Vande vandyam

"Vande vandyam sadaanandam.." used to come on TV on Chitramanjari, that was about 15 years back. I still clearly remember how much i was awed by this song. Now i get a chance to experience the song again here
www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5-WChTOYCM

This is from a movie 'Sri Madhvacharya' from GV Iyer! I heard it has also won a national award.

Manthana

Monday to Friday, 10PM.

THE best serial i have seen in my life. You may recognize the director S.N.Sethuram (not Seetaram) who had acted in Seetaram's earlier serials, ya the short, pure-white-haired, smiling person.
One would wonder how Sethuram got so much depth in his scripts,dialogues. He seems like a genius to me, to be able to understand, analyse and express relationships. Many conversations are like lessons. Some would make you go down on your knees. We have now started audio-recording of the sessions from episode 50 onwards. I feel bad that i missed out on the earlier gems!

Some quotes :

72-1: Reddy to his servant Appajappa
ಅಪ್ಪಜಪ್ಪ, ವಿದ್ಯಾ ಅಂತ ವಂದ್ ಇಲ್ಲ, ಬುದ್ಧಿವಂತ ಅನ್ಕೊಂಡಿದ್ದೆ. ವಿದ್ಯಾವಂತರ್ ಜೊತೆ ಸೇರಿ ಸೇರಿ, ದಡ್ಡ ಆಗ್ಬಿಟ್ಟವ್ನೆ!

72-1: Reddy to Karibasappa
Income Tax Peon ಕರಿಬಸಪ್ಪ ಬೇಕು. ಬರೀ ಕರಿಬಸಪ್ಪ ತಕ್ಕೊಂಡ್ ನಾವೆನ್ ಮಾಡೊಣ! ಮಾರಮ್ಮನ್ ಗುಡಿ ಪೂಜಾರಪ್ಪ...ದ್ಯಾವಿ ಮೈ ಮಾಲೆ ಬರ್ತಾಳೆ, ಹೊಗಿ ಕಾಲಿಗ್ ಬೀಳ್ತೀವಿ, ನೈವೇದ್ಯ ಮಾಡ್ತೀವಿ... ಮಾರಮ್ಮ ತಿನ್ನಕ್ಕಿಲ್ಲ, ಪೂಜಾರಪ್ಪ ತಿಂತಾನೆ. ಆದರೇ ಮಾರಮ್ಮಂಗೆ ಕೊಟ್ಟಿದ್ದು, ಪೂಜಾರಪ್ಪಂಗ್ ಅಲ್ಲ! ತಿಳ್ಕ!

74-1: Reddy

ಸತ್ಯ ಹೇಳ್ಬಾರದು, ಒಂದ್ ಕಿತ ಹೇಳಿದ್ರೆ, ಅದನ್ನೆ ಮುಂದಕ್ಕೆ ಹೇಳ್ತಾ ಇರಬೇಕು. ಆಗಲೇ, ಜನ ನಮ್ಮನ್ನ ಸತ್ಯವಂತರು ಅಂತ ನಂಬೊದು! ಇಷ್ಟರ್ ಮ್ಯಾಲೆ, ನೀವ್ ಸತ್ಯ ಹೇಳಿ, ಸುಳ್ ಹೇಳಿ, ಜನಕ್ಕೆ ಏನ್ ಬೇಕೊ ಅದನ್ನ ಮಾತ್ರ ಅವರು ನಂಬೊದು.

74-1:
Professor : "ಬಹಳ ವಿಷಯ ತಿಳ್ಕೊಂಡಿದೀರಿ..."
Reddy : "Educationnu!...SSLC ಗೆ ನಿಲ್ಲಿಸಿಬಿಟ್ಟೆ ನೋಡಿ, ಅದೆ ನಮ್ಮ ಅಪ್ಪಜಪ್ಪ ಹೇಳ್ತಾ ಇರ್ತಾರೆ..ಯೆಜಮಾನರೆ, ನೀವು college ಗೆ ಹೊಗದಲೆ ಇರೋದೆ ಒಳ್ಳೇದ್ ಅಯ್ತು, ಹೋಗಿದ್ದಿದ್ದರೆ ಅಲ್ಲಿ ಹೇಳ್ಕೊಟ್ಟಿದ್ದನ್ನ ಮಾತ್ರ ಕಲೀತಾ ಇದ್ದಿರಿ, ಈಗ ಹೋಗಲಿಲ್ಲವಲ್ಲ, ತಿಳ್ಕೊಂಡಷ್ಟು!"

74-1: Reddy on complicating a income tax case
ಈಗ road ಇದ್ದಂಗೆ, ಸೀದ ಒಂದೆ road ಇತ್ತಾ, quality ಚೆನ್ನಗಿತ್ತಾ..ಒಂದೆ speedನಾಗೆ ಹೋಯ್ತದೆ, accident ಆಯ್ತದೆ. ಅದಕ್ಕೆ, road ಏಕ ಸೀದ ಒಂದೆ ಇರಕ್ಕಿಲ್ಲ್ರ.. ಅಲ್ಲಲ್ಲಿ road humps, accident ಕಮ್ಮಿ ಆಗ್ಲಿ ಅಂತ. Quality ಕೆಟ್ಟದಾಗಿತ್ತಾ, ಕಾಸ್ ಉಳೀತು, steel ಕಮ್ಮಿ, accident ಕಮ್ಮಿ.

74-2: Reddy talking about husband and wife
ಕಲ್ಲೊಂದ್ ದಿಕ್ಕು, ಮರಳ್ ಒಂದ್ ದಿಕ್ಕು, cement ಇನ್ನೆಲ್ಲೋ! concreet ಹೆಂಗ್ ಆಯ್ತದೆ!

74-2: Reddy
ಬುದ್ಧಿವಂತರು! ಇವರಿಗೆ ಪೋಲಿಸು, ಕಾನೂನು, ಕೋರ್ಟು, ಕಚೇರಿ ಅಂತ ತೋರಿಸಿದ್ರೆ ಓಡಾಡ್ಕೊಂಡ್ ಇರ್ತಾರೆ, ಓಡಾಡ್ಕೊಂಡ್ ಇರಲಿ ಬಿಡು..ತೆಳ್ಳಗೆ whisky ಕುಡ್ಕೊಂಡು ನಾವ್ ಮಲ್ಲಿಕ್ಕೊಳ್ಳೊಣ ಬಾ

74-3:
Shruti : "ಕಳ್ಳನ ಮಗಳನ್ನ ಮದುವೆ ಆಗ್ತಿದೀಯ"
Praveena: "ಇದರಲ್ಲಿ ಅವಳ ತಪ್ಪು ಇಲ್ಲವಲ್ಲ!"
Shruti : "ತ್ಯಾಗ ಅನ್ನೋದು ಇದಕ್ಕೆ. ಅದರ ಫಲಾನುಭವಿ ನಾನು. ಬದುಕಿನುದ್ದಕ್ಕೂ ಗೊತ್ತೊ ಗೊತ್ತಿಲ್ಲದೆ ನೊ ನೀನು ಅದನ್ನ ಆಡಿ ತೋರಿಸ್ತಿಯ, ಇಲ್ಲ ಮಾಡಿ ತೋರಿಸ್ತಿಯ. ಋಣದಲ್ಲಿ ಬದುಕೋದು ಕಷ್ಟ, ಋಣಿಯಾಗಿ ಬದುಕೋದರಲ್ಲಿ ಸುಖ ಎಲ್ಲಿರುತ್ತೆ, ಸಂತೋಷ ಎಲ್ಲಿರುತ್ತೆ? ಅಪ್ಪ, ಅಮ್ಮನ್ನ ಬಿಟ್ಟು ಬಾ-ಅಗಬಹುದು; ಇಲ್ಲ ಅಂದ್ಕೊ-ಅದ್ ಕಶ್ಟ"

74-3: Shruti to her mother, comparing her useless father to her prospective husband
ಸಾಕಿದ್ದು ಕಟುಕ ನೇ ಆದ್ರು, ಕುರಿಗೆ ನಂಬಿಕೆ ಅವ್ನ್ ಮೇಲೆ ಅಲ್ವಾ? ಇದು ಕಂಡದ್ದು, ಅದು ಕಾಣದ್ದು, ಕಂಡದ್ದರಲ್ಲಿ ಸುಖ ಇಲ್ಲ, ಅದು ಸರಿ ಇಲ್ಲ...ಸರಿ. ಕಾಣದ್ದರಲ್ಲಿ, ಸುಖ ಇದೆ, ಸರಿ ಇದೆ ಅಂತ ಹೇಗ್ ನಂಬ್ಲಿ?

75-2: Kshama
ಚಿಕ್ಕ ವಯಸ್ಸಿಂದ ಅಭ್ಯಾಸ ಆಗಿದೆ aunty, ಹಠ ಮಾಡದೆ ನಂಗೆ ಏನು ಸಿಗಲ್ಲ, ಅಮ್ಮ ಇದ್ದರೆ ಮಗುಗೆ ಹಸಿವೆ ಅಯ್ತು-ಗೊತ್ತಾಗುತ್ತೆ, ಬೇರೆಯವರಿಗೆ ಹೇಗೆ ಗೊತ್ತಗುತ್ತೆ? ತಾತಂಗೆ ಹಸಿವೆ ಆದ್ರೆ ನನಗ್ ಊಟ!

75-2: Nandini
ಯಾರು ಯಾರಿಗು ಸಂಪೂರ್ಣವಾಗಿ ಅರ್ಥ ಅಗೊಲ್ಲ, ಅರ್ಥ ಮಡ್ಕೊಂಡಿದೀವಿ ಅನ್ನೋದು ಒಂದು ಅನಿಸಿಕೆ ಅಷ್ಟೆ, ಎಲ್ಲರು ನಮ್ಮ ನಮ್ಮ ಸೌಕರ್ಯಕ್ಕೆ ಎಷ್ಟು ಬೇಕೊ ಅಷ್ಟು ಮಾತ್ರ ಅರ್ಥ ಮಡ್ಕೋತೀವಿ

75-3: Shruti to her mother, after her wedding plans were broken
ಅಮ್ಮ, ಕಲೀಲಿಲ್ಲ ಬದುಕು ನಿನ್ ಮಗಳು. ಕಲೀಲಿಲ್ಲ ನಡ್ಯೋದು. ಎಷ್ಟ್ ದಿನ ಅಮ್ಮ ಆಗಿರಕ್ಕೆ ಸಾಧ್ಯ ನೊ ಅಷ್ಟ್ ದಿನ ಮಗಳಾಗ್ಬಿಡ್ತೀನಿ. ಸಾಕಾದ್ ದಿನ ಹೇಳು, ನಾನ್ ಅಮ್ಮ ಅಗ್ತೀನಿ, ನೀನ್ ಮಗಳಾಗು. ಹೇಳ್ಕೊಡ್ತೀನಿ, ನಾನ್ ಬಾಲ್ಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಕಲ್ತಿದ್ದನ್ನ, ನೀನ್ ಮರತಿದ್ದನ್ನ: ಕುಂಟೆ ಬಿಲ್ಲೆ, ಆಡೊಣ, ಆಗೊಮ್ಮೆ, ಈಗೊಮ್ಮೆ

There are just a few..will compile a bigger list in a separate location later.

World Cup 2007 - Indian Loss (or Gain?)

India lost to Srilanka and are virtually out of the World Cup.
This image on Cricinfo says it. Dravid with a dropped shoulder, waiting for the next batsman. Something makes him look even thinner. This crying Wall is touching. The coach kept on repeating the same reason : 'We were not good enough'. Look at this funny interview. It is funny because the same questions were aimed at Greg again and again. It would be nice to say that the repeated questioning was silly, but look underneath, the press were wanting the coach to talk...talk more...say something which is catchy enough to be put in the papers.

A normal cricket fan like me would get bored to see the Imran khans, Sreekanths chatting away to glory on the NDTV, CNN-IBN and the like. Today, out of the blue, after more than 2 months of cricket "shows", asked public how they felt and "what was the reason for the defeat". Weren't they able to figure out the strengths/weaknessess even after so many shows?

Reality is that we want to talk cricket, talk so much cricket that selecting, planning, execution, discipline of cricket takes a backseat. Everyone is a cricket expert, take these:

• Why the hell was Agarkar included in the team!
• Why wasn't Kumble included!
• The standard one : Tendulkar should be scrapped! ( not the orkut one)
• You hit Vaas 20 runs in an over and they will not let him bowl again till the end of the innings
• India cannot chase maan!
• Let them come back, see how they will be shoed!
• The entire thing is fixed

It may take a week and things will be back to normal. Sanity. The best result is that people would talk less about cricket. People will go to bed early. Hopefully, they will get time to read better stuff. The frustrating helplessness amidst wishful thinking would be spared. Wives at home would be happy. I should say, we will be leading better lives. Which would have got lost had India continued playing in the Super eights. (Or am I too optimistic/pessimistic? Should I wait for Bangladesh vs Bermuda?) Strangely, Optimisim and pessimism seem to be very near each other.

While the BCCI learns how to make the team "good enough", we can take a break. BTW, am hopeful of a great game between Australia and South Africa today. And from this world cup, hope the team learns to learn...again wishful?

Failed to book Railway tickets online?

I know most of us would be aware of Indian Railways introducing online reservation. I guess many would also be aware of a nagging problem in the site : As we proceed to Confirm the reservation, it gives an error
'unable to retreive due to communication error'
and would not continue :(

The railways support has the following solution:
Open new IE>> Tools>>Internet options>>Delete cookies>> Delete internet temporary files and delete all off line contents>> Clear history>>Click OK.

I tried deleting just the temporary files and found that i didn't the error :)
Try your luck!

BTW, KSRTC have also introduced online ticket booking supporting SBI accounts, other banks should have it soon as well. Haven't tried that yet http://www.ksrtc.in/AWATAROnline/

Handwriting Font!

Never knew font creation was so easy!

I know some people were glad using keyboards that they would never have to write by hand again. But handwriting fonts give a personal touch. And you wouldn't want to write in somebody else's handwriting font :)
Steps :

1. On a sheet of paper, Write all the characters that you see on the keyboard. Use a marker( since it has to be thick). The size of your characters should be about the size of a 72 size font
2. Scan it
3. Cut images out of each character
4. Use Font Creator to create your font.
5. You will have to play with it to get the sizes, distance between characters right.

Here is what I got. You can get the font here :

A month ago

It was Sankranti. A kid on E-tv was singing 'Kannanchina ee maatali'. One would wonderwhat his real age was! On a nearby news channel, they declared that Aishwarya andAbhishek had got engaged. They were hoping to hear that the Bachchans would have Aish stop acting, or atleast I did. On second thoughts, when had she really started acting?
But I was so glad for other reasons. An evening earlier, on route from Chikmaglur toHassan, the sun set magnificiently, next to the lush green fields making everything near it look beautiful. The music was great, the road was smooth, it was lovely. Shubha's eyes would have looked at me and smiled. Behind the driver, a quote from DVG was put up, making everybody read it again and again:






A few hours before we were at Hiremaglur. The place became famous only after Kannan who is a priest at the Venkateshwara temple there. It was 'maTa maTa madhyanna'. He was the only person in the big temple, with sounds of nothing but the swooshing wind, leaves and incoherent chirps of birds.
Kannan was cleaning the temple himself. We were fortunate to find him, as he travels a lot. Just because of us, he reopened the temple and performed pooja. He is a very pleasant and jovial person to talk to, even more than what we see on TV. He has an indomitable spirit in everything that he does, making people become his fan. He told us the story of Lal bahadur Shastryji's humanity and simplicity even when he was a union minister. He now writes to Samyukta Karnataka. The reasons were obvious for stopping writing for Vijayakarnataka.BTW, have you observed that VK has started to have lot of spelling mistakes!
The entire temple has wonderful quotes on its walls. They are named 'guDi chellida nuDi'. Right before you enter it, a saying goes :








I also like another one of his :











On the way back, maava was showing a 15-acre land which was sold in 1950s for 22.5rupees!

A day before, HirekoLale lake lay amidst the coffee plantations. Her water untouched,except by the wind. Standing on a hut over a radial bridge, it looked as if we weremoving on a boat. A big banyan tree swept on one side with plenty of soft grass andloads of shade. We were very happy to be there. The sun had again set in grandeur on Ratnagiri bore(read it borey). Children and adults would sit on a toy train which would take them round the hillock. A musical fountain would dance in the backdrop of distant mountains.
I loved it!

Pimple Theory ... Continued

Vasu wrote a Pimple Theory here. As i commented, it went on for too long...so posted it here
Initially, they would say that somebody is thinking of you when you had pimples just to make you feel better !
But i liked Vasu's nonsense talk ;) and would like to continue :

• Wouldn't you add weights to it? 8 bit? 3 bit? For ex: If somebody is thinking about you strongly, a bigger pimple and smaller otherwise* What would have happened if the pimple bursts ;)? Is it that the person has burst out laughing/crying or vomitted? or did something else ;)
• Map 'what a person is thinking about you' to 'location of pimple' For ex: If on forehead...she(hopefully) is thinking about your head...and so on..that would be interesting ;). I cannot give more examples here
• Alternatively, If the pimple comes in the same spot again, there is a conflict...It could be, a) the same person is thinking about you on the same thing b) a new person is thinking about you on the same thing
• You can point to a pimple which has been there for a long time and say 'She likes me so much' LOL!
• If the pimple turns red, it is either that she is blushing or she is angry at you
• But there is a basic question here. How do you determine the sex of the person ?? Surely, you cannot be non-biased! Or is it?
  

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?

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 :)

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.

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.

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.

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.

Pandu's Story on Thatskannada.com :)

I was glad to receive a mail from Prasad Naik of Thatskannada.com telling me that they've published the story I sent them.

Here's the link : Pandu

This is just a one-off story, never aspired to write stories. So, keep in mind when you throw bricks at me!

Two Great Films

I think I take films seriously. Films have been a great teacher, and at times, in real life, relate many times to scenes(guess lot of us do).
I haven't watched a lot of English movies, even as I hear them being the best-in-class. Nevertheless, I have treasured some of them like Forest Gump, The Terminal, Cast Away, Sound of Music, Basic Instinct, Life is beautiful...there are a few more. I shall soon compile a list of my all-time favourite movies; seems like showing off, its okay.

A colleague of mine(He is from Kerala) recently asked me why kannadigas dont watch kannada movies. Though he got a suitable reply, the real answer to the question was just not limited to the movies, it pertained to the basic mentality of *we the people*.

Our Kannada film industry has seen a big spurt in activity recently mainly gathering steam from films like Jogi and Amrutadhaare. People flocked like anything to watch them. There was a time when somebody had not watched Jogi, people would stare at him/her in disbelief. Such was the craze! Personally it left me wanting for the lack of thought that was put in it. Yana Gupta dancing out of a cart was almost nonsense. Killing brutally with machchu again and again coupled with foolishness of Jogi does not put it in good stead.
Oops, I started with telling about two great films which almost went unnoticed amidst the above noise just like they did in the theatres.
1) Haseena : Directed by Girish Kasarvalli, which won Tara the National award for the best actress this year. But, I still hear some movie-watching-kannadiga-public reacting as if its unheard of. A story of a oppressed muslim woman and her kids fighting her way in a rigid society, told in a touching manner; it is a great experience everytime I watch it.
2) Beru( The root) :
Metaphor at its best! Its director P.Sheshadri shows that he is a genious in getting a message across with a simple example of the root of a big tree destroying its owner itself. Adding subtle comedy, it won the National Award for the best Regional film this year.

Atleast getting awards makes us watch them, who cares for the rest of them! I wont talk about much about their content nor the experience for two reasons. One, my vocabulary is not strong enough to convey such strong experiences and two, its always good to look forward to a movie without knowing much about it.

Films like these wont run on PVR,Inox, or any big-banner theatres for long. I guess some popular theatres try to save themselves from the wrath of KRV by screening them in the afternoons. Another commercial reason is that the theatres are not guaranteed profits by such movies, more often they should end up in losses. Its not their fault, they are a reflection of the society which is gasping in darkness(and even in theatres). The carriers of social messages is ignored by the society itself.

But still, a brave plaudable effort was done by ellaKAVI group in Benglur. Last month they organized a show in a Preview theatre screening Beru. With proper propaganda, originally planned for two shows, they were forced to do three shows on that day. There is one more such occasion soon, talk to me or ellaKAVI group before 13th Dec if you are really interested.

All of us might wonder why we blog : Is it due to play the me-too game? Is it to create a personal virtual world? Is it to show how smart we are? Is it because we are too shy to speak out(well, there's no audience by the way to listen to you)? Is it due to utter boredom? Can be many.
But the reason for this post is a willingness to share two wonderful experiences which I hope you too would explore.

Combi Puzzle

PD posted this wonderful combinatorial puzzle. It was so nicely knit, really enjoyed it. Here it is :
If you have 2 numbers, if you order them using = and < there are three possible orderings
- a < b, a = b , b < a
for three numbers, this is 13
a < b < c
a = b < c
b < a < c
b < a = c
b < c < a
a < c < b
a = c < b
c < a < b
c < a = b
c < a < b
a < b = c
b = c < a
a = b = c

for four it turns out be 75.
the problem is to characterize such a number and to devise a way to calculate the number of

possible orderings with n elements.
----
Two approaches to solve it is here. Let me know when you find more.

Bangaarada manushya

We had heard the movie name right from childhood, that its a story ending in tragedy. Everybody praised it. But I had never watched it fully. From the last couple of weeks, am fully in awe of it. Films have taught me many subtleties that nobody has, and this is definitely one of them.

Songs which are there to summarise what the story narrates, the self-belief of people doing wonders, the humble want of seeing people around you prosper, pure love, the beauty of co-operative living, an example of a ideal village, a motto to live : all tuned into a beatiful narration.

It gives me mixed emotions that so few of us know about it, atleast in kannada. Yes, our previous generation had hailed it for years, but it was just another Raj Kumar movie for me. And our generation, dont have a clue about themselves in the first place.

I feel every person wanting to see a better world should watch it....more important, understand it.

Unlike portraying scenes where there is crying, emotional drama at times of problems...most times, the narrator seeks the characters to face it directly, even with the supposedly 'bad' guys. Well, there are no 'bad' guys infact, as in the real world.

It is not a usual boring success stories that these bussiness books showcase, but a far greater, far more necessary aspect of lives when man fights with destiny.

I cannot stop myself from recommending 'Nagunaguta nali nali' and 'Agadu endu' at
http://www.musicindiaonline.com/l/18/s/movie_name.2226/

You will search for the director's name(Siddalingaiah) on the net in vain. I pity you O'Internet, that you don't know about him.

Eee hasiru siriyali

Along with friends, had been to Shivamogga last month.

Words are not enough to describe how it was....a few photos can do a better job.

Here they are :

http://www.employees.org/~vedu/Shivamogga/

Pandu - Senior Software Engineer

Having got nothing much to do apart from watching Shewag smash, wrote this story on the long weekend. No one needs to take it personally. Any similarity with a living person is highly possible. If you are the one, I don't know you .

Pandu- Senior Software Engineer
-------------------------------

Pandu, studied at decent college to get his degree at a place near Bangalore. His branch did not matter. The computer s/w industry was booming. Everyone was making money. Pandu followed suit. Even before he knew what he was doing, he was writing programs. He enjoyed doing it though. When the lab internals got tough, there were always backup of every program on the c:\windows folder to copy from.

Classes were rarely attended. Neither were many of his teachers good enough to make students learn. Getting good grades was easy. Four years in college few. Just after that, Pandu joined a MNC in the obvious city Bangalore, making his parents proud. He got a new business card for himself, a new bank account, a set of debit, credit cards for free. It was as if he was being pampered. Everything was new ; new cubicle, computer, phone, draw...no way he could be not proud.

Pandu's english started to refine. His office was a happening place. Just after a month of joining, a few sleepy training sessions later, he got his first bug to fix.

Meantime, he was made to learn how to eat, dress and talk "socially"; it was not that he had never ate in public, he was just not social-enough. Pandu, felt, he was finally learning some etiquettes. Those taught during his childhood looked old and silly. For him, work life was everything. He had to establish himself. The people who he worked with was his "public". And, he was appreciated.

Hikes and bonuses became common in course of time. Pandu started to compare himself with his friends and classmates working elsewhere. Though we was well-off, being among the top 5% of salaried class in India, he felt at a bit of loss. Software development seemed to become more and more routine. Bugs never seemed to end, adding to the frustration. He hated looking at code written by somebody else. It seemed to be a common problem among his peers. Coding was not as enjoyable as it used to be in his college, where he would sit for days mulling over programs and deriving great pleasure thus. But this was not to be expressed, he was earning enough.

In a year and half, he could not stand. He started complaining about his job to his manager. A few of his colleagues had moved jobs for higher salaries or had left to US. His manager could see it all. Pandu, was now to be sent to US too on a new project. All of Pandu's qualms were now laid to rest. He had always nurtured his affinity towards US, though not publicly expressed it. This was the time. He had heard and seen it on TV and he was now going to live it. Going to US, (with/without reason )was a statement of Pandu's competence.

In US, his new "friends" were his coleagues with whom he shared his apartment with. Two per room. Brought up in a orthodox family which was already stifling his neck, he began to experiment new things, true to the American culture. Experiments, became habits. Weekends were the only time when they boozed and were supposed to have fun.
Impressed by the american professionalism, he started wearing things which his new friends told him as "branded". Branded dressing became synonymous with neatness.

Pandu's love for experimentation and coding were not so important now. It was how he communicated with his peers, how he impressed his bosses, which mattered.
He was supposed to have fun with sports too. After planning over a hundred e-mails, buying lots of equipment, they played cricket. Pandu was now called Pandy, sounded something like a harmless bear. It was not unusual. Padmanabh became Paddy, Joshi became Jo, Satish became Satty. It was cool to be that way.


Six chilly months later, he was flown back to Bangalore, with a box of chocolates, among others. His mates in office were dissappointed to see the same chocolates that Shyam, Raghu and others had brought earlier too.

Pandu felt a feet taller back in his home. A magnetic force was repelling his contact with the ground below. His small stay had showed him how to "keep balance with work and personal lives", as if he never felt anything personal at his work. It had never occured to this poor soul earlier.

Pandu, the taller one, had now two freshers to look after, one of them a good-looking girl. He was now becoming a lead, his priorities implicit. His thirst to learn and experiment had almost died. Nor did it matter the concepts that were shown in his computer science books. Success now meant more responsibilities, more talk, better dressing. He was not afraid of bugs anymore. He had learnt how to talk them out to be non-issues.

When he talked to his american colleagues visiting his centre now, his accent would change. He had also gone through an accent reduction course. He never missed to teach the visitors a thing or two about cricket.

Having reached the other side of the globe, he now felt increasingly part of global community. International news mattered more. Bangalore had way too traffic and dirt. The garden city had become the pub capital of India. Buses were a clear no-no. Autos were costly and rude. Pandu, now bought a Hyundai Santro. He was the only traveller in the car for months, until his parents stepped in.

At work, Pandu now got involved in discussing functional specifications, along with a lot of other documents. He learnt to Microsoft Excel and Word better. Things were lot safe and in control. Promoted to 'Senior Software Engineer' and his business card updated, Pandu now started to get offers for marraiges. Pandu had arrived.

He could associate with most of the music western. Remixes were original for him. Indian music had not kept pace with the times for him. But he himself had not kept pace nor learnt the western way of challenging and building new things. He was safe. Mediocre, but appreciated. It was good enough.

Pandu could now eat fresh vegetables as lunch, noodles with sticks!. He would also rice with toothpicks had be been taught. Tea was always machine-made with calorie-free sugar. Pepsi/coke were common until they were charged with pesticide content. 10% tip was the norm. Whatever be his personal attitude, service at hotels, banks mattered most. He hesitated to talk in his mother-tongue which would not fit his professional style. Eating without spoon/fork was impossible.

He boasted of tasty pizzas to foreign visitors when in contrary, they were bored to see the same places here. They wanted to see the rich cultural heritage we had. It surprised Pandu! Being able to drive everyday, he also felt proud when they told him they would never be able to drive in Bangalore. He expected every visiting place to have parking. The city had not kept pace with him, let alone the rest of places. They did not exist until he discovered them in the weekend trips.

Things had happened too fast for Pandu, not even giving him the time to think. He had become blind under the bright lights of his own cubicle. He did not even know when his soul and mind were taken out of him. There were scores of people like Pandu. The software industry waits for its downfall standing on such souls. It was now set to boom though.

Progress??

Last month was a wonderful journey through SL Bhyrappa's eyes : 'Vamshavruksha'. Written with the imagination that would make sit and wonder whether Bhyrappa has met god! Everyday went by with a chapter or two, living the characters and their thoughts. Though he does play god in the novel, he leaves us with chilling thoughts of man's internal fights( easy to say 'dwandwa' in kannada).

Had heard somewhere that for being creative, one needs to have tolerance to ambiguity. Though it didn't sound interesting at that moment, this book really proved the point. I cannot explain. Buy it and read it.

We have become very lazy; so lazy that it can drive us out of our well-being. Lazyness was something to be desired in earlier times, and thats what made people do smarter things. It feels as if centuries of civilisation has done little to help a man live a good life. Good life was always possible, it was there to be taken and yet most of us don't have it, because of our laziness.

Our ancestors might have had a higher concept of well-being that we may now ignore as stupid rituals. There may also be areas of thought and feeling that we wouldn't have recognized at all in our lives.

Sometime back, on NDTV, they showed a guy who bent spoons, broke them with just mental power. Given that it is possible, would it not be believable that munis in ancient times could, as a curse, burn things?

We may also see that our forefathers used to do some really smart things which, in course of time, lost its meaning, and people couldn't identify reasons for doing them.
* Having lit light near gods in the evening which
a) would serve as a constant source of fire
b) would maintain a constant temperature when you sit for prayers
c) would be the best place to keep, since the place would be usually least disturbed due to wind
* Doing the parshyanchami before lunch/dinner so as to prevent insects from entering the food plate.
* Vedic mathematics which make our normal maths taught in schools silly.
* Treating animals, trees as gods, and thus protect them from destruction. ex: elephants, coconut trees etc.
* Treating a piece of paper as godess Saraswati, thus respecting it as a source of knowledge.
* Doing suryanamaskars which would keep the entire body fit
* Having to server a bit of salt before anything else is served, so that it may account for different tastes of people
* The concept of inviting friends, relatives to homes keeping a festival as a reason, making scope for socialising.
* The concept of making children join gurukulas, keeping them away from homes, in a disciplined environment and making them suitable to lead the rest of their lives.

We may never know the reasons for so many things that they used to do...but let us be open and not just discard whatever they did.