Wild, Crazy and Fierce: Who, me???

"Late at night my mind would come alive with voices and stories and friends as dear to me as any in the real world. I gave myself up to it, longing for transformation." - Jo March

For anybody who knew me when I was growing up, they would know for sure that Josephine March was one of my greatest role model. She was that one person I was in awe of and yet, felt like someone I could relate to so much. Like her, I would wake up in the middle of the night with the excitement of the adventures I had embarked upon with so many new friends. It felt like I was on a novel journey everyday, because unlike many others, my mind would constantly be conjuring images even during short afternoon naps. And all this was before I had even read Little Women, the greatest book ever written about how there are so many different types of species in the spectacular creation, called women. 

So, imagine my amusement, when I read about this girl, who sounded like me. Once I had read the rest of the sequels, there was no looking back. I was so sure, I wanted to be nothing in life, but Jo March. And to this day, I don't know if I tried to mirror myself to her, or I was already in her shoes. All I know is that, when I was younger, all I would think was "What would have Jo done?".

And it is not that there weren't any similarities: both of us longed for an older brother, loved books, were a little awkward, maybe not very lady-like, our best friend was a boy and the most obvious one, had long hair. That made me really believe that her story was the guide to my life. Josephine March was the first woman that I truly believed was a dynamic lady, and for the staunch feminist that I am, nothing was more impressive than that. Her fierceness, her passion, her free spirit, her wonderful words, her wildness, everything just felt like stepping stones to an exciting life like hers.

All along my childhood and teen years, I have thought a million times how much fun it would have been to have such great sisterly time, such magnificent capers with a friend like Laurie, to travel to a new city, and establish your self. I wanted to be a part of all those crazy adventures and be so spirited that life would never stop being fun. I wanted to be so passionate about something that nothing apart from achieving it would matter. I wanted to break the cliches of womanhood and be a rebel. One fiery statement from her held the crux to so many misconceptions in life. Equality, nobility, rationale all tied together in such a simple reply:

"I find it poor logic to say that because women are good, women should vote. Men do not vote because they are good; they vote because they are male, and women should vote, not because we are angels and men are animals, but because we are human beings and citizens of this country."

Needless to say, Little Women and its sequels formed a very early impression on me of women in their varied forms. And not just women, but the different personalities which are not necessarily good or bad, just so different and unique in themselves. Jo is not very fond of her sister Meg's husband-to-be, who is such a gentleman, but according to Jo is "as dull as powder". The uniqueness of characters and yet, the way they blend together just speaks so much about perceptions and judgments, based on who we are and what we like. 

And among the many lessons imparted in this wonderful book, the best I learnt were from Jo, She was that one character I wanted to be like, made me want to be part of all the drama in a book. She made me believe that passion does drive you towards greater satisfaction and more importantly, that it is okay to be different. I would not say I was a tomboy, but I was definitely not interested in shopping or dressing up. And I felt something was missing because my mother and sister would bond over those things. I would rather go horse-riding or play a sport or even watch a serious talk show. Some of my closest friends were boys and I was much more comfortable with them.  And I did not know what to think of that. But, it was the Jo inside me who told me it was okay, that my family would love me for who I was. Sometimes, I wanted to be a tomboy so bad, I would wonder why my name couldn't be shortened for a boy's name. Childish as that sounds, today I see the real characteristics that I loved about Jo. And as much as I like my individuality, I would love to be Jo and hope to borrow her goodness: be as invigorating, feisty, intelligent, generous and loving as her. 

"I want to do something splendid before I go into my castle, something heroic or wonderful that won't be forgotten after I'm dead. I don't know what, but I'm on the watch for it, and mean to astonish you all some day.” 

It was Jo's love for writing that unknowingly transcended the pages of her book into me. Although, I want to do something new everyday, one thing has stuck with me and I think I might have found the means to astonish my loved ones :) If I don't write something that is on my mind, I get restless and finicky and the minute I am done, I am jumping up and down. Though, I do not have a Writing Cap like hers, my husband would very likely describe me like Louisa May Alcott described Jo:

"Every few weeks she would shut herself up in her room, put on her scribbling suit, and fall into a vortex, as she expressed it, writing away at her novel with all her heart and soul, for till that was finished she could find no peace.” 

― Louisa May Alcott, Little Women 

Some other books that made me want to be a part of them:

Mallory Towers and St. Claire's

The Help

The Famous Five Series

Doctors

James Herriot's Books

These books and many more are my greatest treasures, and writing this blog, just makes me want to go back and relive each of the stories with those wonderful characters. For all the book lovers, I am sure there is a book that means a lot to you and a character that inspires you. What character would you want to be?

The Web Glue!

"Sukhakarta Dukhaharta Vaarta Vighnachi, Nurvi Purvi Prem Krupa Jayachi..."

Even as I was ringing the silver bell in my hand and my husband held the Arti Thaali, we could hear the chants of the Ganesh Arti from behind us. The voices were coming from the laptop, and no it wasn't a pre-recorded Ganesh Puja! It was my parents singing the "Arti" with us on Ganesh Chaturthi. The laptop was strategically placed so that they could see the Ganpati idol and actually be in front of the Lord. Even though we were thousands of miles away, me and my husband in the US and my parents in India, the great invention of video chat had enabled us to actually celebrate this festival as a family. It felt wonderful to be able to do that and to virtually have our parents with us. 

You see, every family has small traditions that help them bond over things that other people might not understand. For some, it could be a particular restaurant or type of food, for others, it might be a favorite movie. No matter what that common thread is, every family has a unique glue that keeps them together. For our family, there have been lots of small things that made my childhood so memorable. But, there are some that just stand out. Since, ours is a multicultural family, we celebrated almost every festival. Be it Ganesh Chaturthi, Holi, Diwali, Gudi Padwa or Sankrant. Apart from the glee over the fact that we would have a day off from school, the preparations for the small or big festival, as a family, is what has lingered on with me even today. I fondly remember the traditions associated with each festival and the family time we would spend over it, trying to get everything perfect. Making the rangoli, preparing sweets, the flower garlands, all of it made that day so much more special. I have a distinct memory from each festival: visiting all the Ganpati Pandals around town to see which was the biggest, most colorful, most beautiful idol in the city; driving up all the way to the biggest Durga Puja procession on the first day of Navratri, with loud drums sounding over the silent city; getting ready with water balloons for Holi; running downstairs to our bicycles, and later our Scooty and Dio, to clean them up on Dusshera. 

Irrespective of the festival, all I can remember are happy faces and the wonderful feeling of togetherness, that can only come from being around family. Today, even though my sister, me and my parents are spread over the world, these festivals, preparing for them and even virtually being a part of each other's celebrations, ignoring the crazy time zones, is what has kept us together. Reminiscing over how we used to do it, and carrying forward that tradition gives us the feeling that we still belong together, even with the physical distances. It is human nature to want to feel like we belong somewhere, that is when we feel most comfortable and are unguarded. 

Apart from these festivals, there are many other anecdotes of our family time together. Summers would be the best time to bond, since we didn't have homework or anything to worry about. Once done with dinner, we would step out for long drives, pick up some coconut water, and put on songs, which me and my father would sing to, word-by-word. That is how good we were at going over and over these songs, until we had them memorized. Even today, if a song that we bonded over, plays in the background, we can't resist from singing the whole of it. What is amusing is, this happens even when I call him overseas and still we can sing out the words and have a good laugh over the memories. I love that we have these little things that make me feel so close to my parents, that I almost forget I am half a world away from them. 

It is things like these that make it easy to pick up where you had left, when you go back home on vacation. The fact that I can watch Marathi serials with my mom, is only because we talk over it even when I am not in India. It is these little quirks that keep the comfort level going and doesn't change anything, no matter how old you have grown or how far you have flown. I am glad that unknowingly these little traditions have stuck with me, and me and  my husband have adopted those to be a part of our routine, like going out for long drives as my family did; or playing cards once a week, like we did as children in the summers. It is natural for us to try and repeat those things that brought us joy, since we associate happiness with those activities. And I for one, can assure that doing family things even if you are seeing them after years, never fails to bring on the smiles. When my parents visited me and my husband last summer, we did all those things that were trademark of our family, and it was surprising that these little things eased my husband into becoming a part of the family too. 

I am sure, every family has wonderful little memoirs of their together time, but I only wonder, how different things could have been, if not for this great invention of internet, which has given us social networking sites, video chat options and the possibility of staying in touch all the time. Internet has given us a lot of blessings, in terms of easy access to information, e-banking, etc., but I personally, consider its ability to tie the family together as one of its biggest innovations. 

This blog post was written as a part of a contest on Blogadda about family memories, but I ended up sending a different entry. So, just revisiting an old post!

Humbled and Honored!

It has been a year that I set foot in the world of blogging, a bit too late, now that I think of it. I had been coaxed into it by my brother-in-law to give it a try. I was not very sure this was my cup of tea, and never understood why blogging was necessary when I had already been writing for years, using a pen and paper or for that matter, just writing on Microsoft Word. That ways, I am a little old school, I think. And I still am. I am not very good at marketing and am not out there, networking with other bloggers. But, all of this changed when I joined blogging forums and started getting comments and feedback. See, this is what is different between blogging and writing for newspapers. Though, I had been freelancing for many years, I had received true feedback only in the form of a few "Letter to the Editor" pieces. But, blogging really brought me more comments and opened up debatable topics for discussion. All such stimulating sessions set the wheels in your mind rolling. 

And I am really thankful to have been deemed worthy of the title "Versatile Blogger", by a fellow blogger. Thank you so much Vajra for the Versatile Blogger Award, which motivates me to write better and keep trying to write about different topics. It was the technical writing on my Science Blog BioMilieu (which is still taking baby steps) that got me the tag of 'versatile' and I really appreciate Vajra's gesture of recognizing it. He is a perfect example of someone who started blogging about his passion: cricket, and then moved onto more challenging themes. A big thank you to him and all the readers, who inspire me to write everyday. Your comments and feedback truly humble me and make writing so much more fun!

Now, to the rules that need to followed, once you are awarded there are certain rules to be followed:
1. Create a new post
2. Thank the lovely person who nominated you for the award
3. Pass it on to your fellow bloggers
4. State 7 random facts about you
5. Claim and post the award pic

So some random, but not very quirky facts about me:

1. I am very very passionate about teaching; brings me some strange pleasure and a smile that refuses to leave my face, when I am with my students. To read more, about what teaching means to me, you could check this post.
2. I simply love the smell of coffee beans, and I love chewing on the beans, to get the creative juices flowing. Coffee is my substitute for chocolate, when in a formal setting. If you share my love for chocolate, you might like to take a peek.

3. Flowers are my drug, give me a garden to play with, and see my fears, apprehensions scamper away.
4. I crib a lot about the harsh winter in Minnesota, but I secretly kind of love it, especially the first snow of the season. There is nothing more serene than pure, white, blanket of fresh, soft snow around (I know people close to me are going to be shocked, reading this, since I am always cold)
5. Italian food is my comfort food, I can rely on the breads, the salads and the soups to get my spirits up.
6. Demure I may look, but I manage to get really fierce; the issue or person just has to be close enough to my heart to put up a fight.
7. I am quite indecisive, to the extent that I visit a store to survey clothes, am not sure which ones to get, go back to get the ones I couldn't get out of my mind, and yet return most of them the day after :) 

Well, that is a little bit about me. And now to pass on the honor! In my short time exploring the blogosphere, I have discovered lots of wonderful blogs pertinent to specific niche areas. Here are some of the bloggers, I think deserve to be awarded for their insight of the subject they are passionate about!

1. Arun for his insightful movie reviews on his blog Passion for Movies

2. Radhika for the peppy, girly feel of her blog and blogging about all things cool on her blog Rads Blog-A-Zine 

3. Debajyoti for the quirkiness of his blog Some Facts Some Nonsense 

4. Sandeep for discussing all things close to the hearts of NRIs, and yet more interesting issues on his blog The NRI 

5. Viju for bringing together all A R Rahman lovers and creating such a great forum for eclectic music  on his blog Rahmania

6. Debdatta for her amazing capacity to read so many books and produce interesting book reviews on her blog Book Reviews by D.D.S 

7. Tomichan Matheikal for the heart-felt posts and in-depth analysis of issues on his blog Matheikal's Blog

Although there are many other blogs that make my day, and count for great reads, but most of them are well established and must have been showered with multitudes of such awards! To name a few, Nabanita (Random thoughts - Naba), Saru Singhal (Words), Purnendu (Shadows Galore) and Umashankar Pandey (One grain amongst the Storm).  There are so many perspectives to be heard and so many lessons to be learnt, and blogging just makes it a little experience. Taking a bow to blogging and all bloggers whose words provoke discussion, thought and action!