Murphy strikes. Music saves the day.

November 19th 2010. I selected this date from the calendar box of my online CAT application, after consulting my official calendar, to be sure about taking off for a couple of days around this date. This was back in the second week of September. Right from then, I knew it was going to be an important day in my life. For what I should have either developed the habit of being a genius from my childhood or focused for the past couple of months, two days off from work is no solution. I comfortably put the blame on work and "no-time" and was aware that all my hopes lay on channelizing my focus during the mind-boggling 135 minutes on the big day. So, the two day leave was all about keeping my cool and going with a clear mind. I was partially successful in doing that and since it was me, that's a BIG achievement. Kudos to me. But, wait. Little did I know that Murphy had his plans for my big day, clearly charted out.

I should have guessed when, a couple of weeks ago, I saw that Colonial Cousins were performing on the same day in Chennai. My exam was scheduled till 6:30 PM in Sriperambadur and I would have to drive down 40 kilometers to the concert in Chetpet close to 30 kilometers through the thick of Friday Chennai traffic. Now, why on earth is a concert so important, one may ask. To know the importance, you have gotta be me. :) Though I was almost about to give up on the concert (which is a freakishly generous sacrifice), I just couldn't resist it. So, amidst little anxiety about the exam and total excitement about the concert, finally, 19th November 2010 dawned.

We had to be at the venue by 1:30 PM. The pain-in-the-a** planner in me started by 11:30 AM and I picked up a colleague who was also taking the test. Twenty minutes into the drive, fortunately or no, when we were still within the city limits, first strike of the day - puncture. We found a shop that was named, "Punjar kadai" (Puncture shop), close by. It was a small shop with a neighboring welding shop and a two-wheeler mechanic garage. I called out for the guy and a balding, more than middle-aged man came out to tell me that he can mend it, but would be doing it patiently. I had no much choice and with my approval, he started work. Murphy just opened up the showers from His sky.

We never knew that patience meant completely unaware of what is called mending puncture. He knocked the tyre off the bike with a hammer after unscrewing some nuts and bolts. We never knew doing it slowly meant fighting with the tyre to get the tube out, as if he was delivering a baby. After half an hour of "war" with the tyre, he pulled the tube out and examined it for 5 minutes. He neither filled air nor immersed it into water to find out if there was a puncture, but he knew for sure that we needed a new tube. I wanted to yell right away, but with tyre-less bike and the idea of this "skillful" soldier mending the puncture, I preferred to put a new tube and get the hell out.

He went into the shop and brought a new tube. After breaking open the cover, he checked if it was the right tube and I was not going to let him decide. While I made sure that its the right one, he was checking the tyre for any nails or whatever and that being the only work he seemed to know, he repeated it for so long and after I raised my voice telling him to stop checking, he started the war all over. This time it was to get the air nozzle into the tyre's hole. He'd push it out and pull his hand out of the tyre, when the nozzle goes back in. This went on for about 10 minutes when I lost patience and took charge to put it out myself and initiated the tube fitting process for him, which took him another 15 odd minutes. Finally, we reached the stage of fitting the tyre back in its place - in the bike.

With me helping him to hold the bike, push the rod that held the tyre, and after trying to fit it the other way round once, he wasted more time than was left to reach the venue. I felt it was time to request the worker in the mechanic shop for help and he came to the rescue. The rest of the fitting process was done in 2 minutes. I paid the "labor charges" and for the tube and started. It was already 1:20 PM and we had to travel another 20 kms. My Hunk made up for the mishap and I sped at 100 kms/hr (once again my personal best), without even constantly checking it my colleague was still sitting behind or had flown off. We reached the venue close to five minutes past the scheduled time, and I was all touched up with grease and dirt. However, all thoughts about the test I was going to take up had been lost along with the air that went off the tyre.

The next two hours involved formalities for half of it. A security check that involved someone feeling us up. My colleague had a better anecdote to share after her check which I am cutting out here. Our finger prints were recorded, identities were triple checked, our belongings were seized and sealed up in covers, which left us with one and half hours of silence in front of the allocated system. My family would have loved to see me sitting there with nothing to do and still keep quiet. But, I had fun, as an even more restless colleague was sitting next to me and my entire office would have actually paid to see him sit silent for one and half hours. He was sitting and virtual typing on the keyboard (only he knows what it was) - TOTAL FUN. :P

Sharp at 3:30PM the exam commenced and I did the mistake of taking up a tutorial that taught us how to use the mouse, click and double-click with it. I sped past through it and clicked on start exam. It took 5 minutes and some anxiety to finally look at that first question. The next 135 minutes passed like in movies where they show two shots of the clock. It was 6 PM and was much earlier than I thought. So, good news was that we needn't miss the start of the concert. Me and the colleague I picked up that morning left as fast as possible. Oh! I forgot. The exam went okay I should say. I don't think it would help me get an admission in any of the colleges I have in my mind (including but not confined to the IIMs). Other comments reserved till Jan 2011.

Then followed a 40 kilometer odd drive. I was not sure about the route to take (there were many and I had no clue which is the shortest). Somehow or the other, I ended up taking the correct route and as we approached the venue (close to 7 PM), we realized we were so hungry and took a quick frankie bite from Nilgiris, Chetpet and refreshed with Limca (you know how refreshing that drink is???). I guessed that the concert would anyways start at least 15 minutes late and so we took our time to eat and at 7:30 PM, we set upon the last five minutes of our journey before we stepped into heaven, or so we thought. :(

We got stuck in the signal just close to the concert hall and had to take a U - turn in a never ending stretch and when we got to the U turn, we had to wait for four cycles of the signal, to get out of it. We reached the hall by 8:05 PM and exchanged the online receipt for the tickets and rushed to the balcony. When I handed the passes to the guy at the door, he said, "Sorry sir! There are no seats. People are sitting on the steps". "What the hell!", was my exact response. After arguing for few seconds, I realized we had no more time and with our backs completely gone, our seats pricking badly from the long ride, a completely bad opinion about the hall and a banal concert in our minds, we stepped in.

"Deemtha Dheemtha Dhirana..." (Indian Rain), the music magician's voice echoed around the most wonderful concert hall I have seen till date. We sat down on the clean steps between the neatly arranged seating system on both sides. There were no one in front of us, which helped adjust our posture every two minutes. I couldn't feel my torso because of the pinching back ache and was a bit restless at the start. They announced that the next song was the one they had always hidden because the record companies did not like it at all. I was dumbstruck when Hariharan started with, "Vakrathunda Mahakaaya...". Which bloody record company did not like that song? Till date, I have not met anyone who doesn't. I made a mental note to call up my cousin Srinath as soon as I got home. We had performed that song once on stage; and that's what you call timing, when my mobile rang and it was Srinath calling to ask me how I did my exam.

Hariharan said "I hate this list man. Right after SaNiDhaPa, I have to sing Teri Meri Ankhon Mein", and the audience went "WOoooooooooooooo". After that, Hari took a break and Lesley commented, "He is much older than I am". He took up the stage for a while during which time, a blessed seated couple decided to leave and the good man signaled to me that their seats could be taken. I thanked him for the gesture and we rushed to the seats. Its one of those thanks where you really mean it. "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh", I sighed loud as my back hit the rest of the chair and my colleague gave a little laugh. Lesley performed few of his compositions (out of Colonial Cousins) including 'Pal' (from the first Indian Idol), a funky (as he called it) version of 'Kannum Kannum Nokia' (Anniyan) and the song he composed for the maiden album of KayKay. All of them were good, but the crowd loved Hari more and when someone shouted, "Hareeeeeeeeeeee please take over", Hariharan came in again.

What followed was one of the best moments of my life, when he sang his ghazal 'Ye ayine se' (Kaash) in a Blues format (Aaromale style), which was top notch. After many people shouted for 'Tu Hi Re', he sang the Tamil version 'Uyirae'. I don't know why they ask him for it. He always kills the song on stage, which he did again, but the flute saved the day by playing a beautiful interlude in between. Then followed the exquisite 'Feel Alright' for which percussion was amazing and the beautiful rendition of a ghazal of Ghulam Nabi Azad and few more of their tracks. The concert ended with 'Krishna Nee Begane' (with an awesome Tabla thani avardhanam at the last interlude before Govinda Bholo Hare) and 'Khal Zhala' (which I was hearing for the first time). Almost everyone were sad that it had ended but did not hesitate to give a standing ovation to the duo that had swept us off our feet and kept us in the air for a while. I came back to senses. Except for the information about the song I passed on to my colleague when the song started, I was totally imagining an empty hall with only me in it. I loved it.

It was 10:00 PM and we walked up to the bike, our hearts filled with I-don't-know-what. Well, you just read about the electrifying day we had. As I dropped my colleague off and drove home, my mind went about all that happened and I knew I had something huge to write about. What a day! :)

PS: When I said you have got to be me to realize the importance of the concert, I did not mean that, if I had missed it, I'd have cribbed about it all my life. :)

Time to move on

Time and tide waits for none

Its been a while since I wrote something here. Twitter has been taking care of my venting needs and not being active @ work has slowed down the traffic to the association areas of my brain. Once in a while, a momentary rush of guilt helps me use some of the time productively.

Last weekend I was in Coimbatore for my Periyappa's (Dad's elder brother) first anniversary. It was a five day process involving lots of rituals, gradually getting tailored by the generation. On Friday, I visited college with Vibushan and it was a nostalgic experience. From the time we parked the car and stepped in, until the time we came out and picked a bone with our animus security staff, it was trademark college. However, the usual excitement and thrill of being in Coimbatore or visiting college was obsolete .

Saturday and Sunday were completely booked for family except the little time spent at music class. Yeah, that was a great experience. Every July, my music school celebrates a two day annual event where all the disciples render songs as a tribute to the Sangeetha Moomoorthigal*. When I went for practice on Saturday, a batch was singing thillana for the chorus. It took me back to the childhood days where I was one among the 15 or 20 singing the same thillana. This is my 12th annual day there and I asked my teacher if I could be a part of the chorus this time.

Saturday night, it was again family time, when me, my cousins Srinath, Srikanth, my athai (Dad's sister) and Srikanth's wife Priya sat around chatting. It was more like a jamming session because we were singing all our favourite numbers like Cham Cham, Khwaja, Anjali and so on. Priya was making me sing number after number and I was so reminded of my Periyappa who used to do the same. Whenever he had visitors, if I was there, it would be singing time for me. He used to call it Sadhagam (practice) time. I couldn't believe that he is not there among us enjoying all the music and fun.

Sunday saw the last of the rituals for his anniversary. I felt time should actually be moving slower. It just seemed like I got down from the bus on Friday and it was already time to leave. I had this discussion about how I had always wanted time to move slower except during my college days. And that, even during college there was one reason why I wanted things to move slow and so on. In the end, the weekend was all about memories and missing stuff.

Well, not only the weekend, its been like that for a while. It has been making me wonder if I'm making this a big deal and if its worth it. The reason is that I look around and the people who are supposedly part of the memories have stopped to care, or at least seem so. Probably, they are bored of the whole good-times system. The funny part is that those who blame me of having made new "friends"(as one would fixate on the quotes for the word) and not care anymore seem to have forgotten where I live. A whole other perspective makes me understand that we can't blame anybody just because we are still the same and stubborn to accept change and move on.

I sat through the return journey coming up with a whole new "its-time-to-move-on" plan. Its a simple to-do list towards a productive life rather than blabbing nostalgia forever.

Its time to move on, for memories accrue, time doesn't.

"Time is the Healer.

Time Moves on,

Time don't wait for anyone.

You tell me you'll be back,

But that'll take sometime.

I'm waiting... "

I've always been amazed by the above lines. Simple but so true. :)

*Sangeetha Mumoorthigal - the musical big shots Thyagaraja Swamigal, Sri Muthuswamy Dixithar and Sri Shyama Shastri.

Yet again, Back again!

For the frequenters of this blog, I never need to say that going to Cbe gives me a great feeling, so I'm going to conclude the introduction with, "I was in Cbe for the weekend and came back today!" Having set the context then, lets dive into the 2 great days called WEEKEND! :P

The Usual stuff

I woke up in the bus with a headache, which resulted in crashing on the bed, as soon as I reached home. Srinath called up and tempted me and Dad to come for lunch, with Idi Chakkai Poduthuval (Tender Jack Fruit fry) as the factor. So, with a nice traditional Sambar, Idi Chakkai, Appalam and all, we had a fantastic Palakkad style lunch on Saturday. Srinath, Dad and Periyamma decided to take short naps while I watched F.R.I.E.N.D.S on youtube. Awesome (My style) filter kaapi was served in the evening, after which we all set for some Kalayana Shopping.

Marriage Planners at work

For the experience that we are gradually gaining, Srinath and I were discussing on marriage contract (from "pandhal" - decoration stuff to "pandhi" - food) business as a career option. :P Srinath was driving us around, with us issuing him different instructions at the same time (about parking, turning, directions etc). His driving skills are exquisite, he managed to interpret it right all the time.

We finalized the Video and Lunch arrangements for Srikanth's engagement (falling on 3rd Feb) and were checking out suits for the wedding. I got a "You can't get a ready-made suit sir" comment, while Srinath got, "You look like a Raymond Model sir", from the sales guy. Fab India has some great collections for Kurthas. Its simple, neat, economical (for rough use) and I can't say its the best until I wash it and it doesn't shrink. After all the shopping, we went back home sat at a rectangular hall-setting and finalized on the text for invitation cards.

Athai's House, Palakkad

Next morning, I was at my athai's house, in Palakkad. Me and Dad dropped in there, on the way to JP's brother's wedding (too much wedding stuff right???). I wanted to collect some oil that my aunt had prepared to help me and Srinath from retaining the little we have on our head called hair. But, it was commotion there already, as a snake was found in my cousin's study room and they had no other go but kill it. My aunt was all in sobs that they had to kill it and I was all terrified to even step into the house once I heard it. However, we collected the oil, had a quick chat and left.

Dumm Dumm Dumm

It was a great occasion, if only we had reached 2 mins before, we would not have missed the main function. Jayasankar anna looked so smart and was standing there with his perfect match. Another great thing was that I got to meet Kannan and our other Mallu classmates (who also missed the main function - we met them at the gate) after a long long time. It was great catching up. We had an excellent Palakkad Saddhi (thanks to the season, Idi Chakkai again) and headed back to Cbe.

Jamming

If all those made an excellent trip, what was the perfect ending?? Deepak and Viswesh came home and we were listening to Viswesh's recent works, or at least, we started there. We started talking about a couple of songs and for an hour or so, we ended up Jamming Hariharan's songs, where Viswesh was quoting Hari's style of brigas and Sangadhis, then and there. We signed off singing Mannipaaya from Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya (Rahman's latest musical) and "AWE"ing at the genius' use of his voice - so brilliant, and discussing how He has grown as a singer.

The best part of getting into the bus/train from Cbe is that, I always know when I'd be going back. I'm travelling tomorrow night, for Srikanth's engagement and will be back to Chennai on Thursday, only to go back on Friday night!

PS:

1) The attention from the last trip has completely faded out. People don't even care if I say this is the permanent mark on my face, I'd be left with. :(

2) @Srinath, As discussed in the deal, I'm waiting for your treat next week. :)

Little Abnormality, All the Attention and Back to Square ONE

Warning: Big post, Little Content! (matter wise and satisfaction wise) :P

Monday, 18th January 2010

I woke up, as usual, cursing myself about missing the gym yet again. The usual routine followed: consoling myself while brushing my teeth, "Tomorrow I'll make it".

I realized that I have to shave and it followed. While the razor was doing its job almost around the right ear, it hurt and as a reflex I touched it.

"Heat Boils? Pimples?", my mind scanned the various options, as my fingers felt the small, round patch of many minute boils.

I got to work and the busy schedule kept me from even thinking about what I saw in the morning. The day went by. Except for applying some nivea in the evening, I did not make a big deal about my face.

Tuesday, 19th January 2010

I met Sphinx, who had missed the morning flight from Chennai and blessed us with his "darshan". When I removed my helmet after picking him up for lunch, "What the hell is that on your face?" was his reaction.

Back in office, I waved to Ananth and asked his suggestion on meeting a skin specialist in Chennai. However, the thought of seeing a doctor in Chennai was uncomfortable because the month has already been quite expensive and I didn't have money to crap.

Finally, in the evening, during a meeting, I decided I'll leave to Cbe that night to meet my doctor because a bump on that side of my head started to hurt, Bad.

Wednesday, 20th January 2010

I was sitting at Dr. Prakash's clinic, going through the flyers put up about the off-shop (a shop to buy and sell your stuff), a venture he has recently started, in the basement of his clinic. When the token machine said, "Token No. 3", I went in.

There he was, as always, clean, grand, classy and like a King! I showed that added bit of charm on my face, for which I had been running a lot of what-it-could-have-been since Monday.
As if you saw a cat and say "Its a cat"; he said, "Herpes". Apparently, it is not as kinky as it sounds, it is sort of a great grand daughter of chicken pox, that comes to take revenge, for, our body defeated its ancestors.

I learned that it would try its best for 7-10 days by which, it should vote to succumb to the greater good - medication. He prescribed a couple of tablets and a pain killer and I went back home deciding to return to Chennai the same night.

Dad was unhappy though. He started by suggesting, "Why don't you be here till Sunday and rest?". I dismissed that idea and stayed put on returning the same night. By afternoon, my dad succeeded in convincing me that staying for one more day wouldn't hurt.

However, that ruled out my planned weekend visit to Bangalore and I made a mental note to cancel the train tickets I had booked.

Later that evening, my sister was threatening me that she would give me other marks on my face to remember, if I did not buy a rice cooker (so that I could at least cook curd rice at home). I asked her to cancel my tickets to Bangalore.

Thursday, 21st January 2010

I woke up a bit later than usual and after a really long time, someone came to me and gave me my morning FILTER coffee, hot and tasty with all the aroma and the layer of foam on the top. I was so excited by it - I didn't see the days of great attention coming.

By the time, I finished my coffee, breakfast came by. After breakfast, I got ready and came out dressed, when dad handed me a glass of buttermilk. I immediately made my decision, "Daddy! I'll leave on Sunday only. Let's book the tickets."

So, after booking my tickets to Chennai, and looking up 0n a couple of places to get invitation cards printed, we reached my aunt's place for lunch.

Once I reached, she checked on my scars, which were in their peak. It felt so great that my aunt had banned any oily stuff and spice (including pickles) for anyone in the house just because I shouldn't have oil or spice. It's simply amazing to get all that attention.

Later that evening, I sat down with my aunt, charting out the invites list for the double wedding in April.

Friday, 22nd January 2010

By today, word had been spread, so, other than the occasional inquiry of my well being, my mobile was lazy, the whole time.

Watermelon, oranges, buttermilk and tender coconut water were those that came in search of me, at regular intervals. I kept resting till evening re-reading "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows".

We did a bit of where-to-shop-for-the-weddings research in the evening and came back home, when I had to answer a couple of calls from people who thought I'd be catching a train to Bangalore by then.

Saturday, 23rd January 2010

I went for another checkup to Dr.Prakash. He certified that I was absolutely fine to take off to Chennai and casually told that one of those scars would leave a permanent mark.

We came back home, to another day with oranges, watermelons, butter milk and some attention (not as strong as the last couple of days).

I knew the attention was still there, when, I was about to wash my plate after lunch and Dad told me to leave it for him to wash. If it was a Tamil soap, I would have kept the plate, wiped a single tear running down from my eye and moved on. :P

Sunday, 24th January 2010

I woke up in the morning and as I was brushing my teeth, Dad asked if he should make coffee and I said yes. After coffee, when I mentioned breakfast, he said, "No breakfast today", casually checking on my scars. "Attention fading?", I thought.

I went to Ramesh mess and got aapam for both of us. Another day just went by. Lunch at aunt's house. Asianet showed Ravanaprabhu movie in the evening and I was lucky enough to catch one of my favorite songs in the movie before I left to catch my bus.

As I was speeding back to Chennai, my mind went back, over all the attention I enjoyed for the past 5 days. It was so cool to have been the center of attraction (though I'd love for the reason to have been I've made a scientific discovery).

I don't think I enjoyed that feeling for a long time enough, as I fell asleep soon. That's ok. I'll have that feeling for the next few days!

Monday, 25th January 2010

I rang the bell to my matchbox apartment. My sleepy roommate opened the door for me and went back to his bed.

I entered the house to a pile of clothes on the chair in the hall, a stinky kitchen with vessels used for the past 5 days still in the sink, a mess all around, lots and lots of mosquitoes and a great deal of cleaning up to do. Well, That's back to square one!

PS:

1) My scars are ok now. So, the system is up and running! I have a permanent mark though, let see if it works as a charm for whatever!

2) My Indiblogger rank went up from 63 to 71 last week. :)

3) I don't think I'd be able to make it to Bangalore as of now! :(

4) Apologies for this long post, full of crap! I enjoyed writing it though! Nice flashback! :) :) :)

You know.. You know.. You know..

Its been a while now. Everyday while driving to office or back home, when am stuck with some issue in office, or whenever I have the enthu but not the resources, I've been making mental notes to write about lots of stuff, but after I get home do nothing other than watch a couple of episodes of F.R.I.E.N.D.S and crash.

List of posts this is a compensation for:

1) Swathi's Engagement - Went great! Working on putting the videos and photos together to make a compilation.

2) Being stranded in the middle of the highway because of bus breakdown - Let me not get started.

3) Hangover Monday (because of No. 2) - People in office (at least with those I interacted that day) would have thought so. I tried to keep a low profile. Trust me! :P

4) Sp@rrow's B'day - I wanted to write about the time we flung him into the swimming pool. TWICE!!! Anyways, Thanks to No. 3, I couldn't. Happy B'day Vivek! (Imagine today is Monday DUDE).

5) Turn-over Tuesday - Lots of things "turned" over and I realized its gonna be difficult to meet my deadline on Friday. I can boldly say I wasn't responsible for 99% of those. But, noone cares about that. I'm sportive enough! A new learning added to my repository.

6) Weak Wednesday - All hazards from No. 5 taken care of (thanks to my Feature Lead and lots of other colleagues) . But, I was weak and down from cold and it took some time to catch up.

7) Timing Thursday - Everything was shaped to what was planned. Of course, I did a lot of cut backs in gtalk chatting. And somehow and kept to my deadline. Not only that, as promised I went with Deepak and TK (Classmates) to dinner for TK's Birthday. I just wish all those people whose B'days I wanna celebrate, lived in Chennai. But those idiots are spread in B'lore, Calcutta, Cbe, Kuwait, and lots of other places. Can't blame them. I lived in Madurai once upon a time.

8) Frightening Friday - All the timing sense in No. 7 did not count, because ME and my feature lead missed out our Manager in the CC list of the merge request which marks the end of the completion. Well, I know "Oops!" Also, I had to face a stupid issue for which I'm dedicating a separate post.

9) All is well - Finally, as in Indian movies, ALL IS WELL! I hope I don't write a revert post for this on Monday (or make a mental note of it)! We decide to catch a movie (long time since we had a colleagues outing) on Saturday and booked tickets to "A Christmas Carol".

10) Rainy Chennai and Sunny Chennai - People who live in Chennai would rather appreciate Sunny Chennai because rains in Chennai are nasty. Its not rains. Today I was driving down Anna Salai and it started raining. I looked up and I felt a writer's dream come true: "It was a rainy day. Drops of rain poured out of the blue sky". As fast my t-shirt was getting wet, faster was the drying process. Finally, I reached Sathyam Cinemas and found out that the front side of my t-shirt was wet and the back side was not dry; IT WAS BURNING! Weird weather!

9) A Christmas Carol - OH MY GOD! People have such a talent of spoiling a classic. Mr. Dickens, please haunt the writer, director of the movie and if possible Jim Carrey too. However, the 3-D effects were good.

10) Ampa Skywalk - The new mall in Chennai is another version of City Center. Its nothing great. Have to check it out once the 8 screens of cinema and the actual Skywalk is open to the public. I guess its just one other place to hang out and spend money!

PS: Indi Blogger finally approved my blog and gave it a ranking of 63. Thanks to them!

New House, Rahman and now in Cbe!

After all the wait, it happened again. It always happens so easily. If I had saved all the days (and MONEY) I spent for shifting, I'd have been richer now. However, I've rambled about it to too many people now that some might start getting bored now. :)

One thing I liked about my new place is that I get this feel about living in the city. At the corner of my street is a main road that is almost always crowded, thanks to Sutherland, even after midnight it is a happening place. We'll see what Velachery has is store.

Finally, a long time dream came true, last Sunday! A magical evening I would call it. Rahman was performing live somewhere like 500 meters in front of me. In one word I can call it WOW! We had to drive for about 95 kms from Chennai (another dream come true - long drive). ECR was a boon because my speedometer touched a triple digit mark (yet another dream). We (Me, Neeraj, Srinath and Ananth) were so tired from the drive and from the little bore that the organizers subjected us to (in the name of promotion). Neeraj and me were further worn out from overnight shifting. I should accept that my eyes were slowly turning in.

And there we saw in front of us a big puff of smoke. It was happening. We (70,000 people) jumped up and stood on our chairs, listening to "Jaagae Hain". He stormed into the stage and I knew I was screeching at the top of my voice, both hands raised in the air. Everyone shrilled their voice to the highest note possible, increasing their note every time believing the next note would bring them to his attention. All that was running in my mind was NOTHING. I couldn't remember the last time my mind went so blank. IT WAS HAPPENING! I WAS WATCHING HIM LIVE.

"Mustafa" was obviously the pick of the show, 70,000 pairs of hands were waving, like in the movie. Lots of people had their cell phone displays on to depict the candles in the movie. With Khwaja mere Khwaja he attained new levels of Rahmanism. He was sitting there on stage with all the Thejas and the stage synchronizing well with the tunes as well as his attire. We were in cloud 99. The stage settings need a special mention here. There was a wide screen covering the stage end-to-end. The display inlcuded graphics, pictures and video clips. When he was singing Dil se re, it seemed as though he was standing amidst a sea of fire. The settings for Athiradee (Shivaji), Kannalane (Bombay), Jiya jale (Dil se) and Dilli 6 theme were stupendous. When he ended the show with Jai Ho and Vande Matram, the time was an hour before midnight. I had to drive back home, attend to an aching back, get up early in the morning and prepare for a presentation in office. But, all I could think off was "Why din he sing Ella Pugazhum and Masakali?"

It was a breezy drive all the way back home (One more dream - a night drive on the ECR). I did not speak to Ananth throughout the drive, nor did he, except for the occassional "Are you awake" checks. I was sure he was running through the entire concert in his head as I was. I'm waiting for the DVD of the show, which is expected according the organizers. I want to find out what He was talking about when he announced in the end, "We'll try to give a better show next time". It was the perfect DREAM COME TRUE DAY FOR ME. :)

I wanted to write about this since Monday, but I was kinda held up in office and Airtel is still giving me a hard time for my internet to be setup. Three days went by, just thinking about last Sunday. All I know is I reached Cbe yesterday morning and so fast two days have run by. Its so chilly in here. I was driving back home last night after a yummy dinner at Kerala Club with Jp and Vibushan (I know who is jealous now :P) and I felt like I should have thought twice before locking the Diwali complementary Jacket in my office desk.

Thats that about last week. Happy Diwali to the very few readers (FANS & NON-FANS). :P

Five weeks and a celebrity!

WARNING
A post full of content, but not much sense!

September was a long month. It started with celebrations and stuff, added a twinge of sickness in the first week for which I had been to Cbe and came back in full form, two weeks of slogging hard work, 3 days of fun with my buddies at Kodai, a week of little work, 3 days of home food and homeliness in Cbe and then a short week of house-hunting. Thus, October started with finalizing on a match box for a house. The worst part is I'm going to be paying 1000 bucks extra for a place that is way smaller than where I live now. All this turned me into that slow, non-energetic, sly person since last Monday.

I've been trying to pull myself together but still it keeps coming and going. I kept putting off the date to pay the advance for the new house and finally did it yesterday. Considering the nomadic life I've been leading for the past few years (since 2001), this is not a big deal. I've got very less things to shift this time and I've gotten pretty good at it. However, I felt very bad last evening. Thanks to the great TNEB, my SMPS is out of order again and it has gone for replacement for the third time since June. That ruled out FRIENDS/anything fun at home. I just did not want to go back and continue reading Nora Roberts' Angels Fall.

I told my cousin to book tickets for Wake Up Sid and we hit City Center, had dinner there and headed to the entrance of INOX. Night shows at INOX have become casual these days. I usually see groups of IT friends (from the formals they wear, at times from their ID card) catching up, families (I mean young couples) and at times someone alone. My cousin and I were waiting for the security to open the barricades so that we could go in.

"Yuvan da", gasped my cousin. For a moment, I heard it as "Ivan da", the Tamil slang for "Guess who it is". I turned to look at this short guy, wearing a flat cap, with the flap of which he had managed to hide his face obviously-well. He was dressed casually and had his girl by his side, who was dressed in a pink t-shirt and a jean three fourths. It was Yuvan Shankar Raja.

At first, I was like, "Cool!". Then I thought, "What's the big deal!" (I was in a bad mood in first place).

We followed the crowd and were now waiting in front of the screening hall, waiting for the now showing display to start. I could see people (those who identified him) staring at him. Few groups here and there (just realizing people) were debating as to whether it was actually him. He did not stay in one place. While his wife and another female (a cute one from some reality show, according to my cousin) were checking out the ice-creams they were gonna sigh at, Yuvan kept loitering here and there, carrying a cold look on his face. He simply couldn't stand in one place. I could say he was humming some tune in his mind. I kept my sight rolling from end-to-end and at times caught his. This went on for a while and once I blinked at him and he smiled in return.

Slowly, the crowd started moving into the hall and I was waiting for space that I could catch a word with him or something. He was surrounded by his friends I believe and I was losing patience. Finally, I thought I'll pass on it and went inside the hall and settled on the seats. After few minutes of silence, my cousin asked me, "You wanna go talk to him?". I was like, "Chal! Lets go!" and we started walking towards the door. However, he was entering the hall and we walked back to our seats.

About the movie: Too good! Nothing special, but the flow was good and did not bore us. Ranbir is one hero to look out for.