UnChained / UnMachined

Heart does what the heart does. How many of us believe in this ? Well, whether you believe or not, your actions which involve your heart are always fulfilling.

But, in today’s world we are moving in a direction in which everything we do is becoming more and more machine like, monitored, controlled, patterned, and life itself is becoming a mechanical process.

Right from the time we wake up in morning till we fall asleep, we are not driven by the desires of heart but by the monotonicity of the day. In the humdrum of life we are ever forgetting what really our heart wants? We never ask that question!!

As soon as we open our eyes to a new and wonderful day, instead of appreciating and thanking our life, we mechanically scroll through our mobile screens, do our morning chores in anxiety- to which we are used to, we gobble down our breakfast and travel the traffic filled crowded roads to reach offices just in time. We work all day, return home exhausted, have dinner and go back to bed, lying on bed till our eyes are heavy after being glued to mobile screens and.... we finally fall asleep, only to follow the same schedule the next day, the day after and so on…

Then one day we realize that we have stressed ourselves too much and our health as well as mental peace is deteriorating, so in a state of panic we devise a plan which involves a gym membership, or physical exercises, diet plans, yoga and meditation classes and may be a quick vacation.

Now, when you go to gym, the trainer guides you to do so and so exercise counted to a specific number of sets so that your these/those muscles would be built. Eat these many calories and burn these many calories to keep your body the way you want to... he says! Yoga guru would say -  Do  mediation/yoga and you should feel such and such feelings. You start doing all this with diligence as a strict pupil!

And after few days, this all again becomes mechanical. We find ourselves going in circles not reaching anywhere and ever dissatisfied...

Thank You All, Take-aways and Tips (A to Z)

Today I want to just write a Thank you note to all the fellow bloggers who are constantly visiting my blog and reading all my posts which are not quick or easy reads! Writing short and smart posts is a unique talent which I don't have. I have been always reprimanded by my teachers for my lengthy writing. Whenever I write a huge essay - my ma'am would be happy that I did so much research, nevertheless she used to advise to not strain myself during examinations👀. A2Z is no less than an exam 😆. Anyway without drifting away I want to convey thank you from the bottom of my heart for visiting regularly, reading, encouraging me with your genuine comments! I am not taking names of all the blogs/bloggers but thanks to one and all. It is not easy to write, read others, and to respond to comments! Some have done it all. I never replied to comments. I intend to do so soon after the challenge. Due to time crunch I read the comments and I make sure that I visit all your blogs and it has been an invigorating experience! I know there is still last leg of the challenge but I am taking the advantage of letter T to express my thanks!👍💗

Takeaways from A to Z

I have done a to z challenge in the past in 2013 and 2014. However it was easy then as I was not a mother and also was more energetic 😛but now being mother of 5 YO, it is really challenging to take out time - still I managed to come so far, hence I am patting my back😀. I write and read when she is in day care or when she sleeps. I want to list some of my take-aways from the challenge.

• I realised the existence of so many poetic forms through many talented bloggers who inspired me to write my naive poems. Writing or reading poetry makes my heart happy!

• Understood how diligently most of you are working to reach the finishing point of challenge by hook or by crook, which encouraged me on low energy days.

• Those who are writing fiction, hats off to them and those who are writing Flash fictions - it is a talent of another level. Your posts kept me engaged!

• Some of us blogger friends formed a WhatsApp group to keep running the blog marathon. More on it on the W day :)

• I managed to finish reading a long pending book just for a to z.

• I have not been blogging properly from nearly 5 years so A to Z ended my writers block!

• I am knowing people from all the corners of the world. It is always exciting. I treasure so many elaborate comments which make me feel my post is completely read! I would love to stay connected even after a to z.

The summer of April month churned my mind and it is literally hot and happening with a to z.💥

Tips for A to Z participants

I am not an expert but still from my experiences I want to share some tips I followed for a fruitful blogging month.

• If you are really inclined to finish a to z, at least schedule 7 - 8 posts ahead of the challenge in the month of March, suggested by a dear friend Deepa. You won't be exhausted. You can schedule a mix of easy and tough letters!

• Have a to do list ready. If you jot down the topics you would be dealing, it will be lot easier. My WhatsApp group helped me with it.

• There is a popular opinion that if the post is short, it would be read. However I believe if your content connects the readers it would anyway be read.

• If you are very eager to be read (I sure am), make an effort and read others too! I know it's not easy everyday but whenever possible it's good to explore new blogs and always good to payback your visitors!

• Some are here to expand businesses, to promote their products, ideas, share cuisines, and some have no special purpose...but mostly we all want to be read! It helps to build a network, gain specific readers who would like your blog. It's a tricky process. Needs more than a week to identify people who may wanna read you but I think you can find a pattern and form a fruitful network!

• Concentrate on your content, then on its refinement, and then maybe spend time to read others. Don't Rush!

• Spend atleast 30 min - 1 hour for blog hopping. If you have very tight schedule, the minimum you can do is to read who are reading you!

• It is ok to leave a trail - a link of your blog, but first make sure you at least read the post - get a gist of it and leave some relevant and a good comment (not just a "nice post" comment). Blog hopping doesn't mean blog racing. You can be the tortoise 🐢and walk slow rather than being the hare🐇that gets tired and rests!😀

• I made it a habit to leave my blogger link as many blogs are in Wordpress and a wordpress login is always asked😾. I learnt how to leave links properly from Crackerberries!

• For some it doesn't matter if they are read  …that is perfectly ok. We all are primarily here to write and complete the challenge!

• Try not to miss out any letters. It will be too much pressure when you have to handle 2 to 3 letters at once. If you burn out, write something or anything just to close the day. Many of the bloggers have shared their daily anecdotes or just a list of pictures explaining the story behind, which are very honest and fun to read!

• Fix issues on your blog, check settings and everything so that people can easily comment. I had to leave many blogs because of their very tough commenting options!

• No one wants to waste time, so avoid the clutter and focus on your content at least for the blogging month - for easy readability!

• Don't strain a lot! I strained my hand so much 😔(I have carpel tunnel syndrome and cervical spondylosis) that I reduced my reading list and I am using Google mic to voice type this post. It is a real boon!

I want to close by saying thanks again for reading my posts with patience. Thank you all. Wish you a wonderful April.

I am participating in Blogging from A-Z challenge 2022  and this is my Day 20 - 'T' post.

Blogs you may wanna check out:

https://robztobor.blogspot.com/ (new discovery. A gem of a blog)

https://ladyinreadwrites.com/ (bful poetry)

www.lillian888.wordpress.com (honest and engaging topics)

https://artismoments.blogspot.com/ (again brilliant poetry)

S.P. Balasubrahmanyam - A tribute

S.P. Balasubrahmanyam aka SPB or Balu is a predominant play back singer in India, who had been singing since ages majorly in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Hindi and Malayalam films. My heart refuses to refer to him in past tense. His death is one of the many shocking deaths during COVID to me. S.P. Balu's voice has that magic to please you, tease you and lift your spirits in no time, or just make you sad in a matter of seconds. He reigned the Tollywood for many decades and I remember listening to him even before I knew much about movies, music or songs! Not just singing , he also does dubbing, mimicry and has acted in many notable films. I realized he has great acting skills too - He acted as dad, as a supporting actor (guest appearance) and also as a main lead in some of the movies.

Breathless singing by SPB - from a movie "O papa Lali"

Among his many movies, some thing I recently watched after his demise - Mithunam stole my heart. I was in tears by the end of the movie both due to the movie premise and also the empty feeling of losing him. You should watch the movie to understand what I am saying. It is the story of an old couple - S.P. Balu and Lakshmi living in a remote village all alone trying to make the most of the last chapter of their lives, missing kids almost every day and dreading the occurrences of any mishaps! The love and bonding of husband and wife is worth watching. SP Balu's voice gave life to all Kamal Hassan's movies dubbed in Telugu. I still don't know how actual Kamal Hassan sounds. I have always heard him only in SPB's magnetic pitch! There is a movie Dasavatharam in which Kamal plays ten roles. I believe SPB has voiced all the ten voices using his mimicry skills. Watch the video below I stumbled on FB recently... He says how he managed the voices (it is in Telugu)! The video is blocked on blogs - You can watch at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eo_OZDVsB1g.

SPB is equally adored even in Bollywood. He gave voice to Salman Khan. Sang almost all his 90's songs and it used to perfectly suit Salman. No Indian can ever forget Maine Pyar Kia, Saajan or Hum aapke hain kaun - the block buster hits of 90s, in which SPB sang many beautiful songs. In some reality singing show a singer subtly mocked his Hindi pronunciation as there is a hint of southern accent while uttering few words. Whatever may be the accent, you cannot deny this multi talented legend. His voice can woo a woman, make a child smile, make you feel immensely lively! He has won many awards, rewards, broke records and wiki says he entered Guinness records for singing over 40,000 songs. I majorly heard him in Telugu and I play his songs in one time or other on every waking day! There are many hindi, telugu, and tamil songs which are my favorites but some song which I can remember at this moment in hindi is :

Yesudas and SPB - an energetic show

The combination of him and Ilayaraja or Maniratnam or A.R.Rahman or Yesudas is sure to create magic for the listeners/viewers! It is told that he contracted Covid during a live performance. I really hoped that he should not be effected badly.  Heartbreaking is a less intense word to explain what I felt the moment I heard of his demise. My entire child hood, teen and young years are laced and packed in his tone. He has such a soothing pitch. His voice fits all the stars - language no bar. This is a song he sang explaining the corona situation - https://youtu.be/ovXDz9EP84c (a powerful song. You may play it if you understand Telugu!).

R for RRR movie

RRR is the latest movie by Rajamouli which I watched some days back. It was a historic moment for me, not because the movie is of fictional history genre, but because I sat in a cinema hall after 2+ years of COVID life!💛😊

The movie shows the pre independence era of 1920s and the story is a fictional account of lives of two real freedom fighters  Alluri Seetharama Raju (Ram Charan) and Komaram Bheem (NTR) who have same same but different missions. If I write an honest review, I really can't decide if I liked or disliked the movie. There are few bits I liked and few which felt too much over the top for me. May be it is just the outlandish style of Rajamouli. He is well acquainted with grandeur and cinematic brilliance....however just these are not enough to entice everyone is what I felt. The movie had its grand moments. It was a feast to eyes to see so much action executed with ease and great VFX effects! You would enjoy it if you completely 'suspend your disbelief'. 😯

source : here

The story line is good if you ignore one too many illogical occurrences and some loop holes. Ofcourse viewers/fans argue not to find logic as it is a hyper drama flick. The title RRR means - Rise, Roar, Revolt and some say it is Rage, Revenge, Rampage. The director lays strong foundation to what he intends to show - extreme action, drama, emotions, stunts, energetic dances, and everything laced with patriotism. The opening scene of Ram Charan and even NTR were shot quite eventfully showing Fire and Water as their core elements but some scenes even with good effects felt too funny, like NTR fighting a tiger or Ram Charan fighting a mob of 1000s of people, like he is some super hero. It would have been good if some logic was put in to it like why these two heroes possess so many capabilities?!

There are many other such scenes. I couldn't just believe a scene where they save a boy from fire in the water (again poetically director tried to highlight their core factors). I am sure people who love super hero movies would love the scene! Many other fight scenes where they are performing dramatic stunts could have been justified only if some super natural element was added! However it is Rajamouli we are talking about! If Amarendra Bahubali can climb an elephant or pull a chariot easy peasily, may be these people can do what they are doing!

In a Facebook Movie group I am part of, some people have shared crass comments that the protagonists are "ugly". The movie did receive mixed reviews, but both the actors well played their part.

Q for Quarantined!

After dodging the Covid variants for almost 2 years, I finally fell prey to it in the month of January 2022. Just after the pongal festival in South India where we all had a fun 3 days long weekend, the cases soar high and even I contracted during that time. At first my daughter tested positive and I was actually too nervous as kids are not vaccinated. Our doctor was in quite jovial mood because she felt everyone was getting the Omicron variant and the impact won't be serious. She eased us but I still was panicky. Even if we didn't test positive yet, she said we soon will and asked us to isolate for ten days!

Immediate step was to inform maid and our cook to not come. I only felt it natural to inform the apartment mates, even if maids would have spread the happy news😅. I was actually eager to update my fb and WhatsApp status informing the same. It almost felt like not being the odd ones out! I updated and as expected the concerns poured in... Here's the catch! Every one wants to help by a word or an act but they were not sure what to do and there actually is nothing which can be asked!  The real pain is doing the house chores...and none can help you with that! Second or third day after Zaara got infected I too tested positive - symptoms being super dry cough, throat pain, trembling hands, truck loads of weakness.....still we divided duties among us and swept the house alt days and made very light meals if required. We either ordered or my mom being the angel she is, she just sent the food almost every day ! I was surprised to know that this variant or may be others too can be dormant for as good as 14 days!

By 4th/5th day my spirits were really dampened. I really wanted to go out and feel good. Not that I was living any different.. My entire lockdown life was isolated and I lost interest in socializing but I felt quite suffocated by the quarantine label as people would be scared to be near your house!

Some may actually say this to me : here

The ailments I was facing were also nothing different from what I face now and then, barring the extreme weakness... It is possibly due to chores, I thought. My daughter was our mood lifter and even if feeling week, she continued her games, stories, dances and kept our spirits high! I may not have mentioned earlier but she is quite a passionate dancer, yet to be trained. She finds peace in her moves is what I feel. 

I naturally took leaves at work but I did realize that many people who are mildly infected were working and some workaholics even if badly infected continued to work - may be they are bored or may be they find peace in work but I didn't have that luxury, energy or liberty! Omicron was a huge wave washing over everyone is the soon learned fact by the end of Jan! Every one, even doctors started categorically saying that this is end of the CORONA war. It may accept defeat soon! I felt so relieved to hear it!

Page from the past

Schooling now a days is like an investment. You invest lakhs of money, stay nervous about the child's development and expect a ROI. However during my days, schooling was neither expensive nor a marathon to run. We learnt and studied peacefully. We didn't have extra classes, transitions, tuitions or surprise tests but we did well with whatever resources we had! I completed my education in a Govt School with meagre facilities but enjoyed the school years to the fullest! 

I was a good student in school and I even secured district 1st in 7th standard board exams....I used to win in many essay writing or elocution contests. I was one of the bright students or so I as told by my teachers!

Today on my daughter's blog I want to just share a small incident from my school life. Our school always had surprise inspections by DEO (district education officer) or collectors or some other VIPs who want to come check the students' capabilities and the teachers' abilities to teach them! On one such surprise inspection, we had a sadist inspector who entered the premises only with an agenda to torture students! His presence was no less than an army general and the news of his treatment spread quickly to our class with in minutes after he entered school!

He started posing very tough questions like - "how many languages are there on a rupee note," or " what does the flag of Chile look like?" etc. I never heard or read such things so far. We didn't have the luxury of googling in those days. On present day I wish so badly that if I had a smart phone hidden somewhere in my bag, I could have answered!

The sadist entered our class. We all were trembling with fear. My heart was racing and I didn't even get that tensed during my board exams.  

He selected some last benchers purposely and they were not able to answer a single question!

The head mistress then shifted focus towards me! 

"Sir! She is the brightest student in the class. Top ranker. Please ask her!"

He started his question attack one by one and I suddenly became mute. It was as if I had bitten my tongue and couldn't get a word out :(

The authority kept on mocking, "so Miss Topper you don't even know this?"

As the bombardment continued, I started shivering🥶 and was almost in tears!

In my mind - I was kicking him, tightly slapping him...

In my ten second figment of imagination in a parallel universe - I was the inspector and he the student and I made him face the wrath of my questions!

source : here

Ode to Warriors

Oh! So boring! To live in confines of four walls.

Closed are restaurants, theatres, closed are the malls!

As we cribbed, felt mundane and exasperated by the sudden shift in scene

There were few humans who struggled to save us from the demonic Covid 19!

If soldiers fought at the borders, the frontline workers fought to put us within borders!

To put life at stake for the sake of others lives, they were no less than warriors!

Without caring for their families, they worked day and night...

As we munched and binge watched Netflix, they continued their fight!

Even the laathi charge of Police didn't instill fear in all.

The Lockdown was a break for some, a time to plan a trip with a pal.

Tiny tots understood and tried adjusting to the new routine - a reality that many adults dismissed!

For some, the picture became clear when one after the other, many succumbed.

For many it still is all a hoax, unnecessary panic created by ulterior groups!

Getting exposed to virus is a myth to them, as they dish out gyaan on the WhatsApp statuses!!

To save such, do our Warriors need to suffer and let Covid take a toll?

Is it worth it to get beaten up for asking humans to follow protocol?

A simple concept like social distancing could not be explained to public!

Essential workers toiled day and night to avoid millions of working from home folks from getting sick.

People lost jobs, economies fell flat, tears flowed, miseries spread, death rates increased!

In mid of all this our frontline angels worked 24*7 unflinched !

I couldn't bear when a doctor bid farewell to his family.

How many lives would have been risked while discovering the vaccine, which some felt is silly!

We cannot follow a simple rule, stick to few doable guidelines and we even fight against them!

Rather than thanking all who strived for us, we find it amusing to blame!!

 

The virus had a new political variant, people formed groups, naysayers created uproar!

Our warriors continued their work and flattening the curve was their only chore!

I thank our COVID warriors for bringing us out of lacunae and imbibing a bit of courage to cope.

As I remember them today and everyday, any prayer or a tribute falls short for the real heroes who in our lives, filled hope!

I am participating in Blogging from A-Z challenge 2022 and this is my O post. I am taking up this challenge after many years as I want to talk about Covid life and the daughter diaries!

Some interesting blogs you can visit:

https://brizzymaysbooksandbruschettasite.wordpress.com/

https://lisasgardenadventureinoregon.blogspot.com/

https://reflection-by-ranjana.blogspot.com/

https://thedreamgirlwrites.wordpress.com/