Am I childish???

Last Sunday, as you all know, there was grand final of the EURO cup. My roomie asked me whether an acquaintance of him can drop over to our flat to watch the match. I said OK as this person had already been there for a cricket match before. He was an elderly person in his fifties. So, this person came in the night, just before the match. We played cards, had a couple of beers and cheered for Russia. But the Russians, apparently, didn't hear our cheers and lost the match.
Then, we were cleaning our dishes and each guy had to clean his plate. Our elderly visitor went to the kitchen and washed his plate and somehow fumbled with a glass that was not supposed to be there. It was my favorite glass which I've been using for the past one year or so. I don't know why it's my favorite but I love it so much that I never drank any alcohol in it. All I used it for, is to drink juices, that too very rarely. Our guy simply broke the glass and came mumbling to the hall. As soon as I heard the sound of the breaking glass, I suspected the worst and rushed to find by priceless glass shattered to pieces. I was very angry on that person but couldn't do anything as he was my roomie's guest. The same guy didn't flush the toilet the next morning. I got up, as usual, at around 6AM to get ready for office and found that the toilet was stinking. My anger turned to hatred for that person when I coupled this incident and the last night's. Then this thought of me behaving like a child came into my mind, as I'm never like this. I'm soft, most of the times and was surprised by this change of behavior.
Then, just the day before, after reaching home from office, I found that one of my goldfish died without any warning. Ever since I lost my other gold fish about two months back, I was keeping the tank clean, feeding them in time(sometimes, skipping some parties just to be sure that my fish are fed), in fact, doing everything for long life. Now, suddenly, this one died and I started crying like a child who lost his pet. I didn't go to my usual workouts in gym, I didn't call my home as promised. The whole day was dull and gloomy for me. Another incident which made me feel as if I'm too possessive like a child.
Then yesterday, I saw this cartoon movie called "Tarzan 2". I bought this DVD more than a couple of months back but had no time or interest to watch this one. But, I loved every frame of it. Even though, I enjoyed many movies like this, this childishness thought made me wonder whether is this also the act of childishness?
I thought and thought about this and then came to a conclusion that this might be because of the reason that my b'day is just a few hours away. Upon further pulling-of-hair, I was sure that this is the reason. So friends, wish me on the occasion of my successful completion of 26 years of life with all those regular ups and downs. It was my dream to touch the coveted 100 mark and so, all of you please wish me all the best for the next 74 years too.
Btw, they celebrate my b'day in US too, but with a different name of the American Independence Day. But who cares about the name, all that matters for me is whether all those friends in US got holidays on my b'day or not.
Meanwhile, enjoy these cool cartoons about being childish. You don't need to be a child to laugh at these.

And now a shit story....

Hey, wait. Don't give my blog that disgusting look. This is just about my li'l aquarium. And in the end, I need some suggestions too.
Pets were never a part of my life. But I've this soft corner for an aquarium for quite sometime. Having decided to buy one last month, I was lazy enough to postpone it all these days. Finally last week, I bought a small one with two gold-fish and two unknown fish. You can see that in the picture above.
When I bought the so-called aquarium, the guy told me that if I buy an air-pump, I need not change the water for some 15 days. Otherwise, I have to change the water every day. For me, this sounded like a warning rather than a suggestion. So I bought one immediately. The guy at the shop also suggested me to feed the fish only once a day.
So far, so good. Being a kind person(really??), I started feeding the fish twice a day with some fish food available in the market. After two days, I found that the colour of water changed and the water looked as if it's freshly brought from a sewer. It's the same next day too. I thought that something might be wrong with the food. But now, the water is changing colour in a few hours itself. So my mission last weekend, was to observe this change closely.
It was then that I recognized, to my horror, that my fish are shitting too much and this is causing the colour to change soon. I observed this for a couple of days more(spending lots of hours in front of this aquarium) and found the same reason. Now, can anyone suggest me a better way to keep my aquarium clean, other than suggesting me to take the fish to the rest room and say "Ok, my dear fish. Now that I've closed my eyes, you can shit."??????????

Back to basics

The other day, I went for a stroll with the cute lil' friend of mine, Kashyap. This kid wanted to go to a mall but it's too late to visit that mall. So instead, I took him to a supermarket and we were window shopping after buying a few chocolates for him. Suddenly, this guy started shouting "Whooost, uncle". I couldn't understand it and saw towards the direction which he's pointing to. There was a sale of the "Boost", a well known nutritional energy drink.
In childhood, this was my favourite but I don't remember what compelled my parents to shift to another drink "Bournvita". It's been years since I tasted Boost. So I decided to buy one this time and enjoy the flavours of my childhood. And the coincidence is, I'm writing this sipping a hot cup of Boost. Thank you, Kashyap.

Republic Day

India is celebrating its 59th Republic Day today. The celebrations which were aired on DD were awesome as usual. But the significance of this year’s celebration lies in the fact that this event is hosted by the first female President of India, Mrs Pratibha Patel. But it’s a pity that most of us doesn’t know why is this day called as Republic Day. As far as I know, the story goes like this. India, even though it got independence on 15th August 1947, didn’t have its own constitution for some years. The British used to assist the rulers with most of the governing. It was only on this day in 1950 that India had its own constitution and it became a Republic.



But I remember this date for some forgettable reasons. The date was 26th Jan, 1991. I was with hide-n-seek with some of friends. While running away from others, I turned back to see if anybody’s closing on me and the moment I turned to face the front, I saw was a huge water-tank with a iron-pipe(used to facilitate the outflow of surplus water) looming just in-front of my forehead. The next scene I saw was a lot of anxious faces looking at me in the hospital. I was told that I hit the iron-pipe and it bore into my forehead stopping just before some crucial bone. I think they stitched 6 stitches on the wound and I still have the mark on my forehead like a bindi on a woman’s forehead. All I can saw now is that the Republic Day left its mark on me.

Chandamama

Can you remember your childhood? I can remember a lot about it but I seldom think about it. Then, there was this little thing which made me recollect most of my childhood days and feel light at heart. This thing or this book, to be precise, can seen at almost every bookshop in India but we rarely notice it. This is the “Chandamama” book. It’s a monthly magazine that was every child’s (at least in my generation and before) dream book. In my childhood, I used to look forward for the day it reaches the local library so that I can read it before my friends. As days passed by, TV and comics took its place and also with the increase of study burden (hahahahaha), I lost track of it.
It was only after I came to Bahrain that I restarted my relation with it. Each book shop selling Indian magazines and books get some of these but the Telugu edition comes in a very less number. I made a pact with one the shop owner to keep one aside for me as they get sold out like hot cakes. Now, the book is more like a childhood friend for me rather than just a book. It helps me to be in pursuit of being a true Indian. The best part of my relation with this book is I don’t keep it with me once I finish reading it but I circulate this as much as I can among the children I knew so that it helps them build their morale and remind them of their roots.
People who don’t know about this book might be wondering at this juncture about this book. It’s nothing but a compilation of short stories for children paired with a couple of serials and some interesting facts along with a little dose of general knowledge. The best part of this book, according to me, is the “Vikram-Bethaal” stories. This series is running from the day one I started reading Chandamama. I don’t know when this series started but this the first story I read in every Chandamama. This series is a compilation of short stories with a moral question at the end and a wonderful answer to this question.
And finally, do you know that this book completed 60 years in July, this year????? This is definitely a genuine landmark for the great book. I hope this book celebrates many more occasions like this. Long live, Chandamama.

DD8

In my childhood, that was the music for which housewives leave their chores behind. That was the music for which children used to finish their dinner without any fuss. That was the music for which employees wanted to reach home from office in time. That music used to come once a week on Fridays at 7 30PM. I hope everyone remembers it. It’s none other than the title music of our own “Chithralahari” which is a collection of melodious songs. It’s just a 30 minute program but people used to talk about the songs aired on that week till the next Friday. It’s been years since I heard that music. Now life has become fast-paced and we don’t have time for each other also. So the question of sitting back and hearing melodious songs is a distant dream. And the little free time we get is spent watching some stupid soaps or news channels.
We used to get 3 Telugu channels here in Bahrain. But because of some technical glitch, we are getting only ETV for the past 5 days. I was surfing through all the 62 channels that we get here (this is my favourite pastime – not watching TV but surfing through the channels). Then out of no-where, I heard the music that used to be my favorite in childhood. I realized that the cablewala started giving DD8 Saptagiri as he’s not getting any free-to-air Telugu channels. Wow, how good it was!!!!! It has same spirit in it that excites us even after all these years. I was watching all the songs aired in it for the whole 30 minutes. I don’t remember switching channels. It’s ages since I watched tv without any interruption for half-an-hour. That’s the power of the good old CHITRALAHARI. Long live DD8.

Childhood Dreams

One of my childhood dreams got fulfilled last weekend. I remember one funny incident when I was around 12 years old. We used to stay on the first floor of a building that time. I watched “Purana Mandir” in one of the portions in the ground floor of the same building at around 9 in the night. I was very afraid to go to my house. The uncle in whose house I watched the movie tried to console me saying that he’ll accompany me to my house. Still I was afraid saying that “the demons are very powerful. They’ll kill you too”. How I managed to go to my house is history!!!! From then on, I used to think of how it’ll be to watch a horror flick midnight. Till now, it was not possible because sometimes when I watch at nights, I have to keep the sound very low as someone else might getup and some other silly reasons. So I never enjoyed the experience. Now, I’m in Bahrain on job and I’ve almost a full apartment at my disposal, and more important, I’ve a terrific home theater. Just waiting for the right time.

Last Thursday, I bought a horror flick called “BOO”. I could not watch it on that night, but I made up my mind that I’m going to watch it on Friday night for sure. So as decided, around 11PM on that day, I switched off all lights, drew all curtains so that no light can sneak through from outside. Then I started watching the movie with full blast on my home theater. Wow, it’s terrific. Just imagine the situation. You are sitting in the middle of night, all alone and watching a sleek horror movie with full sound on your 5.1 channel digital home theater!!!!! Sounds fun, right? The movie’s also good with a few jittery moments and very good sound effects. But the climax sucked a li’l bit. The last 15 minutes are like a kiddie horror flick. But overall, it was fun. One dream fulfilled. Rest have to wait for………………

కాని ఇప్పుడు(ఇది కధ కాదు, కవిత అంత కన్నా కాదు)......

నా చిన్నప్పుడు స్కూల్ అంటే పగలంతా చదువులు, మధ్యాన్నం ఆటలు
కాని ఇప్పుడు స్కూల్ అంటే బుర్రకే చదువులు కాని శరీరానికి కాదు
నా చిన్నప్పుడు పండుగంటే బందువులందరూ కలుసుకునే రోజు
కాని ఇప్పుడు పండుగంటే హొటల్ భోజనాలు, మొబైల్ పలకరింపులు
నా చిన్నప్పుడు సెలవలంటే కొతి-కొమ్మచ్చిలు, దొంగ-పొలీసులు
కాని ఇప్పుడు సెలవలంటే ప్లే-స్టేషన్లు,కార్టూన్ నెట్వర్క్లు
నా చిన్నప్పుడు ఆకలి వెస్తే ఇంటిలొ పెట్టేవి జంతికలు, చగోడీలు
కాని ఇప్పుడు ఆకలి వెస్తే ఫొన్ చేసి తెప్పించేవి పిజ్జాలు, బర్గర్లు
నా చిన్నప్పుడు నిద్ర రావటానికి మందు తాతయ్య కథలు
కాని ఇప్పుడు నిద్ర రావటానికి మందు ఒక గంట టీవి

ఇలా చెప్పుకుంటూ పోతే ఎన్నో తేడాలు.........
మళ్ళి తిరిగివస్తాయా ఆ రొజులు.......

వీడేమిటి, ముసలాడిలా ఉన్నాడు అనుకుంటున్నారా? నా వయసు 24 మాత్రమే. ఇప్పుడు చెప్పండి, ఇంత తక్కువ కాలంలొనే జనంలో ఇంత మార్పు ఎలా వచ్చింది?