No time to network socially

Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Orkut. If you are not on atleast one of these then you are not a part of the net society. If you are not sharing through Blogs, Websites, Flickr, Picassa, Facebook or YouTube then you are as closed as an oyster. Albums are now online. References for jobs are now recommendations on LinkedIn. Your daily dairy has given way to blogs and status updates. You find dates and soul mates online. Want to know more?

We can overcome physical limitations and keep in touch with friends all over the world. Also we don’t have time to catch up with friends often. So I thought it was a great idea to have an account (besides my friends were already sending me numerous invites). So I tried it out. Now I plan my events online and send invites to all with a click. Nobody turns up, but I can count the wishes pouring in. I got back in touch with my childhood buddies and keep tabs on what’s happening in their lives. I share my photos online for everyone to see. Now even the ‘not-so-often’ meetings have become rare.

I’ve added online friends like crazy. If I don’t see my Facebook page for a day, it’ll take me hours to check older posts and see if I have missed out on something. I hardly have time for orkut updates and I barely manage to check LinkedIn update email. Since I had more time, I piled on other work. This lead to further reduction in my social networking time. Now I don’t have time to tweet/ update status/ share that frequently.

When cities grew, we moved to outskirts and we had to make an effort to travel to meet someone staying within the same city. When internet grew, we had to make an effort to filter down what we want to see (No wonder search engines are the biggest technological success stories). When online social-networking grew, it is an effort on our part to maintain our online accounts. And I found out that I am not alone. Quite a few of my friends are having the same trouble.

One thing became clear to me. When we din’t have time to write letters regularly, it was time for telephone. When we din’t have time to call up our dear ones and stay connected, it was time to network online. Now we don’t have time to network online. Is someone out there coming up with a better technology?

(Those of you who wish to comment on this post, please accept my thanks beforehand. I hope you understand if I don’t reply back immediately)

Trip to Muthathi

We wanted a one-day getaway from Bangalore and as usual I started searching the net for places. I came across mekadatu and sangam. Quite near as well. But almost every blog that I came across spoke about crocodiles and I dropped the idea. Finally we settled on Muthathi and Bheemeswari. We started off armed with packed lunch, hand drawn map and other necessities with kids in tow.

Route: Bangalore – 60 kms à kanakapura – 18 kms à sathanur – 18 kms à muthathi

Got to take left near sathanur. There are signboards on the way. Road was good and the drive was smooth. The last few kms stretch is ghat road (just like tirupathi).

We made a stop at the Trimurthy temple on kanakapura road. Around 20 kms from Bangalore. Huge idols of Ganesha, Hanuman and Krishna. You cant miss this one on the left side of the road. They are open till 12 noon and again 4 pm onwards. No one was around. Nice landscape with car parking. Though we wanted to sit for a while and take in the quiet surroundings, we moved on quickly since our intension was to have lunch at Muthathi.

We finally made it. We assumed that there would be water falls since we read that there was wild river rafting, fishing, trekking and other adventure sports. But we found that it was flowing cauvery with whirlpools.

The drive on the ghat road was rejuvenating. The view from top was breathtaking. Since it was a weekday there were very few people around. We drove around for a while. Went to Bheemeswari but missed the fishing camp on the way. Drove back and found it. came to know that there should be prior reservation. We made our way back to muthathi for lunch. There were signboards about wild animals on the way – monkeys, deers, elephants and leopards. We saw monkeys and deers. Thankfully no elephants and leopards.

Had our lunch in the car on the river bed. No other option since monkeys, dogs and cows wanted to share it with us.

The landscape was something out of the movies. Kids had a gala time splashing their feet in the river. I kept cautioning them not to venture out too much since the river flow was heavy.

With our mind and souls refreshed and body tired, we headed back home in the evening.

One conversation with my daughter

One day, my daughter was on her way to school with her father. She saw lots of stagnant water on the roads (a typical sight in India after rains). She questions why the water was there. Her father told her that since it rained heavily the previous night all the roads were flooded.

She asks, “why doesn’t the water go into the drains beside?”

Her father: “People fill the drains with waste material and hence there is no space for water to go”

She: “Why doesn’t the CM and other ministers tell these people not to do that?”

Father: “They are busy with other things”

She: “Then there are other people who work for them. Why don’t they come?”

No reply from father. This question is on the lips of every common man. But coming from a 7 year old, looks like the fact is visible unabashedly.

Trip to Puttaparthi

We drove to Puttaparthi couple of weekends back. This post is more about our preparations for the trip rather than the trip itself.

The first thing we did was to search the net for the route. We got quite a few links including google maps, tourism department site, travel operator sites and blogs. We went through few blogs and google maps for the route. But we weren’t sure whether the road would be good and where exactly we needed to take important turns. Then we came across a couple of blog sites where all the details were given along with photos of important roads and toll gates. Armed with the information we started off on our journey. Needless to say that we had a good trip. We took 3.5 hrs to reach our destination from South Bangalore.

On our way we visited a newly constructed temple in picturesque surroundings (see pic). The temple is located around 8 kms away from Parthi. It has a Lord Shiva on the first floor and Lord Rama in the ground floor. There is a huge Hanuman idol in front landscaped with lovely flower bushes. We reached Parthi at almost 9am and immediately tried for Darshan. One trouble we faced was car parking. Parking inside Prashanti Nilayam is allowed only for those who have been allotted rooms inside the complex. Since we were yet to book our accommodation, we had to search for a place to park. Once cannot park in front of the complex since it is filled with shops. Also parking inside the bus complex is not allowed. We had to go further ahead to park our car. This time we were able to visit surrounding places like Chaitanya Jyothi Museum, Gayathri mandir, etc.

My take-away from the experience is whenever one is planning a trip one of the reliable sources of information is travel blogs. Check the date of the post to ensure that it is latest. Also check multiple blogs to ensure that the information you have is complete and up-to-date. I am already looking forward to my next trip.

Trip to Ghati

We spent the Valentine’s Day with our kids by driving to Ghati.
Ghati Subrahmanya is a popular pilgrim center located near Doddaballapur of Bangalore Rural. It is approximately 60 kms from Bangalore. The newly laid road is superb and one can easily reach there within an hour and a half. One can reach it either via Doddaballapur or via NH7 adjoining Devanahall airport.

Just before reaching Ghati there is a newly constructed temple of Ganesha, right after a railway crossing. It has a huge Ganesh idol (see picture beside) and small temple of Subrahmanya. A hanuman temple has been constructed recently. The compound is filled with plants and the temple is mostly empty and serene.

Ghati has a famous temple of Lord Subahmanya and Lakshmi Narasimha situated on top of a hillock. Both Lords adorn the same idol. Lord Lakshmi Narasimha is seen in the mirror behind the idol. Sarpa pooja is performed here for those who have sarpa dosha. There’s weekend rush at the temple, but manageable. Definitely not a trip to be made in summer because there aren’t many trees around the temple and it is pretty hot there. Do watch out for the monkeys in the temple which snatch away the coconuts even before offering them to the God. Also for the caged rabbits and peacock within the premises.

Apart from the temples, what I like most during the trip are the things that I bought during our return trip. Farmers sell their crops at dirt cheap prices along the way. There are lots of grape plantations hence we did not hesitate to buy a basket full of grapes at throw-away price. Tamarind, spices and some vegetables grown by farmers are also up for sale. We saw quite a few people stopping on their way to buy them.

The Man In The Glass

When you get what you want in your struggle for self,

And the world makes you a king for a day,

Just go to a mirror and look at yourself,

And see what THAT man has to say.

For it isn't your father or mother or wife,

Whose judgement upon you must pass,

The fellow whose verdict counts most in your life,

Is the one staring back from the glass.

Some people may think you are a super chum,

And call you a wonderful guy,

But the man in the glass says you're only a bum,

If you cannot look him straight in the eye.

He is the fellow to please, never mind the rest,

For he is with you clear upto the end,

And you have passed your most dangerous difficult test,

If the man in the glass is your friend.

You may fool the whole world down the pathway of life,

And get pats on your back as you pass,

But your final reward will be heartaches and tears,

If you have cheated The Man In The Glass.

Poet: Peter "Dale" Wimbrow Sr

Wholeness in imperfectness

We struggled in our work for the last one week and were frustrated that we couldn’t make any progress. We learnt a lot, but the end result that we were seeking eluded us. We put aside all other issues, even our personal life and worked with a single-minded goal. Then suddenly, everything began to work and things moved fast. Now we are grappling with multiple things at a time. But then we are more relaxed now and are enjoying our personal time as well. There is a sense of achievement – something that we might have otherwise missed if things went smoothly. We now know what it feels like to yearn, to hope, to nourish a dream of something better. We now know our limitations in work and are working along with them rather than being frustrated. We now appreciate our imperfectness.

I am reminded about a small story that I read long long ago.

“The Missing Piece” by Shel Silverstein is a story of a circle that was missing a piece. The circle wanted to be whole, so it went looking around for its missing piece. Because it was incomplete it could roll very slowly and so it admired the flowers along the way. It chatted with worms. It enjoyed the sunshine. It found lots of different pieces, but none of them fit. So it left them by the side of the road.

Then one day the circle found a piece that fit perfectly. It was so happy. Now it could be whole. It incorporated the piece into itself and began to roll. Now that it was a perfect circle, it could roll very fast, too fast to notice the flowers or talk to the worms. When it realized how different the world seemed when it rolled quickly, it stopped, left its found piece by the side of the road and rolled slowly again.

Our life is more fulfilling when something is missing and our purpose is to search for it. The journey itself is so enriching that the end goal no longer matters.

New Year Wishes

New Year is the time to wish everyone. The method to convey wishes has changed over a period of time. People posted greeting cards earlier then sent e-cards. After landlines came, people called up near and dear to wish, then it was the age of SMS. And now, everyone is just updating the status on networking sites. (I wanted to be a little different, hence this post on my blog J)

New Year brings back memories of school days. My friends and I used to spend the whole of December making greeting cards. Those who are less creative used to spend their pocket money in buying cards. Most creative and large cards were for teachers and personalized cards were made for friends and family. Cards to relatives were posted a week ahead. There used to be a queue at post offices for stamps. Sometimes they ran out of stamps and we had to go in search of another post office. (I don’t remember when I last went to a post office in recent years).

On New Year’s Day we used to pool up money to buy a small bouquet and card for our school principal and a cake for ourselves. We then used to reach the school and celebrate. Cut the cake, eat it, exchange cards, holler in empty classrooms, and run around the largely empty school. Then we went cycling to each of our teacher’s houses, starting from the principal to wish everyone. After a late night party at home, staying awake and cycling the next day was quite a feat. We used to drop on our beds tired after a quick dinner. What a wonderful way to spend the first day of new year.

College brings its own memories of late night dance parties. Employment brings its own rules. You HAVE to wish your boss, whereas we WANTED to wish our principal at school. Technology has bridged distances and we could wish people across the globe. At the same time it has created distances since we use the same technology to stay in touch with even our neighbours.

But whatever might be mode, everyone wants to wish everyone. After all it’s the thought that counts, right?

Wish everyone a successful, productive and prosperous new year and new decade.