mujhe rang de...

what have you read - a revisit

2012-01-12T12:54:00.001+05:30

This blog has been in a dormant state for a long time now. Between my last post and this one, I had changed jobs, wrote two posts which are still in draft, traveled less and read more, put on few kilos(Thanks to my wife's cooking) and got bored to death. It was during one such boredom that I started reading my own old posts for some self motivation. I came across this blog which was a tag, and thought about re-posting it, with updates.

It is a book list and we have to say what we have read out of it. I have done this in August 2nd 2009 and thought about re-doing it just to see how many more books I have read from that list. I have also added a mark IS in addition to the X mark, which indicates that the book is In Store but I have not read.

So here is the Tag:

So how many books on this list have you read?

The BBC says most people will only read 6 of these 100 Books.Instructions:Cut and Copy the list into your notes... then...
1) Look at the list and put an 'X' after those you have read. (remove other persons X's)
2) Tally your total at the bottom.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

2 The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien

3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling - IS

5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee - X

6 Any religious book

7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte

8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell – IS

9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman

10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott

12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy

13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller

14 Complete Works of Shakespeare

15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier - X

16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien

17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk

18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger - X

19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger

20 Middlemarch - George Eliot

21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell

22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald - X

23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens

24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy - IS

25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh

27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky - X

28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck - X

29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll - X

30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame

31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy

32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens

33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis

34 Emma - Jane Austen 35 Persuasion - Jane Austen

36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe

37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini - X

38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres

39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden

40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne

41 Animal Farm - George Orwell - X

42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown - X

43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez - X

44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving

45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins

46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery

47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy

48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood

49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding

50 Atonement - Ian McEwan

51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel

52 Dune - Frank Herbert

53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons

54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen

55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth

56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens - X

58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon

60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez - X

61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov - X

63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt

64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold

65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas - X

66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac - X

67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy

68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding

69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie

70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville – IS

71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens - X

72 Dracula - Bram Stoker - IS

73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett

74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson

75 Ulysses - James Joyce

76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath

77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome

78 Germinal - Emile Zola

79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray

80 Possession - AS Byatt

81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell

83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker

84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro

85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert

86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry

87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White

88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom

89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - (Read a few of them)

90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton

91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad

92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery

93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks

94 Watership Down - Richard Adams

95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole - X

96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute

97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas

98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare

99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl

100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo - IS

That's a total of 18 read and 6 in store books. Last time it was 12 & 5. I would consider it a disappointment since the In Store books remained in store, and I could get hold of only 6 more books in this list in 2 and a half years. Sure this list is not the epitome of best books and for sure I have read many more good books during this period, which unfortunately doesn't fall in this list. But still, given a chance I would love to read them all. Considering that, it is a disappointment :)

Anybody up for this tag ?

20 years of my FIFA Football World Cup

2010-06-22T21:40:00.002+05:30

1990 - World cup on DD National. Dad and Uncles for company.
1994 - World cup still on DD National. Dad and Uncles still for company.
1998 - World cup still on DD National. GEC Trichur For company
2002 - World cup on Cable TV and Internet. Dad, Friends and Uncles for company.
2006 - World cup on Cable TV and Internet. Bangalore Boyz for company.
2010 - World cup on DTH, Internet Live Streaming. Wife and Tweeples for company.

Vakka Vakka. Every Time for Argentina :)

thank god..

2010-02-24T18:34:00.004+05:30

Thank God I was there to see it. And Thank GOD for providing it.
200* - Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. Thank You, a thousand times over. You know how I am feeling. A rare feeling of ecstasy, happiness, overjoy, adrenaline rush - all clubbed together and I am yet to catch my breath.

Phew!! What a Man? What an Innings?

Thank God. I am alive to witness it.

cricket at its best

2010-01-15T08:59:00.002+05:30

Now I should be thankful to my company's HR team for declaring Makar Sankranthi as Holiday in a short notice. I had cursed them in my mind for swapping a long weekend for a dull day in mid-week. I had cursed them in my mind since I thought I will sit idle on a day where I don't celebrate anything. But it was not meant to be that. Today I am thankful to them because

For the first time in my life watched a Domestic Cricket Championship match for the entire day.
I watched a sublime innings from a young lad which almost took his team on the verge of championship.
I watched the old 'Adelaide' war horse swing his deliveries like banana's.
I watched a proper cricket match after a long time in the subcontinent
Last but not the least I saw people thronging into Gangotri Glades Cricket Stadium, Mysore, cheering the home team and standing up appreciating the visiting team's success. They were silent when the wickets went down. They were shattered when the old war horse pounced a return catch from the last batsman. But after that they stood up and applauded the victorious team.

Cricket lovers. If you haven't seen yesterday's Ranji Trophy final between Mumbai and Karnataka then you have missed something great. Mumbai might have taken the Ranji for 39th time, but it didn't come easy. It was not gifted to them, instead they earned it by playing some good cricket against a good team. Manish Pandey was superb and he had all the time in the world to play his shots. Agarkar and Dhawal Kulkarni bowled with vigor. Sathish and Mithun fought it out. And one cannot forget the contibutions of Abhishek Nayar and Vinayak Samant.

It was good cricket all around.

And here is an interesting article from Ramachandra Guha in Cricinfo about the selection decisions.

an year of solitary reading

2009-12-23T14:49:00.003+05:30

It is that time of the year when one thinks about what he or she did in the past 12 months. People will reflect upon their good and bad deeds and will come up with new resolutions for the New Year. I've always been a no resolution person, simply because I do not believe in them. Giving up drinks, eating less non vegetarian, bringing down weight to 60kg, going to gym, learn new technology, get a new vehicle etc is just not me. I do not plan for these things. I take it as it comes. And probably the only resolution I, knowingly or unknowingly takes, is to read as many books as possible.

Alexis, in his latest blog post, talks about finding time to read and says he has given up television to find time for reading. I know many a people who say they do not find time to read. To quote Alexis – “People who are passionate about books and who love reading would somehow find time to read; at least a few pages or chapters every day. For them reading is like eating. If they don’t read they starve.” And I believe in that.

Let me tell you, I have that irresistible feeling, which I cannot explain, deep down the heart if I do not read everyday. It has become an addiction. This year I had moved out and was staying alone, since the last standing roommate also decided to tie the knot. I had lot of time at hand and lot of books to read. Sometimes I shut out TV completely. There were weekends where I never switched it on. I slept just for sleeping except in the weekends, when I woke up at 10 AM. I stayed late and read. I read in the toilet, and I read in lifts. I read while my system rebooted, and I read at the office cafeteria. It has been a year of solitary reading, which I am proud of. This post is not about my achievements in reading this year, but about the good books I read in English and I hope you too read them.

I started the year with A Town called Dehra, by Ruskin Bond on a train en route to Bhubaneswar. It is a simple book where the author explains the town, Dehradun, where he was brought up. I then moved on to The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Ah! What can I say about the master? The story is about a father, his 3 sons, his death and an illegitimate son Smerdyakov and the search for the murderer. The novel also portrays Oedipal theme in a very mild manner. It is novel about crime, passion, jealousy and love. Dostoyevsky has put in a lot of autobiographical elements in his final novel and the best part of the book is the characterization of people of the novel. You will feel hatred for the father, Fyodor Karamazov and think whether such persons do exist. They hit on you and believe me it is definitely going to give you a hangover. And the best quote I liked from it is Father Zosima’s advice to Fyodor Karamazov – “A man who lies to himself, and believes his own lies, becomes unable to recognize truth, either in himself or in anyone else, and he ends up losing respect for himself and for others. When he has no respect for anyone, he can no longer love, and in him, he yields to his impulses, indulges in the lowest form of pleasure, and behaves in the end like an animal in satisfying his vices. And it all comes from lying-to others and to yourself”. The Brothers Karamazov is undoubtedly the best book I read this year.

The next best thing I read would be Amulet, by Roberto Bolano and The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene, followed by The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Amulet is about a woman’s resistance to the Mexican army’s 1968 invasion of the university where she studied. As she lay down in the women’s toilet she recalls her bohemian way of life. She calls herself the “Mother of Mexican Poetry”. I always loved Latin American authors and this one, which may not be the best of Bolano, truly reflects the life of Latin American poets and writers during the times when Mexican unrest.

The Power and the Glory is also set in Mexico but covers a different theme. Its main protagonist is the unnamed Roman Catholic priest, called as the “whisky priest” for his love for alcohol, who evades the anti clerical governor and his secret police in an area where Catholicism is outlawed. But the priest is sinful and is haunted by the past especially the fact that he has fathered a child. He also meets a Judas like character in his journey who finally tips him of to the Police Lieutenant. The priest is captured and killed, but in the end we see another priest coming to the same area, may be suggesting that power of Catholic Church.

The Scarlet Letter talks about the themes of sin and guilt. In the 17th Century Boston a married young woman, Hester Prynne, is accused of committing adultery and giving birth to a child. She is not ready to reveal the name of her lover, the father of the child. So as a punishment for committing adultery, on the breast of her gown, a rag of scarlet cloth that is of the shape of a letter is stitched up. The upper case letter is A, which represents adultery that she has committed and it is a letter of shame for the entire town. She is forced to live in the outskirts of the town after being shunned by the entire community. Meanwhile her husband now assuming the name of Roger Chillingworth comes to the town and takes up the role of a medical practitioner for the ministry. He has his own doubts about Hester’s lover and soon founds out that it is none other than a Minister of the City, Dimmesdale. A letter A, supposedly burned onto the Dimmesdale’s chest under mysterious circumstances, is seen by Chillingworth when he attends Dimmesdale for his mysterious heart trouble. Chillingworth’s suspicion is confirmed and he now wants revenge. Nathaniel Hawthorne has handled the theme of sin and guilt with dense psychological details. It is too painful to read at times and needs a lot of patience.

Roots: The saga of an American Family is a big, time consuming novel written by Alex Haley about the African slaves brought into America. It follows the protagonist Kunta Kinte from his birth in a small village Juffure in Gambia, Africa to his arrival in America. He was a practicing Muslim of Madinka tribe before being captured and enslaved by the Whites. It then traces his journey to Americas in filthy conditions, his escape attempts, his marriage and raising kid. I read it till there and found it too hard to move. Nevertheless it’s a good book if one wants to understand about the conditions in which slaves where brought up once upon a time in America. The tough part of the book is to understand is the Language spoken by the Black Americans in those times.

Zorba the Greek written by the Greek Novelist Nikos Kazantzakis is my current read. It is the story of mysterious and adventurous Alexis Zorba who befriends the narrator, who is ready to leave for Crete to open a lignite mine. Zorba approaches him for work and the narrator is fascinated with Zorba’s opinion and attitude. He decides to have him as his guy to over see the mining. Once at Crete the narrator, who has socialist ideologies, tries to befriend the workers. Zorba warns him saying – “Man is a brute.... If you're cruel to him, he respects and fears you. If you're kind to him, he plucks your eyes out.” I am yet to finish it and by the way it is going I should finish it fast. It is interesting and it is about Zorba only. He is the main character around which the story is revolved. The way in which he handles people, his thoughts about life, the way he seduces Madam Hortense and makes love, his adventurous mind, all leaves a big impression on you.

That ends the list and post. It has been a year where I bought a lot of books too. I couldn’t go to the Bangalore Book Festival this year, but still Blossom, Mathrubhumi and DC Books didn’t disappoint me in my quest for books. I have been also been reading a lot of Malayalam Novels, Short stories and Screenplays and have written about the same in my Malayalam Blog

And as I started this post quoting Alexis, let me end this post with the same message that Alexis has put out in his post. For this Christmas and New Year when you are buying gifts for kids buy them books instead of a play station or video game. Take them to the local library and get them a membership. Read out books to them if possible and inculcate the love for books and passion for reading. Teach them good reading and not just good books.

Wishing you all a Happy Christmas and Prosperous New Year ahead.

Image Courtesy - The Guardian UK

at times..

2009-12-15T10:25:00.001+05:30

You say the test cricket is dying. And then to prove all the critics wrong New Zealand and Pakistan sets up a brilliant match in Napier, New Zealand. Pakistan sets a target of 208 in 43 overs for New Zealand, and New Zealand starts well. The purist in me is ecstatic hoping for a thrilling finish. Postpones my ablutions till tea break, and once it is done, speeds on Red to catch the remaining of the match on the Net.

And what does god do?

He/She sent huge droplets of water in the form of rain to Mc Lean Park, Napier. And New Zealand needed 118 runs in another 23 overs with 10 wickets in hand.

Ah, God. You are so cruel at times. Guess you too turned 20-20 off late.

of ghosts and vampires

2009-12-07T13:30:00.001+05:30

This week while I was coming back home, a movie was put on in bus. It was the recent Malayalam movie kaaNaakaNmani (കാണാകണ്മണി) directed by the Veruthe Oru Bharya fame Akku Akbar. It had a powerful message against young couples purposefully aborting their pregnancy just because they are not ready for parenthood. But the movie as a whole is executed very badly. The director has brought in a concept, where the restless soul of the aborted child (named Shivani) enters into the couple's present child (Anagha) and wows to kill Anagha since Shivani never got the care that Anagha got from the couple. The parents realise their mistake and as per the elders advice apologizes to their aborted child. But Shivani is not so easily tamable. She takes Anagha to a waterfall to drop her, but seeing that her parents are crying and devastated at Anagha's plight, decides to give Anagha back.

I am not dwelling into the details of the movie as the movie lacks a good script. There are lot of loopholes and no wonder it bombed in the box office. But what made me write this post is the different way in which the director treated the restless soul (ദുരാത്മാവ്) of the kid. I almost expected a Thilakan or some other meledam namboodiri or a Kathanaresque Father (the couple are Christian-Hindu) making an entry and killing(or removing) the haunting Shivani. But there was nothing like that. The trouble goes on its own.

That made me wonder why is that it is necessary that restless soul needs to be treated with a sorcerer. While Manichitrathaazhu brought in science and sorcery to tame Nagavalli , some of the Vinayan movies like Vellinakshatram and Aakashaganga entirely depended on the well known sorcerers for taming the vampires. Why one never thought that the restless souls encroached onto the human mind may go on its own? In this movie the vengeance, which actually should be towards the parents (because they took the decision of aborting), is against the sibling child who is raised with great care by the couples. May be that is why Shivani decided to leave Anagha alone. But why she didn't kill her parents then? How can she sit calmly with out fulfilling her vengeance? Aren't all ghosts/vampires supposed to get satisfaction by killing the person they intend to? Or am I totally lost here :-)

Kaanakanmani for sure is a pathetic movie, but this twist on the restless soul abandoning the human soul without any problem is what surprised me. Akku Akbar takes out a very valid message out to the viewers, but in a pathetic way.

Long Live Manichitrathaazhu!!

malayalam story - നഗരത്തില്‍

2009-11-18T09:16:00.006+05:30

The first story that I wrote in a time bound fashion for Prabhodhini Vayanasaala's Annual Magazine - Vykhari - is now available as a blog post in my Malayalam Blog. I am thankful to my friend Joju for recommending my name and also to Jincy of Prabhodhini who gave me the opportunity to write and published it. I really enjoyed writing it especially with the excitement to finish off within the time.

The story - Nagaraththil -നഗരത്തില്‍ (In the City) - is about the city's indifferent attitude towards the common man. The spark of the story are a couple of incidents that happened in Bangalore city. I had noted it down in my personal diary and made some notes about it myself. When Jincy asked for an article, I didn't think anything but to develop the notes into a story. I hope you like it. The comments and criticisms are most welcome.

mashithantu dictionary | മഷിത്തണ്ട് നിഘണ്ടു

2009-11-04T10:20:00.009+05:30

The online Malayalam Dictionary Mashithantu is now available in a new form. Its more clearer, better and user friendly. This was released on the web on Nov 1st, The Kerala Piravi Day - one of the most auspicious day in the life of a Malayali. The impression the new version gives is much better when compared to the old version.

First up there is Google's and Mozhi's transliteration facilities embedded into the site along with Mashithantu's own transliteration. So it is completely up to the user how to type in the word he or she wants, to search the meaning for.

Then the most important feature that excites me is the fact that even "I" & "You" can add new words or edit the meaning of existing words (if we find it wrong) in Mashithantu. This I believe is the USP of the site.

There is a Thumbs Up/Down feature which is fine tuned from the previous version. Using a thumbs up and thumbs down button, the end user can inform the Mashithantu team whether he or she is satisfied with the results.

Hats off to my dear friend Joju John, Unnikrishnan K. P and the entire Mashithantu Team for bringing this up in the new avatar. I am proud of being an end user, a bit of contributor with words, crosswords, my bit of marketing and word of mouth publicity.

Here is the news about the release in the online version of Mathrubhumi .

Please visit http://dictionary.mashithantu.com and continue supporting it.

why agassi?

2009-10-30T16:31:00.003+05:30

Its so shocking and sad, when people whom we considered idols or heroes come back and disclose that they have cheated. Why Agassi? Why did you do it?

There was a time when I used favour always Agassi, against any big shot. Even against Fedex I favoured Agassi. But when you hear such news, the confessions people make in the autobiographies, it certainly saddens you. May be the book will sell a lot, may be he will get pardoned, the WADA may be disappointed, but the true fan who might have spend sleepless nights watching an US Open is really devastated on hearing such news.

life as such..

2009-10-04T23:38:00.003+05:30

Life this year has been more of deaths all around. Apart from the famous, there have been many a deaths in my family too. My Vallyachan's death was a shock to us, especially when no one expected it. He was down and out and there was a time when we all thought he wouldn't survive another day, but he made it and then lived for another year more in proper health, and then one fine morning he passed away in his sleep. How cruel life is? I was in Chennai, when Achan called up and informed about his death. I didn't know what to do for a few minutes. I was acting weird, finding a means to return home at the earliest. I couldn't reach vallyachan's house on time, but only the next day when the cremation was over. And all I could do was that.

Narayanettan was an all rounder in my Dad's family. He is my uncle's brother in law, and was an omnipresent personality. Marriage or house warming or any other function he will be there. A nice person who always enquired my studies and job. Cancer it was. Probably I am thankful to god here as I never saw him after he was diagnosed with cancer. My parents said the chemotherapy and medicines had weakened him. I went after his death and paid my respects. My memory of him is intact in my mind. The completely grayed hair, the white dhothi and shirt and the black bag all remains intact in my mind.

People whom we grew up with, whom we heard of and admire while growing up. All of them are turning old and slowly fading away. Some are sudden, while some are gradual. We can't bear it. And at times we feel so helpless. Sometimes so un-educated or un-informed like what happened with me today. I was pinging a friend of mine in the chat after not seeing her for a long time. She appeared quite serious, which was really opposite to her cheerful character. I didn't mind to bother her any further and bid her good bye and logged out. And then I checked out my blog to see an update on her blog where she wrote these -

"No one to care, no one to turn to, no one to talk to, no one to give advice, no one to fight with, no one to ask for an opinion, no one to bother even if I die in the middle of the road..

I was dumb stuck and almost in tears as I read those lines. I didn't know when I chatted with her that the person who completed her Home had gone far far away from her. I didn't know what all she was going through when she replied me "what u think?" for my question -"something serious?". I didn't know that she had just lost her mother. I didn't know. And as I logged in back, I didn't see her. I was helpless and didn't know what to do. There was no means to contact, and there were no words to say. And I felt so bad. Life is again being cruel.

A few days before one of my friend's father passed away. That too was a sudden one. My friend had just become a dad and he was rushing between his new born kid and ailing father. His father had his last breath an hour before my friend reached his bedside, to show his new born kid to his father. Life is just being so cruel.

These are just time when we fell so helpless and inconsolable. We feel in this life we have done everything and feel contented to have a good steady job, a good family, a good education. And yet at times like these we do not know what to do.

Life as such is just getting lonely I should say. There have been a lot more of reading going into my thought process. And its with reading one grow - "Vaayichu Valaruka". I hope I can grow too. The biggest achievement I did in recent months would be my completion of a story, which was done in a time bound manner. I should be thankful to my friend Joju who suggested my name to Prabhodhini Vayanasala Editors in Bangalore for an article. And for the first time in my life I wrote a story under the compulsion of a dead line. I hope it appear. And as I go into the last quarter of the year, as I get ready for a new year, I hope I can do whatever I believe to do. To go home more often, to travel and see places, to read a lot and write a bit.

I hope.

Ritu - Some Observations.

2009-09-21T12:19:00.002+05:30

Some points I felt after watching movie Ritu is scribbed over here in my new Malayalam Blog Kiniyum Eeran Thushaaram. Have a look at it !!

Many thanks to Paresh for persuading me to write about it.

വടകരയുടെ നിത്യസ്വതന്ത്രന്‍

2009-09-09T15:37:00.004+05:30

കലന്തന്‍ ഹാജി അന്തരിച്ചു.

ആരാണ് കലന്തന്‍ ഹാജി എന്നു നിങ്ങള്‍ ചോദിച്ചാല്‍, ഞാന്‍ പറയും ഞങ്ങള്‍ വടകര നിയോജക-ലോകസഭാ മണ്ഡലത്തിലെ ആളുകള്‍ക്ക് അദ്ദേഹം നിത്യസ്വന്തന്ത്രനായ ഒരു മനുഷ്യനായിരുന്നു എന്ന്‌. എല്ലാ തെരഞ്ഞെടുപ്പുകളിലും വടകര മണ്ഡലത്തില്‍ മത്സരിക്കാന്‍ കച്ചകെട്ടിയിറങ്ങുമായിരുന്നു അദ്ദേഹം. ഒരു പാര്‍ട്ടിയുടേയും പിന്തുണ ഇല്ലാതെ സ്വതന്ത്രനായി. മിക്കപ്പോഴും കെട്ടിവച്ച കാശു പൊകുമെങ്കിലും വീണ്ടും അദ്ദേഹം മത്സരിച്ചു കൊണ്ടേയിരുന്നു. എന്നും ഇടത്തു പക്ഷത്തിന്റെ കോട്ടയായിരുന്ന വടകരയില്‍ (കഴിഞ്ഞ തെരെഞ്ഞെടുപ്പ് വരെ) ഒരു പാര്‍ട്ടിയിലും കാലു കുത്താതെ വീണ്ടും വീണ്ടും മത്സരിക്കാന്‍ ധൈര്യം കാണിച്ച അദ്ദേഹം, ഒരിക്കലും തദ്ദേശസ്വയംഭരണ സ്ഥാപനങ്ങളിലേക്കുള്ള തെരെഞ്ഞടുപ്പില്‍ മത്സരിച്ചിരുന്നില്ലെന്ന വിവരം ഇന്നത്തെ മാതൃഭൂമിയില്‍ നിന്നാണ് ഞാന്‍ അറിയുന്നത്. ബിരിയാണിച്ചെമ്പിലെന്തിനാ കഞ്ഞി വയ്ക്കുന്നെ എന്നാണ് അദ്ദേഹത്തിന്റെ ചോദ്യം.

കഴിഞ്ഞ തെരെഞ്ഞെടുപ്പില്‍ അദ്ദേഹം മത്സരിച്ചിരുന്നില്ല. വോട്ടെടുപ്പിനെത്തിയ ഞാന്‍ അദ്ദേഹത്തിന്റെ പേര് കാണാതെ അത്ഭുതപ്പെട്ടിരുന്നു. എന്നാല്‍ അദ്ദേഹം തെരെഞ്ഞെടുപ്പില്‍ മത്സരിക്കാന്‍ അപേക്ഷിച്ചിരുന്നുവെന്നും എന്തോ സാങ്കേതിക കാരണങ്ങളാല്‍ അത് അയോഗ്യമായി പ്രഖ്യാപ്പിച്ചുവെന്നും ഇന്നാണ് അറിഞ്ഞത്.

കോഴിക്കോട്ടുകാര്‍ക്ക് രാമദാസ് വൈദ്യരെന്നപ്പോലെ, ഒരു പക്ഷേ അത്രത്തോളം വരില്ലെങ്കിലും, വടകരക്കാരുടെ മനസ്സില്‍ കലന്തന്‍‌ഹാജിയും മറക്കാനാവാത്ത ഒരു കഥാപാത്രം തന്നെ.

what have you read?

2009-08-02T20:37:00.006+05:30

I got this tag from my friend Shalini's blog, which I came across very recently. This was a cool tag and it was long time back I did some serious tags in my blog.

I never found the list so exciting, since there were lot of good books I read and are not in the list, for e.g The Brother's Karamazov, The Silence of the Lambs, The Day of the Jackal, The Stranger etc to name a few. But still its interesting to count how many I have read.

I have also added a mark IS in addition to the X mark, which indicates that the book is In Store but I have not read.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

2 The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien

3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling

5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee - X

6 Any religious book

7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte

8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell – IS

9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman

10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott

12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy

13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller

14 Complete Works of Shakespeare

15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier

16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien

17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk

18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger

19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger

20 Middlemarch - George Eliot

21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell

22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald

23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens

24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy - IS

25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh

27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky - X

28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck

29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll - X

30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame

31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy

32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens

33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis

34 Emma - Jane Austen 35 Persuasion - Jane Austen

36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe

37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini - X

38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres

39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden

40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne

41 Animal Farm - George Orwell - X

42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown - X

43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez - X

44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving

45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins

46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery

47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy

48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood

49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding

50 Atonement - Ian McEwan

51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel

52 Dune - Frank Herbert

53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons

54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen

55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth

56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens - X

58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon

60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez - X

61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov - X

63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt

64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold

65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas - X

66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac

67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy

68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding

69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie

70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville – IS

71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens - X

72 Dracula - Bram Stoker - IS

73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett

74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson

75 Ulysses - James Joyce

76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath

77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome

78 Germinal - Emile Zola

79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray

80 Possession - AS Byatt

81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell

83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker

84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro

85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert

86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry

87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White

88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom

89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - (Read a few of them)

90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton

91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad

92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery

93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks

94 Watership Down - Richard Adams

95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole

96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute

97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas

98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare

99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl

100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo - IS

That's a total of 12 read and 5 in store books. Not bad, considering the list even had some names I never heard. And it turned out to be good for me for my next Bangalore Book Festival shopping :)

Adios.

ജഡാസ്തിത്വം

2009-07-30T16:36:00.005+05:30

ശവമാണ് ഞാന്‍
കൊല്ലെരുതെന്നെ ഇനിയും
ഇറച്ചിത്തുണ്ടമായി
പിച്ചിച്ചീന്തീടരുത്

ഒരു പിടി ചാരമാകാന്‍,
പാപനാശത്തില്‍ ഒഴുക്കുവാന്‍
അസ്ഥിശകലങ്ങള്‍
പിതൃതര്‍പ്പണത്തിന്
ഒരുരള ചോറ്
ബാക്കിവച്ചിടേണം, എന്നെ

മാ! നിഷാദന്മാരേ
എന്നാത്മശാന്തിക്കിനി
ഞാനെവിടെയൊക്കെ അലയേണം

~ ധനുഷ്

പ്രേരണ - മനുഷ്യര്‍ അത്യധികം നിഷ്ഠൂരന്മാരാകുന്ന ഒരു സംഭവം.

ചെറിയ ചില പദപ്രശ്നങ്ങള്‍

2009-07-13T10:27:00.005+05:30

കുറച്ചു വര്‍ഷം പിറകിലേക്ക് പോയി ബാല്യകൌമാരകാലത്തെ ഏറ്റവും ഇഷ്ടപ്പെട്ട ഒരു പ്രവൃത്തി തെരെഞ്ഞെടുക്കാന്‍ പറഞ്ഞാല്‍, ഒരു പക്ഷേ ഞാന്‍ തെരെഞ്ഞെടുക്കുക പദപ്രശ്നങ്ങള്‍ പൂര്‍ത്തിയാക്കുക എന്ന എറ്റവും രസകരവും, കൌതുകരവുമായ പ്രവൃത്തിയായിരിക്കും. പണ്ടൊക്കെ ബാലരമയിലും ബാലമംഗളത്തിലും പൂമ്പാറ്റയിലുമൊക്കെ മായാവി, ഡിങ്കന്‍, കപീഷ്, ശിക്കാരി ശംഭു ഇത്യാദികള്‍ക്ക് ശേഷം എന്റെ ശ്രദ്ധ പിന്നെ നീങ്ങിയിരുന്നത് അവയിലെ കൊച്ച് കൊച്ച് പദപ്രശ്നങ്ങളിലേക്കാണ്. അധികം ബുദ്ധിമുട്ടിക്കാത്ത, ലളിതമായ സൂചനകള്‍ ഉള്ള, വെളുപ്പും കറുപ്പും നിറച്ച സമചതുരത്തിലുള്ള കള്ളികള്‍. അവയില്‍ പെന്‍സില്‍ കൊണ്ടെഴുതിയും മായ്ച്ചും വീണ്ടുമെഴുതിയും ഒടുവില്‍ അടുത്ത ലക്കത്തിലെ ഉത്തരങ്ങളുമായി താരതമ്യം ചെയ്തും ആശ്വാസം കൊണ്ടിരുന്ന അപൂര്‍വ്വസുന്ദരകാലം.

പിന്നെ ബാലമാസികകള്‍ ഉപേക്ഷിക്കുന്ന പ്രായമായപ്പോഴേക്കും മാതൃഭൂമി ദിനപത്രത്തില്‍ ഉള്ളതിനോടായി കമ്പം. അതു പക്ഷേ തുടക്കത്തില്‍ കുറച്ചല്പം കട്ടിയായിരുന്നു. പതുക്കെ പതുക്കെ അവയിലെനിക്കു ഒരു എണ്‍പതു ശതമാനത്തോളം ശരിയാക്കാന്‍ പറ്റുമെന്ന സ്ഥിതി വന്നു. പിന്നൊടുക്കം ഒരു ദിവസത്തെ പദപ്രശ്നം മുഴുവന്‍ പൂര്‍ത്തിയാക്കിയപ്പോള്‍ ആ പേപ്പര്‍ ഞാന്‍ എടുത്തു സൂക്ഷിച്ചു വച്ചു. അതേ സമയത്തു തന്നെയായിരുന്നു അച്ഛന്‍ ഇംഗ്ലീഷ് പത്രമായ ‘ദി ഹിന്ദു’ വരുത്തി തുടങ്ങിയത്. അതിലും ദിവസേന പദപ്രശ്നങ്ങള്‍ ഉണ്ടായിരുന്നു. കടിച്ചാല്‍ പോട്ടാത്ത ഇംഗ്ലീഷ് പദങ്ങള്‍ മാത്രമുള്ള ആ പത്രത്തില്‍ ഈ പാവം ഞാന്‍ എങ്ങനെ പദപ്രശ്നം പൂരിപ്പിക്കാനാണ്. ങേഹെ, എങ്ങും എത്തിയില്ല. അതിലെ എന്റെ ഏറ്റവും വലിയ വിജയം കൂടിയാല്‍ ഒരു പത്തെണ്ണം പൂരിപ്പിക്കാനായി എന്നുള്ളതായിരിക്കും. മാതൃഭൂമി പിന്നീട് പതുക്കെ പദപ്രശ്നങ്ങള്‍ ഒഴിവാക്കി “സുഡൊക്കു” വിലേക്കു ചേക്കേറി, അതോടെ എന്റെ മലയാള പദപ്രശ്ന കമ്പം തീര്‍ന്നു. ഇന്നും ഹിന്ദുവില്‍ എന്നും രാവിലെ ഞാന്‍ ഒന്നു എടുത്തു വച്ചു നോക്കും. വല്ലതും നടക്കുമോ എന്നറിയാന്‍. വീണ്ടും പഴയ ങേഹേ തന്നെ.

ഈയടുത്തു ഇപ്പോള്‍ എന്റെ പ്രിയ സ്നേഹിതന്‍ ജോജു അവന്റെ സ്വപ്നപദ്ധതിയായ മഷിത്തണ്ടില്‍ പദപ്രശ്നങ്ങള്‍ കൂടി ചേര്‍ത്തിരിക്കുന്നു. മഷിത്തണ്ടിന്റെ ഒരു വലിയ ആരാധകനായ ഞാന്‍ അവയെടുത്തു പ്രയോഗിക്കാന്‍ അധികം താമസം വേണ്ടി വന്നില്ല. പദപ്രശ്നങ്ങള്‍ കളിക്കുവാന്‍ മാത്രമല്ല, അവ ഉണ്ടാക്കുവാനും മഷിത്തണ്ട് മൂലം സാധ്യമാകുന്നു. അതിനാല്‍ എന്നെ പോലുള്ള പദപ്രശ്നകുതുകികള്‍ക്ക് ഇത് വളരെയധികം സഹായകരമാണ്. പക്ഷേ കളിക്കുന്നത് ജോലിയും കഴിഞ്ഞ്‌ തിരിച്ചു വീട്ടിലെത്തിയിട്ടു മാത്രമായിരിക്കണമെന്ന് മാത്രം :).

ഇപ്പോളുള്ള പദപ്രശ്നങ്ങള്‍ കളിക്കുവാന്‍ ആദ്യമായി ഇതില്‍ നമ്മള്‍ റെജിസ്റ്റര്‍ ചെയ്യേണ്ടത് അത്യാവശ്യമാണ്. എന്തെന്നാല്‍ ഇതു ഒരു മത്സരമാണ്. ഈ ഇന്റെര്‍നെറ്റ് ലോകത്തിലെങ്ങുമുള്ള മലയാളികള്‍ക്ക് കളിക്കുവാന്‍ സാധിക്കുന്ന ഒരു പദപ്രശ്നമത്സരം. ഓരോ പദപ്രശ്നത്തിനും കളിച്ചു തീരുവാന്‍ ഒരു നിശ്ചിതസമയമുണ്ട്. ആ സമയത്തിനുള്ളില്‍ ആര്‍ക്കും പദപ്രശ്നം പൂരിപ്പിച്ചു ഉത്തരങ്ങള്‍ പബ്ലിഷ് ചെയ്യാവുന്നതാണ്. ഓരോ സൂചന ശരിയായി പൂരിപ്പിക്കുന്നതിന് പ്രത്യേകം പോയന്റുകള്‍ ഉണ്ട്. എല്ലാം ശരിയായി പൂരിപ്പിക്കുന്ന ആള്‍ക്ക് മുഴുവന്‍ പോയന്റും ലഭിക്കുന്നു. അതിനാല്‍ ഒരു പദപ്രശ്നത്തിന്റ നിശ്ചിത സമയത്തിന് ശേഷം ഏറ്റവും കൂടുതല്‍ പോയന്റുകള്‍ ലഭിക്കുന്നയാളാകും അതിന്റെ വിജയി, അല്ലാതെ എല്ലാം പൂരിപ്പിച്ചയാളാവണമെന്നില്ല (കാരണം അയാ‍ളുടെ ഉത്തരങ്ങളില്‍ ചിലത് തെറ്റുമാകാം). കളിച്ച്കൊണ്ടിരിക്കുന്നതിനിടെ അതുവരെ പൂരിപ്പിച്ച ഉത്തരങ്ങള്‍ സേവ് ചെയ്യാനും ഇതില്‍ സാധിക്കും. പിന്നെ നിങ്ങള്‍ക്ക് സമയം കിട്ടുമ്പോള്‍ വന്നു ലോഗിന്‍ ചെയ്തു അവ തിരിച്ചെടുത്ത് തുടര്‍ന്ന് കളിക്കാവുന്നതാണ്. നിങ്ങള്‍ക്ക് കൂടുതല്‍ താല്പര്യവും ഒരല്പം ബുദ്ധിമുട്ടാന്‍ സമയവുമുണ്ടെങ്കില്‍ ഒരു പദപ്രശ്ന നിര്‍മ്മാതാവ് കൂടിയാകാനുള്ള സൌകര്യം മഷിത്തണ്ട് ചെയ്തു തരുന്നു. മുന്‍പ്‌ പറഞ്ഞ പോലെ നിങ്ങളുടെ സ്വന്തം പദപ്രശ്നങ്ങള്‍ ഉണ്ടാക്കാ‍ന്‍ ഇതില്‍ സാധ്യമാണ്. മഷിത്തണ്ട് പദപ്രശ്നത്തിന്റെ നിയമങ്ങള്‍ അനുവര്‍ത്തിക്കണമെന്ന് മാത്രം.

മഷത്തണ്ടിലെ പദപ്രശ്നങ്ങള്‍ എനിക്ക് പത്രങ്ങളിലെ പദപ്രശ്നങ്ങള്‍ തരാത്ത ഒരു സുഖം തരുന്നുണ്ട്. ഒന്നാമതായി ഇതു ഒരു ദിവസത്തിന്റെ സമയപരിധിക്കുള്ളില്‍ നിന്നു പൂര്‍ത്തീകരിക്കണ്ട ഒന്നല്ല. അതിനാല്‍ തന്നെ എനിക്ക് ആലോചിക്കാന്‍ കുറേയേറെ സമയം കിട്ടുന്നു. രണ്ടാമതായി ഇത് ഒരു മത്സരമാണ്. അതിനാല്‍ പൂരിപ്പിച്ച ശേഷം ഉത്തരങ്ങള്‍ പരിശോധിച്ച് ആത്മസംതൃപ്തി അടയേണ്ട കാര്യം ഇവിടെ ഉദിക്കുന്നില്ല. പിന്നൊന്ന് ഇതിന്റെ കടുപ്പം ബാലമാസികകള്‍ക്കും പത്രങ്ങള്‍ക്കും ഇടയില്‍ നില്‍ക്കുന്നു (അത് എത്രകാലം എന്നതു കാണേണ്ടിയിരിക്കുന്നു). പിന്നെ ഇതു മലയാളത്തിലാണ്.

ഒരു സ്വപ്നം എന്‍‌ജിനീയറിങ്ങ് ഫൈനല്‍ ഇയര്‍ പ്രൊജെക്റ്റ് എന്നെ ചിന്താധാരയില്‍ നിന്ന് വളര്‍ന്ന് , ഇപ്പോള്‍ കളിക്കുവാന്‍ പദപ്രശ്നങ്ങള്‍ വരെ നല്‍കുന്ന വെബ്ബ്സൈറ്റ് എന്ന രീതിയിലേക്ക് വളര്‍ന്നത് കാണുമ്പോള്‍ ജോജുവിനെ കുറിച്ചോര്‍ത്ത് അഭിമാനം തോന്നുന്നു. അവന്റെ സ്വപ്നങ്ങളെ പിന്തുടരുന്ന്‍ അവയെ ചിന്തകളും പ്രവൃത്തികളും ആക്കി മാറ്റിയിരിക്കുന്നു അവന്‍. ഫലേച്ഛയൊന്നുമില്ലാതെ കര്‍മ്മങ്ങള്‍ ചെയ്തു കൊണ്ടിരിക്കുന്നു, മലയാളത്തിനു വേണ്ടി. അതില്‍ വല്ലപ്പോഴും സഹായിക്കാന്‍ സാധിച്ചുവെന്ന കൃഥാര്‍ത്ഥതയോടെ ഞാനും.

അപ്പൊ എന്താ നിങ്ങളും ഓരോ കൈ നൊക്കുകയല്ലേ?

മറഞ്ഞു പോയീ മറ്റൊരു സൂര്യതാരകം..

2009-06-29T12:22:00.005+05:30

മരണം വീണ്ടും രംഗബോധമില്ലാത്ത കോമാളിയെ പോലെ കടന്നു വന്നിരിക്കുന്നു. പത്മരാജന്‍, ഭരതന്‍, ഇപ്പൊള്‍ ലോഹിതദാസും. മഴ പെയ്തു തണുക്കണ്ട ഈ ജുണ്‍ മാസത്തില്‍ മരണം എന്നും വാതില്‍ക്കല്‍ മുട്ടി പേടിപ്പിക്കുന്നു. ഒരു പക്ഷെ മഴ മാറിനിന്നതു പോലും അതിനാകാം. മാധവിക്കുട്ടി, ശോഭന പരമേശ്വരന്‍ നായര്‍, മൈക്കല്‍ ജാക്സണ്‍.. അങ്ങനെ ഒരു പാട് പേര്‍. അതില്‍ ഒരു പക്ഷെ എല്ലാവരെയും സ്തബ്ദരാക്കിയത്. ജാക്ക്സണും, ലോഹിതദാസുമാകും.

തനിയാവര്‍ത്തനത്തിലെ ബാലന്‍ മാഷിനെ പോലെ, കീരിടത്തിലെ സേതുമാധവനെ പോലെ, ഭരതത്തിലെ ഗോപിനാഥനെ പോലെ, അമരത്തിലെ അച്ചൂട്ടിയെ പോലെ, ഭൂതകണ്ണാടിയിലെ വിദ്യധരനെ പോലെ, വാത്സല്യത്തിലെ മേലേടത്ത് രാഘവന്‍ നായരെ പോലെയൊക്കെ ഇനി നമ്മുക്ക് കഥാപാത്രങ്ങളെ തിരശ്ശീലയില്‍ ലഭിക്കുമോ. മനസ്സില്‍ നൊമ്പരങ്ങള്‍ അവശേഷിച്ചു പോകുന്ന കഥാപാത്രങ്ങള്‍. നമ്മള്‍ അവരെ കുറിച്ചു വീണ്ടും ചിന്തിച്ചു കൊണ്ടിരിക്കുന്നു. മകന് സ്ഥിരം ജോലി ലഭിക്കാന്‍ സ്വയം മരിക്കുന്ന കാരുണ്യത്തിലെ അച്ഛന്‍ മാത്രം മതി, നമ്മളെ ഒന്നു കരയിക്കുവാന്‍. ലോഹിതദാസ് ഒരിക്കല്‍ ഒരു അഭിമുഖത്തിലോ മറ്റൊ പറഞ്ഞിരുന്നു - “സിനിമയില്‍ കാണുന്ന ഒരു കഥാപാത്രത്തിനു വേണ്ടി കണ്ണീരൊഴുക്കാന്‍ ഒരാള്‍ക്ക് കഴിഞ്ഞെങ്കില്‍ എന്തു മഹത്തരമാണതെന്ന് ആ മനസ്സെന്ന് ഒന്നോര്‍ത്തു നൊക്കൂ”.

സിനിമയെ സ്നേഹിക്കുന്നവരുടെ മനസ്സില്‍ ഒരിക്കലും മരണമില്ലാത്ത ഒരോര്‍മ്മയായി അദ്ദേഹം എന്നു ഉണ്ടാകുമെന്ന് ഉറപ്പാണ്. ഒന്നാലോച്ചിച്ചു പോകുകയാണ്. അദ്ദേഹം സിനിമയില്‍ ഇല്ലായിരുന്നെങ്കില്‍, മഞ്ജു വാര്യരോ, സംയുക്താവര്‍മ്മയോ, കലാഭവന്‍ മണിയോ, മീരാ ജാസ്മിന്നോ, ദിലീപോ ഒക്കെ ഇന്ന് എത്തിപെട്ടടത്തു എത്തുമായിരുന്നോ?

അര്‍പ്പിക്കുവാന്‍ എന്റെ കൈയ്യില്‍ ആദരാഞ്ജലികള്‍ മാത്രം.

ഫോട്ടോ കടപ്പാട് - വിക്കിപ്പീഡിയ

എന്റെ തൂലികാ സൌഹൃദങ്ങളുടെ ഗൃഹാതുരത

2009-06-08T10:24:00.017+05:30

സമര്‍പ്പണം

സ്മരണകളെ ബാല്യകാലത്തില്‍ നിന്ന്‌ നീര്‍മാതളങ്ങള്‍ പൂത്ത കാലത്തേക്ക് പറത്തിവിട്ട മാധവികുട്ടിക്ക്‌.

ഈയിടയ്ക്ക് ഞാന്‍ ഹരിശങ്കറെ വിളിച്ചിരുന്നു. അവന്‍‌ എന്റെ ഒരു പഴയ കോളേജ്‌ മേറ്റും, ഹോസ്റ്റല്‍ മേറ്റും, നാട്ടുകാരനും സര്‍വ്വോപരി ഒരു നല്ല കൂട്ടുകാരനുമാണ്. അവനെ ഞാനിടയ്ക്കെപ്പോഴോ മറന്നിരുന്നു. സമയം ചോദിച്ചാല്‍ കീശയില്‍ നിന്ന് എടുത്തു കൊടുക്കുവാന്‍ കഴിഞ്ഞിരുന്ന NITC യിലെ അധ്യാപന കാലഘട്ടത്തിനു ശേഷം, “സമയമെവിടെ, സമയമെവിടെ” എന്നു അലമുറയിട്ടു കൊണ്ടിരിക്കുന്ന ഈ ഐ. ടി. കാലഘട്ടത്തിനുമിടയ്ക്കെപ്പോഴോ അവന്‍ എന്റെ സൌഹൃദവലയത്തില്‍ നിന്ന് അപ്രത്യക്ഷമായി. പിന്നെ കഴിഞ്ഞ വര്‍ഷം ഞങ്ങളുടെ എല്ലാമെല്ലാമായ ബിനൂഷിന്റെ (ഈ ഞങ്ങള്‍ എന്നു വച്ചാല്‍ CSE-ക്കാരോ ECE-ക്കാരോ C ഹോസ്റ്റല്‍ക്കാരോ മാത്രമല്ല, ആ സമയത്ത് ജീയീസിയില്‍ പഠിച്ച എല്ലാവരുമാണ്. ബിനൂഷ് ഒരു പ്രസ്ഥാനം തന്നെയായിരുന്നു) വിവാഹത്തിനാണ് കുറെ വര്‍ഷങ്ങള്‍‌ക്ക് ശേഷം ഞങ്ങള്‍‌ കണ്ടുമുട്ടിയത്. അതിനു ശേഷം ഞങ്ങളുടെ സൌഹൃദം പഴയ പത്തരമാറ്റിന്റെതായി. ഇടയ്ക്കിടയ്ക്ക്‌ ഫോണ്‍‌ വിളിച്ചു ഞങ്ങള്‍‌ വിശേഷങ്ങള്‍ പങ്കിട്ടുകൊണ്ടിരുന്നു. അവനെ ഇന്ന് വിളിക്കാന്‍ പ്രത്യേകിച്ചൊരു കാരണമുണ്ട്‌. അവന്‍ ഞാന്‍ കുറച്ചു ദിവസങ്ങള്‍ക്ക് മുന്‍പ്‌ ഒരു കാര്‍ഡ് അയച്ചിരുന്നു. അതിന്റെ മറുപടിയോ, അത് അവന്‍ കിട്ടിയതായുള്ള അറിവോ എനിക്കു ലഭിച്ചിരുന്നില്ല. അതറിയാനാണ് വിളിച്ചത്.

അതേ. നിങ്ങള്‍ ഞെട്ടണ്ട. അതൊരു പോസ്റ്റ്കാര്‍ഡ് ആണ്‍, ഇന്ത്യാ പോസ്റ്റിന്റെ അമ്പത് പൈസയുടെ പോസ്റ്റ്കാര്‍ഡ്. മെയിലുകളുടെയും മൊബൈലുകളുടെയും പ്രളയത്തിനു മുന്‍പ്‌ ഞങ്ങള്‍ പരസ്പരം കാര്‍ഡുകളയച്ചിരുന്നു. അവന്‍ മാത്രമല്ല, ഷിമ്മി, തനൂജ, ഉമ, അനില്‍(H.O.D), ശ്രീരാജ്, തോമാച്ചന്‍, എന്റെ അനുജത്തി എന്നിങ്ങനെ പോകുന്നു എന്റെ “തൂലികാസൌഹൃദങ്ങള്‍”. കത്തുകള്‍‌ക്ക് അതിന്റേതായ ഒരു സൌന്ദര്യമുണ്ടെന്ന് ഞാന്‍ വിശ്വസിക്കുന്നു. അത് ഒരു പക്ഷെ തനൂജ എഴുതിയത് പോലെ, ഒരു കത്ത് വായിക്കുമ്പോള്‍ അത് എഴുതിയ ആള്‍‌ അടുത്തു വന്നിരുന്നു വായിക്കുന്നതു പോലെ തോന്നുന്നു എന്നതിന്റെ ഭംഗിയാവാം. അല്ലെങ്കില്‍‌ ഹരി കുറിച്ചിട്ടത് പോലെ ഇ-മെയിലിന്റെ നിര്‍ജ്ജീവമായ അക്ഷരങ്ങള്‍ക്കുപരിയായി നമ്മുടെ സ്വന്തം മലയാളത്തിന്റെ മാധുര്യം പകര്‍ത്തിയെഴുതിയ കത്തുകളുടെ അവാച്യമായ അനുഭൂതിയുമാകാം. ഒരു കാലത്ത് ഞാന്‍ ഇവര്‍ക്കൊക്കെ നിരന്തരമായി കത്തുകള്‍ അയച്ചിരുന്നു.

ഞാന്‍ എറ്റവുമധികം കത്തുകളയച്ചിരിക്കുന്നത് ഷിമ്മിക്കും എന്റെ അനിയത്തിക്കുമാണ്. ഷിമ്മിയുടെ എഴുത്തുകളില്‍ മിക്കപ്പോഴും സുഹൃത്തുക്കളെ – പ്രത്യേകിച്ച് റെജിമകന്‍, സന്ദീപ്, ശ്രീകുമാര്‍, മമ്മാലി- കുറിച്ചുള്ള വിശേഷങ്ങളും, ജീവിതം-എഴുത്ത്-വായന തുടങ്ങിയവയെ പറ്റിയുള്ള തത്ത്വചിന്തകളും, അവന്റെ ഗള്‍‌ഫ് ജീവിതവും അതുയര്‍ത്തുന്ന ഗൃഹാതുരതയും നിറഞ്ഞു നിന്നിരുന്നു. ആ കത്തുകളില്‍ ഞാന്‍ എറ്റവും ഇഷ്ടപ്പെട്ടിരുന്നത് അവന്റെ ഭാഷ തന്നെയായിരുന്നു. യൂണിവേഴ്‌സിറ്റി തലങ്ങളില്‍ കഥാമത്സരങ്ങളില്‍ ഒന്നാം സമ്മാനം നേടിയുരുന്ന അവന്റെ ഭാഷയെ ഞാന്‍ എങ്ങനെ ഇഷ്‌ടപെടാതിരിക്കനാണ്. ഗള്‍ഫ് ജീവിതം അവനിലെ എഴുത്തുകാരനെ മലയാളസാഹിത്യത്തിന് നഷ്‌ടമാക്കിയോ എന്ന സംശയം മാത്രം ബാക്കി. എന്നെ എന്റെ വീട്ടിലെ വിളിപ്പേരില്‍ അഭിസംബോധന ചെയ്യുന്ന അവന്റെ ഭംഗിയുള്ള കൈപട പിന്നെ കൈകഴപ്പിന്റെ ഉച്ഛസ്ഥായില്‍ ഒഴുകി വരുന്ന വള്ളികളും പുള്ളികളുമായി പരിണമിക്കുന്നു.

ഒരു കത്തിന്റെ തുടക്കം ഇങ്ങനെയാണ് – “പിന്റു, എന്തു പറയുന്നു. ജീവിതം ആസ്വദിച്ച്, കിടന്നുറങ്ങി, നെറ്റിലും ചാറ്റിലും സമയം ചെലവഴിച്ച്‌ – മറ്റൊരു ഫോട്ടോഗ്രാഫിക് ടൂറുമായി ഈ ഊരു ചുറ്റുകയാണെന്ന് വിശ്വസിക്കട്ടെ. ഞാന്‍- മനസ്സിലെ പച്ചപ്പ് എല്ലാം വറ്റി മരുഭൂമികള്‍ രൂപപെട്ടുവരുന്ന ഈ വേളയില്‍, അത്ര സുന്ദരമല്ലാത്ത എന്റെ കൈപടയില്‍ നിനക്കു എന്തെങ്കിലും എഴുതണമെന്ന് വിചാരിക്കുന്നു. ഡേയ്.. ഒരു ബൈക്ക് വാങ്ങിയെന്ന്‌ കരുതി നീയാരു അനില്‍ അമ്പാനിയോ വല്ലപ്പോഴും contact ചെയ്യടേ..”

ബഷീറിയന്‍ സ്റ്റൈലില്‍ തുടങ്ങിയ ആ വരികള്‍ പിന്നീട് സ്വതസിദ്ധമായ ഷിമ്മന്‍ സ്റ്റൈലില്‍‌ അവസാനിക്കുന്നു. മറ്റൊരിടത്ത് – “ ചിന്തിക്കാന്‍‌ ടൈം കിട്ടുന്നതാണ് ഒരു problem എന്ന് തോന്നി തുടങ്ങിയിട്ടുണ്ട്. ടൈം ഇല്ലെങ്കില്‍ എന്ത് ചിന്തകള്‍‌… Work+Sleep. അത് മാത്രം. ചിന്തകള്‍ കാടുകയറുമ്പോള്‍‌ മമ്മാലി പറയുന്നത് പോലെ, എന്റെ ജീവിതം നായ നക്കി എന്ന തോന്നല്‍‌ “ – എന്നെഴുതി അവന്‍ തനി തത്ത്വചിന്തകനാകുന്നു.

വേറൊരിടത്ത് – “ പിന്നെ എന്താണ് നിന്റെ future plans? MBT- യില്‍ തന്നെ? അതൊ മറ്റെന്തെങ്കിലും try ചെയ്യുന്നുണ്ടോ? 30-ആം വയസ്സില്‍ നീ എവിടെ ആകും? 35-ല്‍? 40-ല്‍? You plan it man.. Computer യുഗമല്ലേ Programming & Planning –ല്‍ നിങ്ങള്‍ പുലികളല്ലേ? ഇവിടെയൊക്കെ ആള്‍‌ക്കാര്‍ അങ്ങനെയാണ്. ഇന്ത്യാകാര്‍ പോലും.” – എന്നെഴുതി അന്ന്‌ പിച്ചവച്ച് തുടങ്ങിയ എന്റെ ഐ. ടി. ഭാവിയെ കുറിച്ചോര്‍ത്ത് അവന് ഉല്‍കണ്ഠാകുലനാകുന്നു

ഒടുവില്‍ ഷിമ്മിക്ക്‌ മാത്രം ഏഴുതാന്‍ കഴിയുന്ന ഭാഷയിലൂടെ അവന്‍‌ കത്ത്‌ ചുരുക്കുന്നു

“2004 അവസാനിക്കാന്‍‌ പോകുന്നു.

Semester Exam –കളും Assignment – കളും അവധികളുമൊന്നുമില്ലാതെ ദിനങ്ങളും രാത്രികളും മാസങ്ങളും കടന്നുപോകുന്നതറിയാതെ.

- എല്ലാം എന്തിനു വേണ്ടിയാണെന്ന് ചിലപ്പോഴൊക്കെ തോന്നും.

- ലോട്ടറിക്കാരനെ പോലെ ഒരു നല്ല നാളെ നാളെ എന്ന സ്വപ്നം.

ബോറടിക്കാതിരിക്കാനായി മാത്രം വല്ലപ്പോഴും എഴുതുക. അക്ഷരങ്ങള്‍‌ മറക്കാതിരിക്കനും”

അക്ഷരങ്ങള്‍‌ മറക്കാതിരിക്കാന്‍ എനിക്ക് കഴിയില്ല. പക്ഷേ ഷിമ്മിക്കുള്ള മറുപടി കത്ത് ഞാനെപ്പോഴോ മറന്നിരുന്നു. അവന്റെ ഗള്‍ഫിലോ ഇന്ത്യയിലോ പോസ്റ്റ് ചെയ്തിരിക്കുന്ന നീല നിറത്തിലുള്ള എയര്‍മെയിലുകളും ഇപ്പോള്‍ ലഭിക്കാറില്ല. എല്ലാ കത്തുകളിലും അവന്‍ അന്വേഷിക്കാറുള്ള റെജിമകനും, സന്ദീപനും, മമ്മാലിയും, ശ്രീകുമാരനുമൊക്കെ ലോകത്തിന്റെ നാനാ ദിക്കിലുമായിരിക്കുന്നു. ഓര്‍മ്മകള്‍ .. മനോഹരമായ ഓര്‍മ്മകള്‍ മാത്രം ബാക്കി. കൂടിവരുന്ന ജീവിതതിരക്കുക്കളും.

എന്റെ അനുജത്തിയുടെ എഴുത്തുകള്‍ രസകരമാണ്. അവള്‍ക്കു പറയനുള്ളത്ത് എപ്പോഴും കോളേജിലെ വിശേഷങ്ങളാണ്. അവളുടെ കുസൃതികളും, അച്ഛനോടും അമ്മയോടുമുള്ള കൊച്ചു കൊച്ചു പരിഭവങ്ങളും, കുറേയേറെ ഉപദേശങ്ങളുമൊക്കെയായി ഒരു റോളര്‍കോസ്റ്റര്‍ റൈഡ്. ഇംഗ്ലീഷിലും മലയാളത്തിലും ഇടകലര്‍ത്തി അവള്‍‌ എഴുതിയിരുന്നു. ഇടയ്ക്കൊക്കെ ഹിന്ദിയിലും, അത് മിക്കപ്പോഴും ഞാന്‍ ബോംബെയിലും പൂനയിലുമായിരുന്നു. ബോംബെയിലെത്തിയ ആദ്യനാളുകളില്‍‌ വല്ലാത്ത ഹൊംസിക്ക്നസ്സും പനിയും മൂലം ഒരിക്കല്‍‌ വീട്ടില്‍‌ വിളിച്ചപ്പോള്‍ എന്റെ സകല നിയന്ത്രണങ്ങളും വിട്ടു ഞാന്‍ ഒരു കൊച്ചുകുട്ടിയെ പോലെ കരഞ്ഞു. അതിനോട് ഇങ്ങനെയാണ് അവള്‍ പ്രതികരിച്ചത്.

“Dearest Dhanush Gopinaatheee.. കൊശവാ, വീപ്പകുറ്റി, ചക്കപ്പോത്തേ, ഡാഷേ .. നാണമില്ലല്ലോ വീട്ടിലേക്ക് വിളിച്ചു കരയാന്‍‌. ഫോണില്‍ തന്നെ പറയണമെന്ന് വിചാരിച്ചതാ. പിന്നെ ചെറിയൊരു സിമ്പതി. ബാബുവെള്ളേച്ഛന്റെ ഭാഷയില്‍ പറഞ്ഞാല്‍ ‘ചെറിയോന്‍’‘ ആദ്യമായി മറുനാട്ടില്‍ ജീവിക്കയല്ലേ. തന്നെയൊക്കെ എന്താണെന്നോ ചെയ്യണ്ടത്. …. സാറിന്റെ ഹൊസ്റ്റലില്‍ at least ഒരു മൂന്ന് മാസം താമസിപ്പിക്കണം. അപ്പൊ ശരിയായിക്കൊള്ളും” . പിന്നെ അവളുടെ കോളേജിനെ പറ്റി സ്വതസിദ്ധമായ നര്‍മ്മബോധത്തോടെ എഴുതുന്നു. “പിന്നെ LH –ന്റെ കാര്യം മഹാപോക്കാണെന്നാണ് കേട്ടറിവ്‌. ആ മഹാദുരന്തത്തിലേക്ക് എടുത്തു ചാടാനാവും എന്റെ വിധി.” ഇന്ന് അവള്‍ ആ LH ഉമൊക്കെ കടന്നു കാര്യഗൌരവമുള്ള ഒരാളായി വിരാജികുന്നത് കാണുമ്പോള്‍ അഭിമാനം തോന്നുന്നു.

അവളെ ഞാന്‍ കൂടുതലും അറിഞ്ഞത് എഴുത്തിലൂടെയാണ്. വഴക്കിടുന്ന കൊച്ചുകുട്ടികളായ രണ്ട് സഹോദരങ്ങള്‍ എന്നതില്‍‌ നിന്ന് കാര്യങ്ങളെ ഗൌരവപൂര്‍വം വീക്ഷിക്കുന്ന യുവതീയുവാക്കളായി ഞങ്ങള്‍ മാറുന്ന ഒരു കാലമായിരുന്നു അത്. അതിനാല്‍‌ തന്നെ ഞങ്ങളുടെ കത്തുകള്‍ക്ക്‌ ഞങ്ങള്‍ക്കിടയിലെ സൌഹൃദത്തിനു വലിയ പങ്ക്‌ വഹിക്കാനുണ്ട്‌. എന്റെയും അവളുടെയും സ്വഭാവത്തെ കുറിച്ചുള്ള അവളുടെ കൃത്യമായ അവലോകനം ഇങ്ങനെ പോകുന്നു. “പിന്നെ എന്തൊക്കെയുണ്ട് തന്റെ വിശേഷങ്ങള്‍. Mumbai –യിലെ Reunion ആഘോഷിച്ചു തീരും മുമ്പേ ഒരു പറിച്ചു നടല്‍‌ അല്ലേ. തന്റെ Reserved & Introvert character, which you presented before them. I feel it‘s nice. അതില്‍ ശരിക്കും ഒരു Dignity Keeping ഞാന്‍‌ ശ്രദ്ധിക്കാറുണ്ട് ….-ല്‍ ഇടയ്ക്കൊക്കെ ഞാന്‍ അങ്ങനെ ആവാറുണ്ടായിരുന്നു. അപ്പോള്‍ staircase-ന്റെ താഴെനിന്നും ബാത്ത്‌റൂമിന്റെ അടുത്തുനിന്നുമൊക്കെ ഒരു കുശുകുശുപ്പ് കേള്‍ക്കാം ‘അവള്‍ക്കെന്താ പറ്റിയേ’. … ഒരിക്കല്‍‌ പറഞ്ഞിട്ടുണ്ട് എന്നോട്. എന്റെ സ്വഭാവത്തിന്റെ എറ്റവും നല്ലതും ചീത്തയുമായ വശങ്ങള്‍ അനുഭവിക്കേണ്ടിവന്ന ഒരേയൊരു വ്യക്തിയാനവള്‍. ”

പിന്നെ അവളുടെ മധുരമൂറുന്ന സോപ്പിടലുകളും – “തേനല്ലെ, ചക്കരയല്ലേ, പാലല്ലേ, മുത്തല്ലേ ഒരു മൊബൈല് വാങ്ങിതാടോ. ഒന്നു സഹായിക്കടോ. ഒന്നൂല്ലേല്ലും താന്‍ കെട്ടികൊണ്ടുവരുന്ന പെണ്ണിന്റെ താലി ഉറപ്പിച്ചു കെട്ടണ്ടത് ഞാനല്ലെ…” ഇത്രയും സുന്ദരമായി സോപ്പിടുന്ന ഒരു പെങ്ങളോട് എങ്ങനെയാണ് നോ എന്നു പറയുന്നത്. അവളുടെ ആ കാലത്തെ കത്തുകള്‍ എന്നെ എന്നും കോളെജിലേക്ക് മടക്കികൊണ്ടുപോയിരുന്നു. ക്രിസ്സ്മസ്സ് ഫ്രണ്ടും, ആന്വല്‍ ഡേയും, എന്നു വേണ്ട, ഹോസ്റ്റലില്ലേ വികൃതികളും, ക്ലാസ്സിലെ അടിപിടിയും പരീക്ഷാകാര്യങ്ങളുമൊക്കെ വായിച്ചുകൊണ്ടിരുന്നപ്പോള്‍ ഞാനും ആ പഴയ ജീയീസിലെ വിദ്യാര്ത്ഥിയായി മാറികൊണ്ടിരുന്നു. കത്ത് വരുന്ന ദിവസം പൊട്ടിച്ച് ആയിക്കുമ്പോള്‍ ഇടയ്ക്കിടയ്ക്ക് ഞാന്‍ പുഞ്ചിരിക്കുന്നത് കണ്ട് എന്റെ അടുത്തിരിക്കുന്നവര്‍ ഞെട്ടാറുണ്ട്. കഴിഞ്ഞ കൊല്ലം കല്യാണം കഴിക്കാനായി എന്നെ ഉപദേശിച്ചു കൊണ്ടെഴുതിയ എഴുത്താണ് അവള്‍ എനിക്കെഴുതിയ അവസാനത്തേത്. അതിന് ‘yes’ എന്ന മറുപടിയല്ലാതെ ഒന്നും സ്വീകരിക്കില്ലെന്നവളുടെ ആഞ്‌ജയ്ക്ക് മുന്നില്‍‌ പേടിച്ച് മറുപടിയെഴുതിയില്ല. അതിനു ശേഷം അവളും എഴുതിയില്ല. അതു മൂലം ഞാന്‍ അവളുടെ കത്തെഴുതുക എന്ന മനോഹരമായ കഴിവ് നശിപ്പിച്ചു കളഞ്ഞെന്നവള്‍ പരിഭവം പറയുന്നു.

തനൂജയോടും ഉമയോടുമുള്ള എന്റെ സൌഹൃദങ്ങള്‍ ദൃഢമാകുന്നത് കോളേജിലെ അവസാന വര്‍ഷങ്ങളിലാണ്. അതുകൊണ്ടു തന്നെ കോളേജിനു ശേഷവും ഞങ്ങളുടെ സൌഹൃദം വളരെ നല്ല നിലയില്‍ ഞങ്ങള്‍ തുടര്‍ന്നു കൊണ്ടുപോകുന്നു. ഒരു ഇന്‍‌ലന്റ്‌ നിറച്ചും വലിയ അക്ഷരങ്ങളില്‍ എഴുതി ഉമ അയക്കുന്ന എഴുത്തുകളില്‍ അക്കാലത്തെ അവളുടെ പ്രശ്നങ്ങള്‍ ഒരു മുഖ്യവിഷയമായിരുന്നു. പിന്നെ അവളുടെ കോളേജിനെ പറ്റിയുള്ള നഷ്ടബോധത്തോടെയുള്ള ഓര്‍മ്മകളും, ജീവിതവും, പ്രണയവും, സൌഹൃദങ്ങളുമൊക്കെയുണ്ടായിരുന്നു. അവള്‍ ഇന്ന് സന്തുഷ്ടമായ ഒരു കുടുംബജീവിതം നയിക്കുന്നത് കാണുമ്പോള്‍ എനിക്കു ഒത്തിരി സന്തോഷം തോന്നുന്നു. ആ കാലങ്ങളില്‍ കത്തുകളിലൂടെയെങ്കിലും അവള്‍ക്ക് ഒരല്പം ആശ്വാസം നല്‍കാന്‍ കഴിഞ്ഞുവെന്നുള്ള കൃതാര്‍ത്ഥത മാത്രം എനിക്ക്.

അവള്‍ എഴുതിയിരിക്കുന്നു – “ഒരു പാട് ദൃഢ്മായിരുന്ന സൌഹൃദങ്ങളില്‍ നിന്നുപോലും വാക്കുകളും മെയിലുകളും വിരളമാകുമ്പോള്‍ ജോലിയുടെയും ജീവിതത്തിന്റെയും വിരസതയിലേക്ക് വരുന്ന നിന്റെ വാക്കുകള്‍ എത്ര ആശ്വാസദായകം. ‘എന്താണ് നിന്റെ പ്രശ്നങ്ങള്‍’ എന്ന് ചോദിക്കാന്‍ നിനക്ക് തോന്നിയില്ലേ പറഞ്ഞറിയിക്കുവാനാവില്ല ധനുഷ് അതെന്നെ എത്ര സന്തോഷിപ്പിച്ചുവെന്ന്.“

തനൂജയുടെ കത്തുകള്‍ക്ക് അവളെ പോലെ തന്നെ ഒരല്പം ദാര്‍ശനികതയുടെ അംശമുണ്ടെന്ന് എനിക്ക് പലപ്പോഴും തോന്നിയിട്ടുണ്ട്. അവളുടേതായ ചില ശൈലികളും ഇംഗ്ലീഷും മലയാളവും ഇടകലര്‍ത്തിയുള്ള എഴുത്തും ഒക്കെ വളരെ ഭംഗിയുള്ളതായിരുന്നു. ഞങ്ങള്‍ തമ്മില്‍ വളരെയധികമൊന്നും എഴുതിയിട്ടിലെങ്കിലും എഴുതിയവയില്‍ മിക്കതിലും വായിച്ച പുസ്തകങ്ങളെ പറ്റിയും കോളേജിനു ശേഷവുമുള്ള ജീവിതം സൌഹൃദം എന്നിവയെ പറ്റിയും ഒക്കെ ഞങ്ങള്‍ എഴുതികൊണ്ടിരുന്നു. ഇന്നും അവ എടുത്തു വച്ച് വായിക്കുമ്പോള്‍ പലപ്പോഴും തോന്നാറുണ്ട്, ഇത്രയുമധികം വായിക്കാറുള്ള സ്വന്തമായി ഒരു എഴുത്തിന്റെ ശൈലിയുള്ള ഒരാള്‍ എന്തേ കൂടുതല്‍ സാഹിത്യപരമായോ ബ്ലോഗിലോഒന്നും എഴുതാത്തെതെന്ന്. എന്റെ ഓട്ടോഗ്രാഫില്‍ തന്നെ അവള്‍ എഴുതിയിരിക്കുന്നത്; അക്ഷരലോകത്തില്‍ പിച്ച വച്ച് തുടങ്ങിയിട്ടില്ലാത്ത ഞാന്‍ ഒരു പാടൊന്നും എഴുതി വൃത്തികേടാക്കുന്നില്ല എന്നാണ്. ജീവിതത്തിലെ തിരക്കുക്കള്‍ക്കിടയില്‍ കത്തുകളില്‍ നിന്ന്‌ ഞങ്ങള്‍ ഇപ്പോള്‍ ഫോണിലേക്കും മെയിലിലേക്കും ചേക്കേറിയിരിക്കുന്നു.

അനിലും ശ്രീരാജും എന്റെ NITC കാലത്തെ സഹമുറിയന്‍‌മാരായിരുന്നു. ഞങ്ങള്‍ക്കിടയില്‍ ആദ്യം വിട്ട് പോയത് അനില്‍ ആയിരുന്നു. GATE –ന് പഠിക്കാന്‍‌. ചാത്തമംഗലത്ത്‌ നിന്ന്‌ ഞാന്‍ കോഴിക്കോട് കാരപറമ്പിലിരിക്കുന്ന അവന് കാര്‍ഡുകളയക്കും. അവന്‍‌ ഇതുപോലൊരെണ്ണം തിരിച്ചും കാച്ചി വിടും –

“dai dhanush.. (പുലിക്കുട്ടാ‍) നിനക്ക് ഞ്ന്‍ എന്താണ് എഴുതേണ്ടത്. ബിനുഷിന്റെ സ്റ്റൈലില്‍ തന്നെ തുടങ്ങാം. ഇപ്പോള്‍ സമയം 12.45 PM. നീ കരുതുന്നുണ്ടാകും ഞാന്‍ ഗേറ്റിനു പഠിക്കുകയാണെന്ന്. മണ്ണാങ്കട്ട. ” REC(NITC) യിലേക്ക് വരാനുള്ള എന്റെ ക്ഷണത്തിനോട് അവന്‍‌ ഇങ്ങനെ പ്രതികരിക്കുന്നു – “REC? അതേതാടാ സ്ഥലം? അവിടെക്കുള്ള ബസ്സ് കോഴിക്കോട് നിന്നുണ്ടോ? … ഓ ഞാന്‍ ഈ പറഞ്ഞത് പിന്‍‌വലിക്കുന്നു കാരണം എന്റെ രണ്ട് ബുക്സ് അവിടെയുള്ളത് ഇപ്പോഴാണ് ഓര്‍മ്മ വന്നത്. അതെടുക്കാന്‍‌ വരുമ്പോള്‍‌ കാണാം.”

അതു കഴിഞ്ഞ്‌ ശ്രീ ഭുവനേശ്വറിന് പോയപ്പോള്‍ അതുവരെ സോഫ്റ്റ്‌വെയര്‍ എന്‍‌ജിനീയര്‍ ആകാത്ത എന്നെ ആശ്വസിച്ചു കൊണ്ടുള്ള അവന്റെ കത്തുകള്‍ എന്റെ ഏകാന്തതയിലേക്ക് പറന്നിറങ്ങിയ നന്മകളായിരുന്നു. ഒടുവില്‍‌ ഞാനും മറുനാട്ടില്‍ ഐ.ടി. സ്വപ്നങ്ങളും തേടിപ്പോയി. ഫോണിലും മെയിലിലുമൊക്കെയായി പിന്നെ പരസ്പരമുള്ള ഞങ്ങളുടെ വര്‍ത്തമാനങ്ങള്‍. ഇന്ന്‌ ഇവിടെ ആരെയെങ്കിലും ഞാന്‍ നഷ്ടപെടുന്നുണ്ടെങ്കില്‍ അതു ശ്രീയാണ്.

തോമാച്ചനുമായുള്ള ചങ്ങാത്തം പ്ലസ്സ് ടു തലത്തില്‍ തുടങ്ങിയതാണ്. പ്ലസ്സ് ടു കഴിഞ്ഞ് എന്‍‌ട്രന്‍‌സ് ഫലത്തിനുള്ള കാത്തിരിപ്പിനിടയിലാണ് ഞങ്ങള്‍ കത്തുകള്‍ എഴുതിത്തുടങ്ങിയത്. അതു പിന്നെ കോളേജിലും തുടര്‍ന്നു. ഫോണിന്റെയും മെയിലിന്റെയും ആവിര്‍ഭാവത്തോടെ അതും പിന്നെ നിന്നു. അന്നത്തെ കൌമാര മനസ്സ് എത്ര ബാലിശമായിരുന്നു. ഇപ്പോഴും ഓര്‍ക്കുന്നു ഞാന്‍, ‘അനിയത്തിപ്രാവ്’‘ സിനിമ കണ്ടതിനു ശേഷം ആ സമയത്ത് എഴുതിയ കത്തുകളില്‍ ‘സ്നേഹപൂര്‍വ്വം ധനുഷ്’‘ എന്നതിനു പകരമായി ‘ലവ് ആന്റ് ലവ് ഒണ്‍ലി ധനുഷ്’‘ എന്നു ഞാന്‍ വയ്ക്കുമായിരുന്നു. തിരിഞ്ഞു നോക്കുമ്പോള്‍ തമാശ തോന്നുന്നു.

ആ കാലത്തെ കത്തുകള്‍ പലപ്പോഴും പല അര്‍ത്ഥതില്‍ പലര്‍ക്കും ആശ്വാസദായകങ്ങളായിരുന്നു. ഒരു മുന്തിയ സോഫ്റ്റ്‌വെയര്‍ ജോലിയില്ലാതെ പലയിടങ്ങളിലും പഠിപ്പിച്ചും, ഡിഗ്രി മാത്രം യോഗ്യത ആവശ്യമുള്ള ഏന്താണ്ട് എല്ലാ പരീക്ഷകളും എഴുതിയും നടന്നിരുന്ന സമയത്ത് ശ്രീയുടെയും തനൂജയുടെയും കത്തുകള്‍ ജീവിത്ത്തിന്റെ ആശ്വാസമായിരുന്നു. അതിലുപരി അതിന്റെ ഭാഗമായിരുന്നു. മുംബൈയിലും പൂനയിലും എത്തിയിരുന്ന എന്റെ അനുജത്തിയുടെ കത്തുകള്‍ക്കു എന്റെ മുഖത്തൊരു പുഞ്ചിരി വരുത്താനുള്ള ദിവ്യശക്തിയുണ്ടായിരുന്നു.ശ്രീയ്ക്കും, തനൂജയ്കും, ഉമയ്ക്കുമൊക്കെ മറുപ്പടി അയക്കുമ്പോള്‍ അവരെ നേരില്‍ കണ്ട് സംസാരിക്കുന്ന് ഒരു പ്രതീതിയാണ്‍ എന്നിലുളവാക്കിയിരുന്നത്. പലരുടെയും എഴുത്തിന്റെ ശൈലി നമ്മളെ ചിരിപ്പിക്കുകയും ചിന്തിപ്പിക്കുകയും ചെയ്യുന്നു.

അതുകൊണ്ടു തന്നെ – “ഞാനിപ്പോള്‍ LD Clerk, Postal Assistant, Bank, LIC എന്നിങ്ങനെയുള്ളത്തില്‍ Apply ചെയ്യാന്‍ ശ്രമിക്കുന്നു. ഏത് ജോലിക്കും അതിന്റേതായ ഒരു നന്മയുണ്ടല്ലോ. ജോലിക്കുപരി ഒരു നല്ല മനുഷ്യനായി ജീവിക്കാന്‍ ശ്രമിക്കുകയാ‍ണ്. ഈ കൊച്ചു ജീവിതത്തില്‍‌ ഒരു പാട്‌ പേരെ സ്നേഹിച്ച് സ്നേഹിച്ച്, സ്നേഹം കൊണ്ട്‌ നമ്മുക്കു ലോകം കീഴടക്കാം,” – എന്നെഴുതിയ എന്റെ പ്രിയ നാട്ടുകാരന്‍‌ ഹരിശങ്കരന്‍‌ മറുപടി അയക്കുമെന്നു എനിയ്ക്കുറപ്പാണ്. അതിനായി ഞാന്‍ കാത്തിരിക്കുകയും ചെയ്യും.

എത്ര കാലം വേണമെങ്കിലും.

ആദരാഞ്ജലികള്‍

2009-06-01T22:50:00.008+05:30

"അവരുടെ വെള്ള വസ്ത്രങ്ങളും വിശറികളും കാരണം അവര്‍ വെള്ളപ്പറവകളാണെന്ന് എനിക്ക് തോന്നിപ്പോയി. സ്വര്‍ഗത്തില്‍ പറക്കുന്ന പക്ഷികള്‍. അവര്ക്കൊരോരുത്തര്‍ക്കും നീണ്ടു ചുരുണ്ട മുടിയും തിളങ്ങുന്ന കണ്ണുകളും ചുവന്ന ചുണ്ടുകളും ഉണ്ടായിരുന്നു."

ബാല്യകാലസ്മരണകള്‍ - മാധവിക്കുട്ടി

ആമിയും കമലയും മാധവികുട്ടിയും സുരയ്യയും ഒക്കെ ഇനി വെള്ളരി പറവയായി സ്വര്‍ഗത്തില്‍ ഒഴുകി നടക്കട്ടെ.

ഒരു കാലഘട്ടത്തിന്റെ കഥാകാരിക്ക് ആദരാഞ്ജലികള്‍

Image Courtesy : Manorama Online

and then there was dog...

2009-05-08T11:36:00.004+05:30

Well.. my trip to home didn't go the way I expected it to be. To begin with I was never comfortable with the ride at the start. I was not getting my eye in, especially at the segment of road till you touch the Mysore Road. It is always tough. Early morning, the ever confusing twilight, lights from the opposite vehicles and plus my headlights were giving the indication that they would go off anytime. Then there was this oil leak, which was spotted much earlier but I never bothered, topped her up and just started with full confidence. Somewhere down the heart I was having this hunch - "Oh something is not right" I stopped a lot to check the oil leak, didn't rev up the engine much, stood on my comfortable 70-80kmph speed. I crossed Mysore and Nanjangud on my way and cruising towards Calicut.

I now felt really comfortable and had changed my iPod play list to Boss' (A R Rahman) songs. And then it happened at 2 kilometers from Nanjangud. There was this dog eating something in the middle of the road, and a KSRTC bus was coming in the opposite way. I spotted it and immediately knew that it will give me some problem. By the time I released the throttle, the dog had decided which side to run back and it chose my side, and then everything just happened. I remember hitting on the brakes, the bike wobbling, the bus going past me on the other side, my bike going to the left of the road and me hitting the road. And then I stood up and ran out with pain to the side. The next thought I had was about what had happened to the bike and I see some really good people, who were coming in the car behind me, getting my bike onto the stand as petrol was coming out of the tank. They came to me, asked me about the injury, helped me remove my gear, helped with the First Aid Kit I had in my luggage and helped me get the bottle of water I had. My left hand was badly bruised, but thanks to my gear (Cramster Jacket - KJ - Thank You Man, Knee Pads and Studds Helmet) I was unhurt anywhere else. I looked at my jacket, the padding on the left shoulder was heavily torn, and the helmet and visor had bruise marks on it. And I was like thank god I was alive. I had put on the knee pads after initially forgetting about it and then I fell towards the left side of road and not to right. I was damn lucky. Otherwise I would have been writing this post from hell, if it had an Internet connection. The dog squealed around for sometime and took it flight towards heaven.

The people adviced me to take rest as I was getting giddiness and I rested like close to 45 minutes. Another car stopped by and a good fellow from that came and made my bike ready to ride. Red's left footrest, Crash Guard and gear shaft had bend on the impact, but otherwise she was perfect. These people left only when I was kind of ready to ride on. That is the beauty of riding solo and on the highways. You always find good people to help you. I couldn't have imagined the same if it happened in Bangalore. Just my perception.

I ride on after an hour and I reached Gundelpet, went to a hospital to do the dressing and have the X-Ray. But I could not take the X-Ray as it would take me another hour, since the Doctor was busy. So I decided to move on. I drove pretty slowly with the pain in hand and applying the clutch for shifting the gear was giving me nightmares. I had a very tough time riding down the Thamarassery Churam with Kurusinte Vazhi coming in the opposite direction (It was Good Friday). There were people all over the Ghats and understandably there was vehicles piled up moving slowly and riding half clutch was near impossible in that state. Well to praise myself, when the going gets tough, tough gets going :) .

So somehow I reach my home close to 2 hours late at 4.30 PM. My parents had a doubt that something had happened as I wouldn't have been so late, and when I called them in between the ride, I had told them there was lot of checking due to elections and about Kurisinte Vazhi . I reached home and mom was waiting and I told her about the accident. The next thing she tells me is that it is there in my horoscope that I will have injuries (Odivu and Chathavu) during this time (She is reading it a lot these days fro obvious reasons - Punnara Mon Pora Neranju Nilkuvanallo) and so it is ok. I removed my torn glove on the left hand and it was tough to remove it. The swelling had become so big and the golve had become tight. Then I realised there is definitely a fracture.

The next hours were spent in taking X-Ray, Achan first scanning it and confirming the minor fracture, going to hospital to put the plaster and the Ortho Doctor advised me 3 weeks rest. I was off for one week and came back office after that. Last week I removed the cast and now I am able to type with both hands. Even though that one week rest hampered my earlier plans, I had some really good time off to just think about in life in general, read a huge portion of The Brothers Karamazov (Simply Awesome - Red Salute to Doestoevsky), eat a lot and sleep. I voted after a long time and then did everything with my right hand till this last weekend.

And about rides. I am on for it anytime. This time after having the accident, I never had an issue in mind on driving on. I was confident as ever. Sometimes after an accident or fall, you are scared to drive on. It happened to me last time when I fell nearto my office. It was nothing and just twisted my ankle. But I was less confident while riding after it and for a few days. This time my only goal was to reach home. Red is now in Gopettan's Garage getting ready. He called me up and told that my bike's rear break drum had almost worn off and the rear wheel spokes had a dent. But this was not due to my accident. It was there even before I started my ride :).

Some days you just need to trust your vehicle.

Image - Me in the Riding Gear on My Himalayan Escapades

P.S: Thanks for everyone who wished me the best. Alexis and Sandeep special thanks to you two

vacation time...

2009-04-09T18:29:00.004+05:30

Another Long Weekend and another traveling nightmare for Bangaloreans. Abhi left yesterday after his short visit to Bangalore and told me about the rush in general compartments of Island Express. It was terrible. I can understand it, for three years ago I too was part of that crowd. I have scribbled every detail of that night's journey in my personal diary, to make it an entry into my yet to be published post - My Worst Travels. Cancellation of a Bus due to unwanted incidents that happened in Bangalore, a general ticket to Palakkad, barging into a Second Class Compartment only to be thrown out at Erode, getting into Kerala Express' general compartment and after a long bus ride to my home town I reached home nearly by noon next day.

Every long weekend people at Bangalore traveling to Kerala are at the mercy of the Bus guys. Especially for people like me who come from Malabar area, there is no alternative other than the buses. There is a train which goes all around Palakkad, but on odd days at odd timings and starts from a station quite far away. The rail link between Thalasseri and Mysore remains as a promise in papers. The initial survey took place way back in 1910 but still the line remains as a dream for the people of Malabar.

The Bus guys around are all the same. When we approach for bus ticket much before the special day or long weekend, they say come on the 15th or 30th day before and get it as the bookings are not yet open. If you go on that day, they will say the bookings are all over. If you know somebody there, you may get a ticket. For last Onam, I booked a ticket from my home town travels guy, since I know that guy very well. He managed to get me one ticket, and when I traveled on that day the bus was almost empty. The reason - the train was running that same day and most of the people have gone by it. Fortunately the bus lobby didn't have the power to reschedule the train or reschedule Thiruvonam. Just see the power of one train running. If it was scheduled to leave every Friday instead of a Saturday, how much impact would it have made on the Bus guys.

From then on, I decided that, for special days or long weekends I would try to drive down with my colleague or ride down myself with Red. And so tomorrow I am riding down. Its been some time since I had a long trip and hence I was so sure that I should do it. Plus I wanted to have a break, do what I always wanted to do. Just Ride. Since elections are also falling at the same time, I decided to make this a long vacation. So I will be back after casting my vote.

Wishing you all Happy Easter and Vishu.

Information Courtesy on Thalasseri-Mysore Rail Link
[1] - http://trainweb.org/railkerala/articles/sudha_mysore.htm
[2] - http://www.hindu.com/2006/02/09/stories/2006020913370300.htm

ഒരു കൊച്ചു കഥ..

2009-04-08T12:11:00.005+05:30

അങ്ങനെ ഒരു വര്‍ഷത്തിനു ശേഷം വീണ്ടുമൊരു കഥ. ഒരു സാധാരണമായ ചെറുതിലും ചെറുതായ ചെറുകഥ. സദാനന്ദന്റെ പ്രതിഷേധ ചിന്തകള്‍ . ഇന്നലത്തെ ചെരുപ്പേറാണ് ആധാരം. അധികം ബോറാക്കിയില്ലെന്നു തോന്നുന്നു.

goa poa - three years after

2009-04-01T11:59:00.004+05:30

Its been three years, to be exact on this day, since we did our grand trip. The one and only Goa Poa. It was fun, more fun and more n' more fun only. Three days of being in the sun, beach and water. Playing cricket and an unknown game. A place where I lost my spectacles and tried contact lenses for the first time. The long journeys in the Volvo, Club Mahindra and the best photos I took in my life time. The best ever trip I had in my life, may be all of our life's.

Today three years after PP is in Dubai with Lulu, Guru and Suni are married, Jyothi is father of Kichoos, Aravind on the verge of getting married, while Abhi did an Aishwarya Parinayam and my foster parents Kich and Seena are expecting their baby soon. And I on this day almost found a big 1 BHK to move out alone :).

When I made all these work on the photo and send it to the gang, with a title "Cherruppakkar" , Kichan was the first to notice that all except me are committed or married in this. E-Photoyil kaannunna ellavarkkum Pennum Pedakozhiyumaayi was his observation. And that's true too :)

Three years after, today when I talked to Seena about it she said that still we all have that fire of youthness in us, and only when we see the new younger guys joining the company or team we realize -"Yea, we have grown old".

To me the 29th year of existence was promising and fun, with a little bit of hassles. But for a Goa Poa, I will be there any day. Bang Bang for the Goa Poa Reloaded!!

ഒഡീസി.. ആഹോയ്..!!

2009-03-24T15:03:00.002+05:30

വീണ്ടുമൊരു റോയല്‍ എന്‍ഫീല്‍ഡ് ഹിമാലയന്‍ ഒഡീസ്സിക്ക് കാഹളമുണര്‍ന്നിരിക്കുന്നു. എന്റെ റെഡ്ഡില്‍ ഓടി കുതിച്ച് ഗാട്ടാ ലൂപ്സും, നാഥൂലായും, ബര്‍ലാചാ ലായുമൊക്കെ അഭിയ്ക്കും, അരവിന്ദിനും, ബാലേട്ടനും, ഗോപേട്ടനും, അനൂപിനുമൊപ്പം താണ്ടാന്‍ തോന്നുന്നു. ഹൊ ഇപ്പൊ തിരിഞ്ഞു നൊക്കുംബോള്‍ രൊമാഞ്ചം. എങ്ങനാപ്പാ ഈ ധൈര്യം ഉണ്ടായതു. സമ്മതിക്കണം ഈ എന്നെ. അതോ ഇനി കിലുക്കത്തില്‍ ലാലേട്ടന്‍ ചോദിച്ചതു പോലെ “വട്ടാണല്ലേ” എന്നു മനസ്സിനോട് ആയിരം വട്ടം ചോദിക്കേണ്ടിയീരിക്കുന്നു.

ആവൊ, എന്തെരൊ എന്തൊ, അതിന് ശേഷം എല്ലാ കൊല്ലവും ഈ സമയമാകുംബോള്‍ ഒരാന്തലാണു. പോയാലോ. ഒന്നു പോയി മോറെ പ്ലെയിന്‍സിലെ പൂഴി മണലില്‍ പൂണ്ടിറങ്ങി, കഷ്ടപെട്ടു, ബുദ്ധിമുട്ടി, വണ്ടിയോടിച്ചാലോ. തണുത്തുറഞ്ഞ രാത്രിയില്‍ മലമുകളില്‍ നിന്നു അരിച്ചിറങ്ങുന്ന മലവെള്ളത്തില്‍ കാലുകുത്തിയാലോ. നൊക്കാമെന്നു പറയാന്‍ പൊലും പറ്റുമോ, അഗോളമാന്ദ്യം, ലീവ് നഹി നഹി, പിന്നെ പ്രമുഖ ‘പാര്‍ട്ട് ണര്‍ ഇന്‍ ക്രൈം’ -ന്റെ ഐശ്വര്‍യാ പരിണയവും ലീവ് ചോദിച്ചാല്‍ ജോലി പോകുന്ന അവസ്ഥയും. ഹാ! എന്തെങ്കിലുമൊക്കെ ഒപ്പിക്കണം.

breaking news ...

2008-12-30T10:57:00.004+05:30

BREAKING NEWS:

Underwear Industry Exports to Australia Increased - AYE-SHA brand grabs the biggest export offer - Deal was made in India last October and the final agreement was signed in Melbourne today. Inside information points to the fact that all the underwear's are reinforced with extra padding for the forth coming New Year Extravaganza at Sydney

Tail Piece 1 - My guffaws are similar to that of Lallettan in Kilukkam
Tail Piece 2 - Guru Comments - "Avanmaarodu valla Bangladesh -inodo Zimbabwe yodo matto Kalikkan parayade, chelappo jayikkumaayirikkum"
Tail Piece 3 - Some where far in the Northern India, an ace bowler comments. Stop talking, start playing cricket.

thats my champion, my idol, my god, my everything in cricket

2008-10-17T19:01:00.004+05:30

Congrats Sachin ...

"Lara's failures, and there were a few given his cavalier style, evoked some disappointment, but never the sort of viciousness that accompanied a Tendulkar setback. It makes you wonder how many more runs he might have made had he lived in a country that didn't specialise in headlines like Endulkar, and where every other TV debate chaired by some stiff didn't ask the profound question: Is he past his best? "

How true it is.. Read it here

"A rough calculation shows that he averages over 200 days in a year travelling for cricket, playing it at the highest level, or practising for it. Two-thirds of a year devoted to cricket, and not one bad day at work? Even Mozart was allowed an occasional off day. The future will treat Tendulkar much better than we have, although we were given the privilege of watching the boy grow into a man and live up to potential. Even that is a remarkable feat. Not every promising player accomplishes as much as he promises. Tendulkar has. Let us celebrate that. His record will be broken. But his impact will last. "

Bravo Sachin, Bravo ... Read it here

Pic Courtesy - Cricinfo

nostalgic memories of a broken soul...

2008-10-15T15:21:00.008+05:30

The night has moved into its last yaama. Cool breeze flowed in through the window diagonally opposite my desk. The apartment complex has slept deep into their sweet dreams. Only thing that was disturbing the tranquility of night was the keyboard strokes of my laptop and Talat’s "Jalte Hain Jiske Liye", the only song in my Winamp Play List. I was on a Night Out, to complete the final report of my Dissertation Work. Rapid strokes on the MS Word Document, arrangement of the figures, copy paste of my own design documents were the order of night.

Then far across the table beyond the windows into the deep darkness of yesteryear's, I see a thin frame looking at me and smiling at me, with a tinge of mischief, in his usual style. He had finished the report long time back and now pulling my legs at me.. “Enthonnade.. Ithokke Nerathe Cheythu Theerkkande (What bugger.. Why don’t you finish it early?)”

The last minute rush on studies was always my trademark. I will think that I have covered a lot of pages, and then suddenly remember that I have missed out a few modules. But the “anonymous” thin frame, sitting across me on that noisy chair with his legs folded and both the hands on the chin, will be gulping the theoretical computer science or data structures, just by turning out the pages as if he is reading a Frederick Forsyth thriller. He always had charm of learning things quickly, something I always envied in him.

Then deep into the night another soul walks in, called PETTI, to finish of his final semester project. He advises me –“Da Dhanu, Ellam Samayathinokke Cheythoodeda..(Why don’t you do it in a timely fashion man)”? Petti was always a big time adviser, and still remains the same and the biker in me listens to that with attention. Petti Abhilash follows him into the room (he is Petti’s project mate and roommate and Trivandrum mate), and I am happy. My kind of man. Always on the edge, no fear for supplies, enjoy life to the fullest. I stop my reporting and start talking with him. Life, placements, cricket at Edgebaston*, love affairs, all unleashes hours before the exam.

Now the thin frame is upset. His concentration is lost. He quips – “Enthaade Ninakkoke Padikkanonnum ille (What? U guys don’t have anything to study?)” – and then he too joins the party. But bugger; only he knows that it is his break time. His marks at the end of semester never showed his displeasure in Petti and Petti Abhilash’s arrival. Then the thin frame walks into our opposite room, where a Padippist Sandeep and Omnipresent Shimmy will be toiling with their Strength of Materials and Drawings. He stands behind Shimmy, without his knowing, and tickles on his shirtless body. Shimmy gets a shock and jumps up.. “Enthu Maiii…..”. Once he disturbs their concentration he comes back and sits back on his chair and starts turning the pages of the Ullman** thriller.

Finally the last soul walks in, asks a lot of doubts about the questions that are coming in next day, asks what all he should cover, confirms if his preparation is enough, complaints about his illustrious absconding roommate and then joins our discussion about life, placements, love affairs, cricket and the end semester sentiments. When he leaves, I too join him for the night rounds. We first go to the first floor room of Maaman, Paappan and Thadiyan. If not playing computer games and analyzing sports, Maaman will be studying on the table on left side of the room. On the right side table I can see the outstretched legs of Thadiyan sitting on a chair nearby- an improperly placed lungi exposing his voluptuous thighs- studying with utmost tension. Pappan will be sitting on the side of the cot, resting his back on the wall, with a book on his left hand and a pen on his right hand whose trailing end is in his mouth. We disturb them; shouts follow, and move to the ground floor to disturb a studious TP – this attribute of him comes only on the eve of exams, otherwise he is a flamboyant character who once put our ever romantic Vikas in a soup – and his dear roommate Jimboli Kamsan. TP is reading through the pages as usual, trying to avoid a supply, while Kamsan is tackling the finite state automata with his usual sense of humour. "Mmmm Finite State Automata.. Avan Kore Ondaaakkumm… Eee Ullmaanonnum Veettil Oru Paniyumillenu karuthi enthumakamennanno… (Hmm Finite State Automata. It will be something. If Ullman doesn’t have any work, does that mean he can do anything..)”. Somewhere from the obscurity Baburaj joined and then our local boy Abhilash too. We talk about life, placements, cricket, love affairs and end semester sentiments and retire to our own rooms to continue the big struggle.

“I” am back at my desk, with my report being full of mistakes, chapters not in order, and no proper summary and conclusion. The mind doesn’t stick and is still wandering on the corridors of C- Hostel, where during exam times our studies where incomplete without hours of volleyball games and corridor or common room cricket. Those late night outs and the frantic last minute preparations only made e complete. And in this MS course also, I couldn’t be myself without those. If the current university allowed an improvement exam at Rs 10 per paper, I would have happily wrote even those too. Thankfully a supply came in the way, but the cost I had to give for that was really huge. A semester down and close to 18,000 rupees extra.

Hail GEC, Hail University of Calicut, Hail C Hostel, and Hail Batch of 1997-2001.

Today we celebrate the completion of 11th year of our togetherness.

* - A local ground in our college which the Electronics Guys named as Edgebaston, remembering the English Ground
** - An author of a book on Theoretical Computer Science

happy 10th birthday, google !!!

2008-09-27T10:39:00.002+05:30

Without you, my "IT" life would have been empty.

Without you, my "writings" would have been in trash.

Without you, I might not have got in touch with my oldest of the friends.

You Rock!!

to feel or not...

2008-09-22T17:52:00.004+05:30

When it comes to the newspapers The Hindu is my favorite. I have started reading it at a very young age while I was in school, so I always associate that childhood aura around it. They say no, Chottayile Sheelam Chutala Vare. Something like that. And I am always eager to read the Sunday Magazine - the suppliment that comes on Sunday along with the main paper. There are columns by people like Ramchandra Guha, Harsh Mander, Sevanti Ninan, Usha Jesudasan, Mark Marquesee and till recently it used to carry column by Shashi Tharoor too. Nevertheless to say I always enjoyed reading the Sunday Magazine.

Usha Jesudasan writes a column - The Ahimsa Way - on every alternate Sunday. This weekend's magazine had an article from her about To feel compassionate or not. This is actually a reaction article to her earlier article, A heart that can feel. While 'A heart that can feel' explains about the need to reach out with compassion to help people who are suffering, 'To feel or not' ponders on the question whether we are just being used when we try to be kind and compassionate with others. She also gives the answer to it. She explains about the role models in her life and also gives out a great message in the story of holy man. When a scorpion, which he saved from drowning in the river, bites him he just says - "I did what I had to, according to my nature: rescue it from drowning and give it life. The scorpion did what it had to do according to its nature: sting me".

Most of the times, it is the heart that responds in such cases. But sometimes even when it responds, the head pokes out and asks "Are you getting cheated?", "Will they do something else with the money I give?", "Will these donations go to the correct hands?". We never know, and so most of us are skeptical and that is why we shoo away the people selling items at the Traffic Signals. I am not here to support the majority, but to mention a few things happened to me over all these years.

The first incident happened while I was working in NIT Calicut during 2002-03. One fine evening I was waiting at Calicut KSRTC Bus Stand for the bus to REC, Chathamangalam, and this old fellow approached me. He was dressed in a gray plain slack shirt and black trousers. He introduced himself as one George, who is a teacher or lecturer in some college in Wayanad. He told he came to Calicut to attend one conference and then went to meet his relative and while coming back he got pick-pocketed and now have no money to go back home. He asked me if I could give some money for his travel expense. He was of my father's age, but I was skeptical. When he insisted, I asked him how much he will need. He said an amount that was less than hundred. I was confused, to give or not. His age,and the manner in which he asked me; all persuaded my mind to give it. And I gave him two 50 rupees notes. He thanked me very much and promised me to return the money in the form of money order. For this he took my address. I wrote him down my office address in the diary he gave me. The moment I gave him back the diary, he thanked me again and walked away. I thought he was eager to catch the bus, but in a split second I couldn't spot him in the crowd. After a while I boarded my bus to NITC. Later that evening, when I explained this to my roommate he told me - "Da, there are more chances that he might have gone to the nearest BAR fro a drink or two, rather than catching a bus to Wayanad, but still I appreciate your act." The money order never came, nor did any letter.

Was I cheated here? I don't know. I hope he utilized those 100 rupees for this travel rather than for his spirits.

The second incident happened last year, when an NGO representative contacted me, through a friend of mine, asking to sponsor education for children, who were taken care by them. I agreed for that and asked him to come over to office. Initially I agreed to sponsor 1 child's education expense for a year which came around 2000 rupees an year, but then he persisted for 2 children's education and he explained me about the things they do, I got impressed and agreed for 2 children's education. Also when I contacted my friend earler he said that they are reliable and had approached him through the counter they had setup in his office. So I went ahead gave my credit card details and he gave me the acknowledgment slip and all those stuff. He also told me I will be getting a certificate and receipt for my contribution. After a few days, money was withdrawn from my credit card, in the name of the NGO. But the certificate and receipt never reached me. My friend on the other hand received the certificate and receipt.

Was I cheated here? I don't know. I hope the NGO has utilized the money for those two children.

What do I infer from these experiences? Usha Jesudasan tells us that Ahimsa people are not just people with hearts, but are those with hearts that ask for nothing in return. Karma Yoga, based on the teachings of Bhagavad Gita also says:

"Therefore, without being attached to the fruits of activities, one should act as a matter of duty, for by working without attachment one attains the Supreme."

But is this all feasible in today's world? I do not know, rather I am unsure of having a heart that seek no return. I never seeked any returns from my earlier incidents, but the feeling that I might have got cheated still lingers in my mind. Only thing I can do when I act compassionate again, is to hope that it serves the purpose. Rest is not in my hands. And I hope things will be done just the way I think it would be done.

Courtesy:

happy teacher's day

2008-09-05T14:00:00.001+05:30

To all the Teachers, including my father, who made me what I am today, I am remembering you all. Not just this day, probably most of the days.

Happy Teacher's Day to you all.

NOT (finding kerala and facing the monsoon through a redemption ride) = Sitting Idle at Home

2008-08-18T19:07:00.003+05:30

My much hyped ride through Kerala just lasted two days. I rode from Bangalore to Mangalore and then from there to my home the next day. But I could never proceed after that.

I was late to sleep on Day 2 as we had some guests at home,and so I overslept a bit on Day 3. It was also raining like hell. So I decided to continue the next day, but I had that sense of dejection in me for inducing that break. Next day I was all set, and dressed up when Mom came with the tea. After a moment's silence she asked -"Are you sure you want to do this big adventure in this torrential rains? have you made up your mind to not give us some peace of mind? You went to Himalayas last year and do you know how much we were worried. And now you are doing this."

And that was it. I could have still gone ahead, but its never good to start anything with a negative mindset. Those words have put enough questions on my mind. Even though I wanted to go, I just could not. May be at that point of time, I realized there is no big dreams to achieve, if it puts your parents under tension. So that's the story. I stopped my journey at home. I informed Abhi and he was really happy for my decision.

Relaxed and chilled at home, with lots of fish in the diet, went to Calicut and grabbed myself a lot of books (16 in fact as I counted it now) from Mathrubhumi and DC book stalls, read Cormac McCarthy's No Country For Old Men (Dear Anon, it didn't impress me or Am I too old for Dishum Dishum. Will watch the movie soon.), Karan Bajaj's Keep Off The Grass (Too Good. A must read for IIM aspirants. My review on this will be coming soon-I Hope) and Basheer's Anuraagathinte Dinangal (What can I say about the Master) went to Mom's home town and yesterday came back here.

No. Don't come to the conclusion that I have stopped riding. That is never going to happen. It is just that at that point of time, my mind slowed down and decided to go with my parents wishes.

I know what you guys are thinking. There is this joke from the Malayalam Movie - "Nadodikattu" where Thilakan(Ananthan Nambiar) says about Captain Raju (Pavanai) .. "Angane Pavanai Shavamaayi.. Ho.. Enthokke Bahalamarunnu, Malappuram Kathi, Machine Gunn, Boombbb..Olakkede Moodu..."

Well.. I may not yet be a Pavanai. May be I will we do this, some time later with a revised plan. The good thing I learned from this is that I should not make a ride through home. I should either end the ride at home or make my home visit during the last leg of the ride. Hope I can do that.

Thanks for all you guys who wished the best for me.

finding kerala and facing the monsoon through a redemption ride

2008-08-05T22:03:00.009+05:30

I always wanted to chase the Kerala Monsoon, ever since I read Alexander Frater's "Chasing The Monsoon". I read the book last year and made an impulse decision; that this year as soon as the monsoon sets in June, I will be there in Kanyakumari with my arms spread on the tip receiving it.Atleast I started dreaming about that Shawshank Redemptionesque picture, where Andy Dufresne enjoys his redemption on a rainy day. But dreams, are never to come true, exactly the way we want. June passed, schools re-opened, but I never went to Kanyakumari, neither did the South West Monsoon arrive with all its might. Even then I never lost hope, and just like Andy told Red, I kept telling myself and RED - "Remember, Red. Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things,and no good thing ever dies."

Sometime back, I had made this idea of traveling the entire stretch of Kerala from Kanyakumari to Mangalore with Abhi. That never happened after our Himalayan Odyssey 2007. We were too busy in our own worlds. Nevertheless I went on and made a rough plan sometime at the start of this year. When I was sure that I won't be going to Kanyakumari directly from here, I thought about traveling the other way round. Facing the monsoon instead of chasing it; by going to Mangalore and then start from there, touch Kanyakumari and then back to Bangalore. And for all this my travel companion is to be Red. Red never had a long ride after her revamp and was yearning like me too.

By the start of June this year, as I read the anthologies -"Mazhakkalam" and "Mazhapusthakkam"- about rains, I had gone mad about it and decided that I have to do this trip as soon as possible. I decided for the August 15th weekend as I need to take only 4 days of leave and club the two weekends to make it a 9 day affair with the roads and rains. I did some changes in the plan to strike the right balance between an exhaustive ride and a leisured one. Thus I decided to touch Mangalore from Bangalore on day one, then to my home in Vadakara, then to Ernakulam, and then finally Kanyakumari at the end of fourth day. I was a bit confused about the return part, as I was not sure whether to come back through Kerala to Bangalore or go touch Rameshwaram, then back to Bangalore through Madurai. The second option would be too exhaustive and long and would need more leaves.Riding back through Kerala was the only option. But again I was confused. Should I take the dangerous and risky Kambam-Theni-Madurai route or the boring, but untried Walayar-Salem route or the tried and tested Wayanad-Mysore route? Kambam-Theni would really risky and being alone I didn't want to try that. Walayar Pass would be really boring with straight highways, mad TN private buses and dry atmosphere. Wayanad-Mysore was aready done twice or thrice by me. Then a friend of mine told me about the Nilambur Naadukani Choram Pass which will take me to Gudalur and then to Gundlupet and Bangalore. In one split second I decided that is the route I will be taking. I enquired about the road conditions with him, and heard its just okay.

So here is the plan:

I wanted Abhi to be part of the trip since we really know each other well the way we ride. I informed a few of my other riding friends about the plan, but they all had pre-planned trips on their long weekend. Abhi was not really sure about the complete trip, but promised me to join atleast from Vadakara or Eranakulam. So I went ahead planning the entire journey.

If I need to have a hassle free ride, I have to start with RED. So I first made her ready by changing the oil, changing the clutch cable, acquiring the spares and tools and the last part of cleaning her up and getting a Pooja done is to be completed. I went and patched up my Cramster saddle bags, bought a tarpoline kind of material to protect my camera bag, collected a lot of polythene covers to put my dresses, got a new torch instead of the old one which was rusted along with the batteries, renewed my bike insurance which was about to expire on the day I was suppose to leave and collected my first-aid and essential medicines. By this last Sunday I was ready with almost all the stuff. All I have to do was wait for 9th of August; the coming Saturday, finish off my pending office work, complete my MS Mid Sem report, and probably write this post.

I really wanted this trip to be done. I do not really know for what, may be for my own satisfaction, may be to explore more places, or may be to capture Kerala and Rains in my Camera or may be just to escape. Just to escape from the temporary phase of life, which is professionaly good and personally pathetic. Whatever it is I just wanted to ride.

I know the road ahead will not be easy. Atleast I have made it some what easy by travelling maximum through the National Highways and State Highways. But it is not that simple as riding it out at 80Kmph. I will have to face Ghats like Shiradi and Nadukani, the infamous private buses of Kerala from Kasargod to Trivandrum, bad roads, and then my eternal love - The Monsoon Rain - will be dancing all around me I all her mighty. Family approval was another thing, but after my odyssey they have kind of lost the hope in me. I had a bad ankle pain a few days back, which kept recurring after my freaky accident on the bike last year, and when I told my Dad about the trip he quipped; "I guess now you would not be having any pain, right?" I said No, with a sad smile on my face.

But when I look at the positive side, I will be visiting a lot of places for the first time. I can capture Bekal Fort on a Monsoon morning, I may ride through Muzhappilangad Drive In Beach, I can be at my beloved alma-mate r on my Bike, I can enjoy Kuttanad as well as the curves of Kottayam section of MC Road, I can watch sunset and sunrise at Kanyakumari with RED, I can visit Thunjan Parambu and Thirunavaya on my way back, I can drop into the Woods of Nilambur if time permits and finally I can ride in a Kerala Monsoon. Rains!! I love them.

So come this Saturday, I am gonna ride. I am gonna explore. I gonna leave Bangalore with RED to ride through Kerala; my beloved God's Own Country. I may be alone out there; but I am sure I will enjoy it to the core.

I hope Abhi is down there waiting for me.
I hope I can complete it without any issues.
I hope the Monsoon is as mighty as it has been in my reads and dreams.
I hope.

himalayan odyssey 2008

2008-06-29T19:13:00.006+05:30

I am late, I know. But I am not that late, since the people who have left home to listen their heart will start the most courageous and dangerous ascend of their life tomorrow.

From Tomorrow morning 'the trip is over'. As Sachin Chavan would say, it is very true too. I, with Abhi , had promised a lot of goodies for the aspiring Himalayan Odyssey venturers. But nothing materialised. The year after HO 2007 had been a tough one on me. Professionally I was busy with work and new learnings, while personal losses have kept me thinking -what kind of person I am. I rode only once to home and backthe whole last year and with Abhi too busy I never had any chance. Plus RED has undegone slight modifications with new K & N air fliter, wider tyres, better pickup and well tuned engine and headlamps. She is rocking now.

But I didn't want to miss my best wishes here to all those who are going to ride Himalyan Odyssey this time. All the best guys, keep your eyes and ears open and enjoy every second of your stay over there. Ride past Barlacha La with verve and be gentle on Gata Loops. With high adrenaline conquer the Khardung La but respect the nature. And riding after Whiskey is Risky to your Life.

May the force be with you.

let me be free !!!

2008-06-16T22:00:00.003+05:30

A Shot from a slum settlement next to my apartments.
Dedicating this to all the children in this beautiful, but harsh world.
June 12th was World Anti Child Labour Day.
Couldn't post this on that day, but still its better to be late than never.

Say NO to Child Labour.

എന്റെ ഹൃദയത്തിന്റെ ഉടമ..

2008-06-07T00:03:00.003+05:30

പറയാത്ത മൊഴികള്‍തന്നാഴത്തില്‍ മുങ്ങിപ്പോയി,

പറയുവാനാശിച്ചെതെല്ലാം..

നിന്നോട് പറയുവാനാശിച്ചെതെല്ലാം......

a kaalakoodam news report...

2008-04-21T19:03:00.006+05:30

College days are the best cherished days of our life, which unfortunately doesn’t come back. We always talk about it; from the day you stepped into the college to the day you bid adieu, every detail, we talk about it. Everyone holds their alma mater close to their heart, be it of any type- arts, science or professional. And to top it all we do have incidents that are adventurous, funny, tragic, and emotional. We do have experience of the fights, of the festivals, of the sports meets, of the elections; of Onam and Holi, of Hostels and College Bus; and what not. It is there we evolved as a human being!!

Whenever I go back and think of my college days I too have many instances and incidents to remember. Of all them I think the birth of Kaalakoodam Dinapatram would be one of the best. It all started on a harmless and boring Digital Electronics class during the Fourth Semester in the amphitheater, where the hall was big and the teacher could hardly notice what students are doing and it was my dear friend Baburaj who came up with the idea. The idea was of starting a handwritten news paper, which will effectively be used to pull the legs of our classmates. We came up with made up stories and wrote it neat and legibly on a piece of paper in the format that newspapers follow. We had a proper heading, a symbol and the column wise organisation of the news. The stories we put up were targeting the class, the teachers and the college and was written in Malayalam. We followed the language format used most commonly by the Malayalam newspapers otherwise known as "Pathra Bhasha". After the first two editions Praseed got interested in it and he too joined the "editiorial board" to make it a 3 member team.

While Baburaj was instrumental in making up the story ideas, Praseed and I chipped in with the formatting and also the language. I did most of the writing on the paper, since other editors thought I had a better handwriting than them ;). Once completed, it was released to the class at the end of the hour or during lunch interval. Kaalakoodam became an instant hit. We never said who brought in the stories and it was always a Kaalakoodam Lekhakhan who wrote the news report.

After a few editions we started inviting entries for cartoons and jokes from other guys in the class. TP used to contribute with the drawings and cartoons. Bijoy, Rahmath, Jimson, Rajesh used to chip in with the jokes (otherwise called “cheelukal” in Engineering college terms). We soon realized that our bodies will not be in shape if we do not stop pulling other guys/gals leg. But Kaalakoodam was a paper which was bold enough to pull anyone’s legs and it never stopped making out stories or twisting out the stories and we never used to budge to the external threat we received from our own classmates. Instead what we did was to criticize ourselves and pull our own legs along with the others. Now everyone was happy.

Kaalakoodam used to appear whenever we had some stories and didn’t have any frequency. It can come the every other day or after a few weeks. Girls awaited for the issue with much of anxiety while guys wanted to kick us after the edition was released. Nobody could read where the next story came from since we could twist any story into anything. Soon the one pager became a two pager and once released the pages will be split and at different corners of the class.
Finally it was time to leave the college and so died Kaalakoodam Dinapatram only to be reborn as Kaalakoodam Online Edition. I started writing out this as a Word document using the Varamozhi Software during my free time in NITC and uploaded it to the Yahoo Groups Site of our class. There were a few issues with the Malayalam font and Anil helped me in creating a PDF for it, after I received numerous complaints about the problems in the font.

By that time people have been started working in different corners of the world and the news was mostly based on their transfers, on-sites and marriages. There weren’t any spice in it. It was left in the four walls of GEC. I never enjoyed creating the online edition as I used to do it in college. First of all there was no tension of doing it in the college hours while the lecturer would be trying to teach us something. And then most importantly I really missed Babu and Praseed's contribution in churning out the stories and presenting them in a better way. We were at different places having our own problems.

After a couple of issues of the online edition I had to move out of NITC and life became busier and so Kaalakoodam Online was laid to rest. This Vishu when I went home, I opened up my old file and became nostalgic when I saw the old Kaalakoodam Dinapatram (I sill have most of them with me). Then I realized it is time to start it up once again in a bigger and better way. With blogs being the order of the day and with so many classmates blogging I don’t think it will be difficult to start it again. Probably I need to organize the stuff a bit. Hope to open up a Kaalakoodam Blog Soon :)

P.S: The uploaded image is of the PDF Edition I released in November 2004.

happy vishu

2008-04-10T13:18:00.010+05:30

കാലമിനിയും വരും,
വിഷു വരും വര്‍ഷം വരും
പിന്നെ ഓരോ ഇതളിനും പൂ വരും കായ് വരും
അപ്പോള്‍ ആരെന്നും എന്തെന്നും ആര്‍ക്കറിയാം
ഹാ! സഫലമീയാത്ര

സഫലമീയാത്ര - എന്‍ എന്‍ കക്കാട്

How true are these words? Days will come, and so will Vishu and Monsoon. Each petal will blossom into flowers and fruits. Then who knows who and what will we be. Haa!! The Fruitful Journey.Verses from the Poem Saphalameeyaathra by N.N Kakkad

Wishing you all a Happy And Prosperous Vishu.

P.S: Photo captured from my to Tanjavur from Arimalam; my colleague Thanneer's place in Trichy District of Tamilnadu
P.P.S: Interested Malayalam movie buffs have a look at what Jiby has seen and analysed.
P.P.P.S: Poetry Courtesy - Dew Drops. As I searched for lines for Vishu, I found out about Saphalameeyathra and her world of books.

musings from an elevator journey...

2008-04-04T23:11:00.006+05:30

I am on a semi WBL these days and I leave late round at 10 PM. Considering the fact that I never used to stay after 8 PM in office this is very late for me :).

Today considering the long weekend ahead, I left a bit early at 9PM and walked towards the lobby. The director of another group in my company joined me in a bit and then a person who is doing carpentery at our office joined us. I had already pressed the Down Arrow Button for the lift and we all were waiting for either of the two lifts to come from the 7th and 9th floors, as they were shown on their downward journey. Our office is in 5th floor and none of the lifts resting at the ground floor were bothered to serve us. So tired you know!!

These lifts use some strange logic to move around across all the 9 floors. We are depended on the two lifts coming from floors above us to take us down rather than any of the four lifts staying idly at ground floors. Suddenly the carpenter presses the Up Arrow Button for the lifts and then the two idle lifts at ground floor rush to the 5th and open right in front of us in a space of few seconds. As the person who pressed the button and the director entered the lift, I stayed there cribbing - "Its going Up, Its going Up". But that person called me with his hands to come in fast and I reluctantly joined them thinking that the lift will go up. And then it took us down.

Never in my life I have pressed a lift button in the wrong direction. I have seen people getting in the wrong directions only to make the lift more crowded. And I hate it, when some one in 1st floor who wants to go to 5th floor, takes the downward lift, go to the basement and then come back up only to frustrate people who have pressed the correct button and waiting to go up from the basement.

I do not know whether that person's move was good or bad, but it took us down rather than waiting there for the lifts. And that was smart. It was just pure common sense to think that the lifts coming from upper floors are to take more time than the ones coming from the ground floor. And I just didn't think about that. Rather I waited in the methodical way by pressing the Downward Arrow Button.

Oh God! Life is such a great Teacher.

Tail-Piece: My Mom always tells me: "Nee Oru Enjineeear Aayittentha Kaaryam Common Sense Ennu Paranja Saadhanam Ninakkundo" , when I messes up any trivial job, she asks me to do. Very True!!

my own self..

2008-04-02T17:08:00.010+05:30

I picked up this tag from Mathew. Writing this was exciting as I dug deep into myself and came up with these facts :). So here I go.

1. LAST MOVIE YOU SAW IN A THEATER:

Everyone’s favourite – Taare Zameen Par

2. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING?

“One Hundred Years of Solitude” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Simply Awesome. Grab a copy today if you love reading magical realism.

3. FAVORITE BOARD GAME?

Loved playing Ludo. Now nothing much. Cards of flavors Rummy, Paral (Theen Paththi) are the present favorites, if they count to be a board game.

4. FAVORITE MAGAZINE?

Sportstar, Mathrubhumi (Even though now a days the standard of Mathrubhumi is coming down), All the Onapathippu's of main Malayalam magazines, Bhashaposhini.

5. FAVORITE SMELLS?

Smell of earth after a rainy day
Smell of Fish Fry especially if the fish is Ayala or Maththi
Smell of good Malabar Chicken Biriyani.

6. FAVORITE SOUND? Of MUSIC?

Sound – Of my Bird after she is revamped by Gopettan. Tuff, tuff, tuff… , of torrential rains..

Sound of Music – mmm let me think. A. R. Rahman’s usage of flute in Tanha Tanha in rangeela, and also in lot of other songs.

7. WORST FEELING IN THE WORLD?

When I am alone, I think about the various incidents my life which I could have averted if I could have behaved in a much better way, and at that point.

8. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU THINK OF WHEN YOU WAKE

Where is My Specs?

9. FAVORITE FAST FOOD PLACE?

When I was staying Koramangala, it used to be the Modern Bakery near our house. Now nothing much. Bhagini Paradise satisfies my hunger for Biriyani’s .

10. FUTURE CHILD'S NAME?

I do not know about future child’s name, but I do like the name Appu a lot. I guess that’s the most used name for kids in Kerala. M.T's protagonist in Naalukettu is called Appunni. May be I am influenced by that

11. FINISH THIS STATEMENT. "IF I HAD A LOT OF MONEY I'D...?
Our Economics Sir taught us, money is what money does. Frankly I do not know; may be I will venture for a world tour on my Red.

12. DO YOU DRIVE FAST?

Yes I do. But that doesn’t mean I drive rash. I do drive fast when I have the mileage to drive fast. Like on way back home to Vadakara, I touch 90-95-100kmph on Mysore Road, while I reduce to 80 after Mysore.

13. DO YOU SLEEP WITH A STUFFED ANIMAL?

No. My sister does.

14. STORMS-COOL OR SCARY?
Love Storms. Perfect would be watching them approaching you from a paddy field

15. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CAR?

First Car is yet to come. First Bike I owned is Bajaj Pulsar. And First Car I drove would be Hindustan Motors’ Ambassador Mark IV.

16. FAVORITE DRINK?

Tea Any Time. Soda Sherbeth, Sharjah Shake and Panchasaara Vellam.(This you will find only in Vadakara where you call it Panchara Vellam. You add sugar onto water then add a few small onion pieces and take it. Awesome it is)
Hard Drinks : Bacardi White Rum, Bacardi Reserva Rum, Antiquity Blue Whiskey. Off late my favourites are Mansion House Brandy and Old Monk Rum. So cheap you know :) .

King Fisher Strong is Welcome anytime.

17. FINISH THIS STATEMENT, "IF I HAD THE TIME I WOULD .....

.. have finished reading all the books present in my bookshelf before I buy anything more.

18. DO YOU EAT THE STEMS ON BROCCOLI?

Sorry – Hard Core Non Vegetarian. I am allergic to Ghass Poos.

19. IF YOU COULD DYE YOUR HAIR ANY COLOR, WHAT WOULD BE YOUR CHOICE?

How about Pista Green?.

20. NAME ALL THE DIFFERENT CITIES/TOWNS YOU HAVE LIVED IN.

Calicut, Zella (in Libya), Palai, Vadakara, Tripunithura, Trichur, Bombay, Pune, Bangalore in that order from birth to till date.

21. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?

Cricket any time. Football on World Cup and Tennis on Grandslams.

22. ONE NICE THING ABOUT THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU.

I took it up from Mathew. I know he is quite a jovial guy, but when I look at his profile pic and see that big mush I get scared :).

23. WHAT'S UNDER YOUR BED?

I am a Tharra fellow :). My bed is on the floor, on it sides I keep the book I am reading currently, my mobile and my spectacles. Under the bed, there would be the tons and tons of dust if our maid servant hasn’t cleaned that day. (That means I was still sleeping while she was cleaning the floor around my bed).

24. WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE BORN AS YOURSELF AGAIN?

No. I don’t. There are a lot of bad things in me which many of the people around me don’t like.

25. MORNING PERSON, OR NIGHT OWL?

Both. I can sit late and watch any movie and read any book, and I can wake up early to go anywhere in the morning.

26. OVER EASY, OR SUNNY SIDE UP?

What does this mean? From a few blogs I came to know its about Eggs. Bulls-eye !! I like it Over Easy then.

27. FAVORITE PLACE TO RELAX?

Home Sweet Home.
Ride On Bike, if that can be considered as a place.

28. FAVORITE PIE?
I don’t like Pie.

29. FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR?

Vanilla with Hot Chocolate.

30. OF ALL THE PEOPLE YOU TAGGED THIS TO, WHO'S MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND FIRST?

I don’t know. (Well Seema has just done it)
And this tag goes to..
This tag is already quite popular, but however I feel these people will try to do it.

Abhi - Whenever he is free from his WBL.
Seema - Whenever she takes a break from her awesome poetry.
Joju - Whenever he is done with his Malayalam Dictionary.
TP - Whenever he breaks his Infinite Loop.
Tanuja - Whenever she gets time.

frustrations galore

2008-03-25T15:30:00.005+05:30

I was frustrated over the weekend for a lot of things, a lot of serious things. And then I had this piece of thread in my mind churning up, giving me the nauseating feel. I vomitted it in bits to a small piece of paper and then finally on to the blogger while watching Kimi winning the Malaysian GrandPrix. Then I reworked on it a bit, and thought for a title for 2 days and finally is it. Deepasthambham MahaSchyaryam. This time it is in Malayalam. Still I am not completely satisfied with the Title. But thats the Best I could think.

Enjoy.

happy weekend folks..

2008-03-20T17:22:00.003+05:30

Wishing You all a Colourful Holi, Easter and Id.

Be safe and take care whereever you are. Have a blasting long weekend.
Picture shot from the Kanadukatha Big House, in Chettinad, near to Arimalam in Trichy district of Tamilnadu

Eee Yem..

2008-03-19T09:13:00.001+05:30

Today is March 19th.

10 years ago on a sultry evening I saw a very depressed Surkhi leaning against the railings in the corridor of Alpha Hostel. He was my senior,a really nice guy, a true comrade who believed in the essence of communism rather than in beating his own classmates.

I asked him -"Surkhi, Enthu patti.."
He said - "Nammude Sakhavu Poyada..."

Thinking about some of his local comrades I asked - "Aaru?"

"EMS."

While he said that his voice almost broke. That was the first time I realized EMS was something an integral part of Keralites. Till then to me he was the first Chief Minister of Kerala.

Later that evening I saw masses belonging to all classes, from all parts of Kerala arriving at the hall where he was laid down for the public to pay the last respects. Some of them were crying. There were ladies who broke into a loud cry, as if some one dear in the family has died. At that time I never knew his importance to the people in Kerala.

That night Surkhi's sad face gave me a sleepless night. I was thinking about EMS and blaming myself for not knowing him much well as Surkhi knew.

As I grew up, I started reading about him and about his works. I never left any single article, both for and against him. And today is his 10th death anniversary. Its 10 years of Kerala without EMS and today as the Communist Party in Kerala is fighting their own demons, I wonder how EMS would have fit into it.

Neither of the Malayalam Dailies online editions, which boasts about big circulations, have a home page article for him. I haven't seen the newspapers though. Deshabhimani has given an editorial where Pinarayi Vijayan says that EMS' memories will give them strength to fight. I hope it is not for another violent killing in Kannur or anywhere in India.

Slowly EMS is getting forgotten, and I hope we do not come to a situation; where a day will come when he would be just another comrade for the left parties

Long live Comrade EMS.

Photo Courtesy : Malayala Manorama

ഇന്നലെ പെയ്ത മഴയില്‍

2008-03-16T20:18:00.006+05:30

വീണ്ടുമൊരു പുതുമഴ കൂടി നനഞ്ഞു ഞാന്‍ ഇന്നലെ. തിമിര്‍ത്തു പെയ്ത മീനമാസ രാത്രിമഴയില്‍ ഞാന്‍ മതിവരുവോളം ബൈക്കോടിച്ചു.

ഇന്നിപ്പോള്‍ മൊബൈലിന്റെ ഡിസ്പ്ലെ വെളിച്ചം തെളിയുന്നില്ല... തൊണ്ടയ്ക്കു ചെറിയ കിച്ച് കിച്ച്.

Visit Mashithantu to write in Malayalam.

haa.. there comes another sslc..

2008-03-12T09:58:00.004+05:30

13 years ago on a Wednesday in March, I too started the long walk to the exam hall. Yes, it was the first exam of the much renowned SSLC.

An exam which makes parents and students tense alike. An exam that makes a student start up his tuitions as early as 9th standard Mid Summer Vacations. Portions, revisions, Model Exams and what not. There is a much of euphoria associated with a student once his/her 9th results are up and he/she has passed successfully to the 10th standard.

"Start Tuitions" .. The parents roar
"Early classes to finish portions" .. Teachers would organize
"Aren't you not going for tuitions? Isn't SSLC this year?".. Relatives would ask

The first day of the exams is the toughest, then all come and go as fast as it can. The day when you revised the Vritham and Alankaram of Abhinjaana Shankunthalam will easily pave way to the day you revise trigonometry and algebra. Fast and furious, 12 subjects in 6 days*, from one Wednesday to the next.

At the end of it is relief and anxiety. Relief that the exams are over and anxiety for the marks that are to be announced at the fag end of May.Then you get into a college, do another big struggle against entrance exams and join another institution. Finally at the end of the day you realize that hype surrounding the SSLC just fetches you an admission to the Plus One or the erstwhile Pre-Degree Course aka PDC.

The best thing that the government did was the abolishment of ranking system and the introduction of grading system. Instead of the pressure for ranks, now it would the pressure for all A+'s.

Today around 4.5 lakh students are just about to start their first small step into the big world. I hope they have memorized their poems, I hope they can decipher the correct Vrithams for the poems given and explain about it in detail, I hope they can elaborate on the topic given for essay, I hope they can explain "Chantrakkaran's"** physical structure, I hope they can explain the French and Russian revolutions and Boston Tea Party with much ease, and I hope they come out successful.

I wish them the very best.

* If I remember correctly we were the last batch to attend SSLC exams in such a way. Two papers in a day, to complete 12 subjects in 6 days. It started on a Wednesday and ended the next Wednesday Today they write only one exam a day, I think.

** Chantrakkaran - A character from the novel Dharmaraja, by C.V Raman Pillai, which was taught us in Malayalam II paper. The most prominent question those days was - "Chantrakkarante Roopam Varnikkuka". I do not know what they study these days for Malayalam II.

some strange vacation requests

2008-02-13T20:20:00.005+05:30

One Friday an young "intellectual" who is working as a project intern in an organization, walks into his team leader's (TL) cubicle. The team leader is busy with his implementation and customization stuff of the world renowned product.

"Saar..", the intern calls..
"Mmmm..", TL is busy fixing his code base, with his brain and mind deep inside the matrix of code. He is "The One"; some believe and constantly asks himself - "What is the Matrix?".
"Saaaaaar..", the intern lets out a deep moan.
"Yessss.. Tell me", TL still deep down in lappie.
"I need leave Sir this coming Monday.. mmm.. I have a function at...", the intern requests with moist eyes
"Ok. No problem.", TL granted leave without looking at the intern. (See the TL is intelligent enough to identify the person from the voice)

The Intern doesn't leave the arena.. still standing behind our TL..

"Saaaaaar...", then intern calls his TL again.
"Mmmm.. Bolll...", TL almost yells, but his concentration deep in garbage collecting (the unreferenced objects in his code).
"Saaaaar I need one more leave on next Friday... I have another function at...", the intern requests with more moist eyes
"Ok. No problem.", TL granted leave without looking at the intern. (See the TL is too intelligent to grant a second leave in the same week to his team member. He knows his work status and work load by-heart with out even checking the MS Project Plan)

The Intern doesn't leave the arena.. still standing behind our TL..

"Saar.."
"Mmmm.. Ab Kya Hai??" TL still in the same state. This time his brain is fighting with "Agents" in the code.
"Saar.. I want to go home on next Friday..", the intern repeats the request with eyes almost opening the floodgates to erupt.
"I granted you naa.. you come back from function on Tuesday and go home on Thursday.." said the TL with his brain still inside the lappie

After a dignified silence the intern cries out;

"Saaar.. It won't be easy for me to come back on Tuesday and go back again on Thursday.. the function is happening at my home only Saar.. it will be very tiring to travel saar.. so faaarrr from here saaaar... so I will come back only the next to next Monday after leaving for home today..!!!."

A sudden loud noise went out - "cling.. clang.. clong.. tishkyu.. tishkyu.. dishum.. dishum.."

Tail piece: BBC radio later in the day reported that the TL's *JVM crashed and all the objects are now wandering in the virtual world of classes, objects and threads as zombies. The sound due to the crash was so unbearable that it was measured to be more than that of a 'un-crashed' MIG sortie. The employees of the entire organization where this JVM crash happened were admitted to the Manipal Hospital for further checkup on their Cochlear nerve, Eustachian Tube and Ear Drum.

*JVM - Java Virtual Machine

a story... after a loooooooong time...

2008-02-11T15:09:00.001+05:30

Yea. Its really a long time since I wrote something seriously on the story front. 18 months to be exact. Writer's Block some say :).

This piece of thread grown with me ever since the reality shows started on our TV channels. At that time I thought it as a huge platform for youngsters to showcase their talent. Then the juniors started showing up. I was skeptical, having doubts in my mind after seeing kids crying and asking for votes. I asked myself, isn't this too much?. Then one fine day I saw an ad by a leading diapers manufacturer inviting children of the age 0-2 for a competition. This made me so much angry. And the out come was this story.

Even though that happened an year ago, I could put words onto my thoughts only yesterday. I churned on the idea, told the first draft of the version to my dear friend. Only thing she wanted was to change the ending. Later I forgot about it some times; remembering it occasionally in my busy days. And then finally at the start of last week I decided to give a life to it. I started penning it down, and it was not easy to get a head start. Finally I took the bulk of yesterday to finish it, edit it and convert it to a full fledged story. Rajan in the story, is mostly me (of course I am not married :) ) and Deepa too exist. But they are not living as mentioned in the story.

Hope you guys enjoy it and do comment out your voices. Criticisms are much appreciated; both positive and negative.

"Reality" Bites

"enthoru sspppeeeed"

2008-01-29T20:43:00.000+05:30

Bharat Gopi passed away.

One of the best actors in Malayalam Film Industry is now no more. My first memory of him is his role in "Ente Mamattikutti Ammaykku" and he was always one of my favourite actors, most probably because he always reminded me of my father, with his baldness and name. As Panchayath President Jeemootha Vahanan Pillai in Panchavadi Paalam he excelled. That was his best comic role perhaps. Then one day he burst again on to matinee minds with his character in "Patheyam". I haven't seen many of his movies, but he was always a special one for me and whenever I got a chance, I tuned onto the movies of him that came in the TV Channels. Malayalam Cinema will miss him.

Many Tributes Sir, You will be definitely missed.

Picture Courtesy: Manorama

P.S: The Title of this post is from one of his dialogues in "Kodiyettam"

perth win-what it means to me

2008-01-21T14:40:00.001+05:30

I start writing this at the start of last session of the fourth's day's play at Perth and I hope this gets published, for this is written as an ode to the Indian victory that will happen today. What does this victory means to me as an Indian cricket fan? To be the first nation from the subcontinent to defeat Aussies in Perth, is definitely a big thing, perhaps the greatest of the things. But to me it is the build up that was created into this test match, with all things going haywire at Sydney. Spirit of the game, umpiring errors, racist charge; many a things. And then there was Perth, considered to be the fastest and bounciest pitch in the world, and of course a fast dynamo named Shaun Tait considered being faster than the fastest of the pacers presently playing the game. Cometh the day, cometh the man, captain courageous calls it right and makes a brave decision. "We'll bat." It was really a brave decision, considering the fact that it could have been a natural tendency of anyone, who won the toss, to bowl first at the WACA. Anil Kumble just didn’t get carried away by Perth.

(Continuing the article on 21st) What happened after those 4 days of excellent cricket is now known to everyone? There are articles written about it on all the magazines and newspapers and on blogs too. To me, as a person who gets up early in the morning to watch the matches happening in Australia,this win is really special, for even I didn’t give India a chance of victory at Perth. I was not confident enough that the much famed Indian batting lineup, all
except Sachin Tendulkar playing on Perth for first time, could face the Aussies pace and Indian bowlers could take twenty Australian wickets. Not many of the Indians would have thought either. Our best chance came at Sydney, but that too had gone away, and my mind said it would be 3-0. On all these days I went at 10 AM to the office after seeing the match till lunch. And on the second day when Australia was 14/3, I said –“Now we have a chance”. And as Sunil Gavaskar put it, it was the old art of swing bowling that peeped into the Australian fort and rattled them. I must admit I underestimated the ability of the company of Irfan, RP and Ishant.

On the fourth day as India was chasing history, there was a contest between a young rookie and one of the best No 3 batsmen in the world now. For all you cricket fans out there who missed that, let me tell you it was really a MISS that you have done in your cricketing life. I am bit an old timer and even though I enjoy all forms of cricket, I love to watch Test Cricket, for it is there I believe there is scope for everyone and where one’s temperament is tested. The morning session contest between bat and ball, between Ishant and Ricky Ponting, was test cricket at its best.

There were inspirational bowling changes from Anil Kumble. He was a true leader there, even though the emotion he showed when he got Symonds might not suggest that. He erupted in joy like a child who got his toy back. But to ask Ishant, “Ek Aur Karega” and give the ball to him, and to give bring Sehwag on, noticing that there was turn for finger spinners, just before tea was truly inspirational. The run that Sehwag made into Kumble after castling Gilly just showed that it was Kumble’s idea to bring Viru on. It was just destiny that his 600^th wicket has to fall in this epic match. Bravo Anil, Bravo!!

Australians are hurt, and they are sure to come back. But I guess they might have just realized the fact that, the replacements they thought will fit into Langer’s, McGrath’s, Warne’s shoes are not quite yet there. For many in the team, this is the first defeat. Hussey’s and Phil Jacques’s averages are coming down. And even though Ponting may not admit it, it was really the old art of swing bowling that did them in. Brett Lee bowled with heart, so did Stuart Clark. While Johnson disappointed, Shaun Tait, the pace bowling sensation who was to rip apart the Indian side, was a pity site to watch. The fact that he bowled lesser number of overs than the part time spinners underlined the fact that he was not at its best or is he just another hype from the Aussie media?

There was much written about Perth, Shaun Tait and how Indians will be handling them. Somebody named Geoff Marsh claimed Indians won’t win a single test in this series. At the end of it the Aussies where undone. Undone by the Indian bowling and batting; and a bit of their over confidence. If only we could script the Sydney Test in a different way, things would have been different. But past is past and India should now look forward to Adelaide and if a certain Rahul Dravid can repeat his last series feat, if a Laxman can repeat his consistency against the Aussies and if some one from the pace battery can step in and perform a “Agarkeresque” spell of bowling, we can make it 2-2.

Still Perth victory will go down in Indian Cricket History as one of the greatest, perhaps ‘the greatest’ Test Victory of India.

And to quote Bill Pullman, The President, from the movie Independence Day; Jan 19^th 2008 will be the day, when we unanimously declared in one voice-

Wewill not go quietly into the night!
Wewill not vanish without a fight!
We're going to live on!
We're going to survive!
Today, we celebrate our Independence Day!

And some where at a distance from Perth, in a stadium called Melbourne Park under the flashy lights of Rod Laver Arena, another world champion from a different sport was competing to survive against a la David. Roger Federer is his name. The Australians can definitely look at him to understand, what being a World Champion means. Tennis may be an altogether different game from cricket. Sure it is of individual brilliance. But a being a World Champion is almost the same in all sport. That’s what differentiates a Tiger Woods and Roger Federer, from a Vijay Singh and Andy Roddick. That’s what Australians have to learn that being a world champion in cricket is not about playing the cricket in a hard-nosed way. Its about the way you play the game confidently, about the ability to comeback at critical stages(which they have) and more importantly humility. Humbleness enough to appreciate the opposition’s capability to dethrone them. And quoting Anil Kumble, aggressiveness is not about abusing a batsmen’s family when he is on song, but it is about trying to take wickets every ball he bowls.

Australians will come back at us. But Go India, Go and achieve what others say is unachievable. I, Guru, Abhi and Kich will be there to get up early in the mornings and support you.

P.S: I started writing this at teatime on fourth day and as I was writing 8^thwicket was down. But when Clark and Johnson started hitting I got worried and I thought I am getting over confident and stopped writing. I enjoyed the game and watched India’s win and then I saw Federer fighting it against Tipaservic. Later I remembered about this today morning and it took half a day for me to complete this. But I couldn’t have slept without publishing this. This is dedicated to people like Abhi,Guru, and Kich and me who wake up early in the mornings and support Indian Cricket. No matter how many times we lose, no matter who ever is dropped or selected, people like us just comeback in front of the Idiot box and watch this game which we love. And this is for those people who love the game of cricket and Indian Cricket. I may be a bit too emotional here, but can't help it. :)

P.P.S: Picture Courtesy, www.cricinfo.com

telling my dreams...

2008-01-14T20:10:00.001+05:30

Between yesterday night 11.30 pm and today morning 5.35 am it was a roller coaster sleep ride for me. Thanks to the spirits and the light dinner, I could hit the bed as soon as I came in. Thank God I was in my senses to remove my shoes and mobile and purse from my pocket, but I didn't change my clothes. And I never bothered even to look at the Vadakkan Aithihyamala that I had started reading yesterday. It was just plain and simple doze off.

Then they came one after another. The dreams. The first one was mild and here it goes.

Rahul, my ex-roommate in Pune calls up Vasanthi on Radio City Breakfast Show and tells that he is calling from Gloucestershire and need to dedicate a song urgently. She then asks him to whom all he wants the song to be dedicated. He says to his parents, wife, sister and Pillu and Dhanno. Then she asks who is this Pillu and Dhanno. He says they are his room mates from Pune.

Thanks Ramlal, that was so sweet of you even though it was in dreams :)

The next one was a slightly violent one and the protagonist in that was Gopettan, my fellow Himalayan Odyssey rider and the one who is shaping my RED up to match Abhi's Kuttappan.

In the dreams, I follow the treads of a motorcycle tyre. I see a vague skeleton of my RED and then some parts of it including the old tyre and the shelled out stuff from the silencer. Tears tickle down from my eyes as I follow the tread and far away I can see her in a completely new getup with Gopettan lying comfortably on her. I climb up the hill and ask him,
"Why are you not giving the bike back to me?"
Then Gopettan replies -"Why didn't reply back to my e-mails? "
Well what e-mail can a person, who is completely away from the Web World, send all of a sudden?
"What e-mail Gopetta?" I ask.
"Those e-mails which I send to you about the Design and Development of the Free flow engine and Development? Why didn't you take time to understand it and get back to me with your doubts? Until you give me a clear answer I won't give the bike back to you."
I walk back perplexed, eager to check my mails and reply to Gopettan, but as I logged in there wasn't any mail from him. My Inbox was empty. There was no mails from no one. Far away from the hill, RED had started speeding down. But this time Gopettan was not riding her. She was rolling herself.

In my next dream she came. That violent beauty who scared us all with psychosis in 1993 and who still have it across languages and states. "Naan Thaan Nagavalli". This time she was standing with Sreedevi near the temple pond steps. That time she was Ganga and was with Alli. Probably she was angry with Nakulan, for not letting her go along with others to take Alli's ornaments, the Nagavalli in her decided to set Sreedevi's Sari in fire. I was there watching these beautiful women from the other side of the pond. And as soon as the fire set ablaze, I screamed. "Ayyoo Thee Thee Thee, Fire Fire Fire". Hearing my screams Ganga then caught hold of Sreedevi's Pallu and removed just the fire from the sari Pallu. I could see fire on her hands which she put down into the pond, and the Sari was intact on Sreedevi's body. It was as if Ngavalli plucked away the fire from Sreedevi's Sari. Seeing this I screamed more loudly and violently. Ganga,Nagavalli, Sreedevi and Alli guffawed at me. The one loud wild laugh that sends spine chilling fear even into the Meppadans, Brahmadattans and Kathanaars. "Ha Ha Ha Ha ha .. hee ha ha ha ha ha ha haa ha ha ha haaaaaaa"

Then I woke up. Drank water, changed my clothes and came back and lied down. I recited "Rama Rama" and "Narayana Narayana". I even tried "Arjunan, Phalgunan, Parthan..", but sleep never came. Around 7 am I prepared Tea, took bath and came to office.

What do I do with these dreams? Guess, 2008 will be a sleepless year for me. All those 3 dreams just had a common thing. I talked about Rahul, I called Gopettan to know status of the work and I saw a movie (Finger Print-waste of a film) which had a story about a murder happening in Royal family and all these happened yesterday. I wish I could interpret these dreams to get a more clarity on my life. This is not the first time dreams scared me to the core. On an another occasion, in my dreams I saw my colleague, Thanneer, getting a new Nokia N90 phone. It was a weekend night and next Monday, he threw away his old Nokia 3310 and got a brand new Nokia Phone, only thing different was it was not N90, but some other model. I wondered that day if I will be the Nostradamus. Could I predict stuff? But then I saw another dream and prayed I don't want to be Nostradamus.That was even more scary.

Where do these dreams lead me to? Can I foresee something for the future? Can I direct my life to move in the right way? I don't know. Nor I do have the answers now.

May be I should start reading Freud !!

P.S Image Courtesy http://www.dreammoods.com/

chak de india..

2008-01-07T10:36:00.001+05:30

"Only one team was playing with the spirit of the game, that's all I can say"

Anil Kumble,the entire nation will be behind you Sir. And we all know who was playing the game in the right spirit, for we are the ones who get up early in the mornings and follow the ball from day one. And do not worry, we will be up early in the morning for Perth. Fight it out. For the first time, this country of 1 billion will not ask questions of your loss, will not burn up any effigies, since we all saw what had happened there.

Ricky Ponting, Yes Sir your integrity to the game is questionable. One honest admission doesn't cover up for 2 other dishonest acts. You may be the best number three batsmen in the world, you may have 33 centuries to your repertoire, but that one appeal for that catch you took at silly mid off take out all the shine around you and it says all over that you are not to be trusted any more on the field. Yes Sir, we do question your integrity.

Welcome 2008

2008-01-02T13:35:00.001+05:30

Sorry Sorry Sorry....

I know I am late. But to all you guys and gals out there, here is me wishing you all a Very Happy and Prosperous New Year ahead.

Have a rocking 2008.

after the motorcyle diaries..

2007-11-27T18:44:00.001+05:30

Just finished reading The Motorcycle Diaries by Che Guevera. Absolutely Brilliant, and I don't have anything else to say.

Before reading it, I always thought that this was a book about adventure, traveling and of course Motorcycle. After reading it I realize that it is much more than that. True, it is about adventure, traveling and the Motorcycle "La Poderosa", but what it also captures is the pains Che & Alberto-his friend-undertook to cover the distance, the courage they show through out the journey, the plight of the common man he met through out his journey,the cheerfulness of the people in welcoming him and Alberto as one among them, the jobs these guys did, the help they provided to the patients in San Pablo Leper colony and much more.

The most interesting aspect of this book is that Che looked at things just as any other commoner like you or me would have done. At the time of writing these notes he wasn't a revolutionary. The things he wrote about the Peruvian Couple and the labourers in the Mines of Chile depict how much he empathised with them. And then he went onto to help them. That's were the person in Che is much different from others who travel around the world for records,spreading messages and even self satisfaction.

Motorcycle Diaries is one great book that no one, who has a reading habit, should ever miss.

This whole day I was completely immersed in Che and I was searching for his other books, his quotes, writings about him. Among those I found this interesting paper by V Hari Saravanan. Have a read.

a play

2007-11-16T09:30:00.001+05:30

The story and the characters in this play are fictional
and are not related to any dead or alive person in this world.
In case if you find any similarity it is just a co-incidence;
since we all belong to one small world

Actors: (In Order of Appearance)

Young Kid
Grown Up Kid
Big Boss
Poor Worker
Caretaker

Scene 1:

A morning at an office cafeteria. The TV Screen is on and a Cricket match is going; projected from the overhead LCD projector.Lot of crowd around having coffee. One among them is the Young Kid watching the match. He is excited; clapping for each boundary scored.

Scene 2:

Grown Up Kid comes for a coffee with other grown up kids; sees the Young Kid. He then chats with his colleagues; discuss the sensex fall and goes back.

Scene 3:

Young Kid still watching match on the big screen TV. (Camera panned from behind).

Scene 4:

Grown Up Kid comes again for a coffee with other grown up kids; sees the Young Kid. He then chats with his colleagues; discuss the Pakistan Emergency and goes back.

Scene 5:

Young Kid still watching match on the big screen TV. (Camera panned from left side showing his tense face).

Scene 6:

Grown Up Kid comes for lunch with other grown up kids; sees Young Kid. He then chats with his colleagues; discuss the Nuke Deal and goes back.

Scene 7:

Young Kid still watching match on the big screen TV. (Camera panned from front showing the excitement in his face).

Scene 8:

Grown Up Kid comes for an evening coffee with other grown up kids; sees Young Kid. He then chats
with his colleagues; discuss the Political turmoil in Bengal and goes back.

Scene 9:

Grown Up Kid complains to the Big Boss about Young Kid's TV watching tendencies.

Scene 10

Another day, another Cricket Match. Poor Worker;working late at night; knowing his idol playing in his vintage form decides to watch the match for having a break and feel the vintage idol at his heart. The cafeteria is deserted and the TV is not on.

Poor Worker to Caretaker: "Aap zara TV on karega?"
Caretaker: "Order Hai Sir, TV sirf Ek Ghante hi Dikhane hai; din me."

Poor Worker walks back to his cubicle to fight with the complexities of binary inconsistencies (what the heck; whatever it is) and opens the browser to "read" the shots his idol plays.

THE END

happy deepavali

2007-11-09T21:09:00.001+05:30

Happy Deepavali :)

Posts can wait; Work is Worship :)

a tribute to the teachers in my life

2007-09-05T00:40:00.000+05:30

It needed an Aviva from the Radio City to remind me that tomorrow is Teacher’s Day. Shame on me! Being a teacher myself at one point of my life, I should have definitely remembered it earlier. But thanks to her and her Route No 91 show that keeps me a good company on my way back to home.

Teachers are the people, who you would never forget in your life time. In this post I am paying a tribute to those people who have touched my life. These include the people who taught me and also the people with whom I was lucky to share the staff room during my 2 year stint as a Lecturer.

Achan. He is the one. My first teacher. The one who took pain to get the books shipped from Kerala to a distant Zella in Libya and teach this yours truly the “ThaRa, PaRa” of Malayalam and English Alphabets. At that point of time, my mom claims that I could spell the English alphabets forward and reverse fluently. His presence was felt throughout my school education. He used to chip in with the minute details of Biology and Chemistry, after I graduated to the high school and then to secondary. Those where his subjects, his forte. I terribly missed his teaching once I joined for Engineering. And I envy my sister who still gets his guidance since she chose to become a doctor like him.

Primary school days! Ah, those first steps to the school. As I started my education in Class II, the environment at the school was unknown to me. All my teachers at St Mary’s L.P School, Palai, gave me enough confidence to be in my own zone and felt me very much one among them. Of course I did cry the first few days. :P

At S.N.H.S Vadakara, things were not quite smooth. I had to learn a new subject, Hindi, which I was not taught in the Palai School. And Achan arranged a Teacher to give me tuition. She was Prabha Teacher, who was my Valiyamma’s classmate. She was really good in that subject, and taught me the intricacies of our national language. Things like the gender of words and other grammar.

As I grew up people like Physics Mohanan Sir, Prema Bai Teacher, Appunni Sir, Nanu Sir taught us the various subjects. Being young, Mohanan Sir mingled quite well with us while Prema Bai teacher was the best in English. Appunni Sir and Nanu Sir handled Malayalam and Hindi respectively. I will always remember Nanu Sir for his “Mein Jatha Hum, Thum Jaathe Ho, Aap Jaathe Hai” statements, which he used to make us recite to make our Hindi grammar correct. He is the one who told us that it is “Mujh Ko” or “Tujh Ko” and not “Mere Ko” or “Tere Ko”. But my inspiration and favorite was Madhavan Sir who taught us Mathematics. In his hands Mathematics was just like a cool rivulet flowing down the mountain. I was very much touched when on the eve of our SSLC exams, he called me up and said “Dhanush, I expect you to top in Mathematics”. I topped in the whole school, but Maths I and II fetched me 92 out of 100 and that was not enough to top in that subject. That award of top scorer when to my dear friend Boost.

I meet most of these people once in a while at my home town, but last year I made it a point to visit my school especially to visit Madhavan Sir. He was there in the middle of the Mathematics Club inauguration and bringing up the next generation Maths Whiz Kids. He was very happy to see me and I wished him the very best in his endeavour.

In the middle of that high school life, Achan found out that my Malayalam was getting weak and arranged a uition with Namboodiri Mash. I still don’t know his first name, but he was famous in Vadakara as the best Malayalam Teacher and known as just Namboodiri Mash. He was the one who introduced me to Malayalam literature. He told me the importance of reading Malayalam books and Magazines for improving my Malayalam vocabulary. I remember one instance where he asked me to recite Changapuzha’s “Kaavyanarthaki”. I started “Kanaka Chilanka Kilungi Kilungi” without any tune. Then he asked me to stop and recited it for me and asked me to recite with him. There I learned the tune of it and many more poems. I learned the Vrithams and Alankarams and learned to apply them on the poems. Finally I could identify the Vritham of a poem and sing it in the correct tune. Namboodiri Mash was really a genius.

In my life, I have always maintained the point that Class XI was the worst year in my entire school history. Firstly I was upset with Achan’s decision to join me in a Plus Two School instead of the prestigious Govt. College, Madappali, where my father, his brothers and my elder cousins studied. I was the first one in our family not to be studying in Madappalli College. Secondly I had to travel close to 90 kms a day and was mostly late for the class, with the Calicut-Kannur Passenger never keeping the right time. And so the stint that year was nothing great. Only a few teachers like Rasika Miss, who taught us English, and Chandrasekharan Sir of Chemistry impressed me. And this was where the term “teacher” was replaced with “miss”.

Seeing my marks plummet like Venkatesh Prasad’s pace at that time, Achan decide to pack me off to another school, this time a bit far in Tripunithura. I was put up with my aunt and there started my best phase of school life. I started taking things a bit more seriously and my favorite there was Sunanda Miss, who taught Biology. Her classes were just simply brilliant and interesting. Moreover that she had great affection to us, as we were the few boys (There were only 4 of us in the whole school) who took Biology.

I cannot forget Appukuttan Sir of ICS Coaching Classes, Ernakulam, who taught us Biology. He was the one who increased my interest in Biology by explaining the terms simply and beautifully. His classes were always comfortable and enjoyable and he used to crack jokes that will make you laugh for minutes. But in the midst of that too he was a strict teacher.

Dr. Radhakrishnan Sir, in our second meeting could, call out my name looking at me, during my first year in college. That just impressed me that in the first day in class, he actually has by hearted the names of all 50 of us who joined Govt. Engineering College, Trichur for Comp Science Course. He taught us Computer Organization in S4 and was really a great Teacher. During this time I have really dropped the interest in studies a bit and was brought down to an average student. And then one day looking at my S4 Results Reghuraj Sir asked me why I am not doing good. He was our class teacher. He called me up and enquired what the problem with me is. That really touched me as at a Govt. College no teacher really bothered to ask a student why he is doing bad in studies. I promised to do better at least in Reghuraj Sir’s subjects, but I must say I would not have done justice to that promise. During this period when we graduated to the final year both Radhakrishnan Sir was transferred to another college and Reghuraj Sir went to do his Phd.

Vrinda Madam came to teach us Microprocessor Based Design this time and was really a nice teacher. She explained the concepts well. Moreover she didn’t see the class as a group studying and non-studying students as was done by some other teachers during that time. She considered everyone equal.

Then one fine day I too turned a teacher, in fact a Lecturer-The Versatile Dhanush Mash. At Digi Dynamics, there was Reejesh Mash, Sreejith MP, Sudheer Mash who really ruled the classes and also inspired the students to do better. Reejesh Mash was really strict, but friendly. No one could play gimmicks with him, not even us. MP was the hardware geek; setting up networks, machines, bringing in new technologies, jumping into unknown territories of Computer Science was his forte. Sudheer Mash was the hard worker. He really sat and learned new subjects and taught them to the students. It is a strange reality that today apart from MP both of those best guys are not in this field any more. Reejesh Mash too ventured into the field of IT while Sudheer Mash joined the Govt. Service.

I did a short stint in Model Poly Technic Vadakara and Vadakara Co-operative Engineering College Vadakara. Nothing memorable was there except for the good company I had with Sreejith Sir and Jijose Sir.

Then came the big daddy of all. National Institute of Technology, Calicut or REC Calicut. How they selected me is still a mystery to me and I am pretty sure that I never did a good job there. But as this post is about the teachers, I would not divulge into those details. NITC should have had the best teachers in Kerala for Computer Science at that time. It was a great honor for me to share the staff room with Namboodiri Sir, Govindan Sir, Sebastian Sir, Murali Sir, Vinod Sir, Nazeer Sir, Saleena Madam, Subhasree Madam, Priya Madam, Madhu Sir and Saidalavi Sir.

Govindan Sir, who was the Head of the Department at that time, helped me a lot in setting up the question papers and the answer keys for the semester exams as NITC had turned autonomous that year and the Lecturer’s had to set the questions themselves for the semester exams. For a young guy who barely started his teaching career that was a big thing, and Govindan Sir’s experience really helped me a lot.

Murali Sir was the exponent of Theory of Computations and Compilers. I used to attend his classes whenever I was free, in the pretext of preparing for the GATE exams. If only I had prepared well! Murali Sir taught me the art of sitting behind a motor bike. He drove bikes crazily and I had to really adjust with his speed and skill to make myself comfortable at the back. Vinod Sir was the ever friendly chap with whom I discussed literature, cinema, music, and an occasional computer science. He was the guy who after 4 years of IT experience threw away the job and joined REC. Boy; he made a courageous decision at that time, when Y2K and IT was booming in India.

Saleena Madam was the mistress of Data Structures and Theory of Computations, while Subhasree Madam taught Operating Systems and Database. From Saleena Madam, I learned the procedure of solving the recurrence relations and Big Oh Notations, while Subhasree Madam was always there to help in Operating Systems, the subject which I took. Nazeer Sir was the Artificial Intelligence Guy, Madhu Sir the Database expert while Saidalavi Sir handled Logical Design and Advanced Operating Systems during this time.

Namboodiri Sir was the first HOD of our department and was a renowned teacher all over Kerala. Sebastian Sir took charge as the HOD after Govindan Sir’s tenure ended just after I left the institution. Both these persons were the doyens of Computer Science and I was really lucky to be among them for that one year. It was really comfortable to be among with those senior people. They made you fell just one among them.

And then on one fine summer day I got the intimation from my company, where I was placed in campus, to join them in the monsoon. Thus ended my teacher’s life. NITC was probably the best period of that two year teacher stint. There were a lot to learn and explore. Probably I feel I didn’t utilize them to the best, or I was not good enough for that. Some time before, I used to think I would like to go back to NITC, but later I decided not to as I was not sure if I could offer anything best when compared to these stalwarts.

Memories of all these teachers jsut doesn't fade away. They are the ones which you treasure. Given a chance to be taught by these people at any point of my future life, I would be glad to accept. The most of important aspect of all these people are not only their teaching quality, but the fact that they are good human beings too and simple and down to earth. Something that will bring the best out of you.

On the eve of Teacher’s Day, I salute all those teachers in my life and also all the teachers around the world. Simply you are the best.

Wishing you the very best on this Teacher's Day.

Photo Courtesy: http://www.gutenberg.org/

and finally the big one to add to those 561 wickets

2007-08-13T13:28:00.001+05:30

Nothing could take it away from him. That 4 runs would have come from one of the worst shots of the match, but it was worth fetching Anil Kumble the maiden test century. The one he deserved after his 17 years of bowling for India.

For he is the only one who had won more test matches for India than any one else. Not even the Gavaskars, the Kapil Devs, the Tendulkars and the Dravids have won more test matches for India than Anil Kumble.

And as a person, who has been a keen follower of Indian Cricket through out his life, I cannot hide the joy. To be true, I am more happier than Sachin's 77 centuries, more happier than Dravid's 233, more happier than Laxman's 281 and more happier than Saurav's 144.
Just because of the price he puts on his wicket while he bats. For his grit and patience in staying there at the crease, till the opposition get him out, and for the true gentleman he is. And just for those 561 wickets he uprooted to march India to victory.

In this time of jelly-beans and shoulder barging, one should learn what aggressiveness is, from Kumble. He once gave his definition of being aggressive to Harsha Bhogle - "Being aggressive is not about walking up to the batsman and talking about him and his family, its about trying to get wickets every delivery you bowl."

Nothing can beat it.

Congrats Jumbo :)

Photo Courtesy: The Hindu

P.S: My Red and Abhi's Kuttappan turned a year old this week. Happy Birthday to you Guys :). Soon Kuttappan will turn to a monstrous Kuttappaayi (with Dishum Dishum). Wait for him :)

arabikatha - not just an arabian tale

2007-08-07T21:49:00.000+05:30

Yesterday, I watched one of the best movies in Malayalam after a long time. "Arabikatha" scripted by Dr Iqbal Kuttipuram and directed by Lal Jose would definitely go down in the history of Malayalam Cinema as one of the best. Atleast in my Malayalam Film Dictionary.

I am not here to review it frame by frame. I am just here to tell you all go and watch the movie, if you haven't seen it.

Why would you love this film ?

It is a serious film, I would say, even though there is comedy in it. But those scenes just add value to the film. The film would make you realize about the ideologies that the opportunistic communist and the actual communist follows. It make you realize that they are totally different and that's exactly what is happening in Kerala now.

The movie would make you understand about the hard life of common men out their in Gulf. It would make you understand how important the world Gulf (and not "Gelf") is to Kerala. You may just say "He/She went to Gulf and made money". This movie will tell you for why they went, and are there, and how they made that money. It is probably the near-to-perfect movie that depicts the Gulf Malayali life in the silver screen.

The screenplay is really outstanding, for one can't identify any flaws in it. Dr. Iqbal Kuttippuram who scripted movies like "Swapnakoodu", "4 The People" has done a really good job. There may be traces of a Sreeni Effect in the screenplay, like in the scene where Sreeni and Nedumudi Venu discuss about "Vettinirathal" where Venu, Sreeni's father and party founder in Chemmannur, questions the party's agenda behind the act. In another scene Sreeni says to the Chinese Heroin that his party was with China, when they attacked India in 1962. All these brings us back the memories of "Sandesham" and Sreeni's character RDP leader Prabhakaran in that. Definitely there would have been a good amount of contribution from him to the screenplay.

Lal Jose is maturing day by day as director. It is really a big leap if you compare this movie against his "Meesha Madhavan" and "Chandran Udikkunna Dikhil".

And then finally there is Sreenivasan, who plays the protagonist "Cuba" Mukundan. I would say there wouldn't be any one in Malayalam film industry today who could do justice to that role other than Sreeni. The "Mukundan", who leaves behind his ideologies and leaves to Gulf to get a job and payback the debt incurred due to the cheating done by his rivals, is safe in Sreenivasan's hands. He brings in the ideologies of a real communist, emotions of a son, and the helplessness of a common man to the perfect.

Last but not the least there are a lot of performances from various actors, seasoned and non seasoned. Nedumudi Venu, Jagathi, Indrajit, Samvrutha, Salim Kumar, Augustine, Sadiq, Zhumin, Minister Karunan, Abdullakka all give spirited performances.

Arabikatha is very much important in today's life as it represents the socio-political atmosphere that is prevailing in Kerala today. And it will be important in the years to come for our social and political atmosphere is going to change. It is definitely a movie to discuss.

Just watch it.

the odyssey round up

2007-07-12T20:03:00.000+05:30

Jhulley!!

The eccentricity is over. I am back after the 15 day Royal Enfield Himalayan Odyssey 2007. It was fun, excitement, fear, and some times the adrenalin rush. Luck, God's grace, family's prayers and wishes from friends including you might have made me and Abhi come back without any problem apart from the mountain sickness that hit us at Sarchu.

And none of our Bikes too gave any 'show-stopper' problem apart from a fuel over flow for Abhi's Bird and and my bike switching off while climbing Barlacha-la due to lack of oxygen. But she was back to action in one kick. Good Bird :)

I have taken a lot of photos and some of them (460 to be exact) are put here. There are really a lot and you may take a look at it at your free time. Some of my better shots are given in this post. I don't intend to write down a travelogue post since it's been two long weeks and it will be pretty long and boring if I point out the details of every day. But I promise you to come up with some interesting stuff from the trip, including a Dummies guide to Royal Enfield Himalayan Odyssey with Abhi. This we think is quite essential for the biker community as we didn't have any idea about how the trip will be conducted and more over this will cover the pros and cons of the trip.

High points of this trip would be visiting Khardung-la, the world's highest motorable pass and Wagah Border. We were able to see the retreat by both Indian and Pakisthani Army. And above all riding Manali - Leh highway (one will really think should it be called as highway after you ride through it) is a dream for every true biker, and that dream has now been successful.

The numerous water crossings, the sand dunes at more plains, the passes - Barlacha-la, Lanchung-la, Naki-la and Tanglang-la, and the Gata Loops has all tried and tested us. Some had fallen, some cruised ahead without any problems. There was no race to be won, but there was a trip to be finished and we all won since we finished it at Amritsar without much of hassles.

At this point of time it is very important to thank people like Alex, Lovely, Jagdish, Vinyl, Solomon and all other mechanics who worked hard on the bikes to make them fit and Ashokji for the flawless logistics and the food he organized, and last but not the least Sachin to lead the 55 of us to the unknown with his experience and management. I should also thank Abhi for going ahead with this plan in the middle of his hectic work, and giving me 'good' company with his Chalus. And one should also not forget Aravind, Balettan, Gopettan and Anup to thank for providing a great company. We might have discussed almost all the things under the sun during that 15 days from Ads, Cinema, Photography to Maya, Myths and Automobiles. They were just the ideal company to have especially in the long trip like this. Finally the trip was blessed with a visit to Golden Temple and Jalianwallah Bagh in Amritsar.

And now back in office,I am too lazy to work and have been already going through the photos many times just to relinquish those memories.

It's tough to be both a biker-traveler and a working man. Phew!!!

ഇന്നും എന്നും എന്നെന്നും ജീയീസി

2007-06-11T06:12:00.000+05:30

ഒരു വട്ടം കൂടിയെന്നോര്‍മ്മകള്‍ മേയുന്ന തിരുമുറ്റത്തെത്തുവാന്‍ മോഹം...

ഇന്നലെ കോളേജില്‍ വച്ചു പകര്‍ത്തിയത്

long time no see..

2007-06-03T12:01:00.000+05:30

Yea ! Its been long time. I was lazy, to write, to blog, simply lazing around. Doing a lots of work, pissed off with the sys admin. And preparing for the ultimate adrenalin rush, mentally, physically and logistically.

On the Personal Front, I got older an year more, I am learning how to avoid questions like "When is the marriage?", "Enna ini ninte Kayyil ninnu orila choru kittunnathu" from the Dummies Book - Engane Anavashya Chodyangal Ozhivaakaam, I attended a lot of marriages, took photos, received the first monsoon rains with open hands and a camera at Kadappoor and Njeezhur in Kottayam District.

And then the finally there is The Royal Enfield Himalayan Odyssey and I and Abhi are doing it. Right now our babes are getting ready for the ride, and soon will be shipped to Delhi. We are flying to Delhi on 22nd June and 24th the ride will be flagged off from New Delhi. Delhi-Leh-Amritsar in 14days and 7th of July we will reach Amritsar, and finally on 9th back home.

Hmm.. It will be one experience.

Ride Safe.

brides wanted ... "ahem ahem"

2007-04-16T06:28:00.000+05:30

Hindu Boy, to be 27 soon, BE working as no-work-but-sleeping specialist in an MNC in Bangalore, seeks fair, good looking, educated bride, provided she is ready to do the following:
Cook "Ayala" and "Mathi" Fry as many as he wants. (Ranges from 4 pieces to half a kg)
Cook Kozhikodan Shtyle Fish Curry made in earthen pot with Coconut Paste.
Cook Beef Fry, Chicken Curry, Chicken Biriyani
Cook "Erisseri", "Puttu", "Kadala" and "Cherupayar".
Eat Non Veg :)
Make Good Strong "Adicha" Tea.
Shout against the groom when he shouts at his heights of "kalipification".
Sit on bike for a looooong time since this guy has no intention of using a Car.
If all the criteria satisfied then please send Biodata, Horoscope, Photo, Experience Certificate in Cooking to The Kaalakoodam Dinapatram, PO BOX 97714,Utopia.

Age/Caste/Religion No Bar if all the criteria are met.

Tail piece: A Classified Ad designed for me, if I ever put one up, by my mom, sis and myself. My uncle later added -"സൌന്ദര്യം അല്പം കുറഞ്ഞാലും സാരമില്ല, പുട്ടുണ്ടാക്കാന്‍‌ അറിയണം എന്നതാണു ഓന്റെ മെയിന്‍‌ ആവശ്യം."

വിഷുവാശംസകള്

2007-04-13T11:20:00.001+05:30

ഓ !! വീണ്ടും വിഷു.

ഇവിടെ ബസ്സുകാര്‍‌ക്കു ആള്‍‌ക്കാരെ പറ്റിക്കാന് പറ്റിയ സമയം.

വീട്ടില് ആരൊ വിളിക്കുന്നു. ഒന്നു പോയിട്ടിങ്ങു വന്നേക്കാം.

യാത്ര ഇത്തവണയും സംഭവബഹുലമാവാനാണ് സാധ്യത. എങ്കിലും കഴിഞ്ഞ തവണത്തെ അത്ര കുഴപ്പമില്ലായിരിക്കുമെന്ന് ആശിക്കുന്നു.

അപ്പോ .. എല്ലാവര്‍‌ക്കും വിഷു-ഈസ്റ്റര്‍‌ ആശംസകള്

Picture Courtesy: http://www.keralatourism.org

lest we forget

2007-04-03T08:09:00.000+05:30

In the midst of a disastrous world cup, where a coach died and two paper giants lost...
In the country where the Sachin's and Sania's get the most adulation..
In a time where everyone is blaming every other layman for a world cup debacle ...

One man rose to the heights; in the world of one of the oldest games. A game which is supposed to have originated in India. A game where the Kasparovs, Kramniks and Karpovs ruled the roost for twenty long years. One man with his sheer Intelligence, Patience and Perseverance now rules the World of Rapid, Blindfold and Classical Chess.

Viswanathan Anand.

Lets forget the other sports persona for the time being; and celebrate his Number One ship in the FIDE ranking and let's not sink this historic moment in the heat of blame games now happening across India. Hats off to the AICF, who forgot their differences, and launched the protest against FIDE to include the Linares ratings into this months FIDE ranking List.

Congrats Vishy Anand. You have made us proud, at a time when our heads were down.

in pursuit of happiness...

2007-03-27T07:51:00.000+05:30

A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and
returns home to find it. -George Moore

I am back home finally for the pursuit of happiness. And it is true that its here where I am fine. This photo was taken at Metro Park Beach Near to Troy. The spring had set in and it was still cold. The seagulls and sun were returning to their abode. I stood still there capturing them. There are some more to upload. Will find soon in my photo blog.

the sunshine memoirs

2007-03-19T09:53:00.000+05:30

The summer has set in. And so has Silverine’s Tag – The Sunshine Tag - in my mind. And Here I Go!!

There is always a joy associated with the summer, even though it sweats you a lot. The main memories you take out from a summer would be the time out you get from the studies, the eagerness to hear the last bell of the last exam of the year, the graduates moving out of college with the pain departure. Autographs, love confessions, Farewell parties.

I don’t have a number to revive the sweet old memories; I will just put it down. Up from childhood days to the mid twenties.

The earliest memory would be the wait for my uncles to take me to my Achan’s house. I had my initial schooling in Pala and my vacations were always spent at Achan’s house in Vadakara. The Day Express journey from Kottayam to Vadakara was tiring; but I was always excited. I may have got a window seat and I would be looking outside; the cool breeze will set in to the thickly populated compartments. Periyar will pass, Nila will pass and across the Moorad river will be Vadakara. My home!!

There always used to be the Swing on the Ottu Maavu which my grandmother would have set up for me, with the help of our servant Gopalan. That swing used to be fun; and I was the only kid used to be there to swing on it. My cousins were still not born or very young. My youngest uncle and I used to do doubles on the swing, with he standing on the swing and I sitting. And on one event full day, we both fell from it and it happened such a way that I fell on top of him. He fell on his back and got it injured. I was on top of him.

Finally as Mummy and Achan returned we settled in Vadakara and I enrolled into the SNHS. Still the summers were same; going to Achan’s or Mummy's place. Then there were the vacation trips we took in our Ambassador car to the Oottees, Kanyakumarees, and Bangalores. They were fun, with atleast two families pushed into one big car. And Achan and another uncle (The Naathan of the other family with us) driving with mummy pinching in during the easiest of the routes. In one such journey, I remember mummy going to the sides out of the road and Achan in front suddenly crushing her feet with his shoes. He was just applying the brakes :-)

The cricket I played with my friends in the neighbourhood is one thing I still miss today. Though those by lanes (Eda in Vadera Bhasha) has turned into the tarred roads, even today when I walk through I can hear the fresh voices of appeals and caught behinds.

Going to Calicut with family. We always used to go to Calicut; it is just like my home town. But summers will be fun with mummy making a big list to shop including school uniforms and other house hold items. I always waited for the lunch and the visit to Calicut Beach. The Biriyani from Sagar or Paragon or Topform made my day and the long wait at umpteen shops have been fruitful. Calicut Beach in summer is a really great place to be in the evenings, with lots of people coming to enjoy their vacation. Calicut indeed is the best place to live in; I believe.

Kunnath is my Valyamma's (Achan’s Elder Sister) House. Visiting them and staying there was one of the top priorities during any vacation time. I preferred staying there than at my Achan’s ancestral house because there were cousins of my age at Kunnath. We used to go to the nearby paddy field play cricket or jump into the pond in the courtyard or fish the guppies with the towel. I will only jump; but not swim. Valyachchan’s attempt to make me float on the Thenga Thondu wasn’t a success as a big Mr Dhanush Gopinath will cry after going further deep into the pond. After a week I should report at Thacharkandiyil, my Achan’s house, were I spent time swinging and reading books and teasing my sister.

Summer’s never used to be the same after college started. Our exams always came in June and the summer at home or hostel was hotter. At home mummy’s care was there with me putting up weight only to lose it after going to hostel. Summers at hostel were fun if people were there. With exam dates nearing, the grand C Hostellites will start playing Volleyball in front of the C Hostel. It was a kind of break away from the studies; then a bath with loud shouts of Therri Vilees. Then a stroll to Pallimoola or Viyyur to get some dinner (Mess’ aren’t open in vacation) and back to studies. Across my table sat a slim anon; who would be busy turning the pages of an Operating Systems or Systems Programming book as though he is readying a Frederick Forsyth thriller. The marks he bought in were a bit huge though. :-)

Then at the end of one summer I joined the IT world and became a tagged engineer. And then onwards there was No Summer. All the summers got evaporated in the air conditioned cabins of multinational companies. Instead there were the seasons of design, coding, testing and release. Period.

living out of a suitcase

2007-02-08T03:28:00.000+05:30

Its going to be another 46 days of struggle in this cold winter.
Its white outside. Icy. The temperature at freezing -16 degree celsius. And I am sitting in this cozy office, feeling the first hints of jetlag.

I am here in Troy, Michigan to live out of my suitcase for next 2 months. Big talks, Big discussions and Little work seems to be the schedule. Let me hope for the best.

The New Year born for me with me riding a whopping 400 km from my house in Vadakara to Bangalore. And in the second month I have travelled kilometers and kilometers to reach an American Junction. It should be a travel-fun-filled year ahead. And I am waiting for that.

Cheers Guys
Enjoy where ever you are.

P.S. I miss my bird, my Red.

wishes...

2006-12-21T22:24:00.000+05:30

Another Year End.. Another X'mas at the door step..
I have fond memories to cherish.
Off life, rides, friendship and love.
With those, let me walk into a new year.
And you too, with your beautiful, colourful and lovely life

a ride to smile..

2006-12-05T21:15:00.000+05:30

At the end of it Abhi’s Mom asked –“Are you guys contended?”
At the beginning of it my Dad shouted –“We don’t like you doing this idiot showmanship. Who do you think you are? Why can’t you just concentrate on your job or don’t you have anything else to do? ”

At the end of it there was nothing achieved, but a mere sense of satisfaction of driving through the tea estates, of hearing the beat of two birds, of experiencing adrenaline rush while climbing uphill with the back wheel skidding and moving from one place to another, and last but not the least a rendezvous with fresh air atop Calvary Mount.

At the beginning of it there was lots of planning, exchange
of emails, Herculean tasks of getting leaves approved, maintaining the
birds fighting fit, and finally all the way just getting mentally prepared for
‘The destination – Munnar’.

“We look like outlaws inspiring admiration everywhere we go. We’ve left civilization behind and we are much closer to the land.” -Ernesto “Che” Guevara: The Motor Cycle Diaries

I and Abhi didn’t look like outlaws. We may or may not have been admired everywhere we went, but we surely left civilization behind and were close to the land. Close to the fresh cool air of the lower Sahyadris. We traveled a mere 806 kilometers from Bangalore to Ernakulam through Munnar and Thekkadi, but thought we had experiences to share…

The experience of Zero Visibility on the fast and furious Hosur-Krishnagiri road was right on top The day, Nov 25-2006, started early for us, as we had to cut through the busy city traffic. Hosur road was still busy at 5.30 am. As we filled our tanks and proceeded further, thick fog descended and even with headlight it was almost zero visibility ahead. With our visors getting fogged we realized that we are crawling at 20-30kmph and decided to take a tea break. We stood at the Reliance A1 Plaza for around 15 minutes, but no respite with the fog, it was still going strong. So we decided to move ahead even if it was at 30kmph we are moving. What made us sad was the fact that we were on the road where we should be cruising at 80+, but it’s no good challenging nature, so just went along. Things got better and we were moving faster and at Dharmapuri we had our breakfast. The geography was plain, dry and hot and we stopped only at 70-80 kilometer intervals. At Avanashi (40kms from Coimbatore), Abhi’s cousin Manu was waiting to join us on this venture with his Kinetic Blaze. We were then off to have some food. We were to hit Palladam and then proceed to Udumalpet, and Udumalpet was our camping place for Day 1.

From Avanashi, it’s a state road that goes to Palladam and a few kilometers from there we were greeted by an overflowing river. The road was so low and the river decided to flow over the road. But thankfully it was shallow and water currents were not too strong. The water almost touched the foot rest of my bike when I crossed it. It was the first time I & RED was facing so much water, but since the road below was good, there weren’t any problems except for the fact that I had to balance her very well.

Palladam to Udumalpet was a good state highway and we just ripped through. Curvy at times flat and straight sometimes and there I touched my first 100kmph on RED. Udumalpet has a lot of wind mills and we rightly stopped everywhere to take pictures. We rode leisurely as our camping point was nearing and finally checked into the Anamalai Hotels, which they say is a 3 Star hotel where we got a decent double room for a shocking tariff of Rs 450/-.

Next day we started at 7.00 am. Munnar was a mere 90 kms from the starting point. The road promised to be good at the start but soon it was getting bad and finally a few kilometers into the forests it just gave up to become worse. In fact, the road simply ceased to exist. All we saw was mud, stones and gravel. And to worsen the situation a guard at a check post told us that there is no road to Munnar and you can go ahead only at your own risk. There wasn’t any alternate route; he added. We stopped there for a while and a million dollar thought about further course of action. As a ray of hope, we saw some motorcycles going ahead, but we were not sure how far they will go. Our only option was to ride ahead or to return to the base. We decided to give it a shot and started our bikes and were going at steady 10-15kmph. But it was tough to ride on a road less terrain where you find hard stones, loose gravel and sand which will spoil your tyre and helps only in skidding of the bike rather than riding smoothly. A few kilometers into this rollercoaster, a lorry came across us. We stopped and asked the driver about the road condition ahead. He said it was like that for 2 more kilometers and after that it should be fine. We were relieved to hear this and soon we did hit a smooth road. By this time we had entered the Chinnar forest range and were nearing Kerala Check post. It was lush green all around. We did enter our names and travel details at the Chinnar check post as required, and I could see some kind of admiration in the officer’s eyes. At the vehicle type column in his log book when I proudly wrote Bullet, a smile spread across his lips. Am sure he must have seen many passing across that check post, many a wanderers like us.

En-route we virtually stopped everywhere we could and took pictures. In that God’s Own Country wherever you point your camera, there was nothing but amazing views. At Maraiyur we had fabulous breakfast- chappathi and meat fry and meat roast. Munnar was now 40 kms away and tea gardens / estates welcomed us.

We rode through windy roads of Kannan Devan Hills capturing the moments in frame and mind. And as I rode my lips synched with that beautiful ballad –Country Roads Take Me Home- that was playing in my mind. We decided not to have lunch as we had a very late breakfast and rode to Thekkadi. The idea was to take the NH49 till Pooppara and then take on the state highway 17 to Thekkadi. Everything went smooth; we had intermittent stops taking pictures and then riding ahead, some where in between all this we even feasted on a cup of great tea and pazhampori’s (Ripe Banana’s Deep Fried in Coconut Oil). I was at times getting irritated with the kind of stops we were having every now and then as it spoiled the momentum or rather the beauty of this ride, but then one just couldn’t help admiring beauty of mother earth, a natural feast for the eyes. But soon we hit the tough and rough ride as we reached Puliyanmala. From there on the road was nothing less than disastrous with potholes and more potholes. They were really deep at some places and whoever was the point among us kept signaling each other about the potholes. It was a horrible experience and after those horrible 20kms finally we reached Kumili which is the base of Thekkadi. Thekkadi Lake was just 4 kms from there. We settled at Abhi’s cousin’s house. The night ended a bit later than normal for us since Abhi’s cousin took us out for a great dinner.

The final day of the trip dawned and we had to reach Abhi’s house at Ernakulam. We tried checking in at the Lake, but the entry cost we favoured a decision otherwise!. We had to come back to Puliyanmala as we decided to return via Kattappana-Thodupuzha. Even though we were aware of the road conditions, overnight rains made it worse than the day before. The road was wet and the on-going road widening jobs made even the actual road muddy. It was just a muddy watery road for a few kilometers. Application of brakes was impossible and I could feel the tyres skidding. Somehow, we were able to ride on and hit Puliyanmala. From there the road to Kattappana was good. But heights of tough experiences were yet to come.

We stopped at Anchuruli for a break and while Manu was taking pictures some locals suggested that we should visit the top of the hillock so that we could get more picturesque views and some good photographs too. There was a narrow road that went uphill and soon that turned to a normal village road. The soil was strong, but the climb was steep with water streams flowing downhill making deep tracks. Manu took a try on his Blaze, and he returned after sometime climbing half the distance. He thought it seemed to be fine and we too thought our Birds should just be able to handle it. We set off; little did we realize that it was raining uphill. It’s always that light drizzle that plays the spoilsport. Manu was the point and I followed him at a distance as I wanted to give him some space of his own and as we entered the rainy zone, I could see Manu’s bike skidding. It was getting tough for him, since the back wheel wasn’t getting a grip on the wet, hard soil –typical soil in Kerala- and as the back wheel rotated freely smoke came up from the burned rubber. I asked him to stop there and thought I would give it a try. I climbed up slowly and steadily, but I could feel the skidding and my back wheel was going places. I realized it was getting tough, but decided to move ahead as I had only few meters to cover. Then my front wheel stuck in a ditch and owasn’t moving ahead and at the same time I lost my balance. I could feel RED coming down to its left. I tried holding her with all my power, but it was tough for me and finally she came to rest on her footrest. With the heavy load on the Cramsters it was difficult for me to hold especially on that slippery surface. And as she lay there on her foot rest, I had spread my legs so wide that my left leg would not get hurt. I laid her to rest like that and waited for Manu and Abhi to help me. Abhi came running from long behind after parking his bike and Manu was just behind me. Three of us then pulled the bike to get it straight and tried to pull it somewhere, but the slippery surface only made it very difficult for us to balance the royal beast. So then I decided to start the bike and take it up. The electric starter came for help here. I put on it to the first gear and slowly increased the throttle. Abhi and Manu held the back side of the bike and pushed it slowly. RED moved up slowly and steadily, and the view that awaited us on top was breathtaking. The catchment area for Idukki Dam stood right front of us; green, serene and of course tempting.

After taking a few pictures we took the descend down. It was tougher than climbing as the slant was steep. With both breaks and the gear on first, and almighty in our hearts we came down without much hassles. There was a Holy Cross that stood at the point where we ended the descend, and there was another one at the top of the hill too. Even though it was put up by a different sect of Christianity I believed somewhere we had a helping hand right from there. It truly was; as “Sahaya Hastham” was inscribed on it which meant helping hand in Malayalam. And as me and Abhi analyzed later; this was the most unnecessary thing we had to do and it really required a divine intervention to solve!

Later, we rode ahead to Thodupuzha through the windy roads of SH33 which was smooth and spectacular. We stopped at the Calvary Mount to get another good view of the catchment area. This place is an Eco Tourism spot promoted by Govt. of Kerala. The view from there was nothing but breathtaking. This place was much better than Anchuruli as there was a proper road till some place and then we had to walk up a few meters.

We had lunch at Cheruthoni and proceeded faster to Thodupuzha. We stopped at times to capture our cherishing moments on the video and camera. We had the camera tied on to the Cramster bag and it shot each one of us riding sequences. Soon we had the rain run down putting us in a spot of bother since it was getting dark too. The roads were wider now and straight with minimal curves and vehicles were getting faster. We safely pulled ourselves into the rain coats and rode at a steady 40-50Kmph. By the time we reached Abhi’s house it was around 7.00 pm.

After 806 kms of journey span across three states and three days, riding across almost all kinds of terrain except snow, we stood there in front of Abhi’s house shaking hands and admiring our machines. They all performed well, responding to our requirements whenever we asked them to do it and made sure they never troubled us too. As Abhi and I were dismantling our luggage, we looked at those Royal Beasts and exchanged smiles. That smile explained everything, just a communication on its own when it is the two of us; the planning from the day we decided to go on a trip to the struggles we faced on the last day. This smile was what we achieved at the end of the day!

Still if I am asked ‘why do you ride’, I really have nothing to explain.

As Vibhu says may be life is like a map and it’s all about going through the roads on this map.
Or as Sachin Rao says it may be the feeling that a biker is never alone on the road.
Or as Gaurav Jani says it is that I am on my own terms while I ride solo.
Or as Robert M Pirsig says in Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintanence it may be the feeling that I am completely in contact with it all.

Or it may be that smile; that smiles of satisfaction we experienced across our lips at the end of journey.

എന്റെ കേരളം .. സുവറ്ണ്ണ കേരളം

2006-11-01T08:50:00.000+05:30

ഇന്ന്‌ ഐക്യകേരളത്തിനു അന്‍പതാം പിറന്നാള്‍.

ലോകമെംബാടുമുള്ള എല്ലാ മലയാളികള്‍ക്കും സുവറ്ണ്ണ കേരളപ്പിറവി ആശംസകള്‍.

a post that became royally published

2006-10-30T23:50:00.000+05:30

So there I am, with my first official publishing of an article on the Internet(other than on blogs). Its the old trip story, but on a different site.

Yeah !

At the Royal Enfield Site Buddies. And the Trip Story is published under the name Chilling Alone In Chikmagalur

The mail saying that my article is published came today afternoon, and how much joy I had. It was a different feeling altogether. A few months back I was just a reader of those trip stories that got published on the RE site. While reading those, I sat in awe about the IndieThumpers, BikeNomads and those Solo Riders, thinking when will I do atleast 10% of what these guys are doing. I haven't even created a login then, to read about the technical discussions that went on in the site while PP and Abhi - who also were RE fans at that time like me - made and told me about various details about the bikes. I never thought about publishing one trip story there, but today I have put one there. And Today I and Abhi own two beautiful Royal Red Beasts, while PP is still contemplating on the upgradation from his Defintely Male All Black Pulsar 180 to the Thunderbird. I am sure he will be ready with a ravishing Black Bird for the Himalayan Odyssey.

Its an un explainable feeling to see your article published, up there somewhere, after all the editing and filtering. Be it on the Campus Magazine or the Newspaper or a local intranet. You read, read and read to know what all the editor has changed from the master copy that you sent him/her. Then you analyze the changes in language he/she made.

In this case they didn't do any editing, but a publication is a publication, and that too on the Royal Enfield Site. It may be a trivial thing, but for mortals like me it means a lot!!!.

Many Thanks for all those who make it a point to visit my blog and comment. And thanks for all the friends and family who were with me, as an invisible helping hand, throughout those 862 kms. Without you I wouldn't have made it :)

PS: I know this blog is becoming a bit monotonous these days, always about the bird. But that is what happen when people fall in love right? They always think about their soulmates :)

'nick'ing me up

2006-10-12T23:27:00.000+05:30

What’s there in a name? People would ask. What’s there in a nick name? I would say there is a lot in it. Especially in an “A-Peru” – the term which is used in North Kerala for Nick Names. “Inte A-perenthaado? Inikkithu vare A perittile aarum??” Such would be the questions from the cousins. I really don’t know how that name originated, but guess it might be a distant cousin of A-padam which meant Adult Only Movies. So A-peru may be name for Adults, but it never was.

Last week on someone’s blog I saw a nick name of someone and a few days before, me and my room mate were discussing about the different nick names my second room mate had. It made me nostalgic thinking of all those nice and funny names that I had over the period of time from the school days till this day. Then there were also the funny names around; of which I knew the origin, or I called most frequent. It was fun, even though many may not like it. And then it’s nostalgic too. So here I go with those names which were given to me at various stages of my life. Hope no one of those guys which I mentioned here mind.

Kozhi: The first and only genuine A-Peru I have maintained all through this life. I was blessed with that name in as early as 5^th standard, where we all moved to the new school from different schools. As my surname and father’s name was Gopinath, I was assigned Kozhi from Gopinathan->Kozhinathan->Kozhi. See how villainous they were in naming me. But then there were also RajaVembala (from surname Rajagopalan), Boost (Due to the shape of the person), Kochimban (Due to hairy body I guess – name took from the character Kochimban Bear in Circussum Poraattavum, A Malayalam Supplement Book), Ittapush Vegetarian (God Knows the origin – the character was a Veggie Namboothiri) and AndiPottan (Another Fattie). There were a lot of people who used to call me once, now there are a few only, may be a Buzz on the chat window – “Eda Kozhiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii” – to which I will reply – “Podeeeeeee Boooooooooooooosteeeeeeeeeee”. He He .. Good Old Days.

Kannadakorappan: Again from school only, but not from my classmates. It in fact came from my sister’s class may due this spectacled boy’s frequent visits to their class, to ensure my little sis is not being teased by the naughty boys :) . She might have been the creator of it, though she never confessed it. Still sometimes I hear that once in a while, when she is so angry – “Poda Kannadakorappaaa”.

Kalippan: The Collegian Angry Young Man. But that didn’t come so soon, it took its time and came only after an year or so into the college basically when I moved into the phenomenon called Men’s Hostel, that too Government Men’s Hostel. Yea, as the name suggests I was a bit short tempered those days, you know angry young man who wants to change the world and all those blah blahs ;). I cannot say I was a bit short tempered; I was too much hot tempered. Getting angry for anything and everything that frustrated TP and ended every time he asking “Neeyenthinaa Choodavunnathu, Paranja Pore”. I hope that phase is over now; I am a lot calmer now :) And as a Kalippan I lived amongst some strange names called Petti (His nick is more famous than his name), Petti Abhilash (Just because Abhilash was Petti’s roommate), Dolby (for his DTS voice), Mammali (Of course Basheerian version of Mohd. Ali), Maaman, Pappan, Thadiyan, IB (since his father was in I.B, yeah Intelligence Bureau), Mathann, Maami, Puttu and what not.

DAN-GO: Well, it’s not a nickname or a pet name. It may be something in the middle. Anil wanted some sort of short names for everyone in the class at college for the E-Groups or something like that and that resulted in the birth of this name. It was the acronym he got from Dhanush Gopinath. Another one was put V-GAS also. Only very few like the Idiyan or the Dolby call me that name these days.

Dinkan: Then came this from the institute I worked as Lecturer. I never know what prompted my colleagues putting it up, but it happened one sudden day that they decided to call me by this name. May be Dhanush and Dinkan rhymed well. There were Hanuman (Due to Size), Gajju (Due to size and the actual name started with J), Kova, Vadivelu (Slim Beauty!!) and Ritchie (The colleague who instructed that we should teach C based on the book of Dennis Ritchie when Balaguruswamy was ruling the roost) along with me in that prestigious institution in Vadakara where I started my Lectureship days.

Puli: From the ITP days in MBT, an inapt name coined by dearest friends Kich and Seena. By the time I joined MBT I had a good understanding of Computer Subjects like Operating Systems, Data Structures, and C; mostly due to my teaching experience. And as we had to get trained in these subjects at MBT I used to teach these guys and other friends in our gang. That went on by them calling me Puli since they thought I am an expert in these subjects and also the guys who joined us in our house in Mumbai also started calling me the same name. Still now when Seena pop up on the chat window she screams “Da Puleee”.

Dhanno: It happened when I moved to Pune with Ramlal and Pillu. They found Dhanush to be too long and gave me the name of Basanti's Horse in the movie Sholay. On a Friday weekend Ramlal would come into cube and say "Challe Mere Dhanno, Ajinkya Chalthe hai aur woh Pillu Saab ko bhi bulathe hai". We were of to the Bar ani Restaurant next to our office. On a more lovelier note, they will even call me Dhanno Darlling. Chall-Dhanno is from were named this blog. As we moved into a bigger house my good friend Google (Whatever you discuss with him, this guy will have a relevant story to tell you, just like Google finds you the pages. No wonder he is achieving double the target in his sales.) and Ramlal's friend Jatt (The Haryanvi Body Builder) joined us. Jatt was much younger than us and he started calling us by suffixing Bhayya to our names. So I became Dhanno Bhaayya, and the rest Ramlal Bhayya, Pillu Bhayya and the funnier Google Bhayya :-).

Log Nishku: Those MBTian days (I was only a Tech Mahindrian for 7 days). Courtesy my Malayali friends there with whom I used to travel, party, drink, cook, play and eat. It was initially Still Photogrpaher Nischal Kumar (from the movie Kilukkam) shortened to Nishku, because in every trip I did with them I carried my camera. In the final trip I even carried my tripod and my luggage was so heavy. It then changed to Log Nishku because I once complained about the non-availability of enough logs in the system I was working on then. None of them calls me personally by that name, but in the group mailing lists the mail id is mapped to that name and also in mails we will address each other by these names when things get heated up ;). All of us has some name or other like a Maruthu Pandi (Beacuse he comes from Trivandrum and closer to Tamilnadu), Golconda Thampuran (Because his favorite brand was Golconda Brandy), Gemini Singh Aluwalia (For his liking for Punjaabi Kudis), Seedorf (The Brilliant FootBaller), Bullet Nitin (Nitin who owned Bullet Machismo) Vriddha Manavalan (A friend who married late, he claims to be 28 but we claim he is 35 ;) ) Pamman (For the "hot" stories he brings us about anything under the roof of MBT).

Ponmaatra and Vikraman: Thanks to Bangalore Boyz, I was blessed with two more names. Ponmaatra arrived during one drinking session where we were discussing about the film Thanmaatra and I said some blunder (due to the effects the drinks made in me), to which PophAbhi responded –“Nee Thanmaathrayallada Nee Ponmaatrayaa Ponmaatra” . Then onwards for a short period I was Ponmaatra until I spotted a horizontal lined white and grey T-Shirt. It didn’t take much time for them to come up with Vikraman. Yes you guessed it right, the dacoit in Mayavi in the Balarama Comics who spotted a similar kind of T-Shirt. But then as I live among Appooppan and Tommy, I shouldn’t mind it.

So these were all the ones I could remember, the nick names from the past and present, the A-Peru’s that made me famous and infamous and the identities one will find in me. Whenever I go back to these nick names, there is a unique joy which comes from deep within the heart that reminds me of those phases of my life during which I was named. It is still fun and joy, when some one calls me by that name err by that A-Peru.

Now I know all of you guys will be having that sweet smile in between your lips thinking of what to call me next time you meet me. But I bet you will be confused which one to select.

she held on.. we made it ..

2006-10-05T22:41:00.000+05:30

Prelude

I was getting frustrated as the VijayaDashami long weekend approached. My long weekend plans were appearing to get disrupted; with my friend Abhi not able to join me here in Bangalore due to unavoidable circumstances. I didn’t know what to do until I thought about going myself out to some where from the city. I wanted to go out but didn’t know where to until Tanuja’s blog pointed me to Chikmagalur. Chikmagalur was around 240 kms from here, and I needed some one with me atleast as a pillion.

And as I asked around about the place people told me about the places I should see, routes I should take and even about the hotels I could stay. But no one was ready to come. My last hope was my roommate Aravind, but he also had some problems in joining me. On Thursday I came across an article in bike nomads - I was researching through different sites of biking for tips, locations and driving routes - where the author Sachin Rao had emphasized the need of traveling solo on the bike. That along with the teaser of the documentary that won 60kph.com founder Gaurav Jani accolades, acted as the catalyst for me to set out solo. Then there was my hostel mate and batch mate Arun U. R who rides a Thunderbird and most of the times solo. He was the inspiration for me to biking and long rides, and of course getting the Bird. I always have long discussions with him about the bike. And on Thursday night too we had one long discussion about riding solo, things I should take care while driving, spares I should carry with me and other general stuff. He told me to go ahead and wished me good luck.

Still I was not sure, whether to go ahead or not. There were a lot of people discouraging me. Yea, they were true in the sense that I was alone and if I needed any help en-route I had nobody except the nature and the public. And then I have to convince my people back home about why I am going. That was a big task, but I had a way to tackle it.

By Friday morning I was decided, that come what may I am going ahead. I will ask around for one last time in the office, if any one was ready I will get them along, otherwise I am going alone. I went to the Royal Enfield showroom with the bike. They tuned the carburetor for me and showed me how to change the clutch cable and accelerator cable and checked the bike all in all. When I went to the office my teammates were still skeptical about my journey. But I was decided, I am going. I googled and found out the routes, took the necessary printouts for my help and talked to a colleague of mine who have been to Chikmagalur and Kudremukh. In the afternoon I went and bought the Cramster Saddle bags as I didn’t want to carry the luggage on my shoulders.

By evening I drew the final plan. It was like this - Leaving to Chikmagalur on 30^th Sep early morning, reaching around noon, and settling in a lodge. After noon off to Mulyangiri and Baba Budan Hills. 1^st Oct morning off to Kudremukh and spend the day there. On 2^nd to Kemmangundi and return. I left a bit early than normal, went to withdraw money from ATM and filled in the tank to the full. At home I packed my stuff and slept early.

30-Sep-2006

I woke up early, had a quick bath and left by sharp 5AM. I took the outer ring road till Hebbal Flyover and then took NH 4 towards Tumkur. At 6AM I took my first break at Nelamangala, 52 kms from my house, and had a tea. From there I took the NH48 to Mangalore and boy that was one hell of a road. Perfectly tarred with lots of curves and slopes, in some areas you could easily touch 100+ kmph. But I had to keep my bird within 70Kmph as I was in running period. It was really tough from my part to control the speed. Avengers, Pulsars and even Splendors over took me, but I didn’t mind. I kept a constant 70.

After 75 kms I had my second break for a nature call and there I met my boss who also was leaving for Hassan that same day. He wished me good luck and bid adieu before asking me to drop in at his house if I am returning via Hassan. I continued my journey after some time and had my breakfast at Hassan. I was now 60 kms away from my destination. There I called a few friends to talk about my journey and Tanuja told me to visit Belur and Halebid also if possible. They were on the way to Chikmagalur and famous for temples of Hoysala Architecture.

After the breakfast I took the road to Chikmagalur from Hassan and that also was a good road. And now slowly the nature around was changing from the plains to small sloppy mountains with lots of agriculture around. I drove to a small hillock a few meters of the main road and took some pictures. I stopped wherever I could see nature at its best and took pictures. And by 11.30 I was at Chikmagalur. I checked into a small lodge and settled my stuff. I asked at the hotel about the route to Mulayangiri and Baba Budan Hills and left. My first decision was to go to Baba Budan Hills and come back to Mulayangiri. But as I approached the diversion that takes you to Mulayangiri, I stopped and thought and then in a split second I took the left to Mulayangiri. The road up to Mulayangiri was winding and curving. It was understandable as Mulayangiri is the highest peak in Karnataka and stands 1930 meters tall. As I climbed with the Bird I could feel the chillness in the air. The visor of my helmet became moist and I found it difficult adjusting to the different terrain. Sharp curves, narrow road and deep valley on one side definitely made me scary.

I felt for the first time that if something goes wrong, then I am alone. Somehow I was able to over come that thought and rode ahead smoothly relaxing. I did stop many a times to take some pictures, including at Seethalaingiri, which is a temple en-route. The peak was just 2 kms from there. The final few meters to the peak was not tarred and I was a bit hesitant to take the bike ahead. However I took her ahead and I found a lot of crowd there. I parked the bike and as I started climbing the peak, it rained. I put on my jacket hat and ignored the rain and continued climbing. But at a point it became heavy and clouds came descending. I couldn’t see my way up and so I returned back. It was very difficult finding the steps as the visibility was poor and rain was pouring hard. As I reached the parking area, I took refuge behind a Scorpio and got some respite from the rain. Then the rain subsided and I start my ride back. It was really scary; I started the bike, put on the lights, honked the horn and slowly came down in the first gear. At one point I could see nothing in front and so I stopped the bike. My left leg was shivering, partly due to cold and partly due to the fear. Some how clouds moved away and I could ride back smoothly. I stopped again at Seethalaingiri on my way back and took some pictures. Rain, Roads and ThunderBird – What else you needed :).

As I came back to the junction which takes you to Baba Bundan Hills it rained and I decided to return back to the lodge. I rode slowly, enjoying the scenery, rains and roads. At 3.30 I stopped at a small hotel on the way and had MulakaBajji and 2 cups of Coffee as my lunch. I reached my lodge and slept. Only thing I missed in the night was a drink which I used to have in long rides. I had good Chicken Biriyani for my Dinner and I enquired the route to Kudremukh with Hotel Guys where I had my dinner. They said me to go via Mudigere-Kotogehara-Kalasa. I was so tired, but sleep came late and Dharmapuranam gave me a good company till then.

01-Oct-2006

For the consecutive second day I woke very early and left for Kudremukh at 6AM. As decided I took the earlier mentioned route. There is a junction 10kms from Chikmagalur and I had to take left there. And I moved ahead the road was becoming horrible, the speedo was moving between 15 and 25 Kmph. But the road was again through ghats and coffee and tea plantations.

Even though I enjoyed the ride and scenery, my buttocks were paining and I had to take a lot of pit stops and I finally reached Kalasa at 9.30. That 90kms took three and half hours to cover. Huh!! At Kalasa, I had my breakfast and the restaurant owner there said about the route to Kudremukh and also advised me not to take the same route back. He said I should take Balehennur-Aldur route instead of the one I came. He also said the road to Kudremukh will be the best you can get and it was. It was superb in every sense. Sharp curves, wide and smoothly tarred and lesser traffic. I highly enjoyed that sector of the journey. Kudremukh is famous for its horse-faced hill ranges and for the Iron Ore Mining Company, KIOCL. Even though the company is now closed the township still exist. There is also a Dam, called Lakhya Dam which is used to store the Iron Ore Waste. I visited the township church which was at a height and took a few pictures of the range.

I also went to the Dam and the reservoir was full of the iron ore waste. I thought one could easily walk on the waste. There is a view point at almost the center point of the Dam where you could view the Horse faced ranges at its best.

I drove back to Kalasa and then took the Balehennur-Aldur route and it was much better than the route by which I came to Kalasa. I stopped at Balehennur for lunch and then on the way to Aldur at a Drive Inn Coffee Shop in Bhadra Coffee plantation Estate. By 5PM I was back to my lodge and I decided to drop Kemmangundi from my plans as it would be raining there and added Belur and Halebid as my destinations on my way back. I called up my boss to check if he is there in Hassan the next day and surprisingly found out that he is also visiting Halebid with his family. We decided to meet there.

I was immensely satisfied when I went to sleep. A major phase of my trip was over and I didn’t face any problem and above all I was very much happy with the performance of my bike and me as a driver. It was one of those dreams I always wanted to achieve.

02-Oct-2006

The final day has arrived. I just need to keep the concentration for one final day.

I left a bit late as I had to catch up my boss at around 10 at Halebid. My first destination was Belur which was 24 kms from Chikmagalur. Belur is famous for its Chennakeshava Temple which was built by the great Hoysala Empire. The temple was very magnificent and I spend a good time capturing various pictures outside and inside the temple. Since the temples at Belur and Halebid are under Archaeological Survey of India, photography is not prohibited here.

After the breakfast I left to Halebid which is 16 kms from Belur. There are three temples there. The main Hoysaleshwara Temple, then the Jain Temple and the Kedareshwara Temple which is partly destroyed. Only Hoysaleshwara temple attracts crowds. My Boss reached a little late there and by that time I had covered all the temples. I met him and after a small chat decided to leave. I took the Hassan road from Halebid so that I do not need to come back to Belur.

As I reached Hassan, I checked the tyre pressure and hit the NH. The ride was getting a bit boring because of the sudden change of the terrains and at times I was losing my concentration. And more over the traffic had increased and KSRTC buses were giving a tough time to me as they pushed me out of the road a couple of times.

I stopped at an Andhra Dhaba to have my lunch. I left again and cruised and reached Nelamangala at 4PM. I had a tea break there and left to my home. When I reached the home and parked my bike, the odometer showed 862 as the trip kilometers.

862 Kilometers is what I covered in 3 days riding solo on my Red Bird from home to Chikmangalur – Mulayangiri – Kudremukh – Belur – Halebid and then back to home. It is a just small step to start with and I now have the confidence to ride any where alone. Just me and my bird and my loneliness.

Drive Safe Buddies and Check out My Motorcycle Diaries when you have time :)

observations of a 'studious' mind at a fine great school

2006-09-07T20:48:00.000+05:30

5 years and 3 Months after I wrote my last educational examination, I wrote another set of exams last weekend at a prestigious school in this Garden City. Not that I didn't attend other kind of exams during this time. I had in fact wrote numerous amount of them during my job search period from 2001 to 2003. My sister even reminded me that I wrote one in April 2004 and that was the Kerala Public Service Exam for Lecturers. But all these were job oriented tests or competitive examinations like GATE, where I had to find out the summations of the arithmetic progressions, full form of DOS (This was actually a question in Kerala PSC for Lecturers), Worst Time Complexity of Merge Sort or a simple train and platform puzzle ;).

This time it was different. I had to WRITE answers to the questions given in a question paper onto the answer sheet provided by my university. Yes, I was attending the First Semester Mid Semester Exam of my MS course from BITS. It took some amount of time to realize that I no more have the speed of writing that I possessed 9 years ago. And all I had to do was just WRITE. Some of the questions were problems, and I found the equations on the fly and calculated the results. But some of them asked me to explain with lucid examples how CMMI model is affecting my daily livelihood of coding and development and even asked me to step into a Project Managers shoes and visualize how you would schedule the Project Roll Out in 90 days Agile Processing. Huh!! Writing was tough, after all these years, what I used to write was the scribbling I made in my personal diary and a few letters I used to send to my best friends. How times have changed, I even forgot the grip I used to have for my pen. TOTAL DISASTERRRRR!!!!!

I was writing the exams back to back - 4 exams in 2 days. The last time I wrote exams that way was in 1995 March when I appeared for the SSLC exams. And that was the last time any kid in Kerala wrote SSLC that way - 12 exams, 6 days back to back from one Wednesday to the next FN 10 AM -12 Noon, AN 1.30PM-3.30 PM (Friday 2pm to 4PM). That was really terrible. This is all about some observations which I made during my two days at the school.

Being in a school environment always brings back nostalgic memories of how you spend your childhood and schooling. The ground always beckons you to play a game of football or cricket. The desks and benches tells you the pranks you played, the name markings you made on the desks with the compasses in your camel instrument box and the way you wrote the whole essay in a short way on the desk, benches and even sandals for copying during the forthcoming exams. But sadly I didn't find any desks or benches. Instead there were individual tables and chairs. Gone are the days where you rested your back on the desk behind you only to find out that a Pratheesh's or a Rajesh's chalk markings on the edge of the desk would have coloured the backside of your shirt.
Students of these schools speak English lot better than me and they don't even hesitate to threaten you. A big fat boy, who might have been in his 6th or 7th standard told a few of us, who were sitting behind the goal post, to move away as they are not responsible if we get hurt by the banana kicks they were taking. Entammachchiye.. Athu Enganum Kondirunnenkil..
Where ever you go, in an examination center you will find a section of studious people who are glued on to their books, brushing the portions last minute and even trying to by heart it walking across the corridor all the time. Some will even find time to check the slides on their Thinkpads!!!. And someone including me will be pretending to study, but will be keeping an eye on all the 'beautiful objects' that move around and also on those studious people.
People come on the Ford's, the Toyota's, the Chevy's and even on the Maruthi 800s. Others have their Scootterets, Bikes and ThunderBird :) . An odd guy will come in a Moped or a bicycle too. But one thing most of them forget is a proper parking sense.
Poor Husbands who come with their wives will have to sit in the car for the whole day listening to Radio City, Mirchi or One and even will have to buy lunch for the wife who is studying during the lunch hours. Some one can be even seen playing games on their laptops. ;)
Some people still approach the exam hall with a bit of tension filled faces and will barge into the exam halls without checking if they belong to that hall. On knowing that they do not belong there they get more tensed and run to find the actual seat.
The exam invigilators are the main stream students of BITS and they don't have much to do, apart like the normal college invigilators, who have to give supplementary papers and also have to have a check on the copying. Here the main booklet is so huge and I never noticed anyone asking for a supplementary sheet. Even though people were copying using various means, the invigilators were not interested in it. Either they might not be skilled enough to catch the culprits, who are anytime elder than them and have enough experience in copying, or even after seeing it they might have just left it thinking "Poor Old Chaps come here to get an MS by distant learning, let them pass". Anyways it was a pleasure for me to see people getting chits from their pockets and hiding it in between the answer sheets. If there were single supplementary sheets, I might have just tried it exchanging with a Joju or TP ;)
Even now attending a post-graduate course some people don't forget their age old habit of drawing margins on all the answer sheets and finding time to draw the block diagrams with a pencil and scale. Then there is still the habit of being in a meditation till the question papers are distributed and praying after they get the question paper, but before looking at it.
And finally after all these actions when the people look at the question papers, one can see the facial expression changing from the concentrated look to "From which Timbuktu did this question came from? " kind of look. Then with the little knowledge they have people tend to become a new Veda Vyasa on their own if it is a subject like Software Engineering & Management or else they will invent a formula that can be made using the data given in the question and will get the nearest possible answer and leave. I don't think any of us would have sat the whole 2 hours.

At the end of the day, I should say I enjoyed it. Being part of an educational procedure of writing tests and that too after 5 years. And while driving back I felt pain on my hands and fingers, due to long writings. I also realized that my hand writing had gone from bad to worse. Now for the next 2 years this cycle is going to continue and I hope to come good and observe a lot more.

Who knows when the lightning will strike ?? (Hmmm ...Idithee Veenu Kattapokayaakandirunnal mathiyarunnu ... *sigh*)

ചില ഓണചിന്തകള്‍..

2006-09-04T20:07:00.001+05:30

ഉത്രാടരാത്രി കഴിയാന്‍ ഇനിയും അല്പം മണിക്കൂറുകള്‍ കൂടി. അമ്മ ഇപ്പൊള്‍ അവസാന വട്ട ഒരുക്കങ്ങളില്‍ ആകും. നാളെ , തിരുവോണത്തിനുള്ള ഒരുക്കം, പായസത്തിനുള്ള സാമഗ്രികളും, സദ്യക്കുള്ള ഉപ്പേരിയും എന്നു വേണ്ടാ, നാളേക്കുള്ള പൂവു വരെ സുസജ്ജമാക്കി കാണും ഇപ്പോള്‍ . അതിനായി ഒരു ചെറിയ പാച്ചിലും കൂടി നടത്തികാണണം. ഞാനും ഒരു ചെറിയ പാച്ചില്‍ കഴിഞ്ഞുള്ള വരവു തന്നെ. ഈ നഗരത്തിലെ തിക്കിലും തെരക്കിലും കൂടി എന്റെ, ശകടത്തിന്‍ പോറല്‍ ഒന്നും എല്‍പ്പിക്കാതെ വീടെത്താനുള്ള ഒരു മരണപാച്ചില്‍. മരണപാച്ചില്‍ തന്നെയാണത്‌. ഒരു നിമിഷത്തെ അശ്രദ്ധ മതി ജീവിതം ഈ ഐ. ടി നഗരത്തിന്റെ വീഥികളില്‍ അസ്തമിക്കാന്‍.

ഓണത്തിന്റെ ആദ്യ ഓറ്മ്മകളില്‍ ഒരു ഇരുപതു വര്‍ഷങ്ങള്‍ക്കും മുന്നെ അമ്മയുടെ വീട്ടില്‍ നിന്നു അച്ഛന്റെ വീട്ടിലേക്കുള്ള യാത്രയാണ്‍. ട്രയിനില്‍ കേരളത്തിന്റെ ഒരറ്റം മുതല്‍ മറ്റെയറ്റത്തേക്കുള്ള ഒരു നീണ്ടയാത്ര. ഓണപരീക്ഷയുടെ ചൂടാറും മുന്നെ എന്നെ കൊണ്ടു പോകാന്‍ വരുന്ന ചെറിയച്ഛന്‍ന്മാരെ പരീക്ഷകള്‍ തുടങ്ങിയ നാള്‍ തൊട്ട് ഞാന്‍ എന്നും കാത്തിരുന്നിരുന്നു. പിന്നീടു എപ്പോഴോ ഓണത്തിന്നൊപ്പം ഞാനും വീട്ടില്‍ സ്ഥിരതാമസമാക്കി . എന്നും പൂവിട്ടും സദ്യ ഉണ്ടും കൂട്ടുകൂടിയും തിമിറ്ത്തു നടന്ന കുട്ടിക്കാലം. വളറ്ന്നപ്പോള്‍ കുട്ടിത്തം മനസ്സില്‍ സൂക്ഷിക്കാന്‍ ഞാന്‍ മറന്നു. എങ്കിലും കുട്ടിയായിരിക്കാന്‍ മനസ്സില്‍ സ്വകാര്യമായി ആഗ്രഹിച്ചു.

ഇന്നിപ്പോള്‍ ഓണം ഹോട്ടലില്‍ നിന്നും ആക്കണ്ട സ്ഥിതിയൊന്നും ആയിട്ടില്ലെങ്കിലും സ്വന്തം വീട്ടില്‍ ആഘോഷിക്കാത്ത ഓണം ഒരിക്കലും ഓണമല്ലാല്ലൊ...!!! ഓണത്തിനെപ്പൊഴും അതിന്റെതായ ഒരു സുഗന്ധമാണ്. സ്വന്തം വീട്ടില്‍ മാത്രം കിട്ടുന്ന പൂമണം. ഒരു പാലട പ്രഥമന്റെ മാധുര്യമുള്ള പാല്‍പ്പുഞ്ചിരിപോലെ അതു നമ്മോടൊപ്പം എന്നും മനസ്സില്‍ തങ്ങി നില്‍ക്കുന്നു. ഹ്രുദയത്തില്‍ സൂ‍ക്ഷിച്ചു വയ്ക്കാന്‍ ആ പഴയ മധുരമുള്ള ഓറ്മ്മകളെങ്കിലുമുണ്ടാവണമല്ലോ. സ്വന്തം വീട്ടില്‍ അല്ലാത്ത ഓണവും വിഷുവുമൊക്കെ ഒരു വേദനയാണ്. മനസ്സു നോവുന്ന നേറ്ത്ത ഒരു വേദന.

വീട്ടില്‍ ഇന്നു എല്ലാവരുമുണ്ടെന്നു അമ്മ ഇപ്പോള്‍ വിളിച്ചു പറഞ്ഞു. എന്നെ വല്ലാണ്ടു മിസ്സ് ചെയ്യുന്നു എന്നു അനിയത്തിയും. മനസ്സില്‍ അവിടുത്തെ ഊണുമുറിയില്‍ അത്താഴവും കഴിഞ്ഞ് വെടി പറഞ്ഞിരിക്കുന്ന ഒരു കാഴ്ചയാണ്‍. മനസ്സവിടെയും ശരീരം ഇവിടെയുമായി ഒരു ഓണം.

ഉത്രാടരാത്രി നാലാം യാമത്തിലേക്ക് കടന്നു കഴിഞ്ഞു കാണണം... തിരുവോണം പുലരട്ടെ. പുലറ്ച്ചെ അമ്മ വന്നു വിളിച്ചുണറ്ത്തുമായിരിക്കും .. അല്ലേ...

P.S: I wanted to write this in Malayalam Only, for this was feelings from heart and to write from heart I wanted it to be in Malyalam. Anyone finding it difficult to read please forgive me :) Happy Onam.