When The Building Came Alive

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Kasturi Dhama Apartments — the play area where many evenings came alive. The lights would go out without warning. For a brief second, the entire building would fall silent. Then, from somewhere in Kasturi Dhama Apartments, a chorus would erupt. “Yayyy!” It is difficult to imagine children celebrating a power failure today. But in the Bangalore of the nineties and early 2000s, a power cut did not always feel like an inconvenience. Especially in the late evenings, it felt like permission. Permission to stop whatever we were doing, leave the darkness inside our homes, and step into the building outside. Before Kasturi Dhama became home, we had moved through a few different parts of Bangalore. My family had begun in Srirampuram and Vyalikaval before gradually cementing ourselves in Malleswaram for the next few decades. My earliest memory is of living in a vatara —a Kannada word loosely used for a building or a cluster of homes—on 15th Cross, near Karur Vy...

A small world

Part I
I met him in a pretty middle class restaurant at Sai Shakti, Malleswaram, Bangalore. A restaurant that gives a feel of a home with its simple menu and reasonable good price. In front of me was a gentleman, who looked very simple in this simple ambience. What a setting! I was in no mood to strike a conversation with anybody. I was more concerned about my US trip at that point of time. By the way, it was about a month before I got my visa. So, obviously, I had a lot of things running in my head. I was involved in decision making and to be honest, I take quite a long time in taking decisions. As I was gazing in wilderness, I had a voice calling me. I realised that the gentleman sitting in front of me was calling and I had no clue in the world as to who he was. But we struck an instant chord. He was a friendly person, and his experience in life is my age. We chatted about a lot of things. And before I forget to mention his name. He is Mr Mallikarjuna H P, General Secretary, Dedicated Servants Association. The talks ranged over a lot of topics - education, politics and socio-economic issues. That's the end of Part I.

Part II
I had mailed him recently to tell him about my progress in the United States. He told me that he is currently in Dallas with his son and daughter in law. I was only too happy to talk to him again. He was pleased to know about my current status here. We spoke for a long time in Kannada and I also had the opportunity to talk with his family. It is always strange how bonding develops in another country. The mutual love and respect among fellow countrymen is totally different than what is there in the native country. We met, we spoke and we jelled. But the fun is we do the same things, but in different part of the world.

One can just not imagine the global village being transformed into a small world, but the truth is out there or here!

Comments

  1. Hmmm... I thought you met the girl of your dreams after reading the first few words on your post... ;)

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