Desi girl - part 2. (And no rolling Rs please!)

After my previous post, I may seem like someone who has been left with a bitter taste in the mouth after a shopping escapade. Well all is not bad in bunny land - I have a decent wardrobe ; maybe not excessive and one-time-wear kind of stuff but enough to tide me over. I think a part of this stems from the fact that I really don't care if I'm not wearing something that's "in" or worse (for some) repeating clothes to a party. Comfort is top priority and I feel happier in my battered tshirts and only pair of jeans than wear something I am tugging at and evidently uncomfortable in.

In reference to this I would like to quote from (and digress, in the process) today's The Hindu's OP-ED titled 'Sarkozy and the burqas':

'.. our wants and desires are determined by society. By those lights, a western fashion victim is as much as a sartorial prisoner as a woman in a burqa.'

Now that I've made it clear that I am not a fashion victim, I'll tell you why I'm the Desi girl..

Through college, I never thought the dress code of salwaar kameez was a problem. If you look at it beyond the whole they-cant-order-us-how-to-dress argument, salwaar kameez is a good choice considering hot hot days. I've been pro-cotton for as long as I can remember because more than anything, they make sense in hot weather. One cannot argue, if you have visited Jaipur, that the Rajahs were wise in choosing cottons (and creating those lovely Sanganeri prints) as the choice of fabric for their royal clothing. But silk? Silk seemed highly insensible...

So now that I'm moving base to LA and going to live very near fashion HQ for two odd years, you'd assume I was headed for a make-over. People sometimes loose their minds when they actually need it the most. A very conservative cousin of mine, for instance, insisted pants and sleeveless clothing was the way to go now that she was going to "America". Why, I ask. Why change what/who you were all because you're going to a "Western" country. Why be forced into living like them, when they've already had you say miles rather than kilometers, had you say freeway,dollarrrrs and what not. I'd say, stay Desi. OK not practical to wear salwaar kameez and all but please don't abandon Indian clothing altogether - cottons are still good and tell you what? I'm taking a whole bunch of my favorite vegetable dyed, block-printed cotton tops to Los Angeles!! I don't care if my fellow Desis think I'm over-doing it, but I care about beating the Californian heat, so being the Desi cotton wearing girl is the way to go! Go cottonsssss!!

Desi girl

As corny as the title sounds (I hated Dostana, couldn't sit through 7 minutes of it), it is pretty apt for what I am about to write here. Let me get you started then..

This Sunday, for the first time I found myself actually getting excited about going to USC, about going to a whole new place like L.A! OK now I know I decided to go to this school over a month back but I have been (and probably am) tensed about the prospect of starting a whole new life in a new land, and being so far away from home. So believe me I was happy when the excitement creeped in this Sunday. How, you'd ask! Well it was because I decided it was time to start SHOPPING!

Now don't get me wrong, I know you're thinking - a weird girl frantically putting whatever she can see in a huge shopping bag at a clothes store. Well correction but I am NOT like that. Since I love putting things in points let me tell you why :

1) you'll hear me complaining about this all the time!! The "hep" stores don't have clothes for slightly oddly shaped people! OK maybe it's not as bad as it sounds, yes they do have clothes, they do stock XL sizes. But they are terrible! If I was armed with a camera (which I plan on carrying with me the next time) I'd have taken a few pictures as proof. You will see how there seems to be no difference between an M size and an XL. Some brands don't even stock XL!!

Speaking of brands, it's a shame to see a sporting brand like say Reebok stocking sportswear for skinny women. Hello?? Plump girls could be visiting the gym too you know, and it's almost ironic - to get fit you'd want to buy sportswear but to buy sportswear you need to be fit. Nuff said!!

I am not done ranting about point # 1 yet ...

Forget sizes, see the price! They're hitting the roof for mediocre fabrics. It's like if you don't like wearing clingy, limp fabrics you can't hope to buy from these "hep" stores. Ironically again, Indian women need comfortable clothing, not tshirts which need to be tugged at to make them less clingy and ensure they cover essentials (think low waist jeans ; I'm not even going to venture there right now else you won't hear the end of it!)

OK now that I've painted a pathetic picture, let me just say as a plump person myself, I need to really scour the racks to get comfortable yet interesting (I am not a fashion victim - refer point #2) clothes which actually suit me and don't have me looking like an over-stuffed pillowcase! I don't mean to be too hard on these stores, I do get the occasional clothes-of-my-type, and M and XL do have a marked difference, but that should be my lucky day!! Thus you see shopping, to me isn't as pleasant as people generally make it seem.

I have a solution to this - buy what you get, wear it, however it looks on you, because if they're selling it maybe it's supposed to look that way..

Do you think I'd have fretted and fumed so much if I were following this wonderful solution? NEVAAARRR!! Or probably I don't shop at the right places or at the right time.. Mull on this and wait for point #2.

Till then, cheers, and keep chomping on those carrots my friends!! :)

Being the Optimist I am NOT!

Sometimes, so many things happen, it gets hard to decipher what is issue X and when and how issue Y cropped up. Then things go dormant for a brief period, and characteristic to how we like contradicting ourselves, we long for some "issue" to come up to rid us of this boredom and spice things up! Ba!

It's easier to deal with the nonsense life throws at you once there's a philosophy attached to it. I like to think of this above statement using the following counter-analogy (if such a term exists)-an ad quoting a free-bee, but with that teeny tiny asterisk symbol next to "free", spoiling all the fun. Now if I said even when life's all happy, you will need to worry about the "asterisk" that is playing spoilsport then that would be the pessimist's path. Considering this as dangerous and familiar turf to someone who has fought a vain battle with Miss Pessimism, we shall tread no further and stick to the purpose of this post - a way out for people who're down in the dumps..

I find it happening way too often-everything seems to come crashing down all at once! I find things going out of control and they overwhelm me pretty fast. What does one do? I know that for every situation, every predicament I have had to face, there is a lesson. As lame as this may sound, every experience has its share of "things to keep" and a major part of "things to throw". This would help greatly when it comes to forgetting events that have left us bitter. I found this hard to do, but I have realized it makes me feel better in the long run, and I am at least sure of how to face similar situations.

Here are my set of philosophies. I take my time to recover (ok fine my Chief Advisers, I take ages sometimes!) but with these in mind, I know that dwelling on things doesn't help either..

1) Boring lecture ? - "Even the longest hour is just sixteen minutes." (Chief Advisor shared this with me once)
2) Had a taste of Mr.Grumpy? - "It's ok, because in the future you're sure to have an even worse employer/coworker/peer/other. Mr.Grumpy should be your testing ground. Be strong!"
3) Want to get away from the terrible life you think you're having? - "You'll move out soon, and things will get better."
4) Think you're unlucky when every one's having it good? - "It's a lesson everyone learns the hard way - today it's you who's unlucky, tomorrow it could be them."

Then come the cliches and Miss Pessimism replies to them as follows
1) Everything happens for the good. - "Yes We're still waiting for the "good" part!
2) It's all a lesson. - "BS! I'm done with classes."
3) You'll just need to wait. -"Yeah sure, a coupla more years of this nonsense wont kill me right?"
4) It'll get better. -"When do I get better?"

The above answers, as spontaneous as they are, leave us feeling worse. Miss Pessimism is trying to hide and go as far away as possible. I'm trying, I hope you can too!

Carrot Points - 1) Chief Adviser/Bear has got me thinking about buying a MacBook thanks to this great offer .. hmmm
2) reading a good book all day.
Rotten Carrots - 1) Having to deal with वोह लोग of every kind and temperament!
2) Obama's comment on how Indian kids study more and how we are pulling the rug beneath Americans' feet wrt education and jobs! Not very promising, this!

When we were young..

When I was in school I thought being 22 or “graduating” was something so far away, so unreachable. People seemed older (or acted that way) and I felt left behind, wondering when I‘d reach that stage. Little did I know...

Growing up is hard, very hard. I mean how much are we expected to take as teenagers?? As if the gawkiness or the embarrassing braces were not enough, we had to deal with the fact that we could actually start reasoning out things (most of the time , for the heck of reasoning) yet do nothing about them because we were not “old enough”. Hmph!

Now, having almost reached 22, and dealt with 4 years (I still go “four years?!!” ) of Engineering, I really don’t know how I got here. Why did being a “big” girl seem like a faraway thing? And why is it that making decisions these days is a scary affair? I cant even imagine moving out and managing house! I know I can handle it pretty OK but it all seems like too much too soon! Its at times like these that I feel like hitting myself for wanting to grow up. Life was great @ 8, when I’d run around the lawn and lie on the grass all day, or play pretend with amma’s dupatta and hand-bag, or get home and watch Scooby-do after school! Life was so un-complicated, and sleep came almost instantly.. sigh..

Guess the world just gets colder as we get older...

And now , for something I had promised ..

Carrot Points - two months of doing nothing! Wont get this time again.. Yadaaaa!

Rotten Carrots - the fact that I'm leaving in two months :( :(

The key to ME

After a lot of careful thought, I've decided to make a mention of things yet conceal them. That would translate to me using secret names for things/people, so I can do my share of ranting/praising and put it up on cyberspace too.
Since, this is a fresh start (and is all part of the "get off my bum" josh that has hit me), I thought I'd shift things to overdrive for a bit. It includes me doing batch edits and uploads on picasa as well as trying to give my flickr page some publicity, courtesy facebook. As for Miss.Wabbit, there's some major revamping happening in bunny-land:

1)I plan to post stuff once a week. Let's not fix the date right now, that's over-commitment!

2)Each week, Carrot Points shall be earned by something(s) I liked or found interesting over the week and the unlucky rest earn a Rotten Carrots reputation - things that were downright rotten and needed some bad-mouthing.
pssst.. I am not restricting this to "things" alone, if you get the drift :P

3)A few people who’d be making appearances here would include :

Chief Advisor – anyone who gave me some good bits of advice or put up with my tantrums (and dealt with a very difficult me in the bargain. Sorry guys :( )
"वोह लोग "– two or more people who cheesed me off for the day/week/month/year(s) :)

As for the rest, well you'll be getting introduced as and when you show up.
Welcome to my world ..

Where are you all

In my opinion, blogging isn’t for everyone. When it comes to someone like me, for whom writing is a means of de-cluttering my head, I tend to miss the line between what stays in my head and what must go public. I’ve always struggled to stay within the confines of that damn line. Fine, so now that I’ve made everyone happy by exposing my weakness, its best if I just let that huge head of mine do its thing.

I’m a bit crazy. People may find me a challenge to figure out. But I’m proud: proud of my integrity, that I’m not a victim of fashion trends and “what’s-in” and I wear boyish rbk sandals with a salwaar-kameez. I’m happy that I have the will to help, but sometimes it fizzles out, leaving me guilt-ridden. I’m happy that when I think about me 10 years from now, I never associate my success with a large bank balance or a huge house. I’m happy that I can still cry when I think about my late thatha and the good man that he always was. Wow, even as I write all this I feel like smiling. I feel like Amelie after she helps the blind man “see” in the market place. Putting this down makes me feel like a loser as I remember the times when my integrity has failed me and I have buckled under the pressure of “people”- in quotes because, well, they aren’t people in the first place. They’re people who are not accountable for their actions, who don’t care for the environment or their house-helps. Wondering why you should even care who smoothens the sheets of your crinkled bed once you’ve left home? Humility is the key, people. There’s nothing like doing your own work - cleaning your own mess. Whether it’s throwing a wrapper in the bin or saying “sorry” in a messed-up relationship. I wish I could travel time and be a 21 year old in the ‘80s. Things were simple and friendship went beyond money, looks and status. Love was exciting and people wrote letters. Where are all the real people ?!