Adults only!

Adults only!

I was at my wit’s end after 36 hours of “quality” time with an adolescent niece, desperately needing something to calm my nerves. People close to me pointed out that I was over –reacting as this was only “normal” behaviour among difficult children these days. So I thought I will document a few findings for others who may be walking unprepared into such an experience:• “Sorry” is the most offensive word in the English language and must never be used with an adult under any circumstances.• Adolescent speak is a totally alien language which adults...

a haiku moment

a haiku moment

There is something poetic about small things that happen spontaneusly and many times for no reason at all.Yesterday amboj and I were having a small chat at the junction where we had to turn into our roads after our evening walk. Two kids of the construction workers, aged 2 and 4 were on their way somewhere. The little one had just a shirt on, he was almost covered in construction dirt , no slippers and in his hand he had a long piece of woven green cocnut leaves that looked like a narrow mat – one of those little things for the amusement of kids...

Tribute to Kumble by Siddhu ( not Navjyot plees)

Tribute to Kumble by Siddhu ( not Navjyot plees)

Piece by siddhartha in www.Cricinfo.com today:(why is it in my blog? because I adore cricket? Not really! Because I am fond of Kumble? Not at all!! It is here because siddhartha is my son!!!)The clinical colossusIt is no surprise that Anil Kumble excelled in Machine Drawing. Every mechanical engineer will tell you that it is a subject that requires immaculate attention to detail – accurate measurements are crucial – and enormous amounts of patience, as most exercises require you to repeat similar procedures several times. It has varying effects...

Happiness is....

Happiness is....

-opening your eyes in the middle of the night and be startled to find moonlight flooding your room- finding the first bud on your flowering bush- first drops of rain on your face-holding a puppy in your hand while it licks all over your face.-sitting at home on a wintry afternoon listening to old film melodies, with a dog contentedly curled at your foot- mails from friends- gurgling laughter of infants- silence-sitting on a rock with a book wetting your feet in the flowing river.- pulling down the contents of your shelf and sitting among the memories.-...

few of my unfavorite things

few of my unfavorite things

- Seasonal / corporate gifts such as table-clocks cum calculator cum what not, table lamps, torch lights, pens, sandal wood show pieces, brass artefacts- sandalwood garlands- comments about whether you have lost or gained weight- indifference of friends- harsh and angry words and unsmiling facesThings people give you anyway and you have no idea what to do with afterwar...

Chronologically gifted

Chronologically gifted

You realise you are ancient- when you refer to "Gandhi" in a conversation and someone asks you "which one?"- when you wear a saree and some one asks, " what is the occasion?"- when you have friends who do not have e-mail addresses.All three happened to me last we...

Dinomotor

Dinomotor

There is sudden spurt in construction activity around my house.In the plot opposite my house, I watch 4 men weild their iron crowbars all day digging the depths required for the foundation. When the power goes off some afternoons and I feel irritated and stand near the window hoping for some air, I watch them still digging in the hot sun, their bodies melting in sweat and their limbs struggling with the heaviness of the iron implement against the hardened earth.They take turns to rest every once in a while. Their women collect the dug up earth...

Transit terminal

Transit terminal

Victor navorski embarks on a short trip to New York to fulfill a promise to his dead father. While he is in his flight, there is a bloody coup in his country Krakozhia. On landing at the JFK airport, he is told that he cannot get a visa to enter New York because the new government in his country is not recognised by the U.S.Government. All flights to his country have been suspended until further notice. In 24 hours, he has become a person with no country, no rights , no priveleges - actually a non- person. Thats where Speilberg's "Terminal"begins...

I realised that I have not blogged in a while. It is one of those times of pseudo nirvana when you do not have the urge to say anything and actually "know" that it does not make a difference to the world if you did not utter another single word for the rest of your life.But I came across some delightful expressions in the past week:Phebe in "friends" referring to a "superlative - addict" boy friend breaking into ecstasy at the most mundane things:"He is like santa claus on Prozac in disneyland."Tom Robbins in "Skinny legs and all":"Babylon was...

It is a great learning process for me to observe and listen to the young people who come to the French course I take at the Alliance Francaise. The oldest of them is about 26 and the youngest is 12 ( seems so far back in the past for me).Last week the teacher announced a mid-course test, the questions started from the group.For how many marks?What is the pattern?What is the break-up between written and oral?Will the test be only on Unite 8,9 and 10 or would concepts from previous lessons be included?Neither the teacher ( who is closer to my age...

The other day there was a traffic jam in the centre of town because of a few hundred people in a peaceful protest march ( Of course there were policemen walking along side to ensure it was peaceful.) I could not see what this was about as it was tough to read the banners while trying to manage to steer my car through the human and vehicular traffic. This brought back memories of processions in calcutta where I lived 25 years ago for a brief 8 moth period - people marching for causes like liberation of the oppressed in kampuchea, protesting violence...

How often and easily we use the word “hate” in our daily lives – we say we “hate” math, bittergourd, dogs, Bangalore traffic or the next door neighbour. We just use it as a substitute for “extreme dislike” which is the impotent version of “hate”. Hate is as intense as “EVIL” or the DEVIL himself. It is an emotion that most of us are not even capable of imagining to understand. Hatred is more difficult to sustain than love, or at least needs very strong motivation to sustain. Hatred goes with an unceasing desire to seek revenge and requires focused...

I set out to complete one simple task this morning - surrender the telephone instrument for the connection which I had already surrendered 2 days ago. Yeah, you have to give it back to them when you give up your connection, so dont trash it even if it is broken or doesnt work - of course it doesn't work, the telephone company gave it to you remember?Well, the instrument is to be returned at a different office and not at the office that accepts the request for the termination of service. The job assigned to me was to take the instrument to the telephone...

7:30 a.m everyday:They are outside my gate - a young mother with a beautiful kid in her arms and another slightly older, sleepy boy attending kindergarten. They wait there for the school bus that stops outside my house. Over the past week, a secret rapport has developed between me and the kid unnoticed by others - I wave to him and he smiles shyly. Earlier he would bury his face in his mother's shoulders and then slowly look up to see if I am gone. Now he knows I am a friend. There is trust and speechless bonding - as he stretches a tiny finger...

”Former Miss India Nafisa Joseph dead”When I saw the headlines in the television news this morning I remembered the beautiful girl I had seen in “The Wearhouse” on commercial street 4 years ago. She was autographing tee shirts all of that day there for her fans who had queued up. When the sales assistant asked me if I wanted the tee shirt I had purchased to be autographed, she looked up and I saw a very pretty face and flawless skin. I remembered feeling a little jealous that nature had showered so much of her bounty on one person. Later I had...

There is a television quiz program for school children called “India’s Child Genius”. The children who qualify to participate in the program are extremely bright and clever, good in academics (They invariably introduce themselves as “ I always top in my class”) and seem to have an extraordinary memory for facts and figures and obviously have a very high Intelligence quotient. But is this what genius is all about? This is the etymology of the word: genius - 1390, from L. genius "guardian deity or spirit which watches over each person from birth;...

While comparing Carnatic music with Hindustani or Western Classical, I have always wondered about the importance attached to the lyrics by using specific compositions generally known to lovers of music. It seemed so much of a limiting factor, and sometimes even a distraction from enjoying the beauty of the raga being rendered. On the contrary, a Hindustani rendition seemed to have unlimited space available for the singer to scale up and down, in and through, exploring a raga completely,pushing to the fullest limits of the singer's creativity. I...

No way an angel, but it's Charlize all the way(Review of film "Monster" by Siddhartha Vaidyanathan)There are a few characters who plead to be brushedaside. And if you have watched her previous films,Charlize Theron’s roles would perfectly fit the bill.Her presence is in all her previous movies was justthat – a presence - and was easily replaceable.Whether it was doing cartwheels on the beach andleading a chic lifestyle in ‘Sweet November’ – apartfrom devoting one month to each of her boyfriends – ora sweet goody-two-shoes in ‘Cider House Rules’...

Name

Name

Yesterday, there was a message on the answering machine from someone called Manjiri. Normally I would have ignored any call from strangers . Must be one more person selling me credit cards or home loans – but Manjri? The name was too classy to be associated with someone who would call you at odd hours and pester you to take a loan. Though everyone says almost reflexively that oft abused statement, “what is in a name?” and feel good like they invented the phrase, names do carry their value at least for me. I find it impossible to be rude to people...

Life is so strange – sometimes total strangers leave a mark in your memory forever.Like the song that floated from the window of a house in a street where you went just once for something.Or the warm smile of an old lady after you helped her cross the roadOr a scene outside a house where you had stopped the car during a traffic jam – a father and daughter sharing a joke or a little girl with a dog .There is something intense and captivating in that moment that your memory just captures it like a photograph. You never knew these people but...

Recently I read the biography of a living legend in Indian Music – an icon whose name is pronounced with a near reverence by one and all. She is held in esteem not only for her lovely voice and her contribution to music but also for her personality. There is an aura almost spiritual about her. She never seemed to even know the magnitude of her success. For her, singing was just something she did naturally from her soul like the lark and the cuckoo – she did not do it for money or fame.She was born into a caste which did not have much acceptance...

There is something to be said about going to school again as an adult. I realised that it brings out some of the nice things in us which we forget as we grow old:You do not hesitate to admit that you don't know something.You make mistakes but still keep trying.You can laugh at yourself with others easily without any hurt.You prefer to keep things simple.Finally,you are not afraid of failing.Simple principles but so tough to apply in our day to day life - wonder w...

I have always been fascinated by the picture of the two headed bird on the BMTC buses. The two heads look away from one another and its body seems to be made of gold. It is called the Ghanda Bherunda and it is a mythical two headed bird which was the symbol of the Mysore kingdom and now used by the BMTC in its logo. Not much is known of this bird except that Vishnu in the form of Lakshminarasimha has a shrine where he is worshipped in this form in the Pancha Narasimha ksetram in Andhra Pradesh. It is believed that Lord Vishnu took this form during...

Today we learnt numbers in French class which just made me say in an obelix style “ The Gauls are crazy!”It all starts innocently until you reach fifteen as each number has a distinct name. Then they begin to be called ten and six, ten and seven and so on. Twenty, thirty, forty, fifty and sixty also mercifully have their own names but the range of numbers between them still get called as twenty and one to nine, thirty and one to nine and so on - just like english you say and begin to relax thinking you have it all figured. And then comes the big...

There is a certain kick that one gets out of doing things outside the sphere of ones normal roles at every stage in life. Normally we have an urge to fast forward a little to the future and try out the things that are a little beyond reach or forbidden. There is a fantasy about the freedom and happiness of adult life. We spend our childhood and adoloscence in such a hurry to get to this promised land. Then we actually reach there and realise there is no such rainbow there and what is worse, you know that the remaining years of your life will...

“ ‘WHY?’ is one question that stays foreverin all the pleasure and pain of humanityWhat remains is the question”These words are from one of my favorite songs from a Tamil movie called “Apoorva Ragam”.Down the ages, philosophers have pondered on the why of our existence and given us many theories. The why quest has been the spark for all our breakthroughs in science and technology. I completely agree that we would not be where we are today if men had not been asking Why. One of the interesting and irritating phases with children is the “why phase”....

I was in Chennai last week end and we went to visit Chelli mami. My sister and I walked into her house unannounced and were welcomed with a warm smile that touches your heart and tells you that your visit is genuinely appreciated. Within 10 minutes we had been persuaded to eat (mami always seems to have extra food) and the drumstick Sambar and potato curry combination was perhaps the best meal I had in years now. I was reminded of the many times I had eaten in her house as a young girl and wondered how she managed to get the recipes perfect every...

Would you say that an overall score of 54% is too bad - bad enough to be expelled from a school? This is exactly what a school has said to the child of a friend. In the 9th standard she has scored 54% and the school wants her out because they do not want any child scoring less than 60% to appear for the board exams. Reason: It will affect the reputation of the school if they do not have a 100% first class result in the board exams.Now whose fault is it if the child did not score first class marks so far? Is it not as much a comment on the abilities...

Speaking of a South Indian actor who is perhaps the most talented actor in India today, a lady said that her admiration for him came down several notches after she read about his extra marital affairs and that he had no respect for marriage as an institution. So…??? I did not understand what the personal life of this actor had to do with his brilliant acting genius and why he fell in her esteem.Is it important for actors, writers, poets and singers to have a private life that is impeccable or at least “acceptable” to the society they live in for...

How would you like to live a life without feeling any pain?Recently I read a news item about a five year old American child who was born with a genetic defect called "Hereditary Sensory and Autonomic Neuropathy Type-5. She does not feel any pain. Reason? Her doctors say "Little tiny nerve fibers, the smallest of the nerve fibers, that are supposed to record pain, send that signal to the brain, so you can interpret what it is. Those fibers are not working," It is so rare her doctors don't know of another person with it in this country. Research...

I presume most people driving a vehicle have been punished for a minor traffic violation – conscious or inadvertent- at some point or other. It was certainly inadvertent when I lost my way on miller’s road yesterday and spotting a group of traffic policemen, decided to ask them the way hardly realizing I was turning into a one way street to go and meet them. Walking into the arms of Law as it were with outstretched arms to be cuffed! “You should have seen the sign board” I was told and further “where are your seat belts?” – So the fine was 600!I...

Did you hear the president's speech to the nation on the eve of Republic day? It was a touching moment when he made the youth of the nation take a ten point oath. It was endearing as well as moving to watch him read out every single point of the oath and to hear the children repeat after him. One saw an eminent Indian, who in sheer frustration with the grown ups, was appealing to the children and youth to 'please" lead the country into a "heaven of freedom"( as Tagore had dreamed., which still remains a distant dream - perhaps more distant than...

A few months back, when I slowed the car at a speed breaker, a boy of about 12 banged on my car window. He was crying. He pointed to a woman who was sitting on the footpath and said she had a heart problem and had to be rushed to the hospital immediately and he needed money for the bus. The woman had a long robe that covered her head and body and she looked like she would faint any moment. So I gave the boy a hundred rupees and told him to take her by auto to the hospital immediately. The boy didn’t even have the time to thank me and ran away immediately.As...

Attitude

Attitude

These snow white birds in the mornings - with their exquisite long necks and yellow beaks, slender legs and measured stepsPacing the empty plots with an air of a strict school teacher on inspection- i even look for hands folded behind their back, perhaps under those carefull arranged wings.Nothing seems to escape their sharp gaze and there is air of complete confidence and superiority - slow deliberate movements, total grace , complete control.They dont lose their poise even when they pick up a worm - bt they do it with the daintiness of a charming...

On monday, one opened the eyes to a misty morning and chill wind and today before 6, there were crimson wisps of cloud on a clear blue sky. It was a pleasure to open the window and let the fresh breeze in.Spring is already here – an early guest this year but very welcome. Time for letting everything in after three months of staying away from the natural feel of the earth, wind and water to keep the chill out. Time to turn the soil (and the self?) to let the heat out and get rid of the cracks on the surface and get soaked in the wetness and breathe...