Ajore Falls
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July 6, 2011
June 29, 2011
Wildebeest
Serenely
The golden grass they munch
Not knowing who will be
The Lion King’s next lunch.
- Vivek Thaokar (June 2011)
June 24, 2011
Snailty
Pic courtesy, google search.
My life so stagnant and still
I watch with fascination
And envy…………….
A snail in motion
- Vivek Thaokar (June 2011)
June 23, 2011
January 2, 2011
2010 in review
The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:
The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.
Crunchy numbers
A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 1,700 times in 2010. That’s about 4 full 747s.
In 2010, there were 19 new posts, not bad for the first year! There were 28 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 11mb. That’s about 2 pictures per month.
The busiest day of the year was May 20th with 53 views. The most popular post that day was Surfing Under Influence.
Where did they come from?
The top referring sites in 2010 were shailsnest.com, facebook.com, indimag.com, weblognow.co.cc, and blog.blogadda.com.
Some visitors came searching, mostly for niggardly, “me on” “s shoulders”, gandhari, what is the wives tale regarding butterflies, and niggardly person.
Attractions in 2010
These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.
1
Surfing Under Influence May 2010
19 comments and 1 Like on WordPress.com,
2
Gandhari August 2010
20 comments and 2 Likes on WordPress.com
3
Coco August 2010
13 comments
4
Rahul April 2010
7 comments
5
Okulli Bullae May 2010
4 comments and 1 Like on WordPress.com,
November 30, 2010
My Most Cherished Book
Picture courtesy Wiki
Over the fifty-two or is it fifty-three years of my existence I have been a rolling stone that gathered no moss, but I certainly have gathered a lot of books. Being born in a not so well to do family I did not have the luxury of owning books as a child, but was introduced to their wonders by my mother, an avid reader herself and a member of the hallowed Albert Edward library in Pune. From the age of nine I was introduced to fairy tales from various countries, then Enid Blyton, followed by Alistair Mclean and then the much maligned but secretly coveted by all, Harold Robbins. The first book I bought from my savings was ‘Where Eagles Dare’ by Alistair Mclean and after that I have bought so many that finally I had to donate books to a local library. Still I have kept some that I cannot give away and those range from Mills and Boon (I told my sisters I read those to learn the workings of the female mind….how naive one can be eh?) to ‘Hundred Years of Solitude’ (Have actually read it and it’s not there just to impress visitors) But the most cherished book that has been on my shelf longer than most is ‘The Scarlet Pimpernel’ by Baroness Orczy. It has been there since 1974, when I was a mere school boy.
Strangely, for someone who wanted to be an Engineer all his life, I loved history more than any subject. The setting of this book was perfect for my taste. Also it was a book where the woman’s character was given equal if not more importance. In fact the whole story is that of the conflict in her mind about the apparent loss of love of a doting husband. Maybe it was so because the author was a woman. Having read about the French Revolution in the school history books my knowledge of it was much sanitized. I thought of it as an idealistic uprising of the peasants against an unjust feudal system. Then I came across this book and I got to see the other face of the Revolution. Along with Charles Dickens’ ‘The Tale of Two Cities’, it taught me that there are always many facets to history and one must know most of them to have a balanced view. It also appealed to the romantic in me. The struggle between love and pride, where love finally wins. Last but not the least it was the character of Sir Percy Blakeney that appealed to me the most. The indolent dandy he portrayed to hide a sharp and brave brain fascinated me and I tried to model myself on those lines, so much so that even now I think the real me is hidden behind a mask. Of course I have not had the pleasure of saving people from the guillotine and this attitude did not help me in any way in my romantic adventures (Do I hear you say that it serves me right for trying to learn about women from M&B romances?)
The matter is giving away books is very painful. Most of my books I have donated to a library and few of them have taken by friends never to be returned. My favorite P.G. Wodehouse now adorns the shelf of a very dear friend Shaila so I won’t be giving this book to her. Pushkin and Chekov will have to go to the library. The Kamasutra has already been gifted to my son. Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s books will remain as memorabilia on my shelf, but ‘The Scarlet Pimpernel’ will go with me on my final journey. Maybe I will meet the Baroness there (assuming I will go to Heaven) and she will sign it for me.
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November 23, 2010
What men want
Men want women and more women but not the responsibilities and duties that go along with those desires.
Go to www.myntra.com and check out t shirts for men! Also visit the
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August 29, 2010
Coco
It was a typical Monday morning at the office and I was trying my best to keep cool when the Secretary informed me I had a call from India.
‘Head office’ I thought and gingerly said “Hello”
“Hi dad;” it was my daughter Arti.
There was a pause after which she continued, “Dad I am adding a new member to our family”
My heart literally jumped out of my chest. There was a deafening silence for something like ages and my mind was whirling. Strangely a dialogue from a parody of Hindi movies that I had written in my college days rang through my ears, ‘Beti ye tumne kya kiya …apni khandaan ki izzat mitti mein mila diya.’ (Daughter, what have you done… you have disgraced the family name)
Imagine a twenty year old, fiercely independent girl living alone just because she does not want parental interference and you can understand my thought process. Not that I am a distrustful father, but I am no fool either and my advice to my kids has always been ‘Lead your own life but do it safely.’
I was trying to find all sorts of options to what she meant and finally asked her in as calm a voice as I could muster, “And what does that mean?”
There was an explosion of laughter at the other end.
“Dad, Come on! I am adopting a puppy” More laughter.
My God! What a weird sense of humor. But then some of you who know me will understand where that comes from. I must say I was the most relieved person at that moment. I mean, I don’t mind being a grandfather, but I would like the baby to have a set of regular parents first.
“Wow, Puppy!” I cried delightedly.
“So, you don’t mind Dad?”
“Of course I don’t. What breed are you adopting?”
“Cocker Spaniel”
“Hmm, that is a costly breed”
“That’s why I am calling you Dad”
“How clever.”
“Well Dad, you will have to find a good name for my puppy”
“How about naming it after your ex boy friend?” I interjected, but she had signed off by then.
When I was a kid it was easy to name a dog. If male we called him “Tommy” and if female it was either ‘Daisy’ or ‘Lucy’. But times have changed and children want better and more imaginative names. So, I went online and looked for a link given by a friend. I learnt there that Sammy is the most common name for dogs, followed by Max. Next day I got a call telling me that the puppy was home. I even got to hear him yelping on the phone. Our whole family which consists of four people living in four different places had come together online for an exciting one hour and discussed all about dog names, dog food…habits. Finally Arti’s friend suggested a name she liked, ‘Coco.’ So now Coco is the latest and cutest member of our crazy family. Here is a picture of him. Don’t they look cute together?
August 25, 2010
August 18, 2010
Gandhari
Darling, The Doctor said you will never see again. . It was so shattering. For whom shall I look beautiful now? The eyes that glowed while looking at me shall never gleam. No longer will I bask in their warmth.
I wanted to be Gandhari. I went out with bandaged eyes to “see” how and what it is to be blind. Everything was so dark and gloomy. But then hasn’t some one said that eyes deceive you the most? Who needs them to ‘feel’ and know the reality of this world? I had never gotten closer to this branch I held in my hands. My eyes always told me what they saw about it. I was always distant. Today I went really close to it. Felt it. Smelt it. It was so wonderful. It was as if the branch had embraced me, accepted me. It touched, not just my skin but my heart, in fact my whole being. You know what; I had never realized our neighbor Sunita had such a lovely laugh. It was like listening to a musical instrument playing delicate notes. I could tell you about so many things my ‘all seeing’ eyes had blinded me about.
But why am I writing you all this when you couldn’t read it, and your ‘Gandhari’ wouldn’t? Darling, everything was all so dark and gloomy, so I went out again to touch the rose.
It felt wonderful and smelt wonderful, but it was sad too.
I asked it, “Why are you sad?”
It said “You haven’t said ‘Cool… what a lovely pink”
Yes darling then I realized we would not be able to savor the ‘colors’ of life. I will be your lost fifth sense and I will be your ‘Neha’ from now on and not your ‘Gandhari’.
I am participating in the WeBlog’s Sleepy Sunday contest! You may read other participating posts HERE
Rapists
Every day I open the news paper and see reports of rapes or gang rapes splashed across the front page. Then as I scroll down to the comments section I am stupefied by the stupidity that goes on by the name of debate. There is a broad spectrum of culprits that are responsible for the rape, starting from A for America to Z for TV with only one notable exception, R for the rapist himself. I am sure some Psychologists may be blaming the rape on the fact that during his childhood the rapist was deprived of his mother’s milk or the act of sucking. However the excuse that takes the cake is the one thrown by the majority that the skimpy clothes worn by females provoke men to rape. They tend to forget that in rape cases even the law (which most of the time justifies comparison with an ass) puts the onus on the accused to prove his innocence. All extraneous factors should be used in determining the punishment and not in the establishment of guilt.
All this leads me to believe that the Indian male is not mature enough to handle the sensuality of the fairer sex. If a girl smiles at us we think she is in love with us. If she talks freely we think she is going to bed with us. How pathetic. Of course there is a small minority that opposes all this but even this minority blames social conditions more than the culprit. Some of the reasons put up are the upbringing that encourages the view on women as objects of desire and also social conditioning. While in some cases this might be applicable, in a majority of cases it is the fact that the perpetrator is plain evil. The average Indian male, because of the non interaction with females outside his family circle, views them as
What is the solution? There has to be a change in attitude. How do we bring about the change? Education is one of the obvious answers. A philosopher once said, “We are all born ignorant not stupid. Education makes us stupid.” There is no doubt he had in mind the kind of education that is imparted in India.
The fundamental thought to be ingrained is that women are equal to men. They might be different in physical attributes but are in no way inferior. There are no black and white distinctions such as a Devi and a slut but there are a whole lot of characteristics in between.
Of course, all this will only reduce the number of atrocities on women. These cannot be entirely eliminated because there are evil personae like Duryodhana from the Mahabharata who are evil just for the sake of being evil.
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