Maximum City ... By guest blogger - Rubina

This is what a friend of mine wrote about her feelings on the events in Mumbai. Thanks Rubina.

It was when my colleague said that Mumbai has truly now become the “Maximum City” did I realize what Suketu Mehta meant. The Maya nagri, the city of illusions & endless dreams bleeds and along with it my heart. Before Thursday morning, when my mom called me and told me about the terror attack I never realized my love for this city and what it has given me in turn. A city, which only let me dream and aspire for more without feeling guilty.

Sitting near the Gateway of India I have often wondered as to when I would ever be able to earn enough to afford a lunch/dinner in Taj comfortably, a thought I personally know is shared by many. However, today I ponder as to how many of us would ever be able to dream without a nagging fear in the back of our heads. I do not know how long it will take anyone one of us to walk freely along the Causeway checking out all those ridiculously expensive stuff. However, I am sure that we will overcome these fear and sense of loss.

I am sure that all of us will sit by the sea near the Gateway and dream. We cannot be sitting at our homes all locked and holed up. Incessant urge to live and dream shall not be overcome by the fear of death they are trying to instill in our minds. If this fear reigns, we will lose out on everything that we have.

I have immense faith in ‘Us’ that we will dream all over again, teaching our children to dream like we do.

Right Now... Not for ever

There is chaos, right now. There is worry and grief, right now. There is mourning, right now. There is compassion, right now. There is anger, right now.

But these have been there in the past too and will be in the future. Its time to give a fitting reply. I don't now what that might be. Whatever it is, I would give my life to be part of it.

I don't know who. Some one. From some where. Some how. Guide me. Lead me towards the answer and I won't budge a bit from the path.

I don't know if there is going to be one in the near future. I don't blame politicians. I don't blame the security setup. I don't blame the terrorists; they need to and they will die. I don't blame religion. I don't blame fate. I don't blame anyone other than myself. I blame myself for not selecting the right people to safeguard me. I blame only the short-lived memories. I only blame myself.

Pacific Peekay

PK or  Peekay (literally) is a good friend. I only recently discovered that he is a poet too.
He blogs at pacificpeekay.blogspot.com

I haven't taken his permission for this post, but I know he won't mind. Would you PK?

Retribution
Boiling blood, burning rage
Run and hide inside your cage
Monster awake, consequences immaterial
Damage I will and damage physical
Evils galore, darkness clout
No mercy weather you beg or shout
Sympathy dead, fear gone
Penalty for the acts you’ve done
Weapon in hand, vengeance in thought
You’ve deserved what you’ve got
Act done, hormones subside
Now time for me to run and hide
Life wasted, future uncertain
Waiting for life to pull its curtain
Neck tied, head covered
At that time a thought occurred
I am dead and so are you
Waiting to see you soon"

Wipro employee commits suicide over pay issue- ET Cetera-News By Industry-News-The Economic Times

Wipro employee commits suicide over pay issue- ET Cetera-News By Industry-News-The Economic Times: "Wipro employee commits suicide over pay issue
25 Nov 2008, 2358 hrs IST, PTI

Print EMail Discuss Share Save Comment Text:
MYSORE: Dejected over non-compliance of demand by workers for pay revision, an employee of Wipro allegedly committed suicide, police said.


Hanumant Shetty (42), a low-rung employee of the firm and hailing from a nearby village, along with some fellow employees were on a demonstration in front of the Wipro factory since October 27, demanding pay revision.

These employes were earlier working with Metal Lamp Factory, when it was closed and taken up a few years ago by Wipro.

Shetty allegedly went aside from the camp, pitched for the demonstration, and consumed poison last night, police said.

One of his friend reportedly informed others who rushed him to K R Hospital where he died this morning.

Following his death there were angry demonstrations in front of the factory and tension prevailed for some time, police said.

A senior representative of Wipro from Bangalore arrived here to defuse the situation. The management has assured to pay a solatium of Rs 3 lakh to the family of Shetty."

This is absolute bullshit. Sense less. Idiotic. What foolishness makes this workman give his life? I felt sad and disgusted at the turn of events of the strike at Wipro.

The strike has been going on for almost a month now and I pass the tent they have put up in front of the gate every day during lunch time. Its such a pity to watch them inside the tent, trying to pass time. Every day I used to think about why this situation exists. But, only now have I realized that the salaries are pretty low, by any standards. The strike is justified and they have a legitimate right over higher wages, especially when the prices are rising all the time, thanks to Mr. Narayana Murthy.

However, suicide, without any thought towards the his two kids and wife, is something I absolutely can't understand. I have been told by my union leaders that he had attempted suicide on more than couple of occasions. Such incident has never happened in Mysore area. It is sad. Very Sad.

Snake Shyam - Fan in Five Mins

It was a pretty routine day at office and suddenly there was a snake found in the facility. Our security in-charge was stepping in from a window and the reason was  a Cobra. The gardener had seen it and alarmed every one. This one had been creating problems for some time now. It had entered one of the openings in the building and was just resting there. So, what does one do, in Mysore, when a snake is sighted, call Snake Shyam.

 

But, he was not available as he was working i.e. dropping school children home. That's his full time job. He owns a van that he uses to drop and pickup schoolchildren. He asked for some time and asked to be called back if the snake was still within sight after 45 mins. We put the gardener on guard, well a safe distance away.

 

I could not miss such a chance for my camera. So, rushed home to get it and was just in time for Shyam's arrival. Now, he is a larger than life character. I will write about him in detail later. For now, back to the snake business. He searched for couple of minutes, but the snake curled up and was not accessible. He had the block broken for better access to the snake.

 

In the mean time he check couple of smses he got and was ready to get the snake out as soon as it was accessible. His expert hands caught hold of the Cobra and guided it into the red bag. His actions seemed so very fluid and there was no fear in him for the poison that the fangs held in them.

Having caught the snake, he proceeded towards his car to dump the snake and got out a bag containing a register that he meticulously maintains. This is partly due to the bureaucratic hassles that he has to go through for doing all the good work.

Guess this look in his eyes have come to him after staring reptiles in the eyes for almost three decades.

 

From his car, he took out a small jar containing a small green snake to show it to us. He took it near a plant for a photo opportunity for me. Guess what he did next? He handed me the snake and I simply could not resist the temptation. This was the first time for me. It was an amazing feeling. I could hardly describe it in words. Thanks Dude!!! Your Rock!!!

Trip to Gomateshwara

 Get up in the morning to the smell of coconut all around. Well, it can happen if you are visiting a friend whose father happens to be a Copra (dried coconut) trader.

The plan was simple. Ride out of my skin and make a round trip to Jog Falls, around 1000 kms. Just to test my stamina, speed and of course re-assure myself of how reliable my Thunderbird is. It was not to be.
Daya insisted that I visit his place and carry on from there. His place was on the way (which I later realized was not), he said and I could not say no. However, I am happy about staying at his place as I was treated to amazing hospitality at his home and got to see what village life really is.

I got back from office at around 4:30 PM and started packing all the essentials. Daya was waiting for me and we were off at around 5:15 PM. He suggested two routes, one Mysore-Srirangapatna-KR PET-CR
Patna-Arasikere and the other Mysore-Hasan-Arasikere. The latter seemed simple and faster to do, so I opted for it only to realize later that it was not as good a choice. For Hasan, we took SH-88 and
took a right turn after around 20 kms. This road I had already traveled on and it is smooth as a runway. After taking right for Hasan, I didn't find anything different. Somehow, the road infrastructure in South India is amazing! At least most of it as I later experienced.

It was cloudy right from morning and there was some drizzling too. And it got only worse as we headed towards Hasan. So, out came the Duck-Back and journey took a hit of 5 mins. We reached Hasan in around
1 ½ hrs. Now was the time to experience one of the worst roads I have ever ridden on. It was so bad that one could say there were roads in between pot holes, drum holes and couple of container holes!. It didn't end till we reached his village.

After a warm welcome and a cup of tea, I met Daya's father who was all too amused with me and was asking all sort of questions. I, under normal circumstances, would have taken offence to many of them. But, I thought, may be this is the way some people are and patiently answered all questions. It was quite interesting talking to him. He was taking care of the business that his father-in-law had setup, the Copra business. The business itself is quite simple. Have the ability to stock the coconut for 9 months and then sell it. His ability to stock coconut is quite good. With 5 or 6 houses (Daya didn't remember the count), they could stock all that was produced in their village of around 200 homes.

After rice, sambar and papad, I immediately retired in one of the many rooms. Pretty comfortable. After a good night sleep, I was woke up quite early to the smell of Coconut Oil (Don't remember correctly, but I think I had a dream about Mum oiling my head!). A nice cup of tea, and a snap of their house later,
I pushed off towards I-don't-know-where. I took directions for Belur, Halebeedu and Gomateshwara.

My first stop was for breakfast and tea. I brushed at the hotel and had hot, steaming idlis. Only later did I realize that I had forgotten to withdraw cash. I was lucky that I only had idli and 10 bucks I had just about covered it. The hotel manager gave directions towards the nearest ATM and Belur and Halebeedu. It seemed to be a drag and the road, he said may not be good. The weather too didn't look too promising. So, I decided that Gomateshwara would be the best bet as it was on the Mysore road.

Gomateshwara was a good experience. This is the place with the tallest monolith in the world, that of saint Jaina Gommata. It is absolutely worth a visit. Reaching there was not difficult as the roads were quite good and traffic scant. I could see the monolith from quite far away. Its quite a climb up to the temple. But let me tell you, it was worth every step of it. The view from top is amazing and the monolith itself is quite awesome. There are lot of foreigners visiting the place. This team of foreigners seemed to be hearing impaired as they were communicating in sign language. All in all, its' an amazing place and a Sunday well spent! Watch out this space for more of my weekend get aways! Next is Jog Falls

This is Daya's home at Arisekere

His village lane

Well, My ThunderBird!

The Gomateshwara monolith as seen from far away

Steep steps leading to the World's largest Monolith

Lot of foreigners

Inscriptions dating back hundreds of years

Some more inscriptions, Great effort to preserve them

Beautiful view from the top

Immaculate architecture

Bah (arm) of the Bahubali

Bahubali standing tall

Amazing stamina these men should have. I found it difficult to just carry myself up there!

This guy made me laugh! As are the people in the background. Man is so innovative especially when it comes to reducing discomfort for himself.

Bye bye, Gomateshwara

These pictures were sent with Picasa, from Google.
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Conserving Energy, Wasting Talent

The picture of this Solar Heater could be from any house in Mysore.
Every one has one on their roofs. Its is amazing how much energy is
being saved due to it. And in Mysore, it is pretty cold. That much
more saving. And still we have load shedding across Mysore, karnataka
infact! There has to more innovation in solar technology and we should
move from consuming energy from finite sources to using energy from
infinite source. Solar, Wind, etc.


I got up pretty early today and saw couple of guys having pegs of
oldmonk in the morning at 6:00! No, they are not habitual drinkers and
not that they are like machines that run on alcohol. These are 20-22
yr olds working in the outsourcing industry and trying to make ends
meet. They work night shifts and slog their asses to get the right key
words so that google shows advertisement for that particular search!
Some very tedious job. And it is not a value adding job at all. It is
degrading to the degree that they have. All of them are engineers! I
swear, I have tears in my eyes as I am typing! It is very very
unfortunate that these guys are doing the job of a secretary to a
secretary of web designer sitting in the US. Come on! You guys are the
best India has to offer and you taking up these non-contributing work!
Please! Don't! Stop it!

Please, Don't! I was thinking about all this as I entered my cabin and
this view awaited me!

Some consolation for a damn bad start to the
day.

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Marriage!

I don't remember if I have blogged about this marriage, but even at the cost of repetition, here I go!

First of all, I had never visited my native place in many, many years and this opportunity to attend my cousins marriage was difficult to resist on many counts.
1. I have never visited Pondicherry i.e. never really enjoyed the place
2. Spending Diwali alone at home was not that appealing
3. All family would have gathered at Pondicherry
4. Prospect of 1800 kms on bike
5. oh! I almost forget, the marriage too

This marriage had all the classic requirements of a blockbuster. Comedy, Drama, Action, and what all you want to add after it. There was a guy who just wanted to create some problem. Why? He was from the boys side! BIG, FAT, PIG he was! Other than that all sorts of people were to be seen. Now, Pondicherry has reputation of being the highest per-capita consumer of alcohol in the world. So, it was no surprise to find a few in high spirits. Its the culture! or is it? And then there was the usual confusion about what the right procedure is for doing a particular ritual. This in spite of the pandit being there. Don't know how and why!

I did like to be at the marriage. Clicking away with my Canon. Meeting my cousin after such a long time. All those things made it a really nice experience. One interesting thing! Last time I attended a marriage in Pondicherry was a long time ago and it was my uncle's marriage. So, I had seen all of them on the terrace of the same house. Having beer and discussing it. This time, we, the next generation, repeated it! No one objected. No one questioned! Guess, am all grown up now!

Velankanni - Spent about an hour there

Immediately after Thiruvarur Temple, we made our way towards
Velankanni. Its not very big, but its attractive. Its a pilgrimage for
Christains. Captured some of the pics and moved on. Now, don't get the
idea that I am very religious. I am not! However, I do like the
architechture and the feel of those places!

These pictures were sent with Picasa, from Google.
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Thiruvarur Temple Museum

Pondicherry Visit - Extended

I visited the Sri Thiyagaraja Temple early morning and found that the
place was pretty deserted. Only a few people here and there. This is a
pretty huge structure and very attractive too. As usual, the entrance
and walls and every other structure has idols on them.

These pictures were sent with Picasa, from Google.
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Small temple in front of the big temple

Iyer in Action!!!

The Massive structure. This is the entrance of the temple museum!

This is the painting on the roof of the bus stand in front of the museum.

Thats a nice duck, isn't it? Just that its fake.

Like all of South India, very colorful!

Caged Deity!

Now this was surprise and disgust! Why would so many Ayurvedic Fair & Lovely. Absolutely didn't make any sense.

The temple museum was being extended.

Well thats the end of the trip to the museum temple of thiruvarus