Little Realistic...

ಪದಗಳಿರದ ಭಾವ ಆದೀತೆ ಭಾವಗೀತೆ ಭಾವನೆಗಳಿಗೇಕೆ ಪದಗಳ ಹಾರೈಕೆ? ಕಣ್ಣ ಹನಿಗಳಿಗಿಲ್ಲ, ಮೃದುಲ ಸ್ಪರ್ಶಕ್ಕಿಲ್ಲ ಗಾಳಿ ತರುವ ಹೂಗಂಪಿಗಿಲ್ಲ, ಮುಗುಳು ನಗುವಿಗಿಲ್ಲ ಇದೆಲ್ಲ ತರುವ ನಿನ್ನ ನೆನಪಿಗೂ ಇಲ್ಲ ಮತ್ತೇಕೆ ಭಾವನೆಗಳಿಗೆ ಪದಗಳ ಹಾರೈಕೆ...?

Do you remember saving as little as 25 paise to get rented bicycle for half hour ride. I do. It was the time when owning television was a privilege. So Bicycle didn't come as a play accessory but a necessity in day to day life. My father rode his Hercules cycle whole his life to work. Now it is a matter fashion and sense of being friendly to environment and to ones own body ;). Coming back to renting a bicycle, it was a business back then. Cycle shops would keep small bicycle that a 10 year old could rent on hourly basis. It was a simple business, but to me concept seems rather vast. It might be an outdated business now, but i think there should always be tiny businesses floating around so all classes of the society can do business. Small towns might not make great place for the work force but women explore opportunities of their own to earn their pocket money. That might not be completely true now. Times might have changed with extended tv invasion into homemakers lives. I wond...

There is much to this commodity. Colorless, odorless, universal solvent or simply elixir. You know what I am talking about. Yes, it is water. A worrisome fact is that it is becoming scarce, hence costly. When it incurs cost, there comes a plan to cut the cost too. I came across this organization called GiveMeTap in a magazine that works towards one such people pocket friendly cause. It is not just pocket friendly but environment friendly too. GiveMeTap says Give me tap water. It is an organization started by Edwin Broni Mensah in the UK. Concept is quite simple. Instead of buying bottled water, you buy a bottle from GiveMeTap that you can refill at the cafes that are linked with GiveMeTap free of cost. This way you are saving environment of plastic bottles and you help somebody in Africa get clean water as the money made by selling these GiveMeTap bottle goes there. Sounds a good deal. I always hoped air and water are the two resources should always be free. Be it rich or poor, f...

Though not excited, am definitely looking forward to see where  Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) is gonna open its first store in India. My bet is on Bangalore and Mumbai. H&M is the second largest fashion retailer in the world. It might offer some good deals and have advantage on its side as India is pretty closer to China. My observation so far is that material supply for H&M is majorly from China, Bangladesh and some cotton clothing from India. I wonder if one has to go ga-ga over this store? Apart from H&M, there is one more Swedish giant trying to land in India. It is IKEA. Definitely a "watch out" outlet for cool home and office decor.

Food is something you can put in a lot of creativity. My husband, being a researcher never agrees to it.  With my creativity it is impossible to reproduce the same taste. Well, am less bothered by those comments as I am not trying to produce some data or results to prove any theory as he would in his lab. All I am trying to do is to get something cooked for good health. So my voyage through kitchen and cooking is usually random. I stick to no rules and my ingredients basically hang around what is required to be eaten in terms of protein and carbohydrates. If you try a hundred times, you are bound to strike the target at least a few times. With all my random experiments I too succeed to get an incredible combination of ingredients that produces mouth watering taste. Schade, I can hardly reproduce the same as I forget what I had used after a while. So I thought of a solution that could help me reproduce the recipe when I want to. The solution is that I can post my trials on my blo...

Whenever I read K&R's C book or Bach's The design of Unix Operating System, I wished there had been a bit of creativity and enthusiasm in the way the concepts were explained. For a beginner it was a super hard walnut, though the inner nut was healthy, crispy and yummy. Cracking the outer shell was brain draining. It had taken quite a few studies for me to understand Ritchie. Complains apart. I won't say complaining, lemme say, i am sharing thought of plenty of those who take-up something new to learn.  Learning never stops, and the need for books to teach us how to do things. This time around am learning a hell lot of new things and in bad need for something simple to make understand quickly. I started to learn Android app programming. I had a stint of Kernel and device drivers in the Android stack but App was a distant concept for me. So some strange turn of events made me do Android apps and I liked it. Maybe because it tricked visually active part of my brain. ...

I liked my visit to a region of Eifel last week. Eifel is the kind of place you wouldn't regret losing way in. Oh I forgot to say, "in summer" :).. The place we went for treakking was Vogelsang. Vogelsang came as a bit of surprise as we didn't expect a Military training camp there. The camp was build during Nazi rule. After 1946 used by the British and then by the Belgian. Yet, it made quite an interesting day trip. We took a guided tour of the place at 2pm and later walked into the woods. The tour that lasted for 90 min gave an overview of the place. Vogelsang is spread over 100 hectare, doesn't fail to bewilder you in many ways. The training camp has a big theater to show movies(only war movies), football stadium, swimming pool and lot more. Best of all, it was surrounded by the beautiful Eifel forest which was cut through by rivers, the Rur and the Urft. View of Eifel forest from the Training Camp Rock Solid building,a part of the Camp Place to ...

A beautiful Christmas tree at Astrid's home My first Christmas celebration began with a warm welcome at the Franfurt Airport when I returned from India after a month long warm holiday. It was not as cold as expected in Germany. Just got lucky with the weather. Every year during Christmas there will be Christmas Market in all cities here. Full of lights, colors and Christmas trees. Somehow it reminded me of Deepavali back home. I found myself lucky to be invited by Astrid to celebrate Christmas with her. She did it the German way. We attended Christmas Service at a church near her house on Heiliger abend (Christmas Eve). At the church they gave lyrics of the songs that were going to be sung so it was easier for a stranger like me to get along as I'm completely ignorant of the German songs.  After the service we were back home. There were Guests from different parts of the world. We had kids from China as well. Astrid shared memories of her childhood Christmas cele...

Interviews will remain a puzzle for me forever. Some say it has got to be your day to get the job. May be. But I tell myself that one has to prepare to the best before the Interview. After the interview leave it as if it's a matter of luck.  In a foreign land it's more challenging to find a job as the priority goes to the native. For many reasons I find it quite agreeable. Be it in Germany or any other country with the day-to-day language other than English, for  foreigners it poses a great challenge with the job opportunities. One is required to have a mastery of the language to land in a job. After all the hurdles you get the interview call that you have got to handle like an "endangered species" :). I also had to handle the "endagendered species" a few days ago. There are many things one need to take care but I found interview etiquette remained same as it is in India. I was more prepared because the job interested me more than other opportuniti...

I received a mail titled "A warning" from one of my friends whose writings I read without giving it a miss. This time I decided to share with as many as I can because of the important information is carried. A Warning Something bad happened today, passing on the story, so that this doesn't happen to you too :) -   A 74-year-old British friend of ours and I went for a walk this morning near Indira Nagar, at 6.30 AM, and we happened to come across a small wounded puppy in the middle of the road, in a quiet residential area. Now my friend Rowena is an ardent dog-lover, has dogs back home in Venezuela, and she immediately bent down to pick up the unconscious puppy to move it away from the centre of the road, where it would have been run over.  Before we knew what was happening, the mother dog, which was hiding under a car nearby, rushed out and attached her viciously. 4 times, she came back to bite her. And then it came for me, but she just managed to get the loos...

ಟಿಪ್ಪು ಹಾಡು , ಅದರಲ್ಲೂ ಭಟ್ಟರ ಲಿರಿಕ್ಸ್, ಜೊತೆಗೆ ಹರಿಕೃಷ್ಣ ಸಂಗೀತದಲ್ಲಿ. ನಾನು ಕೇಳಿದ ಮಟ್ಟಿಗೆ ಈ ಮೂವರ ಜನಪ್ರಿಯ ಚಿತ್ರ ಸಂಗೀತ  'ಜಾಕಿ'. ಹಾಗೆ ಏನೋ ವಿಶೇಷ ಇರಬಹುದೇನೋ ಅನ್ನೋ ನಿರೀಕ್ಷೆಯಲ್ಲೇ 'ಡ್ರಾಮ' ಚಿತ್ರದ ಹಾಡುಗಳನ್ನ ಆಲಿಸಿದೆ. ಭಟ್ಟರ ಕವಿತೆಗಳದು ಅದೇ ಧಾಟಿ. ಬಹುಶಃ ಕೇಳಿ ಕೇಳಿ ಜನರಿಗೆ ಬೇಜಾರು ಬಂದು ಹಾಡುಗಳು ಸಿಕ್ಕಾಪಟ್ಟೆ ಫ್ಲಾಪ್ ಆಗೊವರ್ಗೆ ಹಾಗೆ ಮುಂದುವರಿಯತ್ತೆ. ಹಿಟ್ ಫಾರ್ಮುಲ ಹಾಗೆ ಬಿಡುವುದಕ್ಕು ಆಗಲ್ಲ ಅಲ್ವೇ? ಆದರು 'ಶಿವ ಅಂತ ಹೋಗುತಿದ್ದೆ' ಹಾಡಲ್ಲಿ ಏನೋ ಹೊಸ ಕಿಕ್ ಅಂತೂ ಇತ್ತು ;). ನಾನಂತೂ ಟಿಪ್ಪು ಹಾಡಿದ ಧಾಟಿಗೆ ಮರುಳಾಗಿ ಬಿಟ್ಟಿದ್ದೆ. 'ಡ್ರಾಮ' ಅಲ್ಲಿ ಟಿಪ್ಪು ಕಂಠಕ್ಕೆ ನಿಜ ಮೋಸ ಮಾಡಿವೆ ಹಾಡುಗಳು. ಆದರು ಸೋನು ನಿಗಮ್ ಕಂಠದಿಂದ ಏನೇ ಬಂದ್ರು ಕರ್ಣಾಮೃತ ಅನ್ನೋಥರ 'ಚೆಂದುಟಿಯ ಪಕ್ಕದಲ್ಲಿ' ಹಾಡು ಕೇಳ್ದಾಗ ಅನ್ಸತ್ತೆ. ಶ್ರೇಯ ಘೋಶಾಲ್ ಯಾಕೆ ಮಿಸ್ಸಿಂಗ್ ಅಂತ ಖಂಡಿತ ಅನ್ಸತ್ತೆ. ಆದ್ರೆ ಸುನೀತಾ ಗೋಪುರಾಜ್ ಹಾಡಲ್ಲಿ ವಿಶೇಷ ಮಾಧುರ್ಯ ಖಂಡಿತ ಇದೆ. ಹುಡುಗರು ಚಿತ್ರದ 'ನೀರಲ್ಲಿ ಸಣ್ಣ ಅಲೆಯೊಂದು' ಗೀತೆಯಲ್ಲೇ ಅಂದುಕೊಂಡಿದ್ದೆ  ಇದು ಮತ್ತೆ ಮತ್ತೆ ಕೇಳಲೇ ಬೇಕಾದ ವಾಯ್ಸ್ ಅಂತ. ಆದ್ರೆ ಕಾಯ್ಕಿಣಿ ವಿರಚಿತ  'ಹಂಬಲದ ಹೂವನ್ನು' ಹಾಡಲ್ಲಿ ಯಾವ ಭಾವ ಸಂಯೋಜಿಸಿಸಾಲಾಗಿದೆ ಅನ್ನೋದೇ ಗೊತ್ತಾಗ್ಲಿಲ್ಲ. ಚಿತ್ರ ನೋಡಿದ್ರೆ ...

Mitfahrgelegenheit : Similar to car pooling. You can search for a person who is driving to the city you also have to travel to on the internet. Mail them/Phone them to find out availability of the seats and book. If he/she confirms, you can travel with him/her on that day+time. My first ever car-pooling experience was drive to Munich. It gave an opportunity to meet different people. Though silence floated for a larger part of the drive, it was entertaining. The biggest concerns remain time and luggage. Everyone has to be on time or it irritates all to a great extent. Bigger the luggage bigger would be concerns. For your ride in Europe : mitfahrgelegenheit.de

There is always a new experience in a new world waiting to bewilder you. So has my experience with finding Job in Deutschland/Germany been. Land that is known for the pünktlich(punctual) people, land know for robust automotive technology and known for perfection in whatever they build. I've been pretty impressed with the perfection they attain in whatever they do. I guess they even look for a very perfect resume to fill the job. In India I hardly spent my time on writing a cover letter. Why would I spend my time writing the cover letter if I could get interviews just by uploading my resume in a job portal?!!! Here everyday I spend hours only writing the cover letters. Brighter side is that my Vocabulary has really improved, specially adjective ;). I sat with a book on Resume and Cover letter, spent hours understanding how to write an impressive Cover letter. With all enthusiasm sent first few to different employers thinking that i'd get call in a week. But to my surp...

One who is in India need not wait for Sun, not so in Germany. I had heard the song " Sommer Sonne " and had thought why this? Do people miss Sun so much. I did realize it within few days of my stay in Germany. It sure makes a lot of difference indeed. Without Sun day is dull. Weather forecast said it's gonna be Sunny on Sunday. With our German guests, we set out to Ahrweiler which was around 50 km form Bonn. These cities (Bonn and Ahrweiler) are on the bank of Rhine. There is a beautiful stretch you can drive along. Going by train is more fun as you can see the river's magnificent flow. City was full of hotels. Typical tourist spot. People came here to trek n to camp. We sat in the coffee shop with an ice cream under the Sun in the evening. Sun was really bright at 7. We chatted for a long time about the plants, the hotels, the crazy bike riders and the cars. Waitress came to us to remind that it was gonna be 8 and she had to leave for home. Evening 8 means in ...

We ( I n Pannu) took out our beloved-not-used for long Keyboard. He likes to play the preset tunes that are already present in the Keyboard.We sat on floor with the keyboard. He started pressing the buttons randomly as he would usually do. Yet he'd try to figure out what button does what? Over a year I've seen a magnificent change in the way Pannu perceives the instrument. When he was barely 2 year old, he quickly got bored. Sounds that keyboard produced didn't engage him longer. He was less interested in playing it. Rather he loved to jump on the keyboard n turn it into a spring-board. Now, he imitates my finger movements on the keyboard. Then says "hegena?"(Is this how?) He loves to move his little fingers from the lower note to the higher n enjoys every bit of it. Number 34 is the number you need to press to play "twinkle twinkle little star".... I told pannu. I showed him the numbers 3 n 4. He memorized the keys. Pressed the same. As the keyboard...

Image Source: 123rf.com Evening 7:30. Took my three year old nephew, Pannu out to play. He wanted to bring his little cycle along. I did agree. Dare I not to !!!!. When he asks something, he leaves us with only one choice. That's to say "yes". Then I didn't want to waste time quarreling with him about what to take and what not to take. We went down to the children's play ground. He was playing around with his cycle and got some question on his mind. Pannu:  yaak night time aagide? Me : Sun ilvalla adke Pannu: yak sun illa? Me: (puzzled. how do i explain him the revolution and rotation!!!!) ratri urig hogatte. ninu Mysore ge hogtiyalla haage.  adu americage hogatte. He seemed satisfied a bit. So natural to kids these questions are. Their observation is a learning experience. They question every small aspect. Interpret in a new way. It's so much fun being with them :).

Source: Pramod's kuncha-prapancha.blogspot Where are those thoughts? Where is that inspiration? The inspiration that would make me write. It occurs as if all of creativity has become hostile to the daily chores of life. No longer the fresh breeze through the window cools the eyes. Distant horizon where the sun rises n sets doesn't look fascinating anymore. Indeed, it only tells that, it's time to sleep and it's time to get up. I don't remember when was the last time I  saw the sun set. White, grey, orange and red.. yeah those were the enigmatic hues on the west sky. Thick black clouds on a rainy day. No... I no longer pay attention.Always found a little eternal bliss in the drop of rain, silence of the dark night sky, bloom of the flower, riding the scooter, finding a song  ... what not. Things that people termed boring also looked nice n interesting to me.Now neither the river nor the bridge or the fields, none of them draw my attention. I keep thinking what ...

Celebrating Gulzar saab's Birthday on 18th Aug. What magic his words have don't know. Hypnotize every time i listen to them. Just recollecting few of my fav here. Palko pe chalte [Daayra]: You'll like it at very first listening. Wanna know the perfect time to play this song? Would be the  mid-night on the terrace. Away from the city lights where u can see plenty of stars on the clear dark black sky. Katra Katra [Ijaazat] : It's a Gazal Genre. With R.D Burmanji's music u sure get the guess right! It's sung by Aashaji. I sometimes ponder over the versatality of Gulzar saab. He started his career back in 1950's and still he's writing lyrics that tops the chart busters. Sili hawaa choo gayi [Libaas]: This song reminds me 'Yaara Sili sili' everytime i listen to the song. This song has also been sung by Lataji. There are few beautiful lines i'd like to mention here.... tumse mili jo zindagi hamne abhi khoyee nahi tere sivaa koi naa th...

Image source: goodwork.com.au Sometimes i feel i'm not doing anything. I mean "ANYTHING" that I could say i dreamt this n living it now. It might sound funny to you but that's what I'm thinking. Do you ever slip to such retrospective state of mind? You do, i bet. Remember those days when you'd proudly say you would be this or that. Whatever you thought looked so perfect. Isn't it? :). I always wonder what happens to those colorful dreams. What happens to those wings that were supposed grow stronger. Why do they disappear as we grow? I long for those wings. Yearn to revive those dreams. I want to wake up  every morning with the same trust I had in my dreams those days. I'm searching for an escape from all that's going mundane.  Often I found it's just the mindset we have stops us from taking a fresh start. Hmm I do agree that experiments are only good in lab, not with life. But didn't you ever feel that you're no more on an exciting ...

In the evening I used to take a walk to a park near by and sit there for sometime. Listening to the chirps of the birds, looking at the squirrels moving around gave me peace of mind. On one such evening a little boy came to me asking me to buy groundnut. just thought it might help the boy in some way and bought it. He neatly wrapped in an old news paper, handed over to me, took two rupees and left happily. Now what do i do with these groundnuts in my hand? simply started eating it watching the squirrels climbing up , coming          down. Swiftly moving on the grass             in search of food. As few of them were moving around in my front I dropped few groundnuts for them too. All of them simply ran away but one slowly returned after sometime as if it understood my intention. We had a good time eating groundnut together.It became a routine for me to buy the groundnut, for  boy to sell it to me and for s...