If and Only If...

Happened to come across an interesting title saying “14 Things a woman expect from a man”… and went through the powerpoint video…before I say more on it, let me jot them down…

1. Candle Light Dinner on her bday
2. Make her smile when she is upset.
3. Be with her in difficult times
4. Don’t grow beard
5. Come home early and spend time with her
6. Don’t make her angry
7. Never ask her to stop shopping.
8. Help her in cooking.
9. Go for a long walk once a week.
10. Treat her like a kid.
11. Surprise her with beautiful gifts.
12. Reply to her msgs even if you are busy
13. Manage time for family outing.
14. Never say “This will make you fat”.

Now…How far it is true…from a woman’s perspective…I don’t know. I am not a representative of all women…But yes, being a woman, I can be a representative of those women who share my characteristics and ideologies…Who think like me and feel like me… To be more precise… A woman who is extremely and emotional deep within but hardcore rock from outside… Its true, I don’t show emotions much outside…even if it is love or hatred, joy or sorrow…I tend to keep it within me… Wonder, how many around me would know, what am I actually thinking or feeling at any particular point of time…

  

Since reading this post…the revolting mind started saying… “I DISAGREE” … Maybe, some of them might be close enough, but I would like to amend all of them in my way…to suit my expectation list. ;) I started thinking…what would be those things that I would expect from a man…Ofcourse, those would be the exact things, I would like to see in my son..when he grow up… Thus I came up with the below…

1. A sweet surprise on any special days…be it anything…even a voice message or a flash mob...a surprise visit or a dinner…a home-made fav dish or fav take-away food…All that I would expect is an “Extra effort taken to surprise to make a day special”… ;)
2. Be the reason for my smiles…in joy and sorrow…
3. Be my shield during difficult times…Hold my hand and say, “I am right here for you, Don’t worry”. Those words would be more than enough for me to fight any battle.
4. Never groom in the way that I would not like; be it in clothes or hairstyle. And pleaseeeeee avoid perfumes that might instigate my allergies…
5. Whatever time you come in, spend some time with me to talk to me…
6. Make me angry, but do make sure to calm me down too…
7. Be with me for shopping and help in choosing what would be best for me…And when it is time to say NO, say that lovingly…
8. Try to find time to be around while I cook…just to give me hug or a kiss occasionally…
9. Just sit with me…by the beach or the mountain top…
10. Respect me like your mother, care for me like your sister, understand and support me like your friend, pamper me like your child and love me like your soulmate…
11. Surprise me with beautiful moments…
12. Let me know where you are and what r u doing…I wouldn’t want to disturb you when you are busy…
13. Make sure you are there for the family… be it for fun or just quality time…
14. Frank opinion on how I look and if I am gaining weight, inspire me to lose too… :)

Hehe, I know, I am asking for toooooo much….But if love is true, why wouldn't someone want to do this... I would for sure... anybody would...But then that is possible...

 

If and only if…

Happy National Day...

Another National Day also passed by. I always wondered what was it that made us look forward for this day; was it the long weekends or the celebratory mood of the country. But yes, it was always one of those days of the year that I used to look forward to. I am an expat who came to this country to earn by bread and butter. I have seen the good days and the bad days too; but always felt this nation was no less than my own home country. Afterall; this nation helped me to weave dreams and to make them the reality.

I have been part of the National Day for past 13 years in this country. But this is the first time that I started really wondering on few things that should have been always a priority but was forgotten.

Recently I have been to a Movie theatre. Before the movie started; the UAE National Anthem was played on the screen. The scenes were beautiful and just made us love this country more and more. I felt so proud and happy that the video included almost all nationalities who lived in this country including my fellow country mates. The video was a perfect example for the Diversity and Inclusion that this nation always governed. But something hit me hard that made me feel ashamed of ourselves.

As the National Anthem started playing, I asked my son to stand up as I stood up with him. The eight year old boy kept looking back to see if anybody else was standing and was feeling embarrassed that only we were doing it. Once we sat back; his childish question came up; “Amma, why should ONLY we stand up and why not others? And when they are not getting up, then why should we get up? I felt shy!” All I could say was, “Beta, what have your teacher taught you? You should stand still when you hear the Anthem. That is how you respect the Nation. This is the place you were born and gave us a life. This is how we return our thanks to this Nation. Never bother, what others didn’t do or did do. Just make sure, that you are doing the right thing and not the wrong thing.”

A few days later; my son left ahead of me to wait for his school bus. As I walked towards his bus stop; I saw him standing close to the Municipality installed Recycle Bin. I wondered what was it that he was so eagerly inspecting in the waste bin. As I called out to him, he came running to me and said, “Amma, look there, there is a biggggggg national flag in that waste bin.” I was shocked and noticed that a long pole with a flag was dumped into the bin where half of the flag was outside and half inside. As I tried pulling it out, I explained to my son how irresponsible and disrespectful was that. Whoever had done that should have been punished. Finally, I went into one of the shops nearby and asked the staff to help remove the flag out and keep it safe. They immediately came out and carefully removed, folded and took it with them. Felt thankful.

I could see that it could have been a flag that was kept at some building as it had a long pole with it. But the pole had broken into pieces and therefore discarded. But how irresponsible can people be. How much further can people stoop. Before, we saw it, I am sure, there were many who had walked or drove past by. Many might have even stood right near it while they waited for their school bus or other means of transportation. This would have included children to adults; even Teachers and other officials. Why didn’t any of them feel the need to take the right action? We as adults needs to show our children how to respect each other and their emotions. The other’s pride should be considered ours and make sure that we do nothing to insult it.

In my country, we have been taught to stand up and stay still with our heads high whenever the Anthem was played.  Be it during a party or a conference or at the movies; the moment the Anthem played, the whole audience stood up in reverence. That is how we show our respect to the Nation’s pride and I believe it should be the case for any National Anthem. Then, why not here? Why are we not doing it?  We were asked to follow some ethics on how to respect our flag. What NOT to do with a flag and how NOT to misuse a flag for anything and everything.

I spoke to an Emirati colleague to know if there were any such rules that were to be followed. She said “YES; but not everybody might be knowing.” Is that an answer, ofcourse NO. There are NO two different rules to show respect. If you are to respect your country’s anthem by standing still; you should do the same for any country. That is the least we can do. But then, why are those rules not being followed? If you are not supposed to misuse your country’s flag; you are not supposed to do with any country’s flag.

This country is our dear home away from home. This nation’s pride is our pride too. If they have accepted us as one of them; learn to respect their pride as ours. Friends, let’s celebrate the special day. Let’s fly the flags high in the air. Let’s wave them all around. But, remember, after that, give the flag its due respect and not just throw them around. Let our kids grow up realising this and not feel embarrassed to stand up to an anthem even if none does it. Let them not litter another flag around and make sure they let none do it either. May we see a better National Day every year and turn into more responsible residents.

On the occasion of this National Day; wishing all the best and success to all the Leaders, Citizens and Residents of UAE. May every passing year keep up the Spirit of the Union high.

Happy National Day...

Be Happy...

I have been away for a long time now. This meant only one thing. I have been keeping too much to myself the whole time. As this blog was always a place where I could just open up and say anything I wanted. How much ever; crazy I sounded, I knew, nobody would scold me or taunt me or criticise me for being what I am… I had started this blog at a time when I was at the lowest possible mode of my emotional strength and this place helped me eject out some of the frustration. I might have never spoken about what was frustrating me; but just talking anything helped many a times…

Always felt life is going real dull and above that it was only planning to turn more stressful with every passing day. Not that cherishing moments were not there; but the many unwanted realisations was taking my spirit completely down. Started feeling so low that my trust in relations almost went Nil. “Living for someone” is never the right decision. Realising that in the hard way is painful.

But its fine…Better late than never. Many choices that was made for others has gone wrong; be it family, friends or strangers. Hopes are high not to repeat the past mistakes. One big thing that I am trying to implement into my life is that “Try to keep others happy only if you are happy. And doing otherwise is utter foolishness…” So, hereafter, I will try…try my best to...

“Be Happy…”

Fine or not Fine?

“I am Fine, I am not…I am ok, I am not…”… Since past few days, this argument is ongoing within myself… Since the last blow I got, I had learned to live in the new style, life has put me into… My whole routine had changed… I was getting calm and busy, but this time I was busy in a happy content way… How much pressure was building up within me, I don’t know… but still I was fine…Yes, I was…

 

As the days were passing by, the only concern was how to take care of the big inevitable problem that would naturally come up in such situations…By now, I have realised where my calmness was hiding all these years…Here, I discovered the reality that I am enjoying the days without the pressures of the external politics…On the other side, the problem was growing up, putting people around me too in difficulty. I know, I might sound toooo strange and weird and confusing here…But then, I feel like keep those problems with me for the time being…

 

Anyways, to come out of this problem, I had to naturally step out…Step out of the calm life I have been living since past few months… Finally, I got my solution today…Everybody is happy…everybody means, every single person around me… I wondered, if anybody saw what was it that was going on within me because by then the argument within had started… The thought of leaving the calmness I had finally started experiencing was actually not a good feeling, I suppose…

 

Yes, I was happy that now I could take care of the mounting problem that would have put others in trouble. But that meant, I have to sacrifice my personal comfort zone and that was not a happy thought either…So what is it that I am feeling exactly…How I wish, I could just erase everything off and just believe, Yesssss, I am happpyyyyyy…but, its not the case…Hope the coming days will give me an answer to this push-pull question…

 

Fine or Not Fine…