Doodles of a crazy man!

ಅದೊಂದು ಊರಾಚೆ ಇರೋ ಸ್ಮಶಾನ. ನಿರ್ಜನ ಪ್ರದೇಶದಲ್ಲಿ ಇದ್ದುದರಿಂದಲೋ ಏನೋ ಅದರ ಬಳಿ ಯಾರೂ ಸುಳಿದಾಡುತ್ತಿರಲಿಲ್ಲ. ಅದರ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಇದ್ದ ಕಟ್ಟುಕತೆಗಳೂ ಏನೂ ಕಮ್ಮಿ ಇರಲಿಲ್ಲ. ಅಮಾವಾಸ್ಯೆಯ ರಾತ್ರಿ ಅದರ ಬಳಿ ಹಾದುಹೋದವರು ಒಂದು ವಾರದೊಳಗೆ ರಕ್ತ ಕಾರಿಕೊಂಡು ಸಾಯ್ತಾರಂತೆ, ಅಲ್ಲಿನ ಹುಣಸೆಮರಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಹುಣಸೆಹಣ್ಣು ಬಿಡೋದು ನಿಂತು ವರ್ಷಗಳೇ ಆಗಿದೆಯಂತೆ ಹೀಗೆ...ಅದು ನಿಜವೋ ಸುಳ್ಳೋ ಅಂತ ಪರೀಕ್ಷಿಸೋ ಧೈರ್ಯ ಯಾರಿಗಿದ್ದೀತು? ಪಾಪ ಆ ಸ್ಮಶಾನಕ್ಕಾದರೂ ಅಷ್ಟೇ, ಆ ಊರಲ್ಲಿ ಸತ್ತವರನ್ನು ಹೂಳಲು ತಂದಾಗ ಮಾತ್ರ ಜನರ ದರ್ಶನದ ಭಾಗ್ಯ! ಅವನು ಹುಟ್ಟಾ ಹುಂಬ. "ನಿನ್ ಕೈಲಿ ಆಗಲ್ಲ ಬಿಡು" ಅಂತ ಅವನ ಗೆಳೆಯರು ಹೇಳಿದ್ದಕ್ಕೋ ಏನೋ ಅವನ ತಲೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಆ ಆಲೋಚನೆ ಹೊಕ್ಕಿಬಿಟ್ಟಿತ್ತು. ಚಿಕ್ಕ ವಯಸ್ಸು ಬೇರೆ, ಬಿಸಿ ರಕ್ತ. ಏನಾದರಾಗಲೀ ನೋಡೇಬಿಡೋಣ ಅಂತ ನಿರ್ಧರಿಸಿ ಆ ರಾತ್ರಿ ಒಬ್ಬನೇ ಸ್ಮಶಾನಕ್ಕೆ ಹೋಗುವುದೆಂದು ನಿರ್ಧರಿಸಿಬಿಟ್ಟಿದ್ದ. ಆಸೆಗಿಂತ ಭಯ ದೊಡ್ಡದು, ಅದಕ್ಕಿಂತ ದೊಡ್ಡದು ಕೆಟ್ಟ ಕುತೂಹಲ. ನೆತ್ತಿಯ ಮೇಲಿನ ಸೂರ್ಯನನ್ನು ನೋಡಿ, ಇವನು ಮುಳುಗಲು ಇನ್ನೂ ಎಷ್ಟು ಹೊತ್ತು ಅಂತ ಚಡಪಡಿಸತೊಡಗಿದ. ಮಧ್ಯರಾತ್ರಿಯ ಸಮಯ. ಯಾರಿಗೂ ಸುಳಿವು ಕೊಡದೆ ಸ್ಮಶಾನದೆಡೆಗೆ ಹೊರಟವನ ಎದೆಯಲ್ಲಿದ್ದಿದ್ದು ಬರೀ ಹುಮ್ಮಸ್ಸು. ಕೊಂಚವೂ ಭಯವಿಲ್ಲದ ಈ ಸ್ಥಿತಿ ಅಸಹಜವಾ ಅಂತ ತನಗೆ ತಾನೇ ಕೇಳಿಕೊಂಡ. ಭಯ ಹುಟ್ಟಿಸೋ ತಾಕತ್ತಿರುವುದು ಭ್ರಮೆಗೆ ಮಾತ್ರ. ಆಗ ಮಾತ್ರ ತಂಗಾ...

I have been so irregular on the blog, that I have even lost the right to use the word "sporadic". I dont see that changing soon. However, I have been writing in Kannada, about films, for the online magazine "Panju". If you can read Kannada and are interested in films, you can read my articles here. http://www.panjumagazine.com/?category_name=%E0%B2%B8%E0%B2%BF%E0%B2%A8%E0%B2%BF-%E0%B2%B2%E0%B3%8B%E0%B2%95 I am pretty active on Facebook (addicted to unhealthy levels, according to some) so feel free to get connected with me there. https://www.facebook.com/vasuki.raghavan So long, blog!

I always loved taking leisurely walks here. In spite of being a busy street, the sidewalk is wide and well maintained. The street is lined with big, old trees that takes care of the scorching summer. Walking is always therapeutic, it helps me gather my thoughts and calms me down. It took me a while to realize that nowadays I had suddenly started walking briskly at one point in the street. When I wondered why I was doing that, I realized it was because of this old beggar woman. No, she was not annoying or shouting like the organized beggars mafia you encounter nowadays at traffic signals. I can handle them easily. This lady did not annoy the pedestrians or shout loudly to grab attention. This lady was anything but that. The first day I saw her, I took out a few coins out of my wallet, not even bothering to count, and gave it to her. The next time I was in a hurry and I just walked past her pretending to have not seen her. After that, its either one of these two reactions from me, ev...

No blog posts from quite sometime, no videos recorded in a long long time. How to address both the issues? Record a video and share that on blog! Pretty good idea, no?

The quality of reviews for Kannada films in newspapers is abysmal. They say the same things week after week - doing unfunny puns, saying politically correct things and making sure no new perspective is offered even by accident. Here is my mock review of "Kill Bill 2" using the same 'template'! ಈ ವಾರ ಬಿಡುಗಡೆಯಾಗಿರುವ ಚಿತ್ರ 'ಕಿಲ್ ಬಿಲ್ 2' ಒಂದು ಉತ್ತಮ ಪ್ರಯತ್ನ. ಕಲಾತ್ಮಕ ಅಂಶಗಳನ್ನು ಇಟ್ಟುಕೊಂಡೇ ಒಂದು ಮನರಂಜನಾತ್ಮಕ ಮಾಸ್ ಚಿತ್ರ ಕೊಡಬಹುದೆಂಬುದಕ್ಕೆ ಇದು ಒಳ್ಳೆಯ ಉದಾಹರಣೆ. ನಮ್ಮ ಹಾಲಿವುಡ್ ಯಾವ ಸ್ಯಾಂಡಲ್‌ವುಡ್ ಗೂ ಕಮ್ಮಿ ಎನ್ನುವಷ್ಟು ರಿಚ್ ಆಗಿ ಚಿತ್ರ ಮೂಡಿ ಬಂದಿದೆ, ಇಷ್ಟು ಆದ್ಧೂರಿಯಾಗಿ ಚಿತ್ರ ಬಂದಿರುವುದಕ್ಕೆ ನಿರ್ಮಾಪಕರನ್ನು ಅಭಿನಂದಿಸಲೇ ಬೇಕು. ಕಥೆ ತುಂಬಾ ಸಾಧಾರಣ. ನಾಯಕಿಯನ್ನು ಕೊಲ್ಲಲು ಅವಳ ಗುಂಪಿನವರು ವಿಫಲರಾಗುತ್ತಾರೆ. ಅವರೆಲ್ಲರ ಮೇಲೆ ಆಕೆ ಸೇಡು ತೀರಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳುವುದೇ ಕಥೆಯ ತಿರುಳು. ನಿರ್ದೇಶಕ ಟಾರನ್‌ಟೀನೊ ಬಹಳ ಜಾಣ್ಮೆಯಿಂದ ಈ ಸೇಡಿನ ಕಥಾನಕವನ್ನು ಹೆಣೆದಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಚ್ಯಾಪ್ಟರ್ಸ್ ಮೂಲಕ ನಿರೂಪಿಸುವ ರೀತಿ ನಿಮಗೆ ಶಾಲೆಯ ನೆನೆಪು ತರಿಸದಿದ್ದರೆ ಕೇಳಿ! ಮೊದಲ ದೃಶ್ಯದಿಂದ ಕೊನೆಯವರೆಗೂ ನಿಮ್ಮನ್ನು ಬಿಗಿಯಾಗಿ ಹಿಡಿದಿಟ್ಟುಕೊಳುತ್ತದೆ, ಸಲೀಸಾಗಿ ನೋಡಿಸಿಕೊಂಡು ಹೋಗುತ್ತದೆ. ಇಡೀ ತಂಡದಿಂದ ನಿರ...

Shan was on his usual evening stroll by the river. He hated his full name - Shantanu! Knowing this, his friends used to teasingly call him King Shantanu, and it was not completely inaccurate as his ancestors belonged to the royal family. This was not one of those regular days. He spotted a gorgeous woman in blue dress near the river shore. It was almost as if she blended into the river. Or was he hallucinating? He observed himself being dragged near her as he felt unsure of what to say to her. The woman had a radiating smile, as if she half expected him to approach her. "Hi, I am Shan", he smiled and stretched his hand. "Hi, I am Ganga", she shook his hand. The grip was unusually firm, for a woman who looked that delicate. "Like the river, huh?", he smiled. "Mm, hmm. Like the river", she said as the radiating smile acquired a tinge of mischief. "You from around?", he asked. "You can say that. I was not born here. But I am ...

I finished reading the delightful "Anartha Kosha" by Na Kasturi . Its a 'one of its kind' book in Kannada. Though it seems to resemble Ambrose Bierce's "Devil's Dictionary", Kasturi adds more flavors to the book - by making puns with existing words, coining new words sounding like existing words, merging two Kannada words to form a new word, merging Kannada word with an English word, twisting the proverbs etc. - to hilarious effect. Go read the full book, till then here is the list of my favorite ones from the book: ಅಕಟಕಟಾ - ನಾವು ಹೀಗೆ ರೋಧಿಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದಾಗ ತಮಿಳರು ಅಯ್ಯೋ ಅನ್ನುತ್ತಿದರು. ಅಚ್ಚಾತುರ್ಯ - ಅಚ್ಚು ಮಾಡುವಾಗಿನ ಚಾತುರ್ಯ, ಬರಹಗಾರರು ಮಾಡುವ ತಪ್ಪುಗಳನ್ನು ಸರಿಪಡಿಸುವ ಜಾಣತನ; ಮೊಳೆ ಜೋಡಿಸುವುದರಿಂದ ಹೊಸ ಭಾಷಾ ಪ್ರಯೋಗಗಳನ್ನು ರಚಿಸುವ ಚಮತ್ಕಾರ. ಅಣುಕಂಪ - ಒಂದು ಊರಲ್ಲಿ ಅಣು ಬಾಂಬು ಸಿಡಿದಾಗ ನೆರೆಯೂರುಗಳಲ್ಲಾಗುವ ಸಂತಾಪ. ಅತಿಯಾಸೆ - ನಮಗಿಂತ ಹೆಚ್ಚು ಲಾಭ ಗಳಿಸಲು ಪ್ರಯತ್ನಪಡುವವರ ದುರ್ಗುಣ. ಅತ್ತೆ - ಈಕೆಗೆ ಮೀಸೆ ಬಂದರೆ, ಚಿಕ್ಕಪ್ಪ ಎಂದು ಕರೆಯಬಹುದು - ಮರೆಯಲ್ಲಿ. ಅನುಕಾರಣ - ಒಂದು ಕಾರಿನ ಹಿಂದೆ ಮತ್ತೊ...

All men are not created equal. To call this world unfair would be a gross understatement. Why am I privileged enough to have an opportunity to write a blog post, while somebody else is struggling to make ends meet? A person who never exercises might enjoy long lasting good health, while a young person might fall prey to a deadly disease? Well, we don't have answers to all these and these things  are not in our control either. But what about the things in our control? We discriminate against each other on every imaginable aspect. "Oh you belong to this caste?" "Come on, you have not visited Europe? Not even once? Seriously?" "You like Justin Bieber?" (trying to keep a straight face) "Most of the #### language people are generally ####" We judge. We discriminate. Its inherent to us, ingrained in us. The thing we should aspire for,  is to consciously make an effort to think otherwise. There is a pani puri shop in the road corner. Sure...

On the way from office to home... A young Muslim woman wearing red stilettos beneath black burqa, crosses path with a middle aged uncle wearing formal pants and sports shoes. A political party hoarding (with the mandatory faces of 50 supporters) wishing the citizens of a happy St.Mary's Feast and Ganesha Festival. The trees decorated with cheap pamphlets that read "Web site and software development". The same trees that accommodated "Work Part Time/Full Time - SSLC/PUC/Degree - Pass/Fail" and "Lose Weight, Gain Weight in 30 days" not so long ago. Three cobblers working tirelessly, right next to one of the biggest malls in India. A brand new SUV and a rusty "No Parking" sign sharing a quiet moment, escaping the watchful eyes of "Police Maama". Street dogs having a peaceful nap, blissfully oblivious of the chilly weather and the noisy vehicles. A "40 p / 60 p" Xerox shop, sandwiched between an "A/C Multi-...

If you happen to be a Kannadiga, the chances of "Muktha Muktha" being a part of your life somehow is inevitable. Though nowhere near T N Seetharam's previous creations, it is still the best Kannada serial by a long shot - and that explains why it is the opium of my dad's generation; to me, its something you end up watching while having dinner, and more importantly an opportunity to make a video :) This is the first time I have recorded something at a professional setup. The recording was done at Janasri studios, and the entire team was so helpful and encouraging, they could not have made an amateur's first attempt any smoother. Thanks a lot folks!

Been meaning to record this from a long time. Upendra films and Hidden symbolism. This video is in Kannada, due to the nature of the content. Non-Kannadiga peoples, pliss excuse! If you liked this, please send it to 15 people within 20 mins...or else... If you dont like this, the blame should entirely go to my old Canon SD 400 camera.

I happened to see a poster of some Kannada film called "Uyyale" with the caption "the father feeling", also adding "ತಾಯಿ ಪ್ರೀತಿ ದೊಡ್ಡದು, ತಂದೆ ಪ್ರೀತಿ ಕಾಣದು". I am amazed by the ever increasing dumbness of movie names and (most of the times irrelevant and unnecessary) captions. Instead of getting into a rant, I was amused by imagining what some classic world movies would have turned into, if they had fallen into the hands of these Kannada film industry folks. Goodfellas ಗ್ಯಾಂಗು, ಗನ್ನು, ಗರ್ಲ್ಸ್...ಹಾಗು ಗುಲ್ಡು ನನ್ ಮಕ್ಳು Godfather ಈ ಆಫರ್ ತಕೋ ಇಲ್ಲ ಅಂದ್ರೆ ಕಳಚ್ಕೋ Inception ಡ್ರೀಮ್ ಒಳ್ಗೊಂದ್ ಡ್ರೀಮ್ ಒಳ್ಗೊಂದ್ ಡ್ರೀಮ್ ಒಳ್ಗೊಂದ್ ಡ್ರೀಮ್ ಒಳ್ಗೊಂದ್ ಡ್ರೀಮು Basic Instinct ತೆರೆದಿದೆ ಮನೆ ಓ ಬಾ ಅತಿಥಿ Y Tu Mama Tambien ಏಯ್ ನಿಮ್ಮವ್ವನ್... Pulp Fiction ಮೊದಲ್ನೇ ಸಲ ದೇವ್ರಾಣೆ ಅರ್ಥ ಆಗಲ್ಲ ಮಚ್ಚಾ Schindlers List ಸಾಯ್ಸೋನು ಸಣ್ಣವನು ದಯಾವಂತ ದೊಡ್ಡೋನು 12 Angry Men ಕನ್ವಿನ್ಸ್ ಮಾಡ್ತೀರ ಇಲ್ಲ ಕನ್ವಿನ್ಸ್ ಆಗ್ತೀರ...? Casablanca ಪ್ಯಾರಿಸ್ ಲಿ ಪ್ರೇಮ...ಮೊರೊಕ್ಕೋ ಲಿ ಮಾನವೀಯತೆ... Dial M For Mur...

It is quite funny reading the expert opinions and predictions leading to the World Cup. Scene of the crime: Some sports channel One of the experts starts off: “India are very strong contenders to win the World Cup. And don’t forget, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Australia can also fancy their chances. Pakistan and West Indies, though unpredictable, can topple any team on their day”. The commentator is not too different from all those TV astrologers we love to ridicule. Some ex-cricketer joins the fun: “I agree India are a very strong side. Especially at home. The crowd will get behind the team and act as the 12th man. This encouragement should spur them up” Another one (someone whose qualifications for being on the panel are unknown) disagrees: “Indian team has the expectation of a billion fans. They should make sure they don’t get pressurized. Since this is a long tournament, they should guard themselves against injuries” (I know there are more than a billion Indians, but I am...

We had a great vacation at Rajasthan last week. I will not be writing in detail about the places, since wikitravel does a better job at that. I will just jot down some of my experiences/thoughts during this trip. *** The first thing that strikes you once you are in Rajasthan is the "color". Blood red, dark pink, bright yellow, vibrant hues of blue and green - you feel as though they finished playing holi just before you arrived. It seems the people here, with their dressing sense, art and music, more than compensate for the arid, barren, vast spaces of nothingness. It is one place in the world where you can wear the gaudiest Govinda dress without the fear of a fashion faux pas. *** Color is very important to a Rajasthani. They have different colors for different occasions - the birth of a child, the mourning of a death, the ending of a mourning, for holi, for diwali. Innumerable types of turbans are worn, each distinctly representing the wearer's caste, sub caste, the reg...

Can you remember the first French word you had learnt? I can. Let me take a guess about you, was it "Bonjour", "Monsieur", "Mademoiselle", "Au Revoir"? If you say yes, I can safely assume that you were the novel-reading types and you must have read these in a dozen fiction novels where the protagonist travels all over Europe trying to escape from KGB, MI6, CIA or trying to uncover some deadly conspiracy against all odds. I am equally sure that you would have pronounced them in your mind like how you would pronounce an English word. Only later, you would have known that "Mademoiselle" sounds like "memmozee" or "au revoir" sounds like "avva". If you were not the novel-reading types, in the post-cable-tv-pre-Internet era, there was only one way to get your basic French education - Fashion TV. You had to tolerate horrendously dressed zombies to catch a rare episode of Rio Carnival. I need not say that most of...

I always find it amusing to imagine Shankaracharya, Madhvacharya and Ramanujacharya standing forming a triangle inside a circular ground. Ennio Morricone score in the background. Slow long shots of each one, followed by close up of each of their eyes. Then, Ramanujacharya mutters to Madhvacharya - "Seems like you are one entity short" (followed by guffaws from Ramanujacharya's followers in the background) Silence for 30 secs. And Shankaracharya slowly tells Ramanujacharya - "Looks like you got two too many" (followed by eerie silence and then heavy duty music from Morricone) So here it is, the last one in the series...

A colleague of mine used to ask other colleagues whether they are "smart" or "mad". In case you have not guessed, it was her short form for Smartas and Madhvas! Okay, Madhvas need not feel bad. Smartas have a bigger problem. Anyone returning from abroad with a fake accent will ask them "Are you smartas?" and it is an interesting way to stop people from acting oversmart ;) So presenting the next one in the series: Dvaita...

I admit that my knowledge of UML as well as Hindu philosophy is very basic. So any discrepancy in terms of UML or philosophical concepts will not be totally unexpected. I am planning to do this series for different schools, here I am starting off with Advaita first.

Sanathkumara once asked the revered sage Sutha Mahamuni - “Oh knower of all knowledge, oh teller of great stories, can you please explain me in less than 4000 words as to when this ‘Sibling Rivalry’ started”. Sutha Mahamuni cleared his throat, as he usually did before giving lengthy answers, a habit he had acquired by insisting on additional answer sheets during his exams in Gurukul. “Oh Sanathkumar, the man who comes up with more questions than Siddarth Basu, the one who takes listening skills to different levels, listen. This sibling rivalry is existent from time immemorial. When Narada was telling Krishna the story, in which Samba Sadashiva answered a similar query from Nandi, this story was not told. Because I am making this story up for you. So please listen.” Ganapathi and his brother Subrahmanya once had a dispute as to who was the elder of the two. The matter was referred to God Shiva for final decision. Shiva decided that whoever would make a tour of the wh...

I am really surprised why no one has coined the term "Plogging" till now. In case you are wondering what the hell that is, it just means P arent-B logging . I am always surprised that, in my grandparents' generation having a dozen kids was the norm, that too when many had hand-to-mouth existence. My father jokingly tells that its because that was the only form of entertainment in those days. Some experts strongly believe that the late emergence of Plogging is the main reason for population explosion at that time. Imagine if a person had to blog about his half a dozen kids, he surely would not have the bandwidth (not the internet one!) to reach the dozen mark! *** Since blogging itself is around a decade old, the average age of Momma/Pappa blogs would be around 5 years at the most. Many parent bloggers right now will be blogging about their first kid. Will they be as enthusiastic to blog about their second kid? More importantly,will the parents at some point stop writing p...