Indian Railways

It was just another long weekend and I decided to scoot to Bangalore. I was catching the usual Lalbagh Express. It is so surprising to see that inspite of 7 trains plying bw B lore and Chennai they are always loaded with passengers. One almost feels that the Chennai express that leaves B lore dumps everyone at Chennai and picks another lot from Chennai and returns as Lalbagh Express! A five and half hour journey bw two prominent Southern cities is definitely not a joke..
As i enter the station and look around me, there is hustle bustle everywhere. On one side are the annoying porters and autowallahs who flock around travelers and pounce on them for their meek service while the other side has the heavy and humble trains earnestly waiting to pick up its dear passengers for another journey . There is always a perennial queue for platform tickets, open tickets and other tickets. People nudging each other and picking up petty fights while petite thieves making a profit by flicking someone's purse is such a common sight. The eateries such as Sarvana Bhavan, Hot breads, Pizza Corner at the Chennai Central Station are making crisp business by tossing pizzas, jostling coffees and dicing sandwiches. These joints not only serve the purpose of packing quick food for loony travelers like me but also a snackbar for people who wait for arrival of trains. The ones who make the maximum returns on any given day would be the Magazine seller and the water bottle - juice seller. Come what may, it is customary for most of the travelers to buy water bottles and books in the railway station!There is a sea of people around me intently looking at the main display board and religious listening to the automated voice that repeats the information in 3 languages. "Yatrigan krupiya dhyaan de. Gaadi number 6020 Chennai se Bangalore jaane wali Lalbagh Express Platform no 3 se ravana hogi" It still rings a bell in my ears!! I also occasionally see a bunch of cops lurking around and looking visibly bored.
What mesmerizes me the most is the number of people who are directly and indirectly involved in the business of railways..right from the sweeper to the caterer to the police station in the railway station even to the extent of the guy who collects bills for the parking lot outside the station!! It is not for nuts that people call Indian railways to be the single largest employment provider in the entire world.

Cheers to Indian Railways!!

Paradox!

This post is on a creed. 'How secular are we??' 'Secularism is a taboo' These are some of the contradicting views in the society. Purists are of various types and are generally looked up/down as for multiple reasons:

At the outset how difficult is it for people to take a few steps forward and appreciate other forms of religion. I've always seen purists in every field specially in theology who claim that they dont intend to look into other forms of religion cause their way of life is the best! Now dont you think it is far more appreciated that you should infact plunge into various types of religion, explore them and still claim that you follow a particular way of life?? Purists are like race horses with horse blinders, driven by people and society in search of the ultimate truth of life. They do not peer into any other religion and are constantly bogged down by society at large. Infact I might even be permitted to go one step further and comment that some of the so called 'purists' dont even know what they are fighting for! The drive, the momentum within them to achieve the goal is so vigorous and aggressive that the goal is lost in the transit. I am not claiming that all orthodox followers are that way but I can certainly vouch that there is more of a herd behaviour in such aspects. 'Half knowledge is always dangerous' Now these are very often the irrational so called 'purists' who lay ridiculos feats in front of our eyes..right from vagabounding shops on Valentine's Day to banish Yoga in School because it has religious sentiments attached to it. They are the ones who have no idea on what is the objective of their protest and disapproval but battle around for the sake of it because the elite society is watchful on their actions.
Before we all take conclusions on the dark side of such mainstream guys, I can give a hind sight about them too.
Although this is another class of purists,I think they are also the ones who help in keeping the torch ablaze. The conformist, fastidious followers seem to enforce every religious act/practise and ensure that it actually trickles down the generations! Isnt it true?? Each religion has its own identity and a way in approaching life. Isnt it not simple to simply follow the regiment without questioning too much on it?? No single life is sufficient to explore the nuances of any religion..let alone diversing interests on all of them! A code of conduct, a matter of faith cannot simply be 'Jack of all, master of none' Follow one; execute it scrupulously! Thats the motto of some of them..and in their defence they arent completely wrong.
Even stranger,aint it??
Well..thats life! Its all a matter of perception. It can be highly subjective and hence reflects the kind of person you are.

Quote-Struck!!

After a hibernation of a year and a half am back in the blog world!!
As I was pondering over what I should be writing on, it suddenly struck me that I always relate everything to quotes..so why not write about them?? Quotes simply fascinate me. How is it that a small string of words can prove to be so meaningful and so powerful when they are said at the right moment? Quotes are omnipresent, multilingual and are delivered by people in all age groups..Right from the knowledgable philosophers like Plato, Socrates to naughty little Calvin to impactful quotes by anonymous. Somehow I've always observed that there is always one quote to describe every situation! They can be a word of caution, a song of praise, a subtle humour, a subjective statement..just about anything! Quotes are delivered by all and narrated by all. This universality feature is remarkable! They cut through all geographical and linguistic barriers. Tirukural written by famous Tamil literate Tiruvaluvar is the second book only after the Holy Bible to have been translated in maximum number of languages. And what is Tirukural all about? Simple couplets for normal lifestyle. Another aspect of quotes is the manner in which they are delivered. Its simply simple! No complexities involved, yet very forceful. These set of words condense an entire situation, sometimes even a state of mind. They are timeless, flown and handed down over generations.
Quotes are truly pearls of wisdom that are strung together to form a beautiful necklace!
Some memorable quotes:

• 'Experience is what you get when you dont get what you want' by Socrates
• 'Cricket is a game where 11 fools are playing and 11,000 fools are watching' by GB Shaw
• 'Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.' by Albert Einstein
• Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens.' by Jimi Hendrix
• 'Reality is the illusion caused by lack of alcohol' Anonymous
• 'We're so busy watching out for what's just ahead of us that we don't take time to enjoy where we are' Calvin and Hobbes

Lastly its 'All's well that ends well' by Shakespeare.

dancing dolls

Year : 2005

Day :Mon,Wed or Fri

Venue: Natya Institute of Kathak n Choreography

It was the time of the year when the entire lot was struggling hard with the bols,chakkars and the tongue twisting tukdas!Shwetha,Rakshitha,Sanjana and I were no exceptions.Of course we had our own dosage of fun and comedy..like watching lak didi sing,or us trying out different permutations of tukdas n chakkars!believe me,that was the time when i really sensed that 'learning can be fun' there was not one ounce of regret or a looking back on dance!we all passionately slogged our way for the kathak junior exam.the gang of four(rak,shweths,sanj n i)had extra work to do since we were competing against those who were doing a full time course in dance!those were the good ole days.my schedule was typically lined out : 9 to 4 coll;4 30 to 6 dance;6 to 8 freaking out! we had a major bonding exercise right after dance class! shweths,rak n i used to hit Sri Sai Rams chats and dig ourselves wit some eateries n lassis! we were his ever green customers with shweths fav mix of 'one glass sweet lassi n one mango milk shake' After some food n drinks,we take a complete walk in and around malleshwaram,meeting up with friends,getting acquaintances through common friends,hang out in coffee day on sampige road,bitch about life,betrayals,boyfriends,boring college,books!! all the B's in the world!as the time rolled by shweths,rak n i never realised how close we got!we gelled along pretty well and had a lot of michievous adventures together..sneaking out,partying,bunking,working,long drives..our friendship was no more restricted to a mere dance class meet!we've had our own set of social circles n somehow that has never come in way of our friendship!our memorable holi adventure or the jaipur trip itself speaks volumes!As we moved on,shweths got busy with her hectic work schedule and I am 300 kms away from the city itself!Rak is the only one who has not changed in the due course of time!

It always feels good to be back home!!n my home also consists of my routine of goin to dance class!I was as bounceful as excited to get back to kathak class as a kid wud be if he saw a big double scoop ice cream sundae all for himself!!wow.. n it truly was amazing to hit the dance floor,sing the same bols,do the tukdas n chakkars,talk to tabla bhaiya,learn to play the harmonium!!my visit to dance class wen am in town makes me complete and at the end of the day i realise that 'all is not lost'

numero uno!!

Am ribbon cutting my way to my blog posts!!
I was rattling my brains on what i should start on..n then it stuck me!! why not talk bout my coll life?? Met my coll friends today..brings a naustalgia of my coll days in bangalore..that carefree life where i was so determined on bunking classes and rebelling college!Some lecturers were great in their own ways of entertaininent!Be it paddu mam wit her kan-mil english lingo or GS mam wit her cyclical raise n fall in her voice or sweet sunanda mam who staunchly believes that corruption is the root cause for the current Indian economic situation! my friends n i 've slept through the classes for eternity,hogged like we 've been starving for five days,played pranks on guys and gals,passing chits,smsing,answering phone calls "ssssssshhhhhh am in class right now,'ll call u later" wow!!! times v'e changed..most of my friends are working!!they all talk about their crazy shifts,customers,sales,raises,deadlines,R n R,office parties!!hm..i gotta catch up wit the lingo!doing ur post graduation doesn really help in adding new lingos onto ur dictionary!!its still the same story with me!! late to class as usual,muddle things up,bring the wrong books,forget calculators!! gosh!! the same sloppy,dis organised me!!well..but a realisation stuck me like a huge thunderbolt! n this calls for a complete constitutional change in my behaviour!like attending classes regularly : something i've practically lost touch upon! but i've a long way to go and am already catching up! like they say 'old habits die hard' the mystery still remains to be unfolded on how things progress in future!! i only hope 'the best is yet to come'