Falling leaves, rising thoughts

Having grown up in the tropical regions of the world which has abundant sunshine throughout the year has always made me take the Sun and its benefits for granted. This was not until I reached the temperate climes of the United States - first time during the "summer" of 2008. And if you are wondering why the double quotes for summer, it is just because that is pretty much the kind of weather I have seen all around the year back in my home town in the Indian subcontinent.

The first season that endured after the "summer" was the most enchanting one and is probably the one time of the year I would look forward to if I were ever traveling to / staying in the temperate climes - yes, it would be the "fall". 

The first "introduction" that I have ever had to the fall was through a short story called "The Last Leaf".   That was school time. All I ever saw anywhere around in the otherwise hot town of Vellore, which even earned a sobriquet வெயிலூர் (veyyiloor) amongst the large populace (meaning, the town where the sun always keeps shining bright and the temperature keeps a steady 30s or 40s on the centigrade scale), were green bushes enjoying the photons or parched and dried grasses and palms which had given up on their fight with the Sun. This ensured that relating to this story very hard at that point in time. I mean, how or why would leaves start falling off from most of the trees (by the way, my knowledge in botany or geography was nothing to speak home about then!) ? Why is this lonely girl so deeply entrenched with the thought that the fall of the last leaf is also going to signal her demise? 

Well, these thoughts were running abound then in my mind. And it did keep running around in some corner of my mind even as late as 2008 - some solid 10 to 12 years since I had read that story for the first time. But experiencing the fall season changed all of that. I went to re-read the story one more time, the difference being, this time, I got some newer insights and truly appreciated the experience, the pain and the hope being depicted in it. 

Did the Green Days choose to sing that they should be woken up when September ends so that they can relish the beautiful fall? I wonder!! Alright - now, that was some incoherent rambling, I agree. So, what is the deal about the "rising thoughts" and "falling leaves" anyway? Here is what it is - as I look around the umpteen trees that are throwing up their cover and doing it so with a colourful glee, it looks to me as if they are the only ones who are ready to savour the flavours of the upcoming winter, when  every other fauna goes about trying to add more and more layers of additional protection to keep themselves warm. Is this a lesson in equanimity - to treat and enjoy the flavours of all seasons that is something of a larger message being passed by the flora to mankind? Ah, there goes another red one... falling near my window. Catch you folks later!

Visit to Dwarka - I

My mom was still in a state of disbelief when I informed her that I have made ALL arrangements for a trip to Dwarka for four days! And it was only as the journey unfolded that she came to know, that by 'ALL' arrangements, I had only meant the travel arrangements to and from Dwarka and noting else - more on that later.

This is was the itinerary i had to start with:

flight until Ahemedabad from Chennai on Saturday

Night bus from Ahemedabad to Dwarka on Saturday

Sunday and Monday - At Dwarka

Night bus from Dwarka to Ahemedabad on Monday

Monday flight back to Chennai

There were a lot of obvious gaps. To begin with, the flight was supposed to land on Ahemedabad at 6:30 PM. The night bus is supposed to be leaving at 10:30 PM. I didn't have any answers for what we might be doing at Ahemedabad for 4 hours! I mean, we cannot be having dinner for all of that time! I deeply trusted our notion of Indian Stretchable Time. But as Murphy would have it, the take off as well as the landing were SHARP..! I dodged my mom into spending some time around the airport and explaining how nice the new airport was and giving her comparisons of it with other airports I had visited. Post some time, which didn't cross even half an hour, she told she had enough of it and we should start heading out! Head out, yes! But where to? I mean, I didn't have any idea other than a name called Paavan Travels at Ellis Bridge Road Paldi from where we were supposed to board the bus! And that would be at 10:30 PM - still way way off..! I had no idea about the traffic or other situations in Ahemedabad to know how long it might take to reach there! But in all likelihood, it might not fill the entire time..! My mom is a bigger sportie than I. She suggested that we just get to that place and chart out remaining things later than roam around the airport and attract undue attention of the CISF security personnel..!

We head towards what we could see as a Gujarat tourism enquiry counter. There was only one person manning the counter. I pulled out my reservation slip for the bus and requested for directions. He was helpful enough and suggested I call up a chartered cab and provided me the number. The one thing that misfired was the information he gave regarding the rates for the cab. I called up the chartered cab only to find that it is MORE expensive than the prepaid cab at the airport terminal - running contrary to his claims of it being cheaper!

So, we moved towards the prepaid taxi counter. Had to part with Rs.350. The driver ushered us into his cab - a rather old but decent Indica. I don't recall how long he drove. I just intervened to ask about the name of the river whose bridge we were crossing and he responded 'Sabarmati Sir!'. As we closed into our destination, we realized 8 PM mark is still far off. I queried for some eateries around. The driver was kind enough and showed us the Paavan travels office and took us a little less than a half kilometer distance to stop by at a Gujarati restaurant. He left immediately without demanding or looking forward to any tips - rather strange! Talk of some conscious impression to leave behind with a tourist? I wonder!

Pakvan - that was the name of the restaurant. It had a small set of stairs in a circular fashion that led to its entrance. And we were welcomed by a bronze idol of Shri Ganesha. The restaurant in itself looked pretty simple and neat. There was just one board announcing the rate of the food - Rs.140 per head and nothing more! Seeing a restaurant with SO MUCH space and SO LITTLE people did raise some initial doubts on my mind, although I could see my mom already being guided to a seat by one of the cheerful waiters there. We did settle down at a convenient seat. And it is when the food got doled out that all of my doubts began to start melting away, much like how the Shrikhand served there melted in my mouth for the fifth time in a row, in less than a second of landing up on my plate..! Unlimited quantities of mouth watering  phulkas, pooris, dhoklas, samosas, aloo sabji, gobi sabji, dhal, rice, Shrikhand were being served..! The waiters were only too eager to cater to confirmed foodies like yours truly with a smile on their faces! The bill was also to be paid at the counter and there was a separate tip box too for dropping in your tips! And believe me, you wouldn't be able to ignore the tips portion and walk out, considering the kind of food and service that you get there! 

So,what do we do NEXT? It was just 8:30 PM and Paavan Travels was hardly a few minutes walk from there! My mom suggested that we just walk and wait at the office of Paavan travels. I agreed and we moved on. I handed the ticket slip to the person at the counter. He scribbled the bus number on the ticket and gave it back to me, his expression clearly suggesting we are way too early for the trip! We settled down at the narrow bench and it was still sweltering hot though sun had set an hour back. Yes, the sun was shining brightly as late as seven pm..!

The bus did arrive a little earlier than scheduled, though it landed up leaving later than the scheduled departure time. I have never traveled in a complete sleeper bus coach before. I assumed a Volvo A/C sleeper coach would automatically imply convenience. That was not to be! The coach had marked out spaces - what I would prefer to call 'sleeping boxes'. These were in no way meant for a six footer like me! My mom was thankfully, convenient though she said the aircon made it a very cold journey. Lesson learnt - added facilities don't imply an added convenience!! Anyway, the journey had begun. I had somehow managed to coil myself and slept through the whole night before waking up to seeing a few windmills on the coastal side at 7:00 am on Sunday.

The landing... And grounding..!!

As I made my way into the tambaram sanatorium railway station for purchasing a few tickets, I  realized I was in possession of a season ticket. I looked at the date on it. It read 12/07/2012 as the expiry date. Oh, who cares that they are to be interpreted differently in different parts of the world! Since I just returned after spending five months in the US, I almost got lost on the fact that it had to be interpreted as 12th July 2012 and not 7th December 2012. 

I pushed the ticket and requested for a renewal (to avoid the hassle of pulling out IDs again, of course!). The question from the counter was, "Renewal?? Post five months of time on a quarterly season ticket?" Talk of some grounding post landing..! Oh, but dates are meant for confusion, aren't they? ;) 

Married = Settled??

I had probably been wanting to write on this for quite some time. Especially when notions of women being more "tied-up" when it comes to affairs of matrimony as against men.!

"அடுத்த function உந்து தானே?"

"எப்போ கல்யாண சாப்பாடு போடறதா உத்தேசம்?"

"இப்போ பார்க்க ஆரம்பிச்சா ஒரு வருஷத்துக்குள்ள ஏதாச்சும் நடக்கும்"

"How are uncle and aunty letting you off the hook?"

"What exactly are your 'plans'?"

"So, what's 'new' in life?"

Oh my God... being out anywhere wasn't getting any easy. I would rather prefer excusing myself out of social functions and gatherings than keep answering every other soul whom I see with these staple set of questions. Looks like it would be nice to jump from being twenty five to being thirty five without crossing any intermediary time..! Where is my time machine, Mr.Potter??

According to my dad, talks about marriage have to be something that would create an atmosphere of happiness and shouldn't be ending up with acrimonious debates - nay, emails as it happened with my case. But that STILL doesn't seem to stop him give up his advice every now and then in some context or the other as to why marriage is supposed to be important..! Needless to add, my mom would consider me "settled" only if I am married. Meaningful and intellectually challenging work that I currently do (and thankfully in possession of it despite tough economic times) is not going to be of much consequence to anyone except myself I guess..!

I was just leaving for the USA and some of my junior colleagues (and a senior one who is already probably the age of my grandfather and still single!!) came over and offered generous doses of advice as to how I could probably try to get married in the USA if I don't like to do so in India!! As if that were not enough, some of them vowed not to receive me back unless I have a record of more than one active marriage from the USA..! Purely on a lighter note, with friends like them, do I even need enemies..!

So, at least in the Indian context (not sure if this pesky notion exists elsewhere too!), I keep wondering why is a "settled life" more often than not, equated with a "married life". I am sure they are both different and can be treated that way as well.

Oh oh... there I see some pickup truck parking in with a Harley Davidson on its load. Time to continue later. All rants and raves can wait their turn while I enjoy a glimpse of the motor cycle.!!

I, me, myself..!

Being born on 24th doesn't make for a good news.  If anything, I am sure my parents must have been dealing with their dwindling finances towards the end of the month. Being a breezy July, there would be no mercy until the 31st either. Whatever the case, I had to be in the world by then. I would like to think I was named 'Ravindran' only because it happened to be a 'Sun'day.

Nobody can recall the first few years in any great detail. All that I recall is - at the end of the fifth year, which was sometime around 1988 (Oh, did I give a clue to my age??!!) I was put up in a place along with 30 other people to spend the rest of my 11 years of time. Yes, it was at IDA SCUDDER School in Vellore, the only one at those times following the ICSE stream of affiliation in our small town. I would seriously thank my parents for that. Not sure I have too many memories that I cherish as closely as the time spent in my school.

Vacation time is slow time, if you are moving into your higher secondary. The Hindu came in handy to fill in my slot. Editorial analysis, leader page articles, letters to the editor - never mind I had to keep underlining and looking up the dictionary for every third sentence that was printed. But it was all worth the effort, when I saw some of my letters and articles getting published out there in the same columns I read through meticulously. 

Shifting into a completely government school from what was rather an elitist school earlier meant more challenges. Nevertheless, every moment at the government Muslim Higher Secondary school in Vellore was enjoyable for me. Tons of new experience. Loads of new friends, especially from a stratum that was not as privileged as what I was. The news reading practice that I pursued with other junior folks in the school remain fresh in my mind even to date.

I had always been an average scorer. That would mean any seats into medical colleges are going to be getting ruled out directly. My principle was always to enjoy the subjects as much as possible. Marks and grades have to necessarily be a by-product of enjoying the subject. Thankfully, I managed to enjoy my subjects to the extent that I could get decent grades on all of them. My parents had the wisdom to see through my principle and let me stick with it. Tamil and English languages continue to be my favourite to date.

Computer Science is something I have never learned formally in any classroom. It was just something waiting to happen to me at Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore. Voila..! I enjoyed my stint with computers pretty thoroughly - especially, the part around systems programming in UNIX and LINUX and look for an opportunity to write a script or two whenever one comes by!

The Traveling Salesman Problem is my favourite in Computer Science. No, not because I am into the core research - more because I face it every time. I love traveling "on-the-go" without much prior planning. So, its always heuristics..! I would pull up mental maps of places and trying to see the best route to take to somewhere (or more often, to nowhere!!)

Oh no!! All through, I never realized that I just completed an assignment for writing something about myself in roughly a page or so..!

Thank You Series - II

I know it has been quite a lot of time since the first one came out. But as I did tell in the first part, it is an attempt to recall the incidents and post them out. Yes, 2009 to 2011 is quite a gap - and will admit that. Here is one such a recall.

On a nice and sunny afternoon, during the lunch hour, taking a stroll in our rather green and enchanting office campus at Coimbatore, I suddenly decide on the "plan" for the next day, a saturday. "I will visit the Thirumittacode temple near Pattambi, in God's own country (Kerala)", I think to myself.

Alright - what's the big deal about it? Well, here is the deal - first thing, I need to know how to get there by some available train. Next, I have to figure out how to be back in Coimbatore on the same day before afternoon as I "planned" to leave to my native place from there by afternoon. Talk of the wonderfully crunched timelines for travel, surely "Family folks envy, bachelor's pride..!"

I call in the cab for a pickup at around 2:45 AM since the train to Pattambi was at 03:45 AM. Still not having got up fully, I manage to answer the call on my mobile phone from the taxi driver in a sober tone. Quick brush up. Quick bath in the rather freezing cold water. I dress up and rush out of my room, taking my wallet and phone. It was a quick and hurried drive to the Podanur railway station. Lo behold, the train was running late..! 

Never the one with a patience to wait for things, I decide to board the upcoming train which doesn't stop at Pattambi but nevertheless stops at the Shoranur junction - one junction before Pattambi. "Anyways, I can change to the train that stops over at Pattambi whenever it does come to Shoranur... Or, I can always take a bus/auto to the temple from Shoranur itself..." went my thought.

The travel through the Palghat pass takes me around 2 hours or so and I stepped out in Shoranur junction. After waiting for twenty odd minutes, I also manage to get onto the train that would stop at my actual destination, Pattambi.

And here came the highlight of the whole trip. I actually landed up in the temple. It was a very serene and nice place. The Bharatapuzha river was flowing beside the temple without making any noise even as it was rubbing past a rocky bed. It certainly felt as if the clouds have descended from above - such was the level of fog in the morning - with everything looking towards the grace of the Sun to descend on it.

Temples in Kerala are pretty strict in sticking to the tradition. And I have definitely heard that. But what I didn't know was this - you can enter the temple's sanctum sanctorum if and only if you are either wearing a dhoti or towel. No trousers allowed. And there came the hit for me - I never took any towel or dhoti with me. Nevertheless, I did go in and boldly asked for an archana ticket. I was handed one by the person at the counter.

Next came the ultimate thing. Obviously, I was blocked from entering the sanctum sanctorum of the temple premises. There was definitely nothing much I could really do. Purchasing a towel or dhoti anywhere nearby was totally out of question. There was hardly anything around the place which bore a resemblance of  even a tea shop, let alone a clothes store that would sell a dhoti or towel.

Anyways, being at the place itself was very satiating experience. With this thought in mind, I returned to the counter to request the person at the counter to perform the pooja on my behalf whenever he could and I explained to him I need to leave without seeing the inner sanctum sanctorum because I really didn't bring anything other than my wallet and phone with me.

Much to my surprise, he decided to help me, unconditionally and without being requested for it at that..! He quickly guided me to his rather small dwelling and instructed me to pick up a dhoti from there, which I would later wear and enter the temple premises..!

I could ultimately make it in. The only thing is - while I was spending time SEEING the inner precincts of the temple and the presiding deities, I was THINKING totally about this person who could help so unconditionally to a total stranger..!!

Entertainment. Entertainment. Entertainment.

***

Elephant can sense things on its front. Which means, should you have a need to escape from an elephant, always try moving behind it. It would walk an average of 60 km a day and would sleep in the standing position only. Should you encounter an elephant while driving through the forests road, NEVER disturb it in any fashion. Just wait on the road and allow the herd to pass. Remember, single elephants are much more dangerous to handle than a herd. Electric fences are set up in some areas to prevent elephants from infiltrating into the human habitat. However, all voltage levels should be limited to causing only temporary withdrawal response and shouldn't harm the animals in any fashion.

Tigers have a very excellent sense of living. They don't typically live in very deep jungles. They would need shrub forest to survive since their preys would be maximum only in shrub forest area. You could be walking on the jungle road and a tiger could be quite nearby - totally unperturbed by your presence. However, habitat loss is something that would make them lose their space and is the     threatening factor for them at present. Often, when instances of man-animal conflict get reported, the preceding factors responsible for this conflict to exists in the first place aren't probed or go untold. Tiger census is typically taken following the pug marks of the tiger. The path would be traced using elephant movements. A tiger typically survives alone. Female tigers resist any kind of procreation activity until their cubs are at least 5 months old. It has very clearly established territories and would never allow another tiger to enter into it. If there is a compromise on the territory, typically there would be a fight between the two tigers in question and one of them would die for sure. Should someone state that there was a sighting of several tigers together around the same area, it would be an obvious lie..! After quite a lot of efforts that failed in protecting the tiger, the Indian government decided to rope in the tribal community itself into the conservation effort. The area spanning Mudumalai in Tamil Nadu, Wayanad in Kerala and Bandipur/Nagerhole forest in Karnataka actually constitute a single zone for forest purposes and is a reserved region in addition to being a tiger sanctuary.

Hyenas were present in a cave near the Masinagudi area in very large numbers. They are typically nocturnal creatures that help maintain the health of the forests since they eat the dead animals. With diclofenac and other poisoning happening, a lot of hyenas and vulture died in the Nilgiris biosphere reserve.

Leeches are a nightmare to deal with when you walk for something into the forest area. Common salt   is used to battle the problem.

Wild dogs hunt in packs and has the highest success rate - around 95%. It is the only one which probably has the capability to hunt down a bison (the bison is pachydermic in nature..!!).

A sloth bear would have red eyes. Not all bears are herbivorous.

***

That was definitely some wild talk..!!  Well, believe me, all of these were literally pulled out and laid to us neatly by Vinoth, our teammate, right from the top of his mind, as if someone were just asking what is his name..! He has a very deep interest in wildlife conservation and photography, in addition to IT.

When we decided to start touring the Nilgiris, we couldn't have had a better person that Vinoth with us. He joined us despite his ill health and showed us areas of the NBR (Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve) which none of us could've experienced otherwise..!

With Saravanan and Sundeep being present, some form of comedy is going to be guaranteed..! :-) And it did.

Aravind was negotiating a very very deep hairpin bend uphill towards Ooty from Mudumalai. There were a couple of cars which chose not to respect the "uphill vehicles first" rule. Quite peeved at repeated violations on this which gave Aravind a tough time managing to drive, Saravanan decided it was high time someone be taught a lesson or two. He yelled out to one of the cab drivers going downhill - "We are coming up slowly because three hairpin bends down, elephants are present.!"

As for Sundeep, his rather loud, clear and threatening voice to Aravind, "சும்மா இருங்க.. சிங்கம் புலி யானை கரடா" nu... "இங்க இந்த இருடுக்கே பயமா இருக்கு..!" made everyone laugh out loud... Obviously, he was asked if he thought female bears were கரடி and male ones கரடா in Tamil..!

To us Chennaiites accustomed to the "Cinema. Caaram. Coffee", "Food. Forest. Flesh" was definitely a different terrain, thanks to our dear Vinoth..!

***

"As she chirrups 'entertainment. entertainment. entertainment.' the world is at her feet" - so went a write-up in a prominent English daily.

One of my friends quipped in his SMS to me, "Do you realize that even VB (Vidya Balan) might not have seen the movie so many times?" - to my call to have a trip to the DP (Dirty Picture) movie once (oh yeah, it was once more and not once really..!)

Definitely, to her credit, VB has not diminished her acting prowess a wee bit. And being quite verbose with an umpteen one-liner punches, the movie isn't something one could watch without a decent grip of Hindi. "Entertainment. Entertainment. Entertainment." is just one example of a simplistic as well as a catchy and punchy one-liner.  Like NOKJ (No One Killed Jessica), the "reel-real" mixture has been taken care of pretty decently. "Oh la la Oh la la" definitely has a beat that would keep your feet tapping while "Ishq sufiyaana" would be for the ones who crave for a good melody beat. 

Never mind the generous pokes I get from my friends, I do feel that DP is definitely a paisa-wasool. After all, movie is all about "Entertainment. Entertainment. Entertainment".

***