Life in a Metro....

Recently i had been to New York City...the Big Apple....the financial capital of Uncle Sam...one of the victim of the 9/11 terrorist attacks...standing there by the waters edge riverfront i could imagine how the twin towers would have dominated the NY Skyline...i was really amazed by the well planned and constructed Subway system which not only runs through New York but also Connects to New Jersey...people running like crazy to catch the train fittingly called the Metro...here life is on the fast lane...get up around 10 when the alarm goes off...putting it to snooze..i fall back into the bed and after 4-5 snoozes and an hour later i unwillingly get up...head straight into the restroom....brush...bath....and come out and do my prayer...and grab a glass of juice...gulp it down and look at the clock and start running as it is getting late for my bus...life is on the run...just like my life back in Chennai...the picture is slightly different as it is not the alarm snooze but mom and dad taking turns to wake me even before the sun was out cuz i was getting late for my office(yes office i used to work the early morning shift...mostly 6:30...sometimes 4:30 sometimes 5:30). A quick shower...gulp down the coffee and off to work...10 hours later am just itching to leave the office...with the same hustle and bustle i dash out...get into my car (parked in spot 127...incidentally even today after 2 years the spot still bears my name call it bad information management or whatever!!!)with the stereo switching between "Hey Goodbye Nanba" and "Honedo Dil Ko Fanaa" i race along with one hand on the steering wheel...the other busy on the cell phone dialing in a friend to talk on the way home...even though it takes me only approximately 8 mins to reach home (mount road to mylapore in 8 mins impressive aint it!!! yeah i just litreally fly....)i just recount the day with the friend...then decide what i would be doing the rest of the day...and getting to know the other persons idea of the perfect evening...i hang up as i pull into my parking garage...home atlast....

as i enter...mom is all ready with some good old home made lunch...it just takes a nod from me for her to go into the kitchen and mix some rice and sambar put some vendakai on the side and bring it to me....while am already on the sofa in front of the TV where i plan to sit for the next 2 hours atleast....tuning into the cartoon channel(yea cartoon...so what if am 25 who said cartoon is only for kids!!!). it is almost 7 when "endendrum punnagai...mudivilaaa punnagai...." rings...no its not maddy singing but a friend calling me on my mobile...while he would have heard me singing "ninaithu ninaithu parthal nerungi arugil varuven..." instead of the boring tring tring....i jump out of the chair...a quick face wash...i first run the comb then my fingers through my hair...wollah all set for a night out...the car stereo starts where it was left hanging but now plays couple more songs since it is crowded and it takes me a while to reach sangeetha in mandaveli...where i patiently wait for this friend of mine....who left from his office about half an hour ago but still isnt here...when i just start to get suspicious whether april fool's day came a bit early this year...he drives into the parkway in his super duper honda...not the accord or the city but his activa....we hit the tables...order some sambar vadai...pav bhaji...a masala dosa...an a paratha kurma...while we hogg on this inviting array of items we just chit chat about evey tom dick n harry that we can think of...even the president is not spared...then comes a more serious topic our past present and future...finally its ring ring time again...this time its "ennai konjam matri....from khaka khaka..." n my mom is on the line...really curious as to where i am....a quick glance at my rado shows that its way past 12....no wonder mum called....assuring to meet him online in about ten fifteen minutes i bid adieu to my friend and head home...this time trying to beat the stereo...well i had this freaky habit of trying to reach my destination before the third song finished....(not all destinations ofcourse...but since this was a short 10 min drive...i knew i had a fair chance of making it)....9 mins down and just 2 songs had finished when i park the car into the garage after doing a bit of a circus act....first take the car wayy forward then put it in reverse and get it into the garage...i had quite perfected the technique...not even our driver could do it as fast as i could...once that was done...i head upstairs...straight into the computer room...where my PC is waiting for me....i sit around chit chat some more with people on yahoo...play a few rounds of yahoo pool...cursing my bad luck when i lost...i finally feel its time that i hit the bed to get atleast couple of hours of sleep...checking on the alarm clock i finally hit the bed and call it a day...well night...well midnight...no actually daybreak...cuz in a few hours...mum would wake me as i have a 4:30 shift...

An then there is this Life!!!

Learning is a continuous process. You either know things already or you learn them. The best learning method that i have found is known as "Experentia", it is the art of learning things through experience.

Sometimes we learn a lot of things at the least expected places...realize some things which seem pretty simple pretty late...it ranges from something as simple as a smile to a "hi" or a "good morning" to a fellow pedestrian/traveller, now think how a small smile or two simple words "Good Morning" would change the other persons mood(It has happened with me many a time that my mood has taken a U-Turn cuz of that gesture even though it is just out of courtesy!!!).Think how many times have you said "thank you" to the Pallavan transport bus driver/conductor for getting you safely to your destination(something which i do here every single time when i use the bus)...do we even look behind us let alone hold the door when we walk out(something which is like a routine over here)...these are all pretty simple stuff which i guess people should do everywhere...the feeling of making someone's day is the best gift you could give that person...The thing that pains me the most of the things that i have realised....for the past 25 years amma has cooked my meals every single day...made sure that she makes the items that i like...they taste delicious...how many times have i appreciated her food(here when i cook i expect my friends to say it is good...tastes great...good job an stuff!!!)....i never even realised what amma thought...was she waiting for me to say "amma urulaikizhangu super....sambar atagasama eruku....rasam nalla eruku....parupuoosli A one!!!" was she ever disaapointed when i never said a word about the food but just came sat ate and went off(Like Julius Caesar..."he came!!! he saw!!! he conquered!!!")...Thanks Mom!!! you are the best....and Happy Mothers Day.....

paying bills regularly is a big headache...keeping track of em is a bigger headache....now i realize how dad might have felt every single time he sat an calculated the electricity bill for all the 3 meters...the water tax...telephone bill...etc...etc...etc...never did i even bother to ask him whether he needs any help with those!!! this time when i go home...am taking care of the bills....

an last but by no means the least...Grocery....mada veethi la poi to get karikai is like a big no no for me...but here....every ten days go to walmart and Indian stores...stock up on food during finals week...make sure to make a list of items that i need so that i don't forget to get it when i go....see which vegetable i need...whether it is fresh or not...how to cook it how to store it....man...appa and amma are just great!!! something which i got fed up doing for the past two years...they have been doing for the past 25 years...and not once did they resign....

Like i said...life teaches you things...things that you may sometimes find in books...but teaches them just a bit better...through experience...makes imprint in your heart that can't be eroded by the sands of time...Imprint of the finer things in life that make a world of difference...

Those days!!!

There i was parking my bike outside foodworld... climbed the stairs...took a right and went into a room full of strangers...not knowing how i am going to spend about 8 hours a day,5 days a week, for the next 2 years of my life....who among them would i get close to and hang out with...who would i have a crush on...who would i fight with...who would completely detest me....with all these questions lingering on my mind i stepped into the room for what was my induction ceremony of my double masters degree.

Its been 6 Years since my program director took our first class....there i was in the last bench...sitting next to this guy from a place 540 km south west of chennai (Thanks Wiki)....who had a background in physics and had a mad passion for bikes and cars...a champion at racing...made me wonder what is he doing here??? he had this very unique looking samsung phone with him which had these funky looking backlits...aqua...pink...blue...i had never seen such weired choice of colors....

An then there was this 'jim carrey look-a-like'...who seemed very soft spoken...later i found out he had this abnormal craving for juice,a connoisseur of lil shrubs and grass, this guy can survive on jus a can of tropicana for a whole day...i stood dumbfound looking at this guy guzzle down the liquid as my mind wandered "does he ever eat any proper food??"

then there was this female sitting all alone behind me...seemingly lost in her own thoughts just like me...now my instinct kicks in...i reach into my pocket n grab a pack of spearmint...an ask her if she is interested....no...that was her first and only word...

A quick glance around the room....one corner i see a big guy...seeming completely disinterested in the class scribbling something in his notepad....another guy a ring in one ear,chewing a gum, was seriously trying to pay attention to what the prof was sayin....there was this other guy seemed all too interested in what the girls sitting behind him were giggling about...then there was this other female who was the epitome of attention trying to take notes....an then this other guy who just seemed so out of it that he was probably daydreaming by now....

time just flies when your are having fun...before i realized it was lunch break.....we all kinda sat together....trying to share what we had and for a while it seemed as though it was going to be all ok....suddenly it din't seem all that strange....the strangers about whom i was so skeptical suddenly seemed friend material...may be this was going to work out after all....


Days passed....fun was in the air...we were having a ball....our so called gang was nice and big....people sharing things with each other talking,laughing,hanging out....basically having a good time....all seemed too good to be true...

then as quickly as things got good it all changed one fine day...suddenly people seemed to ignore me...lunch table became a place where i had to see peoples back...like as though i no longer existed for them....the thing that was irksome was that no one was telling what the issue was...being the way i was i just chugged along my merry way not letting things change who i was...

as the semester came to an end....so did my ignorance....nothing would have prepared me for what i was about to hear...the issue was of much bigger proportions than i had imagined....started with a basic misunderstanding....someone telling things which i never uttered...another guy saying i did something which had never ever even occurred to me even in my wildest dreams...an then this other guy went about digging my grave right under me....i was shocked to hear... only one question lingered on my mind...and it probably does even today....all this had a simple solution a question face to face would have solved it all...but thats life....sometimes things which seem obvious just doesn't happen....

Life indeed was not the same...and would probably never be the same...As they say all that happens happens for the good....what came out of all that misunderstanding was that i realised what true friendship was....i realised it doesn't matter how many are with you when you are having fun...all that matters is how many are there for you...it got me closer to people who i am close even today...yea...its been 4 years now after we got out of the place....am still in close contacts with those two guys...am thankful to god that whatever happened actually happened...because if not for those things i probably would not have got two dear friends who mean nothing short of the world to me...guys who i miss everyday....guys who i know are missing me too...

looking back today sitting in a place full of strangers...again wondering who among these would i hang out with....who among them would get a crush on...who among these guys would detest me....seems all so familiar....the only difference is....now am prepared....am ready to face anything....am sure whatever happens is not make a difference to me...if not anything else it is only gonna make me stronger...if things are gonna be like what have been happening for the past one year...i just cant wait to go back.....an i would have no issues of missing people all together....

Nostalgia-Series 1

Some of my Favorite songs....old is definetely gold...gosh some of these songs are as old as me but they still make you swing....

hope you like em too....

Series -1

'Skinny' the Pencil

At the wake of dawn On a cold winter morning, the Pencil Maker was giving the final touches to what was gonna be his last pencil. "this one is going to be special, what can i do to make him be the best of em all" he wondered. He decided to call him skinny for he was as 'skinny' a pencil you could ever see. With One last cut, the pencil maker was done and then he said "there skinny....you are all ready to go out into this world", but before you go i got something to tell you come with me" and took him aside.

said the Pencil Maker "Now before putting you into the box and send you out into the world There are few things you need to know,always remember them and never forget, and you will become the best pencil you can be".

"what are those things dad" asked skinny

"i will tell you my son" said the pencil maker, "the first thing is, You have the potential to do great things, the things that you dream of,but,you can do them only if you let yourself to be held in Someone else's hand".

"You will experience a painful sharpening from time to time, Don't worry,it is for your own good. withstand it and it will only make you a better that what you already are.".

"Three: Not everybody gets this chance but you will be able to correct any mistakes you might make."

"Four: Never forget that the most important part of you,is and will always be what's inside you."

"And Five: You may be used on any surface, some might be hard, some might be soft, some might be colorful, others may be a dull old white, but whatever you are used on, you must always leave your mark. No matter what the condition, you must continue to write and never give up."

Skinny understood and promised to remember, and went into the box with purpose in his heart.

Now its your turn to understand and promise to remember this parable on Skinny the pencil.

Mirror Mirror On the wall

Mirror Mirror On the wall....who the fairest of them all....no this is not an ad for fair and lovely but this is from 'snow white and the seven dwarfs'....

we see the mirror everyday...Have you ever looked into the mirror and all you saw was yourself,trying to be what you want to be instead of what you really are!!!

Your World Upside Down!!!

Life comes at you really fast...sneaks up on you when you don't realize...everything is going fine and then suddenly your whole world is upside down....the days seem long....summer feels like winter....you start skipping meals...and what not!!!...no this is not just cuz u r in love...this could also be cuz its exam time...and you are stuck juggling between 4 final exams...3 research paper presentations...20 hours of work...and 2 group projects....all due in a couple of days....???

Been there done that already??? Let it out here!!!