Thursday, December 28, 2006

Haavu-mungoosi haaDu

When we were kids, there were a few songs which were so gripping everytime we used to hear them on radio. Be it the content, the narration, it was as if things were happening right in front of you.

There are a few which come to mind. When Manu and me were chatting, we were talking about this havu-mungoosi song from the movie 'Rama Lakshmana'. I couldn't find the song nor its lyrics anywhere on the net. Courtesy Manu, Nagashree and their mother, here is the entire song:
"KeLiddu suLLaga bahudu , nODiddu suLLaga bahudu
nidhanisi yochisidaga nijavu thiLivudu

dooradallondu kaadittu, kaadali ondu mane ittu
mungusiyondu allittu, maneyanu kavalu kaytittu
aa maneyodathi gangamma, thottilalavaLa kandamma
mungusiyallade berenu maguvina aatake illamma.....

MungusiyoDane preethiyali, kandana jothege snehadali
baaLuthaliddaLu Gangamma, Mundenaayithu keLamma..

maneyali neeru mugidiralu, hoLeya kadege horatiralu,
mungusiyannu koogidaLu,
maneyali bere yarulla...maguvina jothege kaavaliru..horagaDe yellu hogadiru..

gangeyu hoLege horataga beliyallidda kari naga
sara sara hariyithu rabhasadali maneyanu serithu nimishadali

Mungusi noDithu haavannu, thottila baLige baruvudanu
KaaLaga naDeyithu roshadali , sothitu haavu jaGaLadali
Mungusi geluvina harushadali, haavina praaNava heerithu
Baayali rakthavu suridithu....

Gangeyu neeranu tharuthiralu,kai baLe naadava keLisalu
Mungusi baagila baLi baralu, baayali rakthada kale iralu...
Bechchutha gangeyu noDidaLu, Maguvanu kondide idu yendu
Mungusiyannu chachidaLu, aLutha oLage OdidaLu

thottila kandanu nagutittu, neladali haavu sattittu
duDukida buddige baliyagi mungusi katheyu mugidittu.........."

Similar songs are 'keLade nimageega dooradalli yaro', 'kannaDa naaDina veerara maNiya'.....

Any other ones?

Thursday, November 09, 2006

Seven months and a new life !

Seven months is a long time by many standards. I was wondering whether my link had expired. Writing, I think is now a luxury. I am now a couple and settling down, working on the family chores.

To say the least, the start is interesting. Seldom have we both got time to just sit and idle the time away. I used to be dead idle some part of the day everyday when I was single. It seems as if our mind can adapt to anything on its way. It can automatically adjust to any routine, any conditions, as long as its owner wants to.

Some stark differences between THEN and NOW :
* I now have a lover
* I used to go home everyday at 12, now 12 is gone in the dreams, well, almost ;).
* I recognize now that time is more than money and good health is a must.
* Then, I thought I had enough money and worried about the rent being high. Now, money is never enough, pay 3 times the rent and feel that the rent is OK
* I can choose sarees, chudidars faster than my own dresses! I think Shubha likes my taste, and hopefully thats why she takes me along
* I used to wonder 'why' when a guy and girl held hands while walking. I thought it makes walking difficult. I now know why.
* I now love cooking, espicially cutting the vegetables. Its the best part.
* Am proud of driving away two rats from home

Time flies past like anything now. It feels great to catch up on so many things on the blog-net.
I was also happy today to discover that even Sudha has its e-version at www.sudhaezine.com, Mayura at http://mayuraezine.com and Prajavaani at www.prajavaniepaper.com.
And don't miss to read the Nov 2 edition of Sudha.

PS : The title earlier was'Seven months' and Shubha felt that the title was misleading. So changed it to mislead even more :)

Saturday, April 22, 2006

After the raj of Dr.Raj

When a gaint fell, the earth shook. Then the glasses broke. It hurt and then there was blood.

And Maya Sharma and Nupur Basu had their appraisals due. Wasn't this a wonderful opportunity to cry over broken glasses of their dear NDTV van?

Much has been said about the vandals who created such a mess out of Rajkumar's mourning ceremony. And its amazing how public opinion can be so easily manipulated by the media, espicially the NEWS channels. But NDTV seems to harbour something against Benglur, not sure whether its due to being out of touch with the city and its people. On Thursday, while Maya was reporting about their van, Nupur Basu in her vulnerable tone was screaming that the "entire Bangalore was burning". And our viewers gulped all of the 'breaking news' and worried about moving out of their homes even on Friday when NDTV showed deserted roads! When Maya was asked about "WHY" the violence erupted, she just kept on replaying the same cassette she played all day long i.e of the vandalism by the crowd.

I would say that 'Times Now' did a rather good job of covering the sequence of events and the 'why' of things. As news-persons, they carry so much responsibility to explain what is happening around us. The NDTV reports were child-like, to say the least; as if it was crying over a lost toy. Heard of 'bad news is good news'? Watch NDTV, to know more!

They say its all shades of grey. Many things happened.
* The police weren't ready for such a big turnout
* People were not being allowed to attend Rajkumar's funeral, who they thought, was their own
* There was pre-planned mischief makers who sparked off the fire
* The raised tempers of a mob always makes it dangerous, and then the police and the people fought.
* The violence was along the road to the cremation, but not anywhere in the rest of the city. And yes, there was smoke on friday, the smoke of vehicle-exhaust.

Dharam Singh answering the allegations of the cause of violence, was funny when he said that they never ventured out of their homes. Imagine, Dharam pelting stones!

Rajkumar died, but his characters should not. Atleast for me, my Bangaarada manushya still lives on.

Thursday, February 09, 2006

Valentines day!!!?

Another year goes by and it is back again...the sounds of 'Love is in the air', the sounds of romantic music and video on TV, the hopeful guys yearning for their girls to show up and the hopeful girls thinking of how to react just in case it happens! But they are also ready with 'Oh no Ramu, I always thought of you just as a friend!' or even better ' I always thought of you as a brother', or even better ' Who are you!?'. The slaps can be spared for other days.

For the second class hopeful people, they are let to play with black and white. For the couples, it is a daunting question of 'Show me how much you love me'. For the rest which form the majority, it is a day to forget, cursing who this bloody Valentine ever was in the first place.

The parks would be filled with 2n people and curious onlookers outside. I guess the Cubbon park keepers would find that their count of roses in the park has gone down. At the end of the day, there is a high chance that those red roses unaware of their fate, wanting to bloom, may find themselves run over on the street.

But the hype rubs off easily. You can be met with disbelief when they hear you not doing anything 'interesting' for the day. You can easily guess where I am coming from.

Its like a day when the doors of love is open for 24 hours, when there are no thorns in those red roses, courtesy - flower sellers. They seem to be the only people who are sure to have a great day. One reason we were told why this should be Feb 14 is that children will be having their day after 9 months. Another reason which can hold true is that there are too many weddings in February and it had to be celebrated it in the middle of the month.

Far away from all this, unaware of the day's importance, a couple after toiling together in the summer heat in their land, hidingly making sure that they take more of each others' load, would have never known that love had to be expressed in three
words. Anyway, they would have a ball, i.e a ball of ragi mudde and have a sound sleep.

Sunday, February 05, 2006

Flirting with time

Never flirt with time, it can always play us out of the game anytime, and it showed.

Here is how it went:
Friday brings different thoughts to different people. Some think of Lakshmi pooje, some of the namaz, some of the the weekend booze and some of the weekend train to Mysore. There are more, but lets keep it out of scope.

There are two trains to Mysoor in the evening: 6:15 and 6:45(passenger). The passenger train inline with its name leaves late and gives us a chance to get on, sometimes till 7:10.

Infact, It all started with a bug at office. I was patting myself after a good analysis of it but it was already 6:45. With one train already gone, the plan was that I would anyway check for the train and then the bus. A graceful auto-driver dropped me at the station with a prediction : "All traffic in Benglur will come to a stop in 2 years". Hoping against hope, by the time I could reach the 7th platform, the passenger train had started chugging along. I could have jumped over the platform, over a track and boarded it, but it wasnt really worth it, there wasnt anyone waiting for me in the train and afterall,this was not a movie either.

People turn back and look at you like an alien when you talk things about work outside the workplace. I couldn't help it as I got a call enquiring about the same bug, but this time, the bug didn't look interesting anymore.

As i hastily ran to the KSRTC bus stand, the Volvo to Mysoor was jeering at me while she went past. Couldn't she wait for a minute longer? Anyway, being late is not new to me, there have been bigger misses.

The Mysooru mallige bus waiting and it took me in. I usually don't prefer this as it used to stifle my legs earlier, but the buses have modernised a bit, making it easier now. It takes four hours instead of the normal three by train, but it makes it all the more longer when a guy sitting next to you would talk for long with his girlfriend and that too about weekend, movies etc. Even I got a call! but a wrong number at that. But the vada at Maddur bus stand was good.

The bus reached its home at 11:10, letting me hop on to an auto, but as if its not enough, the engine of the auto got seized due to no oil. The engine would have not started if not some 30ml oil left with another auto. After having got home, if feels as if it is not a big deal as it is made out to be :). But i needed to pour it on somebody, who else but to a blog would simply gulp everything of what I say without a word against me.

Thursday, January 26, 2006

A Mini Karnataka Tour

The last week of December was a pleasant tour with Raghu, Vishwas to a number of places in our Karnataka. The period before that was full of hectic activities, and waiting for a fresh break, which makes the trip even sweeter.

We went for seven days savouring Belur, Ambaateertha(in Kalasa), Hanumaan gundi, Gangaamoola in Kudremukh, Kuvempu's Kuppalli, my friends wedding in Shivmogga, Unchalli falls, Yana, Magod falls, the river rafting and forest rides and sunsets in Dandeli, culminating with the ruins of the grand old Hampi.

Pictures speak louder than words they say.( really? even when the reader is reading it aloud! ).
Anyway, here's the link from my Kodak DX4330 camera. I wish somebody gifts me a D70....the only person I can hope to do so is my boss, but you know how bosses are.
http://employees.org/~vedu/Mini-karnataka-Tour

Any town we go had a few things which are common..for instance there are jewellery or pawn broker shops, wine shops always staring at you in the eye. Shivamogga city has too many wine shops, Shirsi has too many doctor shops. Dharwad has too many educational institutions. Its interesting to note the kannada accent changing as we go from Benglur towards west and move north.

Unchalli falls was the most exciting part, thanks to Raghu for taking us up there, and to Vishwas for pushing me to climb down the hill and back up again. A treacherous climb nevertheless, but it was a heaven from the foot of the huge falls and sweet water to drink.

The people living in ghats seem to cut short distances by atleast 30% when they say it. They may say something to be 2 km which seems like 3-4 km by walk :(. But their warmth can be felt instantly. The first thing they would usually enquire is where you came from. We had to reach Ambaateertha and we asked a man in his 50s. He explained two routes and joined us for a kilometre or so in our car till his house.As he got down, he requested so many times to just come to his home, have eLneeru or something and move on. He could have just let us go after saying thanks. There seems like a basic connect between people, without any competition, just living together. We, living in the cities wont do anything for nothing.

The river rafting at Dandeli was fun, even though I felt it could have been even more exciting had it not been so safe. But a couple was having a great time, the guy was falling on her when he was asked to lean and she was telling everybody about it.

The main purpose of the trip was originally to visit Hampi(eit). Being the winter season, all hotels booked in Hospet, we were fortunate to find some hotel in a shady place for the night. But Malligi seemed like the best of them all, unbelievably
cheap as well, even though we didnt get it.

Hampi is more of an experience than a place. You would be facing the remains of grandeur of a past tens of centuries ago. You would be gasping at the sight looking around 'How could they do this with such stones' and thinking of scenes of destruction. It is said that it took 6 months after the battle of Talikota to bring the city to its knees. HaaLu(destroyed) Hampi seems like the correct words to describe it but it feels like rubbing salt on the wound.

Our guide Basavaraj explained things with a lot of interest and concern. Various dynasties ruled here, famous of them being the Sangama, TuLu dynasties. What we hear as Vijayanagara was founded in 1336 by Hakka and Bukka(Sangamas) under the guidance of guru Vidyaranya. Krishnadevaraya(TuLu) as we all know it was the most powerful ruler of the empire who ruled for over 20 years. This period is termed as the golden period when "gold was sold openly on streets". After Krishnadevaraaya, there were internal rivalries which helped the mohammadens attack, capture, loot and burn the place. A hood after the destruction has its left portion cut as if it is eaten away by a gaint bug. The capital of entire south india is now sadly, a gram panchayat.

The Viroopaaksha temple had its roots right from the 7th century AD where poojas are performed even now. The temple has been extended by various kings till the 16th century. Amazingly, the shadow of the main gOpura falls inside the temple as an inverted image through a hole using the pin-hole principle. Also, a small channel of tungabhadra river flows into the temple through the paakashaale(kitchen) of the temple.

The KadalekaaLu Ganapathi is about 20 ft high and the king's family used to perform poojas here it seems. They say that the word KadalekaaLu came from the shape of Ganeshas stomach. One can see that the stomach is cut vertically. It seems that the mohammedans, when they went on plundering temples believed that treasures could be kept at the bottom of an idol or inside it, and thus the cut.

One can see that the early buildings were made of stone. Later, when Tulu dynasty ruled, the architecture was such that buildings had the ground portion of it made of stone, the middle part of it was made of flat bricks and the upper part made of wood. Many structures are seen burnt on the top due to burning of the wood. The Lotus Mahal has ducts inside the wall which can circulate water through the ground and first floors with the intention that the rani got air-conditioning. The bathing place for the rani collects water outside the building and after distilling, forms a small pond for her and her sakhis. You can see that women were given greater importance, for many of the engravings shows women in warfare. The Vitthala temple houses the famous stone chariot along with 56 small pillars which produce different sounds including the sapta-swaras. It is said that musicians used to play music using wooden sticks on these musi-pillars! Arabs trading their strong horses in exchange of jewels are also seen. There is a story of ramayana told in
pictures of stone. There were separate markets for trading jewels and ornaments, paan, horses and women!

You can easily sense that there is so much beneath the ground. It was sad to see a banana plantation just by the side of an old marketplace! The ASI have done a lot of work of late, albeit slow(it is a slow process) and excavations are being done even now. They have identified 400+ temples as of now, but there were about 1800+ temples in reality(many having their idols uprooted). The ASI museum shows how many places looked like before restoration, i could not but stand in awe of their work. Just a couple of months back, they found a few gold coins while excavating.

The government has initiated activities to spruce up and try to relive the glorious past by conducting the Hampi Utsav. Our Dy. CM MP Prakash has had a lot of part to play in this and it showed in the panchayat elections that when entire Ballary
voted for BJP, JD(S) won here.