After an unintended break of 2 years........

26th November, 2008 - The day i wrote my last blog

i did not have any idea that my life is going to undergo a drastic change when i wrote the last blog. It had been three years since i had taken my last break and was looking forward to another one of those long breaks which helps me to rejuvenate, re-prioritize and re-energize.

I had thought that i would never give up blogging.............but....

The plan for that break was very simple:

41 days of vrutham(strict adherence to fasting) and then a pilgrimage to Sabarimala. My earlier experiences have had a very calming and humbling influence and i intently, every year, look forward to the pilgrimage. I have even been ridiculed for being too young to be so intently ritualistic about the vrutham.

&

To attend my cousin's wedding - ended up doing a whole lot more than only attending and which i enjoyed thoroughly.



14th January, 2009

12:00 Noon

We, I and my cousin, are both ready to travel back to Hyderabad - my karmabhoomi. The train is at 2:30 PM IST and

12:15 PM

I get a call from my office in Mumbai that my boss urgently needs to talk to me.

I decide to reach Hyderabad and then talk as i would not have been of any help after a long gap.

12:30 PM

Someone again tries to reach out to me from office and i royally ignore the call until a point when my dad insists that i should be calling back. I do.

1:00 PM

I call my boss on my way to the railway station, Shornur. I am instructed to abort my trip to Hyderabad and instead fly down to Mumbai immediately.


That evening i landed in Mumbai - the city of dreams, and i realised how i love Mumbai and how i have missed Mumbai, for the 6 months that i had been away in the last 10 years....



Mumbai - made me forget that i had started blogging and should continue
Mumbai - reunited with friends, whom i missed
Mumbai - i love the anonymity that it provides like no other city in India
Mumbai - i love the fact that i do not know any of my neighbours in my building
Mumbai - life revolves round malls, pubs, restaurants, movies, cricket, beaches, friends and more friends..............................................................

I believe in destiny......i believe that there is a reason for everything.....the reason for me to start blogging was Sreejith(i have earlier mentioned his name in one of my earlier blogs).......today the reason for me to come back here and publish a post is his wife.......

This one is a drag hope i could come back with some interesting ones at the earliest....

A Month's Break from Work...

I think i am one of those lucky ones to have got  a month's break from work in these times.

I will be missing reading all my favourite blogs and writing new ones. But actually i am looking forward to a world with out(away from) the PCs, keyboards, mouse, mobiles, phones, targets, work pressures & stress, pessimistic outlook at the growth rate in India and the impending elections.

Connect with you all in the Year 2009. 

Hope the new year brings lots of good news and cheers to the people all over the world

The Moment of Truth!!!

Nobody had commented on my first blog. i was not sure if anybody had even read that. I was a tad sad,worried about its worthiness and mulling over my blog's future prospects.  To be honest, i crave for comments(who does not) because i feel it is the only way that a story can move forward( Criticism is all the more welcome). After posting an article on my blog, i keep returning back to check if somebody had commented on it(i do not know if everyone did that during their initial days). I also do not know a lot of bloggers personally. For the first couple of days, i was extremely disappointed as no one commented. My happiness knew no bounds when i saw a comment on the 4th day. Guess who??

i have recently shifted to a new city where i do not have many friends, any relatives or sustained interests.  The first few weekends were spent either working in the office or travelling to Kerala, Mumbai, etc. 

One fine Saturday, to be precise on 8th Nov, i had finished cooking my lunch(ya i cook my own lunch / dinner.....seriously) and was wondering what to do next. i look at my laptop and the laptop looks back at me with pleading eyes, suggesting, "Nahiiiiii(melodramatic), you use me for 5 days continuously without even switching me off for a complete hour and here you are again on a weekend wanting to use me. Am i at fault if you do not have nothing else worthwhile to indulge in." But what can i do, i am as helpless as ice at room temperature.

i log into Gtalk and start chatting with my cousin, Sreejith, now this guy has a blog and keeps writing on Project Management topics. I wanted him to suggest some ways to spend my weekends. He sent me the URL of one his favourite blogs and asked me to read and comment.

The manjadikkuru's in the Pandora's box inspired me to start writing my own blogs

(Sreejith@.i am explicitly mentioning this over here as you wanted it to be)

When the very first comment on your first blog is from the person who inspired you, what should i say..."i was over the moon" , would be an understatement. I was honestly(pleasantly) surprised and it took me 2 days to reply. 

As if this was not enough, the second comment is from a person whose blogs i look upto and have always enjoyed....

I could not have asked for more.

I end this post with a quote from Dale Carnegie (a few changes marked in red):

"You have it easily in your power to increase the sum total of this world's happiness now. How? By giving a few words of sincere appreciation to someone who has started blogging. Perhaps you will forget tomorrow the kind words you say today, but the recipient may cherish them over a life time."

And i am surely going to cherish both the comments for the rest of my life.

The Moment of Truth - Tue to Fri - 9 pm on Star World 

La Mort

He lay in the middle of a busy road on a Tuesday afternoon surrounded by curious onlookers, mere spectators, dumb commentators and honking vehicles. "What happened?", somebody in the crowd asked. He could not reply or did not want to reply. He could hear noises, like whispers, but could not clearly see anything. He desperately tried to get up but could not. He was struggling. He again tried with all his might but still could not get up. He requested, he pleaded, he yelled, for help......"hey please help me"..."take me to the hospital"...."inform my parents". He realised that the crowd was withdrawing(Noises faded)...Everybody wanted to help but something held them back. The concurrent whispers were like: " Don't touch, you might get involved",   " Let the police come", " We do not have time, we are getting late", "Poor thing, he is so young", "ohhhh shit", "OMG", "Move away, let him breathe". He was not sure what was happening, he again tried in vain. He at last realised that he could not move an inch. He could move his hands but the legs won't budge. The only pain he felt was in the teeth and his thoughts were..."Oh! My teeth are gone, I would look terrible without those teeth in school tomorrow..i am so young..God why did you do this to me..what would i do without my teeth". He imagined friends laughing at him. His thoughts were disturbed by somebody(a stranger) trying to support him but still he could not get up. The stranger called for an auto-rickshaw but none obliged(as it mostly happens even today). Eventually the stranger had to forcibly stop an auto and with the help of three or four people, managed to get the boy into the auto. The victim was taken to the nearest hospital(A famous private kind) but was flatly refused admission: " Sorry!!! No such cases". "Take him to the Government Hospital". 

Many memories flooded his brains instantly...Mom!, Dad!, Tuition class...sir waiting for me to come...friends!...friends waiting at adda...for what?, girls...,, tablets,,...fun...,,doctor...,, 

mid-term exams...recovery...one-day-tuition-missed, teachers..., other students...lectures-by-elders-to-drive-carefully, opportunities..., dreams...., hopes..., aspirations.....dashed???

On their way to the next hospital, the conversation was like: G - Stranger, B - Boy

G: Where is your house?

B: Address is.... 

G: Do you have a phone at your place?

B: Yes, please note.......

G: Don't worry, everything will be fine

B: Sir, One small request

G: Ya, tell me..

B: when you call home and if mom picks up the phone...please do not break the news to her... ask for my father...and tell him. My mom will not be able to handle this....please sir...

At last a doctor at a small dispensary obliged and allowed admission.

Doctor to his wife: Poor thing, he has only 5% chances of survival...let's try

Wife: How is that he is still partly conscious?

The doctor and his wife till date do not know that the boy's inquisitiveness got the better of him...and he was partly conscious only because of the fact that he wanted to know, at all times, what was happening around him(to him).

The boy had met with an accident. A truck had run over him while he was on his way for his Physics & Maths tuitions in Std XII(the most crucial year for any science student). 

A dream ended.....abruptly.

To be continued....

A Love Story...

I think the seeds of this unconditional love were sown in my school days. It is very true that the school days are the formative years of your life( but i never heeded that advise then..as usual).


I think it was not actually love at first sight, as it usually happens. It was a casual fling but seems to have grown stronger over the years.

I belong to a tribe who have been brought up in a south indian family, where the emphasis has always been on studies. Also the fact that nobody in my family had ever been involved in any love affairs- of- my-kind did not help my cause. So for a considerable period of time, almost 8 years, i kept the affair very secret.(To be honest, i myself was not aware of the love till much later someone else made me realize that)

My non-exposure to personalities indulging in these affairs also did not help my cause.

In 2001, i moved to Mumbai, made lots of friends, among them was a girl, M, who re-kindled my love. From then, and more so after i started earning, we started spending more time together. As i had found a long-lost-love, i was like infatuated, much to the amusement of my friends(boys) who did not understand. I lived days and nights like a possessed soul. Holidays were spent together, only getting irritated by the constant disturbances on the door or friends calling me for a game of cricket.

The emotions can not be expressed in words, it can only be felt( i am too lazy to think about adjectives to describe them). I realised that this love is for keeps when i started going to bed with them...oops her....oops it. I was hooked on to books for ever.

I want to thank:

• Shantha Madam (English Teacher in my 5th, 6th & 7th)


• Meenu Madam(English Teacher in my 8th)


• Pushpa Madam(English Teacher till 12th Std)


• M(Friend in Mumbai)


• Crosswords & All those second-hand book vendors


• Last but not the least, My Dad, who encouraged me to read....

My First Story Book(not in the school curriculum): Chacha Chaudhary / Tinkle

My Last Read Book: Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie