Now-A-days...

Time is so relative…and forever changing. This makes it impossible for a person like me to write blogs on all the opinions, ideas and thoughts I have, coz: I have a lot of them!

Well since I’ve obviously found the elusive time, I shall write, hopefully a lot, though not too much to bore you guys!

The things of foremost importance to me right now are: a) Research. b)ReSearch c)RESEARCH. (heheh) I have been knee deep in work doing my research on “ metabolic syndrome in children and adolescents” . This needs to be published somewhere, for I have been dedicating quality of my time on this topic. How? Why? What? You may want to know…So let me start, well, at the beginning. I happened to stumble on this topic, thanks to my guide, the best, Dr. Shubhadra. She directed me and I fell for this topic: hook, line and sinker.

About the research: I have basically been working on childhood obesity, one of the MAJOR paradoxes in our India. We have people dying of starvation and sad pictures of marasmic & kwashiorkor kids on one end, while, on the other side, we have an obesity epidemic on the rise. I pity the government, for, policy making ahead is going to be tough.

Childhood is the time to make the most of everything, least of all, to become FAT and unfit to do anything! These children from different schools in Mumbai are, say, 30% at risk for all the complications their fathers and forefathers had, at the age of ^+_ 12 years!!! They will be diabetic, hypertensive and obese individuals with heart problems. Most of these kids belong to the notorious ‘Middle class’, sadly. Being middle class, their parents hope for their child to be a doc, engineer, lawyer, architect…Im sure they wouldn’t want to see a diabetic youth, unable to climb a flight of stairs, coz the heart is choked with cholesterol. But seemingly so, this may be a reality for many households. Most parents/grandparents manage and continue to ‘buy’ love and affection in the form of ‘junk’. Children continue to splurge their parent’s hard earned cash on ‘junk’. No one wants to move their behinds for anything these days, thanks to tech-savvy attitudes ans home delivery! Well, it must be brought to notice that: Being the plump boy is not cute!!! The baby fat is going no where. I say boy, because, the boys in my study (on a minor majority) are plump, while the girls are catching up, as the usual trend.

Hopefully, by the end of my research, after working with delightfully bright, co-operative and amazingly intelligent intellectuals (I would rather call the children and youth I have been working with as intellectuals rather than individuals, for they are truly a smart bunch, something that makes me proud of them), I shall be able to guide them to a better lifestyle, something our generation skipped on.

Till then, hoping for the best and sure to keep you’ll posted.

(For more information, suggestions, ideas and thoughts, feel free to email me at: shirinjanoos@gmail.com)

Hope and 62 years of freedom...

This is those one am posts, where sleep is far and distant... Ive been wanting to write for a while now. I have so much to say. The things essentially occupying my thoughts are waiting to be typed...so here goes...

Its 62 years of being free, we have democracy, we have a youthful demography, we have what other nations don't...we could be all that we want! We've also had our share of bummers, as a nation. But being 62 years as an independent nation should have brought some grounded faith within us citizens. But I sadly must re-enforce that I belong to the disappointed population of this potentially great nation. What could have been achieved if...This "if" list is long!

But to start somewhere, I feel our 'high tolerance' attitudes are to blame! 'Mainu ki farak phadta hai'!! The typical delhi-ish phrase springs to my mind. We don't care! That is a fact, as long as things don't bother us much. We will live in a polluted city, adding to it daily, never dread the consequences of mosquitoes sharing our living space, spit on the roads shamelessly, but...for the fear of contracting an 'imported' flu...we shut our livelihood, don't send anyone to school and add to panic by spreading rumours! This disgusts me.

Apart from the ancestral crimes of 'reservations for the minorities(~read "so called" backward classes)' and the 'partition of a wholesome nation' , we clearly endorse these acts conveniently, religiously follow these trends, protest vociferously in support (the only thing we seem good at, at this point at least) and display our hypocrisies.

We are willing to 'greedily' hoard on stuff like 'face masks' (which may not necessarily protect us from the 'so dreaded' swine flu/H1N1 virus) and tamiflu tablets (which have serious side-effects), but using a condom, so freely available and efficient, maybe looked upon as an embarrassing thing! This disgusts me...

Before I'm being thought of as unpatriotic, I want to clear my stance. I love India! This is true, inspite of all the above mentioned. I write this, not to ridicule, but with the feeling that we could somehow change. We the youth (so truly wasted on us), could bring in new trends, set new examples , not 'go with the flow' for once. Maybe that day is not so far in the future...This keeps the flame somewhere in me flickering~ Hope its soon!

The obsoletes..1

Sorry, not written for a long time now. What to do? I'm not finding any motivation, (classic writer's block reason)...or am I just being a lazy bloke? I can't say. Today I write, coz someone commented on my blog. See, that's motivation enough for me. (Read between the lines ppl!)

Okay, I have been busy with my research (soul depleting I must add) , but its not like I don't have any thoughts that I want to share with u ppl...blog worthy stuff is always going on in my brain, somewhere. So what I have been wanting to write about is this:

THE OBSOLETE.

The audio tape.

I knew I was never gonna mention the 'records' played on gramophones. Those went away well before I was brought to earth. (Not that I wouldn't like to have them as a collectible). But, 

have you wondered where that old audio tape went, the one which you forced Mom to buy, when you were a little child, just so that you could add to 'the collection' of your household (read Dad's)

Well, my Dad is a solid fan of 'good music' , so he always was happy about me adding, though I did not have a taste to boast about then. The other day, when I was home, I happened to stumble across those tapes...and was hit by nostalgia. The good old days (mostly the week ends), when music was always around to cheer me up from the dreadful weekend homework. I remember learning nursery rhymes along with tapes...those days were FUN!! It also struck me that...: I don't think I will ever be able to listen to this...the good old audio tape, thanks to those new music players, who provide only for CD or the KB music (the ones converted to kilobytes, or whatever that is). So there, the audio cassette is an obsolete. out dated...and that too, in my life time. It makes me feel OLD and sad. No rewinding...ahh! And to add here, I miss my walk man days too!

The handkerchief.

Where are those men, who in dire times, help a damsel with a kerchief, hand embroidered with their initials, by someone who loved and cared for them enough (read mom/wife/sister...i wonder why boys didn't find the need to express their love through embroidery... just a though...it was never that women had 'no work'...I'm sure they always had something to do, better than embroidering for their sons/husband/brother...well, that's another issue)

Its gone these days...and I think we owe today's fashion responsible. Where will one stuff a hanky...the pants are so tight anyways...lol! But I have found a few ppl adhering to this obsolete ritual, only to be frowned upon by uber cool people... who never care about anybody but their butt! So there goes the hanky... 

The fountain pen.

Maybe its old and still around, but schools these days are not very strict about this one. Ive studied in a convent where writing should be done with an 'ink pen, specifically an air-mail'. Today, all I see is kids flaunting their 'china' pens....ahh...I miss my airmail days...I loved the idea of drawing alphabets on paper, rather than scribbling something with a ball point , something that I have got used to these days....research is taxing!

I'm kinda short on time, so I'll continue with the other obsoletes SOON...Plz feel free to comment, would love to hear whatever you wish to say!

The Illusionist.

No, I'm not here to dissect the beautifully crafted movie, (one of my all-timers) but I'd rather like to use the title as a comparative gesture of today's political scenario. The illusion of an India recession free, not tied by mass unemployment and still a shining bird has been pulled off real well. Hats off! Whoa! How did that happen? Why wasn't the common man angry enough even to register the actual thruth and then go on to create a speculative poll scenario where the politicians should have been biting their nails (heck chewing their finger for all I care) until the results were out. That was the least we could do! We behaved like sitting ducks! Not that I have any particular political party to blame, for the ideologies of parties and their leaders change as per convenience and I never did once believe in any of the crap the ever put forward. ( If they'd care enough to voice it , it could have been done as well)and before I'm looked at accusingly by many of my friends and colleagues I'll like to add here that, Yes! In spite of the lack of good politicians I didn't let my precious vote go waste!!
After clearing that, now, that the results are finally out (after wrecking havoc to many students' exam schedules) I must declare that I found it utterly difficult to choose a candidate for whom I could vote without having to clench my fists!
All of them, including the one I voted for are mumble mumble. (the choicest abuses are ready to spring out, but Ill refrain from stooping to their levels)
Now tell me. I know we must vote! Its our right and It totally makes sense. But how can one choose 'the jack with one eye in the kingdom of the blind'. Its unfair and the idea of democracy is surely not making the choice of the guy who is bad among the worst. The illusionist claims that he will fool and yet why do we have the tendency to fail to see critically and believe blindly!
However, there is no point voicing this now, you may say, and again I fear, I shall disagree, coz, if not now, then I'm sure we shall repeat this ahead ~ Voting is our right , but making sure there are people worthy for our vote is our duty! Hopefully the next time round we enjoy both our right and duty!
Till then, Cheers!

The First Post~Cheers!

Hello all you people! Hope everything is going smooth... Now that I have started a new blog session, it does not mean that I have changed my writing style or anything else. This blog has been started with the intentions of not just giving "my take on life" but something which has more mass appeal...Thus the blog is aptly (?) named Cutting chai!

Chai traces its origin to our neighbour (read China, not Pakistan)...aur jo apne neighbour ka, woh apna hi samajna, right? And to top it all, how can we forget to Indianise everything we copy...okay borrow! No, we don't like the green rubbish they serve in mainland china, or any other fancy-shancy chinese restaurant, we love masala chai aka. the CTC variety of tea. Some can chalao with the normal green tea, but I'm sure we don't consider drinking tea as an art form, do we? So here, in a country of tea lovers, a cutting chai is always (hopefully) welcome, I believe. I mean, we never say no to a cutting chai, coz we know its not just the tea, there is more to it than that hot liquid. Its more of a symbolic thing, this cutting represents the ability we have to share with our friends and colleagues and loved ones everything that is dear to us... Its the thing we do, that makes acquaintances friends and friends family.

So here is my Cutting chai, Cheers to good times!