The Big Fat Birthday Bash

The sun was blazing down scorching everything standing in its way. The usual rain bringing clouds were all missing today. The skies bore no blemish, clear and un-imprinted. It was Shri Krishna Janmashtami and it being my first one here in Udupi, this year too I was extremely excited about the idea of going to Udupi and offering prayers to the powerful little god whose aura emanated much beyond the four walls of the chamber. It was a morning of great confusion when a couple of my friends and I discussed animatedly about how to go about our trip, what we’ll get to see etc. I was sticking along the localites trying to find out if Udupi had something exciting for me. Descriptions flowed in about the pomp and splendour of Udupi during Krishna Janmashtami, the festivities, the celebrations of the birth of the little charmer. I was caught in awe. And so it was decided. When the sun transcended to the centre of the sky and gushes of hot air dried up our throats, we got onto the bus, headed for the birthday boy’s bash. Preparations were on for two days to make this event as grand as possible. One look at Udupi and you will know how much of effort was going in to make that day as grand as possible for revelling little Krishna’s birth. And boy was I in for one hell of a day.

Walls lined with colourful banners, flags hung everywhere, festoons adorning shops and lamp posts and streets filled with 1000s of people from near and far, Car Street was quite the sight! For me, the entire trip was all the more exciting because for the first time I had a professional camera in my hand. (Not mine of Course: P WHO HAS THAT KIND OF MONEY :P ) I was happily flitting around, searching for models. One after the other, little kids dressed up Krishnas dozing away in their mothers’ arms were making their way towards me. It was the cutest sight, especially considering the fact that all the Krishnas were considerably pissed off with the lack of pampering and sulking all through. The town was full of people who had dressed up in different costumes, animals, rakshasas (demons), and different other characters from stories revolving around Krishna and his legacy. The town was a riot of colours! Several small traders and vendors found their comfortable spots to seize the opportunity and make a few bucks, sprawling their wares on roadsides for women and children to flock to and men to get shocked by! Bangles, earrings, little dresses, flutes, peacock feathers, lamps, idols, clips, name it you had it there on sale, the hottest selling item being baby Krishna photos for mothers and grandmothers to adorn on their walls back home. It was so heart-warming when I saw grandmothers gently taking their grandchildren in their arms and explaining the phenomenon called Sri Krishna to them, reminded me of my own granny and her quiver full of stories.

Festivities were to begin from 10am. Having already missed about a good hour and a half where little children dress up as Krishna, I was quite annoyed. I didn’t want to see bigger children fancy-dressing and was quite irked by the delay in getting to the venue. Having given up on what kind of a day it will be, I drudged along with my friends, control over the camera being the only solace for me. That’s when I spotted the cutest elephant ever, giving blessings to people for some money. It was a childhood fascination for me to go get those blessings whenever possible. Now that my mom or aunt wasn’t around to tell me 1000 ways by which I could get under the tusker’s foot, I happily skipped over with a coin in my hand, waiting for this gentle giant’s touch. And there it was, a little thud on my head. It felt amazing!!! It was heavy and light at the same time, soft yet rough at the same time, scary yet extremely exciting at the same time, oh and wait the best bit is this, I even got a picture! ^_^

To be honest, I think the best part of the day was when the party began. Cameramen began positioning their tools into place, crowds seemed to occupy the sides of the roads, even the cows and dogs occupied pavilion seats to watch the show. People dressed as tigers went around enacting Puli vesham (I hope I am right about the name), a local dance tradition. Drummers occupied points all through Car Street and began hitting their percussions, beckoning Krishna to come out of his den and give his subjects his darshan. Rangolis were being drawn and the Golden Chariot was being ready to carry Krishna, the king. His subjects were all waiting to laud praises and pray for happiness and wellbeing. Dahi handis were prepared and people were waiting for the proceedings to start. The drum beats escalated in pace and sound and the people who had come for breaking the handi got into position, waiting for the pot to be mounted. With the breaking of the first pot, the festivities began, with children, old people, dogs, cows alike watching, completely enamoured by the sheer grandness of this event. The Krishna idol, baby Krishna, black in colour and in a baby pose, with butter in one hand, came out, to be carried over to the golden chariot and go for a ride through the temple premises, giving his devotees a glimpse of his cute chubby face. Women could be seen taking drishti and praying, children commenting on how cute the idol was and foreigners just watching the whole thing like it was something surreal. After all the pots around different places being broken, it was the turn of the huge pot outside the temple gopuram. With it broken, the festivities began. Prasad- coconuts, bananas, laddus and snacks were thrown down to devotees, ardently holding their hand out to give their best shot at catching the offerings. The whole setting made me emotional, raised my pulse count. For a moment, I felt like I was sucked into an entirely new dimension.

Honestly, I am no foreigner; I am acquainted with Krishna from the diaper days. But this experience was magical. A Janmashtami spent in one of the most important, famous and fabulous Sri Krishna temples in the entire country is worth talking about for eons to come. To think that so much festivity, so much of love, so much devotion, such a religious  carnival was destined for me to experience, all for this one King, one god, one child; woaah; it totally blew my mind. 

Being Hindu in this country can be quite awkward, because of the regulations it once imposed, because of the fact that it has to take credit for everything, because of the embarrassing fundamentalists who in the name of standing up for the religion, damage it even more, and all the conflicts and riots and wrongdoings.  But then a spectacle like this, the love for Sri Krishna, and the unity that it sewed among everyone present there, Hindu, Christian, some even Muslim, Indian, non-Indian, was just amazing. If someone can do this, it’s only Sri Krishna.

Happy Janmashtami all. 

Boulevards Of Peril

                                                                              

The hot sun has given way for skies patched with dark clouds, waiting to bid a tearful goodbye to the extremely excruciating summer. Roads that once bore mirages of water are now filled with pools of muddy water. The once hot and dry wind sweeping over the city now bears the amazingly freshening scent of wet mud. But the condition of motorists in the city is still not seeing the light of day. Anyone driving a two-wheeler in the city is aware of all the hazards that we have to face.  It’s not uncommon for roads leading to the governor’s house or some other “never heard of before” MLA to be well laid, and arterial roads like the ones leading from Raj Bhavan to Pheonix Market City being embroidered with potholes. Oh, not to forget the relief caused by news roads being incompletely laid on old ones, causing that slide in the road which I am pretty sure has given many motorists tickets to heaven through a trip to the road beneath the buses.  Pass by construction sites and you will find sand and stones piled right on the road, with those L and T cement rollers acting as speed checks. Roads are already bottlenecked most of the time, notwithstanding these kind of unnecessary piss offs. 

Oh that’s not it. A harmless college girl was driving back home on her new Scooty pep. It was a reasonably empty road and she was keeping up with the speed limit. All was going well, she was enjoying her ride when a BLIND, yes you can call him that, driver of an Audi Q7 made a mad turn past her, no horn no indicator, nothing! The girl couldn’t do much but zoom away thanking the gods for sparing her life that day.  It’s not just these big shots who drive like they own the roads. Bus drivers are guilty of the very same. When one is
stuck in a traffic jam, these guys honk their huge engines out, as if they have struck a deal with ENTs guaranteeing them 200% increased patient flow! Ugh -__- .

Now with so much to complain about, one would automatically wonder, what is the government doing? Well there are million rules, million people appointed to see if these are being followed. But yes the truth is that half the people do not care. At around 10 or 11 am in the morning, if you pass by Adyar Signal, near Ambika Appalam Depot, you will see a policeman sitting happily in that little stand for him, playing God with the signal controls not bothering to come on to the road and actually get to directing traffic. And just about 10m from him, there will be a white police bike, with about three traffic policemen, stopping every random motorist, and getting out his lunch money, irrespective of whether they have flouted rules or not. Usually the ones with license and permits end up paying fines for the stupidest of reasons and the ones without anything find hundred ways to escape. About a few months ago, when I was still in school, there was a restriction on how many kids a van could carry. While some drivers followed the regulations giving up revenue of about 4-5k, while others paid about 1k to the policemen and kept their share of the pie safe.  The dirty state of roads is another terrible piss off. On a usual busy Monday morning, one will find sand and dust flying all over the place, making it terrible for any bike rider and even a driver protected by the frontiers of their vehicles is disillusioned for a minute. But the same road during Jayalalitha’s visit will be extremely spick and span. The kind off double standards that exist here!

There’s a lot of damage that we ourselves do to our lifelines of transport. Finished a bottle of water or a bag of chips? Oh let’s just throw it out, anyway there are people to clean! That seems to be the attitude today.  :\ Being someone who loves to drive, these man made menaces, the non-living garbage and the unfortunately living maniacs that threaten our existence on roads successfully reduce the joyous pleasure of driving into a humdrum, extremely risky fight for survival.

There are so many kids out there who, on turning 18, want to lay their hands on their own bike handles and glide through the roads, the wind breezing through their hair. It’s a freedom,  a joy that everyone must definitely experience. Parents also don’t seem to mind the picture of their kids driving. But there are some for who letting their kids on the roads is like suicide. Honestly if my own aunt reads this she will probably recreate my accident scene and getting super hysterical. But it’s not their fault. Roads today are like open death traps that invite you to lay your lives down to validate their supremacy. Authorities have the will to sort out, but no will to put it in action.

I guess we can call ourselves developed only if our roads become safe again, and that would be when parents and relatives voluntarily take u
s forward for our two wheeler licenses! But yes, that’s a case of building castles in the air. Oh well!

Freedom

 A piece I wrote for English class. :)

Freedom, the word has several dimensions; it means different things to different people. It is a word that one would naturally associate with the freedom struggle, revolutions, movements, rights, speaking up and what not. But freedom, to me, just a simple student of standard 12 is not much a big fuss. For me, freedom is basically doing what I want without being questioned, without being judged, without being dismissed. As every teenager of my age would say, for me it’s about having my own space and liberty. Nevertheless Ruskin Bond’s idea of freedom got me thinking about whether freedom is really something that one needs to insist upon. Personally speaking, I've never had to ask for freedom. Having a chilled out dad helps sometimes. I have, and I consider myself lucky for it, always been given what I want/need without having to ask or insist on it. I have always considered freedom as a thing that changes according to situations. You have to work and wait sometimes and you have to demand sometimes. It’s quite a transient thing. Of course handling it responsibly by being sensitive to other’s feelings is involved no doubt. My idea of freedom revolves around simple aspects of my life that affect me and my moods like having my own room, dressing the way I want, socializing with my choice of people, not having too many rules about going out of the house once in a while, choosing my own career path. Freedom is what lets you define your existence, let’s you take charge of your life’s direction, it sometimes just comes your way or sometimes make you pursue and work for it. I basically want to control my life and want my life to reflect who I am and not be a product of anybody else’s judgement and desires. It’s my life and I want to live it my way.

         

When I first read Ruskin Bond’s thought on freedom being something that one has to often insist upon, it got me thinking. First of all what can I categorize as freedom in my life of 17 years? It’s quite weird you know when you spend nearly 5 years of your life demanding rights of various kinds and now you’re confused about whether to bring those under the spectrum of freedom! After giving it a four hour thought, I came to understand that freedom involves simple things like having the right to argue with your parents when they lay down rules without giving you a proper reason, standing up for your choice of friends when certain people find them ‘lame’, making your choices and living your life the way you want so that it exudes your vibrancy and not the aspirations and expectations of everyone around you. Having my private space is one important part of my idea of freedom. My sense of freedom is having the liberty to make my own choices and not a slave to anyone else’s opinions. Most of the time I have had to demand, as being a girl normal expectations are that a girl must be soft spoken, well behaved and what not. But I like to let my hair down sometimes and have fun. And freedom comes with a whole lot of responsibility. We must be sensitive to others, see if this sort of liberty is worth it in the long run, we have to practically ponder over it like adults, which is the sad part. Freedom though is not something that you always insist on, sometimes one has to persevere and be patient to get rights sometimes or sometimes it may involve both as is the case of our freedom struggle. To sum up, I want to be the one who holds the reins of my existence; I want my life to reflect who I am and what I stand for. I want to be the driver of the chariot of my life. 

Revisiting my Roots: A Trip to Kerala

         Chennai was getting hotter and hotter, baths were becoming increasingly useless. I was waiting for the trip to Kerala, hoping that the cool breeze from the backwater sides and the sky reaching coconut trees will offer some reprieve. The usual excitement was missing, it was just desperation, to get out of this oven called Madras for a while, from the monotony of daily life and see some different places and faces. And Kerala did not disappoint.
         On Sunday morning, my mom and I sat in the train to Coimbatore, flagging off a long long journey train and then by road in 3 buses to our destination- Manjeri, a town near Calicut. The whole journey takes about 10 hours, that's practically a day, given all the stops and breaks for food. It was such a transition, from the barren lands and short, well trimmed and organized fields of Tamil Nadu, to the lush greenery, uneven terrain, bumpy roads and the tempting fish curry smell from the houses of Ende Keralam! Aaah, the good days had set in. My brother met us up at Coimbatore with a new phone ( ^_^  wohooooo ) and from there, with a good start to the holiday, we set off to our tharavad :). Reaching there at around 8.45-9pm we were exhausted! There was absolutely no strength left to carry our bags or do anything. But yes, our stomachs didn't share our exhaustion and were all waiting for refills. Disappointment wasn't written for us, as shawarmas made their way into our hands, after which we had quite a deliciously simple dinner, complete with the puffy pappadam. Kerala and its essences were here to stay.
        The next day was the family Puja, an annual puja where representatives of all branches of the family tree congregate and pray for all our welfare. This year was no different. Loads of people, so many relatives to catch up with., so many kids, yummy food, it was a mini celebration. So many stories to shared,  so many laughs, many more silent tears, each moment had its own specialty, its own beauty and depth. The best part of the puja was yummy chicken gravy and kadai chicken as prasadam. The men got toddy too! Bhagavathy as your family god comes with its perks, especially in kerala ;)
        Our next stop was Guruvayur and an appointment with the little naughty Krishna there. It was a good road trip with cousins, their two extremely naughty kids and a good good car. Good darshan and good food marked the day. But probably the best part of our trip was in Kannur, when we visited the ancient Shiva temple at Taliparamba and the bhagavathy ksethram at Madayikaavu. Two amazingly beautiful and scenic places, so typical of the state in which they are located. Oh and how can one forget to mention the beautiful Kannur seaside where one can see the backwaters and the sea merge, with waves gentle falling against the rocky shore. Beautiful isn't strong enough a word to describe that sight.
However breathtaking these places and scenes were, it got tiring, with all the sitting and bad necks and backs. In a way it was a huge relief to see "Chennai Central" first thing when I woke up in the train this morning, because it meant my bed, my home, back to that routine once considered mundane. It is a relief nevertheless from all the work, to be able to sit around lazy doing nothing.
          Through this entire journey, and through the various people I met and heard about, I realized that we all think we have problems that are the biggest and trickiest in the planet.We often want to give up in the face of adversity. But I saw people living with troubled circumstances but one wouldn't be able to tell looking at them. Their bravery, their strength despite such neglect and loneliness in their lives is really intriguing. How they face their worries and still manage to keep a cool face is something all of us in the city must learn. It's a trait one truly imbibes from the countryside. In an age where we have numerous media to rant about our life, this silent resilience stands as a striking yet very amazing contradiction. The second thing that stood out was that, in Manjeri and for that matter everywhere, peoples lives were no secrets. Everyone knew everyone else, their stories, their gains and pains. There was so much interconnection and interdependence. Simplicity was the dominant trait everywhere. Such simple lives but such complicated stories these people have. It was something that truly caught me surprised.
We see and go through so many things, we get caught up in our own lives and problems. Often we forget to see the brighter side and never really try to make ourselves and our lives different. But I guess a few days in this beautiful and simple state will change your perception of things, bringing in a serenity and loads of wisdom.
I guess it isn't called God's own country for nothing.

Vishwaroopam, the madness and sadness

 The vishwaroopam mess has been taking centre stage for quite a lot of time now. A lot's been said, a lot's been done. People are aghast, the court is making us all lose faith in justice, our amazing chief minister is ruining any reputation that she had. We as students and fans of ulaganayagan wanted to just do something about this and so we started this little signature campaign to gather some support so that we can take it to the govt, (now considering I'm an adult and a soon-to-be voter i thought of taking it up) here at change.org ( http://www.change.org/en-IN/petitions/government-of-tamil-nadu-and-india-lift-the-ban-on-vishwaroopam-allow-free-expression-for-artists?utm_campaign=autopublish&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition#supporters) but to no avail. a lot of people hesitate, or have no time.
its sad. everyone has time to go about posting statuses but not to help out in some way. Politically too, nothing's being done.

I don't know if there are appropriate words to describe this nonsense that's happening in our state. This is just getting annoying now.  Kamal Hassan is just another actor (a great one no doubt) who wants to show the world what he has created. how can someone stop him from doing that? I feel sad when he says he will leave this country to find another one that is secular,happy now jayalalitha? mahatma gandhi died with a sadness in his heart that the partition had divided what he has fought for his whole life, what would he say if he were to see this? vote politics has hit its cheapest bottom. The govt has so enthusiastically banned the movie, why cant our CM give a press statement about the same? Funny that it was this very woman's channel that carried the audio launch and over the top promotions. Everyone who saw vishwaroopam said that it has nothing that hurts any muslim. whichever muslim man started this has got to know that had they just let the movie be, people would have seen it as just another movie. if u guys are gonna keep perceiving tht every hindu is out to kick ur butt and then go around protesting for it, thats when people turn against u and ur rigid mentality. please see sense here. if not for anything, the poor man has invested his life in this movie. But i don't want to ask for pity coz he deserves a lot more. I'm ashamed of this government. JAYALALITHA, disgusted, just disgusted. She is an actor herself, she should understand the pains of this happening, yet she is sponsoring this restriction. I really wish the central government comes out and takes a stand. We aren't a centralized federation for nothing.

 What's the point of calling ourselves a democracy when we don't live upto that tag? what's the point of calling us free if an artist doesnt have the liberty to showcase his masterpiece? I heard countries like UAE are screening Vishwaroopam, what is TN's problem? Why does every movie have to be a political fulcrum? Why cant they just let him be? 

I was brushing through my news feed earlier today evening and i saw this status from a person my age who happens to be a part of the Islamic community, which said-

Create controversies and your film becomes a hit.
Indeed, an amazing way to seek public attention. 

How much sadder can this shit get? A man of Kamal Hassan's stature does not need to do anything to get attention. He is a brand by himself and i dont think gimmicks like this which are hitting his stomach are of any use to him. His house is apparently on mortgage, his life time's savings have gone into this film. Attention??! I dont think that even matters. The film industry is coming out now and showing support. It's a good gesture no doubt. But isn't it a little late? Did they turn up coz they knew they might be in the same place one day?

Islam is a beautiful religion.Islamists who think movie portrayals will show them in bad light as so wrong, coz they are doing it amazingly well themselves. If they want to be safeguarded from all the shit they claim they face, they must ignore and focus on things that can actually make differences in their lives. This is just a case of making a mountain of a molehill.

The fact that Kamal Hassan came down to agreeing to cut some footage is a clear indication that the battle is lost. Why should a movie be censored? Why? It was cleared by the censor board. If that decision is going to ignored. what's the point of the board (which has a muslim member). Tamil Nadu govt has just let down the state in front of everyone else with this move that can be called nothing short of idiotic. Kerala also has muslims, very very conservative muslims. Trust me, I'm from there. They faced protests too. But the Chandy govt made it clear that they would post their cadres outside theatres to take care of law and order and ensure that the movie ran. That's what a good move. If law and order was the problem, then pacify the mobs, don't silence the artists.
For the first time in the 18 years of my life i'v lived in this state, im ashamed to be a part of it. I wasn't ashamed when A.Raja blackmarked our state, when karunanidhi played his dirty politics, maran was pulled up. I dont care about the stupid politics of this country. But this is outrageous. I am no Kamal Fan but I dont stand for such curbing of expression. It's sad that Kamal is having to fight this battle alone. Support from the rest of the country is a far goal coz he's alone in his state too.  

we have had movies about Hindu terror too!! eg: hey raam. movies abt gandhi's assasination, books abt it, articles, describe godse as a hindu extremist and a terrorist. No one protested. Its sad that none of us are judging ppl here by religion but others all just choose to make the religious lines darker. Its sad that to appease the unfounded hurt of a community that also on the basis of some rumours stirred up by ppl who i bet didnt watch the film, others are having to put theirs down too to show that it doesnt matter if others respect ur faith.. faith is personal u respect it good. wen others dont attack it, dont perceive any on ur own. its just sad !! every religion has been portrayed in bad light somewer someday. if we go on attacking we wont have anything called art!!! its a viewpoint a perspective.. u dont like it ur free to ignore it. u have no rights to censor it, not when it has proved to be harmless. the riots the fights, the protests didnt happen because of people who SAW the film and felt offended (those guys came out feeling proud abt the movie) the bomb throwing, riotting is all being done by people who havent seen the film and are going by rumours to satisfy their assumptions. this is sad!! 
 if u dont want people to look at your community as terrorists, stop indulging in these little acts of terror (blocking a film tht actually doesnt say anything bad abt ur community) ur concerns are fine. but the film wont make us angry or look down upon islam, such comments from its members will. u want to have respect then just ignore the bad. u know its not true and its just some of you right then forget it. do good things and earn a name. dont hit someone else's stomach for the sake of proving ur righteousness! its a sin! if u want equality, voice that out, change those mindsets not the ones of an artist jus coz he can succumb to ur whims and fansies!

My support is with Ulaganayagan. I want him to win this battle. But honestly i dont mind if he leaves India, coz he will go to a better place, where he will be free to show his movies and enthrall his audiences without having to worry about pleasing every other person on the face of the earth.
Sad times for cinema, sadder times for India

Until Death Brings us Together

The clouds came dense and dark
waves crashed heavily on the shore
the day's run was cancelled for the second day
and they were locked in the stables once more

everyday they yearned to go out in the sun
and once in a while cross each there's way
in between their numerous savages, they cud have
together spent the day.

The torrential rains poured day and night
keeping these two hearts out of each there's sight
little were they to know that their wait wed go to waste
now that one of them were to be sold off in haste

they didn't even get to bid farewell
they lay separated realizing this is what was hell
food, sleep was all o no avail
without each other, their lives grew pale

soon upon them came a great curse
the war had begun and there was only blood everywhere in sight
then the came the news to make things worse
that all horses, trained or not, would have to come to fight

the two mates, each miles apart
were broken, completely distraught
they knew they were on opposing sides
fight again the other they just could not

with each passing day, the battle drew near
the two were trembling, filled wit fear
eager through they were to meet after ages
they knew their fates rest in the hands of the other savages

finally they went to war
their masters spotting each other from far
they charged at each other with all their force
but the horses, they couldn't bear it, brimming with remorse

valiantly they tried to serve their kings
but fr duty to each other, their hearts did, many times, swing
their ends were drawing near
shot at, they fell down, in each others eyes, a solitary tear.

What fate it was!
 live together they couldn't, hence united in death
their throbbing hearts, were now together after being apart, a mile
their eyes shut, life departed, but upon their lips lay their last smile...

The Little Crab

waves hit the shore, one by one
the sand, piping hot due to the blazing sun
for miles and miles there wasn't a single soul in sight
the little crab lay in its hole, alone, waiting for the night

he had no friend, he had no foe
he had no home, no where to go
he knew no faith, no god, no myth
in troubled waters, no one to be with

the other crabs didn't care a bit
about the little crab's plight
a lonely little crustacean, in his hole he would sit
with no companion to share his fright

he had to learn to wade the waves
he had to learn to hide
he had no choice but to live alone
and bear the jeers and chides

all alone, beaten and hurt
the little crab felt like dirt
with not a soul lending out a hand
to save him from drowning into, of worries, the sand

i guess that's life, the little one thought
alone we go as alone we come
maybe every battle is best, alone, fought
no need to be a burden for anyone

and so the tiny crab walked along the shore
looking into the sunset eyes full of tears
sending out a silent prayer to anyone who would care
to come deliver him from his sufferings and fears