Are we moving too fast

01-Jan-2013

While we had a great time with friends at the Garden Retreat Resorts some 40 kms from Hyderabad heralding 2013,  I kind of feel a little disconcerted on a few happenings of today that kind of piqued my mind.  I ask myself are we headed into the future a little too fast? 

As soon as we stepped out of my car  post a tiring drive wading through the traffic, windows up with the AC on my 6 year daughter exclaimed “Daddy…see so many stars in the sky !!!” Given the rustic environs of the resort devoid of the concrete jungle amidst whiffs of fresh breeze from the many a tree lining the place….one could not stop but discern what nature has to offer.  My son bolted to pick up a basket-ball that lay and with joy started dribbling his way through some imaginary opponents to basket the ball in absolute glee…(after all he spends all his time buried in his books, with absolutely no time to play), whilst my daughter quizzed “Daddy…why in Hyderabad do we see very few stars!!!”  The barefoot walk on the grass felt like an earthy experience reminding of what we miss in our busy everyday lives…

The chirping of the birds and the call of a distant peacock was like music to the ears the next misty morning while we exited our cottage for a cup of “chai”.  The happiness was kind of short-lived when we trudged out with our bags to head back to the rigmarole…to the daily grind…

The other event this evening once again took me back in times.  It was but a simple rather very simple outing for a “Veg-Thali” at the Secunderabad Kamat (read Kamat not Kha-mat).  I kind of reminisce those days when I would walk behind my Mom and Dad with my brother in tow into the only 3 hotels/restaurants where we could have a meal…It was either the Kamat or the Taj Mahal (not to be confused with the 5 stars ones) or the Shanbagh…Well my spouse Sruti was in a mood for such a simple Thali this evening while I wracked by brain to think of a place where we could have one…Those were the days which ever corner we went, we would end up at one of the 3 restaurants and here I was today, Google mapping the nearest non-modernized Kamat…the one that would taste what as a child I relished.  Google maps lost and we headed to Secunderabad…

Oh, the smell divine of the sambar emanating from within, the hustle bustle of the waiters, the shouts into the kitchen..”Ondu Masala Dosa…”.  Ah how much did we miss the 3 chutku pooris, served with 6 bowls of curry, pooriyal, sambar, rasam, curd and the ever served kesri bath.  Plonk comes the small steel bowl of rice a minute later…How much did we miss the walk to wash basin to find the ubiquitous (all Kamats are the same J) less than a quarter of the medimix neatly cut soap..

While there was joy on one hand of celebrating the new year…there is this other side of me thinking how we are missing the very simple uncomplicated things in life…the gaze up to the stars,  the barefoot walk in grass, the chirping of sparrows,  the clear early morning mist, a whiff of fresh air from the greens, a simple but yet filling limited thali…the aroma of fresh sambar when we walk into a restaurant…Sigh…Is the World moving too fast….can we pause a bit….can we count the stars along with our daughters…can we run the basket-ball with our sons…can we walk through the early pleasant mornings with our spouses…..can we…..

-          Prasanna Meher Nori

A weekend getaway

A weekend getaway this

A very quick (Shuru hone ke pehle hi khatam ho gaya types) train trip to Khammam, 250 kms from Hyderabad ended rather on an enjoyable note.  Thanks to one of my office colleagues’ for inviting a bunch of us (10 in toto) for a family function of his.  Boarded on an Intercity express that was to ferry us to our destination in under Three and a half hours.  The time that would take someone to watch Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gum albeit that this would be an experiential moving movie a la 4D kinds unlike a vicarious one.   

I got my seat in a different compartment from the group that was with me.  I was a tad disappointed that I would be away from the chit and chat with my group but reasoned out to comfort myself that this would be a good opportunity to finish “The Last Lecture” that was gathering dust in my almirah and occasionally I could gaze out of the window to breath in the fresh country side air.  I did not get a window seat…cry cry…wail…wail.  Now, the seats in the train are so designed that the 3 seats on one side would probably be fit for 2 lean adults and one child.  And I had the dubious distinction of sharing the seat with a rather stout lady, her husband and their 3 year old child who would at his own free will kick me and the dad would go…”Nahi Beta…aise nahi karte” and would offer a meek apologetic smile.  A few minutes later another bout of “kick…kick” and another sheepish smile.  This went on for some time while on the other end..there was jostling by the kapeee kappee fellows running up and down the compartment.  The Chayye, Chayye… Kapee, Kapeee, moongphalli, Idleee vadaaa, Tamata Sooop, Tamata Sooop rang in the ears every other minute amidst the thatak thatak….. thatak thatak rhythmic beat as the train thundered past some non-descript stations while I buried myself into the book and shut out the surroundings that really was turning out to be Kabhi Gum and Har waqt Gum as misery seemed to pile on.  The three and half hours was seeming to be more stretched than it normally would. 

Was I glad that the destination finally arrived !!!  We were greeted by our host at the station and quickly ushered into a waiting Chevy Tavera that got us to our hotel.  The afternoon was spent travelling a distance of 240 odd kms to and fro to the Temple Town of Bhadrachalam.  This was the time when there were good exchange of views and counterviews with my colleagues and their spouses on the state of the Nation, the state of the State, the bifurcation, the RaGa and the NaMo…what is ailing all of us now, what should be done and what should not be done, what should he do and what should she do….and the likes.  Suggestions and recommendations on what is to be done for up-lift-ment of everything that is there in the world flowed like the water flowing down the Niagara falls.  Had a wonderful Darshan of Lord Rama.  Thanks again to another of my colleagues who was instrumental in getting us the best ever time in the Temple.

Come evening, we witnessed a grand “Dhoti” function at a theme park in Khammam.  Excellent surroundings and a dazzling stage decorated with some of the whitest upholstery and exquisite flowers greeted us.  The milieu comprised some very neatly dressed people immersed in their own giggles…”oh, its been so long since I saw you”..”oh you have not change one bit in all these years”….”oh, your son has really grown tall”…”oh wow…your saree is so beautiful”…I am sure would have done the rounds.  Post an elaborate dinner, we headed back to our hotel rooms.

Caught the next mornings’ train, and to my good fortune, we were all together this time round.  And I GOT A WINDOW SEAT…wooohooo J.  Our conversations of the previous day continued into the next 4 hours while downing several of the Chayes and Kapees and the Time pass Moong phalis.  I thought we arrived quicker than the journey that took us to the other way.  This ofcourse I reckoned was thanks to the wonderful company and the difference it made…

To sum it up…a quick getaway that had some wonderful ingredients…I got my day time windowless and windowed train experience…imbibed some tasteless chais and coffees.  And the silver lining I guess is turning a little longer while I head with my family on another of those train journeys to Hampi this evening….

Prasanna Meher Nori

23^rd December 2013

Travelogue: A trip to the Kingdom of Sri Krishna Devaraya and Seat of Kishkindha, Hampi, Karnataka, India

I thought that the place holds a couple of old temples and ruins but was proved otherwise completely belying expectations. This note of mine takes you through a quick “How to Get there, where to stay” and a little of “What to Expect and how should you plan once there" Best Time to visit: Winter (Temp: A comfortable 28 Deg C peak and 16 Dec C min). Forget going there in any other season.  It will be terribly hot and you would get baked literally in the Rocky terrains.

How to get there and Where to Stay: We in Hyderabad often rue that there are only a few places that we could plan for a quick getaway for a couple of days. Vizag, Araku come often to our minds. A trip to Ooty, Kodai, Munnar or any of the temple towns in Tamil Nadu or Orissa seem a stretch. Stretch on the travel time plus how to get there. Hampi is 13 kms away from Hospet railway station that is easily and very conveniently reached in 9 hours. Catch the Kacheguda – Yeshwantpur Express ( 17603) departing at 9 pm and reaching Hospet at 6:20 am the next morning. Travel on sleeper class or 2nd AC or 3rd AC. Hampi international an upscale hotel is a walkable distance from the station. We however booked in Hotel Karthik through Go-ibibo which is 1.5 kms or a Rs. 40 per auto away. This is a budget hotel, rooms @ Rs 832/- per night. Courteous staff, good food, good location, helpful travel desk rooms are big but not good. Well WYPIWYG (What you Pay is What you Get). Ventured into this hotel thinking that it would have been pre-qualified by Go-ibibo to be good.  Walk some 100 mts and you could get into the very tasty Udipi Restaurant. Yumm Masala dosa’s, idli Wadas and unbeatable Filter Coffee.

Your Day1 : Visit towards Hampi to live a day in the 13th Century. Make sure you eat breakfast as if you were having lunch since once you get going to Hampi, there are hardly any eateries around. Make sure you stock up Water Bottles, fruits, biscuits etc since there are not many outlets. A Chevy Tavera (9+1 seater) costed us Rs 1800/- per day that took us around Hampi (20 Sq Kms to be covered). Virupaksha temple is the first destination reached in 30 mins from Hospet. Here is where you will get Guides. Recommended that you hire one. Charges between Rs 800 to Rs 1200 for the 6 hour trip. I am not going to get into the details of what is there to see since every place that is there on the Tour map is worth a dekho. Also, you could read tons of material on the www. You might probably enquire if there are KSTDC (Tourism) tours, though I did not come across any such arrangements. The last stop of the day will be at the spectacular Vitthal temple where you could easily spend a couple of hours wandering around in amazement.
Alternate modes of transport include, full day Autos for Rs 1000/- that will cover the spots. These are available from the Virupaksha temple. There are also bicycles and Mopeds that you can hire for the day and get yourself mobile as well !!!

Day 2: Visit towards Anegundi - Kishkindha (The Kingdom of Vali from the Ramayana Times). 25 kms on the opposite side of Hampi. Have sumptuous and an elaborate breakfast..start early. If you have energy left from the first day, you could make the first stop at Anjanadri Hill. It is believed that Lord Hanuman was born here. A 500 steps steep climb will reach to the top of the hill and to the Temple. Post that take a boat ride on river Tungabhadra to Nava Brindavan where Prahalada was to have sat in a penance to atone for him getting his Father killed. This place also houses the tombs of sages who lived in the 15th Century. Next stop will be Pampa Sarovar, the place where Shabari lived and fed Lord Rama fruits. The steps of Lord Rama and Shabari can be seen here. Well, we ran out of steam and called it a day and returned to the Hotel via a quick visit to the Riverside near the PWD Guest house.
If , you have an additional day you could go over to Badami (160 kms from Hospet). We did not have one and hence am not able to comment.

Return to Hyderabad: Train 11304, Kolhapur Hyderabad express departs Hospet at 7 pm and reaches Hyderabad at 6 am the next day right in time to get you to your offices.
What is Good and What is not: If you have an interest in history and Photography, then this is is the place. What is not good: Way too many Alms seekers, lack of hotels for a decent eat once you are out of Hospet. You will get a sense of absolute hatred against those who plundered, looted and destroyed such lovely monuments…..

PS:  There are many more temples/visiting places around Hampi which I have not covered.  Would recommend a thorough research on www before you make a plan of your own.  

After Earth (2013) English:

After Earth (2013) English - Disastrous, Terrible, Horrendous, Distasteful, %$^&^&$#$%**(% (some of the expletives that I use which for obvious reasons are not being transliterated here) kind of a catastrophical [to ones health] kind of a movie that leaves one senseless, dumb, "what crime have I committed" kind of a feeling that I am having to go through this numbing torture...Will Smith, Night Shyamalan's combo, I thought will deliver something watchable but this was far from it. The movie (which is an insult to the word movie) stars 2 characters, the father and the son, who try extremely hard to act that looks so put on that you would feel that the gross creature (URSA) or the monkey in the movie was better at it. Don't even go near this one even if offered a free DVD or better you could probably gift one to your choicest of enemies on his/her birthday to extract some sadistic revenge. Glad that I saved a few bucks by not going to the theaters tempted by the Cast of Will Smith. He must have had some compelling reason to pick this up. My rating 0.5/5. Why you might ask that I have been liberal on the rating...Well some of the visuals were stunning...

Experiencing the Slo-mo

It was a rather rare opportunity that presented itself in the form of me riding my Son’s bicycle all the way from the shop to home….a distance of 4 kms.  Initial, thought of Oh..how will this 26 inch thing fit into my car…oh Do I now have to hire a tempo..oh now where do I find a tempo… what should I do.  My thoughts raced whilst my super excited son was jumping, dreaming of himself on the two wheels joining his friends racing them to the line..I was perplexed, confused, amazed that I had many a choice of how to get the bicycle home but amused at the innate inability to make a decision.  And lo out of the blue, it struck; the Sherlock in me kind of reverberated…”Elementary my dear…” Why don’t you just ride it home!!!!  Happy with myself and with a pat on my back, I echoed my thoughts to my Spouse and said as a matter of factly” yeah..I will ride it home…”
“Are you sure? Have you gone bonkers?  Can you do it? But what about traffic? Can we not....” was the next few lines of conversation that followed.  I reasoned with her the best I could, and set to rest her worries.  The battle won, I handed over the car keys to her and I got on to the bicycle. Reminding myself that I should be on the extreme left of the road as against the tendency of being on the right, as was ensconced in my mind post the years of driving a car. 
And I started pedaling, the first few meters a bit wobbly, but soon settled well into the rhythm. Boy, was I not excited…reminded of my younger years.  I was very watchful wading through the pedestrian traffic, mindful that I should stick to the left, mindful that I could “triinnggg  trinngg…” my way forward.  I pedaled and pedaled furiously at that, wanting to see how fast I could go while the traffic around whizzed past on my right.. My legs were working at quite a brisk pace…I looked to my left and then to my right…and then it struck me….as if I were watching a movie in slow motion…the hero and the heroine taking ages and ages to run to each other arms in very slow steps ..the slow motion effect.. The dream that I often get (in slow motionJ), when I am running on the railway platform to catch the train that has already started moving… the mind egging to run faster…to traverse the elusive distance to the last compartment of the train, but the deadened iron laden feet would not budge, with the face drenched in beads of sweat, the distance between me and the last compartment ever so widening…
On the bicycle, suddenly that evening, everything appeared to have slowed down…my destination appeared to be quite far off, even whilst I was huffing and panting…working up the speed.  A realization of having all the time in the world dawned.  I realized and thought, oh how beautiful it was was to experience the slow-ness, how beautiful it was to  grab the moment where it felt that time was in my control…Thoughts went back to my childhood when  my cousin and I would cycle down a few kilometers across the paddy fields of Kovvur on our Grandads bicycle by the banks of River Godavari, finally reaching the train tracks, sit down for whatever time that we could care, watch the Howrah Mail and the Coromandel Express fly by…breathing the fresh air, enjoying the greens and riding back slow through empty roads save the occasional tricycle that came our way or a rare Ambassador that went past…
How I wish I could have all that time in the world and experience the Slomo again and  again and again…..

Prasanna Meher Nori

7th July 2013

Life comes at you Fast

Experience the improbable was something that presented itself on this particular day.  A unique first once in a life time event came my way rather fortuitously when I was given the honor of being a Chief Guest and of course the key note speaker where I was to address a large group of 200 odd  “Achievers” from my company at an upscale hotel.  Got up early that day, dusted my blazer that was comfortably ensconced since long.   Read and re-read so as to learn by rote a canned speech provided by the organizers for the occasion.  Rehearsed and conjured up images of how I would deliver so as not to make myself a fool in front of the cream the company holds.

Come evening, and when I was just about to start for the venue, the skies opened up.  A good omen, I believed.   The venue was a close 7 kms away and I had made a measured judgment of 20 mins to traverse the distance.  The clouds were looking ominous and I felt…oh like any other rainy day…I should be well in time.  What started as a drizzle soon turned into a downpour.  What appeared initially as Cats and Dogs soon turned out into Elephants and Rhinos and several Giraffes to add too.  Roads soon turned into puddles and then into pools and soon into streams.  Vehicles got stuck behind each other and resigned to the Will of Nature a few engines died down.  It was a decision to make whether to wade through the streams that were now at a threatening 1 foot height or to stay put and bide my time.  On a parallel note, Ironically, I was right behind a Tanker carrying water to quench thirst for a few perhaps a colony away.  20 mins soon turned into 30 mins and then to 60 mins.  My mind was furiously at work apprehensions galore, if this was not going to be my day.  I was already an hour late for the function.  With a strong resolve and few mumbled prayers, I took a diversion trusted the Suzuki I was in and stepped on the pedals vrooming my way through the streams following a few other motorists in a narrow lane.  It was like “Chal Meri Dhanno aaaj….blah blah and blu…”Prayers answered, I finally reached the venue a good 90 mins late and to my amazement, the organizers kept the function on hold.  Ofcourse, there were several others amongst the 200 who also got stuck in a similar predicament and were trickling in into the venue well behind schedule.  Whew, I thought, after all stars seemed to be favorably aligned and my moment of truth was going to unfold soon.

The function started off with a good note and the MC started off  on a rather “Ahem”….good note singing some good praises in my honor introducing me.  And then the dreadful moment had come…Life comes fast at one.  To my utter shock and horror the MC started off narrating my canned speech word by word, sentence by sentence in gay abandon obviously oblivious to the fact that that was something that I had to narrate.  I turned ashen for a while, upset and wondering, why is this happening to me.  First the deluge and then this happenstance.  No this was not happening…no this was not happening…Thinking on what to do next…what to blabber (yes…after what had just presented itself, it would be a blabber..I surmised) when my turn came.  And amidst the chaos that was going on in my mind…I faintly heard my name being called out…as if I was in the middle of a bad dream and someone calling me out distantly.  Snapped out of my thoughts, when I came to,  I realized that the mike was being ushered under my nose amidst a reasonable applause.  I wondered if the applause was for the MC who had just finished his, rather, my bit or was it in anticipation of what I was going to come up with.  Summoning courage, with several deep breaths, I got up with laden feet, drained due to my thoughts.  And I suddenly remembered a bit of an episode from “Suits” and a bit of what our companies Chairwoman had mentioned a few days ago and a bit of this and a bit of that and a bit of what I actually wanted to say in the absence of a canned speech.  A potpourri of a well orchestrated menu came to the fore.  Confidence buoyed by the response from the audience further rekindled my self belief.   I realized that it was all coming together as beads stuck on a string into a well amalgamated cohesion.  I ended my monologue 15 minutes later into what I felt was a thunderous applause.

Fortune favors the prepared mind someone said…and here was a day when everything that could go against this did.  I guess my stars were aligned favorably that I was able to emerge out of this un-enviable bizarre situational day unscathed……