Coastal Karnataka - part 3

Day 4 : Murudeswar - Kollur - Agumbe - Horanadu
Day 5 : Horanadu - Hallebudu - Sravanabelagola- Bangalore

Day 4: We didn't have a strong itinerary for Day 4. Our initial plan was to visit Jog falls and head back to Bangalore. But we were told Jog didn't have water and was not worth the trip. With no planned itinerary and check out time only by 12 noon we had plenty of time to spend at Murudeshwar and I finally got into the water. The beach has facility for ladies to change, I found it extremely useful. It also had a mobile bus with bath facility and locker if you need.

After 12 it was too late to reach Bangalore so we headed towards Kollur. We were lucky to reach there by 2.45 and were the last few to get the dharshan of Mookambika. the temple closes at 3.00. I was a bit sick so again no photos for memoir. We next headed towards Agumbe for the next sunset experience. But after Gokarna I was not too impressed, but never the less it was quite good. It is a popular affair as i saw many tourist gathered at the sunset spot. After the sunset we headed towards beautiful Horanadu through the hilly and winding roads. He hoped to reach Hassan for the night halt.

But it was too late and we reached Horanadu only by 9.40. Though the temple was open till 10 we decided to rest for the day. So we did some room hunting. Again by gods grace we got an excellent room at one of the best hotels (Durgamba deluxe hotel) there for a reasonable amount (rs. 800) though it had no TV and western style facility..i was very very happy with the place. It reminded my village house and the hot sambar rice was really yummy after that long drive. All the warm clothes I had packed came handy for our stay at Horanadu.

Day 5: By now I had lost track of day and date. The hotels at horanaddu use fore from logs to heat up water. So Hot water only between 6 and 7 in the mornings. At 6 in the morning there was a hard bang on every room with a load voice yelling about the availability of hot water. It was quite dark for 6 am and the visibility was poor due to thick fog that was settling all around. We got ready for the temple visit by 7 and the annapoorneshwari temple was one of the temples with longest queue that I visited in this circuit. But I was very happy with the way the place was managed and we got an excellent Dharshan.

We decided to get the aarathi done and joined the 9 am pooja. I had never felt so moved by anything before. The lighting of lamps and ringing of bells and the vedic mantra chant was soul cleansing experience. i would love to be there once again to participate in a pooja like that. It was a very spiritual experience I thoroughly enjoyed.

We started back towards Bangalore at around 11 am. Reached bellur for lunch aroung 2 pm and spent some good time at hallebedu watching the Hoysala temple for Shiva. The carvings there are some of the most beautiful, better than Belur and Somanathapura temples. especially I liked the Govardana carving.

We then headed towards Sravanabelagola. We reached there at 5.45 and were told the temple closes at 6.15. We were to rush up and the steep hillock was unnerving. I think there were atleast 450 to 500 steps to climb. By the time I reached, what appeared to be the top i had gone breathless several time and I kept praying to good that I remain fit enough to climb it. On reaching the top spot I realised it was not the end and it was only 2/3 I had covered.

It was an accomplishment that we reached the top in time and spent good 10 minutes before we headed back. The tender coconut shop at the base is strategic and i was thankful that i could quench my thirst and recoup after all that hard work. Sravanabelagola was a fitting finish for the wonderful 5 day trip. We reached home sweet home by 10 that night.

Coastal Karnataka - Part 2

Day 3 : Murudeswar - Idugunji - Gokarna - Murudeswar

Day 3: I was eager to get a view of the sunrise and woke up by 6 am. Surprisingly the beach already had students/tourist taking bath and i could hear them from my room's balcony. With father and son fast asleep I sat by myself for about an hour looking at the sky going all black to shades of violet & pink and finally to bright day light. It was one of the most memorable times of the trip.

Later we went to the Booloka kailasha on top of the small hillock and enjoyed the show on the story of Ravana getting athma linga and the significance of Gokarana and Murudeshwra temples. It was very well presented and I felt the Rs.10 per head was a very reasonable ticket for such a nice show.
By afternoon we left towards Gokarna. On our way we stopped at Idugunji ganesha. We missed Batkal beach as we didn't know about it. My uncle says it is an excellent beach on the way to Gokarna and a must see.

But we stopped at Ramatheerta near honnavar. (missed clicking some snaps). It is a small temple, not many know about this place. A shiva temple that was worshiped by lord rama is present here. The story here is, as Rama was going through the forests in this area during his vanavasa there was no water and he shot an arrow in the land and it became a source of a fountain / stream and it is a source of water to this date. We collected a bottle of this water.

After luch at kumta, we reached Gokarna by 4 and there was an hour before the temple would open. So we spent about half hour in the Gokarna beach. Swimming is not recommended here and so we dint enter the water. There are too many westerners here. I guess it is because of its prximity to Goa / Karwar. we couldn't make it to Karwar as we dint get any hotels. In fact we didnt get any in Gokarna and we were returning to Murudeshwar that night.

We decided to go to Om beach (named after the shape of the beach, you can see it behind aadi in the next photo) for the sunset. This is the best beach I have been to so far. A quite secluded beach. The water here is as calm as possible. Spotting dophins during the boat ride was fun. The beach side resort can be accessed by boats only. The only negative point, I saw only westerners on those beach resorts. I was told they are too expensive for Indians.Not sure how expensive :(.

Aadi and Mahesha were back into the water and I was happy watching from the rocks and waited for the beautiful sunset. later we went to the Ganesha temple and the Mahabaleshwara temple. No banian and shirt for boys and men. I was surprised to see Mahesha comply immediately. The more surprising aspect was he even got an elaborate pooja done and he was lost in it. He was very pleased with the priest and made some generous offerings.I was happy i could touch the athma linga. There are very few hindu temples which allow you to touch the deity. Even at Ganesha temple you can offer pooja yourself if you had had a bath before coming to the temple. This was a pleasant surprise to me. We spent some time at the Parvathi temple and then were ready for some eats.

I was again surprised to see a small eating joint with Indian name filled with westerners and then realised it was run by westerners. It was houseful and the boy at the counter, a westerner, spoke in perfect local kannada and directed us to the Pai restaurant nearby. After the Dosa eats I realised I had not been to the rest room since we left Murudeswar. Thatz when I realised these places are definitely not women friendly when it comes to these matters. Finally found a decent place at the bus stop. The worst was at Kollur. So ladies beware.

We reached back Murudeshwar by around 10 pm later that night.

Sunset

Murudeshwar ....




Gokarna - Om Beach




Agumbe

Coastal Karnataka Trip - part 1

We had a Gala time last 5 days. The Day 0 went in deciding the itinerary (thanks to various blogs and outlook traveller) and calling up hotels & resorts we had a plan for day 1 to day 4 and left the last day flexible.

Day 1 : Bangalore - Belur - Sringeri - Udupi

Day 2 : Udupi - Maravanthe Beach - Murudeswar

Day 1: I had done all the packing the previous day and we started towards a wonderful trip from Bangalore by 7.45 in the morning.Luck was on our side and we were on the Tumkur road in about half hour.We hit the road towards Belur. By 12.30 we reached the architectural wonders of Belur. I loved the intricate carving in the temple and wanted to spend more time. We promised we will be back at another time for trip to Belur-Halebidu-Sravanabelagola (my long awaited place to visit).

After lunch at Chikmagalur we headed to Sringeri. We wanted to cover Sringeri Sharadda Devi Temple and Agumbe Sunset. Sringeri temple is closed between 2pm and 5 pm. We reached the temple Just in time for the opening in the evening. The temple was Serene and beautiful. The old eshwara temple looked divine. The Sharaddamba temple had a crowd as they had just opened the doors for the evening. We spent a while inside the temple and then enjoyed the beauty of the thunga river. The fishes were well fed a huge. Aadi was nostalgic about his pet fishes he had.

We decided to spend more time in Sringere and gave up sunset at Agumbe, as reaching there through the hilly winding roads will be impossible for catching the sunset. ( I was disappointed and kept complaining to Mahesha it was just like Yosmite ). We spent about an hour in the temple and then headed towards Udupi. It was about 9.00 pm we reached the Karavalli at Udupi and we were ready to retire for the day.

Day 2: we decided to skip breakfast as we were to go to temple. The three of us reached there by 7.45 and decided to get archana done. Since it was Dwadasi the pooja was over already over and we got an excellent dharshan of the god. It is amazing to see the gos through the narrow window and we later saw from the kanakana kitiki also. But we missed the Channakeshava temple, inspite of my moms reminders. Being a Madhwa myself it was important for me to go there. So hoping another visit will happen in some time.

We the went to the geeta sadan and took blessing from the presiding guru. The Brunch at the temple at 9.00 was yummy. Mahesha and me relished it. But aadi was complaining as he is not used to sitting on the floor and having lunch. Though banana leaf lunch is something he always loved.I shopped to my content in the temple premises. But I later realised the rates were much cheaper outside. I bought a "kadagolu" (the wooden spinner used to churn the butter milk) for 40 bucks and outside the same one was just 15 bucks. But, I decided not to complain.

Aadi loved the elephant blessing. It was first time for me and I shrieked when the elephant touched me with its trunk. Photography was prohibited. Guess the elephant gets scared.

We were now ready for the beach and it was about 10.30. we spent a good amount of time at the Maple beach which was just 2 kms behind our hotel. After a good swim in the beach and some beach cricket we were ready to hit the road for our next destination - Murudeshwar.

We were supposed to stop at Aneguda for Ganesha temple and we missed it. But, we did stop at Marwanthe beach. The drive reminded me of the west coast highway 1 in LA. The road running parallel to the beach. Here it was even better with one side the sea and the other side was a beautiful river (I think it was Nethravathi river not too sure). You can choose to stay in the turtle beach resort here instead of udupi. We couldn't get rooms there due to last minute bookings we did on Day 0.

I enjoyed the boat ride on the river. The residents of the islands are heavily dependent on the boats for their everyday commute and i felt a bit bad when we took away the motorised boat for half hour pleasure ride. Guess the residents are used to it. after some time at the beach we left for Murudeshwar and reached the RNS residency by 4.30. I am glad we stayed at the hotel and not in the resort. The view from 6th floor was breath taking.

I got my first view of beautiful sunset into sea from the majestic eashwara temple. Aadi and Mahesha continued to enjoy their beach trips and they insisted I join them in water and I continued to resist.

We went to the historic eashwara temple later in the night just before the temple was closed at 8 pm. The seaside restaurant at Naveen and at RNS were too good. I went to our room with a heavy tummy and crashed into the bed, dreaming about the sunrise view I would get next day.

Budget Vacation

With 2 weeks off at Mahesha's office and Aadi's school, i have been looking for a nice long trip. Mahesha has fallen in love with Mangalore and the nearby beaches and is keen to do a Coastal Karnataka trip. As a first step he has got couple of books for us to do a study. So hopefully we will hit the road tomorrow and I will have a story to tell after a week from now.

The difficult part is neither me nor mahesha wants to lift the phone and start making reservations. I want a vacation were I am treated like a queen. Someone takes care of everything and my role is nothing but to enjoy the trip. I guess Mahesha wants to be the king. With tight budgets we cannot afford a vacation like that. I am worried this vacation will only remain in our minds and never get real....

The wanderer

My mind has been a wanderer for many days now. The latest being my mom telling that the குரு பெயர்ச்சி (change in Jupiter position per horoscope) effect is not good for Mahesha. While it is supposed to have no negative effects for my stars, it is not great for him. I am not sure to believe in these or not but I guess it is good to ensure damage control if possible.

This brings back to the good ol' topic of my job. Do I get back into a regular job. I am sure it can bring better financial stability but what about aadi and other good things I have gained in last 10 months....

My N70

My mobile has been crying for a while that it has got old and would like to retire. In fact it has lost its voice. It does not ring any more and goes blind very often, the display turns to grades of maroon to all white and some times all black. It has been just 2.5 years back I bought it as B'day gift for Mahesha (Don't ask how it became my phone :)). It was one of the expensive ones ( for me atleast )in those days in the market. I spent a solid 17K on the N70. I am a huge fan of Nokia even today. I have changed 3 Nokia phones (including one I lost at my desk) in last 6 years. So I guess the average life expectancy of a Nokia is about 2 years and its time I upgraded.

Mahesha bought his Samsung just after I bought the N70. It is still working great. For many reasons I am in no mood to part from my N70. Mahesha has offered multiple times to buy a new one, but I have declined. I continue to miss my calls and still hanging on to dear old N70.

What do you call this??

Media ....

I have been watching a lot of TV since last week. For the first time I know all the news channel numbers, though they are not stored in my favourites list I can quickly browse from one news channel to another. I have watched Times Now, CNN IBN, NDTV, UTVi, Udaya varthegalu and the business news channels as well.

I have been always amused at the Jargons we use in the IT industry and used to wonder if this was unique to us. But the way the media covered the unfortunate incidents of last week, I saw them competing with each other to give a unique phrase to what was happening out there. I did feel like saying 'enough of this' to the Media folks. I was flipping to BBC every once in a while to see an outsider view. Though I felt BBC was more biased towards our neighbour, their stories were of much better quality. The host had better control on his interviews and discussions.

Guess our folks are still in maturity level 2/level 3 !! Long way before reaching level 5.

Mom

My mom was a great story teller and an excellent singer. Unlike the typical stories that are told to kids (as seen in movies) my mom introduced us to fantasy land through the English books she had read as a kid. One of the initial stories I remember is Robinhood and his merry men. I also remember Robinson Cruso. She also told some of her favourites from Hollywood like Macanas Gold.

Unlike me, my mom never told stories during bed time, but they were during dinner time. As she narrated stories from Indian Mythology, Hollywood and from English classics I was lost in my fantasy world with mouth wide open and my tongue sticking out a bit. My sister would point my open mouth and I would be embarrassed.

My sister inherited the knack of story telling from my mom. During her visits from semester holidays the dinner time would mean us laughing till we cried with all the funny stuff she had tell from her hostel gossip. I really miss those good ol' days.

I would give anything to get back the family together. My mom serving 'kai thuththu' to three of us, the yummy saranna and wonderful stories and the sister narrating her rib tickling stories.
hmmm...is it too much to ask?

Where is the President?

It started with Aadi's Value Education homework. Very simple one, paste India's current President and PMs photos from the News Paper. I had disposed my old Newspapers and I had paper only from Nov. After a quick skim of the 20+ days Newspapers (ToI and Economic Times) and few Mags ,I got couple of pictures of our PM.

I expected any news to do with our Prez will be in Page 1. But I found none and I could find tons of Obama photos, I could find Advani, HDK, Yeddi, Daniel Graig and so many others...But not Madam Perz and it was quite a shock.

The first Prez I remember was Ghyani Zail Singh and he was always in Papers (Hindu) and on DD. Venkataraman, Shankar Dhayal Sharma and KRN were all seen in media time to time and Ofcourse I could find our dear Abdul Kalam's photo even now. But why not Madam Prathiba Patil, our first women President.

There was so much halla gulla when Mrs. Clinton was running for US Presidency and when Obama became prez...Indian Press wanted to know when we will get a Dalit PM. But, why media shies away from our Honourable Madam??

PS: I found a photo of Madam Prez in Page 3 :( which reported her recent visit to Bangalore.

Religion - A belief

During my childhood days, visits to temple were far and few. We had a small அரசமரதடி பிள்ளையார் ( ganesha under the peepal tree ) next to our house. There were lot of stories as to who put up the idol there, with claims between my family and our neighbor. There were no priest and no daily rituals. So the interaction between me and God was very personal. No brokers in between. So my prayers were either at home in the Pooja room or under the peepal tree.

Ofcourse studying in convent had its own effect and my mind was constantly looking out for help during the trying exam times from the single Christian God and the umpteen Hindu gods. Slowly God meant something that neither religion portrayed. I do, do my daily pooja at home and once in a blue moon visit temples but my relationship with God has remained the same.

When I go to our Mutt I find the customs amusing. Men not to wear shirts and ofcourse ladies cant enter temple during ....while what ever a religion may preach, at the end of the day I guess Religion is a belief and God lives within us. If we pause & listen to him/her we can lead a life with less vanity.

Ant and the Grasshopper - Whats good for the economy?

I remember the story of Ant and grasshopper as two diffrent versions.

One in the primary school which tells about why hard work is important and another (the version I enjoyed better) from high school from Somerset Maugham, which tells the story of two brothers, the "hardworking ant" elder brother and the "spend thrift & happy go lucky - grasshopper" yonger brother. Ironically, the younger one finds a rich old lady, marries and she dies leaving all the fortune for him to enjoy. hmmmm wonder what the moral is??? I guess this is life's reality.

I was reminded of this story today for many reasons, as the economy is slowing down we are all tightening our belts. With lesser investments in employee training and education...my income is not looking great. But, I have a long list of items to spend on. Some are essentials and some are not. But will soon become essential. I may have to change my lifestyle and I am not ready yet.

So who makes the economy better? The ant or the Grasshopper. When I was doing my economics paper last year I was thrilled to look at a simple calculation. A 1000 rupees put in the bank and given out as loans can create a cash flow of 10K in the market (ideally).

So, How can we create wealth? My simple mind says only two ways
1. Innovation - Have we dried out of simple innovations that has lost adding efficiency to our lives?
2. Ant + Grasshopper - Work hard , Party harder. More cash flow. More wealth. But ofcourse match demand and capacity. When will we see the balance?

I dont seem to contribute to point 1 and 2a :). I am blissfully married and hence cant dream of the grasshopper life as told by Somerset(ha ha haaaaa)...

So what does the leave me with ???

Bully

I had not heard this word during student days and studying in a girls convent school might have protected me from the bullies. But, Last 5 years at work and socially as the peck order had settled, it had become increasingly difficult to create my own space. I think one of the big reasons for leaving both my previous employers was also that I started feeling constrained and being pushed around. Not respected for what I did and others taking "undue" advantage of who I was, was a really huge problem. As I settled in this new role there has been many compromises...but one thing that myself and my partner have felt in common is not letting others to bully us or take undue advatage, it has been highly liberating. But, I still want to know how to survive in the corporate world without feeling obliged to say yes..and not feeling pushed around or bullied.

The Perfect B'day Party

We had a great evening yesterday. I also think it was the best B'day party for Aadi. We had invited his schoolmates and his friends. Aadi and Paaru helped me to set up the place. By 5 he was eager to see his cake. Aadi was disappointed that no one turned up at 6.30. Well, he needs to grow up a bit to understand IST stands for Indian Stretchable Time.

Slowly his buddies started to trickle in and lo..the power went. But it turned out to be better, with no power we turned the party into Candle light party and it was fun. The Kids started to look into the return gifts we had for them and the noise slowly started raising. I loved it. The more the merrier. Finally, we cut the cake in dim candle lights and then the power came back.

The tiny ones started asking for the balloons, I was more than happy to give away. I hadn't planned any games but still the kids had a good time. The hour went really well & I am glad one of my deliverables as a (near) full time mom was met.

Aadi loved all the gifts he had got. And for once slept without asking for a story. It was the first time I saw him exhausted and I am glad he spent all his energy well yesterday.

MANY HAPPY RETURNS OF THE DAY DEAR AADI!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY and MAY GOD BLESS YOU!!

Why have a censor board??

I am a great fan of Bond movies...I am waiting to go for Quantum of Solace. Yesterday I was seeing a trailer and suddenly a Qn popped up in my mind. Why do we have Censor Boards in India? I checked with Mahesha and if he is right many countries dont have Censor Boards. They have ratings but no boards which proposes CUTS. If we can have Magazines, Books and other entertainments without a Censor Board. Why for movies? Why not just give it a rating? Just beyond U, A...like PG, PG-13 etc, instead of cutting scenes. Do Indian audience need such baby sitting?

Back to Basics

The quick (1 day) trip to the village was great. For 24 hours I went to a different world. Were I could travel 25 Kms for six rupees, watching 80s tamil hit videos. Buy quality cotton materials at < 50 % of the selling price, in bangalore. ( I have seen the same material in Lifestyle for a lot more price tag) And a loving family who cooked a festive lunch to make me comfortable for the mere six hours I stayed at their house. No wonder my granny loves them more than us ;).

Simple people simple life. Is it necessary to complicate lives? I know without the current progress esp in medical field life will be more painful for people like my granny. But, at the same time I do miss the simple unadulterated, affectionate, hardworking lifestyle that my uncle and family has. I know life is not rosy for them. But they are so affectionate, I wonder why we are not so? Is it having 3 girl kids taught my uncle to be more loving ? The knowledge that soon all of them will be married and gone makes him more caring? I donno, whatever the reason is, smiling and helping others all the time has definitely earned him lot more well wishers than us.

When I started the trip I had enough to crib about. My granny's stubbornness. Lack of good wheel chair facility at Station. Late arrival of trains. Midnight journeys etc etc. But all that got wiped off after spending the brief time at the village. Sadly I am back to my moody self. Hope I can find strength to deal my life better after this short, but more meaningful trip.

Q without U

Myself and friend of mine were having a discussion about Q words in English and how Q is always followed by U. My 6 year old has started on multi syllabal words this year and remembering spellings was very important. So i told about Q and U being friends and how Q needs a U always in english words. He was so thrilled to know this fact.

After many days, today he remembered this again and started quizzing his visiting grandpa about Q and U....My father thought about it for a while and they both could not find any meaningful English words were q was without u. My father gave him an explanation that Q was a consonant and it needed a vowel u in its words. My brilliant son asked why not a, e, i , o? I jumped in and said Q has a u sound at the end so the best suitable vowel is u.

He was not fully convinced but accepted the explanation. when my father said Q needs U to survive...he was quite amused. He asked, " Without U will Q die? No U No Q?" It is a pleasure to see such innocent questions asked at the face value of words...and I myself donno why Q cant survive without U.

Something I found on wikipedia on words with Q but no U. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_containing_Q_not_followed_by_U

LalBagh Green Express

After a long time, I decided I need to let loose and relax. I needed to get out of my house badly. Everyday is a nightmare for me these days. Morning, tiff with my cook & maid. Then yelling at aadi or mahesha or my grandma. The falling Sensex scare. Damn it, I chose a really wrong time to quit a regular income job. With things not going my way at work, stress has become too much for me and my family.

I had a perfect opportunity to get out of the house today, thanks to some kids B'day party. After the good lunch, Mahesha suggested we go to Gopalan Mall. Since i was not ready to get into another cycle of depression as I forgot my cc at home, I said no to Gopalan Mall and we went to Lalbagh, the dream destination of r1. As we entered the gardens, I saw a nice green house kind of place and a golf cart. I checked and it was a tour around lalbagh for 100 rupees per head for adults and 50 per kid.

I asked Mahesha if he was ok to spend 250 rupees and he readily agreed. We got onto to the golf cart and they took us around the garden for about half hour (The promise was 45 minutes - since no phiranghees were there, I am sure they made our trip short and sweet). I loved the trip. It was the first time I saw the whole of Lalbagh. I never knew there was a lake in there. The rain made the trip even better. Finally, we shopped a Tulsi for my self and aadi got his next pet, a cactus plant (hoping it will be low maintenance, with all the fish dead as of last week, I needed a more easy to maintain pet . 5 அறிவு ஜீவன் to ஓர் அறிவு ஜீவன்...Donno if this is progress).

After the good ride at Lalbagh I continued my retail therapy at Crossword. Picked up 3 books for myself and couple of books and other stuff for aadi. Ended the day at office, picking my personal stuff. Dint hurt much.

The sad thing is I know what I don't want to do. But, donno what to do. what I want to do is verrrry expensive...so what should I be doing ????? May be just get practical and get back to a 9 to 6 job. Hmmm with the slump, even that seems to be difficult.

circles and squares

As a kid I hated taken a beaten path. My father was posted outside India and he was visiting us on his annual vacation. I remember having a long chat with him on why we are expected to lead a life just like our parents or their parents? Why confine to the same squares and circles? why not do something different?

I was having a passionate discussion, but I dint know I was about to get a new nick name - circles and squares. The whole conversation was never appreciated by anyone. I never got any support to adopt unconventional path in my life.

After many years I am feeling the same today. Taking a less trodden path would mean a new scenery but at its own risk..its own cost. Very few dare to do it in their lives. hmmm...another long day..another day filled with question marks....

Navarathri

The last nine days had been a roller coaster. My desire to balance home and work spoilt my whole vacation. Like every year, this year also I had kept dolls as part of Navarathri. But, I got carried away and agreed for an engagement on 6th, 7th anf 8th. Since I had to go all the way to white field I couldn't do pooja to my heart's content. First 3 days I was unable to do pooja for some personal reasons, next 3 days I had to prepare for the engagement and last 3 days was spent away from home. Net net no fun during the holiday season.

Now, that Rita is back from vacation...the big qn on what next is starring at me like a boodham (ghost). As the inevitable is coming closer, I am looking at my options and Rita's options. hmmm. Why do we lack patience? Why instant gratification is the only way? Why cant we risk a little to gain a lot? o m g my mind is full of qns, but no answers.

Where is the void?

As a kid living in a remote village meant very few guests. In a year we would just get one or two visitors. Every time when someone visits us lot of prep would happen, we would get our behaviour trainings, dos and donts in advance, just like a client visiting the project team ! I would look forward to the gifts I may be getting and also we would get to stay awake late as there will be lot of catching up happening. Unfortunately, all visitors were the grown ups and no kids!! But still having a gust was always special and I loved it. One thing that I hated was when the guest would leave. It always meant a great void in my heart! Especially when our uncle would visit us from Chittoor.

Now, living in the city means better accessibility. But, being a working couple meant we cant be reached on working days! Getting a guest now also means a lot of prep. Ensuring that all groceries are stocked. Fragile items are removed from kids reach. Telling the cook in advance, so we can have sufficient food in time. Buying right gifts etc etc.

One thing that I miss is the void I used to feel as a kid when the guests leave. Now I have no time to even think of how well the stay went. i have to hop on to my next to do...Wonder if it was same for my parents?

Perceptions - Window to our world

On Friday we had a party, I had to leave early from the party. So I decided to catch up on whatever I had missed. I called 3 different people, and got three different views on the same set of happenings. I was sure if I had stayed back, I would have had my own view on what happened at the party. This triggered my thoughts in the direction of what perceptions are all about. Someone had asked me if Perception Management can be taught. Since I knew all 3 persons with whom I spoke, I could filter the information and make my own conclusions, which of course is my perception. Well ,if I had not known them, I would have used some experience from past to make my own conclusion.

So, is it possible to teach Perception Management? We can only act based on our experience or well known experience. I guess Perception Management will be based on the most well known experiences and cultural know-hows. Will that be sufficient in managing all stake holder perceptions at work place? This is going to be my next pet subject to research on :).

Arms length business

One of my friends often use this term...Do business at arms length. I guess it comes naturally for men, and very difficult for us. The last three days was one such episode. Very stressful, as I was totally involved in my work and wanted everyone to have a good deal.

But, on the other hand some one scoring 97% in their exam made me feel more than satisfied. A arms length business will neither make me so happy or stressful. I prefer to put my heart and soul into whatever I do and enjoy the outcome, than be a saint!

My longest weekend

The next 3 days is going to be my longest weekend. This is going to be tougher than the Lexington days! I donno why I get attracted to unnecessary stress :). I hope to survive the weekend and write all about it.

Tricky TV

I love to unwind for the day watching TV. But many times, I need to share the air time with aadi. So I have started enjoying all the stuff he watches. Perman, Ben 10, T & J have become my favourite programs as well.

The latest addition to this list are Hole in the wall, a game show on Pogo and then Tricky TV on Nick. Aadi wants every Magic to be revealed. But Tricky reveals only one per show...But, it is quite interesting. Simple tricks, but very neat. Aadi loves them.

3 years back we went for a Magic show, aadi was too young to appreciate the tricks. I am sure he would love them now. He is showing off the tricks he has learnt to his friends!! Good way to socialise, esp for aadi,

Martians

One of the books I enjoyed reading was Men are from Mars ....John Gray has done a very good job and I am sure there has been tons of appreciation for the book. Even after so much research and well written books, communication remains key problem between the two sexes. The bigger problem I find is , as we grow older, we are "expected" to get wiser. Hence better at communication with others.

Well, in my case it just seem to get tougher. Both at home and at work. why do the Martians talk in a language we Venusians cant understand and of course why cant they appreciate what we have to say :(. May be building a translator will make a good business.

I find this ad really interesting http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjjB9U9YxJg

Gray Hair Matters!!

One of the main reasons for moving out of my first job was, lack of scope for utilising my talent. I felt I had moved up quickly and was getting bored where I was. Since I moved out, I have come to see that though my resume is impressive my total number of years does not validate my experience and people are not convinced with the facts I offer. My second employer was a perfect example for this.

So what has more value Grey Cells or Gray Hair? How do I sell in a virtual world where "what is see may not be what you get"?

idea...in a box

I was just browsing thru all I have written on Jasmine Summer, since this year beginning. Couple of things stuck me.
1. Humor has totally vanished from my words....hmmm that's not a good sign
2. No more comments :( ... Well like any other mortal some outside support will help. Even my best friends have stopped commenting...

Then my thoughts started moving towards the humor factor. Leafsol work has definitely taken its toll. My free form of thinking... And it all became clear, too clear, as why me and Rita are struggling. Well, I have a formula now...need to bounce off with Rita and see if it will work.

My thoughts jumped to how I have been branded as an innovative person at office :). We had this task force..which had to force people to think innovative. hmmmm so innovative! So there are these standard phrases that are associated with such task force. One, IDEA JAM. Two, IDEA BOX.

So it was Idea Box to collect 'out of the box' ideas. I am sure you know what it means!! So the rally began. All the Managers ensured the team members did some out of box thinking...after couple of (multiple) reminders. Then another task force opened the hard thought of ideas and tried hard to evaluate.

By the time the ideas were evaluated...one whole year had passed and I don't remember if the winning idea ever came out of the box and saw day light in implementation.

It is almost like history repeating....I have been trying to think out of box since last December. With 9 solid months rolling off, I can clearly see why I cant strike gold. Its time I stopped boxing myself and forcing myself to get an idea in a box.

Dejavu

Since my childhood I have experienced this strange feeling at various times. Been there done this. Some times it just a fleeting moment, but sometimes it a whole event. It is almost always been like a recollection, but a few times I would even know what next. It scares me when this happens. The latest was two days back, when I was trying to serve dinner to my grandma and I knew exactly what conversation was to happen and I knew not just the conversation but the whole environment. The rain, my sons parallel conversation etc.

As a kid I remember my father taking about multi dimensional world. He would tell us that there were more than the known three dimensional world. He said, we lived in an universe of multi dimension. There were worlds that were in various time and space dimension that co-existed.

So basically, there were other humans in another earth and another time point but living in our co-ordinates but in a different dimension. At any point in time there may be humans passing through us and we never felt it, because they were in different dimension.

I found this piece of information very exiting. I would go around imagining the 'older me' passing through me without realising my presence :). Imagine we had such dimensions and there is information leak happening between such dimensions..we can always have Dejavu.

If such information leaks are possible then may be ....may be we can travel between those multi dimensions...do time travel...correct some historical mistakes....there are so many possibilities.

But, I checked the websites and the Dejavu has been attributed to simple things like fault in memory storage (Short term vs Long term) or sensory delay between the two eyes etc.

I would love to believe in the stories my father told, than those memory issues which makes me feel like my dump PC.

What is a Brand? Can you tell me?

Its been a long time since I logged in here. It has been busy since we came back fron Thirupati. Lot of positive signs. With LeafSol work picking up I am all excited. It has been great. At the same time I miss talking to myself at Jasmine Summer. Guess thats what ranslated to all the Blah Blah I did this afternoon....God I must have spoke for about 4 hours and it was all about me , myself.

It was wonderful to think about school days and it is really nice to get back to those memorable days through aadi. The PTA meting we had 10 days back was really intresting. Guess no one gives feedback to the teacher. It appears to be a 1 way traffic, with teachers rattling about your kids performance. I saw the teacher react in surprise when I said I liked a few things that she is doing for her students.

I am not very sure if the teacher appreciates what she is doing. Is it just a job or does she love her profession? She seems to have pre-formed notions & opinions and does not think beyond that. She said things I aleady know about aadi. What I would apprecite is to give us insights about how things can be made better. I have only one kid & she intercats with 30 kids a day..and I wud expect her to be more of a specialist....am I expecting too much?

Rita & me were talking about printo...more and more outlets in India are trying to Project them as a Brand and they are also charging a premium for that. But, at the end of it I do not get personalised service..or even worse a good standard service. It took Rita several hours to get our visiting card and brochure done at printo. This expierience has been very bad and we have decided to go to out next door local provider, to get the course material printed for our next session.

I wonder what a Brand means? What kind of service can we expect from Brands? Why do they charge premium? Just because they have 10 or 20 outlets in the state / country can they call themselves a Brand? Be it a school or a printing outlet or a electronics shop. We pay through our nose, our hard earned money. Is it wrong to expect a better service?

With retail stores mushrooming, I feel consumers are being taken for a ride, more and more. hmm what are my options?

Thirupathi

I wish I had some photos from the weekend Thirupathi trip. It is always a pleasure to see aadi enjoying out station trips. All three of us enjoyed this one, a ITDC package trip. This time the Dharshan took much more time than the previous one that we went 4 years back. I need to rework on the timing , have to check when it is best to be there, with least crowd. May take one of those seva tickets in Dec...not sure. But, what happened was amazing, for no reason I suddenly got a feeling that I have to be in Thirupati, and we were there in less than a week, no major planning. Unless god wishes this cant happen. After almost 4 years going there was great. This was aadi's second trip (but of course he remembers very little from his first trip).

Looking forward for some more outing this year, with family.

revival of reading...

The first fiction that I read was Pride and Prejudice when I was doing my graduation. Till then either I dint have access to books or no time to read anything, other than school books. Till date this book has remained my favourite. I liked the Indian version movie with Ash.. just for the reason that it was a lift off from PnP.

During my PG days Di introduced me to lending library ( a concept I never knew existed..hmm real frog in the village well). The toughest read was fountain head by Ayn Rand. I could not relate with the ideas and feelings expressed by the protagonist. I attempted reading the book several times and kept the book for almost a month and couldn't do much...except the rental library started sending me postcards reminding that the book was overdue. I finally gave up.

The other book that caught my attention was Picture This by Joseph Heller, yes this is the same author who wrote the famous catch 22. I couldn't complete the book for some reason, but I want to read it some day...I was so impressed with the little I read, I bought catch 22 when I saw it in a Mysore Book shop. Unfortunately it is one of those long list of books that I have bought but yet to read.

Mahesha and me share the passion for books. I wish I pursue this hobby more aggressively than today. Of late there has been severe power cuts in B'lore. It meant one good thing, no TV for time pass, so I have gone back to books and finished two books recently. Both are fictions, and I enjoyed thoroughly. Deception point, though unrealistic, it was quite engaging. Stone Cold by David Baldacci was the other book, similar book, not realistic but engaging. I usually like narration which has parallel tracks that merge at the end of a book.

I am hoping I can pull & start reading those 'many books' that I have collected and never read.

aadi's first pet

Aadi has been looking forward to have his own pet. His initial pick was dog. All the nice movies show them friendly, loving and best of all 'can perform tricks', since having a dog meant high maintenance, I was not too much for it. Also, I am a cat loving person. But, then cats were also no no as we stayed in apartment.

Finally, we have settled for FISH. Hoping it is low maintenance and also, it can answer those umpteen questions aadi has on vegetarianism. He was asking "my friends say egg is good for health, why don't we eat?". Well, we are vegetarians..thatz all was my explanation. Sometimes i think I should give him the choice to eat egg. hmm I donno, I am not ready for it.

Now we have 5 pairs of fishy...aadi has named them sharky, zebra, goldie, sky and blackie. All in pairs. We got them home yesterday and we had the first casualty today. I guess one of the sharky could not stand the water change and I am hoping the other survive. We replaced the dead one, so that the other sharky doesn't feel lonely.

But, it was a sad experience for all 3 of us to see the fishy dead. Hoping we will have the rest survive. I also found this very informative site for anyone looking to have fish as pets, http://www.algone.com/ .

Best Vs Right

Many times I see shops, organizations, education institute using the term best of breed. I as an individual go for branded items over local maal, only till I am assured the quality and service is same across, then I don't hesitate to move towards the local maal. As I keep thinking more about leafsol, and how to go forward, what strikes me a lot is the argument of Best vs Right.

When I bought my first car, I had a set of constraints and requirements, just like any product / services demand in the market. I wanted something that I can afford, was economical, not necessarily look for a loan, can navigate B'lore roads easily and something that can give me the comforts of a car. Since the nano of nineties, our good ol' 800, it was our immediate choice.

We never thought of Zen. Zen met all the above criteria and also projected a class image that 800 didn't give. But then having 800 in itself gave us a definite image in my family which was sufficient and so I went for it and am happy till date. Similar was the case when we needed a Sedan we went for VFM model Indigo and a petrol version as we stayed in city most of the time.

Having a super dude on the team is not essential, but the right dude ...YES. So having the "best fit" is all that matters and not the "best of breed". I am sure that's what India needs now :).

Power Cuts

Last evening brought me some sweet memories from childhood. We had almost a 3 hour long power cut, our inverter is not working so I had spend the time in candle lights and with the single emergency light. I remembered how we used to enjoy power cuts when I used to stay in our village.

The earliest memory is how amma used to light up the kerosene lamp and some times the lantern, which I used every year in my school drama as a shepherd who visited Jesus when he was born. I guess these will be some sort of antique pieces today.

I used to love the smell of the soot. Cleaning that soot used to be quite interesting. amma would ask us to use the rangoli powder for the cleaning the glass shade. But still there will be not a single scratch on the glass shade, and would sparkle. I used love it when the glass was put back in the slot. A perfect fit.

Power cuts would be a major problem during the school exams and we used to study with those lamps and I always felt good when I scored well in those papers. I guess candles were expensive or may be it was not freely available in our village, so it used to be just these lamps. Having these kerosene lamps were luxury too, as I remember our tenants and neighbors would use a empty medicine bottle and put some old cloth for a wick through the lid and use it for a lamp. Of course it was not fuel efficient with excess smoke and one cant raise the wick as it burns.

But power cuts were always interesting as the neighbors would all come to our house and we would sit outside in the "thinnai'. Play word games, talk about the last movie we saw in detail. Count the stars. Enjoy the summer breeze. All in all I would regret when the power came back, as everyone would go back to their homes.

But slowly things did change in our village and we got the first TV in our neighborhood. So Sundays meant having atleast couple of dozen people from the near and far neighborhood descending to our house to watch the Sunday Tamil movie. It used to be a mini mela. My sister cursing the TV as she cant prepare of the board exams and power cut was a blessing for her.

But then there were days when all of us wanted to watch the movie and a fault on friday evening near our house meant no one would attend it till Monday. No way to raise a complaint as we didn't have phones and we had to walk about 4 kms to the electricity office. Me and my friend were desperate to see that week movie and we did walk down to the EB office on one such Saturday, but the lineman simply refused to attend the problem till Monday. We were heart broken, as we missed the weekly movie.

Things were no better when we moved to Madras in the early 90s. It just got worse. Power cut meant no fans, which never bothered me in our village. It was worse with the mosquitoes singing into our ears and hurting us by biting for our anemic blood.

Today life is relatively better, with inverters, power cut is not something my son feels much about. But, still there are villages whch have 12 hours powercut during summer or even no power.

And life goes on, I found this site http://www.thrive.in/index.htm with some intresting actions happening, in case you want to help.

Its tough to be GOD

One of my favorite Jim Carrey movies is Bruce Almighty. Isnt it tough to be GOD. So many wishes and so little time.

I was seeing a bill board ad at Makeri circle. It was in Kanada and I couldn't read it. But I knew what the ad was about. There is some kind of pooja in the Palace at the palace grounds tomorrow for Tirupati Venkateshwara swami. I came to know of it from my Uncle and Aunt who got free pass for it. The best part was, they got the passes from a total stranger. So they feel God has blessed them in some way. I too think so, else why would a stranger give then passes.

They are not the most perfect humans and I have been having many complaints about them. But, I am sure they have been lucky and GOD choose to listen to them, in the little time he has, which he shares with the 6 billion humans and millions of other creatures.

Many times I think he can manage this only because he comes in several forms, like Vishnu, Siva, Krishna, Durga, Lakshmi, Saraswathi, Father of Christ, Allah etc. I really appreciate that we Hindus were able to assign different responsibilities to diff rent deities, making life marginally easy for our dear god.

And as these thoughts kept popping in my mind, my unease I had since last week has vanished and I kind of got a hang on what to do next in my Career. Well GOD was listening to me too. mmmm that's good.

I hear there is a sequel coming for Bruce Almighty, but no Jim Carrey in it...hmmm that's a bit disappointing.

Dreams

I guess everyone has dreams that repeat time to time. There has been dreams that have made me so happy and have left my spirits high for several days, as a kid. Today I no longer get such dreams. There is one type of dream that I always love. A dream where I am visiting temple. I hardly go to temple. May be once or twice a year. I believe god lives in each one of us and connecting to him is possible at any time. Though visiting temples is always a very comforting feeling.

So the other day, when I had a dream where I was in a temple and as usual I was able to get a glimpse of the murthy, I was quite elated. The next day when I remembered the dream I felt positive and good. But, in reality I am going through not so great situation.

I really dint like the party on Thursday. I dint feel like myself, and then when I reached home Mahesha shared a news that resurfaced some long forgotten dream, a dream that was not from my sleep, but a longing , a day dream. When you start your own family, many such dreams are buried deep and forgotten. Many compromises are made to have a happy life.

I was thrilled when Mahesha shared a news and all those long forgotten dream resurfaced, and only to be short lived. Since then I am so unsettled. Praying to God to give me the strength to move on with life. Last night I had a nightmare.

Not sure if some one can interpret this, my house was burning, looks like I set it on fire to escape from something, but the fire became so huge and beyond my control I was so worried for my valubles, and there was no way for us to escape and I couldn't find my son. By the time I am so exhausted and I see a huge fire engine dozing the fire in my neighbours apartment and not paying any attention to my screams. Then I am busy looking for something valuable to take when I escape and I cant decide what it is. I don't want the fire engine to putout the fire and wet my home, my documents !! Finally the fire dies. My house is intact and I am upset that the fire department may say my house is not in a condition to live and I am so upset about loosing my house though it still looks sturdy...

mmmm wonder what this means???

Musings

Its been 4 months since I left my job. Just thinking on what I have achieved since then...Its very difficult to crystallize and pin point on what I have achieved. But, I have certainly been thru a lot of emotions. Before it was always about me, my carrier and I did what I felt was the right thing to do to keep it going. My family and friends were always after that.

But now things have changed. Giving time to aadi, especially his summer hols spent in US was good. Not perfect but better than the normal days. Ideally I wanted him to make more friends and move around and become a better people person. But, what ever happened in reality was also good. Now I have a long list of places to visit with him. Both, at home and abroad. I just pray to god, that we can do some of it, if not all.

Life has been more peaceful since I left my job. The biggest surprise of all has been the emotions that I am reading from everyone I meet. It’s like walking on Razors edge. The minute I stopped looking at just me & my ambition and started looking at how things are around me, it has been a overwhelming set of emotions. I find it hard to stay detached and play a fair game. When to get involved and when to detach, its a huge question and i find it difficult always. One big learning, YOU CANT MAKE EVERYONE HAPPY!!

Whom to choose and whom to drop (including my own self) has been very difficult. Like this morning discussion with a dear friend was difficult. And the degree of stubbornness (I donno if there is a word like that) I see in lot of people around me...it makes me wonder why am I the way I am?? But all these have taught me couple of more lessons.

HEALTH IS WEALTH.
NEVER BURN YOUR BRIDGES.

hmmm...so many random thoughts are popping up in my mind. I need to find answer to one BIG question in my mind. WHAT NEXT??

God show me the path....

Home sweet home

Getting back home has been really good. Aadi is still sleeping..He may have tough time getting to school tomorrow. I am also not in best of my spirits..hope I can stay awake thru the day.

Looking back, last 45 days have been a real roller coaster of emotions and expierences. I enjoyed all the outings we had. Atlanta, Niagara and Orlando were great. Hospital was the worst. But I guess we need a low for a high. Life can't be all good things, how else can we learn to appreciate the good things in our life.

This trip has made me stronger person in some way. Guess have to get back to work from Friday. Hope it can wait till Monday. My mind is clutter with a long list of To Do.

Its going to take time to get things in order.....

Getting Back

4 more days to get back home...I am looking forward to it. It is going to get very busy. Aadi school starts. Leafsol work will start. Renu will be gone. Need to bring the new one upto speed. But I am sure I will like all this better, being back at home after a long time will be good.

Cant belive its been a week since Mahesha went back. The long drive from Orlando to Atlanta was very good. It reminded me our SFO trip. This is better than that, with aadi around and minus Kamal Prasad, this trip was great.

Wish we had more time, but the short ones make it more special and memorable. The Spiderman ride was something I wanted aadi to experience. Going twice on the ride was fantabulous.

Things I want to remember from my trip.

Universal

1. Universal Combo tkt purchase...that Indian lady was right in pursuing me to buy two park tkt.
2. The Woody woodpecker ride with aadi. Just found out that aadi loves rides.
3. Getting on ET ride with aadi and watching Barney live show.
4. Seeing ourselves on the screen during the earthqauke show.
5. Time spent in Adventure Island

Disney Magic kingdom & Animal Kingdom

1. The Mickey philharmagic 3D show was too good - we watched twice
2. Pirates of Carribian
3. Winnie the Pooh ride - (with aadi's restroom episode)
4. Its tough to be a bug

The highlight was the night parade and the fireworks. I am happy that Mahesha insisted that we stay for the fireworks. Eveyone loved it. It was good we went on Saturday, they were open till midnt.

Animal Kingdom was so so after Magic kingdom. But the tree of life was done very well. I immediately remembered the picture bhuvana sent. It was the same tree , saying it is a natural tree in India!!!

On the whole the 3 days was quite memorable, inspite of all hardships...mahesha missing connecting flight. My uncle and aunt not able to match our pace. HOT HOT sun...everything fades away and I just remember the great time me, aadi and Mahesha had.

Would live to do more of this. Atleast one vacation per year. Even if it is in India. Just 3 of us will be great.

Disney and Universal

more later....

My little venture

As I am travelling in a far away land
My little dream is shaping up in my home land
I am happy and sad all at a time
Happy the dream is up and fine
Sad it is, as suddenly it is no more mine
Its happening and I dont even know
Should I worry 'n cry or smile 'n laugh...
Tell me my dear friend !!

The Amazing Niagara...

This is one trip I would remember for several reasons, the foremost ofcourse is the beautful and amazing Niagara...I dint know that Niagara was a falls on a strait between two lakes. I always thought lakes were one big pool of water and never imagined that two lakes can be connected through one of the biggest falls in the world .

aadi enjoyed the trip most...And I fell sick after my retun, guess the water dint suit me ;). So, had to delay my post.

The trip was quite eventful. When we left from Atlanta, delta had overbooked seats so we were on seat request. I dont understand this funda. We were on tenterhooks till the last moment and finally a old couple were ready to take the delta offer and dint board and we got onto to the plane.

Then at Buffalo we missed our motel sign and had to roam around for almost an hour to find it. With all these misadventures we decided to make most on day1 and be as early as possible on day2 at the airport...we dint want to miss our flight back, with my sis alone in atlanta and the Tornado warnings, meant we need to reach home as soon as possible. But, this meant 6 hrs of waiting at the airport. Just before we were to get onto our flight, there was an announcement about security breach and we had to go thru the security check all over again and thus delaying our flight.

Well all this hardship does fade away when I think of the magnificient Niagara. I could have planned better by taking Canadian Visa. The view is great when you face the falls than when you are behind the falls (obviously). I liked the view when we were on the maid of the mist ride, I can imagine how Canada gets to make more money by selling the beauty that is on American side..so ironical.


On the whole it is worthful to visit Niagara. With limited budget I cudn't make to NY city. Hoping there is another day, another trip. Looking forward to Orlando trip, next week.

Home Sick...

I am not sure why I am feeling this way..Guess I am home sick.....I miss my house... miss Mahesha..and my freedom to step out of the house in my own terms...

Great weekend...

We had a wonderful weekend ... I had been to world of coke and Ruby falls before. But, the experience is really different when I went to these places with aadi. The world of coke had been completely redone since I went and the 4-D show was great. Aadi was scared and happy to be there. Though he doesn't like coke, it was nice to go there and see stuff. I couldnt get the teddy with coke, I wanted to but for Nisha :(

The evening B'day party was also good. Meeting more Indians is a nice thing.

The Atlanta aquarium is very good. I always wanted to see a penguin for real and was happy to see them. Aadi loved them and was happy to see the Jelly fish and all other sea animals he learnt last year at school. Wish we had something so impressive in B'lore. Raj bava was amused by the words vade mudhe ... aadi said after the 4-D show the aquarium.

Ruby falls trip was very interesting for aadi. Going down a cave is something I wanted him to experience. He was a bit scared to see the complete darkness down under, just then the lights were switched on and the falls was impressive, though incomparable to what we plan to see this weekend, the Niagara, ofcourse...

Fun at Home...

Ok, my highly adaptable son is having MAX fun at home. He has played umpteen India Vs Australia matches and obviously India has won. And of late US has started playing cricket too. Guess it is IPL style, so it is Bangalore Vs NY. And again it is Blr that always wins. Curiously, when Blr is batting it scores so many 6s. But, when it is NY they get duck out :).

Damages till date, One screen rod is down. Not sure what the expense will be to get it fixed.

The next thing he loves is to collect mail from the mail box and stand in the sun.

The third thing is he has a fixed TV time. From 1 to 3 pm. There are some lovely educative programs on PBS kids. He likes word power, in between lions, super readers. All teach spelling, and it is right for his age. I like the US gov program "No child left behind". So he has his routine set.

The other thing we did yesterday was to visit the play area and the pool. He cant get into the pool yet as the weather is cold. But the play area was decent. Wish it has sand instead of those wooden pieces. I don't understand the Kunjoosi-ness of these US builders.

Finally, highlight of yesterday was, I drove the car at close to 0 Km/hr, from the play area to our house. Man, I would love to drive. Thatz one thing I love, but too timid to do...

Week 1

I am still settling and aadi has been cool. No jet lag. He is not WOWed by US of A. Guess two reasons. One, everything is new experience for him, being a six year old. He does recognise a few diffrences, but not wowed yet at anything. Second, bangalore has most of the wow factors already. Unlike 10 years back today Bangalore can fit into any of the US cities easily, except for the roads. Aadi is not happy with the weather and so am I. Hate such cold weather.

Made hot idlis today...felt at home. Except I was in no mood for chutney so substituted with ketchup. Aadi is such a sweet kid. He is so easy to manage. Does not bother me. Except the wooden floor, which makes his running around a nightmare.

Houses in US are strange. I dont understand the reason for wooden houses. I think, brick and mortor can hold the tornados and winter weather better than these houses. I want to venture towards the play area today, else aadi will be bored. I dont want such a high spend vacation without any fun. Week end plan, go to Ruby falls, stone mountain park, aquarium and downtown. Hope the weather cooperates.

I have to get my digital cam stuff to download. Hope will get some good shots.

Switching gears...

I am in anticipation of the possiblities for next 36 hours. I think I am a dare devil in many ways...otherwise why will I do this trip. I like the US of A, for many reasons. I fell in love with that place 10 years back and also fell in love with Mahesha, thanks to US of A...I will never forget the magic of Lake Tahoe. So I have all the reasons to like that country.

But, the 24 hr journey, it is not what I like. The cramped economy class seats...nothing to look forward. Plane journey is nothing but those trips I used to have from my home to eCity in BMTC bus, but, multiplied 12 times. When it is that bad, why do I do it. Plus the current situation I am in. The Pain killers are marginally helping, but I dont think I can lift any weight. Plus my big list of fears and phobias and motion sickness. Going with a 6 year old is such a huge responsibility. hmmm I am a dare devil. I read somewhere that the only way to get rid of some fears is by facing it! Spending 1.5 lacs for that, is it foolishness??? No answers are going to help. I am in a mood for some dare devilry :))).

Guess I will write all about it in after about 48 hrs !!

Open book...

OK..I am still very negative about certain things happening in my life..this is in continuation to my blog on "Right to talk". As a kid I strongly believed in my life being an open book. No secrets and no lies. Me being (lazy) me, and with poor memory retention, I always found it difficult to remember what story I spun and to whom, especially after that big one I told to my mom (I will never forget the after effects).

I took this stand that I will be an open book. No secrets and no lies. O M G it is so difficult to do that today in a grown up life. Essential truth (not necessarily lies) are required, to make your kid happy, your in-laws happy, your parents happy and most important of all,to keep one self happy.

But of late this has gone to certain level in my life, that I distrust many in my circle. Rita told me today, that I start with distrust in every relationship. May be because of what I have gone thru in the adult life in last 1o years, I have such an attitude!!

But then there are these other individuals who claim to be simple and gullible and then protecting everything about their inner selves. I am led to the conflict of developing trust with the limited, outer self I know about these individuals or destructing the consciously hidden outer self.

Of course, I know I will never know anyone for what they are and need to learn to live with the limited knowledge of the outer self and also learn, at what point I need to scratch the surface and see into an inner self of a person.

The right to talk....

When ever I see an American movie, one thing that catches my attention is the rights that are read out when someone is arrested. The right to remain silent. In India one of the fundamental rights is right to talk / express our opinion.

As a kid when I had a fight with a classmate the right I always exercised is the "right to remain silent". And in my eyes the other party looses their right "to express their opinion". It has continued till date. If some one has hurt me, then the first right they loose is the right to speak with me, until they have apologised for what they have done.

As we grow up, relationships become more complicated and does not come in vanilla flavour, and these rules change. But, it hurts , it hurts when some one thinks they have all the liberty to talk, when they have hurt me with their silence in the first place. Not only talk but further hurt my sentiments.

hmmm.... thinking hard on how do I break this chain?

Being an entrepreneur

As I continue to think about the possible business to get in, multiple questions keep poping up in my mind. One of them is "What does it take to be an Entrepreneur". One of my friends keep telling me that she is not an entrepreneur material (?!). Then there is another school of thought that only the hybrid of techie + management material can succeed if you want to be an entrepreneur in IT field. Well my feeling is
1. Should be able to multi task
2. Have more risk appetite than average human being
3. Perseverence
4. Trust in your self and your partners (I do not mean faith).
5. Thick skin

are some of the traits we need and these can be cultivated and not necessary to be born with. Not all can be born in a baniya family to run a profitable business. And not all need to be a techie to invent something.

One of the greatest invention of mankind is Time, and how to measure time. Fire was a great discovery, where as time was invented by Human. And this was invented in all parts of the world. We measured time diffrently in different parts of the world; in Kannada and Tamil we measure it in Jama / Jamam and is in different measures in different parts of India and has evolved beautifully into calendars and astrology and various art and science form. Though human life has been impacted hugely by this invention I am not sure how techie was the guy (gender neutral) who invented it or it was used in a Business sense.

Imagine in some ???? BC
Day 1
Cave Man's Daughter: Mamma, why is papa not at home?
Mom: It is morning. Papa has gone to get food.
Daughter: When will he come?
Mom: When you feel hungry.
Day2:
Daughter: Mamma, when do I get hungry
Mom: When your papa comes home
Daughter: When will papa come?
Mom : When the sun is on top of your head. (vola mom started to measure time...)

When the Daughter grew up and became a mom herself.

Mom: Son, I am going to get collect some firewood will be back soon
Son: When will you come?
mom: When the tree shadow comes near the cave

So they soon started to improvise time measurement ...

So great ideas can come from any conversation...Just need to keep eyes and ears open and willing to experiment. There is no right or one way to define what it takes to be a entrepreneur. But if we stop being alert, stop dreaming and and stop chasing the dreams, then one can forget the word Entrepreneur.

Krazzy 4

I dont know why I keep doing this again and agian...I went to see another Hindi Movie..Comedie genre. Hoping for some humor. I am not sure who is crazy here. Must be me who spent 750 bucks for a multiplex family expirence.

I could easily count the number of times I would have laughed. Very few witty lines and a overkill of using national anthem. We were good citizens when they played the anthem in the beginning, but, half the theatre refused to get up when the anthem was played in between. First, the theatre was still settling from the interval. My lap was filled with all eatables, including the ones aadi dumped on my lap so he can stand for the anthem. I was left feeling guilty for not standing up. I kept cursing who ever thought of that plot.

The saving grace was the Jackson style dress that SRK had and his mega screen presence for the three min he was on. I am not an ardent fan of SRK, but felt his screen presence after all that krazzy stuff. I was thankful that the movie got over. The mini dance by Hrithik was not good enuf to boost our morale. Me and Mahesha finally decided enuf of this....tilll the next time we go krazzzzzy.

humor me

Humor...the most toughest emotion. As a kid we are born crying and it is so easy to slip into that emotion through out our life. Humor we learn as we grow and is a difficult emotion. But it is a contageous emotion. I started watching many of the English sitcoms. The very first one that I watched during ther DD days was Yes minister. I couldnt follow a word in it. But I smiled every time there was this group laughter. Before we knew, the style had caught up with the DD serials. The first one I remember was Dhek bhai Dhek which used to come in DD metro. Those were the days were cable TV had just started but it was a big NO in my house.

I watch this reality show called last comedian standing. It is difficult to follow thier humor. But, I do love watching the reruns of Friends, Sienfeild, Fraser and other such sitcoms. Humor has no borders, no age and it will be a hit any day, if it is clean and good. Evidence TuTu Mein Mein, Crazy Mohan show in Tamil and the host of malyalam movies remade in Hindi.

Whay say? Can you Humor me.

My Dreams.. My life...

I had a nice long chat with a good friend of mine yesterday. It is helping me chase my dream to be a entrepreneur , I want to refine my dream and say I want to be a successful entrepreneur one day. I know I have to start today. Stop fearing and start doing. It is not like I am sure if i have is right big idea that I should chase, will I have the right set of people to support me etc. The last three to four months there have been lot of ideas that have been floating.

But, finding this site http://onstartups.com/ on start up cleared a lot of things for me mentally http://blog.proto.in/2008/02/23/startups-do-fail-whats-new/ is another good one. I am sure I want to be a entrepreneur and also a successful one.

I would prefer to attempt climbing this mountain than just being a salaried IT professional. Hope god, family and my friends are with me!

Back...

Back after the whrilwind tour. A lot happened in just less than 78 hours.

Chennai has not changed much in 8 years. I was intially surprised to see that there is no MALL culture in Chennai. But later it all made sense. In place where Saravana Stores is a cultural symbol, it will be difficult to have Forums and Garuda. I also liked the fact that the anna salai stretch dint have mordern glass buildings. It was a refreshing sight in comparison to our MG Road, where all hertigae buildings like hotel Victoria, Cavery Jn are now replaced with mordern steel and glass buildings.

Aslo, another good thing was seeing Mahesha away from his computer. He was relaxed & took care of everything. With my tension rising all the time it was great to see him cool. Aadi loved the beach. He would have played there all day. Next time, any beach trip, I should plan better so that aadi gets all the time he wants in water.

I missed a few things this time in Chennai. Couldn't take the Suburban Train. That's one thing aadi should experience. Hoping there will be another time in Chennai, when we will take the train. The other thing I missed was T-Nagar and Ranganathan St shopping. I saw my college campus, from outside. Would have been nice to get inside and show aadi where I studied.

One thing I will really cherish from the trip is the autograph I got from PBS. He was really sweet and also gave us a picture oppurtunity with him.