Think Twice Before You Light Up..

This is not a post in support of Dr. Ramadoss' smoking ban (even though that is the ONLY good thing that the useless fellow has managed to do in 4 years).
This is about the millions of beautiful crackers that go up every year this time.
DON'T LIGHT CRACKERS THIS YEAR. Please. Here are 5 reasons why:
5. Do u really feel we need any more smoke to choke our lungs and those of the kids for whom we light the crackers? do we need more noise to cloud our thinking?
4. Heard the words Global Recession? Starvation? Poverty? Do you think u should still BURN money?
3.Muneeswari
2. Kuppuswamy
1. Chithra - these are the best kept secrets of the fireworks industry in sivakasi. These three kids, all injured in explosions in fireworks factories, now hide their disfigured bodies at home away from disgusted stares. these are only 3 out of god-knows-how-many kids.
Don't Do It. Please.

Off To The Moon!!

"dreams of a billion people come true!!", the newspaper screamed at me in te morning today as i woke up, bleary eyed, and figured that my heater was not working..(AGAIN!!) Damn!! its too cold for an ice water bath in bangalore these days. Reminded me of an old Seinfeld episode i saw, where Jerry remarks that ever since the first moon mission, people compare all failures, scientific and otherwise, to that one big success!! So i remarked to my room mate, these guys can put a man on the moon, but cant build a decent heater!!
I guess thats human tendency.. negative appreciation of a good thing!!
P.S. I dont know if this is unpatriotic, but i never did ACTUALLY dream that india would one day put a man on the moon.. May be its time i got some chandrayaawwn!!

The Rains Of Two Cities

Recently, I realised(and was surprised to realise,) that rain differs from one place to the other!
In bangalore, it rains in short bouts of mild showers that hardly even wet your head if you walk through it. Mumbai's rain on the other hand, can drench you in a split second with it's unbridled fury, and it may be days before you see the sun again.
Maybe the rain in a city is a reflection of the city itself.. Bangalore's quiet, sporadic, mild rain reflects the benevolent, laid back nature of the city, while Mumbai's wild, untamed monsoon uncovers the restlessness, the fury, the impatience of one of the busiest cities in the world.
What do you think?
P.S. Given a choice, I would pick mumbai's "veda paoos" to bangalore's "mungaru malhe" anyday!

The Food Seeker's Guide To Bengalooru

When i came to bangalore 18 months back, i thought NO ONE knew how to cook in this place! Forget chaat and other mumbai delights, even the south indian dosas and idlis suck in most places here. Pretty much ANYTHING from pasta to pav bhaji, from sev puri to pizzas, comes topped with COCONUT!!!
I had resigned myself to a couple of years of barely edible organic substances that the canteen charges me money to eat, until I discovered what makes every mumbaikar orgasmic.. STREET FOOD!! Yes right here in Namma Bengalooru!! so I decided to compile my own top 5 shady joints with awesome food list for all the newbies in Bengalooru.. so here goes:
5. The small chaat counter below 20 feet high, just outside three quarter chinese on church street - This is the place where my year long quest for a decent plate of paani poori ended 6 months ago. The taste of a thin, crisp poori filled with warm mashed potaoto and bean sprouts, and a cool mint paani laced with a mean khajoor chutney... Ahhh! Heaven!!
4. Tibb's Frankie - Brigade road, commercial steet. Even thouh they call it Tibb's frankie of mumbai, and charge as if they import it every day from there, this humble dish i first tasted at churchgate station still remains a Must Eat for me every time im in the vicinity.
3. Sonakshi Sharma's Family Restaurant - Koramangala(whats with the name??) - Amazing jalebis in addition to some good north indian food. A friend introduced me to the place, and though i dont go there much, still do think about the golden brown, slender, rounded, sweet, sugar soaked delights every time I want Dessert!
2. Ganga Saagar - Sajjan Rao circle. - this simple, tiny yet neat place is one of my fave joints for dinner.. for their supreme paranthas, with melting butter, delicately spiced raita and tangy nimboo achaar! SLURRP!!!
1. And the numero uno - Davangere Benne Dosa - Bull temple road. Yum Butter soaked dosa which melts in your mouth the second you put it in, served with green coconut chutney, mildly spiced mashed potatoes and piping hot coffee.. need i say more?
I know gluttony is a sin, but with places like these...

...And we're back!

FINALLY managed to log on to blogspot today to resume what began as a vent for what i felt about what happens around me, to being a chore, and finally to something i ignore!
Writer's block? Culture shock? Keypad Lock? or just too bored to blog?
guess a little bit of all those.
Here's hoping i can stick to doing the thing i love to do most this time around.

Syntax Error?

Connecting people.. wherever you go our network (and a smug pug) follows.. Kar Lo Duniya Mutthi Mein!!! Do these lines ring a bell?
These are all million dollar ad lines for billion dollar communication enterprises. Does anyone else find it at least a tad surprising that we now need a bunch of ad dudes and a dog to tell us that we need to communicate and that it is a basic need? Worse still, does anyone else realise that inspite of all the methods of communication we have, we are communicating lesser each day?
When was the last time you invited a colleague at work to talk to you, to tell you exactly what it is about you that he/she dislikes..when was the last time that person agreed? more importantly, when was the last time you even thought that all that separates percieved rivalry and sublime friendship is a COMMUNICATION GAP??
how often does it happen that a relationship at some point takes a detour into the depths of mistrust following an insignificant roadblock.. one which would not have withstood the power of a good talk? or one that was forgotten long before the relationship turned sour?
Why dont people just talk it out anymore? when will we realise that cold wars are NOT cool?
Three cheers for orange! just talk!!



P.S.: wise words i heard today: "to communicate does not mean only to make the other person understand.. it also means to NOT let them misunderstand!"

who's afraid of the f word??

That four letter word beginning with an f.. u know what im talkin about.. every time ive been faced with it, my knees have gone weak, and i have wished that it would all turn out to be a dream.. im talking about fail(ure)...
what is it about failure that makes everyone but the person experiencing it all philosophical and preachy? "oh dont worry about it.. it could happen to anyone.. no point crying over spilt milk.. this too shall pass" and the most cliched.. "failures are stepping stones to success.."
Maybe it is true. maybe what i look at as a failure today will benefit me in the long run. maybe it will pave the way for a thousand successes in the future.. but today.. let me grieve..