Did slumdog make us dumb dogs?

Oh,now don't fume on this title, please. I really want to know if it's true. From the hands of a British director what took shape from an Indian plot & cast, finally won an American award. At the end of the day slumdog is just the summation of these. But we hyped it so much that watching the movie became less significant than watching it's terrific reviews,trailers, debates and fights for more than a month now. From various angles cracked by media & journals in bits and pieces across various news streams,i would like to ponder again by asking ,did slumdog really make us dumb dogs, for a reaffirmation.

Didn't we act so dumb by sulking on the very name of the movie?.Our anger and resentment burst out more for the movie name revealing doggy attitude with which we personify the animal in our minds than for seeing such sorry but true images of India. As someone pointed out, is an image more important than true living conditions ?How long do we want to see stories with posh Indian houses & faces. At least slumdog wasn't named with any intention with which we imbibe the title. And it had a much deeper and a strong message conveying the World & India. Don't you think what Karan Johar didn't do in his movies was done by Danny Boyle ?Shouldn't we pick up the thread from somewhere to disentangle it.?Atleast should we hate Boyle for this ?

The movie made us dumb by spreading viral emotions. We jumped to conclusions saying how could a foreign director shoot us back with a movie like this. In spite of growing beyond a 100 crore brain pool bound by a nation,none of us could even collectively come up with a working plan to eradicate or at least alleviate such sorry basic living conditions of millions which still is multiplying everyday,across the country. If i were to understand my fellow Indian minds from an emotional angle, if bringing slums of daravi in the maximum city of India to the limelight for non feel good reasons hurt them,did any of the money laden Indian or a Mumbai's big shot ever choose to make a 0.0000001 % difference to the living condition of a single slum dweller and his family in a significant way ? At least Danny Boyle felt the need to give back from his profits which he didn't have to.

At last they made us dumb struck by crediting two Indian talents behind the movie with some believed to be prestigious awards, across the world. Did we cease to celebrate this ?Or did we stop ourselves from being so proud the very moment, two Indians gripped the until now untouched solid mass of gold, from this land?.Are we telling ourselves that talent in India deserves a global recognition but poverty in the same country deserves just millions of blind eyes & no pair hands to act on ?

The Forbidden Kitchen

For a soup starting, you might want to know two things during the due course of this write-up.One – who Kylie Kwong originally is.Well though I take the liberty of presuming you know who she is, just in case you don’t, can you set a reminder on ‘travel & living’ in your television to watch the Kylie Kwong show very next time it's featured. Two – This write-up is not on her but about my In-house Kylie Kwong.For having read In-house,it's very natural for you to have assumed that it's about either of the damsel's at my home but as a disappointing revelation, it’s my dad. Mm ...this write-up is serving me as a frying pan to sprout all that's stacked in, on my in-house Kylie Kwong.

It all started years back, like a kind gentleman who gave his sweet wife a helping hand at the kitchen during few needy hours. Be it making a simple omelet for the kids or scooping out idllis in to a hot pack. Slowly he took over the kitchen during weekends, sometimes trying his hand all three times a day. Ignorantly we began to be the victims of his stints at the kitchen table. When he was a tyro, his so called creative dishes like oil less bonda & nutty gritty upma (full of awful combinations of non bendable nuts than heaps of sooji itself) were tested on us ruthlessly.Honestly we weren't realizing what we were slipping in to.'What a wonderfully understanding man to whom you are married'have heard many say this to the deserving lady, not knowing what we all really underwent. In the hustle-and-bustle of those busy growing up years, it was great having something ready to eat, at the very mention of hunger pangs at work. He pride fully played the role of an instant chef to all three of us deriving dishes out of no where. Again years rolled by when one day I realized it's this very man behind my inability to even make a decent cup of tea. During my little leisure hours at home, whenever I look forward to try something at the kitchen, I already find him chopping and stirring something in his culinary lab. I simply joined the cookery class in my junior college when I had an optional elective, the only way that was left to kick start my culinary skill.Due to lack of opportunities and a lab space to experiment and learn during those zestful years, I cannot honestly claim myself as a good cook even today. No one might know my real story behind the forbidden kitchen. After graduation I left home, spent years as paying guest at another home & my story of denied cooking opportunities continued further.During this time, back at home there came a point when mom was advised not to strain by standing even for those continuous minutes that was required in the kitchen. Which is when the Kylie Kwong at home was literally born, I presume. So the entire kitchen came under his complete kingdom. Initially we mistakenly pitied him for having to undergo this. He received accolades from every kith n kin for juggling this extra ball in his life when he could have found easy alternatives. But slowly we all were getting the signs.

Apart from being a man of near perfectionist,his interest in following current affairs,comprehending precise reason behind every rise and fall in stock market and being a wealth of information to anyone, anytime on anything and everything, his ardent passion for Chinese kooking and the urge to possess a fully equipped gadget kitchen, surfaced evidently. The best chef's cookery shows in the television were handpicked & been watched without fail. During his preliminary stages in the kitchen it was Mallika Badrinath.A graduation happened when he was fantasizing Sanjeev Kapoor. Then suddenly in the recent years he advanced with his new found guru Kylie Kwong. You can just find joy bubbling on his face at the very mention of her name.There is no question of missing her kookery shows come what may. He makes careful observations on every cookery tip that spills out of her mouth. May be Kwong is dad's twin or master soul, it set me thinking. The remote tightly clutched signaled that nothing else could even be thought of watched at those hours. While dad virtually lives in the world of 'Kylie Kwong & her kooking' during her shows, moms eyes stay focused only on him and his expressions.Gradually off Kylie Kwong shows we saw her in him. Minutes after KK's kooking ends on TV, he energizes himself to be the KK in kitchen. He pounds garlic with the same zest, chops veggies in the same style and sprinkles spices just like her.Gradually he kick started kooking his own Kwong kind of food, half cooked, half watery, half Indian, half Chinese, half edible & the rest absolutely inedible. These days whether what he cooks is Chinese or Indian, his Chinese herbs & spices are ubiquitous. And those awful soups that he learnt from Kwong.Oh my Chinese god … I feel a puking sensation churning in my stomach at the very mention of it.

The kitchen too underwent a gradual revamp as per KK’s weekly suggestions and tips. There was this same kind of mini glass jars cloning itself in an alarming rate on the kitchen shelves. Then these puzzling Chinese herbs one after the other found their entry in those jars. Some puzzling & others awfully aromatic. From where and when he fetches them, we really don't know. Then the oil cans underwent a super rich look with pods of garlic and red chillies soaked in them. Then the spoons, some interestingly shaped vessels & most importantly, the knives. Now we have at least 10 different varieties of knives at home. One for the huge kinds like watermelon n pumpkin, the handy flat ones for meat and fish, thin one for onions & tomatoes, cross one for dicing vegetables,sleek one for slicing them and another one for chopping them finely. For years many we lived without a peeler. We now have one from US, one from Far East & one from local Chinese market. Scissors to cut & curl the corianders and curry leaves. A sharp one, a blunt one, a semi sharp and a semi blunt as if catering to the needs of a wedding kitchen. You know, anyone from abroad visiting home have no confusion on what to pick for dad. It will be some latest kitchen gadget or an accessory. The gift unwrapping moment will definitely be his moment of ecstasy. He still gets international additions in the kitchen this way.He decided that our kitchen too, had the essential of essentials as per Kwong by exactly replicating what he saw in her Kitchen. Following that the kitchen obtained a face lift with newly bought microwave, instant juice blender, silent coffee blender, feather touch hand mixer, egg poacher, egg beater, variety of ladles in new shapes n sizes, colorful frying pans, zodiac coffee mugs, trendy glass bowls, airtight containers, vodka martini glasses(though we are all purely nonvodka folks), variety of strainers, handy lemon squeezer, elegant measuring jars, the handy mortar & it’s complementary pestle, auto ignition stove and this list goes endless.Then the must have stocks in the kitchen – again as per Kwong, I presume, like the colorful Chinese sauces, mashed potato powder, multiple flavors of brown & green teas, handy herbs,nourishing nuts and plenty of super secret spices half of which I bet has nothing to do in an otherwise bland cooking south Indian home like mine.

ooff....nobody at home is spared of his kooking. Come weekends still he continues with his signature dishes. Needless to say, these days its tailor made Chinese for some pitiable Indians at home. For many weekends now, it's been the same huge thick soupy vegetable stocks in which soaked, all left over veggies in fridge, stirred in to the biggest bowl at home, for some of which mom who would have had plans in the coming week. Keeping which crowd he prepares in such huge quantity week after week, god only knows. When it’s aromatically Indian, the taste definitely will have his Chinese touch. And during weekends when it’s aromatically Chinese, we can’t blindly bet on an Indian taste. We are left with no choice but to aid finishing it by the end of every weekend. Otherwise, the signature dish will be secretly refrigerated in its upper deck and will show up the following weekend for the kind of rich ingredients and flavors that had gone in.Mom lost her say longtime back when it comes to her now forbidden kitchen. And so did I. Only during those rare occurrences when he isn’t home during weekends, mom makes some authentic south Indian delicacy for me. Hands down she deserves a place in heaven just for this. When her man returns home on such days, his tempting hands try tarnishing such authentic food with his KK recommended spices to leave them inauthentic, in his new found style. Interesting to dad but insulting to mom sometimes my neighbors aware of his regular weekend signature dishes, would plan to take a portion of it to get rid of their weekend cooking plans. And the post week, they would peep in to applaud him for his effort. Mom would feel like dashing herself against one of that kitchen accessory. Since every atom in the kitchen is his favorite, he is so possessive about even a box or a cup lent to the neighbor. Here comes mom’s embarrassing moments when she has to track these missing items just for him.

Looks like i have revealed too many things about mommy's man.On her humble request, am letting the curtain down here but not without mentioning our Mango phobic memories. When I was in sixth grade, once he had a compulsive urge to make a bottle of mango pickle himself even without a tip from anyone around. His sis, a pickle expert in the family too was ignored from consulting. On a bright sunny Saturday morning, he decided to drop us all in schools and was on his mission - buying mangoes aptly for his pickle proceedings. To his delight since the mangoes were aptly ripe for pickling, he landed home with a tub full of mangoes. They were washed,sliced and pickled finally. To his disaster surprise he realized that he added salt to his generosity.Nothing could be done since the pickles were in huge portions bottled and found all over the kitchen. Mom instructed us to consume curd rice - salt + dad's disaster pickle for the whole summer vacation. At the end of vacation only ten percent of the pickle got over. We were the perfect victims of that disaster pickle until the next summer vacation. During this time, mausi visited us to stay for a fortnight. This pickle story came to her notice and she recommended adding some more mangoes, in a way by adding salt to our existing injurious mangoes. We lived with this disastrous pickle for another year. During the third summer vacation, when the pickle tasted decent enough as a pickle, mom clicked on this idea of gifting everybody who visited home, a bottle of his disaster pickle. You know we lived with this pickle for almost three full years. If you ask me, until now these ‘not so easy to forget’ pickle episode had been his best worst experiment on us.

Just in case you feel all this might be a fictitious exaggeration,you definitely got to be home for a weekend to risk your taste buds at least once. These days while dining outside with friends,I can’t get much wilder at the very mention of some one suggesting a Chinese hangout.Oops this isn't getting better ... let me sign-off but with a small suggestive note for you. After all this if you plan to drop by for a lunch or dinner at my place, specially on a weekend,u have a bravery award waiting from this house of kk, though not from kk himself.

U've got a mail Mr white tiger

Good Evening Mr.White Tiger,

All you must right away know from me is you ought to be privileged enough receiving this note since I don't write back to every author whose book I read. And as a matter of fact I haven't completed most of the books that I began reading especially books written by, one Ms Roy & another by Ms Sai which are still lying in my bookshelf with bookmarks on some unable-to-proceed pages, if you like me to draw some parallel comparisons. But that was not the case with your book Mr. WT. Reading 30 pages everyday for 10 roller coaster days were like gulping down tequila-shot-after-shot each day from a fully refrigerated bottle. Apart from your book, the three other books whose last page felt my hands on them until now were the ones written by our IIT-IIM author. Thought you would just like to know.

Now that you won the Man Booker prize, your book would sell in millions and you would already be counting money in zillions. Still having been impressed by your unique style of writing I would suggest all my friends to read this book, which might add few millionths to your existing zillions.And I promise I shall not claim any share from those zillions. You can have them all for yourself.

The next sets of things you ought to know from me are these.Since I received few hints in the beginning that the book is going to throw some light on entrepreneurship I read each page with some anticipation to receive useful pointers on the same. But all I had was disappointment since I had nothing to take away from your story as a useful tip, just in case I start something on my own someday. As one of the true reader of your first book I believe I have all the right to say this to you Mr. WT. However you justify, the path you took to become a successful entrepreneur is just not appreciable Mr. WT.I am still ok for not getting useful pointers from your story. But I must admit, I was hooked to your newly invented style of writing throughout the whole book which was just awesome. As a personal attempt, thought would try my hand in your style by writing this small note to you.

Precisely, honestly & most importantly, boldly at the same time innocently the way you have portrayed the inauthentic India to the whole world receives a big round of applause especially from people who see the same India as you did for holding torch on their lives through your book but I am afraid to say that you made a small mistake Mr. WT by writing it in a language which most of them unlike you and me cannot even comprehend, just in case if I was ready to read out to them. But you don't have to worry about it Mr. WT. I already narrated this story written by you to my maid and she did appreciate you for your work on this book.She will do her best to spread this by word of mouth, a very powerful medium even these days, she feels.

One thing which left me little lurched was, being a chauffeur you called yourself a technology driver. If you want to be called that way, all I know for sure is how bad the young women sitting two cubicles away from my desk in the office who works exclusively on windows driver technology would feel. But then for a good job done by you I think I should be able to handle her just in case she shares her feelings on this.

Now that you are in the limelight, you would be receiving millions of accolades and may be few millionths of brickbats from across the world. I don't expect you to be reading my note for long since it's time for you to be basking in your own glory of success. Btw even if you hadn't noticed I truly acknowledge this newly acquired writing style is inherited from you. I just have one last thing to say to you Mr. WT which I know will make you happy for sure.When I happen to reach the end of this book, the subtly sleeping tigress in me awakened with a budding spirit of entrepreneurship through many powerful sentences of yours. The credit goes to you Mr. WT. And my many thanks to you for this.Alright, will write to you someday when I become a full fledged white tigress, truly licensed to celebrate the spirit of Entrepreneurship.Until then

with your ferocious blessings
a budding white tigress cub
bangalore17

Ideal Idllys

Perhaps I don't know any South Indian home where they don't relish home made rice pancakes.What can be more divine than a super soft steaming idlly accompanying some freshly ground hot chutney.But in how many homes does the idllys live up to it's consistent shape,size and texture all the time.We might be ready to compromise on the shape & size but not on the soft texture,I know.Experience with an hard idlly could never make you turn back to it for a life time.

Some of the prominently liked idllys are plain idlly,kanchevaram idlly,carrot cashew idlly,ghee idlly & rava idlly.If the classification is based on size, then we have 14 idllys,Plate idllys,cup idllys & ofcourse the normal idllys.Then the sambar idllys-the most divine form of idlly for some.But i love it with the podi than with chutney or sambar.I grew up eating idlly with podi week after week from times memorable.And still the love hasn't diminished a bit.Hot idllys marinated in a combo of chilly powder+gingely oil leaves a pure magic on the tongue.The podi again has it's own set of classifications.Finely ground brown chillies with pods of garlic and salt, is one.Coarsely ground podi made of some extra urad dhal is another.What so ever , there is nothing like hot tender soft idllys with accompaniments of your choice.

If there are leftovers after a bunch of hours,thatz when i like it the most.The idllys can undergo a smooth supple transition to what we call the Idlly upma.Itz one of my favourite item for an hungry everning.By just tossing the torn pieces of leftover idllys under fire with handful of chopped onions,pounded garlic, a stem of curry leaves , few red chillies,urad dal & a spoon of oil,anyone can create a magic with the otherwise easily abandoned cold,rough idllys.

I had once been to this restaurant named - Murugan Idlly Shop,ironically when i was in a place outside the country.But they have prominent outlets in Chennai itself. The name was catchy and tempting my taste buds while I looked forward for some authentic idllys.My cousin did more justice to the money she spent in dollars for each relishing idlly that i consumed.Came the idllys after an order time of less than 5 minutes,small in size,pure white in shade and hot in a plate.They served all the possibly coexisting accompaniments but being a voracious podi lover, i went for it bravely.

Every attempt to unite those mouth melting idllys with podi+gingely oil was worth the dollar each idlly costed.Just like a cotton candy, at the very touch and a mild pull, the idllys found it's destined path from my hand to mouth in repeated successions until i was done with every single grain on my plate.That was one of the divine supper in my life,until now.The podi there however had a secret ingredient - ground till with added brown chillies,i believe.If you are an idlly aficionado like me,in Things to do before u die list you ought to include this -try eating an idlly there if not in a South Indian home like mine.Worth the money & taste.Ofcourse if u come home sometime for this feast,we don't charge.Itz free.

Radz Wedding

On that Sunday morning mommy disrupted my dream sequence while I was in a deserted island by sprinkling some jalam on my face which eventually dragged me out of bed & got me under the shower.Dressed like one of those bright looking homely damsel,all for Radz wedding,whom I initially thought I didn’t know.It was happening in the neighborhood wedding hall.Sulking from the moment I woke up, swallowing those big fat idllis served by dad,me and mommy stepped out to reach for an auto. While watching TV the previous day, I overheard mom’s side of conversation over the phone from which I could make out that few of her friends were canceling their sunday appointments just to catch up in that wedding.

‘Who is this Radha ma & whom is she marrying to ma’, I should have bothered to ask her when my inquisitive quotient preempted the brain while sat bundled in auto.I didn’t for a simple reason that I wanted to follow her for once like an innocent lamb without cross questions for all little time that I spend with her in a month.The auto stopped right outside the wedding hall. Strangely sandals and shoes mounted in huge heaps caught my eyes. Mommy checked if I wore the gold bangles that she handed me when I just stepped out after my cold shower. Fortunately I did, to avoid another suprabatham session during the mid day.The scene of guys clad in white silk dhoti with wrist wrapped in floral strings trying to figure out where they could offload those strings confirmed that we headed to the right place.Next to me there was this board embedded in a bed of marigold florals from which red roses stood bloomed as ‘Radha weds Krishna’. Mm.. what a match between this couple,I felt. Stepping in we stumbled upon Lochani miss(Mommy’s colleague + friend + occasional guide + our local neighbour) who displaying her usual 3 inch standard smile. ‘Miss correct timeku vandhingha’, she acknowledged. And they were enquiring about the other missing mrs & miss(s) while I caught a glimpse of the place we headed.All I could see were mamas on one side and mamis on the other with a bifurcation in between. But children were found allover. Most Mamis flashed in gold & silk. Suddenly an hand on my shoulder. I turned back. It was Lakshmi miss I suppose. ‘Miss edhu unga ponna ’(Miss, Is this ur daughter ?) she was scanning me all over. ‘Bangalorela irukkae nu neku theriyum.Enna panra ni ,yaroda iruka,enna vaisaraadhu ippo’(I know u are in Bangalore. What do u do, with whom are u there, whatz ur age right now) bulleting me with her questions like the one below a reading comprehension passage. I answered them in the same sequence gripping the fact that I can’t expect mommy for my immediate rescue. The session with Lakshmi miss ended finally when she plucked a portion of my cheek and fed in to her lips with a pucccch sound.Mommy had moved away from me by yards now, nodding her head in sync with the blahblah blaahs of Lochani miss. I went near them. Another display of 3 inch standard smile from Lochani miss.’Yyen miss nikaringaa … vaanga anga edam irukku parungoo.Vaa maa chellam’(y r u standing miss, come c therez place.Come ma dear) she clutched my hand. Once resting in the corner pointed … I actually came in to my senses.Mannnnnnnnn …. Radha was Radha & Krishna was Krishna themselves. Oh my god! I didn’t realize that I was attending a rewedding of a celestial couple on earth. They were performing the ritual of uniting an already united couple who live in heaven.

A group of oldies were standing near Rad’s idol and some near Kris’s. However the idols were separated initially to indicate that they were still singles. A series of funny rituals were on the go like carrying the bride in the palanquin along the bifurcation. Then popping Rad’s idol to show her a glimpse of her man (quite funny). Seeing which Kris folks hid Kris’s face. Then Radz folks pulled her pallu across her face to indicate that she was feeling shy. Floral strings were exchanged between groom and bride’s folks. Kids carried mud pots of clay containing a multigrain germination with shoots, three times around the idols. Then a new outfit for Rad from Kris side. Further to that Rad had a revamped look, completely decorated with new gold rings, bangles, anklets and few other engmatic jewelery pieces all over. A kiddo carried a lamp invited Kris to Rad’s place.Kris rode in the palanquin & reached Rad’s place. Rad’s people felt shy seeing men carrying Kris.They played some floral ball exchange games ….The whole hall was chanting rythms of ‘Jaisree Radha Nanda Gopala’ in a wide range of pitches depending on the importance of the event that happened between the idols. And the whole crowd followed the sequence of events anxiously chanting similar rythms giving a credibly serious ceremonial look .For a minute, it was quite refreshing from inside to spectate this wedding from the otherwise mundane cycle of comps-> cubes -> coffees. I was drawn in to these events in no time and was waiting to witness the crucial climax of Kris tying knot around Rad’s neck so that we could go back home soon for lunch. I asked mommy ‘how will Kris tie the knot now ma ?’.She took her eyes off the events in progress and said ‘wait & watch’. Couldn’t want tojump in any conclusion by predicting that some homosapien will tie those knots around Radz neck on behalf of Kris. The climax arrived. Wedding hall suddenly gripped total silence when there was a screen spread across the stage hiding the idols behind, with a pin drop silence. While impatiently waiting for few minutes, mamas & mamis were constantly in and out, playing hide and seek around the screen stacking up my curiosity.

When the screen was flung open, Kris was placed next to Rad & Rad all of a sudden had it(her license)displayed around her neck.Like a video unfrozen from a pause button,the music again broke the silence to highlight the fact that they lost their bachelors degree on earth now. To acknowledge the same, we were made to throw a handful of raw rice & rose petals soaked in turmeric on the united idols. And so did us to conclude the fancy wedding.Lochani miss was a great helping hand to bride’s folks in fetching bride’s attires from time to time projecting her diamond pendant which went in to the folds of her sari every one minute. Seeing mommy waving at her, she disappeared from the stage and reappeared near mom. ‘Miss kalyana sapadu ready, pongaa miss.Sapadu epdinu aprama solunga.Ellam namba pyyan thaaan’.Oh Kris ... I never knew from when Lochani miss’s son quit his dental practice and joined catering sector specializing in wedding food.

When mom disclosed that she’s already cooked lunch for us at home, Lochani miss was disappointed to hear the same. Anyways she let us go by stuffing two packets of coconut & beetle leaves in our hands. And …. and a bottle of saemiya payasam secretly to mom.‘Epdiyum oru kalyanama?.Aadhuku nan vera enga poromnae therinjika venamnu vera ponaenaa ?’ (A wedding like this?For this I went without wanting to know where i was going? )ooff !When we reached home, looked like dad had no exact clue of where we had been. So he asked me ‘Enga poninga ma’ (where did u both go ma?) Mein nae kaha ‘Radz Wedding,dad’. ’Weddingaa ?’ dad was astonished the way I was at Radz wedding, when mom was found tasting that secretly handed saemiya payasam.

Project CRIMAN

Mmm... post lion city trip,I gathered a whole new insight in to managing my micro finance & savings. This new outlook on figures printed in currencies wasn’t there in me before.At least three out of every 10 penny that I spent didn’t enjoy their true worth,I felt.And the fact that I spent more than usual money when compared to my regular monthly expenditure because of my trip,I opted to be tight fisted for next couple of months to strike a balance in my savings account.Suddenly the sense of value for money was surging in me like never before.So I began this project naming it ‘Piloting Criman’.Before tossing a rupee out of my pocket I asked myself twice if I should let this currency go.If I strongly felt yes then I would simply let it go. Apart from paying my rent & mobile bill,I was putting every other thing on hold or procrastinated it as long as I could.Hey hey ... don't jump in to a conclusion that - me a miser.Am actually not one. Know what ?it was like a sneak peek in to the whole new world of being a miser. Oops should I say being simple?Being in Silicon Valley of India,one knows how difficult is it to retain an extra penny in the pocket until the month end.Anything and everything that’s labeled as fun or frolic comes with a unique exorbitant price tag Am unable to believe those huge shopping malls as a place to chill out & relax.It only appears to me as a two monstrous money scooping malls.One can easily make all hard earned bucks vanish in less than a mad second in a moment of tempting joy, being there.Only to realize later that we could have very well lived without it.Not worth, I realized.

Come weekends.... I prefer to be under the blanket these days, the whole 48 hrs rather than stepping out even a lane away.The money in the pocket doesn’t seem to be very happy staying in its place.If saving is the only agenda then we tend to miss colorful quotients of having fun & sometimes some good moments that’s stays as residue in this mission of spending money like water.What to do ?Too much of saving and not spending at all. And too much of spending and no savings in all.Ooffff ! Both happen to be lose –lose situations.I was revealing to dad some months ack about my ‘Penny wise - pound foolish’ attitude.I would save and save on the few hundreds that I draw from the ATM but was stupidly generous to swipe my card that scooped out huge money invisibly.Oh fo ! what am I up to’suddenly a bulb glowed on the top floor, recently.So this CRIMAN project was born as my brain child. I chose to keep myself away from these shopping malls for a couple of months at least until the year ends. So when the month began all weekends at home reading newspaper for long hours, relaxed ablution,washing clothes to my best, cleaning cupboards, watering plants, unwinding the day with some soft music, gripping a good book to end the day & to catch some really good sleep.

Come weekdays, am happy for reasons many. Almost the whole day in office and free googling on anything & everything on the mind. And no penny for any phone calls.U know,am paid a four digit wage everyday for just googling & giggling ,sometimes.Sometimes for forwarding few critical mails too.Then to reach home late evening, have supper & doze offff.Wow! five full days of great savings each week.To buy a single missing grocery, let me tell you visiting Fabmall & Nilgiris are not the best options on earth unlike my earlier assumptions.All under one roof is an agreeable fact.But bringing home a bill that contains units of tempted items more than the essentials can't b the price that one can pay for visiting all under one roof malls. Isn’t it ?.The other day a team mate of mine offered a help to book a train ticket online from his pc in the office. So there was a page where I had to enter my bank’s credentials for an automatic money detection. Being not so sure of the next immediate page to be displayed,I enquired him. He said 'Nothing to worry. Your account balance will not be displayed’.

Scanning each others thought we chuckled. Once the ticket booking procedure was over,he asked me innocently 'How you able to save this meejj maany’. In fact he was spell bound knowing my account balance displayed at some corner of the main transaction page which I foolishly missed out.He revealed to me a week later that I became his source of inspiration to save money from that very moment which in turn inspired me to save more.He listed that he stopped visiting his regular weekend destination - Balaji Bar just because of me.Maa use to say - people who spend less water will spend less money.Actually very true, I discovered.Though my pilot attempt on CRIMAN project is coming to end in a week’s time, I realized that I was only enjoying this process of spending less & saving more.And that true happiness doesn’t dwell in the act of spending more money or hanging out but on those priceless solitary moments being at home.An interesting book costing one hundred bucks did spill more joy than a three hour movie costing five hundred bucks.And that a home cooked meal stands more satisfying than a candle lit dinner shelling out around a K in the dim light.And the coziness in wearing a bargained on the platform sweater doesn’t seem to derive from the newly bought branded jacket.Simply a sweet smile costing zero bucks does spread more happiness & joy in unseen ways, I realized.During this pilot attempt I was inspired by a distant bro who lives in the same city of mine earning in lakhs every month,chose to travel only by 2nd class during any train journey of his for the straight fact that he believed only in simplicity.And earning in lakhs did not change him & his life style in any way.There were so many interesting learning that came out of this CRIMAN attempt. And know what? I managed to save around a K :) in these two months time from 1/3rd of my wages that I drew out each month. And more surprises stood @ the end of this pilot attempt - a couple of my colleagues were crazy about the company’s jerkin that they gave us a year and a half back, fortunately when they had not joined. I got in to this surprising deal of a K for my old jerkin.I couldn’t believe it.Want to know where these are going in to?The piggy bank that Rohit promised me.Rohit you are getting me one to save these, right?

Moral - CRIMAN was a fantastic pilot attempt.Since I loved saving every penny out of it, am engaging in it as a DF(dedicated facility) from the new year.I know I still have a long way to go in this CMS project of mine & this is just the beginning.You just read a tyro’s write up on Crisis Management Simulation.

Pasir Ris Theory

Zooming boxes zipped in silence in to Pasir Ris MRT (Mass Rapid Transit). Pasir Ris is the last destination that people in this lion city can ever reach via the green line starting from Boon Lay, connecting its east -west corners.LED boards at MRT read accurately the countdown for arrival of trains.Penetrating Pasir Ris Library in floor 3 at Pasir Ris mall, in a minute’s time I went aphonic gazing at the integrally automated library & the huge collection of books on exhaustive categories at display there. My pash for books raptured that very minute. We were alike I felt, containing volumes of words inside but a streak of folded silence for the onlookers. On stepping out, silence still remained frozen in our minds. We exchanged no words. She stood beside, escorting me all the time until I was with her, with million thoughts crossing her mind in series. Life was silently pleasant that very minute waiting to experience another journey in the lap of luxury, by MRT, to get back home in simei.

I looked at her. Thoughts coiled into the past … I knew how hard she struggled until a couple of years back shuttling between her township & city right from her college days until she settled as a mentor in one of the city colleges.Her day dawned with a demanding bus journey till the city border. And then a drudging train journey in those suburban trains to reach the city junction, from where another local train to reach her city college on time. And back home everyday all the way to complete her assignments, demo preps, record works & to add meaning in her partially deserted parent’s life. She inducted many minds in her township by mentoring them in quantum ways in her subject of expertise everyday on reaching home back.She was not one of those cribbing babes, for traveling so far everyday. She added new colors in to her own life by taking new challenges at every new turn in those years. It all stood as bright feathers in her cap of victory.Oofff ... at last her struggle vanished like a dry ice in hand. She locked eyes with me dragging herself away from her rushing thoughts & smiled.

The train arrived in silence by then. When it stopped, the glass doors opened to offload & upload passengers. All the time the glass doors pointed right in front of the arrow painted yellow on the floor at the platform. No hassles no where. People just walked in straight before the doors shut themselves.From transit to transit the city stood more colorful. Obeying rules ran in their blood from birth. None touched none. None spoke to none. None looked at none. They believed to live their solitary e-lives even when amidst the crowd - typing messages, playing games, checking mails, tuning music on their ears, surfing net but never bothered to scan even the most stunning damsel (of their own breed ) who stood beside.They all looked alike. Fair like flour & flat like a four. They were all the same to my eyes. For a moment, where am I ? a prompt in the mind. A world far away from mine I realized. In intrinsic wrapped silence,sound of train zipping in and out of tunnels resonated in my drums.We dissolved the silence that we gripped in Pasir Ris when the train offloaded us back in Simei.

Playing Pranks

Rohit is my bessssss friend @ work place. The company hired us in the same quarter when we freshly stepped out of college.We worked in the same team closely, for long, amidst other seniors, on an assignment from a leading news agency in the world. Innocence had a bright stamp on his face, I felt initially. We hardly knew each other then.Days rolled by, when we stumbled upon the topic of crushes one day, while sipping coffee in a near by café. He chose to reveal on his crushes – explaining to me right from his puppy crush to his peppy crush that he had. I was taken aback when he revealed his outstanding crush count. If he meets them all one by one in a month’s time, still he would meet each 12 times in a year. Even I’ve had crushes – one in high school, another one in junior college & another one during my graduation. All vaporized like camphor cubes now.
Me: But your count seem to be alarming, buddy.
Rohit: I know daa… I got to wind up soon.
Months passed by. Now we are in different teams, working with different people. Yesterday, we happen to leave office at the same time. On the way home, what started as a mild drizzle, progressed as little heavy showers.To break the silence amidst cold winds, I started …
Me: Howz life buddy?
Rohit: Sighingly - Am happy that work is keeping me on my toes but then u c this CC of mine doesn’t want to settle for any less figures I guess.
There was a pause. Being his best buddy I thought I should give him my piece of mind on that.
Me: Buddy this isn’t the time for all this. You are not in your teens to dwell on this anymore.U got to realize that u will soon hold responsibilities beyond your age and will be expected to challenge the limits soon. Are you really behind it. Think again….
Rohit: I know daa …I know. I decided firmly this time. I know what to do now.
Me: Whatz that buddy. Can I also know ?
Rohit: As u said, not to dwell too much on this anymore but to begin another one soon.
My eyes spotted a big Manhole kept opened on the road side.

FYPI - Thankyou god, now people know all about Rohit and his mind blowing CrushCount.With this I can now sleep peacefully.

Life is calling …

Thud! I slipped on to the floor from my bed on a weekday morning, Just woke upto realize that I had been through a terrible morning mare. It shook me to the core. The only digestible fact left was, it wasn’t a reality. My mind went blank and refused to resume to its normal state for a while.I soon finished all my morning chores and rushed to work. My legs took one step after another without any conscious effort to reach my work place. On the way, I asked myself a question. If just a dream shook me to the core for a while, how do people manage to live with the every day reality horrors in their lives ?My mind gathered various incidents wherein people have had unending list of worries squeezing their heart, bursting their brain and boiling their blood, most of the time. As per my observations the ones topping the list were – unable to maintain healthy relationships with fellow folks,handful of insufficient bucks to satisfy their family’s needs, weird health related complications, fear of the future, bad luck following indefinitely, lack of self confidence for reasons unknown and the list topples down.

Life in today’s world is undoubtedly becoming exceptionally challenging, strange,unpredictable, hectic and some times quite unrewarding too. Haven’t you wished to dump all your stacked worries & wished you could erase them forever just like how the recycle bin on you desktop works. Haven’t you felt sometimes, as if your life was falling in to pieces & you reached no where after a long struggle that came your way, standing solitary not knowing in which direction to head to & on which shoulder to lean on,though you seem to be rocking to others eyes. Have you ever felt like wanting to cry outall your woes and ask for prosperity in life so that you could see what a peaceful & pleasant life is? Ever wished to fall back on earth without any fear, expecting some safe hands to hold you like the one in MetLife ad.Its quite true that at times the loads of life snaps the strings of confidence, rupturing the delicately designed mind. Have you been through this one too?Well you are not alone. Every single person beside you is floating in their own sea of problems, rowing against all possible odds in life, looking for a shore where one could buy some peace for what ever price it demanded, wishing for their long worry list to vanish soon & waiting for the wish list to come true. Wondered why is life not treating you very kindly, at times? And for some, most of the times?I believe if you can take your eyes off from all your problems for a minute and realize profoundly, it’s all an illusion, in a way. Ultimately, you are here, neither to lose anything nor to gain anything, materialistically. Each problem that you face while on earth is only considered to be a learning experience for your maturing soul (the invisible you, which most of us fail to recognize).After all life is only a bridge towards eternity. Why grumble too much when you are just crossing a bridge towards your destination which is yet to reveal itself completely. If you can keep this in mind and shoo away all your insignificant problems in one strong realization, believe me, life is really beautiful …Look at the world that you live with a new bubbling spirit. It will mean much gripping than what you perceived earlier. After all when you visit a south Indian restaurant, have you asked only for plain dosa any time (oops ! this is not to stimulate your hunger pangsright now).Or would you be happy eating only a plain pizza base with no topping ?.’Definitely No’, right ?. It’s the same with life too.With out these illusionary menaces… do you think there would be any value to this complexly architected yet could be simply lived life? Just get going. Explore, learn & imbibe things which you wish to. Trash things which you can’t relate yourself with.Carry a light feeling about life, anytime, because it’s never a harsh game intended to ruin you. Everyday is a celebration if you wish to enjoy the occasion of life.Have you experienced this? When you were extremely happy, enjoying and cherishingevery single moment that passed by ….how time flew with its best possible speed. And on a day when nothing was going your way, how time was passing the buck to its own minutes & seconds, dragging hours like ages.Just wished to share a concept called Muga from a book that I read years back. The book says, it’s the art of practicing to live life by enjoying the present moment without thoughts of the disturbing past or the much anticipated future, all the time. Initially it was difficult. But then slowly when I started, it was quite a rewarding experience to live by the concept.When you feel your shoulders are carrying too many responsibilities, rest them until you feel energized to take them back with zest. When you feel somebody disappointed you badly, let go and learn not to make the same mistake someday when your turn comes.When you feel terribly guilty about something in life, remember that you are not worth gripping it when it had bothered you enough. If you are looking for some inspiration inlife, look at the world to get some. If you still feel tired & worn out, it’s time for you to recharge and energize ASAP.Finally, when I reached my work place, I realized that each day designed to expire with a count of 24 hours, is to be lived like a time framed expiring dream in which nothing stands worth to be psyched out.

Why worry about things that will finally stand apart as insignificant measures in this boundless & timeless universe.Be kind to people around you, however they are. Help as many poor & needy. Strive forthe best without hurting people around. Be in peace with yourself, all the time. Try to get more out of life, everyday & experience the on going magic that weaves your life. Life will definitely pay you back with its rich dividends of kindness, when the right timecomes. Now, don’t you feel Life is calling … Where are you?

With Love - Surya

The bell rang like a cacophony in my ears, simulating a last bell people ring for the most honored in funerals. ‘Oh god! itz microwave hour now’, I wailed a little louder.All of us knew it was time for Shiv to eat our brains, spitting his half micro waved ideas on the subject in his grilled english. ‘Did u finish the assignment that he gave us yesterday? ’, I asked Saran. She looked absolutely not bothered for anything in life. And gave me a ‘No’ sign with her slightly curved lips but stayed fiddling with the Reynolds pen, trying to fit it in the slit on our wooded bench.

I was little agitated with my ineffective time management in life, unable to strike a balance between my college assignments & the short term IIT course that we girls enrolled us in.All of us belonged to 3rd ECE department.We were ten out of fifteen girls who zestfully enrolled us in the course but found hard to manage things since the IIT Campus was 45 km from our college.Commuting that far and to reach back home everyday was truely tiresome & Poornima added fuel to the fire by not giving us enough attention in the course hours.Can’t blame her blindly like that. She was a single and there were boys from Anna University in our batch just a couple of years younger to her, distracting her with their ‘out of the box’ questions.Otherwise her destiny was destined to be with all white haired, 65 + IIT professors. It was uncivilized on our part to have expected it from her ,in the little time available for her to #@*&^$!.And to add salt to our injury she believed herself to be the queen of DSP lab, where she worked as a lab assistant, which was our destination too inside the IIT campus.I felt she deserved one tight slap from me before our course ended for all the mental agony that she caused us.

Shiv walked hands free in to the lecture hall. Looked like he was lost else where thought wise unlike the other days when one can find him fasting outside the door from ten minutes prior to his session,with handful of lecture notes, chalk pieces and microwave bibliographies. He entered , marked attendance, clicked his pen on to his shirt pocket and declared us free.Unexpectedly he was not in the mood to transmit his microwaves on us that day. Neither did he talk about the assignments. Strange yet surprising, it was.Never had it happened in two years of his lecture profession in our college. Not even a single minute had gone waste by either speaking a torelable English or leaving us feel serious about him and his lecture classes.'Thanks Shiv. I wanted this break',I told myself.Being a back bencher,sat quietly in my place for once staring the black and white print of my microwave text, focusing the picture of microwave producing instrument drawn as modern art. A crinkled paper ball fell on my shoulders from the left side. Unwrapped it & there was a message

'Can we bunk IIT class today &
attend the wedding reception?
What say ? '
- Anu

Oh, I realized it was Sharmi Mam’s wedding reception the same evening.She bothered to invite us all amidst little time left to get prepared for her own wedding in India. Her’s was a little interesting story.She was desperate to do her MS in the U.S. She had a not-too-bad GRE score. She was two years elder to us, just like Shiv. She worked in our college as a lecturer for less than a year teaching us insignificant subjects until she got her student visa. She went to the U.S one fine day, following her dreams just to come back in less than 3 months carrying her wedding cards printed, to invite us for the occasion of beginning her new life with a stranger in her new strange land.She was dynamic & full of life. She was just like one among us, more like a friend than a lecturer, unlike Shiv. She was rich but down to earth,made her dream come true in front of our eyes.Very social and out going. Though she never impressed the girls greatly, all the boys in our college had a corner reserved for her in their hearts. The curiosity of seeing, whom she chose to live with popped in all our minds. But then I was too tired and really wanted a break from Shiv’s assignments and poorni’s lectures.I scribbled back to Anu

' Will bunk IIT class today.
But not joining for the wedding dear'.

And threw the paper ball back at her and found her excited discussing with others on what was everybody going to wear for the wedding reception that evening. Soon every body got to see my scribbling and pulled me to the chat zone to convince me.But I was desperate in having my break for the day. My folks felt I was tough on my decision and wanted me to join them badly. After few long unconvinced thoughts, I finally gave up and agreed to join them.Ambal’s face was gleaming with joy when I said ‘yes’ and Preethi felt succeeded in making me agree to them finally.We looked at our watches. We still had 45 minutes to go. As ever, we had our hot topics to discuss and Shiv watched us from the other corner of the lecture hall. May be trying to tune his ears to our exciting topics.Since girls struggled hard to make me agree, I became the target of bullying session for the day. In those 3 years time, almost everybody in the college knew Surya was my heart throb .Vani started slowly ‘So what is your Joe chéchi telling you ehh?’(Joe was Jyothika’s pet name that we gave her and media was telling us that they were seeing each other for some time then).So to simply make me fume, Preethi added ‘U know Devi , they have signed a couple of movies together now’. Bhavani added ‘Unga alluku vera velayae illiya ?’ (does ur man have no other job or what).I know I had explained to them for the nth ime about what I felt for him’. It is very true that I like him , but it was just his on screen chemistry that am in love with. Joe is his private life. I had never felt jealous of her.

In fact once I had felt none can match well with my man other than Joe in his real life.But my Eceian folks hardly believe me. They all pitch in at once, when I finish my statements on my man( in their slang). ’Don’t lie babe. We know u must be fuming to the core watching them together on the screen. But honey, itz reality. Don’t let that affect you much. Itz all part of life ’ as if I poured out to them,expecting such crazy condolence . Crazy these girls were, once they decide to bully someone. Finally our microwave hour ended. Shiv walked out clouded in some intro<->retro<->spection.

It was a customary practice that we gathered at my house, preened & primmed ourselves before stepping out to attend any common wedding reception. It had happened many times in those 3 years of our college life.Nothing unusual , girls unpacked all their make up kits, lip sticks, glosses, mascaras, eye liners, lip liners, rulers, eye shadows, base foundations and what not, turning the bedroom in to a mini Health & Glow outlet.In fact I get to see most of the latest cosmetic inventions in the market only during times likes these. And all of us fight to get the mirror focus and end up spoiling our natural beauty.Sahaya forcible applies modern art bindhis with the eye liner brush on most of our foreheads just to spoil the ‘not so bad’ looking girls.On this occasion, mom reached home with a bunch of bright yellow roses to place them in the newly bought porcelain vase. But she ended up planting one on each of our hair locks.Unable to deny my mom’s so loving gesture girls had nothing to say but to leave for the wedding reception with yellow roses planted on their top floors. It was 6.30 pm & was getting little dark outside.So mom suggested that we all leave early and in turn reach home early. So we all stepped out together to catch a rick with the huge bouquet that we bought for Sharmi mam.

Once on the road,I realized that vani had almost painted her face pink with her base make up solution looking really awful and little scary to my eyes for a moment when she smiled. I turned around to Preethi and she looked like another cute looking devil in the holly wood movies with her heavy beaded pearls lined up on the neck with her hair left open just not liking the idea of having a rose planted like us.Ambal chose to wear suki’s salwar since she came unprepared for the immediate party plans. Looked like we could clone Ambal twice and accommodate all in the same attire. Sahaya portrayed like an exhibition model displaying all her huge antique jewellery pieces from home. Anu was looking good but her lip stick was so dark and thick that looked as if some one plastered her mouth with a red glossy band.And it was difficult for a moment to decide in which gender should I be classifying Suki now, looking at the way she had preened herself. I realized that I must have looked equally funny in some way but was more conscious with my dark pink straw berry flavored lipstick and the yellow rose planted on my head.

The moment we stepped in to the wedding hall, our eyes by default focused on Sharmi Mam’s groom. Mmm … not very impressive at the first look. But then we had nothing to hype about it since he wasn’t handsome to any of our eyes. We found our college dudes in a corner having a huge round table conference at the wedding hall. The moment we walked past that side, there were huge laughter peels quacking the floor. I could make out y it was so loud. May be our comical appearances. I folded my lips tightly inside and licked the densely applied strawberry flavor. Also felt like plucking the planted rose. But mom's so loving gesture stopped me.Soon we settled in our own corner to calculate the Net Asset Value in gold of every 40 + aunty who passed us.Suddenly I found Vani staring near the entrance. Then Preethi and then Anu, Ambal, Bavani. I too turned around but nothing caught my eyes. Vani pressed my shoulder in excitement and said ‘Heyyyyy….. ur Man’. ’My man ?’.I knew they were kidding here too. So I chose not to turn. But then Preethi stressed the same thing. ‘Dev , ur Man’. I thought they all have decided to fool me for the cross face I had that morning.But then when Bavani stressed the same thing, I had to believe it and look for my man in the crowd. For the next five minutes I couldn’t spot him in the huge crowded hall. But then after some time I did.

Yes it was my man for sure. He was quite simple in a faded blue jean & a white T-Shirt appeared dipped in robbin blue and forgotten for days to rinse.‘Devi ur Surya is here with us today to make ur evening. Can u believe it ? ‘ Suki bashed. I was really over whelmed with joy that everning. Felt like talking to him. But then I knew it was really impossible,may be even to near him in this huge crowd. He never had that filmy air around him. In some time he followed us to the dining hall for the dinner. He happened to be seated in the next row. But definitely from an angle where I could focus him :-). My friends really felt happy for me. I was little thrilled ,when I realized that slowly the crowd was dwindling in the hall and he was still around. Preethi gave me a pilot pen and a blank business card when she left. Looked like she had it ready with her, just for me.I found him being a part of a 15 member circle formed near the wedding hall entrance. He was not part of any conversation that was happening in that big circle. He stood tying his hands tight around his abdomen and appeared choice less listening to that conversation. With little excitement, I approached the big circle tangentially,targeting the point where Surya stood. I stopped at a length of 50 centimeters from him. Sensing my presence, it was almost spontaneous during that late evening hour when he put his mobile in his shirt pocket and picked the pen & card from my hand to spread his choice of ink pattern on it. It was during those 10 silent seconds that I observed him from such a close proximity which I never expected would happen in my life.

When he was busy making his ink pattern, I realized that he was at least two inches shorter than me. Heart sank a little for reasons unknown. I asked my self in silence, ‘Does it mean that Joe chéchi is also shorter than me? ‘.He handed over the card and pen back to me looking in to my eyes. I felt elated. I thanked him. Like an automated reply he said ‘Ur welcome’. I turned away from him examining the ink pattern that he chose to spread for me. It read

With Love
- Surya

These were the words that took him 10 seconds to return me the card. He filled the card that I gave him by writing these three words big and bold. I liked the way he had stylishly stroked ‘S’ in his name. But I felt there was no trace of my virtual Surya in the man who filled my card seconds back. I found myself caught in the world of virtual reality for some time.I came home asking myself 101 useless questions. When I rang the bell, Mom opened the door and at once enquired ‘So how was the wedding. Did u girls enjoy it ? ‘. I said ‘yes’, showing her the card signed by Surya.She curiously looked at it and raised her brows in surprise. ’Siva Kumar payan thane ? ‘ ( Shiva Kumar’s son, right ?) she asked me. ‘Hmm’ came the reply from me. Dad also took a look at it when mom was holding it.He asked me if he was related to the bride or the groom in any way. But none of us had any clue about it. All were excited seeing him there.Thatz it.

It was 10.30 pm. Soon I changed quickly and finally got a chance to pluck the yellow rose from my top floor and lied on my bed in dark & silence – rewinding the whole day’s events in sequence, assimilating slowly the fact that I met my man that evening, pondering deeply over the virtual reality manifestation that I encountered. At around 11 pm, the phone beeped and I hurried to pick up the receiver. It was Rijo.’Hi da ,met ur man finally today. Very glad to know. So what did he tell you ?’.’Nothing’ I replied.‘ Whoz that ma? ‘ investigated mom. ‘Surya ma’. oops !! I hit myself on the forehead little harder re replying ‘Rijo ma’. Her investigation stopped at once she heard my re-reply.‘Haan Rijo bolo‘ I continued on the receiver. ’What da still in ur man’s thoughts ahh ‘ he made fun of me.Next day in the college bus, on the campus corridors, in the staff room, library, canteen, laboratory, anywhere and everywhere folks spotted me, they enquired curiously about how I felt when I met my man .I just smiled away at most of them. Even Loganathan sir was curious to know how I felt. When I entered the lecture hall, my gangsters were waiting to see the love note that my man gave me.I disclosed the note to Preethi first carefully pulling it out from a palm sized Milo – Book of Facts in which I decided to preserve it for my life time. She passed it on after a short examination to vani.But Anu was having it for a long time after everybody had a look at it in the class. When I went to collect it from her in the evening, she handed it over with a big sighing look at the card,muttering ‘Hmm...don't know when am I going to be lucky like u to meet my maddy, one day ‘.

Arakonam Junction

It was 11 pm on that sunday night when we impulsively decided to jump off the train. It stopped for not more than a minute in a small suburban town, an hour’s time by train from Chennai on the way to Bangalore.It was me & Vijay. I had two heavily stuffed bags in hand not knowing the adventure that awaited us, that night. When we jumped off the train at that odd hour, I had no clue what next, life had in store for us. If you are asking me, why did we jump out, let me back stroke the clock hands a few hrs from then –
In one corner of platform 4 in Chennai central - Dad, I got to leave you now and board this train. Take good care of yourself & mom. I shall be back soon, I whispered to dad holding my sliding bags , sitting on a big trolley adjacent to a giant fan.It was 9.30 pm in Chennai Central that humid sunday night . I just scanned the long platform, which was quite busy with people walking through its long lane. I saw Vijay approaching us.Aaaaaaamm I dreaming ? I pinched me for a second. No, I wasn’t. He came with his usual pleasant smile & stood beside us asking whatz up ?.Hmm … he was my close colleague & a friendly mentor, then. He never prompted a word to me even on Friday, the day I was leaving to Chennai.And that I have never met him in Chennai before. How come Vijay, you in Chennai?.Can’t believe it man. Another smile in a feeble tone- Came to invite a couple of my folks for wedding. Soon after the short enquiry, I introduced Vijay to Dad as my close colleague & a groom to be soon. Dad wished him delightedly for his upcoming grooming occasion. We just had ten minutes left for the train to depart. Vijay was also traveling in the same train to Bangalore with me that night. He said he would grab something quick to eat & was rushing towards the food stall. He asked my coach number & so did I. I turned back to Dad & signed him to leave home.

Stepping in to the coach, I felt for a minute, I sufficiently bathed myself in the humid air around. In sometime, Vijay came with a 1.5 liter Aquafina in hand. He looked tired to my eyes. He started his complaint chores against my Chennai, this time for a change, when both were in the relevant location. We were in a short chat until the train departed central platform, leaving us at the mercy of some mild breeze peeping in through the window bars. Sleep was standing in front of my eyes. And I kept yawning, indefinitely. Vijay prompted - ok shall c u tomorrow in the office. Fine Vijay, I replied back settling myself for a long sound sleep. But I simply kept tossing & turning along sides for a long time & was desperate to catch some sleep before I reached Bangalore.

When it was three minutes to eleven, the TT lit the lamps in my coach and I instantaneously woke up dazzled. It was just not the TT but TT with Vijay. Clueless I was. Slowly I enquired -What happened Vijay? Before I could finish, he puked some more liquid & was holding his hands tightly around his stomach. Neither did he have the energy to speak out nor to give me any explanation. The TT spoke. ’I guess you are the only person whom he knew in this train right now maaa. I don’t think he can travel until Bangalore in this condition and neither does he wish to. Probably what you could do is get down in the next arriving station and get him admitted in some hospital, since his condition seems to be pathetic. Can you take care maaa ?’ he ended. Of course yes. If not for Vijay, for whom else am I going to do that, I told myself.I knew at once seeing him,it was yet another monstrous act of those tiny calcium pellets inside his kid knees. But a parallel thought rushed in. Is it really safe to jump off the train around midnight, not knowing where, how, when & with what confidence ... but then there wasn’t much time to ponder over that popped riddle since the station arrived the very next moment. Vijay was absolutely against me jumping off with him & insisted that I don’t do that. But his situation was absolutely pathetic. More worse was when I realized, with that streak of pain in his stomach he can’t help himself much. Life shouldn’t be a pointless existence Dev – my impulse nerve replied to my parallel thought by jumping instantly. The TT was kind enough to jump, run , inform & request his fellow colleague at the station to do the needful for us at that remote platform and then was quick & smart enough to board the moving train. I thanked him standing in the platform seeing him receding in the train in which we were also supposed to reach Bangalore that following morning.

Vijay found it hard to even walk. Once the train crossed the platform, he sat along the platform and puked at his ease on the tracks.It was shivering cold by then. Hands chilled, because of cold or fear, I didn’t know.Whatz next?, I really didn’t know. After he puked all that was left inside – we managed to reach the station master’s cabin. There were a couple of people along with the station master, who offered us a place to sit & enquired how they could help us. I explained to them the story behind me speaking to them, that very moment. The station master called the railway hospital & checked for the doctor’s availability. Mean while I enquired with a loader,how far was the railway hospital from the station. He said, it was hardly ten minutes from the station and that they would arrange transportation for us. And asked us not to worry.Finally we were in an auto heading the railway hospital by all possibly certified bad roads in a typical Indian suburban town. Couldn’t help much for the kind of help that people offered us during that remote hour that night. Reached hospital, spoke to the nurse and explained the emergency behind having Vijay examined by a doctor immediately. She helped us by making the doctor arrive on time, injecting Vijay with some pain killers & giving him the typical inverted drip bottle treatment.

For a moment, when I saw Vijay lying on the hospital bed that midnight, I felt strongly how skewed destiny can be sometimes but then with its own safe upper & lower limits.The doctor arrived with sleep studded on his face, listened to me patiently and was kind enough to suggest the best thing that we could do. I respected him for the profession that he chose & the humanity that drove him there, at that hour. In sometime Vijay got rid of his pain & dozed off. It was time for me too to catch some sleep. There were many beds vacant in that ward. I chose a bed which had a running fan above it.When I woke up, it was 5 am & the scene around made me realize, we had been through a mini mid night adventure. Vijay was awake too. He was feeling far better. He wished that we leave to Bangalore soon to take a proper treatment for his ailment without wasting any minutes.So we thanked all the people in the hospital who were of help to us the earlier night.

I never expected that we might stumble upon such kind & helpful people on our way.God was there along, I felt. How helpful they were, I can’t explain by words.When we spoke to them regarding our desire to leave the hospital soon, they arranged for the ambulance to drop us in the station. Soon we reached the station back from the hospital by another set of bumpy roads. Railway hospital in that small insignificant south Indian town had handful of kind hearted, service oriented, sincere and concerned people -the driver, the watchman, helpers, nurses & the doctor all appeared to me like god’s personification.More pleasant we felt when we reached station & found that the station master& his folks whom we met the earlier night enquired us with utmost care and was willing to help us reach Bangalore & was keen on making us fill forms to reimburse our more than half way ticket money.It left a very good impression in our minds on the Southern Railways in general and a lasting impression on the railway employees whom we met in person. I heartily thanked them for what ever they were but was not too keen in taking too much of help from them. I decided to stand in that long queue along with the localities that Monday morning to fetch two tickets in Brindavan for our onward journey.

We had ample time before the train arrived. We sat on one of those metal chairs rewinding things slowly. How unexpected is this life – was the topic that we were deeply pondering watching the local scenes in that suburb.Vijay who basically hails from the land of richy rich south indian god, wanted to know where were we ?Mm.. it was Arakonam Junction.In tamil, the word arai means half & the word konam means angle. I was just elucidating Vijay how even the place names with in my state's territory(time to blow my own trumpet) were logically sorted out. It was a happening mid size town which is around an hour’s journey from Chennai towards Bangalore. These days almost the entire working & studying population of Arakonam travels to Chennai in the morning suburban train to make their ends meet. In a way it’s a thriving suburban Chennai, I was evincing. With a big yawn,he took a straight look at the platform and was wondering to himself if that was the same platform which saw him in such bad shape the previous night.Brindhavan arrived in some time. We soon found ourselves heading towards our destination seated among other passengers in one of those, not too crowded compartments where I was feasting & Vijay fasting all the way that Monday morning until we reached Cant station – Bangalore, where life appeared just normal .

Most Cherished

I sometimes grip the feeling that may be it’s a dream in my life, if I were to imbibe the fact that it’s been more than a year now away from my city of birth and life – ‘my singara Chennai’, we call it after the city acquired an amazing face lift a couple of years back during our amma’s first reign in the state. It’s almost the same feeling of a child missing its mother. At times I pinch myself little hard to believe if it is really true.

Not that I haven’t been there in these 15 months. I do pack my bags from Bangalore to spend a weekend once in 2-3 months to give my darshan to mom and dad. Chennai ... yup, the city’s core culture is still there in my blood.I always board the routine Bangalore - Chennai Express on a friday which departs from Bangalore city railway station late in the night around midnight. I tend to reach the station well before any co - passenger arrives during when only the abandoned lug gages and the rabies infected dogs are my company. The lady who announces the arrival and departure timings gently roars from the loud speaker near by, to add life to my silent presence in the long corridor of platform no 6, during that shivering cold hour in the night. Otherwise that is the only time when I seriously wish to give a thought to the place where I am heading to, amidst my fast moving life in Bangalore and wonder how I managed to miss people in my past life without much struggle. Then would graze an incident or two in mind that brings joy and pride in heart from my book of life, pointing to the pages of Chennai episodes. That in fact acts as a little brain storming session sitting on that lonely railway platform , thinking and rejoicing the fact that I’ll be at my home for the next two days, sure to receive a royal treatment from the moment I land there till the moment I step back in to one of the split bogie’s of the sunday night train that helps me catch my destiny back in Bangalore on monday morning. I usually draw a mental map hugging my packed bag, watching the framed sky through the length less wavy asbestos sheets from platform no 6 as what should I do for the next two days, whom should I meet, where should I go and to whom all should I ring up. But frankly stating, it seems to be a herculean task to follow my metal map drawn on friday night sitting at the city railway station.

Things never go as planned. The laziness factor in my blood generally becomesactively dominant and aggravates to the core the very next morning for the hot and humid climate of Chennai when I land there.As time disintegrates, I see my folks gathering around me waiting to board the same train, conversing in the pure unadulterated slang of my mother tongue, making me feel at home while still in Bangalore. That is the second boost that lifts my spirit up in waiting to reach my home town.When the train arrives, in 10-15 minutes my folks settle to snore at their ease. Finally around midnight the train departs as promised from Bangalore city towards Chennai Central. Third brainstorming session happens when either mom or dad calls up to confirm if I safely boarded the train in Bangalore also asking my choice for the next day’s break fast menu , leaving me in perfect hallucinations of all my favorite menu’s that mom prepares for the next two days.All set. The TTR also would have woken me up once to perform his duty. I keep telling myself, lying on the birth on my night journey“ …... next time when I wake up it will be watching the same blue sky but from Chennai, breathing the authentic odour that exclusively belongs to Chennai crossing the basin bridge junction while feeling the scintillating sticky humidness especially on my palms and in between the toe fingers which will be a perfect sign of having landed in Chennai.”Nothing unusual to my expectation, I wake up inhaling a full measure breath intake containing a mixed composition of the usual oxygen in air + sensual aroma of chennai’s basin bridge junction(which makes me feel at home with a beaming pride that my city still bags all the fragrance rights reserved )with sleep still studded on my eyes to look at the blue sky as exactly how I told myself the earlier night.In very less time after I wake up, the train crosses the BB junction and heads in to chennai central, the final destination of the train. Watching the board painted boldly in black which reads “Chennai Central “ on a yellow background is a perfect indication that I need to buckle my sandals, tie my hair and fold my jerkin and get ready to jump out of the bogie giving it a silent promise that I will board it the very next day night.

As usual, immense joy flows watching dad standing out on the crowded platform in central station. With a fresh smile on lips I approach dad with my stuffed bag and the geography wise useless jerkin. Dad acknowledges silently waving at me. Then me and dad walk together trying to get out of the maddening crowd to where he generally parks his sentimental black Kinetic Honda. Then he slowly starts enquiring about my night journey wearing his unusually large helmet on his spectacled face, portraying an earthly astronaut to my eyes which I really miss watching for the rest of days. Then me and dad start zoomingon his bike on the wide roads of Chennai. I had been traveling by the same roads every now and then until when I was there but not even once had I felt joy gushing in me like this, which I thought should be because I no longer can claim to anyone that I belong there any more. The city to my eyes look more prosperous every time I go to chennai .

Passing by the rippon building, dinathandi office, the large hoardings of Vijay &Surya that stands upright on almost all the arterial roads in Chennai, ega theatre,alsa towers, tailors road bust stop,SI building on Taylors road, and Anna Arch on the way home from central makes me quite ardent &passively more passionate towards my home town which in turn gushes a true-blue red blood through all veins in my body. It just feels nice to be a pillion rider enjoying glimpses of most missed Chennai. Driving down the road still further, there stands another big hoarding of chennai silks near the koyambedu junction with a stunning model wrapped in colorful silk, dressed in authentic tamilian way, studded with gold jewels all over with a bright and a beautiful smile on her lips with her artistic pallu occupying most of the hoarding giving a rich look to the hoarding and to the city itself. I feel refreshed to see my culture & tradition captured ona huge hoarding on a highway junction.Passing by all my favourite landmarks which had meant different things to me at different stages in life, listening to what ever update dad has for me , I keep acknowledginghim with my mm’s. Soon we reach home and there waits mom for her in-house guest.

Just an aarthi plate would be missing on most of the saturday mornings when I go home. Her face is always found gleaming with an extra hundred watts brightness seeing me open the grill gate and drop my sandals in the portico. The moment I step in I realize what have I been missing for rest of the days. The aroma that keeps whiffing out from the kitchen corner, the mantras of Adithya Hridhayam that the music system keeps reciting, my cute little subramani (teddy bear) lying orphan with none to give a cuddle ,the chime sticks dangling from the ceiling without me to create more resonance, my plant pots & books collection left untouched & having gathered enough dust.

Hmm … ‘Home sweet Home’ I keep telling mom for the next two days at least hundred odd times. Then a soup starting conversation giving mom a glimpse of what’s happening at my end and extracting from her allthe neighbor hood gossips and wide spread family flavors.Then with an intention to follow up with the happenings in Chennai I pick up the newspaper to give a quick glance of all that I missed. Half way through the pages of saturday supplements I fall asleep to catch up with the hotch potch sleep that I had the previous night in the train. The best part is none would disturb me until I wake up all by myself. Some times its afternoon and some other time its evening and very few times it’s even been late in the evening. ‘What a deep slumber have I been in , absolutely not feeling my presence on earth for a couple of hours, unlike my subtle sleep in Bangalore full of sounds’ I would think. And with no dreams to distract my sleep and almost a day gone, I realize. Mom would come with her plate filled with the second menu of the day to stuff them inside my mouth choicelessly. Half the feeding session goes silently with me trying to come out of my hangover. Then she usually looks forward for a word of appreciation from the indigenous guest at home for the special menu prepared. I acknowledge with my mmm’s as a reply, silently mincing her missing menus.Sometimes she asks me to spit the last spoon of food that she fed in for some superstitious procedure that she performs at the kitchen sink.

When it’s time for a Saturday night stroll either on terrace or at the ground, exclusively with either mom or dad depending on whom ever is keen on spending time with me. The walk always begins with a silence and slowly gathers momentum when we catch up with an interesting topic to spin the conversation. If it’s dad it’s generally regarding either of these - politics, technology, cost of living, finance or health. If it’s mom it’s mostly regarding updates from the neighbor hood happenings, or about wide family gossips.Any ways I spend quality time with both mom and dad during all my trips.During dinner time on Saturday night,sometimes my neighbour Jaishree books in advance to serve me dinner the very moment she spots me. Difficult to deny such delicious hand cooked food from the house of a Gujarati family, I have nothing but praises and compliments to give her back. After the much debated topic as what went in as the ingredients behind the food that she served us with, mom goes to bed and dadcatches up with the updates on NDTV.

Having had enough sleep during day time, I usually unwind lying on the bed in my room in darkness and silence, opening all the windows around tuning to radio in my head set settling to listen some soothing tamil melodies. I generally tend to draw silly comparisons between both the cities like Suchi here, Vasanthi there. Deva here,Fiona there.Ajay here and darias there. Suddenly some heart melting melody does context switching in the brain and brings my attention back to the tracks on radio set. It’s one of the best cherished solitary moments among the two full days that I spend in Chennai. It’s a heavenly experience to hear my head set spilling out Tamil lyrics during those dark silent hours churning my thoughts in and out in the very little time left to be spent there. During these silent minutes on Saturday night ,each time I sincerely wish for time to freeze . Gradually my day one ends, watching the sky peeping through the window grills, studded with stars sometimes and sometimes the moonlight falling on my toes while I fall asleep unconsciously.

Day two however is not much fun. I wake up around noon , sometimes because of the hot sun blazing on my face through the wide opened windows just to find Jaishree and mom in some deep discussion in the drawing room on either some latest jewelry or some mouth watering recipe or about some metallic piece that suddenly acquired more importance in the pooja room. They never run out of topics to discuss. Sometimes it would be a inquisitive demo session with the article being discussed, in hand. It would usually be a movie on the television with Sunday special sea food recipes, to spend the afternoon. Other wise some down stairs neighbor would peep in to enquire about my life in Bangalore. Not to mention, they sum up telling me how dad and mom miss me so much staying alone, which churns me little. Then I hurry to get wed to the cordless for a couple of hours to ring up people who at least expect a call from me during my visit to Chennai. It goes for hours until mom or dad gets completely irked seeing me spend time over the phone and not with them. It’s mostly reciting the same information that I have, with most of the people whom I call. ‘Any ways it’s only a courtesy call ‘, I would confess to dad finally winking at him.

When the clock strikes 6 I rush to the terrace to click in my mind the bright picture of the mild orange sky appearing cleanly swept (which I always visualize was done with a giant broom on an angel’s hand) from my terrace garden to imbibe some spirit from the celestial interface to get going in life with a heap of courage & happiness until my next visit. My heart craves for a gravitational flaw – formulating earth to stop rotating for a while when I stay still watching the sky above.Dad instructs me to gather all that I scattered around in a day’s time. I run all around the house gathering my toothbrush, clips, creams, headset, mobile and wallet. Then when all are stuffed in, dad comes with the most wanted apparel – my jerkin and mom with some namkeen to squeeze in. When I go nuts with the stuffs that she newly adds to my bag , she plunges in and rearranges all that I stuffed in already, to make space for the eatables that she wants me to carry.Dad by default enquires where I kept my ticket and the coach number to be boarded, buckling his chappals indicating that it’s time for us to leave : ( . Well before time, dad and me start from home, just for the silly reason that dad believes in being at the railway station at least one hour before the train departs : ( .Not an acceptable law at home by any of us. But we had no right to deny this law of his ,right from day one we belonged to his home. Mom feeds me something light to have a good sleep in the train. I take a quick tour around the house just to ensure that I haven’t missed anything essential. When there isn’t enough time to probe much, I at least ensure that my wallet and train tickets are with me.Next it’s mom’s turn. Mom does her ‘Control F’ action all over the house to ensure the same. By when dad stands out , pulls his shirt across his wrist and takes a deep introspective look at his watch which is an indication that I must follow him soon. Mom then stops all her on going activities and bids a half hearted good bye. Its a perfect stomach churning moment, leaving mom in hidden tears and dad little tensed. By the time me and dad wait for the lift panes to reach our floor kaajal(the kid next door) ,Jaishree and uncle would join to bid me farewell. My weekend episode in Chennai generally ends with two cuddling kisses planted on each of my cheek by kaajal in the presence of mom, Jaishree, uncle and dad.

It’s definitely a hard time to leave home, mom and dad. It’s there in all of us but we don’t speak out. Jaishree tries to bring in some fun by telling me ‘Devi u take Kaajal to Bangalore and keep her with u.Am giving her free for u’, when I take her in my arms to receive her precious kisses.When the lift panes close for its down thrust, Kaajal would scream across the glass opening not wanting me to leave them. I know even mom would have it in her. But things go unsaid and we depart with a momentary smile on all our lips.Me and dad simply walk away from the scenes. I have nothing to say and neither does dad. Taking those slow measured steps to walk in sync with dad , helplessly mind plunges in to the painful thoughts ‘y all this,what do I, mom & dad achieve by me living just few miles away from them.

Y this painful moment every time I leave home’ and many more silent debates in the mind with tears sucked in carefully just not to upset dad.Like a ray of positive hope,i keep reminding myself of these lines- ‘Dev life will be a rosy bed until when u are at home, under (Mom & Dad)’s wings. But you will not know what life really means.You must go out and struggle all by urself to know life& people better.U will initially trip & fall, tumble& topple over .No one will come to help you. But then slowly u will manage to balance and stand firm, stand independent and explore life urself. It will make a lot of difference in your life.There is a priceless joy attached to it.I want you to experience it one day when ur turn comes’.Yup, so true were his words I re read them from my mind shelf. And it really makes a difference. I know that now and it gives a proud feeling living it out, knowing the world outside home.I know if I had been a home groomed hudugi I would have missed on a lot of things that I explored all alone in this one years timee.Feeling my long silence dad cheers me up by diverting my thoughts to what should be the focus in life, how to enhance myself each day and be dedicated to work, life & health. Until one year back , this had never happened in my life. Dad leaving me in the rail coaches late on a sunday night & counseling me on the way. He was always there besides me to take care.We reach station well before time as per dad’s plan , even before the train arrives : (. Dad waits until I settle in the bogie number that my ticket reads. Dad simply bids bye and vanish from my sight abruptly not wanting to rekindle my thoughts.

With my bags hugged, looking out of the rail windows, I gaze in mind at the box that destiny shaped me to seal with a tag ‘Most Cherished’ on it, once I stepped out of home almost a year back.Until ample folks gather around to distract my attention, I take a closer look at the contents of my ‘Most Cherished’ box :' Exclusive slang of chennai, fragrance of coovum, fat chubby yellow autos, larger than life size - passenger friendly buses, flying train, humidness in the air, sole reason for it – The marina beach, beach sundal , crispy dosas & ideal idlis, those nerve spinning melodies that make sense only to the people of chennai, Vijay , my Surya, sun Tv, radio mirchi, kaajal, my subramani, school friends, college crush, home, mom & dad "While I take a closer look at my ‘Most Cherished’ box the engine pulls all the split bogies together to reach its morning destination – the Bangalore city.

Back in office on Monday morning at my desk with loads of tasks to accomplish, surrounded by faces known for just less than a year, the thought of the most cherished contents sometimes seems to be the most wanted in life.

Kuteeram

I just crossed 22 when I stepped out of home leaving mom, dad & my city of life to explore life outside my small world.It was a Sunday morning, when I boarded brindavan to migrate to Bangalore to begin my career life & to live my dreams, bidding half hearted good bye to my home town- Chennai . I didn’t know what surprises life had for me in this new city that I was heading to. My new journey in life began when brindavan departed on that sunday morning from Chennai central. As the train passed by all the stations in Chennai , a kind of unexplainable mixed feelings struck my heart. Partly sad since I was leaving my city of birth, childhood and my city of youth life. But not very sad since I knew that any time I can visit back for the fact that Chennai was only a night journey away from Bangalore. Partly excited because I would be leading an independent life, the way I dreamt it, with no one to say ‘no’ to anything that I wished for, in life.
I packed my dreams & desires along with my scarfs and sweaters the earlier night and spent some time in the portico to get the final glimpse of the place that was living in, standing there leisurely with no worry in the heart & no storm in the brain. Maa kept brooding over while packing rest of my clothes along with some pickles and podis, muttering to herself " children are like birds in the nest. Once we teach them how to fly, they leave us and go", with a pool of tears dripping down her eyes. Dad was watching all this and looked like he was silently in retrospection, unlike mom lying back on his favorite cane chair. That was the last night that I had the authentic feeling that I belonged to my home town. As the train still kept moving all the hoardings and posters printed in Tamil vanished from my sight. Thoughts kept rolling on the crests and troughs along a big wave of memory that splashed on my mind. Since it was a Sunday morning, soon the train became crowded with my South Indian folks occupying every square inch in the compartment. But I was alone in the crowd, totally secluded. Didn’t feel like picking conversation with anyone around. I wanted that silence in my mind to graze things and to introspect for some time. Lucky that I got a window seat to look out and imbibe all that I observed on my way. Looking out of the window, I said to myself ‘ Bangalore’. Yup it wasn’t a new city to me. I have explored it enough with my friends when we were there for 3 long months to complete our final year graduation project work. And I have been to this city on short trips, nearly 4 times for either a vacation or an occasion. But each time it was a different experience with different folks around for different cause. And I thought, this time it would be yet another new long episode but how long ? remained an unknown certainty.
While Brindavan was heading towards its decided destination, I was completely lost in thoughts with people from past life encroaching the mind until my new destination arrived. Once the train reached Bangalore City station, I squeezed out, breathing in some fresh air around. Soon I managed to spot the person waiting with my name printed in black on a white sheet stuck on a wooden plank. I spoke nothing but signaled him through gestures implying, that it was me whom he had been waiting for. And he handed my luggage to the car driver who could speak my language with a mildly tolerable accent. He assumed that I was new to Bangalore and tried to familiarize me with all the roads that the car passed by. And he continued with, where is what in Bangalore and in minutes I was again lost in my thoughts passing by few of the roads that I had taken earlier.
He finally dropped me in the company’s guest house where I could stay for the next two weeks from then, without paying a single penny for my stay, food & my cab journey to the company & back home. The moment I stepped inside the guest house , I found a huge gang of youngsters mostly in their early & mid twenties, dining together in the front hall, quacking in to peels of laughter. They seemed to be enjoying the moment. Before I stepped in to the mansion, I noticed that it had a peculiar name – ‘ Kuteeram ’ inscribed on a rectangular polished black marble tile which I hadn’t stumbled else where. Watching that name, I found myself having stepped in to one of the finest portico I have ever come across which was a perfect blend between the traditional idea of having a portico in front of the house built with the modern architectural outlook. It seemed very pleasing from outside.
As soon as I entered the house I observed that the mansion had a very creative plan, absolutely well lit one and amply spacious. I had indeed liked it. It was a two storied building, a swimming pool in the basement, the way to which was via the spiral stair case from one corner of the long rectangular hall. There was a portico view to the same swimming pool from the other end of the hall. And on the left was a way leading to the kitchen while there were two big rooms on either side of the long hall with amply spaced stone built platform cots which was again peculiar to me but looked more organized. The aesthetic sense of the residence was well maintained. The first & second floor of the mansion had a common drawing room, filled with rooms on either side of it. Drawing rooms on the top floors had a L shaped parapet wall constructed protruding from one side of a wall at about 4 feet from the floor I guess, built with bricks and wooden slabs, and the platform was raised to a height of one foot from the ground which was comfortably cushioned all over and a Television was placed right across this setup. The wall color and the furniture shades blended well with each other that gave an absolute bright look to the rooms. The thin bamboo stripe curtains hung on the open glass windows brought mild sunshine in to the living space giving a typical posh look to the mansion with an undeniable pleasant look. Having a single glance at the entire mansion told me, that somebody’s careful & colorful thought had precisely gone behind the reality of that house.
The girls occupied the left hand side rooms and right side belonged to the boys. The house helped accommodate more than fifty people with an individual cot & an iron cupboard given to each. Kuteeram had a beautiful terrace with plants in mud pots placed along side of the parapet wall and a huge mirror to look at ourselves, especially during the unwinding hours. It had a long dinning area with tables built with black shining marble. And a sloping roof covered with green creepers enclosing the top portion of the entire dining area on the terrace. The impressive terrace again spoke about the colorful thought behind the house having come true. I, in fact met close to 100 people in that guest house in those 3 weeks of stay, some hailing from eastern corner while some others hailing from the southern corners of my own country. I have not had any opportunity before to live with people from the east of India to know them better. I mostly met the Bengal tigers & tigresses and people from the south of India which is where I too hail from. Life went on a perfect fast track for those three weeks of my stay at Kuteeram with lots surprise, joy, happiness & few rich experiences worth imbibing in the heart for a lifetime.I began to master the art of flawless interaction with strangers, without any fear at Kuteeram. I still remember all the striking personalities whom I met there. Sometimes I think about these people, who lived in my life only for a fortnight but how they managed to influence my heart and mind in someway during the course of my life. I met a cute looking newly married, Bengali couple .When I met them in the railway station for the first time, I didn’t know that I would get along so well with them and get to know about the ecstasy lying behind living life on earth through them.
The very next day, at evening 4.30 pm, we were supposed to take the cab provided by the company which first offered me employment, after clearing six rounds of interview in my home town for this no so respected tech support job. We were five of us from the same guest house to be taking the same cab. We introduced ourselves to each other . Three out of the four were Bengal tigers and no tigress to give me company .One among those four happened to be the one from the couple whom I met in the station the earlier day. He liked people calling him Kash though he had a tongue straining Bengali name. Umesh was basically from Assam holding the most pristine assamee look imprinted on his face. And the other two were Partho & Jagan who had a striking cross similarity between them. One was a tamilian spent years in Bengal and the other was a Bengali who grew in Chennai for few years.
All of them knew Bengali except me .Though it was initially hesitant to move with those unknown boys from a strange background speaking some slippery language, in less time I got along well with them. And I never expected that I would miss them badly after two weeks from then, when I left the organization and Kuteeram forever.It was close to a ten minutes drive from Kuteeram to the company campus. Each of them were exploring glimpses of Bangalore sitting inside the cab to know the route while I was watching them all observing things outside with amusement. When the cab reached the company gate, even I was thrilled for a moment. The guard opened the huge gate for our cab to enter the campus. When the gate was just flung open, wow ! I could feel how huge the campus was. All of us were spell bound for a minute to believe that we were in such an unimaginably huge campus which extended in all possible geographical directions without any boundary to the sight. May be bigger than my college campus, I thought.
The cab driver drove via all mazy cemented roads lined with plants kept in pots, while we were peeping out, watching all the huge glass buildings inside the campus. I was told later that this had been the place where they manufactured tobacco years back when the same organization had only tobacco division to its credit in the country. As years passed by, since that being a huge plot in the heart of the city, the tobacco division moved out of the city to prevent pollution in the residential area and it became the ideal site for the same company’s software and IT division. ly amazed seeing how the huge go downs and factory halls were converted in to modern architectures to suite the need and to incorporate the elegant look for the corporate culture. organization had tie up with all major Internet service providers in the world and hence to avoid chaos, there were individual blocks allotted for each of the ISP campaigns. I liked Microsoft block the best, though I was trained on American online software.
We were all still dumb struck seeing the Hi-fi company’s interior and exterior architecture, watching the professionals adding life to those elegant lifeless structures by walking around all the time. They guided us to the first floor of the AOL block. For a moment I felt, I was in some corporate heaven. My eyes spotted the striking captions hung all around the floor. Four out of five of us were in the same campaign. Partho belonged to BTC (British Telecom Campaign) . So we all met only during the long dinner break at 10 pm discussing our day’s experience and what happened in our training for the day. Though we hardly knew each other , we had so much to share during our dinner time explaining to Partho all about our AOL campaign. And Partho would tell us his BT tales elaborating on how he was paired with different girls during each of his training activity and how he enjoyed those moments. For reasons many , we use to envy him assuming that all his tales were true.
Being in AOL was equal fun for those two weeks. We had two trainers assigned to our team. Rajesh,a mallu to train our hands on the technical edge and Balwin, a cross breed of a tamilian & a Punjabi I guess, to train us on our English accent. We were around thirty in the batch. The first day was not that fun, since we had orientations and other formalities to be completed by filling out form after form, not even getting enough time to scan through the faces in the batch & to count the number of handsome guys around. We were kept in the dark hall with no lights on for most of the time, to keep us more focused towards the orientation program than on our batch mates. First day was disappointing in a way. Our fun & frolic began from day two. We spent equal time with Rajesh & Balwin during the first week. With Rajesh we rarely had fun but we enjoyed the way he trained us. He should have been around 26, not very tall but slim and a handsome bachelor with extensive smoking habit. When ever I had seen him out in the campus outside the training hall, he was sure to be with a cigar in between his fingers but personally & professionally he was really a nice chap to us. When Rajesh began with his AOL software tricks and techniques #$%^&* we would look at each other giving him a puzzling look. But soon we would catch up with his Merlin Software and Internet Security stuffs. I seriously wondered, how on earth can some body talk for 5-6 hours continuously without losing energy, not feeling bugged or without slipping out words, absolutely technical and still felt that he had more to tell us but had to stop just because he had to give us our dinner break during the nights.
It used to be our dinner time and time for us to meet our know folks from other campaigns. Great food to enjoy and nice treat to watch for the next one hour. I was mostly fascinated watching couples walking together holding hands in the public, smoking the same cigar& mostly found indulged in some important conversation. How important was that ?, probably they would only know the importance of it and the importance of smoking the same cigar. While I kept watching these amusing scenes, my Bengal tigers get stimulated watching south Indian girls in jeans, with a naughty smile at the corner of their lips signaling things through their eyes which remained indecipherable to me mostly.
Though my Bengal tigers began their discussion in their slippery language, soon they realize my presence, change their language mode to involve me in their conversation and it ends up mostly in laughter pulling Jagan’s leg for no reason. My other batch mates envy us, wondering how come we got along so well in just a day’s time. But I spent some good time with my other batch mates as well. Kash would leave us in some time while at the dining hall to catch up with his newly married wife who was being trained in another campaign called UOL .He was not personally very happy since the time he spent at the campus being in AOL, his wife would be sleeping at home to get ready for her shift which was when kash used to go home to sleep. They in fact looked at each other in light only in the office campus. So we never disturbed them. Though I would feel helplessly sleepy, the thought that it would be Balwin’s session after dinner would bring some life during those odd hours in the night. He brought bundles of happiness along with him all the time, to the training hall. He made his sessions more interactive , fun filled one and at the same time dropped all his messages right in to our brains. But this man had a special corner for me. Since there were only 4 girls in the entire batch, and on the very first day he heard me introduce myself from Chennai, he was more curious to know why did I come all the way from Chennai just to become a tech support agent. And he always addressed me as Miss Chennai, which initially left me in embarrassment, since I knew it was a question of degradation for the original title winners. Soon quite a few in the batch began addressing me in Balwin’s way which I couldn’t help stopping from.
Balwin should have been in his mid forties, tall & dark at the same time, a man with the perfect matured look and deeds .He was highly sensible and he taught me as well, how important it is to be a sensible person in life in just those two weeks which I spent with him. I prefixed all my statements with ‘Sir’ when I interacted with him during the initial days since I truly felt he deserves at least the least respect that I could pay with. But the fact was, we met on the corporate grounds in life. The corporate culture doesn’t encourage paying respect to anyone, even if he be the CEO of the corporate. In fact he would remind me every time I addressed him as ‘Sir’. That was very sweet of him to deny the respect that I showed by my words but sincerely he was a man to be celebrated for his sense and sensibility.
One among the best things that I enjoyed being there was Balwin’s mock call sessions. As support agents job demanded handling customers via telephonic conversations ,we were expected to have undergone the mock call training. Since Balwin found few people like Dominic and Vicky having had a very good corporate profile, he would ask them to handle the mock call sessions during which all the others were supposed to listen to the conversations carefully without any distraction as anytime the calls might be diverted to the person of Balwin’s choice. I still remember how the conversations would get personal very soon skipping the technical existence behind it. And how we would roll on the floor, laughing at the humorous conversations which were believed to be absolutely non essential while attending calls. Balwin himself had once burst out laughing for minutes together with tears rolling down his cheeks. We have had countable humorous mock sessions but the ultimate mock session happened when Balwin chose Dominic to play a customer’s role & Pradeep to play the tech agent’s role. He always chose people from two different corners in the hall so that all others in between stay mentally connected. Dominic was sleek and slim ,with his long streak conditioned hair creeping down his shoulders. Pradeep looked plump and weird sometimes with his unexpected hair style. The conversation that day went like this…..
Pradeep: Goodmorning!.AOL.How may I help you Mam ? slipping words out of his mouth.
Dominic(almost instantly): Sorry to observe that u have a poor hearing capacity.I am not any mam at the other end of ur receiver.
I chuckled silently at the two line conversation.But things weren’t getting any better.While Dominic was irked a bit posing himself as an irate customer to Pradeep, he still was enjoying the absurd conversation that he was involved in.
There was a small pause and then Pradeep continued.
Pradeep: Hello mam, I understand your sensitiveness towards the gender incongruity but I see no point in you getting irked for this straight fact in life which you cannot bury under, for long (with an uncanny smile).
Dominic:Oh yaaaaa …..but when was it the last time when u really looked at yourself in the mirror examining your real self. Can u recollect it ? (still handling things coolly).
Pradeep:I guess that wouldn’t matter to you any way now, u sitting miles across babe.Let me know when u shift to some close proximity .I shall let you know.
Balwin’s face went completely blank and I guess his mind too was. May be thatz why he never interrupted them amidst the senseless conversation that went on. All the others in the batch were having the time of their life trying to laugh in silence with great difficulty until Manash stood up, burst out laughing aloud, roaring ’ Boss, we couldn’t manage anymore and that was really getting wild in the presence of the whole batch’. I remember how the whole batch including Pradeep and Dominic laughed over it non stop for the next 15 minutes watching the clueless expression on Balwin’s face. All that Balwin did immediately was to end the mock session, take a break for himself rushing out of the hall, may be thinking all to himself that he had enough with our batch.
On another day during our accent training session, while in a casual conversation with him, he chose to reveal to us his weekend plan of spending some quality time with his wife who stayed in some town in AP – another south Indian state where his house was and there he had a thick green lush surrounding his house which he and his wife carefully nurtured during their past years. And that he loved to spend all his weekends there with his wife & nature. I knew I would soon miss him just for the kind of person he was to me and to others. By the time our training got over it would be 1 AM in the midnight. As soon as we packed our bags, my tigers would beg me to accompany them to the dining hall to have their mid night snack. Initially I was totally annoyed with this idea of having a midnight snack when all we would be doing next was to board the cab, reach kuteeram and doze off immediately. I couldn’t take a separate cab just for me to reach kuteeram on time. All 5 of us had to be there for the cab driver to put his keys on and push off. I had no other option but to accompany the tigers to the dining hall and keep watching them hogging belpuri, bread sandwich, ice creams and some juice for the night. They would invite me too to join their midnight party but I would keep looking at my watch just to remind them that we need to get back home soon. They would bring me a glass of lime juice to pacify me at the end, which choicelessly I had to gulp down my throat almost on all the days.
They would just unwind in that huge dinning hall at midnight,each in their lovely corners. Kash would pick a glass of badam milk and walk away to the smoking zone which was well planned and aesthetically set the smokers to foo-fy with some visual pleasure as well. He would sometimes call me too there to hold his badam milk and would indulge me in a conversation with him, expecting me to reveal more about myself, my family, my dreams and my aims in life. I had even felt sometimes holding his badam milk in hand in the middle of the night "what am I doing at this midnight narrating him all my stories ?". But it was during those few solitary moments that I actually read him from inside out. He brought happiness in to my life just for the fact of knowing him who he was.A very honest, sincere, caring and an abstractly admirable romantic person which no one might care to figure out until he chose to reveal his intricate nature. They say, it strikes best when your wavelengths match. May be yes. I also knew that I knew him for less than a week. But I had lovely moments with him which I absolutely cherished. He asked me after a silent long pause during one of those dark hours in the night while I was admiring this strangely sweet person who also loved to spend time with me as I did unconditionally, "Dev have u ever fell in love ?. Had ever somebody occupied ur mind and heart at the same time ?" having a deep satisfying puff. Without any pause he continued to look at me and said he & his wife fell in love with each other while at college. Hmm …..that was interesting to listen. So I pestered him little to know more and more about it to fill my databank which I felt might be of use someday .He did not feel bugged to answer to my Q’s instead I did see a blush on his dimple chinned face with a cute little smile when he spoke about chandrani and their clandestine meetings. After some time he said, it was only the month before they both got married just to live together while in Bangalore. And that it was a registered marriage with both their parent’s consent. He also told me that they both wished to leave abroad in a year’s time to pursue their higher studies in their chosen fields. That was adding a glow to his face. While I was listening to him, Partho peeped in to smoking zone, pulled his full hand shirt away from the wrist, showing his watch at us. Yup it was already 1.45 AM and time for us leave else the cab would leave us in the campus and depart.
So we rushed from the cafeteria to the cab area which was around a km long to walk. It was the month of December & the cold was creeping in to my sweater and in to his jerkin, while we took long steps to reach the cab area trembling from inside. Partho disappeared after signaling us in the cafeteria and reappeared on time at the cab area. While we walked kash sent few sms’s from my mobile to his roomie in kuteeram just to keep him awake until we reached there. He also politely informed me to whom he was messaging from my mobile so as to ensure that he was not misusing it.
When we reached kuteeram, all that we would do was to jump out of the cab in that shivering cold, open the door, sign in the register kept on the dining table, climb upstairs and lie flat on the bed spread on the stone cot. That night I didn’t sleep as soon as I lied down. I was just wondering all to myself as how on earth did I stumble upon this gem of a person without searching for one. Soon my thoughts went blank and I went asleep.The next day morning when I was reading the newspaper with a cup of chai in the hand, I saw him dressed up to leave somewhere. When I just looked in to his eyes guessing where would he be leaving, he said a silent "hi" to me with his cute smile raising his brows and waved bye immediately to vanish away from my sight. I plunged my head back in to the newspaper scanning the zodiac column to check how would my day be. Hours passed by and soon it was lunch time. As we gathered in the main hall to have our food I saw kash entering kuteeram. I spoke nothing to him but soon finished my lunch to catch up with kash. I just dropped the plate, washed my hand, rushed myself through the spiral staircase at the end of which I saw him on the first floor watching television, with a puzzled face. I went and sat near him taking the tv remote in my hands. It took a while for him to realize that I was beside him. I hesitantly asked him where he went in the morning and he told me that he and chandrani are planning to move to a new house so that they don’t have to sleep in two different rooms. I could understand his frustration behind pulling a newly married couple apart being in the company’s guest house. I was little disheartened when he said he would move out soon. But immediately I said to myself " Nobody knows how long we would stay here". Officially for two weeks but if we were interested that could go on for how many ever days we personally wished for by paying a huge rent on a daily basis.
That evening I received a call in my handphone from an IT Firm who had contacted me the very next day I landed in bangalore during the current trip, for employment opportunity with them since my profile matched better with IT firms & the software industry. I was totally pleased to receive that call from the company’s HR asking me to report the very next day for an interview at ten in the morning. The joy jar in the heart overflowed as if I received my appointment letter. Soon she hung up ending the conversation politely wishing me all the best.
That day while we boarded the cab, I said to myself "If I clear the interview tomorrow then I don’t need to call myself as a tech support agent & I don’t need to work during odd hours in the night any more". Soon I was in usual conversation with my tigers. We spoke about the weekend that was approaching in a day’s time.They all seemed to be excited to explore Bangalore and to visit brigade on that sunday to get the best out of Bangalore & brigade especially. They were all from bengal & mostly visiting Bangalore for the first time I guess. But from where in a week’s time they gathered information all about the existence of brigade road in bangalore and the specialty of it, I didn’t know. ‘Guys are really fast’, I thought to myself. There was some concert happening in that weekend and they were planning to go not just to watch the concert but in specific to watch some good looking bang babes, which was what I heard from them. They told me all about it and invited me to join them. But my focus was more on the scheduled interview falling the very next day than the week end that was following. That day in Rajesh’s session I hardly listened to his tech talk. I only kept thinking of the interview that would be happening the very next day. The day passed. And it was friday morning. My roomie pulled the curtain up to open the window to let in the sunshine and some morning breeze. I opened my eyes responding to the mild warm sun that shined on my face, giving her a plain look while she wished me good morning. I woke up but was still lying down gazing at the ceiling wondering how my day was going to be.‘ This day might change my professional life forever from now if it’s going to be a good day & if I perform well in today’s interview ’ I thought.My roomie threw a pillow on me, trying to capture my attention, while I could only hear half of the missed lines that spoke. Soon I had my morning tea & breakfast, took my bath and combed my hair and decided not to plait my hair for no specific reason. I put my odni on and checked my wallet for enough cash incase I get lost traveling else where when I needed to reach the place on time. I took my cloth file where I had organized all the certificates of merit & the recently drafted resume of mine along with some photographs, paper clips and a mini stationary in fact. I buckled my sandals and stepped out to reach for an auto. And luckily the auto wala understood my dumblish – dumb signs fused with some english words. He agreed to reach MG Road first and there by he felt he would take me to the right destination once we near the place. Surprising that we didn’t get struck in the traffic jam that morning. He took the right directions & I landed exactly on the right premises on time.
The office premises was very bright and new to look at. While waiting to meet Biju, perhaps the first person whom I met in that digitally ur’s company, I imbibed that bright new December morning in my life sitting in the reception hall wishing for a very good day ahead. He came down in less than 10 minutes with a streak of thin smile on his face. He enquired my well being as we kept walking towards the lift.
Biju was tall, fair & seemed to work out religiously everyday, watching his hard built structure with no flab skin for his age. Following him till the lift I felt from his behind strongly that he could sign some Matrix class of movies, playing Keanu reeves kind of roles which I knew was absolutely inappropriate for the moment to ponder over. We entered the lift & he pressed 4 and while the lift was in its up thrust we were again in a casual conversation. We reached floor 4 and stepped in to the pantry.He asking me to order the drink of my choice. I decided to quench my thrist with some universal solvent, before I could take up the interview. So I fetched some H-0-H in one of those white paper cups kept near the cooler when he filled his huge coffee mug which had three brow raising letters imprinted on it, with some tea. We kept walking, taking small steps on those white tiles on the pantry floor in Asha Arch that morning. Soon he briefed me about the current projects that he was managing and saw my eyes lightening up when he mentioned to me that the company was awaiting for a project from a very renowned news agency firm’s software division in less than 2 months from then. I gulped all the water fetched in my paper cup while he finished the last sip of the tea from his big blue mug. Biju then introduced me to Elan, (a person whom I later believed to be a specialist in extracting the essence out of anyone to create an edible product) when we reached floor 1 by steps, talking on few other things like my stay and food in Bangalore. Elan portrayed to me as a very agile and an energetic person the moment I met him for the first time, carrying the printed sheets of my resume that he triggered a print for. He introduced himself to me once more and in less than no time I found myself sitting in one of the conference hall in Asha Arch that friday morning with Elan right across the table starting to shoot questions one by one, trying to rate my attitude towards learning, communication skills & my potential to grow professionally. Things went well for the next 45 minutes while I lost the fear of being interviewed in less than no time when I felt confident enough to answer his questions.
I felt I gave my best shot that day and never felt nervous or very curious to know "what the future holds for me ?". I was told that I would be knowing all about it on the approaching monday. I reached kuteeram to join my other friends for lunch. It was really a heavenly feeling when I entered kuteeram from outside escaping from the sun. In few minutes I found myself beside Umesh in the dining hall. While I was swallowing my gulab jamun prepared by our cook, I felt like giving my genuine appreciation to her for creating magic with her hands once more, calling her "amma" loudly.
I never knew he would call me back the same way in the cab that evening in his austere assame accent to leave me in embarrassment in Jagan’s presence, who was the only person in the cab who knew tamil other than me.Only Umesh would know, how he assumed for himself that all south indian women could be addressed that way.Umesh made his sincere effort to utter "aammaaa how did u like the dinner today" looking straight in to my eyes when I was absolutely not expecting it. For a moment I was startled not knowing how to react while Jagan burst out laughing and refused to stop at once.
Umesh had no clue why my face was blank and what made Jagan laugh out like that. Partho & Kash were equally clueless as what was happening around. Again umesh asked me "Devi can I not call you as amma.Tell me amma " which was like slipping on the same banana peel twice , when a million eyes focused on you. It took a while for me to come out of the embarrassment and to respond to his statements. But he was quite unhappy knowing that he cannot call me as amma which he relished pronouncing, I guess.
Early in the evening, when I was watching TV with few other tigresses in kuteeram, I realized that it was time for me to go and get ready to leave for the training but I felt extremely lazy to move myself out of the soft cushion. While I was trying hard to change positions, I saw Jagan dressed in his Allen Solley outfit with enough talcum powder on his face, emerging out of his room holding the training material and trying to give me a mild dosage of his awful smile. He was basically a tamil brahmin boy who had to spend years in bengal away from his folks in triplicane - chennai where they were rich in their folk strength for reasons I didn’t really knew. He was perhaps the only guy who kept himself miles away from the others when they opened their cigarette packs and beer bottles, I was told. But once I saw him becoming mildly emotional, when he watched the sky with his palms pointing up, hands slightly raised while his crumbled Nalli polythene cover hanged down his wrist, pleading to his god " Perumalae evva élllan y’en epadi iruka?". I had nothing to comment on his query though I did make a common observation that in Bangalore people smoked and drunk just like having a cup of coffee with a friend, justifying that it was part of the socializing culture & to beat the cold in Bangalore. And I did find some girls taking few puffs when I visited the smoking zone beside the dining hall, which I personally couldn’t acknowledge for reasons many that those girls probably wouldn’t even bother to hear from anyone. Youth in Bangalore lived for the moment and believed in enjoying every moment that they lived without any thought for the future. The idea was appreciable but deriving happiness out of unhealthy habits weren’t that convincing to me. But I kept watching kash lighting his cigars one after the other, without any count on almost all the days that I spent with him. I felt when his own wife had no issues with it, who am I to even speak about it to him.
On friday evening while waiting on the corridor cum balcony for the training hall to be opened, in the first floor of the AOL block, I kept watching the level 2 tech agents attending calls in the ground floor leaning on the steel rods along with my batch mates. This was what they called ‘’ hitting the floor ’’ here, I thought to myself watching the tech agents hitting the keyboard. Once we were certified after the training program, they have coined this phrase ‘ u hit the floor’. I asked my self in a mild whisper, "will I I hit the floor or will I hit something else ?".And Jagan saw me muttering under my breath and asked me how my interview was in the morning ?.I said, it was fine. There was a long silence while he kept watching the tech agents on the ground floor, with a sly smile on his face. Mean while the training hall was opened and our noisy gang of AOL techies rushed in, to occupy their favorite last row.
When I was the last person to enter the hall , I saw Rajesh walking with Manash appearing from no where on the corridor. Manash was basically from orissa , who had a very sharp and a musical voice which was quite peculiar in him .His sense of humor was simply the best. When on the second day Balwin requested everyone to speak for 20 minutes continuously on anything under the sun, Manash chose to speak about his interview with a Indian MNC the day before his last semester exam in college. Wow, he almost made all of us roll on the floor, while narrating his experience with his hilarious facial expressions, imitating the people whom he met in the process. I still remember how this strange person, in my life made me enjoy his true story that day , bringing some laughter in my life after a long time. He was also a very good friend of mine until I stayed there for those 2 weeks. We identified each other as belonging to the same wavelength in a very less time. For me it was thrilling to believe that some one from this not very neighboring state is very receptive to my signs and practices. He was technically a sound person and sometimes I wondered what was he doing there as a tech agent. What I liked in him the best was his attitude towards life, taking life the way it came instead of brooding or waiting for the right opportunity to knock his doors. He was a cheerful person but the hard core fact that he still couldn’t manage a place for him in the software industry was stuck on his face. I didn’t spend more time with him but the short conversations that we have had, stroke best between us and we believed that we could be friends forever, no matter if we leave anytime the organization that united us. He was another awesome personality who left his footprints on my mind.
There was another interesting personality whom I just can’t forget for reasons many. He was Vikram and was called Vicky by our other batch mates. He had a very striking appearance, at the same time I had a strong feeling that I knew him before. His voice was strong & sexy while he was a bit plump and fair. He was younger to me by 7 months but the maturity of thoughts that he had than most of us in the team and the words that he spoke at the right time to the right person during all our discussions & conversations had left me green-eyed numerous times.
He captured all our attention on the very second day ,when there was a deviating discussion on who was superior among men & women which itself was a senseless topic to be debated on, I felt. I heard few boys speak on the topic with great zest, may be because of their personal
experiences, I thought to myself. I chose to keep mum since I was least interested in involving myself in it. But Balwin was expecting me to respond rather react to those few comments made by my other batch mates. And the fact that there were only 4 girls in the team gave them all a picture that may be there aren’t enough female folks to fight back or to threaten them. Things were fine until I chose to be calm. But once it was our turn, I was not very keen in arguing since we were all new to each other and I was not in the mood to fight back with not so familiar faces
around. But one statement made by one of my batch mate stood at the corner of my mind seeking a justification from him while I could forget other trivial comments made by him and others. So I decided to speak out in favor of my gender that moment, to make that friend of mine realize that we are truly no less than our counter parts. I knew that I had to spend some considerable energy to get in to the debating mood though I was not sure if I was ready for it. But the moment I signaled to Balwin that I wanted to make my point right across, there was silence in the room which still prolonged me to begin. In seconds, I was surprised to listen a male speaking in favor of my gender bringing some relief in me. He also didn’t choose to speak more. All he spoke was 3 odd lines which made others seal their mouths for reasons they felt was reasonable to them. Sitting comfortably at one corner in the training hall, he began like this "Friends believe my words since I am married. Itz just the physical difference created by god that differentiates us as men & women. Otherwise we are all the same. And all the disparity that arise between us are because of this physical difference I believe". After he spoke those words in Balwin’s presence he looked straight in to my eyes and gave a gentle smile .I smiled back as a sign of thanking him. Thatz how we all came to know his existence in the batch. He had a very rich experience in the field where we have been undergoing training. Sometimes Rajesh , our tech trainer would cross check with him on certain technical stuffs. Vicky was a very confident person by nature and comforted all those who spoke to him though his IQ & EQ levels were much beyond a normal person of his age.
On one of those training sessions in the first week, we happened to work on the same machine to practice those stuffs that Rajesh was trying to get right in to our brains. Vicky seemed to be an expert in that while I was quite confident that I would soon escape from this tech support world. So we began our conversation enquiring each other as where we hailed from, slipping from our minds how we introduced each other to the batch on the very first day. He said he was a tamil christian. But settled in Bangalore years back when almost his parents got married. He told me that he had an younger brother but revealed nothing about his wife and his married life.
While I was trying out some stuff that Rajesh had asked us to work on the comp not paying much attention to it, vicky enquired about me looking at his watch, waiting for the next break. When I heard myself repeat that I hailed from chennai for the nth time after landing in Bangalore, he asked me "where in chennai?". I had no clue that he would be knowing places in Chennai. I replied back saying "Annanagar". The moment he heard me say that , he was a bit excited, telling me that he learnt in SBOA school for 2 years, staying in his aunts house who stayed in the same locality as mine in Chennai. I became more excited knowing that. I added saying 'Most of my friends in the locality are from the same school'.
We felt we had something in common to relate to. When we exchanged our identities, some intuitive thought told me that he should have married a person who must be elder to him. But never had the guts to ask him for the reason that I felt, the probability of my intuitive thought might be wrong. But at the same time I was curious to know about the story of his married life at a very young age. So I was probing more in to his personal life when I found myself questioning him ,when they got married ?. He seemed to be pleased to answer me. He said " Just 2 months back". And I asked him where was she working. He revealed to me another MNC name in the city. I became more curious wanting to know where and when they met, to take a bold decision like that in life at a very young age.
He found me more interested in their love story. So he positioned him comfortably pulling his chair more close to mine, while digging out some thing from his left pocket with a smile. He then continued saying that they both met in another organization where they both were working previously and that was were they met. By now I became bold enough to ask him straight on the face, if his wife was elder to him ? .And I did. Without any reaction on his face he said "yes", leaving me in absolute excitement, pulling out a passport size photograph of his wife from his wallet to show me. While I kept watching this beautiful lady who was four years elder to him, I simply adored their thought of taking this bold & brave decision in life. While I became more curious to know all about their parents reaction to this act of theirs, I kept staring at the picture. He asked me," U didn’t tell me as how good looking my wife is ?". I signaled him through my eyes ,choosing not to speak more. But I couldn’t resist.
I again probed, inquiring about his parents reaction. He said ,when he told them all about his feeling for this girl who was four years elder to him, they couldn’t appreciate it. And they said "Think twice before u do something since this is your life and not a child’s play. If u really feel this will give u happiness then we wouldn’t stop u from going with it". And personally they didn’t wish for that to happen. But he replied back to them saying, "we will show u how happy we can be each day". And after which he got married to the girl of his choice. And he also told me that he called his mom almost everyday to tell her how happy he was with his wife.
The biggest surprise came when he said , he wouldn’t work for long since he had plans of doing his MBA abroad. He was absolutely sensible and I was sure that he did not take any decision in haste. He was one guy who knew what he was doing in life unlike few others. Time and again from the very first day, looking at him I felt I knew him earlier, but couldn’t retrieve much. A kind of unexplainable silence in the mind when ever my eyes scanned his face which still remains a mystery to me. I knew I would remember him for the rest of my life though I had met him for a very short span.
There were others in my batch who joined that organization for a short tenure but were equally qualified as I was and we would get together sometimes to pour out our collective sentiments and the longing ness that we all had, to belong to a software concern in some near future. Guys would tell me how they had roamed on almost all lanes & layout in Bangalore submitting resumes to company after company at the end of their graduation, while I was doing the same with not much of a difference in another city. I did read the lines of worry running across their faces, while a bright future stood as a big question mark in front of their eyes.
It was Saturday morning, the first weekend after a job in hand. Weekend....and time to unwind for guys who were waiting to break the monotony of the weekday workaholic role but it was time for us to find an accommodation and to catch up with others in the guest house. I did hunt for a good paying guest accommodation with two other good friends of mine, Kaushik and Yasmin. Kaushik was from Hyderabad, but managed to speak decent Tamil since he had spent four full years in an engineering college in Chennai. He was as old as I was. He was lean, fair and handsome. I felt good to learn that he was a very down to earth person & realistic by nature. He cracked jokes sometimes but mostly emitting out the frustration that he was not in his dream job. Yasmin was from Chennai but several years elder to me. Having born in a Muslim family where they believed women were meant only to spend money that their counter parts earned all their lives, she was different.
She had been to London to complete few projects in some good firms in the world earning in pounds for some time in her life. She was in love with a tamil iyengar & was mentally prepared to wear a madisar after her marriage than her usual burqua, sacrifice all her mutton biriyani & chicken gravy delicacies for curd rice & avial.
She also practiced to visit the sundarraja perumal apart from her visits to the mosque.She had a long hair. She was fair and pretty plump. She was shrewd and bold. She was my roomie for those two weeks while at Kuteeram. I learnt many things from her. She was not the person to be there getting trained on Inkjet printers and cartridges while I was meddling with AOL softwares. She knew what she was doing in life. A very confident girl with a well plan in life. Her sole idea behind migrating to Bangalore was to be in the same city with her cross religious boyfriend before they got married. Otherwise I didn’t see any reason for her to shift. I was curious enough to know if her parents had given her a green signal to her desire to marry an iyengar. That saturday night I enquired her about it, while not being sure of how she would react to me- a week old stranger peeping in to her personal life. But she replied politely, in one shot saying her parents were still not aware of her future plan of marrying in to a hindu family with totally mismatching ideas and practices. But she also told me how much she loved him and that they were in relation ship for the past 4 years with out any obstacle. She told me that she would do anything for him in this life in a firm emotional tone. I realized the strong passion behind their relationship when she told me that. The next day morning atthimber had come to Kuteeram to pick up Yasmin didi for some outing that they planned the earlier week. I got to see him from the portico of my room in the first floor when he was kick starting his bike. She saw me from his behind and waved at me smiling, while I watched them zoom in their pulsar passing Kuteeram waving back at her. I then walked down & picked my cup of coffee from amma in the kitchen who took care of all our appetite requirements, support, services and consultation while at Kuteeram, and was heading to the terrace with my open locks of hair and the sleepy look still imprinted on my face. As I headed to the terrace with the coffee cup, smelling the fresh air, I heard Partho calling me out from one corner. Looked like his day began early that sunday, trying to take some push-ups in the terrace to cut down his flab skin around to impress girls in Bangalore. As soon as he saw me, he stopped his hard core morning practice and comforted me by offering a seat across the table that he was positioning himself to rest on. I was still sleepy, not in my full form yet to smile back at him. He wished me "Good Morning" and I managed to wish him back taking the first sip of that hot steaming coffee, slightly getting out of my partial sleep mode.
Partho was very talkative & informative too.He kept telling me how he happened to land here without even knowing if I would be the right person to listen to him. But he was really a nice chap. By the time I sipped the last drop of coffee in the cup, I felt brisk and fresh. It was around 6.30 AM.I was more fascinated by the fact that he was from calcutta, a city more unknown to me like any other city from the north. So I was more interested in knowing all about the largest city in the country from where he hailed. I made him speak about his city and he at once started like an electric razor but he gave me a very good picture of his home town in his words almost leaving me in temptations to visit calcutta immediately. I knew that he had a great passion for his home town just like how I had for mine. He spoke about the landmarks, memorials and places of interest. He also spoke about the stadiums, gardens, parks & the places of worship and more about the howrah bridge that fascinated me the most, watching the city only through the pages of magazines & via the pixel points on the television screen. Partho then continued his conversation with me enquiring all about my familiarity with the city and my search for the accommodation.
He was very comforting, technically sound and seemed to be a person who was more explorative in life. But sometimes he reacted impulsively when a marketing guy inside the work campus approached him with credit cards, personal loans and a post paid mobile connection with 3 cards to use in 3 different cities. Me and Kash need to rescue him on time from those marketing fellows roaming around the campus. Otherwise Partho had been a very caring person, when I was with him for those two weeks.
We crossed the first week of our training , which meant …..just another single week left to have fun with Balwin & Rajesh while being with these bengal buddies staying in Kuteeram. I also sensed that things wouldn’t be the same at the end of that new week which was born. We wouldn’t be together anymore, living under the same roof and all our fun in the training sessions with Rajesh & Balwin would come to an end. While this ran in most of our minds, I had something beyond to look forward to. Yup ! my interview result with that "digitally ur’s "corporate. I prayed to god sincerely by paying him a visit in a temple which I managed to spot near Kuteeram in banaswadi.

Week 2 began, by when kash & his wife chandrani moved out from Kuteeram, leaving me mildly unhappy. But he promised me that he would be traveling with us in the same cab everyday, which left some joy in me. And we had to receive our new guests by then whose first week was about to begin just like how it was for us the earlier week. New faces around and there was a tigress from bengal to share the room with me for the next one week. She was tall, fair, cute looking with all her sharp features & a beautiful smile studded on her face all the time. I was impressed with her smile than anything else. She was very good to move with. Her smile kept me cheerful while with her in the room. She signaled to me like a bird left out of the cage after a long struggle. She was genuinely happy to get that job in hand in a city like Bangalore which had more amusing things to be explored for a person like her. Being away from parents, she felt she was going to have a juicy slice of her life living out the way she wanted it to be. With great joy I saw her unpacking all her things from the bag. She was enjoying to the core for having landed down south and I discovered in the coming days that she lived for the moment. She was like a cyclone followed by heavy rain, being around. The moment she stepped in, back from work she would give us all her usual smile which would greatly refresh us. She would immediately start off with what happened in her BT campaign and how her trainer was entertaining them, who did what & what she liked the most for the day. She dressed each day like a model. She wore her long skirt& a matching top with two pony tails, the first day. I saw her in sari the very next day with matching bangles & flowers while the third day she was in her jean. And on the fourth day in salwar kammez.
She was happy all the time and seemed to be a perfect happy go lucky girl until the 4th day when we all sat down together to watch her family album that she carried along with her from calcutta with some sweets wrapped in a silver foil that she offered us during the mid second week by when i knew my immediate destiny of having offered an employment with the "digitally urs" company which then became digitally mine too : ).She was a bit attached to me in those 5 days and may be she felt like revealing her real self while watching her family album with few other roomies around.I saw her dad, mom & her younger brother along with her in almost all the snaps in the album. She also introduced a person in his mid thirties in the snap who was holding a baby in his one hand, while the other hugging her shoulder, standing glued to her. When I enquired her, who it was, she replied to me saying that it was her cousin sisters baby and the person holding it was her Jeju. She did not allow me to turn to the next snap. She stopped me there, paused for a while and burst out crying badly. I had no clue what was happening with her and what made her pour out like that, when we were having fun with each other on a cloudy evening. I first tried comforting her but didn’t help much. Looked like she wanted to pour out all that she had stacked up in her heart for months together. She wept for 20 minutes continuously and then decided to speak. All that I could do was, sit and watch her pouring out for reasons that I couldn’t comprehend immediately.
She said she had an ailment in her body which was very rare in the world. It was congenital and that no one knows how long she would survive. That was the reason behind which she lived life for the moment not carrying any worry in her heart, which really wasn’t worth for a person for whom every day was a bonus. I was slowly getting it all right by then as what made her pour like that but still didn’t understand why she stopped me from turning to the next snap in the album. Then she gave a small pause before she left us all in shock. She revealed her age to us looking straight in to my eyes. She said "I am 26 years old now. May be it is a surprise to all of you since I don’t look that old. But I am. And my parents have no thought of getting me married to any person in this world since my survival span is a big enigma. But I would love to get married and have my own child. I want some body to lean on when I feel tired of life and a shoulder to hug & cry out my own worries. In all I need a person to take care of me and a child to call me as maa. This is all that I long for in life Devi and nothing else. Not money, fame or beauty. Not even more days to live than what god had already destined for me."I was completely tongue-tied, felt I was watching a thriller. She then continued after gulping some water from the aquafina, lying in my hand.
"One person who understood all my timely needs was none other than my Jeju. But it is absolutely a clandestine relationship. Even my cousin sister doesn’t know this. But I would definitely tell my mom sometime when we get married. And the fact that now I am in Bangalore, he can come down anytime to see me and spend some quality time with me and may be after we get married I might think of having a child of my own". From the moment she landed, she kept receiving calls for every hour in her mobile. She said it was her boy friend in bengal who kept calling her every now and then. But only then ,we all knew that, her boy friend & her Jeju were the same person. She felt little better after pouring her heart out.What made her cry was the fact that she never expected her destiny to be shaped that way by god, not making her capable enough to live the life that her age demanded.
I had nothing to say but to remain mum. That was probably the first time I came across a live case of an illegal relationship in life. I imbibed all that she told us sitting in a corner, meddling with that aquafina bottle. She then came to me and asked "Do you feel like talking to me anymore after this?". I was back to my senses and replied back saying "come on …….what does your personal life got to do with me talking to you". I also comforted her by telling her how gifted she was with flawless physical beauty, a kind heart and a friendly attitude towards people, making others smile all the time though she had her own worries piled in her heart.
She felt better and smiled. Just then mom rang me up to enquire all about my health, the food that I was having in kuteeram, when I would be joining the new job and where I would be staying from that following week. I told her that I would not be moving anywhere until I find myself a good accommodation near the new office which was just a stone’s throw away from – the brigade road, an happening place in Bangalore. Soon we ended our conversation and it was time for me to go to bed, have some peaceful sleep to attend yet another formal round of interview with my new organization the very next day. So I visited Asha Arch near brigade the next morning to meet miss Asha, the HR officer.
That round of interview went well as expected and I had my appointment letter in hand, listing the break up of my salary details. I knew it wasn’t any dream but reality. But not much time to sit back, unwind and enjoy the happenings. I rushed back to Kuteeram as the traveling took around an hour and a half, sometimes more than that, by the city bus enjoying the glimpses of the bright city during late morning hours when the sun was happily shining, contemplating my new jubilation. And that evening I informed Rajesh and my other friends in AOL campaign that I would soon be leaving them. I met Kash personally when we were all standing outside BT campaign that evening to watch their agents work on the floor.
I went searching for him in the scattered crowd. And finally spotted him, standing away from the crowd with a cigar in hand as usual. When I saw him, I had no words to share my happiness with him. I simply handed my appointment letter to him. Without any enquiry he took the printed sheets from me gently to read what was there in it. Then with a smile on his face he congratulated me. I sincerely felt bad that I would be leaving him in no time. But we weren’t intimate enough at that point of time, for me to convey him openly. So i froze the sentiment in my heart that evening, watching him feel happy for me.
Then I had to reveal this to Rajesh in detail to whom I was reporting to. He congratulated me and wished me all the best. He thought I would leave the same day. But I made things clear to him saying that I would stay until that Friday, end of that week, attending all his training sessions without missing even one. He had nothing to say but to give me a plain smile. Then I shared that joy with other friends in my batch. This time my batch folks had more to share with me, probably because I would be leaving them very shortly, in 4 days time. I enjoyed all our round table conference in the cafeteria interacting with almost all my batch mates. May be none expected me to leave that early, in two weeks time after joining the organization. Even I didn’t expect it to happen that soon. I decided to enjoy each moment of my presence in the campus learning a live lesson from the bengal tigress who was my roomy in Kuteeram. I was capturing few of the precious moments that I was spending with people who became dear to my heart like Kash, Vicky, Jagan, Partho, Manash, Balwin and a long list of people when I knew that I would be with them for less than a week’s time.
Things were coming to an end leading life as a tech agent. On that thursday soon after the accent training session with Balwin, with just one more day left in that campus, I was deeply engrossed in silence, walking down the steps. It was a strange feeling in the heart but I guess I was enjoying it. I never dreamt of landing in such a busy & a lively place which kept everyone in the campus on their toes all the time with work and inspiration to work more, young and energetic tech agents passionate enough to work, enjoying life to core & almost living every moment in the best possible way. Awesome to have been present there. The tall newly constructed buildings covered with transparent glass on all sides were still fascinating to me. Suddenly down the steps in floor 0, I found a group of my batch mates heading towards me, almost in fun & frolic with weekend being around. So I gave them all a smile locking eyes with few known buddies. They stopped me there on the corridor & conveyed their resentment since I would be leaving them soon. I knew it wouldn’t have been a deep resentment any way. I had nothing to say. So I again smiled back at them. Then they demanded a treat from me for having got my dream job. I said, "definitely yes". They also wished that I keep in touch with them. A batch mate of mine took great interest in creating an e- group before I left them all and gave me the e- group id as a token of gift to our friendship. I had hardly spent time with him during those two weeks but he was truly gentle and handsome.
He wished me all the best in life & reminded me to invite him without fail when I get married. He also wanted me to meet them all frequently being in the same city and to keep in touch with them. I agreed to all his sweet requests. It was so lovely of him to gift me the group id, wanting me to invite him for my marriage & requesting me to keep in touch with them. I cherished that moment, truly. Kash was watching all this from a corner with a grin on his face and a cigar amidst his fingers. I exchanged my mobile number with many of my batch mates, promising to keep in touch with them. Biplap was the person who spoke unfavorably about girls on the very second day, making me furious. And no time after that incident was I inclined in having a conversation with him but he actually wasn’t bad at all. It was just that he wanted to have some fun the other day. He really respected girls and I did find that in his tone and in his gestures. He conveyed his apologies on my last day. He said to me that he sincerely wished that I stayed with them. And also gave me his mobile number & said ‘Don’t hesitate to call me anytime you need any help in Bangalore’. I never expected it from Biplap, the guy who spoke rubbish about my gender folks on day 2. He also got me my favorite drink from the coffee counter, chewing the gum in his mouth in his usual style. He was there until I boarded my cab, bidding me good bye and wishing me good luck. I really melted seeing Biplap’s attitude towards me.
Hours before all this happened I decided to treat all my friends in the campus with bar chocolates that I was holding in my hand before entering the microsoft block which was where we were been trained on that friday, my last day of training with AOL.
Balwin had no time slot to spend with us. So I wasn’ t sure where I should be finding him in that huge campus to tell him that I wouldn’t be meeting him anymore. With christmas round the corner in the month of december, microsoft techies were decorating their block with christmas trees, balloons, bells, stars and gifts giving their block the ultimate look of a christmas house. That being the last day in that campus for me, I was wondering how I would meet Mr.Balwin before my shift ended. Suddenly I saw him passing by a cubicle through the huge glass patting a microsoft techie. I immediately requested Rajesh to let me out for a minute. He gave me a rapid green signal after which I rushed out with my box of chocolates towards him. I managed to stop him before he stepped out of the floor. He was surprised to see me standing before him during my training hours. I couldn’t speak a word for the next 30 seconds, breathing in and out. He gave me a kind of strange and a surprising look again not able to guess what it would be ……… watching me panting with a chocolate box in the hand. Then I told him that, it was the last day for me in the campus & in a way the last day that I was meeting him too. And that I got another job that fitted my profile. He picked a bar of chocolate, showing signs of happiness for me. There was a little pause in between our very short conversation, during which I decided to bend down to touch his feet to get his blessings.
He didn’t expect that from me and neither did I expect to meet such a wonderful person in that place from whom I would choose to seek a blessing that late evening. He said that his blessing would always be there with me stroking my hair & there is no need to touch his feet. Though I felt like spending few more moments with him, I knew that I had to reach the training hall in time as Rajesh would be answerable to that bald Ops manager for letting me out during the training hours.
It wasn’t a sad farewell when I left, unlike the previous one’s in my life. Rajesh winded up early that day giving me some time to spend with my AOL techies. I met every single person in my batch to bid them good bye personally. For a moment I felt the world was filled with only kind people and the air around with kindness and nothing else. The training was over and it was 12.00 am. I choicelessly followed my tigers to the cafeteria like anyother day. They did seem to realize from with in that I wouldn’t be waiting for them anymore during the odd hours in the night. They compelled me to have bhel puri & orange juice served as mid night snack that weekend night. I didn’t prefer to, but didn’t want to disappoint my tigers on the last day by saying ‘no’. Kash compelled me to take some more from his plate when he saw me scooping out the last spoon.All were there.Chandrani,Jagan,Umesh,Partho and few of Kash’s friends some of whom were new to me and in fact was in conversation for the first time, when a guy who should have definitely been from kash’s city I guessed, shook his hand with me introducing himself as an UOL agent.I heardJagan cough at the very sight of the new guy shaking hands with me in the middle of that cold december night in the smoking zone.I was too tired, having dissipated most of my energy by then, to repond to Jagan.
Soon they all ignored my presence by conversing in bengali which was yet another encrypted syllable to me in the state of kannada speaking population. So I simply was tying the lace on my jerkin looking down. I had no clue what they where up to. There was a pause suddenly and I found everyone looking at me together laughing out. When I asked Kash what was it all about, none replied back to it, leaving me puzzled.
It was time for chandrani to login.So kash left her behind and joined us to walk till the cab area.On the way,we reminded ourselved how we got lost on the very first day in that huge campus,amidst the cold and dark hours in the night trying to reach the cab area.They all walked slowly along with me by my side, cracked jokes and pulled my leg even on the last day. I knew it was not intentional. May be, making the most of it on the last occasion, I thought. I was just saving all those wonderful moments in my heart lobby that december when our cab left the campus once for all, leaving the campus in my thoughts for ever.
The weekend I resigned my tech agent job, I was in retrospection. We couldn’t step out of Kuteeram since the sky was heavily pouring out.I was too tired and planned to sleep for the whole weekend. After sleeping for more than 14 hours, on saturday evening, I decided to spend some time in the portico watching the sodden city.It was cool and I felt fresh. Immediate thought was to pick a cup of chai and unwind in the terrace for the whole everning. This time I found Tanmoy,another bengal tiger (who stayed in Kuteeram for a longer duration than anyone else) who was profoundly interested in music, listening & singing, heard some unheard lyric at one corner of the long terrace.Music was his heart and soul, I was told.His name was also peculiar to me like the name of the house that I stayed.It wasn’t easy for me to forget him for his peculiar name and the attitude that he possessed in his life. Tanmoy – he said it meant ‘soul’, in sanskrit or bengali I didn’t remember that precisely. After a short casual conversation on the terrace, he enquired about my knowledge in the field of music. When I told him that I have no relationship with that fine art except that I had some good taste in listening to the finest of music, may be he felt he would induce some in me.
First he spoke about music for an hour clearly explaning to me what was the kind of music that he and his city folks loved to listen. Though I choicelessly listened to him, I learnt many things about music, until when I could have even rated me on the negative scale for the musical knowledge that I possessed. He gave me a beautiful insight of what goes behind every song to create magic amidst the listeners.He sang few Bengali gazals with his ultimate passion, shutting his eyes until he finished singing it. It was really a special moment in a way on that saturday evening when rain had just stopped for him to sing that beautiful gazal.He opened his eyes slowly,and asked how it was. It was the first time I have heard somebody sung a gazal.He sang many stints from various other gazals,poems and movie songs that he cherished himself. All were pleasing to the ears but I couldn’t comprehend the meaning behind any of those lines .He did translate a few for me but not all that he sang. By then it became dark and cool.He finally identified himself as part of a musical band in west bengal named –‘Neel Akash’.I liked the name of the band that he and few of his friends began. We became very good friends that day. He had a masters in English literature.Apart from his high proficiency in music, he insisted that I always spoke good English, pronouncing all the words in the right accent just for the fact that he could never tolerate people speaking bad English, especially the pronunciation.
Once he knocked our door to check if I had Airtel connection in my mobile, at around 11 in the night.I was almost asleep but hearing him called me out, my roomie shook me rough to wake me up.I was totally annoyed by the fact of having woke me up at around midnight,when I was asleep.But still decided to go out and check what made him call me during that late hour in the night.He asked me if I had an airtel connection in my mobile.I replied to him in that half sleepy state speaking a complete sentence "No, I don’t have an aaair tel connection’’.He corrected my pronunciation asking me to pronounce it as Airtel and not aaairtel and was waiting to hear me pronounce it , his way. I sincerely felt, he deserved one tight slap from me that minute. Otherwise Tanmoy’s helping tendency was matchless with most of us. He once admitted lalitha in a near by hospital and chose to spend the whole day sitting beside her when her health condition was totally ill, inhaling the hospital smell, from which he could have very easily stepped back pointing out the fact that he’s availed off only on a single day in a week. But he spoke to none about it. All that he insisted was to take good care of herself and not to fall sick anymore once she recovered.
Knowing that I was a tamilian, Tanmoy decided to reveal his ancestral history that had a relationship with my mother tongue, place of birth and culture indeed. He told me that his paternal grandmother was a tamilian and that his grandmother’s sisters lived in Triplicane – Chennai. He also told me that he admired his grandma for all that she was, especially the courage that she owned, to marry a Bengali years back. Yes ,it was really a bold step by her, that too years back, I thought to myself. It was sunday night, and the end of second week in Kuteeram. Combing my hair softly, stroking it in the front, I watched myself in the mirror and said to myself 'A new life is beckoning to begin from tomorrow Dev, new corporate, new culture, new nature of job, new place and new people too'.