Escape to Nagala!!!

Escape to Nagala is about an official Team outing which occurred before few months.. I wrote this for my office Newsletter...! ;-)


On 7th Aug Offshore testing team, started off for a slightly different team outing to Nagala… located in the outskirts of Tamilnadu and touching the Andhra border..Nagala to be precise is a wonder that nature had kept away from the busy city dwellers… we felt that we could explore it a bit more so we set out as a team of 20 on the clear Saturday morning.. We reached Nagala by around 9 in the morning; the representatives from Ecologin, (the concern which organized the trip) gave us updates about the path and general instructions…


The first sight that welcomed us was that of a huge dam..With some difficulty we reached the top of the dam, just at the other side of the man made dam the nature welcomed us, with beautiful water, kind breeze and a spectacular view of trees and birds and butterflies… We started to walk amidst the small clearing which was made to be a path, in the mid of thorny bushes…

Till that day most of us knew how it would be to walk along with nature with only resonance of the gentle wind brushing the bushes, and no vroom… vroom of the vehicles, with out polluted air and with no direct attack from the sun.. it was a great experience.. But we couldn’t categorize it as soft trekking as it was challenging for all us to walk along side the deep water, slippery and pointed gravels or knee deep water(which was slippery enough that most of us, fell into the water.. Ofcourse Except ME!)

After some 2 hours long and tiresome journey, we reached our destination, of the small hill top with 2 streams and 2 huge ponds… the rest of the 2 hours were the deserved resultant for the tiresome journey through the forest.. The water replenished the lost energy in us, and drove away the tiredness.. We had lunch and some fun talks and started the down hill journey to reach the dam again by 5 or so… It wouldn’t be fair if I missed out about the 2 dogs, which guided us through out the journey to the top and back to the bus… they were so like our guides walking to and fro.. We thanked them with few chunks of food…

Dear Friend...

Yesterday one of my best friends called me... (it was not a surprise coz we both communicate once in a while) But her voice was a bit concerned and enquired about my health(Now that surprised me..! that too when I am safe and sound ;-) )... I said I was fine and asked her why she seem to be this concerned.....

"Oh nothing dear... I kept opening your blog once in a while and you seem not to have updated it for such a long time.... so i was concerned... " were her exact words...

I felt like "WOW" what a great friend I have...

So, this is for HER..


Thank you my dear FRIEND for caring this much for me.. :-)

What was that I felt?

What was that I felt.. when the truth rained on me...Was it "Eternal Bliss" though I knew the word the meaning was alien to me.. so I googled and got many explanations about Karma... Yoga and all.. But one line strikes me..


          "***Eternal Bliss would be something an enlightened person would experience***"


So what ever I felt was exactly eternal blisssss!!!!


Here is what happened, I thought a person knew me very well.. just like I knew myself.. and when I speak with this person.. I felt like I am standing in front of a mirror.. similar taste.. similar thoughts... and even similar feelings!!
What I felt because of this hypothesis was happiness, I felt cheerful in the presence of the person.. (as this person knew how to please me, make me happy and flatter me too!!) Then suddenly.. one fine sentence... a casual sentence told me.. that the person never knew me... (did not know me at all..:-)


First I felt sad and depressed.. but a few minutes of thought enlightened me.. and I am not sad any more.. :-D and that is the Eternal bliss according to me!!!!


I hope many of us have felt it this way at least once in life..? Do share it if u have....

I am wondering...

As per my knowledge in every relationship we make or get in this world, there will be a personal gain... and in most of the relations we will know what exactly we will gain out of it. In some we will get to know if we ponder over it a bit...!


Can there be a relationship where we do not know what exactly we want from the person? but still we want to maintain it with them? and if such a relation exists how are we going to handle it...??


I am wondering....!

Finally I met him..

A confession of a little girl who did not like her brother on the first sight itself!!! Then it occurred...



Finally I met Him… After growing up with him for 15 yrs… finally I knew what a brother is..


First Sight:
I was just 3 yrs when I first saw him, wrapped in a white towel in my mother’s hands, my mother was tired and in hospital, but some thing made her very happy, I sensed it was him. I looked at him he was darker than me, but when he smiled there was 2 little dimples in the cheeks which made him look angelic. Every one said that he looked exactly like my father. But I never felt it. My mother called me near her and introduced him to me, “Deepa, this is your brother Manu…”. I didn’t like him. All of a sudden he grabbed my finger, I felt like pushing him and running away. My dad smiled and said, “See Deepa, he likes you already…” and went to lift Manu in his hands. He is snatching every one and everything from me. I have lost the lime light, the popularity, the position as my parent’s only daughter and every thing... Every one coming to visit us has Ceralax and baby dress in their hands instead of the chocolates and biscuits for me. My mother sent me to sleep with my dad in another room as my brother is sleeping with her. I felt longing to be my parents beloved again… Just me!!!


As we grew:
As we grew up his pranks became out of bounds, and when ever I shout at him, my mother would come and scold me, I never share anything with him, not even a chocolate… even if I felt full, I wouldn’t give it to him… My mother scolded me for that also…I felt irritated at every one. Some times I wondered if I am their adapted daughter, and he their real child… When ever I see him near me, I start shouting and crying, so that some how my dad will scold him and that made me happy..!!!


One day it occurred… I came to know the real meaning of Love and affection of a brother… On that day… I was 18 then and he was 15yrs old. I had my evening tuition in Anna nagar.. I went there by bus.. But in the evening due to some problem… there was no bus.. I had no phone or money to call up my house… it was already 8 and I was helpless standing there in the bus stop alone.. There were few rouges nearby singing and dancing.. my heart started to beat fast, I wanted to cry.. My Dad was out of town… so, I couldn’t even hope that he would come and pick me up.. Tears came welling down my eyes.. Just them an auto came and halted in front of me, I looked inside to see my brother. I felt that God had sent him to me, I cannot even imagine what would have happened if he didn’t have turned up at that very moment.. I got into the auto, but couldn’t control my tears, he looked at me puzzled and gave me a chocolate.. I took it and gave half to him, he smiled and said I had it sissy, U eat… I smiled at him for the first time in my life .. a genuine smile of love.. I thanked God a hundred times for giving such a brother.. such a wonderful brother.. and Thus after 15 years of growing up with him, I found him and I found out what a brother really is..!!!


First Sight - His Version…
My mother always tells me that I grabbed Deepa’s fingers the moment I saw her… it was some miraculous brother hood according to my mother… So, I opened my eyes for the first time and I was introduced to my family… My mother, my father and my sister Deepa… She was a part of my family.. it got registered in my mind as soon as I was born, She was just 3 yrs older than me… and was always grumpy and angry… I sensed that she didn’t like me… But I liked her.. she was my sister.. every time we fought my mom used to scold her, but mom calls me aside and tells not to fight with her… But poor Deepa she never knew it. She thought parents favored me more than her.. but she never knew or saw how much we all loved her.. Every time she went out to tuition or friends house I used to panic if she didn’t come home with in the said time.. and when she comes back if I ask her as of why she is late.. she thinks I am bossing over her..! and shouts at me..


Then one day, she went to school and tuition, Dad was out of station and she did not return on time, mom panicked more and that was the time of no mobile phones…!! So I went in search of her.. she was standing in the bus stop as I expected and looking very tensed.. she was close to tears or was she already crying? When she saw me, I felt like he faced brightened up.. I don’t know what happened on that day.. but after that she was my beloved sister, who shares every thing she gets with me.. and she even supports me if my parents scold me… we used to discuss a lot on our ideology, thoughts, higher studies and knowledge and so on.. she even knows my gal friend now (that I am 20)… she says that she will talk to parents about it… After all What else is a sister for?? :-)

What is your conception of a Wife!!!

I have this tendency to ask questions to my friends... just like that... to make them think!!! and also I love the funny answers I get.. ;-)
So yesterday i asked some of my friends (Guys..!) What exactly is their conception of a Wife or of their future wife...!!!
The replies were great,


Friend 1 : Hey i want her to understand me and LOVE me. She can have her own opinion on every thing but on deciding a thing by the end if i am rite she should accept that happily??? (WOW that is so nice my friend..!! but finding a gal like tat would be a real tough act.. All the best for that!)


Friend 2: She should be very intelligent... should know to take care of herself and contribute herself in decision making of the house... (I can virtually see a first bencher getting married to another!! no offence to him.. he did really value the rights of a girl!!! hope he does not change in the future!!!)


Friend 3: She should do what i tell her!! shouldn't pester me...! (Oh.. tat is tough.. coz he would require a time machine to go back to the 70s or 80s to find his gal!)


Friend 4: See Kp... she should be like this..! in the morning if i stand straight then she should come and button my shirts then when I come home and sit stretching my legs she should massage my legs! when i clap my hands coffee should be ready... (I really don't know what to say about this!!!)
 
I had no strength to ask to any more people so i wound up with this!! :-) All i can saw is GUYS humph...!!!

Kadha Thudarunnu...!!

Director:       Sathyan Anthikad
Producer:     Thankachan Emmanuel under the banner of Trueline Cinema
Music:          Maestro Illayaraja
Cast:            Jayaram, Mamtha mohandas, K P A C Lalitha, Innocent,
                    Mumukkoya, Lakshmi Priya, Asif Ali, Sreejith Ravi etc
Lyrics:          Sarathchandra Verma
Camera:       Venu


I had many reasons for deciding to watch this movie, I am listing it down..(Office habit couldn’t control!!! ;-) so please don't care about the bullets)
• The 50th movie of the veteran director Sathyan Anthikad...
• The songs by Illiaraja were already chartbusters
• Jayaram and Sthyan team up has always been a hit.. remember....Bagyadevatha, Manasinakare, Yathrakarude srathaiku and so on...


That was why I was in the theatre on the day 2 of the release in Chennai...and went pretty early to the theatre so that I do not miss even a single bit... and after watching... well this is what I felt...




The plot of the story surrounds around the girl Vidhya lakshmi... who in spite her parents words get married to Shanavas a young Muslim pianist they live a happy life and have a 4 yrs daughter when Shanavas is accidentally killed by a gang of rouges who mistake him to be some one else... Now with no family and friends to support Vidhya is in street with her little daughter, and when at the verge of nothing left of to live, she meets Jayaram an auto driver who rescues her and takes her to the colony where he lives, and there she meets a bunch of people and realizes the worth of life and how money is not everything. The people in the colony help her to complete her education as a doctor and by this time Jeyaram has failed in love with her. By this time any one in the theatre would have guessed the climax and no.... that is when the twist of the movie occurs.......




If we are going to watch this movie with lots of expectation for a Sathyan anthikad movie which will always have reality blended with nature and good hearted people, then we are in for a great shock here...the movie does not satisfy an ardent Sathyan fan. By the end of the movie we wonder if a director with such a caliber can create something like this with such a loose ended plot and story line.. In the first one hour the happy life of Vidhya and Shanavas is shown. Asif Ali (of Rithu fame as Shanavas) has done his part very well as a bubbling husband... but Mamtha seem not to comprehend with it and well...!!! she looks more older than him.


The first one hour drags a lot and only thing that made me sit was an expectation for the film to go well atleast in the latter half and the beautiful song(Aaroo....)by Hariharan. When the husband dies, I and everyone in the theatre felt relieved that at least now the film will go forward but ALAS!! that did not occur....


The Heroine had to go through a great ordeal where in she has no one to go to and suffer with her child... most of the scenes of her sufferings reminds us of the "Pursuit of Happiness" but the director couldn’t evoke the sympathy in us like Pursuit.... we get to wonder how the heroine is able to dress up and do make up this nicely even at this bad condition of staying in the railway station... (even her hairstyle in intact...!!!!) As we see the introduction of Jayaram... I let out a Sigh WOW! at least now the story will gain momentum... but there again the story seem to wander like in the scene where the heroine attends interview... and the interviewer misbehaving to her and suddenly she is showed as medical final year student...(what interview did she attend in that concern then?) and some of scenes shows that she understands Jayarams love towards her but she seem to act wired, and we get wierd too... and no sympathy arises for the hero(Jeyaram) who believes in horoscopes and waits for her to come back... She may come back.. But will the audience??? ... anyway i wont! :-)

My Dream...!

I was walking and walking in a long tunnel with no light any where... I seem to have completely lost my way.. I could sense the dampness of the soil and hardness of the small gravels under my legs... But I am tired.. My legs are failing me.. A cry from my mother seem to be reverberating all over the place. I want to be with her console her not to cry.. but did not know how... A faint hope made me walk again towards the voice.

With out light I am walking and walking there seem to be many twist and turn in the path, I fell down many times, yet I am still walking. I could have stopped any time and sat there in the tunnel and let the darkness engulf me.. But the hope of light at the other end seem to draw me towards it.. Ah! there I see a light I started to run towards it.. the more it get closer the more it moved away from me.. Finally when I reached, it was just a reflection of light from some where else.. It was a false light just like a mirage in desert which forces us towards it with an anticipation for life...

I sat down and cried and longed for any body to take my hand and guide me to goodness... I wondered If God really existed...! I wished every thing would end now.. that the tunnel would collapse on my head and relieve me off the pain and suffering... But nothing happened.. A drop of my tear fell in my hand, and in the tear I saw my family.. me my mom, dad and brother smiling and laughing happily. I got up and started walking again.......

When I woke up from the dream or per say the nightmare I felt relieved.. But thinking again now.. I feel THIS IS MY LIFE!!! This is what I am doing I keep walking.. Hoping for some light in my LIFE... I keep on WALKING...........!

The Granny in the train…

I saw her today morning in the train just like yesterday.. just like the day before… She always smiles at me.. a small acknowledging smile I always loved to see that and reciprocate the same…


My grandmother passed away when I was 8 till then I was her favorite grandchild but after that there was a voidity in my life… My dad always said that his mother was a lady with so much of pride.. she always gave me Rs 50 every time I went to my native till her death and it was her money.. she never accepted the money given by my dad she had a small house in her name near by our ancestral house. She lived off the money she gets from the rent and saved it to buy toys and sweets for us…


This grandmother I see every day in the train is a replica but in a different way… she had the dignity, even in the ragged unclean dress there was a cleanliness in her, and she amused every one in the compartment.. she spoke to who ever who would turn their heads towards her about any thing in the world.. from MGR to Dhoni she knew every thing… I was a great fan of her talks and her toothless smile..
Once she told that her son had abandoned her in the central station before 10 years, and when she got no food she begged for few days but her dignity came between and she got a small job in the nearby school as a sweeper…. And lived off the money. Never have I seen her complain about her son or the daughter in law but always said that God wanted her to struggle and achieve and she does that… I wondered what had god wanted her to achieve… may be he wanted all of us to know that a person can live with humanity and dignity even at this situation… When a pregnant lady gets into the train she would be the first person to get up and give place…
Today a mother with a small child got into the train and they sat next to the old lady.. the child was non stop crying and the mother could not do any thing to stop it.. the granny pondered inside her bag for a few minutes and took out a small new keychain with bells and gave it to the child. The small piece of metal stole the child’s interest and it started playing with the key chain…
When the granny opened her bag to get the key chain, I noticed that her torn bag had some 5 to 6 key chains few mobile covers, few ear rings and so on… I wondered what she does with that…. someone else also noticed it.. and asked the grany.. “Yenna paati kasu ellanu sonna… eppo ulla evulo vachirukka? Ethellam yengerunthu??? “ (What granny u said u have no money and now there are plenty of stuffs.. from where did u get these??) there was suspicion in the voice and people started wondering if the granny stole these things from them…
The granny remained silent… Just then a small girl got into the train and she gave granny a small cheap pearl necklace and the granny gave her money… “varen paati” (bye granny) the girl said and went about with her business of selling these cheap goods… Once the girl had passed the granny said, “That is child will be of the age of my grand daughter and every day if she leaves empty handed her parents would torture her so.. I buy some thing from her even if I do not need it… Every one felt ashamed and sad… and started buying one thing or the other from the child and with in 15 minutes all the things were sold out..


But I couldn’t resist the smile curving in my lips… U would know the reason if I had I mention that this old granny lived near my locality and this was her grand child and she was living a happy life with her son and daughter in law and grand children!!! And this was the way of life for them!!!
This grand mother is definitely a replica… to every other grandmother but of cours  in a different way because she some how made money for her family… :-) is it a good way or a bad way I do not want to debate… Every one of us struggle to earn our living and this was her way of struggling....!

The News

Courtesy - Wiki

 The morning Newspaper and a cup of hot tea was always the favorite for Mr. Jeevan. Every morning started off the same way… that day was not new too.. his wife Jamuna brought him a hot cup of tea, he had a sip and started off with the news. In the third page was a small tabloid with a photo of a boy. The photo striked him. He kept looking keenly at the small passport size photo musing to himself, “Where have I seen this guy?” .


Suddenly he got it, he has seen the guy with his daughter and was told that he was her classmate. Jeevan got shocked and curious.. he went on.. the news said, that the guy was a super Romeo, who would make young girls to fall in his trap and get money from them frequently saying many reasons about his parents illness and so on. He was arrested yesterday evening after a father of a victim complained that his daughters gold chain was missing and he was suspicious about a guy whom he has seen with his daughter. Upon enquiry by the police the boy confessed and would be produced to the court on Friday


Jeevans heart raced, he called out his daughter… Vani… vani… come down… she did not respond… he raced into her room, Jamuna who was in the kitchen came running on hearing her husbands angry voice.. normally Jeevan seldom gets angry… and had never ever scolded his daughter.. She ran upstairs to her daughters room, to find a shocked Jeevan stand there and a letter in his hand… She sensed what would be in it, and went slowly near him, her throat went dry and tears came rolling down her cheeks... She looked at the letter. It said "Dad I am sorry...!"She cried out loud, he was silent, shocked and shattered.. he sat down on the bed and kept gazing at the letter. He never spoke..


Down in the hall.. the news paper lay still at the same place where it was placed and boys face in the paper shone.. But what Jeevan failed to notice was the very next report in the paper about an unidentified dead body of a girl found in the railway tracks... and police doubting it to be a suicide.....


The father would find out what happened to his daughter... but Why she did that? Was it because of remorse..... or guilt....? He would never know.....

Another train……!

This time we all had a good laugh!!!

I travel from my place to Beach station and from there need to get a train to Truvanmiyur, normally we would be needed to get the train from next platform or sometime the train in which we came will itself will go to Truvanmiyur, the announcement will reach us slower than the train, so it is always better to run and catch the next train…!

One such day the train stopped in platform 8 and we all both ladies and gents ran to platform 6 and caught the train and a big fight broke out in ladies compartment for seats for them and their friends (who may come and catch the train slowly). I sat near the window and to all our dismay the train from which we ran and got down was the first one to start!!!...... now again every one ran from this train to that and caught the train on time to reach office on time…! Though this might sound funny at first… think… of the troubles it is causing to common people without a proper and timely announcements..!

Train…. -> People people people….. they never change!!!

Yesterday I was on my way to office in train… it was very much crowded that even a drop of sand will not fall down if put from up…! (though it is wired to put sand on peoples head) me and a fellow traveler (gal of my age) were abt to get down in the next station tiruvanmiyur, when that incident occurred… It was Indranagar station and we were standing near the door(in the ladies compartment), as tr was no place to go in….. a mob of people who were seated comfortably until the train stopped came running to get down… one bully lady literally pushed this gal down (luckily she landed safe) and asked her to get back after people got down…. When every one has happily and lethargically got down she did not get a chance to get back in…. and the train started… she stood there…… What I don’t understand is this rush at the final minute and bullying people…! Why on Earth are the ladies this selfish????

Another day --> That was a very weary day after office.. that I longed for a seat in the train I was about to get it… so was every one else… and fortunately I did get a seat after a terrible elbow hitting head accident occurring to me by a fellow passenger..! I sat there rubbing my head the train crossed the next station, when a girl of age 25 or so.. got into the train with a baby of just 2 months in her one hand and a very big shopper in her other hand. She was desperately looking for a place to sit.. no one even headed her.. people couldn’t even adjust and sit and giv her a little place… I felt really bad..(not that I am an angel or so) I got up and asked her to sit.. before she could sit another women, sat in that place….! What on World is this!!!