What I Missed While Walking Past the Kanchi Mutt

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A place I passed every day without really understanding it. As a kid growing up in Malleswaram, devotion wasn’t something we discussed — it was just in the air. The smell of agarbathi in the evenings. The noise of vendors lining up on 8th cross before a festival. The quiet expectation that you showed up, bowed your head, and moved on. Ganesh Chaturthi. Varalakshmi Vratam. Deepavali. Janmashtami. Ugadi. The calendar moved, but the pattern stayed. The Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham in Malleswaram was part of my daily route to school. Not something I questioned. Not something I deeply understood. Just… there. Every morning, on my way to school, I would slow down for a second in front of the Mutt. Just enough to bow my head toward Kanchi Kamakshi from outside the gate — and then hurry along before the school bell. It was a ritual for as long as I can remember. I don’t know if it came from devotion. I did it because my parents did it. The street...
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Pot-Pourri

It was one helluva month, what with the thesis defense and course completion. To top it all, the H1Bs were getting over even before it actually began. But, right now, the relatively free state of mind allows me to get back to blogging. I am going to be much more regular with my blog updates. It is like one of those television serials, "Amitabh Bachchan in a brand new avatar making a comeback like never before." I also wonder at all the movie artists who make bigwig statements like "This movie is completely different. Such a sensitive topic has never been handled before. It is a once in a lifetime role." What crap! What nonsense! It would almost make me tear my hair in agony at the cliched statements.

I do not want to create that artificial hype and aura about my comeback to regular blogging. There would be periodic updates on anything I find remotely interesting. I would have loved to write about India's world cup prospects, but the way they have damaged their reputation, nobody wants to know anything about Indian cricket for the time being. Anybody wants to be anything now, but cricketers. Today's news has been highly disturbing. Virginia Tech just went through a crisis and one just has to hope that such incidents are not repeated in the future. Depression is a bane in today's life. Rolla went into mid-March crisis, when one of the guys was involved in a mockery bombing case. Though there was nothing untoward, it was enough to send everybody into a frenzy. It is just not easy to leave anything unnoticed, atleast when the world is in a big turmoil today. Escalation of issues is better any day than to leave it unnoticed. It is better to be safe than to go for the cure.

Now, now, before anybody gets into any doubt. I am not a news reporter, neither a journalist nor a philosopher. I am a simple blogger and I should be coming up with better topics!

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