27 June 2011

Weekend reading

We get the Business Standard at home and I enjoy their Weekend magazine.  This time I read quite a number of the articles.  Two articles kind of got to me.  One  was an interview with the current channel head of MTV and the other was titled 'Pleasure is Good'. 

Now, in the first article, what caught my attention was the sentence  “We live in the age of sinnocence where virtues are out and vices are in.”  I wondered whether that was true and if it was true, then why all this anti-corruption brouhaha, after all, if vices were in, why would young people want to be anti-corruption, or was this supposed to mean that 'I, me can have all the vices, do what I want, but the people in office should not be like me'?  That sentence hurt me somewhere deep and made me wonder whether those of us, who still try to teach young people ethical ways of thinking and living are a dying breed, going the way of the dodos and whether such teaching is now irrelevant.

Regarding the 'Pleasure is Good' article, it was discussing the dynamics of interpersonal relationships today and to quote "More relevant are the modern-day gradations and variations in what was the traditional man-woman coupling. One of the newer entrants to the lexicon of the way people relate to each other is the term “friend with benefits”, which the writer goes on to define as given in the Urban dictionary.  Further--
"A relationship website that passes by the name of Mr Ethical Slut has a more empirical explanation. “For the most part, these two people are friends. The big difference between their other friendships is sex. Friends with benefits have the ability to go out on date-like activities. However, real dates are not initiated because there is no romantic interest between the partners. They hang out because they enjoy similar activities and each other’s company. Sex is an optional part of the relationship. If one partner has sex outside of the relationship, it does not end their friendship. Instead, the sex element is taken out of the relationship and they continue to be friends. Sex can also come back into the friendship when both parties are ready for it.   The writer goes on to say that "Friend with benefits, perhaps, is just what the doctor ordered for the fast-paced, demanding, ephemeral lifestyles in Indian cities."   

What I would like to know is, if what the writer says (along with what articles in Cosmopolitan or Femina imply) is really what is happening out there; have our young people really changed their mindset so much and do both women and men accept this without negative connotations. I am also intrigued, because, again as per information from various magazines, our age-old system, of arranged marriages, is still thriving.  Somehow, I just cannot reconcile the two.  Can some youngsters enlighten me on these issues?

26 June 2011

A song and memories

I searched for a song that I'd heard my daughter-in-law play again & again, while we were in the US.  It was part of a playlist on Grooveshark, which she used to put grand-daughter to sleep.  This is the song


It's a sweet song, light hearted and airy, nothing sad-making!  But, finding and then listening to the song, even before any memories came up in my mind, I found myself weeping away and the feeling of missing them & the nostalgia for the lovely holiday just washed over me................

12 June 2011

Back home

Hi everyone!  It's been a week since I have been home after a 5 week stay in the United States.  It was a lovely, relaxed holiday as we didn't do too much rushing around.  I enjoyed the experience of Spring, something totally new to me; it was fun having all my grandchildren together and all of us on holiday.  We went to hear the Oracle of Omaha, my husband's big, big dream.
I had wanted to meet up with blog friend Mint Chutney, but sadly that didn't materialize.
I tried to keep up with blog world, but wasn't completely able to.  So I'm just catching up on all that's being going on.
I'm sorry my holiday's over and I miss my children & granddaughter there.  But life has to go on.  I suppose it will take me another week or so to settle back into the routine.  I presume I will be online more often as I am at my own computer.