‘Will you take us to school today in car, Acha (dad)?’

 My elder daughter asked me while brushing her teeth in the morning.

Sometimes they like to go to school in car, though  their school is  just  10 minutes walk away. For a change from usual routine walking.  Other occasion in which I have to take them to school is when my wife gets up late disregarding mobile alarms (no more time-pieces).   If I am lazy to go for morning   jogging, somehow I will pull her up from bed. She likes to cuddle up in the bed, as it is so cold out  there now-a-days.  Hey, we are getting into rainy season! (‘You are really mad to go out and jog in the cold mornings’, she   taunts  me now ‘n then).

So, today it is one of those days  when  kids feel like going to school in the car.

‘What about you’, I asked the younger one.

‘I like to go by walking, talking, seeing the trees, hearing birdies..’ She said.

‘But I prefer Amma, as I don’t want to run because you walk fast pulling me along’

(Sometimes I feel the elder one has got likes and dislikes of my wife  and  the  younger  one,  of mine. I too like to walk, see and enjoy the nature.)  

Taking them in car has another dis-advantage: to go to school in the one-way-road takes 10 minutes; then another 5 minutes to find a parking space outside the school gate; hence it would be at least 25 minutes before I come back.  So, I too like to ‘walk them to school’, as I could save time to reach office. 

‘If both of you agree, I will take you to school by walk’ I said. Though grumbled a bit, she  agreed. And ah,  I would walk slowly.

‘Then, you hurry up,  as you need to leave latest by 8.30 am’, wife reminds me. 

And she managed to push us out in time, with small ‘boxes’ for each kid for  first break, second break and  for lunch. (Second break, they need to take some fruit. And  cakes, pastries prohibited by school for lunch. So, moms have to be really creative to fill the boxes daily). 

It is a wet and sunny morning as it was raining last night.  Very pleasant weather. Sun is making us warm with soft rays. Green lawns in front of  each  house  inside and outside the compound line are afresh. Tree leaves still have some water left on it from the night rain.  Birds  chirping.  Cold wind, not chill, just smoothly brings you the smell of earth.  Ah,  What  a morning I got to take them to school. Isn’t it a gift to me! 

A nice walk to school. Talking to kids, answering their doubts, picking flowers  which  are fallen on the path way… Seeing many kids on the way (Alas, no Indians).  Could see boys carrying Oval ball  (which is used for Australian football). Kids go to school on cycles, ‘n skate boards too. (My daughters still waiting for me to allow them taking bicycle to school; they have ‘proved’ their balance on two wheels, but I  want   them have more practice, may be another few weeks).

There are few Eucalyptus trees near the school gate. The strong healthy smell  signals you that you reached destination. The school is having classes till 7^th, so there are no big boys ‘n girls. Kids are playing tennis, basket ball, cricket. Some girls are playing  by throwing  pink colored football..  Few boys and girls are on ‘monkey bars’, on which they can climb, jump, hang with legs heads down. Small kids – my kid of 6 year too -  do such things, giving us shivers. Now there is a new item – ‘spider web’ it is called, which is very popular among kids, on which kids can climb to the top. In total,  very active atmosphere, which really pleases my mind. 

The elder one ran off to her class, and I took the younger one to her class and  hurried  back home, The  first bell rang. 

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While coming back, I thought of my school days. What a difference from our days and present days, (especially here down under). We tend to be more careful  - over protective, I should say – about kids; don’t allow them to go to school alone; They go to school either in school bus or car. Walking is luxury (unless you live very close to school). I used to walk more than 1 kilometer one way daily to school, and back -  till 10^th standard, when I got my first bicycle. But I really enjoyed those walks. Primary school, we were accompanied by ‘Kunjamma’ (Aaya); and was not much fun: small kids, right!.  

In upper primary school, I used to come home for lunch. As my home was little bit farther than my mom’s Tharavadu (ancestral home), I always had lunch at Ammumma’s (Grandma) home. After lunch when I go back to school, I get some coins (10 or 25 paise) to buy ‘peanut toffee’. She always kept balance from provision purchase on the window-sill in the kitchen. Religiously after lunch, I used to ask ‘Ammumma, could  I have some money for toffee?’ She used to reply ‘okay, take 25 paise from the window-sill’. Before she could complete the sentence, I would have taken the money and left the kitchen. I look around for Muthachan (Grand dad), and if he was not there in the vicinity, I used to jump over the fence without going thru the front Gate which was on the other side of compound (it was a large compound of almost 2 Acres, till later divided during partition among my mom, aunts and uncles.  Both Grandfather and Grand mom have left  the earth some years ago). 

Taking a turn at the junction, few yards ahead, there was ‘Shiny Stores’ which used to sell stationery, small toys, sweets etc. Three schools in the perimeter of one kilometer helped the owner to make some money. By seeing me, he would dip his hand into the large glass jar, and take out the round peanut toffee. I really loved that toffee. (even now I love peanuts, and for that matter any nuts!). This helped me to brave the scorching sun on the way to School. Usually not much friends would come home for lunch; hence that made it easy to enjoy my toffee alone without any need to share it. 

While returning, 4 O’ clock, road would be full of kids, in uniforms green & white, and blue & white. Literally full of kids, which made the buses and cars to slow down.  Walking along with friends, talking, fighting, we never knew the distance between school and home. And more over, the expectation of some savories awaiting me at home, thanks to mom.  

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By this time, I reached home.  Now to hurry to office as it is almost 9am. To delve into school days  another time.

Sitting in front font of the computer to write a post, I wonder what to write about. 

About the travel made during past two months?…but, nothing much to say, as it was to the same old Johannesburg.. Only difference was, I almost lost my checked-in-luggage, as it reached from Sydney to Jobug after 3 days… (at least I expected some apology from QANTAS – but in vain).. and while returning, flight was 4 hours late. One hour before getting in, then 3 hours in flight before take off. Due to this long delay, alas, I could not meet one of my friends with whom I had agreed to meet(hope he would read this – sorry mate, but there was not much I could have done about this :-(  Next time, we shall meet – no hard feelings!?) 

About the books I read these days?… bought two books ‘The best australian short stories’ which is a collection few selected short stories. Sort of ‘okey-dokey’. Another one is by  British Writer Celia Brayfield  about her stay in suburb of  France. Not yet completed, but I felt this as very captivating, and she has very good command over language (naturally!).  May be I will write in detail about this once I complete reading. 

About the change in our life from UAE to Melbourne? may be too early to say - we had a good society life over there, but here it is almost nil as of now. Though I tried to make some connections with Indian communities, no result yet. As of now, it is a small circle surrounding me, my family and the work environment. We go out for walk, to beach, jogging, cycling, shopping, sight seeing…. But that is it… so I would call it boring…  Thanks to googletalk, we keep in constant touch with our friends in UAE . 

About the ever-fluctuating weather of Melbourne? Same day you could find it as sunny, cold, rainy and windy… Now a days it is cold and windy. Last Wednesday, it was so windy that some places there were traffic blocks due to fallen trees. Tall bridges were closed early. Many places traffic lights stopped working.  Heard in ABC that usually Victorian Electricity board (Melbourne is in the state of Victoria, hence anything in Melbourne is ‘Victoria’n) gets 200 calls a day; but on Wednesday, they got 78000 calls! Thank God, the place where I stay, there were no issues. 

Or, about the open zoo we had visited ……Or may be of one of the Saturdays when we went to ISKON temple here….Or, about why kids like the schools over here than their UAE school.. What about the trip to the Aquarium, where you really go under the water – the concave glass of 125mm separates you inside and sharks outside in the water…. 

Let me clear my head, and decide!

It is true that to keep relationships alive, you need to keep in touch with each other. 

As they say, it is not just enough to HAVE love, but you need to EXPRESS it too. 

I have been away from Iland for so long that I have the feeling of losing the friends around here…I dread that feeling. 

So, like the guys who are returning home after living abroad  for few years, I am bringing myself back to my island.  

Better late than never. 

I will spend time in reading the missed-out blogs during the last two-three months. Long gap, but I need to compensate.  

And to be regular on my site.  

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Here it started raining after a month of hot days. Even 37 deg seemed to be scorching. Hence rain is really soothing, and we were waiting for it. 

Cold days, strong wind prevent us going to beaches many days, but sticking on the morning jogging, wind or non-wind.  

Wet road, more-greener surroundings.. Just like a wet rainy evening in Bangalore. 

Winter is 3 months away; it is Autumn now. Leaves have started to gain that yellowish tint… and to fall down.  

One guy was mentioning in radio program of ABC that though US says ‘FALL’. Down under stick to ‘AUTUMN’. 

…whatever.

Hi Friends.. been away from iland for a while.. too busy....This post was done a month back, almost. Looking forward to be a regular now onwards! Thanks, and nice of  you who noticed my absence:-)

Life is all about taking sides. You  have to be  on either of  the sides.  It  is totally dangerous  to be in between –you get hurt one day or other for being there. And do what you feel right, even if  it is against the side which you are in – in the long run, it pays back.

May be the  Movie ‘Life of Others’ is trying to stress the above truth.

It was just by coincidence I put my hands on this film – ‘Life of Others’ It is  a Dutch film referring o the pre/post Berlin wall era. Berlin wall was demolished in 1989, bringing West and East Germany physically together. Just ‘Physically’, as even after joining both provinces by bringing down the wall,  the life was different in both sides.

I think this is one of the best films I have ever seen, so I couldn’t help but writing about this!

This film is about  the insecurity and lack of freedom faced by the writers of that era. They were not allowed to write or publish what they feel. They could  not speak what they wanted to say.  Freedom of ex-pression was of no priority at all. Government wired houses of the writers, playwrights, artists……….. And once they were caught, they ‘vanished’ …they ceased to exist. The number of ‘suicides’ were very high during that time.

The film has  three or four main characters. A writer, his wife(or fiancée?), two police officers & a minister. The Senior officer  entrust   an Second officer H.G.Wiesler (code name HGW) to wire the house of famous playwright G.Dreyman, and report minute by minute activities. One day when Dreyman gone out, the team of HGW goes to the apartment (looks like old Russian house) and wire all the nooks and corners of the house, and place  a camera (old 1980s technology). And in the hiding room somewhere near office, HGW sits with a headphone on head and small typewriter infront. Each and every conversation he had to type. After his shift, his assistant comes and take over.

In Dreyman’s house, meanwhile three friends meet together and on the façade of  a stage play preparation for National Day, they write features to be published in west Germany magazines. The type writer for this was smuggled to East Germany from West Germany. It is a small typewriter, may be as big as a dictionary. After typing, the machine and the papers are hidden below the door-sill on the floor between drawing room and living room. Dreyman’s wife didn’t want to get involved in this, but one day unexpectedly she happen to see this hiding place (later, she curses herself for knowing that).

Day by day, after hearing the conversations, HGW understand what ‘other side’ thinks.  And without knowing, he changes side from Police to  Rebels (not physically though). He didn’t want to harm Dreyman, hence he types on many days ‘Nothing unusual happened’ in the reports about Dreyman.

The minister had an eye for Dreyman’s wife – And she gives up to him as she wanted to continue on stage as actress (fear of Authority). This continues till Dreyman come to know about this and make her change her mind (of course, HGW had a hand in this). 

About unusual suicides in East Germany, and  reasons for this, Dreyman prepares feature, and this been smuggled by his friend over to West Germany to publish there. This makes a furore, and minister was unhappy. The Senior police officer questions HGW whether there was any chance  Dreyman would have written that. But they concluded that the type-face which Dreyman usually uses does not match with this new one, hence he got out of doubt – sort of.

The senior officer had doubts on HGW and indirectly warns him. Mrs Dreyman was caught on pretext of using drug, and she was brought for interrogation.  HGW was specifically selected to question her. He questions, and she reveals it was written by Dreyman, and the typewriter was hidden in that place (earlier there is one incident where police officers searches Dreyman’s  home and came out empty handed). HGW leaves the room fast. The senior officer and team come for search. That time Mrs Dreyman too reaches there. They search all the places, and the senior officer just mention that the door sill seems to be loose. And kneels down  to open it. This time all hearts stop; Dreyman looks at his wife as if  ‘oh, why you did this’.

But when the wooden plank was removed, nothing was there! -as HGW had come there just after interrogation and removed those evidences. Without knowing this, Mrs Dreyman runs outside the home, and suicides jumping infront of a lorry – HGW reaches there first, and he says there was no reason to do this, as he had removed them – but too late, and she dies.

HGW was demoted as ‘no trustworthy job could be entrusted to him’. From the rank of second-in-command, he falls down to the section where all the letters are opened with steam and read the contents, and re-paste to the addressees. During one of the scene, his colleage, who was hearing radio  news shouts with bright face ‘Berlin wall is demolished’.

Post Berlin-wall era. Stage plays galore. But as the earstwhile-minister says, there is no fun for playwrights, as ‘there is nothing to rebel against. Nothing to oppose’.  When Dreyman asks the minister why his house was not wired while all others’ house were tapped; minister reveals that he had wired each corner and they knew what were going on.

Dreyman goes to the Police library, and request for the diary/log of tracking his home (As the wall had fallen, all the records were accessible by public). He goes thru all the files chronologically – may be 15 to 20 of them – and realizes what actually happened. Narually he requested to know the identiy behind HGW ..

..and he get to see the identity card with photo with name ‘H.G.Wiesler’.

He would go and search for him. And see him working as post man who delivers letters door to door. For some reasons, he decides not to approach to him. And returns.

Then one day When HG Wiesler passing over a shop, through the glass window he sees a book written by Dreyman, ‘ode to a good man’ (I think this is the name of the book). Wiesler goes into the shop  and gets the book. When he opens, he realizes that it is for the good man ‘HGW’. He buys it, and when shopkeeper asks whether it is to be gift-wrapped, Wiesler replies:

‘ No, it is for ME’!

Thus the story ends.

Actor Ulrich Hue acted in the role of HGW.  Performance par excellence. Sebastian Koch

in the role of G. Dreyman. Smart acting. We will be engrossed in the power of  acting of  Ulrich Hue. Really living the role. The conversations are in Dutch language. Though I switched to English translation, immediately gone back to the original Dutch version so as not to lose the feel & modulation of the voice – and subtitles helps us to understand the movie.

There are many outstanding scenes in this film, which you should see.

A must-see film.

Nov. 4^th, Sunday 

As per forecast, weekend was going to be ‘cold, rainy & windy’. Though I had plans to drive to the suburbs (for this purpose, took the car from office), the forecast cast shadow on my plans. Nevertheless, weekend to be enjoyed, rain of shine!

Horserace is in big way here in Melbourne. Coming Tuesday (6^th Nov) it s Public holiday due to Melbourne Cup. Horse race capable of stopping the nation! The prize money, as heard, is more than M$.  It is ‘world cup’, hence participation from all over the world. City hotels are full.

And yesterday (Saturday) it was Victoria Derby Day – Day of high class fashion and horse racing. Prize money $ 1.5M or more. It was time for the girls to dress up and celebrate with spouse/friends. Could see many girls dressed up in new (and skimpy!) dresses, and guys in Tuxedo’s. Girls were wearing hats with some kind of decorations – mostly feathers- on them. Am sure, most of the guys and girls have nothing to do with Horses, but use this occasion to dress up, scout in the city and celebrate. As currently I am staying in the midst of city, looking thru the window, I could see colorful couples. Being a windy day, some  poor (poor in clothes!) girls were trying hard to grab the end of their frocks (which hardly reached lower of thighs) together to beat the power of wind. Some of the sights reminded the ‘Marlene Monroe’ scene – the one where she tries to push down her skirt! As my friend said, the ladies buy expensive dress for the day, and costly high-heeled shoes; and during  the day they get drunk; and by evening they could be seen walking barefoot , with shoes in hand.  If not such a scene, I could see the ‘guys’ without jacket – as in the cold night, the scantly-dressed girls got covered with their guys’ jackets!

Another weekend getting over. To say about driving, I did drive to the suburbs to have a look. Nice grand houses, and greenery everywhere. It was drizzling (and the dirty car looks new now!). I think I feel jittery when I drive on the tall (as tall as around 15 storied building, I think) Westgate Bridge.

I try not to look thru side window, and concentrate on the road ahead.

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Man proposes, God disposes… I always believe in this… And sure, most of you too! 

I am writing this from Melbourne (Again?!!) 

Oh no, I DID fly back in the second week of  October, exactly on 9^th.  But.... 

I came here again yesterday…. On 26^th October…

Last time, you may say I came for sort of ‘fire fighting’… 

And now I am here on a long-term basis!. In short, I got a  transfer to Melbourne office.

Will be travelling to South Africa, as I am responsible for Jobug unit too.  - hence you guys could see blogs of both these places!!! (Sorry for that, eh.. Something to be posted, right ;-)

My family will move to Melbourne very soon.  So, it is time again to re-settle, getting accustommed to new continent, people, neighbourhood, office, School etc etc… So quite busy now-a-days.

Though there were some discussions since August  about this move, nothing was crystal clear till a week or two. 

So, friends, here I am.  No change for my  existence in  rediffiland  but for the change of location from ‘UAE’ to Melbourne’!

 (Will post few pictures shortly)

Always it is good to be back to home-sweet-home. And was good to be back after almost two weeks!

How were my days down under? Let me try to scribble down. In short, I could not see much of Melbourne, thanks to the tight work schedule. I wish me better luck next time!

x                  x                  x                  x          

30^th September :

The Emirates Flight took off at 2.30 AM in the wee hours; and took almost 17 hours to reach Melbourne, from Dubai. This includes an hour or so halt in Singapore Airport. And add the time difference of 6 hours from UAE to Melbourne makes the duration of flight almost 24 hours - Ooofff.! Quite a long journey, indeed!

But it wasn’t as bad as I thought. With few hours’ sleep, two or three movies and some chat, I could complete the onward journey. My seat was next to an aged Australian couple, who travel around the world to see the countries and understand the culture. They believe that life after retirement is incomplete without these travels – which keeps them close and happy!  They were going back to Melbourne after a long tour which included our own India, and especially, Kerala ;-)…. They were very sociable. Against usual in-flight syndrome ‘be-in-your-own-world’, we were  in chatting mood. We had a nice chit-chat during the journey.

While landing in Singapore Airport, noticed that the land looked so green, and that all the trees/green patches were equi-distant from each other – so, must be a well-planned/planted greenery than something  by-nature. Was in the Airport for just over 45 minutes, so  a walk-around saw me back in boarding area. Time to stretch legs and body. Few sit ups and basic stretching moves gave some relief to the body after 7 hours.

It took 7 hours to reach Melbourne from Singapore. Reached early morning of a Sunday.  As usual, the Cabin crew handed over the customs immigration document to be filled in. Had surprises for me: You are supposed to declare if you are carrying any food items, herbals, plants and  ‘any medicine which you think it contains herbs’,, etc. Also, if you carry ‘shoes with mud cakes on it’! (such an incident I had heard earlier – happened  with a sportsperson)! The penalty, if you don’t declare, and later they find it, is up to Australian $ 60,000! Too much, eh! As my ‘seat-mates’ informed me, the Government does mean it. (had to call and check with my wife whether she had put some ‘surprise eatables’ for me in the bag, which usually she does!) Down in customs, they asked about this, but soon cleared me off, was out of customs, put my foot in Australia without much problems (though they asked questions about my visit: why, what, when; who will pay for my stay; if there is anybody to pick me up or I hail taxi etc etc… ). The Australian couple became so friendly that they invited me to their home on one the days of my stay! Other citizens really like to befriend Indians, as I have seen in my travel to various countries – which I felt very nice, and proud to be Indian!

2^nd October Tuesday

I am staying in a serviced apartment in Dockland, Melborne. Proximity to sea provides a good view from my apartment. Nice, clean city – as most of the foreign countries. Sky scrapers covered with tinted glass gives a metro look to the city. There are trams for public transport, across the city. Taxis are expensive, like in Europe . On the streets, there are  separate lines for cyclists. You can see many guys and girls of all ages cycling before or after office hours – very health conscious.  Could see many guys and girls  jogging too. They want to look good before summer days… probably  they like to flaunt their body in beaches! Summer starts in December.  Seen some kids go to school on Bicycles.

Among trams,  there are brown coloured ones, which are for city tours. You can hop in and travel free for the city tour, tram takes you around the city – somebody from cabin explains about the place, buildings and some story about them.  I felt it very convenient for tourists, who comes from Sydney, Perth, Brisbane etc on weekends, and visitors like me away from Australia.  

Friends said funny things about Melbourne weather. That you can have all the four seasons on the same day! Sunny day become wet in no time. Can see people carrying umbrella even in a sunny – not so  hot – day..  I went for a long walk enjoying the sun.. but after a small shopping it had started raining and got drenched. Could not catch a taxi. 

Seems the residents of Melbourne like to taste different cuisines.  There are so many restaurants catering to foods of  all countries. One of these days I had been to one of the Indian restaurants, BHOJ. A nice,  up-market one… And of course costly(to me!). Could see many Australians there enjoying our spicy meals – they seems to love Indian and Chinese food, along with ‘Beeah’ & Wine!  

7^th October Sunday:

At last, weekend. Friday evening me and two other colleagues from Melbourne office went for Dinner. Had a beer at friend’s house, then we three were off to the restaurant. It was a famous sea food restaurant ‘Waterfront’, on the banks of water.  Crowded one.  Must be weekend crowd.  To start with Wine and starters. Oyster was not my palette, so all for them; I can’t stand these half-boiled items. They were really enjoying the taste of oysters by closed eyes and ‘ymmmmm’ sounds. I was so startled to know they were not even boiled, but raw ones!!! Yuck! …As for wine, the selection was much more difficult. I was amazed to see the menu ‘card’ for wines – A thick booklet of at least 15 pages! Astonished to know that there are people who could say each wine by name just by tasting.  My colleagues  were trying to impress me with the qualities of   the ‘flowery’ ‘gourmet and discerning’ ‘smooth’ Italian wine.  Well, it was a good wine, but for me nothing much more!  So, me straight to the main course. The sea-food fan in me was not at all disappointed with the menu – Baby Snapper grilled with lime and green vegetables’ seemed to be great, and in reality it was so!! That Italian wine went well with the dinner. And by the way, the baby snapper was not ‘baby’ at all – it was almost one foot and so fleshy!

Sunday afternoon, could spare few hours for sight seeing. Jumped into the brown tram, I decided to scout the city. Had plan to visit the famous Victoria market , hence got down in the nearest stop.  Got into another tram which was going to the Victoria market.  I was looking for the ticket vending machine in the tram (no conductors) – one middle aged fellow who was having another beer in the seat laughed at me: “ hey, ain’t no checker, ain’t buy ticket, mate!” . I tried to fiddle around with the buttons on the machine, but fa