The Flight not taken

A million butterflies fluttering in my stomach woke me up on 18 Dec 2010  My flight to the U.S was scheduled at 4.00 AM on 19th and I was a first timer. There were so many things to be done, a huge shopping list, Packing, Prearrangements, Advices to be given, Advices to be taken. Omphh..... This was pressure.

Dheera too was travelling to Ooty for her Christmas holidays and the same huge list ( infact bigger than mine ) had to done for her.

All people were shuffling here and there busy doing nothing as  the list was so huge that nobody had any idea on how to priorotize.

Some how Dheera's stuff was done. and we hurried to the station to catch the train.. We had said our byes and Happy Christmases,  and Dheera was all set to enjoy her Christmas at Ooty.

I had to come back and pack up everything and hurry back to the airport to catch my flight. On the way back, I realised that I was bushed and just wanted a beauty sleep. Imagining myself  with my head tucked inside my pillow on MY bed and dearly hoping the flight or the trip would get cancelled in a quite corner of my heart, Alwin and myself  bound towards home.

Exchanging romantic "How do I live without You" on the trip back from the station in the car (Although God knows what Alwin was thinking deep down....). and the loving glances, we reached home a tired and hungry pair.

Offering to make nice dosas for the dear hubby, as I would not be making dinner for him for quite a while. And in turn, he offering to wait so that we could have dinner together for the 'last time' (in the next month), we setttled to have a quite dinner when the phone rang. The voice on the other end said "This is Gertrude from BA, Your flight is cancelled..."

Alwin looked up with a mixture of feelings: Shock, disbelief, relief,  were a few.He had planned a party with the Big Boys the next day.

The Girls must be Crazy

Pizzas and Desserts.

Almost released from the project that I was working in, there was nothing much to do in the office front, Anusha and myself, got into a food fit; such a craze that we wanted to eat all junk stuff. With a wish list of mouth watering desserts and pizzas, we went to pizza hut during the lunch hour.

Normally one small pizza is enough to fill up our hunger. We finished our pizza and went about hunting for a dessert. Googled on a pastry joint not so near by we set out to find it. It was a long travel by two share autos . Finally found the place. Out stomachs were so full that we were really tired enough to walk back. The return was by an auto and then by bus.

We realised we were crazy enough to have eaten so much and crazier the pain taken to  travel to the dessert joint

Tea with Balaji

Tea shops in India , prominently on the roadside is the most polluted with cigarette smoke, Fifty percent of the men population can be seen there as they relax with a smoke outside the tea shop. Definitely not a place for conservative girls like me.

Balaji invited us for tea, again, with not much work on hand, we agreed and the whole set of girls were  beside him exited but cribbing that he was taking us to a normal tea shop and not a nice, grand exotic one.

Anyways, for the first time in life I tasted the hot piping tea in a small paper cup with some cookies in a local tea shop.

Lunch in a mess

Alwin bragging on how he used to have lunch in Andra mess always indulged me to crave for the lunch there. Andra mess is basically a food joint, not exactly a very nice place for girls as it is always crowded with boys. Teaming up with Anush, I was indulging in one of the spicy lunches I ever had.

The Second Chance.

Nov  29 2010

It was a wonderful Christmas program in church, and I was returning along with my grandmother. Dheera my daughter out of exhaustion had already slept. The auto guy had stopped a bit further away and I had to just walk down ten steps to reach my home. With a whole lot of overconfidence, I took Dheera in my hands and started walking down towards my home. And there it happened my worst nightmare. I tripped over a stone and fell. Dheera sleeping on my shoulders, with a wasted attempt of trying to stop my fall, I landed on my knees Dheera was also going down to hit her head. And then I heard it. Her SCREAM.

I came home to examine the hurt, I thanked GOD from the bottom of my heart for the hurt was small.

God was gracious enough to give me a second chance in life.

Happiness

This post is one of the serious types so much unlike my previous ones. The 8.5 miles of travel up and down from office everyday probably had brought me to have such a philosopical thinking.

Oh!! but its all right once a while.

Mornings in the local train is always a exhaustive experience. crowded trains, impatient and rude people, and trains always running late. I sit in my usual corner with the I Pod stuck to my ears,  looking around observing the crowd in the train. There she was the young mother carrying a 12 year old kid.I seem to bump into them almost everyday. She was a soft pretty young lady exhibiting the utmost patience. I looked up to see the kid's face. She was one of those mentally challenged kid. The mother was struggling to carry her as well as maintain her balance with the hustling and pushing of the people around her. There it struck me, "Im Blessed".

Evenings it is a different scene. A tired looking mother should be in her late forties, relaxing on her novel is a very usual sight in the chennai trains heading towards Tambaram ( The place where I stay). Her eyes seemed to be tired and exhausted, skin seemed so lifeless, lips always curled to a frown. She too was my co-traveller almost everyday. Something about her interested me - Her Son.

A little boy around six or seven years, full of life doing his homework in the train beside her, with sharp little eyes, which take in everything it sees and figiting over his mom's mobile phone, is again a usual sight. The mother pulled the mobile from his hand and with elaborate gestures she asked him to stop figiting with it. It was then I realised ,the boy was both deaf and dumb. There ended my vanity of wondering on the deep frown and frustration across the lady's face.

I also see people who inspite of having almost every comfort of  life complain about how very unfortunate or pathetic thier life is.

I would not have written this post, but wanted to for one ardent reader of mine- ME, lest I forget the art of feeling grateful and join the group of pathetic people who imagine they have a pathetic life.



The Classic 500

Alwin is and will be in the process of buying a Royal Enfield bullet for a long time. In one of the process of hunting for a good bike, we managed to find ourselves in the Royal Enfield Showroom, The Royal Enfield Classic 500 was my love at first sight, just one draw back, It was a single seater. I said " This looks real good and masculine but it has just a single seater so NOT ALLOWED.

The person assisting us said, that the single seater was just for the showroom piece, and the pillion seat can be attached or detached if necessary. I liked the idea and said Mmmmmmm OK. then it is a good one. I confirmed on getting the MACHINE (Classic 500).

Alwin looked up at me and asked " You would remove the pillion seat when I go to office right"? I looked up and smiled a "YES". 

The Night Watchman and the Silver Beach

Maybe I was born with a phobia towards indoors. I get pretty agitated if I stay at home for more than 12 hours in a row. With a fit of a similar phobiac feeling, I started blackmailing Alwin ( my darling hubby) that he needed to plan for a long trip indeed for the next weekend as it was a long one. How I did the blackmailing, please dont ask. Pssssst. Its a Trade secret.

So began 10 September 2010 with great hopes and a devilish  disbelief creeping up that the "darling hubby "would default on the trip just as usual.
Opposite poles attract dont they? FYI. My Hubby is very much a housie cat which likes to sleep on a cosy little chimney.
With prayers rising upwards that Dheeera should not start any of her famous tantrums and "allergies" should not start its attack on Alwin ( Which are the major trip spoilers in the familiy) I started packing up the bags for the trip.
 Lucky that my prayers were answered, we were heading out on the famous ECR without any major problems and I heaved a sigh of relief.

Dizee world

While on the speeding ECR, Dheera's eye got rivetted to Dizee World which was alright (any place with Alwin and Dheera outside home was alright by me). This was Dheera's first trip to a theme park. And as a mom, I was beside her reassuring that nothing would befall her when I was by her side. I knew Alwin was not gonna get on any of the rides. ( Actually he likes rides that go straight without any curves ... so planning to suggest to some theme park to set up a ride like that    )  

The Phone Adventure

As Alwin was taking the family on a trip for the first time and has no experience on booking a resort he had to take help from Mani basically from Pondicherry to help us out in finding a place to put up for the night. We watched in horror we were left with the last point of charge in Alwin's Nokia. (He just had forgotten to charge his cell the previous night. And so did I, which he realised a little later... much later.) Alwin was reassured that I had carried my HTC along. He asked me to check out with mine and what was worse, just one point or none. Mine was comlpetely out of charge so was switched off. I could not switch it back again. It could take more than three hours to reach Pondicerry and we were almost out of communication. It was race against the life of our Nokia phone with its last ebbing point  we reached Pondicherry safely.

The Night Watchman
The place that we had put up for the night was quite cosy and good. We had all retired to the soft plush bed after the fun at Dizze and the long exhausting drive. This was actually the first time we were in a hotel as a family. With a filling late dinner we hit the sack on touching the pillow. Or did We? I opened up an eye groggily to see what sounds were coming in the middle of the night. There was Alwin all awake. ( Which he is incapable of doing at home) I asked him "What are you doing? Why dont you go to sleep?. After all you drove the whole way". He replied. "Im keeping watch, lest anything bad befall my family when we are put up in a hotel". I was too tired to laugh. Without much ado, I switched off the lights and the TV and said "JUST SLEEP".

Breakfast in a Mansion

Thats Mani, Our grand host of the Day. Software Engineer by profession,But guess what,?? the lucky fellow has another job in hand as an Interior designer. The guy had designed his house perfectly with a huge water tank to adorn the Hall, winding staircases to the other rooms and the elegant balcony, backgrounded by the decorative walls, elaborate doors and windows... woooooooo it must have been quite a work and quite a fortune.But the brave man is still planning on furnishing his house further. 

That morning when we were starting to Mani's place, Dheera started one of her famous tantrums that she wanted to go to the beach right away. Kids!!!! I came to the rescue saying "Mani would give you 'choppu'. " Actually I meant 'kollukattai' A dish made with rice and stuffings, popularly done on Vinayaka Chadurthi, a festival in India. We reached Mani's home quite late. His mother had made an elaborate breakfast for us, fluffy idlis, puris and vada. Just that Dheera's 'choppu' was missing. Kolloukattais are done only during the pooja and served afterwards. The family had planned for the pooja in the afternoon. And Dheera was asking for 'choppu' Thank God Mani did not know the meaning for 'choppu' and I was saved of embarrasment.

The Silver Beach

The Silver Beach  is a beach on the southeast coast of India. It is located 2 km from downtown Cuddalore. This was the beach Alwin had promised to take me before our wedding 6 years before. He fulfilled his  vow on 11 September 2010 ( What a day). He actually took me to Silver beach and played in the clean beautiful tide. Unfortunately the time had come when we had to drive back to Chennai  Exhausted and wet, we returned back a rejuvenated  family with the ultimate enlightenment that " Its office on Monday"

A conversation- A new mile ahead.

Aug 5th 11.30 AM.

I was on my way to the US Embassy to try on my luck for the much awaited L1.

It was quite a long queue and I was standing at the end of it wondering what sort of experience this would be.

It turned out to be a funny one actually and I cannot ignore the twitching in the corner of my lips when I think of the whole episode.

This was what happened.

Scene 1: In the US Embassy, Waiting for my turn to face the "American"
Characters: Me, The "Me" Inside, the VO.

VO: Good Day; Please slide your papers inside.
Me: Good Afternoon; ( Sliding Papers inside)
VO: So for what purpose are you travelling to The United States?
Me: I have created an interface between an enterprise application and a service
The "Me" Inside: WHAT!!!! What interface!!!! What Application!!! What service!!!
VO: (ignoring The "Me" Inside)So you developed this solely?
Me: Yes,But two new people have joined in just now.
The "Me" Inside: #$@!!; and who might that be? (Quite sneeringly)
The Vo was signing some papers and 'Me' trying out various hand gestures to find out the best one to have while in a conversation.
VO: With what have you developed this interface
Me:  ZXC and LKJ 
VO: OK your Visa is approved........
Me:  Thank You! Good Day
Me returning happily end the scene.
Curtains Down.

Seasons in the home.

Inspired to write after the song "Seasons in the Sun" by Cat Stevens.

Spring is considered to be the happiest season of the year. Anyone wondered why...?

When the first flower blooms in spring, my mom gets surprised, exited and she does enjoy life, comes out every  morning to see her plants in thier first bloom.And she shares the exitement with my dad. These are one of the happiest moments in spring.

Winter at home

Bone biting chillness, sweaters and mufflers uneasy dry skin developing due to heavy chillness,
Cosy bajjis and bondas and hot piping coffee to smoulder the cold awaits when we huddle around the heater to warm ourselves. Share the things that happened the whole day.

Rainy season- Monsoon

Murky smell of wet clothes, coming home dripping wet after work or school, watching sheets of water flow down from the skies, mark the specialities of the rainy season back home town.
So what can be called exiting in this uneventful season, Bringing up fire and trying to dry the long washed clothes, huddled by the fire and holding competitions as "one family" on whose cloth dried up fast marks the occation of happiness at home.

Come Summer

Summer begins by the guests arriving, and the exitement in adjusting ourselves finding beddings and blankets for them, shuffling about between uncles home and ours, knowing the exiting life Dad and others had in the "good ol' days", marked the wonders in summer.

Here I am - this is me
There's no where else on earth I'd rather be....
----Bryan Adams.

Indian Marriages.

"Match made in Heaven" goes the saying. I am not here discussing on the credibility of that quote.But indeed, I would like to discuss on the Marriages made in India.
Indian Weddings are an occasion which is done with so much pomp and ceremony that the whole family is burdened by it.But just before that, comes a worse situation which brings so much embarrassment atleast to me.

It so happened on 29 July 2010, my friend(Quite a young girl) was undergoing this process on "match finding". The "Boy"  wanted to see her and speak with her before the "Major" talks with her parents go on. So he came to  office after informing her and her parents who live outside the state which we we staying in. My friends mother was so nervous that she shot her with a stream of instruction on how to  behave.

1.  Don't speak in english.
2.  Don't laugh loud (So how to know if the person is fun to be with)
3.  Just Smile sweetly.
4.  Don't Talk Much (So what is the point of meeting)
5.  Don't tease him
6.  Just smile away to tricky questions.

In short just be dumb.
to carry on with the incident, she had asked me to accompany her for the meeting.The guy had informed that he was coming with some "chechi" (sister). So we were expecting a boy and a girl. A pair was coming towards us. mmm... The boy was not so appealing. Our hearts missed a beat... and both of us were hoping so fervently that it should not be them that we were waiting for. Our prayer was heard. They passed by us. Again there were another couple walking towards us. This time the girl was dressed so funny that we had to smile in an intense situation. They walked by us too. huh what a relief.
Then a family came with the guy dresses up all neat( quite good to look at) walked up to us and spoke with us.I knew from the first looks that he was a nice person to be with and pretending very hard to look serious  We found a place to sit and "spoke" ( quite embarrassing for me at least. I have not gone through accompaniment marriage proposal )
While this was happening, I turned back to six years before, I was reminded when my mother gave me the same instructions, Was reminded that I was not accompanying but I was in my friends shoes,I had to act dumb.

Ok. So now, If I had not acted as per my mom's instructions.......? Well, I would not have posted the picture above.

The Language Love

Work is hard in the afternoons, especially when it is a long and heavy lunch, and it is harder when other team members have work while you can afford to laze around a bit.

Sundeep and myself could afford a little timeout from work. When we take our time outs we do ask each other all the worthless things that could really relieve you of all the stress.

It was one of those days, when Sundeep asked " What is for 'Buffalo' in Tamil.?" I , without any hesitation said "கழுதை"(Donkey in Tamil).Sundeep, is basically from Andra and does not know Tamil( I had no intention of misguiding him, I was simply wrong). Being a Tamilian,I was really proud that the letter "ழ" exists only in Tamil and  no other Indian Language has it. Karthik sitting behind be with all his busy schedule turned with a 'I dont believe this' WHAT.......
Every one laughed.... I realised I should have said "எருமை".