was very happy making preparation for the big event of her life. She was laughing, singing and dancing in happiness for the forthcoming ceremony, but alas ! life is so unpredictable or may be God is so ruthlessly humorous that he strikes the lethal blow when one is gearing up for embracing the utmost happiness. Quite sadistic, huh !! Two days prior to the engagement, Khushi while coming back from office at the crack of dawn (She was doing night shifts for US project) met with an accident which left her mortally wounded. For two weeks she battled with life and eventually succumbed to her injuries.

Life is so very unfair. Unscrupulous dishonest people afflicting pain to others for their own gain never face such fate, but good righteous people incapable of cheating anyone are the ones to suffer such predicament. The last few pages describing the blow of Khushi's death on Ravinder where he wrote "She died and I survived. I survivded and so I died every day" was so heartbreaking that my eyes welled up in tears. Unfaithful people shifting from one partner to another like the change of weather, exploiting others for their own benefit never receive any punishment and good human beings go through all the trials and tribulations as if God is testing their resilience at every junction of life. Why God doesnot have any fairness in doling out justice? Like Ravinder, I too have lost all the faith in the existence of the Supreme Being. God is nothing but a figment of our imagination fed into us by our family and society since the time we open our eyes. It adds to my wonderment that innumerable wars are fought and riots are agitated in the name of this nonexistent being.

Ravinder's splendid depiction of Khushi aroused my curiosity to view her photo but by surfing the net, I could find only Ravinder's snaps. Unquestionably, Ravinder is a pretty handsome dude but somewhere in his eyes, the pain he suffered is hidden. I went through his facebook fan page and his profile but could not locate any snap of Khushi. I wish alonside the beautiful but heart-wrenching love story, he could have some snaps of Khushi printed in his book.

Family Reunion in Hyderabad

Went to Hyderabad last weekend to enjoy the family congregation after a long time. Next month my brother in law will be flying back to Norway (this time with his wife) for two years and since the agonizing process of spouse visa is over and Manjira (my sis in law) finally has got the visa in her hand after 8 months, they can happily travel together to Norway now. I can precisely feel the frustration and helplessness Manjira might have gone through for the delay in the visa being issued and all the while she and Debjoy (my bro in law) had to stay apart just owing to this visa problem. So we are all happy that finally the harrowing period of waiting is over and their life is getting back to normal. On this occasion, my parents in law also flew all the way from Kolkata to Hyderabad to meet her two sons. Since it's been a long while when the two brothers were seen together last in the same place and given the uncertainty of both of their happening to be at the same place, this time my mom in law didnt want to take any chance and wanted to arrange this family get-together before Debjoy flies to Norway and we to Sao Paolo.

On the first day of our arrival to Hyderabad, we were dog-tired and reached Debjoy's house around 9.30 p.m. He brought the famous Hyderabadi biriyani from market and we had an appetizing dinner with biriyani & chicken curry served on our platter. But my digestive system failed to work properly, may be because of the jerking it experienced all through the journey from Bangalore to Hyderabad and throughout the night I tossed and turned on my bed in sheer uneasiness and couldnot sleep properly. Next day morning I took an oath for not to eat anything spicy and to remain on light meal all day long. My mom in law prepared some light homely meals including fish and 'sukto' daal (daal cooked with vegetables) and by the evening, I felt pretty sound. We went out for sighseeing around Hyderabad towards the evening and visited Hussain Sagar. There was a statue of lord Buddha built exactly in the middle of the lake and we ferried there to catch an up-close view of the statue. We clicked some nice shots there.

 

 

We spent some 30 minutes there when looking at the overcast sky, I felt a presentiment of a torrential downpour and told others to take a ferry back to the Eat Street. Just as we boarded the ferry, rain started pouring like cats and dogs and we could see people rushing towards the dock to get into a ferry, but as the number of passengers a ferry could load was limited, the late-comers had to wait for the next ferry amid the torrential rainfall. Apart from the statue, there was no establishment holding a roof and hence the passengers waiting for the ferry had no choice other than getting drenched. Fortunately, we were inside the ferry and on our way back to the Eat Street.

Overlooking the Hussain Sagar, Eat Street is a popular hangout in Hyderabad for weekend revellers. Undoubtedly spending time there with friends will add to a marvellous experience. By the time we returned to Eat Street, I was feeling mighty hungry and so therefrom we headed straight towards City Centre where in a restaurant we planned to take our dinner. Debjoy took us to a nice Chinese restaurant at City Centre where we ordered items like Sapo Chicken, Crab fried rice, American Corn fried rice and Roasted chicen in soya sauce.The food was awesome in taste esp Sapo Chicken was mouthwatering. After the dinner, we returned to Debjoy's house and engaged in an exhilarating session of adda. Next day being Monday was the day we were supposed to return and though I wanted to extend our stay by one day, Debu could not do so as his hands are tied with office work. So we came back to Bangalore on Monday night.

Zindegi Na Milegi Dobara

Yesterday I watched Zindegi Na Milegi Dobara with my hubby at night show. It was a full-bodied entertaining movie. Shot in the beautiful locations of in and around Spain, the scenery captured in the film was overwhelming. The movie brought back some fond memories of my college days when we were younger and vivacious and full of spirits. The way the three "musketeers" played by Hrithick, Abhay Deol and Farhan Akhtar were applying their old tried and tested tricks to scare the spook out of rank strangers reminded me of some of my own antics. During the days of masters in CU, I recall there was a professor who despite being highly qualified and university topper was ludicrously boring when it came to giving a lecture and so most of the students preferred sitting at the back of the class close to the back door so that once the roll calling was over, they could steal out of the classroom. Many a time, me with my friends tiptoed out of the classroom like that. Now all grown up, the thought of doing this kind of thing to anyone seems very improper but at that time, it was pure fun bunking class like that.

The movie is based on a road trip undertaken by the trio to celebrate Abhay Deol's bachelour party. They got together after a space of few years and went to three locations of their individual choice within Spain and each one surprised the others with their own favourite sport they long dreamt of trying like skydiving, deep sea diving and bull race and how each time conquering their fears, they finished the stunt feeling an overwhelming sense of triumph. The movie highlights some basic truths of life that we, being caught in the complexity of our daily routine, tend to forget. Life is small and our days are numbered and instead of letting ourselves become completely absorbed in the drudgery and goals of life, we should sometimes take some time out to live the moments as we never know when the life is going to get cut short and the people, we ignore in the pursuit of our goals, might not be there all the time or we, for example, might not live through our plans. It, to some extent, made me realize how stupidly boring I myself have become over the years and how living an adult life, I have lost my vivaciousness and smiles.

Patalpani Mishap

I am shocked to see the live video of Patalpani accident which occurred on 17th July 2011 and cost three lives. Shocking and painful is the fact that the victims are themselves responsible to some extent for the mishap which could have been avoided had they been a bit conscious. When they noticed the wave lunging towards them and the other fellow tourists running for shelter, they should have run across to a safe corner. Instead, they acted casually and went on with their photography spree. Till the surge of water rushed towards them menacingly, their attitude seemed very casual as if they failed to discern the danger awaiting them. When it became too late, the five victims thronged at a particular place holding each other's hand and as one of them slipped, rest of the other too slipped and were swept down the waterfall. The accident happened so quickly in a matter of few seconds that none of the panic-stricken spectators could come up with any idea for rescuing them.

Imagining Argentina

Watched a movie yesterday starring Antonio Banderas essaying the role of an ordinary man with psychic power whose journalist wife had been kidnapped on reason of suspicion. Later his teenage daughter too was arbitrarily abducted from his home by the millitary personnel. The movie was based on the dark period of Argentina between 1976-83. It led me thinking how could the govt pardon all the perpetrators responsible for the kidnapping & disappearance of some 30,000 nationals most of whom were women brutally tortured & physically abused before being shot to death & after 20 yrs, Supreme Court of Argentina reverted the law in 2005 to punish the culpable most of whom by now must have died naturally or having lived their life to the fullest now counting their last days. What a shocking travesty of justice !! 

Delhi Belly

Today was Sunday and after about three weeks I stepped out of home.  Last week only Debu came back from his US trip and since he is shuffling between jetlag and office hours, I could not pester him for taking me out on the weekdays. Today only we went out to see "Delhi Belly" and the movie, as I figured, was another masterpiece of Aamir Khan. The last movie produced by Aamir was "Dhobi Ghat" and like that movie, Delhi Belly too centred around a bunch of people from middleclass backgrounds surviving through life fraught with obstacles and complications. Unlike other Bollywood flicks shot in beautiful locations of foreign countries and involving rich people, these two movies shot in India were intellectual representation of life lived by common people.


There was one scene in Delhi Belly reminding me of Satyajit Roy's way of depicting a simple fact through a simple way without going overboard. The character called Nitin would gorge on some spicy pieces of Chicken Tanduri bought from a sleazy roadside food corner and would suffer from indigestion and loose motion for several days. The way it was shown in the movie was truly remarkable. In Satyajit Roy's 'Jono Aronya', Satyajit Roy too portrayed a scene in a similar artistic fashion. The protagonist appeared in the final exam of BA History honours and fared really well. However, he confronted the harsh reality when he scored barely the pass marks and found all his dreams and hardwork of First Class gone down the drain, because the examiner assigned with his paper lost spectacles and gave him average marks for the tiny dots of his handwriting appearing hardly intelligible under the dim light of lantern. The same kind of simplistic yet effective manner of depiction predominates in Delhi Belly.


Another thing worth admiration about the movie is that there were many scenes likely to be appearing too gross and shoddy because of the content involved in it but the subtlest way they were handled and woven within the story was sheerly commendable. Not for a single time I found myself scoffing at the scene showing stool sample poured on table nor the sounds of burps and farts appeared offensive to me. Rather they elicited frequent peals of laughter from the audience as intended. In short, watching Delhi Belly was a truly enjoyable experience and after a long time, I laughed my lungs out watching a movie.

Oh forgot to note that tonight I bumped into one of my old friends who coincidentally came for watching the same movie in the same hall. He studied with me to the same sir when we were in std ix and later he enrolled himself for a while in Asutosh College with English Honours, but after few months he shifted to another college for pursuing law course. Now, he is married and working in a reputed private firm in Bangalore. For a brief instance, I felt myself travelling back into the bygone days when we were all young and full of aspirations. It feels so nice to catch up with childhood friends bringing some treasured memories back.