Yup! This 10-day long break from work is my study leave. Instead of leaving all the books in my head…

I learnt to move my site to a new host – step by step
I learnt to set up a redirect
I went shopping – bought things I’d otherwise not even think of buying! Let’s blame it all on my sweet sister
I went to the beach – a visit to Chennai without going to the beach is not complete – there’s another hilarious post coming up!
I ate and ate and ate… and still remain the same 50kg!
And, for the last 2 days, I’ve been trying get some subject matter into my head. Which includes, statistics and probability into the questions that may be asked in the exam. Probability on statistics paper – not bad, huh?

Now, I hope… and hope… I pass those exams!

Took the MMTS from Secunderabad to Hi-Tech amidst the downpour. For the first time ever, the train was really slow  and doubled the travel time – almost as if they were searching for something on the track! I was standing near the door for a while ‘coz there was no place to sit and then found a place to sit. Among the usual crowd and baggages, there was this scene that caught my eye.

Three college kids (I presume) – two boys and one girl were seated at the end (the long seat that stretches along the entire width). One was wearing a bright yellow tshirt (with a Harry Potter-ish look), the other had a red bag – and I thought, that would be a lovely picture – the bright colors, etc. They were chatting among themselves and next to the girl sat this lady in a burkha – fully covered with only her eyes exposed.

I don’t know what the three were talking about – but this lady was staring at the guy, wide-eyed!

PS: I had written this on June 9 – but wasn’t sure if I should post and left it as a draft. But, even as I read it today, I can picture the scene Can you?

I am home for a week – a much needed break! And, I decided to clear up some old clothes. Now, am left feeling like a sentimental idiot. I found my school uniforms! Higher secondary (1998) and middle school (1994)! Gosh! And, then II thought, why not take some pictures. So, I spent this afternoon clicking away This is what you get when I am home for a week … fun

found the tie-and-dye fancy things I’d made in college – looks ridiculously funny now. I found a good load of saree blouses – my inheritance from granny!! I don’t think I’d ever wear them nor do I have the heart to throw them! In fact, I don’t even remember why I took them.

I found a favorites dress of mine – a pretty orange one with beads and laces. I don’t know about you – but I have some favorite dresses – the ones that have some special memory or just made you feel like a princess (or a prince). This one and a couple of other pretty dresses have a story behind them.
Years later, when I was no longer the kid, when I could appreciate the prettiness of a saree, I got to know that some of my prettiest dresses of younger days were made from mom’s sarees. When they couldn’t buy nice dresses and new material for festivals, mom would cut one of her pretty sarees and make dresses for me and my sister. This orange frock is from one of her sarees. I don’t know if I’d have the heart to cut a saree as pretty as that! Mother’s love!

And then, I found a bunch of letters from school pals. You know, the good old days of writing in one of those inland covers, dropping it in a postbox and hoping they haven’t changed their address… and then you’d get the reply in a similar cover after a couple of weeks – or even months. No pings, no diggs, no tweets, no calls, no emails – just the good old snail mail.

And guess what – I found something that looked like a baptism dress and asked mom – it’s my brother’s. I can almost see a baby there

So, that’s how I spent my day today! Remembering my childhood and thanking God for my wonderful family

Headset on?  Listening to music

Eyes closed? Sleeping

Meeting? Busy

Slim? Weak

G? Loadsa money

SLR? Great photos

Analytics? Complicated

Got any to add?

I think the rains over the weekend brought this memory up again. It was one of those mid-summer trips I made this year. It was April – the time when temperature begins to get to the higher side, the sleeper coach begins to feel like a hot oven, and we hope for a surprise drizzle or shower.

The train was in the middle of nowhere – rocketing through the vast, parched land (i.e., as fast as it can go – 60kmph? All of a sudden, I could see dark clouds in the distance, soon it became a drizzle. Funnily, though, it was raining on one side of the train. Even as we watched either side – we could see the train get under the rain clouds and soon…. it was showers on both sides.

It was a picture of the bright moon this evening. What’s special? The sky was really, really clear and you had traces of clouds around the moon. I saw this on the way home and thought it was really pretty. The black sky, bright moon, and the thin lines of clouds here and there around the moon – it was as picturesque as it can be.

Only when I got home and thought I should take a picture, I realized the reason for the beauty – it was the clear sky. By the time I came home, the sky was hazy – the typical city sky! It must have rained or at least drizzled before I left work leaving the sky clear, if only for a while.

Today, I got a request via my Google Profile :O The request: “your views for my ARTICLE”. But, even before I got to that, I had decided not to reply. You know why – The first line was “Hello! Sir” And, the last line was “Hope you won’t disappoint me”

Reminds me of how the sales folks call up (on my DND number!). I say hello and they say good morning sir!Din’t ya hear me?

It’s been a long day – and this isn’t my best post. But, am saving a joke for tomorrow

This is a continuation of the Coorg story posted here.

Even as we were planning our Nagarhole trip, we realised it was closer to Mysore than to Coorg. We decided to head to Mysore and the driver dropped us at a small town saying we’d get a lot of buses to Mysore and left. We stood there at the bus stop with the scorching sun above us. Given that we were (at least I was!) dressed for the 4am chill weather at Coorg, it wasn’t exactly pleasant to stand in the hot sun. We crossed the road and stood under the li’l bit of shade we could find.

When the first Mysore bus came by, I realised it wasn’t going to be easy getting to Mysore. It seemed like the entire world wanted to go to Mysore! Even before the bus came by, you could see the crowd rushing towards the bus to get in. After watching this scene repeat a couple of times, we decided we better try get in a bus. A couple more buses go by – but, every time we have a big crowd! Where on earth were these people coming from?!

Tired of standing in the sun, we decide we’d get in the next bus – no matter what. The next bus comes. Amir is the first one to get in, and then, out of the corner of my eye, I see baldie standing behind the crowd and watching!! This fellow was supposed to be getting into the bus – and that’s when I realise dude’s too polite to get into a crowded bus! Mind you, this is the same guy who said (at the beginning of the trip) that he can travel in any kinda bus [says he meant any type of bus - rickety to volvo - and not the crowd!]

Here we are – 3 of us outside and 1 inside the bus! We let Amir go – and baldie goes searching for a cab! Sadly, nothing works out – it’s a small town, you see And, we are back waiting for a bus. Another bus – another crowd – and baldie says no way! A few moments later, I realise the bus was still there, crowd gone (probably inside the bus) and there was some space. I try convincing these two guys with me – and before baldie moves, the bus is gone.

Finally, I had to resort to “we better get in to the next bus – no matter what” and thankfully, Bharath agrees. Baldie says he’d hold on to my bag to get in *grin* (imagine this tall, bald guy holding on to my backback)

The next bus came by – Bharath gets in, I get in too, and for all the holding my bag he did, baldie got in a dozen people later Well, at least, he managed to get in!! And, for me, it was a big sigh of relief having gotten this guy into a crowded bus!

We’d been to Coorg and planned to visit Nagarhole. We got our cab confirmed and the driver promised to be there at 4am! Yes, that early ‘coz we wanted to be at the national park by 6am! As planned, we all got up and checked out at the middle of the night, bundled into the Indica. In spite of my layered clothing, I was feeling pretty chill. And, it was quite misty too as we stood outside out hotel. 

We happily started off – I never thought it would be one of the crazier rides I’ve ever done. Dense fog/mist, small roads, blaring headlights, sharp bends, and patches with more potholes than tar – what more can you ask for a crazy trip. Oh! don’t forget the time – 4am – so, darkness too. 

Turn a bend and we were out of a town – and had the dense fog in front of us. It was like a white sheet a few meters in front of our car. As tired as I was, I was wondering how on earth the driver was still on the road and I’d doze.. a few minutes later, we are far from civilization, they din’t even bother adding streetlights. So, once in a while, the fog would light up – like the headlight of a train in a tunnel. Our driver would pull over to the side – as far as he could – and blink lights hoping the truck/bus driver would notice the car in front. 

Once that vehicle goes by, we’d continue our ride in the dark with the white sheet leading us! I didn’t realize I had dozed off until we reached this final stretch of the road -that was as bumpy as any can be. Any of our city roads mutilated by the civic roads would be put to shame. It was as if no two inches were at the same level. From there on, it was a slow, painful, bumpy ride – through the mist. Hoping against hope we’d turn a corner and find the park.
 

From Coorg

Two and a half hours later, we finally reached the park around 6:30am. Phew! Wasn’t I relieved to be off that ride. Sadly, the park itself didn’t turn up anything as interesting as this ride. We had a crazy ride back to Mysore too – but, I guess, I’ll save that for another day!

There is this moment from my childhood stuck in my head for no good reason – well, at least I can’t think of a reason. 

Place: Our home in Palayamkottai. It was a mansion (by today’s standards) – a huge, old house with big granite blocks for steps, tiled roof, and a huge garden. The garden was big enough for us to dig trenches for water – we had a lot of banana trees, a coconut tree, a bunch of neem trees, a tamarind tree, cotton trees, papaya, drumstick (with the caterpillars), a big bush shoeflower, mom’s flower garden, and granny’s greens patch. And, we had a lot of space to play after all these. It is a best of all places I’ve lived in. 

Anyways, I didn’t mean to describe that place so much! What I wanted to talk about was a frog that sneaked in everyday. Those days, dad had a bicycle and nothing more. And, every night, we’d find this huge froggie on the seat of the bicycle. It was quite a mystery how this guy got there – because the doors and windows and pretty fine mesh to keep the insects out and the cycle was parked inside. Well, it was a mystery until we caught mister froggie making his way in. He was squeezing his way through the mesh – and I couldn’t believe he could do that! 

And ya, that’s the moment I so clearly remember – some kinda freeze frame moment!