GLEAMS UNRAVELLED

The Godfather of all reality shows of the age is the "American Idol".
The season 8 of American Idol started fresh with this new year.
The judges for the show include Simon, Paula, Kara and Randy.
With overwhelming responses from all over The United States of America, there landed top 12 which after 5 weeks is now "Top 5" .
The point that instigated me to write this blog here is to mention about the Indian who was present in the show till last week.

Anoop Desai, 22 year old chap from Chaplin was one of the top performers in the show till last week and was shown his way out.
During the auditions for American Idol , Randy referred him as "Anoop Dog" .
Hold on ! He dint call Anoop a Dog because he was an Indian , he actually praised Anoop and compared him with "Snoop Dog" and hence "Anoop Dog" became famous.
Anoop doesn't have an Indian accent nor was he born in India,but he sings really well.
So here you go ! All Indian news channels and newspapers pour praise on how an Indian in shining in the American Idol.
Anoop's performance has really been improving through all the weeks. When Simon mentioned Anoop turned from "Zero" into a "Hero" , Paula and Kara always praised his voice.
Unfortunately after country wide record making vote count for this season, Anoop was shown the way out.

Lets take an example of a software engineer Mr.X . Mr.X finishes his study,obtains distinction, goes for his masters abroad and now is trying to settle down there.The entire nation (Humara Hindustan) abuses Mr.X. The voices from the people of India instigate a guilty feeling inside Mr.X .
The voices being
"Why can't young brains like Mr.X serve the nation?"
"Why can't Mr.X settle in India and bring fame to the nation? "
"Why can't Mr.X start his own software concern in India and help the younger generation?"
"Why isn't Mr.X patriotic?"
"If all youth like Mr.X leave India , where is our country heading? "

More than enough are these questions to Mr.X
So Mr.X finally settles abroad bearing all the abuses of the nation or gives up his dream and settles in India ! This is the life of Mr.X !!

Now Anoop Dog , who is an Indian , is trying to become "American Idol".
So what does the voices tell him??
"Go Anoop go" ,
" Proud to have an Indian in American Idol" (hmm,pretty interesting ain't it? ).
CNN IBN reads "Anoop shines in American Idol" .

A reality show where Indians doesn't even get to vote and where an Indian is trying to showcase his talent is to be praised here !
Where are we heading?

The American Idol gets telecasted on two days in Star World. It telecasts all the performances on Thursday and the results/eliminations is announced on Friday.
This time I heard the result on Wednesday. And it was on CNN-IBN news channel.
"Anoop Dog shown the doors out"

When there are thousands of people being killed in Sri Lanka, when the entire nation is choosing their Neta, when a school girl dies of Asthma, there is a news about the "Indian" who is trying to shine in "America".

I totally disagree to the voices of the nation that support such activities !

So here we go. Now its just AMERICANS in the American Idol.
Danny, Kris, Matt, Adam and Allison .
Who do you like? Well, Adam sings really well , but my vote goes to Kris ! :)

Happy Watching :)

These are the two articles I wrote for my office magazine and they got published !! :-)
The magazine is named "Kshitij" .
The theme for this edition was "Celebration of Women" .
So the poem is based on "Mother" and the short story is Brother and sister relationship. Hope you enjoy reading !

Post -1
Mother



I kicked her
She kissed me

I tortured her
She nurtured me

I irritated her
She educated me

I fell down
Her tears rolled down

I broke my neighbor’s flower pot
She broke her friendship with them on that spot

In her I find peace
She makes me feel at ease

The crap I talk when I am mad
She will listen even if she is sad

For me to be outstanding
It was because of her understanding

For all that she has done bearing the pain
I will make sure nothing goes in vain

To her, I have a lot of things to say
About her, springs up new thoughts everyday

Through my thick and thin
She stood by my side
To show me the way and to guide

Her unconditional love knows no end
For me, she will always be best friend

She is an angel
We bonded without any gel

It all started when I was a baby
Now that I have turned into a young lady
I will love her as always
Forever and ever.
I love you mom !

Post-2
“He and She”


Today tears came running down her cheeks.
He stood there watching her cry.
“Happy tears “he said to himself.
It was not always the same feeling he had for her.
Jealousy, care, love, hatred. He has felt all this with her.
A mixed contradiction of all feelings. Women are complex!

He recollected the first time when they fought.
It was for a very asinine reason. He hated her with all his heart.
“How adamant!” he thought.
Women are supposed to give up and be compromising.
“That is how I read in school. But she is mad “he said.
To him, she was stubborn and arrogant.

Then came a time when he grew up. She grew up with him.
She and her best friend were walking in the mall, one day.
“Your friend is cute” he said.
He could see the anger in her face.
Jealousy! Women are known for it.
“Why can’t she accept the truth?” he thought.

She had gone for a trip to Delhi.
She returned back with a gift for him.
It was a shirt. He liked it. He liked her.
He loved her. But he dint tell it out.
“Love “was one of her qualities, he realized.

He remembered the day he needed her the most. He needed her to cry and vent out his feelings. A simple “I understand “would be her reply. But still he missed her. He kept calling her. But her line was busy; At last he managed to talk to her.

It did matter to him to whom she was talking to.
“Whom were you talking to?” he asked
“Ashwin” she said.
A sense of bitter feeling ran inside him. Fighting it, he continued talking to her.
A sense of possession he had felt for her and he realized it now.
“Is he a good guy? Why should she talk to him so long?” and many more questions ran inside his mind.
But he dint tell her anything.

And today she was crying. He was amazed by the way she reacted today.
When he cried she said “Boys don’t cry”.
Her care was one he would miss in her.
She was looking very pretty in her marriage saree.
And now she was someone else’s wife.
She was going to her new home. She cried for missing mom and dad.
The bonding was tightening inside him.
But she was going away from him.

Then she came to him and patted him.
She managed to smile at him amidst her tears.
He let her go.
“Love you sister” he said to himself.
Tears rushed out from his eyes too.
For in all sisters and in all mothers, there is a beautiful woman.
Woman who is an epitome of love, care, understanding, sacrifice, patience, virtues, jealousy, arrogance, attitude and of all.
Woman is a miracle of divine contradictions !!

It was during the last week I got to know that there is no word such as “Prepone”.
The opposite of postpone is “Advance”.
I didn’t accept this fact initially, but then I googled and hit upon someone else’s blog where the person had explained about this. From there I browsed through a couple of links and landed upon this wiki page on “Indian English”.

Quite funny are the things that are mentioned. Lets have a look.
Grammar tweaks:
Anglicisation of Indian words especially in Chennai by adding "ify" to a local Tamil word.
Eg: Did u oothify ink to your pen ?
I will pazhivaangify him !
My god, I have used these words so often in school days . lol.

Tag questions: The use of "isn't it?" "no?" “na” “uh” as general question tags,
You are going isn’t it ?
Hey coming no ?
Too cold na ?? - Use this and you will considered a person who knows good English :)
Ready uh?

People from South Indian state mainly Karnataka have the habbit of adding "U" to all english words when speaking Kannada.
Eg.LeftU for left , BusU for Bus.
I thought people from Andhra use it !!

Use of yaar, machaa, abey, arey in an English conversation between Indians.

Use of the plural ladies for a single lady or a woman of respect,
In Saroja movie, when Premji comes with the heroine , Shiva asks
“hey yaaruda intha ladies” :P
I thought it was for us to laugh, but now I got to know it is for respect :P

Use of "current went" and "current came" (also, "light went" and "light came") for "The power went out" and "The power came back"
“Current went” is more preferable and easy to use . isn’t it ? ahh.. Typical Indian I am.

Use of "y'all" for "you all" or "all of you", as used in Southern American English, especially by Anglo-Indians.
I thought this was a style statement when you write mails J

Overuse of the words "Generally"/"Actually"/"Obviously"/"Basically" in the beginning of a sentence.
Actually what I am trying to tell you is that generally Indians use these words.
Basically it is not their problem. Obviously everyone knows that.

Use of the word "gift" as a verb : You are gifting me a new cell phone?
So how do I say when someone gifts me something ;-)

In South India, phrases such as "that and all", or "this and all" are used roughly to convey the meaning "all of that (stuff)" or "regarding that".
A: "Are they really going around?"
B: "That and all I don't know. I just got the news."

Use of "chumma chumma" (Tamil:it means simply) at the beginning of a sentence.
Chumma don’t give me a reason .

Unnecessary repetition of a word to stress on the general idea. Used mostly with words like Yes No Right Ok etc.,
She has attitude. Yes No. Right . OK. Fine . See you.

Casual references:
"Hill Station" means mountain resort.
"Hotel" means "restaurant
My goodness ! they are casual references ??!!

Some words I leant after coming to Bangalore:
Use of the word "chal" to mean the interjection "Ok",
Eg: "Chal, I gotta go now" at the end of a phone call
“Chalo .See you tomorrow. Bye”

Use of T-K in place of O.K. when answering a question
Eg: "Would you like to come to the movie?" – "T-K, I'll meet you there


Words unique to or originating in Indian English (in formal usage)
to prepone (to advance, literally the opposite of 'postpone') – And I came to the point now :)
mugging or mugging up (studying hard or memorising, - This is one good term I learnt in School though I never practised.
pass-out to graduate from college – I am a 2007 passout.
would-be (fiancé/fiancée)
co-brother indicates relationship between two men who married sisters.
'bla bla bla' to denote etc. or meaningless trivial conversation -

Colloquial and slang words used in Indian English
buck (Rupee.) - I thought this was American :)
Fundashort for fundamental
fundu or fundoo - great. Someone who has good fundas is fundu.
enthu, a short form for 'enthusiasm' or 'enthusiastic'.
despo, a short form for 'desperate'.
senti, a short form for 'sentimental'.
"Deadly", "hi-fi", "sexy"
"Gone for a toss", to mean something got ruined.
freaking out - used (loosely) in place of "..having a good time

All these college slangs are unique Indian English.
So no harm in using them :)
TK . Chal. Meet you in next blog. Chumma don’t read and go off.
Leave comment ok .
Actually, I type adichified with great difficulty. :)

Its Diwali and I hear distant sounds of crackers.

Time for a little retrospection – I remember the time when I  was in school, Diwali was the most memorable festival for me. The bursting of crackers starts a few days before the festival. In the night, when all our neighbors start first with their flowerpots, followed by rockets the happiest times begin with a great pleasure. My mom used to wake us(me and my bro) up early in the morning( Early is not less than 6 or 7 o clock for us ;-) ) And apply oil in the head and we fight who has to go and take bath first. My mom prepares lots of festival sweets like muruku,adhirasam etc and it is not to be touched before prayer. We would be waiting for the prayer to get over so that we can take and start munching them ;-) I am not an eatomania either.  But still diwali muruku was not to be missed !

The strong competition starts between all our neighbors on the day of Diwali. Who bursts the highest number of crackers, who bursts all the high-end cracker (for e.g. atom bomb) and who bursts without any fear. I was one person who had always feared for bursting crackers. My dad used to shout from the balcony “Come on go and keep the fire”. But then when I near the cracker, the same time someone in the next house would come for doing the same. And then the fear starts gripping me and I take my step back. For to stand behind the gate and look at the cracker being burst by someone else. Always it used to be so much fun watching different people bursting crackers all over the street. At around 11 o clock the street calms down, we used to hear sounds only from a distance.

Then we start watching programs in Television where you hear the same sound from all houses. Everyone trying to have his or her TV’s volume the maximum.

I remember the first time when I burst an atom bomb. I kept fire and ran off at least a 100 meters fearing what would happen to me – The first and the last time it happened was in 1998. Now 10 years later I am sitting inside my house watching television and listening to the distant sounds of crackers. No entertainment. Just hearing sounds and a few sights of some children in the apartment who are holding sparkles and bursting a little lightweight crackers.

And in the night colorful rockets adorn the sky and it is just an awesome sight to watch.

Yea ! I only watch.

Diwali dress was also very special those days. I would be waiting for the D-day to wear my new dress and roam around the area for one whole day. Now I get a dress whenever I feel like buying it, and no occasion needed to wear it. And today’s diwali dress is happily sitting inside my cupboard.

Times haven’t changed Only we have changed.

Still the children near my old area would burst crackers the same way as I did , there would be someone who is very strong , someone who is fearless and someone who is not, someone who bursts the highest number and someone who merely watches.

Anyways, it’s diwali and a little nostalgia in me does no harm.

I read somewhere that Diwali is a time when the darkness inside your soul should be lightened by the light of the crackers and sparkles. The best time to get out of depression by watching all the light around us.  So a great festival indeed !

Happy Diwali :)

Provoked to write this blog after watching the movie “Jodha Akbar “. (Similarities to Sharma and Symonds regretted :) )

The history of Mughal Emperors is quite astounding.
I learnt history in school, but none seemed to teach me all these.
The list of emperors goes like below.

BABUR -- HUMAYUN -- AKBAR -- JAHANGIR – SHAHJAHAN – AURANGAZEB—BAHADUR SHAH --- …

None of these emperors lived with single wife. I guess it is a shame for them if they had only one wife earlier. Starting from the story of Akbar.

Akbar was the greatest emperor among the Mughal emperors.
He has done a lot of good to people and so is highly honored.
Akbar married three Mughal princesses and one Rajput princess. Total Count =4 :)
Her name was Mariam-uz-Zamani née Hira Kunwari and was also known as Jodha Bai, not in her lifetime but later.
According to the film “Jodha Akbar” their love is great,pure, gentle and Akbar not only won people’s heart being a good king but also his wife’s heart. Wow...

Next comes his son Jahangir. He is also known as Salim.
Now everyone knows Salim –Anarkali story.
Anarkali was a normal courtress. But still Salim liked her because she was very beautiful.Akbar was against their love and some sad incidents happened and it ended Salim Anarkali story.
Jahangir had three wives then. History quotes one of his favorite wives is Princess Manmathi who is Shahjahan’s mother. But even after this Jahangir was attracted towards Nur Jahan because of her appealing beauty.
Salim – anarkali Salim –manmathi Salim –Nur Jahan .
All three are pure love ;)

Succeeding him comes the hero of the Mughal kingdom Shahjahan .He is very famous for he built a mahal in memory of his love Mumtaz. But he had 2 wives before marrying Mumtaz and 6 wives after Mumtaz. 2+1+6. Yea you got it right. Its 9.
But Shahjahan – Mumtaz love is said to one of the greatest love in the history
And Taj Mahal is a symbol of love built by a person who had 9 wives.

Shahjahan was succeeded by his son Aurangzeb who had only four wives. The count has considerably reduced in his period. No offence meant.

And controversy about Jodha being Akbar’s daughter –in –law rather his wife. History says Jodha was never known as Jodha Bai in her lifetime. One of Jahangir’s wives was also known as Jodh Bai. (shahjahan's mother )
And only because of this confusion, this controversy has spread.

Now which is pure love, which is true love and which is the greatest love ???
History rocks!