Random acts of Craziness

Hannibal often says “no matter how random things may appear, there's always a plan” (A-Team), it’s true, at least true for those incidents that I ‘m going to write below.. I wanted to dedicate this post to my best buddy who celebrated his birthday last week, but since I was stuck up with one other interesting task I was not able to complete it (and he knows what I would have been doing all day long !! ) 

So here  I go, compiling a bunch of random incidents.. It’s always normal for a guy to take a second look at some one pretty standing right in front of him , and that too in a ATM queue at a large shopping mall. There he was, maneuvering a million plans in his mind, even dreaming like saving her from a bunch of ATM thieves similar to how Vijayakaanth saves India from all those terrorists single handed. As soon as the girl withdrew her money and left the ATM, he lands his foot on the ground and gets reminded of the money that he had to pay for the treat. He goes in, tries to insert his card, but then he notices that she left her card mistakenly, sorry luckily !! Out of those zillion plans finally one has clicked, the ATM was so bright with a white light on his face. He ran unto the security to inform him that ‘someone left their card at the ATM’, although the security agrees to get it back and hand it over to the concerned person, he says “no no, I’ll meet them and I’ll hand it over to them personally”.  Then he starts his “Olympic Oattam” to find that girl (if this was a Tamil movie,  we could have had a situation song where the whole mall could have danced along with him in search of that girl) So he finally locates her, hands over the card with a sheepish smile mixed with some heroic dialogues. She thanked him and she left immediately, only then he remembers the bill that had to be settled. Checks his wallet just to find that he has missed his ATM card at the same place !! Runs back to the ATM, meets the security and there was this epic scene. He asked him, weren’t you the guy who ran after that girl to return her ATM card ??  He nodded his head as if he was caught trying to steal a public property :P Well I guess, that’s one hell of an introduction :)

7 years back at Tuticorin… It was 6.15 am, when I and my friends were rushing to our Maths tuition (Mr.Sadagopal), We liked his tuition centre for all his double meaning explanations,  even if someone bludgeons you, those explanations and formulas would never get out of your head..!  We were already late by 15 minutes, and Sir was in a bad mood. He said, “you people pretend as if your board exams were postponed, look at the guy over there.. “ .. It was when all of us turned to look at our Hero.. Yea, he was the guy who used to turn on the lights at 5 – 5.30 am every morning in our tuition center, solved IIT puzzles during his free time and a CSBE district topper. Sir proceeded, “padikura pillai na appdi irukkanum” (if someone were to take their board exams, you’ve to be like him) It was when i met him first, he was from a different school, skinny, tall,  very shrewd and had the look of the next district topper. It didnt make much difference in our tuition arrival time, but then we always sat 3 benches behind where he sat :D After a couple of months, we knew each other, we even heard from his friends that he likes a girl. Our mind voices were like“oh :O oh, kallukul eeram eh ! “ .. After our 12th, I studied in IIPE entrance coaching center, where most of his close friends studied with us. And because of these common friends, the bonding became a little more thicker. The results were out, his rank was sky high and he easily got into CEG ~ CS dept as expected. That was the last thing that we heard from him.

There was a internship recruitment program conducted by Microsoft at Adyar this week, someone said in our class, and immediately my classmate said that he wanted to attend it. When he said that, the rest of us asked him like a church choir “and who is that girl ??“ If a guy from our group is willing to attend something like this, its definitely because his gal is attending it. And so we went to give ‘company’ for him. And there, our hero was standing with his classmates, i searched for that big green algo book to be somewhere around him but it wasn’t there. We took the tests, came out of the hall  just like coming out of an hour long ethics class. We didn’t even wait for the results to be announced, and we heard that he made it in. Still no big surprise for us, remember that 5 am tubelight switching on at tuitions?

Well after 3.5 years of  sulky engineering life, we reached the point that we had been waiting so long. Yes, our campus recruitments !!! MIT guys took their interviews on par with the CEG guys, and yea, it was really tough. Most companies favoured the CEG guys they said, since most of their seniors were already firm footed. Out of one such companies were Google,they forcefully sent all the MIT guys out. It wasn’t a big deal for us, as we got used to this. Usually they allowed us to write the first round and then threw us out, but here we weren’t even allowed to write the first round. (actually the subtle difference between Thorathi adikurathu and Adichi thorathurathu)  We came out, dusted our shirts, started taking a couple of snaps with a kerchiefs on our head exactly outside that exam hall and you know.. But by then, our class toppers who were really pissed, came forward and said that we had to take this seriously. I asked them, then you should take it to our HOD, I don’t know what i was thinking when  i mentioned her name but the rest of class took that seriously and complained it to her. Yes, I’m the culprit who represented that team, unfortunately the vice Chancellor was there in our campus and this HOD made us talk to him regarding this incident.   Vice Chancellor entered the scene like that Naatamai scene Vijayakumar (only difference is, in that movie we had only one guy carrying a “SOMBU” but here there were so many)  he cancelled the whole of Google interview claiming that they should included the MIT guys as well, and he sent all the candidates who were shortlisted home.  When i narrated the incident  while having a tea at our office premises, our hero who was sitting besides me stopped me. He said, “Were  you the culprit behind this incident? !”, i answered with an air of a freedom fighter, “yea, it was me and our team”, with a evil grin he retorted, “ i was shortlisted in that Google interview and they cancelled my 4th round because  of that vice Chancellor and some asshole who was behind it” ..I understood that he was decently addressing me and I chuckled, “and that answers the part why you are here with me !!”  .. no, he said.. !!!

I was like.. why arent you feeling bad about this ??  he explained that they did take all of those short listed candidates unofficially to Hyderabad for attending the remaining interviews, but he didn’t get through. The real comedy has happened after he had returned from his MS internship. Some senior guy had told him, “after MS try attending  ‘this’ company alone”.  He said he was searching for that guy who gave such an idea to wait and attend only this company. Whoever that senior is, please don’t come to Chennai for another couple of years. Or else he might become TAKEN liam neeson, he’ll find you and he’ll kill you (for sure). We used to tell him, dai you are the 5.15 am tuition guy and you are not supposed to be down like this,  you deserve a lot better.  He said, “stop, do you know why I came early every day ?”, i was puzzled for a moment and then answered, “yea, you came early to practise those IIT problems isnt it ?”..He laughed for a minute and said, “thats what you think, actually that second bench gal na ”, “who, ***** eh ?”, he nodded.. “For God’s sake you didnt tell a hi to her” i exclaimed, he was perplexed, he asked, “why what’s wrong with her ?”, i continued “ne hi sollirunthae na, kaiyya vettirupaanga” (if u say a hi, then you would hv lost your arm) and then you could have entered CEG in physically challenged quota”. 

I don’t know if fate exists but that was purely responsible to have me and him placed together here. Now he is my best friend and remember that I was one of those guys who ruined his Google chances ! Isn’t life is filled with random acts of craziness ??

The Usual Suspects

 

After a five year struggle at a certain school, I got into St.Thomas Matriculation (tuty) for my higher secondary education, and that was one of the best things that ever happened to me. It was when i came to understand what Karma really is !! It was totally different from the school that I came from, initially i struggled a bit  to cope up with the education system but then my friends came to the rescue. This post will be something that I could cherish upon all my life time..

First ever striking incident was my first mid-term chemistry exam, Deepak came down hastily to ask me how did it go ? ( Since I used to be raising my hand for each and everything in the Chemistry hour, he assumed that I’d score well ) I told him, well yea I’ve given my best lets see. He was a bit disgusted by the way I answered, because the paper was tough in their eyes. The day came when our Chemistry mam  distributed all the papers and to my surprise I scored very low. Deepak came over, chuckled and said, is this your “best” ? I couldn’t help but laughed with him. I showed him my paper, after going through for a couple of minutes he said, you cannot write the answers in your own language and where are the explanatory diagrams that come along ?  You need to put it as it is in the book ! He called a geeky guy (Esaki Muthu a.k.a Krishna Murthy) and showed me his paper . Not a single line, a comma or a full stop was missing. It was very difficult for me to learn that art, but then my ex classmates from holy cross boys school caught up with me and they taught me how to “decorate”.. !!

That was about the switch, but here comes the fun part ;) There was this dance group present in our class, who used the same song same steps in almost all the dance competitions held across (anywhere) tuty. It was time for them to perform one at the school grounds, and so our committee gathered on deciding upon the song. Fr.Kumar Raja was the principal at that time and he never allowed any kind of cinema songs inside the campus. It was when “Boyz by Shankar“ got released, and our minds unanimously stuck to that “Sa re ga mae – secret of success” tune. The audio was released prior to the movie as usual and so we thought we can get through as the movie is not out yet. Even if it was released, we presumed that Father would never watch that.. We presented it during the rehearsal and the first question he asked Deepak was : from where did you pick this song ? Deepak (a.k.a. Thaadi picha) used to be the organiser who doesn’t take part in anything but organises almost everything decently, he had a peculiar talent of answering or managing things on the spot given under any kind of peer pressure. He said, Father this song is from a “pop album” recently released for “Kapil Dev”  !! The toughest challenges those days was to control our laughter and add to whatever thing that has already been started You must sync up almost instantaneously ! We really didn’t know why he picked “Kapil Dev” who was never in the lime light those days, but i guessed he must have seen his picture in any one of the notebook covers & used it just like “the usual suspects”. That dance program was a grand success, and finally that song became our group song. Few steps were modified (minor changes for the middle dancer and our group choreographer : Manoj)  then and there to adapt to every new dance competitions where the proportion of the girl viewers / competitors  changed .  All was well until that day, when Fr. Kumar Raja called us all for an urgent meeting. Only that day we came to know about Fr. Kumar raja’s other side (no no not as worthy as Baatsha and all),  he was the chief editor and a famous movie critic for a magazine named “gnyaana thoothan” (tuty ppl should know). From here, you should have guessed what must have happened to our Kapil Dev album !!

I didn’t know that this was just the beginning of something  big, I was totally new to this but I verily  tell  you that I enjoyed each and every bit of it. Once, we were invited to participate in the Lion’s rotary club competition. I joined them a little late but then there were our heroes Krish and Savio sitting behind a certain girl who’d occasionally look behind in search of her father and that was totally misinterpreted to be looking at them (as usual). Once that competition was over, Krishna  wanted a pep up, he asked us to call him “Krish” when that girl passes by he went to the parking lot (with that girl standing near by) sat in Deepak’s fiero and shouted “Hey, pass me the bike key”. We understood what he was trying to do and immediately Prathu replied, “Ela (addressing methodology similar to dei) Esaki Muthu !! I think your cycle is parked here which doesn’t even have a lock, whose key are you asking for ? ” I didn’t know how Prathu came up with such a terrific name in short notice, but that’s how we still call him ! And then Snubbing became such a routine work Asking Ashley to repay his 3 Rupees 50 paise debt just in front of everyone at our biology tuition etc.,  The word biology brings so many things to my mind , the Biology teacher starts of with Phylum and finishes off at “Please avoid fire crackers during Diwali” did you understand a miniscule of how classification ended up here ? Well, we are still trying to find that angle of deviation.

Ashley’s witty nature impressed me a lot, the one thing that saves us from sleeping post lunch hours are his dance moves (esp like Allen Louie)  in the middle of the maths class. We had so many problems within, but one thing that kept us together was our Chemistry hours. Mam used to call out : “I don’t know who is roll number 11 (Mahesh stands up with a sheepish smile), please get up ma” and there goes a question ! The answer for it covers the syllabus of the day. One thing that we still wonder is, how come she calls the same set of roll numbers everyday and still she doesn’t know who it is ! Myself, Ashley, Babu and Chandhu sit together (3rd bench from the front), our daily task was to count the word “there” used by her within that stipulated 45mins. “Never there” used to be her favorite phrase, only she knows what it means ! Everyone owns a set of test tubes for which they are responsible, most often it contains pale white end results except for CuSo4 but Ashley’s test tubes always contained rainbow colors and only God knows what reactions had taken place.  Once Deepak spilt some concentrated H2SO4 accidentally on his right hand , mam panicked, the class panicked, but to our surprise Deepak remained still and his hands were unaffected, only then we had a look at the manufacturing date of that soln, which was bought, I guess, when the school was established but the real comedy took place right after that.. Mam wanted to neutralize that acid’s (so called) effect, and so she poured some white base solution which actually caused the burns on his right hand

Nobody could have insulted our school pupil leader like that kid, he said “the only  2 English words that guy (leader) knows are  School Attention and School stand at ease”. Ram kumar, a 6 foot tall guy, a man known for all those bike stunts, slipping , dropping things for glory and spits all that he has in his mouth even when someone in the next street utters the word “joke” ! I guess it was while reading Ram’s scrap book, we found this “You are the best disciple guy”  we were like WTH !! It took around 2 hours to decrypt the ultimate truth, actually he meant to say that he was a disciplined guy yea, we are cool that way B-) Walking backwards in the veranda, with a goose berry in your mouth, two in the hand right after the school hours (not knowing that the principal is standing behind), he uses a strange language asking the man behind to clear the way for him.. yea he did that and i witnessed it from the parking lot  Chandhu usually asks weird doubts during the class hours for which only mam could answer, she replies: “meet me during the lunch hours, I’ll clarify it then”. And yea, we have seen a couple of them washing the pipettes during the lunch hours. Once Moses was completing his observation notebook during our lab hours, and while calculating that titration end results it required few log values. He asked Chandhu, “hey what’s the value of log 20 ?”, mam who was sitting near by answered “1.30” as if in a rapid fire round.. (i guess everybody knows the fact that log 20 is the most commonly used value during titration calculations). Chandhu sarcastically asked her, “mam how come you remember all these complicated log values ?” She could have smiled and left, but you know what she said ? she said, “hey Chandhu i have memorized most of the log values during my college times”. Chandhu immediately retorted, “mam i need to know the value of log 58 for my calculations please let me know”. Mam’s reply was, “Chandhu !! you are such a funny fellow ..” and she started laughing.. ( actually the whole class laughed )

The fun we had had actually created a protective layer or a type of shell that saved us from all this +2 academic pressure that which was placed on us.. Not to mention the adventures that myself & Kumar had, past the tuition hours every day. Except for that 6 hours of sleep we almost spent every minute together. Kumar was a multi talented guy, he can deliver speeches, he can teach well, understands & applies whatever he learns instead of just mugging up,  scores well and even writes Urdu (his cryptic handwriting was often referred to Urdu),  Around 10 of us would sit near that water tank (3rd floor Kumar’s terrace) within that small 4 x 6 space looking at the dark blue sky discussing all about the tuition related incidents and who met whom details “It’s where most of the accidental or coincidental meet ups are maneuvered” !! Not a single word mentioning about any forms of education enters there, except but once '  (we did seriously try our luck with vol.1 maths book of IIT-JEE but chill, it was jus 10 problems totally lasting 3 days)  You will have to forgive me, for we have sometimes discussed on even how to improve the political status of our country :| The most special thing about that place was our Diwali nights.

One post ain’t enough to share them, because there are so much like the meet up at Bp’s house before the results, preparation for the ad-mad competition, akalya parotta shop, Nayar bakery, Fight with the Kaarapaettai guys, all our splendid staffs and what not !?..  I could even write a book out of this, But I’m stopping it here just for Chetan bagat’s sake .. Staffs loved us so much and as they expected, our results were terrific.  I relived each moment while writing this, hope you  get the same feel while reading this !

-Joe Winifred P Rayen

The right person

 

   To choose the right boy or the right girl as your life partner is one of the most delicate things in our life (if not now, at least within another couple of years :P) . We have so many things in our mind, a lot of expectations, hopes, dreams and what not !! . I’ve listened to various friends, they are seriously concerned about not getting to meet the “right person” in their life even after so many years. When thinking about all the difficulties one faces to get the right person, I couldn’t help but remember the way Abraham chose his daughter in law for his son Isaac. I’m not getting into the specificities, I’m just sharing this piece of info for those who are not aware of it. That said, It’s for everyone :)

   Abraham did not want a canaanite girl among whom he was dwelling, instead he sends his man to his “own country” to find the right match ! As a foreword, Abraham was not living in his own country, he was called forth by the Lord to come out of his comfort zone and to lead a life in a far off promised land named “Canaan”. He was obedient, and so he did what was expected of him.. That is, he left his comfort zone and went forward to that unknown place which was promised by the Lord. The first striking thing was this, Abraham did not want to get him (his son Isaac) married to a canaanite gal, instead he wanted him to marry a girl from his “kindred” Things are explicitly quoted here and so I’m not elaborating much.. Abraham wanted to take a girl from his kindred, but he neither told his servant to get a girl from a well off family nor did he ask him to get a girl who was beautiful..

  Even interesting is the way that servant chooses the girl ! He goes near the well where the women of that town come to draw water. He prays to God, that he would pick the girl who not only draws water for him but for his 10 camels as well. If you read those verses a little more carefully, you will know that she “voluntarily” commits herself to draw water for his “10 camels” ! In those days, wells were deep enough, and to draw water for all those camels wasn’t an easy task. It was a test, a simple one from which one can learn about her hard work, hospitality, patience and endurance. Well, I have written them in a simple single line but the truth is, these are the basic traits that one should possess in order to build a healthy family. If she, the woman of the house lacks endurance, it would obviously result in a poorly built family. I remember enacting this skit in my school days, where the man of the house asks her to bring some coffee on a fine monday morning. After sipping it, he acrimoniously remarks “who in this world would drink such kinda coffee, even this puppy wouldn’t drink this shit !1! ” She retorts with this answer: “yea, and that’s why I gave that to you” :D Witty, but the gravity of the issue is much greater than what we think of.. the man of the house in turn shows that hatred to his school going kid and to all his office mates. This is a simple example but on a bigger picture there are loads of things to be aware of !!  Girls today have loads to do other than home making, and so providing water for 10 camels is going to be really really tough, at least they should provide water for the chief servant !! (I guess you might have got the point)

  A little more into the passage reveals one other important information, the chief servant delegated by Abraham was doubtful whether if the girl whom he chooses will come along their way. That is, what if she doesn’t accept to be Isaac’s wife or Abraham’s daughter in law ? But when Rebecca’s parents inquired her if she is willing to go with them, she replies : “I will go”.. Submissive nature, surrendering oneself to the master... She is open to things, she listens to various people, analyzes and then answers promptly. She is not portrayed as a “stiff necked” person, instead her flexibility is highlighted by her well chosen answers..

  Last but not the least, when the chief servant and Rebecca approach Isaac’s place, Rebecca covers herself with her veil as soon as the chief reveals Isaac’s identity. Respect !!! This world which we are dealing with it right now, is a lot different from that of Abraham’s, but it doesn’t mean that those things mentioned above does not apply now. Everything quoted above are so generic and are so essential for today’s families. It’s something that I feel are partially “forgotten”. Age,  salary, family background, degree held, company working for or even your beauty, let them not hold you from “respecting one another”.

  All that mentioned above should not be used to judge one another, whereas to know the truths that has been implicitly given to us through these passages. Above all that, you get according to what you have given so far. Based on the seeds that you sow, you will reap..

Reference: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+24&version=KJV

A Kid’s diary

               

                This post is about a tormented kid and his views about his early schooling. Some might really think this post to be an outrageous slur, but this is the bitter truth. Whenever I had a chance to watch some old Tamil movie belonging to those of the 80’s and the early 90’s, I really wonder how those kids witnessing the murder of his/ her parents (mostly belonging to the protagonists part of the movie) remember the antagonists so well that they avenge their parents death even after so many years ! The point I’m putting forth is definitely not about “avenging”, but the scars such horrible incidents leaves us with. Whenever I get a chance to speak to my seniors or my juniors coming from that school, 9/ 10 times we speak about that ! This post consolidates all such “shared” experiences into one.

                My school was a lot different from the other schools in my town, and that notion was one of the main reasons for me being admitted there. Everything seemed pretty normal at first, and I indeed enjoyed them. Facilities, infrastructure, comfort and even “education” (sad, but yea ) comes with a price now. And I knew that my parents literally struggled to pay it. They did their best to give us this so called “quality education”, but then they did not realize what was in store.

                I was asked to read the names of all the acrobatic feats one by one, as my friends performed them live on the stage. It was some kind of a display, and the organizer did not like the way I pronounced few words. He called me to his room for rehearsing it, but then he vanished into thin air by 4.00 pm to the other unit. The very next day, I went by his room to tell him that he had left pretty early the other day, as cool as ever. But the odds turned against me, I don’t know how they punish a 6th grade student for not being punctual, but I was punched on my face. Note : I’m not using the word punch just for the sake of rhyming, I mean it !  Is this how you treat a new student ? what kinda impression  do you think you give them about your school ?

                 A family’s position in the society depends on how good the head of the family leads and organizes it. This applies for an institution as well. Monetarily , that school started flourishing, from a single large house to a huge unit and then a new ground etc., .It was a great investment for all the school board members, as they created this “demand” –> 25 per classroom concept (and no new sections opened). That was the bait But when all these were happening outside, beneath the surface we were facing a lot of issues with the head !

                Lunch was the most thrilling hour as we’d say, we never knew when he might come and what reason he might say to get hold of us, uh mhhmm  sorry punish us.  Once he made us enact a play since we said we didn’t know that story, with a friend playing the lead role in THE EMPEROR’s NEW CLOTHES. Chair on his head as the king, few as ministers and two others as the tailor etc., slapped, punched, kicked and finally asking him to wear that invisible dress.. (Avar veetla thanni varala na kooda adivaanginathu naanga than) isn’t that the dumbest thing ? Uh Uh no wait...  I was the class monitor that time, and one of my cousins who studied with me in that same class had a dirty white shoe, he said that I ignored his mistake just because I was his cousin. And yea, I was beaten to death for the next 25 minutes. Vijendar Singh would have surely lost to him if he was allowed to put up a fight.

                      I was once made to stand out of the classroom with my chair and missed half my exam because I "supposedly" kicked the chair while i was getting up to keep my lunch bag. The chair , it seems , was a property of the school and hence , in the eyes of mr.xx , i kicked the school and that’s why i was made to stand out with the chair.” (yaaruku pirantha enna da ? Suga presavam thaanae- that logic applied),..  don’t start judging I say, hold on… !

               Once myself and my frd were drinking some water from the can after the games period...(4-4:20 hour - compulsory games)...As I was drinking water, my friend suddenly grabbed the tumbler from behind....the whole glass of water spilt on the floor...mr.xx saw that, caught us by our collar and took us to his room.. he then gave us a full drum of water, two tumblers and asked us to empty the whole drum of water eventually we had to drink d full drum... (periya arunachalam appa, panathoda vaadayae thegaataatha mathiri oru punishment vera)

                 Playing with a football beneath the table tennis board just before our real football game, resulted in a “sitting on the ball and rolling it ~ 1 full round”..  so that everyone on that campus is aware of my new punishment ! Whattae, I’m damn sure he has a book written by now : “experimenting with punishments”. Not over yet, I was slapped in front of every single member of the school, hit with a flag bearing 3 foot pole just because my marching was erroneous. And then, My class made some noise  (well which class doesn’t make noise ? :P ), and so they had to kneel beneath a neem tree for that whole hour (red sand + hot sun = his favorite) . Well, I didn’t complete my homework one other day and so I was asked to do “BUNNY JUMPING” around that campus 3 times ! If you forget to bring your swimming costume, you will be asked to "DUCK WALK” around that pool for the next 40 minutes (dreadful you know, you cant walk properly after that)

                Trolling someone is a deadly sin, well even if he punished someone who was in that scene or who went for that excursion then it’s fine. But punishing someone who has never met his friends for the last 15 days and holding him responsible for everything that happened there, is absolutely ridiculous.  (pakkathu veetla paavadai kaanama pona kooda athuku enna than your honour arrest panraanga). One of my classmates delivered a speech (compulsory one), it was a last minute preparation and so he stammered a lot. Instead of punishing him, one other guy was sent out of the class claiming that he introduced this style of preparation.. (nalla kelapuraainga ya beedhiya).. There are so many such incidents that can even make me give a precautionary note as “not for the weak hearted or pregnant ladies” :D

                 Students are mischievous, and I guess that’s how normal kids behave. They way to bring them en-route is of course not by means of such terrible punishments but by love. We are the clay in the hands of the potters. Molding is such a tedious task, look at Dr. Ambedkar’s life :) that shows how well he was molded by a “teacher”. I know a certain friend who writes down mr.xx’s phone number in all those advertising forms or registration forms even now after so many years. Look at that, I mean look at that type of scar !

அந்த ஒரு ரயில் பயணம்

எனக்கு ரொம்ப நாள் ஆசை இப்படி ஒரு தமிழ் ப்ளாக் எழுதனும்னு கடசியா இப்போ தான் அது நிறைவேருது ... கடந்த வாரம் முழுதும் என்னோட சொந்த ஊரான தூத்துக்குடி ல என்னோட குடும்பத்தார் மத்தில தான் இருந்தேன். ஒவ்வொரு முறை நான் முத்து நகர் ரயில் வண்டில பயணிக்கும் போதும் எனக்கு அந்த ஒரு பயணம் தான் ஞாபகத்துக்கு வருது.. !

வைடிங் லிஸ்ட்ல இருந்த ஒரு பயண சீட்டு வச்சிட்டு தூத்துக்குடில இருந்து சென்னைக்கு பயணிக்கும் போது ஏற்பட்ட அந்த சந்திப்பு இன்னும் என் மனசுல ஒரு ஆழமான ஒரு அழகான சந்திப்பா இருக்குது. தாமதமா ரயில்வே ஸ்டேஷன் னுக்கு வந்த எனக்கு கிடைச்சது படிக்கட்டு பக்கத்துல இரண்டு அடிக்கு ஒரு இடம். அத மூன்ற பங்கிட்டு உக்கார வேண்டிய ஒரு சூழ்நிலை. இதுவும் நமக்கு ஒரு புதுமையான அனுபவம் தானே என்று எண்ணி உகார்ந்துடேன். பக்கத்துல வந்த ஒரு வாலிப நண்பர் பேச தொடங்கினாறு .. வேற என்ன வழி ? பேசி தானே ஆகணும் ! அம்மா குடுத்த பிரியாணியா பகிர்ந்து சாப்பிடும் போது ஆரம்பிச்சது எங்க நட்பு !

அது வர எனக்கு அவர் ஒரு சாதரணமான வாழ்க்கைய வாழ்ந்துட்டு இருக்குற ஒரு சகோதரனாக தான் தென்பட்டாறு .. ஆனா பேச ஆரம்பிச்ச பின்ன தான் தெரிந்தது அவருக்குள்ள பல விஷயங்கள் மூடிகிடகிறது என்று ! அவரோட சம்மதத்தோட அவரோட கதைய உங்ககிட்ட சமர்பிக்குரேன்.. அதுக்கு முன்னாடி என்னோட எழுத்து பிழைகள தயவு செய்து மன்னித்து கொள்ளனும்..

நான் இன்று ஒரு காவல் துறை நண்பன இருக்கேன் டா, என்னோட பள்ளி பருவத்துல திவ்யானு ஒரு பொண்ண விரும்பினேன் .. (இவரும் பாதிக்க பட்ருகாரு போல ) அவங்க வீட்ல ரொம்ப ஒழுக்கத்தோட வலந்தாங்கனு அடி கடி சொல்லுவா.. (எல்லா பொண்ணுங்களும் அத தானே பாஸ் சொல்லறாங்க ) நான் காவல் துறை பயிற்சிகளுக்கு செல்லும் போதெல்லாம் அவளோட பேசுறது உண்டு, அவ அப்போ மருத்துவ துறைல இருந்தா.. நல்ல படிக்குற பொண்ணு, எப்படியோ என்ன விரும்பிட்டா டா. என்னக்கும் அவனா உயிறு. எங்க இருந்து வந்தாங்கனு தெரில்ல அவளோட அத்தை, அவங்களுக்கு ஜாதி மதத்த விட என்னோட இந்த போலீஸ் உத்தியோகம் பிடிகலயாம். ஆரம்பத்துல இருந்தே இதையே சொல்லிட்டு இருந்தாங்க, ஒரு சின்ன பயம் இருந்தது டா மனசுல, எங்க இதெல்லாம் நடந்துருமோனு... யாரு கண்ண வச்சாங்களோ தெரியல, எதிர்பார்த்த மாதிரியே அந்த அத்தை என்னோட வாழ்க்கைல பாஸ்கட் பால் விளயாடிடாங்க டா. என்னோட அப்பா அவரும் ஒரு காவல் துறை அதிகாரி தான், அவர் கிட்ட வந்து என்னோட சேர்கை சரி  இல்லாததாகவும் என்னோட இந்த பழக்கம் எதுவும் சரி இல்லாததாகவும்  சொல்லி என் பேர்ல ஒரு புகார் குடுத்துடாங்க..சொல்லவா வேனும் எங்க அப்பாவுக்கு ? அந்த பொண்ணுக்கு எதுவுமே தெரிய கூடாதுனு அவங்க அத்தை கேட்டு கொண்டதால நானே என்னோட காதலுக்கு முற்றுபுள்ளி வச்சே ஆகவேண்டிய ஒரு கஷ்டமான சூழ்நிலைய எங்க அப்பா உருவாக்கிவிட்டாறு . எனக்கு என்ன செய்யனு தெரியல டா, பொண்ணு கிட்ட போய் என்னனு சொல்லுவேன் ?? எப்படி இந்த உறவ முறிக்க சொல்லுவேன் ? இதுக்கெல்லாம் என்ன காரணம் சொல்லுவேன் ? ஒன்னுமே புரியாம சிக்கிதவிச்சேன்..

எல்லா தெய்வங்களையும் கும்பிட்டுவிட்டு போனேன், எல்லா தயிரியமும் வர வச்சிட்டு போய் சொன்னேன், எங்க வீட்ல ஒத்துக்க மாட்டாங்கனு, எங்க அப்பா தெளிவா சொல்லிடாங்க என்ன மறந்துரு அப்படின்னு .. இதுக்கு மேலையும் என்னால உன்கிட்ட உண்மைய மறைக்க முடியாது, இது தான் உண்மைனு சொல்லி முடிச்சிட்டேன் .. கத்தி கதறி கூச்சல் போட்டு உலகத்துல இருக்குற எல்லா தகாத வார்த்தைகள வைத்து என்ன திட்டிட்டு கெளம்பிட்ட.. என்னால ஆண்வர்கமே அணைக்கு அவகிட்ட இருந்து திட்டு வாங்குச்சு ! அது வர எனக்கு ஒரு வலி தெரியல, எங்க அப்பா சொன்னது ஒரு விதத்துல சரியா தான் பட்டுச்சு, அதுல ஒரு லாஜிக் இருந்துச்சு.. எப்படி போயும் போயும் என்ன போல ஒரு சாதாரண காவல் துறை அதிகாரிக்கு ஒரு மருத்துவ துறைல உள்ள ஒரு பெண்ணை திருமணம் செய்து குடுப்பாங்கனு..

வருஷங்கள் போச்சு, எல்லதயுமே மறந்துட்டு ஒரு அமைதியான வாழ்கைய வாழ்ந்துட்டு இருந்தேன். மேற்படிப்புக்காக பெங்களுரு போயிருந்தேன், அப்போ என்னோட கூட வேல செய்யுற பலரை சந்திக்க நேர்ந்தது. கூட்டதுல ஒரு தெரிஞ்ச முகம். எங்க ஊர் பொண்ணு ஒருத்தியும் அந்த பயிற்சி முடிக்க வந்துருந்தது அப்போ தான் தெரியவந்தது.என்ன ஒரு ஆச்சரியம், நம்ம ஊரு பொண்ணு அதுவும் இங்க, என்ன ஒரு வியப்பு ! பயிற்சி முடிவுல அவளே வந்து என்கிட்ட பேசினா, ரொம்ப நல்ல பொண்ண தெரிஞ்ச (முதல எந்த பொண்ணு தான் டா தப்பான பொண்ண தெரியுரா ? ) நல்ல பேச துடங்கினோம், பத்து நாள் பயிற்சி முடியும் போது எங்களோட நட்பு ரொம்ப நெருக்கமா மாறிடுச்சு.. எனக்கும் பிடிச்சிருந்துச்சு..அவளுக்கு என்ன ரொம்பவே பிடிச்சிருந்துச்சு ! அவளோட வயசுக்கு அவ ரொம்ப தெளிவாகவும் ரொம்ப திறமையான பொன்னாகவும் தெரிஞ்ச.. அதனால , அதனால ?! அவளையே திருமணம் செஞ்சிக்கலாம்னு முடிவு பண்ணினேன்.. அவளுக்கு ரொம்ப சந்தோசம், தல கால் தெரியாம குதிக்க ஆரம்பிச்சிட்டா. அத பார்த்த நான் ரொம்ப  குடுத்துவச்சவன்னு நானே பாரட்டிகிட்டேன், எல்லாம் நல்லபடியா போய்கிட்டே இருக்க, அவளோட வீட்ல பேசவேண்டிய நேரம் வந்துச்சு.

அதே தொழில் செய்யுற அந்த பையன மணந்து கொள்ள விருப்பம்னு அவங்க வீட்ல அவல பேச சொன்னேன் .. பேசிட்டு வந்த மறுநாளே காணாம போன குழந்தைய போல எங்க வீட்ல மறுத்துட்டாங்க, எங்க அப்பாக்கு இதுல சுத்தமா இஷ்டம் இல்லையாம் மறந்திட சொல்லிடாங்கனு பாதர்த்தம, எதார்த்தம சொன்ன டா..எனக்கு ஒன்னுமே புரியல..என்னடா நடக்குது இங்க ? நல்ல நிலமைல இருக்குற எனக்கு கட்டிகுடுகுரதுல என்ன பிரேச்சனயாம் ? எதுக்குமே பதில் வரல .. உடஞ்சி போய்டேன்.. கண்ணெல்லாம் கலங்கி, கதறி அழுதேன்.. துடைக்க யாருமே வரல டா.கோவிலுக்கு போன ஆறுதலா இருக்கும்னு அங்க போய் அமைதியா உக்கார்ந்து இருந்தேன்.. அப்போ தான் ஒரு பழக்கப்பட்ட குரல், எப்படி டா இருக்க ??? அப்படின்னு.. திரும்பி பார்த்த திவ்யா ஒரு தக்ஷன தட்டோட ..என்ன டா கோவில் பக்கமா வந்துருக்க ? அது உனக்கு ரொம்ப புதுசாச்சேனு சொன்னா !! என்னால என் துக்கத சொல்லாம இருக்க முடியல, நடந்தத எல்லாம் சொன்னேன்.. சொல்லி முடிக்குரதுக்கு முன்னாடியே அவளோட கண்ணும் கலங்கிருச்சு. வருத்தபடாத டா, அவ எந்த நிலமைல இந்த முடிவ எடுத்தாலோ ? கடவுளுக்கு தானே தெரியும்..

4 வருஷத்துக்கு முன்னாடி நீ எனக்கு சொன்னது இததானே டா !! அப்போ எனக்கு எங்க அத்தை உங்க அப்பாவா சந்திச்சதும் என்ன சொன்னாங்கனும் தெரியாது, நீ எந்த நிலமைல இருந்தனும் தெரியாது.. அப்போ தெரிஞ்சாதேல்லாம் ஒரு விதமான ஏமாற்றம், ஒரு கோபம். ஆனா இன்னைக்கு எனக்கு தெரிஞ்சத போல உனக்கும் ஒரு நாள் உண்மை தெரியும், அதுவர வலி தாங்கித்தான் ஆகவேண்டும். அவ பாவம் டா, நான் உன்ன சபிச்ச மாதிரி அவள சபிச்சுராத.. அப்பறம் உனக்கு ஏற்பட்ட மாதிரி ஒரு இழப்பு அவளுக்கும் ஏற்படபோகுது.. அன்னைகே திவ்யா கிட்ட கண்ணீர் மல்க மண்ணிப்பு கேட்டேன் டா.. நம்ம என்ன விதைகிறோமோ அத அறுத்து தான் ஆகவேண்டும் !! அப்படின்னு கண்ணீரோட அவர் கதைய முடிசிகிட்டாறு, கேட்ட எனக்கு ரொம்ப கஷ்டமா இருந்துச்சு, பகிர்ந்துகனும்னு ஆசைப்பட்டேன் .. அதனால தான் இன்னைக்கு இப்படி ஒரு ப்ளாக் போஸ்ட் மூலமா பகிர்ந்துகிறேன்..

அன்புடன்,
வினி

Quake !!

Normal life in Chennai and other coastal areas in Tamil Nadu came to a halt on Wednesday afternoon following those mild tremors that were a fall out of the massive earthquake near Sumatra in Indonesia. Well, that’s part of the news,  but the way our normal life came to a halt was hilarious ! We also knew that the two most affected places during that earthquake were Facebook and Twitter  
As a part of our relaxing therapy , we played  table tennis for around 30 minutes.  We use this 1-2pm as our standard timing, as the TT table was the second most highly used equipment next to the coffee vending machines at office . Once we were done, we headed to the cafeteria to have our lunch.  As usual we started trolling one of our friends with some funny pictures taken at college. It was then our Director came running in, to announce the earthquake news. Since we were at one end, we didn’t hear anything at first, and so we thought that he was calling us for an emergency meeting. On the other side, we were starving to death and were desperate enough to carry on with our lunch. But within few minutes, we were the only people left out.  We had no other choice, but to leave the cafeteria and get down to the rescue zone (too much of Counter Strike ).
It was only after getting down, we witnessed a plenty of things going around !  First thing that I noticed were photographers , different types of photographers all around. One set of people tried to utilize the opportunity to take a photograph of their female / male co-workers . And then there were these people who were taking group photos amidst that crowd as if they were the part of a winning IPL team at a post match presentation. Third and the largest category of people were trying to take a long shot as in a Shankar’s movie. Even I tried to take some, but since I was short enough ,  I couldn’t get that long shot as expected. It was when I noticed the fourth set of photographers still at the 7th floor  trying to take the top view shot amidst all these chaos ! (I remembered that guy who’ll try to capture Godzilla’s atrocious moves by standing beneath it instead of running of his life )
                After witnessing those terrific photographers, we saw couples everywhere,  you might ask me “yea  so what ? you can see them everywhere, even now”, true but even amidst those tremors few reserved all the shady short trees planted in the garden for them to… * yea discuss about their future *.. that’s how they call it   My my, they didn’t leave the short bushes either ! The summers in Chennai are so hot, that could turn a fish into a dry fish within a couple of minutes and  for those couples who came out late had no other choice but to take a sun bath.
 We went in after the first tremor, and as soon as we sat down in our respective cubes we entered the holiday mood besides all this commotion. Most of them felt the second tremor as soon as we settled down.  It was when everyone started packing really fast.  A certain team’s  supervisor asked everybody to evacuate the place really quick, it was when my friend  asked for 10 more minutes just because the movie he was copying from a friend’s hard disk was pretty slow  !!  We can even accept this guy, but our guru to the right (“iddiyae vilunthaalum work pannuvaen” #thamizh) he was working till that last moment, Not to mention that he is the technical guru of our team. 
                   One other ridiculous thing that happened in a certain MNC’s buildings : nobody were allowed to go out as their buildings were strong enough for earthquakes with a Richter of 11.7 Thoppi Thoppi but some of our friends from here called them and shared all their quake stories !!
               I did not seriously understand why we were waiting beneath those huge weak buildings, because if an earthquake occurs, then I’m sure all of us would have lost our lives. Initially we were asked to move into the safe zone of the park, that was an open area which can accommodate only people from one/two towers but there were 10+ towers totally !  So I guess, because of lack of space people just stood out where ever they wished too. An earthquake would never set a reminder event to our outlook before attacking us, the max we can do is to take all the preventive measures !

Corporate Ethics : revisited !

”It’s high time guys, now that you have been dropped into the middle of the ocean, you have two options, either you get killed by the sharks out there or swim across the ocean and get to the other end. No, you cant come back to the same shore where you began, men armed with guns are there at the shore !”  This was the welcome quote given by a renown leader when I entered my corporate life. He was right, we ought to get past those sharks, and swim across which is not an easy task at all. But there are few things that I would like to share, which might help you swim a couple of miles more.
Before all that, I’m dedicating this post to a junior guy who hastily left even before I shared these things with him.
Myth 1 : Whichever company you work for, may it be a product based or a service based, remember it’s not the techie guy who outshines everybody.
If you were thinking it the other way, I guess you need to reconsider it. The guy who is technically well equipped cannot survive without a marketing skill. Whatever may have been the task assigned to him / her, say he/she might have written a new driver or a component  or he/she could have fixed a minor website issue, what one needs here is the ability to project the accomplishment that he/she has done. No, I’m not asking you to send mails at the end of each minor task late at night, that’s “over projecting” which might end up with extra load of work assigned to you. At the same time, you cannot project something that you have not done or not known so far (I’m purposefully adding “not known” here). That names you as a non-trustable resource. Yea, it’s very delicate and I’m sure you can develop this skill with a help of a mentor.  If you have watched this movie named “Hitch”, you’ll know how delicately Will Smith teaches him to hold his girl by her waist. If your hand moves up, it’s holding her like a friend or if u grab her ass that becomes a lecherous move. SO That spot is right out there.
Myth 2 : To research , learn and then fix is not always going to work.
See, there are two main things you ought to keep in your mind while you are working on something. TIME and PRIORITY !! if we are about to hit a deadline and you are out there doing a research kinda to fix a simple one, yea yea you are obviously screwing it up. The same applies here, if you are boss wants you to fix a production issue don’t be Dr. Vasikaran or a GD Naidu . Get help from somebody somehow and close it immediately. The research things and “what would I learn out of this?” kinda questions can be answered when you have got nothing to do ! Feel free to get help from anyone anytime. Don’t ever feel bad about it, else you can’t learn something new. But at the same time, It’s not necessary to broadcast a message to everyone saying that “Hey, I do not know anything”, “Nan jailuku poraen jailuku poraen, nanum rowdy, naanum rowdy” kinda .. Nope ! .. There is a special myth(4) explaining about this below..
Myth 3 : Even if there is nothing much to be done for a project, the management’s tendency is to show that there is so much within..
Don’t panic !! Don’t ever panic !!! As you are new to this project, get along with the other senior members of the team. Talk to them and get an overview of how things are working and what are pending. If you are asked for a daily stand up, just be present, merely present. Everybody knows that you are new, they are not going to expect you to lift the mountain in a day. But they act as if they expect you to lift one. Never mind, that won’t affect your performance rating . 
Myth 4 : “Paavam punniyam paartha intha thozhiluku vara mudiyaathu” #Tamizh .. You cannot be a saint, if you want to be in this field . 
You cannot be so humble and expect the management to do things for you. Plainly speaking, that will not pay your EMIs. If you are trying to be so humble, watch out ! There are so many people just like the hawk to grab all your credits. They just wait on their prey, a single mistake and your gone. I knew one of my friend who worked all night long with a presentation, with all the statistical data put together and the very next morning someone else presented it , and they took all his credits. What is the use of all that hard work that went in ? I’m definitely not asking you to steal someone’s credits, but I’m asking to you stand firm with what you have done. And yea, don’t pretend as if it was an easy task too. Stealing someone’s credits/work is just same as adulterating.