My 2010 in a nutshell

• Working like a donkey. 14 hours a day: its just normal .
• Bye bye Infy. Time to chase dreams.
• Bali, here I come.
• Oyee,I am a proud uncle and yes, yes I have a niece.
• Sleeping, eating, reading , watching movies, writing and thinking .Oh its heaven.
• Train to Pune. New destination, new chapter.
• TFI training . One month. Sleep deprived.
• Surprise number one.
• Mumbai ,be ready .I am on the way .
• My dream city. Even the rain greeting me is so enticing.
• House hunting. Need a house on rent ,not buying. What????Oh that’s the rent!!!!!!I thought…..
• Finally a house . Starting an austere life.
• Rain .I love it .Its so cool.
• Bad news from home.
• Sidharth Nagar Municipal school…55 brats ….:)
• Surprise number 2.
• Lost my mobile and my umbrella.
• Still raining!!!! Hate going to school all wet.
• Sidharth Nagar Municipal school .Now only 30 brats .:)
• Oh yeah you guessed it all right .It is still raining .God, how I hate rains…J
• Did I tell you ?? I lost my new mobile also.
• Mumbai darshan …
• Good brats ,bad brats ,but they are all my brats .Love them.
• Kids celebrating my birthday . Only 15 days in advance. Owe them a lot.
• It is time for wallet . I lost it .Lost everything ,all cards ,all ids and even the house key :)
• Diwali .20 days off.
• Police station ,emergency calls .
• Awesome day even though got locked out.
• God’s own country .I am back after six months .
• Eating, sleeping, reading ,watching tv ,travelling, government offices and lots of free advices from everyone.
• Off to Ahemedabad . Different.
• May my grandmother’s soul rest in peace . Bye bye grandmother .
• More bad news.
• Terrible last unit .
• These two days were simply great .Owe you ,I really owe you.
• Bad news just keeps coming.
• Christmas vacation .Quality time with myself .Enjoying it.
• Thank you.
• New year’s eve. Watching Mumbai usher in new year .
• A movie later it is indeed a new year .

Requiem for a dream : Mumbai diaries

Walked back to the abode after a long tiresome day . The white tiled rooms lacking anything on four legs never seemed so alluring. The rolled up mattress on the floor ,the week's news papers strewn all across and the stench of unwashed clothes did lend it an air of rawness and brutishness. With the creaking sound of the ceiling fan's motor ,the hair shed over the last 7 days acquire wings and float happily smacking everything on the way. Papers bearing marks in bright red ink and the ones wearing a blank and unadorned surface lazily stare at the playful hair strands from the corner . The constant honking and roaring of the monsters down below add a constant background music to the untrained ears. The strong smell of an impending birth linger through the walls plastered in white distemper ,the birth of a baby pigeon -a squab . 'The retarded dumb ass pigeon' as the mother is fondly called without fail lays her eggs in front of the residence housing three crack heads. After three unsuccessful attempts ,this time all four are going to make it happen and keenly awaiting the fifth member of the unkempt flat.

Welcome to flat no 703 ,my present abode . Staring through the numerous windows in this seventh floor apartment ,could see a distant mountain gradually being eaten by greed and need .The distant glowing lights elsewhere are shouting out loud that it is festive season in 'The Maximum City' . The city of rags and riches ,rain and more rain ,the battered and the battering, the abundance and the rarity ,the sensitive and the heartless ,dogs and pigeons,the enormous concrete structures and the plastic thatched roofs,the polluted rivers and the well kept swimming pools and finally the innumerable number of homosapiens who design the pavements with their crouched bodies resting on the hard solid ground . This is the city I wanted to be in for so long ,the city of my dreams ,the city that fueled so much desires and finally its the city that I love and hate at the same time ........ Requiem for a dream .:)

MERRIAM WEBSTER’S NINTH ….My Love

I loved her the moment I set eyes on her .Ow on second thought, I think I am not being entirely honest here. The truth is I started loving her only after I laid my hands upon her and that too after two or three times. But the fact is I felt an internal connection with her and that love or admiration or whatever one want to call it hasn’t waned one bit.

I still vividly remember the day she literally stormed into my life. It was not a pleasant or an adorable entry as one would imagine about a long standing relationship. It was on the contrary a tumultuous one, I got beaten up that day on account of her and had to spend that night on a hungry note.

I was about 11 or 12 at that time and was anxiously waiting for my dad to come back from office . You know when guys turn 12 and if they still wait ‘ANXIOUSLY’ for their father to return home, there could be only two possible reasons.

One – he would be bringing something yummy yummy to eat .

Two- A Cricket bat or maybe a whole cricket kit.

It was definitely not the first one because my class test marks were in my bag and no amount of yummy yummy was going to make me wait for him ‘ANXIOUSLY’ with that ticking time bomb in my bag.

The package in his hand was in no way long enough to be a cricket bat and definitely not round enough to be a tennis ball or football. My mom was to blame for she was the one who was giving me high hopes saying that dad would be bringing you something today you would really like. Aaah moms!!!!!!!!!!!

The bright colorful wrapper was peeled off and there she was ..Dressed in a bright red coat…the fat, sturdy and monstrous BOOK. I guess there is no need to explain my rage and the reason for my blue buttocks afterwards. It was indeed a stormy start.

Technically speaking it was not a book but a dictionary ‘MERRIAM WEBSTER’S NINTH COLLEGATE DICTIONARY’. A big fat one with 1564 pages, so heavy that I could have killed my brother with that. Sorry if I sound a little blunt but I was really short of weapons back then.

That’s how she walked into my life, the little red rays of fun . We had a pretty good run over the years; I remember carrying her in my bag to school with the intention of throwing some real tough words at my English teacher. I stood outside the class for 2 hours after that futile attempt for I didn’t consider the fact that the dictionary was pretty big not to be noticed by the teacher.

I remember running to my home with the sole aim of knowing the meaning of the word ‘puberty’ hoping that it would mean ‘handsome’ as that was what I told my friend when he asked me for its meaning. Those days I never said ‘I don’t know’. Too arrogant even then.:D

The sweet days we had, the best book to play book cricket and I once even scored a 200 with my Mariam.

She was my first dumb bell, she was my stool to reach up on the Milkmaid shelf in the kitchen, she was the one who held my hand through many discoveries mostly teenage ones.:D

It was a safe haven for so many personal things of mine. It was the home of my feather collection. The secret abode of the news paper clipping and pictures I used to secretly cut from Malayala Manorama. The place I hid the PTA letter to my parents, the money I got from my grandfather, my favorite Kapil Dev card and so many things.

There are still a few left over feathers from my old collection even now and take my word she still smells young and fresh.

It was such a great pleasure being with her because every time I opened her there was something in it for me to learn. The joy of finding a new word , unearthing its meaning ,trying out its pronunciations brought about such happiness in me that made me closer to her and that’s why the dictionary is not just an ‘IT’ for me ,but a ‘SHE’.

Women’s Reservation bill -My take

I was really in for it when the stalwarts of our democracy decided to flaunt the much hyped and the little bit controversial women’s reservation bill in both houses of the parliament earlier this month. Soon after this decision was made, there were hues and cries from all over the country, most staunchly defending and wooing for the bill while some openly crying against it.

In all my heart I hope that the bill would come into effect and that there would be the prescribed 1/3 reservation for women in parliament and all democratically elected bodies, but that’s what my heart wants and not what my demented little brain agrees to.

So here I am just trying to put together the loads of crap that are running in my head regarding this issue. I might be called a MCP after this attempt of mine, but the truth being I really believe the women in our country deserves much more than a mere 33 % reservation.

1. My first issue is whether we want the participation of the women in the policy making of the parliament to be always restricted to 33%?
What I cannot make out is why just 33% and how did they come at this math?
Let’s say we have a women population of 47% and if the intention is to get a fair representation for women, then shouldn’t the reservation be 47%?

2. Equality is one of the corner stone of our constitution though in reality it doesn’t exist in the least. The good intention of the bill is to bring about equality of sexes perceiving that a mere 33% women in the all the legislative assemblies would bring about a vast change in the gross inequality and injustice that our women are facing? For politically empowering women, the change has to start from the grass root level itself.

3. If we have a reservation for women in the assemblies and not enough women in the grass root level of the political parties,a situation would arise where the women who would contest elections in those reserved seat be a mere puppet in the hands of the male leaders .It would lead to more RABRI DEVIs in the Indian political scenario than more MAYAWATIs or GAURI AMMAs.

We should initially make sure that there are women involved in the day to day activities of political parties or maybe a reservation system there where in number of women should be so and so percentage within the party itself. This would bring more capable ,socially motivated women into the mainstream and they would be able to bring about a change and empower politically, socially and economically deprived women than a hot shot, daughter/wife of a pot bellied political leader .

4. One of the staunchest arguments in support of this bill I have heard is that women could not do any worse off than the present horde of men making the policies. What kind of an argument even for the argument sake is that?
During my stint at working in a corporate environment and working alongside many women, I have seen that they are much better than their male counterparts in whatever they do even after taking care of hordes of personal things that we(men) cannot even imagine doing. If that’s the case, then y have a bill because women can’t do any worse and not because they can do wonders?

5. One of the biggest flaws inherent in the bill is the rotation of seats reserved .Let us consider a constituency reserved for women in the first tenure and the woman who gets elected does a great job for the people in that constituency .When the next election comes ,that particular constituency would not be a reserved one and hence the woman who has put so much of effort for the well being of constituency would very well be replaced by a male candidate because most political parties would not want to give seat for women other than the reserved ones. So that means the work the elected woman candidate does in her constituency wouldn’t do her any good as she would be forced to contest in another place the next time around.

6. Legislators would not be elected based on merit if there is reservation ---This is one of the biggest criticism about the bill … I don’t think that is a big issue as 80% of the present lot in the parliament also don’t merit to be there in the first place but I sincerely hope the women who make it to the parliament would not be mere pushovers.

Even with all these issues, I hope the bill will go through .It may not bring about a whole lot of change that the women in our country deserve but it is something worth a try. Who knows, maybe it really can make a difference.

This article is in no way an opposition to the proposed bill, instead its just a mere reminder that women empowerment should not just stop with a bill assuring reservation in the legislative assemblies but should be the first step for a broader ,visionary policy.

Funny World

And pin drop silence ensued.
I could see my brother giggling trying his level best from bursting out .
Father rushed out as if he left the button to destroy the world unguarded.
Mother was building up a small rage which clearly read ‘Don’t you have anything to study?? ’

And off I was, banished to my room thereby scything off the regular 9-10 television time .

So what did I do wrong ?? With the Social studies book wide open , I retraced the events that occurred in the last 3minutes .

9:12 : Advertisement in tv: A guy walks to a medical shop ,seemed confused and reticent and finally blurts out stammering “Couldd I haave a packkkk of mmm aaaa mmmmm…….”

9:13: A young 11 year old lad watching the tv got more confused with the shy ways of the grown up man and blurts out “Ayye,Why is he asking for a pack of cards in a medical shop ? Ask my dad ,he has got many……. .”

9:14: Silence ensues and proclamation of banishment.

‘So what did this 11 year old lad do wrong to deserve the curtailment of the much anticipated entertainment time’ the lad goes on thinking with Social studies book open.

O ye Luckyyyyyyyy

I am the luckiest person in the world............

The toughest part in one’s life is taking the life altering decision of treading an unconventional path .It is the worst nightmare .You will draw the ire of your fellows, will have to yield to the endless flow of advices, will have to fight the demons of doubts inside you, will have to be brain dead with regard to your future and turn a stone before the predictors of your destiny.

Am I this tough??
Do I have it in me ??
Should I dare???

When you look skywards during night, the stars smilingly urge you to fly towards your dreams. The light breeze fondling those happy stars seems to whisper in your ears to find your footing. Even the rustling leaves tell you to be happy and follow your heart.It seems like everything inside you yearns for a change.

Even though torn in between the craving of my heart and the strings pulled by society I live ,I still consider myself as the luckiest person in the world.

Who else in this world could boast the fortune of having ……

A Father who listens to the weird things his son say and reply
“I am not concerned about your future because I am confident in you .You will be good in whatever you do. Though I am not fully convinced with the path you are taking, but if this is what you want I will never say No.”

A poor mother who tries to conceal her grief but fails miserably and mumbles..
“If you would be happy there, go for it .I just want you to be happy.”

An enigmatic elder Brother who ensures that his younger sibling wont have to take any of the household responsibilities and reminds that the family would love to see him settled.

Or your close buddy ,who just gives you a hand and say ,go live the life the way you want to . As long as I have a job, you don’t have to worry about finances.

Or your jovial pal who calls you up from across the seas the moment he hears the news and goes on swearing at you for taking such a foolish decision and finally ends up imploring you to come over to his place.

Or your sweet lovely cousin sisters who pacifies “We are stuck up doing things we don’t like and we don’t want you to be like that .You go for it and we would be by your side”

With such great people around you and the confidence their words oozes in you ,you are never LONELY ,you are never DEPRESSED and you will always have the WINGS to fly.

Thankssssssssss a lot for not clipping my wings............................

Mr K

A beautiful day it is . Mr K puts on his hat and readies himself for his routine evening stroll.. It was past 4 ,but the heat was still unbearable ..He adjusts the brim of his hat ,turns around ,assesses the surrounding and takes long strides .
His leisurely saunter is occasionally interrupted by the unruly honking of the busy folks . He stops at the stone laid pathway leading to church for his customary bow to the angel of compassion.
He throws a casual glance sideways and finds the usual mother –baby duo there.
‘Worse off than yesterday’ ,Mr K recollects the faces from the previous day .
“I should do something, otherwise ….. ” .. Mr K thinks hard and harder …..
And Mr K walks away .......

Travel Mate

I am this unlucky chap u know.
Everytime before boarding a train, I really pray that some gorgeous beauty would be my companion for the journey and I just go on imagining all those situations happening between us.
But as luck would have it ,I always get these middle aged aunties and uncles as co travelers, with their non ending array of these pointless questions about the company I work ,IT industry ,Job security ,pay check and all the boring things u don’t really want to answer. It’s a real pain, you know, the inquisitive, sad and compassionate look on their faces when I tell them about the insecurity in the industry or about the late working hours and all.. I mean Y should they feel miserable if I work for 12 hours a day!!!!!!!aagh what a world …..
Anyways that’s not the point here.
So as usual, it was with low hopes that I boarded the Shadabdti express that evening .I had the aisle seat, which is the worst seat you can get. That bloody seat just ensures that u will be hit by all the vendors, all the people testing their strength on handrail and those people on their way to rest room. I was this hapless hopeless man by the time I took my seat especially after noting that yet another 50 something uncle is my travel companion.

I took out a Malayalam novel and decided to plunge directly into it without even an trace of cordiality so that the uncle would not even dare to ask “Where are you going?” .
I was in this half reading half sleeping mode ,when I heard a sweet voice gently pointing to my neighbor that he is in the wrong seat . The man was relieved to hear that I suppose, coz he seemed quite pleased to cease being my neighbor.

I was exalted when she thanked me for helping her put the luggage in the rack, I was beaming with joy when she asked me where I was going and I was confused when she took the window seat and not the middle seat in which UNCLE was sitting. Questions start running amuck in my mind.
Why did she ask the UNCLE to move, if she was not going to sit in that seat?
Is she expecting anyone else?
Did she move to the window seat because there is no one in it now?
A hoarse voice interrupted my actively working grey cells which were trying to decode the window seat dilemma.

“Excuse me ,u r sitting in my seat .” ..

Who said there is no GOD in this world ??? There is , and he was standing in front of me with a laptop bag on his hand , a stiffened collar and a train ticket in his hands which so clearly states that window seat is for him and him only and no one else ..

God claimed his window seat and I threw away my Malayalam novel …

It was time for serious thinking on how should I kick off a conversation with the sweet young thing ???
Where r u going???? ………Nooo ,that’s so plain and old stuff..
U studying?? ……..Naa ,she mite think I am flirting
Nice evening na??? …..yucks that sucks.
Hey I am so and so …… na too early to reveal my name ..

I was so immensed in formulating a game plan for the rest of my journey that I didn’t notice at all the guy who came near to me and I was so furious that he was intent on disturbing my concentration..
Okay sir ,wat is it that u want ????? wont u lemme enjoy the moment I had envisioned for so long ??i\I gulped down those questions and with a questioning smiling face enquired “Yes??”

“Do u mind moving to that seat?” and pointing towards the sweet young thing said “We are office mates and are travelling together.If its okay for u ,could you please ???? ”

Btw who said there is a benevolent GOD .If it all there is one hes a big time sadist for sure .
It was indeed time to go back to my only real travel companion ,THE NOVEL…..

Bubble man

There he was, sitting on a sand dume on the lighted part of the beach with wind blowing across ..
He was the bubble man blowing bubbles.

Bubble man blows bubbles.
Foamy and frothy, these soap suds
Hovering in the air, blown away by the wind.
Bringing delight to the eyes and a smile on the lips.

Children gather around the bubble man .To them it is their bubble uncle who just goes on making bubbles for them to chase .These bubbles always eludes the chasing little bundles of laughter ,however hard they run. They run back to the bubble man dejected unable to catch the wandering lather only to chase the next set of bubbles coz
Bubble man blows bubbles.
For children to chase .

religion

Came across a very interesting piece of information in the papers last day . It says ,there are about 2.2 million schools along the breadth of our beloved nation while there are 2.5 million places of worship (counting all the temples,mosques,churches,dharghas and all).
Aaaha 2.5 million!!!! That is an awful lot of religiousness in our country.

My Musings

My Musings

But wat?????
Its true that I agreed to pen down something for this month’s Walgreens newsletter, but when the noose started to tighten , I was all at seas.
I mean I am supposed to write about the most boring movie I watched or best book I have read or something along that line. To be frank, I don’t want to relive those moments of watching a terrible movie nor do I want to strangle people with the reviews of some crazy book I read.
So there pops the inevitable question, then wat???

These thoughts were buzzing my grey cells as we gathered at Mother’s kitchen for our daily evening tea .(Don’t worry folks, it’s just a reastaurant inside the tehnopark campus and not really my mother’s kitchen. “J)
So as usual me being a non stop, nonchalant irritable tattler I was yakking on what to write ,when my tea buddy casually remarked.
“Why don’t you write about your favourite movie?”
Aaaha bells rang, ideas clicked and there I was with a hot steaming tea cup visualizing the scenes of my favourite movie, aka the movie I have watched the most number of times .
“Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what u will get…”
“Stupid is what stupid does” (This is actually a stupid quote, but somehow I seem to like it . J)
“I am ……………”

“I think Shaw shank is a much better movie. You should write about it rather waste time on ….”
My trance was broken by that statement from my Body builder friend.
“What???? Shawshank better than ….aaaghhhh ”
Anyways, you folks know how conversation on such topics ends, right? So as to avert the consequence of a prolonged debate on such an issue, I decided to put forward the question to the most sensible guy in our group.
“Editor, you have the prints of ‘Shaw shank and Forrest before you but can select only one .Which one would you prefer?”
My confidence, my beliefs were all shattered in that particular moment when he replied “Shawshank any time”

Actually I am not against Shaw shank by any means. In fact I consider it as one amongst the 10 best ‘Hollywood ’ movies ever made and am of the opinion that it would have bagged the best picture and the best actor Oscars if the year was not ‘1994’.
Oh before I forget, I have said the same stuff about Pulp fiction also to some guys. By the way I like pulp fiction more than Shawshank. What a raw movie!!!!!

Okay coming back to the point, the year 1994 was all to blame. The ‘best of OSCARS’ year brought together three of the best Hollywood movies ever made , the gentle and inspiring Forrest Gump, the inventive and the brilliant Pulp Fiction, the simple and smart Shawshank Redemption into the limelight .
Each were a masterpiece on its accord and were well augmented by superb acting ,great screen plays ,innovative cinematography, amazing visuals and moreover masterful direction. In the end, red carpet was all Rober Zemerick’s, his Forrest Gump bagged six Oscars including best picture, actor, director and visuals. Shawshank and pulp were sidelined with just one Oscar for the ‘Tarantino’ thriller (best original screen play) and Shawshank returned empty handed. It sure created uproar as Pulp Fiction was considered as a big competitor for the Oscars and just one Oscar was like a disgrace for the trend setter of future action thrillers.


I started jotting all these down with the intention of coming up with ‘My take’ on my favourite movie “Forrest Gump”. But now on second thoughts I think I should not dare to do that . You would be well treated by a good movie review site rather than my incoherent ways of reviewing a movie and I definitely don’t want nyone to hate the movie because I favorably reviewed (read killed) it. J
So instead I would just put forward an outstanding scene/dialogue/qoute from each movie.

Forrest GUMP : the running scene
Scenario: Forrest is running across America and people start following him thinking he was running for a greater cause. The reporters swarm around him and push possible reasons down his throat.
: “Are you doing it for world peace?” “Are you doing it to fight hunger?” “Are you doing it for animals?”
Forrest’s response is at once the most simple one. “I just feel like running.”

Shawshank redemption . Morgan Freeman’s dialogue towards the fag end of the movie.
“I find I am so excited I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it is the excitement only a free man can feel, a free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain... I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope…...”

Pulp Fiction quote :Samuel L Jackson at his best

“If my answers frighten you then you should cease asking scary questions.”

………………….
If you have not watched any of these three cult movies…My sincere request to you folks would be
.Run to the nearest shop.
Get the Cassetes/CDs/DVDs of these movies or download from ‘U know where’ and watch it . Please don’t miss some of the best movies of our generation.
Run, Forrest, Run!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ChayaMukhi

ChayaMukhi – An ode to Prasanth Narayanan

Nobody watches dramas any more these days .Most people consider it as monotonous ,slow ,no gimmicks ,no innovation old stuff and hence in the process miss out some of the most beautiful works ever produced in any medium.
Chayamukhi is one such a gem. Written and directed by Prasanth Narayanan ,a versatile artist with an ever probing intellect ,a talented writer and a crazy director,Chayamukhi takes the viewer to the realms and thoughts never traversed before. I am a big admirer of this great artist and its not just because he was my neighbor or because he was my Guru who taught me the basics of drama but because of the sheer brilliance of his literary skill.

The play is a fusion of the Mahabharata and the present world and the entire story is told and viewed through the eyes of three petty thieves who venture into the forest and witness certain events depicted in Mahabharata.

The story starts with Hidumbi seeing the second Pandava prince Bheeman in te forest and falling in love with him .After some intimate days with Bheeman whom she loves no ends ,presents him with a mirror. ChayaMukhi, the magic mirror which shows the person you love the most when u looks at it. It was Hidumbi’s prized possession and all she could see in it was Bheemans face. Expecting to see hers on it when bheemasenan looks at it, she hands him over the mirror as a gift. But to her dismay, it was Panchali’s face that filled the mirror when Bheeman gazed at it and she resigns to the fate that Bheeman never loved her as much as Panchali.
On returning to the Pandavas, Bhemaan hands over ChayaMukhi to panchali for safekeeping and asks her never to look at it. As days passed, Bheeman became more and more curious to know whether his face would appear if panchali looks at it .So one day he asks panchali to have a look at Chayamukhi and glistened the beautiful picture of the warrior prince Arjun. It shook him no bounds to learn that even while being with him, its Arjun whom Panchali always love and never him.
As with the vanavsam, Pandavas always move him from one place to another and finally they come up in the VIrad kingdom. There Draupathi disguises herself and becomes the first mad to the queen of the Virad .One fine day, the queen sees Draupadi gazing at Chayamukhi. Intrigued by the mirror, she gets the mirror from Draupadi and looks at it. Instead of seeing the wrinkled, old and tired face of the king of Virad in the mirror, there appears the picture of a young man in the army.

Time went by and entered Keechakan .He got fascinated with draupathi the moment he set eyes on her and decided to make her his wife. One day draupadi shows the mirror to keechakan and he sees a blank image on it .Confused, he realizes that he ahs never loved anybody In his life even though he have had many affairs. He realizes the biggest loss in life and changes instantly, he started loving draupadi with all his heart. As his love for draupadi grew ,she got afraid and tells bheemasensan about keechahan and they decided to kill him .Under some false pretext,Draupadi invites keehakan to her room where Bheeman was hiding. Severe fight ensues and meanwhile keechakan gets hold of the mirror and looks at it while getting beaten by Bheeman . The mirror displays the face of Panchali and bheeman gets stunned seeing it . He realizes that there is no difference between him and keechakan . They both are in love with Panchali and are ready to die for her while she is in love with some else . It seems to him that there fight is meaningless because whoever wins or whatever happens ,panchali is never going to love any of them . Nevertheless Bheeman somehow manages to kill Keechakan and finally crying throws the mirror to the ground,

Chayamukhi shatters ……….

Office Talkies

Now a day’s office is pretty fascinating. Long gone are those days where life was monotonous and everything was like a photocopy of the previous day with only issue s and pressure from the top level changing. But now it aint the same anymore. There is an automatic spring in my steps at the mere though of going to office.
It is no longer dull neither can It be termed boring and every single day has an element of surprise in it .
Last Monday it was the news of secretively kicking out people that hogged the limelight .By Tuesday names and numbers started to float around .Silent lips muttering secret prayers, offers to please the almightiness ,hope ,cynicism all were ripe. By Wednesday, rumors gave way to factual stories and more detailed screenplay .The time, the mode, the reasons, the aftermaths, the angry hues, the emotional tumults, the desperation, the sorry plight of the unlucky all became known to one and all. There were hushed voices all around in the pantries, in the restrooms, at the corridors everywhere and there were sighs all around for not being the numbered few. People were talking and discussing as never before and it seemed as if an invisible bonding has been generated. Developments continued as my watch struck 8:30 am on Thursday morning. Numbers were coming all over the country now and even from other Multi National Giants. No one bothered to check on the amount of fiction on this news; it just passed from one lip to another. By Thursday afternoon, an overwhelming gloom started to spread over the entire floor. Then came the news of resignations, the skirmishes at the HR’s room, security being called to intervene and control the frustrated lots. .It was no longer an environment to work and rather all were trying to gather gossips from here and there.
Everything kind of settled down by Friday evening, engineers went back to their normal monotonous jobs and more work to secure their bread and butter . Came afternoon and so the Facility departments mail. It was clear and crisp,
”NO more uncontrolled local calls from PSTN and VOIP folks .U guys are gonna get a password for it and every call needs will be preceded by afore mentioned password ”
In short, it meant in addition to your movements, your printer usage, your overseas calls, your mail box we are goanna monitor your telephone usage also. I was pretty pumped up on seeing the mail . It opened up our lives, and now we are in a game, guessing what would be blocked next .
Wild ideas started to soar with my PA suggesting that the axe would fall on the communicator(official chat window) next.My peer’s opinion was that they would install doors that would only let you in and out on swiping ,an efficient way of getting the exact number of hours spent within the office .T hen there was this idea on the usage of vending machine limiting just 2 coffees for an employee. I was of the opinion of having a chair that would release you from its grips only after 12 hours of work .

I mean, the point is its no longer boring ,its pretty exciting and innovative .Yesterday I went around saying to my project mates that secret closed circuit cameras and microphones are erected at meeting rooms and cubes and so be aware of what one say . I don’t really know how many people believed it but definitely hushed voices became more prominent after that. Take my word guys ,it is interesting ..
Just waiting for this weekend to get over so that I can continue being intrigued and engrossed by my employers.
It is indeed a funny life.

Panama Sateeshan

When Govindan quit his job in the panama factory at Hydrebad and came to his village ,people affectionately started calling him Panama Goivindan.

So it was quite obvious that when Govindan put up a stationary store at the village kavala(junction), it came to be known as panama store
As time passed and the store grew ,the junction changed so much that it demanded a name .. What else could be better name than Panama kavala?

He was 7 when someone just said (just as in chumma said)
“ thenda pokunnu sateeshan ,nammude panamyude mone .” (“There goes our Panama’s son”)
"U didnt get who"
"Nammude panama sateeshan"(“Our Panama Sateeshan”)
The name spread like wildfire and Sateeshan became Panama Sateeshan to one and all.
Time flew ,Panama Sateeshan became interested in singing and had this crazy notion that he sang well.
He was so crazy that he went to learn music professionally and after 2 years of intense training he came back a changed young man (changed means physically changed and not ability wise.) .
A singer needs a platform to perform and Panam Sateeshan sayarted searching for the right company.
But as luck would have ,his own village had govindan kutty and gopalan panikkers orchestra. Two old hands in the field of ballet.
So was born G&G VOICE. With Panam as the lead singer and G&G at the helm of music.

The connoisseurs of G&G VOICE left after their very frst show citing various reasons.
Govindan kutty “ I am too old for the these kind of stuffs” .,..
Gopalan panicker “ I wont play if Panama is the singer”
But people would swear by their ancestors that children cried continuously for two days after that firt G&G VOICE show.
The instruments left G&G VOICE with the real G&G. But it was not enough to dent the spirit of the great Panam Sateeshan.
That day he made a vow
”Be there an instrument or not, I would continue singing”
He collected tracks of hit songs and lured some young school going lads to join him..
and hence G&G VOICE was reborn.
Folklore say that whenevr there is a ‘utsavam’(yearly festival) in the nearby temple ,Panama goes there and gives money as donation to the committee members but on one condition
“MY G&G VOICE should be allowed to play one night”
Gradually it became a norm...
No utsavam would be there without a Panama song !!!!!!!
People dwindled as the shows went on.
When he sung Hemesh Reshamiyya’s song for the first time ,there was a saying amongst the villagers that their dogs howl better.
But Panama was not the type to be affected by that ..

He would sing irrespective of what others had to say about him ..Once he even sang the same song 6 times continuously in front of the only audience(hapless committee members amounting to 5)
All the committe members hado to make him sing 6 times the same song was the dialogue
"COMMONNN PANAMA ..ONCE MOREEEEE"
If there is a marriage in the village ,there would be Panama at the forefront saying
"wat marriage is this?Marriage without music is like a meadow without grass"
He would go get amplifier, microphone and loud speaker from his home and sings free of cost ...Its true that people leave as soon as he starts ,but anyways you need people to clear out those duffer brains who lingers even after the party is over
Panama dont like budding singers like Afsal,Vinneth ,vijay and all
He is of the old school and will sing only SPB ,hariharan ,yesudas etc and his customary dialogue is “let my boys sing songs of small time singers, I will handle the tough songs: PANAMA became old but the G&G VOICE still exists and everytime utsavam comes ,Panama goes to committee office with a small bundle of notes in his hand and says
" THIS is my donation provided, ...................................................."