Children’s day

meant a fancy dress competition in SAV. More than me, it seemed my mom and sis were expecting this very day since the start of the year. Every year they used to contemplate and come out with some interesting character, get the dialogues for the character and also the dress, and put me in hell lot of trouble to dress and enact the way they had originally envisioned .

While I was at Rockfort, for the fancy dress competition it was not necessary that the student must deliver any dialogue at all. All that was required was some B-E-A-utiful dress, which will enable the audience to understand whom/what you are trying to portray, stand before the judges, pose for a photograph and leave  

 

Thinking about it now, it makes more sense as to why they call it ‘fancy dress competition’. Here in SAV, I had to talk with actions, or rather enact the character which was damn new to me. I did VaVuSee, Ovvayar and the last eligible year it was Draupadi. While the first two fetched me 1st places, the last one, I was not at all interested. Doing draupadi meant, getting myself less dignified among my friends, and coz of that I spoiled the enacting part.

Over these years there had been a pair of eyes that had been monitoring me. I was taken grated by those pair of eyes and from then on I did some role in all of her shows for each year’s school annual day. She was instrumental in getting my histrionics shaped well, for it involved not just delivering dialogues, it thought about nuances of acting, singing, how powerful words can be with expression and how beautiful silence is. Every year she would put me in some character, whether small or big, was not at all my problem. All I cared was my classed getting cut

The final piece of glory came to me when She decide to caste me in a main role while I wan in 9th grade in Meera Bhai. That was pivotal in making many heads turn my side. The performance was classic, and I owe it to her till date. She did take so much pain to get me there.

 

A place in that little stage, which altered many equations over the years….I always owe her one, and not a day has passed without thanking her.  When I said ‘not a day’, YES I meant it. I am always indebted to Mrs Veeramani.

 

Many times my best friends had asked me, how I could just act anything (in life)……well here is the answer to it…..Saga continues…..

Soon after the

elementary education at Rockfort, I was blessed with the opportunity of getting an admission in SAV. Though something which I initially loathed about, for I wanted to Join RSK, where both my sisters and uncles' sons did their schooling. I was much impressed with their way of handling things and especially English. Well, soon I jelled well in SAV and that laid the very basic foundation for what I am today.

A person of my caliber would not take  much time to find and get myself placed at the epicenter of a trouble. It was almost 3weeks by the time I had made few good friends. We had this so called Physical training (PT) class, that did not happen for some reason on that particular day and we were left in the class room unattended.

Soon we started a game which required someone to get the best sound out of the bench/desk to be unanimously selected as winner. While everyone thumped on the desk, I got a bit carried away and trying to prove my powers just took the desk in hand, lifted it high and put it back down. Ofcourse there was a competitor, and this went on for a few mins, till a point when a new face poked inside our class.

Well it was from office room and they wanted to know the reason for the huge thunder Me and my competitor were taken down and were asked to kneel down. We gladly did that and were giggling, until the moment the PT master indicated that our parents would be required to release us. We were dumbstruck. Though this was not new to me, since I have had my parents reporting on my behalf on earlier occasion, my partner in crime started leaking some fluid from his eyes.

Till date I don’t remember what exactly made me cry, for sure I remember I was not intimidated. I could not figure out whether I cried to give a company to my partner, or felt like crying coz he was crying…well I cried so much that PT master released us with a warning…

 

Well that was just a start at SAV….Moral of the incident: I learnt that being at the backstage of all operations gives you more pleasure and sense of achievement and less visibility and risk, if I made sure I had some PRO. Believe me, to this day it helps me and my best pals would definitely agree with me.

எப்பொழுதிலும் வீற்றிருப்பேன் - உனக்காக

என் எண்ணங்கள் அனைத்தும் உன் புறம் வீற்றிருக்க

நொடி கணக்கில் சுட்டு விட்டாய் அடி சகியே -

ஒரு நொடி கூட என் எண்ணத்தில் நீ இல்லை என்று.

இழைத்தது சிறு தீங்கு அல்ல நான் மன்னிக்கப்பட,

இருப்பினும் புன்னகை உன் இதழில் வீற்றிருக்க

இரு கரம் கொண்டு என்னை நந்தவனத்தில்

நட்ப்பென்னும் நாற்காலியில் வீற்றிருக்கச் செய்தாய்.

மறக்க வில்லை, நான் மன்னிக்கப்பட்டதை மறக்க வில்லை!!

புயல் வீசினாலும், சூரியன் சுட்டாலும்

பூமி பிளந்தாலும், வானம் போர் முரசிட்டாலும்

ஒரு நொடி அசைய மாட்டேன் நாற்காலியில்

எப்பொழுதிலும் வீற்றிருப்பேன் - உனக்காக

செவி சாய்ப்பதற்கு , இப்படிக்கு எஸ்ராம்வெண்.

The early seeds

of my perspective about this world was sown in Rock Fort matriculation Hr Sec School, Trichy. It was then a big school, which was later reduced to a small complex. I was there till my second grade. Of all the things, I remember only the then Principal Venkatachalam or something. He walked around with a stick whose one end had a soft shining round (just like his head)  mold which could inflict enough damage on your palms that would potentially create a big hatred against him than keeping you away from the mischief.

I think he assumed himself to be an angel (ya  a bald angel) for I always found him in a white safari (which I guess he never washed) with a shining brown smooth head. Everyday  during the morning prayers I was amazed at the quality of the shine( not even the new BATA shoes could match it), the sharp ray of light which would make me wink now and then, that gets reflected due the lateral movement of his head against the sun’s axis. I can recall a sharp image of him even today. I always hated him for the very many times, that stick in his brutal hand kissed my palm.

More or so, I use to stick to the older class kids. Not a friendship though, mostly on the quarrel side. I still remember a dark tall fella from a higher grade always poking me during my intervals. One day I was so irritated I pushed him down in the boy’s restroom right were every kid was happily watering the floor……A bully from the start…

During my school days, I was famous for pulling one’s hair, be it anyone who had long hairs….that eventually got me into a good deal of trouble always. There are days when my mom or dad was summoned coz I pulled some girl’s hair heavily. Of all the bad things, my parents left me free for I always did well in studies to be second in class always…..ya the first place was always a dream, a place which just made a big scene in that school, a place that was held by a girl whom I always wanted to thwarter someday…..with the exit from school, my passion for ranks took a huge plunge and I became more absorbed in worldly things

 

Probably start of the first quarter….

Down the diwali lane....

Of all the festivals, Diwali is something special to me. This was the festival which made me to freak out when i was a kid, a festival which i awaited eagerly each year as i grew up and a festival which i lost interest in during my college days, a festival which i expect will be the way i want it next year......

When i was doing my 5 or 6th grade i really enjoyed the diwali. My dad never said no to any of my claims, be it dresses, sweets, or crackers. I bought crackers for 6-7k each year. That means buying crackers for 25-30k in today's market. Sweets were always taken care by my mom and granny in our home. They always were good. The first year when i was done with all the crackers which i bought, i was told a story by my granddad.

A story which was centered around an infant. This infant cried at such an high pitch that the entire street could hear whenever there was a cracker burst somewhere nearby. As time flew by, the infant grew and when he was a kid of 10, he bought a large amount of crackers and emptied them. It did not take me much time to realize that it was me. As time flew by, the interest in the Diwali dhamaka started to decrease rapidly. When i entered college, diwali was just another day of holiday, with a lot of entertainment on tv and ofcourse a lot to eat :)

As i moved to hostel, the fear of having to part with my room mates and other friends during such times really bothered me a lot, a call during each diwali with all my room mates always proved to be fun. After i came to work, for some reason or the other i did not really enjoy my diwali. This year far away from home, i am near a home, yet i have the office work to do.

At this moment my heart goes out to my best friend in my life, who has not experienced a good diwali since childhood, and has only heard others' experience to understand what a diwali is. This year too is no different for that person......

Next year, few of my friends will be hard to contact, for they would have committed a great sin called marriage, they will be busy with their own work....

A special thanks to people who made each of my diwali unique in some or the other way. A special thanks to my dad/mom for allowing to me taste the diwali, the way i wanted.

To conclude, wishing you all a very happy diwali, let the festival of lights enlighten your life and bring more prosperity