How much do you believe in being politically correct?

Back in the good old days when I was growing up, people were more or less free to speak their minds and hardly anyone was offended. With the passage of time, peoples attitude have changed drastically and something called political correctness has gained control of our lives.

These days it's like a minefield to be honest since some people can be so sensitive and I really hate all this politically correctness which is in vogue these days. At the end of the day, if you are not a sexist, prejudiced or racist, in any way then I just do not see why you should not be allowed to say what you want. While I was living in USA, I did experience a few racist remarks towards me and I didn’t get offended by it at that time because it was plain to see that the man who was spewing this garbage was a victim of the illegal Mexican infiltration which really did take away a lot of jobs in his area.

Usually I don’t get all worked up and offended by certain jokes since these are really just jokes and don’t mean any real harm at times. If certain people go out of their way to be malicious about somebody, then that is really unfair and the people at whom these jibes are aimed at are justified in getting offended. But if you are just joking with people about certain things or want to get something off your chest then I just simply do not see why you should not be allowed to do it.

If you to ask me for my honest and unbiased opinion on this subject, I would probably say that all this political correctness has gone simply too far. I am all for proper rules/ regulation and I am 100% against all types of bullying and discrimination but I can't help thinking that it has swung the wrong way and if you happen to say something which might offend anyone, you end up being heavily punished or even worst still sued for a slip of the tongue or just for speaking your mind. If someone is such a little coward and has their feelings hurt over a harmless comment then they should grow a backbone and learn not to be so easily offended.

In the end of the day, one comes to realize that these days the situation is really fluid. When you can freely speak your mind and when you have to hold your tongue really depends on the situation which you are confronted with. If I am amongst friends or people with whom I am comfortable with, I would speak out freely about whatever is on my mind knowing that we all think more or less on the same lines. If there are strangers or people whom I do not know well enough, I refrain from making any comments which might be taken the wrong way. I have learned the hard way that sometimes it is better to err on the safe side.

How old is your oldest friendship?

Time is a strange creature indeed. It flows by and we never realize how much time has flown by till many years have passed away. The mirrors confront us with images of own self but now with a few extra wrinkles and many new strands of grey hair. With the passage of time, many changes happen in the person life.

Many things in my own life have changed. I made many friends and travelled afar and back again. Through this journey in life I guess the only thing that has remained constant for me is the friendship of a few friends for almost 25 years. I have known a few friends from way back from my high school days. Some of the others I picked up along the way. Most of my friendship started due to some common interest and some were strong enough to weather the test of time. We stuck together because we never intruded into each others lives I guess and each one of us gave the other enough freedom and independence to grow within the friendship. It was a good time way back then I guess. We had tons of fun and didn’t have too many responsibilities as compared to now. Time flew by and we all went our ways. Yet, when we finally reconnected after many decades it seemed like hardly any time had passed by.

It feels really great to have a long-lasting friendship like that this which has gone through a few tough times and know that we still keep in regular contact like we did when we first met each other. We had our arguments and bad times and we have always managed to pull through. I guess that's a true friendship. Even though we are not able to keep regular contact with each other due to the great distance and the mind boggling time difference which separates us, we still consider ourselves good friends. I guess each one of you here have gone through something similar at some point in life and some of you must still be friends with buddies with whom this friendship bond goes long back. So, how long is your oldest friendship?

What scared you the most as a kid?

I remember while I was growing up, I was always scared of one thing or another. The first thing I remembered being terrified of was crossing a wooden bridge. I was very sure that there was a monster hidden underneath ready to grab me and start chomping on my leg like you would chomp on a chicken leg. I always used to walk to the side of the bridge and peek underneath to make sure that nothing was hiding underneath before crossing.

As I grew a bit older, the monsters shifted their hiding place from under the bridge to my basement and at times the closet in my room. Sometimes, I swore something was hiding under the bed just waiting till the lights were turned off and then crawl out and I’ll turn into a midnight snack. I used to check and double check under the bed, then the closet before going to sleep. I really dread going down to the basement as I was quiet sure that there was something hiding under the stairs. I was always terrified of the dark when I was a little kid. I always preferred to have a light on and every little noise would scare me.

I guess I watched just too much television and always thought that something was out to get me. It really influenced my mind to such a great extent that I actually believed the scary stuff which was shown on TV. As I grew older, these terrors gradually faded into oblivion as I realized that the movie/book monsters only existed in these mediums and the only true real monsters of this world were the mean, demented humans.

Relationships - How much control do we have?

We all have some sort of relationships with our fellow travelers in life. These people can be one or more of the following: our parents, brother, sister, husband or wife, etc. Some of these relationships are predetermined and we have no control over them while others we can choose. Relationships are so complex and so full of variables that no one is really happy and satisfied.

If someone was to ask me to list out a few of the good and bad points in a relationship, it would be difficult just to state just a few. After a little thought I narrowed them down to the following.

The things which I like in a relationship would be:

• You have someone to love and cherish and you feel the same about them.

• A person is always there supporting you and encouraging you through everything and vice versa.

• You have someone to hold on to, laugh and cry with and share all your dreams together.

• The close friendship in which both of you are comfortable.

• Never being lonely as you have someone to talk to.



The things which I consider as negative points in a relationship are:


• The headache of having to explain myself with every detail every so often.


• Having to clean up after this grown up constantly makes a mess.

• Having occasional arguments about nonsensical items. (Sometimes more than others).

• Not always having some private time you need to yourself just to relax and think.

• The bad habits which your friend/partner just cannot get rid off.

• Sometimes there is not enough trust between the two people and at other times there is a feeling of being trapped in a suffocating relationship.

Everything is bound to occur in a relationship and there is a lesson or message attached to everything and we have to learn that message. Only then I guess we can grow in a relationship and prosper. I guess it is really about what you want in life & relationship. It is also about how to go about things the right way and not getting all worked up about all the small, petty stuff I mention above and things should go smoothly. Every person should give the other some space to grow…some “elbow” room and some private time. How would you go around deciding what you want in life? How much control do you have? What are your likes and dislikes?

Are you a spender or saver?

Money is one thing which is extremely difficult to earn and it is one of the first things to disappear in most situations. It is a bit difficult at times to slot oneself into one particular category, since our tendencies to be either a saver or spender changes every so often over a period of time. Looking at my spending pattern over the last decade or so, I guess I would probably categorize myself as saver rather than a spender since I usually the term spender usually connotes using money to buy things all the time that are not really needed in order to lead a normal life decently.

There were times when I had to spend my hard earned money on a lot of different items during a short time frame. However, this spending activity when it can be classified as an investment either in purchasing/renovating a property or putting money into a business venture does not cancel out the category which I have slotted myself into. These activities I consider an investment where I expect to earn much more than what I have invested in return. Other times, it is for absolutely necessary items like a new fridge (yes it does have a door handle minus dirty smudge marks Danni…lol), an air conditioner (another harsh summer is upon us), a new car – Tata Nano (my old beat up car is just not worth the trouble anymore), few more ceiling fans, etc.

I learned the hard way that having money in times of need and emergency are important because we will never know what will happen next. One should save a certain percentage of your monthly earning and invest it in some safe investment avenue like government bonds, etc so that in case of an emergency I have something to fall back on. Especially in the times of recession it is more important to have decent amount of money stashed away. Not many people will come forward to help you out financially even if they belong in the extended family.

Being a responsible adult, a person should know what to buy and when not to buy. One must learn to purchase only those that are a necessity in life and these habits should be ingrained into the child’s thinking early in life. Never have "live for today, we'll think about tomorrow when tomorrow comes" attitude in life. This will lead to disastrous results. Give it a thought and in the end try to answer the following questions honestly: Will you consider yourself a saver or spender? Which category do you fit in? In which thing do you spend money the most money or where do you manage to save money most?