Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose.~From the television show The Wonder Years

It was in those early 80’s when TV was unheard of, children loved to fly kites , climb guava trees and drop stones into the well. My grandpa’s house had a couple of huge coconut trees at the entrance, planted by my grandma, a wooden gate built by my grandpa, a small garden with tomatoes, ladies finger and a small rose garden but the main attraction for me was the 2 guava trees (one bore white fruits and the other red fruits) and the drinking well. My Grandpa, Narayan married Lakshmi when India was young and photos were in black and white and 75 paisa was all that was needed to feed a family of 5, for a month. He was a carpenter and was in charge of a wood mill in Badravathi , working for the Wodeyars.He used to tell us about his experiences in the forest, where he had to lead the villagers to cut sandal wood and rosewood. Once he found a week old bison which he later donated to the Mysore Zoo. Fortunately as I type, I chance upon something that my grandpa handed over to my father, the rosewood Mantap and the 60 year old Swiss Wall Clock. Somehow I know that I will inherit them both :) We used to visit our grandparents every Saturday, after school and we always looked forward to eating my grandma’s dosa and mint chutney and listen to grandpa’s stories and some Ustad singing the bheem taal ( oh!! Carnatic music at its best,) from a radio kept next to the window and the Crompton Greaves fan keeping the room cool. I still vividly remember that Saturday afternoon, after eating glucose biscuits and ladoo’s, I sat on my grandpa’s lap and pestered him to tell me a story. My elder brother ran off to his friend’s house. He was in a skit and I was not allowed to watch them rehearse .grrr. My sister was still learning to ride a bicycle and I was not allowed to run beside the cycle.grr.It seems I distracted her,especially when I called out "look look a monkey riding a cycle , monkey riding a cycle."grrr. That’s how I found myself munching bikis on my grandpa’s lap. It was a dull afternoon made more duller by my full stomach and the carnatic music.He ruffled my hair and said"Do you know why grandma made ladoo’s ,today?". What would a 7 year old kid say , but " because she knew I was coming" :) , he chuckled in a way that only grandfather’s could, and looked out of the window, saw my grandma, pulling out weeds and toiling over her garden,and said " On this day some 40 year’s ago, I married your grandmother". And after a lot of coaxing , he agreed to tell me all about it. " It was a year when the whole of India was chanting the slogan QUIT INDIA and trying to get rid of the "British" from our sacred homeland.Gandhi was arrested for the nth time and I longed to make a trip to the Andaman to have a glimpse of the great man. I still remember clearly, as if it was yesterday, the day I met Lakshmi.It was a hot and stifling day and I was carrying out an errand for my father.I was supposed to deliver a rose-wood jewel box to Mr Murthy. It was late afternoon and I was lost and I was looking for someone who could direct me to my destination. I saw this young girl drawing water from a well and approached her. She had the most gorgeous braided black hair, which moved around like an elephant’s tail.I couldn’t see her face, I stood a few paces away and said," Namaste, I’ve come from a far off village and I’m thirsty , can you please give me some water". I was playing with my rubber dog "devil", well to tell the truth , I was bitting its tail .I looked up and found my grandpa smiling to himself.I raised my eyebrows and said"but grandpa why didn’t you ask the address ?" "Because my child , i was spellbound when she looked at me .I didn’t know what I was doing standing before the well and so I said the first thing that came into my mind. She appeared to have not heard my plea and was busy pulling the mud pot out of the well. I waited patiently still staring at her pleated long hair and smiling to myself. She turned around and it was at that time that I vowed to marry her. She was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. She poured water into my cupped palms and I drank till I was full. "Thank you oh! Lady for quenching this traveler’s thirst." I stammered on, hoping to hear her voice" I have to deliver this box to Mr Murthy, do you know where he stays?" She lifted the pot on to her waist and walked away. I think I stood rooted on to the spot for more than 10 minutes, not sure of what to do next. The sound of a rumbling cart broke my reverie and I asked the farmer if he knew Mr. Murthy. The farmer replied that he infact worked for him and asked me to jump into his cart .After a mile or two, I saw a huge bungalow with a beautiful rose garden and a big tamarind tree. I was met by Mr. Murthy and we sat on the verandah and I gave him the handcrafted box. He was delighted and explained that this was a gift for his daughter. As I was about to take my leave, he asked me to wait and said "Can someone bring a cup of tea?" We chatted about the weather and the crops when a cup of tea was thrust in front of me. I was astonished. It was the girl that I had met at the well. I drank the sweet tea and causally asked Mr. Murthy "Was the box made for this young lady? ". He was busy fingering the intricate carvings and said " Oh no, my daughter Revathi,studies in school, she’s just 10 years old." That was Lakshmi, the daughter of the maali. She takes care of the rose garden and as you can see, she does a good job of it.She has magic in her hands" I smiled and placed the cup near the door and took my leave.I kept looking at the window hoping against hope that I could have a glimpse of her. Unfortunately for me, she never came to the window. I got home late in the night, still thinking of Lakshmi. I just couldn’t wipe her image out of my mind. Days passed and I was gifted another excuse to go to Mr. Murthy’s house and this time it was to deliver a beautiful Mantap for their family God, Lord Venkateshwara. Ramu our servant and I set off on a bullock cart and when we went past the well, my heart missed a beat. When we reached our destination, I met Mrs. Murthy, a pious and god fearing lady, who asked us to place the mantap inside the "pooja" room.Mr Murthy, had to travel to the neighboring village on some urgent land deal. After this was done, she invited us to lunch and we obliged her by accepting her offer. I was yet to catch a glimpse of Lakshmi and was a tad disappointed when Mrs. Murthy served us lunch. I was hoping that it would be Lakshmi. I made casual conversation and asked her about the rose garden and thanked the almighty for making this woman talkative. I learnt that Lakshmi was the only daughter of the gardener and her mother had passed away when she was 10 years old. She had completed her seventh standard with flying colors and her father was looking for a suitable groom to marry her off. It was at this point that I said "I would like to marry her". Mrs. Murthy was taken aback; she looked at me and smiled "Why don’t you ask her father? I’m sure he will agree". My heart lept with joy, and Ramu looked like he ate a green chilly. After a tense week, of convincing both my parents and Lakshmi’s father, the day of the marriage was decided and I was to wed Lakshmi at the Krishna temple. On the designated day we got up early and made our way to the temple. This was one of the most beautiful temples in the whole district. Situated on top of a hill with a Ashoka tree and a view of the surrounding villages, this was aptly named the Kailasagiri. The temple had a black idol of Krishna and the poojari was the only one who was allowed inside the sanctum. The little pond next to the tree, looked beautiful and the bunch of reddish pink lotus flowers just made it more stunning. Lakshmi was draped in a brown silk saree, with beautiful intricate designs, which I later found belonged to her mother and it carried with it a sentimental value. She looked up at me and smiled and I thought I was marrying goddess Lakshmi. To the sound of a nightingale singing and chants of the holy Vedas we got married. It was at this point of the story that I wanted to drink water, I jumped off grandpa's lap and ran into the kitchen to see my grandma looking out of the window, smiling, with tears running down her cheek.

Sorry Guy's Writer's Block...something is stewing :)

The cloud forms something we cannot comprehend..

A typical playground ;)

Pleasure is the flower that passes; remembrance, the lasting perfume. ~Jean de Boufflers

I saw a couple of films this weekend and here's what I thought... Dhol : Just one word for this overwhelming movie starring * I don’t remember who and no not even Rajpal Yadav could do anything about the script or his colleagues. Bottom line : Yappppppppppppppppppppppppppa but none the less Sajjan is going to get a copy :) Jhonny Gaddar : The first thing that struck my mind was, Jaaaaaaaaaackassssss( Anil Kapoor style) it had this old filmy eastman color look and man this was one cool film.I loved the plot and sometimes even got lost in it, in a good way. Just watch it. Anand : A telugu flick, which I watched because that song " Nuvenna" just kept buzzing in my head and i ended up buying it.It's a rrrrrrrrrr flick and just TOOOOOOOO mushy mushy for me :) h i liked this scene in a oldage home, the herione ( gorgeous babe) is on a "mouna vratha" and the hero is asking her, well it sort of looked like he was pleading," Can i help you with anything,anything at all, no formalities" she smiles ( haiiiiiiiiiii) and points to a door and shows her pinky finger ( meaning off to the restroom) i was howling and my mom thought i was having nightmares. COMEON it was funny!! 2 things about the heroine, she had long hair and amazing eyebrows….. ;)Damn they didn’t use the dogs properly and well they did kill a full FAMILY and as always, I am right, a good flick has a couple of deaths ;) I just love this line and someday hope to write like this…( Robert Jordan) Abruptly, a chill ran through him, one cold, clean tingle as if he had jumped into the Winespring Water in midwinter. It rippled through him and seemed to take away some of his fatigue, a little of the ache in his legs and the burning of his lungs. It left behind... something. He could not say what, only he felt different. - Perrin And someone made me smile when I was in a meeting and it was so Haiiiiiiiiiii main mar java!! Thank you :)

Laaaaaaalalaa alaaaa BING

In the previous post I had mentioned that I had turned Vegan: Short for Vegetarian, I forgot to mention that it was for a limited period of 9 days ( yep lost 3 kilos and a part of my brain). Today unfortunately I had to devour like a demon so there goes my gaaaaas pussssss diet.It’s great to be back as a Vampire, wipes the blood. Now that our lil fire breathing , blogger eating Kk has turned 16, and is in some unknown part of Cincinnati, here’s wishing her lots of smiles and blushes. Now that its Dee’s 39th birthday , oh don’t worry she still looks 33 and is capable of eating 9 kilos of sweet meat in 29 minutes , here’s wishing that her house is filled with cats of all type of shapes,sizes and names ( aaargh). I wish I could send them something nice like a white unicorn or an apple iphone, but I know they just want my good wishes ( wink wink). Has anyone seen the film “ To Kill a Mocking bird “ based on the novel by Harper Lee ? Noone ? thu thu… It is by far the most amazingly directed and acted film that I have seen,forget Sholay, this is a cut above it. It has Gregory Peck, who knows when to pause and when to move his eyebrows and a host of little kids who just act like umm kids !! .The background score is just out of the world. You tend to watch it a couple of times and even then you are not satisified.It’s more like the Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer Stories but ummmmm something more. I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to watch a good movie with a great story and camera work.

“I'm always making a comeback but nobody ever tells me where I've been.”

Now, I found, that the world is round and of course it rains everyday. Living tomorrow, where in the world will I be tomorrow? How far am I able to see? Or am I needed here? This is a such a loos song that I like , titled “ World “ sung by the band Bee Gees. I always like to hum this song because it has a meaning that I’m yet to comprehend. For the past couple of months or rather this whole year, I have not been myself. I have not been sarcastic, I have not made fun of people, nor have I written a good story which has huge vampire rats and black chilies grown in the Sahara, which give a lavender tang when mixed with turmeric. Maybe it’s that well educated Engineer cum part time Pundit, who looked into my eyes and acted as if he read my future and foretold “suffering and death” and went on to smear me with sandal paste. He had to stop him when he started advising me to light a diya everyday. Or maybe it’s because of this http://www.lunarplanner.com/HCpages/Synodic-Saturn.html Or the real reason is because of me becoming a vegan : According to wiki the most popular reasons for becoming a vegan is ethical commitment or moral convictions concerning animal rights, the environment, or human health, and spiritual or religious concerns. Pah!! Well my reason was to lose some weight and Voila Mission Accomplished. It’s always funny , when Anand a pure Veggie, talks about chicken legs and liver, I never talk about non-vegetarian dishes when among my brahmin friends and even if they do, I change the topic and talk about the sun,the moon and throw in a few stars. Maybe I was ashamed of being a non-veggie. Yeah rite !! On the other hand it might just be because I read this quote. People believe I am what they see Me as, rather than what they do not see. But I am the Great Unseen, not what I cause Myself to be in any particular moment. In a sense, I am what I am not. It is from the Am-notness that I come, and to it I always return.” Neale Donald Walsch

meow......

Pop goes the whistle...

It's that time of the year, when i usually get up and look at the stars....and ofcourse wipe my running nose ( sniff) . It's been a hectic couple of months and i think I have lost my mind (the last piece).My life is one dull toothache, so i have decided to pull it out.

• I will learn how to play a stringed instrument( rubberband tied to a pencil box)
• I will make 2 furry and 2 human friends( Lokesh,Keshava and Tommy,Benhur, respectively)
• I will read 2 auto biographies ( Ravishankar and another of Chuck Norris, I hope i get an auto soon)
• I will not eat chokis while workingI will not eat ice cream ( * for breakfast)
• I will update my blog once a week....

zzzzzzzzzz

He came like the wind, like the wind touched everything, and like the wind was gone. ...

I just read that Robert Jordan passed away. He is/was the author of one of my favourite epic series " The Wheel of Time". I remember buying the book “ The Eye of the World”,a couple of years ago, forked out Rs 350 and was patient ( I trusted Sp ;) and his recommendations)for the first 6 chapters ,the pace was slower than a snail’s marathon. It was a hot day and I was reading the 7th chapter , when my small world exploded , I think I must have gasped, for my fellow passengers were roused from their slumber . Yes, I was in the office bus and yep, the driver had to evict me from my seat :(. Since then I have been a staunch follower of the series and I loved every book, some were so exasperating that my head hurt and I couldn’t sleep for days. (Sleep in the day, that is..) After reading book 2 and 3, back to back , I was hooked like a cookie on a webpage.I needed an excuse to buy book 4 . It was a lazy Sunday eveing and it was Anand’s birthday and Voila !! , I had my excuse. I literally flew to the nearest Gangaram’s ( unfortunately, that is that only book stall open on Sunday’s) and grabbed the book, before that lady in pink, could pick it up.I was really on the verge of sanity( nope no spelling mistook). I wished Anand, a happy birthday, presented the book, counted till 10, smiled and grabbed it back ,promising to give it back at the earliest. Before the clock struck 9.( No I am not a vampire), I was back home . I have had ample opportunity to save all the books in pdf format, but I believe that a work of fiction should be read from a book and so now I have the complete series …maybe I’ll pass it on to someone who shares the same passion as me…” Still looking…are you the one ? “ . It has been difficult to get my hands on all the books, since not all the bookstalls sell “Fantasty fiction”. Oh I almost forgot, the last and final book, Book 12 , has not be published, but we the reader’s are looking forward to reading it. PS : If you think Rowling Aunty has/had a huge fan following, think again. May Robert Jordan rest in peace…… If you find someone with this engraved on a t-shirt , you will have found me ….;) The rose petal floats on water. The kingfisher flashes above the pond. Life and beauty swirl in the midst of death. ….but who can know the heart of a man? Not even he himself, I suspect. A man is the easiest animal to put on a leash, and the hardest to keep leashed. Even when he chooses it himself.