23

So, this is how it feels to turn 23??

Being a Leo

 

I'm a proud Leo. I feel so strongly about it because I see this great mindset match with people who are Leos too. I'm not a fan of astrology and don't care about the negatives of the same. But, it is always great to believe in positive thoughts and good ideals. I fit into most of the categories of a Leo. Dominant, organized, attention-craving, naughty and the list goes on.

So, Whats up?
Looking back is a tricky thing to do. Who doesn't have regrets when he is 23? I shouldn't have chosen this course; what was I thinking? It shouldn't have discarded my passion at its learning peak. Should I have told her earlier; Would that have made any difference? The whole attitude change I went through, I don't think it was worth it. Why am I working on something that I don't care about? A few of them at this age. But, its not only about the regrets. Well, at least not today. Its about hope. Its about commitment. Its about reality. Its about passion. I usually promise myself a lot of things this day, every year. Except last year, I've never kept any of those promises.

I've gotten bored of this promise deal. In the practical world, not all promises can be kept. I want to be practical. Aren't we missing out on the thrills of life? So, no promises (at least not aloud) this year. No hopes. No dreams. Lets get into some live action and see how things unwind. For a change, I'm going to practice "happy-with-what-I-have".

About today

To that note, when the clock strikes midnight, I'm wishing myself a very "Happy Birthday". I had planned to get myself an important gift yesterday, but, decided to postpone it. Certain things are more important than getting a gift at the right time. :) Its a good thing, also because I can dedicate an entire post as to why I wanted to get that and what I'm going to do with it.

Last afternoon, one of my friends asked me to suggest 10 of my favorite songs for some compilation he was working on. I gave him 5o songs in 5 mins. So, that kindled some real want to go back to my good old music. Spent three hours listening to marvels of our Indian musicians. And an episode of F.R.I.E.N.D.S. What more can I ask for????

Sweet Memories

Back to the looking back thing, thanks to technology and my uncle, I was lucky to see how my family celebrated my first birthday. Nothing like the feeling of someone wishing you from the beyond. Please note that I'm not SREERAJ and it was a spelling mistake made by I-don-know-who.

22 years ago..

I loved this clip. Hope you enjoyed it too. Its really good that people don't know what you'd grow into, else they'd be careful on what they invest on you.

Thanks to everybody who've been with me all these years. The little good I've done till now wouldn't have been possible without you people. I have no specific names. There are so many of them. I'd want each and everyone of you with me till the very end.

Chiju

August 10th 2010

PS: Having regrets when you are 23 is not a big deal. What's important is to revert each one of them down the line.

Centuries ago, Centuries later

Centuries ago, there lived a couple called Sorimbe and Avipaa, by the banks of the Ganges. They made a living out of the agriculture in the piece of land they had. Though, it was a hand-to-mouth kind of life, they lived contented and tried to save as much money they could. They were hard-working, truthful, helpful to the neighbors, thankful to whatever they had and fearful of God!

God was taking his yearly census of good, bad and ugly (appraisal); he noticed the good nature (kiss ass) in Sorimbe and Avipaa and decided to give them outstanding. So, he appeared in front of them and blessed them with good health, ample wealth and a donkey. As an appreciation for their addition in devotion, he broke the convention and gave them a promotion (Sorry for the TR mode); he told them to wish for a boon (performance appreciation). Avipaa, first thanked God for all that He had given them till now (feedback) and added that they wanted to have a child so that they can bestow all the care and love; God blessed them with a baby girl. He told them to name the girl as Nellaranma and the donkey as Hatalizethuhu.

With the health and wealth, Sorimbe expanded his farm (not farmville) and did the bread winning, meanwhile, Avipaa took care of Nellaranma and Hatalizethuhu. Soon, they prospered good enough that their farm grew to such an extent that they hired workers from the nearby villages. Eventually, there were no homes in the surrounding villages, that did not have earnings from Sorimbe's farm. Even Avipaa did an excellent job of bringing up Nellaranma to a beautiful young lady. Also, Hatalizethuhu was well-trained to help in the farm, for Sorimbe's transport to the market and other household work.

As their status grew, Avipaa only became more innocent and humble, whereas Sorimbe was becoming rude, selfish, lazy and greedy. He was treating the workers very badly by being a miser in giving them their wages, getting them to work so impractically hard and not considering their feelings. He had become so money-minded that he even got Hatalizethuhu to work thrice harder than before. When Avipaa noticed something and asked about it, Sorimbe used to lie and the innocent she is, believed it all.

One day, Avipaa reminded Sorimbe that it was high time that they got Nellaranma married. She suggested that he go and talk to the landlord of the nearby village, whose son seemed to a perfect match for her. Sorimbe was definitely not in a mood to get his lazy ass up and do the job. So, everyday, he gave Avipaa some reason or the other to keep pushing it away. Finally, one day, when Avipaa pressed so much, he replied that it was the month of Margazhi and it is bad to proceed with any good deeds till it got over. Months later, Nellaranma's marriage got fixed and when asked about the date for the marriage, Sorimbe, who did not want to start working soon for his daughter's marriage, said, performing marriages in the month of Aadi is not good omen.

The marriage happened, days passed by, Sorimbe(Somberi) kept becoming lazier, Avipaa(Apaavi) kept believing Sorimbe's stories, Nellaranma (Nallaneram) got married and went off to another place and Hatalizethuhu (Thalaiezhuthu) kept working harder but sincerely, though at some point it realized that it was God who predestined its life.

Centuries later, people still believe that Marriage (a fantastic thing) has to be put away during Aadi (July15th - August 15th). Infact, if you go through the checklist, man, its tiring (not to fix a date, just to read the checklist once). I was amazed at the fact that the registrar office is not busy at all during Margazhi (Dec15th - Jan15th) because its not good to buy houses during that time, or for that matter its even inauspicious to start working for the most auspicious things. People don't buy houses that has the gate straight opposite to a street or opening (they call it Moola Kuthu in Tamil). If you tell me that some drunken lorry driver is gonna come and gate crash, then probably it is a valid reason. These are just three weird things. Yet, there are so many million rules in this society. I just broke one rule today! :)

I just believe, there is no good time to do anything bad and no bad time to do anything good. What say? :P

Glossary (:P)

Somberi - Lazy

Apaavi - Innocent

Nallaneram - Good Time

Thalaiezhuthu - Fate

PS:

1) I saw the eclipse today for the first time in my life. It was so beautiful. Please get over the myth (if applicable) that its inauspicious to see the sun/moon during an eclipse. Of course, looking at it directly is not good for the eye. Use coolers or an x-ray film and look at it the next time. Its awesome! :)

2) This would be one of the bed-time stories for my kids, in future.

All about a Date!

I crapped about crap bags and crawled away from the blogging world for a while now. Actually I've got 8 posts (including 2 poems) in my dashboard, in started, in the middle of and should I post this or not states. Will post them soon. This kinda became a HIGH PRIORITY post.

There is nothing more wonderful than two people getting together and making a commitment. Well, this does not apply if one them is an ex-someone or whatever.

The news is that soon, wedding bells would be heard in my house. I was all along thinking that finding that perfect person is the difficult part. I used to brag to my dad and others that once my sister finds that person I'd see that the ceremony or whatever process it is would be grand.

It so happened that two weeks back she did find that perfect person. The entire family (including paati, periyammas, chittappas, chittis, kuttis etc) were all excited and happy. It so happened that I was in Cbe during the whole "Swathi and Mahesh said yes" bonanza.

So? What next?

Dad: We've got to get the dates fixed soon.
Srinath: First, let's ask Swathi and Mahesh about their convenience, leave or whatever.
Me: I'll check with everyone from our side to know their availability.

After a long length of discussion, arguments, negotiations and excel sheets (I follow process!!!), we
decided on April/May 2010. The plan was to get a list of probable dates and choose the best. I had the following items on the checklist for the date scrutiny.

1) Relatives from abroad should make it (First marriage in our generation of the family)
2) Friends (Swathi's and Mine) working in B'lore or Chennai (at least) should make it.
3) No tension or panic or exams or anything on the way.
4) From 1,2,3 it is obvious I would choose a sunday.

I called up my athai in Palakkad and told her to check up with the Vadhiyar (or priest) for Muhurat dates. However, the google bulb struck me and I googled for "Muhurtham dates in 2010" and got a long list of dates. The series of events that followed made me and Swathi go berserk.

1) The dates I collected from google was nothing but a list of crap according to the vadhiyar. Did you know the Muhurtham Date should be a resultant of the fusion of the stars of the boy and girl?
2) March was out of picture because there are few board exam students in both the sides. You got to consider that when they are important and must attend people's children.
3) Apparently, there are two ammavaasais (no moon) falling between April 15th and May 15th and marriages cannot be conducted with that condition. (Well, would you let us conduct it if I take a flight and draw a white circle on the sky?)
4) Dates between May 15th - July 15th are not good because of the karmas to be performed to two souls in our family. (I understand. But, I believe the souls will not want to be the reason to delay the marriage)
5) Dates between July 15th - August 15th is not good because they don't conduct marriages in the month of Aadi. (Of course, if it is that far, I don't think we'll have to conduct the marriage in first place)

So, we came back to January/February.

6) It must be after Jan 15th because Dec 15th - Jan 15th is Margazhi month and it is not appropriate to conduct then. Also, Feb 15th + is not appropriate. You should not conduct marriages after Thai month (Jan 15th - Feb 15th).

Getting irritated??? I've been there. Its ok. Go on.

Jan 15th - Feb 15th was the ideal choice. It doesn't end here.

7) Mahesh won't get leave in January.

Feb 3rd (Wednesday) and Feb 5th (Friday) are the probable dates. The main dream of Sunday crashed.

8) Cousin in kuwait has boards between 7th Feb and 16th Feb. He had skipped the previous semester and it turns out that he not only has to attend the semester this time, he has to score high marks, else he'd be detained. Hence, Chitti and Chittappa coming together was out of question. This is the chitti and chittappa who has to give away Swathi in the ceremony, being the eldest couple in the family.

Somehow, the 8th condition was overlooked because we had no choice. We were almost in a stage we finalized on Feb 3rd and thought maybe the next chitti and chittappa could do the ceremony. It was disappointment all over. All the dreams of conducting the special wedding was gone.

9) Amidst the talks, Vadiyar lets slip that his grand-daughter's marriage is fixed on April 8th. That struck a chord with my athai. She checked it out once more and he came up with two more dates - April 1st and April 11th.

Now, I din want to make a fool of myself or anybody. Hence I ruled out April 1st (Thursday).

10) We did have a winner. Sunday, April 11th 2010 would be the big day. Everybody has confirmed with that date and the entire set of Ram Patrs (my great grand dad's name) would be marking attendance. Block your dates too. :)