NaBloPoMo - Ok, I'm doing it!

I signed up for NaBloPoMo - in short it's a challenge where you have to post to your blog, every day, for a month. I've seen Psych Babbler do it a number of times and seeing as I have such little motivation to blog, I figured this might be a good prompt.

I am starting it on the 1st of July. I like NaBloPoMo because it's pretty free-form and does not ask invasive personal questions like a lot of the other memes do. I am tempted to set a theme for the month but I also know there will be days I will have nothing clever or interesting to say and then be guilty of not sticking to the theme. So I've decided, the general theme will be Multiculturalism (it's a *very* broad topic when you think about it) but some days I will write fluff posts because I'm unable to channel the smarts.

So wish me luck and please do come back to see how I'm doing.

Being Bengali...

When I was younger, I thought I was far removed from the stereotypical "Bong" but over the years I've grown to realise how much of a Bengali I really am and there's no escaping really.

As much as I try to deny it, I am a little bit of a nerd who loves her literature (and Harry Potter) and enjoys nothing more than an afternoon spent curled up with her favourite book. I reserve the right to be nyaka the way only Bengalis can. I love my afternoon siesta and of late, I am even beginning to enjoy a cup of cha.

Music, prawns, family, being laidback, prizing intellectual achievments over being rich and famous, adda... the list of Bengali stereotypes I DO identify with goes on. But to me, the essence of being a Bengali is the passion we have for food. My personal love affair with food is such a large part of my identity. This is the 5th year in a row I'm not with my family for Poila Boisakh/ Nobo Borsho (Bengali New Year) and when I think about what I miss - it's definitely the family reunion but it's also most definitely the food.

The centrepiece of every Bengali festival/ function/ family occasion is food and LOTS of it. To the Bengali, food is not just something you eat when you're hungry. It is a passion that involves buying the perfect ingredients,  cooking it with lots of love and sharing it with people you love. Food, is not just about the food for a Bengali - it's about the whole experience.

Me, I have always been a food lover. I grew up with a mum who cooked everything from a boring bhindi to a fancy roast like a Masterchef and a Dad who (can cook but prefers not to :P) encouraged us to try everything - from the street food in Gariahat to the flash new restaurant on Park Street. Together they opened up our tastebuds (and minds) to food and experiences not many have been privileged to.

Of course, the Bengali passion for food is closely tied in with the Bengali sweet tooth. If there's anything a Bengali loves more than a good meal, it's a good meal that's finished off with an even better mishti or dessert. If you know me, you know that every meal is followed by an INTENSE craving for something sweet! Growing up, my cousins, my sister and I bonded over our common passion for good food and baking. One, of the four of us, was always baking ensuring the family was never deprived of sweet stuff. Over my holidays in India last December - our "going out" revolved around food, staying home also revolved around food (eating it or cooking it). We're not gluttons I promise, we're just gastronomes.

Today, I am a combination of my parents' passion for food - I enjoy cooking as much as I enjoy eating out at places small and big. Food makes me happy like nothing else and like a true Bengali, I'm doubly happy when I have someone to make goo goo eyes at my food with. They say, the way to a man's heart is through his stomach - well the way to *this* woman's heart is definitely through her stomach. Treat me to a good meal and I will love you long time ;-)

You don't have to be born a Bengali in order to become one of course. If you grew up in Calcutta you are often a Bengali and food passionista by osmosis.

So, whether you're a Bengali by birth or a de facto Bong, I hope this Poila Boisakh is filled with an endless supply of good food and mishti. We might not know what year it is in the Bengali calendar, but we sure know how to celebrate it over a good meal ;-)

Here's to food...and being Bengali.

Shubho Nobo Borsho!

This Lent I Am Giving Up…Lent.

I am not religious. Being of Indian origin – that is almost as shocking as saying "I don't like cricket". In some cases it is synonymous. But I digress, as usual.

Religion plays a central role in the lives of a lot of people and I understand that. What I don’t understand is the patronising self-important smugness some people develop as certain religious holidays draw closer.

Lent has just kicked off and suddenly the previously hedonistic are showing off the guilty pleasures they have so heroically sacrificed. Most major religions in the world have a period of abstinence in their holy calendar and while this religion-fuelled detox makes sense for the truly religious – the buffet style, nouveau Religionistas are the ones that annoy me. When abstinence becomes a douchebag status symbol, it totally defeats the purpose doesn’t it? Kinda like charity. Or third world child adoptions.

There’s a South Park episode…(youbequiet. yes, I am one of *those* people who thinks of a South Park reference for everything #dealwithit)…where everyone gets hybrid cars – not to save the environment, but for pure Smug value. Religious abstinence is often the same.

Being [insert religion here] isn’t a part-time activity you indulge in for 40 days to absolve yourself of your 325 days of decadent, over-indulgence. Besides, if you are so smug about your abstinence, you’re probably doing it all wrong.  

Maybe, next time religion “compels” you to give up something – you will consider giving up self-indulgent Smugness. That would be an infinitely bigger sacrifice than abstaining from wine and cheese for 40 days. Amen.

of writing...

Writing. Is such a major part of who I am yet I have precious little to show for it.

I write (almost) every day for work but I don't write, for myself anymore.

My writing is very personal. When I say personal, I don't mean it's all about me, myself and my alter ego. I mean, for me to write about something, I have to feel passionately enough. And therein lies the problem.

I've been avoiding my feelings for a while now because facing them was too overwhelming too handle. My strong front has simply been a false bravado in the face of just not knowing what else to do.

But,

I think I’m ready now…to write and to babble, unnecessarily and without word limit.

Ayodhya: United in Pieces?

They divided Ayodhya yesterday. Pieces for peace.

For sixty years we have fought – for the right to 2.7 hectares of land. We have waged war on fellow countrymen in the name of a God who probably doesn’t even care if the prayers are coming via a mosque or a temple.

“Unity in diversity” we proudly proclaim, but never united we stand. Everybody’s happy with the verdict they told us but really, is anyone happy? If Hindus and Muslims are both winners – what is the prize? The right to construct a temple and a mosque? Pardon me, but that doesn’t seem fair compensation for the thousands of people who died as a result of this mindless tussle.

Media Watch - me style

Once again a blog challenge has beaten me and I'm giving up on #30daysofme. To be honest, I'd rather not complete it haha ;-) Anyway, the reason I took up the challenge was to get me to write again. I know I've said this a million times before, but writing for work really takes the joy out of writing sometimes. I'm too mentally exhausted to critique anything or feel passionately enough for any issue - which is quite sad, I must admit. *end whinge* But I read this article and it annoyed me a fair bit…well, enough to make me want to write about it.

‘Adopted girl banned from entering Australia because she's classified an immigration threat’

Makes you want to click on it, doesn’t it? Do It! But come back…I have more to say.

Day 13: #30daysofme

The Task: A letter to someone who has hurt you recently

I've thought long and hard about this one but there's no way I can write this without giving away more than I am comfortable with. So, I'm sorry but let's just jump to Day 14 okay?

This post is part of the #30daysofme blog challenge I'm doing with some friends

Day 11: #30daysofme

The Task: Another picture of you and your friends

Getting demanding about the photos aren't we? Struggled to find another photo that didn't show any faces etc. But anyway, here we go:

Yes, that's me in the middle with two of my friends. We did a bit of Japanese traditional dancing for a while. :)

P.S. This should have been posted before but internet troubles - sorry!




This post is part of the #30daysofme blog challenge I'm doing with some friends

Day 12: #30daysofme

The Task: How you found out about Blogger and why you made one

I'm assuming this means "how you found out about blogging in general" because my first blog wasn't on Blogger. I was in Year 12 and used to waste a lot of time on MSN Messnger & MSN had this new feature - it was called Spaces or something... can't remember. I think it was the first stages of MySpace. Anyway, I had a random blog there which I abandoned after some time. I started blogging because finishing school felt like the end of an era. I would be leaving behind friends I had known my whole life and I was worried about the change that college life would bring. To try and make sense of all my emotions - I started blogging.

This post is part of the #30daysofme blog challenge I'm doing with some friends

Day 10: #30daysofme

The Task: Songs you listen to when you are Happy, Sad, Bored, Hyped, Mad

A post about music. Woo Hoo! So a lot of the music I listen to is "comfort" music and I listen to it irrespective of my mood. So whether I'm happy, sad or bored - I can always listen to Jack Johnson & Coldplay.

Music almost always makes me happy so when I'm happy so when I'm happy, I listen to absolutely everything from dance music to old school rock, Jack Johnson to Muse. Anything goes, really.

My number one 'Sad' song is "Everybody Hurts" by R.E.M. Emo, I know but whattodo.

When I'm bored, I like listening to anything that is up-tempo. David Guetta helps ;-)

Hmm, when I'm mad I usually like to listen to something that calms me down or puts me in a better mood. Dance music is good. Jazz works well too as does Jack Johnson & Billy Joel.

I don't know what "hyped" means in this context, so I'm just going to ignore it.

On a self-congratulatory note, I've posted for 10 days straight! Very proud of myself :D

This post is part of the #30daysofme blog challenge I'm doing with some friends

Day O9: #30daysofme

The Task: Something you’re proud of in the past few days

Absolutely nothing spectacular has happened in my life in the last few days.. But I guess I could say I'm proud of my gymming efforts in the last few days. I've really pushed myself and I feel really great about it :)

This post is part of the #30daysofme blog challenge I'm doing with some friends

Day 08: #30daysofme

The Task: Short term goals for this month and why

The only goal I have this month is to do a complete cleanout of my house - really, really needs it.

This post is part of the #30daysofme blog challenge I'm doing with some friends

Day 07: #30daysofme

The Task: A picture of someone/something that has the biggest impact on you

Words. They have the biggest impact on me. I identify myself as a writer first, so that makes sense doesn't it?

I've always loved words. There are words I like, words I dislike. Words I use. And abuse. Then there are words I avoid. There are words I use when I write but never use colloquially and vice versa.

As part of my Bachelor's degree, I had to study the History of English Language and while a lot of it bored me to tears, I loved learning how to identify the origin of words in the English language. For a long time even after I finished uni, I would quiz myself trying to figure out if words were French, Latin or even one of Shakespeare's creations ;)

Like I said before, I love and collect quotations. They inspire me, move me, make me think and sometimes just make go "awwww"

I love word games. Especially Scrabble.

I used to read the dictionary for fun. (Try not to judge me :P) and Dictionary.com is the first bookmark on my web browser. I even follow @thewordoftheday on Twitter.

While I have a general interest in understanding different cultures - words, the way they are used and often the differences in connotation in different cultures are particularly fascinating for me.

Words & me...it's something special ;-)

This post is part of the #30daysofme blog challenge I'm doing with some friends

Day 06: #30daysofme

The Task: Favourite super hero and why

So far this challenge has been pretty easygoing but this "favourite super hero" post had me stumped. I don't have a favourite superhero (well, not the comic book type at least) but as I have mentioned before, I'm a total Harry Potter fangirl so for the sake of this post, he is going to be my favourite super hero. I know some of you will argue technicalities but well, Harry can do magic - that is just as super hero-ic as a man who scales buildings arachnid-like or the Last Son of Krypton .

Why do I love Harry so much? Because he's awesome of course. What? That's not reason enough? Okay...

1. Magic, obviously! No matter how old you are, magic is always cool plus wand-swishing and Latin spells only makes it cooler! Who wants to flick the switch when you can say LUMOS; or why would you open a door when ALOHOMORA is so much more fun! ;-)
    
2. Harry is the "Boy who Lived" - he is the Boy Wonder of the Wizarding World but he is still so humble. Humility is underrated but it is so important. It is why I love Roger Federer so much. It's why I respect Rafael Nadal and can't hate him even when he beats Federer. (It's Grand Slam time - the tennis references are inevitable).
    
3. Harry is a very loyal friend (e.g. Ron and Hermione) and very passionate about his close relationships (e.g. Sirius or Dumbledore). I'm a typical Aquarian and have lots of friends however I always keep everyone at a bit of a distance (especially as far as my emotions are concerned) until I can figure out if I want to let them into my "inner circle". I value loyalty in friendships & relationships and once you're part of the inner circle, I will go that extra mile for you without hesitation, so Harry's loyalty and passion are endearing.
    
4. Invisibility! I read The Invisible Man when I was in primary school and if I could have one super power, I would love to be invisible. I would love to steal Harry's invisibility cloak.
    
5. Harry's a good person, he's a hero but he's not a goody-two-shoes and I love that. Sneaking out of Hogwarts with the Marauder's Map or stealing potion supplies from Snape's cupboard - being mischievous makes him more fun and lovable.

There are many more reasons why I love Harry Potter but I'll stick to just 5 for today.

This post is part of the #30daysofme blog challenge I'm doing with some friends.

Day 05: #30daysofme

The Task: A picture of somewhere you’ve been to

 

This is a picture of Wategos beach at Byron Bay from my last trip in April. TO say I love Byron would be an understatement. Yes yes I know, it's become very yuppie, has way too many tourists, is overpriced... and all that. But Byron's inherent hippie-ness appeals to my inner flower child.

This post is part of the #30daysofme blog challenge I'm doing with some friends.