Building the life :
Recently I read this small story which I would like to share it with you all. Thanks to the unknown author.
An elderly carpenter was ready to retire. He told his employer-contractor of his plans to leave the house-building business to live a more leisurely life with his wife and enjoy his extended family. He would miss the paycheck each week, but he wanted to retire. They could get by. The contractor was sorry to see his good worker go & asked if he could build just one more house as a personal favor. The carpenter said yes, but over time it was easy to see that his heart was not in his work. He resorted to shoddy workmanship and used inferior materials. It was an unfortunate way to end a dedicated career. When the carpenter finished his work, his employer came to inspect the house. Then he handed the front-door key to the carpenter and said, "This is your house... my gift to you."The carpenter was shocked! What a shame! If he had only known he was building his own house, he would have done it all so differently. So it is with us. We build our lives, a day at a time, often putting less than our best into the building. Then, with a shock, we realize we have to live in the house we have built. If we could do it over, we would do it much differently.But, you cannot go back. You are the carpenter, and every day you hammer a nail, place a board, or erect a wall. Someone once said, "Life is a do-it-yourself project." Your attitude, and the choices you make today, help build the "house" you will live in tomorrow. Therefore, Build wisely!
How I relate this:
I feel that this story is written for me or by seeing me. If I look back, I have a combinations of hard work, stupidness, ignorance, mistakes, helplessness, over smart, dumb, something different & over friendly characters which has made me what I am today. Most of the time I feel I should have not done something or should have done differently, many times I dint had a clue what I am doing. Was stuck many times to decide “ is am I doing it right or wrong”. Always I wished I had a god father, who could have guided me hour by hour, day & night, Monday to Sunday and I would have simply followed, but that’s not called Life isn’t ?
A small poem from my side: ( OMG, you have to bear a poet as well !!!)
I wish I had an eraser,
really big one,
so that I could have gone back and erased few mistakes,
I wish I had a pen,
very nice one,
so that I could have written something’s very differently,
I don’t have both today,
But my mind says, I can always buy one,
For the rest of the life is the shop called “ Hope”
which never closes & never out of stock !!!
Monday, October 19, 2009
Monday, August 10, 2009
Ganesha Banda.............
Most of us know the story behind the Ganesha festival becoming “Street Friendly “ , if not, a quick briefing : During THE freedom struggle, THE British Raj banned people gathering as a technique to prevent them from getting together and protesting against them. As all issues have a work around, our freedom fighter Mr. Baal Ganghadara Tilak, came up with a smart idea to gather people and pass on the message of freedom by making ganesha fest a public event.
Since childhood, Ganesha has always been a fantasy and a very appealing god to me may be because of the elephant look and being foodie, also two days holiday in a row and the story tales of him made him a superstar god to us.
During my school days, in our whole area, there used to be one or two public events of LORD Ganesha, held for 3 to 7 days attracting a large crowd. We never used to get permission to attend these as we were very little and my mother would always used to fear that we would get lost in the crowd. Once during this festival, as part of the entertainment, they had arranged a film screening in a park and I happily went with my sister without telling at home resulted in my mom searching for hours and at last found me in the crowd, ending in a beating session and I walked out, eyes brimming with tears and a running nose.
So when I was in 6th or 7th standard, all my friends (a gang of around 30 guys), decided to celebrate the event in our street. A guy called “Harisha” became our leader (Qualification: Older than the rest of us& a rowdy) and started giving us instructions on the things to be done. To raise funds we had come up with a lottery system, offering a Mixie, A Table Fan, and Steel Boxes as the prizes. All of us were given a book of 50 chits to sell, each ticket costing RS. 5. As one more technique of fund raising , we had Golkas ( Piggy bank) prepared using old talcum powder and tooth powder boxes, shaking them in front of the pedestrians, not leaving them until they put some money in to it.
As the event was nearing we went to each house on our street for collection, and people gave whatever they could afford to. Had a lot of work to do like cleaning up the area, digging the road for the pillars, getting the idol on a pushing cart, decorating the street with color papers. Guys had such high level energy that each one of us was like built to kill. Any work and every work, no break, no food.
The event was for 3 days and had the orchestra program on the second day, which was the favorite day among all. The last day was the idol immersing day, with a grand procession, where we used to dance and chill for the whole 3 – 4 hrs.
With such a small budget and resources we used to have so much fun, but now we are kind of fixed to a routine life. Most of the guys are in a job earning a decent salary and it’s not a very tough job to do such an event, but we all end up claiming we have “no time” (even then we had 24 hrs only in a day) and act busy. Idea of sharing all this with you came to my mind when last week in Mysore, some guy approached me to buy a lottery ticket for Ganesha Festival. The whole story came to my mind as a piece of nostalgia.
Since childhood, Ganesha has always been a fantasy and a very appealing god to me may be because of the elephant look and being foodie, also two days holiday in a row and the story tales of him made him a superstar god to us.
During my school days, in our whole area, there used to be one or two public events of LORD Ganesha, held for 3 to 7 days attracting a large crowd. We never used to get permission to attend these as we were very little and my mother would always used to fear that we would get lost in the crowd. Once during this festival, as part of the entertainment, they had arranged a film screening in a park and I happily went with my sister without telling at home resulted in my mom searching for hours and at last found me in the crowd, ending in a beating session and I walked out, eyes brimming with tears and a running nose.
So when I was in 6th or 7th standard, all my friends (a gang of around 30 guys), decided to celebrate the event in our street. A guy called “Harisha” became our leader (Qualification: Older than the rest of us& a rowdy) and started giving us instructions on the things to be done. To raise funds we had come up with a lottery system, offering a Mixie, A Table Fan, and Steel Boxes as the prizes. All of us were given a book of 50 chits to sell, each ticket costing RS. 5. As one more technique of fund raising , we had Golkas ( Piggy bank) prepared using old talcum powder and tooth powder boxes, shaking them in front of the pedestrians, not leaving them until they put some money in to it.
As the event was nearing we went to each house on our street for collection, and people gave whatever they could afford to. Had a lot of work to do like cleaning up the area, digging the road for the pillars, getting the idol on a pushing cart, decorating the street with color papers. Guys had such high level energy that each one of us was like built to kill. Any work and every work, no break, no food.
The event was for 3 days and had the orchestra program on the second day, which was the favorite day among all. The last day was the idol immersing day, with a grand procession, where we used to dance and chill for the whole 3 – 4 hrs.
With such a small budget and resources we used to have so much fun, but now we are kind of fixed to a routine life. Most of the guys are in a job earning a decent salary and it’s not a very tough job to do such an event, but we all end up claiming we have “no time” (even then we had 24 hrs only in a day) and act busy. Idea of sharing all this with you came to my mind when last week in Mysore, some guy approached me to buy a lottery ticket for Ganesha Festival. The whole story came to my mind as a piece of nostalgia.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Easy Investment !!!
I was just thinking on this by comparing myself with my nieces and believe me we really came up as a very easy investment to our parents. I know, it’s the matter of time which has made such a huge difference in our life style. Just A few years ago, things which were “really expensive to us, which were in the “can’t afford” list or “why we need that” list are more or less moved in to “very much needed” or “very cheap” or “unable to survive without this” lists.
My parents never had much of A problem raising us. We were so undemanding, not fussy, affordable and content. Our school fee was never a burden. I still remember paying 7RS / Month as fees when I was in 7th Standard. (7 *10 = 70 was the annual fees! Bingo!! And my niece is 5th STD and pays roughly 30K / Year). Parents never had to drop and pick us from school as it was just 2 roads across. They never had to sit with us and make us do home work.
We never had a luxury of owning something ourselves as we always used to get things on sharing basis. It might be toys, bicycle, story books, geometry box, badminton bats, so many things. And being the youngest was literally a curse as things will come to you as 3rd or 4th or 5th ‘handed’ but still I was waiting to own them. I remember having a Hero Rally bicycle, which was used by my father, then passed on to my brother and later given to me. The Cycle was handed over to me with lots of instructions on how to use, when to use, where to take, where not to take, oh many restrictions, but all conditions were agreed by me as I badly wanted the cycle. I was allowed to take the cycle to school only when I came to THE 9th STD !
Later, my sister’s 2nd hand singular seat Luna Kinetic came in to my possession (For some reason I still remember the registration no: CTH 2859). Believe me, I was feeling ON top of world. I used to go for rides only in the evening as my sister used to take it TO work in the day time. I used to agree, to go to the ration mill or to the shops or agree to pay utility bills only because I was allowed to use the Luna for that period. Picking and dropping anyone in the family was also part of my service, to get my hands on the Luna. I had put a sticker on the Luna which was a cartoon face of Azaruddin. The day my dad decided to sell it off as it was not giving much mileage was one of the saddest days in my life.
The other eagerly awaited event in those years was, Diwali. We were never bothered even if we don’t get new clothes (as looks hardly mattered) all we needed was Crackers and only crackers. One day before the fest, my dad used to get the crackers and I don’t know why but he used to arrange them over shelves and curtain boxes, which was AN eye candy for us. He used to distribute the “Anae Pataki” among us (normally comes as a pack of 100, and used to get around 30 as my share) and bursting them by making them double was the most adventurous event for us.
Take Away: To be content.
My parents never had much of A problem raising us. We were so undemanding, not fussy, affordable and content. Our school fee was never a burden. I still remember paying 7RS / Month as fees when I was in 7th Standard. (7 *10 = 70 was the annual fees! Bingo!! And my niece is 5th STD and pays roughly 30K / Year). Parents never had to drop and pick us from school as it was just 2 roads across. They never had to sit with us and make us do home work.
We never had a luxury of owning something ourselves as we always used to get things on sharing basis. It might be toys, bicycle, story books, geometry box, badminton bats, so many things. And being the youngest was literally a curse as things will come to you as 3rd or 4th or 5th ‘handed’ but still I was waiting to own them. I remember having a Hero Rally bicycle, which was used by my father, then passed on to my brother and later given to me. The Cycle was handed over to me with lots of instructions on how to use, when to use, where to take, where not to take, oh many restrictions, but all conditions were agreed by me as I badly wanted the cycle. I was allowed to take the cycle to school only when I came to THE 9th STD !
Later, my sister’s 2nd hand singular seat Luna Kinetic came in to my possession (For some reason I still remember the registration no: CTH 2859). Believe me, I was feeling ON top of world. I used to go for rides only in the evening as my sister used to take it TO work in the day time. I used to agree, to go to the ration mill or to the shops or agree to pay utility bills only because I was allowed to use the Luna for that period. Picking and dropping anyone in the family was also part of my service, to get my hands on the Luna. I had put a sticker on the Luna which was a cartoon face of Azaruddin. The day my dad decided to sell it off as it was not giving much mileage was one of the saddest days in my life.
The other eagerly awaited event in those years was, Diwali. We were never bothered even if we don’t get new clothes (as looks hardly mattered) all we needed was Crackers and only crackers. One day before the fest, my dad used to get the crackers and I don’t know why but he used to arrange them over shelves and curtain boxes, which was AN eye candy for us. He used to distribute the “Anae Pataki” among us (normally comes as a pack of 100, and used to get around 30 as my share) and bursting them by making them double was the most adventurous event for us.
Take Away: To be content.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Letter to CM
Dear CM, Karnataka State,
Hello Sir, I would like to start this letter with my warm regards and respect. I am one among the millions of common people who work hard to earn a decent meal. As a responsible citizen I thought I will write a letter to you, specifying what are our basic requirements and what’s that we look forward and expect from you. I know you have a very busy schedule and thousands like me write to you daily. I would be asking for too much if I expected a reply for this but this is a small exercise to start as a campaign, so that if many like me write, may be due to the huge volume, it might catch your attention.
As Indians, we are all very much used to adjusting with what we have and what I am putting forward here are the basic things, in fact very basic things and all it needs is an honest effort and proper planning.
Our Requests are :
1. Water, decent roads and electricity: There is lot of illegal connection and wastage. If these areas are addressed, the shortage can be met. Awareness program on usage will also add a lot to solve the problem.
2. Basic health centers – Without any expired medicines and with well staffed
3. Public Transport: On time buses, Metro rail in cities and good connection points from one place to another will encourage a lot of people to take up public transport. If you see the trend, now a days lot of people are using the City Volvo services.
4. Cut down your’s, your ministers’ and officers’ travel by introducing Teleconferencing, they are very user friendly to use and saves a lot of your time.
5. Run your Cabinet as a company : Conduct monthly and surprise meetings, review issues and achievements, tag action items to ministers and chase them to close it.
6. Don’t give false statements, fulfill what you have promised: it’s the credibility issue. People are very smart now a days.
7. Bangalore is not Karnataka : Don’t restrict all your visits and plans to only Bangalore & Mysore. North Karnataka and the rural areas are waiting for the basic requirements from A long time. Improvement of those areas and moving some of the administrational works and promoting industries to come up in 3 Tyre Cities will for sure help the localities and automatically reduce the thick cluster of population in and around Bangalore.
8. Staying in Villages : Idea of CM staying in Villages, introduced by Mr Kumarswamy, is a wonderful concept. Request you to continue the same.
9. Education : “ Bisi Oota” and “ Sarva Sikshana Abhiyana” are the currently running very successful programs and request you to continue the same. Also need to urge on improving the quality of education in Govt schools by introducing close to the reality concepts. ( 90% of the things what we studied in school , we never use in our daily life and work, at least not me)
10. Rain Water Harvesting: To be made compulsory at every house, Govt premises, parks ( literally in all the possible places) as we are nearing the water shortage era very soon.
This is what I can think as a very small element of this system.
Hello Sir, I would like to start this letter with my warm regards and respect. I am one among the millions of common people who work hard to earn a decent meal. As a responsible citizen I thought I will write a letter to you, specifying what are our basic requirements and what’s that we look forward and expect from you. I know you have a very busy schedule and thousands like me write to you daily. I would be asking for too much if I expected a reply for this but this is a small exercise to start as a campaign, so that if many like me write, may be due to the huge volume, it might catch your attention.
As Indians, we are all very much used to adjusting with what we have and what I am putting forward here are the basic things, in fact very basic things and all it needs is an honest effort and proper planning.
Our Requests are :
1. Water, decent roads and electricity: There is lot of illegal connection and wastage. If these areas are addressed, the shortage can be met. Awareness program on usage will also add a lot to solve the problem.
2. Basic health centers – Without any expired medicines and with well staffed
3. Public Transport: On time buses, Metro rail in cities and good connection points from one place to another will encourage a lot of people to take up public transport. If you see the trend, now a days lot of people are using the City Volvo services.
4. Cut down your’s, your ministers’ and officers’ travel by introducing Teleconferencing, they are very user friendly to use and saves a lot of your time.
5. Run your Cabinet as a company : Conduct monthly and surprise meetings, review issues and achievements, tag action items to ministers and chase them to close it.
6. Don’t give false statements, fulfill what you have promised: it’s the credibility issue. People are very smart now a days.
7. Bangalore is not Karnataka : Don’t restrict all your visits and plans to only Bangalore & Mysore. North Karnataka and the rural areas are waiting for the basic requirements from A long time. Improvement of those areas and moving some of the administrational works and promoting industries to come up in 3 Tyre Cities will for sure help the localities and automatically reduce the thick cluster of population in and around Bangalore.
8. Staying in Villages : Idea of CM staying in Villages, introduced by Mr Kumarswamy, is a wonderful concept. Request you to continue the same.
9. Education : “ Bisi Oota” and “ Sarva Sikshana Abhiyana” are the currently running very successful programs and request you to continue the same. Also need to urge on improving the quality of education in Govt schools by introducing close to the reality concepts. ( 90% of the things what we studied in school , we never use in our daily life and work, at least not me)
10. Rain Water Harvesting: To be made compulsory at every house, Govt premises, parks ( literally in all the possible places) as we are nearing the water shortage era very soon.
This is what I can think as a very small element of this system.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Small but Big
Some things will be very small in our life but will leave a lasting impression and keep coming in front of our eyes as memories. It can be anything, a place, a moment with friends, a person, an encounter with a known or unknown person, an embarrassing situation, an accidental event. As I said earlier it can be anything. Some faces will keep coming in front of your eyes when u think of a situation, some words ring a bell in your ears when you think of a conversation. This will happen for years. I don’t know what we call these phenomena. I would like to register some of my own experiences.
Ajji Angadi : Believe me, this shop didn’t have any board and was of a very small size. May be 5X10 feet in size which was partitioned into 2 compartments. Front end was the shop and the back portion is where the granny used to live. I am not sure how old that granny was but from my UKG / 1st standard up till my college days, she used to look the same as if she had stopped growing. The shop was at a mere 100 yards away from my school and was buzzing during breaks with pupils. She used to sell limited items may be because of the budget constraints or size of the shop. Our favorites were lemon peppermint (in Kannda, nimbe huli), ginger mint( Shunti peppermint) and small biscuits. Peppermint will cost you 5 paise each and 5 biscuits for 10 paise. I am talking about 1983 / 84. What more can you ask for. Perfectly suites our bill. Carry 25 paise and fill your pocket. Granny was a totally unfriendly business woman. Always had paan in her mouth, no smile and don’t care attitude. I heard that she passed away, recently. I have not seen her at least for a decade now but I keep remembering my visit to this shop. The irony is, may be throughout my life I would have at max done 250 Rs of business with her. I really appreciate her for leading such an independent and simple life.
My primary school : To be called as Sri Vani Vidya Mandira, situated very much in a lower middle class and middle class area in Mysore. Govt aided, only Kannada medium and was only till 7th std. It was running in 3 different locations in which 2 were in rented premises. As I know, my parents selected this school only on one merit, that It was hardly 500 yards from our house. In fact, my two sisters and a brother also studied in the same school. Each standard had two sections, A and B with a max strength of 30 pupils in each section. Most of the students used to be from the same locality, all of them would get to school on foot, accompanied by his / her brother / sister who also used to study in the same school. No autos, no jatakas. Only two or three students used to come by bicycle. Except one or two, even the teachers used to come by walk. It was so local. I still remember paying 6 Rs fees / month of my 7th Standard. Used to have one Physical Training ( PT) session for a week and eagerly wait for it. Monday to Friday we would sing one prayer and on Saturday a different one. White shirt and blue ‘nikkar’ was the outfit and whites on the Saturday. There was and is a shop called “ Jain Appealrs” who sell only uniforms which is the place where we used to buy from. I bet pupils from Vidyaranyapuram and Chamundi Puram used to buy only from this shop. As far as I know, during my 7th standard my tie would cost 5 Rs and 3 rs for the badge. I always hated to go to school and my uncle Mr Govinda Rao used to drop me every day. The only reason I agreed to go with him was ‘cause he used to get me cream biscuit on the way from a cycle shop. Till today I don’t know why that cycle shop guy used to sell Cream biscuits !!!
Take Away : Small is not really small !!!
Ajji Angadi : Believe me, this shop didn’t have any board and was of a very small size. May be 5X10 feet in size which was partitioned into 2 compartments. Front end was the shop and the back portion is where the granny used to live. I am not sure how old that granny was but from my UKG / 1st standard up till my college days, she used to look the same as if she had stopped growing. The shop was at a mere 100 yards away from my school and was buzzing during breaks with pupils. She used to sell limited items may be because of the budget constraints or size of the shop. Our favorites were lemon peppermint (in Kannda, nimbe huli), ginger mint( Shunti peppermint) and small biscuits. Peppermint will cost you 5 paise each and 5 biscuits for 10 paise. I am talking about 1983 / 84. What more can you ask for. Perfectly suites our bill. Carry 25 paise and fill your pocket. Granny was a totally unfriendly business woman. Always had paan in her mouth, no smile and don’t care attitude. I heard that she passed away, recently. I have not seen her at least for a decade now but I keep remembering my visit to this shop. The irony is, may be throughout my life I would have at max done 250 Rs of business with her. I really appreciate her for leading such an independent and simple life.
My primary school : To be called as Sri Vani Vidya Mandira, situated very much in a lower middle class and middle class area in Mysore. Govt aided, only Kannada medium and was only till 7th std. It was running in 3 different locations in which 2 were in rented premises. As I know, my parents selected this school only on one merit, that It was hardly 500 yards from our house. In fact, my two sisters and a brother also studied in the same school. Each standard had two sections, A and B with a max strength of 30 pupils in each section. Most of the students used to be from the same locality, all of them would get to school on foot, accompanied by his / her brother / sister who also used to study in the same school. No autos, no jatakas. Only two or three students used to come by bicycle. Except one or two, even the teachers used to come by walk. It was so local. I still remember paying 6 Rs fees / month of my 7th Standard. Used to have one Physical Training ( PT) session for a week and eagerly wait for it. Monday to Friday we would sing one prayer and on Saturday a different one. White shirt and blue ‘nikkar’ was the outfit and whites on the Saturday. There was and is a shop called “ Jain Appealrs” who sell only uniforms which is the place where we used to buy from. I bet pupils from Vidyaranyapuram and Chamundi Puram used to buy only from this shop. As far as I know, during my 7th standard my tie would cost 5 Rs and 3 rs for the badge. I always hated to go to school and my uncle Mr Govinda Rao used to drop me every day. The only reason I agreed to go with him was ‘cause he used to get me cream biscuit on the way from a cycle shop. Till today I don’t know why that cycle shop guy used to sell Cream biscuits !!!
Take Away : Small is not really small !!!
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Why am I so much impressed with Mr S. L Bhyrappa?
It’s the Sunday, 24th the May, a very pleasant weather all the way through the day. I got busy without any specific reason. Went out, hunting for a site/ flat, which I am doing from a long time, with no success. But not to lose hope.
I am myself unable to understand and answer the above question. Even though I knew about SLB, it was my sister, who very recently introduced me to his books. I took the book from her, but kept it for more than a month, without turning a single page. One fine day I just started reading it, called “ Anavarana” and you don’t believe, I finished that in no time and am now reading the second one, his biography “Bitthi “.
It’s like, love at first sight. Without my knowledge, I have developed huge respect for him and for sure will read all his writings down the line. May be it’s the simplicity, facts, experience, in depth knowledge of the subject, straight forwardness, strong hold of the language, unbelievable memory – giving dates, names and figures are some of the things which makes him stand apart from the peer writers.
As I remember, “Anavarana” had at least 30 – 40 book references mentioned in its last page. Am sure he would have read and visited much more books and places to carve such a beauty. I also heard that , there was a lot of controversy when this book was released, but for sure the facts given by SLB outstood and put a full stop to all the false cry. Razia’s character, stands for a long time in the reader’s memory.
“Bitti”, his autobiography is a mind blowing piece of work. A mirror to struggling and the hard path which he has taken. Very few people can be so honest while penning down their journey. The book opens a new world for you. Gives a clear picture of the life during 1940’s and so on. Talks about the socio-economic situations, deadly diseases, transport, education system, student life, food, value for the money, people, castism, beauty of Mysore, and many more things. How can one write so openly about his cruel father ? I am not getting any writers name here. Its very easy today for us to sit on a sofa and read what he has gone through, but only the person who goes through it knows the pain. I salute him. The way he has written about the pain and the loneliness in the days after his mother passed away, makes you think, how cruel was the life, towards him. Can’t even imagine.
It’s so strange that, during 2002/03, SLB’s son Mr. Ravishankar, came down to my house in Middleborough, UK. That time, even though I knew SLB was a big time Kannada writer, I had never read any of his writings. For sure I will put 100% effort to meet SLB in Mysore, some day. Only one common factor between me and SLB is, both are Mysoreans !!!
Take away : I will try to be as simple as possible in my life. When a legend like SLB can be so simple, why can’t I ?
About SLB : ( Source : http://www.wikipedia.com/)
Santeshivara Lingannaiah Bhyrappa (born July 26, 1934), is a Kannada novelist, whose works are immensely popular both within India and abroad. Bhyrappa is widely regarded as one of India's foremost modern-day writers.His novels are unique in terms of theme, structure, and characterization.He has been among the top selling authors of Kannada, Hindi and Marathi for the past several years.Most of his works reveal the theme of Advaita vedanta and search of truth. Although S. L. Bhyrappa participated in the freedom struggle of Indian Independence at an early age, he believes that Indian Independence was just a political freedom from British rule, and the real Independence is the intellectual freedom which is nurtured by the strong foundations laid in the teachings of rich Indian culture and values.
Written Gems :
Novels
Dharmashree (1961)
Doora saridaru (1962)
Matadaana (1965)
Vamshavraksha (1965)
Jalapaata (1967)
Naayi Neralu (1968) -
Tabbaliyu neenaade magane (1968)
Gruhabhanga (1970)
Nirakarana (1971)
Grahana (1972)
Dhaatu (1973)
Anweshane (1976)
Parva(1979)
Nele (1983)
Saakshi (1986)
Anchu (1990)
Tantu (1993)
Saartha (1998)
Mandra (2001)
Bheemakaaya (2004/2005)
Aavarana (2007)
Autobiography
Bhitti
Philosophy
Satya mattu Soundarya (1966) (Doctoral thesis)
Saahitya mattu Prateeka (1967)
Kathe mattu Kathavastu (1969)
Naaneke Bareyuttene? (1980)
I am myself unable to understand and answer the above question. Even though I knew about SLB, it was my sister, who very recently introduced me to his books. I took the book from her, but kept it for more than a month, without turning a single page. One fine day I just started reading it, called “ Anavarana” and you don’t believe, I finished that in no time and am now reading the second one, his biography “Bitthi “.
It’s like, love at first sight. Without my knowledge, I have developed huge respect for him and for sure will read all his writings down the line. May be it’s the simplicity, facts, experience, in depth knowledge of the subject, straight forwardness, strong hold of the language, unbelievable memory – giving dates, names and figures are some of the things which makes him stand apart from the peer writers.
As I remember, “Anavarana” had at least 30 – 40 book references mentioned in its last page. Am sure he would have read and visited much more books and places to carve such a beauty. I also heard that , there was a lot of controversy when this book was released, but for sure the facts given by SLB outstood and put a full stop to all the false cry. Razia’s character, stands for a long time in the reader’s memory.
“Bitti”, his autobiography is a mind blowing piece of work. A mirror to struggling and the hard path which he has taken. Very few people can be so honest while penning down their journey. The book opens a new world for you. Gives a clear picture of the life during 1940’s and so on. Talks about the socio-economic situations, deadly diseases, transport, education system, student life, food, value for the money, people, castism, beauty of Mysore, and many more things. How can one write so openly about his cruel father ? I am not getting any writers name here. Its very easy today for us to sit on a sofa and read what he has gone through, but only the person who goes through it knows the pain. I salute him. The way he has written about the pain and the loneliness in the days after his mother passed away, makes you think, how cruel was the life, towards him. Can’t even imagine.
It’s so strange that, during 2002/03, SLB’s son Mr. Ravishankar, came down to my house in Middleborough, UK. That time, even though I knew SLB was a big time Kannada writer, I had never read any of his writings. For sure I will put 100% effort to meet SLB in Mysore, some day. Only one common factor between me and SLB is, both are Mysoreans !!!
Take away : I will try to be as simple as possible in my life. When a legend like SLB can be so simple, why can’t I ?
About SLB : ( Source : http://www.wikipedia.com/)
Santeshivara Lingannaiah Bhyrappa (born July 26, 1934), is a Kannada novelist, whose works are immensely popular both within India and abroad. Bhyrappa is widely regarded as one of India's foremost modern-day writers.His novels are unique in terms of theme, structure, and characterization.He has been among the top selling authors of Kannada, Hindi and Marathi for the past several years.Most of his works reveal the theme of Advaita vedanta and search of truth. Although S. L. Bhyrappa participated in the freedom struggle of Indian Independence at an early age, he believes that Indian Independence was just a political freedom from British rule, and the real Independence is the intellectual freedom which is nurtured by the strong foundations laid in the teachings of rich Indian culture and values.
Written Gems :
Novels
Dharmashree (1961)
Doora saridaru (1962)
Matadaana (1965)
Vamshavraksha (1965)
Jalapaata (1967)
Naayi Neralu (1968) -
Tabbaliyu neenaade magane (1968)
Gruhabhanga (1970)
Nirakarana (1971)
Grahana (1972)
Dhaatu (1973)
Anweshane (1976)
Parva(1979)
Nele (1983)
Saakshi (1986)
Anchu (1990)
Tantu (1993)
Saartha (1998)
Mandra (2001)
Bheemakaaya (2004/2005)
Aavarana (2007)
Autobiography
Bhitti
Philosophy
Satya mattu Soundarya (1966) (Doctoral thesis)
Saahitya mattu Prateeka (1967)
Kathe mattu Kathavastu (1969)
Naaneke Bareyuttene? (1980)
Friday, May 8, 2009
Kannada in Karnataka
I am very proud to say am a Kannadiga and equivalently proud to say am an Indian and a human being. Kannada being my mother tongue ( Father tongue also !!! that's a PJ) I can fluently speak , write and understand Kannada. As am staying in Bangalore, a cosmopolitan city with a vibrant mix of people from different regions, color and caste, it makes me really proud to say we are so open, co operative and respect other cultures and languages. Otherwise Bangalore would not have been a 'Second Home' to many. (many have forgotten their first home and are enjoying this stay. Most welcome to do so.)
Quite often, i hear things from people like " Why should I learn kannada ? Why don't you speak English or Hindi " Also some of the claims that roads are bad, auto is expensive. I have some of the answers for that and thought I should speak out my mind on that.
1. First of all, if you learn Kannada ( or any local language of the place where you are staying), you will be the one who will be benefited as you can easily communicate in Govt offices, local markets, make local friends, understand the local history, enjoy local festivals.
2. It will be very easy to communicate and get the work done by your maid, driver or gardener. I think its so stupid to expect them to talk Hindi or English as most of them will be school drop outs or illiterates. When you can't learn a language why should they learn ? Do you think they are more capable than you with respect to learning a new language ? A bit of common sense.
3. You will be able to ask for directions or help when needed.
4. it will be easy to help your kid with his/her home work.
5.You can bargain big time. if you don't know the language then it will be hard to convince the other party.
6. If you speak to the auto or taxi guy in local language, you will have less chance of getting cheated by paying extra.
7. If you make friends with your neighbors and local people, you will always feel the presence of a local support system Who knows one day you might need help or you can help someone.
8. By speaking the language of the space, you will be paying respect to the place which is giving you food, water & shelter.
In spite of all these, if you still don't want to learn, communicate and respect the local language it's your ignorance and you end up being the loser. We don't have a Goonda raj here, which forces you to do things. And please mind that no one is stopping you to go back to your native and live, enjoy and have a nice life. it's always better than staying here, enjoying the benefits and keep cribbing. My message is crisp and clear, when you are here , have a good time, mingle with locals, build relationship, make friends. End of the day, we are all Indians, and we all have equal rights to live anywhere we want. But the question is about - Living Right.
Some of the Facts of this land.
(Source : http://www.kannadaaudio.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9024)
Kannada is one of the major Dravidian languages of India, spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka. Kannada, whose native speakers are called Kannadigas, number roughly 35 million, making it the 27th most spoken language in the world. It is one of the official languages of India and the official and administrative language of the state of Karnataka.
1] Kannada is the third oldest language of India.(After ... Sanskrit & Tamil)
2] kannada is as old as 2000 years.
3] Kannada is 99.99% perfect - logically and scientifically.
4] We got 7 Gnana peetha awards. Look at other languages ... Hindi - 6, Telugu - 2, Malayalam - 3, Tamil - 2 (Second one during 2005)
5]Shri VINOBA BHAVE has called kannada script as QUEEN OF WORLD SCRIPTS - "Vishwa lipigaLa RaaNi - kannada"
6] So called international language - English does not have its own Script. English is written in "ROMAN"
7] So called national Language - hindi does not have its own script. Hindi is written in "Devanagari"
8] Though Tamil has a script, logically it is imperfect - as common letters are used for many pronunciations.
9] Government of India officially recognized Kannada as a classical language.
Jai Karnataka....
Quite often, i hear things from people like " Why should I learn kannada ? Why don't you speak English or Hindi " Also some of the claims that roads are bad, auto is expensive. I have some of the answers for that and thought I should speak out my mind on that.
1. First of all, if you learn Kannada ( or any local language of the place where you are staying), you will be the one who will be benefited as you can easily communicate in Govt offices, local markets, make local friends, understand the local history, enjoy local festivals.
2. It will be very easy to communicate and get the work done by your maid, driver or gardener. I think its so stupid to expect them to talk Hindi or English as most of them will be school drop outs or illiterates. When you can't learn a language why should they learn ? Do you think they are more capable than you with respect to learning a new language ? A bit of common sense.
3. You will be able to ask for directions or help when needed.
4. it will be easy to help your kid with his/her home work.
5.You can bargain big time. if you don't know the language then it will be hard to convince the other party.
6. If you speak to the auto or taxi guy in local language, you will have less chance of getting cheated by paying extra.
7. If you make friends with your neighbors and local people, you will always feel the presence of a local support system Who knows one day you might need help or you can help someone.
8. By speaking the language of the space, you will be paying respect to the place which is giving you food, water & shelter.
In spite of all these, if you still don't want to learn, communicate and respect the local language it's your ignorance and you end up being the loser. We don't have a Goonda raj here, which forces you to do things. And please mind that no one is stopping you to go back to your native and live, enjoy and have a nice life. it's always better than staying here, enjoying the benefits and keep cribbing. My message is crisp and clear, when you are here , have a good time, mingle with locals, build relationship, make friends. End of the day, we are all Indians, and we all have equal rights to live anywhere we want. But the question is about - Living Right.
Some of the Facts of this land.
(Source : http://www.kannadaaudio.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9024)
Kannada is one of the major Dravidian languages of India, spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka. Kannada, whose native speakers are called Kannadigas, number roughly 35 million, making it the 27th most spoken language in the world. It is one of the official languages of India and the official and administrative language of the state of Karnataka.
1] Kannada is the third oldest language of India.(After ... Sanskrit & Tamil)
2] kannada is as old as 2000 years.
3] Kannada is 99.99% perfect - logically and scientifically.
4] We got 7 Gnana peetha awards. Look at other languages ... Hindi - 6, Telugu - 2, Malayalam - 3, Tamil - 2 (Second one during 2005)
5]Shri VINOBA BHAVE has called kannada script as QUEEN OF WORLD SCRIPTS - "Vishwa lipigaLa RaaNi - kannada"
6] So called international language - English does not have its own Script. English is written in "ROMAN"
7] So called national Language - hindi does not have its own script. Hindi is written in "Devanagari"
8] Though Tamil has a script, logically it is imperfect - as common letters are used for many pronunciations.
9] Government of India officially recognized Kannada as a classical language.
Jai Karnataka....
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