Bewitched...

A wriggle of my nose and things go up in the air
A laser beam shoots, when I give a hard stare.
A snap of my fingers, lights up a flame
A click of my boots to fly like a plane

All these I wish, Powers that I had
All these and I would make you go mad.

I would make you lose your shorts
Probably light up your shirt.
Pull down your pants
or dress you in vivid colours.

I may shower you with flowers
Probably with slimy toads.
Drench you in inky rain
or just cause you some pain


Alas, I should say, the wishes remain
Only a butt-load of Attitude and not Restrain

Shed them...

Shed them slowly my love,
shed them slowly.
First the doubt in your heart,
Second that little fear.

Shed them slowly 
and come in to my arms.

Shed them slowly my love,
That ignorance you fake,
That old heart break.

Shed them slowly
and hold me tight

Shed them slowly my love.
That mask that you wear,
The walls around your heart

Shed them slowly
And embrace my love!!!

A Special Evening

5:00 pm

The lights were turned low, curtains drawn and the scent of paneer roses filled the air. She walked slowly to the centre of the room, gingerly carrying a crystal bowl filled with water. She put it down gently on the glass coffee table and mocked herself for not thinking of bringing it empty and then filling it. She had been walking in slow motion for a full 5 minutes. She disappeared in to the dining and re-appeared with a bottle in one hand and a small plastic cover in the other. She bent close and let two drops from the bottle touch the water. It was rose water. Then she dug in to the plastic bag and after much ruffling pulled out her hand clutching a fistful of rose petals. Gently she strew them on the now calm water. A minute later she had lit a white cup candle and let it float amidst the roses and watched the crystal bowl glow.

She had it all planned. Why had it to be the guys always trying to impress the girls with a well planned romantic date. Girls can also do that. That is what she planned. A romantic evening to be with her special one. Breaking out of her reverie she quickly dashed in to her bedroom. She had plenty of time but wanted to get dressed slowly.

The saree was very pretty, she had liked it at first sight and had kept it locked away for some special occasion. Its calling had come. She draped it gently, lost in her thoughts, all the while smiling and blushing, thinking about her guy. Around came the pallu and went over her left shoulder and she silently squealed in joy. It looked gorgeous. She looked gorgeous. She decided to let her hair loose for a change and went for the minimal make-up. It was a special day and she wanted her special shimmering lipstick. With the final touch of the bindi to her forehead, she looked in to the mirror and could only smile shyly. She looked perfect.

Shifting her gaze to the bottom draw of her dressing table she had just pulled open, she smiled yet again. She dug in and retrieved two small boxes. It was going to be special alright.

6:00 pm

The message had been simple. "Come home early".

His other messages asking "why" and "what" were left unanswered. He had no clue what was up but didn't want to disappoint her. He was on time and lost in thought as he was about to ring the bell. The door opened and he stood there caught in mid action with his hand outstretched and eyes wide, staring at this beautiful apparition smiling at him from the doorstep. He recovered quickly and beamed as he watched her smile and draw him inside.

The living room looked different. The lights low, the decorated coffee table, a mild-sweet fragrance and he counted 5 candles placed in different convenient places. Impressed. And then again his eyes were back to her. 

She had gone in to their kitchen and was now returning with two tall glasses of Sherbet. A glass each in hand they settled on the sofa and sat opposite each other. He wanted to appraise her and watched her doing the same. Whatever she had planned, it was working perfectly. The ruby red drink cooled his throat but warmed up his insides. His mind now relaxed and mood romantic.

"What is it?", he asked. "Ssssh, I will tell you later.", she said. "Oh! c'mon tell no!", he pleaded. "Have some patience", she said and stood smiling and slowly moved towards him. He never liked lipstick and she knew that, but this time he did not want to stop her. As her arms went around his neck, he could smell her. She had no perfume on, yet smelled divine. They sat there, snuggling in each others' arms.

A few minutes later, she stood up. "I have something for you". Saying that she walked off in to the bedroom. The moment had finally come, the secret of the evening was to be revealed. He sat back in the sofa and recalled how and when she had planned all this. There had been no signs, she had been her usual groggy self that morning, dressed in her nightie and somberly cooking and packing his lunch. Everything as usual except for that message around noon asking him to be home early.

She had a small fruit basket in her hand. Clueless yet again, he started to rise but she motioned for him to sit. His eyes followed her as she slowly came around to sit next to him. Silently she handed him the basket. She was now doing her eye-talk.

He scanned it, searched for what was special in a fruit basket and that is when he found it. The two small boxes.

With no patience to play guessing games, he opened the first one to his reach. Inside was a small porcelain doll. It was a little baby doll, sleeping in its blue knickers, dreamily smiling and its chubby cheeks blushed pink. The second had another little doll, this had a pink skirt and flower on its headband and just like the other,pink cheeks and a dreamy smile.

Perplexed he looked up at her. All she offered was a smile. But it was different, she was beaming. He too knew the eye-talk by now and tried to ask "what is it?" and he read her eyes to interpret "What do think it is".

He blinked and blinked, pleading for her to say what it was. Finally she pinched his cheeks and whispered "Daddy".

The evening was special indeed.

Traffic Signal...

It was a lazy morning with no real task to accomplish. So after a quick shower, dress up and dabbing of some cream-powder-perfume and gulps of a so called breakfast, I was ready.

Faced with the option of a Rs.100 auto ride and a Rs.14 bus ride and given the time available on hand, I decided to do the 700 m dash to the nearest bus stand. There it was, ready and roaring, the bus to my destination, well at least it would be taking much closer to my destination. Window seat and all, I was set. About 45 minutes later, I was on board an auto heading to The Office.

The Auto. It always amuses about how much of my surroundings I am able to take in while in an Auto as compared to the times when I am in a Car. Probably it is cause of the need to stay alert when being driven around by a stranger or the fact that there are no doors and raised glass windows to cocoon you in to a very personal space. In an auto, you are bound to have lots of things coming in and going out.

As the three wheeler kept rumbling and rolling down the road, it came to a stop at a signal. Slowly other vehicles too followed suit. A couple of bikes rolled up in to the front line. Typical.

Typical. It is typical for the auto guys to make abrupt turns and screeching halts. Typical for bikers to criss-cross other vehicles and get in to the tiniest gaps available. It is typical for the car fellas to block the way and take tedious U-turns and park haphazardly. And all the more typical for all of them to blame each of the others for the chaos.

At the signal now, as the vehicles roll to a stop, I take the time to observe my surroundings. Two guys in their courier company's Red - tees, looking anxiously at the signal. A matching red bag slung across their shoulders, unclear whether full or empty. A techie ahead of my auto, with a backpack that says "SAP" with a tiny water bottle tucked to the side, waiting for the signal. On a similar wait I also find two middle aged men, bike-pooling and wearing identical stripped shirts. Then there is a guy sandwiched between two big black bags and one of them read "SONY". Not difficult to guess that it was a Video Camera and his tripod accompanying him.

Just before the signal could turn green, I noticed one other biker with a bag hanging from the side. It was odd. It was a bag that I have seen the milk man carry around in the mornings. It felt out of place with a guy dressed in full formals complete with shoes and socks to match. Still trying to figure that out, I watched as the vehicles now came to life again, well some never really went to sleep.

The cameraman, veered to the lane on the right and vanished from eye-sight. The SAP guy went straight and the colour coded bike poolers rode along. The courier guys, I didn't have extra pair of eyes to follow, never realised where they had gone.

The chaos of further more workind day morning traffic continued and slowly I turned my head down towards the book that I had been reading,  wanting to finish a few more pages before I had to get off. After a stop at two other signals and then a final left turn, finally as my auto ground to a halt, I paid my fare and hopped off, all the while listening to "CHANDRALEKA" on high volume and praying for a place where I could just DANCE.

PS. Did I mention that sudden "SLOCH" sound I heard? Well it was birdie-poo landing splat on the road. Lucky fellows, it missed its mark.

Kannadadhalli maathadadhuke gothu!!

On my way home yesterday, I hailed an auto. The driver immediately responded in HINDI.

Koi baat nahin. I can understand Hindi  But I wondered how he assumed I could. But thats not the point here. Driving down further, I had to give directions. That's when I realised that I was speaking in Kannada to him.

As I struggled to chose between Hindi and Kannada, I realised that this was not the first time for me to get language-mix-mash. It happened once before too. I had to respond to someone speaking in Malayalam. And I blurted out in Kannada. What happened to good old mother-tongue of mine Tamil?

They say that languages come to you easily when you are a kid as your brain is young and fast in learning. Despite science working against me, I did manage to pick a new language in the last 3 years. Well seems that I broke down the CODE of this language.

Starters - Baeku (want), Saaku (enough), Baeda (don't want), Bannee (welcome), OOTAA (food), Thindee (tiffin), Annaa (rice), Saaru / Thilee Saaru (Sambar / Rasam), Bissi (Hot), tannagay (chill), illa (no), oudhu (yes), idhey (is there), aachey (outside), ollagay (inside), maelgadey (on top). Now you can proceed.

Pa to Ha Conversion Theory - Applicable in many places. When in tamil you say Pasu (Cow) in kannada it becomes Hasu. Likewise Paalu (milk) becomes Haalu and Pallu (teeth) becomes Hallu.

But then Palli (lizard) does not become Halli (Village). Mind That. It is better to consult a trusted partner before testing this.

The "u/vu" factor - Lets see - Avaru(him/her),avalu (she), Ivaru(he), neevu(you), naanu(me), naavu(we), namdhu(ours), nimdhu(yours). Point established

Plural-gaLu - Avar-galu, ivar-galu, buss-u-galu, hennu-galu (fruits), tharkari-galu (veggies), car-galu, road-galu etc etc-galu

Bruce Lee - I mean lee for respect, rather some ee for respect. Say Thago vs Thagolee (take) , Ba vs Bannee (come), Kuthko vs kuthkolee (sit), Maadu vs Maadee (instruct to do), Haaku vs Haakukolee (wear).

Thae Thae I will - Jharathae (it will slip/ be slippery), hogathae (it will go)

and with a thaithey  as a suffix you get Present continous gadigalu hoga-thaithey 

Furture continous - tha-iruthey neeru hoga-thairuthey (water will keep going)

Past continuous - tha-iththu 

Strangely the more I learn, the more i discover its similarities with tamil. The grammar and language structure is identical.

Other than the joy of conquering a new language it also gives me an edge. Really like the response I get when I speak to someone in their language. I don't forget to add that I do not know it too well, so as to cover up for the mistakes I make. That makes them even more gracious and accepting of you.

WARNING: USE WITH CARE. PLEASE PRACTICE IN FRONT OF A KANNADIGA FRIEND AND CALL HIM KANAU.

Hope it was useful. Thank you. Bartheenee (See you soon).