Monday, December 13, 2010

Another 10th December

December 10, 2010

I try and try
Not to cry
Not today atleast

Think it was yesterday
I enjoyed every bit of everyday

There's no rush at 8
To catch the bus that was never late
Nobody to pull my blanket
Nobody asking me for treat to clear my wallet
I try and try
Not to cry
Not today atleast

I may have more birthdays to come
Myself drenched in soap and lather, will I have seldom
I might have all the cakes I ask for
But not the one we friends used to fight for
I try and try
Not to cry
Not today atleast

We might plan lots of trips
Would it be any good as the late night walk in the campus under the lamps
I might be wearing new dresses everyday
Will it make it up to the t-shirt of a friend on every friday
I try and try
Not to cry
Not today atleast

There won't be any deadlines for codes
Wearing the dupatta masks, I wouldn't be crossing those roads
I won't have a hostel room to go to
Where I'll have a bunch of friends to talk to
I try and try
Not to cry
Not today atleast

I don't have to go to ATMs
To take out the last of hundreds
To recharge my mobile
Because we had to finish our fight on who will call who for a while
I try and try
Not to cry
Not today atleast

There won't be anymore holi
Or playing daandiya just for jolly
We won't be dancing with our RM
Just because the DJ was playing songs awesome
I try and try
Not to cry
Not today atleast

We won't be fighting anymore over the tour to Wonderla
Who says we didn't have a gala
We won't be running anymore marathons
To get the certificates and pose for the mobile phones
I try and try
Not to cry
Not today atleast

Good times are past me
Realisation dawns only later on me
If my thoughts are all right
I die only as a Satyamite

P.S. :- Again a 10th Dec. 3yrs have past after the first day at job. Today maybe Satyam doesn't exist. May be I don't belong to its new form. But each of us still have the same sense of belonging to Satyam. I don't remember any of my friends from other companies updating about their service anniversary. We do it even when most of us don't belong to Satyam


"Another Dec 10th. One more day to remember those golden days we spent with satyam. Happy Service Anniversary to all satyam Pals.Still when i remember those smiles, tears keep rolling down my face.Miss u all.." - Jibu
"Today is a very memorable day in my life since it was dis day 3 yrs ago whn wid dreams and hopes in my eyes tht I startd my journey wid Satyam,it still continues wid Mahindra Satyam :) :) :)" - Vishu
"My 3rd Service Anniversary today....Satyam sivam sundaram.." - SK
"Congrats to all ELTP 865 - 867
Today we all completed 3 yrs of experience..
Was the most memorable journey so far..." - Sanket
 And yours truly wrote
"Another 10th Dec... A day associated with hopes, aspirations, friendship, love, joy, tension, dreams, tragedies, tears, fun...Thanks to all. Missing all you guys!!! Terribly!!!"
 P.S.S. :- Why is that I can't control my tears.
P.S.S.S :- Its my first take on poems and rhyming is the last of the skills I have.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Robot (Endhiran) -Review



Well,being an ardent fan or rather AC of Rajni, its too hard for me to write an impartial review of Robot. But I'll try. Before that, let me tell you one thing. There are only 2 kinds of people on earth, 1. People who love Rajnikant and 2. people who hate Rajnikant. The former set of people would write a review like the one you're about to read. The latter ones would totally slash this movie as unrealistic and stupid.

The story revolves around Dr. Vaseegaran, a scientist played by Rajnikant, who makes an android-humanoid robot Chitti, also played Rajnikant and Sana, Dr. Vasi's girlfriend, played by Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. Chitti who was made for the purpose of reducing human killings in the warfront lacks in the understanding of good and bad. Things turn around when Vasi try to include human emotions into Chitti. Chitti falls in love with Sana and then ofcourse a love-triangle. Vasi's envious mentor Dr. Bora, played by Danny Denzongpa, manipulate Chitti into playing the bad guy.

Robot works beyond the obvious storyline. It's the terrfic heights of execution the film reaches which makes it work so well. Forget those silicon dabbas in other sci-fi bollywood movies, this robot looks more realistic. The small sequence in which you see 100s of robots trying to form into patterns explains the entire climax which in turn will make your jaws drop with awe. 100s of Rajnikants together- Thats enough for me for a lifetime. I can die on that.

The second half becomes sluggish at certain points, particularly, the scene in which Chitti chases a mosquito. Quite forgettable. And much for the reassurance of non-Rajnikant-fans, Dr. Vasi never becomes super-human and thrashes the bad guys.

Acting- This is Rajnikant's forte. He's totally likeable both as Chitti and Vasi. Aishwarya is the beauty you want in such a movie, somebody you want even a robot to fall in love with. Danny is appreciable. But on the whole, the film doesn't demand too much from its actors. Special effects due take the entire credit.

Music- After a long time, A R Rahman has given such a forgettable album. The picturisation comes to its rescue. The Kilimanjaro song is breathe taking.

Finally, it's a movie you shouldn't miss anyhow. Once in, not lifetime because technology is something you can hardly predict, may be in the near future.

P.S :- I watched the movie with my mother-in-law and Molly chechi and Kichu, all of whom hate Rajnikant. The most disheartening thing- when Maa said that she watched the movie just because of Aishwarya and Mollychechi nodded to that.

P.S.S :- Probably watching this movie at Palakkad would've been much better experience. Having to watch a tamil movie with a crowd which wouldn't understand half of what is said on the screen is like... hell, man.

P.S.S.S :- Just so you know, I hate Aishwarya to the core. And I sometimes can't stand her.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Birthdays with a twist??

Birthdays are always special. But when your birthday is in June. You'll hate it. You can't wear civil-dress to your school nor can you distribute chocolates to your classmates. And what if your father doesn't believe in celebrating birthdays and your mother always tend to forget your birthday. For years I had to suffer such ignorance (My damn lucky brother had his birthday in November which meant he could celebrate his birthday in his class). And my memory of childhood-birthday-celebration was the one and only one birthday I celebrated while I was in the fifth grade. All the neighbours were called and a feast was given to all of 'em. Thats all.

When I was working, I had two suuuper special birthdays. All my friends near me. Cutting the cake, those midnight calls to wish me, cake facials. Birthday treat at dinshaws. Oooh...nostalgic memories. Coming back.

Your first birthday with your spouse. Sounds special na. Coz you know they are never gonna forget it anyways. Nahi toh maar padegi. And think of this. When your birthdays fall on more precious days. A's birthday was on May 31st, the day next to our wedding. And mine was on June 6th, the day on which our Reception was held. We both were in cloud nine.

A's dialogue :- This is my most special birthday. I'm getting you as my birthday gift na.
Yours truly sighs.

So to make his birthday much more special, I conspired with KK into sneaking a birthday card into my new house on my wedding day. And when the clock struck twelve, I gave him the card and planted a kiss on his surprised cheeks.

June 5, 11.59 pm

My N72 was buzzing with birthday messages from around the country. Yeah I have friends all around the country and now all around the globe :-P

Communi to A :- Do you think you're missing something?
A (who was packing his clothes for the next day's Palakkad visit):- What ?? What did I miss?
Communi :- Like saying something.
A(perplexed):- What??
Communi :- I mean, do you want to say something?? to me??
A (perplexed again).

Just then the door knocks. It was KK. He was standing with a birthday card on his hand. KK wished me birthday with a hug and passed on Kamini's wishes also. I glanced A with a look-that-was-what-I-was-talking-about look. He smiled and said, "For that, you have to wait".

And it was worth the wait. At the function, I was the star. Dressed like a princess. Everyone who came there wished me on my birthday. After the function, we were supposed to leave for Palakkad and I was busy getting thmy bags ready.And just when I thought the day was over, A and KK came with a birthday cake. And thus I celebrated my first birthday at sasuraal with umpty relatives in the house.

Monday, October 4, 2010

What happened on May 30?


4 months is too long a break, isn't it? I apologise to all guys who have missed me and I sincerely warn those guys who feel happy about me not writing stupid stuff anymore... "Guys, I'm BACK ;)"

So this is what happens when you have a seafarer husband. When he's at home, you wake up at 7 and you're not back to your room until 3 am the next morning. Now that he's back onboard and I'm back to my home, I'm all set for a new era of my blog. And officially this is my first post as Mrs. A. Congratulate me.  Btw, in the past few days I learned one thing, that I'm so much accustomed to MY computer. Maybe that's why I could never post anything while I was at my sasuraal. Weird huh?

The D-Day

How could I ever keep my blog or my friends here away from the things that happened on the big day of my life. If I ever skip this part of my life, it will sound just like a B-grade movie with a continuity problem. Take it guys, you've no option left.

The most ironic part of my wedding is that I had never imagined my wedding to take place at a temple. Getting registered at a CPI(M) office ...Yes(Infact, I wished for some leftist professor of Victoria College... call it cliche!). Getting married at Railway Kalyanamandapam ...Yes. But temple wasn't really my idea. And that too at Guruvayoor, the most busiest of all temples in Kerala after Sabarimala. There was no plan-B in case he misses me and gets married to another girl. I was also warned by many aunties to keep holding the thali (mangalsutra) after the ceremony, coz you normally don't get enough time to tie it properly.

Anyways on that day, we were supposed to reach Guruvayoor by 8 so that I my beautician aunty would get enough time to dress me up for the 10.30 muhurtham. So I woke up at 3 and got ready by 5. It was for the very first time I wore saree on my own. After about one-hour of posing-for-the-cameras-and-getting-aashirwaad session, we started for Mission Guruvayoor. My very own cousin (remember him from the love letters post), who would have certainly shined as an F1 racer, made us reach Guruvayoor at 7 sharp, almost an hour ahead. Well, I hardly saw him driving because I was busy sleeping on Amma's shoulder.

Even when me and my beautician aunty were struggling with the 6 foot lamba-choudha saree, I overheard conversations between my relatives if my beautician should use Birla Wallcare Putty on my face to make me look OK before the cameras. But I guess, they must have dropped the idea for the lack of consensus. By 10, I got all dressed up.

Even PM of India would envy if he had seen me getting a Z-category protection from my cousins when we walked out of the hotel to the temple. It was such a crowdy place. And everybody seemed to stare at me. And I too was staring at them. And my stare meant the following- "Are you my relative?", "If so,Should I smile at you?",  "Who are you?". When I finally reached the mandapam, I saw A visibly confused. (Yeah, I forgot to tell you that I was wearing lens that day and the only ones who appreciated me doing that was Korattymuthy and Tudymol). When our names were called he held my hands with a whatever-the-heck-I'm-going-to-marry-this-girl look on his face. Who could blame the grooms getting confused on their wedding days.

Thankfully, we had a very elaborate ceremony of wedding. There was not much of a confusion when we were up on the stage. My nightmares of falling down the stairs also didn't come true. Somehow it all went fine.
Wedding is one occassion where you definitely know nobody loses attention for you. Suddenly all of your relatives become friendly. You smile at people who you haven't seen at all. You talk to people whom you haven't heard of. The most tedious task of all -Posing for the cameras with a smiling face. At the end of the day, your cheeks start aching and even if you want, you can't smile.
Another ritual during the weddings is of the relatives feeding the new couple with milk which has sugar and banana slices added. A seemed so comfortable doing that but I was begging to all my relatives not to take spoonful of the syrup. "Cheriacha,  please take just one piece of banana, not two". I still wonder how I managed not going to the loo that entire day.

Horrific times:- After the ceremony we had another task of registering the marriage at the Muncipality office. Waiting there for almost 2 hours, we were running out of time. We were supposed to reach Ekm by 4.30 for grihapravesham. Adding on to that the driver started driving superbly slow. We reached home at just about 4.28. We literally had to run towards the house- my one hand had been held by Paa and with the only left one I was trying to hold my saree. Right when I was getting into the house with that big lamp on my hands, crackers were burst. It was a total dhamaka. Eventhough I enjoyed the warm welcome, my nightmares of dropping things and falling on my big day were still haunting me.


Anyways that was my BIG day. Thought it would never happen. But it has happened and it has been 4 long months after that.

P.S.:- Nothing about the food in this post and that's precisely because I hardly remember its taste. Maybe I never bothered to eat it. I hate the kalyanasadhya of Thrissur and particularly Guruvayoor and I felt sorry that my wedding had to have the same. I hope I can make upto it in my brother's marriage. All I want him is to get married to a Palakkadan girl atleast for a good Palakkadan sadhya.

P.S.S. :- Why is that Hindu marriages don't have the Now-you-may-kiss-the-bride part? So..o unromantic na.

P.S.S.S :- Today is the anniversary of me getting hitched to A. And my husband is hopefully talking about this to the sea right now.

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Intro to in-laws

What's the last thing you expect a bride to do? Maybe write a post on the day previous to her marriage, or write a post on the day of marriage? I'm doing the former one, so you can well expect the latter one too from me. Just kidding yaar!! Who says brides are busy these days!

And what better post than introducing my in-laws to my blogworld . I have been quite low about them because of the confusion in naming them, but it would only be unfair if I weren't writing about them atleast today. I'm settling down with "A" for my till-today-fiance-tom-husband. Decent name would be the comment I get, I know. Paa, Maa respectively for my father-in-law and mother-in-law. And No, these names have not been inspired from Paa, the movie. I coined it a little earlier than that. Long back I had heard some girl using "P. Achan", "E. Achan" as phone names for her father and her father-in-law who live in Palakkad and Ernakulam respectively. LOL :)

OK! My bro-in-law, KK ( or Kuttikattil.com). Derived from the very famous malayalam kids show just to remind us that his love interest studies at Kuttipuram. And then Kamini, KK's fiance. There is a big story behid this name. Remember Kaminey, the movie. Our little prankster, who's acclaimed for her hindi knowledge, once accidently pronounced it as Kamini. Henceforth, the name. But the story doesn't end there. KK, another legend in Hindi, continued the same pronounciation until somebody pointed out the mistake. But boys being boys, KK just revealed the first part of the story to me and later on A told me the whole version.


Honeymoon talks:

A :- Which is the one place you want to go to?
Me :- Kolkata it is.
A :- Ok! Do you know it costs very less to travel to Singapore? Do you wanna go there?
Me :- Hhmmmm........only if I go to Kolkata first.
A :- Tell me someother place you want to go?
Me :- Coorg. Heard its a damn good place.
A:-Is it ? Haven't heard of it at all. How about Munnar?
Me :- Munnar...ha...it's also a good place.
A :- Yeah. But it can be costly na.
Me :- Then we can come over to Palakkad and visit Silent Valley and Neliyampathy with our family. It would be a family tour.
A :- No, its our honeymoon!!
Me :- Then I see only one option. Lets put a "Do not disturb" board infront of our room.
A :- Great. Its settled then !

Conspiring against KK

KK :- Chechi, I would throw you out of the house if you don't cook properly ;)
Me:- Acha... you know what I will put salt in your tea.
Kamini :- Chechi, we won't cook fo him at all.
Me :- Beware KK, we will just give you old-boiled-rice and chutney.
Kamini :- Chechi, thats too much chechi. Just give him the leftover water of the old-rice...

P.S.:- I'm getting married tom at Guruvayoor. Everybody are welcome there. Don't come complaining that you missed the function or couldn't locate us. Its bound to happen.

P.P.S :- Felt bad about just one PS ;)

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Because We Are Women

"Because women's work is never done and is underpaid or unpaid or boring or repititious and we're the first to get fired and what we look like is more important than what we do and if we get raped it's our fault and if we get beaten we must have provoked it and if we raise our voices we're nagging bitches and if we enjoy sex we're nymphos and if we don't we're frigid and if we love women it's because we can't get a real "real" man and if we ask our doctor too many questions we're neurotic and/or pushy and if we expect childcare we're selfish and if we stand up for our rights we're aggressive and "unfeminine" and if we don't we're typical weak females and if we want to get married we're out to trap a man and if we don't we're unnatural andbecause we still can't get an adequate safe contraceptive but men can walk on the moon and if we can't cope or don't want pregnancy we're made to feel guilty about abortion and... for lots of other reasons we are part of the women's liberation movement."
Written by some unknown author in an international conference, I feel, these have been the most powerful words I have ever come across about the movement. I am not here to accuse all the males on earth for being all those stated above, but it's for sure that every woman has come across each of these people at certain points of time.

A fellow colleague who nags about his female TL for delegating work. The same person working under a male TL who dumps work on him doesn't attract the same kind of attention. A mistake in his fellow female colleague is blown out of proportion than a male colleague.

Rapists walk in the streets head held high, while rape victims are cornered, verbally molested again and again by the society.

You get harrassed in public for questioning a male who had harrassed you in a bus. You get beaten in a bus for asking the change back from the conductor. You get pinched in the back when you go for a movie or travel in a bus.

You're expected not to react.

We call them chauvinist pigs, but who makes them chauvinists?? The mother who asks her girl child to wash her soiled plates and also of her brother. The mother who doesn't let his son wash his clothes. The aunty who constantly reminds a girl that "patni ki jagah pati ke charno mein hain". The woman who is the first one to shout at a rape victim that she's not worthy of living in the world. WE make them chauvinists and we complain against them.

I might as well have been one among crores of women who get silently pinched, harrassed and believe that it was fault and fate. But I always chose to react eventhough it is in the minutest of the minute character.

I might as well have written a blog about some funny stuff but the fact that I'm in the so called "God's own country" and the backseater-pinchers are aplenty put me to think and write about it. Highest literacy rate? Maybe also has the highest registered and unregistered eve-teasing cases. On my first journey from Hyd to Palakkad, I had to take a KSRTC bus from Cbe to Palakkad. While I was getting down the bus, somebody welcomed me back to Kerala by trying my butt. And my thoughts-  if this butt was a removable one, I would have definitely gifted it to that unknown person, if it could satisfy his sexual tendencies even for a few days.

Yeah I'm saying it, don't go by the tag lines, Kerala could be the worst place you visit if you're not of a hi-fi class. It's devil's residence. And I hate to be proud of Kerala.

Female infanticide?? There was a time when I used to sympathise those unborn female babies. Not anymore. Atleast they don't have to see this big bad world which don't know how to respect a woman, they won't be molested, they won't be harrassed for being a girl.

P.S. :-  I still don't understand the meaning of feminism and hence I'm not a feminist. I'm a humanitarian.

P.P.S :- This is my 50th post. Happy 50 bloggy baby!!

Monday, May 10, 2010

Daddy's Girl or Mommy's Girl?

Have you ever felt the urge to write so many things on your blog, but still can't do it because sometimes it rains heavily, sometimes the power goes off and moretimes you doze off to sleep. Well I've been in that state for a few days now. And this internet connection is also testing my patience. But I'm finally sitting down to key down my thoughts.

First things first, I am on the verge of starting a new life altogether, taking up a few more responsibilties of being a wife, a bahu, a bhaabhi etc etc. I'm equally excited and tensed about it. But these 6-7 months after the betrothal has given me a chance of getting acquainted with all my in-laws and more or less I'm a bit prepared. Given the fact that this is the last month of my spinisterhood, The Desultory Mind here will be celebrating a Bachelorette Party all through this month. Food, wine, hot hunks....ok ...you can always assume them to be present here. ;)



Once you're in such a position in your life, you tend to rewind all your past. And just as Chaos Theory states there is an underlying pattern in all random acts, you find things that happened in your life - even those insignificant things- have resulted in what is happening to you now. Call it Science or fate.

Ok! Enough with the philosophy. Have you seen the movie Rumor Has It? The one with Jennifer Aniston and in which she does one of my favorite filmy-proposals. She says,"I won't say that I can't live without you because I can. But I don't want to live without you". But the point is that somehow, it put me to think about the how much Amma and I are alike and Achan and Iare alike.

I don't look like either of 'em. I'm more of like a hybrid breed. I find my nose a combo of Amma's and Achan's. The gene for my small-face must have come from Achan. My teeth attributed to Amma. But characterwise, I am neither of 'em. Well they both seem to be very patient with every thing. But I'm very hot-tempered. Thanks to Achan's constant prying, me and my brother both are very hot-tempered.

Amma and I are nocturnal animals (She would totally deny this). We love to go for late-evening shoppings, concerts and etc. And we are crazy about afternoon naps. We cannot survive without that. And as for shopping, we are very unusual shopoholics.The budget always runs in the back of the mind. The last thing we want to shop is clothes. We prefer eatables. Amma goes for the vegetables and I stick around the Maggi, Knorr corner.

I am a very political person because of Achan. It's from him that I learned about Politics, Indian History, Communism, its history in Kerala. And even when he was turning into a Hinduist, I sticked to Communsim. We both are pathetic with numbers, be it phone numbers or historically important dates. We are also pathetic with "people". We can't remember them and also forget how we're related them. I can't remember my own relatives, let alone remember the relatives of my friends and neighbours. A little bit of my creative instincts like drawing comes from him.

The list goes on and on, but may be some other time.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Chotti Communi Stories

Foetus Communi was a Movie Fanatic



Doctor had set 6th June as the d-date for Amma, for the delivery. Amma till then mother of one-little-obedient child never had forseen that her dreadful days were about to begin. On the d-day, eventhough Amma didn't experience any pain, still went to the hospital, but was send back by the doctor. In actuality, Foetus Communi was well aware that a check-up at Railway Hospital naturally meant a MOVIE following it. So as any day, Amma and Achan went for a movie and all 3 of 'em enjoyed it. After Amma reached home, by 9 pm she started having pain and was quickly rushed to the Hospital. And approximately 11pm THE INEVITABLE HAPPENED....DISASTER.

"More Disasters at theatres : How to make Achan not see a movie"- Sponsored by Chotti Communi and her Brother




Chotti Communi did a volteface. Year 1 and 2, she hated theatres to the core. Chotti Communi and her Big Brother signed on an agreement that they won't allow Achan to watch movies at Theatres. After the initial 10 mins, Chotti Communi would kick off the plan by crying and Achan would rush with her outside the theatre to console her. 10 mins later when Achan finally brings Chotti Communi into the hall, she tags her Big Brother. Now Brother starts crying. Chain Reaction.........


Chotti Communi was a Dumb Genius




Chotti Communi never believed that the hero and heroine of a film would hug each other, let alone kiss each other (Jeezzzzz....how could a girl hug a guy!!). Her theory was that there are two frames for the scene, one in which the hero runs and hugs a guy and the second in which the heroine would run and hug a girl. And these two frames are joined together to make it appear that the hero and heroine are hugging each other.


Chotti Communi was always confused about Cricket




Chotti Communi believed that "Partnership of 100 runs" was some kind of magic number, beyond which neither of the batsmen would get out. Chotti Communi also had some strange formula for projected scores, which almost everyone would laugh at making her dumbstruck.

Chotti Communi: the non-prankster!





After "Bombay", Chotti Communi sings "Amma.. Amma...Amma". Amma comes over to the sit-out running, "What happened????". Then Chotti Communi innocently says, "I was just singing Humma Humma..Ek Ho Gaye...".

Chotti Communi never believed in marriages





TS's mother asking all 3 (TS, Chotti Communi and AKC) what they wanted to do in future.
TS:- I want to be an Engineer.
AKC:- I want to be a Teacher.
Chotti Communi:- Enikku Amma aavanam *I want to be a mother*
TS's mom :- You should get married first.
Chotti Communi:- Venda. Enikku Ammayayaal mathi *No, I just want to be a mother*

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Social Interview Questions

[N.B. :- Sorry guys. Really sorry for the picture mishap. I have uploaded the pic properly and now you can click on the pic and view it clearly. I thee blame and condemn Internet Explorer for all the damages done.]

Why am I even writing long posts, when I thoroughly hate to read them. Am I not torturing you to read such long posts. So as a compensation, here comes a small one.

Don't you just love FB social interview questions. Sometimes, they are so funny. Once Pattar's friend TM (TM calls himself as TasteMaster for unknown reasons and for the same unknown reasons I always confuse that with Tea Master ...LOL) was asked a question about Pattar. You find out what followed the suite. Pls click the pic for better viewing.




P.S. :- Now you know the league of my friends. :)

P.S.S. :- Totally missing Pattar and his messages. He's off to Delhi on work and messages are costing him his balls, he says :(

P.S.S.S. :- "He" is back. *All Blushy Mushy*

Friday, April 2, 2010

Why I love tamil movies?

I'm a bunch of contradictions when it comes to movies. Normally, I'm sort of romcom girl. I love those colorful movies, as in literally colorful. If there is a dull or dark or blue shade to the screen, I just avoid seeing that movie. Maybe, thats why I end up seeing college-or-school-cindrella-type-movies again and again. But one unlikely movie, "Shooter" changed all. I started watching action-movies all of a sudden. Hitman, Incredible Hulk etc. And I also saw The Invasion. I was so engrossed in the movie. Thousands of thoughts were roaming inside my head until I saw the climax a week later. The last time the same thing happened was when I was reading Anne Frank's book. You just feel ki you're inside that house and when suddenly someone calls out for you, you feel "how can I go outside, it's all nazis out there".


On a funnier note, I just finished up writing up a list of English movies I saw since I came home and that would be since last August. The list has about 115 movies excluding the fact that I have seen all these movies a minimum of two times. The last movie to make into the list is "The Women" which I saw today. *This is what happens when you are utterly bored, craziness creeps-in in different forms*


Did I mention that I had a huge-huge headache the last 3 days and that kept me away from TV. It is for compensating that I saw The Women. Really, there's no competition for Meg Ryan. She's a league of her own. And boy, I missed VTV songs too. :( And that's when I thought of writing down why I just love Tamil movies.

The bunch of contradictions starts right here. Even though I expect every Malayalam or Hindi movies to have REAL content, that rules dims away with Tamil. My Rajnikant can throw bubblegum in the air and catch it with his mouth meanwhile fighting 50 odd hatta-katta guys. But that's a strict no-no with Mohanlal or Mammootty or Shahrukh or Aamir. I'm a music freak but then I hate to watch Hindi musicals. Maine Pyar Kiya, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and Hum Aapke Hain Kaun happens to be in my never-watch list. I'm romantic but I can't fathom why DDLJ and Dil Toh Pagal Hain were so successful. I just dragged myself through the movies to find the reason.

But recently, I have had enough of Hindi films being real. Suddenly the songs vanished to make that impact it used to make. Suddenly every other song is a Punjabi bhangra. And the choreography, it all happens in a luxurious stage with lightings. No big difference. Where has the typical bollywood-dance songs gone? That used to just pop up when you thought of it the least.

I was watching CNN-IBN Real Heros Awards function the other day and I saw Rahul Bose saying. "We live in a world of invsible Indians, we see through most of India". And indeed, Bollywood does the same. And perhaps that's the reason why most of the Indian stories take place in foreign countries. Of course, I cannot ask "New York" to be in India, but what about "Kal Ho Na Ho" or "Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna" or the recent one "Hum Tum aur Ghost"? And does the directors even know about the respected middle class of India. Somehow, poverty has ceased to be a storyline in the films. Luxury and more luxury it is, right? Well, I respect some filmmakers like Shyam Benegal, Rajkumar Hirani for saving the image. When it comes to real, I prefer to watch Abhay Deol films. Its a lot satisfying you know. But its too infrequent and sometimes go unnoticed. And Malalayalm, forget it, I haven't seen a decent film in ages.


And this is where I love Tamil movies. It talks about the common man and please I'm not talking about Rajnikant movies here. It has all classes. You have films which are totally based abroad and still find cult village classics. And the music for every genre. Right from the melodies to the rocking fast numbers. Unlike Malayalam, Tamil is a language totally adaptable with English. Even if you add a few Rap beat into a Tamil song, it will only be sone pe suhaga. ARR, Harris Jayaraj, Yuvan Shankar Raja doing justice to all kinds of music listeners.



Watch this song from VinnaiThaandi Varuvaya(VTV). Sung by Naresh Iyer, the Roobaroo fame. Btw, that reminds me Pattar once had a chance to meet Naresh Iyer at a family function and took a pic with him. They must be relatives, I guess. I recommend this video for its excellent choreography and to know what I miss in Hindi songs. Music is by A R Rahman. Need any comments there???


And there are a whole new generation of actors in Tamil. Everyone is given their own space. Kamal Hasan and Rajnikant never compete against Ajith, Vijay, Surya or Vikram and they in turn don't compete with Simbu, Vishal or anyothers. But its disheartening to say that there is no future for Malayalam films. Prithviraj , Indrajith and Jaisurya are trying to play second fiddle to Mohanlal and Mammootty or rather they are forced to do so. As for Hindi, I just want a new breed of actors, some who could play a college girl or boy. A good college love story. I just don't want 40yr old Aamir to play a 20yr old again. Recently anyone without a proper launch has been thrashed at the Box Office. I guess, there was some remake of Juno and God knows what happened with that.



Another video from VTV recommended for the same reasons. If you get bored and if you have fine internet connection please hop over to time 1:37 *Really recommended*. Isn't it the sweetest way to picturise a girl. Trisha looks so beautiful. I wish I were her. Yeah, I know...who would want to see a monkey with a flower-hat.
Acting and glamour go hand-in-hand here just like any other industry. Even Aamir fell short of Surya in Ghajini's remake. We just fell in love with the name Sanjay Ramasamy because of Surya.

Probably, you could never satisfy me with one genre of movies. I tend to like different movies at different times. Sometimes a sci-fi like Independence day, sometimes a romcom like When Harry Met Sally, sometimes a politically motivated Satta, sometimes tragic instilled Chandni Bar, sometimes out-an-out comedy like Panchathanthiram, sometimes an investigative thriller like The King. But that's where all others fail and Tamil rise. It rises and raises the bar.




The last and final recommendation. If only you could understand Tamil. This is a superb comedy scene from Panchathanthiram.


P.S. :- I never had such a horrific time writing a post. Youtubing for videos is deadly since I own very-high-speed-internet.

P.S.S. :- I was intending to put only the videos and let it explain in itself, but talkative me :-P


Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Thanks, Mumbai

I have been wanting to write about my brief-visit (insisting on that brief part, you'll know why soon) to Mumbai for quite sometime now. But somehow, couldn't take the time out for that and I also regret not keeping up with so many of my fellow blogmates posts. I guess, I'll try my best to do that now. Before I start with my travelogue (I take the liberty to use that word here), I have to acknowledge a few things.


Acknowledgment :

Thanks, Konkan Railways for providing an extraordinary journey, keeping myself always in awe passing through the tunnels which seemed like forever, passing over the bridges which gives Kutub Minar a competition and finally providing an easy commutation between the two states.

Thanks, E. Sreedharan and you know why.

Thanks to all my coup mates in helping us giving the exact directions to the IIT. For telling us what suburb train to take and which stop we should get down.

Thanks, EP (Tudymol's Brother) for always being there whenever I get lost in a place. I know, he in turn would thank google for that.

Thanks, Abhi and Dhyaan for helping us find accomodation in the campus itself. And Abhi for showing us IDC which made my trip all the more memorable.

Thanks Autorickshawalas.

And finally Thanks to IIT Mumbai for giving me an opportunity to visit such a wonderful place.

************************************************************************

Metros have always lured me. Chennai is more like a second home, not because of the no. of visits I made, but because of my affinity for the Tamil, the people and of course Kollywood. I went to Delhi during my 9th grade. The fact that almost all the intellectual icons of Kerala have once lived in Delhi and have written and rewritten about the place and also because of its historical significance, I was easily attracted. That left me with Mumbai and Kolkata.

Do I have to visit Kolkata to like it? No. Its just like asking a communist why you like Cuba or China. We don't have any reasons, we just blindly love it. I donno if communists of China or Cuba do know the existence of such states in India. Anyways leave it. Howrah Bridge, Durga Puja are enough reasons for me to like Kolkata even more. But Mumbai always gave me a mix of emotions. Although it had a historical background which was enough to lure me but more recent events of Shiv sainiks and MNS took me by fear. Are we even welcome there?

I took the opportunity of attending the GD of IIT-B, just because it was going to be one of the last family tours I do before my spinsterhood ends.

There could be nothing more pissing off than a train not passing through Palakkad station and Konkan train does exactly the same. So we had to go to Shoranur station to board the train. We sneak peeked into a cousin's house in Shoranur during the 3 hours we had to wait there. It's kind of weird to find that almost all of my nephews and nieces have more height than me. And that I would totally be a chotu amongst them. :( (Well, a cousin of mine blames her parents for her poor height and always questions why they married each other. I'm atleast happy Amma married Achan thereby giving me atleast 5'1" unlike my cousin's 4'10" )

I just love travelling in train. The cribbing is almost like a music. And most of my creative thoughts pops up when I'm travelling. Although we can travel in AC class for free, I hate it. Not just because I have never got accustomed to sleep under AC but also because of the passengers there. They are totally hostile. I donno why people have such an 'attitude' while travelling in AC. Because they can afford it? Duh Huh. It's so sick. And the way they look at the Sleeper Class passengers, as if they are second class citizens. Dumb Asses. Having heard a lot about the Konkan Railways, I didn't wanted to miss the sceneries sitting in an AC compartment and insisted on taking Sleeper Class tickets. But unfortunately the train had very bad timings, making it pass through Goa in the night which literally made me be frown. Anyways, one day I hope to travel again at better timings and make up to it.

The tunnels are a specialty of the Konkans. Most of 'em stretching like forever. And its so noisy at times. But all the while I was admiring the similarity between the two states. Kerala and Maharashtra. Houses were similar. The flora seemed to be similar. So whats the difference all about. And what are we fighting for?

And then of course, its the Indian Railways I'm travelling in. So it was no surprise when the engine failed just before Ratnagiri and that too inside a tunnel. You can imagine the horror of being suffocated to death. Ok, that part was a little too much. And we reached LTT by 8 in the evening. By then we had too much of information on how to reach to the IIT. Taking a slow train to Kanjurmarg. Even IIT's site cried aloud about that.

Taking the suburb train was also an eventful thing. Well, I have travelled in loco trains in Chennai but this was something so different. People were coming in and out of the station just like the rats in the Pied Piper story. Literally population explosion. But I must confess, I loved it. For that matter, I had always loved crowd. And in our second train from Kurla to Kanjurmarg, we saw a pair standing too cozy. The girl was too cute for that awful guy. I just had a brief look on them and then turned facing oustide. I could see Amma totally anguished. Anyways, there was an middle-aged guy staring at them, and then the girl showered on him some Sanskrit Verses. LOL :)

I was on for a surprise when the autorickwalas took just the amount in the meter to IIT. Apparently, some of the autos in Palakkad don't even have meters, let alone seeing a working meter.

Abhi had made all the arrangements for us to stay at the hostel. Me and Amma would be in the girl's hostel and Bro and Achan would be in Abhi's hostel. It was so sweet of him to arrange all that, particularly because we never had met before. When I first saw Dhyaan(Abhi's friend who also helped us in finding the accomodation), I thought I had seen her before. Later I understood I felt so just because she had immense similarity to Rachel Leigh Cook.




The hostel appeared totally abandoned, but alas, then I realised it's IIT which is famous for nerds and you don't expect 'em to come out of their rooms. The only relief came as a girl who came out to watch a serial in TV.

Anyways the next day we had breakfast from a small restaurant opposite the girls hostel. One thing that Achan can't get enough of is Puri. He wouldn't even like to go to a hotel which doesn't serve Puris. As for this time, it was very hard to convince him that Bhelpuri and Paanipuri are not the Puri he thinks of. He was going on staring at the menu board. We finally managed to get him a Masala Dosa.

Don't even expect me to write anything about how the GD and Interview was. In simple words it was awful. And nothing more. But important thing is that they treated us with a Sandwich and Puff which naturally made IITB climb to the top of the MY list of good colleges. But there was a guy totally hitting on me. He even offered me to give a music certificate for free since I had none in co-curricular activities. It was entertainment after all.

It was almost 6 when I finished my interview. And then we went near the Powai Lake. Got some pics, but it became too dark then. The evening walk in the campus reminded me of our company campus, the only difference being that IIT was more Indian and the company being more phoren owing to the imported palm trees.



We, with Abhi went to a hotel near by and had our dinner from there. The jinx of not having Naan was finally broken. With Paneer Butter Masala and Vegetable Kadai, the whole travel to Mumbai suddenly became worthy. After the dinner, Abhi took us to the IDC, Industrial Design Centre where he's a first year student. A glance into the building I knew its going to be a very hard journey if I were to ever make to it there. I'm putting some pics here.



In the centre of the building, there is a 'Circle of Design' where projects and other stuffs are presented. But because of the poor lighting, I couldn't take its picture. Even the staircase had something to talk about. There was a recent conference on Maintaining Human Resource in the Corporate world. The same was depicted on the steps of the staircase. In the begining, i.e. the ground floor, you can see the footprints of many animals and as you climb up you will find the number of footprints reducing. And in the topmost floor, you will only find the footprints of a human who then eventually turn into an highly skilled man depicted by the prints of the shoes. Great thinking , what else to say.

Abhi even showed his classroom. It would only be meaningful if I say that is an ideas-emerging-room.


So the next day we came back to the LTT and then the most disheartening thing. I wasn't having a window seat! And we were sitting amidst old people surviving on pills! And the old people who had conquered the window seat wouldn't even open the windows! Great!! I slipped myself to the upper berth, took "The Appeal" by John Grisham. By the way, I didn't like the book at all. I like happy endings, but this book is about the cruel reality. I'm yet to sink in to the tragic climax of the book.

So that was my trip to Mumbai. I never visited any place nor did I do any shopping. But at the end of all I knew I am loving Mumbai. I love the people there for being so helpful. And I'm in complete love for IIT-Bombay. And I hope if I go again to Mumbai, I'm not settling down for a brief-visit again.

P.S. :- You could visit Abhi's blogs and view his creations here, here or here.

Friday, March 12, 2010

Tag Anyways!!

Guys am back! Back from my brief-Mumbai visit. Was scratching my head to write about my 2 day stay there, but alas, my thinking cap has gone somewhere. So, I'm taking up BF's tag which has been pending for a few weeks, so that I can brush up my brain (if there's one). And Thanks BF.

1. What is your current obsession?
Snakes..the game in my mobile. I just reached the level 19.

2. What are you wearing today?
Salwar Kameez.

3. What’s for dinner?
Roti with a mushroom curry. I'm looking for the recipe online. Damn!! Its difficult to cook.

4. What’s the last thing you bought?
Hmmm.... Halwa.*Slurrp*

5. What are you listening to right now?
The occasional grudges of the CPU. Even that sounds like a music.

6. What do you think about the person who tagged you?
Yeah, BF...He's a little bossy. But writes amazingly humourous stuff. Can't find him these days. May be he's a bit too busy for the blogspot.

7. If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished anywhere in the world, where would you like it to be?
No confusion, its here in Railyway Colony. I would always prefer those bungalows where DRM and DCM live. (We're planning to leave to our hometown by next month, so be ready for another round of a senti post.)

8. What are your must-have pieces for summer?
I'm not going anywhere, I'm staying at home. People here are dying of sunstroke. So I guess, a fan would suffice plus ofcourse, an uninterrupted supply of electricity to make the fan work.

9. If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?
Kashmir, perhaps.. I have been wanting to visit there for a long time now.

10. Which language do you want to learn?
I'm too bad with languages. 6 months in B'lore and I learned only Enjoy Maadi.

11. What’s your favourite quote?
"I believe in reincarnation, So I've left all my money to myself"- Tony Blackburn (So you know what I'm going to do when I earn money)

12. Who do you want to meet right now?
None right now. Enjoying the solitude.

13. What is your favourite colour?
Blue.. Sky. Ocean. Kingfisher. Blue-the band and more

14. Give us 3 styling tips that work for you.
Safety Pins. 1. Holds your dupatta onto your salwar, 2. helps you sometimes with your broken chappal at a busy time, 3. helps you when your amazingly good backseat neighbour at a theatre try to pinch you.

15. What is your dream job?
What if I say IAS. Hmm.... An Architect. Wait..... Website Designer.....Hmmm...Forget it Yaar.

16. What’s your favorite magazine?
I'm not the Cosmo-Women's Era type girl. I like Outlook, Frontline, Newsweek, India Today. Anything Political.

17. If you had $100 now, what would you spend it on?
Books. Jeffery Archer and John Grisham, I want their complete collection. I don't want to spend money on good-looking books, I prefer pirates.

18. What do you consider a fashion faux pas?
Fashion Weeks. Who wears them anyways!

19. Who according to you is the most over-rated style icon?
Cricketers. Everyone. (May be not Sachin. But everyone else.)

20. What kind of haircut do you prefer?
pehle hair cut karne ki permission dila do meri Amma se, phir yeh question answer karenge.

21. What are you going to do after this?
What's the next movie in HBO?

22. What are your favourite movies?
You've Got Mail, When Harry Met Sally, Pirates of Carribean (All parts), While You Were Sleeping....Lots are there...list is too long.

23. What inspires you?
Rang De Basanti. Everytime the movie ends, I (used to) study for a full hour. I guess, I need to buy its DVD.

24. What do your friends call you most commonly?
Di Communi....That "di" comes out of respect.

25. Would you prefer coffee or tea?
I love Tea. Plus I make awesome tea.

26. What do you do when you are feeling low or terribly depressed?
Listen to some Hard Rock. Sad and melody songs depress me more.

27. What makes you go wild?
Idea Star Singer. Everytime I'm tortured to sit through the show, you can see the wild-me.

28. Which other blogs do you love visiting?
All the blogs I'm following.

29. Favorite Dessert/Sweet?
Chocolate Sundae. I can skip a meal for that.

30. How many tabs are turned on in ur browser right now?
Five. 3 blogs + my dashboard+ mushroom masala recipe

31. Favorite Season?
Towards the mid of every season, I tend to hate it. So none.

32.Whats ur current facebook status msg?
"No, I'm not watchin IPL!"

33. What is the right way to avoid people who purposefully hurt you?
Forgive, Forget, Ignore.

34. What are you afraid of the most?
Shopping for others except my brother. He's kinda used to my selection.

35. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought?
I totally suck!!!!

36. What brings a smile on your face instantly?
Food, Good Food and Great Food.

37. A word that you say a lot?
I used to use "whatever" a lot. But now I'm stuck with "already".

38. Tell us a bad PJ u heard recently??
How to write a C program to prevent Titanic from sinking...
.
.
.
Declare the variable Titanic as "float"


Rules for those who are tagged:
Respond and rework – answer these questions on your blog, replace one question that you dislike with a question of your own, and add one more question to the list. Then tag few new set of people.

I tag:
Kelly (A reminder that you've a blog)
Lakshmi (same as above)
Raji (Chechi, try this)
Harini (Would like to know how you answer these)
Scarlet(I don't know if you write tags, but would like to hear from you)
Blunt Edges (And you've been tagged again)
Neha (Here's one more tag to your list)

Friday, February 26, 2010

I wanna go back to

To us mates.

I wanna go back to the days when we used to dine together at the cafeteria. That round table conference where I knew more about the java batch, Ramettan and Tuttumon's pjs.

I wanna go back to the days when a Dinshaws icecream was all that I needed to end my day.

I wanna go back to the day of our Spotlight and tell Lallu that she was the best dancer of the day. I shouldn't have missed Pattar's Wake me up song and Ramettan and gang's Mime.

I wanna go back to the day when we all dragged Dumbo (I know she'll kill me for writing this) to watch Dasavatharam and when I took a pic with Alu Arjun's poster. *Sadly SK lost the pic :(*

I wanna go back to the day when I and half-drunk-Eldhose (or was it fully drunk?) had fought over the topic Love on our first trip to home. *I don't remember what I told then, I just wanna check if those are still my viewpoints on love*.

I wanna go back to the days when we bought a book of malayalam film song lyrics and sang so loud that other inmates of our hostel came to warn us.

I wanna go back to those days when we 5 used to sit over the rocks infront of the reception and chit chat every night, forgetting that there were a bunch of mosquitoes accompanying us.

I wanna go back to the day when Obamamol and me went for a walk to the More and we shared our stories. *Dear Obamamol, I'm happy that that day happened in our lives. Otherwise we would never have been this close *

I wanna go back to the day when I stood up in the class for being one of the toppers for case study. *That was the only time I did that in my life. *

I wanna go back to the day when our training project group was formed. Even when there was a lot of fuss around us, our team was clearly the first one to form. *Guys, we still rock, don't we?*

I wanna go back to those days when birthdays naturally meant a treat at Raj Dhaba and free facial treatment of cake and sometimes a free bath with foam water, eye massage with toothpaste or kajal and conditioning of hair with tomatoes and eggs.

I wanna go back to those days when AM and I used to go upto the terrace for having tea in the evenings and watch gully cricket being played by kids in the neighbourhood.

I wanna go back to the days when Chillies was the perfect veg-restaurant and we considered their fried rice and curries to be made in heaven, Baker's chariot 's chicken sandwich was our perfect breakfast, Suruchi had the best naan ever, Reddy's chat was the most spiciest of all chats.

I wanna go back those days when Rakesh made me addicted to Bounty and Snickers. And I always had to pay the bills.

I wanna go back to the day when our whole batch played dumsharats. Kunal pulled my cheeks in happiness for getting Aparichit and Delhi Heights correctly. *See I still I remember it*

I wanna go back to the day when Eldhose left for Pune. If I had my go I would have pulled his ears and dragged him outside the bus and asked him to stay back. *We missed you a lot da*

I wanna go back to the days when we thought Bangalore was the worst that could happen to us. *It wasn't.. as we found out later what the actual worst thing was*

I wanna go back to the day when Ramettan and I betted on VS's number of votes in the previous elections and I narrowly escaped because the number of votes he got didn't fit into each ones betting range.

I wanna go back to the days when we used to sit and watch Miley Jab Hum Tum and comment on how good Nupur is and how dashing Mayank is. *Donimol, did you know that they got married ?*

I wanna go back to the days when we used to flock around the maggie counter of our cafeteria for our maggie cups and then rush all the way to busbay.

I wanna go back to the days Obama and me used to go for tea with Oku's gang. Competing amongst us to pile up the coffee cups.

I wanna go back to those days when we used to do all that we could to escape the bus pass checkers of our company bus. Then MJ was the traitor amongst us who had a cab pass.

I wanna go back to the days when we sent each other crap mails. Ammini, Blore and I would scratch our heads for ideas for our Trimurthy mails, which apparently we never did for coding. And Appimol and Koratty were our easy targets.

I wanna go back to the days when Rishi used to greet me with roses in the communicator. And Pattar made my day with his lame jokes. *He was the sole reason I got my name*

I wanna go back to the days when Forum was a regular hangout and we did shopping only at Archies, More and Landmark because of budgetary concerns. Those days I got addicted to McD's burger.

I wanna go back to those days when we never stopped cursing S_p for reducing our performance ratings. And cursing RB for his hairstyles, moustache-styles and everything he did.

P.S. :- I still have a lot left to say, but those tears in my eyes aren't allowing me.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Desperate/Runaway Moments

Sometimes I really want my life to be a little filmy. Everybody singing and dancing during weddings and get-togethers, melody duets being played during romantic times, sad senti songs being the BGM for senti times. (Btw I also like this old Bollywood trick- one song and the hero and the heroine get married, have their honeymoon and they have kids and they too grow up- wish our life was such an uncomplicated one). But more than anything else I just wanna learn how to disappear just like in films. Remember, in old films the heros used to vanish just like that from their prying sasumas, chachajis. If only I could learn that trick...here I'm just listing a few of my desperate moments where I just wanted to run away or vanish from there.


*** Where & When: Every Marriages I go. I am taking a reference of my college times

One lady comes upto me and ask,

She: How are you related to the bride?
Me: I am her xxx.
She: Oh!! Are you studying??
Me: Yeah Engineering..(Now getting an idea of who she is..)
She: Where's your mother?
Me: Don't Know. Even I'm searching for her ( Now I really was searching for Amma)
She: She'll have your horoscope na?
Me: *What! you expect Amma to carry that in all weddings* (Now cursing all my cousins who deserted me )
She: Why are you wearing specs?
Me : *Duh Huh* Short sight *Should I run now or wait for someone to rescue me*
She: There's a guy....Blah blah...
Me: *No one's coming?? What excuse should I make???*
She: Blah Blah.... (turns her head in search for another eligible girl)
I swiftly withdraw myself from the place.


***Where and When : Interview at Rajagiri College

After a short intro of myself to two girls sitting on my either side, the one on right said
Righty: Hey I know that guy. He's my senior at College.
Me: Oh!!
Lefty: No way... He was in my batch at TIME.
Righty, Lefty:...Blah Blah...
Me(having no idea what they're talking) : *Think I should find a new seat*
Just then,
Lefty(to me): Hey you got a bag from TIME?
Me: Yeah, You didn't get any?
Lefty: No re. (To Righty) Hey you know that guy....blah blah..
Me: *that's it...I'm never going to like these Ekm Jadas*
Finally the conversation comes to MAT scores
Lefty(To Righty): How was your score?
Me: *Thank God! This is my area! I'm gonna dazzle you girls*
Righty: 94. You know I wasn't prepared at all.
Me: *Somebody ask me!! pls!!!*
Conversation is trying to go somewhere else.
Me (desperately ...To Lefty): What's your score?
Lefty: 95... Blah Blah
Me: *Ask me!!*
Blah Blah
Me: *Ask me!!*
Blah Blah..

Till the end of the day, Nobody asked me that question as I choked myself with my score.


***Where and When: I think it was during 8th grade. A Unit Test time

Prologue: I had this cousin as my classmate. Being the better of the two in academics, I always scored more marks in every unit test. But this time, the teacher in Social Studies gave us one essay to study for the test. All we had to do was to mug up. But then fate was it. A slight mistake in my answer.
Scene 1: Everyone in the class scored 35 out of 35, but for me and a few others who were adamant not to study the essay.
Scene 2: My aunty who never showed up to our house during exam times comes running. After a few other queries, she asked me how much I scored in Social Studies. I said, "34 ". She,"Oh!!! (my cousin) got 35, you know". Amma's face becomes red. Rest is history.


***Where & When: My regular Vignesh bus

A fat lady enters the bus with a similarly fat daughter. Seeing her not able to stand properly, I gave my seat to her. A few stops later, the lady next to our fat lady gets down. I, who has been standing near the seat, try to sit. The fat lady pushes me away(with her single finger!!) and reserves the seat for her daughter. Thats it, I thought. "I am never gonna help any other fat/old ladies". But its me na, I won't ever learn. I still embarrass myself by falling again and again into such situations.


*** Where & When : Interview table at Rajagiri College

Interviewer: What do you want to do after MBA?
Me: I firstly want to learn things practically by joining some firm. But my actual ambition is to be an entrepreneur *Entrepreneur , my foot!*
Intrvwr: Entrepreneur! Hmm.... What kind of company would you want to start?
Me: Since I have experience in Software, I would like to start a Software company. *Software is the last thing I want to do on earth*

PS:- R@ji chechi got married on jan 27th and her reception function was at Railway Kalyanamandapam, my dream place. And chechi, this joke is dedicated to you and jeeju.

What did chechi's sasuma ask her to bring as dowry?
Dher saara pyaar aur ek lambhi seedi. Get It?

Yeah, I know this is an old and copied, but this is so true with R@ji chechi and jeeju.

PSS:- Do you know what's the best part of me getting married? I can officially make jokes about it.

PSSS:- Do you know what is the one thing I couldn't take my eyes off from in the new Mile Sur? Ranbir's portion. His trousers are so transparent. If they couldn't afford a better pair of trousers, they could have adjusted by taking the video of only the upper half. At least I wouldn't get distracted na.

Friday, February 5, 2010

The Leg Break Dance

Well... I was actually supposed to write a post on my first MBA interview (Donimol had asked me to write it since we couldn't talk much about that on the day of my interview), but then the attention seeker in me says, spice it up gal!


I was returning home after the interview in Cochin. Achan as always keeping me company. (I think its a ritual here ... that either of the parent should accompany a girl who is engaged and that too everywhere. And everytime this happens, I shout "I'm not running anywhere!". Yes of course, that was to myself.) It was almost 7 pm. So when we reached the bus stop near Rest House, I found that it was the KSRTC bus coming. I was enthralled, for that is the only bus in which a seat is guaranteed(I wish it was the same with IIMs for me). So why does our KSRTC bus have so much vacant seats? Simple. Nobody would want to get backpain free, right? But anyways, this is the only KSRTC bus in our route. And it was the contribution of our CM V S Achuthanandan. 10 years of blatantly supporting him and atleast we got a bus. Now you say, why shouldn't I vote for him.


And of course, like all the state buses, this bus also comes with extra fittings. No handle(Whats the need, everyone boarding has plenty of seats to choose from ). No window pane (local charge pe AC yatra). Extra furry cushions (If you sit in the seat for an hour, you could actually use your butt as a writing pad..it would be a plane surface ). And potholes in the steps (even your bag could squeeze into those).

So as an extra-considerate daughter, I was helping my father to board off the bus. Exactly at the last step, my heels got stuck. Before I realised it, my other leg had stepped outside the bus. And before both of my legs realised anything at all, both were in the air. And .........ddddddddddhhhhhhhhhiiiiiiimmmmmmmm. In a fraction of second, I had landed myself to the safety of the road and at the expense of my right leg carrying the entire body weight. Ok so the falling part is over, who will pull me up? I looked around. There were only 2 men besides my father. And both were middle-aged men. What a bad luck I have, my first public falling performance and no cute guys to watch it. Cute nahi sahi, guys bhi chal sakta tha. Out of that one person helped me getting up.Meanwhile I was being advised to go the hospital straightaway or take an auto to home. I told them that I'm perfectly alright and I limped back to home.

But half way, achan suddenly asked(if you could please imagine my father with the sparkling bulb near his head) "Where's you ring? Nothing has happened to it na. Check if it's there in your finger". And I was like, WTF! Meri taang toot rahi hai aur aapko ring ki padi hai?

Followed was nothing much exciting. Rushing to the hospital at 10 pm and getting to sit in the wheel chair like an utter rogi. And at the end of all, all excitement finished when the doctor said that there's nothing to worry and prescribed some pain killers. Again WTF. I mean, its the first time I fell down and I don't even have a fracture? By then, I had totally imagined the next 2 weeks with the plaster of paris on my leg. I had always yearned for some goodwill oranges(the oranges your relatives give to you when you get admitted into a hospital). But I guess, the wait continues.

P.S. :- If you thought why so hullagulla over such a stupid issue. First time hai na. Publicity ke liye mere paas koi PRO bhi nahi hain. Everything is in my shoulders, you see.

Friday, January 22, 2010

I'm putting a malayalam classic here.. आज शामको ഞങ്ങള്‍ എങ്ങോട്ട് जाएगा

This has been a long time ambition of mine. Re-write what Koratty wrote over a year n half ago. This story is not just close to my heart but also to my bookshelf (Literally, the book has been there in shelf for over a 6 months). And I have all the chance of loosing it to termites. Such is my care, u see. I am so thankful for one thing, Koratty isn't into internet at all (although she does frequently use the communicator to ask the C# code from her fellow projectmates and that's the only way she survives her job.). Still remember it was just 7-8 months ago when we pushed her to create an orkut account, lest she should forget us after leaving Bangalore. If she was anywhere interested in blogging, she would have had me run for my money. Thankfully she is not. So about the story. I've all the copyright, u know, because it was written on my notebook. Whose? Mine. Still I asked the permission from Koratty to publish it. So sweet of me na. The story is about 2 guys from our batch surviving Hyderabad and their tenant during our training period. So here it goes.. (N.B. :- If you can't read the font below, please install the Malayalam font from here .) (Another N.B. :- Non-mallus please hop over to find the English translation) ല്യ്ഗകോളനിയിലെ വായ്നോക്കികള്‍ ഈ കഥ നടകുന്നത് ആന്ദ്രപുരിയിലെ ല്യ്ഗകോളനിയിലാണ്. ആദ്യംതന്നെ പറയട്ടെ ഈ കഥയും കഥാപാത്രങ്ങളും തികച്ചും സങ്കല്പികമാണ്. ല്യ്ഗകോളനിയില്‍ ഇപ്പോള്‍ താമസിക്കുന്നവരുമായോ Nityam Computer Services -വില്‍ work ചെയുന്നവരുമായോ ഇതിനു യാതൊരു ബന്ധവുമില്ലഇനി ഏതെങ്കിലും തരത്തില്‍ നിങ്ങള്ക്ക് സാധ്രിശ്യം തോന്നിയാല്‍ അത് താങ്കളുടെ വെറും തോന്നല്‍ മാത്രമാണ്. ല്യ്ഗകോളനിഎന്ന് പറയുമ്പോള്‍ തന്നെ പച്ചപിടിച്ചുനില്‍കുന്ന പുല്ലുകളും പൊടിപടലങ്ങള്‍ ഇല്ലാത്ത വൃത്തിയുള്ള road ഉം, basket cake ഉം (ഈ shop ഇല് ഒരു pair കളും കയറാറില്ല ). മാവൂര്‍ tiffin ഉം എന്തിനേറെ പറയുന്നു യഥാര്‍ത്ഥത്തില്‍ ഇതൊരു zoo ആണ്. പട്ടികളും പശുകളും നിറഞ്ഞ road കളാണ് ഇവിടെ. ഇവിടെയാണ്‌ Nityam Computers ഇല് എല്ലാവരും താമസികുന്നത് (ചില അലവലാതികള്‍ ല്യ്ഗകോളനിയില്‍ കാലെടുത്തു കുത്താന്‍ പോലും യോഗ്യതയിലാത്തവര്‍ പുറത്തെവിടെയോ താമസിക്കുന്നു ). ഞാനും എന്റെ പ്രിയപ്പെട്ട Nityam ലെ കൂടുകാരും ഈ കോളനിയിലാണ് താമസികുന്നത്. ഈ Colony യെ പറ്റി കേട്ടറിഞ്ഞ പലരും Flat വിട്ടു ഓടിയെതിടുണ്ട്. അങ്ങനെ ഒരു ദിവസം ല്യ്ഗയില്‍ രണ്ടുപെരെത്തി . സരതും ശങ്ജിതും. ല്യ്ഗകോളനിയിലെ പാതയോരങ്ങളില്‍ pair കളുടെ സംഗമമാണ്. ഒരു Girlfriend നെ എങ്കിലും ഒപ്പികാം എന്ന് കരുതിയാണ് പാവം സരതും ശങ്ജിതും അവിടെ എത്തിയത്. ഈ Colony യുടെ എടുത്തു പറയേണ്ട ഒരു പ്രത്യേകതയുണ്ട്. മറ്റൊന്നുമല്ല ഈ Colony യുടെ നടുവിലൂടെ നുരഞ്ഞു പതഞ്ഞു സുഘന്ധം പരത്തി ഒഴുകുന്ന ഒരു തോടുണ്ട്. ഒരിക്കല്‍ ഇതിന്റെ smell അറിഞ്ഞാല്‍ പിന്നെ 6 മാസം മൂക്ക്പോത്തിയെ നടക്കു. അത്ര വൃത്തിയുള്ള ആ തോടിന്റെ തീരത്താണ് നമ്മുടെ പ്രിയപ്പെട്ട സരത് കുമാരനും ശങ്ജിത് കുമാരനും താമസിക്കാന്‍ തീരുമാനിച്ചത്. Obviously അവരുടെ കുളി ആ തോട്ടില്‍ തന്നെയാണ്. Nityam Centre ലെ associates പ്രത്യേകിച്ച് projectmates ഒരുപാട് അവരെ സഹിച്ചു. Project കഴിഞ്ഞപ്പോള്‍ അവര്‍ Team Leader നെ തല്ലി. സരത്തിന്റെ എടുത്തു പറയേണ്ട പ്രത്യേകത അവനു നല്ല ക്ഷമയുന്ടെന്നുല്ലതാണ്. അങ്ങനെ 4 മാസം training ഇന്റെ time ഇല് ബാകിയുള്ള എല്ലാവരുടെയും മുന്പില്‍ ഷൈന്‍ ചെയ്തു അവര്‍ നടന്നു . അതിനിടയില്‍ laptop ഉം ബൈക്ക് ഉം .... ഇതെല്ലാം വാങ്ങി (അഹങ്ഗാരികള്‍ ). ഇതിനിടയില്‍ അവര്‍ ഒരു Girlfriend നെ അന്വേഷിച്ചു നടന്നു . ഒരുപാട് girls നോട് പറഞ്ഞു നോക്കി . പക്ഷെ fate എല്ലാവരുടെയും answer ഒന്ന് മാത്രം NO!!!! ശങ്ജിത് Bike വാങ്ങിയതിന്റെ പിന്നിലുള്ള ഉദ്ദേശം തന്നെ ഒരു Girlfriend നെ പുറകിലിരുത്തി കാണാനായിരുന്നു . But എന്നും രാവിലെ full tank petrol നിറച്ചു ല്യ്ഗകോളനി മുഴുവന്‍ ചുറ്റും. But, poor ശങ്ജിത് ആരും ഒന്ന് തിരിഞ്ഞു നോക്കിയില്ല. എന്നും petrol മുഴുവന്‍ കഴിഞ്ഞു bike ഉണ്ധിയാണ് വീട്ടില്‍ വന്നു കയരാരുള്ളത് . സരതാകട്ടെ broadband connection എടുത്തു matrimonial ഇല് എന്നും search ചെയ്തു കൊണ്ടിരിക്കും. flat ലെ current bill, water bill എല്ലാം കൂടി . flat ഇന്റെ owner തലച്ചുടി വീണു. നേരത്തും കാലത്തും rent കൊടുകാതെ girlfriends നെ മാത്രം സ്വപ്നം കണ്ടുഅവര്‍ നടന്നു . ഇതിനിടയില്‍ project ചെയ്തപ്പോള്‍ TL നെ വളക്കാന്‍ അവര്‍ ഒരു ശ്രമം നടത്തി. നടക്കാതെ വന്നപ്പോള്‍ അവര്‍ TL നെ ചീത്ത പറഞ്ഞു. എന്നിട്ട് എല്ലാവരോടും പറഞ്ഞു അവള്‍ coding ചെയാന്‍ സംമാധികാതതിനാലനത്രേ വഴക്ക് പറഞ്ഞത്!!! ഒടുവില്‍ എങ്ങനെയോ training കഴിഞ്ഞു. Next locaction Bangalore !!! സരത് കുമാരനും ശങ്ജിതിനും സന്തോഷമായി. Hyd നമ്മുക്ക് നല്ല സ്ഥലമല്ല. Bangalore ആണ് നല്ലത്. അവര്‍ തീരുമാനിച്ചു. Owner നെ പറ്റിച്ചു കടന്നുകളയാന്‍ അവര്‍ rent കൊടുത്തില്ല. ഒരു ദിവസം വയ്കുന്നേരം സരത് കുമാരന്‍ പാടും പാടി ഫ്ലാറ്റ് ലേക്ക് കയറു ചെന്ന്. Flat നു മുന്‍പില്‍ owner!!! സരതിനെ കണ്ടപ്പോഴേ owner പറഞ്ഞു . तुम दोनों आज शामको यहाँ से जाओ ! English ഉം hindi ഉം അറിയാത്ത സരത്തിന്റെ കണ്ണ്ത്തള്ളി. എങ്കിലും owner ഇന്റെ മകളെ മനസ്സില്‍ ദ്യാനിച്ചു അവന്‍ പറഞ്ഞു. आज शामको ഞങ്ങള്‍ എങ്ങോട്ട് जाएगा . Owner കു കലികയറി അവരുടെ bag ഉം കിടക്കയും പുരതെടുത്തിട്ടു. സരതും ശങ്ജിതും ഞെട്ടി. കാലു പിടിച്ചു. Owner സമ്മതിച്ചില്ല. പിന്നെ അവര്‍ bag ഉം തൂക്കി നടന്നു. എങ്ങോടെന്നിലാതെ ഒടുവില്‍ പാതിരാത്രി ശ്രീശാന്തിന്റെയും Meldo യുടെയും വീട്ടില്‍ കയറിപറ്റി. ആദ്യത്തെ ദിവസം കൊണ്ട് തന്നെ അവര്‍ക്കും മതിയായി. അവര്‍ അവരെ ചവിട്ടി പുറത്താക്കി . ഇപ്പോള്‍ എങ്ങോടെന്നിലാതെ ല്യ്ഗകോളനിയുടെ തെരുവില്‍ അവര്‍ തേരാപാര നടക്കുകയാണ്. അവരുടെ കഥന കഥകെട്ടവരെല്ലാം കേള്‍കാത്ത പോലെ നടന്നു. ഇനി അവരുടെ ലക്‌ഷ്യം Nityam Computers ഇന്റെ bus നിര്‍ത്തുന്ന സ്ഥലത്തെ footpath ഇല് കിടകാനാണ് . അങ്ങനെ ഒരു സാഹസം കാനികുന്നതിനു മുന്‍പ് ആരെങ്ങിലും ഈ രണ്ടു risk ഏറ്റെടുക്കാന്‍ അഭ്യര്‍ഥിച്ചു കൊണ്ട് ഞാന്‍ ഈ കഥ നിര്‍ത്തുകയാണ്. ***************************************************************** So that was about it. If I had been any good at translation, I would have certainly done it. But then as they say classics can't be translated with the same beauty. { Edit done on 24/01/10 I am trying to put my best efforts here to translate this epic story with the same grandieur of humour and if you still don't find any humour , blame me and not my Koratty. Simultaneous comments of mine are given in green font. The Oglers of Laiga Colony The story which I'm going to tell is happening in a place called Laiga Colony in the great state of Andhra. Before going into further details, I'm putting the disclaimer. The story and the characters here are purely fictional. The story has no connection with those who currently live in Laiga Colony or those who work in Nityam Computer Services. In case you find any similarities, it is just your imagination. The very first things that comes to our mind when we talk about Laiga Colony are its greenery, the roads with not even a puff of dust, Basket Cake (Not even a single pair goes into this shop), Mavoor Tiffin. All these and more. Laiga Colony in itself is a Zoo. The roads here are crowded by dogs and cows. It is here that all employees of Nityam Computers live. (A few people who don't even deserve to step into the Colony are now staying in some other area.) This has been intentionly written to point us. Me, Blore and Aanakutty. As we were the only ones staying outside Laiga. Me and my Nityam friends are also staying in this colony. After hearing about this colony, many have even left their flat and shifted to here. And one such day two guys came into this colony. Sarath and Shanjith. There is a concourse of "pairs" in the LaigaColony roads. Sarath and Shanjith had shifted to the colony in the sole hope of getting a Girlfriend soon. Literally we couldn't walk in that road without hitting a pair. Another speciality of this colony is the canal which passes through the mid of the colony with ditch water in it. Once anyone smells this water, he wouldn't smell anything else for the next six months. It is near this canal that Sarath and Shanjith stayed. Obviously, they use the water of this canal to take bath. Eeks. The associates of Nityam Computers, especially projectmates tolerated these 2 guys for long. After the project, they(Sarath and Shanjith) kicked out their Team Leader. An important quality of Sarath is that he has a lot of patience. So, during the 4 month training period they bought laptop and bike just to shine before others. Simultaneously, they were also searching for a girlfriend. They tried to convince the girls in their batch. But fate, everyone's answer was NO!!! The primary reason behind Shanjith buying a bike was to hangout with a girlfriend in that bike. Every morning, he would fill the bike full tank and go around the colony. But poor Shanjith, nobody would look at him. And in the evenings when the petrol had finished, he would pull his bike along to his house. As for Sarath, he had taken broadband connection and was always into the matrimonial sites. And I thought I had the patent of Matrimonial sites in my batch. Everyday Shanjith used to wash and clean his bike. And henceforth, the current bill, water bill of the flat shot up. The owner couldn't believe his eyes. His head started spinning and he fell down. But Sarath and Shanjith were too much into their world of Girlfriend search that they even forgot to pay the rent. When they were doing the project, they had tried their luck on their TL. But when it failed, they cursed the TL. And told everyone that they are cursing her because she wasn't allowing them to code properly!! Koratty belonged the same project group. And her only contribution to the team was this story. Finally the training was over. Next Location Bangalore!!! Sarath and Shanjith became happy. 'Hyd is an unlucky place. Bangalore is the good one.' So they thought they can escape their owner without paying rent. One day when Sarath returned to the house whistling, his owner was standing infront of the house. Owner said, "तुम दोनों आज शामको यहाँ से जाओ " (you two leave the house today evening itself). And Sarath, who doesn't know both English and Hindi, perplexed. He, for a moment thought about the owner's daughter, replied, "आज शामको ഞങ്ങള്‍ എങ്ങോട്ട് जाएगा " (today evening where can we go). Owner couldn't control his anger. He threw their bags outside. Sarath and Shanjith fell on owner's feet. But owner rejected their plea. After that Sarath and Shanjith headed to Sreeshanth and Meldo's house. But on the first day itself, Sreeshanth and Meldo found that they couldn't handle the tantrums of the new guests. They kicked them out. Now, both of them are loathing on the road of Laiga Colony. Those who came to know about this sad story, pretended as if they had never heard it at all. Their next destination is the footpath of road where the buses of Nityam Computers halt. Before that happens, I humbly request some of you to please take these two 'risks' home. And the end. Thank God its over. }

Sunday, January 10, 2010

New Year Edition

Happy new year everyone! Yeah, I know its the tenth day of the new year but wishing late is better than not to wish at all. And WELCOME.. my blog's new avatar. I have put an extra sidebar (see left)(courtesy- Anoop who googled it out for me) and I've got the all new blue-on-white look. When I first took the minima template, it had some orange font for the titles, but because of my obessesion for blue I made it all blue-y blue-y. Thanks to some site where I found the picture you see on the title, it was in perfect synchro to my blue fonts. And I told you I can't think of anything other than Trebuchet MS, there you go...its all over here. But a few flaws like the "scribbled by communi" part is just below the post-title, I wanted it at the end of the post. Also the "Top" written in the bottom of the post, I don't like it, I want it removed. Please will someone find out the code for that? And what do you feel about the new look? Like it or don't like it?

Ok so what's in store for me this year? Apart from my marriage and getting a whole new bunch as relatives, I donno. I do really want to get into a good b-school. Tuttudu says there is some kind of managerial quality in me. Was that for real or was it just to fend me off the IT thing (like I could be one hell of a competition to him). Whatever! But anyways, I have some good stuff in the pipeline for the blog. I have got the permission from Koratty to post her laiga story in the blog. So watch out for that. Vishnu once had written on his blog that the reason why we blog is to attain eternity. And if anything on my blog should be eternal, it should be Koratty's story. Its a reminder how our lives were and how much fun we had.

The new year has been pretty bad for me. I have woken up at 6 every of the past ten days. Eventhough I never had this resolution in my mind. Talking about resolutions. A few years back, I took one life-changing resolution and it was never to have any resolutions at all. Since then I have been following it quite sincerely. You know, even resolutions have a history in my life. Even in those kid-years of mine, when I was totally unaware of new year resolutions, I have had this myth- that the thing you do on the new year day is gonna repeat the whole year. So in my eagerness of having good marks at school, I would try to read text books on the first day. But a few minutes later....twwiiisshhhhhhhh....there goes my book! Throughout the year only the second part prevails.

Even in the college I used to have some exam-time resolutions (can you believe it?). Mostly it was concerned about only two things. Boys and TV. Not to ogle during exam time and Not to see TV. When once I told my friends that I have this not-to-ogle resolution, they said, "its in your blood dear, even if you wish you can't do anything about it". The days when I was newly engaged, I thought this over again and thought it would only be mature of me not to ogle. Those days, whenever I saw good guys, I felt both sad and pity. Sad because I'm not able to mouthlook them. And I felt pity for them 'coz they won't be mouthloooked by 'me'. And now its like whats-the-harm-in-it ( oh....he's so..o gonna kill me).

Anyways I'm so excited to go to Chennai next weekend. Yay! And know what, I'm gonna visit IIT Madras. Wow this super-exciting. You do know my affinity for Tamil, this is just a part of it. And IIT campus is one hell of a place. Damn superb. I have been only to IIT-Madras and so..o wish I could visit all other IITs. If there had been any seat allocation for laziest & dumb person, I would have really tried to be an IITian.

Anyways, that was the new year's first post thereby adding a new archive. Will be back with a new one soon.