To all my readers

Dear all,
Its hard to maintain multiple blogs and be consistent in the blogging frequency. So I'm officially closing 'Strollinthecity' blog. However all the posts from here are now at my website -

http://coffeenirvana.in

I request all of you to please read my posts there and I promise that I'll churn up interesting tales, fiction and otherwise:)

-citygurl

A sparrow tale

(Image courtesy: www.natureforever.org)

It’s been a long drought in blogging from my side. Maybe it was due to the summer heat (the mercury level had risen to 35˚c) in Bangalore. Now that its cool after the real 'Varun' showered us with much needed rains, I am able to think of something worth writing about.

I’m one of the fortunate few who can sit in front of the computer but not in a tiny spaced cubicle in an artificially created weather. As I write now, I face the small patch, which I call my garden, in the backyard of my house watching many birds - robins, tits, crows, pigeons - chirping and cawing. Its meal time for them and the rains have brought them good harvest.

Surprisingly, I haven’t seen even one sparrow until now. Where have they gone? I remember in the eighties there was a huge rainfall with hailstorms. As kids we kept small buckets and pans to catch some of them. I recall spotting a sparrow in the small corner of the ventilator space, hiding, since it was too stormy for it to fly home.

There were many sparrows in the city in the eighties. One custom that every middle class brahminical house performed was feeding the birds before having lunch. My mother would hand me a ladle of freshly cooked rice and say, ‘Kakaku vechuttu vaa’ (give it to the crows). Once the crow had its fill, I’d always spot a sparrow nibbling on the grains. Our lunch was always after this ritual. No one has follows it today and the sparrows too have disappeared.

So it was a pleasant surprise to when I happened to click on this link which talks about conservation of house sparrows. I also learnt the reasons for the decline.

To quote from the website, “Today, we no longer find horse carriages (tanga) which were once the main mode of transport in urban areas; they have been replaced by cars. We also no longer find women sitting outside the house and cleaning grains because today, people get flour and grains in pre-cleaned and packed packets which they buy from malls where our winged friends are not able to go.”
If you have a small balcony, keep a feeder or atleast a plate of clean grains or freshly cooked rice and a bowl of clean water. Just avoid salted nuts or grains or oily food. You might get some winged guests flying in.

I intend to start the bird feeding ritual as in my younger days. I hope to see the sparrows return soon.

Lok Sabha Elections 2009

Blogging has been slow for some time. I have been doing a lot of reading rather than blogging these days. Reason - the campaigning for 2009 Lok Sabha Elections have started.

Every day, we have scores of opinions, political gimmicks, controversial speeches and even a shoe amidst the election gung ho. So to help all the equally confused people like me who are in a dilemma on whom to vote, here's the election manifesto for the two main 'national' parties and the chief regional party of Karnataka(JDS).

Congress Manifesto - 2009

BJP Manifesto - 2009

JDS Manifesto - 2009

While the Congress and BJP have almost the same kind of manifesto in terms of upliftment of rural belt, girl child, quality education, defence & security etc except on the communal issue, JDS is pro-rural, tough on private sector and deals with much more specific issues like social security to taxi & auto rickshaw srivers and pension schemes for 'senior citizen artists'.

It has some interesting terms like 'Corporate Zamindari' to describe the SEZ approach. Incidentally, all three parties are aware of climate change and promise a action plan to lessen the effects.

I dont know if this leaves you more confused than ever. Hot tips -

Look at the candidate profile, dont get bogged by religion/caste politics

See what he promises to do. MPs are supposed to help in bringing out good policies not create a good road or a bus stop or give free rice. So see if he knows what he's spouting out.

Make an informed decision. But do make a decision and go Vote.

Life is all about Reality Shows

I am one of those who do not follow 'reality' shows. Even when the infamous racism row happened in the UK's 'Celebrity Big Brother' show and was splashed across all news channels, my reaction was - 'so what? its just another Bollywood masala in a UK setting'.
So when the star villian of the show, Jade Goody died recently, the adulation across UK revealed the power of such shows. She had become famous, rather infamous, during the controversial episodes of Big Brother. She was the villain. However, her fatal illness brought her back the lost respect - like the bad mother-in-law/sister-in-law in our movies who cry for forgiveness, in the arms of the heroine, just before dying.
Notwithstanding the millions she made by cashing in on her death (signing up lucrative deals with TV networks to allow them to film her last days - for her sons' sake), she was praised by even the UK's Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, as a 'courageous woman'.

After all, nothing is more honourable than a honourable death. Life is all about reality, I mean reality shows.

Traditional Pickles - a lost art

I remember my paati (grandmother) bringing a small earthen jar full of tasty chunky pickles. Walking from her home to her daughter's (my mom's) place just before noon, she would make sure we could taste the spicy stuff for lunch. Though lime and mango are the usual ones, I would wait for the seasonal ones like makaliberu, usually mixed with ginger. It is said that the fragrance of this plant is so strong that it attracts snakes.
Another kind of seasonal variety that I loved were paati's Nellikai Urugai - mmm.. those heavenly pickles in the typical earthen jars must have somehow inflenced my fondness for spicy food. These days we dont have time or inclination for cutting, marinating and storing the pickles. Simply pick up a bottle of Priya's or some other brand and store them in the fridge. I sometimes imagine Priya's manufacturing place having thousands of earthen jars full of makaliberu or nellikai or avakai ready to be shipped! Nostalgia does strange things to one's mind.

Once upon a time..

We lived in a rented house, built on a 30 X 40 plot, in one of the many small lanes of Subramanyanagar. It was a nondescript two bedroom house in which seven elders and three naughty children led a contented life. There was a small garden in the front that housed a parijatha tree, rose, kendasampige and a few other flowering shrubs and of course a tulsi plant.

Just yesterday, we took this lane, as there was a traffic jam on the main road. I was going in this lane in a car after a period of 20 odd years and the infrastructure is still the same. The quality of the road not changed; footpaths never existed and never will. What had changed were the houses.

Bangalore's real estate boom has made every inch of space very dear. So each owner has extended the house to the last inch available. The economy boom has helped each one of them acquire a car or a two-wheeler, which is parked on the street. What is gone is the lung space, the garden that beckoned so many immigrants to the city.

Some say that this is a common complaint by different generations that 'it was better in their times'. Some others argue that gardens and lung space will not help in the economy of the city. Yet some more are emphatic in declaring that Bangalore needs a decent 'skyline'. Agreed. But does that mean we have to become a Tokyo or Mumbai?

Atleast Mumbai has the ocean next door. I'm not even talking about traffic congestion, pollution, waste disposal or any other topics that become an issue in this rapid urbanization of cities.

I speak at an individual level. Sure, you live in a rented house, but can you not maintain a few plants? Have you ever poured water, to the tree the government had planted in front of your house, which gives some shade to your car in the summer? Can you not use cement and brick instead of glass? We both know that glass reflects more heat to the place and you'll end up either buying an AC car or put an AC in your house - so in reality there's no money saved.

Think about it. And while you are thinking, here's an old article that provides statistics to my argument. For those who prefer pictures to numbers, flip through Paul Fernandes' illustrations - ' The Morphing of Bangalore' in Aditi's book - Multiple City.

Jai Ho for the Slumdog

(Image courtesy: wikipedia)

Slumdog Millionaire has won several awards at the Oscars. Eight to be precise, which includes, Best Music, Best Director and Best Film. I can understand the Best Music award for Jai Ho is yet another gem from Rahman (the music for Roja still lingers in my mind). But Best film?
If you see the films it had competed with
Milk - which sends out a strong message from the gay community,
The curious case of Benjamin Button - a story of an old man growing younger physically but wiser with age
Frost/Nixon - a window to American politics and the Nixon era and
Reader - a movie which won the Best Actress award for Kate Winslet

every one of them has a powerful taut story. What does Slumdog have? The same 'rags to riches' story where the hero walks away with the heroine into the sunset. The actors have done a great job, but is the movie as powerful as its competition? While some say its good timing, to portray a movie that shows optimism and hope in times of recession, there are others who say its mediocre.

Whatever is the opinion, one thing is true. The movie, a simple love story, in an Indian setting, made by an Englishman, nominated for the Best Movie in an American film chamber, has won the award. Truly, cinema can't get more global than this.

p.s - While everyone's besotted with Slumdog, my heart cringed at the story of Pinki, which incidentally won the oscar for the documentary feature. Reminds me of another bizarre physical deformity story which got corrected through surgery.

Koffee with Karan

No, I'm not yet famous and certainly do not have a filmy background to be a guest on this show. Lame joke aside, I happened to see a rerun of an old show with Richard Gere today; someone whom I admire, not for his talents but his Buddhist beliefs. While for most of time, the Hollywood star was a tad too careful, he really opened up on things that were close to his heart - his social work and his Tibetan culture.

One thing that struck a chord was this summarization he made about his beliefs. "No matter who we are or where we live, we all have these vices - anger, jealousy, greed. Whether one is rich and famous or poor, all of us have them and it is these enemies that we have to fight against." - Not exactly those words, but something close to it.

Strong Koffee. Bitter yet true.

Captured moments from Aero Show 2009

Some frozen moments from the Aero Event

Aero Show - the war is over

Its over. The much hyped Aero India 2009. The war between F-16s, Eurofighters, Sukhois, our own HAL produced aircrafts, which showed its might and power in the hazy Bangalore skies, completed their show yesterday.
I went to the show on saturday. I might have missed the high flying Abhinav Bindra and Rakesh Sharma or failed to spot Ratan Tata, but came out dazed by the modern defence aircrafts. The F-16 and Eurofighter 'Typhoon' took my breath away. Though the bigger aircrafts are equally important, 'twas the LCAs that the public loved. The acrobatics of the LCAs was quite like watching a video game. That brought home a sobering thought. The devastations of a video game can also occur in real life - with such modern planes and neo-technology weapons. I certainly hope it does not occur in our lifetime.

While the show was spectacular, the organisers, CII, did not do a good job. I have listed some glaring facts which I hope they read & correct for the next show.

1. Seating - It was pathetic. Many people were sitting on the carpeted ground or out in the sun. Hundreds thronged the runway and as a result the people behind them could not see the landing or take off. It would have been simple if there were adequate chairs and seating area barricaded so that everyone, seated at a safe distance, could have watched the entire show.

2. Public address systems (TV Screens, Speakers) - Again, very Inadequate. There were 2 giant screens which incessantly displayed the inflight meals in Boeing and Kingfisher, while the show was ongoing. Speakers were few and many American announcements could hardly be heard. If you are sitting in the Sun, forget hearing anything.

3. Tickets - I was told at Cafe Coffee day on Devanahalli Road that tickets were available at Gate 1. What I wasn't told was that it was also available at the parking areas too. This resulted in us buying the ticket at Gate 1 and walk down a distance of 3 kilometres in hot sun to reach the place where we found to our dismay that there are no seats to sit. A simple statement that 'Tickets available at each Parking' on the many signboards on the Airport Road would have saved the trek, especially for the elders in the group.

4. Food counters, Toilets - Very insufficient. CII, please do your math and arrange accordingly next time.

5. A handy guide, which explains the day's flights and timings, for the visitors would have helped. Especially since eighty percent of the crowd could not hear anything from the only two speakers that decorated the seating arena.

Cribs aside, the air acrobatics was superb and I enjoyed every moment of it. I'll upload some photos of the show in the next post.

5 Beginner's Links on SEO and Social Media

I spent the whole of yesterday surfing internet job sites for some writing/blogging jobs. Of the job descriptions I liked, many asked the candidate to have 'knowledge of SEO' or suggest 'social media friendly' topics. Now I'm not the professional online writer who keeps up with technologies of the world of social media. I dont use 'twitter' yet and use Facebook only occasionally. But I write and maintain a few blogs and would like some freelance jobs.
So for all those like me, beginners in the world of SEO and Social Media, here are 5 good links to start with.

1. Wikipedia - Just what is SEO and Social Media? The Wikis are generally a great place to learn from scratch. Here are the links to -

SEO
Social Media

2. SEOmoz.org - This is a great place to learn about the world of SEO. However its Jane Copland's article that introduced me social bookmarking sites and the tactics they use to provide relevant topics to their user driven communities.

3. 7 traits of a Social Media friendly website - Self explanatory and very useful.

4. SEOmoz.org - Another article from this website that explains how a Good Title can make or break your submission. I came to this article from a link on the previous one.

5. Lastly, how SEO and Social Media are inter-related. Makes sense. Blogs and Online communities have the content SEO's search in.

Disclaimer: Like I said before, I'm a beginner and this is just my opinion. I'm sure there are many other sites with pretty good basic information on these topics.

Pink chaddis and pub going 'loose' women

Here's an ingenius and satirical reply to Sri Ram Sene's moral policing. Started on the Facebook by Nisha Susan of Bangalore, the response has been so immense all across the country that its become the media's latest news. You can join the group even if you are a male and have no pink chaddis in your wardrobe. Buy some as large as the Sene's political policies and drop it at the collection centres by Feb 11th (Delhi & Mumbai) and 12th(Bangalore).

Judging by the response, if Sri Ram Sene's political aspirations fail, then can always open a lingerie store - thanks to 'pub going loose' women with a sense of humour.

People just want cheap thrills!

It was during an usual 'blame the politicians' conversation at breakfast, when my FIL made this remark. We were discussing about the recent antics of our home grown character, famous overnight and with Shiv Sena kinda politics - Muthalik. After beating up young girls in a pub, his next claim to fame is a threat to all young lovers on the Valentine's day.

Though, I didn't initially want to write about him, my FIL's remark made me think. Do people really want the 'shock and awe' kind of news. Does cheap thrills really excite us? Considering the viewership of Saas Bahu serials - where the young girl is subjected to all kinds of barbs, plots and et all - my guess is we do.

Just think of the news footage by all news channels on the 'pub incident' and its film coverage - my guess is we love such shocks. And those who don't, well they have no choice, with our kind of loud mouthed extremely insensitive media. So men like Raj Thakeray and Muthalik continue to rise. Jai Ho.

The serious side of comic strips

Deccan Herald had been the popular newspaper in the Eighties for Bangalore’s significant English speaking middle class. Now of course, sadly, TOI reigns in the state. Of course some Tamilians and avid news analysts still favour to ‘The Hindu’. The reason I write about these newspapers is not about their news coverage or quality but the comic sections that provide relief from the depressing news on the main sheet.

DH ran (and continues even now) a ‘Blondie’ comic that is almost 1/4^th of a entire page on its Sunday edition, apart from the weekly strips. Like all Indian kids curious about the US, I got to know about a typical American family through ‘Blondie’. The fact that, like any average middle class family in Bangalore, we did not own a car or any have spacious lawn in front of our tiny houses did not deter me in relating to the Dagwood family. Every Sunday, I would read about Dagwood going to work in a car pool, playing golf with Herb or mowing the lawns while Blondie maintained the house and worked as professional caterer. My dream was to have a couch like the one Dagwood slept on.

As we grew up the newspaper price wars started in our state. Our family like many others switched over to TOI. The leisure section in Bangalore Times became my everyday past time. One advantage of TOI is that they have a daily comics section covering many famous comics – Peanuts, Garfield, Calvin and of course Archies. But the picture quality and comic space has shrunk to an incredulous size. Sometimes I read the same comic strip reprinted on consecutive days. Obviously TOI thinks either comics are only for kids who look at the pictures or no one gets past the BT supplements models on its cover page. Though I love the collection, especially the indefatigable Calvin, I hate their utter disregard to the size of the strips. I’ll challenge anyone to a bucketful of icecream if they can read the Denis comic strip without squinting their eyes. I don’t mind reading only one comic on a Sunday that would extend to half a page.

Sometimes I feel, we need an Indian newspaper that dedicates an entire sheet towards cartoons. After all, everyone loves a laugh right? My internet search on the war of news publishers with comic space led me to Wikipedia. This is what Wiki says –

“Main article: Sunday strip

Sunday newspapers traditionally included a special color section. Early Sunday strips, such as Thimble Theatre and Little Orphan Annie, filled an entire newspaper page, a format known to collectors as full page. Later strips, such as The Phantom and Terry and the Pirates, were usually only half that size, with two strips to a page in full-size newspapers, such as the New Orleans Times Picayune, or with one strip on a tabloid page, as in the Chicago Daily News. When Sunday strips began to appear in more than one format, it became necessary for the cartoonist to allow for rearranged, cropped or dropped panels. During World War II, because of paper shortages, the size of Sunday strips began to shrink. After the war, strips continued to get smaller and smaller, to save the expense of printing so many color pages. The last full-page comic strip was the Prince Valiant strip for 11 April 1971. Today, most Sunday strips are smaller than the daily strips of the 1930s.“

I guess in the coming days, the section might shrink further or worse, will be published only in the internet edition. Its time the money making publishing firms shrunk some ad space for our beloved cartoons, isn’t it?

Slow and steady

(courtesy www.flickr.com)

I'm back after a long break. When I started this blog, my friends and family had warned me that blog creation is done in a jiffy. Maintaining the blog and to keep it interesting depends the ideas and frequency of the posts. The higher the frequency factor and the blog will survive. Does this mean I should write one post everyday? Or ten posts a day? What is the average blogging speed? Let’s leave the news feeds for they are churned out every hour.
With idle time on hand and some online web searches later, I came to know that there are blogs like that of Chris Brogan who types out 3 - 4 posts per day, apart from the twitter updates. In the blog that I frequent regularly, India Uncut, Amit Verma churns out 2-3 posts every day. I’ve also heard of people who post more than ten posts a day! Consequently their blog readership is also very high. Well, they are professional bloggers. While they write to improve readership, I write to improve my writing... and also share some thoughts.
Another blogger, Will, in his blog series on ’11 things to consider before you start blogging’ introduces the term ‘publishing frequency’. At the end of the analysis, this is what he says –
“Overall deciding what publishing frequency to post articles on your blog is totally up to you and no one else. Although you can look at competition and your chosen subject for inspiration or ideas it comes down to the amount of time you have spare and how much of that time you are willing to dedicate to writing articles each day.”
His publishing frequency is 5 posts per week. Another blogger who shares similar thoughts is Keith Burtis, who aims at one post per day.
I maintain three blogs and churn out three different posts every week. My aim for this blog is 2-3 posts a week, which is slightly lower than average; but I don’t mind because, as Will says, ‘it’s totally up to me’