Festival of Lights

Deepavali - Over the years

• 15 years back!

Months of preparation go into planning how to be the dada in our street. Dada refers to the household which sets off (rather sets on) the biggest sara vedi in the street. The three of us (with Yours Truly being the youngest), will make diligent plans and we would even forgo spending on rasna after cricket matches and save for this cracker-burst. "Kaasa kari aakkaradhu" ku literal meaning na idhu than, but then I was too young to realise that :) Ippdi vayathula eera thuniya kaaya pottu, save panni, added to that amma's contribution, appa's contribution, appa side thatha-paati contribution, amma side paati contribution elaam senthu oru 400rs. varum. Andha 400-a eppdi ideal-a spend panradhu, edhu edhu thevai, edhu venaam, ellaraiyum thrupthi pada vekkaraa maadhiri oru prelim-list pottuduvom.(alliance-la seat pirikkaradha vida idhu kashtamaana kaariyam).Intha 400rs dabbu vachundu thaatha velai panra office manager kittenthu recommendation letter ellaam vaangindu avaroda oru thoorathu second cousin vachu irukkura cracker shop la poi shop panni, rendu anna's um veetuku vanthaa, deepavali a vida ellaaroda faces-um brightly lit aa irukum..

Adutha naal- oru 430am ku ezhunthu ennai thechu kulichu ganga snaanam mudichu (madras-la thanni vardhe periya visheyam, idhula gangaa-vera... romba thaan over - aana onnu idhe clever-aa oru company Lifebuoy soap-a, Ganga Soap nu peru maathi vikka aaramichutaan), vaanathai pola brothers- maadhiri pudhu thuni ellam pottundu oru 2 hours vedikkai, konjam crackers burst panni kondaadaradhu. Over- enthula neraiyavum vedikka koodadhu, aporama night- paraak paaka vendiyadhu thaan...

Then we used to go visit my father's side relatives - cousins-gumbaloda konjam avanga pattaasaiyum vedichu. And those streets were very small - oru lakshmi- vediyo, kuruvi-vediyo vachaa, antha pakkam pora cycle/motorbike ellaaraiyum niruthi vachuduvom... If it had rained in the night, paadhi crackers bussu thaan...paper-kaaran-a oru 30 seconds wait panna vachuttu - "Sorry sir, bussu" nu solra sugame alaadhi thaan :-)

And the reason of going to dad's side relatives first is - so u can wind up faster and spend more time in mom's side veedu. Does anyone else think the same - That somehow I always feel closer to Amma's side relatives than Appa's side relatives. Dont know why, even though I have cousins of my age only in my dad's side, still feel a lot closer to my amma's side relatives and cousins only!

Idhellaam mudichu - amma side paati veetuku ponaa - sooper timing, 930/10 aagi irukum. A cup of paayasam with Sirappu Oliyum Oliyum would follow. Apporama angeyum kari-aaki (vera enna kaasa-dhaan), madhyaanam lunch-um mudichukka vendiyadhu thaan.

Afternoon time pass kaagave antha bijili pattasu kandu pidichu irunthaanga nu ninaikiren. 100 single bijili's will be like 10rs. Aaluku oru packet eduthundu motta maadi ponaa, oru 3 hours pozhudhu pogum...

Apporama evening kalai-kattum, again back to Saram, rocket, hydrogen bomb, same - "sorry bussu", etc etc.. The best cracker that I liked when I was young was the double sound. Basically you hear one sound from the ground, and a piece of it flies high in the air and goes off there - adhula yaaroda vedi highest pochu-nu vera bet. And chinna paiyan-aa irukkaradhunaala "pavam kuzhanthai - avnaukum oru rocket kudunga da, avana bathirama paathukkonga" nu konjam over-gavanippu vera.

This was my typical deepavali when I was in middle school...

• 7-8 years back:

College vanthaachu - main-a simran, manisha, poandra chappaathi maavu ponnunga tamizh cinema-la iruntha neram. SUN TV-la "First time in TV" - nnu, irukura ellaa artist-oda interview/songs etc irukum. Also, chinna vayasula iruntha enthu konjam kammiyaachu..(sari vayasaachu-nu othukaren), Hostel-la irunthathunaala deepavali-ku munadi naal thaan vetuku vanthu settle-aagi, next day-ve kilambara maadhiri irukum... antha kadi vera...

• Recent years:

Its been the 6th straight year I am missing Deepavali at home, and luckily this time it falls on a weekend. Weekday vaa irunthaa romba sutham. Atleast this time, I am with my Anna's family - so konjam-aavathu antha feel varum...And as usual US ishtyle-la potluck, group games, senthu oru veetla lighting crackers etc...aporama veetuku vanthu sera vendiyadhu thaan...

But, whatever it is still the biggest festival in India and here is my warm wishes for you on deepavali.

Thalai-deepavali irukkaravanga- santhoshamaa irunga...
thalai-deepavali pass panni romba naalachu-naa safe-a irunga,
thalai-deepavali illaadha "Thani" deepavali kondaadaravanga, someone somewhere is there-nu ninachu console pannikkonga!

Alrite,
Friday adhuvuma oru 330pm ku escape aagalaamnu pathundu iruken...

ps: Kudukkara kaasu-ku sooper a irukura ore pattasu vantu "Paambu" thaan....
50 paise-ku uleenthu padam eduthunde irukum...and oru dabba-la oru 10 irukum...
Veedu naasthi aayidum aana...

Matter hierarchy!

Definition:

Matter - Its more of the college/univ term. A one-liner would equate to "Whats hot happening around you?". Its about the latest developments b/w usually a guy and a girl (whether you know them or not is immaterial). The sources could be third-hand or even fourth, but more the hands (actually ears) it traverses, more spicy it could get.

Sharing Matter - One of those idle evenings when you have nothing else to talk to your friend, you share the karma, cha matter. Again, for the friend to divulge matter to you, you have to prove yourself over time, that something told to you, dies with you. (Actually none of the matter die, it would have been shared somewhere sometime to someone).

Matter Dissemination - Adhaaga pattadhu, no matter will escape the eyes of the people. Someone somewhere will have an inkling to whats happening. The sharing of matter usually takes a route, as to who gets to hear it first and who last.

Objective:
To build a tree according to the hierarchy of matter dissemination.

Analysis: Idhu kadhaiyaa irukee... experiments or test-cases are never revealed to the public (for accounts of extreme privacy). So I am going to jump to the observations and results straight away.

Observations:
The number 1 position goes to:

1. Single Girl - She gets to know of all the things that are happening in and around the place - as to what's going on between x and y and if there is a possibility of this turning real.
Reasons: One - she is single and has all the time in the world and second "She is single" and people tend to get closer to her! (You dont have to worry about angry stares from her BF!).

The number 2 position goes to:

2. Single Guy - Now this race was close. I almost chose committed girl, but then being single definitely gives you lot of time to talk-gossip. Even if you dont know something, you can ask as many questions possible without getting hit on your head by your GF!

The number 3 position goes to:

3. Committed Girl - Cheer up girl, you are still not the last. And you were not the second just because of lack of time! (and to a lesser extent your cold-staring BF next to you :)

The ignominy of last position goes to:

4. Committed Guy - Maanida pathar-la arpa padhar intha jenmam- thaan. Orutharum kandukka maattanga, evanum call panna maataan. Neeye paninaalum - voice message-aa vittu thallanum. Ellaarum avan settled-nu odhukki vechuduvaanga, nee busy-aa iruppa nu nakkal vera viduvaanga. (Sathiyamaa, illa-da nu sonnaa nambavaa poreenga?). Unaku oru matter- evanaavathu sonaa - kandippa that must be like 6 months old (and you think no-one knows when actually every-one in the friend's circle knows about it).

The End.

ps1: Reason for this blog - the drastic fall of emails and phone calls to me over the past 2-3 weeks :(
ps2: For reasons mentioned above, atleast comments vanthaa email varume nu oru sandhosham.
ps3: Thanks to my friend VV who coined this "Matter-sollu" word, but avanum......

Me, myself Tag - NIIB syndrome

Inspired by Archana's ideology and thoughts, here I go with the Tagged post to make up for the NIIB syndrome. (No-idea-in-brain!)

The rules are as follows (copy & paste from here):

Rules of this tag:

1. Name the person who tagged you.
2. 8 things about you.
3. Tag 6 people.

Here is my entry:

• Archana tagged me (yaanai-ku oru kaalam vanthaa poonaai-kum oru kaalam varum (or vice-versa if you prefer it :), Beware).

• Eight things about me: (now, this really gets me thinking)

1. Planning:

When I was at school and during my undergrad days, I start planning on how much to read each day during the study holidays so that I can do 2 revisions before even the exam starts. And more often than not, they will be realistic plans (not like finish 5 chapters in Physics in 1 day, aiyooo!!). But then as you would expect, none of the plans take off. Atleast school-level la plans worked to an extent because of Board Exam fear. Undergrad exam plans were the worst. Since I studied in a hostel, study holidays are times when we can get home, enjoy home food (hostel food sucked big time!), and watch TV with gay abandon. Idhula engenthu padikkaradhu? There were semesters were I did not even open a single page during my study holidays. But then, there were always a minimum of 1 day holiday between exams.

Also, thanks to my 'mandai-mandai' handwriting & underlining skills, I always used to manage more than I expected. So after college days, I felt making a chart with my planning is just a futile exercise. Thats when I decided, "No-plan-will-be-my-plan".
But then, when it comes to planning for a get-together, or visiting some must-see places in the U.S. no-one can beat my enthu in planning all the nitty-gritty detail for the trip.

2. Deals:

I often visit deal sites before buying stuff, like many guys around here I guess. And the best satisfaction you obtain is when you buy the same laptop as your friend, with free wireless upgrade, and that is $150 cheaper. (PB, mannichukko, but then you did not ask me before buying :)

Quicktip - Guys in the U.S., if you use Google checkout (there is a nice video), it saves you another 10$ as a promo offer. For those guys who do not know the value of $10, it is 78 minutes of talk time if you use reliance to call India. :)

3. Cooking:

I love to cook. I would rather eat homemade food for lunch than burgers/pizza/chinese fried rice. And I love to cook quick, so I prefer frozen vegetables to fresh ones which require cutting.
But it has been like 9 months since I cooked - I am now so used to my manni's (sis-in-law) cooking that I dont know if I still love cooking. But atleast I used to :)

4. Movie Buff:

I am a movie buff, not as in I watch every movie thats released in lankasri. (There are some movies that dont even release in theaters, but they can be found in lankasri).
Ya, I dont watch every movie, but I read every cine news possible. (Read as: I love reading gossips). sify/movies, thatstamil, vaaramalar are my regular reads to keep me updated on the movie news side. I dont mind reading crappy stories of Ileana (the new glamour queen of telugu cinema) and her brother's bandhaa's/conditions in studio sets.
And I have to accept I have started to watch a lot of movies than when I was in India. Cabtain's Perarasu is what I want to see next.

5. Music:

I have to accept my music knowledge is very limited. (music knowledge is zero-nratha dejent aa solli irukeen). I have never been exposed to carnatic music, but have listened to a lot of friends who sing well, but then my interests were never kindled. And usually in a pot-luck & movie get-together, thanks to the event-organizer, there will be a singing session inevitably.(while in Lexington).
I used to flock together with guys and we proclaim ourselves as zero-talent-group(ZTG). And the pain that you feel in your heart, when someone from the ZTG sings well is more excruciating than a cup-in-a-semester exam.

Inimel ezhutharadhu ellam oppukku chappa (ran out of ideas after number 5)

6. Legs everywhere:

I like to try everything. Be it sports/arts/cooking. But then I dont become an expert on any of those things. For eg: I started my Guitar classes, but left after my Level-1, had I gone on the Lexington music troupe (not like the karagaattakaran ghoshti) would still not be searching for a guitarist :)

7. Afternoons:

I hate sleeping in the afternoons. No matter how little I had slept the previous day, I prefer to be up and doing anything other than sleeping. I can almost hear my manni-say "weekends la nee ezhunthukkaradhe almost at noon, idhula afternoon thoongine-na avvlo dhaan..."

8.
In sport games that usually Indians-involve in, If your opponent is very weak, one would say "I can beat him with even my left hand, its that easy". That applies to me as well. I can beat a lot of people at tennis/TT/cricket if I play left-handed. And hold-on, that does not mean, I am good at all these games, but just that I am a southpaw. Except for eating with my hand, I use my left-hand to do everything in day-to-day life.

Well that pretty much ends my blah-blah, suya puranaam.
I once again thank (in a sarcastical tone) whoever gave me this opportunity.

Now comes the tagging part....

hmmm, any volunteeers??

News clips

So, me back to working full swing. Full swing as in work-check email-check news-stare at the monitor-check email-news-work!!
I have become a complusive email checker and a news ticker. And this does not mean, I get emails quite a lot but atleast a lot of things (good and bad) are happening in the world to comment upon.

• Pardoning Afzal??

Okay, here is the guy who was the mastermind of the Dec 2001 parliament attack and a known terrorist. He took main part in the plan of action, knew what they were aiming at, and understood that if they succeed in the attack what will happen to the country. Comeon, had the 6 or so head constables/inspectors on patrol not fight these terrorists, who knows our parliament building would have been history now and I vaguely recollect some of our ministers were inside the building that time. So with this in mind, think of the magnitude of the plot and its after effects. And Afzal has been convicted by the Supreme Court, he has told his relatives that he will not file for pardon, and yet there is an opinion-building going on to pardon him. J&K Chief Minister publicly goes on record saying he should be pardoned, does he give a reason - NO.
I feel this is total b.s. to even talk about pardoning his acts.
Take a look at what All India Anti-Terror Chairman says on this count.

Anyways, moving on...

• Chickening out?

Today''s Hindu quotes..Anbumani Ramadoss ascertaining Chikungunya was not the primary reason for any death in the country so far. He goes on to announce - "In almost all the cases involving deaths-of-chikungunya patients, the primary reasons were different". And this is just 2 days after the Kerala CM publicly accepting that Chikungunya has resulted in 60 odd deaths in the state.

So, who is right?, Who cares...

• Here is a Winner...

To finish off in a lighter vein, Laloo Prasad announced the opening of a Gharib Rath, a low-cost fully A/C train between North Bihar and Amritsar. It seems a lot of Bihari people usually go to Amritsar for picking up a decent living and hence the decision on the route. After the flagging-off, he announces all the raliway-development work in Bihar, new broad-gauge connectivity will be completed before 2009. He quips, "after all everyone knows the Lok Sabha election will be held in 2009."
LOL :) That is an honest assessment, thats two things rolled into one - a clever remark to make people feel good and also make them laugh.
No wonder, he charmed & ruled Bihar for 15 long yearss...