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November 10th, 2009


deponti
07:30 pm - Mist Photography....
We thought the mist on the hills would prevent us from spotting birds. It didn't. We thought it would prevent us from photographing birds. It did.

But then we realized that the mist, in itself, was a thing of beauty.


light of the mist

more images of the mist )

And just to see how it would look, I decided to take one image of the passing scenery through the rain-washed window of the car:


scenery through the car window 071109



And finally, you can see the way the rainclouds are moving ...gliding...along the hilltops...












Rain and mist make for beautiful photography....!
Current Mood: serene
Current Music: some crap serial running on TV

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November 9th, 2009


deponti
08:04 am - The Rain.....
It was raining in Bangalore. It is raining in Chennai. Well, it held off long enough for me to take a long walk last evening, but this morning it's pouring again.

Here's an image I liked, from the Nandi Hills trip, of Garima holding out her hand to feel the raindrops...




garima feeling the rain 071109


Off to do various duties now...back later, when I can...
Current Mood: in PAIN
Current Music: none yet

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November 7th, 2009


deponti
06:49 pm - Whether the weather co-operated.....
The Nandi hills trip was wonderful...but from this video, you can get an idea of how it was for birding....






It was utterly beautiful, and we did manage to see a wide variety of birds, and though I don't have the images to back that statement up, I have...plenty of fellow-birders to testify to it!
Current Mood: very happy
Current Music: dheerE dheerE pyAr ki jO Ag jal gayee... Duplicate

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November 6th, 2009


srusrid
08:54 pm - Story of Bossa Nova. Retold.


He didn't realise he had been holding his breath after he heard the door close. That was when he heard her giggle.

It was all about sharing, she had said. Imperialists were scum and capitalists were fucking up the eco-fucking-system. It was all demand and supply and everyone was a fascist. She could not be objectified. Nothing could. Including her love. Especially her love. His too. Everyone's.


So, it was all about sharing.  Tossing her stubborn tendril and slanting her head such that her eyes seemed to answer all his questions she had said that the Afghan would be coming home that night. Surely, he didn't mind...

It was the tendril that had snared him. Tendril. The word seemed so close to 'thendral' which in Tamil meant a sweet gust of wind. That was what he had thought when he had first seen her. Was it just a month ago?

He was Gauguin, he had told himself as he walked into the cafe on a Saturday afternoon. It was time for the stockbroker to buy his ticket to Tahiti. Six people, a poetry reading and she was there in the middle. Her dimpled cheek and those eyes that always seemed to question him while providing all the answers. He sat down loosely clutching a leather bound maroon diary stamped with gold letters proclaiming the name of his investment firm.
That was when he heard her talking about monotones.

Gently prodding that tendril with a gust of air from her lower lip, she had begun. Her poem was called it the 'Song of the kitchen sink'. A princess was stuck singing a monotone as she laboured over the kitchen sink.
He fell headlong into the kitchen sink. The chai dust swirled and rose to clog his nasal passages. Remnants of dried palak stubbornly refusing to leave the ceramic plate taunted him as he desperately tried to scrub it, breathless. That's when the bones of the dead bird chose to caress his cheek.

A prince had resuced her by giving her melodies, she said. He opened his eyes and her voice was the melody that made him come up for air. After all, who else but a poet would know what is love and he was a poet.

They both believed that there was no right and no wrong. When they made love, it all seemed right. She told him about her first lover. It had been seven years ago. And he had been his age now. The difference between their ages was twenty-two. She was twenty two now. It was like a fifth standard algebra problem, she said. Mathematics was the only truth, he said. Probably, she smiled.

It was a month ago. Now she was in the other room with the Afghan and it was ok. The poet understood all about capitalism. And understood what imperialists thought of commies.

She had named her Afghan Schezwan. The Afghan loved noodles, especially the desi Chinese variety. He also spoke like an American and cursed Americans. He had serenaded her with twenty-six cuss words, each beginning with each letter of the alphabet. And he too loved 'Like water for chocolate'. For that, someone deserved her love, she had said.

Surely, he didn't mind...Gauguin would not have minded. Gauguin would have probably joined them.

Now he wanted to go and knock on the door and join them. Maybe he needn't knock. He could just go in. After all, they shared the house and had shared that bed till yesterday. She was right. Posessiveness also came out of treating everything like a commodity. His bed, his house. And her. Beyond that door with the Afghan.
The sounds of jazz floated through the locked door. Was it locked? She didn't even lock the door in the toilet. It was constraining, she said. There had to be more space. Why did we have to compartmentalise houses into functional areas? Why houses at all? Who gave anyone the idea that a piece of the  earth could be owned?

The question mark was the hook he held on to gasping for air.

His wife believed in algorithms that ended with full stops. Ellipses were abhorred. She would tie socks together and wash coloured clothes separately. She bought a bottle of Harpic every week as the toilets had to be scrubbed every day. It was a germicidal and it had a pine scent. And when closed the toilet door did not allow even light to escape. Only the pine smell could manage to do so.
He came back after the poetry reading and inhaled the scent of pine. And vomitted all over the toilet. And then he walked out with his jazz records.

He could hear it now.

The first day they had made love, he had put on music. It was necessary to drown out the barking dogs, the screeching cars and the television serials. And his thoughts. He floated over her on a cloud of jazz and then stroked her with slow sclaes. It was slow, as slow as time stilling with her breath punctuating the pauses. The full stops had gathered now to form ellipses. No words. She hummed and together they floated. It was Tahiti. But then the alarm had rung and even though it had Jai Hanuman grinning from one of its hands, the sound wasn't jazz.

And the hands of the clock followed them around the house, marking the time taken to move from the fridge to the dining table to pour freshly boiled milk over corn flakes which was sugar free with added nuts. Poets had to have the most important meal of the day without fail, otherwise ulcers tended to spoil lovemaking.
After breakfast came lunch, a light evening snack and dinner. Patterns and mathematics followed.

There were lists again. Written on scraps of paper smudged kaajal. And the laundry had to be done and they both had to shit. They kept the door open and did not use Harpic.

He had continued to work as an investment consultant. They had to go to the cafe to attend poetry readings and have lattes. She always had the hazlenut essence. For extra charge. She continued to go to the school of the arts. Where there was a cafe which served delicious kala khatta sherbet. Which was petitioning people to support it and save it from bankruptcy. And there she had met the Afghan.


She asked him whether he had minded. The Afghan had left his cigarette smoke behind. It was different from her smoke. She was puffing now, ringlets round and growing larger as she peered at him and asked him whether he minded.

No, he said. She didn't reply. He almost thought she was disappointed. He thought he would write a poem to explain to her. She walked to the music system and started playing the same piece of jazz again. His thoughts drowned.


After two weeks, she brought the dancer home. She had kohl lined eyes and always wore black, she said.

He now had ear phones. He listened to jazz. He didn't have time to catch up with his old records, he said. He could hear them giggle in return. From the next room.

She asked him if he minded. Can I join you the next time around, he asked. She stared at him. He needed language. Her chosen medium was painting.

He bought a fresh set of CDs. They were on sale. Five for the price of three. They could listen together to the Story of Bossa Nova. The toilet door was open. She wasn't there. There was a note. It had a smudges made of an impatient finger that had dabbled in kajal. Or was it kohl. "I did the dishes."
 


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deponti
05:58 pm - Fifteen Days of Steady Pain...
It's difficult not to sound whiny, but the past fifteen days, as the gum infection has been steadily drained and dried, have been quite murderous. I have now learnt to ask for fresh local anaesthetics as the first injections wear off...but still the deep pain has been quite unbearable sometimes...and being alone in the house is NOT very nice. To be unable, at times, to get up, and yet to know that I have to drag myself to the kitchen for even a drink of water, has been very hard.

But it has taught me how difficult it must be to undergo this kind of chronic pain on a regular basis....and surely, I will be even more gentle when dealing with ill people. I will be able to bear their crankiness, because I know how cranky one feels with constant pain; I will be empathetic to their depression, as I have experienced the lows that being unwell brings. Er...all these good intentions are there now...

These thoughts have been brought out by visiting a friend whose ailing mother is now with her, and she was describing the difficulties of caring for a very strong-willed elderly person...having gone through this a few years ago, I could really understand her problems.

Caring for the elderly is very similar, in the acts performed...feeding, cleaning up, full responsiblity...to caring for a baby...but it is certainly bereft of the joys of the latter. With a baby, one is watching a person and a personality developing...with an elder, it is the waning of a person, of a childhood without any appeal to it. An elderly patient is often cranky and wilful, and also often complains about the caregivers to all the visitors, and sometimes, it's very hard to take.

I am taking a break for a month from the dental treatment, but will come back to get the root canal done...for the fourth (and hopefully final) time.

In the meanwhile, of course, I have tried to do as much as I can, and have thoroughly enjoyed meeting up with those friends who did make the effort to come home (alas, not all of them did!), went on wildlife trips, went to plays, and just....enjoyed being back home as well.

Well, a month in Chennai will bring me back even more appreciative of home....

But before I leave, a quick trip to Nandi Hills, with the BULBs is on for tomorrow! :)
Current Mood: [mood icon] tired
Current Music: none

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November 5th, 2009


deponti
02:27 pm - They follow him around!
If

Karthik

comes, can moths be far behind?

Yesterday, he told us that this beautiful

OLEANDER HAWK MOTH

was sitting on the staircase of my apartment, so [info]mohanvee and I went off to photograph it...


oleander hawk moth ca 041109


Meanwhile, he had also spotted these two...a lovely gold-and red one:


041109 un id yellow moth ca


and an even prettier "pied" moth....


un id pied moth casa ansal 041109


I guess all moths and butterflies know an expert when they see one, and consider Karthik a kind of foster moth-er....

Couldn't resist that!
Current Mood: [mood icon] restless
Current Music: vAsamillA malarithu...vasanthatthai thEduthu

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deponti
10:55 am - The Buck Stops...and Runs...at Maidanahalli
Maidanahalli

is home to the threatened animal, the

BLACKBUCK

Here's the stag ...front view:


blackbuck 011109 maidanahalli


And the reverse (the, er, white butt of the black buck!)


white butt of black buck 011109

(those white things in the pictures are butterflies!)


Read more... )
Current Mood: [mood icon] tired
Current Music: thiruviLayAdal songs

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deponti
03:16 am - LOTS of birds...
Non-birders... please exkoos, as they say here.

We took a trip to Maidanahalli ("village of the open meadows") on

Rajyotsava Day

...it proved to be a birding bonanza! It was as if Karnataka just wanted to shower us with sightings and observations!


The day started with the usual CKMP (Crow Kite Mynah Pigeon)...but the raptor quotient went up sharply with the sighting of this

WHITE=EYED BUZZARD

in its rocky habitat:

white-eyed buzzard in habitat 011109


Later, the bird soared in large circles:



white-eyed buzzard 011109

Next came this

BOOTED EAGLE



booted eagle 011109 madhugiri area

many birds sitting, standing or flying here )


...and the trip to Ramnagara to see the not-at-all common

LONG-BILLED VULTURE


longbilled vulture ramnagara 241009

came to mind, too...so, right now, you can, quite rightly, call me a bird-brain!

List of birds on two of the trips )
Current Mood: pain....
Current Music: at this time?!

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November 4th, 2009


deponti
04:51 pm - More Sirkeer Malkoha
I'd posted about my first photograph of the

SIRKEER MALKOHA

...and on the way back from Maidanahalli, we saw first one, and then, high up on the rocks, two near each other.

In an interesing switch, I got this FS (Foozly Shot) of the Malkoha taking off from the rock:


sirkeer malkoha 011109

(I still like the image a lot.)


then I got this video of the bird in its habitat, where it's doing nothing but sitting quietly!






Photo with action, video with none...that's the way wildlife and birding goes, sometimes!
Current Mood: slightly better
Current Music: visitors are coming!

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deponti
04:38 pm - All those rhyming friends...
We were waiting at the watchtower in Maidanahalli for the appearance of the endangered Blackbuck...and I was looking around.

I was very tickled to see that three rhyming friends (or relatives or family, perhaps that's more likely) had visited:


tasu yasu pasu m halli 011109


When we visit a place, we need to leave our impress upon that spot...the equivalent of "Kilroy was here"....!

I must get down to posting about the variety of birds that we saw in Maidanahalli, but right now, I'm just thinking that dentists are a pain in the........teeth.
Current Mood: rather weepy
Current Music: some kannada radio stuff

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November 3rd, 2009


deponti
07:55 am - Our own wildlife...
I left St.Louis, to come home and do some wildlife trips...but I did not realize that we were going to have our own wildlife there...


lion in Stl.louis 021109


How rare would it be to have a Lion in St.Louis!
Current Mood: [mood icon] happy
Current Music: none yet

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deponti
07:51 am - Sunset and moonrise together...
It was an amazing sight, as we returned from Maidanahalli, to find the sun setting to our right,



mhalli trees sunset 011109

and the moon (nearly full) rising to our left...


moonrise madhugiri 011109


In Tamizh, dusk is called "andhi sandhi koodum vELai" (the time evening and night meet". This was a beautiful meeting.



madhugiri sunset 011109
Current Mood: [mood icon] peaceful
Current Music: will go and listen to some now....

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deponti
03:39 am - Hospital Notes
I'm sure not all of them can be genuine, but I'm still laughing hard anyway!





* The patient refused autopsy.

* The patient has no previous history of suicides.

* Patient has left white blood cells at another hospital.

* Patient's medical history has been remarkably insignificant with only a 40 pound weight gain in the past three days.

* She has no rigors or shaking chills, but her husband states she was very hot in bed last night.

* Patient has chest pain if she lies on her left side for over a year.

* On the second day the knee was better and on the third day it disappeared.

* The patient is tearful and crying constantly. She also appears to be depressed.

* The patient has been depressed since she began seeing me in 1993.

* Discharge status: Alive, but without my permission.

* Healthy appearing decrepit 69-year old male, mentally alert, but forgetful.

* Patient had waffles for breakfast and anorexia for lunch.

* She is numb from her toes down.

* While in ER, she was examined, x-rated and sent home.

*The skin was moist and dry.

*Occasional, constant infrequent headaches.

*Patient was alert and unresponsive.

*Rectal examination revealed a normal size thyroid.

*She stated that she had been constipated for most of her life until she got a divorce.

*I saw your patient today, who is still under our car for physical therapy.

* Both breasts are equal and reactive to light and accommodation.

* Examination of genitalia reveals that he is circus sized.

* The lab test indicated abnormal lover function.

* Skin: somewhat pale. but present.

* The pelvic exam will be done later on the floor.

* Large brown stool ambulating in the hall.

* Patient has two teenage children, but no other abnormalities

* When she fainted, her eyes rolled around the room

* The patient was in his usual state of good health until his Airplane ran out of gas and crashed.

* Between you and me, we ought to be able to get this lady pregnant.

* She slipped on the ice and apparently her legs went in separate directions in early December.

* Patient was seen in consultation by Dr. Smith, who felt we should sit on the abdomen and I agree.

* The patient was to have a bowel resection. However, he took a job as a stock broker instead.

* By the time he was admitted, his rapid heart had stopped, and he was feeling better.
Current Mood: [mood icon] amused
Current Music: kaNNE kalaimAnE kanni magaLena....

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November 2nd, 2009


deponti
01:16 pm - The Jewel Bug
I had named our women's birding group the BULBs (Bangalore Urban Lady-Birders!), and yesterday we went to Maidanahalli (no, I will *not* call it Maidenahalli as if it is the home of the critically endangered Homo sapiens virgensis) to see the blackbuck...and on the way, lots of things made us stop and stare.

One of the most colourful was the Jewel Bug:


jewel bug back 011109

the extravagantly colourful bug )


Here's an extreme closeup:


jewel bug really close 011109


Sorry, I couldn't put down anything for size reference, but the bug would be...about the size of the first phalange of your forefinger...IF you were an amateur photographer who was five feet tall...

Have done one session of teeth-torcher, next session at 3pm...dunno HOW I am bearing this PAIN!!!
Current Mood: in pain
Current Music: none

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deponti
12:15 pm - The Journey Continues...
The path lies ahead, intriguing, interesting...unknown.

So far, the journey has been successful, and one of happiness for the main part.



car and path ragihalli rd 311009


Here's wishing [info]shortindiangirl that her journey continues, with good health, happiness, and peace of mind....
Current Mood: in pain
Current Music: thEn kiNNam

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November 1st, 2009


mssnlayam
10:02 am - Important RTI dispute involving the IITs

Central Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi is going to hear an important dispute relating to the Right To Information act. Prof. Rajeev Sharma, a computer sciences professor at IIT Kharagpur has filed an RTI application seeking test scores of all applicants who appeared in the IIT Joint Entrance Examination in 2006. The JEE exam board is stalling the process.

It has been very hard to get complete information on this dispute. Reporting, like it is usually the norm, has been pathetic. Here is what I understand of where this dispute currently stands.

Some irregularities in the JEE exam

The plaintiff Prof. Kumar has been doggedly seeking information about the IIT JEE 2006 examination. He alleges irregularities in calculating which students made the cut. In fact, the Calcutta High Court is currently hearing a case on this very issue. The court asked the IITs to submit the formulae used to calculate applicants who are offered admits. The IITs have submitted several different formulae on different occasions. Moreover, they destroyed all answer sheets before they were supposed to.

Soft-copy versus hard-copy

Now, let's come back to the RTI application that that IITs have not yet responded to. Times of India has reported that this is an issue of soft-copy of data versus hard-copy. The paper reports that the IITs have offered to provide printouts of the data (running to tens of thousands of pages) at cost to the plaintiff. This clearly would be ridiculous.

However, I am not sure if this is the case. Prof. Gautam Barua, Director of IIT Guwahati, who is also responsible for the entrance examinations, responded to me that the dispute was not one of hard or soft copy, but one of privacy. I could not reach the reporter and got no response from Prof. Kumar. So, I have to give the IITs the benefit of doubt.

Privacy issue

Prof. Barua claimed to me that the IITs offered to provide the data after removing personally identifying information. In fact, a news report seems to corroborate this claim.

IIT Guwahati Director Gautam Barua has said that he had offered the appellant data for scrutiny with the names made anonymous. IIT Guwahati [...] had refused to provide marks and personal details of candidates on a CD as requested by Prof Rajeev Kumar of IIT Kharagpur.

Releasing personal information of applicants would be ridiculous. However Prof. Barua did not clarify where he stood on the soft-copy issue.

Where it stands now

To me this is such an open and shut case. There is no question that privacy should not violated. There is also no question that information should be provided in the most accessible form, in this case a soft-copy. I don't know why this has been dragging for so long.

Prof. Barua agrees that they have not provided the application any information yet, and are waiting for the CIC's hearing. This puzzles me. They could have provided a soft copy of data without private information on their own accord.

Resolution?

Shailesh Gandhi is going to hear this soon. I hope he clarifies one important piece of this issue. The RTI act clearly specifies that information includes electronic data and that citizens have a right to this data in an electronic form or in the form of printouts. The act does not specify that a soft-copy, where available, should be preferred. I hope he does that.

"information" means any material in any form, including records, documents, memos, e-mails, opinions, advices, press releases, circulars, orders, logbooks, contracts, reports, papers, samples, models, data material held in any electronic form and information relating to any private body which can be accessed by a public authority under any other law for the time being in force;

["right to information"] includes the right to obtaining information in the form of diskettes, floppies, tapes, video cassettes or in any other electronic mode or through printouts where such information is stored in a computer or in any other device;


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deponti
03:44 am - Halloween....
happy halloween 311009


Halloween

The word comes from "All Hallow Even"...as the sun goes down, the spirits are hallowed, and rule for that night, until the approaching light of dawn dispels them again.
Current Mood: better get some sleep
Current Music: none

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deponti
03:26 am - Some more light ....
We often speak of "shedding light on the subject"...the coming of light is also associated with acquiring knowledge and dispelling ignorance. "tamasO mA jyOtirgamaya" is part of our daily prayers.

Here's the light arriving, on the sheet rock on the Ragihalli Road, in the Bannerghatta Forest area:


311009 ragihalli sheet rock sunrise

I experimented with shooting into the sunlight, instead of the recommended "shoot at an angle"...and am happy with the results.


more of light from the sun )

It was [info]shivakumar_l who showed me how he uses backlight....how, when one is using light, can that be a.....real de-light?
Current Mood: [mood icon] sleepy
Current Music: none

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deponti
02:54 am - Light..and lights
Insomnia seems to have become a permanent friend...but I had a great day yesterday (early morning birding, some torcher, afternoon play and a lovely time with friends) and I am looking forward to my trip to

Maidanahalli

in a few hours with

Garima

and others from the BULBs (Bangalore Urban Lady-Birders...we have co-opted some male members, such as

Rajneesh Suvarna ,

though!)


I am sitting in the dark with just one goose-necked lamp...and was musing about light and darkness. That darkness is associated with evil both in terms of the lack of colour (making it black) and lack of light. The dispelling of darkness often signifies the dispelling of gloom, despair, and anything not good.

On my way up the stairs in our apartment complex, I found that someone was celebrating a festival unknown to me (probably it was also the Tamizh festival of kArthigai, I don't know...), they had set up this little shrine outside their home with lights to dispel the darkness:


festival lamp casa ansal 301009


It was rather unusual to have the puja display outside the home rather than inside it...but it made a warm, appealing picture!

And then, of course, my [info]asakiyume picture...in this one, the light is fading and yet the gathering darkness seems no portent of evil, but rather, the peace and rest that come after happiness and work well accomplished:


ramnagara rocks lake sunset 241009


Sunset on a daily basis is echoed, in my mind, with the fall season, where the days draw in, there's a sense of things ripened and replete...."season of mists and fruitfulness", as Keats puts it. To some people, of course, the lesser amount of light is depressing...but to me, being a person who loves the rains and the monsoon, it's not of any negative connotation.

"and leaves the world to darkness and to me", writes the poet Thomas Grey...and the peace of that statement is tinged with melancholy, and the name of the poem is "The Elegy"!

It perhaps takes someone in a tropical country, who bears the harsh sun, to appreciate lack of light, and the dimness and coolness that accompany it.

To me, the fall, the Sisir Ritu, and the evening, are wonderful times.
Current Mood: sleepless
Current Music: it's 3.15am!!

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October 31st, 2009


deponti
04:58 am - Tees for unfortunate illnesses...
I've shown you tees for autism

als walk tee 101009

ALS, and other illnesses...

But did you know that Nike actually made tees for other, rather less sympatico, illnesses?



std tee sharath RS 301009
Current Mood: sleepless
Current Music: none

(4 comments | Leave a comment)

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