Most non-Indian things about me

Recently, one of my favourite websites/apps has been Quora. I keep reading stories there and one of these threads was a nice one where people wrote about what was the most non-Indian things about them. So I thought of posting something similar here, instead of in Quora.

Race/Caste: I am completely race, caste, colour and religion blind. I believe in everyone living the life they want to live.

Food: I love foods from other cultures and try to eat different foods as much as possible. I also don’t eat the food traditionally cooked by my community all the time, I need to eat different food all the time.

Speech: I am more comfortable in English than in Indian languages. In fact, I usually speak to Indians here in English and only when I am super comfortable with them, do I start using Indian languages

Punctuality: I am very punctual everywhere. If I have to be someplace at a certain time, I am usually there 10-15 minutes before the scheduled time. If in exceptional circumstances, I become late, I always call or text the person I am meeting to let them know as much in advance as possible.

Etiquette: I always thank people for whatever they do for me. This includes my parents, husband, children and in fact anyone I come across during the day.

Clothes and Jewellery: I don’t buy Indian clothes each time I go to India or even when there’s an occasion. I don’t believe in spending thousands of rupees on clothes you would wear only a couple of times; I’d rather spend money on something I would wear again and again, even if it’s slightly more expensive. It’s the same with jewellery. I don’t like wearing jewellery and don’t even wear the traditional symbols of marriage that women in my community wear.

Cricket: Zero interest in cricket or any sport for that matter. I can’t remember the last time I actually saw a match and since here you need to pay through your nose for cable television, I don’t really see the need to spend that kind of money to watch a match!

There’s probably more, but this is all I can think of right now. I may update this post when I think of more things. In the meantime, do check out Quora’s thread (the link is in the beginning of the post)

 

2018 Week 15 Update

How was your last week?

I have been angry, outraged and ashamed last week. By now, the whole world has probably heard of the multiple rapes in India. I was actually ashamed to call myself an Indian this week. I don’t want to pen down the atrocities and the unspeakable horror the little girl underwent before she was killed, you just need to do a simple Google search to read all about it.

What’s worse is that the judiciary, who is supposed to uphold the law in the country is also in cahoots with the perpetrators and when the parents of that girl went to lodge a police report, they shrugged them off saying that she must have run off (eloped) with a boy! Can we take a minute to digest this? A police officer saying that an eight-year-old eloped with a boy! Do they even know what love is at this age? Does an eight-year-old know how to elope with a boy at that age? This seriously boggles the mind, doesn’t it!

The government of the day is busy fasting for some issue and the prime minister, who tweets birthday wishes to celebrities took more than a few days to issue a press release about this situation, especially since the perpetrators seem to be from his own political party.

At this point in time, I am so glad that I don’t live in India anymore and live in a country where women (and girls and children) can move around freely without the fear of violation. I also have a daughter and when I start to think of her in this situation, my blood literally runs cold!

I really hope and pray that justice is served to both the little girl and the other victims and there are strict laws put in place. Please do send a little prayer, irrespective of your race and religion, so that the little girl’s soul gets some peace in the afterlife.

2018 Week 14 Update

Another week and this was a mixed bag of a week for me.

I have been super productive in finishing some chores which have been pending since the start of the year. I am almost done with the organisation of some documents and will start with something else later this week.

We’ve all been sick, starting with GG, then BB and me together. GG seems to have recovered, but BB and I are still not 100% fine.

That’s about it for me this week. I am also psyching myself to get myself to agree to a decision for which my self-imposed deadline will come in a couple of months and I really need to psych myself for it.

Have a lovely week folks!

2018 Week 13 Update

Another week is gone, with that, a new month is here!

Nothing really happens in my life, but as I get closer to a self-imposed deadline for taking some life decisions, I am feeling fearful. This decision may change the trajectory of my life and the little hope I have right now with one aspect of my life will be extinguished. Anyway, I still have a couple of months before this deadline, so until then, hope lives eternal!

I also had a nice Easter weekend with the children and S. Now off to make sure the children study and do well in their mid-year exams. These exams are important because if they want early admission next year for either Junior College or Polytechnic, then these results will make an impact in influencing the examiners.

Have a great week and an awesome April.

2018 Week 12 Update

Another week and we’re almost at the end of quarter 1!

I spent my weekend debating internally whether I should deactivate my Facebook account or not. With the Cambridge Analytica fallout, I am now rejoicing over my decision not to be all over social media and keeping a very low profile. While I did not deactivate my FB account, what I did was spend some time removing apps which had permission to access my account. I have a decent score of only 11 apps in the last 9-10 years, including WP, so yeah, I’ve gone and deleted everything from Facebook. I guess I am lucky that I am so paranoid that I almost never sign up with FB and always sign up to any apps or websites using email and this has, to a large extent protected me.

I’m also using this as a teaching opportunity to show GG & BB how social media can be dangerous, if not used properly. And also using this as an excuse to unsubscribe to all the newsletters and spam email that seem to proliferate and choke my inbox.

What steps are you taking to protect yourself online?