Mexican Sambar

Remember the time when we used to wear different costumes to the “Fancy Dress” competition conducted in our school/other’s? Golden times – Fun filled and totally mind-boggling! Guess, I was a born actor and may be talented as well, look at my profile, for the roles I’ve played – I once dressed up as Krishna and yes, there was a girl who dressed up as Radha and we both stood against a wall and stood and stood and it goes on…! Cute, she was. Childhood crushes – die-hard. (Have you ever watched a movie Little Rascals ? If not, do watch or place an order to me and I’ll pass across a copy by borrowing it from my friend – We had girl hater’s gang as well!) Next à Played a role as an elephant in ‘Snow White and the seven Dwarves’ with my friend playing Wabbit. Talent à Went around the girl (Snow White) ‘ Ynaaaaaaa… ’. RAW Talent! Then chance beckoned up on for, to play a role of ‘Hanuman’, and this time went around ‘Sai Baba’ like a champ (read it as chimp?!) – people actually said I toppe

At the Station- With a bad network by Hutch, I was unable to contact anyone. Only messages! At the station we found our usual spot and settled there. We had a good conversation going on to keep ourselves away from the jaws of boredom. With a colleague (a woman) I and my college mate were not at ease, we had lots to check out and lots to see and couldn’t do the men’s stuff, so we resorted to SMS. “Check out the girl opposite to us.” “Machi! Awesome babe!” was my reply. Thus, started the discussion of college stories, IITs and so on. I always was of the belief that girls are always behind IIT guys – intellectuals, geeks, high income and always high standards. But our company had different plans, she was not interested in the above mentioned category (Later she proved wrong; she is finally marrying an IITian!). Hmmm… So what do women want? As I was told – “… someone who understands me and appreciates me for what I’m…” And the night went on till the train arrived! Meanwhile there

On one of the regular trips to Madras , we had a company – a young lady – colleague. She too was from Madras and we had booked our tickets together. The basic idea was to give an assurance and be with her as her guard. The weekend went fine and on the return journey we met at the railway station with the lady accompanied by her dad. As the train departed, we settled down and started to chat. As time went the lady revealed a conversation she had with her dad, and it goes as below- Lady: Dad, that’s the person who is coming along and he’s my colleague. (It was already conveyed to dad that this is Mr. Dependable and trustable) Dad (Looks around and spots someone): Is that the person, the shaven head? Lady: Yes, he’s the one. Dad (Thinks for a while – lost in thought): Be careful, do call once you reach! I was flattered! Everyone else was in splits. Another incident where I wasn’t the COA- The scene: I and my Colleague at a hotel to have our breakfast. Waiter arrives.

It's a good thing I use my powers for good and not evil, because quite frankly, I could get away with murder. I'm clever, tricky, and charming. I know how to make you laugh with one hand and pick your pocket with the other. Not that I'd ever DO that, of course... Character Stats: Rogue (13) Warrior (13) Wizard (12) Paladin (5) Your Profile: You're clever, funny, and full of surprises. If you're still in school, you're probably the class clown. If you work, you're probably on the verge of being fired - but who cares? Your job's boring anyway. When it comes to leisure, you'd rather watch cartoons, crash a wild party, or stage a practical joke than have an elegant tea with your grandma. You're not big on being "civilized" or following "rules" such as that pesky "speed limit." Above all, you're a trendsetter and a force of chaos. You see tradition as something to be questioned, structure as something to be topple

Candle light dinners are a common sight, if you hail from Madras. Almost every other night you’ll be having one and that too not in a restaurant but in your house itself. With everything laid and spread out on the dinner table we would sit and pray “God! Please not today, please! Do not bring in that infamous Power cuts again.” And that’s when odds do not happen and neither the miracles, the Power happily dims and dies. And we are left at the mercy of candle lights and mosquitoes. Yes, we do own an emergency lamp, but it works only for sometime as it needs constant power supply to get charged. Once gone, we need to constantly pester the Madras Electricity Supply to send in their Engineer to look into the issue (in house Engineers will not look into it, even though he has a degree in Electrical Engineering, his ideas are elsewhere; in a dream land and a duet with a dream girl - Machi! Kalakkara, yengayo poita po! Orey the Goosebumps! ) Power never returns until the mid-day or the evenin

Kerala – God’s own country! Agriculture: Lush green fields, Tea & Coffee plantations, Rubber & Eucalyptus trees, Bamboo shoots… That’s not all! Makkal and Costume: Men – Lungies are a compulsory wear; Women – Watch mallu movies… ;-). Most of their father, brother, uncle, grandpa or sometimes mommy might be in Dubai. Food: All the items that are available in Tamil Nadu are available here; well after all it is part of South India. But the catch is “Item + Coconut Oil”. Common: Arrack shops, Toddy bars, Brandy shops and finally – Tea-kadai or Chayya shops. Four benches outside the shop and men folks (with their lungies folded till their inner-wear is shown) saying, lazily, “ yedo, a valliya penn-kutty… ” This is a common site after ‘another tea-kadai ’. That explains it. Munnar- That’s where we all headed to – Munnar, a hill station (rightly explained by Alok – a station where a hill is located) in Kerala. After 48 hours of sleepless days, rejuvenation came in the form of a

Time to break shackles- The final statement revealed by anyone who visits this heaven ‘ Shivanasamudram ’ at this time of the year, if one gets lucky! After a month’s break and sweating it out on the cubicles of a darned company, we thought that the time has arrived to hit a place where we can rejuvenate our lost youth during that one month’s break. We had two places on our paper – Shivanasamudram and the other, Gopalaswamy Betta (whose scenic picture later became my program’s input for testing). Time to Beg?- The decider was voted on the basis of time, distance and money (simple math/physics). And Shivanasamudram came out as a clear winner (considering the month-end bankruptcy – I’m living a life of a beggar now-a-days (Guess what?! The total beggars (30lacs) in Mumbai earn upto 180Cr a year. I’m of to a thought of giving my job the boot)) The journey and the talks- We hired a Toyota Qualis for the get-a-way. This time equipped with a good dashboard, an OK player and the gadgets th