Bangalore-Singapore

One of our former Chief Ministers was fond of telling everyone he met that his wish is to turn Bangalore into another Singapore. Well, that wish may not have been fulfilled, but our fair city is certainly earning other sobriquets!



Bangalore has become the hot new destination for the world’s leading music groups and bands, so much so that it would not be out of place to call it "SINGapore".


Some time ago, when we received a herd of lions as guests at our own Bannerghatta Zoo, Bangalore seemed to have turned into a real "Simhapura" (which was what Singapore used to be called in earlier times).


Now that the rains have started and our few remaining good roads are beginning to crack up, our city can be temporarily renamed "SingaPOUR".


Meanwhile, the numerous agencies that have been entrusted with the task of improving our infrastructure laying optic fibre cables to network the city, to repair the roads, to build flyovers, to chart out the course of the Meandering Metro and generally to make a mess of this once beautiful city, haven’t quite completed their task, and have left yawning gaps all over the place, prompting the name SinGAPore for our great city!


And with so many reports of persons going missing every now and then, can we call our city MISSINGapore?


So what’s your take on this city?

Winged Visitor

This winged visitor decided to make a stopover at my place on Sunday. He alighted on a kuruveppilai (kadipatta) branch, rested awhile, then flexed his wings, caught the breeze and floated away!

Cereus! Brahma Kamalam!!

This flower, Cereus (Brahma Kamalam in India), blooms late in the night and its life is very short.

APRIL SHOWERS

April Showers

Dark clouds loom, threatening (doom?)

The bright summer sun (at once),

Blacked out like the wink of an eye.

A gust of cooling wind kicks up the dust.

The scent of moisture invades the air,

Like a distant promise coming near.

A flash and a boom (as if in sudden anger);

And then the downpour!

Cleansing everything in its path.

The morn after, new life sprouts forth

In the glisten of a tender leaf,

The chirp of an early bird.

Oh, summer rain!

The Wikly Updet

C H I N T A - M O N E Y
(Thoughts For The Day)

All that glitters has a silver lining
– Chevaux Coumarz, thinker

The hand that cradles the rock can’t count the money
– old jungle saying

The rain in Spain falls mainly on the ground
– old jingle

HOWZZATT? If you don’t draw blood first time, call for the third vampire
– Dracu’s law

The Mythical Bird

An attempt at Mithila sketching.

The Wikly Updet

HIGH DRAMA AS BULLS RUN RAMPAGE ON THE LAL STREET

Bumboo Bajaar, 27^th Distemper

Red Street (commonly called The Lal Street), a famous lane in the bustling Bumboo Bajaar, where the continent’s leading stick brokers meet to exchange blows, was in a tizzy this morning as thirteen well-built bulls, armed with sharp horns, ran amok in the stick market, causing even the stocky brokers to run for cover. Passersby were treated to an unexpected filmy style chase as the brokers, sticks held high above their heads and chanting “danda ooncha rahe hamara” ran like men possessed, followed by the incensed bulls keen on dispossessing them. The bull run continued till late in the evening and ended only when the market’s top hoarder put up a hoarding on top of the street reading “SILENT ZONE – SHARP HORNS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN” and then followed it up by announcing the same over a loudspeaker.

The sher index, which is an indicator of the level of bravery, measured on the Rictus scale, plummeted badly and, when last seen, appeared to be headed Down Under.

Agitated members, many of them nursing bruised limbs and broken egos, called a press conference and announced the formation of a thirteen member committee headed by a retired matador (thirteen seater diesel version) to conduct a thorough investigation into the whole episode.