After a lot of deliberation, I decided to move base to Wordpress.
No reason to finger per se- the spam here was getting a bit too much, probably.
And the options that Wordpress offers.
I was fully intending to port this entire blog there- then I figured it would be an insult to the memories that this blog has given me.
So, here you will find me, if any of you come looking for me- that is.
Opinions and More
Looking forward to meeting you in the new place! :)
Mirth, masala and more...
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Turning Point...
So. This is a chain love story as a part of CBC (Chennai Bloggers Club) chain story relay. In this we write a love story as this month is for love. 20 Bloggers will write one chapter to make a beautiful love story :) How do you know it will be a beautiful story? Think no more- especially today :) Because Love stories are always beautiful!
The story starts with episode 1 and then flows here. What happens next is captured in this episode, after which Vid Dev (a Chennaiite who blogs at 'The Pensieve') came up with this amazing twist here. So what happens next :D
***************
She had a zillion things to keep her busy all noon- visiting
the temple, visiting grandparents for the final round of blessings, packing,
weighing, re-packing, attending endless calls..and all along, she was conscious
of his stubborn, nagging presence on the back of her mind. Try as she might,
she was not able to wipe his boyish grin or his plucky flirting off her mind.
In one such unguarded moment, her mother caught her smiling to herself and raised
her eyebrows, giving her a pointed look. Ahalya blushed once again and busied
herself with other things.
She barely got a wink of sleep all day- but she was set.
She was a bundle of emotions. She was so tired, she couldn’t
even dream of sleep. She couldn’t remember when she had been this excited last.
But in the middle of all these happy memories, there was a twinge of regret.
She barely knew him, she reasoned with herself, trying to see the futility of
the situation. He was bold and funny and made her laugh..he looked cute,
ofcourse, and was chivalrous and said all the right things..she sighed. ‘Khaash’
she smilingly whispered, a dialogue from her favourite SRK move, ‘Khaash’, as
she started replying to the farewell SMSes one by one.
He was gazing into his system. The shift had barely started,
but was getting on his nerves. The only privilege it offered was no manager
breathing down his neck; and Facebook. It was a slow evening and he was blank.
Mid-week was always slow. His team mate was playing some music on his phone, as
Guru leaned back on his chair with his feet propped up on the table, trying to
get some eye-shut. ‘Lays, dude?’ offered the music playing teamie. Guru grabbed
a handful. He was munching it slowly, and looking at a spot on top of his monitor,
when a new notification made his phone buzz. Lazily he keyed in the code to
unlock his phone to see “Ahalya Ramanathan has accepted your friend request.
Write on Ahalya’s wall.’
Whoa!
For a moment he wondered if it was the emptiness of the
floor playing a trick on him. He blinked hard and looked again. No, it did not
vanish. The text was there for all to see. He smiled his lazy smile, but this
time, it reached his eyes. The clock just struck eight, and suppressing the
urge to go check her photos out first, he clicked on the message trail and
said, ‘Friends- AT LAST A more worthy gift I could not have asked for on
Valentine’s! Happy Valentines Day!’ He re-read it, wondering if it was a bit
over the top. Hell, he had nothing to lose! He hit send. He was sure he wouldn't get a reply for that any time soon, so he went to check her timeline
at once.
Her latest status said, ‘Bye-bye to everybody and everything that I
have known all my life, till this moment..Sweden beckons!’ some hundred people
had liked it. He immediately looked into the comments to see if it offered some
hint about her flight’s departure time. As luck would have it, some nosy aunt had asked a LOT of questions that Ahalya HAD to answer. Guru reasoned that it
might be some friend’s mother or some overly interested relative. He really did
not care. He got what he wanted. 1.45 am, Lufthansa.
Suddenly, something turned inside him. He had never really
been too impulsive about things that were normally considered serious. And he knew
that his next action would take ‘serious’ to a whole new dimension. Still, it
was her ‘You are the Sapient, figure it out’ taunt that rung in his ears,
making him stop thinking and actually DO something. ‘Dude, emergency..just
today man, cover up okay? Here’s my ID..swipe out when you leave, okay? Call
me, okay?’ and before the team mate could swallow his mouthful of potato fries,
Guru had dashed out.
He rushed to the ATM to draw some cash, and was trying to
figure out a way to get to the airport when he heard a familiar voice go ‘Ena
Saar, all okay a?’ Guru found himself experiencing that familiar prickle on the
back of his neck, as yet another knot untangled itself. He was not a big
believer of God, but this was what, divine intervention? ‘Chitappa! Kelambunga,
airport polam!’ he said, bouncing into the cab, coaxing and bribing the cab
driver, joking along the way, all the while haunted by those familiar eyes.
He got off at the international departure, and suddenly felt
foolish. He waved his friend a good bye and stood there not knowing what to do.
Quick arithmetic said that she had to be here in the next couple of hours, to
board an international flight by 1.45 am. Well, he reasoned, now that he was
here, he might as well make the most of it. He sauntered to the kiosk and
bought himself a coffee, his eyes never leaving the terminal. He started coming
up with answers he might have to cough up -if at all he got a chance to get to
her through the swarm of her relatives.
He checked his watch. 9 PM. Oh the
mosquitoes..He walked. He tried to apply mathematical formulas and queuing theory to the people waiting for tickets- and realized he had forgotten almost
all the theory of it. People still stood in queues for tickets! He counted the
number of dustbins in the airport and vowed to write to some newspaper’s
editorial about the same.
He looked at his watch again. 10 PM. He was wondering
if he would ever get a chance to talk to her when she came..she would be in a
terrible rush. He walked up to a guard to check if the Lufthansa flight was on
time at all. It was. The mosquitoes were killing him now. He went ahead and
bought himself a visitors pass and strolled into the lounge and sat down with
an audible sigh. He was looking at the passengers walking in, for some sign of
her. Her gait was etched in his mind. He bought himself some dinner and waited
some more...
He looked at his watch. 11 PM. Had he missed her? Maybe she had
finished her formalities and was sitting inside, blissfully unaware of his
presence, waiting for her flight. ‘This part of my life is called- being
stupid’ he murmured as he mock punched a pillar. He couldn’t go back to work
now. He couldn’t go home either. He decided to stay put for two more hours and
then head straight back home, vowing never to do such ‘romeo activities’ as his
dad would term it, ever again.
He sat down on the couch, and decided to sleep for a while.
12 PM. One more hour. He made himself comfortable, and shut his eyes. He had no
idea how much time had elapsed..but something jerked him awake. The time-1.30 AM.
“This is the last and final boarding call for Miss Ahalya
Ramanathan, passenger of Lufthansa Airlines, bound for Stockholm, scheduled
take off time 1.45 AM, IST”
***************
Love's in the air :)
To be continued by Senthil Kumar Ct who blogs here.
Cheers :)
Thursday, January 31, 2013
To- my ladies :D
I have some friends who vehemently swear that a girl and a
boy can never be ‘just friends’. I have no comments about that. I have some
other friends who swear that two girls can never, ever be friends. Now, that is very lame, I say.
Most of us have been through phases where the number of
friends of the opposite sex outnumber the number of friends we have in the same
gender. That is when we have really steep learning curves. We learn what to
say, what never to say, what to ask
and what is implied. This phase is of great significance because it is usually
likened to that treatment that a gemstone gets when it is getting scrubbed and
polished. It comes out all shiny and then its value soars.
But what happens post this phase? I cannot comment about the
theory of a boy and a girl never being able to be ‘just friends’- I have loads.
But I can most definitely say that they can never remain even ‘just friends’
for long. Most of the boys I have been best best buddies with, I have lost to
marriage. Theirs. Somehow, after an especially close buddy is married, you don’t
really know if it is okay to call, if they would be interested in your stories,
if it’s okay to punch them..you get the drift. When I said this to one such
going-to-get-hitched friend, he said. ‘Over a complicate pannikaadenga, madam!’
(why complicate it too much, madam?!) but yeah. Better safe than sorry.
THIS is where girlfriends come into the picture. For me.
They have always been around. We grew up together. We have seen each other
through many an awkward phase- from braces to the first period, from first
crushes to first rejections, from wardrobe disasters to teenage embarrassments..we have
been through them all, and survived.
Fast forward to today. There are certain things that you can
confide only with a girl friend. There
are certain kinds of advice that only a girlfriend can give to you. She will
look at your hair and say what is wrong. She will look at what you are wearing
and suggest something or pull something out of her wardrobe and make you wear
it for the soiree. She will listen to you as you weep into bales and bales of
tissue, about time wasted on the wrong man. She will empathize with you when
you say your man is a mamma’s boy or when he acting like a bum.
A girl friend will never judge you. She will tell you on
your face, when she thinks you have failed her. There is nobody in the world
who would feel happier for you when something goes the way you wanted- and the
same way there is nobody who would weep with you, and constantly keep checking
on you- when something didn’t.
A girl friend will always have her own life- yet, she will
be around when you need her. She will know. She will know what exactly you need
for this birthday. She will know what you need to hear, and she will say that.
She will cover up for you. She will solemnly grin and pull you away from the
party to put you to bed when she knows you have touched your saturation point.
A girl friend is this, and many more things. Every girl
needs girl friends- because they channel her bloom.
Boys may come, boys may go. But girls- girls will always be :)
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
13 things I will NOT do in 2013
Like someone rightly said, the first few weeks of ANY new
year will see one sure-shot conversation starter: What is your New Year
resolution for this year? Ofcourse, I strongly recommend that nobody follow this,
because seasoned conversation-ists will look you up and down with arched
eyebrows and walk away. Instead, ofcourse, you could try the title of the post.
So here we go- 13 things I will try NOT to do this year.
*Drum roll*
#1 I decide not to make a fool of myself in public any more.
On secondary thoughts I realize that I have already broken the resolution. Only
today my dear bum-of-a-friend Ranjith and I were playing hide-my-ID card-Hide-your-ID
card and I got told off by my boss. “Such a shame” he hissed at me. With this resolution I also part ways with my
water-sprinkler role, my banshee giggle role and my general-embarrassment-causer
role in the office pantry zone.
#2 I will (in the fashion of this post) NOT to be a bad girl
hence-forth by never making any of the men who ask me out wait (and
subsequently curse themselves for it) The last earful I got as I slid into my
friend’s car was, ‘Ah, ONLY an hour late’.
#3 I resolve not to read ANY more crappy books year. And NOT
throw money on crappy books JUST because they are famously-famous. Last year
saw me try-and-fail-and-try-and-fail to read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
(seriously, does anybody care?), Catch 22 (or something), quite a bit of
philosophy, Issac Asimov and Carl Sagan (I foresee the person who gifted me the
last two fuming flames on reading this. It’s okay, Gautham, you hated Malcom
Gladwell :P )
#4 I will no more be a lazy bum this year. I will rinse my
coffee cup once I am done- and not wait to scratch the goo off the next time I
take a break.
#5 I will not get my car crashed or scratched every time I
take it out for a drive. I have taken it out on my own twice, and either has happened
both times. It is such sadness. Even my
own car doesn’t listen to me.
#7 I will NOT stay quiet when I am stalked or touched
inappropriately. I will not stay quiet when I hear another woman’s appeals. Why
the addendum? Sad though, that the last time I yelled at a boy (not a man) who
tried to grope me, there was a lady walking down the dark, lonely road with her
child. The woman heard me scream, pulled her kid, and ran.
#8 I will NOT cut down on chocolates, chicken or pizza. I
will NOT stop buying watches, shoes or bags. I will NOT stop buying books or
gifting them. Cuponation, just FYI, you know.
#9 I will NOT waste any more of my waking time. I will not
day dream about charming princes, I will not gawk shamelessly at Greek-God-like-characters,
I will not re-play and go back to over and out scenarios and wish I had said
something else or worn something better. I will do my work and wait for the prince
to catch up :P
#10 I will not guilt trip anybody who might listen and fall
for it. “This might be our LAST trip together as a gang!” “I might get MARRIED
next year!” “She gets married only ONCE, you know, you might as well dance if
the bride wants you to!” “It’s my ONLY 25th Birthday! It won’t
happen again, you know!”
#11 I will not say things I don’t mean. Next time I see someone
asking me for an opinion about a hideous saree/ shoes from planet Saturn/ a rat
bite hairstyle..i will NOT turn my plastic smile on and say, ‘Who ever said it
was bad? It is absolutely lovely!’
#12 I will NOT, and will not allow anybody I know (either) to
litter when I am around. This is not a new ‘I will not do’ thing still.
Everybody be warned, the embarrassments will continue. Moving cars will stop
once you throw stuff out, I will pick it up and put it right back inside.
#13 Lastly, this year. I hope to do everything I choose to,
and everything I please. If I had to sum it up- what I will not want out of
2013- Regret :)
Friday, January 4, 2013
Chennai- For me :)
This post is published as a part of the CBC Tablog.CBC, for everybody is the Chennai Bloggers' Club, which I am honoured to be a part of. Over 35 bloggers from Chennai are taking part in this blog tag- we take turns to write about Chennai and what it means to us.This tag is perceeded by Sowmya Swaminathan, who blogs at myspace-ss.blogspot.in
Chennai is my city and I am proud of it.
I look at the Cooum with disdain. I complain about the
sweltering heat in May, but will raise eyebrows if any of the visitors try to
do it incessantly. Come on, we are not even close to the equator!
I shamelessly haggle with the overcharging auto-drivers. I
turn my heart to stone every time I hand my card over while fuelling my car.
I turn my nose up at the night curfews imposed by the
Government. I hide myself when friends from other states complain about the quality
of booze in TASMACs.
I squirm when I see Vijayakanth and Rajanikanth catch/chew
bullets and spit them out. I wonder who designed costumes for Vijay when he
wears yellow-pink-green-blue combinations.
I speak Tanglish. I
tend to embarrass people by going “What de?No ya.Why ya?” in all the
inappropriate places. Sometimes I use the S word too in a very un-lady like
way, but it’s okay. It usually gets the desired effect.
The roads make my back hurt. There have been days when I
long for rains, and then curse it after a five-minute walk down my street.
I keep scouting for fashion; not that I am a big fan of it,
but just to keep in pace with the times; there have been times when I have traveled all the way to Bangalore- just to shop.
Chennai seems to be a difficult city, eh? Seems.
A walk along my city’s vast beach lifts many a dying spirit-
every passing minute.
We appear all hep and mod with our list of labels, but we
love our collection of pattu sarees equally and never miss an occasion to flaunt
it.
I own three pairs of anklets that I shyly guard like a
secret. Every girl here does.
We adorn our hair with jasmine- and its unique, intense
fragrance. No occasion or saree-ensemble is complete without
it.
We draw our kolams with mathematical precision. We team it
with piping hot filter coffee at 6 am in the morning. There cannot be a more
perfect start to the day.
We may lag behind in the cuisine arena, but we most
definitely have something for everybody.
You might be able to count the number of decent pubs my city
has on your fingers- but they are definitely safer than anywhere else in the country.
Our men might seem intimidating. But they are can be
trusted. They might see. But they will never touch. Only one, in say, a hundred
might cause you any trouble. (Sad to quote this as a proud statistic at this
juncture, still)
Our mamaas are reasonable. They hear you out. They allow dialogue.
They even joke and laugh with/at you at times.
We love springing relations into conversations with
strangers. Anna, Akka, Amma, Appa- does wonders.
Our trains are never crowded. We love the yellow metal like
crazy. We do the dappan-kuthu EVERYTIME we get a chance.
We can feast dosa-sambar all our life, and we definitely
NEED rice, atleast once a day. We have all played kho kho and kabbadi outside,
and many a noon has been spent playing pallanguzhi with cousins.
We tend to sway, we tend to be influenced, we tend to be
drawn towards so many other things, but- eventually, we all come back to what
we call home.
Chennai is my city, and I am proud of it :)
Here I pass the tag to Jefferson Jaikar Anand- who calls himself an incomplete human being who loves f-syllables viz. Food, Fotografy, Fizzix..no, nothing more! ;) He blogs at thotspectrum.wordpress.com
Here I pass the tag to Jefferson Jaikar Anand- who calls himself an incomplete human being who loves f-syllables viz. Food, Fotografy, Fizzix..no, nothing more! ;) He blogs at thotspectrum.wordpress.com
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
When I Don't Understand..
Long angry post ahead. Not meant to offend anybody, but seriously- we got to do something about this!
Communication- is everything. Social beings that we are, it is of supreme importance that we understand what is being relayed to us, and in turn be understood.
Communication- is everything. Social beings that we are, it is of supreme importance that we understand what is being relayed to us, and in turn be understood.
I have been in many, many situations where- I have
failed to grasp what was said to me- in a language that I can follow (and
subsequently, made a fool of myself). I have also been in situations where I
was unable to fathom what was told to me, because of a language barrier. Like- one
fine day, I was travelling in a bus in Mumbai- it was one of the first times
that I was travelling alone, and I was trying to appear cool, calm and
composed. My Hindi- is okay (though my accent makes people go bunny laugh) so I
was all, ‘Okay, girl, you can do this’, when the conductor went ‘blahblahblhablah’
in Marathi. Now, I can follow Marathi if it is spoken slowly. This was a little
too fast for me, and I immediately got flustered. My face became blank, and I
was suddenly embarrassed- for no reason, I realize now. And that is when
everybody around you looks at you and goes ‘tsk, tsk’. Anyway, I requested him
to talk to me in Hindi (“Mala Marathi yet nahi”) and finally I got my ticket
and all was well. I knew that this was okay- because I was not staying in
Mumbai indefinitely; I would be going back to my comfort zone of Chennai in a
few days’ time.
So, fast
forward to Chennai. Today. I was out with a friend who spoke absolutely no
Tamil. We were stuck in a traffic deadlock-like situation. We couldn’t move in
front or reverse. We were blocking, and being blocked by vehicles all around
us- in a very, very narrow lane. Slowly, the easing process was being carried
out by some good samaritans. It was hot, there was a lot of tension in the air.
I was upset, my friend was pissed- at the foolhardy state we had gotten
ourselves into, and we were surrounded by people who were going ‘vanga, vanga,
vanga’. I have been there, so I could fully empathize with my friend when he
wore the blank mask that I only remember too well from my experiences. Like
every situation, there was some good and some bad to this one too. Folks who
guessed the language barrier immediately switched to broken Hindi ‘idar front
come..’ and so on. And when I opened my mouth, they immediately went, ‘oh,
sister, Tamil a neenga!’ and we were good. There was a bad side too, like I
mentioned: Localites, who smirk at you, who pass comments at you assuming you don’t
apprehend, who abuse you for no reason other than the fact that you do not
understand what the hell is happening! Today, we were fine. But I think of
folks who face this every single day. Folks, who never deserve to be spoken to
as such, who go through this hassle oh so often! Men and women who are smart,
accomplished, achievers- scowling in frustration, because they do not get what
is being said to them! It is such sadness. It made me very, very angry.
I have friends who have their own defense
mechanism to counter this. They hang around with ONLY Hindi speaking folks.
They seize power in numbers. They tried and failed to learn the language- and
now they have a smattering of phrases that they use in auto repeat mode. They
have this high-and-mighty look when they talk to people they don’t know,
attempting to scare the strangers into not messing around with them. They
cannot take the strain of communicating with a world that doesn’t bother to
give two hoots about them, so in the end, they ALL unanimously say- we HATE
Chennai.
Such sadness.
There is no escape route to this. Mentalities will
never change. Low borns (not by caste, creed or race- but by thought) will always be low
borns. And my city will forever be the city that raises an ‘Oh NO! They have
posted you in Chennai? You are so screwed dude!’ reaction.
Preventive action for visitors would be- to learn
the language. Atleast- learn to identify the swear words and show them the
finger- or shut them up with another equally dirty word. Learn the basic
phrases- so that people don’t take you for a ride. I have a friend from Delhi
who speaks such amazing Tamil- that he picked in less than a year. I have heard
him blast someone who tried to make an ass of him-in Tamil- and I have never
felt more proud. He was lucky to have had somebody who took the time and effort to teach him- bless her. Not everybody is as lucky.
Tamil IS the language of our land. It IS the
language of our ancestors- it does have a rich heritage, and our works are
incomparable. I am proud of it. BUT. Creating a generation of kids who cannot
follow Hindi- by making Tamil the only permissible second language- is folly.
If one tries to make TN/ Chennai a country in itself, like this, yes- one might
succeed at it. But, one will do good to
remember that this royal treatment will last ONLY within the confines of the TN
boundary. Once we get out of TN, trust me, we are in for hell. Because, it is
like you are blindfolded and let loose in a field, when you cannot make sense
of what is being spoken to you. It is unpleasant and I wish nobody ever be in a
situation like that.
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Awesome Blogger & Liebster Blog Award – I’m tagged
So I had been thinking it was a while since I scribbled, too
many things happening, nothing too solid to type. That’s when my good friend Kalyan
tagged me in my first ever Blog Award :D
So here are the rules:
1.If you
are tagged/nominated, you have to post 11 facts about yourself.
2.Then
you answer the 11 questions the tagger has given you & make 11 questions
for the people you are going to tag.
3. Tag 11
more Bloggers.
4. No
tagging back.
5. Person
you tag must have < 200 followers
And here we go:
11 facts about me:
(I read this and thought, HA easy one. I eat those words
right here, right now.)
- I surprise myself everyday. I keep learning something new about myself with every sunrise- and my tolerance and patience levels keep amazing me.
- My life revolves around family, friends, hobbies and work- in that order. I have no intention of changing that.
- I keep trying to do something new every now and then. Most times these supposed ‘things’ are new and stupid. And crazy. Im not proud of them.
- I have a HUGE to do list. (And I still believe we have only 5 more days to go)
- Dogs over cats. Black over red. Can’t choose between coffee and tea- but chocolate over ANYTHING!
- I cannot hold my tongue. I cannot keep secrets.
- I have cut more people from my life this year than I ever have all my life. Suddenly I realized I was being nice all the wrong people.
- I have something against altruism- self sacrifice and all that. I still don’t get it.
- I love sleep. It is what I do when I am happy/sad/stressed/bored/angry- name the emotion. If I had just woken up, then I take to writing.
- I can write better than I can speak. I cant lie, my eyes give me away.
- Yes, I still believe in fairytales :)
(That was VERY tough)
Next- Questions to be answered:
1. If you
can write a testimonial for me, what would you write?
Kalyan-
is one among the coolest people I have known. Such a soft spoken, dependable
guy- A nice shoulder to lean on J Seen
me through some tough spots- a big Thank You for everything :)
2. What’s
the strangest talent you have?
Can
shop under five minutes. Can get dressed under five minutes :P
3. Do you
have weird habits?
Ha, no,
I would like to believe I don’t!
4. If you
knew the world was going to end tomorrow, what would you do in your last living
hours?
Tell
everybody who means everything to me that I love them. A lot of Hugs.
5. Have
you ever felt jealous of friends or fellow competitors’ success and how did
you suppress it?
No, I
have always known how much I put in, and when ever I have put in enough, I have
always been rewarded.
6. Have
you ever been betrayed? If so, how did you douse the flames?
Show
them the finger and move on.
7. List
down 5 music tracks which you would always listen to and would never get bored
of.
Right
now- on auto repeat:
A
Thousand Years- Christina Perri
Angrezi
Beat-Honey Singh
The
Scientist- Coldplay
Roads
Untravelled-Linkin Park
Kahin
To- JTYJN (told you. I still believe in fairytales :P )
8. If you
are a guy, have you ever been got slapped by a girl? If you are a girl, have
you ever slapped a boy?
No
never. I might have used my elbow or my heel, never the palm.
9. What
qualities would you be prescribing to a girl/guy to be ideal for you.
Haha, a
lot of people have been asking me this. Pass.
10. Do you
believe in life after death? If yes, what would you like to reborn as?
I do
believe in life after death. Myself. No change. I love myself too much :P
11. Please
explain ‘Einstein’s Relativity Theory’ in layman terms. (I know the Hot stove –
Girl analogy. Please use something else!)
Erm.
Okay its 11.50 pm guys! I’ll pass this too and just go sleep :P
Here I tag:
Deepa (Dont know her too well, taking the liberty :P )
The last leg- 11 questions for you guys.
Ok I shall make this very simple.
1. Blogging to me is_.
2. I recommend the following 3 blogs for you to read when you are free: _ , _ and _.
3. 5 songs on my play list. (Losing inspiration here)
4. The last 5 books that I read were___.
5. The one movie that made me cry__.
6. Some day, I will _______.
7. Ten places i want to visit before- whatever.
8. The one person who made a HUGE impact on my life would be?
9. The last time I goofed something up __.
10. New year resolutions for 2013?
11. (finally!) One secret that nobody knows :P
Ah, you guys rock!!
Big hug :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)