Its a bigger big world!

This post marks my awakenig from hibernation. Its been ages since I blogged. Since I can now more or less confidently say that I have settled into the MBA life, I guess I can continue being myself. Two months of MBA has taught me just the opposite - not to be myself. Well, not exactly. But somewhat. 'You are in a B-School yaar. Got to open up soon'. Its more than a habit, its a personality trait. It is me. Even though I'm in a B-School. So be it. 'Oh! You are from Chennai? So you know Hindi?' is another favourite one I've heard 9999 times so far.

At the end of the day, fortunately or otherwise, I haven't changed, in accordance with the requests of many of my friends. But a course on 'Organizational Behaviour' has taught me to suppress my dominant trait and express my dormant trait where ever it is necessary. It has worked out fine so far. The dominant trait has been on logger heads with the dormant one and both have got mixed up now. What the heck! Let it be.

Why I sat down to write this is not so clear. With project deadlines approaching and no mood to do it, I just finished watching a movie. A lot of things have been happenning in my life about which I could have written, probably a book or a series of books like Harry Potter. I haven't read a Harry Potter by the way. Now when I'm writing this I realize only strong emotions make me write. The last post was due to a very strong feeling of sadness. Now its the opposite. Its a strong sense of happiness and hope. A dream of an exciting life ahead.

A friend had been to Nepal recently and had sent pictures of his trip. Why I got so inspired by these pictures is something that can be understood only by some. I'm not the right person to describe the beauty of nature. My friend would be a better choice for that. What I can do is what I'm doing right now. A few months back, I was there in my 6*6*4 feet cubicle in a central location of a metro doing what thousands of Indians would be doing. My entire world was confined in a small small world. Not that I haven't travelled ever in my life. I have been to many places outside India with family and within India also, with friends. But post joining MBA, it became a bigger small world.

Never had I ever felt hopeful about the future without any reason like now. I'm a B-School and I should be hopeful, but that's not the reason. Life is bigger. Much bigger than I had ever thought. It is bigger than my thoughts and bigger than I can ever think it would be. Its a bigger big world. There are things in life that are for the pure pleasure of living life. Things that make the other days of slavery worth living. Slavery to the routines of education, earning, marriage, procreation and retirement. Before I sound like a full fledged sadhu, let me stop.

If you want to curse someone for you reading this, curse my friend. The beauty of Nepal made me wish that I could be a nomad wandering all around the world aimlessly, sinking in mother nature's beauty and be one with the nature. No job, no MBA, no competition. Just me and nature. God made me as a single piece and put me into this earth and I might as well live like that. Just mother earth and me.

But since there is MBA, for which I'm a debtor worth eight lac rupees, I probably should return back to doing my Marketing Management project. Nevertheless, mother nature is always with me and all around me. I still hope to be a traveller, even after MBA. And that hope is fuelled by mother nature herself.

Last day @ Keane

It is one of those days u wish never happened in your life. It is one of those moments when you actually feel the pain in your heart even without having a heart attack in the real sense. This was probably yet another job, although my first one. This was the the 6th of May 2008; my last day at Keane. It would probably have been a ceremonial occassion. It very well could have been a joyous occassion as I was getting pretty much bored in office. But I wish this day never happened.

People say its difficult to understand a women's heart. Yes. I can never seem to understand my own. Three months into my very first job, I decided that I wanted to pursue higher studies. I was made to do petty work even after being among the top scorers, so it really bugged me and I got myself enrolled into rigorous coaching classes in preparation for the MBA entrance exam the CAT. I wasn't really close to any of my batchmates at that time. They were just batchmates. I wish it had been the same, I wouldn't have felt bad this day. When we became more than just batchmates, I dont know. I dont want to know.

I slogged literally day and night for this moment when I could get out of this job. I kind of ignored my friends as MBA was my top priority. I had no other go. Life is really unpredictable. Even after scoring 98 something which is a pretty good score, I didnt manage to get into the IIMs. But no regrets really. I got into a good B-school which is among the top 15 or so in India. This was my goal and I had achieved it. I couldnt have afforded to wait for another year to prepare for the CAT and then try for IIMs. Never! So many things depended on this. My father's retirement should not be postponed because of this. Its high time he gave up his lonely life and came back to India for good. Another, I couldn't go on studying full time till I was 28. Practically not possible. And with parents like these no one would have anything to complain. My dad has dreams of me becoming someone like the Ambanis. Dreams of my photo being published in Bussiness magazines. My mom is a lady with the perfect mixture of modernity and tradition. She promises to offer her full support to me even after I get married, promising to take care of the household chores so that I can concentrate on my career. And I, though not very keen on being a multi millionaire, want to be an important part where ever I am. All this zeroed in on MBA and alas I got it. Couldn't have been happier. But I wasn't exactly.

I made up my mind not to be sad faced on the last day in office. I had to go around a lot on the last day, so didnt have much time to think about things. I made a concious effort not to think about the seperation. I was consoling myself that I would be seeing them in one weeks time. The moment my scooter left the office compound I got into a different mode. I was kind of dizzy. Water was flowing nonstop from my eyes and I was loud at that. Didnt really bother if people on the road saw me that way. Why bother about people I dont know if I cant bother about my friends. I cant help feeling guilty of cheating my friends even though I dont want to admit it. I probably shouldnt have been friends with them, shouldnt have got close so that they would have remained just colleagues. Why guilty I dont know. 1. I shouldnt have joined this company so that I wouldnt have met them. 2. I shouldnt have got friendly with them 3. I shouldnt have left the job. Now that all these have been done, nothing can be done to reverse its effects. Probably I would have to live on with this guilt. Sometimes human beings tend to be very selfish. Mostly they are. I'm very much one of them. Like one of my friends said, selfishness overtakes us sometimes.

I managed to reach home safely, although there were a couple of instances where I could have got into an accident because my eyes were totally blocked and gazy with water. Upon reaching home, I just wanted to vent it all out so that my heart feels light. But one of my friends was waiting for me near my house. Didnt want to cry in front of him. Hope I didnt. I want my friends to remember only my happy face and I wanted to see only their happy faces. Thanks to almighty that I didnt see any of them crying and they didnt see me that way. It is in the same emotional mood that I'm writing this. Probably again out of selfishness, the headache is unbearable and if I blow my nose one more time, blood would start to ooze out of it. To divert my attention and to put all memories into good use, I'm writing this. I never would have thought that writing could help you so much.Not that the headache is any better, but the heart is lighter.

There must be some reason why god makes people meet and seperate them. Blame it on god, after all that we do. I didnt cry a single drop even after the last day of college even though I had the best of friends. Probably knowing that we are going to stay in the same city and pretty sure that we are going to be in touch. And look, we are! :) So why am I crying buckets now. No one knows. Everytime my father comes to Chennai, I'm so happy and everytime he goes back, I cry. It happens everytime. They say only time can cure certain things. Time cant cure certain things like these. Probably because I'm going far off now. Probably I've got too close to them. Time cannot erase certain memories and these will be certainly among them.

These are people whom I'll love even after I get married, have children, grandchildren. Something in my heart tells me these people will remain an important part of my life throughout till I die. After all if my dad is still close to me even after being miles apart then when why not my friends. Should I really feel bad about this? Moreover I should be returning to my home town eventually. God only knows. Blame it on god again, after all that we do.

My Story

There are many things I could be doing right now, but I chose to write. Not out of any particular interest in writing (not that I don't like writing), but more out of boredom and an urge to do something creative and the most creative thing I can do right now sitting in my 3*3m cubicle is to write. This would invite the least amount of gazes from people around and also would not be glaringly noticeable by my PM.

One would wonder, how long a person can go on writing without knowing what he/she is writing about. Probably this is what is going on in your mind too. Let me be clear. I'm sailing in the same boat as yours. I have no idea. This is just going to be an outlet for the ideas going on in my mind, which could be interesting for some and could not be for others. But for others who are in my position, this would be yet another way of passing away precious time in office.

Welcome to the IT industry!

Just a small introduction for people new to this phenomenon- Young girls and boys fresh out of engineering colleges are recruited by IT companies during the end of their third year of college. Though the selection process is fair enough to judge the best candidates, one need not usually worry much about getting a job, because in city colleges like mine, fifty odd companies come for recruitment. It makes sure that almost all the students get "placed" in some company or the other. Nevertheless, there would be a good few who would be vying for the top five companies. I wasn't one among them.
Not that I wasn't sincere enough to try, but just that I didn't know how to. Getting top grades in college is one thing and getting a job is another. One thing is sure; these two are not dependent or even independent. I guess it depends on knowledge, attitude, smartness and a great deal on mother luck. But, I'm still guessing.
I was one of the toppers in college, but wasn't really interested in studying. How could that be? You might wonder. I studied more out of a desire to keep my parents happy than to get top grades and little out of a sincere interest in acquiring knowledge. Not many people belong to the last category though. Quite a few study for getting top grades, others for the heck of it, but a majority in order to get a good job. Back to square one.

Coming back to it, being one of the toppers, friends expected me to get placed in the first company that recruited from our college. But it didn't quite happen that way. I didn't know why and also didn't bother much because none of my friends got placed too. No, it wasn't sadistic pleasure, just a happy good feeling that I have a chance of getting a job in the same company where my friends would join. Okay, at least where some of them would.
It never turned out to be like that. My college was increasing the number of classes for training students like me who are yet to be "placed". It made little difference to me. By the time I got a job, most of my friends were made future employees of companies which didn't find a very capable employee in me.
Every dog has its day. Mine was on 8th July 2006. Finally I got a job. Not a very famous company though, but I was relieved that I needn't go through those arduous rounds of written test, group discussion and interview any more. Those were days of celebration with the feeling of elation occupying most of my mind and heart until time drew by to dilute those feelings.

Final year:
Every college student will have fond memories of that last year in college which is a threshold point in one's life. I too have mine. Finally we were the so called "seniors" of the college, though nothing much changed to indicate that. Business went about as usual. The only difference was lesser subjects, lesser working days and a project to be submitted.
We were (still are) a gang of 8 girls, each of a different possible shape and size. But, we form a wholesome bunch of friends. As it always happens, we started preparing for the final semester exams only on the D day, a few days before that, to be precise. It wasn't going to be easy, but we thought we can make it worthwhile at least. We camped on each person's house before each examination and studied together. We were "group studying". We had just two subjects, but that's quite enough to trouble an engineering student. We had ample amount of time and little prior knowledge of the subject. So, a plan was meticulously formulated for each day of the study holidays by one of the more responsible girls of the lot, not me. It turned out that the day before each of the exams were to be spent at my home. What a sight it was! Almost resembled a ladies hostel! Mom and my elder sister spent most of their time in the kitchen. Though my friends were a cooperative lot, as we were left undisturbed to study, cooking was taken over. Though those days were really hectic, we learnt a lot; a lot more than the subjects. It was my first hand experience of team work.

First Day at work:
Exams got over and we celebrated; before the results were out and after that also. Then came the toughest part. Exams got over by May 2006. I spent most of my time enjoying the free time I got after four long years of college. But after some time it started to wear out. I was eagerly waiting to start my career, but had to wait for a "call" from the company; but not too eager enough to gain some knowledge in my field of work, which some of my friends did. I learnt yoga, pranic healing; things which I would never have attempted otherwise, except to kill time. I also did some things which I enjoyed; I learnt to drive a car. This was probably the most useful thing I learnt during those days; useful enough to get a four wheeler license.
During an unexpected hour of the day, I got a call from my company. I had to report for a medical check up. Fine, just another routine. Dad and I went to the diagnostic center. I was supposed to go for the check up on empty stomach. By the time half the tests were done, my stomach started growling. Even after all the tests were done, I had to wait for a green signal from the lab technicians to ascertain that all tests have been done. I waited in the lounge. Till then I hadn't noticed some people chatting in the lounge, quite a loud chat. A group of college guys and girls. Probably for some other company. Throughout the checkup I managed not to talk to even one of them, except for an instance of "where should I go for this test?" to a girl who was waiting next to me for a test. That isn't strange for me. I didn't find any need to talk to them. After I got the green signal, I left the place with Dad to some nearby hotel to have some much needed food. It later turned out that all those guys and girls I saw in the diagnostic center were employed in the same company as mine and we ended up in the same batch of training. Some of them are my friends now.

It is really difficult to predict how I will deal with people. But as it would have been predicted by anyone who's close to me, I seldom spoke to my new batch mates at work. But it hasn't always been like that.

School:
School life was quite turbulent. I was changing my school every two years for want of admission in a particular school near home, which eventually happened when I was promoted to the seventh standard. Let me begin from Pre Kinder Garden. I completed my first two years of schooling in a small school at a walk able distance from home. I don't have any special memories of that school except that it was a small place and we used to sit on the corridors and have lunch. One can find the school still in the same place within a small compound that houses a residential block on the ground floor and the school in the first floor. After completing my L.K.G in the same school, I moved to yet another school near home. Legend has it that I was double promoted to the first standard in this school, the reason being "I was too intelligent for the U.K.G". This particular piece of information was never verified. During these first few years of schooling, I never made any long lasting friendship that I can remember now.
Then after two more years, time came to move to another school. This one was pretty far away from home, out of city limits. For the first time I went to school by bus. It was quite a long journey, about 1hr long. While travelling to school, I vomited; every day. These two years of school life are special to me for reasons more than one. Many incidents took place which moulded my attitude towards life, in general and people, in particular.
My parents form an important part of my life. There are many things they have undergone in order to keep me happy. Every parent does that. But anyway, my parents are special to me. It is during these two years that due to some problems I had to miss my third standard annual exam, with permission from the school. I realized the importance of this particular year of my life only years later.

It is during this year that my academic performance started to shine. I also had the opportunity of performing in my first stage appearance. During one of the exams I had got high marks in Hindi. So it was decided that I would play a Punjabi girl in the forthcoming play on national integration. The teacher in-charge asked me to get a salwar suit for the role. It was my first salwar, a blue and red salwar suit, which I proudly showed off to all my friends the next day. Though mere stage presence is a great achievement for a beginner, I expected at least some lines of Hindi dialogue, because this particular role was “awarded” to me for my “incredible” performance in the Hindi exam. It later turned out to be a damp squib. The guy who played the role of my husband, a Punjabi munda, had pages of lengthy emotional dialogues in between which, at a particular instance, I, the Punjabi kudi, had to utter “haan ji, haan ji”. That’s it.

I had started to make some friends and along with it came trouble. A rumor was doing rounds that a bungalow behind the school was haunted by ghosts and the bungalow was right behind the girls’ restroom. One day when I was inside the restroom, my friends locked me up inside. I noticed it only when I tried to come out. I knocked on the door and called out a few times. When I got no response I got tensed. Through a small ventilation in the restroom, I could see a part of the bungalow and that was enough to press the panic button in me. I screamed my lungs out, enough to wake up a polar bear from hibernation. To avoid getting into any further trouble, my friends unlocked the door and let me out. What followed is best left untold.

My Home:
I was, and am still, staying in an apartment where there was always constant noise of chatter and laughter. We were a bunch of kids of almost the same age. Those were the days when computers and cartoon channels had not yet invaded homes. Most of the time at home was spent playing games which were real ones, not the ones you play using simulation in computers.

Like in most parts of India, electricity supply was errant in my locality too. So whenever we were devoid of it, it was fun time. A bunch of 4-5 kids, including me, gathered in the 2nd floor verandah to rid the others of any peace and comfort that wasn’t already taken away along with the electricity. I was of the tom-boyish type and one of the louder ones at that. So we were, if it can be said, “the center of attraction” of the apartment during that time, if complaints can also be included as evidence. Four corners, Antakshari, Dumb charades and numerous other unnamed games were frequently played by us. When the electricity resumed, there would be a loud howl of disappointment as we had to return back to our homes for studying or as it was bed time. Even during other times when we had a supply of electricity, we indulged in indoor games like carrom, Risk, Battleship, Monopoly, Clue and many games with the evergreen pack of cards. Little did we realize that we wouldn’t even have time to play these games in future. Games really teach a lot. There was this usual accusation of cheating, a person disrupting the game by walking halfway out of it, only to return back for the next game. As we grew up, we had lot more to study and the only time we got to play was when the electricity supply was cut. But festivals always provided an opportunity for us to get together again.

To be continued...

Trip of a lifetime to Ambur

Trip of a lifetime to Ambur

This is probably not a very good time to write about this. I’m in not the best of my spirits. I sit down to write this wonderful experience I had with my friends at a time when I know that I would be going away from them pretty soon. Read on…

Life has given me many opportunities to enjoy. But I chose to struggle - struggle for my dreams. This made me endure many sacrifices, miss loads of fun with friends. By god’s grace I didn’t miss this one.

Off we went to Ambur

Ambur is Naresh’s hometown. He invited us to his home for the weekend (29th & 30th of March 2008). As usual Prasanna and Naresh had to struggle to convince everyone to come. Some came, some didn’t. But they didn’t have to convince me. For a change I decided that I’d make this trip come what may. We started the trip missing Subha, VB, Kala and Rathinam as they couldn’t make it this time.

The party that went on the trip included the Host Naresh Baby, Manager Prasanna, My Sweety Rathi, Hazera & Senthil, Varadhu, Belly Dancer Arun, Ram and yours truly Sharan. :) (Certain nick names had to be edited due to security reasons. I apologize to Ram for missing his name here in the first version.)

My jobless job gave me loads of time to think about the trip and also about lot many other things enough to break my head. I was eagerly waiting for the day to arrive and was literally counting the days. Finally it arrived. The train was at 6.15am (!) Oh! I had to get up at about 4 o clock in the middle of the night. I had kept an alarm activated on my mobile and also on a clock. I had asked my friends to call me up at 4.30am just in case. Anyway my excitement didn’t let me sleep and I easily got up at 4 o clock.Initially Pras was supposed to pick me up from home but he had to work during the early hours on that very day so I planned to go by bus to central station along with Arun. (Pras had to come to office that day. But he worked early in the morning so that he could make it to the trip.) Later Pras offered me a lift by coming all the way from office to my home. After offering a cup of coffee to Pras, we went together to central station. I had a nice nap on the way.:)

I spent my time squatting mosquitoes till Pras parked his bike. On the way I called up Arun to find out that he had reached the station. One by one all of us gathered near Saravana Bhavan at Central station. Each one bought a different brand of newspaper so that we can spend our travel time intellectually. Ram wanted to have a cup of coffee. Not sure whether he had it. There was a long queue for coffee. As people kept down their luggage I noticed that mine was probably the smallest. No, it was the smallest. Just the size of a college bag, a Motorola bag. The other guys had huge backpacks. Anyways, with Naresh and Pras holding the tickets we went on to board the train.

The Red Train

Wowie! We had a red colour train with Vodafone advertisements, cartoons and other graphics painted on it. Looked kind of cute. :)(Did we take a photo of that train?! Hmmm…) We got into the train to find that the exterior is probably not always indicative of the interior! We didn’t get continuous seats. We were split into two different groups. I got to sit with Rathi, Sharin, Senthil, Pras and Ram. Naresh was shuttling regularly between the two groups.

As time went by each was engaged in activities of his/her own interest. Rathi was reading the newspapers. Ram was showing his photographic skills for quite some time after which he diverted his attention to the calls of gastronomic requirements. He wanted to have breakfast. Senthil, Sharin and Naresh had bread omelet - both separated (!). Ram had dosai with vadai for which Pras gave him company. Rathi and I decided to have breakfast later. I was half asleep when my dear friends had a good time taking advantage of this fact to take funny photographs. An attempt was made to beautifully capture Rathi’s long earrings. With the hunger pangs satisfied, Senthil continued the game of Su-Do-Ku and Ram continued to display his photographic skills. The photograph of the approaching train deserves a special mention here. Rest of us tried to pass time by listening to songs on mobile and continued reading newspapers.

With the aroma of fresh dosai passing by at regular intervals, I too started feeling hungry. Ram ordered a cup of coffee, which came in a punctured cup. After much cajoling that the only way to save the coffee is to drink it, the coffee was consumed. In order to avoid the distraction caused by the dosai and other internal problems, I decided to go to the other side where a section of my friends were seated. Varadhu and Arun were uncomfortably seated opposite three ladies and were engrossed in some seemingly intellectual conversation when I interrupted them. Varadhu was trying to play Cows&Bulls. We played a couple of games in which Varadhu easily won. It was indication that I should withdraw and allow Arun to play instead. Arun was skeptic of his knowledge in the language but he ended up playing better than me at least!

First step at Ambur

After minutes of pointless chat about Jyothika and Laila and a little nap, Naresh waved out to me indicating that we would be reaching our destination in few minutes. I moved on to take my bag. As Ambur was approaching, loads of people were pushing me from the infinite directions that are present and hitting me in places I didn’t need them to. With the help of my dear friends I managed to get down at Ambur without any major damage.

As soon as we got down, Naresh went on to lead us. Another person was waiting for us next to a van. I was hungry and tired, so didn’t even bother to say “hi” to that person. Or did I say? Later I came to know from Rathi that the person is Saravanan Anna, Naresh’s friend. “Don’t u remember him from the photos?” Rathi asked. “Hmm..I remember now”, I said. Excited that finally I was going to have food, I got onto the van.

Having no prior experience of visiting Ambur or any other place in TamilNadu for that matter, I was pleasantly surprised to find the roads to be neat and lovely. Later I came to know this was a national highway leading to Bangalore. Ram resumed his duties as a photographer. Soon, we arrived at a vegetarian hotel, Amrutham. All of us were eager to freshen up at the hotel. Split into two different groups, Rathi, Sharin, Senthil, Varadhu, Arun and I in one table and Naresh, Saravanan Anna, Ram in another. Prasanna didn’t wish to have breakfast as he had consumed one Masala Dosai in the train. The rest of us began our breakfast. Since I had other problems to attend to I stopped with a plate of Idli even though Varadhu almost tempted me into having a Dosai after this. I finished ahead of Rathi J and all of us were waiting for Rathi to finish her Masala Dosai as she tried sincerely to eat the Masala Dosai as fast as possible avoiding the Masala in the Dosai as much as possible. By the way, the Idli tasted better than the Dosai. The guys again had a nice time making most use of the time to take some funny photographs (the one with the small stool).
Now somewhat back to life, I got into the van with sleep alluring me every bit. I noticed no one got into the van. As I was wondering why, Rathi signaled to me asking if I was interested in attending to nature’s call. Hmm…don’t remind me. Naresh’s aunt’s house was nearby and we spent quite some time there. After each person’s job was done, we left the place. (A special thanks to Hazera at this point of time. :P)

Journey to Yelagiri

Now very much back to life that all problems had been attended to, I was able to fight back sleep. Ram occupied the conductor seat J and Pras sat next to me. Songs were played continuously in the DVD player and cassette player alternatively. With the songs playing in the background and some live performance by Pras, I was lost in thoughts and totally consumed by the beauty surrounding me. No, I’m not talking about my friends. I mean the beauty outside the van, the scenery. For quite some time we were passing through the highway which I mentioned earlier. The scenery was beautiful and I couldn’t have blamed Ram for continuously clicking shots. Then arrived the most awaited mountain drive.

Up the Mountain we go

I had been to a couple of mountains - Yercaud and Moonar. But the excitement was still new, although deep inside I was praying that I should not throw up! I had this unique problem of getting sick whenever I was at dizzy heights or when I travel for long distances. This time both the criteria turned out positive, complemented by the fact that I just finished my breakfast. Anyways luckily I didn’t get the slightest feeling of sickness and this allowed me to enjoy the day with a healthy mind and body.

We were moving at a steady pace in a seemingly straight road, after which came the hairpin bends. Each of the bends was named after an eminent personality taken from history or mythology. Pras helped me in reading each one of those names. I still can’t seem to gather why one of the bends was named after a literal Tamil translation of the word ‘shit’!

We spotted some beautiful trees that had leaves in a bright green colour; some trees had flowers in vibrant colours. Also were spotted our evolutionary ancestors, the monkeys. They were in groups, probably families - a mom, dad and two kids :). All this was captured in photographs, thanks to our official photographer Ram. As we went further up, one could see the view of the city from a larger perspective, buildings appeared tinier and vehicles looked like toys. After some time we couldn’t get much of the city as we were covered with lot of greenery on the mountain that we were circumscribing.

We reached a viewpoint from where one could get a closer view of specific places at the ground level using some sort of binoculars. I was happy to note that the tourism department of the Government of TamilNadu maintained the place because all this while I was wondering why this place isn’t as famous as other hill stations and like 99 percent of Indians, I started assuming that the Indian Government has to be blamed for the lack of responsibility. After seeing this place I sheepishly accepted that I was wrong as a) this place was famous; only that I was ignorant about it and b) there were many hotels around that place so it wasn’t neglected of sorts.

We then got back to the van, which then took us to our next stop. There we were, a bunch of people atop a hill for enjoying a ride in a boat at almost exactly at noon when the sun shone strongly over our heads! Meanwhile Ram and Pras took quite a long time in one of the shops along the road. The rest of us were patiently waiting wondering why. While we were waiting, I was having a look at the glass bottles that contained a light brown coloured liquid which were sold in almost all shops in that place. Arun clarified the doubt I had in mind. He told it was honey and not some alcoholic drink as I thought it was :. When Ram and Pras returned, I was delighted to see them holding some guavas and raw mangoes. Yumm…After each person grabbed a piece of his or her own choice, we set out for the boating spot.

After paying the entry fee, we moved inside. With some kind of permutation and combination calculation in place, I got to go with Varadhu and Arun in a pedal boat, happily allowing the gentlemen(?!) to pedal. The happiness was short lived as I learnt that since I was sitting in the rear part of the boat, I had to handle the steering :(. This thing called steering was not like the one I have handled during four wheeler driving classes, where you have to turn right to turn right and turn left to turn left. This boat-wala steering turned right when I turned it to the left and vice versa. Not that I haven’t gone in a pedal boat ever in my life, but just that I didn’t remember at that point of time. So when the guys shouted right, I turned the boat left and so on. Even after futile attempts by Arun to guide me by saying “move to your right, to your left” when things didn’t quite seem to improve, Varadhu lost his patience and held out his long hand to reach the steering and move it himself. Ah! What a relief!

Now I turned my attention to enjoy the scenic beauty around me (again I do not mean my friends). I noticed that Pras, Ram, Sharin and Senthil were in a four-seater pedal boat that was probably moving at a greater speed. Rathi and Naresh were in another boat. All were busy clicking photographs. None of us in our boat had a camera (or I thought so), so we managed to take some snaps in Varadhu’s mobile. When our boat came somewhat close to the four-seater boat, Sharin brought it to my notice that I had a camera inside my handbag :). Then I too took some snaps for a change. There was this tree with violet colour flowers and a bird perched on top of a little rock. I wanted to stand on the boat in order to look over a bridge and I succeeding in doing so with the help of the guys who sat in front of me, scaring them as the boat shook a bit. The duration of the boat ride for which we had paid was fast closing on so we returned back to the shore.

Back on shore, I grabbed the last piece of raw mango that Ram was having not before giving him a portion of it. As I went on munching the mango piece I noticed a very big park that was on the way. It had swings, seesaws and slides where some children and not-so-child-like people were playing. I naturally moved onto that place guessing that we could spend some time there. But my dear friends made some usual fun as if they wouldn’t enter a children’s park after the age of 18 and we ended up not going to the park :(. They also gave some excuses that we were running out of time, so couldn’t spend time in that place any more. We had to see a dam!? :

The Dam(n)

Back to the van again, we started out on yet another exciting expedition - A dam. Hmm... The last time I saw a dam was somewhere in Kerala and that too during that time there wasn’t much water flowing through the dam. So we had contended in taking some photographs. Naturally I was excited about this one wondering if we can have a look at water gushing through the dam. Even just a look at the man made waterfall during that time of the day would have cooled me a lot. With songs again being played in the tape recorder inside the van, we were patiently searching for the dam. Now after an hour right under the glare of the sun, the songs started giving me a headache. Thanks to some wrong directions, after some wavering around in the narrow lanes of Yelagiri, we finally reached the dam after quite sometime. But none of us were interested in even getting out of the van to have a look at the dam. Why? Because we were early by some 2-3 years and had we come some years later we could have seen water flowing through the dam. The damn dam was still under construction so all we got to see was a flat piece of land, which looked like a park (probably it was) and had a Sintex water tank. That was the closest I could get to water in the dam :.

It’s lunchtime

With no one to be blamed for this except our fate, we returned back to find Naresh’s uncle Satish and Saravanan Anna who would, Naresh informed, bring food :):). When we returned to the boating spot, we found them on a bike and they had been patiently waiting for us for over an hour while we were happily exploring all the possible ways that could lead us to the flat dam! They bought in some packets of the famous Ambur Biriyani. The smell of it started making me hungrier. The only three vegetarians amongst us were Ram, Pras and I. So a separate meal was ordered for us, which would be brought by someone else and we had to meet him at the viewpoint. We set out for the viewpoint as it proved to be a comfortable place for seating all of us during lunchtime with the trees providing ample shade from the scorching sun. The only downside was that we had to watch our feet carefully unless we wanted to smear our shoes with fresh dung of cow. Or probably of some other animal! I found a comfortable place that was devoid of this natural manure and promptly squatted on it. Meanwhile there was a hand pump there, so I tried my hand in it with no fruitful results. Probably it wasn’t meant for providing water and was just a showpiece. We guys never waste any piece of material than we can get our hands on. So a couple of photographs again with this dysfunctional hand pump.

Naresh, his uncle Satish and Saravanan Anna were taking turns in calling up the person who was bringing our food and yelling at him as he was getting late. Finally he came with a huge bag containing boiled corn and a bag containing vegetarian food :). As we sat down to have our lunch, the tourism department authorities warned us not to litter the place. Shaking our heads in the affirmative, we began eating; the vegetarians huddled in one corner. The vegetarian food that we got consisted of lentils, carrot curry, the usual sambar, rasam, buttermilk and a huge quantity of rice that would have been sufficient for me for dinner inclusive. I didn’t realize how much hungry I was until I set my hands on food. I didn’t even bother to look anywhere else other than the food I was eating except occasionally at Ram and Pras in order to ask them to pass on some food packet. Only after my hunger pangs were temporarily satisfied that I looked around me to find a dog straying around us; probably sensing the food. Some idiot among us had thrown a bone piece that that he/she was unable to consume in the chicken biriyani, to the dog. So the dog didn’t show any signs of leaving that place. Perturbed by this canine presence, I ate the last course of my three-course meal with assurances from Pras that the dog will come nowhere near me unless I keep looking at it.

Meanwhile we had run out of drinking water. So the same person who brought us lunch, ran down to get a bottle of water and 7up. I feel really thankful to him for helping us have our lunch without any effort on our part. But I felt really bad that Naresh and his friends were verbally abusing him apparently without any reason :(. I guess close friends do so. I love to fight with mine :). So I assume it is their way of showing their love.

Upon reaching a point wherein nothing else could go through my mouth to my stomach, the leftover rice on my packet of food was shared between Ram and Pras. Only then I turned to look at what my other friends were doing. Rathi was trying hard to munch a piece of bone. Arun had been enviously staring at my packet of food even though he had emptied two packets of biriyani! After settling scores with him, I noticed that others were munching on freshly boiled corn. I declined the offer to have one only to take it back after a few minutes as I contend myself with just seeing my friends eating it. Once I started eating it, I made a startling discovery: There is always a place in my stomach for something, irrespective of the quantity or time of descent of food into my stomach; no matter how much satisfied I was after the last meal :). This discovery proved to be true again and again during this trip, not only for me but for my friends also.

We were pretty tired and exhausted even after lunch so I was delighted to know that our next stop would be to Naresh’s home. Ram went with Satish in his bike, so the rest of us climbed into the van. There was some kind of race going on between the van and the bike as Naresh’s uncle Satish was known for his racy driving. We wanted to have a look on Ram’s face when the bike goes fast, so we guys in the van were provoking him to go fast. The bike stopped at regular intervals because it had the photographer on its rear seat. Rathi suddenly realized that it would be very thrilling to be speeding down the slope of a mountain. Now that she couldn’t stop the bike and get on it, she decided to sit on the footboard of the van and take some pleasure in that. By the time all this was realized we had already descended down the mountain so Rathi sheepishly got back to her original seating position.

The van took us back to Ambur where we made yet another stop in order to shop for leather goods. We visited numerous little shops that had shoes, handbags and belts. With little interest in buying any of these I don’t know why I walked in and out of each shop. Finally in the shop that was to be our last stop, I found a comfortable seat and sat down. I was too tired and sleepy to buy anything. Everyone else was buying shoes, belts or wallets. They had a good bargain. Finally, the time for which I had been waiting for, came. Packed in two autos, we proceeded towards Naresh’s home.

The Home is where the Heart is
Naresh accompanied us, the ladies in the auto. His home seemed to be far off from the railway station. But on the way we saw beautiful green fields on either side and it was so pleasing to the eyes. I even mentioned that I’d rather work in these fields than sitting idle at office. Well…not anymore L. Naresh even mentioned that the place is a caste divided region. Hmm…?! Interesting…I had seen such things only in the movies.
Finally we reached Naresh’s home. We met his mom and sister. Then I went straight into the living room, found a comfortable spot and sat down. We were welcomed with bottles of mineral water. God only knows what water we drink back at home in Chennai. We use water cans that contain water collected from various places!! Also I think we were offered something to eat. None of us had the capacity to consume anything as of then. We were yet to meet an important member of the family, Naresh’s niece Darshini a.k.a. Chuchu J. She lit up the whole room with her laughter and innocence. Initially she was quiet when her mother brought her inside the room. But soon she became the star of the evening and apple of everyone’s eyes. But my eyes were on something else.
A beautiful toy of Winnie the Pooh was brought for chuchu. The toy had Winnie rowing on a log of wood, with the Piglet and the Donkey on both side and a flag post behind him. It was a battery-operated toy. When switched on, it sang something like “ting ting ting ting…where are you?” (I must ask Rathi the entire lyrics). Winnie was shaking his head to and fro as he moved on rowing and the flag also turned accordingly. My head also turned wherever the toy went. Everyone in that room except me seemed to know telugu or atleast pretended to know it. I couldn’t do either, so my conversations with chuchu were very limited. In fact, nil L. Rathi was well versed in telugu but was snubbed repeatedly by the little girl. Even then Rathi didn’t seem to give up as she continued to attempt to draw chuchu’s attention towards her. One by one everyone did or tried to do something to attract chuchu. Even people whom I thought didn’t know telugu managed to speak what I think was telugu. I did what I could do best. I kept quiet and was keenly following Winnie wherever he went.
I couldn’t help wishing for a brother or uncle who could bring me toys every time he met me L. But I was quickly reminded of one person, the man I love the most in this world, my dad, who would bring me toys each time he came, even to this day, even though I’m no more in the official age limit for toys :):).
Chuchu is a mischievous and naughty girl. One thing I liked best about her was that she picked up a fight with Ram and hit him :). She could so easily mingle with everyone instantly. Something I can’t manage to do myself. She spoke a lot with her sweet voice, only that I couldn’t understand anything of it. She has two little rice like teeth in the front of her jaw, which she would very willingly flash for a photograph. The cameras kept on clicking and she didn’t seem to mind a little bit.

The Hunk
Once things seemed to settle down, we decided to watch a movie on DVD. But the choice of movie kept on changing and ultimately we ended up seeing nothing. Just then Naresh invited me to have a free ride in his new bike. :)
It was a black colour Hunk, very macho and shining new. I’m usually very apprehensive of sitting on a bike with anyone, whether I’m the one driving or not. The only person with whom I happily drove with full confidence was my sister, not even my father. It is a very uncomfortable place - the rear of a bike and this time it wasn’t a Scooty or a Kinetic Honda, it was a bike! Last time I sat on a bike in my life was with a friend, all the way from college to a cinema theater. It was a ride through the East Coast Road in Chennai and was enough to scare the nuts out of me. As none of my friends were willing to accompany him, I had to go. I managed to save my life that time. But this time, I had asked for it, I don’t know why K. I’m not of the type who has a thrill for speeds, as is evident from my behaviour in all respects. But since I had boldly asked for a ride and since my dear friend very quickly obliged, I had no time to have second thoughts and I went on the hunk.
What I expected was a train like ride around the village so that I could enjoy the scenery around me. But Naresh had other plans! The way things went I didn’t remember which place I was. All I knew was I was on a bike with my friend sitting ahead of me, driving it at just below 80kmph. My Scooty has a maximum scale of 80kmph on its speedometer, which it has never witnessed. I have gone a maximum of 50kmph, that too in very rare cases. I’m a person who requires a one-arm distance from people around to make myself comfortable. But that day I didn’t care. It was a narrow stretch of road with speed breakers at regular intervals, which my friend didn’t go over (Thank god!), we would have jumped and sat on one of the coconut trees on either side of the road if he had. But he very sharply turned to go through the little gap in the road in order to avoid the speed breakers. I did everything I could to save my life. My brain didn’t work and I was thinking that probably I should have bought my helmet from home! My mom, dad and my family members came in front of my eyes and I was making a mental count of the number of people who would cry if I died. I was thinking whether there was any hospital nearby to do post mortem and Oh! I had forgotten to pledge my eyes to Sankara Nethralaya. Wished that my mom would remember to do that. My dad would have to take a flight to reach here. Which is the nearest airport? And what would happen to my MBA seat? Probably the next candidate in the waiting list would get it. How I wished that I died after completing MBA, for all the pains that I took, at least the condolences column in the newspaper would carry my name with B.E, M.B.A J. All this in the less than two minutes that I went on the bike K!
It was time for dinner and we were served delicious vegetable biriyani. The aroma of the biriyani tempted me into having some of it even though it wouldn’t have been possible physically, as there was no empty space inside my stomach, proving my discovery again. Then some lovely looking rasam invited me into having some of it also. I kindly obliged, as I didn’t want to disappoint it J. The rasam was made with pure ghee and tasted so yummy that I would have had some more of it. But finally the physical limitations on the capacity of my stomach were reached. It was actually impossible to put anything into my tummy any more. So I ended my supper.
I usually never remember what happens after food is deposited inside me. My eyes automatically close and I happily doze off to sleep. It didn’t happen this time even after the sumptuous meal. I was initially sleepy and I think I dozed off for sometime. Then it was decided who was to sleep where. It was initially decided that we girls, Sharin, Rathi and I would sleep on the bed and the guys in the next house. As I require greater space for sleeping than is actually required, I decided to sleep comfortably on the floor. But I didn’t have the mood to sleep. It is an unwritten rule that one never sleeps during outings. But here everyone was happily dozing off. Along with Naresh, we girls went to the next house where the guys were sleeping, hoping to wake some of them up. It wasn’t a very comfortable sight to see, so we quickly came out of the room successfully waking up Arun and Senthil. Naresh, Rathi, Arun, Senthil, Sharin and I went to the terrace.

To be continued...

I Me Myself

Hi ppl...welcome to my blog :))) being a rather late newcomer to the blogging scene my blog might be kind of boring as of now(!) but i promise u it'll b more interesting as days go by...and hey ur comments are most welcome...(comments??) on anything :))