Boss on leave

This picture was at my brother office.

Title

Some how you tend to follow some pattern in your daily routine and you feel incomplete if you miss it for some reason. Yes i got used to meeting my friend Sunil for a morning walk. The motive behind is to drop few pounds but we end up discussing on some baseless talks like most old timers do.

The pattern is very much fixed, starting with a peaceful stroll along the lake to a nearby bakery and sip hot ginger tea. The reason for tea is to initiate our discussion which covers varying subjects which if anyone overhear will dump them into useless category.

We very rarely run out of subjects for discussion because we can literally talk of everything that exists on this world. Once we got into the blogging world we tend to share views on the recently read articles in the blogs. During our talks he mentioned about a well written article but felt that the title of the post to be totally irrelevant with the content of it. I was thinking of the same as i finished my morning rituals and the outcome of it is the birth of this post.

Naming an article is more like naming a new born baby. Finding a name is an arduous task, there are so many parameters to be considered before you zero in. Generally it should not be common, as well as duplicated and also to be different. Your life turns out to be a hell when the religious and superstitious beliefs also finds a place in the act.

In case of naming an article, it works either ways i,e you either have a title in mind and then start scribbling around that it or else you write some crap and find a suitable title for it.

But few times it so happens that you find an interesting movie named "Dracula" and you expect to watch an horror drama but it turns out to be a soulful love story with just one song starting with "Dracula" :) in it. May be the producer liked the word so much that the director did not have much say. Even it happens few times during blogging that we tend to have a title in mind and would retain the same even if the content is totally something else.

And most of the time the name is unparalleled with the nature or appearance of a person. Its like the person's name is "Shakthi" (meaning healthy/powerful) and you find the actual person to be so weak he can't even spell his own name properly with out gulping glucose. These kinds of things also happen in the writers world too where in some one has titled his blog's post as "Anaconda" and the its about a recipe for Christmas dish.

Most of the times it happens that finish writing your article in 30 min and it take half a day in finding out the right title for it.

Anyways even we tend to get attracted to people by their name but later realize them to be totally different. Same with blog titles too, it makes it path into others hearts only when its essence means something to the reader.

Milestones

"Congrats! You have reached another milestone today". These were the words of my uncle on my cousin’s marriage.

Every one reminds us of our mile-stone’s during the phase of life. Either they applaud you on reaching your milestone or else they keep whining of not reaching the mile stone yet. These mile-stones are in directly proportional to your age factor and it does matter how fast you race to them. The leader in the race is widely accepted universally, it is like your Visa card.

Lately I was trying to understand these preset mile-stones for each of us. And how they arrived at a common formula for everyone.

Out of this curiosity, I checked the literal meaning of the mile-stone in the dictionary. It says "milestone is a stone marker set up on a roadside to indicate the distance in miles to a given point or destination". In a sense it’s a marker placed at regular distances displaying the distances covered and distances yet to be traveled to reach the destination.

Then my mind got into the act of co relating how these milestones referred by others plays its part in my life. Why is that I can’t understand or go with the options put forth by others to me? May be as they say we need to get into others shoes to understand what they mean.

I decided to slip myself in their shoes, it's more like getting into others souls :). To my surprise I can look at the milestones very clearly with bright vibrant colors which will not be missed out even if you want to. It made me wonder how that the visibility is so much when viewed through their lenses. I can visualize a clearly chalked out milestones for your whole life span.

For the first time I was feeling stressed out in others soul, but decided to stay back for some more time in analyzing the objects in front of me :).

There I saw the first milestone set for us, it’s our birth or coming into this world. Yes it is indeed the toughest struggle for life by any individual in his life time. But amazingly there exists no trace of it in any corner of our mind. Is it because we don’t have mind by then or else the mind being in such a natural state without any contamination that it has so much potency to fight out anything with ease. From then on our milestones are put forth in every walk of life.

I felt like I am driving a car and seeing the life phases as I pass through each milestone. My journey continued through different milestones like admission into school, stepping out of college, degree, job, marriage, kids, and grandparents and so on. I felt myself trembling in their soul and it was so uneasy being there, because the mind in their lives with lot of baseless desires which are networked much messier than the internet. Each is so interdependent and connected that you feel completely lost if you are not in the race.

I was feeling myself constantly and desperately looking out for milestones throughout my journey missing out on those beautiful landscape and nature passing behind me. By the time I arrive at a milestone, I briskly grasp what my next milestone is and speed up to be in race.

I felt bleak and my heart seemed heavy but was glad that I have an option to return to my own soul. Quickly I stepped back to my sweet soul :).

For the first time I felt I am at paradise. There is so much pleasure with each air stream gliding in and out. The same journey seemed to be so refreshing rather than tiring. Even my eyes did not look out for the passing milestones rather it was relishing the serene nature along the path.

Then I realized the more we look out for milestones hoping to stay in peace at destination, sooner the stone will be erected etching "May his soul rest in peace" :).

P.S: I pat my back on reaching this milestone of publishing my 50th article on my blog.

Ganesha ...

“My Ganesha is more beautiful and he has bigger tummy than yours! “, these were the words of my four year old nice Laxmi when she came for Ganesha Chaturthi yesterday. Her comments were filled with great authority and warmth as if she is talking about her very close friend. It made me think why is that all kids feel so related only to Ganesha even though we have so many gods out there.

Even I was crazy about him as a kid, may be because Ganesha is more of a cartoon character figure than a god. He is so much fun filled with the elephant face and equipped with weird costumes like snakes and rats as his friends. These fairy tale details leave a long lasting imprint in these tender brains forever. And the other reason being most kids have grown up listening to the ever interesting heroic deeds of bal Ganesh.

Every child loves to hear/see the little elephant faced kid doing mischievous things and still escapes uncaught from the radar of elder’s not to do list. One thing why everyone likes this festival was that he was one god who felt more like a friend and secondly because of those yummy sweets prepared for him. You know it’s not a joke to raise an elephant :).

Those childhood memories still remain so fresh in me, when we used to live in a small rented place which did not have the luxury of a separate pooja room. Hence a small portion of the kitchen shelf was converted as a guest room for Ganesha during his stay.

Usually the festive fever would start almost a week before his arrival and each year we would plan his stay to at most fun with newer decorations and sweets. His three day stay would be a treat for everyone at home as if our very close relative is at home and we would be literally crying when the third day arrives where in we have say good bye to him.

As my hairs turning grey, the fear and the feeling of god in me totally changed but the very love for Ganesha still remains with the freshness as it bloomed. Even though all these gods are just an ideology and part of those brilliantly depicted epics, I bow myself to the level of creativity and passion with which these characters have been evolved over time.

I was always left with no word when I used to hear those incredible fables of lord Ganesha. He turns out to be a hero for me during my childhood days. He seemed to be so different and appealing in all means when compared to other gods.

The idea of cloning or bringing up a child in the labs artificially has been very new to the world. But you will be surprised if I tell you that Ganesha too came into existence by one of these similar means. Yup! He was given life by his mom “Paru :) alias Parvathi”, using the dust or dirt/skin from her body. Hence technically he evolved out of some cultured cells from his mom. Isn’t his birth so fascinating :) and challenging to the science at those times.

It’s proven that the technology of organ transplantation existed very long ago because the very first organ transplantation was conducted on Lord Ganesha. He still holds the world record of only person who has been transplanted with a head of a different species.

Few of my favorite fables of Ganesha were when his stomach bursts and he holds back by tying the snake as his waist belt, he also negotiates with the passing by rat to be his vehicle to reach his home and later on in the war field he breaks his one of his tusks and uses it as a weapon. All these qualities of him demonstrate the art of living and also his managerial qualities.

Anyways I had a great time yesterday with Ganesha and do check few of the photographs of his stay.

Skin

Everyone likes skin :), I don’t find anyone disagreeing with me. If they do then I presume they are pretending or else they are those deeply depressed souls who don’t get a curve on their lips even when tortured with laughter drug injected straight into their veins.

Its from those Adam and eve's time that people are interested in having an attractive skin and even more gorgeous attire to compete with the layer below. Most of the times we feel that the apparel adored by others are more appealing than with what we are covered with. It is very evident if you look out, if you see a gorgeous model with a lovely skirt on a television ad the very next day you can find your colleague gowning it even though it might not suit her.

Time have changed now and we cannot generalize these clothe things as feminine. As girls step out of the doors and demand an equal rights in all the things guys do, so does guys skid behind and do things which girls once adored. Even guys now a days talk about clothes, ear rings and skin coloring :).

I accompanied my niece the other day to circus and everyone was applauding and delighted when an elephant covered with denim trousers and jacket emerged behind the screen. I could not laugh as i was thinking what the elephant's state would be with those skin tight costumes. Even my sis used to dress up our doggy "Tony" with shorts & T-shirt for any occasion at home and all visitors would appreciate and feel elated but when undressed we will find him running around with such a joy stating that this is how he likes to be.

Even though we find varying colors in skins across the globe, all are born with beautiful skins and undoubtedly the best and comfortable attire to fit in. But the society or the culture demands us to follow a certain code hence we get wrapped ourselves with the best wrapper we find but alas it should be comfortable enough.

They say beauty always lies beneath the skin but most of us are not equipped with the instrument to visualize what lies beneath. Hence the outer cover is also as important as what lies in the book in order for a normal reader to grasp them.

May be that's the reason why i keep changing my blog skins so often, hope it looks sexy :)

Lalbagh Flower Show 2009

Hurray ! I am happy that i hold my record of not missing this year's Lalbagh Flower show too.

Seriously i had no intentions of going to flower show this year as the fever of H1N1 spread wide and deep into each ones mind, i was even told by family and close friends not to go to Lalbagh as it is like inviting the virus all by yourself. But touch hood i am pretty healthy as i am writing this article :). But the fear of virus was reflecting from every iris in the backdrop of those lovely colors of the flowers.


There was no specific theme as such in this flower show, the main attraction is mermaid whose attire was very well stitched with anthorium leaves and surrounded by gorgeous dolphins. The teddy bears below the dolphins were cute but looked odd in the aquatic theme.

The dinosaurs were appealing but the sounds it made was kind of irritating but the Thai floral arrangement is really appreciable. The spiky cactus is worth mentioning.




I have exposed the Flower show pics for all those who backed out either because of virus fear or really had some valid reasons to skip. This is for you guys :).

Camera: Kodak Z650 Digital Camera ( 6.1 Mega Pixels )

Theme Fever ...

Themes ! is the buzz word that is in the air for quite some years now. This word became so common in last few years and it all started with the IT boom or in other words it all started when purses turned hefty. I somehow believe that man tends to be more creative only when his stomach and pockets are brimming.

This word keeps intruding my ear quite often. The other day i dropped into my brothers office who is an architect and found his client discussing to have his nest designed with a theme of a flower. And later on my cousin invited me for her fashion show where in she is displaying her collections based on the theme of clouds. And this theme fever have been infected each and every thing surrounding us. We can see all the reality shows, dance events and even cookery programs on television are programmed with a theme in backdrop.

But i am glad that these theme infections have really given birth to so much artistic master pieces and there by provoking the otherwise dull mundane minds.

When it comes to shows & theme based events, Bangalore is always in the fore run. Falling into the similar lines is the bi-yearly flower show events in Lalbagh. And this theme fever did not even spare our flower shows for the past few years. I remember last time they had this "Musical instruments" theme and a year before they came out with "Life under water" theme. All these things makes me wonder what would be this year.

I somehow never missed the shows for the last 3 years. I generally never want to let out an occasion to open out my lenses and there can't be any other better event than this. But what i hate in these flower shows is standing in the queues to get into the park. In order to avoid all these things i sneak into the park at around 5 am when still most of the people are in bed and the other reason is to capture those morning dew on those lovely flowers and petals. This would be the only time you can grab the flowers with out any human interference in the camera frame.

Let me see whether i could able to keep up my record of not missing the flower show this year too.

These were some of the pictures captured in last year flower show 2008.