Yercaud and we, oldies.... :)

When it calls for a tip with the oldies, I would have rather had a day without booze, had it been my college days. And my definition of ‘Oldies” included any beyond the age of 30 and with a mix of colours in hair. As I myself reached the milestone and also with my acquaintance with lot of so-called-oldies, with much better stamina than myself, my apprehension was slowly being cleared. Final nail to the coffin was the Kotak Trip to Yercaud, where of the lot it was mayhem – 4 bachelors vs 6 married & 5 under-30s vs 5 over-30s…. J

Okay, coming to the point of discussion, Yercaud is somewhere near to Salem in the west side of Tamilnadu. Being a Mechanical Engineering student, I never did well with Geography. J Our trip was supposed to start at 11 30pm under the command of Captain Sanjith Nair, but due to unforeseen conditions, the captaincy was handover to none-other-than me J… being my regular self, mess was inevitable, and this time it was in the form of Mr. Velu (my booze-delivery-man) who in the last moment duped us without any beer. The sight of three bottles of pure Pondicherry-stuff royal stag whisky and one Black and Gold Brandy couldn’t control my grief as my boss was a pure beer-man and appraisals were around the corner. Search for scape goats and sourcing of beers were all done in fantastic fashion and we set our sail off to Salem.

The night started with a fistful of action in form of various extremely horrendous tamil Movies, in the bus…. It really kept me wondering doesn’t the actors feel odd acting in movies like these J.

Three pegs and two movies down, all had found bliss in whatever we call as sleep in a bus moving like a rollercoaster. I had an extra job at hand, as I had a encroacher seeking chance to occupy the best cushiony seats under me. J

The Sight of the resort was extremely welcome, after the sleepless night in the bus… but the thought of murder of the captain did arise as people stepped into the dormitory. It reminded me of the insides of the jail I had seen sometime before…. Putting your raised eye brows to rest, I was talking about the jail museum at Andaman Nicobar Island J

Though I would have loved to have a pillow under my head and a bed beneath my body, I found myself roaming around the streets of yercaud from the morning hours itself. But the town was really refreshing and soon the entire crowd had forgotten about the tiresome journey and started trying their hands (rather comically) on various things, like boats to bicycles. It was fun riding an old fashioned bicycle through a sleepy town, had the bicycle had an engine of its own. A short trip to the nearest deer park, which lacked in nothing but deers and which efficiently replacing them with concrete statues of something which looked like giraffes, saw off the outing of our first day.

The second half of the day and the first half of the night, we were in par with the world in the small city of Yercaud – cheering the Indian team as they found their way to a world cup victory. One of our team mates would have been murdered had he ventured third time into the TV room, both time previously had seen an Indian batsman walking back to the pavilion!!! J With Balaji’s whole hearted cooperation and with our prayers and cheers joining from those from world over, Indians won and we sounded our joy rather veraciously. Four chicken in the barbeque and the buffet meal was absent by the time the cricket was over, to the utter displeasure of the ardent fans. J

The second half of the night was partly lived upon by four souls, myself, Sanjith, Sajith and Pant. That too wound up soon, after a well-aimed hit on my eye brow by Mr. Sanjith Nai-ehm ehm ehm-r, by his mobile…. With that the first day of our Yercaud trip had come to a close.

I myself would have shocked to death, to see me up so early next day morning. I was a part of the trekking party, that got ready before 7 in the morning. J believe it or not J people with weak heart or pregnancy shouldn’t read any further – even Sajith and Rajneesh were up!!!! J

The trekking party went up the hill a bit late, thanks to our guide who turned up late. He inorder to cover up the lost time, got us to the shortest hill possible, which didn’t tire even me!!!! And we the fearless team from Kotak Chennai ended up conquering the unconquerable Shevaroy Hill….. On the way I did get some good clicks and since I couldn’t find any animals around to feature in, Rajneesh and Srinivas provided me the required models J

Once back, it was pack up time… and we showered our love to the guide in the form of snacks (left –over) and returned. Return was also accompanied by some hardcore Tamil movies…. Not the kind of hard-core, I expected, as soon I found myself and a few others sleeping in the bus.

Over all, this trip cemented my love for oldies as trip-companions, after the sabarimala trip fiasco.

My first experience

Many would have heard of the term, "Alice in wonderland", I saw it yesterday. The occasion is rather dramatic, where by I have been to my family organized visit to a lady's place for a keralite function called, "Pennu kaanal". All Indians, specially Keralites, would be pretty much familiar of these tough phase in every young chaps and gals life :)... Tough, yet funny!!!!

Two previously unknown individuals are expected to evaluate each other, in the broad presence of both of their families... :) But the situation is not actually that bad for the guy, who in this occasion was me. I pity the poor lady, who seemed to be under lot of pressure to act normally, in such an abnormal situation. :)....

Introductions to the occasion started way behind to a month or so before. Even though I publicly despised these kinda atrocities, deep inside the Keralite in me was very much agreeable to one. The idea was to visit a gal's family, in the minimal time, create an impression for myself and also to carry home an impression about the gal. Its more kinda challenge, as one would be aware how well an impression is being created by you. But there were many many nuances which was missed in my fantasies :)

Fun started with my father trying to find a place to park my car. Being a very ordinary skilled driver, and under the huge pressure of the head of the other family watching, my father had tough time to get the car in a position which wouldn't obstruct the complete traffic. I was almost sure that by the time we are back, a part of the car would have to be scrapped off from the road beside :).

Once inside the den and the introduction were through, it was time for the grand entry for the lady! Poor being, under the huge pressure from her family and in the hope to meet the man of her dreams, came with a tray of tea and snacks. She would have had the shock of her life, when the knight in her dreams turned out to be ME!!!! :).... Not that she had seen me before, but this immature boy with an extra terrestrial head!!! :)... the thoughts were so visible in her face... from then on, i made it a point to avoid looking at her face.. all my self-embossed glamor image would have been shattered :)...

The interaction between the families went to various stages, and I found more entertainment in watching them!!! it was as though, the entire purpose of our visit as well as the presence of mine and that young lady was totally forgotten :)....

The various phases were, introduction, interrogation, interlude (for tea and snacks), ego-contemplating, ego-blasting, the various activities the families involved in were fun! I was wondering at my dad proudly presenting his family links to her parents, whom I never knew he ever adored!!! :)... similarly, it seemed like all the big names in and around Kerala were known to either of the families, but point to be noted is none were common :).. If i were to count the relations the elders had, almost half the state would be my uncles/cousins/aunts etc etc..... :)

now don't give that smirk to me.... I am trying to act serious!!!

And the question finally came, even after several warning i had raised to my family before the visit, "have you guys got to anything to talk to each other?". I would bet on any of my previous affairs, that I couldn't understand a gal even after spending 5 - 6 years together and here I am supposed to ... forget it, :)... the concepts are rather funny!! There were many-a-brows raised when my tongue spelled negative! I was suddenly the enemy of the world, CIA, FBI and all were searching for and all mothers in the world detested!!! :).. silence was the best option and now i had to find newer objects to look at!!!! :).. thank God, appooozzz had taken birth!!! :)... he is the sole rescuer for me :)

Out of no-where my Dad had a feeling of the phrase, "familiarity breeds contempt" and the entire meeting was called off! :)... I was still wondering what am i meant to say after this so-called "meeting with the girl"..... My thoughts were briefly distracted by the driving skills of my Dad, and all in the car holding on for their life through the "rush and hush" and the "Onam traffic" of the sleeping town of Trivandrum!!!

The question came all along the car drive as well as the first thing as we landed here!

"Did you like the gal?"

"hah??? Aint it a bit short time for knowing and liking the gal?"

"Why? how much time do you wanna have? You can know her once you get engaged?"

"what's the hurry? the other family, the gal, all has to decide together, nah?"

"Come on, they said you call. That means they liked the guy"

"Pops, don't assume things. And don't hurry. Lets take a thought about call. Vaise were you able to take a call by this meeting?"

"Oh yeah, I liked the gal.. and the family..... And we are okay and going ahead!"

The climax as anything in the entire incident was extremely dramatic :)... I thought, sitting with my family, watching TV, playing on my laptop, listening to songs, talking to my friends, having bath, shitting, .... thought rigorously... convinced myself that marriage is never between individuals, but between families. And if my parents feel so much comfort with hers, I should think on a wider perspective. And apart from the fact that I have had only 2 to 3 words spoken to her, she would be as inconvenient with me, as I would be with her! Trying to act as the decision maker of my life, i made the decision, which my parents have already decided. "okay, let them go ahead", and kept my fingers crossed! :)...

The story didn't end there, though i thought my coffin was nailed!! :)... luckily the gal seemed to have churned up more courage than me and set her foot down... "No, mom, not that skinny bone!!!!" she seemed to have screamed!!! and the much "delayed" (as per my parents) call to the gal's father saw my dad frowning!!! :).. "nothing, they just need some more time to think"!!! :)... such a lovely way to say no!! Why didn't I think of taking more time to think or insisting on the same!!! There are rare few occasions, when gals do show a bit more intelligence that guys, i guess!! :)... And here i am regretting for all those time spent and sms sent for getting myself accustomed to the disoriented condition of mine :)... Anywz, all is well that ends well :)....

Me in 2015 - a part of the thought

Today is kind of an holiday, not because its a saturday. Oh, forgot to mention, thanks to some kind soul in the HR department of my bank, we are bestowed with two days off in a week. The effort was to rescue the bank's facilities from the Saturday vandalism, we used to execute inside, during the years of recession. Later, even without their knowlegde, it became one of flag features of the HR team.I felt more like a holiday, because it was a saturday in the month of March and post-appraisal period. This is kind of an honey moon period, where bankers get to see the smiling faces of their dear ones, as otherwise what we normally see is their sleeping posture.Reading through the blogs, I had scribbled in my funnier years, found one where I had imagined myself as farmer and that too a content one. Appreciation was in truck loads for the same and even I catered to this dream of mine for long. Soon or later, reality came down on me heavily, crippling my dreams. Or rather, it was like diverting the flow of a stream. The dreams varied widely in the last 5 years, and now I don't have time to dream.Forget the dream, even in my night mares, I wouldn't have imagined myself with the same bank, in the same city, heading a region of the same department, 5 years from the day of writing that blog. :).. but that's what is called fate, and also succumbing to fate.My dislike for banking was phenomenal and highly publicized, but still I have survived the same for a good 9 years without suicide. In fact, I would credit half my achievements to the socially high profile job, held by me. My life partner, my own flat, my bank balance, my car, my reputation / contacts in and around the three states of south India, all are thanks to the job, which makes life hell for me everyday.My state of absolute peace was disturbed as my Dentist wife, entered the room, with my vibrating phone. I could still see the bite marks in her hand. Hey that was not me, but thanks to some kid, who broke through the mouth-clamp to make those impressions in her hand. In younger days, my grand ma used to get me to doctor for teeth dentures, but her knowledge has been outrun by the professional qualification received by my beloved.The saddest part of having a medical wife, or rather wife in pharma industry is apart from you, she has to take care of 1000s more. And those are sicker which calls for better attention. Anyways, 4 years into the marriage, I am already bored with her company, and I believe she reciprocates the same.Call was from Roopa, who has recently joined my bandwagon of buffoons, called the Relationship managers. A positive of being a banker is we are always aware of who is having most money in the market and whose cheques are going to bounce :).The call was short, as she is scared of the fiery VP in me. Nothing is an issue, when you have hands in the right pockets :). With my old colleague, heading the credit division, I raised the levels of appreciation Roopa had for me, for the ease at which I sorted out the “complicated” problem.By the time the series of calls ended, my wife had drove my beloved Toureg to clinic, abandoning her Grand Vitara with me. My friends say, my house hosts enough SUVs to take the Indian army to war on Srilanka. But why would we war with a Tamil Government run Srilanka?The next call was for Sid and Mans. Both used to share my room, during my good old bachelor days, and are now taking their own strides in life. Mans as usual keeps himself busy with his financial advisory and with his multiple entrepreneurial ventures and Sid is the marketing head of an MNC company.Looks like the saturday would be a very personal one, and a strong swim in the sea would make it bright.

a few pegs down, i think i am royal blood alchoholic now.. was plannin to get onto a mail/blog as a revert to the mail of my dear divya, much to my unease.... emotions hardly fly if i am not down a three pegs.... finally i sit to peg, i mean pen, somethin down...

a few old malayalam songs, n the mood is set rite!

now the factor of my emotional outflow seems irrelevant to indulge with and i end in a confusion in this inebriated stage.

lack of purpose has been identified as the major culprit in my life. adding to dat a hell few heart breaks n heart breakings, i can call my lyf in dump! addin on is a job which is outtta my skils, i think i am in wat common people call as "in deep shit!"...

lemme just put my lines of thoughts in straight!

I am not very sure as to what I had these pegs for, or what I was intending to scribble on....

I fell down!!!!

This is kind of a compulsory post! I need to give 30 minutes for the oil to get deep enough to penetrate my thick skin and reach spots were it is hurting. What better than blog in the meanwhile.

Something happened to me, after long long years. Infact I had forgotten the time when it had happened last. The feel of FALLING DOWN!

The sensation was queer. May be the spirit and enthusiasm of my young nephew is getting onto my brain as well. I felt like I have really walked back in time, when I used to have atleast one bleeding mark / injury in my body per day! It has been long days, since I even had a full scale fall, I meant the physical one.

There it happened, in front of my cousin’s house, while I was climbing down the stairs with my nephew in my hand, shoosh, went I down. Some where in the sub-conscious mind, protecting the kid is so badly imprinted that I never cared to break my fall with my hands or elbows, instead held him so close, that he was more shocked by that than the jolt!

But it did hurt me, I have badly hurt my back and it is paining good. Adding fuel to fire, I got some ayurvedic medicine, which was meant to cure the pain in one shot. Again blame me, I simply applied the oil onto the skin, without reading the method of usage. It nearly burned my skin through, as the oil had to be mixed with about 20 times coconut / gingely oil before applying! The day seemed extremely bright for me.

But some where all these pain is bringing me joy, may be the thought of rescuing my nephew from the fall (though it was me who attached the same to him) or may be the feel of getting good real pain (the most recent one being a few months back, when I had some boils under my feet – that sucked). Illness, as of in the Chennai corporate world, was mainly stomach troubles or cold or a maximum of a fever. It had never let me feel the real pain, which is running through all the nerves in my body, which connects any portion below my chest to my brain!

Now let us wait for the oil to penetrate!

Anish - Love of my life!!!!!!

I was shocked / surprised to hear his name as Anish! I do not know if it’s one Anish which made all Anishs love me and me to love all Anishs or is it simply that all Anishs love me? The question is actually an outcome of a tragic incident, which turned wonder due to yet another Anish.

We met at a very disheartening scenario at Chennai airport where all my enthusiastic and anti-boss efforts to get home, was literally going into drain. The flight ticket, which had lured me into buying through its cheap price tag, grew up to its ill-fame. The flight got cancelled.

Fortunately, rather fortunately for me, along with me where stranded another 70 people, who had purchased tickets to various parts of the world, as this flight was a connecting flight. Hungama started. Just as the moments ripened to accredit an Indian Airlines officer as the first martyr for the company, he saved his skin, offering a skin of another junior one.

Now the drama started. An Anish and his wife were meant to travel with me in the cancelled flight. Now as always the lady had caught my eye, as she was good looking and beautiful girls as per Indian Penal Code Act No : 212, is a public property in dry and devastated Tamil Nadu! But soon, the couple turned arrogant and I lost interest.

Or rather, there were more interesting things happening. The junior officer was on the verge of loosing his pants, when he could finally organize some seats in a sister concern of Indian Airlines. Now the question was raised, as how to decide whom to travel.

I had to pinch myself, to wake up from the belief that I was traveling with a group of script writers; such beautiful and saddening was the stories. The best being, an old lady of a pair, pouring her entire glass of hot coffee on to the poor man’s shirt, and claiming that is the last shirt she can find for him in Chennai!!!!

But tears could not find a ticket for many, and the race started. My failures always happened because I was used to the same, and took it with ease. This was going to be the same case, has it not been Anish. Our relation started, when me and Mr. Anish used to roam around the crowd and spy on the latest rumours regarding the tickets. Smarter was the lady, as she were there around when the balls were being played. So they were in possession of the ticket when the first few were announced and I was long lost in the queue!

Now the hard choice for the couple. I, in Anish’s position, would have easily passed by me, offering a sweet smile, with an inner meaning of “LOOSER”. But I found myself handing over the ticket to the lady, who fought through the ladies queue to the front, while Anish was busy arranging their tickets! If the story ended there, Anish and his wife would only been just a point in my life.

Not finding my name in the list, made them dearer to me, atleast worthy to find a full blog on them! My temper blew suddenly and I started screaming at any person who identified himself / herself as an IA employee. Even the striking pilots & captions parents were remembered in front of the public!

Meanwhile, Anish was running from post to pillar to see why they missed me in the list, where as his wife had patofyied some Indian Airlines lady. I could not seriously believe what I was seeing. In the mayhem, for a person they hardly know for more than 10 minutes of chit chat, instead of going ahead with their tickets, they were fighting to get me a ticket.

And they did! I got a ticket & that too while I was shouting at the lady in the counter. Anish came running with the ticket and the lady released her frustration over me, on him! She was like “ you didn’t give the tickets to your friend and he is shouting at me”. That was a moment! I mean, some moment when fiction could have never imagined!

Later we came to know each other better, till departure and later on reaching our destination, we were on our own ways.

But, it still amazes me, as I can not find an answer for why? Why they had to help me? And that too at some point when I was totally stranded!

Anyways, Thanks Anish and his wife & May God Bless You.

NB: There has always been something running our lifes. I have always had experiences that while we help some one, it may not happen that the same person might help us back or even show gratitude. But when you need, help surely comes.

Today itself, I was running to be on the scheduled timing of the later-cancelled flight and one person, who was just about to use the ATM after me, asked for help as he didn’t know how to use ATMs.

I was running hurry and even told him so. But his plea held me back for 5 more minutes, and helped him with the cash.

Friendship, as for me

It is the 3 in the morning of a Monday, and I am still out of bed, penning this blog down. Why, is a million dollar question, whose answer would have made me happier than a millionaire. Unfortunately, the answer could be as simple as, I slept long time this week end, that sleep is evading me at night!

But I have taken up blogging at this depth of a night to bring in some observations in my life. The part is for friendship… mark in bold, FRIENDSHIP!!!

I have had my share of friends everywhere…. Hmm, I mean not exactly in Chennai. So here is my next million dollar question, why not in Chennai? Ohhh, there comes next, has it got anything to do with my hating my life at Chennai? Ah, another, my quest for a new job, has got any link to this? Yet another, my willingness to surrender myself to marriage, clicks a link?

Well, I am not sure. But through my life, I have always found myself a partner in crime, with whom I will confide and still does. May it be, Anand during school, Raj during College, or Anish through my Pune life, all have a part in my life, which I could say have shaped my life. There are lot many, in all through these phases, and that helped me live. That helped my life at school, college, and B-School feel something kind of life. Of course, I didn’t realize that at that point.

But this is not the topic of discussion, though I had intended to blog on some of my best friends. Will leave that for some other time when I have a bit of alcohol in my blood. I really open up then! This time it can be more dramatic, because I know these guys do sometimes read my blog!

Coming back to the topic of discussion, why didn’t I gain much friends in my two year stint in Chennai? All I can claim about is, Manna? Prasanna? Prashant? Dhanasekar? Rajesh? Unni? Apart from the few remnants from my B-school life that has spilled over here, in the form of Pulkit, Sanjeev, Kamlesh and all, I will say I have not gained even hand full of friends. Of the list I have provided, I don’t even have much contact with three, so far for the friendship!

Chennai heat is unbearable, getting onto your thoughts, diverting your attention. Still I am focused!

Could the reason be me? Could the reason be the people around? The situation and the scenario is to be blamed? Or is it like that in every one’s life?

Last question seems to be a bit favourably answered by chats I have with my close friends. Many have find themselves in situations where there is hardly any whom they can call as friends. But how far that matches situation I am into is questionable?

The reason could be me. I have turned a lot stoic. Many a times, I have so unheeded a “soon-to-be” friends’ call for help and support. This was not exactly purposeful, though I did know I had to do something and also what I had to do. But it could be because of the lack of dependency I have developed in these days.

Something creepy moved beside me, and bloody, scared the hell out of me.

Or could be because I have become more kinda irritated and frustrated, and whom ever I start sticking to, soon gets the smell of this irritation and frustration. They get to run soon, with their tail on fire. I think Prasanna will take a big bet in that, ;).

Booze flaps have come around my tummy, and its kind of odd, with the skinny body my soul occupies! But who will take the pain of waking up at 6 and jogging all the way to swimming pool and also, who will leave the pleasure of getting out of office at 7, getting drunk till you don’t feel a difference between pavement and your bedroom!

People around should share the blame with me. All they do is simply irritate me more. Be it in the form of my new boss, my roomie (who has got his entire ancestry down to our 2bhk “so-called” bachelors’ apartment), my other roomies, my non-existent girl friend in Chennai, and so on and so forth.

Now the situation does not look as severe as it did a good ten minutes back. Is this the magic of blogging or is it simply that sleep is taking over me slowly. It could also be that, mention of that particular roomie of mine, is bringing me rage from a very different direction. Also the Chennai heat and the absence of an AC, is bring sweat from all the molecules in my body, which is in touch with any other external body, like the laptop, clothes, etc etc. Should get rid of hem fast! ;)

Solution as for all other questions of mine, evades me. Even an answer evades me. Anyways, I guess I have changed atleast a bit, because now I appreciate my existing friends much better than what I did. And always hopes to get to them back at the earliest, before life gets more complicated (as in marriage, for a bachelor).

But one thing is pretty clear, Chennai as such is not stingy place. Infact I believe the place hardly counts, it all about the company you keep there, which makes you love or hate a place.