How I achieved enlightenment

Okay, I have a confession to make. I am a total night bird. My senses awake at 12 in the night and I thrive in the complete quietness where I am actually able to listen to myself and make sense of all the things that went on during the day. Have you ever found yourself so lost and confused and you don't even know what on earth is bothering you. Then you have these aha moments in the middle of the night when enlightenment strikes and you can almost see the halo around your head. Enlightenment strikes at the kundalini which I am assuming is connected to the back of the brain. For that to come to the forefront the frontal brain has to be occupied with something totally irrelevant, something so nonsensical that all the alpha matter just flows through to the back end. One of my favourite nonsensical things to do in the middle of the night is watch old film songs especially those of the 80's and the 90's, now dont jump to conclusions about me being a lover of the oldies. I enjoy the noveau as much as the golden era, in fact, I dont think the era even matter,  good music is just that, good. Anyways, going back to the 80's, times were such that we were so devoid of entertainment that Krishi Darshan telecasts at 6 in the evening by Delhi Doordarshan would be a much awaited program by the whole family. It was during an era like this that filmmakers could get away with almost anything which passed off as cinema. I remember one of my fave pastimes in those days once the cable operators kicked in, of course in the company of my wicked sister, was to watch hindi films and songs (sometimes even tamil, though much more tolerable I should say). We loved to boo and laugh and criticize all the artificial gimmickry and oversentimentality and of course the sickening predictability of the plot. My brother used to feel sorry for the carcasses of the hero and heroine lying around our drawing room which would have been verbally bitten, chewed and spitted out condescending all over the place. I am sure every generation had their own idea of romance. But forgive me, which young gal/guy at any time ever actually found the idea of 40 year old uncles and aunties prancing around the bushes appealing and romantic (am referring to the seventies here). And what exactly was the choreographer thinking or trying to convey for that matter when when he made the hero and the heroine hold impossibly difficult poses with the heroine standing on one leg (you could almost see the poor things femur muscles twitching with the discomfort) and the poor hero who would very often be half her size trying to hold her still for a whole minute. Was this unbridled passion:)). And sorry for barking out loud for the trend continues to this date. Whatever happened to mystery and masculinity (the prerequisites of romance) and why on earth were the males made to dance like women. Do you realize how you might actually mislead children growing up on a staple diet of these. They might actually grow up thinking that post marriage their parents went to the nearest hill station and danced in the local park to carefully choreographed uniform steps..... And when they got tired, just dropped to the ground and rolled over the grass and lifted their heads as if they have just had the most exhilarating trip of their lives. Honest to God, we kids tried this on our trip to Ooty. We got up feeling totally dizzy and starry eyed. One of my favourites of those times was the director's idea of portraying innocence and young girl's ready to mate attitude at the same time. It very often involved a city girl making a trip all the way to the nearest nature's haven and singing songs all my herself in the corn field waving her dupatta in the wind running along in artificial slow-motion wearing a plain yellow, green or red saree where the hero would spot her and swoop in for the kill. If you are ever feeling low, all you need to do is mute (mind you mute your TV) and switch on one of these channels and you will get to see the most bizarre human behavior ever enough to send you into splits of laughter. You need the right company though with the right sense of humour. Coming back to the original point, this my friend is the greatest ever use of TV. It shuts off your senses so that your back end kundalini has a chance. God, if only the poor Buddha had known about this. Try this and let me know what you think.

My version of feminism

Today is woman's day and countless articles are being written about the essence of a woman. What does feminism mean to me. I am badly tempted to reel off the usual cliched answers - freedom to pursue your passion, freedom to do what you want, to be considered at par with men. Is there something I havent heard before? Hmmmm. what do I really want, what special privilege on account of being a woman. Bingo. I dont want any special privileges. I don't want to be considered some special endangered species. Damn it, I AM half the population and I created the other half. This is our world and why should we have a special day for ourselves. Every day is our day. Why a woman's day, a chosen day to honour the women............., as if that were the only day that half the population is supposed to be honoured carrying with it the intrinsic meaning that the other half rules. The whole thing seems like a ploy to indirectly convey to the women exactly what they are fighting against. If it is to highlight the plight of the downtrodden, then it shouldn't be called the woman's day. It is a sad reality that anywhere we see words like downtrodden, atrocities, poverty stricken, nine out of ten times it is a woman or her child who is at the receiving end. It should thus be called the humans day as these can very well be termed atrocities against humanity. There you have it. This is what I want as a woman. Not to be reminded that I am a woman every time I do something. To go about my life as normally as any other inhabitant of this planet. I realize I have been fortunate to be raised as an individual and not as a "woman" . This might very well have prompted my above comments what could be considered by many an ignoramus as being ultra-feminised. The point I am trying to make is its all in the upbringing. Let every parent bring up her child as a normal individual without any gender bias, without reminding her that she will forever be part of a privileged lot, giving her the belief that she can do exactly what she wants and she need not be bound by the opinion or whims and fancies of any other individual, be it male or female.
Let me know what you think.............................