'Horn ok please!', 'Buri nazar walay, tera mooh kala', 'Maa ka ashirwad, Babuji ka prasad', 'Hum do, hamari ek', 'Pappu teh Dinky di gaddi'....and all

When I'm not jetting or driving off to some crazy place thanks to my stars and planets which seem to be spinning wildly out of control in the past two odd years, I'm travelling the virtual world on my laptop. Came across a nice blog today ( can't link, don't know blogger, random find) where the blogger lists the places she's been to and I wondered why I shouldn't too. So, I sat me down and made that list. Mine seems modest compared to hers...but hey! atleast I have a list...so, grateful to dame luck for family ( parents and hubbusky and dotty) and all the unearned chances.

Ready or not, here comes the list in no particular order:
Bahrain
Saudi Arabia
Singapore
Malaysia
Hong Kong
Hungary
Vatican
Thailand
Australia
Austria
France
Germany
Scandinavia
Netherlands
Belgium
Switzerland
Italy
Egypt
Turkey
UK
USA
UAE
Nepal
Sri Lanka

This is ofcourse besides our crazy Bharat Darshan trips by car ( and flight, mercy God!) thanks to hubby dearest's passion for driving across the length and bredth of our great country. If he had his way, he'd go around the world in his car. He wanted a son ( hmm) only so they could do a world tour by car together. Now, luckily for him, our daughter is proving to have the same 'drive'!

Have a friend in Gurgaon who'd taunt...'Have a baby, we'll see how you guys continue to travel like lunatics then'. And hey presto!...well almost! Dotty already has an enviable passport (her first flight was Delhi-Bangalore when she was less than 3 months old...her first trip abroad - test trip- was to Nepal at 6 months). She's an absolute darling whether it is a drive to Badrinath from Delhi or a flight to Miami via NY from Delhi. Total veteran at 5 1/2 ( Chashme baddoor!!!). I just pray that it stays this way and that she gets to travel the world and like she says often, to space even if it becomes possible in her lifetime. Nothing compares to travel when it comes to education in the real sense.

One thing that all this travelling has taught me is that being vegetarian is not so cool. I mean, it would have been so much easier for me to eat whatever was available wherever I went rather than waste precious time finding vegetarian food ..and desi, if possible. I hope dotty grows up without any biases but she already says she'd rather not eat a dead animal/bird/fish on a plate. I hope for her sake that that changes quickly tho I'd probably be grateful not to know.

Another thing I've learnt is not to stay too long in any one place as a visitor...it gets suddenly boring and there is this nagging homesickness which sets in and takes away from the whole experience. AND, I still haven't learnt to pack light. I am embarrassed but not enough to change, I guess. AND...never stay with family ( no offence - just in case my family is reading, hehe). Never everrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. If you can't afford a B&B even, don't travel but never stay with family (immediate family is exempt thanks to immunity ofcourse). Similarity between family and fish - both stink after 3 days. Love and mirth and merriment fly right out of the window and a strange sort of discomfort takes over, for both the guests and the hosts. Just not worth it. So...!

Out of the many places I haven't visited, I'm eager to go to
Africa
Vietnam
Japan
Alaska ( Amreeka, I know)
Canada
New Zealand
Brazil and
Greece.
and in my own country, I'd like to visit Leh and Ladakh, Khajuraho ( Oye! Why the smirk?), Cherrapunji in the rains ( yes, why not?)...and I'd like to take my daughter to Kashmir before we lose it to some idiots with no foresight.

Ooh and talking of Kashmir, Pakistan is another country I'd like to go to. Traitor? No...just curious...like when you have kidney stones removed, you want look at them just to know what caused all that pain, no? LOL!

What scares Hubby and me is the day when age and health will force us to hang up our travel gear. We hope to be beamed up a la Spock before that happens.

Sometime soon, I'd like to gather the patience to write about each place I've been to and all the memories I cherish most. For that, I'll have to travel quite some distance back in time. Bon voyage, me.

Random thots

....another temporarily happy rewardee of your 'offering my shoulder...being nice to emotional imbeciles' scheme...pink tinted glasses for the winner and brownie points in heaven for the devil!...hmmm...

....I'm comfortable being uncomfortable in today's world. I think I'd hate myself if I didn't feel uneasy living with/like/in this...

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...It bothers me how NRIs return to India for holidays and comment on just about everything even when they know they don't have to put up with it too long...are they rubbing our poor 'stuck Indian' noses in it?...

And it bothers me even more when firang expats comment on just about everything when they aren't going to lift one finger to change anything in the three odd years they'll spend here and would gladly EAT a stinking dead fish on a fancy plate for a fancy price in a sushi bar in Kyoto because the rest of the city looks clean and they SO want to be part of the 'been there, done that' brigade. They complain about the water, the air, the traffic, the people, the smells ...makes me want to gift them a roll of toilet paper and tell them exactly where I'd like them to shove it!

What secretly and honestly bothers me the most is that they're right. I'm told India is shining but the smog in most cities hasn't let me check...and if we're really coming up roses, when did they begin smelling like this?

Brand knew

Have you noticed how our own ideas become more acceptable when we put them in the words of somebody famous?

I'd rather not just say ' I like peace' not because I don't mean it but because I'm not sure you even want to know what I like..if instead I quote Mahatma Gandhi, you'd probably listen and be impressed. Also if I'm speaking about spirituality ( which in my opinion boils down to 'I like peace'), I must quote Vivekananda or Ramakrishna Paramahansa. How can I not? And if I'm the kind that likes to shock, I can also season my speech with some OSHO-isms.

Brands are in and anything which is not branded has to be inferior. Therefore just as my watch has to be a Rolex for you to even notice it, my thoughts have to stem from something said by a 'superior' thinker who is now a brand. Why must anyone listen to me wax eloquent about how the conscience must be our only guide? Must I not quote from the VEDAS and the GITA and the UPANISHADS to substantiate my thinking? Even the QORAN agrees but hey, I didn't think of it first and therefore I must bring proof from all these guides that I must use only my common sense and conscience to guide me.

It is amazing how even the most intelligent thinkers of today would rather tie themselves up in - isms and call themselves -ites than just express what they know as true - for themselves atleast. We would rather be part of a herd...than be heard for ourselves.

We are afraid to remain in our own skins when we preach but it is easier to do the very same thing using quotations. I'd rather not say...'hey..chill and do what you have to'...I'd rather say ' Krishna ne kaha - apne karam karte jao, phal ki chinta matt karo' and Krishna is God and I've successfully passed the buck.

Is this why today we lack younger leaders? Is this why we're happy with BJP and the Congress and can't look beyond them? Where is the young brigade with new ideas for today? Where are those people who can THINK and express themselves without fear? How long will we dig into our pasts for inspiration? Inspiration is great but forward thinking indispensable. Is the present not reason enough for us to say ENOUGH?

Get out of that mental prison and THINK and tell us all what YOU think..make a change before it is too late.