After two months, a post and an award!

Well, Two months go off without a new post in my blog! I really should not blame this on any one or any thing! It has been my fault. I should have found time to write posts but I didn't do that! And here I come back with a "Self-Boasting" post!

These are the questions from Panchali Bolchi mam! 

• Are you a morning person or night owl?

 Morning person!

• What is your favorite genre of music?

 Rap and Melody!

• What is your favorite hobby?

 Novels and Sleeping! (Isn't that a pastime?)

• Do you own any pets? If so, what kinds?

 My family has a pet! It's me :P

• How do you motivate yourself to exercise?

 I don't motivate and I so I don't exercise :P

• If you could move to any other city in the world, where would it be?

 Chennai and Chennai only!

• Something you learned recently...

 Never lose your self-esteem!

• What is your favorite season of the year?

 Winter!

• What was your favorite childhood toy..?

 I don't remember any toys mam :D

• Why did you start a blog?

 To put forth my opinions!

• Which electronic device you cannot live without...?

 Cell phone (that's obvious I guess)

I have come back to the present after this questionnaire I guess! :P And other rule is to nominate some fellow bloggers! Here is the most difficult part! I am neither a great blogger nor a regular one to nominate! So I am leaving that part alone! I thanks Panchali mam a lot for this memorable award! 

Phasmopobhic fellow!

Everyone has fear for one thing or the other. And there are many out there who have this fear. Fear of Ghosts! The fear of ghosts is called Phasmophobia! Almost all of us would have had that fear in our childhood and some may have come out of it and some may have not. Some may oscillate between these two categories. 

At bright day times (and a very few nights), these type of persons talk courageous things, they contradict the existence of ghosts and they also tell stuffs like "There can be no evil spirits near our home which is an abode of Gods!". At nights, they are afraid even to go to a dark room alone in the same house telling stuffs like "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. So if God exists, there exist evil spirits."

There is another category of people. They die of fear inside (irrespective of the time of the day) but never show them outside. I feel proud to tell you that I belong to this group of people. If you people are curious to know whether you belong here, answer the following questions! Let us consider that there are more than two people who sleep in a bedroom and you are one of them. 

Do you feel awkward going to the rest room around midnight which is located away from your bedroom?

Do you put on all the lights on the way to restroom at nights?

As soon as you switch off the last light before entering the bedroom, do you run to your bed instead of walking?

Do you sometimes wake someone purposely but act like you didn't do it when you wanna walk alone around the night?

Do you ever look in the mirror at nights out of fear that a ghost might be laughing at you from a corner or just behind your back?

Do you pull your bed sheet right from head to toe out of fear?

Do you have trouble sleeping after seeing a scary movie?

Do you ever feel a bit frightened seeing an old, dilapidated house?

Do you ever run fast on an empty or dark street? 

If your answer is 'yes' for any one of the above, then you have the same fear which I have! Welcome aboard! I thought I could share an experience with you, a hilarious one!

It was a Sunday night. I have CAT class at Adayar from 9 A.M. to 1 P.M. On that day I went to my uncle's home after the class and was returning late. I had parked my vehicle in the front of MIT and to reach my vehicle, I got to walk around 3/5th of a kilometer. It was a vacation and the campus had an eerie silence. I got down at Chromepet and walked towards MIT. The watchmen as usual started his lengthy inquiry. I always wondered if he were a retired policeman and spent his life inquiring innocent people all his life. I had an awful time explaining him that I was the student of CEG which is a.k.a Anna University main campus.

"Show me your ID!" I took it from my pocket and showed him. He plucked it from my hand and examined it.

"Why did you go out?"

"I had CAT.. MBA class!"

"Why are you here during the vacation?"

"I am a student of CEG, Anna University main campus."

"Then what is this campus?"

"This is Anna University annex."

"Oh! So why are you here?"

"I am residing near the college and I have parked my vehicle here!"

"Oh! Is your name Harikrishna?"

"Isn't that there in the card?"

"Yeah!" He grinned.

I started walking towards the other gate. I was in my vacation and so I have watched many films. And I watched two ghost films the previous day. One was Pizza and other was Talaash. I didn't feel fear or clumsiness while or after watching it but this lonely MIT road rekindled my fear. I kind of started remembering the ghost scenes. And the most irritating things in MIT at night are these street dogs and I do really hate them at nights. There are two roads in MIT from one gate to other. One is so lonely and dark where there is a huge possibility of a ghost landing right before me and slapping hard and the other is well-lit and is full of dogs. I gotta take decision and it was real hard. I was forced to take a decision between the devil and the deep blue sea. I thought, "Naaya? Peyaa?" (Ghosts? or dogs?). I didn't wish to imagine the dogs chasing me in pairs and so I took a bold, gruesome decision. "Pei" (Ghosts)!

MIT road

 Image: Harikrishna Raghuraman

I took the dark, ghostly road. I chose the devil literally! The road was well-lit initially and illumination decreased exponentially with the distance. Fear took its root in me as I just put my foot on the first shades of darkness. Nothing but pitch dark and eerie silence accompanied me and rarely a shrill sound. I used my cell phone light as a torch and moved forward with deathly fear in my heart. Suddenly, I heard a dog howling at its full strength and for a moment it seemed like a soul crying in distress somewhere near me. I turned back to see the condition. Very far away, I saw a yellow light and 2 figures chatting. They must be watchmen. If not? My fear blazed within me.

I have heard a story. And let me tell its conclusion straight away. Never turn back when you are walking alone in a pitch black area for there might be a burnt, scarred devil coming towards you. And don't ever think to turn if you hear someone calling your name. The ghosts do that kind of stuff. They call you by your name in the dark places, you turn back and they will kill you! These things along with the faces of the ghosts from the movies went on and on in my mind. The dog's howl was replaced by crickets' chirping.

I was walking past a partially built building when I noticed something moving beside me. I was startled and was almost dead for a second. But later found that it was a mongoose which run and hid among the bushes seeing me. It seemed that the mongoose was afraid of me. Wasn't I afraid too? Each of the two was afraid of the other. A complicated situation. I walked past the tents of the workers and I became bold for a few minutes and again fear encircled me as the darkness started. Then I heard something. 

The building

Image: Harikrishna Raghuraman

"Harikrishna!" 

I was startled. I wasn't sure what I heard! One thought was that it was my imagination and other was that it might be a ghost. Oh My God! Then I heard it again.

"Harikrishna!" 

It went on for many times each separated by a few seconds.

"Harikrishna!" 

Though I was sure that I must not turn back, my curiosity took the better of me. At a distance, I saw a figure coming towards me. It was almost running and then I looked at my feet almost immediately and realized that I too was running. That figure ran towards me shouting my name and I turned around a corner. I looked back again and was happy to notice that the figure wasn't there. And again I saw it. I ran, ran, ran and ran and reached the other gate where I had parked my vehicle. And I noticed that there was only a single light near the entrance. The shops on the adjacent street were closed as it was a Sunday. I noticed a watchman hearing radio and I thought it was wise to run to him rather than to the vehicle. I have heard that ghosts will chase regardless of your speed when you are alone. So I went near the watchman. 

The yelling continued.

"Harikrishna!" 

"Ghost!" I yelled. The watchman in front of me laughed.

"Sir, he isn't a ghost!"

"Please help me out of here! Save me!"

"Sir, it’s the watchman!"

"How the hell did he know my name then?" I looked puzzled.

By then, that figure reached me. He was the same watchman who inquired me a few minutes back.

"Sir! You didn't take back your ID card sir! And I saw your name in it and came running behind you shouting your name! You made me run the whole campus!" 

"You made my heart run leap out of my body!"

"Excuse me sir? I don't understand you!"

"Aaahhh! Nothing!"

I sighed and felt a huge relief. After all, ghosts don't exist. Do they? I became courageous again seeing the people around me.

Those few breath-taking moments!

He was sitting silently on the wooden bench.

His eyes were transfixed on a book in his lap.

He was thinking whether to look at her or not.

He had already looked at her twice without getting caught.

He escaped her eyes twice.

He thought that it was time for another.

He decided to look up from his book.

He was caught this time while looking into her eyes..

He immediately returned his gaze to the pages of the book.

She also started looking at him.

She fixed her gaze on him.

She stopped her troll and stood at a place standing in a placid manner.

She thought it was time to question him.

She had a mixed feelings.

She didn't notice him for the first two times.

She caught his eyes staring at her the third time.

She definitely wanted to ask him and so pointed at him as she didn't know his name.


She knew that he wouldn't look up from his book and asked his friend who was sitting by his side to call him.

That friend told him, "Hari, She has been pointing at you for a long time. See her. I think she has caught you looking at her. She might ask you something."

Then he mumbled, "No, I don't have an answer!"

There was sweat dripping down his face and beading on his neck out of excitement and fear.

There was a shivering in him at this hot hour of the day.

There settled an eerie silence in the place. It was disturbing him.

There was a rumbling sound arising from his stomach.

There the eyes met. It was a wonderful thing.

Then came out a shrill voice with a question. He was taken aback. He had no answer. He didn't know the end.

"What is the common name for Sodium Bicarbonate?"

An Official IV and an Unofficial Tour

I have been in the same batch for the past two years. I have wasted two years in my college life! I haven't talked to nearly half of my batch mates properly till the event. I haven't known the names of some till that event. I haven't seen some of the faces clearly till the same event.

That event was Industrial Visit which should have been a tour with a visit to at-least an industry. But ours had only been a tour. A tour which showed the fourth face of the Ashoka lion. A tour which made us enjoy every day, every hour, every minute and every second. A tour which made us understand the coordination, discipline (:D), affection, respect, trust, friendship, responsibility of our batch mates.

From now on, They are my friends and not just batch mates.

Whoa! What a batch! What a coordination! I am dazzled. I am amazed.

Day 1 (22 Aug) :

The tour kick started on 22 August at 5 P.M. Day-scholars directly reached Chennai central. The hostelites started their delectation en route from college to Central in bus. We boarded the Mangalore express. We weren't together since the seats had been allocated in different compartments. It took nearly an hour to settle and people in each compartment formed a group and started enjoying. Me, Sathish, Dewa, Deepak, Venky, Ganesh, Saravanan, Anushia, Abhirami, Abinaya, Danisha, Bhargavi, Naren, Mega, Nagalakshmi, Banu, KK, Karpaga priya, Senthamarai, Meenakshi, Sano, Leela, Mathi and others. We played cards, dumb-c, truth or dare. We sang. We danced. We criticized. We mocked. We imitated. What not! The seats were allocated under RAC and so we didn't get the berths till 1 A.M. We were widely awake.

Day 2 (23 Aug) :

This day was entirely devoted to the train journey except for a halt in Mangalore. We got down at Mangalore around 8.30 A.M. and accommodated in a lodge for refreshment. We had our brunch around 11 in a scanty restaurant. It was the first time we struggled. None of us at the restaurant knew Kannada and none of the people working there knew Tamil. We used a few Hindi words and managed. We vacated the lodge and boarded the Matsyaganda express to Madgaon. Songs by our Venky were more hilarious. 

An interesting yet a bad incident happened en route to Madgaon in train. A transgender. How can we forget her? OMG! She came asking for money. It wasn't begging. She knew Tamil and easily found that we were Tamilians. The way she asked money. Phew! All the worst words in Tamil in a flow. Yappa! Pardha, you won't forget it in your life. I still remember the way Krishnakumar climbed the upper berth when she came again. We all were in a shocked state for the next half an hour yet we were laughing out loud at the incident. Giri, Kalai, Hari, Sathish, Athip and me will never forget this. We never forget to talk about that during the entire IV.

We finally reached the place by 8.30. We took a bus to our resort and had our dinner. Speaking about the food, we didn't have proper food for the entire day in the train and even in night. It was tolerable and we settled in our rooms at 10. The discussions and talks went on till 1 A.M. Hari! The way you talked is still making me laugh! Yes! Definitely some went out in night to the famous beaches. Bouncers!!!!!

Day 3 (24 Aug) :

Goa! Goa! Goa! What else! Aguada fort. The scenario was excellent. Two South African women told us to dance and captured a video of it. We visited three beaches. The Calangute beach, the Anjuna beach and one more. Played football and bathed in the first one. It was a memorable one. Had our lunch in a small hotel near the beach. The day was so hot. The climate wasn't on our side. 

Boat Cruise! An awe-inspiring one! The view! Amazing. The DJ was the most enthralling one. We danced. Yeah fellas, Everyone of us danced to the full spirit there! We found our way out after an hour of mind-blowing dance which ended with a traditional Portuguese dance. We reached the hotel around 9 P.M. and had our dinner. Some of us retired to the room. But the guys visited the famous Baga beach and returned to the hotel around 2 A.M. Four of us went to a nearby restaurant and had palatable coffee!

Day 4 (25 Aug) :

We proceeded to South Goa. We burst out laughing seeing the way Guhan talked in bus. Visited an old church. It was a splendid one! An heavenly one! We continued to Colva beach and straight to Madgaon railway station. Devoured our lunch at a hotel in the platform. All 64 in a single compartment. Enjoyed every second of it. Truth or dare was the ultimate one in that journey. GV, sathish, Kumar, Deepak, Pramoth and others. Relished the dumb-c. Uma mam made it even more exciting. We reached the destination around 10. And oh! The dinner! We went to a hotel. There was only Paratha and Ghee rice at that ghostly hour. We nibbled some pieces and continued our journey to Coorg by bus. Everyone was fast asleep and we arrived to Coorg by 6 A.M. the next morning.

Day 5 (26 Aug) :

Coorg! It should be renamed as "The Bliss". The climate, the mist, the drizzle, the chill, the mountain, the valley, the greenery. It was appealing to the senses. We all got ready around 10 A.M. We had our breakfast and proceeded to the Abbi falls a.k.a. the Jessy falls. The route to the falls was astonishing. Full of green plants and shrubs. The falls was mind-boggling. The bridge in front of the falls made me lose my nerve. It was a life time moment. A worthy one. 

We returned to the room, had our lunch and visited the Raja seat. Hooooo! We were shivering. We could see our breath. Astonishing view of the beautiful place. Photo sessions, Train ride, shopping made us jump in joy. DJ! Whoa! Dancing (Solo, group and pair), Singing, Mimicry. Kudos to Praveen, Venky, Vishnu, Ganesh, KK, Pramodh, Naren, Hary, Laya, Moni and others who rocked the stage. We retired to bed after dinner around 10.30. A sad thing is that Aravind ended up with an a injury in his leg after dancing. And you people, you took great care of him.

Day 6 (27 Aug) :

Wonderla!

We commenced our journey to Bangalore by bus at 5 A.M. Several dozed off till 8. Then the next three hours were singing session. We sang loads and loads of songs. Started with an Anthakshari and ended up with all Kuthu songs. Hariharan rocked the place with his database. Had a bite. We entered Wonderla with a bang. The dry rides flabbergasted everone. The twisters! Yappa! It made our large and small intestines come out. Thanks to Sathish, Kalai, Dewa, Hari, Abi, Bhargavi and Subhashri who were with me through out the day. We had a luscious lunch at wonderla and continued with the water rides. Wave pool was excellent with artificial waves drenching us completely. Rain disco. The entire batch danced, danced and danced. None of us would have danced that way ever before. Kalaivanan showed his energy for the first time. Then came the lazy river. We pushed everyone into water from their tube. It was a complete fun. Then we advanced with the photo sessions. And we started our journey to Bangalore station. We went for shopping to Mantri mall where almost all shops had been closed. We were nearing the end of the IV. We boarded the Chennai express and all except a few slept in the train.

Day 7 (27 Aug) :

Chennai!

சார், சூடா டீ, வடை, காபி .....

Chennai central. End of our IV. We shared all our care, affection, friendship, trust! This IV made every one energetic and exuberant. We loved every single moment. This batch is gonna rock for the two years. Thanks and Kudos to all the IV organizers. Sathish, KK, Lal, Saravanan, Ramp, Ganesh, Venky, Sarath, Mega, Abi, Banu and all the others who made this possible! Thanks to Giri, Kalai, Hari, Sathish, Athip and Srichandran who were with me through out the IV. Thanks to Uma ma'am, Bharani and Benz who were so friendly to us. Thanks to Krishna and Jeeva for their photography. Jagan, MK, Eka, Santhosh, Shivaram, Raghavan,Mani, Thamil, Ezhil, Preethi, Priya, Uma, Sangeetha, Prasad, Keerthana, Swarna. Thanks to all who came and rocked the IV.

To those who missed it:

Dear people, seriously you have missed something important in your life. If you had thought that you had something more important than this, you had been mistaken. The IV was soo exciting. I don't think anything else could be more enthralling than this. If there is an IV in 8th sem, please don't miss it for God's sake.

P.S: Hope there will be another IV in eighth sem! 

Enga batch ECE-AB ku peria whistle adinga!!!!

Bloody name please!

This post is going to be a drama! Watch out for dialogues!

Amma to Vasudev: Dei Vasudeva, Go for that marriage da. Its next weekend only and you 'll be free here. Attend please!
Vasudev: No amma, I am not going. Do not compel me.

(Phone rings)

Vasudev: Hello
Dad: Hello Vasudev, One person wants to speak to you! Find out who it is!

(Oh not again! His dad has this habit of giving the phone to a person whom he is supposed to identify!)

Vasudev: Appa! No, not again please. Tell his name and give him the phone. Appa!

(Silence. He finds out that the phone is being handed to some one else!)
The person: Hi Thambi, How are you?
Vasudev: I am fine... (What should be his age?) Uncle! How are you? 

(From now on the author has decided to call "The person" as "Uncle".)

Uncle: Yeah pa. I am fine too. Can you recognize me? You must have seen me in your childhood.
(Here comes the catastrophe! Oh you seem to know that I have seen you in my childhood and yet you are asking this! I would have hit you in your face if you had been in front of me!)
Vasudev: Aaaahhh... Hmmmm... Errrr..

Uncle to Dad: It seems he doesn't remember me! I will tell him my name!
Dad: Don't tell him! He definitely would not have forgotten your name. May be he could not recognize your voice! I will give him a hint!

(Shit! They are playing with me!)

Dad: Dei, You remember the uncle who amma often used to talk about?
Vasudev: Which one? Mamma speaks about a lot!
Dad: Dei that uncle who used to mock you in your childhood days. You used to tell "Thakali" as "Kathali" and "kappal" as "Pakkal".
Vasudev: Oh! Him! 

(Shit!)

Uncle: Happa! You remember me! You still misspell "kathali" for Thakali"? Hahaha!
(Aiyooo!)
Vasudev: No uncle! For God's sake I am twenty years old! You still expect me to misspell words? No uncle!
Uncle: Just Kidding! ........... (Talking)

After 10 mins,

Uncle: (Talking)

After 30 mins,

Uncle: (Talking)

After one hour,

Uncle: Ok bye! I have talked for an hour but it seems like ten minutes. I will come to Chennai next weekend! I will meet you then!
Vasudev: Bye uncle!

(Hangs down the receiver)

Vasudev to amma: Next weekend I am leaving for that marriage to Madurai!

(I must never attend my dad calls here after. Even if I attend, I should cut the phone immediately if he passes it to a person without telling me his bloody name!)

Detective Kokonut and Inspector Jaan

"Yet another murder!" cried an orderly.
"How did you find out?" asked the chief.
"I saw him lying dead with blood spurting out from his petiole and pronotum in the portico of that home. Shit, I am scared."
It sent shivers down everyone's spine standing there.
"Detective Kokonut!" shouted the chief.

An ant dawdled to the center of the place. "Yes sir! I will take care of this preposterous thing. No more murders shall take place."

It was an ant colony built by them a few days ago in a hole in kitchen. They were all living happily before these murders took place. This is the fourth one. Inspector Jaan was already standing there looking at the corpse and musing. It was a small portico at the back of the house which was 10 feet away from their living place. It was built with mosaic floor with a garden at the other side. There was a room directly above that portico and another room adjacent to it. It was surrounded by concrete closings except for the two sides.

“Never tamper any evidence at my crime scene!” shouted Jaan.
Kokonut smiled.
“I am convinced that this is an accident!” said the inspector.
“I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts,” Said Kokonut. 

He started to make notes by observing every piece of the place using a convex lens he had.
"Where are the forensic people?" questioned the detective. 

"Sir! One hour before sir!"
"Any evidences?"
"No sir. Crushed and killed. Perhaps an accident again."
Kokonut went near the victim and touched his body. "Hmm, wet! Weakened legs due to torture! Last minute struggle! Grief face! Opened mouth indicating that he tried to call for help at last! two cuts with different times of happening. A gap of 20 mins at most. Call the guard who was on portico duty an hour back! Murder!"

"How sir?"
"You will know in a short while! Wetness! There has been no rain for the past four days. The house servant has been absent for the past three days and so none could have washed the floor. No sight of any water drops around the place. A small cup with water is here at one corner with not even a single droplet around. Hmm! Blood smell in this! I need a group of 10 army ants to volunteer for this case.”

The guard ant made his arrival before the detective. “Sir!”

“Yes, did you see Alex here before an hour?”
“Do you mean the youngest son of the owner of this home? Yes sir, he was putting something down from his hand.”
“Did you see what he was dropping?”
“No sir, I was at the far end of this place. I only got a glimpse and not a full view.”
“Okay you may leave now!”

“Sir, Alex was reading a book an hour before in the hall. There is a Florentine paper bookmark in that book,” said one of the ants.
“Ok show me that book.”
“It’s on the table. We will lead you!”
(Mumbles) “Bookmark is in the page 76. So two pages before it. 74. No. 73, 72,
(Shouts) “here it is. Notice a small blood drop in the corner of the book. Ok. Few water droplets here.”
“When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”

(Meeting!)
“I am hereby presenting the murderer of the week. Alex! When I arrived here, I learnt that Alex is a die-hard fan of torture porn genre of films and books. The book we found on his table was one of those books. The blood spot in page 72 of the book is same as that of the victim’s. The blood from the one of the cuts of the victim's body is by the nail which should have been made when he was picking up the ant. He then put it in a cup of water. He must have enjoyed watching the ant’s last minutes as it struggled to escape. It eventually died. And he dropped it in the portico and hence the other cut and kept the cup there. We must henceforth be safe and should not go out alone in the broad day light.”

The chief imposed a curfew indefinitely. Inspector Jaan always felt a bit envious of him. He wanted fame. He decided to punish Alex and earn a high name. He secretly followed Alex. But Kokonut found this and warned Jaan but he never respected him. Once he heard the conversation of Alex and his friends.

“Hey Alex, do you know what happened to Dazzy, when she was riding her cycle?”
“No. What happened?”
“She was riding her cycle. An ant stuck her in her arm. She lost her balance and fractured her arm.”

Jaan got a notion. He climbed onto the shirt of Alex and waited for the right time. Alex started his bike. He slowly crawled on the hand of Alex and prepared itself for the brave but stupid job.

“Sir, Inspector Jaan is missing!”
(Mumbles) "His ignorance is as remarkable as his knowledge."
“Never mind, he attempted suicide!” Kokonut chuckled.

Chennai to Chennai

This is gonna be my first "official" blog post. Contrary to the traditional, i am not going to talk about how I started to blog in this supposedly first post. I would go straight away to name this first post of mine as "Chennai to Chennai". This is a short story of a boy, personality turned freakish turned innocent boy.

Time: Around Nineteen years back...

Place 1: Chennai

THE BABY

It turns out to be the hottest day of the year. There are sounds of laughter, cries, disappointments, success, pride, envy etc., No it is definitely not one of the day of those expected results. It is a different surrounding and a different circumstance. It turns out be a hospital. A man aged around 25 is reading a news article on Sachin Tendulkar, a Cricket player who is gaining popularity among the people. It is supposed to be his birthday. A smile on that man's lips thinking about having his child in an hour or two. He has his dreams of bringing up that going-to-be-born child as a great personality serving for the country. His wife has been just admitted for delivery which has crossed the due time. The baby who should have come out to see this weird world has not come out yet. "Oh baby, Come out!” cries the doctor. Traditional and orthodox family it is and so the sounds of sacred chants outside the room. At last the baby is born at 12 am the next day. Doctors come out holding the baby in hand saying "This is a precious baby!” The tone is indeed sarcastic.

Time: Around Seventeen years back...

Place 2: Pondicherry

THE CHILD

It is a cool spring season with the smell of nice flowers throughout the place. It is the bedroom of small quarters. A young lady is playing with her child on the bed. The door bell rings. She keeps a pillow by her child's side and answers the door. The child loves fantasy it seems. It starts moving. It reaches pillow, pushes it down, moves further, reaches the end of the bed, looks down at the floor and laughs. Moves further in the air. Oh My God! It isn’t a superman. It falls down from a height. It starts laughing. Mom runs to the bedroom. "Aaaaaahhhhhhh!" The sound echoes throughout the home.

Time: Around Fifteen years back...

Place 3: Delhi

THE LAD

Let’s call this child "The lad". The lad grows up. When he is asked what he wants to be in future, he says that his aim is to become a "KALL-EC-TOR" (Collector :D). His father and mother feel proud hearing this from his mouth. So all is set for him to study hard. Starting from A for Apple to the Pan-gram sentence like "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog”, from the capitals to the Prime ministers (Which are the main syllabus for General knowledge exams), from Addition to complex numbers they are planning to teach him whatever they know. But he never shows interest in studies. Our lad likes to spend his time doing anything rather than studies.

His father always says, " Dei naan solratha kelu da!(Listen to what I say!)". 

Our lad will reply, "Enna vidu pa! (Leave me dad!)". 

This lad's father once goes to a slum for a job. He hears some rubbish words "@@#%$#$%^&##@@@" and turns to see, He sees his own Collector-ambition child shirtless playing Gilli. "Arghhhhhh!". The sound echoes throughout the place.

Time: Around Eight years back...

Place 4: Bangalore

THE BOY

His father gets voluntary transfer to a new place and firmly assures he will make his child a good personality.("Great" to "Good" !!). He puts him in a school a.k.a jail here. He spends his life for the next five years here. His mischief is never down. 

His father always says," Dei thayavu senju naan solratha kelu da!(Please listen to what i say!)". 

Our boy will reply, "Thayavu senju enna vidu pa! (Please leave me dad!)!" 

One day his Chemistry teacher asks him, “How will you find Avogadro’s Number??". He replies, “Go to Menu > Contacts > Avogadro!" Teacher faints.

Time: Now...

Place 5: Chennai

THE YOUTH 

He has come back to Chennai now. The place where it all started. The place where his father rejoiced in his birth. The place where the doctors hailed him precious. He makes it into a good college. He is fantasized by this capital city. His father now decides to make him as a personality ("Good" to” “!!). He thinks "Ezhunooru oora pathavan naanu!, Ithu ena biskoth Chennai!(I have seen several places, What this Chennai is going to change me!)". But he doesn't know by that time that Chennai is going to teach otherwise. First day of his college. He comes to a bus stop near his home. A bus comes packed fully with people. He steps forward to get into the bus. A huge uncle knocks him down and climbs the bus. Somehow he gets into the other bus. He finds very much difficult to stand in the bus with people stamping his legs and pushing him forth and back. He gets down and walks from bus stop to his college. He asks the route to his class and it becomes a wild goose chase. He arrives to the class after a great search and not to his surprise he is late. The professor has started his class. He says him to come for the next class. He stands outside the class for the entire period and enters the class the next period. The lecturer enters and starts taking attendance. He is looking around the class and misses his attendance. He goes to the teacher at the end and asks for attendance. He scolds him for not being attentive and says him that he will put attendance if he answers next class. The next two periods are break and he decides to talk with the new guys. He goes to them. Alas! Those are city boys and he finds humiliated. He goes to the canteen and stands in a long queue to buy a token and when he searches for his purse, it is missing. Tears roll down his cheeks. The afternoon session goes with mixed feelings. He goes to home in a bus and when he is getting down in his stop, a guy pushes him down. He collapses down with little injuries. He walks to home silently. His father finds his unusual sadness and silence as a token of surprise and asked him what had happened. What next happened changed his life!

Our youth says," Appa, appopo nee solratha kelu nu solviye! Ippo sollu kekren! (Dad, You will always ask me to listen to what you say! Now say dad!)". 

His dad smiles and asks him to sit by his side. He starts by saying, “See, you are what you are in this world. That's either one of two things: Either you're somebody, or you aren’t anybody…………..”

As the cliché goes, the rest is history!

 

Chennai da!!!!!! (In tone of “Mankatha da!!!”)

P.S: Alas! Chennai changed me a lot! That is the only connection with me in this story!