Baram-Pari Tale!

Kasnau, Rajasthan

Late November evening, a lively couple ,Keya and Ratan, in the remote village of Kasnau were celebrating the joy of the new arrival in the family. Friends,family and well wishers from the entire village had gathered around their old rustic home aiding moral support and to be a part of celebrations.

As Ratan held his daughter for the first time, he exclaimed "This encounter is magical". Ratan was beyond himself with happiness as congratulations poured in from every corner of the village. The baby was no doubt an angel with lovely inquisitive little eyes. Keya was not able to pull off her eyes from those cute chubby pink cheeks, tiny little fingers , soft and tender skin. The happy couple, Keya and Ratan named their bundle of joy - Pari.

Pari was perpetually sweet and obedient, even to those who abused her of being unlucky and a bad omen. Yes you read it right. Soon after Pari was born, in about a month's time, Ratan's paddy fields had been infected, leaving the family with no harvest. Ratan could not repay his loans.Poverty hit them hard. Though the size of the family was small, his financial position turned very tight due to continuous famines, which had been ravaging for over a period of five years. The villagers blamed the child for bringing ill luck and bad fate.Ratan and Keya ignored these comments and tried to lead life as normal as possible.





With situations as this, school or education was not affordable. However, Keya played the role of teacher in Pari's life. She guided her through the good and bad, right and wrong. Pari's best friend was her mom. Pari was a keen observer, was inclined to the world of music and dance. Keya and Ratan noticed this unique and charming talent of their beloved daughter, inspired and motivated her to pursue this interest of hers.

As years passed by, Pari, true to her name, turned into a stunningly beautiful young lady, with skin as pale as milk, petite and slender build, and evident extreme youth. She was completely innocent and ignorant. Love, passion towards music and dance rested within.

Ratan's family was rotten poor by now, but never did they associate this fate of their's to the birth of Pari. As the family could no longer tolerate the taunting from the villagers, Ratan decided to leave the village in search of a job that could buy a meal a day for the three in the family. Accompanied him was his wife and their loving daughter Pari.

Kimpu, Rajasthan
After covering a long distance they had a sojourn at Kimpu village. Keya made a roti each which she served with some raw onions. After the simple meal, fatigue took a turn and the three fell asleep. Next morning Ratan moved from one corner to another of the village, in search of a job that would help them buy a day's feed. Pari was playing with a calf that was tied to a tree nearby. Dance, the hidden language of her soul came alive. Her feet dreamt, each movement of hers described a word! She portrayed each expression of happiness, joy, sadness, envy perfectly! For Pari, dance was her pulse, a short-cut for happiness!

A merchant who was travelling through Kimpu happened to notice Pari dancing to the tunes of nature. He was impressed by her graceful dance and froze to her moves. Beauty and passion complimented each other, a perfect cent percent. Pari jolted as she saw the merchant watching her performance. She ran towards the shelter while the merchant tried calling her. He followed the dancing beauty which lead him to the temporary hut pitched by the lake of Kimpu village.On reaching the hut he saw Keya washing clothes. Merchant enquired with Keya about the girl who was dancing in the fields. Keya responded - "It is Pari, my little girl". She explained to the merchant that Pari was her daughter and her dance - god's gift. While this conversation was on, Ratan came back home disappointed, he had no job in hand that day too.

On knowing the status of the family merchant seeked permission if Pari would be able to teach dance to the girls in the village of Kimpu. "She would be rewarded five gold coins a month" Said the merchant. Ratan and Keya readily agreed to it and so did the innocent Pari. The ray of hope was back. Soon the tales of her dance spread to neighbouring villages. They called her to perform in front of various honored guests from the country and outside. She was amazingly graceful , had a dignified style in each of her move. The proud parents regained the wealth they lost to famine all these years. Pari proved the villagers of Kasnau to be completely wrong. She was the best ever thing that happened to the lively couple.


One day there came a surprise letter from the land of west, the son of a rich merchant - Baram , wanted Pari to perform for the music he played on his flute. Baram's music was famous worldwide and honoring the offer, Pari travelled far across the ocean and took part in this vague proposal. Baram played flute amidst the bamboo grove and she danced on the stage set up next to the grove. The combination of his flute magic and her dance grace were romancing in the air. Pari returned home after the performance.

Baram fell in love with Pari, a beautiful lady with gorgeous eyes. Back home Pari thought of Baram and was in love with him too. Baram came down to ask Ratan, hands of his daughter Pari. Ratan and Keya could not have asked for more. He was a prospective groom for their darling daughter.


Everyone agreed and the blessed couple led a happy life ever after.

- A new attempt on folk fiction - woven based on the random glass paintings I painted.


Note: 1) All characters and situations used in this post are purely fictitious. If resemblance to anyone living or dead is purely co-incedence.
2) The paintings are copyright material. Please do seek permission before making copies.


Coming Soon!!

Watch this space for the next from "Unveil my creation". I have a few glass paintings ready after framing. This time I thought I'd weave a story using the paintings.

Coming Soon! hitting the Blog on 30 Nov 2011. :)
Starring : Keya, Ratan and Pari.
Guest Appearance: Baram

ಕಾದಿರುವೆ!

ಹಾಡಿನ ಪದದಲಿ ಮೂಡಿದೆ ಒಲವು
ಇಣುಕಿದೆ ಮನದಲಿ ತಿಳಿಯದೆ ಛಲವು

ಬರಲೇ ಎಂದೆ ಧೈರ್ಯದಿ ನಾನು
ಬೇಡ ಎನುತ ಸರಿದಳು ಬಾನು

ಹಾಡು ನಿಂತಿತು, ಸ್ಫೂರ್ತಿ ಇಂಗಿತು
ಆದರು ಮನ ಕರಗಲಿಲ್ಲವೇ ಚೆಲುವೆ ?

ಹಗಲಿರುಳು ನಿನದೆ ಚಿಂತೆ
ನಿನಗಾಗಿ ಕಾಯುವ ಕೆಲಸವಾಗಿದೆ ನನಗೆ

ಮಳೆ ಹನಿಯ ಅರಿವಿಲ್ಲ
ಸುಡುಬಿಸಿಲ ಪರಿವಿಲ್ಲ

ಹಸಿರು ಮರದ ಮೇಲೊಂದು ಚಿನ್ನದ ಗರಿ ಕಂಡ ಹಾಗೆ
ನೀ ನಿಂತೆ ನನ್ನ ಎದೆಯ ಬಾಗಿಲ ಮೇಲೆ

ಕಾರ್ಮೋಡ ಸುರಿದು ನೀರಾದ ಹಾಗೆ
ಇಂಪಿನ ಕಂಪನು ಸೂಸಿದ ಹಾಗೆ

ಎಲ್ಲವ ಮರೆತು ನೀ ಬರುವೆಯಾ ?
ಗೆಳತಿ ನೀ ಬಂದು, ಇನಿಯ ಎಂದು ಹಾಡುವೆಯಾ?


Gist: An attempt to describe a man's wait for his loved one through these few lines.
Just a random thought..

Fun filled evening.

Our locality which comprised of 30 homes or less 2 decades ago has turned into a full-fledged layout with over 200 homes and families. Back then, a group of young , energetic and enthusiatic minds churned out an idea - A youth Association. Basically we (the entire locality folks) meet once a year and spend a day with lots of fun.A lot many faces have come and gone in these years, but the enthusiasm remains.

This post is all about the cultural activities we organize every year in our locality. Ahhh!This year the day started off with the routine pooja followed by the games for elders - Uncles and Aunties (as we refer them as), concurrently running painting and essay writing competitions for kids. Dumb charades followed by Antakshari for youngsters. There was fun everywhere. A stress free day between the stressful life was what I had been waiting for and la here it was.

Lunch was a balance of masalas - Bisi bele Bath ,curd rice and the special delight - mysore pak.

Evening was a mix of performances where the performers ranged from tiny tots to grandpas - all performers are from our locality.Ain't that great? Fancy dress competition for the cutest of the lots - tiny tots. One kid dressed as a poojari, another as a rajasthani, if one went ahead to be called a barbie, another called himself a christian bridegroom, Beauty queen to Baby lord kirshna. It was an amazing moment to have them all on stage - First step to get away of the stage fear. Trust me I have gone through all this and experience speaks.

A sequence of dances which had a variety in itself - radha krishna's Natkat to Kannada and Karnataka's heritage, Peppy numbers like Shakira's waka waka to the latest tunes of Sandalwood(Kannada movie world is know so). I enjoyed every bit of it.

There was an on the spot program for all the kids going to KG classes. An elderly uncle portrayed the role of Hindustani Santa Claus. He asked the same set of 5 questions to all the kids - What's your name? What's your mother's name? What's your father's name? What's your grandmother's name? What's your grandfather's name? Looks simple and silly , but yeah if you don't believe it half of the kids did not know their grand parents names.

Each kid was asked to do one thing of its choice. The kids who told the names of their grandparents recited a sloka or a rhyme and the majority of the rest sang a recent Kannada/ Hindi song or danced to those tunes. No offence to any kid or parent here. But how much time do each parent spend with the kid in a day especially in nuclear families? What values are they inculcating in them really matters. Not dwellimg much into this, on the lighter side, the show was indeed awesome and rib tickling. I was laughing at their wits and creativity. Superb are their talents. They are the building blocks of future.

The fun continued. A small skit to bring the awareness of kannada and how its being exploited in today's world was put up. It was hilarious and really an eye-opener.

(ನಾನು ಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲಿ ಈ ಲೇಖನವನ್ನು ಯಾಕೆ ಬರೆದಿಲ್ಲ ಎಂದರೆ, ನಮ್ಮ ಕನ್ನಡದ ಹಿರಿಮೆ ಎಲ್ಲಡೆ ಹರಡಬೇಕು ಎತ್ತರಕ್ಕೆ ಮುಟ್ಟಬೇಕು,.. ಅದರ ಒಂದು ಪ್ರಯತ್ನ)

Yet another mini-drama performed by the evergreen artists of our association was more than mind blowing.

The day concluded on a note of thank you to all who made it possible this year and promised to keep this going on forever.

That was pretty much for the fun ,last weekend? What's in store for next?

ಮರೆತೆ ನಾ ನನ್ನನೆ.

Note : This is for Kannada readers only. This weekend I visited the green part of karnataka - Theerthahalli. Its no less than heaven and I have described the beauty of the land and my memories with it through this small poem.

ಮಳೆಯ ಸವಿ ತಂದ
ಮಲೆನಾಡ ಸಿರಿ ಚೆಂದ
ಆ ಹಸಿರ ನಡುವಲಿ
ಚಿಲಿಪಿಲಿಯ ಗುಂಗಲಿ

ಮರೆತೆ ನಾ ನನ್ನನೆ
ಕಣ್ಣರಳಿತು ಹಾಗೆ ಸುಮ್ಮನೆ
ನಗುತ ನಲಿದ ಕ್ಷಣಗಳ
ಮೆಲುಕು ಹಾಕುತ್ತಾ ಮುಂದೆ ನಡೆದೆ

ಮಲ್ಲಿಗೆಯ ಕಂಪು ಸೂಸುತಿರಲು
ನೇರಳೆ ಹಣ್ಣು ಅಲ್ಲಲ್ಲಿ ಚೆಲ್ಲಿರಲು
ಮಾವಿನ ಮರದ ಮೇಲೆ ಕುಳಿತು ಕೋಗಿಲೆ ಕೂಗುತಿರಲು
ಮೋಡಗಳು ಮಂದಹಾಸ ಬೀರಿ ನಲಿಯುತಿರಲು

ಮರೆತೆ ನಾ ನನ್ನನೆ
ಕಣ್ಣರಳಿತು ಹಾಗೆ ಸುಮ್ಮನೆ
ನಗುತ ನಲಿದ ಕ್ಷಣಗಳ
ಮೆಲುಕು ಹಾಕುತ್ತಾ ಮುಂದೆ ನಡೆದೆ

ಆ ದಿನದ ನೆನಪಾಯಿತಿಂದು
ಎಂದರೆ ತಪ್ಪಾಗಲಾರದು
ಮುಂಜಾನೆಯ ಭಾಸ್ಕರನಿಗೆ ನಮಸ್ಕಾರ ಮಾಡಿ
ಕೆಂಪು ಲಂಗ ನನ್ನ ಸಿಂಗರಿಸಿ


ಗೊರಟೆ ಹೂವ ಮಾಲೆ ಧರಿಸಿ
ಕೈನಲ್ಲಿ ಚೀಲವ ಹಿಡಿದು
ಪುಟುಪುಟು ಓಡುತ ಬಂದ ಛಾಯೆ
ಇನ್ನು ಕಣ್ಣಲಿ ಚಾಪಿ ನಿಂತಿದೆ

ಮರೆತೆ ನಾ ನನ್ನನೆ
ಕಣ್ಣರಳಿತು ಹಾಗೆ ಸುಮ್ಮನೆ
ನಗುತ ನಲಿದ ಕ್ಷಣಗಳ
ಮೆಲುಕು ಹಾಕುತ್ತಾ ಮುಂದೆ ನಡೆದೆ

ಹಿಂತುರುಗೋ ಮನಸಿಲ್ಲ
ಆದರೆ ನೌಕರಿ ಇದೆಯಲ್ಲಾ
ಮರುದಿನ ಬೆಳಿಗ್ಗೆ ದಿನಚರಿ ಪ್ರಾರಂಭ
ಅದೇ ರಾಮಾಯಣ ಅದೇ ರಂಪ :(

Unbelievable half an hour!

That's a title as suggested by my sister and cousins who accompanied me yesterday for a ride on the "Namma Metro" - The first ever metro train in Bangalore city.The most hyped attraction of the city which has missed several deadlines and finally made its grand opening this October is the first step in bringing some peace to Bangalore traffic I'd say. With the reach of Metro, not really that attractive as of now, I guarantee that upon its completion in the years to come we can see some organized structure in the movement of traffic in this city.

The plan was in place. Sis, I and two other cousins had the idea of enjoying this ride when it opens to public. What better day could it be than the Karnataka/Kannada Rajyotsava to make this event dream come true! Yes, we headed out on the road early yesterday morning (Pretty early). Reached MG road at around 8:30am. Walked past the Deccan Herald (office of a daily newspaper) and there we walk the first time ever into the station of Namma metro. The hoardings put up for the opening ceremony was still lying there and we made the best use of it by posing for some photographs :)

The mere 15Rupees ticket per person for a ride from MG road to Bayappanahalli (The route covered in the first phase of construction) was the selected itenary. Each person gets an electronic token that’s to be used for the onward journey only. (Helpful for new commuters: Place the coin on spot provided at the terminal entrance gate for it open. Carry the coin with you all through the journey so as to drop it to exit at the destination terminal gate). The excited us entered the platform and as we ascend the escalator we see a train pass. No rush no hurry - the mantra we adopt. This helped us get a glimpse of the train move away from us. Fellow passengers - some doing the same as we were upto (first timers), some real passengers who commute everyday to work, some kids celebrating the Kannada rajyotsava - started pouring in. Though not huge in number, almost all the seats filled up as we boarded the train. Photography is prohibited and since we had some camera phones, I have a two pictures on the board to share with you all.

That's me!


Beautiful green view outside.



You'd not believe it - a routine 45 minute driving or a bus ride on the road, took just 14 minutes on this metro. I am lucky to get a glimpse of a beautiful top view of part of Bangalore.

Some highlights of the ride:

-As you approach each station there are announcements made in 3 languages to let people commuting know about the whereabouts.

-The CCTV's are installed inside.

-There is a provision for mobile recharging as well :)

-Heritage glimpse of Karnataka played on the TV that is placed on the side walls of the train.

-The route the Metro operates on is put up on the sides of the train (On the top of the door is where you'll locate this)

By the time I noticed and grasped these details we were at Bayappanahalli. As we walked out to buy the return journey tickets I noticed that there are lifts operating between floors to carry the physically challenged people. After buying the tokens, we headed back to the platform and boarded the train - next 14 minutes passed by, before I realized it and we landed at MG road.
Half an hour - to and fro - ride the metro - MG road to Bayappanahalli. That’s the reason behind title.


As we walked out of the station we noticed a few kids dressed in yellow and red (karnataka flag colors), skating down the road marking the day special - Kannada Rajyotsava.

The perfect morning completed with a normal shopping routine at Commercial Street after munching on the authentic breakfast at ICH (Indian Coffee House), Church Street.
Its one of my best hop stops in Bangalore for a quick snack.

It was a splendid Kannada Rajyotsava for me.I loved the experience on the whole.

November 2011 Calendar shot

November is here.

Few fascinating facts of November:
*Am from this wonderful place called Karnataka and today we celbrate Kannada Rajyotsava - which literally translates as the "Birth of State Karnataka". For more about this visit Kannada Rajyotsava

* India celebrates children's day on 14th of November - Chacha Nehru's birthday.

* It is the Native American Heritage Month

* Some Men in Australia, (especially in the city of Melbourne) New Zealand, and New Orleans to sport a moustache during the month of November. The custom is known as Movember (Movember being a portmanteau of the words 'Moustache' and 'November'), a fundraising event for men's health issues. [I did not know this :). A friend of mine who returned from Melbourne revealed this piece of information]

*Thanksgiving in US - 4th thursday of November. Well the day after that is the "BLACK FRIDAY" - Shopping day:)

*Birth flower for NOvember is the chrysanthemum.

*2008 Mumbai attacks - 26/11 . Mumbai cannot forget this nor can we.





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