Current read...

I have just finished reading the third part of the Shiva trilogy. I was not very impressed but the climax of the story stirred me greatly. I never expected it to take such a turn or I would say I 'didn't' want the story to take such turn. Finally, because of the unexpected twist of tale I had to like the book and Amish's way of telling stories.

Livelihood...

This is a picture which I took randomly at my native place (Sirsi, South Canara North Canara dist. in Karnataka) when I visited there last winter.
The scene would be rather similar in almost all the houses during the winter.
These are raw Arecaunuts (also called Beetelnut) which is grown extensively in those areas.
The processing requires immense hardship which starts exactly during the biting cold month of December.
Plucking the riped nuts, peeling the skin (which goes on till mid night), boiling it in low flame throughout the night (the container which is used for boiling can be seen the photo), colouring and ultimately drying these nuts in the sun till March end.
These are the peak months of the year where everyone is busy and all their hard work pays-off.
This post is a salute to all those who undergo all these hardships including my father.

I lay still, staring at the ceiling, as the pain envelopes around my waist. Trying to relieve the pain I pay attention to the surrounding noises. The house is quiet with my incessant chatter box gone away for play. I try to close my eyes, but somewhere in the sub conscious mind I know that she is waiting for me. So am able to distinctly over hear the conversation of A through the window and her friend calling out for her. And I decide to get moving against the will of my body. Few minutes from now, then I will be again in the midst of pre-schoolers chattering to their hearts content.

The sights around the area of Dandeli are always welcoming.
That place can actually be called as 'Forest'.
One can easily say when they enter the vicinity as they can experience the cool breeze hitting their face.
The everlasting plantations of teak wood with its full length and broad leaves attract me every time I look at them.
Though they are always filled with dust yet they are appealing because of their size.
Without any pretence, this time I showed my daughter what an actual forest looks like.
But as soon as I mentioned forest she wanted to see the wild animals too.
Then she guessed all those animals were in the zoo rather than being in the forest!

Only thing that puts off during the travel are the worst condition of the roads:(

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.

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.

Summer and the mosquitoes

Sitting on the net they resemble and remind me of the whole lot of pigeons that balance on the electric wires in and around the area of Punjagutta (in Hyd.). Yes, am talking of the mosquitoes of Kondapur against which we need to wage a war everyday. As compared to pigeons which try to balance their bodies on the high tension wires, these mosquitoes sit perfectly on the net at night even when the pressure of the cooler tries to blow them away. They patiently wait for us to keep either our hands or legs very close to the net so that they wouldn't miss out a single drop of blood. By dawn atleast one or two manage to get inside the net to have a feast and cannot move after that because of their gluttony stomach. What surprises me more than these mosquitoes are the people around who manage to sleep at night without a mosquito net. We too tried doing the same but couldn't manage to sleep for a single night. No amount of repellents or fan would keep them away (apart from the whole flat windows having been nailed by meshes). Though the whole area gets really nice breeze in the evening and night, everybody is forced to shut tight the doors because of the blessed creatures. There is one activity which both me and S seem to enjoy because of these mosquitoes is using of the electric racket to kill them. We do get some kind of sadistic pleasure by killing them that way and it is fun to run behind them.

There are times when thoughts rush in the mind- one after the other. They never cease. They need a form of expression, an expression of writing. But the body id too tired to move and give vent to the feelings. It just wants to be put at rest. It is not just fatigue but boredom too which restricts the body from moving and fingers from scribbling.

When the body does want to show some action, the mind does not co-operate. It doesn't want to think the extra-ordinary. It stops the fingers from dodging anything. Thoughts stagnate.

And there are times when both are in perfect tune with each other but the time isn't right. Just like, when I do decide to write and my mind wants to direct and then my daughter decides to wake up from her nap and calls 'Amma':)

I know I am not much of a social person. It doesn’t mean I do not like going out or interacting with people. But the fact remains true that I’m too selective in making friends and I cannot start a conversation easily with new people. The criteria for someone to be my friend are too many and I am aware of the fact that I am being too judgemental in this matter which I cannot resist.

Overcoming these obstacles even if I make friends, it’s always at a time when they are about to move away from- either the location or the city or the country where I am residing. It’s astonishing how it happens all the time.

It pains when I’ve found a person in whom I can confide and that person departs. May be that’s the way this world works all the time. It’s an indication; a sign that there are other people too who meet the same frequencies as mine and I just need to look for them and broaden my outlook while I am judging them.

The cosy mosquito net

Mosquito nets can serve two purposes:

One, as a home decor accessory it can add to the beauty of your cot and bed (so, as a want).

Second, the most important, to protect oneself from 'obviously' mosquitoes (so,as a need).
As far as our family is concerned, it's serving the second purpose thanks to the Shilpa Park mosquitoes (breeding park for these killer insects).

Whatever may be the reason i have always liked using mosquito nets.
The process of tying it every night and then reassembling it the next morning is quite cumbersome and boring;that is the reason why my mom would tie it for me then every night murmuring few words for not doing my works.

Now i am forced to do the same job to save my girl from those creatures. Though initially i was happy as S had taken over the job, later i realised that the responsibility was falling on my shoulders gradually.

But at the end of all this painstaking work i do get a cosy place to dwell in the night.
It creates a separate room-like space once you enter it and makes your bed look more bigger than it actually is (it just looks but doesn't make your bed big in reality:()

These protecting nets can even be nightmarish once it gives way to a single mosquito. But right now i am worried about the next season- 'Hyderabad Summer' and 'The Use of a Mosquito Net'!!!

I always felt that there is a similarity between drinking, munching on junk food and shopping: that they are all addictive.
Once started hard to quit, you want more of it each time you have it.

Diary

I have stopped writing my personal diary these days.
The only time i do feel like writing it is when i am upset or sad.
But then, i do not want to fill my diary with those gloomy notes.
I'd rather leave the pages blank instead of making it a manuscript of my erratic moods.

Srinagar colony v/s Kondapur

Relocating to a place has its own pros and cons. But our relocation from Srinagar colony to Kondapur seems to be full of cons! Srinagar colony was much much cheaper in terms of cost of living, more accessible to almost all the locations, had lots of greenery, people were more sober and down to earth etc etc.,
Whereas in Kondapur everybody seems to be walking with their nose high up in air, the first sentence which they would ask to start a conversation would be "Where does your husband work?" or "Which school does your child attend?" And their expected answer would be "Microsoft, Wipro, Oracle etc., or Oakridge school, Chirec, DPS or Meridian". If they get these answers they may continue their conversation. At first i used to be very irritated but now i am accustomed to it. Here, money doesn't seem to have any value.
I miss Srinagar colony. No wonder my daughter too is missing her old school Daksha.

It's good to see familiar faces in a place where you once lived.
It makes you feel 'you are part of it even now'
Finding familiar faces seems very easy too in small cities rather than in big cities.
Visiting favourite shops and finding familiar faces in Davangere where i spent my weekend recently was one such experience.

Changing fate

Long back i had read a witty poem about 'a person who visits a dentist and dreads that his fate might be completely changed after his dental treatments'.
That's the way he describes the pain he undergoes while the dentist performs his procedures.
The pain is so immense that he had to clench his palm very tight while his nails poke against it.
This, in turn, might erase the fine lines in his palm and would alter his fate forever!!!

Every time i visited a dentist (which i did very often) i would remember this poem and laugh.
For the last three years i was happy that didn't have to meet a dentist but the joy was short lived as i had to meet him again recently.

Of course these days the procedures get over very fast and easily compared to few years ago, so the dentist cannot change one's 'fate' in these days. But the fillings and the subsequent 'crowns' fixed on the tooth can definitely change the way people smile or laugh (as they have to open their mouth and everyone can see the 'steel tooth' instead of natural one.)

And this time when i opened my mouth in front of the dentist he himself aptly defined it as being a 'dentist's paradise'!!!

No one can beat this sign board which was infront of a railway crossing:
"When close the gate
Then take the queue".

I think my unfinished tasks tend to get sorted out more easily when i am angry.
When i am angry, i don't think twice whether to finish the job or not but just start doing it.
May be that's the reason it's get done more faster too.
But getting angry only for the reason of getting my undone jobs finished isn't a good idea either.

It annoys me when I have to introduce myself to someone twice.
I can understand the situation when it's a big crowd and people can hardly remember one's name and basic information.
But I meet someone personally, do the initial introduction and the other person fails to register it.
I meet the same person again in the next few days and the person asks- 'Am sorry I didn't get your name?' and 'What do you do, working?'

For someone who is fond of travelling and going places the list of "Places to see" never ends. A new destination, a new land awaits to be explored and savoured. Yet, there are so many other places which have already been treaded upon once and have even faded from memory's corner. And those places too need to be revisited. For all these, both time and money fall short.