Sextet of sorts

I have a plethora of information to hoard,
In the form of charachters on board,
Transfixed in my chair I stare,
Trying to duck from the instructors glare,
For i can see his face flare,
At minds so bare.

Those days of yore

I sat on the sea shores,
Thinking of those days of yore,
Musing about those times when life was but a bed of roses,
When all i heard was the sound of music and her melifluous laughter.
And now i sit on the sea shores,
Thinking of those days of yore,
Those unbuilt castles that remained just that -'Castles in the air'.
I look at the full moon streaming its light and beauty,
On all those who care to see,
And even this sends a trail of thought,
Reminding me of those days of yore,
When i sat on the sea shores.
I can remember all too well that poised calm,
The twinkle in her eyes,
The smile that set my heart afire,
That body that was vibrant with life,
Untill the car that claimed her victim,
Life seemed to screech to a halt,
At those brakes applied a lill too late,
And here I am alone on the sea shores,
Thinking of those days of yore.

Kiss of a Life time

He standing tall and leaning over her,
She looking up into his lovely face,
Hands wrapped around her shoulder,
Holding her in a tight, warm embrace.

Them kissing blissfully unaware,
Of a world moving by in a whiz,
He and she lost in the other, seeming not to care,
Of people going about their regular biz.

Images moving around them bodies,
In a crowded sidewalk,
In the French city of Paris,
Famous for romance and love talk.

A scene captured in a photo shoot,
All of black and bright white.

I had come across a blog while on my usual blog-prowl and it had a beautiful sketch. The sketch of a photograph taken by the famous French photographer, Robert Doisneau. This sketch inspired me to scribble what you see. The link to the sketch is here. Sketch
The original photograph is here. Photo

The Sound of Silence

“Mouna Ragam” literally translated to mean The Sound of Silence is Mani the God Saar’s movie. A very beautifully directed movie, an exceptional star cast, amazing songs directed by the King of Music, lyrics in which one can just drown, Delhi shown at it’s best and I have only just begun singing laurels of the movie. If you are a Tam or have some Tam blood running in you and have not seen this movie then I urge you to see it. In case you don’t understand Tam then go on a date with a Tam boy/girl (Am I throwing hints or what??) but believe me he/she will be so caught up in the movie that no translation will ensue and you have to just fathom what is happening from the moving images in front, which by itself would be a feast to the eyes.
Now that I have acted Marketing Executive of the movie and done my campaign, let me just start the actual blog ;). Revathi a young college girl at one time gets transformed into this home maker and the strength of character she exhibits is simply phenomenal. She is this really happy-go lucky woman and Karthick simply falls for her. Karthick is this typical Raj of DDLJ fame sort of character, pretty much a wastrel, but somehow you can’t help falling in love with him. He is a sort of rowdy, the typical bad boy, whom parents would urge their kids not to even look at, but with every minute of the movie you only fall uncontrollably in love with him. His comic timing and the kind of playfulness exhibited are simply brilliant. So it is not before long that our lady starts to like him and even goes to the extent of deciding to marry him in the register office. But there comes the whiz bang twist. The Police mistakenly think he is involved in some crime committed the previous night and accidentally shoot him just as he was coming to the Register office.
But life has to move on and Revathi, much against her wishes ends up marrying Mohan. He is everything that Karthick was not, a serious demeanor, overly responsible, has a proper job, lets see, a typical Tam Bram guy ;) and the contrast between the two characters is just too stark.
He works in Delhi and soon she finds herself in an alien city with a person she hates. As her first gift she asks for divorce and they go as far as consulting a lawyer, who tells me them how you need to stay together for a year to move apart, whoever comes up with such rules. And so they endure each other, he patient as ever and she trying her hand at biting sarcasm. They have nothing called a sex life. “Oru Eedupadum illa” and they just stay on strangers under the same roof, like their union was a mistake and each was trying to move on with his/her life without even coming close to accidentally running into the other. There is one beautiful song in this movie sung by SPB the god. As I type this I am listening to that song. The song has made it to Suchi’s all time fav list. Some of the lines from the song go as below:-

தாமரை மேலே நீர் துளி போல் தலைவனும் தலைவியும் வாழ்வதென்ன,
நண்பர்கள் போலே வாழ்வதர்க்கு மாலையும் மேளமும் தேவையென்ன,
சொன்தன்களேயிலாமல் பந்த பாசம் கொள்ளாமல்,
பூவெ உன் வாழ்கைதான் என்ன சொல்.

மேடயை போலே வாழ்கையல்ல,
நாடகம் ஆனதும் விலகி செல்ல.
ஓடையை போலே உறவும் அல்ல,
பாதைகள் மாரியே பயணம் செல்ல

Like water droplets on a lotus flower what is this life that the man and wife are leading?
To lead a life as if one were friends what is the need for all the garlands and drums?
Without any relations, without any emotions, without any love,
What is the life that you are leading?
Life is not really a stage (Shakespeare will turn in his grave I suppose)
Where once the drama is over one just moves apart,
Relationships are not like channels,
Where if the path changes the journey could still continue.

Then she starts to understand him and the relationship better and he wants to distance himself from her as much as he can so there will be as less pain as possible later on when they really have to move on and away.
The highpoints are how the two of them and most of all Mohan handles the whole relationship, how Revathi progresses from being a little girl who knew not a care to trying to nurse her husband while still trying to run a household, managing to pick up a bit of Hindi here and there. The friction in their relationship is brought out very nicely and one keeps contrasting Mohan and Karthick, liking each for a different reason ans trying to imagine what she would be going through.
But what was disappointing was of course the end, which was typical Tam movie style. They realize how much they care for each other in their own style and decide to get together. Or maybe I am obsessed with sad endings as Gif would gladly agree!
I would have probably preferred them getting out of each other’s life and moving on and then sort of realizing they miss each other, but by then it would be too late to do anything. Any more thoughts on endings?

எனக்குள் நீ

This is my first blog in Tamil. I have never been one for writing in tamil considering all I had was 3 years of the language. But I decided to make the start somewhere and so here it is! Hope there are those of you out there who are able to read Tamil and appreciate this blog

என் இமையை மூடினேன்,
உன் முகம் கண்டேன்.

என் காதுகளை மூடிகொன்டேன்,
உன் வார்தைகள் ஒலித்தன.

என் உதடுகளை அமைத்தினென்,
உன் உதடின் துடிதுடிப்பு கன்டேன்.

என் ஸ்வாஸத்தின் காற்றை பிடித்தேன்,
உன் மூச்சு காற்று கலன்தன கன்டேன்.

என் கைகளை திரன்தேன்,
உன் ரேகைகள் பதின்தன கன்டேன்.

என் இதயத்தை நோக்கி சென்றேன்,
அங்கு நீ இருன்ததை அறின்தேன்

Of Fish Curry and Green Leafy Vegetables

Disclaimer: This is a work of pure fiction drawing it's very many references from people walking this planet called Earth. All characters in this are NOT one bit fictional and any reference to character/characters living, walking (aided by friction of course), eating, regularly crapping, occasionally singing is definitely not a coincidence and is the intended purpose of the author. In case you are happy with this post then you can express your great happiness by showering the author with praises in the comments section. If you are not happy with the post then keep visiting this site every now and then, keep checking my profile (To your good luck I might just decide to update it), you might find something interesting one day,ummm...then again you might not, but you just have to take that calculated risk. Lastly, spread the word about this blog, to 10 of your friends (your enemies are also welcome) else.....nothing much there will be 10 fewer hits to this site. So here's presenting to you “Of Fish Curry and Green Leafy Vegetables” ECHO ECHO ECHO ECHO ECHO


“Fish”, tall and thin, as tall and thin as you can get them, walked out of the busy M place really proudly, nestled in a green basket amidst a small dainty chick and assorted powders. She was not exactly what you would call a head whirler, but was tall and thin and fair and did manage to get a few heads turned in her direction. So it was that “Wild Pumkin”, strumming that elusive tune on the wooden rack where he sat, set eyes upon her. It was not quite the “Love at First sight” thingie, in fact not even second or very many to come or so they said. They vehemently declared for many years to come that it was not love at all, but we all knew then as we know now what it was. So as Fish ramped out making her own style statement as she went, he continued his drumming unaware that a certain Missus was haggling for a better price for the drum-strummer.
It was so freezing cold, but she sitting in the arid zone on top felt it more than him. At least he had the comfort and warmth of the fellows of the Green school, who were at present talking about M S Swaminathan and what the Green revolution would do to them. They looked disdainfully upwards at the arid zone from where the chattering of teeth could be heard only too clearly. A few of the Green scholars were mildly attracted to Fish, but did everything to make the others believe the contrary, fearful of the others’ wrath. Only Wild Pumpkin, while declaring over and over again that it was just vegetarian considerations that he was showing her, gave her the one warm plastic cover that he had with him. This, those horrible humans called chivalry.
Missus, the absent minded person that she was forgot all about the Green scholars and the fish and it was several fish years later that she realized it and while uttering “Oh Fishie fish” discarded volumes of plastic sheet.
Sweet sunshine, at last! All the Green scholars were huddled together in an all too important meeting on the green meadows. It was talk about the Genetic Modification that was the buzz word going on amongst the Humans, which they had over heard from the cold zone. While they were still warming up to their discussion, here were sprawled on the grass Wild pumpkin and Look Ho Look, who was next to him but our very own Fish. They were warming up to each other, him showing(off)some drumming and her joining along adding some lyrics.
So it was that they were creating music of their own, while the greens and the non-greens fought along mindlessly. This was how they met day after day, that summer and many more summers to come, the pretext being music, but we all know only too well how they were slowly but surely falling head over heals in love with each other.
Four long years went by and they decided to start an eatery, where one cooks to music, where the spices are blended with music and it would be really divine, not divine music but a whole divine out of the earth feel to it. Fish donned an apron that Wild Pumpkin had got her and he was wearing a smart tie that Fish had tailored herself and to wild cheers from the greens and the non-greens they cut the ribbon to start off their eatery. For this special day, they had procured all the vegetables and fish from the M place. It was sure to be a smashing hit, with Fish making a special Pumpkin dish; Pumpkin cleaning some fish which would soon become cutlets. The aroma from their cookery room was breath taking and a small crowd gathered around them to watch them work their magic through spices, masala and beautiful music emanating from their throats, each taking off where the other left. At times, they joined together and the chorus was too breathtakingly beautiful. They had this way of looking into each others eyes, and those moments when the eye contact was made their eyes had a glitter and spoke volumes which no amount of talking could. All this while, their fingers were working their way through the dishes at hand. Fish finished the garnishing and it was all ready to be savored and all around the beets with their pouted pink lips and red hot carrots, suave and sexy joined in unison to make slurping noises.
Wild pumpkin walked up to the kitchen sink, picked a bunch of red spinach, washed them clean, bundled them together and went down on his torso, and asked Fish, “Will you, Will you, sing to my tunes, give new meaning to cuisine with me, unite with me, become mine and simply mine”. He did not have to wait for an answer he already knew all these years and took a bite of the pumpkin dish that fish had created with her own sweet hands. The calm, quiet radish, watched the proceedings too moved to speak, while the onions joined in the momentous occasion amidst their teary eyes, only this time they were Tears of Joy, Tears from Heaven. As they raised a toast to the new found life of Fish and Wild Pumpkin, all the greens, and non-greens went click click click on this new device called “The Camera” for what were Kodak Moments.
The union of Fish Curry and Wild Pumpkin was attended with much joy and merriment and a new recipe went down in history for years to come. Truly A La Carte! They all chorused.

When the Gods slept.....

I owe the title of this post to RaghuKrishnan, who writes a column in the Economic Times on Sundays. Ever since I read the article, titled as above, I have been hunting for it but have not found it till date. I know it appeared sometime in 2003, but lemme assure u any amount of searching has not got me any closer to the article that just took off from the face of the earth aided by a broomstick, I suppose. Very wry, that, u may say, but anyways this post is not about that but is about how urs truly went zzzz at work place.
The images that come to one’s mind, are maybe the slight nodding off at one’s desk in a discrete manner checking every now if the Super B boss is snooping around to see if people have their eyes glued onto the comp. Super B Boss would like those geeks with those extra large spectacles, glassy eyed, staring at the comp and eternally knee deep into work, unmindful of strolls of Big B bosses. They are unlike the normal people such as yours truly who are always looking around trying to sight Big B and send warning signals to other poor souls so they can make good use of the Alt + Tab keys.
This was no a “bare close of the eyelids behind sun glasses” but the full horizontal position sleep. Yours truly just decided to take a chill pill and declared to all and sundry that she was going to take that much needed snooze.
“What Oh what”, bellowed a team mate like I had just told him that his fly was open or that I was getting a promotion before him or that the world was flat (which of course Thomas Friedman would agree joyfully).
“Yes, me sleeping and that too right here” declared I and just headed towards the dorm.
Oh yes, I did sleep, right there at my work place under the very nose of prying bosses and “so taken aback that words fail me” team mates. A nice good well needed afternoon nap with a/c et al and a warm cozy rug (rugs are meant to be warm, what!) to get under and no one to really disturb me. Whatever happened to all that professionalism crap I used to dole out just a few months back. Crap! That was what it got reduced to, next to an afternoon doze. I never did think that laziness would get the better even at work place but there it is, a perfect example of how I am moving up the CMM scale at “Continuous Improvement” at surprising my self. Quite ironical, that they pay you money and give u a comp enabled with 24 hour browsing and all that is expected of you is the occasional mail sending to the all too glamorized onsite team, stating and restating things till it stops making any sense whatsoever. In between all this mail sending you can also indulge in “who is the loudest of them all” talk , in common parlance, meetings. Then they give u the cushion of a nice long sweet slumber! Haven’t the gods from above showered us with an extra dosage of the luck factor?

The world - A bigger Mela

A hard(ly) working soul heads back home in an age old Moped. How the vehicle manages to run is a miracle many have set to work upon and have really not come up with a plausible explanation. Just wanting to enjoy the cool breeze, the soul in q decides to linger on the roads a while longer. A long ride, the cool breeze ruffling her hair, music (so she claims) playing on her lips, a perfectly blissful setting.
She had passed by that mela, replete with its flurry of activities several times but had never given it second thoughts. But today was different. It was a day when she felt she had all time in the world, no elaborate cuisine to roll out for the day, rather night, no dinner treat to attend, no conf call to get back to the office and so it was that she landed in the mela. Of course the pop corn was a factor by itself but that can be discounted for the moment.
She was soon amidst the throngs, so colourful, getting a royal red(bordering on maroon) carpet welcome and all for a measly Rs 10 ticket. Suddenly she was caught in a world so different from the normal, a world of adults putting world class financiers to shame with their haggling and trying to dole out “value for money” fundaas to starry eyed kids. Everywhere there were boards proudly proclaiming the cost of goods anywhere between 10 to almost as expensive as 200. Jumpy children wanting everything they set eyes upon. It was so alive, the whole place.
The mela brought back memories of another mela visited 2 years back in Hyd. Clothes were purchased after they went through the “Roomie screening exercise”, where the roomie would normally raise objections against anything from the length or lack of sleeves to the whopping cost one had to pay. She was usually secretly convinced that the prices were pretty reasonable but had to play along because they were convinced that one would get a better deal else where. The standard trick of walking away from obstinate shopkeepers was tried, but sometimes she panicked because, that much coveted dress was swaying in the shop and the man never called back.
Soon she was at the very end of this mela and decided to head back. That was when she spotted the man standing next to “WELCOM TO COTTON CANDY” shop unmindful of the missing e worried more about wooing the next child who passed by. Children were always the best customers. They always wanted more of them candies and often to give them company parents had them too.
She did remember scenes such as this of those faraway years when she tugged at her dad’s hands urging him to get her cotton candy. Soon one of those nosey parker adults accompanying them would raise objections, cautioning them about the strong links between eating cotton candy and getting a cough. Her pleas only became stronger. When finally her father did relent, a moment’s victory was achieved. Then there was a fight among the cousins as to whose lips, tongue and teeth were the pinkest of them all. Each was showing off to the others his/her long tongue, each was trying to bite off a bit of the candy in the others’ hands, enjoying the moment when the candy just melted in and glided down his/her throats. It was amazing how the fluffy pink cloud shaped mass soon disappeared leaving no traces except a long stick and sticky, pink, soft baby hands. Hands engulfed in hands all the sticky hands would then unite and run away to target the next object of interest.
Amidst a flood of memories and a surge of emotions nearly choking her, she trudged her way back to the blue TVS that was faithfully waiting for her.

And then it was all dust..............

The Love-In-Tokyo band of hers was his current object of interest.
“Ah! It hurts Abiram, Don’t pull it!” cried Shwetha papa
“Mummy! Abiram is pulling mice hair mummy”
“Papa mine not mice. What did you do anyways?”
“Nothing, mummy, Abi is bad boy. I am not going to speak to him. Ka ka katti”
“Papa get ready, we have to go to the beach before the sun sets! Auntie, Uncle are waiting. Abi kanna you too wear your shoes fast.”
She wore the pink frock declaring proudly to the world, “I hate boys”. He wore his best white shirt and drawers so loose, he had difficulties holding onto them despite the belt. She was in katti mood and that was not fun. Of course he can’t ask her sorry but then whom will he play with in the beach. These girls are so fussy, he thought but nevertheless bit his 8 year old ego, threw it aside, and asked her a quick sorry. Before she could see his face redden because of having done this unmentionable act he ran down the stairs.
She came all bright and cheerful with her pink frock and sat down to wear her pink shoes.
Pink, so girlie a colour, he thought. I hate girls, and this will be the last time I will play with them he promised himself.
They sat in the car, and papa was taken from one set of firm hands and passed on to the other till finally she sat next to driver uncle, and that too next to the window. He was sitting uncomfortably between the gear and her. Actually this way he was closer to driver uncle but how did that matter when he didn’t get the window seat. He wished driver uncle would let him play with the gear. He decided he will be driver one day and keep holding the gear.
“Mummy! Mummy! Will you get me ice cream in beach” he asked
“Yes kanna, now you behave like a good boy. Look at papa how good she is” Amma replied
“Three cheers to beach. Hip Hip Hurray!”, they screamed in unison.
They got down and before any of the adults accompanying them could catch them they ran towards the beach, holding hands and running to race against the winds, like it was running race competition in school. They stopped to catch some breath but she needed that more than him. He wanted to tug at the Love-In-Tokyo band but thought he will do that after they finish playing.
All the elders were walking slowly. Papa’s Appa would meet them here from work and his Appa was already playing with his camera. He wanted to take shots of the impending sunset. It looked glorious, the beach, basking in that sweet sunshine, exuding just the right amount of warmth that felt like the beach was just embracing them in a tight warm bear hug.
They sad down near the very edge of the beach, she on her haunches, her band glowing in the receding sunlight and he with his legs spread around a circle he had just drawn on the mud, sand he quickly corrected himself. He was class monitor this year and had to impress his class with his excellent moral speeches, which he was asked to give once a week. He decided to talk about “Honesty is the best policy” this week as he had found that in a recent edition of Wisdom magazine. He will have to copy it down and memorize it. What would be she be thinking of now, he thought. What dress to make for her doll, I suppose and he laughed to himself.
“Come Abi, we will make the hill fast” she shouted bringing him back from his reverie.
They started working at making the hill slowly collecting the sand spread all around and arranging it in this nice inverted cone shape. They were working at it happily, like ants would gather food, slowly but diligently. Whenever the little sand fell down, they crushed it within their little fingers, like a mould of rice and stuck it back in place with the rest of the sand. They forgot their ice creams , and all the rest of the world and were working towards the one hill they wanted to make. It was slowly and steadily growing in size till they thought it was big enough. To guard it they put a stick on top of the hill and surrounded the circle drawn around the hill with shells and whatever else they managed to extract from the ground.
“Papa, kanna, Come, you can have ground nuts” Amma was shouting for them.
They wanted to show all these oldies, their hill, their very own hill. He forgot all about his hatred towards girls and locked her hands in his and ran towards Aunty and Amma and Appa. The sun was receding in the background and Appa wanted to take a good shot of the fiery redness, that ball so far away and yet so powerful. He could see papa and kanna running towards him and then they turned to show him something on the beach. He was looking in their direction, and suddenly saw it coming. On a reflex he moved back and shouted
“Papa kanna come here fast!!”
There was a trace of panic in his voice and something was going wrong. Instead of running towards they had turned suddenly towards the beach. They too had seen it coming and all they could think of was the hill which had to be saved. They were little soldiers, one wearing a pink frock and the other wearing drawers marching to save the precious hill surrounded by the stoned pathway.
A loud deafening noise resounded through the beach making all else silent. A wave so tall, so powerful rose and when it receded it washed with it all that was of earth and mud!