Perpetually Perplexed

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 count...

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.