Dear Grandma, Get well soon !

I have always shared a love-hate relationship with my grand mom. I love her for everything she has done for me all these years. My career would have come to a naught if not for her. My education went well only because she took care of us . I owe so much in my life to her I don't have words to describe it all. But then being a different gen..I had umpteen differences of opinion.

I donno if I can call her brave or timid. She went and stayed in the North, when no one did it in her family. She braved all odds to bring up my mom and then us. But now she is so frail and I could see fear in her eye. When I turn this old, I guess I will have similar fears. I pray to god she recovers fast and gets home soon. I hate it when doctors and even other patients ask her age and feel she has had a complete life I would love to see her around for another 20 years and hit a century.

CC2C - A poor copy of Kungfu Panda...

Aadi was waiting for CC2C and we got the tickets easily on the third day..that too a Saturday. I guess CC2C was inspired by the fact the Olympics was held in China and someone wanted to cash in on the China theme and then saw Kungfu Panda and decided to make a hindi version out of it and lifted the key themes...

1. Cooking as family business
2. Shooting to the sky and delayed gravity ...which looks good only in Cartoons
3. A teacher not willing to teach kungfu to the silly hero
4. One's strength comes from one's self belief etc.

With poor screen play I kept yawning several times. There is nothing that can make you say wow. Even the 'great wall' shots look very poor and there are no great out door shots of China...

The story of a 25 paise coin

Little Aadi had a science project. He went to the nearby kirana shop and got some Raggi seeds. Picked up an empty Srikand cup and filled it with mud to plant the seeds. As he gathered mud he discovered an unrecognisable coin. He put it aside as if it was some junk and went on to complete his science project. Watered his Raggi seeds and left it in the balcony so that nature can take care of rest.

His mom picked up the strange looking piece this morning and cleaned it with some water and soap and found it to be a 25p coin minted in 1988. 20 years of life only to end up in the mud with no one to bother.

She was wondering what is the story of this one?

TWENTY years back I came out shining and proud along with my brothers & sisters from the mints of RBI. I was all set to be part of the great Indian economy. Soon I realised there were shinier cousins made from steel and many were fascinated by. But I was still proud to be part of the growing Indian Economy.

I started changing hands from the Bank into the common mans hand. I went on several bus rides. Saw new pair of hands at the pan shops. Kids used me to buy mints, chalks and other fancy stuff. Soon I lost count on how many hands I changed but I kept rolling. Once in a while I ended up in a house wife change box or a kids piggy bank, where I met my siblings and cousins and shared interesting stories we had. How we had I had jumped off once to see world on my own, but a pair of hands soon grabbed me. I heard amazing stories from each one of them.

Once in a while I also met the biggies like 10 rupees and 20 rupees. The best was when I landed in the Tirupati Hundi. I met the humble 5 paise coin there and also the great Don - 1000 rupees note. I wonder how it feels to be made of paper where you cannot role.

Then one day to my shock a pair of hands refused to take me. This kept repeating several times in matter of few weeks and after that I ended in another small Hundi. Soon i heard similar stories from all my cousins and also from my big brother 50 paise coin. I saw that we had not moved many hands unlike before.

I decided this was the best time to see world on my own and jumped out. No one chased me this time. After rolling for some time I was tired and I decided to sleep. I kept seeing darkness for a long time and I waiting patiently for many many days.

Yesterday a kid picked me and woke me from my looonnnng slumber. And a lady even clicked a few photos. Guess I am becoming all important again :)))).

Newsmakers

So how does Mahesha spend his day?

Obviously, more than 90% of his his awaken hours get spent on office work. The next 10% is split between the newspaper and us ( me and aadi) in 70:30 ratio. We get 3 different papers everyday. Other than this, we also get Kannada Paper, Mid day and other tabloids randomly many times a week.

I wonder what can be different about the same news that is printed in all these papers. There have been many days when I have not seen that newspaper, though I pick it up from the doorstep everyday. Of late, in last couple of months, news seems to be pouring in just for our Newspaper. Starting with US election and its results, Mumbai tragedy, Satyam bust, Oil strike, Slumdog success...there is a constant stream of variety in the happenings around us. All this means more junk at home. What an impressive list of Newsmakers !!

PS: I should remember to call the radhiwala early this month.

மணல் கயிறு

மணல் கயிறு - One of the Tamil movies I loved a lot during my school days . Kittu puts 8 conditions that are to be satisfied by his bride, who his family will be picking for him. Obviously the girl whom he ends up marrying satisfies none and this lead to a hilarious and thought provoking drama.

I was watching the Telugu version of the same the other day. When I watched the movie many years back I was all supportive for the lead lady who doesn't meet the conditions, but happens to be docile and well mannered. When I watched it this time, though I enjoyed the humour I dint like the motive.

Even today a marriage is a life long commitment in any society. Though divorce is a possibility, the aim is to lead a HAPPY married life and not a aim at divorce. Making promises and not keeping them makes minds incompatible. And it takes a lot of effort to turn around such marriages and I guess such marriages just becomes marriage of (in)convenience in long run and affects everyone in that family. It is surprising to see Kittu accepting his wife so easily. Will it happen in real life?

I saw more elements of reality in KJo's Kabhi Alvidaa Naa kehana for that matter.

Another new year..another surprise

Mahesha surprised me today with dinner at Windsor Sheroton's Dakshin restaraunt. When I was all determined to have a quite day, Mahesha continues to surprise me.

Jeya Vijaya - Some facts that I din't know

Our year end vacation involved many temples and I was trying to give aadi more info on Indian Mythology. I forgot the names of gate keepers at Vaikuntum when I was narrating the story of Hiranyakasipu. But, managed to tell aadi about their 3 births as Hiranyashaka & Hiranyakasipu, Ravan & Kumbakarna, Kamsa & Shishupala.

Later, when we visited the srirangapatnam temple I was showing the Majestic statues of the gatekeepers at the temple entrance and my Mom-in-law quickly helped me with the names Jeya & Vijaya.

I was googling on their name today to find the name of the sage who gave them the curse. Only then I realised I got the names wrong in the last birth. Per Amarchitra kata, the story goes like this:

"Jaya and Vijaya, the guards at Vishnu’s abode, were vain and rude and were cursed to be born thrice in the world of mortals. The contrite guards were subsequently permitted one concession : they would be killed in each of their separate births by one of the incarnations of Vishnu.

Thus, first they were born as Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashipu, next as Ravana and Kumbhakarna and last as Shishupala and Dantavaktra.

While the first two pairs were leading characters in their times, Shishupala remains a minor character in the Mahabharata and Dantavaktra, almost a nonentity.

Shishupala for all his show of valour remains a man of straw. In fact his only distinction was that he died at the hands of Krishna. He is also remembered as the jilted suitor of Rukmini."

Thats intresting....BTW, I also came to know there are two types of vaikuntam Sri Vaikuntham Or karya Vaikuntham a replica of Sri Vaikuntham in the material world!!
http://www.indiadivine.org/audarya/bhakti-list/130857-jaya-vijaya-episode.html

I am yet to get the right name(s) of the sage(s) who gave the curse to Jeya Vijaya. The wikipedia is not too clear http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaya-Vijaya

Trivia

I like this futuristic gadget. A portable personal media player. http://www.myvu.com/default.aspx. Also realised that there are USB wall adpters. Now i can charge the iPod without booting my laptop.

Rat-a-duet

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

After a good 2 week vacation its going to be back to the good ol' routine for Aadi and Mahesha. But, I need to start looking out for routine. My work for next couple of days have been set, all thanks to the rat we have been spotting off and on in our house. We had though we managed to chase it out once, but we were wrong.

The Jerries (T&J), Remmies (Ratatouille) and Stuarts (Stuart Little) look good in TV / Big screen but definitely not welcome in my house. When we left for Mysore last week I believe my unwelcome guest had made himself comfortable in the balcony and I had closed all the shutters and the garbage was obviously empty, leaving the little guest all hungry. He had managed to live on chewing my sons school shoes and guess it was not tasty or it dint give him his energy.

He had then climbed into our bathroom and gnawed on the bathroom door and made enough room to escape into our bedroom. I am sure after that he found enough food to stay alive and healthy.

When we returned home last night I was shocked to see heap of all the wooden pieces near my bathroom door and let out a war cry against the little enemy. By around 2 AM I heard screams in my house and I saw Mahesha and my Father-in-Law standing in the hall with brooms and talking strategy. I quickly ram inside the bedroom locked the door and snuggled near Aadi and waited.

I heard some major noise in our kitchen and later heard the victory cry. This time the rat was officially dead. What provoked a 2 am battle? Well I guess the RAT did not realise the humans were back to their territory and it ran on my FIL. That was the end.

But the dead rat doesn't mean RIP. I have a strong doubt that a RAT family may be in my storage. I need to get the whole place cleaned up and I am gonna be busy atleast for next couple of days. If more followup is needed I am gonna be busy much longer. he he hee.