Last few months in Bangalore, Karnataka

* the elections this time were most peaceful. there was no liquor being offered for votes.

* used NICE road to go to Tumkur and it's quite time saving. you can avoid the entire traffic of yeshwanthpur. hats off to NICE.

*we have a stable, single party government. at least for five years Deve Gowda can take rest:)


*reading

A short story by Joseph Conrad

Youth, A Narrative

sometimes I wonder why I did not chose marine engineering. while studying above story those questions surfaced again.

*Saw 'sarkar raj'...its good. Surprised about reviews in some major newspapers, websites. it appears that these people have grudge with someone associated with the movie. so they want to spread bad publicity about movie. it can be very dangerous for cinema or any other arts for that matter. its better to make a decision based on reviews of your friends than these dirty reviews from these elite,...alas! they get paid for it.

* met a new friend Shonak....High court lawyer from Kolkatta. he is part of a band. explored more about band culture of Kolkatta. its something we do not have in Bangalore. ofcourse it has lots of play groups. bands are leading the revival of good music and participation of youth in to enriching their language. spent hours talking to him in cafe coffee day in RPC layout.

* the construction work of underpasses in JP nagar, Banashankari has thrown the traffic in to confusion. the underpass near kadirenalli signal was as unnecessary as flyover near National College in Basavangudi. but the funds are there and our leaders want to grant contracts their loyals....every now and then u need to throw a piece of bone for your dog i suppose:)

* checked out few flats for sale in Banashankari area. 10 years old 2 bedroom the broker quoted 36 lakhs. after i made fun of it...she said she can negotiate another one for 25 lakhs:)...so laugh at a deal offered to you to know the truth. 3 bedroom new apartment is 55 lakhs. she said brand name matters. yes...it does indeed, to satisfy your egoistic desire i suppose:)

Real Estate in to life of Bangalore…

Sometimes one wonders whether life has been influenced in Bangalore by real estate or the other way round. Most of the eyes are on the properties that are built, their worth and future of that property in terms of appreciation or otherwise.

Ramanna is sitting on a chair with right leg on bags of groceries in the front. He is eating rice with sambar. His friend Nagendra, is smoking a beedi, sitting on the stone bench near the entrance of the house. The dog Tommy, was wagging its tail and occasionally barking at Ramanna for its share of rice.

“Yesterday again these guys came pleading to sell my house.” Ramanna said after drinking water.

“It’s a corner site no that’s why” Nagendra justified, while looking in to the cloud of smoke from his beedi.

“This has made my life hell. I want to put a board that this house is not for sale. They come they see it’s a corner site, they see that my house is a humble one and they conclude that I must be little better than a beggar and then they talk to me about lakhs as if hanging a bone piece before dog.”

“So they trouble you all the time. Do they also knock the door of your restroom when you are struggling to kick out your previous day’s dirt?” Nagendra laughed loudly.

“In the beginning I thought I am some important person. There were big people coming in big cars and talking to me of lakhs of rupees. No body traveling in cars earlier cared about me. These real estate guys, who put on gold like mythological characters, would take me around in their luxury cars. They would offer me drinks like scotch whiskey, very smooth. One day I realized I am not interested in selling my house. I still remember that day; I had fallen in to gutter behind you. I was drunk and someone came running, picked me up and left me in the house.”

After laughter Nagendra said, “Ramanna, don’t you think that you are a lucky chap? Had you anytime imagined that your piece of this dirty land would be worth lakhs of rupees? All you have here is a house of mud, few stones, a neem tree, few hens and a dog.”

“I don’t think I consider it my good fortune now. This place of mine I have started getting addicted like never before.”

“If that is the case instead of putting a board of “not for sale” put “under litigation”….then you see nobody will even think having a look at your drunken, swollen, unshaven, unwashed face of yours.”

Ramanna felt that this is the way and the best one.

Government Schools…

June14th 2008…Saturday…cloudy it rained a bit

Physical Education Teacher shouted “Straight”.

The children on the field straightened their backs and looked back at him for approval.

On the stage there were around 20 important people. The first row was of the honorable guests and head master. The second row had all other permanent teacher. Many of the first row people had pride of being on the stage at least here.

That is a government school, where not well to do background children came. The ground belonged commonly to another private school, with a huge stone compound. The security guard of the one of the gates of the private school was sitting on a plastic chair viewing the soccer game of some college boys and the assembly on the other side live.

To his left on the front of the ground are two columns of trees, with full glory of windy season. Also a main road was attached to the ground. Children coming late threw their bags in to the pile of bags and ran to the nearest row of students.

Head master signaled to English madam and then there was ceremony of garlanding. The temporary teachers, standing on the three sides of the assembly ordered “claps, claps”. Children clapped for next many minutes.

The Social Studies madam sung the prayer. She earned the nodding and smiles from the first row elites. She beamed with pride the entire day. All the permanent teachers had got themselves one or the part to play. They thought it’s their day to shine. Students were merely there to clap and sit on the cold ground for more than an hour.

“You are in no way less intelligent compared to private school students”, thundered one of the guests. There was a wave of claps.

Then he told a story of humble background people who have brought pride to their humble schools. There were no facility for drinking water for children in the near vicinity, but people on stage had mineral water bottles.

At the end of it all, some parents who were seeing from behind the compound the proceedings of the day, left questioning “Was this assembly conducted for children or it was for self praising of the people on the stage?”.