ALTER IDEM

 As Alter Idem turns three today, I have been thinking about how it came to be...... It started out as one of the by-products of my lonely evenings, and continues to be that! The name of the blog...... I had come across the term Alter Idem (meaning - 'the same, yet different') some years ago. It must have stayed in some corner of my mind. Because, it was one of the first names that came to me when I was thinking of a suitable name for my blog. And, the picture on the header.... Travel anywhere in the Malnad between 8. a.m. & 10. a.m., and you will run into the cow/ goatherd with his wards. I have often wondered about the cowherd - have thought about how a profession that used to be represented by someone as multi-faceted as Lord Krishna has come to be represented by someone who's generally classified as 'good-for-nothing' ! Of course, they're a nuisance to other road users. But, then, there's something nice, peaceful and reassuring about the ent

Guess what?? It takes only an umbrella to make one look like a fool!! Of course, not any umbrella.... it has to be this particular umbrella - the umbrella of my kid's kindergarten days. And, it's not like this umbrella always had such a lowly status....... You know, there's this school near home. Not so long ago, when the kid was about 2-3, one of her favourite routines was to wave out to the school-going kids - every morning & evening. Since she had learnt how to open the gate, I'd linger around, keeping an eye. Pretty soon, both of us knew all the kids who passed by, by their names! It was during the rainy season, when this routine continued, that the kid noticed - while we held big, black umbrellas, the school-goers held small, colourful ones. She wanted a colourful brolly, and, well, we decided to humour her. One of the greatest disadvantages of living in a small town is that, often, one has no choice but to buy what the shopkeeper has. And, I

In high school, my first language was Sanskrit. Correspondingly, Kannada became the third language. Third language Kannada was basically a repetition of what I learnt from Class 4 to Class 7. After Class 10, I didn't study Kannada formally at all.  In spite of that, I had absolutely no difficulty in reading/ understanding the 2010 Saraswati Samman winner by  Sri.S.L.Bhyrappa --- Mandra. The moment this book arrived a few months ago, I had decided to make it my 'monsoon reading'. At nearly 600 pages, of size slightly larger than the usual books, it had the qualifications to make my lonely evenings something to look forward to! Well! monsoon arrived late this year. By then, I had finished reading the book! Mandra is about the turbulent life of a classical musician, Pandit Mohan Lal. Panditji's journey begins from Haridwar  - as a bhajan- singing beggar-boy on the banks of the river Ganga - and reaches international fame, after plenty of twists and turns...... lik

Mother-in-law's tongue is the very mean nick-name for this common plant, otherwise known as 'Snake's tongue'. A very hardy succulent, I think it makes an attractive live fence. Known as NaagataaLi in Kannada, the sap from the 'tongue' is supposed to be a cure for ear ailments. In addition to the one above, I have two other variations in my collection. This is 'Mother-in-law's tongue' with a dash of colour.... my favourite. The 'tongue' in this type usually takes a twist or two and has a nice spiral shape. And, kyonki saas bhi kabhi bahu thi , this dwarf variety is the Mother-in-law's tongue when she was daughter-in-law ;) All the three above have their origins in my mother's garden. She had a huge collection of succulents..... Most gardening websites root for the snake's tongue as indoor plant for its air purifying properties. They advice against over watering. But, you know, some years ago, I had

My dad's sister was very young and unmarried when she became an aunt for the first time. To make things stylish and acceptable for her, we were asked to call her 'aunty' in angrezi instead of the usual atte. Calling one's real aunt 'aunty' is one thing, but, I don't know since when there has been this alarming trend of calling all married women 'aunty'! My first encounter with this trend dates back to lo..ng ago - to the only time when I worked in an 'office'.  I was new and the errand boy (a 40-50 yr old certified idiot!) came to me and said. 'Aunty.. if you want anything, just let me know. I'll get it for you'. The boss chided him - told him that since I was unmarried, he should be calling me 'maydam' and not 'aunty'. Thanks to that episode, I wasn't alarmed when people - sometimes, older than me - started calling me 'aunty'/ 'anti'! It is another story that the errand boy, Srinivas, ref

About an year ago, I had introduced an acquaintance - someone I used to meet every evening. Over time, we had graduated from being nodding acquaintances to talking acquaintances. We had even begun to explain our absences for the evenings we missed seeing each other! Though our conversations revolved around plants/ gardening, I had learnt that he was a farmer from North Karnataka, had had differences with family members and had come here to spend the rest of his life - far from the madding crowd...... Earlier this month, I was away for a week. After I came back, I noticed that my friend was missing. I assumed that he was visiting his daughter (with whom he was on good terms).  It's been about 10 days since I returned, and still, no sign of him. Though in full bloom, his garden is looking a little weedy. I decided to make enquiries about him with the all-knowing watchman. 'You don't know, Maydam-avre (How I ABHOR that address!)? The other day, a group of Ma

Desolate, hungry and lonely - those were my first thoughts when I saw this stray outside the gate last week.  Clearly, it was crying to be adopted and something about its appearance touched a chord in me. I decided to make friends...first step towards adoption, actually! Every time I tried to go near it, it would run away, and return very hesitatingly after some time! So, I placed some breakfast leftovers and some water near the gate - 'The way to a hungry dog's heart is via its stomach' principle!  Later that evening when I broke the news.....  Husband: THAT thing?! It doesn't even look like a dog!  Kid: You should call it 'Bunny'..it has such long ears!  I settled on 'Bunkey' after a character from Enid Blyton's 'Noddy' stories...and looked forward to seeing it in the morning.  Alas! Bunkey didn't return at all!  Of course, it wasn't the food!! Just that somebody else beat me at adopting it!  Yet again!  Twice

These days, if you're living in Karnataka, it is very difficult to get away from politicians and their affection for chairs. In fact, all that fuss makes me very conscious of the fact that I have never had a favourite chair in all my donkey's years of existance! Of late, though, one chair has been getting a lot of my attention..... Last month, there was a night - long volleyball tournament, about half a kilometre from home. All that cheering and commentary ensured that I had a very disturbed sleep. So, the next time I passed by the ground I took a moment to glare at the hoarding with the pics of the organisers. Instead, I ended up gazing at the very attractive referee's chair! Back home, I took a closer look at the chair (this pic to be precise!) and decided that the green surroundings and the skeletal design are the chair's only plus points! With no arm rests, it looks like one has to sit uncomfortably straight! Of course, the referee who has to sit on it mus

Ever since that dramatic day 6-7 months ago, when namma MP became namma Mukhya mantri , we knew it.... by-elections would be forced on us. And, today, we, the people of the Chikmagalur - Udupi Lok Sabha constituency had to choose our new representative. I have been unenthusiastic about this by-election right from the start. For one, I have not been able to tell the difference between having & not having a representative in the Lok Sabha! Secondly, those noises Mr.Y has been making about returning. Lastly, those noises didi has been making about mid-term polls. Mid- term or full term, our new representative doesn't have much time to prove himself. And, quite frankly, I'm tired of all the petty bickering and scams. I decided to skip the parties and vote for an independent candidate this time. My choice would be someone with a likeable symbol. Our representatives may be a little muddled up about their responsibilities, but, we, the dutiful citizens of the country aren

The other Sunday, the newspaper supplement had a write-up on some of the erstwhile royals of Tamil Nadu - the Sethupathis of Ramnad, one among them. The current 'Raja', while talking about his duties & responsibilities, had mentioned a century-old school in Madurai that he had to look after. So, imagine my astonishment when the book I read last week was a school days memoir of someone who had studied in the same Sethupathi School - the school where M.S.Subbulakshmi made her debut as a singer! 'Green Well Years' by Manohar Devadoss is about this gang of 5-6 adolescent boys. Schoolmates, these boys spend most of their free time together. Their favourite hangout place is a large, open well on the outskirts of Madurai. The water looks green....hence, the title! The author weaves a series of autobiographical incidents from his boyhood days with the history & geography of places in and around Madurai. In fact, life in Madurai during the early years of Indian In

Road - widening hits home : ( When the announcement had come two years ago, all of us had accepted the fact. Yes, our roads were too narrow to accommodate the sudden increase in traffic - both local & tourist.... and, widening them was necessary. Proposed & approved way back in the 70s, financial shortcomings had post-poned the widening works till now! Those of us along the proposed widening path were hoping that the financial crunch continued & the proposal would remain just that! Alas! it didn't happen that way. Today, the dreaded moment arrived and was gone within a couple of minutes, leaving all of us sailing in the same boat ...... Most neighbours have lost old, high yielding coconut trees, mango trees, etc. Some have lost a portion of their verandas. We have lost about 8 feet of our garden. My favourite corner would look like this at this time of the year. Now, it looks like this ..... Soon, it will be tarred and be called 'road' ....

The other evening, my friend and I were in her veranda - talking about this and that - and her farm hand walked in. He had finished his day's work. As my friend got him his tea, she told him, "Heard that your son's post has been made permanent. Now, you should think of getting him married". That was all the opening he needed - to pour out his opinions, quite oblivious to the presence of a stranger. "What 'permanent' akka . With his Rs.7,000 per month income, I'll have to look around for a girl who earns at least that much. Otherwise, how can he manage? Just see...both of us leave home at around 8.15 in the morning. While my work place is at a walkable distance, he spends Rs.20 one way as bus fare.Then, amidst work, I have proper lunch, tea,...& walk back home, in time to do some chores there. For this, I earn about Rs.6,000 per month (Farm hands in these parts are paid Rs.200 - Rs.300 per day, plus meals). I save whatever remains after spendin

The other day, on our way to Chikmaglur, we passed by this pond near a sleepy hamlet..... and, we saw something that we had never seen before! Monkeys, or any other animal in the wild for that matter, do not like human attention/ interference. When they are in a group, they are fearless and do not hesitate to show their dislike. Fearful of attack, I didn't dare to go closer than about 40 feet! That's why, in this pic, one can just about make out that these monkeys are eating some part of the lotus plant! As a term, 'lotus eater' is synonymous with 'pleasure seeker'. On the other hand, it is a well known fact that the entire lotus plant is edible in one form or the other - roots, stems, leaves, flowers & seeds!! I remember seeing lotus stem in brine on the shelves of some super markets. As food, roots, leaves, etc. are supposed to have several health benefits. Curiously, the seeds are supposed to be slightly narcotic. Whether they were having a

Whenever a farmer comes to my doorstep selling vegetables, I buy them. The other day, one of the regulars dropped in. This time, he had only ash gourds. Since my own ash gourd vine was looking good, I had to tell him that I didn't want any. He then expressed a desire to see the vine - to check out the variety, etc... Soon after seeing it, he told me that the vine would produce only one gourd and that I should be offering it to some temple instead of using it! Well! I hadn't heard this one before! Though nobody knew why, every single person advised me against using the ash gourd if it turned out to be the only yield from that vine. And, 'Give it to some temple' was the final line that everyone added! You know, as far as vegetables and beliefs go, the ash gourd is one that has many attached to it... each one of them, meaningless and without logic. My mother believed that a whole ash gourd should not be cut with a knife by people whose parents were alive. Fortunat