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