When reality strikes!- Short story - Part 2

See Part 1 here

"Dei mama, this is too much da", he was obviously disturbed to see me reacting as if I saw a stranger.

"Machi, just because of some stupid idiotic reason like adding your name after her brother's in a horrendous fwd mail, you can't do this to her. You guys have been going out for the past 3 years. Aren’t you supposed to be more matured than this" Sriram certainly did not like himself being the mediator.

I was confused. I made sure that am not seeing her eyes, which will take away all those egoistic absurdities that I had framed for my “self”. All she did was a tap on the floor. It was like "Look up moron", for God knows what reason; I looked up right in to her eyes.

Without taking my eyes off her, which I couldn’t , I said "Dei, ask her if she is coming home for the cutlet and chutney", a glimpse of her eyes did what my mom, father, sister, brother and loads of thrashings from Sriram failed to do for the past 48 hours.

Moments later, I was witnessing her talking skills as she was discussing something that she is really bad at. Cooking!! And for my mom, nothing is better in the world than a sincere student who likes to learn the skill set from her. Certainly she had her way through my mom. No wonder she made my mom say the all important "Yes" in a jiffy, 3 years ago.

Knock Knock!

My brother entered, it took few seconds for him to understand what’s going on, the moment he knew it! He was laughing out loud! "You are so damn hopeless da. I still remember your strong face, when you said you will come to Anniyan tonight with Sriram! You were so damn sure that it will be only Sriram and none else. Now that she is here, I know that it won’t happen. You can't stay put for more than 48 hrs, can you?"

It took a piercing look and loads of thrashings from her to stop him rolling on the floor at my expense. On the other hand, I was lucky to have a sensible brother like him. He had booked 4 tickets for the night show and took appa and amma along with the much needed Sriram, knowing that we need our terrace time to catch up on the past 48 hrs.

After the tatas and see you laters, I was with her counting on the moments I was thinking about her for the past two days. I already knew that one cannot quantify a feeling, but the pleasure of trying to quantify it, cannot be explained. I know that I had been missing those eyes, palms, smell, warmth and most of all the presence. But the dude inside stopped me from being the expressive kind. I was not quite certain on what happened to me! What do I call her eyes, Gravity? Vacuum? Black hole? May be something else which is yet to be explored by the classical and contemporary physicists! I was absolutely no one when it comes to physics, but the privilege of the possessing the unexplorable certainly was getting on my head. Even if I wake her up in the middle of the night and look in to those beautiful eyes! I would witness the inexpressible.

We did not converse for the past 48 hours, even after the make up in the temple, everything was through Sriram. After sending all off, it was the three-stair-walk with the hands holding the hearts! On the terrace with the most romantic set-up, amidst the foreshore breeze and the Orion, Pegasus and Andromeda, she killed the dude in me with just a glimpse. The tiny sparkle that was glancing at me as her lachrymal byproduct evolved and catalyzed the instinctual revelations, made me say it, first. What I never thought would say, “I......."

"You've got mail....” the Celeron was yelling at me. It was 7:49 am, Cookeville, Tennessee. "Come on da its summer and… the boss…he is not in town, wake up later moron, it’s so damn nice why don’t you continue it", I was talking to myself. I was all alone in well lit up room to negate the Chandramukhi factors that was gripping me for a while now.

After a brief fight between the guilt and the dream progression, I was out of the bed, thinking that "Would it have been like this if I was home now, instead of being in this world of reasoning and adaptation?"

Well as I stepped in, the western style was laughing at me, shouting, "IN YOUR DREAMS BUDDY".

After the customary few moments with the microwave coffee and CNN headlines. Nostalgia picked up my cell phone, called my sister and said "What are you doing di? Did Priyanka started?"

It took a while for her to understand my question without realizing that the dude in me was awake and risen, trying to ask irrelevant questions and killing the real me.

After a 7 min stroll, I was in my office looking at my outlook to see those bulk mails in my hotmail folder and the unperturbed desktop icons!

"Barath, kill that dude in you, be yourself. At least tell it to her", I told myself.

I opened my desktop folder, looked at her and finally said "I missed you",

Thermodynamics was smiling back at me!!

When reality strikes!- Short story - Part 1

I'm not a great story teller/writer. But a strong be'lie'ver on trying new things. If you are used to my idealism, you would not enjoy this as much as you usually do. But wth, give it a shot!

"Barath!!" unusually, appa was not loud that day.

"Yes am up! appa!", I was up 5 mins ago, waiting on his VoIP.

It took a couple of minutes for me to get up and fold my dear old nearly ruined mat and the blanket that was protecting my dreams on the day ahead. With the few uncontrollable steps, followed by a stopover and a headshake, I was right outside the first bathroom. I always need that 30 seconds outside the bathroom, with my heads right on the door to catch up and take that dizz over.

"Allrite lets start it", I said to myself.

In few seconds, I was outside, in the balcony/washing place, multitasking! Gobbling and looking for her in the next apartment. After sharing a few glimpses of her along with her amma and making those unwanted noises to grab an eye to eye, I was ready to start my day.

"How many days do I have to tell you to wear a pure cotton saree when you are going to sleep?" the adulterated cotton sarees does not take the moisture out of the morning face wash. And it's almost impossible to start my day without wiping my face on mom's saree and the hug from behind.

"Okay doggie. I will consider it next time. Now take your foamy coffee and drink it soon and btw Mr.Rao, do you need your second one?" amma was at her best, and for appa it was just a nod without taking an eye of his keep, Hindu. I always wondered how in the world she manages everything with all those time constraints in just the two tiny hands that she has. No wonder she is managing a whole school all by herself.

After the routine viboodhis and Gajananams I was hoping to pierce through my schedule. I was answering something to amma and was trying to step in to the shower as the bathroom door drove my head through the covers.

"Dei, Buffalo, I am inside. Give me a couple of mins" my brother. It was unusual to witness him being inside the bathroom before me. Then I remembered that it was his meeting day and he needed to be there in his office by 8.00 am.

As for me, "the morning business" is like making love, not because I do it more than once a day in weird timings, but for other unaccountable reasons. The other bathroom at home was western style. Not to take anything from their culture, but I hate western style, it never gives me the feeling of completion. Especially the climax! Sheeesh! One thing is for sure, they really don't know what they are missing. Awkwardly positioned!! Impossible to carry on for the rest of the day. Thank god I am not forced to use it every day.

After flirting with few mugs of cold water and the good old cinthol, listening to amma's don't waste water slokas, I was out getting ready listening to the morning headliners with my appa's 3rd round of filter coffee.

"Dei Dog, what are you doing tonight? How about Anniyan night show?" my brother, for the past few days, was insisting on joining him

"Allrite da, will tag along with Sriram" I stressed, as he responded with a smile, right before his runaway from the morning curd rice and curry. It took few minutes for amma to realize that he ran away without even eating his breakfast. After the usual ramblings and thrashings, she was back to normal, consoling herself that she would feed him more in the evening with some cutlets and chutney.

Well, my usual breakfast was curd rice and the most welcomed hot curry in the middle of the course. It's more of a custom that I had to follow every morning. As a matter of fact, I cannot start or end my day without it. After reminding my father to call my sister and make sure that she has everything for the weekend function that she was planning to host in Adyar, I was out in my old Zen, towards my office.

In few minutes, right after the customary honks for the neighboring sexuality to make sure that she knows that I was out of the house, I was on the roads.

The morning went on with the usual coffee breaks and debugging. The afternoon was with the usual blank calls and sleep control activities.

"Dei buffalo, where in the world are you? It's almost 5:30; have to go to the Anjineyar temple and we might go to Anniyan night show? Where are you?" I was screaming at Sriram.

"Allrite, I will see you at the temple in 15 minutes" he was there with usual IST promises.

6:15, he was there. "Sorry Maaps, it took longer than I expected, Anyways give me a few minutes, I will be back" knowing that I won't mind him delaying his stay there.

I was right there, with my thoughts and eyes aligned on her. I have been visiting this temple, everyday for the past 10 years, but for the last few days this is something that I enjoyed to do. It's impossible to take your eyes off a beauty in a temple. It goes well with both the god as well as women. Especially when you know, that she don't mind you watching her, as a matter of fact she was enjoying it. I always have the Temple times divided in to Saami time (pre-prayer) and Maami time (post-prayer, looking at the beauties). As I was in my Maami time, I know Anji would not mind me paying my tributes to the goddess of beauty. She was breathtaking! "Thank god she lives next door", I said to myself.

Before I could quantify the amount of time that passed by as I was enjoying the beauty of the creator. I saw Sriram talking to her. I did not realize the reasons for the funny feeling that was flowing through my blood vessels. To add more to it, they both were walking towards me. As they approached my radius of gyration, I was not even looking at their eyes. Its not the typical me, never in my life I have given a thought before looking at someone in to the eyes and start a conversation, but today its not the same. As a matter of fact, I was shaking inside and starting to feel restless motivating myself not to bite my nails and display the nervous disorder! without realizing that I have been doing it from the moment they started walking towards me.

Part 2 is here!

Personal Space!!

Everyone in this world has their own personal space! Invading it would be either a privlege or a blunder. It is something that we create to ourselves, may be like an invisible suit that we pretend to wear. In most cases we dont tend to enjoy sharing this personal space. Its precisely the reason why we often tend to see meaningless lights and buttons when we are in a crowded elevator.

When we have this kind of a personal space framed up as we walk and present ourselves, we also have those other invisible spaces that we often want to be neither revealed nor realized. Iam talking about the possession space. The ones that you prefer to keep it to yourself.

I remember this happening during my 11 th standard if am not wrong!

Some day of the week, some time between 14 45 to 14 55 hrs...the old fashioned BBrao parked his Annamalai style (the big hercules ones) cycle and entered the room with the heaviest back pack in the world! Generally, Mr.Baburao (the originator)...welcomes me and spends a couple of mins asking about my day at school...and by the 121 st second there will be a cup filled with the best filter coffee in the world!...but that day he was busy, a phone call, talking to someone that I presumed to be a stranger! Generally, I over hear everyones conversation if its happening in the same room. But that day I was too tired to pay even the slightest attention in the world!

Almost 1200 seconds of halucination, which was a byproduct of the reaction between the body and mind catalysed by the chennai heat, I heard him telling something like

"Barath..?..I think he is just tired, may be he will talk. Let me give the fone to him".

I was wondering if there was anyone else in the room and who in the world was he talking to at this time of the day and why would I talk to that person. I picked up the fone...and waited for the voice! It was Lavanya...! One of my best buddies, and my beloved Mr.Rao hardly knew her, and by then he dont even know how she looks like. All he knew was her existence and that she calls me often and we spend some hours on the fone! Then I realized that I had told her that I was free that day and we would spend sometime on the fone. She spoke to me for a meagre 300 seconds and indirectly said that Mr.Rao flirts as good as I do..! I dont know if its a compliment or a curse! I was fuming...and turned around to give that piercing look ...but there he was waiting with the best coffee again...for the past 300-121 seconds!

I said "Ada paavi manishaa...Idellam konjam overa theriala!".[you sinner dont you think its too much].His reply was "ada podaa wetti...summa fonelaye pesindu irukaan, wera edhukum laaiki illa" [you are just fit to talk on the fone and nothing more]. I hate these kind of translations and the truth in it, but couldnt help here.

Well, by then, Lavanya was surely my possession. Even now she is, in a different way. But I was neither flustered nor frustrated by Mr.Rao's divine intervention! Its the privilege that he gets to have. He knows the golden rule that he has the right to know what I possess and I know that he would never assess.

I often tell my friends that I' am an open book, and in most of the cases its unanimously refuted. They end up listing that under my usual BS. Well, I agree and disagree. When I say am an open book, I mean to the extent of one's right. Whatever one supposed to know, will be made visible to them. Knowing beyond that is a privlege or a curse that one gets to accept. Who sets these rules and how good are these.. is the question, that has an egoistic answer!

Anyways, the point I was trying to nail here is that everyone has their visible/invisible entities that they are posessive about. Let it be a personal secret, or be an acquaintance. Knowing and enjoying those is a privlege that one offers. That offer comes only with trust. Sometimes it happens when one tries to pierce through the circle of importance. Sometimes it never happens even you are in the closest circle of importance. Sometimes its used to pierce in through your own circle of importance. As far as I know, the best way is to wait for that offer without expecting that to be extended. When its extended, one needs to respect and enjoy it because its always mutual.

Wonder Years or Wonder, Years? – (I)

I was talking to my friend the other day, we had a decent discussion and I was amused to realize a fact that we were talking about some of our teen wonders! It looks so far away! May be wisdom stuck us so early. On one end it is beautiful to realize that we developed the maturity to reason and understand life much better than what we did at that time. However, on the other end, it was hard to accept the fact that we lost the formula to enjoy the trivial things in life. May be we don’t have time! Or may be we know too much now! Ignorance was certainly bliss!

The funny fact is that, sometimes, when we don’t have something, we try and try to posses it and once we acquire it, it would not be as enjoyable as we once thought. On the other hand, from one perspective you can make it enjoyable as we progress! Maturity and reasoning is of that kind, when I was young, without my realization, I was fighting my way through to get rid of the kiddo feeling. Once I got through it, it’s impossible to get that back.

As for me, making friends was always easy, but the process was much enjoyable then than now. There were no hurdles to pass through then; acceptance was prevailing when evaluation was demoralized. The present days are aligned with unintentional and unstoppable habits like judgmental, evaluating phases!

In one of those blank moments, I thought of those few people I grew up with, those now-so-stupid memories and where they are! Well, it’s been an awesome journey and one can’t rule the world much better than how we did then. So, in the series of what I call (and we know) ‘Wonder Years (WY)’, which might come up every now and then in my blogs, I thought of glorifying our moments of stupidity and remember them once in a while!

It was during the start of my 3rd year of engineering, I used to shuttle from Chidambaram to Chennai every weekend (to get rid of the (pea)nutophobia)! Guna and myself were planning to drain our brain to the States then. So we were in the initial steps of the passport application formalities!

Rangaswamy studio, Mylapore. If you had ever been to this place, you would definitely corroborate my conclusions! Once you are there, it’s almost impossible to control those laughter releasing natural tranquilizers, pain relievers and endorphins. Especially, after seeing their enormous network display, from S.Ve Shekhar to Riskshaw Maari.

“Machi! What pictures da..? Comedy! May be they will hang ours right after we take our passport pictures!” I was expecting the photographer to show his skills.

“We will see! No matter what…the camera won’t lie mame!” Guna was well within his own world of reality.

Rangaswamy Jr., took us in to the studio, we were in our usual dresses and posing as normal as ever, without realizing the fact that the picture was going to stay with us for atleast a decade from then. Two clicks for each of us was on! The pictures were due to be collected the Wednesday from then. So it was unsaid that Guna was going to collect it and I was going to get it from him the following weekend.

A week went by with my train and his bus adventures! A Saturday was waiting for me to realize the reality.

Knock! Knock!

“Machi, we need to apply for our passport next week! Anyways, did you get the pics from the studio?” there was certainly some electron transfer to transpire my excited state!

Guna with his unusual sorry face turned in my pictures!

Rangaswamy Jr., was definitely not P.C.Sriram, but was skilled enough to replicate reality! It was a total shocker! I looked like an AIDS patient and Guna’s look was competing with a Con as well as an Autodriver!

“Ot*a! Om**la! Enna yezhavu da idhu! (WTF)! How can this be so damn miserable!?! Impossible!” Reality was not easy to accept!

“Yes, Mamse…do you still think that these pictures will be hanging outside the studio or a few buildings along in the E-1 police station!” Guna seemed to have gone through cribbing part already!

I was curious, was looking at all angles in my own perceptional Santhosh Sivan that always showed me what I wanted to see! The Mirror! Well, reality seemed to sink in then!

“Machan, we are’nt this bad da…what happened to the other pic! He took two snaps did’nt he?” was trying in vain!

“Mams, if you are so damn curious now, imagine my level when I saw the picture right outside the studio. As a matter of fact, I asked him about the other picture! He took a deep breath and patted on my shoulder and said Buddy! You did not see the other picture; if you had you wouldn’t have been asking this question to me now”

We certainly did not have words after that! All we could do was roll on the floor and laugh and make sure no one else sees that picture!

Gunasekhar Natrajan! We still talk once in a while, when he is staying Sleepless in Seattle. The irony is that, right now, his Meg Ryan is Bill Gates!

I still see that picture almost every semester start! Its smiling from my passport, portraying that ‘looks are the last thing that matters’ at the least for my girl it has to be the last thing! May be I should scan that and post it once!

I know this incident certainly doesn’t reflect what I was trying to convey in the first paragraph! But what I realize is “On the other hand, from one perspective you can make it enjoyable as we progress!” statement is very true or I would like atleast to make it so. Great friends and great memories are almost similar, you don’t lose them anytime. The best part is that, both stays there forever waiting for you to be touched and realized. The funny part is that we don’t communicate frequently with the few best friends that we have in our life, and it doesn’t matter! As long as you realize it that no matter when, where and how, its there waiting for us! And once in a while it needs to be touched and realized. Doesn’t matter how frequently you do it but how true you are when you do it is more important than any other thing!

Entertainment-Hwood forthcoming!

Well, this is not one of my usual blogs. Never wanted this blog to be a media kind but couldn’t help talking about this. Apologies if short pitched on expectations!

FEEDREADER (thanks to Srikanth Pulapaka) I don’t know how many of you guys use this to read your blogs and news. Its quite efficient, doesn’t let you go to each of the blogs through your mozilla or IE and refresh it everyday for updates. Instead, it supplies the links and content as text as soon as it is updated! Well, the geeky way of telling it is that Feedreader is a lightweight open-source aggregator that supports RSS and ATOM formats. It works under Windows 95 and later versions. If you are wondering how in the world is this relevant to the Forthcoming Movies, well it is. I was looking at one of the other blogs that I usually read, a media kind by a Lazygeek and was amused to find that his network is pretty good in delivering the news information to keep track of the current affairs, especially in the entertainment sectors. So, I was looking forward to enhance the newsing sectors through this Feedreader. The prefixed feeds popped me up some news about two interesting forthcoming movies! The Indiana Jones 4 and The DaVinci Code! May be I am late ...but it’s always better to be late than never!

Well, most of the adv movie fans would love the former for the obvious reasons, Anyways , the team could be Harrison Ford, Sean Connery, Karen Allen, Kate Capshaw, Calista Flockhart (rumored), Colin Hanks (rumored), John Rhys-Davies (rumored) Director: Steven Spielberg Writer: Jeff Nathanson. Rumors were also towards M. Night Shyamalan and Tom Stoppard who were each asked to pen a draft of the screenplay.

Release Date 2006

The tentative script is that the Indiana Jones may be searching for the Lost City of Atlantis in his latest adventure, and rumors say that Lucas and Spielberg have recently approved the scripts and may be Indy 4 can be expected to in the news pretty soon!

The Second one is The DaVinci code...It’s been up on the best sellers for a while now, turning out to be one of the most controversial books of all time! If you have not read it yet! You are missing something! Initial rumors said it was going to be a James Cameroon film. Apparently, now it’s the beautiful mind leading the team, yes, its going to be a Ron Howard film.

The Trailer looks neat! Btw the star cast includes, Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Jean Reno, Sir Ian McKellen and Alfred Molina. There is a whole bunch of information to be delivered by the team. It’s not going to be easy, but considering the reputation of the team, Iam sure it would be as entertaining and gripping as the original work!!