Dhund

There was a movie by that name, think in the 70s. It was a murder mystery and I remember my father telling that its a good movie. and I watched it, a long time ago! With wooden actors like Sanjya Khan, Zeenat Aman and Danny Denzongpa, I did not have much hopes, but it was a really good attempt at a thriller!

Well, am not blogging now to talk about this movie. I just remembered it while trying to find a title to this post. It suits it the best you see! You don't? Hmmm, then check out the pic below.


Taken a couple of weeks back at Gopalaswamy beTTa. We left Bangalore around 3.30 in the morning, which is kinda record for me! Reached the Bandipur forest area around 7.00 and the top of the hill around 7.30. I was greeted by the same weather that I had experienced a few years back, when I had come here with my friends. It never ceases to amaze me. We waited for an hr and a half, and the weather didn't clear. So we couldn't explore the surroundings and we came back to Bangalore after a brief stop at Mysore for lunch.

Ok, enough of the tippani, more pics,which mostly glorifies the mist, follow!


On the way to the hill



First look around the temple after we climbed the hill




Himavat Gopalaswamy temple


Freshness

Into the unknown!


Lonely tree



It must be a dream!



Around the hill, while coming down


Greenery



By the way, Dhund in Hindi means mist!

Randomness

The phone camera, in most cases, is of good use when you want to take pics and your bulky camera is not around :) It also serves as a great timepass.

For example, when stuck in a traffic tam, and its raining. No more boredom and frustration. Just click and experiment with diff modes and effects of the phone camera. Of course, you should be a passenger and not the driver for this ;-)






Waiting for food in a restaurant? Different or colorful surroundings? Chance to kill time again with the phone camera.

The 2 pics below are at one of the Mast Kalandar outlets, near Whitefield.





The below pic is from the jungle theme restaurantat Hotel Pai Vista in Mysore.

Cab talk

3 guys in our cab get talking over the new rupee symbol.

1st dude: In all the shops, they have the new rupee symbol now.
2nd dude: ya, but it is not so good.
1st dude: yeah, wonder why they couldn't get a better symbol.
2nd dude: hmm, it would have been better without the dash at the top.
3rd dude: it is based on the hindi alphabet.
1st dude: I think it is the same in Sanskrit also.
2nd dude: Is it?? Even in Sanskrit, there is a dash at the top?
Me: (wow!!)

There is treasure everywhere!

The kid turned 4 today!!!

He now goes to school, 2nd year Montessori to be precise.

Talks about what he and his friends did at school and in the school bus, which usually involves screaming at the top of their voice and driving the aaya mad!
He also wants the driver to switch on the indicator while turning, and sulks when he doesn't!

Knows most of the car models and recognizes many of them too! Boys!!! I tell you!
He also doesn't agree with his dad's decision to buy a Tata Safari. He wants a For Fiesta. Yes, according to him, its For not Ford! :-D

While traveling, he loves going through an underpass, and has a wide smile plastered on his face, when his dad actually goes through one!!
From school, he sometimes brings back some small smooth pebbles, stones etc and proudly shows them to his grandparents!! :-) Quite like what I used to do in school!!

He tries to pinch or squeeze his younger bro's hands when he thinks he (the younger one, that is) is getting more attention! At the same time, loves him too.

Fusses about the dress he wears to school and fights with his grandmom when she forces him to wear shorts!
Treats the granddad like his friend and fights with him!
Throws tantrums like a typical 4 yr old boy does...and gets scolded too.

Loves eating noodle soup and sweet corn and waits on his mom diligently everyday for it. Sometimes, even asks in a very small sweet voice 'amma, ivatthu noodle soup maaDthya?' Sigh! who can say no to that!! :-D

Absolutely loves going out on his bicycle, with the support wheels attached, with his dad. It doesn't matter if his dad comes home at 10.00 in the night, a small round on his cycle is a must! He has now progressed to a cycle without the balancing wheels too!

Wow! Time sure flies. Happy birthday Kiddo! Love you!

Patthar aur paani!

Relatives visiting from the US meant a fun day out visiting places near Bangalore. So, on a saturday, we, a merry gang of 11, went to Shivanasamudra, Talakad and Somnathpura on a Saturday.

The weather was awesome throughout the day and made up for the pityful water level that Shivanasamudra has right now! This place can be totally avoided until the monsoons come and go.

Some of the monkeys there kept us on high alert what with their food-grabbing spree! They however made good models for portraits. :)

Next we went to Talakad. The peaceful and surprisingly clean Cauvery river invited us and some of us (excluding me of course) went for a brief trip in a coracle. It looked like fun :)

After a brief stop at a Tea shop where we had a refreshing break, we went to visit the 5 temples at Talakad. On the way to the second temple, we saw this structure being restored.

We visited 2 out of the 5 temples of Shiva, and continued our journey towards Somnathpura.

Aah! The Somnathpura temple.


Brilliant architecture very similar to Belur/HalebiDu. The entire temple is built with sandstones and there is a unique lock mechanism to join 2 carved stones together. For the first time, I actually realized the value of a guide (certified by the Archaelogical Survey of India, I think) while visiting places of historical importance. Very enlightening it was.

All the deities carved had their noses broken! The result of plundering by the Muslim invaders.

The symmetry of the temple is mind-blowing. The temple is on a star shaped platform and the entire structure converges at the top of the temple in perfect symmetrical lines.

Made a mental note to take the assistance of guides during temple and monument visits and also read up on it after coming back. :-)

Then we headed back to namma Bengaluru. On the way, we saw this lovely lake filled with lily (i think) leaves glowing in the setting sun's rays. Apt end, I must say!

Nazar ki baat

Lots of songs talk about speaking through the eyes. My all time fav being Shuba Mudgal's 'Seekho na'

Seekho na naino ki bhasha piya
Keh rahi tumse yeh khamoshiyaan
Seekho na...
lab to na kholungi mein..Samjho dil ki boli
Seekho na naino ki bhasha piya

On a trip last weekend, I got a chance to listen to some very old songs. One of them was 'Aji root kar ab'. The antara had these lines.

jo dil men hain hothon pe laana bhi mushkil
magar us ko dil men chhupaanaa bhi mushkil
nazar ki zubaan ko samajh jaaiyega
samajh kar zara gaur faramaaiyega

My love for hindi movie songs and lyrics continues to grow!! :-D

Detachment

tere bina saans bhi chalthi hain..tere bina dil bhi dhaDakta hain..
yaad nahi tha yaad aaya..

One of my favorite lines in the recent past. The song is good too, very simple and lovable. (Salaam aaya from Veer)

But what struck me more is the way the girl simply says these lines and conveys so much!

At one level it talks about the girl's realization that she loves him, but still at the same time, can survive without him.
But I suddenly thought that it is true even when someone, who means the world to you, passes away right? You still survive. Your heart beats, you breathe...
Yes, you survive..you manage to get through life, but can you live life?
Probably with time? Hopefully..with time..

p.s: these are just thoughts from a very boring ride back home. Guess I need to download more songs into my cellphone. What say? ;-)

Meanwhile you can also listen to a few other good simple songs - dil toh bachcha hain jee (Ishqiya) and zindagi do pal ki (Kites).

Run Bangalore run!

And run it did!

It really looked like the entire population of Bangalore was at the Kanteerava Stadium on Sunday - 23rd May 2010. The occasion was the Annual Sunfeast 10k Marathon.

Josh as usual registered for the 10k in no time! I thought I'll just tag along and experiment people photography! But since our team members were planning to register for the majja run (5.7 kms), I too registered. There was some problem with the online transaction though!! Times indiatimes actually cut 6k instead of Rs.322!!! The marathon guys claim that only 322 has been cut and that we need to follow up with the indiatimes ppl now..anywaz that was the only downside of the event.
Oh, almost forgot, last min drop-outs from our team too! So turns out I was the only one running in the 5.7k run category. But no complaints.. the run (rather walk!) was fun. The weather was good, the running route also was very good and scenic. Pics from the same are added below. The open 10k started at 8.00 and majja run at 9.00. I finished it in around an hr! :)

The organization was very good and smooth. Lots of volunteers and cheering squads (no...not cheerleaders!) every km. Water bottles, biscuits were handed over generously too.
The most astonishing fact was that there were so many kids and senior folks who were running and I think almost everyone completed the run!! Lot of the NGOs and people supporting various causes ran to create awareness. Very motivating it was!

All in all a fun day, albeit, a little tiring. (ok, ok..a lot tiring!)

The world 10k run starts

The open 10k run starts. HUGE participation!

The majja run starts and I head towards GPO-> Vidhan Soudha

->Cubbon Park

-> The giant bottle float :-) (that's at the circle near the stadium)

and back to the stadium.

A panaromic view of the stadium.

Update: Just when I was talking about the efficiency of the organizers of the event, got a mail with the pics and the completion certificate. Majja run is not timed though, so the time shows as zero. :-)

Work and play

Team outing to Manipal County happened yesterday. The place is beautiful with lots of trees, plants and gardens. It was a fun day and on my way home, there was heavy rain too! Apt end to the day. :)
Some pics below.

The rabbits were in a fenced area and they were huddled up only where there was shade. Not one of them was found moving around.

Stairway to yonder skies

Against all odds

Retro mode pics begin!!
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Ek kachua..aur ek waterfall..

Shadow play

Reminds me of the chess sequence in HP - Philosopher's stone.

Life

Light..

and a bright happy pic to end the post.

rainy thoughts

The rains are creating havoc in Bangalore city. Power outages, uprooted trees and traffic jams seem to have caused a lot of pain and traveling back in time, I wonder why we were applying petitions to the Almighty for even a lil bit of rain to save us from that terrible, terrible heat. That was necessary and hopefully this too.

Getting caught in the rain, reminded me of my college days (or even after I started working) when I had to go home late (intentionally or unintentionally). I would have to call home and give an update to mom. A typical conversation would be:
Me: Mom, I'll be late for so-and-so reason.
Ma: Why didn't you call earlier? Where are you? Who is with you? How are you coming back? Will someone be dropping you?
..and a barrage of other 'important' questions.
But what I specifically remember is my father asking on the other side of the call(addressing my mom, shouting loudly): "Ask her where she is. I will go and pick her up now only. or give me the phone, I'll ask her.."
This was more out of concern than anything else.

And that little assurance was very important and would make a whole lot of difference to me...

No matter where I was caught, I was sure I would be picked up! No matter where I was, or how far he had to go in search of an auto (neither does he drive not did we have any vehicle at home). Knowing my terrible direction sense, am sure some will agree that, indeed, this was a blessing! :-D
No wonder, that I would expect, no..wish, that I would marry someone who would do the same too. That would be every single time I was caught somewhere or needed a ride. Simple isn't it? I will whole heartedly blame my father, brother(in-law) and friends, who did just that for me. And now, from 2 years, it is someone else's turn to carry on with this tradition. :-) I must add, he does a good job of it too.

But its surprising how quickly one would take such things for granted. No explanations given, no logic prevails. Nothing.. it just happens.

Hmm..that brings me to another related topic. It probably is true that, sub-consciously or knowingly, a girl would want to see a part of her father in the guy she likes. The same way a guy would say 'My mom doesn't do it this way.." or "Let's ask mom, she knows better".

Because that's what parents are, better experienced, all knowing, and most importantly, a great benchmark. :-) The only thing we need to do is know where and when to draw a line. And oh boy, that is definitely not easy!

Ok, I digressed a lot of times throughout this post, and I'll let it be. One more digression is allowed right? Here it goes.

I changed the date of a small friendship-quotes-filled calender, and I saw this quote for 22nd:

Friendship is an inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words.

How nice would it be if this was extended to most of our relationships. What say?

What's in a game?

What's in a game?
Some may answer 'Oh, nothing much, it is just a game', while others exclaim: 'Everything!!'

I have basically seen people falling into these 2 categories often. And that is when I came up with this theory:

One of the sure-shot methods of finding out how a person is, that too real-quick, is to involve him/her in a game.

Any game would do. Be it Pictionary or Badminton, Cricket or Monopoly. It esp. helps if you are in the same team.

We get to know a lot about the person - how he (generalizing, replace it with she if you want to) reacts to failure, how he draws up strategies, how he treats his team members, does he dominate or just lurk in the shadows, do your wavelengths match? And much much more!

It can be applied in so many scenarios you know - like finding that special someone or just another team member! Yeah, yeah asking someone to play a game at the first meeting/interview sounds really odd. And it doesn't work that way. But at least make it a point to involve him in some game at some point of time. You will be surprised!

Common knowledge or enlightenment? Let me know!

What shall I call thee..

a limmerick? - no, it doesn't 'count'.
a poem? - no, its too short.
Ah! I know! a pensieve it is!!


Routers to writers,
Sigh! my mind drifts.
Mousse to musings,
how quickly it shifts.

Oh, wandering mind,
What did you find?
No reason, no rhyme,
Do you need a chime?

Just like that!