Mexican Sambar

Dec 30 th Bangalore/Bengaluru* Yes, I had become one (NO! Not self proclaimed, but was made into one!). After a hectic jobless week in the office, Friday was a welcome relief (Mmmm). It was the last working day of the year and Sunday would welcome New Year and I was on my way to Madras to celebrate it. Life couldn’t be better- I was on time to the railway station to catch my train, tickets booked months in advance, I’d bought all the items my mom had asked me to, the activities for the weekend were perfectly scheduled. Well, just like my LG laptop, Life’s Good! Everything became hazy or feel good factor waned away when a handicapped beggar arrived (The bugger who cleans the floor for alms). I was in no mood to donate or rather remained aloof about the whole issue of giving alms (Well, the debate of whether to contri...

I'm not attaching any pictures; it would make the post awful! When I was a kid, my mom always insisted on using the ‘ thengaai ennai ’ to keep my hair healthy and neatly combed, but heroes never used them, so why should I? Always fascinated with long hairs, I thought I should grow too and have them bouncy kinda stuff! Well, it was only a thought and remained so forever! Our bram-families always advise to have long hairs, but you notice them only among kovil gurukals, and it always used to be tied and neatly combed using thengaai ennai. Also they would shave their front part of their head (or are they bald?). No idea why they do that! Guess, I’m deviating from the topic. If I’d to grow hair, I should be like them (similar to Ambi ) and not like Remo! All set thought I can manage and started growing, but after few weeks I noticed that I couldn’t style it! Reasons: Certain areas were not-dense, curling and OMG! I was balding! People can never come in terms to associate me wit...

About a month ago, we moved to a newly built apartment-kind-of house (The previous one was a godown!). It was new to-be finished with almost 90% complete. And in that street there were lots of kids with a passion for gully (and not this ) cricket, like all of us had. On a Sunday when I was up at the terrace washing clothes, I chanced upon eyeing the game they were playing. The whole preparation and executing reminded me of my school cricket days! Preparation: One of the hunks goes from house to house, in a cycle, pulling out each kid. At one such instance, one of the kids emerged from the balcony and mimed that he'll not be able to make it (Remember those days when we used to say the same thing, with our mom/dad at our back and seeing whether we'd completed our homework(s) before we ventured onto the streets with a bat?!). He was miming that (It is a disadvantage/pity that I could not show the whole process. Hope you can run an imaginary video in your head or reminiscence of a...

Destination: Planet Fashion, Jayanagar 4th Block, Bangalore, India As a routine of a regular walk to Jayanagar (for a cup of coffee), me and another colleague headed to Jayanagar Cotha's Coffee Shop. After a steaming, refreshing cup, we headed to, main part of the journey, Planet Fashion. My colleagues who is leaving to US this weekend, was in need of a apparels. The hunt was on, but I found a place to sit at the corner of the showroom and after a few minutes on the mobile, I heard someone speaking in Bram-Thamizh and it was a kid's voice! For sometime I sat there listening, intently, to what she was saying. She was talking about selecting some particular colours which her mom was picking for the kid's dad. From another end I heard an old lady, talking in Bram-Thamizh accent. She was pleading to the child to stop roaming and have the food which she was carrying around - "Konthey (Not kozhanthey !), vaadi vanthu saapudu di. Vaadi konthey!" (Child, come here and hav...