Means of transport

As a child my amma taught me the various means of transport such as Bus, train, Car, Boat, Aeroplane etc. My various job locations in the US has given me an opportunity to check out most of these !
With the exception of my first job in the US, I have spent atleast 2-3 hours in just commuting every single working day ! THe office of my first job was just 2 blocks from my house. I still remember the day when my manager called me to let me know I had to get started with this job. He asked me where I lived, when I gave him details about my residence, he said, come out of your house and the big building you see near the Safeway is your office !! I enjoyed the benefits of staying close to work for a while ! But I never really realised how lucky I was until my next job happened.
I had to commute to Marin County, which was 55 miles from my house. I would not let the commute come in my way of a nice job opportunity.... so I decided to take it up. For the first months, my hubby dropped me by car to the ferry station by 7:10am. I took the 7:15am ferry and managed to reach office before 8:00am. My ferry ride was just surreal ! My commute back home was longer though, since I didn't have the luxury of carpooling with my hubby from the ferry station. I had to rush out of the ferry to catch the Muni and then the Caltrain. My office then shifted further north. No ferry went as much north. So I started driving that distance.
I next took up a project in the downtown. I thought my commute would be much better now. I could now take an express bus to the downtown and walk about 10 blocks to reach my office. My commute time reduced to just 45 mins one way.
Soon we moved to a differnt location and my commute is now back in the 55 miles range. I drive some days to work ... other days, I go back to the caltrain, muni route!
Commuting by public transport has helped me realise the value of time ! I am familiar with more suburbs than I could be by driving. I also manage to take a nap !
I wonder for how many more days I have a bonding with the public tranportation!

Campus Interview

I was in 3rd year Engineering when the "Campus Placement" bug bit me. Me, and my friends "P" and "D" spent quite sometime in the placement center. We took quite a few tests ... mostly analytical / logical. Though securing a job by the end of the third year was in our mind, it was more for fun that we went to the placement center. During the vacation after 5th semester, we were told that ours was a new branch of Engineering and not many companies understood our curriculum.
We, a bunch of classmates, took it upon ourselves to visit several companies in Bangalore and educate them about our curriculum. We came up with a nice brochure and learnt about various companies that visited our college from the placement officer. The guys and girls decided to venture out independently. My aunt "S" provided accomodation for us (girls). Her place was close to several companies we had to visit. The activity was exciting and fun ! This was our first Public Relations assignment:)
I would like to believe that there were some positive developments as a result of our efforts. Some of the companies which had earlier not allowed our branch, wanted to give us a try.
Our college required us to give out the "Dream Company" name before we started attending interviews / written exams. I was confused as to which company I should opt as dream company. Daddy came to my rescue and suggested ABC...
My first company written exam was a disappointment ... I made it through the second company till the final round of interview (HR). I was greatly frustrated when they told me that they were really not interested in my branch .... just that they wanted to give a chance. They never expected that anyone would make it thus far. I was too shocked to even argue at that time !
The next day came ABC company. My written exams went "ok" (I thought) ... and decided to pluck some fresh guavas from "P"'s house. I was merrily enjoying my fruit, when I got a call from the college, that I had cleared the written exam and had to attend the interview in 30 mins. I rushed to the college and made it just on time ! Only then did it dawn on me that I was attending the interview of my "Dream Company". I gave it my best shot. I was the third to get interviewed. There were several others and we were told that the results would be annouced later in the evening around 8:00pm. I decided to head back home.
With amma / daddy's blessing, I came to the college around 7:30pm and I saw a few of my classmates already there ... they came running to me and congratulated me !! Apparently the results were out sooner than expected and I had been selected !!

Appointments

Don't be fooled by the title ... this blog is not about Doctor appointments ... it is about calling anyone for that matter and asking if the person is available ... be it even a casual visit.
My amma has sent me some stuff from India through a friend "V" . I had called in this friend and left a message with her as she wasn't at home at that. She returned my call and left a message with me, that I could come and collect it any evening. (thanks to this wonderful facility called "Voice Mail" which was alien to common man during my student days.... leading to a lot of misunderstandings / confusion) So I took her message a little to seriously and dropped by her place this evening. As luck would have it, she wasn't there .... I called up my sister and shared my frustration with her. She simply asked me "Did you call up before you went ... nobody goes to anyone else's place without calling.... do they?" . To this I started wondering, how it used to be back home in India.
A lot of my family members stay in Mysore. Before telephone became as much popular, each one of my uncles / aunts visited us without any notification and so did we. With the entry to telephones into the list of "must haves", we started occasionally calling and letting the other person know that we'd be coming. (note, we let the person know ... never asked). But when I moved to Bangalore, distance factor came into picture and driving to someone's place (without notification) only to find a locked house was very disappointing. Slowly I was introduced to the concept of taking appointment to visit the near and dear ones as well.
When I moved to the US, this became more prominent ... almost inevitable. Come to think of it, there are several positives of this habit:

1. The host is not taken by surprise with the visit. (read guest is spared from the un-welcome look)
2. Host is given ample time to clean up his / her place so it looks presentable
3. Host is given sufficient time to make arrangements for snack/ tea / coffee / lunch / dinner depending upon the time
4. Host is given a choice of coming up with a reason to escape the rendezvous
5. Guest / host can plan the rest of the day accordingly.

I think it is a good practice to let the host know if you plan to visit someone ... but I somehow miss those days of excitement of catching a near / dear one on my door by surprise !!

My Toddler days

Music has always been an integral part of my life .... I am ever thankful to my parents for introducing me to the world of classical music very early in life. When my amma took keen interest in introducing me to the "Saptha Swaras" while my dad was busy teaching me "Baye Paatha" (systematic recital of months, years, days and stars as per Hindu Calendar) and "Mathematics". My parents tell me that I learnt to speak very early ... I started saying little words like "Amma", "Anna", "Ajja", "Ajji" etc much before I turned one year. (they claim 8 months) . So when I was about 18 months I merrily chanted Slokas and narrated small stories. (Bakasura story being my favourite). Those days we didn't have a tape recorder at home. As mentioned in my previous post, we stayed in a colony and neighbors were extended family. One of my neighbors uncle "TKN" recorded the talents of all kids! Needless to say, I narrated Bakasura story for the recording ! A few months back, I was chatting with "R" (daughter of uncle "TKN") and she mentioned that uncle has still saved the precious tape !! I would love to hear that tape when I get a chance !
My first stage encounter when I was 2+ years. (it lasted all through my student days) My parents had enrolled me for a singing competition. I was too young for any age group and so I was enrolled in the 4-6years group. My parents proudly recollect that never was I nervous and sang to my best ability. I didn't win any prize, but the judges were so impressed with me that I was awarded a "Special" mention !
I was enrolled in the near by pre-school "Holy Cross" when I was 3+ years ... while most other toddlers of my age were crying hard, I was too happy to be at the pre-school, my parents tell me.
Throughout my schooling, I never once felt like missing my classes ! I thoroughly enjoyed going to school ! I made a lot of friends and had a lot of fun ! But my parents and grandparents are never tired of recollecting my toddler days !! (so am I !)

My Culinary Skills ....

Today we had Croissant for breakfast but with an Indian touch. I happened to hit this idea by accident .... but yesterday we had Alu Gobi for dinner. This morning, I was too lazy to prepare breakfast so we decided to settle for Croissant. I had been almost 4 years since I had Croissant for breakfast. My tongue desired for something spicy and I couldn't obviously settle for a plain Criossant. So I decided to spice it up with Alu Gobi (my reasoning was when Iyengar Puffs tasted so good with potato curry .... croissant, which pretty much belongs to the same family would perhaps taste good as well.) I must say, it was one of the better breakfast I had in recent times :)

After a hearty breakfast, I was in deep thoughts, much appreciating my new discovery, "with just about 5 years of culinary experience .... not bad at all" I thought. I had never even prepared a decent Coffee / tea before marriage by my self. (Final year new year celebrations were an exception, when a group of us ventured into Poori and Chole ... but that story demands another blog in itself). My parents were too apprehensive about how I would manage everything by myself especially since I had to move miles away from them to US. My amma, took keen interest and wrote a lot of recipes in a neat diary and had given me. That served as my bible for the first few years of cooking. (I still refer to it when I prepare special dishes). A year back my parents visited us. They were very pleased with my culinary skills. I "passing Certificate" from my amma meant a lot to me .... I am riding high on confidence ever since.

These days, unless my energy is down, I really enjoy cooking. At times, I like experimenting new recipes as well .... sometimes they are good ... other times not as good. But I am not de-motivated. Amma will be proud of me.

Exams ...ooooooo

I am surprised I am still to get over my exams. I still get nightmares about exams. I dream that I have a physics exam the next day and I forget it is Physics and study Chemistry and realise my gore mistake only when I read question paper .... my mind goes blank and wake up with a scare in the middle of night !!!

This reminds of my days during the exams. I refused to wear any other dress apart from the three "Lucky" ones. (amma hated those dresses and would not allow me to wear them on regular days. But during the exams, I got my way) If I ended up doing my first exam satisfactorily ... I religiously followed the routine on my exam day for all the following exams. I was too scared to change my routine. I never ever stepped out of the house without the blessings of my mother in the form of "Devara Kumkuma" or my dad's wishes. It was indeed a morale booster !! I would hardly eat my breakfast .... I'd be too nervous to swallow the food. Those were the only few days that amma would not bother me much about food !

I know of many who shared the same sentiments. But there was one another friend of mine "P" who invariably wore new dresses to exams ! Her "Different" approach often amazed me ... but I concluded that perhaps wearing new dress brought her luck and so she followed this ! This friend of mine would also pay exam fees on "Tuesdays" which I could never ever think of !!

I'd like to hear on any special / different approaches you adopted !!

Theatres' anyone ???

I don't remember when exactly ... but it was way back in my school days that I decided not to watch movies in Theaters !! (before this, I remember one of my uncles "M" visited us often and we would end up going to "Saraswathi" theatre to watch movies, 2nd show atleast 3 times a month). Note, I decided to not watch movies in theatres alone ... I did watch quite a few of them on TV and video cassttes. When I took the decision, I wasn't sure how many days I could stick to it.... I assured myself that only the initial days would be hard ! But to my surprise, I never for once felt I missed the theatre! There were several occasions when my parents insisted I join them for the movie ..... but I was adamant ! I just didn't like watching in theatres ! My sister hated this decision of mine most, coz it meant that she had to give up theatres too. (you see, when I could study... so could she, reasoned my parents) That was only for a while ... soon she learnt to convince my parents. Then came Hum Aap ke Hai Kaun .... the biggest hit at the time with Didi tera devar dewaana almost being the National Anthem ! I challenged myself to never watch this movie in theatre. (I watched this movie just 3 years back ... and no ... I still did not break my challenge .... I watched it on DVD).
Then Engg college happened ... I resisted going to theatre in the first year. But after my third semester exams, all my friends planned for a movie and then a lunch out. It was almost customary in our college to go to a movie after the exmas. Though not very keen I went with my classmates to a disastrous movie "Yess Boss" (ok ... I know it was a superhit ... and there are many who liked this movie, including my sister). That was perhaps my first movie in theatre after almost 7 years !!! By now, I didn't have to make a consious effort to resist the theatre .... it came naturally to me and it has struck with me till date. We went to watch movie every single year after the exams during Engg .... but I don't quite remember enjoying any of those movies. (though after our Final year exams .... we went to "Balmuri" and Dhaba .... no movie in theatre ... yeppie !!)
It would have been disappointing to my better half he were to be a movie buff who enjoyed watching movies in theatres .... turns out, he is as much disinterested in watching movies in theatres as me (if not more)! Its not that we hate theatres ... but we both are not very keen either. For 5 years of our stay in the US together, we have watched 4 movies in theatres ( Shaapa, Minority Report, Lagaan, Khaki). But we have watched quite a few movies in DVDs :))

Good bye tresses

For some reason, I feel uneasy getting a hair cut in the US. It is perhaps because you got to explain the salon lady every detail about the cut you want... added to it would be my limited knowledge in this area. I have always kept myself away from all the beauty care products .... have been least interested in any cosmetics (with the only exception of "Nivea"). By now you must have guessed that I am stuck with the same hair style as well for over 5 years now ! I always end up getting the same cut. This time I wanted to venture something new ... though I had my own doubts about it too. I was desparately hunting someone whom I didn't have to explain what cut suited me ... my mind told me that this time I try a "Desi" lady. So I started hunting for one ..... after some search in Sulekha and the yahoo directory, I could not find any satisfactory. Finally my sister suggested "XYZ Salon"..... I was not sure but wanted to trust my sister. My sister was gracious enough to take an appointment for me as well.
Before the appointment, I had to pick up my child from the day care ....I got struck at work and managed to pick my child jsut 5 mins before my appointment. So I decided to tag her along to the Salon. As soon as I saw the lady at the Salon, I felt uneasy ....I wasn't sure she would do a good job. But nevertheless, decided to go for it. The lady said, she would do just 2 types of cuts ... $15 and $17 .... now I was nervous .... and I told her to go for what she was good at. (I knew she would go with $17) In the meantime, my little one decided to explore the new place .... every now and then she came back to me to make sure I was there and would exclaim ..."Amma Hair cut .... Nange no cut". She kept saying Hi to a little girl who was tied to a stroller. The Salon lady kept addressing the little girl as "HE" and it was annoying .... the mother of the little girl never bothered to correct the Salon lady.
Then my little one followed another lady who was getting a hair wash and starting shouting "Aunty Nana" (meaning Aunty was taking bath) ... it was hilarious ! After a while my hair was done ... I was not too happy with her job and asked for some minor repairs (!!!!) I paid her $17 (as expected) and said Bye to the little girl in the stroller and asked her mom "How old is she?" to which the mom replied "11 months".... immediately the Salon lady interfered "First of all, its not a She ... its a HE ... and he is 11 months !!" The mother smiled ... with a sheepish look on my face, I smiled and walked out of the parlour. (gosh, I didn't correct the salon lady for refering to the child as HE...thankfully)

College festivals

College fests are always fun .... our college fest extended for a period of 4 days and was bustling with a lot of activities. The mornings were reserved for various competitions and evenings were for stage shows. It was so exciting to watch the talented bunch battle out for the prize. I thoroughly enjoyed the Mad ads and TDH competitions. There was no dearth of talent in any competition be it singing, quiz, or debate. I usually took part in film / classical singing and treasure hunt competition. I won singing competitions a couple of time as well ... I remember I had won a gift coupon from a local Eyecare stores worth Rs 300 / - (it was a lot of money for a student like me). I bought a pair of dark glasses for that amount. I hardly used them coz, my sister felt they were for the blind and often made fun of me when I wore them. A little later I was amazed that she would use the same every single day and even had the nerve to defend it as a great product which suited her !!!
I also remember in taking part in Collage competion in my first year .... treasure hunt was another event I admired .... we almost ended up the third spot ... damn we could not crack the last clue!!!
I participated in the musical evenings all 4 years ... there were auditions and only the lucky ones (read influential) got selected. I was kinda surprised when I got through as well .... I didn't know anyone in the band ... nevertheless, I got selected. The troup practised late hours, which used to always be a problem for localites like me. The hostel junta never complained and seem to like the schedule as well. This meant that folks like me ended up singing 1 -2 songs and others got to sing a lot many. There were some really talented folks in the troup ... wonder how many of them are still into music !!!
I sang Pehla Nasha (from Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar) the first year, Duniya (Rejeswari's album) the second year ... don't quite remember what I sang the third year ... Dance Dance (from Kasam paida karne wale ki .... yes, there is a movie in that name and Bappida songs are foot tapping) in my fourth year.
The college fest always ended with a Rock band on the last evening .... I am not sure why, but I never went to those ! The college fest was followed by 2 days of holidays !!
The best part of college fest was, we got away from lectures / labs for a whole week and had loads of fun !!!

Managers - Unique species

Ever wondered how many of us have complained about our managers ? Almost everyone I know has not been very happy with his / her manager atleast on a few occasions. Lucky are those for whom these occasions are rare. Some day the person complaining about his / her manager will become one him / her self. Little do they realise that their juniors are complaining about them as well .... !!!
Anyways ... I was just giving a little thought and decided to classify the managers M and their sub-ordinates S...

1. M who hardly work, yet complain about S who do not work
2. M who hardly work and fail to recognise S who really work
3. M who really work and complain about S who do not work
4. M who really work and fail to recognise S who really work.

I think the most dangerous of them all are M who feel threatened with the capacity and talent of S. Beware of this species .... they do not make work a pleasurable experience.

Let me know which category you / your manager fall under !!!

Talent shows ... customary in family unions !!

I was reminded a lot about my family over the weekend .... it reminded me of the days when we used to meet as a family and spent quality time. Most of my cousins now are spread across in the US and I wonder when we will all meet at some place. (we have attempted a few family unions.... but has not worked out so far).
During those childhood days (this reminds me again .... I am old now :((( ) we cousins met as a family atleast 2-3 times a year. Ganesha - Gowri festival was almost customary family union time. We generally met during Summer vacations too.
It was one of those summer vacations when we had all gathered in "SR" uncle's house in Bangalore. We were 8 kids in all of ages from 3- 12. We decided to put up a talent show. Uncle "SR" house was spacious and it had a servant room which we cousins turned into our "Talent Show rehearsal room" There was some debate as to who would be the anchor for the show. Finally "S" got the privilege. Ensuring that all of us had ample scope to display our talent was our primary goal.
The shows were decided.... and looked something like:
* Drama (by S, D, K and R)
* Monoacting (by M)
* Mad ads (Sp and SM)
* Antakshari ( D, S)
* A grand Qawalli !!!

I don't remember anything about the drama ... all I remember is we really practiced very hard !!! We had to work on the costume, make up (he, he , he) as well !! Monoacting was in Tamil (one of our relatives lived in Chennai at that time). It was an act of "Veera Pandiya Katta-bomman". I don't remember all the mad ads... but then one of them was a Pan Pasand ad !
The ad goes ... "Shaadi aur tumse ... kabhi nahi" .... dramatized by Archana Joglekar on screen in a very angry mood. And then she would eat a Pan pasand and her mood would change drastically and would be as cold as ice and she would say the same dialogue "Shaadi aur tumse .... kabhi nahi", with a hint of shyness ....
Of course, we cousins, couldn't let an opportunity of creativity escape. We reversed the mood in our mad ads ... our Mad ad person "Sp" would say the dialogue in a calm mood first and then after she tastes Pan pasand, her mood would dramatically change.
As for the antakshari ... we had various rounds including, normal antakshari, word round, Antara Mukhda round and Actor - Actress round ! One of the things I can never forget about the antakshari is the amazing involvement the elders showed in the game. One of the uncles "V" almost fell off his chair in excitement when he guessed his song correct !!!
And then came our grand finale ... Qawalli !! It was a completely original composition ... original lyrics, original music ... of course all of us participated in it !!! When I think back now ... the lyrics / music sound ridiculous ... it went something like ... "Hindu Muslim, alag hai, dono ka matlab ek hai". The entire group was divided into 2 divisions ... one section represented Hindu and the other Muslim.... we tried our best to match up costume as well !!
The talent show was a big hit ! And so we came up with different activities involving the whole family everytime we met.
I am waiting for the day when our kids will come up with something similar and we cousins play the encouraging parents role ;)

Caltrain Kathe

Today was one of those rare occassions in the recent past when I had to take the Caltrain to work on successive days. But I decided that I would settle in for a slightly later than the usual one (remember my yesterday's blog). It was raining when I parked my car in the Caltrain station and went to parking ticket machine. The machine looked different from the ones' I am used to. (since I was taking a different train, I had to go to a different station as well). After a bit of confusion, I figured how to get the parking ticket. I inserted 2 , dollar bills .... the machine promptly printed the ticket .... but wait where were my quarters ???? Wasn't the parking fee $1.50 .... besides I needed those quarters for my muni tickets .... the damn machine would not give back change!!! That was the beginning to my bad journey in the caltrain today !
The train arrived on time and I boarded the first car (or boggie for the uninitiated). I settled on a comfortable seat. A gentleman with Laptop, coffee and newspaper settled in front of me. Now ... what do I do during the Caltrain ride everytime .... I promptly catch up on my sleep ! But that was not to be today .... just as I was about to close my eyes, the driver honked. My eyes were wide open by this annoying loud sound (kooooooooooooooooooooooin). I was never disturbed by the honking during any of my rides .... the first car had its set of disadvantages I thought !! ( I usually sit in the third car) The driver honked and honked for no particular reason and the kooooooooooooin sound lasted for atleast 8 secs every 5 secs..... man was it irritating or what !! I was too comfortable to find another seat ... besides I had to rush to catch the Muni in SF downtown.... so I decided to bear with the noise!!
In the next station, a young hispanic lady (lets call her H) got into the train and sat next to the gentleman who was still reading the paper (was he able concentrate I wondered) and soon a young Asian lady (Lets call A) sat next to me. The rest of my ride comprised of watching the activities of the people in my car ! ( I simply had to kill time) H had a book in her hand ... but as soon as she sat, opened her make up kit ! She started applying make up on her face ! She patiently applied a lot of things ( you see I couldn't stare at her .... that would look odd ... but every now and then I looked at her, she was applying something).Meanwhile A was busy reading a newspaper and promptly fell asleep! I hate those who can sleep even with an annoying sound like koooooooooooooin deafening your ears ! When we were almost close the downtown, H was finally done with her make up. She picked up the book she had. " Ah ! Finally " ... I said to myself . But hey ... she was no way going to look at the book ... she had to make sure, her make up was perfect !! She looked at her shoes, her clothes, her hair ( I must say ... her hair was messy ). Now she got back to her book and pretended to be reading ... but I knew she wasn't .... she wasn't even looking at the same page. Perhaps she was not able to concentrate with the annoying sound !
It was not just the honking .... there were intercom messages every now and then ... the regular annoucements about the train stations ... and of course the conductors having loud discussions !! Lets just say ... it was not a pleasant ride.
Before my head would burst out with all this ... I thanked my stars coz we had reached downtown and rushed out of the train. I swore right there that I would never again sit in the first boggie.

Early to bed and early to rise

I have always been an early bird (I am referring to "Early to rise" part of the above phrase) throughout my student life. The fact that I had to take the office bus as early as 6:40am in the morning just made sure I continued with my "Good Habit".... that was until a while ago in India. Since the time I moved to the bay area, I have always had to put up with long commute (except for my first job). I have had to leave home early to work .... which translated to me leaving work early as well. But my current job doesn't require me to get up as early. I have enough time for a decent breakfast and hot "Masala Chai"
These days I am having long days and I am just waiting to crash on my bed. Its been really cold for the past few weeks and my better half turns on the heater. This is not something I really like. Any of my close family members will vouch for that. I was the one who would wake within a split second of turning off the Fan knob. (they all still are to come to terms with the fact that I no longer turn on the fan). But hey, "Compromise is the key to successful marriage" (some elite people have said and I religiously believe in it). The fact that my little one has a bad cold is just shrinking my sleep time. Only yesterday, I went to bed early (10:30pm) and was woke up with a stuffy feeling because of the heater around 2:00am. I kept tossing myself for a while, and was about to catch some sleep and the little one cried aloud. My spouse put all efforts to put her back to sleep..... I didn't break a sweat, but hey I was awake. As soon as she was put back to her bed ... was up again ! It was my turn now to put her to sleep. I rocked her for a few minutes before she dozed off .....
By now it was already 3:20am and the heater was off too ... I hurried to my bed to catch up on my sleep .... but was woken up by the alarm. Damn ... it was already 5:30am and I had to catch the 6:45am train today. But that didn't prevent me from bargaining a few additional minutes of sleep .... of course I had to rush to the train station and made it just before the train arrived !
But I wonder ... what happened to my "Good Habits" .... only a little pondering and I realize .... I still have it ... except that the first part of the original phrase seem to now be my "Good Habit"
ps: Earlier I would sleep late and rise early (dozing with a book in hand is not sleeping ... officially switching off the lights is sleeping .... you see there is always a fear in your mind of being caught when you are dozing). Now I sleep early (no need to pretend :)) ... but prefer rising late. (I wake up early only on days I have to catch the train)

Nicknames are fun ...

Honestly I am sure most of us have nicknamed our classmates during our school/ college days. It helped in communicating in public without actually taking the person's name..... and me and my friends never spared an opportunity to use the nicknames. Its been a while since I graduated from college ... now when I try to recollect my classmates, only nicknames seem to ring a bell.... I have almost forgotten their real names.
Here are some of the nicknames we used:
* TKP (Tale ketta party .... because this person always asked intelligent questions in class ... who asks doubts in Engg classroom ????)
* GNM (Gubaal ....
* K cube (Koti ...
* Saturday
* Erulli (this one was not coined by our group)
* Micheal Jackson
* HKJ
* Paapu
* Kala kala holeva Koli mari
* Polyphemus
* Fundo
* "Your friend"
* Bhaiia

Sometimes the intonation / accent in the voice gave the message .... though these people were not really nicknamed ..

Peer influence on a child

My child goes to a home day care. Like all parents wanting the best for their child, we have weighed the prons and cons of sending a child to a home day care. The fact that one of my relatives ran a home day care made our decision making easier.
We have always agreed that our child must converse in our mother tongue "Kannada". We have seen several Desi kids born and being raised in the USA who often communicate in English. Often have we wondered why they don't talk in their mother tongue. This was one of the driving factors to not talk with our child in English. Its not that we are against the English language.... our theory is that once our child starts school, English is bound to be learnt. So use the time prior to schooling to familiarize the mother tongue.
Since our relative ran the day care, it only made learning Kannada simpler. But boy ... I didn't account for the peers .... peers of a year old child .!!!! A child is influened by its peers as early !!! There are other kids in the day care who do not speak their mother tongue and communicate in English. This is already having a profound influence on our child.
Only the other day we were having a nice family time together and were laughing when my little one standing by started laughing aloud and said "This is funny !!! " Were we dumstruck !!! Where / When did all the English come from ... we wondered.
For the past few weeks, the little one's communication has been improving exponentially and as is the English vocabulary. Here are some the lines / phrases used often :
* This pinky is funny (pinky is the little doll)
* Silly girl (refering to Pinky)
* No more TV
* I want strawberry (fav fruit)
* Come on amma ... lets go
* Have a nice day ! Followed by you too :)
* No diaper change
And many more :)
We still insist that the communication at home be in Kannada. Often times, we refuse an answer unless asked in Kannada and that ensures that communication happens in our mother tongue. But in our hearts I must admit , we are happy she is learning Kannada and English (to some extent) as well !!

ps: All of the clip-art and some of the pictures used in the posts are not mine and are from various web-sites on the internet. If you own them and have objection to having them published on this blog, please let me know!

Friends are forever ... ???

I have made friends with several girls by name"Archana" so far ... and guess what all of them were "My best friends" at the time. But I never had to attach any special adjectives / initials to address them (in case you wondered how I would address them when all of them were in the same room). Before I knew I was befriending another "Archana", the present "Archana" would stop communicating :)

My first association with Archana started when I was 2 years old. We were neighbors and our parents were good friends. I don't remeber too many things about her ... all I know is perhaps we played with each other every evening and our parents clicked a few snaps of us together. Soon her parents moved to a different town. That was the end to my association with her ... hey you didn't think a 4 year old would communicate via mail ... did you?

We moved to Mysore in 1987 and thats when I met the second Archana. We went to the same school. She was the one with whom I had the longest association. She was a quiet and cute girl. She lived close to my grand parents house. Most of my visits to grandma's place also meant a visit to Archana's place as well. We bicycled those days and her place was on the way to grandma's place ... so I didn't have to cycle extra ! I moved to a different school in 1990. But then we continued to be friends and met regularly. I was so happy to learn that she would be joining the same junior college as mine. We were back in the same class again !! Again we were separated..... we went to different Engg college ... and eventually got into different companies. But we still kept in touch. I soon moved to Bay area, after marriage ... and we communicated via email. (though the frequency seem to dwindle with time). One day after a gap of almost 6 months, got a mail from her that her dad has passed away. I was sad .... I called her home number ... her mom picked the phone. I spoke to her for a few mins ... I really wanted to talk to Archana though.... I called her up again after a while and still could not get hold of her. That was perhaps the last mail from her .... I have never been able to communicate with her since. All my emails went unanswered and her phone number changed :(

I met the third Archana in 1990 when I moved to the new school. We were the thickest of friends at the time .... other classmates perhaps envied our friendship. We had common interests... singing, dancing, dramatics, debates etc. Everything was just fine till our 2nd PUC results were announced. I am not sure what really went wrong .....but that was it, we were never the same friends again .... initially she avoided me... soon I got the message and we made no efforts to keep in touch. But sometime back I met her in Singapore airport with her hubby and little child. She was excited to see me and talked to me for sometime till her child wanted attention. We exchanged our email ids and decided we would keep in touch. I emailed her a couple of times ... she responded initially, but stopped soon.

I met the fourth Archana in 1993 ... she was a really bubbly, short, cute girl. We were good friends, though I will not call ourselves great friends ! Soon after 2nd PU, she chose medicine and me Engg. Before we knew it, we were rarely communicating.

Though I may not be in touch with any of the Archanas above, I would like to write that I really enjoyed the time I had with all of them.

ps: Amma had sometime back told me, some aunt had suggested naming me "ARCHANA" when I was born :))

Full Name = Initial + First Name + Last Name

A new employee joined my project at work. An old colleague of mine introduced me to this new emplyee. After the regular pleasantaries were exchanged, we learnt that we both were from the same town Mysore. Then came the obvious question "Where exactly did you stay in Mysore?" Surprisingly our homes were just a few kilometers away in Mysore.
Once you learn that a certain person is from the same neighborhood as yours during your growing days, a certain comfort level is established. We began talking about the various joints and fun activities in our beloved town ! Anywhere in the world you go, home town is always the best for anyone (atleast for most .... like anywhere else, exceptions do exist here as well)
My new found colleague, (friend is a term a reserve for few people) after learning about my school and college, mentioned about her cousin who was from the same batch and asked if I knew him.... pat came my answer .. of course I know ! Then she mentioned about this other person in my batch ABC and said, "You must be from ABC's batch !"
I could not hold my smile .... "I am ABC" (we were introduced by our first name ... full name was the key)

Doordarshan - D Days !

As promised in my first post (Our first television), I am listing my favourite serials. These serials were watched by one and all in the family ... age was no barrier. Those were the days when everyone watched just Doordarshan (remember good old days without cable television). It was almost the family time where all members spent time together. The time slot was fixed.... 9:00pm everynight. We planned carefully to finish dinner before the announcement of the serial was made. Annoucement by Sadhana Sargam or Parmeet Sethi added to the beauty of these serial lovers. We had also summarized thoroughly the limited ads that made their way before the serials.
So, here is the list of primetime TV serials during the late 80's.
Mondays: NUKKAD
Tuesdays : Hum Log followed by Buniyaad
Wednesdays : Khandaan (my least fav serial)
Thursdays : Sathyajit Ray presents (this one had its moments .... some of them were good episodes)
Fridays : Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi (best comedy ever made ... and of course my favourite)
Saturdays : Buniyaad
Sundays : Quiz time by Siddhart Basu with Kavitha (Radha Seth did not match up Kavitha) ... I hardly could answer any question :) ... still it was always a learning experience .... I liked best the way Siddhart said " I beg your pardon !" ... at that time, I said "Ibiggabardon" (though I didn't get the sentence right ... I knew what it meant)


Apart from the primetime serials, there were few other serials which I thoroughly enjoyed:

• Show theme
• Vikram Aur bethal
• Neev
• Indradhanush
• Choti, Badi baatein
• Chote Badein
• Kachchi Dhoop (remember Bhagyashree :)
• Simhasan Battisee
• Spiderman
• Subhah
• Karamchand
• Chunauthi

Thanks Doordarshan for all the above serials and more ......

Kitne Door Kitne Paas

The weather here in the Bay area has been chilly for the past week. But what surprises me is the drastic change in weather within small distances in the Bay area.
For example ... only yesterday I was chatting with my sister when she exclaimed "Wow ! Hailstones and plenty of them ! Is it a white carpet in the patio or what !" Then came my naive question " Is it raining there ?" (as if hailstones just fall without rain ... what was I thinking ??? I continued (after looking outside my office window) "Its bright and breezy in here ... no rain".
Later that evening, as I was driving back home, I saw the weather change from sunny, to breezy, to foggy ... but the worst part of the drive was the San Mateo county (between 92 and Woodside) ... it was raining cats and dogs .... I could hardly see anything outside ... my speed naturally was 40 - 45 miles per hour (believe me the entire traffic was moving more or less at the same speed) .... just as I crossed Woodside, the rain gave way to drizzle and before I knew it was breezy and then sunny again (full circle). I went and picked my child and asked the day care provider " How long did it rain here ?" and she replied " Today ... no rain here !" (My sister's place is about 6-7miles from the day care)

The phrase Kitne Door and Kitne Paas struck a chord with me at the time :)

AAM AADMI AUR AD WORLD

Tandurusti ki raksha karta hai …..

How many of us continued the above phrase with “Lifebouy” even without our Knowledge ??? I am sure most who have had an association with television / radio for sometime atleast!
Advertisements have ruled our lives and heart for a long long time. They are short, try to be sweet and try to encourage the customer to buy their product.
Here is a list of old / almost forgotten ads phrases which ruled television / radio for a long time !
Vicco Termeric Ayurvedic scream (with Sangeetha Bijlani … just before Ye jo hai Zindagi)
I love you Rasna!
Hajmola Sir (sorry face of the little boy)
Humdard ka sharbat … Rooafzaa
Watch him grow, watch him play …. Maltova!!!
Yeh to ma ka tees saal se bhi purana raaz hai (cut) …. Dabar Amla Kesh Tel (Jayaprada and Dipika)
Dum Laga ke … Fevicol
Boost is the secret of my Energy! (Kapil Dev)
Halo Shampoo …. (the ladies with lustrous hair)
La .. la la la laaaaaaaaa …. La la la la …. Liril!!
Masterji Aapke daanth … Dabur Lal Danth Manjan
Washing powder Nirma (with the various versions of Karma audiences had come up with !)
Safeedi ki chamkar …. Rin !!
Bhool na jana .. ECE bulb lana !! Bababab... bulb
Jab main chota bachcha tha, badi Sharat bachcha tha, meri chori pakdi jaati ... Bajaj (bulbs and tunes)
Kal Bhi Aaj bhi, AAj bhi Kal bhi.... VIP suitcase!


Let me know if you can think of any of these oldies ! (Khaitan fans, Reliance Fans, Hamara Bajaj)

And weekends just go by .....

Every friday at work I am asked "What are you doing this weekend ?" ... so I thought may be I should blog about this "wonderful weekend thought" (note its just a wonderful thought and never really goes as planned)
Its amazing how my weekends have changed over the past few years .... in this blog I list my weekend during my school / college days (some of my best weekends ever)

College / School time weekends
What weekend ?? Sunday was the only day off ..... but sunday's were not spared too sometimes, remember those internals at 9:00am ... I hate bluebooks (though the page quality was very good ... but Rs 5 for a bluebook seemed a little pricy for just 16 pages)
Usual sunday routine during school / college (baring the internals sundays)
5:00am : Wake and start with Maths
6:15am : Cuddle up with amma and daddy for a short nap
6:30am : Up again
6:45am : Bournvita ( I am glad I wasn't forced to drink Complan .... yuck ....)
7:00am : Newspaper arrives (me and my sis at the door waiting for the newspaper guy to come.... you see the first to get hold of the paper gets to read it first .... no fun in reading a 15mins stale newspaper)
7:15am : Ready for my oil bath (Abhyanjana ??)
8:00am: Go to the terrance and enjoy the morning sunshine ... drying my hair was just an excuse
9:00am : Hot Breakfast served (usually something special like Masala Dosa, Poori / Saagu)
9:30am : Go to the room to continue with some Maths or some other problem oriented subject
12:30pm: Dozing in bed only to be frightened by daddy's surprise visit to my room !! The expression on my face was perhaps worth a thousand bucks !!! But guess what I was not caught as often as my sis :))
1:00pm : Lunch time
1:30pm : Sleep time !!!!
3:30pm: Wake up feeling guilty for having overslept and grab the first book accessible and pretend to start reading (you see, as I student you are not "Supposed" to sleep in the afternoon for so long)
4:00pm : Ah finally ... amma is calling me for that Bournvita break !!!
5:00pm : Anxiously wait for the local evening newspaper (remember first come first serve)
6:00pm : Surf through the channels .... cheech.... nothing interesting !!! hey its already 6:30 ... time to say prayers and start studying
6:45pm : Finally start studying (willingly)
8:30pm : Dinner break !!!
9:00pm : TV time
10:00pm : Back to studies (after a 10 min nap)
10:30pm : Its been a long day .... I better rest or my head might burst feeling !!

CCA in school

CCA or Co-curricular activities was one of my favorite periods in primary school. Every wednesday 1:00 - 3:00pm was the time slot. It was the time when every student could display his / her talent. There were various competitions held during the 2 hours. The competitions ranged from singing, to dancing, to story telling, to mono acting, to recitation, to drawing, to elocution, fancy dress and more. My favorites were story telling, mono acting and elocution.
All the students in the school were divided into 4 houses : Red or Shivaji, Blue or Tagore, Green or Vivekananda and Yellow or C.V.Raman. Based on the prizes secured by individual students, their respective house would get points. At the end of the year, during the school day celebrations, the House with the highest points would get a trophy. I remember, I was in the "BLUE" house for four years. (we managed to get the trophy twice during that period .... Green house and Yellow house got it the other 2 times)
Of all the competitions, the remember this particular one distinctly. I was in my second standard and we had fancy dress competition that day. I was supposed to get dressed as a "Drunkard". Daddy had put in a lot of efforts to teach me intonations as I delivered my words during my act, the movements etc. I was very confident with all the nuances daddy had taught me. But on the day of the competition, as I stood waiting for my turn, I looked around, only to find all my classmates dressed neatly (so I felt ... Every other person was either a teacher, doctor or Krishna / radii). I felt that everyone in the room was going to put on a great show with nice clothes except me ... Remember I was a drunkard and was wearing a worn out shirt and my hair was crumbled. I didnÂ’t want to go anywhere near the stage. Daddy kept assuring me, that I was just fine ... it didnÂ’t matter what others were wearing .... But I was apprehensive. I wished deep inside that I would never be called on stage. Then came my turn .... I looked at daddy again, he gave me a pat on my back and reassured me. I went on the stage and put in my best show.
The results were announced soon after .... I was thrilled to learn that I had got the first place.... and had secured some valuable points for the Blue House. Not just that, one of the judges who was a teacher from the neighboring school was so impressed with my performance that he insisted, I come over to his school and perform again :) .... my excitement knew no boundaries..... I went to his school and performed as well. This time I had no inhibition.
To top it all, my dad who had "coached" me was invited as a chief guest and judge for the fancy dress competition held in the neighboring school !!!!

Our first Television

This is my first blog and I am all enthusiastic about penning down my thoughts.
The idea of writing about my favorite serials on television as always floated in my mind ... but let me start with my first association with TV.
Those were the golden days of television (atleast for me) .... cable TV had not invaded our lives ... Doordarshan was the sole channel available. I still remember the day we got our first Television set home. It was the summer of 1985 and I had just written my last exam. We lived in a colony where neighbours were almost extended families and didn't mind us going to their house for watching TV. Mom wanted me back home 6:30pm in the evening so, I could say my prayers and get started with studies. Of course, thursdays were exceptions ... how could I miss "Giant Robert" at 7:00 :) But now , we had a TV set of our own. I was so ecstatic. Firstly, I didn't have to go to Rekha's house or Sanju's house for watching Giant Robert, but also, now I could see "Vikram aur Bethal" on sundays.... and if I could convince mom / dad, could get away with the movie too (though that was being too optimistic). Nevertheless, I was excited. We had bought a BPL color TV for Rs10000/-. That was an expensive model at the time. It was the first color TV in our neighbourhood. Rekha's house had Dyonara and Sanju's house had Uptron !! I also remember the first movie I watched on our TV ..."Driver Hanumanthu" ... though I remember very little about the movie itself.
Little did I know at that time, that the same TV would stick with us for the next 18 years .... it was a wonderful TV set. Had it not been for the cable TV and its varied channels, we might still be using the same TV set. We just had 12 channels and that was too less to satisfy the tastes of everyone in family. (Mom, dad, me, sis and grandma). Besides, the TV set didn't have a remote so the TV channels were changed as though it were a "Harmonium".
Now we have a flat screen TV with digital picture quality and surround sound ..... the technology may be better and so be the picture quality. But I miss my old TV.... afterall I had watched so many wonderful programs (will list out the same in a future blog) on that TV !!!