Bougainvilleas on Old Madras Road

As I travel from Indiranagar to Brigade Metropolis for work, I have to go through the old, pot-holed, polluted, frenetic, lorry-laden Old Madras Road. It is a nightmare for drivers, and keeps doctors busy and happy in Bangalore treating people for all pollution-related illnesses.

But just at Tin Factory, there is a stretch of over 300 metres, with lovely multi-coloured Bougainvilleas all along the way.  See this picture.

They seem to be really happy on Old Madras Road!
Location on Google Maps:



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I am in a trap!

I have just realized that I am in a trap. And that is final. Irrevocable. Irrefutable. Immutable.

Well, the last one may not be really true. It does change, but does not change in my favour.

My trap is not physical at all! It can be either The Past, The Present, or The Future.

The Past. With its memories of good times. And sad times. And the times I wish I could hold on to, forever. And the times which I wish had me in control. Not a mere witness seeing things slip away. It's a powerful trap, of things cast in stone now, cannot be changed. And I cannot break free.

Woken from that reverie of the past, what do I see? My Present. The present is indeed a trap, I am just a part of a large movement that I have no control over, I am being carried away! I fight, I think I make my own reality. But soon I see that I am not in charge.

And then I begin to see the Future. The Future that isn't, but I want. I dream in that trap, of things that will happen, should happen, may happen. I am not there, but I think I am. Oh, what a trap!

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Tiger Tablets for Indian Kids

It had to come one day. Silk Saree. Silicone Milk. Herbal Supplement. Now a tablet. All from China, to make India stronger, more intelligent, more competitive. Well Aakash is the limit.

I call it the Tiger Tablet. If you're thinking it is a tablet made with Royal Bengal Tiger body parts, you're mistaken. It is an Android 4.0 or ICS 7 inch tablet computer being approved by IIT Bombay for widescale distribution by the Education Minister to all kids in schools and colleges at a subsidized price. There is a supposition in the public that it is designed by a Sardarji and made by brainy engineers in Hyderabad.

But just now I read an Economic Times report that it is being imported for $42.- from China and Made in India stickers are added before distribution.

That is not a bad thing if every kid gets to play some video games and also learn some stuff on a tablet, right? You may be right. I am right now typing on an American Tablet made in China called the iPad.

Indian children need schools, books, teachers, Akshaya Patra lunches, and the hope that they will get jobs when they grow up. Then they need the killer instinct of a tiger to compete globally and succeed. If they do wield tablets in the meanwhile, why not?

There was a time when every stern father told his kid to drink Horlicks, made in England. Now it is Tiger biscuits, Tiger tablets, and so on. Well, sky (=Aakash) is the limit for a doting nation, to bring up our kids!

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Carnatic Snakes and Ladders!

For the true Rasika, there is never a dull moment. But then, if you do catch yourself with nothing to go to, nothing to listen to, here is a true time-pass game: The Carnatic Snakes and Ladders.

How to Play

1. In this virtual board game, you can roll the dice by clicking on the words in the box "Read the Dice!"In a few seconds, you get the roll of dice score as the Result. Use that number to move your cursor. 
2. Read the words in the box where your move takes you. And fully savour the moment mentioned there. 
3. And then roll the dice again. And move on.
4. If you land in a box at the bottom of a ladder, you climb up to the box the ladder takes you to. If you hit the box with the mouth of a snake, you drop down to the box of its tail. So watch out!
5. After several moves, you MAY reach the box where you can enjoy pure Carnatic music as mother makes it. That is called Nirvana. Till you start all over again.
6. One, two, or more can play this game, only cheating is easily done and easily caught, too.

So play on!

Diwali - how it has meant many different things to me

Diwali or Deepaavali has meant so many different things for me over the past six decades.

When I was very young, we lived in front of a temple. We got up VERY early, say 3 AM, went to the temple where they would give a ceremonial bath with oil to the Narayana idol. As prasad, we would get small portions of the same oil, which we would bring home, pat our heads with, and have the ceremonial bath. We would then light lamps, and at day break burst a lot of crackers. The symbolism was that Krishna had liberated the world of the tyranny of Narakasura after a massive battle, which he had won that night, and the whole world bathed and lit lamps and burst crackers to celebrate the new freedom, worshipping Krishna or Vishnu.

I was once given a budget of Rs. 5/- to buy crackers. I was around ten. I did massive research in all shops, and bought the best mix of crackers that cost less and made good impact- sparkle and sound. I was proud of my shopping efficiency. Alas, I finished the entire stock in the very first daybreak session. And Diwali lasts 3 days.

One year, our family had no money. I insisted on buying a new shirt at least. My mother was able to scratch some savings together from here and there and give me a few rupees. She said I could go and buy a shirt with that money if I could. I searched the entire length of Gandhi Bazar but could not find anything good enough. I did not buy a new shirt that Diwali.

I visited my in-laws for my first Diwali after marriage. We did a grand celebration with lots of crackers. My mother-in-law was a superb cook and was extremely kind, she served a great feast.

When I went to Madras and Calcutta, I found rich people (mostly north Indian traders) burst lots of crackers. I thought it was a huge waste of money, but surely it made a loud and spectacular impact. The day after Diwali, the streets were strewn with trash, red, black and unburst crackers. Urchins would be scrounging for some unburst ones. It was an ugly sight as aftermath. But nowadays, we have become insensitive to poverty or trash.

Our neighbours in Madras in '80s had a 10000 cracker long burst ritual. The community would lay the cracker roll along the street and the burst would last over 15 minutes. People would actually record the sound on a cassette tape!

When I was very young, I burst crackers with such bravado, once I burst the cracker close to my face and singed my eye-brows. They grew back after some months.

Diwali in Delhi and Bombay meant lots of sweets sold in shops and eaten in large quantities. Gaudy and gorgeous clothes, spectacular rockets and aerial displays, and much loud celebration.

A crazy thing that happened for some years was that the big bosses in GE and Siemens would come down for business trips during Diwali. Both our families and the bosses would be irritated that Diwali was not a good time for business meetings. White people couldn't  understand why Indians don't celebrate Christmas and instead have some pagan festival called Diwali.

One of my colleagues had developed his Diwali into a grand PR session. He would invite important bosses and colleagues,and spend lots of money on crackers and eats. It was a simple math as he would harvest the goodwill for the entire year afterwards.

In Delhi, Diwali is a time for great bribes to be given to officials and customers. Lots of expensive gifts, sweets and goodies, given in huge lots to happy recipients. Babus' wives clear up large rooms to stack up the gifts, and enjoy them for long afterwards. Black, white and colour, all mixed up. Goddess Lakshmi has no qualms in Delhi.

Nowadays, I go to my terrace and watch the nouveau riche light up the Bangalore skies with totally spectacular fireworks. The rocket flies high up, emits stellar bursts in psychedelic colours, and after an almost endless shower of sparkle, little lanterns of light descend slowly in the sky. It must have cost Rs. 20K and more for one such rocket, and from black (money and everything else!) , we get so much colour and sparkle!

I then go down and savour some special sweets. Nowadays you can buy lovely north Indian and Bengali sweets all around our city. Children also look so cute in new clothes. There is lots of retail therapy at hand, to drive away thoughts of any worries or problems at micro or macro level.

We light little oil lamps and line them up on our compound wall. They glimmer so nicely, bringing happy thoughts of our childhood.

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Why villains never die

Just finished reading a delightful TinTin story, Land of Black Gold. The picture above shows TinTin taking the eternal villain Dr. Mueller to Police Headquarters, so that he may face a fair trial.

Come on, a guy who almost started a world war, lacing petrol with Formula Fourteen explosive ingredients, whose drug made the Thomson and Thompson twins grow hair faster than you can ever imagine, and pretty much blew up the Land of Black Gold. He gets a fair trial, and then goes on to feature in some other sequel of equally murderous proportions?

Why do villains never die? It seems they come back again again, much like our God takes birth to fight evil. Why? The answer is simply, my friend, "Because".

It is an incomplete answer, just like in real life. If we have learnt something, it is that this world is composed of evil and good, almost in equal measure, just to "thicken the plot".

And let us face it. In the heart of our hearts, we don't want villains to die. We want them to become good, join hands with the good, and fight new villains. So we want to have villains always. No wonder the poet and the story teller decide to give more than nine lives to the villain, whether it is Sherlock Holmes, James Bond or TinTin who is the protagonist. The bigger and badder the villain, the greater his mystique and indestructibility. But we are always assured of a good enough fight, and the hero will triumph, wiping the sweat off his brow as the villain slinks away, for now at least.

And the story thus goes on.

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Saraswati

I was lucky to purchase this Tanjore painting from traditional painter Mr. Srinivasan of Kumbhakonam today at the Karnataka Chitrakala Parishat exhibition.

yA kundEndu tushAra hAra dhavaLA
yA shubhravastrAv.rtA
yA vINa vara daNDa maNDitakarA
yA shveta padmAsanA
yA brahmAccuta shaN^kara prabh.rtibhir-
dEvaiH sadA pUjitA
sA maM pAtu sarasvatI bhagavatI
nishsheSha jADyApahA

Meaning: Saraswati, goddess who is fair like the Kunda flower, moon, snow, pearl-necklace, clad in spotless garments, seated on a white lotus,  holding the veena so beautifully in her hands, One worshipped always by Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva and other gods (as the Deity of Learning) ; may She protect me and rid me of all worldly ailments.


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