Trump: The president who is legitimizing large scale theft! Bravo: Now America has are white collar, upper-class Republican thieving rats, thieving and lording it over the honest hard-working, tax-paying middle and poor class

When I think of Trump...I thank the Gods for the gift of mortality he/she gave to human beings!

Adulting for middle-class, urban youth ( in Bangalore)

 Adulting for middle-class, urban youth ( in Bangalore)

Even since I discovered the word "adulting" , and read articles on adulting, I have been impressed that someone finally recognized what is going on, coined a word for this. Not only has Adulting been recognized, acknowledged and named, there are also classes on adulting! (in a couple of universities in Ontario, as far as I know)

What follows below, is about the need for adulting for middle class youth of Bangalore (I know about 50 youth here: relatives and kids of friends and neighbours).

There is a HUGE need for adulting classes or adulting for Bangalore middle class youth(BMCY from now)

Parents I know, seem to believe that their children have to succeed in life and that life would be IMPOSSIBLE if they failed

The definition of success for most BMCY's parents seems to be : become a professional such as a doctor, software engineer or dentist. Earn well. Go abroad for higher studies and settle in USA, Australia, Canada.. Get married and have kids, a house, car, etc

This is such a narrow definition of success .(It you study arts, and become an artist or work in retail; if you study social work and become a social worker, etc you are considered as "less successful" or maybe even a 'failure' in comparison of the youth who tread the narrow path to what is recognized as success. 

If you don't go abroad, you are less successful; if you are gay or prefer to remain a bachelor, you are a failure; if you cannot afford to own a house and you rent, you are a failure. You are a less successful youth if you study nursing or any paramedical science or get a Diploma in engineering instead of a Bachelor's degree in engineering)

This is how the mind set works for majority of BMCY parents. Therefore to make their kids succeed, the kids are forced to spend all their school-years,  studying and given no time to learn life skills, to play, spend time on hobbies and interests, etc. They definitely do not do household chores,  or do minimally. (Girls, have a little better self-reliance as they probably strive to escape patriarchal domination by learning skills necessary to become independent)

My friends' sons: I have 3 friends with sons, who have finished their education and are married and working now. None of these boys have ever (or rarely) done their own laundry, cooked, paid bills, swept or vacuumed their own rooms. None of them have contributed financially to the household once they got jobs and continued to live with their parents. (Incidentally, all three are living iwth their wives in their parents homes with their parents...I don't object to this as the joint family arrangement is working for these three guys..to most extent)Servants or mothers did these jobs...now their wives or servants do these chores. 

Due to various reasons, several skills such as fixing a bike which is broken, a household implement which is broken, is a mystery to majority of people in India. Fixing broken doors, windows, a leaky roof, etc are also skills which most people lack; It's not just a lack of skills: it is lack of affordable and available tools and most importantly, a lack of curiosity and interest in knowing how things work, why things breakdown, etc. I am simply appalled by the lack of curiosity I see in majority of Indian children. 

After the Modi government came into power, I have seen such a huge regression in critical thinking in India. Huge increase in religiosity, belief in superstition and scientific thinking and rationale kicked to the curb. This regressive mindset too has affected youth. Examples: Instead of studying effectively   (studying from the beginning of the course, clarifying what they dont understand, practicing, doing actual experiments to learn instead of rote memorizing), students seem to pray, offer money, etc to Gods and temples to pass in exams...they don't study but they pray!

People's lack of critical thinking is rampant and visible in all aspects of life, across all strata of society: even "educated" Indians lack critical thinking. Several aspects of 'adulting or learning critical life skills is impossible without critical thinking". 

Regarding the interpersonal life skills which BMCY need, but lack:

Communication: Communication skills are  not great in many families due to the interpersonal warfare going on in many houses and so poor role models  for BMCY (Most people don't seek help professional to fix their relationships) The patriarchy in many homes makes for terrible communication styles and interpersonal relationships between those who wield power in the family and the powerless. The controlling behaviours, rudeness, refusal to acknowledge when they are in the wrong, by the power holders leads to the same sick pattern of relationships and communication among the BMCY.

Social skills: BMCY are exposed to  role models with poor social skills. Housewives who are disrespectful to the servants; men rude, condescending, contemptuous,  & disrespectful to their wives, subservient behaviours by wives to husbands and in-laws while resenting them in private, and many such sick behaviours are witnessed by BMCY  all through their childhoods and teen years. How are they going to learn better social skills? They are also exposed to Indian movies and TV shows which depict atrocious behaviours. (because the producers think that decency is boring and atrocious behaviours is the only way to gain more viewers).

There is also the belief among the upper middle class that "we can hire people todo things. There is no need for me to learn" . This terrible attitude is one of the main causes of ignorance among rich BMCY and their families.

I have seen BMCY, with masters degrees in medicine, engineering, arts, etc who lack  basic life skills. They would fall on the developmentally delayed list, if they were administered a adaptive functions scale!

Another pet peeve of mine about BMCY is the narrowness of their interests and knowledge. There is neither breadth nor depth to their knowledge, whether it is bookish knowledge or practical skills.

I know of at least 5 BMCY who don't read novels, who don't know anything about the politics of the country or the world, who have zero practical skills and have always had a parent, servant or others do stuff for them. These 5 rankle me (they are nice youth actually!) a lot because, when I asked them, when they were in their twenties, what is their favorite book, and they said "Tinkle" ! (it's a comic for young children). If they is where their level of literature appreciation is at, God save India!

I am also aware of a few (thank God, not many) parents who are proud of their children's ignorance! ("My daughter does not know how to cook. Her husband cooks for her"; " "I never learned driving, we have always had a driver"; I dont know anything about taxes, My husband does all that")

How can you ever become an adult, in the true sense of the word, if you are proud of your ignorance of basic life skills?

Other major contributors to lack of adult life skills in BMCY are because:

Indian education system is failing youth of India

Parents are failing the youth of India. 

Indian government, the state governments are failing the youth of India

The mass media (movies and TV shows) are failing the youth of India.

The Order: Movie on amazon prime

 I am watching this movie , THE ORDER now and reminded again how exceedingly beautiful the USA's geography is!

And I am also realizing this beauty is being destroyed by Trump...he's  throwing away the protections the wild parts of USA had.... selling forest land to developers...Trump is the kind of guy who will prostitute his daughters, his grandkids, wife and mother for cash. He has zero morals, 100% impunity and is proud when he is pissing on anything good. Hope he rots in hell for eternity

Rosetta McClain Gardens, near Scarborough Bluffs visit

Yesterday, Sunday, July 6, 2025 visited the Rosetta Gardens in Toronto. It's a lovely garden, today, I mean this time of the year, the rose garden was in full bloom with at least 5 varieties of roses. 

This is a quiet garden, with few visitors (at least yesterday) and there are several benches all over the garden, where one can sit and relax. One can see the vast Ontario lake from above (this garden is above the bluffs). It's worth a visit. 

But not if you are going by TTC! I took over 2 hours to reach this garden due to the poor TTC service yesterday...every weekend the TTC service is horrible. I had to take shuttle bus as the subway was not working and then wait for several minutes to get onto the bus which goes to the garden

 

Above are photos of a building where the garden seems to have grown inside and where somme walls have disappeared. I loved this spot!

I went alone to this garden...wish I had had someone to take a photo of me sitting between the 4 huge ? trunks ? branches of this tree. 

Above is a large gazebo ...I could sit here daily and read my books and not miss my phone at all

The roses from the rose garden above

The Brokenwood mysteries : TV show from New Zealand : one of the nicest shows I have watched. (It's on Tubi.com in Canada, a free channel)

 I love the characters. Especially Mike Shepard, the detective inspector.

American shows need characters like him.

The funniest of the Brokenwood mysteries is the episode "Dog Day Morning from the 7th season"

If you have time to watch only one episode, you should watch this.

the connection between Trump's tongue and Trump's brain, (or what is supposedly a brain) is broken

 Therefore, Trump talking is like a wheel, which has come off a moving vehicle and rolling down the hill, willy-nilly. 

Trump's stupidity and evil was garnering attention, anger, despair; ...but as it continues endlessly, it's making people feel both bored and hopeless at the same time. 

Waiting for Trump to finally be imprisoned, impeached or #$%^*+

Talk about rabies

 Q: What do you do with a rabid  dog ?

A: Terminate it. Kill it. Euthanize it.

Q: What do you do with a rabid president?

A: Oh! You mean Trump?

Q: Yes

A: Gee...we negotiate I suppose

Q: Does it work?

A: Not really.

Q: Then what's the point?

A: I dont really know

Q: So, what you are saying is, if the US has a rabid president, he simply continues being the president?

A: I suppose...gee...I dont kow how to answer that!

comedy one needs today to get away from/ avoid/recover from/from Trump's evil

 

 comedy skits

Rudy Ayub

Guido Gagootz

Elaine Carroll 

I will add to this list as I discover them.

The world needs more of these guys (and ladies) above and less of Trump, Vance, Putin, etc

I have been watching Very Mary Kate (Elaine Carroll's comedy) for the last two hours. They are so funny! I love Mary Kate, her bodyguard and her poor professor! Hope she continues to make these skits forever!

Things I had not thought off, before my swimming lessons

 For the first time in my life, I started taking swim lessons this year (Feb 2025)

After several hours of swimming (lessons I mean: I still cant swim) I started realizing that what is shown in movies makes it really hard for the actors doing the swim scenes.

1) swim caps: The lovely lady actresses with long blonde (or black) hair swimming in the sea/pool or river in the movies and TV shows, swim WITHOUT the caps. I find it impossible to swim without the cap as my hair gets in my eyes and if I stop to push my hair back I start sinking as I have stopped kicking! And, I actually have pretty short hair and not long enough to really block my eyes! With swim cap, I am definitely not photgenic!

2) Swim goggles:  Without the swim goggles on, I close my eyes when swimming. Period. Even if I try to keep my eyes open, I can't see much or I can't keep my eyes open for long in the water. ..Barely a couple of seconds. 

Also, without the swim goggles, my eyes turn  red (due to chlorine?) and it takes hours after stepping out of the pool for my eyes to stop being red.

 When I wear the swimming goggles, as I often do, they leave an ugly mark round my eyes as they are tight. I look quite awful after I take off the swim goggles, until the marks disappear. Definitely not photogenic!  These marvellous actors swim with eyes open in the water, unprotected by goggles and look gorgeous! How the hell they do that!

3) The two old swim suits I have make my belly look awfully fat! The new one I got from Joe Fresh, improved my looks but one  b... had popped out when I was doing the back stroke and I did not realize that ! The male coach, treading water next to me was probably too embarrassed to tell me and the female coach, at the other end of the pool came running to tell me to pop my b back into my bikini top! 

This incident made me realize that the swim suits and bikinis which look gorgeous in the photos are impractical for swimming! Parts of your body will pop out of the clothing piece, because of a range of different things:  strong currents in the water, with the different kicks and arm pulls you make, etc. For example, my skirt keeps floating up if I am near one of  water return jets. My thin strap constantly falls off my shoulder and I have to keep pushing it up. (Though it is the right size)

4)  I enjoyed as much as anything else, the swimming scenes in movies, the water scenes, boating, etc but  had not given much thought to these issues...until I started my swim lessons. I now realize that what looks so damn easy and effortless (swimming) is actually hard: one needs strength and skill which is 'not naturally present in me' but I need to practice, practice, practice, do exercises to improve my strength, change my diet and also change my thinking, behaviour and emotions! I need to stop worrying that I look like a fool and others are mocking me and focus on learning the skill; I need to be disciplined enough to reach the pool on time, not miss classes, etc. I need to pay attention and 'obey' instead of trying to do something else (thinking I know better and what the coach says will not work)

5) Only after my swim lessons did I learn so many facts (I have been seeing youtube videos and reading up a lot after I started the swim lessons).  Before my swimming, I did not know facts such as 

1) Human bodies float! They don't sink!( I always thought if I drown, I will be at the bottom of the pool because my body is heavy)

2)  Even though I have seen oil float on water, all my life (when I am cooking) , I still think of oil being heavier than water. It's only now I know that  I realize water is more dense than any oil. ( at the back of my mind, I still can't get rid of the idea that oil is heavier or denser especially castor oil, which is so bloody viscous!)

3) I did not know that scuba divers have weights which make them go down; that it would be impossible for them to go down without those weights.  I did not realize the extent of buoyancy of our bodies! To my 'previous' thinking, only wood and light plastics float. 

I am really enjoying my swim lessons and I hope I will be able to swim a length of the swimming pool in a year's time at least. This is one more reason, I am grateful to moving to Canada. In my home country/town, there are very few pools, too far from where I live and there are more things to put me off swimming than inspire me to learn swimming.