Chuck they

“Bhaiya, theen lazzy laana… Dher lagega kya?”, was an eloquent yours truly’s question to a boy at a Punjabi Dhaba near over bridge on Monday 9:40 PM. “Bas dhas minute”, was his reply. I was very much complacent with myself not only for being able to converse 2 sentences on the trot in Hindi without any forethoughts, but also for being able to understand what he said at once!! Sooper cool.

Well, I was sitting along with Sriram and Jagadish at the Dhaba eating our dinner that night. We had just booked tickets for the 2nd show of Chak De India, parked our bikes at the SL theatre and made our way to the Dhaba, all assuming that we’d get back in time for the movie. But it was already 9:40, 10 minutes well over the time the movie would have started. Sriram and myself wanted to get to the theatre as quickly as possible, while a calm Jagadish was not as worried as we were; he had already seen the movie (he’s seen almost all movies to date and he’s now waiting for the next set of releases!!).

Well, the sole fact that we were getting late was because we had all planned for the movie only that late afternoon. And Jaggu and myself were planning to leave office by 5-5:30 so that we could spend time at the Shangumugham, then eat outside and then go for the movie. It again happens, as always, that whenever your’s truly plans and proposes, God disposes!! And this time God was just around in the form of my PL!! He came up with an urgent task that needed to be completed by end of day, and that too at 5 PM (guess that was already EOD, so probably he was referring to EOD at Dufai probably!!). Finally left office at 7:45 (Indian time this time!!)… reached home by 8:30… Sri and Jaggu came home by 8:50, and we reached the theatre, booked tickets, and came to this Dhaba for the food.

Being very fluent in Hindi (read otherwise…), I decided to sharpen my skills (my listening and understanding skills at Chak De India) by conversing with the Dhabha boy!! See how such Dhaba’s in trivandrum can work to your conveniences under such circumstances!!!

Finally we got back to the SL theatre complex. For those who do not know about SL theatres, it’s a theatre complex that houses 4 theatres inside. This could very easily be compared to the INOX and other multiplexes across the metros of our country, why, even abroad…!! It has an elegant elephant statue at the entrance that symbolizes a warm welcome. We got back there only by 10.. and the watchman had already locked the gates, and there was none in the vicinity.. Oh my God, lot of shoutings and screamings, and finally a person came up from inside and told us that there were no tickets available for any of the shows there.. We had a small conversation to convince him that we had already booked tickets, and had gone for our dinner. He finally let us in.

But this time around, we neither got in thru the entrance nor did we get time to get the elephant’s warm welcome – we simply dashed upstairs to the one screening Chak De.. finally we were in!! Thanks to the Dhaba boy for bringing the Lazzy on time and the watchman who had not dosed off before our return!!

By the time we located our seats in the dark, it was the one 3 rows from the back, and what more, the theatre was a very small one in width – it could house only 6 seats in each row, but had a length equal to that of any ordinary theatre.. it gave me the effect of watching the movie from inside a well!! To add more fun, we had two big huge men sitting in front of us, and any time the one in front swayed to one side, we’d all sway to the other!! And within moments of taking my seat, the Lazzy had taken it’s intended ‘dessert’ effect and started putting me doze off. But I resisted this, and concentrated hard on where we were with regard to the movie. With Jaggu’s knowledge in Hindi, and his pre-experience of this movie, I was able to get my footholds on the movie (I realized that the conversation at the dhaba really did not prove much!!)

But believe me, this movie’s worth a watch… one would really get the feeling of watching a hockey match all 2 ½ hours!!!

With Bollywood already having done a movie on cricket, and now one on hockey, I’d bet someone’s gonna try squash or golf next time!!

Tag-a dhimi thaa!!

It’s a great gesture of my friend Mathew to have tagged me, and this is my first tag!! It gives me something to write about without thinking much of a topic!! Here we go…

1. Pick out a scar you have, and explain how you got it.

Unable to ‘pick out’ the scar I have coz it’s embedded to my body, but lemme explain how I got it!!…. It’s the one I have on my right knee… it was a result of trying to ape my sister who walked downstairs thru every other step, some time ago when I was in my pre-kg classes. My legs then were too small to cover the distance you see, and it was Humpty Dumpty had a great fall!!!

2. What does your phone look like?

It looks something very close in functionalities to what Graham Bell invented (or was that a discovery??), and very close in semblance to hmmmm… errrrr…. a mobile fone…

3. What is on the walls of your bedroom?

Recently painted, so my father’s said ‘No’ to all stickers.. bhoo hoooo..

Just kidding… in fact I have a clock that’s stopped ticking for close to a year now.. and I am not inclined in changing it’s cell and knowing the time while sleeping.. I like sleeping for as much time as possible.. time shouldn’t be a barrier to good sleep and rest!! ;-)

4. What is your current desktop picture?

My home PC has a Shungumugham beach foto taken by me… Office PC – well they keep changing it every now and then, and since it’s been a week since I went to office now, I am not aware of the latest ‘desktop hot chicks’!!

5. Do you believe in gay marriage?

Nopes, not by any means…. Better to be normal... even that might drive me crazy!!!

6. What do you want more than anything right now?

A little more than what I actually want!!! ;-P

7 . What time were you born?

I don’t remember the time.. I was in full tension then, praying for a safe delivery, that I forgot to get a glimpse of my watch!!! Neways, I guess it was a good time!!! :-)

8. Are your parents still together?

Praise the Lord!!! ;-P

9. Last person who made you cry?

iyyo… I am unable to remember the last person who made me cry.. if anyone can, please tell me.. wanna give him a thrashing… hehe.. :-)

10. What is your favourite perfume / cologne?

Nothing in particular… anything mild in fragrance will do …

11. What kind of hair/eye color do you like in the opposite sex?

Black and black… I think that’s a lot pleasing to be gazing at!!!

12. What are you listening to?

The Countdown for the GSLV. It’s been postponed to 6:20 PM IST. Hope it takes-off!!

13. Do you get scared of the dark?

Never.. I only get scared when there is absence of light!!

(I feel I have started thinking in the same frequency of Newton and Einstein; am expecting the next Nobel prize soon ;-P )

14. Do you like painkillers?

No thanks, I prefer tea and biscuits in the evenings!! :-)

15. Are you too shy to ask someone out?

Yes, why take the risk in such cases…. :-D

16. If you could eat anything right now, what would it be?

Thayir saadam (curd rice)

17. Who was the last person you made you mad?

The call-taxi fellow in Chennai. Well, last week I was in Chennai, and was to a place by call-taxi (had asked for a drop back home also). On my way back, the clutch failed, and the taxi broke-down. The taxi driver called up for a replacement taxi, and half an hour later when we called up to enquire the status of the replacement taxi, the fellow at the other end of the phone’s asking me, ‘Did you ask for a taxi sir? We don’t have it registered here, and there isn’t one available now sir. I’d recommend you to take an auto rickshaw back home. Please pay the metre bill before disengaging the taxi that has been broken down’.

It was already 9 at night and I was close to 12 odd kms away from my destination!!! :-(

18. Who was the last person who made you smile?

My dad. We were discussing world economics then!! ;-P

And I am tagging Hari, Abhy, Paddy, Krish and anyone else who wants to take up this tag.

A day @ Office

Bus journeys are very tedious you know, especially when it is to the office on a Monday morning as early as 7:45. I am an unfortunate part of the very few people in my office who have to depend on the transportation provided by my office to reach workplace – please take special note (with sympathy, of course!!) that I reach there way ahead of my office hours that start at 8:30, just to find no one there except for another 2 poor souls, who, in the name of a morning production support On-call, run here and there to fix the abended jobs.

My morning bus journey, it’s a 25-minute, 15 km long travel from home on the NH (we term that ‘long’ as long as we are in trivandrum; the same was a short one when in Chennai where I was traveling 22 kms.. :-D ), where you find not much of activities at this time of the day; so the entire road is all deserted and bears a gloomy look adding more to the agony of getting to office so early, while most of my colleagues would still be sleeping. Most of them reach there only by 10:30, and get the benefit of the so called “flexi-timing work culture”. Hey, one moment plsss…, hmm.. what’s that?? Did I hear something interesting??? It’s nothing but aping some so-called-technical terms from the western culture, and uttering it every now and then you reach office late, mostly because you slept off a little too much after boozing all night – weekdays too are no exception to this, leave alone the Mondays after the weekend bash!! Haha.. just see how we take things to our advantage.. we are a real bundle of brains always @ work man!!

I would rather term this as unpunctuality, irresponsibilty, arrogance and shear negligence of work, unethical, valueless and cultureless, if I were to put myself in the shoes of my manager, but “No, Thanks”, I don’t want to do that, atleast on Monday mornings, plssssss…

Monday mornings – after having enjoyed the weekends, it does take some time to console myself and get started off. Uffff… client mails, onsite hues and cries, project lead already ready with my work for the day.. how do I get this all delayed.. reach there late.. gud idea… This is one day I don’t mind missing my morning bus, and going to office on my pulsar (it’s actually a 60 cc green Scotty, ‘99 model, that still struggles, but yet gives me company ;-P ). Well it’s simply so that I get in there when the work has already started in full swing, so that there is hardly anyone to notice my grand (late) arrival… later I can always say “I was there long back, it’s just that you were a little too involved in your work that you didn’t notice me!!” (sweet grin follows as usual – either of us know what has really happened, and after all this is what he is going to tell me the next Monday)

You know one thing, by getting there late, any urgent work is always passed on to an already existing workaholic (we call him our scapegoat), who slogs all thru the day and into the night to get it all done.. and I guide him with all my expert advice (as long as I am there)

Settle down, check the mails, time for morning tea… get back to discuss the Anil Kumble form at Oval, Sanjay Dutt’s bail grant plea, salary hikes in other companies, and the rest of the newspaper.. time for lunch…. Forward all mails that has come in for the day.. oh, did I miss the evening tea…. Sipping through the free tea we get, still blaming its poor quality… And slowly strolling back to our workplaces…. Finally it’s 4:30 and time for some serious project discussions, after all that’s what I went for in the morning you see.. (grin), else none would know how much I’ve been working all day!!!

The outlook sends me the reminder I set… Oops, it 5:55 PM now, and the bus is at 6:00... “Bye Renjith, bye Anu, bye-bye… see you tomorrow...” . I take my pulsar, and off i leave, after a hectic day's work...

Statutory Warning: Strictly following this might be harmful. This trick won’t work everywhere and every time. Be ready for an answer if it backfires.

Friendship, a true blessing!!!

"There is some self-interest behind every friendship. There is no friendship without self-interests. This is a bitter truth."
- Chankya.

I am reminded of my school friends on this friendship day. Friends are the greatest treasure in life on whom we can rely on for everything – be it gossiping, maintaining secrets, sharing happiness, giving vent to anger or letting out an outburst of emotions and grief.

My school time friendship was purely built on innocence! The elementary school friends who come along thru the “Ring-a-ring-a-rose…. Hush-a-bush-a.. we all fall down…hahahaha…” The sweet giggles that triggered thru every small innocent act built in a good-to-feel bond, that really made me go to school the next day, the day after that and so on… I am sure that some may not remember me, and I may not remember some of them now, but thanks for sowing those wonderful healthy seeds of friendship in me….

As the days went by, from the “ring-a-ring-a-roses”, friendship developed with yet another set of friends thru each day, thru each year… over cricket, over chats with the boy near me in classroom, with the boy who accompanied me to school every morning in the bus and back home, over combined studies, over pen-fights in class… this list is endless. Let me take a minute to thank my school friends till my 12th who have helped me in moulding my character in the outside world, who have all helped me in keeping me on the right track from not going astray, who have made my school days memorable n sweet. Thanks boys!!!

Adolescence to Adulthood… School days to College life… Some of them came along with me into this phase of my life too, carrying the same torch of friendship… there were others who became new companions in life..
Class unities were displayed more often in the form of mass-cuts – the class as a whole came closer.
Labs and lab records – more than doing the labs together, we got time for all chit-chats – the bond grew closer now.
Being together for hours in the name of combined studies – I got to know some of my today’s closest friends!!!
I am running short of words to thank you all!!!

It got all the better when I was staying with my friends in Chennai while working. That’s the time I was 24 * 7 with them as roommates. The friends whom I knew at college during 8 hours, I now knew them much better. They knew me too. It was great to be at a hotels sharing food from each other’s plate. From chennai beaches to indoor cricket matches, from outdoor eating to indoor cooking, it was getting better than mere friendship to a bond beyond that. I think it would be too formal on my part to thank you guys – it was more of our involuntary actions for each other, and of the love and affection each of us had on one another. Mates, you have left an inerasable mark on my life…


“Dear Friends,
Don’t’ lead me, I may not follow you…
Don’t’ follow me, I may not lead you correctly,
Let’s walk this road of life together…”

Dedicated to all my friends….

Harry Potter or Mayavi? :-)

Hey, what’s this big buzz goin thru all day. It started up right a few days back, and it’s reached a grand finale today morning – rather end of a beginning!! Does it have anything to do with the invention of some scientific ways to reduce the alarming growth of world pollution? Anything pertaining to the presidential elections conducted yesterday??
Nah…. they say it’s to do with some book that was released today. But why’s all this hype around this book.. I really don’t understand why the media has created so much brouhaha (that’s how it sounded for me).
More than the book would hook up readers, I’d say that the way the entire episode was done up with really requires all attention – guess, the books were printed at dark, so that no contents of this book could be revealed whatsoever – lucky that it was not encrypted, so that readers cud have a glossary to decipher the contents!! And security given was much more than what perhaps the First Man at the White House would get!!
Despite all these, as the world was much awaiting the release of this book, The New York Times had already come up with a review of this book days before the D-day!!
The Mayajal Comics, “Mayavi”, “Luttappi”, “Balarama” and “Poompaata” (Malayalam comic books!!), that sell pretty well without all these hypes, get their round of applause at the local markets.. These comics / cartoons have even the elderly people eagerly waiting to get their hands on the latest copies. I'd personally feel that these books deserve a better applause - they been coming thru for ages now - brings good refreshing memories of gud old days!!

Perhaps, for today’s release, such a hype was required to get a good going at the International markets as well..
Yes mates – I am referring to J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter – seventh one of its kind.

PS: No offences meant to any one of you – especially to any hard-core Harry fan. If I had the time to read, then perhaps, even I’d have been out there early morning to get a copy for myselves!! :-)

Speechless

Roommates had left Chennai to Trivandrum for the Christmas holidays. Not having much to do and having no one for a company that day, I headed for the beach – where my roommates and I often freaked out during the weekends.

Location – Besant Nagar beach, Chennai. Date - 25 th Dec. 2004.

Scene 1: It was a pleasant Saturday evening. I was sitting on the lovely beach sands basking by the warmth of the setting sun. The waves were dancing towards me as though to tell me an important message. Seconds later they were receding as if it was not meant for me. I was enjoying the taste of the Lays chips I bought at the Food World on my walk from the bus stand, as much as I was enjoying my solitude.

Scene 2: A family of three – father, mother and their son, aged around 5-6. They strolled past by me towards the much inviting waters of the beach. The young boy’s joy knew no bounds as he approached closer to those enthusiastic waters. I was able to put in myself in his tiny cute shoes – the younger days when I used to go to the Kovalam and Shangumugham beaches with my parents.

Scene 3: Just as I was getting myself involved in memories, I felt the touch of a soft hand on me. I looked over my shoulders to see a young girl, hardly 5 years of age, offering a packet of groundnuts, which she was selling for her living. I brushed aside her hand and said “vendam ma” (meaning – not needed). She tried to somehow coerce me into buying, but I was stern and harsh on her that she quietly moved away.

Scene 4: I tuned to my right side to get my eyes focused on the young boy and his family who had just strolled past me. My eyeballs were fast rolling within the limitations of my eyes and eyesight to get a glimpse of his playful enthusiasm. I finally located him amidst a group of people very close to the beach waters. He was safely standing between his parents, both hands raised above his shoulders to hold on to his parents’ hand, and enjoying the gentle waves touch his tender legs. I was cherishing his every actions.. dancing, jumping, trying to run back as the waves were approaching him.. he was really enjoying his game with the waves!!

Scene 5: Somewhere from within me I felt a sharp pain. It was certainly not a physical one.. a sort of feeling far from what I was enjoying till then. It was a totally involuntary action that I was trying to locate the young girl, the girl who was trying to make her living selling groundnuts at the beach. I got up all of a sudden and did a comprehensive search for this girl, but to vain. I put my hands into the Lays packet, took out the one last piece, put it in my mouth, munched, crushed the packet down, and slowly started to stroll on the beach sands.

Scene 6: I was again into searching for the smart little boy. Was it some sort of vacillation that I was undergoing – searching for the small boy on one side, and then for the little girl? I never had answers for such questions… I went on… This little boy was pulling up his socks to make his way back with his parents. The sun had already set a few minutes back, and darkness was just taking its grip over our part of the world. His face was a direct reflection of the darkness. I bet he’d have wanted to play there more. But still seemed content. They slowly ambled their way back to their car, which was parked quite far from the nearby roads.

Scene 7: I was getting a little hungry, and now that my roommates weren’t there for the dinner that night, I decided to have something form the nearby Dhaba before I got back to my room. Few steps from where I was, I could see a faint figure of that poor young girl handing over the money she had made through that evening to an elderly woman – her mother perhaps. I realized the contrasting levels of life that the world had to offer – a happy family on one hand and a poor soul struggling to make a living, for herself and for that elderly lady out there. This little girl was probably spending all her life on the beach striving for a life; perhaps trying to satiate herselves with whatever little she and her mother could earn. A decent life was something that they could only see through the people, who came over to the beach to spend a few extra hours, but always a distant dream for these poor souls. I walked on with a heavy heart…

Scene 8: The next day morning I was scanning through television channels only to hear that something called Tsunami had washed off many a people on the beaches and neighboring shores that morning. My thoughts were quickly filled with the young girl I saw at the beach last evening. Was she too washed off? I was filled with prayers for her safety.
I felt that I should have bought those groundnuts she was selling the last day; had she been washed off too in the morning, she’d have at least had a few extra pennies to satiate her last supper…

Weekend finally!!!

Oh my God, this week was damn hectic.. phew.. a sigh of relief that it's weekend… what am I really planning to do?
A lazy Saturday morning wud ideally start off by 9 – 9:30 AM.. really early considering the tiresomeness after lengthy weekday hours at a software firm gazing at the computer monitor – after all those coding, testing and bug fixing.. there were more of adding bugs than bringing down its count.. guess why the clients pay heavily for adding bugs into their application!!!
After waking up and coming down, I am bound to get the same ‘weekend bonanza’ from amma – “..that getting up so late is never a healthy habit etc etc…” the rest is like a mantra…zzzzzzzz - listening to this, my first gulp of tea would be twice as refreshing as having it from the famous Tea Centre near Chuechgate, Mumbai.
A quick glance at the newspaper would suffice my quota for the day – not much to see who was arrested in the latest Galssgow blasts or how Operation Silence became noisy, but just to know the movies for the day – I am pretty good and scheduling my day’s activities based on this - you cud in fact give me a 10 on 10 for planning and scheduling – but my project lead never acknowledges my abilities!! Sigh…..
A heavy lunch and off I dose, considering that I woke up so early, and did so much of work, it’s time for a nap.. :-)
I love to spend the evenings in Shangunugham beach with friends – reasons plenty and known to all – the bliss of sunset, the warmth of nature, and what not. The Indian Coffee House would rightly provide the ambience for beachside tiffin. The roaster groundnuts, vetti-talks, refreshing memories of college days.. really adds essence to the euphoric evening.
Saturday’s done with, and Sunday – on the internet, the tv, the cell fone.. the electronic gadgets consumes half the weekend.. and turn around, it’s Monday morning – time to tune up for yet another hectic week..
But sure, this weekend’s gonna be a lot different…. guess I keep saying this to myself every Friday!! haha..

Federer’s Five

Three hours and forty-five minutes at the center court on Sunday, the 8th of July 2007, and Roger Federer had set yet another record by equaling the great Swedish player, Bjorn Borg’s record of five consecutive wins at Wimbledon. Immaculate and Impeccable are just two of the clichéd adjectives that one could recollect when seeing the master of lawn tennis in action – Roger Federer. A stunning performance, yet another display of top class tennis. A little more road needs to be covered before he can be the owner of the ‘maximum number of titles’ record surpassing the one held by Pete Sampras currently.
Not to take away the credit from the opponent and world number two, Rafael Nadal. Both the sets won by Federer prior to the final set went right up to the tie-breaker – does really prove a point when it comes to terms of who really gets there to the finals of such huge tournaments, and why tennis still retains it’s elegance.
Even as there has been a lot of uncertainty when it comes to women’s singles finalists these days, there hasn’t been a speck of improbability as long as these two play a tournament!!
Federer deserves a pat on the back, and can rejoice this feather on his hat with champagne!!

‘Sivaji’ for the second time

A first show of the Rajini movie 'Sivaji' for the second time – yes, saw the movie for the second time. A die-hard Rajini fan would see it yet another time!! But does this movie deserve another go??
Not totally would I agree with this. My first time was a mere chance when a friend of mine handed me with the tickets for the second day show, as his friend was unable to accompany him that day.. Jagadish and myself went to see it the second day itself for as much as Rs. 60 per ticket, a very nominal amount for a Rajini movie for the second day’s show!!!
The movie really lacked a Shankar movie’s effect – no creative story as such, a banal one, as was seen in Indian or Gentleman – a blend of his older stories put in the super star style. It was a Rajini movie altogether, style and humor.
And today's show was with my sister. This time I knew what to look for in the movie, and what to expect. So the movie did not fall short of expectations. I expect to see the movie again a third time next weekend, and hope the movie would rise above all expectations!!

Road thru life…

I was born on the 19th of July in the southern district of Tamil Nadu – Madurai. Yes, that’s my birthplace, but I was brought up in Trivandrum, one of the Southern most districts of India, and the capital of God’s Own Country, Kerala.
Belonging to a family of four – father, mother, sister and myself. My grandmother (father’s mother) was with us and we used to cherish every moment of her presence. She used to tell me a lot of bedtime stories, and I loved being in the pampered company of her!! Grandma, I miss you a lot…….

My formal education started from Holy Angel’s Convent, ICSE. My parents wanted me to study here for the sole reason that my sister was studying here, and she’d take care of me.. And yes, I did feel very comfortable there because I always had an sweet elder sister to support me!!
And then when I completed my 4th class, the school rulez said – enough boy, boys are no longer allowed here, find another school for yourselves…
5th to 10th – I did in Christ Nagar school. Pre-Degree – Govt. Arts College, Trivandrum. Would I say this really pushed me down, or did this give me an uplift in terms of exposure – right and wrong??!!! Classes were purely on shift basis – if you were a first year student, classes would start by 1:00 pm and end by 5:15 pm. And when you were into your second year, classes would start by 9:00 am and end by 12:30 pm. I joined Arts so that I would have enough time to prepare for my Engg. Entrance, and guess I utilized this time for all other activities…. Result?? An ‘okay’ rank in the entrance.. but no regrets at all!!!
Well, this ‘okay’ rank was sufficient to secure me an admission in one of the best colleges in Kerala – College of Engineering, Trivandrum – Mech Engg., the Royal Mexx…
As anyone would have it, my college life too was memorable, and I was blessed (really??) to have my sister as a senior in college!! Three years of college life, and I was happy to find myself placed in CTS, where I’d be joining a year later after completing my course.
Joined CTS, Chennai, and was there for close to 2 years. And now I am back to the capital of God’s Own country, working for another software firm, US Technology in technopark!!

Life is certainly a big circle, and I have reached where I started it all from...

Just signing in...

Hi,



Well I thought over how I could spend my time effectively, and came across this idea of blogging.. !!

Infact I had created a blog way back when I was in my final yr Engg. - 2003 - but I don't remember the blog name now.. hence this rejuvanated effort!!

More posts are sure to follow..........



Luv,

- Venki.