It has been fifteen years since the 1993 serial blasts in Mumbai, hundreds of people have lost their lives in countless terror attacks since then, and when it comes to reacting to such incidents I think we can guess exactly what the reaction from our leaders is.
Every time something like this happens, the news channels announce that the prime minister has "condemned the blasts", sometimes in the "strongest words possible". And then he goes on to "appeal for peace and calm". Yes, that ought to make the terrorists feel guilty and ashamed of themselves and will probably make them walk to the nearest police station and turn themselves in. I guess that is the PM's general expectation from these terrorists who seem to be able to strike whenever and wherever they wish! And as if to strengthen the people's faith in the government, the home minister adds that these acts are committed by those who wish to "disturb the communal peace and harmony in the country" and that these people are cowards 'jo chup ke vaar karte hain'.
But hello, is that enough? From where I see it, these "cowards" are winning hands down. As I write this, I'm watching a news programme on NDTV, and they're showing the home minister Shivraj Patil's reactions to the countless blasts that have shaken the country for the last few months. Amid a host of cameramen, microphones, cameras and mobile phones, he screams out to the country, "We will find those responsible, we must take all possible measures to ensure that the people responsible for this are punished as per the law and that such incidents do not happen in the future!" And needless to say, he would invariably have done nothing but "condemn the blasts".
They're also pointing out that after the last terror attack in Delhi, the govt had installed CCTV cameras in many sensitive and crowded areas of the city. In fact, some of the areas where the bombs went of yesterday were covered by these cameras, and they could provide crucial evidence for an investigaton into these blasts. But as it turns out, the cameras don't work! They are just mounted on some pole or the other and are just there, benignly pretending to watch over everyone. After all these years of apparently fighting terrorism, we lack in even basic precautions like this!
I also came across a statement made by our PM in today's paper, where he mentions that prevention of terrorism is now the government's first priority. I mean, really, our people have been dying in bomb blasts throughout the country for so many years, even places that have so far been known to be peaceful like Bangalore for instance have been attacked, and that was over two months ago, and they've put terrorism on top priority only now? And for how long will it remain a top priority, I wonder. Perhaps until the next blast takes place and claims another fifty lives. (Then of course, the PM will condemn those blasts, appeal for peace, and the home minister will say that these people are cowards and must be brought to justice).
Well, occasionally we do hear about the two or three terrorists who have been gunned down over a hostage crisis, where a few civilians also lose their lives. But the real threat still roams around among us, they continue to run free, and the rest of the citizens continue to be sitting ducks. A bomb might just explode in the multiplex you have gone to watch a movie. Or a mall, or under a seat in a bus or local train, or as in the latest case, in a dustbin in a market. True, who is going ot go about checking dustbins every day to check for bombs? But something needs to be done. We are obviously at war with these terrorists, and if we can't smoke them out we a least need to make sure that we take precautions all the time. It could help to have a bomb squad constanly on the alert, making a quick scan of sensitive places like markets, malls and so on every two to three hours. It may not sound feasible but the other option is to start scanning the markets for bombs after five of them have already gone off and killed 20 people! (which is what happened yesterday too)
But it would help to see some change in security measures. When i walk into gold adlabs in pune, this security wala holds a metal detector to my shirt pocket and then tells me to go ahead. Really, he might as well go home and do his thing, what is the point in hanging about and doing something SO important with such utter callousness? There needs to be a blast somewhere in the country which kills a lot of people to make us aware that we need security; there will be stringent security measures in place for the next five days, and then "the city will limp back to normalcy". Basically, after these five days, we are sitting ducks again!
For God sake, the National Parliament was attacked by terrorists, and all that our leaders did was "condemn" the attacks! Which is as good as turning the other cheek. As good as saying "You attacked my parliament. Here, attack the India gate too. "
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Thursday, September 04, 2008
Throwing the mind back, and a little forth..
Here we are again, what.. after yet another long gap of pure laziness, or lack of time to sit and tap in a few words into this little blog of mine, I finally drag my ass down in front of laz's vaio to sit and tap a few words into this little blog of mine :)
Not that I have anything to write about though, life has been quite hectic at work.. what with people getting others to do something for them for 6 gruelling months, and at the end of those 6 months, it turns out they have very little clue of what they want in the first place! :P The day and sometimes a lot of the night usually passes off listening to all sorts of songs on the player in my phone and setting different by-lines in my gmail chat thing :D those who know me decently well enough know that those bylines are just lines from some song I'm listening to at that moment, and that i like at the moment! Well, now you know too, since you just read this! :)
During the monsoon and in fact just before it as well, Naren and I (and laz on one occasion) decided to just leg it from the city and speed off on our respective bikes to some incredibly scenic places in and around Pune.. An apart from being incredibly scenic, the rides were simply amazing; mostly consisting of miles and miles of flawless road, cool breeze flapping at our jackets at seventy to ninety kms per hour, smooth and lovely curves on the ghats that lie en route, and also coming to realize how much my bike loves corners! :) Did a trip to Mulshi, Lavasa and Malshej ghats recently.. I've also put up the pics in my orkut album, so do click your way to my album there!
Still a few places I really want to bike off to, for starters I'd like to find out how much my bike loves the sea side and maybe some arabian sea water too! Naren and friend of ours did such a trip while i was away in coorg for a long weekend, where i was either doing absolutely nothing, or was playing the banjo with the bro and ze boud and joni, of course.. amid some good stuff and some simply delicious plates of coorg special pork!
Coming back to places to roar off too, there's matheran too which my insides are moaning out to go to.. Laz and naren have already been there in the middle of the monsoon.. i don't quite remember what i was doing that weekend, though :( I couldn't have been having that much fun i guess, since i don't remember!! ) In any case, I've heard Matheran is at its best in the winter, and that isn't too far awa, yaay!! So hello greenery/mules/ponies and fresh air; here I come!! :D
So much for now, the eyelids are begining to stick to each other as if they've seen the fevicol ad, and are making a strong statement to me about hitting the sack for a few hours of (hopefully) dreamless bliss! Am slowly building myself up to come up with a ranting post about traffic in pune, with stuff hinting at what i think of most of these blighters on the streets these days! hehe..
Watch this space (if you have the patience!! )
Not that I have anything to write about though, life has been quite hectic at work.. what with people getting others to do something for them for 6 gruelling months, and at the end of those 6 months, it turns out they have very little clue of what they want in the first place! :P The day and sometimes a lot of the night usually passes off listening to all sorts of songs on the player in my phone and setting different by-lines in my gmail chat thing :D those who know me decently well enough know that those bylines are just lines from some song I'm listening to at that moment, and that i like at the moment! Well, now you know too, since you just read this! :)
During the monsoon and in fact just before it as well, Naren and I (and laz on one occasion) decided to just leg it from the city and speed off on our respective bikes to some incredibly scenic places in and around Pune.. An apart from being incredibly scenic, the rides were simply amazing; mostly consisting of miles and miles of flawless road, cool breeze flapping at our jackets at seventy to ninety kms per hour, smooth and lovely curves on the ghats that lie en route, and also coming to realize how much my bike loves corners! :) Did a trip to Mulshi, Lavasa and Malshej ghats recently.. I've also put up the pics in my orkut album, so do click your way to my album there!
Still a few places I really want to bike off to, for starters I'd like to find out how much my bike loves the sea side and maybe some arabian sea water too! Naren and friend of ours did such a trip while i was away in coorg for a long weekend, where i was either doing absolutely nothing, or was playing the banjo with the bro and ze boud and joni, of course.. amid some good stuff and some simply delicious plates of coorg special pork!
Coming back to places to roar off too, there's matheran too which my insides are moaning out to go to.. Laz and naren have already been there in the middle of the monsoon.. i don't quite remember what i was doing that weekend, though :( I couldn't have been having that much fun i guess, since i don't remember!! ) In any case, I've heard Matheran is at its best in the winter, and that isn't too far awa, yaay!! So hello greenery/mules/ponies and fresh air; here I come!! :D
So much for now, the eyelids are begining to stick to each other as if they've seen the fevicol ad, and are making a strong statement to me about hitting the sack for a few hours of (hopefully) dreamless bliss! Am slowly building myself up to come up with a ranting post about traffic in pune, with stuff hinting at what i think of most of these blighters on the streets these days! hehe..
Watch this space (if you have the patience!! )
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
MVX 9027
About a couple of years ago, there was this phase of around four to five months when I had to suffer this blasted back problem... brought about my myself, thanks to an hour and a half of head banging :P
Once I realized that this niggle wasn't going to go away by itself I decided to get help, and consulted this doc, whose clinic was some 25 kms away! Quite crazy, but then I was new in town, and lived way out of the city, etc etc...
My usual mode of transport to bajirao road (doc's clinic) consisted of one six seater from nigdi naaka to nigdi flyover, then a grinding wait for PCMT bus to the city corporation, and then an auto to the clinic doorstep.. used to take a bally hour and half on most days to get there... Well, got to learn a few routes in the heart of the city (was difficult to do that much, back then since I lived that far away from the city heh...)
On one such day, the going got tough while going to the clinic. This is to say an endless wait for a bus! So I decided to get myself to Chinchwad, which is a major square on the way to the city, and hope for better luck from there. Well, I got myself to C, and presently this really old private autorikshaw came coughing along, with a middle aged bloke in the passenger seat, holding together a large heap of vessels(!), and an elderly chap driving the coughing tin can contraption, and hollering
'Caarporation Caarporation!!'. The rick then coughed away again, with me on the other side of the vessel heap, doing a little holding together too!
A nice old man the driver was, kept chatting about this and that, almost all of which I don't remember now though.. By the time we reached Khadki(roughly halfway to 'Caarporation') the old rick began to splutter like someone choking on a glass of cola, and the cola going up the nose. The middle aged blighter stepped out and peered into the rear engine, and hollered something about something loose in the works. I figured this was going to be a while, and so stepped out to peer in as well. That's when the old man stepped out to have a look too, and that's when I noticed the crutches.
The man driving the auto ('kaka', he was called) didn't have a leg! I couldn't help feeling taken aback, I didn't realize this until then. Well, not that the old man seemed to need them much; he hopped out on his one leg, and hopped back to the rear, and promptly announced that the cable connecting the accelerator to the throttle had snapped! Holy hell, went the cerebrum. How the devil would these people get back now, or at least get to some mechanic who could fix it? And how would I get myself to yonder bajirao road in time for my appointment?! But 'kaka' seemed to realize that my mind was ticking over, and told me to have no fear! He calmly reached into the hot engine box and pulled out the entire length of the throttle cable, and carried the free end round the side and into the cockpit. And my mind was ticking over even more, and then I saw light. He handed the free end to the man with the vessels.
"Main jab bolun 'KHAINCH', to khainchne ka, aur main jab bolun kamm karne ko to kamm kar!". The man with the vessels uttered a few startled exclamations, but seemed to be reassured by the calm confidence exuded by 'kaka'.
"KHAINCH!!!"
The vessel man pulled the thin cable for all he was worth, kaka clacked the rick into gear, released the clutch and lo! the rick began to cough forwards, as good as it had been! :D
"KAMM KAR!!"
Vessel man released the cable a bit, and kaka clacked the rick into second gear, and so on to top gear! And I, back in my place was filled with a sort of wonder. Here was this chap, obviously handicapped, faced with a situation and hopped out of it, beaming all over the face! While I sat admiring these two and wondering about the sudden turn of events, we reached shivajinagar and continued moving forward. The poor blighter, the vessel man, the one with the thin sharp cable kept pulling with enthusiasm.
"KHAINCHH!!"
'Vroooommmmm..splutter...vroooommmmm!!'
"KAMM KARR!!"
splutter splutter.. vroommm.. VROOOMMMMMM!!!!
"ABBE KAMM KAR KAMM KAR!!!!"
"Oye khainchte khaichte haat ki m* **** gayi!!"
Both kaka and throttle man burst into laughter, and the laughter was infectious.. I began to guffaw away too.. By and by the corporation bridge loomed up in the distance, and it was time for me to get off. Kaka then asked me where I had to go, and gave me explicit directions and where to take another rick from etc. "Idhar se riksha nahin lene ka, idhar sab haraaami hain.. Pul par karke riksha lena!".. and then they went on their way, and I walked the way pointed out by kaka, and I suddenly began feeling really great. Well, I had thought the going was tough while waiting for a bus. But, I had a first hand experience of how the really tough get going. I suddenly forgot that I was tired, a spring appeared out of nowhere in my step, as I reached the clinic in good time.
Some small experiences do bring a whiff of fresh air into the mind; they make you feel wonderful, even if it's for a little bit. Experiences like this tend to come and bite you in the ass :) and it's wonderful when they do... A tiny lesson perhaps, to not let turns of events bog you down; there's a way out, if you'll just look.
Once I realized that this niggle wasn't going to go away by itself I decided to get help, and consulted this doc, whose clinic was some 25 kms away! Quite crazy, but then I was new in town, and lived way out of the city, etc etc...
My usual mode of transport to bajirao road (doc's clinic) consisted of one six seater from nigdi naaka to nigdi flyover, then a grinding wait for PCMT bus to the city corporation, and then an auto to the clinic doorstep.. used to take a bally hour and half on most days to get there... Well, got to learn a few routes in the heart of the city (was difficult to do that much, back then since I lived that far away from the city heh...)
On one such day, the going got tough while going to the clinic. This is to say an endless wait for a bus! So I decided to get myself to Chinchwad, which is a major square on the way to the city, and hope for better luck from there. Well, I got myself to C, and presently this really old private autorikshaw came coughing along, with a middle aged bloke in the passenger seat, holding together a large heap of vessels(!), and an elderly chap driving the coughing tin can contraption, and hollering
'Caarporation Caarporation!!'. The rick then coughed away again, with me on the other side of the vessel heap, doing a little holding together too!
A nice old man the driver was, kept chatting about this and that, almost all of which I don't remember now though.. By the time we reached Khadki(roughly halfway to 'Caarporation') the old rick began to splutter like someone choking on a glass of cola, and the cola going up the nose. The middle aged blighter stepped out and peered into the rear engine, and hollered something about something loose in the works. I figured this was going to be a while, and so stepped out to peer in as well. That's when the old man stepped out to have a look too, and that's when I noticed the crutches.
The man driving the auto ('kaka', he was called) didn't have a leg! I couldn't help feeling taken aback, I didn't realize this until then. Well, not that the old man seemed to need them much; he hopped out on his one leg, and hopped back to the rear, and promptly announced that the cable connecting the accelerator to the throttle had snapped! Holy hell, went the cerebrum. How the devil would these people get back now, or at least get to some mechanic who could fix it? And how would I get myself to yonder bajirao road in time for my appointment?! But 'kaka' seemed to realize that my mind was ticking over, and told me to have no fear! He calmly reached into the hot engine box and pulled out the entire length of the throttle cable, and carried the free end round the side and into the cockpit. And my mind was ticking over even more, and then I saw light. He handed the free end to the man with the vessels.
"Main jab bolun 'KHAINCH', to khainchne ka, aur main jab bolun kamm karne ko to kamm kar!". The man with the vessels uttered a few startled exclamations, but seemed to be reassured by the calm confidence exuded by 'kaka'.
"KHAINCH!!!"
The vessel man pulled the thin cable for all he was worth, kaka clacked the rick into gear, released the clutch and lo! the rick began to cough forwards, as good as it had been! :D
"KAMM KAR!!"
Vessel man released the cable a bit, and kaka clacked the rick into second gear, and so on to top gear! And I, back in my place was filled with a sort of wonder. Here was this chap, obviously handicapped, faced with a situation and hopped out of it, beaming all over the face! While I sat admiring these two and wondering about the sudden turn of events, we reached shivajinagar and continued moving forward. The poor blighter, the vessel man, the one with the thin sharp cable kept pulling with enthusiasm.
"KHAINCHH!!"
'Vroooommmmm..splutter...vroooommmmm!!'
"KAMM KARR!!"
splutter splutter.. vroommm.. VROOOMMMMMM!!!!
"ABBE KAMM KAR KAMM KAR!!!!"
"Oye khainchte khaichte haat ki m* **** gayi!!"
Both kaka and throttle man burst into laughter, and the laughter was infectious.. I began to guffaw away too.. By and by the corporation bridge loomed up in the distance, and it was time for me to get off. Kaka then asked me where I had to go, and gave me explicit directions and where to take another rick from etc. "Idhar se riksha nahin lene ka, idhar sab haraaami hain.. Pul par karke riksha lena!".. and then they went on their way, and I walked the way pointed out by kaka, and I suddenly began feeling really great. Well, I had thought the going was tough while waiting for a bus. But, I had a first hand experience of how the really tough get going. I suddenly forgot that I was tired, a spring appeared out of nowhere in my step, as I reached the clinic in good time.
Some small experiences do bring a whiff of fresh air into the mind; they make you feel wonderful, even if it's for a little bit. Experiences like this tend to come and bite you in the ass :) and it's wonderful when they do... A tiny lesson perhaps, to not let turns of events bog you down; there's a way out, if you'll just look.
Friday, September 07, 2007
arthurford
What a lovely friday, not only does the weekend beckon with smiling face and outstretched arm, ford and dent have finally realized their life's aim!!!
A new blog which, dear reader is linked to the beside of this blog...is what i refer to. A collections of ramblings of Mj and Self, which is one of the new things happening these days...
Some repeats, and hopefully the writing skills shall be excercised till our trained senses tell us that we have excercised enough!
Here goes - http://www.deathlyhellos.blogspot.com
And that, is how the chocolate melts!
*Clink!*
A new blog which, dear reader is linked to the beside of this blog...is what i refer to. A collections of ramblings of Mj and Self, which is one of the new things happening these days...
Some repeats, and hopefully the writing skills shall be excercised till our trained senses tell us that we have excercised enough!
Here goes - http://www.deathlyhellos.blogspot.com
And that, is how the chocolate melts!
*Clink!*
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Bridging the generation gap... ho ho!
The G gap. Its the chasm, amorphously situated in time and space that separates those who have grown and those who will one day fill their shoes (or at least their socks, as the former may hope). I have heard, and spoken of this chasm whenever I have run out of words during some sort of debate between me and the pater and mater, or a debate which concerned paters and maters from the world over. On most occasions these minor 'chirkut' debates go in the directions of how the generation gap has expanded and expanded, with no effort being made from either side to bridge it in any way. But heck, I'm now looking back at whatever little past I have to look back on, and I realize that my dad is one of the sweetest and most sporting men of his kind alive on the planet today... :) Of course, he isn't one of those dads who has 'never ever let the generation gap bother his relationship with his children' or the type of dad Fardeen Khan's is. (Who went on air and told everyone that he even talks sex with him.. (really, why would anyone want to know that?))
Till a few years back, one of my major disappointments in life was that dad hardly ever spoke to me about anything, apart from how my studies were going. "Koto duur egolo oi onko ta?" or "porikkha kemon holo?" and other such similar hair raising questions used to be the order of the day. Mom and I, on the other hand would talk about perhaps sixty percent of all things under the sun. Among this sixty percent, was the issue I refer to above. And apparently, the news reached the good ears of Dasgupta Senior. That, precisely forms the basic reason why I ever got the chance to sit and write this piece of blog.
Now, put yourself in the shoes of a good man like my dad. Being full of love and concern for the way you bring up your two brats, you don't want to be too forthcoming... but lay in front of him the evidence of these same brats not being too happy about choice of conversation topics, and the hour will come!!
Which is to say, cometh the hour, cometh the man!
The particular day I refer to is a day on which both ma and I had the day off from school and college respectively, and the dad was across the table finishing his breakfast, and behind his glasses was the slight twinkle which said that there was something twinkling in his mind and was about to shine forth in all brightness...
"Let me tell you about an experience I had when I was in Canada in the seventies", he started. I started too, but that was because I was enganed in chewing a pensive idli, and generally concentrating on nothing at all.
"Eh? Oh, sure.."
"We had a group of Indian friends while I was in Canada. I was supposed to visit a friend's family for christmas and we had hired a cab to go the distance. There naturally was a fair bit of luggage, and we were wondering how to manage the whole lot in the car. Thats when one of my friends said 'Lets carry a few bags with us inside the car, the rest can go in the dicky!'. This seemed to be a fair enough idea to us.
"But not to our driver. The blessed man clutched his sides and started laughing like a madman! He kept pointing at the guy who offered the suggestion and kept laughing his head off. Can you guess why?"
"Why?" (By this time the mater was in audience too, listening with rapt attention; apparently she hadn't heard this before either)
"In US slang, dicky is the word they use for penis".
It is a known fact that people respond differently to same stimuli, and though the audience was restricted to the wife and son, there was some variety in response.
"Cheee!", went the mater and sailed off into the kitchen.
I started again. My eyes probably started from their spheres too, but it didn't matter, thanks to my sturdy spectacles.
I looked carefully at the man sitting in front of me. This couldn't be dad. No, he couldn't bring himself to say something like that in the house, at least not in front of me.
"Heh?", I grinned inqiusitively.
There followed what Shakespeare would have called a *pregnant silence*. What this pregnancy would cause, I didn't know. I could sense a little red about to enter the face from all sides... :) Finally the labour was over. We both burst out into the loudest guffaws I have ever heard in the house! More so because my dad realized by now that I always know what the slang for the word in question was!
"You knew?" he asked, wiping a tear from below his specs.
"Of course I knew!" I announced.
"But still".
"You bet!!"
And there we went guffawing again...
Then in his face I saw, that this wasn't just a random conversation. You could say taht I realized that my old mand didn't have tomato juice in his veins! He probably knew that I already knew what 'dicky' meant, but all the same the laugh we shared sure broke a few slabs of ice :)
This wasn't the only time the generation bridge appeared in the haze. Here, I recount another incident. About a three years ago we had an aunt visiting us for a couple of weeks. The normal drill with visitors is to take them around to the places Kerala is most famous for. The beaches, the backwaters the greenery and other such and of course, the much famed cape(though not quite in Kerala heh).
This time, an inspiration dawned on dad, and he announced 'Ernakulam!'.
"What? Why?"
"Its a beautiful place. We're going there tomororw. I'm going to arrange a taxi."
"But how come we've never gone there before?"
"But we're going now!", he answered, with the air of one who has set all doubts to rest.
That was my dad. A goner for sudden inspirations :) Morning came, and the taxi arrived on the dot. It was a spotless white ambassador. The kind Kerala is famous for! The driver looked a little sour though, perhaps not unlike a pissed off slab of gorgonzola. It didn't matter, though. We all stuffed ourselves in the car. Mom, Aunt and Gran in the spacious back seat, dad and I on the driver's sofa up front.
We're bongs, by the way. And one thing bongs are famous for, besides the craving for fish and baying for Sourav Ganguly, is loud laughter. That too at shield shattering levels! We proudly observed that characteristic, the gorgonzola was probably getting pissed off even more. My guess is he never ever saw or heard women laughing their hearts out at something which sounded greek to him anyway!
Ernakulam is about 5 hours north of Tvm, and about three hours into the journey, my dad answered a call on his cellphone, and replaced it in his shirt pocket.
I am a jet age kid. At least jet age enough to have read all sorts of emails that tell you what cellphone radiation can do to the human body, and hence I said instantly.
"Dad!"
"Hmm?"
"You should't put your phone in your shirt pocket"
"Why not?"
"It affects the heart and all"
"Oh I see", said he, without argument and proceeded to take it out of shirt and place it in his trouser pocket.
The moment of reckoning came.
"Err... Dad! "
"Hmmm?"
"You shouldn't keep it there either."
"Eh?"
"You shouldn't. "
"Why so?"
"It reduces... errr ah... "(How the dickens could I explain, with all the ladies sitting right behind?! Complete with Gran and Aunt and all!!! )
I waited tactfully for the next peal of laughter to ring out from the back, carpe'd the opportune, and muttered in his ear, "They say it recudes sperm count if you keep your phone in your trousers!"
Then erupted the loudest spate of laughter I have ever heard dad emit. "Ho ho ho!!", he went; and that was loud enough to make the ladies at the back sit up and take notice.
"Why would I need any more of them?! I don't need any more of them!!", he laughed helplessly. "Two.. ho! ho! ... two are more than what I can handle!!!". I saw the funny side now, and joined in with him!
"What? What happened? Why are you two laughing?" said the back seat.
"Nothing. Nothing at all", dad grinned at them. (He's rather cool, heh)
To this day, my mom wonders why we broke into such helpless laughter, and why we kept chuckling the rest of the two hours of car ride to Ernakulam! *guffaw*..
Ah well, it was nothing, really!! :D
Till a few years back, one of my major disappointments in life was that dad hardly ever spoke to me about anything, apart from how my studies were going. "Koto duur egolo oi onko ta?" or "porikkha kemon holo?" and other such similar hair raising questions used to be the order of the day. Mom and I, on the other hand would talk about perhaps sixty percent of all things under the sun. Among this sixty percent, was the issue I refer to above. And apparently, the news reached the good ears of Dasgupta Senior. That, precisely forms the basic reason why I ever got the chance to sit and write this piece of blog.
Now, put yourself in the shoes of a good man like my dad. Being full of love and concern for the way you bring up your two brats, you don't want to be too forthcoming... but lay in front of him the evidence of these same brats not being too happy about choice of conversation topics, and the hour will come!!
Which is to say, cometh the hour, cometh the man!
The particular day I refer to is a day on which both ma and I had the day off from school and college respectively, and the dad was across the table finishing his breakfast, and behind his glasses was the slight twinkle which said that there was something twinkling in his mind and was about to shine forth in all brightness...
"Let me tell you about an experience I had when I was in Canada in the seventies", he started. I started too, but that was because I was enganed in chewing a pensive idli, and generally concentrating on nothing at all.
"Eh? Oh, sure.."
"We had a group of Indian friends while I was in Canada. I was supposed to visit a friend's family for christmas and we had hired a cab to go the distance. There naturally was a fair bit of luggage, and we were wondering how to manage the whole lot in the car. Thats when one of my friends said 'Lets carry a few bags with us inside the car, the rest can go in the dicky!'. This seemed to be a fair enough idea to us.
"But not to our driver. The blessed man clutched his sides and started laughing like a madman! He kept pointing at the guy who offered the suggestion and kept laughing his head off. Can you guess why?"
"Why?" (By this time the mater was in audience too, listening with rapt attention; apparently she hadn't heard this before either)
"In US slang, dicky is the word they use for penis".
It is a known fact that people respond differently to same stimuli, and though the audience was restricted to the wife and son, there was some variety in response.
"Cheee!", went the mater and sailed off into the kitchen.
I started again. My eyes probably started from their spheres too, but it didn't matter, thanks to my sturdy spectacles.
I looked carefully at the man sitting in front of me. This couldn't be dad. No, he couldn't bring himself to say something like that in the house, at least not in front of me.
"Heh?", I grinned inqiusitively.
There followed what Shakespeare would have called a *pregnant silence*. What this pregnancy would cause, I didn't know. I could sense a little red about to enter the face from all sides... :) Finally the labour was over. We both burst out into the loudest guffaws I have ever heard in the house! More so because my dad realized by now that I always know what the slang for the word in question was!
"You knew?" he asked, wiping a tear from below his specs.
"Of course I knew!" I announced.
"But still".
"You bet!!"
And there we went guffawing again...
Then in his face I saw, that this wasn't just a random conversation. You could say taht I realized that my old mand didn't have tomato juice in his veins! He probably knew that I already knew what 'dicky' meant, but all the same the laugh we shared sure broke a few slabs of ice :)
This wasn't the only time the generation bridge appeared in the haze. Here, I recount another incident. About a three years ago we had an aunt visiting us for a couple of weeks. The normal drill with visitors is to take them around to the places Kerala is most famous for. The beaches, the backwaters the greenery and other such and of course, the much famed cape(though not quite in Kerala heh).
This time, an inspiration dawned on dad, and he announced 'Ernakulam!'.
"What? Why?"
"Its a beautiful place. We're going there tomororw. I'm going to arrange a taxi."
"But how come we've never gone there before?"
"But we're going now!", he answered, with the air of one who has set all doubts to rest.
That was my dad. A goner for sudden inspirations :) Morning came, and the taxi arrived on the dot. It was a spotless white ambassador. The kind Kerala is famous for! The driver looked a little sour though, perhaps not unlike a pissed off slab of gorgonzola. It didn't matter, though. We all stuffed ourselves in the car. Mom, Aunt and Gran in the spacious back seat, dad and I on the driver's sofa up front.
We're bongs, by the way. And one thing bongs are famous for, besides the craving for fish and baying for Sourav Ganguly, is loud laughter. That too at shield shattering levels! We proudly observed that characteristic, the gorgonzola was probably getting pissed off even more. My guess is he never ever saw or heard women laughing their hearts out at something which sounded greek to him anyway!
Ernakulam is about 5 hours north of Tvm, and about three hours into the journey, my dad answered a call on his cellphone, and replaced it in his shirt pocket.
I am a jet age kid. At least jet age enough to have read all sorts of emails that tell you what cellphone radiation can do to the human body, and hence I said instantly.
"Dad!"
"Hmm?"
"You should't put your phone in your shirt pocket"
"Why not?"
"It affects the heart and all"
"Oh I see", said he, without argument and proceeded to take it out of shirt and place it in his trouser pocket.
The moment of reckoning came.
"Err... Dad! "
"Hmmm?"
"You shouldn't keep it there either."
"Eh?"
"You shouldn't. "
"Why so?"
"It reduces... errr ah... "(How the dickens could I explain, with all the ladies sitting right behind?! Complete with Gran and Aunt and all!!! )
I waited tactfully for the next peal of laughter to ring out from the back, carpe'd the opportune, and muttered in his ear, "They say it recudes sperm count if you keep your phone in your trousers!"
Then erupted the loudest spate of laughter I have ever heard dad emit. "Ho ho ho!!", he went; and that was loud enough to make the ladies at the back sit up and take notice.
"Why would I need any more of them?! I don't need any more of them!!", he laughed helplessly. "Two.. ho! ho! ... two are more than what I can handle!!!". I saw the funny side now, and joined in with him!
"What? What happened? Why are you two laughing?" said the back seat.
"Nothing. Nothing at all", dad grinned at them. (He's rather cool, heh)
To this day, my mom wonders why we broke into such helpless laughter, and why we kept chuckling the rest of the two hours of car ride to Ernakulam! *guffaw*..
Ah well, it was nothing, really!! :D
Monday, September 03, 2007
When in Rome...
Punning is a good disease to have. What ho, its an addiction you wouldn't put someone in rehab for!! Its the sort of thing that can keep you laughing the whole day, if you aren't careful!
Mj and I were at it again, the whole of saturday went in outshining the other at every opportinuty that placed itself in the way :) Here's an excerpt of an epic roman saga that was brought to sms!
The context would be more complete in formation of this particular blog, if we included some of our earlier freak inspirations... such as 'When in Rome, do the Romans', or 'To do a Roman, you'll need to do a little roman around before you get one!' and things like that... The following occured after they were doing Rome on the Travel and Living channel :) you know, the colloseum and all the throwing to the lions and all that...
Mj - Just for this, I want to make a bee-lion to the colloseum some day!
Kz - You know, the boyfriends in the ancient Roman empire probably said to their
respective grilfriends:
"I'd walk the lion for you"
Mj - Hmm, if the girlfriends were imperious enough, they'd probably make the young roman
scallwags toe the lion, not withstand the veni-vici'ing!
Kz - *wipes off a tear of laughter* Whoopie! and the Roman singer would go:
"I drew a lion,
I drew a lion for you,
oh what a thing to do;
and it was all yellow! "
Mj - And she said -
"For yellow lion drawings I do not care
Show me some real gladiator fare! "
Kz - To which the singer cried -
"What is this life
So full of this fare,
You have no time
To stand and pair? "
Mj - To which she shot back -
"Julius, to win with me a date,
Prove to me you're truly great"
and that my friend is the tale of how Julius decided to become the emperor :)
Kz - Julius' repartee -
"Fight my Roman ass off to win a date!
Roam through countries, is that my fate?
Not on your life! ", say he to her,
Living up to his name, he sieze her!
"Prove yourself Julius! ", when impore she,
Utter he, 'Veni, Vidi, Vici!! "
We hit the ceiling then, i guess... neither was able to continue the roman
exchange... Well, more communciation, more posts! more come up shortly hopefully... :) Happy reading!
Mj and I were at it again, the whole of saturday went in outshining the other at every opportinuty that placed itself in the way :) Here's an excerpt of an epic roman saga that was brought to sms!
The context would be more complete in formation of this particular blog, if we included some of our earlier freak inspirations... such as 'When in Rome, do the Romans', or 'To do a Roman, you'll need to do a little roman around before you get one!' and things like that... The following occured after they were doing Rome on the Travel and Living channel :) you know, the colloseum and all the throwing to the lions and all that...
Mj - Just for this, I want to make a bee-lion to the colloseum some day!
Kz - You know, the boyfriends in the ancient Roman empire probably said to their
respective grilfriends:
"I'd walk the lion for you"
Mj - Hmm, if the girlfriends were imperious enough, they'd probably make the young roman
scallwags toe the lion, not withstand the veni-vici'ing!
Kz - *wipes off a tear of laughter* Whoopie! and the Roman singer would go:
"I drew a lion,
I drew a lion for you,
oh what a thing to do;
and it was all yellow! "
Mj - And she said -
"For yellow lion drawings I do not care
Show me some real gladiator fare! "
Kz - To which the singer cried -
"What is this life
So full of this fare,
You have no time
To stand and pair? "
Mj - To which she shot back -
"Julius, to win with me a date,
Prove to me you're truly great"
and that my friend is the tale of how Julius decided to become the emperor :)
Kz - Julius' repartee -
"Fight my Roman ass off to win a date!
Roam through countries, is that my fate?
Not on your life! ", say he to her,
Living up to his name, he sieze her!
"Prove yourself Julius! ", when impore she,
Utter he, 'Veni, Vidi, Vici!! "
We hit the ceiling then, i guess... neither was able to continue the roman
exchange... Well, more communciation, more posts! more come up shortly hopefully... :) Happy reading!
Saturday, August 25, 2007
the deathly hellos...
Reader!! I return! and how...
Not just with any bindaas one liners this time, but with real life online communicative experiences.. these are the experiences which make u realize that no one is really alone in this wide world... I use my favourite pgw-ism here, you try and get a birds' eye view of the proceeding, even though, by no stretch of imagnation are you, a bird. But let me not get carried away with the joy of returning to the blogboard...
A few years back, just new to orkut, you could find me sitting quite jobless at home, during the days of my educated unemployment, waiting for a call from the consulting company which had selected me on campus. Those were the days when the sole purpose in a man's life was to start adding as many 'friends' as he could, the higher the small number in brackets
below your name, the more fruitful your day was... Well, by some sleight of mouse or twist of key, I came across this bird, who I shall name Mj.
It has been a good three years now since those times, sole purposes in life have changed in priority, however, a revival of old contact have given occasion for self to roll over in peals of laughter, somewhat like christmas occurring across the world, every second merrily ringing in Xmas in a new time zone... basically the peals go on and on; and thus did I laugh... for a whole bally day, until it was time to pack up and go home...
Mj is an ace at playing on words, and I cannot explain how happy I was to find a character as passionate about punning as I am, or as I have yearned to be in recent times...Let me recount the experiences...
self: halloa! And the hi's begin to flow again!
Mj: oye!!! There you are!! I was actually going to ping you, esp considering we're in Potter season :-D. How've you been? Watched The Order of the Phoenix? :-)
self: arre not yet... i was supposed to catch it on saturday, but something happened :) i want to see this so badlee! what with it being the best potter movie so far and all that... :)
Mj: "badlee" - is that like the Nasal Man's "Moviee" ??? :-D. I'm waiting impatiently for the book - I pre-booked it, so it's supposed to be delivered today.. it still hasn't turned up!
-------------------note the being gentle on that one there :)
Mj : Hey I finished reading Deathly Hallows last night.. but I guess Goblet still remains my favourite!
self: whola the goblet! my favourite remains the arizona of prizkaban.. i mean... the azkaban thingie.. the third book... that was the most interesting one... :)
In the course of book 7 i somehow got the feeling that rowling was getting a little old and rambling on and on, making incoherent sentences... or i guess i was falling asleep over tha book... heh..
finished it last night too... but seriously.. Albus Severus Potter??!? that was a laugh~~!!!
Mj: heheh seriously, she went too far with that epilogue stuff.. .she should've quit while she was ahead... altogether it was too soppy and movie-ish and I'm really rather sick of the Weasleys, esp! :-p.
------- fun resumes...
Mj: Hallow, Hallow!!! ;o) How go things??? :-)
self: things go well... i was just wondering.. if voldemort called harry up on the phone and threatened to kill him, the book would have been called 'Harry Potter and the deathly hellos' no?
Mj: heh abs!! That is, if The Noseless One knew how to use the felly-tone :-).
self: indeed... 'the noseless one always knows; irrespective of whether he knows less or nose more' :)
Mj: har har har!! (or harry harry harry -whatever :-p) Brilliant!! :-).
self: one needs to harry up with the scraps these days eh?
oh, guess what happened to voldemort when all his horcruxes were gone? he was a little harried.. sorry, can't help it :)
Mj: Heh, come on now, be sirius, will ya?!! :-D
self: This black family... do you think they were into family planning? I mean they were all happy and gay then suddenly with the birth of their second son, they got serious...
Mj: Oh well, I don't give a Figg about the Blacks.. :-p
self: hehehe... your puns are giving me an inferi-ority complex...
Mj: :-))) now, now, no need to get crabbe-y over this..
self: Don't snap(e) at me like that...
Mj: No No, I'm not... we're good Firenze after all, how could *I* snap(e) at you? :-D
self: LOL!!! I see orkut is err.. umm-bridging the gap between us...
Mj: Brilliant!!!! :)) This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship, to paraphrase the Boggart ;o) (in Casablanca!)
self: yesh yesh!! and if we should ever face hiccups, we could always gargoyle... (couldn't help)
---------Then orkut did its bad bad server donut thingie, and we carried on using other means:
Mj:
Hmmm, can't access Orkut suddenly.. the proxy I'm using at office is acting up..
PS : Why the sobriquet "apache'ed blak and silver"???
self:
Not just with any bindaas one liners this time, but with real life online communicative experiences.. these are the experiences which make u realize that no one is really alone in this wide world... I use my favourite pgw-ism here, you try and get a birds' eye view of the proceeding, even though, by no stretch of imagnation are you, a bird. But let me not get carried away with the joy of returning to the blogboard...
A few years back, just new to orkut, you could find me sitting quite jobless at home, during the days of my educated unemployment, waiting for a call from the consulting company which had selected me on campus. Those were the days when the sole purpose in a man's life was to start adding as many 'friends' as he could, the higher the small number in brackets
below your name, the more fruitful your day was... Well, by some sleight of mouse or twist of key, I came across this bird, who I shall name Mj.
It has been a good three years now since those times, sole purposes in life have changed in priority, however, a revival of old contact have given occasion for self to roll over in peals of laughter, somewhat like christmas occurring across the world, every second merrily ringing in Xmas in a new time zone... basically the peals go on and on; and thus did I laugh... for a whole bally day, until it was time to pack up and go home...
Mj is an ace at playing on words, and I cannot explain how happy I was to find a character as passionate about punning as I am, or as I have yearned to be in recent times...Let me recount the experiences...
self: halloa! And the hi's begin to flow again!
Mj: oye!!! There you are!! I was actually going to ping you, esp considering we're in Potter season :-D. How've you been? Watched The Order of the Phoenix? :-)
self: arre not yet... i was supposed to catch it on saturday, but something happened :) i want to see this so badlee! what with it being the best potter movie so far and all that... :)
Mj: "badlee" - is that like the Nasal Man's "Moviee" ??? :-D. I'm waiting impatiently for the book - I pre-booked it, so it's supposed to be delivered today.. it still hasn't turned up!
-------------------note the being gentle on that one there :)
Mj : Hey I finished reading Deathly Hallows last night.. but I guess Goblet still remains my favourite!
self: whola the goblet! my favourite remains the arizona of prizkaban.. i mean... the azkaban thingie.. the third book... that was the most interesting one... :)
In the course of book 7 i somehow got the feeling that rowling was getting a little old and rambling on and on, making incoherent sentences... or i guess i was falling asleep over tha book... heh..
finished it last night too... but seriously.. Albus Severus Potter??!? that was a laugh~~!!!
Mj: heheh seriously, she went too far with that epilogue stuff.. .she should've quit while she was ahead... altogether it was too soppy and movie-ish and I'm really rather sick of the Weasleys, esp! :-p.
------- fun resumes...
Mj: Hallow, Hallow!!! ;o) How go things??? :-)
self: things go well... i was just wondering.. if voldemort called harry up on the phone and threatened to kill him, the book would have been called 'Harry Potter and the deathly hellos' no?
Mj: heh abs!! That is, if The Noseless One knew how to use the felly-tone :-).
self: indeed... 'the noseless one always knows; irrespective of whether he knows less or nose more' :)
Mj: har har har!! (or harry harry harry -whatever :-p) Brilliant!! :-).
self: one needs to harry up with the scraps these days eh?
oh, guess what happened to voldemort when all his horcruxes were gone? he was a little harried.. sorry, can't help it :)
Mj: Heh, come on now, be sirius, will ya?!! :-D
self: This black family... do you think they were into family planning? I mean they were all happy and gay then suddenly with the birth of their second son, they got serious...
Mj: Oh well, I don't give a Figg about the Blacks.. :-p
self: hehehe... your puns are giving me an inferi-ority complex...
Mj: :-))) now, now, no need to get crabbe-y over this..
self: Don't snap(e) at me like that...
Mj: No No, I'm not... we're good Firenze after all, how could *I* snap(e) at you? :-D
self: LOL!!! I see orkut is err.. umm-bridging the gap between us...
Mj: Brilliant!!!! :)) This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship, to paraphrase the Boggart ;o) (in Casablanca!)
self: yesh yesh!! and if we should ever face hiccups, we could always gargoyle... (couldn't help)
---------Then orkut did its bad bad server donut thingie, and we carried on using other means:
Mj:
Hmmm, can't access Orkut suddenly.. the proxy I'm using at office is acting up..
Cheers,
M.PS : Why the sobriquet "apache'ed blak and silver"???
self:
Hi M,
Thats because i bought the bike.. apache, and am quietly kicked about the purchase :)
By the w. i am scheduled to visit your current hometown this weekend... visiting blood relatives... **grin**
Clink!
K.
Mj:
Really???
That's cool... we ought to try and meet up... but if you're only down
for the weekend, you'll probably be busy with ze b. rel.s :-)
Anyway, ping me if poss!
pip-pip!
M(-press of Blandings ;-p )
self:
Mj:
Really???
That's cool... we ought to try and meet up... but if you're only down
for the weekend, you'll probably be busy with ze b. rel.s :-)
Anyway, ping me if poss!
pip-pip!
M(-press of Blandings ;-p )
self:
Ar.. we certainly ought to. Will try and ping...
must mention that the scrapping today has been quite capital, yes indeed...
so long!
Mj:
self:
indeed! i understand the feeling of just having to say it, for that there is no cure :) I sincerely hope there is nothing that can severus from punning at each other :-/
Mj:
Mj:
Yes indeed! A total fleur-y of scraps!
One of us ought to collect the whole set and put it up on a blog or
something :-)
So long!
M.One of us ought to collect the whole set and put it up on a blog or
something :-)
So long!
self:
indeed! i understand the feeling of just having to say it, for that there is no cure :) I sincerely hope there is nothing that can severus from punning at each other :-/
Mj:
*grin grin* abso-blooming-lutely...we shall percy-vere, and continue punning till the
Kaus come home :-))) ;o)
-----** for the reader: I'm Kauz, by the way :)
self:
-----** for the reader: I'm Kauz, by the way :)
self:
of kauz we shall... upun my word..
let it flow!! :o)))
** ze lack of zis punning scrappa vill eventuvally get on mi-nerva and driev me krazee, and my sanity will soon krum-ble... **
__________________________________________________
well, one has to draw a line somewhere, and i just did, just above this sentence here :) The puns still continue... may the tenacity never slackenn... !!
Hey Mj, your turn now!! :P
__________________________________________________
well, one has to draw a line somewhere, and i just did, just above this sentence here :) The puns still continue... may the tenacity never slackenn... !!
Hey Mj, your turn now!! :P
Thursday, February 08, 2007
of pustules, itches and short temper...
Pustules; you'd think I have gone crazy from chicken pox, but its such a cute word!
Such want-wit madness this disease had made of me, that I don't want to go anywhere... but once the health is back, the rest of my body must go back to writing documents in Kanbay.
I'm running the danger of irritating myself with typing blasphemies, hence i shall continue this piece later when I am at peace and not when I am so unnecessarily tired...
Such want-wit madness this disease had made of me, that I don't want to go anywhere... but once the health is back, the rest of my body must go back to writing documents in Kanbay.
I'm running the danger of irritating myself with typing blasphemies, hence i shall continue this piece later when I am at peace and not when I am so unnecessarily tired...
Monday, April 24, 2006
inr blues...
don't borrow money from me now...for anyone who might be interested.. me bank balance has hit an all time low of INR 124.05... :(!!!!
Sunday, January 08, 2006
test life?? %%??
i am kind of confused...was it a test, did i pass? what on earth..
i just had an awesome day with mic on the telephone, feeling incredibly awesome..and was on my way to the temple later in the evening after sunset..I was walking along, my roommates a little ahead, and was text messaging mic when i came across a family on the street, the man requested me to stop.. I instantly thought he wanted money and i moved away. "I don't want any money sir", he said. " We've lost everything and my kids are very hungry, can you please help us get something to eat?" I was stunned for a second. I couldn't help but stop. I turned and observed this time. His wife, looking exhausted was holding on to a toddler, the second toddler was on the tar, next to her. I didn't know what to do for a split second. One part of my mind was telling me to move on, he would find his way... the other part of my mind just wouldn't let me move on. I looked towards the numerous stalls parked beside the road. But they sold only snacks.. what good would bhek puri, or a plate of paani puri do for two little kids who possibly haven't eaten the whole day?
I asked him whether that would be alright. But as soon as i asked i felt it was a pointless question. I remembered there was this Aiyyappa ashram i sometimes went to for some home-cooked food. I gave him some money, and told him how to get to the ashram. But i could see the man either wasn't convinced or he didn't trust me. It seemed to me that he and his family were victims of some kind of fraud, or were cheated in some way not long ago.. But i didn't want to go into his troubles. My friends had gone ahead, and me standing with a troubled man at a busy crossing. I told him the place i was talking about was an ashram, and that he would find help there. I walked away, without looking back, and sent the sms to mic which i had finished composing before i met the family..
I couldn't stop thinking about it. My mind wandered in several directions. Who was this man? How did he get here? He didn't seem like he wanted charity, and he genuinely seemed to be in trouble.. Should i have helped him more? At the end of it, i felt i hadn't done anything much..
My mind wandered again..I was on my way to the temple..where people go to pray..I met him on the way..Was it a test now? It felt a little scary at first.. Had i passed? I'd have failed i guess.. I crossed the gates and went into the temple.. I wanted to pray for a lot of things. But all i could think and pray about was the family i met there. Did i do enough? I could have walked with them to the ashram and helped them till there..but then i didn't know the ashram people personally.. except by sight..
Well, it was not like i didn't help them, but what did i end up doing? He said he didn't want money, but thats finally what i ended up doing..I didn't give him the help he asked for. I thought back.. The stalls there didn't seel bread, I could have bought a loaf or two, but well, there was none.. the pav stall was at the next junction.. I thought on.. could have found a banana stall.. but then the nearest one was about 20 mins away..
After i came out of the temple i walked back to the place i had met the man.. There was no one there. I couldn't stop thinking about the evening. I hope he found help at the ashram, that is if he went there in the first place..
I'm still thinking. I didn't trust the man at first when he stopped me. He was probably cheated sometime back. He wouldn't trust anyone, but he wouldn't have had a choice would he? He didn't seem to believe me when i told him he could get help at the ashram. I couldn't believe myself. I'm new to helping people like this.. just the one time i let an old couple use my phone.. And i guess i didn't think anything much on this situation, i just did something and left. It might or might not have helped him at all. Why can't people trust each other? How cut-throatish can the world get? To what extent can people go, to mislead, cheat.. and why don't people care ? myself included? What has city life made me? Am i also one of the crowd? The crowd which has a blind eye to certain things like reality.. and an eye open to everything enjoyable.. and I think i have become one of the "don't trust anyone" types.. is this what life teaches one and all in the long run? Then whats the point in life?
Or perhaps people have always mistrusted each other. Its in everyon'e blood i guess. Ever since Cain struck Abel down.. Its a part of life, i guess..
Something seems unreal, somehow..i'm sitting in the comfort of reliance webworld, and typing away, listening to some soothing music..and the dude behind me playing some commandos game.. shooting away at imaginary enemies.. No one trusts anyone in the virtual game too.. Which is the life thats meant to be lived?
I still can't stop thinking about the evening..
How much truth is there in this life i lead? Where do i look for the answers? I haven't found them in me, yet..
i just had an awesome day with mic on the telephone, feeling incredibly awesome..and was on my way to the temple later in the evening after sunset..I was walking along, my roommates a little ahead, and was text messaging mic when i came across a family on the street, the man requested me to stop.. I instantly thought he wanted money and i moved away. "I don't want any money sir", he said. " We've lost everything and my kids are very hungry, can you please help us get something to eat?" I was stunned for a second. I couldn't help but stop. I turned and observed this time. His wife, looking exhausted was holding on to a toddler, the second toddler was on the tar, next to her. I didn't know what to do for a split second. One part of my mind was telling me to move on, he would find his way... the other part of my mind just wouldn't let me move on. I looked towards the numerous stalls parked beside the road. But they sold only snacks.. what good would bhek puri, or a plate of paani puri do for two little kids who possibly haven't eaten the whole day?
I asked him whether that would be alright. But as soon as i asked i felt it was a pointless question. I remembered there was this Aiyyappa ashram i sometimes went to for some home-cooked food. I gave him some money, and told him how to get to the ashram. But i could see the man either wasn't convinced or he didn't trust me. It seemed to me that he and his family were victims of some kind of fraud, or were cheated in some way not long ago.. But i didn't want to go into his troubles. My friends had gone ahead, and me standing with a troubled man at a busy crossing. I told him the place i was talking about was an ashram, and that he would find help there. I walked away, without looking back, and sent the sms to mic which i had finished composing before i met the family..
I couldn't stop thinking about it. My mind wandered in several directions. Who was this man? How did he get here? He didn't seem like he wanted charity, and he genuinely seemed to be in trouble.. Should i have helped him more? At the end of it, i felt i hadn't done anything much..
My mind wandered again..I was on my way to the temple..where people go to pray..I met him on the way..Was it a test now? It felt a little scary at first.. Had i passed? I'd have failed i guess.. I crossed the gates and went into the temple.. I wanted to pray for a lot of things. But all i could think and pray about was the family i met there. Did i do enough? I could have walked with them to the ashram and helped them till there..but then i didn't know the ashram people personally.. except by sight..
Well, it was not like i didn't help them, but what did i end up doing? He said he didn't want money, but thats finally what i ended up doing..I didn't give him the help he asked for. I thought back.. The stalls there didn't seel bread, I could have bought a loaf or two, but well, there was none.. the pav stall was at the next junction.. I thought on.. could have found a banana stall.. but then the nearest one was about 20 mins away..
After i came out of the temple i walked back to the place i had met the man.. There was no one there. I couldn't stop thinking about the evening. I hope he found help at the ashram, that is if he went there in the first place..
I'm still thinking. I didn't trust the man at first when he stopped me. He was probably cheated sometime back. He wouldn't trust anyone, but he wouldn't have had a choice would he? He didn't seem to believe me when i told him he could get help at the ashram. I couldn't believe myself. I'm new to helping people like this.. just the one time i let an old couple use my phone.. And i guess i didn't think anything much on this situation, i just did something and left. It might or might not have helped him at all. Why can't people trust each other? How cut-throatish can the world get? To what extent can people go, to mislead, cheat.. and why don't people care ? myself included? What has city life made me? Am i also one of the crowd? The crowd which has a blind eye to certain things like reality.. and an eye open to everything enjoyable.. and I think i have become one of the "don't trust anyone" types.. is this what life teaches one and all in the long run? Then whats the point in life?
Or perhaps people have always mistrusted each other. Its in everyon'e blood i guess. Ever since Cain struck Abel down.. Its a part of life, i guess..
Something seems unreal, somehow..i'm sitting in the comfort of reliance webworld, and typing away, listening to some soothing music..and the dude behind me playing some commandos game.. shooting away at imaginary enemies.. No one trusts anyone in the virtual game too.. Which is the life thats meant to be lived?
I still can't stop thinking about the evening..
How much truth is there in this life i lead? Where do i look for the answers? I haven't found them in me, yet..
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
bindaas one liners...
Don't feel bad. A lot of people have no talent
Don't marry the person you want to live with, marry the one you cannot live without,,, but whatever you do, you'll regret it later.
Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote.
You can't buy love . . . but you pay heavily for it
Those who can't laugh at themselves leave the job to others.
You're getting old when you enjoy remembering things more than doing them.
Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools talk because they have to say something
enjoy!
Don't marry the person you want to live with, marry the one you cannot live without,,, but whatever you do, you'll regret it later.
Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote.
You can't buy love . . . but you pay heavily for it
Those who can't laugh at themselves leave the job to others.
You're getting old when you enjoy remembering things more than doing them.
Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools talk because they have to say something
enjoy!
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
fading four years..
3 freaking months into my blogging deficit! gawsh need to do something about this.. life has gallopped on, and my blog has been sitting and watching all the gallopping and cantering while sitting back in an easy chair and sipping lemonade it seems. If that didn't make sense, all i meant to say was that i haven't been blogging. entirely my fault. not my poor blog's, so whatever..
8th semester seems a long way back.. it was one of my most eventful spates of 6 months.. A litle dream came true, the heart beat a little harder for sometime, the heart's eye watered for more reasons than one. I gained, I lost, and i now cherish..
Sank and I had gotten rather close by the start of the year, and she was the main reason for the rapid beating of the cardiacs for a few months. Things were all happy just for the geography bit which i never really liked anyway.. :)
The beat remained rapid thru most of the 8th. The arts fest popped up like a scenery on a landscape of blots. Took a wee little bit of persuation to get shon on track with his riffs, buji on the keys and sheen on the dilapidated skins. The wet blankets did pop up too the exploit our initiative, but it didn't do much harm.. except a bit of 'moral' nonsense. but wha the heck..
My first proper gig in college, the arts rock show, an experience i'll never forget, not just for the music, but also some of the excess baggage that comes along with it. Moral of story, one can count on one's fingers only, not on anothers..but make sure it counts right!! (blah)
apart from the rocks and the stones, went in for anything and everything we could find, and the before we knew it, our days at tkmce were numbering themselves the wrong way.
Farewell time wasn't easy. Crappy as though most of it was, my 4 years was coming to an end. Farewell after farewell after farewell.. (3 actually) one of which went rather outa control when hkgk went outa control and stuck in his middle finger into the door and went "pain! pain!!"
kollam faded into the sunset, but the memories remain, as fresh as ever..
8th semester seems a long way back.. it was one of my most eventful spates of 6 months.. A litle dream came true, the heart beat a little harder for sometime, the heart's eye watered for more reasons than one. I gained, I lost, and i now cherish..
Sank and I had gotten rather close by the start of the year, and she was the main reason for the rapid beating of the cardiacs for a few months. Things were all happy just for the geography bit which i never really liked anyway.. :)
The beat remained rapid thru most of the 8th. The arts fest popped up like a scenery on a landscape of blots. Took a wee little bit of persuation to get shon on track with his riffs, buji on the keys and sheen on the dilapidated skins. The wet blankets did pop up too the exploit our initiative, but it didn't do much harm.. except a bit of 'moral' nonsense. but wha the heck..
My first proper gig in college, the arts rock show, an experience i'll never forget, not just for the music, but also some of the excess baggage that comes along with it. Moral of story, one can count on one's fingers only, not on anothers..but make sure it counts right!! (blah)
apart from the rocks and the stones, went in for anything and everything we could find, and the before we knew it, our days at tkmce were numbering themselves the wrong way.
Farewell time wasn't easy. Crappy as though most of it was, my 4 years was coming to an end. Farewell after farewell after farewell.. (3 actually) one of which went rather outa control when hkgk went outa control and stuck in his middle finger into the door and went "pain! pain!!"
kollam faded into the sunset, but the memories remain, as fresh as ever..
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
my seventh..
We were the baap of all students now.. final years..seventh sem..no uno joke!.. no seniors to look up to and no more being looked down at.. the juniors were all ours.. heh..
Firstly, to anyone who might not follow the system of fresher welcoming in the hostels of tkm.. must tell you that hostellers got 'welcomed' in their second year.. because they were kept in the warmth and comfort of the warden's rules for the first 10 months or so.. well, so it is, where every other second year elsewhere is ragging the balls of at some junior, these poor souls.. ah well... never mind the poor souls..
Final year started with a frenzy of activity.. the famed accreditation team frm ND was finally coming.. We'd been heaing about these characters since time immemmorial.. Our classrooms and hostels were repainted God alone knows how many times for their benefit, labs were spruced up, campus was beautified, the dogs were shooed away, the computers in the labs finally started working.. life was good! And given the 'encouraging' history of the royal mech way of common behaviour, it was no surprise when we were asked to be on our best behaviour for a few weks and perhaps months.. Roshan sir gave us a brief talk on general accreditation funda.. "don't wear T shirts", said he" especially ones which say 'kiss me here; lick me there' " I don't know why, but everyone was staring at me as he said those words. Now i swear i never wore any suc T shirt, and i doubt whether anyone in kollam would be found in possession of such a garment. However, i did have a rather different collection of Ts, which were uncommon in the campus.. For instance there was one which showed 4 different sexual intercourse positions, though very sublte and discreet, and i'd even worn it into the princi's office, i guess he was like garfied.. too 'busy' to notice anything.. :D (PG mathews once saw a very decent T of mine and told me to wear it to parties..and to wear shirt to college. dress codes in colleges.. which era do these people live in.. i ask u!!) Nevertheless, everyone was pretty amazed when i turned up in 'decent' shirts day after day.. (they'd probably faint if i wore them for a month on the trot)
The big day arrived. things were pretty cool.. sharma sir was running up and down the department, showing the team the labs, etc(which were in top condition.. am proud to point out) param bhai was everywhere, roshan kumar was fabulously handling it all.. until the mehra guy form iitD decides to spring a surprise on johm m george Jr's welding technology class.. He had to deviate from his usual procedure.. and things took an ugly turn when he asked us to answer some q's..since we didn't have many.. (gawk) no one seemed to know anything.. Sir at the top of the class was glistening with fresh perspiration ("he was pissing mad", to quote george alex, who always found something to laugh about in everything) . However, the day wouldn't be one that wasn't saved eventually..
He was the most irregular student of the college in terms of attendance and exams. He had enterd class probably thrice or so in the last couple of months. But that didn't deter renji from shooting admirable replies to the dude from delhi, who was not unimpressed.. john m george, who probably was seeing renji for the first time, beamed like a baby.. and i believe renji never had a problem with duty leaves after that!
The dream and plan of the All india trip was slowly taking shape soon after these turn of events.. It was a dream come truish thing for me as well. We were tripping mumbai - delhi - simla - etc.. couldn't believe i'd finallly get to meet up moon, ch and sank..
FFD to mumbai..the place was crawling with great looking damsels. It was a fashion parade at every corner. the deprived tkmc mechers had theirtongues lolling at every other corresponding.. jty actually tried to follow a drunk babe and returned with an aching hole..but thats a different story..It was altogether nothing short of awesome to be in a new place like mumbai and find our ways towherever..god bless the suburban railway!
However there was nothing like the trip hg and i took.. from colaba to juhu to catch the death metal concert in full blood.. we met the guys of myndsnare, easily the tightest band that night.. after a totally devastating headbanging-few-hours (we didn't follow death metal, but that didn't stop me from getting a sore neck anyway, by Toutatis..)
Soon the touch down @delhi..I detatched myself and made my way to the moon.. met up ch and sank in sank's car..took me around the sights and hangouts of south del.. and i realised how talkitive dames can be when it matters.. quite honestly i felt like being in a basketful of puppies, but i can't deny i wasn't bored.. [:D]
Later, i met up with the VVVVVVVIP.. the kli.. the sweetest thing thats happened to the family in 26 years.. whats more it was also my 21st b'day.. what else can i say.. touche!to myself!! sudiptoda came over to 41-a, the cake got smeared all over my front.. had THE most awesome dinner, had one of my best birthdays ever.. met up tuks soon after..caught lunch with her and moon..it's been ages.. Stint in delhi also included the trip via agra, to witness the greatest erection a man had ever made for a woman.. i'm talking about the Taj Mahal..what were u thinking.. naughty!! but it did feel like something had punched the wind out of the midrif when i looked at the marble...
After another few days of travel, including arduous road trip thru mountains and narrow guage trains, we found ourselves in a totally heavennly place.. 7 in the morning..standing in my pyjamas, and feeling the falling snow from the balcony..manali had arrived..the feeling was like a new lease of life.. it perked up the mind immensely, not unlike what the fresh drop of dew would feel on a morning flower..
The trip got over finally, with all the bearded devdasae returning to ente keralam..back to the familiar coconut trees and the picturesque lungis..i was sorry the trip was over, but theres no place like home!!
Firstly, to anyone who might not follow the system of fresher welcoming in the hostels of tkm.. must tell you that hostellers got 'welcomed' in their second year.. because they were kept in the warmth and comfort of the warden's rules for the first 10 months or so.. well, so it is, where every other second year elsewhere is ragging the balls of at some junior, these poor souls.. ah well... never mind the poor souls..
Final year started with a frenzy of activity.. the famed accreditation team frm ND was finally coming.. We'd been heaing about these characters since time immemmorial.. Our classrooms and hostels were repainted God alone knows how many times for their benefit, labs were spruced up, campus was beautified, the dogs were shooed away, the computers in the labs finally started working.. life was good! And given the 'encouraging' history of the royal mech way of common behaviour, it was no surprise when we were asked to be on our best behaviour for a few weks and perhaps months.. Roshan sir gave us a brief talk on general accreditation funda.. "don't wear T shirts", said he" especially ones which say 'kiss me here; lick me there' " I don't know why, but everyone was staring at me as he said those words. Now i swear i never wore any suc T shirt, and i doubt whether anyone in kollam would be found in possession of such a garment. However, i did have a rather different collection of Ts, which were uncommon in the campus.. For instance there was one which showed 4 different sexual intercourse positions, though very sublte and discreet, and i'd even worn it into the princi's office, i guess he was like garfied.. too 'busy' to notice anything.. :D (PG mathews once saw a very decent T of mine and told me to wear it to parties..and to wear shirt to college. dress codes in colleges.. which era do these people live in.. i ask u!!) Nevertheless, everyone was pretty amazed when i turned up in 'decent' shirts day after day.. (they'd probably faint if i wore them for a month on the trot)
The big day arrived. things were pretty cool.. sharma sir was running up and down the department, showing the team the labs, etc(which were in top condition.. am proud to point out) param bhai was everywhere, roshan kumar was fabulously handling it all.. until the mehra guy form iitD decides to spring a surprise on johm m george Jr's welding technology class.. He had to deviate from his usual procedure.. and things took an ugly turn when he asked us to answer some q's..since we didn't have many.. (gawk) no one seemed to know anything.. Sir at the top of the class was glistening with fresh perspiration ("he was pissing mad", to quote george alex, who always found something to laugh about in everything) . However, the day wouldn't be one that wasn't saved eventually..
He was the most irregular student of the college in terms of attendance and exams. He had enterd class probably thrice or so in the last couple of months. But that didn't deter renji from shooting admirable replies to the dude from delhi, who was not unimpressed.. john m george, who probably was seeing renji for the first time, beamed like a baby.. and i believe renji never had a problem with duty leaves after that!
The dream and plan of the All india trip was slowly taking shape soon after these turn of events.. It was a dream come truish thing for me as well. We were tripping mumbai - delhi - simla - etc.. couldn't believe i'd finallly get to meet up moon, ch and sank..
FFD to mumbai..the place was crawling with great looking damsels. It was a fashion parade at every corner. the deprived tkmc mechers had theirtongues lolling at every other corresponding.. jty actually tried to follow a drunk babe and returned with an aching hole..but thats a different story..It was altogether nothing short of awesome to be in a new place like mumbai and find our ways towherever..god bless the suburban railway!
However there was nothing like the trip hg and i took.. from colaba to juhu to catch the death metal concert in full blood.. we met the guys of myndsnare, easily the tightest band that night.. after a totally devastating headbanging-few-hours (we didn't follow death metal, but that didn't stop me from getting a sore neck anyway, by Toutatis..)
Soon the touch down @delhi..I detatched myself and made my way to the moon.. met up ch and sank in sank's car..took me around the sights and hangouts of south del.. and i realised how talkitive dames can be when it matters.. quite honestly i felt like being in a basketful of puppies, but i can't deny i wasn't bored.. [:D]
Later, i met up with the VVVVVVVIP.. the kli.. the sweetest thing thats happened to the family in 26 years.. whats more it was also my 21st b'day.. what else can i say.. touche!to myself!! sudiptoda came over to 41-a, the cake got smeared all over my front.. had THE most awesome dinner, had one of my best birthdays ever.. met up tuks soon after..caught lunch with her and moon..it's been ages.. Stint in delhi also included the trip via agra, to witness the greatest erection a man had ever made for a woman.. i'm talking about the Taj Mahal..what were u thinking.. naughty!! but it did feel like something had punched the wind out of the midrif when i looked at the marble...
After another few days of travel, including arduous road trip thru mountains and narrow guage trains, we found ourselves in a totally heavennly place.. 7 in the morning..standing in my pyjamas, and feeling the falling snow from the balcony..manali had arrived..the feeling was like a new lease of life.. it perked up the mind immensely, not unlike what the fresh drop of dew would feel on a morning flower..
The trip got over finally, with all the bearded devdasae returning to ente keralam..back to the familiar coconut trees and the picturesque lungis..i was sorry the trip was over, but theres no place like home!!
Friday, July 15, 2005
contd. frm wher.am.i.how.....
and so kau went to kollam....
well.. it all seems to have happened just the other day.. yet it seems such a long time ago that i got the all important transfer.. it feels very snug now, to sit at home and go over all those memories again.. with hawkmoon268 by U2 playing in my ears..
the moment i recieved the uty order abt the transfer, i called chak and gave him the news.. i guess he was a little cheesed at having got the transfer with me behind.. he was on the way back from klm when he got the call.. he jumped off the bus at skm and ran to my house.. wearing boots and all.. never mind the corns!!
he entered to find me humming 'take me down to the paradise city where the grass is green and the girls are pretty..' .. an unexpected celebration later, when the dust settled i went around clearing all them formalities for the take off..
The first few days at tkm were nightmare... it was a rapid change from the easy going govt office set up to the strict school like dicipline suffered by the 2nd years of tkm.. they expected you to have separate notebooks for each subject, and if that wasn't punishment enough, one had to turn them in for valuation as well! Boy, it was too unbelievable.. but then it was too bad to be false.. I moved in at sreebhavan, hostel for juniors, us, who were in the wings to be moved to a new hostel.. met sgp,tenny,nambiar,hg,jty,rohit,shaheer,buji,and SHON, the ace at six string! this guy was aweome,it was the first time i saw a guitar being played like a pro..live.. the excitement was brimming.. I couldn't wait to get together with this guy and jam the guts off!! Any doubts on his alleged rythm problem was soon rubbished by me.. Initiative began to creep in..All i needed to realise my college dream of rocking live was a drum guy..which turned out to give me a long wait....Anyway, having hg around was a real break.. he was one of the few peopl there with who i could speak hindi without a care in the world.. he didnt care about the mistakes i made, and it ws all ease!!
He was pretty perturbed during the hostel allotments for shajik..i soon realized why.. it was something we'd never shake off.. but it all turned out ok in the end.. well, almost..had to deal with wet blanket for greater part of college life.. something i never got used to..and don't intend to either,now that college life is over.. second year was awesome.. after the MoS training i'd given hg in sreebhavan, he never ceased to drum impossible concepts of royal engineering into my skull.. we also discovered music.. i infused the metal and rock bug into hg.. and it took the hair off the head of jty..it started with dave mustaine's latest dishouts, and moved on later to other things.i also got a first hand experience of the reason for calling the mess a mess.. the food looked inviting, but that was about the only plus i can offer about it..but yeah, the beef roast used to be great!!
Academics wasn't too smooth in the first instance either. I landed up in tkm bang at the begining of the series tests. It was pretty rough. I did have the option of skipping the thingie this time and re-appearing later, but i was brave, and took the risk.. and plummetted.. royally! It didn't do the morale much good either. I'd stay up all nihgt to complete some cursed lab record, only to wake up to a strike in the college. Or an objection from the lab supervisor who didn't know more than I did about anything in the lab. But one has to take certain things in the stride, (and crib about them later.. hhee)
Also met asha. The meeting totally surprised a lot of people. A shake hand was totally out of place in a place like this, where men and women usually maintained a good 2 feet distance between skins of different sexes..(Rakesh still takes my trip on this..heheh)
Socialising with the fairer sex took a back seat during the second year.. chak kep telling me about ajash..and he kept telling her about me, but we never met in that year.. And most importantly, our chief source of recreation: Liseux Bhavan, the girls convent hostel just a compound across the shajik balcony.. The occasional sight of the flutter of a nightdress was enough to humour our simple young souls.. and so it was, they'd sometimes appear on the terrace, somtimes in the windows, and once we saw a meagre bathroom scene.. but pshhh!!!
Fast fwd to third year.. new year.. new profs, new hostel.. Socialisation was better this year.. met and made quite a few friends and acquaintances..and most importantly, new location for the classroom.. (we could communicate more with the fairer thing this way.. things were definitely improving) The new hostel was a vast improvement over the cramped lifestylee of shajik. More room, greater dilution of blanket wetness.. lol.. We shared the floor with a gang of the mast mech seniors..
jeevan,zach,pattalam,midhun,podiyan,jaleel,vinod,sandeep,parpi,aashiq,anoopda,sumitro, shaiju,reni,iype.. too many to type.. Jeevan was a real break from the mundane part of life. His attempts at ragging were quite a grin, and so were his attempts at magic..one thing hg,jty and i wont forget for sure is the vanishing shaft trick!!
The first trip away from home came soon..the south India tour.. We rocked goa, blr, and chennai.. the trip took the toll on some of our healths, but hell, it was worth all the crap.. yeah even the gastroenteritis!!
I soon got my first chance to get on stage..got a little practise with shon..jty forced in with some emotional blackmail..but it didn't work out to much.. No one could hear us perform, not even me for gawd sakes.. i got a handful of 50ps at my feet, while there was a well directed fiver into jty's ear at full tilt!! That was my first experience of the rock lover's reaction in tkm..which is to say, i doubted seriously whether there were any at all! However, i was all but itching to get a plugged show on.. unpluggedbe damned!!
Consummacy showed up around the corner.. Got a first hand experience of the kind of work that goes behind organizing an event. The hitch here was that renji did it all, mostly single handed.. :-O I was with him on some occasions, for instance the one after the rockshow when our car broke down at 2 in the morning in the middle of nowhere!! The consummacy rock show is probably one of my most precious moments. 3 bands showed up.. great one for a start!! We couldn't have the dances that year though.. thanks to some crazy issue regarding cultural activity in the college, consummacy had to be held at Sana auditoruim. the trouble was that the people of the neighbourhood had it with the decibels from the rock show.. that brought the events to an ugly full stop..
That was second and third years for me.. It wasn't too uneventful.. But yeah, it was paving the way to a more eventful final year.. both in and out of college!! keep watching this space.. (whoever is, that is!!)
well.. it all seems to have happened just the other day.. yet it seems such a long time ago that i got the all important transfer.. it feels very snug now, to sit at home and go over all those memories again.. with hawkmoon268 by U2 playing in my ears..
the moment i recieved the uty order abt the transfer, i called chak and gave him the news.. i guess he was a little cheesed at having got the transfer with me behind.. he was on the way back from klm when he got the call.. he jumped off the bus at skm and ran to my house.. wearing boots and all.. never mind the corns!!
he entered to find me humming 'take me down to the paradise city where the grass is green and the girls are pretty..' .. an unexpected celebration later, when the dust settled i went around clearing all them formalities for the take off..
The first few days at tkm were nightmare... it was a rapid change from the easy going govt office set up to the strict school like dicipline suffered by the 2nd years of tkm.. they expected you to have separate notebooks for each subject, and if that wasn't punishment enough, one had to turn them in for valuation as well! Boy, it was too unbelievable.. but then it was too bad to be false.. I moved in at sreebhavan, hostel for juniors, us, who were in the wings to be moved to a new hostel.. met sgp,tenny,nambiar,hg,jty,rohit,shaheer,buji,and SHON, the ace at six string! this guy was aweome,it was the first time i saw a guitar being played like a pro..live.. the excitement was brimming.. I couldn't wait to get together with this guy and jam the guts off!! Any doubts on his alleged rythm problem was soon rubbished by me.. Initiative began to creep in..All i needed to realise my college dream of rocking live was a drum guy..which turned out to give me a long wait....Anyway, having hg around was a real break.. he was one of the few peopl there with who i could speak hindi without a care in the world.. he didnt care about the mistakes i made, and it ws all ease!!
He was pretty perturbed during the hostel allotments for shajik..i soon realized why.. it was something we'd never shake off.. but it all turned out ok in the end.. well, almost..had to deal with wet blanket for greater part of college life.. something i never got used to..and don't intend to either,now that college life is over.. second year was awesome.. after the MoS training i'd given hg in sreebhavan, he never ceased to drum impossible concepts of royal engineering into my skull.. we also discovered music.. i infused the metal and rock bug into hg.. and it took the hair off the head of jty..it started with dave mustaine's latest dishouts, and moved on later to other things.i also got a first hand experience of the reason for calling the mess a mess.. the food looked inviting, but that was about the only plus i can offer about it..but yeah, the beef roast used to be great!!
Academics wasn't too smooth in the first instance either. I landed up in tkm bang at the begining of the series tests. It was pretty rough. I did have the option of skipping the thingie this time and re-appearing later, but i was brave, and took the risk.. and plummetted.. royally! It didn't do the morale much good either. I'd stay up all nihgt to complete some cursed lab record, only to wake up to a strike in the college. Or an objection from the lab supervisor who didn't know more than I did about anything in the lab. But one has to take certain things in the stride, (and crib about them later.. hhee)
Also met asha. The meeting totally surprised a lot of people. A shake hand was totally out of place in a place like this, where men and women usually maintained a good 2 feet distance between skins of different sexes..(Rakesh still takes my trip on this..heheh)
Socialising with the fairer sex took a back seat during the second year.. chak kep telling me about ajash..and he kept telling her about me, but we never met in that year.. And most importantly, our chief source of recreation: Liseux Bhavan, the girls convent hostel just a compound across the shajik balcony.. The occasional sight of the flutter of a nightdress was enough to humour our simple young souls.. and so it was, they'd sometimes appear on the terrace, somtimes in the windows, and once we saw a meagre bathroom scene.. but pshhh!!!
Fast fwd to third year.. new year.. new profs, new hostel.. Socialisation was better this year.. met and made quite a few friends and acquaintances..and most importantly, new location for the classroom.. (we could communicate more with the fairer thing this way.. things were definitely improving) The new hostel was a vast improvement over the cramped lifestylee of shajik. More room, greater dilution of blanket wetness.. lol.. We shared the floor with a gang of the mast mech seniors..
jeevan,zach,pattalam,midhun,podiyan,jaleel,vinod,sandeep,parpi,aashiq,anoopda,sumitro, shaiju,reni,iype.. too many to type.. Jeevan was a real break from the mundane part of life. His attempts at ragging were quite a grin, and so were his attempts at magic..one thing hg,jty and i wont forget for sure is the vanishing shaft trick!!
The first trip away from home came soon..the south India tour.. We rocked goa, blr, and chennai.. the trip took the toll on some of our healths, but hell, it was worth all the crap.. yeah even the gastroenteritis!!
I soon got my first chance to get on stage..got a little practise with shon..jty forced in with some emotional blackmail..but it didn't work out to much.. No one could hear us perform, not even me for gawd sakes.. i got a handful of 50ps at my feet, while there was a well directed fiver into jty's ear at full tilt!! That was my first experience of the rock lover's reaction in tkm..which is to say, i doubted seriously whether there were any at all! However, i was all but itching to get a plugged show on.. unpluggedbe damned!!
Consummacy showed up around the corner.. Got a first hand experience of the kind of work that goes behind organizing an event. The hitch here was that renji did it all, mostly single handed.. :-O I was with him on some occasions, for instance the one after the rockshow when our car broke down at 2 in the morning in the middle of nowhere!! The consummacy rock show is probably one of my most precious moments. 3 bands showed up.. great one for a start!! We couldn't have the dances that year though.. thanks to some crazy issue regarding cultural activity in the college, consummacy had to be held at Sana auditoruim. the trouble was that the people of the neighbourhood had it with the decibels from the rock show.. that brought the events to an ugly full stop..
That was second and third years for me.. It wasn't too uneventful.. But yeah, it was paving the way to a more eventful final year.. both in and out of college!! keep watching this space.. (whoever is, that is!!)
Monday, July 11, 2005
garage blues
hey folks..
this is an article i'd written for durga pooja souvenier.. trivandrum bengali association.. note.. its a real life exp.. here goes..
Garage Blues
Having visitors is always interesting. I put it as interesting because one can never classify them under one adjective, hence the general term. They could be fun, they could be talkative, exciting, friendly, boring, sleepy, smart, jovial, formal, quiet, fidgety, noisy and sometimes musical. However, the other day, I realized that the above set of adjectives was kind of incomplete. It is rather trying to assign an adjective to the experience, hence I am going to narrate the events of that fine sunny Saturday morning.
Nine am found me in the garage busy wiping off the dust the car had collected over the last week or so. Baba and Didu were checking out channel DD7 Bangla, Ma was just cleaning up after breakfast. That was when the visitor turned up. I was the first to receive him, or perhaps I should say, it. It came slithering in under the garage door, with two dogs and five puppies after it, and made for my bicycle, which was also in the garage. I have remembered from childhood this basic procedure to follow in times of crisis, which is to keep one's cool and not panic at any cost. This is precisely what I did while trying to distance myself from the guest and alerting the folks. That is to say, I jumped on top of the car, and yelled at the top of my lungs, "snake, snake!" That, as you might have anticipated, was more than sufficient to get the household on their toes, rouse the neighbours, and dent the roof of the car.
I remember reading somewhere, that a good writer always gives his or her readers a bird's eye's view of the proceedings, even though majority of these readers are not birds, by any stretch of imagination. Never mind, this is what the garage looked like two minutes later:
The dogs which were chasing the reptilian visitor were now engaged in barking their heads off at it and at the same time were trying to keep the puppies away from it, possibly explaining to them in barks that snakes are dangerous. The snake had taken refuge behind the rear wheel of the bicycle and was standing its ground bravely, although confronted with seven dogs and as many humans. Baba had picked up a relatively long haata (serving spoon) and was standing outside the garage. Didu was trying to convince Baba from behind that a haata was no weapon to use against a five foot long snake and at the same time trying to explain to us how garlic can be used to keep snakes away. Passers by had stopped in their tracks and had joined the audience, which was growing in size by the minute. Ma was shouting at me from the other side of the gate, over the din of the barking dogs, asking me to come out of the garage and asking Didu to stay indoors, and I, as you already know was perched on top of the car, taking in the rare sight of a snake and seven dogs having a shouting match, the latter having the upper hand obviously.
Help soon arrived in the form of three labourers who offered their services in relieving us of the snake. They gathered long sticks (definitely more effective than a 'haata') and advanced cautiously into the garage. I could not but help thinking of the snake's predicament. What if I had been in its place?!?! Being faced with seven barking dogs, with nine people peering at you over a wall, plus three men approaching you armed with long sticks are undoubtedly signs that things are not going too well for you. Had I been the snake, I would have legged it and looked for refuge more reliable than the rear wheel of a bicycle. This is precisely what the snake did. It found an opening and deftly slid through, and into our underground water sump. The three labourers, not to be deterred found longer sticks and began fishing in the water. After a good deal of 'fishing' they managed to extract the snake from its watery asylum and disposed of it in a nearby pond. They then informed us that the snake was a harmless specimen called chera which lives largely on rats and frogs.
Then of course, it was paytime. The three labourers demanded a sum that would do justice to their efforts. Needless to say, in their eyes, not even the most impossible of sums settled by us would seem to suffice. They argued saying if we didn't pay up to their amount, they wouldn’t come to help anymore even if our house was festooned with snakes. Baba, bargaining for all he was worth reasoned with them saying the snake did not belong to us and that it was still at large! The scene got pretty amusing in the end and soon the little party was laughing heartily! The meeting eventually dispersed on cordial terms.
Harmless or not harmless, you will agree that our visitor de reptilia certainly gave us an eventful morning! Right. So where was I? Yes! My list of adjectives for describing visitors is kind of incomplete. Whether I can find one to describe that morning or not is anybody's guess, I think...
haata - serving spoon/ladle
baba - bangla for father
didu - bangla for grandmother
this is an article i'd written for durga pooja souvenier.. trivandrum bengali association.. note.. its a real life exp.. here goes..
Garage Blues
Having visitors is always interesting. I put it as interesting because one can never classify them under one adjective, hence the general term. They could be fun, they could be talkative, exciting, friendly, boring, sleepy, smart, jovial, formal, quiet, fidgety, noisy and sometimes musical. However, the other day, I realized that the above set of adjectives was kind of incomplete. It is rather trying to assign an adjective to the experience, hence I am going to narrate the events of that fine sunny Saturday morning.
Nine am found me in the garage busy wiping off the dust the car had collected over the last week or so. Baba and Didu were checking out channel DD7 Bangla, Ma was just cleaning up after breakfast. That was when the visitor turned up. I was the first to receive him, or perhaps I should say, it. It came slithering in under the garage door, with two dogs and five puppies after it, and made for my bicycle, which was also in the garage. I have remembered from childhood this basic procedure to follow in times of crisis, which is to keep one's cool and not panic at any cost. This is precisely what I did while trying to distance myself from the guest and alerting the folks. That is to say, I jumped on top of the car, and yelled at the top of my lungs, "snake, snake!" That, as you might have anticipated, was more than sufficient to get the household on their toes, rouse the neighbours, and dent the roof of the car.
I remember reading somewhere, that a good writer always gives his or her readers a bird's eye's view of the proceedings, even though majority of these readers are not birds, by any stretch of imagination. Never mind, this is what the garage looked like two minutes later:
The dogs which were chasing the reptilian visitor were now engaged in barking their heads off at it and at the same time were trying to keep the puppies away from it, possibly explaining to them in barks that snakes are dangerous. The snake had taken refuge behind the rear wheel of the bicycle and was standing its ground bravely, although confronted with seven dogs and as many humans. Baba had picked up a relatively long haata (serving spoon) and was standing outside the garage. Didu was trying to convince Baba from behind that a haata was no weapon to use against a five foot long snake and at the same time trying to explain to us how garlic can be used to keep snakes away. Passers by had stopped in their tracks and had joined the audience, which was growing in size by the minute. Ma was shouting at me from the other side of the gate, over the din of the barking dogs, asking me to come out of the garage and asking Didu to stay indoors, and I, as you already know was perched on top of the car, taking in the rare sight of a snake and seven dogs having a shouting match, the latter having the upper hand obviously.
Help soon arrived in the form of three labourers who offered their services in relieving us of the snake. They gathered long sticks (definitely more effective than a 'haata') and advanced cautiously into the garage. I could not but help thinking of the snake's predicament. What if I had been in its place?!?! Being faced with seven barking dogs, with nine people peering at you over a wall, plus three men approaching you armed with long sticks are undoubtedly signs that things are not going too well for you. Had I been the snake, I would have legged it and looked for refuge more reliable than the rear wheel of a bicycle. This is precisely what the snake did. It found an opening and deftly slid through, and into our underground water sump. The three labourers, not to be deterred found longer sticks and began fishing in the water. After a good deal of 'fishing' they managed to extract the snake from its watery asylum and disposed of it in a nearby pond. They then informed us that the snake was a harmless specimen called chera which lives largely on rats and frogs.
Then of course, it was paytime. The three labourers demanded a sum that would do justice to their efforts. Needless to say, in their eyes, not even the most impossible of sums settled by us would seem to suffice. They argued saying if we didn't pay up to their amount, they wouldn’t come to help anymore even if our house was festooned with snakes. Baba, bargaining for all he was worth reasoned with them saying the snake did not belong to us and that it was still at large! The scene got pretty amusing in the end and soon the little party was laughing heartily! The meeting eventually dispersed on cordial terms.
Harmless or not harmless, you will agree that our visitor de reptilia certainly gave us an eventful morning! Right. So where was I? Yes! My list of adjectives for describing visitors is kind of incomplete. Whether I can find one to describe that morning or not is anybody's guess, I think...
haata - serving spoon/ladle
baba - bangla for father
didu - bangla for grandmother
Thursday, July 07, 2005
wher.am.i.?.how.did.i.get.here.?
This, my freinds(read whoever might be reading this) is no mean task.. On one hand there are poor souls like ourselves who are burdened with all the seemingly unneccessary and criminally challenging work/homework/other work/ work ups/ and blah! I used to crave for these moments that i am currently enjoying, or supposed to be enjoying.. but i guess the grapes weren't that sweet.. even if i managed to get there!!
here i am, after finishing with the 4 years of college life.. and all i'm doing at the moment is growing my hair and sitting on my hindquarters. And while i was in college, all we used to think was, when do i get outta here and get to sit on my a-- and do nothing... well, nostalgia doesn't exactly rock.. but hey that was my 4 years of glory.. but what of that... all i was doing all day was to ruminate on them years.. and i also want to start writing in this bloggy of mine.. ha..
All my desires of getting out of kerala were dashed the moment i got the results of my engg. entrance.. it dawned on me that i'd either have to do it all over again, or stay in this same place which i'd been in for 17 years.. and so i did..
Got admitted in gec barton hill... a surprisingly small college, considering it was a full fledged govt. college..(we were told later it was in hte process of growing and we'd be only the third batch to be passing out) My buddy from school, chak was also there with me in my new class.. (chak and i go back till our days in the primary.. ) thanks to his pushing and putting words in my small mouth, i was 'unanimously' elected class representative on my first day in college.. little did i know what i was letting myself in for.. not that i had a lot to choose from , i happened to be the only one candidate.. but then.. heh.. we loyolites do not shirk.. !! cheer loyola sonz!!
Started the college life brimming with energy.. seniors put up some kind of a drama indicating what a dreadful place this was for the freshers.. but it turned out pretty well .. excluding a few nutters we had some real swell seniors..
well, we weren't 'rayal' mechs for nothing.. and we soon made our presence felt in college.. out to make a statement.. the most outrageous batch of 58 guys and 1 girl was here to get noticed.. outrageous? u may ask.. well, we began by clearing up a bit of a jungle place by bringing gardening tools from our respective homes and hacking and cutting at a lot of bushes shrubs and 'treelings'.. (un poetic licence.. if i may) and there we were.. we announced ourselves with a swish of huge scissors and blades... and beautifying a corner of the ol' colege.. (it didn't last.. they dug it up againand made the bus shed there.. but thats another story)
enter chemistry.. (engineering chemistry, do not misunderstand) my memory fails me as to what the teacher's name was.. but man, her voice sounded like a pin dropping.. and would make disgruntled noises sometimes.. ladies and gentle men.. the most uninteresting class of the lot.. something had to give..
it happened finally... a disagreement over some kind of assignment snowballed into collective BAWL from the 58 brats and the one sweet gal.. and it was heard all over the college.. maek.. when i say all over the college, i mean all over the college.. i feel sad now.. we'd woken up the seniors who were catching a few winks in a strength of materials class.. if any of u seniors is reading this.. please accept my profoundest apologies!!
Mr. Rajat (BME lecturer) was munching thoughtfully on his home cooked lunch as i entered his staffroom.. "what the hell do you think your class was doing?" demanded he.. I was bewildered, wondering what he was having for lunch that made him erupt so.. i soon came to realize he was referring to our collective bawl.. " we had disgusted the principal and embarassed the dept of mech. engg.. in those few seconds.. and i was th class rep.." very nice..
a little chat with the mates later soon brought us to the conclusion that this was no big deal.. we are NOT the good boys of the college who go about gardening.. we had arrived.. again.. we got into the groove.. massbunks, classroom cricket/rugby, more massbunks, bikeouts, strikes.. girls, firecrackers, more bikes, strikes, another strike.. and so on and so forth.. boy.. we all had arrived..
then trouble crept.. class was begining to split in half over someones' matters of the heart.. whats more, i got into a bit of a misunderstanding wit the IT HOD over a monetary matter.. that got ugly.. .. talked about it at length with my best buddies about it,.. chak, madhu, vishnu.. etc.. something had to happen.. and it did
chak got a transfer to tkm college of engg.. kollam.. 80 ks away from this troubled land.. i'd applied too and was waiting with crossed hands legs and fingers.. two weeks later, i got my call.. chak and i were together again! whats more, i was going to taste my first dose of hostel life..
vish took over the mantle of the class rep thing.. man i'd really miss some of the guys out there
.. madhu and vish, who'd stay up in their respective homes till god knows whn to clear my darn doubts on the eve of the exams.. wdn't have passed em if these people weren't around.. :Dtime to move on.. i hung around in BH for a few days.. trying to ge the transfer cert. done as fast as possible.. its a govt. office for gawd sakes.. patience is of the essence.. and it was done.. i moved to the sleepy town of quilon..
That was my stint with gec bh.. some great experiences.. some great friends, some not so great experiences.. and later realised i'd broken a heart when i left.. but one had to move on..
thus.. kau goes to kollam...
here i am, after finishing with the 4 years of college life.. and all i'm doing at the moment is growing my hair and sitting on my hindquarters. And while i was in college, all we used to think was, when do i get outta here and get to sit on my a-- and do nothing... well, nostalgia doesn't exactly rock.. but hey that was my 4 years of glory.. but what of that... all i was doing all day was to ruminate on them years.. and i also want to start writing in this bloggy of mine.. ha..
All my desires of getting out of kerala were dashed the moment i got the results of my engg. entrance.. it dawned on me that i'd either have to do it all over again, or stay in this same place which i'd been in for 17 years.. and so i did..
Got admitted in gec barton hill... a surprisingly small college, considering it was a full fledged govt. college..(we were told later it was in hte process of growing and we'd be only the third batch to be passing out) My buddy from school, chak was also there with me in my new class.. (chak and i go back till our days in the primary.. ) thanks to his pushing and putting words in my small mouth, i was 'unanimously' elected class representative on my first day in college.. little did i know what i was letting myself in for.. not that i had a lot to choose from , i happened to be the only one candidate.. but then.. heh.. we loyolites do not shirk.. !! cheer loyola sonz!!
Started the college life brimming with energy.. seniors put up some kind of a drama indicating what a dreadful place this was for the freshers.. but it turned out pretty well .. excluding a few nutters we had some real swell seniors..
well, we weren't 'rayal' mechs for nothing.. and we soon made our presence felt in college.. out to make a statement.. the most outrageous batch of 58 guys and 1 girl was here to get noticed.. outrageous? u may ask.. well, we began by clearing up a bit of a jungle place by bringing gardening tools from our respective homes and hacking and cutting at a lot of bushes shrubs and 'treelings'.. (un poetic licence.. if i may) and there we were.. we announced ourselves with a swish of huge scissors and blades... and beautifying a corner of the ol' colege.. (it didn't last.. they dug it up againand made the bus shed there.. but thats another story)
enter chemistry.. (engineering chemistry, do not misunderstand) my memory fails me as to what the teacher's name was.. but man, her voice sounded like a pin dropping.. and would make disgruntled noises sometimes.. ladies and gentle men.. the most uninteresting class of the lot.. something had to give..
it happened finally... a disagreement over some kind of assignment snowballed into collective BAWL from the 58 brats and the one sweet gal.. and it was heard all over the college.. maek.. when i say all over the college, i mean all over the college.. i feel sad now.. we'd woken up the seniors who were catching a few winks in a strength of materials class.. if any of u seniors is reading this.. please accept my profoundest apologies!!
Mr. Rajat (BME lecturer) was munching thoughtfully on his home cooked lunch as i entered his staffroom.. "what the hell do you think your class was doing?" demanded he.. I was bewildered, wondering what he was having for lunch that made him erupt so.. i soon came to realize he was referring to our collective bawl.. " we had disgusted the principal and embarassed the dept of mech. engg.. in those few seconds.. and i was th class rep.." very nice..
a little chat with the mates later soon brought us to the conclusion that this was no big deal.. we are NOT the good boys of the college who go about gardening.. we had arrived.. again.. we got into the groove.. massbunks, classroom cricket/rugby, more massbunks, bikeouts, strikes.. girls, firecrackers, more bikes, strikes, another strike.. and so on and so forth.. boy.. we all had arrived..
then trouble crept.. class was begining to split in half over someones' matters of the heart.. whats more, i got into a bit of a misunderstanding wit the IT HOD over a monetary matter.. that got ugly.. .. talked about it at length with my best buddies about it,.. chak, madhu, vishnu.. etc.. something had to happen.. and it did
chak got a transfer to tkm college of engg.. kollam.. 80 ks away from this troubled land.. i'd applied too and was waiting with crossed hands legs and fingers.. two weeks later, i got my call.. chak and i were together again! whats more, i was going to taste my first dose of hostel life..
vish took over the mantle of the class rep thing.. man i'd really miss some of the guys out there
.. madhu and vish, who'd stay up in their respective homes till god knows whn to clear my darn doubts on the eve of the exams.. wdn't have passed em if these people weren't around.. :Dtime to move on.. i hung around in BH for a few days.. trying to ge the transfer cert. done as fast as possible.. its a govt. office for gawd sakes.. patience is of the essence.. and it was done.. i moved to the sleepy town of quilon..
That was my stint with gec bh.. some great experiences.. some great friends, some not so great experiences.. and later realised i'd broken a heart when i left.. but one had to move on..
thus.. kau goes to kollam...
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
veni, vidi,.. errrrr
first time blogging.. checking out the bloggarts from all over the place..
pretty good time to start bloging i guess.. just back fresh from a trekking stint in the lower himalayas, and a minor heartache.. and raring to go.. anywhere...
right now the mind is elated because my company decided not to forget about me.. and called to tell me to get my 'self' there by 5th of august.. so i'm shifting base from trivandrum to pune in a month.. thats about it.. i've been dying to get outta this place or years, and now it seems that is exactly whats happening!!
heavens be praised!!
pretty good time to start bloging i guess.. just back fresh from a trekking stint in the lower himalayas, and a minor heartache.. and raring to go.. anywhere...
right now the mind is elated because my company decided not to forget about me.. and called to tell me to get my 'self' there by 5th of august.. so i'm shifting base from trivandrum to pune in a month.. thats about it.. i've been dying to get outta this place or years, and now it seems that is exactly whats happening!!
heavens be praised!!
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