Phase.

If it wasn't for darkness we wouldn't know light. So it is alright if things are not always alright, right? I was one proud and content and deliriously happy person and suddenly it's all gone down the drain. Suddenly it's all cold. And it's not November that's making me feel chilly. But if all that happened before was just a phase, all what's happening now is just a phase too. I'll be fine. Won't I, honey?

"And I Say, thank you for the Music!"

This be another fresh Sunday morning. I’ve woken up with a great mood, feeling completely pleasant and content. Gayu is in the kitchen already and I’m sure some delicious aroma would waft this way in a few minutes. Eli and Jumi are at church.

I feel quite thankful to the big guy up above. Thankful for being able to share Giggles, aka HOME with these three. It’s been about a year that we’ve started staying together, and this has been one of the best years of my life.

The only thought in my mind after joining work was to get away from here, ASAP, look for a job that’s closer to what I’d learnt, get away from a place with silent, monotonous people who are glued to computers for most part of their lives, and now I find that I feel differently.

We still run around in the Aakashganga society. Run around as in hold our hands and literally run around the place. We still walk down the roads singing songs and laughing loudly. We still manage to get into silly misadventures and laugh ourselves to sleep most nights. One year at Infy does not seem to have rubbed on its ‘silent-serious-monotonous-people’ effect on us.

Even my Infy hours are fun these days. I’ve started playing badminton again. Thanks to Madhu. I’ve picked up quilling, something I’ve grown to love. Giggles is a 100% quilling basic literacy achieved home. I’ve also joined the Poona Musicale choir, so now even on my weekends I get to do something really worthwhile and enjoyable. Music, you be such an awesome thing. If life can be a song, currently, mine is a soft, smooth, happy one. Not a great classical piece, but something like a good pop song from sometime back that’d bring a smile on your lips when you hear it after ages quite unexpectedly.

Though things haven’t always been great, I know I can feel alright pretty soon coz of the people I’m with. People do have that kind of an effect on me. I was supposed to be the first one to leave Giggles, now it looks like I’ll be the last. I’m quite happy with the way things are now,  and when Jumi and Eli speaks of moving, I feel uneasy. Now I understand how Gayu must have felt when all three of us, me especially, used to speak of moving.

Some phases in life are simply too blissful that you’d want time to stay still. I know it wouldn’t, and that time would fly by. But if it could stop here for a while, I’d be only too happy. Giggles will never be the same without all of us together. Just like the Harihar Nagar series wouldn’t be the same without the 4 main characters.

But life will move on. None of us knew that we’d be working at Infosys, of all the places, when we took up Journo, Vis comm. or literature. But Infy happened. Giggles happened. Something better will happen to all of us. And even after that, when we meet, I’m sure the madness will remain. 

When Death comes home.

Ever known death up close? i hadn't. Death used to be in movies and books. In other people's houses. Far away from me and my world. Until June 12th.

Started writing it ages ago. i don't think i'll finish this one. Coz when i try, i see her face on a poster against the wall. Inside a mobile feezer in our hall. In the coffin at the cemetery. And i go cold and numb. I miss you mammy. 

Back to Pune. This time, at Giggles.

 At Mysore they pampered us. They gave us the best of everything. And then they parcelled us off to Pune in a 14 hour long bus journey.

The Pune ECC was welcoming enough. It was the actual hotel hotel. Here, all of us, boys and girls were put up in that one same building. Of course the amenities were awesome too. But we were busy with a different task now. No, not the job.

House hunting. We were shown around houses of all kinds in the little area of Pimple Saudagar. I fell in love with Aakashganga the minute I saw it. The others wanted to make sure that we had chosen the right option so they went around to a lot of other places. But finally we ended up at Aakashganga.

By the way, ‘others’ include Jumi, Elena and Gayathri. Jumi, AKA Sleeping beauty is kinda like me in many things. She would sing out, do the valips, thinks similar, talks the same words I do exactly at the same time as I do. She’s nice and jolly.

Elena dear is the sceptic. The perfectionist. My companion when it comes to leaving late from work. Ever caring, ever helping.

Gaya is our very own Appukkuttan. That look-that untimely giggle-that’s all that takes to set us all off. By the way, our house, no, home is named ‘Giggles’ coz this is where we are learning to live the fun way.

A few months back, I never knew anything about cooking, the value of money, adjusting, responsibility and the like. Living at our own apartment has taught me a lot of things. For starters, one needn’t wash rice grains for half an hour. Also, if the electricity bills are not paid, the power gets cut. And that it’s okay to sleep on the floor for a few months before you’ve saved enough to buy a cot.

There are a lot more things I need to learn though. I’m still a shellfish. May in due course of time, I can be better and make our Giggles even more warm?

‘Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forward,’ One of those ‘though for the day’ lines we used to read out at the morning assemblies. Things are starting to make sense. Things do happen for a reason. Everything happens for a reason. I’m glad they do.

Mysore DC- The Place to Be

"Did you find your room?"
"Yes, Appa."
"Do you think you can come out to meet me in ten minutes?"
"um....i'm not sure...This whole place is a maze...i don't think i'll find the way out in.."
"Okay, then, i'll see you next time. I've gotta head fot the bus stand."
"um...Okay."
"You alright, right?"
"Yep. Bye!"

With a telephonic bye, i was stranded in Mysore. No, Mysore DC- the place to be.

Finally, after all that waiting , i got my call letter and on the 23rd of July (yeah, just a week before my B'day) here i was ,in Mysore.

The place looked as if it didn't belong to the usual India that we see outside its gates. Spick and span roads meandered through lush greenery where architectural masterpieces mushroomed. Everything i saw was different. Magneficient.

The hostel room was more like a hotel room, complete with A/C, TV, coffee table, two huge wardrobes and anything else a fresh trainee would need. You could mess up the room however you pleased, but it would always be made for you. They simply pampered us with facilities over there.

Do you want to play, at Mysore DC, you had cricket fiels, football fields, basket ball courts, badmiton courts, squash courts, table tennis boards, lawn tennis courts, swimming pool, a complete gym, aerobics classes, yoga, snookers, rock climbing, bowling alley...you name it, it was all here.

The DC was also armed with 7 food courts which housed a variety of counters which served a multitude of dishes that promised to satisfy any palate. All at a subsidized rate.

It was one awesome place- If you had the time for it! At Infosys. you learn. Learn as in educatge yourself, books, tests etc...that happens a lot. That happens quite consistently and strenuously that you'll be amazed at yourself. Even people who never bothered to learn in schools or colleges would find themselves at war with sleep struggling to finish assignments and learn more- For the TPI.

The TPI , or Training Period Incentive is that wonderfull extra 5000 that they promised if we get straight A's for all the tests and assignments conducted(which eventually nobody got but everyone struggled for).

For the first time in my life, i compromised my 8 hours of sleep. There was no way one could get that with all those assignments and tests and the Compre...oh my God, the Compre!

I ceased to see daylight for most of my stay in the DC and familiarized myself with the nightlab- the wonderful long hall with lots of computers where you stayed up after 11pm to learn (and slept off uncontrollably despite the security guard's scolds in kannada...)

Mysore seems to be ages away now.

A lot happened in the short span of 11 weeks.A hectic, busy and wonderful 2.5 months.

Of the 30 people in our batch, 13 turned out to be Malayalees. The whole batch was a mad lot. Fun was never ending.

Mentioning class would never be complete without naming Lijasa and Deepasa- my group mates. These guys changed me from "Do-not-disturb-me- while-learning" types to almost a normal human collage going spirit.

I guess the very first thing i've said to Deepn was to stop playing music while i did my assignments as it disturbed me. But now, i love working working with music. Especially Mombasa.

Both the 'Asas made my class time so much fun. I've never been scolded by any teacher in my entire student life for disturbing the class in any manner. At Mysore, we were always caught for talking, giggling, and other class time "no-no"s.

Fruit Ninja became my addiction during this period. How i would battle hard with Lijasa to win the highest! (I still win, btw. Except maybe the zen mode :P)

A lot of good times happened here, Purple haze, Onam, My b'day, Krupa's B'day, little outings, night time singing, all time madness, sometimes lonliness, no time to call home...

I really wish i'd started writing my diary in Mysore. It would have been the first pages of a wonderful new chapter in my life. Mysore DC- The Place to be.

Missing Home :(

I miss home.  ‘Home’ as in Room #623, Girls’ hostel, Symbiosis knowledge village, Lavale. Lovely Lovely Lavale. Two years back around this time I must’ve started my SIMC days. Anxious, hopeful, happy and content. I just got my dream. And I just wish it was still going on.

That place was truly heaven on earth.  Monsoon brought the hills alive, colouring it green and the air cool and misty. Also with the little insects of vibrant colours, the frogs that came inside the hostel to eat them, followed by the snakes who came in to fulfil their role in the food cycle...

Getting drenched, getting sick, ending up wrapped in a blanket on bed, timely checks by friends, going to the campus doctor, getting pissed coz he prescribes only one single pill for all known diseases...Gosh...I am beginning to miss even the stuff I thought I hated there...

I’ll miss the creaky cycles sans bells, pedals, breaks and the way in which someone else would race past me to grab the one last cycle on the stand when I’m in a hurry to reach class.

I’ll miss getting ready long time before the bus timings and hurrying any poor soul that chooses to come along with me so that we get seats to sit for the 40 minute journey downhill to the city.

Dear mess, I know I’ve talked shit about you endless times, complaining, whining and hating coming into you for food (especially lunch) but, please accept my apologies. I don’t mind if there is no aloo in my aloo paratha, I don’t mind having roti and dal all day every day, I just wish I had more days to spend there, eating whatever you had to offer me. I’ll miss my 8 sachet coffee. I’ll miss that wonderful feel when I see veg burger and omelette, my favourite breakfast combo. I’ll miss having gulab jamun from both the floors, having both paneer and chicken on the non veg days in the same way and I will seriously miss getting in happily at the sight of hot tomato soup on a cold rainy day.

 Thrissur now RMCO and I tried it. Big, huge treadmills they have. But nothing beats walking down the hill in the evening with music in my ears.  I know the hairpin bends by the trees and plants I see. I used to know the exact locations of appoppan thadi plants and when the pods are about to burst. My white fluffs. I’ve never blown so many appoppan thadis, to my heart’s content. I dearly miss you my long curvy path.

The helipad, I loved for the view. But the amphi...you know why I love you don’t you? On cold starry nights, to sit on the topmost steps and see both the city lights and star lights is one mesmerizing sight. One has to be there to know the feel. And you have another special reason...just like the fourth tree.

The canteen with its chit-money, the Delhi chat and its chicken chilly cheese roll-my comfort food, the store stacked with noodles of all brands, the ice-cream shop, the coffee shop with its cold coffee strong, Peach iced tea and sour plain mosambi I just loved...

And that ledge from which I lost my phone, the other one on which we used to sit late night, the one near the frog pond, the frog pond itself. Phew! So many many memories have this place given me.

And people. I’ve met all kinds of people in this small place. I don’t boast of making oodles of friends, but I have a handful, and they are true. And when it comes to people, this place has gifted me with someone I never never expected (More on that later).

I can’t wait to go back there, even if it is just to collect my mark list, or convocation, or alumni meet. I just have to go back. For that place has made me feel so much more home than anywhere else and it is the one place where I have been so totally free.

I am glad I went to SIMC. Those of you who has never been a part of it- Oh you poor poor things! You’ve missed the most awesomest campus in the country- and the one college in which you could enjoy  it fully.

The Girl who was never 'caned'

By the time you're in Class 8,if you are a 90s kid, you'd have been 'caned' at some point of time in school. That scary feel which comes when you have to open your palms wide for the brutal stick to fall on it, is something we must all have gone through. But not Serah. She had never been caned.

Pious Sir walked into 8B that day with his tattered old map. And tattered old map always held a cane within. So when he stated calling out roll numbers that day (he never called kids by names, only numbers.), there was that usual nervousness in the class.

Anjo ,Shreshta & I held our breath, crossed our fingers and prayed that our numbers wouldnt be called. God answered our prayers and called Serah instead. The poor thing stood up and tried answering ,but somehow words didnt make sense.

Usually ,Anjo would whisper or scribble the answers on the table for me & Shreshta , but as Serah was one row behind us, that couldnt work. I tried opening my notebook for her to peek, but i guess my wonderful handwriting looked like a bunch of squiggles to her. She was still stammering.

Well, his patience was running out and he walked forth towards Serah, asking her to extend her hand. But Serah had no intentions to taste the cane, so, surprising the whole class, she started running away from him!

Now that was something we had never seen, and never expected to, in Class 8.

'Stop running and show your hand ,or I'll hit you wherever I can reach!' he threatened

'No, No, Sir! Don't beat me! I'll write imposition! As many times as you say!'

The cat and mouse game inside class couldnt go on forever, so Pious Sir gave up and gave her a tonne of imposition to write. We all had a jolly good laugh and were happy that we lost quite a few minutes from the dreaded 45 minutes of history. And the girl who was never caned, remained uncaned.

May be the way i've written this won't make things seem as lively as it actually was. But way back in 2003,when this happened in a morning history class, it was one of the hilarious things that ever happened. :)