Tribute to Sahasa Simha Vishnuvardhan

I was preparing Masala Dosa for breakfast and there were no onions for the "Bhaji". I had sent S to the market to buy onions. He came running in 10 minutes and said "Vidya, Vishnuvardhan sath hodranthe. TV haaku" (Vidya, itseems vishnuvardhan has died, switch on the TV for more news).

And truly, when we switched on TV 9, it was all there. The revered actor had indeed succumbed to Cardiac Arrest in Mysore. And it was a sad day for Kannada Film Industry as we lost 2 stars in 1 day - C Ashwath (Kanchina Kantha) and Dr. Vishnuvardhan (Sahasa Simha).

Vishnu's career in Kannada Industry was always marred by the incident that took place on the sets of Gandhada Gudi. People have always believed that he tried to "kill" Dr. Rajkumar with a live bullet - though nobody on the sets knew how and why a live bullet was put into the mock gun that was used to shoot a fighting scene in the movie.

Despite this, with sheer hard work, grit and determination, he slowly carved a place in our hearts. His role in several movies are unforgettable - Ramachari in Nagarahavu, Bandhana, Aapthamitra, Suryavamsha, Kalla Kulla - several songs are unforgettable - "Haavina Dwesha, Hanneradu Varusha", "Ramaswamy, Krishnaswamy, Kelasavannu madonave", "Tuthu anna thinnoke, bogase neeru kudiyoke, tundu batte saaku nanna maana muchoke".

He was married to Bharathi and has 2 daughters. He was always cited as a gentleman, never entering politics nor opening commenting or supporting any parties. He led a quite life and offlate spent time in spirituality and meditation. And yesterday, this star breathed his last.

Here is a small tribute to this great actor:

Inhuman side of Techies

We are called "knowledge workers". We are supposed to use our brain, intelligence and knowledge to do creating things. Today, There is no field in computer industry where Indian Software Professionals cannot be found.

And yet, as there are 2 sides to every coin, few Indian Software Professionals have an ugly side.

With both husband and wife working in the IT Industry - they tend to bring small girls to help them support with their house work - cooking, cleaning and tending to their small kids. However, they forget that these young girls are kids themselves - mostly orphans or from very poor families. And when these young girls/boys do not do as told, they are beat mercilessly and meted very inhuman treatment - branding them with hot iron rods, hitting them on their head with wooden sticks, pouring hot oil on them, slapping them, starving them... so on and so forth.

Today morning, I read yet another article that talked about techies violence towards domestic helps.

Why do these people behave like this? Don't they stop on second to think how they would feel if someone did the same to their kids?

Why do we forget they are also humans like us?

Their Special Girl

She loves to meet new people, and get to know new faces. She is so curious about you - asks you ample questions in miniscule details - won't leave you until you tell her the names of your school teachers, your kids, spouse, mother-in-law, father-in-law, mother, father... pets... list goes on.

Yet, what is special in her is that if you bump into her 1 or 2 years later, she will repeat all your details purely out of her memory.

She loves reading. She knows exactly which rack in Sapna Book shop has what kind of books, which nook and what corner of the shop she will find what she wants - she does not want anybody's help to locate this. She scrutinises each book she purchases reads the covers back and forth and takes her own sweet time to purchase 1 single book.

Yet, each book she picks up are rare treasures, which, even you will not "see" when you go to shops to buy them for your kids.

She loves watching mythical movies, tales of kings and queens, dreams of being re-born as a princess in a BIG palace

Yet, she is does not realize that she is already a princess in the eyes of her parents.

Yes, she is special - an autistic child born to her parents....

"Udhas" Ghazals

A magical voice churning out soulful melodies :)

Pankaj Udhas (born 17 May 1951) is a ghazal singer from India. He is credited, along with other musicians like Jagjit Singh and Talat Aziz, with bringing the style to the realm of popular music. Udhas rose to fame for singing in the film Naam (1986 film), in which his song Chitthi Aayee Hai became an instant hit. Following that, he has also performed as a playback singer for numerous films. He has recorded many albums since then and tours the world as an accomplished Ghazal singer. In 2006, Pankaj Udhas was awarded the Padmashree. (Information Courtesy: Wikipedia)

Two of my all time favorites ghazals are:
1) Waqt se waqt ki kya shikayat karen Waqt hi na raha waqt ki baat hai
Usne Dekha Hamen usne jaana hamen Usne thukra diya waqt ki baat hai

2) Hui mehengi bahut hai sharaab ke Thodi Thodi piya karo
Piyo lekin rakho hisaab ke Thodi Thodi piya karo

What do you do when...

Your 2 years old daughter asks for a glass of water. You diligently give her that. Suddenly you hear loud noises - two of your neighbours are fighting cats and dogs. As usual, you are curious and want to peep from the window to catch a glimpse of their fight. You turn away wee bit to open the window. Suddenly your son starts shouting "amma amma". You turn in time to see your darling daughter, apple of your eye, pouring the entire glass of water on the mattress.

Your son is sleeping quitely in his place. He is drowsy. Your little daughter goes close to him calling him "anna anna" (brother brother). You assume she is going there to pet him, give him a hug so he can doze off.. instead she grabs handful of his hair and pulls hard. It hurts him so much that he starts crying...

All this in half an hour's time...

You spank her hard and then you see tears as big as pearls dropping down from those lovely eyes... you feel very sad for hitting her... you want to go near her to pet her... she runs away from you and says "I want chandramma (her baby sitter) ..."

Her way of rubbing salt over my wounds...

What do YOU do in such situations?