Where?

Where have all the bloggers gone?

Leaving me here alone to fret and moan

Why, on this once lively forum

Have you'll imposed this stony moratorium?

Where is the sprightly founder

Once prolific, her words now a one-day wonder

Where's the roar of the man-lion of the clan

Without his witticisms (and pithy aphorisms), this stage is ever so wan

You, for whom Dickens is breakfast and Hardy a repast so light

Quo vadis O lady doctor erudite?

And why is the teacher of vast studies English & Social

Being to silence so partial?

With bated breath wait Byron, Shelly & Voltaire

For the eloquence of the man from Waltair

The teller of tales, vendor of nostalgia

We clamor for more, away throw Algebra

And while we wait for the stalwarts

To answer my plea of sorts

D Pinni, Sasi, V Babai, kids and others, fill this hollow vacuum

I exhort you, with your pleasing hum!

Water Color paintings by me

Vase of Poinsettia

Hibiscus

Country Side

Green Apple

picasa link

here is the link
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/ranganadhams/KarthikaVanabhojanalu#

Long Bike Ride

This Sunday past, I took my longest cycling ride ever. I started from home at 530 AM and reached home at 12 Noon, having covered 83 KM on the cycle in the interim. It was a scenic ride through villages and pristine nature outside Bangalore. In that sense, cycling is very similar to paragliding that I used to do in Mumbai- in both cases, I am in a machine that doesn't intrude between me and the environment...no mechanized noises, no smoke...just the sound of air rushing past me.

The route was interesting also from the challenges offered: mostly undulating, with a 15 KM steep stretch on the way back that convinced me that Bangalore is a hill station! Some parts were too steep to pedal, so I had to get down and walk. I have a new found respect for the athletes who participate in the Tour De France, a 3500 KM, 21 day bike race that has a quite a bit of Alpine climbing as part of it.

Took 5 hours of biking time, which translates to an average of 16 Kmph, which isnt too bad. I am now looking forward to my next such ride, whenever that is.

karthika vanabhojanalu

i could not up load all pictures. request sasi to put them in picasa

GUGGILLA SUBBAMMA

GUGGILLA SUBBAMMA

In our child hood there used to be an old widow in front of our house (where cars are kept now).she used to sell idlis, pulibangarams. There was great demand for them .People used to wait till idly vaya (bunch) is cooked and eat hot relishing idlis.When we go to her she deliberately used to ignore us, or scold us saying “cant u wait.” We used to wait patiently, till our turn come. There was one drillmaster who used eat many and many (.no body can eat one). The credit went on piling and finally he has to give away the site and thatched house in which she was living to her as payment of debt.
In the afternoon it’s a different story. She used to sell guggillu and they were not in demand as idlies. She used to come to every house selling .when she comes to our house she used to say” rangadi cheyi manchidi, narasimhudi cheyi manchidi. Meeru boni cheyandi”. We used to chide her saying “u don’t look at us in the morning, now u want our boni .go away”. “Sare lera “she used to say.
She led her life independently and happily. I don’t who her relatives are. She bequeathed her property to Kalidasu Ramachandriah who was a puaranic. He was a Sanskrit scholar and made his life by giving discourses on Ramayana. She thought by giving danam to a satbrahmadu like him she will go to heaven.

Kalidau ramachandriahs life is another story. He made his living by purachana pravachanam only. His fans constructed a big house in Vijayawada for him.

They say” ramayananni nammina vadu chedipodu.”

ఆహ్వానం

My daughters say i'm only posting poetry and it may be monotonous.
If atleast one of the family members enquire, that is the license for me to post,they say.
Thank you anonymous {krupakar}. You are responsible for the coming multi-lingual onslaught.

పుష్కరాలు పుష్కలంగా ప్రతివారం వస్తుంటే
కృష్ణ గోదావరి నిష్కల్మషంగ ఉండవుగా !

మధుమాసం దరహాసం
మనకోసం ఆనునిమిషం
అదేపనిగ పూస్తుంటే
ప్రతిరోజూ వికసిస్తే
జనం మోజు నశిస్తే ?

ఆత్మబంధు ఆతిధ్యం
నిరంతరం ఆశిస్తే
తరచు తరచు తరచి తరచి
కుశలప్రశ్న అడిగేస్తే
విసుగెయ్యద కనిపిస్తే

ఎంటియారు ఏయన్నారు
దిలిప్కుమారు అమితాబు
పొందిరిగా మన కితాబు
పొందికగా నటియించక
ప్రతి పాత్రా ధరిస్తే
తప్పదుగా అవమానం
ఔచిత్యం మరువకుంటే
కీర్తికాయం శతమానం

హరివిల్లు తొలిజల్లు
అరుదైతే ఒళ్లుజల్లు
వేళాపాళా చూసి
బొండుమల్లి పరిమళాలు
అపుడపుడు వెదజల్లు
మధురంగా ఎదగిల్లు

పిలిస్తేనె పలకాలి
స్మరిస్తేనె కలవాలి
తేనె జాలు వారాలి

విరజాజులు విచ్చాలి

పిలువని పేరంటం
అలుపెరుగని పోరాటం
ఆపటమే తెలియకుంటే
తప్పదులే ఆటంకం

నలుగురికి నచ్చాలి
పదిమంది మెచ్చాలి
నడవడికలో ఒడిదుడుకులు
అదుపులోన ఉంచాలి

ఆబాలగోపాలుని మురళిరవము
ఈగోలగోపాలుని కవితాగానము
అస్తమానం విస్తరిస్తె
అనునిత్యం వినిపిస్తే
తినగతినగ తీపి చేదు
వినగవినగ స్ఫూర్తి రాదు

వేమన్న పలికిందల్లా నినాదం
విస్సన్న చెప్పిందల్లా వేదం
ఇది మాత్రం గోపన్న పిడివాదం

కానీ

సింగంపల్లి హాప్పెనిన్గ్సు
రంగవల్లి పెయిన్టింగ్సు
ప్రోగ్రెషనే కాని డిక్లరేషనే లేని
అనెన్డింగు హ్యాపీ ఇన్నింగ్సు

Gopal Babai, long silence...any recent creative outputs?

Chekhov Ki Duniya

Poonam and I saw this play yesterday, which is apparently an adaptation of an English play, "The Good Doctor". It is 6 stories by Chekhov which have been dramatized into a series of 6 sketches. This is the first time I actually enjoyed myself when watching professional theater- usually they are too high-brow and a drag. The main reason of enjoyment was the stories were all very good, with excellent insights into human nature. You feel like reading Chekov once you see this play.

For instance, there is a story about a young clerk who accidentally sneezes on a very high official while at the theater. Although the General doesn't pay much attention to it, the clerk becomes obsessed with the incident. He first petitions the busy General repeatedly for an apology and then becomes angry at the General for not finding this incident of any consequence ("he is insulting me by deliberately ignoring me"). Finally, through these antics, he succeeds in actually angering the General. Reminded me of the Panchatantra story about the Elephant and the Ant, where the ant goes through a whole range of interactions and emotions at the Elephant but the Elephant is not even aware of its existence.

Poonam found one of the stories disturbing. It is about a man who earns money from people by allowing them to see him 'drowning' in the sea- and the authenticity of the entertainment is guaranteed , as he doesn't know how to swim. So will he escape this time as well? Although written so many years ago, the story is still very topical, since this is the exact premise of reality television: pay money to see other peoples troubles/emotions on display- the more real, the higher the ratings.

The translation was also very good, with nice idiomatic Hindi. The situational/physical comedy was good, but the emoting and dialogue delivery was OK. Pretty good overall. On to more Chekhov!

HAPPY BIRTH DAY.

HAPPY BIRTH DAY RANGANADHAM (PEDANANNA)
HAPPY BIRTH DAY MANASA
GOPAL AND FAMILY.

Hot, Flat, Crowded

Just finished this book by Thomas Friedman, a columnist for the NY Times. Although 'global warming', 'Go Green' are buzz words nowadays, this book gives a chilling account of the extent to which the environment is being damaged by runaway consumerism. However, the book is not fatalistic and presents solutions as well. The book is a must read for every city dweller in India and the US.

The basic premise: As traditional international barriers of trade and business are leveled ("World has become flat"), people in developing countries (India, China, Brazil etc), with their higher incomes, have begun to pick up the US addiction of consumerism, like ducks take to water. The combination of increasing population ("crowded") with increasing US-style consumerism have resulted in unmanageable demands of energy. The exploitation of nature to obtain this energy, combined with the pollutants thrown up in every step of the process are producing irreversible changes in our ecology ("hot").

While the book has many insights, the most telling message is that it is time for action now. Climate change has definitely become the Elephant in the room that everyone refuses to notice. The way to do this:

1. Change personal lifestyles to become carbon neutral or carbon negative. This means avoiding plastic, switching to sustainable and renewable energy sources and reducing ones energy footprint

2. Engage with your community to prevent the local ecology from being destroyed and to maintain species diversity. In the author's words, we need a million Noahs now, each building small arks to help the plant and animal kingdoms to survive the coming storm

3. Work with the government to change the systems of energy creation and consumption through legislation and planning. For instance a tax concession for reducing your carbon footprint can be a powerful incentive for everyone to switch to solar energy.

Open Question to Singampalli Kids: One of the things that the author points out: that every generation has a crisis to act upon, the opportunity to show leadership in mitigating that crisis. And future generations will judge the current one on how fast\slowly, how effectively they reacted to that crisis. For example, every youth in the US who voted for Obama would have looked at thier parents and said: "What the heck were you doing acting so slow on an obvious wrong such as racial discrimination or segregation?"

This is your/our crisis, the response to which we will be measured a few years later. So, at the risk of sounding melodramatic, my question to you: Can you break your traditional blog silence and tell me what you feel about this. Do you find something wrong with the way the world is changing? Do you find it disturbing that the Chinese River Dolphin that teemed in the thousands in China's rivers just a few years ago is completely extinct now? That respiratory diseases are alarmingly high among children nowadays? That it takes 10 minutes for an elderly man to cross the street in Bangalore/Hyderabad, during which he has to endure a cacophony of noise and smoke? That garbage is being dumped in villages outside the Indian cities as the Municipalities can't seem to deal with the volumes of waste? Is it OK for us in India to pick up on tissues to wipe our hands after a hand-wash given that we used to carry a hankie just a few years ago for just the same purpose?

What do you kids think about all this? What do you think has to be done? What do you advise us to do?

Speak up! (Other family members can state their opinions too...)

Good One

see this--
Interesting blog