Maavalli Tiffin Room- By Abhishek Iyengar July 5, 2009

(This article was first published in Bengaluru Parishe, Photography <scaled down> By Gautham Vasuki, all rights of these and many more exclusive MTR pictures belongs to Gautham vasuki)

Started as a small eat-out place in 1927 near Mavalli Masjid, Bengaluru MTR or Mavalli Tiffin Room is now a million Dollar global enterprise, with wide range of packed food products exported across the globe. MTR Foods acts as a sole saviour for millions of Vegetarians and especially Indians across the world. Amidst all these endeavours; lies a modest, authentic and a quondam looking MTR restaurant on the main road connecting the very famous “Lal Bagh” and adjacent to the eternal “Urvashi Theatre” of Bengaluru.

Founded by Parampalli Yajnanarayana Maiya, Rama Maiya and Ganepaya Maiya, MTR was shifted to the present location in 1956, with 2 floors and nearly 10 eating rooms along with 2 waiting halls, MTR restaurant is jam packed at any time of the day. MTR serves 100% vegetarian and authentic south Indian Food and this tradition has been followed from the past 80 years, it is very staggering to know that MTR has not even changed its Menu since then and yet its legacy continues till today. Hema Malini Maiya is the current Managing director of MTR.

“Quality and Quantity of the food is the main USP here” tells Janardhan Maiya, who is the Manager at MTR, working there from past 35 years. MTR style of food has its own taste and authenticity which attracts people from all over the world.

A.K Narayana who is serving as the Assistant Manager at MTR from past 15 years says that MTR provides very clean and healthy food due to which people like it a lot. He also added that there is no limit on the food and everything is unlimited here. When asked as to how many pooris would be prepared on a single day in MTR, Mr. A.K Narayana answered that it is impossible to keep track such huge amounts.

There are 150 Permanent employees at MTR and Janadhan Maiya says that they have served all kinds of VIP’s over the years. MTR sterilizes each and every plate after washing using sterilizing machines. With 100’s of people waiting to satisfy their hunger for MTR lunch, it is extremely difficult to maintain the cleanliness around the restaurant which MTR does very efficiently.

A typical MTR lunch starts with grape juice served in silver tumblers, this has been practised for over 80 years now and it stands as a mark of legacy. After the juice they serve 2 different kinds of typical South Indian side dish made up of fresh vegetables followed by very famous mouth watering MTR poori or MTR masala dosa which is served on an unlimited quantity. Next comes the Besi Bele Bath or in simple terms called the Sambar rice which is served with thick onion salad and pure ghee, if you are filled by any chance then hold on because next comes the delicious sweet which is exclusively prepared here in MTR with milk, cheese and cream called the “Hal Kova” or “Milk Cream sweet”. Then you have the white rice with sambar followed by the penultimate item on your plate, the curd rice without which the staple diet of any south Indian never ends. Wait! You are not done as yet because the very special MTR fruit salad with ice cream is due to come and finally the paan.

It is after having the lunch that one really realises as to why MTR is flocked by people always, when asked the public about the waiting time in MTR to get to that lunch they say “It’s the real fun in waiting for something and then having it, that increases the taste” as quoted by Mr. Sudhakar. “One should book and come to MTR and then there will be no hassles” says Mr. Gundu Rao and Mr. Shiva Prasad. The youth or the present generation who also come to enjoy the taste of MTR food say that because of the waiting time and the parking problem the restaurant may loose customers in the coming days.

When asked about the problems of waiting time and parking, Mr Janardhan Maiya proudly says that “it is the food that matters to our die hard customers and not the commotion that precedes it” what ever may be the difficulty MTR is one such mark that never fades away from the minds of people. With Bengaluru stepping into the next Generation and with multi facility and multi national food chains making their way, MTR stands as a lone warrior fighting all the odds of globalization and still spreading its charisma and legacy winning millions of Bengalurians hearts every day.

Bengalurification-By Abhishek Iyengar and Sunand July 3, 2009

(Trivia:- Few of my friends who were part of a music band were about to perform in Bangalore and they were all set to rock the city! but they needed a song that could rock the city! they asked me to write a song! Song and me? but then I heard ‘Californication’ humming at the background! and it happened! “bengalurufication” was played successfully at the music concert and really rocked the city. here you go try singing in the same tune of ‘Californification” )

It Parks, electronic city from america
Try to steal your mind’s elation
MNC’s from Europe
Dream of Low prise Project quotations
And if you want these kind of dreams
It’s Bengalurification

It’s the centre of the world
And all of western civilization
The sun may rise in the East
At least it settles in the final location
It’s understood that Sandalwood
sells Bengalurification.

Pay your employees very well
To break the spell of appraisals
IT skin is this your sin
Or is that war your waging

[Chorus:]
Forum Mall’s sweet corn
Hard core soft Babycorn
Dream of Bengalurification
Dream of Bengalurification

Marry a girl of the same company in the IT world
Be my very own Configuration
A teenage bride with a baby inside
Getting 1.5 Lakhs Marriage package on Registration
And buy me a Flat on airport road
It’s Bengalurification

Hosur road may be the final frontier
But it’s made in a Bengaluru’s entrance
Traffic signals flashing is your fear
Singing songs from Madivala to Malleshwaram
And yet to reach Majestic not far away
It’s Bengalurification

Born and raised by those who praise
Control of population everybody’s been there
and……
I don’t mean on vacation

[Chorus]
Forum Mall’s sweet corn
Hard core soft Babycorn
Dream of Bengalurification
Dream of Bengalurification

Destruction leads to any Bengaluru road
But it also leads to fly over construction
And Magic boxes are to a BDA’s guitar
They’re just another good alteration
And IT waves couldn’t save the world
From Bengalurification

Pay your employees very well
To break the spell of quitting
Sicker than the rest
There is no Best
But this is what you’re asking

Aa Dinagalu- Those days- By Sri Harsha July 2, 2009

(Dedicated to all the so-called kannada lovers who cannot read kannada or who donot have a luxury of installing the font in their office-pcs or whose updated browsers donot support the font)

P.S:- This is a new experiment from us to help you read better, you have given us constant feed back on Kannada fonts being bad to read, hence we tried this. Please give us feed back by commenting! thank you all)

Ekaantadalli halavaaru yOchane kaaDuttittu. MEle nODidare kappu mODagaLa saalu, maNNina suvaasane mUgige baDiyuttittu, nanna office busnallina ardha jana nidde hOgiddaru, innardha jana yEnEnannO Oduttiddaru. Antu yaaru horagina vaataavaraNavannu gamanisuva manassantu maaDiralilla. Nanage EnO mamparu baDidu nidde bandahaage aayitu. ashTaralli Eno gnaapaka aagi chakkanta ecchara aaitu. Namma bus yaavudo maidaanada munde saaguttittu, alli saNNa saNNa makkaLu cricket aaTa aaDuttiddaru. Nanage mellage 10 varshagaLa hindina dinagaLu nenapige bandavu.

Avaaga taane nanna S.S.L.C parIkshe mugididdavu. EnO saadhisida anubhava, jeevanadalli aagale gedda sambhrama. 1 varsha kaNNige eNNe biTTu mikkellavannu maretu Odida susthu, 16 tumbi doDDa manushya eMba aha0kaara. Ivella sEri innu munde manssige nemmadi siguva varegu kuNidu kuppaLisuva hambala.

konegU gottidda snEhitarannella oggUDisi beLigge 6:30 hottige eddu sainya yuddhakke horaTa haage horaTiddevu. Aadare kaialli gun gala badalu cricket bat gaLu haagu wicketgaLu iddavu. iSHTu bEga parIkshegU eddu OdiralillavEnO cricket aaDuvudakke maatra raatriyindale siddhate. Abba adeshTu jana oTTige sEri 3-4 ghanTegaLa kaala yaara hangU illade aaDuttiddevu? Ondu beediyavara mEle innondu beediyarau pandya aaDuvudu, geluvu sOlu jagaLa snEha ivella dinavU namma naDuve naDeyuttalE iddavu.

IShTu neneyuvaShTaralli nanna mane bandittu naanu busninda iLiyuva samayavU bandittu. Adare nanna manasinalli adE yOchane. haLeya snEhitarannella omme gnaapisikonDe. ardhadashTu snEhitaru ivaaga elliddAre embudU tiLidiralilla. ellO obbibbaru bari elliddAre endashTe gottu adara mEle EnU gottilla. Naanu EnaagibiTTe ee 10 varshagaLalli anta annisitu. Illa naanu matte kaalavannu tirugisabEku, aa dinagaLa sambhrama nanna jeevanadalli matte mUDi barabEku anta nirdharisiyE biTTe. Mane sErida takshaNa tiLida snEhitarige phOnaayisiddU aayitu, avarigU nanna paristhitiyE irabEku, avaru taavalladE tamage tiLidiruva snEhitarannU karetaruva pramaaNavU maaDidaru.

ellarU  Software Industry yallidda kaaraNa shanivaaradandu aaDabEku annuva nirdhaaravaayitu. Jaaga, samaya, aaTakke bEkaada bat, ball haagu wickets ellavU siddavaadavu. Shanivaara bandE biTTittu. nAnu ardha GanTe muncheye maidaanakke hOgi wicketgaLannu hoDedu, gottidda snEhitarige bEga baralu phone maaDi aaTa shuruvaaguvudannE kaayutta kuLite. Obbobbaraaga ellaru bandu aaTa shuru aayitu. iShTella mugiyuvashTaralli naanu matte 16 varshada huDuga aagi hOgidde. adE hummassu, adE santOsha, ivellavu adellindalO bandu nanna maioLage sEriddavu. BaTu hiDidu maidaanakke bandu chenDannu edurisidaaga adEnO sambhramavaayitu. Jeevana saarthaka enisitu.

Kootu kelasa maaDuva pariNaama munchya haage 3-4 GanTe aaDuvudakkaagalilla, aadare aShTe hummassininda swalpa hottu ellarU aaDiddevu. aaTa mugiyuva vELege ellarigU dhukka vaagittu. Matte siguvuva nambikeyantU iralilla aadarU ellara manassinallu dinavu hIge makkaLante aaDidare adeShTu chenna annuva kalpane. Andu naavellarU matte makkaLaagiddevu.

The Bangloorans- By Abhishek Iyengar July 1, 2009

The city of bengaluru was under attack! it was the ‘Electronic City’ first, the aliens had attacked the “Silicon Valley of India”, the morning news papers read “Bangalore- Under siege”. The news channels called in a special panel to discuss the possible political hand behind the ghastly act! they discussed the ‘possibility-of-imagining-the-acute-horror-citizens-facing’ huh! sitting miles away in a AC room and then the breaking news! Bengaluru’s iconic buildings were attacked! the gandhi bazaar soon turned out to be a graveyard! ah! the situation was turning worse with security forces, NSG commandos, military forces, Marine guards, Para-Military forces all failing before the alien attack! we were sinking big time. I was driving as usual to office! and saw the aliens attacking the dairy circle flyover! “huh! my city” I cried in vein as i took the U-Turn trying to escape the attack! it was then the the ‘eternal’ traffic police stopped me.. and booked me for taking a ‘Illegal U-Turn’, as he demanded 100 rs, I hollered “Even now?” ” we always do our duty! be it alien or Swine!” he uttered in a voice that sounded as steady as a rock! with no choice and aliens fast approaching I paid the money and rushed towards Wilson garden circle to find a “Traffic jam” come one! this is Bangalore, what else you can find! the panic had stuck all which was not so very surprising! “the auto had to take a left for which he went all round a BMTC bus which had to go right but was intercepted by a bike who was talking to his girl friend on phone and was not moving only because the scooter in front of him broke and the driver had all the time to repair in the middle of the road but he started that when he saw no hope with the fight that had triggered between the traffic police man and the Matador guy, but they started the fight only when a software company bus in front of them was waiting still for its employee..” uhh! uff! such a simple reason sparked a traffic jam! huh! some how I made my quick move with aliens still behind me, but why?

Anyway I reached the Lal Bagh East end circle to find huge demonstrations against the government for allowing the Aliens to come and set up their base in bangalore and approving them SEZ’s, before i could clear off the jam packed demonstrations and just a couple of meters ahead there was a government rally in favor of government calling themselves “Liberal” and opening up the city to Aliens were just a part of their “Globalization” plan, ya! right! I quickly took the right turn their with zero hopes of clearing the jam only to find ‘The bar girls protesting’, “Allow us to dance, the aliens will run away!” they shouted Ah! that was a good idea, oh! the aliens were still behind me, I made a quick exit by taking the ‘Next-left-then right-then 2nd left-then 4th right-then 5th left towards the gully-then the second right and then finally uff! the main road to reach corporation!  The devastation had become worse! but it dint let down the people of bangalore, They all gathered and held a 10k marathon in the support of people already dead in the alien attacks! the roads were blocked and Brobdingnagian amounts of funds were expected to be collected! from the marathon! thanks to the spirit of the people, oh! ya the Aliens! they were right behind me.. as i managed to escape bya whisker and reach the Mysore bank circle.

It was here at the narrow Mysore bank circle where i realized that it was time to fight back than to run or get stuck in another rally, demonstration, traffic jam , film release celebration et.all huh! hmm! well I would die as a hero of my city. This was when i noticed a similar group of people (may be IT guys) holding huge weapons of Alien destruction’s such as” ‘Anti-virus’ ah! to be precise hacked version from one of the torrent sites”, “8086 machines”, ” I-pods and I-phones” again unlocked version huh! can’t help! “Used PC cabinets” “cell phones” and what not?  I realized that they lacked a commander, they lacked a manager in them, a person who could do their appraisals after the war fairly. I had to volunteer myself to step in and i stepped in to plan, quickly after nominating couple of Team Leaders we did not forget to open our Project planner to devise a plan to attack the aliens!

The moment had finally arrived and in true Spartans style i stood there holding my 117 year old laptop (with an external key board as the shield) and shouted “Come on! Spartans err! “Banglorans” it is this time we awaited for, TODAY WE DINE IN HELL..” and………

Water gushed in, what? I exclaimed to see my mom standing and shouting at me, it was almost 11 ‘ o clock and she had bucket full of water, “Get Up! don’t you have office?” she squalled

what? ah! that was a dream….. oh! huh! I got up and in my true senses thought “TODAY WE DINE IN HELL..?” ah! i was watching “300″ movie the last night.

Serial Killer!!- By SriHarsha June 30, 2009

“ಪಕ್ಕದ ಮನೆ ಅಜ್ಜಿ ಮೆಟ್ಟಲಿನಿಂದ ಕಾಲು ಜಾರಿ ಬಿದ್ದು ಸತ್ತೇಹೋದರಂತೆ.” ಈ ಮಾತುಗಳು ಕೇಳಿದ ತಕ್ಶಣ ಇನ್ನೇನು ಮೊದಲನೆ ತುತ್ತು ತಿನ್ನಲು ಹೊರಟಿದ್ದ ನಾನು ಆದ ಆಘಾತಕ್ಕೆ ಕೈಯಿಂದ ಅನ್ನ ವಾಪಸ್ಸು ತಟ್ಟೆಗೆ ಚೆಲ್ಲಿದೆ. ಅಂದು ನಮ್ಮ ಮನೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ನನ್ನ ಮುತ್ತಜ್ಜಿಯ ತಿಥಿ. ಆದ್ಧರಿಂದ ನಮ್ಮ ಮನೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಜನರೋ ಜನ. ನಮ್ಮಮ್ಮನಿಗೆ ನನ್ನ ಅತ್ತೆ ಮನೆಗೆ ಬಂದರೆಂಬ ಸಂಭ್ರಮ ಬೇರೆ. ನನಗೆ ಊಟ ಬಡಿಸುವಾಗ ಇಬ್ಬರೂ ತುಂಬ ಗಂಭೀರವಾಗಿ ಅಜ್ಜಿಯ ವಿಷಯ ಚರ್ಚಿಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದರು. ನನಗೂ ಆಜ್ಜಿಯನ್ನು ನೆನೆದು ಅಯ್ಯೋ ಅನ್ನಿಸಿತ್ತು. ನನ್ನನ್ನು ಚಿಕ್ಕ ವಯಸ್ಸಿಂದ ಎತ್ತಿ ಆಡಿಸಿದ್ದ ಅಜ್ಜಿ ಅವರು. ಏನೋ ನೆನಪಿಗೆ ಬಂದು, “ ಅವರು ಮಾಡಿಕೊಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದ ದೋಸೆ ಬಲು ರುಚಿಯಾಗಿರುತ್ತಿದ್ದವು ಅಂದುಬಿಟ್ಟೆ”. ಅಜ್ಜಿಯ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಗಂಭೀರವಾಗಿ ಚರ್ಚಿಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದ ಅಮ್ಮ ಹಾಗು ಅತ್ತೆ ಏನೂ ಅರ್ಥವಾಗದೆ ನನ್ನ ಕಡೆ ತಿರುಗಿ ನೋಡಿದರು. ಆವಾಗ ನಾನು, “ ಅದೆ ನೀವು ಮಾತಾಡಿಕೊಳ್ಳುತ್ತಿದ್ದರಲ್ಲ, ಪಕ್ಕದ ಮನೆ ಕೆಂಪಜ್ಜಿ ಅವರು ಹ್ಹುಯ್ಯುತ್ತಿದ್ದ ದೋಸೆ ತುಂಬ ರುಚಿ. ಪಾಪ ಅವರ ಸಾವಿನ ನಂತರ ಅವರ ಗಂಡನ ಗತಿ ಏನೋ? “ ಎಂದೆ. ಅದನ್ನು ಕೇಳಿ ಎಲ್ಲಾ ಅರ್ಥವಾದವರಂತೆ ಅಮ್ಮ ಹಾಗು ಅತ್ತೆ ಜೋರಾಗಿ ಗೊಳ್ ಎಂದು ನಗತೊಡಗಿದರು. ನನಗೆ ಸರಿಯಾಗಿ ಕೋಪ ಬಂತು. ಅಲ್ಲ, ಅಲ್ಲಿ ಪಾಪ ಕೆಂಪಜ್ಜಿ ಸತ್ತರೆ ಇವರಿಗೆ ನಗು ಬರುತ್ತಿದೆಯಲ್ಲ ಅಂತ. ಅಮ್ಮನಿಗೆ ಗದರಿಯೂಬಿಟ್ಟೆ, “ ಅಲ್ಲ ಇಂಥ ಸಮಯದಲ್ಲೂ ನಿಮಗೆ ನಗು ಬರುವುದೇ? “ ಎಂದು. ನಿಧಾನವಾಗಿ ಸುಧಾರಿಸಿಕೊಂಡು ಅತ್ತೆ ನನಗೆ ಸತ್ಯ ದರ್ಶನ ಮಾಡಿಸಿದರು, “ ಥು ದಡ್ಡ!!! ನಾವು ಯಾವುದೋ ದಾರಾವಾಹಿಯ ಕಥೆ ಚರ್ಚೆ ಮಾಡ್ತಿದೀವಿ. ಅಷ್ಟೂ ಅರ್ಥವಾಗಲ್ವ. ನಿನಗ್ಯಾಕೋ ಹೆಂಗಸರ ವಿಷಯ?” ಅಂತ ಅವಮಾನ ಮಾಡಿಬಿಡೋದೇ?

“ಸಾಕಪ್ಪಾ ಸಾಕು ಈ ಸೀರಿಯಲ್ ಸಹವಾಸ. ಅಲ್ಲ ರೀ ಅದ್ಯಾರು ಆ ಕೆಟ್ಟು ಮುಖದ ಕ್ರೈಂ ಸ್ಟೋರಿ ಶುರು ಮಾಡಿದ್ದು? ಅದನ್ನೇ ಅನುಕರಿಸಿ ನಮ್ಮನೆ ಚೋಟುದ್ದ ಮಕ್ಕಳು ಅವರು ಕೇಳಿದ್ದು ಕೊಡಿಸದಿದ್ದರೆ ನಮ್ಮನ್ನೇ ಬೈತಾರಲ್ರೀ!! ಸಾಕು ಸಾಕು ಈ “ ದಡ್ಡ ಪೆಟ್ಟಿಗೆಯ” ಸಹವಾಸ” ಅಂತ ನಮ್ಮ ಪಕ್ಕದ ಮನೆ ಪದ್ಮನಾಭಯ್ಯ ನನ್ನ ಮುಂದೇ ಗೋಳು ತೋಡಿಕೊಂಡಾಗಲಂತು ಅಯ್ಯೋ ಅನ್ನಿಸಿತು. ಇನ್ನು ಭಾನುವಾರವಾದರೆ ಸಾಕು, ಮನೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಇರೋಹಾಗೇ ಇಲ್ಲ. ಬೆಳಗ್ಗೆ ಶುರು ಆದರೆ ರಾತ್ರಿ ಮಲ್ಗೋವರೆಗೂ ಟಿ,ವಿ ಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಮಕ್ಕಳು ಸಿನಿಮಾ ಹಾಡುಗಳನ್ನು ಚೀರಾಡಲು ಶುರು ಮಾಡಿಬಿಡುವರು. ಅದರ ಬದಲು ಆ ಮಕ್ಕಳು ಪುಸ್ತಕವಾದರೂ ಓದಿದ್ದರೆ ಮತ್ತೊಬ್ಬ ವಿಶ್ವೇಶ್ವರಯ್ಯನೋ, ಸಿ.ವಿ.ರಮನ್ನೋ  ಇಲ್ಲ ಇಂದಿರಾ ಗಾಂಧಿಯೋ ಆಗುತ್ತಿದ್ದರೋ ಏನೋ.

ಇಷ್ಟಕ್ಕೇ ನಮ್ಮ ಮನೆಯ ಟಿ.ವಿ ತಕರಾರು ಮುಗಿದಿರಲ್ಲ. ದಾರಾವಾಹಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಮುಂದೆ ಏನಾಗುವುದು ಅಂತ ಅಪ್ಪ ಅಮ್ಮನ ನಡುವೆ ಕಾಳಗವೇ ನಡೆಯುತ್ತದೆ. ಅದು ಸಾಲದು ಅಂತ ಅದರಲ್ಲಿ ಬರುವ ಪಾತ್ರಗಳಿಗೆ ಮಕ್ಕಳಾದ ನಮ್ಮನ್ನು ಹೋಲಿಸುವುದು ಬೇರೆ!!! ಯಾರು ಹೇಳಿದರು ತಂದೆ ತಾಯಂದಿರು ಮಕ್ಕಳಿಗೆ ಕೆಟ್ಟದ್ದು ಬಯಸುವುದಿಲ್ಲ ಎಂದು?? ಇದಕ್ಕಿಂತ ಕೆಟ್ಟದ್ದು ಇನ್ನೇನಾದರೂ ಇದೆಯ?

ಈ ನಡುವೆ ಹೊಸ ಗೀಳೊಂದು ಶುರು ಆಗಿದೆ. ಜ್ಯೋತಿಶ್ಯ ಹಾಗು ವಾಸ್ತು ಎಂಬ ಗೀಳು. ಹಿಂಗೆ ಯಾವುದೋ ಟಿ.ವಿ. ಜ್ಯೋತಿಶಿಯ ವಾಕ್ಯ ವೇದದ ದೆಸೆಯಿಂದ ನಮ್ಮ ಮನೆಯ ಮುಂದಿರುವ ಮೋರಿಯನ್ನೇ ಮುಚ್ಚಿಸಲು ಹೋದ ಅಪ್ಪ ಮುನಿಸಿಪಾಲಿಟಿ ಕಚೇರಿಯ ಕೆಂಗಣ್ಣಿಗೆ ಗುರಿಯಾಗಿ ವಿಷಯ ನನ್ನ ಜೇಬಿನ ವರೆಗೂ ಬಂದಿತ್ತು.ಯಾಕೆ ಬೇಕು ಈ ದಡ್ಡತನ ಅಂದಿದ್ದಕ್ಕೆ ನಮ್ಮಪ್ಪ ನುಡಿದದ್ದು ಎರಡೇ ಅಕ್ಷರ “ವಾಸ್ತು” ಎಂದು. ಅಲ್ಲ, ಮೋರಿ ಮುಚ್ಚಿದರೆ ವಾಸ್ತು ಅಲ್ಲ, ಅದು ಕಟ್ಟಿಕೊಂಡು ವಾಸನೆ ಬರುವುದು ಅಂತ ಯಾರು ನಮ್ಮ ಜನಕ್ಕೆ ಹೇಳೋದು?

ಇಷ್ಟೆಲ್ಲಾ ನನ್ನ ಜೀವನದ ಜೊತೆ ಆಟವಾಡುತ್ತಿರುವ ಈ ಟಿ.ವಿ ದಾರಾವಾಹಿಗಳು ಬರಿ ಸೀರಿಯಲ್ ಆಗಿರದೆ ಸೀರಿಯಲ್-ಕಿಲ್ಲರ್ ಆಗಿರುವುದರಲ್ಲಿ ಆಶ್ಚರ್ಯವೇ ಇಲ್ಲ.

Indian of Today- By Dr. Sanjay Sharma- Guest Article June 30, 2009

The Indian today is made of many things – culture, history, DNA, etc. If you just turn the focus inwards, it’ll be clear as day that not all of these have got together to make us the perfect people walking on earth. But let us think for a while what we are that others aren’t and perhaps can’t be.

For one, we must certainly rank as one of the most welcoming and warm people in the world. Try asking a Frenchman for directions in English while you are in Paris and you’ll understand what I am saying. More often than not, he’ll not even look in your direction. And if he condescends to do that, he’ll make you feel like scum. Don’t know French? What the hell are you doing in my country?

Compare this with how foreigners are treated in India. Most are made to feel like traveling deities. The whole ‘atithideva’ bit plays an important role in this. On the whole, and I think a lot of expats will support me on this, foreigners in India are treated much better than Indians are in foreign countries. Hum kaale hain toh ky hua dilwaale hain!

Oh yes, many here don’t like a lot of things they do too, like using toilet paper and eating beef and pork, but few will go down to beating the daylights out of them or make them feel so unwanted that they leave the country on their own.

We take God and faith so seriously that I am sure it makes a lot of us actually quite a people of faith. Have you counted the number of temples, mosques, gurdwaras, and churches in our country? Don’t, it’ll be a futile exercise. Yes, there will be the communal riots in a country of more than a billion with various tugs and pulls of coexistence, often under difficult and trying circumstances, but it doesn’t exactly take rocket science to figure out why this huge, rambling country hasn’t imploded. The average Indian, deep down, is accommodating, of different cultures, peoples and persuasion.

Let’s take the two big countries that matter most in today’s world – China and America. Almost the whole of China is communist, Han and speaks a language that forms a common thread joining them. Almost the whole of America is capitalist, speaks English and loves burgers. In India, they say, dialects change every few kilometers. So do food habits, physical features and other signifiers of difference. It’s a hundred nations within a nation. Travel from Mizoram to Kashmir, from Bengal to Karnataka, from Punjab to Gujarat, from Bihar to Maharashtra – the multiplicity amazes, staggers, overwhelms. We’ve done tremendously well to stick together. And let’s not be cynical about this. It’s an achievement other countries would find hard to emulate.

So importantly, Indians believe in community and that’s a fantastic thing. Almost the whole town came to one of the wedding recently in Bangalore. There was the vice-chancellor of a university and there was a poor driver with whom the groom had played football in his childhood. They shared the same table. Indians know how to rejoice in one another’s happiness and partake of each other’s sorrow. Divides of class, caste and faith apart, the instinctive response in India to the three things that wrap up life – birth, marriage and death – is to come together. It means something.

But the best thing by far about this country is how nothing is ever taken too seriously – terror attacks, riots, corruption, even traffic rules. It not always good, but it’s easier to move on. The psyche of the average American has permanently changed after 9/11 and a lot of things are now seen in black and white in that country. One attack. I don’t think Indians will let that happen to them. Ever. After so many attacks, against each other and from outside, so many deaths, tragedies, calamities, heartbreaks, Indians remain who they are – intrinsically humane, happy and hearty, coming out from each crushing blow thinking this too shall pass.

Theatre and Me??!!?- By Abhishek Iyengar June 29, 2009

(This Article was first written in 2007 during the first anniversary of then WeMove and now WeMove foundation for Performing Arts(R) the article is actually the story behind formation of Bangalore’s successful theatre group WeMove)

It was yet another day, after I finished watching the never ending, boring, conceptualizing, tension inducing and yet interesting Kannada serial “MUKTHA”.

I quickly went to my 117 year old looking typewriter like laptop and switched on power button. It took ages before I could see the first signs of windows on my screen. As a normal balanced homo sapien I logged into my internet and then into some wonderful thing called “ORKUT”. It was like a jogger’s park and the only hope there was to get into the scraps of some of the good looking women, “Ya I meant women here! I never checked their status”

Amidst this huge treasure hunt! Huh! I rarely went into some useless communities where the creator or the owner of that community thought that he was ruling the entire country

“As I scrolled my scraps, I saw an interesting challenging young guy who was sitting on the edge of old crumbling rock thinking as if the entire country was on his hair filled head”

P.S:- I was just describing his picture put in orkut

He had written something about a short film and to be shot by people and had requested some co-operation and co-ordination, I told “crap and giggled” but some how my idiotic brain told me to call that guy, but the ‘sense of fear creeped in me’ and all that I did was to give my number and asked the crazy looking guy to call me” as usual I went into a deep slumber dreaming about my, Now that is censored……………………

The next day night again after a day of tiring muktha I got a call and as I decently answered the call, I was astonished! And the crazy guy actually called me,

Yes! “the same guy who was sitting on ‘on the rocks’, I thought he was in the mood of ‘on the rocks’.

Hi! I am Rajiv loharukha, he told with a steady voice.

Hi! Rajiv abhishek iyengar here, “I checked your scraps, thank you for calling” I dint understand as to how, suddenly I was talking so formally and ethically.

“Ya abhishek, abhishek I heard that you are a writer”, he questioned me

Yes! “I have written few books”, I told in a semi awareness state of trying to gauze the situation.

“Can I write for your short film, I asked suddenly”, It sounded crazy, “I had not written anything like screen play before”, well you see that’s how people speak when they start watching “MUKTHA” so much.

“Well, hmmmm! We have writers who can write for us”, then my idiotic inner sense, a villain by nature started pestering me asking “why the hell he called you when he has writers??!!” before that actually transformed into my sound waves, rajiv told” we are meeting this Saturday at BARISTA, can you meet us?”

“Huh! Barista, the first thing that comes to my mind is the right side of the menu card”, but my idiotic brain interrupted saying “Boss! for God sake you have started earning now.

I told OK! Done tomorrow at 11 A.M barista see you there.

As the moon did his duty, sharing his light I kept on thinking about the steady voice of Rajiv loharukha and his passionate nature towards short movie, I thought a big producer has called me.

Well it was the time of sun to do his duty and so as to me, I got up early for the first time got ready and zoomed my way towards not so liking BARISTA.

It was Saturday morning and I was lucky enough to get that ‘15 cms’ space to push my vehicle. I was tensed seeing the beautiful, strong brown colored building where barista took its shelter.

“let me run way from this place”, told my inner sense, “shut up! Get along get forward told my brain” I was confused “what to do?”

With out any choice I called Rajiv after reaching the entrance of barista

“Hi! Huh! Hmmm Rajiv abhishek here where are you?” I am here standing in front of “a awesome girl”, I though of telling but changed at the last moment to “chain gate”

“Ya I will be there in a second” he rose up and waved hands as if he was seeing off a TITANIC ship to Chicago, soon he showed his gentle man nature by coming near me and guiding my way to their workstation like table.

As I neared the table I saw 2 people sitting, and soon rajiv took the part of getting through their names and occupation, “hey meet him, he is sanjay and he is ajay”,

I moved forward my hand with great difficulty to some what odd sitting sanjay and serious looking ajay.

“Hi!” I told

“Hello!” They answered

“Please take your seat”, I thought I should take the chair and get lost

“Well this is abhishek, he is also interested in our venture and he is a writer” now rajiv had done his homework in people management before this meeting at barista.

I smiled at them

They smiled at me back.

“What the hell guys speak out” my inner sense was killing me.

“The guy with red shirt, speak out why are you killing me with a knife of silence”

“The other serious looking guy with a rising French beard was staring at me continuously”

“Well, let me tell you the story that we have chosen” rajiv broke the silence, I would have given him an Oscar for that, “the other two silent guys looked on as rajiv explained me the whole story, I was almost asleep at the end of the narration and the only thing I did was to control snoring.

“What do you feel?”

“Huh! That was fast!” what the hell I can tell when I was dozing the entire narration session.

“Interesting”, my brain told this with out my knowledge, at last it helped me.

“All the three looked at me and then I realized that they were expecting me to talk”

I told “OK”, but I had one doubt “how the hell can you do anything out of it with 4 people?”

As, I told my brain is a big asshole and suddenly it uttered some thing which I had not heard in my life.

“Why can’t we do this or turn this entire thing into theatre?”

“Both the serious and the red shirt guy showed some interest, they smiled after a long time at me and told “good idea”, “crap” I thought, “guys talk” my inner sense screamed at them.

“Theatre means sanjay can look after” Rajiv told pointing the finger to still awkward sitting red shirt guy.

I exclaimed “I see!”

The serious Frenchy guy was still sitting idle like a rock or I can say stiff….

THE BANDWAGON- By Gautam Vasuki June 27, 2009

When was the last time you relived your dreams? When was the last time you wanted to do something really passionately? When was the last time you spent some time for yourself? “Life is an unanswered question “

Right from the time you are born, knowingly or unknowingly you are dragged into the rat race, uff! The race to achieve success, the race to make money; you are actually programmed to take up a carrier that pays you a lot and satisfies your immeasurable needs and what else can be better than taking up a medical or a engineering seat? You struggle for 4 to 5 years and bingo! Here you go the next generation of minting machines is ready.

Is this what you wanted? “Society is playing a bad game” and we are all the controlled pawns of this society. Doing any another course is a big taboo; you will be considered as some dud and will be an outcast to the society. So like it or not you are drawn into the Engineering world and a step away from leaving all your dreams behind and getting equipped to join the Software world, like it or not .

Why has everyone become so stereotyped!! When will the time come when you actually make time for yourself and live up to your dreams and do what you are really interested in? Why do you have to follow the trend and become one in a million doing the same thing? Don’t you think it is better chasing your dreams, fulfilling and enjoying what you do rather than getting stuck in something that’s not very dear to you? Don’t you think you are cheating yourself big time. Why don’t you have that passion and zeal to overcome the difficulties to see your dreams come true? What is it that halts you half way through from getting there?

Decades pass by since your childhood; all that remains are shattered dreams, a sickening feeling of not doing what you believed in and an even dreadful constant fear of failure. In the meantime, there has been some progress though in your life – a no-frills tag of a SOFTWARE ENGINEER in the so-called Silicon Valley of India.

Where have all those dreams vanished? Did you suffer from a bout of amnesia? Did you go through a life changing event that altered your thinking – Not one that you can remember probably? Alas, a deep sigh of despair is all that you can muster. Who is the real culprit, the state, the modern Indian family or the individual himself? Sadly, the answer is much deeper than a simple affirmation.

The state is traditionally seen as a force that nurtures the youth who are the future of the country. Six out of every ten educated youth have dived into this abyss called the software industry. A mere 15% of the rest actually succeed in gaining the status and respect of the society and doing what they always thought of, or were interested in. Unknowingly or knowingly, the state is biased towards this particular industry, encouraging the youth to dive into this deep bottomless well, as this is the easy way to increase its treasury by a few billion dollars and give itself a shot at becoming an economic force to reckon with. However, in doing so, the state oversees the risk it is exposing itself to by making the economy solely dependent on industry of one kind. This might be in the form of a terror attack on the concerned industry or a market crash in a country on which this industry depends. Either ways, the end result is grave.

The great Indian family, which has for long been the backbone of an individual’s success, has for once thrown a spanner into the cycle of that same individual’s dreams, his world of imagination. The modern Indian family tends to gauge the success of an individual by estimating the bank-balance that an individual possesses and not by his talent. Only someone who earns a fortune is seen as someone worthy of respect, worthy of status. This sad state of affairs is further aggravated by the break-neck competition that persists in the society. The individual is torn between his dreams and the demands and expectations of the society and sadly chooses the latter over the former.

Confused and disturbed, the individual finally concedes defeat to apparent pragmatism which is supposed to be an integral part of the society. He succumbs without a fight to the tall order of expectations that are heaped on his young shoulders. The immense pressure from peers and fear of failure drives the individual to dive into this abyss called the Silicon Valley. He watches his dreams being flushed out by the so – called well-wishers. He has no choice but to accept defeat and become a puppet in the hands of the forces from above.

Somebody has to take an initiative to root out this problem, anyone for that matter. Or we risk losing the diversity that has long been a characteristic of our society. A great responsibility lies on the parents of the modern age to think above status or money and help their young ones realize their dreams.  Perhaps the greatest responsibility lies on our own shoulders, the youth of this country, to salvage our dreams from the clutches of pessimist forces in the state and the society. It is also the need of the hour for the government to join hands with individuals who have a vision diversified across various fields so that we do not loose out on any budding talent or hamper his/her dreams. It is only then that we can move into the world and be a reckoning force in a diverse field and win accolades and shower the country with laurels and praise. Cutting someone’s dream and not giving him an opportunity is a crime, a crime that will hamper the growth of the individual and the country on the whole. This is perhaps our last chance to rescue the future of this country before we lose our diversity to a monotonous maze to a particular profession or industry. Someone has to take the leap to kick out this bias. It cannot be a ‘you’ or a ‘me’, it has to be a united ‘US’

Moon Walk no more?- By A Hardcore MJ fan- Abhishek Iyengar June 26, 2009

I was just 9 years old when I ran to the ‘Natarajan’s’ shop by barging through the Brobdingnagian queue holding 2 black colored 10 rupee notes; “Can I have one please?” I begged him and all that the shopkeeper did was to shoo me away. I was trying to buy a latest released Micheal jackson cassette which almost costed 600 rupees then. All I did was to eagerly wait for those saturday’s, Doordarshan played some of hit hollywood numbers on saturday evening and the show without a MJ number was impossible, It was later when we bought our own mini tape-recorder which i utilized fully to record all MJ songs. I remember my brother sitting under the never yielding ‘papaya’ tree and reading all the MJ news form all the available few magazines then. huh! it later took me 12 long years to buy the fully loaded Micheal Jackson DVD collection without even seeing the price tag!

Hmm! it was not only me but millions of people like me who craved to hear that ‘One Beat’ of MJ, for people like me who were totally nescient about the Music world till date! huh! it was only MJ, from masons to high-society people MJ touched every one’s life. All that i had heard from the world of pop was Micheal’s tapping numbers which probably inspired millions of us to dance, to sing and probably to enjoy western music in the late 80’s or early 90’s. Micheal jackson was a man made of music, as Larry king put in his authentic style ‘There can never be any one other than Micheal”

Who can forget the stylish and the most innovative ‘Moon- Walk’ how many of us would have tried to imitate this one move to impress our female class-mates? The influence of Mj was so much that for many years i thought that all the policemen wear white gloves only to follow MJ’s style. thousand’s came Millions left but nobody could not match the immortal Micheal. He was the first Hero, first pop king, first crush (of any girl), first idol, first dancer (by all means! right!) first poster on our house walls and what not?

“Beat it.. Beat it.. Beat it..” Ah! probably the only song till date we all hear only to beat the feeling of depletion in us, growing up in a environment where western music was far audible when compared to our own SPB, PBS or even S Janaki; here came a man who broke in the household of any average Indian household only through his charismatic style and music.

The world waited for his return, As put by his celebrated counterpart and a good friend “Madonna”, “Micheal has to come out of the shell!” MJ had announced his return journey, london was waiting and so was he! as he rightly put in his last speech before he announced his last concert

“THIS IS IT………”

Probably he meant what he said then and left no one to understand it, if only the almighty had given him one last chance…..

From the entire team of Thoughtsunparalleled and WeMove Foundation, we wish his soul to ‘Rest in Peace’

Software Engineers Eh!!- By Abhishek Iyengar June 25, 2009

Software Engineers eh!! Well as I was taking my regular stroll, the ever troublesome neighbor called on me, he looked tensed, his glasses was slewing from his nose as he looked in complete grief, i rushed to his house to ask “what happened?” “Ah! my monitor and UPS are not working..” “I am not able to talk to my daughter in US, you got to repair it…” before i could really digest the very fact that he had called on me to check his monitor and UPS, he handed over me a pair of ‘Screwdriver’ and a ‘cutting-plier’, “here you go! is that enough?” he continued to look at me with a ray of hope, “But! Why me?” i raised my voice with out bothering to notice his ‘ray of Hope’ , “oh! come On! stop acting, I know you can do it, after all you are good software engineer” he
added, before I could really explain him, to my shocking disbelief I was there
trying to repairing his Monitor, don’t even try to imagine the result of that repair.

Well the point is the myth around us! ‘ Software Engineers are not the people who can repair a monitor or an UPS’

And if by chance we manage to repair, then it only due to all the good karma’s we have done in our past!

It is not over yet! the other day an old lady grinned at my face after she saw my tag, “Software Engineer?” she exclaimed, with no other option I said “yes”, before i could even ask her the reason for questioning my profession in the middle of the road she dragged me into her house, made me sit in front of her age old 1000 BC system and uttered “The screen is blank from past 2 days….” please do something, before I could even try to tell something, she pulled a chair sat right next to me and said “teach me! how to remove this blank screen..” all that occurred to my mind was to tell “throw your system huh!” with no option and literally at a knife point i started looking into the system to find her OS being crashed. “Your Windows is crashed mam! got to reload it” I answered with a sigh of relief on my face, “grrr! can’t you make one crash proof? kaam-chors, why do you get paid so much? you lazy buggers! do you sleep in office? What to do now? tell me” she shouted at me to my total dis-belief, I tried to pacify myself and uttered with a meek, low voice “We don’t do this…”, “What?” she hollered, “What to do now, tell me ..” she questioned authoritatively, loosing my cool I shouted sarcastically “Ah! contact Bill GATES..” thinking that the answer will keep her down but in-came a return voice which was like a Tsunami “huh! grr! see you don’t know anything, why the hell I need to contact’ Gates’ to repair my Windows..” ah! before she could shoot me, I escaped jumping her compound and swore never to enter that road again, yet again ‘Software Engineers eh!”

FYI:- We software Engineers are not responsible for any Window’s or any Operating system crash, we all work in different fields you cannot shoot us because there was a bug in the operating system, understand ‘To Err! is Human’ and don’t even think of our pay! come on! we know it

SE’s are blamed for everything, “Ah! you Software engineers, it is because of you guys the economy is hurt..” how many times have we heard that? A vegetable vendor accused me for the decreasing economy, he said in a voice that was almost killing me “If only you people had worked hard without sitting at one place in front of that idiotic thing and developing belly’s” he held me responsible for the carrot’s rate being increased in the ‘Yashwanthpur Vegetable Mart’

Software Engineers are not responsible for the increasing vegetable rates in Yashwanthpur vegetable Mart, also please note that we do work and sitting in front of the idiotic thing is our work! and please don’t even start off on the recession, it is not a epidemic that was transmitted by us, we are also infected with it.

If this was not enough, there was yet another shocker when I was congratulated for “Hey maga! congrats you bought Satyam..”, “Ya right! thank you uncle, I had all the money to buy Sathyam but unfortunately my bank loan to buy a 10*10 site in Bangalore has been rejected..” Well that’s the way to go!

In the interest of all Software Engineers, Spare us! we are regular homo sapiens who work 8 hours to feed our families, we are regular people who intend to fight with auto drivers for charging more, we are regular people who still find a chance to eat at a ‘Dharshini’ than a ‘Star Hotel’ we are regular people who try to avail maximum discounts at any shopping mall,

If your doctor can specialize in ‘Right-ventricular-middle-articular-left- canal-Pediatric-heart” then even we can specialize in various things like ‘Data-Warehouse’, ‘Networks’, ‘Telecom’, ‘ AI’, ‘Web technology’ et al..We dont know everything in that idiotic box and the raising technology

alas! if only the people had understood us better!