Relentless Stares

Taking the public transportation to work can at times be as interesting as intriguing it can be. Having boarded the bus today meant for public transport, I was not too lucky to have found a seat to give my legs some rest and my eyes a toast of the daily news. I had to wait patiently before a passenger gave up the possession of his seat and I got the chance to sit next to a beautiful girl. With public transportation, you get this opportunity to see new faces and occasionally, as in my case today, get lucky to be seated next to a pretty looking girl. After all, standing for a while to get the seat didn’t seem all that bad. I perhaps could have even waited a bit longer if such opportunities were to present themselves.

“The next hour and half would not be too arduous” I told myself. Not that the lady was adjacent to me, but due to the fact that it can be really uncomfortable with the crowd jostling in the cramped space. I pitied the crowd waiting for a seated passenger to alight and with a sympathetic smirk, spread open the news paper to get some dose of the events happening around the world. In some time I was done with the news and it was time for the iPod to come to life. Listening to the iPod meant, my eyes were free and my ears were occupied. I could see the world around me and not the alphabets or the words in the newspaper.

Sometimes, you realize the potential of the object or person beside you from the perspective of others. I realized that the lady beside me was the cynosure of all eyes. Especially the folks, who sit, squat or stand opposite to the direction of the movement of the bus, had taken to keen observance of a beautiful soul seated next to me. I could realize that some of the stares didn’t spare me out of jealousy and, being a man, I can understand how they felt. I held on to my composure and resorted to observing the folks who appeared lost deeply in thoughts. I know what guys think during such times and I was enjoying myself watching the despair of the poor souls.

Time passed and the stares became more and more relentless. Some were not even blinking. I was wondering what was going through her mind. She clearly was defiant of the world of stares and was engrossed in to reading a book and I was very keen to figure out what she read. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get to see the face of the book as she flicked pages over pages, and I had to pack up my stuff and alight as the next stop was my destination. I took one quick glace over my shoulder to the bunch of boys and they still were occupied in their world of relentless staring. Long live their thoughts and imaginations, I wished as I alighted. It was a beautiful world out there. Long live the beauties, for the world appears resplendent in thier presence.

-Sandeep Mahagaonkar

ROTTIKALLU – A Journey Memorable

The planning to this trip started with a strange unfolding of events in office. The much hyped about reorganization of certain departments was just round the corner. There was uncertainty about who’s going where and we all suspected that our team would probably top the list of donors (read human resources) to other departments. Reorganization being a recurrent process in our organization, this one too didn’t come as a surprise to most of us. Some things under the sun are perennial and this one, without an inkling of doubt, can be classified as one of them. It was very apparent that this was the last opportunity to go out together as a team and of course, use the company budget to fund the expenses. What more could serve as a motivation to get started?

Rottikallu was decided as the place to visit due to a couple of influencing factors. One that it had garnered quite a reputation for being an ideal place for a team outing and secondly, it fit our allocated official team outing budget pretty well. Although we could have funded the extra expenses from our earnings in case the need demanded, the team was reluctant. Why should it be called an official team outing if we sponsored ourselves, we demanded and questioned. Of course, we are well paid individuals from the take home point of view, but once the creditors start laying their hands on our money for the debts undertaken, we look more like blood sucked mortals trying hard to get a gasp of air from the abundance of it available in the atmosphere. So, it was fair enough that we were officially funded rather that being self funded.

We headed towards Rottikallu from Bangalore post dinner at ‘The Vil’age’. The name of the restaurant is 'The Vil'age', but once the bill landed in our hands it appeared like we were buying a village. The exorbitant bill was settled and we started our expedition. We reached Rottikallu early in the morning after a night of unabated singing. A couple of tea breaks in the middle of the night meant that we were trying to keep the sleep at bay. We did get a nap before the day dawned and the destination amidst the mountains arrived. We were greeted by trekking dogs at the home stay and it seemed like we knew them since ages. We were later informed that they were trained to be with the guests so that we didn’t lose our way on the mountains while trekking. We were impressed.

As any curious visitor to a new place would do, we started inspecting the place to figure out if it had any uniqueness about it. It had one. There was a small stream of water that seemed surprisingly still and it failed miserably to create any ripples of enthusiasm to the weary travelers. There were some ropes across the stream but we couldn’t figure out the activities that could be done with these. We returned back to our dormitory pondering whether it was a wise decision to have selected this place for an outing. Then, a glimpse of the cricket field at a distance stirred up the lost motivation and it was like we had found water in the middle of Saharan desert. We had a game of competitive cricket with lot of allegations of foul play. Explanations were sought for a missed catch or a misfielding and clarifications were given. Sometimes the disagreement is so resolute that even if God tries to convince, He’d perhaps give up. Nevertheless, the game provided as a great refresher and we were invited for breakfast by the folks in the home stay.

Malnad style idli and coconut rice was served and it tasted delicious. We devoured it like hungry wolves and headed out for some water activities. This was when the fun started. Vijay, the owner cum guide of the home stay introduced himself first and then the introduction to a host of water activities followed. All of a sudden, the stream which appeared lifeless till then, came alive and indicated that our initial assumptions about it were obnoxious. The first of the activity was water crossing.

[Pic: Leon testing his water crossing skills ]

We all managed this fairly well except for Chaitra and Suvidha. With lot of difficulty and relentless screams they crossed the stream and when they landed safely, their facial expressions indicated it was the end of a long, intense and grueling battle. Perhaps, to them, crossing the stream over the ropes seemed like eternity.

Then followed the most interesting activity- Tarzan swings. A rope tied to a tree branch at one end and a short log at the other, you swing across the stream seated on the log. 

[Pic: Jharkhand boy Ajay sets an example on the Tarzan swing]

Vijay demonstrated this first and it looked very interesting. Arvind was the first from our gang to take the swing. We all appreciated his courage and encouraged him to GO FOR IT!! Normally when a person gets into water, it’s either his head, his hands, or his legs that get wet initially subsequently followed by the rest of his body. But what Arvind demonstrated defied all laws of nature. His forward swing landed his bottom first in water and the backward swing too was no different. Wet got wetter and he was clueless as to what was happening. We all had a laugh of our lifetime looking at his exasperation. It was not his fault though. The swing was bit longer than the rest and it was intended to be that way. We all took the plunge on the same swing and experienced the wet pleasure of a different kind. However, the standout performer in this activity was Mayank. The swing went terribly wrong for him and he actually jumped into water rather than swinging on it. In a hypothetical situation, if Tarzan was alive and Mayank were to be his son, the father surely would have disowned his son for his skills. Thanks for the fun dude. You were undoubtedly exceptional. Three cheers!!

Few other water activities like the water gliding followed. This one looked more intimidating than it actually was.

[Pic: Gopal on the slide with a life jacket believes a four-feet-deep stream can be life threatening]

I guess the number of times few friends screamed “mummy” during the 2 hour activity would definitely be greater than the number of times they’d have called it during their lifetime. Exaggerated of course, but it’s a point worth made. The games were fun and sent the adrenaline pumping for it was the first time we experienced something of this sort.

Lunch followed and we had it sumptuously. After an hours rest, we tried to reach Rotti kallu(rock on which people used to have akki rotti in olden days- hence the entire place is now called RottiKallu) on top of a mountain. We hired jeeps to help us reach there, thanks to the limited time that we had to accomodate a 16 km trek. We couldn’t reach there due to a tree felled by a wild elephant on the middle of the road (we had seen this only in movies till then). We settled with a small hill nearby that offered a picturesque view. We clicked a few snaps and headed back to the home stay.

[Pic: The team(bottom to top), Sandeep, Sathya, Mayank, Gopal, Suvidha, Sashi, Chaitra, Leon, Arvind, Ajay and the trekking dogs]

We hit the bed after enjoying the campfire and a wonderful dinner. We started back to Bangalore the subsequent morning after enjoying a stint in the water falls near Rottikallu. The trip was amazing and we all had a wonderful time. The hospitality and the attention to subtle details made the stay very pleasurable and fun filled. ROTTIKALLU, you are etched in our memory and will be reminiscent of a fascinating team outing experience.

(Team visited Rottikallu between 16-17th April 2010)

-Sandeep Mahagaonkar.

To Err is Human

I was desperately swapping channels today trying to arrive at some program which would provide some entertainment to this entertainment deprived soul. The first scan was rather hopeless. I stared at the remote control of the set-top box that has been recently installed, and the number of buttons that it has, could easily take half of my lifetime to get a hang of it (exaggerated, of course). I deliberated if another navigation though the 200+ channels was worth the effort or should I learn the functionalities of the novel equipment I held in my hand to kill time. My mind decided against the latter and I scrupulously started jumping channels with a hope to land at a temporary destination.

By the grace of God, I was successful in finding a program which, for sure appeared to keep me occupied till it ended. Nope, nope, it wasn’t any cricket match. Good guess- I must admit, given my apparent interest in the game. The place were I stopped at had a sportsman issuing a public apology for his unethical behavior. Yes folks, it was the ace golfer Tiger Woods on screen with a morose look on his face, with a deadpan expression reading sheets of drafted apologetic comments to his family, friends, sponsors, and not to forget, his fans.

The vociferously roaring Tiger on the golf courts appeared to have mellowed down completely and the emotionally drained champion appeared lost in the woods. His flings with a host of women invited international criticism and the greatest sporting icons of our century crumbled down in despair, and his attempts to save his falling marriage in the wake of sexual allegations have proven futile.

He admitted his wrongdoings to the ease of access he had to the women involved. He claimed that the fame and money he possessed were the culprits for this bait. He compromised on the integrity and honesty that one should be characterized with. The Tiger erred. The Tiger treaded a wrong path and is now mighty apologetic about his unethical behavior.

We too, at times, tread wrong paths in our lives. It may not be the same magnitude as that of Woods, but we surely do. Only thing we need to watch out for is whether are deceiving or offending someone and would that person be hurt by our pernicious actions. If the answer is yes, we should try to stay away from such misdoings.


We all make mistakes. We all will continue to make mistakes till the end of time. We are humans and to err is very much human. Few mistakes are pardonable and a few are beyond repair if damage is caused. Limit your mistakes and that will limit your troubles. AMEN!


-Sandeep Mahagaonkar

Life

I’m not in the best of my moods today. I’m disconsolate, very disconsolate. There is a feeling of heaviness in my heart and my breath seems to have lost its normal rhythm. There is a long grueling battle going on in my mind. A quest on the vagaries of human life and death seems to have risen in my mind from nowhere. Today, I heard the news of my colleague’s wife passing away in an accident. She’s is survived by her husband and a little baby. The news has been very painful and my heart felt condolences go out to my colleague and his family in these grievous times.

When we hear of such unforeseen tragedies in life, we literally slump into a mournful state. Even in the greatest of joys, such news’ wrecks havoc and we start pondering over the most obscure event in this universe- Death.

A chill does run down through the spine when we think about all this. Few people question the will of God and few accept it as their fate. A few get depressed and a few get a spiritual awakening. A few see this as a natural phenomenon and get over it quickly whereas a few take years together to come out of the grief.

Life is a precious thing. Our near and dear ones are more precious than anything else in this world. Their happiness, their joy, their satisfaction should mean the world to us. The best time to think of them and love them is when we are with them. Rest all is immaterial. Go to your near ones folks and tell them how much you love them and how much they mean to you.


Remember the following lines from Bhaja Govindam:
 punarapi jananam punarapi maranam
punarapi jananii jathare shayanam
iha samsaare bahudustaare
kripayaa apaare paahi muraare

 Born again, death again, birth again to stay in the mother's womb! It is indeed hard to cross this boundless ocean of samsara. Oh Murari! Redeem me through Thy mercy.


-Sandeep Mahagaonkar