Event For a Great Cause :: Shobana Concert in Austin

For those of you living in Austin, TX , here is a great event for a great cause coming up soon this month.

I have been associated with AID when I was in Austin. A fantastic organization with motivated, sincere and hardworking individuals putting their best efforts to make a difference in the society.

Attend the event and support the great work being done by AID.

Association for India’s Development (AID) - Austin presents

Maya

A Classical Dance Fusion Ballet in English by

World Renowned Bharatanatyam Dancer and National Award-winning actress

SHOBANA & Ensemble

When: Sunday, September 30th, 2007, 5.00-8.00 PM

Where: Akins High School Auditorium, 10701, South 1st Street, Austin TX-78748

Tickets: $100, $50, $25

Call 512-419-8327 OR Email: austinconcert@aidindia.org

Tickets also available at Sulekha:
http://austin.sulekha.com/events/Dance/2007/07/maya-by-padmashree-shobana-in-austin.htm
For Family/Group Discounts contact Ankur Jain: 512-419-8327

Note: Babysitting will be available at the venue.

For more information and to watch a video clip of the show, visit www.aidaustin.org/maya

All proceeds from this show will go towards supporting development projects in India.

The Artist

Shobana is one of the foremost classical dancers from India, and has performed world-wide to great acclaim. She is renowned for her dedication to the classical art form of Bharathanatyam, a dance of the body & soul. She is an innovative choreographer and has crafted a wide range of traditional and contemporary compositions. Shobana has performed to distinguished audiences and received numerous awards including the Padmashree. She has acted in more than 225 films in 5 languages and won the National Award twice for her acting skills in Mitr-My friend and Manichitrathazhu.

The Show

In "Maya", Shobana and her ensemble combine the traditional beauty of Bharatanatyam with the excitement of dance fusion, using world music and popular Indian film music. This dance theatre is based on the epic Ramayana, and unconventional twists in the tale make "Maya" the magical performance that it is. With narration by Naseerudin Shah, Milind Soman, Revathy, Jackie Shroff, Suhasini Manirathnam and others, this dance fusion ballet will be a treat to connoisseurs of classical Bharatanatyam, lovers of contemporary Indian music, and international audiences keen to experience the blend of Indian dance and international beats.

About AID

Association for India’s Development (AID) is a volunteer-based, non-profit organization that supports grass-roots level initiatives in India in various inter-connected spheres such as education, health, women's empowerment, rural development, natural resources and social justice. Visit www.aidaustin.org to learn more about us. AID is a 501(C) (3) non-profit organization and all donations to AID are tax-exempt.

Event Sponsors

Hem Ramachandran- www.Indusrealty.com , 512-970-6336, hem@indusrealty.com

Dr. Robina N. Poonawala, MD- 512-440-8989
Satyananda Yoga Center- www.keepfitwithyoga.com, 512-266-9862, keepfitwithyoga@yahoo.com

1World Realty, LLC -www.1worldrealtyllc.com, 512-825-8837 shroffnp@yahoo.com

Ambica Foods- 512-828-300
International Wellness Foundation (IWFUSA) - www.iwfusa.org,

512-535-0303, info@iwfusa.org
Kid's Dental Smiles - www.kidsdentalsmiles.com, 512-259-2331

Chola Indian Restaurant -www.cholaindianrestaurant.com 512-244-2222

Our Obsession to Individual Worship

" The chief architect of Indian freedom was Gandhi; the chief architect of Indian democracy, Jawaharlal Nehru. "

Quoted from a recent article by noted historian Mr. Ramachandra Guha that appeared in Hindustan Times.

Our Violent Streak

We might go places, get great education but our prejudices, our disease like habits are so deeply rooted in our souls that we cannot get rid of them ever. Every now and then we try to cover them up with some signals of pseudo secularity, outrages against those who do not respond to you and similar such behaviors.

After reading the article by noted historian Ramachandra Guha, I could obviously smell the same stink that we most Indians are having so much difficulty in getting rid of.

Gandhi got us freedom. Nehru built the democracy. This is nothing but another sign of idolization and tending to attribute achievements to individual and not collectives. This is being seen day in and day out in every phase of our lives including cricket, business and so on. This reflectes in our obsession to Tendulkar, our obsession to Abdul Kalam and our obsession to Narayana Murthy. I respect them from the bottom of my heart but what I dislike is our fixation on them and them only. This is exactly what I perceive in this article by Ramachandra Guha.

What an utter insult to the folks other than Gandhi in this article. They (Bose, Bhagat Singh) might have craved for blood. But today, their pictures are in every household not because they craved for blood but because they gave their lives up may be thinking that even this step will help achieve freedom. They might have been misled, violence oriented but I am anguished whenever I see an attempt to downplay the efforts of others in the freedom struggle whether violence oriented or non-violence oriented. Whether the paths were right or wrong may never have decisive conclusions but an attempt to show them as useless in comparison to Gandhi/Nehru smacks of idolism and individual worship.

And this is when people (atleast me) sense the pseudo knowledge of noted historians and realize that prejudices are deep rooted in them and their articles reflect so. And in their articles they start bringing in everything possible as disparate as Goddess Kali or spicy south indian food or fish in the Bengali food to support their argument.

To finish, this article as I felt is not an articulate or practical analysis but an outburst of a prejudiced thought process.

Sing "Chak De" Wherever and Whenever You can

Chak De.... La la la India
Chak De.... La La la India

Alrite that is the defacto standard now by the way.

Any win, one has to sing this song.

After India defeated England, every channel I tuned to in my TV, only this song was going showcasing the shots of Tendulkar and Utthappa.

Oh by the way, dont get me wrong. I am not criticising anyone this time :-) I am just jotting down my observations.

But I must say that was one nailbiting match. I watched the last 1/3rds and it was fun watching.
Shouldnt Utthhappa have been given Man of Match? I dont know. I myself am not sure.

But lets keep singing Chak De as we get set for the finals ...

In the meantime, it is raining heavily every evening in Bangalore. It fun watching the rains indeed.

Its almost 2 a.m in the night... I am off to sleep. OK I might add to this post if I have energy tomorrow morning. Otherwise, a new post on some new thought from me.

पुराने शहर की यादें

एक शहर अनजाना सा
थोडा नया पुराना सा
कुछ जाना पहचाना सा
कुछ अपना बेगाना सा

बचपन गुजरा था यहाँ पर
पतली गलियों मैदानों पर
कितना अलग था वोह मौसम
इतने हलचल में भी आज
लगता है कुछ गुमसुम

परिवार था एक सारा गाँव
वोह मधुर धुप वोह कोमल छाँव
इतने बरसों के बाद यहाँ
ढूँढता हूँ मैं यहाँ वहाँ

अपना रिश्ता था प्यार का
ना हानि पर उपकार का
हृदय क्यों संकीर्ण आज है
इस भेद भाव का क्या राज है

इस मिटटी में खेला था मैं
इन राहों में घूमा था मैं
पर आज मैं यहाँ पराया हूँ
कोई नही जानते मुझको
एक आम मुसाफिर नया हूँ
--- Sastry (Written sometime in 1999)

भोर

भोर हुई
चिड़ियों का कलरव कहता है मुझसे
जागो हे मानव निद्रा से
करना है तुमको कितना कुछ
प्रगति करे मानवता जिससे
सो सो के तुम व्यर्थ ज़िंदगी
का बहुमूल्य वक़्त खो दोगे
और जब ना मिलेगा वापस यह वक़्त
तुम ही खुद पछताओगे
यह वक़्त है महनत का
अपना फ़र्ज़ निभाने का
अब ना करोगे परिश्रम तुम तो
ना आयेगा समय खुशहाली का
जीवन की डोर देव ने तेरे हाथों में दीं है
इसे बनाओ या बिगाडो सब तेरे हाथों में है
यदी सोचते हो ऐसा तुम की
भाग्य के अनुसार सब कुछ होगा
पीछे पद जाओगे प्रगती के मार्ग में
और तुझसा मूर्ख कोई ना होगा

--- Sastry

P.S: Typically font issues. I hope you can read it.

Musically Sad :: Toshi gets Eliminated in Star Voice Of India

I am sad, shocked and speechless. I hate this voting concept of selecting winners. I dont want to call the audience stupid but I never wanted to see this happen. The best singer getting voted out. Yes, that is what happened tonight in the Star Voice of India.

I am not a big TV fan. I watch couple of music programs and Star Voice of India is one. I throughly enjoyed the quality of certain voices namely Toshi, Abhaas, Irfan and Priyani.

Today, to my utter surprise, Aabhaas and Toshi were in the danger zone of eliminated. What a shame. Finally that happened which I never wanted and a class voice got eliminated and that was Toshi.

It was a very emotional moment I must say. Toshi comes from a very struggling background and he could not control his tears. He at one moment also said "Main uss zindagi mein nahin jaanaa chaahtaa". I wonder how much motivation he had towards this event with the hope of getting something out of this event. And he deserved it too.

It was one touching event today. Abhijit could not control his emotions too. The organizer was feeling shameful. And I was feeling bad to see this awesome voice getting eliminated.

Toshi was the guy whose singing, Jagjit Singh commented, was better than the original.

Watch this video of "Tune Kya Kar Daala Mar Gayee Main ...." sung by Toshi when he literally set the stage on fire and this was when Jagjit Singh was the chief guest.

Toshi Singing Tune Kya Kar Daala (Singer No. 1 in the scroll list on the side)

Also listen to when he sang "Kaho Na Kaho". That was fabulous.

Toshi Singing Tune Kya Kar Daala (Singer No. 34 in the scroll list on the side)


What a treat he was to listen to. He was the Real Voice of India. I wish, irrespective of losing it, we will hear his voice in future songs.

I am really sad to be not hearing him in the next episode.

Update : Someone has created a petition online to bring Toshi back. A talent like him deserves this.

Petition to Bring Toshi Back

पुकार

यह धरती तड़प रही है
इसकी र्क्षा कर भगवान्
पापों से अपिवत्र हो गयी
इसको पिव्त्र कर भगवान्
मार काट फैले हुये हैं
ला दे तू शांति भगवान्
जो नारी देवी है
उसकी इज़्ज़त नही रही है यहाँ
अन्याय का राज्य फैला हुआ है
कौन लाएगा न्याय यहाँ
भूक प्यास से तड़प रही है
तेरी यह प्यारी संतान
जीं ना सके तो दे देती है
अपनी यह बहुमूल्य जान
जब तू भेजे इस धरती पर
मत भेज केवल तड़पने को
थोडी सी खुशियाँ भी दे दे
इन बेसहारे दुखियारों को
शक्ती दे इनको ताकी
लड़ सके यह अन्याय के विरूद्ध
शक्ती दे इनको ताकी
पा सके अपने अधिकार
बुद्धी दे इनको जिससे
परख सके यह सही गलत
बुद्धी दे इनको ताकी
सुधार सके यह अपनी जगत

-- Sastry (Written sometime in 1999)

P.S: Typical Transliteration issues.

Memories with the Rains

Heavy rains always have been my favorite. They bring back awesome memories from the past. I just feel like just sit and keep watching the heavy downpour that the clouds are doing on earth.
After a long time, yesterday Bangalore saw some heavy rain. Dark clouds already gave an indication on how much water there is on hold. There used to be a time you would crave for so much rain so you can get drenched in it. But now I feel worried about getting drenched thinking what will happen if I get sick. As we grow old and add more responsibilities, do we start losing or disregarding the pure craving that the heart asks for?

I stand near the window looking at the sky
The sun was just here but slowly made way
The dark beautiful clouds are here
Carrying lots and lots of water with them
I stand near the window looking at the clouds
Waiting for the rain to start
I think to myself
Oh rain come soon don't delay
Bring me back those fond memories
That are associated between me and you
Remember when you would arrive
How you would bathe me
How can I forget the fun of playing soccer
While you would keep coming down on us
As I grew I stopped hugging you
But would watch you with a cup of tea in my hand
And thinking about life as a philosophy
And time kept passing
Today I stand by the window
And keep watching you
But I am scared to hug you
Influenced by consequences
But my love for you is perennial
Keep coming in loads
So I do not miss you
And hey why dont you come down
While I am walking on the road
And hug me, my dear rain?

--- Sastry Vadlamani

Human Dignity in Gutters

Imagine This : You are walking down the street. Sorry let me use "I". "I" am walking down the street. "I" suddenly see a bunch of people thrashing a man. They have torn his clothes. They are punching him left, right and central. Blood is coming out from several parts of the body. But no mercy being shown by the people beating who look no less than monsters and seem to be all excited to kill him.

By the way, I assume here that "I" am the good, civilized, law abiding citizen of the country who doesnt involve himself in these acts of nomadic activity.

What goes on in "my" mind? : Some of "me" think Oh my god how could these people be so inhuman? How can they beat this person so inhumanly? Some of "me" are thinking that the person deserves this for the petty crime he committed. Some of "me" who is reporter with several channels is busy taking every possible coverage to make sure that there is enough meat for the night showtime on the TV channel.

What do "I" do? : "I" ignore the whole activity. "I" just watch it. "I" dont move a step forward to rescue the person. What if "I" am beaten up? While he does not deserve such inhuman treatment, why should "I" risk my life to save his life? Anyway, his life is not that precious.

The above sequence of events exactly happened in Bhagalpur last night. NDTV, Headlines Today, CNN IBN etc. had exhaustive and exclusive coverages of poor, skinny thief being beaten black and blue. The anchors were interviewing Kiran Bedi, the people in power and everyone with lots of anguish about how such uncivilized acts could happen in this 21st century India?

I ask CNN IBN, NDTV, Headlines Today : Were your reporters there at the site covering it? If yes, then what kind of cultured human beings are those who kept coverage at a higher level than trying to rescue the poor skinny thief? To me, an educated cultured reporter from your channels doing nothing at the site there puts me to shame more. You know why? They are "educated" and "civilized". If they did attempt to rescue, I am sure you would have covered it exclusively.


Oh by the way, after the event, the following things happened. Do they sound familiar? :

• Two inspectors suspended.
  
• NHRC Issues notice to Government
  
• Nitish Kumar orders probe
  
• Laloo Yadav blames Nitish Kumar and his Goverment
  
• Media keeps on showing the same clip with "parental advisory"
  

And we will forget this event soon too just like we do for others.

Lastly I must also say that I am not criticizing media here. It is because of media that today politicians are not taking public for granted. It is media that has brought information to us.

But what really frustrates me is the fact that their reporters are informed citizens too. Why didnt they act? As I end, it reminds of an incident where a person immolated himself in Bihar sometime back in full media view but all media reporters were busy about was covering it and not putting the cameras aside and rescue the individual. Finally he died.

Finally, I wonder how I will react when tomorrow, in Bangalore, if I come across a similar incident. God, give me enough strength that will convince me to do what is right for supreme human dignity and not worry for anything else.

Postscript after around 1 hour of posting the above: I am not sure if it is an interesting coincidence or not but after I wrote the above, I was generally perusing through some news and came across the following article at CNN-IBN which seems like a rebuttal to my points. Interesting read :

Blame the Media

Onam Ashamsakal

The title means, "Wish you a very happy Onam". On the streets of Bangalore I can see malayalam folks sporting the traditional wear. I see men wearing the traditional lungi. The women in the white sarees with wet hair clipped at 4/5ths length look gorgeous. You can look at them and immediately figure out that today is Onam. Wow what an amazing uniqueness. My colleague told me that on this day there is a Sadhya which means Feast.

I love Malayalam food. In fact I love anything edible made of coconut. So I thought why miss this awesome opportunity of enjoying Malayalam food on the day of Onam. So I went with my colleagues to Sadhya. Wow reminded me of the old days when I enjoyed the brown payasam. Yummy.

It was a soothing experience particularly after hearing the sad news of explosions etc. over the last few days.

It gives such a pleasant feeling when you go to a festival that some other state celebrates, and enjoy the festivities and be part of it. The joy is enormous because I can hear one strong message coming out of it :

We, the Indians, with all our diversities and cultural colors, are the part of a big unique family

BlogSwara

Whoaaa!!!! what a neat concept. I just came across this while searching for music related stuff. I am amazed to see people from different parts of the world coming together.

What is very fascinating is the fact that everyone maintains blog and have their recording on their blogs. Amazing.

Hope I will be with them one day with my contributions too. :-)

Check it out : http://www.blogswara.in/home.htm

Fabulous.

A Sad Routine

Well few hours back in the afternoon I wrote about the beauty of life, the beautiful weather in Bangalore and so on. I come home in the evening and turn on my TV only to see the horrific news on the Hyderabad blasts.

What a routine this has become. One thing has become for sure. No value for life. It needs paradigm shift in our culture to start valuing life.

Just a few months back were there blasts. What did we learn? Nothing.

Who cares for the lives lost? No one except the near families. What a shameful moment.

All that the mainstream channels keep doing now is focussing on the blood lying all around.

Some routine tasks happening :
- CM visits the blast site and appeals for calm.
- Manmohan singh, Sonia Gandhi, Pratibha Patil et al condemn the blasts
- BJP blames the UPA Govt.
- AP State Govt. thinks there is a hand of ISI in it.
- Home Minister calls this a dastardly act
- Forensic Team and dogs will fly down from Delhi
- Tough questions will be asked in Parliament. Not sure if they will be heard in the commotion

Do you notice anything new in the above actions? I dont.

After all the above everything will be forgotten. All of us will forget the lives lost. India will go to sleep only to be woken up by another shock.

But the families will never be able to forget the fact that they lost their dear ones when they went to see a laser show or to eat Chat. They will never be .

Why did we, most people become like this? Because, I, the common person has become extremely self centered. I want money. I want properity. I want a house. I want no hassles. I, I and I. I dont give a shit about the society and people around me. This is the reason why I forget whatever happens to others. As long as it does not happen to me.

But who knows when it happens to me? Everyone will forget. Sigh!!

And out of all this callousness and utter disrepect for human life will one day rise, volcanoes in the society craving for justice, values and above all, a dignified life. The pressure is simply mounting.

Saturday Afternoon

I guess this is nothing but a random rambling from the heart. Its the afternoon time. Nothing to do at home I came to work. As the stuff I am working on refuses to work correctly. So back to debugging and solving the issue. Its sunny outside with lots of activity. People are walking, doing bargains on the roadside, just phasing out into the sky and doing everything you can think of. I look through the window of my workplace. Just stepped out and it is truly pleasant outside. Bangalore is really pleasant. Except when it rains or except at 7:30 p.m in the evening. :-) I called my friends but no one is picking up. Damn it. Not feeling like working, I just went down to grab a cup of coffee. And that too tasted old . One thing I am waiting for though is 9:00 p.m tonight to see who got eliminated from Indian Idol. Yeah thats one thing I have hooked onto. After that Star Voice of India time . It has been raining since the last few days.

Life is beautiful with so many bounties
So many opportunities in its basket
I dream of so many things
I stare into the sky as I look into the future
Many a times we lose focus
And start complaining about the problems
But problems I feel are great lessons
To bring out new facets
I wanna be a scientist
No ! a musician
No! a poet
Oh No!! something else
Countless thoughts
Countless emotions
Countless dreams
I keep looking into the horizon
staring into the future
aspiring new heights
to leave my footprint
before I leave this world
and separate from life.

-- Sastry

खामोश सी शाम

अँधेरे का वक़्त है
आकाश में ढ़ेर सारे
तारे टिंमटिमा रहे हैं
बादल हमेशा की तरह
झुंडों में टहल रहे हैं
ठंडी सी हवा इधर
जमीन पर बह रही है
मैं आँखें मूंदे बैठा हूँ
और ठंडी हवा मेरे रूह को
छू के जा रही है
कई ख़्याल इस हृदय में
आ और जा रहे हैं
क्या सुहाना मौसम है
मेरे दिल के साथ एक
मीठी सी रूबरू चल रही है
रात का समय
मुहल्लाह भी कुछ खामोश सा है
मैं बस आसमान की तरफ देखता हूँ
टिमटिमाते तारों की तरफ देखता हूँ
सोचता हूँ
इस खामोशी से ना जाने मैंने कितनी बातें कर बैठी
और ठंडी सी हवा मुझे बहलाती रहती है

-- By Sastry Vadlamani

Chak De India

Finally got the chance to watch ChakDe India after all the uproar and hullabaloo about it.
Pretty neat movie I thought. But it was not that unique or out of the world. Pretty straightforward and predictable. We always knew what is going to happen. So no surprises out there. All that was there was the punches and how continuously it would keep you on your toes.

And well, you are on your toes when emotional chords are touched. So from these perspectives Chak De India was not unique.

But that being said, I feel these movies are needed so much. And the topic it touched was great I felt that is, Women's Hockey. Anyone would make some tons of movies on cricket. But touching something that is not even being given any heed and making a mainstream movie out of it is a wonderful effort. And what makes more interesting are the roles played by the players. Thank God, they were not played by Madhuri Dixits and Aishwarys Rais. :-) It would definitely have been an utter junk then. The players were indeed real players I thought.

In all probability we all might forget the film as we come out of the hall and get back to our daily lives, but that dose of emotional pride that rekindles a desire to do something before it is too late, in those few hours inside the movie theatre is worth the effort. I hope more movies like this are made. Not necessarily based on sports but also on biographies of great individuals like Srinivasa Ramanujam and so on. They need not be out of the world but they will be good enough to retain and invigorate the pride that we all have in our country and rekindle the spirit to do something.

So go watch it. It is worth it. Enjoy it, get energized and use the energy to build the tomorrow.

Chak De...............

Wish you a very Happy Independence Day

Wish everyone a very happy 60th Independence day. Whatever that means :-) Sorry to be sarcastic.

May everyone be very happy but somehow I do not know why should I be happy? Because IT has caused so called revolution? It has brought the so called respect to India? People have more money? India has more malls? Oh I forgot. Because India has bomb now? :-)

NDTV polls conducted a couple of days back has actually people saying that bomb has made them proud. Ahh... What times are we living in?

May everyone be happy on this independence day while the displaced people in Narmada struggle to find a place.

May everyone be happy on this independence day while the Bhopal gas leak victims continue to be served injustice by their own government

May everyone be happy on this independence day while majority of educated, insensitive citizenry treat the society as a garbage can.

May everyone be happy on this independence day while I see the disparity of one going to mall and the other begging on the street

May everyone be happy on this independence day while deep inside each and every one is insecure on the streets of the free India

May everyone be happy on this independence day while we, the common citizen flout all the rules and law of the land whether it be traffic or anything else.

May everyone be happy on this independence day while we destroy our own environment

And this goes on. My sarcasm goes on. You hate me if you want to.

Lastly, may everyone be happy and sleeping when we should actually be concerned, then arise, awake and be honest to ourselves in our role of nation building.

On this 60th independence day, i wish a leader is born in every small honest heart that will crave to work towards an independence day when we will be truly proud and happy.

Gandhi My Father

I and my wife watched the movie this saturday. I liked the movie though at times it felt like dragging. But some sequences were very emotional. But I kept asking.... Is it Gandhi's fault or it is his son's fault? Did Gandhi not do justice to his son? Did his son expect too much support? Is it same with every individual who wants to do for the greater common good?

But it is very heart rending to see a great mahatma's son die such an unknown death. To die as a beggar with no food.

But at the same time, may be he got what he deserved according to his actions. May be we should not associate Gandhi with his son. Just because Harilal was Gandhi's son does not entitle him to special treatment.

As you sow, so you reap.

Honey Valley Trip

Recently a couple of my friends were visiting from USA. And many of my friends including myself have returned to Bangalore. So we thought this is an awesome opportunity to have a get together with friends, their wives, their children and so on. Since most of us are in Bangalore, we decided we should go out somewhere. Coorg was decided as an obvious choice. There is a place called Honey Valley in Coorg. Around 14 of us finally came together for the trip. We booked a bus from Bangalore to Coorg. It came out to be pretty decent and enjoyable journey. Honey Valley is maintained by a very friendly family and the place of stay was kind of a homestay dormitory.




It was raining heavily though. Seems like Coorg was lashed with rains when we went. So that was kind of a bummer. The heavy rains also caused many leeches to be wandering all around and sucking on our blood.

The place promoted eco tourism.



If you go to such places, go with anti-leech sprays, torches, umbrellas etc.

It was a fun outing.

I would love to go again but this time when it is shining and not raining.

Are we done with Haneef ?

All I remember seeing in the TV channels in the last two days is Haneef story. It was like a Bhajan series going on. Where is Haneef going to put his left leg? OK where will he put his right leg? What is he going to eat? Which channel has he given time to?

I am amazed to see people have so much time to crowd around his house too and garland him.

Finally when I came home today assuming Haneef series might be over, there you go. Sanjay Dutt series has started. I am sure this bhajan is going to continue for next two days in a loop. I am really not sure what is going on in the minds of the TV channels. When will they increase their socially relevant content and stop repeating the same programs day in and day out? This really depresses people who want to see those channels.

Anyways, let me see what is NDTV showing.... Oh Noo.... The bhajan series on India's win over England has started. The infinite loops I see are Sachin Tendulkar's talk and Sreesanth's shouldering.

Sigh!!!.... Let me go and do something useful.

Campus

वो कॉलेज की बातें
याद आती हैं मुझे
वोह कैंपस की बातें
याद आती है मुझे
वोह ह्यारीस की शामें
चाय समोसे के संग
वोह एगिस की रातें
जहाँ बैठते थे हम सभी यार
गपशप करते थे घंटे तीन चार
वोह हीज्ली का पुल
जहाँ बैठ कर खाते थे चोप और पीते थे चाय
और देखते थे गुज़रती हुई रेल गाडी को
वोह सेंट्रल लाय्ब्ररी
जहाँ जाते थे पड़ने
और देखते थे लड़कियों को
वोह क्लासेस के बीच
कैंटीन जाना और चाय पीना
वोह ज़िंदगी जहाँ कोई चीन्ता ना थी
वोह शामें और वोह रातें
ना कभी भूल सकूंगा मैं
और वोह यार जिनके साथ
बीताये मैंने चार साल
अभी मुझसे हैं दूर
वोह चार साल मेरे
जिन्दगी के हसीं पल
कभी आये और कही चले गए

-- Sastry
Written sometime in 1999 I guess. Just after graduating and spending time in a small place alone far away from friends.

P.S: There are some inherent bugs in the hindi transliteration. Bug is evident with i kaar.

Collecting Covers of the Matchboxes

Do you remember those colorful match boxes with varieties of pictures? It used to be a hobby to collect them and stick them on a notebook and maintain them. There used to be notebook specially made for this purpose. Colorful match boxes of all sorts. Candles, cats, lanterns, actresses and so on. What delighted us to collect them? Would not even think to pick them up even if they were found in a dirty area. It was fun. It used to be a matter of pride to display it to friends who didnt have as many as I had. And it would frustrate me when I hear that Mantu has more than I have. "Hey how many do you have?"
"100"
"Just 100? I have 200"
"Damn".

Hey wait a second!! he stole a few from my notebook. Damn it. I cant even prove that he stole. :-)

I cant even remember where I lost that notebook. But I will always remember it was fun to hit the streets in the afternoon searching for some nice "Maarkaas" as they were called in Bengali. Yeah thats right. In the afternoons after coming from school and having lunch. Mom would keep shouting "dont go. stay home." But who would listen? Who could stop the irrestible desire to collect maarkaas.

I wonder if its still a hobby or if it has become obsolete as the kids maintain more tech hobbies.

Visit to LalBagh

We had a visit to lalbagh on a nice saturday afternoon. Here are some nice
pictures.



Some of the attractions include the rose garden, lake, fountains etc. a nice place a nice break. This is one of the four KempeGowda Forts.







The lake is beautiful but a closer look shows the dirt. Its ironic that we always complain about administration. The bottom line we as individuals lack civic sens. There are soo many dustbins all around nicely designed and organized yet certain people (read idiots) still do not think twice before sullying the environment.

Introduction

So many times, in the middle of our daily activities, we suddenly stop and remember small events of our past. The way we grew up, those little streets where we walked, that old school we went to, the small shop where we ate jilebees and so on. Also come to our minds are those funny incidents, moments of our stupidity and moments of extraordinary work.

We remember them for a moment and the next moment we are back to our grind. Later we think, " aahh I could suddenly recollect that sweet moment so clearly. I wish I had written it down. BUt , damn I cant remember it. Or even if I remember it, I can't write it down as a neat memory".

Everytime such moment comes where I remember a sweet memory from the past, I will try to get hold of a computer and jot it down before my mind goes back to its slumber.

And here I call it : Little Stories from the Past....

Alrite the Reservations are back

I could never understand the concept of reservations nor will be able to understand. Reservations based on caste has been evil and will be evil. Still found many of my friends trying to justify how the marginalized communities are necessarily from "backward" castes and how they need reservations. Fine, they need reservations. I have always wondered "Arent they financially backward too?"

Why is the reservation in this cranky country based on caste? Why is not based on financial status? When the reservation furore exploded last year, do you remember that HRD ministry tried to allay fears by saying "Creamy Layer" will not be included. In fact in some of our debates with friends, they used to utilize this point saying "Creamy Layer" will anyways be not included.

But everyone read the Moily panel and saw how conveniently it avoided the issue due to pressure from political establishment.

Finally Supreme Court has to step to control these indisciplined kids called politicians.

When will sense prevail ? That there has to be a beginning to be brave to make tough decisions, where our lack guts does not enable us to disperse anything off as "Oh! practically not possible".

Oh man.... I feel like getting into politics everyday.... :-) Alrite alrite that is kneejerk. But seriously, these bloggings and armchair criticising for self satisfaction are enough. Something more needs to happen from every individual and for me it starts at self.

Duvidha

Note : You will need Hindi Fonts installed via blogger to read these poems.

I will try to post some of the poems I wrote looong time back... Some may sound stupid. But hey stupidity is relative isnt it? Enjoy if you can ... Otherwise I dont care :-)

जीवन की राहों में चलते चलते
मुझे कभी कभी ऐसा लगा
मैं कहीं खो गया
भूल गया मैं भूत को
पता नहीं मुझे आगे कि

Visit To Ramkrishna Math

After the Cave Temple, it was time to visit Ramkrishna Math. Was so eager to go there and about the works of Swami Vivekananda. As we entered the gate, I realized it was a beautiful campus. On the right side, in a big auditorium, a lecture was being delivered in Kannada. It seems discourse is given in English on Sundays.

After leaving the footwear in the nearby stand, we walked upto the temple. It is Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa's temple. So fascinatingly quiet as compared to noise outside. People were meditating silently. I was watching the photographs on the wall.

Outside the temple we walked a few meters to find Mata Sarada Devi Rock. History says sometimes in March 1911, she sat on this rock in meditation. Beautifully maintained with flowers around.

While on our way out we spent a lot of time in the library. It is less of a library and more of a shop.

A good visit but again I do not understand the stupidity that I mentioned in my previous post. Why the heck are we paranoid about not allowing photography? Photography was prohibited at Sarada Devi Rock. I took the picture of the temple since I did not see any such board there. Gosh...My message to these folks is allow photography if you want more people to know about and visit you. Alrite an email to them :-)

Cave Temple Visit

Saturday and it was time to do some roaming around in the city. :-) We realized that last time when we went Bull Temple, we forgot to cover certain beautiful things out there in the same area that is, Basavanagudi.

So finally today we went. By the way, when the number of people increase it becomes easier to go by an auto. I want to go by bus but I have to change it twice. First take 171 from Koramangala to Majestic. Then from Majestic to Basavanagudi. Auto is almost equally expensive for 2 people and it goes faster. :-)

Alrite. Today we went to Cave Temple. In traditional terms, it is called Gavi Gangadhareshwara temple. It is in Gavipuram. Pretty close to Basavanagudi.

It is one of the ancient temples and now has come under the protection of Archeological Survey of India.

The temple is neatly out of rock and goes underground. Outside the temple, the board says it has long way and it is believed that it goes all the way to Kashi and ShivaGanga.

Many of the things inside the cave have been "modernized" such as, with tiles etc. I wish they were not.


This temple is pretty close to Bull Temple but closer to RamKrishna Math.

OK all this is beautiful. But as usual I will finish with my rant. Why are we so stupid to not allow photography? I think Archaeological Survey of India should make it mandatory to allow photography. People taking photographs is only going to make it more popular. Cant you understand that simple thing?

Bangalore RTI software

Pretty interesting. Hope it comes soon. BMP (Bangalore Mahangar Palike) is putting the RTI software in place. This will make the filing of RTI easier and streamlined.

http://www.bmponline.org/right2info/rti.shtml

Suicide Stopper :: Is he less than God for some?

Read this nice article. Absolutely fascinating about this hero.

The Article

Another of those Ridiculous articles

Aww... Grrr... These are the feelings that come to my mind when I read these stupid mindless articles coming out.

Read this...

India's Economy to Dethrone Japan

I think it is high time we should get a life, stop day dreaming, stop living through artists' impressions of an impeccable India and rather work silently towards it without making noises.

Everyday I open Times Of India, I see artist's impression on how beautiful Bangalore is gonna look like or Pune gonna look like. Let us take a step back, work on it, achieve it and then show the actual picture. Because, as has been the situation in many cases, most probably this artist impression may also get struck down.

And what is this superpower thing? With complete lack of civic sense what superpower thing we are talking about? Sending a missile or a mission to moon is going to qualify a nation to superpower status? What an utter non-sense. Suddenly someone comes to this "superpower" nation and sees people urinating all over the place, spitting all over the place, pushing around all over the place and we call it a superpower? In order to be superpower one needs to be civilized and socially responsible. I feel a frustrating breakdown in that machinery. And unfortunately many many educated engineers, doctors etc. are also involved in it. The climax of pushing with utter disrespect for people around can be easily seen on the roads. And this disrecpect is not just in Bangalore. It is everywhere in India I have been to, though a few places.

I think now it has started getting on my nerves when some mediocrities keep on ranting this Bhajan of India becoming superpower by 2010, 2020, 2030. First get your basic acts straight. And the first is social responsibility and civic sense. Cant blame government all the time. Do your job well first.

So it is a long way till India is going to be this "superpower" thing and before that we have some tough job at hand and our success will be benchmarked on the basis of

• how proud one is about his fellow neighbor (not some blind chauvinistic nationalism)
  
• how much one feels the community around him/her as his/her home so as to keep it clean just as one keeps his/her home
  
• how much drive is to create world class stuff
  
• and the list goes on...
  
• And here comes these flaky missiles and moon missions
  

Isnt it an irony? There are some countries where people have no rights whatsoever. There some countries where people have enough rights but they know their limits too. And there are countries like India where many many people have just no respect for the law or rules or whatever. These nuisance creating people need to be taught their place so that the souls working towards making India truly heaven on earth can be successful.

Mango : The product of India.

It seems Mango, my favorite fruit was discovered in North East India some thousands of years back. And it also seems like it was not as delicious and fleshy as we know it today. Multiple instances of hybridisations, evolutions etc. gave rise to the fleshy, juicy king of all fruits as we see today.

I learnt it at http://www.plantcultures.org

Street Children Working with Dignity

A CNN-IBN Article that came up recently about the rehabilititation of folks from juvenile homes.

http://www.ibnlive.com/news/street-children-working-with-dignity/14703-3.html

Seven Habits of Highly Successful People

I am currently reading this book after several ON and OFFs. One thing that I really liked (at the current stage of my reading) about the difference in Leadership and Management.

Management is doing the things right. Leadership is doing right things.

There are so many moments in our life when we face this issue of leadership. The courage to take bold jumps, risks, initiatives that we are passionate about but get stuck, scared about doing so. In a life that comes once why do we shy away from doing the right things?

Buy and read this book if you can. Its pretty cool.

No I do not work in their marketing. :-)

Sastry

Whistling Woods

Have you heard of Whistling Woods? I accidentally came across it. Its a film university just started by Subhas Ghai. Shows the maturity that is coming in it seems. One sweet thing is that Naseerudding Shah is the Head of the Department for Acting.

Check it out :

http://www.whistlingwoods.net/

In the related context, here is Satyajit Ray Film Institute :

http://srfti.gov.in/index.htm

Mathematics and Physics

Pretty fascinating stuff here at

American Institute of Physics

And

American Mathematical Society

Explore these if you have that hunger for maths and physics.

Motivation Brother Motivation - Aaaahhhhhhh!!

Ahh.... Those days of lack of motivation... I try to jump around telling myself life is short so lead it as if tomorrow is the last day. But damn, still lack of motivation. Dont know why.

What causes lack of motivation?

Is it lack of interest? --> Meaning I dont want to do this.
Is it lack of value? --> Meaning how the heck what I do is gonna change the world
Is it monotony? --> Meaning same shit everyday

Well these bouts came, saw and faded. I guess to see these cycles is human and not see these is super-human. And I am trying my level best to be super human :-) But alas cant yet.

Anyways, did some googling and found an interesting page :

http://www.motivation-abc.com/

Well very verbose. But nevertheless some neat suggestions.

I think one solution is to do variety of things like music, sports etc.

Or may be the perpetual desire to do complex things or be excellent.... Sometimes it sparks you. Sometimes it starves you too.... Mentally ofcourse...

Interested in Math Puzzles?

I found this on the web and felt that it is fascinating. Its fun to compete with others too :-)

http://researchweb.watson.ibm.com/ponder/

I hope you will enjoy this.

Memories of a Father

I somehow stumbled upon this on web and kept on reading. Leaves you touched and voiceless.

Memories of a Father


A true story written by no other than a father who loses his son to police torture in Kerala.

Here is a touching snippet :

"This small book contributes far more to the literature on human rights than the tons of academic writings that unfortunately crowd our libraries. Most of those books are produced in countries quite unlike India, where this story is set. As such, they are relevant to countries where police officers generally observe discipline, where most criminal investigations are competently managed, where the judiciary as a whole is uncorrupted, and where politicians are not publicly perceived as sheer frauds.

From the tears of a father’s pen, Professor Eachara Varier tells of another reality. His son’s disappearance draws from him this eloquent, moving and remarkable statement on cruelty, courage, and enduring hope. His story is from India, but it is the story of millions throughout Asia, and in many other parts of the world."

"

“Please give this to our son Rajan. I trust only you.”

She didn’t utter a word after that. Cold death had already touched her.

The next day after her death, I had a nap on the couch. The

weight of that packet of coins, which she entrusted to me,

was still in my hands.

"

"I came to know that Rajan yielded himself silently to the torture. I have read about people being called to their deaths in Nazi camps. As an officer called out names, others were queuing up, waiting for their turn. They even took care not to call a husband and wife together into death; Hitler knew that the pain of separation and getting lost was more intense than death."

May 18, 2007 : Patenting Yoga

What exactly is in the mind of a patenter? Now Yoga is being patented. Do the person who is patenting not feeling shameful about taking credit for something that has been around for ages? Slightly Modifying something and then patenting it is nothing but plagiarism. It is astonishing to see the the United States Patent Office is even granting the patent. This is going to create a bad war. More such ridiculous patents are indicscrimately granted, more will be their violations. And in order to curb the violation, if the laws are made stronger, there will be an uproar. This is my premonition.

Some similar absurd patents that I heard were :

• Attempts to patent Neem and Turmeric. It is like I rewrite e=mc2 as e'=m'*c'*c' and trying to patent it as my own. I am sure Einstein will kill me. :-)
  
• Attempt to patent some Indian curry (palak paneer?) in Japan
  

I think we need to mature. Patenting should be for one's own basic innovation. Otherwise, even Anu Malik should start patenting the songs that he copies.

By the way, I am planning to invent a new word and patent it. The new word is

plagia-rent

:-) Adios for today.

May 15, 2007 : Urinating Everywhere

We have developed an amazing culture I must say. That is, of urinating anywhere and everywhere we find a spot. This seems to have reached ridiculous levels. Is there a medical problem with Indian males about frequent urinating? The stretch of road I walk in Bangalore is full of urine stink. You might be thinking it is some remote shady area. No, it is the posh Koramangala with the super famous Forum Mall.

It is clear from the spitting and urinating habits that individuals do not give a crap about community building in India. And it is becoming increasingly difficult for the few who is. I used to think that these uncivilised habits correlate with education. But I am convinced that the education we are getting doesnt teach an iota of civic sense. This was proved when a well dressed guy one day got down from his Hyundai Santro and before I could realize he started urinating on the roadside. Sigh!! It is highly probable that this person might have been a respectable software engineer in a respectable company. I wonder if he urinates on his company walls.

I am confused if it is (1) a habit or is it really due to (2) inadequate sanitation facilities? I think it is both. But fortunately the former can be corrected by education, fines, community policing etc. but inorder for the first one to be effective, the second one needs to be implemented. But the item (2) cannot be implemented in an overnight. But in the interim, I think there can be a good solution.

Some ideas I have in mind are :
A.) Government should immediately ban urinating in public.

But action (A) will be mindless and stupid if alternative solution is not provided. The Government should immediately

(B.) make it mandatory for any shops, restaurants, hotels etc. to let an individual use the toilet in its premises without becoming a customer.

If you count the toilets in the offices, restaurants, hotels etc. there are enough of toilets. A few outsiders using them is not going to damage them. Or is it?

I am planning to send this suggestion to our dear lawmakers.

What do you think of my thought? Do you agree? Do you think it is impractical? Do you think it is stupid?

You can be honest :-)

May 14, 2007 : Blogging --- Writing with Anonymity

I come across so many blogs while googling and most of them are anonymous. I keep wondering why the heck are these blogs anonymous? Why cant I know about the person who is blogging? Well, some justification to anonymous blogging may be the fact that you can write whatever you wish. But wait a minute, by being not anonymous, can you not write whatever you wish? Isnt that the spirit of "freedom of expression" ? One has to be careful in the choice of language when being not anonymous to ensure that you do not abuse, insult any individual, country, community, race, caste, color, creed and so on. But why should one want to abuse? One's language should reflect on one's character. The expression can be fiery without being insulting. Without being abusive. By being anonymous, one can get away with shallowness though. Well, by not being anonymous too one can get away with shallowness. That we see everyday in the ways laws are being brought in this country. Oh by the way, a slight diversion. That reminds me that a lawmaker in Karnataka has recently said that the primary role of women is to nurture. Aww.... People chose him to be their leader? I guess women will tell him what his role is.

Anyways coming back to the issue of anonymity, one advantage of anonymity may be the fact that one may want to put up everything about their life, character, fantasies and so on which might otherwise be difficult in a society like ours. But I am sure every individual might have such thoughts, visions, dreams, fantasies and so on which sometimes they feel may reflect upon them.

So what the heck... I feel a fully mature society is one in which there is no need for anonymity. One in which every individual is brave to express their thoughts without demeaning community, caste etc. etc.

End of my rant....

May 13, 2007 -- Visit to Bull Temple

Aah!! Finally... Got a chance to go somewhere on a sunday. Ever since the return to India, every weekend goes in just staying at home trying to figure out what to do.. But again, going somewhere is just plain painful. But life is beautiful I say. So, from Koramangala, take bus 171 to Majestic Bus Stand. Take bus 31 to Basavanagudi from Majestic. Basavanagudi buses come on Platform No. 8. Bull temple seems be an ancient wonder. Basavanagudi has that old nice and beautiful look. It is ironical though to see that the maintenance of this temple is plain pathetic. But the adjacent park has been maintained pretty well. The park has become lovers' spot.. Ooh. :-) There is a huge bull carved out of stone. Very interestingly photography is allowed. So that was a relief as compared to past where photography used to be disallowed in any tourist place you go to.

I feel there can so much be done to increase the tourist attraction of this place.

May 11 - 2007 - Writing Fantasy

Blogging is a very interesting concept you know. The spread of blogging, the way it has received positive response tells us something about a small spark in every heart. This spark is about the desire to write something. Some people have small dreams to write something about their daily life, about theirs successes, their failurers while some others dream of writing books, novels and so on. Overall every loves to write. Everyone loves to write something about themselves, society, country, junk, jokes whatever it is.

When blogging concept came, it definitely sparked that little flame.

But writing is a very challenging thing. Atleast I feel so. Its like many other interests that are like the fire with woods. Very bright and strong in the beginning and gradually it tends to fade. This happens to me so often. I feel like writing for a couple of days and then the flame fades. It needs oil all the time to keep it burning bright.

So I face this challenge to maintain the strength, the skill and the interest to write something.

I saw this movie "Freedom Writers" a few days back and there you go. I have received the oil to my fading flame to write again.

So, whenever you feel like you are losing interest to write, find some oil in some mode that will rejuvenate the flame inside you, the writer, the poet, the joker inside you.

May 10, 2007 : Aviation Woes - Is this not RACISM?

I just returned last night from a 2 week trip to US. Everytime I return back home, at the end of travel, a sense of sadness continues to loom in my heart. This sadness is about the travel experience. The way treatment is meted out to passengers. Well, the pain is still afresh. It used to be afresh in the past and I would just forget it. But these days, I loudly rant with optimism that atleast few will agree with me and take initiative in their own way to let the airline agencies know that they cannot afford to treat certain passengers in a way that they have taken granted.

OK here I begin my narration. For this trip, I got to travel by Lufthansa. It was Bangalore-Frankfurt-Denver-Austin onward and New York-Frankfurt-Bangalore return.

Lufthansa is just not good. Their entertainment is so frustrating. You listen to same audio for 8 hours journey. Video entertainment is through some remote monitors that look like ancient age computer screens (remember 13 inch screens?). Food is mediocre.

Alright, the above was the usual rant. Now comes the sensitive part. I personally think they treat the passengers of the last leg (while returning to India) as shit. They simply do not have respect for passengers. Does it have to do with the fact that many are Indians? Well we have to honestly ask this question and see what is the answer? Does "Victim of Racism" lie somewhere hidden in the answer ?

And in the case of my journey that I am talking about, what makes it more shameful is the fact that you get such behavior from a fellow India air hostess. Yeah thats true. I see a stink of slavery and lack of self respect here. When the self respect lack, how can you respect your fellow citizens? This happens in every phase of our life in India. Go to USA and you will see special treatment for US citizens. Go to Europe and you will see special treatment for EU nationals. You come to India and you will realize that you are treated worse than visitors. So there you are. Screwed from both sides. The only solution to this is self respect and pride. Are we trying to gain our self respect by trying to prove to others ? Here is a real experience on board Lufthansa. They claim themselves to be international flight. And here this is this flight attendant (Indian by the way) who tries to create her own nomenclature. Everywhere "Vegetarian Meal" and Asian Vegetarian Meal (AVML) mean two different things. While own our way to India, suddenly this air hostess thinks both are same. She asks us "Vegetarian" or "Non-vegetarian", we say, we want AVML. Immediately she makes a face displaying obvious displeasure and says "It is all same since we are going to India". Wow. Is it soo obvious? Are there no non-Indian travellers? Then after 2 mins she tries to explain to me. Well, it has already created an impression on my mind about the low quality and lack of professionalism of this individual which in turn reflects poorly on Lufthansa.

I understand that every individual has his/her own perceptions of treatment they expect or they deserve.

But I definitely feel that Indians are treated with utter disrespect when they deserve much more. Ironically, I heard from my friends that even AIR India treats the predominantly Indian passengers poorly. Though I must say I have not travelled by Air India and dont intend either because of these feedbacks from friends. This kind of behavior towards Indians is unacceptable. But well we have to grab it and not beg for it.

I am going to first contact Lufthansa on this and send to all my friends dissuading them from flying by Lufthansa.

I hope every individual who felt they deserved better treatment does not let go of it. I have observed in India that we are patient about things that we should not be and are impatient about trivial things many a times.

This attitude needs to change.