What an achievement!

Glorious moments it was for the Indians and the "Slumdog Millionaire" family, as they would like to call themselves :) Indian actors Anil Kapoor and others made such a powerful and confident presence at the Oscars and it was simply awesome to see the way it was celebrated on stage with the kids from the slums who played a vital role in the movie's success.

A.R.Rahman, what ever I say about this human would be an understatement. In fact I already made one calling him a “human"! He is the face of humility and modestly with matchless talent, who credits his accolades to none but God and his mother :) Many felt that this was not his best of works but I feel that the Oscars are just a beginning for this maestros' international presence and he is all set to mesmerize the world with his new identity!

I watched the movie almost instantly after it was released. To be frank I was enraged with the title. Somehow the word "Slumdog" hit me hard and could not believe a foreign film maker dared to call Indians that. Even after the seeing the movie I was not convinced that was for real. It was only after the movie picked up media interest and more real life stories surfaced that it became so obvious that we have totally forgotten this part of India which still exists and is calling for help. Even though the movie and its breaking success puts India on the map in a poor way, it will at least draw a lot of attention internationally and also is an eye opener for Indians and Indian government. Funny part though, is that the Indian Congress party claims a share in the Oscar story instead of taking this movie as a heads up to solve some of the burning problems like poverty, illiteracy, child abuse and providing aid to families in distress.

I just hope that this movie serves its true purpose of bringing more help to people living in such horrifying conditions and not become a mere media hype to be lost one day as a story long told. I really wish that the kids, who stole the show, would have their fates changed and would receive proper education and support; and be as privileged as any of us are today.

Beautiful Mind

Have you ever wondered why you thought in a particular way or how you came up with some of the amazing answers you did not even know you knew? That is right! Your mind, the most complex creation yet to be demystified to completion. Mind has the amazing power to influence what you feel, what you emote and what you think you are. That is what makes you 'YOU'. What we are perceived by others is a lot dependent on what our mind thinks and wants to portray. It is a never ending feedback loop between the conscious surrounding and our thought process that keeps on fine tuning what we think we are. It makes you feel good, bad, egoistic, cheerful, dull, ignorant, aggressive, self conscious, daring, supportive, innocent, jealous, vulnerable and the list continues. Even our day to day life is lived twice...once in the head and then once for real. Every minute our mind process the data at hand and tells us how to react to the next minute. Even as we speak we would have spoken those words already once to ourselves before it is finally uttered and an impact is made. That is reason behind saying you control your destiny. Your life is as good or as bad as you make it. The uncertainties are mere extraneous elements that come and go. So buddies, go tell yourself you are the best in the world, the invincible, the elite and you can solve the toughest of problems and a whole new world of endless possibilities will open and lay in front of you tread upon the way to success.

Tour de India

What a time it was! Awesome India...our people, our land and our culture. Fantastic cuisines...MTR masala dosa to the road side churmuri and masala puri, nothing to match its complex concoctions! With almost a months' shopping spree and preparation, we boarded BA flight to Bangalore via Hethrow, London on the eve of Thanks Giving. A full flight it was. Lots of families with kids going on vacation, so you know what to expect on board...lots of tantrums! We landed safely and on time at bangalore to be received warmly by our parents and relatives. Our trip had just began, and the ride to our home gave a good flavor of what Bangalore has become...a dusty, polluted and bustling city with erratic traffic where drivers and pedestrians have lost what was some time called traffic rules/sense. We decided to ignore this part of our city for the rest of our trip to avoid all the irritation due to it. At home we were welcomed with a fresh aroma of hot breakfast just waiting for us to pounce upon! We had our heart's fill and spoke of all the current events and family news....it just felt like old times. But the jet lag crept in and sleep was tugging our eyes. Next few days we spent at my  home at Mysore. It just felt so right..my home, my parents, my room..the garden in the front of our home ...each and every detail seemed so pronounced, now that I was noticinging the smallest of things that I missed for so long. We went around Mysore city which was decorated like a bride for the Dasara festival, the Chamundi Hill, Srirangapatna, KRS and the temple that was submerged under the water of the KRS dam that is now relocated on the banks of cauvery...what a sight it was! All our loved ones got together at my house in Mysore and it was one of the best days of our trip to India. I cannot thank and appreciate them more for coming from such distances just to be there that day....wow that is the greatness of strong relations I guess :) We had a fun time with my cousins' little kid taking the centre stage and keeping us all laughing most of the time with all his cute actions and babbling:)

Back in Bangalore we spent a day going around places in the out skirts. Visited Shivgange which is a temple situated on the hill top near Tumkur. The treck itself was not tiring but for the notorious monkeys which attacked us and even pulled my hand bag. On the way back we gave a visit to the Siddaganga Mutt to take the blessings of the Swamiji. The rest of our India trip passed pretty quickly in visiting various relatives houses that we had missed out last time and also shopping around. After it was almost time for us to leave, the packing was one the greatest challenges we faced. Trying to fit all that we had shopped was a big deal. Finally after prioritising what goes with us and what stays back, we winded up and were all set to leave. But the sense of leaving brought so much sadness that we wished we had not come as the excitement of coming was much better to bear. Finally with tearful adieu to our parents we left India and back to US right in time to be welcomed by the new year.

returing to my roots

After nearly an year and half wait my longing is going to come true. I am returning to my country, my parents and everything I can call mine. It feels so good to be going back home. Flashes of things I did back in India, the roads I passed by, the buildings I watched everyday as I went to college and innumerable memories I have of my home, mom and dad ... pass by my eyes constantly. I am going to have a truly great time being just me...me 2 years back

ನಾನು ಇತೀಚೆಗೆ ಸಿಯಾಟಲ್ಲಿನ ಮಳೆತರ ....ಒಮ್ಮೆಲೇ ಜೋರಾಗಿ ಬಾರ್ಸಿದ್ರೆ ಮುಂದಿನ ಕ್ಷಣ ಒಂದು ಹನಿ ನು ಇಲ್ಲ ಅನ್ನೋ ಹಾಗೆ. ನಾನು ನನ್ ಬ್ಲಾಗ್ ಬಾಗೆ ಹೇಳ್ತಿದ್ದೀನಿ ...ಮೊದಲನೆ ದಿನ ತುಂಬ ಉತ್ಸಾಹ ಆದ್ರೆ ಬರಿಯೋಕ್ಕೆ ಏನು ಇಲ್ಲ. ಏನಾದ್ರು ಅದ್ಬುತ ಜೀವನದಲ್ಲಿ ಆದ್ದರೆ ಅದನ್ನು ಎಲ್ಲೂ ಬರೀದೆ ಹೋಗಿ ಒಂದು ದಿನ ಮರತ್ರೆ ಏನಪ್ಪಾ ಅಂಥ ಆತಂಕ ಆಗಿ ೪ ವರುಷ ದಿಂದ ಮುಂದೆ ಹಾಕ್ತಾ ಬಂದ ಕೆಲಸ ಈಗ ಮಾಡಿದೆ ಅಂತ ತೃಪ್ತಿ ಮಾಡ್ಕೊಂಡು ಎರಡು ಲೈನ್ ಬ್ಲಾಗ್ ಬರ್ದೇ. ಆದಾದ್ ಕೂಡ್ಲೇ ಮನೆ ಕಟ್ಟಿ ಜೋಶ್ನಲ್ಲಿ ಪುಟಗಟ್ಲೆ ಬರ್ದಿದ್ದೋ ಬರ್ದ್ದಿದ್ದು. ಯಾರೋ ಓದ್ತಾರೆ ಅಂತ ಅಲ್ಲ ನಂಗೆ ಹೇಳ್ಬೇಕನಿಸ್ತು ಅದಕ್ಕೆ. ಇದನ್ನೇ ಬ್ಲಾಗಿಂಗ್ ಅಂತಾರೆ ಅನ್ಸುತೆ!!!

constructed a house today...how cool is that \:D/

I started blogging just yesterday expecting to journal special events in my life...guess what?? I just constructed a house today. My team at Microsoft SQL Server decided that we should do something for a cause, we should return service to the community. So today we planned a team day of service at Habitat for Humanity, a non profit organization which builds homes for the low income families. I took the initiative to organize this event for our team. So when I called HH they were more than willing to have us at their volunteer construction site to build...yes build the homes with our hands!

The day started out good, we all met at our office at 8:30 am , but yeah I was late. Reached there running just in time...reason? could not find the car keys!!! My manager was kind enough to say that it happens...Murphy's law. I am glad there is a law so that people like me can get away with excuses like that :D.

All of us car pooled to this HH construction site by 9 in the morning, signed up for the day..of course still wondering what we are going to do there...we hardly know anything about construction. But the Site Supervisor Mike gave us a very nice introduction telling about the vision of the organization and the other site leads briefed us about how the day ahead is going to be.

There were various job depending on the level of risk taken maybe. One of my colleagues signed up for doing the roof top work. I guess that was the most demanding of all, he had to work at the top storey with a harness from the roof top as the building had three floors. Three of us signed up for various wood activities which involved using all the power tools like very powerful electric saws for wood cutting etc. The others signed up for laying the exterior wall of the houses.

To our luck, the weather that is generally gloomy turned out totally bright and cheerful as we started getting the gear on to jump into action!

I spent the morning session with the team taking measurements on a piece of wood with a typical worker style pencil (carpenter pencils are flat in shape to suit their purpose so that they do not roll away and also you can draw thick n thin lines with the same pencil just by rotating it) and then cutting wood for the right measurements. Learnt to use all the heavy equipment which was the best part of the day. I was impressed by how mechanized things were here in the US and how easy it was to use them. Just sighed at our Indian carpenters who use so much muscle power to do the smallest of things.

By noon the food that I ordered came well on time to the pleasure of my hungry and worked team members. We had a nice lunch by the wooden table outside the site and talked about all that we did!

Rest of the day continued with various works. And the time to clear up came soon. We were all quite tired by then. Returned all our gear, thanked HH and site supervisors for giving us an opportunity to do this.

Everybody was still filled with all the excitement about the different things they did thru out the day...some of them just waiting to go home to their children and tell them everything about what they did. So all of us...hesitating to step into our team members car as we were so dirty...just settled down and left for the day with a heart's content of serving the community and above all having so much fun!

finally my blog!

...it has been a real long time since I wanted to give a vent to my Limbic System. Just to let go my thoughts in this yet another gazillionth blog. With not much to rant about I am starting my first blog hoping that LIFE will encounter a lot of worthwhile events, journeys and experiences that I would want to write about...