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  • Posted on May 01, 2011

Arrange marriage

Well, this is a controversial topic for sure: Would you prefer arranged marriage or a love marriage. Is there a choice if any in this ultra fast paced world ? Over 90% of marriages in India are still arranged – says, a survey.

As a man of 21st century, I’ve had craziest experiences in Indian arrange marriage saga. Meeting a gal for arrange-marriage talk itself is a  tense cricket match situation :)

I found this very interesting, funny and very neatly done video on Arrange marriage in middle class India. This is really fabulous. Bumped into this through a friend of mine. Dunno what I was expecting when I saw this video, but I really liked the outcome :). Well done. The guy’s character was excellently written, I’m sure a lot of urban Indians identify with him. | excerpts

>> Check out arrange marriage talk !

  • Posted on March 30, 2011

Have you ever experienced this ?

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Your destiny took you to some unique & remote place on earth. You learn to live with new language, new fabric of society and new set of people. What is the first thing that you miss ?

I missed my mother tongue. There’s nothing like feeling that delight, when you discover some one who speaks the same language as you in unknown geography.

Language defines a culture, through the people who speak it and what it allows speakers to say. Words that describe a particular cultural practice or idea may not translate precisely into another language. Many endangered languages have rich oral cultures with stories, songs, and histories passed on to younger generations, but no written forms. With the extinction of a language, an entire culture is lost.

What if one day, you wake up and realize no one understands your mother tongue ? there’s no one who could converse in your language ?  This is very relevant to India, where every 50 kilometers  language has new dimension, every 100 kilometers has new diction. Irony is that, languages were born when population was small. Now, languages are dying as population is exploding.

Every 14 days a language dies. By 2100, more than half of the more than 7,000 languages spoken on Earth—many of them not yet recorded—may disappear, taking with them a wealth of knowledge about history, culture, the natural environment, and the human brain.

See how many languages are in the way-out of extinction !

  • Posted on March 25, 2011

Hyderabad musing

I am in Hyderabad for couple of weeks.

Its immensely different experience and I’m loving this new phase of my career taking me to different geographies. I really admire the interesting demographic diversities of incredible India. Food,culture, people, weather everything has a different aspect to it in Hyderabad. But I surely miss the elegance of Bangalore and the ease I feel there. One thing witnessed, slowly and steadily Bangalore weather is matching hot and sharpening weather of Hyderabad.

I am so much so mingled with Bangalore when it comes to savoring its seasons & its offerings. Seasonal fruits, seasonal cuisines, food festivals etc. I may have to discover that part in Hyderabad yet.

This time, more than anything I missed in Hyderabad was jack-fruit. Yes ! it is. I am a die-hard fan of jack fruit :). I tried to find it in every shopping mall, fruit outlets, for no avail. It’s the seasonal fruit in Bangalore this time.

I miss rainy days of Bangalore in Hyderabad. Nothing can beat that slow paced driving between gulmohars of Jayanagar feeling those droplets on car windshield, stretched hand feeling that drizzle. Day before leaving Bangalore, it rained and squirrels came into my drawing room via open balcony, with so much of happiness and vigor that, they picked-up pea nuts without even bothering about my presence :) !

And more missing from my essential part of health regime was tender coconut. I rarely find tender coconuts vendor in high-tech city area of Hyderabad !

Whenever I hit borders of Bangalore I feel I’m back home. First thing I did when I came back this weekend was to get a large portion of jack-fruit back home and savoring every aromatic, honeyed taste of it !  :)

  • Posted on January 08, 2011

Solitude

Laugh, and the world laughs with you;
Weep, and you weep alone.
For the sad old earth must borrow it’s mirth,
But has trouble enough of its own.
Sing, and the hills will answer;
Sigh, it is lost on the air.
The echoes bound to a joyful sound,
But shrink from voicing care.

Rejoice, and men will seek you;
Grieve, and they turn and go.
They want full measure of all your pleasure,
But they do not need your woe.
Be glad, and your friends are many;
Be sad, and you lose them all.
There are none to decline your nectared wine,
But alone you must drink life’s gall.

Feast, and your halls are crowded;
Fast, and the world goes by.
Succeed and give, and it helps you live,
But no man can help you die.
There is room in the halls of pleasure
For a long and lordly train,
But one by one we must all file on
Through the narrow aisles of pain.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

  • Posted on January 04, 2011

Inspirational words

Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate,
but that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us.
We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant,
gorgeous, handsome, talented and fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.

Your playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking
so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.

We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us.
It is not just in some; it is in everyone.

And, as we let our own light shine, we consciously give
other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.

Our Greatest Fear – By Nelson Mandela

  • Posted on October 25, 2008

Startling Angkorwat at Cambodia !

I happen to read something interesting when I was as young as 9 year old or so. The largest, biggest ‘Hindu Temple’ is nowhere in India, but it is in Cambodia. Thus seed planted inside my mind to see that place.

When the adventure team Raj, me, Nikki and Jyo  decided to venture out to explore – South East Asia’s famous nook & corner Angkorwat of Cambodia, it was the moment of dream realization to view and touch mega stricture I’ve heard about in childhood :)

It all began from October 2008 to November 2008.  The most thrilling adventure, experience of a life time was about to begin with heavy backpacks and enough money to survive a month long south east asia backpacking, we started off from our own Volvo to Bangalore International Airport :).

It was a marathon Airport to Airport, nation to nation hopping memorable travel I’ve ever done ! The trail was – Bangalore to Singapore to Bangkok to Patong to Angkorwat of Cambodia ! The amazing journey criss-crossing  Ocean and land.

Our first stop-over after Singapore was Bangkok. We shot some amazing photos in Thailand Palace, the water channel boat ride, etc. From there we rode to Patong;

A long train journey from Patong to the very borders of Cambodia. The journey was between evergreen Thai villages.   This suppose to be the most beautiful train journey of the trip. What a sight it was !  A long train traversing between green cladded tiny villages.  Friendly people, lonely houses,  kids playing in verandas, neatly pressed uniform tucked teens, with their innocent smile and cuteness. I absolutely loved that journey.

I always wanted to see how the ambiance of  Thai movie – My Girl (Fan chan) might be. The tiny village landscapes, amazingly simple houses, friendly people, small and lonely train stations were dream to remember now ! I felt I roamed around in the sets of Fan chan movie !

We reached a small village called Aranyaprathet; I was debating with Raj, this must be a once upon a time, Aranya pradesh or something :). In as usual Raj gave ‘I know’ looks. Which was not that convincing. We suppose to enter Cambodia through -Aranyaprathet in the borders of Thailand.

From there we took a small auto tuk-tuk to Cambodia border & got our passport sealed and visa stamper made us cough-up extra bit as we were Indians(that was the  explanation !).

It was a long-long car drive to City of Angkor. Next one week was amazing experience to feel ‘Hindu Culture’ so deeply bonded into fore corner Angkorwat temple town.

Angkor Wat is a temple complex at Angkor, Cambodia, built for the king Suryavarman II in the early 12th century as his state temple and capital city. As the best-preserved temple at the site, it is the only one to have remained a significant religious centre since its foundation – first Hindu, dedicated to the god Vishnu, then Buddhist. It is the world’s largest religious building !

There we realized that, It is not only the  biggest ‘Hindu Temple’ it’s also world’s largest religious building. The discovery of this mammoth temple history is too adventurous and thrilling ! Angkor in Cambodia is a city of Hindu temple architecture in midst of deep forest land.

We reached early in the morning. It was the sight to watch and wait for ! There was already a big crowd of tourists from all over the world to catch the majestic glimpse of world famous sun rise in the backdrop of mammoth Angkor Wat temple.

The modern name, Angkor Wat, means “City Temple”. Once regarded as a barren land; now farmers are finding it diffciult to do agriculture as kings of that era, has made finest irrigation and cleverly planned water bodies are lushly filled.  Angkor Wat lies 5.5 km north of the modern town of Siem Reap.

Angkor was a massive city, although today much is lost. But the great temple remains more or less intact, and many other temples and buildings bear witness to the glories of that civilization. Angkor became powerful during the reign of King Suryavarman II in the 12th century. Angkor Wat began as partly a temple to Vishnu as well as a place of worship for Mahayana Buddhists.

Given its size, and the carefully crafted consistency of design, the temple of Angkor should not be compared to other structures like the Aztec buildings of South America, the Acropolis of Athens, the Taj Mahal of India or the Gothic churches of Europe. We must remember that Angkor Wat is original and unique. There is no other building like it anywhere in the world. It is a part of the cultural heritage of all mankind and it remains a very special place.

Angkorwat temple town is sadly called as ‘ruins of Angkorwat’. The master piece temple architecture’s are slowly getting ruined due to elapsing times.  UNESCO does a restoration work with the partnership of various nations like India, Japan & European nations.

One of the most intact piece of work inside Angkorwat temple is apsaras.  You got to see it to adore it ! Due to the benevolent efforts of German Apsara Conservation Project, devatas (or apsaras) and other bas-reliefs of Angkor Wat look more lively and cute !

The Bayon is a well-known and richly decorated Khmer temple at Angkor in Cambodia. Built in the late 12th century or early 13th century as the official state temple of the Mahayana Buddhist King Jayavarman VII.  The Bayon’s most distinctive feature is the multitude of serene and massive stone faces on the many towers which jut out from the upper terrace and cluster around its central peak.[2] The temple is known also for two impressive sets of bas-reliefs, which present an unusual combination of mythological, historical, and mundane scenes.

Tha Phrom, the temple totally maintained by Indian archeologists. This is also featured in Lara Craft’s ‘Tomb Rider’ movie. Tha Phrom has the trees growing out of temple walls.This is pretty famous photo I’ve seen in many places.

South East Asia trip |17 October 2008 to 05 November 2008.