Unfortunate!

An unfortunate day.
May those who lost lives in the terror attacks at Mumbai rest in peace.
It was really disturbing to hear those shuddering voices as they spoke. The fear getting the better of them. :(

'wonder what leads from religion to terror. News' channels today splashed screens reading "India's 9/11". Co-incidentally there was this article in today's paper on Swami Vivekananda. It reminded me of his famous speech on universal tolerance across religions on 9/11/1893.

Ironic isn't it? 9/11 stands famously to mark harmony across religions while concurrently, & quite infamously, reminds the cruelty of religion instigated terrorism!!

Taking a step up at work!!

It's surprising how work finds people !!

Despite intentional shirking, added responsibilities seem to find me!! That was proved today after my meeting with my superior!! I am being motivated to direct people again towards the next commitment we have post our recent merger into a new company. It's kind of a catch22 situation for me; I would love to be an individual contributor but the stakes are high with the leader's role I am being asked to dawn. Looking at what is on offer, I guess I should take the chance. I have time to decide, but, I most certainly will.

What impressed me most however was the way I was approached. My manager came to me with the proposal. However his entire tone was acknowledging the fact that I wanted to be an individual contributor. I was very particular about it to all the people who interviewed me before I joined them. I had spoken to all the chiefs then and every one of them seemed to consider my demands yet as placed at the time of joining. It is very comforting to know that they value my aspirations and give me the choice of will. It's good to be part of an organization which values it's commitments.

It's 11 years!!!

Just got a message from Pruths. All it said was "Nov 24, 1997". It's Nov 24th today but it evaded me. But it wasn't even a whisker before I realized it was our day one in college. It has been 11 years. It was the day we met destined to be room mates for four years while we did our graduation. & our kinship stays afloat even today as good as it used to be. So nice of him to have remembered and messaged! :)

I immediately called him. I was reminded of our days at college, & at hostel, of my home-sickness & how I used to run back home every weekend, of how we used to pull each other and have fun. Those were great days - late night chit chat, shuttle & carrom games amidst the desire and dreams of a future which fortunately has come good.

goodness grace!!

Kadalekayi Parishe!!

It's the annual groundnut festival time here in Basavanagudi, the so called Kadalekayi Parishe!!

& what plans I had? I dropped off work early so I can take a peek into the celebrations and capture the same through my digital eyes, my cam. Oh god! little did I know the crowd would be so huge!! really huge!! I could barely step through the streets. People pushing & scrubbing against each other!! I dropped the plan for the day & arrived back home :(

I wonder if I should give it a shot again tomorrow!!

Hot coffee, cold weather & days to spend!!

It was a cool week end this time; literally, and all the more, figuratively :-).

The weather bought me in and I couldn't hesitate to take a day off from work. Three chilly days added to the pleasure of a long week end. Nothing beats a chit chat at home with old pals while sipping hot coffee; more so when we can feel the cold wind :-)

Hot coffee, cold weather & days to spend!!
Ahh!! I didn't want it to end !

Smiley in the sky :)

Some people have wonderful instinct in catching simple but pleasurable things. Really creative are the minds of those like the person who took this photo & sent it to "The Hindu". Birds flying together making up a smiley in the sky, as if telling all of us, hey! come on!! SMILE. :)

ಹಳೇ ಫಿಲ್ಮ್ ಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಅದೇನೋ ನೈಜತೆ ಇತ್ತು...

ಹಳೇ ಫಿಲ್ಮ್ ಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಅದೇನೋ ನೈಜತೆ ಇತ್ತು. ಇಲ್ಲದೇ ಇದ್ದಲ್ಲಿ ೧೦-೧೫ ವರ್ಷಗಳ ಹಿಂದೆ ನೋಡಿದ ಫಿಲ್ಮ್ ಕಥೆಗಳನ್ನ ನಾವು ಇಂದೂ ನೆನಪಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಇಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದೆವೆ? ಇತ್ತೀಚಿಗೆ ನನಗಾದ ಅನುಭವ ಅದೇ.

ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನಲ್ಲಿ ನಡೀತಿದ್ದ ಪುಸ್ತಕೋತ್ಸವದಲ್ಲಿ ನನ್ನನ್ನ ಆಕರ್ಷಿಸಿದ್ದು ಹಳೆ ಫಿಲ್ಮ್ ಗಳ ಡಿಸ್ಕ್ ಗಳು. ಸುಮಾರು ಹಳೆಯ ಫಿಲ್ಮ್ ಗಳನ್ನೂ ಕೊಂಡುಕೊಂಡೆ. ಕಳೆದ ೩-೪ ದಿನದಿಂದ ಅವನ್ನು ನೋಡುವುದೇ ಕೆಲಸ. :)

ಆಶ್ಚರ್ಯ ಎಂದರೆ ಆ ಎಲ್ಲ ಫಿಲ್ಮ್ ಗಳನ್ನೂ ನಾನು ತುಂಬ ಹಿಂದೇನೆ ನೋಡಿದ್ದೇನೆ, ವರ್ಷಗಳ ಹಿಂದೆ. ಅದರೂ, ಇಂದೂ, ಆ ಕಥೆಗಳು ಅಷ್ಟೇ ಹೊಸದೆನ್ನಿಸುತ್ತವೆ. ಆ ಚಿತ್ರಗಳಲ್ಲಿರುವ ಪಾತ್ರಗಳು ನಾವೆಯೇನೋ ಅನ್ನಿಸುವಷ್ಟು ಮನಸ್ಸಿಗೆ ಹತ್ತಿರವಾಗಿವೆ. ಆ ಕಾರಣದಿಂದಲೇ ಏನೋ ಮತ್ತೆ ಮತ್ತೆ ನೋಡಿದರೂ ಮನಸ್ಸಿಗೆ ಬೇಸರವೆನಿಸುವುದಿಲ್ಲ. ಅಂದಿನ ಹಾಡುಗಳೂ ಅಷ್ಟೇ. ಹಿತವಾದ, ಮನಸ್ಸಿಗೆ ನಾಟುವ ಬಾಷೆಯನ್ನೂಳಗೊಂಡ ಆ ಹಾಡುಗಳು ಇಂದಿಗೂ ಪ್ರಸ್ತುತ. ಅನಂತನಾಗ್, ಲಕ್ಷ್ಮಿಯಂತಹ ಪ್ರಬುದ್ಧ ನಟರಿದ್ದರಂತೂ ಆ ಚಿತ್ರಗಳಿಗೆ ಇನ್ನಷ್ಟು ಕಳೆ ಹಾಗು ಸಹಜತೆಯ ಸ್ಪರ್ಶ. ಬೆಂಕಿಯ ಬಲೆ, ಗಾಳಿ ಮಾತು, ಚೆಂದನದ ಗೊಂಬೆಯಂತಹ ಚಿತ್ರಗಳು ಇಂದೂ ಬಂದರೆ ಅದೆಷ್ಟು ಚೆನ್ನ!!

Digital Echo!!

The news is out!!

We form part of what is going to be called Decho, for Digital echo. Going by the plans, I seem to have made the right decision to join the firm. The plans are huge and growth opportunity looks great.

It's almost half of an year after I decided to take it light and give myself the time. So far so good. But, of late, its going beyond relaxation and I kind of seem to easily give in to the temptations; much unlike me!! I guess it's time to take stock and get into being myself.

'sure I will. :)

The book exhibition!!

'had a good time yesterday doing what I love to do; book hopping that is!! The annual Bangalore book exhibition is up & I had a go at it!! It featured a good number of shops. Too congested to browse through the books though!!

I was disappointed though since I had expected to find some old books, specially related to origami, at a discounted price. But I didn't :(. Some were available but too expensive!! In excess of Rs 1000 :(. While I chose not to buy, I wondered how one's perspectives change. I have bought a few books while in US paying more than that. Same price here looks expensive. I guess the notion that I may not get the same books back in India made them inexpensive even at such prices!!

Not withstanding the books galore, I found a few good kannada books for my reading. Pleasingly, I found a shop selling VCDs/DVDs of old Kannada movies. I have always loved movies enacted by Ananthanag & Lakshmi. Found a bunch of them & bought all :) I feel sorry that an actress like Lakshmi is kind of in oblivion now. There is hardly any actress running currently who can match her acting prowess. :(

To add to my experience at the exhibition, there was this group 6 teenagers singing along folk kannada songs. They had such a nice collection, very pertinent to current state of affairs. Like for example, the song which talked of reducing ground water level. I never knew, majestic and the kanteerava stadium overthrew hitherto existant water tanks!!

:(

Past couple of days have been monotonous and asking.

For the first time 'had to arrange for blood for transfusing into my sister. Honestly, I felt scared at the thought of injecting blood from an unknown person into my sister. Despite all the tests that were done at the blood bank, I had an uneasy feeling while I took the three pouches of blood. Seeing blood as a commodity at the bank felt strange some how.