come they told me...

this morning on the way to work i drove by a school.It was decorated with stars and generally looked all christmas-y.... this reminded me of my school and how awesome christmas was at school..
A long time ago when i was in class 3(i said long time ago) we were doing the christmas play and I was Mary.I was all dressed up in blue with a long gown sorta thing with a blue veil on my head.My best frnd keerthi was joseph and she had this beard stuck on her face that made her look really scary.The entire play I avoided looking at her. And another frnd of mine Mridula was the drummer boy who sang "Come they told me..pa rapapam pam.." and another frnd Vidya was the angel right on top.
Anyways without boring you guys with those details of who was who..The thing was the frndship that we all cultivated.Each year christmas was a chance for us to make frnds with ppl we didnt know.It also was a chance for us to share our goodies with the less privelaged ones.One Christmas tradition which I really liked was playing Chris-ma/Chris-child. It was super fun figuring out wat to get ur Chris-child.Still have some of the stuff we got.This was a gud way for me to make frnds with ppl outside my circle of frnds.It also taught me to save money for the little gifts I had to buy.
The other thing was making Christmas Cards.My school set aside this day when we all of us made cards that were sent home around Christmas/New Year.The loud speakers played Christmas carols and we set about making the cards.Then again was a time for sharing the felt-tip pens,glue,glitter etc..
And finally the one thing that had a profound impact on me..This was called White Christmas where we all dropped gifts into a huge bag and these were shared with left fortunate ppl than us.This was a superb concept.

And then there is now.When the first thing that came to my mind was..Y is it on a Sunday??? I would have a holiday from work otherwise.But looking at those children in that school I smiled to myself and thought someone else is doing all those things that I did..and they cherishing it as much as I did

I must also add that I am still best frnds with keerthi(inspite of us living in diff cities) and still in touch with Mridula and Vidya..(guess everything didnt change after all!!!)

And if u wondering y this post is called come they told me.- the first thing I associate with Christmas is this carol that the little drummer boy sang on his way to see the New Born King,Son of God

things i miss doing in chennai

k this post is being written with a serious bout of homesickness..
I spent my last Sunday thinking about how much my life has changed after moving to Hyderabad and that was when I came up with this list.It essentially comprises the things I did/miss doing

1) fighting with my dad for the Hindu paper and reading the entire paper back to back.Then reading the Calvin and Hobbes strip
2)fighting with my dad for the Sunday magazine section which he would invariably leave in his bathroom before I got up as a consequence of which it would be wet(wait i dont think the sentence formation is right there- but am sure you get the drift)
3)eating crisp dosas with peanuts chutney and last nites pesarapappu/onion sambhar
4)chasing the bus!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
5)calling chaitanya,adi,sharan,arun,priya and telling them that they gonna miss the bus at nandanam.calling manju to check if i missed the bus and making it wait at nandanam.
6)saying hi to all my teachers from school.(My bus-stop is outside school)
7)looking at the new students and wondering how much better school was when I was in it.(y the hell dont they wear their badges????)
8)walking all the way to the canteen so that I can eat puff(real reason-socialize with half a dozen ppl on the way)much to divya/janani's exsasparation
9)having a desperate urge to eat dahi papdi chat/rasagollas/pasta/mirchi vada/vada at 3 in the afternoon in the middle of some boring lecture
10)playing bingo with janani
11)sitting in the verandah outside krl's room and jus whiling away time(supposedly on duty organizing something)
12)basically torturing janani with my odd comments/thoughts/opinions
13)snubbing abhinandan..(we had a mutual hatred)
14)sitting at amethyst and eating black current youghurt in their trophy cups(their cups were shaped like trophies) and talking to the gang..or kalaichifying(that is pulling each others legs) or abusing the boys.. also commenting abt some odd female who is in the gym with us
15)sittin on the beach and eating peanuts/raw mango for 200 bucks(record of sorts am sure)
16)playing running and catching on the beach and throwing sand on each other.
17)playing boys vs grls antakshari and then ending up singing all our fav songs together.
18)actually all of us singing pehla nasha!!
19)sharan's beach house(sorry da arun..liked sharan's better)
20)eating food at kayandi/buhari.
21)planning to go for a movie at 6 20 and going to Satyam for a 6 30 show
22)bugging my mom to watch telugu movies with me due to the lack of company
23)buggin shivanth for brownies and then fighting over who gets how much.
24)going out with div/jan to watch the most outrageous movies in the world.
25)going to landmark and browsing through the cds.
26)making my father take me to gangotri for dahi papdi chat and then bring it home and eat it watching full house.
27)talking for hours together on the phone-dispensing advice,getting advice,making plans,crying,gossiping.The famous conference calls!!!!
28)sleep overs at deepa's house where we raided her fridge for anything edible.
29)sleep overs at my place where we played pictionary(actually i dispensed the cards and the rest played)
30)getting the notes/xerox some 2 days before exams.
31)doing the lab exams!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
32)driving my car(ok i drive at 40 on ecr-so what)
33)sitting on top of the tank and watching the fire-works
34)sitting at move-n-pick and complaing about y they dont have chocolate ice cream and still enjoying what they have.
35)waking up in the morning and find my mom sitting on the chair next to my bed drinkin her coffee/tea
36)telling my folks some stories they absolutely un-interested in but still listened to coz i was telling them

well i guess tat pretty much sums it up..k wait one more..am sure am gonna get clobbed if i dont put that up
37)talking to nanta on the bus and generally being her one -woman-entertainment show

title

have u ever wondered if its possible to condense an entire essay/passage into a few words.as in give it a title.if the title describes the stuff in the passage then y bother to write a passage at all.mite as well use all my thot process to jus come up with a title.i am guessing the same goes with headlines.have u ever wondered y politicians "make it to the headlines". they never make it to a "3 paragraph article" or that event "made headlines." i personally think the world wud be a far more interesting place without a heading. imagine reading thru an entire article in the magazine or an entire blog and then deciding if u liked it or not.how much more of our brains wud we be using in tat case!!!!(not sure of technical details)it wud get us thinking much more atleast.
the taglines tat come with movies are a gud example of this.noticing it a lot in telugu movies these days..the one thing tat comes to my mind is "nijam-its a lie" for those who dont follow telugu nijam means truth..so the entire title is an oxy-moron in itself.the tagline caught on like a rage but the movie was one of the yrs biggest duds and one of the most boring movies i ever saw(actually i hace never gotten around to watching the whole movie) or for tat matter.."baalu-abcdefg) and if u wondering wat the alphabets represent then u watch the movie..another absolutely senseless movie..the hero lives with a bullet lodged in his stomach for 2 yrs as he wants revenge for his sweetheart' death.and wat does abcdefg stand for u ask..
a boy can do everything for grl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! grrrr..i wanted to strangle the writer/lyricist/public relations guy. not only telugu movies hindi movies too have those things which are apparently called catch phrases."daag-the fire","kabhi kushi kabhi gam-its all about loving ur parents" and so on so forth i can go on forever..

so wat i am gettin to is tat the title wud have nothing to do with the stuff its titling...so lets do away with the titling..

if there are any lapses or lack of any sequence in this blog its coz i wrote it from work where i rushed to solve some problem.I swear I started it when i was free at lunch..

happiest phase of my life

Deepthi was my best frnd in college.We did everything together.Deepthi was seeing this guy who didnt belong to the same community as her.But for that difference(which accordin to me is no difference at all) they were an ideal couple.They were made for each other(or so our circle of frnds thot)
Flash forward to the future.Deepthi and I finished college.Deepthi told her mom abt this guy and the next thing I know she is gettin engaged to a gud boy from the same community as her and the boy was chosen by her parents.The guy had apparently come down from some place in America with the sole aim of finding a bride.And after rejecting some 200 fotos,accepted to meet my frnd.(her family was flattered)And before I knew it they were engaged.All this happened within a week and my frnd Deepthi is all of 21!!!!!!!!!!

My amazement doesnt stop here.Deepthi's mom-in-law doesnt like it if she has ear-piercings so she takes of her earings.Deepthi's mom-in-law doesnt like it if she has her nose pierced too..so off with that.Deepthi's mom-in-law thinks she should cut her hair and within half an hour calls back to say that she doesnt think its a gud idea and she shud probably grow her hair.Deepthi's mom-in-law took her saree shopping and picked all the sarees that she thinks my frnd shud wear at her wedding.Ok i am sure u got it..Bottom line..Deepthi's mom-in-law.

Wat amazes me is that this grl who checked out guys with me,ate pani puti on the street with me and did all the crazy things that normal teenagers do is putting herself thru this load of crap without complaining.

I always thought tat the millions of saas-bahu serials were a cliche.And all those books which showed the huge comical family were an exaggeration.But apparently not..I have just come to realize that when an Indian grl turns 21 her family starts the famous quest for the most suited bridegroom.(their logic is u have all the fun u want but when u gettin married we pick the guy)

Deepthi spends her time shopping and at the parlor these days.She came home and gave me her wedding invitation yesterday.It was worded as follows
join me when i enter the most happiest phase in my life with the man of my dreams!!!
All that I hear from her these days are how irritatin her mom-in-law is..wonderin wat the happiest phase is..

At times like this I am really thankful that my parents let me do my own thing.I am at the moment leadin my life on my terms and am still biding my time till when the man of my dreams comes and i enter the happiest phase of my life!!!

new life

first time in my life i am completely responsible for myself
first time in my life i have salary that is completely and totally mine
first time in my life i burned my dinner and laughed over it.
first time in my life i ate half cooked rice(courtesy nut roommate)
first time in my life i saw movies 5 days in a row at the same multiplex.(the ticket guy recogonizes me now)
and the list goes on.. and y u may wonder..that is coz i have just started working and living by myself. its like absolutely the most thrilling experience of my life.
the freedom is exhilarating but so is the responsibility that comes with it.
i have had cousins saying that u will get bored..u will want to come home.. u will hate it.. but strangely 2 months into it i am loving each minute of it..
i think that every person at the age of 21-25 should live this life. it teaches one things that he/she would not learn when lives at home. i have frnds who are home sick and pining for their mom and home food..ok i agree that there is no place like home but still.. hello!!! its ur life start living it for urself..the way u want it too.. after all there is only one life and its urs...
k me signing off now as its time for me to head home from work and tend to my domestic duties :)

un-iyan

watched this movie called anniyan yesterday.touted as a mega hit and marketed as a commodity this movie claims to be on of the most expensive movies made in south india.(not sure of the exact price though heard it was close to 25 crores) where that money went i still wonder because besides the songs(which i admit were shot in amazing locales) the rest of the movie seems like any other movie.

anyways getting to the point.the movie is about fighting corruption and the protagonist is a tamil iyengar youth(the hero is in his 40s)called rules ramanujam alias ambi and his multiple personalities.

wat got to me was the way in which the iyengars were portrayed.comic was what they tried to show. pathetic was what i felt. their food, their music,their clothes,their customs ok u get the point basically everything abt them. its not just this movie most south indian movies these days.so decided to make a classification of our filmy
tamil brahmin or tam brahms as they are stylishly called!!
TYPE 1
in thick soda buddy glasses with a huge namam on his head and clad in dirty faded kurta and veshti.

TYPE 2
poor wud be an understatement.miles below the poverty line.invariably an upright government clerk or koil pujari.if he is the former then he wud strongly be against corruption and hence cant rise in the ranks and has his entire family against him.and if he is the latter then he believes his God will take care of everything but she is not doing that at the moment.

TYPE 3
the one who is a stickler for rules and customs that were followed even before the rough draft of the Gita came into the picture.and what but the obvious can happen his daughter(it CANNNOT be his son) will fall in love with a christian/muslim.Father wont give up on his customs daughter wont give up on her love.

TYPE 4
extremely rare case but variation of the former- son who is against his father and so does everthing against his father's wishes. proves himself rite in the end.

and so the story goes.i think as the indian film industry is growing in all aspects so it can grow out of this cliche. none of the tam brahms i know are anything like this.they just like the rest. as in hit the disco saturdy nite, have grl frnds and eat a lot of other stuff besides curd rice!! and most often than not their folks cool abt it. i think its appreciable that there is a community that still follows its traditions and sticks by them.and this brahmin bashing is doing no one any gud.

i think..evam indrajit

in my extremely busy schedule of settling down in my job i went to watch the evam play evam indrajit this sunday. besides being an extremely huge fan of karthik k i genuinely like their plays.. i have never missed even one. but this sunday was different. they were doing a play that was not funny- written in the 1960's by my standards it was from the last century!!!! :-) the second reason was that i was taking along a frnd who had never watched a play before. i was not too sure if this was the right choice for a first play but watever!!!! i dont want to go into the story of the play. but watching it sure set of a train of thought some of it relevant to the play and most of it not.. but anyway here goes...
i am a human being. God created me as one coz He wanted me to go through the emotions that He Himself put into his most wonerous creation ADAM. happiness,jealousy,sadness,anger,hatred,exhilaration,exhaustion,dejection and so on so forth. i have been opposed to the thoughts which say that i shud transcend to a higher plane. to hell with a higher plane i am happy here. wat is the point in being a human and not going through it. i could have been born a buffalo,giraffe or even zebra for that!!! hey i donno, maybe they are capable of emoting too and i just dont get their emotions... but yeah ok.. i think u get the point..

evam indrajit just strengthened my idea. it talks abt amal,kamal,vimal and indrajit!!! it symbolizes every other individual and u.. it talks abt the circle of life and the 3 parts in it namely youth,middle age and death. it ends with indrajit realizing that running away from the normal will not help and its best to accept that. wat is the point in trying to unserstand something that is in comprehensible or in the least open to a wide interpretation. indra as he is called ends up loosing the grl he loves and settles down with another grl.. another manasi.. oh by the way every grl is a manasi..(how chauvenestic can one get man!!!)

ok ok by now u must be wondering wat is she trying to talk abt.. well i am trying to type with my colleagues doing java,oracle and discussing orkut sitting 2 feet from me ,hampering my already chaotic,confused thought process.. yes this is youth. where one sits and talks and gossips, grls on guys and hrithik and brad pitt and guys on grls and cars and cricket and who has the hugest biceps or the hugest pay checks.. this is youth!!!!! ur frnds are ur world, ur love is heaven and home and mom and dad are the things that bring u down to earth when u absolutely dont need it.
by the time one moves out of this stage u enter the grihasta or married life. u are a householder meaning that as a spouse u support,love and care for ur husband/wife as the case may be.for better or for worse..in sickness or in health till death(or lately divorce) do u apart.. long walks on the beach, burnt dinners, saving and scrimping on the salary, overtime and all.. then kids come into the scene.kindergarden to car pool to karate class and so on.. oh wait i almost forgot sibling rivalry :-)

death???? its a question mark.no one knows wat one it is and i appreciate the those who can explain it. but i dont want to think abt it and i dont want to be taught abt it..let it be.. will find out as it comes..

so like the play said i think that i shud go through the stages and go through the circle and as the sang in the play 1-2-3.3-2-1.4-5-6.6-5-4 and so on..

all in all the play was gud. my frnd loved it. and i got to check out the guy my frnds and i call "cute karthik!!!" it set of a train of thought and it set of this blog!!!

waaaaaaaaaat di?????

ok this mite not exactly make sense to most ppl but its a sort of brief sketch of one of my dearest frnds div.
div was someone i met in my engineering college. in a sense we are both complete opposites of each other. no two ppl could be more different then div and me. she shy and silent and me the person who talks nineteen to a dozen and has no qualms accosting a person.(my classmates would vouch for this)physically too she and i are absolute opposites of each other. div is one of the most petite and delicate grls i have ever known and most guys in class fell for her.on the other hand i was round and considered a guy's frnd and not someone you would want to impress. but like the saying goes unlike poles attract..
i can talk my mind with div.. she would come on my innumerable walks around the college. on most of these occasions i would stop to socialize and this wud bug divya no end. but she wud patiently stand. i always made it a point to introduce divya but she never came out and spoke to them. i think that i have lost count of the number of trips she made to the canteen where she ate absolutely nothing but just came coz i asked her to.
it was only towards the end of the 3rd year of my 4 yr degree that i started to turn to her and have serious conversations.it was then that i realized that div behind the immature facade was a serious human being.
i think this is the pt where i tell u that inspite of div being shy in public was an absolute nut when she was with ppl she knew and liked..
i realized during our talks that she was a very mature human being with a very strong personality.she just chose to give the impression of being a baby!!!
by final year i almost bulldozed divya to become like me- partying with me,watching every movie that came to satyam theatre etc.
guess we started of as unlike poles but now have become birds of a feather..(OK i couldnt resist the mokke :D )
and in case u wondering y this is titled as it is .. tatz wat div says to me every time she calls me..

the confused desi

i have always been extremely bothered about the way the indians are represented in the "crossover movies"
mom with pickles and coconut oil,dad permanently clad in his khadi kurta and his thick glasses behind his newspaper and the son/daughter who is trying to cope with their parents and the confusion of cultures. for crying out loud!!!!
Bride and Prejudice was one such movie that was made to the point of ridicule. Gurrinder Chadda made Indian moms look like the only thing on their minds was getting their daughters married. please there is far more to mom's than that.
The Kumar's at No.42 is another case in example. The entire family thinks its their duty to make royal fools of themselves and Sanjeev. Its gone from the point of being funny to getting on my nerves.
American Desi with the cliched "krishna gopal reddy" insisting on being called "kris"!!!!

The only movie of late in this spate of films that is atleast a little close to reality is Flavors.The way in which the parents will accept their son's foreign wife and the wedding and all,the girl who just wants to spend time with her husband. All these characters are believable and nice.

I strongly feel that Indians are not as they are portrayedto be.Making a mockery of our culture does not count as comedy. After all we dont see Greeks making jokes on their rites, or the Red Indians making spoofs of their smoke signals and for that matter the Americans making comedies on the non-existance of a history or tradition.
ok thatz a lot of desi bashing!!!
will stop now
cya.