Bhavana penned

ನನ್ನ ಆರನೇ ವಯ್ಯಸ್ಸಿನಲ್ಲಿ ನಾವು ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನ ಜಯನಗರದಲ್ಲಿ ವಾಸಿಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದೆವು. ನನಗೆ ಹುಟ್ಟಿದಾಗಿನಿಂದಲೂ ಒಂದೆಲ್ಲ ಒಂದು ಆರೋಗ್ಯದ ಸಮಸ್ಯೆಗಳು. ವಣಕಲ ಕಡ್ಡಿಯಂತೆಯಿದ್ದೆ. ಸರಿ, ನನ್ನ ತಾಯಿಯು ನನಗೆ ನೃತ್ಯ ಅಥವ ಸಂಗೀತವನ್ನು ಕಲಿಸಲೇಬೇಕೆಂದು ನಿಶ್ಚಯಿಸಿದ್ದರು. ಮೊದಲಿಗೆ ನನ್ನನ್ನು ಒಂದು ನೃತ್ಯದ ಶಾಲೆಗೆ ಕರೆದುಕೊಂಡು ಹೋಗಿದ್ದರು. ಅಲ್ಲಿ ನೃತ್ಯದ ಮೇಷ್ಟರು ನನ್ನನ್ನು ಹಾಗು ನನ್ನ ತಾಯಿಯನ್ನು ಒಂದೆಡೆ ಕೂರಿಸಿ ತಮ್ಮ ಪಾಠವನ್ನು ಮುಂದುವರೆಸಿದರು. ಕೆಲ ಸಮಯದ ನಂತರ ಆ ಮೇಷ್ಟರು ಒಬ್ಬ ವಿದ್ಯಾರ್ಥಿನಿಯ ಕಾಲಿಗೆ ತಮ್ಮ “ತಾಳ”ದಿಂದ ಹೊಡೆದುದನ್ನು ಕಂಡು ನಾನು ಚಿಟ್ಟನೆ ಚೀರಲು ಶುರುಮಾಡಿದ್ದೆ. ಇದಾದಮೇಲೆ ಅಲ್ಲಿಂದ ಹೊರ ಓಡಿದ್ದೆ, ನನ್ನ ತಾಯಿಯು ನನ್ನ ಹಿಂದೆ ಓಡಿ ನನ್ನನ್ನು ಹಿಡಿದು ಮತ್ತೆ ಶಾಲೆಯ ಒಳಗೆ ಕರೆದು ಕೊಂಡು ಹೋದರು. ನೃತ್ಯದ ಮೇಷ್ಟರು ನನಗೆ ಒಂದು ಡಬ್ಬಿತುಂಬ ಸಿಹಿ ತಿಂಡಿಯನ್ನು ಕೊಟ್ಟು, ಅಳಬೇಡಮ್ಮ, ಅಳಬೇಡ ಅಂದಿದ್ದೂ ಅಂದಿದ್ದೆ. ಅವರು ನನ್ನನ್ನು ಹೊಡೆಯುವುದಿಲ್ಲ ಅಂಥ ಹೇಳಿದ್ದು ಹೇಳಿದ್ದೆ. ನನ್ನ ಕೂಗು ಚೀರಾಟ ಇನ್ನು ಹೆಚ್ಚಾಗಲು ಶುರುವಾದಾಗ, ನನ್ನ ತಾಯಿಯು ಆ ತಬ್ಬಿಬ್ಬಾದ ನೃತ್ಯದ ಮೇಷ್ಟರರಿಗೆ ನನ್ನನ್ನು ಮತ್ತೆ ಕರೆದು ಕೊಂಡು ಬರುವಂತೆ ಹೇಳಿ ಜಾಗ ಖಾಲಿ ಮಾಡಿದ್ದರು. ಅದಾದ ನಂತರ ನನ್ನನ್ನು ಆ ನೃತ್ಯದ ಶಾಲೆಗೆ ಮತ್ತೆ ಕಾಲಿಡಿಸಲಿಲ್ಲ. ಪಾಪ! ಈ ಹೊತ್ತಿಗೆ ನನ್ನ ತಾಯಿಯು ನನಗೆ ಸಂಗೀತ ಪಾಠವನ್ನು ಶುರುಮಾಡಿ...

I am down with flu so resting at home for last 1 and a half week. I am reading for my IFRS course along with “India after Gandhi” and a kannada novel called “Mookajjiya kanasu”. Well you might be surprised but I need to read at least 2 books at a time (meaning one after another!!) in order to satisfy my grey cells. Its early hours on 24-feb-2011 and I am still not sleepy. How would I get sleep when I had slept for 12 hours last night plus 2 hours the same afternoon? So I was wondering what to do, I was tired of listening to Harry Potter’s audio book. So I sat in front of my desktop and thought of writing something for my blog. So I remembered some instances of very strange Wild life programs which I am sharing now. 1) Two days ago, I was watching a very strange program on Discovery Wild channel. In this program a group of people were trying to measure the length of a biggest crocodile somewhere in African Jungle. Then this team goes to this dried up river bank and see a flock o...

After suffering from fever and body pain, I decided to go our doctor. So I started my journey along with Kiran of course to the doctor clinic in that miserable freezing weather. When we reached the clinic it was unusually deserted. So we felt ourselves very lucky that we will be the only one to be treated by our doctor. When we reached the door to knock it, I told Kiran that there is a note that today is a holiday. Ah what a good timing. So I was bit upset. So I started complaining (have got used to the Central European’s habit of complaining for anything and everything under sun) Me: How can doctor take leave? What about her patients? Kiran: Bhavana, doctor is also a human, so maybe she had some urgent work or something. Me: Oh yes, hmm..ok. Then I planned to go to post office to pick my registered post for which a note was left by the post man/woman since we did not pick it up at that moment. Fortunately the tram had a stop on the way to the Post office. I went into the ...

That’s what most of our Hindu conservative Indians ask to those who are fortunate enough to celebrate February 14th with their loved ones. The usual question is “Does Indian society needs Valentine culture??? If yes.. whyy???” -- I say “why not”??? To such people my questions are as follows: ‎1) Please define Valentine's day “Culture”. 2) Why don’t I hear any Indian >woman< asking this question, why are only men bothered about this. 3) Lastly please define Indian society. The so called Valentine day culture is only a >mild< copy of what India had in the 6th century AD... -Kama sutra. We were far more advanced than this. In India, in the antiquity, there was a tradition of adoring Kamadev, the lord of love; exemplificated by the erotic carvings in the Khajuraho Group of Monuments and by the writing of the Kama sutra treaty of lovemaking. This tradition was lost around the Middle Ages, when Kamadev was no longer celebrated, and public displays of sexual...

Off late I have been travelling to Bratislava- the capital city of Slovakia (former Czechoslovakia) for business trips. But I seldom got time to get to know the history of the Capital of Slovakia. This week Kiran had been to Dresden for his research work on a bilateral project. But he made sure he captured few of the wonderful photos of Dresden. He gave me his permission to post some of these photos on my blog. City of Dresden was founded on the site of a Slavonic fishing village as a merchants' settlement and the seat of the local rulers, Dresden was from the 15th century onwards residence of the Saxon dukes, electoral princes and later kings.( http://www.dresden.de/en/02/history.php ) Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. Dresden has a long history as the capital and royal residence for the Electors and Kings of Saxony, who for centuries furnished the city with cultural and a...