Paulo Coelho

I had thoroughly enjoyed reading Paulo Coelho's Alchemist long time back.
With the same expectation I read his other books- The Witch of Portobello and Eleven Minutes and it didn't impress me much.
Though the stories start nicely but they fail to hold the attention till the end.
Here and there his philosophy about life and dreams is good. But at the same time, his explanation about some ritualistic practices is hard to understand.

Here are some excerpts from his books which I liked:
From Eleven Minutes- "Dreaming is very pleasant as long as you are not forced to put your dreams into practice. That way, we avoid all the risks, frustrations and difficulties and when we are old, we can always blame other people- preferably our parents, our spouses, or our children- for our failure to realise our dreams".

From The Witch of Portobellowriting about 'Ants' he says "The guards are genetically prepared to to sacrifice themselves for the queen, the workers carry leaves 10 times their own weight, the engineers make tunnels that can resist storms and floods. They enter into mortal combat with their enemies, they suffer for the community and they never ask 'Why are we doing this?'".

Mirrors

Purse (with mirrors and Lambani style embriodary)which i had bought from Hampi. And the mirror is a gift from my sister.

Remembering the Operation Theatre

There are four things which I remember when i was in the OT during my C-section delivery...
First, the anesthesia that was given on my back...
Second, even after being anaesthetised, the painless yet weird feeling of my skin being ripped off...
Third, when the doctor brought out the baby and said it's a baby GIRL which I so badly wanted!
Fourth and the most uncomfortable, when the stitches were being done. Then I remembered the English movies of the olden royal ladies whose corsets were tightened by their servant maids. Pulling and tightening of the stitches gave the same feeling.

But one thing which i cannot forget after coming out of the OT was the pain after the anaesthesia warred off..

P.S. Small Cities

I received a complaint from S that i hadn’t mentioned about all our favourite eat outs at Davangere. So here is the list: masala paddu at gundi circle, potato bun at Kaveri bakery, tomato toast at Aiyengar’s bakery, avalakki at Rasavanti cool drinks, sandwich at Nature fresh. Ah! So many...how could i miss so many !!!

From Anne Frank's Diary

"What's the use of war? Why can't people live peacefully together? Why all the destruction? Why do some people have to starve, while there are surpluses rotting in other parts of the world? I don't beleive that the big men, the politicians and the capitalists alone, are guilty of the war. The little man is just as guilty, otherwise the people of the world would have risen in revolt long ago! There's in people simply an urge to destroy, to kill, to murder and until all mankind, without exceptioin, undergoes a great change, wars will be waged, everything that has been built up, cultivated, and grown will be destroyed and disfigured, after which mankind will have to start all over again".

Old Hobbies

One of my favourite hobbies at school days was collecting stamps. Ofcourse, even now i enjoy collecting them but somewhere in between i had lost touch with it. May be it was because i didn't know how to continue it or that nobody else (especially my friends) found it amusing and interesting. And having a hobby like that of your friends was more important at that age. But now it doesn't matter if someone else enjoys it or not, so there are a lot more stamps added to my collection. Moreover, now, i have a hubby and a brother- in- law who are mad about collecting coins so i too get boosted by them. I don't like collecting them through opening an account at the India Post and similar ways but i like the ones that's stuck on the posatge covers. But nowadays that rarely happens.
The other hobby i thoroughly enjoyed as a school girl was to collect the pictures of the famous actress Sridevi whom i adored! Ranging from post cards to tiny/ huge paper cuttings i had some hundreds of her photographs.
There were other hobbies too like drawing and painting, doing craftwork etc etc., but none like Philately (whose name i learnt later) and collecting pictures.

Small cities

There is always an advantage staying in small cities...
Not much traffic, easy accessibility of things, less cost of living, yummy and cheap foodie outlets, hassle free life and many many more.
I am really gonna miss visiting this small city Davangere henceforth as my parents are moving away.
Getting things was so much easier here.
And the mouth watering eatables- the famous ಬೆಣ್ಣೆ ದೋಸೆ, ಖಾರ ಮಂಡಕ್ಕಿ ,ಜೋಳದ ರೊಟ್ಟಿ will be missed always.
But of course i have made up my mind to visit the place at least once a year (hopefully that's possible).

Disparity

Whenever i see my daughter's activities, be it playing (especially the symbolic play which she has learnt recently) or babbling or motor coordination while handling objects(finger dexterity) or self eating and many more such behaviours, i will be compelled to go back to those days when i worked with children with disabilities.

That's because, whatever my daughter is learning now as a 14 months old child those children being more than 5 or 6 years of age were learning it then.
I really at the damage that occurs because of the disability or the disability that's being caused because of the damage!

Blunders

A pamphlet attached to the newspaper read:
"Classical music: Hindustani, Karnatic, Guitar and many more instruments are TEACHED HEAR".

An advertisement for tutorial in a local Kannada newspaper read:
"Fail ಆದಿರೆಂದು feel ಆಗಬೇಡಿ "...I will help you pass, just pay Rs. 2000 per subject. Rs.500 extra for home tuition. If you want 100% result then only come to me!

At a beauty parlour:
"Wings Deepali BEAUUTTY PARRLOUURR".

The Republic Day Parade

As i watched this year's republic day parade on TV i went back to those school days and the by gone era of only channel on TV- Doordarshan.
Then, we would be waiting to finish the early morning republic day celebrations at school so that we could come and watch the parade on TV.
It gave so much of joy.
I watched it this year after many years of gap.
But this time as i watched it was not with joy but reproach and regret.
It's because of the reason that i too could have been there sometime back (when i was a NCC cadet) marching through the India Gate but had rejected it because of my health problem.
I still do not know whether that was a right decision or wrong because if i had agreed to go and spoiled my health completely i would have hated myself.
But , at times i do think i should have taken the chance to see if i could succeed.
Nonetheless, past is past nobody can ever change it.

And an year later...

November 22nd 2008, the day i went to a theatre with my hubby and my little one still inside to watch the movie Kung Fu Panda.
I had a least idea then that my girl would come out just after two days (a month premature).
Days went by taking care of her and it turned an year too.
January 22nd 2010, after exactly an year and two months both me and S hit the theatre to watch 3 idiots.
Hoping that our girl would go off to sleep we took the night show.
And she did actually sleep although she managed to watch half of the movie.
I thoroughly enjoyed the film but was a bit guilty for having spoiled my daughter's sleep as well as the loud noise of the speakers which was bad for her.

Chowmahalla Palace

Though S has taken me to many places in Hyderabad i keep cribbing that he hasn't done so.
That's because my thirst for visiting historic places doesn't seem to end.
Recently we visited the Chowmahalla Palace which really speaks of the grandeur of the Nizams.
The main attraction of the palace in the chandeliers in the durbar hall the beauty of which is magnificent.
We fell short of time to see all the four mahals,each mahal unique in itself.
After a long time it was a great weekend at Hyderabad, as i was thoroughly bored by the usual shopping malls and crowded parks.

Portrait of my daughter...

An amazing sketch made by one of my friends...

TV

Read on a carry bag:"I find the TV very educative; every time somebody turns it on i pick up a book and start reading"!

Made in China...

The moment i step into the market these days all i get to see is a label "Made in China". Right from utensils, chappals, plastic items to baby products.
Even the stickers which i bought last week was made in China.
Is our country's condition so pathetic that we have to import everything from China?