ALTER IDEM

It is almost the end of the rainy season - the time when all waterfalls are at their glorious best. Even the little wayside ones, that exist only during the monsoon, have their own charm. It was around Aug- Sept, one Sunday afternoon, about 3-4 years ago that we decided to check out Sirimane Falls, a locally known waterfall. An hour's drive from home took us to the Sringeri- M'lore highway. A right turn, and, 7-8 kms later, we were at Kigga. Kigga is a town that is connected to Sage Rishyasringa. It has an ancient Shiva temple - active on important days only, I think. I vaguely remembered an Amar Chitra Katha story I had read long, long ago - about the sage with the horn. By the time my brief recollection ended, we had reached the end of the macadam road. There was no sign post around. Only, a school - which wasn't deserted on a Sunday afternoon! A group of young men had converted the corridors into a temporary adda . They gave us the directions and cheerfully added t...

Check out these abandoned wooden idols. They are called Gadi Maari gombe s. Gadi means 'border', Maari is short for Maaramma , a Goddess and Gombe means idol/ doll. Part of your landscape if you live in the Malnad region of Karnataka, you will come across these abandoned figurines on the outskirts of towns and villages. Maari/ Maaramma, Chaudi/ Chaudeshwari, Gutti/ Guttamma, .... are some of the popular guardian Gods of Malnad. They are mainly worshipped for protection - from diseases, ghosts,..... Maari is usually worshipped for protection from contagious diseases. Sometime towards the end of summer and before the onset of the rains (the disease season!), a committee of villagers - belonging to various communities, decide to perform the pooja . First, the idol is carved - usually out of some holy tree like the Banyan or the Jack. Unfortunately, I don't know anything about the rituals. I have never been invited and I have absolutely no intentions of gate-crashing!...

'What?! Have you forgotten Bangalore?!' - this was my dad's neighbour, Mr.Sheshadri, greeting me one evening, with that familiar, teasing tone! Laughing 'No, uncle', I spent some time talking to the Sheshadris by their gate. Some time later, it rained heavily. To top it, we had a power cut at 10 in the night. The weather hadn't cooled down and I found it difficult to go to sleep. After some tossing and turning, I went through my day and remembered Shesh uncle's words. Suddenly, it struck me that, actually, I hadn't forgotten Bangalore at all! For starters, I remembered the Bangalore, where, the fan was not used at all. Even during the peaks of summer, the nights would be so airy and cool. Then, I remembered, - the Bangalore, where travelling around was not a nightmarish experience. - the Bangalore, where walking, be it on Commercial Street or our own I Block, was such a pleasure. One didn't have to watch one's step, or, purse. - the Bangalor...

'Naayi - Neralu' - the first time I came across this term, about 3-4 years ago, I was in Puttur, a town near Mangalore. Everyone I met was talking about this film unit that was shooting for a Kannada movie of the same name in a heritage house nearby.The movie went on to win awards for the director, Girish Kasaravalli. I don't know if the movie did well at the box office, but, it was shown on TV, more than a year ago. My dad, who seldom watches movies, had just finished watching it when I had called him. Dad had liked the movie and even recommended it to me - unlike my husband's friends. They had watched it in the theatre with their kid when it was released. Turned out to be an embarassing experience for them - the kid insisted on yelling 'What a boring movie!' every now and then :D Sri.S.L.Bhairappa, now in his seventies, is a Kannada novelist who enjoys enormous readership. All his books, including 'Naayi- Neralu', have seen several re-prints and trans...

Sometime, early last year, the 'MT' set of cousins decided that a group blog was a good platform to exchange views / ideas and keep in touch. They extended their invitations to their cousins 'on the other sides', and, that was how, I came in. Of course, I knew my cousins and had heard of/ met a few of the others as well. I liked the idea and accepted the invitation. While accepting the invitation, I had half-decided that my participation would be limited to commenting on what the others wrote! Soon, e-chaavadi was born. Chaavadi , in Kannada, is an open veranda. Now seen only in large, ancient homes, chaavadi is an informal, relaxing space for the family members/ friends. Unfortunately, e-chaavadi didn't take off as expected. Only a couple of folks - folks who already had their own blogs- had contributed. The administrator finally sent a mail to the rest of us - asking us to contribute something. I do not know how many of us responded, but, I promised to wr...

Kuppalli, in the heart of Malenad (rain country) is the birthplace of Kannada poet Rashtrakavi Kuppalli Venkatappa Puttappa (1904 - 1994).Popularly known as Kuvempu, the highly revered poet has won the Jnanapith Award, Sahitya Academy awards, Padma Vibhushan, honorary doctorates,..... (Kuvempu's pic, courtesy Wikipedia) A few years ago, the tourism department made some renovations and converted Kuvempu's house into a museum (The surrounding few hundreds of acres of greenery is also protected by the department). Ever since, Kuppalli has become a favourite picnic spot for the people of the surrounding region. Kuppalli is within 50 km from our home and, for no particular reason, we hadn't been able to go there. On a recent Sunday afternoon,we decided to check it out since everyone had been giving us the 'Oh?! you haven't been there yet?!' treatment. A small break post-lunch, and an hour later, we were there.On entering the yard, this poem greeted us, and I ...

It is summer and one of my favourite flowers, Crossandra, is in full bloom.During this time, it lives up to its popular name - Firecracker flower. Known as 'Kanakambara' in South India, I'm not sure about its presence in the North.During my growing up years in Bangalore, some street hawkers would give a twist to the name and call out 'Discoambara' while pushing their carts :) Like the bouganvillea, this plant loves the sun.Since excess watering encourages foliage, watering should be done only when there are visible signs of drooping.Propagation is very easy - cuttings / seeds & not much care is required. The cultivated flowers are in different shades of orange while the wild flowers are in shades of green. Crossandra has no smell and there are no visible flower parts like pistil, anther, etc. Hence, traditionally, it is not offered to God. Once upon a time, there were a lot of cultural prejudices against wearing the flower. Identified as the scarlet wom...