Mangalore - Apr 22

We got here Sunday (Mar 27) night. It's 11 pm Tuesday (Mar 29) right now, so about two days in - 

The night we got here from Goa was just regular home-cooked fare and catching up to rest. Trains don't let you sleep in peace, even 2-tier compartments, with hawkers, commuters, other passengers continuously passing by. Slept in till about 11 am Monday, then sent off some work emails that I'd been delaying for a week. Went for a short drive around 7 pm and had ice cream at this new Natural's outlet called Just Sundaes. I've developed a full-blown cough and cold now, so took some antibiotics on the way back home. Had 2 small Old Monks with warm water before turning in, and had a nice deep sleep. 

Woke up around 8 am Tuesday and went to Vincy to buy idlis for breakfast. At 10.30 we all left to catch a 11 am show of Gangubai Kathiawad. I'd never particularly been interested in watching this movie, even with the moderate amount of hype it generated, but there wasn't much to do otherwise so I made the plan. The movie is well directed in places but the screenplay falls flat. I feel that for movies about underdogs driven by a strong sense of morality, the main character needs to have a larger goal they're oriented towards that's established right up front. That was missing here. It just seemed like the movie went from sequence to sequence without any real arc, throwing up and resolving plot points arbitrarily. Maybe very little written material is available on the life of this person. This is perhaps why the end seemed abrupt as well, with no proper resolution to her meeting with the PM. The dialogue is powerful and hard-hitting in crucial scenes, but, even with Alia Bhatt's delivery, a lot of it seems forced and engineered to evoke a sentimental response. Not to forget the treatment is quintessential Bhansali drama - grand sets, sombre picture tone, high-speed shots, rousing dialogue and a sentimental score rooted in Indian instrumentation. Last, Vijay Raaz is sinfully underutilized in what could've been an epic (and slightly longer) role, and that's also why I think he seemed very out of it. 

Lunch was saar, chapati, egg bhurji and some methi aloo bhaji. Took a half-an-hour nap in the afternoon during which time my cough progressively worsened. Around 6 pm I took a shower, and all five of us went to Ideal Cafe for a dosa and chinese dinner, followed by Natural's Just Sundaes for ice cream. 

Aditi, Raveena and Rohana at Ideal by Pabba's

Woke up late Wednesday. Papa and I sat through the morning making our Mysore reservations. Around 3 pm when papa was going for his workout, Aditi and I went with him to check out the 7th floor gym, where Aditi took a video of me testing out one of the treadmills wearing a lungi and chappals. Some time around afternoon papa got a call from a bookshop we'd gone to yesterday about a Tulu English tutorial book just coming in. Papa and I left for Bharath Mall, and after picking up the book and some other basic stationery he suggested booking tickets for tomorrow's show of Kashmir Files. We came back home and dinner was at home only. 

On Thursday we went to the gym around 4 pm, got done with our workout in an hour, then left for Bharath Mall. Had some dosas and coffee at Ideal, and got to the theatre well in time for our 7 pm show. Kashmir Files is such a weird movie. Forget the fact that the actors (barring maybe Anupam Kher) have given mediocre performances, the faux-documentary style treatment looks forced at best and fake at worst. The gore is unnecessary, the storytelling plain, and the plot wafer thin. It basically stems from a controversial interview some Kashmiri militant gave about a bunch of murders he did that were never officially documented. So the (non-linear) narrative carelessly trudges back and forth between present-day and 80s/ 90s Kashmir, and the whole thing is a shoddily pieced together assemblage of sequences alternately depicting violence and over-the-top (badly enacted) drama. 

 Machhli serves amazing fish

Dinner was shawarma from a restaurant close to Bharath Mall, I forget which one. Had some rum to round off the night. Cough is almost gone. 

Finished this really cool book called Ignore Everybody by cartoonist Hugh MacLeod, recommended by Steal Like An Artist author Austin Kleon. NeuroTribes is about 40% done, so around 300-odd pages still to go. Went to the gym at 4 pm, then did some shopping with papa. My cousins Raveena, Rohana and Rahul came over in the evening and we watched CODA followed by Temple Grandin. More on that here. 

Also, found papa's DSC W220 Cybershot lying around and have been using it to take family and random pictures. Going to post some samples and maybe use it as my blogging camera. The A7iii gets too big to lug around everywhere, especially when I'm not planning on shooting video. Might also use it to take stills on shoots. I've found a couple of old memorabilia from earlier years on this trip: 

1. Casio SK-1 - A small keyboard papa bought sometime in the early 1980s. Really tiny thing but decently power-packed. Doesn't have more than 8 or 9 built-in sounds and no MIDI capabilities, but it's got this sampling mode with an in-built mic that can record 5-second samples and synthesise it. Ahead of its time. 

2. Autograph book - with signatures of Rani Mukherji, Dev Anand, Farida Jalal, Ranjeet, Annu Kapoor and some other stars. Remember meeting some of these people, don't remember some others. Still pretty cool for the Instagram age where selfies are the thing and stars much more accessible. 

3. Kindle - this one's the 10th gen from 2019, but cool to have an extra one because I needed an extra one and papa wasn't using his.

Sunday we didn't do much apart from going to a relative's 50th wedding anniversary where I got emotional about not having had chicken lollipop for so many years that I ended up having 5 pieces back to back. Followed by neer dosa and chicken sukka for dinner, then three pieces of tiramisu cake and half a gulab jamun. Very difficult to resist good food after heavy workouts. 

 The view from our 7th floor gym

 The view from our 7th floor gym

 Weather balloon against a clear sky

Monday Sarita maushi (aunt on father's side) from Bangalore came home and spent the day with us. In the evening we drove to Pilikula Nisargadham, which is a nature reserve plus lodge, kind of like Coorg Nisargadham. The place overlooks a beautiful valley with coconut and palm trees, and on the hill right across from the restaurant is the Mangalore Airport landing strip. Our favourite pastime is watching planes take off and land there while sipping beer or whatever drink we've taken along (there's no alcohol available for sale at the restaurant but they don't mind us bringing some along in moderate quantities). Sadly, this time there was some shoot going on there so the restaurant was shut to visitors. Kinda felt like being on the receiving end of when we shoot in restaurants during working hours and patrons have to go back and find some other place. Stupid karma. We drove back to the city and went to Machli for dinner, followed by Pabba's for gadbad. 

Tuesday I finished reading NeuroTribes, and started with Temple Grandin's Thinking In Pictures, which is equally engaging. Grandin's way of thinking is unique, but doesn't entirely resonate with me; I think I'm more the verbal-logic type of brain as opposed to music/ math or design/ pattern. Actually, I might have got bits of all three, and I also think it might be possible with enough experience to switch between all types depending on what kind of work you're engaged in. More on that in a different blog. Maybe.  

 (L-R) aunt, grandma and mom

 The Gajbaje at Natural's Just Sundaes

After our 4 pm workout we went to Mangalore's View Point, which is a short drive over this small hillock slightly outside Kulasekara that brings you to a clearing from where you can see the entire south valley of the city. Beautiful little secluded place for watching the sunset and taking pics. Had dinner at this chill restaurant called Village, which has amazing Anjal rava fry, prawn tawa fry and hara bhara kebab. The egg biriyani is tasty too. Aditi brought the CyberShot but forgot to bring the battery, which was left charging on the charging dock, so we couldn't take any pics. Boo hoo. 

Aruna atya (dad's sister) came home Wednesday morning. Aditi and I uploaded a BS video after a while, so spent the whole morning and afternoon working on it. I also did some blog work. At 4 we went upstairs for a quick workout, then to Thannirbavi beach with the family. Took lots of pics, ate churmuri and bhoota (corn), and drank cubbinhalu (sugarcane juice) and coconut water. Walked around the beach until sunset. It's quite like Goa, except there's no shacks but a small chowpatty kind of area with bhel, gola and other fast food stalls. It's mostly a family beach so no alcohol places nearby either. Strangely, didn't spot too many boys groups drinking or smoking, and no policemen or beach authorities patrolling the area. Which is both good and bad. 

Dinner was at Pabba's, where Aditi and I split a Mysore sada with cheese and something called a machine gun sandwich, which is a veg sandwich with coleslaw and fries jammed in between the bread. Rounded it off with a nice cup of badam milk, which I've really come to like. It's like the Kashmiri kahwa but with extra milk and fewer dry fruits. 

 Dad and Aditi on some kids' thingies outside the gym

Private gyms are fun :)

Thursday we didn't do much until our 4 pm workout. In the evening - in typical fashion - we debated for almost two hours about where to go and what to do. Eventually wound up going to Natural's Just Sundaes for their gajbaje, which is plated jelly + seasonal fruits + ice cream. Aditi spent the evening baking mawa cake for tomorrow's party. I started the 100 days 100 lo-fi songs project with laying down the melody for the first song and jammed for about an hour or so while Aditi sat and edited the birthday wishes video for amma. 

Friday was amma's 90th birthday, the main reason we took this long trip. In the morning papa, Aditi and I went to a party shop to buy some balloons and other decoration stuff. Had a nice lunch at home, then slept for about an hour. In the evening we got ready and went to the 8th floor community hall in the building for the small party we'd organised. Everyone spoke about their fondest memory with amma, followed by a quick dinner. We wound up around 10 pm, came back home and sat around talking about old times, which is a thoroughly underrated activity I feel, because it grounds you so much in the present moment, like a Headspace exercise.

 

 Little kitty outside a bungalow next to home

 Aditi reading her Kindle in our balcony 

For those couple of hours you forget the future, the present, your ego and who you are to the world, and you let yourself be taken in by all these stories told by people who've known you all your life, before you even had a basic comprehension of the concept of self-image. It's humbling, and I'm most fascinated now by amma's 90 years on Earth, during which time she's seen Nehru, Indira Gandhi (who she calls demure and shy), and Queen (then princess) Elizabeth. Would be so cool to have a way to see things through her eyes since 1932, most of all events that have historical significance. 

 Sunset at Thannirbavi beach

 Extra blackened corn on the cob

 Some sukka bhel type mixture

Got back from Mysore on 15th night, and didn't really do much over the weekend. On Saturday, we went for lunch to a relative's place in Kapikad on account of Sathyanarayan pooja. Did a short city drive in the evening and had an early dinner. On Sunday, while doing some work, Aditi came up with the genius idea of merging Bakesplaining with Much Much. Made immediate sense, considering creating content for (and marketing) two growing platforms was becoming somewhat of a massive task. The plan is to rebrand Bakesplaining simply to Much Much and have all our baking content under one section. The other sections will be dedicated to our original IPs (On The Go and others), music videos for my original music & covers, and maybe a vlog Aditi and I can start. Plus, of course, all the branded content we do that pays the bills for everything else lol. 

This is the reason vacations are needed. Sitting in Mumbai all day long you're so caught up with meetings, calls, deliverables, deadlines, emails, changes, follow-ups, more changes, invoicing, payment reminders, and all that stuff that these simple ideas never seem to come. 

Consolidation is key, the flavour of the month. Here's to making this pivot pay off. 

Cheers, Mangalore. You were amazing, as always :). 

The last export

PC: The Michigan Daily

File -> Export Media -> H.264/ QuickTime -> (select path) -> Export

Great feeling. Temporarily reduces the sensory jumbling. Reinforces your belief in your skill, your reasons for leaving everything else aside and focusing on this. Makes you want to dive into more work, and makes you feel like you can instinctually ace it all. 

Of course it’s only fleeting, and it passes. Until, with time, the overthinking kicks in again and we’re back to square one. 

Need to start new work in that exact window between when an existing project is delivered and a new one successfully pitched. 

Need to figure out smarter ways to prevent the brain kicking into overdrive. 

Need to let more of instinct drive creativity as opposed to carefully crafted thought based on trends. 

Mysore - Apr 22

We got here from Mangalore 10th afternoon, around 3:30 pm, by KSRTC Airavat. Our hotel was around 5 km from the bus stand, and the city was shut on account of Ram Navami, so there was no traffic and we managed to get there pretty quickly. The first rickshaw experience only took me back to Bangalore where there are no meters and rickshawallas quote ridiculous rates for even the shortest distances. Our guy upped our fare by 10 bucks just after starting the trip saying he didn't know where the hotel was, and when we reached our destination said he didn't have 20 bucks change for the 150 I handed to him. Of course he was hoping we would let him off with the 150, but I went with him to a nearby vegetable vendor to get change for 50, and had him pay me back the 20 with a good note instead of the torn note he was trying to pass off before. Asking for change he said to the vegetable vendor, "Nodi ippat rupaye ge saayita iddare," meaning 'look this guy's dying for 20 bucks.' Lol. 

Checked in and rested for a bit, then got out to see the city. Went to Ashok Nagar market square, to the sabzi mandis at Sayyaji Rao road, and bought some Wood Apple, local cake and other stuff. Vendors looked weirdly at the five of us as we walked, heckling at us in Hindi, even though we were wearing masks and it was post sunset so they couldn't see our faces. Can't tell how exactly they figure out the outsiders from the locals. My father found it weird too, which I found doubly weird considering his father's family all come from here. Eh.

Sabzi mandi at Sayyaji Rao Road

Took a bunch of pics. Dinner was a simple set dosa and some bhel type thingy at a place called Paras Cafe. 

Monday morning we had a decent (veg) breakfast at the hotel and went to the Palace. The grounds at the palace are big but mostly fully barricaded, and you're only able to see one part of the whole premises. Videography is forbidden, so we couldn't vlog here but I took lots of pics with the Cybershot. Grand architecture, lots of little curios from the Wodiyar days, and generally a nice tour if a bit too crowded for a Monday morning. 

The Mysore Palace

Pillars in the Mysore Palace

Just outside the palace we saw an old man making a two-stringed instrument out of coconut shells. He played us a bunch of songs - some Tamil, Malayalam, Hindi, and even the Titanic theme. The instrument looked innovative but sounded crummy, so didn't buy it for the 250 bucks he was offering to sell it for. Instead, paid him 100 bucks for his 5-min private performance (which somehow was more rewarding and felt less like bheek) and we came away to Jaganmohan Palace in a victoria (horse carriage). 

Two-stringed instrument made out of coconut shells

External facade of the Jaganmohan Palace

Jaganmohan Palace is home to over 500 paintings from the Wodiyar days, and lots of everyday household objects used by the people of the kingdom from the 1800s. Best part was that it was empty - just us and a family from Bangalore (who took an intense liking for my grandma and just wouldn't leave her alone) - and we walked around taking our own time to see everything and take it all in (which I feel is so important to do in a museum or palace). The best was a series of paintings by Raja Ravi Verma and the 'Glow of Hope' by S Haldankar. Even the friendly museum caretaker was so excited about showing us the 3D paintings, he kept asking us to move around and see the raja's eyes following us everywhere (at one point he even moved some of the barricades and let us walk in the restricted areas, way too close to the paintings). Nice guy. 

Huge banyan tree in the Jaganmohan Palace compound

Lunch at RRR

Outside in the lawn, we swung on banyan tree roots and took lots of pics and videos (even with the random Bangalore family who later told us they were Jains, and invited us to their home). Lunch was at RRR, which is a really popular south Indian joint. Mom and I had a delicious chicken biryani and the others had veg thalis.

In the evening we went to Shuka Vana, which is a small bird rehabilitation centre (but actually more like a caged zoo) for exotic birds at the Sachidanand Ashram, started by Dr Sri Sachidanand Swamiji. It was loud and crowded, and the experience of watching the birds wasn't very exciting for us, so we quickly breezed past the cages and took some family photos. The parrots, parakeets and thousand other bird species were screeching loudly, mostly I think in discomfort, looking back at us through their cages as groups of visitors hissed, howled and tsk-ed at them. We had mediocre coffee in their cafeteria and came to the wax museum, our last stop for the evening. It was a quiet little small place with a bunch of wax statuettes of different local and foreign communities and world ethnicities playing their indigenous music. Apart from housing over 1,500 musical instruments the museum also had some antique music players and camcorders, which I found really cool. 

Ancient synthesiser at the Wax Museum

We went to Mall of Mysore to chill for a bit and ended up having very substandard veg thalis at this place called 2 States. Not recommended. 

Tuesday was Nanjangud day. We got there around 11 am and drove on straight to the Srikanteshwara temple in town. There was a big gathering of men there, dancing and singing to the pulsating rhythm of dhols, swaying sideways and hopping with wooden contraptions containing beads of grass in their hands. Got a bit of it on video. 

The temple itself is quite beautiful. It's got about five or six smaller temples inside, and each one houses different deities. It takes about half an hour to walk around the entire stone edifice on a crowded day. Amma was coming here after 70 years, and she was so overwhelmed, all she could talk about was how much the place had changed. We hung out at the temple premises for a bit, had some majge (chaas), gave alms (which the beggars at the temple call 'doing your dharma'), and came to Amma's old home. 

The house was dilapidated, walls abruptly broken in places and the wooden windows chipped off, and there were cobwebs all over the walls, which gave it a very antique and spooky kind of feel. On one of the walls hung a portrait of papa's uncle (my grandpa's brother) and in a broken Godrej cupboard we found two old diaries. I got excited thinking it must have entries from years ago but all it had was one postcard, which was apparently a court summons for someone. Amma met her neighbours, who invited us for coffee, and after a brief visit we went to Deburu, which is a small village on the outskirts of Nanjangud. 

Srikanteshwara Temple at Nanjangud

Grandma outside her 90-year-old home

Paddy fields in the outskirts of Deburu

All there was to see in Deburu was a temple, which happened to be shut. So on our way back to Mysore we stopped by some paddy fields and took pictures. The greenery was sublime, and there was a refreshing breeze blowing through the fields. 

Lunch was at this Udipi type place called Mahesh Prasad. The restaurant had a classic south Indian smell, which is a vague descriptor, but it's kind of like a mix of tamarind chutney, sandalwood and some kind of agarbatti. Had an 'oota' (veg thali), and the rasgulla and coffee there were exceptional. From there we came to St Philomena's church, took some pics and left for the sand museum, where we spent not more than 10 minutes. 

Last we drove up Chamundi Hill, all the way to the Chamundeshwari Temple. It started raining heavily just as we reached the top, and I started feeling a bit sick because of the sudden weather change, so only papa and amma went for darshan while Aditi, mom and I chilled outside. We shopped for a bit, then came back to the hotel and had a simple dal chawal dinner around 10 pm. 

The St Philomena's Cathedral facade

View from Chamundi Hill

Wednesday morning we went to Karanji Lake, around 9 am. The lake is on the city outskirts, nestled within a larger, lawn-type space that also has a bird aviary and a watch tower. First we went boating; it was a piloted family boat ride around the perimeter of the lake. The place has a thriving bird life that includes egrets, emus, swans, ducks, etc. Also a small island right in the middle and a mini fountain. The aviary stole the show, though. It had a posse of peacocks, white and black swans and the Indian peafowl. Some people (including my parents) even got a very private, up close peacock dance. Last we went to the watch tower, which doesn't have much except a very kickass view of the lake itself.
 

Karanji Lake

The Indian peafowl at the aviary

A peacock at the aviary

Flower (don't know which one)

View of Karanji Lake from watchtower

View of Karanji Lake from watchtower

The Mysore zoo is in the same premises (you can buy a combined ticket for both the lake and the zoo for 100 bucks per person) but accessible only from a different gate about 1 km away. Once there, we took a buggy for ease of internal access, and the entire tour lasted around 45 minutes. 

Noticed one thing very peculiar, which I wouldn't have otherwise if I wasn't reading Grandin's Thinking In Pictures. Animals and birds too, like humans, have brains that exist on a vast spectrum. It's so clearly evident at a zoo or an aviary or any place that houses and rehabilitates animals. Regardless of species or sex, some animals/ birds are inherently of the outgoing/ socialising/ curious personality type as opposed to some others that are more prone to peckish/ reclusive/ asocial behaviour. Cases in point: 

1. A peacock out of at least seven or eight that came up to us, looked us in the eye, posed for pictures and even did a short dance while the others weren't even looking our way, or spotting us and walking away. 

2. An elephant among four others at the zoo that saw our buggy halt at its enclosure, came up to us and hailed its trunk in a gesture of hello. 

3. An egret perched on a tree branch was looking straight at passersby, keeping eye contact as they walked along, in a crocodile enclosure. 

4. In a snake hold housing more than two snakes of the same species, some were coiled up and sat quietly in the back, out of people's view, and some others were right up front looking right back at people the way we were looking at them. 

5. Some giraffes were sat close to the area where we were alighting after the bus tour, while some others were precariously right at the back going out of their way to remain unseen. 

All of these instances happened in places crowded with people young and old.  

The bold egret

So anyway, later we went to Purohit hotel for a north Indian thali lunch, and got back around 2 pm. The plan was to leave for Brindavan Gardens around 4 pm, but it started to pour and we cancelled our taxi and wound up sitting in our room and watching a movie. Dinner was dal khichdi and mosaranna at the hotel. 

We reached Brindavan Garden around 10 am on Thursday morning. The drive was scintillating over beautiful, wide roads on a cool, cloudy day. We stopped on the KRS dam road for pictures and videos. Brindavan was pretty much empty. We walked around in peace, with no people to jostle with and/ or tune out. It was breezy and the sun wasn't out yet, so the walk was pretty pleasant. 

A walkway bridge about 300 metres in length connects the south wing to the north wing, and goes over a small area of the dam collection point that has sparkling clear water. From the bridge you can clearly see large, silvery fish swimming in the pond below. The south wing isn't as expansive, and had more monkeys than humans. We finished this area pretty soon, and came off to the city for lunch. Had fried rice, dahi and papads at this place called Dynasty, about 1 km from Mysore Palace. 

Outside Brindavan Garden

North wing of the Brindavan Garden

North wing of the Brindavan Garden

North wing of the Brindavan Garden

Aditi posing for a BS thumbnail

Red flower

KRS dam

Small waterfall in the south wing

Aditi posing for another BS thumbnail

After lunch, papa, mummy and amma went back to the hotel while Aditi and I walked around the entire perimeter of the Palace taking videos and photos. We saw an Ambari open top bus parked right outside the entrance and climbed in. Paid 150 bucks per person for a guided tour of 6 iconic places. But on account of Ambedkar Jayanti some main roads were shut, and we had to take detours that cut our trip short. If the trip was worth it, it was mostly because of the cloudy skies and the cool breeze blowing through the city's green, shaded roads. Passed by a bunch of important circles and drove past Sayyaji Rao market road to Mysore University and the Railway Museum. Got back in about 50 mins or so, and took a rickshaw back to the hotel. 

The West entrance of the Mysore Palace

Mysore's cloudy skies 

Mysore showed us rain on our last day as well. It started drizzling around 6 pm, just as we were about to leave for the light & sound show at the Palace, and we almost cancelled. Then around 6.45 pm we went anyway, only to find out there wasn't a light & sound show. They just illuminate the palace facade in bright yellow lighting, and visitors are allowed to walk around the premises without paying an entry fee. We walked all the way up to the West end of the palace in light rain and took pics.
 

The Mysore Palace facade is lit up on public holidays 

The Mysore Palace facade from the palace gates

Our last photo, getting drenched in Mysore rains

Last I was in Mysore was probably in the 9th standard, and don't remember much from that trip. What I do like about Mysore though, is the very chill vibe of the place. Wide, canopied streets, very little humidity, easygoing work culture. Perfect vacation place without much to see or do. 

Full photo album here.

On The Go vlog coming soon. 

Choices

This is a bit intense.

Listen to all the positive things Sinclair, Grandin, Rimland, Gernsback said and heed their words. Get inspired by their lives. Feel good about the bright future ahead, about a time to come that allows self expression at your pace, in your words, on your time. Feel positive about the world - about India - being inclusive enough to accommodate all its people the way they are. Feel excited about leaving aside your preoccupation with your severely stunted social skills to focus exclusively on making software, reels, documentaries, music... whatever it is you do. Conclusively tell at least one person - preferably from school/ college - that it's the neurodivergence that's contributed to the making of all those films, all that music. Also that you're no longer the strange, chubby, loner kid anymore who struggled with maths and science (but was good at English/ art), and periodically lied about his grades to avoid embarrassment. That that very strangeness has helped shape all the work you've done (and are proud of, for its fierce originality). 

Convince yourself that it'll be okay. That you'll be around long enough to create something memorable that leaves an audience rapt and whose understanding of life and the universe is elevated through it. 

Convince yourself a life of uncertainty living at the fringes of your profession is still more palatable than a lifetime of mindless conformity to a soul-crushing system. 

Stay convinced that conformity = living for living's sake.

PC: Tre Wilson on Neuroclastic