Culture in Dream Land

It has been more than an year since I landed in the "Land of Dreams". I know people who can complain, go on and on about getting snubbed, flaws in American culture etc. Surprisingly, I have mostly good things to say. Unlike Many. USA is a wonderful nation. HANDS DOWN.

Yes, I have had my share of snubs here and there for being an alien. But in general, I have found people to be extremely affable, courteous and helpful. Be it a group of young girls helping me find my apartment when I "got lost" in Boulder, first day I reached there. Or group of guys and gals calling us over for the party in their house [ I had a forgetful time though because of my phobia for dogs :D ]. Or should I mention the American Professor who paid money for my Grad Assistance from his own hands and waited for one month for project funding to replenish the paid money. I can go on and on. Perhaps, I tie up good experiences with Americanism and who criticize do the opposite.

A few days back, I and my friend came across a group of Indians in local bus. They were shouting at the top of their voices in their local language. I and my friend felt like giving them a piece of our mind for shouting. Wonder what an American has to say about it. Hell no, if he does, its racism. I have seen group of Indians sing Hindi Song loudly in chorus in local bus like they have hired it. Then, there are guys who dont tip, though they know its the culture here. The list unravels endlessly and can get uglier but then criticizing what we do is not the point. Neither am I saying I am perfect. I have been dumb lots of times but at-least cant we avoid when we know we are not right ? We are the representatives of our nation. For an American, an Indian is what he comes across in a bus or during pizza delivery or in a saloon or the likes. Isn't the onus on us to give a good account of ourselves ? If we sow wheat, we cant eat lobsters.

Coming to American culture. Like in any culture, they have things which are good, things which are bad and things which we perceive to be bad because its bad in our culture. Its all about how one looks at things probably. Whats crowd in a bus is atmosphere in a disco. Almost.

I am amazed by how much Americans trust people and how courteous they are. Like it goes in a famous war-time movie, Americans are extremely proud people. They are extremely passionate about THEIR sports. A stadium with a capacity of more than 100,000 to just host university soccer games [ which would be mostly full capacity]. Their celebration of Christmas, revelry during weekends are mind-blowing. The list can be endless. Culture too, like Beauty, probably lies in the eyes of the beholder.

It amazes me when Indians complain about racism, cultural flaws etc. We Indians are some of the worst discriminators. We discriminate on the basis of language, religion, caste, status, race and list goes on. And then here we come and complain about apparent discrimination in an alien land. Speak about animal rights petition by mass murderers. Speak about discrimination complaints by Indians !!

Make no mistake, I am not a big follower of Americanism. I am too much of an Indian for that. But then, every coin has two sides. I am not calling "for the head". Pun intended.

Waqt na raha !!

Hey,

I was browsing recently through some of my old ghazals and I found this interesting.. Probably because it makes more sense during M.S than it made during work :D Hope you guys find it good enough..


Kisi ke yaad me bheegne ko waqt na raha..
wafaa se koyi rishtaa nibaane ko waqt na raha..
jis raftaar se ghuzar rahi he zindagi..
paak-e-iltimaas padne ko waqt na raha..
[paak == holy ; iltimaas == prayer]

kuch pal tanha rehene ko waqt na raha..
muraad-e-dil samajne ko waqt na raha..
jis raftaar se ghuzar rahi he zindagi..
qwaish-o-qwab sajaane ko waqt na raha..
[muraad == desire]

Kisi ke sittam paehechaan ne ko waqt na raha..
Khud ki ghum bayaan karne ko waqt na raha..
jis raftaar se ghuzar rahi he zindagi..
Do pal aasu bahaane ko waqt na raha..
[sittam == pain]

Izhaar-e-Mohabbat karne ko waqt na raha..
Humnawa ke intezaar ke liye kuch waqt na raha..
Jis raftaar se ghuzar rahi he zindagi..
Yaaro, halaaqat se pehle sone ko waqt na raha..
[Halaaqat == death]

AAJ USHE MILNE AAYA HOON

Kisi ko aaj mudatton ke baad milne aaya hoon..
Jishe kabhi diya tha dil, aaj ushe milne aaya hoon..

hazaron baate he bataane ko, hote bekaar he guftugu ke liye..
jiski sifat karte shayaar bana tha mein, aaj ushe milne aaya hoon..
[guftugu == conversation ; sifat == praise]

nazre jhuk nahi rahe he, dekhne ko ushe aakhen bechain he..
jiski tasweer palkon mein chupaaya tha kabhi, aaj ushe milne aaya hoon..
[ bechain == anxious; palkon == eye lashes ]

bekudi chaa rahi he dil pe, dhadkane bekaraar ho rahe he..
ruuh mein pyaar banaake kabhi rakha tha jishe, aaj ushe milne aaya hoon..
[ ruuh == soul ]

par khuda ke waasute wafa ki baate na karo, bewafaa ban gaya hoon mein..
hum-raaz banke mujhe jisne sawaara he, ushe chodke ishe milne aaya hoon..

Kisi ko aaj mudatton ke baad milne aaya hoon..
jisne hume zindagi banaaya tha, ushe chodke ishe milne aaya hoon..

Kannada Poem : Aatmaa Neenu ee Jeevanake

Well, it has actually been a long time since I wrote a poem a Kannada.. I ventured into writing one recently.. I find writing in Kannada extremely tough and my poor Kannada Language does not help matters much.. Not sure how it came out.. Hopefully it isnt ridiculously bad..

Balaanu belagisalu bandiruva divya-kirana neenu..
Jeevanake hosa chaitanya tandiruva tangaali neenu..
Munjaane neenu, Mussanje neenu, Beladingalu neenu ee jeevanake..
Sakhi, nee illade na eralaaru, atma neenu ee jeevanake..


Jeevanake ramya haadanu haadalu bandiruva koogile neenu..
Baaleege nava kampina sparsha tandiruva gulaabi neenu..
pada gunja neenu, kavite neenu, saaramsha neenu ee jeevanake..
Sakhi, nee illade na eralaaru, atma neenu ee jeevanake..


Jeevanda payanake haadi toralu bandiruva daari-deepa neenu..
Prati vondu hejjegu jothe-goodi saagalu bandiruva sangaati neenu..
kadalu neenu, kadalu teera neenu, ambiga neenu ee jeevanake..
Sakhi, nee illade na eralaaru, atma neenu ee jeevanake..

Cooking and Messing..

Well, first things first. I DONT find cooking boring. Rather I find it a pretty interesting and entertaining past-time. Definitely would be game to learn some interesting preparations :)

But unfortunately, I seem to have this insatiable tenacity to mess up minute and highly unexpected things. And cooking is no exception !

It was perhaps a couple of weeks after we had moved into the apartment. I kept the cooker to boil rice and after sometime, burning smell starting flirting with our smelling senses.

So, I and a couple of my room-mates hustled to kitchen. While I and another room-mate(Sumukh), started removing the cooker, another room-mate,Gokul, as always, holding his "caution" flag, stood a bit(?) far behind us(smart or scared?). After some-time, Sumukh discovered, that I had missed to put water in the cooker.

While it was easy to pass this one as starting woes, today's incident is a bit inexplicable even if we consider the adage "no one is perfect" !

It was couple of minutes after I setup the cooker and steam fizzling out very badly. I called Sumukh and he made me change the arrangement of utensils in cooker.

After some-time, it was deja-vu. The burning smell and three of us entered. Only this time, it was me, Sumukh and another room-mate(Sujith). We observed that no pressure had built up.

While Sujith examined the cooker, Sumukh confirmed that water was there inside this time [I learn from my mistakes and make newer ones :-)]. Then Sujith found out eventually probably after examining for 10 minutes that there nothing much wrong. Except that I had closed the cooker using the lid of some other cooker !!

Hmmm, there is nothing much I could have. Both lids look alike, errrr, actually they dont. The one I, Sujith and Sumukh use[we cook rice separately by applying division of labor], is very clean ;)

Thoda sa pyaar keejiye

This is definitely NOT one of my best ghazals.. Its average and am in no mood to refine it !! Just thought of posting since I might not be posting any more of these crap poems in the near future [yeah, it is for the greater good of society and hindi ;-) ] Probably time for some life at UFL or economics or sports stuffs next time [ new victim !].

Apne dil me basaakar thoda sa pyaar keejiye..

Mohabbat me gale laagake hume ikraar keejiye..

Na kar paayenge wafa, na kar paayenge ishq aur kisi se..

dhoob jaayegi zindagi aapke bina, aake iftiyaar keejiye..

[iftiyaar = support]

Bichde toh milne sadiyon ki doori mitaake aayenge..

Sirf thoda sa intezaar, thoda sa aietbaar keejiye..

[aietbaar = trust]

Aap ke har ek qwaish ko sar-anjaam deenge hum ..

Bas ek baar apne armaanon ko humse izhaar keejiye..

Aapke ek ishaare pe zindagi mitaa deenge..

Bas apne haaton se hume murdaar keejiye..

[murdaar == bloodless]

Apne dil me basaakar thoda sa pyaar keejiye..

Mohabbat me gale laagake hume ikraar keejiye..

Bekudi kya cheez hai !

har pal tadap tadap ke aise jeena kya he..
bin wajah udaas hona, tanhai me rona, kya he..

aatishon se nikle the, sailaabon se ghuzre the..
aaj kahi akele andhere me aasu bahaana kya he..

ek ajeeb si bekaraari, kuch anjaani si bekudi..
jishe samjha tha pattar, ushi dil ka jalna kya he..

sab arzoo chod diye, sab sapne thod diye..
par ek baar pyaar me khone ka tamanna kya he..

ya khuda, marne se pehle bas itna samajna he..
jishe dil diya, uski baahon me marna kya he..