My Queen

There comes a girl in blues.. a bubbly face, with a graceful dignity and expressive eyes walking down the corridor lane.. and instantly every adolescent guys faces turn  to an exact 90 degrees at the window panes ignoring the mundane class hours. That was to the effect she had on us in our teens. An every guys moonshine  days :) . Not that I was quiet fond of her, but then, surely kept me wondering whats so special of this person.

Cutting short to present I'm supposed to handover a simple piece of  paper jotted with planets and stars and we were supposed to meet at at a coffee corner to have a descent time, and to my utter surprise it has ended up to a lifetime admiration and a deep sense of respect towards her. Having a talk that I would remember for a lifetime, I returned that day only to be again quenched with her thoughts more and more.

The girl that I knew in blues had become a free spirited, independent and ever emboldened over the journey of time and winds of change. And the looks have only grown better as the years have passed. With the eyes of black pearls and the face of  evening sunshine she carries a smile that teases the hearts of men. I would only run out of words trying to say more about her and still not stop to write. I pray, someone to lend me more words :).

With the love she possess to her kittens and dear ones, she ends up being at places and doing things that no other person would want to be. She calls me one dreadful evening stranded on the street with a drained cell phone and I unable to reach out to her after few moments, had to muster what ever help I could during those agonizing hours. Your way of doing things with conviction and zeal is what keeps me grounded to you my queen.

Given her mood swings and me still a mortal i'm trying my due best to live upto her.. for every smile that she poses, my heart skips a beat and for every tear she weeps I bleed to infinity. From dawn to dusk if I must live through the mess of life, I shall do a hundred times only to know that I would end up being with you and talk to u my queen.

Baby Steps!

Have we ever thought about why an infant takes its first baby steps.. Most of us think that it is a natural process of growing.. and few think that its the gift given to humans who possess inherently. take these occasions below for a while. The first day in the school, the first spoon of food it takes from mother. Moving forward, the first cloths it has to wear. The child always differs to adhere.

But not once I have seen any child willing not to crawl, walk, jump, play and laugh to the fullest of life. What is this anyway. These are the activities that the child requires most of its strength and effort to put. and inspite of them, they will be willing to do a hundred times again.

With there genuine smiles, sincere questions, innocent flattering, we only get our hearts filled with lost emotions of life. What is this.. I still wonder..

Can we ever be the way they are.. with a series of qualifications, a wonderful career, a big pay cheque and whole a lot of things that we want to purchase.. will not fill in the emotions and tears of joy that they can bring.

I get the same feelings in one other place at SSK. The difference is that its a place of my kind of folks. And what triggered me to pen down this post is a 5 minutes talk I had with a baby girl calling me Manju mama! and it sent my heart melting to the depths of happiness!!!

Thanks Chinnu!!! thanks for everything..

Living To Tell!

It all starts when Giri comes home for his vacation, i have to end up telling him a story to make him sleep, and this guy is not the one who settles down for a "once upon a time!" kind of a tale, nor he can take the flicks of the new Bollywood, Tollywood movies. At his age he has seen all the movies that i could afford to see all my life! Once feeling frustrated he pops a question - Dont you have your own story? :)

Now my story! you see... Wake-up in the morning, go to office at nine, work till evening, attend few scrummu!! calls :) and get back to home with work again for the next day.. Wow Exciting ha!!
But then I manage to tell my nephew about the trips that i take to the forests and the camps that i stayed in. his eyes and ears lit's up to my tales about the snakes and animals I saw through the forests!

A few months back I had been persisted by Sunil to Attend a Conference - India Inclusion Summit organised by SAP Labs. The plot was that I should reach the Hotel Ritz at 9 in the morning and stay through the whole day listening to Success stories of people with Disabilities and get inspired!! Now with Reddigarulu's egos flaring up every other second, how could he ever get inspired listening to someone's else stories!!

But then there it was the "Goonga Pehelwan" - Virender Singh. The wrestler who  still needs to loose a match against the "abled-men". The guy with his beefy macho looks is 5 times champion in the Deaf Olympics. And the fact that there is no wrestler born in this country to defeat him!! Virender wants to compete the 2016 Olympics!! but this is where our sports authorities have fallen short off recognizing his efforts, The International Olympics Association doesn't Prohibit a disabled Athlete from competing with the able bodied men. So why didn't he participate in the Olympics yet. The Indian officials believe that he might not hear the Referee's  whistle!! Today a group of young people are making a movie out of his living story. For me there was a story to hear from a mute wrestler!!

What followed next was India's Blade Runner - Maj. DP Singh's  Marathon Saga. A Kargil War Hero who lost his Leg for a shell that landed a meter away from him. The Doctors declared him dead!! but this guy with multiple fractures to his body and a amputee runs every marathon so far, he has formed a group named "The Challenging Ones".

 

It is said that he still has a hundred fragments of the exploded shell left in his body. But the spirit with which he spoke at the conference and the humor that he possessed made us to believe that its just a piece of cake to get back to life and do the unthinkable!!

The mute Wrestler  and the Blade Runner could have easily settled down for a lifetime pension and for the incentives of being a disabled, instead choose to be different and Live to tell a Story. A story of there own!!

Its easy to play safe, its easy to follow the crowd, its convenient to compromise. would that prove that we even exist!!

I'm packing my bag for the next trip :) who knows I might just end up Living to tell :)

Getting Spiritual

A squirrel on the shores, saw the monkeys help build Rama a bridge to cross to Lanka. Feeling excited, the little one also participated in helping the folks. Though it couldn't carry boulders, it filled in the gaps by placing small pebbles between those boulders. Appreciating the efforts, Lord Rama held the squirrel in his hands and gently stroked the back of it with his three fingers and three lines appeared where the Lord had touched. Since then every squirrel that came to existence, bore the lines of the Lord on its back.

Few decades back, Mahatma Gandhi walked through our country helping us achieve our Independence, it is believed the last words that he uttered before dieing was Hey Ram... Since then every individual who carried his surname Gandhi became the Prime Ministers :).

And Mother Theresa needs no introduction!!!

In all of the three lives above, God has only been a mere catalyst. the real substance in them has been their ability to help and stand tall supporting the needy.

Charity, social service, philanthropy or what ever, are not just means of helping the people and feel satisfied and worthy to the society, but are a pool of opportunities that we don't see under the hood. in the morning as i wear my shoes to start off the day. i just get to see the snippets of the morning jyothishi's.

There would be a sanyasi sitting next to a pretty host :) attending to a call where she records the name birth date of the victim suffering from a usual day to day problem, as in not able to get a job, losses in business, unable to get married and all the blah blah.. and the Gurugalu will advice the person to feed the poor, offer food for cows, give cloths to the elders and so on. I sometimes used to wonder, how would feeding the cows would help me to get married :).

The Sanathana Dharma (Hinduism) never talks about all the material possession that a person should have. instead the scriptures only advice us to perform our due-full duties that we should carry out of helping the needy people. in doing so our self esteem grows with confidence giving immense opportunities that we failed to see other-wise.

So next time, lets not waste pleading in front of temples, and idols for that small little wishes, instead get down to people and bring in a smile, and you will see opportunities and luck touching your feet :)

Feel like listening to you

Feel like listening more to you
But the time is not letting me to do
what do I do?
I'm missing the most memorable person in my life.

You cared me
You loved me
You encouraged me and you never let me down
You were a guiding star
You were behind all my memories
And you say good bye.

Feel Like listenening more to you
But the time is not letting me to do
what do I do?
I'm missing the most memorable person in my life.

The day might end, but not my memories
You may go far away distant but not from my heart
I pray to god where ever you are
You be blessed and let his presence be with you

Feel like listening more to you
But the time is not letting me to do
what do I do?
I'm missing the most memorable person in my life.

                                                             - Sailesh Raj

This was the song written for Rabi's farewell and we sing the same.

We miss you Rabi Uncle..

Morning Trips :)

If people would have seen Reddigaaru 20 years back on the narrow streets of Bangalore, crawling across for that one candy or for that one Thothapuri mango.. very little would have they thought of me growing up, would end up using a futuristic bike.. like the one below.

Not that I had a tough time to grow up, but I surely missed that early age  fantasies of cruising that one bike at 70 miles!! or chasing that one dream girl patafying to love :) or to just take a trip to that one place that you enjoy your much needed privacy in life…

Very few know that I come from a family of niche! people in our circles. With my Mother being an exceptional cook and having her Fan Clubs both in Bangalore and Mysore.. she cooks and serves the whole lot with such generosity that people take pride to invite her to share their kitchen space for that special occasions.. and my Appa with his vast experience in constructing houses and plumbing is Mysore’s favourite Ramanna :) All the houses that we owned so far are designed by Mr. Rama Reddy himself!!

And when people only dream of starting their own company, Ganesh my youngest bro.. along with Ambika is living his dream of having his own Aagasa Technologies!!.  It is from this niche blood veins that Somu my younger brother started to design me a powered wheelchair and Jayashri giving all the support needed, gifted me that much needed freedom to my life :).

Somu with his design patents tucked to his collars, is in verge of starting his own enterprise!

 And u see.. Me with my new found enthu, i'm re-living those moments of past in my own ishtyle!! with my Bike!! I get the vegies and the groceries :), take my friends to treat at the KFCs and the Dominos and if I want to see the movies I ride into the theatres and stop no where, but only to my seat.  :).

The real thing I enjoy is the morning trips I take to office everyday. Having two gates to enter Global Village I shuffle my routes to office depending on my moods! If I have that extra time to spare I take the back gate route through…  and if I have to rush and make it short, I take the front gate. and its been a whole lot of smiles!!

With the back gate route and to a speed of a man's jogging pace i get the company of children of Mylasandra Village running behind me in their school uniforms, and  they asking questions like in.. where do I apply breaks? or how do I give accelerator? and how do I turn.. I end up giving them a demo right in the middle of the street!

And with the onset of monsoon and the warm morning sun, entering thru the front gates is just heavens.. having palm trees and the lush green to the sides, i feel as a king entering to his fame ;) and guess who follows me.. the squirrels, the butterflies and the birds hopping near.. there was this day when i realized that a squirrel was behind.. I stopped, it stopped, I waved my hand, it wagged its tail.. i turned right, it turned left..  n when we both realised that ppl are watching us.. couldnt stop laughing.. :)

my bike has not just given me the freedom to move.. it has just given a new personality all together.. Reddigaru is no more anxious, less organized and very unpredictable :)

So here goes the technical specification of the one:

Air pollution : Nill
Noise Pollution : Never
Fuel : what is that?
Accidents : never ever.
Satisfaction: in Abundance
And People : Just admire!!
 
And these days, i see a pretty gal walking in front, my mind floats to Ambarish's famous Nagarahavu eve-teaser "mere sapno ki rani kabhu hayegithu.. hey bulbul!! mathadakilva?" :)

PS: http://bro-wheelchair.blogspot.in/

Friendly Neighborhood!

Our fore-fathers came to Bangalore as refugees from the near-by state on bare foot. We had settled on the backyards of today's IISC and then moved to the Malleshwaram's Swimming Pool extensions.. They worked has daily laborers, house-maids and peasants. With  Subhaiah Reddy :)  coming to Power!, the huts were replaced with well built houses!

Since then, Bangalore has been our Home!! My grand father grew up playing his flute for the overnight stories of Gods and Goddesses at the Rama Bhajanna Mandira.. and my Appa with his Cinema Projector :) was famous for his silent movies of Chaplins, ANRs and the NTRs. and with my father moving to Mysore.. the street theatres became empty!

I had to stay back with my grand parents in here, as there were no "special schools" in Mysore for my condition.. Say it a blessing in disguise, I had a whole lot of fun.. And today I take the pride of living in all the four corners of my favourite City.. Bangalore!

Malleshwaram offered me the Kabadi matches, the Gangamma Jathras, Malleshwaram Kharga and the luscious election campaigns of our family relatives..  where in Indiranagar's western outlook gave me the much needed wisdom to live happily.. thanks to SSK!! that I don't have to travel  to the west to live in comfort..

Heading towards south the JP Nagar's and the Jayanagar's colloquial flavours have always captivated me till date.. with the seasonal melas like the kadlekai parsey and the averakai parseys( my favourite),the bustling Basavanagudi and VV puram's foodstreet are a joy to visit.. what clicks for Bangalore South is the lush greenery present amidst the peaceful culture of the famous poets and activist like DVG, the HN and many Gandhians  .. I personally feel that no other modern city has the influence of Gandhi as much as Bangalore. With the prominence of The National School, it reminds me the selfless freedom struggle of gone ages!!

At present I stay in Rajarajeshwarinagar, much closer to my work and with its calm surroundings, with fresh breeze and huge bungalows, I get to see the shootings of celluloid stars posing to their best - Sir, Sir.. only one Chance!!... and with my Amma not willing to relocate anywhere else I'm pretty sure that I'm gona have a long innings to play!

Food!! Bangalore is exceptional, Reddigaru has the best chefs orchestrating their best dishes at the favourite Chiante, De-Stressia, Koshy's, Little Italy, Soo ra Sang, Wanley, Canopy and the latest subZ (thanks to Ravi ;) ) and if Reddigaru needs to party, the BBQs and the Indijos are always at his disposal ;) for me visiting restaurants is an experience all together and Bangalore with most of its theme restaurants entertains my appetite fully..

And if i don't mention the busy markets on this space!!  If the Yeshwanthpur Mandi has the best vegetables, fish and meat.. The Shivajinagar's Flower markets decorates the local with huge varietals of colors. And the Gandhi Bazaar street with its native touch draws back the rich history of Vidhyarthi Bhavan!! and my own favourite.. Malleshwaram's sanna marketu :)

If I have to mention the Philanthropy of this city, I need another blog to write!! :)

Known to be a Hill Station --> Garden City --> Pensioners Paradise --> World's IT Hub and with people pouring in from all over the world.. Bangalore is definitely the city of the Future!

What makes  this city special is its people.. An average Bangalorean knows 5 languages to speak..  loves his ragi mudhe and koli saaru..generous with his thoughts and most important CONTENT!!

Namma ooru Bengalooru!! Nimmooro Yavooru? :)