This too shall pass…

I was watching the English movie “Armageddon” 2 days ago. “Let’s drill the hole, place the bomb and wait for it to detonate before we hit Earth” Bruce Willis tells his team who is on Earth saving mission in outer space.

Quite a similar thing I heard from the Doctor who operated on my right knee 2 days ago. “It would be like an ant bite only” the anesthetist reassured me while injecting in my spinal cord. I am sure that what bit me was not an ant, but a big lizard. While the latter part of my body became numb, I had the chance to see how my knee was getting operated. Thanks to the technology and the multiple cameras attached to TV sets. I am sure had a ball of time so did the Doctors. The environment inside the operation theater sent chills down my spine but the Doctors and 10 odd people inside the theater made me feel light while Bruce Willis (My Ortho Doctor) drilled my knee, set the bone and bolted it.

Never ever peep into the monitor while the surgery is on. Though I dint expect Tom & Jerry cartoon to be played, u will feel terrified seeing your inner body parts. Beautification holds good only for the outer view :-).  And also pls do not over do the exercises told with a hope of walking faster. It’s just a bad hope.

2 hours of most advanced surgery and here I am back to the Hospital room after spending 1 day in the Post Operation Ward. Though late, I am realizing the effect of being slim & fit cos it takes humongous effort to balance on 1 leg. Remembering old times…

“This too shall pass” was the only hope that kept me going. I am not a ray of hope for people undergoing a surgery but u can look up to me for understanding how not to drive a bike in Terminator shtyle.

Hoping to see you all very soon. Cheers,.

 

 

This year is special…so as last year….:-)

O New Year…Special day. While I am in the midst of preparing the “To-Do” list, I am very much convinced that it ain’t gonna last for a week max. Yeah right. But you should always make one just for the kick of it.

And coming to my personal wish list, Yes. I have finally decided to go down on my knees. The person made me so mad that I had no other choice. Had assured me that he will take good care of me and said there is nothing to worry.

Don’t think loud. Think straight folks. I am planning to get my knee operated tomorrow after my stunt with the bike….(visualizing Ghost Rider & Nicholas Cage). At Miot Hospitals by Dr. Jagadeesh (Ortho Specialist) Hee Hee.

While I keep recovering I wish I could

a. Be a little less sarcastic…(tough challenge…now u understand why my list won’t last a week ?!)

b. Be a little considerate (there I go again :-))

c. Trying to have more patience (in dealing with Bull Shit)

d. Trying be be more social (partying with 1 stable leg till I hit the floor)

e. Watch less of romantic / senti movies…

and the list goes on and on.

But on some serious thoughts, though I am proud to have been born in this soil along-side Thalaivar, Ilayaraja, Viswanathan Anand and so many, there have been some things that has been disturbing me off-late. Be it the Rape incidents, loose words from foul mouthed politicians, shoot-outs, new genre movies where the use of the “F” word has become a status symbol, tax-payers money in the coffers of dis-honest people, everything. Looking back I realize that i have done very little to give it back to the place where I belong. May be I was too tied up with my personal self and not bothered as “it dint happen to me”, but I feel that we need to step up. Starting this year, I resolve to make the surrounding a better place to live in whatever little thing possible. 

I resolve not to spit on roads, throw garbage where it’s meant to be thrown, stand up for rights (least for the amount of tax that is deducted from my salary……….At Source…see the choice of words chosen by Indian Govt to cut u off….TDS…Huh), be a part of few NGO’s etc.

Now on a lighter vein, to survive on crutches for the next 2 months at least, I am planning to be more fit….(Diet Coke is anyways there :-)) 

So let the fun & frolic begin. Let’s Rock & Roll. 

Do your bit to keep the environment clean & green…..

Cheers.

 

 

 

What if ?

I seldom keep cribbing about nose-poking neighbors, curious relatives and anxious society at large. May be because I am fundamentally defective by birth. It seems to me that I am a little odd where I’m not bothered like the relatives around me. My parents often complain that I am abnormal but they have started to live with it 😦

I am the eldest son of a lower middle class family with broad shoulders for carrying the responsibility of running a family. I am just average in the things I do. I am not muscularly build and have an OK IQ (just to understand what is good and what’s not !!). I wear glasses for my eyesight and ain’t a model. I am angered by the casualties happening around me. My heart goes out for the Rape victims and also to the deceased constable. I want to do something to change this. But I am helpless. I will do one day for sure.

O that’s it about me. Happy ? Move on to my neighbor who can fill in the balance details and gossips about me that I have the faintest idea about.

Go by your Gut feel, I was often advised. Follow your heart. Take charge of your life. But think about what society will say. Contradictory statements by the “learned” people. While I salute their experience, but things have changed. While I still stand firmly rooted in the traditions with sacrosanct value, we need to adapt to the changing systems. If not, we are left to gutters.

I am not Rajinikanth. I am not Amitabh Bachchan. (in that order). If I meet with an accident, why my relatives create an uproar (more than the dumb politicians in the Parliament) ? Everything I do becomes a much-talked thing. What if I am getting my sisters married off to the person of their choice ? What if I finally plan to get down on my knees for a girl (Pls note the stress on “What if”….its just an hypothesis 🙂 ) ? No ways. How can Shankar do it ? I can’t imagine. Of all the people, Shankar ??

I am sorry. It’s a crime. Pls hang me and lay me to rest next only to Ajmal Kasab. O may be Saddam Hussein will be ok so that we can discuss the high-handedness of Americans, in Hell.  Why don’t relatives/neighbors take some time off to manage their household rather than getting panic attacks on my otherwise ruthless behaviour ? Yes. I care for people. I like being cared too. But my patience to Bull Shit is fast decreasing as the melting of ice in the Antarctic.

I am not a secretive guy. But at the same time, my life isn’t an open book. I am sure none can take wisdom of my life history till date. I am not an inspiration. Just a normal guy living a normal life….more like a “touch-me-not” plant.  I represent millions of average Indians who urge to make a difference , at the same time taking care of keeping the house in order.

U happy ? Me happy. Let us live our lives and in the process make both of us happy and make the world a better place to live.

Neighbor’s envy, Owner’s pride.

Destination : T. Nagar , Chennai

Shoppers paradise. For Ladies. Definitely not for the average built men.

T.Nagar has been the heart-throb destination for all Chennaiites. Owners of Pothys, Nalli, RMKV, Jayachandran textiles and not to mention Saravana Stores have become billionaires because of mindless shopping by the household women of the family’s hard earned money.

Women are complicated people, Period. What else can explain the phenomenon of going to 5 kadais, shopping for 1 saree,  for 4 hours ? That too going back to the 1st shop and fighting with the guy there on why the chosen saree was not kept aside for them and had been allowed to be taken by someone else. Ooff. 

I ain’t sure why people go so much over board when it comes to shopping. For the guys, shopping is pretty much hassle free. Go to a shop, pick a shirt of your size, get a matching pant,. Get lost.

For girls….discussion for a week on when to go shopping, 2 days to pick a place despite knowing that they will go to all shops, make-up for 3 hours on the d-day(in the crowd not sure how they will get noticed) and then finally reach destination to complain. 

These shops have been intricately designed. Chairs where the husbands are the happy custodians of kids while whole gang shopping done by the more creative and artistic ladies group. Have you noticed that invariably the store people are all MEN. Who else has the patience to tolerate the demands that are put forth by the ladies community in choosing a simple designer wear ? Hee Hee.

They pick, choose and then not bill cos they want to COMPARE. So another shop and another round of giggling and waste-of-time. So after 4 hours of wandering and carrying the kids around, the average man is in tears. Men don’t cry. So they hold back. Now they finally decide that the outfits selected in the 1st shop is far better. Thanks for the quick judgement !!

Now there is a hitch. If the ladies are asking for your opinion on the selected dresses, pls shut up. Never ever opine. In case you happen to do so, then you are done. Forget the consequences of not having “your thoughts match” criteria, do you have it in you for another round ??

Don’t worry. You will get used to it. Abi bhi picture baaki hai mere dost….

Steve Jobs wore a black shirt and a jeans and inspired a lot of people.

Mahatma Gandhi fought the British and needless to say what he wore.

It all in our minds folks. 

So off to T.Nagar for my round of shopping…see u guys around…

My tyrst with my Bike :

Never settle for anything less I was always told. And size does matter. This was ringing on my head when I got my bike and clocked good enough kilometers that I had the dare to fall…the eventful day.

 I dont know whether the Mayan’s calendar spell danger and end of the world, but I am sure that Maya had the better of me. Nope this was not the after effect of a “so-called” romantic movie NEP. Later coming to think of it, I would be rather dreaming about Santhanam’s slap-stick comedy than how Samamntha carried the role on her shoulders.

 But Maya…yep..destiny had something in store. Lazying around & enjoying the best night drive on the lonely streets of otherwise cramped Chennai, I brazed through with grace. Loved it.

 Thanks to the ITC Grand Chola hotel that stood stall in the otherwise small road. With Metro rail construction on one-side and ITC Hotel on the other, life in the bike was heaven. Wish I could drive far and away from the mad crowd. But plans were already made and I was made to execute. I am just a pawn and there was a check-mate planned with my move. 

 I ain’t an emotional wreck. I don’t want to dramatize the events and make it look like a Rajkiran movie. But yep I hit the boulder in the middle of the road (thanks to Metro Rail construction in my Holy city) and crashed. I can’t think this is a god-sent obstacle and saved by the hair as could be easily said by the white bearded gentlemen who later came to give me their condolences. What will happen to my marriage if my knee is operated upon ? I am not going to use my knee to prove my paternal instincts to the world. Even J.K. Rowling will come begging to these people on the imagination that these people can come up with. Creativity at its mature best. Hit me. 

 And finally here I am.Sitting on my back, idling away to glory, adding loads of fat to my already swollen structure & with dreams of catching up and increasing my waist line.

 Thanks to the really caring people who helped me in keeping my arrogance in place (!!!) and taking my bull shit along.

 Will continue….

 

Short name Suppi Sir…

Even on the day Osama Bin Laden is shot, my neighbor is bothered about what I was upto. Thanks to my parents who on a 1 day visit outside Chennai had told them to take care of me.(Huh !!! indirect way of telling them to have an eye on me so that I don’t stray). The number of questions I had to answer to tell them I was having a day off and I had planned to go watch a movie was more than the total number of arrows fired from the bow of Arjuna & Karna put together.

Finally I managed to get permission (?!) to watch a movie with my MALE friends. Bunch of guys who decide only in the last minute on what movie to watch, needless to say that we land in the theater 10 minutes after the movie starts. (Thank God I am never part of the intro song by Ilaya Thalapathy).So here we are in the theater, managing to squeeze ourselves in the chairs that are meant to be for 36 to 38 waistline individuals. I do not know the name of the movie till such time I get settled in my seat. But how does it matter. Its gonna be crap anyways…Ooff..

Now to the fun part on why I hate emotional movies. 

1 Hero who never grows old and has the same set of actors( who later on act as Grand parents of the same Hero), 1 Heroine (who has replaced Disco Shanthis and Silk Smithas of yester years) and 1 Villain who is all out to lay his hands on the Heroine and lo… you can make viewers look like fools. “We can’t tolerate Bull shit” we say after every such movie only to be standing in the queue for the 1st day 1st show the next Friday.

Personally, I watched a series of bad movies in a row. None of the movies were able to appeal to my “evolved thought process”. Not that I have grown up watching “The Sound of Music” or “The Good Bad and the Ugly”. ” Enna ma Kannu, soukiyama” and “Vadi en machi vazhakka bajji”  still had me in splits. 

Sadly I don’t get to see mind-blowing performances. Yes. The Actors can dance. Actors have to ACT. This is not Manada Mayilada show where u get judged for oomph factor by Namitha. This is judged by “Aam aadmi”. Same story lines, same fights, songs with least expected timings all add to my misery. The only welcome factor is the much awaited “Interval”.

Comedy part is actually semma comedy. If you are an ardent movie watcher then am sure that you fill find repetition, but with much sound. Hence these patches re-surface like our candidates with election mandates….once in 5 years. Tragedy is the fight sequence where all bullets fired by Villain just miss the Hero who vehemently shoots at the Villain in a single shot. Scorpio / Bolero cars gets blown up for no reason. Ever heard of a Bullet being chased by a Hero or a train going in reverse direction on Hero’s command ? Welcome to the world of Tamil Cinemas.

“Mere paas Maa Hai”…Thank God that this part is missed out by our latest Directors. I often wonder whether the Directors / Producers wont realize a bit while they are watching the monitors while shooting a sequence, that the movie would bomb at the box office ?  Re-makes should never be made cos they make us loose the taste of the original movie.

I am die-hard fan of Rajinikanth. At this age he is able to pull masses. But still liked the Rajini of Thillu Mullu, Johny, Basha where the Hero was watched for style / content more than commercials.

Hard to see movies that kick start our thought process and make us feel different and want us to do something to the society. 

“Sattayula enna bomma?…Poona Sir…Adhula enna peruma ? Get out………..”

The Art of Getting up and going to office

Margazhi season is on. The season for endless kutcheries and a high note of degree kaapi…While the music fraternity are busy preparing for entertainment, I kept dreaming about the good things that can change my life forever. I was like a Padayappa & Annamalai working on my success ladder in a 7 minute SPB song. But bang !!! Reality gave me a kick in my ass and asked me to wake up. Is this what is called “kick ass mornings” ? Huh ?!

It was my alarm clock on my mobile. I stealthily opened my eyes just hoping to console myself seeing 7 AM. But lo….I wish the big hand and the small hand change positions in the clock and just let me get good enough sleep. But peer pressure is already on and I have to run in this creepy world.

Satisfying myself with the ugly stubble and fantasizing in lines with great hindi stars who sport one, I run in for a quick shower just to find out mid-way that there is not much hard water. Thank God that I am in Chennai and can enjoy few more years of water than that of Hyderabad City.

I am not a corn-flakes or oat-meal guy. I would love to hog on to hot idlis and soodana pongals. The only thing i liked in the age-old saying that “Have breakfast like a King”. Now for the much loved part…Travel.

With all the morning rush, if you happen to get into a “namma ooru bus”, u have eyes ogling at you. There is a difference here. Guys look at girls and think of god. They become theists and wonder on God’s creativity at work. (But Girls look at guys and become atheists thinking that God too can do a shitty job)…Grow up Girls.

While we barge in tackling these, there is a HR Manager checking your Swipe-in time. I am remembered about the German Shepherd dog on-guard. When you are late, your Boss will always be in-time. What the heck. I see reminder mails / stinkers on mails from Boss on items that ought to have been replied previous night. Shucks, I hate Blackberry mobile phones.Outlook should start downloading mails in ascending order of time.

There will be some people that HR would have recruited to just check our BP levels. Screw the decency and break the decorum. You become Gandhijis and Anna Hazares of the world. Why is this not applicable to the people at the other side of the argument ? No idea.

What does Cynicism do to you ?

Sarcasm is in anyone’s blood. The content may vary and the depth may differ. But we are psychologically ingrained sarcastic individuals who likes to draw blood and rub at any given opportunity.

“Go to the Departmental store”, “Get the financial summary prepared”, “Take me out for a dinner”……so many pressures that people are bound to, What if you prefix these sentences with “If it is possible, can you please….” ? Will there be another kurukshetra here ? 🙂

But with Sarcasm, comes humility. There is an additional responsibility of being careful that it may hit u back. That’s the serious fun in life.

Then the journey starts back home. Maintaining things at home, giving “space” to the loved ones (in case u r in love, you are done if “quality” time is not given).

No news, No Papers, No hobbies…just mad rush.

“Miles to go before I sleep”…..