Head Light - Keep Your Head Down!

Every night, when I start my bike from office towards home, there are about 15-20 people who would’ve got my curses. Especially the ones who drive 4 wheels. They are cursed because they think they’re driving in a highway and unleashes their high beam on the road. These high beams affects almost all of the bikers coming in the opposite direction with their helmet vipers down. The effect is too high when you go near the source, it causes a momentary blindness on the road and you know what will happen when that happens. I understand why high beams are used on the highway – you are driving at high speed (like it or not) and there’s no lights other than your own vehicle’s. But, when you are driving in the city, especially in a city which is one of the metropolitan in India where there’s hardly a street without lights – why do you need to turn your high beam on? Are you blind? Or, you just show the world your car’s high beam power?

The effect’s extremely high when you drive in a road where there’s no divider. It’s worse when the person who’s got the high beam starts to turn towards his right – either to overtake someone or to take a right turn. I have even noticed the speed that I have to reduce during this effect and before I hit someone without knowing of this madness. Normally, I drive at a max of 60 kms/h and I’ve to drive at the speed of 20 km/h (driving on the 2nd/3rd gear) to pass through safely. What’s more annoying is when you signal the idiot who has a high beam (by either switching off your light and switching it on or enable your high beam for a second and off) to put it down, he probably has no idea why I’m doing that! Those are the people who gets curses (like கேனா பூனா / மூனா கூனா!). Bikers are also not the one who’s saint in this. They do that too. There are times when I got too much frustrated with these guys that I started to switch on my high beam at them when I see one and switch it off when they pass – just to give them a taste of their own medicine. The effect, with the Honda Shine that I have, wasn’t that good though!

When you drive in a city where you have absolutely no street lights and no one is coming opposite to you, then that’s when you use them. If you are reading this and you drive with a high beam, please put them down from now on. Drive with a sense and drive with a smile! Remember:

The driver of a motor vehicle shall at all times when the lights of the motor vehicles are in use so manipulate them that danger or undue inconveniences is not caused to a person by dazzle.Dazzling light- restriction of : (Tamil Nadu Motor Vehicle Rules 1989)- Section 405.

More on the rules here.

Image & Links Courtesy: Google.

My Favorite Movie - The Shawshank Redemption

No wonder it’s been the top movie on the International Movie Data Base (IMDB) for years – The Shawshank Redemption is indeed the best ever movie I’ve watched till date. “Flawless” is the one word comes into my mind when I think about the movie. There is a strict warning for people who love ‘fast moving movies’ or expects ‘suspense on every scene’ – this movie is not just for you. This movie is in fact, slow, but never lets you get the feeling that you’re bored. After all, how would you expect ‘fast moving scenes’ on a movie which spans inside a Prison?

The movie revolves around Andy Dufresne – our hero, who was arrested and sent for “Shawshank”, a high security prison, for killing his wife. Although he did not kill his wife (have you ever seen a movie in which a hero kills heroine?), he accepts his prison life as he feels he drove her away and essentially, responsible for her death. In other words, we could call that a ‘Guilt’. Inside the prison, he makes friends – Ellis Boyd ‘Red’ Redding – the one who has ‘power’ (or source) to get you anything inside a prison (like a cigarette, wall paper, a hammer etc.). Before his prison life, Andy used to be a Banker. The movie then progresses on what will happen when an educated and handsome fellow like Andy is sent to a place where nothing is ‘fair’. His education helps him get a ‘respect’ inside the walls which are very rare to come by. He starts by helping an officer who faces some tax issues. Then he helps a senior officer and in no time, he becomes the auditor for all the officers inside the prison. After a year, he becomes the unofficial auditor for the nearby prison guards as well! He also earns some benefits by helping these officers – like setting up a library inside prison. The warden of the prison however has other ideas for Andy. He uses him to run a scam inside the prison, by using almost all the prisoners’ work. Money starts flowing and all Andy has to do is to channel that to the Warden. The day comes when the truth is revealed – that Andy is actually, not the killer (by this time, Andy would have spent about 20 years in the prison!). The witness however is also a prisoner. When the warden comes to know about this, he fears that his scam might be discovered or stopped short before he could make more money. So, he kills the witness and makes Andy stay in the prison for life. In the end, you’d know if Andy accepted the bitter end or fight back to find a new path, when you watch the movie.

After you finished watching the movie, you’ll have the impact so hard that it’ll take atleast a week for you to sink in. The characters, none unwanted, were apt and remember-able towards the end. Although the hero is ‘Andy Dufresne’, Ellis Boyd ‘Red’ Redding or simply ‘Red’ is the character that you’ll like most. He’s the one who narrates the movie and I especially liked for the voice of Morgan Freeman – acted as ‘Red’. The movie also tells you the hard fact that if one, who spent almost a life time in prison, and is released towards the end of his life – how he’ll be able to face the life beyond prison! Brooks Halten’s final letter to ‘Red’ almost wets your eyes. Don’t worry, the movie isn’t only about the ‘hard’ truth, but it also talks about ‘hope’ and ‘music’ in their very own way. Following are few dialogues from the movie which I liked very much. The dialogues below are not continuous, they’re my favorites.

——–0000——–

Red: “Let me tell you something, my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane. It’s got no use on the inside. You’d better get used to that idea.”

——–0000——–

Andy: “The funny thing is, on the outside, I was an honest man, straight as an arrow. I had to come to prison to be a crook.”

——–0000——–

Red: “These prison walls are funny. First you hate ‘em, then you get used to ‘em. Enough time passes, gets so you depend on them. That’s institutionalized. They send you here for life, that’s exactly what they take.”

——–0000——–

Andy: “Remember, Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things. And no good thing ever dies.”

——–0000——–

Red: “I find I’m so excited I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it is the excitement only a free man can feel, a free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend, and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope.”

——–0000——–

Movie dialogue courtesy: Wiki Quotes.

Image Courtesy: Google

I’d rate the movie 10/10. If you haven’t watched it yet, I’ve got three words for you – “Go for it!”

PS: This is once again, for a contest in CTS Blogs - this time I'm not competing. This is just a guest entry for the folks!

Revisit - 1

I’d try and capture some of the funny and some interesting events that had happened throught my life here in this series.

I never had a chance or probably never tried enjoying my college life. My college was just 6 km from my home and I know nothing about the hostel life. Studies were the only goal during those time and believe me, it was wonderful at that time. So, the real fun started only after I started my work life. I spent most of my career in Pune – 4.5 years of it – with the most fun-filled-gang-that-I-ever-know. We still keep in touch, so if some of them were to read this, they’ll probably try to kill me! Here goes the first one that comes into my mind.


Cricket was the only thing in our mind when we were in Pune. All Saturdays and Sundays – we’ll be in our sports shoes, track pants – with bats, stumps and tennis ball – we’d take our bikes to the nearby ground. There’re a lot of Tamil people in Pune that I know than the Hindi/Marathi ones. We named our team ‘Scorpions’ and we used to be the arch rivals of ‘Rockers’ team who we know as our Networking team in Infosys. I used to be the ‘fast’ (?) bowler who opens the bowling and bat at the very last position. It was one of the ordinary matches where we’re about to lose to the ‘Rockers’ by a margin. It was time for me to bat as almost all of the Scorpions were gone. Being so lazy, I requested a runner for me and the opponents never object these. The runner who came for me is another laziest guy that I ever know and we needed about 25 runs from 3 overs with 1 wicket left. As usual, the balls zipped past me without my knowledge, just a whisker away from the stumps. We managed to get a single in the last ball and I had to face the penultimate over as well. The fun started when I was able to make contact with the ball. It was an easy single, but the fielder over-did-the-fielding and sent an overthrow. We took a couple more and the other fielder did the same thing, and more over throws. The 4th run was very close to be a run-out, yet my runner was able to make it to my end. The real fun started there. That throw after the 4th run was also an overthrow and this time, it reached the boundry. I’m not sure if this has happened in the international cricket or even it is allowed to have 8 runs in a ball. But then, who cares for the cricket law in a gully cricket? 8 runs in one ball and my whole team was laughing their guts out! I still remember one of my fellow Scorpions say this out loud “உலக கிரிக்கெட் வரலாற்றில் முதல் முறையாக ஒரு பந்தில் 8 ரன் அடித்த எங்கள் அணியின் அள்ளக் குறையாத திறமையை எண்ணி வியக்கிறேன்” (Read this as the cricket commentry in Chennai 600028) and the bowler has to pullout burst out laughing!

Well, in the end, we lost the match (don’t really recall by how many runs – neverthless, we lost)!

Dedicating this to our Scorpions. We had a great run, guys!

A Divine Intervention

I'd not been here for sometime, it's time! We have a short story contest in our Cognizant Blogs, conducted by one of the legends here in CTS. Win or lose, This is my 3rd attempt to pin a short story. The theme has to involve a-human-animal-interaction and so, here it goes. Don't forget to leave your feedback!

He got used to that loneliness. It was one of the times you know, when everyone around you are suddenly getting married and you seem to be the only bachelor in your group! He never did mind that. Blogs always kept him occupied and now all of a sudden, he got a serious warning for going into the blogosphere very frequently. Ofcourse, he was out of control. What would he do when he has no work to do and still had to spend about 9 hours in the office? One may call him unlucky. Because, as soon as he opens the blog page, say after spending a dreadful 4 hours of e-learning (during that time no soul would notice him) his manager would suddenly pop up and ask “How’s it goin?” Embarrassing isn’t it? That’s how it started for him. He’s now unofficially banished from the blogosphere during office hours and only during his personal hours he went into that glorious world.

It was one of those loneliest times. He was lying on his bed and reading some blogs when he heard some sound in the hall. What the hell? Karthic and Rajesh are out of town and will be back only by the morning! Who is making noise in the hall? Being so innocent, he used fear for almost all that is fearable for a child. ‘Did I leave the TV on?’ was his first thought. Nah, there’s no static sound, it was a voice alright. He heard more sounds and it looked like someone was talking to someone. Whoa, more than one ghost? ‘Holy mother, bless me!’ he thought and opened his bedroom door. The voice was clearer now and he could hear his name in between. He could not see anyone in the hall, yet the voice seemed to be coming inside his house. He stepped inside the hall and looked around. The voices stopped in between and started once again. “I know, he’s so lazy! Just look at his hair style, the old fashioned way. I would have never passed a glance at him!” said a girl.

He turned around and saw nothing. Yet, the voice was clear. He slowly opened the main door. “Hey, he’s coming outside, let’s go!” said the girl voice and a male voice now followed “Why? As if he can hear us!”

“Hello” he said. “Who’s talking?”

“Look, he’s talking as if he can hear us! Wait, probably he’s talking to the phone!” said the male voice and the female voice followed “Let me check”

At that point, he turned around to see who’s checking him out! He went as far as the gate and came back immediately after finding no soul in the area! The voices seemed to have stopped somehow. “God, I’m going 

mad! I should stop seeing series, probably!” said to himself.

“In his dreams! I bet he’d never stop watching series. He has become too addictive and only a divine intervention can save him!” said the female voice.

He turned white as soon as he heard that. “Goddamnit who the hell are you? Why the hell are you talking hiding? Come out your little piece of s**t! You wanna piece of me? Come get it!” he shouted and immediately regretted. ‘Why the hell did I ask the ghost to appear?’ he thought. There was a silence as if the couple actually heard his yelling.

Male: “Do you think he can hear us?”

Female: “I don’t think so. But, he talks as if he can hear us!”

“I can hear you, alright. Now tell me where are you and who are you?” he said in a voice that’s neither authoritative nor scared.

Silence.

Female: “Let’s check. Do you think he can answer what’s 2 times 2?”

“It’s 4, Goddamit. For God’s sake, I’ve a Master’s degree in Mathematics!”

Male: “So, he really can hear us!”

“Now tell me where the hell are you and who the hell are you”

Two frogs came out of the dark hollow space just below the stairs and jumped near his feet. He jumped back, almost hitting the back of his head against the wall.

“Whoa, watchout!” said the male.

“What the f**k?” he said.

“What the what?” asked the female.

“Am I talking to a Frog?”

“It’s weird, isn’t it! I can’t believe you can hear us. So, what’s up?” said the male.

“I’m talking to a Fu****g Frog! I’m going Fu****g crazy!”

“And I’m talking to a human! Relax man! What do you think they’ll think of me when I say this to my friends?”

“Ok, take a deep breath, deep breath. I’m talking to a Frog. Ok, *Sigh*. Do you know my name?”

“Yes. I also know that you stay with Karthic and Rajesh” said the female.

“How do you know about us?”

“We stayed here for the last 1 year. You’ve been here for the last 6 months.” said the Female again.

“Ok, so how does this work? I’ve heard stories of talking frogs. Do I have to kiss you and make you a princess and I marry you and…”

“Whoa, hold your horses human! You’re talking about my wife here. You take one step closer to her and you’ll be splashed with all the juices I got – if you know what I mean” jumped in the male.

“Ok, cool down ma- err… Frog! I’m not going to kiss or take away your wife, ok? Sorry, I don’t know how to start a conversation with a frog!”

“And, you think we used to talk to humans regularly, huh? I have the same weird feelings as you have. Now, stop thinking about my wife!”

“Ok, ok. Let’s talk about something else. Aha, I heard you guys were talking about me. What were you talking?” he sat down on his Shine.

“We know you for quite some time. You have absolutely no sense of dressing and no sense of appearance. My wife said that she’ll never pass a glance at ya even if she were a human!”

“Yeah, that’s the part I heard! You must be happy that your girl chooses to stay away from me!”

“They call me Rango and this is my wife Mango – I named her after a fruit which I like most!”

“Oh, Rango as in “The Rango”? Err… Never mind. That was a Chameleon”

“I know ‘The Rango’. That’s the reason I choose my name as Rango. You seemed to think you know everything and we as frogs don’t know anything!”

“Err – that’s not really what I – uh, intended when I said never mind. I just thought you might not have known about that movie. Err… and I never thought you know about what’s a ‘movie’. Sorry!”

“Hmmm. You are honest. Know that we do watch movies. I watched Rango two years back at Sathyam. It was hard to get pass the securities, but once you’re in, no-one will notice ya! I don’t miss movies starring non-human beings!”

“Wow, did you just say Sathyam?”

“You heard him. I saw ‘Tangled’ when I was young. And I always wanted to marry a Chameleon after that heroic work by Pascal to kill the evil mother! I later saw The Rango and married Rango a year back!”

“Wow, that’s the most intelligent statement that I heard in this week” he smirked.

“We understand Sarcasm” said the male.

“What? Ho- Aw man, I need to treat you as a fellow human being. Sorry Mango! No offense!”

“None taken. You obviously never had been in love!”

“That’s right ma’am”

“You will one day. It is a wonderful feeling.”

“So I heard! Hey, have you guys seen the ‘Ratatouille’? I’d love to have one ‘Little Chef’ with me!”

“Hmmm. You name an animal movie and we’d have seen that!”

“How about ‘Frogs’?”

“The 1972 horror film? Yes, and by the way, it’s a crap movie!”

“Wow, you guys are awesome!”

“I know. Coming back to what we were talking about you – you can be better looking if you change a little bit of your personal looks. It’s the first step you should do to get noticed.”

“Oh! I’ve tried changing myself, but nothing worked!”

“The way your comb your hair, it’s like I see Ramarajan in an old Tamil movie”

“Oh, that bad?”

“Terrible. Your hair looks like an oil factory. Stop using oil and try combing all the hair towards the back. Grow more hair and stop cutting it once in a month. Trim your stupid mustache. Don’t think yourself as Virumandi!”

“Whoa. Now, wait a minute. I don’t think myself as Virumandi! And – I…”

“I don’t give a damn. You wanna be noticeable, hear what Rango has to say!”

“Ok, go on”

“Throw your shoes into the farthest dustbin that you’ll ever see and buy some new. Preferably Red Tape and Adidas”

“Yeah, I was in that shoe once and I had the worst ever fever for a week!” said Mango.

“Whoa, do you know how much is a Red Tape?”

“About 2500 bucks. Go on, spend it! It’s one time expenditure and its worth when compared to your stupid other spending”

“Point taken”

“I know you iron your shirts, but try buying quality shirts. The ones that you use are useless craps”

“uh-huh” by this time, he took out his Android phone and started taking notes.

“How old are you?” asked Rango.

“I thought you knew everything about me”

“I know your age. You look like you’re 35. Try changing the color of your hair”

“You know, if my grandmother were alive, she’d kill me for even thinking about it” said Mango.

“Yeah, that sort of thing happens with our girls as well Mango. Don’t worry, things have changed!” he said.

“Try these and you’ll be noticed immediately. Be positive in your thoughts. Try changing your attitude towards the people in your workplace who hate you.”

“Wow, you really know me!”

“There’s one more advice. I know you watch a lot of series and movies. I also know you started them because you wanted to strengthen your communication skills. But, there should be an end to all of this. You sleep at 2 every night and wake up at 9 every day. That’s not how a normal human being lives.”

“…”

“Stop all those and try to sleep before 10. Wake up at 5 in the morning, do some exercise, be fit.”

“You know what, you’re right. I’d been thinking of changes, but I never actually initiated one.” he said.

“Hmmm, let’s see. I need a favor from you as well”

“You seem to know everything! How can I be of any help?” he said eyeing Mango.

“The favor does not involve you kissing my wife and she becoming a princess”

“Alright! Man, you’re a mind reader! No kisses, I promise.”

“Tell your friend Karthic to stop trying to kill us!”

“hahaha… Don’t worry. He’s allergic to almost all animals in the earth! I’ll talk to him.”

“Ok, it’s a good bye for now, then. It’s time for us to sleep!” said the male.

“Yeah, I’m going to pinch myself to see if it’s a dream?”

“You never told me what’s the meaning for the word you kept on yelling” asked Mango.

“Which word?”

“I think it’s Fu****g or F**k”

“Err…”

The next morning, he woke up and found Karthic sitting in the hall, seemingly very happy. Karthic was actually surprised to see him so early in the morning!

“Hey, you’re up early!” said Karthic.

“Hmmm. Gonna try some exercise from today. What keeps you in such a good mood in an early Monday morning?”

“You know those irritating frogs that we used to have here – I finally managed to kill them!”

“What!?!?!”

PS1: If you haven’t noticed, the human who talks with the frogs’ name would not be mentioned in the story.

PS2: I’ll come back and write one in Tamil soon.

PS3: One may ask how can a frog, who see English movies, doesn’t know what’s “F**K”. Let’s just assume she watched *BEEP* sound when the word was pronounced!

Say 'No' and be an Enemy!

This was initially drafted to post in the Cognizant Blogs, but my Manager stopped me from doing so. So, I've got to share it somewhere, where can I publish other than my own Blog?!

You might have heard about the 'Art of saying 'No''. The following scenario story may have happened really. To you, or to me! You know!

The Art of saying ‘No’ is something that I acquired a few years before. I’m nothing but “Yes” to all, a few years before. Infact, during my 1st ever job after college, where I was appointed as a “Computer Operator” for 3 months, I touched the computer 3 times. Rest of the time, all I did was get coffee/tea for the management, answer the phone! (Good Morning, N****i Trading!) In my first ever professional job – as an online Tutor, I was good at what I did. But then, one of the management folks saw my MSExcel ‘skills’ (!) and moved me from online tutoring to Billing alias Back office! But, I never did say ‘No’. After I learned the art of saying ‘No’, I did face a few problems. People above you like to hear ‘Yes’ all the time! I’m now facing the after effects of saying ‘No’!

If someone looks at my resume, they may think that this guy is so unreliable – keeps on changing the job! I’ll say that the consequences of saying ‘No’ and lot more guts were the reason. I quit I*****s because I said ‘No’ to the Bangalore transfer (from Pune) when I expected a transfer to Chennai (which they promised for a family emergency). I know I had some guts to throw away an important career, but when your family needs you, there’s no need for you to chase the money or career! I quit P*****s because I was put into a Testing Project where I have no idea what Testing is! I still remember – second day on which I joined the project – a person came to me and asked me to write a ‘Test Case’ and I asked him ‘What is a Test Case?’! The interview time promises were not kept by the P*****s people (All I asked them was to give me a project which has UNIX and Oracle technology!) and I had to find another employer who can offer the same.

So, coming to my current employment, I’ve been there for the last four months and into a project from Day 2. So far I’ve got to understand the environment and found out that I’m part of a team which is being formed (I’m the first)! OK, I was the first resource and guess who’s the second – my manager! He happened to be a person who doesn’t know the art of saying No. Since we two were the only folks in the team, we got a very good understanding. I’ve worked in a few organizations now, but I have never faced the issue that I’m facing here anywhere! The knowledge transfer is still not complete (forget about complete – it’s just started and there’s no continuity!). Four months of my time and about 2 months of my manager’s time – we were able to get only two sessions of KT (knowledge transfer) and the folks who give KT to us – from Onsite – are always busy (don’t ever dare to ask how).

*****WARNING*****: If you feel sleepy after reading the above content, I suggest you close the window and do something better. Because, the below will still bore you!

Being a team leader in his previous concern – who also has loads of technology knowledge – my manager was not able to keep quiet like me! (Ofcourse, I had other entertainments!) So, he dragged us into an issue where we are absolutely not required and made himself to come in night shifts. Now, there are two members in a team and one is on leave – who’ll you call? Me! Unfortunately, my manager had to leave early on a Friday and I was supposed to fill in his place at the last minute. You might wonder what the great job that we have got to do in the middle of the night! Delete all the files in a couple of folders when someone from onsite tells you to do and reboot the system – again, when they tell you to do. Sounded challenging to me, so I accepted and stayed back on a Friday (came to office at 2PM unaware that my manager was leaving early). Now, as usual there was no activity going on (well, no requests, I mean) and I was into the entertainment that we talked about earlier. 12 hours had passed by since I came to the office. Now, I was feeling tired (you know, when you don’t have anything to do and you’re still required to do the most challenging work, you’ll get tired, eventually) and called the onsite folks. After about 4 or 5 tries, I caught hold of someone and apparently they were in a meeting. I wondered like everyone else is having a job to do other than me! One more hour passed by and I called again and this time they said that they’re working hard to create a work for me. The Red Bull that I drank about 6 hours ago wasn’t working at all! Finally after about 15 hours of my office time, someone called me and said that I can do that first challenging work – delete the contents of a couple of folders (on 4 systems at offshore). Done. Now, wait for instructions. OK. Another hour passed by and after 4 or 5 continuous calls, I got the green signal for the final challenging work – reboot. Done. Sigh. I decided to leave and then came another challenging work. Since I deleted the contents of the couple of folders, after reboot – they should be getting updated automatically. I noticed that they’re updating and informed the onshore folks. Now, after 16 hours of work (!) that too on a Friday, the onshore folks requested me to stay back until the update is finished and report that they’re working fine. Normal time taken for the updation: 3 hours. So, I said ‘No’ to that politely and informed that I do have life in a very nice way. I am now the most popular guy among onsite and I’m sure there are instructions to the onshore folks – Never handover any work (!) to him [I'd like to pause a moment here and think about the work. Wait, I haven't reiceved KT at all!]. He is unreliable. Trust his manager – he’s the reliable!

Now, on a serious note, I’d been idle for more than half of their time and no one ever thought of initiating the work from their end. How is it fair to ask a resource to stay back for more than 3 hours after he has just completed a 16 hours shift [Give me a break - this is not a production environment!]? Calling him unreliable and making escalations over him for a simple ‘No’ (there are people who tend to agree on this – ofcourse, they’re management!) is IT for me!

I really am unreliable, aren’t I?

மணிமுத்தாறு!

அண்ணனுக்கு திருமணம் என்று நெருங்கிய நட்பு வட்டாரங்கள் அனைவரையும் அழைத்தாயிற்று (ஒரு வேளை இதை படிக்கும் உங்களை அழைக்கவில்லை என்றால் மன்னித்து விடுங்கள்... வேண்டுமென்று செய்யவில்லை!). திருமணம் பழனியில் என்பதாலும், பெண் வீட்டார் திருமணம் என்பதாலும் நண்பர்களை நேராக Reception-க்கு திருநெல்வேலி வரச் சொல்லியாயிற்று. எவனுக்கு Phone பண்ணி கூப்பிட்டாலும் “நா கண்டிப்பா வருவேன் மச்சி-னு” சொல்லி 10 ரூம் புக் பண்ண வச்சி, நல்ல வேளை கடைசி நேரத்துல 5 ரூம கேன்சல் பண்ணி, 3 ரூம்-க்கு மட்டும் ஆட்கள் சேர்த்து (6 பேர் தாங்க!) 2 ரூம்-க்கு தண்டமா வாடகை குடுத்து ‘லைட்டு-க்கா’ ரத்த கண்ணீர் விட்டாலும், புக் பண்ண “Tavera” கரெக்ட் டைம்-க்கு வந்து என் வயித்துல பால வாத்தான்! One of the biggest occasion in my life-னு Reception-க்கு முந்தின நாள், சேர்ந்த 5 நண்பர்களோட (அதுல ஒருத்தன் லேட்டா வந்ததினால அவன விட்டுவிட்டு நாங்கள் கிளம்பியாயிற்று) குற்றாலம் பார்க்கலாம்-னு கெளம்பியாச்சு. வண்டியில் பாட்டு கேட்டுகிட்டே கிட்டத்தட்ட 1 மணி நேரம் கழிச்சி குற்றாலம் வந்து சேர்ந்தால் ஒரு சொட்டு தண்ணீர் கூட வரவில்லை! அடப்பாவிகளா! ரெண்டு நாளைக்கு முன்னாடி தான் “Terror”-ஆ மழை மாப்ள, குற்றாலத்துல செம சீசன்-னு சொன்ன என்னோட நண்பன கொலவெறியோட தொரத்தி தொரத்தி கொல்லனும் போல இருந்தது! சரி, அப்டியே 5அருவியும் பாத்துடுவோம்-னு அங்க போனா தண்ணி நெய் மாதிரி வழிந்துகொண்டிருந்தது! அதுக்கும் ஒடம்பு பூரா சோப்பு தேச்ச கோஷ்டிங்களோட கூட்டம் வேற! (குற்றாலத்துல குளிச்சே தீருவேன்னு இதுல என்னோட நண்பன் ஒருத்தன் போய் குளிச்சது(!) கொடுமை!) நானும் மருத மலை படத்துல வர்ற வடிவேலு மாதிரி (திருடனை தப்பிக்க விட்டதுக்கு அப்புறம் வர்ற சீன்) முழிச்சிக்கிட்டு மணிமுத்தாறு போலாம் மச்சி, இன்னும் டைம் இருக்கு – அங்க கண்டிப்பா தண்ணி வரும்-னு Convince பண்ணி, அங்க இருந்து ஒரு ஒன்னரை மணிநேரம் (நடுவில் அரை மணி நேர உணவு இடைவேளை வேறு!) வண்டியில் A/C-யிலும் வியர்த்து சென்றடைந்தோம்.

திருநெல்வேலிக்காரன் மானத்தை நல்ல வேளையாக மணிமுத்தாறு காப்பாற்றியது! மானத்தை காப்பாற்றியதோடு மட்டுமல்லாமல் எங்களுக்கு ஒரு மறக்க முடியாத அனுபவத்தையும் கொடுத்தது! மணிமுத்தாறு அருவி செல்லும் வழியில் ஒரு செக் போஸ்ட் உண்டு. ஆள் அரவமில்லாமல் அது வேறு பயமுறுத்தியது – ஒரு வேளை இங்கயும் தண்ணி இல்லை-னா மக்கள் நம்ம கிட்ட இருந்து தண்ணி எடுத்துடுவாங்களே-னு பயம் வேற! Parking-ல ஒரு ஈ காக்கா கூட இல்ல (சரி, சரி, ஒரு பத்து பதினஞ்சி குரங்கு இருந்திச்சி)! இறங்கி நடந்து போனால் “சோ” என்ற சத்தமே என் காதில் தேனாய் பாய்ந்தது! மட மட-வென டிரஸ்ஸ மாத்திட்டு குடு குடுவென ஓடிப் போய் பார்த்தால், அருவியில் ஒரே ஒரு Couple மட்டும் தான்! ஒரு பய இல்ல! தண்ணீரும் இரண்டு நாள் பெய்த மழையில் ஏதோ சொல்லும் அளவு விழும் என்று பார்த்தால் நன்றாகவே விழுந்தது! நானே ராஜா நானே மந்திரி என்று யாருக்காவும் காத்திருக்காமல், யாருக்கும் விட்டும் கொடுக்காமல், எங்களுக்காக மட்டுமே கொட்டியது போன்ற ஒரு உணர்வுடன், மணி போவதே தெரியாமல் குளிப்பது, அருவியின் முடிவில் படுத்து இளைப்பாருவது, மீண்டும் குளிப்பது என்று நண்பர்களுடன் நானும் ஒரு மறக்க முடியாத அனுபவத்தைப் பெற்றேன்! Couple-ம் எங்களை பார்த்த சில நிமிடங்களிலேயே கிளம்பிவிட்டனர்! கருமம் புடிச்ச Camera-வில் Charge இல்லாததால் சில புகைப்படங்கள் மட்டுமே எடுக்க முடிந்தது! (மற்றவை கைபேசியில் எடுத்தவை) அவ்வபோது இளைப்பாற நண்பர்கள் சிலர் ‘தம்’ அடித்து, சூடு ஏற்றி, மீண்டும் வந்து குளித்து என்ஜாய் செய்தனர்! மேற்கொண்டு அடி (தண்ணீரில்) வாங்க முடியாது என்ற முடிவு எல்லோருக்கும் வந்த பிறகு தான் அந்த இடத்தை (மனமே இல்லாமல்) காலி செய்தோம்! வருகிற வழியில் சில புகைப்படங்களும் எடுத்தோம். உடும்பு, செந்நாய், குரங்கு என்று (சின்ன லிஸ்ட் தான், வர்ற வழியில் பார்த்தது) சில மிருகங்களையும் பார்த்தோம். இதோ சில புகைப்படங்கள் உங்களுக்காக.

Can you see 'Udumbu' on the above picture?

நன்பேண்டா!

Dedicating this post to my dear Brother! Happy Married Life Anna!

Your Side, My Side and the Right Side!

Every day, right when I start my bike from my room until I reach office (and, vice versa), I keep on thinking, about the traffic rules that no one follows. Well, I remember the famous quote "There are three sides to an argument – your side, my side and the right side". Brings a little smile to my face when I think of what I'm about to write!

 

Scenario 1: If you are in Chennai, you might have heard about the 'Medavakkam koot road' and that's the road that I use to start from Kovilambakkam to Siruseri. That's actually a narrow road and you cannot overtake a bus (unless ofcourse, if there are no vehicles coming in the opposite direction). A calculated risk involves in overtaking the bus (or any other big vehicle – even a car) and for gaining speed. So, when I overtake a bus or say, a van, the vehicle coming opposite to me, say a bike – he could have given me a little way (by moving to his left side) to complete my overtake of the bus, but instead, even though he has space for about a car on his left side, he'll flash his head light and signal me not to come! My thought: Why the hell won't you move to your left side and give a little way for me to finish overtaking the bus?

 

Scenario 2: When nearing the Sholinganallur signal. Just when you pass the Toll Gate, all the company buses (including that of Cognizant) and government buses suddenly would rush past you (I honestly have no idea on how they suddenly appear just before the Sholing signal or maybe it's my imaginary thought?) and stop before you at places where even a car would have tough time to go without scratching its nose. If that bus was not there, I'd have easily gone past all the vehicles waiting before us and in front of the signal. The thing is, as soon as the bus enters the mentioned place-where-a-car-would-have-tough-time-to-go, even with my bike, I'll not have any room left to move on the left side! My thought: Why the hell are you blocking my way? With you action, not only you, but no one else who're standing behind you can go forward! Why can't you allow a little space on the left side for atleast the bikers to pass?

 

Scenario 3: Again, when nearing the Sholinganallur Singal and see a lot of traffic ahead, right from the Toll Gate. This time since the buses takes the left side mostly; I try the right side [the wrong side]. I know I break the traffic rules by going on the other side of the road, but when you are so desperate to reach office on time, you won't consider these! So, breaking the rules, I'd curse whoever comes on the right side to move a little to the left (Just to get you a clear picture here – the left side of our road will be full of vehicles waiting for the signal to clear and almost half of the right side of the road [the wrong side] will still be filled with vehicles waiting on the road and we'll still be overtaking them to go to the front). My thought: Why the hell won't they move left? Don't they think that people should go to office on time?

 

Ok, now comes the fun part with a '.1'. Recently, I revisited the same scenarios from the other side! Here you go:

 

Scenario 1.1: I was into night shifts for about a week. I was leaving the office late and was crossing the same 'Medavakkam koot road' at around 8:30 AM. Now, my side of the road was almost free – only one or two vehicles while the other side was swarmed with bus, cars and bikes. Suddenly, I see a lot of bikers (and even cars/autos!) trying to overtake bus or cars in front of them, came right at me! I had to signal them to stop using my head lights! My thought: Why the hell are they crossing that yellow line? Don't they see that I have some rough roads on the left side and that's why I'm using the middle lane?

Scenario 2.1: It was a Friday and I planned to go to my hometown directly from the office. So, I left the bike at my room and caught a government bus to go to office. Now, when I see from the bus, all the bikers are going past the bus, sneaking through the little gaps and making it impossible for the bus or other vehicles that stand before them to start as soon as the signal is clear! Even though our bus was almost the first to get caught at the signal, when it was green, we had to wait for about 30-45 seconds for the bikers to clear the area (who came very late) and after that only, the bus could start! My thought: Why the hell are they coming and blocking the way like this? Isn't it supposed to be First Come First Serve basis?

 

Scenario 3.1:  From or to office, Sholinganallur signal is always busy. So, I had to literally swim through the 'Scenario 2' kind of situations when I left office towards home after my night shift and finally took the left turn towards Medavakkam. Now, I see a lot of people coming in the opposite direction, leaving us a little space to go through. My thought: Why the hell are they coming in the wrong side? Why don't they start early if they think they're late to office? Idiots!

 

Now, you have no idea how long it took for me to finish typing this [especially in English]. I'm sure some of you might not even understand what the hell am I talking about?! In that case, do mention this in the comments and I'll try the Tamil version of the same scenarios!

 

PS: Well, the right side is, I started following the traffic rules these days!