Namma Ooru!!

I have always had a special place for Chennai and Bangalore in my heart, while the same has never been true with Hyderabad! Seriously, all my Hyderabad friends, trust me when I say I have many, will kill me reading this, but that is the truth.. I never hated the city, it is just that I did not have anything worthwhile there, that could make me love the place. May be I ll alter my opinion to subsequently falsify what I said earlier if I have a better Hyd-experience, sometime later. 

Coming back to what I actually want to say, I can't vouch as much for Chennai as I can to, for Bangalore, as my stay there was not considerably that long.. I heard many of my friends complaining about the dirt, noise and the autos (Haha! ;) ). But,I must say,Chennai! What a place! I loved the food(yeah, I am a foodie!), the vivacious places, the unfathomed history the place holds, the serenity and the revel of the beach, I can go on for two days non-stop, in praise of that place. The second best thing about this place is it's unique, relentlessly vivid betiding surroundings, wherever and whenever you go. That would only be the second best thing because, the best-est (Sorry, one superlative will just not do, for what I am about to say) thing about the place is wait-for-it the People. Everyone is ever-ready to help, and anyone answers to the call, 'Anna'. There are malls and fastfoods,but there is always Dosai (yum!!),Idli and Sambar. They can all speak brilliant English, but when they meet a Tamilian they never speak in anything other than Tamizh. The love they have for their language and customs made me admire the language ever more. They have everything about modernity, but they graciously embrace their culture in tender care. I think I made my point clear enough.. I love that place..
Need I even start speaking of Bangalore? I did not even feel like I was away from home. Everyone speaks English, Kannada, Telugu and Tamil, God! they are adaptive, and they are very helpful. I never saw a city that has access to modern amenities and yet so carefully has greenery embedded right next to it. May be, the place I spent most of the time was like that, but that was in the heart of the city, what can I complain about. You get everything in Bengalooru, everywhere. And the best thing is you always see someone you know(Mostly BITSians ;) ). That was the first time I actually felt bad I was leaving a place to go home.. Well it was not just about the place, it had many other people-reasons.I have had some really bedevilling experiences in the rainy season. One of my colleague got mugged(yeah you read that right, he got mugged).Nevertheless, it is one place that changes people to their best. A place no one would ever resist to fall madly in love with..

When it comes to these two places, I would never think twice before saying "They are 'my' places! As good as Home" <gladly, with a grin!>

The point is, the other day when I was reading the newspaper, I read about the Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bombay exodus. It made me sad. The places which many people considered their homes were not so welcoming anymore, rather they were threatening the crap out of them. That lingered, as later that evening I was checking my Facebook profile and there were so many morphed humour images about the 5 SMS per day thing. First few, I was fine, reading and enjoying the humour, later on it got a bit too much of me I guess, got rubbed the wrong side. I think I was sad about the jokes that were circulating, more than I was irritated, I was sad.Or may be I lost my sense of humour, you can play the jokes on me, but these days all the jokes are about relationships,after a point of time it gets boring you see, there is so much more in humour than that(Sorry, but I grew up watching Jandhyala movies, so I think I enjoyed better jokes).Anyways, "Marry the girl/guy who sends you all 5 messages"???!!! Really?! When people are so concerned about  the national security and the crisis being faced by so many Indians that are dealing with a scarred psychosis of fear and anxiety, all we are concerned about is the messages we can send to our friends? Pardon me, but that was what I felt. It all dishes out to be.. Hmm.. may be it is a bit too strong a word to use but that was 'Shallow'. Thousands of people are moving away from what they called their home for years out of the fear of ferocity, they left behind their dreams and aspirations, education and achievements, oppurtunities and incentives, just to stay alive, in their own country, where they have the complete freedom to move. And all this, happening in the places I love so much made me even more sad. Deplorable and distressing. The first verse that our parents taught us, was "Athithi Devobhava". The first pledge we promised to honour, at school was "All Indians are my brothers and Sisters". We grew up listening to mythological stories, of Mahabharatha and Ramayana, which led to seriously endangering curses that were only a result of minimal mockery. We learnt better. And this exodus happens just after the Independence day after we all replenish our pride in our country. It is all just too ironical. And yet, there is no place, time or space for us to give a soothing to the people who are the victims of this exodus. Ok! May be I am being too heedfully grevious about this. For me to tell in the same tone as the jokes,to me, these jokes on SMS look like this: Imagine, a software engineer, had a completely screwed up day with his Project Lead shouting at him infront of all his subordinates,a huge set back in the code he was brainstorming on for months,everything that could possibly go wrong in a day went wrong to the rattling extrema and when he came home frustrated, his wife at home was complaining about her broken nail. Yeah, it is THAT lame. May be I would expect someone to be less sarcastic about the whole SMS thing and realise how essential it is to control the whole situation. It is not that I am taking a political stand on this issue, but when people can't trace the root the next obviously logical thing would be to take the situation under control by calming the nerves. It is only coherent. With the raging mobiles and multi-media services it only becomes imperative for the control to be on what quantum of information that can best be committed to the public. One need not support the SMS control actions, but one need not be so visible of their brassy sarcasm either. I am not being judgemental of the humour or the people here, it is only an opinion. One of my close friends found it to be plain humour and could pass it off in a whiff too. But only, I was expecting us to be more concerned about the greater good. This is not, having an exact idea of how others around me should be or passing judgements on people. This is only an opinion of how the events can turn into being better, if we were more sensitive to the issue. It is not a judgement. It is only reminding me of what we were taught to live with, and how paradoxically diametric our choices really are. No one would want people to speak ill of their home. May be the love I have for the places is making me say this, I do not want people to speak ill of those places, I don't want them to leave distressed.

On a larger note,coming to the censors that took course in the social media, the life line of today's communications, that friend of mine, who was actually having a stand against the course of blocking the communication quantums, and me, had a huge debate on this. Censorship regarding the tweets was being perceived as a set back to the Right to freedom of speech and expression and that the events unfolding were only being looked upon as the state's aggressiveness, barging into privacy and other issues of it's citizens. I did not want to assert my opinion on  that friend of mine but I had a different tone to set. We discussed. I was reading the paper for quite sometime now, having catoons about a famous personality I admire the most for some years now. But those cartoons did not get to my nerves, freedom of speech and expression I could respect to,then. But when the question is about national security it has to be in a safe position for whatever it takes it to be sure. Again, I can not stress this enough, but that is my opinion about the events that have been unfolding lately..

May be we can all  find a way to make peace with the SMS strain posed on us and make efforts to make people feel at home. May be, we can stop pulling jokes to make way to images  and texts that can soothe and calm their nerves. May be, we can make our homes, their homes too. May be, we can all share the fruits of falling in love with a place with asuring them that they are safe in a place where they are surrounded by fellow- citizens, their brothers and sisters. May be we can replenish their faith in the solemn avow of 'All Indians are our brothers and sisters'. May be, we can all make them love the simple phrase of 'Feel at home'.
This greatly reminds me of a Telugu song that is really thought provoking..

"Kanapadevi ennenni keratalu kalagalipi samudram antaaru, adagare okkokka ala peru..
Manakila eduraina prathi vaaru manishi ane sandrana keratalu, palakare 'manishi' ante evaru.." (Gamyam)
[The number of waves in concert together, make an ocean. We never ask the identity of each wave in separation. The populous we see everyday are the waves of humanity.. But why is it that no one responds to the call of 'human' ]

May be.. we can all prove to be more relaible and more welcoming for them, not to leave out of fear, but stay out of love! We can all,together, fly free, to chase the wind and touch the skies, only to realise our dreams and aspirations, Feeling at home, with every step we take, everywhere!

Ithu Namma Ooru!

Black and White. And also the Greys..

Just because we look, Doesn't mean we like it..
Just because we like, Doesn't mean we love it..
Just because we love it, Doesn't mean we'll love the whole..
Just because we love the whole, Doesn't mean we'll love it for all times to come..
Because, change is the only thing that is constant, 
The only thing that keeps us going.. 
The way we embrace it is the way we see, 
The perspective, the future.. 
The look might make us love the whites, 
Get awed by the blacks of the picture.. 
But, the thing is we always comfortably ignore the greys 
Only to find that the whole life lies there..

Brought up by the old, 
Growing up with the young, 
That is the rule of the nature..
We have all seen the black and the white, 
The thing is how we imagine the grey.. 
How we start treasuring it..

The bad doesn't get better without a change..
The bad doesn't get to being the best without the greys.. 
We have to pass them all.. see them all.. know them all..
And all we know, is we are comfortable ignoring them..
Though we know,the only way to change.. Is not overnight..

For all those who say, tomorrow is going to be the same..
Millions of people pity you..
Because they know that tomorrow is better..

For all those who ask, what the change was..
Take a hard look at what you do everyday, every minute..
Because,there are a million voices saying that they have seen the change..

For all those who say, no one has done anything to improve,
A billion voices, respectfully disagree..
Only to ask 'Are you the no one?'

For all those who ask, what did the land give me,for me to give back..
Millions of eyes show you that..
A mother gives you birth..
What else would you want as a reason to love her..
And make her live the way she wants?
You are what you are, because she made you that!


There is something unique in this soil, which despite many obstacles has always remained the abode of great souls.

And they are all taking the 66th step.. Only towards a brighter, happier, optimistic and sought after India..  

Where there are accessible, affordable and accountable medical facilities, literacy and education, awareness and employment, and oppurtunities for all.. Free and harmonic social relations with regulated freedom. Now that we are here, it is time to prove that every change has to be towards the better, and that we are the agents of it to happen..

But before we say something pessimistic,Let us remember that..

Shades of grey wherever we go..
The more we find out, the less that we know..
Black and white is what we wish to see..
But shades of grey are the colours we see,
May be it is just an assurance,
The blacks blend to greys.. Only to meet the whites..
Making "Life".. PICTURE PERFECT!
And every second we move towards it.. Strive for it..

-To, my mother India..!!
Nope... May be, I'd want to say,Our mother India! :)

The Rakhi Disarray

<Logged in after long> 
<Clearing all the drafts and consolidating my scribbles strewn all over>
<Posting those that don't make me look totally insane>

Rakhi Purnima, the tradition that has always been close to the hearts of all the brothers and sisters, cutting across regions in the country, the market is on a boom and the courier traffic becomes fussy, well the season is here now. Though I grew up in South India where Rakhi was and is never given much of an importance as in comparison to the North Indian traditions, the brother-sister relationship has been eulogised widely from the then Raktha Sambandham till the recent releases like the Rakhi both in cinema and in family circles,appropriately and adequately. Also a decently long acquaintance with, and exposure to the North Indian culture has helped me develop a habit, to send a Rakhi through post, every year.

Mythology says that Lord Ganesh conceded to the demands of his two sons Shubh and Labh, creating Santoshi Ma from out of the divine flames that emerged from Siddhi and Riddhi. But I am sure they did not have a cartoon Rakhi tied round their wrist as a symbol of protection and surely, they did not exchange illustrated, folded cards featuring sentiment.

Call me old-fashioned, but all that the market offered me was cosmetic-tradition this year. It was harder to find an appropriate Rakhi than ever before. I spent four hours in the market searching for a traditional, appropriate Rakhi, but all in vain, I wanted to send my brother one of those with a gold foil that are bigger than his wrist. When in school, as far as I recall, the guys in our class used to parade the big Rakhis, a proud show off it was. They also used to have those petty contests on who had the maximum number of Rakhi, it was fun. But now, all I get is the small threads fallibly bound together with a little pendant in the middle. Washy and weak were all the models I got. Apparently, they call it ‘re-inventing Rakhi’ these days, giving them a Royal touch. Royal touch, one can live with but it was more than just that, I saw a Doremon Rakhi during my quests in the market, may be that is what is called Indianizing Modern market! Emphatically, I can never call them the sacred threads of protection embellished with the love and affection of a sister for her brother and definitely, can never call it the iron chain that binds the relationship strong. Having fun models and encouraging the designers’ innovation is, well, desirable. It can be a perceivable change one can make peace with, but transforming it as a whole! While it is like this I have to mention a friend of mine who hates the tradition of Rakhi, just because he feels that, once he gets a Rakhi tied round his wrist he is accepting that his sister is weak and needs protection. And he does not like that! One hell of a feminist he is! And I admire that.. Well, I'd say, As it is brothers and sisters these days seldom meet in person, it is all a virtual space meeting and sharing through couriers and e-mails and unfortunately, that also cannot be gotten right. I know it is not about the ‘look’, it is about keeping the culture alive, but why replace it when you can just have an add-on.  After a painstakingly long ordeal in the market all I got was a fancily fragile Rakhi that was a little bigger than the others. Trust me when I say, I had a difficulty in finding the ones that looked remotely traditional with the right colours put in. It actually gets worse. The incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs is, now that the Friendship Day is here, just days away from Rakshabandhan, it is getting harder and harder to differentiate between the two, Rakhi and the Friendship bands. What my brother gets tied around his wrist today is the same as what I might get three days later, but only, they are friends. So it is all relative. If it is a family member and you tie on the full moon day, it is a Rakhi and if it is around your wrist three days later, you are a friend. I was checking my Facebook profile the other day pictures with traditional wristbands with a pooja thali carefully clicked with studio lightings and digitally edited text on the image wishing Rakshabandhan and a similar wrist band with no pooja thali, wishing Friendship day celebrations, being widely circulated made me laugh. Now that the market determines not to waste its preconceived production, it is time we bid farewell to the traditional designs and it will be much better if stop differentiating between the two. Let me leave it at, happy celebrations, whatever is round your wrist!

PS:: That friend of mine I was telling, and me, though contradicting each other in every aspect possible, have common feelings towards friendship day.. Everyday is a friendship day,friends are an inevitable part of who you are,you think there is a necessity,other than market, to have a friendship day? Not that I don't warmly receive wishes, but what is the point? I love my friends and will love and live for them no matter what.. They know it! A band or a card need not prove that, and just one Sunday out of the 52(3) Sundays, can not definitely prove that enough.. Sometimes a moment is enough, sometimes a gesture is enough, sometimes a simple smile will do, to show how precious friends are..

Long Post Script huh? :P ;)