Why?

I was scanning TV channels when I stopped at one of them, showing a 'Just For Laughs Gags' type of show. There were 3 people who were moving around with huge piles of boxes that were stuck to each other. They scared people by making it look as if the pile was going to fall on them. I have to say - they were trying to be funny. And suddenly they try and throw the pile on 2 chicks and both of them throw their hands up. Guess what they had in their hands!

Yes, a cigarette. And just after they threw their hands up, they gave a smile as if to show that they were not cigarettes, but were lollipops...and slowly started drawing their hands down. Personally I think it’s perfectly ok, whether it is a male or a female, to smoke as long as the person is over 18 and understands the effects of it. However, I have rarely seen males hiding their cigarettes. But females…..! Why? I don’t know the exact reasons and can only formulate hypothesis. So what is it that makes them react in such a way? Is it we, the society, who are scaring them? Or is it still the nature of a woman – who is still in that mode, trying to break those stereotypical images of a ‘woman’...yet not completely out of it.

A Corny Affair!

I had a corny affair a few hours ago. I have a friend who has got into a Big uni in the USA and so had invited a few people for dinner. I actually left early from office today (which gave a nice shock to my friend) to be there on time (after all - khaana jo tha :D). The place where I was supposed to go is a nice place. And when I reached, the two of them were already eating something. I just threw my helmet on the seat next to me and grabbed some food from their plate (I realised one of them stopped halfway as they tried offering me the food). The mushrooms they had ordered also arrived right on time. They asked me if I liked the dish. But I tried being honest and said I had never eaten it before. They weren't surprised :) I tried eating it. Khaana jo tha..achcha hi tha.

And then I was given the menu to order something. Now this is something I try and avoid because though I love eating food, I hardly understand their names and so I prefer that someone else does that part. I again tried being honest that I didn't understand anything and so it would be better that they ordered what they liked because I would not mind eating anything (as long as it is a veg food). They said I should still try and so I opened the menu. I had to order a sizzler. And I could just not go beyond one name. I told them that I had selected the dish and they should not laugh at me. And I read it aloud - "A corny affair"! We just could not resist laughing out loud! It had corn in it and I find it difficult to resist it. We finally ordered it. It was a wonderful evening, especially having the unexpected corny affair! :)

Do you agree?

I think it is better to agree to disagree on something than to disagree to agree on something.

What do you think?

His Umbrella Queen

He waited at the bus-stand under the shade. The dark clouds were swarming above him. He wrapped his books with his raincoat. His only fear was that they would get wet. A smile grew on his face. With the books safe, he could enjoy the rains. He loved the season and refused to miss the first shower. The dark clouds finally relented as the drops grew in size and number each second. He left the shade then and got on to his bike. People around him found his action strange. They ran in for shelter as the rain started pouring while he had done the complete opposite. He plugged in the key and went down the road with a roar. He enjoyed each drop that made contact with his physical being. He weaved his way through the bicycles, the bikes, the autos and the cars - all of them moved at even a slower speed than his.

Still lost among the raindrops, he took a left turn. Unconsciously, he slowed down. It wasn’t a pothole in the middle of a road nor was it the fierce wind. He saw her blurb of black and red in the middle of the road. As he got closer, he saw her fumbling with her huge red umbrella. She was dressed in black and made quite an impression with her contrasting umbrella. He had no idea what she was doing there…….coming or going…..running or walking. He saw her give up her struggle as the umbrella refused to relent. She ran into the building on the side of the road. Without thinking, he slowed his bike till it stopped. He parked his bike on the side and followed her inside.

He stood at the door but his eyes followed her. She sat in one of the middle rows. There was a couple performing on stage. Though their dance was interesting, his eyes kept going back to her. Her gaze seemed to be straying to some dark corner. He sensed there was someone there. He watched her and didn’t realize when the dance ended. There was a loud cheer from the front row. She stood up then and started walking towards the door……… towards him. He realized he would finally have a look at her face. As she walked past him, a hesitant smile crossed her face as she waited for him to allow her to pass through the door. He watched her silently as she boarded an auto and was out of his sight in a few seconds.

A smile grew on his face.
The things that this city's rain exposes people to. To feel it, he had run in.....to the rain, to a voluntary halt, to a momentary glance, to an unforgettable encounter.

http://tza-tza-tzu.blogspot.com/2008/06/his-dancing-queen.html

Jamuns and a change

There is a Jamun tree in my house. Actually it is in my neighbour's house. But since 80% of the jamuns fall in our house, I like saying that it is in our house. I have spent 25 years of my life in this house and I remember eating jamuns from the time I was a kid. I remember my brother and I used to go and collect the jamuns, wash them under running tap water and eat them. We even used to get warnings from mummy and pappa as the jamuns usually had sand particles or some other dirt attached to it. But we didn't use to pay any attention to those warnings and enjoyed colouring our teeth and tongue purple by eating them.

We hardly collect them nowadays.

Today, two kids, Ajay and Gopal, made me recall those days. Two of them were sitting on the wall outside my house. As soon as my eyes met theirs, Gopal asked me if they could come inside and collect the jamuns. I looked at the ground full of jamuns, thought of something and invited them. But I told them not to jump from the wall but come through the gate. They came in and started collecting the jamuns. I asked them some basic questions like their name, where they lived, whether they go to school or not and the class they studied in. But they seemed to be engrossed in collecting as many fruits as their hands could hold and so I didn't question them any further. I suggested one of them to put the jamuns into their pockets and then continue collecting them again. They followed the suggestion and soon i could see a bulge hanging down the pocket of Ajay. I even got them a plastic bag in which they could keep the jamuns.

But as I stood there observing them, I could observe a change in myself. Till some years back, when such kids would climb the wall and ask us for the jamuns, we used to straightaway say no. We made sure that they left and waited for sometime to see that no one returned. However, today when the two kids asked me to come and collect the fruits, I just had to think for a second and I knew the answer. I know the answer for any such kid now onwards. It is a sign of change in me and I am happy about it.

After they left, I too bent down and tasted a few jamuns :) They still are the same, covered with sand all over but very sweet and purple from inside.

Do you know?

Do you know what you are doing?

Do you know why you are doing what you are doing?

Do you know if you really want to do what you are doing?

Do you know if you want to do something else that you are not doing?

Do you know why you want to do that something else that you are not doing?

Do you know how you can do that something else that you are not doing?

I do not.

Bang@lore

Dogs, hoardings, one ways, collegians, pulsars, stylish individuals/streets/buildings, amazing weather, tea/coffee shops, book stores etc would be the tags that one would use for Bangalore. I have been here since ten days now and have seen a lot of Bangalore (by chance :)) It is an interesting place. I would like to share some of the interesting experiences/learnings I have had here.

1. Follow the crowd. When driving in Bangalore, the best way is to follow the crowd. This will help you not getting trapped in a wrong side one-way. Because otherwise it is only after turning towards that side (that your smart, intuitive brain had suggested) you realise that you cannot go any further because the rest of the people on that road are already returning! (Find some of the most common road signs at the end of the post.)

2. Ask an autowala (at your own risk). It is useful and useless, both at the same time, to ask about a direction or a landmark to an autowala. They will say go straight and turn left. Ok. So you, an obedient soul, go straight and discover a left turn. Before you can decide whether to take a left turn or not, the vehicles behind will honk and honk and honk and you will decide not to turn left. The same thing will happen after 5 seconds that you will discover another left turn. And another. If you are lucky, there will be only one left turn. But immediately after you turn left, there will be a V and you will have to wait for another autowala to guide you. The autowalas are most of the time right. We have to go straight and turn left….but what they don’t reveal is how much straight do we need to go before we can take a left turn!

3. Let’s never eat here ever again. I have eaten at many different places in the local area here (Please do not ask me about Baristas/Pizza Huts/etc.) and can easily tell you where not to eat what. There are a plenty of restaurants in the city. But the cooks hardly know how to cook. Normally, I don’t know what the different dishes in the menu mean (apart from idli, dosa, sandwich, cutlets, bhel, bhaji pav, vada pav and a few more items). I can’t even differentiate the taste between two Punjabi vegetables (don’t tell me that even you cannot!). But still, I can tell you whether the food tastes good or not. And the experience here says, try eating the local, south Indian food, if you are really hungry. If you are not, just try and explore a few places. You will definitely find a good/reasonable place by the time you are extremely hungry. (Not to say that I didn’t like the food at all. :-l Thanks for whatever food I have digested in the past 10 days.)

4. Rain or no rain? The weather over here is simply superb. Just that it tries to fool you almost everyday. Everyday, in fact all the time it seems as if it is going to rain (heavily sometimes). But, it hardly rains. In the last 10 days, I have not seen rain more than thrice…four times maybe. But I have said, ‘Lagta hai abhi mast baarish hogi” almost everyday. This doesn’t mean that I am complaining. I like the weather in this city the most!

5. Books! Either you should know which book you want to buy or have enough time that you are ready to spare in a bookstore here. Because most of the bookstores here have a good collection of books and it’s highly likely that you will get lost in a shop full of books.

6. Kutte! Bada ajeeb sheher hai. There are just too many dogs, of different breeds, barking almost all the time (irrespective of whether its AM or PM). Average number of dogs per house in this city would be around 0.5. This means, per every two houses, you are likely to find a dog. And by per house I mean inside and not just on the road. I haven't seen any city with people so crazy about dogs. No doubt cost of living is high in this city! :)

7. Coffee shops/tea shops. This isn’t new anymore for a city. But the unique thing about Bangalore is some really good coffee/tea shops. Have been to only two of them, but both of them have been impressive. First one, Infinitea, a tea place which serves you a Variety of teas. The ambience and feel of the place will make you go there again. Second one, Indian Coffee House, a small coffee shop run by the co-op society of the workers of the coffee board of India. An old place, but extremely neat. Old posters on the walls promoting coffee written in the old font and waiters in a clean uniform with a paghdi on the head, really add charm to the place.

8. Respect Kannada. If you don’t know English but know Kannada, you will still be able to recognise any international/national brand. Whether it is Reebok, Nike, Barista, Café Coffee Day, Pizza Hut, ICICI Bank, Baskin Robins, Sony, Canon, Samsung, Compaq, Sun Microsystems, Educational Initiatives or Shivajinagar Bus Stand, you will be able to recognise it in a fraction of a second, provided your Kannada is good. I haven’t seen such kind of love and passion for the local language in any other city.

9. Tashan. It’s a highly stylish city – whether it be a car, a bike, a road, a hoarding, a showroom, a poster, a babe, not a babe, the city is full of styloos. Cool! Yeh Bangalore ka style hai re.

10. Chicks! How can I not mention them!? Did find a few here and there. But otherwise, the style market makes almost all wear the same mask and hence there is no point researching more. What you will really discover are true, pretty faces among these not-so-really pretty faces.

Most common road signs @ Bangalore -