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Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Mangalyam tantunaanena.....

All I knew was that I was going to get married and my excitement was all about the mehandi party where all we gals would get dressed, dance, have fun and apply mehandi and click lots of pics.....
And not to forget the shopping which involved n number of visits to boutiques, malls, commercial streets for ghagras,sarees,matching sandals,bangles,bindi,etc...
Keeping the chocolate, icecream and non veg craiving in control was a herculous task for me as I love em all....
The 6 months long preparation, googling for marriage hall,best decorators,caterers,photographers,the words and background for the invitations, and yeah the toughest of all for me was making the list of my friends to invite. I have been and studied in so many places and being the talkative gal I am, have so many frenz I feared if I missed out someone(if you r my fren and I missed u out... pls excuse!)

Mariage preparation is one of the experience which will come handy to help your fren/relative to  know, what not to do :)
Since mine was a love cum arranged marriage, the customs were different and we had multiple rounds of meetings to combine both customs and I was the minute taker to ensure nothing is missed out. But on the day, all that the elders see is if the knot is tied or not and everything was in such a hurry that it didnt register to me that I was already married.

Marriage surely makes a difference in life... yes.... The guy will have to share half of his room with one more person. I have seen Vineet feel sad for the fact that he had to give away one wardrobe for me ( Less does he know that soon he ll have to share half of his left wardrobe also)
He s worried that the room which once had seen only guys, bottles,Xbox and cards is now getting filled with stuffed toys,cosmetics,and a color called Pink! (Quite often he gets to see a girl crying to see her parents and has to get ready to console using up all his talents!)
Thankfully I am not much into tv watching and he s all happy about it!

What about changes to my life??? Well I feel I have come to hostel cos I get to visit my parents  quite often but yes I miss them, my pets, my room,my paintings on my room wall. I am keeping a lil silent in my new home(Its quite a job!) and have nothing much to do except for some spoilt cooking :( (yes feeling overly consious here although I was cooking at home)
Though its just 15 plus days I feel as If I have lived for longer in these days and have a year gone by......
So now waiting for all the photos and the new life to unfold! :)
And also some new blogs,poems or my experiences :D


Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Made for each other

The way a typical gal and a guy are :)



Weren't we made for each other?
Listen and then you can ponder

I talk through out the day, making no sense
It can cross barriers and any sort of fence
Your words so few,like the morning dew,
yet in difference,we still happen to glue.....

You seem to listen with pleasure
I have no benchmark to measure
When in fight, I don't ever worry
Cos I am sure, I make u say Sorry

I like everything around
Cos I feel am a bit crazy....
In me your love, you found
Although being so choosy

Your angers are my worst fear,
The only way u make me listen,"Loud and clear"

I wait for a chance to see you chuckle
I grasp the moment and try to snuggle!

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

ಮಲೆಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಮದುಮಗಳು

ನನ್ನ ಹಿಂದಿನ ಬ್ಲಾಗ್ ಯಾಕೋ ನನಗೆ ಖುಷಿ ಕೊಡಲಿಲ್ಲ.....
ಚಿಕ್ಕಮಗಳೂರಿನ ಸೌಂದರ್ಯವನ್ನು ಸರಿಯಾಗಿ ವಿವರಿಸಿಲ್ಲ ಅನ್ನೋ ಕೊರಗು ಕಾಡುತ್ತಲೇ ಇತ್ತು......
ಅದಕ್ಕೆ ಸಾಟಿಯಾಗೋ ರೀತಿಯ ಪದ ಬಳಕೆ ಸಾಧ್ಯವಾಗದೆ ಇದ್ದರೂ ಕನಿಷ್ಟ ನ್ಯಾಯ ಒದಗಿಲ್ಲ ಅಂತ ಕಾಡುತ್ತಲೇ ಇತ್ತು....
ಆ ಕಾಡುವಿಕೆ, ಆ ಸೊಬಗಿನ ಸತಾಯಿಸುವಿಕೆಯೇ ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಕವನದ ರೂಪ ಪಡೆಯೋ ಹಾಗೆ ಮಾಡಿದೆ.......








ಚಿಮ್ಮುವ ಮುಂಜಾವಿನಲಿ
ಬಾಣಾದಿಯದೇ ಚಿಲಿಪಿಲಿ
ಇರುಳಿನ ಹೊದಿಕೆ ಸರಿಯೇ,
ದಿನಕರನ ಜೊತೆ ನೀ ನಡೆಯೆ

ಮಲೆಯಲಿ ಆಗಿರೆ ಜಳಕ,
ಮೈಮನಕಾಗಿದೆ ಪುಳಕ....
ನಿನ್ನ ಲತೆಯೆಂಬ ಜಟೆಯಲಿ ಹನಿ ಹನಿ,
ಪೇಟೆ ಬಿನ್ನಾಣಕೆ ನೀ ವೈರಾಗಿಣಿ...

ಹಸಿರನುಟ್ಟು ಬಂದೆ ಸೀರೆ ರವಿಕೆ,
ದೂರದೂರಿಗಾದೆ ನೀ ಮರೀಚಿಕೆ
ನಿನ್ನ ಗೆಜ್ಜೇನಾದ ಮಾಡೋ ನದಿಯ ಪಾದ,
ಹಗಲಲ್ಲೆ ತುಂಬಿತಲ್ಲ ಮನಕೆ ಉನ್ಮಾದ

ಕರೆಯೋಲೆ ಮಂಜಿಗೆ ಕರೆಯೋಲೆ,
ಬೆಟ್ಟಾದ ಮೇಗಡೆ ಕಣ್ಣಾಮುಚ್ಚಾಲೆ .....

ಅಪ್ಪಿ ಕಣ್ಣ ಮುಚ್ಚಲು ಸರಿಗಮ,
ಮನಕೆ ಮನದೊಂದಿಗೆ ಸಮಾಗಮ.....
ಮಲೆಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಮದುಮಗಳು,
ಸಿಂಗರಿಸಿ ನಿಂತಿಹಳು.....

ಇವಳೆ ನಮ್ಮ ಚಿಕ್ಕಮಗಳು ಊರಿನಲಿ
ನೆಲೆಯಾಗಿ ನಿಂತಿಹಳು ಮನದ ಬೇರಿನಲಿ



ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಒಬ್ಬ ಮದುಮಗಳ ಸಹಾಯ ಪಡೆದು , ಅವಳ ಸೌಂದರ್ಯಕ್ಕೆ ಪ್ರಕೃತಿ ಸೌಂದರ್ಯದ ಸಮನಾಗಿ ಹೇಳ ಹೊರಟಿದ್ದೀನಿ ....
ಒಬ್ಬ ವದುವಿನ ಮದುವೆ ಆಗೋ ಕಾಲಕ್ಕೆ ನಡೆಯೋ ಅವಳ ಜೀವನದ ಬದಲಾವಣೆ ಎಲ್ಲವನ್ನು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಉಪಯೋಗಿಸಲು ಪ್ರಯತ್ನ ಮಾಡಿದ್ದೀನಿ...
ಭೂಮಿ ಇಲ್ಲಿ ವಧುವಾದರೆ, ಆ ಮುಗಿಲು ಅವಳ ಸಂಗಾತಿಯಂತೆ ಚಿತ್ರಿಸಿ, ಅವರ ಪ್ರತಿ ದಿನದ ಸಂಗಮವನ್ನು ನಿಮಗಿಲ್ಲಿ ಹೇಳ ಬಯಸಿದ್ದೀನಿ...
ಇಷ್ಟವಾದರೆ ತಿಳಿಸಿ.... ಕಷ್ಟವಾದರೂ ತಿಳಿಸಿ :)

Friday, May 14, 2010

Exotic Ghatikallu Trip




Well,
It had been quite a long time since I came back with an exotic story/experience to tell you all....
I was very frustrated deep within for the reason that we the college frenz had broken our own pattern of going to trip every year.
With the god smiling on us, somehow managed to lure couple of frenz in to finalizing on a trip and once the dates were frozen, we started hunting for a good place.There was another group in my office who were also planning something on similar lines and luckily got to know about this place called Ghatikallu.It was okayed by all  of us and we spoke to Mr.Manjunath regarding our bookings off we went for a 2 day gala time.
We set off on Friday night with lots of twists and twirls with lots of last minute dropouts which let our mood a lil down. It was a cool 6 hours drive to the place and since there were no sign borads to the place we were lost initially and I was feeling that we were delayed in reaching the place. But it was just for 10 mins and we were in the estate soon.

The first best thing about the place is it promises you complete natural retreat and yes..... No network follows you there and I was the happiest for I didnt have to touch my mobile phone.
Day1:
Since Praveen worked in Mangalore, he had come there the previous night and was very well received and
treated well. We played and clicked some pics till everyone got ready and set off to Ghatikallu trekking.Our guide/owner of the place Manju took us in a Jeep for the trekking adn on the way stpped in a view point from where we could see the mist laying its feather touch on the high hills and welcoming us with cool breeze....He showed us the point as to how the place was named as "Ghatikallu" and about Ballalaraya whose ruined fort(supposedly ruined by tippu Sultan) exist even to date...
Our trek started from this point and it was a very tiring trek towards the fort. I have been on couple of treks and I would say this was the best for the reason that it had a mix of both the forest and the plain plateau with grass and some shrubs which made the whole scene look like a curvy  green bed.There were couple of places where leeches were there and it helped us to run and complete our trek at a faster pace ;)
Once we reached the top, we were tempted to keep moving from one hill to the other for the greed to conquer more and enjoy more lay within all of us....
By the time we finsihed our trek it was 3 -3.30 in the noon and we were left with thirst for water.As soon as we reached the estate, we were welcomed by a cool juice offered by the cook and it showed their sincerity in the servie and the "we care" attitude.

After our lunch and a little resting gurudev, the estate owner took us to the sunset point from where you could see the western ghats beautiful strethc spread across the area.One can see the beautiful change in colors at sunset,the charmadi ghat and Kudremukh range of hills.
They offer camping/ tenting at this place and we made a mistake of not opting for camping for the serenity it composed.... I have promised myself to stay in tents the next time i visit the place.

Day2:
They have a waterfalls called "Rani Jhari" within their estate and we we were again carried by the mighty jeep to the location where we were left to enjoy floating,diving and playing in the water.To ensure safety, we were all provided with life jackets which helped people like me to float as I dont know to swim.Though Souji adn Shilpa r were very scared to float/reach the point wehre water falls, we made a pledge to drag them there as we didnt want them to miss out on the fun it gave away.Anil was all delighted and was diving from probably a height more than 10 ft(am not quite very sure).Myself and Shilpa BK also tried our best and dived from second level of height.
As the next batch came in after a very long time, we had to leave the place to move on to next place of the day.They dont let your happiness be spoilt by mixing two different groups in one place and this was one more thing which made me like the servicing.
We were taken to Tea estate in the evening where we took couple of pics and then purchased some spices at a cheaper rate in kelaguru Tea estate.
This blog ends with this itenrary here but the happiness,peace and joy found over there is unexplainable and I am short of words for the place,simplicity and the hospitality of the people.Not to forget the cute dogs in the estate which are friendly with all,the cook who served us the malnad food and the service boys who were never tired of attending to our needs every now and then.
If you are looking for a place to hide away from teh daily tensions/pressure or worries adn would like to rejoice without having to go to any spa or meditation, here is one home away from home(I mean it!) where you can find everything you need.
Though we wanted to extend our stay for one more day where we found everything and a add on of the rain which showered in the evening, we had to leave as few of my friends had office the next day.
This place is run by Gurudev and Manjunath in Partnership and you can book the place by contacting them over phone. The phone number and routemap detail is provided in the site.
The site link is : http://www.ghatikallu.com/ and contact is either Manju or Gurudev who are equally friendly.
Hope my blog was helpful and one final request is to avoid usage of plastic and to let the place as beautiful as it was! :)

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

A letter.. from a daughter..

Hi people.....
This time it is not a travellogue or a poem or an imagination....
One day after watching MNIK movie, we friends, not so great fans of Shahrukh started discussing the movie as to what each one of us liked the best and disliked in the movie. Friendly discussion led to a heated up discussion about the movie being realistic or not. And this triggered one friend of mine to speak out about something which was deep in her heart. She’s now far off from her parents and you can call it as a letter of a Daughter about her Dad.
I thought it is a piece of thought everyone should know and should learn not to generalize everything and everyone. Go ahead to read it in her own words....

"Talking about relating the movie to our lives, I can relate this to my very own life...
They called Muslims as Terrorists,because of few people in the community who did such unforgivable crime. There are bad people in all communities. That does not mean everybody in that community needs to be treated the same way. There are good and bad people in all community, creed, caste, colour, religion or whatever types we have on this planet.
And I have heard people telling Police Department is the most corrupt department and to the core. Which department is not corrupt?? Bribery exists in all department. But its the police who gets all the blame just because they interact with people everyday.
I know how it feels when somebody says "ella police kalla nanna makkalu" and even worse words.
I know my dad very well.. He is not corrupt. I know many others who are struggling with their lives to bring up their families and put them in a better state, being honest in the department and bearing all this brunt from the people. At the same time I know people in the department, who have gone up and up just because of bribery and nothing else.
I have even heard it for myself too. About me getting a Driving License. I failed once in 2 wheeler driving test and twice for 4 wheeler. And I still don’t have a 4 wheeler DL. If my dad was corrupt, he could have got it done for me without me having to attend the tests.
He is in Traffic Department, but still I have paid fine for breaking traffic rules many times. But nobody believes this.
People complain that the police don’t manage the traffic well... And the traffic worsens in presence of a police constable. What the Hell !!
If people have some common sense, wait for a while when some accident happens so that the vehicle can be cleared off the road, traffic would be smooth and back to normal in sometime.
But everybody is in a hurry to reach their destination, trying to find out the easiest way possible out of it, making a mess out of the situation.
What can a constable alone do??? Can he lift the vehicle all by himself and clear the road???
He is a human being just like us... And not a Superman.....
You cant generalize anything and everything. To check whether the rice is cooked, they say its sufficient to check one rice. But the same logic cannot be applied on human beings. There are many good sayings and wise words from our ancestors based on their experiences, but its upto us to know which one to apply and when?
All logic cant be applied on everything.
I am sorry. Nothing here is intended to anyone in particular. Nor its general. Its what I have seen/heard in the little experience of my life and my mom too.
There are just 2 kind of people. Good ones who do good things and Bad ones who do bad things :)
It hurts when people laugh cursing the policeman. They work day and night to save and maintain discipline which is almost equal to the job of a Doctor or Military, which calls for 24hr services.
There are many cases when they are run over by vehicles while on-duty.
You will know the pain when you wait for the person to return home safe after his work, without a limped leg, or a fractured hand...
There are many nights where I was awake till 11 or 12 in the night during my school days when dad had not returned home where in he was supposed to be back by 10, and mom staying in a different place because of work, no mobiles to know the where abouts...
Waiting at the door, looking at the streets, praying that he is alright, he will be alright, he will reach home safe, with all the accident news on second sheet of TOI running in front of your eyes, no one to reach out at that hour....
At the end, I would be in tears as soon as I see him on the street :)
Trying to wipe the tears with a great relief, by the time he reaches the door and greet him with a smile, more than happy to see him back home safe at midnight, without any bruises on his legs or hands.
I know its not a thing to be compared with the movie.. But still felt like sharing my childhood days with you friends.
Ya, there were days where I have seen him with bruised hands, limping legs too.. Just because he tried to stop someone who was drunk or over speeding. I just thank God that it was just bruises and nothing more...
Love you papa... Miss you too........."

Monday, January 25, 2010

Monday trip to Bhoganandishwara

Sorry for a very big story,but could not vomit anything as I wanted to share every piece of info with you folks out there....

There s always a ray of hope to apply for a leave, whenever you have a holiday lined up either on a thursday or a tuesday,which will give you the ebnefit of relaxing for four continuous days..And me being one lazy person to wake up early morning, find it a luxury to relax till mid day in the bed unlike the usual 'wake up at 6' routine.No major relaxations,no interesting job at work place,no gossips,no events etc etc had made my life very boring and it is then I decided to spend a day out with a good novel, somewhere in outskirts of Bangalore.But when I shared this idea with my friend Smitha, she found it interesting and wanted to join me ( I infact felt like saying a NO and asked her to get a book for herself, so tat I would get freedom I longed for)
I had decided the venue as Sai Temple near Devanahalli as the best fitting to my mood, that day and conveyed it to her and she was all set.We started from our place by 10.30 in the morning and took the govt bus which gave us a freedom from being on the driver s seat and we could sit and chat.Thanks to the new airport due to which the roads were swift adn we reached the
destination(?) quite early.I have been going to this temple from couple of years and yet this place never stops me from being lost in my own world and I feel this is the best place to meditate,to retrospect on your actions in life.It is situated on the bellary road, few kilometers away from Devanahalli, towards chikkaballapur.


Its remoteness to the city noise and crowd is what fascinates me and makes me wanting more.It never fails me in getting the college days fun which we used to have and the way we used to bunk our college and come oever to this place,pray and jump over the yummy prasadam served there.Memories came rushing to me as I saw each place, where we sat,walked and roamed around the fields around the temple.There is one more thing which I liked it the most about not letting a person operate his mobile phone.Leave your phone and watch behind, Go sit there closing your eyes to listen to the repeatative chanting which reverberates in your ears and I clal this a real pleasure.
No I am definetely not a very spiritual kinda person, but there is something about this place which gives serenity and I preferred to go a monday expecting no crowd and I got what I wanted.Visit the place once, to feel it by yourself.But I would request you to maintain the same silnce which prevails over there.



By 12.30 we were out of the temple and I was not sure if we should continue with plans of reading novel and suddenly I remembered my colleague Mohan's trip to Chikkaballapur where he had mentioned of a place called Bhoga Nandishwara.I called him up again and enquired about the details and we both decided on the go and caught a bus to the place.This temple is situated in a village called Nandigarama which at the base of the very famous Nandi Hills.



I was in Chikkaballapur for 4 years studying Engineering adn was a fool to not have discovered this beautiful place then and any of my friends who see the pics here would feel the same.It is now taken care by Tourism department but,still needs more to be done over here.

The photo on the right is a view of the temple premises


I don't have too much of historical knowledge on this place but yeah was successful in collecting few info from the priest there.
He mentioned that the whole temple was built partially by 5 different dynasties and was never completed.He mentioned the names of four dynasties as Cholas,Hoysalas,Gangas adn Vijayanagara empire and you can witness that it has the sculptures in all these styles. You can see that it has the bangles in the pillars like the one in Belur and the kalyana mantapas in Hampi style.







There are 3 main temples - Uma Maheshwara,Bhoga Nandishwara adn Arunachaleshwara, last one being present even in Tamil Nadu.One can see that the Kalyana Mantapa in front of Uma Maheshwara is made by Krishna Shile, which once dug has to be moulded within 60 days of its removal as it will be very soft and minute art forms can be carved on it.This stone gives out a metallic sound when striked at the sculpture's end, just the way you can find the musical pillars in Hampi.The priest mentioned that there are 7 different notes which are emitted by this ,but here you can here only 1 kind. There is a Shringi Kalyani which was real clean and neat when I had seen a photo a year back, but now it has been emptied for clea up purpose.






I guess this place has lots of hidden details about it which can be known to the world, if the government takes up some intiatives to shed soem light and appoints some local guides for the same.Well, there is one more thing I have to mention ...we were not supposed to click pics but was not able to resist seeing the beauty of the place.It is a very small place but with lots of details in it,which cannot be composed in a small blog and I would suggest you to witness it and ofcourse request who ever visits the place to let the place in its neat form it exists.





Place: Bhoga Nandishwara
District: CHikkaballapur - 50 kms from Bangalore.
Directions: Reach Chikkaballapur Junior College > Take a bus which goes towards Doddaballapur >Get down at Nandi grama. The temple is opposite to the bus stand.(Taking an auto is also an easy option, if you get on time.They charge Rs 5 per person
from Junior college)
Alternative: If you are going by your own conveyance, stop near Nandi cross, much before you reach Chikkaballapur, Take a right within and drive towards the village.

Nearby places you can visit:

Nandi Hills - You can trek from the village.(The photo on the left shows Nandi Hills in backdrop and in the next photo you can see Kalavarahalli betta/skandagiri - trekking spot
Papagni - another temple situated on a small hill
Muddenahalli - Vishveshwarayya memorial.
Sai Temple - near Devanahalli
























Finally Thanks to Mohan for the wonderful suggestion and Smitha for her comapany and her photography :)

Friday, January 15, 2010

Sankranti with some kranti :)

Sankranti had some kranti.... ;) - blog unedited!

Yes this is really a kranti(revolution) in my house , a family where my parents dont miss upon any of the rituals on any

auspicious days, atleast a day like sankranti.....This year was a different one where rather than staying back at home and

offering prayers to god and cooking, my parents had come to a consent for a trip to Talakadu( not to mention that it was supposed to be a piligrimage;) )
Well, I am not here to give you details on What s meant by sankranti or the importance of the festival.....
I just wanted to share some pics and experiences about the place and what I witnessed, as a part of sankranti...

Our family and Anusha s faamily set to go to Talakadu in the morning after one round of pooja at home and nearby temples (you see the regular clients should not be forgotten, when you get big onsite clients ! ;) )
We thought of having breakfast on the way and let me again quote about tatte idlis(which I had quoted in one of my previous blog) which were really soft and yummy.... Yes, there s a place very famous for it near Bidadi where you get them and I bet if you don go for the second plate:)

After fuelling our tummy, we then reached Talakadu and hired a local guide to take us around.This was not the first time I visited Talakadu as I had been there once just 5- 6 years back during my engineering days....
What looked like a very small,remote,serene place looked completely different this time...... Back then, I had seen only Vaidyanatheshwara temple(I think so... cos am so confused after these many years as to what is what).

But now the central Govt's archealogical dept has taken the onus and are doing the excavation and have found out many temples which were buried under layers of sand.They still are in the process of finding many such around the place.

The place is now famous for panchalinga, which they have found out and are now open for the visitors through out the year, prior to which it was opened once in 12 years.The linga s found out are pataleshwara,maraleshwara,vaidyanatheswara and two
other which are, a bit for off from all these three...
Since am not too aware of the place much, I would not go into giving the details of the place but ofcourse will share some pics with you all.....





There s one temple (Keerti Narayana) whose foundation looks great but the main temple(garbhagudi,place where the idols are placed) was damaged due to the time as it was built around 850 years ago (some say 850 and some 1200 years). It is supposed
to be built by late king , Vishnuvardhana as a reminder of his success during his reign.



The guide said that pataleshwara was installed there by vasuki who was meditating there and the maraleshwara by Brahma.




Do not forget to see the Choudeshwari temple which looks great. I had clicked photos to share with you all, but the priest there scared us saying,its not good to have her photo at home as she took birth only to kill rakhtabeejeshwara and she should
not be kept at home. I don know how I am connected to that guy but all of the elders and even the buddies asked me to delete the photos for which I had to delete them off.

I know that many wouldnt be knowing story about this guy called Rakthabeejeshwara. He was the brother of Mahishasura,who was killed by Goddess CHamundeshwari.He had a boon from the almighty that he will be eternal. He could not be killed by any as he
had the power of reviving again once his blood droplet fell on earth. Hence Goddess Choudeshwari, had spread her toungue to the extent of covering the earth,when she killed him,so that no droplet of his blood touched earth.I wonder how all these
asuras got such wonderful boons from gods and Gods came up with ideas to overcome the problems :) Isnt it interesting.....
Just like the dodging between Developers and testers, teachers and students,elders and youngsters ;) ;)



After a round trip to all these temples , we gotta chance to take a dip in Holy Kaveri river where we played for a while.We were reminded of the global warming yet another time , when we saw that water level had dropped in the very place where it
was supposed to be to the brim. After this wonderful day,we set off to return and on the way gotta chance to see the sankranti celebrations in the villages.




I recall from my memories of my childhood that they decorate the cattle on this day and have some celbrations around in the village.I was lucky to see it again after so many years and wish to share the pics I clicked of the hopping of the cattle and
the proud owner over the fire. This is a matter of prestige for each of the owner to get his bulls cross the fire and as one does it, the whole crowd gave out cheers and enjoyed it so well......







They live in small world full of their beautifl being and enjoy teh life to the core.... They are the ones who are faced with all sorts of challens during drought and floods, yet they stand up , face everything and make it a point to celebrate life as well..... Isnt it a lesson for all of us to celebrate,live in harmony not only with humans but with the nature....





Happy Sankranti!!!

Voices in my head

I am never alone Those days have gone long There are voices, there are voices… There are voicessssss up - when I close my eyes ...