Neeya Naana - Love Marriage and Parents : Oh boy! This one hit the nail on the head

Neeya Naana has been a show I have been following for at least 14 years now. It's uncanny how the topics chosen reflect the events from either my own life or my surroundings. This morning released one such episode titled "Love marriage and Parents". For so many years, I thought it's only me who is going through this situation, but now I get that this is a problem that is happening to a lot more people from my generation. 

This episode dishes out truth-bombs like it's there's no tomorrow. It's such strange times that Indians are going through culturally, as we grapple with so many 'Firsts' as a society. Let me point out some of them and I urge everyone to go and watch this one.

• The transition of parents from being firmly against love marriage to them reluctantly accepting it for their child's happiness to now where they ask their children to go out and find love. I have seen all these 3 generations of parents in my own lifetime of 33 years.
• While I was growing up, I was told I must only focus on my studies and not let me focus quiver in 'any' other direction - This 'any' encompassed co-curricular activities and attention to the opposite sex. They are also not to be blamed, the competition has increased so much that unless we truly focused on our studies and career, it would be hard to escape the middle-class. Every middle class parent wants their child to accomplish much more than them and hence they raised kids with blinders on and focused on their career only. Now that the kids are grown up and successful, the parents want them to start finding partners -- I am not sure how that's done -- All I know is to work. I feel doing anything that doesn't help me get ahead in my work is a waste of time - this includes finding a partner.
• There is also a lot of fear in my generation's mind -- "What if I choose the wrong partner?". This seems to be a result of so many stories of divorce we hear. For girls my generation, our own parents' relationship which is not a partnership of equals, also acts as a deterrent. The thought of having to become someone who serves the husband and his family is not acceptable. Having been raised to be independent people - at least financially, it's mostly a fear of being pulled down by the burden of family expectations if the husband turns out to be unsupportive. So then the thought is to not complicate a smooth life with a relationship and its expectations.
• If there is no fear of getting into a relationship, there is pressure of the expectations of society - this is extremely high in the Indian society. Let me tell you the kind of questions people tend to ask to our parents' who in turn relay some of this pressure to us indirectly: 
• Why is your daughter not married yet?
• Has your kid gone to America for an onsite yet? 
• Did your kid get a promotion this year?
• How much does your kid make per year?
• When are your planning to become a grandparent? Do your kids have any 'good news'?
• How much wealth do your kids's spouse have?
• How much did they spend on the marriage? How much gold did they give the girl?
• Society expects this generation to study well, earn well, find the best life partner, get a car, get a house, have kids, send kids to the best school in town, take care of ageing parents, etc, etc, etc.
• India as a country is ripe with opportunities and this as many people claim is 'the decade of India'. Parents who raised their kids to be competitive obviously will want to make the most of this opportunity. If you raised your child to always be first in class, how will they suddenly learn to take a backseat when it comes to their work and career? They will obviously want to put their heart, soul and energy into something that feels constructive to them. If you trained your kids to be autonomous machines, that is what you will get - What you sow, so shall you reap.

Is it even possible for one human to have the 'best' everything - I think it's not - Not at the same time at least. You either have to compromise with your choice of partner or career or be prepared to face criticism and judgement of the society. There seems not much of any other option to me. So, I chose to face the criticism and have the best career I can have for myself. Though I am not averse to finding a partner, I do not actively go out looking for someone because that just feels against my core wants as soul. 

This episode of Neeya Naana hit all the nerves inside me and triggered me to write this long post. I want to hear what others feel and think about this situation. Let me know in the comments.

Ghost Stories with Hoezaay, Suresh and Cyril : A fun cocktail of humour and horror

"Ey! Zyada Paani Peen mat", "Enchilare?", "Ghostie, ghostie", "panvel aagaya". 

If you haven't heard any of these incredible words, you must go an watch one of the Ghost Stories Live session on Hoezaay's channel.

I started watching these live sessions late 2021. This was a period when all comedians and gamers were doing YT lives in their channels and doing so much cross collaborations. Two years later, the only Live I still follow is this Ghost stories on Hoezaay's channel. He also ran another brilliant live called "Scam Stories" - that was too good as well and enlightening. 

 To be honest, I did not know who Hoezaay or Suresh or Cyril were before that. Fast forward 2 years, I am an absolute fan of this gang. I like them as much as the TISS gang :-D 

Here are my top 5 reasons why I absolutely love watching this live so much:

- The silly humour that Hoezaay, Suresh and Cyril concoct on the fly. The way they deliver rather silly and kiddish jokes makes one chuckle almost instantly.

- The dynamic between the panel and the way they handle the guest who come and tell their stories is just fabulous. You must notice Hoezaay's facial expressions especially when the stories are too ridiculous. Though the story itself might not be great, you will definitely find entertainment in the post story conversation between Hoezaay, Suresh and Cyril.

- Some of the stories that come on the live are really gems. They are few to come by, yet they are worth the wait. My favourite is obviously the Balesh story. 

- A lot of times, the guests bring in their parents to narrate the story and the 50-60 years olds seem to be absolute fans of the stream as well. This live has fans from 15 to 50 and it's absolutely deserved.

- Sometimes, when we wait for a guest to join the live, the stories of the trio's past experience at MTV are also shared and they are just as entertaining.

If you are a fan of ghost stories but feel scared, you must start with this live session. 

Transit Bites : An avid, boy-next-door traveller (Ajay Sudharsan)

 "A crazy travel lovers channel.where u could find all ur travel needs ." That's how Ajay(channel owner and vlogger) describes his channel on Youtube :-)

I totally agree with that description. Transit Bites over the past few months has become a tea-time favourite of my family. My mom, dad and I usually have tea/coffee at 4:30 pm and that's when we binge on Ajay's latest video. It usually starts with my mom asking me "Ajay video vandurcha?" (translates to "Has Ajay's video come yet?") and then its a nice 25 to 30 minutes of relaxing time sipping our hot beverage and enjoying all the places he takes us to digitally.

We follow a lot of other vlogger too, but there is some distinct personal connect we feel with Ajay. Let me tell you what I find refreshing about Ajay -

1. He has no inhibitions - at least that's what it seems to us -- he vlogs in public trains, public buses amidst people that may or may not speak Tamil with absolute confidence. There is no hesitation at all and he says what he feels with a flow that's might be the cause of envy to even the best of public speakers.

2. His choice of words and how he expresses what he feels in a specific situation is very entertaining and gives us a boy-next-door vibe. Specially love his use of "Athadi Atha..." (loosely translates to OMG) -- that has now become a part of my family's vocabulary.

3. While there are a lot of vloggers who take us to exotic and expensive locations on business class and first class tickets, Ajay takes us in public government buses and sleeper coach on trains and stays in hostels most of the time. Him just being him and not having any air about what he is doing is the coolest part of his personality. It's so nice to see young people like him not splurging money and showing off for the heck of it.

There are so many other tiny aspects of his video that are very endearing, but i will let you all go and see that yourself and experience it.

All the very best Ajay and wish you hit a Million subs this year and go all over the world.

Cheers!

Story of Cooper and Butter : A refreshing chat about buying cars

 Ever since I started following Cheeky Vlogs, Youtube has been silently pushing all her other channels. And I am glad to say the least.

I  have also been browsing Cars24 to look for cars and their prices in Bangalore. I have a 5 years old Maruti Celerio X ZXI(o) AMT model that I bought in 2018 and basically I am just contemplating whether I should upgrade to a SUV because, how do I put it decently, doesn't feel so safe on Bangalore's pot-hole filled roads. The amount of head bobs one gets in this car is not even funny.

Anyway, that was a short context but the main thing I want to talk about is this video Subha and Vignesh (remember them from my other post here ) posted 7 months ago that Youtube recommended to me today.

It's a 43 minute long chat/narration that Vignesh and Subha give us about their car upgrade experience. I literally feel like the universe is giving me signs via them now :-) Though video looks long, it's entertaining to someone like me who likes conversations. 

The way they narrated all their stories about hopping car showrooms for test drives, to Vignesh's first car delivery accident with 'Cooper' (yes he names his cars and that's so cool), to the moment when they sat in that Jeep compass in the showroom and looked at each other with a smile, etc, etc, etc.. All the scenes played through my head like a movie - with lots of humour filled moments.

It's also fascinating to see this young couple and the aspirations they have and the determination with which they approach life. They are so confident about attaining all their goals -- slowly, but definitely. That's kind of inspiring too. They bought the Jeep (and called it Butter) for ~34L and are aiming for an upgrade to a German car in next 5 to 7 years (all the best for that V & S).

I have never sat in a Jeep compass, but the way S & V spoke about it, I felt like I must definitely consider Jeep compass for my upgrade - so far, me having the middle class mindset, was considering Brezza/Creta as an upgrade to my Celerio. But this video has inspired me to look at Jeep too - perhaps Jeep should sponsor this vide ;-P

Lastly, V also spoke about that emotional moment when he sold Cooper and related that to a 'Bidaai' scene in a marriage where the girl goes away from her parent's house to her in-laws. I will be prepared when time comes for me to sell my Paprica Orange Celerio!

In any case, all I want to say is today I had fun watching this long chat and I would definitely recommend anyone who understands Tamil - whether or not you are looking for a car upgrade - go and watch this video. Just for fun.

Nikhil Kamath - WTF is Health? : Health and fitness fundas from multi-millionaires

 

This is a fairly new podcast that started earlier this year where Nikhil Kamath hosts a bunch of his friends to talk about topics that are buzzing on the internet. 

The last episode was on "Health" and the best so far in my opinion. This one had very interesting panel - Suniel Shetty (the actor), Nithin Kamath (Zerodha's co-founder) and Mukesh Bansal (serial entrepreneur best known for Myntra and Cure.fit). 

In the podcast, all of the panelists provided their take on health, fitness and their own journeys. This podcast was particularly interesting for me as a listener because it provided a sneak peak into the world of the super rich and super successful multi-millionaires of urban India and how they lead their lives. 

Here are a few interesting thoughts I harvested from this 2 hour long podcast.

1. Sleep, food and exercise are the fundamentals for good health.
2. The panelists all spoke about experimenting with food, supplements, different exercise routines and other habits in their quest to get better at their health journey.
3. There is a very logical, business-like approach that they took to the health. Everything that they did or do - like trying intermittent fasting, quitting drinking, taking supplements, all of it is dictated by risk-reward ratios. 
4. Health is also very personal - though sleep, food and exercise are the fundamentals, the details of they play with these 3 primary factors are all different.
5. There was also a lot of importance given to recovery - from massages to cold plunges to sauna -- all seem to be staples for these folks. This is one topic that is not often discussed and is quite an intriguing topic for me to dig more into.
6. There is also a common habit of experimenting with new ideas when it comes to health and they are constantly learning from how their body responds and what new information comes out from medical research. 
7. Another concept that was new to me was the talk about men's health and how there is hormonal imbalance even in men after a particular age and how it's important to get that checked.

Overall, it was a very informative and insightful podcast that I would recommend everyone to watch and not just listen to. On a side note, the banter between with the Kamath brothers was quite fun to watch and showed the strength of their sibling bond.

Also, a request to Nikhil Kamath to bring in more such interesting panels - add some female panelists, bring sportsmen like Rahul Dravid, MS Dhoni (if possible).