Posts to come

Trip to Alampuram (24-Nov-08)
Trip to Kasapuram (26-Nov-08)

Dhyana/Mangala Slokam in Malavikagnimitram

ఏకైశ్వర్యే స్థితోపి ప్రనత బహుఫలే యః స్వయం కృత్తివాసాః
కాంతా సమ్మిశ్రదేహోప్యవిషయ మనసాం యః పరస్తాద్యతీనాం |
అష్టాభిర్యస్య కృత్స్నం జగదపి తనుభిర్బిభ్రతో నాభిమానః |
సన్మార్గాలోకనాయ వ్యపనయతు స న/వ స్తామసీం వృత్తిమీశః ||

Teach us, Oh Krishna!!

धर्मदॅव जगन्नाथ सत्यदॅव जनार्दन |

मामुद्धर शृतॅर्बोधॅ सन्मार्गमवलॉकय ||

Dasara

बाले त्वमन्नपूर्णासि मीनाक्षी सुन्दरी सती |
गायत्री छन्दसां मातः ललिता त्रिपुराम्बिके ||
ऐश्वर्यदा महालक्ष्मी विद्यादात्री सरस्वती |
आर्तानां साधकानाम्च दुर्गे दुर्गति नाशिनी ||
शिवागात्री हृदिस्था मे अविद्या महिषं हर |
राजराजेश्वरीख्यता सच्चिदानन्द रूपिणी ||
नवरात्रीशु संपूज्या दशम्यां विजयप्रदा |
अनन्त कृपया मातुः त्राहि मां शरणागतम् ||

Deepavali

రామేణాభిమతం మోక్షం కృష్ణేన నరక చ్యుతిః |
గోవింద స్మర ణాత్ప్రాప్తాః శ్రియో దీపావళీ రివ ||

Pray Sri Rama and be sure of Moksha. Pray Sri Krishna - he had eliminated naraka (pun - naraka=hell and naraka=the demon narakasura.) Chanting the Lord's name "Govinda" will ensure good tidings in life, just like the series of lights - Deepavali.

Posts to come..

I have to post my travelogues and experiences of my recent (?) trips:
Kukke Subrahmanya and Dharmasthala - August 9-10, 2008.
Mysore (Mahati Aksharabhyasam) - August 20, 2008
Thrissur - Valapad - August 30, 2008.
Guuvayur - August 31, 2008.
Athirapally Waterfalls - August 31, 2008.
Alwaye - September 01, 2008.
Kalady - September 01, 2008.
Cochin - September 01-02, 2008.
Tiruvannamalai - September 14-2008.

Muskura ke jiyo

Yes, I dropped a tear on hearing the news that Mahendra Kapur passed away.

I have a special place for him though he was as much/good a Rafi clone as Mano is of SP Balu. Special place, because the first Hindi song I learned was his. "Yye... neele gagan ke tale.. dharti pe pyar pale.." from Hamraz. Another solo from the same film also, I have learned. I have sung both the songs couple of times during my 11th and 12th classes.

"Na muh chupake jiyo
Aur na sar jhukake jiyo
Ghumon ka daur bhi aye to
Muskura ke jiyo"
is a great song from the same movie.

His face was always as if he was smiling; at times as if frowning.

By the way, I didn't study Intermediate.. it is one more peculiarity of my life. While most of my contemporaries went to school, studied state syllabus and after 10th class went to college for Intermediate.. I didn't go to school, passed 10th in state syllabus and joined class XI in CBSE syllabus. The school was a little cosmopolitan of those times.. my class had people from Kerala though Kashmir. It was a complete change of ambience.. from being a veda-student to being a student in a public school.

It was "school", so one prayed in the morning 'assembly', wore uniform, and had extra curricular classes every week. I had to learn and sing songs among other things and Mahendra Kapur entered my life through an audio cassette (of the songs of the film Humraaz.)

First Kerala trip

My first visit to Kerala was in December 1999. I went to Cochin to write TOEFL. My score was 543.

I boarded the Kanyakumari Express at Bangalore City Railway Station one night with an RAC ticket. Sometime during the night I got a berth to sleep on. Many people in the train were talking loud Malayalam, feeling all at home in the train that leads to their land. Initially, so many people talking Malayalam sounded a little cacophonous. After some time, I found that there is a sweetness in the language and the "wavy" intonation (of may be dialect of some particular region within Kerala) of Malayalam was quite sonorous. Harsh ('parusha') sounds were almost never heard in the language ; it always sounds very light, crispy and easy flowing.. I felt all this, though I didn't understand even a single word. I learnt my first Malayalam word only later in the day: "Vellam" means water. (Of course, I already knew that 'Kera' means coconut and Kerala means, "land of coconuts.")

As soon as I got hold of a berth somewhere after Hosur, I slept off.. I woke up early in the morning to the high-pitched voices of 'coffee-tea' sellers in Coimbatore railway station. As soon as the train pulled out, I slept again. Palakkad passed without my knowledge and I saw Trichur slip away, half awake.

When I opened my eyes finally.. what I saw outside remains etched in my memory forever. My first ever look at Kerala. The greenest landscape full of coconut trees and paddy fields, a river (Chalakudy?) flowing alongside the railway line, light mist over the fields, green hills and mountains (looking dark blue), some of them being kissed by clouds at a not-far-off distance... I felt the train had transported me from Bangalore to a dreamland. Soon, the towns of Angamali, Alwaye passed and I was told by a smiling Keralite (which Keralite is not friendly, cheerful and smiling, by the way?) that my destination Ernakulam is nearing. Of course, being a travel enthusiast I already knew this as I had done homework on routes and soon after the train passed Alwaye I started preparing to get down at Ernakulam North (Town) station. As Ernakulam-Cochin is the largest city of Kerala one could see the looks, smells and sounds of a typical Indian suburb already. Also, even back in 1999 one could see the 'real-estate' buzz in the surroundings which are close to Cochin International airport.

After reaching Ernakulam, I took a hotel room and in the afternoon headed for the TOEFL exam center (Sacred Heart College, Thevara.) Next day early in the morning I went to Kalady, then to Fort Cochin and later to Guruvayur and headed back to Bangalore on the third day.

The short and lonely trip made me a fan of Kerala for my whole lifetime. My second ever trip happened more than 9 years after the first, and after more than 4 years of 'planning and postponing.' This time it was much more wholesome and has been the most memorable trip I ever undertook.

Our hosts Rajan U family in Valapad (near Triprayar, Thrissur district) made it an unforgettable stay with their unending hearty hospitality. It was their love and caring that made us feel at home even though both our families understood very few words in what each other spoke. The fresh clean air, green surroundings of the vast household (with its beautiful blooming flower orchards, countless areca, coconut, mango and other trees and spice creepers), sounds of nothing but wind, birds and rustle of trees, mellifluous music, ayurvedic water, delicious and sumptuous food.. one never felt like returning from there.

I have to dedicate many subsequent posts describing every part of this trip in detail to pay homage to the loveliest land on earth with God's own greenery, God's own people, God's own food, God's own backwaters, God's own beaches, God's own cities, God's own towns and God's own villages.

Coffee House

Once during a walk in MG Road, I saw old low-rise buildings co-existing with the new high-rise multiplex-multi-complex-multi-storied-glass-facaded buildings. Old lamp posts and old trees remnants of past. I just wondered that even if so many changes come the core beauty of MG Road would not change.. nobody, for example, would afford to play with the boulevard abutting Kariappa Park and the parade ground.
Within a few years after that evening Bangalore Metro came.. the boulevard was razed. Trees of the yore and lamp-posts of colonial past were bulldozed. We have to put up with the awkwardness of the under-construction-elevated platform of the metro, for don't-know-how-many-more-years.

Meanwhile, on the other side, the change has been continuing. More glass-facades are appearing. Some old shopping complexes have disappeared and some are on the way. Ever since I saw in the newspaper of the boulevard's disappearance I have been avoiding MG Road like I would helplessly avoid a cursed distant relative.

The other day, I somehow dared.. As usually I parked my bike some miles away from where I was headed. While walking, I saw that an old landmark - the GG Welling photo-studio and photography equipment shop is intact. Many other old establishments close to it had gone. As I walked further, I passed by new-age coffee bars filled with chit-chatting youngsters. On MG Road and Brigade Road and in all those malls one finds so many of these fancy and funky youngsters so many at a time. I walked further.

Earlier, as I read in newspaper that old establishments are disappearing - Plaza, for example - I feared that my favorite destination here would also have gone, and thats one reason I avoided MG Roard after Metro work started. But this day as I forced myself there and looked apprehensively.. I was quite happy to note that it was intact.

India Coffee House.
First time I visited it was on December 26, 1996. I was on a college tour and while friends went for lunch in a nearby restaurant, I discovered this and went in for a coffee. Since then, there was never a time that I went to MG Road but not stopped by in Coffee House for a cuppa. All these years, the coffee is same.. in color, taste, quantity.. the servers are the same.. and I guess the cups are also same. Of course, my association with coffee house is only 12 years. I remember reading about coffee-house customers doing their 50th year non-stop. And that there is some coffee-house-customer association in Kokata.

Except for the price of coffee (first time I tasted, it was less than Rs.5/- per cup) there is absolutely no change in the whole experience. You can find people of all ages.. individuals, pairs and small groups talking, discussing, bantering, quarrelling, settling businesses... a lot can happen over a cup of coffee. Some framed pictures lauding the taste and greatness of Indian coffee are mounted on the walls.. even they are the same. On the photograph of Mahatma Gandhi there is a vermillion mark on his forehead.. it always looked as if it was put freshly on that day. Sitting in the coffee house, sipping the loveliest coffee, looking at the people inside the restaurant and the curios ones (you were and will be one of them) outside is a refreshing experience one should not miss.

The price per cup of coffee is Rs. 8/- now.. and as usually when you hand a Rs. 10 note, the server never bothers you with the change. He keeps it with himself and thanks you for the 'tip.'

I hope, when the metro rail work is completed, and it keeps its promise of taking up most load of the roads and the boulevard (or something equally enchanting) is re-developed, one again relives the real Bangalore experience in the same Coffee House serving the same refreshing and invigorating cups of steaming filter coffee.

NTR, the superman

I just finished watching first half an hour of NTR's ace movie Kondaveeti Simham (on the TV), for the 100+th time. Of course, only once (when I was a kid) did I watch the movie in full.

NTR is a great actor.. In most movies that he acted, the characters' weight is magnified because he plays the role. And most of his action was not 'natural.' It was a highly amplified portrayal of emotions, drama, action and pathos.. it is believed that he (like his Tamil counterparts MGR and Sivaji Ganesan) over-acted to get the 'maximum effect.' And yes, the audience's hearts were won. Not only a great actor he was a great man in his own right.. an inimitable icon.

I was an 8 year old boy when I first saw him in person.. He was CM of AP then, and was at that time donning the Swami Vivekananda attire.

After he entered politics, he assumed various getups before settling with the last known. For some initial days he used to wear khaki trousers & shirt. Then he took up white safari suite. And then the more Telugu attire of panche+shirt+kanduva. Then the orange (sanyasi) robes. It was believed that he lived like a sanyasi, though many would say that he only acted like one and in his home he still gulped chicken fried in pure butter (quite unbecoming of a sanyasi). This dress changed to that of Swami Vivekananda, for which it seems he wrapped an 18 feet cloth around his head. It was a veda-sabha at Hyderabad and he came as the chief guest. The organizers got all the pandits honored by him and in that sabha I sat very close to him. He spoke on that occasion but I remember nothing of it.
When it came to honoring me, he handed over the gifts, and I didn't know how to react. He said, "teesuko babu.." ("take it, boy"). I took, saying "thank you." Probably I was the only one in that sabha to have said this. Everyone laughed including him and he tapped on my cheek and proceeded.

It was an open secret that he hated brahmins. One can see it even in some of his on-screen performances. Probably for this reason our elders were not for his political party. I didn't like this, and wanted to vote for him if I ever got the chance.. I never got it.

Another occasion I saw him was when he inaugurated the famous temple of Jubilee Hills. How was Jubilee Hills at that time! It was a vast 'layout' with mostly empty plots and newly laid tar-roads. Here a movie mogul's house, there a minister's house.. rocks in between. One could see the Hyderabad Airport from there . The runway, aircraft landing and taking off ... Now, not even a house in the next street is visible, or even the next street itself is out of visible range.

Many years later, in fact within the same year that NTR passed away, a friend of mine visited NTR on behalf of his college. He spoke of NTR's warm reception and the attention he paid to what to him was a small thing - a representation from an engineering college. My friend was most impressed by the powerful personality of the giant. The personality reflected in the sharpness and sheer power/magnetism/glow/energy in NTR's eyes.

Wasn't he already too popular when he entered politics? Why did he still don so many attires to attract public attention and awe? All his various attires, the 'gimmicks' as detractors who could not even trace his glorious path let alone catching up would term, were one expression of the great man's energy. In fact, in popularity, I strongly believe that NTR far surpassed MGR and it is hard to believe that any other person can come close to him in the foreseeable time frame.

Long live the NTR, the pride of Telugu people.

Blessed

Today I was just lucky enough to get a glimpse of Sri Sri Sri Ganapati Sachchidananda Swamijee and Sri Sri Sri Raghavendra Bharati Swamiji (Ramachandrapura Matha.)

I have been a blessed soul to get a Darshan of both these living Gods in the premises of Datta Yogiraja Swamy temple - Ganapati Sachchidananda Ashrama, Bangalore.

Jaya Guru Datta

Inspiring...

I have just read in Eenadu (www.eenadu.net), about mango-harvest in Qatar. Verified the same in Business Standard and another website as well.

It is very inspiring to read such news, especially since I, being in the "garden" city am struggling to maintain a bonsai plant/tree. Coincidentally today I bought a book on Bonsai (my first serious purchase on this green art) and have been thinking of my first Bonsai tree which mercilessly wilted away due to careless handling. (I was careless as in - when I had to go out of station, I have given it to a person who was careless.) This book and these news snippets fill me with fresh enthusiasm. My God bless me.. I will soon collect saplings of all the trees I have been planning and restart Bonsai.

An inspiring blog post on gardening:
http://qatardiary.blogspot.com/2005/10/when-mangoes-make-you-smile.html

The two mango-in-desert news articles:

http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage_c_online.php?leftnm=10&bKeyFlag=IN&autono=40421

A "mango oasis" in the arid deserts of gas-rich Qatar— difficult to believe but true. Inspired by a visit to India, 3000 trees of the choicest mango varities, including 'Alphonso' and 'Langra', were planted at Ras Laffan Industrial City (RLC) four years ago and are laden with fruit this season.

This is the first such massive cultivation of mango trees in an open area in Qatar. Qatar's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy and Industry Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah came up with the idea after he travelled to the Reliance Petroleum plant in Gujarat, which is known for Alphonso mangoes.

"Hundreds of mango trees in the plantation project of Ras Laffan Industrial City (RLC) are bearing mature-green and ready for plucking fruits. The varieties include India's famous mangoes 'Kesar', 'Alphonso' and 'Langara', said a report in Peninsula daily.

Reliance Petroleum played a lead role in the launch of the project with experts from the company surveying the proposed site in Ras Laffan in June 2002.

They studied the weather pattern, conducted soil tests and submitted a report to RLC and the project was launched in 2004. Spread across four acres of land, a majority of 3,000-odd trees of 10 varities are bearing fruits and have wowed the RLC community.

Each tree is 4-5 feet high and three metres-wide. Tucked away in the south eastern corner of RLC, the plantation is divided into four sectors and is separated by a five meter wide road. The whole area is surrounded by two or three rows of casuarina plants acting as a windbreaker for the mango trees.

http://www.freshplaza.com/news_detail.asp?id=23965
Qatar: Mangoes flourish in desert heat

Qatar is heading for a harvest. Hundreds of mango trees in the plantation project of Ras Laffan Industrial City (RLC) are bearing mature-green and ready for plucking fruits. The varieties include India’s famous mangoes ‘Kesar’, ‘Alphonso’ and ‘Langari’ etc. Planted four years ago, these tropical trees flourishing in Qatar’s arid climate have wowed the RLC community. Spread across four acres of land, a majority of 3,000-odd trees are bearing fruits. Each tree, 4-5 feet high and three metres-wide, is laden with some 10-20 mangoes of different sizes. This is the first time Qatar has witnessed such a massive cultivation of mango trees in an open area.

Tucked away in the south eastern corner of RLC, the plantation is divided into four sectors and is separated by a five meter wide road. The whole area is surrounded by two or three rows of casuarina plants acting as a windbreaker for the mango trees.
The whole project was inspired during a visit to India by H E Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy and Industry. Al Attiyah visited Reliance Petroleum’s plant in Gujarat, the western Indian state which is known for world famous Alphonso mangoes, RLC sources told The Peninsula.

The Reliance Petroleum played a lead role in the launch of the project. Experts from the company surveyed the proposed site in Ras Laffan in June 2002 and studied the weather pattern, conducted soil tests and submitted a report to RLC; and the project was launched in 2004. The plantation has over 3,000 trees belonging to nearly ten different high yielding breeds. Of this, a majority of the trees belong to the famous 'Kesar' and 'Alphonso' varieties.

Kesar is considered the queen of mangoes in India. With a unique taste, it is characterized by its golden colour with green overtones. The fruit is slightly smaller compared to the Alphonso variety.

============

Dattatreyam Krishnam Haritam Unmatta Rupam Bhaja Dattam

Jaya Guru Datta

No use

Earlier, people had the intentions to make things to meet needs. Needs were met and people were satisfied.

Now-a-days, the stress is on making money, without any heed to "needs", "satisfying" etc. Market is full of choices, but most things don't meet the needs.

It is not a buyer's market. It is sellers' market. When everyone sells, who will be satisfied? No one. The dissatisfaction level in the world is increasing.

The plot

Finally, I am also at it. They have already destroyed a lot of greenery and "developed" it into a barren land with markings, roads, lamp posts and water pipes. The roads will silently host meetings of hungry buyers and greedy sellers trying to outwit each other. Soon dogs start littering them. The lamps will light up empty roads, wasting a lot of electricity. Water pipes may never carry water before they rust. A forest, or a field, or just a green land housing flora and fauna is permanently displaced into their continually shrinking sanctuary. Some people make money out of this.

It is not completely true that I was led astray into the 'middle' of this. I had enough control to desist myself from becoming part of it, but lost it all, well, almost, now. I am yet to review, what led me to this helpless position.

The place is well beyond the city-limits. But, I am told, it is "Just 15 km from Electronics City." "Excellent place for a future home." Will the seller ever dare to build a house and live in it in such a place, any time in the future?

Only good thing about this place is, it is on TVS Road and hence falls en route Swamy Virajeshwara's Ashram.

I will kill my anger, or myself, soon.

Heard recently

Years of inactivity is going to end soon.