Snip....snip....snip....Ahh! There go hubby's long hair!

Some childhood fantasies do come true and while we wait for the opportune moment all our lives, there comes a moment, during the most unexpected times, that we finally live our dream. That moment of fun for me was today, the 29th day of the official and 36th day of our self-imposed lock down. 

While most men are oblivious to the fact of styling hair differently, my husband is renowned for his hair experiments. Those who know him well, will vouch for that.From long, to curly, to straight, to even going totally bald every time he's on ship, he's one helluva person, when it comes to experimenting with his hair. 

Now coming back to the childhood fantasy I was talking about. As a 6th or 7th grader, I read a story, 'Maggie cuts her hair' from the novel, 'The Mill on the Floss'. In that story, a girl named Maggie chops her hair as an act of anger and defiance. As I read the story, I was marveled by the fact that she had actually chopped off her tresses herself!

Wanting to experience the pleasure of hearing that sound of 'snip...snip...snip' and seeing the lovely thick hair falling to the ground, today, I finally got my Guinea Pig in the form of my husband. This time round, he had long hair. He had been enjoying that look and it was only getting better as his hair grew longer over the past 2 months when we last clicked a picture but due to the increasing heat, he was getting uncomfortable with them. 

Normally by now he would've been on ship and would have shaved off his head as he does every time, but the Covid crisis has kept him home and so as per his plan too, he needed a change. 
Completely unaware of my desires, he asked me if I'd be ready to give him a haircut....and Oh Boy! How I jumped at the opportunity! 

Setting up a chair for him in the balcony for the perfect view and armed with a pair of scissors, I started my job while the cool morning breeze blew around, making me feel absolutely heavenly! The best part was a ohone call from his friend, which kept him occupied and he couldn't object to anything, while I had my share of fun. Thick wisps of hair fell down as I moved the scissors merrily in his hair. I admired my skills as I styled his hair. After all there was nothing to lose. If at all something went wrong, I could always tell him to shave off his head :-D

Fortunately, as the phone call came to an end, so did my hair cut session. When he went into the room and looked into the mirror approvingly, I was ecstatic! 
Maggie had finally cut hair....but this time, not her own!!!

NOTE: Hadn't planned to write about it and so the thought of clicking his picture before the haircut, didn't occur. The cover pic has a 2.5 months old pic (for reference) and 'during the hair cut pic', clicked today.

ZOOM APP! The threat is REAL……

At around 11:12 pm last night, I got an SMS regarding some transaction on my credit card. I just happened to notice it as I was looking at my phone at that time. Thankfully I was awake, so I was able to notice the message immediately else it would have been a problem had it been a regular day but due to this lock down, I was up that late.

As I told my husband about it, I got an alert of another transaction. We both were like, “The credit card has got hacked!!!”

Let me go back a few days....the ugly corona virus confined everybody indoors and forced the schools to shut. Every school had to look forward to ways and means to keep the classes going. Amidst this crises, Zoom app suddenly started gaining popularity and became a common platform for all meetings. It began being used widely until few days ago, multiple posts about privacy issues started surfacing. I tried to reason with the concerned people about data theft being a real threat but it was not taken into consideration and so it just went on. All this while, my husband and me were ill at ease about this and he would often ask me to put my foot down but I showed reluctance in taking it head on. 

Yesterday morning, I did put my point across once again, citing data privacy concerns. Ironically, the same data theft that I was trying to caution about, stared right into my face that same night. One after the other, unauthorized transactions started taking place.

I immediately called the bank's credit card department to block the card but due to Covid issue, my call went on unanswered for 15 minutes. Meanwhile another alert came. I was going berserk, so I decided to login to my netbanking to hotlist the card. Managed to do so but still wanted confirmation about it and also wanted to know if anymore transactions had taken place. For over 1 hour I kept calling them but the auto tape continuously kept telling that all customer care executives were busy. Majorly traumatic it was.

Meanwhile my husband uninstalled Zoom app from my laptop as we were strongly suspicious about it giving remote access to my laptop. Eventually we changed passwords for our email and banking accounts.

Today morning called up customer care again but to no avail. So then called my relationship manager who got me connected and had me sent a dispute form and confirmed that 2 more transactions had happened of which I wasn’t even aware as I had not received any alert for those. The card was confirmed as being blocked and I filled the dispute form, scanned and mailed it to the Credit Card team. Hoping for things to be sorted on that front.

My school online classes still run on Zoom but I told the Principal that I wouldn’t be using it any further. You see, I finally did put my foot down. It wasn't well received and advocacy of the application took place, but me being me, I flatly said NO means NO in this case!

So all of you who are reading this- Don’t use Zoom. Uninstall it. The transactions made were all outside India on Play Store. Best part is all of us at home use Apple phones, no android so we don’t have play store. Just hoping, this post helps prevent people from falling prey to hackers and saves you all from online data theft. Stay safe people!

Lock down diaries……..

Today is the 7^th of April 2020, day 14^th of the 21 days lock down which was imposed with the intention of curbing the spread of the deadly virus that the entire world is battling. Corona Virus, Covid-19, China/Wuhan virus……so many names but the result, just one! Disease, pain, death….this virus has definitely crippled the entire world.

Nobody knows whether after 21 days the lock down would be over or if there would be an extension. If you ask me, I’m so scared of the way this disease is spreading its tentacles everywhere, that I’m not sure whether even after the lock down is over, I’d be mentally prepared to go anywhere soon. Who would have imagined that simple things like a handshake or a hug would start appearing worrisome, or that one would frantically keep sanitizing hands all the time? Bizarre to say the least!!!

People say these are difficult times, I say they are different and difficult:

•  Difficult, because even in our wildest dreams we would never have thought of a life when the whole world would be battling a disease which can spread like wildfire. It appears to be far worse than World War 2, as even then, some people had wanted a war and that is why it happened, but here, no one wants it yet it is happening and that is the bitter truth.

•       Different because many of us are exploring that side of ours which remained hidden somewhere as we were so busy in the mundane mechanical lifestyle that we had no time to sit back and reflect. This lock down is bringing out the best and the worst in so many of us.

Some people are picking up their long lost hobbies, which is actually so good as it is giving those people a chance to channelize their energies in a positive way but what is hurting me most at this time is that some people are picking on other people and that, my dear friends is certainly not cool!

We are all independent thinkers and its quite natural that we have our own way of thinking. Each human being is entitled to have her/his own opinion about a certain issue. Two children born to the same set of parents think differently, even a coin has two sides, so why on earth would two people have the same opinion about something. To each his own. A healthy discussion or debate wherein people talk about facts and share their thoughts is something which is always welcome but resorting to foul language and criticizing someone just for the heck of it, well, that is definitely not acceptable!

I know the lock down is having serious implications for many, but then again, it’s totally up to an individual how to take this. Some people are trying to bring positivity in other people’s lives and some are collecting all the negativity and targeting others. This is the time to rise above petty politics because human life is above all this. We need to stand together, in solidarity with those who are trying their best to keep us safe. If small gestures like clapping hands or lighting lamps can bring some hope and positivism and break the depressive monotony of our essential workers then so be it. You don’t have to love your PM to do this, you just need to love humanity.

The lives of so many people are at stake, ours included. Who knows, I’m writing this article today and after a few days, weeks or months this deadly virus might have taken my life as well!

So, let us keep all our political differences aside, stand united and face this threat. Let us spread love, peace, positivity and hope.

In this moment, we all should be JUST humans bound by a single thread – HUMANITY.

Independence Day! Why So Serious?

As the country prepares to celebrate its 72nd Independence Day, I thought of taking a break from the regular. Of course you love to be filled with all the patriotic fervour on this day, the songs, the speeches, the paaramparik veshbhoosha et all but I decided to do it a little differently. 

Once we were through with the traditional celebrations, I decided to walk into the class and ask my students, what independence means to them. Senior kids as they are, they came up with the serious topics and changes they would like to see but suddenly, the child in me surfaced and I asked them to forget being politically correct for once and just be really honest. One simple cue, and the floodgates opened! 

They came up with such cute responses.....

One said, "Ma'am, I would like to have the independence to sleep and wake up at any time I want."

The other said, "Ma'am I'd like to have the independence to eat anything anytime."

Another said, "Ma'am, I want independence from my mom's incessant nagging. She keeps telling me to do this and that. It just drives me crazy."

One more said, "Wish we didn't have to study at all. Independence from books would be the best."

At this there was cheering in the entire class. Kids will be kids. They are sweet, innocent, honest, uninhibited and always up for a conversation so that they can miss studies :-D 

Even we were like that once, weren't we? I clearly remember, Ms. Kumari, our Geography teacher. She was a wonderful teacher, who had a wide knowledge on a lot many subjects. We just loved her classes as the books would definitely take a backseat once you hinted at a question and she would rally into a long descriptive answer sharing her life experiences and contributing so much to our learning when we actually thought that we had successfully managed to deviate her attention. 

Such are our teachers, they teach us so much even when we don't realise that we are being taught. 

So dear students, in case you think you had your share of independence by distracting the teacher, beware! She's still managing to teach you some serious life lesson which you will realise once you grow up :-D

Happy Independence Day kids! 

The Horror Of The 'C' Word!

Being born as a woman, is a blessing. We are the privileged ones who have the exceptional capability of producing and nurturing a life but this enhanced feature comes with its own set of complications. Periods, ovarian cysts, fibroids, cervix disorders, endometriosis and then the most dreaded CANCER!

On a regular visit to the gynaecologist for a seemingly minor problem, the doctor did an internal checkup for me. She saw some anomaly described as erosions on the cervix, prescribed some antibiotics and asked me to revisit her after five days. I did so and again on checking, she seemed uncomfortable. There was no improvement in the cervix so apart from taking a pap-smear sample, she suggested that I go for colposcopy. 

Colposcopy is a procedure to find cell changes that might be cancerous. Even though my pap smear results were normal, the colposcopy test showed the presence of a considerable amount of abnormal cells. I was suggested to undergo two sessions of cryocautery. This is a therapy in which liquid nitrous oxide is used to freeze the abnormal cells. It is done once a month and then repeated after a month. 

After two sessions, I drove down to the gynaecologist. It was a beautiful rainy evening and my favourite tracks played in the car. I chirped and sang along, happy, that finally my two month ordeal was to come to an end. When the doctor examined me, she shook her head. The look on her face was enough to send me into a tizzy....she said, "Ideally these two sessions of cryocautery should have healed your cervix, but this is not so in your case. I'll have to go for biopsy as I suspect cancer." 

My perfectly happy life came to a sudden standstill. I somehow collected myself and rushed out of the clinic. Once I sat inside my car, floodgates opened and tears came rolling down my cheeks. I couldn't take in the word, Cancer!

One has to be strong at such times, so I pulled out of the parking lot and started driving home. 

I laughed at the irony. Just about an hour ago, I was dancing and singing, happy tunes playing in my head and in just one hour, all sad melodies were clouding my mind. 

Got home, spoke with my husband who was at sea (he's the captain of a ship). He too was extremely shaken but comforted me so beautifully that after his call, I knew I had to face whatever lay ahead. 

The silver lining in this dark cloud was that I had been vaccinated against cervical cancer long ago. We both hoped for the vaccine to work its wonder. 

Days passed, I visited several gynaecologists who saw my reports and confirmed that biopsy was definitely recommended. Few suggested that I should go for a hysterectomy as even if the cancer is not confirmed this time, the abnormal cells might become cancerous at any stage and I shouldn't risk my life. However, my trusted gynaecologist who knows me for a long time now, advised me against it, owing to my young age. (not young literally but still a minimum ten years to go for menopause) She warned me that even if the ovaries are left intact and only the uterus and cervix taken out, still the effects of menopause will start setting it and ruin my body. 

Anyways, the biopsy was conducted and ten days passed before the result could come. These days seemed to be the longest in life. I started having sleepless nights and during whatever little sleep I managed, I had recurrent nightmares that the result was positive for cancer. When I woke up all sweaty with tension, I would assure myself that vaccines are after all not useless. I will definitely not have cancer. 

The tenth day finally arrived. I made a call to the hospital and they sent me my report. With shivering hands, I opened the link and even though there was some indication of infection yet the line 'no evidence of any malignant lesion' gave me a big relief! YAY!!!! The cervical cancer vaccine had done its wonders! I was relieved beyond words. 

The purpose of documenting this incident is to spread the message that CERVICAL CANCER can affect anyone. Those of you who are not yet 25 yrs old and those of you who have girls above age 9, should definitely go for this vaccine. It worked its magic for me and so would work for you. Alo please maintain menstrual hygiene. After all who wants their life to be invaded by the horrific C word?

Shraadh 'And' Navraatri - Tough Time For The Non-Vegetarians

Ever since we were kids, we would dread the months of Sept-Oct. The reason was that in the month of Ashwin, 15 days of Shraadh were observed followed by nine days of Navratri. 

The intention wasn't to offend our ancestors but we simply couldn't digest the fact that we were not allowed to have onion and garlic during those days. Of course the delicious poori kachauri and kheer would be there but that was limited to just a couple of days in the entire dry spell of 22 days! Imagine us poor little kids, who had absolutely no clue as to why we had to suffer to please the ancestors? We tried to reason it out with our parents that our beloved ancestors would have no issues if we ate onions and garlic during those day. After all how could an insignificant thing as this, possibly offend the ancestors.....but then being born in a Brahmin family, most of the times, beliefs prevail above all sort of reasoning. Since we could do nothing, we would then wait for the time when the dry spell would end so that we could savour food with the distinct flavour of onion and garlic.

Now I see a bigger problem. I see people cribbing about not being able to have non vegetarian food. In case they are at their homes, it is quite understandable but what happens when they are living far away from their native place. There isn't anyone to judge them and they can freely indulge but then something stops them....na...na....its not the pricking conscience. On the contrary, it is fear.....fear of what you may ask? Well.....the fear of not being able to get fresh stock of food. Since there is an extreme shortage of demand during this period, most of the restaurants serving non-veg have stale stuff to offer. 

So what comes to the rescue of the die-hard non-vegetarian fans at such a time? The Bengali pandals during Durga Pujo are a no-veg lover's paradise! I've seen so many friends go pandal hopping during these days and making the most out of this splendid time. 

India is simply an amazing country...it's like multiple countries within one country. After every few kilometers, languages change, attires change, customs change...its all so diverse and the beauty of it is that we all try to embrace these differences in full spirit. So in one place, where eating non-veg is considered a sin during these days, in the other place it is an integral part of the festivities. 

So cheers to the constant ray of hope that this diversity offers to the people around!

Pitru Paksha ko pranaam......Happy Navratri and Shubho Durga Pujo! May our ancestors and the Gods continue to bless us. 

Dharm Ki Aardh.....100 Years On, Nothing Seems To Have Changed!

Today, while teaching Hindi to my son, I happened to read a write up by the famous Hindi author, Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi, ‘Dharm ki aardh.’ The writeup belongs to the pre-independence era and is over a hundred years old. The clarity of thought with which he has written it and the content of the article, shook my heart and instantly, I placed this man on a very high pedestal.In the article, he talks about how people have no idea about what religion is but they are ready to kill and die in the name of religion. These people are being manipulated by the strong and powerful so that they can maintain their influence over the weak and economically backward. Sadly, these foolish people do not realise that those who are using them know nothing but POWER and that they are not any religion crusaders but mere pawns in the ugly game of power.

He points out that even Gandhi ji was a staunch believer but his form of religion was very different from the one that people follow. His religion meant that one must be of a sound character and treat everyone respectfully, only then can we call ourselves true followers of God.

Hundred years on, nothing seems to have changed. One feels that education would have revolutionised the way people think but the irony is, that even the so called educated are still being used in the name of religion. It is disheartening to see posts by ‘educated’ people, justifying some gory crime in the name of religion.

Mindless mob lynching, the competition of Azaan and Aarti during the morning hours, the construction of religious structures and not to forget the frequent riots. The propaganda of religion seems to be never ending and what bothers me more, is that it isn’t even about religion. It is still a matter of the power game. The powerful are still using people as a bait. Dive deep and you will see innocent human faces desirous of living in peace.

How can we forget that humanity is above every religion? How can we kill others in the name of being protectors of God?

It seems quite paradoxical to me that on one hand, we believe that God is the Creator, Preserver and Destroyer of the Earth, and on the other, we believe that the same God needs our help in saving HIS existence!!!

How naive can one be!

Wake up people! Wake up and realise that God doesn’t need us to take care of him. He is all powerful. He created us, so that we can co-exist peacefully. We are not doing any service to God by tearing each other apart.

My point is that humanity should always be the first religion. If we cannot respect the existence of another human being then we have no right to call ourselves religious.