deepcontemplator

thinking deeply about things that matter

Category: Bengaluru

  • About walking

    My most frequent fitness activity the past few months have been walking. I have always been a walker and have found immense peace and contentment just walking. My walking got some new meaning after I read in the book Sapiens how our forager ancestors used to spend much of their roaming in the forest gathering food. Hence, our brains have evolved to store much information about topology, paths and maps.

    Being in a city like Bengaluru which has great weather all year round, makes it even more pleasant to walk. I like exploring known paths, parks or sometimes wandering into totally new localities taking in all the hustle and bustle of the surroundings.

    The health benefits of walking are well known but here I want to discuss walking for its own sake.

    The perspective you get while walking is much different than driving through the same streets. You have to slow down to the limits of your body. You are forced to look at and navigate the space with other humans around. You get a closer view of the shops and houses that dot the streets.

    Walking slows you down to human pace. Hence opening you up for conversation and human interaction. I have had multiple people ask me directions, or help cross a high step on the footpath or generally grumble about speeding vehicles!

    At some level, walking is what makes us human. Obviously its not the most efficient way to get from point A to B. But once you remove the utilitarian view and stop ‘optimizing’ everything, you realize how walking for its own sake can be both enervating and exhausting.

  • Friend groups and their adda (hangout place)

    Friend groups and their adda (hangout place)

    We all know the importance of friends and the fun (and occasional irritations) they bring in one’s life. And if a friendship persists for a long time, it can be satisfying to watch your friend grow and evolve along with you and appreciate how far you have come in your own paths.

    Maintaining friendships takes time and deliberate effort. One knows of the unending planning which has to occur before any meet materializes. Among the various unsaid rules and rituals we form in friendships, I was recently thinking about the benefit of having a preferred hangout spot or an adda.

    This can be an old peepal tree in your college or a quaint darshini or the fancy pub in city center or just one of your friend’s house. Having a shared space where everyone can gather and be seen and heard fully can be fulfilling.

    It can be a common thread in a long ensuing friendship.

    From a logistical perspective, it helps decide on a default place to meet. But it serves much more.

    It makes everyone come back to the same place, literally. The familiarity provides a feeling of safety and trust. Before the advent of text messaging or phone calls, one would wait at such an adda for a friend to show up. To me that sounds almost romantic! 🙂

    Well in general, having friends makes life much enjoyable, and bearable in tough times.

    An adda can be a physical marker for such a beautiful relationship in one’s life.

  • Walking, without distractions

    I have always been a walker. I was lucky to attend a college which was within a couple of kilometers from my house. So most days I would walk back home. The pleasant Bangalore weather and walkable roads definitely helped.

    This habit has stuck along and I take a walk daily now as well. I used to listen to my favorite podcasts or some high powered music during these walks. That would mean some days these walks would get extended because of an interesting podcast episode or so.

    But of late though I have started to take walks without any music or other distractions. And it has been refreshing to say the least!

    We are nudged towards multitasking in this age filled with technology and devices. At a time when we want to get the most buck for our time, it can feel scary to take time daily for something trivial as a walk around the house. This beautiful and simple act of taking a plain old walk without any distraction has become a luxury. 

    The quiet walks have helped me relax and slow down.

    Thoughts which keep popping up, but after some time you learn to notice them and let them go. On difficult days, it gives me the space to notice and listen to my feelings and emotions. On most days, these would get submerged beneath all the other distractions adding into the pile of unresolved issues.

    I realized I have begun to notice things which were in plain sight but never paid much attention earlier. Like the sand blowing at my face at a construction site, the yells of cricket players in the playground or the chirping of the lone bird on a tree. If I am lucky I also get to catch a glimpse of the sunset and the various hues the sky takes.

    I still do listen to music and/or podcasts on days when I really need a break. But the other times, when I walk without any distraction, the experience only seems to be getting better with each walk.

  • Serendipity of running into your friends

    Serendipity of running into your friends

    Imagine walking down a street after a lunch with friends, still indulged in animated conversation with them. Suddenly you run into a another long forgotten friend coming down from the other side. Its both delightful and pleasantly surprising.

    I have had such encounters many times now, meeting known faces in least expected circumstances. Being born, brought up and now living in the same city, even a large one like Bengaluru with ~84L population, still gives enough opportunities for chance encounters.

    The friend I met that day on the street, we got talking and realized we stay quite close. That restarted the next phase of our friendship, one separated from the previous one by close to ten years.

    Such chance encounters spark such great joy in me.

    It need not be something which turns into a long lasting relationship, but running into a known face in a bus, at a temple city or at a relative’s social event adds a charm and provides highlights in your otherwise routine life. If those encounters are positive, it can make an otherwise not so memorable activity also interesting.

    So even with the limited outings I go now, sometimes just thinking of a possible serendipitous encounter makes me smile and open my eyes more. 🙂

  • Why I attend social events

    Why I attend social events

    Being a Bangalorean and staying in the same city accords me some privileges. One major one is option to visit my relatives and friends. At least pre-pandemic, that meant an invitation to an array of weddings, naming ceremonies and other myriad social events which make the fabric of an extended Indian family.

    One thing you notice about any social event you go is that usually the majority of people are seniors. When I was younger I used to pray fervently that my cousins turn up for the event, only to figure out later that only a trickle of them made it. I am not sure of the reason. Usually the younger generation tries to shy away from any family social gathering unless it’s under their parents’ force!

    But I have always been keen to attend family events. (The very healthy and and tasty baleyale oota definitely has a role to play in it)

    But if I think about it, maybe there’s something more than just the food. When I was in my school, during our chapter on astronomy, our teacher made this statement

    The people you see at social events are like stars in a constellation. Some old, some young, married, ill, morose or lively.

    That thought has stayed on with me. Its such a beautiful way to visualize the diversity of folks at any family event. Yes you might not like them all, you might have to endure judgmental insinuations, bland jokes and artificial cordiality.

    But you get to see a tiny cross section of humanity in that room.

    You see people at different stages of their life, all with their own struggles, yet trying to put their best foot. Some trying to impress, some waiting to be seen, some just giving out a kind smile.

    And when you all get together for a group picture, it definitely looks like a constellation.

  • The importance of routine, and breaking them once in a while

    The importance of routine, and breaking them once in a while

    When I started with my first job, it wasn’t an easy transition from college life to full blown five days a week corporate job. I had few of my friends join the same company, so there was some sense of continuity. However it was really difficult to keep yourself focused for 9+ hours five days a week. My friend even asked a senior colleague if he experienced the same fatigue and stress when he first joined. His only reply was that it gets better and you get used to it.

    Well we did get used to it. We got accustomed to the new daily routine. Early morning cab ride to work, then work for the stipulated hours and get back home. Since we were still freshers, we got some leeway the few initial days where we could explore different office spaces and spend quite long times eating breakfast and lunch.

    But soon the routine gets to you and everything which seemed new and unsurmountable starts feeling jaded and boring. That’s when a friend started to skip the cab some days and ride his bike to work. Since he stayed far away, I was quite surprised on why was he making such an effort to drive through the traffic and the sun. He mentioned that he just gets tired of the routine at times and just wants to have a change.

    So even I started taking an off routine day once in a while. And it was so helpful to break the monotony of the days. Once in a while, at my later jobs I would skip the daily cab and take my bike/car. Driving through Bluru traffic was a test for all my senses, patience of course and ability to keep myself entertained. Some days I used to take the metro and walk through Cubbon park to work.

    Well routines are definitely helpful in having a productive day. You dont have to spend time making insignificant decisions like when do you leave to work, which mode of transport will you take, what will you have for breakfast and all. These changes in routine became a welcome change and helped shake things up.

    But on the other hand, a break from the routine is like taking a mini vacation. All your senses have to come out of auto pilot and work. It helps increase motivation and helps in generating new ideas and keeping yourself on your toes and not getting comfortable with the status quo.

    So do craft your own morning, evening, night, commute routines, but just remember to break them every once in a while, to give things a slight shake up! 🙂

  • The joys of eating at a darshini

    The joys of eating at a darshini

    Well a small disclaimer before we begin – Darshinis are an experience on their own and no justice can be done in a single blog post. But some thoughts for now…

    Nothing like walking into your local darshini and having an open butter masala dose and filter coffee. Well yes the crowd at the counter could be sometimes difficult. You might have to jostle your way to get the token, or lay your rightful claim on that freshly made masala dose before some cunning guy who put the token after you grabs it. Or you might have to share a wooden bench or table with a family or an old couple, unknowingly becoming privy to their not so private conversation.

    But these are the joys of eating at a local darshini. For a brief period of time its as if people just dropped by someone’s house for a coffee. The camaraderie between the regulars and hotel staff can be so refreshing. And every darshini is so different though they follow the same basic rules, And you can have multiple favorites, one based on the masala dose, one for just the way they prepare palya accompanying the dose. Having favorite places just for their chutney is quite common among Bluru folks.

    Well every darshini however small, has its own quirks and that what makes them so different and, beautiful.