SILENCE

Who said, “If Speech is Silver, Silence is Golden”, ??? - False it is.

For once, Tin happened to experience a whole new situation in his life, one like smelling the odour coming out of a sugar factory.

This was Tin – a jolly good fellow in every walk of life. He believed in keeping the atmosphere pleasant. Enjoying every moment being his passion for life, he would make new friends pretty quickly.

Now, he was a young guy, just out of college, and searching for a job. It was his interview day. He had applied in a large shipping agency and they needed lots of workers to join the crew. While waiting for his turn to come, unlike the other applicants who were getting anxious every now and then, this lad stayed cool. He was observing things around and trying to enjoy the ongoing skit, where helpers assisted the applicants and the interviewers. They were running around like as-if settling things out of a big mess. One such helper Avi was guiding Tin and a few others. Anxious interviewees made the atmosphere cold. Silence filled the air for most of the time and occasionally a few scared footsteps were heard. It seemed like a dungeon wherein a serial killer was waiting to do his job as victims approached him one by one. Tin broke the silence, made friends with Avi.

“Is this all we need to take in?”

“Yes, they won’t bother much.”

“How is it inside the dungeon?”

“There are two. One in this room and another in that..”

Just then, a.. tired of life kind-off.. old man walked out and in through one of those dungeons. Poor fellow was given the job of the serial killer for that day.

“How is this taskmaster?”

“He is crack”.. (Giggles surround).. “very slow and Strict too.”

“And I am going to be killed by him, right??”

“Yes”.. “The other one is good. He is recruiting many.”

“Then send me there..”

Now, Avi seemed to be dog tired, still kept a smile on his face constantly, and that attracted Tin. Avi told Tin, it was a hard life in this agency. But optimistic Tin showed extra excitement like an ever-ready battery. Avi smiled. Probably, he remembered his interview day. He sent Tin in the better dungeon and Tin was happy. Tin got the job easily and was heartily glad, for now he had something to do.

He was to be boarded on a ship - Riana. But this also meant that he had to be away from home for months. Anyways, he had to do it. Excitedly, he boarded the ship at the earliest he could. There he met many others, different crew members doing different jobs in different departments. He befriended most of them.

Riana was beautiful. A small cruise ship when compared to the other ships of the agency, but very big one for Tin. It had three decks. The top was the open deck, with a golf court, a garden lawn with snacks and drinks. Cool blue waters shone on all sides during the day, and at night created a deeply chilled atmosphere. The middle deck had food and lodging facilities for all. The bottom deck included games, entertainment theaters, and party rooms. An alluring waterfall ran down from the top to the bottom deck, behind the stairway. Another tantalizing thing was a painting in one of the corridors.

“Wow!”, exclaimed Tin to his fellow worker, whose name was Rev. They were passing that way, towards the food-house. They both were managers of that food-house.

“That painting was got from an antique store.”, Rev said, “Beautiful, isn’t it? It will soon be shifted into our food-house. It would make a nice show piece on wall opposite the cashier”.

“Oh! Is it?”

Nod.

Now that painting of an unknown author was a special one. Rev had to take it safely somewhere, but this he hadn’t told Tin. He somehow managed to put it under Tin’s responsibility. Tin saw to it well and they often admired it for hours. One fine afternoon, when the ship landed on the shore, the police came in for a casual checkup. They found stolen gold inside the frame. Since it was under Tin’s responsibility, he was caught and put in jail.. actually Trapped..!! And jail is never a good place to be in.

Tin had nothing to say but that he was innocent. He preferred to be quiet, as no one would accept his plea. He was jailed for 2 years.

Now there were different facilities available in jail, for the prisoners -Things to do, to learn, that could earn them a living once they got out. Tin found new life in there. But how good was it? Once he got out, he could again apply to join the ship, but would they take him? And even if he got that job, would he be accepted by his fellowmen? Would he make friends the same way as before? Questions in his mind wouldn’t end. But one thing needs to be answered..

Was his new life worth?.. worth his silence?

for that oh so spl Autograph book..

Hello again.. :) [I’m back.. took some time, as I couldn't hang on to a single topic, and also lacked patience.
BigB has just started blogging, and look at the comments he’s got.. and look at us..!!! hehe, I’m just expressing my thoughts on what I’ve noticed. No envy.]

Ok, so here's what I’ve done while I was idle on this.. my blog.
Wrote a quote-turned-into-poem for the first page of her autograph book..

" Dear Teacher/Friend,

Write down a line,
In this book of mine,
For it will shine
Always, in future time.

You are my gift,
Special and dear,
The words you write for me,
I will always keep near.

Your memories,
I will always treasure.
And whenever I read them,
Draw immense pleasure.

So, what are you thinking dear,
Just take the pen and start scribbling here.. :) "

Greenday – I walk alone – my way..

I walk this dirty road
The only one that I got-to walk along
Knowing where it goes
Is just the reason for me to sing this song
I walk alone, I walk alone
I walk alone, Alone ya
The crowd is moving all around me
My shadow’s lurking well behind me
The sunshine makes my eyes go, in and small now
Now as I walk alone.. ta tada tada tada..taada..

They spray their mouths in air
’n decorate the pathway all along
Why it’s me again
I wonder, as I walk along
I walk alone, I walk alone
I walk alone, Alone ya
The smoker’s walking right in front ’o me
He’s looking like a moving chimney
As his cigarette is gives him company
Now slowly I take a turn.. ta tada tada tada..taada..

I look up all around
At everything that my vision shows me now
Hangings everywhere
But the kids play, is what I’d love to share
I walk alone, I walk alone
I walk alone, Alone ya
A new lane I see so curiously
I wonder where about it goes now
The building seems to come a ’lil closer
So here my dest. I found.. ta tada tada tada..taada..
ta tada tada tada!

:)

Fantasy:

Fantasy = daydream, fancy, hope, vision, flight of the imagination, castle in the sky.

I always had a fancy thought, as a kid of std. four or so, of seeing everyone traveling only on cycles, and the reason was it’s eco-friendly nature.. I used to think proudly. So then.. there would be nothing like rich or poor. Only one’s ability would decide where one would reach.. hehe!!

On thinking about our graduation day, I always got the vision of all of us -friends- wearing the black cap and holding a white paper roll in the hand.. all standing on the steps for a class photo. And then.. we take off the cap and flung it in the air together.. wow! it’d look so nice.. Feel even better - a sense of achievement. My friend even told me that such a thing doesn’t happen in our college.. but the word graduation still brings to me the same vision. Got lots of would-have’s (things I’d do) with that photo :)

A little sweet, a little sour, a little close, not too far.. all I need is to be free..

Sirsi Talk (Season -2)

[Written on public demand ;)... or call it the panch-request(read as: punch-request)... after reading Season-1]

We again went on a trip to Sirsi this holiday season. This time.. with the complete hum-panch group, as compared to the trio of season-1. While going, we were a little impatient to finish-up with the journey. The bus was noisy. This time.. the plane, on the way to Hubli, had already taken off, but, it was moving pretty slowly, to our surprise. And the nine Bahubali statues still lie there, but with little maintenance. Also,every town now, I guess, has this new fashion of possessing a new, meagerly-used bus stand along with the rushy-pushy old one.

This time our stay was divided. One night in this house, and another night in the other. What to do.. two families, two homes, two nights, requests/demands from both sides, and our convenience! :D
Our days were on roaming - visiting, repeating some journeys along with a few new ones, recalling..was like revising memories of season-1.., still making it a new experience as we panchams were together. We enjoyed with everyone, be it at home, out, dining table, bus, bed or bathroom! :P

These days were like.. made to fulfill our wishes.. wow! Felt so good, and satisfied as we saw them happening one by one. The visit to the rocky waters, and the amazing field-like view of the flowers in the nursery.. were among those special wishes. This time we had been to the Krushi Mela, organized by ‘some’ organization, in favour of the local farmers. They had a beautiful show set up for everyone to enjoy. The flower nursery was also a part of this exhibition. In the centre of the ground was a live musical, dance, comic show going on. This was surrounded by stalls.. of all kinds. I’ll talk about my favourite few.. The silkworm stall displayed the entire life cycle and the method of silk production with real keedas(silkworms). It seems that a single worm produces almost 1000 meters long silk thread. Rich keedas, aren’t they? Other wonderful things were the tents.. skillfully decorated, one with paddy, another with jackfruits, another with coconuts.. of all types.. and another with areca-nuts... That was one amazing style we saw for the first time. Also, the trees there were beautifully lit with lampshades, side-lamps and other small bulbs. It gave a really pleasing sight in presence of the single-lingual crowd that I don’t like. Thus distracting me and giving a good feeling of having attended the display. (Btw: crowd is what I don’t like and single-lingual speech is what I don’t hate;) They also had handicrafts made of cane, jute and wood. Another interesting thing was.. the natural plate making factory – a bull tied to a machine took rounds continuously while the machine produced dry, leafy, strong-enough food-plates. Wonder how the bull didn’t seem to feel dizzy! :-?

The next day.. we had the most wanted thing to do.. trip to Yana :)
Hired a vehicle and fled off to the rocks, all excited! It was the ghat section. But no dizzy-bizzy feeling.. all were into the singing mood, enjoying the ride and the ghaty scenary. To our surprise, uncle was taking a video; and we did not know it was our’s until we saw it at home later that night.. mast video bana hai, comedy knows no bounds in there! :D
Ok!! so.. after completing the long journey.. we began our trek towards the yana rocks. The walk was good.. enjoyable, amidst thick trees and a narrow pathway. Soon we heard the sound of water flowing.. though we saw it only a few times, it generated a feeling of ‘wow!’ from within. After the walk, there were big, uncomfortable steps to climb. But the sight of the huge, cracky-looking rocks and the exitement to reach them finally, was enough to get us moving. It seems that the continuously flowing water has made a Shiv-linga.. on the rock, and so they have made a temple over there. And that was the reason for us to go over.. round the temple, on rocky, amazingly beautiful pathways.. bare-footed. Later we got nicely roasted on foot, because this place is a manganese storehouse/ore. So imagine how hot the mud would be. Ah! We heard lots of screams and shouts. We climbed everywhere possible, and relaxed in the marvelous scenery. Photo sessions were continuously going on. Unmentionable Comics happened at the tap-waters. We were told that there are 61 such rocks in the entire forest area, but we saw only two -huge ones.

And then, when we did not want to get out of there.. hunger was the key.. we went to Honnavar, got our stomachs over-full and left to see the Sunset at Murudeshwar.. another wish from season-1 fulfilled here. No jatra this time.. I was heartily glad :) wow! but the beach was full:( ~~lovely waves though :)
And as it was just a few minutes to sunset.. we saw masses of people.. don’t really know if they were young, old or kiddos.. all being drawn towards the Sunset Point. It was indeed a worth watch, with all the effort rewarded instantly. (Not like our stupid exams, with delayed unsatisfied results). The Sun must be feeling so precious, so much loved, that so many people flock to see him, time and again.. Everyday.. at different places. Lucky he.. enjoy!!.. both he and we, the Showman and the Audience :D

Then next day we came back home.. that’s it. But the journey was funnily enjoyable. Playing background vocal music for the fellow travelers, we sure made their journey memorable, but the happier ones were we. One fellow was getting a little restless.. felt like giving him one box on his face.. but he behaved himself well in advance. At lunch time.. we irritated the conductor.. went to buy biscuits and he had to wait for 1 full minute extra. There was no lunch, but we played food-antakshiri.. this is one nice game, playable anywhere, anytime, with anyone. We reached one-n-half hour early and that was indeed a very pleasing end of the journey :)

Private message

I was just going through my Inbox, checking mails, as usual. Read a few, forwarded some, deleted some, and ignored some others. Checked out if anyone was online but found none. Needed to get my hands on something interesting but nothing seemed to click. An all time boring song was playing in winamp. Was just bored of all this. ENUF!!! I said. And just before I logged out, mama was here, next to me. She was curiously looking at the screen, trying to read something sensible...and probably find answers to her own questions...like, what makes me sit in front of the pc for so long. She knows that these contain jokes, pics etc. She knows about chat too. But is still curious to find something more...obviously, every mother would.

Just then, before I notice, a mail...(so-and-so)has sent you a private message dropped right at the top my Inbox.

There it was, on top, like the latest headline of the day, clearly noticeable.

God!!! I thought, as I looked at the screen...shocked!!!

Never had I seen a mail with such a title.

Motionless, I was, for a while...probably wondering how, why and what this individual contained.

It was playing its solo instrumental on my mind...BANG! BANG! BANG!

I tried to scroll the page up n down, but nothing seemed to work.

She read it out for me, loud and clear, with deepened curiosity.

Woo! I had to open it.

Both of us were looking at the screen. Even the screen must have wondered what was on it!

Ah! To my relief, it just had a link...an invitation to join another virtual community.

God! Who gives such weird titles to such mails!!!

Forgive them lord for they do not know what they do, enlighten them with some basic knowledge (like how to give appropriate titles) and save us too as we become prey to mails like these.

:)

The lucky soul

Once upon a time in history,

Born in a holy city,

To a noble couple with hearts so sweet,

Was this princess, whom now you meet…

I actually don’t know what happened then,

May be I looked like the chick of a hen.

Coz my cousin used to pull my leg,

Down to the floor, from the bed.

A kid he was and very dear,

Whose birthday I didn’t miss, even in his first year.

We fought at times, but the victory was mine,

I am sorry I say, for those childish days.

With all love and care bestowed,

Only joy to me was showed,

And when a loud cry echoed the street,

Every heart with a soul would beat.

And I always got a treat

Of chocolates…very very sweet.

Which did rot my teeth...but they were really very sweet.

Then at school my friend I found,

And turned into a smile, my lazy frown.

There I learnt how to mingle,

And spread smiles to every single.

Always waited for vacations to come near,

More than that to meet my mate so dear.

To sing and dance and play all day,

And to share secrets, I must say!

She, then, had two little surprised eyes,

Now, has grown with grace and poise.

I was admired all these years,

And now it’s my turn to admire her :)

And in between a star was born,

Much more noble than the old.

It stuck on my face a smile so tight,

Which no power of the world could wipe.

I wish you luck and blessing so strong,

So that you may never go wrong,

And if ever, always grow strong.

Life indeed has silently,

Many a lessons to me taught..

Fixed in the permanent memory,

That need not say...forget me not!

Was kept away from films, but the TV was close..

Was left alone at times, but God was close.

Was kept away from all harm, intruders got close..

Was about to slip and fall, but got awakened...this lucky soul.

With that great resistance, a power developed;

This coy became bold.

And never again would allow this happen,

Made a firm decision..untold.

Thank you dear friend for always being here

With me, sailing through cloud and clear.

Always in me you will remain..

Please make this promise once again

:)

The Perfect Companion

It was a pleasant sight that dawn, when I was out in my gallery, to check out how the day looked like. I saw two little birds, kingfishers they were, with their bright blue wings and a shiny red beak, attracting my sight and possibly the other’s too. With a pale white body and two brown feet that went unnoticed, there they were, preparing a nest for their living.

I saw them once and couldn’t take my eyes off. The sight was unusual. I had never seen a bird actually making its nest, its home! It was indeed delightful to watch both of them alternately helping in carving out their house. They were making a hole in a broken mud-wall, digging out the extra unwanted stuff with the strong beak and the two quick feet.

Then, there came a time when both birds were tired and were still trying hard to complete the job. Finally, one of them couldn’t continue and stopped. Now, both of them were looking at each other and wondering what the other wanted to say. Or may be that I was wondering and the two little ones were actually conversing, in their own silent way!!! After a while, one of them again decided to continue and it did the job alone until the other joined, very soon. For a moment I wondered which one of them was the female bird. Surely, it must have been the hardworking one

The job was not that could be done in a day’s time. So, the next day I again went out, this time…to SEE if the birds were still there. And YES, they were, doing the job silently and dedicatedly.

Now, I thought, why were they building a NEW nest? May be that the old one was struck by a windfall, or was invaded by some other powerful bird, or the hot climate might have caused their migration, or that they felt the NEED for a brand new nest, just like that. Whatever the reason, they taught me one thing – that, LIFE MUST GO ON…with the same vigor and zeal as it had first begun.

Indeed, they were to each other, A Perfect Companion, I concluded!

:)

Sirsi Talk

Our trip to Sirsi began early that morning at about 8:30am. The journey was good, with our talks including topics about friends, reduced number of holidays, roads (remembered quite a bit of Civil Engg.), birds (peacocks) and Orkut too.

On the way we were astonished to see the air-plane move on its track...(along with us) and the Bahubali statues, close to Hubli. We also delivered a SIM-card on the way to a friend at Dharwad, which took some effort from the receiver missing us at the old bus-stand and then moving ahead to catch up at the new one. We did a bit of pet-pooja… munching some snacks. And then, singing throughout till the end of the journey was real ‘strain-buster’. So, we did not get very tired. With the two singers on my either side, I was indeed into the game complementing and supporting both of them. It was exciting.

We reached Sirsi in the afternoon at about 2:30pm. Lunch time :)

We had the typical ‘Sirsi food’ including sambar, tambli, hashi and appehuli daily. Early that evening we had been to see a few places within the town like Maarikamba Temple, Raghvendra Math and St. Anthony’s Church. The sunset there was awesome! We then had GM...t’was spicy n’ tasty... and sapota-shake and went back home.
The next morning we had the benne paper-dosa (the butter being optional), which was our morning break-fast almost everyday. Heading towards Sahastralinga, we travelled partly by tempo and partly by Rick. An uncle accompanied us there. Blessed by the Sharavati river it makes a nice water place for an enticing picnic. We seriously missed the other friends a lot. Took a few snaps...snaps se yaad aaya, I re-wound Pragati’s camera role. Oops! But then later told uncle and got it done well. Ah!

You know, the people there are so kind. Go to anybody's house and they'll serve you home-made banana chips. And every-one there has a fixed menu for the guest to choose from. It goes like this: “What would u like to have?
1) tea
2) coffee or
3) kashai (now, this new drink is ‘flavored milk’)”.

Coming back, later that afternoon we went to Banwasi. The Kadambas once ruled there. Hence there is this Madhukeshwara temple. The temple is built in the name of Lord Shiva with a honey coloured ‘Shiv-linga’ installed in the place of worship. It was built gradually over the centuries. There is a big chariot made of black rock which is taken in procession during the festival. A smart Nandi, about 10 feet tall, also, cut out of a rock, is seated in all its elegance in front of this temple looking at the Shiv-linga through it’s left eye, while looking at Goddess Parvati seated in the adjacent temple through it’s right. The pillars of the temple display images as should be seen though concave and convex lenses, partly, but both in the same curve of the pillar - A mark of great engineering work and architecture. We did Bharat-darshan too...because the Kadambas have collected statues as memoirs from all over India and installed in the surrounding area. The trees required for worship were planted in Pampa-vana, named after the great poet Pampa. The Varada river flowing though this place is a treat to the eyes and looks just like wallpaper on the PC.

The next day we got into an almost empty bus to Honnavar.
Singing along was so much fun as the only people alive, except the driver, were ‘we’!!! Others were simply waiting to reach their destination, I guess. There were lots of fruits being sold on the station like the local jumbo and some veggies. We stayed at Savitakka’s home (nivi’s aunt). The same day we visited the Karikanamma temple on the hill. The scenary there was wonderful. The view included the deciduous forests (on the mountains covering almost all the three sides visible), and the Arabian Sea at a distance giving a feast to the eyes. I seriously wished I had a handicam. Oh!!! for that. Then, getting into the cab again we moved ahead towards Idgunji, where residents told us that the Ganesh idol in the temple was installed by Narad-muni. Artistic handicrafts made of cane were being sold outside. We then headed towards the Murdeshwar. From quite a distance we could see the huge idol of Lord Shiva which is located near the temple. To our fate, it was the day of ‘jatra’ (festive day), which had dragged lots of devotees there and we had to walk enough though the crowd. This was just another reason for us to miss the sunset. These feelings were soon replaced by wonder and awe as we approached the Big Statue of Shiva. One of his arms is damaged, actually broken, due to lightening during the last rains. But there’s nothing to worry. It’s under construction:). There is a pillar made of real gold situated in front of the temple which is on one side of the statue, while on the other side, there are hotels. We saw an old couple seated outside in one of the balconies gazing at the majestic Shiva. The sunset point is supposed to be another scenic place.

The next day, we spent quite some time at home, enjoying auntie’s delicacies. Later that afternoon we drove to see the railway on the bridge. The picturesque river with small islands wasn’t getting out of our sight. We simply marveled at it. There is a road bridge also, of about 1km. At a short distance across the road bridge is the Kaserkod beach where we played and strolled-by for quite some time before moving on for a boat ride, on our way back home... Imagine 4 people seated on a single motor-bike. We surely were an amusement for the passers-by.

Next morn, there was a twist for all of us. We made an unexpected visit to Roopa’s house(@ Kumta) while going back to Sirsi. We sure made her happy. This was the cause for our ‘double breakfast’ that morning.

Nivi’s father’s ancestral home is in Goran-mane while her mother’s is at Jaji-mane. I’m sure you’ve not got these Kannada words:). Both of these are villages nearby Sirsi. People have made their homes close to the farms which are located on the mountains. Hence there was no network for our mobile. Though, there were basic facilities including electricity and a landline telephone connection.

Every family has a well, for water, used at home as well as in the farm. Since the food crops do not provide sufficient income, villagers grow areca-nut (adike), banana, vanilla and pepper too ‘all-in-one’. Luckily, we got to see how the worker removes the areca-nuts from trees and slides the bunch down to ground on a rope tied to him, while another worker collects them at the other end of the rope. Using a simple ringed cloth he slowly and carefully moves from one tree to another with much ease. T'was brilliant. A part of these areca-nuts are then pealed of their skin, boiled and then allowed to dry in the Sun on an over-head roof called ‘betta’. Another part of adike is dried with the skin to produce another variety. Totally the farmers produce about 6 varieties, which are then converted into a whole lot of 16 varieties in the market.

We spent a whole evening at the fire-place outside the house where they boiled the adike. It was a cool moon-lit night. With the stars above, in between the palms and other trees, we recalled past memories. Ajji served us some more mouth-watering dishes which made our stay ‘perfect’.

We soon drove to Sirsi. All excited to give an actual description of our trip to all at home, we got into the bus. Again the 6-hour long journey just passed off in a short time. This time it was without those ‘hit ho ya flop’ bollywood songs. Finally, the journey was made memorable by our very own Belgaum-sunset and the leafless birdie trees.

:)