Aa Dinagalu!

“Sir, Very Hearty Congratulations! Now that it is done, we all want sweets from you”

“What?”

“Sir, You have just become the owner of a fine property. It is no less than finding a beautiful bride for yourself. It is said that getting hennu, honnu and mannu (woman, gold and land) are very significant events in a person’s life and you have just acquired one of them”

“All right then! I will buy all of you sweets”

Saying thus, he searched in his pockets and took out the money. In all, he had just five rupees and twenty five paisa – what treat could he expect to give in such less money? Besides, he still needed to go home by public transport bus with the money left.

The incident took place in 1980 in the vicinity of BDA property Registration office, Devaiah Park, Bangalore. He had just registered a site in the so-called outskirts of the city where no one preferred to go. But he was still happy as he had got a site allocated in the garden city of India- a pleasant place to live in with its peace-loving, friendly people and moderate climate all over the year. Neither the Automobile revolution nor the IT boom had happened then. So you could find few vehicles on the streets and less glass-house offices. More importantly, every street in the city had a dense canopy of trees and every area had big parks where old people could relax, catching up with their cronies and sharing the lighter things of life – earning the city the title of “pensioner’s paradise”.

Coming back to the person in question, he had to now buy sweets for 4 people with the little money he had and manage to get back to his rented room in Hanumanthnagar with whatever he had. ATM s were unheard of then and there were no big, computerized banks offering you all sorts of credit cards that we see these days. He had already agreed to buy them something and could not retreat just like that. They just wanted something – even a chocolate would do … he thought quickly and came up with an idea. He went to the bakery in the ground floor of the office building. He bought 4 honey cakes for 75 paisa each and gave it to each one of them. They relished on it as if it was a feast. Then, he ordered 2 cups of badam milk divided into 4, each worth fifty paisa. So within 4 rupees, he had treated them reasonably well. He then went to the city bus stand in majestic by a BTS bus paying 25 paisa as ticket charges. Finally from there on to Hanumanthnagar paying the remaining one rupee for ticket. He had managed his money extremely well...Over the years, he always remained very careful on money matters and made judicious use of his money, never spending more than what was required. He was indeed, my Dad :-)

Those were his early days in Bangalore. He recollects with so much of enthusiasm all the good things he adored so much - the cool breeze that blew when you roamed near the thousand lakes around the city, the calm and silent walks in the numerous parks around the city in the evenings, the never-too-hot summers and the chilly winters with moderate rain. Even the people in the city were warm, friendly and peace-loving – the enjoyable rides on the BTS buses with very few people fighting for your seat, the one by two coffee along with the tasty masala dosa in Vidyarthi Bhavan with a very close friend, the not-so-hectic 9 to 5 jobs, very little traffic on roads – all these made living in the city a pleasant experience.

Those were the days when even clerks in banks with middle-class incomes could build a house in the city, when people could retire with money in post-offices or banks and manage to lead a happy retired life and never have to do any tax-planning/retirement planning, when they could have all their money in one account and never needed to have PAN cards, when they could just watch a movie in a regular theatre on a weekend and never needed to go the shopping malls and multiplexes and still come out feeling satisfied and happy, when they could go to a hotel any day of the week without having to book for seats earlier and then eat to their heart’s content without needing to pay a four digit bill, when the only people who went to late night pubs and danced were the sons of politicians and film-stars, when smiling auto-drivers returned you exactly 40 rupees and seventy five paisa when you paid them a 50 rupee note.

So much has changed today and it’s for everyone to see. I won’t go into all the differences and compare the good old days with now. I got to know of the old days when I spoke to my dad over dinner this Sunday. So I thought of posting them here. My dad had bought a site in the so-called outskirts of Vijayanagar area. He regrets even to this day that if only he had 10,000 more rupees, we would have our home near Basavangudi. Today, he can afford to get a loan for around 10 lakhs, he can arrange a big party to feed around 100 people much more than the honey cakes that he fed that day, he can even travel in a car to any property office in any area of the city. But he still cannot build a house for himself. No person with a middle-class salary can. And I think that’s what makes the difference between a city where you enjoy living and a city where you can struggle surviving – What do you think?

NOTES:
1. BTS - stands for Banagalore Transport Service, now it has been renamed to BMTC(Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation) and is one of the largest public transport firms.
2. BDA - stands for Bangalore Development Authority.
3. Vidyarthi Bhavan is a old-world hotel in Gandhi Bazaar area of Bangalore. Thankfully, it still exists :-)
4. The title of this post means "Those Days!". Its the name of a very popular, recent, kannada movie.

Thanks ma!

It is said that God could not be everywhere in the World and that’s the reason he created mothers. How true this cliché has proven to be over the times. Mother is nature’s precious gift to all living creatures. Right from the times of holding a child in her womb, giving birth to the baby, till the very last breath of her life, a mother nurtures her children with so much of love and affection and makes so much of sacrifices that no person can ever dream of repaying the mother’ gratitude.

My mother’s birthday was last Friday(11 jan) and it was really a special day for me. She is the proud mother of three fabulous kids and I am one among them:-), in fact the middle one. This year, since I had to work for long hours and had to travel a very long distance, I could not spend much time with my mom on her birthday. Nevertheless, I kept admiring her, pondering about all the sacrifices that she had made and all the hardships she endured to ensure her children a great future.

My mother was the sixth child out of the eleven children my grandma had and hailed from a small village along the coast of Karnataka. Those days, every house in the village boasted of numerous children and so much of poverty. Family planning was unheard of and if it was there, then I would have never existed. Very often, the father and usually the first son would be the earning members of the family and the financial status of the family would not be that good. My grandfather was a post master and earned a meager salary and as such, managing a house full of children was a very hard task indeed.

Many of my aunts never went to school and even if they did, they dropped out of school very early. But my mother had realized the importance of education very early. She had a firm resolve to achieve something in her life. Those days there was no high school in the village. She finished her tenth class in a school that was five kilometers away. She used to walk that distance everyday.

The only college in the area was 10 km away and a girl going to college was unheard of those days. The eldest of my uncles had got married then and was raising a family in Hyderabad. Since he and his wife were both working, they needed someone to manage the daily chores of the house as well as take care of their small baby boy, ie my cousin. My mother saw an opportunity there. She felt that if she went to the city, she could somehow pursue her higher education and fulfill her dream of becoming a graduate. So she gladly accepted the offer and went with her elder brother to the city.

But life in the city was not as easy. She had to get up early, finish off all the chores of the house and even pack Tiffin for both uncle and aunt. Then she had to take care of the child with utmost attention. Most of the times, aunt would be unhappy with the way my mom managed the household. But my mom was a fast learner, she would never be deterred by whatever aunt said. She learnt all the household chores soon and pleased everyone with her culinary skills. Soon, she had won over the family and the young baby Ravi grew very fond of my mother.

When Ravi was old enough to be left in a play-home, my mother put forth the idea of her going to college to my uncle. Though he was a bit reluctant due to pressure from aunt, he finally agreed. Then began the tedious days for mom. She had to manage the household tasks as well as the studies at college. Such was the hardships that she seldom went to classes in time. On some of the days when she managed to go to classes early, her class-mates would ridicule her. But that did not deter my mom. She had the absolute resolve to finish her college. With dedicated efforts, she acquried her arts degree that she had always dreamt of.

Due to growing tensions between aunt and my mother, my mom shifted to a room nearby and started searching for jobs. She was helped greatly by my uncle who asked her to learn shorthand typing courses and increase her chances of getting a job. She kept looking for jobs for many days and finally after much hardships got a job as a typist(steno) in a nationalized bank.

Life was much harder after she got a job. She had to manage the household with the meager salary that she earned as well as save some money to send it to grandma in the village. By that time, grandpa was already bed-ridden and there were small children in the house to be taken care of. She led a very hard life for almost two years. Then, seeing her hardships, one of her younger brothers, Kancha came to stay with her in the city. He too found a job and went to college in the night. My mother gave him all the support he needed to study. Due to his persistent efforts backed by support from my mom, Kancha passed the B. Com exam with the highest score in Osmania University, securing a gold medal. My mother was very happy then.

With marriage, my mother thought her troubles would end. But even Dad’s was a large family with he being the sole support. Both of them worked in the same bank and had then moved into Bangalore, with my dad having already taken a loan and built a small house in the outskirts of the city. They had three children, Panini the elder, me the second and the last one being Ultra. Even though my dad got a reasonably good income, he had a big loan to repay and a big family to support back home. Additionally, he was a social worker and ran a school for special children and spent most of his time and money there.

With little help from my father, the entire burden of taking care of three children was on my mother. When Ultra was born, I was going to nursery school and Panini was in first. My mother really had a very hard time, taking care of a small noisy baby (ultra was really a cry baby), getting the other two nursery kids ready for school, preparing breakfast for all, then finally getting ready for work…. my mum struggled a lot then. She even had plans of quitting work then. But the financial situation in the house was not that good and hence she toiled on.

I still remember the days in my school when there would be a one hour lunch break for us. As soon as the bell sounded, all the kids used to run out where their mums (all housewives probably) would be waiting for them to give them their home made lunch. My mother always came a bit late and during that time, I would be thinking that I would cry and persuade her not to go to bank from next day onwards… then she would come and feed me and say, “When you grow up, you will be in a position to realize why I could not quit my job now”. I dint think that I would ever realize it then... times passed and I grew up to be in a position that I am in now. She was really happy when I got a job after engineering. That day, she told me, “Maybe now you will realize the significance of what I have done all these days”. And I did realize that. I have totally realized the importance of all that she did, to raise three kids to become good individuals, give them all the comforts, giving them all the happiness they wanted, making sure that they would achieve independence.

My mom opted for voluntary retirement when I was in my tenth standard. After that she has dedicated all her efforts into running the family and toward the well-being of it. Even now, when I get up early and leave for my early morning office cab, she gets up earlier than me and prepares breakfast for me. She lovingly packs me my Tiffin and sends me off. And then she does it all over again to both Ultra and Panini as well. Even in her free time, she keeps herself busy by reading books, solving puzzles and even learning to operate gadgets like mobiles and computers. Its amazing that she has the same zeal and willingness to work hard even to this day and its only fitting that she shares her birthday with the most dedicated cricketer I have known- Rahul Dravid!

As I was writing this post a thought occurred to me. All mothers in the world are almost similar. They take care of their children in the best possible manner with utmost care and attention. They struggle to ensure that their children get a good future. And still, just because they don’t achieve anything that’s worth publishing on the record-book, their efforts get un-noticed. Worse, they may be even sent to old-age homes because their children get too busy in their careers. Is this trend not a dangerous one? Does this not amount to utmost disregard for the people who care for us the most? I don’t think no anyone else can ever do what a mother does to her children. It is impossible to repay the love and affection of a mother. But atleast we can make them happy in their old age by looking after them well and making them happy. Can we not?

With these thoughts, I leave you my dear reader for now. Just think about all these and get back to me with your comments. I take this opportunity to convey belated birthday wishes to my mom and the best wishes to all mothers in the world. Thanks a lot, ma!

Notes:
1. Kancha is my mother's younger brother and my maama(thats supposed to be mama's maama!). He is now a chartered accountant and my role model.
2. Panini is my elder sister. She is the best support I have ever had- world's greatest sister.
3. Ultra is my genius brother three years younger than me. He is superbly brilliant and multi-talented. He is the creator of the pencil-sketch that you see on my profile.
And yes, the names have been changed to protect identities :-)

The SCG !!!

SCG or the Sydney Cricket Ground is one of the best cricketing grounds in the world. It has been home to many fabulous cricketing spectacles in its 126 year old of service to cricket. Most of the world records have been created here. Usually, it hosts the last test of the series and it has been very long since the hosts have lost a "live" test in a series here.

Particularly the Indians have always enjoyed the delights that this pitch has offered them. In fact, many people also referred to SCG as Sachin's Cricket Ground for the magnificient aggregate he has at this ground. So when India went into the new year test, one down in the 4 test series against aussies, looking to halt the team's record winning streak, they had everything to look forward to.

But what an anti-climax the match proved to be. What happened is for every one to see. I was one among the billions of Indian team's supporters who felt cheated and dejected after the loss. Here is a forward that one of my friend sent me. I thought it will be better if I put that up here:

After the test match, some rules have to be incorporated by ICC to give the other teams a perfect clarification

(1) Ricky Ponting – (THE TRULY GENUINE CRICKETER OF THE CRICKET ERA AND WHOSE INTEGRITY SHOULD NOT BE DOUBTED) should be considered as the FOURTH UMPIRE. As per the new rules, FOURTH UMPIRE decision is final and will over ride any decisions taken by any other umpires. ON-FIELD umpires can seek the assistance of RICKY PONTING even if he is not on the field. This rule is to be made, so that every team should understand the importance of the FOURTH UMPIRE.

(2) While AUSTRALIAN TEAM is bowling, If the ball flies anywhere close to the AUSTRALIAN FIELDER(WITHIN 5 metre distance), the batsman is to be considered OUT irrelevant of whether the catch was taken cleanly or grassed. Any decision for further clarification should be seeked from the FOURTH UMPIRE. This is made to ensure that the cricket is played with SPORTIVE SPIRIT by all the teams.

(3) While BATTING, AUSTRALIAN players will wait for the ON-FIELD UMPIRE decisions only (even if the catch goes to the FIFTH SLIP as the ball might not have touched the bat). Each AUSTRALIAN batsman has to be out FOUR TIMES (minimum) before he can return to the pavilion. In case of THE CRICKETER WITH INTEGRITY, this can be higher.

(4) UMPIRES should consider a huge bonus if an AUSTRALIAN player scores a century. Any wrong decisions can be ignored as they will be paid huge bonus and will receive the backing of the AUSTRALIAN team and board.

(5) All AUSTRALIAN players are eligible to keep commenting about all players on the field and the OPPONENT TEAM should never comment as they will be spoiling the spirit of the AUSTRALIAN team. Any comments made in any other language are to be considered as RACISM only.

(6) MATCH REFREE decisions will be taken purely on the AUSTRALIAN TEAM advices only. Player views from the other teams decisions will not be considered for hearing. MATCH REFREES are to be given huge bonus if this rule is implemented.

(7) NO VISITING TEAM should plan to win in AUSTRALIA. This is to ensure that the sportive spirit of CRICKET is maintained.

(8) THE MOST IMPORTANT RULE: If any bowler gets RICKY PONTING - "THE UNDISPUTED CRICKETER WITH INTEGTIRY IN THE GAME OF CRICKET" more than twice in a series, he will be banned for the REST OF THE SERIES. This is to ensure that the best batsman/Captain will be played to break records and create history in the game of CRICKET.

These rules will clarify better to the all the teams VISITING AUSTRALIA.

Enter 2008!

Sorry for the delay in wishes, but its always better late than never :) ... wishing all the people in the world a very happy and prosperous new year 2008. May all your dreams and aspirations be achieved this year.

So much happened in the last fortnight of 2007 and the first week of 2008. i was too busy to come and post it here. But now that I am finally back to the blogosphere, I will post about all the things that happened very soon. So, stay tuned people!