Are parents a burden?

The Central Govt - proposed “Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Bill, 2007” comes up for hearing in the Lok Sabha this coming Tuesday. The bill proposes imprisonment of up to 3 months and Rs.5000 as fine for defaulters, i.e., those who fail to take care of their aged parents.

But will this deter people from ill-treating their parents or leaving them to fend for themselves in their old age? Physical punishments/torture is not known to have reformed too many people, no matter what the crime. Then how effective will this bill be?

No one can/must be forced to do something against their wishes. Things that are not done wilfully and from the heart will never do any good to anyone.

The case in point here is that if children are “forced” by the law to take care of their parents, some or many may do so just to abide by the law and not because of real love, care and affection towards their parents. Such forcible care will provide no pleasure either to the elders or the ones that are forced into providing it. A much better option would be for the old parent(s) to stay in an elders’ home or such similar setting than living like a dog in the so-called “care” of their children.

In today’s scenario, everyone faces extreme competition in every field and they have no time in their busy schedules for their aged parents. Still, we don’t hear them complain. A majority of them (our elders) try to keep themselves engaged playing with their grandchildren, listening to their favourite music or spending time with their spouse. But, for many, their parents are just like ‘ayahs’ – only that they come free of cost and will take good care of their child(ren). (I don’t intend to say that all are like that, but some definitely are.) Are such children actually taking care of their parents or using them to meet their own selfish ends?
It’ll do us all a lot of good to remember that “What goes around comes around”. Some years down the line, we all will face the same situations that our parents are facing today.

What our parents need in their old age is what we’ve got from them in our infancy and childhood – care, love, respect, understanding and a little bit of our time. I know it sounds clichéd but it’s true that all aged people, be it our parents or grandparents, crave only for a small amount of our time. At their age, money is hardly of any importance or priority in their lives.

Are they a burden on us? True, as some say, they may pass comments or advise us on our personal life. But this “personal life” is something they gave us, remember? Listen to your parents. If you don’t want, then don’t do everything as they say. This is a win-win for both – the parents are happy their child heard them out and for the child, he’s made his parents happy but can still choose his own path. (In case they are upset, then you can explain later as to why you didn’t do everything as they said).

A few simple questions to ask yourself - Can’t we do anything for 2 people who have given us everything, to whom we owe our birth, our very existence, our education, stature and life, and many more things that words cannot express? Can’t we even stand by them, love them, care for and support them in their hour of need? Only your conscience can answer this.

Personal Koffee ;-))

Trust me, I'm neither a K Jo fan nor his critic...But couldnt resist this...I wanted to write this last week itself but, unfortunately, I couldn't(due to work pressure...just kidding!) :-)

Last week's guests on Koffee with Karan were Saif Ali Khan & sister Soha...The show started off very well with the usual, stupid jokes & jibes from K Jo...Later, as it progressed, Karan asked Saif about his marital split, and then, there was no stopping him. He continued to bombard Saif (and later, Soha) with extremely personal questions about the status of Saif's relationship with Amrita & Rosa, Rosa's relatioship with the kids, Soha's past & present comfort level with Amrita and her current equation with Rosa and so on.

Saif was obviously uncomfortable - it could be seen and felt too. What does K Jo gain or lose, no matter who's in or out of Saif's or anyone's(other than his own, of course!) life???

The media leaves no stone unturned to publicise filmstars' private lives...After all, who doesn't appreciate gossip at a third person's expense...The first paper most readers turn to is Bombay Times or lately, the Entertainment section of the Mumbai Mirror.
Now, is K Jo taking it upon himself to execute the role of the media and have fun at someone else's expense too???

K(r)ANK(y)

KANK or Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, Karan Johar's self confessed favourite movie till date, was premiered on television last Sunday(18th of March). I did see it for the first time that day. What a movie!!! I don't know or understand what's good about that movie except for the songs(Shanky-Ehsaan-Loy, great job!!!).

Now, a few things about the movie that I didn't like/couldn't digest...SRK & Rani tried to justify themselves throughout the movie but, honestly, there wasn't a single scene or moment or any action on their part to justify their stupidity.They said they tried to save a withering relationship...Oh!!!Then I must've missed it!I didn't notice such a thing at all...Did you?Then please let me know...
Preity & Abhishek were left to do all the compromises and still had to take the blame for their failed marriages...
Both SRK & Rani had a lot of choice in their lives......
SRK was married to Preity - a love marriage gone kaput only because of his ego & inferiority complex (Can man ever accept a woman who earns more than him???)...Is marriage so weak an institution??No way!! It's only that SRK was a coward and a true male chauvinist(in the movie only....So SRK fans,please relax...)...
Rani could've opted out of her wedlock to Abhishek if she wasn't in love but was desperately on the lookout for it(love,i.e.). But no,she didn't do that...Why? She'd to repay Big B for her upbringing etc etc.What nonsense!!!She couldn't have done any worse than stray from her marriage to Jr. AB to repay her father-like figure...
It wasn't a movie.It was a blunder from every angle.If only SRK & Rani had genuinely tried their best to save their marriages & then if their marriages hadn't worked, it'd have atleast been a satisfactory movie to watch. But this was 3.5 hours of crap!!!

I have a crush................

...........on my new MP3 player... :-)))) Sorry to disappoint the gossip-mongers;-)





I'm a music lover...I love listening to music,especially the melodious & romantic songs...


I have been wanting to buy an MP3 player for quite a long time now...My friend saji must be really bored of hearing me say this; she was gifted an MP3 player by her brother-in-law last year...From that time I have been longing to own one too & finally my wish came true this tuesday...:-)

The brand-name,model etc was suggested by the one & only Krishna :-) He'd bought a similar one after reading a newspaper ad & also gave me the details when he was in Mumbai in January...But due to some problems I couldn't order it then but he n& saji were the first people I thought of when I ordered my piece on the phone...Really....I owe him a biiiiiig thank you...Sorry kris, forgot to mention it earlier...:-))

It is the apple of my eye now--with a slim,glistening black body;a lovely dual-color display;a rechargeable battery as in mobile phones & now loaded with my favourite songs,it's the only thing that gets attention-be it from me or my colleagues:-)) And believe me, I did not pay a bomb for it!!! I had to pay only 2000 bucks, no delivery charges,got a travel charger, data cable & 2 (English) music CDs free alongwith this!!! ;-))

Now I have a great time travelling to & from office thanks to it...Waiting for a long time at the bus-stop no longer irritates me as keeps me good company:-)


Have a look at my lovely & latest acquisition in the pic...