Mahati

Marga bandhu stotram

2009-10-06T22:42:00.000-07:00

Sri Appayya Deekshitaar was a great Siva Bhakta.
Siva karnaamRtam and such other wonderful works were delivered by him. His erudition, bhakti and bonding with Siva is incomparable. It is seen through in his writings.

He is closely associated with "Marga Bandhu Siva," whose temple is situated in Virinchipuram (now in Tamilnadu) where he lived.

Margabandhu Stotram is a stotram written on Siva (with specific reference to the Lord in this temple.) It is a spiritually very significant stotram. It helps the devoted in having a safe, purposeful and successful "journey," which could mean from simple mundane travel from A to B, to the spiritual journey of every soul to reach and identify with paramaatma.

I will post the text of this stotram in a subsequent post.

వైరాగ్యం vs సోమరితనం

2009-09-16T03:36:00.000-07:00

వైరాగ్యం అంటే.. చేసే కర్మయందు ఫలాపేక్ష లేకపోవటం. కర్మ చేయకపోవటం కాదు!

కేవలం కర్మ చేయకుండా ఉండటం, సోమరితనం. సోమరితనం లో (ఫల)ఆపేక్ష ఉంటుంది. అది తామసిక ప్రవృత్తి.

Mahopadesam from Sri Ramana

2009-09-12T02:34:00.000-07:00

కర్తురాజ్ఞయా ప్రాప్యతే ఫలం

కర్మకిం పరం కర్మ తజ్జడం

గణపతి రూపములు.

2009-09-12T02:06:00.000-07:00

కృత యుగం:-
మహోత్కట వినాయకుడు. గణపతి మొదటి అవతారం. 10 భూజములు. శుద్ధ స్ఫటిక రంగు, రూపం. సింహ వాహనం.

త్రేతా యుగం (1296000 సంవత్సరములు యుగ పరిమాణం):-
మయూర గణపతి. నెమలి వాహనం. 8 భూజములు. పగడపు రంగు, రూపం. సింధురాసుర వధ.

ద్వాపర యుగం (యుగ పరిమాణం 864000 సంవత్సరములు):-
పార్వతీ దేవి నలుగు పిండి నుంచి పుట్టిన వాడు. మట్టి వినాయకుడు. మూషిక వాహనం. గజానన గణపతి. 4 భూజములు. (శశి వర్ణం చతుర్భుజం. పసుపు రంగు. ముషికాసుర వధ.

కలి యుగం (యుగ పరిమాణం 432000 సంవత్సరములు):-
స్వయంభు గణపతి. ధూమ (పొగ) రంగు. కలియుగ ప్రథమ పాద అనంతరం అవతరిస్తాడు. అశ్వ వాహనం. దుర్మార్గులను సంహరిస్తాడు. ద్విభుజములు.

ఈ పై రూపములు తప్ప వేరే రూపాలు పూజించ కూడదు అని గణేశ పురాణం చెప్తోంది.

శివస్థలములు

2009-09-12T02:02:00.000-07:00

కంచి, జంబుకేశ్వరం, అరుణాచలం, శ్రీకాళహస్తి, చిదంబరం - పంచభూత క్షేత్రాలు.

కోణార్క్, సీతాకుండ్, పశుపతినాథ్ తో కలిపి అష్ట శివ క్షేత్రాలు.

శ్రీ

2009-08-27T02:00:00.000-07:00

శ్రీ వత్స వక్షసం శ్రీశం శ్రీలోలం శ్రీకరగ్రహం |
శ్రీమంతం శ్రీపతిం శ్రీడ్యం శ్రీనివాసమహం భజే ||

!!!

2009-08-23T11:09:00.000-07:00

All love is true in different ways.

"I love falsely" - is equal to saying, "I believe falsely."

From the movie - Casanova.

Approaches

2009-08-23T03:21:00.000-07:00

A, B and C were neighbors.

It was summer. They see holes in their roofs. Mr A (A) goes to the 'consultant-1' (C1.)

A: There is a hole in my roof.
C1: So what?
A: It may leak during rains.
C1: It is no rainy season now.. come later, "if" needed.
A: But...
C1 (with a smile): Pay the fee at the table outside my room and go.

It is rainy season. The roof is leaking and A goes to C1.

C1: Ah, Mr. A.. So what brings you here?
A: The hole..
C1: Well..??
A: I told about a hole in my roof three months ago... and it is leaking now..
C1: Oh!! That's bad.. How is the leak?
A: It is gaping.. rain water is dripping into my 'living room' and making the whole floor wet.
C1: Did you try wiping and mopping?
A: Yes, so much that my hands are paining!
C1: Oh.. I understand.. I will give a nice solution to your problem.
C1: Take this injection today. Take these pills 3 times every day for 10 days. Your pains will be gone!
A: But..
C1: Fee?? At that counter.
A: But...
C1: If pains persist, see me next-to-next week. Next week, I will be in Mumbai for a conference.
A: Oh.. What is that conference about?
C1: It is to discuss a paper published by two anthropo-pharmacologists that white rats don't get gray hair.
A: Oh!! Has a new research found that white rats don't get gray hair? Medical Science has advanced so much!!
C1: Yes!! They have studied about a hundred-thousand white rats, 50% of them on no other drugs. 20% of them were pregnant and a minor 3% lost their teeth. All of them were given all the hair oils.
A: Are there any white rats in India?
C1: Yes! They are called Aryan rats.
A: Are they Indian species?
C1: No. They came from Europe during Aryan invasion.
A: Yes, must be.. bloody Indian rats are dirty and black.

It so happened that C1 and A board the same flight to Mumbai. C1 for the conference and A for some urgent 2 day training on "SAP module for truck companies." They exchanged courtesy smiles, but for some reason avoided talking to each other.

Next week.
A: How was the conference?
C1: It went very well! Many doctors from US have attended. Even from some African countries there were some researches. In India, there is no such advanced research happening.. very bad.
A: Yes, very bad..
C1: How are you feeling now?
A: No let up with my shoulder pain.. it has actually intensified.
C1: That's bad.. Why don't you try this tonic also?
A: Sure, sir.. I think it is needed. But, what should I do with the hole?
C1: Oh yes.. should do something about that also..
C1: Take this bucket. Keep it where the water is dripping.
A: If it gets filled?
C1: Simple.. empty it and put it again at the spot.
A: Great.. I think it works.. You solved both the problems!!

Two weeks later.
C1: So, how are things?
A: Well.. the shoulder pain.. it eased a bit.. and also, I have got used to it.
C1: Wonderful!
A: But..
C1: Fee? At the cou..
A: Actually the hole became bigger.. and I bought another bucket to serve the purpose.
C1: Wonderful.
(C1 notes this point.)
C1 (scribbling): I think you can try to use a big tub.. take this sheet and buy it in our shop out there.
A: Thank you!!
C1: 'My pleasure.' And the consultation, an extra XXX (= a fortune) for the 'super special' solution.

Over the next two rainy seasons, the number of buckets and tubs increased in A's house.. meanwhile the hole became bigger and the roof started falling apart. A sold the house and went abroad. C1 bought his second car.

==*==

At the same time as A approached C1, B approached consultant-2 (C2.) B tells all about the hole.
C2 listens to everything and still keeps asking a lot more about B, B's house, neighborhood, the trees around (notes that there is a coconut tree in his very house compound,) the movies he sees, how frequently Mr and Mrs B fight (notes details about the pitches of their voices also), whether his children play indoor games or outdoor games, whether monkeys visit the neighborhood...
B loses his patience but not his trust on C2.

After two weeks of such interviews..

B: So, what about my problem?
C2: Coming to that..
C2: Before the rainy season, get a small net built over the place where you saw the hole on your roof. It should be strong enough to withstand coconuts falling on it, monkeys jumping on it, and cricket balls hitting it. If you need help (in getting it built, you can call me when ready.) Put a waterproof tarpaulin over the net, so that water doesn't leak.
C2: Apart from this.. reduce the frequency of your quarrels (if you should quarrel, don't shout.) Otherwise, more holes may appear and you may have to extend the net and the tarpaulins.. Request your neighbors to reduce the volume of their rock music. Whenever you want to avoid quarrel with your wife, pop these pills into her mouth. You can also pop 3 of them into your own mouth. If your kids demand, into their mouths also. Nothing else for 30 minutes after popping, by the way!

B's life turned sweet and he lived happily after that. He started advising others, solutions for small problems. For bigger problems, he referred them to C2.

==*==

C visited Consultant-3 (C3) at the same time as A visited C1 and B visited C2.

C's initial experience was almost same as the first two weeks of B (interviews and interviews) but, extended almost up to the beginning of rainy season!

As rain clouds started hovering low, C went frantically to C3.

C3: Welcome.
C: My hole, my house..
C3: You came at the right time! I was to call you anyway.
C3: See, I have made these special gels for you. Go to Kerala, see the first monsoon rain. Buy some spices, collect some leaves. Then immediately come to your place. Stay up the whole night. Early morning there will be rain. One hour before the rain and two hours before sunrise, apply these gels to your roof, around the hole, one from inside the house and the other, from outside. (You see, one hardens with air and the other, with water.) Ensure some water flows over the roof after you apply the gel.
C: Will that solve my problem?
C3: Not completely.
C: ??
C3 then counsels on similar lines as C2 did for B, including and up to avoiding quarrels. However, for avoiding quarrels he gave a different 'solution' *after* few more months. (He was sure that the rainy season "naturally" would have brought Mr and Mrs C closer.. it seems they even went to watch a couple of water-falls in spate.)

After rainy season.

C: Great season, it was!!
C3: Yes! Do you want to continue the same situation at home?
C: Yes, I don't want any more leaks in my roof.
C3: Yes, of course.. and what about you and your wife quarreling?
C: No, sir.. I want to avoid that also.
C3: Good.
C3: Go to so-and-so village. Buy some bamboos and palm/coconut leaves there. Ask the villager to come to your home and prepare a good roof over the terrace. You know, thatched roof means shade and coolness in summer. Protection from coconuts. It is also bio-degradable. Birds build nests in it and their chirping wakes you up early in the morning. (You may have to regularly clean their droppings, of course.) After one year, you can use the thatches for boiling water. It may get damaged in rains.. this villager comes again next year and weaves a new roof.
C: Will he advise me how to be friends with my wife?
C3: No. You fight because of imbalance in your air, fire and water elements. Do pranayam every day. Relish chyavanaprash, honey, cinnamon.. Brush with neem twigs. Fast every fortnight. Visit Tirupati. Learn Sanskrit. Read Ramayanam. Study the Geeta....

C lived happily every after.

==*==

Well, do I have to tell it?
A, B and C are people like us.
C1 - allopathic super specialist.
C2 - homoepathy doctor.
C3 - Ayurvedic and wholistic doctor.

Anjaneyam

2009-08-21T09:55:00.000-07:00

ఆమిషీకృత మార్తాండం గోష్పదీకృత సాగరం |
తృణీకృత దశగ్రీవం ఆంజనేయం నమామ్యహం ||

AraNi

2009-08-21T03:59:00.000-07:00

అరణి మథనం - రావి, జమ్మి చెక్కలు.

Irresponsible at last.

2009-07-27T09:56:00.000-07:00

I 'grew up' watching Sidhdharth Basu's quiz programs.
His fluency (well, it was "too" good in pre-and-post-1991 years on our own Doordarshan before the TV in general turned into dur-darshan) was amazing and the quality of his quiz programs was superlative. He was one of the inspirations behind my own fluency in English; yes, as recently as yesterday I have received a pat-on-back for my English. Basu represented 'integrity', upright behavior, clean language, responsible handling of the youth and student generation...

But, today, after a pleasant escape from the TV for more than 36 hours (just 1.5 days, and I call it a big escape - this shows how much, in reality, TV hooked me to itself) I was watching 'Face The Nation' (FTN) program on CNN IBN. This channel has betrayed the whole nation by steadily degrading itself to a yellow-tabloid status by the quality of its journalism and the programs. FTN is a leading program on this news channel.

The topic of the day is "Sach ka Saamna" and some contraversy around it. As of now, I don't know anything about this program.. but over this FTN session I could understand that it is detrimental to Indian culture and values. Well, these days, every program even in regional channels has some such anti-culture content. That is why Dr-ji said that TV effuses a lot of negative energy. I am seeing how true Dr-ji is. I used to feel that movie is worse than TV.. but in fact, TV is terribly more venomous than cinema. This opinion I am going to hold till I watch my next contemporary movie; then I will review this opinion.

Now, what has pained me is Sidhdharth Basu is apparently the producer of this particular "Sach ka Saamna" program which is designed to reveal how the current generation is witnessing degradation and compromise of family values. People are asked to tell about their own lives and their answers are tested using polygraph tests. People failing polygraph tests fail to win. Polygraph is not reliable (legally speaking) tool to testify 'truth' or sach. So, firstly, what 'sach' ka 'saamna' are these people talking about, I fail to understand.

Seeing the arguments, I am understanding that Mr. Basu is on the wrong side.. and that is highly deplorable. He too has become irresponsible.

Lakshmi-Parvati Samvaadam

2009-07-24T04:18:00.000-07:00

भिक्षार्थी क्व प्रयातः - सुतनु बलि मखे |

तान्डवं क्वाद्य भद्रे - मन्ये बृन्दावनान्ते |

क्वचस मृगशिशु: - नैव जाने वराहं |

बाले कच्चिन्नदृष्टो जरठ वृषपति: - गोपयेवास्य वेत्ता |

लीला संल्लाप इथ्थं जलनिधि हिमवत्कन्ययो: त्रायतां न: ||

ISwarO gururaatmEti..

2009-07-22T10:34:00.000-07:00

To me, Moon, Sun, stars etc. are all at the same height - unreachable to me.

Similarly mahaanubhaava-s, maharshi-s, daivam maanusha rUpENa.. I don't see difference in them.

Satsangam has led me to a Maharshi. I need to call him with a lighter name, but I cannot take this guru-tulya's name directly. So, I will call him Doctor garu or Dr-ji.

God created a desire in me to get Reiki initiation as a 'misha' to make me meet Dr-ji. I have got a great fillip to my spiritual pursuit from that meeting.

Things were so opportune that when I strongly felt like talking to him, he was in Bangalore.. his visit was to conclude just two days after my meeting.. and those two were working days. I didn't know much about him till I met him. I know very little of him even now. He is large and contains multitudes. I am a (yet-to-germinate) seedling in comparison to that giant tree.

It was a cold, cloudy and windy day. Keeping up with my customary practice, I arrived at his stay half-an-hour late, and was received by another mahaamanishi. More about her later. I was seated in the hall and soon Dr-ji came there. I stood up naturally.

His appearance beat my expectations.. (But why did I 'expect' his appearance to be one way or the other?) I expected he would be fair and plump. He was not fair and not plump. I expected gray hair on his pate. All that grayness was on my head. I expected him to 'look' like a 50+ man. But I look older than him. I expected him to be a high-flier and exhibit that nature.. He flies higher than I can imagine, but he is still always down-to-earth. I thought that he would be a dabbler in philosophy, but he is a veritable Maharshi.

The Reiki initiation was one of the most memorable experiences I had in my life. Easily my highest spiritual experience so far. As Dr-ji was invoking the ishTa-dEvata-s, I could experience their presence like never before. When he invoked the blessings of Hanuman (Dr-ji asked Hanuman to place His hand on my head and bless me), I could really feel the soft and pleasant hand. During the initiation I had an intense pain in my lower stomach. (Some detoxification in the intestine, it might have been... a long forgotten intestine-related problem resurfaced in that week.) I feared that I may get up writhing in that pain and fail the initiation. I could control myself somehow. The energy manifested itself as warm/hot winds around my head. (As this session happened in open-air, and as it was a cold and windy day, when the session started I was actually shivering.)

All this happened under the watchful and loving glances of Bhagawan. Bhagawan keeps showering His nectar-looks everywhere throughout the house of Umasankar where Dr-ji was staying.

I was having one of those unbearable weekly-bouts with migraine throughout that and the previous days. But next day onwards, it almost shunned me.. returned only once when I was 'punishably' irregular with my diet, sleep and was in deep stress.

Dr-ji promised me in that meeting that I would be blessed with a darSanam of Sri Dakshinaamurthy within 21 days from then. The very next weekend I went to Sringeri and had long and close darSanam of Saaradaamba and Jagadguru. I met my father - who is my prathama and prathaana guru. I had the darSanam of HH SwayamprakaaSa swaamijee of Hariharapura peeTham. I visited Tiruvannamalai (a lot about it, later.)

eeSwarO gururaatmEti ... dakshiNaamUrtayE namaH

Panchayatana Puja

2009-07-08T09:58:00.001-07:00

SlOkam-s courtesy - Sri Jaldhar Vyas.

Great sloka-s. Just remembering the names of the primordial deities is enough to obtain their grace.

Let me try the meanings of the sloka-s.
(I am mentioning the divine names used in the Slokam-s in brackets.)

Siva Panchayatanam
yadA tu shaMkaraM madhye eshAnyAM shrIpatiM yajet |
AgneyyAM cha tathA haMsaM nairR^ityAM pArvatIsutam |
vAyavyAM cha sadA pUjyA bhavAnI bhaktavatsalA ||

Siva in center. Vishnu in eeSanyam (North East). Surya in Agneya (South East) and Ganapati in NairRti (South West) and Mother Ambika in vaayavyam (North West.)

(Sankara - Siva
Sripati - Vishnu
Hamsa - Surya
Parvati Suta - Ganapati
Bhavani - Ambika
Additionally, "bhaktavatsala" for Ambika.)

Vishnu Panchayatanam
yadA tu madhye govindamaishAnyAM shaMkaraM yajet |
AgneyyAM gaNanAthaM cha nairR^ityAM tapanaM tathA |
vAyavyAmambikAM chaiva yajennityaM samAhitaH ||

Vishnu in center. Siva in eeSaanyam. Ganapati in Agneyam. Surya in Nairruti. Ambika in Vayavyam.

(Govinda - Vishnu
Sankara - Siva
Gananatha - Ganapati
TapanaH - Surya
Ambika - Ambika.)

Surya Panchayatanam
sahasrAMshuryadA madhye eshAnyAM pArvatIpatim |
AgneyyAmekadantaM cha nairR^ityAmachyutaM tathA |
vAyavyAM pUjayedevIM bhogamokShaikabhUmikAm ||

Surya in center. Siva in eeSaanyam. Ganapati in aagneyam. Vishnu in nairruti. Ambika in vaayavyam.

(SahasraamSu - Surya
Parvatipati - Siva
Ekadanta - Ganapati
Achyuta - Vishnu
Devi - Ambika
Additionally, ambika is praised as source of 'bhoga and moksha' "bhOgamOkshaika bhUmikaam")

Devi Panchayatanam
bhaVanIM tu yadA madhye eshAnyAM mAdhavaM yajet |
AgneyyAM pArvatInAthaM nairR^ityAM gaNanAyakaM |
pradyotanaM tu vAyavyAmAchAryastu prapUjayet ||

Ambika in center. Vishnu in eeSaanyam. Siva in aagneyam. Ganapati in nairruti. Surya in vaayavyam.

(Bhavani - Ambika
Madhava - Vishnu
Parvatinatha - Siva
Gananayaka - Ganapati
Pradyotana - Surya.)

Ganapati Panchayatanam
herambaM tu yadA madhye eshAnyAmachyutaM yajet |
AgneyyAM pa~nchavaktraM tu nairR^ityAM dyumaNiM yajet |
vAyavyAmambikAM chaiva yajennityamatindritaH ||

Ganapati in center. Vishnu in eeSanyam. Siva in eeSaanyam. Surya in nairruti. Ambika in vaayavyam.

(Heramba - Ganapati
Achyuta - Vishnu
Panchavaktra - Siva
dyumaNi - Surya (the jewel of skies)
ambika - ambika.)

vishNvaaditya gaNapatyambikaa samEta bhavaani Sankara swaaminE namaH

Great song

2009-07-07T11:21:00.000-07:00

Mooga Nomu is a heavy Telugu movie. This black and white movie has the heavy star cast of ANR, Chittoor Nagayya, Jamuna and SV Rangarao.

The song "Tallivi neeve tandrivi neeve.." is really moving. Listen to the song intently.. this great song expressing Saranagati towards the Lord touches and moves you into tears. By this song, the children of an orphanage pray Lord Venkateswara.. the situation makes the song even more heavy. The group of orphan boys include the son of the hero ANR and that is the whole plot.

Though it is sung by orphan children, it's meaning is applicable for anyone's prayers. This universal applicability shows the greatness of the lyricists of old movies. Value based people wrote valuable songs.

Arunachala Darsanam

2009-06-21T10:40:00.000-07:00

Arunachalam is Siva sthalam.
It is Sivamayam.
Arunachaleswara Swamy, Unnamulai Amman temple - is divine.
Ramana Asramam is enlightening.
Seshadri Asramam is energizing.
Arunachalam (the mountain) is enchanting.
Skandasramam is elevating.

One must visit Arunachalam every now, every birth.

I have returned from a highly energizing trip today. Started from Bangalore at 12:00 noon on June 20, 2009. Reached Tiruvannamalai by 5:00 pm. Return journey started on June 21, at 2:45 pm and reached Bangalore by 7:30 pm.

dhanyOsmi.

Mahapurusha darsanam

2009-06-18T01:44:00.000-07:00

I started on my fourth trip to Sringeri on June 13, 2009. (First trip was in 2005; next in December 2006; next in December 2008.)

I was accompanying my father, elder brother (second eldest) & family (incl. sister-in-law, nephew and niece. Another nephew is in Mumbai, he didn't come.)

Nothing sacred about the trip being 4th or 44th. Other aspects of the trip are definitely interesting and uplifting.

This is the first time I was taking my daughter along with me - while my wife stayed back at home in Bangalore. Though she is over 3.5 years old I never took her out of station without her mother. I was a little excited about it.

We were going on a suddenly planned trip (I decided to accompany them just few hours before the journey.) My nephew is going for higher - truly higher - studies in Sringeri. We were going to drop him, have holy darshan-s and return. As it was night journey I did not drive all the way to Sringeri.

It was a fairly dry day and a heavily wet evening/night. We drove to the bus stand in deep waters and potholed roads; visibility dropped dangerously with heavy rain and power cut.

There was no rain at Sringeri - unnatural, as this season is supposedly rainy.
We had good darSanam of VidyaSankara, Sarada ammavaru, and Mahasannidhanam. Mahasannidhanam were particularly beaming and jovial. He spoke with my father and remembered happenings as old as those of 1960-61.

Mahati enjoyed the trip thoroughly. She was never fussy, didn't bother me with anything except that she did not drink "white" milk; she wanted only 'pink' milk (milk with complan.)

It was a dream-like trip.

Dream

2009-05-06T11:46:00.000-07:00

The timing of Rahul (Gandhi) becoming Prime Minister depends on many factors - said Pranab Mukherjee.

If the factors include (even if limited to) these two - India would be safe:
1. Rahul Gandhi learns more of life and India and reaches a state of maturity.
2. Sycophants including PM Manmohan Singh unlearn ALL their congress-ism (= spinelessness, unhealthy devotion to the Gandhi family, pseudo secularism, minority appeasement, corruption, etc.) and return to a state of maturity.

Now it is midnight (00:22, May 7, 2009), so natural, I am dreaming.

The Marwadi way

2009-04-12T04:55:00.001-07:00

Marwadi-s are very good money managers. It is an inimitable talent. Even if others learn the art (of money management) they don't get the finesse of the Marwadi-s. Sometimes their way borders on cheating.. but from their side they are 'clear.' Probably it is like this: If a greater good is realized by even taking a wrong path, you can still go ahead. But mostly the customer gets a good deal notwithstanding the fact that the Marwadi always ends up with a better deal. Marwadi vs. customer is alwayas a WIN-win situation. If at all it comes to it, the Marwadi ensures that it is a win-lose situation in his favor. It is in their blood. That is why across the length and breadth of this world they are successful businessmen.

Today's incident demonstrates how I ended up in a win-lose situation (I was the loser.)

Last week we gave a mixie for repair in a Marwadi-s owned and managed shop. The shop gave an "invoice" for Rs. 396/- at the time of taking the order. Then itself I assumed that I am giving a big profit. I assumed that I will get a bill while receiving my item and that will stand as a safety-net for me. On the appointed day I went to collect my item and I was given the item. No bill. I felt uncomfortable and asked for a bill. The shop said "no bill for repairs, sir," with all politeness typically enacted by them. I insisted on a bill and seeing my persistence he took a white paper and scribbled most illegibly, "butterfly moter" put a hyphen and entered the amount. Dashed a vertical line and under it a short horizontal line and under it the "total" amount. On the left corner he scribbled an even more un-understandable sign.

I hated this bill. I argued that I can write such a bill myself at home much more lgibly. I asked for a "proper bill" by which I meant something on a letterhead mentioning the problem in my mixer and the charges for the repair. He insisted he cannot give such a bill; it was against his shop's "policy." I could not stand it anymore and soon we were arguing loudly. A grandmother was managing the cash counter and she intervened, trying to explain me. I was not ready for anything less than a bill on a letter-head. At this time, the fellow brought in the concept of warranty - said that the replaced item carried no warranty and so no bill. I was not knowing but this was where he took me completely in. I uttered that this kind of no-bill activity is equivalent to "cheating." And this made him also angry. (Actually the Marwadi never gets angry. Angry man doesn't have cool head and a hot head is not the best strategist tool. So, he looks angry but actually is not.)

Another lad came into the quarrel (now the argument became that.) He played the good man and tried to explain me. But I was ready for anything but to go without the bill. So I argued valiantly with both. Slowly they started highlighting that they are honest and that if the mixer develops a snag again I can walk in confidently and they would repair (and charge equally impressive amount.) "No need of bill." I was not be won over by such smooth talk. I stood strong and finally I won!! They agreed to prepare the bill. They prepared on the shop's letterhead. Now both sides were smiling - I that finally they gave an honest bill and they, that they were "satisfying" me.

And that was the catch. I *thought* I won, but actually the Marwadi converted it into a WIN-lose situation in his favor. While preparing the bill with a smiling face he was explaining that it attracts 4% for VAT and that there is no guarantee on the replaced part. The latter part he told with so much conviction that I believed it totally; I sympathized with him that it is not in his hands. And he mentioned both (VAT and no guarantee) in clear and legible writing on the bill.

I ended up paying more. The bigger loss is, had I taken the item with a smile at first I at least would have had a chance to go to him if the mixer goes phut after some days or weeks of use. Chances are that he wouldn't forget that it was repaired only recently and chances are that he would charge less. But now he deprived me of that chance (or did I deprive myself of it?) Even if the snag reappears tomorrow I lost all chance to blame anyone.

Moral: If you ever enter into an conflict with a Marwadi, go by his way. At least the loss will be smaller.

Rapturous Mangalam

2009-04-11T08:52:00.000-07:00

Today I got an SMS from SGS Ashram informing about the concert of Swamijee in Haridwar. Pleasantly surprisingly the concert is in Patanjali Yog Vidya Peeth, in the presence of Baba Ramdev. The the SMS was a tipoff about live telecast of the program in Astha Channel.

Sure, the whole congregation was immersed in the devine yoga Sakti (of both the great guru-s.)

Swamijee's program was "pancha tatva raga malika." Unlike in the previous such concerts, there was almost contiguous playing of the raga-s. At the end Swamijee told what various raga-s were and what tatva-s they were about. There was a "relaxation" raga also as Swamijee said. But actually every bit of His music charges up the devotee. The last piece was as usually mangalam. Swamijee said, that this mangalam is a simple composition of "bits" and that it represents vayu and bhu tatva-s. But actually it was characteristically complex and simply inimitable. And just as He mixed vayu and bhu tatva-s in it, this time uniquely, the mangalam started with samajavaragamana, proceeded mellifluously in the same and refreshingly merged into the "ragaragini mangalam." I am sure today's mangalam took all the datta-bhakta-s viewing this live telecast into rapturous ecstasy.

In a short "vote of thanks" very pleasingly Baba Ramdev said, "Unke upasthithi hi mangal dayak hai - kyon ki Ganapati unke nam me pehle hi hai. Aur wo swayam hi Sachchidanand hain." He added, "ab to Patanjali Yog Vidya Peeth and SGS Ashram alag alag nahin hain.. hum sab ek hogaye hain." He expressed the desire that Swamijee conducts this program many more times in PYVP.

The only regret of the TV audience is that the advertisements were rather cruel interruptions in an otherwise great session of Swamijee's nada chikitsa.

Jaya Guru Datta.

Anjaneya AshTOttara Sata nAma Stotram

2009-04-09T22:29:00.000-07:00

ఓం ఆంజనేయాయ నమః
ఓం మహావీరాయ నమః
ఓం హనుమతే నమః
ఓం మారుతాత్మజాయ నమః
ఓం తత్వఙ్ఞానప్రదాయ నమః
ఓం సీతదేవీముద్రాప్రదాయకాయ నమః
ఓం అశోకవనికాఛ్ఛేత్రే నమః
ఓం సర్వమాయావిభంజనాయ నమః
ఓం సర్వబంధవిమోక్త్రే నమః
ఓం రక్షోవిధ్వంసకారకాయ నమః
ఓం పరవిద్యాపరీహారాయ నమః
ఓం పరశౌర్యవినాశనాయ నమః
ఓం పరమంత్రనిరాకర్త్రే నమః
ఓం పరయంత్రప్రభేదకాయ నమః
ఓం సర్వగ్రహవినాశినే నమః
ఓం భీమసేనసహాయకృతే నమః
ఓం సర్వదుఃఖహరాయ నమః
ఓం సర్వలోకచారిణ్యే నమః
ఓం మనోజవాయ నమః
ఓం పారిజాత ద్రుమూలస్థాయ నమః
ఓం సర్వమంత్రస్వరూపిణే నమః
ఓం సర్వతంత్రస్వరూపిణే నమః
ఓం సర్వయంత్రాత్మకాయ నమః
ఓం కపీశ్వరాయ నమః
ఓం మహాకాయాయ నమః
ఓం సర్వరోగహరాయ నమః
ఓం ప్రభవే నమః
ఓం బలసిద్ధికరాయ నమః
ఓం సర్వవిద్యాసంపత్ప్రదాయకాయ నమః
ఓం కపిసేనానాయకాయ నమః
ఓం భవిష్యచ్చతురాననాయ నమః
ఓం కుమారబ్రహ్మచారిణే నమః
ఓం రత్నకుండలదీప్తిమతే నమః
ఓం చంచలద్వాలసన్నద్ధలంబమాన శిఖోజ్వలాయ నమః
ఓం గంధర్వ విద్యా తత్వఙ్ఞాయ నమః
ఓం మహబల-పరాక్రమాయ నమః
ఓం కారా-గృహ-విమోక్త్రే నమః
ఓం శృంఖలా-బంధమోచకాయ నమః
ఓం సాగరోత్తారకాయ నమః
ఓం ప్రాఙ్ఞాయ నమః
ఓం రామ-దూతాయ నమః
ఓం ప్రతాపవతే నమః
ఓం వానరాయ నమః
ఓం కేసరీ-సుతాయ నమః
ఓం సీతా శోక నివారణాయ నమః
ఓం అంజనా-గర్భ-సంభూతాయ నమః
ఓం బాలార్క-సదృశాననాయ నమః
ఓం విభీషణ-ప్రియకరాయ నమః
ఓం దశగ్రీవ-కులాంతకాయ నమః
ఓం లక్ష్మణ-ప్రాణదాతాయ నమః
ఓం వజ్ర కాయాయ నమః
ఓం మహాద్యుతయే నమః
ఓం చిరంజీవినే నమః
ఓం రామభక్తాయ నమః
ఓం దైత్య-కార్య-విఘాతకాయ నమః
ఓం అక్షహంత్రే నమః
ఓం కాంచనాభయ నమః
ఓం పంచ-వక్త్రాయ నమః
ఓం మహాతపాయ నమః
ఓం లంఖినీభంజనాయ నమః
ఓం శ్రీమతే నమః
ఓం సింహికాప్రాణభంజనాయ నమః
ఓం గంధమాదన-శైలస్థాయ నమః
ఓం లంకా-పురవిదాహకాయ నమః
ఓం సుగ్రీవ-సచి-వాయ నమః
ఓం ఢీరాయ నమః
ఓం శూరయ నమః
ఓం దైత్యకులంతకాయ నమః
ఓం సురార్చితాయ నమః
ఓం మహాతేజాయ నమః
ఓం రామ-చుడా-మణిప్రదాయ నమః
ఓం కామ-రుపాయ నమః
ఓం పింగళాక్షయ నమః
ఓం వార్ధి-మైనాక-పూజితాయ నమః
ఓం కబళీకృతమార్తాండ-మండలాయ నమః
ఓం విజితేంద్రియాయ నమః
ఓం రామసుగ్రీవసంధాత్రే నమః
ఓం మహారావనమర్దనాయ నమః
ఓం స్ఫటికాభాయ నమః
ఓం వాగధీశాయ నమః
ఓం నవవ్య-కృతి-పండితాయ నమః
ఓం చతుర్బాహవే నమః
ఓం దీన-బంధవే నమః
ఓం మహాత్మాయ నమః
ఓం భక్త-వత్సలాయ నమః
ఓం సంజీవన నగాహర్త్రే నమః
ఓం శుచయే నమః
ఓం వాగ్మినే నమః
ఓం దృఢవ్రతాయ నమః
ఓం కాలనేమి-ప్రమధ-నాయ నమః
ఓం హరి-మర్కట-మర్కటాయ నమః
ఓం దాంతాయ నమః
ఓం శాంతాయ నమః
ఓం ప్రసన్నాత్మనే నమః
ఓం శతకంఠ-మదాపహృతే నమః
ఓం యోగినే నమః
ఓం రామకధాలోలాయ నమః
ఓం సీతాన్వేషణ-పండితాయ నమః
ఓం వజ్ర-దంస్ట్రాయ నమః
ఓం వజ్రనఖాయ నమః
ఓం రుద్ర-వీర్య-సముద్భవాయ నమః
ఓం ఇంద్రజిత్ ప్రహితామోఘ బ్రమ్హాస్త్ర వినివారకాయ నమః
ఓం పార్ధ-ధ్వజాగ్ర-సంవాసినే నమః
ఓం శర-పంజర-భేధకాయ నమః
ఓం దశబాహవే నమః
ఓం లోకపూజ్యాయ నమః
ఓం జాంబవత్ప్రీతివర్ధనాయ నమః
ఓం సీతా-సమేత స్రీరామపాద సేవా దురంధరాయ నమః

The shoe newsmaker

2009-04-07T02:36:00.000-07:00

Suddenly a journalist by name Jarnail Singh hurled a shoe at home minister Chidambaram and himself into news.
He asked a question about the injustice Congress party had been meting out to the Sikh community (with reference to Indira Gandhi assassination and the massacre following it.)

Despite the involvement of the shoe, it was a real clean incident.

The recipient is the current Mr. Clean of Congress party - P Chidambaram. He proved again that the characteristic charming, silencing smile he always wears on his face originates from his heart. He didn't express much shock or start on the unwelcome surprise gift of a shoe. He remained composed. He smoothly told the security people, "take him away."

Jarnail Singh was left by the police after he confessed his mistake. He also expressed regret for becoming emotional and wished no other journalist copies him.

Akali Dal announced Rs. 2L as a reward to Jarnail Singh. Let's wait and see how he will receive this.

Meanwhile Lalu talking nonsense about Varun Gandhi, Rabri Devi mouthing something against Nitish Kumar, Arjun Singh weeping that his daughter didn't get election ticket etc. have been going on as usual.. the odd, bad and ugly side of Indian politics.

Odd, bad and ugly

2009-03-31T09:14:00.000-07:00

These are the words that are striking to me when I think of the state of Indian politics.

Garden rich

2009-02-26T11:57:00.001-08:00

The audumbara sapling brought from Mysore is doing well. The day before we transferred it to the new pot, it was 'broken' by monkeys. The 'trunk' and roots were fine but the that was bent had all the leaves. Eventually all those leaves wilted and I had to cut that portion off.. I was not sure if it would come back, but wanted to try.. few days later, Lord Datta smiled!! "Dattatreyam Krishnam Haritam.." New leaves sprouted gradually the plant grew. Now it looks very promising.

Brought a new two-headed (branched) audumbaram from Vijayawada. The plant has undergone transportation shock and has wilted.. all the resplendence is gone, though greenery is still to be seen at most 'nodes.' Only one leaf is remaining now. I am hoping against hope that it too jumps back to life and the Adi Guru showers His kRpa from it also.

I want to make at least one of them into a Bonsai.

The other day, I got a dream.. I saw an Audumbara and another tree.. they were so close to each other, almost intertwined. The other tree's leaves looked like those of brahma-medi in size but in shape and texture they were more like the normal audumbaram. It had white flowers and the tree had a very divine look. Something or someone was telling me that it was indeed audumbara and I chanted digambara-digambara seeing it.. The tree in the dream and the dream itself was fleeting. It was one of the shortest dreams. I want to get this tree also.

Having seen for short duration about "Maddi chettu"/"Arjuna vRksham"/Noni-tree on the TV, I searched for it in the internet. The looks (especially leaves and flowers) matched with that of the 'brahma-medi' sized "audumbara" I saw in the dream.

I would love to adorn the garden with a kadambam also. When will Kadamba Kusuma Priya shower Her blessings for these endeavors??

I am also ambitious of getting monkey-bread tree.. within the next ten years.

Dreams...

2009-02-26T11:50:00.000-08:00

I was planning to go to Hamsaladeevi for Maha Siva Ratri.

But the night before I was to leave, I got a dream.. In the dream:
I was starting on a journey and was on a road. The weather was cloudy, especially in the direction I was heading towards, the sky was overcast with dark clouds.. almost as if it is raining heavily there. Suddenly a gale started and I heard from somewhere that thunderbolts are likely. Seconds later, a thunder bolt struck.. There were furious sparks from electric transformers; wires got burnt and were cut.. the cut wire ends fell on the road and looked menacing.
Amidst all this, I was somehow safe. I stopped my journey in the dream.

I could not go to Hamsaladeevi for Maha Siva Ratri.. though I was planning to go till the 'last moment,' situation so came that I had to drop the plans. The program went very grandly, as my brother told. Abhishekams, puja, homam, samudra snanam..

Pittala dora

2009-01-14T06:43:00.000-08:00

పిట్టల దొర (piTTala dora) is a Telugu phrase, which stands for a hunter-like clown. This guy has none of the characteristics or antecedents of a hunter except the dress he wears and the gun he wields. The dress is full with the cowboy hat. The gun sometimes is a wooden dummy. Even if it were a real gun, it is so elementary that at the most he can "hunt" dead birds with it. piTTala means, 'of birds.' dora means, 'the respected man.' dora is used to describe the British officers of India's colonial past. The phrase piTTala dora is a mockery of the British officers but actually represents the poverty and travails of the subjects of those officers. May be, it actually mocks the then British officers and their tall claims.

Well, the dora also doesn't claim any hunting accolades. Only, he claims much bigger achievements. His language is very funny and the experiences he relates are highly lofty, thereby evoking mirth, laughter and hilarity among the onlookers. After a few minutes of such a "show" he extends either a begging bag or his hat into which the householders drop their alms. The dora moves on to the next household while the giggling children follow.

An example of a typical pittala-dora's claim: "Just as I finished breakfast with the prime minister of Japan I was called by Queen of Great Briton. I told her to call later but she persisted. She was not too OK with Obama's appointment as the President of the US and wanted to discuss the matter with me. I told why not with my deputy, the PM of UK instead.. though he may be much shorter in maturity than I in such international matters. Well.. I heeded to her and reached London for lunch. Called on Bush and Obama and suggested that both of them gave way for Arnold the guvnor of Calif. I left them to discuss the matter and returned home as it is Sankranti here." The content, tempo and intonation are usually much funnier than this. And then he extends the ragged begging bag or his tattered hat.

In Andhra Pradesh, it is common to call people of too small stature claiming too big things as pittala-dora-s. People who show-off too much are also called pittala-dora.

The last I saw a pittala dora was last year when I was in Machilipatnam for Sankranti. In bigger cities we don't see such 'native' Sankranti features. There was a movie in Telugu about the lives of pittala-dora's . Ali (the comedian) played the lead role as a pittala-dora and PL Narayana as his father (also a pittala-dora.) Both did a great job though I am not sure if the film was a great commercial success.

Well.. this year, I could not go to my in-laws house for Sankranti. But, I didn't miss many of the festivities, pittala-dora for one.

No.. I didn't see a pittala-dora on Bangalore streets. I read a news report about one.

Dr. Rajasekhar, the "hero" of some movies in Telugu has created a flutter some days before Chiranjeevi announced his political entry. He uttered something like Chiranjeevi doesn't have political experience. And he was followed by angry fans of the mega-star all the way from somewhere in coastal Andhra Pradesh to his home in Hyderabad. Chiranjeevi himself visited Dr. Rajasekhar's house (while the Dr. and his wife were away at a police station to complain about the attacking mega-fans) and silenced many people observing the fiasco.

When the Dr. said that he will enter politics if people wished, many including me brushed it away. Later, he again said that he will contest against Chiranjeevi if the "party" insisted. (He joined the Congress Party some time after the 'fan-following' incident.) More recently - just days before Sankranti - he said that defeating Chiranjeevi was his sole aim.

The mega-star fans and people like me are just watching the fun.

Not businessman like

2009-01-12T09:25:00.001-08:00

After building an enterprise - Satyam Computer Services Limited - as an empire, Ramalinga Raju gave in to something wrong.. and we know what happened. A great man, a silent superstar who created a hundred thousand careers* has had to sleep nearly on the floor, eat rationed food. The man who led countless computer experts had to count the bars.

* On my first day in my first job - as Entry Level Trainee Program (ELTP) associate** - in Satyam more than ten years ago, the then HR chief announced, "we are not giving jobs here.. whoever came here for a job can leave." He stunned the assembled 100+ baccalaureates for a few seconds and told, "whoever came for a career can stay back." By the day the world received the Satyam shock, Satyam strength is close 50000. Together with many supporting staff and people who left the organization after being associated for some time, the number of careers touched by Satyam can cross 1 lakh.

** Satyam doesn't address its employees as 'employees.' They are "associates." One meaning of the very symbol of the company is, "together we grow/succeed." And the present logo also stresses 'association' and 'success.'

Before being businessmen and career-men, we are men.. human beings. Association and commaraderie are part of human nature. The reactions people give in certain situations are very indicative of their nature.

As soon as the crisis news broke out, many Satyam's alliance companies and customers sent notes of concern and support. Contrastingly, a competitor company's super-chief - one of the most respected Indian businessmen associated with one of the most respected Indian IT companies - immediately distanced himself, however. His company immediately announced that they will not receive any Satyamites seeking jobs. In normal days, they have no such laws.

Of course, barring some frightened people most of the Satyamites decided to "stand united" and stay with the company in these trying times. If the business demands, the company may extend a parting handshake (private sector handshakes are not 'golden,' by the way; they are 'pink' if it comes to that) to the same loyalists, but that's a different matter.. in business, all is fair.

But, such a reaction coming from one of the most inspiring Indian IT businessmen is not quite businessman-like. People so much admired this short man of tall stature that one wondered whether Satyam is really a tainted company. Later one wished that this man didn't utter what was attributed to him. But just like many other wishes people made with respect to (pun intended) Raju, this also was not fulfilled. Today he gave a clarification which only smacks of hypocrisy.

No, I don't mean that good or bad, Raju should be supported. A responsible person could have termed his reaction much better than this.. while stressing that law should be strictly imposed on the wrong doer, he could have felt and expressed concern at the sorry turn of events.

Anyway, Satyameva Jayate.

Still a hero

2009-01-09T10:37:00.000-08:00

Ramalinga Raju has been a great entrepreneur.

While the truth about the Dec-08 to Jan-09 melodrama is still unfolding, one should not miss the truth about his enterprise, entrepreneurship, pioneering and towering achievements.
At least for a considerable amount of time, he had been a bright star in corporate India's firmament.

Long live the fire with which he kindled a glowing chapter in India's business world in general and Indian IT industry in particular..

One of the few companies and one of the few entrepreneurs that Andhra Pradesh and Telugu people had been very proud of, have got permanently tainted, unfortunately.

The way Mr. Raju allegedly mishandled it all will remain as a huge case study - as sadly in business education as in criminal law.

Somehow, Andhra Pradesh itself seems to be a land of such ill-fated entrepreneurs and enterprises. Dharma Teja's Jayanti Shipping Company of 1960s, NT Rama Rao (the legend of cinema turned politician) of 1980s, and Ramalinga Raju and Satyam of 1990s-2000s are all stories of self-makers-and-destroyers.

They still remain as heroes and legends.

Posts to come

2008-11-08T06:08:00.000-08:00

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

Dhyana/Mangala Slokam in Malavikagnimitram

2008-11-08T06:05:00.001-08:00

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!!

2008-11-08T05:53:00.000-08:00

धर्मदॅव जगन्नाथ सत्यदॅव जनार्दन |

मामुद्धर शृतॅर्बोधॅ सन्मार्गमवलॉकय ||

Dasara

2008-10-29T21:46:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-29T21:15:00.000-07:00

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..

2008-10-01T11:37:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-01T11:23:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-03T10:07:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-07T11:09:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-02T10:43:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-20T11:10:00.000-07:00

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...

2008-06-20T10:52:00.000-07:00

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

2008-02-05T10:21:00.000-08:00

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

2008-02-05T10:09:00.000-08:00

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.

2008-02-05T10:06:00.000-08:00

I will kill my anger, or myself, soon.

Heard recently

2008-01-11T11:06:00.000-08:00

Years of inactivity is going to end soon.

Mega Start

2007-10-30T11:37:00.000-07:00

The Mega Star of Telugu cinema has maintained a very clean profile till now. I always had doubts in my mind whether his real personality is same as his respectable public profile.

None other than Chiru's own younger daughter has put him up to a mega startling test. I am closely watching this story to see how the icon of Telugu society lives up to this challenge. This is a case where real life climax should be like many reel-life climaxes - all things reaching a 'good' end.

Of course, climaxes include the villains being thrashed by our hero before they are bundled by the police.

My prayers for Chiru, baby-Chiru and the 'hero' of this real life story.
God bless all.

Got back

2007-06-27T05:35:00.000-07:00

This is just a place-holder post.. Months of inactivity on this blog has posed a danger of this blog being erased.
I will re-start posting, soon..

Reversing the rivers..

2006-11-03T06:28:00.000-08:00

Over the past 10-12 months, I have traveled to some good places. All the trips are memorable. I wanted to write posts on each of them.. but really, never got enough time - so bad of me.

The most recent memorable trip is to Bhadrachalam. What started as a desire to travel from Rajahmundry to Bhadrachalam by the famous 'launch trip via Papi Kondalu' ended up as a piligrimage to Bhadrachalam. Of course, we had a trip in launch over Godavari - from Kunavaram to Papi Kondalu and back - and it was really excellent. I sincerely felt that the Godavari basin in Khammam and East & West Godavari districts is the pride of Andhra Pradesh. Very lovely surroundings.

The mighty Godavari, the majestic hills on either side, the resplendent greenery around.. it was real paradise.

It is a very sad news that the Polavaram project across Godavari is soon going to make these wonderful trips history.

I remember reading a report some time back that world over (or at least in India), having mega projects including Bhakra Nangal, Nagarjuna Sagar or not having them would not have made a net difference to the economy. The costs involved (including physical infrastructure, movement of people, land lost for reservoir, emotional issues etc.) are usually not recovered in even 100 years. Of course, they are useful for electric power generation - hydro electricity.

One should, however, remember that across Kavery, around Trichy there are two famous 'dams' - Kallanai and Melanai (rock-dam and upper-dam, respectively.) Kallanai was constructed by Karikala Chola of the yore (AD 2.). Melanai is more recent. It seems they served the irrigation needs of the area for all these ages..
(I am not very sure if Melanai is the same as Mukkombu, where the river Kollidam branches off from Kaveri.) From Mukkombu, the Srirangam island starts. Here, the anicut is constructed by Sir Arthur Cotton. A statue revering him can be seen on the land mass (a beautiful park) between Kaveri and Kollidam.
Cotton also constructed the famous Dhavaleswaram anicut across Godavari, which transformed famine-struck East and West Godavari districts into grannaries of Andhra Pradesh.
Then there is Prakasam barrage near Vijayawada, irrigating many areas in Krishna and Guntur districts.

One visible difference separating these good projects from the allegedly-useless mega projects is their size. They don't really obstruct the rivers to create huge reservoirs. They only divert the flow of the river into canals.

While Srisailam and Nagarjuna Sagar over the Krishna are good for hydro electric, their irrigation utility is questionable (vide point on the 'costs' above.) I have similar doubts on Sri Ram Sagar over Godavari.

Well, whatever is the past, many like me believe that projects like Polavarm on Godavari and Pulichintala on Krishna, which are on cards, are surely going to be of use to politicians and contractors than the farmers (and travel and enviro-enthusiasts like me.)

Lets see..

Tired

2006-08-17T11:52:00.000-07:00

I am really too tired
1. Of staying away from blogs for more than 7 months..
2. Of telling myself that I will finish the drafts of blogs I wanted to publish..
3. Of not finishing them and publishing..
4. Of not blogging the many experiences and stuff I have been going through these 7 months..
5. Of...
and more..

So, I will take rest and then start afresh.

Catch you later...

Not available from vizag

2006-01-16T07:27:00.000-08:00

Every wave brings with it a lifetime of beauty

Vizag is the most beautiful place on Earth (which in turn is the most beautiful place in the whole universe). Ask me as many times as you please, I will tell the same. If you come up with any other place and try to "prove" it is more beuatiful, I would simply not listen. To me, there is no other place on earth which comes close to Vizag, and you now know that I am talking on a universal scale.

Now, a question like "why is Vizag so beautiful?" or "why do you like the place so much" would elicit a volume from me, so lets not go deep into that right now. Watch out for more posts on that. For the time-being, a few quick answers: Andhra University, AU Engineering College, Araku, Bhimili, Beach Road, Rushikonda, MVP Colony, Waltair, AVN College, Andhra Medical College, Kailasagiri, Mudasarlova, RK Beach, Panduranga Temple, Vuda Park (anybody remembers the name Sun and Sea?), Oliver Ridley turtles, Dolphin Hill, Gangavaram, Appikonda (the place with a GREAT significance to me)... unending list.

Please see some Telugu movies especially those made in Vizag before 1995 to get a little understanding of what I am saying. Different directors have captured the beauty of Vizag in their own unique ways. The finest of them is Balachander. Balachander shows the essence of Vizag's beauty in many of his films including many in Tamil. If he doesn't need to show any particular location, he simply shot those scenes in Madras.

For some memorable movies by K Viswanath, Jandhyala, Vamsy and others including EVV old and new Vizag formed a pleasant backdrop. To date, however, Balachander's black and white movies stand out as the best (at least to my eyes).

In old movies, beach road has the lovely blue sea on one side and the University lands, the 'Collector Office Down', the erstwhile AU Ladies hostels, some old English and Dutch buildings and some green spaces stretch over a few kilometers on the other side. Only once in a long while could a car, a scooter or a bus be seen crawling on the road. Close to the Collector Office Down, used to be a beautiful statue of Krishna and Radha in a small park in the beach front. It is in this park that Gandhi - Chiranjivi - gets his first "investment" of 10 paise and goes on to make Rs. 50 lakh in 5 years in the movie "Challenge" - another master piece made in the City of Destiny.

One end of the beach road is near the Vizag 'Outer Harbor', the other 'end' is near a light house on the tip of a sand dune projecting into the sea with some rocks against which waves bang to produce lovely fountains. Unfortunately in my last trip to Vizag, I didn't see the light-house working. The Vizag Beach Road actually extends all the way up to Bhimili.

The colors of evening near RK Beach. Enlarge the photo and in the right-side end you can see the light-house in VUDA Park as a small vertical projection on the land's tip

Beyond the light house there is a fishing village which is not seen from most parts, even the many "up-lands" of the city. In fact, many Vizagites don't know its existence. From the up-lands (including Kailasagiri and some classrooms in the main building of AU Engineering College), in the morning one can see boats venturing into the sea and in the evening boats returning.. what are actually visible are not boats, but the sails.. On clear days, tiny white sails - hundreds of them - on the blue sea presents a stunningly beautiful spectacle. I remember many classes I sat through in the main building, watching this! Now, this little description itself took so long, and I feel I have told too little, what if I go on elucidating all the reasons why Vizag is so beautiful..!!?

In 1986, the place between the light-house and the fishing village has been made into what is now "VUDA Park", officially "Tarakarama Sagarateera Aramam". The 'Tarakarama' is none other than NT Rama Rao, then chief minister of AP.

Well, all that has undergone some changes and starting from 1990s, the lovely Beach Road also underwent many changes. No more is the road occassionally visited by a rare vehicle.. I am hearing that these days, even in midnight the beach road is not free from traffic!

Beach road now

When I was in (AU Engg) college till 1998, it was still not so bad. I got closest of my friends and fondest of memories in Vizag. I and my wife (not yet, then) used to meet on the sands of Vizag beach. The mention of Vizag fills me with nostalgia and I want more and more of it like a drunkard wants his wine.

Now, just a few minutes ago I got a curt SMS, "Not available from Vizag". I was puzzled as to what was not available in (or from as per the SMS) Vizag for some time till I recollected sending an SMS to this man-with-a-soul-of-brevity in the morning. This curt SMS without punctuations punctured my dreams and deeply disappointed me.

Earlier in the day, I saw an ad for sale of a beach facing apartment around Maharanipet and I immediately tried calling the mobile number given. As usually BSNL Bangalore would not get me through: "dayavittu swalpa samayadanantara kare madi" (please call after some time). I sent an SMS enquiring if the flat is still available and had built a thousand hopes till this reply came.

Other avagations

2006-01-16T07:14:00.000-08:00

Indians (especially those of us from Andhra Pradesh), have many different avagations and we keep pursuing and talking about them often. "My son is not concentrating on studies, he is developing other avagations" is a common complaint in India; the said chap might be developing interest in cricket or art.

I know of parents (and even some teachers) gospelling to their wards that "studies are most important than any other avagations" - now, that is their grammar, read on to know why my grammar is better. One great teacher once advised me to cultivate "reading" as a habit if I 'needed' any avagations "other than studying". The same teacher averred that 'reading dictionary' is a 'good avagation'. I followed his advise and in fact in that year and later, I was acclaimed to be "very good at english" - vocabulary, they meant - "because of" the aforementioned teacher.

I had good command on grammar "because of" another teacher, who led us by example - the great BJRK of Kennedy English Medium School, Tenali. More on this school and the great BJRK in a later post.

But the dictionary on web - www.m-w.com - that I frequently use has no avagations! None!!

It in fact chided me to correct my spellings and offered to give meanings of a generous list of words ranging from "avocation" to "evacuation" and more.

I then turned to dictionary.com and it came closer to what I was looking for. It offered to help me with "evagation" instead of my avagation and I obliged. The meaning suggested is close to what my avagation is.

It read,
"Evagation
\Ev`a*ga"tion\, n. [L. evagatio, fr. evagari to wander forth: cf. F. ['e]vagation. See Vagary.] A wandering about; excursion; a roving. [R.] --Ray"

So, I am wondering if hereafter I should put an abrupt end to all my avagations and instead cultivate some other evagations..

Why specific dates???

2006-01-16T07:09:00.000-08:00

I was in deep sleep when in the middle of the night 2006 popped up to the present and pushed 2005 into the past. Somehow I was tired and slept much early, the night of December 31, 2005. I have not even received phone call - I didn't even hear the ring - from my wife. I wished to be with my wife and daughter that night, or at least hear them over phone - but I simply slept and didn't even dream about them.

I realized late in the evening of Jan 1, 2006 that I have not listed down my new-year resolutions. One of them was time-management. Others include honoring appointments, talking to friends more frequently, wishing them for birthdays etc. I quickly decided to forget that and noted down "new year resolutions" in the "to-do" list for Jan 2. On Jan 1, I didn't want to spend time regretting.. I have this belief that if I regret on the new-year's day, I will be regretting the whole year. On the one hand logic says that this is not true - for example, New Year's day is Jan 1, will the whole year be Jan 1?? On the other, well, belief is belief.. no, belief is sentiment!

As usually, the to-do-list is still in my pocket. New activities are adding to the list, while some on the list are getting 'ticked' after being 'done'!! "New year resolutions" has not been ticked.

The ensuing weekend, in an interview to Times of India, which attracted some strong reaction from Govt of India and Income Tax Dept for other reasons, Amitabh Bachhan told, "If you want to do something, do it. Why have a specific date for it?" about New Year resolutions. Good one from a great one!!

Salesmanship!!

2005-11-19T01:33:00.000-08:00

My dream-house doesn’t necessarily contain a large lawn. But it definitely contains at least one tree each of coconut, mango, jackfruit and almond; a flower garden and a small kitchen garden. It will be a 2-storey house with about 6 bedrooms. Like in some Telugu and Tamil movies, in the center of the house there will be an open-top space with Tulasi plant in its center. The floor will have Rangoli patterns as also the walls.

Even cluttering them all together without leaving a space for lawn will require at least 600 sq. yards (5400 sq. feet). Sites in and around Bangalore will be as suitable as any other place including my native place on the banks of the Krishna (of course, I am not sure my wife would be as open as I on the choice of the city/town/village.) The only condition is that trees should grow well unlike in Hyderabad (my observation tells that in Hyderabad trees grow slow and will not be of great size.)

The sites-men have somehow got my mobile number and have been calling me for the past few weeks at quite an irritating frequency and especially at very embarrassing situations. As the thoughts of building own house are active now, I have been receiving the calls and responding as well. I observed a pattern. The salesmen easily grasp the potential buyer’s readiness and quote prices accordingly. Almost always the prices are a tad higher than what I would be ready with – but more interestingly, I would either compromise on my specifications for a less price, or get close to accepting the price. Of course, as of now, all this is on paper, and much more thought would go in before "actually" buying one.

The reality on realty that is revealing is very disturbing. On the one hand, the land sharks are turning beautiful green spaces into residential layouts and on the other hand, they are quoting unearthly prices. Now, a site enough for my dream-house, even in an area far from any livable location in Bangalore will cost me beyond my home-loan eligibility!! One of the salesmen tracking me has recently hiked the price of his offer by 10% within one week.

In the wake of this, my dream-house relegated itself to the back of my mind. I started looking for even 30X50 sites. Out of such a site, I would earmark 30X10 for trees and in the rest I would construct a house. Upon matured reflections I understood that such a plan would be a grave murder of my own dreams – I hate small houses with small rooms. I have slowly gravitated towards thoughts of a less gruesome murder. I am now thinking about apartments of size more than 1200 sq. ft. For greenery, I have the option for Bonsai, and of course flower pots. This compromise can be met within my home loan eligibility. Now I have to start oiling my mental and verbal faculties to face the apartment salesmen and negotiate prices.

Thinking this I collected the last speck of what were a couple of idlies in my breakfast and started for my bike. A small boy and a smaller boy accosted me; one selling magazines and the other, wiping cloth. A pamphlet on real-estate naturally attracted my attention, but I managed myself away from it. Wiping cloth seemed more relevant as the one I was using for my bike was lost in a parking place the other day. A pack of 3 cloth pieces, which was offered for Rs 10/- three weeks ago is now being quoted at Rs 15/-. I declared that I would not pay more than Rs 10/-. The boy bargained and looking at Rs 20/- note in my hand, offered 4 cloth pieces for Rs 15/- and the pamphlet for Rs 5/-. This set me thinking but as I was adamant on 3 for 10 the boy groped to select 3 cloth pieces and passed the 20 note to his companion, asking him to give change. Seemingly inadvertently, this second boy slipped the pamphlet on my bike and dropped down a five rupee coin while handing me another.

Then picking it up he claimed, “Sir, the pamphlet must have belonged to you. That’s why this fiver didn’t reach your hand and the pamphlet sat on your bike.” He left it on my bike and started to leave. I liked their salesmanship. I gave the fiver back and took another cloth piece.

Unfair

2005-11-18T04:18:00.000-08:00

Last ten days have been very dull.. My team and I have done some backend work for a couple of demos by our company for a large telecom conference in Dallas.

We have in fact put in a lot of work. I patted myself on my back for coordinating a reluctant team do a lot of work in the last minute. I was actually satisfied with my "work". But the end result was not so good.. lack of coordination from people who went to show the demos - all of us here felt we should have gone there, instead.

Still, the work was recognized, and we got a "pat on the back". When I got a mail to inform this, I thought it was praise and felt happy. But today I came to know that in this company, "pat on the back" is a cash prize of 2K!!

It really disappointed me. I was expecting a word of appreciation (and later I would leverage it to reap better career gains), but people gave 2-grand bucks and washed their hands.. This is "unfair".

One more heroic act: I recommended release of my demotivated team members into other projects. When I tried to reason with them and found them "not reasonable", I recommended the inevitable. I now need to hunt for 5-15 new members for my team.

The *long lost-bike story

2005-11-10T05:54:00.000-08:00

The *long lost-bike story

When the insurance company employee smiled at me this afternoon as he was entering the restaurant, which I was also planning to enter, and in front of which I was parking my bike - I felt very embarrassed.

It was not because I was caught ogling at a bevy of tight-dresses emerging from the nearby girls' college. Nor it was because I was so bad at parking my bike. It was not even because I owe him anything - in fact, I met him for a home insurance policy bond his company owes me.

It was because what I told him - that I lost my bike - contradicts my act of parking it. Not that I didn't lose my bike. The fact that I found it again has worked to my disadvantage in front of this man with whom I was bargaining tough few minutes ago and need to continue further.

Want to understand more?? Read on.

I prepared a list of must-dos for today, last night itself. The first among them was to sit on the insurance company to get the said bond. I applied for it with him more than three months ago and didn't get it till date.

Not feeling well - blame it on 3 chilli-bajjis I had late last evening on a stomach that starved the whole yesterday except for a cup of ginger tea - I woke up late and lazy today. I was determined to get done some of the works on the list before going to work. As I started on my day's work, by the time I reached the gate I was already wearing my helmet. What I have (not) found outside was not unusual. So, with still the helmet on, I glanced on either side of the street end to end. Sometimes, my Splendor would be relegated to less honorable spots by some workers - a lot of construction activity is going on in a house beside ours and the workers consider that bikes have to move when trucks have to unload their material. And the bikes cannot move themselves, so the workers shift them.

Since the work has been on for many months, I know some of them by face. Most of them know me as the silent man that emerges from Kukke-Mane (my landlord and his late father are known by their surname 'Kukke'. 'Mane' is Kannada for house) at odd times and vanishes into it at late night hours. Some of them are Tamilians and some of them arrived from Rajasthan six weeks ago to work on "granite floor, pillars and walls." Others who had been working from long since on the house-in-the-making-for-the-past-3-years know that I have a wife and that she went to 'amma-mane' for 'delivery'.

Back to the bike: where is it?
Not to look too conspicuous, I took off the helmet and walked up and down the street - I could not find even a single Splendor, though it is the most ubiquitous bike in India now! By the time I returned, the workers took some interest in what I was going through. Usually I never speak to them. When I arrive, if they are on my way they silently get up and go away. If one of them doesn't see me approaching, others admonish him/her (in Tamil though) in a manner to attract my attention. A dark woman that never did any work, seemingly the eldest of them all, used to ask me everyday ever since my wife left for her mother's place, "delivery aaitchaa?" After Mahati was born she has been enquiring when they would come to Bangalore. I think she shared my answers with the other workers; and she in fact knows the age of Mahati (my daughter), more correctly than I. Her darker daughter, who usually remains silent till her mother speaks out, was standing beside.

Now they all were looking at me with some amount of curiosity. A curiosity that lied to me that they knew where my bike had gone! I mustered some Tamil words and asked the inevitable. All I got was a deluge of Tamil, from which all I could make out was that they didn't know. Also that they thought I had also disappeared early in the morning before they woke up, with my bike. Now, this established the painful reality. I lost my Splendor. My bike was stolen!!

I always kept it outside the gate. There was place inside, but the ramp had a very rude step at the end. Usually at the end of every day I am too sapped out to "step in" the deci-tonner. Instinctively I ferreted for the bike-keys within my pocket and found them - always when I "lost" the keys, I found them safe on the bike, which stands lonely on the road, throughout every night! The hoary adage that on every grain the name of its consumer is written (dane-dane pe likha hota hai khane-wale ka nam), must be true about bikes and their owners also - at least on my bike my name had been written. But it was wiped out now!!!

I return to my house to put the helmet back. I watered the withering plants. Calmly I came out on to the road again. With utmost composure, I asked the contractor's representative (Ameen), the address to the nearest police station. I clearly sensed some of the workers' unpleasantness at the mention of police station. Long ago one night two policemen arrived and beat up one of them - the hapless Tamilian later claimed that he didn't do anything except cursing them in Tamil in a drunken state the night before.

Already Ameen had gathered the news from his workers. He said he arrived there an hour ago but corroborated the claims that the bike was not found from the early morning itself. He also claimed that none of the workers might have been responsible for the theft - trying to clear a thought I was developing but was careful enough not to express. One of them attempted to ascertain that the time of theft was between 12:30 last night and 4:30 this morning when he was asleep.

I read in a Yakov Perelman book in my childhood that boatmen walk awkwardly on level ground. Because they are experts in standing straight and walking on the thin edge of the sailing and rocking boats, they can’t walk straight on terra-firma. I feel that I walk equally bad, having been used to a two-wheeler for the pat 5 years. As I started walking to the police station quite mindful of my walk - I was feeling that I should look unperturbed. Ameen approached from behind and offered to take me to the police station on his bike.

We arrived at the police station with all documents descrining my Splendor within five minutes. All the while I was praying and to a temple I found on the way, I promised a visit and a coconut if I regained my lost Splendor.

I never entered a police station in my life. Having seen them in many movies I felt the insides very familiar. In fact there was a young man sitting on the floor beside a wall, handcuffed and chained to a table, upon which a TV was playing a Kannada movie. On the opposite wall, facing the road a dark be-spectacled policeman was sitting. He was thoroughly enjoying the movie. There were some books in front of him. One of them was open and it had some tables and some entries were made in it with very illegible handwriting.

I explained the policeman the case in Kannada. He entrusted me to constable Anand waiting around the corner, and resumed watching TV. Anand took me outside and asked all the details again. As I was explaining him, I saw that there were many bikes inside and outside the compound. Some of them had a ton of dust each - they must have been there for many months or even years. I could not help dreading the prospect of getting one of them in lieu of my Splendor!!

Anand enquired if I forgot to lock the bike. I showed him the keys, as a proof that I locked it. He exercised a few more investigative thoughts and asked if I doubted anybody. I was courteous enough not to name Ameen's men. I said "no." Anand continued to make me understand how careless people lose valuables and approach police for help; how criminal Bangalore has become of late; how he and his colleagues recover "all people" their belongings. He also mentioned that during night-patrols, they found that bike-thefts are on the rise these days. It seems they caught some "careless theieves" red-handed. The one inside was found with eight cell-phones.

I grew restless. I was very angry on the insurance company. Now I lost my bike, and was feeling as if I lost my legs; how can I do so many works without a bike? If some burglary happens at home, without the insurance policy how can I recover anything? I felt like shouting my heart out on the insurance guy. But he is at least 2 kilometers away from where I was and there is no bike to go!!

As Anand was rambling and we kept ambling in the police station compound, I searched for Splendors and filtered out the non black-lavender colors. There were four black-lavenders, but none was mine. Meanwhile Anand felt like standing at the station’s main gate and talk. Outside the compound wall there were more bikes and a car. "All of them were caught last night," Anand told. There! Beyond two other bikes, I found mine!! Suddenly I jumped at it and claimed my ownership. Anand verified the credentials and led me in.

The policeman at the table, enjoying the Kannada movie opened his notes to take down my complaint but I told him I found my bike! He instructed me to return at 4 pm to see the Sub-Inspector and verify the credentials. I beseeched him to let me take my bike, as I was "not well", "having a lot of work", "have to go to office". He would not budge. He explained how my bike got there.

It seems I forgot to lock the handle. Some thief was dragging my bike last night when the night-patrol found him and confiscated it! "Any bike that enters the police station compound should go out only after the SI consents." I told him that it is as yet *outside* the compound wall. Anand took over now and explained the complexities involved in getting my bike back - FIR, court visits, RTO notifications and more. He reminded I was lucky that the police spotted it in time. "Imagine, had the thief dismantled it and took some good parts!!" He coerced me to "think."

While I was really thinking, it struck to me that he meant without saying, that I could "give *something* and take it." Ameen also requested the constable, on my behalf. He said that I was a busy man and that I was already late to work! I surreptitiously showed my five fingers to Ameen. He replied with his two fingers. I uttered "two hundred" to Anand. Anand reminded me that I am a "big man working at Electronics City" and the deal was finally struck at ‘four fingers.’

As I took out my purse and took four hundred-rupee notes, Anand admonished me for the public act. He swiftly went inside and told me to give the money to Ameen. After some minutes he came out with a newspaper and started reading it. Then the other policeman from inside came and told me to enter my details, including my bike's registration number. He once again verified the bike documents and license. All the four of us discussed the city news for some time. We also discussed about a movie playing in the nearby theater. At the end of the ritual Ameen and Anand "shook hands."

Fifteen minutes later, I was at home, with the bike. I related the tale to the Tamil workers, the Rajasthanis and a tailor who has his shop in front of our house, in their respective languages. Half-an-hour earlier I was thinking that I would tell the police that I doubted the workers as they behaved rudely with me two weeks ago.

I was irritated by the continuous sound of cutting granite stone-slabs for floor, pillars and walls of the famed house-in-the-making-for-the-past-4-years. The stone cutting was taking place for at least the past 7 months and my irritation reached a peak, on that holiday. I could not sleep for even a few minutes that day because of the sound. I expressed my anger to them, and as they responded rudely. I told that I would complain to the owner of that house. I also told them that I would tell the contractor that if the work was not finished in two weeks, I would lodge a complaint with police that this construction activity has become an unending nuisance. The deadline, incidentally, ends tomorrow. I had to see the police one day in advance!

I resumed on my day’s plan. The first work was the insurance stuff. I told the person at the insurance office, that today I am living in unsafe neighborhood and I already lost my bike! It makes getting the policy very critical for me to feel comfortable.

* Pun intended. It is a long story.

Raja

2005-11-08T07:31:00.000-08:00

The king of South Indian film music.

Many people have agreed this: "If we list out songs of Telugu and Tamil film music of the past 30 years, that are 'good' to 'very good', 'melodious' to 'memorable'... more than 80% of them will be tunes composed by Ilayaraja."

There is a lot in his music. I can hear (any) one song composed by Ilayaraja, 20 times at a strech and still don't feel bored of it.. in fact I will look forward to hearing the song 20 times more, at the same strech. I have a keen ear for his music. By hearing even a small bit of a composition for the first time, I can identify if it is by Ilayaraja (seems he composed music for more than 1000 movies - so a high probability of being correct is anyway there).

I don't like to compare Ilayaraja with anyone else or vice-versa. Everyone has a unique style.

However, I have some beliefs, especially about music: To show how light music (including film music with a lot of classical touch) should be sung, God has created Ghantasala (and P Suseela) for Telugu and Rafi (and also Lata) for Hindi. To show how Carnatic classical music should be sung, He created M Balamuralikrishna. To show what a flexible voice means, He created SP Balasubrahmanyam. To show how violin should be played, L Subramanian was created. Similarly Ilayaraja is created as His masterpiece of a film music director. Ilayaraja is God of Indian (South Indian, if you want) film music. Unlike his closest competitors who seem to have already peaked, Ilayaraja has quantity and quality - not any more on comparison.

Just because I am "now" hearing the song: lets have a word about "Sivapujaku chigurinchina siri siri muvva" from Swarnakamalam. In this song, the two completely different personalities of Venkatesh and Bhanupriya are portrayed by the tunes of their respective portions of the lyrics. The song gives the feeling of two different currents of breeze touching a person sitting on the beach - it doesn't strike as two different waves from the sea!!
It will be a sin to end any talk on Swarnakamalam without a mention of Seetarama Sastry. It is only because what I mentioned were God's creations for music world that I didn't mention about Sastry above. I feel that he and Veturi form God's example of how film-song lyrics should be written. More on this duo later. Lets remember the lyrics of the song "Sivapujaku" and thank God (or K Viswanath?) for presenting Seetarama Sastry to Telugu film world.

Rain rain - go away..

2005-10-28T09:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, there was an announcement - a company wide mass mail. Since there was prediction of heavy rain in Bangalore, the company buses would leave early. 6 o'clock buses started at 4:30, and others, correspondingly early.

In fact throughout the day weather was so cool that nobody was in working mood. Ambling in the corridors and around lawns, having overly long lunch and coffee breaks, people were enjoying. Add to that, this announcement. It was very much like a paid holiday. Of course, I and a few others were working on till late in the night - I left for home at 11:45 pm.

That reminds me of a story one elderly friend of mine shared long back. Once while he was studying in a North Indian state, where there had been scanty rains over some years, there was heavy rain forecast - that people should be prepared. The news has stirred excitement and enthusiastic youth gathered and wanted to make preparations. They have certainly seen reports of floods in TV news, and they knew its effects. They wanted to protect their fellow beings from the flash floods that may attack their city. They went around all houses in their neighborhood and gave instructions - if there is heavy rain pack your belongings and go to terraces, wear light but warm clothes, hold children close to you - if your houses don't have terraces that protect from rain and flood, visit your friends' or relatives' places, especially those with roofed terraces. If still you face menacing water , just look around - we are arranging *boats* just in case! And it seems they actually brought a couple of boats from nearby lakes and kept them in street corners.

Towards the eventide, the sky grew dark and heavy with low-hovering clouds, the breeze turned into wind that raised dust on the roads, the roads quickly got cleared of people, children were huddled inside their homes - some of them peeping out of the windows, curious to see a storm filling their streets with water and the heroes undertaking rescue operations... Then it started.. large rain drops.. quickly wetting the roads, buildings and trees.. then it became louder.. forcefull gusts of wind.. hail-storm.. pebbles of ice pounding on the terraces and asbestos roofs.. fine smoke of dust that appeared with the initial showers is now absent.. ..the lovely rain-smell - especially the one that comes when it showers on parched clay - was soon forgotten ..potholes were getting filled with muddy water.. slender trees in houses and sides of the streets got bended because of wind and hail.. a sight hitherto unknown to most of the children.

Meanwhile the sun set unnoticed and darkness slowly engulfed the whole city (there was a precautionary power-cut).. the ponding sound of hail-storm, the chill of wind, the waving of trees looking like agitated wild beasts in darkness continued.. for a good half-an-hour.. then ending a long spell of hot and humid weather with a pleasant evening.

Yesterday in Bangalore also, the rain played 'phooey-phooey' to all our prepared-ness. Except some drizzles, there was no considerable rain till late in the night. After that, there was no rain at all!

Pondicherry

2005-10-26T08:52:00.000-07:00

This beautiful town/city/state/Union Territory always manages to be in news. Like many other major cities of Tamilnadu, this place also is full of life and activity. Tea-kadais are seen everywhere, airing out aromas of tea and songs of Tamil Superstars. Temples old and new, colored and discolored, faces smeared with holy ash, chandanam and vermillion are as ubiquitous as in Tamilnadu.

Of course, a Pondy-ian may consider himself/herself 'different', but that is similar to people from Vijayawada considering thesmelves above the people of the rest of Andhra Pradesh.

The area around Aurobindo Ashram near the beach is very beautiful with straight clean roads, French style buildings. Rest of the place is just like the rest of Tamilnadu! Except a few French spellings at one or two places, what one can see are Tamil and English letters. A small caution, though: Spellings in Pondicherry can get really different. "Tiru Venkatachalapati" in rest of TN (India, for that matter) becomes "Tiru Vengadasselavady" - French influence, I was told.

In my numerous visits to Pondicherry, I could not hear any locals speak English or French - it is Tamil everywhere. In areas like Pillaichavady one can bump into French people. Of course, at these places other tourists who plan to go to Auroville (more on this in another post) can also be seen.

The recent news of Kanchi Seer's case being shifted "out of Tamilnadu" to Pondicherry has interested.

Pondicherry is as much out of Tamilnadu as Yanam is out of Andhra Pradesh. Population is fully Tamilian - at least 90%. Political parties are nearly same as in the "rest of Tamilnadu" - for example, in general elections, major Tamil political parties devise strategies that seem to suggest that they consider Pondicherry just as a part of Tamilnadu. There is a lot of exchange of people, goods, information etc. between Tamilnadu and Pondicherry. I have not seen any semblence of a border between the places.

I also read news reports that this shifting by SC is a setback to Jayalalitha. It may be a setback to Jayalalitha (which also is debatable), but it certainly is not a sign of victory for Sri Swamigal. Shifting the case to Karnataka or Kerala would have been better - it would have really meant shifing the case "out of Tamilnadu" - and might have ensured some bias is avoided in the trial. Shifting the case to Andhra Pradesh also might have been good. Best part would be to shift the case out of South India itself.

My confession - a lie

2005-10-18T08:14:00.000-07:00

I like one aspect of Christianity. Cofession.

A sin is cleared (at least partially) if the sinner confesses (am I right?). Of course, it is in Hinduism also and I am sure it is in all other religions in one form or another. "Prayaschittam" - repentence - is one form of atonement.

But one should not forget the subtle difference between crime and sin. Criminal should be punished and sinner should atone.

Lie can be both sin and crime.

Assuming that my lie is not a crime, I am confessing: I lied.

(Are you curious to know what the lie is? I wont tell.
If it is a sin, this partial confession would partially absolve me.. which is enough for me.
If it is a crime, confession is not enough, anyway.)

Celebration of life

2005-10-17T07:07:00.000-07:00

It is beyond descriptions, the overwhelmingly sweet feeling one gets when a little kid looks into one's eyes.
The shining limpid eyes, which the baby is still learning to fix on objects of interest, carry with them rays of pure love - the emotion that remains beyond all others. The freshness can only be described as being devine. The tender face, the little limbs, the sounds of the baby's breath and occassionally the voice, the whole aura of the baby... all these accompany the sweetest form of the celebration of life that God endows us with.

Yesterday and the day before, I grabbed a chance to revel in that celebration with Mahati - my daughter.

An unusual morning and a usual day

2005-10-13T07:50:00.000-07:00

Weather in Bangalore has been extremely lovely today. Early in the morning at 6:30 I woke up and found it to be too 'cool'. So I did the best thing one is supposed to do in such a weather.. muted all alarms and dozed off again (I generally employ an alarm clock, and my mobile phone's alarm and reminder - and regularly defeat all of them).
I forced myself out of the bed again at 9am and discovered it was raining.. the familiar pitter-patter.. The usual din of vehicles - most depressing of them being that of auto-rickshaws - was conspicuously absent. Once in a few minutes, only biggies - buses and lorries - were moving, giving the roads a look and feel of Bangalore ten years ago.

As I opened the front door, I saw the following things:
1. There was no Sun in the higher hemisphere of eastern sky - he was lost behind the clouds.
2. The clouds wore a pleasant light-peach color and didn't expose their contours - actually the rain drops obscured them.
3. The coconut tree in front of our house was wet throughout and the small tender coconuts were in their freshest looks.
4. A tall tree outside the opposte house was dripping and shivering in the breeze; my bike parked under it felt warm as its deep orange flowers fell on it - the color of the flowers earns the tree a sobriquet, "Flames of the forest"
5. Potholes on the road became little pools with numerous ripples created by rain drops.
6. What looked like tiny pearls studded on large emeralds were drops of mist on waxy leaves of a betel creeper safe from rain under the verandah roof.
7. One stem of a rose plant stooped into the rain from under the roof. Like an adventurous lass it was waving with joy - the newly opening yellow bud relflecting all its mirth, constantly patted by little rain drops.
8. Draped in warm woolens and a rain-coat, the toddler son of my landlord was being coaxed into his school cab.

What a pity - I have to go to work and slog throughout the day to prepare a couple of documents!!

I rushed through the inescapable rituals of brushing teeth, taking bath and finishing ablutions, prepared and gulped a light breakfast and washed it down with a cup of hot coffee.

Two kilometers from my home on the way to work, I got stuck in traffic jam.. and reached office two hours later..
Whatever mood you wake up, Hosur Road is a great equaliser!!

To reassign myself the role as spectator of nature's wonderful performance, I opened the window curtain near my corner office (yes, I do have a corner office - the south-east corner of a large floor) and... got lost in work.
Now, as I try to look out of the window, it is dark and nothing is visible - it is already 11 pm in the night!!

Tough question

2005-10-11T08:42:00.000-07:00

An enterprising student - a final year undergraduate of Electrical and Electronics Engineering in a well known college of Andhra Pradesh - has just presented me with a tough question.

I would have been very happy had she asked me some interesting problem on power electronics like equivalent circuit modelling. I would have been happier had she posed me a question or two from semiconductor electronics. Happiest would I have been, had she bombarded me with questions on electical and electronic communications..

Of ocurse to all these questions my reply would have been not much different from the one I gave when an imposing elderly professor asked me in a non-exam setting in a premier institute during a demo we made on wireless applications, "what are the dependencies between the mobile mini-browser's capabilities and carrier/bearer technologies, if any?". I was glad that I replied the professor with complete confidence. And my reply was 'I don't know.'

But this girl shot a query from the most dreaded quiver - the one enterprising students start carrying towards the end of their undergraduate courses - the one on career planning!!

She asked, "Which way shall I go? Masters (MTech), or job?"

She is facing the same dilemma as I faced 7 years ago. In both our cases, the genesis of the problem is the job offer from Satyam Computer Services Ltd.
Less ambitious than Infosys, which is announcing plans of adding 20200 (you read it right) heads to their staff in the coming year, Satyam is also apparently staking its claims on the produce of numerous engineering colleges across the country.
In my case, the answer was obvious and clear - I didn't have the interest and stamina for crossing the GATE for MTech. That I nurtured dreams of belling the CAT for MBA but could not make it is a different story.
Ther is no ready answer for this girl. Not only eligible to think of MTech, she has already proved her merit in BE third year itself. She got a good percentile already in her first *trial* attempt at GATE - 98.9~ and a decent All India Rank of 256.

If you jump to the conclusion that answering this girl was also easy and that I told her to go ahead with MTech plans, you are wrong. It was not easy.

Assuming that the girl gets a better percentile in this years attempt at GATE, unless she joins a premier course in institutes like IITs and IISc, as she readies for graduating, she will again end up facing the same Wipro, Infosys, TCS, HCL, Satyam (may be, even in the same order) offering similar jobs with probably a better salary, which, considering inflation, works out to be nearly same. Add to that the "opportunity cost" of losing the salary for two years. It is a loss.

I would have considered the fact that MTech leaves a candidate with in-depth knowledge of a specialized subject and hence the candidate has a better chance of getting a job which is close to that subject and her heart. But the case of a dear friend of mine who studied Electronic Communications in the one and only IISc, presently working in J2EE technologies discouraged me from discussing in those lines.

While I was busy with these thoughts the girl put forth some more discussion points - obviously naive and typical of students who are enterprising but uninitiated to the vagaries of life.

Despite the complexity of the question, I spelt out the answer as a crisp and clear discourse. Summarised, the discourse reads: "You are poised to get a good percentile in your next attempt at GATE. Join the best institute in the best specialization available, for MTech. Concentrate on getting the best out of student life, especially from one of those hoary institutes where you will spend your two valuable years in. Have the aim of increasing your knowledge. Higher education will always be more satisfying."

I ended the speech with this famous line of RW Sockman, "The larger the island of knowledge, the longer the shoreline of wonder."

If one of the same Big 5 Indian companies find her at the end of two years, I am not to be blamed.

Venture of a Sunday afternoon..

2005-10-10T07:16:00.000-07:00

Late in the afternoon on Sunday (Oct 9, 2005), four of us gathered - Kanth, Pavan, Ravi (Kanth's colleague) and I. While having lunch we decided to go out somewhere.

Makalidurga is too far to start at 3:15 pm. Cubban Park and Lalbagh didn't enthuse Ravi. He wouldn't be satisfied with anything less than climbing up and down an at-least-a-100-meter hill.

We had to decide fast and we did. On two bikes we started zooming off on the Hosur Road. The weather was excellent and the traffic was bearable. In less than one hour, we reached Anekal.

Kanth and I were on my bike and, as usual we started our endless discussions. The presence of 'residential layouts' on either side of the road leading to Anekal disturbed us. The place is beautiful with lush greenery, and the undulating meadows with trees and fields makes a great sight; and here we have people selling pieces of that paradise and people buying them - only to change the whole of it into concrete jungle in an unduely fast course of time.

Anekal is supposed to mean, "Village of Elephant" in Kannada. With man on rampage, occupying every bit of land, whither go the elephants?
Six years ago, once in a while, I remember reading news snippets like: "leopard hurts a village boy", "elephants destroy sugar-cane crop", etc. from these areas.. some time later there were news reports of leopards being caught and elephants being electrocuted.. now there is no such news.
Villagers had their families safe, and their crops completely to themselves.. and now they are aspiring for "greener pastures" - selling their agricultural lands for residential townships! They have a ready market in middlemen that tap the Bangalore techies (and their colleagues) growing in numbers by hundreds everyday.

We crossed Anekal and reached the road that leads to Muthyala Maduvu alias Pearl Valley. There was a family of monkeys, probably on their routine rounds. They were completely lost in their world and didn't even care to attack a gourd vendor at the corner. Well, we bought a deliciuos snack of keeras.

The weather was getting better by the minute.. On the way to Pearl Valley, as we cross the tiny village after Anekal, suddenly the world around turns serene, green, windy.. the plains develop more pronounced undulations.. and turn into ravines that were once homes of elephants and leopards!! Of course, at least part of that land has already been sold as farm resorts - man need not fear any beast now.

Towards the west Ravi spotted a spectacle of sun and clouds. From beyond the clouds, the Sun was reaching the mountains and meadows with his golden rays. The rain-washed emerald plains and lush trees frolicked in added glory and extra beauty as the God of thousand rays caressed them. A lamb or two from a flock in the ravines bleated to the shepherd's call.

The photographer in Ravi lept out and captured the scenery through his Fuji lens.

We proceeded to the Pearl Valley. What happened there?? Read in the next post on this (Adventure of a Sunday afternoon)

Good day

2005-10-08T08:29:00.000-07:00

I had a good day with my team members showing a lot of promise. They have increased my confidence.

Good omens (as described in The Alchemist)? I would certainly like to think so.

Catching up with work was never so happy as today.

Constantly running through my mind has been the thought of Mahati - I am away and have been longing to kill this 800 km distance. This morning I heard her voice over phone.

It is as if I am living someone else's life. Heart has hardened and it is not feeling any emotions... I have a lot of work to do, a lot to study. I need to start NOW to finish things on time.

Mysore

2005-10-07T09:29:00.000-07:00

It was called Krounchapattanam and Mahishmatipuram in the epics.

The City of Palaces exudes a great charm. Everybody knows that. I became a fan of the city when I saw it the first time in December, 1996. I had a dream of making the city my home. Of course meanwhile I developed a deep emotional liking with Vizag also..

The last two sundays, I went to Mysore in the early mornings. Starting at 3 am in Bangalore, I reached Mysore by sun-rise. As one nears Mysore, the scenery around (especially in this rainy season) is the first thing that grabs attention. As one enters the city, the smells, sounds and scenes catch up.

In my case, the beautiful world around slowly revealing itself out of the night into early morning light, a lark fluttering and chirping away the mist-filled sky's night-long slumber, green fields and meadows with rain washed trees, fragrance of fresh air.. all these started filling my eyes and occupying my thoughts.

While I was in Mysore, I was spell-bound by the city's charm so much that I felt a nostalgic longing when I had to return in the evening. Everytime I return from Mysore, I get this feeling.

My destination was close to Chamundi Hill - in fact right 'behind' it - on the Nanjangud/Ooty road.

The air was chill and my auto was lumbering through the tree-lined roads. Soon it passed an over-pass. The road under was hosting what looked like a sunday market. I was surprized to see the market place buzzing with so many people. They all had woken up so early in the morning and are so actively trading in that lovely weather. I would be usually sleeping in such a time and such a weather, and even if I were awake, I would be enjoying, lazing in the bed or couch.

Through the trees, I could see the majestic Chamundi Hill easing itself out of the mist. Distant lights on the hill were still on. The far end of the hill was not visible, because of mist. The hill looked as if it was re-appearing out of a divine heavenly overnight disappearacne. I kept watching at the Hill, seat of one of the 18 (Ashtadasa) Shakthi Peethams (seats of the divine Goddess).

I went up the hill, more than 3 years ago. From atop the hill, one can see Mysore in its full beauty. A beautiful city, indeed. One can see the royal palaces, the race-course, temples, rows of houses, all in their eternal glory from a height and distance. The whole city looks as if a little princess arranged her toys - of houses, lakes and palaces - for playing.

Like most other cities of India, Mysore is also getting spoiled. People take things for granted whatever they have been given, even precious gifts of God. They way greenery is getting lost in Bangalore is a clear sign of this. The clay in Bangalore is fertile, even if one doesn't take special care plants flower and trees grow to large sizes. But people don't make use of it. Nobody seems to be interested in greenery. What more than a cluttered concrete house can a 30X40 plot accommodate? Mysore is getting spoiled in the lines of Bangalore. The city's skyline is one of the first casualties.

More on greenery, in another post.

No work and no play

2005-10-06T07:37:00.000-07:00

I was busy for two weeks. Working 24 hours a day.

Now I am back to usual 16-hour-a-day routine.

It feels as if I am having no work and no play.

No work because I am not really able to figure out how to do all that I am having. I am feeling as if I am a honey bee in a blooming garden. A closer comparison would be: "like a mosquito in a nudist colony." I know what to do, but don't know where to begin.

No play because with so much work, I cannot think of recreation.

Mahati

2005-10-05T08:41:00.000-07:00

Hi...

This is the first time I am blogging. I signed up earlier, but never posted any stuff.

What is Mahati? I would like to know what YOU know about the word first.