Bhavana penned

“What do you want for your birthday?” he asked “A smartphone” I replied to him. Kiran rolled his eyes again as we had had this discussion for about four or five times during this year. Each time we had had this discussion, Kiran had opened my eyes to the ‘fact’ that a smartphone was a waste of time and money. In fact several times during our debates, he had pronounced that smartphone was a waste not just for myself, but for both of us. This had brought tears to my eyes with thoughts of ‘togetherness’. So he asked this question this week as my birthday was just a few days away. When he got the same answer from me, he said "All right, how about this? Check the smartphones your friends have, try them and then tell me if you still wish to buy one?" So, I told my saga to my friend and she said she wanted to take a look at my mobile first. She took a look at my mobile (a Sony Ericsson W20i) and gave a peal of laughter. I was waiting for her to subside with great ...

27-Oct-2011 It was a very cloudy morning and looked as if it was going to rain heavily. I took my tram and travelled for nearly 20 minutes to city center where I work. I then got down at my tram stop in city center and the weather was still terrible and it had started to drizzle slowly. I did not feel like taking my umbrella out. Tram Stop: Riverside walk to Business park: From the tram stop in city center, I have to walk for 5 minutes to reach Business Park where my office is situated. There are many employees from the business park working for different companies, who get down at the same stop as I do. We have to cross traffic signal once and walk next to river and it is a very soothing morning walk, but for few smokers who smoke while walking as well (pity them) ! Today while crossing the traffic signal I happen to hear a conversation behind me. The conversation was between an obese American (it might be due to the result of Mac Donalds and KFC,...

14-Sep-2011 I finished my financial accounting course (Read Train Journey Part 1 ) and I had performed quite badly in my mock exam. But how can I expect myself to fair well when this was my first financial course (me being a science graduate) along with 2 dozen PwC auditors? Obviously they know better and are experienced. I was feeling quite low but confident of learning something new and happy to have decided about my career line. I wanted to build up my career and was wondering in what. I tried Quality. But it was boring to me. Then I started to work in Finance and Accounting and I was thrilled to do so. After gaining some experience in Balance sheet accounting, I decided to study Finance and Accounting. I boarded my train back to Brno and went into a compartment then placed my cabin luggage and started to drown myself in my own world (moment’s misery). Then I heard some commotion and saw 4 people (2 men and 2 women – couples) getting into to same compartment. They ...

11-Sep-2011 I was travelling back to Prague to continue my course  Further Study  and I boarded my train. I went into a compartment which was almost full. The train compartment was occupied by an old couple who were travelling together, another old man (who got down middle way to Prague), a young man and a women (this woman was really silent all the way)- all three travelling alone. So I took my seat and started to read Sidney Sheldon's "Blood line". All of us, except for the old couple were silent and immersed in our own world. The old couple started to speak in a very strange language and I was wondering whether it was Russian because I recognize Czech, Slovak, German/Austrian and French. I was wondering.. The old lady was constantly looking at me and I wondered why? We were nearing Prague's outer station and the old couple started to have a conversation with that young man who apparently is a Czech and an ex-employee of a ship crew an...

In March 2007, Infosys BPO had its new building in Brno city center and Narayana Murthy was one of the Guests along with Czech President Vaclav Klaus. We decided upon lighting of a candle as an Indian tradition by the guests and I drew rangoli and decorated it with flowers. The lamps were lit and the function went smoothly. Few of us (outstanding performers apparently) were invited for dinner with Narayana Murthy and I never thought in my life that I would be sitting with him for dinner. During this occasion, there as one lady from Bulgaria and when she introduced herself that she is from Bulgaria , Mr. Murthy, said he would like to tell one of his encounters with Bulgarian authorities during communist regime (sometime in 1974). Mr. Murthy was hitch hiking in the location called Nis , a border town between former Yugoslavia , now Serbia , and Bulgaria . He was hitchhiking from Paris back to Mysore , India . Mr. Murthy was dropped by a driver to Nis railway st...

I and Kiran visited the Christmas market in the centre of Brno called Freedom Square (Namesti Svobody). I had to buy some gift as “Secret Santa” which was organized by my colleagues in the office. So what better place there could be to buy a gift for Christmas than a Christmas market? It was freezing -9 degrees outside and we met after work in the square. The smell of the market in that freezing temperature was very inviting indeed. There were smell of hot wine, burning wood to prepare snacks, sweets, sausages and etc. Children were all over the place shouting with excitement. It was a typical festival market scene. There was also this huge screen which was showing some local cartoons for the toddlers. We had our share of hot honey wine (yummy it was), potato pancakes and some sweets. And then my attention fell on the Christmas tree and all of a sudden a question popped into my head. “If Christianity was born in Jerusalem, a place where no coniferous trees grows anywhere nea...

I know there were several kinds’ phobias but I wasn’t sure if I had any of them. I used to get scared of wooden bridges especially during the bicycles rides and feel giddy when I used to look down from a several storied balcony. I also sometimes get nightmares of falling down from a staircase and then I would wake up with a start. Even then I did not get a clue. But then there is this one incidence (2 years ago) which made me decide that I am true acrophobic. We have this habit of hiking anywhere and everywhere its inviting. Once we went hiking on a Moravian (South part of Czech Republic) mountain. We hiked to the top most part of the mountain and heard from a local that there is this tower about 30 meters high which we can climb and behold breathtaking views. We were excited by this offer and followed the direction to find this tower. We had to climb the mountain a little bit to reach this. We atlast reached this tower and Kiran was all excited. But I could not believe a ...

Once upon a time in 1991, me and my brother were returning home after school. I was about 10 years old and my brother 4 year old. He used to always hold my hand and walk along with me (like a good boy!!) listening to whatever I had to blabber (such an angel he was; even now he is). I always wanted to look like a responsible sister who can handle any situations (Such adorable days those were…). We then saw a man who was walking towards us from the opposite direction on the same footpath (we were told in our school that good children walk only on the footpath). This man’s looks were intimidating. His head was shaven off, he had a heavy moustache (almost like Veerappan’s) and face full of acne. My mother always used to tell me that looks does not necessarily define a person’s attitude. So I sort of tried to look as brave as I could. But my toddler brother did not feel the same I guess because his hand’s grip tightened. I understood that he was panicking. I wanted to console my...

೧೯೮೯ರಲ್ಲಿ ನನ್ನ ತಂದೆಯವರಿಗೆ ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನಿಂದ ಮೈಸೂರಿಗೆ ವರ್ಗಾವಣೆಯಾಯಿತು. ಆಗ ನಾನು ೩ನೇ ತರಗತಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಓದುತ್ತಿದ್ದೆ. ಮೈಸೂರಿನ ಗೋಕುಲಂ ಬಡಾವಣೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಒಂದು ಮನೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಬಾಡಿಗೆಗೆ ಇದ್ದೆವು.ನಮಗೆ ಎಲ್ಲವೂ ಹೊಸದು. ಮೈಸೂರಿನ ಜನ, ಅವರ ಮಾತುಕತೆ, ಅವರ ನಡವಳಿಕೆ ಎಲ್ಲವೂ ನಮಗೆ ಒಂದು ರೀತಿ ಹೊಸದು. ಬಾರಿ “relaxed” ಮೈಸೂರಿನ ಜನರು. ಗೋಕುಲಮ್ ಬಡಾವಣೆಯ ಕನ್ನಡ ನಮ್ಮ ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನ ಕನ್ನಡದಂತೆ ಇರಲಿಲ್ಲ. ಆ ಬಡಾವಣೆಯಲ್ಲಿನ ಕನ್ನಡವು ಒಂದು ರೀತಿಯ ಹಳ್ಳಿಯ ಕನ್ನಡದಂತಿತ್ತು. “ಏನ್ಲಾ?”, “ಬಾರ್ಲೇ ಮಗನೇ” ಇಂತಹ ಪದಗಳು ಹೆಚ್ಚಿಗೆ ಬಳಕೆಯಲ್ಲಿತ್ತು. ನನಗೆ ಇಬ್ಬರು ಗೆಳತಿಯರ ಪರಿಚಯವಾಯಿತು. ಅವರಿಬ್ಬರೂ ಸುಮಾರು ನನ್ನ ವಯ್ಯಸ್ಸಿನವರೇ ಆಗಿದ್ದರು. ನಮ್ಮ ಬಡಾವಣೆಯ ಎದುರಿಗೆ ಸ್ಮಶಾಣ ಒಂದಿತ್ತು. ಆ ಸ್ಮಶಾಣ ದ ಅಕ್ಕ ಪಕ್ಕ ಮರದ ತೋಪುಗಳು ಇದ್ದವು. ನಾನೂ ನನ್ನ ಹೊಸ ಗೆಳತಿಯರೂ ಆ “ಕಾಡಲ್ಲಿ” ಅಡ್ಡಾಡಿಕೊಂಡು ಬರುವುದೆಂದು ನಿಶ್ಚಯಿಸಿದೆವು. ನಮ್ಮ ನಮ್ಮ ಅಪ್ಪಅಮ್ಮಂದಿರಿಗೆ ಈ ವಿಷಯವನ್ನು ತಿಳಿಸುವುದು ಒಳ್ಳೆಯದಲ್ಲವೆಂದು ನಿರ್ಧರಿಸಿ ಒಂದು ಭಾನುವಾರ ನಮ್ಮ ಸಾಹಸಕ್ಕೆ ಇಳಿದೆವು. ಆ ತೋಪನ್ನು ತಲುಪಿದಮೇಲೆ ನಮ್ಮ ಕಣ್ಣಿಗೆ ಬಿದ್ದದ್ದು ಸ್ಥಾಪನೆಯಾಗಿದ್ದ ಒಂದೆರಡು ಲಿಂಗಗಳು ಹಾಗು ತುಳಸಿಕಟ್ಟೆಗಳು. ತುಳಸಿಕಟ್ಟೆ ಇದ್ದಮೇಲೆ ಅಕ್ಕ ಪಕ್ಕ ಮನೆಗಳಿರಬೇಕಲ್ಲವೇ. ಹತ್ತಿರದಲ್ಲೆಲ್ಲೂ ಮನೆಗಳು ಕಾಣಲಿಲ್ಲ. ಹಾಗಿದ್ದರೆ ಲಿಂಗಗಳೂ, ತುಳಸಿಕಟ್ಟೆಗಳೂ ...

I was going through the headlines in "Telegraph" which said "I think I’m becoming my mother-in-law ". I just started relating myself with this today. Long time ago ( just 3.5 years) when I got married, I was staying with my in-laws as Kiran had to return back to Czech Republic. I was waiting for my VISA to join him there as I was going on Work permit. In the span of 2005 March to 2006 May, I had mixed kind of experiences with my in-laws. Since I was from different family values( from a very strict,very silent, very conservative and very orthodox), I used to find most of what my Mother-in-law used to say, very very interesting. My Mother-in-law had a very good sense of Humour, which I used to like a lot. Most of her jokes used to have a tinge of sarcasm in them. She used to say that Kiran (my one and only husband and her one and only son) used to watch BBC like crazy, and that he used to listen to it until midgnight when he was young ( dont forget that time ther...