Another year past me. Where changes, small and large took place. Changes that surprised me, those which i found difficult to grasp. A period where i grew as a person, with new thoughts, varied ideas, and most important, accomodating new faces in my small world.

I've always liked painting. My affection in it perked when i found Mrs. Neela Panch at BVB. Always, standing by me, encouraging me to try out various mediums, explaining her thoughts, the balancing of colours.......

At home, i used MS Paint. Habituated to it, i started it out as a past-time, doodling formed a large chunk in those initial stages. Of late, a new kind of experimentation has begun, with a theme behind most of them. MS Paint and abstract art goes well with each other. Indeed, the difficulty lies in the flexibilty, as working with a mouse is not easy. At times, what i draw might appear senseless, but that is an exception that can be associated with almost anything.The idea, of asking my parents to judge them seems worthless at times, but yes, they have given me valuable suggestions. Some of them may look the same, but the technique appears varied, as i tried explaining it to M.

I have posted some of my works on MS Paint, previously under the tag art (the link's attached). I have posted more of them on Flickr, which appears as a sidebar, below the archives list. One can click on a picture to obtain a larger view of the same. Well, i have recieved various views on my works, i wish the same continues. I hope to add more of my works as time permits.

A new year, a new addition, something lost, a thing gained!

Here's wishing everybody a pleasant new year. Cheers!

Hope and positiveness.

Both words almost mean the same. I guess, one tags the other. The question, being which tags what?

Hope is to look at things in a positive manner, trying to believe that our trust and belief in something hold good. Hence, does a positive outlook follow hope, in it's usage, it's literary sense?

Having a positive outlook towards things. Attempting to make us to believe that everything occurs in our favour. It neccesarily does not define so. A positive side also emphasises on the how we approach, accept, digest things.... whether they please us or not. Will the same pack enough courage in us, in order to face one disapointment after another. Or is it, in vain?

Hope and trust? Do they have something in common. Hope surfaces from trust, a strong feeling, that one may or may not realise. It is something which is soothing, when one is in despair, when one wishes otherwise. I also feel that hope requires some input. To make us worthy of it.

Which among them is apt, when one experiences setbacks, in continuous fashion. About the nature of setbacks, does it matter?

Being an old-timer is simply great. We have stayed in our area, for ages, if one would consider forty years. Neighbours have come and gone, but some have stayed as old-timers too. It's sad to note that my neighbourhood has changed. People with whom we associated very well have vacated houses. Making way for new faces. It's wonderful, when a neighbourhood aunt, asks me to visit her place. When the book-shop guy asks how everybody at home are, greets me with a smiling face, asks me whether my niece would like a chocolate, when i pull her along. We've been visiting this shop since inception.

Some shops were new some time back. Now, they seem known to us. The same with neighbours. But our new neighbours are different. With people coming in from the north, north-east, varied lifestyles being led in front of us. At the same time it is a learning experience. With new faces, new friends, exchanging tit-bits, trying to understand other traditions, practises.......

A neighbour, who became a localite recently, treated mother with indifference. Apparently, that lady(quite a grandma) asked mother about her children, and mother replied that she has two daughters. Grandma stopped in her tracks immediately She did not want to converse with somebody not having a male offspring She does not smile at mother even to this day. I wonder why? A drop in the ocean, which makes a difference. Dissapointed in noting this, we have not recieved such cold treatment from old faces, or even those amongst the old faces who have settled somewhere else.

mtr-going, gone?

In the last week news articles stated that business majors have approached MTR (Mavalli Tiffin Rooms). As far as Saturdays' Praja Vani is concerned, an MNC also, has offered to buy the company.

It's disturbing. I've been visiting the place regularly from the past ten years or so, courtsey father. Father has been an old-timer at MTR, sinec i don't know ehen. He visits the place, every morning, after having strolled in Lalbagh. The waiters there, treat him with a pleasant smile. I, too have spoken to them many a time, after being duly introduced as his daughter.
'Yenamma, raje naa?'........ 'Eega yaava class nalli odtidya?.......' Yen vishaya, sir, ivattina suddi yenu?'.......' Sir, nimage antha sambar ittidini, yeradu cup ide'....'Nimage benne bekaa?'

Thus goes the conversation, an everyday feature. We've been privileged at times, when the tea carries less of sugar, when father recieves butter for the rava idly. I've never seen others' being offered butter, even known faces don't get it! The manager walks upto him, picks up the newspaper, discussing about the day's news.

Namma MTR, was started recently. It churns some of the best grilled sandwiches, souffles' and mousses' that i've tasted. Though i've not paid visits to other branches, the one on Lalbagh Road is awesome. Was i shocked, when i read articles, stating that MTR's had huge offers for the brand it has become. It's disheartening to even sight upon such an article, for somebody who has seen the brand rise through many years. A company which caters to the Indian diaspora, have state-of-the-art technology (with help from the DRDO), comes up with a new product, every year. And most importantly, these products are in huge demand. I wouldn't want to eat bisi bele bath, without the addition of MTR's bisi bele bath powder.

My sister said, 'Please, request them not to be allowed to be bought!! We survive on it's products!!' The next time, i pay a visit to this place, i will definately request them.

The CEO mentioned, that since the brand's doing so well, he obviously would not want to sell it. I have my fingers crossed!

mouth marketing!

A friend has started a new web-site. It is said to be a portal, exclusively hosting kannada greeting cards. It does have a variety catering to almost all occasions. Something that we could look forward to, while grasping at the thin-strands which hold the kannada culture. And moreover i was asked to mouth-market it. So, i here i am, Mouna, mouth-marketing it. I guess i'm slated to do job!!

chitter-chitter! Hope you all enjoy it. Here's the url:

www.shubhashaya.com

a journey, well-cherished

We had to travel to Davangere, to attend an engagement ceremony. The return journey was to be by train. Father decided that we travel back to Bangalore by train, so that i could save on energy. I had an exam two days later, and i was very specific, that i get good sleep that night.

We had booked tickets in the Jana Shatabdi. he was excited as it was a chair car, and it was long since i had travelled in one. The last time i travelled in a chair car, was to Shimla from i don't where. It remains hazy.

I enjoy train journeys' as i usually find somebody, with whom i chat through the entire length of time. I took the aisle seat, father beside me, and the seat next to the window was occupied by a young man, of about twenty four. And this guy was sleeping. All my hopes flowed down the drain. I took out my Robin Cook, and turned to the page, marked by a book-mark. I was reading Seizure, and flipping through the pages, with disinterest.

A cute young girl was sleeping on the seat across the aisle. I don't know why, but she grabbed my attention. I returned to the book with a sigh, while, tea, coffee, chips, masale-dosa, vada, made their entrance every now and then. As it was about five in the evening, i opened the pack of Parle 'hide and seek' biscuits. Seeing the kid talking with somebody, enticed her with chocolates, in vain. We offered some to our neighbour, who was now awake.

The train sped through green fields, with a blushing sky to provide contrast. Father began small-talk with the guy, and i soon joined him. Later we paused for a while, drinking hot tea, with biscuits accompanying the beverage.

The girl finally, came by me, and asked me, ' akka, ondhu kathe helthira?' I was dumb-struck, and happy at the same time. Me, 'seri, ba illi, ninage yaava kathe beku? ili mathe simha kathe heLlaa?'. The chair in front of me, had a thing, which i could pull out, and use as a table. I made her sit on that, asked her name... and stuff. Vaishnavi reminded me of her request again. I started the age-old 'The Lion and the Rat story'. Later, i wished that i had told a more extravagant one. With dark eyes that seemed to shine with laughter , a smile playing at the corner of her lips', an innocent look on her face.... But nothing really struck my mind that moment!

She listened to me with wonder-struck eyes, with rapt-attention. Stopping me here and there, asking me to repeat a particular scene. There, she sat, opposite me, chewing one end of her frock. The guy slowly, released the frock from her mouth. After having recited the story i stopped, for some time, and asked her name... etc the usual stuff. The girl ran back to her uncle. Father went down memory lane, when i was told a bed-time story. In fact, i pestered Grandma to tell me one, every night.

Father, that guy and me talked about various things, me about college, about our backgrounds, our lifestyle.....

We arrived at Bangalore, wished each other good-luck. Wishing Vaisnavi goodbye, hoping to meet her somewhere, once again, in the near future. I still remember this journey, for it's close to my heart.

Many incidents come and go, making an appearance in oour lives. One moment that i'll cherish my lifetime, is this one. Vaishnavi sitting in front of me, father helping me, while i faltered in my job of story-telling. The guy discussing about our habits, lifestyle, our aims.....

I'm waiting for my niece to grow up. So that, i shall don the robes of a story-teller again. I hope that life provides me with another wonderful oppurtunity.

changes and innovation in the indian short story

These are excerpts which forms the second bit on the introduction to the Indian short story.

In the post-Independence period, the short story has emerged as the most popular literary form only next to the novel, in Indian writing. The short story has been able to document as well as interpret the wide variety of experiences the Indian society has passed through these decades. The modern Indian short story has helped make sense of the content of thoughts and speech in a changing world. With increase in literacy, there also has been an unprecedented growth in the number of periodicals, magazines and journals in all languages of India. The complexity of the modern mind, the need of the creative mind to innovate and the proliferation of periodicals in the print media have together contributed to the making of the modern Indian short story. What the story gains in this period is a greater inwardness of form and deeper understanding of the human life.

At the center of these stories, one often meets a tormented young man/woman
who is unable to reconcile himself/herself to his/her new environment. This
alienation comes from a deep-rooted sense of displacement which is qualitatively
different from the one occasioned by colonialism.

The elitist bias of the short story was brought into relief by another
generation of radical writers who redefined the direction of the short story.
The dalit writers and the woman writers have highlighted issues of caste,
gender, religion and ethnicity in their writing. The significance of the Dalit writing or Bandaya movement or feminist writing is that it has redefined our conceptual categories such as literary tradition, literary imagination and the nature of the literary text.

In Baburao Bagul's stort Mother, the young boy is unable to reconcile the violence of deprivation of his everyday life with the idealized view of mother as 'a river of love and benediction'. It portrays life in an urban slum with rare sympathy.
http://mouna-creations.blogspot.com/2006/07/i-was-reading-another-short-story.html

Writers like Mahasweta Devi look beyond the literary to incorporate issues
like social justice into the thematic range of their writing. This is also true
of several dalit writers who have tried to describe what they went through
without any self-pity.

Writers like, U.R. Anantha Murthy, M.T. Vasudevan Nair, Anita Desai, Mahasweta Devi, Ashokmitran have written on varied topics. Mahasweta Devi has concentrated on dalit and their imposed lifestyle that is wretched.

Rajinder Singh Bedi's Lajwanti written in the mid-sixties is one of ther most poignant stories to come out of the Partition experience. Lajwanti, an abducted woman who is returned finds that she remains an outsider, inspite of being formally accepted by her husband. Sunder Lal now, considers her a 'devi'. In his introduction to Partition stories, Alok Balla writes: Lajwanti longs to cease lamenting for the past, to be accepted as a victim of historical circumstances, to be treated a s human being with flesh and blood, who has endured a lot but not withered when touched, and the above all to be embraced as a woman who is physically alive and longs for the generosity of love.

Works of fiction have the power to exorcise the ghosts fo history. It
is by narrating and recounting events that we overcome the traumas of our lives.
Bedi's Lajwanti helps us to come to terms with one of the darkest
moments in our recent history.

Learning biology is fun. Mrs. Sayeeda introduced us to the subject. Though the introduction was very mundane. Mrs. Bhadran picked up, from the latter in Std 9.

I've had biology as my subject for more than six years or so. My perception of the subject has chaneged, but the affection remains the same. Botany was ever liked by me, i guess, but Zoology is interesting. More so, because it concerns you and me, alike. Laughing, talking, staring at Sabella, the staff downloading colour pictures, from the computer at the Department, attending Zoology classes, drawing histo diagrams during classes, discussing about the day's news....

One of the things that i've always enjoyed about Zoology, is the jokes, that we crack at it's expense.

Di- A Taxonomist.

Di, S, and me were walking to the bustop. We'd just finished an exam on Zoology, and Di was frustrated with it. We had Ecology as a paper, and Ecology can get on one's nerves. She was talking about her way of writing answers.

A gist:

Di : 'If i were the mother of ecology, i'd put all the green plants under one family.

It's obviously scandalous to do so. I kept quiet.

Di continued, 'Animals with four legs will belong to one family, and those with two legs comprise another.'

Me: What???

S: Which are the animals which come the two-legged category.

Di: Monkey.....

Me: S, don't we walk on two legs???

Di and S, turn towards me, treating me with new-found realisation.

There. We laughed at Di's innovativeness, and conveniently switched to something else.

Exams are around the corner, and i'm already making plans for holidays. We hardly get any time after exams. If you'd term three four days, as vacation.They last for almost a month, with loads of time inbetween. I don't know, how to regard that. It's frustrating at times, at the same time, it's ok, not bad.

So, trying to forget exams for some time, i called my friends, with new-found enthusisiasm. Perhaps, they were surprised. Anyways, they know me as this weird lady, so probably they weren't. Not being receptive to my ideas, is an understatement. Of course, they had other things chalked out. Why does it always happen so?

Untoward events have to pass by when i come up with brilliant ideas. Ideas which sound good and practical. While i'm still justifying the obvious failure of my plan, a friend messages me by saying, 'Mo, have your plans failed? he he he' This is the exact replica of the message. Why does this happen to me alone. When they schedule things, it works out without a hitch. Thus, i've promised myself to make good of this vacation.

I hope to visit someplace, for i wish to go out of Bangalore atleast, for a day or two. I've plans to catch up with my reading, it's been years since i've read Ruskin Bond. Painting is on the list too, my water colours need to be used, probably shall try out oil colours too. MS-Paint is an obvious choice. Thinking in a postive way, trying to cheer myself.

Hmmm, i'm still thinking, what else can be done?