Aug 26
I’ve been pretty busy these past few weeks, traveling all over India. I’m leaving for New Delhi tomorrow and will be back in Chennai on the 30th and leave for Seattle on 1st of September. Its been a great trip so far and I shall try and reflect on all of it before I leave India or as soon as I have a stable internet connection.
BEE-ARE-BEE.
Aug 17
Aug 17
Sometimes, I wish I could be a physicist just so that I can do this all day -
Aug 15
Very inspiring…
Aug 6
Yesterday was one of the most auspicious days in a Brahmin‘s life. It was Avani Avittam and today was the followup to it with Gayathri Japam. Check out the links for more information on it.
I woke up yesterday to find my dad waiting to help me change my poonal. I took a shower and he promised that it would only take 5 minutes to perform the ceremony, which usually takes an hour or so. Half way into the 5 minute ordeal, I ask him a few questions about why some things had to be done the way they were and he responded with the usual ‘we just do good things and don’t ask questions…’. At the end, I had a new poonal on me and I guess that made my mom happy, which is what my dad and I were to hoping to get out of it all. I think my dad understood that I wasn’t really interested in these rituals much.
Fast forward to this morning, I wake up and my dad is no where in sight. Today is ‘Gayathri Japam’ where we sit down and recite a mantra 1008 times to get good things to happen to us. My mom doesn’t say much except for a fleeting question as to whether I plan to do the japam today. I nod and she starts talking about something else. I took a shower and said the mantra 36 times and went about my business after that. If you are wondering why I did the mini-japam by myself without any real prodding, I would have to say that I don’t really know.
What I have been trying and fighting to shed all the years is not my cultural identity but rather my religious identity. The problem with being a brahmin boy born into a practicing brahmin family is that my cultural identity as an Indian, a south indian, a tamizh person, a brahmin, an iyengar, a thengalai is so intertwined with the Hindu religion that it makes everything complicated. I am proud of what I was born into, I just don’t believe that being born into something makes me who I am now. That said, I still can’t really tell you the difference between my religious and cultural identity.
One thing I do appreciate is how patient my parents have been with me, through all this. Although there have been numerous debates and arguments about my religious preferences, I’ve never really been pressured to follow what they believe in. I question everything, don’t follow rituals that make no sense, don’t believe in superstitions, don’t visit temples(anymore), don’t pray, etc. It takes a lot of courage and effort to accept your kids for who they turn out to be and for my mom, I am the embodiment of the worst brahmin kid that any brahmin mother can hope to have. But she is able to see past all that and see me as her son.
And that is much more than what I can ask from her….
Aug 4
That is not what I asked for..!
Funny!
Aug 2
My road trip to Bangalore was pretty normal. I say normal because there was nothing spectacular about the city that would convince me to move there although, there was nothing that would stop me from moving, if I had to. If I had to choose to live in either Chennai or Bangalore, it would result in a deadlock. Here’s why -
* Crowd
Bangalore is way too crowded and I cannot stress that enough. My friends and I visited the city on a Saturday afternoon and grabbed lunch at a local mall (Garuda Mall). We drove around for about 30 minutes, trying to find parking in a city, where you could park on the walkway and still be fine. We eventually gave up and parked in the mall’s parking lot for about 20rs/hour. Once inside the mall, I was (we were) overwhelmed by just how many people were inside it, at any given time. The traffic was crazy as well but not Chennai-crazy where people drive wherever and however they want, but crazy because the city was not built to handle that many vehicles. There were just way too many cars. I’d call a tie between how much better or worse Bangalore is, when compared to Chennai.
* People
I like the people in Bangalore. Its probably because the average age of all the people I saw was about 25 (as opposed to 40+ in Chennai). People seemed a little bit more patient and friendly in Bangalore. I think Bangalore wins this category hands down.
* Cost of living
I’d have to give this one to Chennai. The most annoying part of my road trip was to walk around Bangalore and notice that everything cost exactly as much (or more) than what it would cost me in the states. A cup of coffee is about 150rs($3), burgers cost 350rs($7) and so on. I don’t understand how an average person in Bangalore that makes about 40,000rs/month ($800) can afford any of this. I would hate to live in such a city and see all my hard earned money go waste because some people are obsessed with being (and charging in) American (dollars).
* Pollution
Bangalore felt much less polluted and there was hardly any road dust in the city for the amount of traffic that they have. I could walk about the city all day and still not smell like vehicle exhaust at the end of it. And people hardly honk (comparatively) in Bangalore and the cars definitely help in bringing down the noise pollution. Bangalore wins this one.
* Weather
The weather was really pleasant in Bangalore, this entire weekend. Chennai has been seeing some rains lately as well but I’m sure that Bangalore is much cooler (again, in comparison) than Chennai. I should say that Bangalore wins but I don’t want to.
Given all these factors, I can’t really decide where I would want to live (if I had to make such a choice). Bangalore is a fun city to hang out with friends but nothing more. Chennai has a much more wholesome feel to it that I can’t quite put in words. I’m probably biased because I grew up in Chennai and my family lives here but there’s nothing spectacular about Bangalore that would convince me to shift my base from Chennai.
The trip took us 6 hrs from Chennai to Bangalore (10pm-4am) and it was raining for about 3 hrs from leaving Chennai. We had a minor hydroplaning incident (thanks to poorly drained roads) to wake us up but no other scares. I actually like driving in the night in India because there are no people(walking) on the roads and no bikes either.
It took us 4.5 hrs from Bangalore to Chennai(3:30pm-8pm), on the way back and on the same route as before. We saved a lot of time by avoiding city traffic and good weather+road conditions helped this time around.