This one was shortly written after 26/11.I decide to post it a year later.
My First ever Hindi Poem.Silly Willy.Clumsy mind is content.Wouldn’t want to write further.
There is something about Mary and a lot more about the title than to Sexual overtones.Loud & Brassy it may be, but very true and actual.No, the trauma called Viva has not left no damage on me and this one written in sound mind.I just do Not want to be a Prostitute.
A very elite bunch of ambitious Engineers surround me.Highly ambitious, I must add.It is pretty enticing to see people already discussing American Universities when I still Can’t think beyond Chakala and just when you hear peers discussing how they intend to spend life at IIM Ahmedabad, you wonder if you have any beyond Andheri.You know how uncertain your future is when you are 3 years into Computer Engineering and you’ve managed to put your hand on everything , Right from making Short-Films to making and Selling T-shirts but actual Programming!.The only program I can claim credit for is the ‘Bollywood Game’ program that I made Last Semester .And this only Sincere effort was wonderfully riposted by reprimanding me, for the program was done during Practicals and it wasn’t a part of the list of programs I was supposed to do.It is even more disturbing when you have South-Indian parents back who like every other South parent wants the son to go to office regularly with nothing less than Rs 50,000/- Salary.Such is the Tragic called me.
You know you are half way through in life when you know what’ You Don’t have to do’.The other half Completes when you realize ‘What to do’.Awaiting an answer from within and ineffectively so, I resorted to Near-Dears’ and ‘Not so Near-Dears’ alike.Splendid response to say the least.The answers range from a Straight ‘You want to do something?’ to an indifferent ‘Why don’t you kill yourself?”.However the handful few who actually bothered giving an earnest opinion, had all incidentally Zeroed down on one unanimous Answer: Advertising/’Philum Industry’ which boils down into one general term:The Creative Industry.
It is this proposition of theirs that made me feel like a Prostitute.Now for those who have got an IQ close to mine.I explain in words you’d want to understand:
Love-Making is Wonderful.You Love Doing it.I bet you do.You better do.
Now what if you were paid to do love?Or even worse.What if you were forced to make love?
Bad.Super Bad.
Ditto with my ‘Creativity’.
Making Short-Films/Ads and doing things alike is something that I love doing.There is no way I will get paid for doing it and not feel disgusted about myself.I just can’t force myself into working for an assigned project by my boss irrespective of me feeling for the project.And moreover making money out of something you genuinely Love is a bad economic decision as well because in matters of finance, the mind plays an important role and the slightest of involvement of the heart can prove disastrous. I’d rather continue making videos and upload them on Youtube(So what if takes me 3 hrs 24 min 55 sec to do so, Courtesy my Super cool Tata Indicom 5 bytes/sec Internet speed.)
Never Become a Prostitute.Remain a Virgin Instead
PS:Severe apologies to my dear blog which was breathing it’s last until this post happened.And to my loyal readers which includes:My 10 years Neighbor whom I bribe with a Cadbury Éclair for every 5 lines he reads.Peace.
Some serious musing helped me ascertain that The only thing the human manages to find purpose in, is Sex.Unfortunately though.Its not because there is lack of any but ostensibly because we fail to see them.
Now Imagine a South Indian working class who left home minus dabba.He goes to a restaurant for lunch.He’d rather order for anything but South Indian food to simply add more purpose to his visit by trying some other cuisine.
Adding purpose to everything we do helps in living a meaningful life as a whole.Seriously.Imagine something as basic as your attire.Now clothing in daily life is primarily done with the intention to cover.It doesn’t take a Manish Malhotra to ‘purposify’ your attire.Have we ever given serious thought to what we wear?
No.Do this thing for me.Just make an attempt to read everything written(if at all any) on T-shirts around you.I’v been doing this for some while now and have questions to be answered.Why would anyone buy anything with the followng written on them.These are actual T-shirt reads.
1-Blah Blah..Established in 1842(Is it that you want to remind me of what brand my Grandpa’s Dad wore?)
2-Project Sports Mutiny.(????!!!!)
3-I (A heart in Red) New York.(I seriosuly doubt the person traveled anywhere beyond Virar)
And the best of them all..
4-Ringtone mania(Yes I did manage to see someone wearing something with this written on it)
I managed asking someone as to what made him wear a Shirt with practically Bulls**t written on it.’It looks good’ came an answer.If writing stuff on a shirt makes it look good then rather have something purposeful written on it.
Dhan te Nan came the idea of annanymous T-shirts.No I’m doing no good to Human Welfare.Neither am I here to teach fashion(I still havent been pardoned for wearing the fluoroscent Green T-shirt).Adding purpose to what you wear.does no harm.It makes so much sense to wear yourself.To relate with what you wear.It is like a blog.You relate to what you write and you event comment on posts you relate with.If you can do that with a blog,Why leave behind what you wear?
Have a purpose beyond Sex 
AnnanymousT-shirts.Don’t worry about the price.Much lesser than any average ‘Ringtone Mania’ T-shirts. Share holders of Satyam can afford to buy too.Started of with something I relate with and am sure most of the blog’s readers relate with too…Engineering…Presenting Engineering theme T-shirts…Tada…
T-Shirt 1:
Rs 229/- only
Available in both M and F.Color and Size option Available too.
This one came just 24 minutes before ‘you-will-soon-figure-out-yourself”(I hope atleast :-p).Directly ‘Copy-Pasted’ from my Personal Diary cum work diary cum Bingo book-cum cum Bollywood book.It reads..
24 minutes and the beats go high
24 minutes I hope there is no sigh
24 minutes I do not wanna lie
24 minutes I feel I’l die
24 minutes that feel so long
24 minutes Can write an entire song
24 minutes the two letters I dread
24 minutes ‘Dont worry’ they said
24 minutes I feel so numb
24 minutes decides if at all I am dumb
24 minutes I hope Goodness Rains
Just so I do not write another nervous 24 Minutes again…
Stupid.Perfect example of what circumstances drive you into.
PS:For the handful regular readers(Which includes my dhobi wallah who can barely read yet is forced into reading my blog just so my hits increase and My ego is pampered,also my Grandmom who is yet to figure out what a blog means) This is probably my first and last attempt at anything poetic.Peace.
I also wonder if my fellow classmates would react equally if a hot blonde were to be in the campus.Bloody geeks.:-p
I always aspired to own Ray Ban aviators.One with a golden frame to be precise.However when the time arrived I settled for a Mirrored lens Aviator.The significance of me having compromised is explained later in this read.One of my cousins,residing in Calicut,Kerala owned a Golden Frame.Submitting to the temptation,during his recent visit to Bombay,I chanced upon the opportunity and got my Mirrored lens Aviator exchanged with his Golden frame.Although I had to confront some severe criticism on the exchange, I was never really keen on getting my original back until probably my cousin made his next visit to the city which was not in the near future.I moved on.
Now this anecdote comes from just a few days before I left for Kerala this vaccation.I was to mention of it on my blog too but then but my departure for kerala and the preparation for the trip barred me from doing so.
I was en route Bandra and inside the BEST bus.After a few minutes of standing,I managed a seat.My fellow traveller seemed to be a typical Middle-aged Gujju stock market dealer equipped with 2 mobile phones one being a Chinese make.A few more minutes into the journey,I plugged in for some Music.Songs played.Songs changed. Time fleeted.However there seemed to be something fascinatingly different when this particular song played.I was ceased by the man and an earnest appeal from the man followed.He politely asked me to ‘Bluetooth’ the song to him.I pleasantly gave in to his desire.This gave way to an interaction with him that I now will cherish for eternity.A result of this interaction had now further strenghtened my resolve to get my Aviators back from the cousin.
The trip was to be covered by road and it was our own car that was to do the job so I could afford to convince my parents into a brief halt at Calicut.Denied at first,I was promised a halt during our return from Kerala.I now had to wait a litttle more for claim over the Aviators.There was this inexpicable restlesness that accompanied.
The time had finally arrived.I had it back.
Song of transfer in the BEST bus:We are the world, Michael Jackson.
Date of re-claim over Aviators: 25th June 2009 05:00.
As a reader you may definitely find the match in his time of death and my re-claim over the Aviators a mere stupid co-incidence.But it meant a lot more to me.My decision to compromise for a Mirrored lens was purely because Jacko wore them too.
It was pretty obvious that the Gujju man in the BEST was oblivious to western music or western culture as a whole which was quite suggestive during my interaction with him. However, for him to know so much about Jacko and to see the zest and passion with which he spoke about the 1996 concert and his craze during Thriller time made me just another drop in the ocean. I was determined to play my part too.I was to get my Mirrored lens back.
Though I retained my symbol of love for the man the man had gone for good . I was to face an end later in the evening.End of a part of me.This at the expense of sounding overtly dramatic, I hereby admit to have fervently cried after the news broke.A first in a vast period of time.There seemed to suddenly have conjured this big void,not only in my life,a huge void in general.
I have always loved people.A lot of them.I maintain my very own list of Great people around.The only breathing person who featured in my list of Greatest Humans to have ever stepped this Planet ain’t breathing anymore.I have always been subject of light hearted ridicule at home and outside for being thin.It never dettered me though.Not a bit.I had consolation in the form of Jacko.I knew JAcko was thin and the most popular guy on earth too.He was black too.And he changed.I was convinced I could whiten too!for which my mom said I required as much money as him which she feared I or rather any person could never attain.
In a nation to see even your neigboring state Superstar to hardly make an influence on you,Jacko achieved the unattainable.His unparalleled renown shattered all boundaries.All borders.All races. Even today we witness Jackson look-alike contests and almost every dance Reality show hosts a Jackson theme.Such an influence he had that too on a nation miles away.I wouldn’t be wrong in stating that Jackson unknowingly played a role in evolving Bollywood dance sequences from its primitive.
I can without any deliberating put him in the same ranks as Gandhi and Einstein in terms of the influence he had on the world. Jacko was perhaps ‘Earth’s first superstar’ from the entertainment world.
As a child Jackson’s Heal the world was a regular in my School assemblies.They don’t care about us,Earth Song,Black or white,The way you make me feel have all been transforming elements.
The thing about such profound men are that their immenseness should ideally shadow their other doings.Gandhi is never known for his unjust treatment of his wife and children.However in the case of Jackson it seemed otherwise and it is the magnitude of his fame that is to blame.
It is difficult to imagine the one gloved man with a fringe ,Mirrored glass and an energy to kill shall no more exist in flesh and blood.
Every being is made with a purpose.The supreme made Jackson with an intention to heal.To join.Which he did,like none other.
Perhaps God wanted him back and selfishly so.
May your tales of fascination Moonwalk itself into eternity.
Random scribblings from sporadic musings.Initially reluctant to post them but then this one served draught to my long awaiting blog.
1-I am recklessly unscrupulous about borrowing and Spending/Lending money.I consider it highly inconsequential.
2-I can never regret having spent time on People,Rain and Cricket.I consider them highly essential.
3-You are much more interesting than you think you are.
4-I am finally convinced that Non-Vegetarianism is anti-nature.
5-Man dangerously depends on knowledge.Religion is interseting and essential for it deals with wisdom.
6-The supreme in his experiment with the creation of man may infer negative conclusions.I so wish I could prove otherwise.
7-Man was never anyone’s responsibility nor is he responsible for anyone else.
8-I authentically love too many people.It’s unfortunate I cannot.
9-The good hearted can thrive on their gut feel.It’s only the ill-hearted that need to use the brain.
Have a lot more conventionally appealing topics to write on.Thank you for reading if you’ve reached here.
There i stood,woolgathering,star gazing,dreaming,destitute of any thought.Hair flying back.Few strands flirting with my eyes.‘Choti si asha’ playing in my mind. No it was’nt a dream.Very actual.
A fantasy I was living.A fantasy only to be broken by what i call the ‘call of reality’: * Chala chala aath chala *
Location:Footboard of the B.E.S.T bus entrance.
It happens always.I enter the bus.My eyes to be greeted by a bus herded with human bodies.I prefer to stand on the footstand.Eyes shut.Face against the wind.Only to be called into the ‘real world’.The world inside the Bus.A metonym for the larger world outside.The conductor in his blaring voice:*Chala Chala Aath Chala*(Get in quick).I enter with utmost reluctance.Squeez my lanky body through the crowd.It’s really strange as to how various occurents inside can teach you.Describing a few.
It’s slightly unusual.The crowd behaviour.The crowd pattern really depicts as to how unpredictable our life is.For a moment i was standing on one foot,struggling to find place for the other and the very next stop the bus is empty!And a few stops later people rushing in again.Unpredictability at it’s best!
I moved ahead.Searching for potential ‘Next-Stop’ Passengers.Passengers who would get off the vehicle leaving me a place to sit.I had another 5-6 stops before i could leave.Saw some movement 3 seats ahead from where i was.Hurried up there,only to realize the person got up to adjust his pant.Thouroughly dissapointed,I shifted place in hope of finding a place.
I was now near the ‘Striyasathi(for the ladies)‘ seats.I’ve never understood why that particular reservation for ladies exist.No offense but we live in an era where we atleast claim that women match steps with men.Every field.Everywhere.I find it really hypocritical,such reservations.This para misght really be suggestive of some disdain but all I’m trying to say is why sympathize and worsen things for them?Someone recently said that women happen to be the most ‘Enterprising Species’ and I second that!Trust me you need no reservations anywhere! Reservations are meant for the weak.Not for the Strong.And i believe women are strong enough where it matters.
Moving on,i sensed this North-Eastern ‘Hiro-Nakamura-looking’ guy staring at me for long.Hoping he would come up to me with a ‘Save-the-cheerleader-save-the-world’.It’s pretty strange to be looking at your own countryman with novelty.I remember going down south to Andhra-Pradesh and having to use sign language to be able to perform basic communication.Imagine feeling alien in you’r own land.I’ve always looked India as a blend of many countries.And I consider that as a big positive.
Still scouring around in search of place to sit.Unsucessful.Have probably moved around every seat by now and was marvelled by this partcular observation.I have no liking for this color called Pink,to say the least.Atleast not for an attire.It was storming to learn that I probably was part of a very small minority who were of the same opinion! Do this thing for me.The next time you travel just notice the amount of Pink around you.You’d be baffled.It really thought me that my opinions are solely mine and generalizing them would be a blunder.Not everyone thinks alike.Do not write-off anything or anyone.
I came across two couples.One sitting on the same seat, yet hardly talking.Another couple with each partner on different seats yet trying their best to communicate, with occasional smiles & hand gestures.It so happens that we may not know our neighbor next door but probably know someone who we meet in the train everyday.Strange yet true.
I’d observed enough by now.Time had arrived to get down.And I learnt perhaps the most important lesson of my life once I stepped down.I never managed to get a seat, yet managing the journey with no complaints.I wondered what kept me going.The answer we all know.
Hope is a good thing.Probably the best of things.The conductor never sat too.But there is a huge difference between him and me.The conductor could’nt have sat even if a seat were to be empty for a passenger is given priority.He was devoid of any kind of hope.Imagine yourself inside a crowded bus and knowing that you ain’t gonna be able to sit for the rest of your journey.
Fortunately or Unfortunately there is a *Chala Chala Aath Chala* to happen with everyone.The time of the call varies.We all have to face the world.The real one.The one with bigger assignments.Harsh Practical implementations.No proxies.Just You and the World.
I’m waiting for mine.Have you got it yet?
PS:This image kinda changed my perception of the real world.
Life has been unfair.Especially when you’r forefathers and you’r fellow community members have set up such supreme criterion.Benchmark that you are expected to live upto.You think of a south indian and the collection of words that rush through you’r brain would be Madrasi,Dark,Intelligent,Hilarious,Rajnikanth,Funny names,Idli-Sambhar-Dosa.The icing:A certain Ms.Faza Chugtai thought Anna[Read:Big Brother] meant A coconut!
I explain:
Madrasi:Not all South Indians are Madrasis.Such display of ignorance may really irritate a non-madrasis.I fortunately happen to be a South Indian who also happens to be a Madrasi.Not all South Indians walk,Talk and Dress like me(I have sacrifised my much talked about fluoroscent green T-shirt).It is as good as sayin all Asians are Chinese or Pakistanis.God Bless.:-p
Dark:Okay,you racist Bastards!I definitely have paid the prize for that extra supply of melanin.
Intelligent:I hope i’ve broken the myth.
Hilarious:What you see on TV is not what we are.Trust me.We are more ludicrous than you can ever imagine!I can write a Best-Seller on my folks someday!
Superstar Rajnikanth:This phenomenon not only happens to be the highest paid actor in the whole of Asia but also one of the most respected individuals in the country.Imagine a Human of his stature wearing a lungi for an attire and an ambassador car for transport!
Long names:I take this opportunity and use this public forum to announce that my ’second name’ happens to be Subramaniam.We Madrasis traditionally inherit out Grand-Fathers name which in my case happened to be Subramaniam.However,sanity prevailed and my parents decided on a much presentable name -Adhitya(Only if i were to be called by that.Sigh).
Idli-Sambhar-Dosa:Ok,I agree we might have it a bit more often than you would, but Hello!It’s not that we have this wardrobe stuffed with loads of idlis and dosas and we pick one every now and then as we pass by.I am well acquainted with the chapatis,the bhajis,the parathas et all…
Having spent 2 years in Mithibai amongst our fellow G.u.j.j.u brothers and sisters,I always craved for someone who spoke anything that din’t sound even remotely like Gujrati.I have real respect for that community.Not even once,i mean not even once in their conversation did they utter any word that could be deciphered by an ‘outsider’.That was the time i regretted having studied in an English medium.
A fitting reply came in.A year later though in the form of S.P.I.T..We have this huge Madrasi gang in college now.A lot of them.It’s fun.We make sure our presence is felt.We believe we can be as ‘cool’. As ‘happening’.Very recent during this quiz session that was going on in college, a fellow classmate happened to say something very Madrasi.I wondered.If ‘Wassup man?’ ‘Hey deeeewwwde’ and ‘Big shit!’ form such an integral part of our general vocab then why not give our very own Tamil vocab a try?!Here is listing a few ‘Go-Try-These-Tamil-Words/Phrases’:
1-Pirya Kakoos [pirya-Big,Kakoos-Shit]
This one dosen’t exist in Tamil Dictionary.A Self-creation.By far the worst translation of any English phrase.Imagine if ‘Big Shit’ was to be literally translated in Hindi.Ewwww…Try this one at you’r own risk!
eg:Tamil Girl:I am Pregnant!
Chilled out Tamil Boy:Pirya Kakoos!
PS:There is no such thing called as a Chilled out Tamil boy!
2-Da[Tamil substitute for the Hindi word 'Re']
The most commonly used word in Tamil vocab.Di is used in reference to a girl.
Eg:Q:Have you read Ram’s blog?
A:No da…now what’s that?
Ps:This comes from a personal experience.One of my North-Indian friends din’t know what a blog was..!
3-Poda[Buzz off]
Again Podi used in reference to a girl.
eg:Slumdog won 8 oscars!
Poda!you kidding me or what?!
4-Vaay Mood[Shut up,Vaay-Mouth,mooda-Shut]
5-Epidi irakai?[How you doing?]
6-Yenna Panrai?[Ssup?]
My dad is good with English,Arabic,Malyalam,Marathi,Hindi and Tamil.My mom knows basic German and French too.I have inherited their love for languages.I personally love Arabic and Urdu.Have made no attempts to learn them though.Nevertheless,I still make it a point to read a few paragraphs of Hindi every now and then[The one's that come behind the Navneeet notebook!].
I remember this North-Indian professor at Mahesh Tutorial who would speak fluent Tamil.I suddenly developed this respect for him.Similarly i remember one of my friend’s mother really intriguied by my marathi-speaking skills.She thought Tamilians spoke nothing else!
As Indians it dosen’t take much to know about our fellowmen.Look around you.Talk to you’r friend and get rid of you’r ignorance.:)Would love if you sent in quotes,words and phrases that you love.Language no bar!More South-Indian queries welcome too.
My ‘Must-try-Tamil-Words/Phrases’ isn’t complete without Superstar Rajnikanth’s Dialouge:
Naan oru derava sonna,Noor derava sonna madri!
Me sayin once is equivalent to sayin it a 100 times!
Two mothers.Two new lives…
A comparison of two journeys…
Both the mothers cry…
Both lives are as precious.The latter’s life more precious for our existence…
Save Trees…
Just happened to realize i define the word ‘Ambivalence’ part of it,i mean there is no balance in me part of it,i’m either really loved(yes,my 3 yr old niece does,so what if it is only when i get her sweets?!) or loathed(vote for me now!) part of it…
I have fallen in love with Amit Trivedi part of it .He’s the same guy to have composed tracks for Amir and DevD part of it.Another class eccentric act.Ditto with Anurag Kashyap part of it.
The excitement of our community T-shirt seems to have given way to after-thoughts part of it.I hope very kind, noble & innocuous comments welcome the Computer department attire.
I have started thinking part of it.Standard of thought remains same as my primary schooling theories part of it.only that ‘The Mask’ has been replaced by Heroes and Prison Break characters part of it.
I seem to have this new-found liking for Monaco buiscits part of it.
These three words part of it,seem to be haunting me part of it.I hope all those ‘Budding entrepreneurs’ part of it know what i’m talking about.For the rest drafting a new ‘comprehendible by all’ post soon :)
Post Scriptum:The absurd title is a tribute.
Bol Baby Bol…