Grey Shades

This happened a couple of years back when I was staying at Jayanagar. I used to walk to the NIMHANS bus stand to catch the bus to Koramangala where my then office was located. It so happened that one day as I was walking past NIMHANS, a girl approached me saying she needed help. She must have been in her early twenties. She kept looking around nervously. Thinking that she wanted to ask me directions I stopped to listen to her. She started telling me a story… She: I came here with my parents in the morning. Now I can’t find them. They have left me and gone. Me: Umm… Do you know their mobile phone number? Do you want me call them and tell them you are here? She: No no.. just give me some money to go till . It’ll be 50 rupees or so, that’s all. (still looking around nervously as if someone was following her) Me: (now suspicious) Wouldn’t it be better to call them? Wait here, your parents may come looking for you. Or else I can take you to the police station just here. I really don’t ...

Caught this squirrel outside our house when we had been home for Dasara. Busy Oops! she spots me. She's found something!! Or someone!! There he is, the villain!! It started to rain after this episode so everyone went back to their respective abodes, including me. Later I caught her again. See for yourself what she does this time :D.  Agent Squirrel

We are natives of Bantwal. Having spent a considerable amount of time in Bantwal you get to know and be a part of lot of festivals. Bantwal being a small town, the kind of crowd that comes there is usually known. It is usually the family and friends of the townspeople that come to the town during such festivals and the annual town’s festival (Teru). As far as I am concerned I know people only by their face. I do not know who is from whose family and related to whom. Compared to my friends I am like a stranger in my own town. In Bantwal during Dasara, Sharada murthis are kept in the Venkataramana Temple courtyard till the time of Visarjan. The murthi will be dressed in a different ‘avatar’ each day. The visarjan day is a particularly enjoyable event. It takes place in the night and there will be a huge procession following which the murthi is submerged in the Nethravathi river. People will be dressed as mythological characters and be placed on the back of a truck (tableau) decora...

It all started a month before Dasara when I approached my tour operator for booking tickets to Mangalore and back on October 13th and 17th night respectively. Since the boarding point is close to our house we usually book tickets at this operator’s shop. He promised to book tickets for us and I told him I’ll call back 2 days later for confirmation. When I called him 2 days later he said he had tickets for 13th but had still not booked the return tickets. He assured me that he’ll book it and call me himself and that I need not worry about it. But it was a matter of worry for me; he had messed up our tickets two times before (once he booked it on the wrong date while writing the date correctly on our ticket and another time he had booked another couple on our seat). But since those cases were 2 out of 20, I decided to believe his assurances. I even landed at his shop a week later and got the same reply. When I did not get a call even after 3 weeks, I decided to call him myself. Can you ...

One of my most favorite quotes is “I was born a genius, but education ruined me”. I do not agree with it completely since I do believe education is important, but not the way the system is today. The current education system gives prominence to rote and marks but not on imparting knowledge that matters. It has become commercialized and branded. It teaches discipline at the cost of wringing out a child’s childhood and its childishness. And in all this drama, the value of education is lost, the quality of education is lost, a child’s touch with reality is lost. Some of the kids I see today are so busy that they hardly have time for their meals. They get up by 6:00 AM, attend school from 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM, attend tuitions from 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM, finish their homework by 9:00 PM and read some more before they go to bed at 10:00 PM. If they find some time to “play”, they spend it online on social networking sites or playing online games. They hardly talk to their family members or play...

Why should Independence Day any different from other days, and for that matter any of Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Friendship Day, or Valentine’s Day? OK I’ll bring up the latter list some other time, for now, let me ponder on our I-day. After 63 years of so-called freedom are we really free? Do we feel any pride for being Indian? Has I-day (and the national song, the national anthem, etc) lost its value? Which emotion takes up more space in your heart today than any other? There are so many questions such as these running in my mind. Feel free to leave your comments on whatever you feel about I-day. Moving on, I feel nothing different from any other day today. In fact it has me wishing we were back there when our ancestors were fighting for freedom. At least all were “Indians” then. All the religions, citizens of all states, fought together against the westerners rather than within themselves like today. Do I feel ‘proud’ about being an Indian? Well, not really. Me being an ...

Did you know that our brain has as many neurons as the number of stars in the galaxy? (We carry a small galaxy in our brain!!) Did you know that a million thoughts pass through our brains each day and that 80% of the thoughts are same as those we thought yesterday? Did you know that Schizophrenia affects about 1 out of every 100 people? Did you know… Ok ok chill, I’m not here to share my gyaan on the human neural system. I’m here to share some of the thoughts that are going through my mind these past few days, though a little late to post or say anything about them. Anyway…quickkkly (that’s how someone I know says it)… 1. Class 8 student commits suicide because the principal canes him. This did not digest well with me. Coz I am from that age where caning was considered a normal and everyday affair in schools. We were all caned (yes, even a good girl like me ;) ) and we are all still alive. The thought of suicide NEVER crossed our minds perhaps because we never really cared. But wh...