Someone once said - 02

In continuation of my search for great quotes, here's one:

"Its important that people should know what you stand for. Its equally important that they know what you won't stand for"

Now doesn't this make absolute sense?

Tom-eh-to or Tom-ah-to

Was recently in a conversation with a friend and he brought up the issue about one of the reports that I had written. He said he was confused about my vocabulary and writing style. He pointed out that I tend to use both the American and British methods of spelling in my correspondence.

This got me analyzing my own writing style and guess what… its true. I spell labour with a u but spell analyze with a z. I say lift instead of elevator and fries instead of chips. I am also known to use both taxi and cab. I do not start my paragraphs with an indent either (that’s probably just ignoring the rule). I guess that being in the Hospitality industry, I am used to people of different ethnic backgrounds who either use alternative words or pronounce the same word differently and have learnt to adapt to both.

As far as I can tell, the major source of my so called vocabulary faux pas lies in the fact that I was brought up in the English curriculum and my passion for reading mostly includes American or US based authors. Another reason could be attributed to the tv shows that I watch (which are mostly American although I am a huge fan of british humour too).

In the end, tom-eh-to or tom-ah-to, who cares as long as we understand each other and I don’t get you a potato instead.

Someone once said - 01

Am a bit of a quotation freak. I look around for famous quotes that I can analyze and agree with, so thought I would share them as and when one hits close to home:

"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends"

Any attempt to analyze this is unnecessary. All I can say is hell yeah!!

Also, if you have any great quotes you may have heard... am all ears

Children at work

Saw the Tv spot for the prevention of child labour. The story advocated that we as the better educated generation should not employ children in our household or business and let them get their education by going to school, this way they will be better equipped for the future.

It got me thinking as to many Indian households wherein you will definitely find a child working as a maid or helper. These children do not work because they like to... it is because they do not have a choice. They do so to support their families which without this income would be even more stranded. These families have their children, mother and father working two or even three jobs just so they may have enough to put food on the table and send some (hopefully all) of their kids to school. Am not even thinking about those which do not have both parents to support them.

I am all for abolishing child labour but will these children go to school or college without this extra income that they get? Will these families be able to survive?

You better recognize

Was watching a documentary the other day on the quake in Asia. At the end of the program was an appeal to help those who suffered in this disaster. After a very moving segment which featured those affected speaking about their experience and suffering, the channel published a hotline number for donations. What interested me the most was the announcement that anyone who donated US$ 125 and above would get their names mentioned in a special earthquake edition of a well known magazine and those who donated upwards of US$ 625 would have the honor of having their names mentioned on this channel.

It got me thinking… what is the point in helping others solely for the purpose of showing that you’re doing so. If the channel is making this announcement, there must be a market that they target at to whom recognition is more important that the simple fact of helping another. Would these so called people be encouraged by the fact that their names would be published or even broadcast on television?

I only wonder… Is their heart in the right place?

Stereotypes: What a load of crap

What is with stereotyping people these days, what happened to the good old days where people were people and did things for no specific rhyme or reason. What is this insane obsession with categorizing others? Why cant people just be themselves and do the things they want to do?

I had stopped shaving for the past couple of days and the instant I met anyone over the age of 30, their first remark was “What’s with the Devdas look... some woman turn you down, your job not going so well. Now why would they immediately assume that I am either depressed due to my love life or am on the verge of losing my job? Is it because they saw a dude in the movies lose his lady love and drink a bottle of scotch, stop shaving, lose his job and turn to this maniac filled with anger and depression? I see no other plausible reason as to how they arrive to this conclusion.

Don’t even get me started on the whole star sign issue. I kinda feel sorry for those people whose lives are governed by their horoscopes. I have had friends who would kill for the horoscope section the moment the paper arrives so that they can see how their day will go. What ever happened to “Life’s what you make of it”. I have come to believe that the attitude of a person is what determines how they lead their lives. Take a look at someone around you who is completely negative, ever complaining and whining about life… he always finds something wrong. What’s even more pissing off is that companies are now using star signs during hiring to determine which type of person would be best suited for the job. This is definitely the worst case of bullshit if I ever heard one. Aren’t there people who share the same birth dates (even the year) and yet are complete contradictions of each other?

Why is it that we still follow these stereotypes? Are we only playing to our egos and trying to prove that we do know all there is to know about each other?

Finally, as a quick note, I do not share any traits with Devdas and neither am I a disgruntled worker. I only hope that you would take me for who I am… unpredictable and therefore human

Life in the fat lane

In today’s world we are told, taught and brought up not to discriminate, not to judge and not to ridicule others.

I’m fat and have been for the past 13 years. It has brought on me all sorts of verbal abuse. Many a time I have been the subject of discussion – right from friends to family to almost anyone I meet. It is from a young age that you are made fun of, laughed at; right from school through university and middle age. Why this obsession with perfection. Why are we fed with this image since childhood?

What is this obsession with weight, outward appearances? Pick up any fashion, self-help or gender targeted magazine and you will see that it dictates how and what we should look like, eat and behave. A simple glance at last months issue of GQ or Cosmo reaffirms my case as 70% of problems or products advertised range from Slim-fast to Dr. Atkins which claim to be a sort of magical cure for the ‘ugliness’. Just consider the U-turn that the billion dollar diet industry has taken in the last 3 years. What began with the insurgence of the non dairy, non sugar and the discovery of carbohydrates as the perfect substitute has now led to today’s “Say no to Carbs” plans.

People who you consider friends talk behind your back about your size… your ugliness. Isn’t there much more ugliness in the world… take into account the girls who suffer from anorexia due to peer pressure, malnourished children, murderers, rapists and child molesters. Isn’t this what we should be focusing on?

If I have learnt anything, it is to be prepared and expect such behavior from people. It is to this phenomenon that I attribute my sense of humor, well this and my mentors ‘Robin Williams’ and ‘Eddie Murphy’ for it has become a sort of, for lack of a better word, protective shield that helps me overcome such low cracks.

Growing up I was used to the image of the salesmen at clothing stores who would wince at the thought that they did not carry clothes in my size. What I could only call reverse psychology is the fact that I walk into such stores now, walk up to the sales person directly and before he or she gets a chance to speak I declare “I know you don’t have anything in my size…”. You may say that this does not help anyone but I consider it a small victory at the thought of making that person think twice before snubbing one of ‘us’.

What pisses me off the most is the stereotyping of us FAT people, the two most common being:

He’s so fat so he must eat anything and all the time
He’s so fat so he must be lazy as hell

To the contrary, I neither eat anything I find nor am I lazy. In fact, I am one of the most pickiest people when it comes to food and I know many who eat substantially more that I do and not put on a pound. I do enjoy sports and am a tennis freak that still harbors the love of the game.

The light at the end of the tunnel, for those who still haven’t gotten the point, is that I have learned to understand others and love people for what they are on the inside. I do not regret what or how I am, I only feel sorry for those who are too shallow and superficial to recognize and appreciate the person under the bulk.

It is not your sympathy I seek. It is merely to inform you that I am also human. For it is this shallow world that proves more than anything… SIZE does matter.

(As a footnote I would only like to say that there is a negative in being so obese that it prevents you from carrying out your daily requirements to sustain your livelihood. I am a strong opposer of this, however, I only ask that we approach the person as a human being, a friend and help him overcome)

Everything we see hides another thing, we always want to see what is hidden by what we see