Bolo India Bolo

The lush green trees that once lined the streets of Bangalore forming a canopy of leaves overhead, have long disappeared. Their place inevitably has been taken by the spas and fitness centers and seems to have transformed the peace loving population of Bangalore into fitness maniacs. Not only do the inhabitants of the city walk, jog and exercise like never before but they also have inculcated an irritating habit, they advice.

While jogging:
A complete stranger stops me.
Stranger: stop!
Me: (Looking down at his big black dog ) slow down.
Stranger: This is not the way, there is no use.
Me: ?*))&%$#*>@+/????

Stranger: (demonstrating) you have to move your hands this way. Other wise there is no way that you will loose weight. Scientifically blah blah blah…
Me: (Who the hell asked you in the first place?) Errr
Stranger: blah blah blah
Me: (Managing to escape from him)
(Shucks! If only I wasn’t afraid of his dog)


By this time I am totally pissed off, so I start walking. This time I am stopped by my brother’s friend’s mother.

Aunty: No way! You got to loose weight.
Me: (WHAT DO YOU THINK I AM DOING?? BUNGEE JUMPING? ) Errr.

Aunty: Oh, look at me, I have lost two kilo’s. I am on ragi diet for the past two weeks. I am doing all this after I consulted a dietician. Your diet should be such that blah blah blah………………………………………………
Me: (Holy Angel!)
Aunty: blah blah blah…………you are so young, you have to jog, look at the effort that I am putting and I am not as fat as you.
Me: grrrrrrrrrrrrr

(If only she wasn’t my brother’s friend’s mother!)

At yoga:

Friend1: You going to yoga classes. Be careful your back is going to increase in size.
Me: (From where do these people come up with such stuff?)

Friend2: You going to yoga? Don’t ever say OM , women should not say it!
Me: sigh!

Friend3: You are going to yoga? Are you so religious??
Me: !@#$%^&*()-+?????


At GYM:
Friend1: YOU ARE GOING TO GYM? DON’T GO. YOU WILL BLOW UP LIKE HELL AFTER YOU LEAVE THE GYM
Me: (AM I A BALOON OR WHAT?)


If doing without weights
Friend2: Do with weights. The more weights you do with, you will loose weight faster.

If doing with weights:
Friend3: ARE U MAD OR WHAT? DO YOU WANT TO LOOSE WEIGHT OR GAIN WEIGHT?
Me: (Anna ninna bitbidu)


At Aerobics:

Friend: You got to loose weight
Me: (Wow! Just the thing I wanted to hear) I am trying.
Friend: Really! I don’t see any difference.
Me: (Your sugary sweet dulcet tones made my day) I am trying. Friend: If you are trying hard and are still not loosing weight, then you are not trying hard enough.
Me: (grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr)

Friend: blah blah (After a big lecture). I am telling you all this because I care about you
Me: (emotional blackmail?)


Outside:

- You have got to go and run marathaon.
- Why don’t you try swimming!
Old Aunty: You are so young and you are unmarried and you are overweight(with tears in her eyes)
Me: 1@#$%^&*()-+<>?


I am sure many would be getting similar advices wherever they go. For those of whom these advices are given they all know that these are nothing but complete crap. As for all the fancy little know-it-all’s, Bolo India Bolo, after all advice is free, even on phone.

ಓ ಮನವೆ!!!

ನೂರಾರು ಆಸೆಗಳು ಮರುಭೂಮಿಯಂತೆ ಚೂರಾಗಿ,
ಬಿಸಿ ನೆಲದ ಮೇಲೆ ಬಿದ್ದ ತಣ್ಣೀರ ಹನಿಯಂತೆ
ಮನದಾಳದ ಇಂಗಿತವು ಇಂಗಿ ಹೋದರೇನಾಯ್ತು?
ಅಪೇಕ್ಷೆಯೊಂದಿದ್ದರೆ ಹೊಂಗನಸು ಮೂಡುವುದು
ಮರುಗದಿರು ಮೂರ್ಖ ಮನವೆ

ಹಗಲಿರುಳು ಹೋರಾಡಿ ಮರಳಿಂದ ಮನೆ ಕಟ್ಟಿ
ಅದರ ಅಂದವನ್ನು ಮನಸಾರೆ ಮೆಚ್ಚುತ್ತ ನಿಂತಿರಲು
ರಭಸದ ಅಲೆಯಿಂದ ಮನೆ-ಮನ ಕೊಚ್ಚಿ ಹೋದರೆನಾಯ್ತು?
ಹುರುಪೆಂಬ ಬಿರುಗಾಳಿ ಮನದಲ್ಲಿ ಬೀಸುತಿರಲಿ
ಮಣಿಯದಿರು ಮರುಳ ಮನವೆ

ಮಲ್ಲಿಗೆಯ ಬಳ್ಳಿ ಹಸನಾಗಿ ಬೆಳೆದಿರಲು,
ಮಲ್ಲಿಗೆಯ ಪರಿಮಳ ಎಲ್ಲೆಲ್ಲು ಹಬ್ಬಿರಲು
ನೆರೆಮನೆಯವರು ಚಿಗುಟಿ ಹಾಕಿದರೇನಾಯ್ತು?
ಛಲವೆಂಬ ಮರದ ಆಧಾರ ಇರುವವರೆಗು,
ಮುರಿಯದಿರು ಮೃದುಲ ಮನವೆ

ನೀ ನನ್ನ ಬಾಳ ಬರಹಗಾರ
ನಿನ್ನ ಬಲವೆ ನನ್ನ ಖಜಾನ
ನೀನೊಬ್ಬ ಜೊತೆಯಿರಲು,
ಜಗವು ಕಾಲಡಿ ಇರುವುದೆಂದು
ಮರೆಯದಿರು ಮೂಡ ಮನವೆ

English summary:
What if all my dreams are shattered?
What if all my desires evaporate?
Until there is hope,
don't weep my foolish mind

What if all my hard work,
is washed away by a single tidal wave?
until there is the spirit,
don't give up my thoughtless mind

When i am growing fast in life,
What if the others try to curb me?
until there is determination,
don't break my sensitive mind.

You are the painter of my life,
Your strength is my fortune.
If you are with me,
the entire world is under my feet
don't forget my silly mind.

Speak joys not sorrows

Ask a withered winter tree

The ecstasy of the first green bloom

Not the twinge of solitude.

My first haiku

A haiku is an ancient form of japanese poetry which consists of three lines.
Read more about haiku on
http://www.toyomasu.com/haiku/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haiku

Here is my first attemt :)

Like raindrops on still water
My heart dips, ripples, resonates and imbibes
The sound of your laughter

Biking my way

I did not understand why I was thinking about bicycles ever since I got down from my office bus. Not until I entered my aerobics class and saw a number of bikes neatly lined up on the polished wooden floor, did I suspect that it was a premonition of sorts. I took a look at the sophisticated spin bikes and I couldn’t help noticing that some of them were the same colour as my first ever bike.

It was a third hand bike, given to me because my cousin brother had grown too tall for it. He was getting a brand new blue colour bike and the old and small blackish orange bike was given to me. I was in 3rd standard then and it was the happiest moment of my life thus far.

I took half a day to learn how to ride and the next day I took off with my brother on my bike. I was delighted to find out that I could take all the turns as well as he did until I fell right into the gutter. The gutter was old fashioned and was made of hard stones. I hit the gutter on my knees and when I got up I saw that both my knees were bleeding. My brother must have got frightened by what he saw because he made me promise many times that I will not tell my parents about my fall or my wounds. He assured me that he will help me clean my wounds and bandage them, and it will disappear in no time. The first stage of our secret little pact went on very well, and it would have succeeded but for the next door aunty who went off like the fire-alarm of HP, as soon as she saw us. I don’t blame her, anyone would have freaked out if they saw a little girl washing her bloody knees in tap water and applying copious amounts of talcum powder on it.


My brother used to show me new tricks everyday, that can be done on a bike and I happily copied them. Soon I had learnt to ride leaving both my hands, skid my bike after a sharp turn and many more tricks like that. I never really understood how he made the front wheels of his bike rise in air and stood easily on the back wheels for a few seconds, though. “You should ride your bike faster and jam the brakes harder”, he used to say. Luckily or unluckily it never worked for me.

The summer holidays were a rare treat coz me and a small group of my friends went cycling early in the morning. Soon we knew every galli in and around sanjayanagar, Dollars colony and UAS Layout as well as any of the boys. Though I enjoyed riding in all the three areas, my favourite was UAS Layout. To get into UAS layout we had to go through a rough mud path and enter a small mud road lined with trees on either side. At the end of the road, there was a layer of rock and we had to shepard our bikes on to the other side. There was a poppy tree which always bore juicy fruits. We enjoyed eating the fruits from the tree and then taking off again on the wide tarred roads of UAS Layout lined with lush green trees. I used to ride my cycle so much that whenever I was introduced to any uncle or aunty in the area, they actually used to ask me if I was the “cycle hudugi” (cycle girl).

I was forced to apply sudden brakes to my cyclic memories when the instructor called us.
We were told to choose a “STATIONARY” spin bike. The instructor switched off the lights and turned on the disco lights. It was a pleasant affect, gave the hallucination that we were all in a dark albeit colourfull room. Bright blue, green, red, yellow colours were dancing around us as we biked, though I couldn’t help noticing that the colours fell more on the persons next to me.

I was uncomfortable in the beginning. I felt that the bikes were either too short or too high for me. I was perennially afraid that I would fall off my bike and the relentless screaming of “faster, faster” in my ears did not help. I lost my footing as if it were a rule, every time I was asked to stand up or sit down. Soon I was stretching myself beyond my short arms would permit me in order to hold the farthest handle of the bike while I cycled. I was cycling with my legs and exercising with my arms while all this while I was supposed to find new avenues from the barred window reflected in the wall mirror in front of me. I was also wondering if my legs would allow me to walk back home after all the hard work.

After I finished the class I had a strange feeling that an hour of time I had spent there had cracked the chasm of reality for me. I felt that the spin biking class was connected to my present life as much as the battered bike was to my past life. A perfect simile of the past and the present. One jolly and carefree and other confused and stationary. I was complaining about how boring the class was when one of the girls remarked: " So what? It serves the purpose". I hope with all my heart it does in the long run, but at the same time I cant help feeling that my little third hand bike had served the purpose better.

Time is never ripe for a suicide

Do you think you have lost the will to live? Well you are not alone. When people are bogged down by problems in life they think of the other alternative “DEATH” Most of them struggle through their problems and succeed in finding a solution while some others don’t. There lies the marked difference.


IF YOU HAVE A PROBLEM AND ARE THINKING SUICIDE!!
HOLD IT! THERE IS A SOLUTION.

Around 2000 people in Bangalore commit suicide every year and about 95% of these are teenagers. It is a pity that we are often left alone during the most confused phase of our lives and I cant help thinking that if there were someone to help, so many of these lives could be saved.

I have been researching why teenagers take this extreme step and here are a few factors and perhaps a way out.

1) Loneliness:
We seldom find people who are like us, and if we do we are extremely lucky. So there is nothing wrong in being lonely. Keep an open mind and be yourself, you are bound to find someone soon. In the meanwhile read some books, identify your talents and develop them. Keep yourself busy.

2) Feeling Unwanted:
I have come across a lot of teenagers who complain that they are not wanted by anybody and nobody would miss them if they die. So what? Have an aim in life; show them your worth.

3) Facing Humiliation:
Of the things that bother the adolescents, humiliation is one of the worst. Be it ragging or being teased in school, it is indeed difficult to face. However there is one mantra” Believe in yourself, because if you don’t nobody else will”.

4) Combat Fear:
Do you freak out during exams?
Be superstitious. Identify a lucky dress and tell yourself that while I am wearing it nothing can go wrong.
Go offer flowers to your favorite god and tell yourself it is your lucky day.
Listen to a good song on radio and think that this song will really make my day.
These are just “bahanas”. After sometime you won’t need any of these excuses to have a lucky day.
Don’t believe me? Try it.

5) Love Failure:
Believe it or not this is one of the main reasons why people loose their lives. There are two main reasons for a relationship to fail.
Possessiveness and Ego. If you have lost your love think back and see if you have made these mistakes. Some people say that possessiveness is a sign of love, but that’s not true. After sometime it becomes a pain for the other person. Ego spoils all kinds of relationships. Love means surrender and there is no place for ego there. Keep these in check
Ego is not your problem? Your love doesn’t reciprocate?
Big Deal! The opposite party looses. As for you? You have got most the amazing experience of your life. Move on.

6) Don’t let those negative thoughts get on to you:
Attitude is a small thing that makes a big difference.
Don’t let your worries burn you. Keep things light, laugh a lot and keep telling yourself everything happens for my own good.
That’s a small tonic for confidence.

7) Physical or sexual abuse:
It is a bad, sad world. I don’t know what to say except whatever the reason it’s not worth your life.

Here are some pointers I could think of. Every body has teenage troubles. None are spared. I guess that is the reason I am tagging Sudhir, Sourav, Daisy, Aditi, Nasia and anybody who thinks they have experiences worth sharing.
.
Who knows? Somebody, someday, somewhere may read these articles and conclude that “time is never ripe for suicide”.

ಎಷ್ಟು ಚೆನ್ನ!

ಮುಂಜಾನೆ ಬೆಳಕಲ್ಲಿ
ಹಸುರಿನ ನಡುವಲ್ಲಿ
ಚಾಚಿದ ಎಲೆಯಾಗಿ
ಇಬ್ಬನಿ ಹಿಡಿಯಲು ಎಷ್ಟು ಚೆನ್ನ!

ಸೂರ್ಯನ ಕಿರಣಗಳು,
ಸೋಂಕಿದ ಕಡೆಯೆಲ್ಲ
ವಜ್ರದ ಹೊಳಪಾಗೊ
ನೀರಾಗಿ ಹರಿಯಲು ಎಷ್ಟು ಚೆನ್ನ!

ಅರ್ಕನ ಸುಂದರ
ಮೊಗವನ್ನು ಕಂಡೊಡೆ
ಮೆರಗಿಂದ ಹಾಡುವ
ಹಕ್ಕಿಯ ಧನಿಯಾಗಲು ಎಷ್ಟು ಚೆನ್ನ!

ನೇಸರನು ನಲಿವಿಂದ
ಭುವಿಯನ್ನು ಬೆಳಗಿರಲು
ಮೆಲ್ಲನೆ ಅರಳುವ
ಹೂವಿನ ನಗೆಯಾಗಲು ಎಷ್ಟು ಚೆನ್ನ!

ಚಿನ್ನದ ಬೆಳಕು
ಬಣ್ಣವ ತುಂಬಿರಲು
ಹರುಷದಿಂದಾಡುವ
ಚಿಟ್ಟೆಯಂತಾಗಲು ಎಷ್ಟು ಚೆನ್ನ!

ಪ್ರತಿ ಮನೆಯ ಮುಂಗಡೆ
ಬೆಳಗಿನ ಸಂಭ್ರಮದ
ಶುಭಸೂಚಿಯಂತಿರುವ
ರಂಗವಲ್ಲಿಯಾಗಲು ಎಷ್ಟು ಚೆನ್ನ!

ಬೆಳಕು ಹರಿದಿರುವಾಗ,
ಆನಂದ ತುಂಬಿರಲು
ಪ್ರಕ್ರುತಿಯೊಡಗೂಡಿ
ನೇಸರನ ಸ್ವಾಗತಿಸಲು ಎಷ್ಟು ಚೆನ್ನ!