Cricket world Cup 2011 April 2nd.

India won over Sri Lanka by 6 wickets and 277 runs.Bless India and that hard working cricket team.

India has won its world cup after 28 years.For the first time in the past 10 world cups,a country has won chasing.Gambhir and Dhoni did extremely well.Congrats to us indians.

Weddings

I miss indian weddings.Recently After watching band bajaa baraat,Im just hoping someone plans on marrying here.Pakistani weddings,I've heard,can be just like hindu weddings with endless ceremonies.But the people among our families have already tied the knot and are busying in making ready their progeny.


I remember the first wedding I attended in Kuwait.I must have been 3 and didnt know what being shy meant when it came to dancing.I remember it was on this huge ship converted into a wedding hall.I wore a 70s styled red color dress and I remember and am told by some of my family friends,that I danced to every song alone on the stage.They were so happy to see some kid go gaga over every song,that I was given a present for dancing the life out of me.Well, as the years went by,things changed.I learnt to be a bit shy and danced when 10 or more started charging towards the dance floor.

To me a good wedding is where everyone is able to have fun ,be it with food or by dancing or simply being with friends.But dancing I think brings out that rawness and fun out of you.You can go wild and no one will say anything coz everyone wants to do the same.

Weddings in Kuwait were as usual the same as everywhere.Wearing the latest outfits,wearing every piece of gold ,flowers on the head,perfumes which can choke you,makeup of every colour.

My mom and her sisters were the first to scream on receiving an invitation.Then it was like,we must buy this sari and that sari,nah ! this is the latest..Hey,that color...Once they were done with themselves,they focused on us.My mom would go nuts over our clothes.She wanted us to stand out in the crowd and my Gosh we did,I have the fotos to prove it.It was the 80s and shimmering not,clothes that were as bright as the Sun were in fashion.Sequins and what not....I hated most of the outfits she got stitched for us and getting ready on the day was a nightmare.There was a lot of shouting,shoes flying,clothes flying all over,then there were some slappings and beatings,but when we left the house we all had to have a smile,be it plastic or genuine.

Our mom lectured us all the while we tried to reach the venue.Her rules were :-

1)Better have a big smile when someone greets you.Be polite.

2)When someone wants to dance with you,shut it and say yes.(no shortage of men whose wives wouldnt dance with them and we kids had to take that punishment.)

3) Better not tag on your clothes and give an impression you aint liking it.

4)Keep a track on your dad,cannot loose a man in a hall who is drinking as if its his last.

5)When I call for you,better be there.Dont make me come after you.

6)Dont sit like boys,keep your legs together.DOnt pick on your nose or hair or the flowers on your head.DOnt pull on your underwear.

7)If you have to go to the loo,find me or if you go to the toilet,make sure you dont dirty the shoes and definitely wash your hands.Dont hold on to your crotch if you cant control.

8) Better not go for a second serving.Dont act like you have not seen food before.Suzaan,you better not be holding another drumstick in your hand.You want to eat more cake,ask politely.Dont hover over a waiter.

9)Take a little of everything from the buffet,one should taste everything.You dont like something,give it to me.Dont make a face in front of people.

10) Dance as much as you want.Be careful of your gold and your feet.

Those were most of the rules.

Then after the 90s,when we went to India,I attended my first desi wedding.It was very very different.Instead of a DJ,there was the local band playing weird desi numbers.There were konkani songs on most of the time and people danced weird.It was like Amitabh BAchan's step.Or I called it the chicken dance.The arms flapping around like a chicken.Everyone ,including the bride, wore a sari.The old women sang tunes which seemed almost tribal.Instead of feeling like a guest,I felt like an foreigner,trying to make sense of everything.It did have its own charm and all but I couldnt keep dancing like a chicken and when I did try to dance to an english number,people thought it was crap and it was embarassing.They thought it was very robot like emotion less.

There is a reason I love tamil songs.Watch them,they dance like crazy and simply shake and jiggle and wiggle around.It like Im lovin it and I dont care what u have to say coz we dance this way.

When you get the hang of it,you do enjoy it but I was getting to know my relatives and learning the meaning of the various functions.And when you are a teenager,you rather stand out than blend in.Over the years,my mom realised I had a head of my own and I would never do things I never liked for anyone.My dad knew I was like him.

Anyways,I never had a function at all when I got married.No red outfit,no jewellery,no dancing,nothing.We got married in the court of law.It was hello hello,I do I do,bye bye.Im thinking of making it up to me by having a samll gathering during my 10th anniversary,lets see how it goes?

I have attended 2 weddings in Pakistan but of them were very simple,sober kind of affairs.Not too much show sha....and having a conservative husband doesnt help either.In Islam,you arent suppose to have tarditions man made and rather have a simple affair.The bride and the groom are the main highlights,they dress well and so do the guests.Its a straight thing - COme ,eat,bless and go.

Anyways,I dont love weddings so much as I did before.Maybe I missed on 2 of the most important weddings of my life and that I find the other sober kinds,boring.

All I do now is pray at every wedding and this hasnt changed,that the couple find each other in every way,they discover their soulmates in each other and work on a love that lasts forever.

8:27 PM 2/25/2011

I was watching this episode on National geographic channel regarding the most amazing photographs.Though the topic is a real study,what made them amazing wasn't all that nice.It was this middle eastern photographer touring Afghanistan and trying to captivate a little of what essence is left in that God Forsaken country literally.He photographed this girl,not more than 13 years of age.She had blown an arm off in a bomb blast.She stood still for the photograph but it wasnt the arm I kept looking at,it was her eyes.


Her eyes told stories of horror,of destruction ,of famine and about many things most of us generally get to experience in our senile years or maybe not even then.There was this copy of national geographic that made headlines with the cover photo.The photo of the Afghani girl with cat eyes.Looking into them was learning what sadness really was.

All this sadness reminded me of this video I saw online on facebook.Someone forwarded it to me and has been one of the most chilling and horrifying to listen even.Oh all humanity has gone to crap.This woman spoke about the children and herself,in a hope to create awareness among people and thus,induce some sense of sympathy.At the end of it,I hated myself for being human.And put a wrath on all such animals.

It was about child rape,mass rape and prostitution.A 4 year old girl was raped by more than 100 men and her intestines were spewing out of her vagina from all the violent rape of her tiny baby body.What the fuck have people come down to? Such men should be castrated physically.The speaker herself was gang raped by 8 men when she was 14 yrs old.

I read such articles and just cannot trust anyone for at least a week.You have legalley granted prostitution allotted to freaks,dance bars ,gay bars and what not,and someone still feels the need to rape a child.Im disgusted with us humans who try to go all out there and embrace the new.I wish god just struck such bad people down at the very moment when something like this happens.

Anyways,I would want to forget this topic for now and go on to a happy note.Chopped my hair coz I had a medication side effect alopecia.Plucked my eyebrows just perfect,the first time on my own,might I add.I have a horror movie in my PC which Im afraid to watch on my own.Im spending the weekend all alone.The governement has renovated this beach close to my house with exercise machines and swings and the best thing its beautiful,free and has a joggers park as well.Im dying to have good get together when my husband is done with his emergency duty.I cooked chicken curry with rice and had a over nice helping of it and Im glimpsing at my tummy every now and then and doing Baba Ramdev's tummy exercise wherever Im am in the hope of melting down some fat and dropping some pounds.Yeah ! The more I obsess,the more I do Baba's tummy toning and freak about gaining half a kg or more.The other day i was watching this tamil song I love and broke into this tiny dance lasting 40 seconds.Ended up panting like a cheetah after a 50 mile run.My husband was so pissed off,he was like," Continue doing your item number.I wont even take you to the hospital this time."But it was 40 seconds of pleasure to me.It took me a whole 20 minutes to collect my breath.Its a sad picture all right but Hypertension isnt a wonderful disease to live with.

Oh yeah ! I have a great remedy for stinky feet.Got it from Dr.Oz's show.Boil tea in a water,cool the black tea down real well and then have a foot bath for 15 minutes.Wash and scrub your feet before you immerse them ,dont want crap to blend into the concoction.dry your feet up after the dip and let the foot breathe.Vola! Do this for a week and then every alternate day.

LIFE

Since the Independence day celebrations of Kuwait are just round the corner,I thought I would write a little of how things have changed ,in my eyes, In this country.


I was born here and have lived here,lets see,Im 33 n half minus 9,that is I have lived here for 24 years of my life.Back then,before Gulf war happened,life was calm,more reserved and friendly.People wore abayas a lot.Abayas are actually long flowing free size black dresses,women wear,according to the religion.It neednt be black but black hides a lot.Many people take this to be sort of oppressive thing for a woman but it isnt actually,now that Im a muslim,I know the truth much better.As per the regulations of the religion,One wears an abaya,so that she doesnt let men drool over her beauty or whatever men look for kicks.Over the years,abaya actually has lost its true meaning.They have become fitting,very fashionable and women actually paint themselves with every possible cosmetic,so what you dont see bodywise,you see it in their faces.After all,eyes are the pathways (or whatever ways) to the soul.So if Im raising an eye brow every time a handsome guy passes by or pout,Im conveying my message much better than maybe my body could.


People back then respected people of all nationalities unlike now you look like a maid coz you are wearing a uniform 24/7,which clearly is indicative of your job.I find that repulsive but I guess,it puts each and every person in the house ,in place.Plus,In a uniform ,she wont look appealing,mainly anyone who looks at her will sigh ! Oh,its just the naukrani.


Of course,cost of living was way way way low back then.People literally saved a lot back then and still lived the kind of life they wanted to live abroad.Now,people cry over pennies coz each of them count and make the difference for some.


Now ,everything is hi-fi.Every possible designer label is here,every sinful pleasure is available ,every kind of people are here,some of them weird,some of them good, and some of them just dont deserve it all.What I found happening a lot nowadays,is people trying to blend in to look like Kuwaitis.Everyone trys to wear hip clothes,so they cant be told apart from the locals.Nowadays, as abayas are just vanishing,you cannot differentiate between europeans and kuwaitis.Some are modest of course even in western outfits but not all.In the end,tose who can afford this living,do and the rest who cant,just wear their traditional outfits.


Food,the very reason almost 75% of the people in total from all countries,is abundant and the availability of it everywhere at every stop,has made us obese.Most are obese,a little less are over weight and very few lucky ones are thin.Every possible food brand,exotic or local or imported from every country is available here.No american or brit or indian or french or euorpean or pakistani or filipini or chinese or japanese will ever be disappointed coz they will find it all here.Organic food is too expensive to buy ,so people go for the gentically engineered khana which is cheap and everyone loves.KFC,Burgers of every possible brand and so on and so forth.I did love it at point but I think its too cheap and bad for health.Not worth pouring all that cholesterol into your body.Since I have lived amidst this food al my life,I dont find it so appealing.But I did notice in India and Pakistan,when yo go to such food courts,people automatically think you are either from abroad or very rich to eat crap like that.I do love to eat outside but usually,I eat snacks or stuff I cant cook and rarely,when i havent cooked for the day.I tend to pile on very quickly,so better lay off of it for the sake of my health.


Im really wishing I can go out on the national days to see the awesome firework and laser displays and all the fun that entails with it.My husband will be at work throughout the days,so it can only be a miracle ,if I get to go out and click pictures after pictures of everything and be able to write a report in the form of pictures.The next grand celebration might be 25 years from now and I dont know if I will youthful enough to go in such crowded places and have fun.But again,Im asking for a miracle.