The Petition

The Petition

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Rush hour

The huge bus came
rushing by

Standing on the
median of the big road

I was a bit
hesitant

After a flicker of
a second

I saw the bus
running over me...

What a relief, the
road is free

I cross over and
walk towards home.

In Hyderabad...

"Hyderabad nagina - niche mitti, upar chuna"

[Hyderabad - a precious gem, below it is the ground and on top it's lime stone]

- with this line Jahangir - our driver, introduced us to Pearl City. So we went around the historic city with a driver with the royal family tag! He also went on to become my Father-in-law's source of Paan [a concoction of betel nut and leaves] and information.

Hyderabad is one of the oldest cities of India and is the capital of Andhra Pradesh. It is also called the twin city...as its merged with Secundrabad...one of its kind. We were told that the city is named after one of its queen's Hyder bano - who was a Hindu and was married to the Nizam family- it was of course a love marriage.

In three days we went all over the city, looking for places to see and food to eat :) The first place we reached was the NTR gardens..it is a wonderland kind of place with blown up figures of bugs, fruits and vegetables. There were a couple of water fountains and the dying day cast a rainbow on one of them.

From there we went to the Lumbini park - a fantastic laser and light show awaited us. It was one hour of mesmerizing visuals on fountain waters that kept us glued to the seats. But somewhere deep in my mind there was a tingling sensation of fear remembering the bomb blasts of last year.

After that great show we went to see the Birla Temple. Its on the highest point of the city and the view from there is breathtaking....unfortunately due to security reasons visitors are not allowed to take cameras along....this one is something you have to see to believe.

By the time we climbed down the steps of the temple, we were getting ready for the famous Hydrabadi biryani [a special flavoured preparation of rice with meat] :P but were too exhausted to go to the famous Paradise [the name truly fits the food available here] and decided instead to try out another outlet Bawarchi [said to be the best by locals]. Well, the try was not too satisfying and kept us longing for Paradise...

After a good night's rest we were ready to face another day under the sun. We headed to The Ramoji Film City - the biggest studio in India. Its another wonderland where snippets of entire India -and a few foreign location- could be seen within a single bus trip! The bus took us through narrow alleys of a Bombay market to reach the Taj Mahal of Agra at the end of the road and then with a turn of the road we reached the Bengali markets of Kolkata!!!

There we also acquired a first hand experience of making a movie. There were three stages of filming - shooting, sound mixing and final premier screening. In a very simplistic way we were shown what goes into the making of any movie. The scene was the famous chase from the film Sholay where Basanti [the leading lady] with her Dhanno [her beloved horse] were chased by Gabbar's gang. The guides there asked one among the visitors to come up and do the role of Basanti while they called two others to create special effects :) Well... special effect was very interesting, the two men were asked to sit on two sides of the cart body where Basanti was seating and they had to shake the cart from side to side giving a feeling that its moving and shaking over rocky terrain! Sound mixing was also interesting - they created all kinds of natural sounds just sitting in the studio! The guides asked a couple of kids to produce the various kinds of sounds and they did a great job. The premier was a big hit :D

Even after half a day of the tour Hubby dear was enthusiastic to try his hand at cricket. So we reached the nets for a shot. I have to accept, he is as good as he claims to be....scored some 60 odd runs in 5 overs! Good going all rounder!

As we returned to the hotel we were taking along a treasure of visuals to cherish for long.

The night was hot, we were tired from the full day's walk and tour. In that state of health we drove to the famous Charminaar. In the growing evening as the lights came up in the monument, it looked awesome. But the surroundings were a crowded market place with people milling all over and there is the famous bangle market of Hyderabad. Being woman that we are, myself and Mom-in-law rushed to one of the shops. We were well warned by Jahangir about the bargaining skills that we needed to hone for buying anything from this market. Rule of thumb was to half the price the salesman quoted, whatever it might be! It felt a bit weired to counter the salesman's 4500 with a 2000, but it really worked!!!! yuppie!!!

Next attraction was Irani chai under the Charminaar...yes the same one made famous by many a Hindi movie songs. Yeah it is as good as its ame is.

Next destination was the Paradise :P finally we were there....yumm its so tasty......mummmmmm and the drive on the Necklace road after that treat was another experience. This road, by the Hussain Sagar, looks like a string of jewels at night...

Day three and we still had to cover a lot of places and very little time at hand :( we headed straight to the Golkonda Fort. The dilapidated fort of the Nizam's stands as a testimonial of the scientific brilliance of ancient India. The hub of the fort lies at the top of a hill - takes 700 plus steps to reach the top - now think how would the king get water up there? Surprise!!! they had a technique to pump water from the ground level ponds up the hill for the king - without using any machine. Broken pipe lines could be seen engraved on the stone walls. The pipes have a few more qualities...they are made of mud and lime stone - mud kept the water cool and the limestone absorbed any poison that the traitors or enemies might have mixed at the source of water. Amazing isn't it?

The fort also had a telegraphic communication system. The architecture was such that from certain points in the fort when you clap your hands the sound is carried to the top of the hill. A specific combination of claps could well convey a message to the king. Apart from this, the architecture didn't allow any conspiracy to survive. Whatever one spoke at the visitors quarters could be heard from the floor above where the sentries stood in alert. Time constraint didn't allow us to explore the hub above the 700 steps and also the diamond mine in the fort....something left for the next visit.

Moving back to the city we headed for the amusing and amazing Sudha Car Museum. This is a store house of unique cars modelled by a person called Sudhakar. There was a car in the shape of bed, one like cup and saucer, one another like a computer and so many! You can check that out any many @ http://www.sudhacars.net/

From the museum we reached the Chamillah Palace. It's one of the newer palaces in Hyderabad and houses a huge collection of the Nizam's life time - clothes, furniture, cutlery, weapons what not.

And at last we reached the Salarjung Museum. Its a very famous and has an enormous collection of things by one man - Salarjung. Of all the things there I had heard of the "Rebbecca". Its a statue carved out of one piece of marble and depicts an Italian lady covered in veil and is drenched. It is very hard to believe that its not real and is just a stone carving. The folds of cloth the silhouette of her face....everything is so real as if I a clap my hands and she would come to life...

With that ended our tour of Hyderabad ... lots remaining to be explored. But how could we leave that place without having tasted the famous sheek kabab and rumali roti? We headed to Kababish [another amazing place to try out food in Hyderabad] to taste just that. yummmmmm again!

Jehangir then dropped us at the railway station...time was up but with a desire to come back we board the train.

Water Water Everywhere....

It was the day before my birthday. I went shopping with hubby and in-laws. As the day closed our eight hands started to pain - no we aren't the types who walk on hand - but the sheer weight of the shopping bags...

We started our long trip back home. Four of us crammed in an auto with our bodies and the bags. There was hardy any more place for anything else.

After numerous red lights and traffic jams the destination was in sight. While 'de-auto-ing' we realized our legs had gone numb. It was difficult to stand and take steps...so we decided to wait a couple of minutes before moving into the building.

Chit chat was on when one lady staying on the ground floor of our building came rushing and asked "Are you staying in F4?" (We hardly know anyone in this building given our office timings!)
On receiving an affirmative reply she said, "you left some water taps running and the water is flowing out!!" I could not create a clear picture of the situation in my mind and just kept walking towards the lift lobby. Just as I stepped into the lobby the whole thing struck hard! Water had reached the ground floor all the way from our fourth floor flat!

"S***!!" was all that came to my mind. I opened the lift door and as I was moving in, water droplets fell on my head....I was terrified of what would have happened inside the flat!

We opened the door and walked into a pool of water...it was everywhere...originated in the kitchen and moved to the hall and then negotiated a small turn and flooded the guest room.

Instinctively four of us started to clean up with whatever we could lay our hands on...we put on the fans in full speed, opened all the windows for free flow of air and were trying to push the water out of our home.

After half an hour of hard work we were able to clear most of the water and waited for the rest to dry off.

Phew!! What a day it turned out to be....it started with a drought - there was no water in the morning and we had to run around to get it (which resulted in the open tap) and in the evening we had to drive it out of our home!

Leap Year!!

Thirty days hath September,

April, June and November;

All the rest have thirty-one

Save February, she alone

Hath eight days and a score

Til leap year gives her one day more.

February 29th is a day when some are happy as well as not! you will be saying that whats so special about this...every other day brings with it its share of joy and tear? Well, they are happy because finally their birthday returned and sad because it doesnt every year!

This is a special day for anyone...employers feel good they wont have to pay employees for this one day! Employees feel virtuous having provided voluntary services :)

There is a host of things assosiated with the leap year. Let me add a couple of links here which store some interesting information on leap year. Hope you have a great time reading them.

http://www.leapyearday.com/hr/about.html

http://www.mystro.com/feb29today.htm

Also would like to wish a Happy Birthday to all the leap day babies and specially to our friend KJM who turns 7 today :)

Could not miss out on this opportunity to post on the leap day :D

The Flight

My feelings -
are jotted down,
With flawless ease
on this paper brown
I have given them
the pleasing right -
To rise above
and soar in flight
They keep on flying
in solitude
Where besides me
none else intrude...

Probably all of us as teenagers have tried our hand at poetry...this week I have picked one of my poems from then...sometime in the tenth standard :)
There are a bunch of them....maybe they will at last be read by someone else!

CUBED!

Sitting in the dingy crumpled office room, I would often dream of some posh office. The dream was there even before I landed the job in that not-remotely-posh office. The comforts of a small working unit notwithstanding, the mind’s eye were always looking for ‘beauty’.

Friends contributed a lot to the dream and so did the rightly-so idiot-box. Then there were titanic influences of the Holly-n-Bolly-wood. There was no escape from those spacious reception, state-of-the-art buildings, lavish interiors and to go with that well groomed people, crisp dresses and currency of course! Everything and everyone seemed to pronounce the same verdict – if you are not part of that lot, you have not achieved a thing in life.

“Tong” – a stroke of luck and I found myself receiving an appointment letter from one of those coveted companies housed in one of those state-of-the-art buildings. Life changed. Colleagues in the old office looked up at me with renewed reverence. Well, I was the chosen one for the big leap. I was happy. More dreams were now hovering on the edge.

Day one and I felt lost. So many faces – all new, some tensed, some carefree, some angry, some happy. And I was confused and terrified dwarfed by the hugeness.
After some looking around I found the place – the much dreamt cube - my cube – and I was happy again. At last, a corner to myself. I had lots of plans to make this corner my own. Lot of things needed to be done...

Half month down the line, I was ready with the environment. Sitting snugly in a corner was my pet stuffed monkey – two pictures of the family, a small cactus, one fancy coffee mug, a designer water bottle and a laughing Buddha to take care of my luck in this new world.

The neighbouring cubites were curious about my preparations. Some just looked, some smiled and some talked. Oblivious to all my collection kept growing each day.
With ‘new joinee’ tag now beginning to fade, work pressure slowly started piling up. Every day the log off time seemed to drift away in the night. The long calls, deadlines, performance and anonymity.

Lost appetite, lost food, lost friends, lost time, lost my-self. The two day weekends transformed into extended sleep hours. Irritated, short tempered, depressed – that’s what I became. Somehow the thought of returning to the cubicle everyday was repulsive – but no option – I had chosen it!

It was my dream which turned into a nightmare...I wished to be in a beautiful cube and ended up being cubed!!

Captivating Kodai

Kodaikanal is a small hill station in Tamil Nadu. It is situated at an altitude of about 2,133-m high and covers an area of 21.45-sq-km with a population of around 40,000 whose prime occupation is agriculture and tourism.
We had a chance to visit this lovely place last weekend. Though winter is not a 'season' to visit the town this season has its own charm.
We took a train from Chennai to a small station called Kodai road where we landed in the early hours of Saturday. There was a car to pick us up from there. The journey through the twining roads on the mountain was a beauty. There were patches where we moved through the clouds which seemed trapped in the valley!

Considering we stay in Chennai the drop in temperature was huge for us. Added to it was the fact that when we landed in Kodai - as it is fondly called -it started to rain. We were shuddering and went straight up to our room in the resort and under the blanket!
In the afternoon the rain stopped for some time and we took a chance to go around the town. The narrow roads went up and down like a serpent. We could see the clouds covering the ends of the roads and the top of the mountains! And there were chocolates....and chocolates...everywhere every shop had an offering of homemade delicious chocolates rich with fruits and nuts...yummmm!
Sunday was true to its name and came along with the Sun. It was a bright, sunny, crispy and cold morning. We went out on a full day tour along with others from the resort. There are so many beautiful and breadth taking views of the valley and we kept moving from one to the other. Croaker's walk, Green valley view, pillar rocks, pine forest, lake view, the shanti valley, palani mountain view and a couple of temples and park filled our day, heart and mind. The day ended on the Kodai Lake where we hired a shikara and went for a ride.

Monday morning was equally good and we thought of going for some trekking. We saw a 500 year old tree on the way...still standing strong. The first place we went that day was Pambar Falls. To reach that one needs to go across a wall from the road and then keep going downhill for sometime till you see the wonderful cascading water body. We had to walk across the water rather hop over the boulders and stones. Once on the other side we realised we were in the forest proper!! The realisation was a chilling one. I asked the guide if there were any animals in there. He coolly said that there are mostly bison in the forest which wouldn’t come out during day and there are a few cheetahs. I was glad he told me! Then after a pause the guide went on to reveal that there are lots of pythons but no other poisonous snakes!! I couldn’t thank him enough for the information to which he grinned and said "But you don’t worry madam".
The track continued and after countless hurdles we reached another part of the cascading water body but here it was called the Vettakanal Falls - named after the village it flowed in. Next to that was a cave called the Lion's cave. It seems a couple of years ago a cheetah was staying there with its cubs. Once the cheetah wandered into one of the villages from where the forest officials captured it and sent it to the Vandaloor Zoo in Chennai. However, the cubs were still in the forest.
That was all to see there and we started to backtrack. Once on the road we felt relieved that we returned without meeting either the cheetah or the python :)
The next destination was a place called the Dolphin's nose. That’s one piece of rock hanging from the mountain top and gives a breadth taking view. But the catch was the steep downhill road that needed to be crossed to reach that spot. The road was full of big rocks, small stones, mud patches and tree roots. It was about a kilometre long stretch and took about an hour to reach the point. But we were beaten in the race by the clouds who suddenly appeared from nowhere and settled in the mountains. Yet the place was beautiful and scary. There was also an Echo point nearby. We tried some names but probably the clouds ate up our words :)
When we started to comeback we realised that the going downhill was the easiest thing we did that morning! It took a lot of time and lot of pauses before we reached our car.
That evening was our train to Chennai and we bid good bye to captivating Kodai.