OMG! ROFL!!!

OMG! ROFL!!!

Adventures of an engineering dad – part 1

hilarious as usual….

Doing Jalsa & Showing Jilpa

It is interesting how everyone becomes an expert in the general theory of kid management on the basis of having just one or two of them in a lifetime. It’s a bit like reading Shashi Tharoor’s tweets and claiming to be an expert on post-independence Indian literature. Everyone has theories on how to put them to sleep, for instance, but that is a silly notion because babies have their own theories on how and when they will sleep, and that rarely seems to match with the suggestions put forward by these experts.

It’s been a year since this curious object with fully grown nails and a mildly peeved expression came into my world and I have been making certain observations of the changes in my life. The wife now preens and struts around family weddings, baby in tow, with a look that says “Duty over. Now let me go back…

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Nostalgia series – 2 – Bangalore..

When you say Bangalore, a frame of vivid images pass through your mind screen. As we zipped into the stylish silhouette of Bangalore from Chennai, we saw many bike-riding couples, clipping past the four-wheelers and merging into the brightly-lit highway. Among the many images that pop up when you think of namma Bengaluru, are the pretty girls in their figure-hugging tops and jeans, the stylish guys also  in figure hugging short tops and jeans hanging fashionably low, elderly couple taking a slow walk down a silent lane, lined with trees and flowering plants, the bursting colours at the Crawford Market, the old charm Mavalli Tiffin Room that makes gulab jamuns like shiny brown orbs oozing sugary syrup, the ubiquitous vegetable markets that sell fresh produce that look oh-so-colourful and fresh, the buzzing, heaving Commercial Street, the stylish Brigade road and the all-important M G Road….the list gets longer every year we come back after our visit to this city which we have made our home city now.

There are certain elements which have disappeared as well from the list. For example, the elderly couple walking down a silent lane lined with shady trees is fast vanishing. Some places like Basavangudi, has shady trees as also the 100 feet road in Indira Nagar. But the Basavangadi shady trees line a street that is narrow even for a rickshaw. This busy and traditional locality which has homes that are 100 years old, has retained its charm of being a lively residential pocket. If you want to see the Bangalore of 60s and 70s in feel and look, Basavangudi is the place. There are some minor additions that have happened here but by and large the old charm remains. Another place that oozes vintage is the MTR.

  Indira Nagar has 100 feet road and trees lining it but due to the heavy demand arising out of locational advantages, many lovely palatial villas have sold their property to commercial outlets who do roaring business which means wealthy shoppers who need parking space. So there ends the ‘elderly couple walk’.

Every time we do Bangalore, there are certain places we do not miss, come what may. First has to be the Commercial Street followed closely by Brigade Road. Among the many street side splendours that we splurge into, are the ripe guavas split into neat sections exposing their pink flesh that is liberally sprinkled with red chilly power and salt, ripe mangoes seasoned the same way, corn on the cob grilled in open flame… ahh the pleasures of jaywalking the Bangalore streets…..

The malls in Bangalore have a character of their own and we like Garuda’s character. Not that we do not like Forum in Koramangala, we love that as well.

A trip to Basavangudi is a  must – as we love the atmosphere at the Bull Temple. A hustle-bustle of activities always….a short walk after the Dharshan at the Doddaganapathy temple, takes us to the Kamat restaurant at the corner of the road. Another relishing experience.

Some of the other brilliant restaurants, more on the fine-dining side are Tandoor in MG Road and Ballygunge in Indira Nagar. Love their food and ambiance.

The ISKCON temple here is a must-go place as well.

Tamarind Tree may not sound like the place that it actually is. Thanks to my niece who had her marriage here acquainting her aunts, great aunts and uncles and grand uncles to a beautiful serene place, ideal for a classy wedding.

The aunts, uncles, cousins and nieces and of course nephews are the other (and more important) components that make my Bangalore sojourn so very nostalgic.

So, they, come next in my parade!

 

Cinque Terre

God’s partiality visible here….

Today’s thoughts!

People change. They change because their priorities change.

I have thought about it many times, about the ways people change…

They change because they want to impress people…

or they want to bring in some conscious change in their life for better…

Some change because they have been asked to change, by their spouse, girl friend or their children…

Some change because they want a sustained society acceptance….aha…this is where I bang my head against a solid wall….

society accepts you as you are….remember, you are an unknown when you first interacted with them. If they have accepted you as are, you don’t change for a sustained acceptance. Get it?

Faking on a long-term basis draws every bit of energy and at the end, you can no longer do it. What? with hearing aid, bald patches (more for women these days than men), forgotten phony accent that suddenly comes in as a sliver of memory (and making an ass of you, sorry) and the nasal twang which sounded stylish for the phony accent then, which has given way to creaky voice…

Well, I recently bumped into someone, who opened my thoughts gallery….

Not photo-shopped!!

Not photo-shopped!!

Now that’s news)))))

IPL superstitions – new edition

Aye aye…jumping japang….jampak…seems to be doing good rounds. Personally I like it. I tried dancing and would have continued but for the laugh-riot enacted by Avaanti and Adit. With kids like these you dont really need enemies.

I read somewhere recently that SRK believes in bringing his cute and unassuming daughter Suhana for KKR matches which will ensure for sure a KKR victory.

I dont know if that’s a proven thingie but I do love to see SRK and his team of pretty entourage, mostly his female co-actors and adding a drop more of prettiness to the coterie is Arjun Ramphal. 

And Shilpa till last year believed in not giving any sound bites as it might make RR lose. This year she has also brought her cute son for the IPL matches.Going by RR success this time, he might well turn  out to be Shilpa’s Suhana.

Poor kid, looks lost but sure was enjoying time with his grandma, aunt, mom and dad.

We are sure that the coming days will see a lot of new superstitions unravel.

Have you noticed, black amulets hanging explicitly from the players’ necks…aye aye, thats also part of the success formulas…

 

Aiye….Pi ..Yell!!!!

I love IPL!

I hate test cricket.

Therefore I can be relegated to the status of a cricket-polluter …I guess…

Yesterday’s IPL  match re-affirmed two things:

That SRK is a great dad…

And his kids were too adorable and untouched by starry arrogance…

Well the third point could well be, how Deepika can  take the ‘thunder thighs’ title from Sri Devi….

Well done KKR…..

A further few points:

Gautam Gambhir to join the Angry Birds brigade

Angry Birds considering renaming themselves ‘grumpy birds’ if Gauti decides to join them…

KKR cheer leaders have the same shape like Kallis…sAD…

Unmukth went before he came….the boy is good for ads….!

Bret Lee – the new Shoaib Akthar….

There’s one h….y babe in Extra Innings cheer team….did you notice?

 

More boy than others….

 

It was one of  those days when I was feeling a little low esp since I heard stories on how boys of my sonnie’s age acted like saints – not asking for anything like pocket money everyday to buy soft drinks and chips, not asking for PS games, not bargaining about the time spent to do lessons, eating whats is served and going to sleep normally and not text under the duvet.
To make matters worse, son came with two answer papers with red bold lines running across indicating the flunked status.
So there I was sitting with a sullen face and next to me sat my son with an equally sullen face. But the reasons (for sullenness) differed. He was long-faced because, I was not letting him join his friends as they came asking for him to come and play. He reasoned or rather tried reasoning by saying that his friends didn’t appear happy or cheerful when they came to call him. Oh yes, I remember that. They looked forlorn. Oh yes, that was indicative of their feeling towards their friend’s (failed) marks. Of course, prompted by my son.
So giving in to his reasoning I allowed him to play. (we wont be happy while playing…but play we have to…..)
When he came back, after an hour, he didn’t appear very cheerful and his friends who came with him looked equally cheerless. But then unknown to them, I had gone on a discreet check as they were playing in the lawn and saw their boisterous guffaw and cheer.
Boys are boys…..only some are more boys than others…..

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