A lot has happened over the last 2 fortnights, to easily predict this month to be the most happening one of this year. To remind you all, this is the month, when
- Symbols like lotus and hand would go backstage, to pave way for the posters with bat and ball, even though the fate of the nation is waiting to be rewritten.
- Lalit Modi would exercise more powers than Manmohan Singh, the hon. Prime Minister of India.
- the portraits of Sachin and Dhoni would make its way into the pooja hall of every house.
- when the chief election commissioner Gopalaswami, has to plead to Srinivasan(BCCI secratary) and Lalit Modi, to free up some dates, for the Loksabha elections.
In spite of all these, if you still find that you are unperturbed by these commotions all around, the only reason that I can think of is the shift of the epicentre, that has made the tremors look like jerks.Though it is right on the part of the Government of India, to send the IPL on exile stating the security reasons, it wasn't realised by its organisers, the amount of glamour and hype that would be lost, by holding it in a different nation.The volume of money involved behind the tournament is what made people go crazy in search of venues - in fact the first month of every financial year(from when this IPL kicked off), is when people all around the globe are made to wonder if India is the wealthiest nation in the world.And with this amount of desperation, I thought of suggesting Mr.Modi, to hold the tourney in the basement parking of my apartment, if he was not able to finalize any other venue.Remember,this is not a joke by any means - millions can make even monkeys turn mad.. why not us? But then, a country, where the Parliament closes early for a cricket match, or the schools and colleges declaring a day's leave on the day of a match in their city, or the entire film industry waiting for a World cup to get over to release even the films of Superstars, cannot be denied of the basic right of worshipping their idols by going to the temple (I mean the cricket ground) directly.Though South Africa is a nation, which has done a lot to promote cricket in their country recently, one will still not be able to hear the orchestra made out of the pumping of a million hearts, when Sachin comes out to bat, or view the frames of girls going crazy, when Dhoni swings his bat for a sixer.When this is the case for Sachin or Yuvraj, the likes of Sharukh,Priety and Shilpa, does not even worth a mention.Despite them being Pharaohs in their own den, they would go unnoticed, like the shadows of a passing cloud.Just imagine - how many of you would dance in joy, if Russell Crowe comes to shake his leg, at a match in Hyderabad... Same goes the story for Shahrukh.The only respite for the players, that I could think of, is that they don't have to get roasted like tandoori chicken in the scorching heat, at venues like Delhi and Chennai.
Though I had said all these, I am still happy, to atleast watch the show getting on the television screens, rather than waiting for it to happen.But the only request I have for you, Mr.Modi, is that never think of replacing the queen 'I' in the beehive IPL, ever again - we as a nation deserve and love to watch it happen, in that spot on the world map, which has the highest literacy rate in cricket, though the English men can claim the honour for inventing it.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
முதல் கிறுக்கல்
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Trip to the Valley - Part II
Day 2 started very early at about 4 am, when the alarm bells started ringing madly on every mobile that we could spot and people begging them for mercy, for few grace minutes.I and Jay donning the role of roosters, had to start crowing just at the break of dawn, so that we dont miss the train to Araku and give way for more twists in the story.Four of us took the pole position for the race of the day and somehow managed to make it to the railway station on time.
Breaking the long queue and forcing our way to the ticket counter, I was surprised to hear that a ticket to Araku was only as costlier as the auto fare that we had to pay for the travel from the cottage to the station.And with this, the job was not over by any means.The best part was when I had to bring out all my experience of the monkey tricks I had learnt during my school and college days, by jumping into the running train and reserving seats for the entire team.It was almost an hour wait for us to see the faces that we left behind, while hurrying up to the station.
Loading our bags with few packets of biscuits, we were ready for the train to depart.And how can a train journey be complete without chatter and games, especially with such a unruly gang like us.And guess what, we too played the same 2 games that would be on every one's lips when asked to think of a list of games to be played on a trip - dumb charades and antakshari.After trying our hands at acting for some time, people really got irritated with the expressions on the faces of the Shahrukh Khans and Priety Zintas in our troop, that made them switch to the back end mode.This time the playback singers had to take the curse as people tried to become crooners and started imitating them.As time went on, the adrenaline started pumping up with excitement and very soon, the decibel levels of our noise crossed the limits of tolerance,that if we had continued it even for ten more minutes, the engine driver would have come down all the way, to catch us by our collars and literally push us out of the train.Thanks to the tunnels and the beautiful greenery all around,that made us dumbstruck.
The series of tunnels that followed brought out the childishness in us, that made us shout and jump in joy, whenever she went into a cloud of darkness.After a round of clicks on the cameras, the ranges and the valleys around, ceased to impress us anymore and looked nothing more than a patch of green art.The throats that shouted till the point they could be dampened with the little amount of water left in the bottles,now wanted some solace and energy conservative talks and thus the topic slightly moved to history.After having loitered all around the twin cities for almost three years,I felt ashamed that I didnt even know the logic behind the naming of these 2 cities, until Dixith enlightened me, with his rays of wisdom and explaining us about the same.(Hyder ali ke baad = Hyderabad aur Sikhandar ali ke baad = Secunderabad).I had goosebumps when I heard it and trust me when I say this - your brain has to be preserved in a museum and people should be charged with an entry ticket for seeing it.We just had to kill half an hour from then to reach Araku,the slot being filled with the bout between Neha and Dixith.
A deserted place with two rail tracks and a name board confirmed us that it is actually the railway station in Araku.With only one auto that could be spotted there,we had no option left but to make an entry to the Guinness book of world records for 15 people travelling in a single auto(I am really poor at numbers and might have counted some people twice knowingly or unknowingly).The cottage that we chose to stay, was designed like huts and wore a different look from the rest of the ones in the surrounding.
An hour to refresh and time for us to leave to the waterfall,in the post lunch session.The jeep had enough space to accommodate everyone except me.After a round of re locations,I was finally offered some space, but I had to be as flexible as Prabhudeva to get myself parked into that.The drive lasted smoothly on the ghats for an hour and half, till a point after which the road ceased to be a road and a mesh of pebbles and gravel.But the driver did well, to literally drag the entire load over those pebbles, which made me think if he possessed a licence for a tractor or was ploughing the fields before this job.
The final point that he could take us to, was still 3 km from our destination.So the long walk started and was interesting too, till we noticed an array of 100 steps in front of us waiting to be climbed.I managed to get past this even and when I was in the last few steps, I was ready to remove my shirt, preparing myself for the water flow,which is when I realised that there was nothing more than a lonely railway track and nothing else - not even a drop of water to quench my thirst, leave alone the waterfall.But to encourage people to get deceived like me,I kept waving my hand, as if I was really enjoying out there.This was the first check point when people started analysing the worth of travelling further.Never mind,after a couple of minutes,the hiking resumed, till a point which instigated a belief in us that there is truly a waterfall in that locality.
By the time we reached this checkpoint 2, everyone was on their last legs and decided not to go ahead, but I could convince them to put the final foot forward.But this strip of trekking was the most enjoyable and dangerous too as we had to press our foot hard on the terra firma to get a grip and move ahead.But the moment we landed on the water, all those pains got evaporated and we were really tempted to get ourselves drenched in it.An hour under the ice cold water and all possible nuisances that we could make, made us think of the way back before it gets dark.But since it being a summer and the water level not so encouraging, the guys decided to improve it with the bottles of water that they had bought(not sure if it was Aquafina or Kinley) and wanted to stay back.
It was then that I realised that we had an acrophobic in our troop,whose legs start dancing automatically on a trekking.It was only that day when I watched a live show of a ballerina pirouetting on the pebbles in the path back home.If you are still guessing who am I talking about, it is none other than Pallavi, who kept her eyes shut tightly and never opened it till we reached the plains.The drive back to the huts at that time of the night, was really smooth and enjoyable with a bit of DJing that helped its course.A self served buffet was the order of the night and the end of the day too.
Day3 was the most leisurely one of the three as we had just one spot left to be covered and plenty of time to do it.A nice breakfast is all that was needed to kick off the day and travel to the Borra caves - the last spot on our itinerary.Located at a place worth an hour's journey, it was almost noon when we reached it.The caves were much beautiful and eye catching than I imagined of,but since we didnt hire a guide to lead us, the trip was as good as watching a Portuguese movie without subtitles.With lots of locations and camera flashes, people were still not convinced to leave the place - especially Dixith and Srikanth, who were busy shooting their honeymoon pictures, with such high levels of enthusiasm.By the time we came out, the sun was at its scorching best,training us for the day ahead in Vizag.After the lunch, we started just at the right time to catch the train back to Hyderabad. Oh forgot to tell you about the Dhimsa dance with the tribal.Though this lasted only for a bubble's lifetime,it almost tops the list of memorable moments of the trip.Although the ladies found it really hard to match the steps of those professionals, they did a decent job to portray that they too danced, in the videos.Suresh was the man of the moment with his quirks and twists, as if Michael Jackson's soul has entered his body momentarily and he had to be literally pulled back to the jeep to bring him back to normal.
Few Highlights of this trip:
- There were few dostana pairs identified on this trip and in a move to encourage them in the future tours, they would be given the first preference to avail the honeymoon offers like separate rooms, travel tickets etc.
- For the interest of the acrophobics, we shall not plan for trekking for a waterfall on a hill and even if we plan for one, take care that it originates from a plain and not from a cliff.
- A secretive note to all you guys. If you are impressed by the Axe Deo ad and you ever dream to have the girls behind you all the time, then take up the role of the financier. Believe me when I say this, it really works - but just like the deo, your magic will work only till you have your purse with you safely.
- A personal lesson for me - what you give is all you get back in life. On the same lines, what SEE gave me, is what the SEA took back from me.
Breaking the long queue and forcing our way to the ticket counter, I was surprised to hear that a ticket to Araku was only as costlier as the auto fare that we had to pay for the travel from the cottage to the station.And with this, the job was not over by any means.The best part was when I had to bring out all my experience of the monkey tricks I had learnt during my school and college days, by jumping into the running train and reserving seats for the entire team.It was almost an hour wait for us to see the faces that we left behind, while hurrying up to the station.
Loading our bags with few packets of biscuits, we were ready for the train to depart.And how can a train journey be complete without chatter and games, especially with such a unruly gang like us.And guess what, we too played the same 2 games that would be on every one's lips when asked to think of a list of games to be played on a trip - dumb charades and antakshari.After trying our hands at acting for some time, people really got irritated with the expressions on the faces of the Shahrukh Khans and Priety Zintas in our troop, that made them switch to the back end mode.This time the playback singers had to take the curse as people tried to become crooners and started imitating them.As time went on, the adrenaline started pumping up with excitement and very soon, the decibel levels of our noise crossed the limits of tolerance,that if we had continued it even for ten more minutes, the engine driver would have come down all the way, to catch us by our collars and literally push us out of the train.Thanks to the tunnels and the beautiful greenery all around,that made us dumbstruck.
The series of tunnels that followed brought out the childishness in us, that made us shout and jump in joy, whenever she went into a cloud of darkness.After a round of clicks on the cameras, the ranges and the valleys around, ceased to impress us anymore and looked nothing more than a patch of green art.The throats that shouted till the point they could be dampened with the little amount of water left in the bottles,now wanted some solace and energy conservative talks and thus the topic slightly moved to history.After having loitered all around the twin cities for almost three years,I felt ashamed that I didnt even know the logic behind the naming of these 2 cities, until Dixith enlightened me, with his rays of wisdom and explaining us about the same.(Hyder ali ke baad = Hyderabad aur Sikhandar ali ke baad = Secunderabad).I had goosebumps when I heard it and trust me when I say this - your brain has to be preserved in a museum and people should be charged with an entry ticket for seeing it.We just had to kill half an hour from then to reach Araku,the slot being filled with the bout between Neha and Dixith.
A deserted place with two rail tracks and a name board confirmed us that it is actually the railway station in Araku.With only one auto that could be spotted there,we had no option left but to make an entry to the Guinness book of world records for 15 people travelling in a single auto(I am really poor at numbers and might have counted some people twice knowingly or unknowingly).The cottage that we chose to stay, was designed like huts and wore a different look from the rest of the ones in the surrounding.
An hour to refresh and time for us to leave to the waterfall,in the post lunch session.The jeep had enough space to accommodate everyone except me.After a round of re locations,I was finally offered some space, but I had to be as flexible as Prabhudeva to get myself parked into that.The drive lasted smoothly on the ghats for an hour and half, till a point after which the road ceased to be a road and a mesh of pebbles and gravel.But the driver did well, to literally drag the entire load over those pebbles, which made me think if he possessed a licence for a tractor or was ploughing the fields before this job.
The final point that he could take us to, was still 3 km from our destination.So the long walk started and was interesting too, till we noticed an array of 100 steps in front of us waiting to be climbed.I managed to get past this even and when I was in the last few steps, I was ready to remove my shirt, preparing myself for the water flow,which is when I realised that there was nothing more than a lonely railway track and nothing else - not even a drop of water to quench my thirst, leave alone the waterfall.But to encourage people to get deceived like me,I kept waving my hand, as if I was really enjoying out there.This was the first check point when people started analysing the worth of travelling further.Never mind,after a couple of minutes,the hiking resumed, till a point which instigated a belief in us that there is truly a waterfall in that locality.
By the time we reached this checkpoint 2, everyone was on their last legs and decided not to go ahead, but I could convince them to put the final foot forward.But this strip of trekking was the most enjoyable and dangerous too as we had to press our foot hard on the terra firma to get a grip and move ahead.But the moment we landed on the water, all those pains got evaporated and we were really tempted to get ourselves drenched in it.An hour under the ice cold water and all possible nuisances that we could make, made us think of the way back before it gets dark.But since it being a summer and the water level not so encouraging, the guys decided to improve it with the bottles of water that they had bought(not sure if it was Aquafina or Kinley) and wanted to stay back.
It was then that I realised that we had an acrophobic in our troop,whose legs start dancing automatically on a trekking.It was only that day when I watched a live show of a ballerina pirouetting on the pebbles in the path back home.If you are still guessing who am I talking about, it is none other than Pallavi, who kept her eyes shut tightly and never opened it till we reached the plains.The drive back to the huts at that time of the night, was really smooth and enjoyable with a bit of DJing that helped its course.A self served buffet was the order of the night and the end of the day too.
Day3 was the most leisurely one of the three as we had just one spot left to be covered and plenty of time to do it.A nice breakfast is all that was needed to kick off the day and travel to the Borra caves - the last spot on our itinerary.Located at a place worth an hour's journey, it was almost noon when we reached it.The caves were much beautiful and eye catching than I imagined of,but since we didnt hire a guide to lead us, the trip was as good as watching a Portuguese movie without subtitles.With lots of locations and camera flashes, people were still not convinced to leave the place - especially Dixith and Srikanth, who were busy shooting their honeymoon pictures, with such high levels of enthusiasm.By the time we came out, the sun was at its scorching best,training us for the day ahead in Vizag.After the lunch, we started just at the right time to catch the train back to Hyderabad. Oh forgot to tell you about the Dhimsa dance with the tribal.Though this lasted only for a bubble's lifetime,it almost tops the list of memorable moments of the trip.Although the ladies found it really hard to match the steps of those professionals, they did a decent job to portray that they too danced, in the videos.Suresh was the man of the moment with his quirks and twists, as if Michael Jackson's soul has entered his body momentarily and he had to be literally pulled back to the jeep to bring him back to normal.
Few Highlights of this trip:
- There were few dostana pairs identified on this trip and in a move to encourage them in the future tours, they would be given the first preference to avail the honeymoon offers like separate rooms, travel tickets etc.
- For the interest of the acrophobics, we shall not plan for trekking for a waterfall on a hill and even if we plan for one, take care that it originates from a plain and not from a cliff.
- A secretive note to all you guys. If you are impressed by the Axe Deo ad and you ever dream to have the girls behind you all the time, then take up the role of the financier. Believe me when I say this, it really works - but just like the deo, your magic will work only till you have your purse with you safely.
- A personal lesson for me - what you give is all you get back in life. On the same lines, what SEE gave me, is what the SEA took back from me.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Reliving the trip to Vizag
The night finally came when this jaunt had to begin, after a lot of thought process and plans had gone in.The litmus test that I carried out while waiting to board the shuttle, once again proved that the person who stated that women are horrible in time management is really a genius.I still remember begging the driver for some grace minutes, when I noticed the female section of our batallion walking towards us at their own leisure pace and with a drink in their hand. Thank God, I dont understand telugu well, the only excuse I had, to keep smiling at the hymns of accusations he sang for me.The shuttle which took us to Nampally(starting point of the bus) was just 2 people short to run the simulation of Buchenwald.
The bus though was quite comfortable, as any volvo could give you,except for one reason - the movie they chose to screen for us.There was absolutely nothing wrong with it,except that my great granddfather would have loved to watch it in his era - probably should have been released during the industrial revolution age.Neha (the only person in the bus who watched movie till the last shot,though she cannot understand a single word in telugu)deserves a nomination for this year's Red and White Bravery award.At breakneck speeds of the bus, we were soon out of the city limits and the next ten hours were blessed with silence,if not for the television speakers.
It was then that the presence of the catalyst team was noticed for the first time on the trip,with Pallavi and Neha jumping into the act of denying people their basic right to sleep and shooting questions at them.Though the questions were similar to the calibre of an IAS interview,I must confess,the replies were even more interesting.Few highlighting points of the investigation are the Thalaivar's(Jay) crush factor and the hookup between Srikanth and Dixith.The sunlight that slowly crept in through the curtains,rumbling tummies and the buzz of the autowalas around the bus were the indicators for us to realize that we had reached Vizag, the fist halt in our itinerary.
Just 3 minutes out of the A/C bus, people could feel as if they were made to sit on a burning burner.I was quite used to this though,as I come from a city (which just has one season -summer,round the year) which does not differ from Vizag in any aspect other than the spelling.After several rounds of discussion with the autowalas to take us to the cottage that we had booked for, a sigh of relief echoed when we could finally see the name that we were searching for, written on a building. Fourth minute after the check in was completed and the keys handed over,people were on the beds,immobilised.Only after a round of tea and biscuits, the ears were opened to the plans for the day.
Though we decided to move out of the rooms in an hour, no one knew what was to come after that.But as expected we were ready exactly an hour later than we had planned for - no points for your guesses for the question 'why' here.After a few snaps of the first photo session of the tour, in the room and the hotel Taj(dont get deceived by the name.It is nothing more than a dhaba,with an a/c fitted inside) we finally caught hold of the only 2 cabs in Vizag that were not booked till then.
A scenic drive along the coastline of the Bay of Bengal rejunevated everyone, enough to jump into the sea and become a kid again.Into the Rushikonda and we didnt knew how long it took for us to get ourselves drenched in the sea water.The horizon was inviting and the sun got less harsher by then.The ranges and the trees around meant that the cool breeze was on and the entire stretch of the beach was picture perfect.Srikanth posed for the paparazzi with my fasttrack glasses after I did - this was the last time that I had seen those glasses.. Few minutes later, I could see all others except me, trying to paint something on the sand with their hands and only when I observed them closely did I understand that my SEE award was aptly awarded to the sea itself.(The picture above was incidentally the last glimpse of me with my goggles)
Sometime later,it seemed like a deja vu for me when the same group had assembled for their next art.I kept praying as I walked towards them that I didnt want to lose anything more,especially my camera.But I was glad to know that only my batteries were gifted to the sea and not its holder.Four hours in the sea and a couple of boat rides, ensured that there was nothing more and nothing left to enjoy.
We had to then hurry ourselves up to catch the ropeway in Kailashgiri,before the transportation gets closed.The cable car justified its worth by showing a panoramic view of the entire city under lights.The temple up the hills was so scenic and worth enjoying to watch.Taking the same road to return,the last place of our visit was the submarine.For people who had not seen a submarine in their life,its worth a place to be in atleast once.With a good dinner, the tired legs kept saying that sleep was all that was needed to end the day on a high note.
To be continued...
(Since my work is taking the toll out of me,I had not written this post till now.But since everyone was expecting this for sometime now,I did not want to disappoint you guys by delaying it further. I know I havent conveyed it enough in this post and I would try to get out my next post soon and even more interesting.Till then,stay tuned...)
Sweet Memories..
Looking back at my past
with all the memories that last
Gives me so much of fun and pain,
that creates the longing to live it again.
Remembering my classmates during my college years,
my eyes are filled with tears..
I wish life was a tape recorder
to play and enjoy those days over and over...
We would keep talking for hours together
with absolutely nothing over us to bother.
Everyone now has a life of their own
and their voices are not heard even over the phone..
My friend who used to sit next to me
is now thousands of miles across the sea
I wish life was just a truck with a reverse gear
to travel backwards and bring back all the cheer
saw my girl,whom I once thought of as my best friend
yesterday with a guy, hand in hand..
heard she is happy and getting married to him
the next month, that made me smile.
All those back bench games to the nick names,
project reviews to the job interviews,
short lived crushes and the canteen dishes,
practical rehearsals to the love proposals..
All of them still looks fresh in the mind
wish I had an option to rewind..
Ten of us used to eat on a single plate
and never did we think of a factor called fate
Till the day came when we had to part,
when we returned home with a heavy heart.
I do not know if I would meet them all again ever
but those memories would be cherished forever...
If only god would grant me a wish
I would ask for a day in my college again....
with all the memories that last
Gives me so much of fun and pain,
that creates the longing to live it again.
Remembering my classmates during my college years,
my eyes are filled with tears..
I wish life was a tape recorder
to play and enjoy those days over and over...
We would keep talking for hours together
with absolutely nothing over us to bother.
Everyone now has a life of their own
and their voices are not heard even over the phone..
My friend who used to sit next to me
is now thousands of miles across the sea
I wish life was just a truck with a reverse gear
to travel backwards and bring back all the cheer
saw my girl,whom I once thought of as my best friend
yesterday with a guy, hand in hand..
heard she is happy and getting married to him
the next month, that made me smile.
All those back bench games to the nick names,
project reviews to the job interviews,
short lived crushes and the canteen dishes,
practical rehearsals to the love proposals..
All of them still looks fresh in the mind
wish I had an option to rewind..
Ten of us used to eat on a single plate
and never did we think of a factor called fate
Till the day came when we had to part,
when we returned home with a heavy heart.
I do not know if I would meet them all again ever
but those memories would be cherished forever...
If only god would grant me a wish
I would ask for a day in my college again....
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