Explored the Millionaire

Yesterday at 11 PM, I watched that movie – Slumdog Millionaire, for the second time and I should confess that, only then I was able to understand why it won all the reputation.

Last week when I had watched it for the first time it unquestionably entertained me but did not keep happy my expectations of an Oscar awarded movie. After watching movies like “Roja” and “Nayakan” any body would have felt the same considering music or direction. Shoba De had termed it as a Class in the interview she had given to NDTV lately. I wanted to know the bits and pieces again. So I did the exploration yesterday and it was really a worth. The very thing which I understood and which kept me mused was that – Jamal the Slumboy and Chaiwala who did not read as we did in schools is taught by life which once was a challenge to him. We are taught by the books we read but he is taught by the life he lives- on streets, spit, and “everything else”. Taught about money, life and love and that true love is the greatest power.

Yeah Ms Pinto was super and Lil Latika sweet. More than young Jamal, Young Salim has done a good job and that’s why I felt they have projected him during Oscars. The real Juhu slum has been portrayed in its own rustic ways and the people described bucolic.

Even though the happy ending is a hyped commercial one, it makes it all the more enjoyable and a lingering one. It is more than worth a see.

Come Elections

Elections are just a month away and political parties in India are tampering, hampering and pampering each other to strike any possible alliance. This type of a coalition government in the centre has been predicted until the ruling and the opposition makes any great amendments in their way of approach. Whatever be the scenario every Indian who has attained the age of 18 is eligible and should exercise his right to Vote – this makes the democracy stronger and an economy possible.
Are we here to say irresponsibly “politics is not my cup of tea”, or with sheer negligence “who cares about elections”??
And we may complain about corruption or scams though we live in a free India where we have the right to choose any party and even the right to change our leaders. We don’t have any autocrats or dictators to rule us and neither is our nation in any kind of an emergency or war. We are all living in such blessed times where we have a proper roof above our heads and good food to eat. But definitely the Indian youth are apathetic about the elections and engrossed in some other personal or professional occupation of their choice. Unless the educated youth vote for the leadership of this great nation, development would be just a dream. Considering the plight of the political parties they are up and new with a lot of promises and projections. Congress boasts about it’s youth full strength in people like Rahul Gandhi and Omar Abdullah while BJP is trying to be youthful through it’s popular website www.lkadvani.in. The rights for usage of the Oscar winning song” Jai Ho” has been purchased by the Congress but BJP is already playing it claiming that the song belongs to the whole nation. Split ups like BJP-BJD alliance and thin loves like UPA- SP might be a melancholic drama just for time being…though anything can happen anytime.
The election ID card procedure might be a long and tedious one and the Election Day a pain day of going to the poll station. But it will provide stability to the Government and the nation. All you need to do is stand in the queue and exercise your right. Think about the times you have stood a queue for getting an item of your choice. So for getting a government of your choice the pain is worth taken.

Next Page

Next Page:
Ha Ha so blogging has become my interest for now, I never know for how long but this is cool…. Instead of just wasting time chatting and having fun, this is good. And now that many have started to read and have given me both praises and criticisms, I feel all the more encouraged to write frequently. Yesterday I was discussing with few authorities about my educational blog in which I can have my class notes and teaching lectures published. So that’s nice for some who can easily access the net. I thought I shouldn’t confuse that with this and I am preparing for that also. Don’t know really when it will go online but definitely in the near future.

Home on the Ranges:

The following if you read are few episodes in the hills of Munnar and life in these vast areas of tea estates some years back. Any body who sojourned before say fifteen years would definitely agree to the fact that there has been a tremendous, cyclonic change in the recent past. And my childhood was especially special in this hill locked area of High Ranges. (The Munnar photos that are used here are without the permission of the owner because I didnot know who clicked these; Sorry and Thanks. They are beautifully clicked)
Since my father served as a field officer in the Tatas, I have spent the major part of my childhood days in these ranges. Chunduvarrai, where I was born is where my memory has faded about. But we lived in the PR division- PR stands for Paradise region and my mother says our house was on top of a hill and the clouds passed just below out feet. It was very scarcely populated and still it is the same and even today, only few have heard about this spectacular place. When I was young I remember my dad used to toil day and night because the company was building its first innovative Tea factory there- called Super Factory. I had to come down four kilometers to board my School bus early in the morning to take me to Kinder Garden in High Range School – The only English School at that time.
Then my father got transferred to Letchmi Estate where it would rain cats and dogs all the time. My house was entirely surrounded by tea bushes and behind my house there was a big rock which was our (my sister’s and mine) play area. There was no cable connection and none of us had a television. There were no telephone lines and no proper postal and transport services also. You wouldn’t believe if I said that we used to walk to Munnar or Sevenmally to get a transport. We got to know about my Grandmother’s death after a week she died.  And hospital facilities were even more pathetic those days.
About Vagavurrai I remember most of it because it was total fun and I had very less time ti study but play. We had to travel about 2 hours in the morning and evening to go to school and the journey made us very tired that we did not really feel like studying. So whenever we had time we went for a walk, fishing in the nearby river or picnicked to the vast areas beautified with Gulmohur and Jacaranda trees in the tea fields. I would like to add a poem that I had written in Vagavurrai when we went to the Turner’s valley before summer (here the summer is long and spring is short) and the hanging bridge in side the forests of Vagavurrai. The place is so fantastic and untouched by mankind. It is a dangerous trek though and trudge is so very steep that each step has to be a cautious one. But once you get to the top, it is an awesome view.
(Ahhh.. I should have scanned some of my old snaps that were clicked at that time… I‘ll do that soon and add them so that you can get a glimpse of the place).




In the Vicinity of summer:
The yellow sunrise falls afresh
On the tender grass lands gird
The dawn is lit and the spring is set
As the song of birds are heard

So there is a strong Aroma
Of creepers, leaves and buds,
There’s also gatherings far and near
Of butterflies, bees and birds

Lakes and ponds seem nearer now
For every eye that beholds
Water runs like silver flowing
Before it cools and moulds

The tarry tale of new born beetles
Is heard in every corner
The sound is clear as we move nigh
They are red and green in color

White and pink are mountain lilies
Blooming all the way
Bright as light, their faces smile
As they bend themselves in array

The mountain moor is seen from afar
The sunset’s seen, the glimpse is green
As the falling rays are rays of hope
They spread like sheets serene.

Silent Valley…
It is not the Silent Valley in the district of Palakkad but the one next to Guderale Estate. We lived there for four years – four long years in my teens which were so very silent but yet romantic, so very cold but not calm, just like a life in the counties of England. The winter was bitter all the years and the river next to my house had even frozen. Spring was pleasant and enjoyed one of the best climates in the world during spring. Literally there was no summer due to the heavy growth of the vegetation and thick Forests. Fishing, Cycling and playing on the bank was real fun as we had some good friends from the near by hills to visit us often. I would always compare it with Thrush Cross Grange in the “Wuthering Heights” by Emily Bronte’.
Then we live in Mattupatty very next to the dam itself. Every morning I would rise up to see the silver stream leading to a large silver pool – The dam. We had a variety of flowering plants those days and the rose garden was the best we ever had. Elephants frequented my house and European and Siberian Birds nested below my house. Because of the marshy atmosphere animal life was predominant and the environment was always noisy. But we enjoyed every bit of it. All through the years in the ranges our life was very simple and with very less technology but we felt that we did not miss out anything in life
For each of our need we had to come to Munnar town and we had to wait for hours to get a jeep or any mode of transport for that matter. But still it was easy and never boring because every thing around us was so very natural and happening.

The Roman soldiers stripped Him naked.

The Roman soldiers stripped Him naked, beat Him hard, scourged His back, and squeezed His blood out, put a crown of thorns, set an ugly cross on His back and made Him carry it up the skull shaped Golgotha Hill.

After He was crucified Pharisees spat and wittered peevishly, elders murmured, friends ran away and helpless women cried out of sympathy. Jesus hung between life and death, heaven and earth, pain and Glory as a sinner, lonely on the cross; blood and water poured out of His veins and the piercing cold was getting bitter as the night darkened. Finally He was left all alone to die and the gushing angry soldier’s spear pierced His side to confirm His death.

My Savior died to take me home to live with Him forever more. He died to give us an eternal life. He died for the sake of our sickness, shame, sin and bondage. His life not only is a bridge between BC and AD, but also between the sinful man and a Holy God. Some people think He is a Prophet, some say He is a Great Teacher. Some dismiss him as a liar or even a lunatic. Millions hail him as Savior and Lord. Whatever people think of him, nobody can deny that he stands at the very center of human history

The biblical record of his life shows that Jesus was born to a virgin, lived a sinless life, taught throughout Palestine for about three years, was crucified and then rose back to life three days after his death. The resurrection of Jesus is what makes Christianity unique and radically different.

If you have not yet felt that this piece of writing is highly boring or falsely influential then you have good news today. Through all your toil and troubles His light shines. His peace surpasses all understanding.

When I was young I mocked at miracles and questioned about a Human portrayed as God and Savior. But gradually I was put through a lot of circumstances and tribulations, sickness and problems – family and financial. I was left with no choice but to trust in the Lord with all my heart and not on my own understanding. When the doctors had given hope after my father’s kidneys failed and there was no medicine to cure him because he was drug allergic, I had no choice but to sit, weep and pray. The Lord did a miraculous healing and the records of Medical Trust Hospital- EKM say that it is a medical miracle. He was able to walk upright in just a week. That changed my whole life. After that all through I have seen a lot more of miracles- personal and professional. Jesus does not promise a bed of roses all the time, but hope for the new day, mercy when everything seems obscure and peace that is everlasting. His mercy each time tells me that He died and rose again.

Paul says “we are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed but not in despair; persecuted but not forsaken; cast down but not destroyed and all things work together for good for those who love the Lord”

As a new dawn after a long night, we arise along with the risen Christ. The angry soldier’s gushing spear made blood and water fall on earth from the body of Christ to touch the ground one time that night. The book “Road to Masada” says that the angry soldier’s heart was changed and turned mild for his entire lifetime when the drops of blood fell on him. Later he became a channel of blessing to many.

So remember death was not God’s plan for us. Abundant and eternal life is what Jesus came to bring. But Faith is the key.

A Tribute To Koramangala

5^th Cross, Venkatapura Layout, Koramangala First block. This was where I spent three years of my Bangalore life. A slightly crowded place, Koramangala is considered as the residential Hub in which most of the software engineers reside or rather just sleep for the night next to HSR Layout. I had always wanted to write about this crowded place and I have even done that during weekends, when the sky was blue over my head or when I just sat out to gaze at the night sky. But I don’t remember where I missed those long Ballads and some short prose that I had written about that vivid place Venkatapura layout in Koramangala.

That place was really different and truly incisive. A mixture of cultures and traditions– Kannadigas ,Tamilians, Malayalis, Brahmins, Burmeese, Manipuris, Biharis, and lots more….all travel the same one main (slushy) road which leads to the Sri Sagar Hotel – The most important landmark. The Sri Sagar Hotel is smaller than a Panchayat bus station and at least seventy people can dine a time standing around the tables.

When it is raining the entire Venkatapura becomes a muddy swamp and the cross roads are void of people, but water. When it is sunny the sky is flamboyant and dramatic; there are hundreds of thousands of people on the roads….either shopping, or taking a walk on the silent Police Quarters roads, or heading to the Busy Forum Mall which is just ten minutes away from Nenkatapura. There is an English medium school, a hospital, a post office and a bus station. You can put out your fingers and count the number of shops on the main road but you can buy whatever you need from them. Clothes, Sweets, Medicines, Vegetables, Fruits, and even hot onion Bajjis from the street hawkers. In the evening up to even eight, the place is full of activity. You can’t stay inside doors because you are pushed out to the streets where people are celebrating a festival- be it Magar Snakriti, diwali, Ganesh Chaturti, Christmas,or Ramzan every day is a celebration and every body is outside celebrating.

In the early days when I was just getting used to life in Bangalore I used to wonder why God put me in such a crowded and busy place when there were lot more good residential areas with highly trimmed lawns , cool and clean nature and better infrastructure. My dear friend Arthini was gracious to find out a place for me to stay in Venkatapura and I had to stay on the first floor of a beautiful house. My roommates had the same taste as mine for food, and nature and we enjoyed the weekends dining out or going for a movie. Slowly I got used to the place and people and understood that it would have been very difficult for me incase I was put in the middle of a glassy building which only had cement and stone but no life.

This place was full of life, there was no space annulled, and it was always sun-drenched and luminous. Just sitting on my balcony I have spent four to six hours without getting bored. As a bellwether, the pressures of office work and the hectic nature of my job wanted that kind of a relaxing in which the ephemera of day to day life gradually changed. Thanks Koramangala……