Remembering my idol..

Yesterday, it was the death anniversary of my Dada ji, my paternal grandfather.
It has been 11 long years, since the day all our lives changed.
It was the year that, actually changed me as a person also. I had never experienced death so close to me.

I think that whatever little sanity that I have in me is thanks to my Dadu, and the fact that I think that I am a princess is also thanks to him.
He would never let me go to the kitchen, or be around things that were dangerous.
He used to take my to India International Center, for absolutely delightful lunches and fancy dinners in their dining hall, where kids were hardly allowed. I was always asked to behave like a lady. Till today, if by any fortune I get to go there, a lump always forms in my throat, remembering the great years of being simple and loving.
The fact that we used to go out of the city for "Summer Vacations", was also thanks to him. He loved to take us for holidays all over the northern part of the country.
He loved weddings. And my mum loves weddings. There is no second guessing, why I just LOVE weddings.

I never saw him raising his voice or his hands at any of his grand children, I have never heard that he did that to his children either. He had friends that were always for life. He wrote letters. Was fascinated by an electronic typewriter and absolutely amazed at "Cut, Copy & paste" feature in the computers.

No one in any corner of my immediate family or extended family on any side ever criticized him.. all of us have such fond memories of the times that we have had with him.

And, trust me when I say that, he probably would have been over the moon seeing me getting married.

I miss him.
And one of the thoughts that provoked me to write about him was..  (he used to always tell me to calm down ;))

A CUP OF COFFEE

An interesting fact of physics:

If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days, you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee.

Hardly seems worth it, does it?

It is a supposed fact of physics but also a corollary of spirit.

Most fussing, yelling, and cursing causes far more harm than good and usually isn’t worth the effort. All of the good it does over the years probably isn’t worth a cup of hot coffee.

The next time you are inclined to huff and puff and blow off steam by raising your voice with five minutes of yelling at something or someone, remember with another 8 years, 7 months, 5 days,

23 hours and 55 minutes of yelling, you could have a cup of hot java.

Is the hot cup of coffee worth stirring up with anger? 

Coffee doesn’t hear you. People do. And it only takes one second of yelling to heat them up.

Keep your cool, coffee is not the only thing that’s ground up

With love from- Across the Border!!!

Sixty Years of being a Republic. Being a nation that has its own laws, and its very own constitution. A culture that is so diverse that, there are nations that look at us and exclaim.. how we manage.

This and the Independence Day are maybe The most hyped holidays in the year. Not only does that give a license to EVERYONE in the country to actually have a holiday- and gives a license to ALL the stores to put up weird sales.. and the Radio stations, Newspapers and Magazines, will chronicle many reasons for us to be proud Indians. I don't want to start up with the whole thing of how, we should really be proud of our legacy and that these two days should be meaningful, and not just holidays on our calendars.

But instead- This year- I have thought that I am going to do something else. I am going to tell a story to all of you. This story is about a man, who has given me THE most precious lessons of my life.

The series is gonna be called "With Love from-Across the border".

I don't know why I decided to write about him, rather tell his story in his own words- But I do know that I want the world to know him...!!! And, this is the BEST place.

So I hope that you all enjoy the series.

The Foreword will come soon.

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There is a quiz that is being conducted on a Radio station, called 61 seconds (This is for our Republic Day, the rules are simple- You will be asked question pertaining to India, and you are to answer them in 61 seconds. You have to get Minimum 3 answers correct to win a prize. )

This is the quizzing that I heard in the morning today on the radio.

RJ: Hi, so who is this?

Listener: I am ABC... (its a girl)

RJ: So you are ready...

ABC: Yeah.. I am ready.

RJ: Who takes the salute at the Republic Day parade?

ABC: I dunno (dumb girl, must be in college then min age 17, doesn't even know that the salute is taken by the President of India)

RJ: Who is the cheif guest at this year's parade?

(I agree that, it is not such a significant peice of fact that a teenager should know, but it is a known fact that it is a foreign dignitary)

ABC: Sheila Dixit.. (Ok, I totally love our CM, but PLEASE)

RJ: When does the beating retreat after the parade happens?

ABC: I dunno ( The answer is- 3 days later on 29th January)

RJ: Who is the President of our Country?

ABC: Pratibha Patil (Thank GOD she got this right)

RJ: Who was our former President?

ABC: L.K. ADVANI (WTF)

RJ: Who is our PM?

ABC: Manmohan Singh (I would have personally found her and thrashed her if she would have wrongly answered this)

RJ: How many members are there of Rajya sabha?

ABC: 11 (Yeah, sure shows, how much civics does she know)

I was super shocked to hear all this nonsense... newspaper reading should become compulsory. If not the civics book. If you do not know about your own country- whether you like your own country or not, you should be ashamed of yourself.

Ohkay- I am not promising any prizes here... but I have not answered couple of questions in the quiz above. Lets see if any of you know the correct answer.

And here is my question in addition:

TRUE OR FALSE:

HINDI OUR NATIONAL LANGUAGE.

(HINT: It is there in today's times of India)

I will announce the result in a separate post, highlighting the answers of the person who has given maximum correct answers. Be true to yourself and try not using google.

Have a great HOLIDAY!!!

HAPPY REPUBLIC DAY!!! JAI HIND.