Anish Nadh’s Blog

 I got a call from Andy at around 7:00 pm yesterday, he was with a street vendor selling AirPods for ₹2000! These are first copies that came with some warranty. He convinced me to buy this, which I did. The sound quality was not so great, but this would be perfect to watch videos on iPad. This product is also under warranty by Apple, surprisingly. Anyhow, I decided to give it away to a nephew of mine! He can use it for gaming! 

Ujwal, Bhanu, Solo, Andy and I booked some tickets to watch the Mission Impossible movie. It was planned all impromptu! I took a nap in the afternoon to keep myself awake later for the movie. We are also planning to sneak in some snacks into the theater, just for the thrills. Let’s see how that goes!  Update: sneaking in snacks was a success! 

I was invited to attend Jayanth uncle’s and Arun uncle’s thanks giving party today. Arun uncle is 60 years old and Jayanth uncle survived a major health issue! This was a time to meet and celebrate!  I reached at around 12:30 pm. Andy also joined in. He was down with a bad flu. I was afraid of catching it from him, I stood at a safe distance. There was a small prayer and a message by the pastor and then the lunch was served.  We met some of their relatives and had lunch, I enjoyed the biryani and the baby corn manchurian a lot! I left the place and came back for my classes. 

I can feel the weather changing in Bangalore. It was crazy cold last night, or is it that I’ve lost some insulting fat from under my skin? I have felt cooler here in Bangalore, but I’m noticing the change in weather. This weather is just for sleeping in! There’s no motivation to work. I’m fighting it all to just be up and running! I must!

 My laptop wouldn’t charge, it works sometimes and most times it does not. So I walked in to the iCare shop at Mantri Square. I booked my appointment there, everything was well organized. I met a genius there and she made some checks and confirmed that the problem was with the cable. My laptop was under warranty, so they will replace the old cable with a new cable, this will take 4 working days. I hope it works well when it arrives. 

 I filed my tax returns, and when it finally was released to my account, I bought my niece a cycle. She outgrew her old one. The new one is from decathlon, a 24 inch BTWIN. Ujwal and  I found it really difficult to transport. We somehow balanced it on the backseat, turned the front wheel and the handle to make space and enemy drove it back. The mechanic who fixed our cycle, Abdul delayed the delivery as he was occupied with other customers, he was kind to throw in a bell free of charge to compensate for the time.  The cycle is in my living room! I’ve made space for her to have an indoor mini cycle track, so she learns how to handle the cycle and after rains, we plan to take it out for a spin. 

The big band I was going to join, signed some more tours without me. So I guess I did not make it. I also heard they are using tracks to play my banjo and guitar parts. All this happened without any sort of communication with me. I’m disappointed, that I can’t travel with them; at the same time, it gives me enough time to work on myself. Too bad it didn’t work out. Well we can’t have them all, if it’s for me, let it happen! 

It’s 9:40 am I really don’t feel like working out today! I want to sleep in, the weather is also not helping! But I will fight this feeling, I will pick myself up and crawl to the gym! I will have no excuses to give. 

 My parents signed up for a LIC policy when I was in school! This was for 25 years and after I started working, I joined in one. We never missed a payment, and sometimes we could take a loan from the bond easily, for education or hospitalization of a family member, when money was not available.  I was not aware of investments the mutual funds and SIP, everyone associated this to gambling and had a lot of failed stories to tell. LIC was a great discipline, and we build a small backup without realizing with this discipline. 

Mom, I and Ujwal cleaned up the next plot and burnt some overgrown invasive Lantanas. While doing so, I noticed some small yellow fruit hanging off a creeper, mom told me it’s edible. It tasted and had the same texture as passion fruit. These were like mini passion fruits, sweeter, not sour. I collected a handful of them, and gave some to me niece as well. 

I woke up, early at 6:30 am today, to go to watch Oppenheimer. Solomon was ready with the bike, at 7:00 we rode till metro and then took one from Jalahalli cross to Orion Mall! We arrived a few minutes early when hunger kicked in. I bought a paneer sandwich and was glad Solomon was fasting! I also didn’t have to share popcorn with him! The movie was ok! I did not know the contributions of Bohr or Einstein to understand the story line. But I came back with some knowledge. The music was nit very invasive, and they used silence as the bomb detonated, I did expect a loud bang. The film also drew metaphors of the bomb blast in Oppenheimer’s thought processes as he visualized the making of the bomb and the reflected on the after effects later. It was an ok movie! I did not enjoy it, because of my lack of knowledge on the subject.  We raced our way back home, after lunch, I took a nap or not, maybe I whiled away time for an hour and then started my classes. I’m famished even though I didn’t h

I caught up with Shreyas Dipali today to plan the student concerts. I took an Uber auto rickshaw to his place. I reached a cozy room with a lot of drum kits, wires books, stands and studio materials sprinkled around.  We planned to put them all in a band so they all can play together. We also planned the logistics, made a few calls to sound vendors , videographers and photographers to cover the event. We also planned an approximate budget.  We then drove to Alliance Française to check out the venue. It was quite spacious and  can seat about 250 people. We mentally took note of the area and placed the sound console, band performance and seating area.  After a chat with Dilip, the new care taker, I learnt that Mr Joseph the old care taker passed away recently. I used to see him and chit chat with him every time went there since my Bangalore School of  Music days. His absence was felt.  Shreyas drove me back to his place in RT Nagar and I took a Uber bike back home, clutching Ambur Star b

I have reduced snacking on packaged items quite a bit. I replaced them with some nuts, in limited quantity. My favorite is pumpkin seeds with a teaspoon of honey. I also enjoy pistachios. I’m also having 2 eggs everyday and slightly increased my portion sizes, the workout that I do demands this. I have not been walking 5000 steps out of fear of losing more weight. So it’s all good snacks, fruits and the occasional once a week eating out for me. 

I got a message from Shirley aunty at around 1:00, noon. She sent a video of a wasp nest full of wasps! So I offered to help get rid of it. Ujwal, my nephew and I went there and saw that it was the aggressive kind, and decided to pressure wash it off. Aunty had a Bosch pressure washer that was clogged. We first fixed it and then got the first nest removed.  The second one on the mango tree was quite huge, Ujwal settled on a walk near the tree And yanked it with the stick, Now the wasps attacked. He got a few stingers, he jumped off the wall. We then nursed him for a bit and made a fire torch with some kerosene and a cloth. This time instead of the wall he used a ladder and burnt the nest down. What was remaining of the nest fell off, to our surprise it was quite heavy. We came back home at around 5 pm, Ujwal gulped down an ibuprofen tablet. This was quite some adventure. 

Just saw a guy taking credit for a Tommy Emmanuel’s Beatles medley cover. I was furious at first then settled down to reflect about it. Of course, he modified it a little bit and owned it, played it really well, with no credit given to Tommy Emmanuel, who took the melody off from Beatles. At least Tommy’s was original in its arrangement for finger style guitar. But this guy copied most of the notes, which qualifies for copyright infringement.  Isn’t this what we do in the creative arts world, we plagiarize in the pursuit to learn, with no regards to the original composer. I settled, satisfied having caught the plagiarist! 

 I hung out with Solo, Andy, Tanya and Jane today. We were going to New Bel and I noticed Tanya and Jane leaving Socials, I called them and we went to Maha Bazar to do some grocery shopping for Andy, and then Plan b and Milano later. I had a tenderloin burger and 3 cones of ice cream. We had a good time talking and having a lot of fun. Reached home at around 10:45 and crashed. 

I’m really craving for my me space. I wish there was a button that gave me a DND status, temporarily at least. What do I want you do? Nothing I just want to exist without being known. How do I do that? 

We’ve been actively composting the kitchen wet waste. I got a terracotta composter sometime earlier this year, which can be stacked up and compost can be rotated as one bin fills. The wet waste becomes “Black Gold” which is then added to the soil of our vegetables on the terrace. The black gold nourishes our plants and it comes back to our plate. We get to eat veggies with no pesticides at-least a few days in the week. 

Andy challenged me to learn Don Ross’ song Klimblim, I asked him to send me reminders everyday, to my surprise he did! So I started working on it. I wasn’t happy with the guitar sound, I don’t think I can post it anywhere but the challenge was to learn the song, which I did send to him. 

 Ujwal wanted a haircut. Now that I already had a bad haircut, I wanted him to get one too. So I convinced him to get a crop cut. The outcome was hilarious! He didn’t like it, neither did I. I then convinced him to get a clean shave done! To my surprise he obliged and allowed Kasim to take it all off. All for some cheap thrills! 

Tuesdays is my reset day! I have mostly nothing to do, but to just work on myself. Gym is helping me a lot with this. I’m sleeping well. I have a lot of energy to play music, teach and do my chores in the backyard even after all the lifting.   Today I gather my thoughts on the most important tasks I have to do for the next week. Eventually I will need to schedule my time to organize my thoughts. My actions are in place. I need to schedule my thoughts. How do I do that? 

After lifting light weights at the gym, I feel a lot different. I have more energy, I don’t feel depressed or low anymore. I think exercise is the most underrated pill for depression. All thanks to Bharath, he patiently helps and guides me through each workout. I’m not walking as much, I walked only 4 days last week. 

 I went to church today after two weeks. After church, I was taking to the senior members, I was fascinated to know how they are coping up with their retirement. Most of them want to travel while they can before their body gives up. They want to see and experience new things.  I also empathized with them, some of them have lost their teeth and are not very happy with the implants. Some say how the mercury amalgam filling in their teeth could be doling more bad than good.  I am also getting old and I was wondering how I should be really grateful for this life, and enjoy to the fullest. 

 My niece is progressing well with her piano lessons. We spent some time learning piano almost every day last week. She also enjoys it, especially after seeing my students win her school music competitions.  She’s not a natural musician, she was mostly out of pitch when asked to sing what she was playing. She’s improving steadily on her pitch references. 

Their eyes met, but they looked away and traced it back almost in synchronicity. He wondered if she was thinking about the same things. The bike rides, the smooches, the good times. Then like a stab he felt the betrayal of how it all ended. 

I can feel the summer’s decline, the plants also seems to be enjoying the weather. I ploughed a corner of my backyard, we decided to grow golden berries there. Apparently it’s got a lot of health benefits and it’s quite expensive and rare to buy. So the plan is to plant as much as possible before the rains. 

 I had a bad throat and cough, that made it difficult to speak for long periods of time. I missed a lot of classes this week. I have to catch up. It was not easy to take lessons but I eased my voice with a tall cup of warm ginger tea and honey. I must be more careful with students who are sick, especially when we are in the same room! 

I was so hungry at around 8:00 pm today and Andy showed up after his dental installation. We ordered food from uncle kitchen, noodles, fried rice and chicken kabab. It was quite satisfying. We hung out with Solomon and caught up! 

 I worked out today and cleaned a part of my backyard, did some land prep for planting some greens. Then I practiced guitar. Im super tired! Just going to crash now.  I’ll leave this short story here.  Once up on a time there was, The End. 

I went to my back yard after 3 days! I couldn’t do any work the past few days thanks to a fever that came out of no where. I managed to get better with Dolo and some Okacet.  I noticed a lot of twigs, fallen coconut stalks, which took me back to my childhood at my grandparent’s place where we salvaged fire wood, this was before the Gas and kerosene were popular. Food cooked on firewood has its own flavour, it tastes different always.  Most people bought firewood but we had enough coconut trees. And each of us had a task to do. Men, my uncle and grandpa (my dad was too fancy for this, he just helped shift things around he was too white collar I guess) though they had a stable government jobs were quite strong. They would remove the leaves, soak them in a river nearby, and salvage the spine of the leaf, chop them to size and dry them for fire wood. Women, my aunt and cousins would weave them, for roofing. Back then thatched roof was quite popular. We even had a cow shed cum firewood stor

The alphabets keeps increasing!  Extended with some positive signs in the end!  There’s no end to this.  The Alphabet people are inclusive!  As the list extends, we will all be included some day,  Until we are done using all the alphabets.