The Real World Journeys

When i was in Pune, TRAVELING in the city did not occupy any position in my thought process.. It was mechanical. It was short and quick with almost definite required time. It was only after I landed here in B'lore that I think about traveling.
On this occasion, let me do a little burai of ITPL* buses :p Trust me, when i used to take ITPL buses, they would make me sick from inside. It's filled with people who's life is computerized. They are always thinking about how they can look more cool etc etc.. no one talks to the person sitting next and they are perpetually listening to the songs on their funky iPods!! How pathetic!
Slowly I grew sick of these uneventful long journeys and decided to get my bike to B'lore. Now, it so happened that, ITPL refused to give me 15 days bus pass so, i had to go for the local buses. I was lil tensed.. yeah... though it sounds funny, that is the truth. I have hardly ever traveled by local buses in Pune. And this was B'lore..
To my surprise, I found those local bus journeys pretty amusing, of course in a different way. It is tiring when u don't get place and have to stand for an hour... that part apart, I got to c a lot of different things. What I felt something like a fresh air current was that I was among the real people!! The people who talked to the people who sat next, who had natural expressions on their faces.. who were eager to help u when u got onto a wrong bus.... really, it felt so good when I saw all that.
I see so many different people on the bus.. small kids, girls n guys from colleges, old people.. I remember there was this old couple who were fruit stall owners in a near by village i suppose n they had sacks full of fruits.. we all helped them load the sacks onto the bus.. they were happy then n gave us a banana each! how sweet! :) I would surely not get to experience this on a ITPL bus!
The other event that has left a deep impression on my mind is when I met this little kid. He and his sister got onto the bus to go to the school. he must be 8 or so and his sister around 10. He sat next to me and smiled at me .. He was wearing a white shirt.. which was looking more on the brown side with a collar torn, a tie almost torn.. the same was the condition of his sister's uniform. What was very striking was that these kids were very happy!! I did not understand their language, but I could make out that they were joking and laughing over something that was innocently funny.. some minutes passed and an old lady got onto the bus. She had to go a long way n did not get a place to sit. Seeing that I offered my seat to her. This kid who was just 8, saw all that n was almost on the verge of crying because it did not strike him first that he should have asked that old lady to sit on his seat.. he got up and offered his seat to me and said something in Kannada. I must have had a blank expression on my face so, his sister looked at me and said, please sit down. Of course I said no. I was really surprised.. such little kids and they were so well behaved..
Ten min. must have passed after that when their school friends also got onto the bus. And I heard the same innocent laughter again... These kids dint have money to buy new clothes.. but they had something precious that made them happy, cheerful and nice human beings! Even now as I think of those kids, I smile :)


* ITPL is a place in B'lore where there are lots of computer companies, and my institute, where I work.

An Amateur's attempt

Sketching.. is a way of relaxing for me.. Usually, when I draw, it goes on for 1.5- 2 hours... and I completely forget the things around me. It feels great. :)

One Man's Dream

I close my eyes and drift into a new world... with the Piano composition.. One Man's Dream. Like a feather we dance, take circles at the most gentle breeze... i feel as if the music is emerging like a fountain from within..so beautiful.. so soothing.. it fills me.. and shows up on my face in the form of a smile..smile for no reason.. or just for the reason so important, so obvious that I have almost lost the touch with the world around... tune is neither happy nor sad... is it compassionate? yeah... I think it is... we drift along..touching the grass so green that I pick up a little green.. we move ahead to the vast meadows and then to mountains which appear as if they are in deep meditation... we reach the top of the mountains... I look around..what fills the air is peace which you c on the face of a sleeping child.. something that I have not even begun to understand... with this tune as I drift, it appears as if with everything around and the reason within, we are timeless.. like One Man's Dream!

Tears in heaven (Eric Clapton)

Would you know my name
If I saw you in heaven?
Would you feel the same
If I saw you in heaven?
I must be strong and carry on
cause I know I dont belong here in heaven...

Would you hold my hand
If I saw you in heaven?
Would you help me stand
If I saw you in heaven?
Ill find my way through night and day
cause I know I just cant stay here in heaven...

Time can bring you down, time can bend your knees
Time can break your heart, have you begging please...begging please

Beyond the door theres peace Im sure
And I know therell be no more tears in heaven...

Would you know my name
If I saw you in heaven?
Would you feel the same
If I saw you in heaven?
I must be strong and carry on
cause I know I dont belong here in heaven...

Living a PG life..

Living a PG (paying guest's) life... is an experience indeed! Considering the fact that this is the first time I am staying away from home for a long time, my mom was worried (a lot!! :P) and me curious...
My PG accommodation hunt dint have a very encouraging start. My friend and I visited some places but they were all sad considering that I am pretty finicky bout things like clean surroundings and all..Friend who accompanied me belongs to the same species in this matter so we quickly rejected all of them. At the end of the day we returned.. tired, lil shocked ( by the kind of places tht we saw) and frustrated as we could manage to c only 3 places.. (c, how output oriented we have become.. thanks to the corporate world!! hee hee.. :P ) The next day, my mom and I set out to look for a PG accommodation after a heavy lunch (stupid thing to do!) Thankfully, the first place we visited, satisfied all our conditions. So.. this is the place where I stay now.. a lil bungalow, with big evergreen trees around :) I share my room with another girl who works in IT. Best part being that she is on the phone 90% of the times ( for the reason we all know ;) ) giving me loads of space.. :)I can do things in my own style ( I have purposely used this word :p ) without getting any comments :)
Another thing which I would like to mention which is trying to become an integral part of my PG life is Cooking... Considering my great enthusiasm... its still trying :P Believe it or not, but I actually plan as to which vegetables I am to buy on my looooooooong (approx 1.5hrs) journey back home (whenever I decide to cook :P ). To put it on records, I HAVE COOKED 4 times!! ( I feel triumphant as I say this) and ppl liked it :D
I have to mention my NEW FRIENDS.. everyone talks about the Human friends... I will try n be lil adventurous here.. no fun in doing what everyone does, right? So.. we have a million ants, house lizards and a humongous rat ( who visits us every night.. I really admire the consistency!!!). The time I got to know my this new friend, I was zapped as he banged against my foot and ran off ( consider the fact that I have not even seen big cockroaches in my Pune ka ghar!) ! I still don't know the exact number of lizards.. no one knows for that matter as every time, there is a new one! I am trying to accept their presence still...
Overall its fun.. trying my hand at cooking, watching any crap on TV, chatting with other PG mates late night and yess... getting to know my NEW FRIENDS :P hee hee..
Cheers!!

City called Banglore... frm d view point of a Punekar

As many of you know, I am in B'lore now.. doing Ph.D in...4get it. Wont tell you the tech. details :) (Ppl who r interested, can contact me :) )
The main point is tht.. am in B'lore. City, not so new to me as my aunt stays here n have visited her lot of times b4. Talking about the weather, lot like tht of Pune ( just love Pune - People who hv listened to 'Asa mi asa Mi by PuLa, will get wht i EXACTLY mean when i say tht.. hee hee..) That is damn imp 4 me... I hated Delhi cuz of the weather.. it s BAD.
I got here 2 wks back. From airport we traveled for around 45 min to go to jyamahal (my Aunt's place) and traveled back in the airport direction (!!!!!) to visit Inst. Of Bioinformatics ( another 1 hr !!!!). IOB is the place where i am doing my Ph.D. Then off course search for the PG accom. We went to the places near by n got back traveling 1.5hrs back again. plz do the math as to 4 how much time we were traveling. Pune standards about distance n the required time to travel are LOTTTTT different. Think mainly cuz Pune is comparatively a small city with less traffic. I better not start talking about B'lore traffic.. its HORRIBLE. its sad that I start my blog with b'lore traffic.. but that is the thing tht u face 1st whn u land here.
Otherwise, b'lore has changed a lot over the years... now its more cosmopolitan.. bigger.. People are good. they DON'T stare at you while u r walking on the road.. :) there are these slight differences between Pune and banglore. In banglore, you will find ppl who come from all corners of india.. 4 tht matter even world
You get all sorts of things in the malls... right from kerala parotha to chitalenchi bakarvadi...most of the ppl in ITPL wld be wearing branded clothes .... IT IT everywhere...huge money flow... Still there is some kind of 'sticking to culture'.. Ppl will offer prayers every morning.. there will be rangoli outside the bungalows.. early morning kids will practice Karnatic music... :) Pune... you wont find that.
The garden city is going to be the place to stay for coming 3-4 yrs :) and am pretty happy about it (nothing can be compared PUNE tho :P )

http://www.travelbangalore.com/html/banglore_city.html

Lil dots that made the Paint Stroke

Its about my evening walks. I swear I tell u, these walks were concentrated feeling of my world. the world that I carry along everywhere. Then I remember what had happened long back. I remember having this distinct feeling when I was looking into the mirror 13 yrs back. The realisation of my world being independent of those around me. Realising that, i think so much about my people, my work, my existence, my world being of supreme imp to me and everyone must be doing that... and if I get the top view, where does my world of supreme imp to me stand? then I go higher n higher... n my world seems smaller n smaller... till the point that its just a point. A point among a million others..a million other points.. do they look different from the top? NO...... they really seem to carry lot of similar elements.. a feeling of uneasiness.. of course! its like an identity crisis! i laugh.. god!! now I c those imaginary walls that I created. Its like, u fence a field n think that its different than the earth around, missing the 3D!