A lot can happen over a bus journey

The one and half hour journey by my company bus to office 25 km away, on the other side of the city is something I enjoy big-time. It is slow-paced for a capital city, but then, I could make up for my lost hours sleeping, enjoy the window-side activity and to top it all, Ramesh, the bus driver gave the best company. Among the routinizers, there was this young lad who dodged off routine to think differently, dwell on his own, and live out from his own muse. Driving was his childhood passion. The son of a bus driver, Ramesh was a B.A graduate yet embraced gladly his father’s profession for it gave him the pleasure he was in quest of, “job satisfaction” what we call. I respected his education, admired his simplicity, lauded his interest and even gave him the liberty of calling me Hema, by name. You may wonder why I care to know so much about a driver. Not because of my nosiness, but, for my first pickup and last drop points.

My routine got a little out of the ordinary with a new girl joining me in my Paying Guest Accommodation. Shreeja was new to my company, new to Bangalore; I accommodated her in my own room. With her, the one and half hour journey now got more interesting. Toting up to the window-side breeze, the romantic slow music, my non-stop gossip with Shreeja excited me. We spoke about our neighboring roommates, about our bossy managers, the canteen food all the way and our night’s talks were mostly on Ramesh. I had so much to praise about Ramesh that even Shreeja started admiring him. He was one - a total diverse kind; patience - rarely found in drivers was abundant in Ramesh. Little late do we get, Ramesh would wait till we reach the stop, hold the bus without a jerk till we settle in our seats, not bothering the blame he may be commended with, by the rest of cabbies from other stops.

Days rolled by. I enjoyed my routine till.........till........ I felt a change in Ramesh; he looked as if he wanted to talk to me. I saw in him an interest to converse with me in private. I wasn’t quite comfortable; I let in some distance to sweep. That night I laid my head on the pillow, first of my dull, no-gossip nights after Shreeja’s entry, with a brimming brain and a hard-beating heart. The two little windows next to me reminded of the windows of my bus. The more I used to enjoy that earlier, the more it became dreading to me today.

I let few days sway by. One night, I confided in Shreeja Ramesh’s behavior or my acuity of his behavior. Shreeja consoled me saying it was my conception and that things were just in place. I gave it some time.

One day Shreeja was at home, sick. After days, I had to face Ramesh alone. It had been long since I extended him a warm smile or even made an eye-contact. Ramesh tried to pick up a conversation. I ignored him in the pretext of skimming thro’ the sides of newspaper. I ignored him for I feared he would talk something, the thing, which I did not want to hear. I cursed myself for having given undue space to a driver which took things toppling. In the evening I got down a stop earlier and walked to my room. I had no peace. The bus journey was no longer pleasurable. I wanted to unfasten, walk up and talk to Ramesh what he was upto, but I wasn’t intrepid. I slept, I woke, I slept and I woke only to see that I was awake even while sleeping. It felt to me that life was taking a toll. It looked as if everything in life had to be argued on, and I puzzled over things again and again with maddening irritation. I saw the tides rising on me and I couldn’t swim across.

Shreeja was the only one I could confide in. She gave me an idea. Going by it, I took an auto rickshaw to office the next day and Shreeja observed Ramesh’s emotional moves. The idea seemed sensible. That day’s bedtime talk was on a serious note, we had a matter to solve. Shreeja had observed Ramesh’s eyes wandering, looking out for me; he did enquire my wellbeing. It was inveterate. He wanted to ask me out, I was sure. Things were getting lucid. I had a record of being proposed by people of varied colors- from my teacher to manager, from a poking neighbor to a friend, from the paragliding pilot to bus driver (?). And never was I a person who could accept one!

We did the conflicting next day. Shreeja dropped out and I went alone in the cab. Evening dawned upon, the bus neared my stop; Cab was empty but for me and Ramesh. I gathered my entire goad, sat upright and waited for Ramesh to come up to talk to me. I could not take it any longer. I wanted to know what was on his mind and seal the episode forever, even if it meant I had to look for an alternate mode to commute to the 25 km distant office. Not to disappoint me, Ramesh strode up to me and handed me a letter saying “Hema, I know you wouldn’t appreciate it, but I did not want to leave the stone unturned”. Getting down, I ran to the room, fastest ever in my life. Wish I had done this in the marathon and secured myself a place. Shreeja waited impatiently. I had no nerve to open the letter. Shreeja dared…

Dear Hema,

I know you wouldn’t quite approve of my behavior. You regarded me as a friend, gave me the space my profession doesn’t demand. I thought twice, I wasn’t convinced myself; I wanted to open it up with you. From the day you started coming in my cab, I found a friend in you. But the day your friend entered my cab, I found my love in her. Please help me.

Regards,

Ramesh

PS: The story is highly hypothetical though the characters hold close resemblance to real life.

A random compilation

Both the recent visits to Tirupathi were with a fine grade of contentment. There s something numinous, out-of-world at Tirupathi. Each time I stand in the queue, I’ll see myself filled with all awe and anxiety as if it is the first ever visit to His abode. Balaji really has that mystical clout. No wonder we see people from every part, not just from India flocking up there. While the Dec visit was stimulated by the Dasa sahitya kutcheri and sangeetha seva at the Unjal utsavam, Feb visit was enthused by a frnd who wanted to ascend the hill on foot. After almost 4-long hrs of strenuous up-walking, the congregating crowd at the hill top was the sight most pleasing. The strain, sprain, twist was all forgotten with the most beautiful darshan and as always by the time I came out I had tears rolling down. I am not quite sure if its the cultural context setting or my delicate attachment with Tirupathi Hero.

The drive to/from Blore was enjoyable. For once my friends and family accepted me as a driver, maybe still a half-driver :).Both the trips were exciting in their own way.

Back at work, this year's project s begun in full span and is keeping me to ma seat till say 6 sparing not much time for gossip and long breaks. However this doesn’t stop us from bitching about the new policies in cafeteria and free food. Catch hold of any person working out here with me – He’ll have loads and loads to engage u with.......only provided u sign-in b4 time...be on time, u get free bf(breakfast not boyfriend), free lunch, and free gossips too! :)

It’s been a time for girl babies everywhere now. Every other day, I see a mail -"Sweets at desk. Blessed with a girl baby". Good going little angels. Time for girls now!!! Time to party :).

Am enjoying my part as an evaluator at NADA's DLP(Distance Learning Programme).Its educative and compelling to read (leave aside evaluating) the views of people from different parts of the world on music. Music has been proving itself a Universal language again and again and a not-yet resolved mystery when it comes to its healing facade. While demanding scientific fallouts to explain the therapeutic facades of music I am afraid our people are greatly ignoring its curative results, seen thro experience and practice, waiting for science to mature.

It’s been quite sometime since I blogged events back to back. This blog is one such rare compilation :-) .Thanks for the patient reading.Hope to be back soon…Until then bye!

A peek into Prahladha Bhakthi Vijaya

Very happy with the response the book "A peek into Prahladha Bhakthi Vijaya" got. What audience numbers! Undeniably I dint expect it, Jan 24th being a lazy Sunday, least I expected was the auditorium to be half full. Though not even half the people I invited turned up, Sri Jayarama Seva Mandali looked packed :)

Mysore Vasudevaachar’s grandson Sangeetha Kalarathna Sri S. Krishna Murthy(S.K.M), Retd. Station Director, AIR, Bangalore graced the ceremony and released the book. What more do I expect? This is a blessing in itself.

“The book though slim in volume is a complete work and gives an uninterrupted import of Saint Thyagaraja’s original play. It encompasses not just the transliteration, but also a simple, yet beautiful narration of Prahladha’s story through the compositions” said Sri S.K.M sharply analyzing the various acts of the play as traded in the book. “The book is an eye-opener for music students to appreciate the context and the background in which these krithis would have taken their form” he opined in the lines of Music Therapist Dr. T.V. Sairam’s foreword. His words of encouragement and direction for the next such work will keep me going. Guru Vid Sri D. V. Nagarajan’s gesture of blessing his student’s work by taking to publisher’s role isn’t something easy or ordinary.

Words fail - the acknowledgment I owe to the many behind this work is mighty. I wish and pray for their continued support- emotional, physical and moral for my next book- not a slim volume, a complete huge one :)

Sleep more !

How strange it is…that the body has to have its entire work function shut down for so many hours every day...said a friend in a casual chat. If only 70% of the human life is active life, then there is a long way to go for us to evolve and increase the activity time...he added.

Yes, time is now undoubtedly the most precious commodity in the age of achievement racing with speed. We claim that our generation is more effective than our previous in every respect. Be it in terms of learning, being creative, achieving more - we are said to be racing ahead of time. At what cost? Depriving sleep? How? I am totally lost in understanding the concept of why people sleep.

Scientific, medicinal and neuro research have confirmed that sleep is necessary to give brain a chance and time to rebuild memories stored all day long and associate these with previously learnt things, form a linked list and keep it ready for traversal. Sleep enhances learning and that is why babies sleep so much (they learn all day; everything they see, they do is a new learning to them).

It’s often heard that the day prior to any important event shouldn’t be sleep-deprived, for, it would influence adversely. Not having sufficient sleep prior to any form of learning would be costly in terms of losing focus, less concentration, not remembering an otherwise well-remembered and liked subject. Deprived Sleep after learning will hamper the consolidation of memories; you know the linked list we just spoke wouldn’t be well linked.

So saying , this gen people are said to think more, learn more, play more, create and recreate more, so must SLEEP more!

Wanna be disciplined even in sleeping? Visit http://www.supermemo.com/articles/sleep.htm

From a life of simplicity to……….

Where are the days when all I wrote was about Unnikrishnan, collected paper cuttings of Sonu Nigam, a wide-eyed wait for his Zee Sa-Re-Ga-Ma show? No complications, a simple life, small pleasures and it all worked fine then.
Now I have an ample of topics to write on, go on talking about, pictures to post, records to share, and dreams to follow; yet I end up searching for a topic to blog. I get paranoid to write. Do I write about the day of myriad emotions, the day I won many hearts, hurt a few, the terrific images of past peeping in now and then, the boring monotonic present over my shoulder all day, achievements that give me a spirit to walk upright, an all busy-day with no time for coffee, a lazy day looking for topics to blog? I think of it! Not so long ago, I was all pleased spending time with my greeting Cards collection and my Unnikrishnan cassettes.

Time changes everything. Once we looked so young, our gardens were just set, the shoes sized only 4, tests and exams were the only responsibilities we knew!
Did we take any steps to prepare ourselves for the transition with time? Naah!

To quote the hackneyed
Life varies its stories. Time changes everything, yet what is truly valuable-what is worth keeping-is beyond time.

I hope you have treasured you treasure with changing times :)

Thyagaraja Aradhana @ Vasanthapura

If I may steal Thyagaraja's words, it was "Varamaina netrotsavam" - a gifted visual feast @ Vasanthapura yesterday.

A festive atmosphere in Bhavani Shankar temple on the occasion of Thyagaraja aradhane (pushya bahula panchami).Musicians, music students, kalarasikas in and around the area had gathered at the Thyagaraja sannidhi of the temple to pay their tributes to the musical Guru Thyagaraja.
What more motivation does one need to take the day off from work?
The rendition of pancharatna kritis in “one voice” by hundreds of Musicians added to the divine milieu of the temple. What a selfless and earnest service to Music and the Musical Maha Guru by Anoor family and Shsishya parampara. May they be bestowed enough strength, health and wealth to carry on this tradition for years to come!

EndarO mahAnu bhAvulu (meek)andariki vandanamulu!

Revathi Sridharan

Welcome the year with a prayer

Have I lost interest in festivals and celebrations or have they lost interest in me? Festivities of these days have become just days of sweets and mittais. A year has passed by and nothing looks fresh, different, and new. The urge of waiting for it to strike 12,calling up frnds/relatives with a feel-good factor of being the first to wish them on the New Year has all faded up.

Twenty Ten or 2010 or call it with the UN christened name - “International Year of Youth” and “International Year of Biodiversity”. What do we expect out of it?Definitely a year better than the previous, in every respect!
Many main events dominated the year 2009, some good, some bad and many ugly.
The year would be probably remembered best for the death of so many celebrities right from Michael Jackson to DKP, some preceding,many succeeding and some in-between the two. The ugly demon did not spare even the retiring month taking away Vishnuvardhan, Ashwath.
The economic downturn and the financial crisis painted a major canvas of the year.
Probably the year wasn’t as bad to the movie-makers and the actors. There were a couple of movies rated good and lauded.

Jo hua, so hua…Moving ahead, let us welcome the Year 2010 with a hope and prayer for things to silhouette better and in favor of everyone.
May this year of TIGER (as the Chinese call it) fill the homes with exotic treasures and hearts with contentment. May this year give -
More time for friends, More love to family, More soul to live everyday with zest and more strength to live the year thro’!