10 Special songs

Here's a list of 10 special songs from my playlist. These songs are special because everytime they play on my ipod/media player, I end up replaying them countless time before moving on to the next number. The fact is, I never get tired of these songs and they'll always remain evergreen to me. Just thought will share these songs with you too:

1. Alan Parson's Project - Eye in the sky

2. Metallica - Unforgiven 2

3. Creed - Higher

4. Coldplay - Yellow

5. INXS - Beautiful girl

6. Stone Sour - Silly world

7. Death Cab for Cutie - Marching Bands of Manhattan

8. Blue October - Into the Ocean

9. Nickelback - Photograph

10.U2 - New York

(p.s.: These songs are in no particular sequence)

The mother who had no name.

Sunday, 22 Nov, 2009, Chennai.

She was always a mother since I moved into "Arumugam Oni" my Mogappair house in April'09. She was sheepishly wagging her tail the day I first saw her. Her two daughters shying away. We had no plans for the little family, but seeing us being kind to them, mother let her daughters come close to us but maintaining a distance herself. The kids seemed to grow quick and we already began making long term plans. Fate had other plans though.

The weaker among the two daughters was found dead one morning on the road in front of our house, she was hit by some vehicle in the early hours. I helplessly watched it, my sister gathered enough courage to place her away. May be we should not have let the daughters out of home, may be tying them up was a good idea. The mother seemed to move on with life, but with extra attention to the remaining daughter.

We took extra care of the only daughter, now gaining weight and height quickly. Again fate had it's own ways of unravelling its ruthlessness. The little one which otherwise would run to greet us even if we were a 100 mts away, didn't seem to turn up to my calls. She was under my car, seemed frantically scared of something. The mother knew it soon that the little one needed no help. I tried calling the daughter, but her snarls were fierce enough to scare me off. I thought the mother would have scared her off in an attempt to drive her away, but that was not the case. The daughter was out of sight the next day. I was way too happy to see it in my garden the following morning. She was just too weak to even stand. I fed her some water and milk, it managed to sip a bit but could not take more than couple of strides before falling down. Mother didn't seem to near the daughter, may be she wanted to stay away from the sickness the daughter might inflict upon her. An hour later I found the daughter dead in my front porch, but not before she put up a mighty struggle to reach the 20 meter distance. This time I took the daughter away from home. Mother was nowhere to be seen. I could hear her weeping howls every night thereafter.

The mother turned its affection on us, and we on her. She would follow my bike or car till the end of the road. She would welcome my sister and me with a song every evening when we returned home from work. A couple of month ago we realised she was pregnant, we were glad we would be getting a new set of pets and we planned to retain a couple atleast. Finally on 7th Nov 2009, mother gave birth to 4 beautiful small puppies, 2 boys and 2 girls. We ensured the mother and kids were fine in the Chennai monsoon by giving it special make-shift shelter and regular supply of food. Again fate unravelled something unexpected.

Mother hasn't eaten anything for 3 days now, and lost weight to the extent she is all bones now. She would occassionally cuddle with her kids only to walk away to the grass for sometime. She would not eat or drink anything we offer. At 4:00 pm today, she requested me to open the gate for her and I obliged. May be she didn't want to pass on her sickness to her kids, instead closing her eyes and bidding us a good-bye far away from home. She has not returned home since and it's midnight already. May be she never would. Christening her was just a formality, she was a part of our family anyway, so we never considered that. I am still willing to go out and search for her in the dark not knowing what to call her, after all she was the mother who had no name.

(Epilogue: I managed to leave the 4 puppies at Blue Cross, Chennai on 24-Nov-2009. Felt it needed some expert care for now. The mother never returned.)

The plane that crashed, well almost !

Friday, 02 Oct 2009, Chennai.

It was an early morning for my sister, aunt and me. We had booked a cab to take us to the airport to board the 7:00 a.m. Jetlite flight to Coimbatore. It was a planned weekend getaway to Valparai, a lesser known hill-station in Tamil-Nadu. The cab reached promptly at 5:00 am and we covered the Mogappair to Airport drive in about 30 min. Meanwhile, Chakri (my office colleague) and his wife who were to join us for this trip, had already arrived at the airport. Being a 3-day weekend, there was a rush at all the airport counters. Baggage check-in and security check itself took an hour. I was late enough for the Jetlite counters to announce my name, but then finally made it on time. It was an exciting journey so far for my sister, aunt and Chakri's wife, this was after-all going to be their first air-borne journey, not for Chakri and me though. Little did we know that what lay ahead was much more than a flight travel, just a tad less than a nightmare.

It was a 10 min, 1 km ride on the airport bus service to 9W 2735 Jetlite, big enough to carry 65 passengers. I always prefer travelling on the smaller CRJ-200 plane rather than the larger Boeing-737s or Airbus-330s. The small planes are perfect value for money as the pilots do not manouver them high up, giving us a glimpse of the landscape all the way till we land.

As I sat on my seat, there was a jittery feeling in me. It was weirdly strong, and I haven't felt this way in quite sometime. Telling this to the stranger sitting next to me would have been the last thing to do now. Everything was fine as the plane took off. About 10 minutes into the flight, I realised the plane was flying South of Chennai, whereas Coimbatore was on the West of Chennai. The morning sun to my left confirmed that my sense of direction was intact. I was waiting for the big right scoop the pilot would take, which eventually he did not take, and we were already into 30 minutes of our 60 minute journey.

It was now that the air-hostess and the flight steward took back the tray serving water and coffee to the passengers. We all began sensing something was not right. Right at this moment, the gentleman next to me asked me to notice that the left blades of the plane was not rotating, and to my surprise, it was indeed NOT rotating. Seeing it stationary was the last thing I want to see 8000 ft up in the sky. I could see my worst fear almost comingtrue. Me and my sister gave a nervous smile to each other, atleast it was nervous at my end. The pilot now announced the failure of the left engine and that we would be heading back to Chennai airport due to this technical snag. He assured that the plane was safe to travel with just one working engine, I was not so confident though.

The plane now took a big U-Turn and was heading north towards Chennai. There were panic hushes in the plane, the hostess and the steward did a good job of keeping the fake smile on, and confirmed this was not normal at the Jetlite service. It was a little relief when the plane flew across the Bay of Bengal, atleast now there's a possibility of landing on water. The pilot took us on a rollercoaster ride as he glided and swayed the plane all over the Bay of Bengal. At one point, the water felt real close, but we must have been atleast a couple of thousand feet in the air. Finally the runway was in our vicinity, I noticed the stranger next to me was chanting some mantras with his eyes closed. It was heavy on him mentally after his last night's flight at Malaysia had a problem with it's landing gear and the plane was forced to glide for an hour on the night sky, now it was Jetlite tormenting him. As the plane hit the ground with a thud, it was a thud of relieval and heavy breathing all over. Just as the plane came to a halt, we heard a voice arguing with the hostess asking her to let him leave the plane, the hostess politely quoting the rules and requested him to remain seated until further instructions. It was none other than the Home Minister P.Chidambaram, we all were surprised that the Home Minister himself was travelling in Jetlite. It was part of the Congress government's recent austerity drive to curb minister spending. Jetlite developing a technical snag with Home Minister onboard was indeed a perfect recipe for the hungry newsmen outside. (Check this article: http://www.mynews.in/News/Flight_with_Chidambaram_on_board_got_mid_air_technical_snag__N27075.html)

Jetlite management was quick to arrange an alternative flight by 10:00 am. This time, me and the guy in the next seat swapped places to negate the ill-luck. Surprisingly enough, this time there was no hint of the jittery feeling or anything of that sort in me. The flight glided through the clear Chennai skies deeper into Tamil-Nadu and as it reached Coimbatore it pierced through the rain clouds. It was the first time I was flying in rain. As we landed in Coimbatore, the air smelled of fresh rains. More than the rains, I was drenched with the thought of finally making it to Coimbatore after the harrowing experience not so long ago. My three day vacation had finally commenced.

If there was one thing I recollect saying to myself while the one-engined plane was gliding its way to Chennai, it was "Not this way, my end can't be this near!" And if there was one thing I learnt out of this trip, it's the fact that planes can fly with one engine too, and there's absolutely no reason to panic. Ignorance is NOT bliss when you're inside that plane a few thousand feet up in the air !

Journey with the movies

I am a very time consious person and feel guilty about wasting even a single minute, because I believe time once gone never comes back. Having a long list of interests that I'd like to pursue, catching up on movies is one among them. I am very selective about watching a movie and would only watch one if I hear good reviews about it from like minded people. I would not even think of watching it otherwise.

Watching movies as per me is a journey. Every movie is a journey of its kind, travelling with the places, time and emotions the characters travel. I hate the feeling of watching a complete movie in a theatre and come out feeling, that is 3 hours of my life wasted that I'm never going to get back. Add to it the hassle of navigating through crowded city traffic to reach the theatre, queuing up in the Parking lot, Queuing up for tickets and hours if not days of planning ! Thanks to the internet, atleast the ticket queuing is reduced.

I like watching movies in theatres primararily because the ambience provides all means of least distraction and makes sure we travel the journey the right way. Be it the travel through real-life wits of "Anbe Sivam", staying through war-times in "Saving Private Ryan", sailing in the grandeur of "Titanic", dodging bullets in "Matrix", enjoying the silliness of "Dil Chahta Hai", getting confused in the story lines of "Memento", going through blind emotions in "At First Sight" or the ever inspiring "Sea-Biscuit", every one of these movies ensure you travel with the characters and feel their emotions, be it joy or sorrow. In each of these so called good movies, as you walk out of the cinema hall, you're filled with a sense of fulfilment or sorrow or joy, pretty much the same feel the characters end up with. Kudos to the crew members who take immense creativity and effort to conceptualize and make us feel this journey.

I'm just back from "Kaminey"; its a simple story-line of twin brothers, a case of mistaken identity and how they get tangled among the Mumbai mafia. Nothing new or great about this story, but it still made me feel like I was travelling this journey with the characters and situations. The cinematography was good, you always felt like you were one of the Shahid Kapoors in the movie. The director deserves special credit for this. I think this is one of the few movies where I didn't realise it was a double role movie. I normally tend to find faults in such movies, but this one never gave me that sense. Gone are the days where dual characters would always have a thin line between them in the screen and the characters would never cross over to the other side of the frame. This is the future, a seamless one in fact.

Guess the day is not far away where cinema halls would have a 360 degree screen and the entire story unfolds all around you. Add to it, watching a film like "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button". You would not only be traversing Brad Pitt's life in time, but you'd be doing it in a 360 degree space as well.

You're not my girl anymore ;-)

I was very sceptical about the day I had to end my relationship with someone I liked and proposed. This meeting somehow never went the way I had imagined it. Infact the feeling that my girl's going to be with someone she likes and adores and someone who can take care of her better than me, was a soother and made me part this girl with a smile. Here's how I recollect my events of the day it actually happened.

It was a morning amidst the most mentally disturbing last few days. On one side, was a girl I've been liking for almost 4 years now, whom I proposed few months back, but who wasn't positive on taking this relationship forward. She is Nithu. On the other side was family pressure on me, on going the arranged marriage way. In case you haven't guessed it yet, Yes I am an average middle class Indian whose family thinks that when a guy turns 29, the next bend on the road is an arranged marriage.

Nithu agreed to meet me at lunch today. I was surprised when she okayed my luncheon idea, but I was more determined to end this mental turmoil, It's either Nithu's way or the highway (yes, the highway here is the arranged marriage way, incase you haven't guessed it already). Morning was time to groom myself, get my hair aligned well, choose the right shirt, a matching round neck T inside, well Ironed dark trousers, shiny shoes. I had to make an impression today, even if it were to be my last rendezvous with her !

Felt like lunch was around the corner from the moment I entered my office at 9 in the morning. Even before I realised, the clock struck 12.30, and it was time I depart to meet my luncheon date today. A solid 10 kms travel from Guindy DLF IT Park to Tidel Park. My 20 minute 10 Km travel was much faster than Nithu's 7 floors elevator descent. Had to wait a few minutes before the girl finally arrived. At Tidel, she's the most professionally pretty girl, to my eyes atleast ! Formally shook hands and guided me to a newly opened "Kabab Joint" restaurant. I chose the best coupé table available.

We exchanged formalities just like old friends do, catching up on work, family, our interests and ambitions. There was a bit of catching up considering this is the first time I'm properly meeting her after my return from New Jersey last December. She was prompt in handing over my "Belated Birthday gift". It was only on 1 occasion in the last 4 years that it wasn't a belated gift.

It was now that I popped up the question, "So tell me Nithu, what's happening on your marriage front?". Nithu replied "hmm, uh, hmm, there is something but I can't tell you right now. Give me sometime, I'll be able to tell you after sometime".

Karthik: (With a heart pumping hard and fast, one would have seen it popping out of his shirt) "Ok take your 2 seconds. Now tell me what's happening on your marraige front?"

Nithu: Well, you know my best friend...

Karthik: Prasad ??

Nithu: (Eyes wide and surprised) You know him?

Karthik: Of course, your best friend for 8 years now, how can I not remember him. You just haven't mentioned his name in the last 2 years. Saw him last at your sister's wedding reception.

Nithu: Yeah, well he proposed me 2 years back. I didn't take it too seriously and wasn't sure if I should end this friendship to start something new with Prasad.

Karthik: (Talking within himself "Dammit! he's much ahead in this queue, he's 2 years and i'm 7 months"). So what have you decided Nithu?

Nithu: Well, his parents spoke to my mom too, and they all seem fine. Things happened much easier and faster. He didn't even tell me the day his parents came home asking for my hand.

Karthik: Well he always swept you off your feet uh !

Nithu: Not actually , but in a way yeah (blushing for the first time)

Karthik: (On a serious note): Nithu, if there was one person who could take care of you the way I wanted to, it is Prasad. I wouldn't have given up on you if it was for someone else. I know how good a guy he is. So here you are, I let you go. By the way, you still havent answered my proposal.

Nithu: Hmmm , uh, hmmmm......

Karthik: It's ok, you don't have to answer it anymore. Thanks for all the memories over the last 4 years, I'll miss you. Oh by the way, I've decided to go ahead the arranged marriage way.

Nithu: (Wide eyed again and laughing loudly) Karthik, I can't believe you're going the arranged marriage way, you're not that material.

Karthik: Well, what to do, my loss is Prasad's gain. I guess i'm not left with much of a choice.

By now our 2 Rotis and Pulao just got over and the clock struck 2:30 pm.

Waiter: Sir, here's your check.

Nithu: Karthik, let me pay this time... please !.

(I've never let Nithu pay a check over the last 4 years !)

Karthik: Hmmmm, go ahead, pay the bill. Well, You're not my girl anymore ! (winks)

The five people you meet in heaven

Would you know my name

If I saw you in heaven?

Would it be the same

If I saw you in heaven? .....

Hypothetically, if you were asked to name the five people you would like to meet in heaven, would you be able to list them down? i.e. assuming you make it to Heaven. Again, in my world, everyone gets to step into Heaven. So try to answer this simple question and I would appreciate if you explain why you chose the 5 people you named here.

I have tried to list down the names of 5 people I would like to meet in Heaven.

1. My Paternal Grandpa:

My dad and mom are the obvious choices, so I'm not including them. My Paternal Grandpa passed away in his late 40's when my dad was 12 yrs old. My dad has told me a lot about his respect for his father. I would really like to know this old man and how he saw my dad as a child.

2. My Maternal Grandpa:
He passed away a few months after I was born. Again I wasn't fortunate enough to spend enough time with him. My mom always had moist eyes when she tried to recollect her times with her favourite parent. He was a good "nadeswaram" player. He even fled a number of times to Karnataka everytime he and my grandma fought. I want to see his humility and compassion as always told by my mom.

3. My Maternal Aunt "Ranganayaki" :
She was second among 6 daughters and my mom was the last. She passed away when my mom was around 10. Considered as a very witty and outgoing lady, she was the tallest among the sisters and the fairest of them all. She was found dead under mysterious circumstances in the kitchen one fine day. She was even pregnant with an 8 month old baby when she left this world. I would like to spend time with this most outgoing aunt of mine !

4. Mahatma Gandhi:
Enough has been said and written about the "Bappu" of India, and I think like every Indian living today, I am unfortunate not to have been born in the era of the Mahatma, but just fortunate enough to live his vision. I would like to take a walk with him, and understand the untold and unheard side of him and the true reason that drove him into his principles. Isn't it a pity that the true messiah of peace has not been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize yet !

5. Jesse Owens:
He was my hero right from when I was 8 years old. After I realised my passion for sprint racing in my school days coupled by the fact that Jesse Owens had died a couple of months before I was born, I thought I was the re-incarnation of the legend himself. Well you can pardon a little boy for his dream. He set high standards for the world athletics and was active during the white-black controversial era. I would just like to take a race with him !

Now it's your turn to write who according to you will be the 5 people you'd like to meet in Heaven. Trust me it's not that easy.

(Inspired by the Novel "Five People You Meet In Heaven" by Mitch Albom)

ARUMUGAM "ONI"

6 April, 2009
Oni - "Shelter" in Sanskrit

I'm living my dad's dream, his 7 year dream to construct a big house at Mogappair for our little family and live in it. But fate had other plans. What was started by him, was completed by me. There were no dearth of challenges trying to complete this house. Infact, according to many, the design of the house ensured the "Vaasthu" was messed up in every possible way. During the course of renovation, I even considered changing the layout of the house, but with limited resources and time against me, I decided to go with my dad's layout.

When I took over the reigns of this house from my dad in 1997, it was nothing but merely four walls covered by a concrete ceiling. With no source of funding, I had to lock the house in this state for atleast 2 years. It was later that money started trickling in and thanks to suggestions of some "wise" relatives (read with sarcasm), I took up the daunting task of bringing this house to shape. The thought of regular rental income enticed me into it. Looking back, I'm still unsure if it was the best thing to do.

I knew that me with my 18 years of so-called life experience would be unfit to try to handle it all by myself, and I gladly obliged giving the house work to my maternal uncle. Little did I know until few months later, that my uncle during the course of this construction had eaten his pie too, by showing me inflated bills. Well, I didn't find it courteous to question him, atleast the money was within the family. But I made up my mind that the next time I take up any house work, it would be all by myself.

I still remember those days in 1999, it was about the same month 10 years back when we begun the work. I would travel from my college to Mogappair house every other day, look at the progress, nod my head to every word my uncle or workers say, and head back home. After 3 months of work, we managed to bring the house to shape. This included Plastering, Plumbing, Electrical connections, Flooring and a few lakhs of my dad's saving in expediture. We rented this house to a couple of tenants since then.

It's been 10 years since and last year, I felt the need to change from my 429 sq ft duplex house in MMDA Colony, Chennai to a better house in the city. There were valid reasons to it, no space to park my car, neighbours surrounding weren't very hospitable, the place was getting too noisy and of course, I wanted to break the shackles of the little house and start living in a larger space with all amenities.

26 January, 2009: This is when Part-2 begins.
This time I had to balance between my work and the construction. Like I vowed before, I took up the entire work by myself. This time I had to take care of Construction, Carpentry, Flooring, Electricals, Painting, Plumbing and Interiors. This time it was a labour contract, which meant I had to make sure all materials were in place everyday before the workers arrived. This arrangement took its toll on me. Looking back, I would be lying if I didn't appreciate myself for doing it all alone.

The next 2 months my day would begin at 7, get ready to office, visit Mogappair, instruct tasks for the day, start to office, take care of my office tasks, start back from office at 6, buy materials, travel back to Mogappair house to check the progress and then reach back home around 9. Weekends was no respite as I would travel with my sister, planning for interiors and checking the furnitures.

Steadily over the next 2 months amidst many challenges, I got them all done. Challenges included, laying road outside my house for the first time, when I had the bricks and sand parked outside! carrying crates of electrical items on my bike to the site balancing my bike and the Chennai traffic ! making countless calls to ensure material supply was never in short! the recession and lay-offs at Syntel! Job insecurity was something I did not plan for !

I would be dishonest if I do not thank the people around me without whom this journey would have been mighty tough. Firstly my sister Deepika who was my mental strength, and who took care of the aesthetics [certainly the tougher decision to make], my mason Ravi who made sure the right people were present at the right time and for giving me some valuable tips all along, Sharma who took care of all my electrical supplies and lastly my boy Pulsar which did not give up on me and made sure I was at the right places ontime always.

As I pen this down, I'm filled with a sense of fulfillment, the kind of fulfillment that belongs to my dad. It was today that I placed the name of the house imprinted on a red granite at the main entrance of the house. This house is named the ARUMUGAM "Oni", my little tribute to my dad.