Tag: Happy Life

Hindu Marriage in India

Write about a few of your favorite family traditions.

Marriage in a Hindu family is unique. 

Boys and girls don’t see each other before marriage. Parents and elders choose the matches. And, elders place hope on astrology for the best match.

Grooms and brides consummate their marriage on the FDFS. It’s called strangely “First Night” though.

Girls mostly are destined to mean jobs at home such as cooking, washing and cleaning.

They are not allowed to mix freely with others when they are on periods.

By middle ages, the couple mostly sleep separate and sex between the elderly is a taboo. They spend a major part of life by sitting in front of TV. They watch anything from soap to sports to stupidity.

Children in India are forced to study professional courses such as engineering and medicine. For reasons that brides bring in a lot of wealth to boys’ homes as dowry in marriage. 

At homes in India, girls are married off younger and earlier than boys. The reason is to make them work at mean jobs and be useful to the boys’ family.

A childless marriage is often blamed on the girl. But the boys are considered omnipotent.

When a wife dies at old age, the husband can re-marry but a wife can’t. She is a loner during the marriage and continues to be one even after her husband dies. 

Women in traditional Hindu family in India often suffer a “miserable life”.

Can’t live without one. Twice a week, at least. Cheers!

What’s the one luxury you can’t live without?

Take a highball glass. Add sugar, mint leaves and a splash of club soda.

Smash and mix them enough so that the flavour of the mint is released.

Cut a lime and squeeze both the halves into the mix. Drop one squeezed half into the glass for the luxury.

Add rum (white is preferable) and stir well.

Fill the glass with ice cubes and top with club soda.

Garnish with a mint sprig. Enjoy.

A Character in Wild-pants!

When you were five, what did you want to be when you grew up?

When we were five, we were mostly dreamers. A dreamer with eyes wide open. A dreamer deep asleep.

I was too young to think of what I would become as I was told a lot of stories about animals and characters in cartoons. I lived purely in an imaginary world. A fairy tale life, to be precise.

I enjoyed listening to those stories and I imagined I would one day go meet them really and want to spend time with them.

Some stories wouldn’t end well as characters were chased and put to death. That gave me nightmares.

I remember I asked my parents one day if I could stop people killing animals. My parents told me that I should then become a forest officer, wear a uniform, carry a gun and travel in an open jeep. All day and night. A life in the wilderness. 

That’s when I imagined I would be an officer who was out and about helping save the animals.

That gave me pleasure. I thought I would bring those animals home, live with them in the comfort of my parents, brothers and sister.

A happy cartoon family was what I wanted.

 

A century of living, loving and learning!

Write a letter to your 100-year-old self.

Dear me,

Congrats on scoring a hundred! Sigh!

I’m so proud of you. The century must come at a time when playing life as a sport isn’t so easy for many. 

You have seen the good and bad. What a roller-coaster of a life! Many ups and downs and you have still won. Bravo!

A win against all odds, to say it honestly.

You knew the ball coming at 156 miles per hour on the pitch wasn’t the one you often faced at the nets. One was a practice and the other a profession.

You know the difference. And you were able to play a great knock. Kudos!

How the opposition were howling at you when you ducked! Those short-pitched deliveries were deliberate.

How they nudged you in the ribs when you left those without offering a stroke!

Didn’t they call you names? How they told you off many times. You stood your ground. Great!

The running between the wickets needed a trusting and loving partner. And luckily you had one. Thanks to the partner who stayed all through the rough weather in life. Brilliant!

One small mistake you will be gone, ‘OUT’ short of crease.

No appeal could have saved you as DRS was in place and the technology would send you home in a minute. And the audience would be jeering you on a giant screen. Hell with those constant replays!

Came the new villain, Duckworth-Lewis. How tough life was! You score well and you will still lose the match. Damn those tough equations!

The bowler and the guy behind the stumps have always known your Achilles heel. They showed no mercy when you had been late to the crease.

The opposition always threw the ball to the end where you were heading to. Such was the love the competition taught you.

You survived the Bodyline series and pajama cricket.

You survived the Chinaman and the crafty googlies. You survived Mankading on many occasions. 

Age never deterred you from playing a patient innings all through. And money never pushed you to join a circus called Club Cricket.

You shied away from all the glitterati surrounding league cricket. You never looked at the glamour side of cheerleaders either.

Nobody could fix you for a small amount of money. 

All you carried in the kit were a box of salad, a bottle of water and a pack of chewing gum. You had no decent pair of shoes. You were never worried. No complaints.

You’re nothing but a personification of ‘Survival of the Kindest’.

I’m sure you will go on like this forever and score many tons. You belong to the elite club that consists of Don Bradman, Vivian Richards, Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli. The tough veterans.

No Cook, Root, Babar, Gill or Marcus could break the records you patiently built yet in life. 

I shall wish you many more hundreds in life. Keep going. Keep kicking! Keep rocking!

See you soon at 200, mate!

With love,

GK