Perpetually Perplexed

     If you go to Gokarna, Murdeshwar , Idugunji etc (which are in North Kanara district of Karnataka ) you should visit this temple. karikana temple. No, no I have not become devout suddenly. I am still confused sem-atheist. But I am advising you to visit this temple because of its views. It is located near Honnavar   Did I tell     If you look down, you see hills and trees everywhere and at the end of the horizon, you see Arabian sea. You know it is sea, because it is emnating light, illuminating the surroundings with orange glow. You also see one more small horizontal light which it seems is a river. It  IS beauty.     I can not describe it with my limited vocabulary. How to get there:    You take a deviation in Honnavar from the main road, and go to AreAngadi ( around 5 kms) From Areangadi, another 5 kms you have to go. But please bear in mind. There are no busses to this place. You may have to take a private vehicle from Honnavar

ಆಗಸದ ಕೆಂಪು, ಮರಳಿನ ಕೆಂಪು ಮರಳು ದೂದಿದರೂ ಮತ್ತೆ ಮತ್ತೆ ಬರುತ್ತಿರುವ ನೀರಿನ ನೀಲಿ ಕಪ್ಪು ಎಲ್ಲವೂ ಕೂಗಿ ಕೂಗಿ ಹೇಳುತ್ತಿವೆ ನೀನು ಇಲ್ಲಿಯವನಲ್ಲ ದೂರ ಹೋಗು ನಮ್ಮ ಮಲಿನಗೊಳಿಸಲು ಬರಬೇಡ

  I have always liked Cyrus of MTV. Was watching his "Year which wasn't" . I so much liked the punch line We(TV show anchors)  are always there even  in the new year. No matter how bad your day has been, we are always there to make it worse. And one more about our political leaders. Police chief : We also have a code name for our prime minister. SOFA - sonias personal assistant

Let me do some ctrl c and ctrl v. From none other than Jean Paul Sartre. She often finds her own jokes amusing. And pauses to laugh which reveals missing tooth. Well the original was He instead of She and sparkling teeth instead of missing tooth. Wait, I am not finished yet. And pauses to laugh which reveals missing tooth, which instantly transforms her from middle aged plump auntie to a scary looking witch. You have guessed by now who that she is.

For me internet is a encyclopedia. Well it is a replacement for my mom. Yes, my mom though not well educated, is well read, shows interest in everything and knows everything. So all these years, if I have a question about anything ( may not be stupid coding), I would ask mom. And the best part was, she would have an answer. I think I can never become such a mother. Now if I have any doubt, I ask google and the best part is I do get an answer 99.99% of the time. Well as with the authenticity, correctness, depth etc of the answers may not be very good. I will google a little more to get better answer. So internet is such a wonderful mom.

  I went in search of God. To a place called Gokarn where Lord Shiva is supposed to be present. Well what did I find? Traffic jam. As they say in kannada, ಪಾಪಿ ಸಮುದ್ರ ಹೊಕ್ಕರು, ಮೊಳ ಕಾಳುದ್ದ ನೀರೆ ( ಅಥವಾ ಪಾಪಿ ಸಮುದ್ರ ಹೊಕ್ಕರು ಟ್ರಾಫಿಕ್ ಜಾಮೆ )     It was a family tour, kind of. My son and his cousins wanted to go to beach. They convinced their grand dad and arranged the trip. We 3 sisters and our husbands went as baby sitters or rather teen watchers. But why Gokarna, you may  ask. Gokarna also has a beach. And on the way, we went to Dhareshwar beach as well.     Let us come back to Gokarna. I feel for a temple town, it has far too many vehicles. Or may be most of them are tourist vehicles as ours was. On a road, which can allow one car only, there was a line of around 15 cars. Every time, we wanted to go to our lodge from the priest's house (where we were supposed to stay but could not as all the rooms were full and where we had our meals) and back, it took us 15-20 minutes which by the

 Before you read this, let me make one thing clear. I am in no way a right wing rss person. In fact I will be the one to defend our muslim friends in most arguments at home.      I was looking at some ladies on the road. Burkha clad, face covered ladies. How will they be feeling. How would I have felt, if I have to spend my life not between 4 walls, but worse between black mask. I would felt suffocated , I would have felt furious. I would have felt that I want to strangle some one. But I would not even have any outlet to these feelings of mine. I would have swallowed these feelings and then they would mix with my complete body and my blood. Every nerve of my body would be screaming with rage. When I carry a child in me, these feeling will surely pass on to the child. So this child would want to smash, hit, kill everyone without knowing why.    How is my theory?    Let me repeat, it is semi-humor. Do not get angry on me and put a fatwa on me.

    I find that four wheelers are boring. Really, I mean it. I have loads of justifications for this. Look at the list     1> Nagging your Mom and taking her scooter key is far easier than convincing dad to give car keys     2> In a car you can not wear helmet. So traffic police is more likely to look at your child like face and ask for your non-existent Drivers Licence     3> You never have to wait at the end of  traffic at a signal. If there is at least one inch of space between two vehicles, you can crawl between two vehicles and stand in the front of signal     4> Even if there is absolutely no space on the road, no problem. What are foot paths for?     5> You can impress your gal with acrobatics (they are not called so?) on a two wheeler. No such chance with a car      6> With one liter of petrol, you can give at least 3-4 rides to your girl friend or rides to 3-4 of your girl friends whichever may be the case.            

   ಒಂದೆರಡು ಕನ್ನಡ ಪುಸ್ತಕಗಳನ್ನು ಕೊಳ್ಳೋಣ ಎಂದುಕೊಂಡೆ. ಗೂಗಲ್ ಮಾಡಿದೆ ೨೦೧೦ ಬೆಸ್ಟ್ ಸೇಲ್ಲೆರ್ಸ್ ಕನ್ನಡ ಬೂಕ್ಸ್.  ಸರಿಯಾದ ಉತ್ತರ ಸಿಗಲಿಲ್ಲ. ಕನ್ನಡ ಪುಸ್ತಕ ಗೂಗಲ್ ಮಾಡಿದೆ. ಆದರೂ ಸಿಗಲಿಲ್ಲ. ಯೋಲೋಪ್ ಎಂಬ ಒಂದು ಸೈಟ್ ಸಿಕ್ಕಿತು.  ಅಸ್ಟೇ. ಕನ್ನಡ ನಾಡಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಕನ್ನಡ ಪುಸ್ತಕ ಓದುವವರೇ ಇಲ್ಲವೇ. ಅಥವಾ ಕನ್ನಡದವರೆಲ್ಲ ನಮ್ಮ ಹಾಗೆ ಇಂಟರ್ನ್ಯಾಷನಲ್ ಬೆಸ್ಟ್ ಸೇಲ್ಲೆರ್ಸ್ ಮಾತ್ರ ಓದುತ್ತಾರೆಯೇ . ನಿಜಕ್ಕೂ ಇದು ಶೋಚನಿಯ ವಿಷಯ. ಫಾಸೆಬೂಕ್ ನಲ್ಲಿ  ನೋಡಿದೆ. (ಹಂ ನಾನು ಈಗ ಫಾಸೆಬೂಕ್ ಉಪಯೋಗಿಸುತ್ತೇನೆ. ಗೇಮ್ಸ್ ಆಡಲು. ಇದು ಕೂಲಾ ಅಥವಾ ಫೂಲಾ? ) ಒಂದು ಒಳ್ಳೆಯ ಯುಸೆರ್ ಸಿಕ್ಕಿತು. http://www.facebook.com/Ganchalibidi.Kannadamathadi ಚೆನ್ನಾಗಿದೆ. ನೋಡಿ. ಇನ್ನು ಮುಂದೆ ನೀವು ನಾವೆಲ್ಲ ಕನ್ನಡ ಓದಿ ಕನ್ನಡ ಬರೆದು ಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲೇ ಮಾತೊಡೋಣ. ಸರಿಯ?

   We hear often about children being not thankful for all the trouble parents take for them. I feel we, parents must be thankful to our children for making us grow. As our children grow vertically , we grow horizontally. Jokes apart, as children grow we also grow from unreasonably proud, self centred, immature women into the semblence of a human being. We learn to understand others feelings. We learn to care for others.      As a matter of face we also learn to get organized because it will be the need. We learn to cook with some interest ( children are not poor husbands to eat whatever you cook). We also learn to yell ;-)      Thank you my child for making me grow   क्यों की   बढ़ाना ही जिंदगी है

   Well in one era, I knew two fruits ಮಾವಿನ ಹಣ್ಣು ಮತ್ತು ಗೇರು ಹಣ್ಣು . Our drawings consisted of only these fruits.     You wonder what is this geru hannu. It is cashew fruit. The fruit below which the cashew nut will be attached. Yes, you can eat it. It will some what tangy in taste. We used to go to these trees and climb the cashew trees, pluck and eat the fruits and save the nuts. The trees will have low branches so that kids can climb. We would sit on it chatting. We would make the swing on these branches. And each kid would sit on a separate tree. The best part is the trees were not planted by anyone. They had grown in our land used for grass cultivation for cattle.    And the nuts. The pros among us would stamp on the greenish cashew seed, so that the kernel would come out, wipe it with dress and eat it. But it is a really tricky job because the oil which comes out of the seed will burn the skin.      The rest of us will bring the cashewnuts with the outer shell home. These will

   Most Indian vehicle names are English words. Some of them may not be English but some Japanese I am not sure (suzuki or is it susuki). There is one vehicle with our own sanskrit name . Guess which one?   yamaha  यमः

ನಮ್ಮ ಹವ್ಯಕ ಸಂಪ್ರದಾಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಹಾಡು ಎಂಬ ಶಬ್ದಕ್ಕೆ ಬೇರೆಯೇ ಅರ್ಥವಿದೆ. ಯಾವುದೇ ಹಬ್ಬ ಹರಿದಿನ ಅಥವಾ ಪೂಜೆಯ ದಿನಗಳಂದು ದೇವರ ಎದುರಿಗೆ ಹೇಳುವ ಹಾಡುಗಳೇ ಹಾಡುಗಳು.      ಪ್ರತಿಯೊಂದು ಹುಡುಗಿ ಅಥವಾ ಹೆಂಗಸು ಹಾಡಿನ ಪಟ್ಟಿ (ನೋಟೆಬೂಕ್) ಇಟ್ಟುಕೊಳ್ಳಬೇಕು. ಅದರಲ್ಲಿ ಗಣೇಶ ಚವಥಿಯ ಹಾಡು, ದೀಪಾವಳಿಯ ಹಾಡು, ನವರಾತ್ರಿಯ ಹಾಡು, ಎಂದೆಲ್ಲ ಬರೆದು ಇಟ್ಟು ಕೊಳ್ಳಬೇಕು. ಹಬ್ಬಗಳ ಮುನ್ನಾದಿನ (ಹಿಂದಿನ ದಿನ) ಅವನ್ನು ರಾಗಬದ್ದವಾಗಿ ಹೇಳುವದನ್ನು ರೂಡಿ ಮಾಡಬೇಕು.  ಹಬ್ಬದ ದಿನ ಪೂಜೆಯ ಹೊತ್ತಿಗೆ, ಮೊದಲು ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಹೊತ್ತು "ನೀ ಹೇಳೇ" "ನೀ ಹೇಳೇ" "ಎಂಗೆ ಬತ್ತಿಲ್ಯೇ" "ಎನ್ನ ಧ್ವನಿ ಬಿದ್ದೊಜು" ಎಂದೆಲ್ಲ ನಖರೆ ಮಾಡಿ ಆಮೇಲೆ ಶುರು ಮಾಡಬೇಕು. ಒಬ್ಬಳು ಹಾಡಿದರೆ ಉಳಿದವರೆಲ್ಲ ಸ ಗುಡಬೇಕು (ಪಲ್ಲವಿಯೊಂದನ್ನು ಹಾಡುವದು) ಪೂಜೆ ಮಾಡಿದ್ದು, ಅರತಿಯೆತ್ತಿದ್ದು, ನೈವೇದ್ಯ ಮಾಡಿದ್ದು, ಹೂ ಬೇಡಿದ್ದು ಹೀಗೆ ಕ್ರಮ ಬದ್ದವಾಗಿ ಒಂದಾದ ಮೇಲೊಂದು ಹೇಳಬೇಕು.( ಆ ಸಮಯಕ್ಕೆ ಸರಿಯಾಗಿ ತಮ್ಮ ಶಕ್ತಿಯೆಲ್ಲವನ್ನು ಹಾಕಿ ಮಕ್ಕಳು ಜಾಗಟೆ ಬಡಿಯುವದರಿಂದ, ಏನೂ ಸರಿಯಾಗಿ ಕೇಳುವದಿಲ್ಲ ಎನ್ನುವದು ಬೇರೆ ಮಾತು)      ಹಾಡು ಬರದಿದ್ದವರು (ನನ್ನಂತ ಪಾಪಿಗಳು) "ಹಾಡು ಬರೋದಿಲ್ಲ ಶೇಡಿ ಬರೋದಿಲ್ಲ , ನಾವೂ ದುರುದುನ್ದೇರು " ಎಂದು ಹೇಳಿಸಿ ಕೊಳ್ಳ ಬೇಕು.      ಇನ್ನು ಕೆಲ ಸ್ತ್ರೀಯರು (ಕೆಲವು ಪುರುಷರೂ ಕೂ

Every day I see yet one more tree being felled. Roads are not improved. Is there no-one who will question them for this action. Or is it planned by some anti-Bangalore people who have planned to change Bangalore from Garden city to Bolu city.

I feel there are many types of laughters.  Type one is evil laughter , the kind you laugh when you have outsmarted someone. Or you have cheated someone. Type two is helpless laughter. This is laughing at oneself knowing your weakness and not able to do anything about it. ( Well I know this too well) Type three is derisive laughter when you laugh at someone or laugh at the expense someone else. Though this is not good, it is not as bad as type one. Type four is laughing at a pj. Normally by your boss. You wonder whether you should laugh. If he will feel bad if you do not. And will he know it is fake if you laugh too much.

I had this belief that people who are slightly corpulent are happy people. No, don't get me wrong. I am not saying that they are happy because of stoutness. I am saying generally happy people would be stout.    What could be the reason? In Hindi they have "खानेपीनेवाले घर के". Well these people are from affluent families who do spend on food. That is they don't have to worry about to how to get earn  today's bread.      And since they are from well to do families, they have not faced many problems in life. And they have still remained quite naive. So you do not see that wry smiles on their faces.    But are there exceptions to this observations. I need not look any further. I am fat and I am no way happy. Well not often. How do I explain this contradiction.     See we are talking about plumpy, chuuby kind of fat here not the one which accumulates in your forties.

ಪರಿಧಿಯಲ್ಲಿದ್ದೇನೆ. ಭ್ರಮೆ, ಸತ್ಯಗಳ ಸಂಸಾರ ಸನ್ಯಾಸಗಳ ಹುಚ್ಚು ಮುಪ್ಪುಗಳ ಅಣು ಮಾತ್ರ ಸರಿದರೂ ನೇರ ಪ್ರಪಾತ ಸೇರುವೆ

The more Bangaloreans are fighting for Kannada, more it is being threatened. By none other than our own kannadigas. Yesterday I read in an auto, I  think luggage auto "ಹೋಗೆ ರಹಿತ ವಾಹನ ಸುಖ ಜೀವನಕ್ಕೆ ಸಾಧನ " What can I say? hooge not hoge. What is wrong with you kannadigas? Why are you killing Kannada.   But looking at it in another angle, may be the saying is for ladies of our city. Hoge that is go. Go  without the vehicle to have a happy life. Absolutely true. What with these roads and rains competing with each other to make our ride nightmare.   Let us come back to Kannada. Today I read a auto quote again. which said "ಕನ್ನಡ ಗುಳಿ" What is the meaning of it? Are they referring to the dimple on pretty damsel who is kannadathi? Now, did you guess it? It is supposed to be ಗೂಳಿ !    Another amusing thought here. The auto drivers want to call themselves ಗೂಳಿ why not ದನ or even better ಎಮ್ಮೆ?

  Continued to read A fine balance by Rohinson Mistry. Narration of Emergency period is continuing. As is mentioned in the story, I vaguely remember the days when there was slum demolitions to beautify the cities.   One more thing I remember about the 20 point programme is that, there was this slogan. Bete ka char, ma ka bees , dono milke char so bees. I think later the 4 point program of Sanjay Gandhi was changed to 5 point program.     After the elections when Indira Gandhi lost the elections, in our town  which was bordering Maharashtra, the locals had organized the procession, wailing "amchi ayi geli (our mother is gone)"     One good thing which came out of Emergency period was the Janta party. It is a different matter that now it is split into infinite number of divisions. And there was a true leader Jayaprakash Narayan. I do not remember much about him except that he was supposed to be true Gandhian type of leader. Doesn't our country need such leaders very badl

ನಮ್ಮ ಮೀರಿಸಬಲ್ಲಿರಾ ಎಂದು ಕೆಣಕುತ್ತಿರುವ ಮರಗಳಿಗಿಂತ ಆಳೆತ್ತರ  ಮೇಲೆ ನಿಂತು ನಾನೇನು ಕಮ್ಮಿ ಎನ್ನುವ ಫ್ಲೈ ಓವರ್ ನ ದುಸ್ತಿತಿ ನೋಡಿ ಕರೆಂಟ್ ಕಂಬದ ಮೇಲೆ ನಿಂತ ಗುಬ್ಬಿ ಕಿಚಿ ಕಿಚಿ ಎಂದು ನಕ್ಕಿತು  

There is this very old and stale joke. A priest goes to hell whereas taxi driver goes to heaven after death. Priest asks the reason. God says, when you were preaching people used to fall asleep, but when he was driving people used to pray.    So our dear BBMP officials have read this piece and take it too literally. They also want to go to heaven after death. Who doesn't? So they let the roads be. In the state in which they are. That way we all pray when driving through these roads. (Don't tell me you don't. I have heard you saying Devre Devre Devre Devre in a difficult stretch of road and saying Devre (O God) neene kapadde (You only saved me) after escaping from a terrible , sorry awesome pothole) Dear old Bangalore mahanagarpalike officials are helping us to become pious and devout. Thank them instead of blaming them.

Yesterday I read about Thakre junior caused Rohinson Mistry's book to be banned because there was a reference to Sena in the book. The boy is studying in St. Xavier's. He was not part of the team which met with President Obama. So he is saying teachers have selected only their favorite students for the team. TOI says it is poetic justice. Yes, it is.

 Our kannadiga brothers will say I know it and I have it, touching the hair on their upper lips. I am not talking about mise or moustache in Kannada but MISA.    I had heard this when I was a little girl. That is ages ago. In 1977 , then prime minister Indira Gandhi had declared state of Emergency. And then there was this law Misa. Maintenance of Internal security Act. Well at that time, I neither knew the full form nor its meaning. Very few things I remember. One of them is our school teacher saying that " A bus conductor was telling a lady " why are you so slowly getting down the bus like Indira Gandhi" Immediately he was arrested by plain clothes policeman who was present there. Second is the stories in magazines which used to eulogize the PM and her rule during emergency and blaming them as soon as she was dethroned. It was really disgusting.    Now why do I refer to these. I am reading "A fine balance" Rohinson Mistry. The time frame of the book is Emerg

I have seen this in multiple places and it bothers me a lot. There is this ad of Pan masala at the back of the auto. And below it is the small print Chewing of tobacco and pan masala is injurious to health and in brackets it is written not for minors. What is the implication here? Does it mean that it is not injurious to minors? Or it means that pan masala is not for minors.    It does not look good at all!

Normally I will just smirk on seeing funny quotes on vehicle backs. But today I laughed out loud. A metador had this quote Breakdown * 365. This person has taken honesty to the maximum heights.

   ವೆಲ್ ಮಕ್ಕಳ ಶಾಲಾ ನಿಬಂಧವಲ್ಲ. ಈ ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಅಕಾಲವ್ರಷ್ಟಿ ಏಕೆ ಎಂಬ ಒಂದು ಜಿಜ್ಞಾಸೆ. ಬೆಳಗೊಂದಾದ ತಕ್ಷಣ ಈ ದ್ವಿಚಕ್ರಿಗಳು, ತ್ರಿಚಕ್ರಿಗಳು, ಚತುಶ್ಚಕ್ರಿಗಳು, ಪಂಚಚಕ್ರಿಗಳು ಓ ಸಾರೀ ಶತ್ಚಕ್ರಿಗಳು ಎಲ್ಲ ಜುಯ್ಯೆಂದು ಹೋಗುತ್ತಾ ಇರುತ್ತಾರೆ. ಆಸ್ ಇಫ್ ಈ ದಿನ ನಿತ್ಯದ ತಿರುಗಾಟವನ್ನು ಎಂಜಾಯ್ ಮಾಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದರೇನೋ. ಈ ಜಗತ್ತಿನ ಯಾವ ಪರಿವೆಯೂ ಇಲ್ಲೆವೇನೋ ಎಂಬಂತೆ. ಸರಿ ಇವರಿಗೆ ಬುದ್ದಿ ಕಲಿಸೋಣ ಎಂದು ಆ ದೇವರು ವರುಣನ ಸಹಾಯ ತೆಗೆದುಕೊಂಡು ಮಳೆಯ ಅಬ್ಬರ ಸ್ರಷ್ಟಿಸುತ್ತಾನೆ. ಹೆಂಗಾತ್ ಹೆಂಗಾತು ಎಂದು ಕೇಳುವ ಹಾಗೆ. ಈಗ ಓಡಿಸಿ ಜುಯ್ಯೆಂದು ನೋಡೋಣ.      ಬೆಳೆಗ್ಗೆದ್ದು ಸ್ನಾನ ಮಾಡಿ ಪೌಡರ್ ಲಿಪಸ್ತಿಕ್ಕ್ ಇನ್ನೂ ಏನೇನು ಬೇಕು ಎಲ್ಲ ಅಲಂಕಾರ ಮಾಡಿಕೊಂಡು ಹೊರಟಿರಲ್ಲ. ಹೇಗಾಯಿತು . ಇನ್ನೊಮ್ಮೆ ಸ್ನಾನವೇ ಆಯಿತಲ್ಲ. ಅದೂ ಎಂತಾ ನೀರಿನಲ್ಲಿ! ಪರಮ ಪಾವನ!  ಹುಡುಗರಾದರೋ ಅಮ್ಮಾ ಬಯ್ಯುತ್ತ ಬಯ್ಯುತ್ತ ತೊಳೆದ ಕೊಕ್ಕರೆಯಂತ ಬಿಳೀ ಶರ್ಟ್ ಹಾಕಿಕೊಂಡು ಹೋಗುತ್ತಿದ್ದಿರಲ್ಲ. ಬಿಳೀ ಶರ್ಟ್ ಹೇಗಾಯಿತು ಈಗ?

I must keep a count of how many times I fight with my spouse. How many times in a day, in a week, in a month, in an year.    Two possible positive outcomes, I might feel slightly ashamed. (I must improve my score). Second, my math and memory may improve.

   If poor visibility (setVisible(poor) ) is combined with moving vehicle what is the output? Funny quotes.    I saw on a scooter " Babar Amdev" Funny.  Is this Amdev   like "Am ke ped ke upar hi ghar banaye hain..."? But what does Babar got to do with that. Then it flashed. It is Baba ramdev. Well he will surely feel happy and smile with blinking one eye    The next part of this blog is really funny. I was thinking all these things and lo. My scooty passed through one terrible honda. May be babaramdev's curse?

 How many times do you hear it and tell it to your spouse. Some of the clever ones - like me may not tell it loud. But the feeling is always there.    Let us give take some examples. The dress you are wearing is not clean. Spouse did not wash it properly or did not instruct the maid to wash it cleanly. You do not have a clean pressed shirt. She is too eager to put the clothes for washing. But never irons.  Why should she wash it so frequently? And after all, who will buy the detergent?. Her dad?   On the other side, your dress is not so nice looking. He did not come with you to buy the dress, so you were all alone and bought something which is not so nice. Or even worse, he came with a long face and was unresponsive.    You are having problems at your office. What else could be the reason? You had a fight at home. So you were irritable. And started a fight. With the boss! If only your spouse had not fought with you at home, all these difficulties would not have arisen.     Your ve

  I am not the fan of AB. My spouse is. I am not writing about that Amitabh. I am writing about Ya Amitabh in the book of AG. I am sorry I will write the title of the book in another post because I can not recollect it. Great book, The main character of the book, goes in search of some ancient documents found in Egypt regarding one slave of Ben Yijru. The fellaheen of Egypt call him, doktor al Hind. And keep asking him about the tradition of burning the dead in his country, etc.     At some point of time Amitav realises that the slave Bomma must be from Mangalore, mostly belonging to Mogera or fishermen tribe. The area and its people are described.      I feel a book is great if it makes the reader participate in all the events described and curious to know more about it.     Conclusion : A must read book

  ಮಳೆ ಬಂದಾಗ ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನ ರಸ್ತೆಗಳು ಕೊಚ್ಚೆ ಗುಂಡಿಗಳಗುವದು ಹಳೆಯ ವಿಷಯ. ಆದರೆ ಈಗ ಮಳೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ರಸ್ತೆಗಳು ನದಿಗಳಾಗುತ್ತಿವೆ. ಆ ನದಿಯನ್ನು ದಾಟುತ್ತ ನಾವು ವಾಹನ ಓಡಿಸಬೇಕು ಅಥವಾ ಬಹಳ ಸಲ ತಳ್ಳಬೇಕು. ಯಾರನ್ನು ಬಯ್ಯೋಣ ? ಹುಯ್ಯೋ ಹುಯ್ಯೋ ಮಳೆರಾಯ ಎಂದು ನಾವೆಲ್ಲ ಚಿಕ್ಕವರಿದ್ದಾಗ ಹೇಳಿದ್ದನ್ನು ಮರೆಯದೆ ಈಗ ಹುಯ್ಯುತ್ತಿರುವ ಮಳೆ ರಾಯನನ್ನೇ ? ರಸ್ತೆ, ಚರಂಡಿ ವ್ಯವಸ್ತೆ ಸರಿ ಮಾಡಲು ಸಮಯ ಸಿಗದ ತುಂಬಾ ಮಹತ್ವದ ಕೆಲಸ ಮಾಡುತ್ತಿರುವ ಸರಕಾರವನ್ನೇ? ಅಥವಾ ಇದೆಲ್ಲ ತಿಳಿದೂ ರಸ್ತೆಗೆ ಇಳಿಯುವ ಸಾಹಸ ಮಾಡುವ ನಮ್ಮ ಮೂರ್ಖತನವನ್ನೆ ? ನೀವೇ ಹೇಳಿ

    In a movie yesterday, the professor was saying fear in the foundation of our hatred. We hate minorities because we are afraid of them. We are afraid that they will take our jobs, our city, our country or what not. Politicians being the not so good hearted, will exploit this fear to divide us. So true, so true.      Look the very good example is BJP. And the rhetoric it has taught to all of our family members. Muslims marry many times. They have lot of children. So in a few years they will outnumber us, and make India as Muslim country. So hate them. Punish them. They are not us. They need to be in Pakistan. etc.etc.    Compare this with the way Hitler eyewashed Germans against Jews and caused the genocide. We Indians are supposed to be smart. We have inherited the knowledge of generations. Should we succumb to such hate propaganda?

    Such a nice way of acting democratic. We have the freedom to do as we wish. Is that what democracy is? At least our elected leaders think so. The TOI article said people are ashamed by the behaviour of Karnataka mlas on vote of confidence day. But why should we be ashamed? Just because these politicians are deplorable does not mean entire country is that way. Only reason we should feel embarrassed is because we elected them to rule us.      But I remember our lecturer saying "We get the government we deserve " Do we deserve these? And the ones like Kalmadi? Are they the real representatives of our country? Or people like Narayan Murthy or Sachin Tendulkar are?     The best part of Kalmadi episode is the guilty are not punished and never will be. He is not even removed from the ministership. In what way is he different from Lalit Modi?      Or as everyone says the callousness of educated middle class is responsible for the type of elected leaders we get? I am not sure.

    When I blame every Tom, Dick and Harry, doesn't it mean that there must be something wrong with me. Like now, I am just reading mails, blogging and reading self improvement articles (I have been doing it since ages, you don't see any improvement in me. Right). When towards evening people remind of the unfinished works, I get angry on them, call them all kinds of names (in my mind of course) Nobody stops me from finishing the work earlier.     Anyways this can not go on for ever and should not. Let me see a way out.

 He has the courage and come and talk as if nothing  has happened. Felt like slapping him. But that will hurt my hands. Our great sports minister acted as if nothing is his fault. Look at his gall. If he is not sent home at least after the games, then we are unfit to be a decocratic country.

  Yesterday there was BIG FIGHT. Not only in NDTV and various other TV channels, but even in our house. Husband kept beaming in a very proud manner. I was not unhappy either. I want peace in the country. Not  piece of land to build a temple.        As some one on the discussions of the tv channels suggested "political parties have realized that the expiry date of this issue is long past." And it no longer pays for them. Hence they are not trying any mischiefs.    Again to quote one of the participants, the judges have shown great statesmanship in deciding the verdict    Read another interesting piece just now, it seems someone has blogged that "muslims agree for the construction of Temple in the site provided it is constructed under the leadership of Suresh Kalmadi"      At the end of the day common man is happy because he is not to suffer in another  violence.   

  My nephew gave me a mobile theme called Life has no ctrl z. How true!!! If it were there, what all events in your life, would you have undone? Let us analyse.   I would have first undone me being born. (Do you think this undone should be done by my parents. Anyways)   If I am born , I would have undone doing this meaningless Engineering. Do you ask why. Because that would have helped me in not losing what  little amount of discipline  I had.   I would not have undone my marriage. I have to admit though grudgingly that it is one of the few good things that have happened in my life. Now do you ask, if so why do you quarrel with your spouse, day and night, 24X7 or at least 14 hours. Because it is a tradition, carried on for generations which I dare not break)    I would have undone resigning from x, y and z companies. I have realized that "paapi samudra hokkaru monakaludda neeru"     And so on.  

     Finally went to library and brought two books one from Amitav Ghosh. In an Antique land. Atleast start looks good. And style is interesting. Another is from an author of Peru. (Don't remember authors name or the book title, I picked up the book because the image on the book cover looked abstract)   Bye bye Idiot box Well that is a wish at least.      I know my English is not impeccable. But I know for sure that it is better than many other collegues. So when I was sent a mail saying that there is an error in my program message - that can not is one word, I got angry. How dare these kids pointing fingers at my English. I have read more English books than their ages!!  Googled and found out that can not and cannot are both correct but cannot is more popularly used. Sent this as a reply to colleagues. And found some solace.    

  As I mentioned in the previous post, I am repenting that I am losing the habit of reading (only one good quality of mine). So googled for book challenges. Then I thought why don't any Indian post such a contest. Hence I came across this page - S. Krishna's books. She had south asian book challenge last year. Ok, last year is over. Anyway she has one more challenge - 52 books  - 26 authors with a to z and 26 titles with a to z. This is end of septemeber. And I am a very very busy person. ( Are you asking how am I able to blog now. I am at office now) Anyways I will give it a try. If not 26 each I may read 6 each.     Have a look at the challenge yourself.  Here

   I am losing the habit of reading. Only once a week for about half an hour i am reading. Very very bad. Let me read everyday.    Started reading Passage to India. Well quite an absorbing book. Takes us back to that era. And also lets us see from their (English) viewpoint.    Let me atleast complete this book before weekend.

  These brahut mahanagar palike people have decided to convert Bangalore from Garden City to Desert city.  how many tree have been chopped in last year? Is there no way to stop them? Or if it is really necessary to cut the trees, do they plant trees in other locations. The plants in large cement pots in Mysore road flyover are just sitting there idly without a single extra leaf I think.      All in the name of namma metro I think. By the time metro is ready, I think we will have only that and nothing else.

   I am really fed of the long long long journey of --- no, not life but that of everyday travel to and from office. Please somebody find out the way of teleportation (is there such a word)methods soon. That way I can teleport myself to office everyday (of course wireless) and I will never ever have to face traffic woes !!.    What happens if there is break in transmission half the way. Half of me will be at home. And the other half at office. I will have to download myself all over again . But then what will I do with half of me which may be in temp folder. Move it to trash?    And if the transmission is not working, again due to lot of broad band TRAFFIC, I will not be able to teleport during peak hours and finally reach, sorry appear in the office at 11:30 and get memoed by boss?     It does not look good right. May be the road traffic is not that bad. What do you say, dear Bengalurigare?

   What a name for the blog? Why do I have to ask myself same question again and again wherever I go? I am a misfit everywhere. :-(          

 ಗಣೇಶನ ಹಬ್ಬ ಮುಗಿಯಿತು. flash-back ನಲವತ್ತು ವರ್ಷಗಳ ಹಿಂದಿನ ಹಬ್ಬ. ದೊಡ್ಡ ದೇವರ ಕೋಣೆ. ಆಲ್ಮೋಸ್ಟ್ ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನ ಮನೆಯಷ್ಟು. ಅದರ ತುಂಬಾ ಹಾಡು ಹೇಳುತ್ತಿರುವ ಹೆಂಗಸರು (ಹಾಡೆಂದರೆ ದೇವರ ಹಾಡು. ಹಬ್ಬಕ್ಕೆಂದು ಸ್ಪೆಷಲ್ ಆಗಿ ಬರೆದ, ಬೇರೆ ಬೇರೆ ಸಂದರ್ಭಕ್ಕೆ ಬೇರೆ ಬೇರೆ ಹಾಡುಗಳು. ಪೂಜೆ ಮಾಡಿದ್ದಕ್ಕೊಂದು, ಹೂ ಏರಿಸಿದ್ದಕ್ಕೊಂದು, ಆರತಿ ಎತ್ತಿದ್ದಕ್ಕೊಂದು, etc etc. ) , ಜಾಗಟೆ ಬಾರಿಸುತ್ತಿರುವ ರಾಗ ಹಾಡುತ್ತಿರುವ (ಅಮ್ಮಾ ಎತ್ತಿಕೋ ), ಸುರ್ ಸುರ್ ಬತ್ತಿ ಹಚ್ಚುತ್ತಿರುವ ಮಕ್ಕಳು, ಯಾವಾಗ ಈ ರಗಳೆ ಮುಗಿದು ಒಂದು ಕವಳ ಹಾಕುತ್ತೇನೋ ಎಂದುಕೊಳ್ಳುತ್ತಿರುವ ಗಂಡಸರು. ಆರತಿ ಶುರು ಆಯಿತು. ಡನ್ ಡನ್ ಡನ್ ಜೋರಾಗಿ ಜಾಗಟೆ. ಇವರ ಗಣೇಶನನ್ನು ಓಡಿಸಲು ಪ್ರಯತ್ನಿಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದಾರೋ ಏನು.       ಜಗುಲಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಇನ್ನೊಂದು ಗಲಾಟೆ. ಪಟಾಕಿಗಳು ಪಟಾಕಿಗಳ ಸರಗಳು. ಅಬ್ಬರವೋ ಅಬ್ಬರ. ಅದನ್ನು ಕೇಳಿ ಹೆದರಿ ಅಮ್ಮಂದಿರ ಸೆರಗಲ್ಲಿ ಅಡಗಿಕೊಳ್ಳುವ ಪುಟ್ಟ ಮಕ್ಕಳು.        ಇದೆಲ್ಲ ಮುಗಿದ ಮೇಲೆ ಊರ ಎಲ್ಲ ಮನೆಯವರು ಸೇರಿ ಗಣೇಶನನ್ನು (ಗಣೇಶನ್ದಿರನ್ನು??) ಮುಳುಗಿಸಲು ಕರೆದೊಯ್ಯುವ ಸಂಭ್ರಮ. ಮೆರವಣಿಗೆ ಅದರ ಜೊತೆಗೆ ಮಳೆ ದೊಡ್ಡವರಿಗೆ ಮಳೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ನೆನೆಯಲು ಬೇಸರವಾದರೆ, ಮಕ್ಕಳಿಗೆ ಹಾಗೇನಿಲ್ಲ. ಅವರ ಚಿಂತೆಯೇ ಬೇರೆ. ಕತ್ತಲೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಇಂಬಳ ಕಾಲಿಗೆ ಹತ್ತಿಕೊಂಡರೆ ಏನು ಮಾಡುವದು? ಆದರೂ ಇಲಿ ಮರಿ ಅಥವಾ ಹಾವೂ ಸಿಗಬಹುದೆಂಬ ಆಸೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಅವರೂ ಬರುತ್

   I have been surfing around indiblogger list of bloggers. I feel like a child in a sweet shop or myself in any shop. I want to read everything. (except for technology blogs ;-) ) I want to add all of these to my blog list (so that I can easily find the links when I need them again) It is so nice to know that there are so many  useful blogs around. Thank you Indiblogger .

   Have you heard of the name  ವರ್ಷಿಣಿ  -  I read it rather saw it. Not ಅಮ್ರಿತ ವರ್ಷಿಣಿ  just  ವರ್ಷಿಣಿ. So if there can be  ವರ್ಷಿಣಿ, there can as well be ತಿಂಗಳಿನಿ  and ವಾರಿಣಿ  and ದಿನಿನಿ . How about that ?

Let me write try to write a portrait here. She is hardly out of her school. She gets married into a rich household. Large house, strict mother-in-law, serious faced husband. There is no scarcity of anything. But she should work from early morning till midnight. Big house to be cleaned and kept neat and shiny, kitchen full of vessels to be cleaned, tasty meal to be prepared 3 times a day not only for members for the family but even for servants who work in the farm, grand children of the family to be looked after. She hardly got time to breathe. If there is slight mistake she should face the shouting of the husband and grumblings of MIL. She bore all this with a grin.    Now MIL has become old and fragile. Husband has become old and mellowed. Does she take kind of revenge. No she is still the old self, soft spoken, almost afraid to speak, working entire day.    Why do I write this? All you people when you get your daughter married to a family, ask them " Are you looking for a bri

  Do you want to live for ever and for ever? You never want to get old? You want to go where ever you want and whenever you want? That too at the speed of thought? I know the best method to achieve that. Be a ghost!!     If you are a ghost, you will never die. How can anyone kill a person (or ghost) who is already dead? You will never get old . Haven't you seen so many ghosts (in the movies) who look young and pretty centuries and centuries after. When there is no metabolism, there is no process of getting old. See how much you can save on anti-aging creams. You can go anywhere swiiiish, zooooom you appear (or is it apparate). No bus-charge, no traffic jam.       Now I wonder why didn't our lords Shiva, Vishnu etc never thought of these answers when Rakshasas  did tapasya  for eternal life. Well, I was inspired by Bhoothnath Hindi film. What an idea madam jee!!

 Well this indiblogger has a competition called what is your wish or idea or something.    I have plenty of such wishes and then think somebody else will invent such things. 1. A way of generating energy from a moving automobile. All these generators need a rotation to cut the magnetic field. Here is the rotation happening. Why can't that be used for generation of electricity? 2> People have invented bio-generators which generate electricity from kitchen wastes. But that needs lot of (kgs ) bio-waste. See link here . From a small family this may not happen. Somebody should find a way to prepare either bio-gas or bio-electricity for very small contents of bio-waste also. 3> Current solar cookers like parvati cookers are not very popular. Somebody should prepare feasible solar cookers for rural people. 4> In our region(malnad of karnataka) , lot of dried  arecanut skins which are just burnt as fuel in an un-economic way. This can be used for thermal power generati

   What mamata is doing is completely wrong according to me. If she is so much concerned about naxals she should try to bring them to conversation with the govt instead of politicizing the issue. This matter is not something to be played on for political reasons. She better remember the lesson of Bhindranwale .

  O man , thou art no omnipotent! 'cause        mata cookkati kaumarye, bharya cookkate yavvane, kukkati putree stavare    na purushaha cookam janati    well, translated it might be read as mom cooks in childhood, wife in youth, daughter (or in law) cooks in old age, man does not know how to cook.    (Don't tell me that I am killing Sanskrit. No instead I am trying to revive it by using it and adapting it to easy usage.) Anyways, the strong man has at least one work which he can not do at all.

    When a person is completely upset and things are all going wrong (no, not all is well), will god come (pratyaksha!!!)? I am not joking. Today it did happen. For past few days, things are going from worse to worse. (How much worse can they get?) Don't expect me to elaborate on that. So today morning I am driving .(By now you know too well that that is the only other work I do other than eating ) God , none other that God Ganesha appears infront me. Initially I just got a glimpse and was doubtful. Then I saw HIM. O my god. Can this be true!!! Are my eyes deceiving me? It cann't ne true!!!    The best part was there were three Ganeshas. Now you know, these were the life size idols being taken to somewhere on a truck. Anyways he always shows up in disguise right!

 Good old days I had read a joke about the car or rather owner of a car who spends more time below the car than on the car. Similar thing is true about my computer. It is  in the repair shop more than it is with us. So that on a few weekends when I have work (work I said not blogging) to do, comp is not there.       So I used up that time to watch "Pirates of silicon valley". Good film as it is close to heart. See it yourselves and find out why.     I also brought Passage to India. But it is not easy read. Or am I losing my habit of reading?         

  Let me make a correction to my previous post. I love kids , as long as they are not mine. That is to say I do not have their responsibility. What a hellish job that is!!! I wake up at un-earthly hour of 4.30 to prepare snacks for son and go wake up him. He won't get up. If I raise my voice my 1 decibel he will start screaming. I give him snacks (imagine preparing rotis at that time). He won't eat because there was no tea (as I forgot to keep milk previous night).      I get tensed thinking he may find his school work too tough. Try to ask what did you study in Maths today. He says (if I am lucky) complex numbers. I try to recite few equations I know of complex numbers. He replies " Will you please keep quite" Tell me what is wrong in trying to draw to him little conversation.     I trying asking about his friends. He would not tell. He just says why do i want to know.     I know, I know. This happens in every house which has teenagers. But that does little to con

   You told us that you come to this earth and take reincarnation for punishing the bad and protecting the good. (paritranaya sadhunam vinashaya cha dushkratam) OK. Agreed. But what you did not tell us that in this process there will be many casualties.    Take the example of Mahabharatha (obviously). You did protect pancha (5) pandavas and punish the 100 kauravas. But what about the rest, the Bheeshma, Drona, Karna, Abhimanyu, Ghatotkacha so on, so on. They were killed in the great battle that is Mahabharatha. Are they also bad according to you? No, they can not be. Then why did they die? Just because they were on wrong side?(for Karna, Drona, Bheeshma) But they all were doing their Dharma, their duty. Are you telling a lie when you say you punish the bad. Or is it I punish, mostly bad people.     I know I am trana samana ( equal to a grass) in all these philosophical questions. But answer me. And make me understand your reason

 Finally finished reading Pilgrimage by Paulo coelho. A good book. Should I try practicing the exercises he has mentioned? RAM practice (forgot what it is) talking to your messenger, listening to the sounds, dance practice? He has mentioned them in such a way that it does not look like part of the story. But what is the sum total of the book? (That is moral of the story?) Don't know. May be that you need not go to pilgrimage to learn lessons. Life itself will teach you lessons. But tragedy is you are not ready to listen to these lessons. And the divine love can be seen in children when they are doing anything with full enthusiasm. (Did you notice that blogger has implemented online spell check now. Thanks blogger) OK let me scan through the pages again and find out what the book is trying to say.

ಮರುಳು ಮಾಧವ ಮಹಿಯ ರಾಜ್ಯದ ಸಿರಿಗೆ ಸೋಲುವನಲ್ಲ ಕೌನ್ತೆಯರು ಸುಯೋಧನ- ರೆನಗೆ ಬೆಸೆಗೊಂಬಲ್ಲಿ ಮನವಿಲ್ಲ ಪೊರೆದ ದಾತಾರಂಗೆ ಹಗೆಗಳ ಶಿರವನರಿದೊಪ್ಪಿಸುವೆನೆಂಬಿ ಭರದೊಲಿದ್ದೇನು kauravendrana konde neenenda Well this is what Karna says when Krishna tells him the truth about his parents that pandavas are his brothers. And he will be the king after the war when pandavas win. Well you do not get its gist if you translate into English (or in other words my English is not up to the mark)     Mahabharatha is one epic of tragedies. Every character is living his/her own hell - Draupadi, Bheeshma, Karna, Kunthi, Gandhari. Look at Karna. He is a prince, son of the Mighty Sun God. But his mother left him and sailed him in the river. His Guru gave a curse to him. Draupadi insulted him in Swayamvara. Only good thing about his life is Duryodhana's friendship. That must be spoilt by kutila Krishna by mentioning that he is also a Kauntheya. Indra His death came by Arjuna shooting an arrow to his back when he trying to lift h

  Read this article about Lucknow women who are divorced walking back to their inlaws place with around 100 supporters. They included two women who had roughed up maulvis who issued this talaqnama.    Comment by one woman I found interesting "These maulvis do not oppose a muslim woman works carrying bricks on her head. But once she is educated and works as doctor etc. they are  worried."     In the serial "Glee" (to which I am addicted) Shue's wife says something like success of their marriage is dependant on his being a failure. So for most Indian men it is the other way. They do not want their wives to be successful, they do not want them to be independent. because then the supremacy is questioned. So dear reader, what would you rather have? A successful marriage or a successful wife?     Now dont tell me that I am turning my unpopularity into feminism. Let atleast something come out of this #$#$ blogging

On the walls of Lalbagh some paintings are drawn. May be BBMP s effort the beautify namma bengaluru. And it is written BBMP sada nimma seveyalli (BBMP always at your service). Why did not they depict the numerous ways in which bbmp services us. They can draw dug roads, pot holes exactly at a signal, road speed breakers which are terribly shaped. Thanks bbmp for your seve

       I saw a woman asleep on the footpath today morning. Even disturbing fact is she was asleep on the footpath in the middle of flyover. I don't know her reasons but what I know is our government is doing precious little for such people. Now as the country is one of the growing powers, it can afford to start a social security system for disabled, old poor people. Don't tell me that our country does not have money for implementing such a system. You will not say that if you look at the lavish lifestyle our ministers and politicians are leading. They must be getting money from somewhere. Instead of spending millions of Rs for the wedding of children of politicians or for garland for politicians, it can be channelized here.

     An 18 year old girl's ears and nose was chopped in Afghanistan because she fled from abusive in-laws. Saw it yesterday in times which was shocking enough. But the controversy surrounding it is even more bizarre.  Read this     Ok, ok, Big brother, Taliban left to itself in Afghanistan may rule thus. But that does not justify your presence eternally there. You have to oust Taliban and bring a democratic government there (not a puppet state). If my history is right, who brought this monster into existence in the cold war era?

  There was We the people in NDTV yesterday about twitter. My feeling is twitter is tool for celebrities to be in news always and get a feeling that people always are eager to know about them . And for common people who are dumb enough to be fans of celebrities, it is a tool which makes them feel they are actually interacting with their idols and hence are close to them.     You say I am writing it because I dont twitter knowing too well that there wont be any followers. May be so, may be so

   I saw Rajaneethi hindi film last weekend. Looks like it is based on Mahabharatha. Karna, Arjuna, Shakuni etc etc. But the end was tragic.    How did Pandavas faced life after the war of Mahabharatha. All dead, cousins, uncles, teacher, great grand father, more importantly children, grand child. What is the use of victory which has taken all near and dear ones as ahuthi? And how did Draupadi live?    Why do lives of many women is written with tears - whole life. Sita, Draupadi? If their fate was this bad, what about us the poor mortals?

     I think I have realized why the parents of Dharmaraya named him Yudhisthira (Kunti ?? Pandu?? Yama???) . He was the eldest and doomed (deemed ?) to become the king. Which requires facing many difficult situations and taking many tough decisions. Which is  not be possible if he is a weakling (like Arjuna) . He needs to be tough both physically and more importantly mentally. Hence the name Yudhisthira. The name would remind him each day that he ought to be  stable minded what soever may be the situations.    Why this blog now? I have decided to be Yudhisthira (Joke!! you say) Keep watching. For those of you who do not know who Dharmaraya or Yudhisthira is - He is eldest of Pandavas in the epic Mahabharatha. He is said to be very noble and just.

  A good blog. Was searching tech blogs. Came across this from techorati. Read few articles - good. p.s. They are fighting against radical right wing agenda too. What say bhajapa? link

   A good book by Paula Coelho. He talks about eros, philos and agape. I did not about the existence of these words. In the initial stages of your relationship, what you feel towards each other is eros. Well like passion. Later the same relationship will turn into philos or it must turn into philos. And agape is beyond these and something divine(?). (Which means I did not understand that term) Wait, I will open Word and find synnonyms of these three words. Ha, open office word does not have synonym feature.      The narrator of the book takes up a journey to Santiago.( Way of St. James) See the link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Way_of_St._James. This was one of the pilgrimage used for thousands of years using which remains of St. James were taken.

   You must have read about Millions of tons of food grains rotting in our country because we do not have sufficient storage capacity.see http://www.ndtv.com/news/videos/video_player.php?id=154820 What an irony? Why can't the retain markets like reliance and big-bazaar etc buy the grains directly from the farmers , store in their warehouses and sell it? That will ensure that the farmers get a reasonable price for their crops, consumers will not have to pay through their nose for even the basic food grains.  I also read that reliance which initially started to buy fruits and veggies from farmers and sell them to consumers, is moving away from this pattern because of opposition from local vegetable sellers.  Is not there a solution to this problem?

Not an appropriate post. Since many in my office know the url of this blog.     So what do you do when your mind stops functioning and the pdf books you have downloaded are looking like greek and latin and you are supposed to learn a new technology and programs are crashing and you dont know how the #@@#@ you are supposed to understand debugger messages. So this is the state of affairs, what do you do?    1> Go and sit next to a colleague who is busy coding. Not because you may get inspired. Because you can eat his/her head as well so that he will also throw away his mouse and keyboard.    2> Go to pantry and get some cream biscuits and savor them while talking to your spouse.    3> Go check the mail and see how many consultants have asked for your cv and hence boost your ego (It is completely different matter that if you send the cv 90% they ma. they may reject it. What happened? You guessed it right.  We are called for a meeting and save button was disabled. Hence I

ಹಗಲುಂ ಇರುಳುಂ ಸುರಿವ ಜಡಿ ಮಳೆಯ ಬಿರುಸಿನಿಂದ ಎನ್ನ ಬಗೆಯುಂ ಬೇಸತ್ತುದು . You remember this from your school lessons? If you don't it is from Muddana manorameya sallapa. Poor Manorame. She had only little to tell. If she were here and now, what would she have told?     From this rain my mind is bored (?) My body within jacket within raincoat is shivering. My feet are shouting for putting them in dirty mud. My legs say they don't even want to think what kind of water is splashing on them. My eyes are totally confused. If they open rain drops attack them. If the don't their owner will surely hit something. My hair would have been like a wet cat but for the helmet.    Thank the heavens Muddana. For you were not made to listen to all this.

ಸಂಜೆಯಲಿ, ಬಾಳ ಸಂಜೆಯಲಿ ಸೋತ ಕಾಲುಗಳ ಎಳೆಯುತ್ತ ಸಾಗುತಿರುವೆ ಇನ್ನೆಷ್ಟು ದೂರ, ಮನೆ, ಅವನ ಮನೆ! ಎಣಿಸಿತ್ತಿರುವೆ ದಿನಗಳ ಕ್ಷಣಗಳ ಎಂದು ಕರೆಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳುತ್ತನೋ ಅವನು ಅಥವಾ ಸಂಸಾರ ಮಕ್ಕಳು ಈ ಎಲ್ಲವೂ ಭ್ರಮೆ ಆದಂತೆ ಅವನೂ ಭ್ರಮೆಯೇ ?

   I have a free unasked advice for all of you folks who are constructing your house. What ever you do never go for rough surface tiles for your bathroom wall-tiles. I have these in our bathroom. And it is very very difficult to clean them.    Another advice is plan your house in such a way that kitchen is the center point of your house. You can keep on eye on the whole house from the kitchen. Helps a lot when maids are cleaning the house.

What is the religion of Indians? Cricket . (At least religion of one half of Indians :) males) Who is the God of Indians? Rupee (or paisa if you say so) Now with a new icon Who is the national hero of Indians? Tendulkar / Khans / AB   Who is head of the Indian Government? Sonia Gandhi (I think this most of us guessed this correctly) What is the language of Indians englishu / angrezi / englis

  I read somewhere, A man wants food, clothes, shelter in that order. Once these needs are met he wants social recognition. So is creativity makes me happy really means I feel that I am someone. I can do something and I have done something. That is why I am happy.    May be so or may not be so. But ultimate happiness is when you do something which really difficult. And the amount of happiness is directly proportional to the grade of difficulty and number of hurdles faced.    Is there a short cut for obtaining happiness. Eating, reading junk, watching trash, why do these give us some happiness. And many a times why do we resort to these knowing too well that we are wasting time and these are not good for us? Or is it because we are masochists?     And why am I blogging now instead of really creative "Learning android"

   Go to any mall in Bangalore on weekends. It is overflowing with boys,girls, moms, dads, grampas, grammas so on. What are all these people doing here? Shopping, windows shopping or just time passing...(?) What will they do with all these shopped items? God knows. Like all these I am shopoholic. Yesterday I shopped around 250 Rs worth of fruits and vegetables and some bedsheets and some crockery. What do I do with these?     Vegetables will be lying in kitchen for 2 days and in refrigerator for 15 days. When they are rotten, they are thrown. Now don't ask me don't I cook? I do cook but saaru which does not need veggies. On some days when I happen to find time and inclination I do put some tomatoes in the saaru. Don't I think these when I am shopping? I don't. When a child sees some sweets, will it pause to think how much it needs or grab what all it can?     I shop for dresses. And that costs much more. And I put them in ward robe. Then I decide, one is too tight, ot

   I start reading something. Immeadiately I start if I do this change and start R&D on that. Am I trying to prove others and myself that I am GREAT. But it is really miserable.

      We all are exploited in one way or the other. By our bosses, by our husbands, by our maids. But more than all these, we are exploited by our children. You don't agree? You say my child/ren is/are a gem. He/She/They love me so much. How can you even think that I am being exploited by them? Let me explain how.      When you start cooking what do you do first. You keep aside brinjal. Why your child hates it AND it makes a hell lot of fuss if brinjal is in the lunch. You make a point to make raitha 365 days because your child likes it. It does not matter much, if a certain dish is not liked by your husband. He can always be silenced by out-shouting. But not the child. So every day you cook the favorites of your child.      When you are out to buy something for yourself, you visit hundred stores looking for a bargain and buy the CHEAPEST one. Let us say a mobile. You tell yourself that mobile is a device to listen to FM songs/take some pictures of your garden/kitchen/put some re

   We have well defined roles. We develop programs. Testing team finds bugs in them. And we correct it. What if we exceed our roles? If we find bugs and correct them, should we be rewarded or punished.    The former rarely happens. Who asked you to find the bugs? You are trying to correct one bug and generate other bugs. That is the comment I got. Well I have quite a thick skin. Did not feel sad. But felt angry.     One more thing which happens too frequently is we scratch our head and try to utilize what little gray cells we have and design the algorithms, find suitable data structures, decide which functions to write etc. And finally the programs gives the expected output. And what feedback do we get? This back-ground color is not good. Why don't you make this smaller/larger....Comments about UI (ie user interface)     Well but that is what matters right. The package is as important as the content inside?

   Amma, he hit me.    No, mom, he started first.     We moms hear it so frequently. But now you can hear it even in the assembly. Yeddi said that even Congress members are involved in illegal mining activity. And former two CMs have given mining permissions etc etc.

     In my childhood we used to draw some complicated rangavallis ( the designs made infront of the house with white powder). But the fruits we used to draw were only maavina hannu and geru hannu (mango and cashew fruit) which never resembled the actual fruits. So I wonder, if we could master the art of complex rangavallis, why couldn't we draw simple fruits. May be the reason is we were not taught to.      My theory is : Every child is born with equal amount of intelligence. Later, it becomes smart or dumb, depending on nurturing. That is the reason , we say most of kids from well to do families fair well in education compared to poor children. Can't we develop an education system which nurtures the talent of each and every child, which recognizes the field in which child excels?       For this the teacher must play a very important role. And he/she must be very well trained and must be completely devoted to the children. Well, the "star world" serial "Glee&qu

                In my childhood, invariably there would be an essay called "ಮಳೆಗಾಲದ ಒಂದು ದಿನ" . But in malenadu (sahyadri hilly region) , malegala is part of life and nothing special. Here in Bangalore , it is special because it makes the roads inundated with water. Well, friday I was in a dual mind, shall I wait for rain to stop or venture in the rain. I preferred the latter option thinking as it is not yet dark, driving will not be so difficult and also it is an adventure. Somehow the rain was not too heavy, that is I could keep my eyes open. But Mysore road fly over was tough part. I had to drive through 4 inches of water. And whenever a car passes by, it would splash water all over me. But the truth is I didn't mind it so much. Isn't it nice to be splashed with water? So I can say I enjoyed the ride        Well I know, like everyone else that I am childish. But this must be babyish? .  

    Little things make me happy. Like when I am driving and  a pothole being filled on the road. Like when I see one small flower or even a bud in my garden. Or a nice song sung by kids in one of the reality shows. I must always remember I have only these things in my kismat. If I start laughing and joking with everyone in office and think finally I am being accepted there, there must be something wrong somewhere. Daal me kuch kalaa hai. I should have suspected that. No I being a fool, was in seventh heaven. If not seventh, atleast fourth or fifth. I later realised that all this was to get more feed for them to laugh. I am the joker in this office.     What does this half ticket think of himself? He gets others code for them and try to find faults. If we correct some errors ourselves, he does not like that. Well these guys have skills to cope not just technical skills. I can't wait to see his off-spring. Will they be real lilliputtians.      And this kaala kavva, he told me that

   Yesterday was a good day. Because it was a holiday. Thank you, all opposition leaders for providing us a holiday. Thank you also for being so much concerned about us, the common people who are being affected by price rise.      But there are some bad elements, who do not understand your troubles. But they try to malign you, by seeing you are calling a bandh for political reasons and are causing so much of inconvenience. Can't they face a little difficulty for the betterment of society. They never understand the true feeling of you people. They don't realize that you are fighting always on behalf of them and what ever you do, will be for their benefit.     I have a suggestion. To convince these people of your good intentions, you use a different approach. You call it "Shanta satyagraha". Whenever a situation occurs, which requires you to call a bandh, (like yesterdays' ), you walk to vidhana-soudha or parliament with your supporters and sit for a "aamaran

 Somehow an entire week and a weekend has passes without bringing any book. So have nothing to read. Except for newspapers, scrummoms. So whole evening (well from 7:45 to 8:15 and 10 to 10:30, I will be staring at the TV sometimes asking for the remote. Husband will oblige. but not son. So I should stare at the tv which is showing some completely #@$#$# cartoon. I am sick of Tv. Even if i get remote, how many times can you watch meaningless soaps, stupid films. I don't feel like going to Discovery.     So somehow Sidhdhartha by Hermen Hesse was on the table. Was reading bits and pieces of that. Great book. Bits and pieces themselves calmed me.

You caught me blogging in the office time when one of GRRRReat colleague is trying to explain how to use GIMP. I have justification. All the other people in my office, take their coffee cups and go out and come back after half an hour. They come back from lunch at 3. Again afternoon coffee for half an hour. I don't do these things. Not because I am very consen.. I do not remember that word properly. Not that I am very very good employee. But because everyone in my office hate me. Why? Because every one in this universe hate me.    Good progress. Isn't it? From job less house wife to most hated techiee.

   ಓಡುತಿರುವ ಆಟೋಗಳೇ ಹರೆಯುತಿರುವ ಬಸ್ಸುಗಳೇ    ಯಾವ ತಡೆಯೂ ನಿಮಗಿಲ್ಲ. ನಿಮ್ಮ ಭಾಗ್ಯ ನಮಗಿಲ್ಲ

My mind has a mind of its own. Wait, wait, don't close the window yet. I am not acting silly. Read few more lines. You will also realize that even your mind has a mind of its own. Doesn't your mind say lemon, lemon,lemon when you see the word lemon anywhere? Does not your mind start "Boli re papeee hara papi hara..." whenever you see a Bolero vehicle. Does not your mind say "Ta tta... ta tta" when you hear "Meri bheegi bheegi si". Does not your mind provide background music, unwanted music, when you are trying to think something serious (how much ever rare that may be) Many a times you are thinking an abstract concept and suddenly your mind provides a GREish word for that concept. Doesn't it? It doesn't? Really??? Then do you think these are only my "arulu marulu" fifteen years ahead of "aravattu"? Or is it a symptom of schizophrenia?

When I run out of ideas to blog, I can always turn to memes. Here was one from http://curiousasacat.blogspot.com/ The question was do you mind if your age shows, as you age. Probably, no certainly I don't mind. What I mind is that I am just looking my age but not acting my age. Any suggestions for this. What do I hold on to when life gets tough? What do I hold on to. I just try to ignore the difficulties thinking tomorrow is yet another day. Problems will some how get solved. Life need not be so tough always. Or may be I just start thinking about daily chores to be done and try to get busy with that which will for the time being make me forget my worries. The picture given reminds of sleep. Aha, how nice it would be if I can go home and nap on a working day. It also reminds me of my hubby and wait,, his snoring.

The little girl pulls her chunni again and again The old lady all shriveled makes her pallu proper again and again and again Why is it your fault, If a Keechaka stares at you Why do you feel guilty? Don't feel bad. It is he who should be ashamed for a double crime staring thus and making your life miserable

Have you heard this song by D.R.Bendre "nanna kai hididaki alu nungi nagu omme naanunu nakkena" Such a nice poem. Especially "nasu naguta bandeva, tusu naguta badukona, tusu naguta tereloona" All of us need to remember this always. We may have come to this world, crying but let us try to lead the life smiling and leave the life smiling. Why should we cry? We have such a short life which can not be wasted in crying.

Brought two books from library (yeah, I am still going to my library. But in fact this time I went when I received their letter) Lolita is one and chineses classic stories collection is another one. The latter one looks dull. The introduction to each section is interesting though. They seem to have a very very long history of peasants uprising. We Indians are far too many for anybody to care if 100 here or a 1000 there dead. What else can you say about either Bhopal judgment or naxals killing 200 recently. The great Bharath matha has a billion children to spare. Right?? And we are the people who push the neighbour's child to well to see how deep it is. So unless it is someone close to us, we don't bother. Who is responsible for naxal trouble. Is it the government which did not help the tribal areas, or is it them who are ill-informed and have chosen a wrong way for getting justice? How can we help the situation? Any suggestions???

The new generation and me from old generation like quotes because it is short to read. Well these quotes I am writing about are not from Shakespere or Milton or someone. (Ofcourse you do not expect these from me) But from the behinds of autos, bikes and jeeps. One person had this "Next ride with your girl friend". Beware of him, dear readers, Another one was " Overtaking is prohibited" and a third one "My dad's road". This one was on a bike too senti to be written thus " I like to walk in the rain because nobody can see me crying..".

      God is there? He must be there. As he is not here !! ha ha!! Look, if God was here, I would not have faced so many difficulties, because I am his child and parent will not put a child to difficult situations. But I am gradually being converted (No,no no my dear pink rsss-ians, not to Christianity!) to theist from an atheist. Many times I chant Om namah shivaya (of course in my mind). Well I recently read that, prayer will help calming the mind. Yes, of course you can't have other noises when your mind is mumbling un-understood words in sanskrit. Any ways, O God if at all you are there or here or anywhere, help this poor old lady (who still thinks she is teenager) and put some sanity in her head and some mercy in others so that they won't trouble her so much!!!

Day before yesterday was D day. Results were to be announced. Don't ask what exam this auntie sorry granny is taking. Not mine but sons'. Board exam results were to be announced. Was much much more tensed than son. Ok finally he got good marks. Was so happy that declared to myself that HE exists. Evening tyre puncture. I am unlucky as far as punctures are concerned. I stood and stared the road, my scooty which is lifeless and sun who is no longer there. Asked a person on the foot path about puncture shop. He not only gave information, but also told that he is a mechanic and unscrewed by tyre, got it repaired and fixed it back. Of course he took money. But I was so happy. And was convinced on the second time on that day that GOD is there. Yesterday, same story repeated , but tyre was not completely punctured but low in air. Filled the air twice and drove in snail pace and reached home. But I did not thank HIM , instead kept on grumbling. Why do we sometimes see events as go

When you are naming government things specifically, public transport vehicles, do not name them like ambari, atal saarige etc. As it is, these vehicles are too slow. If you call them ambari, they feel they have to carry elephants and go in madagajagamana. And we also know that atala is like achala, the one which can not move. So do not do things like "haruva manganige eni hakikoduvadu"

Yes, finally I am a techie. Proper programmer with all its associated features. minus the big fat pay cheque. I dont know how long I may last here. Because I will always make a point to be most un-popular or most laughed at person where ever I may go. Blame it on my eccentricities, or my appearance or my behaviour. Anyway it is ok as long as it lasts. So I get to code, code and code. Sorry, not completely true. Most of the time is being used up in designing the screens in qt. Which according to me is not so productive. That is to say I am not very good at it.

Khuda hi aasman se jab jameen par dekhata hoga Mere meheboob ko kisne (is namoone ko) banaya sochata hoga Don't all of you, SAHMs or NSAHMs(not stay at home moms) think this many a times. Well let me tell you, so do your spouses. If at all they think about, you that is.

I think this is name of a Honda show room in Bangalore. But I have a better suggestion. This can be used as a name of Bangalore roads. Well, we all know the reasons. The roads are more of hondas (pot holes) than roads. A rider has to anticipate all the hondas ranging in depth from kere(lake) to bavi(well), know how to escape them and at the same time not getting hit by the vehicle coming from behind. I am not at all blaming Bangalore bruhat maha nagar palike at all. They do fill up these hondas with tar. In fact, they do it every 2 months. But within a month the roads are back to square one or rather honda one. Well the message is clear. Don't you want to reach the moon? You want to, isn't it? And you have seen in various pictures that moon's surface is filled with hondas i.e. craters. So some practice here on earth will do you a lot of good if and when you reach moon.

Earlier I had written a blog regarding mass-media being used to make us more humane and less hate-ful. Another such effort is this film. A great film to watch with a good message when expecting a film to have a message is liking finding water in desert nowadays. But do you think this will in anyway reduce racial or communal violence? If atleast, it can affect the common man, so that he will not sympathise with satans ( in rizwan's words), then that will be a first step

     It is the biggest and coolest mall in Bangalore. Sorry, it is opposite to the mall mentioned. There were 3 different queues each queue filled with anxieties of boys and girls. Hey what is an auntie doing here? Did she come here by mistake thinking here is some sale of Forum. No, her mistake is thinking that she knows a lot and hence she can attend the job interview of Bosch.      This was only the first queue to get the visiting cards to go inside the building. In the building in the reception, there was another bigger queue. But thank god, here we could sit. We sat after dumping our curriculum vitae  on the table. After 15-20 minutes, one of the ladies of the company started calling out the names. Not those of directly selected( I know you are not that foolish). Nor for those who have to go to some hall for interview/test. But names of those who have been rejected by the panel. See, the world is cruel. After another half an hour, one more list. One of more bunch of eager kids

  Now I am reading Life is elsewhere by Kundera. This one is not as good as Laughter.... Any ways the title is good. Isn't it? We all think life is elsewhere. Not here. Elsewhere where there are no disappointments, no worries (no spouse?? no kid???) Where there is peace, there is happiness, there is justice, (there is ma???) We are all in search of this elsewhere eternally without knowing where is it.

I am growing. Not only in girth. But in my reading tastes. Reading books whose names and authors' names I have to tell several times to remember.:-) Now this book Me and kaminiski by Daniel kehlmann is about a journalist who wants to write biography of once famous artist Kaminiski and hence achieve success which he had never had so far. He goes and visits the artist and his daughter and realises that daughter will never let him speak to the artist. Then he plots so that servant will go on leave and he can be alone. And then things take a real twist. A good book. About a person who depends on others for his survival but still is megalomaniac.   When I read the reviews of the book, I understood that the book is humorous. I did not find it humorous, nor satirical. May be I am one of those people , who should see the narrator raise his hands when he ends his joke so that I can laugh. :-(

She was again in the limelight. Allegedly for saying that Prophet did not say burqa is compulsory. That caused riots in our karnataka and 2 deaths. Are these people not ashamed of themseleves? Do they want to convert our democracy into a country where the right to free speech is confiscated? Who knows, all this may be an attempt to cancel the extension of her visa in India. Let us not forget that her book "Lajja" attracted the ire of Bangladeshi fundamentalists because it depicted the torture on minority community there. That itself must have been reason enough for India, to accept her with open arms. Plase do visit her website to understand how we are making her life as hell. Should we all say like Sita said " Kadege karanalu raghavanalli tappilla. Kadu papavam gaidu pennagi huttidenna aparadhamam"( No kind hearted Rama did not do any mistake, it is my grave mistake to have been born as woman due to my sins in previous lives)

It was long long ago. My son was 2 and a half years old. Me and him were waiting for his pre-school bus in the ground floor of our building in Muscat.( We were not fighting. Because back then, he did not think his mom and dad are two outdated old people who do not know anything. and who are there for the sole purpose of cooking and cleaning for him and giving him money.) Then there came a sudden cool breeze. My son said, it feels as if we are in Hasaragod. This is the name of native village of my husband. I was surprised, the hawa ko zhoka, reminded him of his country and his place. And he was just 2 and a half. So are we born with pride, longing and respect for our mathru bhoomi? Now like any teenager, he says he will never be in India, after his education. This phase will pass.

I was reading coveted confessions by Nikhil. His memories of my town brought back my memories of my very very small town. We not only gave ellu to neighbours , next day at school, we gave ellu to class-mates, school-mates and teachers(used to touch their feet, we not ellu). Then we would take our ellu dabba and go to other schools where we will give ellu only to teachers. Then to next school, then to next and so on. Why, I do not remember. A small doubt, the word -ellu beeru. Why doesn't somebody do it literally? Knock your neighbours door, when the lady opens the door, take ellu from your dabba and spray it all around!!! You do that and tell me what happened. I will go because all my vessels are in sink because my maid did not come today. And whole day I have been really busy infront of this new Idiot box.

   Do not be confused. You have not come to a wrong blog. For a change I thought I will write about cooking tip to surprise you all.    The tip is     The time taken for the butter to become ghee clarified butter is same as the time taken to wash few vessels. Now you ask how is that a tip. It is a tip because, the moment washing is done, you can run out of the kitchen. Now you tell me you can not imagine a middle aged woman with disheveled hair which has few strands of grey black , with a slight limp on the left leg, running out of the kitchen.  What can I do for that. What I told you is a fact. I do not have to follow the stereotype. I dunno mai aisa kyou hoon. But I am like this.

I opened around 16 windows of 16 different articles of Outlook india site. A habit I had cultivated prior to broadband era, when online time, not the amount of download was billed. One article which I found particularly interesting is about Urdu columnists in Pakistan who write without verifying any facts and write all kinds of conspiracy theories blaming US, India and Isreal. And the article also says that English versions of the same columns are saner and do not carry these lies. Is a similar thing happening to local language press and books in India. I take the example of a kannada book where it seems he has explained the muslim plunders obviously exaggerating the facts. He is supposed to have quoted historical dates etc. So people think these are facts. And gives them another reason to hate muslims. Do we need such writers and media at this time when the world is already filled with so much violence. Isn't it a moral responsibility of writers and politicians to unite the peo

I am reading Under African Skies which is a collection of modern African short stories. Each one is a master piece. Apartheid, hunger, civil war- the stories are centered on these themes. The writings are touching but at the same time the styles are good. What I wonder is modern day Indian writings might have become shallow because our bellies are  filled and we are obsessed with material things. We do not know what real suffering is. The story which touched me is about a family in SA where there is boycot of consumer goods to oppose apartheid. People are not supposed to shop. Husband and children do not understand this at all. They keep asking the mother, why there is no food when there is money. The wife finally decides to catch a bus and buy some groceries and bring them stealthily to feed these people. When coming back she is caught by comrades who snatch her bag, spill all the food packets and stampon them. She narrates this to her husband and then mentions that her teen age

Do not mistake me. I am not being egotistic like some people. Nor am I talking about some of the really great minds on this earth. I am just telling you how great a convincer mind is. Let us see some examples Today I was supposed to go to an interview. (Ya, finally there is one interview which I can walk in) . But my mind convinced me you have still abbu (hurt in childish) in your leg. You can not ride the scooty so far. Try going tomorrow or day after. It can find out hundreds of reasons like this to support its laziness (its laziness??) Then when there are cookies at home, ok ok biscuits at home, my mind convinces me , mother, that you can eat some biscuits, because your son should not eat too many of them as that will cause dry stomach. And I happily indulge in the biscuits one , then one , then everything in the packet. My mind is also good in providing words and songs from(in?) the background. I will be thinking about a situation, and I am not even searching for an apro

I am proud to be Hindu. Well I am confused atheist. Sometimes I do not believe in God. Some times I will be hurriedly saying namah shivaya namah shivaya. Some other times I laugh at others for their orthodoxy, But anyway I have a firm belief that " God might be there. He might even be good. But he should not be framed in ANY RELIGION.". Then why do I suddenly say, that I am proud to be Hindu. Did pro rss people succeed in convincing me about the goodness of their ideology? No. That is not the case. See, Hindu religion is good because, it is open. Open as in Linux operating system. Anybody can read it, modify it, distribute it. Comment it. Still be alive without being sentenced to death by. (Remember Rushdie). You have the holy books. You interpret it according to your ways. You follow the religion according to your mode. My neighbor may go to temple everyday and stand in the queue for Sankashti. I may never go to temple saying that god is in my heart. (At least he is

I borrowed a book from the library by Thackery. Such a satirical lines. Every line. Good. But he analyses the human minds too well. Shabby genteel story is the part I finished reading. Now what am I supposed to do next. Of course go to wikipedia and find out more about him. It is good to know that he is an Indian i.e. he was born in Calcutta. Now you know, why he writes so well ;-) I have read "Vanity fair" few years back. Some how then I was not happy reading it. Need to read it again.

Contrast the child in slumdog with that in Home alone. The latter is having all and is protected by the family whereas the former is alone in the cruel world struggling to live yet sticking to an honest life. There could be millions of such Jamaals in this world. Are we not responsible for them? Why are we letting them to lead a dogs life? What can we do for them? How can we Stop them from eating from garbage heap? Getting tortured to be made into beggars? Getting turned into mini goondas? Not everyone is as lucky as Jamaal at least in the end. Every child needs care of the family. Can I do something in my small way? I know giving money does not serve much( that too with my petty 100 - 200 rupees). If any of you know some genuine organizations in Bangalore caring for orphan street children, let me know. I will get in touch with them.

I am saying it to myself. Just now finished a telephonic interview on c. Hey I know so many things and I answered in such concise programs which got the poor fellow confused. Can you see me grinning from ear to ear. For once I am really happy

I am reading this "Ghosts of Vasu master" by Githa Hariharan. Well, again a book from the angle of a retired teacher. A very good read and touches the heart. You wait for Mani to speak, you wait for him to become normal so that Vasu master's efforts and prayers are answered. Also re-read parts of War and Peace. A real classic. Somehow I am reminded of Mahabharatha. Like Mahabharatha, this is also a timeless classic. You can relate to the characters and situations even today and from every part of the world.

I am limping, no not in my spirituality experiments, nor in my blog-writing but literally I am limping. I was having bath. Phone rings. I normally ignore it. Let them call again. But somehow by twist of fate, I decided I will answer the phone. Came out or rather stepped out of the bathroom and slipped. One leg folded, one leg stretched. What a fall it was! But I did not scream, or yell. Like a mature adult got up and dragged myself to phone. (You see, I was alone at home. What is the use of drama when there are no spectators.) Doctors say it is some ligament sprain and will take 3 weeks to cure. So I am limping.

If you are a Bangalorean, you might have seen "Whoz next" on many jeeps and vans. Well, of course they are just written text. Leave them. But what made me worried the other day is "Whoz next " with a pailwan on a "free vehicle " to carry the patients of Hospital XYZ. Are you going to this Hospital. If you are asked this question, better answer in the affirmative. Or else..

May be there is some truth in Alchemist, that if you wish something from all your heart, the circumstances will help you in achieving that. I did not achieve anything great. But my idea came true like this. Looking at the way people are glued to TV in all their free time, I was thinking this mass media can be used to achieve some good sense in people. Things like secularism. I was also thinking if one channel does it, people will just click the remote and go to next which shows a mindless soap. And channels being interested in viewership may not like that. And my wish is answered in the form if "phir mile sur" in Zoom Tv. Good. The Idiot box can be used to unIdiot people!!!. I am loving it.

If a person lives a century, then the correct middle age is 50. I am reaching it too soon. I am already in the wrong side of 40s. No wonder people think I am old. I AM OLD. I heard that grandmother is finding it difficult to climb the step. One step which is about a foot tall. Difficult to her who single handedly took care of the family and the farm, who must have walked around 18kms to nearest town and come back in the evening to cook so many times. Old age is cruel. If that is her situation, what will happen to me, whose definition of hard work is walking to the kitchen to switch of the gas when the cooker has whistled. One more worry, I still have hopes of getting a better job. Who will give me a different job in different field when I am almost reaching retirement age?