Spiritual but not religious!

Hello Readers,

I think winter has already started showering frozen flakes in most parts. Here while am penning this down, I see no trace of cold breeze in south east part of India. I hated my last London winter so much, but now I miss it terribly not because I wanted to feel the warmth but because my winter collection will be lying in the closet waiting for their turn. Am I bugging too much about my wardrobe love? Can't help it folks.

I was really busy although my lines are waiting to be phrased n blogged. My blog posts often are comments/elaborate thoughts that ponder in my mind while observing some people/deeds. So is this one.

 Spiritual but not Religious!!! A lot of us would have heard about this phrase many a times and many of us would have stated it too. But as I was reading Swami Vivekananda's speeches, the man who was regarded as one of great spiritual gurus made no distinction between spirituality and religion. In his words it is religion which teaches us spirituality. This might seem very confusing to those have believed and have been believing that Spirituality and Religion are both distinct. This is because, most of us are surely not aware about the essence of these terms. We simply think that being religious narrows our thoughts and will never embrace broader horizons. And we believe that "I am spiritual" statement is a way prove that we are very open minded. This has certainly come from our celebrities who often state that they are not religious but spiritual. Of course I myself never really gave a thought about the terms. Although I am neither too spiritual nor too religious.

After reading Swamiji's speeches, I have clearly understood that religion is the entry pass for spiritual world. However, when we use the term religion, we tend to narrow our thoughts to one particular religion mostly our own religion. If one knows how to travel through the path of religion to reach the spiritual realms, there would never be a question of confusion about leading a religious life. Our ancient Gurus have taught in similar fashion. 

But today, spirituality has become a separate entity. Most gurus/preachers today preach spirituality as different practice that has not much to do with religion. I have seen some of my friends stating that they are spiritual, just because they follow a famous spiritual guru. And those who say spiritual but not religious...surprisingly from what I have observed most of these are very much biased and religion obsessed.

Moreover, when you just think about turning spiritual, what motivates you (other than a Spiritual Guru)???.  

As I mentioned that the greatest guru himself clearly said that the two terms are intertwined...now for those who would want to state the above phrase, you better give it a double check!

Cheers

Vennela

Vintage Thanks!

Dear folks,

Wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!!!
This Thanksgiving is very different because, I am miles away from the celebration. Not that I am very much used to this celebration. But certainly festivals are unforgettable and always fun no matter how much we are used to it. Celebrate it once with much laughter and fun and we fall in love with it. Thanksgiving was something like that for me. All through my stay in USA, every year of Thanksgiving was super fun. The food, shopping, friends gatherings etc. That fun still lingers in my mind. And that love has pushed me to collect some vintage cards. Have I missed to mentioned that my recent crush is "anything vintage". So here I am celebrating this Thanksgiving by posting some beautiful cards to all friends & foes in USA. Have a look my lovely readers.

Heartful Thanks & Gratitude to all my wonderful friends. Love u all

P.S: My post this time has been delayed as I have come home being pampered, loved and irritated with allergies :( I promise I will get back soon with a beautiful post.

Cheers

Vennela

Shopping Party

Bonjour,

This post is exclusive to all those compulsive and impulsive shopaholics.

September 8th was the super fun night for many of the shopaholics around the world. Especially for those based in London & New York. Vogue's fashion night out was the reason behind this fun. I can't hold myself without sharing this super fun time that I had. 

It was completely a surprise for me as I was prepared to get back after 7pm which is the usual time the stores on the famous Regent Street, London say goodnight. But, on that day there were no closing announcements. I was wondering if I was so lost in shopping that I did not care to listen the announcements. Its always more exciting to do the last minute shopping. And so, I was literally speed walking to get a last minute glance on next outlet.

It was little surprising to see so many shoppers in one of my favourite brand (Tommy) stores. They were giving out vouchers at the doorstep which brought out a big wow expression from shoppers there and of course from me too. Coz, the voucher meant I need not rush in and rush out but enjoy my shopping with another couple of hours time in hand and get a discount of xtra 20% and a free goodie bag and a 10% voucher for next purchase. Since I haven't read whats on tonight in London before I stepped out, that was certainly a pleasant surprise. But being treated in a special way was absolutely a delight. Rarely I come across these treats and though there are, they all are mostly simple and sometimes silly treats that you dont even care to stop by to be treated. This time it was new to me as I was greeted with a flute of champagne and sneak-peak of Winter Catalogue Fashion photo shoot. The hawwwt models were camouflaged with the newly launched winter collection. Tough luck to the guys ;) So was this all about the evening???..no the night out mania continued  through other top brands. The sales person shared a good news that this night out fun is gonna be there for other brands too. So, next pit stop was at the my most favourite and one of its kind brand (Anthropologie). Welcoming with similar treat and discounts there was also a peekaboo vintage collection. The Victorian era styled collection display was real eye candy yet the prices were not. You know none of us do expect a 2 digit price tag for such collection. :) The night out journey continued till late night with each of the brands giving a super welcome with party drinks and rock music. There were also free make overs from the top stylists and carnival atmosphere all over.                                                      

Newspapers wrote that it was the one of biggest fashion event of the year.This was the 3rd Fashion night out hosted by Vogue in 3 years. Call it a shopathon or a shopping party, almost every shop looked like a pub and shoppers seemed all excited screaming 'Lets go Party tonight'!. All thanks to Vogue for the unplanned yet amazing night. 

This reminds me of the vintage picture from French Vogue's 1950s magazine cover that I collected. The irony here is the model is fully clad in this picture unlike the present Vogue covers ;) Have a look.

Cheers

Vennela

The Doomsday Conspiracy

Hello,

Before beginning the actual post, let me thank you all readers for helping me win a gift card from Google Adsense. Inspires me to write more frequently. :)

This post is about the day before 9/11. No, I was not in America then.  Although many of them when asked 'Tell me your Dreams' mentioned their American dream...I never had any intentions to go to American then. So how I am related to this? 

My answer is...I was in my 1st year of Bachelor's degree then. Not the degree that I hold now. Therez another little story which I would reserve for a later time, but for now the 1st year mentioned did not really end as an year. It only began. Confusing isn't. Let it be. Coming to the actual topic, you know how we bunk classes and spend time under trees and cafeterias chatting all sort of gossips and nonsense some times. And rarely even girls do have nothing to chat. I know this comes as a great surprise for men out there but this is true. And so happened with us. We ran out of the blabber and so we ran behind the books. Don't panic for the strange behavior, books I meant were novels. By then Harry Potter had not made his advent into the Indian book lovers industry...so the craze was all for Sydney Sheldon. His books were the secret treasures of what we were restricted to watch or talk outside boldly. Now even the kids do not hesitate to utter many words that we never dared to spell. Apart from the over 18 content that Sheldon's novel had, they had the most interesting and thrilling content which kept the readers on the edge of their seats. This gripping narration is what made me glued to his books for days n days. So how does his novel relate to the 9/11?

Here it goes...We bunked the classes and due to scarcity of topics to chat, one of us started reading the Sheldon's famous novel "The Doomsday Conspiracy". To prove that girls do have intelligent and profound conversations, I have to tell you that reading of the novel subsequently brooded into an intelligent coffee table discussion about the Pearl Harbour. Well, if you ask me how did this transition(Sheldon to Pearl Harbour) happened?, you only will understand if you are familiar with such conversations.

This Sheldon's Novel was all about the male protagonist chasing a secret and being chased by the secret in the later half. But our discussion drifted to the Sands of time back to the Pearl Harbour Attack. Only couple of us have an idea of what Pearl Harbor attack was and so we shared with the rest...."It all seemed like the Sky is Falling with hundreds of comets hitting the planet at once in Hawaii on Dec7, 1941. While the Other side of the Midnight (Japan) remained calm, the harbor burned down. These Memories of Midnight chased Japan Morning, Noon and Night. Following day, the powerful nation unleashed its Naked face and declared If Tomorrow comes there will be a war waged against Japan. While the powerful nation remained the Master of the Game, other countries supported the Bloodline and turned this into World War II eventually. This discussion followed by our own individual doubts about the world's powerful nation's defense system. Whether America's intelligence and defense system failed to predict the attack or was it not strong enough. Whether any group or nation would ever dare to attack such powerful nation. If so, how intelligent would they have to conspire and how will they ever enter the nation with a plan like this in mind. So many questions made their way in to the discussion. We concluded finally when the bells started ringing in our bellies. The conclusion was having had a very strong and robust defense system, it is almost impossible for any one to sketch some Best Laid Plans against America.

The very next morning there was the heartbreaking 9/11 news all over. We were shocked to know the news than anyone. The fact that our discussions were so coincidental shocked us even more. This resulted to the superstition that reading of that book and discussions brooded after that, followed by a fatal news of 9/11 eventually led to the doom of The Doomsday Conspiracy book from our  book list.
No Nation wants to wake up to watch such fatal news. Sympathy and Prayers to the victims of 9/11.

Let there be peace and harmony!

Cheers

Vennela

Glimpses of reality

Namasthe,

While I am comfortably relaxing in my couch penning down this post, my mind has been revolving around a peasant couple somewhere in the corner of rural West Bengal, India. Coming from an urban background, I rarely made visits to my grandparent’s village. My grandparents also moved out to the cities and so our connection with the village was very less although my father had great love towards his ancestor’s place. The only relation with village that exists for me even today is having my paternal aunt who stays in the village. All these years she has been working on the rural development programmes, but she never mentioned in any of her conversations that there were extremely poor villagers who cannot afford very basic needs like food and shelter. Reasons are the villages around my city were quite well farmed and cultivated as most of them fall along the flow routes of two major river basins. And of course two major dam’s irrigation canals flowing in the region are another reason for abundant water supply. So, I never really heard from my aunt or any other extended family member who stayed in villages complaining of major issues in farming or their co-villagers suffering in below poverty line. In fact these villages were quite prosperous and green most of the year.

But this was not at all the case about this peasant couple that I mentioned; they were not being able to afford one meal a day. Isn’t it heartbreaking? If you wonder how did I come across this couple... recently a show was aired on BBC named "India on Four Wheels" which featured two enthusiasts from Britain driving across the urban and rural Indian routes covering all major corners and what they encounter or confront in their road trip was all included in it. The show was certainly one of its kinds. I hardly watched any such show with a purpose and yet interesting in the regional channels recently. Not to deviate but a much needed mention here is about the Doordarshan channel, which used to focus on such real issues but of course mostly in a documentary which is why it didn’t get many eyeballs glued.

Although we Indians being quite familiar with the huge economic disparities in the country, I was so emotionally touched while watching the show. Especially when on north western corner there was this Maharaja of Udaipur flaunting his vintage Rolls Royce collection. And not being able to maintain the huge palace on his own, leased out it as a hotel which seemed as an answer to his biggest problem. And on the north east corner therez this poorest peasant couple starving for days even after working so hard on their farm and on top of this one of the storms had swept away their entire year's toil and the little piece of shelter they owned. This extremity shattered me. I have no complaints against this Maharaja's extravagant living style; I indeed enjoyed watching his huge collection of the royal living and fabulous wheels until I saw the poverty in the other corner.

Poverty itself is such a scary term to many of us. Would we ever imagine us being there???...No, not even in our wildest dreams. Not having a square meal a day is really really worse. The couple I mentioned did not complain of anything but food and that too grown out of their little farm. While the luxurious richness and prosperity of the Maharaja seemed like a fairy tale, the dearth of this peasant family knocked of the fanciness and gave a glimpse of the reality. 

This whole thing actually reminds of a scene from Swades one of my favourite films, where the peasant family reveals the paucity of very basic necessities for their existence. (From 3:00 to the end)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u18Hv6eTWow&feature=fvwrel

Well, I don’t know if I could stop this emotional outburst here and forget it in a while because it moved me so much so that I would expect this could see some positive repercussions.

Cheers

Vennela

Life after Death

Halo,

Earlier, I have posted my memoirs with couple of the instructors that I came across during my education. I don’t know if they will be in memory for long time. But the man I am going to write about will live forever in my memories. I wanted to share an experience with my readers about this wonderful Professor who passed away recently.

Many Indian students go toa USA with lot of expectations about the education system there. Even I belong to the same clan. My first encounters with the course professors seemed quite interesting. I was having my share of doubts, but was excited to dive into the system. I was also warned by few senior students that the course work I chose was very tough and lot of students eventually change their stream not being able to gain good scores. As warned, the toughness and tediousness in the courses unfolded slowly.

One course seemed bit simple but the professor who taught had a very different approach to the lectures. All his lectures seemed random and most of the time he picked the market developments from the new papers and handed out to the pupil. The randomness eventually decreased my interest to attend his lectures. So if ever I had to dedicate some extra time at my part time job, I would spare his class time for that. When it came to the assignments and projects, our desi pupil shamelessly plagiarised taking advantage of the loopholes in the course. This was not noticed by him for long time. Initially, I hated that system but eventually got trapped into it in some occasions. This trap reduced the burden, n obviously you take things easy and that’s what I did until I came to know that I scored a bad grade than others in my team who also did the same. As I wasn’t able to digest the fact, I rushed to see the professor to ask for an evaluation. I was so unfortunate because he just then knew about the plagiarism and completely avoided confrontations with any students. I miffed my bad luck and decided not to go for his courses for the next semester.

However, if destiny decided that I should end up with a good relation with this man, I can’t escape. So, I had to opt for his course in a summer semester which actually developed quite positive relation with him. At that point of time, I was literally in a bizarre about my skills and the course I choose. But this professor helped me gain good confidence and encouraged me spotting my best assets. In the following semesters, he encouraged me to present technical papers and gave me a platform to prove my mettle. Had he not done that, I would have ended up graduating with no feathers in my cap or would have changed my stream(with great regret) as many others did. To be honest, I was so adamant from the beginning about changing the stream just because there is pressure be it in my education or work.

Well, getting back...this professor boosted me with positive energy till I graduated. Couple of incidents that I can never forget were when he delivered the lecture having so much pain after a nose injury, literally he stood there with bunch of tissues wiping the blood off and continuing his lecture. This might seem weird but he did not consider that it was any hindrance. The other was when he personally called on my mobile to inform that there were minor errors in my paper which might object him to give a best grade. Given the reputation he had, he can grade it off either with a positive one as nobody comes to him for an explanation or with a next best one showing me the errors as a reason. But he made an effort to grab my number from the admin and called to let me know to correct them so that he can give a best grade. When asked for a reason he said, when you made me proud and reached my expectations as the engineering society conference, I shouldn’t let you down.

I was so honoured to see him at my graduation ceremony and being blessed by him.  It gave me immense happiness when I came to know that no other students from his own department graduated, yet he came to greet me. It didn’t stop there; he extended his support even during my job interviews. Not to forget his random lectures, and the news paper hand outs came to great use during my work. Even today I am the in the same line of work that he often taught in his classes and pupil thought he was obsessed with this topic. He was way ahead of times as now I see a lot of future in that topic “Sustainability”.

He was in constant touch responding to all my emails until recently. I will be always grateful and thankful to him. This is just my experience, and there are many other students especially desis who had similar and better experiences associated with this wonderful man. You will always live through the knowledge that you shared and the path that you have shown us Dr.Koehn.

Cheers

Vennela

Dream or Nightmare

Hello People

I have earlier written that London is a dream destination to me and many others in the world. Today the dream seems a nightmare at the sight of some areas in the city. From the day I moved to London, till recently, I have never seen any criminal activities around the city nor heard of it often. Before I moved here, I have read reports about the crime rate in England, but after moving here most of my friends assured that there were very least no. of incidents that happened as such. The City has always been monitored by CCTVs all around. Every activity on the street is seen and Police used the system very effectively to cease such activities. 

The area of Tottenham was close to my previous stay and it all seemed very messy to me. Reasons could have been poverty or irresponsibility. This area had so many street mongers all the time. I wasn't surprised when the riots began in that area. Generally the very sight of the area will make one understand what you get from it. I wouldn't say all of the residents are so, but definitely the public areas seemed mayhem to a newcomer like me. When police shot a guy suspecting to have a weapon and a life threat, it was understood that the police had shown discrimination against the communities. Peaceful protest began condemning the shooting and as per some sources, the riots began when one of the police mishandled a teen trying to control the outburst. Twitter and Blackberry messenger had enormously helped the rioting mobs to connect and spread the violence in no time to other areas. It was reported that these mobs claimed that police have to learn a lesson and the rich need to suffer the consequences. Also reported that most of these rioters were drug and alcohol addicts and of course most of them in their teens and the bursting anger was due to the earlier police raids and arrests of the people from their community. When riots took place only in the Tottenham area, it was believed that all happened due to the outburst about the shooting. But when it spread like a wildfire to other areas, it seemed crazy chaos. Within in 3 days millions of pounds worth properties were damaged and shops were looted. After 1st day's looting the stolen items were sold for just 20-50 pounds when their original value would be around 1000s of pounds. This violence spread like craze amongst other bonkers who had no motive to carry on the violence except to share some hysteric fun. Some of the videos show these mobs happily looting, and sharing funny comments while the police watched helplessly.

I was actually surprised by the police taking least action against these looters. In some areas, normal citizens complained of police being spectators while the rioters looted away. A woman complained that she witnessed the looting and police who were few in number were literally nervous to face the huge mobs. The reasons of damage can also be redirected to the system failure because as soon the riots started spreading to the other areas, even a common man or a newcomer like me were also able to assess which areas would take over these acts. But police stated that it was unpredictable for 2 days. And when there were huge mobs protesting around, what will the small no.of police do to stop them with no rights to fire a plastic bullet or water cannons at least. The turmoil just increased manifold within hours but the action plans were not improved. Until yesterday, government was not able to put a stop to the riots. Arrest were made after the damage has all been done and several private cars, building were burnt totally. If the insurance doesn’t cover the riot damage, I guess the losses can take ages to be recovered. 

Another missed common sense fact is that, these rioters who set warehouses on fire and looted shops did not understand that they are also cutting down the jobs. One Sony warehouse which was burnt had approximately 700 employees who might lose their livelihood until the warehouse resumes its operations. And what about the parents of these youngsters… what have they been doing while these teens were creating havoc in the city? 

Now it all boils down to a racist slanging match. How pathetic? Regardless of our creed or colour we should be standing together for what is right and wrong. The man who was shot should have been brought to justice for what he had done not shot to death. But the fact he has been shot should not have led to these riots. We cannot bring racism in this battle, but have to understand, despite the race it is the few individuals who chose to be this way that caused the problem. With 2012 Olympics ahead, these riots are certainly a serious threat to the country’s image. Prayers for peace and harmony!!! Let this city be a dream destination as always!!!

cheers

Vennela

GOD in a Man (Reposted)

Hello Readers,

It looks like the debate about the dignity and integrity of Sri SatyaSaiBaba never ends. So it made me revive my earlier post and repost it. The treasure that has seen the light from swami’s yajur mandir has become the central topic of discussion. I want to make it clear that, there are so called god-men and god-women who exploit people monetarily, physically and sometimes mentally in the name of religion or spirituality. But as far as I know the devotees of Baba never complained of being exploited in any of the above ways or at least never moaned about spending money on their trips to Puttaparthi, which takes him out of the clan of fake commercial god men. When the question of the wealth comes, it would be appropriate to streamline those funds for further development and maintenance of Baba’s established organisations.

After the demise of Sri SatyaSaiBaba, there were many discussions about Gods,Demigods n God men. Some said he was God indeed and some said he was a God-man and many other names were also attributed to him after his death.  I was never his devotee when he was alive nor did I hate him for any damn reason or news. I knew people who followed him, worshiped him and adored him. I never tried to weigh his good n bad. I am neutral. It surprises me when people say and treat him like any other money looter in our society. We vote the corrupt politicians again and again, n ignore the scammers even if they directly loot the tax payers money. Why would we blame some one, to whom we never gave a penny? I would personally see him as a Robinhood. Take from the rich and give it to the poor. This is what he did in so called spiritual terms. Not all the rich love to donate their wealth to poor and needy. God man like Sri SatyaSaiBaba are believed to bless them with boons and so they stand in queues to touch his feet and donate money to his trust. The media says he gives out costly gifts to the rich n celebrities and distribute some vibhuti to ordinary devotees. Come on its sheer common sense people, the rich give so much so they do deserve those little gold chains n watches. But point to be noted is that, the hospitals, schools, university, and other orphan homes run by his trust are not for the rich folk. The people who receive these services are more from poorer classes and people in desperate need. So this should at least pacify those who say he is a cheater/looter. I visited one of the orphanage/old age home maintained by his trust recently during my India visit. I was very impressed by the services offered to the people there, discipline maintained there and the way they accept the donations was also very organised. And I have heard from people who visited the prashanthi nilayam in puttaparthi that it was an extremely pleasant and peaceful stay. Nobody complained of commercial attitude, even if they are not the devotees. If our well known temples have become completely commercialized, dont you think this is a much better place? Another interesting rather surprising observation I made was, our celebs who tweeted RIP Sri SatyaSaiBaba. They stated him as a God-man or Demi God or God and still add RIP? Please wake up people, if he is an eternal being, he is obviously in peace all the time. No matter alive or dead. Only ordinary mortals need wishes and prayers to rest in peace. Change your text celebs :D. Anyways I would only like to say, we may not adore him or worship him but let us not defame him anymore. Let us pay our tributes to the Godliness in this man.

Cheers

Vennela

Live don't survive

Bonjour!

What is living? All of us have several different modest answers for this term. However, how many of us understood that the term doesn't appropriately apply to most of us? In one line I define Living as being contended at some point, seems very cliché but I am sure no one can disagree with that statement. Only very small percentage of us are in that state of being content or at least understanding the beauty of being content. Today's world tempts us to run the rat race. Our aims and aspirations are sky rocketing day by day. As generations change, it is obvious to witness evolution and development. But, in the name of development, we have shed the wisdom petals with which we were weaved naturally and remained nude allowing all sorts of temptations to invade and make us vulnerable to more desires. Do I sound like a Guru :D well, all those words of wisdom repeated might remind a preacher.  

When you get a chance to be alone, literally doing nothing, staring at stars, we tend to think about ourself n sometimes retrospect. This stage of retrospection happens to all of us at some point of time. The sooner we experience, the better we evolve. Only very few of us dare to welcome this stage, because when we precisely know the consequences of this realisation, our vulnerable state will never want us to wear this armour to shield off the so called "flow". I think, that this "flow" term has been coined to represent the shameless acceptance of the monotonous lifestyles of the newer generation who simply admit '' well, what's wrong? I am going with the flow" Now should we encourage this trend? Is it really good? Or are we so thick skinned that we did not realise that we lost track already.  

In this “flow” trend, the metropolitan crowd have a special excuse code called "busy with work" for everything they miss, sometimes this everything also includes life. In the case of couples, it’s even more common, both of them work, they hardly get to see each other, earn great savings, with great aims to build home at a very young age, buy expensive cars and trip the world before they retire. Before they realise the "flow" pushes them far away. When we crave for an uncertain tomorrow and forget the certain today, we are definitely not living today. What is the point of missing an auspicious today for an unknown tomorrow? If we think that all our efforts today will leave comforts for a retired life, we are missing a point there. After retirement, one would crave for solitude not comforts. One may not want to carry debts but one may also not want to carry heaps of money to avoid the fight for heirs. When we sit back and relax after retirement and regret about not doing things that we really wanted to do, it doesn’t bring back the lapsed time. That time is to relish the beauty of one's journey not to regret. If this trend continues, how many of us will relish this journey? Even now, how many of us question ourselves, am I living or merely surviving? Once the question asked, we get clear answers and simple solutions to lead life in a better way. 

Living is enjoying the smallest pleasures that life has gifted us and being able to appreciate the blessings we have and sharing the blessings to those who are not as gifted as us. As they say, when we share happiness it doubles, so is it with blessings. Life is meant to be lived happily. n Happiness doesn’t lie in material comforts but merely lies n amplifies in being human.

So let’s stop running n start living!

Read this somewhere: Today's world  Our phone are wireless, Cooking is fireless, Food is fatless, Youth are jobless, Leaders are shameless, Relations are meaningless, Attitude is careless, Feelings are heartless, Education is valueless, But still our desires are "Endless".

cheers

Vennela

Wipe the weeps

Offlate, I have been too apprehensive to peep into the news pages (India), everyday there is at least one worst incident against women., be it stabbing, raping or harassing. Recent survey indicates that, India has occupied 4rth place among the most unsafe places for women in the world. 

Women goddesses are worshipped in this land, what sort of message is spreading to those inhuman rascals who massacre the safety of women. Delhi, being the capital city has got the worst reputation in this aspect. Why has the rate of violence against women alarmingly increased in the past decade. I can list a 1000 incidents which were very violent to the core. Who had to be blamed? The men who did those atrocities? or the laws which were not stringent against such criminals? or the parents of men who pamper and support their grown up sons for every single stupid thing they do or those women who let these idiot men into their lives n set things loose for them. Every single person in this loop is responsible according to me. 

I have a best example to quote here: My ex-classmate had slit a girl's neck for a silly reason in 2008. He admitted his crime to the media with least regret and it appeared as if he was proud to have committed such grave sin and shamelessly flashed his face to the media. I have been noticing that guy since my second year of college. I always had an awful impression on him, he seemed immoral and lacked basic manners. A girl I know, befriended him without actually understanding his flip side. After a while, she joined our group. I never really got a chance to speak to her about this guy as it seemed a personal affair. But the good God saved her n soon she got to understand his flip side. I still remember she saying that the guy's father admitted his weirdness, and asked the girl to take another chance before quitting. She was too fed up by then that she clearly replied that she was no way tolerant of his indecent behaviour and cannot continue any kind of contact. From them the relation was split. Whenever I got to see this guy, he always seemed very hysteric and crazy. Eventually, he was not promoted to the consequent years. And when I got to to know that he slit a girl's neck because she backed off from the relation, I was not shocked. For the kind of attitude and behaviour he had, he was obviously prone to crimes or drugs very easily. I was only relieved that my friend realized this as early as possible. 

Now, whom should we blame??? the guy who was a maniac or his father who was not able to change his son's mentally strange behaviour or the girl who rejected him? Do we just call it the girl's destiny to loose her valuable life just because she repented her decision? I would actually blame it on his parents, especially his father before anybody. The father who understood that his son's weird conduct, he should have taken necessary measures to control it. 

We have to understand, in fragile social conditions prevailing today, it is not uncommon or a strange scenario to see a psychiatrist. In fact, it is quite benefiting, to act before its too late. When the parent notices a weird/inappropriate difference in their son's or daughters's behavior, it is better to talk them n take them to a counselling session putting the stupid inhibitions aside.  

When parents have such responsibility, the institutions/organisation where we spend most of the time are also responsible. Rather than focusing only on academics/work, it is quite important to arrange counselling sessions to help deal with personal issues. Electronic media highlights the criminal and narrates the crime but never put efforts to reduce this sort of crimes. Respecting women exists everywhere on the walls, buses, trains, public places, posters, and fliers but least imbibed in the individuals. I wouldn't want to say crime is always the men's deal and women are no way responsible. There are cases where women provoke the crime but often go unnoticed. If this continues, I am afraid that women will have to stop stepping out of their homes. Where a country prides itself in its rich culture and heritage, it is a minimum requirement that its women are safe. It is believed in our culture, that a woman's tears ruin the home/nation. Wipe the weeps before it floods the nation.

Vennela

Big Fat Wedding Season

Having a beautiful wedding is almost everybody's dream. But how about a big fat wedding??? Its very much possible if you are ready to spin millions.

Off late I have been receiving wedding invitations from friends and extended family and witnessed some of them when I was in India.  Its always nice to see the alluring invitations and photographs of the weddings shared post ceremony. Especially Indian weddings involve a lot more celebration and events. Having stated that, my thoughts drifted to the recent celebrity weddings which were much more interesting as we all anxiously watched them on the TVs. Not just the celebrities but most of the rich folk are going gaga over spending millions on wedding events.

Beginning with the invitation card, our big spenders make sure that card can send the best possible grandeur vibes to all corners. Sometimes they carry some hidden surprises too. Then comes the wedding dresses of the bride and the groom which were spun on a customised order by numero uno designers followed by the wedding venues which were specially designed and sometimes built so as to show the uniqueness of the families and their taste in exhibition of richness and culture. Wedding has become the best and safe to flaunt enormous wealth. And it offers a million ways to spend the millions. The so called big fat weddings all look fabulous with jaw dropping sets and flabbergasting costumes.  If you would want to go on a treasure hunt, I would say you better to go to a big fat wedding. You would be tired of loading so much treasure to your wagons. 

If you open cash calculator to calculate the amount spent on these big fat weddings, I doubt if the digits would all fit in the little space. Thanks to the media which constantly published news flaunting the millions spent and made us get used to the flamboyance. Tireless broadcasts induced some competition in the rich eligible families to show off their wealth as much as possible. So couple of days were not sufficient for the big events, so they extended the extravaganza to last a week. 

Not to forget that the recent royal wedding which was one of its kind. I read that about 20 million pounds were spent. We have read in history about grand royal weddings and how they all happened with great pomp and show. Let us call that the recent one was a visual feast to the newer generation. 

I have read that the customized wedding dress worn by the bride goes to the museum to stand as an exhibition piece. I wonder what happens to the wedding dress/sarees worn by other rich class brides? Will they ever get a chance to repeat the marvel? Or should we build a museum for wedding wear so that we go n get inspiration before our wedding? This could be a better idea. 

Its actually exciting to watch these wedding happenings. But still somewhere in the corner, I feel this celebration can have limits. I know its completely a personal choice of celebrating a wedding event. I opine that uniqueness is definitely welcome but throwing millions for the wedding can be given a second thought. What say readers? 

cheers

Vennela

One Spring Sunday...

Hello readers,

Yesterday was a super Sunday. Wanna know why???...read on. 

Apart from all the larger than life goodies that London offers, I always hated the cold climate of the year. Fortunately, I stepped in the county after the chilling climate has took off. Now its spring time here and I don't have words to express how much it elates my soul. 

Following a friend's suggestion to make my good day great, I made a visit to the Columbia Road Flower market...I can't call it a market coz the euphoria was such. Absolutely loved the energy there. Spectacular collection of flowers, coolest country music, sweet n spicy street side snacks, handmade artworks, splendid variety of garden decors and of course the most beautiful n warm spring time. Everything contributed to my super Sunday. I enjoyed each and everything there. There were huge collection of tulips, roses, tropical bunches, cherry blossoms..oh what not. What I seriously regretted about was, forgetting to carry my cammy (camera) and had to adjust with my phone camera which was already dying out of charge. 

My best click..I guess :D

The street side musicals were a such a good treat to the visitors...they seemed like a background score for the souls to rejoice. The Chinese n Indian snacks alongside chilled beers served by the street vendors were in full demand. Once u are there, u can't escape from buying the lovely colorful bouquets and can't skip a smile to the vendor's humorous selling charms. n So did I. I bought a beautiful purple and white tulip bunches for a price that is generally never available at markets. Herez flaunting my clicks.

Welcome Strings :)

Yellow Yikes

Tropical bunch with velvety roses

Orchids

rose is a rose is a rose

Brightest of all

Cherry Blossom stems..a new age corner decor

Purple tulip from my bunch

Coolest of all bands

 My fav musician

Hope u people liked them..not that they are all great but to just give a glimpse of what went on there n  to share another side of the city that I gotto explore. excusez moi for the unorganized roll of pics.  

Cheers

Vennela 

Featuring JooJoo

Hi fellas,

I might have to start a separate sister blog to segregate my posts. Everything in here looks like cluster. Even this post might be an odd one out when compared to the previous set. But, excuse me. I can't wait to share this with u my readers.
JooJoo is an Iranian artist that I have come across while browsing artworks last year. She is one of her kind. Her works range from miniature art to jewel making to calendar making to clay art. I was so amazed to see her precision. There is so much to learn and get inspired from this incredible artist. Hatsoff to you Ms.Afsaneh. She has a store place in JooJoo@Etsy in case if you want to buy her stuff. Gals, I bet u can't stop appreciating this beautiful art work. Take a look. Herez featuring one of her masterpieces "Duet"(click on it to check it out).

Cheers

Vennela

What next???

Hi buddies,

After the 4 day fast by the 70year old Hazareji, what is the next move? Should we all happily rejoice that the demands were all promised to be satisfied. If so, our netas are known to break their promises. Himself not sure of the promise, Hazareji declared that he will hit back if appropriate action is not taken with in the timeline. But how long only a class or group of individuals will stand for billions of citizens? Is it not the responsibility for everyone of us to be clean of corruption. If we throw an insight into the roots of the corruption evil, we would definitely find common man responsible for larger portion of this knowingly and unknowingly. I have heard some activists stating that the politicians are only corrupt, we as individual citizens are clean and at least 90% of us are clean. I strongly feel it the other way. We only think we are not corrupt or whatever we do is very insignificant compared to the so called big scams and scandals happening in the country. If a very common person thinks his/her corrupted levels are very minor for his stage, a common politician also thinks his/her corrupted levels are also similar. Thus each one of us contributing to the total. So people lets practice to stop being corrupt. We are celebrating Hazareji's end of fast, but personally when will we celebrate the end of corrupt mindset that we all have. Everything and anything has become a reason for us to come on streets and celebrate. And not to forget and forgive the media which let its horses loose., crazily  asking innumerable question to the man who just finished ended his fast after 4 days. Give it a thought people. I personally believe that it is impossible to wipe out corruption just by marching on roads and shouting slogans. Lets not forget even the most remote level of corruption that we ignore is equally responsible to the biggest of scams. As long as the roots are not damaged, this evil tree still keeps  growing. So my dear fellow people, lets believe in individual sincerity and maintain integrity in achieving the same.

Cheers

Vennela

W'INDIA'

Halloooooooo Friends,

Congratulations to Team India for a victorious win. Our men in blue made it! The entire nation is extremely proud and happy about the victory. If there is something that unites India in spite of caste and creed that is nothing but Cricket and as everybody say it is a religion which has no difference n discrimination between people. Cricket is our religion and Sachin is an undisputed God of this religion. Who wouldn't want to worship him. He has become an icon for hard work and a brand ambassador for humbleness. 

Its kinda euphoria everywhere, though I missed watching and enjoying the victory in India...its still is ceremonious. The Cup has brought great joy all over the world among Indians. All of us had a biggest reason ever to celebrate n I got my cake ready :)!

Hereby I dedicate this post to our Proud Team. Jai Ho! Wishing we win many more victories as this. 

Cheers

Vennela.

Living my Dream

Hello People,

Living our dreams, is not easy as it sounds. We have to make it happen if we really want them to happen. Wondering why did I say this...Herez announcing to my blog dosts that I finished my first Interior Design project for an Estate Agent's Office here in my hometown. I feel so elated and excited. Since my childhood, I had strong liking for artistic and aesthetic homes. This developed as I grew up and now I used my time in turning the passion into a profession. Though my education and experience do not completely relate to this industry, my interest does lie here. 

So with this interest, I have got a chance to design interiors for an office space recently. I was very skeptical about myself but my designs did bring in great confidence to me and my client as well.  I will share some pics as soon as it takes a shape on the ground.  Looks like the client needs more time to get it executed. However, I am happy that with no experience and proper professional education, I was able to complete my first project successfully which means it was well liked by the client. 

Hope I get to do more of this in future. 

Btw I am here to help u in your home designs as well. Ask me to transform ur spaces :):) 

Cheers

Vennela

Cut the Carbs

Hey All,

As promised, I am back with an interesting post. Did I say that Ghar kha Khaana has gifted me some oodles  ?..I happily admit that am not planning to shed them down, they will automatically leave me once I return, you know why. Don't worry, I am not gonna pen down some dietary tips and charts here.

 The Carbs I meant are something else. These Carbs are even more harmful than the other. Before you realize what has happened it can destroy the pleasantness around you. Their origins are villains by birth and dangers they pose to the nature sustain for ages. Out of many man made disasters, this is regarded as most dangerous. If u already guessed this 'this', no wonder and if you did not this is PLASTIC. Plastic production and disposal are both a mishap since there is so much threat to the living beings. All of us are aware of these facts, but why has it become so hard to say no this material? If we can go the gyms and yoga classes to shed extra carbs from our body, what about the carbs that these plastic materials emit? Don't we need special classes to Cut the Crap Carbons? We forget that they also harm us...may not show any bulge proofs such as the other but they definitely have their large share of bulky emissions. Alright, now there are folks who think, what is so new about this? I can strongly say that this will remain new until the % of CO emissions reduce and usage of plastic is avoided to its best. 

Apart from the know information stated above, I am so glad to declare that my city(vijayawada) has been putting serious efforts to Say NO to PLASTIC  The interesting fact is that the vegetable vendors have a commendable share in this Green Venture, since they are strictly not letting out any plastic bags and they insist on buying jute and paper bags. When asked why should I buy a paper bag, one of the vendor replied it is not good for our own health since they carry poisonous essence. Got a bite from Vendor ka Gyan :):) If laymen have so much awareness what about us? Are we ready to Cut the Carbs? 

In the current scenario, ReUse and NoUse are only best solutions to reduce Plastic emissions. 

Cheers

Vennela

Hello from Homeland

Namasthe,

Apologies to all my readers, I know I have been crazily lazy to update my blog. The most important New Year wishes have been missing. Thats not fair on my part. Anyways I will try to post regularly hereafter. 

Alrighty confessions apart, please accept my Wishes for the Bright and Beautiful rest of the Year 2011. Live it out with Love guys!!!

As titled, I am writing this from Homeland...I should day I missed this place so much. Whenever am back home, its so painful to leave home and return. This time, its even worse. Being a girl, I know I have to leave mommy's home sometime soon, but this is so different. There are many better things abroad, however therez definitely no essence of motherland. I am not sure if this feeling will pull me back and who knows my next posts also will be from here.

Every time, I came I always spotted differences between the countries and the living. This time, I am bored of the routine and started enjoying and appreciating all of which goes on here. And realized that it makes me enjoy my time even better. 

Okay check back for interesting posts coming soon in this space.

Till then, Haffun

Cheers

Vennela