Of Stones, Stories & Cities

ಮೂರ್ಖಂಗೆ ಬುದ್ಧಿಯನು ನೂರ್ಕಾಲ ಹೇಳಿದರು

ಗೋರ್ಕಲ್ಲಮೇಲೆ ಮಳೆಗರೆದರೆ, ಆಕಲ್ಲು

ನೀರ್ಕುಡಿವುದೇ ಸರ್ವಜ್ಞ?

Moorkhange budhiyanu noorkaala helidaru

Gorkallamele malegaredare, aakallu

neerukudivude Sarvajna

-Sarvajna-

Translation: Giving advice to a fool for hundred years is as useless as a heavy rain pouring on a stone. The stone never drinks the water.

Sarvajna summed it up quite well in the 16th century, well to add to his Tripadi the stones can stand the sun and rain but not human indifference, especially our Inscription Stones.

I am glad that I was one amongst a group of Bangaloreans who crossed the fence. Today we were at Hebbal as a part of the Brass Replica distribution ceremony for the donors who had donated to the construction of the mantappa for the Kittaiah inscription organized by members of Inscription Stones of Bangalore. 

It turned out to be a great winter morning with fellow city dwellers who care about the city's roots and history and more importantly with people who are actually doing something about it. Uday Kumar, who has been driving this citizen led project showed us the first pleasant surprise as we reached, a 18th century inscription stone tucked in a corner inside this local diety Maramma's temple. We humans in the 21st century have ensured that we give our future generation enough concrete to excavate, smeared in layers of all pastes and grilled. As we were discussing we found the localities performing some rituals of worship, this got me into a train of thought. Why don't we find out what exactly are we worshipping, why aren't we told, why don't we question? An eye for these precious details of the past is all that we need if we really wish to protect them.

Maramma temple and another inscription

 What got us all together on a cold December Sunday morning in the narrow lanes of Hebbal here was the love towards our city-Bangalore, Bengaluru, Bendakalooru, Vengalur-call it by whatever name. The eagerness to learn and preserve what we own is thankfully alive with some people. 

With the original, before it gets on the Ganga Mantapa

During the session we met a localite Dilip, he is the first person who noticed this piece of our city's history lying in a drain and approached the people of Inscription Stones of Bangalore for its revival. We got to hear about this oldest inscription in detail from the renowned epigraphist and historian Dr PV Krishnamurthy, he was the first to decipher the Halegannada letters on this stone, listening to him was better than an history class in school, such an inspiring eloquence. I couldn't stop myself from recording his words for fifteen minutes! We met Yashaswini Sharma who is the architect behind the Ganga style Mantapa that is being built for these inscription stones, I have ordered her book on Bangalore in which she has extensively researched upon the city and I cannot wait to read it! There are many others like Vinay Kumar, Dhanpal Manchenahalli, Prof. Narasimhan, Alex Kevin, Mohan, Srinivas; people whom I have read about and some of them whom I have met on other occasions. Also there were anonymous donors who gifted these brass replicas to people who have worked extensively for the history of this city. Now where else would you find such collective selflessness?

Nammoora Janaru

More often than we know we as citizens complain about the government and bureaucracy, about bad roads and power cuts, about power and corruption. Initiatives such as these where people who are pushing this first of it's kind project speak positively about the support that is received from the administration are commendable.  We Bangaloreans are indeed optimistic and can really work as a team despite our varied professional backgrounds.

The Brass replica

The oldest named Bangalorean, Kittaiah, his brass replica has reached my shelf today and I am going to share this story with whoever visits our home. There is more to this city of Kempegowda, more than the 'City of Boiled Beans' is what I am going to tell them.  

The handout with the details

The handout inside the memento has all the details about the history and deciphering, the process of excavation and installation of this inscription, both in English and Kannada. The compilation is an effort of all our fellow Bangaloreans who have cared for this cause.

The original inscription

Try reading it !

All fellow Bangaloreans and Bangalore admirers can support this initiative called Inscription Stones of Bangalore at

https://imojo.in/InscriptionStones

Your love towards the city of Bangalore and contribution will fund the building of a Ganga-style mantapa for the inscription , you will also receive a high-quality 1/8 scale brass replica of the 750CE Hebbal inscription stone in gratitude.

Do something for the city you live in.

Be a part of Bangalore.

Also do listen to this Vachana, some food for thought.

-R.

#bangalore #nammaoorunammahemme#inscriptionstonesofbangalore l#bangaloreheritage #bangalorediaries#kittaiah #bendakalooru #bengaluru#kittaiahhebbalinscription

Behind The Festivities

Happy Navrathri to all! 

Sorry I do not have any pompous picture of  the festivities of today. I have a better celebration to show. A celebration of art. While on my way to work everyday I see these guys in a makeshift settlement near a traffic signal. The love with which they make these stuff will make us forget DaVinci, Picasso or Michelangalo. Look at the guy holding a bucket of paint and helping his brother,such an infectious smile! Although they seem content in their own world, there is a lot more we can do as fellow citizens.I see people bargain when they buy things from them, these are the same men and women who do not mind paying in hundreds for parking in a shopping mall. I will not say more. Our artists deserve a better platform, and a much better life!

-R.

Touch-Me-Not

On this earth, wish each life big ’n small

Had the heart and grit of a touch me not

Closing their doors to the pain and strife

To everything that we refute, every time

An axe is up in the air for all that timber

A knife is made sharper for all that meat

 More than a conscience, celebrating guilt

What we mind only on days such as these

Has been here around ‘n surrounds us all

Suffering, while surviving the selfish lot

Whom do we owe for this living and life?

The strength supreme, subtle and sublime

Of nature who bears our hunger ’n slumber

Against whom we fight this battle of defeat

Or her patience on which our ego lies built

Forgetting she is nobody’s enemy to please.

-R- 

PS: Written as a part of World Environment Day on June 5th 2014, theme of the year- 'RAISE YOUR VOICE, NOT THE SEA LEVEL' :-). To know more do visit United Nations Environment Programme.

Howdy! Weather ?

Edward Hamilton Aitken in one part of his book ‘A naturalist on the prowl’ talking about the banian tree sensibly writes“…another thing that makes futile much of our roadside planting is the erratic selection of trees, without any regard to whether they will grow or do any good where we put them” If you were to see the kind of trees being cut, and the kind of those being planted (if at all any) I am sure there is nothing that we can find to correlate. And how we swear on the sun, the summer and go, “The temperature this year could go a record high, may cross forty five” like we do not know how and why.

A fortnight ago when I was back at home all what I heard from people around was ” Bangalore was never this hot”, of course it was not. Like in most of the conversations where there is a talk about each other’s health and the weather, there are some amongst us like my mother who never stops telling about the beauty of Bangalore weather twenty or thirty years ago. The early morning mist, the walks, the birds, the flowers, the coffee, the cold just resting like a blanket on the skin, well it surely must have been heaven. And how I envy her! Throughout all the years of my growing up in Bangalore on such similar mornings I would tell “It’s cold right”,”Ah this is nothing!” she would retort. I wonder till date which heaven she loves talking about.

This was a couple of years back 'Garden City Bangalore? 50000 trees cut, more to go' and we still are counting. And while citing the reason I am not going to mention the obvious. More than the trains, the trams and the buildings it is because of we being complacent about issues. It is because we are sure that the consequence does not affect us immediately. The sun has to shine right on our head, burn through the thick of our skin, make us sweat till the last drop of water inside. Until then we prefer to live with this question “Howdy! Weather? ”

PS: If you are a Bangalorean, apart from waiting for the Metro to start in your area is there anything else you wish to do? ;-)

-R

Of Corruption Weeds And Conscience Seeds

Only if every Indian had followed Bapu's words with a tad bit of seriousness we would not have reached this sorry state post independence.Sigh!Of all the issues that have hindered our progress corruption tops the list.It has grown through ages and now has deep roots in our system.A change therefore cannot be brought overnight.Also there is a large section of our society which is unaware of any matter of individual or national importance,for whom meeting daily needs is a strife by itself.These are the ones who are an object of misuse for those who are in power.The rest are we,the ones stuck in between who are unfortunately always ready to let go anything and everything.

While we have lived with a hundred discontentment of this kind all these years,in the past few days we have awakened with a new voice.A seventy two year old had the strength to step forward and the determination to bring in some change.People throughout the nation have supported Anna Hazare in this endeavour against corruption.Non governmental organizations,corporates,NRIs,film industry,media,social networking sites and most of all the common man.Political parties and our their leaders have also expressed their solidarity for reasons else.Despite being criticized for its very idealistic approach,the Jan Lokpal Bill has finally been considered by the Indian Government to be passed in the monsoon session of 2011.

So what makes this movement extraordinary?Definitely no other cause would have seen the same uproar.Today the frustration of citizens is more than evident.Although we do not wholly understand the constitution and legal procedures,we have realized that there are no stringent law to whip the corrupt.What we must know is that this bill is not targeted against any government,political leader or party in particular.It is meant to be applied by and for every citizen of this country.If there are loopholes,we are surely sufficient to correct them.Something is always better than nothing.

"To oppose corruption in government is the highest obligation of patriotism"

-G Edward Griffin-

But there are some questions that we need to answer while we wait for this bill to come into force.What after India Against Corruption?Can every demand of ours be met by hunger strikes?How long will this furor last?Will corruption ever end?What is our role?Add a few more-

How many of us can stand in a queue and go by the rules without complaining?

How many of us do not give bribe in a government office to get work done?

How many of us do not tip the traffic police if we violate a traffic rule?

How many of us do not evade tax on things that we own and buy?

How many of us vote during the elections?

How many of us can say this with pride?

-Yes I am not corrupt,nor is my leader!

We need to correct ourselves first.We must stop watering the weeds in our backyard.Revolution in the truest sense begins from within.Apart from water,food,home,electricity,petrol,roads and employment,we need integrity and security.We need prosperity on an equal scale not scandals and scams.We need responsible citizens more than leaders.We need duties as much as rights.Helplessness and ignorance cannot be a reason for our lack of concern and action.If they are then there is nothing that can save us from this moral more than monetary misery.

The world may laugh at our our freedom and democracy now or in a few years down the lane.If there is something that we can do to stop now,why not do it?Agreed that there is no shortage of rules and regulations,there is  no dearth of people who break them too.Isn't it in our hands to make this one count?When we see anything or anyone working against the law let us make an effort to question and curtail.Let us make ourselves accountable and put our Indianness to a prudent use.Let us begin!

To read and support more through the world wide web visit-

India Against Corruption-Website

Avaaz-Stand With Anna Hazare

Anna Hazare-Website

India Against Corruption-Wikipedia

India Against Corruption-Facebook

-R.