Down but definetely not out!

I am a post grad from a decent B-school, working in a respectable company as Brand Manager and am used to the regular life of work, relax and exercise and also fun!

More about me? i'm a decently tempered woman, with ups and downs like the rest of us (i assume).

Last Sunday, i took my dog to the vet, as he was l'il down. Post the check up (which declared him normal), i was driving back in my Getz when i saw this tempo behind me which kept honking and wanting to overtake. truthfully, he irritated me and nor did i have enough space to let him go ahead. So i just kept my lane...was that too much?

The next thing i know is that my car has been nudged from the back and i can hear the crunch of metal. I see to it that my dog is safe and get out of the car and see that the tempo has pulled my rear bumper off and there are 10 men in the tempo glaring at me. Was a woman driving a car too much?

I lose my temper and ask him to accompany me to the nearest police station. The reply i get from a driver is quite unprintable nor a word i wish to remember! With quite a l'il screaming from my end we agree to go to the cops. I start the car and i see this tempo speed away. I promptly go to the cops and file an FIR. At least i get the guy to roam the corridors of the court. Let him pay for his mistake, was that too much?

I did my job, collected the FIR and went home. I was told by Hyundai that the repairs would cost me Rs. 10,000. In the evening, i got a call from the cops. The driver had filed a counter complaint and lo' not with the traffic department but with the crime branch. And what was in the complaint? i had supposedly called him by a berated name that is to be an insult to a harijan, (now what that is, i have no clue). Yes i did call him a loafer, i was pretty mad.

I was also given to understand that this would amount to a non-bailable offence. And if the cops registered the complaints, i may please be asked to enter the hallowed halls of the state guest house (read prison)

My first reaction was that, "Dad, let's pull the case back" and honestly, like a wimp, i tried to pull it back. Dad did look at me, with "do i have a wimp for a daughter?" look and said, "sure hon, do it, if that's what you believe in". Without a care for the look i approached the cops, they told me that i cannot pull back the case since it had gone quite a distance, and was i sure to pull it back?
Made me do a re-think, i decided on an impulse not to!

One day, i spent at home, actually waiting for the cops to arrive. The next day, i'm at office working as usual, knowing that there is a bully out there attempting my arrest on something false and knowing that there is a boss in office who expects me to be on top of each and every job, no matter what i'm going through!

Actually, i'm loving it!

Knee JERKS

Recently after a Lil girl has been mauled by a pack of stray dogs, we have the entire Bangalore Mahanagar Palike (BMP) going after all strays!

It burns my heart when I think what will happen to the poor souls! Sad that all are being rounded up whether they are or not a danger to the society! As far as my daily interaction with animals go, they are by and large peaceful unless provoked. Now, I'm not saying that the Lil girl provoked them, but let's accept, it's a stray incident after all!

And who created this issue of stray dogs? None but us, ourselves. We brought in the dog and domesticated him, then when we got tired of our pets, we let them roam the streets, and our pets could impregnate or get impregnated by strays, and the litter was of course let to the streets, as they weren't a pure breed!

Now, if ever, a mob lynches, do we have rounding up of all citizens and declare them all guilty? Ah, no...Human Rights comes into the play then. I hate the differential treatment meted out to our fellow beings on this Planet Earth!

We share this planet folks. And trust me, we are the main guys destroying this planet than any other species!

Santa is here

Everyone out there, Wishing you a Merry Xmas! Hope every one's been good to get their gifts!

Have I Won or Lost?

I had recently adopted a litter of puppies! There were 6 tiny ones. The mother was a very tiny lady and I often wondered if I wanted to attach myself to them!

I had already in the past lost all three of her puppies in her last litter.

The schedule often went like this:

Leave home at 8: Feed puppies with Milk/Biscuits

Arrange for the bakery to feed them at noon

On way back from Office: Make detour to feed puppies with milk and biscuits again

Quite a herculean task it was, as the milk I got from the store was always cold and the Lil ones could never manage to drink it. I used to keep the milk packet near the engine of the car to heat it up!

It was harrowing sometimes, as one morning I used to find one of the litter missing, and tears used to spring into my eyes wondering if it was dead or hoping in vain that some one had adopted it!

Even in dog adoption, we humans do gender discrimination. I have always found the Lil girl doggies left behind!

Even with the disappearances, I used to smile some days, as the tail wagging and the absolute cheer that dogs would have when i bought that milk packet and got the katori out!

Months passed..4 to actually keep count and I have just one pup surviving! I have no idea, whether I have lost or won!

A kiss is a kiss!

A kiss, is a kiss is a kiss! For the un-initiated, that's Kiran Mazumdar (Chairman of Biocon) and Vasundhara Raje (CM of Rajasthan)!

While flipping through the newspaper, with my hot cuppa coffee in the morning, this picture caught my eye and i almost got scalded when i jumped and almost spilt the hot coffee. What was in front of me was hotter than the brew in my hands. (The picture appeared in the Times Of India on the 28th of November.)

My initial reaction was like, "whoa, this will be one event that will be dissected in the media, a'la Shabana Azmi -Mandela kiss or even Madonna - Britney"

I scrutinised the image to see, if it was just a image taken from an angle, that made it look the way it did. Hell no. It was a clear cut snap!

I immediately looked at the text below the pic, and this is what it read, "Biocon chairperson and MD Kiran Mazumdar meets Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje Scindia at the India Economic Summit 2006 organised by the World Economic Forum and CII, in New Delhi on Tuesday ". Tame eh?

I said maybe none have got the whiff of what is going on, and sure next day it will be all over the news. Funny and strange, but it never appeared. No moralists stood up to fight, no political parties thundered, no traditionalists claimed that their faith was slandered.

After that did I get thinking, of course media was not going to blow this out of proportion, this was bigwigs. One a political bigwig, the other a corporate one. why get into their bad books, now if Sania Mirza had kissed Archana Poppat, that would be news.

This is just affections, Ladies and Gentlemen. Till Biocon advertises and Raje rules. That's the way it's going to be!

Hail the media for the most impartial picture! Mr. Sardesai, please take a bow!

We aint no Masters of the Universe

Was watching Animal Planet this Saturday. I chanced upon a program by ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) - www.aspca.org. It is a unit of people in the US of A, who are responsible for upholding the Humane Law. This necessarily means that they look into animal cruelty, mishandling of animals and also that pets are looked after.

These people are empowered to book people under cruelty to animals. Owners of pets who are not looking after their pets can be arrested and tried! It was wonderful to see rescues and the animals' further recovery from their trauma. I and a close friend consistently face uphill tasks, when we try to tell owners to care for their pets or simply ask people not to hurt the strays!

I may make a generalisation here (pls forgive me), we Indians think that the animals are scum, or more that we own them! That we are the rightful heirs to the universe! Since when were we given these powers?

Am i glad to see that in some countries that animals are treated on an equal keel as other human beings!

Whoa! ain't that great! Its amazing how many of us think that we are the Masters of the Universe! no sir, we ain't, we are one among the many creatures, one of the very many!

A pledge, if and ever if i migrate, I'll join the ASPCA! Damn, brand and advertising management!

Is it me or is it them?

These days, when i rush to office, I have started playing a game. (here let me put up my many apologies to all the women) Any car or bike in front of me goes through my scrutiny, and depending on the driving or the cautious parking or reversing or just its negotiation on the street, i make an attempt to guess it's driver. If the driver is slow, follows rules to the last word, does not accomodate, and there is no foresight, then i make my guess and over take! Invariably when I overtake, its a woman or an old old man!

Now, I'll leave the old men out of it! But ladies! why o why?

She can kill with a smile, she can wound with her eyes
She can ruin your faith with her driving lies
And she only sees what she wants to see
She rides like a child, she's definitely a woman to me

She can lead you to chaos, she can hurt you or dent you
She can act helpless, but you'll never believe
And she'll take what you give her and the tears flow free
Yeah, She drives like a blind, she's definitely a woman to me

CHORUS: Ohhh... she takes care of herself
She can wait if she wants, she's already blocked the traffic
Ohhh... and she never gives out
And she never gives in, she just changes her mind and bangs into the next car

And she'll promise you more than the garden of Eden
Then she'll carelessly cut you and smile apologetically while your car is bleeding
But she’ll bring out the best and the worst you can be
Blame it all on yourself 'cause she's definitely a woman-driver to me

And yes, I may be one of them, (men assure me I'm not). But why? when she can manage cooking, working, talking, and doing her nails at the same time, why not a clutch, a brake and an accelerator?