Malatesh - A long lost friend

(Refer to my earlier blog : http://vikki-pedia.blogspot.com/2009/05/strangers-of-mini-forest.html)

As I was hurrying up in the evening to pick up Poorvi from her grandparents house, I found this very familiar person walking alone on Bannerghatta Road. Moment I saw him, I knew he is the same old person whom I used to meet during my mini-forest days. In my previous blog (refer to http://vikki-pedia.blogspot.com/2009/05/strangers-of-mini-forest.html), I had a mention about him & how I lost in touch with this wonderful guy - Malatesh. 

Malatesh, one inspiring person - trying to overcome all the trouble that life has thrown at him. Ever since he met with the accident, he is mentally crippled for life. He does not remember things quite well, but he never forgets to walk, walk & walk. His routine includes about 2 hours walk in the morning & 2 hours in the evening. He does not have complete balance over his body, but he has never given up on walking. 

It was about 10 years back that we used to meet in mini-forest. When I introduced myself last evening, he felt so happy to see me. I once thought that he may not remember me, but he really surprised me. Initially he was getting confused with another Vikram he knows of. Then he started talking about one more Vikram who is in Wipro and whose parents name are Kamalanath & Nalini. Wow, I was zapped. How does he remember my parents name which I told him about 10 years back ! When I told him that I am the same Vikram he is talking about, his joy had no bounds. He explained me how he remembers my parents name - KNN (just like CNN), which stands for Kamalanath & Nalini. I was just wondering, how short our memories get compared to him but still he is not a normal person :-( He says, he has just one obsession in life - walking. He had some advice for me as well - do not run, but walk, walk & walk :-)

Well, he has taken my contact number & invited me to join him for a walk during some weekend. Hope I will be able to join him in his morning walk one day, even though I am not confident if I can match his endurance & enthusiasm in walking. 

Bharat Sangeet Utsav

What happens when the likes of Nirupama/Rajendra with Kathak sequence, Sangitha Kalanidhi R.K.Srikantan with Carnatic vocal, The Manganiyaras (of Nimbuda Nimbuda fame) with Sufi music, Vidyabhushana with devotional songs, Manasi Prasad with music & dance, Anuradha Sriram/Sriram Parasuram with Jugal sangeeth come on stage & perform one after another for 2 days? Stage is on fire? Well almost yes (although real fire  happened elsewhere), it was an enthralling weekend at MLR convention centre in Woodrose club, packed with these music & performance from the best of the artists in their own field. It was called "Bharat Sangeet Utsav", it really did live upto its name & expectations.

I was fortunate to witness some of the great performances, special note goes to Sufi music by The Manganiyars (Jameel Khan, Mansoor Khan & party). It started at 10 in the night on Saturday & went on till 12 in the night. It was absolute hysteria at the venue when they sang "Nimbuda nimbuda" and "Dum mast kalandar". Crowd was literally on their feet & the kind of standing ovation they got at 12 in the night was just awesome & have never seen in any of the concert before. Same goes with Nirupama & Rajendra. It was a jam packed house on Sunday evening to witness this Kathak-couple dance in tandem for some lovely music. Overall, music lovers had a weekend that they will remember for life, for sure. Let there be more such events, more such entertaining weekends. 

200* (147)

200*(147) - Period. "God" had gone crazy today & records came tumbling down. What an amazing achievement by the greatest Cricketer of our times - Sachin Tendulkar.

Atleast two times he had come close to scoring double hundred in one day cricket, but missed it. Not this time around, although there were tense moments in the last over when he needed just 1 run to create history. Even a die-hard fan like me had little hopes from Tendulkar to score a double ton in ODI, not because anyone can doubt his abilities, but more due to his age. Wow, doesn't he like to prove people wrong? Go Sachin Go, Get more before you call it a day.

There was more than one reason to rejoice over this stupendous feet. Previous record of 194 runs was held by a cricketer from our not-so-friendly neighbor & that too against India. I always wished for an Indian to beat that record preferably against the same neighbors. Alas, although it did not happen against them, Sachin scored his double hundred against a much much better side in world cricket. What else can one ask for?

This is an era of 20-20. It has changed the complexion of Cricket. It is becoming common for a team to score 400 runs in 50 overs & to a player to score century in 60 odd balls. So, 200 run mark is bound to be broken. But I wish that this record stays for a long long time to come, challenging the Cricketers to achieve this feat. Just compare this whole show against completely contradictory innings from another little master Sunil Gavaskar - scoring 36 runs after playing for 60 overs in an ODI, back in late 70's. It is difficult to predict what kind of records we will be witnessing in the days to come. But, whatever it is, Sachin is the greatest cricketer NOW & I hope he will be the greatest EVER. We take a bow Sachin. We are privileged to watch & witness all your great knocks.

Beggar Free Bangalore?

Government has launched a month long program to observe "Beggar free month" in Bangalore. Lot of our money already goes in beggar rehabilitation (to the tune of 6 to 7 crores per year). Not sure how this money has been utilized till date, but government now wants to make some use of this money. As per Indian laws, begging is a punishable crime & beggars can be sent for 1 to 3 years of imprisonment. 

Definitely it is a welcome sign, considering that even begging has its own mafia. But, I was wondering why government is targeting only the one-rupee-beggars, while the other bigger beggars getting in thousands & lakhs per day are left free to loot more. Government, can you do something with them too?

By the way, I had an encounter with another kind of beggar few months back  (refer to http://vikki-pedia.blogspot.com/2009/06/curious-case-of-ramanath-iyer.html).  A man & daughter posing as lost in Bangalore & wanting to get some money to go back to their home town. Some of us in the apartment had helped them with 2000 Rs. Now there are reports from different parts of the city that these beggars are looting people with the same story with little twist. Be it a rupee beggar or a sophisticated beggar, it is difficult to trust anyone. 

Just some thoughts on how to tackle this kind of situation if some really "lost" people approaches you for money & promise to return the money back after reaching the place:

• Easiest thing to do is to neglect them (with heavy heart, assuming that they are begging)
• If you really want to help, help them, but ensure that you also take few snaps/vidoes of them (with your friendly (Nokia?? :-)) mobile phone). If not it helps in tracking or giving complaints to police later, it will atleast have an impact on the beggar. You can find out if he/she is genuine or not by looking at their reaction to taking the video/photos.
• Offer them the help of local police to go back to their place. (You can just tell them that you know the inspector & inspector can help them).

These were some thoughts which came to my mind after I got duped. I wish I had taken any of the above steps to avoid that beggar. I hope you can take these precautions when you encounter such a situation in future. 

Sound OK, horn

Sound OK, Horn. This may sound noisy, but unfortunately this is the most accepted cliche in India :-( This cacophony is at its best in the evenings, when everyone is hurrying back home. This is equally bad in front of our apartment in the early morning itself, when I wait for our office cab to pick me up. Having absolutely nothing to do till the cab picks me up, I tend to observe the vehicle behavior :-) I am not sure if our apartment is so attractive or distractive, without any exception all the vehicles honk atleast once there. Since there is no option but to accept these honking, sometime I even try to enjoy this early morning music. But it is tough :-(

So, having analyzed sound-ok-horn, I have been able to classify people into different categories:

• People suffering from Vehicle-syndrome: When you see a vehicle in front of you, just honk. Unfortunately in India, on any road, there is always a vehicle in front of you, and one hand of these people are always on the horn :-(
• Anti-social people: When you see someone trying to cross the road, honk. Someone is not trying to cross the road, but just standing by the side of the road? Honk even more... what if they decide to cross?
  
• Stress-Busters: Honking is a way of stress busting. More you honk, less stressed you are. Honk, Honk, Honk & be cool. Transfer all your frustration to others on the road & you have a smile on your face when you drive.
• Jam Busters: When there is a traffic jam, keep honking, hoping that jam gets cleared because of your decibel levels.
• Signal Busters: Even before the signal can turn green, start honking. Just to ensure that everyone at the signal are ready to do a race once signal goes green. If someone stops at the red-signal, Honk - why did the guy stop when it was just turning red?
• Road-o-phobia: Just saw a speed breaker? Just saw potholes? Honk, Honk, Honk. 
• Honko-Freaks: That guy honked at me, I honk at him. That guy overtook me, honk. I overtook this guy, honk. I need to scare this guy to give way, honk. Honko-freak guys just eat, sleep & drink honks.

All of us who honk does fit into one of these categories. When you drive next time & honk, just think why did you honk? You will get an answer as to which kind of Honko-personality is yours. No need to play an online quiz in Facebook to know the answer :-)

Gemini Circus : See to believe it

One of my friend had called me to wish on New year's. He just mentioned about Gemini circus which he attended during the last week of December & how much he enjoyed it. He said, he enjoyed it more than his 4 1/2 year old daughter did. I was little skeptical anyway, but I exactly had the same feeling after we attended the circus yesterday.

It was long time since I went for circus. During my Bhadravathi days (in late 80"s), I had visited some circus. Later I also had been to a circus show in US, in 1999. But the Indian circus has lot more variety & lot more interesting stuff to offer. Poorvi has never been to circus. So, I thought it is better to visit the circus over the weekend, before they pack & move to other city. I am always fascinated by circus. It is such a great art on the verge of extinction. :-( Unless people support them, they are gone & the next generation kids will have to just live in virtual world of entertainment :-(

We went there on Saturday evening & occupied the better seats available to watch the show. The whole setup was nice. There was orchestra band in the podium & the usual bells (3 times, last one being a long bell) indicated the start of the circus. From the word go till the very end, there was not even a single minute break, 2 hours of pure entertainment. Expectedly, the number of animals have reduced & the human touch has increased in the performance. They have performers from Russia, Africa etc & they set the stage on fire, literally. Each performance was better than the previous. Especially the ladder-balancing act, cycle show & the elephant performances (playing cricket, playing doctor-patient) are just memorable. When you just think you have seen the best performance of the show, next one will be much better. Wow. Such a talented bunch of people risking their lives day after day, show after show to entertain people.

Take a break from Idiots & Avataars to get the pure entertainment & thrill of circus. 

Here are the details of  the circus:

Place: Palace Grounds, you have ample car parking space, entry opposite to TV tower.

Timings: 3 shows daily : 1 PM, 4 PM, 7 PM  

Price : Rs40, Rs80, Rs150, Rs200, Rs250. My suggestion is to go for either 200 Rs or 250 Rs. You will have a good view. Rs 150 row itself is little back. Rs 40/80 are gallery benches.

Other points: Carry snacks/water. You will also get popcorns/juices/chocolates/candys/Coffee at your seat itself, but it is expensive. Try to sit away from the globe on which they do motorbike stunt, as it will be too noisy. Photography is prohibited, however I saw many many people clicking the photos & shooting the videos. Restroom services are not available, so take all precautionary measures :-).