"Hell-heloo".. the voice came cracking over the telephone line, it was barely audible but when i did fathom the person at the other end,Oh! boy i was overjoyed. It's been close to a month since i last saw her walk through that aisle with the tickets in her hands, walking away from me was a friend, confident and my punching bag. Endless mails and chat sessions are the only means to stay in touch but its doesn't quiet amount to the rabbiting on over the phone or in coffee shops we used to indulge in earlier. As i look back on all that has happened, growing up, growing together, how we laughed and bitched, as i look back on all those things i realise how golden those days were. The past is buried forever and the future, well its pretty bleak my end but its the memories that binds these two different world together. Pretty philosophical huh? A little secret, u don't have to be a O.V.Vijayan to sound philosophical you just need to dwell on territories that are sensitive !
Friends are discovered, friends are lost, pretty much a vicious circle , and its painful when u sit and think of life 10-20 yrs from now. How many would remain? How many you would recognize , when you bump into them on the road? Will the new ones replace the old ones? Oh boy im gettin into my once-in-a-while-sentimental moods, but it does make u think about how fragile bonds are. Few months from now my friends from office who keep me company during lunch and chai breaks will become another smiling face on yahoo messanger. I faced this after i stepped outta school and i face it now, 8 months after bidding adieu to college life. We all part with the promise of "keeping in touch" but end up cuddling in our own "busy" cocoon which drifts the frail bonds to intangible distances.
Why these incoherent thoughts now? Well a lotta ppl i know are crossing the oceans, higher studies being the perpetrator and as they leave with the promise of keeping in touch from thousands of miles away, deep down i know a seperation for 2+ years will create a long bridge that cannot be trodden easily. And another factor is marriage, as jagan asked one day "Ann you think we can talk and bitch like the way we do now after u girls get married ?" , at that time it sounded like just another jagan-statement but now it doesn't , when i hear savi's stories of how shy and handsome some of the prospective grooms she's seen are.
Change as they say is constant , its memories we need to cling onto.
*untill later,chadi-budi friends
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Oh darn!
After a brief malady of blogstipation im back and what better way to start then by poking fun at people of my breed, oh i soo soo darn love this.! Even if i was half as intelligent as Mr.Sherlock Homes i would not be able to comprehend whats goes on inside a i'm-a-communist-come-kiss-my-ass walking talking mallu.
I was on my way to my second cousin's place which is a small town called Vellangazhlure, i knew how her house looked but the route from the bus stop to the house was a bit blurred. It was my maiden solo bus trip across towns and tension was running high, my cousins had warned me about butt pinching male travellers and you-are-alive-cos-of-the-loud-horns type bus drivers but nevertheless i decided to make that trip. I got off the bus and looked around, thoroughly confused i approached an old man with a long sticked umbrella near the bus stop.
Confused Traveller :: Hi i need to get to Thomana Chittilapilly Paul mashe's(teacher) house, this is the address.Can you tell me which way i should go.
Beaming old man :: Oh its just a couple of minutes walk from here. How is his nieces's sister-in-law's mother, heard she sprained her leg while climbing up the stairs.
(I was dumbstruck, i didn't even know how her sister-in-law looked, leave alone her mother. Regaining my composure i reassure him that she is doing ok, a fib.)
Confused Traveller :: Oh she doing fine. How do you know her.?
Beaming old man :: Nice to hear that,God bless her! she is actually my neighbours cousin. Your uncles kids are still in the Gulf is it ?
(I'm gasping for breath, how the hell does he know so much about my family when i didn't even know of his existence till now. I'm almost sure that he is a spy sent out by the CIA who have mistaken me for a life threatening terrorist. Ghastly images of police cars with sirens shoving a handcuffed me flash b4 my eyes, Haneef incident is still fresh u see.!)
Confused Traveller :: Ye-ye-yess still there in Kuwait.
Beaming old man :: Oh my bus has come, btw i forgot to tell you the route. Go straight, take a left near Palliparambale Johnny's house and then take a right near my brother's house. The third building from the left is the one. And also convey my regards to your uncle in Delhi.
I stood there gaping for what seemed like eternity. Not knowing who his brother is nor who Palliparambale Johnny is, i used my smart ass brain to phone my cousin who picked me up from the bus stop. Phew! It was a lesson learned, if you are lost in Kerala don't even bother asking for directions, zimmbly rely on your instincts.
Come wedding season and you are bound to meet 646 of your imediate family members in shinning, shimmering gold and gold and more gold! Apart from the ostentatious display of food, gold and sari's there is another thing that makes me wanna run for those blessed kalashnikov's, mallu aunty's! They come in hordes to check out the teeny-weeny Alapatt Jeweller's bracelet dangling from your wrist, the same one that your grandmom cajoled you into wearing cos there would be ppl around who come solely to check out gold and discuss how many pavans each one is. Now the problem doesn't stop there, if you are a graduate(engineering preferred) and 22+ then you are bound to meet Jibymon's , Shibu's and other my-son-is-an-engineer mom's who proudly declare that their son is a computer engg in Texas earning $xxx per month and with a car and a house. A typical conversation would go thus..
Menacing Mallu :: Moleeh, are you Theketala Pinto's aunt's grandchild?
Me :: Ahh,hmm, i think so.
Menacing Mallu (cheekily checking out my shoes) :: Oh i'm his sister's cousin's wife.
Me :: Oh i see. Nice to meet you.
Menacing Mallu :: How much do you earn per month?
Me (regaining ground) :: Ahh enough to survive.
Menacing Mallu :: My sister's son finished his kampyuter engg from XYZ college and earns $xxxx per month.
Me (loathing look) :: Oh that's nice.
Menacing Mallu :: My brother's son is in Australia ,he own's a car and a house and earns so much that..
Me :: Ahh yes yes aunty coming, sorry gotta go now.
So thus i move from one aunty to another listening to how much each ones kith and kin earns in different currencies. I must admit i've succumbed to temptation of marrying one of these global citizens !
Eccentric, inquisitive, barbaric and overly gabby, we mallus are strange creatures indeed. I realised that mallu's innate talent of being garrulous can be annoying and at the same time entertaining, you just have to be in the right state of mind to appreciate it.
I was on my way to my second cousin's place which is a small town called Vellangazhlure, i knew how her house looked but the route from the bus stop to the house was a bit blurred. It was my maiden solo bus trip across towns and tension was running high, my cousins had warned me about butt pinching male travellers and you-are-alive-cos-of-the-loud-horns type bus drivers but nevertheless i decided to make that trip. I got off the bus and looked around, thoroughly confused i approached an old man with a long sticked umbrella near the bus stop.
Confused Traveller :: Hi i need to get to Thomana Chittilapilly Paul mashe's(teacher) house, this is the address.Can you tell me which way i should go.
Beaming old man :: Oh its just a couple of minutes walk from here. How is his nieces's sister-in-law's mother, heard she sprained her leg while climbing up the stairs.
(I was dumbstruck, i didn't even know how her sister-in-law looked, leave alone her mother. Regaining my composure i reassure him that she is doing ok, a fib.)
Confused Traveller :: Oh she doing fine. How do you know her.?
Beaming old man :: Nice to hear that,God bless her! she is actually my neighbours cousin. Your uncles kids are still in the Gulf is it ?
(I'm gasping for breath, how the hell does he know so much about my family when i didn't even know of his existence till now. I'm almost sure that he is a spy sent out by the CIA who have mistaken me for a life threatening terrorist. Ghastly images of police cars with sirens shoving a handcuffed me flash b4 my eyes, Haneef incident is still fresh u see.!)
Confused Traveller :: Ye-ye-yess still there in Kuwait.
Beaming old man :: Oh my bus has come, btw i forgot to tell you the route. Go straight, take a left near Palliparambale Johnny's house and then take a right near my brother's house. The third building from the left is the one. And also convey my regards to your uncle in Delhi.
I stood there gaping for what seemed like eternity. Not knowing who his brother is nor who Palliparambale Johnny is, i used my smart ass brain to phone my cousin who picked me up from the bus stop. Phew! It was a lesson learned, if you are lost in Kerala don't even bother asking for directions, zimmbly rely on your instincts.
Come wedding season and you are bound to meet 646 of your imediate family members in shinning, shimmering gold and gold and more gold! Apart from the ostentatious display of food, gold and sari's there is another thing that makes me wanna run for those blessed kalashnikov's, mallu aunty's! They come in hordes to check out the teeny-weeny Alapatt Jeweller's bracelet dangling from your wrist, the same one that your grandmom cajoled you into wearing cos there would be ppl around who come solely to check out gold and discuss how many pavans each one is. Now the problem doesn't stop there, if you are a graduate(engineering preferred) and 22+ then you are bound to meet Jibymon's , Shibu's and other my-son-is-an-engineer mom's who proudly declare that their son is a computer engg in Texas earning $xxx per month and with a car and a house. A typical conversation would go thus..
Menacing Mallu :: Moleeh, are you Theketala Pinto's aunt's grandchild?
Me :: Ahh,hmm, i think so.
Menacing Mallu (cheekily checking out my shoes) :: Oh i'm his sister's cousin's wife.
Me :: Oh i see. Nice to meet you.
Menacing Mallu :: How much do you earn per month?
Me (regaining ground) :: Ahh enough to survive.
Menacing Mallu :: My sister's son finished his kampyuter engg from XYZ college and earns $xxxx per month.
Me (loathing look) :: Oh that's nice.
Menacing Mallu :: My brother's son is in Australia ,he own's a car and a house and earns so much that..
Me :: Ahh yes yes aunty coming, sorry gotta go now.
So thus i move from one aunty to another listening to how much each ones kith and kin earns in different currencies. I must admit i've succumbed to temptation of marrying one of these global citizens !
Eccentric, inquisitive, barbaric and overly gabby, we mallus are strange creatures indeed. I realised that mallu's innate talent of being garrulous can be annoying and at the same time entertaining, you just have to be in the right state of mind to appreciate it.
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
The day the colours died..
If you are part of that ready-to-burst-at-its-seams population who regularly vist my blog then you must ve noticed the new template. A lot of my avid readers (i love to brag.!) have complained about it, they say its very difficult and yucky to read things in colour. To be honest i really liked writing things in red, green, yellow and blue but due to the overwhelming grievances of my fellow readers i have decided to stick with the serious, journalisitc , seemingly intelligent (i told you i love to brag) black and white , and if i ve to tell the truth im not liking it one bit. What is keeping me from sticking with the colours, you might ask? Well actually im scared the sitemeter which runs at a give-me-a-heavy-push-and-ill-move-an-inch pace will stop moving alltogether if i don't listen to my readers!
But wait i do have a few things to tell..
If you are a bird of passage ,who chanced upon my blog while typing some random topics on google like ..
"collie apple of my eye"
"the all seeing eye code"
"fair skinned pashtun"
"life at mysore"
"pummy in ananda"
"how to cure mallu's hand"
then all i can say is GO GET A LIFE.!
Oh boy those were some killer search words, and guys i ain't joking, go ahead and type these on google and you will find the link to my blog.! Phew! It's really crazy the ways on man.
If you are the other part of the crowd who secretly visit my blog and don't leave a comment , then all i can say is i know all about your tactics *wicked ,loathy grin*. I know how long you stay viewing the page, which part of the world you from and what time you checked my blog. Ha ha ha.! so its about time you left a comment somewhere , anywhere, i don't mind if you write it in Latin or Hebrew or Spanish( btw i know that language eh.!!) but please leave a comment, even if its nothing relevent to what i ve written its awrite.! Ok i wasn't pleading , if you dnt want to leave your mark it ain't a problem , just keep that sitemeter ticking for me awrite!
So coming back to the topic, i will be sticking to black and white henceforth(kulla/koti, do i see you guys grinning!!) , and if you are some random guy who stumbled upon this blog and have no clue what on holy earth im blabbing all i have to say is , it was nice of you to drop by!
But wait i do have a few things to tell..
If you are a bird of passage ,who chanced upon my blog while typing some random topics on google like ..
"collie apple of my eye"
"the all seeing eye code"
"fair skinned pashtun"
"life at mysore"
"pummy in ananda"
"how to cure mallu's hand"
then all i can say is GO GET A LIFE.!
Oh boy those were some killer search words, and guys i ain't joking, go ahead and type these on google and you will find the link to my blog.! Phew! It's really crazy the ways on man.
If you are the other part of the crowd who secretly visit my blog and don't leave a comment , then all i can say is i know all about your tactics *wicked ,loathy grin*. I know how long you stay viewing the page, which part of the world you from and what time you checked my blog. Ha ha ha.! so its about time you left a comment somewhere , anywhere, i don't mind if you write it in Latin or Hebrew or Spanish( btw i know that language eh.!!) but please leave a comment, even if its nothing relevent to what i ve written its awrite.! Ok i wasn't pleading , if you dnt want to leave your mark it ain't a problem , just keep that sitemeter ticking for me awrite!
So coming back to the topic, i will be sticking to black and white henceforth(kulla/koti, do i see you guys grinning!!) , and if you are some random guy who stumbled upon this blog and have no clue what on holy earth im blabbing all i have to say is , it was nice of you to drop by!
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Friends Forever
Another Friendship Day has come and gone, lot of roses were bought, lot of cards were written and forgotten friends were remembered. While i was checking my orkut profile i happened to take note of my friends count, it reads 301, a bombastic number i must say. It's deeply gratifying to know that i'm acquainted with so many friends around the world , friends with whom i played choorchand n lagori in school, friends who got drunk with me in college, friends who hammer the keyboard like me at our workplace and people i met while i roamed this earth for 20 plus years. But deep down i know , there would be very few left with whom i would discuss my blood pressure level and arthirits and brawling grandkids.
Its weird how u go from being strangers to being friendz to being more than friendz to being practically strangers again,and it all happens so fast(as told by shrihari)....
i don't quiet remember my initial baby days,
i lived a carefree life without any worries n calamities coming my way
but as i grew i realised the need for friends,
to discuss cartoons and paintings and play hop-scotch and a game of punts.
school life was a breeze, which looking back whizzed past in the blink of an eye
but the friends i made are the ones i still keep in touch and with whom i laugh and cry.
then came college and all the pressures of studies and getting into the software industry,
here i made friends with whom i haggled on topics like boyfriends, movies and themes that were sultry.
some people say school n college are the golden days that we cannot win back,
i completely agree when i think of all the things this current life of mine lacks
but i must add work is not all that bad cos of the friends i have here,
made exciting by foodcourt lunches, mafia games and BDA chaat trips that we regularly adhere
Oh boy soo many wonderful moments, so many wonderful memories,
all this because of the wonderful friends who made it all worth living !
Its weird how u go from being strangers to being friendz to being more than friendz to being practically strangers again,and it all happens so fast(as told by shrihari)....
i don't quiet remember my initial baby days,
i lived a carefree life without any worries n calamities coming my way
but as i grew i realised the need for friends,
to discuss cartoons and paintings and play hop-scotch and a game of punts.
school life was a breeze, which looking back whizzed past in the blink of an eye
but the friends i made are the ones i still keep in touch and with whom i laugh and cry.
then came college and all the pressures of studies and getting into the software industry,
here i made friends with whom i haggled on topics like boyfriends, movies and themes that were sultry.
some people say school n college are the golden days that we cannot win back,
i completely agree when i think of all the things this current life of mine lacks
but i must add work is not all that bad cos of the friends i have here,
made exciting by foodcourt lunches, mafia games and BDA chaat trips that we regularly adhere
Oh boy soo many wonderful moments, so many wonderful memories,
all this because of the wonderful friends who made it all worth living !