Anish Nadh’s Blog

I had a very busy day yesterday. I woke up early, after my 30 minute routine, I started with my piano assignments. I couldn’t complete it as I had to get ready for church at 8:30. After church, I stayed back for a wedding reception, biryani was on the menu. All this time I wanted to complete my assignments.  At 3:00 I left church to practise with Glajo, Sharju, Shruvi and Joslyn for the retreat. I hung out with them and stayed back for some snacks and games. By the time I reached home it was 10:00 and after the night routine I didn’t have energy to do anything.  I pushed myself and completed my assignments and sent them at 11:30 pm. I didn’t want any excuses. 

On purpose, I wanted to not write today! But here it goes. I just didn’t want to be tied to writing a blog everyday. But sometimes when you don’t want to do certain important things, that’s when you have to push yourself to doing it. And here I am with the most random blog! No much content to this, though I have a lot to write about what happened today. I’m just keeping this to this! 

The best quality that I have observed in likable people is the ability to take the joke upon themselves without being offended. Children learn this from parents. If parents are sensitive and cannot tell a joke apart, and get offended easily,  the child also tends to get upset with a joke.  When you watch stand up comedy routines, the comedians pick on a random person and they all laugh at the expense of that individual, including that individual. It’s a joke. But in India we get offended and upset easily and there’s exchange of words.  In my family, my dad had a great sense of humour. He constantly made fun of us, and allowed us to make fun of him (but when he was not joking around we knew to shut up). He allowed debate and reasoning and quick thinking. And because we did this at home, I could never be bullied in school. They would call me all sorts of names, targeting my height or skin colour and I embraced it and it never bothered me. I was able to give a response that always made th

I took mom to the passport office yesterday, at Jalahalli. Knowing how disorganized she is, I reminded her the previous day to keep all the documents ready! She said it’s nothing and she has everything sorted. Being me, I told her to not be over confident but to pay attention to details, to avoid a round trip and wastage of time the next day.  5 minutes into the drive, she told me she left her phone back at home which had important serial numbers to be shown at the passport office, we couldn’t go back as we were already on time. We asked my brother in law, who was at home, to send the details to my phone.  We reached the office and she realised she needed photocopies of the old passport. I didn’t utter a word and I quietly took her passport and walked to a photocopying place nearby.  On our way back, after the formalities at the office, we had a chat about this. I’m sure she felt bad, maybe my aging mom will never be organized. But I love her and will always take care of her. 

I start my day with a smoothie. Sometimes it’s just one cucumber with a splash of water other times it’s apple, banana, amla. I have a feel good vibe after consuming this smoothie with a prayer of thanks. 

After the road trip I was so tired and I just wanted to crash. I slept at 7:00 pm and woke up at 1:00 am, went back to sleep again and woke up at 8:00. I could feel my stiff neck easing after that well deserved sleep.  I was surprised I found the energy to do my chores, take a few lessons and some more in the evening! Today is a long day as well. But I’m loving it! 

We left at 4:00 am. This was a 185km drive from my place. And I drove almost the entire stretch! Andy took over for the last bit and I crashed in the vehicle. We reached the spot and was really disappointed to find the the church was completely submerged and was at a distance. We met a local boat man, Ganesh, we negotiated ₹100 per head and he rowed us ti the church. We had safety jackets on! To my utter dismay, he stopped the boat near one of the beams on that 18th century church built by the French, now in ruins, and he asked us to climb atop!  I was shaking, fearful that the ancient architecture will give away to our weights combined! The only relief was the safety jacket, which Solomon decided to take off for a photo hoot flex! We settled on the bird drop smeared roof structure and posed for pictures. Ganesh rowed us back and we were hungry!  We found a small cafe and they had Maggi noodles. We ordered egg noodles and decided to drive back. I drove half the stretch then Andy took o

How soon did Sunday pass! I woke up early and cleaned my bedroom and kitchen, I did this while listening to sermon from Bethel church. I did all my morning routine and went to church and then to Samuel Robert’s house warming. Then Andy and I got my car’s oil checked and topped up and prepared for our trip to Shettihalli Church! Today is the day for the road trip with Solomon and Andy! 

Two of my friends started writing blogs regularly! Thanks to Seth Godin who inspired me to write every day, which led to, me starting the blog fire in Solomon and Anderson.  When I started writing I just didn’t care about sounding cool or fear being judged. I totally accepted my flaws and lack of knowledge, shared my blog with these two friends. They read almost all my blogs, they kept me going! They reminded me when my blogs were missing! My friends nudged me and I nudged them to writing!  I have watched how Solomon struggled in his younger years, he picked himself up, got educated, got his priorities right, and most importantly did something about the things that were bothering him. Just watching him turn into one of the most reliable friends I have itself is a blessing.  Andy, though he struggles in silence, always finds a way! He is guided into the right path through the love from his mom! He tries his best to walk in God’s ways. He absolutely submits and commits only to things he

I take my time to find the best teachers for my music lessons. Right now I’m being challenged to everything possible. Little details to the way I sit, to the way I keep my fingers! These teachers pay attention to details and I appreciate it them even though it’s quite challenging.  After finding these teachers (they are a mom daughter duo), I decided to submit with devotion! I decided to give my utmost respect  and listen and grasp everything she uttered. She challenged me with a lot of assignments with specific goals.  Sometimes this would take me a few hours to days to  complete. I stayed up from 9:00 to 11:30 pm one day submitting assignments! Achieving speed and accuracy sometimes takes days!  The more I submitted on time, I was challenged again to re submit them as it was not good enough!  It was so frustrating sometimes but I went back to my initial mindset of submitting to my teachers.  I was being taught simple things that I have already knew, it was redundant!  I stuck to my m

I was too tired to clean yesterday! I had a lot to prepare and learn. So today I had to clean up, i at least had 3 days pending work. I began with the music area, wiped the bookshelf replaced all the things! Trust me it had a lot of things misplaced, it’s so difficult to control what goes where with guests over.  Under the stairs was next! Yesterday,  I was supposed to take out everything  and rearrange, sweep the area for spiders and cobwebs. So, I did that today.  Living room was next. I swept the area, dusted the carpet and replaced a lot of things left on my couch! I found some money as well! Tomorrow I will clean my bedroom and maybe kitchen if I have the energy! 

 I’ve set a trap for honey bees. The idea was to create a natural home for the bees, use some of its wax to sort of invite the bees and let it know where the hive is. If this plan fails, plan b is to source it from a bee keeper. It is assumed that stingless bee hives split during the October - November months. Let’s hope the bees find the hive. Fingers crossed! 

Being joyful even during the most challenging situation is a tough thing to do.  I hope we at least find the courage to be immune to  pain and just be calm, regardless of what the situation is.  It’s indeed a hard thing to do! This too shall pass! 

I’m doing all the rearranging of things after last week of nephews and nieces. Planning to do one room at a time. Yesterday I cleaned out my studio! Every furniture moved, every nook and cranny was swept! I just had the flow while doing it and didn’t stop till I was done. Todays plan is to clean up the office common space. 

My nephews left Bangalore last night. They are on a train as I write this. All that noise is gone. I will miss them. I missed some of my routines and I have to get back on track.  The entire house of mine is a mess! I must start cleaning. Will post about those soon. 

 Today we went to Nandi Hills. We left at 4:00 am and reached the place at around 6. The place was scenic and had some aggressive monkeys intimidating people with food. They avoided the staff there who carried sticks. I bought some grapes and guavas on the way back we also had some delicious sweet corn, cooked on coal!  Then it was breakfast next to Decathlon, where we found a small place that served Kerala breakfast for ₹99, and it was an all you can eat buffet!  They had live appams, idiappams, idlis, dosas and poories with different curries. This place was worth finding and everyone enjoyed the food. Then we did some shopping at Decathlon and the way back was the longest, traffic! It took us 3 hours to get back home.  We decided not to go out and made a music night happen and all of us took turns singing. We also danced in the end! After dinner we played some uno through the night.  Tomorrow my nephews will leave and I’m going to miss them. 

I still haven’t slept properly. We had another eventful day. Woke up early morning yesterday and went to Anand biryani, Hoskote. I came back and immediately went to pay the bills at Bangalore one and then went to two garages to get my car lights fixed. Then it was Ikea time after that and ended the day at Orion. My cranky favorite niece was not cranky after a KFC, perhaps she was hungry. Today will be another long day. 

I picked up my nephews at 7:00 am from the KR Puram railway station. Then we got back home and caught up over a game of UNO. I also made sure I submitted my piano assignments on time and we set out to commercial street. The weather was perfect. Next, we went to Johnson market and had some delicious beef kebabs and washed it down with some lime juice. After this, I drove them to Lakeview for ice cream cones and then we got  back by 12:00 midnight. 

I missed my daily morning routine today, nephews and nieces have taken that time. We are catching up, sharing informations remembering events that got us a lot of joy in the past. We are also planning their trip here, things to do, food to eat etc. it’s going be a fun short weekend. 

 My nephews and nieces will all be leaving Kerala today by train and they will be here tomorrow. I feel old calling them nephews and nieces! But in reality they are just a few years younger than me. One of them also calls me “Bro” and “Nigga” and that’s how I’d like to keep it! I’m also taking a break from teaching music from tomorrow. I will prioritize teaching Natalia and my piano submissions and will find time for this between all the chaos! 

Solomon and Andy started writing their own blogs. For Andy this is a second innings. Sometimes I’m not motivated to write and I write some random shit that comes to my head that makes no sense to them, the only readers of my blogs. Andy calls such blogs Jagabulla Jang Jang!!  This one is one such Jagabulla Jang Jang! 

Idiot proof, like a revolver with no safety feature! You better use it right or die!  Assess  Plan  Demolish  Rebuild  Add  Assess your situation  Plan your next step Demolish your bad habits Rebuild yourself  Add value to those around you. 

Uncle Kitchen is a restaurant near where I live, and I’ve grown up watching uncle run this restaurant with utmost detail and care. The restaurant has been consistent in following a routine, staying organized, friendly staff, cleanliness and all sorts of organized activities.  What’s even more impressive is that uncle will sometimes replace the staff, when they are on leave, with himself. He can cook, take care of billing, clean, wait tables, everything!  He also gets the place cleaned with soap and scrubs the kitchen at 11:30 pm after they close, every single day (which is not seen in many restaurants). It’s his leadership and willingness to replace any staff that gives him the edge to maintain the quality of the restaurant. He is able to rise to the occasion holding it all together! Hats off to him.  

Today I went to The Workshop  to learn about different kinds of tools for carpentary.  I was introduced to different types of Saws. The Rip Saw and the Cross Cut saws were the popular ones. I was also introduced to the Japanese saw, which was weird looking.  Different types of chisels were introduced, cutting, scooping and carving chisels; and the choice of different mallets and hammers; sledge claw and ball pen hammers. To know the methods of sharpening the chisel was fascinating using the soap stone.  Other things I learnt about were planers; files, especially the rasp file for wood. This clearly gave me the idea of the hand working tools and how to choose them. We also used some clamps. The C, Y and the clip types were demonstrated.  Then I used the power tools, the shaping tools, circular saw, miter saw, jigsaw, planers, angle grinders and different routers   and figured out it’s safe practices. After a heavy lunch at Thalesseri, I cut some wood, thanks to the coffee that kept me g

This is a lesson I learnt from observing artists. They take time, painting their masterpieces. Sometimes it takes  months or even years to create their masterpiece. They take time to add strokes of paint layer by layer, wait for it to dry and add another layer and so on.  The lesson here is to not  rush at something you want to last forever. Your masterpiece is going to take time. You may or may not complete it and that’s ok. Enjoy the process and be patient, don’t rush. 

I am mostly self taught when it comes to piano. I never paid attention to my fingers while playing. I have a tendency to keep my hands flat on the keys. Now I have two teachers who guide me, Elizabeth and Tanya, they have pointed out a major flaw with  my left hand positioning. I happy to consciously make a rounded hand position for good piano hands. It’s a lot of unlearning and learning again with awareness. This one simple mistake was quite costly. Costed me my time & progress. Gotta correct that. 

You just gotta let go, Nothing is yours, You are going to age, Your laptop won’t be with you forever, So won’t your phone, Neither will your tissues and cells, They will get old and worn out,  Some friends will go too,  You will find new ones,  But they gotta go too,  What about your home?  Haven’t you seen broken ones?  Your parents will go too.  What about money?  Haven’t you heard of inflation?  Gold? Silver? Don’t they say diamonds are forever!  But, what good are diamonds when you gotta go as well? 

Music makes me feel things. One song I remember is Steve Vai’s G3 performance of whispering a prayer. I heard this song for the first time through a cassette and I remember tearing up. I listened to the song with goosebumps.  Music also makes me think, through lyrics. Thermal and a Quarter is one band that comes to mind. I pay close attention to their lyrics because the lyrics are relatable. One tune that comes to mind is called The Steal . The poetry and the song content is amazing. The lines that stand out reflects the current political scenes here. "Cause when the roads are all done There’ll be no gas for my wheels” reads the lyrics.  Music also captures my attention with groove. I think Victor Wooten is a master at this and he sometimes plays behind the beat and the groove pocket sits so damn well!  Music also captures my attention when it’s challenging. It makes me wonder how the musician is able to do this. Most musicians I follow, are mind blowing in their own rights.  What

This was my first car service! I made a list of things to do, very particular things to keep in mind while doing the services. I called Andy yesterday itself to make this list.  Pavan was the guy at the Maruti Suzuki service centre.  I was not impressed at all by the work done. They seem to have been in a hurry to finish the work. The reverse camera screen was askew.  There were lines of dust on the dashboard, the tire looked clean. The only incentive was it costed way too less than I expected. ₹1500.

You carry some of it!  You may have your grand-momma’s nose! Or your grandpa’s hair!  So maybe, there’s a slight possibility,  To have their skill?  Could you sing as good?  Maybe you inherited their diabetes! You carry it my friend,  You are them.  So I must have alert you this!  Before you pass it on,  Make sure you have a good one,  You don’t want to pass the bad stuff!  Just the good ones!  March on to the future. 

I saw a butterfly fresh out of its cocoon in my butterfly breed box with crooked wings. I kept him in the sun and he started walking but he couldn’t fly. I left him alone hoping his wings will stretch out eventually but even after a few hours he couldn’t fly. I left him on the window sill of my kitchen. After a few minutes I noticed him missing hoping he flew away, I went out and checked. He lay there, helpless without any hope to fly. An opportunistic ant was trying to tug him to its hole. I don’t think he deserved such slow death of suffering. So I killed him. It was quick. I felt miserable. What would you do?