Don't Mess With My Bangalore!

Don’t Mess With My Bangalore!

Where are the trees?

All cut up and logged!

Made way for roads that’re always packed;

"Roads add value, trees subtract"!

Where are the roads?

All choked up and clogged!

Spare our roads, use Namma Metro;      

That’s the mantra, roads are retro.

Where are the pavements?

All dug up and stocked!

What are you doing here, pedestrian?

Go away, you're an alien.

Where are the playgrounds?

All filled up and sold!

Kids, you have your gadgets, gizmos and all,

Play indoors, or not at all!

Where is my city?

All built up and blocked!

Bean-town, boom town, concrete and dust;

Live here, only if you must.

Pause, muse, ponder, think,

Serve, conserve, reserve, preserve;

Bring back my green town, old familiar,

Buried beneath this urban veneer.

© Shiva Kumar 2013

Pehle AAP

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Sketching with a mouse

Sketching with a mouse

How difficult is it to sketch with a mouse?

Not so easy, especially for a person who does not know how to sketch, in the first place!

There I was, sitting in front of my computer, experiencing a writer’s block in full swing. I sat there twiddling my thumbs for some time, the writer in me waiting for the block to go away.

Nothing happened for a few minutes. No unblocking took place. No inspiration came my way.

I put my hand over the mouse, opened the drawing tool “paint” and doodled for a bit. I erased the doodle and drew a face. Interesting. Then I drew another face. And another. And another. Till the page was filled with some half a dozen faces.

Here they are!

Legends don't fade away, they are eternal!

So the Great Man has finally hung up his boots, packed his bat and kit and has walked off the field with his head held high. For an entire nation, this was a poignant moment; it was inevitable but nobody wanted it to happen.

Just a few years ago, his magical powers seemed to be waning and questions were being asked whether it was time for him to go. But these voices were in a miniscule minority and were soon quelled. He went back to the practice nets and honed his skills once again to iron out the tiny flaws which only he could discern and to compensate for the slowing down of his reflexes. And he came back to let his batting answer the critics.

His tally of hundreds in international cricket is a round hundred – a century of centuries. This includes a magical ODI double century which no one else has been able to achieve. His exploits have become the stuff of legend. Kids dream of becoming like him. When the lucky ones get to meet him off the field, they look at him in awe and wonder how a normal-looking, normal-talking and normal-behaving person like him could be such a superhuman!

He might have been batting for records in the latter part of his glittering career but who could fault him for that? He was, after all, a human being and there surely would have been that little wish in his heart to achieve those couple or three landmarks which still eluded him.

His legion of fans did not want him to retire ever. Whether he was in form or out of it, just his presence in the playing eleven was enough to work wonders for his team mates to pull up their socks and pitch in when he did not. In this respect, he seldom failed his team and country, coming up with wondrous knocks when all seemed lost.

He has been compared to every great batsman who ever played cricket and has been endorsed as the greatest by those same greats!

He showed the world how gentlemen cricketers comported themselves on and off the field. In this he was admirably matched by his illustrious compatriots Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman who all retired just a few seasons before him. Together, they set a sterling example to youngsters grooming themselves to take their places in the national side. Not for them the sledging on the field or showing dissent when given out to doubtful decisions of the umpires or strutting around arrogantly on and off the field. It is because of special men like these that cricket is still called a gentleman’s game!

In his two dozen years in international cricket, this legend has thrilled millions with his wizardry, brought light into the humdrum lives of the common Indian and has made the country proud.

A grateful nation has honoured him with the Bharat Ratna.

Good bye, Sachin, and God bless you!

Mangalyaan ki Mangal yatra mangalmay ho!

Magnificent Achievement, Really Superb!

ISRO has done India proud by launching the 1340 kg Mars Orbiter Mangalyaan into space on an interplanetary mission to MARS. The Mars Orbiter is scheduled to enter Mars’ orbit in September 2014.

Mangalyaan ki  Mangal yatra mangalmay ho !

Post Card Art

Post Cards are a fun way of communicating. Postage (for hand written post cards) is only 50 paise. Create your own art work or messages on post cards and send them to your near and dear. I was inspired to do so by Russell Menzies and here they are - my first batch, ready to go out!

The Cholesterol Season

The Cholesterol Season

The season after the rains is the season for feasts, the season to watch your weight. For nearly two months the South West monsoon rains lash the land, bringing relief and joy to farmers. The onset of monsoon ushers in the month of Aashada or Aadi when everything grinds to a halt. No new projects are undertaken, nothing new is started; it is considered an inauspicious month. There are no holidays and nothing to celebrate.

The month following Aashada is Shravana, which heralds the coming of the festivals. There are, of course, the festivals of Naga Panchami and Bheemana Amavasya but Varamahalakshmi is considered the major Hindu festival to open the season. This is a pooja traditionally performed by the women of the house. Thankfully, the men are allowed to partake of the grand feast that typically consists of payasam (a sweet dish made by boiling rice or broken wheat or vermicelli or just milk with sugar till it thickens to half its consistency, adding cashews, raisins, pistachios, almonds, etc. and flavouring with saffron and cardamom), aamvade (though in my house, traditionally, we make a steamed version), a beans curry and/or a raw banana curry, kosumari (a salad made from soaked green gram dal and diced cucumber or raw mango, spiked with chopped green chillies, garnished with curry leaves and coriander leaves and tempered with a pinch of hing and mustard seeds heated in oil till they sputter), yellow dal, plain rice to be had with sambar, rasam (tili saaru) and curds. The list makes your mouth water, doesn’t it?

Around the same time, the people of Kerala rejoice in the celebration of Onam, the harvest festival to commemorate the Vamana Avataram of Lord Vishnu and the annual homecoming of King Mahabali. Onam is characterized by the Ona Pookalam, a colourful arrangement of the petals of different flowers on the ground, a kind of floral “rangoli” carpet. The festival is not complete without the Onam sadya, a feast fit for kings, with more than twenty five dishes like thoran, kaalan, avial, sambar and others, topped by pal payasam (payasam made from milk) as the grand finale.

The next major festival is Krishna Janmashtami. This is a favourite with kids, for this is when they get to eat murukku (or chakli, hand-made spirals of rice flour, tempered with salt and jeera and deep fried), uppu seedai (similar to chaklis but shaped into small marbles) and vella seedai (here the salt and jeera are replaced by jaggery and elaichi and the marbles are larger). Sufficient quantities are prepared to last a week or more and children get to have them every day. Of course, the elders tuck in, too!

If Janmashtami tickles the taste buds, the next major festival has the juices flowing. Ganesha Chaturthi is celebrated typically with some delicious preparations like modaka (or kozhukattai), medu vade, vellappam and the ubiquitous payasam.

There is a bit of a gap after this, and the festival season moves into top gear with Dassara. Aha! Homes are decked up for the ten day festival characterised by the display of dolls, the womenfolk visit the homes of their neighbours, relatives and friends to view the displays and the whole country is in a holiday mood.  Saraswathi Pooja and Ayudha Pooja are celebrated on the ninth day of Dassara by worshipping books, musical instruments, machines, tools, tackles and instruments which are then allowed to remain at rest for at least one day. All work comes to a standstill. The feasting, however, goes on regardless because Dassara also stands for ten days of gastronomic delights that leave one gasping for breath! Payasam (of course), kosumari, vade, and a different sundal every day.

The next major festival and perhaps the biggest of them all, Deepavali, sees the gastronome shifting into overdrive. Kilos, nay, tonnes of sweets are made, sold and consumed in those three days. Deepavali traditionally is the time for bonus payments and the sudden abundance of the moolah, albeit for a fleeting while, obscures the penury and brings out the generosity and bonhomie in everyone. And what better way to show it than by exchanging sweets? Milk sweets are the favourites, though among the wealthier classes, badam, pista and kaju sweets take preference. And a description of the food is best avoided here, for it would need many many words to do justice to it!

And then comes Sankranthi-Pongal when you can have sweet pongal, made from rice, jaggery and dollops of ghee. You get only a brief breathing space before it is time to celebrate Ugadi habba with holige and vade!

All these festivals tend to fatten one up and send the cholesterol levels up North. It is time to put on your walking shoes, don your gym wear, go forth and burn away the calories, for this is the Cholesterol Season!

Bommai Kolu

 Bommai Kolu

The old lady stood at the foot of the ladder, arms on her hips, supervising and directing the operations. The little boy sat in front of an open trunk in the attic, un-wrapping the dolls stored inside and handing them down carefully. His two sisters sat at the foot of the ladder, receiving the dolls handed down and dusting them.

The little boy was covered in dust and cobwebs but he was happy. He was allowed to get up into the attic only twice a year, just before Dasara and immediately after. This was something he loved to do. His sisters too were enjoying their chore; chattering away to each other while cleaning and getting the dolls ready to be put on display.

The little boy climbed down and relaxed on the floor watching them. His work was done. It was over to the ladies now.

The display steps, or “kolu padi” as they were known, were not easy to set up. It took a couple of stools, a number of biscuit tins, stacks of books, boxes, planks and the ingenuity of the grand lady to put it all together. She was a past master at this, having done it for the last so many years. She instinctively knew which tins would over go which stools at the two ends, to achieve level and balance. Finally, when the planks were in place and the whole assembly was checked for stability and passed, the steps were covered with a couple of off-white “veshtis”. It was hard toil, but the result was satisfying. The dolls could now be arranged on these steps. Granny took care of the two steps on top while the girls busied themselves with the bottom three. Traditionally, the number of steps was always an odd number.

It would be a few years before the youngest of the family would join his three siblings in Bangalore. Being old enough to climb up the ladder to the attic, he would gleefully join them in the work.

Slowly, the display took shape. At the centre of the top step was placed the “Kalasa” holding a pomegranate surrounded by mango leaves. By its side, the two “marapachi” dolls (traditional dolls, a man and a lady, made of a dark wood and dressed up in colourful costumes) were placed. On either side were displayed the Shiva-Parvati and Rama-Sita sets. On the next lower steps were placed the other sets like the Radha-Krishna-Gopikas and the marriage procession sets. The bottom-most couple of steps were given over to the single dolls, the porcelain statuettes and myriad others collected over the years.

The Dasara display was ready. Neighbours, friends and relatives would be invited to view the display. Every day a different kind of sundal would be prepared and distributed to all visitors.

Some seasons the children would create a “park”. They would spread sand (collected from the neighbouring construction site) on the ground near the display, carefully wet it and sprinkle mustard seeds over it. They would make roads and walkways and place tiny toys at strategic points. A couple of days later the mustard seeds would begin to sprout and the “park” would look green and attractive.

Now the grand old lady is no longer there. The “children” are all much older and two of them have children of their own. But the tradition continues to this day. This year too, if you take some time off to visit our home, you can see the “bommai kolu” display and savour the sundal of the day!

Happy Dasara!

Dasara habbada hardhika shubhashayagalu!

SOLAR CRESCENTS

Solar Crescents

This is a photograph which I took on 16^th February 1980 (33 years ago!), in Bangalore, during the solar eclipse which occurred on that day.

I used a Sunflex twin lens reflex camera and black-and-white film to snap this picture.

I remember the eclipse very well. It was a phenomenon we had never witnessed before. Schools had declared a holiday and the people of Bangalore preferred to remain indoors rather than venture out during the eclipse. Those of us who dared to come out were very careful not to look up at the sun.

I had set up a mirror in the garden outside my house to reflect the sun’s image onto a wall inside and we had a live relay of the eclipse!

As I came out to adjust the mirror, I saw a strange and eerie sight on the ground. There was a gooseberry tree right in front of my house. Sunlight filtering through the gaps between the leaves of this tree fell on the ground and appeared as thousands of crescents. The eclipse had created a phenomenon wherein every gap between the leaves of the tree became a pinhole camera which showed the image of the partly-eclipsed sun on the ground. It was a strange and wondrous sight and one not seen commonly.

Luckily I had my camera loaded and ready and could capture this image (the shadow of my head is also seen in the foreground) for posterity!

Passing Clouds

Passing Clouds

 

 

  

Sparrows!

Today is World Sparrow Day. There are very few places in Bangalore where you can see sparrows. One such place is Richards Square, adjacent to Russell Market. It has an open rectangular courtyard with shops on three sides selling kitchenware, old furniture and other stuff. The shopkeepers place bowls of water and sprinkle grains to feed the sparrows. Today being World Sparrow Day, I went there to see my feathered friends and was not disappointed. I stood there for some time, watching the sparrows hop around and listening to their chirps. Thanks to the shopkeepers of Richards Square and people like them, we still have sparrows around us!

 

The Road Not Taken

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep.

The Road Not Taken

by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

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