And the winner is.........$$$$$$$$$$

Welcome aboard to a world where the winner is declared on the basis of the bank balance.Have you ever looked around and felt like the world is getting a crazier place to live in simply because you have to do a lot of unnecessary things just to fit into this world?

Success is equated to the amount of money you make.There is a crazy rush for people to buy/invest in huge properties and flats and et all...Now this one always stumped me why would you kill yourself with a huge loan to be kept paying off till you are ready to drop dead so that you can buy multiple properties??? Hey buddy isnt one gonna be enough for you to live in? The last time I knew/saw we can exist only in one place at one time... whats the mad rush to kill yourself for then?

Im not against ambition and love for materialistic pursuits, but im definitely against a pursuit just for the sake of it or for the sake of others. Sometimes I think people buy /expend themselves only to stand upto a particular level in a society which will judge them based on the property/assets they can show . Whats surprising is that you talk to the same people and they will give you a sermon on how their parents had an easy life and how life in the villages and the 'old days" was better.. Well ,excuse me... but aren't you the one complicating your own life by living upto someone elses's standards and confusing them to be your own?

I guess we are living in a planet which has been zombied out by "Success" criterion that revolves solely on money and how much of it you can churn out. Everything has become a basis and standard for how much you earn.It scares me especially on how we are influencing the coming generation.We no longer dare to encourage our children to go and find their calling in "alternative" fields simply coz the monetary benefits are perceived to be less. Are we doing the right thing here? We are stangling true talent and making our children Factory products.Each one sounding and looking the same. All in the name of competition.

Hmmmmm......

When you have just shifted out to a new City /Town /Village /Country or even just moved out to a new street the one ubiquitous question you are faced with is "so how do you find life there?". First and foremost isn't life the same everywhere? "Yeah Scotty!the life form here is different,the human species here has actually found a way to generate 6 hands!". But seriously it got me thinking and I started noticing all the things that truely felt different or weird in some cases compared to the place I have lived in all these years.

1. The moon always appears bigger than back home .Its almost as if you can stand on a hig rise building and grab the moon!Hmmm The moon was a far away object of fantasy in my land but here it looks enormous, takes on a more scientific approach when you look at it not a poetic one. Maybe thats why song writers back home sing songs praising the moon whereas here it is just "THE MOON."

2. Certain highways have deer crossing symbols,now I know its not unheard of.But here's what tickles me ,its a straight highway ,no turns or twists and the symbol pops up saying "Deer crossing next 1 mile". Wow! How the hell do the deer know that they need to cross the road right about here? I mean they are deer for heavens ,cant they just prance about and start crossing the road even before the symbol????

3.I find it extremely weird that you can actually walk upto a theatre 5 mins before the latest release and still get tickets for it.Doesnt matter even if it is "BatMan".Now this just depresses me, its almost as if you dont need to plan to watch a movie. Miss the hulaboo of getting tickets for new releases 2 days in advance.Booking tickets for the latest releases used to be like a festival celebration.

4.The foothpaths or the so called pedestrian walkways are not accesible to vehicles from the main road!!!. I mean, come on what if I want to ride the bike on the walkway to beat the traffic? Creativity on the roads is stifled in this part of the world I tell you.

5.People log onto weather.com to religiously know about the weather and only then leave their homes.And what's weirder is that the forecast is true more often than not.Now where is the fun in going out prepared for the rain?How the hell are you supposed to comprehend songs like 'Barso re' if you are always preparing to stay dry!

6.Brocolli in Pav-Bhajji in Indian restaurants.This is not just weird and depressing ITS SACRILEGE!

7.Buying Milk in cans :-(

8.There are 'Stores' on one hand and then 'Indian stores' on the other hand.

9.Sarees ,Salwar khameez ,kurtis and kurtas etc are no longer called clothes but they are called "Indian Costumes" (even by Indians).I always felt costume was a word you used for the kind of clothes jokers wear or probably something you would pick up for a fancy dress party.Why call clothes you wear in one part of the world on a regular basis a COSTUME? Ive never heard of Trousers being called "Western Costume" in India.

10.There is an election going on in this country and you dont find a single poster anywhere! I mean c'mon whats the point if you cant print posters and throw/Park them all over the city? Thats what is fun about elections!

Unresponsive responses!

I've always wondered how to respond to certain statements or rather whether I should respond at all...

For example if someone 'Thanks" you, we are all taught from day one to respond by saying "You are welcome" etc etc , a simple "Sorry" is backed up with "Its ok"( that is of course if you are polite).
Now here is my problem, how do you respond when someone expresses their condolences by stating "Im sorry to hear about the loss" ???

Do you respond by saying :
Option 01. "Its ok" ...........thats weird isnt it? I mean ,come on, the demise sure isnt ok!

Option 02. "Thank you" ..Yeah right ! Thank you that you are sorry buddy? Now thats sounds equally crazy....

Option 03. "Im sorry too" Hmm getting warmer I guess...But not quite thr is it?

Option 04. "Im at a loss for words and I dont know to respnd to you"... thats as truthful as you can get and still gets the response through. Hmm maybe thats all you can say.

Option 05.Its a different story if the person expresses their condolences in your presence ,you can just shake and nod your head and be done with it.

I personally think a minutes silence would be the apt response.

A dedication to the yummiest place on planet earth-VV Puram Chat street

Anyone and everyone who claims to have breathed the air in Bangalore for even a few months should swear by it.In fact if you ask me, to authenticate yourself as a true blue bangalorean you should be able to recite all the lovely,heavenly and not to forget the oh so 'not costly' fare from the beginning of the street to the end.

For all those zombies who have dared live in bangalore and have not yet sampled VV Puram here is a small sneak into what the street can churn up.
At the begining of the street near the arya mandir you have a shop which serves normal chat which almost every 'gaadi' on VVPCS(VV Puram chat street) specialises in,But this shop is famous for its out of this world gulkhand with fruit ice creams and of course masala soda. Right opposite this shop there is another 'gaadi' wala who sells great authentic mumbai Vada pav and Pav Bhaji... my only complaint against this guy is that he takes more time to give u ur stuff than the others ;-( .

Anyway personal grouses apart and moving on ,near the Gulkhand Ice cream wala you have an 'angaadi' which serves up mouth watering hot 'Obbattu' topped with loads of fresh desi ghee, Of course you can also get a mind boggling range of south indian fare here, right from the greatest 'Panniyaram idli' to the most simple yet crispy Dosa.

Saunter down the street and you can get yourself treated to a rare combination of 'Chitranna dosa'. Its nothing but Dosa with chitranna accompanied by the uniquitous chutney.yeah, i know no one likes to eat chitranna even if its offered free, but try it with dosa and its some thing different!

Spin around and you find yourself sampling every mans gastronomic dream 'Bondas'!.Of course apart from the boring aloo bonda,you have to try the capsicum bonda which is served with carrot and onion topings and tempered with tangy lemon juice.

And as a befitting finale to the chat street, there is a cluster of sweet shops , dont even dream of leaving the street without sampling the outta this planet Rabbadi. There is also an assortment of american corn chats on the oposite side of the VVPCS (opposite the park) for the bottomless pits. Unfortunately I do not have any pictures to give a glimse into the beauty called VVPCS. But im hoping my words made up for it.

Happpy drooling!

180 DEG of separation makes a pair of opposites...

Welcome to a world where it seems like birds of opposite feathers seem to prefer to flock together...

Haven't you ever wondered how you can have two contrasting statements like "Birds of a feather flock together and opposites attract"?

Come on...It makes no sense to have such contradicting statements existing on the same plane!I've been thinking about it for quite some time now,rather trying to figure out which one actually substantiates the world we live in and which one is more apt for today's day and age, and I must say that no two birds of the same feather are preferring each other of late by the looks of it.

Lets consider books for example,Ive seen 'N' number of my friends appreciate and swear by certain books and characters they admire idolise etc etc.. now what would you expect from someone who shows an appreciation to something.. well as a normal person i would expect them to either imbibe that personality,if not completely at least a bit of it or at least not show opposite traits in their life style...well surprise, surprise they act exactly the opposite!
I have come across almost everyone who claims to love Fountainhead and is bowled over by the character of Howard Roark,but why isn't anyone who insists
that its their fav work of fiction or literature(which ever way you chose to view it) ever want anything to do with Howard Roark or with John Galt(a character in Atlas shrugged-again by Ayn Rand) in their real life?

Is appreciation only meant for the mouth not for imbibing in real life?Don't people ever aspire to be like something they admire?Why does it stop with just an empty praise?

We never exhibit the similar attitude to materialistic likes do we??If I like/ love a dress i would immediately make it my own.What stops us from making characteristics we admire our own?Maybe it is because we no longer know the means.

I still need to fathom this incredible behaviour where we would prefer to stay far apart and admire and expect something better and good but would never aspire to become that beauty which we praise.Truly Opposites attract but its just that.. pure attraction which can brushed aside but never be made good enough to make it a part of your flock.

BLACK FOREST CAKE!!!

Isn't it a beauty????

Missed the TRAIN...

The Bangalore-Mangalore train finally chugged into place and i thought, Damn....Missed the train...
Not that I wanted to be on its maiden journey after 'N' long years, the train I missed here has nothing to do with 'THE TRAIN' rather I missed going on a trek on the Sakleshpur route which will now be completely taken over by the train.

For everyone who has no clue what the route looks like here it is:

I have never gone on this route for one simple reason... I'm ruddy scared of heights and this track though it inspires a lott of trekers, doesnt do anything to alleviate my acrophobia.Not that I never wanted to go on this route, but I have always been waiting for the right time when my fear would be on more tolerable levels.

Anyway looks like the lovely sojourn into paradise has now been replaced by a train and I'll never really get to know whats its like to walk over that track.

This incident forced me to think about the number of 'Trains' I have missed in the past. I must admit, I could almost give Southern Railways competition with the number of trains that popped up.

Why is it that we all fail to live for the moment? Certain things are better experienced now than later.You never know, they might just bite the dust of time waiting for us forever...

I’ve seen it in so many people, not doing things at one time thanks to a common stunted opinion of waiting for a better time in the future... I guess we have come to an age where missing 'Trains' has become the mantra of the day.Where is the fun in doing something at an age where you dont experience it the same way you would've at an appropriate age? Take traveling for example, I don’t care how many people tell you to believe that you can always travel the world when you are old,but trust me and I’ve seen quite a lot of old people, something gets into you when you get older, its a gooey sticky thing that makes you scared of everything and makes you dread change and of course to make things even better old age is synonymous with all kinds of ailments and who wants to carry truck loads of medication to stay alive when you would rather just carry a camera!

It’s the destination sadly all of us are focused on, but as the famous quote goes; for an ideal traveler it’s the journey that counts and not the destination... And anyway our destinations have already been scripted for us, so why miss the journey which is so breath taking?

Come to think of it, our so called journey in life is quite similar to a train ride. Here you are sitting by the window and looking at the lovely scenery whiz by. There is no coming back unless you travel on the same path again and you never know time might have sniped the scenery in your absence...

Gyaan of the day...

"Never ever suffer from 'the feeling to share' in front of someone who doesnt value the same things as you in life... on second thoughts, dont ever suffer from such delusional crap anyway."

The devil called CHANGE...

Change is ineveitable but is it desirable?

Aren't certain things in life just nice the way they are? Why do we insist on change?Im perfectly happy when i react the same way as a 3 year old to a chocalate ice-cream or a surprise gift from a friend .Why do i need to be dignified and calm when i dont feel like it at all!!!
You would say i missed an important lesson in changing over from a kid to an adult over there...
But whats the big deal with this change anyway , why would you want to slowly kill a part of you that reacts perfectly normal to fit certain standards of society?

We call change a measure of growing up... is it really growing up or is it growing the inhibition within ourselves?We surely have changed a lot as children but there is no growing up here, its just a matter of altering yourself to behave as society does...

Can't we ever live life like we did in the past? Why does our present and future have to be different from the past? Why do we need to behave differently with the same people and situations in a different way, especially if the initial way was good?

I guess change is desirable only if it transforms you like it does to a flower bud and turns it to fully bloomed flower,doesnt alter your essence just enhances it.

Nayi packet mein cheez purani...

You would exclaim the same too after you picked up a copy of the so called 'New improved Femina' magazine.

The Ads of course announce a different story about the mag.I must admit that the ads are something different, they portray 'Women with substance' to quote a cliche.

I have no complaints with the ads, they serve the purpose and make you spend for the magazine to find out whether it really is what its advertisements claim.One look at it and you know that its the same old recycled nonsense about how and why the only occupation for women should be to preen themselves and their cooking skills for men.

All right, they portray a lot of woman in the mag...now where is the substance you ask? Of course its the advertisement brochures which occupies almost 40% of the mag... so if you want glamour with advertisements or your simply bored with the rusty look of the purposeful free ads newspaper booklet pick up a femina mag...

They should consider putting a disclaimer on the mag stating that 'Conformity with the ads shoud not be expected and is not regretted'.

Ponniyin selvan -An experience

I've been meaning to write about this epic from ages. but never really put pen to paper...

The truth is any amount of reviews or words explaining this book would be wasted and it would not even begin to encompass the true beauty of this book.How do u explain an experience?(Ponniyin Selvan to me is an experience , not just another good book).There is always a possibility that my expression might dilute the reality or override your true experience with the book.

Ponniyin Selvan unlike other novels doesn't just string together events, rather it creates a melody of events which presents itself as a perfect background for the mating of the prose of the mind and the poetic characters.

Each character is well rounded and defined.This is a huge task,given the scad amount of characters in PS. Take for example the character of Poonkuzhali's father,Thyagar Vidangar,this character gets almost obscured amongst the main ones ,but Kalki has defined even Thyagar using his other character,Aniruddha Bhramayar.No word or sentence in the book can be termed repetitive .

It is a book which gently ebbs you onto a plane of imagination and from there weaves forth the Chozha country and its denizens for you.

More on PS yet to come... this is just the beginning.

The saga of buckets, cups,spoons and the like...

This is basically an astonishing (not to mention ashamed) revist back to good old english grammar basics.

All these days whenever I had to use the plural form of 'bucketful' or 'cupful' i would actually go ahead and say "bucketsful and cupsful" but apparently it isnt the correct usage ... you would need to use 'bucketfuls' and 'cupfuls' instead...

The word 'bucketful' is actually a compund noun and in all such cases you would have to include an's' at the end of the complete compounded word not in the middle.

And i was under the impression that guessing plurals of singular objects would be childs play
:-(

Dancing in the Rain!!!

No...It isnt about any romantic movie where the couple meet in the rain and dance away till the end... Its just how unique everyone feels when it starts raining.

I have not till date come across any one single person who feels absolutely neutral about rain.The feelings move from pure happiness,wonder etc to absolute disgust regarding whats gonna happen to the wet clothes and the filthy streets etc etc and they never for once stop at the neutral zone...
No sir,not a single inert mind you would find that accompanies rain...thats the magic of rain for you.

But of all the myriad feelings rain evokes , singing and dancing seem to be the most popular ones...ever wondered why? Look at most movies or even advertisements for that matter, if you have rain you either have a song or a dance or both.. and of course if its an indian movie we are talking about more than just dance and song im sure...

For most other people its garam chai and yummy pakodas.... and im surely not complaining about this one :-).

Again some people would love to read a book when it rains.Come on, where is the fun in that! You are just gonna be looking into the book and concentrating more on the book not giving the rain its due respect!

I personally would love to talk a walk in the rain...not sing or dance just a plain good old walk down some road with lots of trees and without other curious human eyes...

There doesnt seem to be any logical explanation for why people feel what they do when it rains.
But who cares anyway...as the saying goes you can either love it or hate it but you definitely cannot ignore rain.

Bitten/Tagged by a fellow travel bug...

I've been tagged to list the new 7 wonders of the world which i've already visited and 3 which i wud like to visit...
Well here's a sad one ...ive not visited any of the new 7 wonders...yep not even Taj Mahal ...

:-(
Now if i had to pick out 3 places in the list which i could visit it would be

1. Machu Pichu in Peru definitely...

There is something about mysterious places and long lost civilisation concepts which pulls me..and of course the fact that it was an Inca civilisation settlement really intrigues me to visit that place.
http://www.sacredsites.com/americas/peru/machu_picchu.html

2.Chichén Itzá,Mexico

Again mystery civisilation -Mayan civilisation this time...Mayan civilisation was considered to be phenomenally ahead of its times... would love to visit this place and have a look at everything these guys used before we even dreamt of it ...No idea how they got extinct...
http://www.mysteriousplaces.com/mayan/TourEntrance.html

3.And of course the Taj Mahal

Simply becuase i have to see it for myself and find out what the fuss is all about....and why its a crime that ive not visited it yet.

Dumb,Dumber,Dumbest

I always thought it would be extremely difficult to find instances of Dumb,Dumber and Dumbest in one single day and in one single person, but well lets just say i got extremely lucky!!!!

Let me recount the lucky incident for the benefit of mankind in general.

A few days back i saw this person trying to cross a 4 lane road with a divider in between.
Im blessed to have witnessed dumbness coz he like a whole bunch of idiots was trying to cross the road where there was no crossing indicated for pedestrians.

Dumber coz it was a blind curve and he was the only dare devil who decided to cross over at that point where every vehicle driver would be possesed by Schumacher's spirit...

And finally the dumbest simply coz he decided to keep watch on the other side of the road (the place where he eventually wanted to go) while crossing instead of looking in the direction where the vehicles were approaching him.....

Unexplained Corelations

Its strange that certain words remind u of something which is in no way related to the actual meaning of the word.

For example whenever i hear the word 'Test' im always reminded of sugar water.... sounds weird i know... and "Russia" reminds me of Mysore pak!!!!!

For some crazy reason the correlation is to food though...

Lamentations of a dormant blogger

One of my dear friends asked me why its been a year since my last post. I couldve answered right away using the mode of communication that i seem to utilise better than any (yaking of course ) But i felt this was a more appropriate medium.



Anyway, i did decide to think over his question and i came up with more questions about my blogging abilities.


For starters its really weird that i have so much to write about but I just cannot get myself to actually write abt it. I guess its the classical problem of trying to put my thoughts on paper.That sounds pretty derogatory so i would rather think that maybe by the time i want to write about the 1st thing i thought up of, I've already thought up of a good 10 other things...Fast thinking girl u c :-P


Now here is the second problem, When I start thinking I'm on a roll and i can write the history of the world down,i get bogged down by the presentation ,u have to worry about all the spellings and grammar and etc etc.It feels like I'm trying to correct an English essay paper :-(


I mean cmon it's a blog do we really need to compose anything in perfect English? ( i must confess though that i actually checked the spellings for this one ;-P)


Of course there is this other major thing of trying to actually log in to blog spot and compose Ur post...I know im sounding like one major lazy bum,. but thts the truth... even the composing part of it seems ok, but logging into ur blog post account is such a pain...


This time though im going to do some justice to my blog, inspite of all the major hurdles that ive already written about.

A Brainy Entangle

Can a brain transplant change the complete character of a person?

Everyone who has studied basic high school science knows that the brain dominates most of our day to day activities.Any stimulus we receive from the external world is analyzed and stored and then utilized at a later date from the brain.We all acknowledge that the brain literally dictates everything from how we perceive the society to how we interact with people.

So all in all we agree that the brain defines us as an individual, it defines our basic character and also the way we react to situations.

Coming back to my original question… can a brain transplant change the way we think, act and perceive the world around us?

If yes then to ensure world peace all we need to do is catch hold of all the terrorists and transplant their brains with that of normal peace loving citizens.
:-)
Is it really that easy?
Or on the flip side can we transplant the brian of a lion with that of a dog and watch a sea change in behaviour?????????

There may be a lot of ethical issues related to such ‘Brain Transplants’.

Is it possible to surgically change a few knots in the brain and make a person behave differently?

Hmmm… lots of questions about the brain and no concrete answers…

Allah ke bandhe

Here are the lyrics of an awesome song....
Wont talk much abt wht listening to this song does to me...U have to close your eyes and listen
to this song...

Its beauty in all its simplicity...

Toota Toota Ek Parinda Aise Toota
Ke Phir Jud Naa Paaya
Loota Loota Kisne Usko Aise Loota
Ke Phir Ud Naa Paaya
O O O O Toota Toota Ek Parinda Aise Toota
Ke Phir Jud Naa Paaya
Loota Loota Kisne Usko Aise Loota
Ke Phir Ud Naa Paaya
Girta Hua Woh Asma Se
Aakar Gira Zameen Par
Khwabon Mein Phir Bhi Badal Hi The
Woh Kehta Raha Magar
Ke Allah Ke Bande Hasde Allah Ke Bande
Allah Ke Bande Hasde Jo Bhi Ho Kal Phir Aayega
Allah Ke Bande Hasde Allah Ke Bande
Allah Ke Bande Hasde Jo Bhi Ho Kal Phir Aayega

Kho Ke Aapne Par Hi To Usne Tha Ud Naa Sikha
Kho Ke Aapne Par Hi To O O O
Kho Ke Aapne Par Hi To Usne Tha Ud Naa Sikha
Gham Ko Aapne Saath Mein Lele Dard Bhi Tere Kaam Aayega
Allah Ke Bande Hasde Allah Ke Bande
Allah Ke Bande Hasde Jo Bhi Ho Kal Phir Aayega
Allah Ke Bande Hasde Allah Ke Bande
Allah Ke Bande Hasde Jo Bhi Ho Kal Phir Aayega

Aa Aa Aaa
Tukde Tuke Ho Gaya Tha Har Sapna Jab Woh Toota
Tukde Tuke Ho Gaya Tha Aa Aaa Aa
Tukde Tuke Ho Gaya Tha Har Sapna Jab Woh Toota
Bhikre Tukdon Mein Allah Ki Marzi Ka Manzar Paayega
Allah Ke Bande Hasde Allah Ke Bande
Allah Ke Bande Hasde Jo Bhi Ho Kal Phir Aayega
Allah Ke Bande Hasde Allah Ke Bande
Allah Ke Bande Hasde Jo Bhi Ho Kal Phir Aayega
Toota Toota Ek Parinda Aise Toota
Ke Phir Jud Naa Paaya
Loota Loota Kisne Usko Aise Loota
Ke Phir Ud Naa Paaya
Girta Hua Woh Asma Se
Aakar Gira Zameen Par
Khwabon Mein Phir Bhi Badal Hi The
Woh Kehta Raha Magar
Ke Allah Ke Bande Hasde Allah Ke Bande
Allah Ke Bande Hasde Jo Bhi Ho Kal Phir Aayega
Allah Ke Bande Hasde Allah Ke Bande
Allah Ke Bande Hasde Jo Bhi Ho Kal Phir Aayega
Allah Ke Bande Hasde Allah Ke Bande
Allah Ke Bande Hasde Jo Bhi Ho Kal Phir Aayega
Allah Ke Bande Hasde Allah Ke Bande
Allah Ke Bande Hasde Jo Bhi Ho Kal Phir Aayega

Feel better?
:-)

Muzikaaalllll Indiyaaaa.......

Have you ever noticed or rather keenly observed the musical scene in India? You tune in to any Indian radio frequency or any TV channel playing out Indian music and it is predominantly music from movies!!!!!! You might find a stray sprinkling of some pakistani group or an euphoria here and there, but not enough.

What is it about music and movies in our country? The whole gamut of musicians ( read that as the whole range of music directors, singers, guys who play instruments etc) are recognized by a complete nation only if they sing/ compose or do something for a movie.. And when I say a movie it cannot just be any movie... it has to be a complete recognizable”Apna Bollywood flick”

We have a great talent pool of music directors ranging from AR Rahman, Illayaraj Shankar Ehsaan Loy etc to the great RD Burman in the past. So what happened? Why have all their best been only for movies?Are our musicians guilty of not looking beyond the confines of a movie? I’m just curious to know in what way movies govern the musical talent of our country. Even if they do end up making individual music albums... they don’t last as long or to be put plainly they just don’t sell enough…

Take the case of someone like Bombay Jayshree, she is a classical singer and has been rendering great songs for ages but it took a ‘Zara Zara’ or a ‘Vaseegara’ for the whole country to sit up and take notice of her.Bismillah Khan is just fine, but ironically he would fade in popularity when compared to an Anu Mallik.

If you observe any other Non Asian country, the scene there is just the contrary... you have a lot of people churning out albums, the dependency on movies to make their music big is just not prevalent.

Now here is the catch, people in India are definitely buying Music albums by Shakira, Guns and roses etc,so again, its not that we do not appreciate music not linked to movies.

So do we appreciate our music makers more when they are in a filmi setting rather than an individualistic setting ?

Or .............
Do we need to relate to Indian music in particular in a more movie like setting?

Or..............
is it something about the visuals that attracts us more to music from movies? Does that explain why a Shakira CD would sell more than an Illayaraj or Rahman CD?