Things That Bang

In my arms you find death. The deceptive embrace warms your departing soul. Teeth dig in and tongue laps in with a sweet thirst that your kind call deliberate murder. Droplets stain the stiff collar of your office shirt. Memories of mundane living pass through my mind like distorted reel punctuated with flights of emotions.
I pull you closer to my cold bosom and strain against your heart that slowly forgets to beat. We make love- Death and life.

You sigh and your arms fall to your sides. Your eyes stare at the migratory cranes that fly across the sombre cold moon and their woeful cries are the last echoing sounds you remember.
In death I release you from the shackles of flesh and you feel lighter. But a thin chain of grief holds you back from floating away like a cloud responding to the call of a wayward wind. Your soul turns and looks at the empty shell that housed you held by another vessel that brims full with your blood.

You watch as I hold you closer still and cry dead tears. You gaze up again at the luminescent moon and stars that seem closer. Home, you think and become one with the energy of life. I lay down your corpse still warm with our embrace and head towards the bright lights and laughter. The hunger remains and the grief- a constant companion.

Posted by Deepti Lamba at 05:40 PM Stumble It! digg this del.icio.us Fark It | Permalink | Comments () | TrackBacks (0)

So my readership plummeted from the tallest building this side of the earth. I haven't been updating the one thing I fought tooth and nail to keep alive couple of years back and at one point I even considered shutting down the site. Let the grassy knolls cover the ground and I would disappear into an unknown existence.

Passion for online publishing left me and I began to float on the river of life like debris . No struggle, no breath to be taken. Writing died a quiet death and yet resurrection continued to wait patiently around the corner. Anything could have caused the spark to become a roaring bone fire and I'd be transported to a universe where words streamed from my mind to the medium of communication.

But to stay in that rhythm is hard for the world always beckons and if not the world the internal resistance to expressing all that is grand brings the work to a grinding halt. And for someone like me those moments are plenty.

Its kind of tough to believe my work is grand. Its like hearing -- 'you are pretty' and not believing it. In a twisted way being humble means not accepting what makes usbest and we let the doubts gnaw at our talents till there is nothing left but a mass of quivering desperation to break free.

The world doesn't beat us down. The world is what the world always has been. We do it to ourselves. We beat ourselves down and lock away what we are good at. And thats whats happened here. I locked away what is the best of me and threw away the key down a endless ravine. The fears are all mine. None were sown in me but were born from my own drowning insecurities.

The site continues to be a part of me. A reflection of a writer's mind and its diminishing presence a staked claim of a scared mind.

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Last weekend we wanted to get away from the city for a short trip and living in Bangalore makes such sojourns possible. We went to Bheemeshwari, a fishing camp managed by Jungle Lodges Resorts, the Karnataka Government-funded company that runs fine camps in Karnataka sanctuaries. Bheemeshwari is about hundred kilometers from Bangalore, about 40 km from Kanakapura. We drove out of the city at eight in the morning and were there by ten, much to our surprise.

The roads were butter smooth except for a few patches where a small nondescript town, a few miles before of the camp, wore a war torn look. It was quite a disturbing and dusty drive through the dilapidated town but then the deciduous greenery and rolling hillocks re-appeared and the gentle Kaveri ran parallel to the road.

As usual, there were monkeys and plastic bags littering the landscape. It seems that the Nilgiri hills are the only hills devoid of ugly fluttering plastic bags. We drove on and reached Bheemeshwari. There are two other camps along the Cauvery operated by Jungle Lodges, Galibore and Doddamakali.

The Bheemeshwari Fishing Camp has tented huts, cottages and log Huts. We stayed in a cottage facing the river close to the reception. The dining hall was a quite a walk for us, but one we thoroughly enjoyed. The Fishing Camp is child friendly, the food is a little spicy but delicious and the people who work there are considerate, such as Mr. Anthony, the resident coordinator, who roams around with an unloaded rifle which he points at the monkeys when they get a little too noisy.




The area is well lit and unlike B R Hills, where lights go off at ten in the night here the rooms not only has electricity through the night but each unit has an AC.

The cottages are reasonably priced -Rs 7000 for adults and 50% less for children under ten.

As usual there is no television and no cell phone connections. Its a place to relax, play with kids on the nets, play swings and of course go fishing.







The resident monkeys are quite genial, not the rough and intrusive variety we've seen elsewhere. There are also large squirrels and other small wildlife.



Swimming is not allowed, as there are whirlpools and the occasional crocodile. We spotted our first crocodile sunning itself on one of the river rocks within a few minutes into our arrival at the Camp and those around us were also excited to spot the croc without going on a 'river safari' (boat ride).

The Cauvery river is teeming with Mahaseer. These are gorgeous fish that can grow up to three feet and when caught they have to be released back in the waters. Fun fishing, as they call it, takes place early in the morning and late afternoon. We could not go for fishing since we were with kids but there were local kids at the camp who helped us fish with nothing more than a twine tied to wood. They made clumps of Ragi balls on the hooks and with a mean swing threw the line in the water.

Initially I shouted - 'Money making Scam' to Aaman as I waited holding the twine. But within five minutes there was a tug and I was screaming as I pulled the line in. I caught my first small Mahaseer, and it was gorgeous.



The slime that coats the fish made it slippery and as it flipped on the ground one of the boys caught it quickly, Aaman took a picture and we released it back in the waters.

Aaman too caught a Mahaseer, though a smaller one.

We also went on a boat ride on the Coracle. Since the boats are round we twirled around in the water and my heart thumped due to my fear of deep waters. Kids enjoyed the boat ride and were hungry pretty soon.

When we returned we had coffee, tea and sanwiches and I made Aayan read the sign that warned that swimming wasn't allowed in the waters since there were dangerous whirlpools and crocodiles in the river.

The fishing camp has a lot of photographs showing people holding the big Mahaseers and its a matter of luck whether one catches fish or one can get none. We managed to catch the baby ones without much effort and were tickled pink about it.

The food at the camp especially at night was drool-worthy. At 7:30 in the evening they had barbeque - there was tandoori chicken, pakoras and beer. People sat around and chatted and then at about 8:30 we had our dinner.

The way back to the cottage was well-lit and we didn't stumble around like we did back in BR Hills.

We slept well at night and morning had a scrumptious breakfast before we headed back to the city.

Its best to have a heavy breakfast before heading to the camp. The rooms are available after 12 noon and food is available only from lunch time onwards.

Like us most people landed up early and on empty bellies. Also its important to carry munchies, books and other activity items like cards and board games. Remember, do not feed the monkeys nor swim in the waters no matter how calm and inviting the Cauvery may look.

Posted by Deepti Lamba at 10:47 PM Stumble It! digg this del.icio.us Fark It | Permalink | Comments () | TrackBacks (0)

The concept of an all women gym is not a bad idea. Today I didn't finish my floor exercises. I lay down on the mat after doing hard core cardio and felt eyes on me. Not that I am a hot sister of Aish or Sushmita Sen. I was a regular babe at the gym. Well, at the time for some weird reason, I happened to be the only babe there surrounded by men.

It wasn't as if they all were drooling over me. For most I could be a fly on the wall but there were those dumb jackasses who gave me the once over while I worked out.

At the gym its all about being asexual. That is one of the unwritten but well understood rules. The last straw was while I was doing the crunches a dude just sat on the mat and watched. Anger clouded my senses and I had a hard time taming the Kali in me. I wanted to stamp the dude's face to a pulp and feed his nasty eyes to the crows.

I picked up my stuff and left. I could have made a scene but it would have served no purpose. But I am mulling over talking to the management about it if this sort of behavior continues. Maybe they can put up a sign - Check self not others. Not funny, right? neither is my need to tick those a-holes off either.

Posted by Deepti Lamba at 09:37 PM Stumble It! digg this del.icio.us Fark It | Permalink | Comments () | TrackBacks (0)

My first book, Prime Cuts - An Anthology of Stories is up on Amazon for the Kindle, PC version too

Posted by Deepti Lamba at 05:25 PM Stumble It! digg this del.icio.us Fark It | Permalink | Comments () | TrackBacks (0)

Naturally Lisa Ray's blog -The Yellow Diaries deserved to be the Blog of the Year given her extraordinary fight against Cancer.

Much honored and surprised. Thanks India Today.

Posted by Deepti Lamba at 09:03 PM Stumble It! digg this del.icio.us Fark It | Permalink | Comments () | TrackBacks (0)

The Dakshnineshwar Kali Temple is most familiar through its association with Ramakrishna Paramhamsa, who was its head priest from 1855 till his death in 1886. His mystical visions and experiences at the temple brought it much acclaim and a strong following. The unceasing retinue of visitors continues even today.

On our recent Christmas holiday to Kolkata, we decided to visit the place along with some Western friends. The journey was a varied ones, passing through many versions of India, from colonial buildings to modern crowded streets.

The temple was closed for viewing, but the queues of visitors waited patiently for the doors to open.

The central temple has an Orthodox Russian feel to it. It is a traditional Bengali Navaratna style, though, with nine spires.

Close to the temple grounds, are an array of shops and small restaurants.

There's also a wide array of people, poverty, and animals.

We took a boat ride across the Hooghly from Dakshnineshwar to the Belur Math. Many people are constantly bathing, alighting, and crowding the ghats.

This was an unusual sight, I'm not sure what was happening here.

Check out the complete set on Flickr.

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I was anti-Facebook for a pretty long time and sometime back deactivated my account as well. I found it to be juvenile and a waste of time but I reactivated my account after convincing myself it was just another form of social media and a good way of getting to know people.

I had seen Ideasmith talk about her Farmville farm on Twitter off and on. I gave in to curiosity and decided to create a farm of my own and that was my undoing. I was plowed under and soon an avid farmer.

The game has become part of my daily routine. After sending kids to school I check my farm before I read the papers, watch the news and head off to the gym. I remember the harvest time of my crops and ensure I’m online to harvest the crops and play the game.

Initially it took some fortitude to play the game at lower levels. Money was scarce, the plot of land limiting and the rich neighbours with their gorgeous farms enviable. When I visited deserted farms I realized lack of interest in the game couldn’t be excused by lack of time but lack of consistent will power and discipline.

In many ways Farmville is like real planting and harvesting. After plowing and seeding one has to wait for things to grow and one can only plant what’s available at the level and though Zynga has the option of buying cash and coins with real money most of us realize it’s just a game and don’t give into temptation. It is best to go up the hard way from level to level and be helped initially by Ribbons and extra cash thrown our way by having bountiful harvest. Facebook reports that there are more people on Farmville than even Twitter.

Ribbons: Winning Ribbons means extra coins and XP. There are all kinds of ribbons.

Free gifts: Free gifts section opens up as one goes up the levels. There are trees, animals, objects and currently presents are still lingering around from Christmas season.

Neighbours: The more neighbours one has the more XP one can gain by fertilizing their plants, getting rid of weeds, bugs or animals by single clicks.  More neighbours one has more the chances of getting one’s land fertilized and the number of gifts one gets also goes up. Also one needs certain number of neighbours before one can expand their farm.

Seeds: There are all kinds of seeds available and the crops are time bound. Some are for easy money making and others can be planted for three four days and then harvested. The most profitable plants are at the higher levels. A useful guide to the economics of Farmville is on Mahalo.

Animals and Trees: One can have a steady stream of money pouring in from animals and trees. Some can be bought from the market and others gained as gifts from neighbours. They mature and can be harvested. Horses are brushed for their horsehair while truffles can be picked from pigs.

Buildings: Buying buildings such as cottages, villas etc are expensive but they help one gain the architect ribbon, more XP and even get to the next level. Its a good idea to get a chicken coop and dairy farms to make your cows and hens more productive, and don't forget to adopt a bull for your dairy farm so you can occasionally share a calf with your neighbors.

Tips and Tricks sites: There are lot of sites which promise tips and tricks to get to the higher levels but its best to go up the regular way instead of falling for these gimmicks. One useful and legal Facebook application is the Farmville Bonus Checker, which periodically scans your neighbors' walls to check if there are any bonuses on offer.

Currently I am on Level 29 and saving to buy a manor for my farm and plan to stick it out at my farm for a while before I throw in the towel.

Aaman joined Farmville a few days after I did and after he had peered over at my farm and muttered about what a waste of time it was. Predictably enough, he soon figured it all out and was racing ahead of me, gathering the moolah, presents, and the most profitable crops. He quit suddenly over Christmas, after reaching level 31. He deleted all his crops, sold his villas, trees, and animals, and left a parting note for us hardworking farmers.

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