Me and Myself

#267   

25 January 2016

Ama da na ipo dhaan Dhoni fan. 2004 Ku mela irundhu dhaan. I know about Dhoni, but how well do you know Kamal?? Ask me dhoni or Che Guvera. I would say Che Guvera with no second thought. Ask me dhoni or ARR you know the answer. Dhoni is a Rainbow, I adore him. Others are like rivers, they go on for ever. Yes! I do feel the difference. 

I don't have to eat semiya upma to remember this day. I write. I write to myself. This is my way..!!

DESTI-NATION 2050

Live your dream. Make it big. Taste the difference

Genre: Fiction

Journey begins next Summer…..>>>>>>>>>>>

PONGALOOO PONGAL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FICTION 1

U think we'll go further. Adil queried. I wanted to say "no". But i suddenly realised that i had uttered "yes". Abdul and arshad werefive yards ahead. It was tenebrous. The only sources of light were the two torches that adil and arshad were carrying. I think I should rephrase the previous sentence to one and a quarter torches. The second torch instead of making us comfortable was infact scaring us. The feeble beam of light from that was one of the many things that weren't right that evening.

We were new entrants of the VEDANTA group, Orissa. Ther’s always been a scarce of water at tis part of the world though it had all necessary resources our company needs. The unique feature of the company’s location s that it has been constructed 8kms away frm a dense forest wid a bundle of mysteries… The only reason being the presence of a perennial stream close to it and also due to some environmental reasons. It has been a dream for us to get a placement here and we somehow made it. We stayed in mansion-like building nearly 5kms away from the place of work. We landed in Orissa jus two days before everything happened. It was sankranti holidays that point of the yr. All other workers have gone to their respective natives. We guys felt it wud be better to stay up in the room since we had to settle ourselves in the new atmosphere, also the other 3 xecpt me doesn’t hav anything to do with sankrathi. Whic means we 4 wer the only souls residing at that time. Mind u, animals in the nearby forest didn’t cum under my census.

We had just finished unpacking our bags and necessary items v had brought in for the temporary stay and v felt it was enough for the day. We then had the most digusting food which abdul had bought frm a motel. That day I felt like I was tiredest person in Orissa. I settled myself in a 7ft gap these mansions provide. I was all set 4 a slumber. Memories abt my mom and of course the days in ambattur were going deep inside my head. Cant say it was disturbing. Tat sakranthi, I felt like I was missing lot of priceless things jus for d sake of money. Not only me, but also other ppl working here do have the same feeling sumwher running inside them. Money shu hav been the winner in that race lik in my case and we wer all in orissa coz of that. UNITED by MONEY! Nd for the MONEY!!!

Suddenly a heated conversation among the three brought me bac to Orissa. My eyes were closed, but ears listenin to the other three. They wer planning for a walk, in order to get some fresh air. Jus imagine wat wud hav been goin thru my mind that time. Are these ppl outa ther mind??? ‘v ll leave Uday here, let the lazy goose hav a good sleep’, said arshad….. My heart beat started rising… “wat am I gonna do here??? Alone in an old mansion?? play wid ghosts???? My god! I wasn’t able to imagine… I threw myself out of the place wher I was nd managed a firm statement, ‘I ll join u ppl’ …

I had no other go… adil was able to comprehend my situation like he always does, but he was not able 2 say no to the other two who wer already getting down the stairs.

‘va da chumma poyitu varlaam’, he said with his rough voice.. but even his rough voice fell sweet to my ears tat time..

Not a speck of light anywhere on d deserted streets. Abdul nd arshad wer walkin much swiftly. Adil had to adjust his pace with tat of mine ensuring me a good company. Interesting part of him is tat he listens to whatever I say how boring it may be. Only soul I had in my 22yrs atleast managing a nod in response to every word I say.

A narrow road from the mansion led to the main road. If at all that can be christened a main road.. Some ppl said tat d forest authorities used to take the visitors for a nit safari along the dense forest, earlier. But they hav stopped doing that for the past 2yrs or so. This place was more lik tourist spot before,but now it has transformed into a complete industrial place. " Too dangerous " was the reason given. An evening jaunt on that road is the last thing that the mansion owner encouraged. But still v were four people. And it was only gonna be a short walk. These were the only two factors encouraging us to take it up.

Abdul was the first one to talk comparing this walk to the tamil flick "saroja" where four guys get caught after venturing into some isolated area. We laughed it away. Everyone turned into a raconteur trying to come up wit weird stories to freak out the others. It was really dark and unusually silent for a forest. Generally, u would expect atleast the insects to make their presence felt. But it was so so silent . The decibel factor arose only bcoz of us . All four of us talkin. To the reader’s surprise nd also to d other 3’s surprise I was started feeling very fresh. May be it was abdul’s talk wic really brought me 2 the scene..i increased my pace, asusual adil did nd all 4 were walkin more or less at d same speed. None had the idea of returning, though I had it in d corner of my mind. I even said, y cant we jus go bac… but the other three were pretending as if nothing was uttered by me.

This walk certainly seemed a shortcut to heaven for me. Hopefully, i was destined for heaven i prayed. But the others dint seem to have a problem wit tat at all. Probably

each of the other three too felt the same way deep inside but just wern't ready to say it outside. But i cudn't see that ambivalent feeling of staying back in them. And so, call it shyness to resist , call it rush of blood , call it the quest for adventure in life , I joined
them.

The narrow road leading to the main road slowly came to an end. The scene turned completely different. The whole aura seemed to have changed atleast to me. But soon, did i realise it was the same for the others too. All four of us were waking up the forest with our decibel levels and laughter throughout the narrow road. But this main road got all four of us silent,atleast for some time. The light was slightly better but dunno how, definitely more scary. The road was definitely wider than i one we had trotted by all this while. It could easily accommodate two cars in opposite directions. There was thick vegetation on either side. . Looking forward in thedirection we were walking in, we could figure out a U-turn some 300 -.400 metres away. None of us knew wat lay after tat. It was a blind u turn. We continued walkin but i can assure you that all four of us were hundred times more cautious than five mins back.


Wat if v suddenly hav a rendezvous with a beast ?? someone asked. Running away is the only option the rest replied .V were at a good decent distance now from the mansion and any god damn slow animal wit some 2% killer instinct cud easily hunt us down. Few workers d other day said that elephants were the main source of danger.

All this was running at the back of my head. Wat if something shows up seriusly.. It surely had to be a run for my life, Given my BMI (body mass index) I knew I can never become a usain bolt. Lost in thoughts , another burst of laughter from someone's joke brought me back to reality.The talk kept us going. The U turn was clearly seen now. A perfect U curve but stil none of us knew were the road on the other side lead us to. But v ver sure that there was a road there bcoz v had spotted vehicles taking that route earlier i the evening.
As everyone came up wit sometin or the other to chat about i found a chance to say one of my favourite dialogues from a kamalhassan movie "Bayam illatha mari nadikarathu than dhairyam". Tis comes in kuruthi punal. I thought it was so true. There's no one on earth who doesnt experience fear. It jus how well they conceal that. That classifies them brave .Everyone acknowledged it. But to them there was totally a different guy standin alongside. Jus an hour bac they were about 2 leave me but now they were acknowlegdin my words tat I threw accordin 2 the situation. Tats typical uday 4 the ones reading this blog…:P:P

We were now very close to the U turn. This is where things changed . This is where adil asked me the first sentence of this blog..

Fresh from narrating kamal hassan's dialogue we ventured further. V were on the other side of the U now. It was the same road again. No major change from wat v had been walking thru all this while. Abdul and arshad were five yards ahead. It was pitch dark. And then adil whispered " dont u see something movin there. " I asked adil to come again as i cudn hear him properly. He said it again . Dont u see somethin movin tere pointing in the opposite direction? Abdul and arshad heard that too and they used their awesome sources of light to figure out wat tat was. It was definitely 20-25 yards away. It was a hazy black figure. and ya Adil was right. It was movin . and to add to the crisis it was movin in our direction, towards us.


All four of us stopped. Stopped right where v were. We cud have turned bac and ran but v dint, Cant answer why just bcoz i don’t have an answer. We were stil there trying to figure out what that was. It didn’t stop though. It kept movin towards us and at a decent pace too. All four of us huddled together and then v started to wait. The wait lasted some four to five secs. I can assure you that those four to five secs wer one of the most terrifying of my life. My heart raced. Why are v stil standing here and waiting to say hi to mr.X. , whatever it was. Lets jus go back . My heart urged me to run but i wasnt. infact none of us were. We jus waited.


The sixth second passed and with tat sighs of relief accompanied too. The torches turned useful now. X was only ten yards away and to our relief we spotted only two legs. it confirmed two things. It wasnt a wild beast. The second thing , if you have a penchant for my dear liza, 13 no, veedu and the like, it wasnt a ghost either. Atleast indian ghosts dint have legs. :-). Slowly X began to show itself. It was just a man. A local inhabitant. He wore nothin on top , somethin at the bottom and was carrying somethin. wood, I presumed. He crossed us , looked at us and gave us a weird look. A look which said “wat on earth are u ppl doin here at this time of the nit????
I am pretty sure v scared him too. Or alteas give him ideas. :P:P


That was so dam exciting. someone blurted. EXCITING.!!!! now that it wasnt something else and was just a man everyone had the license to use this word. Shall v go back, I asked . But now that this one turned EXCITING , v continued. Alteas for some distance
more. v continued. the next five mins went in each of us recounting the xperience of the past five mins r so, How each of us felt and wat cud v hav done if it really was a beast . Soon v cud spot a house approaching on the rite hand side. The road started growing narrower and vegetation on either side grew so dense encroaching the road by a good amount. We also cud hear the sound of water flowing somewhere nearby. A river ran through the whole forest and v encountered her many times in various forms at various places.

Another two mins and the sound of water grew very clear. The house was fast approaching too. The origin of the water flowing noise was uncovered. V found a stream of water running through by the side of the road at some distance. Even with the darkness around the fresh froth of flowing water was clearly seen. The house was only ten steps away and it was not late before v found ourselves crossing t. Who on earth found a place in the middle of the forest and built a decent sized house. It was dark. No one seemed to live in it. Seemed as though it had been locked for years. But i guess given the nature of environment any house would look as though t was locked for years. And soon arshad tranlasted my thoughts to a speech form.
He said " indha yedathula yevan da veedu katirukkan". Believ it or not. The instant he said tat a light got switched on inside the
house. A tube light i guess. And it was bright now.


All four of us dint know how to comprehend it. Is tat a ghost. R else is someone living there. We cudn see anyone movin inside. But tere must be someone or atleas somethin which turned the light on. This time automatically v turned. Too high a risk to take, we felt. Even if someone had lived inside and it was someone good , it wasnt worth it having a friend in one of the interior forests of Orissa.

Aftr uttering the above lines I took a step bac 4rm wher I was. It was wen I landed my foot on sum unknown specimen. Adil swiftly brought in the torch light seein me slippin over sumthin… but to our awe, it wasn’t jus a specimen, but a DEAD homo sapien in a blood bath! We all stood speechless wid mouths wide open nd heart beat racin a hundred times more than it normally does…………. And the very next minute we were besieged by atleast ten armed men.

Start music…………………………………..

"Bayam illatha mari nadikarathu than dhairyam"

(To be continued…………………………………)

ThE MaRinA epiSodE

A breezy evening on the shores of the Marina in Chennai. I just love this place. A place of huge significance to me because everytime i go there, it takes me back to those beautiful memories that i cherish. Its famous for all the right reasons and of course for all the wrong reasons too..But atleas to some people those wrong reasons wer right. :-) But this time the trip to Marina was different. Always knew it was going to be different right from the time i stepped my foot outa my house. But never knew that when i head back home , it would leave me with so big an impact that i would sit down the very next day and let my xperience gain a textual form.


As soon as i got down frm my bus near the Gandhi statue, me and my frend walkd towards the shore to find more frends of ours waiting there. Heaps of "hi's" were thrown around. Sometimes ending up saying it to the same person once again. Heads turned to look at the newly born source of noise. A few unfamiliar faces were introduced to me. I nodded assuringly when their names were told only to find myself scratching my head thinking of their names when i looked at them again. The gathering had everyone expected to be present there, all except one. And tat one was a very special person indeed. But soon did we realise she was present there too. Not among us , but at a distance looking at us .but even if one of us looked back at her she would sheepishly look away from us. Understandable embarassement i thought. This person that i am talkin about is special for the very reason that she was a girl. Born in an under-privileged family , where every day poses a new challenge, the way she has managed to wriggle out of the discomforts around her and achieve somethin is admirable. Admirable, a serious understatement , i should say.

Andru:

A month or so ago, Times of India had a cover up on a young girl stricken with poverty, to toil hard and top her school board exams. The article even pointed out to she using the street lights for her studying purposes. And i can guarantee you that anyone reading that article will be moved. And some go an extra step in taking some initiatives to help and encourage the girl. A few of my friends did take that extra step. And i volunteered to be a part of it too. So a few of us pooled in money and got some basic amenities for her. Amenities which, though would get exhausted in the longer run, can serve her short term requirements atleast. Above all we hoped that this would give her atleast a small part of the large dosage of happiness and encouragement that she deserves.

Indru:

And the occasion was to give those things that v got, to her, in person. Her parents were present too.She stood there with her dad and mom and two more small kids beside. Another person had come along with her too . Her uncle i presumed. She looked beautiful to me. Beautiful when i say, i dont mean the physical aspect of it. There was this happiness on her face. A kiddish smile accompanied tat face. I believe a smile is the best make up tat can be worn ever. And tat made her look beautiful to me. She was understandably over-awed by the occasion. A group of 10 to 15 engineering students, around her , and all of sudden she is put into a different world altogether. She was wearing a multi colored salwar kameez , a pretty old one too. She had her nose pierced and had her hair plaited. Her dad and mom stood side by side looking at us , their faces had the word 'Thanks' written all over it. She greeted us with "anna's and akka's" . We gave her the things we got for her. She would have uttered the thanks word a million times. She tried avoding that shy expression on her face but she miserably failed in doing so. I whispered to my friend asking what her name was and my friend replied. Powerful name. A name on the lines of Shakthi in Alaipayuthey , i thought. Then all of us got together and a click sound followed. If u weren’t able to guess what I just tried to explain, I meant the photograph. Her mom was egging her on to come to each of us and thank us personally...She tried doing it but her shyness got over her.. Her dad and mom were narrating their day to day xperiences and their fight with life everyday. But i wasnt listening. The only thing that i kept striking me was tat how did she manage to pull it off.

And finally the time to leave had come.....Her dad and mom had put the word "romba nandri sir" in an 'infinite for' loop. But i am sure that they meant it every time they uttered it. I saw her for one last time before i turned the other way and started to walk. Walked slowly towards bus stop ,but my mind was racing. I was thinking of many things at the same time..This journey back home was one of the most thought provoking i ever had...The first one was how did she crack it...from where did she get the inspiration to do something which is gettin me inspired. How did she get the motivation to slog so much. Especially when the evironment around is so intimidating. I even remembered her fatther tellin that there was not a main line electricity connection to her home. They lived in a thatched hut. Will all this not bog her down. But as a matter of fact they dint.. They infact kindled the fire in her..,the urge in her to study. She was great. ,Probably am blowing this out of proportion but i dont care..To me this is a herculean task . Many brave hearted kids do this .There are loads of articles on these people who use the horrifying circumstances around them intelligently.But this was the first time that i met one. A real achiever. And to see her happy was happier indeed.


As i returned , signboards of Adidas flashing a 40% off sale whizzed past me. And thats when it struck me . How many time have I used a lot more than i used now and stayed a lot less content .. Money isnt it.. Its money that is making the world dance to its tunes .Its money which makes people decide whether they would like to come back to this world a second time or not. Its money that makes life very cruel to some people. Life's irony i thought... A few hundred bucks out of our pockets and we managed to shape smiles on the face of a wonderful deserving girl. And guess wat , it made me happier too.. These few bucks easily are the best investment I have ever made . Forgive me for analysing this beautiful experience from a financial consultant's perspective,. Talking in terms of investments.. Some may even argue that its love which matters and not money. I can firmly say no. Atleast in her case, no. She has wonderful parents by her side doing their best to get her educated. And love can never be scarce there. The only constraint they have , the only luxury that is eluding them is money. Thats wy i say so.....Or probably i really am a money minded guy who propogates the fact that money is everything in life........ Doesnt matter. The bottom line is that a small step from our side made a soul feel better . And am very very happy because of that.

I jus finished reading the above paragraphs myself . Apart from evoking a sympathy in me for those who have endured torture in reading what ever i hav written, I also realised that i somehow managed to not mention the name of the girl throughout. To do so , I ll hav to take you guys two paragraphs upwards. Thats when i started to leave from the beach. Thats when i saw her the last time. And thats when i heard her mom call out "SATYA".

I reached home ... Settled on the chair .... a book, "Circuit theory" written on her head (im sure students confined 2 electrical sciences ll know abt it better).. lyin on the near by table was threatenin me 2 the core...i was staring at the book 4 a while, she had all creepy pictures on her outer jacket .....E p l was on tv ...man united vs chelsea. nO guesses as to what was more inviting. I switched on the tv..I had jus met one of the most inspiring persons i can think of. Her story was so motivating. And my adrenalin overflowed when i heard t too. But now as many of the inspring stories' do ,this story's effect too started fading away. I can only be myself i thought. And satya and only be satya. But u know wat . The inspiration faded. The happiness and satisfaction of helping someone still lingered, and i had a strong feeling that it will continue to do so.

BUS no.4 ( Velachery -> Vec )

It was a beautiful morning. the first rays of sunshine squeezed their way in thru the narrowly opened window of my room. forgive me for the typical bharathiraja start. But soon, its was going to be gautam menon action. The day before was my bro's marriage.. Ceremonies went on till 11. So i was adviced to stay at my uncle's place tat night. The next day i had to go to college. My maths teacher has arranged for a premodel exam, and i surely cant take leave tat day and stand in front of his cabin explaining my situation.. Thats the hardest thing anyone could do in my college.

I'm popularly knwn as "the slow poke" and my uncle was very well aware of tat.. Even in tat tiredness he managed a firm statement ,"if u r late tomorow, you'll miss the bus.. you must get ready as soon as possible..will u? "After i gav an assuring nod he promised me that he'll drop me in the bus stand the next day. I had 2 remind myself again and again that i'm in velachery and not in ambattur that day. because things are not gonna be the same. I hav to get up early( not a big problem) and hav 2 make myself ready in way that ll not disturb any1 who are already tired

(herculean task for a guy lik me).

Before i cud even run the bristles over my teeth properly i found myself on a bajaj motors' product. Checking if i hav all the buttons on my shirt intact, i somehow settled myself behind my uncle who was flaunting his bike riding skills. My uncle's predictions went right, i was late. Late by atleas two mins. But tats all u need. Buses in this beautiful city are punctual u know. I am talkin about the buses run by the colleges which definitely outnumber the government buses here and tat too by an handsome amount.

I was some hundred metres away from my stop but to my agony i found t empty. completely empty. My uncle shifted uneasily infront of me. he just realised tat i had missed the bus. A shopkeeper right next to where my bus stops , gave me that wicked smile. tat "idhelaam enga urupuda pogudhu" smile. He gestured sayin the bus just left. But he added on "sir rendu nimisham munnadi vandurundinga na pudichirukallam". A dialogue always reserved for doctors in tamil movies.I started to hear huffs and puffs from the soul in front of me. Not good signs. My uncle's getting irritated. He has a chauffeur’s schedule ahead of him. But somehow i felt he was making a conscious attempt to not show the irritation on his face.

Now the chase began. I felt like saying ‘uncle, drop me here . ill catch an auto and chase the bus”. But the two soiled twenty rupee notes in my wallet did refrain me from saying so.
The bike took a u turn and we chose the narrowest road in this universe so tat v reached the bus soon. This can surely be compared to one theme park ride when my uncle evades everyone from school going children rushing to school to those early morning old strollers moving at 10km/day discussing the possible political outcomes of the day. My uncle honked but to no avail. We jus avoided crashing into a cycle rider who occupied around ¾ ths of the road but gave an impression as though he was riding it on the pavement. He used his absolutely impressive tamil vocabulary to give vent to his irritation. And then finally finally in the distance, I saw her. There she is, I heaved a sigh of relief. She was shimmering her way thru the hustle and bustle of traffic. The sunrays fallin on her made her look all the more beautiful. The yellow and black combination swathed over her was mesmerizing. Slowly she came close and stopped. "VELAMMAL", It read on her head . Bus no.4 - " well painted good lookin exteriors but the same mofussil bus interiors inside. The conductor gave me a warm welcome, he's getting promoted today i thought. I finally turned to say good bye to my uncle but was horrified to find out tat he was already 100 metres away. Poor man, he ‘s got his own business to do. And then, to my shock the conductor's facial expressions took a turn. He gave me a queering look and asked ‘ Panchetti velammal thaana sir’. Its so odd to hear people call you sir so soon in life but I had absolutely no rights to argue about tat now. I said ‘ no’ . The pleasant look on his face changed. Now there was an absolutely disgusted man standing in front of me. He growled ‘ get down’. ‘the surapet bus is right behind this one. Get into tat.’ Showing no signs of protest I had to get down. Even though both the colleges lie on the same road it is strict college rules not to entertain other branches’ students in some other branch’s bus. I see no logic in the rule but as many of the college rules are in the same vein, I got myself used to adhering to them. The next bus was mine. I double checked t and got in. The familiar face of the driver was encouraging. The funniest part was both d bus had the same number written on the board and velammal " institute of technology" and "engineering college" names interchanged... was it my mistake then to get into the wrong bus???

Somehow, mission accomplished. The already half asleep inmates of the bus acknowledged the arrival of the new entrant with everything ranging from a sheepish smile from the people I knew to a 35cm dia yawn from the ppl I dint know. To whp all gave me a sheepish smile i hesitated to give bac a big smile(wic i normally do) as i didnt hav the patience to xplain the reason for gettin into bus no.4, if the question to my xplanation is to follow that smile. I never understood how people manage to sleep so fast. It’s only been ten mins since the bus started its journey and some were already snoring. God knows how. The next mission was to get myself settled on a seat, so that I get myself ready for the tough ride ahead. Another funniest thing in the college buses is that, the last row of every bus will b occupied only by the seniors and no juniors dare to claim for it. Even gettin a seat in VEC s easy, but not the last row seats. Bus no.4 was not an exception.. all the seniors sittin in the last row had their legs pointing towards the sky. needless to comment i said to myself and began my search for a place.. The window corners were already occupied and I had to run repeated scans to find a window seat. Window seats were crucial you know. During the second half of the journey they prove to be life saving as they provide the much needed air . And finally I did. And hurray it was a lottery. Right at the centre there was an unoccupied window seat.

Admiring my intelligence , I somehow wriggled into the 10cm gap between the two consecutive seats that these college buses provide. Ther wasn't much place 2 land my foot.. my legs started searchin 4 space to position itself there. Shit I scowled. I reached a position where I hit the leg of the person next to me. He shrieked. I turned to say sorry. But that expression on his face. He looked like an angry dog ready to bite ( mechanical student, i guessed) I somehow got the sorry word out of my mouth.

Every bus has a clock I guess, k atleas bus no.4 and no.24(ambattur) does. And the drivers stick to the time on the clock perfectly. Only the previous week had I adjusted my wrist watch’s time to the same time as that on the clock in bus no.24 so that I reduce my bus missing skills. But to my awe, I found that the clock in bus no.4 was four mins faster than my wrist watch’s time . Now I had an answer to why I missed the bus. I wished I could run back to my uncle and tel him tat it wasn’t my fault. But it was too late. How could my situations make me change the bus with a different clock hung in there showin different time and expect me to notice that too. Rude isn’t it??? ‘Experience certainty’ I told myself and closed my eyes……..

POM!! POM!!! POM!!!!!!!!!!!