[24/7]

My father was with the Indian Railways and we stayed in the Railway Quarters. We had ample water supply, if not good electricity. Let me tell you why I am talking about this all-time water supply.

I heard the word 24/7 when my aunt was searching for a rent house after her marriage. We were skimming thru the very famous advertisement newspaper of the 90's - Mad-Ads. It had a huge collection of ads, of all sorts.

The rent house ads - all had this mentioned - 24/7 water supply and electricity. That is the first time I heard the word or rather the phrase TWENTY FOUR BAR SEVEN - 24/7. I remember asking my father if it means 24 divided by 7?! How ridiculous, how can some supply water and electricity by dividing it into 7 parts?! It only meant you had water and electricity all the days of the week, at all times !!! And that, was a luxury. And in all this house hunting I had learnt a new word. 

But the meaning of the humble 24/7 underwent a sea change. The year 2K was the year of the BPOs.  24/7 now meant that there was customer care provided at all times - day and night. And this meant people also worked 24/7 - day and night shifts. And this also meant - that there had to be other services that had to be available at all times - like cabs, food supply at odd hours, security, media and so on.

24/7 - was no more a bleak word. It had become powerful, ruling the days and nights of people in a completely new way.

But 24/7 grew and grew more powerful. As of today, it means being available and accessible all the time. Clicking selfies, uploading and posting comments day and night, hunting for likes round the clock, virtual chatting/snap chatting/whatsapping/twittering endlessly. We have an unceasing need to "stay update" with all possible useful and useless news and so, being busy eternally.

We fear staying offline lest we will be left out. Our up time is all the time. Our sense organs are continuously treated to high tempting pictures. We need directions (Maps) all the time and for this we need battery backup and also a power bank!!

Our mothers were working 24/7, being available to us all the time with no modes of communication or modern gadgets.  But now we ask for maids 24/7, we are busy with several other media engagements at all odd hours.

As kids we were on the roads playing cricket, kho-kho, gilli-danda, hide & seek 24/7 but these days kids are  online 24/7, playing virtually to eternity, ogling at their screens ceaselessly.

Even as I am writing this article, I hear a new word from my Senior VP - 24/7/365 !!!  This changes the entire dimension of who we are , how we work and what we do.

And that is what the [24/7] had done to us earlier and now be prepared for the new revolution called the Twenty-four bar Seven bar Three Sixty Five !!!

Fortnight Cycle SHE

 Ain't she like me,

All so beautiful and O! so round.

She's a little more like me today

A little naughty, a little chirpy.

Is she also growing tired today,

Why is she half-herself?

But again ain't she like me

A little dull and sad.

But morrow she'll be back

Like me with a zing and a tiny sparkle :-)

She grows happy and sad,

Just like me…

Comfort Conversations

How Are you? How is Life

D going in the lift. Meets a stranger, they exchange smile and short "how are you?"
D: Doing good. How are you?
Stranger: Oh wonderful, have a great day.
[Lift Episode over]

D meets a lady in the washroom, she is adjusting her lipstick.
D: Oh thats a nice colour looks good.
Lady Smiles...

D goes to the cafe to make some coffee... no milk. Small Frown.

Enters her office area, cable disconnected, area not clean. Frown increases.

Checks her mail, managers starts a chat -
Manager: Good Morning D, how are you?
D : Good Morning Manager, I am fine [cribbing internally], How are you?
Manager: Blah, blah, blah, not done , not done, not done.
Frown gets changed to anger, dismissal, disapproval.

Opens a chat window with her BFF
BFF: How is life?
Ah now is my chance to open the can of worms....
D: man .... dont ask, what a day it has been. Can't customise cook, nothing working fine, DD didnt get ready on time, running to catch her bus, DS did nt eat his breakfast today. Grrr... nothing going fine.

Not a Kannada film ... ಗೋಧಿ ಬಣ್ಣ ಸಾಧಾರಣ ಮೈಕಟ್ಟು [GBSM]

I am a Kaanadiga, I love Dr.Rajkumar, Dr.Vishnuvardhan,Shankar nag. I have enjoyed watching classic films like ಬಬ್ರುವಾಹನ, ಮುತ್ತಿನ ಹಾರ, ಚಿನ್ನಾರಿ ಮುತ್ತ, ಮತದಾನ, ನಮ್ಮೂರ ಮಂದಾರ ಹೂವೆ. But off late I have rarely watched or enjoyed any Kannada movie especially in movie theaters. Which is why I would like to give a rating that GBSM [Godhi Banna Sadharana Maikattu] is NOT a Kannada movie.

It does not have unnecessary double meaning dialogues [ I feel Kannada movies are famous for that], songs thrown for the sake that auto drivers can play them aloud [what with the likes of ಹಳೆ ಪಾತ್ರೆ ಹಳೆ ಕಬ್ಬಣ ] , fighting scenes just to show the prowess of our heroes, villain who looks like a UFO.

Anant Nag Sir is exceptionally good. The lost look in his eyes, his timing and dialogue delivery are just superb. No one else could have made justice to this powerful role. He is our true hero. May be we could have had more of his screen presence.

The villain - Vashishta N Simha is the second hero of the film.  The bass in his voice echoes very well with his character. Watching Tamil movies I used to think how wonderfully trains are used as characters adding value to the movie. Here too the use of the train timings to show day and night is very refreshing.

The songs raise and ebb out very synchronously with the situation and the characters, especially Ayomaya.

But I don't say that this movie is a classic as it has its share of several technical glitches like lightning not appropriate at several places, the heroine being a little patient like even at occasions where she could have looked more bountiful, hero being in a hurry even to deliver the most quintessential emotional dialogues in a fizzy, our Sir. Anant Nag's watershed dialogue - "ಕರಿ ನಾಯಿ ಬಿಳಿ ನಾಯಿ"  seems like its coming out of nowhere, the sound could have resonated in a much better way. and so on.

All this said, its the coming of age movie for Kannadigas. Good Job Hemanth Rao & team !!!

Please go and watch it in THEATRES, lets promote the true goodness and ಕನ್ನಡ ಕಂಪು.

Tailors will be...

Well, what else tailors only,  URBAN or rural, male or female, age-old tailor shop or new age boutique.

The moment a person becomes a tailor,  irrespective of how good,  disciplined,  genuine,  punctual he/she is,  a new factor called "delay"  gets added to his/her list of traits. Something strange happens which will never ever allow him/her to maintain your date.

I guess we all Indian women have had our love affair and heart break with tailors. That is how best I can describe it. What with the minute details, the type of Kameez - straight cut, Umbrella, anarkali, to the depth of the neck, sleeve length, back tie, type of flair and then to the type of salwar -100 types and a 100 filters!

Then the quintessential Indian saree and blouse -aaah Katori type, plain, lining, piping, padding, neckline like Sridevi in Chandni, sleeve like Juhi in Duplicate and so on.

After all this we instruct the tailor - give me this dress before Ganesha chathurthi and that saree I need before my chacha's wedding anniversary and oh uncle that one Kurta can you please give it by tomorrow evening... I just want have a trial before my seminar on Friday.... Please please please uncle (yes, "Uncle" to bring in that innocence😊).

And so the tailor uncle is bound to be delayed. He tries to open your cloth bundle on the day he is supposed to give you the final piece or if he has already opened it then he has misplaced the pairs. If ever he delivers it on time then definite he definitely has screwed up your masterpiece 😈

How many times have you bought a Kurta which is slightly "big" in size or a littttlle tight and then got it "altered to your size"? Then asked your DH to just quickly pick it up the next day while coming back from office?

No? you haven't done any of this before??!!! Don't you remember your brother or your dad waiting for you outside the tailor shop while you narrated your dress epic to the tailor?


I remember all this and why the story at the top of my list is more than hilarious. It's a day before my wedding.  In our Kannada culture we have the very important VARA_PUJA,  where we have a ceremony to welcome the groom and his family to the wedding function.  This happens most of the times at the wedding hall which is away from your home and of course you got it right from your TAILOR shop too!!!

My beautician comes with all her kit and starts opening her set. She asks me "Deepthi,  show me your evening saree and blouse let me match it with the make-up".  I ask my friend Aruna "Hey da I have it all right there,  that,  yeah over there blue suitcase,  pink color Kangan Saree shop cover.... Yeah right there"

"What??!! No? It's 5:30, they'll be here at 7. You have his number? But it's Sunday oh nooo... "

Did you get what happened? Out of the 50 blouses he stitched for our wedding house,  he has missed to give My,  yes,  the bride's blouse,  THE B-ll-oouuzzz.

So another friend Asha quickly pulls out her activa scooter and vrooms to pick it up etc... And rest is history.

OK so the point is these delays,  mishaps keep happening and then we still keep going to the Tailors.

Years after all these tailor stories, I had literally stopped dreaming about having a perfect or near-to-perfect blouses, kurtas and kameez. I would just tag on to whatever looked decent enough.

But then few weeks back, in the early morning, something caught my attention. My son was banging the iboat and turned on the radio in full volume, my daughter's screaming in the background for TV remote and I hear some ad with the word tailor.

Later in the day,  like a thief I steal 20mins for myself from the daily family affair, do a little research on the ad and give a blouse to be stitched by the xxxxx tailor.  What luxury they give you door step service wonderful,  you don't have to be bothered running to the tailor superb, decently priced ah icing on top. 10 days to get your first blouse delivered to you thumbs up. 👍

They send you messages and keep you updated. Ok all done. 

Measurement Dress

Materials for stitching

On the day of delivery DH is pulling my leg so have you got it? Haha cmon tailors will be tailors...  I brag about my intelligence and the phone beeps with an SMS, wait, wait it must be an update from my new-age tailor - and yes it was an update -

Xxxxx Tailor: Frequent power cuts in Bangalore has affected our production volume. Due to this, the delivery of your order may get delayed by 2-3 days from the expected date of delivery. Kindly co-operate with us.

A Suitable Review

Facts (as a matter of fact)
Name: A Suitable Boy
Author: Vikram Seth
Genre: Melodrama but with emphasis on characters or Bollywoodian
Publisher: Penguin
Pages: 1364 only
Weight: 800 gms
Started Reading :  August 2015
Completed Reading: October 2015

    It has been a literary pleasure reading this epic. If not for now, I wouldn't have been able to read a book this fat and so elaborate. The loneliness of post delivery, sleeplessness, anxiety etc were cured to a certain extent because of reading.

    So, I would try to read at least 5 pages every day before I fall asleep. I would feel all the characters of the book are waiting for me, they are waiting to tell me their story, they are waiting to unfold themselves. I could not sense the face of any of them but it was a visualization beyond plain characters.
 
    First of all, let me warn you about the weight of the book itself. The author also mentions this in his preface itself. I did sprain my neck a little, had severe arm pain few times. I suppose the author himself also mocks at the density of his book. He mentions that the Shakespearean books should be torn into smaller parts that can be read at your comfort maybe even during a light walk thru a cemetery. Maybe this book should also have followed that path and been divided into 3 parts, each part introducing the "suitable contenders" and the fourth book being the finale!!!

    Now to the actual story itself... the book begins and ends with a marriage as you would have already guessed. But there are several other events that sway the story between varied emotions of happiness, friendship, passion, jealousy, fear, anger, dejection, anticipation and silent love.

    Yes, this book is quite like our very own Bollywood movie in some sense but the emotions expressed feel more practical and realistic. How logically each person is introduced, grows and contributes to the growth of the story and eventually ebbs out is so unpretentious.

    As the story grows it's remarkable, and the subtle way in which he introduces each of the "suitable" contenders is very interesting indeed. The sentiments expressed are so true and touching, like this one where one of the suitable contenders puts it -

                      "I am a practical man and I am proud of it - but sometimes I come across situations that I don't know how to handle despite my well formed opinions and I find that after all perhaps that there is less reason to be proud than I thought "


    This book has been written in an era when postal letters were the fad. It felt so nice to read the long letters of Mrs.Rupa Mehra, the practical reply of her son Arun Mehra, the no-love but plain worldly exchanges between the heroine and one of the contenders... And so on.

    That left me wondering, now, in this era of short messages and emoticons, we may loose to express ourselves as completely and as thoroughly as we are made to be or may be the emotional center of our brain, the amygdala may grow vestigial! And then who will be left to explain the longing of love, the pain of rejection, the "herewith-find-enclosed" and the "Lots-of-love""s... Our literature will suffer an incurable paralysis. 

    The wikipedia informs that there would be a sequel to this book, titled of-course "A Suitable Girl" to be released in 2016. And well, I am waiting for it.

Let me leave you with these words from the book -

 Hope this will inspire you to do some weight lifting...err reading!!!