Microblogging- my a**

How dumber can we all possibly get?We had cyrus on one end "Tweeting" away ...PC,KJ,(yeah supposed to sound cool)...

Twitter is yet another hottie at the moment and if you dont tweet you are not aware of technology allegedly...I have three words for those of you who are actually dumb enough to believe that tweeting is cool-Get a life!

I too signed up to see what the buzz was all about and when I saw it was nothing but attention whore-ing all the way I chose best to abstain from it...Tweet all you want dumbass but nobody aint bothered about what you do every second...

And to the hotshots who think they are so just because they follow the schedules of few celebs-Get your ass out of your head!That celeb aint aware of you existence even!Just because you follow them wont make you any cooler.You stay the same lame and crazy electronic stalker....

I recently read a column in a daily about how some celeb had made a typo and people were making a big deal about it...Seriously?A column?

Is not anything going on in the world or are we all living in a place where our lives revolve around Twitter?

And adding to the recent IPL controversy...Dude!You bought a team for 333 million and while other teams were bought at 67-111 million ..Your cricket board is Fuckin' rich....Time to start worry about BPL-Below Poverty Line...

Every year thousands of farmers commit suicide and here we are discussing some bloody 111 million sale as a let down of democracy?

And how childish can both of them get?Fighting by Tweeting?Really! and support is extended through tweets?A minister resigns?

All of you are about 40..Time to act your age..Not get caught in some fad which a high school kid thinks is cool....

Btw-Miley Cyrus-you are not a teen icon or an inspiration..Get over it!

If you think tweeting is still cool stick your head in the oven until the thought goes off..

Until the next one,
Gaya. :)

Vada Poche....

Exam season has started and I am starting to feel the heat in addition to Chennai's heartless veyyil...Yet here I am 24x7 in front of the PC on a major downloading spree.Why you ask?Simple Airtel is smiling down on all its customers offering superb download speeds and why waste a chance to abuse it ? :D

Right...Namma topic..Oru chinna recap...The phrase made popular by vadivelu refers to something that you want but cycle gap le you lost to somebody else..(Contextual meaning maa ;))And in our case not once or twice but three times..

First Vada-
Namma Hero X....
Typical first day of college...Scared Faces,new rules,new environment,people trying to get to know each other,judgements and other blahs...

Our hero being the garrulous and vivacious(ahem ahem !Typical)guy keeps socialising and the wandering eyes suddenly came to a stand still when he saw her...

(BGM-Naaagradhaana dirannanna dhirana)

First sight le fire works....An instant rush of all the things he loved came to him and as he rushed through them he made a mental note to add her to the list.
Success!Appended...

So as like always our hero fell hopelessly in love with our heroine Y1...She was the exact opposite..Calm,composed,reserved and yeah a bit shy....

Days and Nights passed as our hero started tutoring himself watching all the cheesy gooey romantic flicks where the one qualification to fall in love was portrayed like

Girl:why should I fall in love with you?
Guy:Because I am a guy..
Girl either huffs off(good for her!give the guy two hards slaps you bitch!)or watches the guy dewy-eyed(Now give the bitch two slaps)

So he built his solitude fortress around him with hope without succumbing to dope(Okay Okay the rhyme was lame)....

The saddest part was that his companions had to spend all their time listening to his ramblings...They could take it no more one day when finally they tricked both of them to speak to each other...

Climax:They liked each other and were surprised to find how alike they were and fell madly in love with each other.Everything was fine until one day..Beep.Enough with the fantasy.Back to the conversation

X:Hi
Y1:Hi
X:How are you?
Y1:Fine
X:Had lunch?
Y1:Yeah
X:How is college?
Y1:Fine I guess.
X:Ok bye!


Ipdilam pesina epdinga correct agum?

This was the first and last conversation they ever had...He was elated as she was I should say confused and appalled...

He apologized to her for the conversation and it was one too far when he declared his undying love for her....She could have been disapproving true but no she was not...


She was actually horrified and repulsed and so was our hero when she disclosed that she was in a serious relationship..


Vada Poche...


Second Vada-

One year Later
Same college,same old boring faces who dont give a crap but a change of building...

Namma Hero X

The same garrulous guy he was chatting away nonchalantly when again the wandering eyes rested on her..

(Again-Nagrdhhhaana Dhiraanananna Dhiranaa)

There she was as fresh as a flower dipped in early march dew.The spectacles might have added a bit of geek-i-ness to her look you might think but he preferred to think of them as a ray of...Ah!Who am I kidding?She was a nerd all right...

Anyway Y2, as we shall call her ,was our junior who had no idea that she was at the receiving end of an undying love...(What difference does it make?Seriously!)Meanwhile our hero's friends had to endure the same ramblings again only now Y1 was substituted with Y2's name..Our hero had no chance of even approaching our heroine as her Daddy dearest performed the duties of a bodyguard to perfection...

And then as fate would have it she sat next to me in the bus one day...Ah!Now you might think Cupid had had enough and sent me to do his work...But as Satan casted his bewitching smile on me I had no idea that she was "The" girl and went about having a normal conversation with her....Only while discussing this with another friend did I realize Paavam!Kadavuluku kooda porrukkale!

My shrug was nothing compared to the dismay our hero had to go through when he heard this...

There was the only chance which I had let slip through my very fingers....

The usual stages of denial and acceptance were gone through when suddenly one morning he woke up and realized-

Adada!Vada Poche...

Third Vada-

A year later

Our hero still being the optimistic (ah!You would know by this time what adj am gonna use)

Right..Now this time he let his eyes wander in the train as he was travelling to his home town and there those eyes fell on a very face he'd been looking at for the past 2 years.....

(Nagrrdhaana..Argggggg!Aren't we tired of this by now?)

Uff!!Anyways there she was purely bored and he decided to strike a conversation with her and was pleasantly surprised when he found that they shared the same interests...It was one memorable journey(You might want to enact the first scene from ennaku 20 unnaku 18 here!)

Moving on..For once our thala did not choose to fall for her....But his gang of smart-mouths wouldn't leave him alone..On and on they went about how they two were going to end up together until finally

(Nagrdddhaana didranna diranna)Oops!Couldn't help it sorry ! :D

Now third time's a charm right?But our hero knew by this time pretty much what all could go wrong and meticulously made a list.But as fate would have it our Y3 hated any form of commitment having been unceremoniously dumped by a guy(You know am not sure yet, so maybe we'll wait until he comes "out of the closet")who as days inched past ,I swear ,looked more and more like one ugly duckling(the difference being you can sympathize with the duckling while this douche-bag needs two good whacks on his head to set him straight)...Right yes and our hero chose the wrong time again...But since they had such a good rapport he thought it was only a matter of time before they started dating(or so he wished)...He tried everything from flirting(trust me It was lil' better than last time) to being there listening to all the senti(read lame) stories of how she got dumped and all those dhoka stories...He even met her parents..So close.... but what our hero did not know was that our Y3 had the hots for someone else who was way,way,way(did I use 3 ways?well add some more!)out of her league...Now,our hero didn't give up so easily this time...He tried to convince her that he was true-love material..There were those times when he almost told her,times when he almost wanted to give up,times when he was elated,times when he was frustrated until one day:

Y3:Can I tell you something?

X:*Jumping*Sure..

Y3:I have met many people but I dont think I have met anyone as nice as you.You're wonderful.

X:*Concealing glee*I try..

Y3:No seriously..Can I ask you something?

X:*Bated breath*What?

Y3:Can we be like this you know like forever?

X:Like what?*Gasping*

Y3:You know like friends like this?Always someone I can talk to ,who consoles me and respects me and is there for me.No agenda.No rules.Just friends.Best friends.Always.

#Glass Shattering sounds#

X:*sputters* S-shhh-shhhuuu-sure :)

Mind Voice:Adada Vada Poche!

Thus ended another one of his epic,conquest sagas..

Now you might think the story ends here..Clearly ,you are wrong.After all isn't there a year after this?

And this time Namma hero heart Jessie Jessie nu solla arambichachu :)

Expected Sequel :Thambi Tea innum varale...

Until the next one,

Gaya :)

Of lost memories and fleeting moments....

This post is dedicated to Harish,Ashwini,Swathi,Aishu,Kritheka,Tejal,Akilesh, Cellin, Aishu,Shyam,Gomathi,Christina,Dharani,Madhu,Srini,Sai Lakshmi,Kishan,Indumathi, Aruna,Upasana, Praveen, Sangeetha and loads of others whose company I treasure.......

Let me begin this post with a small incident that happened earlier this week...I had to go to Erode for a competition...It was initially planned that I travel alone but a lot of revisions later there I was sitting in the back seat of our Verna,squashed between mother and sister...The road trip(though fleeting and super-fun...I wonder why we dont do this anymore:o)is not the crux here...

We met one of my mother's old college senior there..It was seriously a humbling experience..Now let me brief you a bit here...My mom was brought up in a small town called Pollachi near Coimbatore in TamilNadu...People there hold high cultural and moral values(I am taking my mom's word for it)It was way back in the 1980's where boys and girls talking to each other even in a genuinely friendly manner was frowned upon.So I was seriously surprised(Read taken aback) when my mom mentioned him..Plus in all these years I have never heard of my mom mentioning her friends..She had lost contact with almost all of them...After nearly 20 years thy met each other..He and his wife were wonderfully courteous and looked at me like how they would at their own daughter..I seriously understood then what my mother was talking about when she mentioned the enthusiastic welcomed and hospitality...

Pardon me for again this is not what I intend to go in detail about...Forgive me for the deviations here and there....This post is all about the high school memories that we have all lost and the last fleeting moments of our college life....I loved my high school and six girls "GANG" that we had formed...All the innocence and kiddish fights,spoilt brats,fights for benches,the "WHY-DID-You-choose-to-sit-with-her-when-I-am-here?"tiffs,all the "Hey-look-here-comes-your-boy-friend" games,The birthday cakes,birthday bumps,fun trips,treats,"Teasing those oh-I-broke-up-with-him-again girls",all the gossip and rumors that spread like wild-fire,calling somebody Pazham and expecting them to be offended(Yeah I am laughing now :)),arranging the lunch boxes in order and taking a bite outta each one,canteen parotta samosa fights,shirking PT,jumping over benches,getting wet in the rain during lunch hour and sitting dripping in the class,theatre gallatta,nick names,those songs we made up,the BGMs,exam fever,farewell day tears...

Uff!I thought one full cycle was over!After all the goodbyes and promises to stay in touch with each other,pinky-swears of together for eternity,filling of slam books finally it was good bye...And honestly I have managed to keep up only about 5 of those promises....I am in touch with a very few of my school mates....

My cocoon here is about to break in another year where I emerge free yet bearing the burden of having to be separated from another group I was so comfortable with...

My college life would not have been what it is had it been for Harish and what Gomathi likes to call "The spider Gang"(I have no idea where the name came from but it is fun)....I had no idea what was going on and was often the jumping jack but never once did anybody get irritated with me...Be it the orientations or free hours,blank sheet revision exam,IV s we stick to each other.....And Harish,where do I even start?I am going to run out of words and space if I have to talk about him and Ashwini...My pillar of strength...Some shoulder I can always lean on and talk nothing for hours but still you'd understand every single word I was trying to tell you da!Same goes for you too Ash!
And Aishu and Cellin two people I have always liked...No matter whatever happens I know at the end of the day I'd still want to be with you!
Indhumathi is one person who I always respected...I like a lot of people but respect very few...Once I respect someone I never change my opinion about them and she is one person I'd like to support come what may...
Gomathi and Chris are one of my first friends in this place and it is always very special when it comes to firsts...
Ashwini-Again My bestie!She perfectly understands how awkward I get with emo stuff and never expects any thing in return...Love you sweetie!
James,The thala and captain of our class,The Terror :P
Srini and Praveen-My super brilliant friends who believe knowledge is for sharing and not flaunting
Shyam-Can you put him off?I dont think so!Such a sweet and adjusting idiot! :)
Above are those who touched me...I am sure every one of you out there would have had millions who make a difference.....

I might promise now that I might be with these people till eternity and other stuff but I also know that in the wake of reality how these promises go kaput....

But with all sincerity and honesty I do know that wherever I go I carry you all with me...

The relationship will find a way to keep itself alive,I sincerely do hope !


To the lost memories of yesterday,
fleeting moments of today and
the present of tomorrow,


Cheers!

Until The next one,
Gaya!:)

A wedding.3 principle characters who received more importance than the bride and the groom ;).....

This post is dedicated to Aishu who is my first fan,kid sis and one of the most wonderfully weird creatures on this planet..

Let me start with the background story.The wedding here is my chittappa's(Dad's last brother) who is the typical Green-card-holding, 6'3",fair,PhD completed,Landed in one the highly paid brackets in US chammattu payyan...Shouldn't be difficult to find a match right?Believe me,There was.

The scouting for brides started way back in 2004 with the usual "Amma Ennakku ippolam kalyanam vendam"(Mom,I dont want to get married now)which as the days passed turned into impatience"Amma enna achu..Innuma kedaikala?"(Mom..What happened?Are you still not able to find one?)

Harish(Chitapps) has always been more of a friend than the father-figure...He is a wonderful guy.Compulsive cleaner and not a second has gone by where he does not think of his family.And yeah typical my-parents-know-what-is-good-for-me type one.Not that it is a bad thing.

Yeah,lets get back on track.as 2004 slipped into 2005 and 06 still no luck and then due to few incidents we were not able to continue our Bride-huntfor few months.Few dead ends.Few almost deal-closers.
Few no horoscope matches.Dead ends every where.

Nevertheless paati ploughed on and on until finally we landed on Priya.

Now a lil something about Priya.If I call Harish my friend then I should call Priya my bestie...Someone who understands and cares for everyone.One very trustable person and totally chilled out.

Yeah again back on track.So Harish flew down to meet his bride-to-be....Now dont ask me if it was love-at-first-sight...I have no idea what attracted them to each other because in my opinion they are poles apart from each other.After tasting the sojji-bajji us,the younger-lot were thrilled...

The engagement was fixed on the last week of June.June 28th.Our story begins here.
I was pretty much jobless having just then completed my 12th and was waiting for my admissions to begin.I enter the hall and who should I see but some cute guy...(Isnt that the point of attending most weddings?)..The usual mental calculations were on...

Next came the competitors(my sister and cousin) and we started squabbling over who gets him..(Yeah he was not aware of our existence idhule periyaaa rights-claim veraa ;))

Finally not being able to come to a conclusion we decided on Survival of the fittest....All of us hanging around and my sisters were called outside for a few seconds and suddenly Luck decided to cast a bewitching smile on me...Who knew Priya would choose that very second to introduce me to him?There we were discussing various topics for 20 blissful moments before some aunt in "Heavy " makeup called me aside saying I was wanted somewhere(Porrukadhe?)....Grudgingly I said good bye....Meanwhile my cousin who was in the hospitality(read kids bullied in (rather bewitched)to think that they were responsible for the well being of the guests ) got the golden opportunity to pour coffee for him without having a clue about the miles of progress I had made...(It was on!)...Time came when we had to say our good byes and when he waved at me guess who was on fire? ;)It did lead to few uncomfortable moments of probing where I had to explain(Hell yeah!Who cares?)

Harish fried some kadalai for the rest of the week he was here and pretty much phone-fryings were done later(Hopefully :P)

He flew in a week before the wedding and was subjected no less than facials,manicures,pedicures and other blahs but the climax was the Marudhaani..
Traditionally the groom is supposed to have Marudhaani on his hand but to see Harish kick up a fuss like that was rare..We tried to coax him saying it wasnt bad and we all had Mehendi done..Finally we had to do what we had to-Pin the brat down and smear the stuff on his hands..(You were given a choice!)

The wedding was on October 24th..

October 22nd-

I had my internals correctly from 23rd and so to obtain permission from my VP to skip them....Now to make it clear these tests are nothing more than time and paper wasters.But an illusion was created as if these were path-breaking tests.Naturally I was little apprehensive at first but the thought of the wedding and picking it where we left off too seemed fun...So there I am with my letter and an annoyed scorn on his face told me I was not getting anywhere as close to a half day leave even....All the plans came crashing down....I did what any well brought up kid would do...Went and cried to my dad about how mean they were at college(Did I mention well mannered?OOps :D)..There my dad was promising to come and take me no matter what happened...


Now traditional Iyer weddings are stretched over 3 days where

1st day morning-Vradham(23rd)

The bride, groom and both their parents perform this rite praying to god that all should go well and a yellow thread is tied on their wrists meaning they are not supposed to leave the mandapam until the wedding is over.

October 23rd-
I completed my English internals(piece of cake) and was waiting for my dad....I was not able to listen a word of the maths shit that was being taught...Finally he turned up as promised and there was the same VP who was all smiles(sucker!)who asked me to take an extra couple of days......Gloating, I left with dad..We had to stop midway and I used the chance to call my cousin to check if "He" had arrived...I waited with bated breath for her answer...

To be continued..

Click here to read Part II of the story.

Until the next one,
Gaya. :)

A Presentation and those that followed

Of late procrastination has taken a complete toll over me.I've been meaning to get this post out since like a month but well, :D .

I love working with MS Powerpoint (2003,7 bring it on)and making all those presentations.To others they might do it when need arises but I look for opportunities to work with MS PP .

My First presentation was for a competition .The topic was Dances of India and out of the regular aarva-kolaru my friend and I signed up for it without having a single clue as to how a presentation looks like.After a quick tutorial from one of my cousins,the pres was ready.(Yeah I did win a prize and no I am not disclosing which one) ;)
The second one I made was for my cousin about the solar system.I'd worked really hard on it for like 3 nights continuously.It did turn out to be a hit among all the KG kids whose jaws dropped when they saw the moon come out of the water :P
From then on I'd made presentations only for technical computer science paper presentation related stuff.

However the two most useful presentations I have ever been involved with were for two friends-Bala Sundaram and Nitesh Varma.In the former's case it was all ready and I just had to tweak it here and there.It was about a village adoption project.

The presentation that I wanted to write about is the latter one.It was about the sexual harassment of women at workplaces and outside.I started off by making just a couple of pie charts and very soon got to do some background research to get some idea on the subject.

I have always been a feminist and I am proud of that.I don't like people telling me that I am not supposed to do something just because I am a woman.When I saw all those cases of mental torture and unfair judgements it really got me thinking.Are we all actually offered the importance as hyped or touted?

A bill.A reservation of 33% in otherwise a male dominated society has been opposed for nearly 14 years before it has finally been passed.If it were this difficult to merely pass a bill then how difficult would it be for us to secure other rights?
But then again will woman representatives actually come-forward?or get lost somewhere in some brilliantly played political-chess?

Even today a woman is looked down upon with scorn if she leaves her husband.But is the case vice-versa?Nah-ah...If a man leaves his wife then something is wrong with her.Why should the woman bear the brunt of the society on her shoulders alone?

A woman child is considered a burden and killed off before it could see the light of the day.Have these people ever done it to a male child?If yes,let me see that.Yeah my words are oozing with contempt and scorn but the fact that all these are still prevalent makes me sneer even more.

Yeah getting back to the harassment part.In most of the case studies that I came across the woman had refused to surrender to the will of the superior male officer and hence she has been wrongfully terminated or psychologically tortured.We have so many Anjali Guptas and Bhanwari Devis who have not yet spoken out aloud due to the fear of facing the society's wrath.

Who makes up the society after all?Is it not you and me?Is it wrong to ask for a bit of compassion,empathy and humanity?Are we that lost in the materialistic world that we have forgotten the very basic purpose of our existence?

Eve and Adam together complete mankind.

Any appeal that I make now is going to be one among the millions and billions lost in thin air but nevertheless,Guys just stop for one second and close your eyes.Think.If the same were to happen to your kith and kin wouldn't you want to bash the rogue who caused it?So why do you want to become such a rogue who another family wants to bash up?

Those who set a bad example need to be punished,then and there.Not tried for 10 years and then acquitted.
We either need stricter laws or people with more conscience and morals.Until one of these two happens these cases will do continue.


Remember for every woman you destroy,you are destroying a family.


"Like me, you could be unfortunate enough to stumble upon a silent war. The trouble is that once you see it, you can’t unsee it. And once you’ve seen it, keeping quiet, saying nothing, becomes as political an act as speaking out. Either way, you’re accountable.”
-Arundhati roy

P.S-Thanks Nitesh!

Until the next one,
Gaya.:)

13/2/2010-Yet Again A black one.

Terrorism.Everyone with a little bit of compassion left in their heart would oppose terrorism that involves in ending the lives of so many just because of the selfish motives of a few.One thing that strikes me every time I hear of an attack is a small child throwing a tantrum.

Have you ever observed adamant children who get particularly violent and sour when their demands are not met or when no one takes notice of them when they enter a room or when they speak?They start throwing things around and if they chance upon their playthings they start hitting them and pulling their limbs off.Its this all over again only that it gets bigger and (I am not using Better).Innocent people replace the dolls and political games the motives.

Imagine your father,mother or your own child to whom you bid farewell in the morning before getting to work/school.To you it meant till the evening then,but what if you had to come home and discover that the goodbye was till eternity and they had given up their life for no fault of theirs but for some stupid principles and ideals of someone who lives at least a 1000 miles away in a carpet of luxury watching people stricken down as he/she poses his/her unreasonable demands.What if his/her family was one among them?
Everyone around the world irrespective of diversity share few similar basic sentiments.That is why we are still humans and have sixth sense.Compassion and empathy is what sets us apart.We are very very close to joining the band of predators.

Evolution has been a pretty long journey and it looks like we are getting back to the roots only in a more sophisticated and technical way.The advent of technology has surpassed all the boundaries it was supposed to stay within and grow beyond control as do all those monsters in the creature features.

Its all fancy to label these 26/11 and 13/2 and so on but who is ready to get to the bottom of all this and analyze the root cause of the problem and exterminate it? Always keep in mind the tumor has to be removed.

The time for putting up the patient face has long gone by.If we still chose to maintain political diplomacy and keep mum then I'm sorry to say that there'll come a time when we all will be huddled inside a single den wishing for the tiniest ray of hope that could sustain us till the next day.

Jaago India

-Yet another commoner who reads the paper everyday and tells her heart (which keeps asking her "Is it my turn to stop next"? ) "All Izz Well * A pause * Atleast for now.

Until the next one,

Gaya :)

.

High school sweethearts.

There are not many of us who find "The one" right in high school.To quote amma "Padikara vayasula enna lovvu vendi kedakku?"(What is the necessity to fall in love when you have more important responsibilities like studying,career etc?).She is definitely right to a certain extent.But you never know what happens when.
There are a fewer of us who manage to stick to the relationship given the case of committing one.Most of them end up as high school flings.
I was never in a co-ed all my school days(You cant exactly call my college co-ed.It is sorta like a guys college and girls college co-existing in the same classroom with invisible walls.Welcome to the world of engineering where you are never supposed to question the rules but implicitly obey them,no matter how stupid they sound)
Anyways getting back on track,for an all-girls school,till date,I am surprised at the number of stories I have heard.Some truueeee lovvu stories that magically seem to break up in 2months,some casual flings,Long-distance relationships,two girls fighting over the same guy,childhood friendships blossoming into love,hook ups,break ups,cheating,breaking up with a girl and hooking up with her best friend et al.

There is one story that stayed.Though not very smooth,they still managed hang on to each other and till date they are.
Yeah,The story.
It was pretty early when he asked her out(we were 15 and he was 17).She had just then moved in to the building where he resided too and he was pretty impressed by her and he went for it.The first thing she did was come running to her best friend(ahem ahem yeah me wonly ;)) and she told me that I meet him and if I felt that he was good she would give him the green signal.(A point that I forgot to mention-Those days we all fancied ourselves as serious Love guru typos offering advice to every possible romantic tiff or confusion :P.After all isn't advice the cheapest thing?)So I actually had a straight face when I gave her some serious gyaan on how she should go ahead only if she liked him and blah blah blah.She went ahead and they were going out for a while before they themselves brought it to the notice of their parents.(A while here=8 months").Yeah,you guessed right. Everyone declared WAR on each other.Literally.It took them a while to cool their heels off but eventually they came around after seeing how strong these two were.
Everything was picture perfect until suddenly they broke up for a few personal reasons.They were 4 years into the relationship then.It took a lot of clear headed thinking and forgiving from both of them to leave the past behind and get on with their lives.They are still together and are planning getting engaged in another 3 years with full support from both families.
To me they have always been the Perfect couple.They are completing 6 years this May and here is to all the years that follow.Cheers!

It is not always that we have a perfect life or romance.There is always a point in life where you are compelled to choose b/w love and career.The ones who can balance both emerge the most successful in my opinion.Your love story may not be the filmi filmi type.You may find love at 20 or 60.You may find love anywhere.The most important part is recognizing it and holding on to it,come what may.Here's to all your high school sweethearts and my crush too :).Cheers!

Until the next one,
Gaya :)