It is 8:30 am and I need to prepare my campaign speech. Election is scheduled for later today and I am representing the “Green house”. There are 4 houses – Red, Blue, Green and Yellow. Oh, forgot to mention the scene! I was in class 7 and was eligible to stand for elections in my school.
My parents were off to work and I needed to plan everything relating to elections myself. First and foremost – Election symbol. What did I pick? I wanted to pick something symbolizing color green. Don’t know why I chose, “grapes”. A bunch of green grapes was my election symbol.
What next? I had 1 hour to go to school. I had to prepare election pamphlets. It had my symbol in it and a message reading, “Vote for Grapes”. I cut a few pages into small sizes and write myself the above details. After reaching school, first thing I did was gave these to my so-called ‘party workers’ to distribute it.
I stood for Captain Post for Green House. There is one Captain post for each House. Finally, there is ONE Commander for the whole school who will work with the Captains. There was a party rally session for the candidates to address the voters. I don’t remember what I talked! What can we (students) talk in the speech which will be synonymous to real politicians saying, “I will try to improve basic facilities.. There will be no corruption… etc”? I think, we kids talked about, “I will have more sports events. I will make sure we have more books in our library. I plan to have a science lab for doing experiments.. etc”.
By 11 am, elections started. Each class room had one ballet box with class teachers monitoring the voting process. Everyone had to stand in a queue to vote. There was a corner in the class room with a cardboard box enclosure for maintaining privacy of voting! All these were done by the school just to show how elections are held in real world. Adding to all these was voting mark on the first finger with a black sketch pen
Voting was done by 1pm. Counting started by 2pm in teacher’s room. There was a big black board on which counting getting marked. As counting progressed, I was leading from the start. In the end, I won the elections comfortably with a huge margin. We had Vice Captain positions too for each house. My Vice Captain who got elected was Nandish.
Next day, we had swearing-in ceremony. Again, this matched the real world. Each captain was invited on dais and a badge, boldly reading “Captain”, was pinned to our shirt. It was a proud moment for me to win the elections and hold the post of Captain for the next 1 year!
I recollected this after watching Obama’s inauguration lat night. The ceremony was indeed a great one to watch.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Mysore trip
This weekend was a visit to Mysore. It was my first long drive in India! The road from Bangalore to Mysore is good. Only thing which could improve is driving sense. On Saturday afternoon, highway had less traffic compared to Sunday evening's return traffic. Both ways, we had a break at 'Shivalli Restaurant' for Coffee/Tea.
We reached my Bhabhi's place in Kuvempu Nagar by 2pm for Lunch. Nephew was all smiling to see so many people around. After good lunch, we had a siesta. By 4:30pm, coffee time! After that, super soft cotton idlies - idlies were so soft that we did not have to chew, just swallowed. After idli, tea :). We headed towards our cousin #1 place in JP Nagar. Our cousin's 4 year old daughter was very enthu-ed to sing and dance for us. It was 9pm and we had to reach cousin #2 for dinner. We had to cut short kid's performance. She was so much disappointed that she started to cry. We had to tell her,"We will have dinner and be back soon." Cousin #2 lives in a place called BOgaadhi (don't know what it means!). We took the ring road to reach their place. This road is really good and is convinient to travel from one corner to another in Mysore City.
Dinner was served! It was time for some chit-chat. The house had become a party hall with lots of relatives under one roof. 7 of us settled ourselves to sleep in the living room (it was cold after couple of hours after sleeping). Next morning, we woke up and headed for pooja organized by Bhabhi's parents. We had super breakfast there - dosa, saagu, chutney and carrot halva. All the relatives were present for the function. Lunch was served after pooja and we started driving back to Bangalore.
We reached my Bhabhi's place in Kuvempu Nagar by 2pm for Lunch. Nephew was all smiling to see so many people around. After good lunch, we had a siesta. By 4:30pm, coffee time! After that, super soft cotton idlies - idlies were so soft that we did not have to chew, just swallowed. After idli, tea :). We headed towards our cousin #1 place in JP Nagar. Our cousin's 4 year old daughter was very enthu-ed to sing and dance for us. It was 9pm and we had to reach cousin #2 for dinner. We had to cut short kid's performance. She was so much disappointed that she started to cry. We had to tell her,"We will have dinner and be back soon." Cousin #2 lives in a place called BOgaadhi (don't know what it means!). We took the ring road to reach their place. This road is really good and is convinient to travel from one corner to another in Mysore City.
Dinner was served! It was time for some chit-chat. The house had become a party hall with lots of relatives under one roof. 7 of us settled ourselves to sleep in the living room (it was cold after couple of hours after sleeping). Next morning, we woke up and headed for pooja organized by Bhabhi's parents. We had super breakfast there - dosa, saagu, chutney and carrot halva. All the relatives were present for the function. Lunch was served after pooja and we started driving back to Bangalore.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Happy Sankranti
Happy Sankranti!
How did I celebrate Sankranti? I got ready in the morning, took my camera out and visited Lal Baag. Lal Baag is one of the best places in Bangalore to visit. The space is so spread out that it reminded me of parks in the US. I had not visited Lal Baag with my camera before. Now I know where I can find flora in India!
Find pictures here.
Find pictures here.
Friday, January 09, 2009
My friends at work
Who is a friend? One who wishes to interact with you for no gains. I have few people at work who have big smiles when they see me. I will go in the order I meet them daily.
1) My cab driver - I am the only person to talk to him I think. I talk to him right from petrol price to why he puts seat belt when approaching office building. I also discuss how people drive and how we are cheated in petrol bunks. He gives me newspaper to read! Nobody gets that privilege.
2) Security Guy #1 - There are many security personnel, but, this one is special. When I enter the building, I, among the bunch of other people entering, get "Good morning, Sir" greetings. Why is this? That is because - way back (4 months ago) when I first entered our office, I wished him the same! Since then, every day, I get this. And evening too, I get a 'salaam and smile' too.
3) Cafe Coffee day guy - Usually at 10am, I head for coffee to the automatic vending machine in the breakroom. This guy is waiting to see me every day. If I am late, I am asked, "Hello Sir, I see that you are late for coffee today. Were you busy?" After my vacation, he inquired about me. Sometimes, I go taking my team-mates along. When this guy starts talking to me, my team-mates are surprised.
4) Janitor - This is a hindi guy mostly seen around restroom. Whenever I visit the restroom, I see him. Once, I asked him, "I always see you here, how long do you work per day?" He said, "12 hours." He is responsible in maintaining the restroom sparkling clean. After seeing his work, I told him, "I too have been in this job before." Even before I could complete my sentence, he asked, "Where sir? Which Company? In Bangalore only?" I said, "No, not here. In America." He still thinks, that I have become engineer (someone who sits in desk and works) by getting myself promoted from Janitor job :). Whenever I see him, he wishes me and asks, "Are you done with lunch?" People around are !!! to see me talking to him :)
I really enjoy interacting with people like these. They really have that affection and respect. They like being enquired about their day-to-day activities. There are not many friends for them to talk to at work. I think, they would want someone to talk to during their 10-12 hours at office. Otherwise, it will be more of silence to them.
Being in US taught me to treat these people equal to everyone. This is surely not a norm in India. I think they do they job with great sincerity and everyone has to respect that. Seeing these people reminds me of one episode of my life - Just to have that pleasure of earning extra bucks, I once went with my fellow janitor to a movie theatre. This was after finishing our, 9:30pm to 1:30 am job at the University. At the theatre, we worked for couple more hours. In the end, I earned those $20 bucks ($10/per) for giving a helping hand to my fellowman.
1) My cab driver - I am the only person to talk to him I think. I talk to him right from petrol price to why he puts seat belt when approaching office building. I also discuss how people drive and how we are cheated in petrol bunks. He gives me newspaper to read! Nobody gets that privilege.
2) Security Guy #1 - There are many security personnel, but, this one is special. When I enter the building, I, among the bunch of other people entering, get "Good morning, Sir" greetings. Why is this? That is because - way back (4 months ago) when I first entered our office, I wished him the same! Since then, every day, I get this. And evening too, I get a 'salaam and smile' too.
3) Cafe Coffee day guy - Usually at 10am, I head for coffee to the automatic vending machine in the breakroom. This guy is waiting to see me every day. If I am late, I am asked, "Hello Sir, I see that you are late for coffee today. Were you busy?" After my vacation, he inquired about me. Sometimes, I go taking my team-mates along. When this guy starts talking to me, my team-mates are surprised.
4) Janitor - This is a hindi guy mostly seen around restroom. Whenever I visit the restroom, I see him. Once, I asked him, "I always see you here, how long do you work per day?" He said, "12 hours." He is responsible in maintaining the restroom sparkling clean. After seeing his work, I told him, "I too have been in this job before." Even before I could complete my sentence, he asked, "Where sir? Which Company? In Bangalore only?" I said, "No, not here. In America." He still thinks, that I have become engineer (someone who sits in desk and works) by getting myself promoted from Janitor job :). Whenever I see him, he wishes me and asks, "Are you done with lunch?" People around are !!! to see me talking to him :)
I really enjoy interacting with people like these. They really have that affection and respect. They like being enquired about their day-to-day activities. There are not many friends for them to talk to at work. I think, they would want someone to talk to during their 10-12 hours at office. Otherwise, it will be more of silence to them.
Being in US taught me to treat these people equal to everyone. This is surely not a norm in India. I think they do they job with great sincerity and everyone has to respect that. Seeing these people reminds me of one episode of my life - Just to have that pleasure of earning extra bucks, I once went with my fellow janitor to a movie theatre. This was after finishing our, 9:30pm to 1:30 am job at the University. At the theatre, we worked for couple more hours. In the end, I earned those $20 bucks ($10/per) for giving a helping hand to my fellowman.
Games of yester years
There was a long discussion in the family about yester games. The word, "shraaaap kho", rang a bell in my mind. Even my wife's grandma played that game! We discussed lots of games played as kids. I don't know if kids of today play any such games!!!
1) "shraaaap kho" - one person runs to catch others. If others sit down while running, they are not permitted to be touched.... game continues to catch the person who is running. I don't know what the first word means!
2) "lagOri" - this was a popular game which many have played.
3) "Eyes spies" - again, a very popular game.
4) "topi aata (game with the cap)" - kids sit forming a circle. One kid has a cap in his had and moves along the circular formation. He/she drops the cap behind one kid. The kid where the cap is dropped has to catch this kid.
5) "hasu huli aata (game of cow and tiger) - Kids form a circle. One kid inside is a called the cow, and the one outside is the tiger. Tiger has to catch the cow and other kids in the formation have to block the tiger.
6) "gOli (marbles)" - There are many games that can be played in marbles.
7) "tyre aata (game with a cycle tyre)" - this is just a bunch of kids running one behind the other with a tyre. It gives a feeling of almost driving a truck or something to the kids ;)
8) My dad will tell his favorite game was "mara kOthi (monkeys on tree)" - this is where kids climb a tree and one person has to catch the others. It is supposed to be the most dangerous game!!! I didn't play this though
9) "Color color what color?" - This was called - "nidi, dande` (river, shore)" . Kid should ask, "Crocodile, crocodile. Which color do you want?" Others will shout a color. People with an item of that color can cross the river. Item can be dress or something which is found around the scene.
10) "kallu, mannu (Stone, mud)" - I really have forgotten this game. I just remember the name :).
I remember we kids playing these with our neighbor kids. Kids now don't play these games. They are more into homework and computer games!
1) "shraaaap kho" - one person runs to catch others. If others sit down while running, they are not permitted to be touched.... game continues to catch the person who is running. I don't know what the first word means!
2) "lagOri" - this was a popular game which many have played.
3) "Eyes spies" - again, a very popular game.
4) "topi aata (game with the cap)" - kids sit forming a circle. One kid has a cap in his had and moves along the circular formation. He/she drops the cap behind one kid. The kid where the cap is dropped has to catch this kid.
5) "hasu huli aata (game of cow and tiger) - Kids form a circle. One kid inside is a called the cow, and the one outside is the tiger. Tiger has to catch the cow and other kids in the formation have to block the tiger.
6) "gOli (marbles)" - There are many games that can be played in marbles.
7) "tyre aata (game with a cycle tyre)" - this is just a bunch of kids running one behind the other with a tyre. It gives a feeling of almost driving a truck or something to the kids ;)
8) My dad will tell his favorite game was "mara kOthi (monkeys on tree)" - this is where kids climb a tree and one person has to catch the others. It is supposed to be the most dangerous game!!! I didn't play this though
9) "Color color what color?" - This was called - "nidi, dande` (river, shore)" . Kid should ask, "Crocodile, crocodile. Which color do you want?" Others will shout a color. People with an item of that color can cross the river. Item can be dress or something which is found around the scene.
10) "kallu, mannu (Stone, mud)" - I really have forgotten this game. I just remember the name :).
I remember we kids playing these with our neighbor kids. Kids now don't play these games. They are more into homework and computer games!
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
Sunday, January 04, 2009
Our Childhood spare time
I was recollecting all the things we did during our spare time. We had lot of spare time back then.
1) Our earliest time-pass was stamp collection. Our aunt gifted us a stamp album when I was 7. She had put 4 stamps too in that album. Collection which started nearly two decades ago is still ON. Our craze was so much that every few days we used to change the order of stamps. Whoever returned from any foreign country was asked, "do you have any foreign stamps?" In our collection, we have nearly 5000 stamps from all around the world. Favorite stamps include:
1) Round stamp of Kiwi bird from New Zealand
2) Few triangular stamps
3) Collectibles set bought between 1997-2002
2) Music class was always running without much stoppage. It took little bit of our spare time.
3) Skating - I was very much interested in skating. Dad got us wheeler skates when I was 9. My brother and I played a lot, learning ourselves the art of skating. We used to skate by sitting and we pushed ourselves by hand. For teaching our cousins, we implemented the method of ice-skating which uses hand sticks as support.
4) In Shimoga, we had lots of plants in our house. Leaf collection was taken up for few days. They were neatly dried and collected.
5) Animal pictures collection - We had subscribed for few magazines. These had information about animals/birds. Mom used to get stickers from medical reps. My brother and I had a note-book to paste all these and write about that bird/animal.
6) Swimming - Every day from 7 to 8 was our swimming session. Be it Winter, Summer or Monsoon, dad used to wake us up and take us there in scooter. It used to be very chilly in Winter to ride back home after swimming. We participated in District level and I was given the championship award. After we moved to Bangalore, swimming sessions ended because of many reasons.
7) Cycling - Not many have played 'run-n-catch' in cycle! We did it. How did it work? 1 on cycle will chase 3-4 others on cycle and if he touches others' cycle, the other person is OUT. Recollecting this, it was too dangerous to play this game. Don't know how we played this!
8) Painting/sketching - Do guys paint/sketch? Very few I think. Very often, we used to sit for hours painting and sketching during Summer vacation. Our house was always decorated with our drawings.
9) When we were very young, kids in the neighborhood collected match-box covers. We too were interested in collecting it initially. Somehow, it got lost as we moved out of Chikmaglur.
10) Gardening - After coming to our own house in Bangalore, we spent lot of time in gardening. Maintaining the pots, creating new samplings, watering them daily - the whole family enjoyed doing this. My brother used to go to Lal Baag and bring new plants very often.
11) Physical fitness - We were encouraged a lot on this. If not often, atleast during holidays, we used to go for morning jogs. Both my brother and I were very athletic and participated in school events regularly. Mom put us to Yoga-Shibira once to make us learn Yoga!
12) Cleaning - What???? Cleaning as spare time event??? Yes. My brother and I have jointly done lots of cleaning of the house and decorating the living room. Mom and dad used to be out of home from 8 am to 5pm. The whole house was our kingdom. We re-arranged the show-case, cleaned the place to look attractive.
Anything else, brother???
1) Our earliest time-pass was stamp collection. Our aunt gifted us a stamp album when I was 7. She had put 4 stamps too in that album. Collection which started nearly two decades ago is still ON. Our craze was so much that every few days we used to change the order of stamps. Whoever returned from any foreign country was asked, "do you have any foreign stamps?" In our collection, we have nearly 5000 stamps from all around the world. Favorite stamps include:
1) Round stamp of Kiwi bird from New Zealand
2) Few triangular stamps
3) Collectibles set bought between 1997-2002
2) Music class was always running without much stoppage. It took little bit of our spare time.
3) Skating - I was very much interested in skating. Dad got us wheeler skates when I was 9. My brother and I played a lot, learning ourselves the art of skating. We used to skate by sitting and we pushed ourselves by hand. For teaching our cousins, we implemented the method of ice-skating which uses hand sticks as support.
4) In Shimoga, we had lots of plants in our house. Leaf collection was taken up for few days. They were neatly dried and collected.
5) Animal pictures collection - We had subscribed for few magazines. These had information about animals/birds. Mom used to get stickers from medical reps. My brother and I had a note-book to paste all these and write about that bird/animal.
6) Swimming - Every day from 7 to 8 was our swimming session. Be it Winter, Summer or Monsoon, dad used to wake us up and take us there in scooter. It used to be very chilly in Winter to ride back home after swimming. We participated in District level and I was given the championship award. After we moved to Bangalore, swimming sessions ended because of many reasons.
7) Cycling - Not many have played 'run-n-catch' in cycle! We did it. How did it work? 1 on cycle will chase 3-4 others on cycle and if he touches others' cycle, the other person is OUT. Recollecting this, it was too dangerous to play this game. Don't know how we played this!
8) Painting/sketching - Do guys paint/sketch? Very few I think. Very often, we used to sit for hours painting and sketching during Summer vacation. Our house was always decorated with our drawings.
9) When we were very young, kids in the neighborhood collected match-box covers. We too were interested in collecting it initially. Somehow, it got lost as we moved out of Chikmaglur.
10) Gardening - After coming to our own house in Bangalore, we spent lot of time in gardening. Maintaining the pots, creating new samplings, watering them daily - the whole family enjoyed doing this. My brother used to go to Lal Baag and bring new plants very often.
11) Physical fitness - We were encouraged a lot on this. If not often, atleast during holidays, we used to go for morning jogs. Both my brother and I were very athletic and participated in school events regularly. Mom put us to Yoga-Shibira once to make us learn Yoga!
12) Cleaning - What???? Cleaning as spare time event??? Yes. My brother and I have jointly done lots of cleaning of the house and decorating the living room. Mom and dad used to be out of home from 8 am to 5pm. The whole house was our kingdom. We re-arranged the show-case, cleaned the place to look attractive.
Anything else, brother???
Saturday, January 03, 2009
Friday, January 02, 2009
Wild flowers
As we were driving in the outskirts of Bengaluru, I found these wild flowers in a vacant land.
Music for Dummies
Music is one type of knowledge which doesn't have shortcuts. One needs to cross all the stages to enjoy singing. I was sitting in my music class listening to my guru teaching a small kid. My guru was teaching one of the basic lessons in Kalyani. Kid's mom was sitting too. I am assuming she brings the kid to class twice a week. This is what I thought....
Mom brings this kid to class so sincerely twice a week. This kid is learning the basics of music now. How do these kids understand the importance of music? Won't these basic lessons bore them to quit? Is there a short cut to learning music? What incentive do these kids who learn music get?
Answers to these are found from my own experiences. Firstly, I realize now that music once taken in is as good as nectar. I enjoy it by knowing music. I am not answering the questions of a listener who is a music lover, rather, I am trying to see to find answers to questions based on my learning of music as a child.
As a kid, I did sing well to get lot of appreciation from people around. Apart from that incentive, I didn't understand the soothing aspect of it. I didn't know that music can be thrilling or that music can create joy within me. When my guru taught basic lessons, I learned them with ease. Few instances, I could not replicate what the teacher taught. At that point, I remember the teacher stressing that part again and again. My first reaction was to cry. Why cry??? That's because I didn't get the lesson right.
Did I feel like quitting? Oh yeah! Even now I feel it once a while. When we were in Hubli, my brother and I played cricket every evening. Our teacher came home for music lessons at 5:30pm. At that point, we had to cut down our game which frustrated me a lot. I had complained mom many times to tell the teacher to come after dusk :). If the teacher didn't agree to this, I was even ready to quit music. ha ha ha.
Last week, one of my new friends at office was asking me complicated things in music. He is a beginner and I told him, "Please continue learning and keep practising. You will get to know the things you asking pretty soon."
Like many books for dummies, I am thinking of bringing out one for music ;).
Mom brings this kid to class so sincerely twice a week. This kid is learning the basics of music now. How do these kids understand the importance of music? Won't these basic lessons bore them to quit? Is there a short cut to learning music? What incentive do these kids who learn music get?
Answers to these are found from my own experiences. Firstly, I realize now that music once taken in is as good as nectar. I enjoy it by knowing music. I am not answering the questions of a listener who is a music lover, rather, I am trying to see to find answers to questions based on my learning of music as a child.
As a kid, I did sing well to get lot of appreciation from people around. Apart from that incentive, I didn't understand the soothing aspect of it. I didn't know that music can be thrilling or that music can create joy within me. When my guru taught basic lessons, I learned them with ease. Few instances, I could not replicate what the teacher taught. At that point, I remember the teacher stressing that part again and again. My first reaction was to cry. Why cry??? That's because I didn't get the lesson right.
Did I feel like quitting? Oh yeah! Even now I feel it once a while. When we were in Hubli, my brother and I played cricket every evening. Our teacher came home for music lessons at 5:30pm. At that point, we had to cut down our game which frustrated me a lot. I had complained mom many times to tell the teacher to come after dusk :). If the teacher didn't agree to this, I was even ready to quit music. ha ha ha.
Last week, one of my new friends at office was asking me complicated things in music. He is a beginner and I told him, "Please continue learning and keep practising. You will get to know the things you asking pretty soon."
Like many books for dummies, I am thinking of bringing out one for music ;).
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