25 things you never knew about me

Rules:
Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

(To do this, go to "notes" under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish.)

Note to Newbe tagee's .. follow the instruction above. Thanks to Shayari for tagging me. :)


1. I was named Sushil Ava by my mom. Luckily my formal name Sushil did not survive.

2. For a long time my birthday was celebrated on 6th October until I found that my birth certificate certified it as 7th October. As I was born right after midnight, there was some confusion in my family about it. The confusion continues till date as I am greeted on either day by my friends and family with the opening remark - 'tera birthday 6 ko hota hai ya 7 ko?'

3. I love British and Australian actors, Hugh Grant, Liam Neeson, James Ivory blah blah.. even they are utterly crappy.

4. I am not much of a fighter-back. In case of a fight (verbal) I wimp out and lose. I need to remedy this immediately.

5. I am not much of a caller.

6. I always profess love for ‘good’ cinema but adore watching crappy romantic light stuff like High School Musical, Scary movie, 10 things I hate about you, My Best Friends Wedding, Someone Like You, The object of my affection, Cruel Intentions.

7. I cant stand any of Barjatya movies and have never seen them even for free on the TV.

8. I watch way too much TV

9. I exercise way too less

10. I eat way too much in the evenings, and it is just comfort food, to beat the boredom of the day and stress.

11. I am crazy about bags.

12. Walking by the Sukhna Lake is something I am always game for.

13. I can seem pretty standoffish at times, I dont mean it though.

14. I love my children

15. I am obsessive about my space.

16. I always keep in touch with my friends, and they are for life

17. I love a crazy streak in people. I don’t want them to perfect, I accept them as they are, with
their faults.

18. I dont get addicted to things easily, not even tea.

19. I shouldn’t be allowed to handle money, I should be given 10 Rs. For kharcha each day, am so bad with money. However, if you are eyeing my meagre money, remember you have take my liabilities too.

20. I should have been born to the Sultan of Brunei, or should have been the daughter of the Hiltons. Doing nothing and spending money is my fantasy numero uno.


21. I love Chandigarh, and when I am showing it around to a visitor, I see it with new eyes.

22. I don’t like keeping pets. Animals deserve their space on this planet and their individuality. Heck, all elements deserve their space. It is about time MAN stopped being so arrogant and uppity about his role in the scheme of things.

23. I love pretty things.

24. I hate bad smell.

25. I hate extremism in anything.

In my turn I tag Vee, Couchpapaya, Angel, Prabash, WIAN, Bouncing Bubble, Jabberwock and Sameer !

Smita and Bedazzled have already done it, alas !

Speaking Up

I have never been too particularly religious. Spiritual yes, when I am in deep shit. When I feel I need to turn to some really 'high' authority and God seems to be a likely person to appeal to, or thank for something good that happened to me. But organised religion seems to be run more like a closed exclusive clubs, where you have to abide by certain rules or get busted.

Whether it is Christianity, Sikhism (my own religion), Islam or Hinduism, I find a lot of be desired with organised religion. Whereas the supreme deity should be the epitome of love and tolerance, religion is often the opposite. It seems to thrive on the word NO and a severe list of Do's and Dont's. That seems aimed more at controlling its congregation, intent that the power never slips from the hands of its clergy. Rigid conventions are set up that ask you to do this or that and you are faced with dire consequences in case you dont follow those conventions. For instance, take Karva Chauth. The womenfolk are given a list of instructions, wake up early, eat before sun-up, stay hungry all day, look at the moon through a chalni (a seive) and then eat. During the evening there is a pooja and katha session where stories are read out about unfortunate women who mistook starlight for moonlight and broke their fast incorrectly. Their husbands died mysteriously.

In gurdwara's too preaching goes on against fasting (seen as a hindu custom) and in favor of dashwant, an ordinance requiring the faithful to donate a tenth or their earnings to the Gurdwara. SGPC is filthy rich in funds thanks to the generous donations made everyday by the faithful. Same is the case with all the big mandir's with huge fan following.

The worst part is, you cannot criticise organised religion. As a child you are hushed if you raise any questions about the 'elders' or religion. As a grownup it is the same. Criticism and questioning is the backbone of progress, without it we would still be in dark ages. As a member of a school group I witnessed rabid discussions ensuing every time religion was mentioned. In the end, we gave up discussing religion altogether.

At a social gathering one eschews passionate pronouncements on any touchy subject, sticking to safe mentions of the weather politics and sports. The womenfolk turn to the constructive topics of clothes, jewellery and the goings on in the family or mohalla. But, when it comes to the UN or journalism, one has to take a stand. And here, I concur wholeheartedly with Johann Hari.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-why-should-i-respect-these-oppressive-religions-1517789.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-despite-these-riots-i-stand-by-what-i-wrote-1608059.html
Here goes, do show your support in which ever way you can !!!!

I Dream of Hugh

I had the perfect valentine dream, on St. Valentine's eve too !

I dreamt I was having an affair with Hugh Grant. He just swept me off my feet. We were carrying on etc etc. And, the very next day, I caught Notting Hill, which had pinkshirt clad Hugh in his full loser-guy-eye-blinking-glory.

Sigh.. It was a great dream.