Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Super Mom


Just a forward i enjoyed reading. I was exchanging mails with one of my blog friends today and we were discussing about poems and mom when this forward came by. So as a tribute to all intelligent Indian mothers here comes that forward mail. Hope it leaves a smile in your face :)

A Mom comes to visit her son Kumar for dinner who lives with a girl
roommate Sunita. During the course of the meal, his mother couldn't
help but notice how pretty Kumar's roommate was. She had long been
suspicious of a relationship between the two, and this had only made
her more curious.


Over the course of the evening, while watching the two interact, she
started to wonder if there was more between Kumar and his roommate
than met the eye.

Reading his mom's thoughts, Kumar volunteered, "I know what you must
be thinking, but I assure you, Sunita and I are just roommates."

About a week later, Sunita came to Kumar saying, "Ever since your
mother came to dinner, I've been unable to find the silver plate. You
don't suppose she took it, do you?" Kumar said,"Well, I doubt it,
but I'll email her, just to be sure."


So he sat down and wrote:
Dear Mother,
I'm not saying that you 'did' take the silver plate from my house, I'm
not saying that you 'did not' take the silver plate. But the fact
remains that it has been missing ever since you were here for dinner.
Love,
Kumar


Several days later, Kumar received an email from his Mother which read:
Dear Son,
I'm not saying that you 'do' sleep with Sunita, and I'm not saying
that you 'do not' sleep with Sunita. But the fact remains that if she
was sleeping in her OWN bed, she would have found the silver plate by
now under the pillow.
Love,
Mom


Lesson of the day:
Don't Lie to Your Mother...........!

Monday, May 18, 2009

Me the poet


I think myself to be the jack of all trade and king of none. That way there is this small poet in me who pops out once in a while to play with the words creating rhymes for nothing but the joy of creating. Here is one such creation of mine. Call it a poem or a rhyme or whatever you like to. Here i am, showcasing the small poet in me:)

When words drain we have silence to speak,

Staying apart the feelings are bleak,



Against all odds I will swear,

That the days were good when u were here,



You took the way that life showed you

Never thinking my state after the toll of hew



I always wish that the good comes your way,

To make it bright and a beautiful day



Waiting for the day when you’ll be here,

to whisper those words in your ear.



Eagerly awaiting your arrival

to head start the revival.

I dedicate this to that special person who made me a blogger too.

An adventure trip


A ride for just the heck of it

What was planned few years ago materialized when a conversation got momentum and intensity between the break at work. One fine day my director NSK came to my desk where I and my senior GS and junior ST were sitting. He started speaking about his idea of riding a bullet from mysore to ooty which he discussed with GS few years back who himself owned a bullet. He said that the route will be scenic and the chance of coming across wildlife was good on the ride. The idea of an encounter with a tiger, an elephant or for that matter any dangerous animal thrilled me and I conveyed my immediate participation in that ride. So now the count was three but we had only one bike. The excitement spilled over and ST who was hearing this also expressed his desire to join the ride. He has a Honda unicorn and now the proportion seems to be just fine, four people and two vehicles. But then MK was also in the room and I didn’t want to make him feel bad and I asked him his idea of joining us and the reply was as expected a positive one. But now we are running short of a bike and so I decided to call up another junior (PV) of mine who owns a bike. He is a bubbly character who nods his head for anything and everything in agreement to whatever crap you say. So by now the team of six and three vehicles was complete. It all happened in a matter of five minutes that I started wondering about the strange behavior of life. This plan was laid few years back by NSK and GS when they hardly knew people like me and my juniors existed. But then it eventually materialized now and NSK started booking the tickets online immediately. We planned to make the trip in april as we had a Friday holiday giving us the liberty of three days till Sunday to make this trip happen. As it was only February we didn’t have any problems booking the ticket.

So april came and we were excited to start the journey. We packed the bikes to mysore a day before we started so that there isn’t any delay to collect the bikes when we reach mysore. Getting it packed at the Chennai railways was a headache and it took us a day to do it and we started on 8th april from Chennai which was a Thursday. We took the 9 o clock Cauvery express from Chennai which acted as a passenger train after crossing Bangalore. It scrolled and stopped in every station until it reached mysore by 9 in the morning. Getting the bikes at mysore was a cakewalk as we didn’t see too many bikes and laborers mobbing as was the case in Chennai. We had some trouble starting the bikes as the fuel tank has to be emptied before packing. For the same reason we carried 500 ml petrol to help ourselves reach the petrol station without pushing it. ST’s bike didn’t respond to the minor portion of the petrol it was allocated with, 500ml petrol for three bikes comes around 166ml approximately for each bike. Luckily the petrol station was not too far and I and ST pushed it all the way. God was kind enough to leave the road to the petrol station down slopped that we rode the bike without petrol for few meters to reach the station.

The ride started once the tank was filled. The idea was to move as a bunch and in case any one of the followers is beyond sight and missing for more than 20 minutes then the leader has to wait until everyone joins. To begin with NSK and GS who decided to lead the pack were on the bullet followed by PV and MK in Apache and behind them all chasing it out was ST and me in unicorn.
The weather was warm and it got hotter as we went into the day. ST took over from me in between and we had a chance to have a date with yamadharmaraj. We were speeding in as were the other vehicles ahead of us. It happened so all of a sudden the SUV before us halted with a screech. ST despite putting forward his best efforts to stop the bike ended up kissing the tires over the rear of the SUV which left a naamam like mark. The thing to worry about wasn’t the kiss of the bike but this big truck that just pulled over in time from kissing sitting in the rear. I had to pursue ST to hold on for sometime to get his nerves back before he starts all over again which he adamantly ignored. I persisted and succeeded for I know how it will be to get jolted and how difficult it becomes to concentrate on the ride thereafter. But later the same became a topic to laugh about as we noticed the same SUV with the mark in its rear as we all pulled over for a break.

The route map is shown below for a better understanding of the route we took. We took the mysore-Nanjangud-Gundalpet-Bandipur-Theppakad-Gudalur-Naduvattam-Pykara-Ooty route since the other route was steep and not so friendly to go uphill and we reserved that for the return ride.

After several breaks and change of riders on the way we reached ooty around 4 in the evening. Riding in the hills is a pleasure. To bend with the roads and not knowing what to expect as we turn without speeding down is a thrill by itself. GS’s bullet showed some sings of creating trouble on the way but then bullet being bullet moved up like the sturdy guy it is. We were joined by VR and BG in ooty who came up from coimbatore for the same purpose. We had the dormitory booked at TTDC (Tamilnadu tourism Development Corporation) very much earlier as we know that getting a room in ooty during the season is a tougher task. We rested for sometime and while refreshing I noticed my exposed part of my hands being tanned than usual because of the ride under the sun and the wind. My hands had a clear demarcation of the exposed and concealed part and I felt felicitous to see the designs of nature over me.

As it was to darken soon we headed to the botanical garden which seemed to be the ideal choice for its vicinity. Fossil tree is the only thing that captured my attention of the lot in the garden. There were other trees with monstrous trunk and bulky barks very likely to be more than a century old. We had an opportunity to meet one of the few non corrupt IAS officers Mr. Gagandheep Singh Bedi with his family. He was gracious enough to share a picture with us. Posing and taking pictures kept us occupied for most part of our visit to the garden. As it dimmed we pushed off to take our bikes and return to our dormitory to finish off our dinner after a drink before we retired for the day.

to be cotd......

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

A special sunday



Sunday the word by itself enlightens lot of people bringing a big grin to their face no matter how wrinkled it is due to the hardships they encounter in their mundane life. We look forward for the Sundays when we are a kid to play in the streets with our friends, to watch that special program that gets telecasted only on Sunday, to have special lunch made by mom. When we grow up a bit and get into the college Sunday is something that brings a breather of fresh air. People with girl friends and boy friends venture out to movies and hideouts while people who are with friends check out special joints and people like me spend most of the day relaxing and sleeping. If we could wash the cloths by Saturday itself then Sunday becomes even more special. Later when we grow up and start earning the bread we look forward to Sunday so eagerly to get a break from the gruesome routine. Later when we get married and get settled with our kids, Sunday will be the only day of the week that we wish to have in the calendar for that will be the only day that blesses us the time with our loved ones. As we grow old and Sunday will be special for then our children and grandchildren gives us a visit.
Except in those parts of the world where Sunday is a working day, Sunday is adored, worshiped, played, gorged, viewed, waited, slept, pampered and what not. I love Sunday too and I am not sure about my ideas of a perfect Sunday. But this Sunday (3rd may 2009) was special for the mere reason that drives the Indian subcontinent crazy, cricket. Cricket is one reason that drives me home during the weekends I go. Unlike the actual sport the cricket we play is between the two compounds and with lot of restrictions and rules flexed to suit the ambience. One pitch catch and that to be caught using in one hand without the ball coming in contact with any other part of the body is one such rule for your understanding. We have lot of such decrees to play this game.
Babu is a fierce competitor and he never plays to lose and this gives me all the more pleasure to play against him. I learnt from him how to play with passion and how to play to win. He brings out the best of his potential delivering cent percent commitment to pull off a victory. As babu works in Bangalore and me in Chennai we have to plan in before hand the weekend that we have to visit our respective family in coimbatore. This game we play is not played for money, neither for monetary rewards nor for any trophies but for the passion of the game and the taste of victory that lures with every game.
This weekend was one such weekend where we both were in our hometown and what better time can it be to start the game than a Sunday morning. The game started by 8:30 am and went till 12:30 pm. My brother who has been sharing the same passion for this game for a while now joined babu in his team and I opted for his friend who seemed to hit the ball well while warming up. Jayabal who lives in coimbatore is a lively character when it comes to cricket and NO is the last thing you can hear him say if you call him for a game of cricket. He joined babu and I went for dinesh who is yet to be out of the school. Dinesh has talent but lacks focus and application. With some tweaking and chiding I think this guy should get better than all the oldies of the lot.
Each team has now three players and so three overs to face which makes one over for each player which completes one game. Scoring can be done only in fours and sixes as it is a very small place. There is a demarcation in the compound at knee height and if the ball hits directly beneath it’s a six and the batsmen is considered out if it hits above the demarcation directly. Similarly fours are scored when the ball hits the ground first before it gets in contact with the compound wall. If the ball goes above the compound wall then the batsman is considered to be out again. These form the part of the rules of the game we play. Ufffffffff
Five games form a series and the winner of the series is the best of five games. Like the player who wins the most in five games is the champion. The game began and it was all a closely fought battle. All the games went for the fifth game which means that the equilibrium wasn’t one sided. We played seven or eight series of which most of the series ended with a 3-2 result. There were lots of dives from babu and smart saves from jayabal and usual bloopers from dinesh. Babu even bruised his side back while diving to stop a four. That was the intensity of the game. I was really timing the ball well and scored in every other game. When I failed arvind, my brother’s friend contributed. When both of them failed there was this mystic scoring from dinesh that would give something for us to defend or to save the game. For babu’s dismay batting hardly clicked for his team as jayabal’s attempt to score at least a single four went in vain. It was a battle of preservation and perseverance and we came on top on all the occasions. Not a series lost to the opponent its only victory that I tasted that Sunday which made it very special.

This idea of putting this in blog bobbed up this morning when I was riding my way to office. The triumphant feeling hasn’t sunk in yet. I was in the middle of preparing a travelogue of the trip I made to ooty via mysore. It seemed to take lot of time than I expected. So I thought of chipping in with this post in a way celebrating the victorious Sunday. I believe this post will infuriate babu charging him up next when we encounter. He will definitely make sure that I don’t have another such post in the future.