A day at the registration office

"Nishka, come back here," I called to my daughter who was running in all the directions at the property registration office. 

A while later, Nishka began to play peek a boo with a middle aged lady( she seemed to me in her early 40s) sitting next to me. I looked at the lady and both of us instinctively smiled each other. The lady was wearing a faded green chiffon saree, the pallu of which hung loosely on her shoulders. She wore a long bindi on her forehead, her long dishevelled hair was plaited loosely and the plait thinned as it ended. She looked as if she had not slept through the night and her face looked tired. 

Next to her sat her aged mother grimly. 

"We came to sell our land in BTM layout" she said with a smile that betrayed the painful emotions that she was going through. It was obvious that she and her mother were parting with something very dear to them. Also BTM layout was a prime locality in Bangalore and I was a little surprised when I heard that.

"Are you getting a good price?" I asked her. "No, madam, price is just ok. Recession has hit the company where my brother worked and he has lost his job. He needs the money to pay off a few loans," the lady said. 

"My husband used to work as an engineer in BESCOM and in one of the Govt sponsored schemes got this land for a very good rate 25 years back. We would have never sold it - but times have changed, " spoke the mother with her eyes filling up. 

"Who is the buyer?" I asked.

"Some muslim family . They plan to build a multi-storied house here," the lady said. 

I nodded.

Even though I did not show it, I was unhappy that a multi-storied house was being constructed on the land. BTM for me held memories of a residential layout. It was in such a peaceful layout that we had stayed as newly weds about 10 years back. Even though I had noticed that BTM had metamorphed into a buzzing commercial area, I would be frustrated everytime I saw or heard of construction of a multi-storied building.

That day, as I sat in the registration office, I picturised a rich muslim businessman supervising the construction of a multi-storied apartment that would eventually be rented out to IT professionals at high rents. 

I shrugged the thought aside and smiled understandingly at the ladies.

A few minutes later, the ladies were called inside. A group of muslim men and the lady's father discussed last minute terms and signed a few papers. The proceedings were all over in a few minutes and the ladies bid my daughter good bye as they left.

I got a book out of my bag and started reading it. I was engrossed in my book when I heard my daughter's voice, " Anna(brother,) I would like to see too … " Nishka was trying to befriend a 10 year old boy who was completely engrossed in to the video game in his hand. I tried to distract my daughter, but she would not pay heed. 

"Its ok" said a voice from the side. I turned to see the boy's mother - a young pretty burqa clad lady smiling back at me. I smiled back instinctively. The lady looked kind and friendly. Her eyes looked sharp and it looked as if she was well educated. We started talking.

"We have come here to buy land," she said with a smile and a hint of excitement in her voice. "We have a big family and our current house in the old city is small for all of us. My husband and his brothers are very close to each other and we were looking for a good land where we all can stay together." 

It was nice to hear that people liked staying in joint families. I smiled back affectionately.  She was very graceful and the manner in which she spoke was polished and respectful. I was instantly drawn to her.

"Where is the land you are taking?" I asked her curiously with a smile. 

"In BTM," she smiled back. She paused for a while and then said.

 "You remember the ladies you were speaking to about an hour back."

"We are taking their land," she said. 

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In search of a maid...

This week's post is written by friend Hema a.ka. Vyshali. When I read this writing, I was so amazed at the simplicity of life, that I couldnt help sharing this with all of you. Hope you all enjoy this post as much as I did . And thank you Hema for letting me share this!

I looked at the pile of dishes. My maid had not turned up and my kitchen was a mess. I said to myself - I am gonna love myself and I am going to get another maid instead of doing all that labor myself. I stepped out of the house and walked up to a petty shop near my house run by a woman called Laxmi. She usually keeps information of who's who and while I bought bread I asked her if I would find a maid to do my house work. She gave me a blank look for a moment and then her eyes shifted beyond me -she began waving out, making signs to someone. A woman appeared from nowhere and startled me with her loud voice.

Laxmi asked " Lata, this madam (me) needs your help, will you go?"

The woman waved her hand frantically saying "No", and that she was too busy. And then she began to rant about all the chores and work she had lined up for the day.

I asked her to calm down and said " I am standing only about a feet away from you and I can hear you. Can you speak softly please ? Instead of you having to explain how much work you have ,maybe you could step in my house and do the dishes while I listen to you, that way you will get some extra money as you tell your story and my work will get done"

She smiled and she followed me into my house and began her work.

She took me seriously and began telling me about her. “I am loud I know, but I heard loud people are honest and I like being that way. I have one drunkard husband and two kids and they go to school. I help them with their homework in the evenings, which is why I am in a hurry to finish my work before 3.00 pm. I have a father who met with an accident and broke his leg few months ago for which I borrowed Rs 80,000 and I finished paying Rs. 60,000. I take care of my husband and all my bills. Taking care of my husband includes his drink and beedi for the day. If that does not happen he beats me up - see this mark - he tried to beat me up yesterday"

I raised my eyebrows and asked her “Lady you are running the show so why do you need him?" She said, "I have a daughter and tomorrow she needs to be married. In our society she has a better chance with her father around. All he asks is for his drink and beedi. If it gives my daughter a brighter future I am willing to take care of another person in my house."

She did the dishes with lightening speed - a neat and organized job it was. All plates, spoons, vessels sorted size wise.

She was not too bothered how much I was going to pay her. She was at the door and was already smiling at another person who was her friend I suppose, conversing loudly with her already. She took the money I offered, gave me a hearty smile, waved at her friend to stop and began walking towards her.

I kept watching her until she went out of sight!!

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Have you seen the world today

This week's article is an old article( written 4 years back ) - and personally, it is one of my favorites.. For those of you who have read this article , my apologies..

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Well on Tuesday evening I had an opportunity to see the beauty of the world around me. I was driving to a function on Tuesday evening and I was late. So actually I was rushing my car real fast.

As I was twisting and turning the car in the heavy traffic, I noticed a tempo in front of me. Uff! This tempo just wouldn’t give me side. In all that chaos I looked up and saw three boys( perhaps returning home from work ? ) , between the age of 7 - 10 , curious and wide eyed , soaking in their eyes, all the world had to show them. Amazed, I looked at them and couldn’t help notice their innocence.

The boys also spotted me now and were trying to see me through the corner of their eyes. I couldn’t stop myself now- I smiled at them. The boys first looked at each other - Nervous, scared, curious - "Was that a mistake” they seemed to ask each other?? Then they looked back at me. And I smiled again.

They smiled back and waved back. (Their master in the front of the tempo oblivious to the drama at the back) And yes! We were friends!!

They noticed that I wanted to rush somewhere, so they started giving me directions on how close I could come to their tempo or how I could maneuver my car in midst of the already chaotic vehicles. So Funny, Hilarious! So sweet!

I realized that I had company for my journey!

At one point I put the right indicator on to take the next turn.

They saw that, smiled, they put their hand up and shouted "Bye aunty"

It was a small incident, but left me memories for a lifetime. Did YOU see the world around today?

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Just like that...

It was a brand new day - a fresh start for a young teenager who was nearing the end of her teens. She was getting ready to go to her college. Today she was happy - well ! happier than the rest of the days. Life was so beautiful. She had lovely friends, great teachers and interesting subjects to study. What more could she want!

She had her bath. She had a new dress to wear today - a white colour salwar kameez. It was not often she wore a salwar kameez. She was more used to wearing skirts. Wearing a salwar kameez once in a while made her feel so good. Besides this one was white in colour - she loved whites! And it had a brand new white chiffon dupatta to match!

She put on her dress. Put on a dash of deodorant and rushed off to her college in her kinetic honda. Once she reached college - she parked her honda - picked her books and walked towards her department. It was half a km long walk.

She loved walking through the corridors of her college. It was a old palace converted in to a university. The ceilings were high, the corridors had the mughal architecture. Some corners had circular iron stairs that had become rotten with time, and if you knew the right places you could also see the old chandeliers hanging. There were old Ashoka trees all around the campus.

Today as she had crossed one building and she was going towards the other, she could not help notice the bright green on the surrounding trees - it was spring! Almost every other tree had flowered. It was early morning so the sun was not too harsh. The breeze was gentle and cool and was in a direction opposite to her direction of walk. She couldnt help enjoying the brush of breeze on her face and the smell of the newly blossomed flowers. She closed her eyes, spread her dupatta over her body and walked through the 100 mts feeling the chiffon of the dupatta clinging on herself against the wind.

After a long 15 second walk, something woke her up from her reverie. She remembered where she was and opened her eyes - to her surprise, she could see boys of her class and her seniors watching her "walk". They were as young as she was - so obviously they weren’t staring, but they were struggling to watch her through the corner of their eyes – perhaps as mesmerized as herself by the beauty of the situation.

Her walk and her actions had been so impromptu - hence the attention that she had attracted was completely a surprise for her. Besides she was not used to so much of attention. Here in college, she liked to be more known for her intellect. She couldnt help blushing though - she quickly folded her dupatta, straightened her bag, lowered her gaze, quickened her pace and rushed towards her classroom. The guys watching her too, noticing that they had been caught staring, quickly averted their gaze and returned back to whatever they were doing.

Once inside the safety of her classroom, though, she couldnt help recollecting the beautiful morning that she had experienced today ! The memories of this morning would be there to stay for a long long time to come ! :)

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Note : The photograph on this post is from http://themistwolfpass.wordpress.com/ . Due acknowledgement goes to the photographer.

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Innocence... where has it all gone.. ?

The innocence of a child is one of the most beautiful miracles of life. Only a child who has no knowledge of the world, and who thinks you do, can question you the way they do and think of possibilities that in our world seem so impossible.

Makes me wonder- what happens to us once we grow up? Where do we lose our child-like innocence ? Wonder why do we end up thinking that we "know" everything ? Wonder why do we end up thinking that we know - "whats right" , "whats wrong", "what works" , "what doesnt" ? Wonder when and where do we lose our curiosity and the silly inquisitiveness that we had in abundance as a child ?

I had been to my friend's place on a Ganesh Chaturti. The whole family was getting ready for the morning pooja. The pooja room, next to the kitchen was fully decorated and my friend's mother seemed to be in control of the situation in the house. She was instructing all of us on what to do and what not to do. I was given a special task too. I was given a pile of thin, long grass blades and asked to make smaller piles of 5 grass blades each. She asked me to make some 21 piles of them.

It was a simple and long task. So I asked my friend's 5 year old daughter to sit along with me and help me out. She readily agreed. So chatting and playing along in one of the bedrooms, both of us set about doing the smaller piles of grass blades. When we were about 15 piles done, the original pile of blades of grass was almost getting over.

So, pointing in the direction of the kitchen, I told my friend's daughter - Could you go and find out if this many smaller piles are enough for pooja ?

The girl, for some reason seemed amazed and surprised at the task. With a child like curiosity, she looked at me with big round eyes and says - Sachchi ? ( Meaning - "Really?" in english ).

One cant always tell what amazes a child - so I did not bother too much about it - I was only pleased to be part of her amazement and replied with a nice smile - Sachchchchi ! ( Reaaaaally ! )

She seemed happy about the task given to her. She got up, picked up the plate on which we were working and walked towards the direction of the kitchen - but as she was nearing the kitchen - she took the diversion towards the pooja room.

Uh ! I could see that there was no one in the pooja room. So I was curious as to what was she up to.

I followed her and once inside the pooja room, I asked her kindly with a smile- what are you doing here ?

She seemed surprised. Defiant and slightly surprised, she replied with a question mark on her face - You only told me to ask na ! I have come to ask .

My turn to be amused now . I asked her lovingly - There is no one here. Whom are you going to ask ?

What she said next left me with utter surprise and overwhelming love. With an embarrassed but beautiful smile on her face, she looks at me and says- I have come to ask God if these piles of blades are enough !

I did not know what to say for some time. Apparently, when I had been pointing towards the kitchen, she had thought that I was pointing to God's room.

I was totally stumped.

Took me a whole minute to recover back but when I did - I could only smile at her and envelop her in a huge bear hug.

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Coming for tea ?

There are people who connect with you on different wavelengths. Some connect to your mischievous side , some to your spiritual, some to your fun side, some to your serious side. Some give you the pleasure of being their guide and philosopher and they worship you. Some become your guide.

And then there are some people who have the knack of touching people's lives. For them it doesn't matter who you are - how close you are to them. What matters to them is that everyone should at all times smile. They take extra steps or go beyond the ordinary to reach out and make a difference. These are the kinds who end becoming a universal friend to everyone.

This was around ten years back – I had just started working and everything around was new to me. I had a lot of people at the office, with whom I connected to at various levels. Since I was new to the work environment, a lot of things that were happening around me just did not make sense.

One particular day had been really bad, as I struggled with a tough problem and a difficult boss. I had been in a lousy mood, when one of the guys, a rolly-polly fellow with a colgate smile, from the next cabin walks up to me and calls me for tea. I wasnt in any mood for tea. So I say with a nice smile -Thank you for calling! but sorry, will come later. He says ok, and goes off towards the pantry with a smile on his face, the characteristic spring in his steps and a whistle on his lips. I smile at his happy, carefree gait and get back to my work.

About an hour must have passed by with me still on the issue at hand. I see this guy at my desk again. As I look at him questioningly, he smiles and says - Veena, ready for tea ?

Uh !

A little surprised I say " I dont want tea" irritation showing over my face and my tone. Why did he not understand - this was not the time for tea !

He smiles and says ok ! No issues ! and whistles back to his seat .

After half an hour or so, I see the guy again at my desk. He says - Veena, Get up , lets go for tea !

Damn !

Completely mad at him and my work by now, I look up and almost shout at him - Cant you understand ! I DO NOT WANT TEA !

He looks at me for a while and goes away. I thought I had put the message across this time. Pleased at giving vent to some of my pent up frustration I get back to the problem at hand.

Deep into work, and with no headway still, I hear a kind voice at my back after half an hour or so - Veena, are you done ? Can we go now ?

This time, I could only laugh helplessly.

I lock my computer and take a break with some nice tea and a fruitful conversation. I could only thank this guy for who he was - for going out of the way to bring a smile back on my face, in spite of the fact that he did not know much about me at that time.

This fellow and I kept in touch for a long time even after both he and me quit our jobs – but then somewhere life takes over. I eventually lost touch with this wonderful, warm hearted, playful, fun guy !

Wherever he is, whatever he is doing, I am sure he is touching a lot more lives.

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Another day at the boring office !

Work environment are places where some work gets done. Also it’s a place to interact, collaborate, fight, grow, and live! Most of us who are career oriented realize that among the mundane work, the boring bosses and un-understandable rules and regulations of the office, we all get to meet interesting new people with interesting ways of thinking and interesting sense of humour.

I remember one of my friends telling me this anecdote that had happened in his project. BTW, let me tell you that I have been a software engineer all my life.

And this particular project of his had not been keeping well for almost years. They had a young, fun-loving boss, who took care of a team of 40 noisy, cheerful, sharp youngsters who, in between their wise cracks and silly jokes and endless leg pullings, just managed to keep the project alive. All the old team members, who had actually created the product, had left the team resigned about the saleability of the product. Everyone in the company knew the product was outdated and no amount of customization would help the product.

Once in a while when there would be a client visit to check out this product and the young boys and girls would somehow manage to tailor the product, wash it up, dress it and comb it and get it ready to showcase like a beautiful young bride. And once in a while when the bride just did not dress up or look presentable, the team would be left frustrated( they would wonder when this product would be obsoleted ) - like on this particular day, this very young talented youngster, lets say-Krish, got fed up and gave up on the product. After working day and night on the product for two weeks, with not much progress, he decided he did not want to work on this stupid product and went home on a two day leave.

The manager came the next day and saw there was no one working on the product demo scheduled for the next day. Also, he heard that Krish had gone home in a huff on a two day leave. Shaking his head helplessly with a smile, praying to God to give him the strength and humor to handle the situation, he sent his car to pick this funny boy up from his house.

Krish couldnt have had a worse nightmare.

He changed into a clean pair of clothes and grumpily sat in his boss's car.

When Krish reached office, the whole team and his boss were at the door were waiting for him at the door, with a mischievous smile on their faces. Well, they just needed to have a pooja thali to welcome him, he thought silently in his mind, keeping his gaze awry.

The boss, notices the boy's looks, his disheveled hair, his unshaven beard ( the boy had not taken care of himself for the last two weeks ) , tells him - Boy, Where were you ? This product needs to be readied. You are the best person we have !

Giving the boy another look, he says with a smile- Also what are you doing to yourself. Take care of yourself –its high time you shaved your beard !!

The Boy already tired of the funny boss and the product and the non fruitful work he was doing and thinking about the product that was waiting for him with a defiant mocking smile, nonchalantly replies –

Uh ! The product - will see what I can do.

He looks up from the product and looks at his boss’s face, looks back at the product, and says with a mischievous smile – Well! The beard - cannot be shaved off now - Only trimmed and shaped - will do my best though.

The boss chuckles at the joke and leaves the boy to complete his job.

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Oh ! The Twenties !!

A few days back I was driving around in a crowded market place, when I remembered that I need to buy some medicines. Since it was a crowded market place, I was looking for a place to parking - and finally found a small lane . I parked my car on one side of the already very small lane.

I went about doing my shopping and came back to my car to return home. Now, the real challenge began. I needed to reverse my car in the very small lane. I started the engine to take it forward - when I saw a young girl in her early twenties beginning to park her scooty there. Oh ! ho !

I honked my horn, and gestured to her to move her scooty a little so that I could remove my car - she obliged - and I moved my car forward . I turned my car to the right to start making the U turn. This meant , that the space where I had parked my car earlier was empty now for me to reverse and straighten my car.

To my surprise, this young girl , now turns her scooty and parks it at the very same place that I had parked mine, making impossible for me to reverse now. I felt incredulous. I started laughing at the sudden turn of events. Maybe the girl hadnt realized what she had done. ( I looked around there was no other way I could squeeze my car out ). I honked my car two or three times. My funny predicatement had already attracted the attention of the nearby shop owners - who were watching the fun from the corner of their eye.

Thankfully the girl turned. I ached back from my car and requested the girl to remove her bike from the behind my car. Before I could say anything more - the girl - turns back with a questioning look on her face and says - "What ? you had just now parked the car here na ! Now I will park !! you cant stop me !"

Uh ! With a smile on my lips and mind - I did not know what to say - whether to laugh or to cry ! The shopkeepers around also had a smile of disbelief on their faces. Nobody turned to look at me though - they suddenly seemed very immersed in whatever they were doing .

I couldnt help but laugh at the innocent, funny way that only a youth in her early twenties could think. At twenty, one feels at the top of the world - everything seems with in reach - your self belief looks to be at a all time high. You are out to change the world - and the world looks oh! so topsy-turvy ! The twenties is also a funnily arrogant phase too that way - and sadly one of the main reasons that most of us experience our first failure in life. But the twenties is the twenties - there is no better age than that to be in at that time.

Smiling at the unexpected turn of events I was gifted by this wonderful day , I somehow did manage to U turn my car without waking the girl up from her story and drove on home.

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I trust you

She is in her mid twenties, pretty, lively, smart, friendly and can brighten any room with her sunshine smile . People connect to her easily and she has friends flocking around her like a flower has butterflies around it.

A lot of who she is, is because of her warm, open and lively home environment. She is brought up to be carefree and responsible. In fact she is brought up to be fiercely independent. She would never be said NO to anything in her house. She is taught to assess the risk in any action and to access the action was worth the risk.

She is studying medicine these days - and yes, she is my friend ! We have been friends for the last 10 years. And boy ! Is she fun to be with ! :) There is this incident that she had once shared with me.

As a part of her medical internship, she was placed in a small town. Her father's old friend stayed in this dreamy, slow-paced, misty hillstation like town with his family consisting of his wife and his children – a son and a daughter. Since the families were friends for ages, it was but natural that she would stay with them when she was in this town. The children were about her age – so she looked forward to staying with friends she had practically grown up with. This was the first time she was staying out of her family and yes ! she was excited !

She loved staying with this family. Everyone was very loving and they took good care of her.

The hospital she was placed in was clean, the staff were warm and helped her settle down. Everyone worked as one big team. One fine day , one of the doctors at the hospital threw a party to celebrate the birth of his new born son to the hospital staff. She informed her aunty and went to the party. Since she was going to be late, she went and stayed at her friend’s house.

She had a wonderful evening and the morning she went back home. Something seemed different. The mood in the house seemed to be subdued. Uncle and aunty seemed to be doing their duties as usual, but why did they seem a little quiet ? Once she had settled down, her uncle called her. He asked her gently why hadnt she informed him about the party . Uh. But I had informed aunty she thought , a little confused. But she could understand her uncle's concern. And then he asked her - do you know what all happens at late night parties ? You should have taken my permission. For the first time in her life she felt she was questioned about an action she had taken. She was deeply sad and hurt.

Even though she knew that her uncle was concerned, she couldn't help thinking What are the aunty and uncle asking ? Did they not trust her to be sensible ?

In that upset she finally called her family. The moment her dad heard her hello, he knew his daughter was not her usual self. He asked her gently if anything was wrong. Hearing his reassuring voice, she narrated to him in between sobs, what had happened in the last two days. Did she hear her father smile understandingly on the other side of the phone. He patiently heard her out, till she had nothing more to say. And when she calmed down, he told her with a quiet peaceful , smile -

“ Dont worry. I trust you”. And then there was silence.

She hadn’t expected to hear that. She hadn’t realized she was waiting to hear it. Suddenly her sobs stopped.

In the pause that ensued after she heard her father’s reassuring words, she felt a calm that she hadn’t felt in the past two days.

She heard her father say it again - “I trust you completely”.

It were only two seconds, and two simple sentences.
But, her world suddenly seemed beautiful and alive.

Tough times sure make a person learn about a lot of things. They test a person’s endurance and perseverance. But at the same time, there is always something new to learn. She was presenced to the unquestionable, unshakable trust her family had on her.

With the armor of love and trust of her father and her family in her heart, she went on to face another challenge of the world.

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The Girl with the smile

There is a family doctor whom we have been visiting for a long time whenever we have had health issues in the house. The doctor is a high profile doc. and has a great reputation. The hospital behind her dispensary is run very well and everything around looks spic and span. The nurses though not too talkative, look kind and helpful. Having so many good points to the doctor and the hospital’s credit means at any point, this dispensary is always full of patients who are awaiting their turn.

Most of the days there is a young serious receptionist who barely manages to give a smile and a middle aged grumpy one with a nasal voice who tries to sound friendly and nice. The job of the receptionist would be to schedule the patients for their turn and to bill the patients who have done with their consultation. Also they would look up the patient’s file and do some preliminary entry and get the file ready for the doctor. With all their serious faces, one thing that must go to the credit of both is that , they did their job well and they both were efficient. The bill got churned out quick and the files were ready well in advance.

One day, when I went to the dispensary for yet another check up , everything else seemed routine - except for one refreshingly pleasing sight ! In the place of the young and the middle aged receptionist - was a very young ( 20 or 21 years ) , short, receptionist with curly long hair and a nice smile. The line was as long as ever and to top it all this girl was "highly" inefficient. Patients were awaiting their turn with their files to get updated, and the patients who had finished checkup were waiting to get their bill ready. Clearly the girl was finding it difficult to handle the crowd.

But instead of getting bogged down, the girl seemed to enjoying it all. She was embarrassed of her not able to manage the crowd for sure - but she was laughing it off and apologizing with a smile and getting on. All of us patients were watching the long delay ( that seemed to get longer because of this girl ). One particular moment, there were 3-4 patients waiting for their bill to be done and 4-5 of them asking her when they had their turn with the doctor. And just when I thought the patients at the counter would get a little vocal - she looked up from her register - with an innocent look on her big round eyes and a nice apologetic smile on her cute face.

The next moment the guy , who was getting his bill prepared by her, melted. He asked her for the calculator and calculated his bill himself and helped her out with a reciprocating smile. She gave a grateful smile, cut out the receipt and the served patient made his way back. The tasks were the same as ever. But for once , there was something different happening in this dispensary. The patients walking out were shaking their head in disbelief and were smiling from one ear to another. All of us waiting too were smiling at and enjoying all the confusion around that this little girl was managing to create.

Uh ! Sure the files were not getting processed as fast as before but whoever said the girl was not doing her job !

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A father's commitment

A friend of ours is a youth in his early twenties and is a mature, responsible, and a beautiful human being. This youth had had a difficult childhood. As he was growing up, his father had not been well placed and did not earn very well. Which meant that the family always had to deal with financial problems. But this guy was not one to be stopped. He took charge of himself and his family and paid for his studies by taking a few tutions. He went to college in the mornings , took tuitions in the evenings, paid for his and his siblings education . The tough times taught him to value the right qualities of life like hardwork, acceptance, and gratitude. He was a bright, comitted student . So once he passed his college he got selected in an MNC and currently is earning pretty well.

Once he was on his own feet, even though he knew he shouldnt be thinking like that, he couldnt stop himself from wondering why God had made his childhood so difficult. Why , like all other fathers, could his father not earn enough that he and his siblings have a comfortable childhood. Even though he never said it even to himself, perhaps he internally held his father responsible for the struggles he went through in his childhood.

A few days back , this friend, my hubby , me and another older friend ( someone who is in his mid 40s ) were out in a shop that sold electronic items. All of us went to different areas of the shop and were looking at things that interested us. At one point I noticed that the older friend and the youth were in deep discussion over a mobile. Not paying too much attention to them, I went about my duties.

After a while, the youth comes to me looking completely dazed. He says - You know today for the first time I saw what a father's commitment can be. Looking at my befuddled face, he went on to explain what had happened on the mobile counter.

The middle aged friend of ours had had a mobile with him that had become old with use and was almost outdated. He had really liked the mobile that they were looking at in the shop. It had all the basic functionalities that could make his life much easier.

But this middle aged man was hesitant to buy it. Apparently he had had only five thousand rupees in his pocket. And he had saved that money for his teenage son's tution. Though his heart badly wanted to buy the mobile, he struggled and put his urge aside.

This small incident moved the youth to no ends. The questions the youth had about his father, which he had such a tough time understanding so far, started to unravel. For the first time in his life he realized the situations his father must have gone through in his life in bringing his children up. He remembered how his parents had to give up all their desires so that they could give them the best of whatever they could.

After perhaps a long long time, he felt peace in his heart and his heart was filled with a lot of gratitude and unconditional love for his father.

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Wassup !! :)

It was a sunny sunday afternoon and both me and hubby were getting bored. We were debating on how to have a fun filled sunday - when hubby comes up with the bright – na brilliant idea to go to the Sony exhibition that was on at the local Kanteerva stadium! Ya ! Sure! - Well! have you ever noticed that a guy’s idea of having fun or spending leisure time is going to a newly opened electronics shop or a cars showroom !

For the dearth of nothing else do, I agreed to his idea, albeit, a little reluctantly.

After a while, we landed up at the Sony exhibition. The exhibition was huuuggeeeee and there were three or four spacious rooms displaying the latest Sony products. Hubby loved the various gadgets and was very curious of the newest of the new technologies displayed there. And me.. well, I too was.... no, I tried hard to be excited :) I went to the various stalls - Tried to be very seriously interested in the new products ( but beats me- what is the need for a higher end version of a camera, or a mobile - when the one currently in circulation is great ! ) and triiiieed hard to match the spirits of the various stall keepers by asking intelligent questions. :)

The exhibition by now had completely attracted my hubby’s attention and he was pulled to the various stalls, the way that a magnet attracts all iron around it.

Not wanting to tag myself along with hubby and disturb him on his very intense pursuit, I continued making my rounds –alone. When the technology did not interest me, I amused myself with watching the people around. After half an hour of aimless roaming on the stalls, and watching all that could leave me amused, I went to a stall that seemed to attract a lot of crowd. After a while of listening to the sales guy, to my pleasant surprise, I saw my husband's hand next to me.

Finally !! I thought. Thoroughly relieved and extremely happy that hubby had completed his rounds, I held my hubby on his elbow. I had held it for about 5 seconds, when I realized that hubby had not acknowledged my gesture. Realizing that he was very intensely listening to the sales guy, I held his elbow a little tighter and moved my grip a little higher. The sales guy must have been extremely interesting, coz hubby just didn’t seem to notice my hold ! Hmm.. !

Determined to get him of his reverie, I moved my gaze up from the elbow, to the shoulder, and up - till I saw the face that owned the elbow. Something looked different at the end of the neck! Imagine my plight – The face that I was staring at was that of a good looking, amused guy in his early thirties , with mischievous twinkle on his eyes and a smile on his face –who was staring at my hand , twitching his eyebrows, and gesturing a questioning 'wassup ! " with his other hand :) Much to the amusement of this guy and my embarrassment – I realized I was holding the elbow of a complete stranger !!!

Needless, to say, I turned beet-red, and started apologizing profusely - telling him that I thought that it was my husband standing next to me. He knew that it was a goof up, gave a nice smile and brushed aside my apology and went about his own shopping.

But I had had my lesson! :)

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Look Who's here

I was reading a short story 'The leopard' by Ruskin Bond , where Ruskin Bond describes his experiences as he rambles along the Himalayan mountains. In this story he mentions how he spots a leopard as he is trudging along the mountain paths. Though initially he is scared, he keeps his cool and tries not to alarm the cat. Soon he and the leopard become comfortable with each other - so much so - that the leopard follows and trails the author on his journeys in the wilderness - and lets the author enjoy himself in the midst of nature. It’s a beautiful and touching story of bonding between a leopard and a man.

Nature and animals are as full of life as any one of us. They feel, care, love, respond, fear just the way human beings do. Most of the times, we, supposedly the most intelligent of the living species, tend to be insensitive to or even scared of the life around us. Those of us who are able to break free of their thoughts, are able to experience the most beautiful companionships with life and nature.

As I was reading the story, I remembered an incident that had happened to me, one evening, when I was around 9 years old.

It was a lively, pleasant, beautiful spring evening. For the want of doing something new, all of friends decided to go to the nearby park. We loved this park - it had a huge lush green lawn. Around the lawn, was sand and mud, covered with the flowers, fruits and twigs that had fallen from the flowering trees all around. It was an ideal place for us children to run and fool around. This particular day we were playing 'blind man buff' - and I was the 'blind man'. With a cloth around my eyes that completely barred me from seeing anything, I was supposed to run and touch my friends - who were now teasing me around.

We all were in a very playful mood and I went around chasing my friends - sometimes I would hear them to my right, sometimes to my left - sometimes in front and sometimes at my back. I ran in all directions. At one point I ran to my left. I guess I ran a little too further - because the next thing I knew was that I was tumbling down the sand and was feeling the flowers and twigs of the trees all over me.

Like a typical child, I quickly pulled myself up – pulled my blind fold out - and patted myself clean of all the mud and flowers that had got stuck on me. A lot of the twigs had gotten inside my dress – and I started pulling out the twigs. I could feel one of the tree twigs on my chest - so I put my hand inside the front collar of my frock and tried pulling it out – the twig stay put! Finally after a lot of trying - I gave up on this twig. After all, it was not so uncomfortable. I thought I would remove it once I changed my dress at home.

I went back and played for another hour with my friends. As we were returning, I could no longer bear the discomfort of the twig inside my dress. So I went to secluded corner of the park, put my hand inside the dress again, caught hold of the twig tightly and pulled it with all my might .

It came out.. ! Finally !

Feeling accomplished, I looked at my 'prized accomplishment' - to my astonishment - I was holding a full grown lizard with its tail ! Wow !

Cant say who was more shocked – Me or the lizard !

Because, once the initial round of recognition wore off, the next moment, both the lizard as well as me were shrieking and jumping around out of sheer fright! The lizard shaking itself thoroughly through the grip my hand had on its tail – shouting – ‘let go of my tail!’.

Still in a shock, I quickly dropped the lizard from my hand - who was, I guess, more than glad to rush back to its familiar territories. I guess it had had enough adventure for an hour !

Can you believe it, I had spent around 1 hour on the lawn with a lizard resting peacefully on my chest ! :)

Or shall I say, that I sheltered a frightened lizard on myself for about an hour :)

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Call from home !

One fine day around 6 30 a.m. on a pleasant Sunday in my hostel, as I was lazily sleeping, snuggling in to my blanket and feeling the warmth of the morning sunlight, I was woken up by my room mates with a lot of urgency - Veena, Get up ! There is a call from your home.. !! Get up !

Call from home ! Wow !

People who have stayed at hostel know what I am talking about . A call from home is always a pleasure and delight. You might be in midst of a deep sleep or having fun in a party - but a call from home is a call from home ! You put aside everything and run to the lone phone in the reception.

Getting up from a cozy slumber at such an unearthly hour, is always difficult - but the excitement of talking to your siblings and parents far surpasses the extreme difficulty of pulling yourself out of your blanket :) I go to the reception. To my surprise there was no phone waiting for me . Huh ? Did my room mates misunderstand ? Was it supposed to be for someone else ? Putting aside the disappointing thoughts, with a smile on my face and brightness back into my eyes, I think pleasantly - maybe they will call me back after sometime. Sometimes parents did that - instead of waiting for us for such a long time, they would ask us to be called and call back in 10 mins. So I happily waited :)

And waited and waited :( No phone .. !

After half an hour, completely disheartened and totally convinced that my parents had forgotten about the call, I go back to my boring room to get back to my boring duties !!

I open the door of my room, and look at my roommates - their eyes seemed to have a mischievous glint on it. Wondering what they were up to, but in no mood to find out after the morning fiasco, I ignore them, and go towards my corner of the room.

When, suddenly, to my surprise, I hear loud laughter at my back !

I turn back - and to my disbelief - my friends were having a tough time controlling their laugh !

It was then that I remembered :| It was April 1st that day !

:) Uff ! :) :) :)

Whats your favourite april fool joke ?

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Painting the town red !

During my childhood, whenever I used to walk past precariously balanced painters, dangling on rope swings, painting beautiful paintings - I would always wonder, What is so different between these painters and those internationally reputed painters ? If someone is able to paint such beautiful creations by hanging so dangerously, imagine how beautiful he will be able to paint if he is given the comfort of a nice studio.

Looks like someone in BBMP ( Bruhat Bangalore City Corporation ) read my mind :)


Since August 2009, hunderds of local artists in Bangalore were given the unique opportunity to paint the public walls in Bangalore. All the public walls ( campuses of bus stations, parks , underground bridges etc. ) have been turned into giant posters - depicting culture, flora and fauna, men and women dressed in their traditional attire etc.


These paintings have also served as a purpose to keep the public walls free of banners and posters and people's spit.

Not all the paintings are as beautiful as the ones I have put up here - but then I think it is a very innovative and creative solution to a trying and sensitive issue.

Must say - Kudos to BBMP and BBMP Commissioner Bharat Lal Meena !

Please find a more detailed article in a publication called 'Citizen Matters' over here.

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Ooops ! :|

Sometimes some seemingly innocent conversations leave you such sweet memories. Its fun to think back on them.

Yesterday, as I was walking across a Optician shop, I remembered the time when I had first switched over to lens from my spectacles.

I had just completed my engineering. I was all set to start my career - and all of us in our family were anxious and excited.

Those days, I used to be this nice , lively, friendly girl with big round spectacles around my face :) And we decided that I needed a make over - How about switching over to lens ?

And voila ! we all land up in the local opthalmologist office !- The doc was a young, smart, neat, good looking fellow - guess just fresh out of the medical school. You know what happens when a young 22 year old girl goes to a smart looking doc. Well, she gets impressed :) Ok, ok ! jokes apart - the doc tests my eye - and gives me the lenses for my number. And then he shows me how to wear the lens. And then with a nice smile on his face, he waves us goodbye .

Something seemed amiss to me though - Those days , and I am talking of atleast 10 years back - lenses were newly introduced - and whenever the doc prescribed lenses - he would generally ask the patient to come and visit him for some 10-15 days for continued supervision.

Did the doc forget to give us further appointments ? Must ask him ! And I ask the doc -Doc! When do I have to come to see you next ?

Doc looks up from his writing pad.

With a slightly confused expression he says - You dont have to come back. Soft lens are easy to wear and maintain.

And then he pauses for a while and with an amused look, looks at me and says with a very straight face - But if you want to - you can come and meet us anytime .

What !

I can almost hear him laughing in his mind :|

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The week that was !

This week's post is a personal post - but then, since all of you who are reading this are people who matter to me - I thought you might want to know about my experience of life last week :) For people who dont know much about me, I started a course on entrepreneurship at IIMB last week.
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What a eventful week that was. Last week I completed the first of my 'face to face' session for a course on 'management program on entrepreneurs'.

My course began last sunday, when I went for the inaugural function for our batch which was clubbed with the valediction function of the previous one. Let me describe my experiences as I felt it.

Now, never in my student life, even though I was an above average student, did I ever imagine, that I would have the profound privilege of studying in one of the premier educational institution in the country. The IIMs and the IITs were always a place of awe and mystery for me.

Therefore, when I drove in on sunday evening, I kept wondering to myself - what the hell did the profs see in my Statement of Purpose that made them select me.. ! Was it all a mistake ? I need to be watchful - I was about to hob-nob with one of the top most intellectual crowd and teachers in the country ! :) Well, I wasn't disappointed. The kind of speeches our professors gave to welcome us gave us a very good idea about what we were into. What with one of the profs rattling off Sanskrit sholka to substantiate every piece of advice he was giving us - well , you see, it is all there in the vedas ! :) And another one talking about how our generation needs to work on making our country one of most respected ones in education and other fields. The night ended with the "networking" dinner with our senior batch. Now , you need to remember - this was a course on entrepreneurship - so the introductions that night went -
"Hello, I am abc and I run "xyz" " . That was funny ! :)

Day 1 - We were advised to be half an hour early at the classroom . We were given instructions on how to go about making ourselves comfortable in the new campus - and exactly at nine am - we get a glimpse of what education at IIMB could be.

We were introduced to the Accounting professor - Mrs. Hema Krishnamurthy . A simple, graceful , beautiful, short lady in her mid fifties - she spelt poise in every thing that she was doing . One of my first thoughts were - I had heard that people at IIMs do not look after their personal appearance - Well, my experience was quite different - I thought they took extra care of their appearance - They looked so so so good !! And they had their intellect to match ! :) Mrs Hema Krishnamurthy took us through the accounting lecture like a seasoned teacher. She knew her subject well and had rubbed shoulders with the top in various industries she had worked in. But the best part was the clarity and ease with which she delivered her lecture and made accounting sound so simple - Thats another thing - have you ever noticed that as people become more and more realized , they tend to make things more and more simpler - the ones for whom life sounds complicated, are the ones who haven't figured it out at all. :)

The next part of the day was with Prof Kumar who talked to us about different people's experiences in starting their ventures - and how they either succeeded or failed in their dreams. Well, this lecture made us realize how similar we all were to the heroes in the case studies we were looking at . For one, both ( them or us ) did not have any clue on how our dreams would actually shape - except for our gut feel, conviction , and drive to make it all happen. Another interesting thing that Prof Kumar talked about , was on how much "gut feel" plays a part in the decisions we make in our life. He was telling us if anyone of us hears around 10 ideas and we reject 9 ideas based on our gut feel - 90% of the times, we are right. Its only one in a thousand cases, where one of those 9 ideas make it big. Well I was happy :) - cos, I could also see that the gut feel of the profs told them that Kruti was an idea worth pursuing - well, that was heartning !

One class that I absolutely enjoyed was the Statistics class. This class was taken by the smart, tall and super fast prof , Prof Shankar. And until this class began , I did not realize how much I had missed maths !! God , I think I came the most alive in the statistics class - completely enjoying the statistical conclusions and riddles that this professor put up !! He took us through mean, median and mode all over again with very good examples of where it could be applied practically.

Well, if anyone of us thought that intellectual crowd is boring - I was pleasantly proved wrong . Here I was in the midst of the best of the intellect and I could only think of them as very very interesting. One more thing that I noticed in the professors was that they never ever rejected an idea - whether it was put randomly by a sleepy student, or whether it was a well thought of question. They had the knack of listening to that question and bringing it to the subject that we were being taught. I could go on and on.

And now about my fellow classmates. First glimpse of my classmates looked as if I was here with the smartest and coolest crowd that I could imagine. Each one of the student here was so alive and bursting with ideas. They were from diverse fields like machine tools, agricultural products, agriculture, construction, IT and they were from all over the country - Rajasthan, Kerala, Chattisgarh, Delhi, Tirupati ! My only question was, a lot of these guys look like kids - have they really made it big in their ventures ? Well I was proved right on both my assessments - around 50-60% of the crowd "was" below 30 and yes, these guys "had proved" that they had it in them to run their own businesses. Some other day, on some other post, I intend to put up the list of the profile of my classmates with a link of their business websites. We had huge mix and match of students - We had the highly energetic kid Devi( sorry girl :) ) who seemed to be the center of everyone's attention , we had 25-26 year old guys like Sid - Who kept us entertained with their wise cracks:) And we had the very very very wise :) 51 year old Anand - who ran multiple enterprises in Rajasthan - and as the crowd said - kept them running without a single phone call made back home. !


The cherry on the cake had to be the last day of the class - We were split into groups of five and each group had to present one venture to the class and the professors . My group chose "Kruti" !!!! Boy oh boy ! Was I nervous ! Every other group talked about how they made money out of their ventures and here I was - I had so far, only thought about breaking even ! I was even wondering was it a good idea to present Kruti at all ! :) But then made a good powerpoint
presentation , and 'lo and behold' ! we presented Kruti in all its glories and shortfalls. Can you believe it ! The crowd loved Kruti ! My classmates gave me ideas on how I could take my idea forward - They offered me help in doing my research and how I could raise money for my project. It had to be a dream come true !! :) I was left with that if this group of people could be impressed, then obviously I was doing something right - and Kruti has a long long way to go.

With that fulfilling end to a week long session ( The next face to face is on Mar 22 ) , we bid good bye to all our professors and classmates who had come from all over the country.

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PS - The pictures in this post are a few glimpses of the flora and fauna of IIMB .( The pics are not so sharp - will try and put up better pics )

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