ನನ್ನ ಬಾಲ್ಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಕನ್ನಡ ಚಿತ್ರಗೀತೆಗಳನು ಕೇಳುತಿದ ರೀತಿ ಇದು.

ವರ್ಷ: 1995

ಸ್ಥಳ : ಗುಂಡಿಬೈಲ್ ನಲ್ಲಿ ಇರುವ ದೊಡ್ಡನ ಮನೆ ( ಅಜ್ಜಿ ಮನೆ )

ಘಂಟೆ ಹನ್ನೆರಡಾಯಿತು. ಮನೆಯ ಹೆಂಗಸರೆಲ್ಲಾ ಅವಸರ ಮಾಡಲು ಶುರು ಮಾಡಿದರು. ಇನ್ನು ಮಕ್ಕಳ ಊಟ ಆಗಬೇಕು ನಂತರ ದೊಡ್ದವರದು. ಎರಡು ಪಂಕ್ತಿ ಎಬ್ಬಿಸುವಾಗ ಘಂಟೆ ಒಂದಾಗುತದೆ. ಒಂದು ಘಂಟೆಗೆ ಸರಿಯಾಗಿ ಆಕಾಶವಾಣಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಕನ್ನಡ ಚಿತ್ರಗೀತೆ ಪ್ರಸಾರವಗುತದೆ. ಹೆಂಗಸರಿಗೆಲ್ಲಾ ಅಷ್ಟರೊಳಗೆ ಕೆಲಸ ಮುಗಿಸಬೇಕು ಎಂಬ ಅವಸರ. 

  ಈ ಮಕ್ಕಳನ್ನು ಹುಡುಕಲಿಕ್ಕೆ ಅರ್ಧ ಘಂಟೆ ಬೇಕು. ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ದೊಡ್ಡ ಹೆಣ್ಣು ಮಕ್ಕಳು ಉಪ್ಪರಿಗೆಯಲ್ಲೋ, ಪಡ್ಸಾಲೆಯಲ್ಲೋ  ಪಟ್ಟಾಂಗ ಹೊಡೆಯುತಿರಬಹುದು. ಚಿಕ್ಕ ಮಕ್ಕಳನ್ನು ಒಟ್ಟು ಮಾಡಿ ಬಟ್ಟಲ ಮುಂದೆ ಕೂರಿಸುವ ಜಾವಾಬ್ದಾರಿಯನ್ನು ಇವರಿಗೆ ವಹಿಸಿ ತಾವು ಬಡಿಸುವುದರಲ್ಲಿ ಮಗ್ನರಾದರು. ಗಂಡು  ಮಕ್ಕಳೆಲ್ಲ ಬೆಳ್ಳಗೆಯೇ ಒಂದು ಬಟ್ಟಲು ಗಂಜಿ ತಿಂದು ಕ್ರಿಕೆಟ್ ಆಡಲು ಹೋದವರ ಪತ್ತೆಯೇ ಇಲ್ಲ. ತೋಟದ ತೆಂಗಿನ ಮರದ ಸಾಲಿನ ಮಧ್ಯಧಲ್ಲೋ, ನಾರು ಬುಡೆದಿ( ಹೆಂಡತಿ ) ಕಂಡದಲ್ಲೋ( ಗದ್ದೆಯಲ್ಲೋ ) ಆಡುತಿರಬಹುದು. ಅಲ್ಲಿ ಇಲ್ಲವಾದರೆ ಸಂಜು ಕಂಡದಲ್ಲಿ( ಗದ್ದೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ) ಇರುವ ಮಾವಿನ ಮರಕ್ಕೆ ಕಲ್ಲು ಹೊಡೆಯುತಿರಬಹುದು. ಆ ಸಂಜು ನೋಡಿದರೆ ಸಂಜೆ ಬಂದು ಚೊರೆ ಮಾಡುತಾನೆ. ಈ ಹುಡಗರಿಗೆ ಯಾರು ತಾನೇ ಹೇಳುತಾರೆ. ಪಟ್ಲಂ( ಮಕ್ಕಳ ಸೈನ್ಯ ) ನಲ್ಲಿ ದೊಡ್ಡವಳಾದ ಆಶಾ  ಗಂಡು ಮಕ್ಕಳ ಗುಂಪನ್ನು ತೋಟದಲ್ಲಿ  ಹಿಡಿದು ಬಾವಿ ಕಟ್ಟೆಗೆ ತಂದು ನಿಲ್ಲಿಸಿದಳು. ಗದ್ದೆ , ತೋಟದ ಧೂಳೆಲ್ಲ ಈ ಮಕ್ಕಳು ಹೊತ್ತು ತಂದಿದ್ದಾರೆ. "ಜಾನೆನಿ, ಗೊಬ್ಬರೇ ಪೋಥ್ಣನ?, ಕಂಡ ಅದ್ಪರೆ ಪೋಥ್ಣನ ?" ( ಏನೋ, ಆಡಲಿಕೆ ಹೊಗಿದ? ಗದ್ದೆ ಕೆಲಸ ಮಾಡಲಿಕ್ಕೆ ಹೊಗಿದ? ) ಎಂದು ಪೆಪಿ( ದೊಡಮ್ಮ ) ಕೇಳಿದರು.  ಆ ಮಕ್ಕಳ ತಾಯಂದಿರು ಮಕ್ಕಳನು  ಪಂಪ್ ಕೆಳಗೆ ನಿಲ್ಲಿಸಿ ಪಂಪ್ ಶುರು ಮಾಡಿದರು. ಮಕ್ಕಳು ಪಂಪ್ ನಿಂದ ಬರುವ ನೀರಲಿ ಆಡಲು ಶುರು ಮಾಡಿದರು. ಆಗಲೇ ಹನ್ನೆರಡುವರೆ ಆಗಿದೆ. ಇನ್ನು ಅರ್ಧ ಗಂಟೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಆಕಾಶವಾಣಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಚಿತ್ರಗೀತೆ ಶುರುವಾಗಿ ಬಿಡುತದೆ. ಈ ಮಕ್ಕಳಿಂದ ಒಂದು ದಿನವು ಚಿತ್ರಗೀತೆ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮವನ್ನು ಪೂರ್ತಿ ಕೆಳಲಿಕೆ ಆಗೋಲ್ಲ. 

 ಮಕ್ಕಳು ಮಿಂದು ಬರುವ ಹೊತ್ತಿಗೆ ಚಾವಡಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಸಾಲಾಗಿ ಬಟ್ಟಲು ಇಟ್ಟು ಅನ್ನ ಬಡಿಸಿಯಾಗಿದೆ . ಬೇಸಿಗೆ ರಜೆ ಇದ್ದು ಪರವೂರ ಮಕ್ಕಳೆಲ್ಲ ಬಂದಿರುವುದರಂದ ಪಂಕ್ತಿ ಬೋಜನದಲ್ಲಿ ಚಾವಡಿ ಬರ್ತಿಯಾಗಿದೆ. ಅಳಿಯಂದಿರು ಇದ್ದರೆ ಪಂಕ್ತಿ ಜಗಲಿಗೆ ಇಳಿದು ಹೋಗುತದೆ. ಅಯ್ಯೋ, ಈ ಗಂಡು ಮಕ್ಕಳ ಗೌಜಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಹೆಣ್ಣು ಮಕ್ಕಳ ನೆನಪೆ ಇಲ್ಲ. ಇವರನು ಹುಡುಕುವುದು ತುಂಬಾ ಸುಲಬ. ಉಪ್ಪರಿಗೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಏನೋ ಆಟ (ಬಸ್ ಆಟ?) ಆಡುತಿರುತಾರೆ. ಅಂತು ಇಂತು  ಮಕ್ಕಳನ್ನು ಒಟ್ಟು ಮಾಡಿ ಪಂಕ್ತಿ ಶುರುವಾಯಿತು. ಗಂಜಿಗೆ ಮಾಡಿದ ಕೆಂಪು ಅನ್ನ ತಿನ್ನಲಿಕ್ಕೆ ಕೆಲವರು ಉಪದ್ರ ಮಾಡಿದರೆ ಇನ್ನು ಕೆಲವರು ದಿನ ಸೌತೆಯ( ಸೌತೆಯನು ಬೆಳೆದು ಜಗಲಿಯುದಕು ಕಟಿರುತಾರೆ. ಯಾವುದಾದರೂ ಸೌತೆ ಹಣ್ನಾದರೆ ಅಂದು ಅದೇ ಪದಾರ್ಥ ) ಪದಾರ್ಥ ಎಂದು ಚೊರೆ ಮಾಡಲಿಕೆ ಶುರು ಮಾಡಿದರು. ಮಾತು ಮಾತು ಮಾತು. ಮಕ್ಕಳ ಮಾತು, ನಗು ಒಂದು ಕಡೆಯಾದರೆ ಹೆಂಗಸರ ಪಟ್ಟಾಂಗ ಇನ್ನೊಂದೆಡೆ. ಈ ಗೌಜಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಮಕ್ಕಳು ಎಷ್ಟು ತಿಂದರೋ ಆ ದೇವರಿಗೆ ಗೊತ್ತು. ಕಮ್ಮಿ ತಿಂದ ಮಕ್ಕಳಿಗೆಲ್ಲ ನಾಲ್ಕು ಘಂಟೆ ಮುಂಚೆ ಏನು ಸಿಗಲ್ಲ ಎಂಬ ಧಮ್ಕಿಯು ಬಿತ್ತು.

 ಮಕ್ಕಳ ಪಂಕ್ತಿ ಎಬ್ಬಿಸಿದ ಮೇಲೆ ದೊಡ್ಡವರ ಪಂಕ್ತಿಯನ್ನು ಅಡಿಪಿಲ್ ನಲ್ಲೆ( ಅಡಿಗೆ ಮನೆ ) ಹಾಕುವ ನಿರ್ದಾರ ಮಾಡಿ, ಚಾವಡಿ ಯನ್ನು ಸಾರಿಸಿ ಮಕ್ಕಳಿಗೆ ಚಾಪೆ ಹಾಕಿದರು. ದೊಡ್ಡ ಚಾವಡಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಇರುವುದು ಒಂದೇ ಫ್ಯಾನ್.  ಮಕ್ಕಳಲ್ಲಿ ಫ್ಯಾನ್ ಕೆಳಗೆ ಮಲಗಲಿಕೆ ಜಗಳ ಶುರು ಆಯಿತು. ಚಿಕ್ಕಿ ( ಚಿಕಮ್ಮ ) ಏನೋ ಮಧ್ಯಸ್ತಿಕೆ ಮಾಡಿ, ಈಗ ಫ್ಯಾನ್ ನಿಂದ ದೂರ ಮಲಗಿದವರು ರಾತ್ರಿ ಫ್ಯಾನ್ ಕೆಳಗೆ ಮಲಗುತಾರೆ ಎಂದು ಹುಸಿ ಭರವಸೆ ನೀಡಿ ಜಗಳ ನಿಲ್ಲಿಸಿ ಊಟಕ್ಕೆ ಒಳಗೆ ಹೋದರು. ಹತ್ತು ನಿಮಿಷದಲ್ಲಿ ಚಾಪೆಯ ಬಣ್ಣದ ವಿಷಯವಾಗಿ ಮಕ್ಕಳಲ್ಲಿ ಜಗಳ ಶುರು ಆಯಿತು. ಒಳಗೆ ಊಟ ಮಾಡುತಿದ ತಾಯಂದಿರೆಲ್ಲ "ಜಾದೋ ಬೋದಂಡಲ ಅಂತ್ಹೊನದು" ( ಏನು ಬೇಕಾದರು ಮಾಡಿಕೊಳ್ಳಿ) ಎಂದು ಇನ್ನು ಮುಂದೆ ಅಮ್ಮನ ಮನೆಗೆ ಬರುವಾಗ ಈ ಮಕ್ಕಳನು ಕರೆತರಬಾರದು ಎಂದು ನಿರ್ಧರಿಸಿದರು. ಅರ್ಧ ಊಟ ಆಗುವಾಗ ಮಕ್ಕಳ ಗಲಾಟೆ ನಿಂತಿತು. ಅಯ್ಯೋ ಚಿತ್ರಗೀತೆ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮ ಶುರು ಆಗೇ ಬಿಟ್ಟಿತು.

 ಅಂತು ಊಟ ಮುಗಿಸಿ, ನೆಲ ಸಾರಿಸಿ, ಚಾವಡಿಗೆ ಬಂದರೆ ಮಕ್ಕಳು ಚಾವಡಿಯನ್ನು ಪೂರ್ತಿಯಾಗಿ ಆಕ್ರಮಿಸಿದಾರೆ. ಇನ್ನು ಚಾವಡಿ ಸಂಧಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಕೆಲವರು ಮಲಗಿದರೆ ಮತ್ತೆ ಕೆಲವರು ಜಗಲಿಯಲ್ಲೇ ಪವಡಿಸಿದರು. ಎರಡು ಘಂಟೆಗೆ ಚಿತ್ರಗೀತೆ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮ ಮುಗಿದು ವಾರ್ತೆ ಶುರು ಆಯಿತು. ಚಿತ್ರಗೀತೆ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮ ಮುಗಿದ ಮತ್ತು ಯಾವುದು ಹೊಸ ಹಾಡು ಬರಲ್ಲಿಲ ಎಂಬ ಬೇಸರ ಕೆಲವರಲ್ಲಿ. ಇನ್ನು ನಾಳೆ ಮಾಧ್ಯನದವರೆಗೆ ಈ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮಕ್ಕೆ ಕಾಯಬೇಕು. ನಾಳೆಯಾದರು ಬೇಗ ಊಟ ಮುಗಿಸಿ ಪೂರ್ತಿ ಹಾಡುಗಳನು ಕೇಳಬೇಕು.

ನನ್ನ ಬಾಲ್ಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಕನ್ನಡ ಚಿತ್ರಗೀತೆಗಳನು ಕೇಳುತಿದ ರೀತಿ ಇದು.

ವರ್ಷ: 2012

ಸ್ಥಳ : ಅಂಬಲಪಾಡಿ 

 ಆದಿತ್ಯ ನಾಲ್ಕು ವರ್ಷ ವಯಸಿನ ನನ್ನ ಅಕ್ಕನ ಮಗ. ನಾನು ಊರಿಗೆ ಬಂದ ವಿಷಯ ಗೊತಾದ ಕೂಡಲೇ ನಮ್ಮೆ ಮನೆಗೆ ಓಡಿ ಬರುತಾನೆ.

ಆದಿತ್ಯ: " ಮಾಮ, ಮೊಬೈಲ್ ಕೊಲ್ನಿ"  ( ಮಾಮ, ಮೊಬೈಲ್ ಕೊಡು )

ನಾನು : " ಜೆಗೆನಿ ಮೊಬೈಲ್ " ( ಯಾಕೋ ಮೊಬೈಲ್ )

ಆದಿತ್ಯ: " ಎಂಕು ಪದ ಕೆನೋದು " ( ನನಗೆ ಹಾಡು ಕೇಳಬೇಕು )

-ನಿತಿನ್ 

Getting Inspired..

INSPIRATION: the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative.

MOTIVATION: a reason or reasons for acting or behaving in a particular way.

I really did not hear much about these words till my 22nd birthday when I joined this big "Kuri Mandhe" called service industry. At that time I was a junior "Kuri" and after 5 years and hearing "inspiration and motivation" for 1000 times now I am a senior "Kuri". How much difference these two words made in my life is altogether a different story. Now its my turn to use these terms on some junior "kuris". This reminds of my lecturer who used call all of us as "Code Koolis". Having Said that I dont regret being in this " "Kuri Mandhe" as this is employing lakhs of indian middle class youth.

For me definitions of these two words are a bit different.
INSPIRATION: Some person, statement or action makes you to do something of your interest. That person, statement and action should be random and should not be intended towards me.
MOTIVATION: Some one asks you to do something that you may or might not be willing to do.

So its always better to get inspired rather than to get motivated. So question is what really inspires me?

There was this guy who was a perfect gentleman. Simple and Straight. His principle in life was to live with giving least trouble to others. Perfect family guy. I was amazed to see amount of trust others had kept in him. I was not really aware of his worth till he was with us. Later only I realized that most of my thinking, views and fundas about life are directly inspired from him. I will always remember and thank this guy for making me what I am today and also for taking care of a irresponsible kid like me for 23 years of my life.

I should also talk about this guy who stayed with us for a very short time some 25 years back. At that time he was in search of a job and later in my life I came to know that he has switched 10-15 jobs and did not stay in any job for more than 2 months. By the time I had grown enough to understand money he was setting up his new venture. I have seen him grow his venture from a small shed to something very big. Things did not change overnight and it took lot of time and hard work for him to reach his destination. I feel reason behind his achievement is dreaming big and passion to run behind the dream. He has always outperformed our expectation. I am not writing this because he made a fortune, but for the amount of effort he has Put in his "rags to riches" story.He has that courage to swim against tide which I never had.

YES. I never had that courage and determination to swim against tide and reach my desired destination. I always preferred to flow with river even though my destination was in opposite direction. I don't regret for this as most of the time flowing with waves and reaching a new place was more beautiful then my desired destination. Bottom line is I always accepted life the way it came to me and pretty much happy and satisfied with that.

I did my high school in a small village in northern part of Karnataka and I had a teacher in Social Science who was physically challenged. He had a normal body but his legs were too small to take his body weight and he used couple of sticks to help him. Everyday I used to watch him when he makes his long and slow walk to class room and then takes his own time to settle down. But as soon as he starts teaching his eyes will glow so much that it was hard to believe that it was same person whom I watched taking slow walk. I was really amazed to see the passion with which he used to teach and inspire so many students to excel. I reserved most of my study time for social science, just because I wanted to do well and get a pat on my back from him. At the end, I indeed did well in social science but I was not able to top in his subject.

I met this wonderful lady in a temple and was surprised to see amount of energy in her. My first impression was that she was born with a silver spoon and is damn rich. Yes, 15 years back I was stupid enough to think that more the money you have, more happy you will be. She used to teach some kids in a small village and had a very happy family. I used to visit her often when I was in that village and every time was amazed to see her sparkling eyes and her full of life attitude. She belongs to one of those breed of human beings who live their life to fullest and will be satisfied with whatever they have. I met her 4 years back in bangalore railway station just to notice that shine in her eyes has not reduced even a bit. Its often a wrong assumption that strong words inspire people. I was always inspired from people who had shine in their eyes and words hardly mattered to me.

I joined this new company and I was asked to meet company head for India division. He was from UK. For first five minutes we talked about his passion to run and upcoming marathon event. I registered my name for marathon just to impress my boss. I went to Marathon, collected goodie bag and then somehow ran away from that place without participating in marathon. I was a bit confused next day when he asked me for my timings. Later I was informed that my manager who happens to be 55 year old man has won that event for successive three years in this company. Next year marathon I registered my name and completed that marathon even though my colleagues at finish line got bit tired waiting for me to finish the run. That was the first time I ran marathon in my life.

Couple of years back I was asked by my family to meet this girl. I was amazed to see her optimistic approach towards life. She always sees that glass is half full. Never heard her cribbing about something or commenting on others. I happened to be master in commenting on others weakness and making fun of that. She always sees positive side of others and just ignore their negative side. Things worked out well and I will be spending rest of my life with this "Glass is half full" Girl. May be her "Glass is half full" approach was the reason behind she accepting a "Glass is half empty" guy.

It is very difficult to believe that someone gets inspired from Gandhi, Bose, Hazare or someone whom you he has never met. People only get inspired from others whom they meet and interact with.

I have not mentioned many names here. My Mom, bunch of sisters, big family, few friends, my inner circle and everyone who has touched my life in some way or the other.

So what inspired to write this big blog?
Satisfaction that I am going to get when thoughts get out of my head into this system.

There is not much difference between writing a blog and passing urine. You feel satisfied and relieved when waste gets out of your system, specially when pressure is high :-)

-Nitin

Appreciate your life..

There are many more important things in life which can go wrong other than failing an examination or losing a job or Indian cricket team losing a match. Don't take Life too seriously.

Power to forget..

I thought of writing something about human memory. I think human memory plays a vital role in deciding someones happiness. I am Happy today because I have the power to forget bad things and remember only good things.But unfortunately this logic does not work all the time because some times we will not be able to forget few bad things even after trying N number of times. We just cant delete few bad memories that comes back again and again to haunt us. Sometimes I wonder what is the logic in the brain that decides to store something and to delete something else. Life would have been so beautiful if I had the power to decide on things that needs to be converted from short term memory to long term memory. This would have helped me in deleting all bad things and remember only good things. But deleting all bad things is not a good idea cause I need to know my mistakes to avoid repeating it.

My grandfather was gifted with a diseases in his old age. His brain has erased all long term memory data. So he was able to store all short term data but not long term. He was a very happy man because he did not had any bad memories but I don't think he had any good memories either. His mood was constant all the time unlike us ( Neither happy nor sad...).

I was told that few thousands of memory cells will be getting erased every day inside human brain and at any point of time we can use only 6-7 % of our total memory capacity. That's weird to have only 6% of memory usage. But trust me thats a boon given by god to our race. Atleast I think like that.

List of Dont Cares..

Once somewhere I read this theory about garbage trucks. It says around us we will find lot of people pissed off from their lives and they are like garbage trucks and they will be trying to find a place to dump their shit. So its better to be careful with those people and don't let them dump on u. I thought its So True.

Even in my case I have seen so many people who just look like big garbage trucks to me. I just run away when they come close to me cause I know they will not make my life any better. They get this weird pleasure by getting someone into trouble.

So now I have made a list of Don't Cares. List of people whom I really don't care does not matter whether he is my boss or some very close relative. I should say these people have put in lot of effort to get their names listed in that small list.

Most of the time I really don't understand their actions. When my life is like still water, they will just come and throw a stone. So all my time and intelligence will be spent in controlling those waves and getting things back to normal. I really don't understand that mentality of throwing stones and then enjoying it.

As an example, There is this guy who did something intentionally to upset my family in most important day of my life and thus killed all the fun of that most important day.

So I guess there is only one way out of this. Just remember this list and make sure to stay away from them. As away as I can... Hope this works... Hope no one has my name in their list.. ha ha ha ha ha ha ha................

Once in Life TIme..

As I sat in front of her in Koramangala MacDonald, I was speechless and had no idea about things to talk. I was not expected to perform better than this as it was my first time. In life when u reach a stage where you are not sure of things to speak, then its better to concentrate on other things. And there was MacVegie and French Fries attracting all my attention.

This is not the first time I am seeing her. Actually she is no stranger to me. I know her from my childhood days as she is a distant relative of mine. From last couple of week I have heard so many things about her from everyone in my family, that I could have easily claimed that I knew everything about her. Even though I have seen her from my childhood days, this meet was a very special one. This was something which was going to change course of my life. Here I was not expected to meet a distant relative but someone with whom I have already decided to spend next 50-60 years of my life.

Still Its bit difficult to digest that I am getting married even before my 26th birthday. One of my this year's resolution was that somehow I will convince my AMMA that I am not ready for marriage. But Now I have to accept that this resolution failed even before entering month of Feb and somehow my AMMA won by convincing me that I am ready for marriage. But two weeks after this defeat, Now I am very glad that My AMMA won this battle and I got a chance to meet this wonderful girl. Mom's are like that. They always know exactly what we need.

Now Its almost 2 months after that speechless meeting in MacDonald and I am getting a feeling that Life would have been so good if I could have met this girl bit early. I missed some one like her in my life from so many years. Life looks much complete now. Until and unless you meet someone special in life, you will never realize how badly you are missing that person in your life. Only when we meet this special person we will know that life can be much better and complete than what it was in past.

So slowly this marriage news broke out in friends and family circle. I should say this news spread in a linear way among friends and in a exponential way within family. So many people got curious because of my sudden marriage decision and ask this question all the time.

"Nitin, Is this a Love marriage or Arranged???"

I have only one answer for this, "Its Arranged cum DEEP LOVE".

Nitin

Amritha Says....

AMRITHA

Once in life time… !! Ahem ahem.. I must rephrase it as ‘first time in my life’ which became the last one.. J After a discussion within the families, I was told that he wants to meet me before taking any decision… I was dumbfounded.. I was not at all ready for marriage.. I was still thinking that there is still time.. And one day when I heard this .. I didn’t know how to respond… I too am newly experiencing all these.. My heart was saying, “Please give me some more time to think.. !”… It’s difficult to me either.. But somehow managed to gain confidence and agreed to meet.

Here comes the day.. The day we decided to meet… I had come to office and whole day was puzzled so as to what am I to begin speaking… As everyone say that if I start speaking I will have lots of things to say.. But, but, but, how to begin .. I was clueless… With all these feelings, finally I started from my office which is situated in Electronic City to Mc Donalds in Total Mall of Koramangala.. All the way I was only thinking of how to begin my conversation.. how how and how.. A big question mark… To divert my mind away from this I started listening to music..

Finally reached the place… The place where I am to meet and speak … Found him waiting for me.. Greeted each other and entered Mc Donalds.. To be frank, my hunger had died off.. J But still placed order and we started speaking.. It was dead silence around.. Both of us didn’t know how to start.. Then we started off with eating.. and my hatest cricket match was going on on TV.. So, he was comfortable watching the same.. It was me who was in a confusion.. L

Finally the time arose that we both shared our views, which was a good part… We spoke about our life, work, family, frenz… and did we speak something about C***H ….. ;) No.. Can’t tell that.. confidential…

But that was a memorable moment that took place in my life.. I have never told this even to him till date which I am jotting down here. My decision of getting married to Nitin was a perfect one… I have found a wonderful life partner!! Loving, Caring and adorable person indeed.J

Couple of songs....

From Last two weeks Just listening to these two songs all the time...

Teri Aankhon Ke Sivaa Duniyaa Men Rakkhaa Kyaa Hai
Ye Uthen Subah Chale, Ye Jhuken Shaam Dhale
Meraa Jinaa Meraa Maranaa Inhin Palakon Ke Tale

AND

ye chaand saa roshan cheharaa, julfon kaa rang sunaharaa ye zeel see neelee aankhe, koee raaj hain in mein gaharaa taareef karu kyaa us kee, jis ne tumhe banaayaa

2010

As I sit and write this blog, 2010 is fast approaching with lots of hope and optimism both for me and my dear ones. 2009 was a mixed bag for me. Good thing is made some progress in professional front but bad thing is lost few people in personal front.

Highs of 2009.

1. First year birthday celebration of my nephew. Its a great feeling to see a kid doing things for first time. It may either be first time when he walks or first time when he calls you MAMA.

2. Lots of Travelling. Trip to Hogenakal, Hampi, Mysore and Jog.

3. Made some good friends both in professional and personal front.

4. Couple of people in my inner circle showed some courage and decided to get married and settle down. I am very happy for both of you.

5. My first big investment. Hope it will give good returns in long run.

Lows of 2009.

1. Lost couple of people very close to me.

2. No hike in Salary. Thank god recession is gone.

So here I am looking forward to 2010 with lots of expectations and hope.

My new year resolutions:

1. I will reduce my weight by 5kg by next march. I know this is a impossible task, but no one cares about new year resolutions.

2. Try and win back friendship of lost friends.

3. Plan for a trip to Goa and trek to Himalayas.

4. Convince my mom that I am still not ready for marriage.

I wish all of you a rocking year ahead.

Two States...

So after 5 point someone, 1 night at call center and 3rd mistake of his life, Chetan has come with this new book 2 states. Front cover of book has a map of punjab with a boy in it and a map of TN with a girl in it. So I am sure now we can guess the whole story. Punjabi Munda in love with a TN girl. He is really brave enough to claim that story is his own marriage story in front cover of book.

This book is far better than 1 night at call center and 3rd mistake of his life. So people who became his fan after 5 point someone and got heavily disappointed with his other two works and decided not to read any of his books, 2 states is a come back.

Chetan is a good story teller. But he is at his best when story is related to him. He would have seen all characters and incidents in real life. Both 5 point someone and 2 states are his real life stories. Its always easy to tell a story which has really happened and which we have seen. In fact its quite impossible to write a complete fiction. Even in a book which claims to be complete fiction, will have Most of the characters inspired from real life people.

Must read for people who had been to chennai cause he has done a great job in describing life in chennai and mentality of tamil people.

WHO, WHEN and WHERE.....

These days bit busy on weekdays. But I end up being more busy on weekends also. I had attended a engagement last weekend and have to attend one more this weekend. Both arranged marriages. Sometimes i really feel weird about the marriage process in India.

In US culture, couple will start a relationship as friends and then they will date for years. After doing everything and knowing each other very well they end up deciding on marriage. Even after knowing each other well and being so extra careful in their decisions they end up getting divorced couple of years later.

But in India, Boy meets a girl for half an hour ( If they are lucky and their parents are liberal, then they will get some time together..). After analyzing all the data that he/she has collected in that half an hour of their meeting, he is expected to take a decision in no more than one day. They will not get a chance to see each other till engagement is over. So its nothing less than deciding to spend your life with a stranger. Whole process looks so weird. But Guess what, India has least number of divorces. Also according to some international survey, Indians are most satisfied with their Married life.

I can remember a suggestion from a relative. Marriage is just a compromise, More compromises we are ready to make, More happily and peacefully we can live.

Deciding to get married with someone will be the toughest decision in anyone's life. For people who are in love, "WHO" will be obvious. They have to just decide on "WHEN" and "WHERE". For rest of us, this big question will always be there. WHO? And the Hunt will be always ON.

Some weird feelings...

That weird feeling came today as well. While shopping in a mall today, I suddenly felt that whatever is happening has happened before ( Even though I don't remember when that has happened ). For a while I felt someone has pressed a rewind button in my life and things are happening again. Then I tried to think of what's going to happen next ? Just felt that will get to see a girl with yellow top round the corner ( Its true that I always feel like getting to see a girl round the corner ). Guess what? There she was. But only difference is that she was wearing a pink top :(

I don't know whether everyone around me have that weird power to get such feelings. But its true that I had been through this many number of times. Sometimes I wonder has this thing happened before or its just that I knew the future.

Nothing much happening in life these days. Working like donkey for 5 days and then sleeping for remaining two days. Just finished with movie 9/11 Fahrenheit. Double thumbs up for director michael moore. Its just a documentary about bush's administration. I did not knew that Bush was on vacation for 42% of time as a president till 9/11. Must watch for all.

Serendipity - A Fortunate Accident...

You might be thinking how can a accident be fortunate? Actually we Indians have got used to term "accident" in a negative sense. But don't you think sometimes we "accidentally" run into a old friend. Sometimes "accidentally" find a very old snap in our room. Sometimes "accidentally" we do something which really touches our loved ones. So there are lot of other contexts for this term "accident" other than a road accident, where few people die and rest get stuck in a traffic jam for hours.

This whole life is a series of accidents. Both good and bad. Now only time will tell whether meeting you turns out to be a serendipity or just one more accident.

Some snaps...

Why I write this blog???

"Why i write this blog"? This is one thought that has crossed my mind many number of times. Sometimes i feel all these blog is such a big waste of time.There should be really good thinking, a central idea or a thought process to write good blog. Or else I have to write about all the crap things i am doing to pass my life.But most of my blogs lack all of these. But still I cant help it. I cant stay away from writing this. Sorry i end up wasting both my time as well as others.

For all these waste of time first of all i have to blame deepu for inspiring me indirectly to write blogs. First time i felt about writing my own blog is when i read his blogs. I have read many other blogs, but his were very different and more interesting.

Then I started writing my own blog and I really enjoyed it. There are few good reasons behind me liking this blog very much. Blogs are like human beings. You can talk with your blog( Only thing is, its one way communication). I can tell any thing to this blog and he will never question me back. He listens very quitely to all the stuffs that I have to say. He will never come back to me giving suggestions and advices. You will verey rarely find a human being with a tendency to sit and listen to your words without asking any questions . So i like this thing.

Then response I got from outside world about my blog was bit disappointing. Then slowly I felt that there is no point in writing this thing as other people are too busy in their own lives. Then i decided that i will quit. I can remember a small talk given by my hostel mate Dr. Nagu some years back.

He told me that Identity Crisis is a very dangerous thing. Each and everyone will try their best to get identified and appreciated by others. Why Cant a singer listen to his own song and feel happy about it. Why he always expect others to come to him and appreciate his singing. And if he does not find enough people to appreciate his singing. He will be disappointed. Thats Identity crisis. Life would have been better for him if he can listen to his own songs and decide whether he is a good singer or bad singer. No point in listening to other's input.

So here I am, back again, writing for myself and not for others. And i really love talking to this blog, cause he never questions me back.

Nitin

Human Body is just a Embedded System..

This article is written by a embedded engineer who was pathetic in biology, all his student life. Even today I get nightmares when i hear terms like zoology, homo sapiens and killing cockroaches just to check whats there inside. I dont understand the need to call it "Rosa bracteata" when we can do with a simple four lettered word Rose.

I was always amazed to see so many similarities between human body and embedded systems. The more i know about embedded systems, the more they resemble to a human body. Now the whole idea is to see a human body in a embedded engineer's perception.

Let me introduce you to the engineer who designed this system ( When I say "system" here, I always mean human body..). People call him GOD. I like this word "GOD". It sounds so secular. He can be either Rama, Krishna, Allah or Jesus.God can be anything and he can be anyone. ಸರ್ವಶಕ್ತ and ಸರ್ವವ್ಯಾಪಿ ( Omnipotent and OmniPresent). Here i prefer to take nature as God, or i should say the rules and laws that define the working of nature as God. Lets go back to main topic.

Human body is a embedded system with a very fast computing single processor and nine input/output peripherals. Now this single processor called as brain is tightly connected with all parts of system with super fast cables called as nerves for data communication. Out of Nine I/O interfaces, Two are used only for output ( Actually one of this output interface is used in dual function mode. I may call it as SLEEP mode and STAND mode ... ;) ). Remaining seven interfaces are tied to four different types of sensors (I can see, smell, taste and hear cause of that).

Sleep condition : Usually this is a state where system activity will be very less. So system will disable its inputs and outputs, reduce clock frequency and reduce power consumption. In this system it almost disables all four sensors and definitely reduces our thinking capacity. If i am not wrong, then sleep state will also be used to mange our memory segments (I read this information somewhere...). So its like mandatory to go into sleep mode for atleast 6 hours everyday. Someone without sleep will die sooner than somone else without food.

The whole system will be enclosed inside a protective layer called skin which will be covered with a layer of sensors. These sensors will give information about outside world and saves system from any external threat. If their is any attack on system ( like cold, fire, cut, some insect bite etc..) then these sensors will pass that information to processor. Thus this protects system from outside world. But these sensors will have low priority interrupts ( It always takes some time to feel something.. If i put my hand inside fire just for a fraction of second, then i will not feel heat.. so i guess these sensors have low priority interrupts.)

Now lets talk about power. We need uninterrupted energy to run this system. This is a must as we dont'a have concept of RESET or RESTART ( How about someone telling, " Hey, I cant see things properly, My Vision drivers have crashed,Let me Restart myself".. We cant do that. This is not some Windows machine..) We don't have batteries which can run for 70-100 years and changing batteries is very impractical. So we will not be able to use batteries ( Thank god there are no batteries. What if someone comes and removes my battery and i will be dead in no time..). I cant even imagine plugging human body to a external power supply for couple of hours everyday ( Imagine someone saying " My body battery is very low... can you charge me a bit :)"). So god came up with this wonderful idea of having a power generation unit. Yes we have one of finest power generation unit inside us ( Power generation unit that does not pollute nature...) . So now we can run this system for any amount of time by just giving fuel in form of food everyday. This food will be burnt inside us to convert into energy which will be supplied to all parts of body and we have provision to store excess fuel in form of fats. I have lot of excess fuel stored in my belly :). I think no engineer ever thought of having a power generation unit inside embedded system with only purpose of supplying uninterrupted energy to embedded system. What An Idea SirJi ?

In this system all energy or fuel will be passed to various body parts through a liquid medium called blood.He has a very complicated internal pipe network to take this liquid to every part of system and to get it back ( Arteries and Veins..). There is a central pumping unit called heart which makes this liquid to travel everywhere. There will be a system collapse when this pumping unit fails. According to Indian law, " A person's Death should only be confirmed by making sure that his heart has stopped working..".

We have a fantastic memory management unit which runs garbage collect utility every second ( garbage collect utility deletes data and frees all memory which we might not use in future..). Thus it deletes thousands of memory cells and makes us to forget things which we might not use. ( For Aamir Khan in Ghajni it was deleting useful data as well...). As the system is expected to run on an average for 70 years (Some times 100 years as well.. ) nature has made sure that this memory management works properly. Its good that we forget few things. But problem is we forget good things and end up remembering bad things. It is said that we use only 5% of our memory, Remaining 95% will always be free. May be its just because memory management unit and processor can handle only 5 % of memory usage. So this MMU keeps deleting all information to make sure that memory usage is less than 5%. I can always explain about my first meeting with her, almost two years ago, in minute details, but cant remember much about things that i did two weeks back. This is because, My Memory management Unit knows very well about things which it is supposed to delete and other important things which it has to conserve in permanent storage for a very long time.

Interesting thing is god has created two different versions of this system Male and Female. ( Now don't ask me which is version 1.0? because in embedded whenever system fails, we call it version 1.0 and then move on.. :) ). I should say Male as version 1.0. Because in Version 2.0 God has included one more important module, Reproduction module ( Though version 1.0 has activation code for reproduction module.. God is such a Genius..Best hardware and firmware engineer) . Version 1.0 is very strong, designed to do hard work and take tough decisions . Version 2.0 is very delicate and breaks down emotionally quite often. Both are similar systems designed to do two different sort of things. Things will work out only when both versions stay and work together helping each other. That's the foundation base of our society structure.

Usually we will have a large manufacturing firm to build millions of similar embedded systems. Again this is very impractial. Imagine having something like " Reliance human body manufacturers" ( I believe reliance is in to all sectors except this..). So god gave system this power to copy itself or in exact terms "to produce a similar system". A system which has power to produce a similar system with some initial cooperation from another system. Again What an Idea SirJi.

After writing all these things i am getting a feeling that we can apply all laws of embedded systems with human body. But we cannot explain a human body only w.r.t embedded system. Its much more complicated than that. Actually we need lot more other things to explain it, and there are few things which we may never be able to explain. We can never explain how a child in his mother's womb suddenly starts moving by getting so called life.( For Initial 8 weeks child in womb will be still, but after that suddenly it starts moving to show the whole world that it has got life..I was really thrilled when i read this information..).

Human body is just a material hardware with sufficient provision to enclose a life in it. We can do a lot of research on this human body as a material. But we cant explain what brings life in that and what makes it to die. Life and Death are the two things that we might not be able to explain.So lets not bother much about that. Feel good to be enclosed inside one of the best designs of nature - HUMAN BODY.

Nitin

Completed three years in this industry..

YES. This month i will be completing three years in this industry.

I can still remember my first day in mindtree. I was completely clueless about the work that i am supposed to do in mindtree. I always used to wonder about the work that we need to do, to get such a nice pay ( Yes three years back I was in a illusion that Mindtree is giving me a nice package). Then in first week I figured it out that we have to do coding and I did not knew any computer languages. I just knew C in bits and pieces which i studied in my first Sem. Most of other people who joined mindtree with me were like experts in multiple languages. That's when I realized that I am neither fit for this industry, nor well prepared enough to work in a company. May be my mentor figured it out that i will never be able to learn anything other than C(Even after three years i know only one language - C ). So after two months of C training and some good C results I landed in Mindtree Bluetooth Research team.

First couple of months was horrible and I used to get some nice scolding. All my variable names will be like a,b,c...z and I used to have all magic numbers in my code. Then my PM asked me to stop coding. He wanted me to go through the code of some already implemented application for a week. Then i came to know that coding in a certain style is as important as making sure that there are no bugs. At that time i wanted to be a expert in bluetooth. But soon i realized that its a dying technology( And we were not able to market our BT IP as well..).

After getting a release from BT, I got a chance to work in USB driver. Project was to port whole USB from Linux to Nucleus RTOS ( I know thats illegal to port code from a open source, but we were doing that to build expertise in both USB and Nucleus RTOS). As soon as that project got over I knew it was time for a jump. By that time I was pretty comfortable with embedded systems and had worked with 3 processors and had knowledge of both bluetooth and USB. I had also designed and implemented bootloader for couple of boards in ARM.

Things I have gained in Mindtree :
1. Most ideal company to start off my career.
2. Mindtree is the company which gave a direction to my career and made me a embedded engineer. Thanks to my mentor who thought that i cannot do programming in any language, other than C.
3. Company culture is one of the best in industry and got a chance to learn more about industry.
4. Mindtree went public and gave me a chance to make some money as well.
5. Got a chance to learn two important technologies there, Blue tooth and USB.
6. Met some wonderful people in form of my mentors, colleagues and project managers.
7. Got to see some nice, good looking and cute girls everyday :)

Things i have lost in Mindtree:
1. Mindtree is like government company. People don't have that spark and commitment to excel.
2. I am a very complacent and lazy guy. Mindtree ideology made me more complacent and lazy.
3. Pay Sucks.

With time, I was becoming more and more complacent and desperate in mindtree. Then came to know that symphony is looking for a embedded guy who has some experience in USB and Bootloader. They selected me in just one round of interview. Two days after that some bank in USA went bankrupt, marking the beginning of recession and all companies including symphony stopped hiring.

In last eight months, i have learned more things in Symphony than what i have learned in two years in mindtree. Even though the project was small ( It was a bar code scanner that we see in all shopping malls), it was like working from scratch. Developing something from end to end. Starting from requirements, design and implementation. Best part of the project is that there were only three people to do this and it was mandatory for all three people to know and understand each and every module.

I feel kind of weird to call myself a software engineer, because i never implemented application that runs on a actual system (apart from some modifications in USB driver code in Windows). May be I can be called as a firmware engineer or semi hardware engineer. Most of the code that I have developed are running on small embedded devices.

Things I have gained from this industry in three years..

1. Satisfaction in work. I never thought much about my career. Its just that things came up and I accepted all of them. Today i am very glad with whatever i am doing. Life is like a running stream. Sometimes its better not to struggle much and just flow with the stream.

2. Financial stability. Not need to think much while spending. You always feel good when you know that there is some money in your pocket.

3. Five days a week. So lot of time to do things which i love the most. Like traveling, reading, eating and sleeping ( playing cricket some times..). Best part of my career is that i had never been to office on weekends.

The only bad thing about being a embedded engineer is that there is no on site opportunities. The best on site I might get in my career is either a week in korea for requirement gathering or a week in Singapore for customer demo. But anyhow on site is not in my priority list. So i can do without that.

Sad part is that In last three years i have lost lot of hair and gained lot of weight because of this industry.

Nitin

ಬಾ ಮಳೆಯೇ ಬಾ...ಬಿಡದೆ ಬಿರುಸಾಗಿ ಸುರಿ

It was raining that evening. It has not rained in Bangalore for few months now and we don't expect it to rain in month of April as well. But on that evening it was raining. I don't know, whenever i have a plan to meet you, it starts raining. Eventually spoiling all plans and preparations and making me to re plan whole stuff again dynamically. I think the rain god don't want to leave us alone. He just comes in whenever you are with me. Usually in movies when girl meets a boy, it happens that sun or moon will come out, flowers will bloom, wind will blow, nice music in background etc ( Only in recent kannada movies it rains as well.. like mungaru male..). But in my case definitely it rains. Not only it rains, it rains very heavily.

Its not that often I get a chance to meet you and spend some time with you. Most of the time i will come to know about your availability in Bangalore only a few hours before. Still i try my best to plan the whole evening on such a short notice. I make sure that i plan it such a way that, I show you all the beautiful things in and around and buy you a plate of Gobi Manchurian and Masala Puri. I am sure you will not get Gobi and chats in your place.

Whenever i see something beautiful or Whenever I eat something delicious, first thought that crosses my mind is, you should have been with me to see this beautiful thing or to eat this delicious stuff. So i just make a note in my mind to get you here, next time when you are in Bangalore. These small notes are getting piled up in my mind. So when are you coming here?

It was raining that evening. I just went through all the places in my mind to select the best and then plan the evening. Everything was on track till this rain started. Now i have to re plan few things. Don't Worry. It does not matter how bad it rains, I will take you to Malleshwaram and will buy you a plate of Gobi and Masala puri. After finishing our dinner plan, Rain got very worse. Looks like this rain god is very angry with me for disrespecting him by going ahead with my malleshwaram eating plan. By the time that evening got over, with me wishing Good night to you, we were both completely wet. I think now the Rain god is happy. That's the last time i saw you, with rain drops falling from your hair and face. That's the last time i wished you Good-Night.

After that it has not rained in Bangalore. Now the Monsoon is also getting over, But No signs of Rain. Every day I sit outside my balcony and hope that it will rain again, like that evening and we will meet. It seems Rain god is still laughing at me. Oh Rain God, You Cant kill my hope. I am sure it will rain one fine evening.

ಬಾ ಮಳೆಯೇ ಬಾ
ಅಷ್ಟು ಬಿರುಸಾಗಿ ಬಾರದಿರು , ನನ್ನ ನಲ್ಲೆ ಬರಲಾಗದಂತೆ
ಅವಳಿಲ್ಲಿ ಬಂದೊಡನೆ , ಬಿಡದೆ ಬಿರುಸಾಗಿ ಸುರಿ
ಹಿಂತಿರುಗಿ ಹೋಗದಂತೆ .. ಬಿಡದೆ ಬಿರಿಸಾಗಿ ಸುರಿ
ಬಾ ಮಳೆಯೇ ಬಾ

Few people started inquiring me about this blog. So let me make it clear, Its just a fiction inspired from those four lines of kannada song.

Nitin

Moments of life..

There is a scene in movie "Bluffmaster", where junior bachan comes to know that he is going to die. Baman tells him that he has very limited time. We have lived so many moments in our life time but when we look back there will be very few which we will never be able to forget. Baman asks AB to live those moments again. That scene really made me think about myself. How many moments are there in my life that i will never forget. Well so many things passed my mind in a second. Well Lets make a list then.

First time when i saw my nephew, Aditya. He was just couple of days old and was looking like a lump of flesh, completely red and used to sleep for 90% of day. Still he looked so cute. I was waiting next to his bed till he opens his eyes and sees his uncle. While waiting their i observed this thing. Sometimes suddenly he used to smile in his sleep and some other time he used to cry. My amma told me that as these kids have no other thing to do, so god gave them lot of sleep. In their sleep God tells them something good, so they will smile. I just gave a weird look at my mom and told that, " I really appreciate that imagination of god telling something good and making small kids smile in their sleep".






At last he woke up and i got a chance to hold him in my hands. I was wondering what can a child which is just two days old, can think in it's small tiny brain ( He has to think something as our brain never stops..). With no previous memory ( I am sure in 2 days not many memory cells would have been filled..) entering into a completely new world, just to find few weird creatures holding them and smiling at them and trying to communicate in some weird language. By the time that kid gets a chance to think, he has to sleep again ( God has given him a boon to sleep for 90% of day..). Life would have been so good, if i can also sleep for 90% of day and SMILE IN MY SLEEP ( I can easily sleep for 60% of a day..).

Got to GO. May be i will come here some other time and finish this blog.

Daatu and Indian secularism

First of all i want to let you know that "DAATU" is a popular Kannada book written by my favourite author Dr. S.L. Byrappa.

S.L.Byrappa is a very popular name in Kannada literature. He has written number of popular Kannada novels on a variety of subjects. He has got some great popularity and some nasty criticism for the subjects he has chosen recently. He is one author who writes for his own satisfaction and not for some government award or saahitya academy fellowship. No doubt, he has the biggest fan following in karnataka and even today thousands of kannadigas are eagerly waiting for his next novel.

First thing that strikes in Byrappa's Novel is his subject. Each novel will have a very special story which really makes the reader to think a lot. And then the amount of information he gives in his novel is just extraordinary. No wonder he takes at least 3-4 years to finish a novel. Before writing on any subject he gathers all information about that subject and makes a deep analysis. Byrappa is writing in Kannada for almost 50 years now and all his novels are very precious for Kannada literature.

My fav novel is definitely Parva. Parva is the story of Mahabharata told in a layman's language. There are no heroes and no villains. There are only a bunch of crooked kings fighting hard to get the kingdom. Krishna is not a god but just a intelligent and cunning king. So there will be no miracles. He gives a scientific explanation for all the so called miracles that comes in Mahabharata story. I have watched Mahabharata in TV and have read that many times. But this version gives a completely new perception about this mega epic of Indian history.

Now lets come to Daatu. First thing that we should know is Daatu is written in 1970's. It explains the social, political and economic conditions of that time. Subject of the story is inter caste marriage. A brahmin girl and a Gowda Boy decides to break the barriers of religion and plan to get married. They want to do this just because, they want to be a role model for society. They want to set an example to others to denounce so called caste system. So the story revolves around the impact of their decision on their families and their village. In end, they both realise that this Indian society is not ready to accept such a thing. They just hope that at least in future Indians will destroy caste system and inter caste marriages will happen.

I wonder how can Byrappa think of writing a novel on a sensitive subject like this in 1970's. Even today our society is against inter caste marriage. Though there are few inter caste marriages, most of them turned out to be as failures due to various reasons. Even today caste plays a very major role in marriages. My mom will never see my face again if i decide to marry a girl outside my community.

Now in my view, i am against intercaste marriages. You might be thinking that i am a hypocrite and communal. But its not like that. I have equal respect for all castes and religions. But its just that our society and our family is not ready yet.

Lets analyse the reasons behind failure of intercaste marriages..

Because of all the reservations and steps taken by government we can claim that we have removed caste factor from our public life. But each and every Indian is very well attached to his respective caste in his personal life. Each guy is a Indian when he walks out of the house, but as soon as he enters his house he will be either a Hindu, Muslim, brahmin, gowda, konkani or a reddy. All the rituals and habits that we have in our personal life is deeply routed with our caste. I will not have a problem to do business, have a meeting or go out for lunch with someone from other caste. But i will definitely have some problem in bringing him to my home or may be to stay with him.

So a girl will not have a problem in interacting with a boy from other caste. She will not feel awkward in interacting with him for hours or in going out with him. Even she might be comfortable in falling in love with him. But all problems will start when they get married and start to stay together. Because there is not much of a difference in their public life, but there is a huge difference in their rituals, habits, belief, perception about things, trust in god and vision about life. There will be no support from family either. So slowly with time it turns out to be a failure.

Its true that we have to live in a secular country. Here secular does not mean that we have to give up our rituals and castes. "SECULAR" just means that we should not consider caste factor when taking any decisions. I might be a Hindu in my personal life, but i will be a secular if i treat all religions equally. I am a secular if i respect all religions. I guess if every individual can understand this simple definition of secularism, then there will be no communal violence. There will be no need for operation bluestar, kandhamal, Bombay serial blasts in 93 and all this jihad.

Byrappa dreamt of a secular nation with this novel Daatu in 1970's. This dream is yet to be realised. I just hope that one day India will become a true secular nation, not by eradicating caste system but by learning to give respect to all religions. Live and Let Live is the only way we can survive..

Nitin

Ten must see places before you get married...

If you came to this blog expecting that i am going to write

about some must see erotic places that you have to visit before getting married, then sorry to disappoint you folks.

Actually name of this blog should have been "Ten must see places before you Die". But i changed it. Anyhow both sentences mean the same. Marriage is also like death. Death of freedom, individuality, more than anything Death of your independence to take your own decisions. I think i am moving away from topic. I thought of writing about good travel destinations and ended up giving reasons not to marry.

Before i start my list, few things i need to mention. Only places i have visited personally will be in this list as i don't want to add or remove some place on the basis of some review i read about that place in net. Second thing is I have not traveled above nasik( Nasik is a place in Maharashtra where according to ramayana, Mr. Lakshmana chopped off Surphanaka's Nose ) towards north, so all places will be from south India.

10. Sand Beach of Pondichery : There is nothing special or unique about this place. Its just a small island where we have to reach by a boat. Nice Beach ( I don't like east coach beaches though..) I have spent some good time here with some good people. That's Enough to get a Number 10 position for this island in Pondichery.

9. Agumbe Ghats : I had been to this place so many times. I used to go to sringeri from udupi every Friday in a Royal Enfield. Riding a Royal Enfield in 13 hair pin bends of Agumbe is an awesome experience. I had been to this place so many times and have seen this in all climatic conditions. Nothing can beat the beautiful view we will get in Agumbe in rainy days. Did i tell you that agumbe records the second highest rainfall in India. If you are a fan of shankar nag's Malgudi Days then you must also know that shankar nag shot the whole malgudi series in Agumbe. ( Additional information - Malgudi does not exist - R K Narayanan just combined his two favorite areas to get this name. Malleswaram and Basavanagudi).

8. Jaganmohana Aramane( Art Gallery) in Mysore: I had been here only couple of times even after staying in mysore for four years. Its an Art gallery and is mostly filled with all the weapons and music instruments which were used by Mysore Maharaja and British people. But there is something else which is very special. Paintings from Raja Raviverma. Raja Raviverma is a guy who gave new dimension to Indian painting. I read somewhere that Raviverma was the one who has given face to numerous god and goddess of Hindu religion through his paintings. Till the time of Raviverma Indians saw god only in statues. But He showed god to people by painting god on a canvas. I like two of his paintings very much. A painting where raja shantanu is asking satyawati, daughter of a fisherman to marry( This one is from Mahabharata). Raviverma was able to bring out the right expressions on face of shantanu, beautiful satyavati and her father. Other one is the most popular one. Lady holding a Deepa in her hand. I am eagerly waiting for this movie "Rang Rasiya" which is based on this great painter ( I accept there are other interesting things in Rang Rasiya as well..).

7. Green Route - This is the railway route from Sakleshpur to Subramanya in western ghats. There are numerous number of tunnels and bridges that we have to pass by. My initial memory of this place is when i was a kid and i used to wait for tunnels and bridges while traveling from mangalore to tumkur in train. Then they stopped Train in this route for gauge conversion in 1991. After that it became a trekking route. It is a 40km route, just walking next to railway tracks in middle of western ghats. You will have to pass through long tunnels ( Some are up to 800 m long) and very high bridges. Need to be very careful while crossing bridges (I have read about many people who died during trek in this route) A very different and challenging experience all together.

6. Brihadeshwara and Meenakshi temples of Tanjavur and Madurai - First thing that i can notice about these temples is that they are huge. There is no place for things which are small. Starting from the total area of temple to size of statues, everything is huge. But there is no fine carvings that we can see in belur. All statues are plain with very simple carvings. In Brihadeshwara ( Brihath + Eshwara = Huge God) we can also so see a big nandi ( Third biggest nandi in India.) Meenakshi temple is so big that you will get lost. You will enter temple from one side of town and come out from the other side of town and start searching for your vehicle. Then off course you have to take a bus to reach the entrance to get to your parked vehicle. One good thing about these temples are in a single temple complex you will get all gods and goddess statues. You can choose any of god and start worshiping. Tamils are the most spiritual people i have ever seen. Still they are ruled by DMK.( DMK policy is not to believe in any god)

6. Ajantha and Ellora: I had been here many years back. So I don't remember this place much. But still i can remember the series of dark caves and beautiful paintings inside that( these paintings are fading now.. so better visit before it is completely gone). Actually these caves were unknown to civilized world till some English officer found them behind bushes in middle of jungle. Beautiful statues of Buddha, paintings inside dark caves( they used colors made from plants) and some interesting construction in Elora are main attractions. People used to find treasure when they dig up this region (That means it was a very rich place in history). Definitely a Must see for people who like visiting historical places.

4. Belur and Halebidu: Two temples built in Hoysala regime of Vishnuvardhana ( There is a third one in somanathapura). It took them 103 years to build this temple. One of the finest piece of art is here. First half of the temple is devoted for god with most of the god statues in front. Rest of the temple is filled with ShilaBalikas. You must hire a guide to know the story behind each stone. Most of Shilabalikas are in very bad state ( All good shilabalikas are in London Museum for Art). But we must really appreciate those fine carvings ( Both sculptor and his model.. :)). My favorite in Belur is a big statue of Ugra Narasimha. They used to carve miniature statues before carving big ones. We can see all miniature statues as well. Definitely a Must see place.

3. Mulayangiri : I did not believe it when i heard that karnataka's highest peak MulayanaGiri has road till the top. It takes couple of hours of trek to reach Tadiyandamol( Highest point in Coorg). But here to reach top there is no trek. Just sit in a vehicle and have a ride. There is no match to the scenic beauty of MulayanaGiri. You have to just be there to experience it. Chickmaglur to tarikeri covering mulayangiri, babanudangiri, hebbe falls, kalahatti falls and Kemmangundi, will be a ride to remember. Even though distance is just 70km and road is pretty bad but scenic beauty we will get to see hear makes us to forget all other things. Definetly Number One in my list.

2. Beaches of Goa : If you are planning for a lousy holiday with lots of leisure, relaxation and less travel, then this is your holiday destination. Hiring a two wheeler and racing in roads of Goa is a must. This place is so different from rest of India. Speciality of this place is that you will feel like a alien here( i love that feeling..). When i say different i am not talking about culture, life style or the way they live, I speak of the difference in mindset of people. People here are so liberal. They welcome all cultures and appreciate them very well. Your nation or caste will not affect the way you live in here. That's the reason it draws such a huge amount of foreign tourists. Two wheeler ride in old roads of Goa which runs in between coconut fields, Relaxing in beaches and night ride in boat are must.

1. Rameshwaram : This is the place where rama started to build a bridge to lanka ( Actual place is dhanushkodi, couple of miles away from city ). There is a temple in place where rama did a pooja of linga and then there is sea. This is a small island completely filled with proofs of Rama's adventure (i am not sure how true are those..).

It was dark and i was standing on the sands of rameshwara with hundreads of others in early hours, to get first glimpse of rising sun. I was holding something which i will let go on that day( thats jus a ritual.. somethings we can never let go.. does not matter how hard you try). That was a very spiritual moment. Thousands of thoughts from past running in my mind. Felt like sitting there and start crying ( No one would have noticed that.. people were so busy there). It was one of very few moments in my life that made me go weak emotionally. Standing in front of ocean i realised i am so small. I am just a tiny piece of dust in front of this huge life. But as they say each guy is a hero in his own life.

I dont know whether hanuman really dropped a linga that he bought from shiva or rama really did a pooja here. But this is a very spiritual place. We can take bath in ocean and then have bath in some 30 odd wells. Then we have to proceed to see linga worshipped by rama and one more linga bought by hanuman from kailasa.We can also do some shopping of shankas and some decorative items made of sea shells.

So this is my list of must see places in south india. I just hope that you will visit all these places before you get married :) .