NUMBER TAG

i am very donkeys.

 
i have always hated these beauty pageants. Never showed any interest.
i see my sisters, cousins, nieces talking endlessly about them and see them glued to the TV watchigng the show, and i feel something is seriously wrong with me. 

Have quite a few fashion magazines lying in my room. Chokrees come and ask questions and these magazines keep them from eating my brain. Besides, making women look and feel beautiful is my profession. i see the pictures, models  ads and all.

This post is not about fashion or beauty pageants, its about the number tags.
i can understand in the field of sports where you are judged by your performance or examinations, you get marks and grades, First second third or fourth.
Competetion berings out the best in you but not always.
 

Some magazines come up with top 100 beauties of the world
i find that very funny.

 
Heeelo ! How are you ? Do you have fever ?
 

No i am the one with fever, others are fine.
i juss don't understand these number tags
like number one beauty
Number 2 is not good enough ?
i really pity the number 100, she must be eating cockroaches.
Poor thing.
These number tags insult womanhood.
She stands alone.
A woman has a right to do anything to look more beautiful. Women are programmed by nature to attract males.  They are programmed to be in control. But they are not, unlike the other species.
i hate being in control of anything.
i let myself be blown away by the wind.

 
oh numbers. yes i am drifting from numbers. Murthy accuses me of jumping the subjects. other friends accuse me of the same.
We'll get back to number tags.

Jimi Hendrix there.
Absolutely no dispute. He is number one. Still.
If Steve Vai, Charlie Burchill, Al di Meola or Joe Satriani is up there at number one i would not dispute that eeda
 

Some years ago The RollingStone magazine came up with top 100 guitarists.
Silly idea
This is not weight lifting. This is not Tour de France or 400 meters hurdles.
i can understand the stupidity of fashion magazines, Jewelry, perfume or Textile Industry, there is money involved, they have something to sell.

'i feel like i own the stage' says Ritchie Blackmore.
These guys stand alone with their individual style
He is number 55, 

55 ???

changed his style to play Renaissance music with his wife Candice Night.

"I don't care about the rules. In fact, if I don't break the rules at least 10 times in every song then I'm not doing my job properly"  Says Jeff Beck, where is he ? Number what ?

Number 2 according to the magazine is Duane Allman, 

felt sad and ignorant, never heard of him. Many names in the list are new to me. Have to go after them. BB King comes next and followed by Eric Clapton at 4. 

wow !  He won't mind that. 

Keith Richards at number 10. hmmm.
In the movie ' Out of Towners' (remake) Steve Martin says ' i walked in to the office dressed like Keith Richards. 

He looks better than meeee. 

He is followed by Kirk Hammett at 11 if i remember right. i have only one number on my iPod.

i scratch my yeddu when i see Mark Knopfler sitting at number 27.

 
72 is Joni Mitchell and you begin to get angry, very angry.
Poor thing, she is minding her own business, doing her own things in her own way, Painting composing, singing, and they slap a number on her ......72

Hi Joni, how are you ?

i'm fine,  wan a smoke ?

yes,  no, thank you

you don't smoke ?

i do, but i smoke only when i am alone.

so wassup ?

you are 72

huh ?

You are number 72.

what ?

guitarist

So ?  what do i do ?  do i feel happy  sad or stop singing ?

Do you wan that number ?

No  thank you,  you keep it.

 

She would feel silly holding flowers at Jimi Hendrix memorial (Seattle), you are number one and i am 72, sorry i wasn't there at Woodstock.

 
i don't remember seeing Hank Marvin in the list, perhaps he is there, nor do i remember Dave Evens (the Edge) or Johnny Buckland., must be there at some number

it'll be a tragedy if you slap a number on Miles Davis,  Dave Brubeck, Keith Jarrett Jan Garbarek or Dizzy Gillespie

Its going to be very silly if some one comes up with an idea of 100 top artists of the world. Perhaps some one has.. Van Gogh number one and William Bouguereau number 99  or he may not have a number at all.

Does it really matta ?  

HILO ! Me fine thank you, No i am not sitting at the top of the world, afraid of falling, besides, its pretty cold up there, i would look silly wearing all that heavy winter gear !  i am slipping in and out of clothes without unbuttoning or unzipping them but the weighing scale shows that i have added 2 kilos, i am 56kgs now. improving, i am eating well and thanks for all the emails and greetings.

Christmas time, you all muss be bijjy. Me having Christmas lunch wid Rajkumar, Sarah Becky and John as usual. 

Merry Christmas to you, and a very happy new year 

enjoy the holidays !! 

all my love

GREEN DRIVE - KERALA ROADS

its heavy.

Four years have gone by and i am blinking as i blinked at an empty box four years ago.

Claudia also completes four years of blogging this month.

Ruth completes four years in January, Alicia is my senior, already completed four years in June and the senior most is Barbara of Shamantra's House, who started blogging in 2004, unfortunately not writing much now.

These are my teachers, my mentors. . i have learnt a lot from them.

In India, we respect our teachers

Before i could write this post, i rearranged my first few links according to seniority before it gets down to alphabetical order. It may not mean much to you but means a lot to me. 

i hold them in my highest esteem.

Did i learn to write ?

No, i don't write, i can never write like them, i never claimed to be a writer, i talk, i talk to my friends here, in this box.

My teachers inspired me, stood by my crackpot theories, encouraged me to be original and fearless, criticised me, correted me, i learnt to be less rigid on ideas and be flexible.

i used to treat not knowing with utter contempt.

Today, not knowing is my birth right.

i have changed.

Today i remember Edith, who is no longer with us, but her link will remain as long as i have the strength to write. Her page is still open.

i thank Google for offering a platform to express our views.

Along with freedom to write comes the responsibility to maintain the integrity of the blog and its space provider. This is not a play ground. When some one offers you space, its your responsibility to keep it clean and not misuse it.

i do not know who offered it first, in my opinion, Google is still the best.

 

That is Senthil walking. Planted there because he was wearing a red shirt. This is near Adhirampalli Falls.

what is this post about ?  

oh, these are just pictures of some lovely roads in Kerala, Been getting lot of mails enquiring about places and distances, connections. Not much information here, just pictures

That is Chalakudy - Adhirampalli - Valparai road.

It was Chinna who told me about a thing called Blog.

Blog ?

what is it ?

There's a google web site where you register and  upload your pictures and write about them. Obviously he was thinking of my travel stories, had hundreds of them. i thought it was too complicated for a dimwit like me, but i found it easy. i never thought it would take a different turn, painfully depressing arrogant and annoying.

So the journey began.

Circle of blog friends expanded as i went along.

This was not as simple as i thought. They were not just my readers

They occupied a large part of my life  They knew me more than my own family and friends did. It was like some invisible strength supporting me. At the end of my life, it was no longer a downhill slide. 

Neil, my friend FOUR DINNERS,  Your wit and humour made me young again. Your posts, mails, your support in Daylight Again was energy booster when ever i was down.

Not many blogs then, when you clicked on 'Next Blog'  You always found something intersting.

Please read FOUR DINNER'S   POST  about clicking on 'Next Blog'

That's Panneer, Bala and Senthil, by the river

You can go on taking pictures right along the road, breathtaking landscape. The road till Adhirampalli is pretty good. After that its pretty bad, full of potholes till Valparai.

 

bad road is a  blessing actually. You go slow, stop at places, look around enjoy the landscape. Pictures were taken in December 2008. Things could be different now.

This is India, you don't have to look for subjects to write. Subjects come knocking your door, Some of my friends here in India and some living abroad were pretty annoyed with my posts.

Do't write, just keep posting pictures, your writing is hurtful, depressing and arrogant. its embarassing for us to show your blog to our friends. They were complaining.

Its just an insignifican't blog, don't read. Don't show it to your friends

yea we don't read.

Please don't tell my wife that you have a blog, my friend was begging me on his wedding day. i don't want her to know that i have friends like you.

oww !

This is Valparai from a distance. Valparai - Pollachi is a pleasure drive. Very good road. This is Tamil Nadu, Many spots to stop and take pictures. .

Pictures below are taken Wayanad. Have to write a lot about Wayanad So many stories to tell you.

This is Calicut - Kalpetta. road. I take a bus normally.

Kalpeta - Mananthavady road is not good but the places you cross are beautiful. I'll have a post on Wayanad, don't know when. Following  is Mananthvady - Kutta ( Coorg ) 30 KMs of pleasure drive. crossing Tolpetty, Begur wild life reserve. Tolpetty is Kerla - Karnataka border, road is pretty bad after that. This again is 2008 information.

Another romantic green drive is Mannarkad - Mukkhali - Aghali - Anakatti,  This road takes you to Coimbatore. Anakatti is Kerala - Tamil Nadu border. Mukkhali is the road to Silent Valley. I have already posted Road to silent valley in Blunt knife, a couple of years ago.  

Same road but pictures taken in two different seasons.

On my recent visit i found the road to Anakatti in good condition,  Same road as above pictures.

This is my favourite Punalur Sencottai road. 

Now the road is pretty good, these are old pictures. I'll post the new road pictures in a different context. Its not going to be a pleasant read.

oh too many pictures and i am tired. 

Nilambur - Gudalur came as a shock to me. It 1s breathtakingly beautiful. its sad that nobody drives slow here.

i was with Suresh and i had a train to catch from Nilambur. i don't know when i'll post pictures of Nilambur - Shornur Train journey, i'll wake up one morning and post them.

It was a tragedy when i took Rajkumar and Eugene on the same road., We'll wait till the morning ?

No, No time, we crossed this beautiful road in the night.

Hi Suresh !  

Suresh will wait for hours. Sit and observe, no hurry,  Both Sureshes are like that,  Coimbatore Suresh (Wild Pic) and Kothagiri Suresh..Both are keen nature observers.  They finally met last year in Kujnappanai, kothagiri with big man Sujith. i think we need another meeting. more pleasant this time.

Something went wrong last time. i love both of them.

Kerala Tamil Nadu border check post. Tamil Nadu side of the road is pretty bad. This is 2007. Things must have improved now.

Four years is not very long. i never got obsessed with my blog, passion, yes i was passionate about it., i am rather. i have made mistakes. There are good posts and there are bad posts. it never occurred to me to delete the bad ones. i have just one bad experience. i don't regret that. i literally demolished one blog run by some philosopher. That was not a good thing to do. i could have kept my mouth shut.  i am not a good guy and  i am not a saint.. 
i see things straight,

simple and straight. 

i am smiling, thinking of some bolgmates i have met. We are friends now. 

Sweet  Neeru, She's in Belgium now very charming always happy cheerful, very enthusiastic, always wants to learn something, naturally asks lots of questions about photography. 

Pingu, very witty, who deleted her blog for some strange reason, she is such a talented writer. 

Aaarti, oh what fun she is,  such a darling oh deah ! she's got brains. i keep my mouth shut and listen to her. She can talk on any topic.

and Monsoon Dreams, who always fights, No, its you who always picks up a fight she says. 

None of them talks about the blog, we talk about different things.

Suresh has a blog, wild pic, Nitin has three, Nirmal has one. i am very sorry i have not introduced Padmaja here, she has a blog too, she lives in NYC, i'll add her link after confirming from her.

i really wish i could meet all of you one day.

all my love

PANDURANGAN PILLAI

ah aa !
na,  
naa, he looks innocent

He is not.

Meet Pandurangan Pillai PhD, makes perfect calculations perfect leaps and jumps, no training,  all by himself and now teaching me a thing or two. a motherless kitten, i was his mother, now he is my mother.

And he thinks he owns me.

Ramesh took this picture.  i had to feed him with a dropper, it wasn't easy, i thought he may not survive, he badly needed his mother's milk. What i was feeding was barely enough

i think this is the first picture i took. So tiny he was, here he is biting Soosha's finger, she said he is a female

i said oh !

then Fiona confirmed that he is a female

i said oh !

i had already named him Pandurangan Pillai its a male name and he was responding when i called. 

what if he is a female ?  and females stay, males move on, disappear, like my previous cat Ginger, Sweta had named him Ginger,  he was borned in my house, disappeard after a year, prolly he camed back looking for me, but i wasn't there, the house wasn't there. my house was demolished and re constructed, took one and a half years.

Ruth's cat is a female but her name is Bishop. Its ok if Pandurangan Pillai turns out to be a female.

He is trying to climb on to the CPU

Becky and Sathya brought him in a shoe box one night., Becky said he was found abandoned in her colony. Screaming in the rain.

What is it ? i asked her when i saw the shoe box

' KITTANN unkill ' said Becky with her chubby smile, i was more shocked to see how tall Becky had grown.

Sathya had already called me saying she's bringing a kitten. i couldn't hear her as i was crossing the road, heavy traffic. i reached home fast. 

One look and  i knew that he is not going to survive, barely a couple of days old,  He needed his mother's milk  to survive.

i said nothing, i couldn't disappoint Becky and Sathya, Now it was up to me to take good care of him and make him survive for a week.

Kuppuchaami camed said he is a female. 

Dhroov said he looks like a female but behaves like a male.

oh !

 He is playing with Priyanka here, i call her Kuppuchaami. 

PPP was picking up, but still i had to feed him with a dropper, only milk so far, no semi solids. Suresh brought him a Tin of baby food . He wouldn't take it, had to force feed him with a spoon. This gave him some energy,.
i think too much energy. 

That is still a problem, became hyperactive

he bites my toes, nibbles actually.

Ah Haa !  kaal marks (foot prints in Tamil) on my camera bag, he was trying to steal my camera  and run away to China, i caught him red handed, i had the evidence, i took him to the court.

He engaged a good lawyer, i am a poor man, i couldn't afford one as i had  solid unshakable evidence.

Do you carry fish in your camera bag ? his lawyer asked

i carry my camera, why would i carry fish ? i am not a cat.

there your honour !

Down came the judge's hammer ' Case dismmissed'

i lost the case. 

i had all the evidence

any way, i have some more stuff on him, i can blackmail him later on.

Makes himself comfortable where ever he pleases, Looks at me then closes his eyes saying do not disturb.

i have to adjust  Here he is sleeping behind the monitor. This is a recent picture.

oh ! thats Tippanna on the screen saver. Now he is watching me type,  trying to catch my fingers. He'll go downstairs now to my sister's place. Loves hanging around there, kitchen smell,  gets goodies, fish, chicken and all, nothing for him here. Walks all around the place, on the keyboard shutting down the system sometimes, looking for a mouse ?

oh what a messy table !  i tidy up sometimes, when chokrees come, not to impress them but out of fear, they start cleaning up, oh deeah ! they puttees my tings heres and theres an i keep churrching and churrching for my tings

an i can't find dem.

Pandurangan Pillai is not impressed with my work, but he watched me one day with great admiration when i was pushing the stagnant rain water on the terrace towards the drain pipes

i scream at him when he walks on the keyboard and he runs behind the monitor, see how he is looking at me, planning his next mischeif

i call him and he comes running always, and he knows how to humiliate me when friends are around

When i want to show off

'Abey hoye Panduvey......... idhar aa beh'  (come here)

He doesn't even look at me, i simply don't exist for him, my friends say i have to be thankful that he is not suing me.

I have not given him any freedom so far, he loves going out of the window and i panic, there are bigger cats lurking around who would cut him to pieces, literally. His world is only my room on the terrace and the first floor sister's place, never allowed him to the ground floor. i leave him at my sister's place when i go traveling  or i lock him up if i go out for a couple of hours. i can't hold him now as he escaped through the ground floor gates, Salomi, the first floor girl caught him on the street and brought him back, he is too young to be let out on his own, still a kitten, behaves like an adult sometimes when he is brooding or watching me work.

He has growed big nows and heavier, still difficult to catch him.







Priyanka brought Karpura Sundari ( Black beauty)  a female Boxer pup  juss two months old, younger than Panduranga Pillai. He watched her for a long time from a distance, never seen a dog before,  suddenly decided to scare  Karpura Sundari, but she turned out to be wise and remained calm.

Is he thinking of taking over my blog ?  may be, like corporate take overs. Perhaps you'd like my blog under his management, perhaps my blog will no longer be depressing and annoying.

Here he is playing with a kitten toy oofie sent. He loves it.


oh, Finally, He is a male
Is he ? 

i am fine, recovering slowly, 90% fine, still no doctors. have gained one kilo, 55 kilos now i am. have to put on three more kilos to get back what i lost. 

Friends are advising me to stuff rocks in my pockets when i go out to prevent me from getting blown away with the wind. 

Not writing what i had to write, have no strength to engage myself in any controversy or debates. Some more pleasant posts to come. i'll update my other blogs in a cuppal of days and pull dem out of cold storage.

Happy Diwali to all of you, Be safe, please don't spend much on fire works. Its fun but its waste of money, more over the Sivakasi fire works manufacturers still employ child labour. Thankfully the sale of fire works is declining every year.

All my love.