Tuesday, June 26, 2012

International Refugee Day 2012

House of Commons, The British Parliament








Room No. 12, International Refuge Day: Palestine Refugees Issue at British Parliament




The meeting commences:








Sir Gerald Kaufmann, MP Manchester, hosts the event.
Tells us that the newspaper 'The Jewish Chronicle' writes about this meeting saying 'Hamas gets a hearing in House of Commons'!! Jokes, and asks the hamas amongst us to stand up!








Mohammed Al Hamid (Chair of PRC board of Trustees) 'No one chooses to be a refugee'.




Dr Arafat Shoukri, Director of the Council for European Palestinian Relations (CEPR), talks of 'Right of Return'


Dr. Tariq Tahboob (Association of Palestinian Doctors in Europe) delivers a compelling speech and sings 'We Shall Overcome Someday'. Inshaallah!
 







Andrew Love, Labour and Co-operative Party Member of Parliament for Edmonton, talks of how there is hope that Lebanese authorities are considering review of conditions and rights of Palestinian Refugees.



Ms. Linda Ransom, Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (http://www.icahd.org/), provided astounding statistics, 536 villages were destroyed in 1947, 26 million palestinian homes have been demolished since 1964...


A palestinian now living in Manchester tells the story of the one time he went to visit his family home in Tel Aviv


An Irish supporter of Palestinian Cause - says the Irish need not go to Gaza to understand their plight, they know it since they tasted it in the past. People of Ireland prevailed, People of Cyprus Prevailed and People of Palestine shall also Prevail. Solidarity with Palestine.


An israeli supporter who thought 'palestinians in refugee camps do not want their situation to change, since if 'right to return' was assured then UN and its relief would be pulled out, which they don't desire'.
Andy Slaughter, Member of Parliament for Hammersmith



Jeremy Corbyn, Labour MP for Islington North, says the way to peace is only thru justice. And admits that due to Balfour Declaration of 1917, UK had special responsibilities.
 



A palestinian girl, now residing in UK talks of her family in Gaza. 'We exist, whether you recognize or not. We shall be free. Justice shall prevail, whether you like it or not'.
 


A palestinian from the Shatila camp in Lebanon speaking about his experience


Speaks about Arabs and how Religions like Judaism, Christianity and Islam were born in his soil.

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Live the dash!

Its been more than 3 months now that I have moved to London on a work related assignment.
Have finally taken up a studio apartment in the dockland area and have almost settled down.. Afterall I have to be here for the next 9 months or so.
So far so good, however I do miss my country's sunshine and of course my people.
Here I did not buy a television for myself for a few reasons, one the house did not come with one and so it meant i would have had to buy one just for a few months, and two, the house is too small for me to keep a decent sized TV, and invariably i have seen if you have a television, you land up just watching something or the other -- so there would be no motivation for any reading, writing, painting or doing nothing. Instead, I have got myself a high speed internet and I have ordered painting material. Hopefully you should see me get on with my brush again sometime soon.

Meanwhile, these days I have been watching a few documentaries. And today I happened to watch this brilliant documentary called 'Into the Abyss' by Werner Herzog, you can see it here and here.

Once you see it you will be able to understand the meaning of the title.

Maybe then we can have a small chat about it.

Friday, January 6, 2012

Flip on one side



When was the last time you had to take a decision? And what did you choose?

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Lets start this year...

... with some valuable lesson passed to me by my mother.

Under Any Conditions, The Key To Achieving Happiness Lies In Being Confident That One Will Definitely Not Be Defeated, That One Will Win.

ps: My mother has not written it.. I think it comes from Buddhas teachings.

Friday, December 9, 2011

Ki dasan ki baat sunava ishq dia..

Ranjha Ranjha Kardi Ni Mein, Aapay Ranjha Hoyi
Ranjha Kaho Saheliyon
Meino Heer Na Aakho Koi



Daastane-e-Ishq

Thursday, November 24, 2011

The wave of change

After bringing in a significant change in Tunisia, the wave of revolution reached Egypt on 25th January 2011.

The Egyptian Revolution of the masses against the pseudo republic nations former-President Hosni Mubarak, met an interim victory when Mr. Mubarak stepped down from the throne he had held for nearly 30 years , since 1981. This revolution has taken a fresh turn when thousands of protesters and activists took to the streets and occupied the historical Tahrir square once again last week demanding an immediate handover from its current military management to a power in the hands of people (read, a democratic form of government) and revoke the emergency laws once set up and never lifted by former president Hosni Mubarak – an act which they are calling as ‘reclaiming the revolution'. So what made these million people take to the streets in the first place? After the indecent exposure of the vested interests of powerful westerners had been researched and disclosed and hugely talked about, it has almost become a trend, to very conveniently turn and look at them the moment anything happens anywhere in the world. Of course, there is no denying that someone who is the mighty and powerful, will certainly have something to do with most things happening – good or bad, but at the same time, one cannot just get up and say, ‘You did it.’ All the time, mostly just out of habit or mere suspicion. Additionally, I think it is not possible for any power to bring a million people from the civil society on the streets to stand up against one of their own, just because someone wants it that way. Nah, because if that was possible, then probably those 1 million people had to be some sort of robots for that particular someone to program! And most importantly, this is a revolution, not a war. And there is a fundamental difference between what a revolution is and what a war is. A revolution needs passion and intent and is prolonged (unlike an uprising). A war on the other hand could be instinctive and needs money and power to sustain itself.

Now the question is that is this Egyptian revolution really a revolution? If yes, then what were the most significant reasons for this to happen?

Now since this mass uprising of civil society against the government has been continuing homogenously in a peaceful and defined manner since the past 11 months, and their intention has not wavered, this most definitely can be called a revolution. Now for the reasons,

Post the revolution of 1952, in 1953 Egypt turned a republic from being a monarchy. Since then there had been 5 presidents. Hosni Mubarak was the 4th (the 5th one was assassinated). Even through Egypt was termed a republic, but actually it used to practice a very authoritarian form of government. Unrest, resentment and anger against prolonged unemployment, mistreatment, police brutality, lack of freedom of speech, corruption, inflation, misdemeanors under the wraps of emergency laws etc had been long brewing in the Egyptian society. Stories of oppression under the hands of Mubarak can be easily found and researched, so I shall not site them here. In fact you can find a lot of the prime reasons for the discontentment here .

But it was only when another Arab country, Tunisia stood up against its’ tyrant, that, Egypt got the much needed push to break into a revolution themselves. And as David Remnick rightly wrote in his article ‘Judgement Days’ , I quote,
Egyptians, secular and religious, poor and middle-class, flowed into the public square to express their outrage after years of voiceless suffering; they protested injustice, the endlessly documented incidents of torture and corruption, the general stagnation and disappointment of their lives.
These people were there because each one of them had the misery and hopelessness which engulfed them since the past so many decades. These were the people who witnessed or heard stories of Egypt once being the trend setter of the Arab world to what it is now – a country besieged with poverty, corruption, illiteracy, unemployment and injustice.

Were these men and women sent by America? Most logically not, at least not for Egypt. I am saying so since Hosni Mubarak was still very pro-America and also it was the first and probably the only Arab nation who agreed to the peace treaty with Israel, much to the disapproval of civilian Egyptians themselves. Additionally the only oil relation Egypt has is the Suez Canal, and the Suez Canal is anyway too small for large oil ship tanks to pass, hence the Oil Prices wont be majorly affected by any change in the current administration of the canal. So, I really do not see any obvious reason why US would have any direct advantage in getting Hosni out and getting someone else in.

The revolution in itself should not be surprising. It is a known fact, that the concentration of absolute power together with prolonged unchallenged duration is a perfect recipe for corruption, brutality and injustice. Anger, under those circumstances, is nothing but obvious. Today the people are being vociferous in a bid to reclaim their freedom, their right to have free/honest elections, equality, justice, and opportunities etc., most of which seem impossible to them if the Mubarak regime continues. Moreover, the 1952 revolution in Egypt was done to overthrow a monarchy and establish a republic, and with Gamal (Hosnis son, who is even more disliked than Hosni himself) being prepared to become the next President of Egypt, was almost reestablishing the anarchic form and going back into history.

This is also the reason why most of the countries with authoritarian form of government have a need to worry. Because sooner or later, it will be their turn and chances are that the need or desire for democracy will arise from within the civil society rather than thru intervention of foreign nations or western capitals (!).

The next obvious question is, will this revolution bring a significant positive change to what life has been in Egypt, or will it further damage the country. To this, I feel that any change, especially when brought about very quickly with force and out of frustration, does not lead to instant gratification. But what I do believe is that tomorrow whatever happens in Egypt, it will be known that the civil society of Egypt had re-woken and the people took charge and tried to be the catalyst to the change they wanted to see. Whatever will happen to them now will be because of something they did, or tried to do today.

To be in control and to be able to make a choice is a huge freedom. And that makes a whole lot of difference.

 Find an entire series of photos from the revolution, here.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

I remember..

A beautiful poetry by Md. Iqbal

Aata Hai Yaad Mujhko

Aata hai yaad mujhko guzara hua zamana

vo baag ki baharen vo sab ka chah-chahana

Aazadiyan kahan vo ab apne ghonsale ki

apni Khushi se aana apni Khushi se jaana

Lagati hai chot dil par, aata hai yaad jis dam

shabanam ke aansuon par kaliyon ka muskurana



Wo pyari pyari surat, Wo kaamini si murat

aabaad jis ke dam se tha mera aashiyana



I was reading about Dr. Iqbal and I learned that the two nation theory was in fact his brain child. It was he who visioned a separate nation for the Muslims. I am not sure of this information. This has opened a new area for me to read and explore.

Anyway, today I am writing this entry on his 134th birth anniversary in the memory of him as a great poet.

Ps: You can find the english translation in the comment section.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

What a shame!

The double standards of a few western countries like the 'great' US of A is so shameful. On one hand they passionately guard their human rights and claim justice to be prime for themselves, however, on the other hand they don’t treat people of other countries the same way. It is such a shame. This boy could have been someone from our family.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Women on top!

I am a photo enthusiast. I love to browse through tastefully clicked pictures. There are many photographers whose work I really appreciate, but this post is not about them.

In so many years of following pictures clicked around themes of portraying different emotions, life, beauty, sins, indulgence etc, I have noticed that photographers pre dominantly use a woman as their subject.

I have very rarely seen men being the posers, especially when it comes to shooting an entire series around a certain theme.

I being a woman am quite proud if we have what it takes to be an artists muse for every emotion, however I really want to know why men are less preferred when it comes to photography.

If any of you have any links to some interesting pictures of men (not single picture -- I am looking for a series) depicting human emotions (not jails or wars) then please do share.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

What keeps India Busy?

Rural development minister, Jairam Ramesh goes for an official work to Bikaner where he was welcomed by cotton spun garlands. Mr. Ramesh keeps it on the table and later uses it to wipe out something off his shoes.

Now the entire nation is offended because of this. The BJP leaders are saying that this act was an insult to Gandhi!!!!

This is totally insane. It just could be a one of situation where someone wipes something off their shoes or dresses with the most accessible linen that s/he finds at that point of time.

To add to this drama, they now demand an apology not only from Jairam, but also the CM!

Linking this to national shame is not really the most intelligent thing to do. Especially when the same news paper has reports on 2G corruption and India being one of the top most depressed nations of the world.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Numerously bitten, never shy!

There were bomb blasts in Mumbai yet again, and I think we (Indians) are responsible for this mayhem. Our basic attitude of tolerance of injustice, ignorance of the politics around us and our 'I don’t care till I am not directly affected' is bringing us to this pitifully dangerous existence.

This culture of inappropriate aloofness is also allowing the government to take our homeland security for granted.

Imagine the Rupert Murdoch incident happening in India. No one would have batted an eyelid. But since this happened in UK, the entire world is talking about this and it and this news is making world headlines. People abroad are sensitive about their privacy and rightly they should be. But the same thing if it happens in India, no one would have really cared much, maybe there would have been a little murmur but nothing when compared to the scale of what is happening in the western world. If you come to think of this, then maybe the only reason I see is the culture. It’s the culture and conditioning of our people where firstly it is difficult to clearly establish what ‘privacy’ means at a personal individual level and secondly we are made to believe that invasion into our lives is no big deal. This ‘adjusting’ culture in this super transient world of complexity, survival struggle, disparity, technology and access (or the lack of it), is allowing injustice to take place without an appropriate remediation or response.

The response is and can never be violence. It can only be solved if the root cause is addressed.

If each of us do our part of the duties honestly – be it awareness, education, health, knowing and demanding our rights, working for a living, paying our taxes, take into politics, be compassionate and learn to fight against injustice – to self or to others.

It is difficult for me to accept that if a nation is firm, honest and compassionate, it will still be subject to atrocities.

If we are dishonest ourselves, if we cannot look at ourselves in the eye, we are not doing our bit.

It’s time we should stop giving leverage to India saying its big, populated and diverse. Security is basic. And no one’s got any excuse. Including us.

May the souls of the 21 people who died yesterday rest in peace, and may their families get the strength to bear the loss which can never be compensated.


PS: Yesterday there were 3 bomb blasts in Mumbai, the financial capital of India. 21 people were killed and over a 100 injured.

Monday, July 11, 2011

Almost my end of stay in KL



The 2 months i spent in this fast city of Kuala Lumpur was full of food, taxis, learning about a different culture and ofcourse lots of work. A picture of one of the most prominent structures of KL.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Learn, Unlearn and Learn Again



Since quite some time, my actions appear unexplained to none other but me. Yesterday I realized that how shallow I had begun to think. How I had started to silently put myself before I put others. I was never like this. The only pleasant character that I knew in myself was humility, kindness and the ability to put others happiness ahead of my own. But I realized last night that I was being my antithesis. I was slowing giving in to the powerful force of self.

A friend shook me out of the spell, told me how I forgot the definition of love and I realized that it was nothing but true. I have been in fact doing this since quite some time and I did not even realize when an action became a habit. I owe an apology, to this person. I am sorry. And I am shameful that I disrespected the greatest emotion in this world.

But as they say 'Jab Jago, tab Savera' (i.e. If you have woken up, then this moment is morning for you'). Thanks for making me realize. I have started my conscious effort to change the ugly habit that I had slowly imbibed.

Incidentally I had been listening to this song called 'Hor vi neevan ho' by Noori from the Coke Studio (Pakistan), since the past couple of days. Yesterday I figured out the meaning. And I fell in love with the song all over again. Sharing it with all of you. (The translation I picked up from some lyrics website and I hope its accurate).


Hor vi neevan ho
Bow your head even further down (in humility)

Hor vi neevan ho fakira
Fakir, bow your even head further down (in humility)

Uccha saroon gharoor mein
There is great pleasure in holding the head high in arrogance

Kaddi naa phall paiye, fakira
But, that pleasure will never be fulfilling

Hor vi neevan ho fakira
Fakir, bow your head further down (in humility)

Paiye gaa deedar sahib da
One day you will be bestowed with His presence

Hor vi neevan ho
Bow your head further down (in humility)

Ho rabba koi meray dil diyan kadraan pachanay
Lord, if only someone could understand the deliberations of my heart

Mein sawali jinna naeen koi sawal
I am a seeker who seeks nothing

Mein jogan ban dar dar phir diye
I am a wanderer, roaming from one land to another

Koi na meriyan, ramzaan pachanay
No one can unravel the secrets within me

Mein jogan ban dar dar phiriyaan way
I am a wanderer, roaming from one land to another

O koi na meriyan, ramzaan pachanay
No one can unravel the secrets within me

Mein jogan…
I am a wanderer

Chal meray naal
Come along, come with me

Hor vi neevan ho
Bow your head further down (in humility)

Thursday, May 26, 2011

and time goes by

Chasing Cars

I can never know what I want. Maybe someday things will be different.

Friday, February 4, 2011

The Ignored Monkey

I was actually searching google pages for a tattoo that would fit to my liking and then I saw one which had the famous ‘3 wise monkeys’ – just that the monkeys were replaced with frogs.

As far as I remember I always thought these rules depicted by this sculpture (it supposedly came from a Japanese folk religion) were brilliant, but yesterday, I had a different take on it.

I thought, if I were to build a fresh sculpture of these monkeys, I would have kept only one and fired the other two. They are not required and you will see why. :-)

The monkey that I would have kept would have his hands placed on his heart depicting acts of love – with a meaning that ‘DO NO EVIL’. If people don’t do evil things then no one would have had to shut their eyes, ears or mouth. :-)

As I was writing this post I was trying to find out if these ‘wise-monkeys’ had any specific name. I did not find any name, however I found out that there indeed was a fourth monkey which had his hands crossed depicting the same idea – and hence I decided to title this post as The ‘Ignored’ Monkey.

Just for a laugh: Maybe the artists of the sculpture were hard core communists, they could not allow 1 monkey to take away the job of 3 others, so instead they chose to omit him and keep the other 3!

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Interesting Read..

Interesting read (from Vijay Simhas 10 Things, Tehelka)

INDIA IS NOT THINKING OF

1.PLAN B
It’s what every government puts in place, even in Hollywood thrillers. When will we?.

2.LIFE AS A SUPERPOWER
What will our Islam policy be? What do we do about the UN? Will we have world-class products?.

3.2050
What should our population be? How many states will we have? How do we travel? The works.

4.FOOD
We are dangerously addicted to potato and edible oil. Our food joints sell junk. It shows in the way we look.

5.CHINA
Barring icy civility, we don’t have a clue. There are incursions in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh. We watch.

6.DRUGS AND BOOZE
Our biggest blind spot. The number of addicts and alcoholics is rising in every state. We wait.

7.POOR LIFE ETHIC
We are not good with ambition and efficiency. We are poor executors. We are not the stuff of dreams.

8.CLIMATE
It’s hot in Srinagar. It’s parched in Bihar’s Gangetic belt. It’s pouring in Delhi in August. What gives?

9.HYGIENE
Gandhi was right. We are masters at spitting and urinating. We don’t wash enough. We fall sick too often.

10.BEASTLINESS IN PEOPLE
Can’t smile. Can’t greet. Can’t give way on the roads. Can abuse. Can beat. Can kill.

10 THINGS SHE IS OVERDOING

1. Fear of Maoism
2. Sense of well-being
3. Importance of CWG 2010
4. Pre-eminence of family
5. Role of Bollywood, they don’t deserve Padma awards
6. Sanctity of courts, they should be accountable too
7. Politics
8. The media, mostly mediocre
9. Religion
10. The Pakistan bogey

Friday, August 6, 2010

JK-A -2











children and boys with stones or maybe nothing, against a trained army with sophisticated artillery. Does it not say something? Everything obviously is not right.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Jannat Abused.. (JK-A)

Everyday when I open the newspaper, I am saddened.
When I spot reports about the valley, I fearfully try and quickly read if the attacked places are the places where my friends live, is it about anyone I know, or is it about someone who’s their relative.
If I being a non-kashmiri feel this terror, I can well imagine whats going on within the state.
Historically, the basis of J&K to be a part of India was fraudulent. The fact that it continues this way inspite of India calling itself a ‘Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic’ assuring its citizens of justice, equality and liberty, is nothing but shameful.
After years of neglect, oppression, false promises, injustice and betrayal, Kashmir has once again re-ignited the anger in their hearts and are out on the streets to protest against the step-motherly treatment and to fight for their rights.
Sadly, they again seem to forget what they face is a ruthless enemy which has absolute power and the best of ammunitions, as against them who are just some random disorganized groups of disillusioned, troubled and unarmed people (primarily youngsters).
Why would a healthy 17 yr boy would take to the streets and pelt stones if there is no reason for him to do so? If you think the government of India is not responsible for this trouble, you are basically saying the people of the valley are mad. Life in the valley is not normal. Visit it to see and read well to know.
I think what Kashmir needs now is an educated and rational leader who connects with the people of Kashmir and lead this fight for rights and justice. No great fights were won without a great leader. What Nelson Mandela did for Africa, what Gandhi did for India (barring a few reasons why I not totally appreciate everything about him), what Hon-Chi-Minh did for Vietnam and like many other leaders, Kashmir is today in need of the torch bearer who would show the right and well thought way.
If this does not happen soon and the civilians continue their non-focused, unplanned and poor protests, sooner or later either they will be suppressed, or cause even further destruction and damage and death.
As I write this, I recall what the Late Mr. Vijay Tendulkar had once said, ‘Ever time atrocities happen, riots happen, the powerful leftist unions are non-existent. Once the riots stop, they come out in the streets with peace marches’. Sad but true. I wonder what I can do, perhaps I can just write something which hardly anyone will read. But there are so many people in powerful positions, why are they not getting together and raising their voice. Atleast someone will flinch after knowing the reality and who knows, maybe a leader will be born!



As I end, I would like to quote a bit from Sahir Ludhianvi’s ‘Khoon phir khoon hai’:
"zulm phir zulm hai, barhta hai to mit jaataa hai
Khoon phir Khoon hai, Tapkega to jam jaayega
...
...
zulm ki baat hi kya, zulm ki auqaat hi kya
zulm bas zulm hai, aaghaaz se anjaam talak
Khoon phir Khoon hai, so shakl badal sakta hai
aisi shakleiN ke mitaaoo to mitaaye na bane
aise shole k bujhaao to bujhaaye na bane
aise naare k dabaao to dabaaye na bane"

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Read this on Discovery Health:

Myth: Cohabitation is just like marriage, but without "the piece of paper."

Fact: Cohabitation typically does not bring the benefits - in physical health, wealth and emotional wellbeing - that marriage does. In terms of these benefits, cohabitants in the United States more closely resemble singles than married couples. This is due, in part, to the fact that cohabitants tend not to be as committed as married couples, and they are more oriented toward their own personal autonomy and less to the well-being of their partner.


Do you agree?

VISION

I am very fond of films, but I am not a sincere audience – what I mean is that I most often watch films at the end of my day, just before I sleep, and hardly watch the entire film in one go (yes, you can frown!). But yesterday was different, I watched a film by Govind Nihalini called, ‘Drishti’.
This film is about a couple played by Dimple Kapadia (as Sandhya) and Shekhar Kapur (as Nikhil) who have a 7 yr old daughter, and who eventually part ways after a 9 year long relationship.
It’s difficult for me to describe the entire story in a systematic way, but I shall try and discuss the plot.
If we question why at the first place Sandhya had a fling with the young musician (played by Irfan Khan) when she looked pretty content in her life with Nikhil and her child, I think the answer is maybe she was bored with the routine and the mundane activities and repetitions and predictability that a marriage brings. And so the moment she met this young mysterious man who shared the common interest of Music with her and displayed much affection and passion towards her, she got into a ‘harmless’ relationship with him. However, when she felt that soon this fling could spill over and destroy her stable family – whom she loved – she backed out and called off the relationship with Irfan. All this while, she was very sure that her relationship with Irfan was not of love, but of passion and adventure, and at no point was she ready to pursue it at the cost of messing up her family life. At a certain point, she also says that Irfan had the eyes of a newly born calf – very ‘vulnerable’ and ‘dependent’. So maybe she also had this feeling of being ‘prime’ / ‘important’ / ‘perfect’ which added to the fervor and her attraction towards him.
Now talking of Nikhil, I suppose, he was looking for the same Sandhya he fell in love with years ago – the one who was energetic, new, fresh and lively. And when he failed to find the person with whom he could communicate and enjoy like he used to, he was drawn away and drifted towards a much younger woman who filled up that void.
Anyway, proceeding with the story, one night Nikhil sat with Sandhya and told her about his affair and informed her that he would be moving out immediately since it is difficult for him to spend even a single day with her. Quite a few months passed and just a day before their divorce, Nikhil visited Sandhya and expressed his desire to return to her giving her reasons that even when he was with this new woman, Sandhyas’ memories never left him (not to forget, he said the new woman had become strange and domestic and perhaps in love with another younger man). This area is a bit gray, since they show a shortly revived passionate moment but the very next scene hints that they had the divorce anyway and later became friends.
Now if I come to think of this particular story and analyze why their marriage did not work, I think it just the lack of efforts by both of them to overcome the obvious consequences that familiarity and routine brings to ones life. I am saying the above statement in context to relationships which have matured and is based on more intelligent reasons like intellect, sharing similar ideas about life, appreciation of the partner and his/her personality and character. I don’t know very clearly, since I am not saying that couples have to stay together even when they don’t have the desire, but what I am saying is that maybe one should not walk out simply because there is no passion in their relationship. Passion is transient – what you are passionate about today, may become boring / familiar tomorrow. And we are talking of people here, not objects. I think its grossly unfair for the other person (You may argue that staying with someone you don’t love is being unfair to yourself and in a way also unfair to the partner, but that is another debate). I agree that to maintain a bare minimum health in a relationship there should be a mix of discipline, trust, respect, space and adventure. And it would work only if the couple shares this responsibility of maintaining sanity, peace and affection. Its easy to say, its not working, but its only fair and honest to discuss, talk and then respectfully decide what needs to be done.
I know may be I am talking of ideal relations, but life is anything but ideal. I have hardly heard of thinking people having one marriage. But I still have not completely understood why it can be impossible to maintain a unique and ‘custom-made’ relationship with their partner – particularly when the initial deciding factors were not frivolous.
You are born with most of relationships, only friendships and partners are chosen by us. Don’t choose if you are not sure. And if you get in, you must have a very good reason to walk out. Don’t you think?

Tuesday, August 3, 2010