Random ramblings

It's been a while since I last wrote a post.I have become busy (surprised!!?...so am I.). So I shall scribble random thoughts from my head. 

Went to daily bread in Indiranagar a couple of days back.Ate a couple of cakes, named opera something and another I cant remember (no loss there). I have always wondered why they name their cakes so that way? exotically inclined, i suppose.But why should a cake be named opera? It dint sing it be picked,it certainly dint sing to me when I ate it, it actually just sat there, frozen. My stomach though, did groan in protest.Anyway, we also bought 'french village bread' there. So we're going back to our roots. We are now eating village bread, next we'll be living there and selling bread and making money...nice career option :), since 7 slices set us back a good 30Rs.

       Also everyone (and it is literally everyone I know) who's been out hunting for a project for Meghna can stop now. She's found herself a project in NIMHANS. Whether she's a project or she's doing a project is yet left to be seen. Saw a bit of 'Saawariya'.Someone said it's India most expensive 'blue film' heheheheheheheh. :P, I thought it was funny. If you've watched the movie, you'll think the same too. 

       Inflation still worrying most of us. Cannot buy vegetables without comparing it to gold prices. It's difficult for vegetarians like me who have to cut down on some vegetables because they are so ridiculously expensive. Power cuts are back in fashion again. They are like unannounced, unwanted visitors, they come and go as they please.We apparently do not have to worry as the minister says. I'm not worried. I spend a whole day in a temperature controlled office. Controlled to sub zero. So a little power cut is welcome. Also an excellent excuse to not do things.

      Pranitha bought us new curtains for our home. So a lot of time is spent admiring it and thinking I have such a good taste. In my defense, we had sad excuse of leftover curtains by the last occupant of the house. We were too lazy to buy new ones. So it's a nice change of scenery. Obama bought change to us too...heheheheheheh...

      So that's about all I can say. I can say much more, but have to go now. Will be back though. Not to worry about such trivial things. :)

Economic concerns and Lean times

The economy is not so booming anymore.The bulls are not snorting their dominance. The bears are. They have dug their claws well into the stock market. India has lost a bit of that shine. Companies are downsizing. New jobs are getting harder to come by.How is this going to affect us. A trite look at things that are going to change.

 

1  Vegetables are to be bought by the number. One tomato, three potatoes, five chillies etc.Fruits are deemed to be non - exist ant to ordinary people.

2  Fruit juices are luxury items. Drunk in place of champagne at special occasions.

3  Restaurants are something you say in past tense. Like ' in the good old days, we ate out at restaurants'.

4  Clothes is something bought as and when an absolute necessity arises. Like even after darning (at home) the fifth time, the seat of your pants still show a tear.

5  Shopping again is referred in past tense. Refer point 3

6  Cars..what cars?? Oh! those things which children play hide and seek in and where we sleep   when housing loans cannot be repaid.

7  100 Rs can buy only 2 tomatoes. Inflation is a glutton. It's a sin, we need to tell our dear FM.

8  Telegrams are to become a rage and sending letters by post, the new 'thing to do'.Frankly it's the only thing to do :)

9  People can be fashionably thin and wear fashionable clothes (read tattered, mismatched and tiny)

10 Entertainment is playing on he streets and socialising by neighbours. ( Doesnt sound that bad eh?maybe economic bust is a good thing after all)

11  Dinner is always 'candlelight dinner'.

     Hmmm..ON the other hand, maybe the environment will be healthier as people will stop using their own transport, consumption will decrease (and hopefully, so will procreation  ;)), people will learn the art of socialising and children will learn how to play without the TV for distraction and people will learn to take things a little slower. Good old days eh..? or Back to the future :) . You decide.

Crackers and Crackpots

I do like Diwali, very much, whatever the title may read. I love the lights, the sparklers, the rockets, the fireworks, the bombs. I set off a lot of them this time. I love the lights, the diyas in almost every house, lighting it up and making it a home. It is a happy festival. Along with christmas. I feel happy during diwali, almost everyone is happy. This festival spreads joy and it's really infectious. It is celebrated across India with great fervour irrelevant of caste, creed or religion.

  But every this festival also gives birth to set of crackpots every yeaar. Every festival, some smartass will think he/she is a superhero/ine and try to set off crackers in a unique way, which will most definitely do damage to someone's property and rarely, a human being. Rarely because most Indians are prepared and take adequate precautions. Sometimes, an unfortunate bugger gets caught unknowingly by these crackpots bursting crackers.

  Like, for example, I saw this bunch of men..Men!! mind you...put a huge green bomb (well..if you're Indian, you'll know which one I'm referring to) under an empty coconut shell. When the thing bursts, it generally shatters the shell and sets off the coconut pieces in a random directions, the only was to escape it is to lie down and keep your face covered. Except when you don't know about it, then the incident may leave you with nightmares about coconut shell monsters. Another one is setting off a rocket horizontally. If an unfortunate family has left the door open, then they might think that an extremely fast snake is out to get them. Another one involves holding a cracker till it is very close to bursting and then throwing it in the air. This really catches many people off their guard. If you see anyone flinching when you raise your hand to your head, he/she has diwalitisis and been scarred by such an incident. Every diwali, there are a bunch of these with more stupid things they innovate. I did these too...except when I was young, we burst crackers in a huge ground and we all did it turn by turn and it was not really close to any homes or people on streets. Now, with lack of space and every street littered with small, medium, luxury, hatchback cars and SUV's. there is no open space left to burst the crackers and people make do with the space they have, leading to the crackpot persona emerging out of most benign personalities.

  But everything, the late night "10,000 wala" bursting when one has to sleep. The loud crackers at 1.30 in the morning, the loud yells in excitement a every burst, the diwalititis is all forgiven in the spirit of diwali the crackpots are ignored or at most a glare is given. Well, I love diwali , but I am glad it lasts for 3 days only. I need sleep and I have to get to work at 9:00 and I don't really feel very forgiving at 1.00 in the night. I feel more forgiving till about 10.30, it's all downhill from there. There is no good excuse for making such a din at that time of the night.Except at diwali. Then there's no need for an excuse. Then it's perfectly acceptable. Sigh! crackpots.

    Hope you all had a Happy Diwali and hope you have a great year ahead. :)

Quick Tales - Caferati Flash Fiction - at Livejournal

helloooow.....all...I am a bit thrilled today. So I thought I will share it with you all. I entered this LiveJournal Flash Fiction writing on a whim. I did work sincerely on it though. :)  I have been shortlisted in the final100 from a total of 1052 entries. Now you see why I am a bit thrilled.Then there's a panel vote and the popular readers vote. So can you'll please vote. Pretty please. Here's the entry...

http://quick-tales.livejournal.com/13495.html

So read it. Vote for me..ta dah!!!....I shall then regale you with more blog posts that are interesting, funny and highly informative for your entertainment purposes during dull, deary work days.What say? Will do?

Blink of the mind's eye.

On a lazy sunday afternoon,he was sitting by the lake and reading.There was dappled sunlight,butterflies, buttercups and a light breeze.The sky was clear but for a few cottony clouds which would make their appearance to break the monotony.It was perfect,he thought,there had not been such a day since a long time,if there was,maybe he had not noticed.He decided to go home and check this up on google just to make sure he had not missed any sunny lazy days.He'd feel awfully cheated otherwise. 
    He yawned and changed his position,so that he could get better light to read,by the corner of his eye he saw something...he looked in that direction,nothing was there..started reading again.Again he felt it,a vague disturbance,an irritation,like a fly in the air..or hey,even in the coffee.He decided not to look up and thought of using the ignorance is bliss theory.After a while that feeling of being watched disappeared but it reappeared almost instantly.This time he decided to put his book down and investigate.It looked like a day for an adventure anyway. 
    He took the direction of the trees,they were not dense initially but became thicker as he went along and the light became more thinner,delicate like gossamer.Strange,he thought,he had been here before,many times,at all hours,so he had pretty much covered the area.He had never experienced this.So he went ahead.The light stayed that way and did not change,he also noticed that there was no movement,of anything..except him,nothing was moving,not even the leaves.There were no animals,little wooded creatures that inhabited the woods and who he saw frequently were nowhere to be seen...He found the absolute lack of movement mysterious and was inspired to investigate further,thinking maybe he had fallen asleep and he was having a dream. 
      After walking a while,he came to an especially wooded area,he recognised the place.Here,the light was normal,if not stronger and brighter which was strange since there was little room for the light to filter in.behind him there was this strange light,like the time had stopped at dusk.He stood there and thought about what to do next.There did not seem to be anything except the light which was in a different mood today.He decided to go back.Then he felt it again,the eyes looking at him,he turned back abruptly and stumbled a little.He straightened himself and looked up,he was standing directly under the beam of bright sunlight.He looked around to the source of his uneasiness and what he saw almost made him faint.... 
    He closed his eyes and said a little prayer and opened them again.No,no such luck, it ,if you could call it that,was still there,looking at him,staring..since the eyes did not blink.It was there,standing,as sure as he was breathing,he was sure he could see it."It" was him,atleast a spectre of him.It was like looking in the mirror except the reflection was not him,but a ghostly image of him.He felt a chill run down his spine,he could not help it.A horrifying thought ran through his head,was he dead?was this a sign?he pinched himself,hard.. and there,he felt the pain,he could not be dead if he could feel such pain.He wanted to run,but his feet seemed to be stuck. 
    The spectre came towards him,or rather just appeared,before he could make his brain work,it had put out it's hand right through his chest,he could feel it,a slithery cold feeling like touching a snakes scales.And then it began,excruciating pain,like someone was slowly peeling his skin off without the anesthesia or like someone was whipping him on raw skin.He knew these feelings,knew the pain,he just dint know how.they were very familiar.He opened his eyes with great effort and looked down,his heart had been ripped clean from his body..a living beating heart.The spectre which did not have any expression on it's face now had an expression of extreme hatred and watched him die slowly.He wondered why he hated himself so much.Did he do this to himself or did they make him do it.He closed his eyes,not anymore,they cannot,not anymore.he'll be free. 
          He moved a little,his head smarted a little,he warily opened his eyes,could not see anything clearly.He closed them again and opened it again,with a lot less effort,somewhere he heard a door open,he looked in that direction,his head protested,but he lookedand kept looking because he was dumbstruck with terror and kept thinking after all this..still...the last thought before his body gave up was.."oh no..no...please..no"

Story - by me

I am on a roll today. This is a story I had written long back.  It's a little long :)

Was a dark room.Could have been dingy..but it was too dark to see,could have been large,but was too dark to see...could have been small..did I miss the dark part??darn!she thought,there has to be some light,henceforth she'll contribute to the society of blind instead of feline rehabilitation,she then wondered whether it was tax benefits..She stumbled upon something and that bought her back to the reality.Why?she thought..why does she venture to all these places after reading the novels.A small voice inside her head said..because it was romantic and adventurous,another voice said..right!it also says you are gullible and prone to be cheated and that you are stupid and you had forgotten the torch.Hey!she said,in my defense,I dint plan to do this today.I had a lazy evening planned out... 
      It all started when she was returning to work after a lunch break.She was reading a book called Spaces by Alan Frank,she was so immersed in reading the novel that she had overshot her lunch time by almost an extra hour.She closed the half read book and gathered her things and hurried back.Thank god her office was only five minutes away.She can tell she was held up by a client.Not that anyone would ask.She decided that it was too late even to take the normal way and decided to take a shorter route through two old and abandoned buildings,she did it sometimes and it took her almost exactly at the back of her office. 
     She started to make her way through the rubble..darn globalization she thought..creates more rubbish than wealth..if rubbish were wealth..she sighed! and closed her eyes momentarily,she opened them and there was utter darkness..the first feeling was that of pure panic,had she gone blind??her friend had said she must not read in dim light so much.what will she do?then slowly she composed herself,closed and opened her eyes again,ok she could see some vague outlines somewhere,she was not blind(hopefully)but she must have taken some turn while thinking of wealth.darn again!where was she???in the buildings..she had no clue which one.they were so close together.Ok,she thought,she always wanted to find out what was there,so she could as well do it now..So she went ahead,with her hands out for balance,her bag and files seemed to have disappeared.Well..she'll worry about them later.She had to find her way out of here first. 
    So gathered herself after yet another stumble.How can there be absolutely no light she thought,the buildings were so damaged..one of the walls had completely collapsed and left a gaping hole..She went further,then there was a prick of light..yippee she thought,she followed the source and as she came close she was surprised to see that they were torchlights,ones with real fire,like the ones in ancient days..preferably in corridors to light the way..she was more curious now than shocked..maybe..just maybe..there will be something else beyond..what followed was a whole set of winding corridors,lit intermittently with the torches,then she reached a fork..the sane voice said..i think you need to go back.enough of this famous five adventure series..but she forged ahead,taking the right fork..After a while,the corridor led her to a door with an elaborate knob..which seemed out of place for a plain wooden door.She turned the knob in trepidation...it turned and opened..almost instantly she was blinded,because the room was startlingly white and devoid of everything except a small gold statue of indeterminate religious idol.She had no idea what to do?Was she supposed to take it,she reached out and then immediately there was a hiss in the room,like a warning and the room had turned imperceptibly cooler and dimmer,as she got closer,she had a feeling that she was being pulled back,lightly first time,but with more stress as she got closer,it got dimmer and she felt that the oxygen was sucked out of her lungs..she couldn't pull back as she was drawn to picking up the idol and something wasn't letting her get close to it...her lungs felt like they were on fire,the force holding her back was slowly crushing her and the pain was immense...with a great amount of difficulty she reached out and was just about to reach it....when.... 
        She raised her eyes and saw that she was in her seat at the cafe where she was sitting reading the book.She was still reading the book...except,it was on the last chapter and the next few pages were blank..like she was supposed to live the ending...She was living the contents of the book..literally!!!The book could take her where she wanted to,not just in her imagination but in reality and the ending would be completely made by her choices and would be forever printed in the book and passed on like of the previous person who had read it..she was chosen to continue till the author found the right ending.He would persevere till she found it for him or start another chapter.why oh why!!?? she thought,the previous had not chosen French Polynesia or something to visit..atleast death would have been in paradise since there was no guarantee of paradise in afterlife....She had to relive this everytime.

Shikaripura Adventures - Part II

So day 3 - Plan was to go to jog falls about 70 kms away. My aunt stays there in a small place called Kargal (not to be confused with kargil). We decided to set off after breakfast so that we can be back home by early evening as we had to drive back to Bangalore the next day. At 9:30,we get ready and are ready to leave when we see that the car has a flat (thanks to the atrocious stretch near Shimoga). So changing it and repairing the flat sets us back by a good hour and a half. The rest of the drive being quite uneventful. We reach Kargal at 1:00 pm.

Kargal's a town which caters largely to Karnaraka Power Corporation and Karnataka Power Trading Corporation (KPCL and KPCTL) staff and workers. It's clean,neat, well maintained and beautiful. We have a hearty lunch made by my aunt. The only next thing is to take a nap, especially given the weather and our full stomachs. About 4:00 we set off to see the Jog Falls , it's a drop of almost 829ft and is quite unnerving to look over the edge to the bottom. The falls need to be visited in monsoon to see it in all it's glory. Last time I visited there, it was nothing short of majestic. This time, after the monsoon, it's a ghost of it's monsoon self. Still a vision to see though. One can also visit the Linganmakki dam nearby. The rules have changed now due to the threats. Earlier, one could, with permission visit the power generating plant. We dint visit the dam as to was late and it would be closed. My uncle and aunt took us around Kargal and told us stories of china gate and mohini circle (yep..mohini circle..heheh..) and we sat around for a while, went home, had dinner and left. We reached home at about 10:00 or so. The neighbours were worried and were about to call us to and find out (that's how it's there, I dont even know my neighbours in my apartment and we've been there for almost a year). 

  Next day, we left for Bangalore at 1:30 pm hoping to reach home at 8:30 or so. The roads were terrible and worse than we thought, also the traffic had considerably increased, making progress slow. Picked up cousins alongthe way and stopped for tea late evening. After we left, we had a flat tyre again. Prashanth replaced them..again..and we set off...stopped at a village after tiptur to repair the flat..just in case. Rest was an uneventful drive. We reached nelamangala..finally... and took us a good two hours to navigate through traffic. We finally reached home at 10:30 pm. Something has to be done about those roads, because there were quite a few cars along the way with flat tyres. It's a punishment for any vehicle that is not a truck, bus or a jeep.

  I would recommend the hornad/malnad area for anyone who wants to see Karnataka. Please visit during the onset of monsoon or just after the monsoon season. Not during, at that time the rain just does not let up. It's breathtakingly beautiful place and one has to see it atleast once in their lifetime.

Shikaripura Adventures - Part I

Prashanth's parents have been transferred to a place called Shikaripura, near Shimoga (for people for whom the name sounds familiar, this is Karnataka CM Yediurappa's constituency). Since we had a long weekend of 4 days coming up in October, we decided to drive down there instead of taking the train/bus and see the places nearby.

   We left Bangalore at 6:00 am on thursday morning. The route is Tumkur - tiptur - arisikere - birur - shimoga - shikaripura on the Bangalore - Honnavara road. About 330 kms to Shikaripura.We reached Birur without any hassles by 11:00, no traffic at all. The road from there is really terrible or non existant till Shimoga. After that, they turn out fine. Reached Shikaripura at about 12:30 and had lunch and a nap. It's a small town nestled in the malnad. It's quiet, calm, really really green and beautiful.We set off in the evening for a drive nearby. There was supposed to be a town festival of some sorts happening for Vijayadashmi. So the four of us set off to see that. A beautiful drive later, we found out that we were a little late for the festivities. They had gotten over a while back. No harm done, watched a colourful sunset and drove back home. 

  We had decided to go to Shringeri next day which is roughly about 125- 130 kms from there. Set off early at 8.30 after breakfast. The countryside is gorgeous and breathtaking. Acres and acres of paddy fields gives the feeling of a bright green carpet covering the earth.The area, since it comes under evergreen forests of the Western Ghats is really green and gorgeous. In the rainy season, it'll be a vision. We stopped along the way at a place called Dam Hosur, a small dam has been built across Sharavathi. It's more like a barrier than an actual dam. The view was breathtaking. Really!..I am running out of synonyms ( some new words used here onwards will be courtesy thesaurus.reference.com ) . The roads are really nice, the landscape is best experienced if one drives moderately slowly. We stopped on a roadside stall for tea and bun - now this is something one has to try. It's unlike the regular bakery bun. It's sweet and salty at the same time and very tasty. Roadside stalls are the best places to get correct routes, have a little inside stories and get some really good tea/coffee. After being told a better route to get to shringeri, we set off and reached the place at 12:30. It was filled with people.Swarming is a better word. We had completly forgotten that the previous day was vijayadashami and festival time around there. There was also a rathotsav that morning and people had come from far to be a part of it. Oh well, nothing could be done, we parked and set off to see the goddess. After a lot of struggle, we did manage to see the idol. The goddess did look beautiful in all the finery. We then stood in queue for the threetha from the Swamy.Most temples in malnad serve lunch for all the devotees that come. It's done free of charge and the food is tasty, hot and served in a clean place. The people were well behaved and stood in queue for their turn. Serving of a three course meal, eating and cleaning happens in 15 minutes flat for one set of people. It is extremely well organised and smoothly run. We finished a filling lunch and went to see the rest of the place. We left shringeri at about 3:30 and started back. Stopped at Gajanur dam along the way near Shimoga. This is a dam and has all the security systems in place. People are not allowed beyond a certain point. Saw the dam, had the evening tea (I had coconut water, which is really tasty and filling) and drove back. reached Shikaripura at about 8:30 and had a simple dinner and went to sleep. 

Next day's plan was to go to Jog Falls...

Of being a Kannadiga and being a Bangalorean Part II

....continuing....

 Prashanth and I went furniture shopping in the beginning of the year, to get a stand to keep on TV on.We found a perfect one, we went to finalize on the price. The salesman refused to budge when I asked to quote a final price. Then, ta dah!!...Prashanth speaks to him calmly in Kannada, please note, even I spoke in Kannada. But he gives more attention to what Prashanth has to say (gender discrimination you think, nope.Other men were also treated like aliens), so finally he agrees to lower the price and waives the delivery charges. The delivery men also speak well to 'actual kannadigas'...humph..!!! i say!!!...sheer discrimination....

It's not just Prashanth, even his friends manage to get things done their way just by speaking in that twang of theirs. So does a friend of mine, Sunitha. I thought it was because she was persistent and adorable, but now I know the truth. It is because she's from Hassan, she does not speak 'bangalore kannada' you see. There were days when she made autos come to seshadripuram and she managed to convince them that they should not take 'double'. Man!!...I could not do that in all my days of travelling in autos and travel I have, a lot. 

You see, you do get treated well in old Bangalore if you speak kannada, but if you speak kannada from Uttara Karnataka or any other kannada that is not 'bangalorean', then you're royalty here. 

       So go ahead, eat jolada roti and ennegai and makkori. :)

Next post - UK lingo (Uttara Karnataka) for the wannabe kings/queens.

Of being a Kannadiga and being a Bangalorean Part I

I've been informed recently that these are distinctly different categories. Being a Bangalorean does not automatically make you a Kannadiga, even if you speak the language and have lived here virtually all your life.Honestly!!I was shocked too, I was rendered speechless for a whole ten minutes. That, monkeys, is a record, so give the statement the respect it deserves. So coming back to the topic. There are a few observations I've made, both in Bangalore and other places in Karnataka (yup, limited to my state today).

Bangalore is not considered a part of Karnataka by most Kannadigas - It's true, they treat it like some foreign country all by itself, like a necessary evil. Have to go there to earn money but hate the fact. In Hubli, and Belgaum, they think Bangalore girls are 'fast'. Ok no clue why, but they don't like girls from Bangalore and don't like Bangalore. They act like we're aliens and speak to us in English even after being informed that you speak, write and read Kannada. After that, they act surprised that you can do all the above. But they still snigger because your Kannada is so 'Bangalorean'. So sue me if my school taught me only Ambedkar's life in Kannada and how to write an essay on school sports day. I'll quote examples to prove the point.

Another day, Prashanth and I were returning from Kabini when we went up see the dam there. A surly looking policeman stopped us and said that people were not allowed beyond that point on the dam. We said ok, and were standing there, when he asked where we were from, before I could answer, Prashanth says Hubli (he is actually from there, if you were wondering). The policeman's stance softens considerably, starts speaking to him in Hubli Kannada and even asks a colleague to show us around the dam and the place. I was surprised at the sudden change. Then he asks Prashanth if even I was from Hubli, he says no, she's from Bangalore and they exchange knowing looks. I mean..hello...what's wrong with Bangalore. I love the place. Then he says that he doesn't trust people from here and he's also from north Karnataka. Ok. So we get special treatment because we are from Hubli. Prashanth's all pleased as a punch with himself for that reason and says see. See what? :P Maybe one off incident I say.Apparently not.

       Caught an auto one day, the man spoke to us in english, when we responded back in Kannada, he was extremely thrilled and decided not to ask us 50 Rs more he was planning. AfterPrashanth( yeah yeah...it has to involve him, to show the differential treatment) started speaking in that north Karnataka twang of his, the auto driver was thrilled and called Prashanth a true kannadiga type and gladly took us to the station without even the mandatory one and half they ask.Prashanth got that look on his face again.I mean...damn it!!...I know auto drivers are thrilled when you know Kannada,but what's with non Bangalorean kannadigas getting all the attention....

There is more, but this'll become a really long post..So part II will follow shortly.

The Rage Simmers

Every day, one opens the newspaper or switches on the TV; there is a mention of mob violence. Has it increased over the years? Is the media coverage responsible or are we blowing it out of proportion? All relevant questions, unfortunately, there are no easy answers. In a country of one billion people (overused cliché, but very important to mention) and counting, the economic equality or inequality plays a huge role. It has been oft mentioned that the economic gap between the rich and the por is widening. While it maybe true, it does not paint a completely clear picture. Yes, the rich are still rich, the poor are still struggling. The inflation eats into meager earnings of the people making it expensive to afford what they used to a few months back. So they get poorer. The health factor is also another major contributor. Many families have only one earning member, so when they fall sick, the medical bills eat into what they have. Unemployment reigns large. A few who do get out of it, manage to get a better life.

      But many people are stuck. Working in a manufacturing industry or a particular office is all they know. It is all they have done in their lives. When suddenly deprived of their life’s purpose and sustenance, they react violently. Change is not welcome. Years of having their voice suppressed and not being heard has given birth to the violent Indian. Anger when not given an outlet for release simmers slowly, this , when stoked by years of scraping for a decent lifestyle, corrupt politicians, of voice and feelings being stomped over and not heard has given rise to a rage, a rage simmering just below the surface waiting to erupt.

    Rage, when it does erupt is inconsolable. It knows no logic or humanity. It has a mind of it’s own. Rage, when it does erupt, leads to the lynching of a CEO for a perceived or a very real wrong done. It leads to the destroying of buses when someone is run over. It leads to people taking law in their own hands. Burning of churches, in Mangalore, in Orissa, is nothing but rage. Not many people actually even know why they are destroying churches, harming people (other than the fact that they have got money to do it). Their anger is stoked by a very skilled leader who convinces them that this is the right thing to do. They bad, we good. Carried away by all the sufferings they have faced, they go on a rampage. They destroy till the rage spent or they are arrested. Mobs, when angry can cause damage to a large extent. Mobs have been used by politicians to bring down other parties, to make others look bad. Plying with such an emotion will finally burn the one who’s started it.

    There are no easy solutions to these problems. They probably existed even before some of us were born. Decades of tolerance for a better future has not yielded the result Indians have been waiting for. The patience is wearing thin. They are not happy. The angry Indian is here to stay, hopefully, if things go well, his stay can be short and lessons can be learnt from him so that we do not repeat the same mistakes.

A Way of Life

Every morning I follow a ritual, get up, brush, make myself a cup of coffee and read the newspaper. The newspaper is an integral part of my daily routine. I see the paper, mentally mark the articles I find interesting and then come back and read them again. Some articles merit only the cursory reading of the headline. The rest is to be savored. The whole ritual lasts about 15-20 minutes (reduced
unfortunately) because of lack of time. The only time I get to read the whole newspaper is the weekend. I especially love Sunday supplements. With the book reviews, the pictures and the general information. I remember Sunday was the only day when newspapers were printed in colour. We used to get about three different newspapers on Sunday. The whole family used to sit down after breakfast and read the
newspapers in turn. It used to be good.

The newspapers are not the same quality anymore. With the advent of sensationalism and yellow journalism, good old reporting often takes a backseat. The headlines are in a huge font with limited or repeated information in the body. Well, this can also be blamed on the internet and a vast amount of information available online almost immediately. People tend to log in and read as the event is happening so when the newspapers come in the next morning, we already know half of it. If we've missed the internet news, we have roughly 4584 news channels running news 24X7. That's a lot of news. So by the time the newspaper comes in the morning, we know most it. But why do we still get newspapers. I believe that somewhere I am attuned to trust only the newspaper. Even when the channels announce a school holiday the next day, I will believe it completely only if I read it in the newspapers. It's wired into our systems, I think we inherently do not trust the media which gives us a minute by minute update. It feels like one is just assuming a lot of things and jumping to conclusions. On a newspaper, it is somehow, final and sure. The written word is very powerful. It implores us to think, to react and to act. People still believe in the newspaper. They still want to hold the paper in their hands and get black print on their fingers to believe what they heard on the TV last night is true. Newspaper's word is law.

It will be a long time for the newspapers to go out of the reckoning. By the time they do, I hope that I will be too old to read one anyway. Because newspapers are a way of life. Because that one rare day they
do not print them, I feel like I have been cheated and will never know what's happening with the rest of the world. I feel that my day is incomplete without it. Another day, another newspaper, another cup of
coffee. Life's good. Because newspapers for me is more than just news, they are a way of life.

Of Journeys made and forgotten

I was just speaking to a friend and she reminded me of a trip we took a while back.I think it was August 2003, or later, or earlier. But mostly around that time. The time before I earned enough to get myself a digital camera. It was around this time that we, Deepthi, Archana, Rashmi, Shwetha and I set off to Deepthi's grandmother's house in K R Nagar. It is about an hour away from Mysore. We had the nicest time .Some moments are clear as crystal and some I cannot seem to remember.I will put down what I remember of those 3 days.

  We set off nice and early one morning, before 6, the train was at 6.30 am . Still sleepy and bleary eyed. The train started moving and in a few minutes, the sun started streaming in and we woke up. Well, what happenes when a bunch of girls get together and are awake and are on a journey. They talk. So we did.A lot.We laughed a lot too.loudly.I'm sure we were quite a nuisance. But hey, who cared, I love train journeys and had good company.

    The next hing I remember is that we got down at Mysore and there was a car to pick us up. The next thing we know is the car has broken down a good 20kms from our destination and there is no bus stop or any other mode of transport. We hitched a ride from a old couple who were charming and kind. We reached and the house was a one storied building, it had large rooms and was where extra rooms are added as the family grows. They had a coconut farm and large fields. I remember being fed a lot of breakfast because I was 'thin' and underfed. Well, I'm a lousy eater and I hate eating a lot. They only stopped because I looked like I would cry.

   We then hung around and spoke to her grandparents. Really nice and simple people.She also had a great - grandmother who I remember was really active at 88. We went for long walks, drank coconut water, ate lunch, slept, had dinner, played a game called 'chowkabara' till some wee hours in the morning.

   This cycle repeated for the next day, except we went to the town square and had some more stuff to eat.  I remember eating a lot during this trip. I loved the coconut groves. We hung out there, walked through sugarcane farms, ate fresh sugarcane. The sweetest I have tasted in a while. The trees looked greener, the hibiscus healthier, the air sweeter and cleaner. We walked a lot, spoke a lot (yeah yeah...i know...this is different). Were happier. Had good food. Played some long forgotten games. Tried some home made beauty products. Generally lazed around and had a great time. We visited an old temple. Lovely place, next to Cauvery and heard some legend about how one cannot hear the gusinh water because lord Rama cursed the river because the river was deafening. You really cannot hear the water inside, even if it is like a few feet away. Had a picnic too. We came back in an almost empty train and made even more noise. Found another bunch who were travelling to Bangalore and created enough din for the few remaining passengers to give up trying to sleep.

   Why am I reminiscing, is because I just want to remember the good times we had. Now that all of us have our own lives, work pressures, families. We had a darned good time. We need to remember and not push it to the recesses like a Business Law chapter (man!...THAT used to be boring). 

    

Janardhan Hotel - Of Dosas and Badam Halwa

I am inspired today. I am going to finally make sense to people who think why there is a picture of Dosa on my blog and no mention of it anywhere. Today I'm going to write about one of our favorite places for masala dosa. Janardhan Hotel.I have always known about this place and have rarely gone there.Cant really explain why though. Then enter Sunitha, a friend since JM Financial days. She loves masala dosas. Actually she loves eating good food. She describes them in a way that makes you want to eat whatever she's describing, even if you just had a full lunch. She's mean :P . We went around to places which served dosas and filter kaapi and eat and drank to our hearts content. Janardhan is one of the places that she re - introduced me to and I'm grateful. Thanks Sunitha... :) , you're a pal .

Location : Kumarakrupa Road, Shivananda circle, across Banjara hotel

Ambiance : It's a really old hotel, large foyer, old style bulky furniture. Old style service.Kannada rules (yay!), clean, airy, spacious enough. Frequented by politician types and an odd assortment of rich looking youth, families and other employees.

Food: Well, since I mostly land there during evening to have dosas, I can only comment on what I've tried. The dosas are perfect. They are the right size, perfectly roasted and with the right amount of palya(curry) with the right amount of chutney. It's perfect because eating one is quite enough. If one's planning to have only dosas then you need to be mighty hungry to have two. Their badam halwa is another delicay I'll probably have only there. Tasty, not too sweet, served in a small packet is how much you can eat, Sweet tooth's like me manage two more. Of course, coffee, it goes without saying. Dosas and coffee are soul sisters. Coffee is great too. Like what my mum makes at home. Oh yeah! try ther maddur vadas, they're really good too. It is a truly satisfying meal. Yes, a meal by itself. The service is prompt. No complaints. They leave you alone to eat your dosas. The prices are really easy on your pockets. 

There is a certain charm to these places that a newer, fancier, pretentious place cannot ever replicate. Try Janardhan once. You'll not be disappointed. 

Scribd

Yup, I know. I do actually mean scribbling. I'm going for the searchability of the keyword here. Anyway, today are random thoughts that I that flit through my mind on a quiet morning. Read Megi's blog today. She's gone from ballistic to buffonery in a rapid blink of an eyelid. This time her phase lasted long enough. What to say..cartoons will be cartoons. So today I travelled from seshadripuram. Need to traverse through the (in) famous MG Road while getting to work (no rambling about good old days...promise) .I saw that people have learnt to adjust.Swalpa adjust maadi. There was no unnecessary honking, no frustrated faces, no flared tempers, no road rage. Might be the early morning factor. Yet, I travelled by these very roads 6-7 months back and the scenario was very different. People lost tempers at even 8.15 in the morning. There used to be a honking match.Mine's louder than yours. One arrived to work after waging a war on the streets. people still do. It's no better. Maybe it was just today, an off day.But I arrived to work feeling fresh, the 45 minute of travel did not leave me feeling homicidal. 

        One does not need chirping birds, bright days and empty streets, a morning without someone cutting you off in the front while driving, or without a maniac who wants to go fast even in bumper to bumper traffic is enough. See, not greedy, just practical. Traffic's the bane of Bangalore. It is the bane of most developing cities. Since Bangalore lacks a good public transport system, traffic woes are more acutely felt. I sincerely hope atleast my grandchildren get to use the Namma Metro (from the looks of it...that's my estimate on how long it may take). So I sat in the auto today and reflected on how nice it'd be in Mysore or Chickmaglur. Hmmm....that's a thought...now if I can convince my office and Texas Instruments to shift to either of the places, I'll be a happy woman.

             

Tale of two sisters

Ok, we have world movies.Yippeee....Every friday at 11pm they play 50 movies to watch before you die. So we settled down to watch (or rather I settled down to watch and left Prashanth with little choice) Tale of two sisters, a South Korean horror movie. We watched it from almost the beginning. The beginning itself was very interesting, large isolated house, creaky stairs, dark corridors, sinister noises and characters. Engaging, we thought. Settled deeper into the sofa to watch the rest. It is a tale of two sisters whose father remarries and hence beings their tale of woes. Simple enough.
So far so good, we established that the stepmother is evil (now she is, now she is'nt) but hey, we've watched too many hindi movies to know the difference. Mother - always good, Stepmother - mostly evil. So we watch and watch..some more shots of the sisters, the stepmother, the mother, the creaky stairs, the dark corridors, some blood for a good measure. An hour and a half into the movie and we still have no idea who is the ghost and are begining to get confused who are the sisters and who is the mother. They all look alike. They do.Honestly.Promise. Flawless skin, lovely hair and complexion. So we watch to keep track. It's more about who's who than who's ghost now. So we keep watching and voila!!!!...the movie ends....Still no idea who's the ghost, still no idea why the sisters are scared, still no idea who IS the sister or who's the mother, still no idea why we watched.
So if you are planning to watch, please keep track of all the women from the beginning, dont lose track of their differentiating moles, birthmarks etc. Keep looking for the plot and the ghost and please let us know.

Accounting terms

Ok, I've been graciously nominated by Pranitha to write this blog post. She's being magnanimous today. Am seriously worried about the state of her brain. Anyway, she's my cousin and a CFA (pending charter..see, ethically correct term) and she's apprently teaching some folks accounting on Saturdays. Why? because she's being magnanimous. I already mentioned that. So here's an excerpt of her lesson for the class which she's painstakingly prepared.

Accounting terms and their meanings:
1 : z+z=zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz . This is the basic accounting equation
2 : ass + ets = assets = jenifer lopez = Pamela Anderson
3: liabilities = the boys in the class
4 : profit is what u get from conning people
5 : loss = feeling you get when u realise u were conned
6 : operating profit = profits from surgeries when docs con patients
7 : gross profit = you're grossing me out now
8 : net profit - what they use to trap you to make their profits
9 : creditors - run when you see them
10: debtors - run towards them
11: fixed assets - what the point if you cant jiggle them?
12 : depreciation - what happens to you mentally and monetarily as soon as you spot an iphone

PS : I, me , myself have given a couple of suggestions too, though I forget which ones ( the ones you like probably ;))

I happen to like this accounting than any B S Raman or Jain and Narang and any other fancy institute authored textbook. So, to all the folks in Pranitha's accounting class tomorrow... (all the best for december..I think you'll need it)

Bangalore - A day to remember

July 25th. A day people of Bangalore will not forget in a hurry. Ok, maybe it's too early to write, but write I will, I need to put down what I feel before I forget the feeling altogether. So here goes..
Mid- afternoon...about 2:45 pm, someone in the office declares that there have been serial blasts in the city. Not much reaction is garnered at this announcement. Largely because such things people tell and the rumors spread and it's all a great big hoax. But this announcement was immediately followed by another colleague in the office saying that there have been blasts. Google's put into use immediately. Google shockingly throws up results in news channel websites flashing the news " Flash news : Blasts rock Bangalore ". First reaction is of complete disbelief and then denial. Bangalore??? Namma (my) Bangalore, come on, not possible. Then reality sinks in. It has to be true. Rumors run wild., all the localities are mentioned as places of the blasts. Panic sets in. People call their friends, parents, spouses, children to see if they're fine. Phone lines are jammed. Interenet helps.Long live Gtalk, Yahoo chat, MSn which helped peple get in touch (HINT: Dont block them ;)). More news trickles down, live videos are watched, things get a little less panicky. 7 blasts are confirmed, casuality :1- Lakshmi, injured: reports vary. Low intensity blasts. people sigh in relief and helplessness and propably in fear and get back to what they were doing.Companies ask their employees not to panic, Roads are jammed and everyone's in a daze.
Who'd have done it? At the time of this posting, noone has owned up to it and the police are still looking. Some say it's a warning of what these people are capable of. Some say, it's more local and related to the local government coming to power.Some say terrorists. Some say law and order problem. Whatever it turns out to be in the end, The incident has shaken Bangaloreans. Very much. Because such things happen to other people, not us. And now we are the "other people". What a tag. What a way to make a point.
After all this, life goes on.

So..it's a friday afternoon......it's been three since half an hour...i swear....( ok ok...it feels that way), my back hurts, so does my arm and my head...(not really...but headache has more weightage).It's what working the whole week does to you. That's why 5 day week should be outlawed.It should be like a three day week.., any three days you feel like working, you can turn up. Now there's an idea. Can make shwetha and shruthi the founder members. They're great gals and they'd support their friend( that's me) unconditionally even if it means going against their 5 day 12 hour per day work week ethics. They'll support my cause and my idea behind it.
Rashmi can be the member who upholds the work value ethic.Noone is allowed to work for more than 3 days. Anyone working more than that, their salary will be cut for that day. See we follow HR rules too ;) .Even after that, if people insist working more, we can hire a psychiatrist (Gosu'll know someone) for the emotional wellbeing of our employees, see..another HR rule implemented.
Then we can have a nap time, it'll be made compulsory and good old meghna can be in charge of it. She's ruthless. We can imbibe some good qualities from Japan. They're good in these things to do with character and such.
We can have a HR (personally..this post'll be vacant for as long as I can help it cos what does a HR do anyway. cost efficiency you see).
We will be an international firm...well..there's no other sort you see...So our business will be in the US, UK and such...What our business is???..well monkeys.....
OUTSOURCING....we'll outsource...what?? anything!!.name it...we're the business baby!! ;)



p.s. Any other names you think will be useful to my organisational structure can be sent across. We'll see if it 'fits' into our profile.

ok monkeys!!!!!..it's been a while and i'm sure you're all happy and living in a delusional world where there are no mails from me.....tough luck!!!!...I'm back!!!..and yeah..you will also get a link to this post..so i'm technically advanced..I blog you monkeys!!..join the flow or be forever banished to the clintondom. So what are we going to talk about today?About blogging...yeah...blogging..something which you dont do...so i'm going to enlighten you....The do's and dont's of blogging:

Do's
1 : Do get a fancy swancy name..like peppermint or the spice town for your blog..noone's gonna read it otherwise...heck blogspot may even reject to open your account on the case of lack of creativity.

2 : Do write about the current news (read : global warming...the search engines will pick them up faster), even if you dont know anything outside of your office and you think office news is current news.

3 : Choose topic preferably about carbon footprints even if you dont know anything about them.Dont worry, noone does. You just have to have the word about 10 times in your whole article. The density can vary with the length.

4: Support peta.

5 : Support "crime against people suffering from an overdose of britney spears and US presidential elections" group. I'm sure they exist.If not,make one up.

6 : Write a tirade about how the world is changing because of the youth.(you have to accept that you're not young anymore...dont tell me your old bones dont creak while opening your car door.)

7 : Write an unintelligible article about intelligence.Atleast you can pretend to sound interesting.

8: Have a section where you review K movies...believe me, north India is populated and quite computer savvy, you'll get a few hits from there.

Donts:

1 : Write about your boss, chances are that he's either reading this right now or he's writing about people like you.

2 : Write about your drunken experiences, chances are that the guy whose car you banged is reading it and yeah, internet's available to him too so pfftt...

3 : Write about your ex-girl/guy praising them or the "experiences" you've had with them, chances are your wife sitting at home getting bored or your husband at work may come across it. Actually it's a good idea, you can then blog about your new experience with your soon to be ex husband/wife.

4 : Write about schemes to overthrow your colleague, chances are that americans may come across it and arrest you for terrorism.

5 : Call australians monkeys,anything else is fine. BCCI rescued harbhajan, who'll rescue you??Shah Rukh... ?( auction is not a good earning option for you monkeys)

6 : Write about how depressed you are or how you want to commit suicide....all you'll garner is a few thousand hits to the website but sympathy may be lacking. But maybe,just maybe aaj tak may telecast the suicide live.(they even have music in the background)

7 : Put up pictures of your "amazing vacation".Noone wants to see and the rest are jealous.So...bad idea....

8 : Put up your picture...all australians will take offense.......heheheheheheheheh......