Going Mobile

All this happened within a span of 75 minutes… From 5.30 pm to 6.45 pm!

At 5.30 pm, as usual my friends and me set out for our tea break to a pantry in another floor. I had a wallet case for my mobile which made it pretty heavy to hold. Wooed by the smell of coffee, I gave my mobile to my friend who preferred to sit on the window sill. Being a goody goody girl, I told him to keep it down and to not hold it as its pretty heavy  After the few minutes of laughter session , we returned to our seats by around 5.50 pm or so.

At around 6.15 pm, my ocs blinked with an indication of a new message. I found somebody new had pinged a ‘hi’… I pinged a hi and was about to say ‘thanks’ as I expected that new somebody to ping about my blog post (No bad words please  )…Apart from that nobody pings me all of a sudden… so I sent that ‘thanks’ and then read what he typed :monkeyclosedeyes: It was a message ‘You left your phone at the pantry… We were waiting for you there for 10 minutes but you didn’t turn up…So I have got it along with me… Please collect it’

Only then  I searched frantically for my mobile around … I scolded my friend (I needed somebody to vent out at that moment) who had put my mobile in charge in his seat in the early afternoon session… I was in an illusion that it is still there and the detail that he had returned it to me had completely evaporated out of my mind  I looked up at my friends who were with me at the tea break and with a stern look asked ‘How could you guys forget my mobile just like that…You guys are so irresponsible’   Before I could even finish my sentence they shouted ‘Oh No’ in chorus as if somebody had switched on the bulb above their heads at the same time and rushed to the door… I pinged our ‘good stranger’ appologizing for the trouble and assured him that we will immediately be there. I locked my system before he could reply anything and rushed to the floor below mine to collect my mobile. While I was in a hurry, my teamie stopped me and asked…’how did he know its your mobile? It could be a prank… Wait… Confirm and go.’ By then I had already done an open-sesame with my access card and replied that I will come and explain to him in detail. For collecting 1 mobile, 3 of us had rushed down…yeah… literally rushed down the stairs as if we are headed to throw a timebomb attached to us 

Once at the floor, my friend asked ‘Did you see his face in outlook?’ I just gave him a blank stare from which he understood the answer  We stood like in airports… waiting for receiving a stranger  We checked many ID cards that passed and got weird looks too

Plan A: Go around looking for our stranger-with-the-phone

3 of us split up in various possible directions… I went towards pantry, another towards ODCs and the other to washroom (Don’t know why) … We met at the lift lobby after a while to declare Plan A failed !

Plan B: Attract attention

My friend got inspired by the ‘Mouna Raagam’ style of calling ‘Chandramouli…Mr. Chandramouli’ and tried replicating the same with our stranger-with-the-mobile’s name. While he shouted, we were checking for reactions all around. Confirmed: Plan B failed

Plan C: Inform about the lost mobile

As and when somebody passed across, my friends took turns to say “Hey Aishu… You lost your mobile right? The one with black and brown case”. We paused for reaction. We thought we have zeroed in on a person. But we realised that was the look he gave for reiterating the fact that we are insane 

We spared 23 other alphabets just cos we didn’t want ambulances to arrive …People with stretcher who would throw us (ya…throw us) on it and would take us directly to a mental hospital …Of course…medical insurance is available for that too 

I decided that I’ll go and ping him from my seat…I instructed one of my friends to stand there if in case somebody comes in search…The other guy was giving him tips on how to stand casually as people there already started suspecting about how did HR folks hire pickpockets and his look confirmed their doubt I asked my friend to stay along with him but he preferred to accompany me to the ODC… When I unlocked my system, my friend who was waiting down returned with my mobile.

Flashback (Spiral graphics to be included)

A guy carrying my mobile wallet case had come out of his ODC. My friend went to him and pointed to the phone asking his name. Stranger-with-the-mobile in a shock held the phone more firmly asking whose phone was that. My friend explained about the concept of ‘har ek friend zaroori hotha hai’ , all the while holding my phone which is in dispute… Finally he took it from him and ran to us 

Flashback over (Reverse spiral)

My teamie now gave a shocking remark at the climax “Expect to get featured in Cognizant Confession… That guy will post saying.. I helped a girl by picking her mobile but she was showing attitude and sent her friend to collect it… Guaranteed 500 comments scolding girls for this confession”. I was  i pinged him about the confusion and thanked him for his help!

But confession thing still lingered in my mind… At that time… Tadaa! My C2space appeared before me like the vasan eyecare ad saying ‘Naanga irukom’  Before he could write a confession, I decided to feature him in my post. Stranger-with-now-without-my-mobile… Thanks a lot for taking so much pains to get my mobile back to me!

P.S. To answer that question of how did he ping me and recognized its my mobile (We don’t miss out on facts  ).. I had my foodcard in the attached wallet  Food(card) is definitely a life essential 

Lost way to find Love

I got this suggestion of writing the plot from a different perspective…yes…purely…100%.. ISI certified imaginative content…Here we go!

I was waiting for the red swift car with a fancy number to arrive. My dad had instructed me to wait at my friend’s place where I had stayed last night. His voice reverberated “Don’t worry! You have seen him when you were 10. He is not a stranger. He is an architect and is currently working in a site which is  just next to your friend’s place. So we thought you both can get together and reach the place”. I got a message from his number “Starting from my site… Will be there in 10 min.” I know this swift car guy’s father as he is my  dad’s best friend…Uncle and aunty have visited our place regularly but not with their sons. I need to meet up with this stranger and reach the wedding hall… I was still fuming about why am I a must for that wedding ! From the continuos phone calls and the talks I had a doubt of a probable matriomonial meet set up 

A car stopped with powerful brakes interrupting my thoughts. He got down from the car and extended his hand “Hi… This is Sanjay”.  He looked like a sportsperson who is just back from his match rather than an architect. He didn’t wait for me to extend my hand.. he literally grabbed my hand and shook. He was so impatient and didn’t care an introduction from my end ..He went ahead saying “Come… its getting late!”

As soon as he started his car, he switched on his music system. 45 minutes passed and we hardly spoke a word. By now I was sure he was one of those arrogant spoilt brats and I didn’t have any intention of starting a conversation. A deep voice broke the silence “So you know right… This was a set up to get us together to spend quantity time.. Wedding plans on!”. Though I had the hints but getting the point so directly made me feel uncomfortable. He continued without a pause “Somehow I am not convinced with this kinda marriage set up… We hardly know eachother! We can’t make a life statement with just 1 hour of car drive right” I was relieved that he shared my views and I beamed with “Absolutely! So true! These people make it so embarassing”. He laughed seeing my facepalm expression. It was clear that both of us were not ok with this arrangement and this made us comfortable. We started covering various topics and Hi5-ed many a time .

After a while of driving through the trees, I asked him.. “Have we reached?”. He replied with “We must have… I took a short cut to avoid traffic.” He looked perplexed as the petrol indicator blinked orange. We stopped the car and got down as it looked like a town…errr… I mean village. I looked around to see hoardings with jilebi font and pointed it out to him and asked “I didn’t know the wedding was in Andhra”. He murmured under his chuckle “Neither did I” looking at his smart phone for the inexistent signal and location indicator. He instructed me to stay near the car and started walking. Seeing the weird looks that I was getting , I ran behind him like a little puppy and cleared my throat “How will you go alone and ask for routes in an unknown land? You need some moral support and its not nice of me to leave you alone. I know you wanna thank me but its really ok.” He gave a sarcastic look at me with a broad smile and a nod “Ya Ya… That was so sweet of you!” We both laughed at that when we were interrupted by an old man.

Old man scanned us, straining his diminishing eyesight. Sanjay moved a step forward and asked him “Can you please tell us the name of this place.” He tried the same question in hindi and kannada. I couldn’t stop recollecting the “kallipatti” scene from muthu and was expecting the old man to give him a tight slap any moment. Finally they ended up playing Dumb charades and we got directions for a nearby hotel.

Going by his directions, we landed up in a school. I started laughing holding my stomach with tears filling my eyes… he tried supressing his and was trying to calm me down “It happens… There’s nothing to laugh so much.” but gave it away seeing my hysteric splits of laughter. Once we got back to normalcy, he asked “You are in an unknown land that has an indesipherable language with a guy whom you have just met 4 hours before. Are you not scared?” He looked at me with his dark brown eyes waiting for an answer… “Why should I be scared? You should only be scared … I repeated his dialogue…You are in an unknown land that has an indesipherable language with a girl whom you have just met 4 hours before and who knows basics of self defense.” He again nodded with a big smile “Are you always like this?” getting up from our temporary halt.  I too got up “No… Am worse than this  ”  He ignored that and continued with a serious look “What if we have to be here forever?” I too replied with a serious look “I have attended a session of Krav Maga for self defence recently… FYI… I can survive and protect you too  “.

He laughed with a facepalm and looked around. We saw a black scorpio with a TN registeration. He ran towards it . From a distance I saw him talking to somebody. I walked towards him and stood few steps behind. The guy was scary and reminded me of villains from various films. I had involuntarily stepped behind Sanjay holding his hand as soon as I saw that villain guy staring at me. Sensing discomfort, he immediately called out “Excuse me… How to reach the main road from here?” The villain and better half but double in size started conversing with us. They assumed we are a couple and were here to look at a site for building. Sanjay chipped in with his architecture skills throwing technical terms about land and buildings… The guy now patted Sanjay on his back calling him a “Smart guy”… Deep down I reiterated the same.. “yes he is.” That villain now turned into a genie in disguise. He was ready to do anything for us. We got a bottle of petrol as a token of gift for his smartness  We were all set to follow the black scorpio.

1 hour of travelling through the woods….Tadaa! Main road  Though I was happy to have reached, there was a voice inside me cribbing about why did it get over soon. I could see the same mixed reactions on his face. Our villain genie got down from his car and gave us directions to reach our destination. It was a quiet journey…wedding hall was now in our viscinity… It was 8pm… We (he) had informed his parents and mine as soon as we got mobile signal that we are caught up and will reach there soon!

He parked his vehicle in front of the decorated building…”I had a wonderful time… Thanks!” I just didn’t feel like getting down from the car on hearing those words and he was waiting in the same pose ready to start for another drive if I approve. We were jolted back to reality with a loud voice…”Ahh! They are here! Where have you been?”

We were pulled to different directions by our loved ones who didn’t seem loving to us at that moment. I saw him whispering something into his mom’s ears and looking at me… Whatever that was, I saw aunty smiling with happiness and kissing his forehead. She ran to uncle and he too seemed very happy.

I saw Sanjay walking towards me…First time I felt butterflies in my stomach and my heart beat racing…He came close and whispered… “I now wish we could have stayed there forever… Why on earth we asked for help?” After a 2 sec pause..”Are you ready to lose your way with me again? I can’t go around asking for directions alone you see..” He winked with a smile. I could feel my cheeks burning with the gush of sudden blood…Yes ! I was blushing 

Disclaimer: Any resemblences to film scenes are purely intentional as those are only references I have to write in a genre which is not in my comfort zone.

PS: And ya… This is my 2nd fiction in the genre of romance� 

[Story]: Something Crazy!

When this whole new meme of writing a story with a given picture was started, I was all excited to read different stories. I have wondered how people think so much and come with such different versions. I never expected that I’ll be writing one 

If you are expecting a ‘rattham therikka therikka action film‘ ( gruesome film) … No No No… you are in for a surprise  My blood group is pretty rare and I don’t want any unnecessary blood shedding scene (my characters will have my blood group as I am the creator  )

Prithvi had lost everything… Not that he had lots but even the meager amount that he possessed before the round was now owned by his friend after the final round of poker… As he walked on the deserted roads, the words that people used to describe him “loser” “hopeless” “zero” reverberated, making him feel sick to his stomach. He took his torn bag with hardly any clothes and made his way to nowhere.. He didn’t have any clue of where to go or what to do.. As he was making his way out, his eyes fell on yellow papers… His mom wanted him to sell that house of his dad for living… But procrastination was in his blood and days kept going… Nothing changed… Only change was that his mom who kept reminding him about the house was now not found.. He picked up those papers and made up his mind on what to do next… He was so urged to go and play another round of poker to win back what he lost…But something stopped him! He had a change of thought of playing another round of poker with the money that he will receive on selling. He reached his village which was considerably a small town on the hills… he hated the place as he had to travel all the way downhill even to buy his favourite beedi… he couldn’t afford it is another point which he preferred to ignore .

He reached the house… This house was no different from the so-called house that he is living in. Broken in all possible places, with sunlight and rain finding its way promptly to him… Only difference was that this house was a bigger broken mess.. He chuckled at the idea of selling it and ruled out the possibility of someone paying for this mess. He made his way through the creaking door which was still hanging with a slight hold that can give away any moment. His stomach made growling sounds to remind him that he didn’t attend it for a long time. Being hungry was not new to him… And he exactly knows what to do… Whenever he is hungry he either drinks cold water or dips his clothes in cold water and would tie it around his waist… Within few minutes, his hunger fades away.

He recognized the room he was in, was bathroom… Though it was dark, it had a big bathtub… Bathtub fascinated him! He has never seen one except for in movies. His stomach stopped making sounds as he was too busy lost in awe. He filled water and immediately jumped in… He was the happiest man at that moment.. He forgot his problems and drifted to a nice pleasant place…

A man had entered his house who claimed to be his father’s partner and handed him Rs 10,000… He told it was a long time due to his father… He also suggested about an abandoned shop that could be bought if he was interested.

Prithvi woke up with a jolt… He concluded that too much of worrying causes dreaming… He didn’t have a proper towel to wipe, so he dabbed his body with his old clothes and made his way out of the bathroom feeling refreshed.

He heard the creaking of the gate that sent out butterflies flying in his stomach. A lanky old guy appeared from the open door. Prithvi rubbed his eyes repeatedly to ensure that he was not dreaming. The old guy called himself as his father’s partner… Prithvi felt dizzy… the sense of Deja vu over took his senses… He heard the guy repeat everything verbatim.

Was this house haunted? Prithvi was clueless… He wanted to flee from this place immediately and grabbed his bag. The gambler in him spoke now, why not try once one more. It would have just been a coincidence… So Prithvi quickly rushed to the bathtub , climbed  in thereby proving buoyancy for the nth time. However he tried he could not get any vision or dream… It was a normal bath! He was partly relieved but another part was disappointed.

The next day, Prithvi went with the lanky man to check some deserted shop. He was still unclear about staying there as he wanted to flee with the money to win back what he lost. He was in a dilemma and stressed with too much of thinking and his bathtub looked inviting… The same scenario repeated. He drifted to a peaceful sleep and he saw himself as an owner of a grocery store… He was getting richer and started employing people. This time when he woke up, he was panting… He decided to verify and rushed to the shop to buy it. He set up a grocery store and in no time his business grew as the people had to actually go downhill for all the basic things. His shop was a blessing in disguise. Along with the shop, Prithvi grew too. He renovated the entire house but left the bathroom untouched. Meanwhile he understood the pattern of the vision…whenever he was in a dilemma or in doubt, he had visions to make a decision favourable to him and it appeared at a time when he clearly never expected it . Bathtub was more of a moral support to him now… it made him take a decision about his life partner… visions about his kid when doctors said there are complications… It was everything to him now!

His wife didn’t feel good about the bathroom… she felt it somehow didn’t match with the grand house but didn’t protest as she had seen the other side of Prithvi who was usually a calm man when this topic was brought up. One fine day when Prithvi entered, he found voices from his private place… his bathroom… he never allowed anybody to enter. He rushed to find a plumber working on the leaking tube. He was furious. He tried all possible ways… days passed…months passed… years passed… No visions!

After the repeated persuasion from his wife, he decided to bid adieu to his bathtub. He gave it one last try… As always… No vision! He could only see the large crack that had develop on the bathtub. Having no hope, with a heavy heart he disposed his priceless possession much to the joy of his wife. Life moved on as always!

Prithvi was enjoying his oldage when he saw his son rushing out of the bathroom gasping for breath. His house was always filled with old things as his son was an antique collector. He didn’t pay much heed to the decorated bathtub his son had got home last night. The moment he stepped in he understood the reason behind his son’s shock. He couldn’t stop smiling! The bathtub too smiled at him back through its crack 

Yours Madly, Madras

“Welcome to Chennai… Idhu enga ooru” no such lines blarred in the radio to welcome me when I made a loud entry to this special place 25 years back… Instead it was the vividh bharathi news that was getting read with a monotonous tone in a tiny transister that kept the nurse awake I squealed at the top of my voice though the tiny transister gave me a tough competition with its “Thadha ri na naaaa“…Such was my entry into this world and the day my association with Chennai began!

The first faint memory that I get when I think about my toddler days is of building mud houses with colour colour cups for moulds   Since I was closer to beach, my childhood was closely associated with the sands, water, shells and the salty breeze. I uttered my first word much before my peer group did but didn’t take slightest effort to take a step (oh ya.. peer pressure began ) .. Everyday after my play in the beach I was given training to stand ! My leg was buried deep in the sand… I found it ticklish and fun… My mom used to hold my hands and I stood… For the first time I saw the world from an elevated position From then on, till I took my first step (which was in 2 or 3 months from the day my training began) I had this standing training after my play session! My neighbour/bestie who walked by then still gave me company by burying his legs too

Holidays were the best… We used to go on a cycle race and used to apply brakes at the finish line with full force! The dust cloud that formed was an indication to people that our summer vacation began. We have gone cycling far and wide ignoring the warning “Do not go to main road”.While cycling when we cross a temple, we used to leave one hand from the handle bar and do a prayer gesture It was a way to show off that we can cycle with 1 hand We used to park our cycles in beach, get a corn/mangai (uppu- kaaram extra) with the coins in our pocket and happily walk back pushing the cycle. In between, we step into the Santhome church where we have a “father” friend… He used to tell us stories from Bible and give us an apple.. I have never tasted a sweeter apple in my life ! We had “moonlight dinner” where all of us pack our dinners and go to terrace… No elders allowed… We used to eat and lie down facing the stars… We name the constellations on our own… treated constellations as pets and we used to look out for it everyday

Usually kids in the house are sent in the morning to get necessary groceries. I was no different. I loved it as I got a commission of 2Rs and it would be useful for the evening corn session. My bestie and me used to walk together to the ‘Ramesh Anna Kadai’ which was a normal departmental store but the biggest according to us. While we waited for our turns, we would be arguing about who won the last WWE cards game , simultaneously popping arusi (rice) that will be kept in the jute bag outside. We used to run to ‘Ramesh Anna kadai’ to get the latest free tatoos in boomer and the milo gifts… We have even argued with the enemy gang (next street gang) that cars will be sold in that shop.. According to us, there is nothing which is unavailable in ‘Ramesh Anna kadai’

I used to go to school by van…I missed my van one fine evening as I was busy playing book cricket with my friend. When I came out, the road was desserted and “watchman uncle” was not at the gate. There was an auto stand nearby , I went to them and said “Anna… veetukku ponam” (I asked him to take me home). I was having my face stern as I was instructed not to talk to strangers. He laughed and started the auto… I didn’t know to express the directions properly as I was just 10 years old… he had a tough time deciphering the landmarks… All I told him was “Anna… Beach irukku la… Adhu pakathula street kulla street kulla street kulla pona… oru amman temple varum… adhu pakkathula oru dead end irukku. Anga dhan en veedu ” (Forget the translation… I just didn’t give him any address ) Then somehow he asked me to show the school diary, got the address and dropped me home. I happily told “Anna…. en kuda veetukku vanga… Amma kita ketu money vangitharen” (I asked him to accompany me to my home to get the money from my mom). My mom was shocked… She paid the money and what followed was a live WWE show at home We started meeting that auto anna frequently on the roads and he still reminds me of this incident Such auto annas and share auto incidents can never be negected in Namma Chennai.

My first ever outing with my friends was to Spencers Plaza… It was a huge achievement then. We took change of clothes from uniform, changed at a friend’s place and went to spencer’s… That day was the day I felt “Am no more a kid ” After which, treats were in Gangothri where 1 Bhel puri was shared by 10 of us due to budget constraints We were enrolled to summer vacation classes at Ramakrishna Mutt where they thought us Yoga, drawing and singing… I went to the class throughout just because they gave me yummy hot hot sundal at the end of the class

Then came a time where I had to stay away from my home… I missed Chennai big time… Though it sounds filmy, I used to keep dreaming about my beach (yes! it was my beach) church, long rides….People tell salt water and air makes you to tan, but it was the other way round for me. I became tan as soon as I went away and used to get back to normal after a shower with my usual salt water at home

It doesn’t seem like a perfect morning if I don’t wake up to the smell of filter Kaapi… Shopping never feels like it till I walk down the streets of Pondy Bazaar and bargain at 2 or 3 shops… It never feels like am home till I get to smell the world’s best sambhar and rasam when my mom is cooking…IPL matches never feel complete till Dhoni and Raina come in yellow jersey to say “Namma Chennai Super kings-ku whistle podu’… Rainy days are never complete without the hot hot Bhajji..My sentences never feel complete till I sprinkle a little of my Chennai tamil ‘scene podadha’, ‘mass-u’, ‘gethu‘, ‘kalaaikadha‘ atleast once…On the whole, am truely deeply madly in love with Madras… Namma Chennai

 

And yeah…my post doesn’t feel complete if I don’t Rajini-fy it Idhu epdi irukku

Happy 375th Madras Day (Aug 22nd)

 

This is my tiny tribute to my Chennai

Picture courtesy: Google