ritu

Though I am a great movie buff, I wasn't quite interested in watching one of the movies made by a very well known director, the reason was that I had heard it to be slow in the pace of the progression of its plot, and had not gone through the review myself which I normally do. A few days back I happened to see the film, and it was so engrossing! It dealt with the delicate issue of "Euthanasia" , it has in it a protagonist who is a celebrated magician, a friend envies him and conspires to cause damage to him and his reputation. The magician falls prey to the conspiracy and gets his body paralysed. The whole course takes us through the journey of his sufferings and his plea to end his traumatic life through Euthanasia. He pleads before the courts of law to grant him death but is turned down. One point that raised my curiosity was that if the person no longer desires to live, what's the harm in ending his life. He was just trying to do it lawfully, though he couldn't take his life all by himself as he was bed-ridden. So, the point lies whether Euthanasia should be allowed, what I feel is that a person's life is worth only if he loves it or has got some objective in it,when none of this is present, the very meaning of life ceases to exist, you will agree when you view the issue from the seeker's point, at least he is not a case who commits suicide which is unlawful in many countries, he is asking for help in relieving his pain.The courts of law of in many cases, do not permit this concept on the grounds of the logic that it is of suicidal nature and death under any circumstances is not desirable or relieving. There was another movie , probably a Japanese one where I had seen that any person who had covered 80 or something years of life would be pushed from an altitude by his /her son or daughter, pertaining to the custom of that place, can't say by the age of 80, how much a person would really like to live, but if anyone from any age gets repulsed over life, specially when it is out of some disease or painful event, then what is he supposed to do? Its not about taking God's place but about helping a fellow human being.

That is so useful indeed! Just had a doubt about the canned meat part, is it advisable to have canned meat which is preserved and we preserve it further ? the rest is a list that everyone should well versed with ,because disasters come with unprecedented and obviously adverse effects.

I remember that a few years back when I was in college, my maternal uncle had almost dictated us to accompany him to his place. He had built a luxurious house, on a plot that was gifted to him by his in-laws. It is a nice place with a rural touch to it. I would rather say that the main body was that of a rural area, and the touch was of an urban one. They called it a town but it hardly had any such signs, not because it didn't stretch that long, also because it wasn't crowded like the big cities, but the very structure of the people's mind and the town were different. the people used to wake up early..... really early at about 3 or 4 in the morning . My uncle's mother -in law would get up at 3 in the morning ( about to be morning) and start to cook. We had our sleep deepened by 3, let alone the question of rising up, by 6 in the morning she would have her bath after cooking , and go for "POOJA", that was the time when we brushed our teeth, we would come looking for tea, she (my uncle's mom in law) would firmly refuse as we were late by 2 hours for tea. It was then time for breakfast, can you imagine breakfast at 6:30 in the morning, I wasn't out of my sleep totally, but I couldn't let the amazing food cooked by granny ( uncle's mom-in-law) go, so without having tea , had to have breakfast. We would feel so hungry by 8 , but were only allowed to wait till lunch was ready. We were told that we should have our bath a little earlier than 8 or 8:30 in the morning, even in that chilly winter morning. At 11:30 in the morning they had lunch, who on earth has lunch in the morning as 11:30 is morning! For us it was the time to have a sip of tea whether at home or out, but as they say,"When in Rome, do as the Romans do.", it was conjugal to have lunch, our time was 1:30 which is considered normal across the world, but it was tea time for them an hour later at 2:30. There was no custom of going out for recreation, the only purpose would be shopping for household requirements, the shops would close down by 7:30 in the evening, and in granny's place they would finish their last meal by that time. Honestly, I wanted to relish on the food cooked by granny, it was more than awesome, but the time allotted to the meals were in no ways in accordance to what we have been brought up with. The way they viewed issues were quite different from our perspective. You know what, the people in the towns don't think that way, like they called our visit to be a vacation for us, whereas it wasn't the same for my family members.

It was the year following to the one when my father passed away, we could barely recover from the grief ,that we had a new reason to worry. One evening,me , my mother and sister were out to pay a visit to my uncle's place , we had just come out of our lane and were about to touch the main road when a bike-ridden person arrived in front of us, his face fully covered with a helmet , as he stopped very close to us , we thought it was an acquaintance, but in a fraction of a second, he bashed his hands against my mother's neck, snatched the chain and rode away with a partner. Stricken with shock and disbelief, we could do nothing but try to chase, but in vain. It was our own locality where we would feel the safest, now it was no longer this way. We were advised to lodge a complaint with the police, yet nothing came out as a result. To do our bit, we spread the news in the locality, so that the others get cautious but the so called "chain snatchers" were well ahead of the game, they would devise new ways of accomplishing their task. Henceforth, a lot of reports could be heard about more of chain snatching, but no reports of the snatchers came.Even after seven years , the same incidents continue to happen, and the cops still fail to trace them. Anyone would wonder how it is possible to live fearlessly in such an environment, the residents of our locality after wondering in the same way, have now decided to live with the insecurity and recently I have heard that in a few cases, they have put up a combat. They have now prepared themselves to face the trouble in their own ways.

Being a part of the Bengali community, you have to master some form of art,at least try to do so, when you know that in any event or festival celebrated by the community, the people are bound to discuss about art and more about what art form their child is pursuing these days , so my life wasn't an exception, for I somewhat had a good voice and my father wanted me to join music classes but how could I explain him that I loved music because I felt my soul could connect to music very well, the idea of taking formal lessons was not to work for me, so my mother made me switch to painting classes. When I was no longer a kid, we had "friends' day out" very often, and I would sing for my friends, they enjoyed my singing, but would almost curse me for not going to music classes. I won't disagree totally as I know how important it was to get trained, still inherently never felt like joining one. With the course of time, I began to understand why training was inevitable, especially when I had to sing on stage at a few instances. The training part will mainly teach you how to understand yourself what your drawbacks are, because you are the best judge of yourself and how to work upon those areas to show improvement. The untrained but gifted lot are aware of the field and can exhibit their talent, but training will provide the directions and increase the degree of excellence.

How hard am I trying to do so! but have to admit that's no cakewalk, still I will try and progress in the path of discovery

That's exactly what happens to me at times, I often feel, when something is going on, that I have been through the same event earlier, actually nowadays if I dream of something that might be considered to bring misfortune, I try to avoid discussing it with anyone, for they will start assuming a lot of things

Of course, India will be a super nation and we really hope that does happen a little earlier.The military strength is well talked about and guarding the borders and it will be easier for the country to be in the 1st place if the citizens play their respective roles without fail within the country to make it the best in and out

Its a clear case, go join his competitor, when you know you have been manipulated, used and then betrayed, what is the procrastination for? If you are really good at your job, then you will establish yourself in any concern.There is no point maintaining loyalty with a company that can't value your contributions and your brother is no better. Give them a life's lesson and concentrate on rebuilding your career.

With a child coming into the family, a lot of joy comes in and comes in the planning for that little thing. The parents can barely live the joy of having a child, they start to discuss what their child is going to be. By the time the child reaches the age of two, it is made certain what he/she is going to become. Actually these parents dream of fulfilling their aspirations through the child, obviously for their kid's well- being , or they might have come across a successful person in a particular field, and they feel that their child would also live a life of that grandeur only if he followed the same profession, the restlessness of the parents is merely out of concern, but the child's preference somehow manages to run out of their concern. Very lucky are the kids who receive the support of their parents in pursuing their dream,is it a kind of insecurity that circles the parents? Probably they wish to see their child prosper, but how would they do so if they fail to excel? Their interest should guide them to excellence. Many fields which are doubted on like getting into the art industry.......following music, painting, performing arts are all right when taken as extra-curricular activities, but a full-time career is not approved of mostly, these professions might involve a bit of struggle but with dedication and constant efforts one would manage to succeed. They can be supported by acquisition of professional training and most importantly wholehearted encouragement of the parents.So, as a parent which way would you choose?

That's a nice one. I have had pasta which was overcooked and turned out to be absolutely disastrous. Would love to try the recipe, hope that comes out to be fun.

Though I am not quite a foodie, my husband is definitely one. He is aware of all the eateries(whatever magnitude they come in) that exist in the city. We have had almost all kind of stuff outside, but trust me there is nothing like authentic Indian food, it will leave you keep your finger licking, home- cooked food stands a class apart, (it is dipped in tender motherly love), besides that I remember having food on the western side of the city where it was awesome, though its not purely Indian( an outlet serving Mughlai food), as this kind of food is exotically spiced, as it was high on taste and very mild on stomach. Usually, it gets difficult for me to finish my food, but that wasn't the case that day. My husband was expecting the delight of finishing up my food and I turned him down to grab everything that was plated before me. Another instance where usually our taste buds get invigorated are when a grand Indian "Thali" is placed before us. It can be from any region,I will talk about what I like in a thali, its the "sambar", coconut chutney and black lentil "vada" in a south Indian one, "chhole" "Punjabi Dal",pickles and the desserts in a north Indian one, while it comes to Gujarat and Rajasthan, I like every dish in the thali, and you cannot have a better meal if you can manage to find an authentic Bengali thali, though there is a little less for the vegetarian.The sweets of Bengal are to die for. In addition, there are cuisines from Kashmir,Orissa and from the northeast with their unique flavour as well. So, next time when you are in India, will you let the opportunity slip away?

Marriages, arranged or out of love, have almost the same post marital conditions to face.Yet from a girl's point of view, it is very important for her to know about the pros and cons of any relationship she plans to enter. In the older times, the girls were not allowed to even look at the guy who would come to see her, rather to examine her critically and then if found desirable, would take her in marriage. But now the times have changed, when it comes to expectations, the girl does have a say. She righteously decides upon getting married to someone, after having a compatibility estimate. The possibility of going wrong cant be ruled out though. I had gone through a post in the forum talking about expectations in marriage, which can't be done away with. The aspect of expectations is equally important for the men and women.As men have the right to judge his bride, why can't the women be granted this freedom as still in many parts of India , the custom of exhibiting women as a commodity prevails keeping aside the element of her emotions. What this will lead to is a kind of tie where the male will issue instructions and his female counterpart will carry those out as a piece of machinery. If someone is interested, in a relationship which involves an emotional side, go look for a change in the selection process.Thankfully, the educated lot of the country don't follow these outdated norms, and have risen to show their girls a novel way of selecting their partners.

As I can see many of the posts are about scary dreams or nightmare, more or less everyone has those. In India, the dreams are supposed to have some real significance, it is said that they imply to some future happening in a particular order,about them, varied responses are issued. Like if you dream of a serpent, there is childbirth likely in your family, if it is of an elephant standing calm, then a stage of prosperity is likely to follow, unfortunately if it is an elephant chasing you, then you are gone...... expect the Heavens to fall on you. If you dream of darkness for a long time then too bad luck can drop in., dreaming of Gods always puts you on the safer side, and you can relax that you are the blessed one, when you dream of a person ,very close to you and is dead, it comes with a number of meanings, that person might be feeling to be with you, i.e. is calling you to Heaven or might be trying to give you a message, when you have blood in your dreams, it is again favourable. There are a few more but lets leave it to this extent. Do you have any stories of your dream which have corresponding events taking place?

Many people have been found to practise the application of home -remedies without knowing the details that need to be known about. Like the cases I have seen they mainly use the remedies for enhancement of skin tone.These efforts were made after facing failure with chemical based cosmetic products.now the question that stood out was how useful would the home remedies be?? but surprisingly I was the only one who had this concern.See, most of the people I am talking about are females, and they are very stern regarding the fact that whatever they know is the best. In an instance one lady advised me to apply a paste of red lentils on my face, my mother appreciated the idea and I started applying the paste with great hopes, all of us unaware of the actual effects the paste would be causing. After regularly applying it for a month, there wasn't anything that noticeable.so, the idea was dropped. Next came to happen a very significant incident (will disclose why I call it so) , an acquaintance once told about how she had benefitted from a paste made with gramflour , curd and some other thing I don't remember . She herself applied the paste on my face and that turned into one of the greatest disasters of my life. My face turned red with small pimples erupting, to my utter dismay, one of the pimples got so swollen that even after years of getting healed, it has left me with a mark resembling a dimple can I say a blessing in disguise, a cousin of mine committed the same stupidity and applied a few drops of aloe-vera on his face, his skin being on the oilier side, developed rashes with burning sensation, you wont believe there are a few tribes in India that squeeze into their mouth the blood of a fish as they believe it would give them a whitish pink glow on their face, actually the complexion improves for the fish blood carries a lot of iron in it, but can be had in the cooked form also with nearly the same effect, it never makes you whitish-pink or pinkish -white, however you put it. Sandalwood, turmeric, various kinds of herbs are often crushed and blended into a paste known as "Uptan" and is invariably applied to any bride, sometimes developing itchiness, acne, yellow patches or making the skin dry(as it happened in my case). The point that I wish to make out from these instances is that there should be inclination towards home remedies for skin,but with the knowledge of the skin type and what is best suited for its enhancement.

A very useful post that is! just wanted to add a little more things, I have experienced myself, if a mild burn is treated with toothpaste, is does come to out to be fruitful at times, also to get rid of a fish-bone stuck in your throat, the safest and easiest option is to swallow some plain cooked rice, it is a tested one! Lets hope all of us make best use of these remedies.

After a long time,I have heard about an interesting story like this, that too from south India, though I have come across the stories of mystery from the eastern part of the country.Having heard those stories, I would love to pay a visit to Kerala and find out more of such facts

History has it that a very prestigious position has been conferred to art in India. It is a land which has art as the part of its tradition, the forms of art can be different yet they all deserve praise. Right from the beginning, even in the prehistoric and stone ages people tried to exhibit their artistic genius. They couldn't do much but carve out certain kinds of structures on stone walls of the caves they lived . It was actually a process of communication but can be included as art as they contained shapes.As civilization started to progress throughout the ages, a remarkable development in the field of art could also be seen.The Indus valley and Harappan civilizations had a more refined form of art. India experienced a significant development in the art forms when monarchy came into being, under the patronage of kings.Ethnic Indian emperors also contributed to the creation of milestones, like Emperor Ashoka, whose lion pillar is monumental, and is taken as the Indian National Emblem, Vikramaditya, Chandragupta and even in the south the Chola dynasty,the Pallavas, and Samudragupta build immemorial buildings and temples.The monarchs,with Indian or foreign origin,supported art, though the basic pattern varied with the interest of the region and the king, this difference can be found when art forms had reached its zenith, at times when the Mughals ruled over the land they patronised classical "Kathak"dance, "Hindustani" classical music and vocal ,use of various instruments and the most spectacular of all, the monuments made by them which are considered to be legends of construction, whereas their contemporary Rajput kings had a different approach, they maintained their own types of music,dance,construction and paintings,It is not correct to compare them .The point that comes to our mind is that we can proudly project our legacy, but cannot be equally proud to be ahead of times like our ancestors were.A lot of influences Middle-Eastern and West Asian influences can be cited in the art forms of the Mughal era,which are also being researched upon. It feels immensely proud to be a part of a culture with such a rich tradition of art in it.

Happy realisation! you have goals set and so now you cut your path through. It isn't unusual to have whoever heroic you see idealised and want to become the same, by heroic i mean whatever appeals to you. There is also no harm in accepting an advice,as long as it conforms to your taste. If you find anyone not encouraging you , the best way to make him understand is to prove yourself. I guess the actual goal in a person's life is to excel in whatever constructive he does.

Quite an interesting bit of study that is! What I have mostly seen is that Indians use a lot of oil in their food, really if ours was the consumption of that sort, scientists would be busy with work.

Literature maintains an esteemed position as a part of civilization. It is important to read pieces of literature but more important is to read between the lines. By that I mean, one has to view the piece of literature in light of the author's state of mind, which can be attributed to either his personal experiences or the social condition prevalent i.e. the history. A special part has been allotted to History in the study of literature, for it is so helpful in making literature personify itself, it can be said that a considerable part of personal experiences accumulated by any author are also influenced if not decided by History.English literature has History broadly divided into ancient, medieval ,early modern and modern. The ancient part mostly deals with the formative part of English literature, handling the intermingling of various ethnicity and thereby displaying the influences, a lot of Pagan traits can also be found. The medieval age had various remarkable names such as Chaucer, who is regarded as "The father of English Literature", and one of the greatest poets in England.The English used in that era was quite different from what we use today, and if the difference is studied with comparative analysis,can be exemplary in demonstrating the historical progress of English.A lot of derivations from classical literature can be noticed and for the reason of such derivations can be found in history.The early modern stage of literature has a very vast extension of excellence with the strongest pillars of English literature venturing. The Elizabethan Age is regarded as the " The Golden Age of English Literature",and gems like Shakespeare used to adorn that era. The modern age saw a defiance to the earlier style of writing, the most commonly known of this sort are the Romantic writers who majorly ventured into poetry, and in a little later stage the Victorian writers who were mostly creators of novels. A few other kinds were the feminist writers and those who actively were involved in any revolution, using literature as an effective means of gathering support and creating mass awareness. As a later development in the field of literature,another age has been introduced known as the post modern age, which is hard to be put into definite words as carries literature to the next level with its own modifications. Irrespective of the age, any writer was a part of, they all exhibit dexterity in their own unique way and to get the essence of their masterpieces ,a reader should have the knowledge of History, not just to judge their work but to refer to it as an artistic representation of History.

Well hobbies, I would say, are helpful in bringing back moments for yourself from your own life, mine would be music, listening to it and humming a few lines myself.It somehow proves to be a great source of energy, as according to me stress drains your energy out and your hobby restores it. I do feel livelier as I dedicate a little time to it. In addition I am a complete movie buff and enjoy watching movies

How wonderful it is to be born as an Indian woman! Many of you might be wondering, as to what makes me so happy,to let you know the reason I will tell you that with varied cultures existing here, you can easily land with a lot of options to dress. Just go anyway you like..... the ethnic,the modern or the the fusion way. Not only in India,but around the world, it is considered proper to dress according to the occasion and that becomes easier in India (with a proper sense of dressing)because of the choices you have. To have a fetish for Indian clothing is usual as there is a vast variety, like, starting from the north, embroidery and warm fabrics from Kashmir, unique stuff from Ladakh, Himachal and Garhwal, the typically stitched "Patialis" from Punjab, the well known "Chikankari" from Lucknow; moving west, its all a fair of colors in Rajasthan and Gujarat with their own mark of craftsmanship; down south, can be well termed as a silk paradise, gorgeous pieces of clothes are produced here out of silk and cotton with jaw-dropping borders; upwards towards the east, you can totally get spellbound by the shimmer of quality clothing, Assam produces and exports very sought after quality of silks which are high-priced as well, Bengal comes up with an innumerable range of fabrics which are enough to fill any clothing outlet up,Orissa too has a considerable contribution with its traditional art of clothing and all other northeastern states also have noticeable style of clothing; so I guess that can be a reason enough to be glad to dress in India, the Indian way, the exquisite, culture-borne materials for dressing will satisfy the hunger to look good and prove a sight of delight to the one you pass across.

This is a situation any married woman must have come across. They have their husbands treated as their babies, looking after them in all possible manners, and this phenomenon is incredibly untouched by the rising trends of gender equality, nobody seems to protest simply because it is out of their will that they do so. The men on the other hand, can't say that they are not in love with their wives and somewhat rely on them blindly, have often been observed to complain about the fact that their wives keep on nagging,their phone's inbox is full of messages of how a wife has always robbed her husband's freedom and happiness. Now this what can be called a paradox. The wives do get irritating at times, but they have to keep on nagging because men won't listen to them easily. Is it a way of showing love to their wife as men find it tougher than themselves to express their deep emotions? Else what makes a husband long for his wife's concern and at the same time doesn't hesitate to support the cause of wife-stricken husbands.

This is the time for you to decide, do you think it is fair to ask for loyalty when you are using her for money yourself, your love should be selfless.Moreover, if she is constantly in touch with other guys, and surprisingly you know about this, why don't you just finish it off! or accept her the way she is, you cannot have everything, after all.