The Man in My Life

For those who know me well and have heard me claim for the past 6 years of my life that I somehow seem to be romantically challenged, this topic might come as a bit of a shock!!! Its quite strange that I should think of HIM in the middle of the night as I listen to some Illayaraja music on TV! But then, who else could I think of....
He is the one
- who patiently hears me out when I want to crib after a hard day at work,
- who turns up at weird hours in the mornings and nights to safely escort me home, without my ever asking for it,
- who glared guys down if they were found anywhere in my vicinity in a crowded bus,
- who gifted me my first mobile phone,
- who gives in to all my silly tantrums and fulfills all my unreasonable demands,
- who sits on my bed admiring me sleep
- who is always on my side in any argument irrespective of whether he knows what the argument is about or not
- whose hands I proudly cling on to wherever we go
- whose hands held my little fingers when I was a kid and taught me how to walk
- whose hands firmly led me through life
- whose patience and presence in my life has made me what I am today
- who taught me honesty and principles
- whom I shall look up to every day of my life

Yes, I am talking about my father, My Hero,the Man in my life and the benchmark by which I shall measure every other man I know.

Sathyam Cineplex- Chennai

I am again blogging about yet another landmark in Chennai - The Sathyam cineplex. The Sathyam theatre today is not what it was 15 years back- yes, it has kept pace with time. But at any point in time, it has been the best theater in that period. One of Sathyam's attractions for me has been that it's 10 minutes away from home in Chennai and used to be a 10 minute walk from school ;)... Incidentally, there are some 10 other schools situated around that area. So, end of a tensing round of exams would find a number of school uniform attired students in Sathyam.

Much before people got into the habit of visiting malls on weekends and well before HBO and Star Movies had any viewership, Sathyam brought to the audience some quality cinema and in general improved the taste of audience.Situated in the centre of the city, in early days, movies in Sathyam were an expedition in the weekend for people living in the outskirts of Chennai. From the early James Bond movies to the first day first shows of our heroes Kamal and Rajini and the Night Shyamalan movies which never used to be screened anywhere else in Chennai, Sathyam was the only place where you could find variety.

Sathyam was the first theatre to bring the RDX technology to Chennai and I remember the times, when we as students in college, would just wait to watch a movie with RDX and then boast about the experience to the rest... Times when people would wait for weeks to watch a movie, just because they wanted to watch it in Sathyam and nowhere else ;) Now those are extreme cinema crazy people. But then Sathyam proves it is the best time and again.

There was this one time, when we had gone to Sathyam to watch the movie The Village(Night Shyamalan).. There was a scene where the blind girl in the movie is shown in the middle of the red flowers(supposed to attract the monsters in the forest). All of us were sitting at our seats edges waiting for a monster to pounce on her.. Suddenly we heard a few screams from the back seats.. We turned around to see a few yellow monsters in the theatre!!!!! Not to fear, these guys were arranged by Sathyam dressed like the monsters!!!! Need I explain more on this??!!!!

Sathyam today is a transformed place, extremely posh, affordable, comfortable... Some bright new ideas are the Blind Date(as the name implies, you don't know what movie you'll be watching) once a week, the Magic Hat(playpen for kids) and the Fuel Card(that you can swipe for online tickets and snacks)... All this with ticket prices ranging from Rs 70 to Rs 150. Each screen also has a row of RS 10 tickets... If it movies in Chennai, then its Sathyam for you.. And all that in style and comfort!!!

A Visit to TN Outside Chennai- Pasur and Kodumudi

When I first got invited to a wedding in this place Kodumudi, I would always pronounce it wrong and have my roommates laugh at me.I have heard a lot of their stories about the cows and the hens and the fields in these places and was quite excited about getting there.Our journey started in Bangalore at 10:30 in the night when we boarded the train to Erode. Along with us traveled a rat in the compartment a regular traveler on board the train - the TTR told us. We reached Erode in the wee hours of the morning, around 3:30.Walked to the bus stop to take a bus to Pasur, which was supposed to come at 4 to the bus stop and did in fact arrive sharp at 4. After another half an hour's travel in complete darkness, we reached our destination.

After a short drive to my friend's house and a nice long sleep, I set out to explore the place. I was delighted by the cow and its calf and the hen in their yard. After a short round of these places, I got to take a look at their corn and turmeric fields. My next activity was to take a bath.I went into a bathroom to find a sort of tub built into the wall and hot water in it.I looked around trying to find out if there was a geyser fitted somewhere. Later i learned that there was a fire lit behind and outside the bathroom that was heating the water in the tub!

After this we set out to Erode again to buy a gift for the wedding. It was a short distance to the bus stop, but then, we somehow managed to miss the bus. The next one was due to arrive after an hour. On our way to the bus stop and and back, people working in the fields and walking on the road would stop us to ask my friend how she was doing and to enquire about the new girl(me) and whether I spoke Tamil ;). By the time we reached the house, I knew what half the people in the village were doing! It so happened that by the time we reached home we had to start back immediately to catch the next bus to Erode. Now we come to the most exhausting part of the whole trip.

After meeting and being introduced to a few more friends and relatives in the bus and sleeping through the rest of the journey, we reached Erode.After shopping there a bit, we were totally exhausted by the heat and just waiting to come back home. Unfortunately, we had to take a bus back. Notably, I hadn't seen a single auto around till then! :(. Thanks to my friend's sis wh0 quickly found a bus that would take us home, we took a bus back home. This time, the bus dropped us off on the other end of the village. So, we got to meet some more people, milkman included, listen to some more stories :P

On reaching home, I just pulled out a cot into their yard and happily fell asleep there, It was lovely, the night and the breeze and the stars. Makes you wish you could just lie like that for an eternity! Oh, and I forgot, in the midst of this, I got a lot of advice on why to tie my hair ;).

Next day morning, we rushed to the wedding, just on time to catch the marriage. We sat through the usual ceremonies and ate to our stomach's full....Little did I know that on our ride back we would be accosted by a few more people and would have to eat something at all their places.. :( My friend seemed to have relatives in all the villages that we passed on the way back home.:)
Notable incidents here after is that we had a good laugh at her dad chasing the calf and then hens around their yard :P.. We had one of those for lunch :-o. And I found out they cook with gobar gas, and don't have too many shops around because, the village by itself is very self sufficient. They grow most of their vegetables and foul also. There was a factory nearby that exported eggs to other countries...And to top it all, I felt it was a rather carefree life.. So much self sufficient, so much of reuse, there was no scope for wasting, every little by-product was put to use. So clever and well-planned and thats how every house in that village functioned!!! More than all this, people were so friendly and eager to put you at ease among them,so hospitable(not something you find often in the cities). Born and brought up in a city, it was a very different and an overall very enjoyable trip to Pasur and Kodumudi!

Rest of the trip back was quite uneventful! Something worth mentioning as I close is that my friend is the second engineer from her village and the first ever girl engineer from her place.. I think thats quite something, but then again that doesn't mean that no one else there is educated. I met a few married women who were PHD holders in the same place...Who says there is less value for education in these places????

P.S: The picture on top was a tough to get pic, but I thought it was cute- The calf sleeping.

Below is the picture of the bunch of us who went for the wedding! :)

Chennai- A Page out of my Countless Musings

After 2 long years in Bangalore, I suddenly started wondering why I haven't still visited most places here, don't have a sense of belonging here and still don't really like this place. No, its not loyalty to Chennai or plain unwillingness to fit in.. Nor is it the usual complaint of what a cold place Bangalore is..I infact love the weather here(lazybones like me are sure to love the wonderful sleepiness that blankets you every night and morning).. What else then is this strange pull towards Chennai which always makes me feel more at home there....

Consider landing in Chennai Central station on a Saturday morning.. You are surrounded by autowalas, trying to convince you that the place you live in has been moved a little farther away from the station in the official release of Indian Map. When you finally manage to convince them that you actually do not want an auto but there is someone coming to pick you up, the crowd immediately disperses.... You go home.. Call a few friends.. Decide to meet them in the usual Spencers or for a change decide to try out the Citi Centre... Ok so now Citi Centre... Its a sudden plan.. Inox has no tickets to offer you... Its a Saturday and the place is too crowded to sit down and have a nice long chat....What do we do??? Idea!! The Marina beach is only a 15 minute walk away...

The very sight of the beach brings joy to the heart and brings out the child in you...Your first reaction would of course be to plunge into the water, failing to see that its actually a wierd color these days... Anyhow, kudichacha... Have fun while you are at it...roll around, lets the waves rise up and drench you, while you scream of joy... By the time you get out of the water, you are exhilarated.. And then we realise we are wet... and decide to dry ourselves.. we sit down and have a nice long uninterrupted chat... and then go home feeling happy... thinking of how we used to come to the beach atleast 4 times a week when we were kids... What more than a beach to
add beauty to a place... Its part of your growing up... The sea has seen both your happy and sad times... the times you have celebrated your new years there and the times you have sat alone on the sea shore musing about life...

Borrowing a few lines from Wordsworth,

In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances as the sea waves rise and spill.

Well, I started off with Bangalore and ended with the beach.. But then I am musing.....