A transfer and after ...

The final months leading to 2018 was an anxious one.  A bit tense too.  I didn’t want either and also didn’t want the reason for these two.  In November I got to know that I would be transferred from my college to another college within the group.  It was an emotional shock for me.  There were transfer orders earlier too, but the incumbent principals of my college managed to get the orders reversed.  During most of the last 4 years, I was the only English teacher in my college.  They didn’t want to send me and I didn’t want to go.  But this time there was no reason to not let me go as there was no teaching load for me, though my principal tried hard to retain me.  I knew I wouldn’t be having any teaching to do in the ensuing semester and I had planned to take a sort of unpaid study leave, get some unfinished work done, and so on.  The usual flights of fancy of restless frustrated people like me.  Fat chance, daddy … 

So, after thirteen and a half years in one college, I found myself in another college at the beginning of December.  The parting was very emotional and distraught and I cried and choked during the farewell given by my Principal.  I had visited my new college earlier and I know a few people, so there was some familiarity.  And the faculty members in the English department and the admin officer, who had worked in my earlier college, made we feel welcome.  This put me at ease.  Now I commute to my new college.  It is closer to home, so the travel time is reduced. 

The worst part is that the one day changes your life dramatically.  Friends and colleagues you would see, meet and talk to every day are no longer part of your everyday life the next day onwards.  It is more than a month since I have seen them.  It is not that my earlier college is far far away, but the daily routine takes over and I have to find time within my timetable to really push through something new.  I just about managed to meet two of my friends one day for just about 20 minutes.  I talk and text, but I miss their presence, the familiarity, the banter ….

I didn’t want this transfer at this point of time, but I couldn’t do much about it.  I didn’t have many allies, just a couple of them.  Anything I could do or would have done would have been considered too drastic and had the potential to upset the apple-cart.  Very little room to manoeuvre actually, and any move on my part would have required some daring and guts, both which, unfortunately, I don’t have now … I lost them somewhere along the way long ago …

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New Year - Bringing up Father

Wishing you all a Happy New Year and all that jazz…

The past year has been as eventful as the ones before it…but 2009 had one major life changing moment…the birth of my daughter made 2009 into an unforgettable year… I am still tongue tied…can’t say how I feel even now…happiness, joy, et al, are OK, but don’t capture how I feel…so, I am just allowing myself to be carried away…my precious now smiles freely and openly and I just feel like I am melting…I try to be as useful and helpful as I possibly can at home, I carry her around when she is in a cranky mood or when she just wont lie down on her bed…I prepare her feeds…I play music for her and sometimes dance holding her…I can generally look after her, and the other day, I tried diaper-changing and felt that I can do it…but I still can’t feed her successfully and dress her up or give her a bath…but I think, I can do all of these eventually…and the political developments in December here in Hyderabad inadvertently, but pleasantly, gave me lots of time to spend with my little one...I think, I can interpret out some of her baby-talk...and when I make this long chirping kind of sound to draw her attention, she gurgles happily, says "hakkoooo" and gives a twinkling and uninhibited toothless laughter...and her hands and legs are just going up and down in pleasure...and my day is made...

My precious...

Hi…

Isn't she an absolute darling... I was away for the last 5 months preparing to welcome her into our lives... and I am happy…very happy…

Shruti and I have a baby girl with us now…so, now you know where I was all these days…I was with Shruti in the hospital trying to do my bit during those anxiety filled days and later sorting things out at home after she came back…our daughter was born premature…6 weeks before the expected date of delivery…and she was in the neonatal ICU for close to 3 weeks…

She is now three months old and is a delightful bundle of joy…we see a lot of things that she does as tantrums and some as demands and some as requests…but do we know actually? She manages to communicate effectively…she doesn’t want to be left alone…she is fond of music…she likes melodious music, not a big fan of beats…partial to instrumental music, I feel, but Shruti says she likes Hindustani classical vocal more…I’ve bought a harmonica and try and play random music on it hoping that she’ll appreciate my musical explorations…she listens intently sometimes and sometimes she screams…ha ha ha…so much for my music…

Now…both our lives are centred around her…anything else is incidental…we have named her ‘Sudhriti,’ meaning ‘positive courage’…and of course, we call her anything we feel is an endearment…chonu…sugar plum...precious...poochu…putumayo…buthros buthros [these two are mine… : )] …shona papa…putti…chinna…and her doctor calls her ‘bangaram’ (gold!)…

Truly amazing…

One year of blogging...Looking back with thanks...

I wanted to write these some time in January in the New Year …that was when I completed one year on blogosphere … I was busy…very busy…and my mind was occupied with lots of unfinished work… I have managed to complete most of what I had planned satisfactorily… so I thought I’d get down to writing what I had wanted to … all of you would have noticed my fascination for fountain pens by now … it was in the initial days of this fascination that I got introduced to blogging … the early days of a hobby are days of searching for information; trying to gather as much knowledge as one can… and these days of course, Google has made it easier… so, while searching for information about fountain pens, especially fountain pens in India, I hit upon many sites…one of these was www.fountainpennetwork.com and among the others was the blog of a prolific blogger from Hyderabad … I made two good friends through these sites…I met Hari through FPN and Vinod through his blog (I got connected to Vinod through his post on Mont Blanc Meisterstuck FP; which is now my 'grail' pen!!)…

I tend to think of myself as somebody who is not easily swayed…but once swayed, I stay swayed…so, now I am swaying… Vinod’s blog inspired me to start my own blogsite and Hari’s phenomenal knowledge about fountain pens inspired me to stick to this hobby and develop my own knowledge base… I decided to concentrate on Indian fountain pens and I am happy that I was able to ‘discover’ for myself some obscure handmade fountain pen brands from my adopted state, Andhra Pradesh… I learnt a whole new vocabulary…

I started my blog tentatively and my first post was on my fountain pens…rather, a list of fountain pens I owned… before I knew it, there was more and more of fountain pens in my blog rather than books and music…my long-standing passions … and then I felt that collecting FPs and blogging had come together at the right time … I was able to concentrate on my writing and was forced to think, especially while writing about music and books … I had never written anything about music before and I tried it hesitatingly here… Shruti says my writing has improved…coming from her, it is high praise indeed, as she has always been a trenchant critic of my writing…

So, some good has come out of all this one year of blogging … I have, since those early days of blogging, met Hari and Vinod … they have visited me at my home (remembering my fascination with Mont Blanc FP, Vinod had thoughtfully brought his MB along with him for me to see when he visited me and Hari brings many 'pen' goodies from Mumbai whenever he comes to Hyderabad; Hari has recently acquired a MB Meisterstuck 149 and I am dying to see it...) and we have been interacting and have become my good friends… after leaving CIEFL, I have stuck to some of my old CIEFL friends and due to a variety of reasons, I could make friends out of only a couple of people from among my colleagues in the past 8 years…and when Shruti saw me interacting regularly with my new ‘pen’ friends, she was surprised and happy for me … Thanks Vinod and Hari…

Bling on My Blog...

Regular visitors to my blog (I would like to feel that I have loads of visitors...!!!) would have noticed the drastic changes in the page...I binged on gadgets...and added a lot of good natured bling on my site...in fact, I was getting bored of seeing the same old bespectacled mug and pitchers (sic!!!) of pens on my blogsite...and I was fooling around in the layout section and decided to explore the gadgets...actually, I was looking for a 'counter'...but instead, I found a lot of interesting 'gadgets'...and went on adding them to the site, oblivious of the 'havoc' it was creating on the page...I found some of my favourite painters - Rene Magritte, Matisse, Klimt, Jackson 'Jack the Dripper' Pollock, Wassily Kandinsky, Monet, and my all time favourite Dear Van Gogh...I tried looking for my favourite Indian artists, Ghulam Mohammed Sheikh, Tyeb Mehta, J Swaminathan, Husain, K G Subrahmanyam, and others...but unfortunately, they were not listed there...

Now you can see a new painting every day of these famous painters of the Western world on my blog...and a couple of photographs...National Geographic photo of the day and Nasa photo of the day...and for the poetically inclined, I have a daily Haiku...those succint single drop poems... and for those who want some cogitation, there are daily quotes from some of the most famous and sometimes iconoclast writers...Confucius, Nietzsche, Orwell, and Chanakya...how can I leave my blog without any music...so now you have streaming music...again, my favourite...Jazz...

A feast for your senses...some colour relief for your jaded eyes tired of seeing fountain pen photos...and some 'sukoon' for your ears...some 'masala' for your mind...

Stay as long as you want...enjoy the paintings, music, and quotes...in case you want to add or delete or replace a gadget...drop a line...your comments are always welcome...

Jai...

When Vidwan Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan played for me…

The passing away of Sri Kunnakudi Vaidynathan was a sad piece of news for me. This great Violin Vidwan was the most popular classical maestro in the world of Carnatic Music. All the obituaries have discussed the multifarious talents of this wonderful vidwan. The Thyagaraja Aradhana at Tiruvaiyyaru was an especially memorable yearly event, where Sri Kunnakudi Vaidynathan would lead the young and old and the greats and students in rendering the Pancharatna Kritis of Tyagaraja. I particularly liked his devotional renderings and thematic compositions, especially his album called Colours, where he played with Zakir Hussain, Sivamani and Dilip (now known to the entire world as A R Rahman). He rendered thematic pieces with Carnatic ragas like maayamalavagoula, shanmughapriya, hindolam, and bandhuvarali. This album came out sometime in the early nineties and was presented to me by my senior at the then CIEFL, Anita Devasia, whom some of us affectionately called Chechi (elder sister). This is an album I deeply cherish for its lovely music.

I also had a personal moment with Sri Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan which I would like to share with all of you. This happened long ago, when I was 6-7 years old…I don’t remember the year…my father was posted in Tiruvananthapuram and he was a member of the Swati Tirunal Sangeetha Sabha…a number of classical music concerts would be held by this organisation every year and my parents would attend most of them…so, I too attended some concerts with them, though I had no idea what was going on…Sri Kunnakudi Vaidynathan was playing his violin in one such concert and my parents had taken me along…it must have been a particularly popular concert, given the stature and popularity of Sri Kunnakudi Vaidynathan and all seats were full and since I was not a member as such, a small chair was produced and it was placed in the central passage (aisle?) for me to sit…I was sitting straight in front of Sri Kunnakudi Vaidynathan’s line of vision…the concert was in full flow and suddenly Vaidynathanji stopped for a second and played the opening line of a popular tamil film song thoongade thambi thoongade (don’t sleep, brother, don’t sleep)…the audience was surprised and didn’t know what to make of it…he kept at it for some more time…then suddenly my parents must have realised what had happened and looked at me in my small chair…I was fast asleep…they were totally embarrassed and hurriedly woke me up… Vaidynathanji had spotted me sleeping and in a light hearted way played this line… he smiled and then continued the raga from where he had left it…

My father keeps reminding me of this whenever Vaidynathanji’s topic comes up when we are generally talking of music…

I can proudly claim that Sri Kunnakudi Vaidynathan played a line especially for me…

Thank you Vaidynathanji for making such glorious music…May your soul rest in music…

Jayasrinivasa Rao

50 posts and still going...or what...?

So...I have touched 50...anyway...out with all the cliches like when I started blogging, I never thought I'd survive so long and write 50 posts and it seems incredible and all that...

Cliches or not, blogging has really helped me...in the sense that I have never written so much in such a short span of time...and I never thought that I'd be able to write on all the things that I have written so far...then there is this enthusiasm, which of course waxes and wanes, depending on the workload and mood, but overall, I have ridden this enthusiasm well enough...and of course, keeping a close watch on events to capture blog-moments...events and incidents which one would normally ignore after a brief while assume a different kind of significance now, now that I am blogging...

I don't know who my readers are...I don't know whether there are regular readers of my blog...but I do suspect that some of my friends do visit from time to time...when I started out, I thought I'd write a lot about books and music...but early 2008 was also the time when I was slowly getting infected with the FP virus and now it has become a full blown disorder...and most of the posts are about FPs...and from whatever responses that I have received, the most is for FP-related posts...so far so good...

I am fairly comfortable writing about books, but I start shivering when I venture to write about music...but I am happy that I was finally able to write about Shakti and Mynta...two indian classical-jazz fusion groups...my absolute favourites...and I was also pleased with what I wrote...but I need to write more about music...not only that, I want to write more posts on music, rather than, say FPs...I feel I have so much to share, but somehow I don't want my listening experience to get translated into adjectives or flowery nothings...which is what I read most of the times in the guise of music reviews...

I also feel that I have become a little more patient and am willing to wait for things to become clearer before I write...

Thanks everyone...whoever visits this blog...I didn't set targets when I set out, I thought one post a week would be the maximum that I can afford to spare time for...but I see that I had underestimated myself...I have 4 months till December...and it will be one year since I started blogging... should I go for 100...?

Ustad Amir Khan and me...

My relationship with Ustad Amir Khan's music is like my liking for Amitav Ghosh's works...Ustad Amir Khan is one of the most influential Hindustani classical vocalists in the 20th century...I just fell in love with his kind of singing at first hearing...not that I had heard other singers and in comparision, Ustadji sounded better or anything...it is something that I haven't been able to understand...I began looking out for cassettes, books, CDs, etc., to listen to his renderings, know more about this great singer...and all this without knowing even 5% of what constitutes Hindustani classical music...and its nuances... I was thrilled when a fellow music enthusiast sent me a copy of the documentary on Ustad Amir Khan made by the Films Division...I was able to see Ustadji actually singing and talking and moving around...I was ecstatic...and later Patrick Moutal hosted a couple of videos of Ustadji singing Malkauns and Rageshree...these videos can be downloaded from Patrick's website (http://homepage.mac.com/patrickmoutal/macmoutal/rag.html) and I must have watched these many many times... I like his Lalit, Malkauns, Bilaskhani Todi, and Hamsadhwani very much... and with great devotion to his immortal singing, I managed to host a webpage on Ustadji almosgt 6 years ago ... which I am proud to say is the first website on Ustadji... and whatever I felt about Ustadji and his music, I have written in the brief introduction to the site... and over the years, many admirers of Ustadji's music have written to me and everytime I feel embarassed, because I am not aware of the nuances of hindustani classical music and I tell everyone so... the webpage is only a labour of love, not an exposotion or analysis of Ustadji's music ... in case you are interested...please visit www.geocities.com/jaysrinivas and please leave your comments here...I will be happy...

Musings on turning 40

Hello friends…

I touched forty yesterday…a momentous occasion in anybody’s life…(from where does anybody come in, haen?…it is I who has touched 40…so it should be a momentous occasion in my life)…ok…ok…let’s not quarrel…you see, I am having a concurrent conversation with myself…actually, on this momentous occasion (second time…), as I started reflecting (when did you become a mirror…?) on the decades that I have spent on this blessed earth…I realised one thing…nothing has changed… (wow…) anyway, on this momentous occasion, (come on…this is too much, you should use such clichés only occasionally…) as I woke up, I started to worry…(haen…!!!) I haven’t started greying yet!!! (super…) This is terrible, yaar!!! …I especially wanted to start greying at the temples…then I again reflected (you should have mirrored…), since I am not much of a temple-goer, it is not likely to happen anytime soon…so be it…maybe, I should start going to churches… I am not very much into religion and all that stuff…maybe, that is the problem…maybe, it helps one grey…all the same, I feel fit and fine…I can hear my two baby chins sometimes having a chinwag…wagering, actually (on???) …apart from this, things seem to be ok with me…the left knee is trying to act smart…these days, it has started to protest…(very smart) it smarts sometimes…but I don’t bother about such knee-jerk reactions…I wear smarty pants, you see…but I need my left knee…(eh…!! You kneed your left knee? With your right?)…gives a sort of balance, you know…left and the right… help me stand and walk (right…well said, dude)…and of course, I have to have many farewell ceremonies…the lush black hairs on my crown constantly wave me good bye and disappear…strand by strand…but I am an eternal optimist…the hairline recedes and I gain more face…less shampoo… see, I told you…there’s faayda in everything…look at the bright side, maan…I am actually totally fit and fine…looking forward to many more such momentous occasions (you couldn’t resist, na, just to irritate me…)

Here I come (bad word…) ok…ok…arrive…fiery forties…look out…

Sunday Lunch with Vinod

Hello All…

This Sunday was eventful and the first part will remain long in memory. After a long delay, I finally found some time on Sunday to invite Vinod Ekbote to my home for lunch. Vinod had expressed his desire to see my fountain pen collection long back and I was looking for a convenient day and time. Vinod was slightly uneasy about the ‘lunch’ thing and he tried to persuade me to convert it to a ‘tea’ thing and brought in his ‘not to be missed Sunday Abids trip’ to convince me, but I insisted and he finally agreed and from the mail I received from him after his visit, I firmly feel that he didn’t mind the time he spent with us…

In all senses, Vinod is really the softest spoken person I’ve met so far… I showed him my basic library and the fountain pens…he had brought his Mont Blanc Meisterstuck 149 with him and I got another chance to admire a Mont Blanc in close range…we spent around 3 hrs talking and exchanging notes on mutual interests – fountain pens, books, education, writing…Shruti joined in too and Vinod was fascinated by the work/research Shruti was doing in the field of acquisition studies…Vinod had a lot of questions to ask about dyslexia, cognition, language acquisition, etc., and the discussion went on for almost one hour…Vinod is intrigued by the writing process and though he writes frequently and has just finished writing his book (a novel), he wants to fine tune his writing skills and he has written about this in his posts in his blog…also wants to attend a course in creative writing…he said he is a part of a group of likeminded people who are interested in writing and meet regularly and invited me join this group…I will do so and look forward to interacting with them…

I had a gift for Vinod, an Advocate FP…I had told him about this earlier…but I was surprised and happy to receive a stunning Mont Blanc catalogue commemorating 100 years of the brand and Dave Barry’s book – Dave Barry is NOT making this up – a collection of this Pulitzer Winning humourist’s columns…Shruti received a beautiful notebook…I’ve already started reading Dave Barry’s book and it really provides you bellyfuls of laughter…I wondered how I missed Dave Barry’s books all these years…Thanks, Vinod… for visiting us and for all those thoughtful gifts…and hope we meet again soon for an extended discussion session…

Jayasrinivasa Rao

A happy blast from the past...

Hello World…

This was three days ago…on April 2nd … around 4 PM, Shruti called up and told me that she’s busy with some meeting at EFLU (she teaches there) and that she’d reach home late…my regular auto person, Mr Ramulu (who ferries me in the morning from home to Secunderabad and from Secunderabad to home in the evenings) had informed me in the morning that he’d not be coming in that day…so, he wouldn't be waiting for me…the college bus dropped me off at Sangeet junction at 4.45 PM and I thought I’d see if any fresh stock of books had been unpacked at Al Classic, my regular second hand books stall near Sangeet movie theatre…as I was moving towards Al Classic, a young man, who was waiting near the theatre gate near Al Classic, came towards me stood before me and said, ‘Hello sir, how are you?’ My initial reaction was of slight panic, as it always happens when things like this happen suddenly…then I thought this was one more salesperson attack of some kind and was about to rebuff him…I didn’t see any bag of any kind or any folder or books in his hand…then I thought he must be someone belonging to some kind of religious order who stop people in the roads and greet them as if they are long lost friends and ply their trade once the ice is broken …but again, I didn’t see any religious paraphernalia with him or on him…moreover he was dressed casually in a full sleeved T-shirt and trousers…and with his hands across his chest…all this happened in a couple of seconds…I looked at him blank…I said, ‘sorry…?’ He then asked, ‘Srinivas Sir, no Sir?’…I said, ‘yes…’ He said, ‘…Sir, I was your student at Amaravathi Grammar School, Sir…’

I was stunned, surprised, happy, and god knows what else…I just looked at him goggle eyed open mouthed…I had taught in that school way back during 1993-95…that too as a part timer, when I was doing my M. Phil…this school was near CIEFL and a group of us research scholars used to teach spoken English and grammar to the high school students there in the mornings…we were known as spoken English teachers…it is 13 years since those days and this young man was my student then…I told him, ‘…Oh my god…it is really wonderful maan, meeting your student after so many years…and that too the student recognises his teacher after all these years…’ I asked him what he was doing these days and he said that he was working in a software firm…as I was speaking, I began to notice that his face indeed looked familiar, minus the moustache and fuzz on his cheeks and chin, he had grown taller…obviously…and like a prize idiot, I forgot to ask his name…I searched around in my head for a name to put to his face…I settled for ‘Praveen’…I am sure this is his name…after I left him and proceeded towards Al Classic…I thought about this brief encounter with my student of days long gone by and realised what my teachers used to say about the teaching profession…no other profession can give you this satisfaction of meeting somebody whom you taught years ago unexpectedly…and this heady feeling of being recognised amidst all the stress, joy, confusion, chaos, tension, etc., that life throws at you alternately with unfailing regularity…Thank you ‘Praveen’ for making my day…I hope I was a good teacher to all of you…may your tribe increase…

Jayasrinivasa Rao

A Conference and some self promotion

Hi everybody…
I attended a three-day conference on World Literature and Challenges to Comparative Literature last week (26, 27, 28 March 2008) at EFLU (I prefer its former name – CIEFL; but the institution’s status has changed from a deemed university to a full fledged central university and so has its name…sigh…those CIEFL days…). This was one of the most eclectic conferences that I ever attended…I think the term ‘comparative literature’ can absorb quite a lot…apart from papers relating to Kannada, Hindi, Malayalam, Bengali, Urdu, English, Japanese, Russian, and Eritrean literature among others…there was a full session on comparative Hindi literature with papers being read in Hindi…I could meet many scholars…some old friends…and attending seminars and conferences, especially in EFLU (my CIEFL), means I meet my teachers and exchange pleasantries and notes on works in progress or on general well being…but the most important relief is that it helps me break away from the monotony of teaching from a text book and for a change, sit back and listen to others…I met Tharakeshwar during the course of these three days…I have known him since 1996 or so, when we were conducting our respective researches, he at HCU, I at CIEFL…he now teaches at Kannada University, Hampi…a good scholar and a forceful speaker…it was nice meeting him and he gave me some morale boosting news…one of his M.Phil. students is doing a course on Kannada Translation Studies (or something related to translation and Kannada literature…) … and Tharakeshwar told me that he has prescribed one of my published articles (“Translation and Kannada Literature: Appropriating New Genres” published in CIEFL Bulletin) as essential reading for the course… nothing makes a researcher more happy than to hear that his/her work is being consulted/read/quoted… I felt so happy and I told him that this was encouraging…A week earlier, an ex-CIEFL-ite called me up (actually she called Shruti, how she got her number I don’t know) and told me she was working on U R Anantha Murthy’s Samskara for her Ph.D. and that she had found my published paper on the early Kannada novel quite useful…she wanted to know where she could get substantial information on the modern Kannada novel…she is a Telugu and can’t read/understand Kannada and there is very little written in English about Kannada literature…I gave her whatever references I had…I hope she finds them…so much for some mood elevation and self promotion…

During the course of the previous week (Mar 29), as I was browsing the net, I thought I’d take a quick look at what Vinod Ekbote’s up to and visited his blogsite…and there it was…such a piece of exhilarating news…Vinod had succeeded in completing his novel…hats off to Vinod for accomplishing a most demanding and most creative job…I appreciate his determination and single minded devotion…only the first draft is complete…and it will be some time before we can see it in print…he has promised me a copy…I will buy a copy anyway…I have promised him something… he knows that…good going Vinod…

Shruti has come back from her trip to Harrogate…with loads of photos and lots of experiences…till next time then…

Jayasrinivasa Rao

Bye Bye Begumpet...and Thanks...

Hello All…

Gloomy skies darkened up the mood last Sunday morning…I got up from bed and went to have a dekko at the visible world from my balcony… I felt listless…I am usually perked up on Sunday mornings, because after breakfast, I go out to buy my weekly quota of magazines and especially, The Sunday Express… The Hindu, The Times of India, and Deccan Chronicle are home-delivered by my regular newspaper-person on Sundays…I buy Outlook, India Today and The Week from the newsstand every week…

My keenness to go out was thwarted by a steady drizzle…I had to wait till the drizzling stopped…it was already nearing 11 AM…the drizzle god/goddess showed some mercy and decided to withdraw from the scene slightly after 11…I set out on my Sunday exercise also armed with a list of general things to be bought for the home…the only one shop in the area that stocks The Indian Express was closed… first disappointment…India Today hadn’t come to this corner of Hyderabad yet…I had devoured the other three newspapers already…Outlook, I went through it on Saturday itself…only The Week remained to be read…the black mood intensified…Sundays without The Sunday Express is like curd rice without pickles (!!!)…I compensated temporarily by indulging in some retail therapy to uplift my mood…bought all the items on the list and trudged flatwards…and to add to my increasingly blackening mood, the rains came back…irritating drizzles and then in heavier doses…I didn’t feel like stopping anywhere to let the rains cease and reached my flat upper-part-ially drenched…it was around 12 noon and something was missing…I sat down for lunch around 1.30 and then I heard this loud whirring outside…I looked at Shruti…she said, ‘It’s a helicopter not an aeroplane’… the penny dropped … yes, it was the sound of a helicopter…and what I was missing all along was the sounds of the aeroplanes over our apartment block…it was real…the airport had shifted…the previous midnight…

Shruti was to leave for England to present a paper at a conference of the British Dyslexia Association and she was to leave on the 26^th… we were apprehensive…the new airport would be operational by then… there was rumours of postponement of operations…we believed desperately in the rumours…Shruti and I, both wanted her to take the flight from Begumpet airport… the new airport was inaugurated a few days back and when we read in papers that it would take some more time for the new airport to be ready…we were silently elated…then, a couple of days later it was announced that the new airport would indeed start operations from the 22^nd midnight…our apprehensions returned…it would no longer be Begumpet airport…

I am not a frequent flyer (flier?), in fact, I dread travelling by aeroplanes…I have travelled three or four times and I discovered each time that I loved ‘terra firma’ better…the firmer it is, the lesser the terror (I read this pun somewhere) … my balcony in our new flat is placed in a straight line to Begumpet airport (quite a distance away though) and I have whiled away many minutes just watching aeroplanes take off and land…and in the nights, after dinner…there would be this constant procession of aeroplanes landing and taking off and some of the flight paths were just above our apartment building and the flying machines would roar overhead on their way… sometimes there would be three aeroplanes flying in the sky at the same time…one coming down to land…one that had taken off a couple of minutes ago…and another that had taken off quite some time ago, but still in the airspace in the distance winging its way to its destination…it was a fascinating sight…I miss the sights and sounds of these flying machines…I realised this suddenly last Sunday…and the sound of the helicopter brought home this reality that Begumpet will no longer play host to these aeroplanes anymore…the reality hit home slightly more powerfully when I saw a photo in the newspaper of the deserted façade of Begumpet airport and the entrance area being used to play cricket by the now jobless unskilled labour force…

Begumpet airport…we love you… Shamsabad is a long way off…

Jayasrinivasa Rao

Blogging and other things...

i was inspired by Vinod Ekbote to start my own blog...it started with my searching online for info on fountain pens and was struck by his blog on the Mont Blanc that he received...and his excitement...i thought i should also start my own blog...because i have so much to say...and share...well...with much fanfare (!!!) i registered and thought i would begin on jan 1, 2008...a nice enough day...suddenly i got those jitters...what do i write about? or on?...who will read this blog? why will they read it? anyway, with all these thoughts , the safest was to write about my current obsession...fountain pens...since this was the topic that triggered my interest in blogs...now that the first post is out of the way...now i thought i will keep posting everyday...it is been 3 days and now i am thinking aloud about what to write and managed to write all this...for whose benefit...?
i promise myself that i will keep posting at least once a week... gives me some time with myself...and to tell myself about my own interests...


Jai