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.

I like shopping on the streets of General bazar: the crowded street, inexpensive stuffs and the lively ambience etc etc.,
This weekend's visit there proved to be even more inexpensive as we tried our hands by taking up the local train for commuting rather than wasting time, petrol and money.
The whole day was made more 'delicious' by the pav bhaji of 'Bombay chaat'.
I don't think i've ever had such tasty pav bhaji in my life.
Yummy....

On handwriting...

I have been reading some material on 'Teaching Handwriting to Children' and i came across this beautiful note by someone called Brown:"What is stressed today is handwriting to be 'functional' i.e., stress is on legibility and speed.

...the primary goal in penmanship is to produce efficiently a free flow of ideas or easily read thoughts onto paper with a minimum of attention to the mechanics of the art."

Glimpses of Qutub Shahi Tombs

First rain drops

Both me and my daughter were happy to witness the first rain drops of the season especially in Hyderabad as it is terribly hot during summer.
As it rained, we both stood in the balcony, stretched our palms, caught hold of the drops and played along.
But what amused me at the same time was, not a soul was around to enjoy those refreshing drops of water.
Everyone was either indoors or were out for their work and those who were indoors came out, sneaked, collected their clothes that hung for drying and shut the door again.
Nonetheless, it was a different day for me and my girl and it gave a hope that the summer will be soon over.
But alas! how untrue that was.

ರಾಷ್ಟ್ರ 'ಕವಿಮನೆ'

It came as a very unexpected visit, yet how eagerly i wanted to peek into the abode of Kuvempu- 'Kavimane' as it is called. Situated just 18kms away from Theerthahalli (shimoga dist.) amidst the Western Ghats and the skyscraping arecanut trees, Kavimane speaks of a tradition, of aesthetic sense and of architectural marvel of olden days.

A 2 storey building which nestled about 45 people then takes one to a journey of olden and golden era. The intricate carvings on the pillars and the wooden window grills is one of its kind.

Major part of the house is turned into a memorial containing Kuvempu's books, awards, letters etc., One beautiful yet important letter which I read from there was the letter from the poet ಬಿ.ಎಂ.ಶ್ರೀ where he apologizes for not being able to attend Kuvempu's wedding. I did want to take a photograph of the same but "No photography inside the house".

One regret that remains is having missed our visit to 'Kavishaila'- the place which inspired him to write.

Here's the photo of Kavimane from outside:

Get Together

When me and my sister were still young, we teased our mother for attending 'all' the functions at any relatives and friends. At our native place too we mocked at our relatives for their compulsion to attend any function both at their farthest and nearest relatives.
Now, I've started to realise why they would be so eager not to miss any of those gatherings.

Almost everyone of them being home makers, they would be trapped in their houses and household responsibilities 24x7. And these get togethers meant- meeting people, time to relax and only way of socialization.
Moreover, our relatives in the native regions stayed in villages which barely consisted of 5-10 houses for kms away. And attending these functions would be their only means of entertainment too. Whereas for a person residing in a city the options for entertainment can be much more. Even there people call their means of relaxation and entertainment as parties/ get together/kitty parties. The only difference being the names assigned in different set ups.

But, my relatives, being in such remote places, handling so much responsibilities and living with limited resources run much happier lives than us who have less responsibilities and more choice on resources compared to them.
We are surrounded by friends, innumerable modes of entertainment and in constant touch with people due to advanced technology yet we are lonely and depressed many a times.

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.

Less than 48 hrs and three Telugu movies is hard to digest that too in a situation when you are in a bus and can't look away.
Movies with hard-to-believe actions (some of the actions does look like a scene from a comedy movie), filled with violence, with born-to-rich-dads heroes (Jr.NTR and Charan Raj) are a nightmare.
It's worse when children watch the same with their wide open eyes.

Memories

I just finished reading the review about this book 'Moonwalking with Einstein' by Joshua Foer (a science journalist) who trained his memory and won the U.S Memory Championship.
And it seems like a very good one.

In one of the interviews when asked (which i really think is true):

'What is the connection between memory and our sense of time?'

He says, 'As we get older, life seems to fly by faster and faster. That's because we structure our experience of time around memories. We remember events in relation to other events. But as we get older, and our experiences become less unique, our memories can blend together. If yesterday's lunch is indistinguishable from the one you ate the day before, it'll end up being forgotten. That's why it's so hard to remember meals. In the same way, if you're not doing things that are unique and different and memorable, this year can come to resemble the last, and end up being just as forgettable as yesterday's lunch. That's why it's so important to pack your life with interesting experiences that make your life memorable, and provide a texture to the passage of time'.

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'!!!

Fragrance

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

Ecological Intelligence

Last week in the TV I happenend to see an interview with Daniel Goleman speaking about the Science of Relationships.
Goleman is considered to be the father of Emotional Intelligence and his book "Emotional Intelligence" topped the New York Times Bestseller list for almost year-and-a-half.
After this success he spoke about Social Intelligence and now very recently he has come with another idea called "Ecological Intelligence".
Ecological Intelligence is nothing but the intelligence that we use to make this planet a more greener place to live in.
Explaining the same in his website, he gives an example: 'Three teen-aged girls are at a shopping mall looking for sunscreen. It’s an impulse purchase, and it has to be an all-natural choice. They think they’ve found what they’re looking for at one store, but on the way to the register one of the girls takes out her phone and swipes it by the barcode of the product they’ve selected. Moments later, as she’s pulling out a credit card at the register, her iPhone announces an incoming email. It’s a short message informing her that the item she is about to purchase contains compounds that are linked to the decimation of coral reefs. Moreover, the plastic container is difficult to recycle. Because her phone has pinpointed her location via GPS, she also learns that another store in the mall carries a “greener” sunscreen that has neither of those two problems. The girls leave the register and make a beeline for the other store.'
His interview on the TV lead me to discover all these details about him and his new terminologies and finally led me to this article by which I think many can contribute to save our planet.

The false 'depths' of Araku valley

Call it the exaggeration of the locals or the extreme advertisement of the AP tourism or the bad taste for travel of the people of A.P, Araku is indeed not a tourist destination from any angle.
We had heard a loooot about the place and the unavailability of any pacakges from APTDC and the train tickets gave us the impression that it's not the place to be 'missed'.
As per our (me n S's) internet search and the local folks it was the train journey from Vizag to Araku that's supposed to give the best view of the scenic beauty.
May be it was a sign when we didn't get the train reservation that we were headed in the wrong direction which we didn't notice.
Actually we found it was through road that we could enjoy more rather than the crowded and ever screaming people in the train (screaming as the train passes through several tunnels).
The only hotels that are situated in the Araku are managed by APTDC whose service is utterly chaotic.
The sooo called local sight seeing places are nothing but a tribal museum and a botanical garden which give the impression of nothing more than our lifestyle in the village and a park respectively.
The whole tour was so depressive and the only ocassion when I laughed that day was when a lady in the so called botanical garden was showing her husband 'the pineapple TREE':0 in actual a decorative plant with light green leaves which stood tall and haggard.
Nothing could be more dissapointing than this!
Of course, our trip to the next destination the after that was more appealing and it compensated for the previous day.