Shopping at Puttur

Having shopped in B'lore all my life, I wouldn't have believed it if someone told me that Puttur is THE one-stop shopping place to be in! Now that we have actually done that, I believe and recommend!! It all began with accompanying my mother-in-law on her shopping expedition.
Clothes shopping in Puttur, of course, means 'Sanjeeva Shetty's shop'. Lucky to have found parking space nearby, we trudged down to SS - my first visit. The friendly, Havyaka Kannada speaking Mr.SS actually smart-talked my m-i-l into buying more than she had planned. Hey, that shop has a good collection! From there, it was a hop, skip & jump to 'Soja's shop' for some bartan . Another amazing shop - anything in metal, latest designs. Well, I don't have to advertise! Between the two, these shops are landmarks in Puttur.
Quite close by was my m-i-l's jeweller. Dealings done, we ambled back to find some 'pickle mangoes' at the vegetable shop near the parking lot, and, that, HAD to be bought :)
Happy with our shopping, we proceeded to Mukkuve, where my sister-in-law was expecting us for lunch. Now, on the way to Mukkuve, is Darbe, where you have another of Puttur's landmarks - 'Popular Sweets'. Having bought some stuff 'for the kids', I noticed a shoe shop nearby. My sandals were looking a little disrespectable thanks to the dog at my in-laws' and I decided to check out that shop - egged on by the lucky morning. I explained to the man what kind I wanted, and, you know, bought the very second pair that he showed me!! Shoe-shopping had never been so quick :)
Soon, we reached the cross road to my s-i-l's house and a look at the time told me that we had spent only about an hour and a half! We had done so much!
It was a set of 'people in good mood' that my s-i-l welcomed. On hearing our story, she said that we should have rounded off the successful shopping with ice creams at 'Hari Prasad' - next time, I guess :)
To all you Puttur folks out there - take a bow! Your pete rocks!

Woman Yesterday, Woman Today: What Next?

It’s been quite some time now that I stopped writing in my blog and guess what it is!!!! It is due to my laziness to write. Today some how I got the mood to write and here I am back!

Of late saw two good plays from two different theatre groups in my campus and these plays made audience to think about the issues from the feminist standpoint. The play catches the eye of audience due to their performance and for few outstanding elements into its production. Center for Culture and Media Study organized a play called MARGINS for their annual fest. This was enacted by a theater group named Pandies who recognize themselves in the left feminist ideology. This play was directed by Sanjay Kumar. Here the main critique lies in the fact that it’s difficult for the common audience to understand the way in which the story unfolds and expresses narratives.

The play was about a Muslim woman and it portraits the reality of life and her struggle for the justice. Indian culture is evolved within the context of gender, religion, caste and class hierarchy and minority sector is excluded from the mainstream society. MARGINS tried to link the mainstream critiques of the society from diverse peripheral of Muslim women’s perspective.

Summary of Plot: The narrator of the story Begaum, a Muslim woman from economically marginalized section, delineated the story of her daughter Anjum. Anjum got murdered in 1994 in Nizamuddin. Anjum got married to her mother’s sister’s son and continuously had been threatened by her husband for dowry. Her father-in-law also kept a bad eye on her. Anjum had a brother-in-law who was very possessively in love with her from childhood and was not in his good state of mind. The questions arose what happened that night? Who was the murder and what happens at the end of all struggles? I felt it was a challenging, innovative and interesting issue to be addressed. The play was enacted in such a manner where the character of Anjum was not shown in the play; nevertheless she became the central character of the story.

Same theatre group showed two 5-10 mint duration skits on the issues within the periphery of women. First one was on the fantasy word of 'Love' and second one was on the conjugal violence. The first plot is about the relationship between a boy and girl and the whole notion of commitment in relationships. They were in a live- in relationship and after sometime boy just disappears from her life and both go in their own path and marry different people as their life partner! But what the girl feels was that she was cheated and the question which keeps coming to her was what mistake I did in this relationship. For which she is not having an answer! She expected long term relationship but he didn’t have such intensions. And another question that rose was to whom we (women) can trust.

Second skit was on conjugal violence and sexual slavery a woman goes through in her family. Husband and in-laws crave for having a male child so husband forces her to have sex with his father and for business deals with the business partner. A dialogue in the skit which surely made many of us to think beyond the boundaries of marriage is, husband asking the wife “ I love you and every night I make love with you, we fight and then we make up” Then wife responds saying” I don’t know which hurts me more is it making love or making up”? I must mention that girl did brilliant performance!! Post play discussion opened lot of narratives from the audience about sexual violence what they saw in the society, in their neighborhood and in the counseling centers etc. The question raised here was with the notion of the commitment and marriage, difference between sex and rape and whole dichotomy which goes within the women about self and society. It’s very difficult for a lay woman to demarcate between sex and rape within the boundaries of the marriage. In the legislation also there is no law against rape within marriage. One of the suggestions came up strongly was that the woman should go for divorce, and in this context it was realized that she always gives priority to the society and family than to self. To get a divorce is also very difficult as only mutual constant between couple will provide justice to her. I personally feel Marriage makes a women vulnerable in these situations, there are different factors exist here and makes things complicated for her. Marriage identifies itself with the male than female and here she gives her self to the society.

The notion “commitment” is the most important thing whether it is the institution of marriage or a live-in relationship. A person in live in can come out of that relation when he/she is having the feeling of suffocation and in marriage this is difficult as family and children hold you back in doing so! Instead of leading the life in suffocation don’t you think it is better to come out of that life and lead ones life with respect and dignity? But is it possible for women to come out of the relationship and then lead a respectful life without becoming a victim of social expectations?

In the traditional closed tribal communities they don’t have the system called marriage. Men and women if they like each other they can begin to live together and if he breaks the commitment then she can go away from him and can lead her life with other person in the community. In tribal community the child goes with the mother. Although we tell them uncivilized but I feel they are more civilized than us in understanding the relationship. However this play was organized for men to get sensitized with the issues surrounding women, for women to think of empowering self to face the challenge and to lead life with dignity. Unfortunately by the time of discussion there were hardly few men in the audience. A question still remains is that these violations are happening in day to day life of the women. The degree and nature of violence is changing. So I am concerned as how will be her future….

Thanks to Mampi Bose and Tresa for sharing the views.

ಹೊಸ ವರ್ಷದ ಶುಭಾಶಯ

Hello

Wish You all happy New year -2010. When I met Papanna he was telling about our this blog and it need to be active. There is point in his view. I have my own personal blog and i managing it with difficult. Bu from now onwards i will copy my articles here too so that we can try to push this blog to become active among the cousins circle . So here my first post in this blog. With this post i also attached my personal blog link..

http://ashu83.wordpress.com/

Tadiyandamol

Hello Guys…
Recently we bought a new tent ie me shashi, Vai and Rohit put together. And so we wanted to check the credential of this tent. The only way to do it was a trek. It was long pending I guess after Dabbe ie 8 months back we hadn’t gone on a proper trek as such. We had climbed Skandagiri, KadaiKall, etc in between. But a trek was long due.

Tadiyandamol:

We were planning to visit the Tadiyandamol from long time, after the Dabbe trek we were hell bent on going for a trek during the monsoon itself. Everybody was opposing it, including my buddy GD. So silently we dropped him off the list and we four proceeded along with the plan that included Shashi, Vai, me and Srikar. It was decided that Me and Srikar will board the bus from Bangalore and these two ppl will join us from Mysore. As the timing was not matching I could find only a SARIGE CLASS of BUS that could match with our criteria....
So after the job, hurried packing followed it and we two were off to the bus station. After an interesting conversation with the Autowala regarding the current political situation to surveillance camera (This is after he came to know our guys had installed it over the city), he explained me how he had got 3 traffic violation tickets because of it in past one month, he went on lambasting the Traffic Police to Cops then the politicians so on.

Anyways I don’t want to touch the traveling part ie Jorney from Bangalore to Virajpet. U ppl might have experienced it, so let me skip it. Anyways these two guys joined us in Mysore @1:30AM. And we continued our journey towards Virajpet.

We reached Virajpet quite early in the morning around 4:45 AM and came to know that the local bus service to Napoklu, from where the trek starts, would start at 6:30 am only, and as it was about 30 kms from Virajpet. In the mean time we walked to the local bus stand. This was about 1km from the KSRTC bus stand. We loafed around a bit I took a short nap and we hopped in as soon as the Anuradha  came into the stands. That 1 hr journey again served a nap time.

We were there at Napoklu at 7:30 and we had to hike 3 kms to the starting point of the trek ie the Aramane AKA Nalakand Palace. The walk was amazing it was misty and we could see mist covered mountains on the distance, and it was green every where. Btb you will find lot of Home stays in here, so if u plan to relax by just reading a book or spend some time alone this would be a good place, considering it being so near to Puttur, I guess its just 80 kms away, and its lot cooler.

If I am right we came across any where around 5 home stay’s and 1 resort in this short stretch of 3 kms, I guess that might be due to the popularity of the place. But one good thing was we never came across any plastic covers, bags or bottles any such thing on our whole journey, I think all the credit goes to local ppl who manage the place. We were very glad that it was maintained in that way compared to what we saw in kadaikall, where 4 bags of ours were filled with plastic covers and bottles that the ppl had thrown around. I don’t know when these ppl come to their senses and try to keep Nature as clean as they keep their houses (There are few exceptions in here also).

Anyways after 3 kms of trek we came to a fork, the left path goes towards Nalakand Palace, Govt School & a resort. I forgot the name of that and the right takes to the peak. And there was a bus load of ppl from Bangalore who had come to visit that resort. We came to know it was quite good it seems, from our 2 fellow trekkers (It should be when u r paying 3k per person/night). Anyways we had different perspective; we had come there to get away from the usual hectic city life, giving up the luxury of couple of days.

Anyways there was a stream near by and we took a leap onto it, after 20 mins of welcome break we were back on the trek trail. Came to know that it would be around 7 km’s to the top from that point and we dint waste much time and continued on our way up. On our way to the top we passed numerous streams and the thing is, this narrow steep tar road follows the trek trail for about 2 kms. So if u have come in a bike, or a car with a good ground clearance, you can park it near a big stream, which serves as a water source for the locals in here, the tar road ends here. We had our breakfast in here. It was chapathi with amazing kobri chutney Vai’s mom had prepared (thank god I went to his home and collected it) we had a nice scrumptious breakfast. Refilled our water bottles, from this point onwards it’s a mud road for next 4 or 5 kms. It was a nice walk, with green all around us, minus the leech’s I guess due to the heavy rains that had struck Coorg couple of days back was responsible for this.

We reached a flat surface after a couple of kms from the Breakfast stream. Where in we planned to pitch our tent, Cos it was kind of ideal place-mountain on one side and a huge boulder on the other side giving ample protection from the wind. And a water source was very nearby. As we were pitching the tent, a group of 8 to 10 ten ppl passed us, so we discussed and delayed our plan of climbing the summit for couple of hour’s time. All of us were bit tired after the bus ride. So we tried to catch some sleep, so we climbed the big boulder and lay over there but alas couldn’t sleep there also. We were really amazed by the Vai’s ability to snore in such a place, in such kind of situation. Guys imagine u r lying on a big boulder, temp anywhere between 15 deg to 18deg, highly windy, and bit misty but still he SNORES...GOD Tussi Gr8 ho!!!! 

And after this not so successful attempt of sleeping, we thought of climbing the peak and we tried to wake up Vai, but he out rightly refused to come along with us. He wanted to sleep it seems, anyways it was a blessing in disguise, we were bit hesitant to leave the tent without nobody guarding it. So we locked Vai inside the tent, along with our trek bags, and started to climb further. It was around 4 o clock in the evening by that time only it was cloudy and misty, and one of the memorable point of the trek.

On our way back to the base camp we came across couple of Infosians from mysore and Shashi was most exited to see them and so myself and srikar left him to do the chit chat as we climbed down. Meantime we came across Mr. Tamanna who told us it was not a good idea to stay over night in that part as elephants pass that point during night and all. But we put a brave face and told him that we will be staying in there (We hadn’t come across any elephant dung in that area or surrounding area so). But he invited us to stay in his place, which was very generous of him. But we wanted to exp the feeling of sleeping in the tent, in such a place. Anyways it got dark pretty early and wind started to blow at higher speed and temperature dropped further so we got inside. Quickly finished our dinner and tried to catch some sleep.

I had a disturbed sleep in that tent, even though it was cozy inside, wind was howling outside and it was pushing the tent from side to side add to that it started to rain around 12 in the mid night, some how I could manage to sleep for couple of hrs time. Got up at 6 in the morning but as it was still dark and cold we continued to sleep for another hr or so. Finally everyone was up by 7 and we struggled a lot to dismantle the tent as it was too windy..

I can swear if only one guy if had he tried to hold it, easily he would have been air-borne.

After much of struggle we were able to properly dismantle the tent and we started our journey back. In between we stopped at one of the streams and had our breakfast and continued with our journey. In matter of mins the weather change drastically from clouded & misty to bright and hot day. In no time we were back at the Fork. But we missed visiting Nalakand Palace, as we were running out of time to catch the bus back to Virajpet. As I and srikar had 6 hrs journeys left with us compared to 2.5- 3 hours for Vai and Shashi, who were heading back to Mysore itself.
To our bad luck we couldn’t find any other bus back to mysore except SAARIGE……….

Again after 3 hrs of nightmare, we were in Mysore, I and Srikar continued our journey back to Bangalore. Thank god we could catch a Volvo from there to Bangalore. Oh my god u should seen our face wen we rested our bum on that cozy seats of Airavatha. God it was a gr8 feeling  really I mean it…..

Finally we were there in Bangalore by 7.

IT was one of the nice treks we had, reasons behind it were
•It was well maintained spot. No plastics nothing.
•Locals have digged pits at regular intervals where in you can throw the garbage and
ppl do follow that rule, so it was really nice to see that.
•For the first time we stayed in a tent.
•The time we choose to visit this place was just perfect.
•It was cloudy and misty on most of the part of our journey in there.
•Only 4 ppl ventured out for this trek, less ppl u enjoy more.


That’s how it went, so long……………..

An unusual day at work

For the most part of the last 65 years, the Shiva-cum-LaxmiVenkatesha temple that I'm going to tell you about has remained submerged under the waters of the Bhadra dam.The delayed monsoon had brought it back to light and the people of the surrounding villages had decided to shift it to an accessible place & so, my services were required (I'm a Civil Engineering consultant).

The very cloudy morning of Sunday, June 28, thus found husband and me driving along areca, coffee & rubber plantations, paddy fields and lakes like the one in the pic above for about 12 km.Then, quite unexpectedly, we reached a dead end and two young men on motorcycles were waiting to take us further through 'no roads'! We then had the roughest cross country bike rides of our lives for what seemed like ages, but was actually a distance of about 3 km. At very slushy places, we had to get off and walk, looking out for leeches & co.!

Finally, we reached the temple (pic to the left). Preparations were in full swing for the shifting, scheduled to take place the next morning. The religious formalities had been completed and people were making other last minute observations. Come to think of it, I was called in at the last minute too!

The temple looks about 300-400 years old. The left half belongs(!) to Shiva and the right to Laxmi on Vishnu's lap. The dieties were lying just below their original pedestals smeared in haldi-kumkum (couldn't bring myself to photograph them. I now wonder, why?) The temple was probably built by some small-time chieftain. Since the ornamentation works are very minimal, I wonder if he was in a hurry to finish the temple. Or, couldn't he afford lots of sculptors? Nobody knows. No , these mountains know. But, they have been shocked into silence. Just look at the dead and bare tree tops and stumps. Once upon a time, this must have been a very cheerful place - trees, birds & small animals chattering, a quiet stream, people coming in to worship and then lingering on to exchange pleasantries- all dislocated by one big, ugly wall. Very quiet in our own sombre thoughts, we made the same journey back.

Meanwhile, the monsoon arrived on June 29 - the next day, making it impossible for the earth moving machines to operate. It has been pouring here since then. The papers tell me that the dam is nearing its capacity which means the temple is once again under water - till the next delay in monsoon, I guess.

Hello

A reminder from the blog administrator has sort of prompted me to write this.My hesitation in
contributing stems from the fact that I'm probably unknown to most of you. Here's my introduction- I'm Soumya, cousin to Suma, Aravind & Gayathri. I'm here thanks to an invitation from Lakshmi (M.Bhat).
This piece of writing will go down in history(!!) as the first post I've ever written and I've been thinking & thinking about something nice to write about. I've only got so far as to realise that it is easier to first put my thoughts into paper and then transfer them on to the computer! In the good old days of snail mail, I used to exchange long letters with my near & dear ones and probably, that's why I'm more comfortable with writing on paper.
The idea of a group blog is a good one. The name 'Chavadi' is good too - it creates an informal ambience. A quick look at the older entries - and, I seem to be the first 'non-MT' person to have contributed (The nice poem before this has been placed by the administrator). All right, someone has to break the ground and phew! I'm through with the 'starting trouble'. I promise to
contribute when I can think of /come across something nice. I think, as far as possible, I will avoid cricket, Bollywood & politics. Regards to all.

ನಿ೦ತಲ್ಲಿಯೇ ಕ೦ಬವಾದೆ

ಅರೆ ಕತ್ತಲೆಯ ಏಕಾ೦ತದಲಿ
ಗೋಡೆಯೊಡನೆ ಬೆರೆತುಹೋದೆಹಲವು
ಕನಸುಗಳೊಡನೆ
ನನ್ನ ನಾ ಮರೆತುಹೋದೆ!

ಸುಮ್ಮನಿರದು ಜೀವ
ಬಯಕೆಗಳೊಡನೆ ನಡೆದಿದೆ ಭಾವ
ಯೋಚನೆಗಳೊಡನೆ ತಲ್ಲೀನಳಾಗಿ
ಸ್ಥಬ್ಧವಾದೆ
ನಿ೦ತಲ್ಲಿಯೇ ಕ೦ಬವಾದೆ.

ನುಡಿಯತೊಡಗಿತು
ಕಲ್ಲಿನೊಳಗಿನ ದನಿ
ವರುಷಗಳ ಹಿ೦ದೆ
ನಿನ್ನ೦ತೆಯೇ ಯಾರೋ ಜೊತೆಯಾದರು
ಕೆಲಕ್ಷಣದಲಿ ಮರೆಯಾದರು
ನೆನಪಿಸಿತು ತನ್ನೊಳಗೆ
ಕ೦ಬನಿಯ ಕಾಣಿಸದೆಕರಗಿತು
ಕಲ್ಲು ನನಗರಿವಿಲ್ಲದೆ
ಮರುಕ್ಷಣವೇ ಮರಳಿದೆನು
ಜಗದೆಡೆಗೆ, ಪೂರ್ಣ ಬೆಳಕಿನೆಡೆಗೆ...


-ಲಕ್ಷ್ಮಿ ವಾರಣಾಶಿ

VENICE

Venezia or Venice, often cited as one of the most beautiful cities in the world, has been seducing visitors for its beautiful watery setting and fairy-tale appearance. This Italian ‘city of water’ will undoubtedly create a restless magic on visitors from around the world.

The city sits at the heart of a lagoon, its many islands, alleys and canals divided into six sestieri, or districts, three to the west (Dorsoduro, San Polo and Santa Croce ) of the Grand Canal and three to the east (San Marco, Castello and Cannaregio).

San Marco is the busiest sestiere and is the commercial centre of Venice. One of the main attractions in this region is Piazza San Marco, Venice’s main square. This area houses the tallest building of the city, Companile. Other points of interest in San Marco are Basilica di San Marco (one of the world’s greatest medieval buildings) and Palazzo Ducale (a beautiful gothic building).

Castello and Cannaregio are Venice’s quietest districts. It is good to be in this area when you are tired of crowd and want to sip cappuccino sitting in a quiet cafe.

Grand Canal, or Canal Grande, snakes for 4 km through the heart of Venice and it divides the city. This may well classify as the world’s most beautiful ‘street’ and trip along this fascinating canal is a pleasure in itself. Journey along the canal offers superb views of the city’s buildings, houses, shops and an insight into Venetian world.

Dorsoduro, the most distinctive sestieri, embraces the southern part of Grand Canal and is mostly residential. If one wants to wander at random, Dorsoduro is the place to be in.

San Polo and Santa Croce are the two remaining districts of Venice. The famous Rialto market is in this part of Venice. Early in the morning or late in the evening, whether you want to shop for souvenirs or clothes, buy fruits or fish, Rialto has it all. Beautifully crafted Maschere (traditional mask) is the one of the ‘must buy’ souvenir when you are shopping in Rialto.

When you are finished visiting all the districts and its attractions in Venice, it is worthwhile to take a trip to nearby islands like Lido, Murano and Burano. Lido has a beautiful beach while the lagoon island Murano has been the historic heart of Venetian glass production. Burano, mainly consisting of fishing community, is famous for brightly painted houses.

If Venice is beautiful beyond description by day, it defies description by night. It is an enchanting experience to take a trip along the Grand Canal under starlit sky. The combination of – Candle light, Italian Food & Wine in Venice (of course with your partner) – makes this the most romantic dinner to have on this earth.

Planning a visit to Venice in April or May would be ideal. Temperature will be around 20 C, not too cold or hot, sunny bright days of spring. Getting to Venice is easy – there are two international airports with direct flights from worldwide. The best way to explore in and around Venice is by foot and boats. Vaporetti (water buses) are the most common mode of public transportation while Traghetti (ferries) provide invaluable service in connecting few important places which are far away. Motoscafi (water taxis) are fast but very expensive.

And there are Gondola’s...Hiring a gondola is an expensive affair but it is worth to have a ride for an hour in this historic gondola. One can bargain for price with a gondolier before hiring, an average price for a forty minute ride in a gondola is €60.

Food and eating out....A ristorante offers good ambience and hence expensive, whereas the trattoria is less formal and less expensive place to eat. Pizzeria or Spaghetteria are take-away sort of places where one can enjoy a slice of pizza or bowl of pasta for a very cheap price. Cappuccino and a bruschetta are perfect for mid-morning or early evening snack.

"A realist, in Venice would become a romantic, by mere faithfulness to what he saw before him." - Arthur Symons

Appa and amma ,50 years together

A great marriage is not when the 'perfect couple' comes together. It is when an imperfect couple learns to enjoy their differences.
Dave Meurer, "Daze of Our Wives"


Appa and amma celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on May 1st.
The previous night, we sat talking about old times.
Amma was just 19 when she got married.
Appa was working in the Indian Railways.
Amma had just seen a train, but never sat in one. Ajja had taken the family to Mangalore to see a circus ,Kamala Three Ring circus. Then he had taken them to the Railway Station to see the train!!
Appa and amma got married on May 1st'1959, and amma who had till then only seen a train, had to travel all the way to Kharagpur!!
Ajja sent Gopalamava and Ranichikkamma along as company. While in Kharagpur appa made them eat egg omelette, telling them it was dosa!! They ate it with great relish and came to know what it really was only after they finished eating.
On May 11th, they left for Madras from Kasaragod by Madras Mail. It seems in those days, when the pantry car had not yet come into existence, the train stopped at Kannur for ½ an hour. People went to the platform to eat or food was brought into the train in tiffin carriers and banana leaves.
The next day they reached Madras then they had to take the Madras Howrah Mail to Kharagpur and reached there on the 14th.
Indeed a very long journey for a person who had never been on a train before!!

Some time in 1965, appa and amma with anna and I decided to go to Darjeeling for a holiday.
They had to go in the train and then at one place they had to cross the river by steamer and then take the meter gauge train.
When the Ganga enters Bengal, it splits into two, the Hugli and the Padma.
Just before the breakup, a barrage was constructed- Farakka barrage. The train stopped to the south of the barrage and they had to cross the river by steamer.
They reached that place quite late in the evening.
In those days there were trunks and holdalls, no suitcases.
Appa went ahead with the coolie who was rushing. Amma followed with two of us. At one place, some people went to one side and others to another. Appa was nowhere to be seen so she followed with some ladies and climbed up the waiting steamer. To her dismay she saw appa nowhere. She immediately climbed down and saw appa coming towards them anxiously. He had gone to the correct steamer and after paying the coolie saw that his wife and children were nowhere to be seen.
That was a happy reunion.
The steamer on which amma had gone left soon , God knows where it was going.
Many,many incidents have happened along the way ,these fifty years, some sad some happy.
I read somewhere,
“ We see in life what we want to see.
If you look for the extraordinary in the ordinary,
You can see it.
Life is precious and extraordinary.
Put your attention on this fact and
little ordinary things will take on a
whole new meaning.”