Heaven from all Creatures hides the Book of Fate - So true.

It was a typical Tuesday, atleast it seemed so to me. The battle that I fight in vain to get up at 6 AM having had a restless sleep after a hefty share of tossing and turning, next came the job to put on the bath water onto the stove to boil. You may ask, no geyser a? Geyser hai, but working nahi hai – I will answer promptly. You see, when the geyser broke down a few months back I devised a clever plan (much like King Julian from Madagascar) to not fix it and hence have the motivation that I needed to get up a few minutes early. Now I am going, what the hell was I thinking? Clever, schmever! Bah!!

The water’s on the stove and next comes “What should I make for lunch?”. I consider the options.

*Skip lunch – Contributes to weight loss (acidity? What? Who?); I can sleep for another 10 minutes but I look down at my tummy and can literally hear the future rumbling at 12.30 PM.

*Buy Dabba – I can sleep for another 9 minutes; my very very thin purse catches my eye (thin cuz it’s the month end and the working class know the depleting nature of the currency as the month end looms threateningly); again hear the future tummy rumbling.

Sadly I pick up a couple of vessels and prepare them for cooking um..”food”. Hustle, bustle and 45 mins later – bath water is ready, lunch is packed with yummy doshas and thenga chutney and I grab the towel and rush to put my 10 mins bath water prepping to good use. The bath has helped clear up the sleepy fogginess and 20 mins later, I am all dressed up and ready to rush out of the door – almost. I had forgotten to plug in my music companions firmly in my ears before I begin my walk to catch my ever so faithful but damn so chilly AC bus.

“Super mama. Ready?! One two three four..” I am at the bus stop ready to wait out the 5 mins before my AS 77 EXP slugs along. Fortunately, Dhanush after having kept me company graciously moved aside to let Surya perform “Yellae Lama..” (in my head of course – I mean the picturization). I had Surya in this lovely blue and black jacket in my head when the bus came. Got my usual “window” seat under the -1 deg C air blasting damned AC. Sometimes I wonder how "thick skinned" people should be to survive 60 mins of the air blast THAT cold.

The 60 mins went by as uneventful as ever, unless you count my bundling into a warm cocoon as an “event”. Yadda yadda yadda, work work work, yadda yadda yadda, its 4.45 PM. Time to catch the – wait for it – LOCAL. Brrrrr, always sends a spine down my back or maybe it was the AC on my way out the door. Anyway, being in Mumbai and travelling by the local train is a task fit for gladiators. Travellers commuting by the local on a daily basis should be honoured with a Nobel prize or something for “Endurance”. Trust me, it IS that difficult. Its next to impossible. I know I sound like 'Miss. Glass is half empty' but I would prefer giving out a word of caution than see any of you put through the test. But this day, this fateful Tuesday I had no choice but to risk it. The horrors in store for me -Heaven from all creatures hides the Book of Fate.

The part where you reach the Bandra east station itself is equivalent to climbing The Everest. The journey from where the bus drops you to climbing the station bridge to getting onto the right platform is just that – a JOURNEY.

Mohit Chauhan crooned “Naadan Parinday ghar aa ja..” while the Borivali bound train slowly threatens its way towards us. I say threatened cuz the commuters who are Bandra bound and ON the train already have adapted this style of throwing themselves off the train before the train comes to a complete halt. I wouldn’t blame them cuz if they dint, they would probably be able to get off the train only at the last stop, what with the wave of commuters looking to board the train. I had learnt a thing or two to Poondhax my way through crowds – thanks to the short breaks, small windows and always crowded Avila canteen – and I used my Poondhax way to squeeze myself (bag and all) into the ladies compartment without breaking a rib or a bone.

Sandwiched between two noisy maushis, I waited for an opening to use good old Poondhax again and gain some breathing space. Meanwhile, Enrique: It must be Love…, shuffled my leg a bit…

Maushi 1: What do you think you are doing? Cant you stay in one place.

Me: *closest impression of an Owl I could put up*

Maushi 2: Why do you come into this train with all this bags and stuff? (Her bag must weigh atleast a ton, of course I aint counting all the space her butt was occupying)

Me: “Switty Switty Switty tera pyaar chahida..” *if you listened closely you could hear my teeth making this grinding noise*

Maushi 1: See how she is pretending she doesn’t hear us? Kids these days, sacchi. Such a shame to their parents. *shaking her head and giving a few good shoves with her 2 tonne bag*

Maushi 2: Oh my god! Now that she is comfortably in the train, she is not only pretending not to hear us, she is pushing me also. (With her butt taking up all the space, I simply couldnt comprehend how anyone wasn’t pushing her)

Me: “Aalochana vasthane…”

Maushi 1: *staring daggers* we made the mistake by letting her in. No manners or basic courtesy at all.

Now all of you should know something about me, I am not the one who would walk about picking fights in public. In private, yes I can be categorized the “Don’t take me for granted, you sleazeball” types but in public, I prefer being impassive and concentrate on Siddharth and Surya and Ashwin and Balaji and their million dollar smiles to distract myself in situation such as the one I was facing then. But this time, the butt space, the tonnage, the very sound of their pointless tongues wagging snapped something in me. The rest of the conversation was pretty one-sided – the one side being mine. Sample is as follows:

Me to Maushi 1: Ennadi nenachitirukka un manasula? Local train ellam unga appa sotha, ni mattum 10 bag vechu eraruthuku. Appdina proof kudu di, myir! Pesa vandhittalum. Unnaku sohusa ponum na sonthama mandala irukara masala vechu, train a manufacture pannu, jammunu 10 bago 20 bago thookitu po.

Me to Maushi 2: Apram ni, unnaku enna manasula Playboy model nu nenappa. 150 kg irunthutu, 25 kg alavukku scena podra. Niyum bag a thookitu thana nikra? Ivlo edatha un gundu body edutha pinna eppdi di thallama nippanga? Arivu irukka enna? Nan pesama iruntha, enna venalum pesuvaya.

Me to both: Engalukkum vai irukku. Ithuku mela oru vartha pesuneenga *violent gestures with my hand* nadakarathae vera. Samjhe na?

I took a deep breath and realized that I had reached Borivali. I got down with a jump in my step after the train slowed down, arranged my face into a menacing stare and gave the two maushis a face they wouldn’t forget in a beat. I turned to the west side with this big smile that went from ear-to-ear. Little did I know, I would get so much satisfaction by speaking Tamil to people who dint even understand a word of it.

Heaven from all creatures hides the Book of Fate - Govinda Govinda. :D

One Night @ Marine Drive!

If you are expecting some kind of supernatural story types judging from the title, then I am sorry to disappoint you guys. This is a real life anecdote that I would like to dedicate to one of my BFFs Soup. Its an anecdote which describes two individuals’ trip to Marine Drive – a much yearned, a much detained and finally made trip.

Vids and Soup have always been of the same “wavelength”, if you know what I mean. They could read other others’ minds, literally. They knew each others’ interests and disinterests like the back of each others’ hands, I believe. They even like the same “assorted Danish Cookies” but knew how to stick to their own favorites. Etcetera etcetera. Vids had been to marine drive like a million times, sometimes alone and sometimes with friends, but never at night (that’s when you can actually add the tagline “adventure” to the whole trip). And she was longing for a night 'sashay' and that’s when Soup landed at Mumbai and expressed the very same idea. She expressed it to Vids cuz she knew she wouldn’t be judged or her idea would be objected to. So they just hopped onto the first train to Churchgate. We all know that the best adventures come when unplanned and uncalled for and that’s exactly what they did.

It must have been 9 PM when they reached Churchgate from where they took a taxi to Marive Drive. The roads were empty except for a few cars hurrying by but they weren’t scared. They were all excited to finally strike one thing off their “bucket lists” and to enjoy doing it together. After getting dropped off beside “Not Just Jazz By The Bay” they figured they should take a stroll by the sea admist the number of families and couples strolling or sitting on the pavement. They picked a spot where they could sit and look out into the sea. The moon was out; casting a dim glow over the black waters of the sea. Their hearts were at peace and they were thinking the same thing, “Wish this moment would go on forever”.

“Chai lelo. Chai” – the cry broke the silence. They were feeling cold and a cup of hot cutting Chai seemed like the perfect cure to the cold. 10 rupees later – still cold but serene and awe struck by the sight in front of them: a calm and picturesque night by the sea, something that’s almost impossible to enjoy in ever-buzzing Mumbai. During the next half an hour, they contemplated getting their portraits sketched by a “sea-side” artist for something to remember the night by (like they were gonna forget) and decide against it, admired the sea a bit more and hesitated to part with their cold yet comfortable seat for fear of losing the serenity that they now commanded. The area in and around Marine Drive is supposed to be the most expensive place for offices, shops, establishments and the like and their nocturnal adventure just about answered the “Why?” part. Who wouldn’t want to work in an office looking out to the sea? When all you need to do to take a breather is walk a few steps and Voila!

Moving on, the next step was to listen to a live band while pizza-ing. Jump in “Pizzaria” – one of the oldest pizza places in Mumbai – visited by celebrities and general public alike. The live band idea turned out to be “most – unlikely” to happen as the band playing that night sucked. So they settled for Pizza-ing with a live chat show, something both of them were proficient in. Pizza-ing and Jazz-ing done, they cared enough to look at the watch and it was midnight!!! They were in an almost parallel world – Mumbai being so big and all. To top that, they had to use the public transport. Leaving it all to the fates, they moved on to a Baskin Robbins parlour (open at midnight too!!) and bought medium sized scoops of ice cream and start walking to the station – uneventfully but very much enjoying their ice creams. At the station they jumped into the first correct train they see. Then the lights went out – just like that. For a minute there, their brave souls fluttered a bit and then came the voice, “Yeh gadi nahi jayegi, bagal mein jo gadi khadi hai, usme chado.” It was like sunshine through dreary clouds.

The train was almost empty except for, literally, a handful. The whole ladies compartment was for them. They walked around and talked, stood next to the doors and talked, laughed their asses off – in short they had a wonderful time. One of the best times in their life and one entry scratched right off their bucket lists.

Its funny how doing the most "stupidest" of stupid things with your friend ends up being so memorable and so much fun. Well I guess that’s why all of us are sort of "authorized" to do stupid things with FRIENDS. Hope all of you have done something stupid with your friend that makes you ROFL every single time you think about it. If not, its high time you did it.

This is for you Soup, my laaav :D

Aamchi Mumbai - Part 1

6 months!! Whew that’s how long:

i) I have been out of my home sweet Coimbatore
ii) I haven't had regular access to parents' love or "cat love"
iii) I haven't seen my friends.
iv) I haven't eaten home food like idly, vada, dosha, etc
v) I HAVE BEEN IN MUMBAI!!!!

Well and since Mumbai has been my "hometown (temp)" for the past 6 months, I thought I should give it a small literary acknowledgement on my blog (plus get off my lazy butt and start writing!!!
:P)

Well I think I will start off with Mumbai: Part 1-----How I landed in Mumbai in the first Place!!!


On the 7th of May, 2010 ended my ever so sweet (which I now realize) college life. No more projects or periodicals or vivas or anything else which makes us crib (Yipeeeeee ) On the other hand, no more canteen trips with friends, no more “stealthy” hostel visits to see friends, no more sms-ing under the desks during class to the people sitting 5 feet away from you (SOOOOOOB). Well no more college – period. I had a job offer at hand and a few links which will lead me to modules and modules and more modules which would help me train myself to do my future job better. A job I knew I wasn’t good at (my friends don’t think so). I dint work hard and earn my silver medal and be the university topper in POLYMER ENGINEERING for a job in PROGRAMMING. But the pay was good and I made up my mind to do my Masters a few years down the lane. So started my initial days out of college.

May 12th, a Wednesday. Wednesdays have always been the luckiest day of the week for me. On this particular Wednesday, Dow Chemical International Private Limited was coming to our college to recruit a couple of graduates for a techno-commercial role. I was excited. Dow was an MNC and its history went way back and one of my seniors was in Dow and he encouraged me to do my best.

It was always my wish to give an interview in our college guest house. But never happened. Finally my wish was coming true. My interview with Dow was supposed to happen at the guest house. I dressed for the occasion –
*neutral colours – check
* tiny “almost invisible” accessories – check
*literature review – check
*mental preparation – NOOOO

I was scared out of my wits. I mean, I have attended interviews but my confidence just crumbles if I think of facing interviews. I steeled myself and sat for the pre-placement talk. The Dow team were 3 people – 2 gentlemen and a lady. They looked like they meant business. And so started the pre-placement talk. I was very impressed with what they were showing and I was really excited to be getting on board with them and I promised myself that I would try my level best and give the best interview I have ever given (out of the 2 :P)

I was to be the fourth person to give the interview and became a nervous wreck waiting for my turn. There were rumors flying all around about the level of difficulty, type of questions they were asking and what not.

My turn came and I went in – after a deep breath. I was standing in front of the two gentlemen. I offered my file with my resume and certificates but they dint take it cuz they had a copy of my resume and some forms in front of them. They started off by asking me to introduce myself, after which I was at ease. Some technical questions and we were done. They found my email id very interesting and asked me to explain, which I promptly did. They told me that the job would be based in Mumbai and there would be a lot of travelling and HINDI involved and I nodded my head along. DONE. Next came my HR interview and I was interviewed by the lady I had seen earlier and the questions that followed were what I could only conclude were routine questions. We were through. Then came the hard part – waiting for the results. I knew I had done pretty well and all but one cannot conclude what the other person has perceived or judged.

Days passed; my exam results were out and they were good. Me and dad decided to celebrate my grades with pizzas. On my way out, I got a call from a frend of mine who made one of the best sentences I have heard in my life – “You got into Dow and you are going to Mumbai.” Must have been one of my luckiest days :D I was ecstatic.

Then came the news which threw me off balance. Another rep from Dow got into touch with me a few days later and told me that I had to join on the 1st of June and I only had a handful of days left to savour my time at home. The next few just flew by like a blur. I went to Chennai to get a couple of pre-med tests done as required by the company, met a couple of my friends, did a whole bunch of shopping and bought my first ever flight ticket from CJB to BOM – Coimbatore to Mumbai.

The plan was to leave for Mumbai on the 31st of May and stay with my relative till I get settled in this hostel that I had found for myself. My dad was to accompany me and stay for 2 days.
And so the D day came and I had a whole load of luggage. The permitted luggage per person was 25 kgs per person and I think I had 50 kg – all weighed out :P. Good thing my dad was with me of course. And so I set out to the airport (after a whole lot of tears from my mom and a whole other lot of consolations from me). Surprisingly, I dint cry (no idea why). My wonderful friends; Hariish, SG, Vignesh, Karthi, Hariprasad ,to name a few, came all the way to the airport to see me off and the time came to board. I dint know when I would see my parents or friends next. I still dint shed a tear, very very weird. I got my bags checked in, my boarding pass done and moved to where my mom and bro and uncle were sitting. Bid them one last goodbye (still no tears) and proceeded to security check. All this was a fresh experience for me and my dad and after a few silly mistakes (hey! Nobody is perfect) we were all buckled up inside the Kingfisher Red flight.



I gotta say, you guys, travelling by flight is by far the most amazing feeling I have got in my life. The feeling lasts only for the first two times, after that it becomes like “oh sure, what else is new!!!” :P :P The bundles and bundles of clouds that you feel you can just jump onto, the way the river looks like a thread weaving across green plains and coming closer down you feel its like this huge blue blanket, the way buildings look like tiny coloured boxes, I could just go on and on. In short, it was great!!! :D

I reached Mumbai mid afternoon. The flight from Coimbatore to Mumbai takes about an hour and 45 minutes. The Mumbai airport has two terminals and I got down at 1A and it was huge considering the fact that I have only been to 2 airports in my life. My dad and I went out to meet my relative. The bags were put and we rolled the car out of the airport and the first thought that came into my mind was this “OH MY GOD!! Look at the crowd!!”. The place was bustling with activity and everything was either too small or too huge.


And just like Dumbledore tells Harry, I got myself prepared to step out and pursue that flighty temptress, adventure!!! :D