ಕನ್ನಡ - ಐ ಮಿಸ್ ಯೂ

Well, this is my first Kannada Raajyotsava celebration outside my Karnataka, of course all alone! Though I used to miss Kannada since I left India, I take this day to miss it more! It has been practically half an year I have heard someone speak kannada in front of me. I could hear it either in some internet videos or phone! Some 3 months back, I had been to a temple where I met few Kannada people. I was so thrilled to hear the people speak in the language I have spoken since the days I remember. But I was dumbstruck and was not able to come up with words in Kannada. I was surprised at my own state of not being able to utter a word in Kannada. It took me almost a minute or two to start speaking properly in Kannada. I wonder how just 3 months could affect me so much. Does the distance matter so much or do the people speaking around affect you? I couldnot figure it out. Though I regularly listen to Kannada songs online, its not the same feel as it used to be when heard from FM radio in Bangalore or on the street speakers on some festive occasions. You may blame me that this article is missing kannada! But what to do, I really Miss Kannada :-( Ene andru Kannadadalliro majaane bere, howdu taane? Adikke, Kannada - I miss you and I love you :-)

Let your heart speak!

Many times in life, there comes an occasion when you feel to speak whatever you have in your heart. But we suppress it. All cos of the thing called as Super EGO. Its always your EGO that decides between ID and Superego. I blame God for this because he made human with so much sophistication and compactness, but he failed to award the capacity to read what exactly is going on in one's heart. I also thank God for not rewarding the capacity to read ones brain. Then life would have been a disaster!


Wish I could read whats there in somebody's heart. The only way to express is to let my heart to speak out. I would suggest you to let your heart speak out too. There should never lie a regret in life that you failed to express. If you fail, you are the loser. So, lets not allow it to happen, lets race against the life atleast from now on. LET YOUR HEART SPEAK!


The relief you feel when you let your heart speak is nothing less than a bliss and pleasure. You feel a burden off your heart. I took all these years to realise this. Lets add one more accesory to our heart in the form of a speaker. Neither to keep it in a silent mode nor in vibration mode, lol!! Do not bother of any consequences, THE LIFE GOES ON!

Dekhne ka Nazariya - its very subjective!

One day, the father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the

express purpose of showing him how poor people live.

They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family.

On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, "How was the trip?"

"It was great, Dad."

"Did you see how poor people live?" the father asked.

"Oh yeah," said the son.

"So, tell me, what did you learn from the trip?" asked the father.

The son answered:

"I saw that we have one dog and they had four.

We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end.

We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night.

Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon.

We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight.

We have servants who serve us, but they serve others.

We buy our food, but they grow theirs.

We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them."

The boy's father was speechless.

Then his son added, "Thanks Dad for showing me how poor we are."





Courtesy: A dear friend from Bangalore, India. [via forwarded email]

Beautiful FALL of Iowa City

Its the month of october and the FALL is now at its best. With best weather around with temperature varying from 35 F to 50 F, with rain once in around 3 days, this is the most beautiful season with the trees and plants changing their colors from green to yellow or orange or red to brown. Then in a month all the leaves will be gone as the harsh winter sets in.













Before that could happen, I thought to capture the beautiful nature and put it on my blog.




In my country, we are not aware of the FALL or SPRING season as an independent periods in between summer/winter/rainy season. US differs with no particular Rainy season as it rains right form summer to end of fall i.e., from may to October atleast once in a week. No doubt that the country can maintain such nice green lawns! Its like natural Sprinklers!!!




Hope the pictures are nice!All the area will be under snow from next month! So should enjoy this now itself as there will hardly be any other colors from late November to early March!!!

How can I give off my Doll...

In this post, I am not speaking of a small child or a doll. Here I would like to discuss when the bridge between two loved ones is to be diverted i.e., when the love gets shared. It may be when a daughter is married and she is off from her dad's hand, it may be when son runs behind his own family & responsibilities forgetting his parents or when a third person enters into a relationship. I know this is a very common thing that happens in everybody's life. Its a requirement for a generation to enter into their future and life to move on. It has happened in the past and shall keep happening in future. Whatever we are living at present, was lived in the past and will be lived in the future. The basic sense of life remains where it is.

When the path which is meant for two is about to be taken by three, after some initial frictions, one of them is either pushed off the road or has to step back voluntarily realising oneself. The time when the bond between the former two is invaded by the third is very critical and brings about a major alteration in the link. There can be a risk of either breaking the link or weakening the link but never to strengthen, so the issue should be dealt with very carefully. It is the responsibility of the person who has stepped back to try to keep the link alive. I recently saw a movie "Aakasamanta" which deals with the Father-Daughter relation. The movie is "Naanum Abhiyum" in Tamil and I think that the same movie is going to be directed in Kannada by Prakash Raj by the name "Naanu Nanna Kanasu". Though the movie had nothing new in it, the way it was presented is simply pleasant. The rifts are to be solved and not to be made larger. It is the duty of the more mature person to guide the rest towards their better future. How it is taken, is very subjective. One who has truly wished for your good never ever wishes bad for you whatever may happen, somewhere in the corner of mind, remains a well wisher.

The initial outburst of emotions when a relation is about to change varies stupendously. It may come out in bitter silence or words, but its always the fear of losing the "precious" that dominates. Its just like giving away the doll for which you have cared for most of your life. You can call it EGO or you can call it POSSESSIVENESS. He/she never wants to give off his/her doll to some stranger unless guaranteed that the doll is kept safe and happy in future. The doll is always a confused candidate between the traders, being qually immature and kiddish, never understanding the future consequences. Inspite of this, its the doll who has to decide who can keep it well, the giver or the taker.

I have believed that TRUST is the soul of any relation. When trust is breached, nothing can help. The person who realises and steps off the path, tries to keep the trust alive even if he/she has to walk behind the two on the same path and is always ready to get back to his position with no hesitation!

PS: This post was inspired by someone who has meant for me more than myself!!

B4 V TEL "I am committed"

Well, this is a topic which my brain has never been able to  process in a complete way. The three words "I am committed" are very different from the three words " I love you", right?! May be the latter is far easier to express than being committed to the word "committed".

I recently saw a couple of my friends changing their orkut account relationship status to "committed" from "single". When can a guy or a girl say the three words. Donot confuse with "I love you", but here I am speaking about " I am committed". How can one differentiate between the two! Is it just infatuation? Is it attraction? Is it lure? Is it lust? Is it liking? Is it love? Is it time to get committed?

Is it age status? Is it financial status? Is it family status? Or rather say, is it a psychological status? I think it requires a lot of confidence, lot of courage and lot of surity to tell the three words. Above all that feel of a need of a partner in life, someone above other friends. In country like India, some may say, "My parents decided, so I have no objection to get committed". But hey stop, what is your personal status [barring your parent's support] before deciding on it? Have you become completely independent enough to care for the new person in your life? In all ways, it may be personal care or it may be 'roti-kapda-makaan' [food clothing & shelter] or it may be anything to live happily. Have you become eligible to look after yourself first before you can welcome the new person in your life. And above that, I never understood how can a person get committed to lead their rest of life to someone whom they have never met before in life.

95% of bollywood movies and 70% of hollywood movies are based on the subject of Love or committment though both are different and 99% of these movies have a happy ending misguiding the people, especially the category of youth. I donot mean thats a major influence but it has a part of influence which nobody can deny!

That doesnot mean "go on, decide yourself of your life partner!" You do need your parents to be happy with you right. They have put years of effort to bring you up. They are the ones who are responsible for what we are now. They do deserve something return from us though they never demand for it!

To be honest, I think I am going out of focus of the point ha ha. I am just asking when can a person tell the three words and stick on to it without any risk. Have your say people, I know everyone have their own view points on this topic!

Penguin enjoys first snowfall!!!

Well, it may be very common to others, some may think I am a fool putting this up on blog and some may laugh at me. But for me, Oct 10th morning in Iowa City was a surprise. I knew that the night temperature would go to freezing level but it was snow fall!!! I always wanted to see one in my life. Coming from southern India, it is an occasion. Still a lot to come and the city will be drowned and frozen in snow soon. Eventually, I may get fed up of it but for today, it was simply a bliss!!! I thought of uploading few photos. They are not that good but FIRST snow fall for the year 2009 and of my life, a moment that deserves to be cherished forever!

When will we see the solution!

A country's development & healthcare level is judged according to various factors. One among them is infant mortality rate i.e., death of a child after birth and before celebrating first birthday. I read an article in Deccan Herald today and the following are few excerpts from that:

Over 400,000 newborns die within the first 24 hours of their birth every year, the highest anywhere in the world, a study by an international non-government organisation, ‘Save the Children’, has declared.

India’s record on child mortality is 72 per 1,000 live births!!!

Two million children under five years of age die—one every 15 seconds—each year in India, also the highest anywhere in the world

One-third of all malnourished children live in India, 46 per cent of children under three are underweight in the country, and over two-thirds of infants die within the very first month of their birth. Ninety per cent of these deaths occur due to easily preventable causes like pneumonia and diarrhea.

Low-cost interventions could reduce neonatal mortality by up to 70 per cent if provided universally.

India ranks 171 out of 175 countries in public health spending!

Hope the Govt of India reads the article and analyses it! There is a lot lot lot to be done to improve the health of India. It should not be stated one day in future that "Its unlucky to be born in India with regard to healthcare"

I myself having worked in Indian Govt Hospitals have seen that most of the times its because of lack of infrastructure. We can reduce atleast 50 to 70% of the deaths!

Jaago India Jaago! Leave the bloody publicity stunt of austerity politicians [the so called leaders of the country] and work to develop the country!! and my dear citizens of India, pay your taxes and do your part!!

Photo courtesy: My most dearest friend from Bangalore!

Thank you Google..You made us proud!