February the 14th...

There’s this episode in Dilbert show where an axiom was revealed that Engineers never can get the girls from the management, for that matter any good looking girls! It is either those management gurus, marketing dudes or those converts, who call themselves Technocrats! For Engineers it is always either the next house Kannama, Rakkamma, pinky or some-one; or desperate to know who has taken the seat next to yours in the bus or train (Chart always helps you know who sits in the whole coach!). All you find is Vijayalakshmi F56 or Bhagyalakshmi F75 (Damn!). If you do find F23, then she’s always accompanied by her husband/Boy Friend, who sits right opposite to her and next to you! Or you may find M63 (What the?!) asking you take the upper berth and snores away to glory making you and other such miserable creatures to burn the midnight oil with a laptop and thinking of the next post in the blog! There are the others who walk the entire stretch of the train to find where the figures are! And label the walk as an excercise as they just had their food!

Life is always like looking down the barrel of gun– Engineers.

“…Engineers are not-cool, badly dressed and do not carry the right attitude, work late - return home at odd time, and do not know how to carry themselves (What?! Are we over-weight? Damn! I should not be eating Curd-rice every time…) and dumb! Where as the management gurus, marketing-dude and technocrats are so hip…” says Vadivammal (Who at present works in a Top IT company in Bangalore!) from Arakampatti!

Kadavule! (I’m not calling ‘Saravanan’ from ‘Chandramukhi’, again!)

Here I present a gist of answers when few of the Engineers were questioned about Feb-14^th-

Manager: What’s up for Feb 14^th?
Engineer: What? Do we have another deadline to meet? Don’t tell me, I just finished a delivery yesterday. Give me a break!
Manager: What a jackass?! (Mumbles)

Friend (A Marketting dude): What are you plans for Feb 14^th?
Our Engg: Well, nothing much, taking the day off!
Friend: WOW! That’s cool! Then?
Our Engg: What ‘then’? Mom will be away as well…
Friend: You are rocking (Totally hyped and almost goes crazy…)!!!
Our Engg: Poda DOG! That’s the worst part, no idea as to who is going to cook the lunch and dinner?! I’ll be going to Nanganallur temple, amma told me to, in the evening to tie thread and will be late and thus think I’ve to eat outside! Anyways what’s up on 14^th? Is it your birthday?
Friend: Oh! Gash! Never mind, it is some old bugger’s birthday! Nothing important to you… (Feels pity for ‘Our Engg’)

You can always make out the difference between a college student, an engineer and a marketing-dude!

Yeah! The look at his eyes can say! Drowsy over-worked. Talking about philosophy and life after death… definitely is an Engineer.

The college student and our-enemy (marketing-dude) looks like a stud and one cannot be made out from another!

Even by any luck, you do find a young girl sitting next to your seat in the bus (which was not a dream, but a hard-core reality!), it ends up with the engineer shouting on top of his voice “io! Enna vittudunga!” Let me narrate an incident that happened to our Pongal Pandey - PP, he’s the same guy from the previous post!

This engineer (PP) boarded a bus to Madras and God bestowed upon him a girl (Obviously an IT company TL) in the adjacent seat (PP mumbles “Yes! Yahoo!” and dreams about boasting to his fellow engineers after returning back!). All was well, they had good discussion and as night fell, our engineer slept away to glory! And around 0200hrs, the girl wakes up the ‘sleeping engg’ and asks “What did you do?”

PP (Wakes up and half drowsy, think he’s still sane enough to revert back, checks his position- legs far away from her, hands tightly held close to his chest and there was at least 6 inches gap between him and her; opens his mouth to say): What happened? And what did I do?
Girl: Did you do anything?
PP: NO! (He’s terrified, one more time she says that, he’s sure to have a nervous breakdown and will go to Coma. He’s already thinking about – eve teasing, police station and kudumba gowravam!)

Time goes… the girl speaks (Our Engg who has closed his eyes, but could not sleep has maintained a 12inch gap in that cannot-be-done-in-KSRTC-bus, was about to shout “No not me! I promise to GOD!”) “The guys behind me are doing this. Can you help?”
PP (Cold and thinking “Thank GOD, I’ll break 100 coconuts) Gets up and thinks himself as the Hero saving the Heroine from the villain, heaves a sigh of relief: Let me talk to the conductor…
Conductor (Switches the light and shouts…): Yaaru adhu?
Conductor (Looks at the guys behind the girl’s seat): What are you doing and blah blah blah…
Guys from behind (should be the anti-engineers, I do not want to specify the category!): How could you conclude that it could be us? It could be the person (Our Engg) sitting next to her!

By this time PP was shivering with cold, even though the bus has reached Chittoor and is almost touched TN border and everyone could feel the heat!

Girl: He’s not the one, I know him and it is not him…
PP relaxes and tries to increase the gap between them and falls into deep sleep…

Next day morning, PP puts a big salam and wishes that from the next time onwards he wants the old-loud-snoring-bugger as the next seat passenger!

Will he ever think about dating women (Now, do not fall into the other side of the spectrum, he'll never chose MEN!)? He would probably stick to what his mom choses for him- Neela, mala or some Karuppayee!

Every step we take towards crossing the bridge we end up waiting, till the bridge breaks-down, to arrive at a decision!

So a conglomeration of engineers, technology geeks and other abandoned groups will be held on Feb 13^th to discuss various issues that needs immediate attention. It will mainly focus on strategizing and planning to flatter the opposite sex (Engineers does include women as well…) so that there’s engineering style of everything including the candle light dinner... Seems a good idea, but will it work? We need to wait and watch!

I believe the discussion will waterfall onto the next day, and these engineers will never realize that they have to arrive at a decision. God bless them! Being an engineer is just good to solve issues. We never have the time or thought for the softer emotions! We’ll be like this forever, always lagging behind the hunks – marketing dudes, technocrats and the management gurus.

>Section 377 of IPC prohibits the other opportunities. I have no explanations for them!<

Do we get them? Nay! (I’m not talking about gays, now!)

Wake up it is time to work? What day is this?
February the 14^th! Rings any bell?!
Oh My GOD! Shucks! Oh no… I’m late for the meeting at 0900. And I have delivery by 1900hrs…

You see, the fate of Engineers is already sealed!

At all Women and Men - Give Engineers all the chances... They'll improve some day!

E for Engagement, F for Funeral…

E for Engagement...

20^th January was the D-day that was imbibed into everyone’s mind. Reason – Prem finally deciding that he has grown old enough to take the first step towards wedlock, with Vinu, the first step towards joining the elite club, constituting Anand, Arun and Lathish. He has finally given thought about his graying hair and other aging materials (Yeah, I’m balding too, but have no concern as to what happens to my hair and me as I age, I’m giving no room for anyone to take me down! Be it malapaambu as well!)

Vaday and I duly arrived at 1630hrs, even though we had promised a bit earlier – 1530hrs. Reaching only to notice the rest of the party has not yet started from their respective places. Bob and Muthu were the only dudes working their life out! We both pitched in and helped them a bit.

Makkal started to flow in as time tended towards the muhurtham! All periya thalais were in by the time. And there comes the greatest shock (Should I have to call it a surprise?) – Ash was kulukkifying hands with people (Struck by lightning would be the nearest measure of current that went through me!). Jaw dropped, eyes were rubbed to check my eyesight… everything were indeed proper. It was Ash! Blistering Barnacles!

Then all the fun began – Prem comes near to us and narrates his embarrassing moment

Prem: Guys! Hear this; I’d the greatest embarrassment in my lfe!

All: Enna sollara?!

Prem: I was walking down the aisle and all of a sudden a stranger at some distance says “Hi” and starts walking towards me with his hands stretched to greet me! I was in a fix as my thought was debating between ‘Whether I had never seen him before or I have, but have long forgotten’. I gave it a boot and stood there with my hands stretched to reciprocate. Then the biggest hit! He just walked past me and greeted the person right behind me! While going past me he says “Sorry!” I was like WTF?!

All: ROFLOL!

Then there was the incident involving Bob and Aditi at the Naladamayanthi’s place!

We got to know that Aditi had a dog called Bob. Need I say more on how the discussions went after the above disclosure? It was Bow wow Bob bob Err… bow wow all the way!

Throughout the whole function I was in mixed emotions. As, at once side is the happy stuff that was happening and on the other side was that my Mom’s cousin was admitted in the hospital and was in need of Platelets (One of the ingredients that makes up blood). My mom was in the hospital along with the other cousins… Deeptha helped by asking some of her friends to come forward to donate blood. Vinitha aired it in Radio Mirchi, Bob was ready to come next day to donate, and well I was overwhelmed! I’m glad to have them! They rock!!!

We all played Mafia for some time...

All ended well, I got the info that the Platelet counts (In an adult, a normal count is about 150,000 to 450,000 platelets per microliter (x 10^–6/Liter) of blood.) had increased from 28,000 to 42, 000. I was more than happy!

F for Funeral…

21^st morning was shocking; I was awakened by mom’s shout! She told me that her cousin passed away at 0630hrs (Excessive internal bleeding) and we are to head directly to his place. He was a bachelor and was bed ridden for the past 10 years or so. He had the same syndrome as my uncle - MD (Click here to know more)! It was a bit of a shock for my uncle.

I and mom were in his place in five minutes (It was in the adjacent street). I waited outside for the freezer van to arrive. It was not a pleasant sight to see some one motionless whom you had known for years. I and other cousins carried the freezer box to his place.

Suddenly I was entrusted with loads of responsibilities. Till then I was considered the youngest of the lot and was never allowed or given huge responsibilities! I was nominated as one of the four to lift the body. It is not a proud feeling, but suddenly I was made to grow, the thought that I had to start thinking in a matured way was slightly… (Don’t know what to put there!)

I had a guilt running in me - I never wanted to see him in the hospital, I tried to push it until he came home fully recovered. It was not the feeling of fright or bad. I don’t like to see someone suffer; who till that time was doing well! It too passed, finally I saw him at his place but he’ll never be able to see me! He had suffered a lot and it was time for him to rest in peace…

That whole day, I ran here and there, did loads of work. Went to Kannamapettai booked the 1200hrs electrical crematorium. Then rushed back in time for the final proceedings, lifted him and went directly to cemetery. A ceremony over there and it was time to push him into the bowels of fire! We all saw it: The trolley moved in slowly until it was fully inside the furnace. It caught fire instantly and the gates were closed. 1.5 hrs we got his ashes, meanwhile some more ceremonies, settling dues. From there I took his brother, who did the whole kaarium, to Besant nagar beach to immerse the ashes. It was 1600hrs.

All was over!

Headed home for food.

io! Soru... A.K.A Pongal Pandey!

Soru - One of the basic necessities to sustain the sojourn on this planet! To earn it I must work! How? Robbery – Out of the way, that’s because either I’m not smart enough (Think! Why else should I be a Software Engineer?) or not bold enough to face this society as a proclaimed robber. I could have chosen to hunt, but you see I was brought up as Brahmin ambi (No, not amby!), so that too ruled out. Thus finally ended up being an Engineering (Present continuous…) graduate, which put me into this (No, never am I going to address the IT field as ocean) Maattu santhai – IT industry. Yeah, you guys are right we all celebrated Maattu pongal yesterday (15th January).

Between maadu, pongal and S/W engineer-

• They have horns that are painted with different colours, we have our arse painted in RED-u (Ajith way of saying) due to our sitting posture OR black and blued by our higher ups, clients and employers (Who knows where to aim for when something gets screwed up (Hit here – Bum beating and Calcium Coating.)!)
• A friend of mine who participated in his office Antakshari competition, made it through to the finals (along with his teammates) whose contributin till then was nil, made a surprising move by singing “Mangalu mangalu mangalu mangalu…” . His team mates were elated and so were others, when others were waiting for him to sing the next two lines, he sang “Mangalu mangalu mangalu mangalu…” again (This chap eats Pongal as his breakfast daily) and from that day onwards he is addressed as Pongal Pandey!
• A colleague of mine got a stomach upset due to excessive oorvalam and the bananas they fed him when they took him for rounds, and thus was unable to attend Monday’s office, but surely attended nature’s call!

A baadu, err… slip of the finger, maadu gets a better treatment than us. Ah! Finally I’m returning to the topic – Food!

Maattu pongal was a memorable one. Mid-day meal was at the routine place. Guess what he served us? Verkadalai Sambar! Machan! Athukku bathula punnakum thavudum (As Satyaraj says Thavudu thavudu) vechiruntha maa maa maa –nu kathitti poiruppom! io! As Prabhu says io! Enna koduma sir ithu! (Chandramukhi)

That was atleast OK. Dinner was even worse; we spent almost an hour and a half to spot a hotel or any eatery! All we could find were cows everywhere, decorated with – Balloons! (Vitta rendu kombu-la-yum vazha thaaru kaati panthal pottudu vanga pollirukku! The Hindu’s Monday’s issue showed a Bull walking on fire – Poor creatures tormented!). We roamed around our part of the town to find a place to sit and eat. All we could find is crowd everywhere (Orey janam mama!). Saachu-putanga da! None cooks here, all come outside to eat. io! Finally we decided to finish our dinner at Sri Krishna Sweets – We had 4 Mysore paaku, 2 Rasa Malai, 1 Basundhi and 50gms Paal Kova (80 bucks)! And to finish it off, we needed something hot – Masala Puri! Went to the road side Kai yenthi bhavan and had 2 Masala Puris. It costed only 10 bucks (Yup! Reminds the kakka biryani joke), well nothing of that sort happened.

Only slight stomach damage!

So rephrasing the sentence – naai mathiri alaya viduranga to Maadu mathiri alaya vittanga da!

To be a software engineer is one thing, but to be alone and living away from home, where there’s none to care for you is an issue (Of course there are your roomies, your college mates and other well wishers, but will it come like your loved ones and the special place called home?).

Ellam mudinju pochu!

Ammmaaaaa… Enakku azhugachi azhugachi-ya varuthu!

BOOOHOOO!

Enna ma Gay3?! A.K.A Jolly good tuition days!

As I sit and ponder as to how to fill this post, I went through the previous ones and found that I have an incomplete post- “Enna ma Gay3?!” part. Yup, the post is going to be on the good ol’ tuition days!

@Gayathri: If you chance upon this post in the future, please do not take me wrong! I’m not defaming your image, that’s a promise. And please do not sue me for not consulting you for posting on your name!

@Kicha: The above applies to you as well!

Sorry, guys!

@All: All characters portrayed in the post are not imaginary or fictitious, and nothing is coincidence!

Tuition and Tuition Masters, without them it would have been difficult to cope-up with what was taught at school!

First let’s us attack CSR! Or shall I take him at last? Hmmm… on second thoughts, will save him for the last!

KND

He was our Math tuition master. The initials expand to K.N.Desikachari. Yup! You guessed right: he’s from the old times, strict, fundu and what not?! The process started (as in everyone’s life) when we entered 10^th standard and continued till we completed our entrance exams. But, my relation with him started a long time back. He tutored my mom, uncle, then me and finally my sister. Yes, he was, as the professionals say, in the field for a very long time. Life went great under him. We had good times, apart from the small duration at tuition (compared to the time before and after the drill!).

Gani’s brother (Late) Gangaram, who was living in the parallel street, coming in with reasons for his absence in the previous classes.

One such example-

Sir: “Yenda pona class varala?”
Gangaram: “Vootanda malai, sir!”

Every one of us was on the floor, hearing it! It was just a drizzle…

Another one involving Sir and Ramki-

Ramki (Had the tendency to shake his legs (Hmmm… how do I explain this? Imagine sitting on a chair in a relaxed posture, and moving your legs this way: Spread your legs and then bring it closer (repetitive)))

Sir (Notices this… and says this epic dialogue!):

“Appadiye aatikitte iruntha na, sombu mathiri aiyudum!”

We fall again! That was the dialogue of the century!

Then comes Shri Hari’s favourite dialogue-

Shri Hari, always, cracks the question in a matter of seconds! And on one such occasion sir noticed that he had missed few steps and had arrived at the answer in an alternate way, and says

“Arusi-a nalla thanni-la vadichalum sadham aagum, sewage water-la pannalum sadham aagum!”

The best times were after/before tuition. We played cricket (Had named it Roof Top Club) on most of the days and on other times it may be… (There other times were so small in magnitude that they can be ignored!) Cricket was where all the fun happened, as in the other post, Jayanth shouts after getting out “Pitch-u da!” Those were jolly good days!

Now on to the next page, Chemistry tuition - P. O. Johnson Pattery

This mallu dude, worked in a famous school in Madras, was the happening Chemistry tutor in town. The money he got out of tuitions was so huge that the salary he got from the school can be matched with the pocket money given to kids! At present his main job is tuitions, well, he finally realized that spending 8 hours in the classroom can fetch him only peanuts.

The best part about this page was his accent, his pronunciations and his way of accepting and dumping the monthly tuition fees into his pocket! Two pockets with flap on them. Well, imagine this: He talks and is unaware of the flap and tries to shove the money into the pocket. Well, the whole act is hilarious!

Rajesh Rathod (Thanks maan for the contributions!) has dedicated a diary to preserve the chap’s dialogues. Here, I present those dialogues from his diary,

Johnny: You write, ‘Properties of acetic acid is dhe dhe dhe…’ yeah, you write…

Johnny: Shri Hari, any problem?
Johnny: Yeah, yeah, very very simple…

Shri Hari forgets his pen or it is not writing…
Johnny: Shri Hari, is the pen writing?
Shri Hari: No, sir!
Johnny takes the whole pen stand and passes it over!

On a Sunday morning class…
Unknown (Yawns)
Johnny: Is water Acid or Base?
Unknown (Sleepy): Acid?!
Johnny: (Mallu accent) Yeah, Morning morning you drink acid?!

Johnny: How much is 1calorie?
Amit Shah: 1000 Kcal, sir…
Class rolls over!

Johnny notices that Jayanth has almost hit dreamland leaning on the wall
Johnny: Jayanth, tell me ozonalysis.
Jayanth blurts out something (Other words I do not remember… LN has the best memory, probably I should ask him to write a blog on the same again!) and class rolls.

The way he drinks his tea…

Finally, CSR

C.S.Ravi Shankar, profession: Tutoring Physics [because he is the best in it! Unbeatable! Any questions?]. The post’s title was after his infamous dialogue “Enna ma Gayathri?!”

How and where do I start?

It all started with Vaday telling me about him. And I spread the info to other guys! Before Vaday could realize what had happened, there were half the science students in his tuition! Let me list them out-

• Vaday
• Myself
• Manu
• Dilip
• Shri Hari
• Kicha
• Gani (Went to Pillai as well!)
• Rathod
• Sooraj
• Karthik
• Jayanth
• LN
• Rajesh alias Kalia
• Golan
• Deeptha
  
• And Gayathri!

The count is 15 (did I miss anyone?), which is 3/4^th of the total science population!

The first thing you’ll think after seeing him “Is he a sir?” Well, not that way (Capable?). For his appearance you are sure to mistake him for a student than for a master (Is this what is so advantageous for him?!)

Next on to the centre stage-

I’m just jotting the moments I remember!

Sir is yet to arrive…
Gani and someone are having a friendly quarrel and Gani says “The video boy” (Hey! Do not ask me what it means. Find it out yourself… All I can hint is: It is a Thamizh ketta vaarthai!) at him! Sir arrives exactly at this point and says “Ganeshram, do not use such languages here. If you need to, please leave!”

The day when Kalia and LN acted as CSR and student and sir happened to come in the middle of their act!

Karthik getting caught while copying a bit! Chases him out of the class asked him to bring his parents… After that Karthik never liked him (Or even before that?!)

The numerous photo copies which he used to issue at the end of class (I collected everything and thought of something useful for it, but gash! It did not fetch any money at all!)

The famous incident-
Gayathri arrives…
Sir: Enna ma Gayathriiii?! Eppadi vantha?
Gayathri: Car.
Sir: Yaaru ottara?
This went on for sometime and there was confusion amongst us, finally LN popping with a question: Driver than Appavaaaaaa? Apppooo?

Another one, but this time it is his favourite topic – Vekters
Near his board, keeps his closed fist on the board in such a way that the thumb points at you, and he is trying to explain the direction of the resultant vekter… Forget it. It is hard to explain this part (I’ve completely forgotten to spell vekter! Calling the experts: Vaday, Manu, Shri Hari or Dilip please help!) and says “Puriyalaya pa? Enna pa neenga! io… Feel pannunga!”

Quotes-
Anga yaaru pa satham pannrathu… Sollikittey irukken apporam asingma thittiduven… Vagabonds-u, street urchins-u nu thittiduven pa! (Romba periya kettavartha, yebba! Gani-ya minjitarey!)

Jayanth correcting sir by saying "Two equal halves?!"

CSR’s dog - Arjun!

The days we used ottify Vaday with Priya? When all of us went to Suraj's place to watch In Vs. Zim...

The days we used travel in cycle to all these places and hit bed rather sit and revise!

English tuition – Dedicated to Kicha and Adi!

Oh yes! We did go when we were in 9^th and 10^th. It was not exactly tuition, but more fun than that!

There were

Adi
Dilip
Kicha
Myself and
Shri Hari

And the tutor was Shri Hari’s mom!

We had rocking time! After and before class we use to play Cricket on the terrace…

Or there used to be Adi pulling Kicha’s legs (During 9^th and 10^th, Kicha never had his upper jaw’s front teeth, remember? (Kicha do not curse or plan to take my arse off! We are just making people laugh, yes at your cost!)) by saying “Thoddi”! That was not all that happened between them, they literally fought everyday! One day Kicha or Adi got so pissed off that he showed _|_ to other, Nivi (Shri Hari’s younger bro was watching the whole stuff) was curious to know its meaning, and Shri Hari came in to blast both of them for corrupting Nivi!

Once we wrote a mock exam at her place and the next day at school, the same paper was issued (Actually it was some old question paper given to our senior, and the lazy ma’am never took an effort to change it.). We were all delighted and did well!

As narrated by Adi to us-
Kicha goes to buy some groceries at the famous Ayyanar stores, and the fellow over there returns a torn 100 note, which Kicha happily accepts it (not knowing it is torn), finally he returns again in the evening to return the 100 back. But the dude disagrees to accept it, and what does our Kicha say? Nope, not that! He says “The Video Boy” right on his face and returns home! The bloke at the stores never understood what Kicha said (we all guessed). Otherwise we would have never seen Kicha alive!

Well, that’s about it guys! Have a nice time.

I’m not going to have any, waiting for Kicha and Gayathri to take me down!

Chottu's

Caution: What had happend was not to be mistaken for a Child Marriage!

I totally forgot to write about Chottu’s marriage and his reception! Oops! Chottu got married, so no more calling him Chottu!

Chottu’s, nope Vasu’s, marriage, if my memory has the retaining capacity (I’m sort of a Ghajini!), took place on Nov 16^th. I was supposed to attend it and finally had to ditch it as I could not allow myself to extend my leave (which had already touched four) to another week!).

For the sake of friends and other relatives, he had arranged a reception in Madras. And right away I thought this would be the best way to have a school get-together. So, the D-day arrived and the invitees were flowing in to the hall.

We had bought him a gift – A night lamp with clock!

When we reached there, we were unsure whether the function had started or not, as there were makkal standing outside the hall. So, we too decided to stand and wait for others to arrive.

First to come was Adi, then MD, Manu (Long time no seeing), Bhaiyya and finally Avi and Ranga!

Thus at the reception a small get-together was arranged, the makkal-

1. Dilip
2. Prem
3. Adi
4. MD
5. Manu
6. Bhaiyya
7. Avi
8. Ranga
9. And then me!

Well, including Vasu we were 10 of us there! Shri Hari arrived after I’d left! Bad luck, I left without meeting him!

Vasu’s cousin Vinay was there, some of us (including me) called him and started to talk to him, he had no idea of who we were! He then says “Sorry, I do not know who you guys are!” The bulb was glowing big-time behind all those who had asked for it!

We all went to the Medai, wished and gave him the gift! Vasu had become tall and thin! Whereas MD had grown fat, Manu had one of his upper part of the earlobe pierced (Orey the style than!), Ranga had gone thin, Adi had lost his body, and I was balding! Well, no more school kids! Time was surely racing!

The next was the dinner that was served at 1930hrs itself! We were on it in no time; there was akki-roti, Cashew nut pakodas, Paneer pakodas, Pani Puri, and Noodles! After having them we went for another round of juice.

All of us assembled and had good time together - cracked jokes (mostly on Gani!).

I was getting late for my bus, so bid adieu to all people and then went to Vasu to ask for my leave! He wanted to make sure that I’d my dinner; I assured him that I’d had it!

Well, when I was about to leave, Vinay approached me and asks the same question Vasu had asked me, I answered pointing to the place! Well, he returns by saying this “That was not dinner, it was just a snack, and the dinner is served on the first floor!”

I thought adapaavingala! Ellam mudinja apporam vanthu sollaraney! I had already gobbled up enough pakkodas!

BOOOHOOO!

Five Days in Madras - Part II - Day 5

Day was dull and the holiday was coming to an end! Went and got the 120Gig hard drive which Bala had sent across to me as my birthday gift! Mounted it, installed OS and did the data transfer, but not fully completed! Mean while arranged a meet with Dee at school. So, went again to the paradise to have good chat with her! Maan, school rocks!

By the time I’d returned NB had arrived and we were doing the remaining data transfer from the old hard disk to the new one. But, it hung and gave an error! So we have postponed the copying to a later date!

Dinner: Cauliflower Manchurian! Rest couldn’t end better!

Finally departed to railway station to return the land of work!

Night breaks; Day five over!

Five Days in Madras - Part II - Day 4

Today was another special day- It was my Paati’s Devasam! Devasam is always the best, since it deals with food. In their name we have a feast. Till now you have never found out whether the feast is to mourn their death or to give a sigh of relief that they are gone for good! Think about this: When will you feast? It would be when you are happy about something, but on Devasam?! Oh! Never mind! The day was good!

Mom had prepared cheppang kezhangu roast (mild), Sarkarai pongal, Sambar, Vada and Melagu rasam (Mulagu Thanni = Mulligatawany???) and Vada finally soaked in rasam!
Well, yes, it is mouth watering!

After which, the plan to Besant Nagar beach was on.

My first thing was a walk to Adi’s place where every one was to assemble and start. And there I finally met Diesel after 6 months, he has grown big and strong! Had nice fun playing with him! One hack of a Rottweiler!

On the way Karthik told me about his experiences in the US of A! Being hit by an Afro-American (that’s the way we have address them), chased by two whites from his college to his home (1.5 mile run for his life) and other various exciting things! Talked generally about others and their whereabouts!

Day went great!

Night breaks; Day four over!

Five Days in Madras - Part II - Day 3

Off the bed by afternoon and then watched Mind Your Language Vol. 1. Evening’s beach plan was cancelled. But prior to that there was another plan of going to Bala’s place to rectify the problem in his computer! But later in the day Prem had called to say that there was a beach plan (Me, Karthik, Prem and Adi).

Finally it was called off, and I headed to Bala’s place and fixed his comp. It froze after any application was started and was unable to do multi tasking. So, I first installed the service Pack 2 and then went about uninstalling all the big and unwanted softwares. Well, it solved the problem of freezing, but it took a hell of a time to load! NB asked me to check with the hard disk’s pin (Slave or Master) and also to change the BIOS to suppress the Intel stuff! I need to do that…

Meantime Fatso had called and informed me that he’s in the Airport and was on his way to China! I was lost as I’d assumed that he was to leave only during the end of month! Somewhere I’d mistaken!

Met Karthik after 2 long years!

• He had long hair, hadn’t gone for a hair cut since March.
• Did not have water until he came here – India (Water was costlier than Coke and Pepsi)
• Came here to fix Dental problems!

That’s the gist of the whole conversation!

Night breaks; Day three over!

Five Days in Madras - Part II - Day 2

Yeah! The day was special for two reasons- Mom’s birthday and next I'd cooked Fried Rice after 2 years!

Everything was great, neatly cut vegetables, Gravy prepared separately and side by side (mom) preparing rice with aid from our neighbour (Since rice had to be vadichifyied) I had requested help from my neighbour. If the rice is boiled to perfect temperature it would be soft and easy to be chewed.

Everything went well, I mixed rice and the gravy and the smell was awesome. I also let myself taste it. It was perfect [Oru pana sorukku oru soru patham]!

But as it became cold, I noticed it was going worse! Wait till I explain it-

Everyone sat for lunch [My sis played a delaying factor], and when I started to chew the food, I could not stop chewing as the rice was half baked! Everything was ruined [My mom who had already had the food gave a wry smile]! The process some what resembles what a cow does, but we never followed the process of asay podrathu! Orey gulp, food and water [side by side]. Matter over…

Day ended with helping my uncle to finish his office works, from there me and NB went to Villi to repair the comp over there! It was almost twelve before I could hit the bed!

Night breaks; Day two over!

Five Days in Madras - Part II - Day 1

Unlike the last off, this time everything went at peace, well almost!

First day was dramatic and will stay memorable for years to come. Well, my uncle who is suffering from Muscular Dystrophy, well a form is BMD, which I believe is the one that has affected him. Links-

http://kidshealth.org/kid/health_problems/bone/muscular_dystrophy.html
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/md/md.htm
http://www.mda.org.au/specific/mdadmd.html
http://www.mdausa.org/publications/fa-dmdbmd-what.html

Yeah that day belonged to him. He has difficulty in getting up, so others assist him to get up. That day his uncle (yeah mama thatha for me) helped him to sit and all of a sudden my uncle fell backward (Domal!) and started to moan my name, I came rushing to find my uncle in total drowsiness. I gave him some water and made him lie down again! Time went on and after half an hour I went to check him again. He turned towards to me and asked “When did you come?” I was appadiye shocked to hear such a statement. I was there with him from the time I reached home; we had a long talk on investments and the gift to be bought for my Mom on her birthday (the following day!)! I was tensed and I called my sis, who was leaving for her class, to come over and help me. When she arrived my uncle turned towards her and asked “Where are you going?” she first couldn’t understand, then I explained what had happened! She got tensed and called up mom, who was in school.

This went on for some time, we tried to explain how he fell (Well, he had forgotten that too!). He recollected everything. It was a big relief, machi! Very big burden thrown off!

I was beginning to think on how we are going to survive such a massive blow- He was our think-tank, financier and everything! He has an amazing will power that every one of us lacks! He is the MAN!

That night we were out to buy a gift to my mom, as thought before it was supposed to be a Gold Chain funded by my Uncle! We set out (Me, my sis, NB and Eswar) to Tanishq, but dashed it as it was getting late and headed directly to NAC. There we bought a necklace and headed home and hid it (luckily power was off! Well, it was a necessary evil as I’d also bought Ice Creams).

Cut vegetables and hit bed at 0140hrs! Sis gift wrapped the chain, and I asked her to place the gift next to my mom’s pillow [who now was snoring away to glory]. Next day...

Night breaks; Day one over!

Memento...

The post carries the memories, though jumbled, of my days at school. This post is after a two short visits, consecutive weekends, to school! The first time it was a planned event and Vaday was supposed to accompany us and bugger ditched us at the last minute. Finally, it was just Dee and I who were left to enjoy the reminiscence and carry home nostalgia of our good days at school!

School at night time sure looks better than at the morning hours, or was it just the silent night that did the magic?! No idea, but it was beautiful. It was like the scene from DCH where Aamir Khan sees himself and the others having a good time at their college. I was seeing myself doing that, there and this, here (well, guys picture it yourself!). I'm getting all senti now!

They have connected our Higher Secondary block (some '_KV_ Iyer') with the Middle School by a path from the flight of stairs which leads to Physics lab to the newly constructed block.

That path, and the walk through it was amazing! (What an understatement!) With the shades of the trees from either sides of the path, well I'm not that articulate or poetic to describe the beauty! Probably need a pro's help to write it (Dee?)!

What do I write about?

Should I write about-

• Vaday sitting at the last bench during Suchi's class to solve IIT problems and never give a damn to what she teaches?
• Or SVLN (LaRa or LN) counting the number of 'follow' and shouting "Century!" when Giri says (in her hollow voice) "Do you follow?"?
• Or we go begging for PT to Ajith sir?
• Or LN shouting "Amma" when they play the Mari-atha's from the nearby slums! (This I actually do not remember, since Dee reminded, I've put it down!)?
• Or Gani blowing the polythene cover and bursting it during the English period and we all unite to say "The sound came from nearby construction area", and ma'am deserts the class, leaves to staff room to cry?
• Or the bet between (10th?) LN, Gani and Hari with Bharathi ma'am on jumping out of the window. (Here comes the funny part…) Two of them jump from the shade, but one hangs from the shade and gets caught with commerce ma'am or who was it?
• Or Ajith sir giving the famous clichés – troubled waters, when I spoke to Mr. Gupta…, since because…and much more (I do not remember...!)?
• Or playing Badminton inside the class room and breaking the tube light? (Gani?)
• Or Adi pushing Aejaz onto the window pane, breaking both Aejaz's head and the glass?
• Or getting suspended because we bunked GS or GVC class and went for PT?
• Or switching classes during our 10th std's workshop (Learning Experience?)- Mridangam, Art and (?) as we never brought the materials for the Art class?
• Or Manu being mistook for a 'thug' by the a replacement-temporary-physics-ma'am who goes by this name Su(Zoo)jatha (this ma'am is not from the middle school, but was specially inducted to replace Suchi during her maternity leave (wonder how many such leaves she took?! Hmmm…)?
• Or Hari and Aejaz's spittle, family damaging (demeaning) fights? For that matter any fight including Gani always ends up with our family being totally damaged!
• Or flicking Kit-Kat from Mummy Daddy or Stickers from the road-side sticker shops (Gani?)?
• Or (this is the best) LN shouting "Suchi, I love you?!" during one of the lab classes when she was teaching the Spectrometer (Is this the one which deals with Prism?) or something like that?
• Or Dili's Thayir Saadham, Rathod's Dhokla, MD's Briyani, Vasu's Chappathis?
• Or Sooraj's Volley ball services?!
• Or me cursing Karna house (I actually went and broke a coconut at the Iyappan temple so that Karna house loses the volley ball match against the Abhimanu house?!)
• Or makkal roaring when Swetha wore an Adidas T-shirt and came to class, straight after practicing?!
• Or Shri Hari and his cashew nut actions (Mundri kotta)?
• Or Jayanth and his stupidities?
• Or Rathod or Karthik (I do not remember!) drawing a _|_ as part of greeting card design competition and Gita ma'am having a look at it?
• Or me dropping the catch of Madhukar at the Cricket match between Bhishma and the Arjun house?
• Or Bhaiyya's lunch at his home?
• Or Varun's Basha style at the culturals?
• Or the salt analysis days?
• Or Bheeshma beating Karna by 2.5 points (Who were the clear winners?) and taking away the Patabhiraman shield?
• Or Manu taking the prestigious "Best Captain" award (in memory of our senior - Avinash)?
• Or the rumours, gossips and ottifying that constantly went around our class (which I was unaware until I graduated from college)?
• Or those march past days?
• Or Midterm, Quarterly, Half-yearly, Annual, Topper's Exam, APSE, Board exams?
• Or running around the ground for coming late/wearing untidy or not-polished shoes?
• Or (How can I forget this?) vandalizing the physics and chemistry labs just before the 10th practical exams?
• Or Karthik's lunch getting over as soon as he enters the classroom?
• Or Gautham getting ragged as whiskey boy, he then complains about it?
• Or MD slapping Koshy?
• Or changing 3 uniforms in 3years- 10th, 11th, and 12th?
• Or Suchi and AIMS coaching classes?
• Or Arjun house's Basketball talents?
• Or Bheeshma losing the triples Volley Ball match?
• Or the number of sessions with princi?

This is all I can remember, if anyone can think of more, please do add them as comments [below] or Shout! I want to treasure this memento! I tried looking for anything that we'd left behind. Well, I couldn't find any. This is all I could collect, a picture of the classroom!

Though not an active participant in all the fun, I thoroughly enjoyed those wonderful days with all you guys! Thanks a million for everything, hats off!