A room with a view

Staring intently into cyberspace too long strains my eyes. that's when I decide to relax my pupillary muscles and take a break by sparing into real space instead. Thankfully my office window does not open to the concrete jungle outside. Instead there is a soothing green visible outside. A family of inquisitive monkeys, a couple of scurrying squirrels, the occasional yellow butterflies in the breeze, these are the familiar sites through the window bars. Last day I heard two women hollering and quarrelling outside somewhere. I strained my neck hard to catch a view of them but gave up finally for fear of breaking my neck!

A hole in the tree trunk....

 This hole set me thinking... I imagined the following possibilities:
It could breed Aedes mosquitoes during the rains - (hopeless public health persona)
It could be a squirrel's nest - yes, I have seen them gnawing around the place
There could be a bird's nest inside - totally unfounded due to lack of evidence
For now, I think this space is still up for takers.

A closer view of the canopy ...

On Education

Education has nothing to do with knowledge, learning or wisdom.

A sad fact I learned from my own experiences. People who hold the highest of qualifications turn out to have the scrimpiest of hearts and most narrowest of visions and the biggest of hypocrites. What Mark Twain said rings true,

''I was born intelligent,education ruined me"

A day when we walked into the Airport

Yesterday was a day of phenomenal travel. Around 4000 odd kilometers to Delhi and back in 24 hrs. Finally on the way back home I was reflecting on how all we travelled; in a single day, we managed to travel on:
 Airplane
Metro train
Bus
Auto rickshaw and last but not the least,
By Foot

It was the last part which I found the most interesting. We literally walked into the Palam airport. Ever heard of going to an airport by an Auto?? Curiously enough, an auto dropped us in the front of the airport and we walked in much to the amazement of the taxi drivers parked in the front! You can walk into a bus station or railway station, but an airport? Well, all I can say is;  'been there, done that' :)

The Onam of 2012

So happy was I to be home for Onam this year. People in my office were asking all about it and I told them its a 'harvest festival'. Actually I just think its a harvest festival, not quite sure of it. Anyway, them Kannadigas don't know any better than me , so I managed to get away with it :)

And they are surprised that Onam is a state festival celebrated irrespective of religious affiliations. Again they stumped me by asking which god is worshipped for Onam. I explained the story of King Mahabali and Vamanan, they were familiar with some parts of it. Then they wanted to know what we did on Onam. The answer that came to my mind was that we watch movies on Surya TV, Asianet, Kairali TV etc. I din't tell them that ... Instead I that told we make Pookkalams and we have a grand feast on Thiruvonam day :)

Some images from Onam this year...

The Vazhakkula without which no Onam is complete, proudly photographed from my home garden....

The quintessential Pookkalam, the hallmark of Onam...

A closeup view of the smae,

The Thrikkarappan, made of mud, decorated with flowers

Up close,

Some flowers without which Onam cannot be...

Thumba poo, sadly so out of focus  :(

Mukkootti....the yellow bells,

Kakkappoo, it is actually violet or blue; the colour dint come out in my pic...

A Happy and prosperous Onam to one and all!

Hotels

Simply I thought I will make a list of hotels we have stayed in, not much anyways, but hope to keep updating.

Thrissur, Kerala - Joys Palace

Bangalore, Karnataka - Pai Viceroy, Anand Vihar, Prakash Cafe, The Libra, Golden Bell

Delhi  - oh I Forgot,

Jaipur - Arya Vilas (simply the best budget hotel)

Ooty - Sullivan Court() heavenly chicken cutlets)

Mysore - Hotel Sandesh

Goa - Hotel Nizmar, Calangute (ughh....)

Chennai - The Orchid (forgettable)
                The Crystal Palace (good food and room service)

Boston - Hampton Inn (cheese omelettes, pork patties :) )

Pittsburg - Quality Inn, The Hilton

Newyork - Holiday Inn, Apple hostel

Chicago - Holiday Inn

Abu Dhabi - The Sands hotel

A stopover at Tumkur

Last 3 days, I have been doing up and down to Tumkur on some work. One of the days, I went to a place called Bellavi. As we were driving in and around Bellavi suddenly it reminded me of home. There were hibiscus flowers in the hedges and in the front courtyard gardens of houses. I saw  a large pink-purple hibiscus which I had not seen in a long time and suddenly nostalgia came rushing back like waves crashing in on the sea shore.

While I was there in Ramanagara, I took a snap of a small plant in the garden. It resembled one of the plastic christmas trees we have at home. This one looked so cute though...

Today is R's turn
R has'nt vented in a long time - considering the fact that he's been busy with clipping his nails, drinking lots of coffee and mugging away at his books preparing for exams and exams. These exams of his just keep coming but never happen - they havent happened for the last 4 years but all the time he has never spared me from hearing his whining about them coming...

It makes me curious - why does R want to give these GOD forsaken exams - inspite of having given so many until now, having performed reasonably well in all of em... I asked R myself...funny part is he kept scratching his head for a long time..and finally decided to write in my blog

I want to fly - i want to fly so high and soar above the sky
You know in the movie Avatar - Jake says a line once he's into the Navi world - he could fly and he was free
In a mallu movie I saw recently - USTHAD HOTEL- Dulqar says - that he can fly
In SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION morgan freeman says- Some birds can never be caged coz their wings are just too colorful......

it is kind of abstract but I was born to be cross the seas - if u ask me whats my family's legacy its having crossed oceans and catapulted the skies in aircrafts..... getting bored of airports and security checks.........

These exams will give me my wings, and then I shall take off- higher than anyones ever taken off before...and then keep flying and flying until Im sick and tired of it


Well here was Rs take on the issue - he said that he would catch hold of his copilot too ....theres just no escape for me........

All of it may seem just so abstract, grandiose and idiosyncratic - but then all of it's got meaning......

Rs has had his venting ......I just hope that he gives me enough of AVOMIN before taking off with me on his trips - or else all that i would have time to do is feel nauseated!!!!!