A Hero Forever.......

We were in Mysore , it was 6.30 AM in the morning of 30th December 09, my husband and daughter were still asleep , and I wanted to have some tea. I called the reception of the hotel and asked them to help me with some tea. The boy who came to our room, gave me the tea, and also told me something that left me in a state of shock. “ Death of Vishnuvardhan” the legendary actor. I could hardly believe my own ears , that I was listening something that was unbelievable but yet a brutal truth. From my child hood I have been a fan of Vishnu. I still remember having cried ( infact i still cried watching the vcd a few months ago ) after watching some most emotional scenes from his movie. Be it the last scene of “ Bandana “ where he dies at the hospital , or the last scene from “Suprabhata” where he assures that he is still waiting or be it the outright comedy of "mane mane Kathe" or be it his roles in movies like "nagarahaavu", " hombisilu". He had touched my heart in many ways. We were on a vacation and were travelling from Mysore towards Coorg, but there was a deep sadness that had engulfed me. I was feeling a deep sense of loss . We reached the estate near Coorg where there was no network, no newspaper which made me even more desperate to figure out what was happening in bangalore. The watchman of the estate had a TV in his house, I went to see there, but to my bad luck the power failure was too frequent hindering me to get an update. As soon as we reached Madikeri in the morning, the first thing I did was to catch hold of the newspaper. I read the paper to the last word , all just to know about him. I guess it is truly a tragedy for it marks an end to an era of such class actors. I have taken a cut out of one of the photos in the paper today which I thought is truly a rare photo which is priceless. My sincere tribute to both these legendary actors “ Dr. Rajkumar and Dr. Vishnuvardhan” .
Their memories will always remain fresh in our hearts thru the many roles they have played in some unforgettable movies.

Only on the magic slate

There is something which my daughter who has just turned 4 has been drawing for the last few weeks, but the peculiar thing is that she is at her creative best only on the magic slate , which has to be erased. So I end up taking a snap of all that , so I can restore what she did in some way. Tried making her do that on a drawing book, but all in vain
We went to Cubbon park on one of the Saturday and she comes back home and draws her way of a wonderful train. The train started with a wheel, two wheels, the wagon , steam and then finally emerges the whole train “ kooooooiiing,
Then comes her bus, Duck, house, ET with numbers embedded in its tummy, mountains which have fence. The god gift to a child is free thinking without any barricades or any rules of the land to curtail its wonderful imagination

Old friends are ever fresh :-)

It was last month, my friend Senthil called me and told me that he was getting all old friends to catch up for lunch. This is a group from my good old Pre university Days. That is 1994. Post PUC most of us moved to different colleges and took up various walks of life. It had been a good 15 years , in between yes one of two meetings, but not in groups. He managed to pull in 8 of us for this get together.
All we could do for a couple of hours was just talk about the days we spent in tuitions, classes or what we call the famous “ ADDA” after tuitions and remember instances of molecular size. We could recall instances and have a hearty laugh at our stupidities as fresh as if it was yesterday.
None of us were even interested to know what the other was doing or how successful, or not one has been. I guess this friendship circle that we develop during our young age will guess continue to be this way even if we all go fully grey. I sincerely cherish this wonderful friendship of all my friends who have stood by me at all times. I have put up the snap which we took the other day. I am going to make an effort to put the names of all these fellows now … Senthil, Anu, Brunda, Madhu, Satish, Dumma Satish, Aparna, Suma, Archana, Ranjitha, Nithin, Sushma, venkatesh. This was a whole gang , mobsters rather.
Each one was an entertainer in some way or the other,,, so if you are reading this blog, you can take that snap. 

How Dormant have I been ?

I opened my blog today and realized that it has been a good 6 months since I lay in slumber sleep.

I happened to read most of the blogs of my good friends and I have really been missing all of this.
I was just wondering how dormant have I been. From the time I fell ill in June and after that …there is no noise from me….

Not acceptable… I am hoping to start on from today and keep this going,….

Customer is the king ?????

Geeze it has been a good 2-3 months that i even opened this portal.

this is something that happened sometime back, but i am putting it up now.

This is an incident that happened at the post office. have you guys ever been to a PO. Have you noticed the treatment you get. I am not sure what your experience has been but most of the customers experience a very sad treatment at the Rajajinagar HEad PO. Most of the assitants out there have no basic respect , forget for youngsters but even to those poor old people who have their age old accounts there who come monthly visiting this PO.

I am sure these assitants or clerks must be bugged in life, but i guess they sincerely need some kind of training to be more humane. They have an interesting write up written by Mahatma Gandhi, but guess that is just to adorne the walls only and not for implementation. I know this seems a crib blog. People who are able to raise their voices can get their job but what about the milder ones, isn't it somekind of a humliation each time they go and ask some info there. It could be their innocence of their ignorance, but isn't it the duty of the people to be patient.......
well i took the photo of this board above the head of the clerk, she asked me why.,,, and i told her to get her a personal copy to put it up at her desk right in front of her eyes,,,so she keeps reading it to understand better.

Harping on a new profession

Last night I was going to say good night to my mom before hitting bed… I saw that she was doing some serious studying…. Went close to her to see what she was reading….
She was reading a book called “grandma’s tales” , I was quiet surprised that at that hour she was reading that book and she said, that she better learn a few stories each day, coz next afternoon when my daughter is back, she would need a story to make her eat, a story to put her to sleep , a story just when my daughter feels like. And my mom seemed to have exhausted all the old stories and any repetition anymore was highly questionable by my daughter.
It just looks like my mother in her role of a grand mom is quiet concerned on her performance…

What would i do when i get to her role..... i wonder????? probably my KRA's would be different :-)

magic of mangoes

Come autumn each year, there is an unusual happiness in me, when I go to the backyard of my granny’s house. There are fresh mango flowers that would have blossomed and some tiny mangoes that would have popped up on the mango tree. In my earlier blog on “ Ajji Mane” I have written in length what are all the specialties of this little backyard. The secret of this mango tree is that , no one planted it, nobody sowed the seed…. About 6-7 years ago this small sapling came up and my granny has been nurturing it since then. These mangoes are juicy and tasty,,, … the mango rice with the tender ones in particular is so yummy…
I guess, this tree has been a full time multipurpose tree.,,, be it the leaves, the fruit or the shade to sit,,,,
we respect mother nature and she will always care for us….

lifestyle of a different kind

Today morning, I went to the bus stand to wait for the office bus , which has now more or less become a due course for more than a week now. I parked my car at a nearby parking lot and started to walk towards the bus stand to catch the bus. While I was walking , I crossed the temple, which comes on the way, near the temple I saw a bunch of elderly people in the probably 75+ years, sitting on a bench with a certain common book in their hand. One of them got up from the bench very feebly and started to read… rather sing looking at the book. With the coarse it was evident that it was a book on vedic chants. The elderly woman first sang a phrase and then it was followed by the others. All their voices was surely not in tune, but they all managed to sing in harmony. While this was one group I continued to walk and then there was a park, here again I saw a bunch of elderly people all standing in a circle , it was very clear they were undergoing or practicing “laughter therapy” it was absolutely “ so sweet” to see them. I guess they looked as adorable as what a 2- 3 year old baby would have tried to do. The bus stop was bang opposite the park and so while I waited for the bus, I just observed these groups of people, the way they were engaging themselves. While I saw them I just wondered, how they must have gone thru the same busy hectic lives that we are leading …. Or may be not… they must have led busy lives but not an erratic or insane lives that probably we are leading where the way we behave seems 24 hours is just not enough… Doing what … just running to sustain ourselves , just us …selfishly. OR may be not, we are forced to or we have just got ourselves engulfed into this monotonous , robotic lifestyle. Can we change it…., I keep thinking pretty much, that ‘s it…. Little bit of fine tuning for some time , then back again into the grinder….

every bird needs a nest

Every bird needs a nest
A home to rest
Be it in the forest
Or the city’s crest


These were a few snaps that I captured in BR hills that I visited over the weekend . It was the beginning for the nesting season for the birds, many of which seemed to have migrated thousands of miles across…. It is absolutely interesting to see why these birds travel so far to nest, breed and fly back and then again come back the next season, same time and repeat the process. When we introspect, man also goes in search far away from his roots, to build his home and breed his family and settle down in the alien land which becomes his home……

Another day , another tag.....

1. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought?
I got lot of grey hairs..

2. How much cash do you have on you? Nothing, its in my wallet… in my bag

3. What’s a word that rhymes with DOOR? Pour

4. Favorite planet? Earth

5. Who is the 4th person on your missed call list on your cell? Karthik

6. What is your favorite ring tone on your phone? Yen eniya ponnilave… ( illayaraja’s music everlasting)

7. What color shirt are you wearing? Green Saree

8. Bright or Dark Room? Bright with multiple tubelights.

10. What does your watch look like? Oval

11. What were you doing at midnight last night? Deep sleep

12. What did your last text message you received on your cell say? “ I believe , anything is possible with you”

13. What's a word that you say a lot? God Help

14. Who told you he/she loved you last? My daughter

15. Your worst enemy? Back pain

16. What is your current desktop picture? HCL Active desktop

17. What was the last thing you said to someone? I am bugged.

18. Do you like someone? yes

19. Would you move for the person you loved? depends

20. Name three things that you have on you at all times? chain, fingerings , earrings… ( man I feel rich)

21. What’s your favourite town/city? Chikkamagaluru… for it beauty… but do not get to be there frequently

22. Do you have friends at work? yes

23. Apple or Potato Chips? Apple coz Potato chips, makes me guilty… of putting on more weight.

24. Favorite part of the day? Bedtime… I love to slumber sleep but have not done it in years....

25. You tag? …… you who is reading this

Punyakoti - an unforgettable fable

I am not too sure how many of you have heard the story of Punyakoti. People home grown in Karnataka should know this fable by heart since this has been cascaded to us thru generations. I have heard this story many a times as a child. Yesterday my daughter was after my mother , to tell her a story…. As a true granny she had all the patience to start her narration.
“once upon a time in a forest there was a herd of cows, which went grazing at dawn and would return back to the village stable by dusk. Punyakoti was a cow in this herd and one day while grazing it strayed away. When she realized that she had moved far away from the herd she began moving fast to reach since it was getting dark. On the way was a tiger and Punyakoti began to shiver. The tiger said “ I am really hungry and what better could I have asked for” , I am going to kill you and have a feast tonight.
On this Punyakoti said to the tiger “ oh tiger, I know you are the strongest of them all and there is no way for me to escape from here” you can surely eat me, but before I die, I want to go back to my herd as I have left my baby calf there. I wish to feed it some milk and request my other sisters to take care of my child from now on”. Please allow me to do so and I assure you that I will come back.
The tiger looked at the cow for a moment and something made him say “alright, you may go now and be back quickly, else I will come to your herd and kill many more”.
Punyakoti thanked him for this gesture and starting moving to the herd fast. She reached the place and saw her calf, which was very restless and mowing… all the other cows were also worried as to where Punyakoti had gone… As soon as she saw her calf, she licked it , tucked it , fed milk to the little one and narrated the whole instance to the others. She then requested them to take care of her little one as she was going to die. All the cows told her not to go and said the tiger would never venture in the village, but Punyakoti refused and said she had to keep her word. Saying so, she left the place with tears in her eyes and a heavy heart. She entered the forest and went to where the tiger was waiting,
She said “ oh tiger, as promised I am back. You can now eat me and fulfill your hunger”
The tiger was astonished to see the cow back. “I cannot believe that you have come back” for which Punyakoti said ‘you have laid your trust on me for which I should abide” she narrated what she did when she went back and for this tears rolled down the tigers eyes, “for the honesty you have shown and the trust that you have kept I cannot kill you, please go back to your herd and take good care of your child” so said the tiger and went deep into the forest. Punyakoti was very happy and rushed back to the village. On seeing her , her calf and her friends were very happy. And after that everything ended on a happy note. So the moral of the story is that one should always be honest and trust worthy. If you follow the path of honesty , then god is always on your side and will do good for you. So said my mother.
By the time she finished the story, I was sitting next to my daughter listening to is as curiously as a first timer….

Manuscript of a lost era

Last week was a very busy week for me as we were moving in to our new home and were packing up all our stuff to be shifted. I have always believed from my childhood that attic is one place in the house, where we actually have no clue over a period of time as to what we have been storing up there….. so I started my work on earlier Saturday morning to clean up the attic…. As usual and typical to many other houses, there was enough dust….
I began cleaning and started pulling out boxes to explore what was in there….
In one such box I got two photo frames one kept on the other and tightly sealed with a thick thread. I opened it to see that it was a photograph of my father and the other of my uncle… and between this photograph was a thick typewritten booklet sealed in a plastic sheet. I just opened to see what this book was all about …. As I opened to see it …
It was a travel log written by my elder grandfather on his trip around the world during 1945. I was so keen to finish that book then and there that I pushed my cleaning aside to open this book to read…
Just to let you know a little about him, his name was Dr. M B Ramachandra Rao, a
geo physicist by profession and was awarded the padma Bhushan for being an integral part for the discovery of oil in the Cambay alluvial tract. He was lovingly called “kaka “ and my elder grandmother was called “Ayi”. Kaka and ayi means, father and mother in marathi. They did not have children and hence my mother and all her siblings got their complete love and attention.It was one big joint family in the real sense.
He had written many books in his domain expertise. But this manuscript that I got is a raw log book, in which he has put in every granular detail of their journey ( kaka and ayi) around the world thru a ship “ MARINE ADDER” which they boarded on on 27th Jan 1947 till their written back to Guntalkal ( andrapradesh) on 2nd Jan 1948. Their meeting with different people, from the Governor to the refuges ripped by World war II , the places, the impression of India in the other world and how they were treated…. Their familiarization as the “Raos” just like the “Johns” and “Smiths” of the other world. The ship and the storm…. This has the most interesting information of places. I sincerely wonder how did this book land in my attic.....but i think there is a purpose to it and now I am keen to work on this manuscript …. You will hear on this shortly from me.

Escapade again

Well its been sometime that I have really put something up on my blog, I have been wanting to but somehow…. Have not been able to make it….
During the week of Christmas, we planned a weekend getaway,,, just planned instant and set off to chikkamagaluru… the most beautiful place that I have ever been to.
We went to chikka magaluru in flat 5 hours… thanks to my zoomy driving,,, ( all praises to myself) which I will let u know how it was put to test the very next day,,,,
We decided to go to Mulyangiri… ….guys you reading this blog, sure know this place.. we all had been there on 25th june 2003, guess I can never forget it…. Below is a link of one of the blogs that Naresh had written of that place, most explicit, so I will want you to read that….
http://www.jroller.com/njain/entry/trek_to_mullayanagiri_hills

And I was there bang on 27th dec 2008, a good 5 + years, I decided to drive the ghat section, we went to Sitalyangiri the point which comes before mullayangiri, we wanted to halt, then we saw a board that read Mullayangiri 2 Kms, so I told vinayak, lets just drive up… the first one km was cool, good road, though narrow and then came the shock of my life, which I had never expected…. We reached a point where further I could see no road.. there was a narrow mud path and with no protection on the edge, one slip and bang you just go down few thousand feet…. . I could see no place to take reverse, just too narrow for it.,,, two vehicles came behind me, the tougher ones, like trax and sumo’s…. what do I do, like a normal amateur I got all nervous, then vinayak wanted to take over but he could not open the door on the other side as we were just close to the rocks, and neither was I ready to give up,
I just mustered my courage parked my vehicle to the edge and allowed the other vehicle to pass. Saw the way they drove and just began to follow… first gear…. Full throttle , crossed that patch and then another surprise waited . the road ahead was just at a 60 degree inclination…. This time legs began to tremble… but inner voice,,, telling me I could do it .. just went on and crossed that patch to finally reach a small flat surface where these few vehicles were parked … when I got down from the vehicle all the drivers were kind of giving me that look “ hey look, a woman driving on this patch” .. can you imagine what a boost it gave my ego, despite all the shivering and trembling in the leg, which took me some time to feel normal, then we climbed the hill to the temple of lord shiva, 700+ steps which my daughter climbed on her own…
I still remember we had stayed in the temple that rainy , stormy night and we had not taken these easy steps… but we took the famous “Sarpa Daari”,,,,,
I still remember, Naresh, ram, murali, sandeep, pulla, deepa, keshav, mukesh ……what a time that was,…
Probably one of the best treks of my life.. I had also scribbled a poem on that…, will share in my next blog

Really miss you all… and those series of treks we went from DSL….
Kudos to Naresh and Ram for being those fundoo organizers…..