Blogger turns 2 today !

You guys are real fighters! You guys are real survivors! If Darwin’s ‘Survival of the fittest’ holds true, I’m sure Darwin referred to guys just like you. And beyond doubt, this year’s Red and White bravery awards, as well as the Param Vir Chakra go to you. Guess why? My blog has kept making your lives miserable for the past 2 years, and yet you have endured it all successfully.

Yes, this blog has hit a double-century. It has around 13o posts, but my blogging tradition had started over 2 years back. I just happened to delete some of my first 20 posts, as I was not at all satisfied with them. So, in reality, I’ve posted over 150 posts.

From words like – “I’m addicted to your blog” to “Another blog mail from you and you’ll be killed” has kept me going. Of course, the posts I put up ain’t really something I am proud about. Every time I see an article written by a friend, talking about issues, finding solutions to grave problems, trying to make people better than what they are, it irritates me, because all I do is drone about how Katrina and I are made for each other (which is true, by the way). But I hate preaching; of course, I never held back when there was some issue on which I had a strong view about; I’ve openly put it across, but I do understand my blog, to put it bluntly, is a whole pile of trash, decorated with carefully picked words, so that it appears as something readable.

2 ½ years back, I used to hear that blogging was the ‘in’ thing! Just like how almost everyone has a Facebook account today, everyone was turning out to be a blogger. I caught on early with that tradition, and it seemed perfect for someone like me. I have, plenty of times, tried to start off designing web pages of my own, but failed miserably. What started off as a promise of ‘updating daily’, ended up ‘updating never’. Blogging was just the answer I was looking out for.

It took a while to get into the groove. Friends who blogged, helped me through this process. I set out to make my blog, the ‘blog of the century’. Comments became a must, I felt irritated when I did not get any. But by and by, blogging became more of a way to flush things out of my system. Blogging became a ‘full-fledged bathroom’. And of course, it was also a platform to test the new vocabulary I learnt when practicing for GRE.

My cousin Bharath, very soon, will be adopted by the family of bloggers, so do watch out for his posts.

I don’t know the future of my blogging, but I do know that it will happen till I’m so blind, that I can’t see the monitor. Thank you for your patience (I’m sure you have a lot) … do continue groaning when you see my mail in your inboxes … because you see, every blogger derives his inspiration out of that.

Fact / Fiction ?

You guys know I had been to Chitradurga recently. No no, this certainly is not a report of that, I’m certain you ain’t looking forward to it. There was this tourist guide there, who went on rambling about how the fort used to be, what the rock patterns meant, how the soldiers breached the fort, and blah blah! It made me think, how much of this History we know of, or hear of, is actually true?

Especially for a place like Chitradurga, facts in the form of, perhaps scriptures or in any form available are very little. ThaRaSu, the great Kannada story-writer is said to have written 700+ pages of the Chitradurga Saga from just a piece of paper. Of course, a lot of creativity and imagination went into it; but what if the same amount of creativity and imagination has crept into all those events which we believe actually happened.

At one end, there is this din on whether Ram and the Ram Sethu exist? NASA pictures have actually proved that a bridge does exist between India and SriLanka. The Pandavas have travelled all over India, and left their marks everywhere, or so it is believed. What if none of this is true? What if everything was just a plain old bed time story told to some little brat who refused to sleep? Of course, if this were true, you have to commend the imagination of that mother. Ramayana and Mahabharata are without doubt some of the greatest stories ever written.

But coming back to what I was talking about, I’m sure you can’t entirely dismiss the view that the History we believe in maybe just a figment of imagination. Ever read The DaVinci Code? It tells you some aspects of Christianity that you never dreamt of; I’m not saying it is true, I’m just saying it is possible. The tradition being followed from thousands of years may all end up in vain, if such a thing happens.

I remember this story we had in English literature. The scenario starts off at the time when every living being on earth is killed; the ice age has set in; and nothing is left on earth. Some beings from a distant planet happen to visit earth, and try to gather some evidence to understand how life was on earth. They happen to obtain a video-tape buried deep in snow. The aliens spend a lot of time in research to design a cassette player, and finally they succeed. They watch the video, and then announce their conclusions – “Living beings as we believe on earth, stand erect on their two legs. They are very fast creatures, and always run around in a hurry. They tend to fall from buildings, burn in fires, get hit by moving vehicles, yet nothing seems to happen to them”. As these conclusions are made, the video finally flashes “Walt Disney Corp”.

So, by seeing a 30-minute Mickey-Mouse show, the aliens came to a conclusion about how the earthlings were. What if our History is something like this? All the epics, all the stories we believe actually are true, might just be stories written by some talented writer, who just let his imagination flow. Quite possible, right?

Cheers !

“One more hurdle for a longer nightlife in Bangalore has been cleared. The home department has given the green signal for the proposal to extend the deadline for pubs from the existing 11.30pm to 1am.”

This is what appeared in the front page of yesterday’s Times of India. I don’t understand why TOI is so bent upon getting Bangloreans drunk. In fact, I really think most Bangloreans aren’t even familiar with the concept of a night-life … it’s a non-native culture.

Ok fine, Bangalore is a multi-ethnic city, we are linguists, and we understand Hindi, English, Tamil and Telugu. We watch all these movies; we celebrate festivals from Holi to Halloweens. Ok fine, I admit, I don’t dance that well (I just drop soap on the bathroom floor, and pretend to step on it unknowingly. If that’s not called dancing, so be it). I’ve never been to a discotheque (ever!). I’ve never been to a pub; if I ever happen to do it (which is probably never), I’d probably order water (and then get kicked out coz I’ll probably ask if they also served masala dosas). So, bottom-line, I don’t understand this ‘nightlife’ concept, and probably I have no right to comment about it.

But with whatever I understand by reading newspapers, reading the crime columns, reading police statistics, and hearing to what friends say, I don’t think we need to have nightlife. That’s not healthy. My friend in college asks “Suhas, Bangalore is such a boring place. If there’s no nightlife, how do you expect us to have fun, relax or beat the stress?” “Sleep” I told her … “Sleep. That’s fun, its relaxing, and is the best stress-buster”. Nature has a way of its own. It keeps us active during the day, asking us to ‘work’. It brings us down in the afternoon, asking us to ‘take it easy, perhaps nap for a while’. Evenings, it makes us ecstatic, telling us to ‘go have fun, shop, eat out, watch a movie, take a walk, dance, sing, and propose to him/her’. Come night, it makes our eyelids droop, and says ‘You had a tiring day. Get some sleep busy-bee’. And experience teaches us, that if nature says it so, better follow it.

Is 1am a time for dancing, and partying, and boozing? Police statistics will tell you how many drunken drivers have run over people sleeping on footpaths, killing them or ending up hurting themselves. Their records will tell you how many cases of sexual harassment have happened around discotheques and pubs midnight, how many murders have been committed, and how many brawls have resulted of this so called ‘nightlife’. And this is not just issues I’m catching from the air. Why do you think the police are so much against this nightlife concept?

11pm deadline is fine. Maybe it is a lot of fun. But have fun till 11pm. Then, come home and sleep. The only people who talk of wanting to have an active nightlife in Bangalore are working in BPOs and Call Centers who have literally spoilt themselves, or papers like TOI which resembles more like a ‘Femina’ or ‘Stardust’ issue, than a ‘proper’ newspaper. These were the guys, who insisted so much on making helmets compulsory (which was absolutely meaningful), these were the guys who started the Lead India Campaign, and these are the guys who think Bangalore needs an extended nightlife. Bullshit !

TaRaSu & The Chitradurga Saga

I've hardly read any Kannada novels. And before you gather up all the swear-words you want to use against me ... i'm sure most of you would have read very very few Kannada stories, if at all you have read any. Of course, there are exceptions.

The first one i read, and is perhaps my present favorite is 'Grihabhanga' of S.L. Bhairappa. Recently though, I came across a set of 3 books authored by T.R. Subbarao, and they were pretty neat I must say. There's a continuity between the 3 stories, and they are titled:

• Kambaniya Kuyilu (Saga of sorrow)
• Raktha Raathri (Night of blood)
• Thirugu Baana (The revenge)

TaRaSu, as he is popularly known as, is from Chitradurga, as a result of which, most of his historical works are based on Chitradurga. Few people know that TaRaSu dropped out from college, took to smoking and consuming alcohol and was infamously known as Poli Subba. He considered AaNaKru (A.N. Krishna Rao) as his mentor.

These stories I read starts from the political coup of the army chief Dalavaayi Muddanna and his brothers in which they de-throne a palegaara, and ends with a launch of a reposte against Muddanna and his fall.

I don't exactly call these novels as page-turners, as i can identify lots of sections which were way too boring, or spoilt the fun of reading by over-dramatization of both characters and situations. But on a broader note, the story introduces us to the blood-thirsty Muddanna, who charges like a rampaging elephant killing everyone in his path. His power is such that the whole of Chitradurga were left as mute spectators to his gruesome acts. With every sinful act, the reader curses Muddanna, and with every move he makes, the plot gets scarier. There are occasions, such as the end of the first book, where I was hurt, scared, and angry, all at the same time. Such is the characterization ... so realistic, you tend to forget that its just a story. Most of these characters did exist, but the stories told are mostly fictional ... very little history of Chitradurga is known.

TaRaSu scores in readability. But his overwhelming use of similes and metaphors jars the modern reader who is accustomed to reading to-the-point writing styles.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T.R._Subba_Rao