When Do You Restart Blogging?

There are so many times you want to restart blogging, some of which include:

• Seeing at least five photos of Shobha Karandlaje every evening in the local newspaper – Her cycling, running, lighting the lamp, getting on a bullock cart and several other skills are truly admirable.
• Being the proud father of a darling daughter, whose picture was clicked by tens of cell phone camera owners, when roaming around Mysore palace during Dasara.
• Watching cricket on TV, day and night, and realizing how much I miss this in America.
• Completely getting frustrated by the traffic in Bangalore and cursing myself for being the ‘ohhh so sensitive’ NRI.
• Celebrating Deepavali with fireworks after more than a decade.
• Tracing Bendre’s path which inspired him to write ‘mooDala maneya muttina nIrina’.
• Getting a CD released, which has my poems, my mother’s music and the biggest contemporary singers.
• Getting annoyed by the pathetic quality of Zee Kannada Sa Re Ga Ma Pa and especially getting irritated by immature comments from ‘judges’ such as Archana Udupa.

But, here’s the reason which finally made me write again:

• Mother and son talking way past midnight; listening to Susan Boyle, Adam Lambert, S.Janaki, P.Susheela and others; reminiscing the old days; remembering so many old friends, wondering where they are now; talking about all the happy moments, and the not-so happy ones, and learning several new things in the process; nostalgia……

Life is beautiful…………..

The Dreams In Which I’m Dying Are The Best I’ve Ever Had

As weird as it sounds, this sentence is just kicking the creative juices out of me (whatever of it is left, that is!). As you’ve rightly guessed, I am listening to Tears for Fears, Gary Jules and Adam Lambert. A week ago, I was listening to an Assamese song sung by my mother, over and over and over, again and again, past midnight, of course. And, this week, it’s ‘Mad World’. Anyway, I wanted to write a poem, but I will settle for a blog post.

Fatherhood has been amazing. The fact that she wants me to hold her and jump up and down, is free exercise – you know, I always tend to look at the bright side.  When I come back from work, she will be sitting on her mother or grand mother’s lap. I just go there and give my biggest grin and start talking to her. She instantly recognizes my face and gives the biggest and best smile in the World. Now, that is priceless! (Please note, Master card). I can never give up anything for that.

The twinkle in her eyes when she is happy, the droopy cheeks when she is crying, pure and untainted innocence – I am truly blessed. I am sure most fathers have these feelings – it’s the norm, for most of us, at least. I don’t know how the love gets divided when you have more than one kid (it probably gets doubled!), but when you have your very first child, the emotions and feelings are truly out of this World.

A long time back, there was a comment on my blog saying there is only one sun and one moon. Very true, but few (un)lucky ones will have to live through eclipses. Two days back, I was staring at the full moon. I remembered the bright sun earlier that day. I looked at my wife, and at my beautiful daughter. I was happy, I was content.

I wanted to write a poem, but ended up with this. Not too far, I suppose. It’s not all that cryptics, is it? And yes, I find it kind of funny and I find it kind of sad, that the dreams in which I’m dying are the best I’ve ever had.

Baby, The Babe Magnet

It’s been a few weeks that I have been taking my daughter out on hikes. The best one was when I had to drive through dirt roads and then hike around a mle and a half. It was certainly worth the trip – the waterfall was magnificent. But, something surprised me. Several of my Indian friends and their parents are shocked, to say the least, that I am taking a one month baby all around the place. Well, she seems to like it, so why not?

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At least for now, my daughter has realized that “late to bed, late to rise” is the way to go. I am sure, that comes directly from my genes (although, I have to admit, certainly not from my mother’s side). It has been fun taking care of her past midnight. But, here’s a twist. She has developed all traits of being colic. It starts out sometime late in the evening and goes on for a few hours. The solution? I go into the master bathroom, turn on the vent and stand there for sometime. Sheesh, she has a really weird sense of music!

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All the beautiful girls in the town have been really nice to me these past few weeks. “Ohhh, she is sooooooo cute”, “How old is she? Oh my Gooooood”, “Ohh, isn’t sheeeee a princeeeesss?” etc. have become quite common nowadays. I do rememebr an episode of ‘Friends’ when Chandler and Joey scored with the women, when they carried around Ross’ baby. Isn’t it an irony? When all the single men are waiting for a smile, the girls are busy talking with the new dad – handsome, of course

Move Over Microsoft, Intel Is A Bigger Evil

Folks at AMD must be partying today. Wait a second, aren’t they right here in Sunnyvale, California? I am all confused now. How can a company in a capitalist society embrace the most ridiculous socialist ruling ever? Whatever….AMD didn’t have a party in several years, so let them enjoy the day!

Seriously though, when did giving rebates to high volume sales become a crime? Hasn’t Eurpoe realized that Socialist socities are a big flop? Why should hard work and success have a price tag? Isn’t it amazing how 19th century laws to prevent monopoly are still being used in the 21st century?

EU’s claim to fairness is making sure every player has equal market share. That’s the biggest joke in today’s business world. So, who is next? HP, CISCO, Oracle, Google – anyone above a certain thershold should decide to stop expanding and limit their profits, or else EU will be standing with the evil grin right next to you!!!

Have you noticed that AMD chips are manufactured in Germany? Sure, Intel has operations in Ireland. But between Germany and Ireland, we all know which is more powerful, don’t we? I am sure this has absolutely nothing to do with EU ruling. I just brought that point up, that’s all!!!

The babies in EU can cry a river. Companies like Intel are here to stay. Innovation is key to growth, some silly ass “bribing” cannot make a company great. Do the paper tigers in EU even realize the magnitude of research and development that happens in the technology sector? Do they know the amount of brainpower which has gone into making a 45nm chip a reality? If AMD had superioir products, they would do better. Infact, they did do better a few years back when Intel’s product line wasn’t the best. How did AMD manage to do well at that time, huh? Tell me, tell me how?

People with common sense know very well that all men are NOT made equal. There has to be a healthy competition. Only then will there be opportunity, innovation and eventually, yes, World peace. Go intel!

My latest poem…..and the BEST ever!

My best poem

ಯಾವ ಹೂವು ಯಾರ ಮುಡಿಗೊ?

It’s been two years since appa died. It’s weird! It’s different!!

My father believed in rituals, a lot. So, I make it a point to go through all the rituals and ‘officially’ remember him on chaitra shuddha trayOdasi every year. Well, it’s just been two years now. It was very different, two years ago. I cried uncontrollably. Now, I take a different route. I try the escapist path. I try not to think of him too much during the rituals. It’s very hard not to. When you repeat his name, his father’s name, his grand father’s and the gOthra, several times during the process, it’s hard not to have moments of flashbacks.

They say time is the healer. But I think that’s only partly true. Time is a healer just because we choose it to be. There are several days when I suddenly go back to ‘thinking of everything to do with my father’ mode and silently sob. So, where did that ‘time is the healer’ thingy vanish?

If it is this bad for me, I can certainly imagine how bad it is for my mother. Then again, she is such a strong woman, who has gone through so much pain in her life. So much braver and stronger than I am. There is a reason pathos are melodious, right?

I never saw my father’s father or his grand father. But, here I am praying, so that they can attain mOkSha! Isn’t that strange? As a famous poem in Kannada goes – ಎತ್ತಣ ಮಾಮರ? ಎತ್ತಣ ಕೋಗಿಲೆ? ಎತ್ತಣಿಂದೆತ್ತ ಸಂಬಂಧವಯ್ಯ?

Foolish Ramblings

I cannot begin to count the number of blog posts that I lit in my mind and just flickered it away. Call it work pressure, TV addiction, shopping spree or the lovey-dovey wifey. I just call it laziness, period.

You know, if I were to get paid for blogging, I am pretty sure I wouldn’t be this lazy to write. Oh well……Every time I talk to my mother on the phone, she asks me if I have writen anything new. At least this time, I can claim a blog post. Baby steps, you see.

Now, there are too many things to write about. I just look around and see Varun Gandhi, Sanjay Dutt (and Manyata, ooops) and their antics. Not too intersting, really. Maybe I should just write about Sharad Pawar and his new found love in third front. Again, boring. Writing about politicians is perhaps not the best way to start a new month.

So, how about Aishwarya Rai accepting the “coveted” Padmashree (*cough* *cough*). I hope you don’t mind, it’s just that Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is a little too long for me. I actually started off hoping to write something meaningful. Something like the best comeback in the Indian cricket history or the G-20 summit. But then, former is old news and latter is no news.

Isn’t it amazing that not writing for so long has made me so rusty? Well, probably not. That’s how I’ve always been, I just realized it today And to think that I will restart blogging. What’s today’s date again?

How Black Is Black?

What I like about Barack Obama is his ability to capture people’s hearts and minds just by talking. The cool headed dude from Chicago certainly has an amazing capacity to reach out and reach out far. Guess what? My mother called me all the way from India today morning, right after Obama’s speech, to tell me how thrilled she was to listen to him. She is completely convinced that the World is going to be a much better place, now that he has taken the reins of the most powerful nation on Earth.

It makes you think, doesn’t it? My mother, sitting in the other part of the World was inspired and thrilled by Obama’s call. Can you imagine the state of affairs here in the United States? Is it the charisma? Is it the energy? or is it just the simplicity? What he has successfully done is to transform the region and the World with the lights of hope. And, that ain’t no easy job.

I am convinced he will be a terrific President. He has the brains and the will to change the country and the World. He has the right people around him. And, last but not the least, he is a very shrewed politician. Did you guys notice how he mentioned about his ‘father’ twice during the inaugural speech? I do not recall any mention of his mother. Just so that we are all on the same ground, he was brought up by his mother’s side of the family and had hardly any contact with his father. Now, that’s what I mean by a shrewed politician. Go figure!

There is still one thing which I fail to understand. Obama grew up in Hawaii and Indonesia, in a white family. And somehow he is treated as an ‘African-American’ because of one magical sperm? I am sorry, but his childhood was not in Bronx or Mississippi. To be fair, he is more white than black.

So, really, how black is black?

A ‘Noble’ Story

Kuvempu

The break was great!!! I didn’t want to close the blog because I knew I would want to come back and write more. There were several instances when I wanted to start blogging again – Sarah Palin, Economic mess, Listening to ‘Jolene’ the other night, and of course Sachin Tendulkar’s (aka GOD) world record. But, nothing triggered me as much as this news item did. Now, I know what my passion is

Kuvempu is undoubtedly one of the greatest writers in Kannada. He is in the elite group with such greats as Bendre and Dr. Shivaram Karanth. Around 20 years ago there was a lot of talk about Kuvempu’s name being considered by the Nobel committee for an award in literature. If he had won the Nobel, it would have certainly been great for India. He didn’t and it’s history now. Not winning Nobel in no way diminishes the greatness of Kuvempu as a writer.

Fast forward to 2008. Kuvempu is dead. There is a symposium about Kuvempu’s work ‘Sri Ramayana Darshanam‘ in Mysore and Kuvempu’s self-proclaimed disciple Dr. S. Prabhushankar comes up with a brilliant story. Apparently, he was carrying Kuvempu’s works to New Delhi to the Indian Nobel committee. When he reached the railway station, there was no seat reserved for him. Finally, some ‘North Indian’ (that’s the key) threw Kuvempu’s books into a corner and treated it like trash. And thus, because of some North Indian conspiracy, Kuvempu didn’t win Nobel. Dr S. Prabhushankar came out with this colorful story in 2008, long after Kuvempu’s death.

The media has carried the story with all the color and prominence. These self-proclaimed disciples of Kuvempu always had problems. De. Ja. Gow for one, I have absolutely no respect for. Now, Dr. Prabhushankar joins the same bandwagon?

A few innocent questions for Dr. Prabhushankar:

• Why did you keep quite for so long? If the story were true and if you had made this public at that time, maybe Kuvempu would have won the Nobel. So, I guess you are really responsible for Kuvempu not winning Nobel.
• The Nobel committee in Delhi wanted you to carry all of Kuvempu’s works in a train from Mysore? Really, they didn’t know who Kuvempu was, huh?
• It must have been quite hard to travel in an unreserved compartment. Did you get good sleep?
• Sorry, but I have to ask you this, when the ‘North Indian’ threw Kuvempu’s works away, did you cry? If so, how much? Did you make sure someone took a photograph? That will come in handy very soon, I am sure.
• Did you happen to ask the name of that ‘North Indian’ idiot?

Well, I have way too many questions, I will just stop here. Isn’t it sad that everyone wants to do politics and somehow want to see their name in the newspapers?

In this case Dr. Prabhushankar is the first culprit and media (as usual) is the second culprit. With all due respects, it’s time people start completely ignoring anything and everything which comes out of the likes of De. Ja. Gow and Prabhushankar.

Well, at least Karnad and URA are intelligent…….

Communists At Their Best

Just when I think that they cannot beat their previous circus act, they come up with a brand new one!!! CPM decided to oust Somnath Chatterjee from the party because the veteran politician brought ’shame’ to the party.

With all the political parties fighting hard to win the “worst party in Independent India” award, I have to give it to the communists. They have far outpaced the peers. Some idiot named D. Raja comes on TV and claims that Chatterjee was expelled from the party “because he disobeyed the constitution”. Alright, I agree that English is certainly not one of D. Raja’s strengths. But to call a person - who upheld the dignity of the speaker’s chair - as someone who broke the rules of the constitution is absurd, immature and illogical.

So, for one, D. Rajas of the party should NOT come and open their mouth. But then, the smart mouths like Karats have a totally different problem. They live 100 years back!!! And, it’s impossible to bring them back to the present time.

There’s only one solution for this. Our dear Bengali babus in and around Calcutta should realize the blunder they have been committing by electing jokers to the Lok Sabha. Guys, it’s time to wake up and vote for the Congress, or the Trinamool, or the BJP or whatever the other junk is.

Every politician in India - from Advani to Manmohan Singh (read as Sonia Gandhi) – have to be ashamed looking back at the events which happened over the last one week. But, the communists have the uncanny ability to beat them all. Throwing Somnath Chatterjee out of the party is the biggest shame on the party. Oh wait a second, there’s always a new day. I am sure they have something better up their sleeve. They are bound to come up with a bigger joke tomorrow!!!