Right here, right now

There are times when I just indulge myself in a little bit of whimsical imagination. Having a bad day mostly triggers me to think that being probably somewhere in the past, or the future would have been so much better. But when the times pass, I am there logically analyzing my thoughts about being in the past or the future. And here's what I think.

The stone ages: Yes, living in prehistoric times does sound exciting. Things like living on tree houses, drinking from pure water springs, eating lots of water melons does look like loads of fun. But then when it comes to barbaric men who killed on the spur of the moment, mistreated women, did a lot of other not so nice things, a little more advanced age seemed more fun.

The age of kings, and lords: A little less advanced from the current ages, but I am always fascinated by the rich costumes, mansions that they built, and so many other things. But on the leaner side, one man dictated the entire nation's fate. In such ages, I would neither be born as a common person or an aristocrat. If the aristocrat turned out to be just and righteous, the common people were lucky, else god save the poor souls. And being born as a royal person doesn't seem a better option, he always has to worry about many things including the trouble makers, the outlaws, his own power as a king that always needed protection, so on an so forth.

The current age: I am in democratic country. Which is by far and means the better of both worlds. Not to mean that this age is perfect, but well its a better option than the rest. No barbaric men or dictators who dictated how your life should be lead. Freedom of expression, which sees no gender, caste or creed or color, I am grateful for that. I am better of staying where I am. Right here , right now..:)

Suddenly...

.....the world was a little less scarier, she thought. Ah, she realized she'd grown more confident.

Cure for cold, anyone??

Now that the problem is troubling me more than ever, I was wondering if there was a cure for common cold??

The date.

From the days A R Rahman spawned out the song chinna chinna asha for the movie, Roja, I had found the ideal man. If it has you on toes to know who the guy is, yes, peoples, it was none other than our own Arvind Swamy. Arvind Swamy, as in not the actor but the character portrayed by him in the that movie. The soft spoken, handsome, decent and mischevious unassuming guy just took over my imagination of the perfect guy.

He was irreplaceable. For me. There was no way anyone else could even come close to him. Even if you would point out the flaws in him, I would not see that.

I normally don't watch tamil movies as much. Firstly because, I have kind of stopped watching commercial movies at all. Secondly I don't understand the language. If you ask me to watch any movie, I would read the reviews, reread the reviews, ask someone who has already watched and then watch the movie. Yes, the spoil sport that I am. See I will not invest my time for something unworthy.

But upon the insistence of RV, after much hassling over the choice of movie, I watched the movie Vaanaram Aayiram. Needlessly to say, I am fawning over Surya ever since then. Man, what charm, I cannot help stop gushing over him. The character is so much full of life.

Now that I have said enough, I am unable to decide if its the character in the movie, or the hero that portrayed the character that has worked its magic on me. Wait, I have got to go and watch other movies of Surya to decide that..:)

So, books it will be!

That is, given the choice to read a book that was made into a movie and then watch the movie or vice-versa, I would prefer to read the book to watching the movie first.

I would not want to miss out the minutest nitty gritty details that the book would describe, which could otherwise be discarded in the movie.

Which explains why I haven't watched the Lords of the rings trilogy. I am still stuck with the first book, wherein Frodo is traveling through the forest with his friends. The forest seems never ending and so is the book, with Frodo discovering dense thick forests, open spaces, battles with trees that move, hiding from hooded strangers.

I am waiting for something exciting to happen in the book, but it doesn't seem to be happening. Still reading the book.

An update to one of my old posts.

In response to one of the stories that I read on a blog, I wrote a post titled "The fear of worse" that was based on the folklore of my native region. The story was narrated to me by my paternal grandmother.

One reader who read my post pointed out to me that the story was similar to the one called Devvade Mane penned by K. V. Iyer in his collection of short stories. So, with due respects to the original author, I would like to make it clear that I wrote the story based on what I heard from my grand mother and have an update included in the post as well. This post is for the readers, just so that update is not lost.

And to my reader who pointed it out to me, thanks for introducing me to another author, whose books I am going to include in the must read list..:) Thank you very much.

A little common sense and a lot of gade mathu(nudi mutthu)

Even as I published the previous post, it reminded me of something that I thought should be said it aloud. And so here I am, writing it on my blog.

I grew up in a typical family from North Karnataka. If you know what I mean. At least one of our meals in a day consisted of Jolada rotti and curry to go with it. That also meant that the entire three storeyed building in colony would know from the clop, clop like sounds emanating from the wooden konabe which my mother slapped to make thin, crisp Jolada rotti's. Its a time tested truth that even the famed Kamat hotels fail to churn out such crisp rotti's.

And our day to day conversation would almost be incomplete with a adage, a gade mathu, the conventional wisdom that spoke volumes of the experiences of lives before, with a huge dollops of humor interwoven and served so commonly that you don't realize that it has become a part of your life. Humor can be found in the driest of places, wry-est of situations, only if we can see it. Most importantly, it was common sense that was handed down from generation to generation. All lumped in one single line.

The names Sarvajna, Shishunala sharifa, Basavanna, to quote a few, are names that resound ubiquitously in any North Karnataka household. My personal favorite happens to be Sarvajna. Which man would be vain enough to name himself, Sarvajna, and yet be humble enough to humor himself . You did not have to belong to the community that they belonged or follow their ideologies.

And no, the sayings are not taught in schools or by a private tutor. Until recent times, there was no written record of what they had to offer for the world. The wisdom lived on just through the people's lives. There is a line for every occasion. A line that celebrates the joyful welcoming of the baby, to death of a person, defining the each and every stage of a man's life.

Whether it was the men busy in the fields with the plows or harvesting , or the women who toiled at homes on the stone grinder, or put the babies to sleep, common sense prevailed. Through the hard times, through the happy times, and through the normal times. The words flowed through the songs that people hummed as they worked, went about their lives.

These days, I listen to pretty great deal of personality development workshops, telling how to develop positive attitude. There are a whole lot of books, cassettes, discs out there telling what is required to be successful in life. I don't need someone else coming and tell me that I have to develop a positive attitude, and mint money with it. Its a decision that people have to make within themselves. All it takes is a little common sense to understand that and the wisdom required is right there in your backyard.

A recent discovery!

Found this link recently, and I am hooked to it, big time, I mean, really big time.

Subhashita Manjari

Am browsing through the entire blog, still haven't finished reading it...:)