Tagged - Not so crappy Questionnaire :D

I have been tagged by Pavan.  I further tag these people : Yashu , Deepu , Sadhana ,Ashu and Raju :) . So here I go :

What, in your opinion, are the 5 most over-rated things in recent times?

1. Land/site value in Bangalore - literally over-rated :P
2. IT profession
3. common wealth games , IPL
4. Kareena and she being zero size :D (well , thought that I should add something about bollywood , which in itself is over-rated :P)
5. cosmetics(especially these fairness creams) : feel real irritated when I see these fairness cream ads :P

What 3 wishes would you ask if you stumble across a genie on the way to work? (You can only ask for material things. No unrealistic things like perfect wife/husband, world peace etc. No loopholes such as more wishes,more genies etc. No asking money :P)

1. A bath machine , just step in and step out of it (like the machines at security checks ;)) and you emerge clean  :D Yes , I feel very lazy to take bath (BUT I do , daily :D) .
2. easily foldable Pushpaka vimaana - would make daily life much easier in Bangalore :P :D
3. finance and leave approval for my world tour :D
   

What is the one singular deed would you like to do if you were given a chance to go back in time? (apart from Killing Hitler and (guys)one night with Helen of Troy,Cleopatra and all other hot chicks of the past)

1. I would like to see Hampi when it was in all its grandeur :)
2. I would also like to go back ,just a few years back , to see my mom holding, just born me ,in her hands for the first time :))

Tell us 3 things you wish you knew when you turned 18.

1. Having pimples is not at all a thing to be worried about and I wouldn't  be giving a damn about it now (when I am 26), I really wish I had known this then , wasted too much time and energy on this :P
2. I need not be nice to people all the time , even to those who were not being nice to me sometimes.
3. I wish I knew that ,i t doesn't matter too much as to what people think about me or my life.

What are the 3 geekiest things about you?

    1.I don't think too much about my appearance , or rather don't work on it much any time before stepping out. I feel really uncomfortable when I am dressed up with jewelery,any kind of cosmetics,etc  , when I do use all that during some rare occasions .
    2.Most of the times , I would prefer reading a book as a pastime rather than watching a movie /shopping.Of course , I don't deny that I enjoy shopping too , to some extent :D
    3.But all in all , I declare that I am not much of a geek , so no more points to add here :P :D
 
Tell us 3 things that make you go “Awwww”

    1.a baby smiling oh  so sweetly and cutely in its sleep :)
    2.photos of my childhood , photos of trips , any photos of my past :)
    3.Whenever I read calvin and hobbes :)

What are the kinds of people you are biased against,possibly unreasonably:

1. people who think that , what they think and how they live ,is  always right and everyone else should follow the same :P
2. Men who talk about girls as if they are some things for display in a exhibition :P I know the excuse that guys give - " That's how guys are " :P
3. people who are too emotional and sentimental in every aspect of life , and are never realistic .

What is that one lie that you absolutely intend to tell your kids?
I wouldn't risk writing it up here :P , of course my kids would be reading my blog :D

What 3 words would a wife say if she is all ready to blast her husband for not remembering their anniversary , and just in nick of time he wishes  (Those tagged can change this question. Answer will remain)
A.J.M (Akkan Just miss)

Which fictional characters do you identify most with?

1. Hobbes
2. Watson :D

The guy sitting on the other side of the bus is giving you the looks. What do you do?

Just ignore him.

Any FFFFUUUUUUU moment happened to you recently?

slippery roads in Finland , making me walk awkwardly all the time :P

What song is playing in your head RIGHT NOW?
Orey manva tu to bavra hai
Tu hi jaane tu kya sochta hai
Tu hi jaane tu kya sochta hai bavre
Kyun dikhaye sapne tu sote jaagte ...

Indian women and marriage

As usual I was just browsing some blogs , and I came across quite a few of them on the state of Indian women today.

As I am reading them , I have confusing thoughts myself . Do I have the same feelings as they have and do I think in the same direction? So here is this post to sort out my thoughts and feelings in this aspect.I have put few questions to myself and tried to answer those .

But most of my thoughts are based on what is happening around me and not with me , and so I might not be fully right in my views. My opinion is that you can only know the truth and what exactly is one going through , the causes for such a situation ,etc only when YOU have gone through it. Everything else is just an opinion(sometimes biased) and perspective of a person viewing the whole situation from outside.

Here we go :

1.Is feminism one of the main reasons for an increase in divorces?
   - No. In past ( and in present ) too there were lot of marriages which went wrong , but due to many reasons( mostly due to fear of reactions from society ) , the couple adjusted and compromised even though they were not happy with the marriage and lived like unhappy strangers in the same house. I would say though not legally separated , this was a case of divorce too. So it is a good thing that two persons who have decided that they cannot live together get separated and take their own paths.BUT the relationship should be given enough time and chance before it is ended.

2.Regarding marriage being thrust upon a girl
   Yes , this is a big problem. I have experienced this myself and I also see people around me going through this.I would say that getting married is a person's own choice and others have no role to play here and all their opinions,suggestions and advice are unasked for and not welcome ( I think this is something I myself should follow too , and have not done so few times in past ) .And it is high time that parents start realizing that girls should be given enough time and independence for settling down with a life partner. They are mature enough to take care of themselves and can plan their life.But yes , I would say , marriage is a good thing to get into.It is not just responsibility and commitments but also a relationship where in you have someone always with you to support you emotionally and with whom you can share your happiness and sorrows :).

3.Is marriage a barrier for an woman in her career/studies/any other aspirations?
   No.Not at all.Yes I agree that once married we will have some responsibility towards the family and before taking any decision, we might have to consider a few more aspects ( which we need not if we are single ) , but if our goals are clear and we have a strong will to achieve them and have proper plans in place,marriage is not at all a barrier for achieving any of our dreams.

4.And finally , do I hate being an Indian woman?
   No , I do not hate it as such. But yes , sadly it is true that the state of women in India is far worse than most of the countries.I am not really sure how happy women are in other countries.If I have to speak for myself , I am happy here in India having a loving family supporting me ,studying what I was interested in and also working in an area of my interest.But , yes , it is not the same in all cases , and I have seen lot of women struggling with their day to day lives so much so that after sometime they even forget that they had some ambitions and aspirations for themselves.So to this , I would say , yes it is difficult being an Indian woman, but I for myself, do not hate it.

Below are the blogs about which I was talking about :

http://indianhomemaker.wordpress.com/2010/10/22/feminism-has-gone-to-womens-head-divorce-has-become-like-selling-onions/
http://nirjharani.blogspot.com/2010/10/yes-i-am-single-so.html
http://heyithinkthisway.wordpress.com/2010/07/27/i-hate-being-an-indian-woman/

ಗೃಹಭಂಗ - ಎಸ್.ಎಲ್.ಭೈರಪ್ಪ

ಕೆಲವು ದಿನಗಳ ಹಿಂದಷ್ಟೇ ಈ ಪುಸ್ತಕವನ್ನು ಓದಿ ಮುಗಿಸಿದೆ.ಇದರ ಕಥೆ,ನಿರೂಪಣೆ,ಪಾತ್ರಗಳು ಮನಸ್ಸಿಗೆ ಬಹಳ ಹಿಡಿಸಿತು.ಮತ್ತೊಮ್ಮೆ ಓದಬೇಕೆನಿಸಿ,ಪುನಃ ಓದುತಿದ್ದೇನೆ :) . ಹಾಗೆ ಇದರ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಇಲ್ಲಿಯೂ ಕೂಡ ಬರೆಯಬೇಕೆನಿಸಿತು.ಇದು ಧಾರಾವಾಹಿಯಾಗಿ ಬರುತ್ತಿತು ಕೂಡ.ಆದರೆ ನಾನು ನೋಡಿಲ್ಲ.

ಈ ಕಥೆ ಶುರುವಿನಲ್ಲಿ , ಶಿವಮೊಗ್ಗದ ಹತ್ತಿರ ಒಂದು ಹಳ್ಳಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಇರುವ ವಿಧವೆ ಗಂಗಮ್ಮ ಹಾಗು ಅವಳ ಇಬ್ಬರು ಗಂಡು ಮಕ್ಕಳ ಪರಿಚಯವಾಗುತ್ತದೆ.ಗಂಗಮ್ಮ ವಾಚಾಳಿ , ಒರಟು ಹೆಂಗಸು.ಬಾಯಿ ಬಿಟ್ಟರೆ ಕೆಟ್ಟ ಮಾತುಗಳೇ.ಮಕ್ಕಳೂ ತಾಯಿಯಂತೆ ಸ್ವಭಾವ.ಯಾರು ಹೇಗಾದರೂ ಕಷ್ಟ ಪಡಲಿ,ತಮಗೆ ಹೊಟ್ಟೆ ತುಂಬಾ ಊಟ,ಕಣ್ತುಂಬ ನಿದ್ದೆಯಾದರೆ ಆಯಿತು.ತಂದೆ ಸಾಕಷ್ಟು ಆಸ್ತಿ ಮಾಡಿಟ್ಟಿರುವುದರಿಂದ ಜೀವನಕ್ಕೆ ತೊಂದರೆ ಏನಿಲ್ಲ.

ಇಂತಹ ಕುಟುಂಬಕ್ಕೆ ಹಿರಿಯ ಸೊಸೆಯಾಗಿ ಬರುವಳು ನಂಜಮ್ಮ.ಏತಕ್ಕೂ ಪ್ರಯೋಜನವಿಲ್ಲದ ಗಂಡನ ಶ್ಯಾನುಬೋಗಿಕೆಯನ್ನು ಸಹ ತಾನೇ ನಿಭಾಯಿಸಿ ಹೇಗೋ ಸಂಸಾರ ಮಾಡುತ್ತಾಳೆ.ತನ್ನ ಗಂಡ ಅತ್ತೆ ಹಾಗು ಮೈದುನರ ದಡ್ಡತನ ಹಾಗು ಸೋಂಬೇರಿತನದಿಂದಾಗಿ ಇದ್ದ ಆಸ್ತಿಯೆಲ್ಲವು ಕಳೆದುಹೋದರೂ ಸಹ ಹೇಗೋ ಕಷ್ಟ ಹಾಗು ಬುದ್ಧಿವಂತಿಕೆಯಿಂದ ಜೀವನ ನಡೆಸುತ್ತಿರುತ್ತಾಳೆ. ಹೀಗೆ ಈ ಕಥೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ,ಒಂದು ಹಳ್ಳಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ದಿನದಿನದ ಊಟಕ್ಕೂ ಸಹ ಪಡಬೇಕಾದ ಕಷ್ಟ , ಗಂಡ ಹೇಗೆ ಇದ್ದರು ಹೊಂದಿಕೊಳ್ಳಲೇಬೇಕಾದ ಪರಿಸ್ತಿತಿ , ಮಕ್ಕಳನ್ನು ಓಧಿಸಲು ಪಡಬೇಕಾದ ಪಾಡು,  ಮನಸನ್ನು ತಟ್ಟುವಂತೆ ಮೂಡಿಬರುತ್ತವೆ.

ಈ ಎಲ್ಲ ಕಷ್ಟಗಳ ಮಧ್ಯೆ , ನಂಜಮ್ಮನ ಮಕ್ಕಳಿಗೆ ಪ್ಲೇಗು ರೋಗ ತಗುಲಿ ಮೂರರಲ್ಲಿ ಎರಡು ಮಕ್ಕಳನ್ನು ಕಳೆದುಕೊಳ್ಳುತ್ತಾಳೆ.ನಂತರ ತಾನೇ ಈ ರೋಗಕ್ಕೆ ಬಲಿಯಾಗುತ್ತಾಳೆ.ಇದಿಷ್ಟು ಕಥೆಯ ಬಹಳ ಚಿಕ್ಕ ಸಾರಾಂಶ.ಇದರಲ್ಲಿ ಬರುವ ಎಲ್ಲ ಪಾತ್ರಗಳು ಬಹಳ ನೈಜವಾಗಿವೆ.ಕಥೆಯ ಯಾವುದೇ ವಿವರಣೆ ಬರಿಯ ಕಥೆ ಅನಿಸದೆ , ಯಾವುದೇ ಹಳ್ಳಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ನಡೆಯಬಹುದಾದ ಘಟನೆಗಳೇ ಆಗಿವೆ.

ಹೀಗೆ ಓದುತ್ತಿರಬೇಕಾದರೆ ಮನಸಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಒಂದು ವಿಚಾರ ಬಂದಿತು.ಒಂದು ವೇಳೆ ನಾನು ನಂಜಮ್ಮನ ಜಾಗದಲ್ಲಿ ಇದ್ದಿದರೆ ಏನು ಮಾಡುತ್ತಿದೆ ಎಂದು.ತಕ್ಷಣ ಅನಿಸಿದ್ದು "ಇಂತಹ ಕೆಟ್ಟ ಗಂಡನ ಜೊತೆ ಕಂಡಿತ ನಾನು ಇರುತ್ತಿರಲಿಲ್ಲ. ಅವನನ್ನು ಬಿಟ್ಟು ನನ್ನ ಜೀವನ ನಾನು ಮಾಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದೆ".ಆದರೆ ನನಗೆ ಇದು ಸುಲಭವೆನಿಸಬಹುದು.ಆದರೆ ಆರ್ಥಿಕವಾಗಿ ಸ್ವಾವಲಂಭಿಯಿಲ್ಲದಿದ್ದರೆ  ಈ ನಿಟ್ಟಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಯೋಚಿಸುವುದೂ ಕಷ್ಟವೇ.ಅದಕ್ಕೆ ಅಲ್ಲವೇ ಸ್ತ್ರೀ ಶಿಕ್ಷಣ ಅಷ್ಟೊಂದು ಮಹತ್ವ ಪಡೆಯುವುದು.

ಈ ಕಥೆಯ ಕೊನೆಯ ದೃಶ್ಯ ಮನತಟ್ಟುವಂತಿದೆ.ನಂಜಮ್ಮನ ಕೊನೆಯ ಮಗನನ್ನು ಯಾರೂ ಜವಾಬ್ದಾರಿಯಿಂದ ಸಾಕುವವರು ಇಲ್ಲದೆ, ಊರಿನ ದಾಸಯ್ಯನವರು ತಮ್ಮೊಡನೆ ಕರೆದೊಯ್ಯುತಾರೆ .ದಾರಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ತಾಂಬೂಲ ಅಗಿಯುತ್ತ ಮರದಡಿ ಮಲಗಿದ್ದ ನಂಜಮ್ಮನ ಗಂಡ, ತನ್ನ ಮಗನನ್ನು ಯಾರೋ ಕರೆದುಕೊಂಡು ಹೋಗುತ್ತಿರುವುದನ್ನು ಕಂಡೂ ಸಹ,ಬಾಯಲ್ಲಿರುವ ತಾಂಬೂಲವನ್ನು ಉಗಿದರೆ ಸುಮ್ಮನೆ ದಂಡ ಅನಿಸಿ ಸುಮ್ಮನೆ ಮಲಗುವನು.ಇದು ನಂಜಮ್ಮ ತನ್ನ ಜೀವನವಿಡಿ ಪಟ್ಟ ಪಾಡಿಗೆ ಕನ್ನಡಿ ಹಿಡಿಯುವಂತ ದೃಶ್ಯವಾಗಿದೆ.

Thoughts for the day

Its time to pour down my thoughts here again :) So here I go :

• Div shifted to Mangalore , but it still hasn't gone into my head that she is not in Bangalore. I guess the fact will start to show its effect once we have our group meets anytime soon .. :-|
• We (friends) had planned for Kerala trip this weekend. All was set ( bus,train booked hotel booked ) but it got canceled or rather we have postponed it. Major disappointment to everyone involved :( But ,its ok. We will plan and have the trip soon  :)
• I was wondering few days back as to how life changes in just a span of an year or so. First 2 years in SASKEN ,we were so carefree , had lots of fun :) And then in the next year ,one by one ,each of us started changing jobs. And within another year , all girls in the group got married. And another year passes,and each of us ( almost ) are in different places now.But ,we are still great friends and our friendship has just become stronger in these years :)
• TV shows I am watching these days : India's got talent , few episodes of Sasural genda phool .I felt that the latter one is an exception to the kind of serials which I was talking about here.It shows a joint family with all members supporting each other , and having fun and good times in their day to day life.
• Have made a todo list for myself . Putting it here so that I can update again next week as to how much I have followed it :P . List looks like this :

            1.Get up at 6
            2.1/2 an hour walk+Yoga
            3.No to coffee
            4. No to junk food
            5.Sleep by 9 45 in the night.

     Well , not that difficult things to do. But just have to pull myself up and start following atleast these things properly.Lets see what will be the status of these by next Sunday. Will come and update here ;)

• Got some new clothes for the trip , now I have wear them to office :P Or shall keep them till the next trip.. No , I'll buy more for the next one :D

I am signing off here :) Hope the forthcoming week has some brighter things in store for all of us :) 

How did/do you know that he is the one?

This is a question to all married ladies out there ;) I am only talking about arranged marriage here , since the process and thoughts might be totally different in case of a love marriage.

So, when a girl meets a guy , how does she know  whether he is the right person or not? During my pre-marriage days , I was discussing this with Pavan , and we had concluded that when we meet the right person , a bell will ring inside our head/heart ( we were kind of confused as to where exactly it will ring :D) .

So did the bells ring for me when I met Deepu? At least for me , they partially rang even before I met him ;) .I was impressed with the fact that he wanted to speak to me on phone before coming to my place or meeting my parents.And I was double impressed when he said on phone that he wanted to meet me so that we could exchange our thoughts , before he or his parents would come to my place.I really liked that he was not adhering to this stupid process of coming to a girl's place with parents to "see" the girl , where neither the girl nor the guy would get enough time and space to speak to each other.

And when I met him , we got enough time to speak about our expectations and we were comfortable in each other's company.May be it was also pretty comfortable because our parents were not around ;) .

So that was the case with me.But was I sure of of my choice once I said yes? Hm , well up to an extent yes.But , there was this fear that something might go wrong and I might not have made the right decision.I guess all girls will have a little fear in this phase :) .But , after an year and more of married life , I can happily say that I made the right decision :)

But is it as easy as that in all cases? What is the right formula for choosing the right guy? I really do not know even now. Some people prepare a set of questions to ask the guy when they meet him.My ex-roommate had forwarded one such set to me long back. Though I didn't use them when I met Deepu , I did ask him all those questions later :D

General questions

• Are you ready for marriage?
• How would you describe yourself? How do you like to spend your free time?
• How do you feel about smoking and/or drinking?
• What are you looking for in a spouse?
• How much time do you need to decide?
• What are your preferences, in terms of food?
• What are your pet peeves?
• How do you act when you get upset?
• How do you feel about pets?
• What is your family like?

 Professional queries

• What career path do you plan on taking?
• How ambitious are you?
• How much time do you spend at work?
• How do you plan to balance work and family life?

 General questions that could be asked once you get familiar:

• What are your likes and dislikes?
• How do you act when you get upset?
• How often will we visit our extended family (if staying apart from them)?
• Do you believe in sharing housework?

Appropriate questions on the profession front:

• What are your future career plans?
• How much time do you spend at work?
• Are you looking for a working wife, housewife, or is it immaterial to you?
• What would we do in the situation that I get transferred?

 :D Such a big list right? I am not sure if this would help , but it will surely help you know a little more about the person :)

Well , if any of you know more about the right formula for this , do let it know in your comments :D And I wish all the best ( and some luck too ? ;) ) to all those girls who are in this confusing phase of life :)

Death - the ultimate truth?

I was randomly reading some blogs this Saturday evening and came across this blog :
http://indianhomemaker.wordpress.com/. Reading first few posts , I realized that a very sad thing has happened in the life of the author - her 19 year old daughter's death due to Dengue. I was just trying to imagine what this mother must be going through and felt really sad :( Hope god gives her and her family enough strength to cope up with this .. Easier said than facing the real situation.

 And then , in the same blog , I found the link to to her daughter's blog : http://blabberblah.wordpress.com/ . Just went through some of her posts , and my sadness just increased.She was a girl so much full of life. I could not and cannot associate death with such a girl .. Such maturity ,confidence and such a beautiful smile. I just felt that I should have met her and known her when she was alive.Hope I had seen her blog when she was alive , and had exchanged few words with her.

Have been thinking of the same girl from the time I visited her blog. Just not able to take her out of my mind.Why should life be so unfair that a girl who had so many ambitions and who wanted to live her life to full extent had to face death all of a sudden? What is the meaning of all this? Finding no answer to these questions about the mystery called death..

From the posts I see that the Indian home maker is strongly trying to move ahead and overcome her grief. I really appreciate this effort of hers and all my heartfelt wishes with her.

Banur Series - Part 1

Yashu,Atte,Myself,Manju,Varun and Teju

When I think of childhood , the places that first come to my mind are NR mohalla and Udayagiri in Mysore and Banur in Chikmagalur.This series is about all the nice time we had in Banur and all the sweet memories :) . I am already forgetting bits and pieces of that time. So before my memory becomes more hazier , let me start penning down all that I remember of those precious moments :)

To start with , Banur is my Mom's native place. Its a village in Chikmagalur district. All my summer holidays were spent there. I actually don’t remember even a single summer holiday that I spent in Mysore.We(me and Yashu) would pack our bags the day exam got over ( rather my mom packed them for us ;) ) and keep waiting for our parents to take us to Banur.And once we reached there , we would eagerly wait for the arrival of all my Cousins.

Teju,Dodamma,Atte and Dayanna

I remember Thatha ( My mom's Father ) used to keep ready a huge sack of rice during this time for the next 2 months ;)The day we reached there would go off in just having dinner and sleeping. But my eyes would be looking for Ashwini and Raju ( my other cousins whose house is just in front of my grandparents house ) ;) . 

And from the next day , we would all start off :D . We would wait eagerly for breakfast and run out to meet all cousins and friends .We would start off on all games - hide and seek, kunte pille, chowka baara, carom, halli gulli mane, kalla police, pagade etc,etc . Oh my god! What fun it was. We played so many games with those tamarind seeds, small stones, broken bangle pieces, etc.Though I remember the rules of those games now , I don’t remember there names :). May be we were inventing those games and rules then and there:D

And the amazing thing was, while playing hide and seek and such running around games, we used to simply go and hide in anyone's house or backyard of the houses, without even asking them and not thinking much about it :D And even they didn’t ask us not to make noise or as to who we were or anything :D.I remember once I was hiding in some house and they had given me roti and other stuff to eat :D

And during the night , we would all sleep in the hall and in between if any of us felt hot , we would just take a chaape ( small carpet ) and go and sleep outside on the street :D It was not a tar road , but a mud one. And there would be already many people sleeping outside ;)

So many more things to write about! But this is it for the first part of the series :) More to come in future posts of this series ;) .Yashu,Raju,Teju,Dayanna - If you guys happen to read these posts , do put across your memories of those times and any correction/additions to mine :)

Thoughts for the day

The days seem to be just flying. Feels like yesterday that we went to Mayya's , struggled with the stairs and lift there to get to top floor and after reaching there , found that we will get our turn only after 1 our or so :P Yes , this was last weekend and already weekend is here again :D As I was saying, its like the weeks , the months are just flying and I don’t know if I must feel good or bad about it. Good because , this feeling ( time flying fast ) means that I am keeping myself engaged and busy in work and at home, and not just lazing around and waiting for the time to pass :D Bad cos , the days are just passing and I will be one more year older soon :D But , I am never much bothered about my age and 25 is not much of an age to bother about I guess :D So , nothing much bad about this after all.

I have seen an increase in the number of beggars near signals these days. And I am really in a dilemma whether to give money to them or not. I don’t think much if it is an old person. But I really don’t know what to do when some child , or some lady with a baby in hand , etc come asking for money. I really feel sad and want to give money , but other side of me says that it is not good to encourage this kind of a thing by giving money.

All my friends seem to be doing the vanishing act these days. Many of them have gone on-site , and few are in unavailable state ;) So , there has been less meet ups , very less or no trips nowadays . Good thing is Ashu is coming back this month end :) Hope things fall back into place soon :)

Deepu keeps asking me now and then as to what my goal in life is. I have really thought hard and have decided that my goal is to travel as much as possible and visit as many places in this world as possible before I die :D . Deepu says , this is not such a proper goal , and I should have some professional goal as well . My traveling goal falls into personal category I guess :D Well as far as my professional life is concerned , I still have to figure out that "BIG" goal :D

My wardrobe is one big mess right now :( ( Its all Yashu's fault , not mine :P :D ) .Everyday I think that I will arrange it in the coming weekend , but I get lazy during weekends to do that . I really admire people who keep all their things properly in place . Also girls who take so much care about having right set of clothes for all occasions  and also matching accessories for all those sets .May be I should make a resolution right now that I will keep my things properly from now and spend some more time and put some more effort on the way I look every time I step out of my house :P ;) This weekend , I will be in Davangere , so once I am back from there , I will start working on these things :D ( Hopefully ;) )

New recipes tried out : Only one . Tried out gojjavalakki , and it turned out pretty ok :) Need to try out more recipes. I myself have got bored with things I am preparing and there is a need to add some new and exciting items to my menu :D

OK! That's it as of now .More thoughts in future posts :D

starting a tag - 7 things about myself :)

I saw this tagging thing in many blogs and wanted to try out one. Since no one has tagged me till now , I thought I will start one myself and then tag my friends who blog ;)
Well as I got from other blogs , following are the "rules" for tagging :D ,

1. Tag seven people 
2. Link their pages in your tag post
3. Leave a comment in their comments section telling them they’ve been tagged
4. In your post, mention the person who tagged you and link his/her page
5. Write 7 things about yourself.

Let me start off with the last rule ;) Don't know if I can write anything which everyone already do not know :D But let me give it a try .Here are 7 things about myself :

1. I have starting problems with people. I mean , it takes lot of time for me to get along with any new person I meet.But once friends , I talk so much that all my friends laugh when I say "I am a silent girl" :D 

2. I bite my nails most of the time , especially when I am trying to solve any problem , I am tensed , waiting for some result ,etc. But I don't when I am happy :D

3. When with me , you will mostly find me laughing :D I laugh at any small joke :P Whenever someone is cracking a joke , I try to visualize the joke and that makes me laugh more than anyone and louder than everyone as well:D People who do not know me well might find this a little odd sometimes I guess ;)

4. I love travelling. I have lots of places to cover still . Sad thing is , I have not done much of travelling this year , and have to really start off :(  Sandeep , are you listening ,or reading rather :D I know this is a PJ , but I laugh at such jokes too :P :D

5.I read a lot . Mostly novels. I am not much into books which preach , books with philosophical stuff , etc . I am more into detective stories , romance . I do love reading biographies and auto biographies :) My favorites are Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie Novels . My favorite pastime is munching some snacks and reading a book :)

6. I am more of a family person than career oriented .I try to give my best towards my job , but family is my first priority and everything else comes later :) 

Oh . I have already finished 6 points! Ok , let me put everything else I want to say in the last point then :D

7. I have small number of friends , but i love all of them , and try to keep in touch with them as much as possible :) But , I am really bad at this "keeping in touch" thing. I get lazy to even to call up any of them :D But they have been good enough to call themselves and I guess due to all their efforts , i am much better in this now :D And yes , I like cooking :D

OK , I am done with the last rule :D Let me go to others ;)

Nobody tagged me , so I need not mention that :D  I need to tag more people and here I go : Deepu , Yashu , Pavan , Sadhana , Ashwini , John , Raju.I will send them a mail asking them to write rather than leaving a comment :D

serial killers

No no , I don't really know any serial killer as such , nor will I try to go into any serial killer's mentality :D But this is about something which is as dangerous as a serial killer is.At least that is what I felt after watching them for few days now , when I was on leave , thanks to throat infection , cold , fever , etc , etc ;) Actually , no etcs . Its just throat infection , cold  and fever :D

OK coming back to the topic..oh.. I haven't mentioned the topic till now . Its about these mega serials which are aired almost all the time in all the channels ;) I have started watching some of these in recent past. Its not that I watch them regularly , but just rush through them while browsing channels. Actually I don't have enough patience to sit and watch the same story for half an hour or more and then follow it up daily :P Some points , well lets say , some aspects which are sometimes irritating , annoying , amusing , amazing ,funny , etc about these serials from my point of view ;)

All people seem to wear designer clothes all the time , even when they are at home , while cooking and sleeping as well :P Yes, the ladies ,even when they go to sleep , are draped in heavy sarees , with full make up on ! It seems that the guys get to wear some modern wear ( jeans , T-shirts and other stuff ) , but even they wear the same things to bed :P I was just wondering , if people start dressing themselves up so intricately on a daily basis , half the day would be just gone in dressing up and down :D Does anyone know if in any part of country, people being like this? No idea! :D

Almost in all serials , there is a devoted wife who is trying hard to keep her husband to herself . And there is this other lady who is trying hard to snatch the husband using her charms and evil plans :D And the poor husband does almost fall into the trap of the evil lady , while the wife is still trying her best , by being sincere , loving and all that :P Give me a break! :P :D Can't they be a little more practical :P Why would an educated , good looking and self-dependent girl go after some useless guy who is already someone's husband :P And why would a lady continue to be devoted and loving to her husband even after knowing that he can fall for any other woman who comes after him :P But may be this is what the audience today enjoy watching .That's why they are using this theme in almost all the serials today :P

I don't see any serial which will cheer you up after watching it .In almost every serial , somebody or the other is crying and somebody or the other is trying to make someone cry :P It will not be a wonder if we are in a mental shock after watching these for few hours :D

I thought that the world is changing .Girls have more rights and respect these days. And people are much more broad-minded and less superstitious than they were , lets say a decade or more ago . But these serials do not want to change. They still show husbands dominating wives , and wives meekly following every order of husbands' , even if he is bad to core, there is child marriage being glorified in one serial where they depict it as if its nice to get married while you are kids and then grow up together , another one where they show a girl's parents going and begging the guy's parents to accept their daughter's hand :P , and so on . The list is endless. I wonder how the TRPs of these serials are high ..

I may be wrong in saying that everything is good in every other family in all over the world . But I think that it is the responsibility of the makers of these shows to give out positive and good ideas to so many people watching these shows regularly and not fill their mind with such backward,negative and stupid ideas :P

ಸುಧಾ ಮೂರ್ತಿಯವರ "ಮನದ ಮಾತು"

ಈಗ ಕೆಲವು ದಿನಗಳ ಹಿಂದೆ ಸುಧಾ ಮೂರ್ತಿಯವರ "ಮನದ ಮಾತು" ಎಂಬ ಪುಸ್ತಕ ಓದಿದೆ.ಸುಧಾ ಮೂರ್ತಿಯವರ ಕೆಲವಷ್ಟು  ಪುಸ್ತಕಗಳನ್ನು ಓದಿದ್ದೇನೆ . ಎಲ್ಲವೂ ಬಹಳ ಸೊಗಸಾಗಿವೆ. ಅವುಗಳನ್ನು ಓದುತ್ತ , ನಾನು ಅವರ ಅಭಿಮಾನಿಯಾಗಿದ್ದೇನೆ :)  .

ಮೊನ್ನೆ ಟಿವಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಅವರ ಸಂದರ್ಶನ ಮೂಡಿ ಬರುತ್ತಿತ್ತು. ಅವರ ಮುಖದಲ್ಲಿ  ಎಂತಹ ಕಳೆ! ಯಾವಾಗಲೂ ಮುಖದ  ತುಂಬಾ ಮುಗುಳ್ನಗು. ಅವರಿಗೆ ಇಷ್ಥವಾದ ಹಾಡು ಯಾವುದು ಎಂದು ಕೇಳಿ ಅದನ್ನು ಹಾಡಿಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದರು. ಪ್ರತಿಯೊಂದು ಹಾಡಿಗೂ ಚಪ್ಪಾಳೆ ತಟ್ಟಿ , ಜೊತೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ತಾವೂ ಹಾಡಿ ಸಂತೋಷ ಪಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದರು. ಜೀವನದಲ್ಲಿ ಸಣ್ಣ ಸಣ್ಣ ಸಂಗತಿಗಳಲ್ಲೂ ಸಂತೋಷ ಕಾಣಬೇಕೆನ್ನುವುದನ್ನು ಇವರನ್ನು  ನೋಡಿ ಕಲಿಯಬೇಕು.

"ಮನದ ಮಾತು" ಪುಸ್ತಕದಲ್ಲಿ ಅವರ ಜೀವನದ ಕೆಲವು ಘಟನೆಗಳನ್ನು ಕುರಿತು ಬರೆದಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಸಾಕಷ್ಟು ಸಂಗತಿಗಳು ಎಲ್ಲರಿಗೂ ಅನ್ವಯಿಸುತ್ತವೆ. ಈ ಸಣ್ಣ ಸಣ್ಣ ಕಥೆಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಕೆಲವು ಮನತಟ್ಟುವ ಮಾತುಗಳ ತುಣುಕುಗಳು ಇಲ್ಲಿವೆ ,

• "ಬಾಲ್ಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಯಾವುದೇ ವಿಷಯ ಚೆನ್ನಾಗಿ ಕಲಿಯದಿದ್ದರೆ , ಮನೆಯ ಬುನಾದಿಯೇ ಸರಿ ಇಲ್ಲದೆ ಕಟ್ಟಿದ ಕಟ್ಟಡದಂತೆ ಆಗುವುದು. ಮುಂದೆ ಎಂಥ ಉತ್ತಮ ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರಿದ್ದರೂ ಪ್ರಯೋಜನವಿಲ್ಲ. ಅದಕ್ಕೆ ಪಾಶ್ಚಿಮಾತ್ಯ ದೇಶದಲ್ಲಿ ಕೆಳಗಿನ ತರಗತಿಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಉತ್ತಮ ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರಿರಬೇಕು ಎಂದು ಬಯಸುತ್ತಾರೆ. ಅದಕ್ಕಾಗಿ ಪರಿಶ್ರಮವನ್ನೂ ಪಡುತ್ತಾರೆ" . -- ಲೇಖನ: "ಗುರುವಿಗೆ ನಮನ"
• "ಕುಷ್ಠ ರೋಗ ಅನುವಂಶಿಕ ರೋಗ , ಒಂದು ಬಾರಿ ಬಂದರೆ ಇದಕ್ಕೆ ಔಷದಿಯೇ ಇಲ್ಲ , ಹೀಗೆ ಹತ್ತು ಹಲವಾರು.ಆದರೆ ಇದೆಲ್ಲ ಸುಳ್ಳು.ಕುಷ್ಟ ರೋಗವೆಂದು ತಿಳಿದ ಕೂಡಲೆ ಔಷದಿಯನ್ನು ತೆಗೆದುಕೊಂಡರೆ ಖಂಡಿತವಾಗಿಯೂ ಸಂಪೂರ್ಣವಾಗಿ ಗುಣಹೊಂದಬಹುದು.ಈ ರೋಗ ಗುಣಪಡಿಸಲು ಬೇಕಾಗುವುದು ಔಷಧಿ ,ತಾಳ್ಮೆ ,ಪ್ರೀತಿ ಮತ್ತು ವಾತ್ಸಲ್ಯ " -- ಲೇಖನ: "ಒಂದು ತುಂಡು ಬಟ್ಟೆ"
• "ಭಗವಂತನು ಕೆಲವೇ ಜನರನ್ನು ಹಣವಂತರನ್ನಾಗಿ ಮಾಡಿರುತ್ತಾನೆ. ಆದ್ದರಿಂದ ಪರರಿಗೆ ಸಹಾಯ ಮಾಡುವುದು ಅವರ ಕರ್ತವ್ಯವಾಗಿರುತ್ತದೆ." -- ಲೇಖನ: "ಒಂದು ತುಂಡು ಬಟ್ಟೆ"
• "ಮಕ್ಕಳಿಗೆ ನಾವು ಕೊಡುವುದು ಅಪಾರವಾದ ಆಸ್ತಿಯಲ್ಲ.ಜೀವನವನ್ನು ಅರಿಯುವ ವಿವೇಚನಾ ಶಕ್ತಿ ಮತ್ತು ಆತ್ಮ ಸ್ಥೈರ್ಯ , ಬೇರುಗಳು ಮತ್ತು ರೆಕ್ಕೆಗಳಿದ್ದರೆ ಯುವಕರು ಎಲ್ಲಿ ಬೇಕಾದರೂ ಇರಬಹುದಲ್ಲವೇ?" -- ಲೇಖನ: "ಹಿರಿಯರಿಗೊಂದು ಕಿವಿಮಾತು"
• "ದಾನವನ್ನು ಶ್ರದ್ಧೆಯಿಂದ, ಸತ್ಪಾತ್ರರಿಗೆ,ಸಂತೋಷದಿಂದ ಕೊಡು. ದಾನ ಪಡೆದವರಿಂದ ಏನನ್ನೂ ಅಪೇಕ್ಷಿಸಬೇಡ. ದಾನ ಕೊಡುವಾಗ ಕುಟುಂಬದವರ ಒಪ್ಪಿಗೆ ಪಡೆ.ಶಕ್ತಿ ಮೀರಿ ಕೊಟ್ಟು ಮನೆಯವರನ್ನು ದರಿದ್ರರನ್ನಾಗಿ ಮಾಡಬೇಡ. ಧರ್ಮ,ಜಾತಿ,ಮತ,ಲಿಂಗ ಮತ್ತು ವಯಸ್ಸಿನ ಕಟ್ಟುಪಾಡು ಹಾಕಬೇಡ". -- ಲೇಖನ: "ಕೆಂಪು ಅಕ್ಕಿಯ ಕಣಜ"

ಹೀಗೆ ಪುಸ್ತಕ ಓದುತ್ತಾ ಹೋದ ಹಾಗೆ ಅವರ ಅನುಭವಗಳಿಂದ ನಾವು ಜೀವನದಲ್ಲಿ ಅಳವಡಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳಬಹುದಾದಂತಹ ಸಾಕಷ್ಟು ವಿಚಾರಗಳು ಸಿಗುತ್ತವೆ. ಈ ಎಲ್ಲ ವಿಚಾರಗಳನ್ನು ಬರಿಯ ವಿಚಾರಗಳಾಗಿಯೇ ಉಳಿಸದೆ, ತಮ್ಮ ಜೀವನದಲ್ಲಿಯೂ ಪಾಲಿಸುತ್ತಿರುವ ಸುಧಾ ಮೂರ್ತಿಯವರಂತಹ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿಗಳಿಗೆ ನನ್ನದೊಂದು ನಮನ :)

RUN ka FUN ;)

Well! So many things to write about , but I have become so lazy nowadays :P But this one event , I have to put it down here :) I am talking about the SUN FEAST 10 K which was there on 23rd MAY , Sunday . I had registered for this event more than a month before the event day . I usually run for 5K  . "Usually" doesn’t mean that I have run many times , but only twice :D SUN FEAST 5K last year and 5K run in IISC arranged event . IISC was a nice experience because of the superb campus :)

Well as I was saying , I registered for 10K thinking that since there is more than a month's time to practice , I would be ready for the run by 23rd may . But the practice never materialized due to my laziness :P Till the last moment I was not sure about my participation. 

On the D-Day , I did a stupid mistake. I wore new pair of shoes and my feet got scratches and boils due to that before even I could start running. But when the run started , I forgot about all this :) Loud music , thousands of cheering and excited runners around me , and I started running :) 

But I couldn’t run for long , big time problems with my shoes . Once or twice I even thought that I will remove my shoes and run bare feet :D I didn’t do that though ;) So I walked the whole way . 

There was one person who was running , though he had only one leg . Another was wooden . But he almost finished with me :) He was so active and excited about all this :) He was saying that he was going for 15,000 feet trekking in Himalayas . Hats off to him :) . And one thing which was a little embarrassing for me is the volunteers all along the way who were cheering the runners . I was way behind all the runners , and wherever these people were there , they were shouting at me to RUN :D At one place , somebody started shouting into the mike " Run Rashmi Run " and so on . Guess they got my name from the running number that I was wearing . I felt like shouting at them saying " I don’t need any cheering , let me run( rather walk ;) ) at my own pace " :D.

So somehow I walked and reached the finish line , though my timing was really bad ( over 2 hrs ) . But my goal this time was to finish the run and I did that :) . 

But , there are some lessons learnt 

1.Don’t run with new shoes :D , guess if I had consulted any of experienced runners , they would have already told me this ;)
2.practice at least for a week if you are planning to go to any event like this , daily practice would be even better :D

I guess if I follow 2 with new shoes , then 1 will be followed automatically :D

We reached back home fully tired , then slept for the rest of the day :) Hope to have lot of such great days in future too ;)

"The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start."
-John Bingham, running speaker and writer

Well I guess I can say that the above saying goes well in my case ;) And here's my certificate for finishing the run :)

Yes , its a NO!

YES! It is difficult to say "NO" . At least that is the case with me , or shall I say , that was the case with me.

I always found it very difficult to say no when anyone asked me to do anything. I thought saying no would be rude. I really don’t know why it was so difficult for me ,for so many years ,because now I can easily do it ;) .If anyone asks me anything , willing or not willing , with a smile I would say yes and then put myself into difficulty.I guess lot of people might face the same problem.

But gradually , I have realized that it is better and more practical to say no when the thing asked is out of our scope , or when we are not at all willing to do that favor, help  or any commitment that is asked of us. Guess this is one of the many lessons that I have learnt out of my experiences in life ;) . It is not that I have totally overcome this weakness of not saying no. I still find it difficult with my family and close friends. But to an extent , I have improved. I am much much better than what I was few years back :)

Now , in any situation , when anything is asked of me , I think twice before saying yes to it. I have realized that it is good for me and the other person as well. Saying yes , and then struggling to do whatever is asked of , and then the end results might not be as expected. So , in first case itself if we had said no , other person would plan something else and results might be much better. One more hazard of saying yes always is , others' expectations from us is always high . They get so used to getting an yes from us that , sometimes they don’t even bother to ask us ;)

So , I will conclude saying that whenever anyone asks anything from us , lets think practically and not emotionally before saying yes or no.

This will surely make things much clearer on either side and avoid any future complications ;)

Bikhre bimb - an amazing play

We had been to this play last Sunday. Off late I have watched few plays and am loving the experience of watching plays :) Its not that I didn't watch plays before , but very rarely used to go to rangayana in Mysore. The frequency of watching plays has increased now. We watched " Jugaari cross" and "Bikhre bimb" on consecutive weekends ;) . "Bikhre bimb" is the Hindi version of "odakalu bimba" in kannada written by Girish Karnad. Its English version is " Heap of broken images" .

As we enter the theatre , we see a TV studio setup on the stage and a big screen as well. This is a nice way of letting the audience start thinking about what might unfold on this stage :) . Its a solo act by Arundati Nag. This was the first time I saw her in a play and she is just amazing :) 

Coming to the play itself , it is about a kannada author Manjula Nayak who acquires instant fame and money by writing a single English book , which is a work of genius. She comes to the TV studio to talk about her book and once that is done , she is about to leave when she hears her image talking to her from the big screen.Then the image starts interrogating her about the book , her past , and skeletons start tumbling out of the wardrobe. Whole sequence of play which follows is just amazing. I kept wondering as to how difficult it must be for the actress to sync with a recorded sequence playing on the screen..

The emotions involved in the relations of Manjula with her partially paralyzed yet highly intelligent younger sister Malini ,who was staying with Manjula and her husband , with Husband ,the dilemma and tragedies  involved in the lives of these 3 people when they were living together and at present , is brought out beautifully.Though there are negative shades in each of these characters , you can empathize with each of them. Though there is a single actress carrying off the whole play , you are taken through the emotions and feelings of all the 3 characters and you kind of know and can visualize the other characters very well. 

I started off thinking that I will write out the story of the play. But then thought , I shouldn't spoil it for others who still haven't watched the play :) Do watch it if you get a chance. I am waiting for the kannada version to come , want to watch the original ;)

Hum aapke hain kaun?

No , I am not going to write about the movie ;) Everybody knows and have seen enough of this movie already :D  Its about one memory which comes back every time I watch this movie or hear its name ..

I think the movie was released in 1994 . I badly wanted to watch the movie but sadly no one was ready to take me to theater :P Myself and Yashu went to Udayagiri ( area in Mysore where my mom's elder sister ( doddamma ) and her family stayed for a long time ) . I have lot of memories from childhood spent in Udayagiri .. :) May be I will write about them in my future posts ;) I really don't know what came upon me on that day . I started bugging doddamma to ask Dayanna ( my cousin bro ) to take me to this movie :D She tried to convince me saying that Dayanna had already been to this movie and Doddappa will scold him nicely if he comes with me again. I was not at all ready to listen and was very rigid on my stand :D So finally doddamma relented and we caught a bus to city to go to the theatre ;) Dayanna must have been all happy to see the movie again since he was a BIG fan of Madhuri Dixit ;)

 As we got down from bus , we met Dayanna's classmate and she smiled at Dayanna. Dayanna was trying to avoid her and later told me that she speaks a lot and hence he was trying to avoid her :D

During the movie , I remember one girl who was crying almost all through the movie ;)

We went back to bus stand to catch the bus and to Dayanna's agony , we met the same girl ( classmate ) again  :D

On the way back we discussed as to which is the best dress which Madhuri wore in the movie , etc , etc :D

This movie is played very often on one or the channels and every time I remember the above happenings :) Thats how some memories are .. They will be a part of us even though we have moved on from that phase and come a long way from there .. :)

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Teething problems :D

Today morning , when I was brushing my teeth ( ya I brush my teeth daily :D ) , I wondered as to why humans need brush , paste , etc to clean their teeth .. How do the other animals manage it ? And how was human race managing it before something like this was invented?

I asked Deepu the same question about animals managing their teeth. He said " They don't eat junk like this" looking at the dosa on his plate :D And he went on to have another 4-5 dosas :P

Some facts I found by googling about this -

• Small animals called cleaner shrimps have found a way of helping fish at coral reefs. As their name suggests, the shrimps clean the fish.The shrimp uses its tiny claws to pick stuff off the fish's body. That can include dead skin, tiny pieces of food, and wee creatures that can hurt the fish. The fish gets a nice cleaning.
• Small birds called plovers are also in the cleaning business. They have big customers crocodiles. Crocs have long snouts filled with sharp teeth. Cleaning them is tricky.
• Keep clean typically by chewing on hard objects. Dogs teeth can stay clean by chewing bones. Of course animals don't eat the sugar that humans eat so they have a easier time keeping their teeth clean in the first place.
• Inside the lips and cheeks of many animals, there are outgrowths that form natural toothbrushes. Some mammals have these outgrowths on the side of their tongues also. Every time the animal opens and closes his mouth these natural toothbrushes sweep up and down in a cleansing action.
• The lemur has six lower front teeth that protrude straight out of his front jaw. The underside of the front part of his tongue has small horny projections. By rapidly moving it back and forth over his teeth, he cleans them most effectively.
• Mongooses use their sharp claws as toothpicks.

Coming to humans , tooth brushes of one kind or another have been around for a very long time. one was found in an Egyptian pyramid dating to 3000 bc.
Would cave man have brushed his teeth? Again , let me Google ;) Some people say they were using twigs, but there were fewer cavities due to the lack of refined foods and sugars.


Hmmm , so much for keeping teeth clean ;) Do add any other information on this , if any of you who read this know :)
 

This is how I started ;)

So here I am , finally starting my blog :)

Nothing to be written as of now , and I don't know what exactly I will be writing in future as well ;) But I have been having so many thoughts running in my mind these days . So will try to put atleast some of them here ;)
 Thats it for now. Hope I will come up with something soon ;)