My Trivandrum....

You know what I miss the most?

Those night rides with my dad, when there's nothing else on sight. Just the cold night with the starry skies. A new look for the streets shed of daylight. The flyover in those flourescent lights. The tracks waiting for the late night trains...

You know what I miss the most?

Sleeping late in the morning means till 10. Sleeping at night means with my Chakkudu wrapped inside the sheets. Morning coffees made by mom, drank at dawn looking at the green trees over the track from the terrace till sun rises. Looking after those young kitties till they start ignoring me. Those rare instants they come over to me.

You know what I miss the most?

The feel of Dio in my hands. Those winding roads that take me to my friends. Those long roads where I can go 60. Seeing the college bus when I come in it. Waiting for Jo in my car. Driving around with bro to wherever he'll take me. :)

You know what I miss the most?

Those weekends with bros. When Rakesh would come over with "vaikitentha paripadi?" When Rajath anna would be teasing him like anything. When Rakesh would be teasing me for everything. But still come to eat whatever I make. Just seeing him every other day.

Damn! Why does things have to change so? I guess I should miss my friends the most. As I may never see them ever again. With family atleast I'll see them some time. But you know what I miss the most? The days I spent in my home.... Every single thing about it... Even the speck of dirt I can see in the sunlight coming through the front window.... Even the drop of rain that drips from the leaves...

Sigh... My entire world...

My Trivandrum....

Someone's watching over me....

10 April 2009

"...i wish sum day i cud xpernce sum tin lik tat...i mean feelin gr8 abt ur achvmt...i long lost tat tin..."

These words of Neeru I'll never forget. We all lost tat tin long back. Now we know what the world can do. Nothing we do compares with it. We just need to learn that we should compare what we did with the best we can do, not anyone else. 

On this day, I have to accept there's something worthy in me yet. I've had a great start in life. But then I realised what's great for me, wasn't great for the world. That's where I lost it, where we all lose it. My Ranju, Neeru.. the list goes on. But then someone's watching over me...

During my 6th semester, we had our campus placements. It was a time of great depression and I was lamenting about the meagreness of our existence. On August 23rd, I heard that Thoughtworks was visiting our campus. Its my Rohit anna's company. R A is my ultimate role model, IIT IIM chettan. So obviously I wanted to get in TW. But guess what, those guys had 5 rounds. 5!! I was so depressed because there was no way I could get in, it being a software company. All I know is the 'basics' of cpp. I'll never forget those two days: my name got lost from the list, how I crossed the second round (I can still hear Jolly calling my name), those interviews, that final photo. And Neets comment during my treat: "Now are you happy with the meagreness of your existence?!" Love you Neets for those words... That was the last time I felt proud of my achievement. It wasn't mine as much as all my friends'. But its mine to be called mine. 

Then there's the CAT results. That's what made Neeru make the comment in the first place. Jump for joy, I did. As unexpected as it was, as guilty as I felt, I felt a tinge of pride for what I did. And now IIM C. IIMs happened only to the greatest people I know. And now it has happened to me too. Though my tendency is to reduce the value of IIMs, I know I've to accept I'm good. Or that someone up there loves me like anything. Thank you...

IJK

Its nearly over, our wonderful days in our college. Will I ever see my friends after all this? Call me an pessimist or a realist, but I dont believe things will ever be the same even if we do meet some time in our life. This is the time when we start appreciating our friends all the more for what they are. God, how I love them all.

But there's a real special person, a friend. She's the second person ever to make me think of the cliche'd phrase "there's someone somewhere who's happy coz u r...". Makes u smile to see her smile.

Well, this is dedicated to her.... my dear Kuppi

This had been one helluva sem. Lots of things happenin.. We've had something goin almost all the weeks of this sem. And a perfect end to this sem would be a visit to a friend's place, don't u think? That's how this plan came up. V were goin to Kuppi's place for Christmas.

So on Saturday morning we caught Parasu to go to Irinjalakuda... that's IJK for u.

Me, Aps, Ranjani, Joe and the host.. that made up the team. A long eventful journey. Geethu, Baby, Simi and Appu were with us halfway. And we met Sandra from Germany. Real nice. We had a long talk. Guess what, she too was our age. And there she is touring a foreign country all alone. Makes u wonder what makes it OK for them to go like that while we have to be protected children till v r old enuf to be treated as senile elders... :( Our world seems to be full of danger and we are taught to run away from them and not fight them. I'm not complainin though.. Jus an observation. Btw, she took our photo.. Maybe I would make the pages of some German magazines or somethin... ;-p

We got to Ijk around 1. Nice, calm, quiet.. A short walk and a bus got us to Puloor. That's Kuppi place. We got off the bus and walked a small path beside the Sacred Heart Hosp.. Even before we set our eyes on the house, the friendly barks of Blacky could be heard.. calling out to greet his dearest friend... He was the first thing I saw there. A black Labrador. Grand, I would say. Only Joe's presence of mind kept me from greeting him before I said hi to the people in the house.

Sharath opened the door for us and we saw Radhika. They are K's cousins who live near by. Geethammayi, their mom and Geethaunty, K's mom were there. We went explorin soon afterwards... Of course, it wasn't 'exploration' for K, jus for us. We saw the 'kulam' and their 'parambu'... Radhika's house.. Even they had a black lab, Judy... Jus got to know the place around there... They even have a cow, Ammini (Gopalji's??)... After a while, K's grandma came. A real warm person. We all felt right at home talking to her.

Evenin came and we went.. to Koodalmanikyam temple. Real famous temple, one of the few temples of Bharatha. Have been hearin abt the place for so long. It was a huge temple with lots of grounds around it.. It was very spacious. I felt a calmness inside, when I was in there. Everything looked beautiful in the twilight. We prayed inside the kovilakam and came out. Though it was really late, K said we could walk around the pond inside. Kuleepini theertham. A large rectangular pond at the side of the temple. I had first seen the temple and pond when K showed it to us in Google Earth. It has a smaller pond inside it where the fish are fed. Legend is that there is a 'homakundam' at the bottom of the pond. That's why we are supposed to walk around the pond. We started on our 'Theerthapradikshinam'. The view from across the pond was amazing. The reflection of the temple on the pond waters. K said during festivals, there will be 17 elephants all decked up in golden Nettipattams walkin back to back. To see them and their reflection on the pond surrounded by all the lamps is indeed a breathtaking view.

Radhika. That's one special person for u. It took her but a few minutes to win our hearts. Sweet, cute and friendly. All afternoon she was asking us some kadamkathakal from a book she had. Was so much fun to listen to her. And for no apparent reason, she started calling Ranjani 'mangoose'. That was the start of a grt friendship. Ranjani was a perfect match for the girl. They were teasing each other, calling silly names... Mangoose, Neerkoli... and makin silly faces. Radhi sang for us a song that got her Grade A in their fest. She had come with us to the temple too. She spent some time with each of us. We all just loved her.

Mornin came again. Joe had gone to church early in the morning. By the time she came back, all of us had jus abt woken up. K was still under the sheets. We sat in the balcony, 4 of us in a row, sippin the hot coffee and taking in the morning air... As we were sitting there, someone came up to the house in a scooty. Should have seen his reaction when he saw 4 strangers sitting as if it was their place..lolz. We went down and were introed to K's Unniyan. Had a good laugh over his reaction.

As our exams were over just a day back, none of us felt like getting up all that soon... So after breakfast, we just idled abt the house talking to Sharu, getting to know Blacky and all... Around 3 we started off to see K's achamma near the temple. First we went to Unniyan's house and then to Jayakrishnan's house. JK is K's brilliant electronic brained cousin. Too bad we didn't get to meet him. But we did meet his sister, Sreekutty and went to see achamma..

An old style house. Padippura... Muttam.. Kayyala... There stood Ambu, K's aunty. Achamma was a nice ammomma with a resonant voice.. When she heard we were from Trivandrum, she started talking about one friend of hers who settled in Trivandrum. She remembered even minute details of her friend. Hope I remember all my friends like this... A few minutes later Ku came. That's what K calls Sreekutty's mom.

We walked around the grounds there and saw the kulam and kinar and pana and all that.. There was a tree full of bats there. And also a pambunkaavu.. There were two of those at K's place.

A nice walk towards the temple. A few silent minutes on its steps. A lonely path to the road. We walked around the temple. Halfway to the front, we came across a halfwall. If u stood on it , u cud see the temple pond. So we showed Joe the pond over the walls of the temple. We must have been a spectacle, four girls standin on a wall peeping into the temple...

Dinner was on Geethammayi... A musical night followed... Ranjini sang... Sharu surprised us with a spaar performance on tabala.. And we ended on a song from our sweet Radhika. What a voice on the girl. Takes the high and low notes with no effort at all... She even danced for us the previous day.. And she draws too.. Drew a card for Joechechi.. Was real sweet of her...

That night we saw some photos.. The photographic skills of Sharu deserves special mention.. There's a foto he took of a snake catching a frog.. Oh god! Grt foto.. And don't worry.. the frog got away.. Was too big for the snake..

Around midnight we went up to the terrace.. The sky was a black canvas filled with sparkling diamonds.. The Orion and millions of other constellations of which we donno the name.. Felt great to stand in the dark with all my friends under a star filled dome.. Isn't this the feeling I need all my life? Those seconds were the most precious moments of these few days..

We left Monday morning. We bid adieu to all with a heavy heart. Know what touched us all? Ammomma thanked us for coming there.. Said it was when we came that there was some life in the house.. All we did was enjoy two days with our friend and she was thanking us for that... We were overwhelmed...

These days I'll never forget...

Be it one day or a year,

The time spent with friends dear

Feels like a lifetime...

Come, touch the sky...

"Yesterday you told me 'bout the blue blue sky..."

N all that I can see is... everything. I was on the top of the world. Well, not exactly, but it sorta felt that way.

Manvilakunnu. That's the top of world I was talking about. Its a place near our college. Maybe some 1 or 2 kms away. Lemme tell you how I reached there.

Why did I go to college today? To tell the truth, jus cos I would have been bored if I had sat at home. So when we got there, Aparna wanted to visit Manvilakunnu. She's been talking about the place for so long now. It was so close yet we have never visited it, some excuses always pop up. Hmm, not today.

So its 2.30, then. Shall we start. Me, Neetha, Aps, Ranjani and Shee..that's the gang. Off we went along the road, passing Emmaus, reaching Manvila. Then through a lonely side road that kept on sloping downwards. Neetha was the one showing the way. But to reach a hill we were going downwards!? Follow the leader, I guess.

And on and on and on we went till we saw it. A hill. Nothing more. A plain hill at that. Just a lonely tree (if you can call it that) at the top.
Vijanamaya prashantham. Engum nishabdhadha. Njangal keyeri, angu mukalil. Avide...

God!!

The view! It was splendid, spectacular, breathtaking and everything else. You could see for miles and miles and miles around in all directions. The best is yet to come. There far in the horizon you can see.. the sea. So pretty. So far yet so close. The vast sky overhead with pure white clouds, green green keras filling the valley around us. Every inch covered with green trees all around. Only a few lone buildings scattered around remind us that humans exsist.

The wind was blowing with all her might. Does she wanna carry us off? Spread your hands and feel the thrill of flying. Listen to what the wind says to you. Surrender your senses to nature. Feel.

All good times must come to an end. So did this. Goodbye my dear hill for now.. Will always remember you..

I Miss You...

Hi

I miss you...

My days are filled with friends and joys. Never am I alone and never am I bored.
But without you, my friend, these joys will never stand.

I miss calling you daily. I miss spending my days with you. I miss teasing you. And I miss the most, fighting with you.
Cos I believe only the greatest of friends can fight and still remain friends.

With you I could share all my thoughts, and I know you wouldnt laugh at them. I could listen to everything you say and in the end not remember a single word, still you wouldn't mind. I could play silly games and laugh all I want. I could be myself around you.

Where did you go, my friend? And why did you go? Now however much we think otherwise, things will be different. Our paths have finally split and we are well on our way in ours. But I'm sure that they do cross each other sometime in our lives. You'll never be just a sweet memory of my life. And don't be sad if I dont recognise you when we meet again. Cos you are with me in the way I live, the way I think, the way I see the world around me...

Miss you, my friend....

first of mine

I was just going over a few of my friends' blogs and i jus wanted to check out what i can put up here...i dont expect much from me but we can see, cant we??