BSNL Customers.. be ware of fake Sales Reps

Yesterday, my Father-in-law told me something that made me to write this entry. A neatly dressed BSNL Sales Rep came to our house yesterday. He forced my Father-in-law to look at the new telephone instrument with new features.

The new instrument was nice one with additional features. The scheme was something like this. – Immediately the BSNL customer has to give Rs.1000/- cash to the Sales Rep. Rep will take the instrument to BSNL office and the customer will get Rs. 800/- refund on the old instrument. In this way, for just Rs. 200/-, customer will get new instrument with good features. But, my father-in-law wasn’t insterested. Sales Rep left without any returns.

Then, next day my Father-in-law went to BSNL office to pay the telephone bill. There, he found a board alerting its customers to be aware of cheaters coming home as BSNL sales rep and cheating people telling that the old instruments can be exchanged with new one. They had mentioned that they don’t have any Door-to-door sales reps as of now!!!

So.. if someone comes home telling that the telephone instrument can be exchanged with new one with less cost, be careful. Contact your nearest BSNL office.

Thinking while riding…

It takes almost 1 hr 30 min to my office and almost same while returning. That is my Meditation time. I had read that while meditating, one starts getting random thoughts and then, the person has to tame all off them and start concentrating on one thing.. This is something similar. When I ride my Activa, I get so many thoughts. I want to write a few here.. Have fun reading them.

• Life is like the Roads.. that we ride vehicles on. Some times, everything goes fine - like you get green signal everywhere. Some times, you have to stop at every signals, which makes you frustrated.. but finally you reach home - however big the signal time or Traffic jam is.
• Life is uncertain. Even if you are not at fault, there is lot of chances of meeting with an accident. I will not be sure of returning home till I step inside the house.
• All that I preach cannot be followed. I used to advice people the same when I used to ride Scooty which never used to cross 40. The moment I reach 40, it used to make such a sound that I would get scared and control the speed. Now, with Activa and empty road (sometimes) ahead, its really tough to control the speed. I test my patience..
• Being happy with whatever I have. When I leave my home or office, I feel bad about the distance I have to travel (18 Km). But, the moment I start my Activa, I feel as though I am a permanent Rider and my feet never touches the ground.
• I see the real world when I ride. Especially in signals. There will be so many people around.. like me. Total strangers. Few will be watching others. Few talking over phones. Few trying to make others move a little further in the tightly knit traffic jam. And a few trying to irritate others. Funny world!!!
• I understand politician’s mentality when I ride. Yes.. The Bus drivers, Auto drivers and all those who drive.. most of them (say most of us) think the Road is our private property. When riding or driving a single vehicle can get you "so much attitude”, how about Politecians or Govt. officers? They have power in hand.. Isn't that enough to cool you down if you are burning within, seeing the politics around?
  
  I know these are funny to write. Being crazy, some times make you feel good. What say?

Rythm Unplugged..

In our office, after a fest, "Thomson Habba" which brought out many talents, management decided to help out employees doing something of their interest along with their regular work. So, they started forming different talent communities like Music, dance, Photography. First day, we were around 10 or 12 from two different buildings gathered in one room during lunch time. None of us would have known more than 2 people in that group. Few seemed reserved, few outgoing. As ususal, I was just one in the team. We decided to have a session on coming week each of singing in front of the group so that we can decide how to go about it. The 2nd session was really good. We did not feel as one team though. Many seemed to be in their own world.
I was on leave during Deepavali and when I came back, I got to know that in the Music community meeting, they had paired myself with Kalyani for a Classical song. Though I have learnt Carnatic music, I have lost touch now and that too what I had learnt was basic. I was not sure if I could sing a "classical number". Kalyani was new to me. Was just thinking how it will go. But, it turned out to be sooooooo nice :-).
She has learnt Classical for more than 10 years and has completed her Senior exam. She had good grip over her voice and I was wondering if its going to be fine if I sing with her - herself being so good in alap or akara and I sing classical song as a light music or Bhavageethe. Very soon, I felt comfortable learning from her and u know what.. we performed on Thursday - Thatz 6th December 2007. Everyone said our coordination was good. BTW, our band is named as "Rythm unplugged".
The launch was done during lunch hour - 1.30 PM. We were little nervous as we knew how important the "First impression" is!! We had 6 numbers including a song played on Veena. People occupied whole cafetaria and were not getting up from their seat and rest were standing and watching our program.We have other two buildings. We had got request to play in both of them.Played one and one pending for today evening.
There is one saying in Kannada which translates into "Appreciation is all an artist needs.." Yes.. that makes our day..

And.. we both sang 'Gam ganapathe namo namo' in Raga Hamsadhwani and Roopaka thala.

Story telling to the baby that is not born yet!!!

Whenever my brother does something naughty or funny, Amma (my Mom) used to smile and say "I shouldn't have read story of Krishna when ur brother was in my womb". She meant that the story a pregnant lady reads reaches baby and affects the baby's behavior in future. That was one belief our ancestors had. A few articles I read in magazines were talking of scientific proof for the same. I could recall all these when I met my friend Suni.

Suni is my college friend who now teaches Yoga and Kannada language in a School situated in Bangalore. She is going to be Mom by next month. It was a long time since we met. Like any middle class family, she has "necessity" to earn. In the initial months of pregnancy, she had a few problems. Doctor suggested her to keep her worries away and take proper rest.

She got adjusted to the new situation and started going to school with some rest in between during lunch hours. Her school management was kind enough to support her. I met her during 5th month and at that time, she could feel the baby's movement inside. She was so happy. What made me astonished was that she reads stories to her baby even before it's born!!

Age old people in the family and the Doctor too had told her that the baby could hear what ever she talks and thinks. She had avoided thinking negative and she bought a book for her baby having bed time stories. She used to read them slowly with a soft voice so that the baby can follow :-).

Most of the times, as I have seen, working women have to put up with lot of troubles during pregnancy. There will be necessity to “work” for most of them and the jobs demand more concentration and that period will be really stressful. But, Suni proved it otherwise. She enjoyed this period with different way of thinking.

I think I should not forget the way the kids in her class supported her. She is a "class teacher" for one class (say 5th Std or 6th). And they try not to make her tired. They avoid talking too much in the class, get her books/ attendance sheet / evaluated papers so that she can avoid carrying heavy things :-). Isn't that nice? They want their teacher to be healthy and happy.

She is going to be a Mom very soon. I wish her good luck and let her baby bring her much more happiness.

She showed me that people can be happy irrespective of the situations they have. There are many more people who have inspired me and will tell those stories later. Babies learn from the things they listen during their stay in mother’s womb - I will confirm this after a few years J.

Who wants the singing toy?

Last week, I started cleaning our messy room. Week-ends are the only time when I get chance to clean the room properly. Next day, room will be back to original status though :-).

While cleaning, I saw my beautiful singing toy. It has stopped singing as some part inside the toy was broken when we shifted our house. First let me tell you that I used to LOVE toys.. I had a huge collection of toys even when I didn't have a showcase to put them into. After marriage, more than my dresses, I had toys and books to be carried to my new house :-).

Almost 2-3 years back, I used to stay in a house with my friend Rohini. One fine day, Ro told me that her cousin sister was coming to our place if I don’t have any problem. They had a 12 yr young son who was getting treatment for his Brain tumor in Bangalore.

The first time I saw him, he wasn’t looking like a boy undergoing some treatment for a serious disease. Naveen had sharp eyes. By just looking at his face, no one would ever make out that he has such a big disease, except for the days on which, he got chemotherapy. It was really painful even to listen about the way his treatment was given. He used to look very matured than his elder brother. And.. after some time, he was able to take injections without a word and even advice the Nurses to pin the needle at right place :-(. He lost all his hair on the head and started wearing a cap when he used to go out. For more than a year and half, his parents struggled to bring their son to normal condition. But, nothing seemed to work out.

Last time I saw Naveen was almost 2 years back. I was busy in shopping and planning my marriage. My parents aren’t from Bangalore and my marriage was to happen at Bangalore. I had more responsibilities than just to be a ‘Bride’. I used to get tired with all activities like booking the hall, shopping, talking to cooking people etc. For a few days, Naveen was at our house for his treatment. He liked my singing toy very much. Other than me, no one at our home (his parents, Ro & her brother) liked toys. He loved pulling the string attached to the toy and listen to its music.. It used to be very melodious :-D. I used to make the toy sing once in morning and once before going to bed. It might sound silly.. but I loved to make the toy sing. After Naveen came to our house, he used to join me and we made the toy sing soooooooooo many times with all our “family members” opposition.

I had learnt “Aanknon me raho…” song from film ‘Company’ at that time. I liked that song very much and when ever I sang that song, I used to get totally involved. Naveen liked that song very much. Before they left our house, Navee wanted to listen to that song once. And.. due to some or the other work, all of us never sat together again and I couldn’t sing. I had plans to go to his house and gift him a singing toy. With the marriage etc.. I couldn’t meet him again.

After a few months, I got to know that Naveen is no more. Probably after that, my enthusiasm of collecting toys has comedown. When ever I see that singing toy, I feel that I could have given that toy to Naveen. I feel bad that I didn’t even sing “Aankhon me raho” song for him when he had asked for.

I cannot sing ‘Ankhon me raho…’ with that involvement.. . And my interaction with toys is also comparatively nil. May be its because, I am married and supposed to be “serious” .. etc… etc…

After all these I see a change in my view towards life. If something interests me, I would do it at that time than waiting for some “perfect day”. There may not be another day at all :-). And.. at any point of time, if I can be of help to anyone, bring smile on any one's face, I will try to do that. Ofcourse, we cannot do everything that makes others happy. But, for our loved and cared ones around, we should be able to do it.

And.. I understood that our priorities, likes and dislikes don’t remain the same throughout the life. It keeps changing with our age, situation etc. So, importance should be given to people and the relationships than to the “things” that might make us feel comfortable or happy.

I can buy another hundred singing toys today, but I will never be able to give them to Naveen. Now, I ask myself “Who wants the singing toy”?

Learning music… an endless process

I have this habit of starting something with great enthusiasm and then stop it due to my lazyness as well as lack of time. All of a sudden I remember the quote – “When is the last time that you did something for the first time?” and realize that I haven’t learnt a single song in last few months. Then start again..

My father was very passionate about Carnatic music. He had a great cassette collection of Shri. Yesudas’s concerts. He wanted me to learn classical music and I was not very inclined towards that. With his compulsion, I started learning classical music when I was 11.

While learning Carnatic classical music, there is one part called ‘Dhaatu varase’. For those who do not have an idea what it is, its logical combination of swaras (SA RI GA MA PA DA NI) missing a few in between. I am very bad at Mathematics and this permutation and combination.. I was really bad at. My music teacher used to try her level best to make me understand the logic behind Dhaatu varase and I used to make her fail :-( every time. Then, due to some reasons, I had to discontinue learning music. But with 2 or 3 years of learning, my voice was polished a little and I could catch the tunes faster, sing new songs that played on Radio, TV etc. With the kind of recognition I got out of singing – in School, College and Office, I was totally enthusiastic to learn more.. but I did not have opportunity till I started working.

Then, I joined music class run by Vidushi. Smt. Asha Jagadhish. She was very helping and supportive. She made me take up Carnatic Junior examination. She used to get up early and teach me at 5.00 AM as I had no time to attend classes other than morning hours. I could clear my Junior exam though I did not do very well. That is when, I realized that I have not learnt anything at all!!!

After the exams, I had to shift to some other place in Bangalore and due to my work pressure at office and responsibilities that I got through my marriage, I couldn’t attempt to continue my classes.

I cannot express how I feel when I really sing well and make the listener happy. It’s a wonderful feeling. It makes me feel recognized and worthy..

Now that we shifted our house near to Asha madam’s, I have re-started my music learning process. I got a gift of new MP3 Player from a friend who had been to US and I record what ever madam teaches in class (ofcourse with her permission) and keep listening. I do not find enough time to practice. She says I have to have more practice. Some day, I will dedicate all my energy on that. :-) Dont ask me "when".. Even I dont know that.

The work I do in office, shopping I make, New things learnt in cooking, The drawings I do… nothing makes me so happy than the happiness I get when I can sing what my ma’m teaches. Even in office, people have taken some initiative and there is a group of people who are interested in music. Few in the group play instruments, few sing Classical and few are into POP(??). It was nice to introduce myself to others by saying “I have learnt a little classical music and I love singing…”.

In past one and a half months time, I could attend only 5 classes. But, have not stopped it completely.. thatz the difference. What say??? So.. I'm doing something new.. learning something new :-).

My MP3 player is singing now.. I have to listen and memorize.. so.. thatz it for now. Will catch up later.

Mathru... Mother of Blind childern

Those kids do the best in whatever they try to do :-). I am talking about Yasmin and her friends in Mathru Blind school. Its been a long time since I visited the school. But I cannot forget the first day I visited Mathru. My life was total disaster during that time and nothing seemed to work fine . I was totally upset with my personal & professional life. I should say.. visit to Mathru was an eye opener for me.

The kids and their enthusiasm made me realize that, I have much more reasons to be happy about. Most of the kids either had lost parents or parents had left their kids in the school and never turned up. There was one boy of age 12-14 years who was made to beg on streets to manage his family before joining the school. I got to know from Muktha madam that he was the happiest when one of the volunteer celebrated his birthday :-). Mathru is run by Ms. Muktha with her monthly income plus a little donation. She was finding it too difficult to manage with the money she had got. In the small area around the School, these kids used to play. The confidence with which, they ran, played, no one would ever think that they were blind kids. Mathru, now has 40+ students

It was almost 3 years back that I went to Mathru and listened to Yasmin singing a devotional song..

Now things have become little better. Asha – one Organization has helped Mathru and now, the School is shifted to Yelahanka New Town, Bangalore. School has 10+ class rooms and a few computers. There are Banks and people who lent money and helped Ms. Muktha to buy the land for the class rooms. And they need a lot of support still.

Yeah.. I wanted to do something to help them out with all my limitations. Since I wasn’t earning much, I felt the amount I give may not be of much use. Then, I met my colleagues and let them know about this School. Fortunately, many were interested and started donating few hundreds of Rupees every month. The result was a few Thousand Rupees per month and we are still donating.

And.. Yasmin I was talking about, is learning Carnatic classical music -Vocal. A few kids there, are learning Tabla and other instruments. Some day, if you visit the place, and listen to her and other kids, definitely you will be lost in their world.

Mathru conducts cultural programs having these kids performing Dramas, Songs and Dances. As usual, they win hearts of a few hundreds of people gathered in the auditoriums.

I don’t have latest pictures of Mathru with me as of now. But, will post them soon.

Please check the URL for more information about Mathru: http://www.ashanet.org/projects/project-view.php?p=490

Here is the address of Mathru.. If anyone is interested in helping them out, please contact:

Mathru Educational Trust for the Blind®
CA - Site no. 14
6th 'A' Cross
5th Phase
Yelahanka New Town
Bangalore - 560 064

Ph: +91-80-28463992

SarvE janAha sukhino Bhavanthu

"sarvE janAha sukhinO Bavanthu" means "Let everyone be happy”. With this wish, I am starting my first blog. Though I have not studied Sanskrit, I have heard this phrase a lot of times, especially when my father performs Pooja.

I found writing Blogs to be a good way to reach out to people. I am benefited by Internet in many ways. There is a lot to tell and hopefully many more get benefited by the information here.