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".

***

(W)all is well that ends well..!!

Late into the night... hanging around in the office... time for dinner... "Operation coaxing" begins... 

"Hey, why don't we go to pizza corner and munch a piece of their veg kolhapuri?", I ask to two of my friends, who were looking and probably cursing the fact that the official day hadn't still ended for them. 

"Pizza corner?? That's quite far... my office day is still NOT over :-( We should go somewhere nearer" - that was the response from Aravind - our "cab guy", as we love to call him, who neatly flaunts his i10, with its well polished interiors and getting the crowning as our "official tour vehicle"

"Veliya saapida mudiyaade.." This was Saravanan - and oh yeah, he has very many a sobriquets that I would prefer sticking to his original name. 

"Pizza? No way - I need to get home... I would have some chamba rava upma getting ready for me.." - that was our Nagu (a) Nages.

It was definitely evident that "Operation Coaxing" was losing its sheen... but I cannot give up that easily too - and they would know it as well... After the confabulation amongst us coming to an end, we set out to decide on raiding the Dominos outlet nearby... 

We didn't have a need to switch on the air conditioner in the car. The weather was actually pretty cool outside. There were symptoms of a thunderstorm - but we always chose to ignore them if it is good old Chennai.

Next mission - place orders. Grab seats for four of us. Our orders were on predicted lines -some lip smacking garlic bread, some pizzas, a few cups of coke. What wasn't predictable however was our implementation of the S/S/V queuing model at this outlet too (If you are wondering what is it, it is - it is Stare / Stare / vacate). We were within the pizzeria looking for seats - nay, looking at others, as if requesting them to give us seats :-)

It was a full 20 minutes before the orders settled in. So what? We had everything under the sun to talk about - including the sun itself. Another five minutes - everything was almost gone. Time to quit eh? True - so, lets walk out...

The engrossing conversation and merry making amidst all the eating never let us realize that the brewing thunderstorm had broken out for the real in Chennai... Wow... we come out and decide to stand in the front of the shop - under a collapsible sunshade of sorts... (Dum dam dim dum dam.... ) Everyone got rattled and huddled together - each having feared the thunder but making me the obvious scapegoat and fixing an excuse on me - that I am the most scared of lightning and thunder, to move back into the secure premises of the shop.

Discussions continue - oh yeah, didn't I tell you that the next voting for the decision on the world economic crisis is supposed to be based on the discussion we had there? Never mind..! 

Rain stopped - or so we thought and stepped out. Dum Dim Dama dum... Aravind and I rush to the car... Saravanan and Nages started out in their motorbike despite the downpour that began once more. Ensconcing myself into the car seat and picking up the copy of The Hindu, which I had put out in the dashboard, I begin my conversation with Aravind.

"Ravi - romba mazha illa?", said Aravind.

"Amam da... naan intha news paper ah en shirt kulla pottuka poraen... innum rendu article padikala.."

"konjam over ah illa ungalukku?", said Aravind

"Irukalaam... but inikki thoonganumae... paper parkalena mudiyaadthu"

"Seri Ravi... parkalaam... you can get down here and walk quickly home?"

"Yes, I will do that... driving the vehicle in the heavy rain in all the interior roads is something I wouldn't prefer you doing as well..."

"Tata Ravi.."

"Tata.. thank you.."

Normally, I wouldn't mind myself getting drenched in the rain... matter of fact, I would LOVE it. But today was different... my only sole companion for the rest of the night - The Hindu shouldn't be getting drenched. I walk trying to challenge the speed of the lightning that struck the place before a few seconds. And lo behold - the drama unfolded - right in front of my house gate.

The gates  to my apartment were neatly locked up from the inside... With a heavy rain on the outside, a wall of steel about a 8 feet high staring in front of me and a switched off mobile from other dwellers in the unit - I had to make some quick choice... and I had to be real quick since some more time, my companion for the night would be wet and drenched, requiring to lie under the fan for drying - probably hours on end, before the printed letters become sharper and clearer like before.

So, what do I do now? Brave the rain with my companion neatly tucked into my shirt and challenge the roughly eight feet wall of steel to find my way to the portico of my apartment. That is, definitely, jumping into your own house like a thief, to make long things short :-)

Oh yeah, never mind... end of the day - (w)all is well that ends well, I thought to myself, quickly pulling out the newspaper from shirt and heading inside my house. Rest, as they say, is history..!

Ramble - II

Call it the bloggers block or online lock, whatever - one thing I knew that was happening was this -  I have literally kept my space on blogger rest in peace. Well, I wouldn't prefer taking the blame. I would rather talk about the fact that life was teaching me more lessons for a good part of the two years than before and hence it didn't allow me to be online for the most part.

***

"Brocheva vaare..." went the music on my phone, from the famous Shankarabaranam while exiting office along with my friends, in the lobby area. One of my friends promptly sprang up and said, "Hey Ravi, you know what? We have a similar song in Telugu". Even before he could come to terms with his excitement, the rest of the folks in the group stared at each other for a few minutes before bursting out aloud. Guess the initial verses from the song were good enough to make him even forget his own mother tongue - Telugu..!

***

More often that not, common sense seems to be the first casualty of formal education - or so did I understand when my friend and I were trying to fix the washing machine inlet for a little close until 2 AM in the morning on a fine friday night. While both of us might have been through the best of "engineering education" - theory pass, practical fail is what it all came to be..!! After a tough fight (no, I am not the one to give up so easily, even when I am wrong!), I realized that neither of us are getting anywhere closer to fixing the inlet proper and we were wasting quite a lot of water in the process. And what did we decide? My friend dropped out. Not the one to give up, I decide to hold the mouth of the pipe to the tap and finish off with washing my clothes before the crack of dawn. Exhausted, I slept for close until 10 AM into what should have been a nice saturday morning. Later during the day, deciding not to torture myself anymore with this exercise, I called up the plumber. And I was closely observing what he did, trying to find out what is that he is doing right that we were doing wrong. And lo behold, it was just a question of putting the washer in the right position..!! So much for observation..! Hope that I would fix it up the right way, should it break the next time around..! 

Later in the day, my friend asked me if I managed to fix the machine's inlet myself. I replied, "No, I called the plumber". With his ever optimistic smile, he proudly said, "Ravi, we should have probably videographed what we did and had it on youtube. We could have at least found a place in world's funniest videos"

***