Motte of the nation – Ondu Motteya Kathe

Motte of the nation!
#OMK

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Brain Fade has been there since ages!

Random Jottings on Facebook – 5

Left brain: Be the change.
Right Brain: ಚಿಲ್ಲರೆ ಬುದ್ಧಿ ತೋರಿಸ್ಬೇಡ.

***

ಹುಟ್ತಾ ಕಿತ್ & ಕಿನ್. ಬೆಳೀತಾ ಕಿತ್ಕೊಂಡ್ ತಿನ್.
– ಮಾಬಾರ್ತ

***

ನನ್ ಕಟಿಂಗ್ ನೋಡಿ ನಮ್ ಆಫೀಸಲ್ಲಿ ಒಬ್ಬರು ಕೇಳಿದ್ರು: ಯೇನ್ ಸಾರ್…Copa América ಇಂದ inspire ಆಗಿ ಈ ಸ್ಟೈಲಾ? ನಾನ್ ಹೇಳಿದೆ: ಇಲ್ಲ ಸಾರ್..ಕೋಪಾನೇ ನನ್ನಿಂದಾ inspire ಆಗಿದೆ.

***

It was at TK Vale that Baruvaahana’s step mom had got the huge paintings, hung inside the palace, framed. But now she had summoned the store owner and he was going to be imprisoned.
Why?
Because he sent the below SMS to Babruvaahana:
Dear Member,
Make Father’s Day Special!
Gift your dad a portrait package with Frame & Photo Mug @999 at TK Vale! T&C bit.ty/p1teeL

***

Which stotra do Auditors chant on Sunday?
‘Audit’ya hridaya!

On the same day what stotra do “auditees ” chant?
“rAmarakShAstotra” in the morning AND “aparAdhakShamApaNastotra” in the evening !

***

ಬೆಳ್ಬೆಳಿಗ್ಗೆ ಅಣ್ಣಾವ್ರ ’ಕಾಮನಬಿಲ್ಲು’ ನೋಡಿದ್ದೇ ಯೋಗಾಯೋಗ!
(ಟೈಟಲ್ ಕಾರ್ಡ್ is the highlight ಅಂತ ಹೇಳ್ಬೇಕೆ?!)
[posted on the occasion of Yoga Day]

***

ಯೋಗ ಮಾಡದೆ ಇದ್ದ್ರೂ ಪರ್ವಾಗಿಲ್ಲ…. ಇಲ್ಲ color-color Mat ಹಿಡ್ಕೊಂಡ್ ಓಡಾಡಿ ಯೋಗಿಗಳಾಗಿ pose ಕೊಡಿ…OR ಇವತ್ತಾದ್ರೂ ಒಪ್ಪತ್ ಉಣ್ಣಿ..by default ಯೋಗಿಗಳಾಗ್ತಿರ!

***

THITHI Jokes –

ಬ್ರಿಟನ್ ಇಲ್ಲಿಂದ ಎಕ್ಸಿಟ್ ಆದ್ರು.
ಬ್ರಿಟನ್ EUಇಂದ ಎಕ್ಸಿಟ್ ಆದ್ರು.
ಬ್ರೆಕ್ಸಿಟ್ಟೋ ಗಿಕ್ಸಿಟ್ಟೋ, ನಮ್ದಂತೂ ಲಂಡನ್-ಗೆ ಡೈಲಿ ಎಂಟ್ರಿ ಎಕ್ಸಿಟ್ ಇದ್ದೇ ಇರತ್ತೆ.

———

ಗಾಯಿತ್ರಿ: ನಾನು, ನಮ್ಮೆಜ್ಮಾನ್ರು ಸಡನ್ ಆಗಿ ಡಿಸೈಡ್ ಮಾಡಿ ‘ತಿಥಿ’ ನೋಡಕ್ಕೆ ಹೋದ್ವಿ.
ಬೇಗ್ ಹೋಗಿದ್ದಿಕ್ಕ್ ಟಿಕೆಟ್ ಸಿಗ್ತು.
ಸಾವಿತ್ರಿ: ಸೇಯಿಂಗ್ ಮರ್ತೋದ್ಯಾ ಗಾಯಿತ್ರಿ – “ಅತೀ ವೇಗ, ‘ತಿಥಿ’ ಬೇಗ!

———

ಕೆಲವ್ರು ತಿಥಿಗೆ ಮುಂಚೆ ಟಿಕೆಟ್ ತೊಗೋತಾರೆ.
ಇನ್ನ್ ಕೆಲವ್ರು ತಿಥಿ ಆದ್ಮೇಲ್ ತೊಗೋತಾರೆ.

———

‘ತಿಥಿ’ ನೋಡಕ್ಕೆ ಅಂತ್ ಹೋದ್ರೆ, ಸಕತ್ ರಷ್!
ಸದ್ಯ ನಮ್ ತಿಥಿ ಆಗ್ಲಿಲ್ಲ!

***

 

Minimal Kannada Movie Poster (Premada Kanike & Andaman)

 

Design: Bellur RK / Rambling with Bellur

Facebook

There was a time when we studied: Man is a social animal.

But people around me today have taught me: Without diving into social networking sites, man is nothing but animal.

So, I finally thought – LIKE FB, even if you are not LIKED by many!

I don’t remember

Was he in my team while playing Carrom that Saturday?
Was he playing white or black?
Who hit the last shot of the game?
Who won the final board?And the match?
I don’t remember.

Did he share a joke?
Did he scold me? Or did he give me a stare?
Did he pat me on the back?
Or did he smile at me that Saturday?
I don’t remember.

Did I say anything to him?
Did I ask anything?
Did I smile at what he told?
Or did I get angry at him that Saturday?
I don’t remember.

What did he say to me?
What did he ask me to do?
What did I give him?
What did he give me that Saturday?
I don’t remember.

What did I have for dinner with him that Saturday?
Where did he take me that Saturday?
What did I watch with him on TV that Saturday?
What song did he ask me to listen that Saturday?
I don’t remember.

Did he ask me to sing?
Read?
Write?
Or learn something new that Saturday?
I don’t remember.

Did I cry when he left me the day after Saturday?
Did I control my tears?
Did I sit still and benumbed?
Did I get angry? Was I shocked?
I don’t remember.

Has anyone showered me the same affection like HIM?
Has anyone motivated me like how HE would?
Has anyone corrected me like how HE would?
Has anyone ever understood me like how HE had?
I don’t remember.

Twenty Three years since he left me
Has there been a day
when I have not missed him?
And has there been a day
that I have written about him so much?
I don’t remember.
I don’t remember.
I don’t remember.

SD Burman and RD Burman

Caricature: RK

Also in this series:

Ilayaraja and AR Rahman

Parenting

by Latha Vidyaranya

Congrats, RK, for that lovely article on the pleasures of fathering a young kid! It is very rare in these days of hectic work schedules that I hear a parent speaking in such exultation about the little achievements of the kid or the happy quiet moments of togetherness with the kid! Narayan is truly blessed!

I agree that parenting is the toughest job on earth. It seldom gets its due share of acknowledgement, and generally goes unsung. It is the most difficult job, where you get hands-on training on the spot, on the real platform always! No prior rehearsals are possible and no ‘undo’ or ‘delete’ options are available if the errors are committed. Though there are thousands of parenting manuals available in the market, all suggestions given are at the most guidelines only and not the absolute truths. That is because no two kids or two parents or two families are similar. Each one is unique with their own amusing characteristics that one man’s Visha (poison) can become another’s Amrutha (nectar) in this matter.

And don’t we all agree that we start realizing and appreciating our parents’ efforts only when we become a parent ourselves!?

And how soon the birds are ready to fly out of the nest! And then starts our lamentation of how I could have spent that time with my kid and how I should not have done this or that and how I could be a totally different parent if only I am given one more chance now to parent my little kid all over again! 

So all you young parents, come on, slow down with your other “more important businesses of life”, grab this chance of spending good time with your kids helping him or her to evolve into a beautiful human being tomorrow. Be there for him or her when he or she needs you the most. If not physically possible, at least be there ALWAYS with your kid EMOTIONALLY. Say it in words how much you love him/her, say that you always trust and respect his/her views, you are always there for them both in their achievements and more importantly in their failures too! 

I am reminded of a child’s words to its parents:

“Papa and Mama, Love me most when I deserve it the least for it is then that I need it most”.

(Latha Vidyaranya is a Special Educator and Counsellor and has founded ‘Empower Counselling Centre’ in Malleswaram, Bangalore.)

Celebrating Differences in Life

by Latha Vidyaranya

While reading an old post here, the very title A son need not be like his father made me wonder why we are all so bent upon finding the parent in the child always. Why do we expect the son to be like father and the daughter to be like mother?! Why do we not allow the son to be the son himself and daughter to be the daughter herself?? At one point we all say ‘variety is the spice of life’ and at other times we do not want to see variety but expect everybody to conform to certain ‘standards’ that society has defined. Anybody not conforming to these standards are shunned and not accepted easily. Instead, if we find variations why not we celebrate the differences?

Perhaps this is due to the fact that we all desire immortality in some way or the other. If a doctor’s son/daughter becomes a doctor, the father feels a pride in perpetuating his profession through his son/daughter thus preserving himself through his profession to posterity, amounting to a degree of immortality. He is going to outlive himself through his child! Same may be the reason why people hanker after constructing houses or hoarding jewellery. When their children live in those houses after them, they would still continue to live through those houses or when the daughter wears a mother’s jewellery, mother’s memories are kept intact thus immortalizing the person!

When this is the state we are in, we can imagine how difficult it is to de-identify oneself from this body-mind-intellect complex – as directed in our spiritual texts, Ashtavakra being one of them. When people are scared of retiring from a job because of losing so many of their identities in the form of power, designation, their earnings, their name and fame, can ordinary mortal be expected to drop his/her identity from body, from mind and from their highly placed intellect?! It requires guts to pursue the path of spirituality. That’s why it is said in our Upanishads – “cowards can not attain aatma” or “naayamaatmaa balahiinena labhyah”.

The line Adi Sankara in his ‘Viveka Choodamani’ says that “the body should be shunned as one would a disgusting object”, reminded me of a funny observation that I had made recently. In Malleshwaram, there is a Sringeri Shankaramutt where we were taught the tenets of advaita philosophy that constantly used to remind us, “you are not your body” and so on. And as we finished our classes and used to come out of the compound, we used to encounter a jarring display board of a body fitness and beautifying clinic right opposite the mutt that used to entice people by telling them “you are your body. Beautify it”! What a paradox!

The sentence, “There is only a thin dividing line between the attitude of escapism and acceptance” made me wonder how so many of us take the easy route of saying that something is “my karma and hence I have to bear it”, instead of putting sincere effort to alleviate the difficult situation! Whenever we feel lazy to put in the “purusha prayatna”, we simply attribute the negative result to our fate and keep quiet! And there is always a big debate going on about the supremacy of “Fate versus Free Will”. Here once again I am reminded of the words full of wisdom from our Poojya Swamiji Sri Sri Chandrashekhara Bharathi, the 34th Pontiff of Sringeri Shankaramutt, Sringeri. He once said that Fate is nothing but the outcome of the free will that we ourselves had once exercised earlier. Hence to overcome the Fate, we just have to exercise our free will once again now with an intensified force. He gives a beautiful analogy of our trying to pull out a hard hit nail from the wall. When the nail does not come out inspite of our trying repeatedly, we just drop our effort saying that it is my fate and accept the failure. Instead of giving up our effort, if only I can remember that it was I who had driven the nail inside the wall with many a hard hits, then I will realize that it now requires from me much more intensified effort to pull the nail out of the wall. I am bound to succeed!

Similar to the words in Ashtavakra Geetha, in Viveka Choodamani also Sri Shankaracharya says “Mana Eeva Kaaranah Manushyaanaam Bandha Mokshayoh”. It is our mind which either makes us bound or makes us free. I have realized the truth of this sentence all the more now that I am in the profession of Psychological Counselling. Most of the problems that our clients come up with are self-created or self-contributed. But we seldom realize the truth of it, because we find it so easy to shift the blame on someone else for all our problems. Once we shift the blame, we falsely believe that we can shirk from the responsibility of setting the problem right! And as counsellors, it falls upon us to help them develop an insight into their problems thus helping them to discover a new perspective to the whole issue. And once acceptance dawns we find it so much easier to pave the way to resolve the issue.

Also read:
Happy Father’s Day

(Latha Vidyaranya is a Special Educator and Counsellor and has founded ‘Empower Counselling Centre’ in Malleswaram, Bangalore.)

Happy Father’s Day

Thirty or Forty years ago, it was taken for granted that the father was the breadwinner and head of the family. Nowadays, there is far less rigid expectations of a father’s responsibilities – couples often work together, both in and outside the home, and they share responsibilites.

Not long ago, a typical mother’s warning to a child was: “Wait till your father gets home”, and that showed who was supposed to be responsible for discipline in a family. Today, there is a more positive approach to parenting in which either of the parent uses warmth, encouragement and praise to get good behaviour from the child.

We need to remember that for children, parents are the most important role models. They will be watching and copying their parents to learn how to behave. When they see the father or the mother behaving in a sensitive and respectful way, they’ll copy and understand this is how others should be treated.

It is almost two years since I became a father, and I can see to an extent the transformation within myself into a more sentimental and sensitive being. Ever since he has come into our lives, my son has reminded me and my wife that we are loved and needed.

The best thing about being a father started the day he was born. And I was fortunate to have seen him enter this world, which is rare in this part of the globe.

I consider it a blessing to spend each moment with my son. Watching him develop his personality provides lots of laughs and brings joy into our home. Watching his reactions to learning and seeing new things brings tremendous happiness to our life. The highlight of my day is hearing his little voice exclaiming “Appa!”

Spending time with my son has become my favourite pastime. It is a wonderful feeling to be with him, whether playing sports or just sitting in our balcony and watching a little dog on the street. The innocent joy on my son’s face when I play with him, sing for him his favourite song, narrate him his favourite stories or the excitement he shows when he sees a cow or a horse or a dog or some fishes near a mall up the road, are simply priceless experiences. The small moments of genuine connection of emotion cannot be described.

My son reminds me again and again that this world is full of wonders. For him, everything is new and everything must be explored with all his senses. And I am grateful and honoured to guide and encourage him as he sets out on this great journey of discovery that is life.

Experiencing the many moments when, without warning, I become completely overwhelmed by the happiness my son brings to my life, is simply great. These are moments that you don’t expect — when he’s sleeping in a contorted position, when he splashes water while giving him a bath, when he reveals his unique personality in a spontaneous comment, when he’s scared about seeing an elephant really close to him.

The great thing about being a dad is coming home after work, and seeing his face light up like you just gave him the best gift he could ever receive. (There are times when he makes me feel that he loves my Helmet more than me!) Hearing him say what he did the whole day brings so much contentment.

Before signing off, just want to say that I am not a perfect father, which is a statement that should be understood as a given for anyone in this profession. I cherish my son for the remarkable human being he is at the moment, and for everything he can become.

Happy Father’s Day!

Related links:

• Mother’s Day
• A son need not be like his father
• Fathers also need to balance home and work