Monday, February 27, 2006

Ramayya and the Bulldozer

"Seekiram pa. We have more work to do" shouted the guy with a huge moustache. There was a guy on the bulldozer, a contractor and a few lazy souls sipping tea and munching politics in the nearby tea shop. Their gaze shifted from time to time on the huge bulldozer and the house near it, but their eyes were indifferent. Only one pair of eyes were getting mist witnessing the whole scene and they belonged to Ramayya. He looked at the name engraved near the gate of the house that read "LAKSHMI ILLAM".

LAKSHMI ILLAM. The name he had given to his house....no no...to his palace. 20 years before his Manager Mr.Ramanujam had suggested him to buy a piece of land in the Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR) and Ramayya had obliged. He got some money from his father and sold his mother's and wife's jewelry and built his dream PALACE.

A house is not just a enclosure built out of bricks, cement and mortar. It is the identity of a person. A person's desire, dreams, ambition, anger, love are all reflected in the design of his house. This house had shared a lot of emotions with him than his other family members. The house had witnessed the first child born here and it being named lakshmi after his loving mother, her first words "mmmmma", death of his father, birth of his son, his promotion, his daughter attaining womanhood, his son getting enrolled in a medical college, engagement of his daughter and so on....


The usual myth is that women are always very sentimental and emotional. But the oft ignored fact is that men are very sentimental about their belongings. You might have come across men who will never forgo their first bike, first car, first house inspite of the fact that they may be old and worn out. Today Ramayya's son was a prominent doctor in town and was married and settled in a posh apartment in Adayar. Inspite of repeated pleas to settle with him Ramayya had declined it. He couldn’t bear the thought of parting with this house.

But...the gods were laughing at him. The government had notified the destruction of houses on the OMR road to complete a 6 lane project. Ramayya had little choice but to oblige. He and his wife had moved yesterday to their son's house. Today was the day when the house...no no...his dream palace would be brought down. When the huge bulldozer brought down the compound wall Ramayya felt as if he was crucified. It was like a father watching his son being hanged to death.

Unable to watch it, he got into a nearby auto and said "Adayar po pa". The auto driver would never know why his passenger was sobbing.

P.S : Inspired from a split second image witnessed on OMR Road

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

How to Name It

LOVE

The basic question that has baffled everyone is that why should one fall in love in first place. Everyone knows that love causes anxiety, depression, joy, sorrow, excitement and any feeling related to that fist-sized thing on the left part of the body. Man may have made rockets to reach mars, he may have created wires about 9 times thinner than a hair’s breadth and yet he still finds it hard to know what excites a woman :-).


Bright Side
Although I am unfamiliar to the brighter side in my own personal experiences, I have seen some one them go places from close quarters (of course to my friends). The symptoms as far as I have seen are as such
• Excitement about anything from her side. It could be as much trivial as a 1 rupee note with her name on it to something as much important as her photograph with our guy smiling sheepishly along her side
• Waiting for her phone calls at unearthly hours
• Any product or shop with her name arouses interest in our guy (unless her name is Jayalalitha our boy is safe)
• Lack of sleep
• Bragging to his friends about her. (aval azhagu enna, gunam enna…enna enna enna)

In short she becomes the epi center of his small world. If the love is certainly not for time-pass and is seriously pursued to end in a blissful nuptial knot….I bet they are a LOVELY and LUCKY couple.

Other side
Men always fall in love easily. Very easily. I have seen many of my friends go through their so called LOVE and as a guy I have been through it myself. The trouble is (now what I am going to say is something guys won’t agree and women would accept instantly) that men are too naive to understand what love is.

Any girl that looks cute is a 25% target for love, and if she smiles at you the probability becomes 50%. If you happen to talk to her and she responds well in return it becomes 75% and if this continues for more than 2 days, it is 100% love. BOOM. Look.....how easy it is.


Why Love?
1. The economy needs to grow and for that people need to spend. Why the hell on earth would a boy buy some expensive bloody gift to a boy or taking him out to movie, restaurant, beach etc? Of course not. That’s y he ends up falling in love with a girl and burns his pocket for her sake.
2. Men love bragging and showing off. What better to show off then a hot chick and I bet that the most lovable thing they would brag about is how a girl talked to him, how he flattered her, how she responded to his signals (idenna transmitteraa??) and how she fell for him(although its always the other way round).
3. And yes…. the final one is the catch. It’s the thrill of being in love.

Why Not?
The greatest fear that every love story faces is...the fear of rejection. What if she says NO? Half of the love stories in the world are the ones which start in the eyes, travel in the heart but never make it to the lips. Just 3 little words...8 letters...but they weigh like several tonnes of weight hanging around the body, soul and mind and make any sane person go mad with rage.

Love has become a time pass for many and so it comes cheap in the market of hearts. People LOVE for few months..maybe days..go to Park, beach, cinema and few places..enjoy each others company and BOOM...its Bye Bye.

The logic that defies my understanding is that girls agree instantly to marry good guys once their parents find a match for them. But if the same guy were to propose to her and tell her that he wants to be with her for the rest of their life...they reject it flatly. Why the double standards for love and marriage?

But then for all the ordeals faced on earth, it is worth every dime…for the one enchanting smile of the girl you are in love with.

Oh..the joy of being in love :-)

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Cape of Good Hope

"Congratulations! You have been promoted to the next level". Satish was grinning from ear to ear. Just as he was to receive the offer letter, someone was pulling his hand. He was stunned to see that it was Gayathri...his other half. "You need to go to office early today. WAKE UP" she shouted. Then he realized that it was a dream.

He fumed that he was not getting his long awaited promotion even in his dreams. What was the day today? He questioned the calendar which obediently answered Sunday. "Oh God! Today is Sunday" Satish sounded as if Poes Garden was on fire.

Gayathri "So What? Throughout the year 24*7 you have been in the office. Does it matter if today is Sunday?"

Satish knew this was coming. They had been married for one and a half years and had been blessed by a son very recently. They had named him Sanjay and Satish called him Sunny. His project in office was a complex one and so Satish had been working for the past 3 months without a days break. He decided to put an end to this today.

"OK. How about going to Mayajaal today and watching Rang De Basanti today?" Satish asked. Gayathri looked at him as if she was exorcised. Then she smiled. "Wow..nice to see some rang change in your face" said Satish and he went to take bath. He came out and was changing his clothes, when he had a look at his son. "Sanjay...Sunny" he said aloud to himself.

"What should you become? No...not a software engg. You will have to work hard and though you will be paid well, you would have to compromise between family and work. How about a Cricketer? Hmmm...but then you will have to play more off the field than on the field. Is Chess fine for you? Oh...I forgot. I was always bad with it in my childhood days. Being my son I don’t think you are gonna be too good in that. Tennis? Yeah...that should be great. I will send you to this coaching academy. You will be Champion in the under-10, under-14 and under-17 championionships and then we will travel to Wimbledon. Maybe we will get Federer's coach for you. Does it sound fine Sunny?" Sanjay kept on talking to the kid.

His dreams were interrupted by his mobile phone. It rang and the display on his phone had a "CALL 1". It spelt danger. This meant that the onsite guy was calling him up. Mouthing some unprintable words Satish attended the call. His onsite guy Dibyankar called him up and said "Hey Satish. Dibyankar here. There is an urgent production issue that has come up. Are you in the office now?"

Satish masked his displeasure and said "No". Dibyankar "Hey. Appreciate if you could fix it up man. Its very critical and the client is all over us." Satish had listened to this dialogue a 1000 times and knew how 'critical' it was. But he heard himself saying "No probs man. I will go right now and take care of it."

Gayathri was looking at him from the far side of the room and said nothing. Frowning, Satish took his car keys and was just starting when he saw his son. "How about becoming a singer Sunny?". His son smiled as if he has approved of his father's wish. Satish smiled for the first time in the day.

P.S: Dedicated to my colleague Mr.K who has a kid (3 months) at home but slogs 24*7 in the office.:-)