Bulbul nest building

Our families have known each other for the last two

decades. They live close by. But we don't understand

their language and they don't understand ours.  Our

food habits are different.  Their children do not attend

any school. They have stolen things from our house.

Now they are trying to encroach on our property and

I am resisting. But we still have a lot of  goodwill between us !

These  bulbuls have always been around us. It is now 

more than twenty years since one of them entered our

kitchen for the first time to steal bananas.  I understand

that their life span is about 11 years. It is possible that

what we see presently are the offsprings of the ones

that started the relationship. 

It began with the birds flying into our kitchen and helping

themselves to the bananas hung in a bunch on a hook

in our kitchen. They were seen in the kitchen window

every morning making a loud noise and they flew in

when we went out of sight and helped themselves to

the bananas. So we always kept a couple of fruits

reserved for them. 

They kept constant company with my mother.  She used

to sit next to the open window reading the whole day.

They flew in and out of the window and amused her

with their antics. 

When the construction of our  house was going on, my

younger son made a request asking us to keep a

permanent opening on top of one of the windows.

He wanted the birds to get in and out of the house as

they pleased. His wish was accommodated and a

circular opening of about a foot in diameter was made

in the kitchen wall. We call it ‘Akshay’s bird window’.

It has not been used by any bird till this day. All of them

use the balcony door or the other windows. But probably

the ‘bird window’ expressed our goodwill towards them

and  they appreciate the goodwill gesture !  

I think that is the reason for our living room being the first

choice for these pair of birds, when they feel the necessity

to build a nest. Soon after the mating season I notice

them flying in and out of our living room carrying bits of

twigs, wire, grass etc etc and attempting to build a nest.

But unfortunately they always choose the most vulnerable

places for their nest.  Like the hook in the ceiling on which

our swing is hung or the back of the wall mounted fan

which is in constant motion the entire  summer. 

I am forced to prevent these attempts but they persist

for a long time before they give up and settle for

another place. This year I have been removing their

building material from the back of our fan every day

for the last ten days and they have not given up yet.

Last year they changed the site after trying  our fan for t

wo weeks. They found a cluster of electric wiring  outside

the ground floor window, used it,  and they were

successful in raising a family. I wish them similar luck

this year too.

ದಾಸರ ಪದಗಳ ಗಾಯನ ಮತ್ತು ಕೊಂಚ ಅರ್ಥ ವಿಶ್ಲೇಷಣೆ ಎರಡನ್ನೂ ಒಂದೆಡೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ತಂದಿರಿಸುವ ಒಂದು ಪ್ರಯತ್ನ ಇದು. ಭಾಷೆ ಕನ್ನಡ. ಗಾಯನ ಶ್ರೀಮತಿ ಬೃಂದಾ ರಾವ್. ವಿವರಣೆ ಡಾ ಎಂ ಎಸ್ ರಘುನಂದನ್. ‘Dasa sahitya’ in kannada is a term used for the writings of saints belonging to ‘Dasa pantha’ or ‘dasa’ tradition. Sri Purandara dasaru is the most prominent among them but we also have many others who followed the same tradition, namely, Gopaladasaru, Vijayadasaru, Kanakadasaru and others. Their form of writing is usually poetic and the stress is on devotion.  Most of them are very simple and can be easily understood by anyone. But some of them, usually called ‘MunDige’, appear to make no sense on the first look, but have a very profound philosophical meaning. The compositions were composed and recited instantly, mostly on the move, and not written down and maintained in a systematic manner. (they were recorded in writing by those who heard them) Hence, there is a lot of discrepancy in the mentioned number of compositions, their lyrics as well as interpretation. Even explanations given by the scholars sometimes do not sound logical and convincing. We have tried to give a rendition of some of the songs and also an explanation of some of the ‘dasarapada’, in these youtube videos. The singing is by Brinda Rao and the commentary is by M S Raghunandan.  

ದಾಸರ ಪದಗಳು ಅಥವಾ ರಚನೆಗಳು ಐದುಸಾವಿರವೆಂದು ಕೆಲವರ ಮತ, ಐವತ್ತುಸಾವಿರವೆಂದು

ಕೆಲವರ ಎಣಿಕೆ, ಐದು ಲಕ್ಷವೆನ್ನುವರು ಮತ್ತೆ ಕೆಲವರು. ಖಚಿತವಾಗಿ ತಿಳಿಯದು. ಪದಗಳ

ಸಾಹಿತ್ಯವೂ ಹಾಗೆಯೇ. ಭಾವ ಹೆಚ್ಚುಕಡಿಮೆ ಒಂದೇ ಇದ್ದರೂ ಪದಗಳ ಉಪಯೋಗದಲ್ಲಿ

ಅಂದರೆ ಬರಹದಲ್ಲಿ ಮತ್ತು ಹಾಡುಗಾರಿಕೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಸಹ ಅನೇಕ ವತ್ಯಾಸಗಳು ಕಾಣಬರುತ್ತವೆ.

ದಾಸರ ಕೆಲವು ಪದಗಳು ಬಹಳ ಸರಳ. ಅದಕ್ಕೆ ಯಾರೂ ಅರ್ಥ ತಿಳಿಸಬೇಕಿಲ್ಲ. ಕೆಲವು

ಪದಗಳ ತಲೆ ಬುಡ ತಿಳಿಯುವುದಿಲ್ಲ. ಅಂಥ ರಚನೆಗಳಿಗೆ ತಿಳಿದವರು ಕೆಲವರು ನೀಡಿರುವ 

ಅರ್ಥಗಳು ಕೂಡ ಅನೇಕ. ನಮಗೆ ಎಟಕುವಂತಿರುವ ಕೆಲವು ದಾಸರಪದಗಳ ಗಾಯನ,

ಅವುಗಳ ವ್ಯಾಖ್ಯಾನ ಒಂದೆಡೆ ದೊರೆಯುವಂತೆ ಮಾಡುವುದು ನಮ್ಮ ಈ ಯು ಟ್ಯೂಬ್

ವಿಡಿಯೋಗಳ ಉದ್ದೇಶ್ಯ. ಇಲ್ಲಿನ ಗಾಯನ ಬೃಂದಾ ರಾವ್ ಅವರದು, ವಿವರಣೆ ರಘುನಂದನ

ಎಂಬ ಹೆಸರಿನ ನನ್ನದು. ತಾವು ಕೇಳಿದರೆ ಸಂತೋಷ, ತಮ್ಮ ಅನಿಸಿಕೆಯನ್ನು ತಿಳಿಸಿದರೆ ಹೆಚ್ಚಿನ ಸಂತೋಷ. 

Daasa sahitya siri : 1 ‘Maadusikkadalla’  Sung by Brinda Rao 

Explanation : Dr M S Raghunandan  

Guest and the good will

John Fernandes runs a bar and restaurant near my house.

He is a soft spoken good natured individual and his wife

is a great cook. I had heard that she prepared the

food which was served in their bar/restaurant. I had

never visited the bar but had tasted her christmas cake.

It is one of the best that I have  eaten. 

Recently a friend of mine was expected to visit me

and he had expressed his wish to taste the authentic

goan fish preparation. I went into John’s bar and

asked Pauline, John’s wife, if she is still cooking for

their customers. She said that due to her age and

physical disabilities she has stopped serving cooked

food, expressed her regrets and said that they now

served just some spiced nuts and other snacks

with drinks. I took my friend to another restaurant

which had been recommended by people who knew.

We had nothing to do in the evening and thought

of going out for a drink before dinner. We went

to John’s bar, I introduced my friend and asked for

a peg of whiskey. We were chatting over the drink

when Pauline silently brought a plate of fried fish

and placed it in front of us. I was surprised but

was happy to see that. My friend ate the fish and

said that it was even better than the one he had

tasted earlier in the afternoon. He enjoyed it

thoroughly and took another drink to go with it. 

John proudly introduced us to all his regular

customers, my friend enjoyed his fish and drink

and we spent a happy hour there. It was time to

leave and when the bill was produced I felt that

it was much less than expected. Since we had taken

the same fish in the other restaurant that afternoon

I knew the cost was considerable. Actually it costed

much more than the whiskey we had consumed.

I asked John if he included the fish in the bill ?  

“Fish ?” He exclaimed. “We bring good fish whenever

we find it in the market, spice it and keep it in the

fridge. It comes in handy when we feel like eating

or when we have unexpected guests. It was an

offering for a special guest. You don't have to

pay for it !”  

Drink was good, fish was very good but the feel

of goodwill was great ! 

Knoxville TN 2025

Datta is my childhood friend. He now lives in Colorado Springs, USA. I had been to his place when I visited the US for the first time. This visit I was unable to go there. Since Mohammad could not go to the mountain, the mountain decided to come to Mohammad. Datta came to Nashville, where I am presently staying, and both of us travelled to Knoxville, another city in Tennessee, and stayed in a hotel for two days with an intention of talking, talking, talking and time permitting, visiting the Smokey Mountains. 

Knoxville seemed to be a nice place. The Tennessee river flows right in the middle of the city and adds considerable charm to the place. The usual river side restaurants and river  cruises are there but they seemed to be low key. The river side walking path is a wonderful place for a leisurely walk. The university of Tennessee is located in the city and it probably helps in reducing the average age of the residents and adds some bounce to the place. You can see lots of young boys and girls running around the place and literally running during early mornings and evenings. The downtown is full of coffee shops, ice cream places and restaurants and the university colors of Orange and white are everywhere. During the evenings, one may spend an hour or more just moving around the market square or if your legs are not used to moving, sitting on one of the benches in the square.  

As it happened, we did visit the Great Smoky Mountains. The ‘Smoky’ in the name is because of the dense fog around the range seen from a distance but as one gets closer, one may believe that the ‘smoky’ is because of the fuel smoke from the thousands of vehicles which clog the mountain roads ! But it was a wonderful trip. The fall colours are yet to take hold of the range in full ernest but it has begun and the vegetation is beautiful as it is. The clear stream running along the road makes the route very pleasant. We did reach the highest point, the ‘Clingman’s Dome’ but I was fascinated more by the presence of the Appalachian Trail, the longest hiking trail in the world - 3420 kms - which passes through the top of the range. We did walk along the trail for half a kilometer and now I can boast that I have walked the AT too !  

On the whole, we walked a considerable amount, talked a lot, laughed a lot, cried a bit and had a wonderful time together befitting our meeting after fifteen years. I am sixty nine and he is seventy two. We stay nearly 20,000 kms apart. Who knows when we see each other next ?

Toilet Remote !

I found this remote control device in the bathroom of a house I happened to visit. I had thought that I had been  ‘toilet trained’ when I was a child and I never imagined that I may again need TT in my life to perform one of the most basic functions of my body. As the remote control device shows, you can warm up the seat, use hot or cold water and clean yourself in a dozen different ways if you make proper use of this device. Because of my previous experiences with technology,  I am apprehensive about using it without training. Who knows ? By pressing one wrong button I may scald my butt !

Seeing this device, I was reminded of two other articles I have read about the subject. One was the childhood stories of Roald Dahl, where he describes about his boarding school days in England. I understand that the juniors were totally under the mercy of the house captain or the master, as they were known. This captain / master was a senior student whose wish was an order which invoked severe punishment if overlooked. Dahl has written about being sent to the toilet during winters to sit on the toilet seat for some time before the master intended using it, to keep the seat warm for the master. This gadget does that job now. It was probably a mercy that the juniors were not asked to scrub the captain after he was done, which task is also now performed by this gadget ! 

The second one was an article by one of the very popular Marathi writers Sri P L DeshapanDe.  Pu la DeshapanDe. Unfortunately I was unable to read the Marathi original and only read a Kannada translation. That was about four or five decades back.  PLD writes that he visited the new house of a friend. This friend, being a believer in the latest technology, had made use of all the latest gadgets he could find. He gave a tour of the house showing off all the gadgets in the house and when they reached the toilet, explained - ‘You don’t have to switch on the light. You open the door and the bulb lights up. You don’t have to open the tap. You touch this button and the bucket fills up. You don’t have to clean the pan. You touch this button and the pan cleans itself’ and so on and so forth.  After hearing all the explanations PLD responds  ‘all that is very well. But after I sit there, do I have to strain or the evacuation also happens at the touch of a button ?!

 ‘ಪಕ್ಷಪಾತಿ ಸೂರ್ಯ’ 

ಅಲ್ಲಿಯೂ ಇದೇ ಸೂರ್ಯನೇ. 

ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಮೂಡುವಂತೆಯೇ ಅಲ್ಲಿಯೂ 

ಮೂಡುತ್ತಾನೆ, ಮುಂಜಾನೆ, ನಮ್ಮೂರಿನಲ್ಲಿ  

ಇಲ್ಲಿ 

ಸುಂದರವಾದ ಸಾಲು ಮನೆಗಳ ನಡುವೆ   

ಅಂದವಾಗಿ ಹರಡಿದ ಹುಲ್ಲುಹಾಸಿನ ಹಿಂದೆ 

ಚಂದವಾಗಿ ಬೆಳೆದ ಗಿಡಮರಗಳ ಎಡೆಯಿಂದ  

ನಸುಗೆಂಪಿನ ಮಂದಹಾಸ ಸೂಸುತ್ತಾನೆ  

ಅಲ್ಲಿ 

ನನ್ನ ಆಕ್ಷೇಪವನ್ನು ಪಕ್ಕಕ್ಕೊತ್ತರಿಸಿ

ನನ್ನ ಪಕ್ಕವೇ ನನ್ನ ಗೋಡೆಗೊತ್ತರಿಸಿ 

ಪಕ್ಕದವ ಕಟ್ಟಿದ ಎತ್ತರದ ಮಾಳಿಗೆಯ 

ಪಕ್ಕದಿಂದ ಉರಿವ ಬಿರುಗಣ್ಣು ಬೀರುತ್ತಾನೆ  ...... 

(ಅಮೆರಿಕೆಯ ಟೆನ್ನೆಸ್ಸಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಎದುರುಮನೆಯ ಪಕ್ಕದಲ್ಲಿ ಬೆಳಗಿನ ಸೂರ್ಯ ಕಂಡಾಗ ಮನದಲ್ಲಿ ಮೂಡಿದ ಪದ್ಯ)

 

Experiencing goodness 2

Few days back, I wrote about the ‘pavwalah’. I had mentioned experiencing

the ‘good’ side of people. Here is the second. 

Mrs Sharma is a patient of mine. She has been one for a long time. Her standard

complaint is that she has an ‘irritation’ in the gums. Her gums irritate her and

she in turn irritates me ! If I cure her gum irritation I can get rid of my irritation

but it is yet to happen. 

She will call me for an appointment. I suggest,

“Ten thirty on 22nd, Thursday”.

“Oh, no doctor. I have a wedding to attend on 22nd.” 

“Ok, then.  Please make it on 23rd evening 5pm”

“23rd I have an appointment for my eye check up doctor.”

“Ok 24th if you please”

“My daughter’s exams start on 24th, doctor. I have to drop her and pick her up”

“Then make it the 20th”

“20th is Amavasya doctor, I am fasting and I also have to go to the temple”.

“Ok madame, you tell me when it is convenient to you”

She will mention a date which will be our weekly holiday. I reject that and again

it will be my turn to suggest.  After this elaborate exercise, we fix a date two weeks

ahead.  She will call me ten days before the appointment to confirm the date again,

then a week before and three days before. On the day before the appointment,

she will call and say “so sorry doctor, I have some urgent work at our native place

regarding a property and will be out of station for sometime. Can we make another

appointment ?”  I tell her to call me after she is back in Ponda and her ‘gum irritation’

would temporarily be forgotten. It would surface once more when she sees my face

somewhere once again. 

I have known Mrs Sharma for more than twenty years and she did make it to my

clinic a few times. I suggested some remedies to clear her ‘gum irritation’ but

none of them have been put into effect. If she meets me, the ‘gum irritation’ is

remembered and the above process starts all over again. So, I try to hide my

face and change lanes whenever there is a chance meeting. 

I tried to heave her off to my son after he became a dentist and then to my

daughter in law after my son married another dentist. Both of them very cleverly

told the lady that what she has is an old problem and it is better treated by

old people who know her and her problem well.  And they have put her back

on my turf. 

I was in the supermarket two days back. I had only three items in my hand.

Mrs Sharma was at the billing counter - next in line to the one whose billing was

going on. I tried to duck my head and rush past her to the next counter. All the

counters were busy with people having truckloads of purchases. Mrs Sharma saw

me and called out “oh doctor, come, come here”. She had two loaded baskets with

her. I pointed to her baskets and said that I was in a hurry and can’t wait long. And

there were already two more customers behind her.  “No, no. You don't have to wait.

You go next”. She pushed her baskets aside, told the people behind her that she

was letting me go ahead and made way for me. “Please come. You only have

three items”.  

I thanked her and the counter clerk entered my purchase. It was Four hundred and

six rupees. I handed a five hundred.  The clerk searched in her box for change,

gave me a hundred and asked “Sir, do you have six rupees?”. I did not have it and

said that I would get it from my car parked a little away. I keep some coins in the car.

Mrs sharma interfered. “No, doctor, you go. You don't have to come back”. She

opened her purse saying “I have lot of change here”, she handed six rupees to the

clerk and turned to me again  “You go doctor, people may be waiting for you. Don't

bother about this six rupees”.  

It was very very nice of her. Mrs Sharma is not an irritation any more !