The way my son handles kids makes me scary. Our neighbor has a two year old girl. And, he handles her like a toy. The other day he was trying to get her to turn to see something. He tried calling out. Then he put a hand on the girl's head and tried vigorously to turn her. I just told him "Son, wait till she is 15-16. If you are good looking (more likely to be the case since he doesnt look like me, he goes by his mother), and if she is good looking, and if you still want her to turn her head towards you, she will. but have some patience".
You know, these Indian parents usually ask their first child when they want a second child - "Hey ammu/appu, do you want a little sister or a little brother?" as if they are going to stop the process if the child says, "whatever, are you going to stop trying if I say I dont want anyone? why are you asking me then". In my case it was totally different. Probably, my son knew that I will pose this question some day, he came to me one day and said, " Daddy, I want an elder sister". Now what do you do. Children are smart ha.
Traffic in Hyderabad - Most of us would have heard about the traffic sense of Hyderbadis (including yours truly - I am a half Hyderabadi now). I think one of the reasons why people from western countries come to India in search of spirituality is is that it doesn't take long for a person to be god fearing in India. You just have to get out of your house and step in to the road and your coming back to house totally depends on the God. I was driving my car at 60 KMPH once, when a woman came out of nowhere and stood in the middle of the road. Probably she wanted to know whether my car's brakes work properly or not. Anyways, I had to break immediately. I was so angry that I shouted at her " Do you have some sense?", the girl retorted saying "why, do you need some?".
These GHMC (the municipal corp) people add to the woes as well. They dig the road up for apparently no reason. It is as if someone has told them, Hey there is gold in Kondapur, why don't you go and dig it up. So, the usual route I take was dug up so badly one day that I had only two feet to fit my car in. Add to this, there was a tree on the side. So, I had to take the help of the couple of bystanders to help me navigate. I asked them to see if the car will go through. One of them said, "yes, even a truck can go in", the other let out a wry smile. I didn't care, i had to go in as there was no way of turning back. There were at least 20 more cars behind, waiting to see me go through. I took my car and tried to go through and obviously, i couldn't go through without putting a scratch or two. I looked at both of them, and one of them said to another - "you lost, give me 100". Surprised, i asked them, what for? he said, "I had a bet with him that your car wont go through this, and I was proved right"
Getting insurance money is another nightmare. I took the car to the workshop and the person there asked me to book a complaint with the insurance company. I called them out and the automated voice said "Press 1, if you have had a bad accident, press two for a mild accident" and if we press 1, they will say, bad accident means that the person died, the fact that you are alive doesn't constitute a bad one, so get back". This infinite loop goes for 30 minutes. By the time we are done, I will be so exhausted that I will go straight to LIC and get a policy on my name.
Another problem in Hyderabad is the obsession for Hyderabadi's to drive their big cars at turtle's speed. And invariably, such cars will be in front of you (call it Murphy's law).
Facebook has become an obsession now. I see updates like "Am having a fight with my husband right now" And it gets 100 likes. What do they like? Ladies post the photos of their feet with a caption "Nail polish, how do you like it?", and it gets 200 likes. Fed up, I put a status update saying, "Fire in office, run for cover" and it got 200 likes and some of those who liked it were from the same office I work on.
You know, these Indian parents usually ask their first child when they want a second child - "Hey ammu/appu, do you want a little sister or a little brother?" as if they are going to stop the process if the child says, "whatever, are you going to stop trying if I say I dont want anyone? why are you asking me then". In my case it was totally different. Probably, my son knew that I will pose this question some day, he came to me one day and said, " Daddy, I want an elder sister". Now what do you do. Children are smart ha.
Traffic in Hyderabad - Most of us would have heard about the traffic sense of Hyderbadis (including yours truly - I am a half Hyderabadi now). I think one of the reasons why people from western countries come to India in search of spirituality is is that it doesn't take long for a person to be god fearing in India. You just have to get out of your house and step in to the road and your coming back to house totally depends on the God. I was driving my car at 60 KMPH once, when a woman came out of nowhere and stood in the middle of the road. Probably she wanted to know whether my car's brakes work properly or not. Anyways, I had to break immediately. I was so angry that I shouted at her " Do you have some sense?", the girl retorted saying "why, do you need some?".
These GHMC (the municipal corp) people add to the woes as well. They dig the road up for apparently no reason. It is as if someone has told them, Hey there is gold in Kondapur, why don't you go and dig it up. So, the usual route I take was dug up so badly one day that I had only two feet to fit my car in. Add to this, there was a tree on the side. So, I had to take the help of the couple of bystanders to help me navigate. I asked them to see if the car will go through. One of them said, "yes, even a truck can go in", the other let out a wry smile. I didn't care, i had to go in as there was no way of turning back. There were at least 20 more cars behind, waiting to see me go through. I took my car and tried to go through and obviously, i couldn't go through without putting a scratch or two. I looked at both of them, and one of them said to another - "you lost, give me 100". Surprised, i asked them, what for? he said, "I had a bet with him that your car wont go through this, and I was proved right"
Getting insurance money is another nightmare. I took the car to the workshop and the person there asked me to book a complaint with the insurance company. I called them out and the automated voice said "Press 1, if you have had a bad accident, press two for a mild accident" and if we press 1, they will say, bad accident means that the person died, the fact that you are alive doesn't constitute a bad one, so get back". This infinite loop goes for 30 minutes. By the time we are done, I will be so exhausted that I will go straight to LIC and get a policy on my name.
Another problem in Hyderabad is the obsession for Hyderabadi's to drive their big cars at turtle's speed. And invariably, such cars will be in front of you (call it Murphy's law).
Facebook has become an obsession now. I see updates like "Am having a fight with my husband right now" And it gets 100 likes. What do they like? Ladies post the photos of their feet with a caption "Nail polish, how do you like it?", and it gets 200 likes. Fed up, I put a status update saying, "Fire in office, run for cover" and it got 200 likes and some of those who liked it were from the same office I work on.
