Pondering on Freedom...

It was another late night commute in the bus.

I boarded many transit buses n finally I got a bus directly to my destination.

I quickly boarded it, thankfully, I got a seat as well. Feeling happy, I sat and started reading a book as usual.

There happened to be a daily-wager from UP in the bus. I couldn't get the full context but the local people around him were trying to push him to a separate league. They were questioning his Benglur quotient and he seems to have an above average score to his experience. They were branding him intelligent.

These local people were trying to question him in Hindi (yes... irony...) n were very good at it. At the end, one of them said 'ಪರವಾಗಿಲ್ಲಪ್ಪ! ಇವನಿಗೆ ಎಲ್ಲಾ ಗೊತ್ತು. ಯಾವ್ ಯಾವ್ ಸ್ಟಾಪು ಎಲ್ಲೆಲ್ಲಿದೆ ಅಂತ ಗೊತ್ತು. ಎಲ್ಲಿ ಏನ್ ಸಿಗತ್ತೆ ಅಂತ ಗೊತ್ತು. ಆದ್ರೆ ಕನ್ನಡ ಮಾತ್ರ ಗೊತ್ತಿಲ್ಲ. '.

This actually triggered various topics among them. It started from outsiders, and then they started cribbing about the lethargy of the locals and it reached the inflation and finally about the country politics... One man started cribbing that the country would've been better had it still been under the British till today... All these wicked, corrupt politicians are selling this glorious country for selfish motives. Bleh bleh bleh...

I, as always was silent reading the book but the disturbance made me close it. I alighted at my stop and started contemplating on the thoughts they were discussing.

One should notice that for him to express that 'this country would've been better had it still been in British rule' the right to express the same is obtained by the freedom what our forefathers fought for. Had they remained silent, this guy wouldn't have got an opportunity to even say those words. He would've been in jail had he said anything against the government.

Our generation doesn't know the value of actual freedom as it was known for those who really fought during freedom struggle. You'll know the value only when you lose it.

Also, if you're so concerned about the country, you would've elected the right candidates (if only... well, that's another story...) and not crib about after voting out the wrong candidate term after term. Yeah! I'm talking of Utopia.

Before this post turns preachy, I just want you to ponder over the above questions and  think about the real value of freedom.

Mere Luck!!

Hey there!

This morning, was on my way to office. Was listening to Radio Indigo 91.9 FM. Its playing some great western music. Let it continue. It was Cindu hosting the Big Breakfast. The show was good! Playing some interesting songs while she asking questions as part of some contest or something.

Well, the first question was to coin a word for a peculiar laugh, sounded like a devil. Funny words were coined. Then came another question "Who was the first Chief Minister of Karnataka?". This was part of the BQ (Bangalore Quotient) quiz.

I recollected that its a Reddy but didnt knew his first name for that moment. I messaged a guess saying "Its a reddy for sure, Must be Chengalaraaya Reddy or K.C.Reddy" to 2919. Wasn't sure of it. I was @ Maraththalli by then. She didnt disclose the participants name neither their guesses. I thought there would be many correct answers and mine would be one among them.

By 9:30 I got down when she gave a clue that the surname of the First CM begins with an 'R'. This backed up my answer but i was waiting for the result.

By 9:45, I came to office, while she put a person on air asking for the answer for that question. Dunno the name of that person. He said its Gundu Rao which was the wrong answer. There aroused a hope in my mind that i would be the only person who guessed it right to some extent atleast. Many would have answered Kengal Hanumanthiaah remembering him for building the beautiful Vidhana Soudha. Might be many answered it that way but i was sure that it was not Kengal Hanumanthiah.

I came to my cubicle and was interested in checking my answer, googled it to find my guess 100% right. By then, I messaged Cindu back once again saying "I am dame sure, it is Chengalaraaya Reddy".

Voila! she called me! Hehe! She said that she would put me on air asking for the answer. I was pretty confident about the answer and said okay. This is the second time me coming on air, the first time was on Radio Sparsha (Worldspace). That was with RJ Shruthi on a program covering the Birthday of Dr.Rajkumar. You can find a post regarding that here.

She asked me the answer n I replied back with the correct answer. She congratulated me and said that i would get details on getting my gift later. That was fine. I was proud of my BQ. Hehe!! =)

Then I did one of the foolish thing ever. She asked me when was he elected as the CM. The line wasn't clear and i had to ask the question many a times. Once i got the question, i thought, it should have been after India went republic and so i said, was it in 1950?? How foolish of me? It was right in 1947.

Well that was fine. A cool experience barring this.

Later Uththara called me asking for my address which i provided, she said that my gift which contains a shirt from Radio Indigo and a CD. Cool! Will check out what it is! Nice to get it almost free (free except the 3 + 3 Rs for the two SMSs I sent! Shouldn't matter though!!)

Well thats it for today!

Catchya some other day!!