Hobbies - Then and now

This is a write up I prepared for a competition in WOW(Women of Wipro). That's a crazy link they provided - I'm not able to submit it ... Despite cutting it short to fit their word count. Baad mein jao competition, here is the complete article as I wrote in the first go.


When does a person actually take time to sit and think about his hobby? Frankly put, I would say when he has to fill up any application forms, and mostly that will be tailored to sound just perfect for the post that is applied for. The hoppy thus becomes professional! It loses its whole definition (The dictionary defines hobby as an activity or interest pursued outside one's regular occupation and engaged in primarily for pleasure). Looking at the fast pace at which the world keeps changing it’s a fact that when people get stuck in the rat race of moving on, they hardly find time to keep track of their interests. The struggle for existence takes priority over ones passion. Hence he has to actually think hard before answering that tricky question – What’s your hobby?

That’s the generic way of putting it. Talking about me, my interests are short lived which I justify as an invincible element of growth. There was a time when philately, currency collection, why even empty matchbox collection fancied me. My day was done if I manage to do a high profit exchange with my classmates and trust me that would be a serious affair and we used to have mediators for each transaction. After I got into my high school, Nancy Drew, Hardy boys and Famous Five took most of my time. That was like an addiction for me. Thanks to my school library, they had the entire collection. My college curriculum put a big loud full spot on my reading. That was when Music fascinated me. I had a brand new CD player and good huge speakers at my disposal. I liked to roam and my two- wheeler gave me all the freedom to roam around in town and most importantly, come home late. Soon after landing up with a comfortable job, my culinary interests took over everything else. I used to spend a lot of time thinking of what to cook in the evening. The liveliness and colors of a big city lured me and I loved going out to eat and shop. When I was suddenly left with lot of money and ample spending options for the same, the shopping freak in me gets all what’s needed. As time passed my definition of travel also expanded its boundaries. I got chances to travel in and out of the country both officially as well as personally.

Now that I have spent four years here, I feel that I have outgrown many of my interests. And as my age demands, I started paying more attention to my fitness and weight. I was never so keen about maintaining good physique but as the saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention. So I spend a good amount of my time exercising which I enjoy doing. Since I chose aerobics, I don’t feel that as a compulsion. It’s good to move to the fast rhythms and nice to see quick results. And most importantly it’s not an individual item. When coupled with simple yoga postures in the end, it takes care of you mind and body as a whole. It’s not about losing weight, not even about becoming trim – it’s just a feel that you are healthy and fresh. At the end of a session, you feel light and if you take a brisk walk out, it’s just perfect. Every day in the morning, you don’t have to spend 15 minutes of your time juggling in your wardrobe trying to decide which dress to wear for the day that will make you look slim and hide your tummy. After all it’s nice to have a hobby that you love doing with great rewards as bonus.

Apart from that there is one thing that has caught my attention lately - photo collage. I take time to get the pictures printed out, arrange it in stick albums or get it framed with nice tags. And since that has become my gifting trend to almost all the occasions to anyone I know, I get teased enough by my friends. No matter what, everyone will enjoy those rare moments of theirs to be framed. And although it’s a habit with me, it’s always new and special to person receiving it. It’s like going back to your school days when you work with glue sticks and paper cuttings.

Moving on to my next pastime, I have suddenly become a cleanliness jerk! I have always believed in a little amount of mess. When my mother used to scold when I was a kid for not arranging my things properly, I used to say that I love to place all the things messed up around me. It was usual for me to pile and push all my clothes into the wardrobe and close it with maximum pressure before anyone comes to my room just to hide him/her from the horror of the first-look of my room. But things have now started changing, maybe again as I believed, part of growing up. I take time in cleaning up my room, arranging things in place. I love to play the perfect host for a dinner with neatly kept curtains with the guest room spic and span!

I feel that the remnant of a good reader is still in me and I have started to pen down my thoughts in my blog. I update my blog more frequently these days and with more sincerity. Although I started it just like an email-ID, it has more or less become my identity. My readers count has increased and I treat it like a personal diary of mine.

Thanks to my fiancé, I have now started to appreciate some of the all time classics of Hollywood. I was always a passive movie watcher, and the very thought of watching an English movie continuously from start to end without missing a dialogue used to make me feel bored. I started to watch the most popular of English movies and should say, couldn’t just help appreciating them. So these days, I love to spend some time to watch the evergreen classics from time to time.

Apart from all these, I love to walk and to observe people. I no more complain about bus not being on time or the busy traffic since the place around never remains static. The street vendors, the aunty sitting next to me in the bus, the nasty motorcyclist, the unruly rikshaw driver – all become the characters of my instant play. I have overlooked the beauty of all other places, with a simple self judgment that no place can match the beauty of my hometown. Not that I have suddenly changed my mind, but I have opened myself to explore and admire the intricacies of my surroundings.

Above all, I believe in activity. I feel that one should be always busy to avoid any tensions. Choosing a hobby is a personal taste. But to make a healthy individual, one who is physically fit as well as mentally stable, there has to be something happening around him. Each individual has to pursue a hobby of their interest different from their work on a routine basis to maintain the vigor in life - That spark that keeps him going!

Another Classic for the Malayalam Film industry to be proud of - Pazhassi Raja

If the first thing that I do on a fine Monday morning after coming to office is to write a post on the movie ‘Pazhassi Raja’, then you can believe the extent to which it has moved me. I’m spellbound!!!

I know very little of Kerala history for which I comfortably put the blame on my academic curriculum at KV. Many of the short stories in ‘Aithihyamala’ were new to me when I read the English translation of the same recently. And since I have been very little to towns with historic importance within Kerala, I stayed aloof from the supposed to be very familiar sagas of my state. My disability of not being able to read and write my mother tongue was one more cause for the isolation.

I feel pathetic to say this but I started to watch the movie as an alien - One who had no idea of the history of the place where she was born and spent a good majority of her life. Unlike ‘Oru Vadakkan Veeragadha’, this is not a mammooty movie. It’s indeed a good multi-starrer; all are stars in their own way. Sarath Kumar, Manoj K jayan and Padmapriya were at their best. PadmaPriya was so natural in her performance right from the first scene that I didn’t bother to look at any other actor when she is there on screen. She did justice to the action sequences and she looked gorgeous even without makeup. I liked the way Manoj K jayan climbed the trees and his performance when he was brought for hanging in the cage. Sarath Kumar did the fights like any warrior; he moved the sword with ease, his attire was suiting him very well. Mammooty, as expected looked royal in his costume. Although I didn’t like Kaniha in the movie trailers because I thought that she didn’t have that Malayali look, I changed my opinion after watching the movie. She brings in that tender lady touch to the movie without which it would have been very dry.
The songs are all one better than the other. As actor Devan said, this is a movie to be watched by every malayali. This is a movie which I feel will be liked by children and adults, men and women alike. So don’t feel sad about spending 200 rupees, this is to be watched in theatres else you will miss half the thrill for sure!

I am leaving the rest to be filled in by Etta and Sree as they can bring more facts to this…

Year end resolutions

I can see that the frequency of my posts have reduced significantly. At least, there is a pattern - a minimum of one post in a month. The last two months, I feel that I have spent more time at home than in Bangalore... visited 4 times already, all visits for more than 3 days. No smooth sail in the office coz i got thrashed by my HR and my Boss alike for not maintaining my average hours for the second time. When will this policy change!!! I have to seriously consider changing my transport medium. Back to Office shuttle.. God that means get out of hostel by 7:20 in the morning!!!
I changed my work location to another tower and under a new manager. The first noticeable change came in my designation. It does sound better now I should say. It’s time to renew my visiting card ;) This place is very happening. All young people around. Planning for marriage, About to marry, freshly married, expectant mothers, fathers to be, just became fathers - that’s the range of people in the team. Very vibrant, colourful ;) and yes, lots of maska chaska girly talks in the air. Very different from the dry and old gang there in my previous building.
It’s good to see Rose move around with the big belly ... The whole team is considerate with her and gives her enough room to feel comfortable @ office. Our lunch time gossips slowly shifted from who's getting married to whom to who is in which month. I got my ABC corrected in these matters from the starters.
For the first time, my mother looked worried that I'm gaining weight. I should say that I have been a little careless lately and I do feel bloated myself. So my resolution (to be started from Monday)
Don’t miss aerobics/yoga even a day
Strict veggie till mid of December.
get to office by 8:30 in the morning daily
Avoid fried food :(

Win Win Time...

I’m not talking about any competition that I won. The good news is from my workplace. Wipro, TIS won two mega projects thereby adding the revenue to more than 200 million dollars in one go; Great indeed. But the fact that I’m surprised is that we managed to get a treat for that. It was a good change. I got to see the veterans speak, those people whom I had just heard of. I realized that these big shots just deserve to be there. A few have their own unique style, a positive energy in what that speak and do. It’s not in the attire, not in the catchy words they spoke. They spoke plain English in the simplest way one can expect, without blabbering or stammering, complete and to the point.
I felt good that I belong to an organization that is not that scarce of leaders who inspire people just by their presence.
It’s very well said that the success of a person’s career largely depends on the manager under whom he works.

What does Independence Day mean to you?

This text was flashing in the LCD screen as I waited near the lift in my office building on Aug 15, 2009. Despite being a Saturday, I had to come to the office to start fresh some tasks which had to be demonstrated the coming Wednesday. We are good indeed, known for the last minute rush, huge planning, a chain of workarounds and what not – all of it just a couple of days before any serious presentation. But yes, none of our demos even look like our earlier ones. So here I was again in the office preparing for another demo saga.

Did I miss the main thread here? I remember quite clearly the independence days which I had celebrated in different stages of my life. I’m proud of one thing – I never missed to go to school on an Independence Day or a Republic day. No, it’s not for the laddoo they give, but I really liked to dress up in pure white and stand for the assembly singing all the known patriotic songs in varied languages, to prepare the flags and bands the previous night to wear to school for the occasion, to see all the cultural events in school, repeated year after year – same songs, same dress, same teachers – only the faces of the kids change. Every year new set of Gandhis, Chachajis and Bhagath Singhs adore the stage. Still the feel was great. This day has another advantage that both my mom and dad will be at home when we go back home before lunch from school. After that it was a routine to watch Roja(Tamil) for the nth time.

I vividly remember the day when Ji was participating in a fancy dress and she didn’t have anything ready for the day – leave the costume, we didn’t even have a national flag by 11 O’clock in the morning. One hour of rush, four of us stormed in four directions, got the things, draped her in a white saree, did a li’l make up, I painted the flag in a chart paper and by afternoon our Bharat Mata was ready. This was for a competition organized by the railway school if I remember correctly. She didn’t win a prize but we thoroughly enjoyed the back stage activities.

As years passed, the day became less and less activity filled. There was not even a flag hoisting ceremony in our office. Except for the big images of tricolour in the newspapers and of course a few people wearing it in their wrists, there was apparently no change. It was just another day. This is one of the many things that I miss being one among the geek gang. If I was at home, I would have at least noticed a difference. There would be flag hoisting events in every nook n corner. Thanks to the Indian Railways, they have a divisional office in Palakkad and the associated buildings like the Railway school, The Railway hospital, The IOW, All trade Union offices the list goes on. These are the things in close vicinity to my home and I wouldn’t have missed the occasion. At least not the march past followed by the dog show of the RPF (Railway Protection Force).

Now if I sound like a typical IT employee shamelessly complaining about everything I see and still willingly doing the very same thing, I’m sorry.

With all due respect to the legendary freedom fighters, I salute the nation on its 62nd Independence Day. Jai Hind!

Coorg

A good choice for a small outing (min 2 days). We went there last weekend. We were 7 of us and the trip was awesome. The stay was cool and food was amazing….
Just takes 5 hours to reach Coorg (Kushal Nagar being the entry point) from Bangalore. The roads are quite good and we do have decent eat outs on the way. The place as such looks like a small town in Kerala but for the Kannada boards and hoardings. Coorg has to its credit a great choice of Home stays for us to pick. Most of them offer you great scenic ambience in an affordable rate ~ 2k per room per day. The main attraction of these is the food they make suiting the needs of the guest. For people who are interested, they offer local wine that too in affordable rates.

Since we had very less time at our disposal, we chose to make the trip as less hectic as possible.

We started with the Golden Temple in Bylakuppe which is a big Tibetian Monastery. It is in Kushal Nagar itself. The road which leads to the temple is fully surrounded by corn fields. You feel like you are in Tibet. Bylakuppe has several Buddhist viharas, (temples)
The inhabitants, the hotels, the shops, things which they sell, the names of shops and hotels will be more in their style. You will be able to spot monks from Kushal Nagar junction itself.

The Monastery is really huge with accommodation facility on request. It is the second largest Tibetan settlement outside the mountain kingdom, the first being Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh, where the Dalai Lama lives. And you will be able to see their prayers and rituals if you go in the right time. Language is a big problem as they won’t understand a single word of English (I badly wanted to take a snap with one of them, but didn’t know how to ask.) Most of them will give a hearty welcoming smile and that’s it.
A little bit of googling will reveal that there inhabitants there are not the actual citizens of India and that they will have to renew their residence permit every year. They are just Tibetian refugees in exile and are taken care of by the Government of Tibet. It’s good to see the bright colors and golden paints flashing from everywhere once you get into the temple. Their walls are covered with paintings and roofs are colored gold. They have the custom of lighting lamps; their prayed are echoed by rhythmic subtle beats. Everything around including the attire of the monk is bright and colourful. Once you get out of the temple, you have enough shopping outlets where you can get classic Tibetian souvenirs.

Abbey falls – not the biggest or the largest, but since we went in the monsoon season, the water flow was very high and it looked really majestic. It’s around 10 Kms from Madikeri. The waterfall could be seen only from a distance from the hanging bridge since the pathway down was closed ---safety first!

Rajah’s Seat is a small garden offering great scenic view especially the sunset. Legend has it that the local kings of Coorg spent their leisure time here watching the sunset. But since we went in the late morning, we missed the sun set but it really gave a good view from top.

Dubare Elephant Camp Coorg – This is an elephant camp which has close to 150 elephants. We didn’t get inside - No one who has for once seen Guruvayoor Aanakotta would dare to go anywhere else just to see Indian elephants. Beside this camp flows the river Kaveri where you can do river rafting. Now that’s something that we missed but there should be something to do when you go there the next time!

Nisargadhama, a wild life sanctuary is a good spot not to be missed (Beware, there will be monkeys that might scare you). You have resorts inside the sanctuary and it’s nice to see the bamboos neatly grouped giving a good path way to venture through.

We were done for the day after all this and had to start back home. But this trip was indeed a memorable one. Not to mention the Dump charade, the best being Agrahaarathile kazhudha, Kalli chellamma, pakshe and avan chandiyude makan

Nami’s dialogue over the dinner table – the besttttest. For security reasons, I’m not publishing it here. None of us will forget it very soon, especially Kiran, alle Kiran? ;)

Akkru – the best performer. You held the spirits high throughout the trip!!!

Jisha – I have said this before but now in front of a larger audience – you are the best accountant and will continue to be our Finance manager in future.

So I leave the rest for others to complete …

Just like that ...

I have not yet decided on a particular topic to scribble down in this post. It’s just that I’m left with nothing interesting to do on a Monday morning and just decided to write anything that comes to my mind. Oh yes, I was thinking about autobiographies. I believe that only people who have the habit of writing diaries can one day think about writing an autobiography. Otherwise how the hell are they able to remember all the intricate details of a person/incident? Diary writing is something I cherish a lot, attempted quite a number of times and finally decided that it’s not my cup of tea. Well the main reason being the fact that I didn’t feel that I will ever be able to confide everything what I think when I write. Alas, what’s the point in stuffing up hidden meanings in a beautifully crafted sentence just because someone might end up turning the pages of your secret chamber?

Last weekend was another usual one. No happenings. Decided to meet old school pals but thanks to the hartal, I was forced to sit in my room. So once again - movie, movie and again movie. Started with Shakespeare-MA Malayalam, then Sarvam, the Notebook and Love Actually.

Shakespeare-MA Malayalam : It’s more of a drama than a movie. Avoid.

Sarvam – I took the CD assuming that it would be a not very popular Surya movie.
The side view of Arya in that green shirt which appears in the movie poster makes him look very similar to Surya. But the movie as such didn’t disappoint me. It started as any usual Tamil movie – pathetic comedy and stupid romance. But I got very curious when the heroine dies in the first half and after that it’s interesting. Arya’s movies have a minimum standard I believe…. Except for his voice of course!

The Notebook – I rather not dare to comment on a classic like this. Having read Nicholas Sparks four novels, I had a minimum level of expectation set on my mind. I find his writings to be total filmy kind. And I had heard enough reviews from friends about this. This one is really worth a watch – A very cute love story.

Love Actually – Complete Masala. To be watched with friends.

And did I mention anywhere that I saw Love Aaj Kal last weekend. A time pass movie with great songs. Was really shocked to find that the Punjabi kudi in that movie is actually a Brazilian Model. She looks very much Indian.

So that’s all from me for now, but keep watching – I’m gonna come with a BIG writeup on our Coorg holiday.