Time to start again….

After a long time, though many things crossed my mind, that my so called brain if one available instructed or rather urged to blog about, my hands did not feel like kissing the keyboard for blogging. Well today of the many things that happened, something made me remember the label I started in my blog, which I wanted to complete a long time back, but shelved for reasons unknown to me. But today, I decided I gonna blog in that label….after all it is my space where I vent out and capture some interesting things happening/happened in my life…with ever increasing affinity towards amnesia, it is best that I capture something to chew later on.

Neenga, Naan, Raja sir……One of my favorite show on Radio mirchi Chennai between 9pm and 11pm is sort of walking through Raja sir’s diary pages. So beautifully hosted by the comparer, today it featured SPB’s thoughts on Raja sir. Even though I grew up listening to ARR, on any given day I will vote for Raja sir….if ARR proved to be my rejoicing time, Raja sir gave me the much needed solace and calmness whenever I required.

As I drove my dear pachakalyani from office back home, one of SPB-Raja’s delight Sangeetha Megam was on air. More than just a song, this means a lot to me personally. One of my all time favorites….one of the many and an important song, which brought me and a pal of mine today, Raj,  close and more than just best friends. A wave of Munster memories whizzed through my head, as SPB’s voice took on the higher notes. <sigh>

As of now, I am signing off deciding to write more on the label, The first quarter….which helped me shun some of the flaws, that I picked with each sip, as I gulped down.

 

Let Glory be with Kalyan.

To think

that I have just completed the first quarter of my life time is just thrilling and also poses a lot of questions. What have I really achieved over the last quarter? Well all INCs in NSE BSE WALLSTREET would pose there expenses. Well, I don’t have an exact expense list to post, but I do have a list with me. A list of income/expenses that took me from day one till today.

No ones life is without bitterness. Everyone has it. I too have had, but just seconds…not a heavy dosage. The greatest gift that I have had in the last quarter with no second thoughts - Kalyan. A man who stands tall in my memories when I look back with gratitude, a soul which is keeping me in the right path and will continue to.

A span of 25 years does involves a lot of encounters with earthly beings. And I have indeed come across very many of them. People from opposite poles. I would like to take a moment to thank all those who just helped me all along the way, somehow or the other. To all the people I met in Chandrasekara puram to Westmont,IL, a special heartfelt thanks goes out to them.

I don’t think I would ever be able to get few of my important relations under one roof some day. And here is my space and chance/time to thank them all. I would like to thank few special people on this day.

Mr Kalyanaraman Subbarayan (again a Kalyanaraman), the only reason behind me being carved as a engineer, without whom, I am sure I would be searching for a career right now. Gobli alias Sivasankaran who was always around me till the time I went to college, providing me enough inspiration and a great personality to be taken as role model. Mrs Indra and Mrs Veeramani for letting me know who I am and for the personality that people identify me for. Sampath, Varadhan, SK, Basker and Abhirami for laying some important foundation in me. Saravanan, Prince, Unni for supporting me in all possible ways for a perfect career launch. Sugan, Kishore, Nirmal, Shiva, Kumar for providing me the best of memories of college/Pizza hut and always there to encourage me with their best wishes. Muthoo, bala, Sabari, Mani, Sreeni, Bharathi, UM, Harish, Pradeep for letting me know that life is too beautiful to have grudges on it and helped me realize life will just move on, come what may!!! Guhan for being a silent and wonderful friend that a man can ever ask for. Arvind, a man who proved to be the best companion to hang out, till the time he vanished. KP, Shiva, Arun, Sundaram, Badri for providing some wonderful memories of srirangam life.

A very sincere thanks goes out to MSS and RMS for putting me in the right spots, letting me know my mistakes, making me aware of how worse I am and amidst me being a figure of greatest mistakes, still sticking with me and looking out for the best to happen to me.

Mrs Muthulakshmi and her children. Without whom, I would not have been equipped with the right spirit to handle the world. Each of a kind, with a different perception and different path and destiny. They are the ones who taught me, winning as ‘I’ is not only important, but we need look out for others in a heard.

Last but not the least, Srividhya for her timely advices in all my endeavors till she was around, Gayathri who proved to be an inspiration and defined a set of principles for me to grow, Arun for showing me, how benevolent a man can be, a man who showed me how much planning does help in life.

Finally, my mom and dad ( a man who did teach me to handle the life as it comes to us). A team of two who always wished me good, no matter what, listened to me when I needed, who winked away all odds just to keep me happy, for sowing me in the right land so that I can grow tall and broad.

For those whom I have missed….pardon me….Life is too good, to brood about things, if something does not happen today, probably it will happen tomo, if it does not, “GO GET A LIFE”, think about what next!!!! Its easy to just think about failure but to sort them out and turn them into success really requires a courage and proves life is indeed beautiful. Finally GOD, believe me I am seeing him daily, since my birth on this earth.

Let glory be with Kalyan.

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.

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….

1997

Was our first trip outside home other than temple as a family. We made it to Ooty. I exactly don’t remember how many days we stayed there, but definitely we had a great time. One of my dad’s cousin bro, whose name demands a great respect in me, was probably AGM of a national bank then and he was given a big estate kind of home.

We had other cousins come over and we really had a great fun. We went around the city, we talked, glared at the roses….everything was a first time for me. On our way up the hill, the bus was parked at a uphill curve and my dad took me out to pee and also he bought me strawberries and some more fruits. I remember strawberries in particular for that was the first time I ate them and my dad bought it with all excitement for me.

 

As the bus rode higher and higher, I was all ecstatic looking at the scenic beauty as we ascended, but sadly the sun descended. The home that we landed was one of the best I have seen in my life. Rather than seen, I have lived in the past since my origin on this earth. I cannot express how big the home was in itself, amid the blooming roses of vibrant colors, with tall tress on all sides with a valley kind of scene around the back of the home.

 

It was also the first time I got together with my cousin whom I often don’t get to see. Well, what made me to remember this today? Well on that night we landed, Minsara kanavu was telecasted via a pirated cassette in the local cable and I happened to watch it with my sis as a family.

Now why did I remember this trip now? Well after a long time I heard minsara kanavu songs. Just like each song that you grew up with has a memory associated with it, so does this too…….Along with that I remembered, that was our last family trip, that was the last time some one bought me berries in india, that was the last time I watched movie with my sisters and finally that was the last time I met those cousins I guess…….

 

On a lighter note, the only thing that remained the first time and still continues is watching movies…

 

Come what may!!! Life keeps moving.

Of all the people

who visited our home during my early childhood, milkman was the one who scared me the most. He visited daily twice. He sported a self made turban made from his towel and always came in a cycle with a lot of aluminum cans hanging in every possible way. At the age of 3-6 i never liked to wear anything and i was a happy nudist.

Each day morning as i woke up, i would brush my teeth and walk straight to the big portico we had in chandrasekara puram. I would climb to the highest point in the wall and sit there happily for hours together and just keep watching the road. For some reason even though it was the same spot, same road and same set of people, that routine fascinated me. Even milk would be served there. Since everyone would be busy in the morning and i don't disturb anyone, i would not be bothered much except when temperature is not too good for me :)

But the only time i would freak out and run inside is when this man stops his cycle in front of our home. I would run to the second entrance gate, will wait and watch if he is coming inside. As usual and as a habit he would walk swiftly with a wide grin on looking at me and walked the entire length of the portico. As he neared me, he would just utter two words "குஞ்சு தா" .

I would freak out and always went to my mom, in a sobbing tone i would say "குஞ்சு தா கேக்கராம்மா" , my mom will laugh at me, so will my granddad and almost everyone in home. That will end my morning enjoyment and will be time for me to get ready. Probably they had a checkpoint in the milkman that's why they did not disturb me.....

no more milkman, today everything is packed well and distributed.....thinking of that today, i could not just stop wondering how glorious and beautiful were those days, and how good the people were just 20yrs ago

Come what may!!!Life keeps moving.

Missing him still….

Of all the people i have come across, I have never been able to get in touch with him and never really heard from him. He was my first best friend as I remember, and when it was time for me to part, i was too young to realize the importance of being in touch. Not a week has passed by since my 3rd grade without remembering him for something or other. We were together since kindergarten till second grade.

I had to part with Sugenthiran, since we were no longer entertained to have 62,Chandrasekara puram as our abode and we moved to 111G where the better part of my teens got spent. So when i tell this to few people about missing this fella, they wonder what the heck have we done between Kindergarten and 2nd grade to miss a friend? Well, me too not clear on why i miss him, but i am certain i do.  I do remember some of the best moments i had with him. Some of the best talks we had. They are still afresh.

In the modern era of Face book, buzz, twitter etc….hoping someday i will meet him, someday i will let him know that i am the one who was with him till 2nd grade…probably he may not remember, probably he may avoid me…..either way i have my hopes flying high.

 

Come what may life keeps moving.