Lessons from many a bus ride.

I've been travelling to my college for the past 2 years on the local city bus, it was a welcome change from cycling to school which was virtually down the road. The city bus as opposed to a college bus is with a difference. The simpler differences are that a seat is not guaranteed, its not always on time and so on...
But it offers significant advantages too. For the first time since i arrived in Bangalore in 1993 i got the ability to interact with the local population for longer periods than i usually used to.

Firstly, i realised how accommodating the Kannadigas are. I've spent a nearly 13 years in Bangalore and till recently i used to be proud that i didn't know much Kannada. Not only do Kannadigas accommodate themselves and have picked up English and my mother tongue Tamil, nowadays considering the large number of north Indians arriving here in search of a dream IT job, the use of Hindi is also on the rise. No more am i proud of my ignorance of the local language. I Now insist on speaking in Kannada to some of my friends in an effort to learn it.

Secondly, English is not only the fastest way to the top in India it seems to come with the added benefit of instant arrogance. Traffic policemen seem to be extremely intimidated by drivers who speak in commanding and aggressive English. This is balanced out by the way they treat English speaking student motorists.

Thirdly,The people of Karnataka are not as politically involved as say Tamil Nadu,State politics does not dominate the general discussions on the bus as much as national politics. But this is on the decline,the death of the Kannada Superstar Rajkumar bought out chauvinistic Kannada groups on the streets as Karnataka has never seen before. Other examples of rising strength of these group are the renaming of local areas such as Ulsoor to the more Kannada sounding Halasuru, renaming of majestic bus stand to Kempa Gowda bus stand and so on...

Fourthly,Bangalore is no Pub city , don't let the news papers fool you, The majority of Bangalore is not pub going bottle swinging people with "Work hard party harder attitude".For those of you who believe Bangalore is defined by that single stretch of MG road should visit all the other places my bus trips have taken me. Shivajinagar,Majestic, Jaynagar and so on...

Fifthly, Bangalore is not a city suited for students at all. I hope to write a longer post regarding this specifically.

Until my next post...

Dumb Charades

Considering this is the first serious post on my blog...
I thought I'll write on a subject on which I have considerable expertise.
After a lot of thought I've decided to write on Dumb Charades, the Ultimate communication game that's one of the most popular cultural events of any Bangalore College fest, second probably only to Mad Ads...
I'm not going to explain the nuances of the game here, just ponder why its one of the most popular games...

Firstly, people love seeing a young man desperately trying to act out famous pop singers, Oscar winning movies and ridiculously big words to his equally desperate friends within an inhuman time limit...

Secondly, there are few things funnier that acting out Xena warrior princess on a stage in front of an audience of screaming college dudes...

Thirdly, disappointed participants often turn on their own teammates and a lively fight between friends ensues...

Finally, this is probably the only game where the line between the Amateurs and Pro teams is paper thin, thus allowing any group of people to rise up to the challenge...

Truly the game for anybody who wishes to stake a claim to fame...

My first Post

So this is how it feels to have a blog...

The Expectations are high, apparently the world is watching.

I'll do my best...

Watch this Space...