A weekend in Hyderabad!

Before I start a disclaimer - this blogpost is to address the ones who have this custom of asking me on the mondays, tuesdays and wednesdays about what I did over the weekend and on thursday and friday what I will be doing in the weekend that follows. But this middle class guy neither has a girl friend, nor does he booze or party. So this may not have anything spicy! ;) This would just serve as a template that will let you know precisely what I will be doing at any instant of during the weekends. And to remind myself of this weekend since I had more than one happenings that I would like to remember longer. (But no confessions here ! This will serve as a simple reference for myself to remember them)

Day1:
I was in the office when the weekend started. At 12, I had just started running to catch my cab. After coming home picked up the "Five Point Someone" that I had bought from the next desk at office. And read till 2 PM and slept with the lights on. Woke up at 4 to switch it off! And there started the journey to the lands of the dreams that went on and on and .... on till 12 next day! :) I had already got a message and a missed call then from home!

Ok.. So thats the start of the weekend! The day had started, weather was perfect to continue my session, but the hungry stomach had to be answered. Ate as much as I can, infact a little more than what I can and continued the book from where I left. The plan was to start to office at around 4. But I managed to complete it at 5:30 and was in no mood to go then. Ahh.. :( Bad (Ratings for the book: 2 + half since it kept me bounded to complete. But I think "Above Average" was better!) Just then I remembered the day's quota of water hasn't rinsed me yet. And after a fine hot bath, was hungry again. Made an invite for a pani puri visit. With pani puris no matter how much I eat I always feel I have eated a couple lesser than what I should have. Came back, whiled around surfing net and did dosa for myself (this is worth a big post!) and decided that I should get ready for Dark Knight. Watched the "Batman Begins" ;) Man.. it was too good and fit enough to be at IMDB 100. Slept at 2. Well I think this should have been part of day 2 but lets have it here for completeness :)

Day 2 :
I never believed I could wake up so early on a sunday! 7.45 and I was off the bed. Noticed that power had went off. Yeah, I belong to the breed that cant sleep without fan even for a single minute! No matter how cold it is I want the fan to be swinging at its full speed :) So there we are off to the 10.30's show at 9.30! (Between this I slept again till 8.30 after the power came again. :) )
The weather was pleasant and we were there in time for the show!
At the end of the 2 and half hours we were awestruck. It was worth the bucks spent! Came home and compensated for the lost hours with a siesta that lasted for more than 4 hours!

Went out as soon as I woke up to eat. You must taste those sambar idlies of Ruchira! Hmmmm .... I love them. That's prolly the only place in this entire city where I find myself eating some good food. Was caught in rain on the way! I must tell you about the auto trips here! They carry minimum 5 and a max of even 7! Ugh.. But that continues to be my transport mode now :)
Came home watched Kungfu panda(again) for the Po toy had tempted me a lot and slept at around 1 !


[I have delayed this by a week, the lazy bum is now finding it hard to write blogs! I have a month old draft still incomplete :( ]

Mocking bird

I wanted to revive my blog for quite sometime now. And today I did a lot of blog-hopping and was wondering if I would ever start writing again.
And then I picked this tag from my favorite prater for it was interesting, and I don't have to think much to write this.
Things I did before starting this blog:
Downloaded most of my favorite songs that I am listening online these days hoping they would somehow suit as a good answer for some of those questions.
I have no winamp, and the new windows media player is not playing most of my mp3 songs (but that shouldn't be a problem with the media player i guess ;)). Had to settle with real player
Also was telling to myself I should reshuffle if the song doesn’t suit the question or overly suits it ;) Will keep track of the reshuffle count as well :)

So bang er.. click. Let the player play…

If someone says “is this okay?” You say?
Bingo.. Didn’t expect this.. !
“In the end… it doesn’t even matter” - LP
OK, I accept this was the first song and I decided not to move to the next one since this prolly is a perfect answer :)This question reminds me of the “Unnale Unnale advice”

What would best describe your personality?
“Endrendrum punnagai …” – Alaipayuthey!
He he he!! No comments :)

What do you like in a guy/girl?
“Newyork nagaram urangum neram …” – Jillunu Oru Kaadhal
Wow! That’s my caller tune. Was real player trying to tell that someone who would make me feel like Surya is the one I would like!

How do you feel today?
Bailamos… Enrique
Not really! Today i was sleepless but for other reasons! No parties :(

What is your life’s purpose?
Do you know.. ? Do you know? … Enrique

I don’t’ know! :)

What is your motto?
Ondra Renda Aasaigal .. ellam sollave oru naal podhuma .. Kakka Kakka

That was very apt! :)

What do your friends think of you?
En anbe .. en anbe… - Mounam Pesiyadhe

Agh.. Really??

What do you think of your parents?
Whatever you do I’ll do it tooShow me everything and tell me howIt all means something and yet nothing to me
- Strangers Like Me - Phil Collins

Wow! I have just become Tarzan :)

What do you think about very often?
Uyirin Uyirae - Kakka Kakka

Hmmm .. Something fishy here. I thought no one can read my mind ;)

What is 2+2?
Eguri kuthithen … Vaanam idithathu..

Maths lam varathuppa ! ;)

What do you think of your best friend?
Uyirilae enathu uyirilae.. Vettayadu Vilayadu

I like this song a lot. The initial sounds are so good that I used to hear them again and again

What do you think of the person you like?
Santhosha kanneere.. Uyire

Wow!! How true? :)

What is your life story?
Tired of being sorry.. - Enrique

Hmmm.. Interesting! I think i should take a relook at life story

What do you want to be when you grow up?
Jana gana mana.. Ayutha ezhuthu
[Returned from dinner and started it fresh. :) So took the liberty of having my first song !! :D]

What do you think when you see the person you like?
Adiye kolluthe… Varanam Ayiram

Wow! Wow!!

What do your parents think of you?
Paartha mudhal naale… Vettayadu Vilayadu\

I pity them, they wouldn’t have believed then that this little kid will trouble them like hell! :)

What will you dance to at your wedding?
Lajjavathiye..

Hey… ! I would love to dance for that! :)

What will they play at your funeral?
Show me the meaning of being lonely… Backstreet boys

He he he!! I am wondering what the reaction will be if I wake up and say, “No, who said you are lonely”

What is your hobby/interest?
Vellai pookkal ulagam engum malarattum – Kannathil Muthamittal

No.. Am not interested in gardening! ;)

What is your biggest secret?
Suttum vizhi chudare - Gajini

There are bigger secrets than this ;)

What do you think of your friends
Valiye Valiye en uyir valiye.. Dham Dhoom

Clarification – Valiye here stands for air, Uyir valiye – Oxygen

What should you post this as?
Mocking bird – Eminem
I am sure no one is going to understand anything from this title.

Hmmm.. Nice exercise ;)

7even

Long back the austere mind was tagged
So long that no one remembered
Not even the one who had left it here
Until this day - when the austere mind finally decided
That now is the time to list why it is indeed weird!

1. A cricket maniac:
Ever since I knew who I am, I have been watching and playing cricket. Not many of my age would have started then. I have been following cricket for the past 16 years or so. There was not one moment when I lost interest in cricket. My love for cricket has matured. I watch matches irrespective of India wins or lose. I am prepared to take India’s losses the way I handled my failures in exams. But I do support India till the last ball. But if the opponent is an Australia or Pakistan, well I will go uncontrolled ;) A maniac indeed!

2. I believe in enjoying this very moment. Be it getting drenched in rain, playing cricket for hours together (ofcourse I need my share of bowling and batting ;) ), enjoying the cool breeze on a drive, chatting non-sense for hours together, … I don’t want to miss any of those

3. I give a lot of importance to individuality – a lot.

4. I won’t tell people to do things that I don’t do. And I abhor people who ask me to follow things that they don’t do.

5. I don’t build walls around myself but I would love others to respect my privacy as much as I do theirs. I stand by point 4 here. ;)

6. When I sleep, it’s pretty hard to wake me up. I don’t have the habit of scowling at phone calls that I get when I am asleep. I go to a state where I don’t even realize the phone ringing. I consider this as a blessing – not many are blessed with peaceful sleeps you see ;)

7. I make sure I don’t reveal much about me to everyone ;) Not everyone gets to know about this austere mind!

So there ends the list…

I hope I have served the purpose of this tag!

I wonder if I could tag another seven! But if you are interested in telling the world about yourself – why not tag yourself ;)

I shall try anyway :)

One more to avoid the void!

This is perhaps the most straight forward title I ever had after I revamped my blog. This is just to fill the October block with an entry. Long time since I scribbled something. Everytime I travel I had thought about a few hundred for this blog but I was just pulled out by lack of something to jot them down here.

Let me try to get a few things that happened in this one month.

I moved to a new team and started working er.. doing something that may or may not be called as work.

I had remained away from home much longer this time. 3 months! Am leaving this friday and can't wait for the day to dawn. :)

I became older by an year - The year that had gone past was the most uninteresting year of my life. At times it made me feel so incompetent and moving without knowing the path ahead. There were plenty of occassions when I came to consciousness and realized that I am literally doing nothing.
And more and more to whine on why this was not a great year for me.

Hoping things get better soon.

And fill the void in my mind ... And make me better!

Wish you all a Happy Diwali!

Cheers!

Water...

It's raining... and raining for days together, raining the cats and dogs, and now raining everyone in the world. The melting Alaska and Antarctica are doing no good. Meteorological Department has predicted that this will continue for the next few months. All the omens are finally shaping into a cold reality.

The situation is the same in most parts of the world. Very few regions which do not have any water bodies in its surroundings remain as lands. The water lord is on a roll, as if he will never be slaked by what he has got, he has usurped most regions of the world.

The regions near the sea shore and oceans were gulped in by the fierce waves. Other regions are being flooded with water. The regions closer to sea are facing the crisis of being taken in completely at any time. Water level is on the rise.

It's water, water everywhere.

Efforts are on to reclaim the land. Ideas ranging from propelling water into earth, out of earth and vaporizing them altogether are considered.

Life is no longer the same. People are finding hard to live in the new water world. Growth of vegetation has come to an abrupt halt leaving the gourmets all over the world in a deep struggle. It has given rise to new forms of eating habits, feeding on food stuffs made of see weeds. The victuals that remained were priced at sky rates making them unaffordable.

Small ferries have taken the place of other means of commuting. Now, every place in the world is just another Venice.

People have started moving to higher floors of the apartments. I should thank the stars for letting me live in the fourth floor. And the genes for having me close to 6 feet. City is immersed in a 3 feet water. And at places it's even more. Power supply has been completely waned out to eliminate loss of lives.

Now, I can't bear this excruciating pain more. I am hungry! I leant up from the bed searching for my water proof suit. Now dresses worn are mostly of this ilk. It's quite a routine to see a star featuring in a daily advertising for a garish branded swim suit. When I reached the ground I couldn't find the regular boat that wanders in our apartment. Someone else might have boarded it. I can't wait.

I stepped into the water and started moving. It was more of walking than swimming. I had learnt swimming in a hurry when the surrounding places started sinking into the sea. I am still not very comfortable with swimming and I prefer this walk mode as and when it is possible.

I had reached the shop and started waiting in the queue outside. Now they don't let people into the shops. All orders are taken outside and delivered. When my turn came, I could see them preparing the ones I would ask for. They now know what I buy. Some hard to spell sea weed was baked and handed over to me with a smile.

I could just walk normally with the food under the water since it was packed in a wet proof, heat retaining pack. I just couldn't wait to reach home. When I reached the junction where my apartment's road and the shop cross each other, my sub-conscious mind had started alarming me for some reason.

My reflexes were quick to identify the thing moving from the other end. I could see the upper part of it: an ugly mix of black and brown running over an array of irregular crests and troughs. There were half-opened eyes and lots of teeth on its partial face that appeared above the surface. It was huge and was moving without creating any splashes in the water that one would usually notice with others. Ironically it was too calm when compared to the fear and quiver that it leaves in the one who sees. It was a crocodile.

I have seen many of those National Geographic channel's programs that say on how crocodiles go about their task. The thought of a defenseless human in a flashy swimming suite replacing the innocuous beasts in those features started conjuring up in my mind.

As I stepped up unable to control my motion, I could notice it's head twisting towards the center of the ripples I had just left. Up goes the heart, I could hear it beat at 200s, it should possibly near my ear. I am left alone. There's no one around me.

Should I move, but ain' that make me an easy pray, crocodiles are much much faster than even a Thorpe or a Phelps?

But if I stay here, I will succumb without a fight.

I should have bought an alpenliebe !!

Oh no.. This is real, and I can see it's eyes dreaming a heavy feast for the day. It's coming. It's nearing me. No point in pondering.

I picked all my strength and started swimming hard. This could well be the race of my life. I was moving faster than I have ever done in my life. The cliche "Necessity brings the best out of you" pops up. I was slashing harder and harder. But it was nearing me ferociously. I still have a long way to go before I can reach my apartment or for that matter, any apartment to take the shores. And all my energy is getting drained out. It has closed in now. Will I lose this battle of life?

I could see all my loved ones moving one after the other in front of me. I could hear them laughing. I could feel them crying. I enjoy the emotions I shared. I am not done with my life yet. I still have a long way to go.

I slap harder.. I will give every bit of what I have.. I will fight!!

I slap even harder...

"Aaaah!!" ..

I wake up to see myself positioned just in front of Suresh. Unable to control the inertia, I continue banging against water, er.. Suresh!

"Stop it da..."

Whew! A minute's silence and a mixture confused and anxious looks were shared!

"Hey.. It's only 500 bucks per month. Why don't we join swimming da?"

You should be able to predict his reaction now! :)

Maggi!

The new little fluorescent sticker was smiling at me from my notebook. A sense of pride was filling my heart as I leant to touch it and smiled within. I got this for my score in the just concluded test.

The new scheme of collecting this sticker for the performances in the school has caught everyone of us in a joust to claim superiority over the rest. They had promised gifts for those who outsmart the rest at the end of the year. The better you perform the more stickers you get more the chances of getting the gift.

It was really working well. We did our home works regularly. We tried hard to top in the tests. We were trying to do everything to have that teeny greeny face smile on our notebooks. Every now and then counting was going on. The leader identified was given a star treatment. They took pride in telling to people from other groups (there was a ' III A' and 'III B'. We bragged about it to seniors and juniors too) that they lead theirs. Lunch time breaks was spent entirely on discussing this with others. There were an array of thoughts and ideas on what the gift would be and who will get it.

First pages of all my notebooks had rows of those. I was there at the top in our class and very few people had as much as me. I couldn't wait to get my hands on the gift.

The D-Day had arrived. People in other classes were given the gifts - couple of maggi (noodles) packets (Huh.. Didn't they get a better one?). We were very excited and could hardly wait for it. I had already decided what I am going to have in the evening and was planning to surprise my mom.(Come on!! As 7 year olds we ought to get excited for every silly thing in the world). The hours were running and no signs of maggi. We were getting restless. And finally when our wait got over we were in the last hour of the day... the Hindi hour. Incame my hindi tutor with a bundle that we were waiting for eagerly all day.

As we were waiting eagerly for the packets to be distributed, she kept it at the corner of the hall and announced a surprise test. Uh no.. Am not that good in hindi. Some questions were dictated. Some answers were scribbled. My mind was fixed on the bunch of noodles, wondering how many I am going to get.

The answer sheets were collected and corrected. She started distributing the packs.. Heck!! She was giving them according to the marks they had scored in the test. I still believed that I will get it. I am leading the class. I deserve it. The people who were way behind me were getting it. I was avoiding the looks of my friends up there with their maggi. The bundle was getting smaller and smaller. My ears were waiting eagerly for the little name to be sounded.

The worst disappointment in life is not getting what you deserved. The little heart was about to be broken for the first time in its life. It had no idea that it was only preparing for bigger,worser - disappointments, rejections and more.

As the bundle became empty, my heart was full of a mixture of emotions - anger, disappointment and inability. My single day's performance has denied me what I had thoroughly deserved. How mean she was..

The bell rang. Class dispersed. I stood there stunned. When my classmate with a much lesser score came to me bragging at his pack and teasing me for not getting one, all he got was a big slap (I am a spoilt arrogant brat when I was a kid).

I could hardly hide my tears. I broke and ran down the floor, hugged my mom waiting outside the school. She tried every bit to console me. I didn't stop. Even a dozen maggi wouldn't have mended the broken heart.

Next year when I was given the option to pick my second language, I preferred Tamil just not to attend her classes. And I preferred not to listen the occassional science classes she took. Even today I remember her face and the entire incident. She was the first one to teach me what disappointment is all about. She will be remembered forever for reasons that even she wouldn't like.

But yes.. she had given me good lessons on life. And she had helped me uncover one among the several layers within me that I retain even today- (I leave it to you to identify).

First Days... [ Part III ]

Long time since I posted something..
Right now I am in a corner of Hyderabad, miles away from home and surfing the internet with no purpose. I remembered that a blog exists for me, when I completely ran out of sites to visit. When I started this blog a month ago, I had comments from my friends who said I wouldn't continue this long. I want to prove them wrong. And so.. here is a post.. :)

Lot has happened in this one month...

Most important of all, I am no longer jobless. (But still I am weird! :) ) And this obviously is the main reason for this sequel of the First Days post. But unfortunately nothing exciting happened on my first day here. But make no mistake.. After the first two days, it was all fun. We had an instructor called William Adams, who can glue you to the seats and listen to him without shedding the eyelids. His animated sessions are a big hit here. :)

And here everyone is willing to help you out when you are stuck in some problem. This is something very unusual and incredible about this place. And also you see a calmness and serenity in the looks of everyone here - a manifestation of the awesome knowledge they have within I guess. And soon I had some great friends too.. They are making everyday worth the while. I can see my friend's turning red on hearing the training process here with the ones in their company. Everyday you end up learning something new and interesting. Thats the best part of all.. :)

Apart from my first day, other things that happened includes - myself staying away from the home for the first time. The loneliness and the emotional battles within, difficulty in coping with the new city, climatic conditions, food,... - and an array of other struggles that are part of this process - that makes you feel that life is tougher than what you have ever imagined... I am yet to get myself into this new world.. I am still struggling...

On the other side, the experience of living a life on my own too is awesome. The company of Suresh and Karthiks are making this even more fun.. :)

Also I got a couple of new visitors who took strains to comment my blog - Alpine path and Black King.. It was great to hear views from people you have never met :)

Thanks buddies..

I am hoping to post more often .. But I am afraid atleast for the next few weeks, I won't get time..

Wishing to see u all soon ;)

Bye