What started as a time pass on Orange Pie, continued through orkut as well. It wasn’t until college that I started chatting. Early years of college, it was the Yahoo IM craze. The buzzes, smileys and funny environments kept the chats alive. In fact, I started to talking to a lot of my college guys  on chat first, before actually talking to them. The first casual chat actually made it easy to break the  hesitation and strengthened our bonding over the years. All those who know me and who’ve seen me work, know for a fact that I type really fast.I definitely did not start at lightning speed. In fact, during my school days, I used to type pretty slowly. I completely attribute my typing speed to the long chat conversations with my friends.The course I underwent can be called, “Free Typing Training @ Institute of Kadalai”.My chatting continued through Orange Pie, Hi-Fi,Yahoo and still continues predominantly through google, although I use a variety of open source chat clients (Pidgin,Gwibber, Empathy etc) on and off.

I guess it was during my second year college, that my dearest mate Swa told me about her very geeky friend Ragesh and I told her about my very geeky friend Bharathan. Seeing how similar both of them were, we were seriously planning to get both of them to meet. Not knowing Ragesh before, it casually started on a chat on google. As Ragesh says, “Ragesh ka dokha dena mushkil hi nahi, naamunkein hain”. It was very easy to befriend him. Until date, we chat on an everyday basis on google.  Be it Java or Jayalalitha or jewellery, our chat conversations span a minimum of 1000 lines. We are professional chatters now.And, not to forget Ragesh and Bharathan, the two geeks haven’t met yet, but we got them to talk over the phone

Chatting is not just a time pass when you are jobless but has a lot of potential benefits. Its a mutual learning process. When we talk about different things, we get to understand and appreciate each others’ opinions.We get to learn new things and expand our knowledge base.I chat to get over my irritation and frustration. It feels like am actually talking about my frustration to someone, and it really doesn’t matter if the person at the other end is paying attention to your problem.Just chatting it out helps.When you chat, you are at the listening end as well, so your listening skills improve.In the long run, your confidence and communication skills also improve.As already mentioned before, your typing speed will increase by leaps and bounds. It helps you stay in touch with long lost friends and bridges distances. And, last but not the least, chatting is fun and it  will keep you happy.

At this point, I’d like to specially thank all my chat friends (The list is too huge to mention) from the bottom of my heart and I hope our chatting continues as long as we live.

So, for all of you who don’t chat and who want to chat, its not too late. Install google talk or Pidgin (Its free ) and start chatting now. HAPPY CHATTING!

The history of this Music Season dates back to the 1920′s. It all started when Chennai, the then Madras started to emerge as the center of trade and commerce. People started migrating to Chennai from the smallest of villages for their living.The Music Academy was started in 1927 during the month of December and the first music season was held to commemorate the establishment of the Music Academy.Following the establishment of a body to propagate Carnatic Music culture in Madras, musicians started migrating to Chennai and thus Madras became the base for the  Carnatic Music fraternity.To add, the then lawyers and advocates in Chennai patronised the art and contributed generously to its growth.

The next question, Why was December chosen? December in general is the only month when the otherwise dry-sultry Chennai is slightly cool and pleasant. Also, its the holiday time, heralding the new year.Thus December became the most ideal month for the Chennai vaasi’s to travel around the city, and the NRI’s from around the world to  come down to Chennai to listen to the top notch musicians and dancers perform live. I am not kidding, a lot of them do come indeed! I still remember, one of our family get – togethers’ when my Uncle’s friend who stays in the US was talking passionately about the Music Festival and how he makes it a point to never miss the festival Live.

I generally attend concerts throughout the year, but the music season is still special. Though, I am open about music in general, I have been sticking to attending only Unnikrishnan’s concerts until this year.In addition to my all time favorite Unni, I have fallen in love with Abhishek’s bani and style of rendition. As of today, I have attended about 5 to 6 concerts of both Unnikrishnan and Abhishek Raghuram. Each concert was a treat and for a professional, each concert is a learning. I’m just a little more than a layman when it comes to Carnatic Music; but its sheer joy to keep guessing the ragas as the artist sings. In fact, its a competition between myself, my mom and sis to see who interprets the raga first.Its like using grep and egrep, each prayogam playing the role of a pattern. I quickly execute a grep on my head,with a number of prayogams and we try guessing the raga.

Each artist has their distinct style and this part of the year is like their end semester examination.Criticisms do definitely play a part in shaping the career of these artists and I strongly believe that criticism is very important to anybody if at all they are looking to improve. However, sometimes the critics become unwelcome guests and one bad review can change the climate and spoil the artist’s image for the season. Specially, criticisms these days are becoming biased, thereby making it pointless. Not all critics or review writers are prejudiced, but I did notice a lot of criticisms on the internet are indeed not just prejudiced, but disrespectful. Mockery shouldn’t feature as part of criticisms.The influence of the internet is extremely strong and laymen tend to go by what the internet says. So, here goes my kind request to those of you who review music, please put yourself in the artist’s shoes before pointing a finger at them. Lets all make this season a memorable one for all the rasikas worldwide without any bias,prejudice and malevolent elements.

The first thing that I decided to do is start reading again.I walked down, to our office’s Information Resource Center, a.k.a. library and picked Randy Pausch’s, The Last Lecture, not because it was inspirational, but it was one of the few lighter reads available.The book indeed was inspiring.As a matter of fact, the book inspired me to write this post.Randy talks about how important it is to dream as a child and bigger the dream, the better. I don’t remember if I dreamt big enough, I definitely did not dream to be doing some great virtual reality thing like Randy, but I enjoyed every moment of my childhood.I am very grateful to my granddad who really helped me through the years.When I was in class 4 or so, I remember telling him that I wanted to improve my vocab. I decided to take up the assignment of learning 5 new words a day and opened the dictionary.My granddad said that it doesn’t work that way.Merely memorizing words will definitely not help;you need to learn to use them.So, I suggested making sentences out of the words, so that I get to learn not just the word, but the usage along with it.He was strongly against the idea and wanted me to start reading books. The only way to polish your vocabulary is to read more and more.He got me the Gingerbread man and a couple of small short stories from the local library.There started my reading habit.My first big book, was Oliver Twist, when I was in class 5. Although the book was very depressing, Dickens had made a mark.I started pursuing abridged classics from then.And, not to forget, my granddad was right.My vocab improved by leaps and bounds over the years.

Months later, when I casually strolled into the library I was so familiar with, I walked across the shelves from Jeffrey Archer to the Mills & Boones & Wodehouse and picked a couple of books. I picked my childhood favorite RK Narayan’s classics.Who can forget the legendary writer and his epic town Malgudi. His tales bring in an earthly feel.Simple, crisp, yet captivating; that describes RKN’s writing. Reading his essays brought in fond memories of the Malgudi days, The Messenger’s mail and many more.

Its not just the library or reading, but there are indeed a lot of things which we enjoyed as children, which are missing in the life of today’s kids. I hardly see kids playing outdoors and I’m sure a lot of you will agree with what I say. Kids these days are hooked to the computer,tv,video games and predominantly stay indoors. When we were in school, we had our Chennai-90 gang play games ranging from Cricket and Khabadi to the silliest of games like Ghost in the GraveYard. We didn’t have computers/video games/mobiles.The occasional show on TV was the only source of indoor entertainment.Come vacations and we were permanently outdoors until our mom’s started yelling at us to get back in. I still do occasionally play a game of shuttle with my sis and it indeed brings in memories from those days.

I am still proud to say that I use a cycle, and I have been using it for the last 20 years.I fondly recall the times when we used to make timetables to spend our summer holidays. Maybe theres still a small bit of paper lying somewhere in my shelves, with that Mon-Fri, 7:00 – 9:00 AM – Cycling scribbled in tiny writing.We used to get our ladybirds and cycle around the clean, green lanes of Bessy, and make different shapes on the tennis court inside the CPWD quarters, until the watchman came down growling.Swa,Swe,Nandini and Bhargavi would recall those times.Bliss! Sometimes,when the weather is lovely and when I smell the rain in the air, I enjoy a long ride on my ladybird, cherishing every moment from the past.

In case your feeling down about something, just forget everything. Go crazy, do what you love doing, do what you wanna do.If you just wanna scream at the highest pitch possible and freak a few people out, I’m with you. 1,2,3.. GO!

“Time is a healer, as time moves on..”,  a saying so true to every letter.Its gonna be almost two years since the man I most loved, looked upon, admired and adored passed away. I never even thought that it would be possible at all to accept the fact that my grandfather is no more and I have to lead the rest of my life in his absence. (The adaptability of the human mind is sheer brilliance, which no thesis or research scholar can completely understand and decipher!).

Even before I go any further, I need to give complete credit to this great soul for he has made me what I am! Right from when I was only months old, I’ve always been his pet. I still fondly recall the days when he used to put me on his lap and  sing, “Aanai aanai azhagar aanai.. azhagarum chokkarum erum aanai..  and see me and sing kutti aanaiku kombu molachidaam”. I grew up with my grandparents and eventually spent more time with them than with my parents.He used to sing slokas (Brahma murari surarchitha lingam, ananda roope nijabhootha roope, Ganesha pancharatnam et all.) to me and within days I used to learn them by heart and  we used to recite them together ( he playing the role of the teacher and me repeating after.There was even one instance where he said “satthama paadu ma” (sing loudly) and me obediently raising my tone a little too loud. hehe… ) and he got them recorded.

He could offer a detailed opinion on any subject, be it Algebra or Allen Donald or Aristotle and it has indeed contributed to my general knowledge on a variety of subjects. We had a lot of interests in common and that indeed strengthened our bond and nurtured the great relationship we had. Magic Mama/Magic thatha as he is fondly called by a lot of near and dear ones, mesmerized three generations with his simple but effective jadoogar skills. It is unbelievable that his ring, poonal (sacred thread), hanky and shadow tricks have allured kids hailing from different generations. Right from my uncles and aunts to my nephews and nieces, there is not a person who has not been acquainted with the rat from hanky trick, the cut-thumb trick etc.

He has helped me with my essay writing contests, oratorical contests, made innumerable charts, not just for me but for my friends as well. Whatever be the time of the day, he has never hesitated to share my work load.Has helped me with the toughest of lessons and always patted my shoulder whenever I failed to do as well as I could have done. The crisp notes that he wrote on our  Social Science, physics, chemistry, maths lessons are still preserved and it has been passed on to my juniors, so that they get benefited as well.  As a matter of fact, he has sincerely polished my shoes for fourteen long years.

As a retired officer from the police department, he had a lot of tales and adventures to share. Although he shared each incident with the enthusiasm of a child and made it as humorous as possible, so that we could enjoy them completely, there was a lot of pain that he went through behind the curtains.Each incident did have another sad tale tied to it. Just like every sincere,honest government official, my grandad had to pay a huge price for being genuine and straight forward, causing a huge delay in his promotions, increments and leading to unexpected transfers.

Thanks to his efforts, the Chennai traffic is a lot more organized than any other city. He did establish a lot of signals in and around the city and succeeded in bringing down the accident count during his reign as the DSP-Traffic. He was a multi-faceted personality. He used to lead the cultural activities that were held as part of the celebrations. He was passionate about writing and he has written a few poems and skits in Tamil and English. He has written some brilliant plays which I staged in school as well.He was an ardent lover of the game of Chess and always neatly cut out the clippings of Harihara Nandanan’s Chess columns from the Hindu and pasted them in a notebook. We’ve played those great games of Paul Fischer,Kasparov,Anand etc over a cup of tea.I vividly recall the game where Fischer sacrificed his Queen and my granddad said,”Wait and watch the magic”, when I looked at him with astonishment. That was the day I realized a mere pawn can be more than enough a power to win a game, if used rightly. Although, I am no biggie in Chess, I learnt the game from him.He has taught me and my sister to corner the king with different permutations and combinations of powers.

Now that it is World cup time, I miss him. We enjoyed the game of cricket together. He taught me to interpret both cricket and tennis and appreciate the technicalities involved. Be it sports,politics,academics,art,music, he has helped me with his criticism in all walks of my life. He was the person who instilled the reading habit in me and did point out that my vocabulary had indeed improved tremendously even without my knowledge. I picked up books he suggested no matter whether I liked it or not because, I strongly believed that he recommended it for a reason.He has helped me build up my courage and to emerge as a mentally strong person. Where is my guiding light now???

He was a man who knew no inequalities. Having lost his mother when he was only 7, he has struggled all through his life. Brought up his brothers and sisters and settled all their lives. He treated his siblings’ children with even greater love than he had for his own. He knew no lust, no greed. He was such a broad minded soul who lived his life for others. All he knew was pure, unadulterated, unconditional love. We were his only solace after the many long years of struggle and suffering.

When my granddad was counting his last days in the hospital, the sweeper who sweeps my building on an everyday basis, enquired as to where he was and on hearing about his deteriorating condition, wanted to see him immediately, but my grandma said, they wouldn’t even let me see, how will they let you? He was utterly disappointed. These were the words he spoke to my grandmom, “I was his pet.Whenever, you scolded me, he used to be on my side and scold you for being rude to me. I can’t believe that he is dying”. He had won the love of the sweeper as well. Be it the sweeper, my dog, my uncle, my grandma, myself or my sister, he loved all of us equally. That was the greatness of this man.

Words cannot convey my love,gratitude and respect I have for him.He was not a materialistic man at all. All the more, he is not here physically, even if I want to gift him something (Thats something I wanted to do with my first salary! But for some reason it didn’t happen).A one page blog post cannot do enough justice to thank him for all he has done, but I’d like to use something that is readily available. If I can write decently well, it is all thanks to him and hence what more than a write up on my blog can I give him? I write this post from the bottom of heart and as I wrote it, one thing I observed was, words just flowed down from the bottom of my heart. through my fingers. There might be places with  grammatical errors, logical flaws, lack of articulation etc, but this time I am not even going to re read the draft, because it comes right from my soul and when you do something right from your heart, everything else is forgiven.

Love you loads and I wish that you lived longer! Although, you are not physically present with us, I am sure your thoughts are with us and you will continue to inspire me and support me through all my endeavors.

ஒரு தாய் தன் சேய்க்கு உணவுடன் சேர்ந்து
தன் உயிரைப் பகிர்ந்தளிப்பதை போல்,
இந்த பூமி ஜீவிக்க,உயிரூட்டும் அழகே!
நீ அவ்வப்பொழுது சீறி எழுவது ஏனோ?
உன் ஆக்ரோஷத்தை உன் சேயிடம் தான் காண்பிப்பதா?
அதை தாங்குமோ பூமி?

தன் சேயின் பிழையை மன்னித்து ஆட்கொள்வதல்லவோ
தூய்மையான தாய்மையின் சிறப்பு!
அலை கடலே! உலகின் ஜீவ நாடியே!
அறியாத சிறியோர்கள் செய்த பிழைகளை மன்னிதருள்வாய்!
உன் சேயான பூமியை ரக்ஷித்தருள்க!
மேன்மேலும் அவளை எழில் பெறச்செய்க!!

For those who cannot read tamil,

Oru thaai than seikku unavudan serndhu
than uyirai pagirndhalippadhai pol,
indha bhoomi jeevikka, uyiroottum azhage!
nee avvappozhudhu seeri ezhuvadu eno?
un aakroshatthai un seyidam thaan kaanippadha?
adhai thaangumo bhoomi?

than seyin pizhayai mannitthu aatkolvathallavo
thooimayaana thaaimayin sirappu!
alai kadale! ulagin jeeva naadiye!
ariyadha siriyorgal seidha pizhaigalai manniththarulvaai!
un seyaana bhoomiyai rakshittharulga!
menmelum avalai ezhil pera cheiga!!

I cannot call it an inspiration because the source is indeed a huge tragedy and a big hit for the world.

At this moment, I would like to put in a word of prayer for all the souls who lost their lives and belongings in this great tragedy! May your souls rest in peace! Deep condolences for all the families who lost their near and dear ones! Words are definitely not a solace! Time is definitely the greatest healer is all I can say! May the almighty give them all the courage to get over the hard times!

P.S. Helping hands are better than praying lips! There are millions of people who might need all the help. Every hand, Every penny counts! Please do volunteer to contribute for the cause whenever there is a call!

In the poem, he assumes that ten of the 63 nayanmars are imprisoned, which would leave the procession with only 53 of them . Therefore, he decides to take the next bus (Route No. 3 those days) to Mylapore to settle the chaos and reassure the people that the procession will be restored in a while. But, on reaching Mylapore, quite in contrast to the melancholy mood he expected, he found signs of festivity and joy everywhere.Maybe,the nadaswarams were still playing the happy Shankarabharanam or Kalyani in place of the Shubapantuvarali! LOL! After all, 10 of the Nayanmars have been arrested for no possible fault! Oh No! Its only fair that the people were sad and depressed about it. After expressing his contempt at the attitude of the people, he finally discovered that the headline meant that ten pickpockets were arrested and all the 63 nayanmars were safe and sound and all the 63 members were part of the procession.To put it in short, it is like asking the writer who wrote that article, “Ida thaan solla vareengala ?” (Is this what you are trying to say ?).

The explanation is for those who cannot understand the language and for the others to understand the context.I am sure the explanation rather killed the beauty of the poem, but I didn’t have a better means of explaining it. So here goes the poem, without any further boring explanation.

அருபத்து மூவரிலே பத்து பேர் கைதென்ற
திடுக்கிடும் தகவலை தெரிவித்த தினத்தாளை
ஏந்திய என் கரங்கள் என்றுமிலா நடுக்கமுற
மறுக்கணம் மூன்றிலேறி மயிலை ஓர் டிக்கெட் என்றேன்

அருபத்து மூவரிலே பத்து பேர் கைத்தென்றால்
ஐம்பத்து மூவரந்றோ வீதிவலம் வந்திடுவர்
அப்பரோ சுந்தரரோ மாணிக்கவாசகரோ
கண் ஈன்று புகழ் பெற்ற கண்ணப்பநாயனரோ
யார் கைதோ எவர் கைதோ ஏன் கைதோ
என்று எண்ணி எக்கமுற்று மயிலை வந்தடைந்தால்!

தெருவெல்லாம் தெளித்து மாக்கோலம் தீட்டி
திருநீறு நெற்றியிட பல நூறு மக்கள் அங்கே
வருத்தம் வரும் வேளையில் வைபவம் தான் ஏனோ!
நெஞ்சுக் குமுறுகயில் கோலாகலம் தான் ஏனோ!
தாபம் மீருகயில் தமாஷா தான் ஏனோ!
என்ற மனத்தினனாய் மருண்டு நிற்கயிலே

அசைந்தாடி வரும் அமரர் தேரு கண்டேன்
அதில் அருபத்து மூவரும் வீற்றிருக்க கண்டேன்
ஆடி புகழ் பாடி ஆனந்தம் கொண்டேன்
கைது ஆனோர் கைக்காரப் பிக்‌பாகெட் என்றும் கண்டேன்! தெளிந்தேன்

For the benefit of those who cannot read tamil, I will retype the poem in English letters (Unfortunately,translating it will kill the elegance and grace of the poem.)

Arubathu Moovarile Pathu Per Kaidendra
Didukkidum Thagavalai therivittha Dinathaalai
Endhiya En Karangal Endrumila nadukkamura
Marukkanam moondril eri mayilai Oru ticket Endren

Arubathu Moovarile Pathu Per Kaidendraal
Aimbathu Moovarandro Veedivalam Vandiduvar
Apparo Sundararo Maanicka Vaachakaro
Kan eendru pugazh petra KannappaNayanaro
Yaar Kaidho Evar Kaidho En Kaidho
Endru Enni Ekkam utru Mayilai vandadaindaal

Theruvellaam thelitthu maakolam theeti
Thiruneeru netri yida pala nooru makkal ange
Varutham varum velaiyil Vaibhavam daan eno ?
Nenjuk kumurugayil Kolakalam daan eno ?
Thaapam meerugayil Thamasha daan eno ?
Endra manathinanaai marundu nirkayile

Asaindaadi varum amarar theru kanden
Adil arubathu moovarum veetrirukka kanden
Aadi Pugazh paadi Anandam konden
Kaidaanor Kaikaara Pickpocket endrum kanden! Thelinden!

The main motto of this post was a tribute to my granddad. I’ve always wanted to put a couple of his great poems on my blog for quite sometime. I finally found the time and the oppurtunity! I once again thank my granddad at this juncture for being my pillar of strength, my source of inspiration,my intellectual companion, a great friend, a loving grandfather, an awesome magician and above all a great human being! Miss you man

Is there anybody who can claim that they don’t have an ounce of belief in luck ? If so, isn’t that a belief again ? Confused ? I’m sure all of us have lucky mascots in some form or the other. And not just lucky mascot, most of us do believe in superstitions. In olden days, certain superstitions were made and I’ve heard people say that there are scientific reasons to support it. For eg, they say not to give money to anybody after sunset. Well, those days, there was no electricity. So, there is a highly likely situation where you could mistakenly give away a 500 Rupee note for a 50 Rupee note.But, it doesn’t make sense any longer. The Minsaaram (Electricity) found by Edison put an end to this. Sorry Samsaarams (Wives)! When we have bulbs with wattages ranging from ’0′ and tube lights to aid this, why still bother ?

What did poor black do to people ? Its fault for being the sexiest and the most enigmatic color. Each time I choose a black apparel for somebody, I have to think twice. Is it because it is worn for mourning, that black is branded as inauspicious ? Come on people ! Each time I go to the shop, I demand for a black. Right now, as I write this post, I’m dressed in black. I had to redo a “Best Wishes” card just because I had penned my wishes in black. Oh what a thing to worry about when millions are dying at the LOC everyday!

There were some crazy beliefs that I came across on a site. Here are some of them

1. Wearing clothes inside out brings good luck – LOL! – I should probably try this once and see!
2. Garlic protects from evil spirits and vampires – Your house will stink man!
3. If you blow out all of the candles on your birthday cake with the first breath you will get whatever you wish for – Next time you cut your cake, make a wish and blow! See if something happens!
4. It is bad luck to sing at the table – My whole family does that everyday! No bad luck so far!
5. To refuse a kiss under mistletoe causes bad luck – Guys, note it down!
6. Washing a car will bring rain – Is it that simple ? Even Amruthavarshini from Kunakkudy didn’t bring rain! Plant a tree dude, plant a tree!

Try this link for more such interesting ones. If not anything else, it’ll provide a good source of entertainment atleast!

http://www.csicop.org/superstition/library/common_superstitions/

Whenever a silly superstition is stopping me from doing something, I get so irritated. I scream at my grandmom and say, “You are still in 1920″. But, thinking more calmly, I have my own set of superstitions. Why and where did they originate ? I’m a student of Science and I generally have the tendency of not accepting things without a proper logical justification.However, when something happens ( especially repetitively) your belief grows.For instance, Once my neighbour had told me that, if you keep a bowl or a vessel upside down in front of your kitchen door, somebody who has gone out of the house and is expected to arrive will arrive within minutes.Funny, isn’t it ?

Think of it from my point.For instance, I had a great love for my granddad. He used to go on his evening walk to Adyar and usually used to come back by 7:30pm.I was only in school then.Even if the clock crosses 7:35, my heart will start beating at a higher rate and I would go out and stand outside waiting for him.I’ve even mistook some X for him and waved hands ecstatically. After my neighbour told me about this belief, I tried it once.It happened.He was there the next minute.My keeping the vessel might not have had anything to do with his coming, but it gave me mental peace.So I started following it.Not my fault!.The moment I kept the vessel, whether he arrived or not, I was relieved. Thats the magic of belief! I don’t do it any longer though!

This example was just one. I do have a few other beliefs. I do not have the  concept of lucky dress, a dress that brings me good fortune during times of misfortune (exams, I mean…), but I stick to one particular earring throughout the exam period. Don’t ask me why, cos I don’t know. Its just a belief or practice I cultivated over the years.Maybe it would’ve worked once, so I would’ve  started following it. This is the only logical reason I could think of.

I am sure all of us have beliefs and a reason enough for us to believe. Sometimes, it gets frustrating to think that we need to rely or blame luck in certain situations, but on a more positive and easy side, some of these beliefs are so cute and funny.Also, zodiacs, astrology et all not just involve science, but they are great fun to explore.

Its not a sin if you have a lucky dress or if you believe that a black cat crossing the road is omen.This is the place for you to share your crazy beliefs! So guys, pen down a few interesting, crazy beliefs of yours on my blog to make it funnier

It felt like in heaven  to breathe the air of the not- so Singara Chennai after five months as I landed at Chennai Kamaraj International Airport on the 19th May 2010. The same familiar faces I met just about a few hours back at the NSBC Airport,Kolkattha,  were awaiting their baggages at the Conveyor belt at the Kamaraj Domestic Terminal. The joy of  being back home was reflecting in every pair of eyes I met. I was overwhelmed to meet my father after a really long time. How great it felt to run to him and shout,”Baggiiii!!!!!”.The usual Guindy fly over looked spectacular that day. I kept humming Raja’s famous “Sorgame Endralum Adu namma ooru pola varuma” , as the car swished and swivelled along the fly over. Within an hour, I was at HOMEEEEEEEE !! (Home Sweet Home) .

Back at home, Billy was ecstatic on seeing me. Grandmom and Mom were still wondering if they were dreaming and my sis also seemed to be happy that I was back ( Atleast she was happy that she got somebody to prank). Although it was late, I made a point to spend some quality time with Jeeves. After all, he had missed me the most . The strange thing is even curd rice tasted like one of the most exotic dishes in the world (As a matter of fact, I never liked curd and rice together until recently!) .

Change is obvious in five months. But, when I was at home Ive neither realized nor noticed any obvious change. For the next few days, the only thing my neighbors kept asking was whether I was sick and why I’d lost so much ? I was tired of giving reasons ! Phew, gimme a break people!

The next few days, we reported to the RMG at Chennai one. Although, Haldia was not anywhere close to comfort, it proved to be a great experience. I can never meet nor spend time with 600 TCSers at one go, under one roof ever again.Slowly we were allotted to some project or the other ( Some of them are still under the process of allotment ).

Now, its a month since we’ve been separated. Each one is busy with their own team and project. We seldom get to see each other. The Siruseri campus  is too huge to locate anybody that easily, and the mates at other offices are even rare to see. The bonding which existed during ILP has weakened. The faces I used to see a month before almost on an everyday basis are out of reach now .

Although, I’m back at home and  I don’t have to worry about washing clothes,when I should be going to big bazaar next etc etc. My burden has definitely halved. I have my computer, television, dogs and all that I want within reach, but right now not just me, but all of us are missing Haldia from the bottom of our hearts. Every day, when I break for lunch, we long to meet atleast one soul from our very own batch. We make an ILP Haldia corner and share the happenings in each other’s team. But, am not sure how long this will last, because it is only natural that people will get busier as the days pass by.

Each one of us are just settling into our own teams and projects and within one month our lifestyles are going to undergo a complete revolution. “Change is the only thing which is constant”, is probably the truest and most practical thought any living being in this world can relate to.On that note, it is only natural that all of us will gradually accept the change very gracefully and blossom into great team players.

But theres one thing thats not gonna change for any of us. If at all we meet some soul from our ILP Haldia,  even years later, I’m sure all of us will let out of cries of  ” DUDEEEE ,  How you doin ?? “. Thats the bond we share!

So, All the Best dudes ! Get ready to face the change!

I am sure a lot of people attending training would have posted about the nature of training, some maybe even about training especially at Haldia. The very reason I started to blog from our training premises is because I wanted to get over my frustration. So I’ll stick to the positives. Food, Learning and Entertainment is definitely not going to be a part of it. Sorry guys, the less said the better.

Being at Haldia,I’ve learnt to manage things myself,manage finances et all.But, I would have done that anywhere.Whats specially positive about Haldia ? Right,It is a village, but its not all that pollution-free or clean-green.Thanks to the industries.They spew fire 24×7 and contribute to more holes in the already hollow ozonosphere.Nothing positive yet ? Wait for it!

The people are the asset of this village (teenage guys excluded).Innocence personified.Their life is simple and they have no reason to complain.Born and brought up in a city for 22 years, our life looks so complicated when compared to theirs.

• Their only reliable source of transport is the BAN (fish-cart).  Its economical,simple,pollution-free and provides quite a work-out.To add,there are no buses beyond 8pm from the township.
• Each house has a pond in its vicinity.Imagine an environment where you can swim in the pond with ducks wading along, rear cows and goats ( the goats are so healthy and plump).
• All the ladies reciprocate a warm smile (I do not know them at all!) and strike a casual talk with us in bengali,quite unlike the Chennai City ladies (No offence,I love Chennai).Just that the people here are naive to think in a crooked manner.Despite telling them “Ami Bangla Jaani Na” (I don’t know bengali!), they still continue  their conversations with full vigor.They always wear a wide smile on their cherubic-rotund face.The big red Sindoor adds to the charm .But despite the differences between the city and this village, the moment we say,”Didi,aap bahuth sundar hai”, a shy smile crosses the face of the lady.This is universal truth I suppose.
• Despite their poor financial status, they lead a decent,happy & simple life.I haven’t seen a single beggar since the day I came here.They have a potti kadai ( a small shop) with biscuits,sweets,cigarettes,paan (usual stuff) and manage to make a living.

I haven’t seen any teenage girls on the road especially in the evenings.Probably they are not allowed to go outside.Put me in a situation like this,I’ll probably become a terrorist or come down with a heavy nervous breakdown.We city people, have so many expectations.Despite being given everything,having access to anything within minutes, we still complain and grumble about petty things.There is so much to learn from the people here.I still look at my short stint in Haldia as a village exposure trip and not as “training in TCS”.

I am sure all of you are wondering why I call it “Hell-Dia”.Frankly, I have nothing against the place. On the contrary,I quite like this quiet  place.Its not bad at all.But, when the basic amenities are a problem, you fail to see things with rose-tinted glasses.After all, come on,  I’m human.We have adjusted ourselves to this environment and graciously accepted this mundane lifestyle (**sob**) and the pathetic food.Its not fair enough to blame the place but it would be unfair if I don’t blame TCS,UFS(United Facility Solutions – The group TCS contracted for providing our services including food,transport etc) ,HIT(Haldia Institue of Technology, the place where our training was held) and the other umpteen people trying to provide services to us and making money in the process.TCS and HIT have struck a high-profit business deal at our cost.It is this fact I’m unable to digest.The fact that TCS is showing step-motherly treatment to the 600 of us at Haldia for no fault of ours is something I can’t swallow.

We were told that our training is a 35 working-day period, but all of a sudden they say, we’ll have to do our stream training here, which means we are stuck here until May.No confirmed news yet.All credit to TCS for their effective and efficient management practices ( I wonder how people give them awards for good management etc.. bang forehead!).Adjustments work only for a short period.The more they prolong, the more we are gonna suffer, the poorer will be our performance. Get it straight TCS!

The only certain thing about TCS is uncertainity.I suggest they change their tagline to “Experience Uncertainty”.It is high time TCS realises and learns good management principles.If not, please tone down your recruitment trends.You are incapable of managing such a huge crowd.

We are just hoping some miracle happens and our release date gets preponed.Meanwhile,we have decided to enjoy the stay at Haldia and try putting up with the conditions here.After all,the Corporate world demands us to be flexible and adaptable.So now its not “Hell-Dia” any longer.Its “HAIL-DIA”, rather “HALE-DIA”!!

Lets think about the Chinna Chinna Aasaigal featured in the song.”Megangalai ellaam thottuvida Aasai.. Sogangalayellaam vittu vida aasai”, definitely worth it.I’d like to touch the sky too.At this point, I’d like to share my ever-growing list of chinna chinna Aasaigal.It ranges from making a new invention to eating a lolly pop! A game of Chess with Vishy Anand, perform a solo kacheri, have a huge garden with tulips of all colours, pet rabbits,take a photograph as the lightning strikes,play badminton,cycle along the beach from Besant Nagar to Pondicherry.. the list goes on.

Jaya Tv hosts margazhi maha utsavam every year.This year’s margazhi maha utsavam concerts will be telecasted on TV shortly.Meanwhile, I was recalling last year’s concert series.Thanks to ‘you tube’.The anchor of this show, Subhashree Thanikachalam makes this series very interesting with question & answer sessions,thereby involving the audience and inducing an intimacy between the artist and the spell-bound audience.Besides these interactive sessions, all the artists are interviewed with a common questionaire after the concert is over.This piece is a suspense and is revealed to the audience only when the programme is aired on tv.

Last year, all the artists were questioned about their chinna chinna aasaigal.Hmmm Interesting right ? Most of them gave out really interesting answers which I thought I should share will all of you to read,enjoy,laugh and ponder..Let me start with my favourite artist

• Unnikrishnan – He would join any group of guys playing cricket on the road.Not surprising,considering the fact that he is a cricket enthusiast.Yet another of his cute wishes was that he loves toys.It seems he used to hide his favourite toys under his pillow and surprisingly his son is doing the same thing. Its really fascinating to see the way genes work.We derive our looks from our parents.Reasonable enough! Maybe even the mannerisms! But how did Unni’s son know that his father used to hide toys under the pillow when he was a kid ? My cousin Suresh used to play with colourful dabbas when he was a kid it seems.His son Advait is now fond of playing with these colourful dabbas.How again?     Once a person becomes a celebrity, he loses his privacy despite the status he gets.They have made enough sacrifices in life to come up to this position.This was evident when Unni said that he misses the thrill of travelling in PTC buses.
• T.M.Krishna missed playing cricket.Yet another curious desire of his was to drive down to bombay for a concert,finish his concert and drive back to Chennai.Crazy ain’t he ?
• O.S.Arun misses playing 7 stones ( a game where you hit seven stones piled on top of each other with a ball.. I forgot the rest!).He misses Golguppa chaat and the no-sense chat with his friends.Missing chat and chaat,typical Dilli waala!
• Neyveli Santhanagopalan, a very interesting character in the Carnatic fraternity.Dour faced, Gopi Chandanam smeared on forehead,dhoti clad typical Bhagawatharvaal misses climbing trees and eating guavas from the trees.Can you imagine,Santhanagopalan on the tree! I can’t!
• Sanjay Subramanian, a cool guy who blogs and has an account on facebook as well.He misses flying kaathadi’s and is not worried about thodi’s and bhairavi’s but about kamarkats not being sold in shops!Good luck on finding your kamarkat Sir!

Oh come on! How can I miss the female artists! So here goes their list -

• Sudha Raghunathan,Aruna Sairam and a bunch of female artists miss eating ice-creams and cold drinks.Its seriously a punishment to deprive a kid of ice creams, and these musicians were subjected to that cruelty.Great sacrifice folks! Hats off! And not to forget, Sudha Raghunathan wanted to win a nobel prize.. Quite big for chinna Aasai.. hehe!
• Nithyashree Mahadevan,wanted to dance during her school days, but wasn’t given a chance.She’d loved to dress for fancy dress competitions and act in dramas.She’s still looking for a chance to shop in the Pondy Bazar streets! Phew! She must be a really patient shopaholic!
• Ranjani-Gayathri-The duo violinists who turned into excellent vocalists, miss playing Paandi.(hehe!).Gayathri misses cycling and the fist-cuff fights with Ranjani,while Ranjani missed being a part of athletics in school.

Everybody in the world have desires.These include those who took renunciation as well.I’m sure Mahatma,Ramana Maharishi and all those saints who took sanyasa would have had their own set of chinna chinna aasaigal.

You have your chinna chinna Aasaigal.Find it funny,interesting,weird, nonsensical, thought-provoking,serious.. Here’s your space! Share your Chinna Chinna Aasaigal.Lets see how many people miss climbing trees, doing somersaults ( I miss somersaults!), eating ice creams etc.You might even find a friend here with similar desires.Then why’re you waiting ? Share it here!