Looking back

There was a time some 15 years ago when I struggled to operate a computer.
Emails were beginning to catch popularity then but I did not know how open an ID. I did open my email account later but I was always in a dilemma whether I had to go to the same 'cyber cafe' and use the same 'computer' to see my emails again!!!

I did learn some of the basic operations much later and tried my hand in learning 'C' language too but never did I understood the rationale behind learning that computer language.

Of course I laugh at them now but they were very embarrassing then.

Now, I do feel I have come a long way from those embarrassing situations. I am much a learned person now, most of the lessons learnt on my OWN.
Especially so when I have my own blogs and being able to manage them.
From past two days I have worked very hard to give a fresh look to my blogs and also learn to increase the image size of my posts.
Finally, I succeeded with much googling and trial and error.

That's an achievement for me.

It is moments like these which make me wonder about the capacity of our 'Brain' or can also be termed 'Plasticity' of the brain.
It's the capacity to learn, un- learn and re- learn based on what happens in our environment.
It is this super- computer which I need to know more about than the one which is typing these texts.

Postcards from Rajasthan

Selling of colours on the streets of Pushkar...




Camel boys loading fire wood for the night camp.




A security man inside the Jaisalmer Fort.




Musicians entertaining in front of the Amber Fort, Jaipur.




Camel...just before taking us for a ride.




Mud houses of Jaisalmer.




Musical instruments on display by a seller.




A colorful garment shop in Pushkar.




A man peeping through the window in a museum.




A shopkeeper in Mehrangarh Fort, Jodhpur.

Lotus Pond

Amidst the hustle and bustle of the Hyderabadi lifestyle lies- Lotus Pond, mostly hidden between Banjara hills and Jubilee hills.

Though we could not find Lotuses in the pond (probably wrong time), there were quite good number of fish of different varieties.

We were happy to find a place which promised to give us fresh AIR.

Here are a few pictures...




A caption aptly written...which is in the next photo.




I liked the pattern of these leaves...




A prayer of the forest...Click on the photo to read.

Recitation

I have been browsing the net from afternoon for children's poems as I have to prepare A for her recitation competition.

Every where the results seemed to be same 'Nursery Rhymes'. Other than rhymes I could hardly find anything.

Then I changed the search option to particular poets and I was pleased to find the kind of material that I wanted.

I couldn't stop sharing these two recitals as I enjoyed listening to them....

Make room for Elephants

I know the world's a crowded place,
And elephants do take up space,
But if it makes a difference, Lord,
I would gladly share me room and board.
A baby elephant would do,
But, if he brings his mother too,
There's dad's garage. He wouldn't mind.
To elephants he's more than kind,
But I wonder what our Mum would say,
If the elephant's father came to stay!

By Ruskin Bond

Someone

Some one came knocking
At my wee, small door;
Someone came knocking;
I'm sure-sure-sure;
I listened, I opened,
I looked to left and right,
But nought there was a stirring
In the still dark night;
Only the busy beetle
Tap-tapping in the wall,
Only from the forest
The screech-owl's call,
Only the cricket whistling
While the dewdrops fall,
So I know not who came knocking,
At all, at all, at all.

By Walter de la mare

Like and dislike

It has happened so many times that I liked few people without any particular reason and disliked a few without any evidence for doing so...
And those perceptions have changed vice versa a lot many times.

There is a boy (who is in Grade 4) in the apartment whom I encountered several times last year. He is a boy with special needs.
Being a remedial teacher and after knowing that he is kid with special needs I avoided talking either to him or to his mother.

It's difficult to understand what made me do so.

I presumed that he was a child with lot of behavioural issues (which he ought to have considering his condition). I even thought how would I handle such a kid if by any chance approached me for help.

But, lately I have been taking English remedial classes for this boy!

One fine day, his mother approached me for assistance for coping up with his English and attention difficulties and I did not find a reason to say NO.
So, I accepted.

Few days took me to understand him and his behaviour (it's more difficult as he is slightly autistic).

Now, we seem to be getting along very well with each other.

He doesn't miss a single class, gets upset if the class is suspended without any notice, speaks a few English sentences which he failed to do earlier, loves watching his favourite Brain gym video. What more, he even wishes me good evening and thank you while entering the class and walking out.

He even laughs which I thought he seldom did. Though he does that controlling himself (do not know why), but he looks very cute when he does.

Casuarina Tree (gaali mara)

Images of Casuarina tree (gaali mara in Kannada) that was taken at Apsarakonda view point near Kumta...

Collection

Now, that I have all the time in the world to leisurely attend to some tasks which were left behind untouched gave me the chance to arrange and rearrange the collection of postage stamps in my album (not to forget the new look that has been given to S's coin collection).

As a school-goer I collected hundreds of stamps- begging, borrowing and even stealing (sometimes when the stamp seemed very expensive) from the posts of others' house.

Though collecting stamps and obtaining them, now, is an easy task with the deposits at the post office. Then, it was not known and the money too to buy them was insufficient.

So all that beg, borrow, steal concept.

But I do remember one of my cousin who promised to send me postage stamps from the US every time I wrote a letter to him (In English).

Being a student of Kannada medium class I had difficulty with English, not so much with writing but with speaking.

With hesitation, I had it started and he kept his promise by sending about 20-30 stamps of different nationalities each time.
I never asked him where did he get his supply of those beautiful stamps from.

Today, flipping those pages gives a different kind of joy and has given me the idea of showcasing them through this blog which I intend to begin soon.

His brilliance was visible in between a thin strip of arch.
His pure golden shade vibrated through the arch as though melted metal was oozing out from a furnace.
His presence would be felt only by countable people who happened to venture out on such a gloomy day.
The present days being covered with the hues of grey all around the sky, it would be difficult for someone to even imagine a sight like that.
Thanks to the birthday party which made us get out of our house and witness the beautiful scenario.
But there was no way of capturing HIS image in an electronic gadget.
All we could do was to fill our eyes with his spectacular rays that were waiting to hide behind the clouds once again.
Amid the pillars of iron and cement his rays pierced through our eyes.
He forced us to shut our eyes the moment we saw him but they didn’t stop us from looking back at him again.
This shade of his colour was never known to us (or rather to me) as we always saw him a tinge of orange with gold.
But this time the colour was PURE GOLD.

Just read an article (in The Hindu) about the genius Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan about whom a movie is being made.

Before the article starts it says "Seven cities fought for Homer dead, Through which, Homer living, begged his bread"...

It indicates to the harsh treatment some brilliant geniuses received while they were alive and honoured once they were no more.

Secret of the Nagas

It’s true that Amish’s book compels its reader to pick the next book from his trilogy as one completes reading the present book. He unveils the deepest and darkest secrets of his characters yet withholding an important element from the story only to be revealed in his next series.

I wouldn’t say I liked his Immortals of the Meluha thoroughly but it’s quite a good read.
His second book of the Shiva Trilogy-The Secret of the Nagas, starts with a dull note though it takes new twists and turns in the second half. It is, thus, fast paced than the first half and keeps the reader glued to it.

Unfortunately, I have not laid my hands on ‘Oath of the Vayuputras’ which I intend to do very soon.

The Immortals of Meluha

I finished reading 'The Immortals of Meluha' quite some time back but never had the chance to write about it.
It's not a great book. Nevertheless, there are few instances which make the book worth reading.
I had picked up this up book from a book fair just by sheer accident and it became my companion during my commute from home to work (not to forget the travelling time from home to work was just 20 minutes).

The major reason that drew me read the book was that it was a fiction interwoven around mythological characters.
Such encounters in the past had proved to be really fruitful especially S.L. Bhyrappa's "Parva".

An appealing factor about the story is Amish's way of explaining practices of age old days which can easily be compared to the modern day amenities.
The Meluhan way of town planning, drainage maintanance, hygiene management, scientific researches, the use of mirrors (in the manner of copper plates) and soap for bathing (cake like substance)has been introduced in a simple way whose connection can be drawn to the present day usages.

There is one part where he mentions about Lord Ram's idea of an ideal society (Rama Rajya)which should have both 'stability' and 'flexibility'.
He says- "Stability allows a person the freedom of choice. People can pursue their dreams only when they are living in a society where survival is not a daily threat. In a society without security and stability, there are no intellectuals or artists or geniuses. man is constantly in fight or flight mode. Where is the luxury then to allow ideas to be nurtured or dreams to be pursued?
That is the way all humans were before formed societies. Civilisation is very fragile. All it takes is a few decades o chaos to forget humanity and turn into animals'.

But allowing people to achieving their potential causes instability too, partially. People are happy when their life changes for the better. But there are situations in which change can lead to chaos.
When people face a change imposed by others which they cannot understand, they resist it as it happens too fast. And too rapid a change causes instability.

That is the bedrock of Ram's way of life. There are laws which help a society change slowly and allow it to remain stable. At the same time, it allows its citizens the freedom to follow their dreams".

Rhythm and Movement therapy

Attended a rejuvenating Dance therapy session today at our school which was demonstrated by Dr. Tripura Kashyap, a dance therapist.

As her colleague's body moved to the tunes of enchanting music most of our bodies too wanted to sway.

How well she explained the way body movements can be used in the classroom which, not only enhances learning but revitalises the creativity of each student and teacher.

Dance, which can be learned not for a performance but as a process, can be amalgamated in each subject a child is learning in class.

Simple usage of props such as balloons, sticks, stretching ropes can make a boring topic more interesting.

She imbibed Howard Gardner's concept of 'Multiple Intelligence' to express each child's unique ability too.

By far it was an amazing session, to conclude.

Adventures of Rusty

I was just flipping through the pages of the Kannada translation of Rusty's Adventures and found these beautiful sketches by Suddhasatva Basu.

Here are few images...

The body felt tired and strained not wanting to move much.
Wherever it moved- each room, each corner cried for cleanliness which the mind overlooked to register.
The mind was without any thoughts.
Both the body and mind craved for a cozy corner to savour the quietness of the house.
The hands picked up a new book from the book shelf which read 'Atlas Shrugged' (half-read many times)not being very sure if it had to be done so as the book contained more than thousand pages.
Eyes focused hard on the small font of the text.
They rolled through the first page- John Galt, Eddie Willers; except the names nothing was registered.
Lazily, fingers tapped on the Android phone lying nearby.
Scrolling up and down the song list, it finally played a romantic number from a Hindi movie.
The ears had listened to the song long back and had liked.
So, it was replayed.
At the same time, the hands needed a paper and pen to jot down these meandering.
The fingers were not prepared to use the keyboard to type.
They searched for a piece of paper finding upon which they moved to produce this post of the blog.

Rest

After getting my much needed rest, I realised how tired I was and I didn't realise it in the rush of my work, school and home.

I am feeling so good to have spent a lazy day amidst the daily routine.

I am waiting for the next three months to pass on soon.

Land of Strawberries

Few images from the land of Strawberries...Mahabaleshwar.

Various squash bottles used by street vendors.

Bottles lined up in a store.