Wanted: Immigration to New Zealand

**This post is more rambling than usual**

I'm sick - sick of living in a country which is repeatedly attacked and still remains completely ineffectual in either preventing or dealing with a tragedy of this magnitude. What amazes me is that time and time again, we are hit in places of immense strategic importance to this city - the trains (7/2006), The Stock Exchnage (6/1993), VT station (11/2008) and the political platforms people choose are regional! Instead of focusing on security, we encourage violence and disunity. I feel it more coz as a Roman Catholic, we have witnessed ugly acts of violations and not a thing has been done about it by any politician - too scared to upset their vote banks! I really don't want to be like the Jews in Germany - thinking it will never happen to me and then be herded to a gas chamber. It may not be so extreme I admit but I think maybe, there is a writing on the wall and I should take some steps to read it!

The sad thing is, I never wanted to leave - sure like everybody else, I considered the studying abroad but dismissed it realising was quite happy to stay here and do regular Indian degrees since had no plan to move anywhere. In the last year, after visits to the cousin in Hong Kong thought would be nice to work there but again, never took the trouble to actually search. But now, I am so motivated - I feel persecuted and now I feel violated coz these are places we hang out at - I pass Leopolds all the time between the walk from Mondegar to Theobroma [I never enter since I'm a little paranoid after reading 'Shantaram' about the types that hang out there but still...]. We were staying at the Taj 2 weeks ago with family - the only place I have not been in the last 5 years is VT station!! and all these places have been attacked and it's not so far away. An aunt lives next to Nariman house, a friend's friend family was killed - with her in hospital, nobody can go to work - the misery is overwhelming.

And all through it, noone does or says anything of value. I agree, it's brave to lead from the front but the thought is also foolhardy - when you go down, who will take charge? The prime minister makes a speech practically 24 hours after the nightmare begins, the politician whose name and aggressive thoughts have taken up so much news space and time, has nothing to say on the marathi manoos being attacked, the military needs to be mobilised from the capital since there is obviously nothing of value in this city to station troops over here and worst of all, we don't have the sense to impose curfew on the city so there are scores of people on the streets, all ready targets for machine guns fired from the hands of mad men.

At the end of the day, it is insanity - that people can be brainwashed into killing indiscriminately, that too with salvation dangled at the end of it. I ask you, which God will reward you for taking life?

As I finally finish this post to publish, it appears all houses and hotels have been stormed, the terrorists have been laid to rest and now all that remains is for me to wait till they decide to visit my home!

Hi! My name is Curly and I am an addict.

It's true - I have a substance abuse problem as 'Carrie' says, except mine is nice smelling cosmetics and not footwear. I do have a mega collection of footwear as well but I don't think that's unhealthy - ok lets focus on one problem at a time here, shall we?
Back to my junkie status - I own more than a kilo of make up which is a lot for a girl who hardly wears any on a daily basis - I more than make up for that when I go 'partay' but....on a daily basis, I'm lucky if I get some kajal on. Then why on earth do I have 5 different eye liners, 6 shadow palettes, mascaras, lipsticks - one item of make up that I never wear as well as the many different powders and glitters and what not? and this is not even taking into account my obsession with lipglosses. However these are minor trangressions compared with the mother of my problems - creams, lotions and moisturisers (CLM for future reference). I have excessively dry skin - the kind that scales if left to it's own devices - thus I don't and smother it instead in every variety of CLM's I can find.
In the recent past, this has included:

• Johnson's Baby Lotion
• Baby oil
• Biotique massage oil
• Jergen's Summer Glow moisturiser
• Almond Oil
• Vaseline Intensive Care lotion with Cocoa butter
• Bath and Body Works Sweet pea cream
• Nivea
• Efaderm & Emoderm - these were dermatologist recommended
• Freeman's Caramel and Vanilla body lotion
• Freeman's Peppermint foot lotion
• Free Man Raspberry Hand Lotion

And there are different face and under eye creams - Yes! I need to use undereye creams!
This post was actually inspired after S commented that my christmas list has more creams than anything else and those creams were all recommended on the beautyaddict blog which is a site I'm raving about. I just wish I earned in dollars so I could buy half the things she talks about - I've never even heard of half the brands she talks about or half the uses of the products! It makes me wonder how shallow I am that the fact that Sephora has some special deal on excites me more that Barrack Obama winning the presidency!

The Gospel Truth....

According to The American Heritage Dictionary, 'Gospel' is from Middle English gospel, from Old English godspell, meaning "good news", translating the Latin evangelium, which itself was borrowed from Greek euangelion.

As defined by the online site freedictionary,

gos·pel
n.
1. often Gospel The proclamation of the redemption preached by Jesus and the Apostles, which is the central content of Christian revelation.
2. a. Gospel Bible One of the first four New Testament books, describing the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and recording his teaching.
b. A similar narrative.
3. often Gospel A lection from any of the first four New Testament books included as part of a religious service.
4. A teaching or doctrine of a religious teacher.
5. Music Gospel music.
6. Something, such as an idea or principle, accepted as unquestionably true.....

which makes it all the more shocking that the very basis for the title phrase may not be as hard and fast as we would like to believe. If half of what I read [Fiction novels, I admit] is true, then what the original words of Christ were and what we practice today are poles apart in some ways - if not all.

Everybody knows that the religion was adapted as a majority religion in the 4th Century - thats practically 400 years after Christ - and at this time, did the Gospel as we know it appeared - where the best texts were selected out of the many that were written at the time of Christ or just after. It's also a well know fact that some elements of the different religion were also amalgamated into Christianity to make the change more palatable to the citizens [I'm practically quoting Dan Brown and the DaVinci code here,I know!!]. But what I sometimes wonder is.... was the essence of the religion changed as well to make it acceptable to power and the people?

I've heard the stories of the Ethiopian bibles being burnt and the Portugese burning the Syrian Christians ones in India because the versions were so different - the Ethiopians were one of the first conversts apparently and the Syrian Christians were converted by St. Thomas - an original apostle so they would really have versions of the time what would be the most correct and so radically different from what the portugese believed in the 16th century that they were deemed heretical and all the copies were burnt.

When you know all these things and then I read what I term Christian Fiction books where the story revolves around find a relic of Jesus Christ, I am convinced I am being targeted by a viral marketing campaign that wants to spread the word that there is truth out there to be found and we should not blindly follow without asking questions. I agree in some ways with catholocism that some things need to function on faith but there is no need for blanket rule!

Christmas Wish list

Dear Santa,

I am writing this list now so I can get your attention early before the flood of letters happen - I have been a fairly good girl this year - he is my boyfriend and that is allowed...I have not cheated or lied except in my job where it is expected and I have tried to eat my vegetables wherever possible. With that out of the way, we can move to the matter at hand which all I want for Christmas is

• My 2 front teeth, actually my 2 wisdom teeth
• L'Occitane Amande Shower oil
• Bath and Body works Oil to Cream Warming Body Wash [Japanese Cherry Blossom]
• Elizabeth Arden Green Tea Honey Drops Cream
• Urban Decay Primer potion
• Body Shop make up brushes
• Tickets and Hotel Stay in Eastern Europe
• Bottega Veneta bag
• Alberta Ferreti strapless draped dress
• Manolo Blahnik stilettoes
• Jimmy Choo stilettoes
• Hidesign bag
• Freeman Chocolate Mint bodywash
• Harry Winston Diamonds
• Leonardo Dicaprio

I would just like to add that this list does not need to be fulfilled this Christmas - take as many as you like till I turn 35.

Yours forever,
Curly Girlie.

I love you, Leo!

'What's eating Gilbert Grape?' has always been one of my favourite movies - mainly coz I have a huge huge crush on Johnny Depp [Crush is putting it mildly - let's just say if Mr. JD was in my vicinity, I am not responsible for my actions] but Gilbert's younger brother was also cute in the movie. Imagine my surprise, when a few years later, it turned out the brother was not autistic, could paint and spit far distances and would eventually drown to save his lady love - Jack Dawson in 'Titanic'. It seemed that with the Oscars, Leonardo Dicaprio had arrived. To me, it seemed like he was another one of the good looking actors like the 80's brat pack, who would act in a wide variety of movies doing essentially versions of the same role and continue being a super star. It still takes me by surprise that he has managed to override his good looks and do supremely interesting films time after time. The first time, he burst onto my consciousness post Titanic, was in 'Romeo+Juliet', which though I loved the movie, just enforced my belief that he was going to be a heart throb. Then 'Catch me if you can' happened and I was like ok then...After I saw 'The Aviator' I knew I was wrong. The man is fabulous - it's really not fair, how can you be so good looking and have the courage of your convictions to act in all these great films as well? and date these greek goddess type women as well....Gaah!Of all the Leo films I have watched,the most recent being 'Body of Lies', I have to say 'Blood Diamond' is my hands down favourite - his character in the movie and the last scene where he realises he can never leave Africa is so poignant...of course, the massive pink diamond helped as well.

I realise there is a reason people say to wait a while or not judge a book by the cover...If I can write off Leonardo Dicaprio, can you imagine the potential of the people I might have dismissed through the years??

Thank You for....

....my wonderful parents think I'm the best thing that happened to them
....my aunts and godmother who do not stop the process of actually giving birth to prevent them from mothering me
....for the wonderful boyfriend who is so tolerant and so loving, I'm amazed!
....best friends who I have had forever and still talk to me even though I drive them crazy
....a comfortable job where I get paid every month
....the short ride to work everyday which adds about an hour to my life
....all necessary working parts of a body barring strange skin
....no life scarring experiences that could shut me down for life
....the cutest niece in the universe
....the mother who made me want to travel
....the father who let me go even to places that they disapproved of
....the parents who showed me the joy of reading
....american TV!!
....all the yummy smelling products that my entire salary goes on!
....The Internet and on the world wide web - facebook, instant messenger, games
....a time when I straddle both the old and the new making me feel like anything is possible
....the friends in whose company many wonderful hours were spent doing nothing
....the various academic institutions I attended who contributed to making me who I am
....for friends who never let you forget where you come from

I just wanted to be publicly grateful for all that is right in my life - this list does not even cover half of it but it's a start!

Jaago Re!

I have been dilly dallying for 9 years now on registering myself as a voter - I have the intention and motivation of course but never the action! so when I saw the Tata tea commercial on TV, it really struck a chord and I was like I can do that - so I registered myself today online which is a form that most net users fill out like once a week in any case and they sent me a filled out registered voter's form - the only thing I need to do is go drop it off at the Bandra office - which is hopefully something I will do during the next week - at least one step is done! I have always had a reason for not registering - I went away to school for a while, I always miss the deadlines but I look around and now I sincerely believe apathy is ruining the country. If I don't vote, in a couple of years, I will need to move!!

In India, The list of things that are wrong seem to be growing at a rapid pace and the list of things that are right seem to be diminishing even faster -I wonder how much more does it have to fall before it can rise again? There are so many questions like does my vote make that much of a difference? Should I be doing something more instead of just cribbing? I always think that I should not talk about the state of the country because really I'm doing nothing to help it! Let's hope at least voting in the election will assuage my conscience and make a difference.

''In India, democracy is like cricket - it's a spectator sport" - I will try to participate more!