Cultural Explosion (TM First speech)

I'm going to take this opportunity today to tell you a little about my family life. So how did I become Mrs. Mago. How did the story begin?

Let us do a flashback to 1993. Imagine a 17 year old girl and a 21 year old boy, both studying in Ness Wadia college, Pune. They both like each other. The boy invites the girl for his brother's marriage. The girl says she would need her mother's permission to attend.

Now imagine the scene at home, between the girl and her mother.

Girl: Mom, please can I go for Sameer's brother's marriage, please please!
Mom: Sameer?
Girl: Oh, he's my friend Preety Bhalla's classmate. He's a Punjabi. Actually his dad is a Punjabi, and his mom is a Maharashtrian Brahmin.
Mom: Hmmm, love marriage?
Girl: Ya, even his brother is going in for a love marriage, he is getting married to a Gujarati lady.
Mom: Hmm, naturally, if parents have done a love marriage, then the children also want to follow.
Girl: Actually, that's not all...his second brother is engaged to a Jewish lady. She is half Jewish and half Sardar (Sikh)
Mom: Oh I see. Now, looks like the third brother Sameer likes the Sindhi girl? Huh?
And the girl blushed and smiled!

So few years later this Sindhi girl, Manisha Nachnani, with her ancestral roots in Pakistan, got married to the Punjabi boy Sameer Mago and became part of this multi-cultural joint family.

Now this practice of love marriages outside the community is very common these days, and everyone is doing it, but during my father-in-law's generation, it was not so easily accepted. Through love marriages their generation set a precedent for the subsequent generations to follow. Practically everyone in my husband's family has glorious love stories to narrate to their children and grandchildren.

My father-in-law's eldest brother was married to a Tamil lady. He was born and brought up in the Lahore area of Pakistan, in a devout north-Indian family, and when  he said he wanted to marry a Tamil lady, I'm sure they must  have had a lot of family opposition. Later, my father-in-law's second brother married a Christian lady, and adopted Christianity. My father-in-law's sister got married to a Parsi gentleman. Unfortunately she passed away in her youth, and the Parsi uncle remarried a Bengali lady, who was affectionately adopted as aunt into the family. Their son is now married to a lady who is half Parsi, and half Marwari.

Not to forget, my father-in-law's cousin married a lady from the north-east. Her name was Bluebell.

We all know that India is a land of great diversity. We have many different states, different cultures, languages, traditions, festivals, and so on. What happens when people from all these different cultures come together to form a family? There is a total cultural explosion. My family has now become a melting pot of all these cultures. And our family tree probably looks like the political map of India and Pakistan.

Life has been very interesting in such a family. We celebrate a whole lot of festivals. My children have picked up a few phrases of several languages. We've even attended many of the family weddings in church, because my mother-in-law's brother is also converted to Christianity. And cuisine is literally the spice of our life in this family.

Few years after I got married, it was my sister's turn to get married. We lined up a whole lot of boys for her to see, and she rejected all of them. No, No No!!!! Why??? My husband asked her. Is there someone you have in mind? Don't be afraid to tell us. And guess what she said? "Mallu chalega ?"
So few months later my sister was married to a Keralite boy, in the traditional Malayali style ceremony.

My cousin just got engaged to a Bihari girl, AND over all these years I have come to believe that all these cultural differences are superficial. Human beings in any part of the world are essentially the same. And if all human begins would realize this fact, then perhaps we would never have any racism, any communal riots, or religious wars.

thank you.

First prepared speech: @ Speakers Club @ SAS

Latest trend in Bollywood: The 100-crore club
Don't you think that Bollywood is the most exceptional phenomenon of our country.  Sometimes I wonder if there were no Bollywood, how would we be able to have any interesting conversation, Imagine? And how would Indian media survive?
Let me tell you about this latest bollywood trend. Recently I had invited my daughter's friends home. The topic of dicsussion moved over to guess what?  Bollywood of course! Anyways, I asked these girls who was their favorite hero? While many voted Aamir, Salman, Shahrukh and Ranbir, but one girl was a fan of Imran Khan, and others just condemned her preference.What's wrong with Imran Khan. Imran Khan is soooo Cuuuute. But Aunty Imran is not a 100-crore star, said our business-savvy generation kids!!!
On googling I realized that the 100-crore club is all about Box office performance or revenue  of a film! Only male actors whose films net Rs. 100 crore (not gross)  or more in India are recognized as part of this elite club. Since when did female fans of an actor start worrying their pretty heads about box office numbers, I was wondering!!! But nowadays, I guess, like everything else in this world, any art is not about winning hearts, it's just about revenues!!
So as Ghajini (2008) was the first film to net more than Rs. 100 crore in India, Aamir Khan became the first member of the club. Some of the other films that have reached this banchmark are 3 Idiots, Dabangg, RaOne, Agneepath, Housefull 2, Rowdy Rathore and Bol Bachchan and Ek Tha Tiger.
Now we know veneration is such an inherrent part of our culture. First we venerate thousands of mythological gods! Is that not enough? Then we venerate the hundreds of bollywood and Tollywood stars, especially male ones!!!
So if a Dabanng or a Three Idiots crosses the 100-crore mark, then it is Aamir Khan or Salman Khan who become members of this 100-crore club. Such is the gender bias in our society. What about the heroines? Don't you think a Dabangg or a Raone would have attracted many crowds without thefemale item numbers?
Unfortunately Vidya Balan's The Dirty Picture did not touch 100 crore. Otherwise , it would’ve been interesting to see who would have become a member of the 100-crore club – Vidya Balan,or the male actors?
Strangely this club ignores all others who also contribute to the film's success--the producers and directors, distributors and the whole unit.  I think the 100 crores ceoncept is  nothing but the latest media hype. It is ridiculous the way the industry and the media are obsesssing with it. If a film has crossed the magic number, does no one care about anything else? Is this the only benchmark for good cinema? Are we teaching our kids that money is the only yardstick to evaluate a piece of art? I can imagine that very soon when kids play games like bollywood dumb charades, they will be doing this, and someone will invent sign language for 50, 100 and 200 crore!

Chose to be Happy - TM prepared speech (second speech project)

Chose to be Happy (based on my poem)
If I tell you that today is my birthday, what will you tell me? If I tell you today is my anniversary...??? If its Holi, Diwali, New Year...what it is that we all do?
We wish each other, we celebrate-Why?
Because we want to be HAPPY
We want to receive happiness, we want to give happiness.
Have you ever heard anyone ever say " I only want to be sad forever" NO! We all want to be happy.
So What is this HAPPY-NESS???? 
I think it is a state of mind that WE ALL "constantly" want to be in. To proove let me ask you to look at yourself objectively as an individual.How would you describe yourself? "
You would say is that you are either a professional, or an entrepreneur,  or a student..wotever.
You 'd describe some special set of skills, talent, characteristics. You might say that you are an ordinary/mediocre person.
No matter who you are, At this point each of you would have some status in life..a good job, flourishing business, some position, title, big or small house, car, some assets..etc.
And no matter what your status at present, each one of you would certainly have some goals, or something you want: "if you single, you want to get married, or if married, you want to start a family, or want a better job, want a better car.
Because whatever your current status in life  there will always be something  more .....something else or something better that you want...
Let me tell you that even if you are a Bill Gates, a Barack Obama, or a Warren Buffet, and have the whole world eating out of your hands, do you think you would stop saying "I WANT....." NO!!! Never. From the moment a child learns to speak till the person dies, does anyone ever stop saying I want..."
WHY do we always want something more than what we already have???? Because we think when we get that something more it will make us HAPPY. But after we get what we want, are we happy forever? Maybe temporarily, untill the we figure out the next thing we want!

If you question all your goals, you realize that your ultimate goal is to be happy, in whatever you do while you live.
 Therefore I am saying that no matter who we are, at whatever age, or stage in life, we are always constantly looking for HAPPY-NESS
So  how do we find this Happiness???? Life is so full of problems.
My theory is that we all need to consciously  "Chose to be Happy" in every situation. Let me explain how.
There might be a time in life when luck is just not on your side, you can chose to be happy about family or friends who are by your side.
At some time you might go through a difficult phase, some crisis situation,  you have lost a loved one, or have health problems. Typically it happens that when things go wrong, 3-4 problems come up at once and hit you from all sides. But if you take a paper and write your 3-4 problems on one side, and list of good things in your life on the other side, you'll probably find that the "good things" list exceeds the "problems list"
Sometimes when you are feeling low, or you are very hurt, frustrated, or angry, and feel that life is unfair, or very wrong! Why me you ask? Just go to an orphanage and hug an orphan child or visit the cancer ward in a hospital, or talk to someone who is battling between life and death. If you see the pain and struggle there your own problems will seem so inconsequential  in comparision. Be happy.
At times you might feel so dissapointed, with people around you, you can frown by thinking of the people who add to your problems OR instead you can just list of those people who have helped and supported you at some time. You can chose to be happy even if there is one dear one who makes you smile. It might be a child, a dog :)
So happyness not something that we can achieve through some external event or thing. We have to find in within us.
You know human minds are created in such a way, that the power is all hidden within us, within our own mind, our thoughts and our approach to every situation. By your own response to situations you can consciously choose to be happy and win through every situation. Then nothing can keep you down or make you feel unhappy.
Your happiness is really your choice, you can make this choice each and everyday.