@Travel:

I traveled Mysore, Melkote, Lepakshi, Udupi and Anantapur.

@Photography:

A big time addiction. :D I have become a photo maniac carrying my camera everyday to the office and pestering my beautiful teammates to pose every now ant then. They, too, encourage me and I have made a reasonable progress.

A few include Market shoots, Madiwala Market Shoot, Russel Market.

Subscribed to flickr pro for an year.

@Books:

Completed just nine books.

@Movies:

Watched loads of movies on the small screen though I have lost interest in watching them anymore.

@Gadgets:

iPod, E51 Phone with gprs, a new TV. ;)

...and my favorite model quit the company who always posed for me. :(

© Manasa. All rights reserved.

This doesn't apply to those on silver screen ;)

There are two trees in front of my house for more than two decades now. One is a Sampige tree, planted by my mother, Sampige flower is yellow in colour and my mother is very of it. She uses these flowers for worshiping daily or decorating her hair. The other tree was planted by Mahanagara Palike. Though, I don't know what these trees are called. It is the tallest among the two trees, let me refer to it as Tall tree :)

The tall tree doesn't provide any flower not fruit but it definitely provides shade and cool breeze. My father parks his vehicle under its shade. It is also a shelter for crows and small animals like squirrels. Many squirrels dwell in this tree, to my surprise. When my mother spreads paddy or wheat for sun drying on the terrace, these squirrels would run to and fro, happy to find its food for survival. :) When there is nothing spread on the terrace, they find their way into the Tulsi pot eating the tiny flowers.

On few weekends, when I sit in my room spending the whole day browsing the net or reading a book, I watch these tiny animals with huge tails running around at regular intervals in search of food. I was sad that they didn't find any food and I spread a packet full of roasted groundnuts on the terrace and hid behind the window with camera and pin drop silence. One came out, holding the roasted groundnut with both hands, peeled off and started to munch. Having completed only one groundnut, he ran to the tree and called for his friends. Slowly, his friends also came out and started relishing the groundnut. It was a splendid moment to watch them munching together and how one called out for its hungry friends when the food was found. We have lot to learn from them.

A groundnut packet: Rs 10/-

Watching the squirrels eat and play together: PRICELESS.

If you see any animals, don't let them starve. :)

© Manasa. All rights reserved.

Drafted 7th Dec '08

Last Sunday, 7th December, I watched the Kannada play Kalavu at Rangashankara .
Direction: Pramod Shiggaon,
Playwright: Dr K Y Narayanaswamy,
Troupe: Rangasampada, Bangalore.
Duration: 120 mins.

In Kannada , kaLavu means stealing. According to myth, stealing is also considered to be a smart profession. The plot of the play is all about stealing. Not everyone can be perfect at stealing without getting caught. Stealing not only refers to stealing valuable stuffs belonging to others, it can be stealing someone's dream, happiness etc... Little Krishna in Mahabharat a was also a great thief who stole butter. In this play, a buffalo is stolen and the villagers are involved in searching the lost animal. Meanwhile, the depth of truth is discovered apart from finding the lost buffalo. The play is well executed and the suspense is maintained till the end.

All of us are thieves in day-to-day life. If we haven't stolen a materialistic stuff we might have stolen something else. Yet, we don't realize that we are thieves. ;)

Also read more: here.

© Manasa. All rights reserved.

Friday always bring relief to us. Most of eagerly wait for Friday and leave the office as early as possible. :) Today is one of the most memorable day in my life. At around 11:15am, the fire alarm rang in our building and all of us inside were out of the building within few minutes. When we were out of the building, we learnt that it was just a mock fire alarm to train us. This was a relief and none of us were worried since nothing serious had happened.

While walking out of the building along with my teammate who is also a close friend of mine said, " If anything happens to any of us, I am gonna miss you." I was moved by her words.

Death: I don't fear. It is better to live brave than live with the dear of death. Death hugs young and old. If not at old age, I would die young. The fear of death makes you grow older and worried than you're. None of us can predict when we die or how we die, then why fear something which are out of your control and lose peace? We, being mortals, are born with death. Nothing is permanent and no one is permanent in life.

My aunt once narrated this story to me:
A young King in his thirties was over-weight. He had inferiority complex due to his physical looks. He, once, announced that he would reward the person who would suggest him the ways of reducing fat in less span of time. Many ministers suggested various methods and nothing worked. He was dissapointed. One fine day, a sane astrologer says, that, the King will die exactly after a week from this day. The King, listening to this, wouldn't sleep, stopped eating and was always lost in thoughts since the fear of death haunted him. More than a week passed, he remained alive. The angry King, now called for the astrologer and told him with pride that he was still alive, hale and healthy, and his astrology was wrong and he would be hanged. The astrologer being a clever man says that the King was now slimmer than before. This made King happy. If he hadn't told that he was going to die, the King would never had worried or lost weight. This is the fear of death that made his lose this peace, brought sleepless nights, starve, numb and even cry.

I was happy that there is at least one person who would miss me when I am gone. :)

© Manasa. All rights reserved.