The Wrath of the Twitterati

Gone are the days of long romantic letters, informative columns and posts. These days 140 characters rule. You got something to say? You tweet. You got anger to vent? You tweet. You gotta wish someone? You tweet. You like something? You retweet. Twitter had never been so in rage like it is now. Social media definitely has its pros but at the same time its cons cannot be ignored or downplayed.

Everyone has something to say or share on the platform, which is a good thing. You can share across your views and at the same time come to know others point of view. It also gives you a chance to closely follow people you admire. While it is great for celebs to be closely associated with their admirers, it is also a known fact that leering amongst the crowd are haters and trouble makers. Some of them protectively covered under the identity of Anonymous. The kind of comments some of these people leave on popular people’s tweets and pictures will make you cringe.

Being famous has its repercussions. Newspapers were full of how Abhishek Bachan reverted to an insensitive user who targeted his daughter. The senior Bachan was apparently blamed for traffic jams outside his bungalow. Neha Dhupia faced protests outside her home and death threats when she dared to blame the reigning government for monsoon troubles in Mumbai. Rishi Kapoor who was recently called the C word is known to shame people who don’t follow proper code of conduct. Then there are celebs who get trolled for their misinformed tweets. Our desi superhero Hritik Roshan was victimized for his white/blue/black dress tweet and the “tribal” militant attack in Manipur. Anushka Sharma was taken for a class for misspelling Mr Kalam’s name. Sometime back not so popular but still very cute shararaat fame Shruti Seth was on a receiving end of a lot of bullshit from people. She made the mistake of sharing her affront opinion about the selfiewithdaughter campaign by Modi ji.

Now we have to understand that while we may absolutely love butter chicken, there are millions of people all around the world who would find it to be too spicy, overcooked or messy. That does not mean that we go on to attack those people. What works for them might be entirely repulsive to us. Same way while a group of us might be inclined towards one political party and its initiatives others may not agree to it. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, however biased it may be. What we can to is engage in a healthy debate on why you disagree or may highlight the benefits of the said initiate for that person to see. But lounging a personal attack, name calling, abusing and mud throwing just makes you a human looking animal. Just because social media allows you to post doesn’t mean that you forget all filter and etiquette involved in it.

What really interested me to Shruti’s case was the open letter she wrote just after the incident. Now open letters are the new fad. These days people write open letters all the time and to just about everybody. They write them to Politicians, film stars, cricketers or all the three together. Who can forget the famous open letter Shenaz Treasurywala wrote to Shahrukh, Modi ji, Salman, Sachin Tendulkar and the likes. But Shruti’s letter was different. It was a very honest and easily the most sensible stuff I had read on the internet in a really long time. Plus the points raised in her letter are pretty valid. How does abusing a women (however wrong you may feel she is) make you a better citizen? The irony is that people did not even stop the hatred after her letter. All the websites that posted her letter has comments flipping mud all over her and her Muslim husband.

And it’s not just about stars or Shruti. The advent of social media has made a commenter out of everyone, which is not at all a bad thing as long as you exercise proper conduct. My personal vendetta is also with people effectively working under the mask of anonymous. I have locked horns with many over the last few years.Browse through any video on YouTube and check the comments. You will be taken aback by the similarity in the content. The fellow commenters start by their likes or dislikes, they come to a point of disagreement and then it starts. Either they will go racist or the ever famous India Vs Pakistan. Then comes the swearing which will make even the most abusing person to run for covers. What baffles me the most is the fact that instead of bad mouthing the person involved, all indulge in abusing their mothers and sisters! Why just why???

This scenario reminds me of a quote from my favorite novel which goes like:
“Like a compass needle that points north, a man's accusing finger always finds a woman. Always.”

― Khaled Hosseini (A thousand Splendid Suns)

Everything said, I must say that online info sharing has its own set of benefits. It boosts your general knowledge. From Kalam Sir’s death to the porn ban and its revocation. All info is available simultaneously on Facebook, twitter, WhatsApp or Instagram. Hash tags can be easily checked out to get the entire thread of info you need for details. Imagine shopping online and spotting a feedback for the product you are intending to buy. A positive or negative review definitely affects your course of action.A word of caution though, with the speed that things are getting banned now-a-days, it would be a good idea to exercise some precaution. You never know what might just get banned next…






LOVE
SEPO

Nostalgia - A Walk Through Memories

Reunion with Capt Vandana Slathia after ages made us go back to our common blog - The Divine Secrets of Sepo - Vandy Sisterhood. Though there is nothing divine about our secrets anymore, the updates are many. Its been more than 3 years since we updated our blog. We had decided on maintaining it precisely because we wanted to look back and read about our not so happening but still worthwhile lives and beautiful memories together.

While going through all the previous detailed accounts of posts we have written, I found one of my favorite ones. It was written by Vandy for me on my 21st birthday! I had woken up feeling sad and this beautiful piece had moved me to tears. Rekindling that experience yet again .....

I know how much you’ll love if someone will compose a song for you & sing it with guitar & all. Preferably you’ll give that honor to a guy, but sweetheart, just for this moment let me do that. Of course I’ll spare you the horror of my voice,,,kya karein, ,,It’s not as melodious as yours. I don’t know how to play guitar so just imagine that I’m playing it. For giving you a feel I’m adding the pic of a guitar.

This song/ poem whatever you consider it,,,will sure make you to rolf,,,,as writing songs/poems is not my cup of tea.

Anyways here we go……

Days will pass and we may go apart,

In the theatre of life, playing a different part.

Just running after money, doing crappy jobs,

With no one around to wipe our tears & listen to our sobs.

We will get lost in all worldly things,

Won’t be able to fly as now we do with our free wings.

Frustrated, depressed, too lost, too busy,

But forgetting the time we spent together will never be easy.

We’ll miss sepo-vandy time & our shopping sprees,

Baante vala soda & raiding the shops with all that ease.

Searching bookstores for the novel we won’t ever find,

Forest green, electric blue, blood red, nail paints of different kind.

Hakka noodle, kimb, gole gappe & your favorite cheesy dip,

Testimonial vali Maggie, seniors ko lutna &canteen ke chips.

Nothing I’ll ever forget, especially that SMVDU trip,

Life was slipping, when you came & solidified my grip.

It was hell; I was lost in a dark night,

But you, princess snow white, made everything so bright.

I wish I was a guy so that I could marry you,

Give you all the joy that would have sticked like glue.

But I’m really sorry as I’m a girl that too not a lesbian, simply straight,

And I’m really happy with the things as they are now & don’t want them to be that great ;)

I’ll be happy if your prince charming would take you away in a sweep,

All I want is your happiness but will set him right if he lets you weep.

I don’t kid around when I say you are my support,

If someone bothers you, just come to me & report.

I don’t care if it’s your prince charming or our own stupid Saini,

And I don’t give a damn; let others think that I’m your nanny.

Till we are together, I want you to be happy & gay,

And sugar, in advance here I’m wishing you a “HAPPY BIRTHDAY”

With loads of love & kisses

Vandy

P.S. I know to make it rhyme I’ve made it a lot stupid,,,whatever who cares,,,,just wanna say sweetheart,,,,it’s your birthday so enjoy,,,,no worries,,,no tension,,,,,,luvya,,,,,,muwaaaahhhhhhhh

It's Still Not The Time for GoodBye!

Image Coutesy - allindiascoop.com

I don’t think Maggie has ever been considered to be a junk food. It is something that we would ideally put in the category of what is popularly known as the comfort food. The popularity of Maggie can be understood by the fact that Nestle holds around 60% share in India markets. Ever since I can remember, the evening snack has always been the quintessential yellow packets of goodness. In the 90s life was simple. Pizza’s, burgers were conspicuous by their absence.We saw them being devoured through recently introduced cable network. But the only relation we had with them was of fascination. For us the-kids-of-90s Maggie was arguably the only guilty pleasure. Maggie also had a strong foot hold in foot items that are a part of relief and emergency like mountaineering etc.

We induced variety in it by adding vegetables trying to emulate the prototype on the cover.But mostly it was just cooked in boiling water. Though it was never done in 2 minutes, no one complained. Maggie meant a whole lot of different thing to hosteliers and bachelors. It was like a knight in shining armour, a saviour and a necessity to say the least. A lot of late night chit-chats were centered on Maggie. Study sessions were supported by numerous cups of coffee and bowlfuls of good ‘old Maggie. No-mood-to-cook days were efficiently taken care by the thought of Maggie hai na..

Then nestle won another round of hallelujah from the lazy bums all across when it’s introduced the cup noodles. Just add garam pani and you are done. Now there was no need to even switch on the gas burner. Because the hot water was procured from the geyser. It just couldn’t get any better.

But it did. Soon after they came up with vegetable aata noodles. Got Madhuri Dixit on board to make us believe that it’s perfectly ok if your kids don’t eat the regular chapatti and vegetables. As long as they eat these “healthy” noodles there is no reason to fret. It’s not like we believed that Maggie was the ideal food, we all knew at some level that it is a very unhealthy substitute. But we chose to brush it aside until something jolted us into action.

That jolt came in form of a very disheartening news of Maggie constituting lead contents which were 17 times the permissible limits. It takes our body roughly around two to three days to get rid of these toxins. Just imagine, noodles cooked in 2 minutes (well actually more than 2 minutes) eaten in less than 10 minutes and we feel that’s that. But the sheer amount of work our digestive system has to do to digest the maida, flushing off toxins etc is mind boggling. Especially when there are negligible nutrients involved. Just like Shakespeare would have said – Much ado about nothing.

The subsequent ban on the sale of Maggie has invoked a mixed state of reactions from people.While some are showing their anger and aggression by burning packets of Maggie, others are expressing their disappointment by sharing their fond Maggie memories on various social networking sites. There is also a section of people who are unaffected by the whole hullabaloo. For them it doesn’t make any difference. Having been eating Maggie for year’s altogether, they feel the new revelation of lead will do little harm. A college student from Delhi jokingly says “By now our bodies are so used to the lead or whatsoever content is there is Maggie that it hardly matters”.

The future course of action also varies hugely. Some people have entirely sworn-off from Maggie and the likes (knor, sunfeast, wai-wai etc.), others feel that it is only a matter of time before Maggie comes back with a bang (and with a popular celebrity endorsing it). We may recalls that the same kind of scenario happened with cold drinks and Cadbury chocolates some years back. With pesticides content found in the former and worms in the latter. After a gap of 2 months however, both the products were back with top film-stars and cricketers backing them. Most of the people therefore feel that Maggie will surely come back after the hiatus.

Nestle’s global chief executive officer, Paul Bulcke, said in an official statement: “We have been in India for over 100 years. We are part of India. Trust of consumer is shaken because of some confusion and we want to restore that.” Nestle maintains that Maggie is safe to be had but the huge over cry has forced them to withdraw the sales.

Meanwhile while the samples of noodles are tested and retested the die-hard fans of Maggie are left with no other option except reminisce. Personally, Maggie invokes memories of me and my sister fighting for who gets more share. Preparing our own maggies to see whose tastes better. Ordering platefuls of Maggie over assignments in college canteens. Relishing coffee and Maggie from Nescafé's. Ban or no ban, it goes without saying that Maggie has and will always be close to our hearts and stomachs.


LOVE
Sepo

The Inverse Relationship Between Salary and Expenditures

Come 25th of every month and you will find me cribbing and crying over the money I spent. The absence of money in my account makes me take my most financially sound decisions ever. Like last month I invested in a fixed deposit. What’s all the more depressing about the end of month period is that I get most of my bills during this time – the phone, internet and the most dreaded one- credit card bill. Now I am a credit card apprentice, it only been like a month or two. I still haven’t got a hang of using it. I flick it out at any opportunity only if it is just to pay for my overpriced coffee.
With the multiple digit bill playing a havoc on my mind and no money left to invest or shop. I am left with no other option other than to write about it.


The tragedy is that all my interests and hobbies are somehow associated with spending money. The guy who said “best things in life are free” was probably kidding himself. Or like Blair Waldorf once said, the person who said “Money can’t buy happiness didn’t know where to shop”. I am obsessed with shopping. Clothes, shoes, accessories, groceries you name it and I will buy it. Plus eating out is another activity I love. Trying out new cuisines at expensive restaurants on weekends seems like a perfectly harmless expense after a tiring week at office. My new found love affair with gourmet cooking means more shopping for expensive ingredients. And don’t get me started on the online shopping websites. While browsing Facebook the ads on the right hand side somehow force me to click on them. The harmless browsing somehow results in love for a fabulous piece of clothing. Your resolve for not buying it and closing the window doesn’t help because after this the ad think you loved will magically start popping up in every website you visit. The only available solution is to buy that shit and get it over with.


Book shopping for my Kindle is another pinch to the pocket. Now any sane person would know that reading a book takes on an average around 2 to 3 weeks of time (considering the fact that you only get to read a few chapters every night before sleep). So ordering them one by one every month sounds a good decision rather than buying all 5 together. Well, who will make me understand that! Knowing all this I will probably repeat the same thing next time as well. All these expenses however come back later to bite me in the arse later.


Trust me to also turn a simple activity like writing into a money spending spree. I suffer from a condition where by I just cannot write in the four walls of my home. My creatively is at peak in some nice café with soft music and strong coffee (Yes, the overpriced one). So most of my writings and posts are written from the air conditioned premises of this pretty little café I have managed to nail down in my vicinity. I take about 4 to 5 hours for a fully accomplishes piece of writing together with research/pictures and stuff. In order to keep the waiter away from forcing the menu card and giving me askance glances, I have to keep ordering coffee and appetizer tit-bits. So on an average lets day I write about say 8 articles per month, you do the math of how much this writing jig costs me!

Though a bit on an over spender scale none of the guilty pleasures described above are in any way illegal or overtly crazy. What I mean is that it’s not like I am indulging in gambling or investing in risky dealings. Still my spending and expenditure kicks the arse of my earnings. The major blame for this undoubtedly has to be the mind boggling inflation. From vegetables to apparels the rates sometimes give my head a spin. Simple things like a chewing gum which used to cost 50 paise during my childhood days is now for Rs 5. The cute little girl from utterly butterly delicious Amul has not changed but the price sure has hiked from Rs 14 to Rs 36. Alphonso mango is sold at Rs 50 per piece, I repeat PER PIECE here in Mumbai. Starting cost of simplest of the clothes on an average is Rs 1000. The cost of a cup of coffee is Starbucks or barista is enough for an entire month of coffee supply for your home. The rent you have to pay every month burns a huge hole in your pocket. Unless you take home a very fat cheque the chances are you are as disturbed as me.


Sometimes I feel one job is definitely not enough for survival. And I am strictly talking about survival not a lavish lifestyle. For lavish lifestyle you either have to find one of those fat pay-cheque jobs or doing multiple jobs or if you have a strong luck then maybe try for a lottery.


Love
Sepo

10 Reasons We Love Chuck Bass

Gossip Girl may be long over but that doesn’t stop us from going head over heels for Mr Chuck Bass. The smirk, the slow dialogue delivery, those scarfs and those four words – “I am Chuck Bass”. Enough to make any girl weak in the knees. Its no surprize that he managed to get the queen bee herself to fall madly in love with him. He may have started out as a philanderer but as the series progressed his character turned out to be one of televisions most loved. Though there is no reason required to love Chuck, but there were a few moments in the series when he just melted our hearts and made us collectively go Awwwwwww. While on the re runs of Gossip Girl, I have nailed down some of his aww-worthy actions.

Picture Courtesy - cosmiclovecb.wordpress.com

The time is kept Lily’s secret

The time his father died in a road accident while on his way to meet his stepmom Lily. Chuck, in the process of blaming Lily for his father’s death paid huge amount of money to his father’s detective. The one who had a big secret which even his father knew and was on his way to confront lily about but insteaddied in the car crash. Having a full chance to tell her secret to the world, Chuck chose to be a gentleman and at lily’s instance kept mum about Rufus’s child that Lily gave up, years ago.

Picture Courtesy - www.popsugar.com

When he saved Lily from getting raped by Jack Bass

While on the verge of losing his dad’s business to the evil Jack bass, Lily offered to adopt Chuck to become his legal guardian and hence help him keep his father’s legacy. This did not go down well with the scorned Jack Bass. He attempted to threaten and rape Lily but she was saved with Chuck’s timely intervention. I love the look of extreme anger on his face in this scene and well the mind-blowing blows. *sighs*

Picture Courtesy - gossipgirl.wikia.com

His best man speech

The best man speech at his father’s wedding to Lily was what changed Chuck from a boy to a man. Now we will forget that towards the end of the first season he stood up Blair and hobnobbed with some decorator. But his words about love and forgiveness stole our hearts. 

Picture Courtesy - gossipgirl.wikia.com

The time is helped Serena during the whole Georgina Sparks thing

Playing the perfect friend and step brother Chuck helped Serena coming out of the mess Georgina Sparks created. From holding her up at the Palace to arranging a fake Serena to give her SATs. He did whatever was possible to keep her safe including lying to not-very-amused Dan Humphrey. And who can forget the iconic “let’s get the bitch” sentence he uttered in response to Blair’s scheme for the final blow to evil Georgina.

Picture Courtesy - gossipgirl.wikia.com

When he paid for Blair’s dowry

According to an agreement clause in Blair’s cursed nuptial to the Prince, she has to stay married for at least a year or pay a mind boggling sum of money as dowry. Since the money would make the Waldorf‘s bankrupt, Blair decided to stay married for a year. But Chuck wanted her freedom so on the cost of Bass Industries he paid off Blair’s dowry in what can only be called as the costliest romantic gesture ever.

Picture Courtesy - governmentgirl1943lp.typepad.com

The time is got Blair her dream senior prom dress and made her the queen of Constance.

We all know Ms Waldorf had been planning her prom since she was a little girl. Her dress, her makeup, her man just about everything. But the time nearing her actual prom was not an easy one. So she was pretty excited when a dress arrived exactly like the one she had in her scrapbook. She went with the guy she had always dreamed of going with – Nate and also ended up being crowned the queen of Constance.Chuck made her dream come true.Though her minions schemed to de-throne her but it was chuck who saved her and put her name in all the voting chits. Awwwww.

Picture Courtesy - www.tumblr.com

When he rode a bike in that dapper jacket.

In order to get away from Blair’s wedding, Chuck went to chill out in LA. Considering that we rarely saw him in anything but suits, this appearance in that leather jacket was a treat!

Picture Courtesy - www.tumblr.com

The time in Yale when he saved Nate

In order to accomplish his dream to be a part of secret society in the crown of Ivy League, Yale he made sure not to betray his best friend Nate. When the members wanted him to give Nate as a ransom, he gave them poor Dan instead. Smart as he is, he also kept a blackmail material ready capturing their escapades with the girls in the party thrown by him. 

Picture Courtesy - blog.muchmusic.com

When he gave up Blair to Prince Louis

Even though madly in love with Blair, he let Blair have her princess moment by not letting her breakup with Louis. It takes a lot of courage for a deed like this and Chuck proved yet again what an incredible man he is by this action.

Picture Courtesy - twitter.com

His fabulous quotes

Agreed he is portrayed as a narcissist but the dialogues and his dialogue delivery was one of the high point of the entire series.

Love:

Sepo

Tjori – Indian To The Core

There are no two ways about the fact that online shopping is a huge success. Garments, electronics, home decor, shoes - there is nothing that people are not buying online. While most of stuff available on various websites is more or else the same, what makes them different is the way they market themselves, the offers they provide and how timely they deliver. Our today’s covered startup - Tjori differs not only in style of operation but also in the stuff they offer. Coming from online shopaholic you have to trust me when I say that Tjori is like a breath of fresh air. It speaks and pours Indian-ness to the core. It’s like love at first click!

I must say that they have chosen their name very aptly because shopping at Tjori is seriously like a treasure hunt. They have sarees, suits and kurti’s in all popular Indian weaves like khadi, cotton, chanderi, raw silk, bagalpuri silk. Not just material, they have specialities from all across India. From kashmiri and Dogri suits to Chennai sarees. Leather bags to kolapuri chappals. Kullu boots to beautiful hand painted wedges. To complement each outfit they have beautiful traditional/tribal jewellery. Not just retail, they have beautiful paintings and home decors. And that’s not all, food is also a part of the trade. They offer healthy organic food, bakery items and traditional Indian utensils as well.

We had a chat with Mansi Gupta, the brain behind this awesomeness. Here’s what she had to say to our very many questions..

1. Tell us about inception of Tjori?

The concept of Tjori stroke my mind when I was studying in Wharton Business School especially when I understood the demand hand-crafted products had outside India. During my stay at Wharton, we were taken to Morocco on a trip and that is where I understood that the hand-crafted products were actually expensive by the time they reached the end consumers.

It was may due to the traditional value chain. But, I wanted to eliminate all those extra money and make sure that handcrafted products should reach people easily and also at lesser prices. Also, since childhood, I was passionate about hand-made items. So, Tjori was started as a platform to make that Indian hand-crafted products reached USA without any hurdles and later on as we grew, our focus grew too from just India to across the globe.

2. With so many online shopping portals, what is that thing which separates Tjori from others?

Well, Tjori is a unique shopping experience which cannot be found anywhere else. We have the best premium handmade products than others do. Also, we have a unique sales model where we actually sell items for just 15 days. We bring in a product and display it on our website for 15 days what we also call as event. The event runs for 15 days and people can buy during this period. But, once the 15 days get over, we take down the product. It's a kind of flash sales, we may think. This actually creates an urge of buying something new and unique and people have different items every time.

3. We have observed that you mostly have traditional and ethnic weaves, any special reason behind that?

Well! Most of the items that we showcase could be from any ethnicity but the qualifier for a product to be showcased is the fact that it has to be unique, high on design and not easily accessible. It has to be unique enough in terms of its design, origin or the story that goes behind the making, inspiration for the collection et al.

4. What features do you employ to achieve customer delight?

Customers are the centre point of our value system. We do anything possible to ensure that they are happy and satisfied. We believe in customer delight from the moment they come on the website.

5. Finally where do you see Tjori five years from now?

Well, we want to be the Number 1 in the industry providing our customers and members more offer and growing the ladder of success and winning more and more hearts every single day.

I are really proud of Mansi and her team for bringing up forgotten Indian weaves and traditional apparels mainstream. In a time when everyone is running after similar and safer options, they have embraced an untreaded path. Wishing them all the very best. Please check their www.tjori.com to feel that mitti ki khushboo.

Love:

Sepo

Random Musings

Tell me about yourself? That’s one question that drives me crazy. Not that this post is going to help me answer this question. But yea, the different traits of my personality never fail to amaze me. It takes more than just hobbies and career to define us. Little things we love, the way emotions like anger and jealously affects us. These and numerous other things define the person we are. Though one cannot go on explaining these traits, it is still good to know them about you. I just happened to do the same and have listed some random traits and fact about me.

1. I am the revenge taking type. If someone just playfully hits or nudges me, I get back with a kung-fu action. This has caused a lot of wrath from people nearby.

2. I also maintain a highly efficient and fast processing database inside my brain. It comes in handy during a fight or argument when I do a fast query and come back with the data of how 4 years back the person had done something that can now be used against them

3. I sulk. A lot. Sometimes for no apparent reason.

4. I am obsessed with things old and antique. Retro lamps, grandfathers’ clock, Victorian furniture, smell of old books, radio, gramophone, chunky telephones, vintage cars… The list is endless.

5. I am a quintessential90s girl. 90s music on my phone – Check. 90s shows on my laptop – Check. 90s style staples in my closet – Check. Scrunchies in my hair – Check. Stack of unused junk jewellery eating a huge chunk of space in my cupboard – Check. Slam book – Check. Huge crush on Milind Soman – Check. You get the drift? That’s just how 90s I am.

6. I am sarcastic. Sometimes. Most of the times. Whenever the situation demands.

7. I am an intriguing mixture of creative and lazy.

8. I love the silence and magic of late nights – a perfect creative canvas for me. But dare to wake me early and I will bite your head off.

9. I love DIY projects. Revamping old shoes, painting, earing holders, decoration from old sarees. Bring it on! Earing holder from twigs is in my current lust list!

10. I mentally stab and kill the person who criticises my cooking

11. I am obsessed with even numbered lists. 3s 7s 11s 13s give me restlessness.

12. I get super-duper jealous when someone praises a girl for her good dressing sense, time management, looks, cooking or anything else in front of me.

13. I organize my entire week’s clothes in my mind and also keep next day’s clothes ironed and ready for that extra 5 minutes of sleep in the morning.

14. Closing with the embarrassing one. I am obsessed with watching re-runs of Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu thi, Kasauti Zindagi Ki, Rendezvous with Simi Grewal, Hip Hip Hurray, Kahin na Kahin toh hoga. Guilty pleasure – reminds me of old school days.

When I started I had just about 2 or 3 things to write about. But then as I started, I couldn’t stop - so many things started to crop up in my mind. Must say try it sometime!

Love:
Sepo