Wednesday, May 28, 2008

June 1, 2008

Here I am again...fully motivated and determined to resume blogging and updating it every so often. Let's see how long it take for this motivation to fade away into mere thoughts and replaced by something new, which will also suffer the similar treatment.

One of my oldest relatives (grandfather's brother's wife) is on her first, and probably last, tour to USA. Yesterday, i met her after 7 years. This whole ordeal was quite overwhelming. I use 'overwhelming' because meeting her, listening to her and talking to her made me realize many things. It was as if i was hit with a rock of self-realization which was there all this time, but i had been ignorant.

I think it is essential to provide some background information of my childhood before i proceed. First 6 years of my life was spent growing up in a joint family. Imagine 7-9 families, consisting of extended uncle, aunts, cousins, (from father's side) and all living under one huge roof. It is practically impossible to maintain that bond and relationship with your relatives in this decade. While she was updating us on each cousins' academics, employment, marriage and overall life, i realized that i had forgotten some of them. All i remember is their faces, i could not even distinguish some of them by name. The cousins I grew up with, the cousins I spent more time with than my own parents, the cousins who taught most of the valuable lessons of life one is taught in first six years of life are only reminisced by faces, and nothing else. I felt ashamed. Yes, they are not my first cousins, but i should still remember them and at least be able to differentiate each by his/her name, if nothing else. What cheered me up were her tales of our mischiefs and devilry in and around the huge house. It was quite nostalgic, especially because i had forgotten about it but as soon as she mentioned it, i could imagine it scene-by-scene occurring in front of my eyes.

With every couple earning and living independently (without parents, i.e.) and going by the principle of 'Hum do, hamare do' due to inflation/agflation and somewhat less stressful life, i doubt if many kids will be fortunate enough to experience the similar type of delectation with their cousins or close relatives even. In this age, with computers manipulating most of the kids' mind, so much so that they would rather live in their virtual life all day instead of going outside to play Cricket or any sport with 'real' friends.

More on this later...and some other topics also.

Meanwhile, make others happy and laugh, even when you aren't happy. Atleast you won't make them feel the same. :)

- Abhinav

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great Post Dude .... Reminded me of last visit to India when I sat down with my Grandma and made her tell all of my childhood stories :) .... Hope you keep updating

Anonymous said...

sup abhi, great post and blog dude... i added u on my frnds blogroll list - http://mostwanted.wordpress.com/ :)

- tashan

Anonymous said...

Nice writing, dude! :)

I like the way you have shaped your ideas. You start with the individual who got you thinking in the first place; then open it up to talk about the family in India; then broaden it by thinking about the past; and a general comment to end with. Classic!

And also, more important, a moving piece of writing. Seven, eight, nine families all together - that's beyond any experience I have ever had. But what you say about how children are brought up here, these days, well I know all about it. And you're right. They don't have such fun on the computer.

hans de tu zara ... nahin to bas, thoda muskara.

Keep writing!

Anonymous said...

This is social change happening fast in India, every family is affected by it.

Today there is lack of trust between family members which leads to confrontation.

Consumerism and individualism is the major culprit. The feeling of "apnaapan" is not there anymore and eventually love is lost.

Anonymous said...

Hey dude by the way, I would like to make a request here, due to the tremendous amount of change in India including cultural change which encompasses everything, Indians are forced to be remixed.
First they remixed our songs with western musical instruments.
Then they remixed our films and Americanized them.
Then they remixed our folk traditions, remember how the song khaike paan banaraswaala which is basically a "ganaga kinaare waala" tradition was remixed by shahrukh khan, listening to the new remixed version I fail to connect with that local UP/bihari tradition.
They did not stopped here, then they remixed ramayan and mahabharat. Ekta Kapoor's six pack version of mahabharat with Greek dresses....
Indians including me are longing for their tradition and culture to be renewed.
What better way than to totally ignore this new culture and go back to doordarshan days.
hey I searched the net for this, hoping to download some doordarshan serials which depicted true Indian culture. I happen to stumble upon a site called "www.bwtorrents.com" . This site has a lot of doordarshan serials. But this site has closed the registration for now, registration is now by invitation only. I saw you as a member there. Would you be kind enough to give me a invite for registration on this site?

It is just a request. Please dont mind and feel free to ignore my request if you dont like me asking.

If you decide to give a invite, my email address "dl3_foru7@ymail.com"

Anonymous said...

love u..

Anonymous said...

top [url=http://www.001casino.com/]001casino.com[/url] coincide the latest [url=http://www.casinolasvegass.com/]casino bonus[/url] unshackled no store hand-out at the foremost [url=http://www.baywatchcasino.com/]www.baywatchcasino.com
[/url].