Cleanse Yourself along with supporting Anna

“INDIA AGAINST CURRUPTION” is the mantra being chanted nationwide. If we blame the government for being corrupt, we are also culpable at some level or the other for the state of corruption in our country today. The ombudsman alone will not help eradicating corruption in our country; every common man has to bring in a change within him to make this work.

Corruption is there at every level in our country, it’s just that the amount of money that goes in bribing increases proportionally with the financial potential of the person.   

We need to bring about a change from the “chalta hai” attitude to “nahi chalege” when it comes to corruption.

Let us take a glance in the day of a common man and how we can curb corruption at our level.

        

1.   Traffic police catches you for some reason , whatever over speeding for instance, he gives you an option Rs. 350 with receipt or Rs. 100 no receipt. People, please take the receipt, if you have actually made a mistake. 
2. Demand for a receipt wherever you pay money, for instance, 3D movies are in the theatres every month these days. Most of the malls charge you some amount for the glasses, and they don’t give you the bill. If we all protest and demand a bill for that, we can save a lot of money from becoming black.
3. Pay your taxes properly and honestly.
4. If a shopkeeper gives you a better discount for a product without bill then refuse him. Refrain yourself from the greed of saving a few rupees.
5. Stop pulling strings for favours, learn to stand in the queue and wait for your turn, be patient and be sincere to yourself.

These are just a few instances, I am sure there are many more, but the point I am trying to make is that we ought to be honest with ourselves before we expect others to.  I urge each and every person who is out there supporting Anna to make this promise today and try to build a corruption free nation. 

I am sure there are many places where  the common man is forced to pay bribe too, lets support Anna in his mission to bring out the Lokpal bill which will make the common man fearlessly say "NO" to bribe and corruption.

Chucklesome imaginations

As a kid i enjoyed reading Enid Blyton books. It was filled with imaginary creatures like pixie's, gnomes, elves etc. Each time i read about a creature i would try to visualize how they would look like. When i read Harry Potter, i always have this desire to be a part of that world. Imagine if we could all disapparate or fly on brooms; we wouldn’t have had to go through the pain of driving and life would have been so easier and interesting:) Lets come back to reality, these things can happen only in books.

When we hear or get to know about certain things for the first time, we tend to visualize the same in our minds. And our imagination could be so wrong; miles away from the facts.

Felt like sharing some hilarious assumptions i got to hear about.

FATHER IN LAW - at Musée du Louvre 

Mona Lisa is one painting about which each one of us would have read in our history books. I am sure each one of us would have pictured the painting in our minds; and so had my father in law. And here is how his imagination was squashed.

Me: Anna how did you find the museum?

Anna: It was nice.

Me: Did you see Mona Lisa?

Anna: Don’t even ask about it.

Me: Why what happened?

Anna: Aiyo, the painting is so small; even my mom’s photo in our house is bigger than that painting

GRANNY’s ASSUMPTION ABOUT CAR DRIVING SCHOOLS

One fine day, dad finally gave me the permission to go to car driving school. I was thrilled and super exited. Since granny always pushed me to learn new things and be independent i rushed to tell her the news.

Me:  Ajji, dad gave me permission to learn car driving.

Ajji: WHAT, WHY, How can he do this to his daughter?

Me: (Surprised) Why Ajji what happened?

Ajji: Your dad is a fool; i am not going to allow you to go to a car driving school.

Me: What are you saying Ajji? What’s wrong with you?

Ajji: Don’t argue with me, car driving it seems, you are not going to do any such thing.

Me: Ajji tell me why, what happened?

Ajji: Haven’t you seen in the movies, how the hero runs his hands all over the heroine when he tries to teach her how to drive the car. I don’t want some random guy to do the same thing to you.

GRANNY and COKE

We used to live in Nagpur for some years. Granny never wanted us to go away from Bangalore, but however we promised to write a letter to her every week. In one of my letters, i told granny that dad took us out for my birthday and we ate pizza and coke.

Now, granny did not know what Coke or Pepsi was, and the advertisements on TV only added to her confusion, so finally she decided to ask her son (my uncle)when he was not in the best of his moods .

Granny: What is this Pepsi, Coke and all? Is it good for health?  

Uncle: It’s a not healthy at all; don’t know why people drink it.

Granny: Call your sister now

Mom: Hello amma :)

Granny: What’s wrong with you and your husband, you both have started drinking alcohol and are making my grandchildren also drink it. Aren’t you ashamed to do this?

Mom: What are you talking? Who told you all this?

Granny: Don’t lie, i read the letter; you have started drinking Coke and Pepsi.

LOL, there are so many more, will write about them some other time.

The Side Effects of Being a Kannada Brahmin

When you are born in a Brahmin Family, you end up doing numerous things without any reasoning. And if you dare try asking for an explanation your parents just go wild and always say these words and shut you up.

 “You are not allowed to argue with us. Just do as you are asked to. We respected our parents so much. We never stood in front of them like this and questioned them. Look at your audacity. How dare you question like this?”

26 years and I am still not able to figure out certain things we do. Before I narrate a few instances, I think I should tell you the meaning of the word “Musre”.

“Musre“ in Kannada is one of the favorite words of my parents , grandparents , in-laws and everyone, expect for me and my husband and our generation people who do not seem to or rather do not want to understand that concept.  

After questioning a lot of people, I finally got the answer from one of my far related cousin. “Musre” means anything cooked with water.

Rules to follow when you eat

So here are some funny things you have to follow while you are eating food.

1.  None of the vessels containing cooked food should touch or even be within a radius of 1 inch of each other. Reason – “Musre”.
2. You are not supposed to move or lift your plate. Even if the person serving food is sitting miles apart and he/she is almost going to fall over everything while serving food, you should not move your plate. Reason – unknown.
3. Your plate should not touch your body. If it does it is a crime, be prepared to listen to the music for the next half an hour. “How many times should I teach you, not to do such things?”
4.  Whenever you want to serve curd or pickle or chutney pudi, after you have touched a vessel containing Musre, you have to wash your hand. Our ancestors have found an amazing shortcut for it though. Just pour 2 drops of water next you before you sit to eat, and every time you want to serve something, touch the water and then touch the vessel. Touching the water is equivalent to washing your hands.(weird but have to do it )

Rules become even more stringent when grandparents are around

Milk and Curd and raw veggies do not fall into the Musre category , everything else do.  Until my granny started living with us in our house,  the only  Musre rule I was aware of , was the one to be followed while eating. Then one day when granny came home, I was enlightened with more Musre details.

Scene:

 Granny asks me to make her some coffee. I went to the kitchen, made coffee and forgot to keep the milk back in the refrigerator. After some time granny enters the kitchen and you can hear a loud “Ayoo ramaaaaaaaaaaa”. Mom runs into the kitchen, I follow her thinking granny might have hurt herself.

When I enter the kitchen granny is furious. What is this? She asks. “WHY HAVE TO KEPT MILK WITH MUSRE?” she shouts at mom. Mom looks at me with such anger, her eyes are so wide that I thought they may just fall off any second.  “HOW MANY TIMES SHOULD I TEACH YOU THIS, CANT YOU KEEP MILK AWAY FROM MUSRE?”  Mom and granny both left the kitchen discussing the details of the crime I had just committed, whilst I stood there sinking in the new Musre detail.

Rules become worse when you get married to another Brahmin

I consider myself extremely lucky since the day I married Ravi. My in-laws are damn friendly and pamper me more than my parents. Since I got married, I never really had to bother about cooking. But just a few months after I got married, my in-laws had to go meet their daughter in Germany. And I was in charge of the kitchen for 3 months.

My father in-law called me and yet again enlightened me about Musre. This was what he told.”Nodamma , navvu irolla, please musre padarthagalanna fridge volage idabeda” . In English this means “Look dear, we won’t be in town for some time, but please do not keep anything Musre in the fridge”.

I told him, tell me what not to keep and I won’t keep. And here came the list: “Rice, Sāmbhar, cooked vegetables, dal, rotis, chutneys” etc.  I was like OK. What can I keep in the refrigerator now?  That become a costly affair, I had to buy a new refrigerator for my floor, so that I could keep whatever I wanted.

I think I better stop here.   Will write more soon. Don’t worry , will not write about Musre againJ