Shoe-Shopping
This title is as unimaginative and boring as the activity itself.
Let me let you in on one of my best kept secrets - When it comes to shopping, I was born the wrong sex. And for some horrible reason, it is presumed that all women are just supposed to know this as if it were some genetically-embedded, pre-historic basic instinct that the survival of the entire species depended on! Not only am I treated like a social outcast when I don't go over shopping-bag(s) full of the day's kill with my female friends, when I'm in a shopping-mall, I actually feel like a fish out of water!
So now that we have established that I belong to that small, dying breed of women who don't believe in the benefits of retail-therapy (even though I have had some ridiculously impulsive adventures with my debit card), you will understand how hard it is for me to be stuck in Russia at the start of the winter in dire need of a brand-new winter wardrobe!
Last week it became evident that I had dealt my best card in terms of winter-clothing. As the temperature dipped below my appetite for shopping, I knew it was time to go sh...shh...shop! So Anya, Meritxell and I made it a Ladies' Day Out sort of a thing and went to MEGA at Ulitsa Dibenko.
With every shop, every try-room, every sweater and every shoe, I was just craving to find something I would like so I could buy what I needed and get the hell out of there. A couple of hours down, we were done with my knit-wear items but one big thing still remained on the agenda - shoes! I needed winter-shoes that would keep the water and ice out and keep me warm.
If there's anything I hate more than shopping, it's shopping for shoes! I think it's probably because the pressure of getting it right is much more. With clothes, you buy plenty. There's plenty of variety, colours, styles etc. And if you suddenly realise - within the 30 day return period - that it wasn't meant for you, you can still exchange it or get your money back. But shoes are a very different game. You buy fewer of them and hence wear the same thing more often. Plus, even if you wore it once or twice, worn shoes are practically impossible to return. And then there is the fact that a slightly wrong size with the clothes may make you look a little out of shape but a mistake like that on the shoe front would kill your feet! In fact, shoe shopping can be a lot like getting married!
And last Sunday proved to be the ultimate nightmare to pick a pair I would take home with me! There were black shoes, brown shoes, white, beige and grey. There were boots with fur and no heels, there were boots with heels and no fur. Some looked too feminine and some didn't look feminine enough. After a couple of hours, I realised there was no scope for love at first sight. Nothing seemed to impress me much, nothing caught my eye that I would even want to try it...
Given my desperate situation - the fact I was running out of time and really needed winter shoes for the following week's snow forecasts, Anya and Meritxell began to arrange a match. I still don't think I was feeling it yet with any pair of shoes I saw but I guess at least I had started to try them out. Some that didn't look so nice initially, didn't look so bad when I tried them but within five minutes started to hurt! Some others looked great but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get my feet into them! Another couple of hours later, I had started to doubt my feet. Wasn't there any pair of shoes that would fit? Wasn't there anything that would look nice and feel great? Meritxell's boots were so nice and comfy and Anya's shoes - cool and classy. Was there really nothing out there for me? Was it too much to ask to unite my feet and the ONE pair of shoes in holy matrimony till death do us apart? (And hopefully the shoe would predecease me!)
After much persuasion, consultation and walking around with one pair of black shoes at ECCO, I decided to buy them and take them home. They fit fine and felt good. Their soft and light fur lining inside was pampering. They looked a bit tougher than I usually like but the shop assistant said that they were water-proof, kept the warmth in and water out so I guess that was for a reason. Perhaps, I just grew into them. I took a deep-breath and walked down the store aisle holding this black pair in my left hand and my debit card in my right. This was it...
PS - Has it ever happened to you that you bought a pair of shoes and within 5 minutes of the purchase saw another pair that seemed to be so much sexier and cooler? I found something exactly like that at Zara...but oh well...I really meant it when I said, "till death do us apart!"
I'm a Slave 4 U
Last thing before I kick-start my Saturday morning (now afternoon) with something more productive than blogging about shoe-shopping...
I have come to realise that at this time in St. Petersburg all Britney Spears songs can be sung to the Sun (that big yellow thing in the sky that's absconding!)
(Oh baby baby...Oh baby baby)
Oh baby baby, how was I supposed to know
That something wasnt right here...
Oh baby baby, I shouldn't have let you goooooo
And now you're out of sight (yeah)
Show me how you want it to be
Tell me baby coz I need to know now, oh because...
My loneliness is killing me (and I...)
I must confess I still believe (still believe...)
When I'm not with you I lose my mind
Give me a sign, hit me baby one more time!
Or...
It’s getting late to give you up
I took a sip from my devil's cup
Slowly...it’s taking over me
With a taste of your lips
I'm on a ride
You're toxic, I'm slipping under
With a taste of a poison paradise
I'm addicted to you...Don't you know that you're toxic!
And I love what you do...Don't you know that you're toxic!
Intoxicate me now
With your lovin' now
I think I'm ready now
And the winner is...
What's practical and logical - What the hell, who cares?
All I know is I'm so happy when you're dancing there
I'm a sla-a-a-a-ave for you....
I cannot hold it; I cannot control it
I'm a sla-a-a-a-ave for you....
I won't deny it; I'm not trying to hide it
Baby, don't you wanna, dance upon me?
Friday 21 November 2008
Tuesday 4 November 2008
Where did the Fire go?
Sometimes, I wonder what happened to India? Are we the same nation of Mahatma Gandhi, Chandrashekhar Azad and Bhagat Singh that ranks as one of the lowest on Transparency International surveys because corruption has gotten the better of the Mera Bharat Mahaan (My India is Great) idea?
Today, I stumbled upon an amazing poem written by Ram Prasad Bismil, one of India's greatest freedom fighters, 'Safaroshi ki tamanna ab hamare dil mein hai' (The desire for sacrifice is now in our hearts) I've known of it for ages but I think today was the first time I actually listened to what it was saying! I will translate my favourite lines but if you don't speak Hindi/Urdu, I know I cannot recreate the effect this poem has. So do forgive me for unfortunately, much will get lost in translation!
Hum to ghar se nikale hi the bandh kar sar pe kafan
Jaan hatheli par liye lo bad chalein hain yeh kadam
Zindagi to apni mehmaan maut ki mehfil me hai
Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab humare dil mein hai
...
Duur rah paye jo hamse, dum kanha manzil mein hai
Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab humare dil mein hai
(We left our homes dressed in cerements
We march on knowing that we may have to give up our lives
Our life is but a brief guest in this atmosphere of death
The desire for sacrifice is now in our hearts
...
There isn't a goal that has the strength to keep itself from us
The desire for sacrifice is now in our hearts)
These bits are my favourite because they make me cry! I feel overcome by this infectious desire that Azad and Bhagat Singh had to change India and get independence from the Brits! If you aren't Indian (or Pakistani or Bangladeshi), those names are probably not familiar to you! Gandhi may have won us our Independence but these names are as immortal, in fact their sacrifice greater than Gandhi's. Hate me all you want but I feel that Gandhi made the Indian Independence Movement some sort of a spiritual struggle, a mental experiment so to speak. And who knows if we got independence because of the over-celebrated ahimsa (non-violence) or as one consipracy theory alleges, because her Majesty's treasury had nothing left in it after the Second World War to run a country as large as ours!
Don't get me wrong! I don't think one should kill people to achieve things. I think 'life' - whoever's it is - is precious and should be respected. But what if you are cornered? Isn't it our basic instinct to fight? Does a gazelle sit and practice non-violence in front of a hungry lioness hoping the latter will become calorie conscious and let its meal go?
Non-violence had its benefits. The public opinion in Britain was in our favour. Had we been blowing up trains and public places where, believe it or not "Dogs and Indians (were) not allowed", the colonial whip would have certainly fallen harder on our spine! But I think non-violence created tonnes and tonnes of free-riders (who got independence for no sacrifice!) and it left this free-riding attitude in our blood! Had we been fighting and dying together, perhaps Pakistan would never have been created because it would have been our struggle - something we did together, something we died for together, something we both valued! But no, instead we were non-violently sitting on our asses and debating the two nation theory!
When I look at Russia, the story is so different. Till date, this country celebrates its war-heroes! And these were not just Admirals and Generals, these were ordinary people who ran buses, worked in the post-offices, studied at schools, stayed at home and took care of the children. When the shit hit the fan, while the Admirals and Generals gave orders and steered their forces, these people drove tanks, decoded enemy messages and signals, worked in ammunition factories and took care of the sick in hospitals. An estimated 20 million people died from the Soviet Union in the Second World War and virtually every family was affected. And whilst British and American history books would have you believe that they won the war, the truth is that they reached Berlin after the Soviets did!
And here is where I start to get angry. The Brits were not giving India freedom but they wanted her people to fight a war for freedom in Europe! Rudyard Kipling could just as easily have called his book, "The White Man's Hypocrisy". And what's worse is that India has forgotten that we did this! In my knowledge (and please correct me if I'm wrong), India Gate is the only monument for Indian soldiers who died in WWI and it wasn't even created by Indians but by the British architect Edwin Lutyens! And, I am yet to come across ANY Second World War monument in India!
This is how we forget things- When I did history in school, I knew of only two parties: Gandhi's The Indian National Congress and The Muslim League. There was never a squeak about The Hindu Mahasabha (the present day BJP) or Azad's Hindu Socialist Republican Association etc. Just like the people in Britain and America who believe that they won the war, we think Gandhi and the Congress won us independence through non-violence! We obviously would not have gotten there without them, but why aren't other heroes as (or even less) celebrated? Why was the statue of Bhagat Singh recently unveiled at the Indian Parliament an absolutely farcical representation of the man? Why has Gandhi hijacked Indian currency notes? Don't Chandrashekhar Azad, Bhagat Singh, Lala Lajpat Rai, Ashfaqullah Khan...have likeable faces?
When we think we got independence through non-violence, we think we can get anyting through non-violence. And we often interpret non-violence as not doing anything!
There is a terrorist attack - The Government needs to increase security and hunt these people down
A 5 year old girl gets raped - This will never happen to me plus there are so many women's organisations and I'm sure they'll make plenty of noise
Pot-holes on Delhi roads because of cement corruption - Shouldn't the Supreme Court start a Public Interest Litigation?
Mayawati spends the State Contingency Fund money for her birthday - I am quite horrified but let me change the channel and watch something else
The media thinks the Shah Rukh-Salman fight is bigger than the 300 million people in India who go the bed hungry everyday - Hmmm, so do I!
Do the likes of Azad and Bhagat Singh ever wonder that this is what they died for? For wimps like us??? (And I'm equally guilty because sometimes I think things are too dirty for me to clean-up that I don't even try!)
Come on guys - Where did the Fire go? Let's pick a cause, anything at all, even a small one, and do something, anything at all so that we are not guilty of ignoring the great sacrifices that went into getting this independence we take for granted!
Inquilab Zindabad!
Today, I stumbled upon an amazing poem written by Ram Prasad Bismil, one of India's greatest freedom fighters, 'Safaroshi ki tamanna ab hamare dil mein hai' (The desire for sacrifice is now in our hearts) I've known of it for ages but I think today was the first time I actually listened to what it was saying! I will translate my favourite lines but if you don't speak Hindi/Urdu, I know I cannot recreate the effect this poem has. So do forgive me for unfortunately, much will get lost in translation!
Hum to ghar se nikale hi the bandh kar sar pe kafan
Jaan hatheli par liye lo bad chalein hain yeh kadam
Zindagi to apni mehmaan maut ki mehfil me hai
Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab humare dil mein hai
...
Duur rah paye jo hamse, dum kanha manzil mein hai
Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab humare dil mein hai
(We left our homes dressed in cerements
We march on knowing that we may have to give up our lives
Our life is but a brief guest in this atmosphere of death
The desire for sacrifice is now in our hearts
...
There isn't a goal that has the strength to keep itself from us
The desire for sacrifice is now in our hearts)
These bits are my favourite because they make me cry! I feel overcome by this infectious desire that Azad and Bhagat Singh had to change India and get independence from the Brits! If you aren't Indian (or Pakistani or Bangladeshi), those names are probably not familiar to you! Gandhi may have won us our Independence but these names are as immortal, in fact their sacrifice greater than Gandhi's. Hate me all you want but I feel that Gandhi made the Indian Independence Movement some sort of a spiritual struggle, a mental experiment so to speak. And who knows if we got independence because of the over-celebrated ahimsa (non-violence) or as one consipracy theory alleges, because her Majesty's treasury had nothing left in it after the Second World War to run a country as large as ours!
Don't get me wrong! I don't think one should kill people to achieve things. I think 'life' - whoever's it is - is precious and should be respected. But what if you are cornered? Isn't it our basic instinct to fight? Does a gazelle sit and practice non-violence in front of a hungry lioness hoping the latter will become calorie conscious and let its meal go?
Non-violence had its benefits. The public opinion in Britain was in our favour. Had we been blowing up trains and public places where, believe it or not "Dogs and Indians (were) not allowed", the colonial whip would have certainly fallen harder on our spine! But I think non-violence created tonnes and tonnes of free-riders (who got independence for no sacrifice!) and it left this free-riding attitude in our blood! Had we been fighting and dying together, perhaps Pakistan would never have been created because it would have been our struggle - something we did together, something we died for together, something we both valued! But no, instead we were non-violently sitting on our asses and debating the two nation theory!
When I look at Russia, the story is so different. Till date, this country celebrates its war-heroes! And these were not just Admirals and Generals, these were ordinary people who ran buses, worked in the post-offices, studied at schools, stayed at home and took care of the children. When the shit hit the fan, while the Admirals and Generals gave orders and steered their forces, these people drove tanks, decoded enemy messages and signals, worked in ammunition factories and took care of the sick in hospitals. An estimated 20 million people died from the Soviet Union in the Second World War and virtually every family was affected. And whilst British and American history books would have you believe that they won the war, the truth is that they reached Berlin after the Soviets did!
And here is where I start to get angry. The Brits were not giving India freedom but they wanted her people to fight a war for freedom in Europe! Rudyard Kipling could just as easily have called his book, "The White Man's Hypocrisy". And what's worse is that India has forgotten that we did this! In my knowledge (and please correct me if I'm wrong), India Gate is the only monument for Indian soldiers who died in WWI and it wasn't even created by Indians but by the British architect Edwin Lutyens! And, I am yet to come across ANY Second World War monument in India!
This is how we forget things- When I did history in school, I knew of only two parties: Gandhi's The Indian National Congress and The Muslim League. There was never a squeak about The Hindu Mahasabha (the present day BJP) or Azad's Hindu Socialist Republican Association etc. Just like the people in Britain and America who believe that they won the war, we think Gandhi and the Congress won us independence through non-violence! We obviously would not have gotten there without them, but why aren't other heroes as (or even less) celebrated? Why was the statue of Bhagat Singh recently unveiled at the Indian Parliament an absolutely farcical representation of the man? Why has Gandhi hijacked Indian currency notes? Don't Chandrashekhar Azad, Bhagat Singh, Lala Lajpat Rai, Ashfaqullah Khan...have likeable faces?
When we think we got independence through non-violence, we think we can get anyting through non-violence. And we often interpret non-violence as not doing anything!
There is a terrorist attack - The Government needs to increase security and hunt these people down
A 5 year old girl gets raped - This will never happen to me plus there are so many women's organisations and I'm sure they'll make plenty of noise
Pot-holes on Delhi roads because of cement corruption - Shouldn't the Supreme Court start a Public Interest Litigation?
Mayawati spends the State Contingency Fund money for her birthday - I am quite horrified but let me change the channel and watch something else
The media thinks the Shah Rukh-Salman fight is bigger than the 300 million people in India who go the bed hungry everyday - Hmmm, so do I!
Do the likes of Azad and Bhagat Singh ever wonder that this is what they died for? For wimps like us??? (And I'm equally guilty because sometimes I think things are too dirty for me to clean-up that I don't even try!)
Come on guys - Where did the Fire go? Let's pick a cause, anything at all, even a small one, and do something, anything at all so that we are not guilty of ignoring the great sacrifices that went into getting this independence we take for granted!
Inquilab Zindabad!
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