Dodda Mavalli Katte | Neralu 2015

This year's Neralu had some of the coolest activities spanned across many places in Bengaluru for 3 full days. I think it was a brilliant effort to reach out to places where it matters the most. Like Dodda Mavalli Katte, M N Krishna Rao Park, NGMA and Bal Bhavan.

Dodda Mavalli Katte was a great discovery for me. The place is full of life ~ Trees and People. As the golden rays of early morning sun strikes the big bright beautiful branches of the ficus trees, the whole place gets illuminated; and in no time the place gets crowded with many vendors and people visiting to pray the tree goddess (Peepul Tree) and the snake stones. It is their belief system that protects these huge ficus trees at this place and the same belief that people think they are being protected as well! So, to celebrate trees, have tree based conversations, and to spread the joy of celebrating trees as part of Neralu 2015, this place was just perfect!

Here are some photographs I took at Dodda Mavalli Katte:  (click on the photograph to enlarge them)

Dodda Mavalli Katte and the Maramma Temple

Trees smeared with golden rays of early morning sun

Livelihood under the trees

Many fruit and flower vendors fill this place with colors

Dodda Mavalli Katte - Snake Stones

Many people visit this place to pray for the trees and the snake stones

Peepul Tree (Arali Mara)

Belief that protects trees and vice versa

Ficus and the snake stones

Neralu under the Neralu of huge trees

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Sketch-A-Tree @ Neralu

I have been thinking about the two day Bengaluru Tree Festival - Neralu happened at Cubbon Park last week; I was a volunteer on both the days and absolutely loved the festival. It is something to look forward to every year from now on. It was a first of its kind, crowd funded festival that brought all the nature lovers together for two days. There were tree walks conducted by some eminent naturalists and tree lovers; tree related films; story telling sessions; journaling workshops; art exhibition; photography exhibition, cultural performances and many more art forms. A lot of visitors took part in the events on both the days and made it a grand success. Many people told us that they would like to see more such events and would like to be part of them. I was also thrilled to meet a lot of people with similar interests and learn from them. 

On both the days I was looking after this particular activity called Sketch-A-Tree. This activity involved people to pick up a piece of paper, make a free hand sketch of a tree and color the same. This was not just for kids, but for everyone who walked into the campus. I absolutely enjoyed volunteering for this activity and also seeing so many people enjoying this activity. They came, they asked for paper, they sketched whatever they liked to, colored them and tied them up on the display rope. After tying them up, they enjoyed spotting their sketch and they took pictures with them. The thing that was most intriguing for me was that every picture had a message in it. Looking at all the messages, I thought, if so many young children are caring for our planet, there is some good hope for us for sure and we're on the right side of the history. In two days we got almost 500 sketches tied on long ropes and every picture was absolutely beautiful with a message attached to it. 

Also, in the process I overheard and also I was a part a lot of interesting conversations and would like to list some of them that are still lingering in my mind here:

Hey boy! come sketch a tree. Boy: No, dad, I'm not interested, you only sketch it for me. 

Mom, I wanna sketch will you wait for me here? Mom: Do it fast, its too sunny here!

A family of three: See baby, so many of your friends are sketching, do you wanna sketch? you can tie it up there, see how nice it looks? you like sketching, why don't you do it here?

No no, you are still too small to sketch, lets go back home, come!

A 3rd standard boy: Are there any other interesting activities here? I say, this is interesting why don't you sketch one more picture? No, I do not like this, I like computers, you do not have any computer games here. I ask - What is interesting in computer? I like C programming. Although this boy ended up sketching 12 pictures, he left his gmail id on every sketch he made.

Can I take back what I have sketched? I say- why don't you tie it up there on the display rope so that everyone looks at your picture? No, no, I do not want people to see my picture!

Come beta, sketch something, I will take a picture and put it up on facebook!

If you do not sketch properly, I will not post it on facebook. Do you want it or not?

Mom to her son who was sketching: come lets go to the story telling session and come back here. Son: I am bored of listening to stories at my school everyday. I am not coming. 

See how nicely you are sketching. You should do it at home also. Will you?

wow! It is so nice baby... write 'Save A Tree' on it! 

Papa I want to sketch. No no, I do not have time now, lets go home. It takes a lot of time if you start sketching!

I don't want to sketch a tree. I say - ok! sketch a bird. I don't want to sketch a bird. I ask - what do you want to sketch? I want to sketch a computer!

...and many more!

Here are some photographs from the festival:

Nature Journaling workshop by Sangeetha, Shilpa and Abhisheka

Huh-A-Tree

Cultural performances by Soliga Pusumale Kalatanda

Moved-by-Trees workshop by Veena Basavarajaiah

Crossword activity

Story telling sessions

Jigsaw Puzzle of an African Tulip Tree flower

Cubbon Park, Bal Bhavan campus

Everything under Neralu

Cheers,
Srikanth

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Laufen gut

Well, I can say that this was a good start to begin the monsoon this year. The weather was absolutely beautiful and it was a perfect day for running. I just want to post some of the random running thoughts that came to my mind while running this year's TCS World 10k Marathon. 

I entered at the Gate number 6 and it was completely crowded with corporate category runners. They were then sent to a different venue as the Gates 5 and 6 were for Open 10k runners. Initially I wondered at such a huge participation. 

We were about the start the run, I noticed a lot people jumping the fens rather than waiting in the queue to start the run. Policemen were trying to avoid those people but they hardly could succeed. I said to myself, we were supposed to be responsible citizens and what is the urgency to start the race when you know that the run will be anyway considered as per the start time at the first beep till the last beep? And I just moved on. I also overheard someone saying "The whole nation has this mindset of letting down themselves." (I have forgotten the actual words. But this is what he meant)

By the time I reached the flag off point, it was 8.10 am. And at the first beep I said to myself, 'you will finish the race.'

It was a beautiful day and a perfect weather for running. I went past 1 km mark and heard somebody saying, 'Hey, 1 km got over, lets go!'. I just continued to run.

Every 1 km the drinking water arrangement was made. But I did not feel like drinking at the first km. 

At the 3rd km there were a group of drummers playing the typical regional folk 'death beat' kind of stuff. It was a real motivator for many folks for sure. Instant energy listening to those beats and that kept me running.

Between the 4th and 5th km, I overheard a guy telling his friend - "dude!, there are so many people out here, and there are so many body shapes; each body is in a different shape. Some look like a pear, some are like mangoes and some are like apples." I looked at them and smiled. They laughed and I moved on. 

I wanted to stop at the 5th km and drink water. I did and I continued my run. (that was my first break; although I was running very slow)

A lot of people were walking. I was running. I had not given any other option to myself.

I gave the empty water bottle to a lady who was collecting all the bottles thrown away by many folks. She smiled at me. I smiled back. 

I noticed a guy with a T-shirt saying "Save Water" and saw him throw away water bottle with half the water left in it. I said to myself, I wish I had my camera to capture the ironical moment. I also thought whether people are ignorant of what they are trying to communicate? 

At the bus stop opposite to the Chinnaswamy stadium, a beautiful lady with her little kid were cheering for us. She was saying "Come on! you guys can do it". I said to myself, yeah! and continued to run.

I noticed a lonely crow sitting on the rain tree and watching us run. It looked cute.

At the 8th km, I saw Oranges on the table. It looked very tempting. I picked one and enjoyed eating it while running. 

When I was on the road in front of Vidhanasoudha, I noticed two wheel chair participants running faster than us and asking for the way. I said, it is all yours and cheered for them. 

There were huge flocks of doves flying in front of the High Court. May be they were cheering for us saying, just fly off. I said to myself, I wish I could. 

When I reached the Cubbon Park entrance, I stopped looking at the Km marks as I knew where the end point was. In fact my mind had already finished the race and it was just waiting for my body to complete it physically. 

Inside the Cubbon Park I noticed a small kid waving hands at us and cheering for us. I thought may be the kid was not aware of what exactly is happening. He might have thought this is an event to support Anna Hazare or Baba Ramdev against the corruption. I thanked him anyway. 

I noticed a guy wearing a T-shirt saying "It is tough, Are you?" I said to myself - What is tough? 

When I was nearing the Cubbon Park exit gate towards the Hudson Circle, I noticed a group of old people cheering for us. I felt good. 

I was almost 300 meters away from the finish line and I noticed a guy wearing a T-shirt that said - "Born to run, forced to work". I agreed. 

Shakira was welcoming us with the famous Soccer World Cup 2010 song 'Waka Waka' which gave a perfect spirit to end my race. I touched the final beep and felt heavenly. 

I collected my finisher medal. And I asked for one extra bun to eat at the refreshment counter. I offered them to take back the glucose biscuit packet. They said they cannot. I said, ok sorry!

Today is supposed to be the World Environment Day and most of the people who took part in the event were (at least in my understanding) responsible citizens. But it was disheartening to see them waste water (people were celebrating their run by pouring water on themselves) and throw away plastic on the roads without even thinking that there are designated garbage bins (or at least search for it?). I am glad my friends Abhi and Kowshik tried telling them not to waste water. I tried telling the same to some folks. But I don't think it worked. 

Ich bin laufen gut! :)

And the eighteenth horse ran with me till the end!

Srik

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Special Sunday visitor

Well, after a long time I thought of spending a lazy Sunday, without much of activities. Now that all my treks and outdoor trips have come down drastically since the last couple of months, thanks to all my new projects and long meetings during the weekends, there is no other option but to be in Bengaluru. 

More than anything, I thought of just resting today and sleep enough to catch up with all my pending sleep hours. I did not turn on the alarm on my mobile. I was all set for a 24 hour sleep (just saying). Yeah! that was required.

But, to my bad luck, I forgot all about my friends who would wake me up exactly at 6 am irrespective of how deep I am in my sleep. It does not matter if I am in a sound sleep or unconscious in my dreams. They come, they wake me up and if I dont listen to them, they shout harder to make sure I wake up and say 'good morning' to them. Today it was a bit more special; I had an unusual visitor, I heard a sweet voice amidst all the others. But, in my usual way of avoiding them, I closed my ears with my pillow and tried getting back to sleep. 

I could not sustain my curiosity and that sweet little voice was persistent enough in my ears so that I wake up and see who it is. In my half sleep state, I opened the door and started looking for the new friend. There are two big trees in front of my house. One is the Pongemia and the other is the Bauhinia (I think Bauhinia purpurea). It was a real test for me to connect that voice to my eye sight. And there it was, sweetly sitting on the Bauhinia tree and shouting out 'Good morning' to me. I connected with it through my eyes and through my ears and lost in its melody for a while. It was sitting beautifully amidst all my Koel friends, my regular 6 am visitors. This was my first sighting of this beautiful bird - Great tit - on this tree since 3 years (in Vijayanagar). 

Great tit (Parus major) on the Bauhinia tree

My day was made. It was as good as me opening my eyes on a Saturday morning in a forest or on a mountain. 

When I took out my camera to photograph it, it looked as if it did not notice me and was lost in its own world singing and jumping; allowing me to wonder in awe to make my sighting worthy enough. 

Hope the bird stays on for a little longer and hope I hear its calls every day and feel good to start my day! The only fear for me is that these birds keep jumping on the electric wires. They anyway look camouflaged in all these trees on the streets. No idea how to make these birds avoid them.

I only wish I can talk to these birds and they listen to my words!

Srik

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Meteor night out!

Perhaps, I am writing this out of pain. Yeah, neck pain.

Couple of weeks back I had received a mail from my friend saying – its meteor time again! And the mail announcement had this link which talks about the annual Perseid meteor showers. It said the following: The 2010 Perseid meteor shower - August's famous 'shooting stars' - will peak in this coming week, on the mornings of August 12 and 13.

After three days of my most deserved bed rest on account of controlled hyperthermia I was really tired and conveniently forgotten about the shooting stars show. After the three day long weekend, I was in office early morning on Wednesday and feeling blue, oranje, black and all the other colors in the world thinking of the pending work I had. I was almost set to getting into a state of animated mood and aversion to do any activity in office; that’s when I received one more mail reminding about the meteor showers activity is set for the day and an informal meet has been called to collectively watch the same. Without a second thought, I agreed and then some energy kicked into my day.

Some of my friends and some more who were new to me had confirmed their presence. So a bunch of us, around ten members assembled near Jayanagar at 11 pm and started moving towards Turahalli. That was our first stop. Like how meteor showers were at its peak, I guess, even our sense of humor were at its peak on this day. We had some absolutely hilarious moments and mouthful of laughs.

We were in Turahalli for about 30 minutes and were gazing at the sky like no better than how we look at our desktops. While we were able to see many stars, there were patches of clouds which gave us signal to move to a different place. Also the city lights were distracting to our eyes and hence we thought of moving to some other place where the sky is dark and less or no clouds to disturb us.  In spite of all these distractions, a genius in our team sighted his first meteor shower at Turahalli.

We took the ‘right’ turn on the Kanakapura road that connects to Kumbalgodu. After driving about 3 kms on that road, we found a place where the sky was relatively dark, free from clouds and beautiful to watch the stars. We were all looking up in the sky counting on time we say – ah! there is one!

There were some experts who were trying hard to educate a newbie like me on the subject and a chai-wala who was generous enough to prepare ginger tea at home and get it for us in a big flask. Oh! Not to forget, we had some spicy snacks and fruits to eat as well. It was almost 1.30 am and although we had not sighted too many shooting stars, it was reaching the peak and more were visible as the time went on. I was also lucky enough to sight some 9-10 shooting stars.

It was almost nearing 2 am, some of us were sleepy and none of us were even wishing for the giraffe necks the immediate day; so, we left from the place. The highlights of the activity were the following: ‘some’ amazing meteor showers, hilarious jokes, the ginger tea and of course all the team members who were fun to spend time with.

Now that I did enjoy the meteor night out, and while I will be waiting for more such events soon, er! my neck is still up somewhere and I am trying to fix it to normal!

Srik 

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Gubbachigalu

Gubbachigalu (Sparrows) are almost extinct and very difficult to find them in cities like Bengaluru. And the reason is just that the habitat doesn’t support or in simple words, we failed to keep them with us. Actually, when we hear someone saying ‘Gubbachigalu’, we get excited and will soon get back to our childhood thinking about that. That’s what happened to me when I saw the poster yesterday in front of the Suchitra Film Society. While I was in the bus, I saw the poster, got excited and then thought I should somehow make it to the movie. As I reached office, coincidently, I saw a mail from my friend with details on the movie. I enquired with the Suchitra film society folks over the call to book the tickets. But the guy said “Oh no problem, sir! You can come 15 minutes early to the show and you will get tickets. No need to book it now”.

Well, when I reached the venue at 6 pm today, there were very few tickets left. Fortunately I got the tickets and my other friends also joined on time. But, it was houseful. They simply could not believe that the hall was full and there were no seats left. People had to stand and watch the movie and some people without any hesitation, made use of the floor.

The director of the movie spoke for a few minutes before the movie got started. Abhaya Simha, post graduate in Direction from Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, a debutant with this movie into his direction career. He wanted to do this film because he was very much in fond of Sparrows when he was a kid. And the fact that the sparrows are almost extinct in cities these days, triggered him to do this movie and communicate this message through the children who would lead the future. Apparently, the original story was given by his friend NAM Ismail and they both believed in looking into the matter through the eyes of the children.

The story starts off by showing two children, Ila and Anirudh, cute littles of a happy family. And their curiosity in knowing about everything that looks interesting to them. One day, their eyes lead to a tree at their backyard and they will be surprised to see a sparrow nest. Their curiosity will get a beautiful strength and they start asking questions and they try to see what actually is there in the nest. But they will be stopped by their mother saying, if they try to do any harm to the nest, the mother sparrow will never come back again and that is a bad thing to do. So these kids will remain curious doing nothing for some time.

But their curiosity will never let them fail. In their second attempt, where there is no one else at home, they try to see what the nest has. When Anirudh climbs up with his camera to shoot the nest, he will see two sparrow eggs and he will be ecstatic to click pictures of it. While doing that, he will lose balance on his camera and one of the eggs will fall down and break into pieces. That will be the saddest turn in the movie. And actual movie starts from there.  Because of guilt and remembering their mother’s words that ‘the mother sparrow will never come back’, they will decide to go and search for mother sparrow somehow and get it back to its nest. I must say, the characters introduced in the movie are very good. There are quite a lot of animated characters and some amazing performances as well.

So amidst the hustle-bustle of the concrete jungle of a sprawling city, two children go on a quest to find ‘their’ missing sparrow. They will be off from home without informing their parents, with guilt that they are responsible for the mother sparrow’s disappearance. They will meet some unusual people and visit some unusual places to find the sparrow. Their curiosity never ends. Their journey will be of a good learning and discovery as they encounter their crazy moments. Every individual they meet will be wondering about what are these kids up to and why are they trying to search that is not there really. Everyone will just say that they are really hard to find in cities just because the habitat doesn’t support. But they will never give up to those words.

There is also one more interesting aspect that is projected in this movie. Just like how these two kids search for the mother sparrow, there is one character in the movie where that person will be in search of his mother. In the end, both mother and the son will somehow meet. And that was the hopeful end for the movie as well. The kids will finally hear the sparrow sound near the nest and that brings smile on all the faces both in the set as well as for us who are watching the movie.

I really liked the movie very much. It was very educative for me and I am sure it will be even more for the children. Hopefully they will take responsibilities towards these challenges of the environment and be sensible enough to safeguard them. This movie brings into a great relief the realities of urban life, curious children and a dwindling biodiversity.

The movie has got good international recognition and awards as well.  

And I go on searching for a sparrow now! I actually bought a sparrow nest. Only sparrow is missing in that. Well, hopefully one day, I see a life in it!

Srik

PS: For some of you who may want to watch, the screening is happening again tomorrow (Sunday) at 6.30 at the Suchitra Film Society. 

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feel

monsoons are back,

so are strong winds,

green trees are wet,

and birds in their nest

sun is unknown,

eyes are pleasant,

rain drops on my face,

and moon is smiling

city sounds quiet,

but rain is heard,

road looks lonely,

only am walking, slow

the night is dark,

only clouds are lit,

back in the street,

lights on, and off

am back at home,

my feet is damp,

silence all around,

and cat is still awake

doors are closed,

a window is open,

my mind is outside,

tis’ a great feeling!

Srik

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Hire ‘em right!

Let me begin with few questions here. How many of us think that we are unfit for the job we are currently engaged with? Or how many of us really think, ‘I am the right person for this job’? Whatever may be the answer, but I am very certain that all of us would’ve thought about it and inquired within ourselves ‘Am I the right person?’

Well, that’s one way (self) of looking at it. There is the other way of what does your organization or boss thinks about you? Or if you are an employer or a manager, how would you think? You might ask yourself – is he/she the right person for this? Or did we hire ‘em right?

The reason for my questions and thinking beyond the subject is because of my latest saga of hiring a right person for the school. With all the extraordinary efforts, unimaginable thinking and a different approach, we went on and on and on. We were not looking for just a faculty, but a RIGHT faculty. A person who gets attracted to what our eyes were dreaming and who will override us with a character. An Alchemist! Who would shape up our new ideas!

Even though I expected it to be uneventful, given the abundant availability of human talents in the Knowledge Capital – Bengaluru, we struggled throughout the process. Too many breakdowns and too little energy to handle them strong; a very few supporting hands as well. And we had no choice, but to get on with it. It was a commitment to be delivered.

We had plenty of time to begin with and we tried sourcing them through the known contacts. We failed. And then we had to give out an Ad in the news papers. We received quite a lot of applications and I performed my old recruiter’s job. It was the time for face-to-face encounter. I had to prepare myself to hire the right person and to set our expectations right. The process took several attempts as described under:

First attempt:

I had informed the school that I would be conducting the interviews on Saturday. And I had scheduled interviews for about 10 applicants who had prior working experience. It was scheduled at 9 Am and I had to do it alone. Because the school is located amidst a very beautiful forest like campus, I thought of going there early and spend some time. It would also help me to organize the interview room and chairs for the expected. I reached the campus at 7.45 Am which looked remarkably beautiful. I thought of doing the bird watching for about 30 minutes and then go to the school. I spotted around 7-8 species of birds and I was completely lost in the nature. I had kept my bag far away and so as my mobile phone. I along with my camera were lost in the nature like crazy. I returned back to the place where I had kept my bag and noticed that the time was 10 minutes to 9. I ran towards the school and saw the gate closed. The security guard said ‘today is a holiday Sir and school is closed’. I said to myself, I am screwed!

With all the adventure and a little amount of craziness, I managed to complete all the interviews sitting under a tree! (May be the time spent during bird watching helped me to handle the situation well). ‘It was a great experience’ – said one of the applicants who got excited to discuss under a tree. It was an amazing experience for me too; as I got to know what kind of people apply for these jobs. And was wondering where the passion is and how to hire it? (It was no surprise to know that people land up here just because they cannot get the job that they really want).

Second attempt:

Because we did not get the RIGHT person (and passionate) during the interview, we had to try our next attempt. This time we wanted to save some money and hence did not go for an Ad. Instead I went through the same database that I had created from the first Ad and also sourced through some references. I scheduled the interviews and luckily my friend confirmed that he would accompany me. So it was two of us, waiting for the candidates to arrive at the school at 9 am. We waited until 11 am and no human being entered the school campus. It was a total failure.  

Third attempt:

This time, I had scheduled only five interviews and we were hoping to get it done soon. After waiting for a long time, we got to interact with only two candidates. Luckily both were good and we decided to get on with them. So, we were ecstatic that the interviews were done. We thought we found the RIGHT people. I mean RIGHT!

Last week they both were supposed to report to the school and we finalized on their compensation and letters that needs to be handed over to them. Among the two, one was a lady and the other guy was junior to her. While she agreed to the offer we made, the other guy took a lot of time to confirm us. In fact we had given him a 40% hike compared to his previous job and we were hoping he would join us. He took a lot of time to confirm us and eventually he did confirm us that he will join. The next day, I was talking to him over the phone as to when can he collect his offer and resign from his current job; all of a sudden, he said ‘no sir, I don’t think I will join your school’. When I asked why, he said he wants to do his Master’s degree and he cannot join.  That was a disappointing end to our third attempt. Anyway, looking at the way he was behaving, I thought, he is not the RIGHT person we are looking for.

Fourth Attempt

There begins the fourth attempt. This time we were short of candidates in our database and we had no options but to go for an Ad. With a lot of negotiations, we bargained at a cheaper rate for the Ad. We received only a few applications since it’s almost the school opening time and most of them would’ve got appointed by then. However, we were happy for those few applications and we expected more at the venue because we had placed for a walk-in Ad. Well, as it turned out, we were lucky that we got a very good person who is much better than the guy who had turned down our offer. We felt even better when that person said ‘this is the kind of job even I was looking for and none of the schools think like the way you are thinking!’

Wow! I said to myself and zeroed down on her.

While we have our Alchemist aboard, we are still awaiting the second person who is yet to report to the school because of some unforeseen problems at her end. None of the activity can be uneventful I guess.

And from what I have experienced so far, I think it is very difficult to hire the RIGHT person during the interview. Perhaps! The RIGHT person is the one who evolves along with the time and with an opportunity of being RIGHT. Till then, what seems RIGHT could be an illusion that can become a reality in the future.

Srik

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One summer evening!

I noticed the walls of the buildings turn orange! and yes, it was the sunset time. I was standing at the bus stop for a long time and there was absolutely no sign of me getting the bus. I was standing under the tree which was as still as I was and perhaps, the tree looked as dull as I was because of the summer heat. No more cool breeze and no more fresh air that could smear my face to wipe of all the sweat. Instead, making me completely wet and sticky until I go back into the air-conditioned building or I rather wait for some more time to get into the air-cooled motor that would take me home comfortably. I waited.

I got into the bus and was feeling refreshed. Just like how you feel when you get to eat your favorite food when you are hungry to the core.  I seated comfortably, like a bird sitting on the branch of a beautiful green tree.  I turned around to see if any eyes were in contact with my presence. None I thought and I went into the absentminded state. I was feeling very uncomfortable for something that I did not have. And I was waiting for someone to take me out of that state. Within no time, I opened my eyes. I had to. I had no options but to miss that beautiful sight. As I stared at the beauty, I noticed that it was something that I was waiting for to come in front of me. And that was my opportunity. Like an eagle spotting its prey. I decided to go for it thinking that it’s my good time.

But, how do I go ahead? I was feeling very uncomfortable as I kept looking at an opportunity right in front of me.  My inner voice told me, “Why don’t you open your mouth and talk? Unless you do it, how can you even think of obtaining it? Go for it; nothing will happen”.

I took two deep breaths; third one and the fourth as well. I was as scared as a rat cornered by a cat. Taking the fifth breath, I said to myself, I cannot wait longer. My eyes then met with the eyes that were just opposite to me. Beautiful eyes, like eyes of a juvenile kitten. Eyes were rolling up and down, restless. For a moment, it just closed itself like a snail in the shell. And then again came out spreading the fragrance of its beauty to the world giving its sight. Looking at the restless state, I said to myself, is it the time to give it up? Or hold on, don’t give up?

As I looked at her, she knew what I wanted. Atleast I guessed as much. But I did not get any signs of her being positive to it. Or perhaps! I thought she was waiting for me to initiate the conversation first. That was more likely a possibility can be. I nodded to myself reassuring that I still have the chance. And finally, I made the first move. I signed to her. She did not understand. I tried the second time, she did not get it. She was dumbstruck and remained the same for some time. Like a lonely elephant self protecting from tourists. I did not give up. But I changed my approach. I signed using my hands and eyes both. Her eyes turned from red to blue. Her beautiful pink lips started making movements. I thought, perhaps it is time for her to speak up.  I felt relieved. But she didn’t. However, she understood what I was trying to tell her. But I could not open my mouth; I could not speak. My throat was as dry as the dry river in the summer. And perhaps, that was the whole point.

A few minutes later, she got convinced with what my intention was and I finally succeeded in my effort. I was happy and full of life within no time. Bliss! Looking at me, even her eyes signed some relief. There were no other expectations. Even I had no expectations other than that. She was a kind of person I was waiting for to share my expectations and come out of the problem where I was in. Luckily she had the solution for the problem I had. She took me out of that uncomfortable state I was in.

After getting what I wanted and till the time I felt happy about it, I looked at her and then thanked her for giving me the bottle of drinking water that took off my thirst on a summer evening!

Srik

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Turahalli hillock truly 'Rocks'

It was a much awaited event for all the climbers in and around Bengaluru. I think people even travelled from other cities to attend the Rock Climbing fest organised at Turahalli on February21st, 2010. I had visited Turahalli couple of times before along with my climber friends, but I had not tried much of the climbing at Turahalli.

Please read my experience and more details on the Rock Climbing Fest at Turahalli published in Citizen Matters at the following link: http://bangalore.citizenmatters.in/articles/view/1814-rock-climbing-fest-turahalli

Srik

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Not to worry! Sir, this is just the beginning

Feb 04, 2010 is one of the special days for Bengaluru. BMTC along with the members of the Citizen's community, came up with a brilliant initiative of 'Bus Day'. A day to promote and take the public transport benefits to every person in Bengaluru. 'Bus Day' will be organized on 4th day of every month going forth.

Please visit my first article Published on Citizen Matters on my experience about the 'Bus Day': http://bangalore.citizenmatters.in/articles/view/1724-bus-day-bangalore

Feel free to give feedback on the same.

Thanks!

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Radio Mania!

Recession being a good reason enough for the company I work to cancel all the office busses, I am now using the public transport to commute to office every day. In a way, it turned out good for me because I travel by Volvo and it is quite comfortable, dust free and aesthetically appealing as well. More than anything, I use my travel time to read books. So I dedicate 4 hours a day on my reading and travelling. At times, when I am not in a good mood to read book or too many calls to attend while I am in the bus, I give my ears to listen to the music on FM. Almost all the Volvo buses are equipped with music players with FM embedded. So I listen to the FM and the PJs being cracked by all the RJs quite often. Sometimes they make me laugh, sometimes they irritate me and sometimes they make no sense to me. But they entertain me for sure. Some of the drivers tend to listen to some old Kannada music always. So as soon as I see the driver, I will know how my journey for the next 2 hours will be. Anyway, I am fine with any RJ and any music to listen as long as I am being entertained.

I believe FM stations are the strong media for mass communication. So, whatever RJs utter and however they behave while running the show will have certain impact on the public who listen to them. At any point of time, they should not forget that they are being heard by the mass, even if they are not seen. Almost all the RJs will be in the edge of their tongue to attract people to turn onto their station. This makes them come up with some innovative stuff. Be it a quiz program or a reality show on FM, all they want to do is to try something new every day. Also, that is how they are supposed to work to counter the competition. But in the recent past, what I observed is that they are trying too much and ending up with some junk stuff which can create havoc in the public. I noticed two such programs during this week that made a negative impact on me. I do not know how others would’ve taken it, but, I certainly did not appreciate them. I actually got shocked and could not believe what I experienced. They just over do things at times.

The first case was when I heard this new program initiated by Radio City 91.1 with the Sandalwood hero Upendra joining the RJ Pra-Dee-Pa on air every morning. He is named as RJ Upendra and they are doing the show called Public-City every morning with him. In this show, they interact with public on variety of topics choosing one topic every day. One such topic for discussion in the public-city couple of days back was ‘Love’. Now, Upendra, being known for his own crazy definitions of love which was showcased in his initial couple of movies directed by him, loved to discuss about this topic without any problem. People started asking questions and sharing their love matters on Air. Out of nowhere, one person called and he said his girl friend denied marrying him because her father did not agree for their marriage. And she is forcefully made to accept some other proposal. The guy kept saying that the girl still loves him but scared to confront her parents. And he asked these two RJs to help him out. Now, I understand they discuss public matters on Air. But, they need to have real guts to discuss private matters publicly. All they could’ve done is to hear the guy completely and tell him some nice words to pick him up from where he is. No! They did not do that. They displayed heroic characters on air. They said they will call the girl and try convincing her and took her number from the guy. The guy was happy and disconnected the call.

Both RJ Upendra and the RJ Pra-Dee-Pa displaying their bravery, called the girl. Initially she refused to admit the fact that she loves the boy. But eventually she confronted that she loves the guy but her dad did not accept the proposal and she was forced to accept some other proposal. She actually refused to talk about the whole issue and asked these two RJs to forget the matter. She also told that she has updated the boy giving enough reasons for not accepting to marry him. But these two RJs did not keep quiet. They forcefully took her dad’s mobile number telling her that they will convince her dad. They called her dad. As soon as he got to know that these guys have called him to talk about his daughter’s love matter, he refused to talk about it. He said he did not like the fact the personal matters are being discussed on Radio and disconnected the call. These guys did not leave him at peace; they called him again and questioned him about the boy. The girl’s dad, out of irritation and anger, agreed to talk about it. He made an interesting point that made these two RJs to shut their silly heroic displays. He said “the boy is uneducated and jobless, how do you expect him to take care of my daughter?”

Consuming all his anger, these two RJs had to end the call without having any lucky break for the lovers. I understand all about love, lovers and weddings. There will be infinite number of problems associated with every story that will have no easy solutions. But, my question is why are they even doing such things publicly? What was the need for them to display heroism? Just because Upendra is a celebrity and people will listen to him if he talks to them? I thought what they did was utterly pathetic and absolutely wrong. It would’ve created more problems to the girl and the boy both. Why do they need to get into the personal matters publicly?

The second case was when I heard the Fever 104 FM today at 7.30 Am. This was the show aired by a lady RJ called Shradha. After a couple of PJs and some good songs, she asked public to call her if they have any problems in life. She offered to make them speak to the Guruji on their problems. I got excited and was curious to know who this Guruji is and what is he going to talk. There was a call immediately from a girl. Her problem was that she was doing nothing in life. When questioned by Guruji to her, she confronted that she could not get through her II PUC exams and she has a back log of 2 science subjects. So it was a real treat for Guruji to speak his words. He asked her a few questions and then I think he immediately looked at her horoscope and told her that she cannot complete any course if she chooses Science subjects. He said she can get through only in Diploma in her life. For that the girl was happy and got excited. He then said that the girl needs to visit one temple (I forgot the name) in Chennai and the other Saraswathi temple near Kumbakonam or some place in Tamil Nadu. If she does that and keep doing regular Pooja to a ‘Saraswathi Yantra’, she will have no problems in her education. The girl was feeling ecstatic after listening to Guruji and she said she will follow all his suggestions.

Well, it was a kind of adrenaline pull for me to believe people still believe in such things. If she has not passed in her exams, it is just that she is not working hard. Also, she seemed not all that excited and interested about her science subjects. So why cannot she do what she likes? What was the need to check her horoscope for things that she cannot do? I do not think she will even pass the diploma if she believes in such crap. All we need to do is to get serious in life and work hard to clear the subjects. And I was very disappointed that the FM station even promotes such things on Air for the public. One end I hear that people are coming out of their blind belief to watch the solar eclipse and the other end I see people believing in horoscope, Guruji and Yantra to clear their academic exams.

It sounds just pathetic!

So, this is the status of our radio stations these days. When all of us are working towards the betterment of the society and nation, these silly things that create more impact on public negatively will never tend to stop. I do not know what others will make out of the above two cases. But I certainly did not like them, do not believe in them and it was outrageous to hear them on air.

Srik

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