Music

I like listening to music. All kinds of music. (For all practical purposes all kinds of progressive/trash/death and other forms of metal cannot be termed "music"). My playlist contains everything from the purest classical music to metal (as long as I can understand the lyrics). Name any genre in between and I probably listen to it.

I pride myself in the fact that I am tolerant to all forms if music and often find myself lecturing others to be receptive to all forms of music. I finally found (much to my dismay) the kind of music that irritates me.

I am a music purist. Experimentation on songs is not something I enjoy listening to. If a song is sung in a particular way, I expect to hear that song in that way itself. Pardon me for not using the proper technical terms but I guess you can understand what I mean. For example, consider the song "Dum maro dum". The old song was a cult classic and still is one of the revolutions in music. The new song just sucks.

We can find loads of examples of this kind of change in tune in the kannada bhavagites.

The late C.Ashwath is someone every kannadiga knows. His style of singing is inimitable. Perhaps you might have also faced the same sense of irritation when you hear someone trying to copy his style of singing.

Now what made me blog about this?

There was this program on TV in which a woman sang one of my all time favourite songs.. "KolikeRanga". The lyrics is by T.P. Kailasam.

"Murdered the song" is a very mild way to describe what she did to this song.

I felt I really had to blog about this.

I did not feel comfortable until I had heard the whole song in its proper state once again.

Now I can sleep peacefully.

Ciao.

P.S. Not writing or speaking english for a long time does screw up your language and vocabulary big time. I should blog more often.

Teaching a student.

My uncle has gone on his almost quarterly visit to Helsinki on some official business and I am again on my (almost) quarterly stay over at my grandmother's place. I don't complain though. With a library as vast as his, I can just pick up a novel and read till I fall asleep. The other day, I was leafing through "Brisingr" possibly for the fifth time when amidst the soaps and serials, there was a reality show on the telly.

The show is called "neena, naana" meaning "you or me". As the name suggests, it is a debate between two groups of people. This time it was between a group of teachers on one side and a group of students on the other side. It was a very very poor representation of students for reasons I will explain in the coming few lines.

The program started off with both teachers and students making references to the bond between Dronacharya and Arjuna in the Mahabharatha and how teaching has evolved over the ages. Then started the blame game as students blamed their teachers for absolutely everything on earth. Some of the topics discussed were

1) Tuitions: The students harangued the teachers that the only reason they go to tuitions is because of the incapability of the teachers to conduct classes in college.

True. Many teachers do bunk classes. But what is the point of separating college teachers and tuition teachers? Aren't the people who take tuitions teachers as well? I am sure that half of the teacher representatives on that show took tuitions. So somebody's devil (college teacher) is somebody else's God (tuition teacher). Secondly, in many institutions, the fees being paid to the teachers is insulting. So there is no way for them to feed their family other than to take tuitions.

2) Sexual harassment: The rough literal translation of an accusation by a student was "What do you say about all the sexual harassment you people do in class"?

Seriosuly? Are these students trying to make the world think their daily visit to their place of studies is fraught with perils and dangers? and that the staff room in such institutions is the equivalent of a sodomist's jail cell?

3) Teachers taking bribes: Another pretty serious comment that one student made was that his teacher asked him to buy a TV for his house to grant him attendance:

You moron! If you were as prompt in attending classes as you are in commenting on your teachers, you would have had no need to bribe your teacher to get attendance.All these discussions took up the half an hour of allotted time for the program.

Is there any sense at all in this discussion? Public forums are meant to debate general problems, not bleat about some apparent injustice that happened to you and then blame the whole world for your problems.

Nowhere was a word uttered about improving the quality of education in the country. Nowhere was there a discussion about quota in education. Nowhere was there a discussion about the complete lack of research facilities and the unavailability of world class instiitutions for higher education.Going to the grassroots, there was no discussion about what can be done to make sure villages get atleast one teacher in their schools. About how to make more kids attend schools.

We should look at the example of Finland. In Finland, the facilities available for teachers of schools is so good that their education department has completely done away with exams as they are confident that their teachers will not let their children down, In such an atmosphere, the children can obviously concentrate on learning more rather than studying just to pass in an exam. The Finnish teachers undergo rigorous training at the end of which their pay and social status is equivalent to that of a person in any other profession.

Personally, I feel that everyone from whom we have learnt something in life deserves some amount of respect. I also agree that there some complete idiots posing as teachers who bring a bad name to the whole profesion. But is that prevalent only in the teaching field? No.As someone who is planning a career in education, I feel that it is better to introspect rather than blame the world. There is no good or bad teacher. There is only a teacher who knows how to teach and one who doesnt. That does not imply that the teacher who doesnt teach so well is a lightning struck fool.

But then again, its just me. Who can stand up against the might of the Great Ignorant Indian Student?

May God help us all!

the BJP's Blunders

I have refrained from commenting on political issues for a long time. I accept that I am somewhat ignorant. But I will comment from the viewpoint of an innocent bystander. The CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General of India) is better than a diarrhea ridden cow at creating a ruckus. First the CWG scam, then the Adarsh scandal, after that it was the 2G scam and the biggest of them all, the Lokpal Bill.

The UPA govt has been taking hit after hit in the crown jewels and still managing to put up a wounded smile! And the biggest reason is the completely idiotic policies of the Opposition. If it was any other country, the PM would have been replaced and we would already have had another election.

The following are some things that led to the "Dunce" tag of the BJP:

1) Stop saying "Sonia Gandhi is Italian": I doubt if there is ever a press conference of the BJP without these words. True or not, we are no longer fascinated with her nationality. You never have an answer if I ask you to look beyond "the Italian". Besides, Sonia being Italian is not the cause of all the problems the country is facing.

2) Stop taking digs at Rahul Gandhi: You might feel very clever making small boy jokes about the "Prince". But he is called "Prince" for a reason. Believe it or not, he is a very strong candidate for the PM's post. So stop taking digs at people and start taking digs at the policies.

3) Tell Yeddy to fuck off. Party comes before person: If there was ever a time ripe for the BJP to cement its standing as serious contenders for the next election, it was when they were asked to man up and take a strong discussion about the corruption in Karnataka. You can't expect to force the Congress to take drastic measures to curb corruption when you have no moral right to ask them to do it. You faltered at that crucial time and his removal later was more of a face-saving measure rather than an actual step towards better governance.

4) Stop consorting with illogical Babas: Hobnobbing with the likes of Baba Ramdev and the likes will earn you no favours with the educated class. Base your policies firmly on economic facts and predictions rather than religious sentiment and you will stand a better chance.

5) Stop saying "We have many capable PM candidates": Come under one banner and then start your election propaganda. A party that is not united cannot hope to keep the country stable.

6) Have a very strict selection criteria for party candidates: Cut down possible cases of corruption and humiliation to the party by being very strict with selecting your candidates and advertise it properly.

Let us hope with time, these people realize that their first responsibility is to the people.

Ciao.

Random Ramblings

I am facing an acute inability to string 2 sentences together. Its probably caused by overexposure to sitcoms and an acutely boring lifestyle. I don't know how much longer I can keep kidding myself that watching "House" is actually informative and that I'm actually learning about medicine. What I am learning from that particular TV series is how to be sarcastic. Whoever wrote the dialogues for "House" is a genius! Brilliantly scripted dialogues. Each sentence oozing with high quality sarcasm. The doctor stereotypes are also brilliantly depicted.

So why am I raving about some TV show? Having written nothing in over 3 months, I just thought I will type everything that comes to my mind. Writing, like music requires constant practice, without which, the fingers just don't feel at ease at the keyboard. It probably has nothing to do with the new keyboard that I got, but I am still disappointed that my first post in this new keyboard/computer is such a lousy one.

I am a great believer in the Placebo effect. You get better at something if you convince yourself that you will get better at that by doing something completely irrelevant. Well, if I do actually know that it is the Placebo effect, will it still be successful? I dunno. I'm just typing everything that comes into my mind.

I had been on a pretty long tour recently. A fortnight spent in 2 cities that are at the 2 ends of Maharashtra. Nagpur and Pune. Both cities offered their share of fun, but I would have to say Pune was the better part of the tour. The trip to Lonavala was a visual treat. Not to mention that shady Wax museum that had statues of all prominent Mallus, and a horrible statue of Angelina Jolie, which made her Tomb Raider avatar look like a sick albino woman with a bad case of hairfall. Sins like that cannot be forgiven.

Ever since I have started blogging, I have followed a habit of thinking of titles for all my posts only after I have written them. That is I dont start with the title of the post and then write the content, I write whatever I feel like and then put up a title that somehow relates to the post.

And now I have to write the "President's Note" for the OSA newsletter. There's only one bummer though.The damn thing already has a title. I dont know how to write a PResident's not while completely ignoring the fact that it is actually a President's Note.

Anyway, this little exercise might prove to be helpful after all. If I can manage to fill in half a page of completely unrelated comments without thinking then I suppose I can deal with a formal note of a somewhat lesser size if I do put in some effort.

If someone actually came upto this line then like this article. No wait! This is not facebook. Just leave an empty comment.

Im off now to try and write a President's note. Wish me luck.

Chaklis

"The problem with old people is that they don't want to accept that age is catching upto them. Nobody's asking them to prove anything. So why should they torture themselves and others with all this?", I told my mother as I stood frying "chaklis" in front of the fire, in a slightly exaggerated british accent so that my 78 year old grandmother doesn't pick up my words. All I got in return was a stern look and a signal to shut up and continue frying.

Firstly, let me explain the procedure involved in preparing chaklis.. First the rice should be dry fried, then laid out to cool down, then it has to be ground into one particular smoothness and the flour has to be mixed into a dough. The dough should then be laid in the form of a chakli which should then be fried and frying is not as easy as it sounds.

Anyway, I had run around the past day getting the rice ground and making the dough soft by repeated beating. And finally, swallowing my growing frustration, I agreed to fry and the chaklis actually came out very well.

A few days after this episode, I was relaxing at home watching an awesome episode of Boston Legal when I get a call from my grandmother asking me to go with her to the mill to get more rice ground. I became angry, very angry. I mean, hadnt I stood in front of the hot oil for almost 4 hours just a few days back?

After shouting at my mother for half an hour, I did take her to the mill and then dropped her off at her place. The sight of her shrunken frame and wobbly gait now irritated me a little. I am still confused whether my irritation was aimed at her actually working too much or her dragging me away from my sitcom. I hadnt spoken a single word to her all along. To initiate some conversation, I told her "Why did you fry more rice? Didnt we just make these chaklis a few days back?". Her reply completely humbled me.

She said "I heard you say that you like the khara chaklis more than the tasteless ones we made that day. These are for you", and started preparing the dough.

In the days when we can get almost anything by throwing money across the counter, moments like these show us how sensitive and caring our folks can be. She need not have made those extra ones for me. She did anyway. My anger ebbed away.

I walked into the kitchen, picked up the wooden piece that was used to fry chaklis, stood in front of the fire and said "Where's the oil? I'll help you".

Ciao.
Today is Star Wars day.. May the force be with you.

P.S. I came to a dreadful realization, a few hours after coming home that night. I had told my mother about my preference of khara chaklis in the same exaggerated British accent. I completely forgot my Grandma is as literate as you or me :P

What is the Question?

I was introduced to the myraid and mysterious ways of spirituality about 4 years ago. The journey started off with promises of ultimate knowledge, inhuman strength (mental strength obviously), an ability to be successful at everything etc etc etc.

All this sounds like a load of bull crap for a non believer. I am a firm believer.. why am I a believer? Because I have nothing to lose by believing.

After belief, the next hurdle to cross is practice. Regular practice of religious rituals is supposedly the easiest way to spirituality. After achieving some proficiency in that as well, the next thing is to find a spiritual goal to achieve.

When people said that anything can be achieved if one is disciplined, they very conveniently forgot to answer what it is that one should try to achieve.

The question "What is the best thing I will need in my life", is an extremely tough question to answer. I can be materialistic and pray for something awesome like a sports car, but that is useless as I will be left without a goal after achieving that. Since the process of achieving a goal is more useful than the end result itself, the thing that one must seek should be a very distant goal.

What is the question, is itself the toughest the question.

And unfortunately BMS does not give me sufficient time to ponder over it. Off to do some very physical activity (writing the workshop diary).
Ciao

Unemployment

My daily horoscope said that I will enjoy creative writing today. Hence this post.

I was employed and earning regularly until very recently. Unfortunately, my profession is not one that can be continued throughout the year. The demand for people in my profession starts after a few more months. If I do want to continue my profession, I should probably increase my charges. Not worth working for such meagre salaries.

Being unemployed has left me with a lot of free time. Especially in the evenings, not to mention pinching my pocket. Gone are the days of hogging 3 samosas in a row and not thinking twice about buying an Ice-tea later. Other than the obvious credit crunch there are also other things that are missing.

1) The long-ish drive to the workplace in the cool evening breeze.

2) Perks which included coffee, tea, juice, and the occasional tasty dish.

3) Lessons learnt in man management and communication skills.

4) Ability to put across sentences in as simple and persuasive words as possible.

5) Occasional physical tussles.

6) Making threats and hinting at blackmail to get work done.

7) Lessons in being patient and calm, irrespective of the situation.

8) Listening to good stories.

9) bonding with clients

And that's about it. I terribly miss being employed. But in the interest of my studies and the obvious point that my services are no longer required, Ive been discharged from services(without a pink slip!).

The only thing left to do is to drown my sorrows in a mug of you-know-what.

May none of you ever have to be unemployed in your lives!!
Ciao