Ugly Duckling?

A few days back, a senior colleague of mine dropped me a very thought provoking mail. I was surprised at the onset but I'm glad the person did so. First, it's been a long time since I've talked/mailed about something like this to anyone. Not that it involved much intellectual stimulation; it is a topic that should come naturally to the affected, but to discuss something that had nothing to do with movies, music, career, marriage or relationships was a welcome change. Second, this becomes my first blog post in a long time :)

I am just pasting here my reply to the statement that the aforementioned colleague of mine made. The statement, in parts, was, "...not rooted anywhere and so do not have a solid idea of ‘self’..."
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I beg to differ here. Instead of seeing it as 'not rooted anywhere' I would like to believe that I find my roots in more than one place. Sure it is difficult to come up with a specific place when someone asks me where I am from. My parents are from Kerala. But I am hardly a Malayalee. Then again, I do stand by my culture and customs. I was not born a Mumbaiite but my outlook and thinking are that of a Mumbaikar. And now, influenced by that of a Chennaiite :)
In that respect, I am not fenku. I've had the best of all the worlds :)
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I believe the idea of self has nothing to with where you are from. It has more to do with what you want yourself to be. Which, in our cases, is easy because we have the choice to be what we want to be- to convince ourselves, if that be necessary, and also to give selective first impressions to the world- who are actually the ones obsessing with communal groupism. Among a South Indian crowd, I am a Malayalee. Among a North Indian crowd, I'm a Mumbaikar. But to myself- I am both. That way, everyone's happy :)
We need not be type casted as the 'typical' crowd. We're the hybrids! Maybe I will agree that we do not have a solid idea of native identity. But that of self, that has nothing to do with where our origins lie.
I am sorry I've ranted on like a wanna-be philosopher. But clearly, one doesn't need to possess profound erudition to talk about such things :)
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It's all perception really. One needn't feel like a misfit for too long.
One is brought up a particular way only till she/he chooses to be brought up that way. After which, maturity makes it become free will.
I do not believe that has influenced or hampered, in any way, my idea of self. I just have a problem with the society's idea of myself :P :)
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But that is my take, anyone to agree or oppose?

My question is, would it matter to someone if a friend/partner does not completely belong to one place, in every sense of the word, even if the person himself/herself is at peace with it?

pic courtesy: http://www.flickr.com/photos/paurian/3707187124/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/paurian/ / CC BY-NC 2.0

The other life.

" Monica: What's that noise you just made?
Chandler: Oh that? That's my work laugh.
Monica: Your work laugh?
Chandler: Yeah, and if you want to survive this party, you'll need to come up with one too."

" Chandler: Okay, I don't sound like some crazed, drunken pirate.
Monica: I know you don't. But work Chandler does! "

From: FRIENDS- The One With Chandler's Work Laugh

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Now I have a work laugh too.
And a work talk (no talk rather)
And a work smile.
In fact, I'm living a different person's life at work.
And I have no idea why!
I'm hoping it will change though...

Anyway, Hi! I am Work Divya.
Not an avid blogger apparently. She'll come around. Hopefully, soon.

Bah!

Such hypocrites I tell you!
For the records, I have finally joined Cognizant and am officially a working woman! *taaliyan taaliyan*
So anyway, as I was saying, such hypocrites! Who? Well, here's who:
I am a straight girl, as in non lesbian (just stating a relevant fact, no revelations). So what do straight girls do? They look at guys; attractive guys most of the time. And that's what I did. I happened to spot one good looking guy in a batch of 270 and well, I used to look at him whenever he was around. I'm pretty sure it wasn't the dreamy 'oh-I-wish-you-were-mine' look; I know better than that! Yeah so well, what's so controversial about that? Don't guys ogle at girls almost ALL the time? Like, duh-huh! But when a girl does it, and it becomes slightly(ok, very :P) obvious, people have to create a big hullabaloo. Suddenly there are friends' of the guys inquiring about the girl as to, 'what kind of a person she is'. Ermm.. a normal heterosexual girl, thank you! Suddenly a whole bunch of the guys' batch mates gang up and act like goons when the girl is around, in an attempt to ridicule her. Suddenly the guy has on the spot bouts of extreme unnecessary attitude. Suddenly everyone in the batch thinks all the girl thinks about is the guy and everything the girl does is an attempt to get to talk to him. Hold it you buncha nincompoops! She's already bored of the guy!
Ok, so most of it is just either acts of unconditional immaturity or outcomes of lack of social evolution. But to question the intentions and may I say, integrity of a person just because she (I will not say, he because that circumstance never arises) found someone attractive? That's taking it too far. And why is that it is okay for a guy to check out girls but not vice versa? I don't get it! Such hypocrites I tell you!

Something About Me

Me: Kangaroo… repeat after me, Can-ga-ru… starts with a K!
Kid: Eye yo… teacher you know nothing! It’s Gangaa-roo!
Me: : |
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Me: c for?
Kid: errr…
Me: carrot. C for carrot
Kid: c for carrot.
Me: g for??
Kid: errr…
Me: g for gate... ok?
Kid: yes teacher (with an oh-so-sweet smile)
Me: e for??
Kid: idli?
Me: no. Elephant! Now tell me, c for?
Kid: c for sun, g for jug (yet another sweet smile)
Me: sigh…
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For a long time now I’ve wanted to blog about what’s keeping me busy of late.
I am volunteering at the Olcott Memorial High School, a non profit charitable organization (I had posted about it earlier here) and I absolutely LOVE it :) I had started off with fund raising work which involved traveling, marketing and lots of ECS forms. Now, I teach. Yep!! I have around 250 of my very own students who call me teacher! :D well, at least, most of them do! The 7th and 8th stds don’t though... they think I’m not old enough to look teacher-ish :| I’m a multi specialty teacher :P -> Math/ Computer/ English… how cool am I! :P *wink wink*
And NOW I know what my teachers had to go through with brats like us!
But even when the students are yelling at the top of their voices, pleading with you to let them go to the toilet (8 at a time!), pulling at your salwar, running around the place, complaining about another student (but teacher, he hit me first!) and what not… they are still adorable (mmm… except for when the little ones get a cold… that can get eeewww!) and the kind of respect and admiration they have for a teacher is worth it all :) Plus it’s a great experience to work with such an organization and to interact with the students.
Anyway, so that’s what I’ve been up to… and I also need to make a special mention of the headmistress here… Mrs. Lakshmi Suryanarayanan… Oh. My. God. What an amazing woman! There are very very VERY few people like her! Think I’ll keep my reason for a next post… there’s so much I can talk about the school and what all I’ve learnt from the place. I’m so happy I decided to volunteer there :)