Ode to the past...

Dedicated to a changing phase of life.. A change that'll keep many things unchanged within.....

I sat, watched tv, and quietly forgot,
I ate, and quietly walked off,
I read the paper, and quietly sat down,
I did all I would normally when in town,
Difference : Something was wrong.


I laughed, and jumped and played,
I fought and made up, all in a game,
I cheated, and confessed,
I listened, and I professed,
Today, I remember these, I feel depressed.


The chitter-chatter in the last bench,
The run to the filter to thirst quench,
The Saturday lunches and rain drenches,
The Section-A-B fights, and HOD's speeches,
These are memories, I'll cherish ever.


The excitement of first time earning,
The joy of pop-corns, and bad movie groaning,
The desperate gang meetings, and despair at low turning,
The joy of the first hike, and birthday treating,
For the last time, let me embrace,
For the last time, let me tell, in grace,
For the last time, let me have a ball.....
I'll miss you all....
A LOT ! A LOT ! A LOT !

Ode to the Activa...

Every morning, I take my Activa to office, travel for an hour, and travel back for an hour. This journey has created an intimate bonding between me and my Activa, and its inspired me to honor it with a little gift ;)


From my window, I spot my Activa near the gate,
The Activa, which is, to me a soul-mate,
Its been with me through thick and thin,
Its carried me and my belongings without dropping a pin.

From my window, I spot my Activa near the gate,
The Activa, which never failed its brake,
Its taken me to college right on time,
And always saved me of a fine.

From my window, I spot my Activa near the gate,
The Activa, to which, I most relate,
Its my most priced possession,
From my most priced person, is a confession.

From my window, I spot my Activa near the gate,
The Activa, on which, I'll go for my dream-date,
It'll take me by the river side,
And off I'll go on a romantic boat-ride.

From my window, I spot my Activa near the gate,
The Activa, for which, my love will never abate,
Buy a car, someday I will,
Sell the Activa, never I will.

From my window, I spot my Activa near the gate......

The Kite Runner - A Review

Last week, I got a chance to read a captivating book by Khaled Hosseini, called the Kite Runner. The story revolves around two characters : Amir and Hassan, and portrays the gratitude that Hassan has towards his master and friend, Amir. It covers every bit of emotion in both these characters. The plot begins with Kabul, and the happy days of Kabul during the monarchy there. It talks about the fall of the monarchy, and how it affected the lives of people there. And amidst this curfew, the author unfolds the story of Hassan and Amir. Amir flees Kabul with his dad due to the curfew and finds abode in America. They abandon their luxurious home and business in Kabul, and make living in America in a small Afghan colony. The climax of the story when Amir goes back to Kabul in search of (I wont tell you this) is the most heart rendering part of the book.

Once in hand, the book becomes so intriguing that its hard to keep away from reading it.Its the most captivating, emotional, tearful story I've read in recent times, and I would easily rate it a nine on ten . I am waiting to catch the movie which released last december in UK.

The One Rupee Tip

Its a lousy Saturday, and I cant stop my mind from traveling down the memory lane. A small incident comes to my mind.

This should have been in my 7th or 8th standard, when I was living with my grandparents in a serene village. Life was about going to school, studying, going for temple festivals, weddings, etc. (There was hardly any eating out, meeting friends, etc). My close friend, Chethana's mom was running a primary school in those days, and she was taking her students out on a trip to Maria park in Cochin (One hour from my place). She was very fond of me, and Che (thats Chethana) and me were (are) inseparable pals. Che's mom asked my grandparents if I could join them on their school trip too, and they agreed. I was really excited about this one (cos it was on a rare occasion that I could step out). I got some pocket money from my granny , around 50 bucks if I remember right, and I was excited at the thought of eating chicken Manchurian at the park.

I remember we sang rhymes (cos the bus was full of primary school kids), chit-chatted (something Che and me love doing), and discussed some school-gossip. At the park, we tried all the rides, we went horse riding, climbed trees (lol), etc. During lunch time, me and Che went to a restaurant in the Park. It was probably very rare that I got the independence of going to a restaurant with a friend. (usually someone accompanied us.) It was a self service restaurant. I went to place the order. After placing the order, my mind started running in the direction of giving a tip to the guy. I've always seen dad tipping the waiters, but I'd never been to a self service restaurant before (not that I could recall then), and I was unsure if I should. Finally I made up my mind to tip him, and gave him a rupee and said "Vechholu" ("Keep it"). I had that air about me when I said that. (lol).
Waiter : "What is that?"
Me: "That's for you. Just keep it"
Waiter: "Aiyaaey.. I don't want it"
Me: "Its alright. Keep it"
Waiter: "We don't accept this"

I quietly walked off :(

It was quite humiliating for me then. Che had a hearty laugh on hearing the story. I avoided going near that restaurant for the rest of the day I spent in the park. Now, when I look back, I feel, One rupee may have been a big thing for me as a child, but I wish he could have valued it like I did... Or, probably, I was meddling with non-corrupt human :)

Whatever be it, this incident is still fresh in my memory, and I invariably recall it, whenever I tip a waiter.

TRIP TRIP TRIP....

Scene at C&RM team:

A : Pleeeease try n make it, it ll be fun...

B: Uh ! ho.. I am busy tat weekend.. If only it was the week after this :(

C: Aah... sorry, have some work :(

D: .......

E: .......


Blah blah... After a lot of coxing around, we finally managed to have a bunch of 25 enthusiasts set out on a day trip to Club Cabana... Sharp orders from the Fun Committee were to reach EGL campus at dot 7 to board the bus... However hard I tried, I couldn't be the first one to be there ! But I was glad, I wasn't the last one either ;).. Thanks to Avinash and Alok !

So we set off...
The bus ride was amazing.. Antakshari and Dumb Charades... Mehul at his best, and , Kurian and Mahesh, all set to make it tougher for our team.. But we weren't to give up so fast ;) An enjoyable bus ride brought us to the venue - CLUB CABANA.. An amazing resort - coupled with water games ! It's a rare combination, and quite an innovative idea, I must admit. So the gang did some pet-pooja (read in Hindi), and set off with full energy for a game of cricket. But yours truly, bugged them for sometime with a game called BANG ! And boom we were out in the field... Two games straight, and (uhooo uhooo) MY TEAM WON BOTH THE GAMES :D Lot of sledging, BAD UMPIRING, and cheering - it was fun..

Time for a game of bowling.. Though not as much fun as cricket, we managed to do some job, and my team lost.. (Maybe thats the reason why I didn't enjoy it. lol) Following this, we went for a game of volley ball.. What a match that was - we were luv - 12 at one point of time, we fought hard and won a losing battle ! thats called PERSEVERANCE....

Time for lunch... hogged so well that I had to wait for an hour before going into the water. There was nothing stopping me once I was in. I tried all my swimming skills against the waves of the wave pool, tried all the banana rides, the jacuzzi and the most boring lazy river too.. hehe..

Water sports can get really tiring.. 2 hours of it and I was almost sloshed with all the water around. So i decided to stop the water-play and move on to a game of Badminton. Aaah, i won there too... YIPPEE...


By now, it was time to pack up... Tired, and worn out faces climbed the bus, and
it was a quiet ride back. The silence was killing me... Slowly we got all the lazy ones active, and joined a game of mimicking the team members.. This was good fun..

All good things come to an end, and so did this one, but it has definitely left a good memory in the minds of all who've attended.

THREE cheers to Mehul and Vinita for organising it !!

Vatsalya... Small things bring great joy ...

Vatsalya Abhayasrama, is an orphanage in Bangalore for girls. I've been going there on Sundays, along with a group of friends, to teach the girls Spoken English, and to help them develop their personality, and communication abilities.

This Sunday, me, Ranjini and Janani were engaging the girls of Standard I to Standard V. What we realized was that they have immense potential, and all they need is an opportunity to show their creativity. Last weekend, we had given them a task for this Sunday. The girls were divided into 2 groups, and they were asked to come up with a small skit, a group dance, and a group song. Each group had a group leader. We told them that we would be giving prizes to the ones who perform well. And this Sunday when we walked into the premises of Vatsalya, what do we see - The girls are applying make up for the drama!! I saw a few girls running around with mustaches ! What an amazing spirit the girls showed. We had never expected this kind of a response from them ! Not only had they worn nice clothes and applied make up (with whatever little things they had), they also had rehearsed very well for their group activities. Each team was filled with enthusiasm to perform. The girls danced, and sang, and it was never ending I must say...

In then end, we gave away the prizes, and it was really heart touching to see the girls jumping with joy on receiving sketch pens and pencils. Lesson learnt : It is small things that give us the greatest amount of joy in life... We also judged the group leaders on their leadership abilities by asking their team members to come and speak about them... They were so overjoyed that the two group leaders stepped ahead to give a THANK YOU speech to us !! Wow... I like the fact that they participated in many events voluntarily... Its this spirit that makes me want to go back to the same place, and help them improve..

The swimmer in me....

Yes.... I finally managed to get into the pool and emulate the fishes :D :D .. I heard of Nisha Millet's swimming classes from a friend, and decided to finally give it a shot... Since I no longer had any CAT headaches, or interview manias (Not like I had tonnes of calls... Just one decent call :(), I was free (Works gets boring, once you know you are planning to do something else in life), and what better to do than learn something I ve never ever done before in life ! And how can it not get better, when I realize that Nisha Millet will be personally coaching me !!

What a humble lady ! She made all of us feel at ease, and I couldn't believe, that I was floating on day ONE !!! Now, thats quite an achievement.. YAHOOO !! Slowly (No - I must say pretty fast) I graduated from floating to learning how to kick in water, to free style, to breast stroke, to back float, to some underwater diving!! - All in a matter of less than a month :) :)

I have a week of classes left.. But I am filled with remorse - I don't wanna stop swimming :-( Its been a wonderful experience learning from Nisha and Biks (the second coach, also her fiancee).. I'm glad I learn t swimming - at least I'll no longer have to stare at people swimming when I go out :) :)