Fingers of God

The following photographs were taken on my trip to Nandi Hills, a small hill about 60 Kms from Bangalore. It was on Saturday that I decided to go there. I was getting bored at home. Had completed the regular weekend chores, and had the rest of the day to while away.

Got to know from Praveen that Nandi Hills were quite a beautiful place. So took my bike and travelled there.

Nandi Hills is about 4000 feet about MSL. It is made up of two hills next to each other. On the top of one of the hills is a fort where Tipu Sultan had a strong hold.

It was quite a ride to Nandi Hills. Getting to Nandi Hills from Bangalore is quite easy. Take the NH -7 (Hyderabad High Way) from the Hebbal Flyover. Cross Yehlahanka, reach Devanahalli. The road to Nandi Hills is about half a KM beyond Devanahalli and is a cutting to the left.

This road is quite dead straight and a biker can easily keep 50 - 60 MPH on this road. Once you reach the end of the road, turn to your left. This is the road that takes you to Nandi Hills.

The following images were taken from on top of the Nandi Hills with a Nokia 6600 mobile camera.

Marriage - 2

Just got news that a friend of mine is getting engaged. This is quite a common occurance, the engagement, that is.

Now the thing that is different is that this is what we call an arranged marriage. You know, arranged marriage is quite common in India, though, it is loosing its ground to the new fangled "Love" marriage.

This arranged marriage is unique as he is getting engaged to a lady who's mother tongue is different from his. Now, you wonder, what the hell is strange about it. Well the strange thing is that, he does not know her mother tongue and she does not his.

I was wondering as to what problems there could be in this arrangement. Talking to another friend over the phone - this guy also is a well wisher for my friend- we reached the following conclusion.

1. If they have a fight, what language they would use. Because, when we fight, we generally revert to our mother tongue (being more effective for cussing). Now this would lead to a funny situation, she would not under stand him and vice versa.

2. When they are in a romantic mood, again, our mother tongue, is the best way to express our feelings, so, again it would be lost to both of them ;-)

3. The main benefit would be that their children would be multilingual. That is quite a major boon in this country of ours.

Well my buddy, wish you a happy married life!!!!!! It would be quite interesting to keep track of your progress.

Silence

I often wonder about my need to remain aloof, silent, and alone. Is it that I am unsociable, or, is it that I want to be left alone. I wonder which of the above is true.

The last 2 days have not been very hectic. Went for an interview, got through, have to get the offer. A SemiConductor organization. The interviewers were the division chief and his minion. Went on for an hour and by the time I walked to the parking lot, got news from the organization to come for the next round.

Had a great drive to the office located away from the city. I wonder how i am going to do the daily commute of about 20 kms each way!!!!! Kadavule (God - in my lingo).

The need to remain alone is over whelming. The company of few friends is really a welcome respite. Just that I feel the need to remain in my thoughs, alone.

Blabbering! You bet.

Sunrises

To get rid of the melancholy of the previous post, I am posting a few of the photographs taken using my mobile camera. This set of photographs were taken on December 29, 2004, 4 days after the Tsunami hit South India.

I was taking some medicines from B'Lore to Nagapattinam, a place which was one of the worst affected by the Tsunami.

Abuse.

An incident happened today.

A little girl of an acquaintance was abused. The anguish of the parent bled from every word of the email. I could feel the pain, the cry for help from it.

I am still single. However, I was able to feel the anguish, the pain of that parent.

God, only beasts do such a thing. I hate to call them animals, because, animals do not have such a pervertion. They take care of children, their and others. They do not abuse them. Human beings do not do such a thing, only beasts do....

I discussed this with a few of my colleagues. For the guys, it was just another statistic, to be forgotten. On the other hand, the ladies were very sympathetic.

Perhaps, for them, being ladies, mothers, sisters, and first of all women, they are able to emphathise better.

I wish I could rush to my friend, hold his hand, and say, buddy, take care, we are here. Don't worry. Every thing would be taken care of.

As we were discussing the above incident, the topic moved on to other things. Things such as parents spoiling their children. Giving in to every wish of their children, just to avoid trouble.

The children take this as a weakness of their parents and exploit it to the maximum. Blackmail, both physical and emotional, are the main tools.

God, the world is curel, bad. I pray that it stops at the door of my house and does not come in.

Marriage

I am basically a shy person. I feel kind of diffident when moving with a person of the opposite sex. Having this kind of backdrop, the search for an ideal person to share your life becomes kind of difficult.

However, here in India, we have the system of arranged marriage.

Now there are a large number of people who believe that it is better in a love marriage. However, I would not like to get into the argument of love marriage vs arranged marriage. I do not have the capability or inclination to go looking for an ideal soul mate. I have chosen the arranged marriage route.

The search has been going for the last few years, and having met a few eligible candidates, I am, however, disappointed. There are no problems with the ladies, it is just that the minds do not match. You would argue, what the hell, you meet the lady for a few minutes, how can you decide if the person is a suitable match for you.

I beg to differ. Usually the first reactions to a person tend to guide the relation that you have with the person. How many times have we formed openions of persons on our first meetings. Some of these judgements have been wrong, I agree, but almost all of the times, atleast for me, I have had success.

Being an emotional person, and being a little intutive (i think), I form my openion on the first meeting. This is generally bang on target. Seldom has this first impression gone wrong.

So comming back to the ladies, there have been occations when there would be positive signs from my side, however, the lady begs to differ. Joss!

It is really a strage experience. You walk directly to a stranger's house, chit chat for a few minutes, and make a decision based on these few interations. It has worked out for thousands of years.

Well this happened to me on Friday last.

Met a lady at her house, spoke for some time, not interesting, rejected.

The above line sums up the whole thing neatly nah ?

New Year

Well, the new year has come and gone. It has been kind to me in some ways, and cruel in others. Let me review the previous year and see what it has done to me.

Good
1. Found a well paying job
2. Met a few great friends because of it
3. Travelled a lot

Bad
1. Lost one Uncle
2. Far away from home cooked food
3. self cooking - I have not managed to poison myself yet.

Well when sitting and actually listing it, it seems nothing much has happened. But, generally the outlook has been good.

Perhaps this year will turn out to be great. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Out of Work

It has happened. Our client have broken contract with us. One whole team of people are now out of work. Our company has yet to provide us with the information, but as you know, good news travels fast, bad news travels faster.

It is giving me jitters as to what the status of the other people in the organization is going to be. I am nervous to say the least.

It feels strange to see that that the guy next seat will not be comming to office tomorrow for no fault of his. Makes you wonder if you are next and some one else would be feeling sorry for you.

Three of my friends are affected by this purge. They seem to have taken it in their stride. Do not know if I have the mental maturity to accept such an incident. Perhaps, I would be comfortable with, leave before being asked to.

More later

New Start

After the "Opening Salvo", it has generally been a damp squib. It is not that nothing has happened, it is just that there was not an inclination to write.

After having moved to the new company, there is just nothing happening. Work is not the thing that was promised. Lots of opportunities were available, just did not have the inclination to follow them to the right conclusion. Joss! I should have followed the same to the proper conclusion.

Well, it is a part of life.

Having shifted to B'lore, the pace of life has changed. During the past few months, have added a TV and a Home Theater to the assets. Now that the Idiot Box is here, all other pleasureable pursuits have been put to the back burner. It is just TV, TV, and TV. Nothing else.

Even with the TV, I have managed to read a large number of books - Bourne Identity, Da Vinci Code, & a few books by James Herriot (Vets in Harness fame).

It has been raining for the past few days here. The whole place is really beautiful. Wish I had someone to share the same.

Today has been a dull day. Nothing much achieved. Just killing time. Having a writer's block I think.

Well, Tomorrow is an another day!!!.