Aish's Blog Spot

I can't believe the tsunami struck less than a week ago. The trail of destruction indicates an event way beyond a week.
The most upsetting and saddening image for me, is that of two boys published in the Hindu for two days- one eight, the other, four years old. The story is typical of any tsunami tragedy- dad asleep at home, mom takes children for a walk. Mom's body recovered in a neighbouring town. Kids missing. That was so disturbing. Still is. Those kids look so much like Arjun & Abhi. It makes me want to catch the next flight to bangalore and run to them, ensure that they are safe. I wonder, if I feel so intensely about my nephews, how would the father of those two children feel? The pain I feel thinking about those two kids missing, and about how their father must be feeling is almost physical. Oh God, its awful.
A wall of water shattered several worlds. And those worlds can never be rebuilt. Unfortunately, I am not a very romantic person. I can not talk about nature wreaking in vengeance, the Kanchi Seer’s arrest, etc. But I can think about the angry waters. The fury of the water. And I think and think and think about those shattered people, who just cant understand what overturned their lives in a matter of a few minutes.

On that sober note- hope the next year is better. Because After Kumbakonam and a Tsunami and the arrest of one of the most revered leaders of the hindus, I don’t think we will be able to handle anything worse.

Was playing on Sahara last night. Finally got to watch it. Liked it. A pretty decent movie. Upbeat. Liked it most about the way it handled the issue of HIV. No histrionics. Sorrow, hurt, determination. But no histrionics. No blackening the character of Salman Khan. In fact, nothing about how he got HIV in the first place (which a lot of people seem to expect for reasons beyond my limited powers of comprehension), focussing instead, merely on the issue of an HIV positive woman fighting for her rights in Indian society TODAY.

Really, it does! I have always had a high opinion of State Bank of India- its one of the largest banks in the world in terms of branch network. SBI has practically built the banking system in India. You might find towns/villages unconnected by decent roads, but you would be hard-pressed to find one without a State Bank. And considering its size, this behemoth is remarkably nimble. This, of course, is augmented by the huge plus of my dad being a former employee of the institution. ;)

Anyway. Today, I just decided arbitrarily to open a Recurring Deposit account with SBI. I am ashamed to say, I would have opened one with HDFC Bank, if they had offered one- just for the impression HDFC gives of convenience. IMHO, HDFC Bank service sucks. It manages to get by merely because of its terrific IT Infrastructure. Their netbanking portal is amazing- but walk into a branch, and the sheer incompetence and lousy attitude will def provide a very, very strong turn off. But I digress. I walked up to SBI, intending only to get some info- after all, an SBI would require some proof, some photograph, some form, someone to introduce, etc, etc, right? Wrong, as it turned out.

The lady at the Personal Banking branch on mount road ran some search on her database, and located my account (Joint with my dad) in a different branch of SBI. She got hold of my Customer Id Number, and voila! One account opened! Yes, SBI! Mrs Jaysri Narayanan took so much pride in opening the accoutn so fast for me! She was pleased as punch about her "New core banking system" and "you can operate your account from any internet enabled branch" and "everything is accessible from the internet" and "incidentally, the balance in your educational loan account is XXXX". It was amazing. She was so proud of her institution! I could never imagine being so confident and happy about Polaris! I am almost jealous!!

My account will be operational upon realization of my cheque. I will open a Savings bank account along with this. All of my money will go only to SBI! This is terrific! yaay!

If

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream -- and not make dreams your master;
If you can think -- and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings -- nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And -- which is more -- you'll be a Man, my son!

-- Rudyard Kipling

1. Name

Aishwariya. Means "The godess of Wealth".

My parents don't really have a track record of giving good names to their children- my sisters were saddled with Meenakshi & Rajalakshmi, after our paternal & maternal grandmothers, respectively. When it came to me, they (fortunately!) ran out of grandmothers. So I ended up (dont ask me how) being named after the then queen of Nepal.

2. Marital Status.

Legally Married. Mentally- Getting used to the idea.

3. Favorite books.

Yeah, right. Like it can be part of just one post! Its a separate post in itself.

4. Favorite People in the world

My nephews (Arjun & Abhi). My sisters. My brothers-in-law. Sreela & Lalli. My friends (For those of you who are wondering, Sreela & Lalli are more than friends. They are somewhere between sisters & friends).

Distinction to be made between people I really, genuinely care about (I miss arjun horribly, for instance), and People I am obligated to take care of

5. My most embarassing moment

Ha! No chance that I'm putting that down here! I consciously suppress any memory of ANY embarassing moment- which is why Sud & Meet could never get one out of me that amazing sunday a couple of years back.

6. Passions

Carnatic Music. Books. Knowledge. Art. Michelangelo. Leonardo.

7. Driving Forces

Logic. Rationalism. Concepts.

The need to learn. To keep learning. The need to, well, be intellectually ahead. This sounds incredibly arrogant, but its true. Do I need to do something about this? Probably yes.

8. What I would love to recieve

Flowers. Books. Actually, any damn thing. Need not be expensive. Anything small. Makes me very, very happy.

9. What I wish I had

Lots of things! But lemme try & list 'em out:

a. Poise. Real poise. Not the one I put up for display when I am in fron of people.

b. Self-confidence, The will to strike out and actually act against established rules, regulations, etc. The selfishness required to say, f*** to junta, I need to do whatever makes me happy.

c. A really good music teacher close to where I stay

d. A good art teacher somewhere easily accessible to me

e. A camera!

f. A visit to Italy

10. Am I arrogant.

In a sense, yes. I am arrogant about certain things, but very very humble about others. Its a weird mix, that even I find difficult accepting, so wouldnt blame you guys for not being comfortable with.

11. My sense of Humor

Is very, very, very vague. I like intellectual humor. I hate slapstick. I hate humor that is obvious. I love puns, wordplay.

I am basically a serious minded person. I live life by extremes- I am either generally giggling my way through a day, or I find nothing at all to even smile about, except the most subtle kind of humor.

12. Why do I love Arjun so much?

I dont know. I just love him very much. One reason is, He loves me a lot. Do you know the feeling of having someone waiting for you to come, looking forward to your visit so much, that they just cant keep still, that they keep jumping up and down? That they will immediately rate you 10 on a scale of 10, when asked how much they love you?

13. Take on relegion.

I am waiting to find my God. The difficult part is having to suppress the overly rational part of me in this search for an inner God. Currently, am going the traditional Indian way, to see if I can locate Him/Her/It.

14. What I would really like to do

Teach. No, not kids. Can't handle that. Probably in a bschool.

15. Do I believe in fate?

Yes and no. I believe that not all things are within our control. But I seriously doubt if some super-intelligent guy has already mapped my life out for me.