The one that never happened..

From beaches to eat outs, parks to movies we had exhausted every part of the city. All that was left out was probably our houses! She was my high school sweet heart and 5 years down, she still remains. Late night texting, silent slip outs from our houses, bike rides and kutti kutti romances and pranks were in complete dominance of our relation. I felt these always added value to the relation, making it more enjoyable and memorable. We shared so much yet gave each other their own personal space leaving no room for envy or possessiveness. I felt so matured handling this relation and she too felt the same. We always wanted to make the big step, time being the only hurdle. Optimistically speaking, we had more (and enough) time to understand each other.

What seemed like an opulent present became a horrid past. Texting over the last few weeks lacked smileys. She never really wanted to meet me or involve herself in a conversation. Every other reply was either “hmmm” or “k”. I felt like falling into the rabbit hole like Alice..just that the other end was not a wonderland. In the 5 yrs I thought she was reaching for my heart, I dint realize she was going to pull it out and rout it with her tender hands. The very image left me gasping for my breath. I decided to walk straight up to her and demand a reason. All along, I was reassuring myself it ought to be the biggest prank she ever played on me. Poor me, I honestly thought she would tender an apology. On the way, I happened to see this guy staring at his mobile, deeply involved in texting someone, probably his girlfriend. In the plight I was, I badly wanted to call him and make him wary of the nature of girls. (to the fellow females: that thought was more of situation centric rather than an opinion per se).So occupied was he that had it not been for my timely yell, he would have been a smear of blood and cytoplasm on the face of the lorry. He profusely thanked me and got back to his own world again. I smiled to myself thinking, 4 yrs from now, he’s gonna come and tell me “i would have preferred the lorry to the girl”.

While I was walking through the streets, I was able to associate every spot with a time well spent with her. I dint know whether I was happy to recollect those or sad that I can only recollect them. Tears streamed out and with my heart teeming with resentment I picked myself up and paced up to her place. As I approached her door, I prepared myself rehearsing all the questions. I cleared my throat and called out her name. The door opened and what awaited me was a heartbreak. Arms in arms, with the same guy I had saved some time back, I could see her having the time of her life, sadly the one I couldn’t give. I realized that the biggest prank in the relation was not what I hoped, but the relation itself. I was speechless and left immediately, failing to see her face shrink like a week old potato. A momentary smile crept up my face, with the image of the guy telling me…


”I would have preferred the lorry to the girl”

be at it, to beat it!

The mercury was showing the least regard for gravity, sporting a relentless rise. Yeah the place is Chennai! This is when it struck me to have a serene sojourn to BENGALURU. Amusingly for tamil literates, it can also be (conveniently) comprehended as “PENGAL”OORU. I guess the name change was due to the opposition of Ram Sena for “BANG” part of the word. With such an inviting name, I could hardly resist my urge to leave Chennai and get to b’lore. I left with ma cousin ragini n her mom (latha chithi). Nothing can really irk u like a morning travel in train, whopping up 6 solid hours of your precious time, and there I was enjoying (?)the revenge of fate. B’lore welcomed us with a nice weather, and a toast to the eyes (gorgeous girls!). I couldn ask for more:)It really beats me how a difference of 300 kms can make a such huge impact on auto drivers. No exorbitant prices or unwarranted harassing! Also, the meters were perfectly functioning instruments, unlike the “ornamental” ones in Chennai!i landed up in a relative’s place who welcomed us with the best medicine to a hungry patient! Gulab jamun and murukku were not to be “dessert”ed! the time pass for afternoon was her 5 year old daughter who was the poor soul bearing the brunt of my kalaais!my chithi and the relative had a nice time enjoying the teasers shot upon that kid (How sadistic!) I was invited for a shopping spree, my chithi n her daughter being gung ho about it. It was the usual moronic decision of jumping from frying pan to the fire. Afraid I wud be struck with boredom again, I said positive! I entered hell( shopping centre in this case!)The poor drudge was literally tormented to throw open every folded piece of cloth, just to find out a reason to reject! (sadists again!)satisfying a girl (perverts, refrain from your innuendoes) is an art, but many men are yet to learn it! After expending so much time, they got a paltry number of items, absolutely insignificant considering the fact they did the rounds for over 2 hours. (Girls do give a new dimension to “TIME IS MONEY”). I returned home and dropped dead! The next day, lunch (needs no mention again) was expectedly extravagant. Thank u Sri Aunty; we did have a wonderful time..the afternoon saw us pack off to another of my cousin’s (bharath) place, a few miles down from the already mentioned one. Evening meant shopping, at a new hell though. Commercial street it was. I had a torrid time keeping up my sanity. Boredom inflicted on me adversely, for a change I had a partner, my other cousin (badri, from Down Under). I forced myself to shop for a coupla t shirts n shorts, as I dint want to carry the emptiness to Chennai!not to forget the fancy chains n bracelets that i got, to quell my fetish for such "cheap" stuff!Dinner times are something I yearn for. (Sometimes, I give the impression that I’m living from one meal to another!) I had lambasted orders ( uhh…sorry tsunami!) and wiped out the plates, leaving little to be done by the guy in the wash area! The night was well spent with gossip and giggles of family issues, and more so over ragini’s inability to comprehend slick tamil!(haha..sorry girl!) it dawned on us for yet another lunch ( I woke up only by then). Ragini n chithi gelled up to prepare a fiesta, it was a gr8 work, I must agree! I left in the afternoon to meet one of my friends, sidhu,with whom i shared a good rapport! We spent enough time to share stories that happened over the year, and still dint find it satiating. So I invited him for a stay and we spoke till 3.30 the nxt morn. ( I shouldn forget the dinner prepared by the team that made lunch!!) the morn saw him set off, bidding good byes. We reached the station at 2, to meet the anxiously waiting ritika. The poor girl was made to wait by the ruthless traffic and signal system, the only speck in the otherwise spotless life in the city. The gap was just enough for us to say how we(uhh..she alone) enjoyed the stay, before the engine drivers clock began… only to leave me worried about the tough time ahead!

With You, again!

On Opening this up, u may believe I’m an LP fan ( I would be Lying From You if I deny that!) After a long hiatus, an unsuccessful attempt at Breaking The Habit of blogging, ‘m back with a blog!( in case u ve Forgotten, the last time I blogged was in My December holidays) I’ve been raking my head thru, trying to net upon a good subject to blog. i felt it had to be different from What I've Done till now.I was Crawling from one miserable topic to another, thus keeping me occupied for a while, out from the jaws of boredom( sometimes I really like myself for being an optimist!) Bus journeys, life in college, hostel life, all sounded clichéd. And as always, I wanted to come up with something Reaching Out to (almost) everyone, all By Myself. I had a torrid time zeroing in upon a topic for I had all the rotten apples in my basket. I was Standing In The Middle of nowhere and I Hit The Floor with No Roads Left. I had Given Up all hopes of a new blog. It was Minutes To Midnight and I Wake up to a Faint idea that struck me From The Inside. I had a feeling this may get me One Step Closer to what I wanted and exulted with Hands Held High. Taking It Further was a task. I had to Bleed It Out to make something out of nothing but realized that there was no better Cure For The Itch. The ideas were In Pieces and I had to hook up the important webs but Leave Out All The Rest. I Don’t Stay put with the first draft, and hence had a long Session spicing it up In Between with some substance. In The End, it shaped up as expected, being truly singular!

My Love

Before reading this, I request u to think of some person whom u love/loved. U may well appreciate if this blog is nostalgic.
In contrast to my previous blogs, this one is not gonna be entertaining. This one is not gonna make u feel good. This one is not gonna bring smiles on ur face. In fact this one will bring tears. This one will bring back the old memories, the ones u wish to remember, those which u want to take till ur grave. Every emotion has got a meaning and a person attached to it. Though the meaning is tangible only to the “owner”, the person is extant, at least, was. Though the soul and the body separate, memories remain etched. This is something deep in u, something that others can’t see, feel, or sense. That is the beauty of emotions, nobody can access it, but u. Nobody can take it away from u. U can feel it deep down there (in ur heart, head, mind) irrespective of the ambiance, external factors. The best thing about life is, it has sprinkled upon us numerous blissful occasions. The worst thing is, (in most cases) we relish them only as history. So, here I am, recollecting, recounting the wonderful past I had.
I loved my granddad (I still do, but for the sad fact he is no more). I was in 7th when he was first admitted in hospital for a mild stroke. He was 79 then. He came back home in a fortnight, a weaker man, both mentally and physically. that was the time when I started liking him so much.I still dunno wat made me like him so much but I did. I used to help him eat, bathe and do every daily activity ( I mean it..every daily activity). he liked playing cards. I would play with him, for his delight. He liked to go out of the house, but was unable to walk without an assist, I was his staff. I wud do any act that will satisfy him, to keep him happy the rest of his (short) life ahead.
I still remember this incident when I brought home a chocolate, waiting to bite into it. My grandpa saw this choc and wanted to eat it (there is a child in every man!).Me being an 8th std kid, not many wud expect me to give it to him, but I did. I saw the smiles on his face when he was eating that, relishing every inch of it, till the very last piece. I was a silent observer, drenched in delight, watching the old man slip into oblivion at his ease. I bet I wud not have experienced a contentment, even remotely close to that in my entire life.there are many such instances when u "live" for others, because u love them. Love is the language that anybody speaks/understands. These are the moments that define our lives, These are the moments that make our life, those which make life worth living… for, it is in giving that we receive! He was again admitted at 86, that was the last time he was admitted. His last few days were unsightly. I knew the end was just round the corner, it just mattered how slow he was traveling. I was with him when the soul departed, orphaning a young heart. I was there, not with moist eyes but with a craving heart..the human mind is really a funny one. Even though u know u won’t get it, it still yearns. Memories are the medicine to these wounds, no better ones.
(Even today, any old man I see, I treat him like my grandpa. I still go the extra mile to drop the old man who wants a lift. In him, I see my grandpa. In his happiness, I see my grandpa’s)

All said and done, “life must go on”. There is no point in worrying about the past, the future is here for us, to be invented.



PS: I took the weight off my feet to blog this, after seeing the Gautham Vasudeva Menon film “Vaaranam Aayiram”.

The H-bonding!!

I bet I wouldn’t have been happier ( happy..to say the least!) if I was “pushed” into any section but “H”. there was no better class than this and I relished every minute of my life there.

Dr.R.Anand’s classes were very entertaining to attend with that jack ass failing miserably to lecture a class of smarties .Anand teachin chem was lik Jesus preaching Islam!( i apologise here if this hurts ur religious sentiments!!Sorry!) Every lecture of his started with his trademark action.. lampooning some student (and most likely was poor vishu/irfan or akshay) and sending him out of the class.

Bennet fr "energy" meant early to bed, early to rise.8:30 and 8:32 were poles apart for him. his combined lecture with F section meant more girls to ogle at :). though dubbed as the strictest of all, he doesn give a damn wat ur doing in the class, and for most, it was "record" time. while few spent time playing hangman and others slept, i was the cynosure of all eyes..asking doubts( in this lecture too!). this was the time ppl started to stop disliking me, they started hating me!! :)

Sat was the best in the biz wen it came to teaching and he made sure all his lectures v interactive and interesting.he was also voted as "The Best Teacher" unanimously

Though I feel HT was a shade b8r, I’m sure not many of my peers wud agree. She has lambasted at every possible soul in our class but still not without a reason! "ennapa arun ram," was her most quoted words bringin smiles on every face awake!

Baskaran’s physics always lacked sense though I admired him for his social concerns. His lectures were interspersed with “advices” and self kalaais!!( he claims he turned down a lucrative offer from IBM to pursue his passion-physics)

Kumsi- was the biggest joke that ever happened in H section! His engli(pee)sh was his forte and wud set even R.Anand rofl! His definition of “acceleration”(- it is the feeling u experience wen u go round and round in...wat is that..? haan.."rangaraatanam!!") was rated the best by RD and he topped the “comedian of the century” for a record breaking 57 weeks!!he was a very nice fella in person and he used to treat me lik his bro, showed his coll life pix, marriage pix n stuff. it was fun n frenz at same time!

Jerome for ED was not actually in the scheme of things as most of his classes were handled by his research scholar who had his face hidden deep in a forest of beard! also he was not much aware of wat he was teaching or taught and some classes were a "repeat" of earlier ones. we dint spare him too, shooting him with questions from all quarters of the class.

i don remeber the civil engg teachers name, but remember tat her stand-up comedies were well received among the audience (her eyes never left the civil manual that was eternally attached to her palms!) hers was the lecture in which no of proxies out beat the no of students present!!(somethin tat reflects good about her ;) ). this was the oly class with no doubts as ppl were caught up in the net lured by her...sleeping!

second semester brought about an unwarranted change. HT and Sat (unarguably the best faculty) were replaced by Lakshmanagomathinayagam (LGN)( don bother the name!!) and english dept HOD Mr.Meenakshi Sundaram (unisexual name meant i needed to add "Mr" rite at the frnt!). though they were good at their task, they couldn completely fill the void created by the absence of experienced HT and youthful Sat. Meenakshi Sundaram's refrain-"corporate world" irked students more than it favored. We dint have much to complain about the look alike of "Vairamuthu"-LGN.

wednesday afternoon meant Dhanalakshmi's EEE- 2 hours of non stop complicated intricate convoluted unadulterated elec engg. she was very good at it but a bit strict too( though it seemed less comparing the fact that she is frm ICE dept).class rep Hari had a tuf time convincing us to attend the double periods.

Baskaran and Anand continued with the same bull shit though with revived interests(lol!) i still remember Baskaran saying it loud n clear in the class he is no more interested in teachin us the crap..oops srry his passion!!

Autocad Gandhimathi was the dumbest of all..easily outwitted by us. the autocad sheets were a xerox copy of the master copies of either jans or hari who in turn copied from abhinav and mukund who actually copied frm The Master himself..Nithin..!he put all his assignments in Hari's a/c the name of the folder being "with luv, to H section". a noble act indeed!had it not been for him, we wud all ve had an extra exam this semester!:). she dint realise tat it hardly took us time to edit the name in the copies we submitted! this happened even in the sem exam..not surprising, rite??:)she was a nut case durin lecture hrs, sendin out students..aanand being the top draw:)

The oly ray of hope was e-mech Mariappan. He shuld ve had a "year back", for, his attendance fell well below the reqd 75% mark!:). thank his lucky stars, he escaped citing NSS as the reason!

prod lab meant fun. we were really happy tat we were provided with a lab to please ourselves! the in-charge "Parthasarathy"( i think) was a patriotic man. a tamil guy wud get 9/10 for the same piece a northi got 6/10." en pa..tamil payyan thaane nee? en pa intha maari laam vara??" referrin to the shirt worn by aanand inside his (unironed, wrinkled to the max poss extent) lab uniform. it still beats me wat it has got to do with being a "tamil payyan".anyways.. i owe him a lot for, his awarding a "s" grade to me boosted my gpa in the second sem!!

with all these was juxtaposed the intra class comedies and romances! hari-ankitha, jishnu-jans, vinod-akshya, rohit-roshni, akshay ramani-shruthi were the prominent ones, most being love triangles!(hahaha)!

though we were not really the favorite wen it came to performance..(oly 2 or 3 9pointers!), our guys have conquested every possible field in NITT. We had been the runners up in “WISDOM BLITZKRIEG 2008”. aanand made it to DT and plays a “guest role" in writers circle, akshya amutha hari n jans are in amrutha varshini, akshay ramani n ankitha are in the thespian’s society, bolo is in the coll cricket team while duri n amutha are in tamil mandram, hari is the name to reckon wit in EEE dept, had been/is a gr8 class rep and in delta and rahul ashok too is in delta as well as RMI. also jans was among the top 20 in the coll to be qualified to write an entrance for scholarship awarded by OP JEMS

The highlight of my life in H section was the English project during frst semester! full time OB,bossing the girls (akshya and jans) to slog while they pleading us to contribute atleast an iota, genie’s golden words “lets discuss it over a cup of tea”, vetti comments and fake census reports marked the time spent. At the end, we ourselves were pleasantly surprised to hear tat ours was the best in our class and fetched us a full 10 for assignment! it tooks us 2 full days to come out of it, wonderin all day long how we got wat we actually got! we also went to "thanjai periya kovil" as a class trip tat was not a big hit though..the last day of class was celebrated amidst tears(not really!) and joy. mock prizes and "jodi no1" were the highlight of this event! anand and saurabh meena staged a spur of the moment dance show closing the curtains on wat is believed to be as the best section ever in NITT history.

aanand, abhinav, akshya, akshay ramani, amutha, ankitha, bolo, cr, duri, genie, ep, hari, irfan, jans, jishnu, mukund, nandini, pyara, rahul ashok, rohit, roshni, seth, shruthi, sooj, vinod n vishu are a few prominent personalites who made my stay a really memorable one!!

Hip Hip Hurray!!

the tragic end!

after a lot of thinking, typing, deleting and(repeat), i settle upon this final draft of the post! its neva easy to create a work at first go and be satisfied with it. that satisfaction has always been elusive to many.i was wondering wat to post as the fourth(and still i am) when this struck me. y not explain a little more of DT. as mentioned in the first post, DT is just the ability of gaugin a persons ability to gauge ur thinkin, going into an infinite loop. what if 2 INTELLIGENT ppl come to blows? who escapes unscathed? who will be able to gauge better? well, probability comes into play here. since its an infinite loop, the probability of each smartie winning reduces to a simple answer=>1/2 ( to be read as "ans tends to 1/2")!
Putting it in a slightly different way, since they are equally clever, meaning the gauging ability is high, they have equal chances of winning this being a mind game! and the probability of (atleast) one of them winnin is 1( 10th std math,duh), its =>1/2. i use the ans=>1/2 because this is a limiting value and not the exact value.

an ironical situation has risen. now that (almost) everyone knows DT, everyone has perked up their std to be called INTELLIGENT. since the probability of winning has been fixed as "1/2" DT is of no use and a simple toss ll be left to decide ur fate! In short, DT has created the environment to produce "smarties" only to see itself perish:((.
[I guess not many wud ve realised this fact!!]
thus we come to see the tragic end of wat seemed to be a promising start of a revolution. The oly satisfaction i derive from this is "my" ideas were instrumental in forming a pool of smarties!


as for the "hypothetical village", its called so because in no part of the world can u see such intelligent (atleast to some extent..) 'pannayars'..LOL!!

finale!

The story continues(Epilogue but the essence of inertia)…

Here’s how it goes…

After rupa was briefed on the prank , to seek vengeance anu and rupa came up with a plan to bring arun back to his senses.

Venue: OPAL(Girls hostel)

anu: “what the hell does he think of himself??!!! Differential thinking it seems… crap!! “

rupa: “I’m dying to get back at him!Lets think of something…”
Brilliant best buddy(alliteration eh..:p): “Lissen..lissen… what if we play the prank back at him…”
Silent glances were exchanged and understanding cropped up…
(Note: Brilliant best buddy will now be referred to as BBB)
Here follows the messaging sequence

BBB: ‘wat hav u done to my best friend.. v r really upset…'
(this set the ball rolling… gatherin momentum..slowly but steadily!!:))

Arun: ‘Wat is wrong??’

BBB: ‘anu is really upset… she’s been crying n we aren’t able to console her at all..’

Arun: ‘Wat?? Seriously??’

Arun (to rupa’s mob): ‘Wat happened?? I told u right it was april fool and it wasn’t me prankin…’
Yippee!!! they were jumping with joy upon receiving this…

rupa(to arun): ‘Whatever but she’s not getting consoled… I didn’t expect this from you…’
Meanwhile beads of sweat were forming on my forehead, with a rush of adrenaline,

Arun(to rupa): Hey.. I’m sorry.. dint mean to hurt u ppl…

Arun(to anu): Hey.. I’m really sorry… Hope u forgive me.. I dint expect u to take all this so seriously.. I kno I am to blame… It was really STUPID of me…
To keep the sweet taste of victory lingering they didn’t reply for long by which time tension was brewing up in my mind..
Due to mounting tension and lack of response I frantically messaged BBB

Arun (to BBB): Y no reply??

BBB(replies): Wat the hell man… Didn’t expect this kind of behaviour from ur side… I Don’t think anu’s gonna attend the afternoon classes… and its all because of u!!
Please don’t disturb us anymore you have caused enough damage already…
they were overjoyed… brimming with satisfaction…


Now comes the final wrap up…

Venue:Class(LH:108)

The terrific(and triumphant) team(oops.. alliteration again eh) entered the class to witness arun (trouble lined all over his face)…An unprecedented expression indeed…

Arun: ???

BBB: hahaha…

Arun: prank aa… Cha!!! I always knew it was a prank but dint want to ask u in case u were really hurt!! (for ppl hu knw me.. i really care for others!)

They still rolling with laughter…

And as the saying goes
“He who laughs the last, laughs the best”

wait… for the icing on the cake!!

When I interrupted..

Arun: atleast now dyu knw hu msged u tat night??

BBB:??????????

Arun: atleast I know where I was fooled! U ppl still dunno where u were fooled!

Thoppi thoppi thoppi!!!!

And as the saying goes
“He who laughs the last, laughs the best”

END OF SHOW ( audience give a standing ovation..resounding claps fill the hall)

dialogues

akshya, ankitha, arun ram

story,screenplay and direction

arun ram