Choti choti baatein

Some little things that happened recently....



1)Was returning from my hometown, Trivandrum. There was this beautiful european tourist in the next seat. Suddenly she turns to me and asks "Mavellikkara ethra manikku yethum?" ("What time do we reach Mavelikkara?") in perfect fluent malayalam. My jaw dropped and hit the floor in amazement. I was surprised, shocked and quite amused to see a firangi speaking my native tongue. I assumed that she must have learnt a few phrases or sentences, but on "further investigation" i learnt that she speaks mallu more fluently than i do and though she was from Germany she even learnt to read n write mallu coz she was born and educated in kerala...boo hoo then i realised that i cant read mallu !! what a shame !!! :(


2)Took the local train for the second time today. It's been two years in this unforgiving city and i had never traveled on the famous MRTS* trains of Chennai until last week. By far the most efficient , the fastest, the greenest and the cheapest transport available in chennai. Hey bangloreans u dont have an MRTS to boast of :P. I was quite amazed at the frequency at which the trains run and the best part is that there are no traffic jams or roadblocks. Most of the train routes are on overhead tracks giving you a snapshot of the chennai city... and er dont forget to hold your breath or pinch your nose when running over the open sewers though... ugh ;)



3)Went to watch a movie tonight. Rambo !!! It was more of a cannibal cuisine cookbook. It has got full instructions on how to make human salad, sambhar, thoran, chammandi etc. CUT, SLICE, SMACK, ZAP, SWISH, DICE, CHOP, MINCE... And if u are thirsty... just take a truckload of bad burmese soldiers... pop a jeep mounted high calibre machine gun in front of them and squeeze the trigger. Who wants a blender... huh?? Tasty burmese soldier soup ready to serve !! Or maybe if u r old school type like Mr Rambo, u could experiment with a machete to make some bad guy tikka at home.... eeeeeeewwwww grosss !!!


*MRTS = Mass Rapid Transit System... cool huh !!

The Concert

Went to Saarang '08 at IIT Madras yesterday. Was an amazing night rocking to the tunes with Lucky Ali and Karthik. Some snaps from the memorable evening.



Amazing Crowd !!


The maestro at work...



Now this is called "setting the stage on fire!!"


Twinkle twinkle mobile phones !!



Rock n roll !!

Masti ki paatshaala

Saw one hell of a movie recently... Taare Zameen Par. Nope… not writing a review on some movie again. But I must say that it’s an awesome watch and missing it would be a blasphemy. Kinda reminded me of the "growing up" stage of my life. I am 23 now, supposed to be grown up but dunno where I currently stand in the “grown up” ladder.



I could relate the kid’s life in the movie to my own when in was in school. Nope I wasn’t dyslexic. But moi was kinda imaginative and had a keen passion for colors, paintings, pencils and teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles while other kids of my age found bliss in street cricket. And even I had my share of getting punished and being sent out of the class 

I remember when one of my dad’s colleagues visited our home with his family… he asked me…

Mr.Dad's Colleague: “Beta tum bada hoke kya banoge??”

8 year old me: “I wanna be the guy who waves the green flag at the end of the train!!!” (Followed by dead silence in the room for 2 minutes.)

Er... not quite the right answer that would be expected from an engineer’s son. But what the heck, when I was 8 I thought waving green flag from the last coach of the train was pretty cool!! It was a genuine innocent answer from an eight year old who had no idea what to become when he grows up!! Kids are programmed to become either doctors or engineers right from the first day they step into school.

Middle school was the best part of my kid life!! Studies, vacations, cricket, soccer, bicycles, aimless explorations with buddies, bruises, cuts phew… those were the days!! Nothing much has changed over the years… GI-Joes, cricket bats, bicycles have changed to nokias, ipods, playstations and street-biking!! Grow up??? Who wants to?? Abhi to poori life baaki hai dost!!

The Vantage Point

Being a guy torn between two cities I shuttle between Chennai and Bangalore quite often. My favorite hangout place in Chennai Central, while waiting for the train, is the Pizza Corner overlooking the gigantic ticket booking hall. A perfect vantage point, where you can feast your eyes on the sea of people going around with their life, always late to catch a train (both real and the train of life).



Some happy, some sad, some tense, some hungry, some full, some beautiful, some not so beautiful, some sleepy, some tired and some simply oblivious to the confusion around them. So many lives, each an untold story, pass in front of you.

It is weird, as if watching a live telecast of life and you can’t change the channel. When I look at most of them I feel so content. I don’t have to eat stale food, sleep on the floor or get bullied by stupid policemen who can’t see their toes when they look down (cos their pot-belly blocks the view).

After finishing my pizza I walk down and join the rest the world, becoming one of the untold stories myself. But unlike others I never miss my train.



As I walk towards my train I spot a huge ad hoarding with a catchy punch-line “We all change for the ones we love” which I found to be unusually true!!


PS: 1. Dear reader, do try out the pizza corner, it’s not as big a brand as dominoes or the pizza hut, but believe me they serve the yummiest pizzas in the country.

2. Dear policeman reader, stop trying to look at your toes and start working out.