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Why this Daddy’s girl and Mommy’s boy?

PS: This is mostly based on my views and beliefs; and there is no science in it.

It is true that parents love their children equally. But I always wondered why the mother loves her son more than the daughter; and the father loves his daughter more than the son! Whomever I asked, the answer was “Yes! You are right, at least a LITTLE moreJ”, but no one could explain why it is so? This write-up is an attempt to prove many other reasons beyond the most common answer I get saying “unlikes always attract!”.

Right from younghood, girls always think a lot about their future life. If you think this ends with their marriage, you are wrong! They just continue thinking about the future of their new phase of life. As per Indian customs, the mother knows the fact that sons are the ones who will stay with parents till the end and hence they become her first preference. Whereas the father understands the probability of his son getting distracted to wrong things; and will be very cautious in monitoring his routine. Father can also be sometimes dictating to son while nurturing him to become a man and be responsible. Then is when the mother’s forgiveness and love makes a big difference in calming him and makes him feel relaxed. The father can decide the destiny but it is always the mother who stays with the son and guides him through the tough roads to reach the goal.

Although the girl child is loved by her mother, she requires a father’s care too. Because a father’s attention and affection will bring a much secured feeling to the girl while facing the outside world. Being groomed this way, she would expect the same warmth in her future life partner as well. Also, girls usually like spending on variety of things and the money obviously comes from Daddy the great! They love their daddy because he hardly keeps account of the money given whereas the mommy would ask for every detail of her spending. It is easy for daughters to get away with many things with their father as he will be busy with other matters in life. The mothers are the ones who have all the time to enquire on each move of their daughters. Girls learn the womanly things from their mother but learn love and to face life from their father.

Coming to modern days, hearts take a back seat because it’s all about mind games. In many ways, there is a real possibility of father and son getting into a healthy competition with each other to please the lady lord (the mother). Same way the mother and the daughter can sometimes get into unnecessary conflicts with the sole intention of proving who is best to the family head (the father). This obviously makes the son more comfortable in sharing his feelings with mother; and the daughter too feels less threatened when she is with her father. End of day, we keep thinking why the life is so competitive these days!

Every child is innocent enough to deserve equal care from parents. To conclude this topic with a balanced view, I would say it is the best opportunity for parents to correct their earlier attitude of being guilt of their opposites. J

What is really new this year?

Unlike everyone else wishing “Happy New Year” in the early days of a new year, I would just want to start by welcoming you to 2012. I wish to share some of my thoughts through my writing, this year. So please tolerate me J

I often keep staring at my laptop, hoping my thinking brain will make me write something (obviously something good). Now you know the reason why this New Year blog has arrived this early J Yes, it is easy to say that my mind is blocked and not getting any great idea to write about. But let me at least begin something this year, because lighting a candle is much better than blaming darkness.

Finally I got some thought to write about what is really new in 2012?!

There would be many of us who celebrated this New Year with their loved ones by watching a movie in a decent theatre, playing some games, bursting crackers, having nice food in a good restaurant, dancing, and finally a sound sleep in the end. Though they did not experience very luxurious things and though they did not spend lavishly, the way they celebrated would mean a lot because of the great and lovely company they were fortunate of. If you have the company of your dear ones in such occasions, what other better way to celebrate life? If I am right, this is the ideal New Year celebration for most middle class families, every year.

But this is not all, because my question of “what is new this year?” still remains unanswered. So, when we start looking beyond this (I mean, beyond the usual celebrations I described earlier), it opens up completely different scenes!

I agree that eyes are different but according to me 2012 is no different from 2011 or any of the previous few years. Because most of the daily headlines still read the same: Team Anna continues fight on Lokpal bill, Ex-minister pulls more MLAs to demonstrate his strength to the high command, Few more big wigs caught in yet another multi crore rupees scam, oil and groceries prices shoot up again, Indian IT majors concerned about the global uncertainties, Pakistan intends to initiate fresh round of peace talks, Indian cricket continues to be underdogs away from home,  Sachin’s 100^th ton expected in the upcoming series, and so on. One can even say that in the context of India, nothing much changes for at least five years or till the ruling party changes, based on the fate of our nation! Few also argue that we were no different 50 years back, except that Sachin’s count had not begun at that time! But I am too young to know that much.

One noticeable change I observed in this New Year is the one about the Excise department which according to a news paper, grossed about 39Crores to earn 10% more than previous year because of the huge sales of Indian made liquors on 31^st December 2011. If you read further, you will mostly find related stories like - pubs in Bangalore made record business, latest Bollywood release breaks all previous collections, etc, etc.  All is fine, but how much of these figures actually benefit us? I think it is mostly the rich people who contribute to such earnings through their spends in malls, multiplexes, pubs and resorts. After all, one who breaks money makes money! The ‘not so rich’ ones are not far behind in the race, who manage to pull out money to spend in similar fashion, finally getting into a local bar or getting drunk at a private place on eve of New Year. The Gen-Next’s role here is to just ensure that the ‘already established’ trend is kept going with more zeal! How much ever rich or wealthy you are, but what a poor way of welcoming New Year!?

First sad scene I observed on 1^st Jan 2012 morning was a beggar who had not moved even an inch from the spot where she sat on 31^st December 2011 evening. Whereas the high society people slowly get up from the hang over in the evening, only to visit another luxury mall to have dinner! All it means is that, every year a poor get poorer struggling to make their daily living whereas the rich get richer even after wasting money in so many needless luxuries. As I too fail to convey the real feeling, it is very true that we lack people who can clearly articulate the wants to find the right balance around us.

I am sure 2012 will be same for us in general and I will not have anything new to write about this topic. Wishing “Happy New year” hardly makes any difference to the situation we are already in from past many years for now. It is true that we can’t go back and change the past whereas we can only think and decide our future. But it is also harsh to deny the fact that there can be instances when we attempt to go forward to change the past. I may be very confusing with this write-up at the beginning of the year because normally, it is only at the end that we start thinking about the beginning!!!

In simple words I just want to leave a message to all my friends that some good deeds in the beginning will set our minds right to keep repeating it and make our living purposeful throughout the years.

With this, unlike the beginning, let me end by finally wishing you a Happy New Year!

D:2 - a quick review

There have been several series of DON in Indian cinema with most of them making good business in the box office. The huge gatherings at the theatres for the newest DON2 simply suggest that the trend is continuing in a greater eagerness to watch the Donning on the big screen every time. So justifying is the beginning of DON2 which introduces the DON in completely stunning looks in the first five minutes of the film itself; which will surely cheer up the auditorium in its every run! There have been very good efforts in choosing a completely different plot (compared to the earlier versions of DON) in which the extremely brilliant DON confronts with smart and gorgeous Roma at many instances; yet escapes in every attempt of her. DON is too good in making his moves much before other's which is equally complimented by an excellent script. He delivers his dialogues to perfection with his effortless style and unique timing which is surely going to fetch a lot of applauds and whistles from the crowd. Vardaan is fantastic as before. Hritik’s guest appearance was really surprising!

The intermission is not very impressive which is followed by repetition of encounters with DON with much more focus on his actions and stunts matching Hollywood style. However, the advanced technology and the technical details of the master plan may not be very easy to grasp for a common man. Action and screenplay have been up to current standards but the music seems to have lacked the pace which can be attributed to the complete dependency on the earlier DON themes without much innovations. Sensible and well thought of twists towards the climax provide a very good ending to the film. It would have been a big plus if the makers had justified the usage of powerful word 'DON' with much bigger and violent crimes of his than just limiting the script to a bank robbery. The 3D trailer of one of the upcoming Hollywood movie JOURNEY 2 during the intermission was much more exciting than the movie we were watching; which makes me feel that DON2 is not a must on 3D. However, there are enough hints of a DON 3, so let's wait after we watch this once!

So much is so little away…..!!!

There is always a good reason behind some things which we hate doing. So was the feeling while getting up at five thirty on a Saturday morning without advancing the irritating alarm clock for the third time. What better way than to start the weekend with an early morning ride on the NICE road? I and Mohan took hardly about twenty five minutes to get to the Mysore road, touching 121 on the speedometer to beat our earlier best of 115. We had to ride all the way till Srirangapatna to catch Manju and Praveen who had earlier promised to wait in RASTA near Ramnagar on Mysore Road. Thanks to the flat tyre which did not allow them to move beyond a nearby puncture shop there.

We are almost there! Yes, the heritage city Mysore of Dussara fame is just about 20Kms away now. So many thoughts in the mind about which all places I have missed during my college here six years back. Because, the so called ‘already visited’ places are also due for a re-visit to bring back the memories of the good old days.

We started off with a brief visit to the Rangantittu bird sanctuary which was disappointing with not many great birds around. We moved on to the Balmuri falls which was so refreshing with 'just fine' water level allowing us for boating. We enjoyed different dishes of fresh river fishes cooked in the nearby restaurant as well.

Next, we are on the way to the KRS backwaters. The giant Krishnaraja Sagara dam built by one of the greatest engineers of India (unarguably the best in the context), Sir M. Vishweshwaraiah must still be inspiring many lives. The backwaters surround the Venugopalaswamy temple so well that, in no way this great man's work goes unnoticed.

 

Finally we are heading to Mysore for the main purpose of my visit - one of my good friend's wedding reception. This area is close to my college and it is the place where I spent 90% of my time then. On the way I knocked the door of the house where I stayed during my college. I was very excited when the owner's grandson recognized me and shouted "mama has come". I could hear the elders coming out whispering "which mama?" They were so happy when their granddaughter helped them identify me by shouting "Vicky mamaa". After talking about how life has been these years, I had to move on though they insisted me to stay back.

I am sure we were the top customer to the Mylari Tiffin Center eating all the varieties they prepared that day and the supplier could only smile when I asked if there was anything else they had prepared.  Karanji Lake is not very far from here and we had a very good time with our second boating of the trip, this time the pedal one. So many beautiful birds around make this place very colorful and we did not have much difficulty in capturing them in very close shots.

One can’t imagine a Mysore trip without visiting the royal Mysore Palace and the steep Chamundi Hills. But we are running the risk of being an exception to that, mainly because of time constraints. We quickly opted to go on to the hills. We witnessed a hearty welcome at the Chamundi temple with the fireworks, which were actually intended for the recent Bellary by-election results. The view point on the hills is very well utilized by the guy with a telescope who allows tourists to see through it for a bare minimum charge of just 10 Rupees each. The Palace, Lalit Mahal, Race Course were all so clear through the telescope which the guy claims to have bought for a whopping 3.5 lakhs!!!

I was wondering about the new palace similar to the Lalit Mahal both in structure as well as color, only to hear that it is a newly coming up shopping mall! The best part according to me is that, nothing much has changed about Mysore over the years and it still continues with the rich cultural values. The intent to carry the old tradition forward is very clear in the minds of the authority here unlike other cities.

On the way back, the nice little wish to check which movie is running in the Laxmi theatre, where the famous 'Aptamitra' with dolbey effect of 'ra raa…!!!' used to run to packed houses over an year near our college that time; was also fulfilled.

The only thought which provoked me to write this and title it so was the fact that - it took just a little travel to unwind so much of sweet memories which is worth doing at any time. But so many times in our life we unnecessarily constrain ourselves with many useless things in the city where we work; and often neglect the fact that the best places where we actually belong to, are actually not very far from us!!!

Trip without a clip

Reading a long write-up about a trip is obviously an old/unusual method compared to the usual showcasing of an outing in terms of photo and video uploads in this facebook era. But, you might understand my purpose after reading till the end, so let me begin the story now.

It was in the middle of the week during a regular phone conversation with my family, I told my mom that I am going to this place in the weekend. Mom replied “Oh! Is it? It’s a great place, capture nice pictures for all of us to see”. I said “Sure”.

Friday evenings can be crazy to any extent in Bangalore traffic, but thanks to the flexibility that our companies provide. The namaaz prayer by the rickshaw driver before playing both sides of the late 90’s bollywood blockbuster cassette Mohra, reminds me that we started from BTM layout around five in the evening. I still remember the poor look on driver’s face to extract more money from us showing the spot on the mirror which was cracked by a stone from somewhere before we got down in our usual assembly point in Malleshwaram at six. It was a nice feast at Kodial before taking the next auto to the private bus pick-up point on the race-course road. With some difficulty (as always), we spotted the bus a few minutes before the start time - 8.30pm and took some snaps in the comforts of the lovely multi-axle driven Volvo bus. I think we were the last in the bus to decide to rest our eyes after rounds of calls to family/friends and some chit-chats.

1.15 am in the night, suddenly the lights are switched on! Disturbance slowly continues with speakers testing. With hardly few blinks, though everyone preferred to continue sleeping with the lights on regardless of the fact that wherever the bus may be, here comes an annoying voice with a surprise announcement – “Bhayya  Namaskara, Welcome to Tirupati!!!”. He is our guide Lokesh and here on he is known with the first word he uttered – ‘bhayya’ (meaning brother in Hindi). He has mastered his job so well that he conveys the urgency in a way - it seems like any sleeping souls can be awakened at any time in this world. Suddenly all are so energetic; I have never seen people so active at that part of the time. Everyone got inside their respective cottages to freshen up and assemble in the guest house lobby. You believe it or not, breakfast is next in line! It was for the first time in my life I had breakfast with Idly, vada, pongal all in one round plate as early as 2.30 am. But believe me, nothing seemed forceful. People can hate bhayya only for one reason – he didn’t allow us to carry any electronic items with us including camera!!! We had to leave all our baggage inside the bus and board the then hired local government bus which is certified to climb the upward roads leading to Tirumala temple. For being the last one to reach the bus, I had to sit on the engine as all the seats were filled by early birds; and bhayya was standing between me (engine) and the driver.

It was around 3.30am that we got down from the bus to enter the main gate of the temple and then on it was a combination of sitting and standing alternately in the long queue until we got the glimpse of Tirupati  Balaji at about 7.30. Now don’t ask me how we spent those four hours of waiting, because even I don’t remember it! Yes, I remember how restless I was waiting for half an hour in the queue to get my voters ID card done in a post office. But here its completely effortless wait with all curious people in the queue to see the Lord. Definitely this place has hidden power for sure! This is not all, there are numerous places inside here. There is a golden well showcasing the richness of the place, there is a ‘write-your-wish’ stone where you can write your wish which will turn true if it is genuine, there is Godess Lakshmi’s feet which upon touching with a currency (coin/note) will duplicate it to an unimaginative figure! The enthusiasm with which people seem to believe and follow them, suggests that these things can be very practical if you have the right mindset. But it was unnecessary to keep a security guard to prevent people from touching the Godesses feet so that the golden material is not worn out.

It was a good mix of cool breeze and the freshly risen sunshine which set the tone for our next destination – Padmavathi temple. This time I was a little early and was privileged to sit in the only vacant seat in the bus parallel to the driver in front of the rear-view mirror. It was a needless for all of us to wait for an hour for four of the missing co-passengers who did not return to the said spot. The driver was so perfect in taking the steep turns which reminded me the Agumbe roads in the Western Ghats back home. Someone rightly says that the purpose of Tirupati visit is incomplete without visiting this Padmavati temple after seeing Lord Venkateshwara. This time it did not take long and we were all set to go back to the guest house for lunch. The trip is over by 10am! Yes, we finished our lunch and drove back to Bangalore around eleven in the morning! Bhayya’s co-ordination ensured that the four missing ones were also a part of the return the journey.

It took a while to convince my niece who was upset for wishing her on her birthday so late; as bhayya dint allow us to carry mobile phones earlier in the day. I was successful in explaining to my mom about not keeping my promise to take pictures; before we reached back to BTM layout by five in the evening. This is how I came up with the fitting title for this outing - ‘Trip without a clip’. However, the trip was so satisfying with the right company of three wonderful people – Kanthi (one who got us tickets on a very short notice), Shubha (one whose prior experience to this very place helped us a lot) and Pooja (the main head whose energy made this trip possible and so eventful). This trip by all means is registered in my memory.

To end this on a high note with bhayya’s dialogue – “Bhayya ek baar sab bolo – Tirupati venkatramana govindaa………..GOVINDAAA”

My first blog

Hi, this is my first blog. So let me not write too much :-)