From & To Sathish #5 - Page 106

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvM7aILj2aw

Avan, Aval, Adhu 361

Daksha's expression and the deadly silence from her that followed his confession that Gayatri reminded him of Madhu left Ravi feeling a bit nervous and he asked tentatively, ' What, no questions? No counter arguments? Nothing?'

' No, boss. Just shock and a feeling of sadness.'

Her strange and subdued answer left him stumped and he hurriedly asked her what she meant by her words. ' Why would you feel that?'

' Because, if Gayatri reminds you of Madhu then I cannot begin to imagine what the original must be like and it made me sad to think that you must be jumping from the proverbial frying pan and right into a roaring fire.'

She looked at Ravi, ' Why is it that you seem to attract all the wrong kind of women and especially the volatile ones and I am adding Meenakshi to that list.'

Ravi stared at her for a second, ' Don't know ducks. I really don't have an answer to that question. I am neither very good-looking nor am I very well-off in terms of wealth. In fact, I think of myself as a very boring and depressing person to be with and if you take it to the extreme, an insufferable know-all.'

He again raised his eyes to the full moon and said, ' But, you are wrong in comparing Gayatri and Madhu and probably even Meenakshi to the other.'

Daksha smiled and pinched him playfully and said, ' But look at this way casanova, you have three women after you.'

He looked at her with sad eyes, ' Then why have I spent the better part of my adult life on my own and drowning in my own solitude? Do you have an answer for that?'

Sighing, ' Madhu has just come back. Gayatri, I just met her a few weeks back and she is gone. As far as Meenakshi is concerned, I never looked at her in that kind of way. But, she too has her own life and is living it on her own terms.'

He looked at her pointedly, ' What casanova are you talking about here? Not me for I am just a castaway who is living on his own island and plodding in his own world.' Daksha for the second time in a row was stuck for an answer and she stared at Ravi for a few moments and then asked in a relaxed manner, ' so, how was it meeting the love of your life after 25 years.' ' Beautiful ' Ravi told her and Daksha slanted her head in her own charecteristic way and reading that cue he knew that the lull in her mood was gone and that she was gearing up to launch another assault on him. But fate was kinder to him than Daksha and Rasaathi Ammal's voice rang loud and clear in their ears, ' Are you both joining us for dinner or not?' It had its effect and both hurried into the house with Ravi heaving a sigh of relief. But he knew that he would have to find the answer and the reason why he fell for Gayatri and more importantly what about her reminded him of Madhu. He suddenly stopped and grabbing hold of Daksha's arm asked her, ' you said something about me smelling of a perfume that is feminine?' Daksha smiled, ' yes, Gayatri wore the same expensive perfume. It is a very popular and famous brand from France.' Throwing him a curious look ' why talk about it now?'

https://youtu.be/14E4kxhRaMg

https://youtu.be/u3akr6bd48M

https://youtu.be/FyqIfIB9y2Q

From domestic mopper to IPL star:

Rinku's inspiring story

Rediff.News/ PTI, April 10, 2023

"You don't have to tell anyone that you mop floors at a tuition center. Just come in the morning, do the cleaning, and leave. Nobody will know. But I didn't like the idea," Rinku Singh had once narrated his ordeal.

These were his father's words to a young Rinku before he began playing at the Under-16 level for Uttar Pradesh.

The family of seven, which included five sons, found father Khanchand's meager income from delivering LPG cylinders door-to-door, insufficient for financial sustenance, and most of them had to do odd jobs to make ends meet.

Life indeed was tough for Rinku and his family.

However, the perseverance kept him going and now he has become a household name after his sensational power hitting in IPL to help Kolkata Knight Riders clinch victory from the jaws of defeat against Gujarat Titans on Sunday.

"I am not educated enough to fall back on academics. It is only cricket that could have taken me forward and it wasn't just one of the options but the only option," his jaws tightened when he spoke to KKR's official Youtube channel during an interaction.

The stockily-built 25-year-old from Aligarh didn't just hit his UP teammate Yash Dayal for five consecutive sixes to pull off an incredible IPL win but each and every ball that soared over the ropes at the Narendra Modi Stadium was a statement in itself.

In the last few years, his family has been able to bid poverty goodbye with IPL money but from now, he will enjoy IPL stardom for posterity.

Ian Bishop was on air when Rinku launched into Dayal's back of the hand slower delivery.

"Rinku Singh, Remember the Name" in Bishop's voice was something you would love to hear, on a loop.

"My father struggled a lot, I come from a farmer's family. Every ball that I hit out of the ground was dedicated to the people who sacrificed so much for me," Rinku said after his match-winning knock.

During the 2021, domestic season, he sustained a serious knee injury while going for a second run in a game for UP and underwent surgery. His father was so depressed that he had stopped eating for a few days before he made him understand that injuries are a part of players' lives.

Aligarh is considered a cultural hub of India with the famous Aligarh Muslim University still having its pride of place among the country's elite academic institutes.

It has been a house of intellectuals, poets, social reformers, and sportspersons (Major Dhyan Chand and Lala Amarnath) for nearly a a-century-and-half-now (148 years).

The biggest link of the city with sport is that it is the birthplace of former India hockey captain Zafar Iqbal.

But Aligarh belongs to Rinku too, whose father would often thrash all his five sons if they tried to give cricket precedence over studies.

"To play proper inter-colony or club matches, you needed to pool in money to buy a leather ball and my father would never give me money. Once I went to play a match in Kanpur and my mother borrowed Rs 1000 from a local grocery store to provide for my pocket money," Rinku recollected back then.

"Papa se hum paancho bhaiyon ko bahot maar padhi hai (All five brothers have got lot of thrashing from dad). My father was hawker, delivered LPG cylinders and when he wouldn't be available for the job, we brothers had to fill in and father would sit with a stick till we hadn't delivered," the UP southpaw said.

Lifting the heavy LPG cylinder requires a lot of strength. Rinku and one of his brothers would often carry the heavy cylinder on their bike and then travel through the bylanes of Aligarh to residential areas and hotels for delivery.

"Hum paancho bhaiyon ne papa ko kaam mein bahot madad kari hain. (All five brothers have helped dad in his job)."

So when did his father finally stop beating him up for ignoring his studies and playing cricket?
"There was a tournament called School World Cup being organized by DPS Aligarh and I was adjudged 'Man of the Tournament'. That was the first time Papa had come to the ground to watch me. I was presented with a motorbike in front of him. Us din ke baad unhone kabhi nahi mara (He never hit me after that day)," Rinku was seen laughing for the first time during that interaction.

He had his share of rejections as he was twice ignored during UPCA's U-16 trials though he himself admitted that he wasn't ready for that level at that time.

But by 2012, he was ready and scored 154 on his Vijay Merchant Trophy debut and an innings like that in a BCCI tourney gave him confidence that he can play elite cricket if he works hard.

Within a couple of years, he was in UP U-19 team and in the first year (2014) was directly inducted into UP's One-day team and never looked back.

Once you start playing competitive cricket, there are certain investments and kit is one of the major ones.

"At least five or six people really helped me in my journey. My childhood coach Masood Amini, Mohammed Zeeshan, who provided me with full kit, including cricket bats, Arjun Singh Fakira, Neel Singh, and Swapnil Jain are some people I would always be grateful," he had said back then.

In the past three years, Rinku has moved his family into their new apartment in the city, the first thing he did with IPL money. He has paid off all outstanding loans of his family.

"Jo dikkate thi saari duur ho gayi (All problems have been solved)," the happiness was palpable.

Rinku Singh has the talent and ability but after Sunday, it can said safely that he has the heart to own the big stage in most difficult of circumstances.

Adapt and adjust: How to spot a Bangalorean

There is a face that a Bangalorean will make when you ask him to do something. It is a contortion, almost comical in its sincerity. It says, “What you are asking is currently difficult for me but I really want to accommodate and help you. So please help me help you– by downsizing your expectations, if possible to zero. Then we can just get along and have a by-two coffee together.”

As an honorary Bangalorean, I have spotted this face often– in plumbers and mechanics, sales managers, and sari-sellers. It comes out when you urgently need something and they need to have their oota or kaapi or thindi. I have made this face when someone asks me for a favor– to buy time, to say No without saying No. It is a face with a hand gesture as if you are grasping a lotus stem– along with a look that says, “Swalpa adjust maadi” or “Please adjust.”

Bangaloreans do this often without drama or fuss. We take things in our stride. If you give us jolada-roti (jowar), we will eat it. Ragi mudde (ragi balls), you say? We will swallow it. Akki (rice) roti? Heck yes. We will enjoy it fully, especially if it has sabsige soppu or dill leaves. The point is that every Bangalorean savor the moment is grateful for what is given, doesn’t make a fuss, tries to cultivate humility, and lives life to the fullest.

You can see it in the way we stand outside tiny roadside hotels, taking small bites of the vada and chatting quietly with each other as the morning sunshine filters through the gently swaying rain trees. You can see it in the Airlines Hotel where we sit under the young morning sun and take long, slow sips of our coffee from those glass tumblers as if trying to prolong the beauty of that moment.

Road rage is minimal here even though the traffic snarls. Sure, the Uttara Karnataka folks (UK) have fire in their veins and are known for their slang and swear words, all of which come out fluently and have exact correlations with their Hindi counterparts. What do you think soole-maga or baddi-maga means?

But even the firebrands from other regions of Karnataka and other states calm down when they come to Bangalore. Why is that? For a city of some 12 million, Bangaloreans are amongst the most genteel and polite people in India, if not the world. Ours is not the false formal politeness of the Japanese with their constant bowing. Our gentility comes from within. Why, we don’t know ourselves.

It perhaps has to do with the weather. Every day here is like April in Paris complete with blooming flowers and trees, no matter where you go. “The living is easy” and not just in “Summertime.”

The other reason for the Bangalorean’s ability to adapt and adjust is that Karnataka the state is perhaps more varied than most other states. We have practice in getting along with a variety of folks.

There is Coastal Karnataka or Tulu-nadu with its distinctive Tulu language, culture, and rituals like Bhoota Kola, made famous by the movie, Kantara. Mangalore and coastal Karnataka is a melting pot of India’s big three faiths. Mangalore Christians have music in their fingers. The Muslim cuisine of the Konkan coast is distinct and delicious. As for the Hindus, they too have their quirks and foibles that you can read about in translated books such as Defiance by Na Mogasale.

Coorg is famous for its language and customs, its beauteous landscape, handsome people, its nature worship that reveres the river Kaveri, and its famous pandi curry made with pork.

Upper Karnataka with its dry drought-laden landscape, and plain-speaking freely-swearing earthy people is the stuff of legend in the state. Quixotically, for such a barren land, its people are amongst the most cultured in the land. Dharwad-Hubli is home to Gangubai Hangal, Mallikarjun Mansur, D.R. Bendre, and Leena Chandavarkar. It is home to the Dharwad Pedha, Gokak Karadhantu, Ladagi laddu, Belagavi Kunda, Tuppada Mandige, and many other sweets.

There is the Udupi and Kundapur heartland with its own dialect, customs, spice mixes, and famous dishes including the Kundapur Koli saaru or chicken gravy, Udupi sambar, and other delicacies.

The Mysuru-Mandya region brings its own ecosystem with its sugarcane fields, Mysore Pak, Mysore masala dosa, Mysore Bonda, and Mysore Concerns coffee that is now famous in Mumbai’s Matunga.

Given this mish-mash of locals, it is no wonder that the average Bangalorean needs to adjust. Add to this, the immigrants like me, from states far and near. Everyone somehow jostles through and gets along. Some part of it is the reflexive politeness of the native Kannadiga. People who keep talking about Lucknow’s tehzeeb have not met the average Kannadiga.

Here’s an example. There is this story that goes around in the IAS circles of Bangalore, about how a peon shows his new boss around the office. “And here Sir is your kind office, your kind chair, and next room is the kind bathroom and the kind commode,” he says. It sounds better in the bureaucratic Kannada accent mixed with English. Go to Bangalore Club, and get your IAS old-timer friends to down a local beer or two and ask them to recount this story to get the full picture, complete with deferential posture.

It is this gentility that is part of the DNA of Bangaloreans. No matter where you are from, you will fit in and get along. The auto driver will speak your language whether it is Telegu or Tamil. The courier delivery person will offer Hindi as a first step if you look North Indian before realizing that you can speak Kannada. The policeman will say a few words in English if he senses that your Kannada is bad.

In which other cities in India can you see this happening?

Forwarded by a friend to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nnE4Qa7K8c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rL0MixHp6pY

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