Mysore looks beautiful over the weekend...
The town is clad in lights and decorations.
As we joined the huge crowd occupying the palace grounds to see the majestic palace adorned in light bulbs(they say around 96,000 of them), we all exclaimed the same thing..."We have read about Dassara in Mysore in our social studies books..and here we are, at the palace!"
The crowd was splendid too, unlike the crowd of Kerala. ( Ok, I am not generalizing, but every single time I have tried to board a crowded bus or join a crowd back in Kerala, I have had bad taste!). We did not have a single bad experience(touchwood!) moving along with the crowd for a pretty long time.
I knew, after watching the great adventures and skills on TV, the mediocre performance of the circus people are not going to enthrall me. Every time they put up a performance and end with the charming smile, I was reminded even more of the dreadful stories and articles about the circus camps. I wonder if they still hold true, but if they are, it must be pretty hard for them to put up that smile at the end of their performance. And for me, the thought that I was able to exclaim a word of wonder and say wow, as I saw the trapeze acts and the bikers in the death well consoled me....I still haven't lost it all.. The magic blessing to get wondered and be amused.
Oct 21, 2007
Oct 17, 2007
Results...
Some years ago...
"Yaar..the results are out...heard a few flunked"
"I guess its getting tougher. They need to be lenient. Strict correction to make people flunk is not going to help them or us"
"But the syllabus itself is getting tougher"
Overheard at the office pantry a few days ago...
"Man, the results are out...not quite encouraging"
"I guess its stagnating. We need to diversify. Sticking to one core area is not going to help them or the employees"
"But market itself is stagnating man"
Yes, everyone is growing....but some things never change! :-)
"Yaar..the results are out...heard a few flunked"
"I guess its getting tougher. They need to be lenient. Strict correction to make people flunk is not going to help them or us"
"But the syllabus itself is getting tougher"
Overheard at the office pantry a few days ago...
"Man, the results are out...not quite encouraging"
"I guess its stagnating. We need to diversify. Sticking to one core area is not going to help them or the employees"
"But market itself is stagnating man"
Yes, everyone is growing....but some things never change! :-)
Oct 10, 2007
Boxshops of Kerala.... :)
People say that you know you are getting old when you start feeling nostalgic too often. Seems, these days, I am getting older at a rate faster than the BSE,that anything and everything makes me nostalgic!
This weekend, on my way back home, I saw the changing face of "pettikkadas"** in Kerala. Almost all of them had a decorated line of the red Bingo packets. I don't know if its a specialized marketing strategy of Bingo ,that they have targeted these pettikkadas instead of the retail shops and supermarkets on large scale. But definitely, such packets were unheard to be , in my "nostalgic past".
Pettikadas be it in the north most or south most part of Kerala, had a standard list of items on the chart.
The "murukkaan" (local pan),scissors cigarettes(note- its not even Wills, but only Scissors cigarettes, Dinesh beedi, a few jars of sweets -kappilandi muttai and few others...which are all nothing but melted sugar molded to different shapes and colours, but definitely they tasted better than tobleorone and rosches . And we used to get so many of them for even 25 paise. And see how times have changed...Just yesterday, when I gave four 25 paise to the canteen vendor who asked me for a change of one rupee, the look he gave me made me wonder whether I had just called him the most forbidden expletive!!
Back to the pettikkada, not to miss the special soda bottles. I have not seen those bottles off late, but they used to be the trademark of those tiny little roadside shops and an essential itinerary for the one minute stop during the long journeys. The bottle locked by a marble at the neck, you ought to push the marble inside to drink the soda. Sadly, I have never had one of them, cause I was always afraid, the marble may just fall out and choke me to death!!
Ha, marbles!!! Of all colours and designs...that brings me another train of "nostalgic " memories (which means I have grown older by another 10 years??!!!)
Then the "illustrated weeklies" of Kerala. Shamelessly or proudly let me say, I started my venture into Malayalam literature from those "johnykutty susanna " stories :-). Probably that's why, I never progressed much beyond that ! :)
And today, those pettikadas have gone for a totally revamped look! With Airtel, Reliance and Vodafone (yes, HUTCH IS NOW VODAFONE :))display boards and Lays, Perks and Bingo packets taking the shelves, should I say I am proud to see the progressing economy of the villages, or be sad that I have to add more items to those "nostalgic" list.
All said and done, my friend jokingly asked me recently, "can you tell me one thing that doesn't make you nostalgic". Yes, may be, I am indeed growing very very old :(
**petti=box
kada =shop. So petitkkada=boxshop ,a shop as small as the box, or in the shape of a box or a shop where you get boxes ???:):) Blame my poor English, I do not know the translation of pettikkada :). The road side small tiny shops, roughly.
This weekend, on my way back home, I saw the changing face of "pettikkadas"** in Kerala. Almost all of them had a decorated line of the red Bingo packets. I don't know if its a specialized marketing strategy of Bingo ,that they have targeted these pettikkadas instead of the retail shops and supermarkets on large scale. But definitely, such packets were unheard to be , in my "nostalgic past".
Pettikadas be it in the north most or south most part of Kerala, had a standard list of items on the chart.
The "murukkaan" (local pan),scissors cigarettes(note- its not even Wills, but only Scissors cigarettes, Dinesh beedi, a few jars of sweets -kappilandi muttai and few others...which are all nothing but melted sugar molded to different shapes and colours, but definitely they tasted better than tobleorone and rosches . And we used to get so many of them for even 25 paise. And see how times have changed...Just yesterday, when I gave four 25 paise to the canteen vendor who asked me for a change of one rupee, the look he gave me made me wonder whether I had just called him the most forbidden expletive!!
Back to the pettikkada, not to miss the special soda bottles. I have not seen those bottles off late, but they used to be the trademark of those tiny little roadside shops and an essential itinerary for the one minute stop during the long journeys. The bottle locked by a marble at the neck, you ought to push the marble inside to drink the soda. Sadly, I have never had one of them, cause I was always afraid, the marble may just fall out and choke me to death!!
Ha, marbles!!! Of all colours and designs...that brings me another train of "nostalgic " memories (which means I have grown older by another 10 years??!!!)
Then the "illustrated weeklies" of Kerala. Shamelessly or proudly let me say, I started my venture into Malayalam literature from those "johnykutty susanna " stories :-). Probably that's why, I never progressed much beyond that ! :)
And today, those pettikadas have gone for a totally revamped look! With Airtel, Reliance and Vodafone (yes, HUTCH IS NOW VODAFONE :))display boards and Lays, Perks and Bingo packets taking the shelves, should I say I am proud to see the progressing economy of the villages, or be sad that I have to add more items to those "nostalgic" list.
All said and done, my friend jokingly asked me recently, "can you tell me one thing that doesn't make you nostalgic". Yes, may be, I am indeed growing very very old :(
**petti=box
kada =shop. So petitkkada=boxshop ,a shop as small as the box, or in the shape of a box or a shop where you get boxes ???:):) Blame my poor English, I do not know the translation of pettikkada :). The road side small tiny shops, roughly.
Oct 2, 2007
The years have passed by...
Dreams...myths....those carried all along the childhood,teenage and college days. Sometimes, you can't hide a smile on reflecting back on them.
* Howzaattt!
Those summers of exams and cricket, when we couldn't decide ourselves which was more important.Watching the match live in the small TV room where the chairs and sofa set wouldn't be enough to accommodate the entire audience, one of my starred items I added to my wish list was to watch a match live in a stadium with the same audience. Those were the times , when life beyond the Kottayam town was unheard, the biggest stadium that one could imagine was the Nehru stadium in the middle of the town (and we measured each monsoon, the strength of the rain by the number of steps under water in Nehru stadium). Now, when conditions are favourable for the dream to come true, neither the audience remains, nor the passion for cricket matches.
* Where 's the party tonight?
Movies and books portrayed parties as the most interesting things in the life of the high class( the meaning of high class even was different then!). I wished I was in a job, where there would be corporate parties, and friends gathered together for fun and joy. And today, when ever the e-mail for "project party" lands in my mailbox, the next thought is "what excuse could I make for today" :-)
* May I have your attention please...
Corporates meant meetings. And meeting meant highly professional where everyone talked business. I do not remember the number of times, I have practiced in front of the mirror with that highly professional look , "Mr.Smith, could I suggest a new idea...how about..." and I always carried a thick file in those imaginations. Fortunately or unfortunately, the designs that adorn my college notebook and the notepads of the "corporate" meetings are exactly the same (or in simple words, I never grew beyond drawing flowers,stars and modern art while attending sessions)
* 60 words per minute?
Pappa owned an old type writer which he bought from a German.We curiously watched wheever Pappa chaged the carbon ribbons or cleaned the keys in between. We were allowed to touch it only when he was gifted an electronic wordprocessor. Thats when I tried learning typing. I did imagine of owning a word processor some time in life( computer,then, may have been like dreaming to be on moon some day) and typing with out even looking at the keyboard. "asdfg, ;lkjh", I practiced day and night, but never did I learn proper typing. Today also, I spend more than 12 hours of a day with this word processor, but still I can't help taking a look at the keyboard very frequently.
* Howzaattt!
Those summers of exams and cricket, when we couldn't decide ourselves which was more important.Watching the match live in the small TV room where the chairs and sofa set wouldn't be enough to accommodate the entire audience, one of my starred items I added to my wish list was to watch a match live in a stadium with the same audience. Those were the times , when life beyond the Kottayam town was unheard, the biggest stadium that one could imagine was the Nehru stadium in the middle of the town (and we measured each monsoon, the strength of the rain by the number of steps under water in Nehru stadium). Now, when conditions are favourable for the dream to come true, neither the audience remains, nor the passion for cricket matches.
* Where 's the party tonight?
Movies and books portrayed parties as the most interesting things in the life of the high class( the meaning of high class even was different then!). I wished I was in a job, where there would be corporate parties, and friends gathered together for fun and joy. And today, when ever the e-mail for "project party" lands in my mailbox, the next thought is "what excuse could I make for today" :-)
* May I have your attention please...
Corporates meant meetings. And meeting meant highly professional where everyone talked business. I do not remember the number of times, I have practiced in front of the mirror with that highly professional look , "Mr.Smith, could I suggest a new idea...how about..." and I always carried a thick file in those imaginations. Fortunately or unfortunately, the designs that adorn my college notebook and the notepads of the "corporate" meetings are exactly the same (or in simple words, I never grew beyond drawing flowers,stars and modern art while attending sessions)
* 60 words per minute?
Pappa owned an old type writer which he bought from a German.We curiously watched wheever Pappa chaged the carbon ribbons or cleaned the keys in between. We were allowed to touch it only when he was gifted an electronic wordprocessor. Thats when I tried learning typing. I did imagine of owning a word processor some time in life( computer,then, may have been like dreaming to be on moon some day) and typing with out even looking at the keyboard. "asdfg, ;lkjh", I practiced day and night, but never did I learn proper typing. Today also, I spend more than 12 hours of a day with this word processor, but still I can't help taking a look at the keyboard very frequently.
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