Manasa Sarovara

ದೀಪವು ನಿನ್ನದೇ ಗಾಳಿಯು

2012-02-01T00:04:00.000+05:30

One wife sings for her husband's well being, rather prays for his return.

Watch the video here.

The text of the song here,

ದೀಪವು ನಿನ್ನದೆ ಗಾಳಿಯು ನಿನ್ನದೆ ಆರದಿರಲಿ ಬೆಳಕು
ಕಡಲು ನಿನ್ನದೆ ಹಡಗು ನಿನ್ನದೆ, ಮುಳುಗದಿರಲಿ ಬದುಕು

ಬೆಟ್ಟವು ನಿನ್ನದೆ, ಬಯಲು ನಿನ್ನದೆ, ಹಬ್ಬಿ ನಗಲಿ ಪ್ರೀತಿ
ನೆಳಲೋ ಬಿಸಿಲೋ ಎಲ್ಲವೂ ನಿನ್ನದೆ ಇರಲಿ ಏಕರೀತಿ

ಆಗೂಂದು ಸಿಡಿಲು, ಈಗೊಂದು ಮುಗಿಲು ನಿನಗೆ ಅಲಂಕಾರ
ಅಲ್ಲೊಂದು ಹಕ್ಕಿ, ಇಲ್ಲೊಂದು ಮುಗುಳು, ನಿನಗೆ ನಮಸ್ಕಾರ

ಅಲ್ಲಿ ರಣದುಂದುಭಿ, ಇಲ್ಲೊಂದು ವೀಣೆ, ನಿನ್ನ ಪ್ರತಿಧ್ವನಿ
ಆ ಮಹಾಕಾವ್ಯ, ಈ ಭಾವಗೀತೆ ನಿನ್ನ ಪದಧ್ವನಿ

ದೀಪವು ನಿನ್ನದೆ ಗಾಳಿಯು ನಿನ್ನದೆ ಆರದಿರಲಿ ಬೆಳಕು

This translates to

The lamp is yours, the wind is yours, let not light fade

The sea is yours, the ship is yours, let not life drown

The mountain is yours, the valleys are yours, let love pervade

Sunshine or shade, everything is yours, see them alike

Theres a thunder, heres a cloud, they adorn you

Theres a bird, heres a smile, that salute you

Theres a war conch shell, heres a veena that are your echo

That epic, this simple song are your words

The lamp is yours, the wind is yours, let not light fade

I hope I have done justice to the actual lyrics. I think this is one of my best attempts at translation. That might be because the song is very simple. There is something very nice about this song. First of them being that it happens to be poem by K. S. Narasimha Swamy. Even though there is slight melancholy of a wife in great mental duress, there is hope that her husband will return. Coming to the video itself, if you notice, there are no foreign locations, no exorbitant sets, plainly see that's what a good song can do, out do the need for everything else.

Listening to the song makes me go awwwwwwwwwwwwww! every time just like the first time..:-) What a beautiful song I say!

Shakespeare sonnet 116

2012-01-29T23:53:00.003+05:30

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

Bulb glows I understand !

2012-01-27T23:23:00.001+05:30

How many times does it happen to you, that you dont realize something immediately in the situation and it takes time to realize the right words to say or do!

Happened to me..:) Today. The enlightenment happened several moments (hours after the incidence) ! For sake of anonymity, I ll leave the incident out of the blog..:-)

The million dollar question

2012-01-25T00:09:00.000+05:30

I wanted to write this post for a long time and now is the time, I think. Atleast when my parents are on the verge of throwing me out of the house, disowning me, etc if an answer is not imminent. Before I churn out, I have few things to say. I grew up like a son in our house. A very soft spoken but a strong personality type person. I have this habit of making sure everything is right, always worry that my brother and sister did their homework, etc. Even to this day, I cannot believe that my sister has graduated from college. I make decisions after ensuring that my decisions are not going to let me down anytime later. I think of long term plans. That said and done, my parents are asking or rather pushing me to the brinks of sanity to get married. Yes, the million dollar question. Sometimes for the heck, I want to go run away somewhere not being able to field their questions. And they think I am telling a joke every time I tell them that what what should happen at what what time will happen happen only. Which does nothing to alleviate their concerns. At maximum, it aggravates the situation.

I dont know if people fall in love at first sight. For me, it takes time to actually get to know people and then make friends alone. And love is way far behind. There are few people who have said it loud or tried to befriend me with intentions of being in a relationship, but for reasons that are better known to me, I just don't reciprocate their emotions. Sometimes I think they might as well have cursed/jinxed me that I should never find Mr. Right in my life.

To be a fair judge, my criteria for Mr. Right is something like this(yeah, at the cost of sounding cliched). He should be well read, well educated, be pleasant looking, have an understanding nature, etc, etc. Most importantly he has to be family man. Since I cannot have Arvind Swamy or Surya out of Roja or Varanam Ayiram, anybody close will do. I will forgo the looks part, well educated part but not the well read part. At least he has to be able to appreciate that I read a lot.

As I have begun to understand these days, people can be very very eccentric in nature, I have to say this. I don't mind even if Mr. Right earns very few rupees but has to be a man of pride. Pride that says its ok we can make do with whatever little we have. I will manage all other eccentricities but not a few things that can be extremely dangerous. You will have my respect if you are that hard working man.

It will be better if he is a teetotaler, and be happy with it too..:). This, I am willing to relax,provided that he be a hardworking man. There are a few things that I have to say to him, like giving a verbal introduction to our family. There are things that I have to tell and that which I cannot leave it to rest without telling.

My grandmother says when a guy really likes a girl, he'll accept her just the way she is. Something that I find it hard to accept, but I have to do my part. My grandmother also has an opinion that it is important that the boy like the girl more than the girl liking the boy for the family to be perfect in which case the boy will try hard or support the girl to keep the family intact. I don't agree with everything my grandmother says, but on this alone, I agree with her.

I think that sums Mr. Right for me. The next time my parents ask me to see a guy, I think Ill just direct him here.

Random thoughts

2012-01-15T01:07:00.001+05:30

There are days when you feel like Rajinikanth, and there are others when you feel like a bandit whose treasure has been looted.

Totally random!

Dusting off the old cow webs !

2011-11-10T14:40:00.002+05:30

Its been a long time since I wrote something here on this space. I have no thoughts of abandoning this blog. God! Never. Just like everyone else I am getting busy. Tell me about growing up and handling responsibilities. And tons of them. You see, for a long time, I imagined I would never grow up. And never become one of those irritable elders that I have seen people transform into. But now, standing here on the threshold, walking miles in their steps, I feel their anguish. Difficult people, difficult situations, people who make mountains out of molehills, one has to deal with them. Everyday. Every single moment. One feels like one is waiting for the days to be over. Just over. I have seen the worst blue days of my life in the past few days. I have yelled, become snappy, jumped out of madness over someone, etc, etc, in the last few days than I ever did in all my life. Looking at it, I don't repent it. People yelled at me, and I yelled back at them. Case closed. Which is so totally unlike me. Earlier, I would not bother to yell back. Did I tell you how nagging parents can be over some things, I understand their concerns but really they are stepping on my toes this time. I love them still.

Change is welcome when it is for good. Also, talking about dusting of cow webs on my blog, there are some fun things that I have done too. Remember that I spoke of how badly wanted to have a research paper published, I went ahead with that idea and got it done. The paper is under review in one of the journals, and I am pretty sure that it is going to be published. I am contemplating doing a Phd in the near future.

On the other hand, I took off my regular well paying job and went ahead and built a house. I laid the bricks of the house, applied the mortar, and worked on the house like any other laborer would have. I thought that was exhilarating, awesome fun.

Another thing, I never opened the email of this blog. But recently after a long time, I did open it. There were no new comments on it. However, one person by the name MB had written a personal email of how he enjoyed reading my blog as much. Thanks MB. I don't know if I write well, however, I felt good reading an email telling that I write well. Thanks again. These days, friends and other people never write back. You took the time and patience to read my blog and write an email as well. Thank you.

Its not like I dont have good friends, its just that all my good friends are in different places and I find it difficult to make new friends. P, You know how I miss u. Regarding the snappy behavior, I am going to take some time off and make new things happen. If you ask me if I was happy, its not like I am unhappy. I aimed at 100% and I am here standing at 80%. SO ITS FINE. :-) Overall, I love a challenge, and life has been kind enough to provide lots of them. Sometimes, so much that I cannot handle them. However, I am happy with the overall quality of life. There are some loop holes and flaws, but hey I still have the 20% to compete with.

With that, I make a grand comeback to my blog.

Yes, finally..

2011-05-25T22:46:00.001+05:30

After getting disheartened very many ( I like this term, "very many" which I found is the correct usage) times about reading or rather not reading "Lord of the Rings", I finally started reading the first volume and reached a poem. It was perfectly what I wanted to know.

Not something that anyone who read "lord of the rings" would not know, but since I like those words very much, I am posting it here.

All that is gold does not glitter,

Not all those who wander are lost;

The old that is strong does not wither,

Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,

A light from the shadows shall spring;

Renewed shall be blade that was broken,

The crownless again shall be king.

It also means that I am going to watch the movies soon and quench some innate nagging in my head that I haven't seen those movies so far.

A twist in the tale.

2011-05-21T21:37:00.001+05:30

It was the first time he had been in love. There were girls he found intriguing. But the perfect embodiment of his dream girl was never in the girls he seemed to know. A lot of his friends had told him that there is a bell ringing in one's head when one meets his/her perfect mate. He had brushed it aside or laughed it off as a joke. He knew it was no longer a joke. She was standing in front of him at the coffee counter. Her silky, shiny perfect hair sprawling all over her shoulders. She had worn a red T short over jeans and she looked perfect for him. The bells really did ring in his head, he thought. From where he was standing, he could only see her back. If her hair was so beautiful, he thought, how perfect her face could be. He could envision her face, as he structured each feature of her delicate face. He knew she was the one for him. Immediately not wanting to loose her in the crowd, he went and stood behind the long queue in front of the coffee counter, not once removing his glance over her. She seemed to be engrossed in her talk with her friends when her turn to buy coffee came. She bought her coffee and turned towards one of the tables that he could actually see her.

And all together at once, his heart broke. It was the hair that broke his heart. Not the hair on the scalp. But the hair on "her" philtrum.

Life and times of M. S. Subbulakshmi

2011-05-21T21:19:00.000+05:30

I was wondering if there was/were any good biographies / autobiographies of M. S. Subbulakshmi. I have looked online, and looked for the same at Tata Book House as well as Crossroads.

The legendary M. S. Subbulakshmi is very well known to everyone. While her talents are very well known, the rise of a small town devadasi's daughter to become one of India's most well known and prolific singer is not known to everyone.

If there was someone who knew of the book or anything that sheds light on her life is something that I would love to hear from you.

ROFL...

2011-05-12T18:43:00.000+05:30

Normally I do not share articles here that others have written. But this one needs a high five. Something that has me giggling all day long. People around me must be thinking I am nuts.

The local tea party

I am loving the language. Its just my type..:-)

suptha manasina saptha swaragalu

2011-05-10T21:28:00.001+05:30

Suptha manasina saptha swaragalu.

And how a human mind longs for a mellifluous rhapsody that only a peaceful mind can make. What joy pervades through one's being when the human mind attains such peace!

Right now, Anu is...

2011-04-28T16:21:00.000+05:30

...Maha angry.

She is kicking herself for her doing something that she did. No amount of crying over split milk. What happened? Dont ask me. I will not tell you.

I have to learn to manage anger and stress that comes with anger. Should I join some anger management classes, I wonder. I will let myself be. In the mean while, I am looking for somethings to take off my mind over the matters that I cannot do anything about. Oh god, I am on crib mode. Just enough to turn a cynic soon if I don't do something soon. Well, let me see, what is there? Some home made mango juice...naah...Oh wait, I just remembered banana split ice cream. I have to have it, now only. Its raining. That makes it only better. I am going to binge now and work it out in the aerobics class in the evening. Forget work for the time being.

So, tada guys/gals, see you laters!

Anu is............

2011-04-24T20:49:00.000+05:30

...seriously contemplating inventing an alternative for a helmet for use while riding a bike.

A helmet that allows for scratching your head while driving, when the urge to scratch is at its highest.

Any more suggestions???

Seven Quarters Chinese

2011-04-01T17:51:00.000+05:30

She was a new recruit to the company. The company's campus sprawled across hundred acres in one of the hi tech cities of her country. She had estimated and looked up the information when she got recruited through campus interviews. It was the first time she had stayed away from home and generally started going to restaurant. It was her first outing with her team mates. Some one in her team had made remarkable achievements and was being rewarded. So, he had decided to treat all his team mates. At Seven Quarters Chinese.

Over the 100 acres of campus, there were about about a minimum of fifteen food courts. Being a shy person, she could not manage to ask one of her team mates which one of the fifteen food courts was Seven Quarters Chinese. She decided to find out. She took one of the bicycles in the campus and visited the first food court that she frequented mostly. She asked those people which of the food courts was Seven Quarters Chinese. They did not know. She tried to hint them and ask which food court served Chinese food. One of the guys remembered that one of the food courts served Chinese food, but did not know which one. Not bad, she thought to herself. So she went to the second food court to be met with a similar story. Our girl was quite determined to find out herself. Thus, she went to the third, fourth, fifth and sixth food court trying to find the food court that served Chinese food. It was at the seventh food court she found that the seventh food court served Chinese only after three in the afternoon. It was only two. So she decided to wait.

There was no deadline waiting in the next few days, so she could afford to while her time. Moreover, nobody in the team was working today. Then came the call on her cell phone. She received the call and someone excitedly spoke, "Hey, where are you? We have been searching for you all over the place, there are fours cars ready to go to Seven Quarters Chinese. Pick your purse also, someone will drop you home. " It was then she realized, Seven Quarters Chinese was somewhere in the city.

Analog vs digital

2011-04-01T17:22:00.000+05:30

I recently saw an old analog television set. And I loved it. I seem to like all things old. Maybe because old means, they have stood the rages of time, have remained strong where others have gone down. The speed of my daily life gets to me, easily. Which may be the reason why I don't take to digital world all too very kindly. It may be the combination of other factors as well. Yet another I cannot explain but I feel the certain way kind of thoughts.

Beauty lies...

2011-03-11T08:35:00.000+05:30

..in the hands of the beautician and the money that the beautician gets paid for the work..:)

Anu's gyan.

To sir, with love

2011-03-02T20:20:00.000+05:30

I met this man in person, heard him speak, and was moved at his wonderful pictures.

To a wonderful photographer, thank you sir. For all the wonderful camera clicks and tricks.

A short story

2011-02-21T10:03:00.000+05:30

She looked at the guy in front of her. She could not believe her eyes. She wanted to touch him and make sure he was for real. It felt like yesterday, they both were having differences, and today he was there with her. It felt too good to be real. Her happiness knew no bounds. Someone was persistently calling her name. It was then she realized she was still in her bed. And her mother was calling her name asking her to wake up.

Hallimane - A review

2011-02-19T22:44:00.000+05:30

Hallimane is a restaurant in Malleswaram known for its food, sweets, and ambiance. I visited the place with my mother on a hot Saturday afternoon. Since we regularly cook North Karnataka food at home, I looked for something different at this place.

We settled for the North Indian thorough fare after much thinking about our choices. While I waited to order our choices, vegetable manchurian, two kulchas, and one vegetable masala, I could not take my eyes of the sweets counter opposite to the cash counter. The sweets at the sweet counter had much variety. All I wanted them was to pack two pieces of all the sweets available so that I could relish them at a time at home or some other convenient place. There was pineapple kithalia or something that was its name. There was horlicks burfey, dharwad pedas, and so many other things that I just dont seem to remember.

One of the things that struck me here was the crowd. The place is crowded at all times. I dont know if I picked the wrong time, or the place was eternally packed at all times like this.We had to get our plates ourselves.

The Kulchas came in a little late. We spoke sometime before we started the job we had come here for. We had to share a table with another couple. The food was okayish. Not the great types. It was slightly disappointing. Both of us did not relish the food. I finally went to the sweets counter, got two varieties of sweets that made it a little better. And finally went in for a dessert. I hoped that atleast the dessert wouldn't disappoint us. Unfortunately, gad-bad ice cream that I had ordered also bordered on the margins.

I would have tried the coffee here as I had read reviews in newspapers but I am an avid tea drinker.

About the ambiance, Its heavily crowded. People rush in and out madly at all times. I always prefer a silent quiet little place, little away from the crowds, that sort of luncheons. For the time we were in the place, every single table was always occupied by more than three to four people.

I guess we ended up paying a little more than we expected.

The new revolution

2011-02-18T01:03:00.001+05:30

Everyone has now read about how a social networking site gave rise to an uprising in a non democratic situation. Well, technology has good things to proffer as evident from this recent example. On the other hand, what does technology do to some common people who cannot use it to its maximum potential for a good cause.

Like a wife who leaves a message on the husband's pad on social networking site for the evening's grocery list. Or a disgruntled room mate who messages her other room mates to clean up the living room that comes under shared cleaning chore list for the rented house.

Well, thank god, you cannot put babies to sleep by posting lullabies.

Maybe in the future, parents may have to obtain an email ID, social networking identity, and what not as soon as the child is born so that the child may not be left behind, or have to face peer pressure for not having a proper virtual identity.

Welcome to the new revolution called social networking.

A book here and there.

2011-01-31T23:52:00.000+05:30

I started reading Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway but really my mood was not in the book. The sad notes and use of heavy language did not help to make it better. Read the first few pages, and hopped on over to read Paulo Coelho's The Witch of Portobello.

I have earlier read the book, the alchemist by the same author. While I liked the alchemist for its feel good about your dreams nature, I found the witch of portobello similar to his earlier books. Slightly repetitive.

But I really liked this paragraph in the book that I am quoting here.

"I like to imagine that, when she left the church, Athena met Jesus. Weeping and confused, she would have thrown herself into his arms, asking him to explain why she was being excluded just because of a piece of paper she'd signed., something of no importance on the spiritual plane, and which was of interest only to registry offices and the tax man.

And looking at Athena, Jesus might have replied:

'My child, I've been excluded too. Its a very long time they've allowed me in there'".

Advantage or Disadvantage!

2011-01-28T20:13:00.000+05:30

I saw an ambulance brush past me today with its whirring noise. It made me wonder how someone (a patient) was probably hurt/ill/sick was being rushed to the emergency ward by someone.

It also made me wonder if the ambulance drivers used the ambulance to their advantage to navigate through maddening traffic of Bangalore. Bingo! everybody lets u go. I wonder!

A highly me me post.

2011-01-23T13:34:00.000+05:30

Disclaimer: This is a highly about me post. You can stop reading it here, if you dont like knowing about me.

Ok, where do I start with. I am quiet person. I prefer to remaining silent, reading books, generally keeping to myself. No, I am not a misanthrope. Its just that I prefer to have a intelligent talk, a wasteful banter, a humorous talk, and any other talk, in right proportions.

I generally dislike change. I take time to adapt. Its difficult for me to make immediate changes and adapt into everything easily. I know some people do it. For example, if I were to attend a wedding function, for the three hours that I have mingled with people, I have to get some space, and air after the wedding function is over. At least an hour before I resume my normal day to day activities.

There was a time when I wanted to travel, see the world, and learn more about different cultures. I could do it without getting tired, without even feeling the fatigue of travel. The perception is changing these days. These days I long for stability. I long for not having to change places quite often. I want to settle into a place, and travel only when I feel like. Perhaps visit a place or two.

I am a teetotaler. No alcohol. No smoke. Vegetarian. I am a born vegetarian. I am rarely the party animal or the party type person. Not that I don't attend them. Its just that I am more comfortable at places better than those. Some people think I have had no fun in life. But rarely do they understand that each one has his/her own meaning for the idea of fun. And mine is slightly different. Which has a very little social life or totally lacks social life. At least their idea of social life.

I love listening to the sounds the nature makes. Like, music of water, chirping of birds, winds whooshing in the woods, etc. I can read a book, under a tree. I never tire of building a treetop house and staying there. And I love the rainy season the most. Of it, I love the way the earth smells when it rains for the first time after a scorching summer.

I don't know how to swim. My mother put me into swimming classes but I never did learn to swim. There is a regret or two that I have about life. About not learning how to sing or dance. Oh well, its alright. Life is not about getting/having everything you wanted.

There was a time when I wanted to be the most popular girl in the class. I wanted to fit in. But I realized that it was a lot better being yourself rather than being what others want you to be. I am not influenced by peer pressure, competitions, or anything of that sort. I have very few friends and I am happy that they are for me. I would rather have a few true friends than having lots of friends and no true friends.

Early in college, I was asking every one whom I knew if they knew what life meant. Nobody ever knew. The thing is no body ever knows. I would like to think that I was one step closer to the meaning than the rest by even having the courage to ask about the meaning of life. I read books by Swami Vivekanada, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Swami Virajeshwari who wrote Scientists search for truth, Bible, to some extent even the Quran (the english version). I think that the Bhagvad gita is one of the most profound books that was every written.

I have a very very active imagination. My imagination is my outlet. And my secret. If I were in trouble, I imagine myself as a cat whose tail is on fire. It makes me smile. These days, I have taken up new hobbies. Photography, Terracotta making, horse riding, cooking. Ooh, I love to cook and eat good food.

There are times, when I risk my life just for kicks. One time, I really wanted to have banana split ice cream. It was twelve minutes to eleven in the night when the nearest dairy queen was just about to close. I just got up, rushed to the dairy queen and had the lady at the counter make me one banana split ice cream in almost the dead of the night. How good the banana split ice cream felt. :). Speak of impromptu.

Being a girl or a guy...

2011-01-18T23:33:00.002+05:30

Being a girl, it makes me stand and wonder how being a guy is better or worse. Ok, so here goes my list of pros and cons of being a guy and a girl.

One thing that I think about being a guy is absolutely, I mean, absolutely no choice with regard to clothes. How many guys can really boast of having to make choice when it comes to wearing clothes. All they have is shirts, and pants. (with variations thereof of course). Really, ask about girls having to make choice about skirts, salwars, shirts, formals, semi-formals, so on and so forth and the colors the dresses arrive in, is simply breath taking (and can be back breaking also..:)).
Most of the guys(including my brother and father) that I know rarely know how to cook. Imagine their plight when they are away from home. My brother sheds a few kilos every time he is away from home. The problem with me is I learned to cook when I started staying away from home. I know most of the girls improvise and girls manage somehow. I can never go hungry anywhere ( and never shed those extra few kilos, sob, sob!!..). Again, I know some guys who cook really well and girls who know zilch about cooking. Some guys can put even Nala to shame when it comes to cooking. Well, there are exceptions to both guys and girls.
OK, I am being a little narcissistic here. But hey, I think girls are more beautiful. Its something that I cannot say about guys. I mean all the guys look more or less the same to me. All the guys, maybe except for Harrison Ford, Sean Connery, Arvind Swamy, Surya, etc. Well, I have to say, all horses are different and beautiful. Personally, I think horses are one of the most elegant animals. While on the other hand, all donkeys appear the same.
I would put that being a mother and carrying a child for nine months as a disadvantage to girls. But often I see, girls or rather ladies who have had a first kid, prepare for second one, and sometimes a third one as well. So, I really would like to think that ladies prefer to have children and seriously its not a disadvantage at all to them, I guess. If you want to know my personal idea about children, please lets take it offline. Shoot me an email.
I recently read an article about how working women are increasing the incomes of artists who sell trinkets, jewelery, and stuff. Guys are rarely interested in anything of that sort. Contributing to overall growth of the society, I guess.

All in all, I think being a girl is great. I got a kick writing this post. Guys, if you think that there is subtle male bashing, please try to take it with a pinch of salt. And come up with a equally interesting conversation, really, I would love it.

I am trying to think of anything that I can add to make the above conversation more interesting. Unfortunately I dont seem to writing more. If the girls out there have any more points, let me know. I will add them. Wow! I felt good writing this post.

Remembering K. S. N

2011-01-15T17:41:00.002+05:30

I recently watched this Kannada movie. Mysore mallige. Which brought back to me, K. S. N and his poems.

I remembered a piece long forgotten,

ಅಡಿಯ ಮುಟ್ಟ ನೀಳ ಜಡೆ
ಮುಡಿಯ ತುಂಬಾ ಹೂವ ಹೆಡೆ
ಇವಳು ಅಡಿಯನಿಟ್ಟ ಕಡೆ
ಹೆಜ್ಜೆಹೆಜ್ಜೆಗೆ ಒಂದು ದೊಡ್ಡ ಮಲ್ಲಿಗೆ
ಇವಳು ಯಾರು ಬಲ್ಲೆಯೇನು
ಇವಳ ಹೆಸರ ಹೇಳಲೇನು
ಇವಳ ದನಿಗೆ ತಿರುಗಲೇನು
ಇವಳು ಏತಕೋ ಬಂದು ನನ್ನ ಸೆಳೆದಳು...!!

This one reminds me of a tradition that my mother passed to me who in turn inherited it from her mother. A legacy of really beautiful long hair. I hate to translate. So let it be.

Authentic puliyogare recipe

2011-01-11T22:26:00.001+05:30

The one time I had puliyogare rice was at a friend of mine way baack in during the intermediate years who happened to be a iyengar. I remember that friend more for the puliyogare rice of hers, I guess. I know that is very selfish of me. We rarely meet. But one must understand that I remember my friend for her mothers hand made puliyogare rice. So in turn, I am remembering her almost everyday.

All these days, I have cooking my own version which is fairly satisfying but nothing compares to the one that I had at their house. My recipe tastes very very different.

Often, I would get the puliyogre powder that sold in Basavanagudi. I had asked a friend of mine to share the recipe with me, unfortunately never got around to cook the same. Not until recently recently, I googled for the same and found almost the same recipe on the internet. I am glad, finally I am getting to cook the authentic puliyogare rice.

So you can expect the pictures of what I cooked in the next post.

Update to the previous post : Since I am very lazy to sort out the pics and post them here, I am posting the link that showed almost the same recipe on the internet. Look for it here.

Waste - ment

2011-01-09T13:21:00.000+05:30

It was one of the profound discussions that I keep having with some of my friends and my mother.

I can understand if women wanted to buy gold. At least from the investment point of view. The gold value is increasing and keeps rising every day. There is return on investment if one chose to buy gold and chose to sell the gold later.

But ladies, why would you want to buy sarees that cost worth a fortune which cannot be used everyday. The ones that you can wear only for special occasions. And you cannot repeat the same saree for every other special occasion.

Ladies, are you listening?

Wishing you a very happy new year.

2011-01-02T10:29:00.000+05:30

I had some good time during this new year. Took off from office for a week, and had a vacation.

I had never seen commercial street lit up for Christmas before which isn't true anymore. It was nice to do some shopping, walking around, that place.

And the week, I really have cooked some of the eateries that I have never tried before. Different varieties of dosas, chutneys, parathas, bisi bele baths, sweet chapathis, pastas, samosas, chats and some of other things that were supposed to be mediterranean vegetarian food but actually turned out with some indian taste. I really want to bake cakes and cookies. Will have to wait for some more time until we get a good microwave.

2010 wasn't a great year, but wasn't a bad year either. It was a roller coaster ride with its ups and downs. There are some exciting things lined up 2011. I guess it feels good to look at 2011 with some promise. For the good start and all things good, Wishing you all a very very happy new year...:) Hope this year is filled with more fun and excitement.

Does it happen to you...???

2010-12-08T19:04:00.000+05:30

that you enter office in the early mornings and all you can think about is the food that you are going to have in the afternoon. This at 8:00 am in the morning.

Rediscovering BengaLooru

2010-12-02T21:24:00.000+05:30

I am travelling all over Namma BengaLooru over the past few days. Seeing the development that this calm, quiet garden city is taking, I am overwhelmed. More promise it holds. Sometimes I miss the simple old Bangalore, like the times that we grew up. Sometimes feel the development is good.

Hope whatever happens, happens for good..:)

The hero and the villain

2010-11-26T12:15:00.000+05:30

Something that I think these days. The hero have a villainous side and the villains have the heroic side to them.

Wonder what I should make of it.

A food blog, perhaps.

2010-10-26T09:11:00.000+05:30

Some of these days, I try to cook a new cuisine every other weekend. And "like" every time, I decide to blog about it, with the necessary photos. And as it always happens, I end up without ever blogging about it.

One time, its my camera whose batteries run out of charge at the right moment. And other times, its my impatient sister who stuffs the food down her throat even before the food I make, cools down.

Or some long lost friend decides to visit me when I have decided to do photo blog. And with that goes my well planned photo-food-blog-post-idea.

Hopefully I get to actually do it sometime.

Ah, the expression of love!

2010-09-13T07:29:00.001+05:30

Now, it s a very well known fact that people in a certain profession tend to use words related to their professions, more often. Maybe there are exceptions to this fact, but on the whole, more often than not all the time, the adages that they utter relate to professional lives. It was this fact that hit me today morning, and kept me rolling over in splits over the matter. How would a person from a certain profession profess his love to a girl whom he likes? Lets take a look.

Businessman : I have invested my time, energy, and myself on you. And I expect good return on investments on the same. Please say that you will also invest the same on me. I assure that your investments will not be wasted..:)

Goldsmith : My heart is pure gold. And I have carved your name on the pure gold, so please accept it. (well some artistically inclined).

Farmer : In the farm on my heart, I have cultivated my land so that you can sow your love and reap rich fruits. Please come and stay on my farm forever. (Or whatever).

Software Engineer: Do I have to even write this, I can think of so many right now, I will leave it to your imaginations to fill this gap here..:).

Chemical engineer: Nobody has ever struck chemistry with me like you. If we are together, we are going to make a terrific combination and bond extremely well. Please say yes. (Some serious chemistry here..:)).

Going to others, mechanical engineers, doctors, scientists, and so so many others, readers, I will leave it you to fill up the comment space. Please let your imaginations run wild. And be advised, let your comments be for all ages.

Comment space is for you. Please fill it your hearts content!

Our way of life....

2010-08-29T14:48:00.000+05:30

is corruption. To the extent that irrespective of whether you like it or not, corruption is the way of our life.

Home coming

2010-07-20T17:00:00.000+05:30

She was known to be a little different all the time. A little tough to get along but nevertheless a good person. One of the very few people who enjoyed her time alone. She did things that made her happy.

And then came the change. It was time to change everything that she believed. To make someone else a part of her life. She tried to hold on to the world that she was comfortable being there. It was a difficult transition for her as well. Everyday she struggled to accommodate the changes in her world. To make someone's else priorities hers. And do things together. It was a struggle. At first, she refused blatantly. The change. Some times she wanted to talk to someone about her struggle. But who had time for a small town girl? She decided to take that "someone" into confidence. Things were a little different. But they happened. Over a period of time. There were times when she had to sacrifice, or let go of her ego when things got heated up. But then overall, she was fine. She did well. That "someone" was not that bad after all.

I guess she was finally coming home.

I wonder

2010-07-10T22:01:00.000+05:30

I wonder why the fast and furious actor looks like hes wearing an artificial mask that portrays no emotion. Even the smile is slight.

I wonder why our own Salman Khan looks like he's holding his breath all the time, is it that hes tucked in his tummy and trying very much to show his well crafted abs?? Or maybe hes has a problem with farting. No wonder hes holding his breath.

Mom's Saree

2010-06-24T08:19:00.002+05:30

It was her college graduation day. Every one in her class was very excited. To start their lives on a new note. To start of as young adults. And for that, each one prepared for the graduation day with utmost enthusiasm. Everyone except her. It was one of her worst days she thought. Every girl in her class would wear her best saree, match it up accessories and enter the graduation day. And all she could find was her mom's old pattu saree.

She cursed herself for being born in a middle class family that scrambled everyday to make both ends meet. If she asked her mom for a new saree, that would mean that the family would have to forgo vegetables for atleast a week if not more, and have rice with little dal or no dal at all. A sacrifice that she was ready to make but which her mother would not allow. No amount of crying, or throwing up tantrums would help . And she knew very well, that even though her mother was willing to sacrifice, her mother would never agree to let her younger brother go hungry as well.

There was nothing that she could do anything about. As she got ready for the graduation day, she wore her mother's pattu saree sulkingly. She could almost picture the scene in her head. All her friends in their best attires, basking on in the compliments that they would receive from the guys, and amidst all of that, she wearing her mom's pattu saree, looking a little like a plain Jane. The perfect set up for a neat little disaster. Every other time, she never wanted to attend the event itself. Her mother tried to cheer her up telling how nice she looked. But it was of no use. She only sulked even more.

Finally she emerged from the house, went by the bus to her college. She half prayed in her heart that her friends wouldn't make fun of her. She reached college. Some of her lecturers stood in the corridor conversing with their colleagues. She tried to look normal. Soon she entered her circle of friends. Her best friend took notice of her, and asked her where she had got the saree. She almost turned red in the face trying not to say that the saree was her mother's pattu saree. It was then the conversation of the rest of the girls turned towards her. Everyone wanted to know where she had got the saree from. At first, she couldn't believe that everyone wanted a saree like hers.

The sulkiness started melting off. She almost started off saying that her father had bought the saree for her graduation day from a far off place that almost cost him a fortune. Instead she only smiled and said, "It is my mom's pattu saree".

Is patriotism a old thing, and upcoming globalization the in thing?

2010-06-20T19:34:00.000+05:30

I was recently reading this article about patriotism. Just because we are born in a certain place, or have followed a certain way of life from the day we entered this world, does it make the certain place the best of all places, or the certain way of life the best way of life.

Perhaps no.

But I feel comfortable at certain places. I guess patriotism is a personal thing.

The only thing that makes anything better or worse is the kind of attitude that people of a place tend to wear. The people living in the place define the place, and the people as such represent the place everywhere else.

One nice evening

2010-06-19T10:56:00.002+05:30

Did anyone notice the namma BengaLuru sky yesterday. It was a friday, rained a little and warmed up again, and then there was this beautiful rainbow almost an half circle in the evening yesterday. I think that was best.

Nice.

Blogger problems

2010-05-30T18:01:00.003+05:30

There has been a recent upturn on the number of hits on my blog. I would have rejoiced to the fact that my blog has been receiving the kind of hits that I could only dream of, its a downturn that none of the readers stay.

I prefer a few people who actually read my blog to people who just hit on the browser. From that perspective, the number of hits that I get is useless.

As such, I tracked the source of the hits, to this. Seems like I have to disable the settings for my blog to not be shown on the next referral.

The problem persists. I read up a little on the Google help and nothing has helped so far. Anybody knows how to stop this??

Perfection...

2010-05-20T09:06:00.005+05:30

“ The problem with perfection is that once used to perfection, we cannot accept anything less than perfect. Even when person under scrutiny is yourself. You expect yourself to be perfect, and then realize that you are falling short of your own expectations. Sometimes its the circumstances and sometimes its yourself. The incidents leave a trail of unhappiness, of feeling inadequate, of being not enough. It is quite a heavy feeling. ”

If I were

2010-05-18T08:29:00.009+05:30

Gauri passed this tag to me.

If I were a month, I’d be April!

If I were a day of the week, I’d be Friday!

If I were a time of day, I’d be Twilight!

If I were a season, I’d be the rainy season !

If I were a planet, I’d be Earth !

If I were an animal, I’d be the mighty lion!

If I were a direction, I'd be the point on which the directions are decided !

If I were a piece of furniture, I’d be a baby's cradle !

If I were a liquid, I’d be Mango Juice!

If I were a tree, I’d be a Nilgiri Tree !

If I were a tool, I’d be cutting pliers !

If I were an element, I’d be Platinum!

If I were a gemstone, I’d be Diamond!

If I were a musical instrument, I’d be flute!

If I were a color, I’d be Ocean blue !

If I were an emotion, I’d be Hope !

If I were a fruit, I’d be a Mango !

If I were a sound, I’d be the song of the nightingale !

If I were a car, I’d be Ferrari or Jaguar perhaps!

If I were food, I’d be Rice, Sambhar, and pickle !

If I were a taste, I’d be bittersweet !

If I were a scent, I’d be fragrance of jasmine !

If I were a pair of shoes, I'd be the strong and soft ones !

If I were a bird, I’d be a egret !

If I were a Fast bowler, I’d be the one because of whom the team looses!

& If I were a Batsman, I’d be the one because of whom the team wins!

And yes, Gauri, I loved doing this tag. Thank you for passing it. I'd like to pass this on anyone who wants to do the tag. Chitra, and Manasa, I think you will also like doing this tag..:)

Yava mohana murali...

2010-05-14T08:48:00.004+05:30

I am not a knowledgeable person about music, coming to classic music, I would say that we run in two different directions. I can identify, perhaps, a few basic raagas. Nothing more that. I try to listen to all kinds of music, and choose the ones that I'll like best.

It was yesterday, when someone in the bus, had switched on their mobile phone, I think, I heard the classical rendition of "Yava Mohana murali kareyitho". I have heard this song in a Kannada movie which is slightly different from the classical one. Nevertheless, the song is very, very palpable and profound. It was a perfect delight to hear the classical version of the song.

My favorite section of the song,

"Sapta sagaradaache yello,
Suptha sagara kadide;
Moleya dalegala mookha marmara,
Indu illigu haayithe;"

Somewhere beyond the seven seas,
lies waiting a placid sea;
The silent whispers of the knee deep ripples,
come gently floating today;

Enchanting.

Keeping company of Narayan

2010-05-10T10:47:00.002+05:30

There was no internet at home for the weekend. My laptop charger had finally given up and the best I could do for the moment was order another one on the internet. I was using it for a considerable long time. So one can imagine my state without internet at home, I had cut myself from the civilization. At least I felt so for the first few hours.

I was thinking of experimenting with my culinary skills on Saturday, when my mother announced that she had already cooked lunch. This only dampened my enthusiasm for cooking. I suddenly had the urge to bake a cake. Baking a cake needed a microwave oven at least. When I told my mother that I really wanted to bake a cake, she laughed off asking where I was going to find an oven for baking. For which I replied that we could buy one. I did not want to eat cake that I could have bought from the bakery. I wanted to eat something that I have baked at home. However, by then, I was in no mood to get ready, go to some place and buy a microwave oven. So was my mother.

Therefore, we shifted the plans of buying a microwave oven to some other weekend.

It was then I remembered that we had a bag full of mangoes at home. The mangoes were all ripe and pulpy to touch. Eating them left a somewhat odd taste on the tongue. I suspected that the mangoes were ripened at a very early stage and with the aid of chemicals. Therefore, nobody in the house wanted to eat them.

I sliced the mangoes, squeezed the juice into a mixer container, added some jaggery to the mixer container and used the mixer to reduce the mixture into a semi solid taste. After this, I added some ice cubes and water to the mixture. I filled some tall glasses with the juice, asked my mom to pick herself a glass.

Finally, with a glass full of mango juice, I sat down on the bed with three books of R. K. Narayan. The books were, “The English teacher”, “The vendor of sweets”, and a collection of short stories, “Under the Banyan tree and other stories”.

As one might already know, R. K. Narayan’s stories are all set in Malgudi, a fictitious city/town prospering on the banks of river Sarayu. One thing about Malgudi is that any city or town in South India will identify itself with Malgudi. The language of the books is very simple, and the stories themselves revolve around ordinary lives of common people.

The title, “The English teacher”, is self-explanatory. It describes the life of an English lecturer as one might call them these days. The English lecturer gets married and has a kid. All is well in his world when suddenly tragedy strikes in his life. How he overcomes the tragedy, and finds a meaning to his life with what is left of him and his family forms the rest of the story.

Now, on the same lines, “The vendor of sweets” is a bittersweet story of a wealthy eccentric sweet vendor dealing with trivialities of bringing up a son as a single parent.

The collection of short stories was the last one. The short stories are interlaced with humor leaving you with a pleasant lingering feeling all the while. Some of the stories are grim, and pose poignant soul-searching questions. However, the rest of the stories are all lighthearted, and very simple. Most importantly, some words caught my eye, for example, word palavered, the use of which I normally would find only in GRE books.

While reading the books, I would sip the mango juice, savor the flavor of mango juice for a while and then drink it up slowly. After flipping around a few pages, I would get a refill of my juice glass and resume my reading. I must have had nothing less of three to four glasses that day. A great weekend spent well with company of a great author and enjoying the life of Malgudi.

Anu's gyan

2010-04-29T21:31:00.001+05:30

The easier it is to gain weight, the harder it gets to loose the same weight..:)

From experience...:)

I dont know what to title this post

2010-04-10T11:48:00.005+05:30

Someone whom I spoke to almost few days ago died recently. The person died in a motorcycle incident. First thing, I could not believe it. Then slowly the news started sinking in. It was not a person whom I am very close with, someone I barely knew.

And then the realization stuck to me that I will no longer be seeing the person ever again. Probably in another few days, I will even forget that the person ever existed. I wonder if he had left behind wife and children who would need his support. What will happen to those who depended on him.

That makes me think, the unpredictability of our own lives.

Its a thought that's very unsettling.

Megrim

2010-04-08T20:46:00.002+05:30

...was the word of the day from Dictionary.com.

Perhaps the word describes my state of mind perfectly. But I will be back soon. With better spirits.

And until I think of something, the silence continues.

One road trip

2010-02-19T21:23:00.012+05:30

One lazy Saturday afternoon. One long lost friend turns up. And on the spur of the moment, we decided to hit the highway roads.

Little apprehensive of H's riding skills, I become the unwilling pillion rider and yet we go for the Tumkur national highway. Stopping for only a ice cream at the cafe coffee day, we first visited the Siddaganga Institute of technology, and then headed towards Devarayana Durga.

Like all first things, we headed to the YogalakshmiNarasimhaswamy temple, paid our obeisances to the gods, dipped our feet in the cool Kalyani and watched some whiskered fish. After spending sometime there, we climbed down the temple and hiked the peak point right next to the temple.

Next on the itinerary was the Siddaganga Mata, and it was the time for "Ooru theru", the village fair. Milling around the crowd, we found ourselves eating junk food, buying fancy trinket jewelery (of which I am a big fan these days) and before we knew, it was five in the evening.

And we were back on the roads and reached home by seven. All in one day rather should I say one afternoon, with an unplanned itinerary but oodles of enthusiasm.

And let me tell you, there's no place like home at the end of a tiresome travel!

Day Dreaming

2010-01-17T18:45:00.000+05:30

The music ceased; the noonday dream,
Like dream of night, withdrew;
But Fancy, still, will sometimes deem
Her fond creation true-

Emily Bronte (Day Dreaming)

A total meaning less post

2010-01-08T14:01:00.002+05:30

Warning: Please don't read this post, this is a meaningless post.

I started out to write a post that had something to convey to others. That is a meaningful post. Now nothing meaningful thoughts enter my head. And so, I decide to write a meaningless post. How often do you end up with people who with their meaningless thoughts try to mislead your meaningful thought, and how often do you lead a meaningful post to some meandering meaningless post? Some people can be just so meaningless.

Well, a distasteful meaningless post. Don't tell me, I did not warn you?

Things that I want....

2010-01-01T00:01:00.000+05:30

I really want world peace. I mean it. I mean I want people to be more happy, I want that every child have a loving home, parents and all that.

Now even as I say this, there's a skeptical part of me telling that it highly impossible. But I, in my own way, however small, will work to fulfill this. I may not be able to achieve things on a grand scale, but on small note, I believe that all things however big always started in small, non descript ways.

So apart from that big dream, on my personal front, there are things that I always wanted to do and here goes my list.

Visit Manas sarovar at least once in my life. Not as a pilgrimage, but I believe that the trek is something that every nature loving person has to take.
Scale the Mount everest( I know this one is a slightly exaggerated one, as the above mentioned place and this one are quite close.)
Go visit New Zealand. It does have some of the most beautiful sights of the world. I do believe that.
Go around the world in eighty days. I borrowed the idea from the book of the same name. Now I do understand that its a easything to buy plane tickets and tarvel all around the globe. I want to travel by a ship, perhaps a cruise.
I want to visit the tribals in the deep jungles of Africa, South America. Learn about a lot cultures, both ancient and new. I want to try their costumes and cuisines(strictly vegetarian) as well.
I want to learn one foreign language. I tried learning German by myself. Often, I lose motivation in between the learning. But I really want to learn one, if not German then atleast French.
Someday, I want to write a novel. Just one. And then settle in some corner, all forgotten but nevertheless happy with myself.
I do still harbor one secret desire, to have at least one research paper published in my name in my field.
When I am all done with traveling, I want to build our house with me taking care of everything. The design and everything. I want to allocate one huge room specially for the books, cassettes, CDs and all that, I mean, a library.

Now, there goes my wish list. Christmas has gone by and the New year seems close. Hoping that the new year fulfills some on my to do list.

Here's to wishing you all a very very happy new year.

ನಿಮ್ಮೆಲ್ಲರಿಗೂ ಹೊಸ ವರುಷದ ಹಾರ್ದಿಕ ಶುಭಾಶಯಗಳು.

The new camera

2009-12-25T19:45:00.002+05:30

Its been almost more than a year and a half that I got a new camera. Just old enough.

When I first got the camera, there were things that I always wanted to do. Like take a lot of pictures, make lot of collages, store them and things like that.

Which is exactly what I did initially. The number of pictures clicked continued to hog the hard disk space available on my laptop and finally it came to a standstill.

Not because there was any shortage of space on my laptop. I mean, when you are happy, you are just happy. There is no time to take out the camera, capture the perfect moment, to relieve it later. I discovered that having the memory of that perfect moment in my head was good enough. Refreshing it later was better than taking a picture. It stays inside you. There are almost so very many happy moments that I can think about right now, which a camera or a picture fails to capture.

When I came back to Bangalore, that is exactly what happened. I planned to take many pics, save them, and store them. But I am so happy spending time with my family, refusing even to step out of the house even for short time, the thought of taking a picture of such a moment almost never crosses my mind. Even when it does, I hardly feel the necessity to take a picture. Thus the camera has taken cover in its leather pouch and sits comfortably nestled in the suitcase.

My camera, though I use it occasionally, if it had been human would have been able to fathom my negligence and forgive me for the same. I really hope so.

Staying alone

2009-12-24T01:56:00.002+05:30

One of the things when you learn while staying on your own is to cook for yourself. Once you get the hang of the basic procedure, then experiment is the name of the game.

I think I can call myself a decent cook...:) There are a lot of things that I can cook now..:)

What to do? We are like this onlyaaaaa!!!

2009-12-13T19:45:00.002+05:30

Morning, morning nobody wishes me good morning-u. I say, I dont mind ittu.

In Bengaluru, everyone talks like this only. You dont me believe me only, no aaa??

I thought so? See, everyday, after seeing, seeing everyone talk like this, I am also talking like this only.

What I say isu, you can associate with me if you know at least one regional Indian language-u, yesssu.

What to do? But I am liking itu very muchu..:)

Right here, right now

2009-12-07T10:44:00.005+05:30

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...

2009-11-25T13:35:00.001+05:30

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

Cure for cold, anyone??

2009-11-23T13:55:00.003+05:30

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

The date.

2009-11-07T10:46:00.009+05:30

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!

2009-11-06T02:46:00.004+05:30

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.

2009-10-21T13:31:00.003+05:30

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 recent discovery!

2009-10-17T13:56:00.006+05:30

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...:)

I rather leave this post untitled!

2009-10-16T11:53:00.006+05:30

How could she! Something akin to restlessness was building up inside him. He fumed. She was showering all her attention to someone else. Even as he stood and watched them, he wondered, how could she neglect him!

She looked up and found him watching her intently. For a moment, she thought she saw a slight uneasiness in him. Slowly she let of the guys hand she was holding, went up to him and spoke to him. Slowly, the uneasiness in him started melting away.

Someday, when his son would be all grown, the man would tell his son of how he had to share the attention of the one woman who meant so much to him, with him.

One sleepless night...

2009-10-14T13:05:00.005+05:30

Silences, ear splitting silences, with no one around, just sleepless. I get up, try to read a book and loose interest within no time. I switch on the laptop, browse internet for some good material, again, nothing interesting turns up. Its 12:00 in the night. No sleep.

Its cold outside, I boost the heater a little more. Still no sleep. Pull the comforter more close to yourself, curled up in the fetal position. No noise except the whirring of the heater. Pick up the same book and try reading.

The laptop is still open, and me, still ensconced in the warmth of the comforter, I fire up the internet explorer, open gmail, check for emails, restlessly hit the refresh button, quite often. Nothing interesting here. The time is 2:00 am in the morning. I am yawning now. But the sleep still seems to evade me.

I get up, make some tea, make a mental note to buy some sugar tomorrow. Come back to my bed, drink my tea, think of the stupid happenings of the day. Remember some good times. And some not so good ones. Either ways, smile all by myself at the stupidity of some situations. At the silliness of the situation, or my actions, reaction and at times, both.

Its 4:00 am in the morning. I am feeling hungry now. I kind of vow that I am not going to eat at this unearthly hour. Somehow the resilience is slowly breaking. Its kind of getting cold. I once again get up and enter the kitchen, scavenge for something to eat. I find some bread, milk, and some leftovers of the dinner. But then, don't feel like eating and so hit the bed.

The laptop is till open, I type out the post on how I am not able to sleep for the night. Its 5:00 am in the morning. Slowly, little by little, my eyelids are drooping. Its hard for me to keep awake. I think I am going to sleep. Ok guys, if you are still reading this. I must asleep then.

See you guys laters!!!!

My time...

2009-09-26T11:06:00.006+05:30

I am trying to write something. And the words don't seem to flow. Stuck up inside.

All I need is a gentle break.

I have a story to tell

2009-09-02T09:30:00.005+05:30

I, rather my family made the transition from being the lower middle class family to someone who can at least look after their meals and clothing. The transition was not a easy one.

To give an idea of how much lower middle class we were, let me give you an example.

I used to buy bus pass to travel during my engineering days. When the college reopened after the end of the previous semester, there used to time period of five to ten days when issuing the bus pass took time. Come to think of it, I never used to have money to travel by bus for these days which was a princely sum of fifteen rupees.

The worst of it which hit me was when my mother asked me to discontinue my studies and start looking for jobs. One can imagine the kind of frustration that was built up inside. For someone who preferred books to people, what a mind blowing shock that it must have been.

I had done everything possible from my side. I had tried looking for part time jobs, tried teaching a few kids for tuition fees. Someone rightly put, when negative things happen, they just keep happening. The kids parents whom I taught either demanded that their kids get good marks in school, or the kids would not attend the tuition regularly. And about the part time job, for a person who had never stepped out of the campus that she grew, she did not even know where to look for it.

There was no pocket money. Forget pocket money, I never bought books for the semester sometimes.

There were times when everyone in my class would discuss going to the newest movie, or buying the recent fashionable clothing available. Not that it was wrong thing to do. But for a person who was barely managing two square meals a day, trying to keep her studies afloat, trying to balance her life, it all seemed awkward. How out of place, I felt there amongst those people discussing things that were so irrelevant to my life.

I had tried to apply for scholarships, stood in lines for applications for hours together. Tried to take a few people into confidence, whom I thought would be of help.

Not to say I never had people who helped me. There was C and B. B would buy me tea every time we met. We sat and discussed some of the very stupid things in life. B, if you ever read this, I know I owe you lots, hope I will return some of it at least. Then C to whom I would crib so much and still not worry about a thing later.

Then there were some of the best seniors that I met during my engineering. Who lent their books for four semesters. I never bought a single book during these semesters. Somehow I managed to breeze through the semesters, took loan for the rest of semesters. Met some wonderful people like my lecturer with whom I make it a point to keep in touch even to this day. I love talking to him about his experiment and experience with life. My best friend PD, whom I can chitchat about the weirdest thing, simple and intelligent at the same time, can call her in the middle of the night without worrying about the time of call, and my blog, on which I can pour out things that I would never have thought discussing with anyone.

This was one of the major motivating factor to complete my masters too. I have come a long way. Today, I drive my own car and my own immediate concerns include moving to a better paying job, or owning a new car. To think, the worlds are at the opposite ends of the spectrum.

Yes, there was a time I thought I would never make it. Not to mention how depressing the situation would be. To think that I would never be able to complete studies, or do my masters. Or to do something I have always loved doing.

If you thought I was bragging about myself, no, that is not the case. I know people who have been in rougher, tougher situations than mine and have made it through. Without anybody's help, or pity. Just based on hard work and perseverance.

Today, I know life better. It has taught me humility. Most importantly, I respect life, mine as well as others. Not to mention but I know people will always try to trample on others dreams. And at the same time, there is nothing in this world that will stop you from what you rightly deserve. You should only hold on. The rest will come to you. Its a promise that life makes with you, when you respect life. Mine has come through.

Come and tell me when yours does.....

Some name game

2009-07-28T22:48:00.005+05:30

There is a quirky thing about my name. It has twelve alphabets, all together, excluding my last name. In its way, its very unique. But a lot of people don't get my name right at first.

Sometimes I wondered what my father had in mind, when he named me. Most of the forms that I had to fill had no spaces left in them for my last name. Well, almost. Mind you, there is no middle name, only first name and last name.

In school, I had a Malayalam teacher who never went past the Anna part of my name. Often ending up with permutations and combination of the rest of the name which was not particularly amusing when she called the names for attendance.

These are the most popular names that I have been called. Of course, mentioning the blunders that people make when calling out, I think I can dedicate another post to recount all those.

I tried teaching people at my office to call me Anu, but it doesn't seem to be happening. They find it hard to do. So I will have to be happy with Anna(the roman catholic name) for the time being.

In one particular instance, a lady at the Macy's counter pronounced it correctly, and also she thought I had a exotic name.

Listing all the nick names that I have been called so far.

Anu (I like this name, short and simple, most of my friends call me this way).
My grandfather and one of my favorite lecturers called me one name which was very nice.To know about it, ping me later, I will tell you.
My mother calls me one name which sounds nice to hear for me.
Anna (I mean the East Indian Anna, my neighbor, a lady don called me this. She is a very good friend of mine to this day, found her after a long time, thanks to networking sites).
Anna(The roman catholic name by which by my office people know me).
Anpoo( A friend from a long time back called me this. I have lost touch with him. He was my neighbor some time ago).
Avvi( My chikkappa, father's cousin who's almost my age called me this way). Between, He had baby girl recently. He called me on that day to share it with me. He remembered me..:)
Anu-akka, a slightly modified version of which is Annakka.I really don't like this name but really a whole lot of people called me this way.

Whats in a name, its the mere process of identifying someone. Between, I have to come to love my name, for there is hardly anybody else with this name..:) Something that not everyone can contend with...:)

State of confusion

2009-07-09T19:22:00.001+05:30

"The Hadamard -- the most beautiful gate in Quantum Computation. It turns a state of certainty (a pure state) into a state of confusion (a superposed state) . But as is normally the case, the state of confusion carries much more information."

I happen to read this in a book. There is a lot more to read on this. But then, this sentence held my attention. For a lot of things. The immediate example that soughed through my head after reading this one was, the classic electron example. Let me explain how.

The electrons that orbit around the a nucleus rather often have mundane existence. Like, a routine that never changes. But the ones that make the transition from the lower to higher energy levels or vice versa cause a lot of changes, changes that pave way to materials changing states, forms, physical appearance, and what not. Some times the reactions are volatile and have no meaning and many times, they lead to new materials forming. In a way, I think that a electron jumping states leads a more exciting life.

I think I have to add this disclaimer towards the end of this post. I have not read much in terms of the context on the statement that is made neither am I stating that what I am telling here is right. For all I know, it may be wrong.

Probably if there are refutations to be made on this statement, please let me know. I will answer when I have read on this matter and can apply what I have read to support my theory.

Period.

A complete meal

2009-07-02T20:31:00.007+05:30

Three different types of curries, Mango pickle with steaming hot white rice, holige saru, one sweet dish, and the curds with rice at the end of it. Mrushtanna bhojana that is.

Complete when you sit squatting on the floor with the all above mentioned on an plantain leaf and finally you get to lick your fingers clean. Uncouth, did someone say, no way, I am appreciating a wonderful meal, I'd say.

Ah, life is good, I say.

The common factor

2009-06-13T21:44:00.006+05:30

I am a common girl. Everything about me is very common. There is nothing special or great about me. I am just another face in the crowd. I come from a typical middle class family. Again, it is very common. Even my circle of friends is very common. No celebrities, or great, or successful, or powerful people in the circle. I am not gifted in any way. At least not in anyway that will make people turn around and look at me. In a crowd, I can hardly say something that will hold people's attention even for few seconds.

There is something very unique about being common.

Like the scent of the earth from the first rain. Like letting your feet dangle in the river current. Like sharing a cup of chai between friends from the roadside stall on a rainy day. Like letting the wind blow in your face when you drive. I think common sense in a high degree is intelligence.

Just like the common things that make you uncommonly happy.

The fear of worse

2009-06-02T20:05:00.011+05:30

An update: One of the readers of this blog pointed out to me that a story called Devvada Mane penned by K. V. Iyer in his collection of short stories is similar to this one. With due respects to the original author, I would like to tell you the source of my story.

My paternal grand mother happened to tell me this story. There never was a dull moment around her(well almost, except for a few times). She could tell things with the right humor and make people around her laugh. Which I think is some serious talent. Now the story is common folklore around my native town which happens to be a tiny village near Bagalkote. It still is told to people in and around surrounding villages.

Once there was a young brave man in our village. He often boasted that nothing in this world could scare him. Nobody really knew if he was that brave or if he just boasted of the braveness. Most of the times, people were tied to their work, and had little or no time to spare for terrible loathsome bragging.

Evenings were the times for the tired minds and body to rest. Everyone gathered around the village square which happened to be a raised stone platform built around the huge Neem tree. They shared their woes, troubles, discussed the best possible methods to solve them. Someone did not own enough oxen to plough through the fields. Another offered his oxen in promise for labor when it was time to reap his ripe fields. One did not have enough water in his well to water his fields and was trying to ask someone else who could give it to him. This way they prepared for the day that lay ahead of them and to begin another scuffle for life. Simultaneously as they rested, they talked, and talked on, until their eyelids drooped and they toppled over with sleep.

It was one such particular evening that the men gathered around the Neem tree, and were discussing their routines, that our brave man made his way into the platform and started his big headed talking. Everyone looked on. Evidently, they were tired of it. It was then decided that our man's bravery should be put to test. It was conveyed to everyone else that something had to be done.

The next day, as was the routine, while everyone was present, the brave one started his gibber. But unlike the routine, he was pleasantly surprised that everyone took notice of his talk today. One of the men, then started to talk about the village cemetry and how a ghost apparently assaulted many a men who managed to pass by the route, and had ruffled even the bravest of men. Not to be outdone, our brave man said even that ghost could not do anything to him. In the not so pleasant banter that ensued, voices rose and a bet had been decided. It was that the brave man would enter the cemetry all alone, on a full moon day, and drive a staff in to the ground near a agreed place. Our man could not have been happier that he had finally been given a chance to prove his prowess.

On the appointed day, at the strike of midnight, he entered the cemetry, armed with the pole. The moon shone to his might and cast dubious shadows all around only to be obscured when the clouds masked the moon light. The brave man shivered when a owl hooted from a distant place. A chill began to snake up his spine when a bandicoot rustled the leaves while he scooted around foraging for food. Still undaunted, our man arrived at the agreed place and painfully began to drive the staff into the ground.

When he was done, some sort of relief seemed to wade around. It was time to go. He turned around to walk. Something held him. Terror stricken, he dare not to turn around. Color drained from his face, the air around him seemed to grasp his neck almost strangling him. He tried to yank himself free and still, something strong seemed to hold him. His feet suddenly felt heavier. The ghost had finally caught him, he thought, still not turning around to see what held him. The thoughts in his head became murkier. The air seemed to have blown out of his lungs. He could barely breathe, and he fell with a thud to the ground. Silence gravely hung all over the place.

Morning came but our brave man had not returned home. The other men, armed with implements for their protection, visited the grave to see what had become of the man and his bravery. When they arrived, they saw a man who had fallen. He had fallen quite close to the pole that he had driven. Still scared, they came close to the place. Upon close inspection, the man had a look on face, the look that said he had seen the devil himself. They also saw that the man had nailed the pole right on his Dhotra. The men returned home that day with the dead man to perform the rituals for the dead.

Had the man looked around to see that it was his Dhotra that had held him, he would have been alive.

It was not the devil that had killed him. It was the fear of the devil that had killed the man.

Love's labor lost

2009-05-22T04:05:00.004+05:30

Some of my early memories of learning English language definitely includes my mother. She never knew a word of English when she moved to the city after her marriage. That did not deter her from learning it. She got herself a Kannada to English translation book, learnt it and taught us to read English. She sat with us as we finished our homework, read our lessons for the day, and practiced writing. This continued till we could manage to study ourselves without my mother's help.

Years passed, our textbooks grew heavier as we advanced through school and my mother became more busier in the kitchen. Three thoroughly spoilt brats kept her hands full. And with that, it was her English that took the backseat. It hit the rock bottom when she had problems even reading smaller words. There was not once she thought about correcting it. It remained so for a long time.

Not until recently. Over the past year, I had been literally pestering my mother to take up studies again. Most of the times, she refused me outright stating that her age was not quite right for studying and that there were more serious burning issues at hand that needed my attention. We often had conversations almost on the verge of turning polemic. And very few times, she sighed, nodded her head in agreement and told that she would do something about it. I am pretty sure that she did not do anything about it at all.

I once accompanied her to the local grocery store, where she shopped regularly. After she had bought everything that she wanted, she asked the shopkeeper, "Ree, Water melon iddiya nimm hathra?"("Do you have any water melons?"). I was a little surprised but did not show it at that time.

While talking to her over the phone recently, she said,"Putta, pakkad mane pachu examge study madidedane nervous agibidthale"("Pachu gets nervous without studying for her exams"). I gently chided her, "Amma, Kannada bittu neevu yavaga English sahebre mommagaLu adri?"("Amma, when did you stop talking Kannada and turned to be the grand daughter of the English officer?"). To which she replied with new found prudence,"Illa putta, English gottirbeku, Thumbane sahaya aguthe. Kelasa ella aramagi aguthe"("You should know English. It helps. Things become a little more easier "). I did not talk more on the matter. Our conversation lead to other things and I put the phone down after talking for some time.

I had a pleasant feeling for the rest of the day and felt like someone. Someone whose favorite team had won the quarter finals for the world cup match. Yeah, I know the trophy is away. Oh well, my team is on its way. After all, Love's labor is not totally lost.

21

2009-05-18T18:55:00.002+05:30

is the number of traffic signals on my way from home to work place. And there has been only one instance wherein all of them turned green as I drove past them.

Belated happy returns, my dear!

2009-05-11T20:17:00.000+05:30

When I started this blog, it was quite anonymously started. Nobody even knew that it existed. I did not bother to tell anyone. I had followed few blogs regularly, to be precise, religiously. I still do. One of them was Sanjay's blog which I had linked on my blog. Today, I would prefer to recognise him as Janamari's appa.

He had found me, knowing or unknowingly. How he happened to hit on my blog, I do not know. But he left a wonderful comment.

To put it in his words, "hey a truly lovely name of this blog! wonder who you are and how you know me considering that you've linked to me (thanks!) Good luck and writing is a nice hobby... have fun! :-) hope your manasa sarovara becomes pure with a lot of beautiful lotus blooming on its surface to delight others!".

You will know well what it means to be apppreciated by someone, the one without the burden of expectations, or strings of performance attached, just pure appreciation.

Fifty seven posts in a span of three years. Thats not quite what it was intended to be. Hey, I am working on it too.

Thanks Sanjay.

And my dear blog, Belated happy returns of the day.

Information Overload

2009-04-22T08:17:00.002+05:30

Information overload is inevitable, it is up to one to make sense out of it..:)

Now, where did I read this??

Frozen in time

2009-04-21T02:20:00.004+05:30

It is late in the evening. I walk back home slowly after a long day at office. Usually, I am engrossed in my thoughts and rarely look at people walking besides me. Today is no different either.

I see a pair walk beside. Perhaps the father and son are out for their evening walk. The tiny tot holds the elderly man's hand and is trying to keep in step with him, constantly chortling all the while. Almost when I am about to turn into my thoughts again, the little guy falters and falls down.

It was a sight to see. The big bear like man with weathered hands holding the little guy, gently brushing the dust of the little guy’s shirt, almost scared that his rough skin would brush hard against the soft skin of the tiny tot, so exquisite, almost iridescent in soft glow of twilight. There is huge concerned look on the big guy’s face. Its hard to describe what I see.

Enraptured by the moment, I look on, without realizing that I am staring hard at them. I don’t even rush to help the little guy up his feet. Neither do I turn away the scene.

Soon, the little guy is back on his feet, and they resume their evening walk. Perhaps they even think that the young lady was just too rude to offer help and to top it all, just stands and stares. It did not matter, of some things that made the lady happy from inside; they unknowingly had given her one.

Exercise, a necessity

2009-04-12T05:51:00.003+05:30

Some people are regulars to the gym to which I visit regularly.

I have observed a very interesting phenomenon amongst some of them. Most of them drive their cars to the place. Most of the times, if not all the time, these people tend to search for a parking spot close to the entrance of the gym. Many empty parking spots are available towards the other end. But no, people want only those places that are close to the entrance. They don't mind waiting until an empty space opens up and then park their vehicle, ensuring that they walk the least distance possible.

What I don't understand here is the fact that they are here for exercise, but still they mind walking a few more steps than the normal? Is visiting the gym mandatory while forgetting the small details which could serve the purpose of visiting the gym? Perhaps, for them, it might.

No more comments, period.

Time to stand and stare

2009-04-08T13:37:00.004+05:30

Fresh whiffs of air, sunshine, water, walk in the woods, walks during during moon lit nights aside river banks, and books are some of the things that have never failed to enthuse me. These are things that have remained my interest right from my childhood, and stayed through. I would wait silently for dragon flies to fall prey to my bait, so that I can catch and keep them for pets. Those were my prized possessions. Standing around the anthill, I would often wonder at the dexterity that the tiny creatures presented, and how the snake made the anthill its home. I thought it was unfair sometimes. But then I would not dare to shoo the creature away. In the order of things created by nature, everything is fair. Even if it was not, whom do we complain to? We just have to convince ourselves that life will be fair. I digress here.

In that manner, I have been a precocious child. I would often observe a lot of things around and ask my mother even more lot of questions. My mother, poor her, after trying to explain, would answer almost whatever she could and as for the rest, she simply accepted that she did not know. Seriously one has to admire a mother's patience especially at times when she deals with her children, perhaps the ones like me. And how I loved it.

Since my return from India, I have managed to squeeze time to read one book. Office, home, gym, everything has become a regular part of my life, in a big way. Everything just needs to be there, you know, in the big way. And sometimes, its just the inertia of being.

W. H. Davies aptly describes the situation in his words,

"What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?"

Really, the beauty of routine has taken its toll. Or simply I have to accept the compromises and go on.

Baaaaaaaaaad financial times.

2009-03-03T02:39:00.000+05:30

Q. What does one do for a company when it is passing through bad financial times?

A. Get a sheep to mow the lawn.

Thats what Widlar did for National Semiconductor. But a fine sureshot.

What would you do?

ಇದು ಬಾಳು

2009-02-20T04:07:00.002+05:30

ಅಳುವ ಕದಲೊಳು ತೆಲೀ ಬರುತಳಿದೇ ನಗೆಯ ಹಾಯಿ ದೋಣಿ

ಬಳ ಗಂಗೆಯ ಮಹಪೂರದೊಳು ಸಾವಿನೋಂದೂ ಏಣಿ

ನೆರತಿದೆ ಮರೆಯುತಿದೆ ಕುಣಿವ ಮೋರೆವ ತೆರೆ ತೆರೆಗಳೊನೀಯಲ್ಲಿ

ಜನನ ಮರಣಗಳ ಉಬ್ಬು ತಗ್ಗು ಹೊರಳುರುಳುವಾಟವಲ್ಲಿ!!

ಆಸೆ ಬೂದಿ ತಳದಲ್ಲು ಕೆರಳುತಿವೆ ಕಿದಿಗಳೆನೀತೋ

ಮರಳಿಮುರಿದು ಬಿದ್ದ ಮನ ಮರದ ಕೊರದೋಳು ಹೂವು ಹೂವು ಅರಳಿ

ತೀರಾಲಾರಾದೆದೇಯಾಳ್ಧಲ್ಲೂ ಕಂಡೆನಿತು ಏಕ ಸೂತ್ರ

ಕಂಡೂಧುನುಟು ಬೆಸೇ ಬೆಸೇಗಳಲ್ಲು ಬಿನ್ನತೆಯವಿಕಟ ಹಾಸ್ಯ!

ಆಸೆ ಎಂಬ ತಳವೋಡೆದ ದೋಣಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ದೂರ ತೀರಾಯಾಣ

ಯಾವ ಲೀಲೆಯೋ ಯಾರೋ ಏನೋ ಗುರಿ ಇರದೆ ಬಿಟ್ಟ ಬಾಣ

ಇದು ಬಾಳು ನೋಡು ಇದ ತಿಳಿದೆಂದರು ತಿಳಿದ ಧೀರನಿಲ್ಲ

ಹಲವುತನದ ಮೈಮರೆಸುವಾತವಿದು ನಿಜವೂ ತೋರದಲ್ಲ!

ಬೆಂಗಾಡು ನೋಡು ಇದು ಕಾಂಬ ಬಯಲು ದೊರಕಿಲ್ಲ ಆಡಿ ಅಂತ್ಯ

ಇದ ತಿಳಿದೆಂದ ಹಲರುಂಟ್ಟು ತಣಿದೇನೇನ್ಡ್ವರ ಕಾಣೆನಯಯ

ಅರೆ ಬೆಳಕಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಬಾಳಲ್ಲಿ ಸುತ್ತಿ ನಾವೆಶ್ಟೋ ಮಲೇತೂ ಮರೆದು

ಕೊನೆಗೂ ಕರಗುವೆವು ಮರಣ ತೀರಾ ಘನ ತಿಮಿರದಲ್ಲಿಬೆರೆತು

Adiga's composition. The only truth.

Habanera(aria)

2009-02-18T01:48:00.002+05:30

Love is a Bohemian's child,

it has never, ever, recognized the law;

if you love me not, then I love you;

if I love you, you'd best beware!

Simply put, nice.

The hopeless romantic that I am

2009-02-17T03:45:00.003+05:30

I am no poet. But there are times, I just have to let go of the world, let myself drown in the magic of music, words. Sounds like I am drunk today but that describes me perfectly, the eternal hopeless romantic, madly in love with life.

He He He

2009-02-04T21:35:00.001+05:30

Someone ended up on my blog looking for ten reasons to marry a computer, and top ten reasons to marry an engineer.

Someone else came here looking for "my love mansa" .

Perhaps the last thing I would want is people ending up on my blog looking for love/marriage..:P

He He He

Be right back

2009-01-22T19:07:00.006+05:30

Well, its been almost two months that I have not written anything here out on this space. Perhaps when a vacation that was intended to be twenty six days became thirty six days, there is hardly anything you can do. I am back from Bengalooru, getting used to the new routine, and have tons of things to share ranging from about the trip, people I met during this period, some pleasant surprises, some not so pleasant ones, books, movies, to a lot a of observations. I am currently stuck up with all the pending work at office, a little extra training that I am going through in the office. The hardest of all is the fact that I am back to doing my stuff alone.

But I am not letting my decadent lifestyle hit my blog. There is no way that my blog will suffer due to my own sheer neglect.

Will be right back with all the updates in the next few days. So stay tuned, and welcome back to my blog.

Seven more days...

2008-11-26T21:12:00.002+05:30

...to escape the winter though only for a month, to eat anna-saru everyday(without me having to cook), take the usual lazy walks to nowhere near my house, get scolded by Amma for being lazy, unnecessarily giggle with my sister.

To return to the city that is home. Back to feel the hustle and bustle of Bangalore life.

Imagination Unlimited

2008-11-20T06:52:00.004+05:30

Now, people who know me well, or people who have known me for a minimum of six months will tell you, that I have a wild wild imagination. How wild, you cannot imagine..;)

One of my constant source of comedy are people, well to be precise, women who wear stilettos. They amaze as well as amuse me. They amaze me with their nimbleness after wearing those high heels and amuse me because, I always imagine them stepping on a banana peel, falling on the ground or even better, one of the stiletto's heels breaking loose under their heavy weight. The very sight in my mind creates ripples of laughter inside me, that I have to control myself not to laugh at them on their face, or behind them. I know this is unkind of me but then there is no harm done anywhere. I am not actually throwing banana peels or breaking the heels. I am just imagining things.

Another imagination of mine,(and which is blog-gable) is the one when I have to go to the doctors. You know what I mean. No don't you, well, when the doctor says that I have bacterial fever, I go to the extent of imagining things like the bacteria breeding inside my body, how the good cells react, how they fight and finally how they win. While I see this in my mind, I wonder, that these cells perform their functions without being aware that they are a part of me, and perhaps I may be that smallest working unit of higher organism. And perhaps who knows, that higher organism is the working unit of another higher organism. There is no end to it right? I have had this imagination since times I had the knowledge to reason out things and learnt about bacterial colonies, origin of life.

For a better part of my life, I had a imaginary friend. His name was Elprotho. I don't know why I named him so. Somehow that name sounded exotic. Nobody knew about him except for one or two of my friends. He had a greenish skin and his skin which was shriveled up like the rind of the bittergourd hung loosely all over him, the sagging more discernible at places. It wasn't the dirty green. His eyes were at the end of the tentacles that seem to sprout out of at the places where eyes should have been in a normal human being. Also, he had a slightly bent stature, no complete straight backbone. There was something very pleasant about him, with a kind and distant look in his eyes. And he was definitely different and definitely not human. Some picture that I saw somewhere must have inspired me, and I don't know which one. He was my best friend for quite sometime. I talked to him all the time. And he went away when I started having other friends. Its hard that he doesn't come and talk to me these days, there are times when I wish that he was still there for me. I miss him very much.

Of course, there are the other unblog-gable ones. Which I am sure can be silly as they get and I start giggling all over thinking about them. So the next time, you see a young lady chuckling all by herself, (giggling is an understatement sometimes), please come and and shake hands with her. And if you happen to be one of those ladies or gentleman, at whose cost I am bursting into peels of laughter, I am really sorry. I really mean it but there is no way that I will be avoid laughter.

Other voices, other rooms

2008-11-19T19:11:00.004+05:30

Truman Capote's novel, "Other voices, Other rooms", is the latest read on my bookshelf.

The entire novel captures the coming of age of an adolescent, Joel Knox, the entire story is set in the rural Southern American household as the background. The moulting process that occurs when one morphs from the young boy to an adult, who has to come to terms with himself and accept himself as he is, is described in the book.

The language is brilliant, no, brilliance is an understatement. It strikes you with its excellence. There is a sadness in the entire book. Brutal are the words that vividly capture the turmoil of the youngster's mind.

I am not sure if I can emphathize or relate to with the any of characters in the book. Nevertheless, the book is an excellent read.

Hope

2008-11-17T19:25:00.002+05:30

“Do you think I still can fight, and win after all the wounds that were inflicted on me?” he asked her earnestly.

“Yes indeed you can”, she said.

“But I am tired, and don’t want to live anymore, I am tired of fighting”, he cried out in anguish.

“Look, I understand you are tired and angry”, she said as a matter of fact and smiled.

“But they are so many and I am just one”, he said.

“And you are better than all of them put together”, she simply smiled again.

“Who are you”, he asked, “and why do you want to help me?”

“I am the hope that resides within you”, she answered, smiling, “and I will never leave your side. The fact that I am still with you, is proof that you will win. What is this failure but temporary? After all, nothing is lost until hope is lost.”

Survival of the fittest

2008-11-03T19:40:00.002+05:30

As the vixen sunk her teeth into the skin of the lamb kid, the goat mother cried out, “you would have had kids sometime, would you let someone bite your kids?” .For a moment the vixen let go of the kid and replied, “but I have to feed my children” before biting into her prey again.

As the vixen fed her children in the cave, a shadow emerged from the inner cave. Before the vixen could realize, the tiger had pounced on the babies and immediately killed one of them. The rest of the babies ran into the forest away from the tiger’s sight. In the fight that ensued between the vixen and the tiger, the tiger won unanimously. Badly bruised, the vixen ran into the wilderness.

The tiger took home his kill for the day to feed his children. Sad.

Of Phantoms in the brain

2008-10-31T02:29:00.002+05:30

OK, people, before I proceed with this post, I want to ask the very few people who read my blog one question. What is the connecting link between Shakespeare, phantom limbs, Bhagvad Gita, Sigmund Freud, Charles Darwin, brain, our free will, our daily emotions, and human intelligence?

While you ponder, read this post at your leisure.

Imagine having to wake up one day and find that your left arm is paining. Others around you call you crazy telling that you lost your left arm a few months ago. But you argue that your left arm is still existent and is paining now. The doctor you visit directs you to a psychologist. Even more outrageous is the case wherein you believe that someone very close, say your parents or siblings is an impostor.

I wouldn’t have known about phantom limbs or Capgras syndrome, had I not read the book the phantoms in the brain by V S Ramachandran (henceforth VSR).

In his book, VSR offers delightful and yet profound insights into the mechanism of the complex thing called the human brain. And still his book is readable by any layman without specialized knowledge of the brain structure or the human body in general.

The book provides you with details of his theories, his case studies which support or wrong his theories and the simple solutions he presents to alleviate the problems of such people. It also provides an account of evolution of the brain wherein VSR takes a pathological approach to questions that would sound very philosophical.

While he tries to assuage the problems his patients face, he delves into the unexplored terrain of the human mind to probe into the mysteries like the existence of god, man’s quest for immortality, our denial theory for things that we don’t understand and don’t want to understand, amongst the many other questions.

One of the very important aspects of the nature of VSR’s experiments is the fact that he employed very simple methods and equipment rather than sophisticated methods (= a whole lot of money) very much like his simple writing.

Another best part of the whole process is the fact that our so called freewill itself is merely hundreds of neurons talking to each other, and our emotions that we reflect daily are nothing but these frenzied neurons that are firing in different directions. Sounds simple, isn’t it, but the complexity lies in the fact that the neurons are out there millions or perhaps even billions in number.

Also, the question remains, if we were able to map out the complexity, can we cultivate a new set of super duper intelligent humans? But at this stage wherein the brain remains the unexplained territory, only people like VSR can lead us to light. This book is definitely an interesting read.

Now, coming back to the earlier question, I don’t think I have to answer that one right?? They are all mentioned in the book, and they all relate in way or the other to the working of the brain, mind.

Note: VSR is an engaging speaker; his world famous talks can be found here, here, here, here, and here. Do check out his website here. Also, there is a lot of material available on youtube and online.

Of a beautiful land

2008-10-22T22:25:00.001+05:30

The poet, Adikavi Pampa, sings the lines, "ಆರಂಕೂಸಾಮಿಟ್ತೋದಾಮ್ ನೆನೇವುದೆನ್‌ನ ಮಾನಮ್ಬನ್ವಾಸಿ ದೇಶಮಮ್" which means that when a spear pierces my heart, my heart yearns for Banavasi and "ಮಾರಿದುಂಬಿಯಾಗಿ ಮೇಂ ಕೋಗಿಲೆಯಾಗಿ ಪುಟ್ತುವುದೂ ನಂದನದೋಲ್ ಬನವಾಸಿದೇಶಡೋಲ್'" meaning to say, I should be reborn in the land of Banavasi atleast as a bee or a nightingale.

"ಕುರಿತೋದದೆ ಕಾವ್ಯ ಪರಿಣೀತಂ ಕರ್ನಾಟಕ ಜಾನಪದ (Unlearned people from the land of Karnataka excel in poetry)" said the famous poet, Nrupatunga, in his literary work, Kavirajamarga, describing the people of Karnataka.

All of a beautiful land called Karnataka, with its splendid beauty, grandeur and people with warm hearts.

A simple technique

2008-10-21T21:15:00.000+05:30

I realized today that while writing a one line mail in gmail, one can do away with the irritating question that gmail throws up, when you dont have either a subject or mail body, by typing the eom at the end of the message in the subject line. Tada tadaan, there is no question asked.

An evening with Khaled Hosseini

2008-10-20T18:53:00.005+05:30

I reached the place twenty minutes earlier than the decided time. Time ticked slowly as I waited for him to come. I was mightily scared that I might miss him in the crowd. Was that person with slight grey hair on his side cheeks be him, I wondered. I chided myself, no it couldn’t be, he looked so different in the snap. Finally he emerged from the shadows, there was no way that one could miss him; all the lights were on him, the cynosure. He was five minutes late. Simply clad in a suit and stubble on his cheeks, the man look tired. Probably it could be the travel fatigue. But it did not matter. I had all my attention for him. Unfortunately for me, his attention was divided over a thousand odd people in the audience, along with me.

As part of distinguished speaker series at the university near my house, I had the good fortune of attending a talk by Khaled Hosseini, the author of the books, “The Kite runner” and “A thousand splendid suns”.

The session began, with the author reading out the initial passages from the book, The Kite runner in which Amir, the protagonist of the story, receives a phone call, and realizes that the past was beckoning him for redemption.

For the next half and hour, he spoke while everybody listened, answering every question the host had for him. Clippings of the movie based on his book were shown intermittently, for which he joked that the host did really know how to choose the scenes.

One of the most commonly question, he said, everybody asked was whether the book was from his own experiences, a matter of assuaging of his guilt, which he felt for his own country. For which, he said, that the story after a certain time, reaches a stage where it develops a voice of its own, and decides its own fate. It initially draws on the characters that a author would have seen, or those that have made an impact on him and finally, the voice of the story taking over. It is thrilling, he said, when the story takes a complete form, sort of a high for the author when the ordeal is over.

On one occasion, he replied that he was under qualified to be able to educate the next would be US president on how to deal with the Afghan situation evoking cackles of laughter from the audience.

There were many questions that the author seemed to field well, almost requesting the US government to win the battle in Afghanistan, by wining the hearts of people rather than dropping bombs or creating war.

The session proceeded slowly towards the end. It was an indeed to pleasure to meet and talk to someone who writes in hope that his book will serve as hope to those warfare torn country people.

The Great Gatsby

2008-10-17T03:02:00.006+05:30

One man makes it to the top rungs of the social ladder, to attain what he thinks is happiness. The book, “The Great Gatsby”, by Scott Fitzgerald, tells the story of Gatsby, a self made man.

The narration is rendered through the eyes of a third man, a bystander, a common man, Nick, who reveres Gatsby. He is a witness as well as has a role to play to the occurrences in the novel.

The narrator, Nick, having made up his mind not to judge anybody, recalls the incidents in the life of Gatsby in which the characters Daisy, Tom, Jordan, Wilson, and Myrtle appear and disappear like mere puppets in hands of their personal comforts and gains. The author makes his observations as the narrator in the book.

Gatsby has strived hard for years together, surrendering himself to his dream and his resolve to make his aspirations come true. Once at the top, he thinks he can change the tide of time in his favor, by using his new found freedom. The drama unfolds itself opening up the pretentiousness of the human foolishness as the narrator traverses the folds of time.

At certain times in reading the novel, I could actually see the characters come alive and play their roles. So beautifully rendered is the narration.

Times magazine declared the book to be one of the best 100 books of all time. Now, I know why.

A filmfare affair

2008-10-12T20:11:00.005+05:30

The recent movies that I have watched are A Wednesday. It’s a nice movie. Naseeruddin Shah and Anupam Kher give their sterling performances once again.

Then there is the Evil dead series, from part one to part three. I watched all three of them. The funniest part is that, I found it more of a comedy rather than scary. Some of them scenes were just plainly disgusting. I think Bruce Campbell can give Jim Carrey a run for his money with these movies. Why Jim Carrey, he can give our own Rajnikanth an inferiority complex. In one particular scene, the hero is fighting off some evil in an underground well, wherein the priest throws a mortar-saw down unto the well; the timing is so perfect that it fits exactly right into broken right hand, and the hero is successful in battling of the evil spirit. Don’t ask me about the next few sequences, it’s really disgusting. Now, isn’t that something of Rajnikanth style? Total time pass; definitely watch it with a couple of friends who know how to laugh.

Upon my colleague's recommendation, I watched Bubba Hotep, supposedly a horror movie, again by our 1980 Jim Carrey version aka Bruce Campbell, which again failed in everything. Nothing much to talk about this movie.

I watched the Spanish movie, Pan's labyrinth (of course, with English subtitles). I must admit I am in love with this movie. Fabulously made, it captures a child's imagination, if you can call an eleven year old one. Like the way the movie posters declare, it’s truly an adult’s fantasy. Personally, I liked it because it reconnects me to my own childish imaginations about another world and things like that. Sometimes, the movie confuses me, I really seem to be at a loss deciding whether if there was another world actually or the kid was imagining it herself. The incidents from the two worlds seemed to be intertwined which further complicates the scene. Nevertheless, it’s a good movie.

Moving on, this series, we have the Wes Anderson movies, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, and finally the Darjeeling Limited. Unconventional heroes, definitely not the every woman’s dream kind of men, but simple, everyday men, hugely talented, and yet unsuccessful people, intelligent humor are only some of the characteristics that define his movies. There are no messages left by the movie, the interpretation is left open to the viewer. Yes, I do not mean to say I like everything about these movies, but often forbidden alleys are explored, which in itself lends a distinct quality of standing apart from the rest of the crowd.

Soon, in this series to follow are the rest of his movies, which I plan to watch soon.

Anu says

2008-09-16T20:09:00.003+05:30

" True story, modified accordingly", I actually googled this one to see if there was anybody who mentioned this earlier but didnot find any reference to it. I can safely assume it to be mine.

" I am all that I want to be and all that I don't want to be", mine and only mine.

"Youtube alli google madi", not very uncommon but still unique in its own aspect.

"Silences doesn't definitely mean absence of wit and sarcasm", don't know if somebody else has already said this.

Overheard this at a table in pizza hut, " This is awesome shit", pizza and shit, yuck, and he is eating it....:P

or so said Anu.

Indianness

2008-08-15T18:12:00.001+05:30

You can take a man out of India but not India out of a man.

Celebrating sixty years of Independence, Happy Independence Day..:)

Blogger bytes

2008-07-01T05:46:00.001+05:30

You know that the blogger bug has bitten you heralding the arrival of blog -era when

You open your blog account, after getting tired of leaving anonymous comments on other blogs, and feel the need to express yourself.
The common person yesterday today has become the all knowing saint who dispenses knowledge on how to eradicate darkness from this world by means of his blog.
Little incidents transmogrify into deep philosophical actions delving deeply into human mind psychology offering insights that you never thought existed.
Day to day incidents become either blog-able or nonblog-able.
You arrive in the office and the first thing you open is the blog account email ID earlier than your official ID or personal email for any comments on your blog.
You soak in the rain, splash around puddles like young kids, blog about it and then feel happy about the whole thing.
You know that the kid in the neighborhood bawled last night not because you heard it in the night, nay, more because the parent posted it on her/his blog about it.
The husband waits patiently for the wife to join him for dinner past eleven while the wife hastily finishes posting on the blog.
A person of marriageable age asks if the prospective bride/groom owns a blog.
When you ask, request, pester, threaten and bribe your family, friends and roomies to read your posts and leave comments.
In the early days, you told a woman a secret (to spread it faster) and asked her not to tell it to anyone. Now you just blog.

(I am personally glad that the image of woman as gossipmongers is slowly going out of fashion).

Do you have some more reasons to add, then what are you waiting for, the comments section is waiting…:P

Its all the same

2008-06-17T03:56:00.004+05:30

Initially, when I came to US, there was a slight discernible change in the English language that people here spoke from the one that I knew. The difference wasn't too much, but it presented itself in subtle ways. It wasn't necessary to understand them, but the nuances keep occurring and at times, it takes a few minutes to actually realize them.

Like the time once, when I was working on campus at our university as a student assistant. I was given a new room for my office. The person who collected garbage as usual came in looking for the trash can and asked me for it.

"The dustbin is under the table " I replied.

"The what??", he asked.

"The waste basket", I replied. He still did not get it and nodded in negative.

"Something that you throw dust, garbage in", I said hoping he would understand. Its amazing how I forget some things at the right moment, making up my own methods to remember them.

"Oh, now I get you, you mean the trash can, don't yaa?", he asked. I replied in affirmative.

It was then I realized the difference that existed. As usual, googling the matter threw some light on the matter. Indians follow the Queen's English, the English that the British left when they left India. It was what I knew. But which is inherently different from the American English. And the nuances of which started becoming clearer and clearer as my days passed in US of A.

Another time, I got out of the subway train and asked the lady nearby about the lift. The lady threw a surprised glance at me and asked what was that I was exactly looking for. By now, I knew I had to ask for a elevator or an escalator. She pointed in the direction of escalator.

Some other things that I have realized are that a gramophone in Britain, Germany and India is a phonograph in USA while car/freight in USA is simply a railway carriage in India.

One thing that I find it very interesting is the fact that some people don't acknowledge Queen's English. Also, I am sure there will much more to this than what I have written here. But now I can say I understand the finer differences, if not everything.

My new found love(s)

2008-06-12T07:35:00.009+05:30

My recently discovered loves,

Love 1: Rainy day, Tim Horton's corner, a cup of hot chocolate, and a good book.

Love 2: Paula donuts shop table, brownie, a cheese bagel, yellow or orange evenings and again a good book.

Love 3: Subway veggie delights... :).

I would have included a book in love 3 but maneuvering the veggie delight without spilling it too much or dirtying around the place is hard. So I leave it out.

Love 4: English classical music which I listen to on this radio. String quartets, piano, just anything that appeals my senses.

More on my list that I have not tried but want to try,

1. Biking around downtown Buffalo with my camera.

2. Hiking along some forest area, including camping.

Soon, I will be doing the biking thing. But the hiking part will take some more time... :)

Blogger wins!

2008-06-04T08:44:00.005+05:30

Over the past few days, I see that most of the people are moving their blogs to Wordpress.

I also thought the same. Wordpress has so many more features, is more user friendly, and can be customized according to your requirements.

I almost registered my wordpress blog, and was ready to export the posts to it. It was then that I had realized how much I had attached to this blog. It was my first blog, the one that I initially used to vent my pent up emotions and later more as a personal diary that I will probably have my children and their children read it.

Life also has changed. It was here I met a lot of people who I am always inspired, people who were common and yet so uncommon in their thoughts. There was no need to meet these people in person, I knew them from what they wrote, the clear way of their expression of ideas. I wouldn't probably know them this much, if I would meet them in person.

Last month, my blog turned two years. There have been times that I have neglected my blog. I have almost wanted to delete this blog. Then I just let it be.

There are times when I write just for the heck of writing.

And yet it has remained, a part of myself. My own pensieve.

With all, how could I let go off something that I started it. Abandon a part of myself that provided the much needed vent. It need not be changed. Its fine the way it is right now.

It hardly a matter of concern that I have a little less features or decorating texts or colors to my blog. So blogger finally own against wordpress.

Cheers to the days and years that will come and hope this blog will survive through it..:)