Seeing Things

I find the reaction of people around me rather interesting. Amusing even. Yesterday, when we were all worried about possible riots/violence on the streets, this one guy in my office went on saying to me "i am manase..so i am safe" (It took me a few moments to figure out ma-na-se is hindi/marathi for MNS - Maharashtra Navnirman Sena) His remarks made me realize that many people have ceased to (or never did) think about the right or wrong of things. They are only concerned about their own well-being basically. Understandable - it's the basic animal instinct in all of us. I find others who are comparatively more human - those that prefer anything to avoid riots. If placating those that had assumed a ready-to-pounce position is the way to avoid violence and destruction, then so be it. Again they care little about the concept of justice and things. Lastly, there are the thinking humans who fully understand the right and wrong of things. They feel miserable. Helplessly wishing...

28. That’s today's date. But, more importantly that’s what I will turn tomorrow. What better time to return to the blog-world with a bang? Inspired by a certain Miss Aurora Sky, I have decided to do an introspective piece to mark this special occasion in my life. An irksome colleague succeeded in getting the better of me these last 2 weeks and I am ashamed of it. The outside world is always full of conflicts. But, it is very rare that the conflict effects my inside world. Usually, the words and actions that stem from the myopic do little to me other than make me pity them. But, this time, I found myself falling prey to emotions of distress and anxiety. Good thing my birthday came along and compelled me to do this introspection exercise. The thing that caused the conflict in the outside world is stupid people, me included. But the things that caused the conflict inside my mind couldn’t be more insignificant compared to the things that really matter to me. That is why I am ashamed. I...

What will I remember, what will I forget? What all do I want to keep, what all am I ready to let go? Leaving is not easy, keeping is not easy. But, nothing is for ever, I will have to let go. With time memories will fade The shape of this house, the name of my maid The words that I learnt, the songs that I sang But some memories will remain The smiles and the kindness The love and the innocence The colour of the sea, the mist on the hills The life under the surface of the sea, The spots on the cheetah The crow that visited me everyday on my balcony, The green parrots that passed by morning and noon The joy of live jazz and full-moon holidays. You get to keep some You end-up loosing some.

In India, the approach to 'studying' has many flaws. I will elucidate a few that 3 idiots points to: Flaw number 1: Children are told that they must study well to earn well in future Actually, what the child needs to be told is that we all study because it is the most fun thing to do - you learn about new things and studying increases your chances of getting what you want out of life. Flaw number 2: In schools, teachers do often insist on following textbooks - blindly. They even "cut marks" if you miss out a word here or there or break the sequence etc thereby destroying creative and out of the box thinking Flaw number 3: The whole learning process is restrained by schedules and discipline. Flaw number 4: When they call it "extra co curricular activities" they mean extra. Singing, painting, acting, sports etc are strictly discouraged from becoming your mainstream activity. Flaw number 5: Engineering, medicine and more recently an MBA are the ONLY way to pr...

Able to Dream The thing with dreams, I have come to learn, is that even if you know they may not come true, It is a solace to still be able to dream. But, when your dreams no longer realize - even in your dreams, thats when it means that something has gone wrong. I dream my dreams in my dreams sometimes and wake up feeling dreamily happy. Cheers to that! eh? :)

Kumbi Kathawa Madilukal Ottamtullal Kathakali I have been away from this space for long, but I have been using this time constructively. Some of the cultural extravaganaza's I enjoyed in the last 2 months include Kumbi Kathawa or "the ant tale" - a Sinhalese musical performed by the Chitrasena Vajra Dance Foundation which through a children's story attempts to send out a message of mutual tolerance and forgiveness and sharing - powerful stuff; My first ever kathakali performance - 'narakasura vadham' organized by Margi in Trivandrum - another gripping performance; An Ottamtulal performance, which is a lesser known ancient dance form from Kerala which in laced with a sense of humour (just the way i like it) and a malayalam natakam (play), written by late Mr. Vaikom Basheer , a famous playwright known for fiercely sticking to his natural conversational style of writing. The nadakam I saw is called Madilugal (walls) - hair raising story and performance. Good f...

Mankind has a lot to thank Mahatama Gandhi but I have my own, special reason to thank him for. In 2000, I won a couple of beauty pageant titles. Miss Chennai being the grandest of them all. Would you believe it if I told you that Mahatma Gandhi had a role to play in my first ever win of a beauty contest? Well, those were the days when the notorious bandit Veerappan was still alive and causing havoc in the areas in and around the forests of Tamilnadu , Kerala and Karnataka . 2000 was the year he had kidnapped Kannada actor, Dr. Rajkumar . When the local beauty pageant, Miss Adayar was being held in Chennai, the actor was still being held hostage somewhere in the dense forests where Veerapan had established his lair. The question posed to me was ,"f you were sent, by the government, as a mercenary to Veerapan's camp in an attempt to free RajKumar , how would you go about it?" A little heavy for a mere beauty pageant contestant, don't you think? But luckily for me...