Sorry teachers

Today I had some spare time and I went through my old blog posts. Back then when I posted them, I never thought I'll be ashamed of most of them. I've used swear words without knowing the meaning of most and have insulted my college 'gurus', especially Prabha ma'am. Look how times are changing. Back then it was fun, but now they hurt me. I mean, Prabha ma'am, though we made fun of her, was liked by our class. I guess I owe an apology to her and the other teachers  had trash talked about. I'm illiterate when it comes to frilly words. 


So here's a classic simple,
"I'm sorry my dear teachers. I know I owe you a lot but not those posts. I hope you could forgive me, the worst student in the world"

Aaron, my ex fiance

Okay, don't imagine stuff. I'll first announce this. I have never met anyone named Aaron, in real life. I am unaware of any possible celebrity with that name. Possibly, the only male character's name starting with A that I remember is, Andrew Paxton, Ryan Reynold's name in The Proposal. And I remember that name because I saw it for the 4th time just yesterday. Now to Aaron.

I love that name of course, because Aaron Stewart is the name I've given one of my male leads. This post is actually about a dream I had two nights ago. It was on the night of the Malaria Day celebrations I think, that I unconsiously wrote a poem after a really long time, a prayer to the Goddess. I was really happy about that fact and hoped my writing, my only best friend in this lonely world, won't desert me until I publish this one book. In fact, the desire to publish is the only reason, I'm writing whenever I could steal some alone time. We went home, talked and slept.

In my dream, I was at my aunt's place, remembering 'good old days'. For some reason, i was in a very bad phase of my life and I suddenly remembered my engagement with this guy called Aaron (the character i had created), who happened to be my aunt's sis-in-law's son. (There's no son, only a daughter Samantha, whom I had visited just the day before) Someone says in the background that I would have been better if I had married him not forgotten him. Well, it was so real, I was regretting that I forgot my true love, until i woke up. After I did, I laughed. You may think what was funny, but I was the one who saw it all. I had heard and read about writers living with their characrters, like Sujata used to write a lot about Ganesh and Vasant conversing with him. It felt stupid and also great to experience the same thing. I sometimes think like Anjana, sometimes wonder how I was going to make her fall in love, as I had never had a first-hand experience. Hell, i never even believed in 'love' till I started writing this story. Sometimes I wonder what was going on inside Viswanathan's head, about his love-hate relationship with his daughter Anjana. How do insensitively conservative dads react when their daughters bring home an American boyfriend? So many things in my mind. But i'm enjoying writing this story that is moving as fast as the laziest turtle can. Aaron? My ex fiance? Seriously! Hahahahaha

Namesakes

I had just exited from the blog of someone named Sahithya. Actually it kind of felt weird. Her description of herself, except of being 'Friends' fan, was exactly yours truly. If this were some stupid movie, I'd've been convinced by now that I have multiple personality disorder. Her poems and most of her posts on that page were almost me. Now I'm thinking of namesakes.

Wait. I'll have to start from the beginning.

Most you who were in Ajie ma'am's first class might remember how and why my mum gave me this name. Until I came to Chennai, I had never met someone with the same name. In fact for sometime, I was the only Sahithya in that gossipy little town. So I was rather arrogant that I was different from all the others; there were many rajalakshmis, naveenas, sripriyas, gomathis but never another Sahithya. When I was in my 7th std, I was first introduced to the internet by my uncle (now my husband). When he tried to get me an email ID on reddiff, the ID I wanted was not available. That was a big shock. Mama said that there would be so many Sahithyas around the world and I can't expect to be the only Sahithya. That day, I started hating whoever had my name, right from my neighbour's niece who was named after me to all the random Sahithya's I happened to see being listed when my cousin searched for my profile in FB. I was filled so much with hatred that I wanted to find out the organisers of Miss Chennai pageant and send them hate mails, day in and day out, because that year's Miss Chennai was also a Sahithya. Am I still like that? In a way, yes. But today was the first time in my 22 years in this planet that I smiled all the time, as I read the posts of a namesake. Perhaps, its because, she's a poet too and a book lover, a travel freak, a calvin maniac and a foodie; all that I am. Wow, this feels, weird as I first said.

Thirunangaigal

முதன்முதலில் நான் திருநங்கைகள் பற்றி தெரிந்து கொண்டது, பெண்கள் போல் வேடமிட்ட வெட்கம்கெட்ட ஆண்கள் என்பது தான். ஒம்போது என்றும் அலி என்றும் என்னை விட இளையா  பிள்ளைகள் சொன்ன பொது ஏதோ புது விஷயம் என்று தான் அவ்வார்த்தைகளைக் 

கற்றுக்கொண்டேன். 

என் அம்மாவின் வளர்ப்பில் இப்படிப்பட்ட பேச்சுக்கள் கற்பது குறைவு. உலகம் தெரிய வேண்டும் என விகடனும், கல்கியும் கொடுத்து வளர்த்தாள் அம்மா.

அப்பொழுது தொடங்கி இன்று வரை போய்க் கொண்டிருக்கும் என் கற்றலில் நான் அறிந்ததை சிந்தித்து பார்த்தால், 

இந்த மனித சமுதாயமும், சமத்துவச் சிந்தனையும், ஜனநாயகமும் வெறும் பிதற்றல் என்று தோன்றுகிறது. என்னச் சிந்தனையாலோ, ஆதி ஷக்தி பிறப்பில் மூன்றாவது சாதியையும் படைத்தது. அனால், 

அதற்குள் மனித இனம் பொறுமை இன்றி செல்லத் துவங்கிவிட்டது. 

ஆயிரமாயிரம் ஆண்டுகள் கடந்து, ஒரு நாள் நின்று பார்த்தால், நம்முடன் பிறந்த 

மூன்றாவது பிறப்பு  ஒடிந்த கால்களோடும், கேட்கப்படாத சொற்களோடும் நமக்கினையாக வர துடித்துக் கொண்டிருக்கிறது. பூவினம், புழுவினம், தொடங்கி, நம் ஒன்று விட்ட பாட்டனாரான திருவாளர்  குரங்கார் வரை மூன்றாவது பாலினத்தை பிரிதுபார்க்காமல் இருக்க, உயர் சிந்தனையில் திளைக்கும் நம்மிடம் மட்டும் ஏன் இந்த பாகுபாடு? பிறப்பில் ஒரு தவறும் இல்லையெனும் போது, தம்மை சமூகம் ஏற்க வானவில் ஊர்வலம் போகவேண்டிய கட்டாயம் ஏன் அவர்கட்கு? மனித நாகரிகம் வளரத்தொடங்கி ஈராயிரம் ஆண்டானப்  பின்னும், கூவாகத்தில் மட்டு களித்திருந்து, பிச்சை எடுத்தும், பாலியல் தொழில் செய்தும் பிழைக்கும் நிலை ஏன் அவர்களுக்கு? ஒரு வேளை, தனிமைக்கு அஞ்சி சமூகம் அமைத்த மனித மனம், சற்றே தாம் அறிந்த இயல்பினின்று பிறழ்ந்த குற்றத்திற்காக, அவர்களுக்கு கொடுக்கும் வக்கர தண்டனையோ இது?

ஆயிரம் சமத்துவம் பேசியென்ன? வக்கர மனதில் உள்ள பேதங்கள் போகும் வரை, சோஷலிசமும், சமத்துவமும் வெறும் பேத்தல் தானே?

Its my life

It has been a long time since I last accessed the Net freely. Now I don't have a computer or a mobile phone. Today I'm doing some thiruttuthanam. Life was going on normally, when I suddenly stopped and thought what life really is about. My life is like everyone else's. School, College, marriage and anytime children. After that, it would parenthood, more responsibility, old age and death. But something seems missing amongst all this. I'm not able to realise what it is. I have a feeling that i have lost something that's more important than anything else. What is it? I could not discuss it to anyone, not even my family. I find myself very far away from them, though this is my only home. And prison. I feel like I'm caught in a terrible dream from which I'm afraid to wake up though I can. Of course, I envy those who have taken responsibility for their own life sooner. I guess, no matter what, trusting my family has become impossible, though I know noone other than they. Why am I typing something that should be in my journal? I don't know. Maybe, I have gone mad?

9.12.2010 O.S.Arun Kutcheri

So far, in this year’s Kunnakudi music festival we have attended only one kutcheri, so far. The festival was inaugurated on 7.12.2010 and on the 8th, Rajesh Vaidhya’s kutcheri was on prime time. But as we had to unconsciously follow the routine, we could only go on the 9th. But we got a bonus! We got to listen to O.S.Arun, the man who works magic with music!







The program was scheduled for 7.p.m. But when we reached exactly at 7 after being caught in the traffic and talking to the organizer’s daughter and wife and fumbling with the elevator, Serugudi sisters Rama and Geetha were in the end of their very brilliant performance. The thani avarthanams of the accompanists was excellent.






O.S.Arun sat finally at 7.30. (Does he have back pain? Why does he sit on that high cushion?) He was sweating profusely. He was accompanied by Madurai Balasubramanium on the violin (awesome performer), Venkatasubramanium on the mridangam and Adambakkam Shankar on ghatam. Arun had a stack of notebooks at his side apart from the folders that lay open in front of him. To be honest, I used to think that singers should be able to perform without help. But now, I do accept it’s more convenient for them to have their songs in front. They’re doing more kutcheris these days and shuttling from place to place in a very short time. Infact, Arun was in Thumkur that noon when he called up the organizers saying that he didn’t know how he was going to make it by 7.






He started the concert vibrantly with Vatapi ganapathim. Balasubramanium gave an equally vibrant performance with his violin. When Kunnakudi V.Srinivasan, the organizer mentioned his name after Rama and Geetha left the dais, there was a loud applause from a relatively small crowd. Arun showed once again he deserved that and a lot more. The evening got better with his second song, Meru samana. I was like, “wow”. He started the third one with a violin-vocal duet which was way better than anything I’ve ever heard, which was not much. It was Theruvil Varano. His expressions too were good and strangely, he reminded me of Sanjay Subramanium.






The best piece though, was Thunai purindarul which he started with an extraordinary piece of kalapanaswaram and a violin solo. Well the thani was good overall but I loved the violin and this particular piece of swaras that went ma dha, ma ni dha, sad ha ni, ni dha ni made us laugh. Get it? Madha manidha! Sadha ni nidhani. (Mad man be calm always)






Only one rasika sent a request, so Arun sang Swagatham krsna for them. I’ve heard that song by Unni Krishnan and Nithashree Mahadevan and Aruna Sairam, but Arun’s was a little different, nevertheless, good. He concluded with Beemaka maruthi. I went home in a better mood but unfortunately for me we could not attend the other kutcheris. I do hope to catch some at other sabhas this season and I might post my descriptions here.

Random thoughts triggered by leaks of govt secrets recently

Today i was simply browsing around the web for WikiLeaks sites. Well, its true its none of my business. I'm in no way connected to any of the controversies and the people around them. I'm just a stupid, jobless, half crazy, good for nothing house wife who has been addicted to the internet for a couple of years now. But I do believe in democracy and the betterment of humanity. Why else would i be bothered of what our politicians do to our government and what our governments do to us? Whatever happens to people in far off places, like Julian Assange and the RTI activists who are being murdered, that try to bring out truth might not affect me directly but they have a major influence on the way I think and try to plan for my future. I am who I am because of what I think, right?

I even wonder why they risk everything to bring out the truth when no one cares. Not even the common man they're trying to help. Look what happened to Tehelka for exposing high level corruption in the Defence ministry. No one cared. And the recent Radia Radio and cablegate issues? We're just gossiping about them, just like we gossiped about Sneha-Srikanth, Shilpa Shetty-Richard Gere, Sourav Ganguly-nagma.

From what I've seen here in the state or the nation in general, people seem to not think, not because they can't. they don't want to. The corruption of this DMK government can't be that invisible and I know we are not that blind. But how come some people still seem to believe the old man is a selfless saviour of the Tamils? How can they be so dumb to believe Karunanidhi when he speaks of his love for the Srilankan Tamils? Everyone seems to enjoy the exclusive, first on tv, breaking news culture of unethical journalism just for the sensationalist propaganda. No one's really interested in the issues. Culprits are let off the hook openly and no one asks. They - corporates, officers, politicians, even defence personnael - continue to be corrupt with the whole world watching but no one questions.

Maybe that's how human civilization has been working since the dawn of, well, civilisation. People stopped questioning and sticking to a priciple and standing by it. Had they been any different, there might not have been mass killings of free thinking women, wars and deaths in the name of religion, and so many other conflicts that were covered up which led to many myths and legends in this age.

Isn't it hypocrisy to talk of democracy and freedom of speech and human rights and other such stuff when people who claim to endorse them, fail to protect them and end up murdering the same. Especially, the West. They push their chest up every time thay say 'western civilisation' but their history has the most number of 'silencings', the latest being Julian Assange's silencing. I was always drawn to the so called conspiracy theories about the Holy Grail, UFO sightings, Atharvana veda that endorses Tantrika, Freemasonry and so much more. I thought that was because of the amount of history, conspiracy and art and philosophy these stories contain. That belief of mine was strenghtened by Dan Brown's books. Now, I think I knid of see the truth of how the human civilisation actually works. We are still animals that blindly follow the people in command. No, not blindly but brainlessly. Because that's easier to do than join the other side, where the biggest pillars of modern human civilisation, reveal themselves to be nothing more than cat poop.

I'm one of these ignorant people I hate. i can't do anything, not even to atleast satisfy my yearning to do something great even if it goes invisible. I don't have the brains or the talent. But I guess I'll be silently suffering everytime I see such ignorant idiocy and that's everyday, and do nothing to change it.

And I've got to say this too.
My dear family, its not true that ours is the best culture with the best ways to live. People of every other culture believe theirs is best too. And that doesn't mean anything, honestly. And to answer that frequent question of the one person among you, yes, sometimes I do wish I was never born, but at other times, I also believe I'm a tiny bit better than you in a few no so important things. 

My experience with the story that's writing itself

Okay so I was writing Smitten when one day the Anjana Aaron story formed completely. When i started Smitten i first discovered that a story really writes itself, like many writers have said. In this story that does not have a title yet, I see how it works and am enjoying every bit of it. Apart from the fact that my in laws have hidden my papers now, I've never stopped writing. I do not know what a writer's block is, yet. Because every time I finish a scene and wonder what happens I notice I continue writing another one without realising it. My poems might have deserted me and I'm taking it for good. Because if not, I would not have started writing stories or wanted to publish. I'm so deep into Anjana's life now, I know I'm not going to stop.

The Romantic Who Thought She Hated Romance Part II

Well, I loved Pride and Prejudice and Little Women - if they could be called romance novellas. I loved Medieval European customs and costumes and everything so I liked romances set in that period. I loved romance movies too, but I simply thought that was because of the colors, dresses and music (think Jeans). After I moved to Chennai, I kind of realised that I can't judge people by their likes and dislikes because every individual is unique in a unique way. So I accepted that romance is not a bad thing though I still could not believe in love at first sight. Life continued with me falling in love with one movie or the other, all of them invariably romances, like Jab We Met and Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na. Post marriage, my few ambitions came down to buying a full set of Harry Potter, seriously. Shakthi and her friends were deep into Forks,WA. Yeah, Twilight. I never read them so I was like, 'uh?' when they, especially Shakthi, went, 'aaaahh, Edward'.  A year after college, I happened to see Vinnaithandi Varuvaya. I was not very keen about that movie because I kind of hated Trisha and Simbu (I'm NOT calling him STR, tell him to go break his head somewhere) and Minnale was the only Gautham Menon movie I had liked. But how could I possibly miss the chance of listening to A.R.Rahman once again in all his glory? 

After watching VTV which was not your typical feel good romance with a happy ending, I totally fell in love with the movie - no pun intended - and the genre beyond hope. By luck or the lack of it, I happened to watch the television premiere of Twilight. I never found the Pattinson kid or the Stewart kid that, you know, hot like many people seem to think but that movie got me thinking whether I really hated romance. I was still postponing the confrontation with myself in that matter though, till I laid my hands on a copy of the first book in the neigbourhood library. And yeah, I fell in love with the story too, so much for rolling my eyes at Stephenie Meyer fans. I don't remember how many days I was secretly crying before I controlled myself to read the remaining three. And the I read New Moon and my envy for Bella grew more than I'd've liked. Well, I did want to hang out at the Leaky Cauldron and shop at Diagon Alley but jealousy, for a fictional character! My pretense of hatred for romance was lost within the first few chapters of Twilight and guess what genre I'm writing now? Romance! Yeah, I only wrote stories inspired by my dreams and nightmares but I was never serious about my writings. Now I'm in deep into Smitten, fighting writers' block, lazyness and lack of information. Rereading the finished parts of the story and the notes, I tell myself, 'And I thought I hated romance?' 

If ever I manage to get this five part novel published, I'm thinking of hiding in the closet on the launching till atleast a year is over. So thus ends the story of the romantic who thought she hated romance. Alright, go sleep and forget I ever wrote this.

The Romantic Who Thought She Hated Romance Part 1

Yeah, that's me all right. In the town I come from, what we call child marriage and bigotry are very common. When i say common, i mean that they are part of life that no one thinks of them as wrong or illegal. More often than not, the girl's consent or opinion is never asked. The parents decide and she marries. Thirteen year old mothers, Twelve year old marrying a fifty year old man, widower remarrying a girl who is two-three years older/younger to his oldest grandchild are very common. Well, things are changing for good now, though people say that the girls have gone mad. Why am I giving this intro? Oh yeah.

Now to the story. So in that town like in any other place in this world girls dream of marrying and having children. I have no idea what influenced me, but i was dead against marriages. Those days i was one of the brilliant students in class (mother promise), so the girls who failed would tell me that i was lucky to be a genius (not true, i never mugged, i learnt what i understood and my english was exceptionally good, compared to them) and i haughtily would tell my friends that devouting some time to studying instead of dreaming of marrying rich men would be good for them. After puberty, people invariably asked when i was getting married. My mind was fully in poetry, music, drawing, flying.... you know the kind of things we can only dream about. And when my classmates discussed about their dreams of most fashionable weddings i would bore them by narrating my dream of living in a beautiful island away from civilisation. Slowly i decided that i hated romance and no such thing as love at first sight and soul mate ever existed in real life. Yes, i enjoyed that kind of stuff in books but waiting for my prince charming was insane i thought. I was so sure that i was a non romantic. Boy, did i think wrong!

Hero Worship

Posted on: Aug 16, '07

[ EDIT ] [ X ]

Hero Worship!

I was one of the cricket freaks who worshipped Tendulkar and Zaheer.I was one of those who cried their lives out when Kalpana Chawla died.I was one of those who screamed with joy when Sunita Williams went to space. Then I sobered up last week and thought 'OMYGOSH! What's the matter with me?' And after observing people for a week now I think 'OMYGOSH! What's the matter with the nation?' Because I found a billion people hero worship almost everybody in random.Excusing our cricketers (coz that can't be helped) lets move on to the other two people I've mentioned above(just like examples and illustrations in our text books?Sorry can't help it).

Well, Kalpana Chawla-Harrison was an American citizen who worked in 'her' country's most important institution.I wonder what that has to do with India's pride.I don't find the fact that she was Indian-born amazing. Of course, the loss of seven unsuspecting lives is pathetic but it is equally disgusting to find people, even the government, making one of them a hero because they died the way they did.

As for Sunita's case I felt more irritated.Atleast Kalpana was born and brought-up in India. But Sunita is completely American.Ethnicaly she is part Slovenian.She was not too desi.Her mother says that RAM was the only hindi word Sunita could ever write. Sunita was a patriotic American child. She worked in the Defense as she had dreamed. She married a patriotic collegue.What among these made India proud? Nothing, right? So what is the point of "Hail-all-sunita-the-pride-of-india"-ing?

Er...I'm exhausted and forgot all my points so this is it.An incomplete blog.

This also is from fropper

Examz

Posted on: Aug 01, '07

[ EDIT ] [ X ]

Examz

It is drizzling here in Chennai and its a really cool climate, except the fact that internal exams are starting tomorrow. I can't understand how things change so drastically. We had just celebrated the Ethnic Day of our college - and had a lot of fun (obviously) - and now when we had just settled down to concentrate on the 'stuff' our lecturers had taught - which we didn't care to concetrate on, (again obviously) - we were told that our internals are on August 2. My God! How can such things happen? Though I'm a second year, I feel like an innocent fresher who finds out that fun is not the only thing in college when she is shocked with the announcement of internal exams. I wonder, when we have only'' three years to enjoy the status of a grown-up adult,why are exams there? They spoil the fun!

This post is from my blog in fropper

My Cricket Connection

DISCLAIMER
ALL THE CHARACTERS AND INCIDENTS IN THIS POST ARE EITHER TRUE OR BASED ON TRUTH. ANY RESEMBLENCE TO PERSONS LIVING OR DEAD IS PURELY INTENTIONAL

I was thinking about this today march 30, 2009 after a brief brush with Jeseena at the NCC grounds. So I decided to post my rather vague thoughts here.

Okay first I’ll be honest with this. I’m a normal Indian, so I’m crazy about this stupid sport, though, half the time I don’t understand how it works (silly point, mid point blah, blah, blah…and what is Power play by the way? They play powerfully only during the power play is it?) And I like Sachin Tendulkar, the great cricketing genius apart from all the others, even though I don’t know half their names. People may talk about Sir Donald Bradman, Sir Vivian Richards and others with or without a ‘Sir’ prefixing their names and even the master blaster is Bradman’s fan it seems. Whatever! But for me, cricket is my religion and Sachin the God. Yes, I love Dhoni too and all the others, right from Javagal Sreenath to the nobody who joined the team a week or so ago. I just can’t hate any cricketer but I’ve had these silly quarrels and frustrations regarding them.

I’ll write about the four cricketers who kept my teenage…well, lively.

The thing is, I guess, I –the silent, innocent, calm, goody-goody girl, am provoked by some stupid fans or a\c’s. It’s one thing liking Chow Chow Ganguly, but how can they say that, that rasagulla gulping stupid prince of Kolkatta is a better cricketer than Sachin? The ‘war’ between us the die hard Sachin Tendulkar fans and Sourav Ganguly’s fans was at its peak during my 10th standard.

I still remember those days. I had just started talking that my classmates said that they had finally got to hear my voice and, believe it or not, I was still sincere in learning – I mean, I actually loved learning. Students appearing for board exams are allowed to sit anywhere around the classroom and learn. So I always chose the pillar outside the classroom because that particular spot is visible from three of the five staff rooms which would be a strong factor against my urge to watch the volleyball and throw ball practices. (Heart attacks anyone?) And always that’s where this bully gang of Ganguly fans comes to confront me. They’d say that Sachin lives in past glory, Sachin is stuck to hospitals, Sachin is not handsome, and Sachin is not consistent. And… Ganguly is handsome (excuse me?!!?!!), Ganguly is the captain; Ganguly is healthy and so on. And I’d be thinking, ‘Captain? My foot! He scored less than the 12th man of the team did okay?’
If India went to the 2003 WC finals it’s because of enga thalaivar’s explosive centuries okay? And anyone who’s sitting idle won’t be hurt enough to go to a doctor. Duh! Of course his wife Dona is chaaaaaaaaaaaarming and his daughter Sana is cuuuuute and his house is biiiiiiiiig but that doesn’t mean you can say that Rasagulla Gulper is greater than the Master Blaster.

Forget cold wars. Do you know which is more exasperating than that? Listening to the love lorn fans’ gibberish. Jam Dabba Dravid is a superb player, The Wall, plays for the team than himself, very sincere – yeah, whatever, and yes I’m happy that he’s ethnically Tamilian. But his fans! Gosh! They are just impossible! He was already 30 when obviously worried Flowery Autumn (O.K I tried to be funny. I meant Jammy’s mommy and daddy) decided to get him married to Dr. Vijeta Pandarkar. I don’t know how she looks or anything else but I, a non-Dravid fan, love her. (C’mon yaar! She’s a cricketer’s wife! How can I not like her?) So when he gets married you’re happy for him, congratulate him through a fan club or something but do you curse him, especially if you had been his hard core fan? Sneha did. You should’ve seen her crying and tearing his blow ups and the album full of ‘Dravid’ian stuff she’s been collecting. Guess what she said? “I was in love with him, I prayed he should play well, I bunked school to watch him play and he marries a stupid doctor from Nagpur?” I was like ,” what?! Hello, he won’t even be aware that you exist!”

This started in my 9th std actually. Look, I love milk okay? I dunno why but I just love milk, curd, lassi, butter I mean I love everything milk. But almost the whole of my class hates milk. Every lunch hour thay come to me and say, ‘you realy like milk? YUCK!” Bust it! I mean, you hate milk? Fine, but I looove milk okay? I almost forgot the incident when three of my friends came to my pillar in 10th std. We were talking about filmi gossip and cricket *surprise*surprise* when suddenly Shammu said, ‘I want to drink milk now’. I was like ‘what?you?milk?’ and Suppu and R said, ‘Me toooooo’
I was sure I had gone mad. I mean these three liking milk? And suddenly Shammu blurts out, ‘No wonder Viru(excuse me?) is soooo handsome (coff, coff) Then they started talking about ‘Viru’ the great. Sehwag should thank his lucky stars that he was not near me then. God, I hate ‘em.

Everything was over when I came to college. Atlest that’s what I thought.

I have no idea how or when Zoo-Abscond-Singh Dhoni came into the picture. I was not much impressed by his 183 and was busy with +2 andcollege admission. Also I had tpld myself that I’m a grown up and should act like one. And my cousin Sudev and Jeseena started ooooDhooooni oooo – ing. And my headache started. Again.

I just have one thing to say, ‘LEAVE ME ALONE, DUDE’

Why I hate IPL

Basically I love sports, even though I don’t understand any of them – including cricket. But I can jump up and down happily if I read about some team or the other (especially Indian) doing well in a tournament. And like all cricket fans – I mean crazily-in-love-with-cricket fans – I too wanted to be the captain of the MEN’S team and “lead them to greater heights”. Ahem. Well, I had so many crazy dreams when I was in school.

My favorite football team used to be Real Madrid. So having read about those highly exciting football matches in Europe and about the County cricket mela in Britain, I thought I’ll up soon (*cough#cough#cough*) and start a big “Bharatiya Sports Mela” (BSM) which will be a perennial tourney with all zonal sports teams competing for the most coveted titles in their respective sport.

I had even decided the names for the zonal teams; Nico Ninjas from Andaman and Nicobar, D(w)eep Sea Devils from Lakshadweep, Saffron Soldiers from Kashmir, The Rajputs from Rajasthan, The Laughing Sardars from Punjab (they’ll have the last laugh it seems aarrghhh), The Assamese Ulfas (rumba overla?) and the Naga Cobras for the whole of North East. I actually have no idea how I came up with these names. I also had named the BSM trophies you know, most of them after my favorite sportspersons. The BSM Sachin Tendulkar Cup for men’s cricket, The BSM Mithali Raj Cup for women’s cricket, The BSM Dhyan Chand Cup for hockey, The BSM Bhaichang Bhutia Cup for football, The BSM K.T.DharmaRaja (my chittappa) Cup for basketball, The BSM Vishwanathan Anand Title for chess, The BSM Leander Paes Cup for tennis, The BSM Jhansi Ki Rani Trophy for women’s fencing, The BSM Prithviraj Chauhan Trophy for men’s fencing, The Raja Raja Chola Cup for water sports and…okay enough. I myself feel like saying, “onakku rumba than di”.

I had such big dreams even before I could finish my 10th std. A couple of years later suddenly some old men came up with this ICL thingy with teams throughout the subcontinent, from Chennai Superstars to Lahore Lions. I was like, “Hello?” The format was my idea okay and these old men simply copy it. Well, yeah, I copied it from the Europeans, but that’s not the problem now. KAPIL DEV STOLE MY IDEA. But then, ICL being a cricket tourney (the sport I love the most) a rebel one at that (I hate the BCCI) I started following it as much as I can (newspapers didn’t give much importance to it) even before the matches started. By the time they did, BCCI endorsed IPL was ready to go. I was like, “What the hell?” I create the BSM in my mind, Kapil Dev comes up with ICL and I accept it because its cricket then immediately this Lalit Modi guy brings in IPL? Hello? But then again IPL being cricket I started singing, “S-U-P-E-R-K-I-N-G-S Idhu Chennai Chennai Super Kings, Namma yellow jersey end rum wins” (Should add more salt in my food)

Actually I loooooooooooooooove the CSK (count the o’s) but I hate IPL. The first edition last year got over with Rajasthan Royals winning and me fuming (Chennai? Runner? Dude, are you kidding me?) This year I’ve decided I’ll hate UPL all my life. We have general elections this summer which is more important than cricket even for me. These BCCI b*****ds take IPL out of the nation because they won’t get the amount of security they want. I’m sure this sent out a very clear message to the world, “India can’t afford a high level security to ‘anyone’. Mumbai incident is because of India’s poor defense mechanism. South Africa had their elections too. In three phases and all of them started after the IPL inaugural. Forget the ‘democracy’ there. Whatever is the case they would’ve provided more security to voting booths than hotels and stadiums. Adha BCCI pothindu ethukkuma? Jharkand took the elections in two phases both of which began after IPL did. So did MSDhoni, the superhero of the nation’s youth vote? Did the others vote? Will they? What about the iconic Dravid and Kumble? Karnataka elections got over when they were in SA.

They chose to ignore their fundamental democratic right. Will they do the same with their other rights? NO! They’ll scream, “As I am a citizen of India…” I know you feel like saying shut up Sahithya, but I have one final thing to say. I HATE IPL.

I ask for a bill

On 26 March 2009 i.e. a day before Ugadi, I went to the shop to buy things that are needed to make Ugadi special dishes. As I was walking, I decided that I should demand a bill, refuse to accept the product if I’m given the ‘chaani paper’ and not cry when I’m talking (Harry Potter? Who? Me? You got to be joking. I can’t even be a Neville Longbottom!)
Now this store is not the usual one where we get to pick our own stuff. I had to stand outside and ‘request’ the shopkeeper for half a kilogram of Maida. I hated it! Besides, he sort of looked like Dhoni. (Maybe it was just his cropped hair and arrogant eyes) So obviously I hated him the moment I saw him. (I know it is too much. But I just can’t help it. I love hating Dhoni)
He brought the packet and I asked him to show me the other brands. He wore this irritated expression that again reminded me of this extremely talented cricketer I loved to hate so much. After getting what I needed, asked for “the” bill. As I had guessed he scribbled with his motta pencil on the chaani paper and gave it to me.
I asked, “Ethan bill-a? Bill book illiya?
“Bill book-a?” he said with another Dhoni expression. (I hate him!)
He went to his computer, typed something and gave me a printed bill (in Tamil! Now I was like Dhoni in the Tiger biscuit ad. C’mon yaar I’ve never seen a computerized bill in Tamil before).
It’s not a big deal, I know but I felt like I had climbed the Everest. Later, when I was narrating this to my online friend she said that very few people insist a bill at the stores. And the shopkeepers are not very fond of such customers. Sometimes they tend to treat them very badly. Because, giving the customer a bill => paying tax to the government. The customers don’t demand a bill for two reasons. One, waiting for a bill is waste of time. Two, billing for some products mean paying extra in the form of taxes. So they don’t encourage billing.
Before, I thought that demanding a bill is a small gesture to help my country. But it’s not only about seeing that your money reaches the government. If you have the bill, you can demand compensation or exchange your purchase for another one in case it is damaged. Imagine this scenario. You buy a milk mix in a carton and when you open it at home you realise that even though the expiry date is not due, the food product is damaged. Now if you have the bill, you can hold the seller and the manufacturer by their collars or even approach a consumers’ forum. But then if you don’t have any bill you might get this reply, “adhukku onnum panna mudiyadhunga ma!” some times added with an “edatha gaali pannunga”.
I have another tip. Do you know you can actually bargain on M.R.P? Of course you can and even I got the Maida for Rs.15/- though the printed M.R.P was Rs. 18/- .
So be alert, do your duty to exercise your right.

Who's fault?

Yay! We live in a safe, secular and free India!! Gimme a break!

This happened in the wake of the Mangalore Pub attack incident resulting in the death of a 16-year-old girl and arrest of an innocent boy who was alleged to have raped her.
The “saviours” of “Indian culture’’ (whatever it really is), a certain Hindutva fringe in Mangalore, Dakshin Karnataka, possibly belonging to the Sri Ram (or rather Ravan) Sene that indulges in beating up and molesting women in public are reported to be behind the incident.
Reports say that the 16-year-old and her female friend-one of them had a friend named Salim- were on their way home from a bus stop when a group of young men clad in saffron outfits stopped them and beat them up for being friends with a Muslim boy. Then they pulled out another person, Rafiq, from the bus and brutally beat him up. Rafiq, now in hiding for the fear of his life from the fanatics and the police, who act like their henchmen, says that the mob took away his purse, watch and a mobile phone. He says that the police forced him to leave the hospital where he went to dress his wounds.
At the police station, the four youngsters and their families were called for an “enquiry” (they couldn’t find the rogues it seems. Yeah, and I’m a troll if I believed that). Salim, Rafiq and their families were harassed at the police station. Rafiq, who placed a complaint on the rogues, says that at first the cops refused to take his complaint and later told the media that they didn’t get any whatsoever. (Another perfect example for ‘coexistence’ in India. These cops have the same job in the same country as Kiran Bedi, Hemant Karkare, Pon.Manickavel and C.Sailendra Babu)
Next day, the girl committed suicide at her home and later the same day; her father lodged a complaint with the police against Salim accusing him of raping his daughter. Salim was arrested by the police in record time (less than 2 hours it seems) and Rafiq immediately went into hiding.

I was quaking with anger when I read this news piece and was fuming all day. Whose fault was that? Who do I blame for spoiling my already unpleasant day? Gandhi, Netaji and their horde of freedom fighters? Those ‘Hindus’ and ‘Muslims’ who fell for the British divide and rule policy and split India into India, Pakistan and Bangladesh? The constitution that allows freaks like Narendra Modi hold top positions in the government? The people who are fanatical enough to choose leaders who vow to humiliate other religions thereby mocking our “secular state” campaign? The people who – either out of fear or out of sheer ignorance and irresponsibility- refuse to raise voices? The police for…you know what? The fourth estate that’s looking for, making up and using stories for financial and personal purposes rather than being an important, citizen friendly democratic tool? Those two girls for being…well, ‘girls’? Salim for being their friend? Salim and Rafiq for being Muslims? The father of the girl who accused an innocent boy (though we’re not sure) either because he was weak enough to do so or because he was fanatical enough to use his daughter’s death to frame an innocent boy? All of us, for wanting the country to be a ‘Paradise on earth’ but doing nothing about it except aping the West? Or is it just me for worrying over it so much instead of simply ignoring it?

GC notes

Biosphere made by man Food for all animals interdependent on species form food chain Nature will have a recycle different varieties of communities Animal eating plant sticky material on leaves A process in which food chain is formed Energy from biosphere by biomass fuel Organic substances wind energy solar energy water resources energy Timber wood and other constructions fern is useful for surrounding the compound Two properties of adaptations structural adaptation is body structure functional adaptation is functional organism earth or universe is same people from north want chappathi they need hotels we go to north we search of curd rice this is adaptability go to Coimbatore we get asthma they are good in cotton production the cotton will flow so we have asthma go near our cement factory dalmia cement if people exist they shabba…ippove kanna kattudhe podhum ma’am podhum go to cold north India we have inching in our skins continent to continent adaptability changes to travel from place to place some like bus some like to walk come Ashwatha come here yesterday itself you are doing some other people what is her name some other your friend today you have another listener the same thing we repeat how skin spoil two lines are there we have to modify two lines some will have enthusiasm some moody why IT people have recreations in Saturday and Sunday farmer go earlier they can’t work after 6 after 6 they get bored they get tired we find some of the teachers a teacher means she will have specs she will have a stick to have that is to have to show that she’s tough kana kanum kalam chemistry teacher some concept is not good we have good relationship with physical education in some school physical education teacher and Maths teacher stand in same way my 1st standard maths teacher is a terror I have teacher from 6th to 9th we laugh we can’t laugh get punishment by scaling or some other we have fear this is the characteristics of the maths teacher she can’t understand nowadays people are changing according to mood of students this is the biosphere all four spheres have link when we get the evaporation by it evaporate after condensation making the moisture that is in lithosphere all living things that exists in any world using the adaptation
At this point ma’am noticed that I’m writing something and guessed that it is about her…ahem…”lecture”. So I had to adakki vasichufy.
Renewable energy and non renewable energy renewable days we spend in childhood is non renewable arrears in semester is renewable arrear illadhavan arai manidhan karka kasadara kalkandu kumudham katrapin virka nalla vilaikku karka kasadara karpavai katrapin katruk koduthavarai kallal adikka any ecosystem will act as a resource process what is main reqirement in renewable and non renewable energy is solar energy solar energy is going to be the main driving force providing energy to the forest may be in land in forest in aquatic region forest is going to be main source of energy wither away branches turning away material bark withers useful for recycle karayan molachiruchu microbes are helpful for nutrition of soil grassland also recycles faster than forest by throwing grasses leaves one after another rain will break once in a year rain after rain season withering of pollen grains from insects all aquatic species also depend upon solar energy they need also solar energy the aquatic is in very inner portion on ocean they come up to prepare their own food some people used star fish as food sea weeds emu get more aquatic food it catches sea weed aquatic fishes el(e)k will have shell like thing dab is also sea creature these are all extra living creatures whelk…dab is one of fish it is sticky one used in English usage of animals how aquatic animals are helpful we get food both from nature and agriculture India china depend on nature and agriculture product in old day people wait for rain extract themselves electricity from ocean fresh water though we don’t get solar energy due to extra efforts extra manure extra pesticide but product spoils our body we are eating artificial type of food natural things are more absorbed by humans and use pesticide memory plus brain plus memory cannot be plused anywhere my grandma grandma grandma when we fall down injuries slap us psychological effort

The next day i.e. 6122008 I didn’t write down much but these are the things I remember from the funny session
The tongue cannot be bent. That is a problem in my speech. It is a natural problem.
Forests are helpful for global warming.

Assignment 1 GC commentary

The following are the 'questions' Prabha ma'am wanted us to 'answer' as part of the assignment. The green ones are her 'questions' and the red ones are the actual 'answers' that came to my mind though I've written something else in my notebook.

How to reduce the usage of plastic by stop using it
Where does this plastic come from a factory, dammit!
Process is ecofriendly of course not,***
What happens when you throw plastic it falls
where does it go nowhere.it has no legs,for heaven's sake!
how to use fossil fuel,petrol,diesel etc natural gas as usual
how to reduce water consumption what! reduce and die?
what are the sources of water you don't know even that and you're a teacher?
where the water is wasted everywhere! ennala mudiyala
can we change the usage of water so that it is more sustainable excuse me?!

Creamy Pigs

This is an update on GC. I went to class late at 8.15am. Ma'am commented about my regular irregularity.(as if I care) I didn't listen to most of the gibberish she was talking. She said she'll give us her daughter's project(she thought we're all dumb ducks?). Then she said she'll give us her CD after checking for viruses. A CD on vermiculture(she's so obsessed with it!). But what caught my attention is this. She asked whether we knew what the 'oil in the pig's body no' is used for. Teena said that it is used in Bubble gums. Prabha ma'am said that they were also used in chocolates. 'The pigeons are used for transportation. The feather from here (she pointed her waist!) is taken and made creamy and put in creamy chocolates'. I was like 'yuck... this woman wants to make all hate chocolates. Shakthi felt the same it seems(the darling did an amazing job of imitating her when we bunked the last hour today)

We were talking about sexual abuse against children and slowly drifted towards Rafa, Rafael Nadal of course. Again, she imitated him and his spanish accent (you have lot of sponsors ae?, seriously) This Rivka...oh my god, where are we? Alright back to Prabha ma'am and the creamy pigs(there's an AND in between okay?). Last class she was talking about worms as if they are tasty spaghetti and yesterday she was savourig the thought of creamy blah,blah in creamy chocolates (Deeeeep inside my mind she was saying"creamy pigs yumm yumm") She has a sadistical pleasure in such stuff. Did we ask her whether the chocolates and pigs are creamy. We don't care, atleast I don't as longas I get chocolates to eat. I wonder what we'll have to undergo in her classes this entire semester. Ennak koduma Saravanan!

Environment, Al Gore and my GC course

This is the result of today's Environmental Studies class with Prabha ma'am. I was actually looking forward to this hour which turned out to be a pain the *** for, the four of us who were sitting in the first row. Mathu had tears in her eyes trying not to laugh. The bench was practically shaking with her and Shakthi laughing their heads off. I felt like banging my head on the wall. Mira, the solemn, ever so sincere Mira wore a Dhoni-ish expression on her face while scratching me. What can I do!

It was a horrile hour, seriously. And we have four hours a week, back to back. God save us. To be honest, I had been having that my knowledge about this particular issue was, well, something near excellence. But after today's class I found myself to have a negligible information on it. I never knew Vermiculture being a money mine, Prabha ma'am's 40 or so cousins, the 'issue' of the after college hour, all constitute environmental concern. I'm not joking, period, this is what I was able to grasp from Prabha ma'am's lecture(or was it?)

Then I had a question that I asked Shakthi(can't ask the lec, of course). All these Al Gore types are so keen to drive home the point of saving the planet. They're drilling the same points over and over again into our pea nut sized brains, or that's what they presume. But these ours-was-a-wonderful-generation people were the reason that we have got such a dirty and strife filled world. We never asked for the World Wars or the ethnic wars. Not the hunger deaths, nor the so called Global Warming. Now they want us to think about our future gens, telling us to be responsible and make sure the people to come inherit a safer and cleaner world. But we inherited an Earth that was nothing but an enormous ball of garbage and corpses. no one seems to think about that. I'm not saying we won't help clean the world, but just thought about the unfair treatment we people are suffering. Giving Nobel prizes to people who made sure we inherited a garbage ball and telling us to clean the shit. Why don't we start another organisation, like so many they're having, to tell the old boys to shut up and go sleep in their graves?