Defending THE Superstar

Hey Guys,

Long time since we've spoken but during all these days nothing of real consequence had developed for me to come up and share my thoughts about. Of late, a spate of tweets and status updates and tet messages ridiculing Rajinikant hae been coming. I am kind of disturbed about these messages and this principally drove me back to posting today.

For all I know, am no big fan of the Superstar. I've been watching Tamil Movies ever since I was born. I have even dug out and watched the movies of yore whilst fighting the boredom of Loneliness at home. So I believe I have a clear idea of the trajectory traced by the Tamil Industry and a few of the more popular stars. That warrants that I make known my views on the subject.

"Two days ago Rajinikant was hit by a bullet and today is the funeral - of the BULLET"

"After the release of Endhiran, Rajnikant gave times of India three stars"

Before the release of Endhiran the false news of a punch dialogue "If I beat you even Google will not be able to find you" supposed to be spoken by Rajini was doing the rounds. This is just the less derogatory sample of all the stupid things that have been doing the rounds.

Let's get a few things straight, never in his career has Rajini sir flaunted any such stupid punch dialogues - not even in his hey days as an action hero. And the few dialogues that he did say are quite acceptable ones which moved the crowd. So stop slapping unnecessary accusations at him and attributing false stuff at him.

He was and is and will continue to be a good actor, there is no denying that. If you find it hard to respect him for his skill and talent then atleast respect him for his age.

Now I know, you'll shout back at me saying," When you yourself acknowledge that he is an old man why do you criticise us for condemning the kind of roles he does today at this age."

Ladies and Gentlemen, can we really blame him for doing such youthful roles today? If I remember correctly even before Amitabh Bachchan opted out of youthful hero characters Rajini directed and starred in "Valli" taking up a character that was age appropriate and expressing his desire to switch to roles that suited him better. But what was our verdict as the public back then? The film flopped inspite of the good story line, great music and awesome performances. We cited the reason that we couldn't bear to see Rajinikant in any character other than the mass hero ones. So now we have no right to cry hoarse at him for the work that he is doing.

Look around you, you learned high-class man who cannot grow upto accept that the Indian film Industry is vying to put Hollywood off its base, the masses LOVE him. Now thats what you call star-power and if you cannot accept it, Rajini sir is going to lose nothing. But being the learned man you are shouldn't you be more respectful to people above you in talent, knowledge, experience and age???

Ponder this for now.....

Influence of Education on Human Responsiblity : an interesting comparison of two cases

Hey pals,

Incident 1

Date : 11th July, 2010

Place : In front of the Pazhamudhir Nilayam close to PSG Tech, Coimbatore

Incident :

A twenty one year old B.Physiotherapy student on a two wheeler was hit by a four-wheeler. He sustained severe injury after his head hit the divider on the road. He bled profusely, a very common indication that something is not well. This particular area in Coimbatore always has atleast one hundred students near it always. Considering PSG Tech has been rated the 17th best technology institution in this country, the students are all obviously well- read and atleast below average students. Even otherwise all those students in the vicinty are future engineers so they should be having a little responsibility atleast.

But what did they do in this situation? Nothing! I'd ve been happy had they left it at that. But they stood around taking photos of the scene ( I don't know what they were trying to prove and to whom!). Not one of them thought of calling an ambulance. They stood and watched a person's life slowly slipping away. The victim's valet and mobile were swindled even as he lay in a pool of his own blood, unconscious!

Am not saying that the students robbed him, but they were silent witnesses to it.

Result: THe Victim lay like that till his own friends who happened that way spotted him and carried him to PSG hospitals and although the Doctors tried their best, the victim was evidently brought in late and he succumbed two days later. His parents are childless and the guy's lover is in grief. Who is responsible??? All those students who stood and watched. Yes! They murdered him - brutally !


Incident 2

Date : 16th July, 2010

Place : The Tiruchy Road, near Palladam, in the middle of nowhere.

Incident

The car I was travelling in met with an accident. The details of which are given in my previous post. Although we were not hurt at all, almost every passing vehicle for the next ten minutes stopped and checked if we were alright and if we needed any help. And to think that this happened in the middle of no-where. And most of the people passing by were mainly illiterate or those with very minimal educational qualification.


Comparison :

The first incident happened in the heart of a city, so its impossible to be missed! It also happened in front of so many future engineers. I don't believe that not one of them thought of calling an ambulance - well, thats the least you could've done for him! And my mind still refuses to believe that they all stood idly taking pictures of the horrific scene and stole his belongings. What more important work did they have than try helping out in the emergency - buying fruits? drinking juices? chatting up friends? throwing dirty glances at the opposite sex? Had atleast one of them acted promptly - the guy probably would be alive now.

The second incident happened in the middle of no- where between two small towns and in front of people without much educational qualification who were hurrying between two places with their own businesses or towards their home but still they found the time to come and check.

Is education reducing the responsiblity we human beings have towards one another? Are we becoming like the westernised societies where people don't think it is their business to help out when someone else is having a problem even without being asked? Isn't this incident troubling?

Young India - Please stop blaming your politicians, authority and every one else. The world will be a much better place if we are atleast one percent responsible to each other.


Please think of this and let me know what you people think.

Bye Bye.

P.S : I heard someone say, " In case of an emergency, call Pizza Hut they reach faster than an ambulance." But how many of you cool people know the number of an ambulance??? And I know for a fact that the ambulances reach faster than Pizza boys, so don't hesitate to call in emergencies.


P.S.S : The number to call an ambulance in case of any medical emergencies is "108" - its a toll free number so you needn't worry about your mobile balnce.

Showers of Glass, Protection and Love . . .

Hey Guys,

It was a cool and pleasant evening in Coimbatore and I got ready to go home after nearly three weeks. Feeling all romantic in the very beautiful climate I texted my friends and left in my car homeward bound with our driver behind the wheel. Little was I prepared for what was going to happen en route.

With the car swooshing at a happy 100 kmph speed and the tape playing one of my very favourite old tamil song, I was going over the brilliant visuals of that song in my mind and also texting three very close friends from college. I sensed nothing inappropriate as our driver was a brilliant one and he always drove safe and clean, and we weren’t even over-taking. The world seemed just perfect and I bent down to read the newest message I had received on my cell phone when the car suddenly scrambled further left. I looked up only to have a shower of glass falling all around me.

I was totally confused and I got out of the car and looked at the road behind me – at the bus that had just scraped us and gone. In that confusion I got in and sat back in the car and after a minute regaining a little composure I asked my driver if he was ok. He was fine! Still the magnitude of the damage had not sunk into me. The driver pulled over to the side.We got out.

There was a crowd of people and other vehicles around us, checking if we were alright and asking if we needed help. I truly thank god for all that support. The bus had stopped and all its passengers found another bus. We were two kms from the nearest town Palladam.

Only when I walked over to the driver’s side of the vehicle to assess the damage after informing my dad did I begin to shiver. The Damage was too huge. Both the doors on the right side of the vehicle were damaged and the side glasses were shattered. A portion of the front glass was gone and what remained showed interesting spider web patterns. I couldn’t help thinking of how much my Mom loved this vehicle that has been with us for around 7 years now and still in wonderful condition.

I moved around the vehicle and clicked pictures on my inferior mobile phone on the spot. My driver frantically called the police, the insurance surveyor and other people to find out how to proceed. My uncle immediately started from Kangayam so as to come and pick me up. Slowly the crowd diminished. I finished taking enough pictures from all angles.

What had happened was the bus driver coming opposite to us did not notice our car and moved into our lane to over take the car in front of him. When both him and driver noticed the blunder, they both stamped the brakes and tried to move away but at the speeds we were travelling in the collision was inevitable. I truly felt that it was a close call on my life only a good half an hour later.


This incident brought me closer to my own being. I couldn’t help but think for a few moments, “What if I had died in this incident, wouldn’t it have been a gentle riddance for so many in the world and to myself too?” When all such insane thoughts were crossing my mind my uncle arrived and we proceeded from there to the Police Station and after filing a complaint I came home in my uncle’s car. My two aunts were waiting there along with Grand mom and my parents.

After all this tamasha, the only thing that pained my mind was that I had no place to run back to after terrible things where I’d feel safe, no one into whose arms I could just run into knowing I was safe there. No place where I know good food, a comfortable bed, total freedom and people who know me would be waiting to offer solace to me !!!
Well on that note I wind up here! Take care phantoms!

P.S : The number of road traffic accidents in the past week is too many to my own introvert knowledge itself – so all you people driving around please be very careful ! ! !


P.S.S : Don't think I am an insane blogger for sharing even such things online but I did so because all of you reading my blog are extremely close to me and I felt you deserved to know .

Death Rites - What Rights?

Hey phantoms,

A few days ago very unfortunately one of my friends’ uncle passed away succumbing to his newly diagnosed Cancer. His death had come as a shock to the entire family. A few of my friends and I paid a customary visit on that same night to my friend to express our feelings toward the loss. The Son of the deceased was in a state of trance even as the funeral pyre of his dad was lit. The dead person’s widow had fainted along with his mother and mother-in-law. The three ladies didn’t even know that he was cremated. It was such a pathetic scene and it struck in me a fear of the unknown. But that is not what I wanted to discuss with you today. From the topic itself most of you would’ve guessed what it is! Yes – Lets talk about the funeral rites observed in India!



We were at the burning ground and the deceased person was laid to rest on a bed of wood and covered by it too. His son was then required to carry a pot of water around the pyre three times. The boy who was just about my age was in a state of stupor and the pot had to be squeezed into his hand and held tight by one person while two others had to carry him around his father’s body thrice ( his tragedy-struck body refused to even blink an eye). At this point my friends who accompanied me had the common-give-that-poor-boy-a-break look on their faces looking at that guy being compelled to perform the funeral rites even at this state.



Later on when we were talking among ourselves they were saying it was not correct to put the near and dear ones of the deceased through so many customary rites. “Are these rites necessary?” “What good is to still observe all of these meaningless rites?” These were the few questions in their hearts. Let me direct these questions at you.

Are these rites necessary?

What good is to still observe all of these meaningless rites?


The rites can be as cruel as shattering the bangles of the widow, removing her mangal-sutra and bindi forcibly. In this case the poor lady didn’t even know that all these things were done to her too just imagine her shock on waking up and finding the three things that make up most of an Indian woman’s identity missing on her. Excruciatingly cruel isn’t it?

So tell me again, are these cruel rites necessary?

The answer according to me is one big, “ Yes”! Observing all these stringent and tough and very excruciating rites help the near and dear ones of the deceased to come to terms with the loss. It is not a new phenomenon for the mind to deny the loss in order to circum-navigate the pain that is associated with acceptance of the loss. This refusal of the mind to grieve can have severe undesirable psychiatric effects.

When the person is made to observe the rites ( such as carrying the pot around three times, lighting the funeral pyre, putting rice in the mouth of the deceased, bathing the body with arapu and the bindi and mangal- sutra and bangles are removed from the hands of the widow by shattering) he/she is forced to come to terms with the reality and accept the loss. This Acceptance is the first step in the healing process. Coming to terms with the reality forces them to grieve over the loss. Grieving externally by talking about the loss, crying over it is the second step in the long process of healing of the mind’s hurt that ensues. All these hard customs act as the burning tincture which quickens up this process of healing.

Dear friends, don’t put down the customs of our Land. Our ancients were really brilliant folk. Don’t follow them blindly try to isolate the logic behind each custom and then observe them for then they will have more significance to you.

Give this a thought and give me your feed backs!!!!

For now Adieu!

A Little Boy's Meeting with Horrible Fate !

The little kid on the block

Looked up at the clock.

He very surely was late

'Cause of Horrible Fate!

He had left for School early,

As the clock touched Seven barely!

Singing and Hopping along the way

His Mother saw him go away.

On his way he met - Horrible Fate!

Who planned things to get him late!

A dirty plan that was really filthy -

Powerful enough to nauseate the healthy !

Stomping away on the side of the road

Backpack filled with educational load !

He failed to notice the Filthy Pit,

Or the fact that all were avoiding it !

Mind caught up in a lovely song,

Looking a up at the Church bell's gong,

He put his right leg into the hole

And staggered and swung like an empty bowl !

Weight of his bag carrying him sideways,

Made him skid to the end of the pathway

And into the ditch which was open there

That soiled him as black as a bear !

The poor little boy had no one to help!

Finally straining he got up with a yelp

And ran back to his home

Looking dirtier than a gnome!

His annoyed mother gave him a stare.

He began to cry unable to bear !

She swept him up to give him a bath

Collecting his soiled dress in a bag of cloth !

He realized it was already time

For the first hour at school - Rhyme !

Fully aware that his teacher'd call him a fool

He ran again in the direction of his school!

The little kid on the block

Looked up at the clock.

He very surely was late

'Cause of Horrible Fate!

The Teacher did not understand though.

She glared at him as if he were a foe!

Bringing out a ruler that was already breaking

She gave him a very hard spanking!

So be careful little ones

Be careful a lot!

Never walk on the roads

Fully lost in thought!

--------------the end------------

Writing for children is absolute fun!!I love writing little non-sense poems so that one day I can entertain some kid or the other with them! If you people have a kid at home try reading it out to them and get me their reactions!!! This is the first full length poem that I am putting up on my blog, hope some of you who are kids at heart still like it......

Adieu!!!!

Courtesy : Amrita ( Sis of Sharnita) for help with finding a rhyming word for "help". She was the one who suggested "yelp" among other words! Thanks dumbo!

Insane FUN....

Hiya Hiya hiya guys,

The Best things in Life happen unplanned. This Saturday, one such thing happened and its probably the best!! I had gone to my school friend Manikandan's sister's wedding in Tiruchengode along with ten other friends from school in the evening After chatting for sometime, one guy began talking about how they had gone to Yercaud from Erode late one night after the engagement of another friend's sister. Then somebody else asked "Why not go today too?" But there were apprehensions from many quarters, some thought it was boring to be going back to the same place everytime, others that we could simply watch a movie and take rest to be fresh for the Wedding the next morning!



On my part I badly wanted to go, after all it is such spontaneous moments that make life worth living! But I didn't nag the others who didn't feel like it because we were going to be using their vehicles and probably they had problems letting their vehicles travel such a long distance at night! Let me tell you here that Yercaud is 80 km from Tiruchengode and the last 30 km were on a hilly terrain. I even secretly prayed," God please make this trip materialise and in exchange you can fail me in all the four subjects for the second internals !!!"



After a lot of debating and reasoning one of my best friends Vignesh single-handedly got everyone to agree and after dinner we left. Cibi, Manoj, Kauvya Deepak and Prem were in a Honda City and Vikraman, Rajesh, Sethu, Manivannan and Vishnu were in the Dzire and Vignesh and myself got onto his R15 and were off on the Salem road at ten thirty!


I had travelled this way a number of times before as a student of Montfort with tears streaming down my eyes and now too there were tears in my eyes but only now it was because of travelling at the speed of 85 kmph on the bike!!!! I was thoroughly enjoying it - my first long distance travel in a bike and that too at night in a very fine climate. I was so excited that I didn't even mind flying one feet high into the air every time the bike negotiated a speed-breaker.


Finally we were in Salem and we came together at the foot-hills , Kauvya gave me his you-guys are-insane look but trust me Insanity is FUN! Poor thing he was the only one who didn't enjoy much I guess (at least thats what his expression told me). It was eleven thirty and we began to climb the hills.

Now, the road to Yercaud was built by the French in the nineteenth century. Since then it is only being over-laid or repaired and no new one is ever constructed in its place. The French were excellent Mathematicians and constructed a one-of-its-kind road in such a way that its slope was 1. No other hill road in this country has its slope as 1. Now what is the significance of this??? You can climb the entire twenty-hair-pin-bended hill in first gear itself without having to change gears at all!!

Of course we didn't do that now and went ahead in good speed! The view of Salem from here was breath-taking and the cool breeze on me was therapeutic. We stopped again at a bridge on the way and took a few photos and after sometime we started off again.

Now on the way all of a sudden our bike's light shone on an empty ambassador parked in the side of the road with broken glass and all and my friend shrieked and hearing that I too caught my breath only to realise that it was a vehicle that had encountered an accident. It so looked like a car out of Hitchcock's genre of films that it gave both of us the creeps. A cross on the way was the next thing to give me the creeps. But we sped on sandwiched between the two cars! The wind was colder but it was unable to dampen the spirit that was raging within me!

At the twentieth Hair-pin bend we stopped and sat on the wall and spoke for sometime and then decided to go in front of the lake and chat! It was Midnight!

We drove up there and were only talking for two minutes when three policemen came there. We didn't take any notice thinking that they'll go away but they came straight at us and asked what business we had discussing things over there at that part of the night! They took down the car numbers and the details of the car owners of the vehicles. They told us that in that same spot a guy had been stabbed on his butt a few hours ago and had been taken to the GH in a critical condition. They then let us go asking us not to stop anywhere but to go straight to where-ever we intended to go!

Our next stop was our dear school, Montfort - we stood outside her gates and looked at the newly constructed entrance and the 100 ft tower with a statue of St. Montfort on top. The school had changed so significantly since I left two years ago and that was evident from looking at the Entrance alone! I tried taking pictures but it was no use in the dark!

The journey continued from there in another direction - 20 km from Yercaud town through forests and forest-like estates is the small village of Kottachedu where a friend of ours Thenappan lived in his dad's estate - The Beverly Estates! The way was infamous for being frequented by bisons at night! Now that definitely gave me much less creeps than ghosts. The spirit of adventure took over and we rode on to the Estate.

The path was very beautiful even at night and no bisons cared to greet us on the way so we reached the estate home by 1:00 am and after some excited chatting and plans to watch a film on a laptop we all dozed off.

Getting up at 5:30 wasn't much of a problem. We got ready and started off down the hill from Kottachedu itself through another path and the way down was breath-takingly beautiful! My phone had run out of battery so forgive me for the absence of pictures! But I got you a few pictures of the estate from a friend's phone ! And the return journey in the Sun back to Tiruchengode was rather uneventful!

Yercaud is more of my first home. The only town on earth where I can find my way blind-folded. The place where I rubbed shoulders with the greatest of great teachers who inspired me! The place which moulded the way I think, reason and act! It is always a pleasure to go upto this beautiful place nicknamed poor-man's- Ooty for all the rich fun she has to offer!!! I thoroughly enjoyed this trip and would love to do it again another time.....Now as I sat back and relive this recent experience in my head "Adieu! You guys! Godspeed in whatever calling that has come your way!"

The Big Fat Trivandrum Wedding....

Hiya guys,

I actually wanted to name this post " The big fat Mallu Muslim Wedding" but fearing that some people may take unnecessary offense I chose another appropriate title for it! I knew that the day would come when I would witness the wedding of one of my classmates but never in my wildest dreams did I expect it to come this soon!

The Wedding of my batchmate, Kadhij Fathima to Dr. Mohammad Meeran took place in the very beautiful town of Trivandrum in God's Own Country! 19th of May was the actual Wedding Date but seven of us Kaarthik, Vetri, Vignesh, Balaji, Iniga, Anusha and myself got there a day i advance. The guys were booked into a hotel while the girls stayed at the bride's home!!

Before I got into describe the ceremonies let me tell you a few interesting things. Of the five of us guys who went four had never talked to Kadhij much before. Infact the first time she talked to me was when she invited me to her wedding last month. Another interesting fact which my friend pointed out was - even to our close relatives' weddings we'd go and land just in time for the ceremony but here we were a day in advance to celebrate the marriage of a friend. Well thats the power of our batch spirit, I guess !!!???

After freshening up on 18th morning a vehicle was arranged to take us to the majestic Padmanbhaswamy temple and then after a not so eventful trip to a museum we were whisked away by the same vehicle to Kadhij's home. Her dad was at the door giving us a warm welcome and he asked us to wait for five minutes so that the groom can come and the lunch would begin!!

I had to keep chanting " Selva! Be Decent! BE DECENT!" to prevent myself from vociferously reacting to the delicious smell of chicken fry and mutton gravy that was forcing its way into my nostrils! All five of us were quite restlessly waiting for the bride-groom to arrive! He came an hour later and after a quick "Hi" to him we pounced on the tables! A sweet named kinatheppam really stood out among all the dishes served.

Then we learnt that the evening there was going to be the mehendi . So we thought of making alternate plans but finally decided to return to the house after freshening up at the hotel on Kadhij's request!!!

We returned at six thirty and little were we prepared for what we saw. The tables were set with the Night's dinner and there stood Uncle asking us to have our meal. We told him that we'd have it later. Then we were shown into the house where we took a photo with Kadhij and conveyed the greetings of all the people who had wanted me to wish her. All my initial thoughts that she was too young for marriage disappeared the moment I saw her happy and cheerful and excited about her Big Day!

Then we went for a more-than-sumptuous dinner after which we witnessed a portion of the mehendi function! Unlike in the North here it was a very simple event without all the girly singing and dancing! The bride sat in her sofa while all the ladies gathered took turns to go sit next to her and keep a dot of mehendi on the leaf she held in her hand! We bid good bye to all of them and left the house.

The Wedding as such took place in "Trivandrum Club". We reached there well in advance and had a light breakfast and were treated to delicious Pista kheer!

The groom arrived and the ceremony started at around 11:30 am. The first to speak was a Mallu religious guy who shared some very interesting points on Islam and marriage. Would love to share those with you on another occasion. Then two more people gave speeches which were rather dull. Jerin sitting at my side had to point out that we were not supposed to clap to prevent me from applauding a guy after he finished his speech!

The Ceremony began - the Groom sat opposite Kadhij's father and an elder sat in between them reading out the scriptures and asking both of them to repeat. Then, it happened all to suddenly and before we knew it the wedding was over and all the men in the hall were hurrying towards the dining hall. The elder just declared that Mohammed Meeran was asking the hands of Khadij Fatima in marriage in exchange of 35 sovereigns of gold!" Both the groom and the bride's father were asked if they were willing and they both said,"Yes!" and lo! The wedding was over!!

Then Kadhij was brought out from her room and like our customs they were given a glass of milk which they were asked to share and they were asked to exchange garlands and other rather usual formalities.

Then all of us from our batch who had come to attend the wedding went up together and gave our gift and took a photo with the new Husband and Wife! Here too I proved my knack for doing things which should not be done by shaking hands with the bride, which I guess is not the etiquette in a Muslim Wedding! But I came to know of this only when Jerin pointed it out to me after we came down the stage!

Well, you guys would've guessed what would've followed next - an awesome wedding banquet!!!!

With the traditional Mutton biriyani, mutton kurma, Chicken fry et al , it was simply too good and we loaded ourselves upto for the next two days! lol :-) We concluded the lunch with delicious Vannila Ice Creams served there!

Thus ended the Wedding of the first of my batchmates! Fun in its own way! Wished all of you guys could've come, not only to share in her joy but also to share in the excitement we guys felt!

Keeping my fingers crossed about who is next in line to get married!!!!

Bye bye for now!!!

P.S : She was later sent off to Thenkaasi, the groom's town. May she have a Happy Married Life!

I Have Carved You on the Palm of my Hand. . .

Hey Phantoms,

Today I ve decided to tell you in detail about Prakriti-2010, our Inter batch culturals. You must be wondering whats with the topic of this post. Don't worry by the time you finish reading this post (If you are reading it at all) you'll understand!

Prakriti 2010 was a two day event held on the 9th and 10th of this month. On the 9th morning was the English Debate, it was supposed to begin at 8 o clock and there I was at 9 o clock prancing the auditorium waiting for one other team mate who had failed to show up - frantically making phone calls to trace her whereabouts. Finally Aishu showed up! We ran up to pick our lot and get the topic for the preliminary round and divide our own team into two and debate on the given topic. Our topic was ," Should same sex marriages be legalised? " I almost fainted! But still we sat down and prepared and with Rats and me on opposite sides we cleared it easily as it was going on just like how we fight in class - it was so much fun.

Then came the finals, we had to debate with Divya Swathi akka and team, the topic -" Borderless Worlds - Dream or Reality?" We were given Reality. Again we sat and prepared and did it. Although our inner feeling was we didn't give it our best, my personal feeling was Rats, Varna, Aishu had done very well. As soon as it was over I ran away from the place as I couldn't take the tension of waiting for the results -as I was walking to the canteen I heard a huge scream from behind and I knew we had won! But I didn't go back, I went to the canteen with Amrita, who had come and got ourselves something and then I slowly returned!

The next was Mockpress. My topic - Ketan Desai- I withdrew- Our class guys won all the top three prizes!

Our batch folks won almost all the off stage events.

One competition in which I was really impressed with our guys' performance was big bore - Sanjoo, Ramya Devi , Arivoli and Bhanu had me rolling on the floor laughing my ass off with their paatu class!!!

Solo Singing went off well and Raj won it as expected!

Then came Tamil poetry, I was initially scared if I could still write at all in Tamil as I had never written anything in the past one year but I was glad I could and finished both my Haiku and long poem in fifteen minutes!

JAM in the afternoon was my ultimate trial - I sat as a mere spectator to the event on stage!

Then Keena, Keerthi and I went on-stage for the Tamil Dumb-C and what awesome fun we had. We had gone up there to have fun and thats exactly what we had! We walked down with the third prize!

Then evening came and I geared up for my first Western performance - It was a debacle as we couldn't even achieve co-ordination as the music was started without intimating us. But since only two teams participated we got the second place. 2k7 had hired choreographers for a handsome sum of money and we stood no chance against them with just a day of practice but still everyone praised us for our attempt and we were the proud runners up!

Orchestra followed I compered for it, with a lot of glitches and lack of spontaneity I came off ok! But the performance by the guys was mind-blowing and rightly they got the first prize! Raj, Rashmi , Suganth, Pranesh, Rajeev and Jerin were in their elements. I thoroughly enjoyed it all!That brought the day to a close!

The next day dawned and I was super-excited as we were having Tamil debate as the first thing in the morning! Our team had Shaikh, Keena and Sanjoo along with me. We were definitely stronger and were sure to win it but the topic spoiled it for us - we had to talk against making Tamil compulsory in primary education! The Stupid Judges had come with a pre-written judgement that we would take the second prize! Felt totally pissed and wanted to go and question the judges but Shanta ma'am called and consoled saying that the topic was the problem and next year onwards they'd try and give non-political topics!

Was totally upset the entire day! But I performed well in the Adzap for which our team got second. I didn't want to write the English poetry but still attempted it and finished in ten minutes! Our guys had started cooking for the Cooking Competition and I had a fun time tasting all the dishes and then devouring them after the judges had gone - personally loved Changa's Sur puttu, Ratna's Biriyani, Yogi's prawns and Sharni's Cashew chicken was ok!!!! Our batch swept the prizes!

I still felt totally off from the debate debacle and refused Navin Raja's persuason to get me to participate in ship wreck. Then got news that I won the Third place in both Tamil poetry(haiku) and english poetry!

The evening was much more fun! I enjoyed doing the role of Kaataamai a spoof on Naataamai for the variety show for which we won the first place!

The Fashion Show was good inspite of a lot of technical problems but we had to settle for the second place!

The Ultimate event was the Indian Dance which we did extremely well and I was literally screaming and yelling on stage when it was over. It had gone on very well and People we won the first prize. As my friend pointed out I was involved in winning the first and the last event of Prakriti - 2010 and I was proud of that fact!

But still I was upset over the Debate and was constantly quarreling with God that ha had forgotten me and that he did not care for me and all that! I was feeling totally worthless. That was when Sathish sir announced that there was a prize for the person who was involved in winning the most number of competitions and I was numbed when he read out " Selva Saravanan". The prize was titled " Most Valuable Performer" - where did all that feeling of worthlessness disappear at that instant???

Standing on the stage that night, with the entire college applauding and my friends all chanting my name I just remembered the following words from the Bible which my sister had once quoted to me :

"See!

I have not forgotten you!

I have carved you on the palm of my hand!" - Isiah 49:15

Felt so ashamed for questioning the wisdom of my Father, my Creator, the One who takes all the trouble to keep telling me in his own unique ways that he is always there by my side and that he always cares!

Now, why did I share all that with you? Definitely not to boast about my spirituality. It is because I know that in Life all of us are bound to go through the phase of loneliness where we feel that no one cares about us. In those times, dear Phantoms, please remember the above lines and you'll feel much better in no time! Thats the reason why I kept the topic of this post as " I have carved you on the palm of my hands..."

Ta dear phantoms till I meet you again with another interesting but shorter post!

Take Care till then!

May the good Lord be with all of you, always!!!!

One Large Happy Family

Hi Phantoms,




I had a long hiatus from the world of blogging as I was caught up with our Interbatch culturals and the Intercollegiate held in our college. I ve been having a whale of a time and simultaneously discovering new things about myself and people - all in the good sense. Tell you about it ??? I sure will but not in this post! In this post I will be talking only about the practice sessions that preceeded the culturals. So here it goes!


The practice for the group events started two weeks in advance and I was in the Indian dance which was very ably led by Mahesh! And obviously I was the one playing the fool around for most of the first week. Thinking of how I used to irritate Mahesh just to get on his nerves makes me flash my evil smile even now! But second week onward by popular demand I went back to my serious mode! I was actually very happy to be dancing with my chechi in the Dhandiya part of a dance sequence which also featured Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Gujarati folk and a latest Tamil Kuthu !


Here I have to let you know that Mahesh, although a very sweet person has such a short-temper! Now who can sit idle when you have such information at your hands. So Vetri and I would take turns to irritate him! Be it in asking him to teach simple steps again and again till he gives his trade mark stare or purposely making mistakes in between both of us did all it took to get on his nerves. The others would often join in the irritating by disappearing during practice or turning up late! Man, all that was so much fun and I am missing all those days!


I was the pessimist of the group! Our seniors had hired choreographers for 10,000 bucks and I was sure that they'd win the dance events! So everytime some one asked me to be serious or work harder I would say," For the second prize this much is enough"! That much was sure as only two teams were going to compete and I was sure we will be the proud runners up. But it turned out to be much different which I'll share in my next post!


It had all the ingredients of a big family event with a huge number of people involved and all those small fights that are bound to happen. All that while I was having a whale of a time! Getting to know people I would otherwise have not many chances of talking to was fun. Jealousy, Joy, Throwing my weight around, fun, frolic, pessimism - everything about those days of practice was fun!


But this thought of "one big family" came later on when both the Indian dance and the fashion show teams were on stage together two days before the start of the Inter batch culturals! ( How clearly I remember that evening with all of us crammed in on the stage with the curtains drawn in for privacy's sake) Watching each of the fashion show pairs walk up the ramp and do their acts was exhilrating. And then together applauding and shouting and cheering for each thing well done was even more fun. It is definitely fun to watch the people you know so well do different things and discovering their strengths and weaknesses. All this is much more fun than you can possibly think trust me.

It brought us all much more closer! Above all, it brought out how much we as a batch care for each other!!!


So Prakriti- 2010 and Utsav 2010 were fun but more was the practice sessions and all the behind the scenes galatta that preceeded it.

Good Night folks be with you soon!

The Bicycle Thieves

Hi guys,




Just watched the old Italian film, The Bicycle Thieves which is supposed to have inspired Satyajit Ray and is touted to be the Seventh best film ever made! Whoa! It was so poignant and very realisitic! To think this film was made in 1948 is truly astounding !!!

It is about a poor guy in a employment less Italy who finds a job as a poster-sticker for which a bicycle is essential! By selling of the linen sheets the family owns he gets back his bicycle which he had pawned to feed his family only to lose it again to a street theft(filmed very nicely) on his first day at work!

He and his little son begin a futile search for his lost bicycle and they get so close to catching the theif but the fellow escapes! Saddened the protagonist turns thief and is caught when stealing a bicycle and is bashed up in front of his son. The owner of the cycle lets him go for the sake of his son!

The film showcases the plight of the post-war under employed Italy and the struggles of the poor! It also gives insight into the people's belief in clairvoyant seers and how at times of tribulation even the sensible people are made to turn to it for help! It shows the fantastic father-son bonding between the protagonist and son, their petty fights and how the father tries to make up for it and their trip to a little restaurant amidst all the ado! Its really cute to see the kid struggling with his bread containing sticky mozarella cheese!

The little kid's cute and brilliant acting shines throughout the film. The rest of the cast too have delivered fantastic performances which is way too realistic considering the film scene of the 1940s!


Watch it and do let me know what you guys think!!!!

Its Raining Love. . .

Hullo all of you,


Its been a really long time since we discussed something . I stress the word "discussion" here, because I'am sure this blog post is capable of evoking just that.



Two months after February and it seems to be raining Love harder than ever and this perhaps is the cause of all the unbearable heat we are all experiencing. All of a sudden everyone around me seems to be coupled(or is this just an illusion???)! Whatever it maybe this coupling phenomenon has visibly increased.

Love has not only been raining abundantly in Coimbatore but also in the media as well the Love showers have been doing immense good with two latest love stories becoming big hits. The first was a very hot sports couple trying to unite India and Pakistan in a different way and the other was a stupid two times married politician(Sashi Tharoor) and an over made up middle aged supposed to be good looking woman Sunanda. The second one caused so much trouble that people who are in no way connected with this (like Lalit Modi of the IPL) are running for cover and the poor ministerji had to give up his cabinet post. Talk of Love being powerful , after all this I will never ask for substantiation for that saying.


Now lets not stray into all that not so interesting politics and let us limit ourselves to where we are - Hot hot Coimbatore that now is boasting of not-so-hot-hot couples. Who cares if they are not hot when they are all made for each other or atleast so they claim. And they seem to be all over the place or all over every place that I frequent. Looking at most of these pairs I often wonder if it was only Love that was blind or even one of the partners had to be blind?


If any of the above mentioned couples happen to be reading this they definitely would be plotting my murder now so before they do that let me just tell " Sorry" to all those people who have been hit by Cupid's Arrow. I really meant no offence guys. And yes, you can say the same of the person who falls for me ( well that is if and only if someone does in future really fall for me).


Its raining Love so much that I am one of the few seriously affected by the floods it seems to be causing. So whats my problem??? "I am Single ! ! !" Ya, it is as simple as that. So, I don't mean just because I'am single everyone else has to be single but still being single in a coupled world seems so queer. That doesn't mean everyone out here is a couple, there are many single guys as well but the eye sees only what it shouldn't be seeing so thats primarily the cause of all this trouble.


Very sadly I seem to have no takers. Well thats the problem which comes with being a below average looking, sharp tongued, never sweet guy who has nothing to boast about and I don't crib about that. So I don't think there is even a small possibility of seeing me hooked up with someone, well thats how it seems, atleast in the near future.


Seeing all these people around I've been having thoughts like, "How nice it must be to have someone to pour out all about yourself to. How good it would be to know that at the end of the day there would be one person to whom you can always return to and watch all the ires of the day fly away. Someone who would give you a hug when you are in need of one, someone who would defy the world for your sake, someone who would Love you more than anything or anyone else in the world! Sigh ....I don't know if all this would just remain a dream in my Life!!!"And these thoughts are not exactly pleasant!


So enough of all this frustrating talk. In any case I do not know how all these made for each other love stories will end. Would it end with a " ....and they lived happily ever after!" or would it be a ".....rid of each other, they lived happily ever after"? In either case whatever happens will only be jolly entertainment for me. So lets wait and watch what fate has in store for all of them.

Just Wish them luck Phantoms!!!!!

Bye for now Phantoms!!!

P.S : Now this is a very hot topic and deserves commenting upon so common and pour out what you guys think atleast to me privately.

Rockford - Montfort????

Hi Phantoms,


I just finished watching this amazing movie "Rockford" by Nagesh Kukanoor and I just felt the need to put on record all my feelings after watching it. It was a real trip down memory lane to the Montfort that I joined when I was in third and a feeling of sadness thinking about what she had become now!! The film is entirely filmed in my Alma Mater Montfort !

First it came as a surprise that Nageshji about whom I had read a lot was an Old Boy of Montfort and then seeing this movie made me feel as if we share this bond that every montfortian shares. It was such a brotherly feeling towards him and watching the entire film only made this bond grow deeper.

Nageshji has portrayed to near perfection the Montfort that I joined back in 1998. The very next year Bro. George K J took over and every thing changed. The legacy of seventy years destroyed by the will of one man. How much ever I like Brother George and think he is a genius after seeing this film I want to say," Brother you've robbed our school of so much"!

Nageshji took me ten years back to the day I joined boarding school as an eight year old - a day that I remember vividly. Although at that tender age I was not subjected to as much as the protagonist, Naidu, I went through a different set of ordeals but strikingly similar. And I have every reason to believe that my seniors were upto all that is shown. That was the environment in which Vikram and Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss grew up to name a few of our Old Boys and not the present day Montfort.

The Paedophilic brother(not all of them), the blowing romances between teacher and students(yep they did happen) , teacher and teacher, the SSGY fetes, waiting for some kind of socials to get a peek at SHY (Sacred Hearts, Yercaud) girls, the letters that shuttle between the two schools all remind me of the good old Montfort days! Also it was very interesting to see the few students standing simply in the football field , reminding me of myself . Then the hero worshipping the bigger guys - ah how much originality !
And the usage of the unique Montfort lingo in many places was soothing. And saying the prayer before meals with eyes open and one hand on the chicken was so funny and reminded of my days in the lower standards. And having a crush on the staff. . . Nageshji you've left no stone unturned in portraying the Montfort of yore. But I would ve loved to see the batch fights shown in some way or the other.


For every Montfortian this is a must watch!

And for all those who are not, still it is a must-watch because we Montfortians influence your Life in some way or the other....

Bye Bye for now....

Have a Happy New Week ahead......

A Very Happy Birthday. . .

Hullo Phantoms,

I've never given much importance to my birthday, to me it is just another day. Or on the negative side it is a celebration of growing older. To top it all my Birthday falls on The Day dedicated to fools and 'fooling around' and one of my school friends had told me long ago that my birth was the biggest practical joke that God ever played on the World. Ha ha! Perhaps thats true !


But this year's birthday changed all my negative notions about Birthdays. I now think it is a celebration of how much love other people have for us however undeserving we may be. One day every year that is given for us to be the Hero. A day for all those who love us to show us how much they do!!

Now why am I ranting so much about Birthdays. Read on about my Birthday celebration this year you'll know....

The Night of March 31st was such a suspense filled night for me. I knew that my friends would definitely do something but the problem was the day in which I was born (April Fools Day) so I suspected a Conspiracy Theory to fool me. And prior to this one of my friends had revealed that they were going to cut a cake in the class room the next day. So, I was naturally doubtful. At around elven, I crept downstairs and went from one friend's room to another. Most of them had gone to play carom and the few left behind were asleep.

I told myself that I didn't care and went and lay down and listened to a wide variety of songs on my MP3 player and fell asleep.Awoken twice by two of my sisters who couldn't stay awake till 12 to wish me in advance.

Promptly at Twelve my room was knocked or banged or i don't know as I went automatically by reflex and opened the door. I could take in a gang of guys standing at my door, wishing me and the prominent faces i saw were Sarvesh, Adharsh, Ram, Karthik, Sanjoo, Sendhil, Sids,Yogesh and a gang behind them whom I couldn't take in due to my sleepiness. I think a few hit me by way of Birthday Bums but I didn't feel anything as I was half-asleep still.

Then as usual we went down to the previous Gymn room and there I cut my Mississippi Chocolate cake (am not very sure of the name). And then all of a sudden it was raining tomatoes (thank god they were not rotten) and after all that tomato hitting and things. I had to go for a bath. Yes people I took bath at 12:30 in cold, cold water. I changed into cleaner clothes and came back down and was given my gift.

A very nice T-shirt, and CDs of "The Hurt Locker" (I could fathom that they would ve opted for this after all my ranting about the film at the time of the Oscars) and "This Is It" (I was really touched as I had only mentioned in passing a long time ago that I wanted to watch it). Then after talking briefly for sometime I retired to bed.

Then Morning meant another Bath and lots and lots of wishes from all over the country. I went to the Vinayagar temple in the college and then went to class loaded with a lot of Five Stars. I waited patiently for the first period to get over and I distributed them among all my class mates. Then next period was Ponnuswamy sir's, as he was my project guide I went to give him sweets after he finished class. The very sweet person that he is, he made the entire class sing for me and he too sang in the mike. I was touched and also embarrased but all the same ,"Thank You so much Sir".

During class Adharsh gave me a cute key chain with an S on it. Then, during the break time the KTs gave me their cards and gifts. I was opening them when one of my dear sisters Sharnita took so much trouble to get a cake on time into the class and we cut it and had so much fun with throwing cake at each other's face and dress.Thank You so much Sharni, I don;t know how much of the same I would be able to reciprocate on your birthday. Around that time my cousin, Dr. Balamurugan had called up and put the idea of taking my friends out for lunch. I left it at that and cleaned myself up and gave attendance at Paediatrics Department, spoke to Michael and went had my third bath for the day.

Sasi and Rats had given me another beautiful Blue T-shirt, a card and a key chain with my name on it! My chechi had given a really cute and colorful Ganesha, the rest of the KTs together had given a beautiful Photo-stand and a huge card. Sharni gave me a Nice clock! Thanks a lot guys, once again!


Then I bunked class and began inviting friends to take out for Lunch. In all, I had 22 people coming in no time and I was pretty excited about it. I quickly booked a table for twenty five in The Rain Forest. Then I alone quickly changed to the Birthday dress that I had got as a gift from the guys and waited for the taxis to come and after all the waiting they finally came and we left for Rain Forest, by far the most beautiful hotel I had ever been to. We had an awesome time there and I settled the bill with my card and came off. The list of guys who had come are: Kaarthik, Teddy, Joo, Sarvesh, Sids, Jerin, Nave, Sri, Sharni, Swathi, Cheenu, Sneha, Ratna, Madhu, Sasi, Himangshu, Veena, Anu, Rowe,Aishu, Keerthi and Keerthana. Taking all of them out was like my happiness multiplied by twenty two!(I mixed the order up so as to avoid politics ... lol!!)

Then, I went to meet my uncle who had come for a consultation to our hospital and during this time the cake my mother had ordered for me arrived and I asked Teddy to take and start eating as it may melt but to save a small piece for me. The taste of the cake made them forget the last clause and there was nothing left. I was very glad they enjoyed it!!!

Then evening came, most of my friends left for home. I decided to stay back. And spent an hour texting some friends and opening gifts and cards. Shaikh and Yogesh had given me very innovative presents i.e., a comb and a scissor for obvious reasons.

I had a very light dinner and then I spoke for hours with Sharni and my sister and then Shaikh was telling me all that went on in our nearly empty class room that evening.

Then I spoke for some time with Kaarthik before going to Raghul sir's room for giving him a chocolate. I spoke to him too for some time and then finally came back and closed my door to a wonderful day that had been....


Every ear although many used to wish me, I always used to think of the few particular persons whom I would ve wanted to wish me and feel bad. This time I realized when I have the wishes of all these people who love me dearly why should I even care about those who give a damn about me!!!...


Guys, Friends, however cranky this may sound, "I LOVE YOU All".....You've given me a day to remember all my Life...


And am indebted to all of you....


Thats the story of the day I turned Nineteen Years old. . .

Love at First Sight...

Hello again Phantoms,


Now last Sunday, as you must be well aware now, I was in Nagercoil and all of a sudden someone suggested that we go to Padmanabhapuram Palace in the morning. But the others were more interested in just lazing around and chatting as it was a Sunday. Now, I turned on all my powers of nagging and got everyone ready and made that trip happen. As much as I love simply sitting down and talking aimlessly I love the outdoors and the chance to explore new stuff more and I wasn't going to miss this one.

And I am so Happy that I somehow managed to get there as the place was so beautiful. It was love at first sight for me. The place was quiet, not crowded and filled with architectural beauty. Now when I say Architectural beauty do not expect the grandeur of the palaces of Rajasthan. The place is very humble compared to the monuments of the North but it is historically very rich.

It has the traditional Kerala styled architecture with slated roofs and extensive wood-work. What is surprising is the entire flooring is not done with stones or brick but by a concoction of coconut water and fruit of some special trees and a whole lot of fine stuff so that the place is kept cool always.

I always used to think that there were some similarities between the Chinese Architecture and the Keralite Architecture, well this is perhaps because Kerala had extensive trade and commerce with China in the past. These similarities are well pronounced in this palace where the wood-carvings on the roof the King's chambers are beautifully done with dragons spitting fire. The palace also has quite a collection of furniture presented to the Kings by Chinese traders.



Being a person interested in the South Indian classical arts, I was defintiely thrilled to walk in the corridors through which Raja Swati Tirunal,the great Carnatic Music Composer and Vadivelu, one of the Tanjore Quartet who formulated Sadhir(Bharatanatyam of today) once walked.

Of course, the "Kanadi thara" or the glass floored hall caught my attention. It is a floor in the palace made of all the stuff I mentioned above and polished to such perfection that one can see one's face on the floor(am not joking). The place seemed vaguely familiar and later I came to know that the famous dance sequence of Shobana's for Manichithrathazhu was filmed here. Now that explained why the Palace seemed so familiar.

The palace has an extensive collection of paintings which are so beautiful, the entire Rasleela of Krishna is depicted through beautiful glass framed paintings. Also the important events of the many kings' reign painted on big canvases by artists of yore are displayed.

The Palace has devoted a separate section to showcase the sculpture work from the area and it is huge and has some very beautiful pieces of art. I wish to go back again and explore the place not having to worry about it getting late.

Then for all those shopaholics out there, the shops outside sell numerous beautiful handicraft works at reasonable prices. I bought a nice ram made of teak wood(or atleast i was told that) as a gift for the best Arian in the world - Me!!!

Let me sum it all up. If you love Art in any of its various forms Padmanabhapuram is a must-see place for you! If you are not much into the arts still you will find this Palace to be an interesting place as all my skeptical friends who thought that palaces are not their kind of place too enjoyed this one.


So , If any of you phantoms visit Padmanabhapuram do let me know we can have a long or short chat about this place which I LOVE.....!!!


Bye again Phantoms....

Standing at the Door of a Train compartment on a Dark Dark Night...

Hiya Phantoms,


Last week my gang of seven guys and I made a trip to Nagercoil to one of my friends, Jerin's house. We started off on Friday Night by train. It was by far the most exciting Train Journey I ve ever had. The Coimbatore - Nagercoil express was speeding into the dark and silent wilderness disturbing the calm all around. I walked upto the door to my compartment and stood looking out for quite a while and recorded all the thoughts that crossed my mind to share with you guys.

Let me start by telling you a fact that all of you must be well aware of " Train Travel is AMAZING"

It was such a pleasant night on the train, the warm summer air gently brushed against me as its calm was ripped by the Train. It was very pleasant and everything just seemed perfect. Now let me haphazardly describe the important events of that journey.

Unlike in the Morning nothing is clear at Night. All those weird dark shapes cast by trees, shrubs, and bushes leave a lot to our imagination. I'd love to traverse the same way back again but by daylight to check how far my imagination and reality coincides.

I saw innumerable villages pass me by and wondered," Are all these people even aware of this soul watching them go by? What must they be all upto in their homes? What dreams must be playing in the eyes of those asleep?"

Then all of a sudden another train whhoooooooshed past me in the opposite direction frightening me out of my senses. Although I stood well inside my train safely, the sudden countenance of the other train instilled fear in my mind. Otherwise nothing about the dark outside seemed to scare me.

I could feel the warm summer night work itself on me. Looking down I could see how beautifully and meticulously the various tracks joined and separated through the light in my train. These train drivers must be really intellingent folks to find their way in this impossible jungle of train tracks.

The train was flying by with such speed and the mildly cool summer air gently touched my face. The canopy of stars above only added to this beautiful feeling. Soon, I had to go back into my compartment as people wanted the door closed as they were falling asleep. And also because the door is close to the toilet and I couldn't bear to see all those sheepish looks of those who came to use it on seeing me.

Luckily I had to fight with none to take the lower berth and for long I was looking out of the window. And trust me , "NOTHING can be more pleasurable than lying down on the lower berth of a train with your window open and listening to Shreya Ghoshal and Sonu Nigam sing Piyu Bole while watching the scenaries fly by."

Of all that i could see outside my window the palm trees (especially the nongu trees) captured my eye the most. They give a a poignant and beautiful silhouette feel to the entire scene. To me they represented Beauty in all her simplicity.

A little cranky incident, there was this one man standing near our speeding train's track and watching it intently at such an unearthly hour. I just wanted to shout out " Hey! I am watching you too" - but , thank god, I had the good sense to control my mouth.

Two kids were travelling next to us and they were so excited about travelling by train. Probably their first time.They were jumping all over their sleeper seats. One of them was with the mother and the other with the father. Their enthusiasm was so contagious!

Now the kid with the mother also comes down wanting to sleep next to the window forcing their dad to to sleep in such a weird poise with half his bodyoutside the seat. "Don't be too happy girls, once you dose off one of you will go back up", my mind was telling the two kids.

Oh my God!!!! The mother of the two kids is sitting and texting someone on her mobile while her husband is struggling with the two excited kids. Wonder what she is upto :-O ! Haha!! Truly, people-watching is such a nice pastime.

We pass so many small but beautiful temples built so close to the track. Invariably the doors to the sanctum are closed and there is just one light in the mandapams. I couldn't help wondering what Devi inside would be doing- sleeplessly guarding her devotees or would she be fast asleep herself?

Soon I pass out from the tiredness of the beautiful day that it had been. And on waking, the next morning, I shifted to the empty side lower berth. The Sun hadn't yet come out but was announcing his arrival from Far Far Away. We passed by places untouched by the ravages of ultra-modernization. We passed by innumerable lotus-ponds blooming with our National Flower.

Now that much is about our journey to Nagercoil and now let me quickly in a few words explain the Sunday Night journey back!

First it was almighty cold and I had to wake up so many times in the night and adjust my position or try in vain to control the cold by shutting the window. I was at the side- lower berth this time.

The moon was just outside my window offering to travel with me and keep me company! The reflection of the moon suddenly and randomly appeared on the ground exposing the numerous ponds in the area which were camouflaged in the dark. Oh Nagercoil and its surrounding areas are such beautiful places even by night. And this time my freinds too joined me near the door those few minutes I stood by it!

I just want to get into a train and have a never-ending journey. I'll be able survive even without food and water when on a train, i guess!

Thats it Phantoms about Standing at the door of a compartment on dark dark night(s).

Bye for now!

Have a great Sunday!

Sunday

Hey there Phantoms,

The world is full of surprises and things as small as the varieties in the common things we use in our daily life can strike wonder in us. Just to think of what a visionary and imaginative person our creator is, strikes awe in me.

Now why am I praising God so much today??? There is a reason. I had gone shopping with my mom and just as i entered the Pazhamudhir Nilayam in Erode to get some fruits for my friends, I spotted something strange. Yellow coloured water melons. And I was surprised and it evoked all those above emotions in me. For this was an aberration or a normal thing that i 've never beheld before. Well see it , and come to your own conclusions.


Bye for the week.

Have a fantastic week ahead!

Unexpected Visitor....

Hey Phantoms.....

How was your week???? I didn't know how this one went by so quickly. And here I'am already, writing or rather typing a new post for you.

This morning at around ten o' clock I had a surprise visitor from my neighbor's house. Guess who it was? It was a beautiful white duck from my neighbours farm. He was so cute and he was sitting on the metal sheet we had put up over the servant's toilet in our home.




Now, let me tell you, my house is in the second floor of our Hospital and that brought in the surprise factor. Till today I didn't know that ducks could fly. I knew they could swim pretty well. But fly, no! This was news to me and I was excited. I ran around clicking pictures. Not very technically great snaps but , all the same, they are snaps.

(The first four were when he/she flew from on top of the toilet to on top of our house-proper.)

Good Night for now.

Check out these birds and let me know what you think of them.

Childhood

There is no time in Life like Childhood, Phantoms! I realised that yesterday when I was clicking away madly at some of the AWESOME poises my six year old nephew was giving me when I had gone to worship our family deity in our native place. And am sure most of you guys would agree with me.

For once I am not gonna talk but let my pictures do the talking......






It feels so nice to just look at these pictures; How great would it be to always have the fun and the energy-level the guy in the pictures is having???


With that thought let me sign off for the week phantoms.

Bye! Keep haunting me.....

Have a great week ahead...

OH......What a Grrreat Day....

Hey Phantoms,

Hope you're all doing fine after a wonderful weekend. Today was so much fun. I got up early to watch the Academy Awards Function and I tell you these people in Hollywood go all out to make the event special every year. Everything fascinated me about it from the stage design to the ambiance and the audience that were seated in the Kodak Theater. Just loved it.

Although Merryl not winning the Best Actress in a Leading Role was bad, I was happy for Kathryn Bigelow and her film The Hurt Locker. As for Avatar, there is nothing to fret about guys. They already have the biggest box office record on their side and it will be the biggest film in the history of film making and also in its future for atleast another decade.

Then I had my Driving License Exams. Now why do all these RTO officers act as if they are the busiest people in the world. And man are they lazy? The guy just asked me to bring the parked car and stop in front of the office so that he can see me behind the Driving Wheel. And thats it , I got my license. You know atleast for protocol's sake he could've asked me to drive for sometime. But I swear I don't care now. I am just Happy and relieved that it is all over.Thanks for all those prayers that you phantoms filled the air with for me.

And the best part I am bunking college the whole day. There is a significant bit of the ceremony that I missed today, so I am gonna sit up and catch the re-telecast.

You guys too try to catch it. It was an awesome function as far as I saw it.

Bye for now Phantoms.

More Love and More Power to you guys

Hullo Guys....

It wasn't a very bad day today. But a complete non-veg free Sunday does break my heart or atleast my tummy says so. But anyways I'll compensate for all that tomorrow when I am back at college.

Well for a long time I used to wonder when I get the news of Grandparents of my friends passing away "Will my Grandparents go too?" This was because after years and years of hard work in the fields my paternal grandparents were study and fit and no illness was able to as much as shake a finger of theirs. I was just coming to the conclusion that they were going to be like that for eternity when all of a sudden my dad's mom started showing clear signs of ageing.

She is so scared of death and now she has all of a sudden realised that everyone born will have to die and that her time is not far. She developed a Psychiatric condition called "Panic disorder" where she is constantly scared that something might happen to her when physically she is her same fit self. This has taken a toll on her. She looks tired and so lifeless these days. For patient's with this condition the sight of a doctor is like having seen God (luckily we have two good doctors in the family and a third one is on his way) and she is on medications for it.

But what aggravates her situation is the nightmares she has been having for the past few days. Her dreams have been filled with previously dead and gone relatives trying to get on to her back. If that gives me the creeps, just think of the condition of this already demented woman.


Now that brings us to our discussion. Will our old age too be cowded with fright and doubt? Is there a possible way to grow old without fear? Is death that bad?

May sound like very philosophical questions but each one of us would think of these things at some point in our life. Why not that point be today?? And do share it with me so that I may have some light too.....


So phantoms thats it for about a week or two....Keep haunting me....

For now Good Night and you guys in my dreams.....