congrats the team of Kanchivaram!!

congrats the team of Kanchivaram!!

certainly a grand film from priyadarshan. with this award winning movie, he certainly authenticated his brilliance as a film maker to the whole world. its great that even when making all those money milling mallu born bollywood films, he sided his mind on making such a superb movie. prakash raj rightfully earns a place with the best in indian cinema. a rajat kamal for the second time..

i consider even priyan wont feel bad missing the coveted best director trophy. kanchivaram in first place is more than just a directors cut. its an aesthetically rich movie with strong creative signatures of crewmen lyk art director sabu cyril, cinematographer thiru and the subtle but strong perfomances of actors. it was more of a complete movie excelling in various details of filmmaking. the award for best film was the suitable testimony of the wholesome value of the movie.

all said,one thing i missed in kanjivaram,priyan's all time best, was mohanlal as Vengadam. certainly had been a pleasure to watch both the buddies work together in such a great movie.

May16 Thots!!

• Indian republic thought the claims of an 82 yr old strong saffron patriach, that a 78 yr old Dr Singh is weak and doesn’t deem to be on the stongest chair of the worlds largest democracy, was nothing but a childish desperation of an old man who ran and ran the whole day without ever touching the coveted finish line.

  
  

• It was Curtains down for all the wannabe king makers of india, I meant the laloos, paswans,ramadosses,jaya et all. For me they were nothing more than a bunch of political eunuchs who were ready to fit in anywhere and with anyone. Their democratic atyachaar will sorely be missed (atleast for a few good yrs).

  
  

• NDA fact finding committee: NAMO and saffronized gandhis on their side, reason for NDAs debacle!! Not surprising and the clairvoyant me quite knew it before.

  
  

• A "shock laga" saffron inclined fellow at my apartment. “Was congress so good? A while later.. Yaar, they werent all that bad rite, looks quite deserving to win”. I cud only pass over a zig zag nod back.

  
  

• Its almost certain I may have an External affairs minister at my neighbourhood. (I mean shashi).

  
  

• Who will win today?? Mumbai Indians n sachin..who else!! hmm…not everyone were interested on the Election outcomes, atleast the boys in my apartment had more amity 2wards IPL.

• Thanks to rahul effect and since "nothing gleams like success”, its now ok and no longer a taboo to be known a congress man in india..that doesn’t mean I like to be called so, I am forever the liberal commie.blood running in me is still thick red!!

• Finally a humble request from a ordinary one in a million faceless red sympathizer. Rearrange comrades!! We cant go this out of our hands. We the commies know Politics is not a one day game and the foundation we have doesn't erode in a days political overturns. But certainly we need some serious introspection!!

• On a personal front I will have something more to remember of the day..this day A small happyness added to my life. A TVS APACHE RTR160. kewl rite!! trully a Epoch making day!!

oNe HuNDrenD peRCEnt De-stReSSed!!

was home and back. the 10 days went quite fast. the 2 days that comes in sepia mode about my visit are the zeroth day when i got down at the platform 3, kayankulam jn, in a black khaki shirt an a levis jeans and the ninth day gettin back on a northbound train in the same khakhi an jeans.they are rememmbered so vividly cos it brings out the most happiest and saddest part of ones home visits.

sayin ma bye to fly at the end is always a saddening experience. it is that time wen you feel "whats gud a lyf if it cant be spent with your loved ones". mom was alredy leaking her eyes, sis gave her gud co. dad stood rock solid behind the ladies of ma home. being a grown up man lyk my dad, i had to be brave and believe acted my part well. only i believe..

its now almost a week i have been back to poona. the longing for the good life at home is still lingering everywhere. am stressed and the stress pains me sometimes. hmm.

was looking the ways to destress myself. chatted with ammachi. but ammachi kept n asking my visit visheshams. plunging me more into sickness..IPL doesnt intrests me unless it is Sachin vs warney or muralidharan or mc grath..that wasnt tre..then the last resort started googling..saw an ad of aamir khan in Tv -> googled him-> the brands endorsed by him-> tata sky->teach india-> titan->be more ad..

then visited the titan webaddress. the site had info abt titans remarkable mktg techniques, their ads, music in ads->mozart symphony 25; and finally linked into the titan tv on the site. ohhh..it is here the co. showcases their ads, rolled out through the yrs. in ado, i youtubed titan ads and saw the entire range that were broadcasted.. it was a grt experience..kinda smelt my yesterdays in those ads..they were endearing, soothing, musical (mozart is a genius), and highly sticky(kept seeing it again and again).

i didnt stop tre an went on to seein some other vintage crafty ads too..the asian paints,cadburys,fevicol.. i couldnt stop smiling watching those vdios. faizoo immersed in IPL (royal challengers vs deccan chargers) (" boring"), thot tre was somethin really happening at ma end..

these videos, inadvertently, brought wat i wanted the most..a truckload of cheer into ma dispirited soul!!! i was for sure a happy man and felt myself one hundrend percent destressed!!

thanks to veryone involved in these ads!! they still retain a charm of their own!!

4 mor:http://www.titanworld.com/titan_tv

e:diARy-2: pARticIPATorY wOeS!!

It is now a fashion in todays debate circles to discuss about the lack of people involvement and participation in nation building, lyk in Elections. The Eday, as many rightly suggested, has turned out to be one of the kind of a long overdue holiday, where you catch up with your family and friends. The public are not to be blamed as it’s the most logical step to do if there is not much to choose from the candidate list. The guilt for the falling voter turnout and lack of participatory role of junta in election lies majorly with the political parties and the candidates they field. As in every selective exercise, there should be an underlying tempt, that may fuel the junta to rocket out of their comfort zones to exercise their franchise. when politicians whose sophistication runs no more than a few glitzy films or a mindset of bygone era or a long roll of criminal records - whats there for people to choose. "nothing". but sadly in our EVMs there is no option for that "nothing". if there was this option, which you can press if you dont have faith in the neighbouring names, it would have been democratically great and a lot of fence sitters and an entire detached, election averse log would have marched in to the election dens. In a democracy, I believe in addition to the right of choosing "one" from the set, there should be an option for "none" from the fielded set. It can be a ready rejoinder for parties and candidates that how bad they are and how they are worhless of ones vote.this option may be the ultimate opium for the junta to vote, to prove they are not just dakkans out there. They can banish the egos of the staged candidates with a blatant “NO”. The political parties would also feel extremely embarrassed by a situation of this sorts and may well come out with decent candidates.

It may sound good to voice our displeasure, but think, apart from a few good ones, people would certainly be having no choices at their front. The most bizzare thing imaginable in such a case would be an assembly where a majority of seats occupied by a “none from above” group.  What happens then? Chaos. both disturbing and dangerous. I admit it might be a cynical's way of viewing things.

what is the other more optimistic alternative for bringing more people in E- business. its for political parties to show grit by staging candidates who can provide good governance to the nation. gear up political parties, get the best on the race, compel people to participate in the election. after all no party is bigger than the people they serve. so listen to peoples call. we need more shashi tharrors and the lot. an amartya sen from kolkatta, a narayanamoorthy from banglore.......the list goes on..

 

e:diARy-1:shAsHI THirontHoRAthIL!!!

its official..come april-09 and shashi tharoors name will charm the electonic voter machines (EVMs) in trivandrum. i had made a word around 6 months back to my politically inclined frnds that if this gentleman contests from trivandrum (as it was heavily rumoured then), i would be at sasthamangalam lp school, thiruvananthapuram, casting my vote on the D day. And if verything runs as planned, i will be sticking to my word.

Its these kinda intelligent, charishmatic, slick, erudite contestants that we need in a national election. It was indeed stately on Sharoors part to contest for a place in the Indian democratic establishment from his self affirmed proud home land. Given his reach among delhi’s intellectual and political pecking order, he could have guaranteed himself a wild card berth (safe seat or a rajya sabha seat) from anywhere in india.  Still he chose kerala to be his spring board to the lok sabha. May be he believed that every great journey must start from ones roots. his relation with kerala as he himself said runs nothing more than the occational holiday visits and his malayalam speaking parents. But still he prided himself as a chauvinist marunaadan malayalee. Even in his acclaimed non fiction "the elephant,the tiger and the cellphones" he keeps ruminating his kerala love affair with a series of fact loaded essays. He adroitly pronounces kerala as truly what it likes itself to be called “a gods own country”. A land, whose life closely parallels the very idea of India, secular, open, culturally and literally rich..concisely he just cries out that malayalees are a breed apart!!

The fact that the global malayalee previous competitive contest was for the chair of UN secretary general makes him almost an invincible larger than life character. The man who addressed the whos who of the global power list now talking to the sankarankuttys, abdullakuttys, georgekuttys, kochammani’s et al in trivandrum sounds quit lyk a modern day fairytale. He proves that he can be a different politico as he had a reputation of sticking to his spoken words and written scripts. If he said he is proud of kerala, he made it prouder by contesting the election from here.  It can well turn out to be citys date with history, an event with positive repercussions for a great future. 

it is well candidates of this size and character who pulls you from the comforts of your home to the polling stations on the E-days.Common man (I mean women too) should be having concrete reasons to feel committed to be a part of the long lines on an E day. It can be a need for change, a hope that goodness is a vote away or it would be the enticing pull of a magnanimous contestant. The Obama wave had all these ingredients in the bipolar American election scene.  Only a very few leaders have managed to create hysteria of that scale and I do believe in substance Sharoor can do the same to trivandrumites. His weblinks provide what he aims to achieve for trivandrum in detail. All looks promising, that doesnot diffrenciate him from others as everyone bring out their own impropable high points, but it is then the integrity and the scale of the sharoor makes his contention taller than others.

All thw bests Mr. shashi tharoor, voting for me wont just be another right, but, a privilege this time along. Thank you.

P.S. kerala politica without reds would just be like a “fart without a sound”***. its big bro attitude and ruffles with allies notwithstanding, they had come with an egalitarian mix of candidates. its always been in reds DNA to give people a strong and capable list of candidates. Another more notable thing is the no. of new young faces on their list this time. its now not just nandan nilakheni and FMCG marketing board rooms, who are aware of the demographic dividend and the targent lots. best of lucks to all comrades. Let the best win!!!

  

wHOs dRivINg U or uR mOm!!!

I slammed the door behind me. It made quite a deafening sound. I knew straightaway that my dads maruti 800 would have been much hurt by my action. But I didn’t turn back; as this was not the time to show ones repentance. A blink later I heard an equally loud bang. Poor maruti,, but Whos that?? I turned my head over. The dump headed me should have expected it. It was my one and only mom.

I had a glance at her and without returning the gaze she moved into home. While all this happened patta also exited and the way he closed the door would have made the car love him back. A visibly worn out patta came close by and remarked about the wonderful time he had for the last one hour with us. Understandably perplexed he asked the same archaic question.
Hmm..da anandae.. One doubt... Who was driving... you or your mom?
A sense of Dejavu prevailed. It was not the first time, nor was it the second, third or fourth time that am hearing this question. I was probably loosing the count. I managed to answer it with the usual clueless, non committal, angled face “I don’t know” emoticon.
All this happened a few yrs ago, when the traffic policemen at all junctions constantly wanted me to prove my age.

Now it’s mostly during my homey days that I get a chance to be behind the wheels. And the sleek M800 still remains the chosen one. I brand myself as an average driver with a fair dose of impulsiveness. Since the vacations to home are mostly programmed around family travels, Mom unfailingly forms a prominent part of my entourage. Once u crank the carr and revs up, its game on for mom. She effortlessly adores the role of a virtual driver. I might be the one physically steering, clutching, gearing, braking and speeding, but many including I feel that psychologically it’s my mom who is running the show.

When I venture onto some serious driving, mom too changes gears and flags off her own running commentary. The bumps ahead, the junctions on the way, the irate KSRTC coming round the corner, the probabilities of the child on the brink of the road to cross over and on a whole, all details are minutely covered and transduced to me. She also takes out her time to decipher the wacky roadside PWD signs for me (for me many look tuffer than da vinci codes).If even after all her sensible interventions if I spill out any bad move, A default “isss” sound (ooze in some air into ur opened lip, closed teeth, mouth) comes out. It poignantly points out that I had done something extremely erratic and risky. Even if am having a full housed car, I feel its only mom whos with me. the rest of the pack, completely poised, would be indulged in their own mini businesses. Restlessness in her grows if the roads are empty and there aren’t any signboards to crack. If this situation persists she rolls out selected moral trivia inherited from my granny, like “monae..slow and steady wins the race”. Graany for her part gives this piece of advice even now to my 50 something uncles.

My dad, an ace driver now, never falls into the category of a natural one. I remember the early days of my dads driving. It took him Half a year, a gentle clampdown of an advocates wall, quarter dozen trainers and a mighty heart to extract the roadie out of him. Nearly half, and in my moms eyes full responsibility, for my dads dyslexic learning curve was related to me. Hours after I was born, dad in high spirits had a close call on his life, as he nearly met with an accident. He came out of the episode unhurt, but was completely shaken and quit driving on the same day. The shock somehow stayed with him for 20 yrs. But fortunately even with these dubious records and a near total mediocre driving style he never goes thru any driving pressures from my mom. When he drives, mom never looks anywhere close to what I had seen her during my driving. She even settles for a peaceful doze. I had been at many times startled by the kind of double standards (harsh) my mother superior portrays.
Why this indifference, both of us drive the same vehicle and the risks on a base scale for anyone driving on the Indian roads are the same. Moreover I have been lucky enough not to be registered to an accident on my car yet (touchwood).. Then why?? When the ‘iss’ sound gets unbearable I let loose some red herrings. “Mom, u well know I am a no. 8, I drive a M800, and the 2240 punched in the no. plate doesnt add upto 9 either. So numerologically I am lucky with the car. Hence never worry abt anything”. Even these superfluous statements aren’t a meaty divergence for my mom. Later more control from her ensures the near crack of my ego and I vent out my displeasure in very rude ways. At the end of the travel our moods get so erratic that the climax sounds the way it turned out at the start. Patta, now languishing in US, for his part will be replaced by someone else and the question inadvertently pops out: Who was driving u or ur mom??

It was only recently I started Pondering more on this issue(thxx to blink, tipping point, freaknomics etc) I thought there was more than just my driving here. Mom’s authoritative stand was not in many ways due to my driving incompetence or habits. She never used to go onto the tech things of my driving. In a way even she believes that am ok technically with driving. It was more driven by her maternal instincts. In addition to a certain level of latent anxiety, She was after all unmindfully (even if excessively) playing the role of a protective and a helping mom. Her timely prompts was her own way of easing up and decoding the front situations to me. It might on first hand feel irritating and highly unwanted but had on majority of occasions tremendously helped me. She was unconsciously showing me the care and affection she has for me. she believes her stakes on my well being are very high and that makes her come out with the cautionary issses”, whenever I dared to cross the limits.

Dad on the other hand has loads of trust of mom. She knows that dad can effortlessly bail her out in whatever precarious situation they end up in. Even the so called wall ramming episode went of fine as the advocate turned out to be a known figure to my dad. (The Perpendicularity disturbance of the advocate’s wall still stands testimonial for his learning days.) So it’s unconsciously the trust element that’s working out for my dad. At the end it’s even for both of us. We were only witnessing the different facets of a lady who is playing knowingly and unknowingly the different roles of womanhood in her life.

Even though I think I know the philosophical bends driving my mother, I am sure we both may again get out of the car completely at unease with each other. That’s might well be the beauty of this relationship. Her constant appraisal of my driving and on various other life issues makes me at times completely mad at her. Still I know from the bottom of my heart that she is with her interventions only making my journey through life all the more easy. For my case, I believe even schumi would be having an earful if he is driving with his mom as Mothers tend to be universally generic.

P.S. this post is for my mom who will be turning a year younger this Dec 7th. For all those whose mothers don’t yell at u when u drive and when u live. Congrats. Ur moms have grt trust on ur abilities and believes that u r fit for yourself.

tHe mYtH CalLeD 13!!

it was 13th of October. Repeat.. 13th of October. a Monday. I was assigned first shift at the office which means waking up when half of the public were under their blankets.

5:15 am.

the day started in the most unnatural way. I woke myself up with zero external help @ 5.15 am!! A record of sorts. . Aravi, another first shift veteren, quite prophetically said “it is certainly going to be an altogether different day today”.
Rome was not built on a day and so was this incredible achievement. It took me a week long braintoning to achieve this incredible feat. On any other normal day, it would be my mobile SE K790I which wakes me up. Sinkari melam, my alarm tone starts its day by buzzing @ 5.30am. and religiously goes by its chore for the next 1 hr. it is only then I make up my mind whether or not to get up . Singarimelam,a keralaean traditional symphony, is a very lively and heavy tone to wake upto. This alarm tone was suggested to me by aravi. He thought the combo tone with his ear deafening sound can wake even a dead from his grave. From the experience I had with it, aravi as ever wasnt wrong.
But all was not well with the mob in the last couple of weeks. it wasn’t really at the pink of its health and had even gone completely dead for a week. Its behaviour had turned highly volatile and the comfort levels I enjoyed with it were hitting new lows. and on most days, Singarimelam my wake up mantra was silent too. The performance decline of the mob had very adverse effects on my attendance logins also. I was so accustomed to the tone, that it was almost impossible for any other tone to wake me up. even the so called powerful attendance swipe in system @ my office had started assuming that I am a regular in gen. shift!!

5:30 am

after 2 weeks of no response and some serious repairs, the lights on the screen returned. The two weeks of my mobs sabbatical made me loose some of the “without-u-i-cant-live” kinda relationship I had with the mob. and as was before sharp @ 5:30 my mob now recuperating itself from a serious repairing overhaul, sung the sinkarimelam to me. i was in the loo and the sound made my life tre even more pleasurable. on my return I played the tone again and was happy on seeing my mob live in action. Everything looked extremely pleasant.

i dashed to the office and after quite wide login shuffles the previous week, logged @ 7:15am (late by only 15 mins)

8:30am, outside the office
At the tapri outside my office, I had just got my teeth off from the vada paav. Sachin was sitting next to me. Suddenly a lightning went through my head. My mobile?? The mob was not with me there. Peace followed, it would be there on my desk. After some quick bites, I was back at my desk and now it was the time of further jolt. It wasn’t there.Quite obviously peace surfaced again, where else can it be other than on my cosy cot at home. And this was not the first time that I had faced this loss phenomenon. But still inside in, I was getting a bit uncomfortable. A sense of loss was sinking slowly on my mind. I left it as more serious work made me occupied for the rest of the morning.

2:30 pm,outside the office
it was afternoon. It was lunch time and I was again at the same tapri. Prasad was my companion now. Today is the day when we will be given our appraisal letters. Our report card for the year’s performance. Prasad asked me about my expectations. With the economic gloom in US, I said I don’t expect much this time and would hail myself extremely lucky if I get somewhere around the officially announced avge pay hike. Prasad was upbeat and said I can blindly get lot more than that. When I returned the question to him, as always expectations of his appraisals were well above to what I cud even think. The appraisal letters were ready and my boss called me into the cubicle and handed over the letter to me. On my first glance through the document I was literally shocked, was completely taken off the ground. I was handed over what you can call an over-the-top (as per my expectations) pay hike. The one even in my best of dreams I never dared to think.
I was on cloud nine, truly ecstatic and thanked god that at last after a month long carnival of setbacks something great had come my way. I was turning highly philosophical and thought how rite it is to believe that there is light always at the end of the tunnel. All through my journey back home I was constantly pushing my heart to the extreme ends of happiness. I had a very long walk through the various bylanes, I polished my shoes at the hands of the 3rd cobbler each one separated by atleast a km, bought an anniversary issue of outlook, and reached home late. I was every bit tired but very very happy.

7:30 pm @home
I shared the hike news with aravi and said world over believes 13 is a bad day, but not anymore for me. Aravi supported me saying it was foolish to go behind superstitions and said he joined tata motors on 13th. Some trivia also encouraged me to think more in that direction. Varghese kurien, the milkman of India, author of the latest book I am reading, started his career @ anand on 13th. Sikhs consider 13 as the most ominous number in their religion. Outlook also had a spl essay on the no.13 by renowned rationalist sanal edamurukku justifying the unnecessary importance given to the otherwise ordinary 13. So the shared bottom line with all the inputs was that it’s all bloody superstition to blindly go by the fear of 13.
Aravi meanwhile started calculating the net in hand salary I would draw from now on. And I went on remembering mom and thought of conveying the rather surprising hike to her. I went on looking for my mob, it has been without me for the whole day. I went to the extremes of my bed where I normally keep it. It wasn’t there. Panic slowly crept in. Aravi started dialing my no. and it replied quite pleasantly that it’s out of coverage area. GOD DAMNIT!!. I slowly started to get into the grip of the problem. I realized that am loosing something of my prized possession. The first buy from my first salary. It was a true state of the art gizmo. It had the distinction of spending the most time with me for the last 2 yrs. it was my sleep buster, my image catcher, my connection to the world, it was kinda signature of mine to the world. Half an hour into the search made it a foregone conclusion that someone else is now playing with the keys of my mob. The no.13 was slowly coming back into my senses. I corrected myself that it was impossible to have a large majority to be wrong on a belief. There was essentially something strange about 13. Signs of Triskaidekaphobia Surfaced on me.
Aravis mob helped me reach mom and I said the whole episode of the day to her. She knew how I was close to the mob and said there is always equilibrium at every juncture in our life. For the success of ones life this equilibrium is highly needed. The hike news as expected made her a bit shaky and asked me “da just check whether it’s your name itself on the appraisal letter” I smiled gently at the spontaneous humor delivered by mom. Then suddenly I saw the ghost of 13 in front of my eyes,I turned sober and crosschecked my name in the appraisal letter. Thank god it was me there. Mom on a parting note said u had been very fortunate to be at the extremes of emotions on the very same day. a kind of leveler at the end.

11.59 pm

Fortunately 13 didn’t suck me anymore on the day.
P.S. After a week of my mob.Loss, I went through its bill, warranty cards and all. I calculated the life span of the mob at my hand and it came out to be 652 days, which added out to wat else the dreaded 13!!

Rock- On Rocks

Rock on rocks!! ( drafted on aug 28-2008 )
Its 2am now and I have just been home drenched in equal measures by rain and Rock on the film. My immediate review. A film that can blindly score a 4+ rating on a scale of 5. Rock on the movie,for me, is majorly a music driven story of the ups and downs of an amatuerish rock gang over an extended period of time. BuT above the story and the drama involved wat makes the movie ultra special, is the frsh music that syncs throughout the moovie. For me, whose know how of rock starts and ends with summer of 69, music of Rock on has been definitely a welcome addition. Its Music is still flowing into my ears thru the headphones. Quite strangely it has been 3 days since my lappie is singing tirelessly the music of rock on and none of my frnds is complaining. They all have different temperament towards music and still no one is getting sick of it. Even more astonishing was when I heard aravi humming meri laundry a few times.
So here I am, seen the film, writing abt it, keeping my ears open to its music the whole day..oh boyy its truly prevailing on me. The music is by far the essence of the movie. The promos also are driven around it. I may not be the right person to get an all sensible breakdown of the music, but what I can quite guranteeily say is its awesome, top of the class: its contemporary lines, guitar, the shots, farhaans sound and sheer energy in the songs, too good.
I truly expected a good movie long before it gate crashed the box office. The sole reason being the omnipresence of farhaan in the movie. In addition to the acknowledged credits of farhaan in the film as actor, singer & producer, it may sound foolish if someone say he didn’t involve himself in direction and script. The lyrics also have shades of origins from his grey cells. So farhaan keeps proving me again and again that he definitely belongs to that rare breed of filmmakers, who are at the same time perfectionists and creative. I often thought him to be a master storyteller, but this poet son turned out to be a cut above, with multitudes of personas. If dch was fresh, laakshya crafty, don stylish then I wud say rock on is all three in one.
The director abhishek kapoor did a splendid job as he had almost taken a wagon full of risks with this film. An all new star cast, a hatka theme, different sounding music all seemed too heavy for a debutant in the formula driven bollywood landscape. But he pulled it out with total élan.
Whats a Casting director doing in a hindi film? The answer is all visible in this film. The casting is truly fabulous. Roles and actors are hand in gloves here. Extra real. Joe, looked a real rockstar. kd is real Kool and rob truly enigmatic. I loved adi’s wife, a complete departure frm the lovable wife dictum of hindi cinema. Debby..hmm i really wish to have a wife like her, so domineering and aestetically beautiful, I believe every man loves to have a wife that way even if they don’t admit it.
S,E,L.again does a grt job. Premier film makers in bollywood can now think twice before running over to the shores of madras to get the dates of the local Mozart, as this 3mencompany proved what they are truly capable of.
The only glitch I could come up with in the film, and that too with a lot of deep thinking, is the similar backdrop of all farhaans movies. Urban rich cool irresponsible teenagers playing with their destinies. But this is just minor issue as I desperately had to find something not so perfect in the whole thing.
Final verdict: Overall a grand movie. 99% Flawless and bombarded with magical performance from all involved. A must watch!! A movie that I really loved. Whats more “meri laundry ka ek bill” is my new dialer tone. The first time I ever did so.
lappie still roaring his throat out “asmaan ye neela kyun”….

wats it being 24..

At last or should I say a fairly soon I turned 24. This time it was a damp squib of an event. Truly a low key affair. No midnights wake up calls, (except for my sweet sister who never forgets anything remotely close to me), no cake cutting, no warm wishes from friends and in a way I wanted it this way. I had long ago deactivated my birthday remainders in all the social networking sites I was linked to and it meant to be a test for my friends to show me my worthiness by calling me on the day without anyone reminding them. Lot of my close ones called me up and we had long chats on various other issues but nothing of this surfaced anytime. I was also thoroughly happy and in a big way highly satisfied with the lukewarm response this time. The previous years were all different, the midnight cake cutting, the party on the birthday night (or is it birth night), the gifts. It was fun turning older then. Everyone moved aside with their differences and gave all importance to the getting younger guy. It was “THE” moment under the stars for the birthday basher. It helped everyone to bond further and acted as a platform to show closeness and camaraderie to the birthday boy and among the group in general. The night was party time and it wholeheartedly belonged to the birthday boy and he was licensed to mouth out whatever shit he had to say on anything and anyone. In the company of premium whiskey all with complete humility lent their discerning ears to him. The birthday boy at least for that day was made to feel really special in possibly every sense. At the end of the night, the celebrations take away the lion’s share of ones monthly allotted economy but no one complained. But those good old days have long gone. Now no one has time to remember their own bthdays let alone others.
The night of 8th was really irritating for me. I was for the first time getting the heat of getting older. This time it was not the pleasant things tat came to my mind. I had a relay dialogue with aravi. I shared my uncertainties with him about the responsibility and mature interventions I might need to undertake in the coming years. Life is taking a more serious turn now. The previous birthdays were fun and heady and now it’s more sane and pragmatic. Aravi and faizoo readily agreed upon the point about the transition that one need to follow as he ages. Its always better one takes it not too late. Aravi,faizoo and for that matter most of my friends had already moved onto the serious ways of life. But I hadn’t. It hit me the hardest because the transition clearly showed me my vulnerabilities. I was never serious and responsible and the now the ground realities demanded me to be just that. I felt that I need to traverse a sweeping phase change that itself might be too big.
Morning I was woken up by the phone ring and my most beloved mom was at the other end; I didn’t hide my disappointment in turning older and grimly stated with a bewildered tone.
“ammo.. Am aged 24 now”.
mom was first appeasing me and said wear a maturity cap from now on. Then gave her gyaan on saving money, being more mature and most importantly admitted you should now be on the preparation mode for a fly life. It again dwindled my falling spirits. Marriage means more responsibly without even the perks of better remuneration. I protested back. How can a fellow who can’t look after himself think about the vagaries of a life long association with an additional burden? There was silence at the other end. I thought mom was patiently hearing my protests but she was in the meanwhile figuring out her age and was taken aback by her newly found age. So two unhappy souls bridged by a phone line. With despair and a bit of dismay mom gave a chakara umma and gave it to my father. If you ever wanted to see someone symmetrically opposite to me see my dad. Physically, temperamentally, socially and in all humane parameters he is a known opposite to me. He also started with a warm wish and settled on to serious chores and a bit sarcastically told even if there is no traces of maturity on your face keep yourself reminded of your age He even sprinkled in with a dose of personal trivia of the kind of activities, roles and responsibities he handled when he was at my age. Unsurprisingly it only made me more sick at myself.
There was some respite at the office front. I still hold the record of the youngest guy in our division. So even at this age I feel am smaller there at office. The HR unfailingly sent me birthday mail and so were hordes of others from colleagues. The director then came along and gifted me a bouquet of red roses and wished me well and as was the norm asked the same boring question: what was the plan for tonight? I gave the default answer “not planned”. He was happy with the answer and rushed off to his cubicle. All mere superficiality.
At the end of the day I was getting myself more prepared to the bigger battles with life ahead. This birthday in many ways drew battle lines with me and the parable called life. I penned a set of new resolutions and pasted on to the wall and I was now very much focussed of being serious from now on. I began to realise that my actions from now on would be closely monitored and any follies would be never taken lightly. So I surely on his voyage to manhood.
P.S.
Resolutions
Talk less. Act more.
Make myself stronger. Upgrade from the featherweight category.
Read better and more.
Be calm composed
Be focussed
Crack cat or mat or xat or snap or any good entrance and enter into a premium b school.
Walk more. Don’t have grudges. Call up ur frnds more often. Always keep on doing something. Write more blogs. Smile more. Take every problem with a stoic mindset that “this too shall pass”.Love me more. Be anand!!!

A Battle Well Won..

May 25, Bengaluru, Karnataka.
The election results are out in Karnataka. And Mr. B. S. Yedyurappa surfaced from the confines of taj west end hotel smiling with “V “mudra in his hands. At last BJP broke open, what poll pundits once proclaimed, the invincible frontier of Dakshin bharat (BJP lingo). Indeed a great victory of sorts. It will now be on charge of a state, which is India’s answer to the changing global patterns, whose capital is the face of emerging and ambitious India, a region which demographically hosts the most prudent minds of India. Politically it gives bjp the added fillip to dream bigger and favourably sails BJP’s voyage towards the gen. elections coming up in an year or earlier.
I like the ever fallible poll pundits never overtly expected a saffron party at the Vidhan soudha so soon. The credit for the turn around on a large way is credited to the man of the hr Mr. Yedyurappa From the profiling I saw of him from various quarters the septuagenarian is an ideal leader material. Unlike his more famous Gujju compatriot he is at least on looks very down to earth, subtle, shrewd, humble, clean and the one not too close to hardcore hindutva. It was his charisma and his sympathetic call to the people to teach the betrayers a lesson that romped him home.
The BJP had also been wise enough to put its hindutva and minority intolerance image in the backburner in the run up for the election. They knew well that there were hordes of other deadly trump cards in their arsenal to get them home or to atleast create a stir.
by and large The single most prominent contributor for this win is, the brand of politics showed by Gowda fly. if it was not for the now almost ruined father son duo, BJP would had to wait for another or may be more terms to make their foray really possible. The Sr Gowda did everything right until now. Brought up his two sons under his formidable shade and made them the heir apparents to his illustrious throne. But his undoing was that he forgot to teach them the essential lessons of coalition dharma. A must in todays India. The folly of Gowda Sr is graver given the fact he was the head of a govt which can be labelled as the one of the first coalition governments at the centre. A strong anti incumbency, the caste politics, the poor governance and the above mentioned brute betrayal drama by the Gowda clan in a big way sealed the fate for the JD combine.

There was no respite from the central government too. There were too many policy start ups but with much less penetration to the society. The inflation was at its peak. Just a day before the election a kg of rice cost around 15 a kg, which was a couple of month earlier Rs. 8/ kg. This had a repulsive effect on aam admi to the congress. This inflationary flare up and lack of any significant ground activities (minus the party infighting) in a way forced the curtains down on any chances of congress coming to power.

So for people options were running out and at the end of the tunnel stood the smiling assassin Mr. Yedyurappa. And people kept his smile up by giving him just the required arithmetics to romp home.

So on a whole people voted for a change. A change they badly needed. This urge shown by the ppl should be highly appreciated. They are the real victors here. And the doubts one had in the democracy frame up and the agonies of rising regional powers was laid to rest. Lotus prevailed while the others sunk under their own weight.
But wait when did I started really appreciating the rise of BJP government. Surely not long ago and not essentially entirely now too. I never felt comfy when Narendra modi retained the status of the most powerful man in Gandhi’s land (what an irony). I have never been even faintly interested in its brand of hindutva politics. And had always leaned to the lofty ideals put forth by the red bastions. But now I myself feel a bit alienated to its agendas and is it that growing older diluted my thick red outlook into a more pleasing saffronized one. Not essentially. but sometimes it is good to break out of your dogmatic and stagnant outlooks. and this may well be one of the last publicised congrats for bjp win. its never too late..so congrats Mr. chief minister.

Can We Do What Karnataka Did?

I was on a much needed holiday to Kerala. After persistent requests, my boss agreed for a 5 day leave and I booked the first kf flight from Mumbai to Kochi. Its not that I could have easily afforded it but a bagful of credit cards and a above 300 stand on waiting lists on most trains made me to go by air. Kochi was not my final summit, as it was Haripad. Aravi was also with me. We hired an auto from aerodrome and got down to Athani then a bus to Alwaye then to Ernakulam and then a bus to Tvpm. It was a mockery of travel and I quickly observed that I was getting more inadaptable to Kerala climes. The jubha that I wore was making me sweat profusely and the total chaos on a Saturday morning office hour also was not making my travel worth enjoying.

Inside the KSRTC super fast to tvpm via haripad.

I settled at my fav. seat just behind the driver. My mom had always warned never to sit behind the driver but still I do that almost every time. Aravi retired for a snooze and i opened up the latest issue of outlook. The cover story being BJP’s thumping and near unexpected win in Karnataka. Even more surprising for me who was raised in a political environment which boasted of only two political fronts, the left and the never right UDF (either u or me). In between my serious reads I often passed some passing glances on the moving objects on the outside.

The images shown by the self projected gods own country was thoroughly disturbing me. The consumerist face of Kerala was highly visible on the hundreds of billboards that popped on either sides of the highway. It was of hotels, 24 carat gold stores, bars, real estate developers etc. the Crumbling living spaces, eroding family values, highly affluent life styles,spiritual anarchism and the total disregard for environs. the Kerala I knew a few years back has witnessed a whirlpool of transition. It is no longer a haven of simple, sincere, innocent and laidback junta. It is on its high way up to match with more affluent societies you will see anywhere else. Is it a sign of a state moving ambitiously up or a misled society who are agonisingly on a deep disastrous journey to nowhere? I simply don’t know!! So what.
all alarming signs of a nation on a freefall. Kochi, where I touched down, which is set to undertake some gleaming projects in near future look like a place still not fully graduated beyond a big town. It took me 2 hrs to get out of Ernakulam for a 20 km stretch. There were more cars in streets than pedestrians. Kerala is still in a royal honeymoon. People are lazing around with all that it is provided by the nature. Nature has pampered us with everything, Rivers, rains, Sea, Mountains, climate, soil and we respond to this by taking it with all might forgetting that there is surely life after us. Kerala is behaving more of as a rogue American state. There is now minimal cultivation (except the rubber which made many prosper), degrading environment, land mafia, hartal, employee unrests, spiritual anarchism, suicides, over boozing et all. Sizable chunk of Kerala’s productive population is out of state cos the near zero industrial presence.
Even after all these grave issues Kerala is still surviving but the question is for how long. I too don’t know it’s a mystery. Human development indexes claim it to be the most literate state in India but of what good when these people can’t get a job in their state. The best male female ratio when it reports the maximum no. of sexual abuse and home violence .its all happening in Kerala ironically considered being the most ideal place to nest in by many (including me)…
This sorry state has in a big way been paved by the political scenario in Kerala. The hype and promises shown by the left at the beginning of their term is largely unmet. Sadly it again proves that everyone can play devil advocate with élan and all our leaders play the role well when they are in opposition benches. The down fall starts when the transition occurs from the opposition benches to the leaders of the ruling party, the might and vigour they had previously shown is largely oozed out. Once they grace the power citadels they make a mockery of the reputation and agenda they preached and spread. Communism in Kerala is ailing even if nobody openly admits. The one thing that all Malayalee communists forget is what Marx prophetically said “there is only one constant in this world and that is change”. The role played by communists in grafting the socio- economic frame work is world known and the Kerala model of development has achieved magical acclaim. The well being secular mosaic, cultural movements it paved, the revolutionary land reforms, the strengthening of unorganised sectors are all milestones communists rule in the state. The strengthening of the society on class, religious and economic bands have been in a big way fashioned by the reds. The acerbic ideology and principles of communists are nowhere to be seen. The pleasure that the militant employee unions and trade unions get out of running the industries and job providers fails to brighten up my imagination A Volkswagen official once quipped the redtapism and sloth ness shown by Kerala towards VW when they came up with setting the factory in Kerala. It later went to Poona and it in its last stage of development. The business activities growing up in the vicinity of the plant makes me regretfully feel what a big miss it was to have them out. This was just one of the incidents in a long procession of our lack of concern for states development. Keeping in mind all they did in the yesteryears I feel they need to refashion themselves very rapidly. Times are changing its good to be sounding against exploitation but shouldn’t be at the expense of state’s devt.
As far as congress party is concerned less said the better. They run on wafer thin principles and are the perfect opportunists. they very well know that as soon as the left gov. came in power that their wait for the power citadels is just 5 yrs away, after which they will be running the gov on a 2/3 majority as is repeated in history.
But by assuming power can congress initiate any change the answer may be in full earnest be a big no. so there exactly lies the need for alternate option and eventually a third front.

The correlation

This is just a vague and a infactual conclusion. Get a more bigger participatory democracy in our state. Give more push to the newer parties and candidates. Karnataka has well shown us that to break out of the mould give the less formidable a chance. Crack more options and give the next in cue a chance. Let’s get a Yediyurappa from someone of us. There can be differences in geographical sizes and the aspirations of the people of the two states but the bottom line would be to vote for a change. A change which is unprecedented.

My arithmetic

A government of
Congress alone = hopeless
Left = wud have been gr8 10-15 yrs ago. wud be much better if they undergo some tumultuous changes in outlook.
Third front {BJP + Madani’s PDP+ congress - M, B, independents} = more vocal and hence more democratic. Can be good. Let’s give it a try.

P.S. All expressions are time bound and as is the nature of politics can always be subjected to change. And Still red at heart.

January..down memory lane..a bio epic

0n 9thof Jan. our owner asked us whether we r willing to stay at his home for a yr more…v said yupp, its an honour to be hre for an yr again..its always nice to give some lift to whatever one says... George Philip was happy an next day he came an said dear all,the rent has been hiked to 6000inr. wat!!It was a tuff to fathom at first, a hike of nearly 100%..

aravi regained his good senses and asked whether tre is any lowering.. gp went for a thought and said he will pay for the society too.. for us it was a mere gain of 500 bucks.. gp continued ..That’s it..its the last and final offer..dont xpect me to go down further..as though toughening his stand said tre r a lot of wannabe tenants waiting to get the house 4 this rent…it was a perfect catch 22 for us..live or leave..Aravi said the obvious.. V R MOVING..it was a daredevil stand considering the fact that till15 mins b4 we didnt ever had the remotest idea of a shift..he simply held the charging bull by its horns..gp gave us a weeks time for thinking..
We rushed to ammachi…ammachi was the quintessential guide and problem ..she was the last word for all our glocal issues..as always she guaranteed us help. the housing complex Sec. mr.Nair had newly bought a flat @ morya bldg, a 250m walk from our present domicile.. an ammachi talked with the nair fly an it was finally decided tat v are fit to stay tre for a rent of 4700inr…. I had a talk with Nair and made sure tat the society had no probs with housing bachelors ….it was now payback time and i foned gp an informed abt our readiness for the move..it was a bolt from the blue for gp.. he never expected us to get a home that soon…Mr. an Mrs. gp rushed in an, I with a lot of arrogance, said stubbornly tat the hike was highly unreasonable an the opportunism shown erased all the respect we had for them..this was too much for the hubby wifepair, a 20 something fellow dictating terms in a highly irreverent way..they took all my verbal volleys with dignified and discerning silence..i went on and on, giving quite an earful for the couple. .both looked pale and took leave..i pasted a “ all world at my feet” kinda smirk on my face..
as was promised.. v shifted the entire household items on tat nite…all by ourselves… we transported verything,the almirah, beds,cloths all..the first two days were gr8....peace didn’t prevail long.. some neighbors (goondas) came at midnight and told aravi tat they will beat us if v prolong our stay for more than 15 days there..v again contacted Nair, an nair’s daughter a full blown NRI (SPEAKS ALWAYS IN ENGLISH) took toll of the situation,and said the situation is quite bad an its always better to hear our polite neighbours..she forced her opinion by saying that they have the distinction of keeping their words most often..ammachi also didn’t had any alternate view on the matter..
the writing was on the wall..its time to homehunt again..but the NRI came out with a backup plan.. a week later, the NRI wud be taking the entire nair fly out of India for 6 months..nairs house will be ghost ridden for that much time..so till v fully succeed on our home hunt, Nair was benevolent enuff to allot the hall of his home to us..…nair also said tat he will keep his new house( the one in which we shifted) to himself an would rent out only after he ruturns from abroad…so that meant the shifted things can stay at morya bldg an v can shift the household items to a nu house or to nairs room at our own pace..as if showcasing our gratitude to nair and co.,our tv was kept at nairs house and tv also was not working then.. the plan was okayed… for one week after which they will lleave for uk, we got the permission frm goondas to stay@ morya bldg….everything look settled and after some sleepless nites we all slept huddled together on that serene nite..as always, when it rains it pours,,destiny had certain other plans..
Nair’s and in turn our hopes wre thrashed as his family was denied the visa and their trip stood cancelled for the moment…question marks were wat we cud all see around us..v were in dire straights as v didn't had a place to shift after the week as v had first tot of shifting to his home..enter gp..sensing this opportunity gp again contacted aravi an said tat they r willing to rent the house for 4500inr…the long line of tenents who were waiting for gps home was a nothing more than a paranoid claim...he was running behind ppl to get the home housed..
v also had no other choices…so v said yes an told him tat v wont pay a months rent an asked him to paint the house b4 v shift tre… the Eveready ammachi in the meanwhile started doing consultancy services for the nairs an readied another family for our present ( nairs) home…the goondas had no opposition to flys staying there..so we had the deadline set 4 Feb. 1…that meant we have to shift to gps house within Feb. 1..the coming tenant wanted Nair to paint the house an nair responded well by starting the painting without consulting us, an faizoo an aravi stayed all throughout tat period in the house…as I had already decided I took aweeks sabbatical from the turmoil and descended to my home sweet home..aravi anf Faizoo stayed and braved the painting sessions at the home..faizoo olfactory systems got areal hammering and was down with fever for some days..but the painting didn’t stop and went on..
the painting got over and the time was up for us to shift to gps home..as it sud have been for our bad times gp started the painting at his house.i too was back frm home.. we without much choice lived at gps home while the painting was goin in full swing.. I believe no one on the face of earth has to deal with such backlashes in a way v 3 had in these two weeks.P.S.All except v 3 laughed it out thru the 2 weeks…Nair , an ardent idea star singer aficionado, njoyed all the episodes with OUR t.v, whle we were paint ridden in his other home..
got an under repair house rented 4 15 days 4 3000inr…kudos NAIRji..u rocked..
Ammachi still frightens faizal sayin…dhairyammayittirikkada njaan ellam sariaaki tharaam ( be brave..why fear when I am here..)..
Gp is also vry happy…mrs gp said to aravi tat “aa ithiriponnavante (me) samsaaram ottum shariyalla”… (“That mass less (me) creature’s attitude sucks. Ask him to mind it”)..
if luck favours chankaran veendum thengael.My take: somethings in life comes wen u least xpect it. dont prepare yourself for that day as whatever u do it will surely boomerang on you. the only thing tat u can truly do is to sit back and enjoy..

our eureka moment.

am again back to ma fav. topic.. wat else but boozing. everytime i booze i come across very strange and head wobbling experiences.. i doubt if it is similarly refreshing for others as it is for me..
it was my officewalla's bachelor party, as we are very few mallus in office, the party was a vry closed affair with a handful of invitees.. me and faizoo wre tre to grace the occasion..it was a good round, with some serious altercations flowing through..the party ended quite late in nite an i,faizoo an our harley, the honda activa raised to f7 suryodaya complex.. it was fun riding through th nearly empty six lanes through the nite..faizoo was havin a field day, yelling out at the overtaking lorrywallas the consequences of Drivin fast in crude kizhikoddan malayalam ..
was home vry soon an as was the routine aravi had by then entered his fourth hour of sleep.. had to really do some plain singing along with some loud bangs on the doors to wake him up..tre wre no lights in room an aravi had to literally smile @ us to make us know tat he was at the door..he employs this technique whenever he enconters someone in dark.. he added tat its a gud nite waitin for us as tre was no power in the room and was vry hot inside..
i laid on the bed.. didnt quite cared to change my dress.. i was bdly in need of a 8hr sleep..i was desperately trying to enter the 8hr sleep module.. the groans and growls made by aravi were turning more vocalin the nite..mosquitoes wer also doing their part to spoil ma nite..it was biting me oll over and i was forced to hear its highly irritatable buzzings..
one hour passed and i was cursing verythin by then..it was then i felt as if somethin hitting my face almost constantly..i switched on the lights (power came by then) i saw my nemesis, an vowed to kill each of the moquitoes b4 thinking of rest..but on a closer look i found that moqueis were not anything near to wat i have seen before.the moqueis looked Completely lost..they were doing the unthinkable.
they were flying all over, slamming straight into the walls,hitting ma face as though trying to push me away, was landing on its nose and was doing turns and twists in mid air..it was just like observing an air show with all those fighters doings unimaginable manouevers.
the most pleasent thing was it was no longer after my thick red fluid.it was just like mosqueiis wer shaking itself to the tunes of drug smelling dum maro dumm..i was really fascinated by their unusual flight patterns and their deaddiction to ma blood..i began to ponder for the reasons for this sudden mood reversal..
i woke up faizoo too and at 2 pm we both were studying the behavioural overtures of mosqueiis..suddenly faizoo quipped why r these bloody nanos behaving as if drunk..
it made sense..yupp eurekaa!!! u said it faizoo.. they are drunkk!!
i was never in doubt about the traces of vodka running through ma veins.the blood it suck in ma first hour at the bed did the trick..there wud have been quite obviously been appreciable amts of vodka in me and add faizoo to it, it become quite a mouthful for the hapless little terrorists. it becomes quite a lethal conc of alcohol for the mosqueiis to serve in..this wud no dbt been the mosquies first brush with these deadly liquids .. so it cudnt probably handle it well..first time drinks are is equal measures unforgettable and un forgoving.
unforgettable cos it makes you feel you have grown up and unforgiving cos the after effects it brings along (see my earlier posts for more). the mosquies were also learning the first lessons of boozing the hard way.
me and sighed a huge relief in solving tis tuff case and we cheered each others intelligentia in cracking th case..we patted each others back and showcased extreme brotherhood camaraderie by vowing not to kill the "fellows who lost their senses " and to leave them on their pursuit of complete mental liberation.
P.S.
At the end only a boozer can truly understand the mood complexities of another boozer, however small it be!!

PaaMpYIkkO bUt tK aaVArutH..

it has been a long wait after the intro tat i gave around 1.5 yrs bacc..its olways said better late tan nvr..a lot has changed frm wre i left ten to wat it is today..so no more crappy an lengthy preface...

so start camera action

it was breezy friday evening an the clounds movin smwhere above thot of unweighin themselves an released a sudden spurt of uncontrolled downpour on to the sun dried and dreary ravines of land below..panicker,pandithan an i, along with a few thousand aurangabandians wre at the recieving end of the sprayed bounty.it was a much needed drizzle after a pretty long an hoot summer..the downpour was totally unexpected an cud hav well earned the title “shock n awe”. the avge aurangabandian was caught unawares, an after a few minutes of bewilderment moved out of the luxury of their roof, an thronged out to fully savour the mood an beauty of the of downpour.

come rain or shine: me, pandithan an panicker was unperturbed an were speedin thru th rejiocin denizens. v had some other obvious plans... as was the convention i was late for the occasion an inturn delayed the otherwise punctual panicker an pandithan. Being late was never an issue with me, ppl rarely set ny time for me, cos they realised quite early with their experiences that tre is olways some fatigue limits of dissappointment. i was quite aware of my bad schedule records, it wasnt th ideal time to be remorseful abt it. so i kept it well onto myself, an along with other 2, was sprinting to the default place in full vigour..

v reached the place: hotel rasoi (bar attached) fully drenched. It was olready 7:50 an we were a full 40 mins late..thomman kunju, nvy an pillaichettan were already tre at our fav corner, seated leisurely on the princely diwan..the ambience was typical BARish: dimly lit,smoke filled, loud laughters an the masala chartbusters playin in the baccground..i was never a regular to these denss as was pandithan an to a littl extent thomman kunjuu..panicker an pillaichettan wud hav lost the count of their visits hre..

without waitin further the order was placed, an i graduated frm sipping sweetcandy cokes to the bitter an mor better beers. As was the routine of our boozin sessions tre wre olways absorbing topics of discussion. The normal weekend boozing sessions wre perpetully laced with altercations ranging from bhagawathgeetha to kamasutra, crusades to jihad, F1 to sachin , page 3 stuffs lik angelina jolies latest adoption lists et al. it was no different tis time an after criss crossing thru a plethora of topics landed straight down at the world of blogging.this landing was not accidental, it was fully piloted by thomman kunju... i always put my view across each time something comes up for discussions but on this increasingly growing phenomenon i was mum an so was panikker, pillai 'chettan', pandithan and the savvy nvy. thomman kunju being a true core netizen went into the crux of the matter with an air of mastery. it seemed he was knwing everythin blogin.. tk also have a penchant of turning occidental aftr a peg or two, afterwhich oll his discloses wud be in shakesperean lingoo..with oll these attributes tk was really comin to groove.. it was vry rare in a barish scenario to see just one fellow holding the entire limelight of a group..even ppl fm across the adjoining seats started listening to himm.. it was truly turning out to b tk’s nite out..

Meanwhile the bartender had no spare time an was shuttling beteween our table and the mirrored cupboard hosting the best of Gin,vodka,rum,whiskey,brandy,tequila and my own beers. This day or say nite was big for me too as am puttin my first step in joining the league of kudiyans in my own small way. i was forced to cross the forbidden territories of boozin aftr i sat in th audience of some thought provoking an moolah raking series of speeches by nvy. hence the gyan of art of boozing was bestowed upon me by nvy. He had very strong points advocating the +ve effects of the use of alcohol in daily life. He had compiled a lot of info frm various sources abt its merits an summarized it along the following lines:

"Alcohol is a product that has provided a variety of functions for people throughout all history.The role of such beverages as thirst quenchers is obvious and they play an important role in enhancing the enjoyment and quality of life. They can be a social lubricant, can facilitate relaxation, can provide pharmacological pleasure. Thus, while alcohol has always been misused by a minority of drinkers, it has proved to be beneficial to most." the most striking bit of his disclosure was that the first surgeon of the world susrutha used to provide his patients with a dose of odoured beverage to allay their fears and in a way it acted as the first anaesthesia to have been administered.

all this made me to think hard about my teetotaller ways and i made my mind into joining the majority of beneficieries.but it was argued against by a stubborn ikka who believed it to be a haram by all means.but eventually the close band of 4 kudiyans** were now magnified to 5.

back to dimly lit smoke filled bar room. thomman kunju went beyond his normal limits in both the loquaciosness and no. of pegs he gulped. after his thought provoking lecture tk slowly wandered into some other realms of ecstacy. we started from wher he left and vowed to start a blog of our own. Thus it was on tat rainy evening the idea of a blog was kindled in our minds.after some more rounds we unanimously thought it was time to end our merry indulgence an of returning to our hostel an rooms. After 11, hostel gates gets closed an then its only bus stande sharanam. it was already 10.50 and nvy and rock steady pandithan went out for hiring an auto. the others assured themselves and others that they are fine and whenever possible said "njaan fittalla".

the one voice that was not heard was that of tk and when we made him to talk , he started to talk insanely, even the most elderly an revered figure named pillai chettan was not left alone as doms recited his own barani patt featuring pillai chettan in the lead...tk was really getting hotter by every passin millisecond an to put it straight across tk pampaai** or in slaang marthi was turning out to be th unparallelled an unrivalled waqar younis of the nite. he plainly refused to walk and had to be physically lifted frm the couch tre. the barwallahs wer olso a terrified lot after they saw the matamorphosis of a good maanered neatly dressed chap speakin impeccable english into one who seemed to break away straight out from the dark cells of a mental sanatorium. i moved aside an took his mob an specs from the edge of the seat..i jus wanted to mov out of his highly violent gaze..

pillaichettan was resilient an was unruffled by th deep conotations givn by tk...may be pillai chettan belonged to the other breed..the ones who goes mum aftr a rnd or twoo..their co. together was a deadly mix an utterly paradoxical...it was like hitler an gandhiji doin a jig togethr..wen pillaichettan was losin his ground a bit the ever reliable an mercurial GYMmy panicker rushed in an held tks other side..the long workouts he had with the southafrican batchmates wer really helpin him to counter the waviness an counterbalance forces generated by tk an pillaichettan..tk was gettin mor an mor restless an he ordered someon to remove his shirt..bein the sober of th lot i resisted it an nw it was my turn for being at the receiving end of tks verbal vollies.. pillaichettan urged me to do so an i slowly unbuttoned his shirt ..by this time we wre at th entrance of the lobby an pandithan was sprinting behind autos for a safe an quik jrney back home ..

the rickshaw wallas, being an intelligent lot olways knew tat its never arguable to go on a hire for th last man comin out of a bar as it is obvious tat he wud have certainly left his moolah an oll his money tre at th bar itself..an theyy r rite rickshawwallas are not ferryin passengers for any punyam ollsso...i olways admire the rickshaw wallas driving skills an believed that their mental reflexes an iq were of the highest order..this belief was more cemented by the lukewarm response they showed on that starless nite...

so we continued our waitin game..the bar was olso on the verge of gettin thre shutters down..suddenly tre was some sort of a violent trebulations inside the gastric system of tk an these trebulation an related fissures inside caused an eruption of a tsunami from deep inside..yup it was a complete cocktaiill an tk vented tat by openin his mouth far an wide...yes he did wat others failed to do. nalla lakshanamoth vaall**. The aroma olso spread throughout the air..after the colossal first hit it was followed by further mild tremors..tk was relieved..

the bar wallas opened up th half closed shutters, i for a moment thot they mite have opened to give him some water as is the norm after a bloody vaal, an i admired the sympathy shown by them for th badly bruised soul of tk. But as was happening for some time contrary to ma beliefs they quickly patched up another bill..40inr for cleaning the visible remains of our boozin nit..or for cleanin the signature v left, an handed over to me..i was really screwed up..one for the feeling, that my intusions went really wrong; an the sec for it was unreasonable to charge us as the crime was done outside the bar living space..i plainly said nothin doin, an panicker, the sleeping psychopath started to tear of the bill..the owner,a staunch jai maharashtra follower was gettin equally mad @ our antics..i for a moment thot it is really turning out to be long nite..but nvy being a veteran problem solver an a seasoned campaigner came beteween us an settled the issue amicably..me,panicker an the owner parted after givin each other a deadly eye to eye look...

tk was nw seated..an the remorseful fellow was xpressin himself to the sky above an was smtimes even cryin at the shame he brought to the entire boozin addicts of the world...pandithan atlast managed an auto an we all six jam packed inside tat small auto, even an ant wudnt hav dared to entr tat constrained space..the rods thru which we wre navigatin wre oll lookin clean an nu thanks to th rains an the unmistakable effects of few traces of alcohol runnin throu my blood streams...

the auto pilot was an old pious muslim with a snow white beard flowing down till his broad chest.the namaskaaram marks on his forehead also made him more respectful in ma eyes..i was sittin along with him an pandithan @ th drivers seatt..he softly asked me do u feel u r doin rite hre..i said i donno..pandithan said thou it oll turned to be a big farce at th endd our intensions wre good an we thoroughly enjoyed very bit of it..tk got his mind bacc an said its only nw tat v can do oll these an tre is no point in wasting the essense of these grt moments by prickin on it deeper an deeper..These xperiences are only goin to turn more sweeter an sweeter as the yrs pass by..the pilot got his answers loud an clear...

within a few more mins we reached our roomm, the affable an smart land lady livin on th grnd floor was standin near her porch as though xpecting uss. Pandithan,nvy,panicker an pillaichettan dashed to th hostel as it was olready late..a few more secs with tk wud certainly land them at th deserted cidco bus standd..the onus of responsibility was nw fully on me..eventhough tk had his mind at th rite place but was still movin in ways he didnt wanted to..chowkidaar too came closeby an lend his helpin hand..i smiled @ th madam..she was neveer prepared to see this absurdity let alone smile at me.. she asked me, andy com to me after u dispatch him of to the bed..aravii also rushed in an v three trasported tk to the top floor thru the helical go round steps..the guard said tat tre r no issues give him some dahi an verythin wud be noormal..i ten went on to cc the mdm down,aravi olso joined.

she was red hot (i mean vry angry an not th way u thinkk) an asked me 2 ques

explain wat was wrong wit us??

when was the earliest time tat we can shift frm her house??

i had to do smth fast an said poignantly tat "tk in th evenin recvd a coll frm his hom an he looked perplexed an lost after that. he left th class thn an tre, an he was seen later in front of th bar fully diillusioned". i olso patted me and my friends sayin it required the grandest of combing operation from we frnds to get him frm wre he was.

Madm looked less suspicious after my disclosures,,typical of the genre of women was nw even mor eager to hear his issues at th hom frnt. aravi the mor faithful face of our group,said tat tre r some deep internal probs in his home an it made him lose his sobriety..he elaborated sayin tat there is a big feud beteween two fractions of his fly an tk needed to unwind frm tis hectic stress.Aravi didnt stop tre an a string of more struggling backdrops painted tk’s acts as agrim response to the mental battles he was waging. Nw if tre was one person who supported his actions unconditionally then it was our mdm superior.

she was completely taken in confidence an v asked her not to mention anythin reg this to tk as it wud further devastate him.mdm readily agreed...We said a hearty goodnite to her an left off..on our way bacc we wre giggling at the bizzaare turn of events..

Next day mornin mdm came with a full wholesome breakfast an a glass of milk xclusively to tk.. an said some motivational quotes an some inspirational snippets frm her own life to boost up the virtual mental breakdown of tk..tk listened verythin keenly an promised tat she will be seeing a more determined an brave tk frm nw onn..

aaa thenn...

the next weekend came..

As olways nothin changed...th boozers never changed as was th settings...

some things ought to remain as it is..because only then it looks more charming,appealing an entertaining....so we too decided to resist change an be wat v r..the only tweak was tk restrained himself to a preset quota an never discussed bloggin again...

P.S: As i started lot has changed nw...everythin looks beautiful in retrospect!! we oll changed frm weird students ten to the technocrats of today..tk is in mrf in a key management position counting down days of his marriage,panicker crossed arabikadal to a land tat reaps gold..dufaii,pillaichettan about to get married an workin as a top end design engineer in c & g,mumbai..aravi is in a managerial position at tatas, poona.me wrkin for a foreign client at a design center in poona, pandithan at his analytical best in l&t chennai..nvy pursuin his passion for speed an dreams of bein a part of an f1 team somwhr down th line..

tk achieved instant stardom, an his measure of eccentricities went around like a wildfire while he himself was down with a condition colled chemical inflammation of intestine,but tat jus 4 a couple of days..thanxx to his high spirits a nu adage came to our campus jargon...

adichh pammpaayikko but tk aavaruthhh....he he...

***

kudiyan: boozer

paampaayi: to fully get off..

vaal: vomiting after a bad booze

lakshanamothoru vaal: gr8 looking vomitt..

intro

me and my legends
Born to this world on 23/08/2006 @5.24pm IST. am a 22yr old happy go lucky ,lazy ,a bit sleepy,talkative guy (who talks more only wen needs to).mallu.completed engineering from a not so grt professional college.didnt had any agonising job searching streaks . doesnt mean am employed i jus carried on my studies to a masters level and to a different terrain a place more than 2000 kms away from my native, the land of ananthan, THE CAPITOL .so to clear the air still an engineer by degree.

i hav recently read oottupulackal velukkutty vijayan's khasakinte ithihaasam. in my eventful life this was the fiction (is it!!) i read full.i was able to crush the inherent devil with in me (laziness) to read a truly marvelous and gr8 master piece.it also brought abt a feeling in me to bring my own legend of legends. and believe me it wont be a ficton but a litl exaggerated account of group of friends and their moments . it will be a scaled up version of our lives with a right mixture of wit,sense,errors,sorrows,philosophy,views and most importantly with lots of non sense.. the legends belong to all most every part of india but the stars are all sons of our soil.wait for the first story...........