ST

BIRTHDAY season has arrived. and it seems even this year, i am going to celebrate in PUNE. a chilly birthday. this time it was the abrupt 'HELP' call from one of our client which brought me here.

the travel from BOMBAY(i still prefer the old name) to PUNE is always interesting. it was too late yesterday evening so i had run out my ideal option of travelling by train. i was one hour late to catch the last MSRTC's SHIVNERI bus starting from THANE. i was left with only two options, travel by ST or ASIAD bus. both buses are operated by MAHARASHTRA STATE ROAD TRANSPORT CORPORATION (MSRTC).

best features of a ST bus:
1. commonly know as "tin ka dubba" (can made of tin)
2. it shares its colour with FERRARI.
3. when in motion it makes the sound of 4 turbo jet engines working together.
4. the sound and speed relations are proved wrong here. when inside you feel you are travelling at a speed greater than 10G (greater than the speed of sound), when outside you wonder how did it take 4 hours to cover a distance of 180 KM with all that sound.
5. the shock absorbing technology used in these buses were developed by HENRY FORD.
6. each bone in your body will be rattled to MAX.

with all these in my mind, i choose ASIAD.

i swear to GOD it reminded me of the DISCOVERY space shuttle simulator i sat in at the KENNEDY SPACE CENTRE recently.

attention NASA. you can outsource the astronaut training to MSRTC!

sound advice indeed

i meet MARK in PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA. we were working together on a project. he was a part of the EPMO (external project managment office) team appointed by our client. extermely smart and intellectual, his face brimming with almost 3 decades of work experience. i had joined my team in south africa a little later. the delay was due to my MALAYSIAN assignment, which was unfinished when this project started. the first day i was formally introduced to the south african team. the same day, during a coffe break with one of my colleagues, i was been told "the andar ki khabar" about the south african team like "who is who in the zoo" and what care to take, etc. about MARK she said "bada moohffut hai wo, usse dur he rehna!". i realised later, it was very difficult to sell him anything, unless he was 110% convinced. he being a part of the same subteam which i belonged to, we had a regular interaction. to be true, i always thought twice, prepared twice, before going and waking up this giant for a discussion. we always had this who-the-hell-will-bell-the-cat situation before going in front of MARK.

by the end of that project, the same MARK had became a very good friend of mine. we are still in touch. although most of our communication is via emails, but we get to share the happenings in each others lives. i share my deepest secrets with him, i turn to him for advice, i share with him my happiness, i share with him my grief, a real good friend, almost the age of my dad.

last week i had asked him for some advice. below is the excerpt from the mail in which he responded (its a copy & paste of the original mail).

*me* do get back soon with you valuable advice bout the point LIFE!! :-)

*mark* My inputs on life probably not great. Christians have a concept which is universal. They call call it AGAPE love. Basically it means to love the world and whats in in unconditionally. Obviously an idyllic situation. I've only come across a few people that seem to strive to live their lives in this way. From my side your team of guys who came to SA were a lot closer to being like this that i'd seen in any other group. We never discussed religions then but I always wondered if indeed your religions (i don't know who fitted into which group) had a similar concept to which you all subsribe or endeavour. Any way - to my mind the concept is indeed universal and indeed I would like to think that i try to live my life in a way which displays this concept in a small way. Might sound silly or strange i know but i've managed in the last couple of months to successfully conclude some really sensitive business negotiations with suppliers! and also with our trade unions and one or two members of my staff by looking at my opposition and trying to really understand and 'love' them instead of just being antagonistic like some of my colleagues. In each instance I've managed to get what i want out of the situation wihout being 'soft' and have built some significant relationships along the way. I saw a note in a paper recently - it said - everyone has two ears and one mouth so try to use them proportionately. Sound advice indeed.

Guess thats enough on life from one who tends not to think to much about these issues.

You take care to. You'r a really special lad.

*me* take care.
*me* tot siens!

*me* eish.
*mark* PS 1: there a new ad on TV - it uses the word 'eish' in many creative ways. Whenever we see it we think of you. Its very south africanised and would not be well understood elsewhere but its a classic that combines the best of english, afrikaans and african culture into one. You should have stayed here - u could have been famous.
PS2: sorry my cricket team is a bunch of cheats and losers - from now on i support Sachin and his boys

a compliment

one day SAHUL rushed to my house with the news that APPA was no more. oh god! that was really a bad news. we both didn’t speak much that day to each other, which was very unusual. we both were a little upset and worried. quickly we both contacted DINESH and we three decided to visit AMMA.

AMMA and APPA, it means mother and father in TAMIL, we three were introduced to these words since we were five. she was our tuition teacher since then, her children’s called her AMMA and even we did the same. and her husband was our APPA. more than anything else, i think it was because of the good relationship she had with my family, i was sent to her for tuitions. i remember i was the first to join out of the three. i grew up as a part of her family. whatever values and knowledge i have today is her teachings. she is my first “guru”, or my second “mother” might be more appropriate. i have also heard from my mom, about her interest to adopt me as a son, for the reason that she had been blessed with four daughters and no son.

my tuitions came to an end after i passed out of ninth standard. but i still use to visit her once a month. during those days even though in college, i still use to get time to do few paintings. one such painting i made was “A RAJASTHANI ROYAL COUPLE”; i had worked day and night on this particular one. it was made using water colour’s. though i never had a formal training on art and i never knew any medium other than that, it had come out really well. this was one of my best works till date. the moment i completed it, i wrote it's destiny. i framed that painting and gifted it to amma. her daughter’s were extremely thrilled to see such a beautiful painting. to be true, i was the one who was more happier than them. in my next visit i saw that painting hung on the wall of the first room of her house, i was proud.

we meet the next day and with a heavy heart walked the path to amma’s house, the path which we walked for almost ten years, but never so sadly. appa’s funeral had been performed the day before, but still when we neared the house we could see a whole lot of people still around the house. we entered the house, the moment we saw amma, we couldn’t stop our tears. she was sitting down on the floor, besides the door of the second room, weak and collapsed. this room and the other room were full of people, all of them in grief. we made way and came to her, she was unconscious about our presence, we sat besides her, dinesh on one side holding her one hand and me on the other side holding her other hand, and sahul next to me. she didn’t speak a word, i could see her lips dried up, her eyes turned red and her face full of grief. we were silently watching her, my tears were just flowing, feeling her pain. in the middle of all these i heard some one whispering in the other room “you were asking about that painting” she said “that is the boy who made it, the boy sitting on the right of my amma”.

i have received hundreds and thousands of compliments for my paintings, but this one is etched on my heart.

my contributions to music

i confess, though i am not aware of the fundamentals of music, i have a good ear for music. i like music (from any part of this planet) which reaches the heart , to me rest all are like the sound of a train coming and going out of railway platform of BOMBAY.

this love for music makes us (me and ABHI minus SOMU) attend all music festivals held in bombay. we eagerly wait for the whole year to watch the BANGANGA festival and KALAGHODA art festival. we have together heard LIVE many ustads and to be ustads of music. ustad ZAKIR HUSSAIN, ustad AMJAD ALI KHAN, pandit HARIPRASAD CHAURASIA, SHIVMANI, ADNAN SAMI, ASHA BHOSALE, BEGUM PARVEEN SULTANA to name few. and again this love for music makes us (me and SOMU minus ABHI) attend all the rock festivals held in bombay. we have together heard LIVE bands like BRYAN ADAMS, PARIKRAMA, MOKSH, PENTAGRAM, ZERO, (i missed INDUS CREED and DIRE STRAITS) to name few.

one way to quench my thirst was to learn a musical instrument, i thought. i decided to try my hand on music.

contribution 1
my plan materialized when i was in POONA, i bought a TABLA from a shop in ALANDI, near poona. at last! i thought. with not much fuss, ustad zakir hussain became my ideal overnight. before i could go ahead of “GHI NA NA, TI NA NA”, i saw the practical of the idiom “it’s the silent cat that breaks the pot”, which i had long forgotten after the school english lessons. my nephew made a hole in one drum of the set. his curiosity of knowing what was inside that was making it sound won over my curiosity of making that sound!!

contribution 2
myself and SATYA where roaming in CHATUCHAK market in BANGKOK, when I saw a shop selling this beautiful BAMBOO FLUTES. i was very sure i had taken care of my nephew’s curiosity this time, because, this flute already had more holes than the bamboo!! i bought one FLUTE. we were on our way back from bangkok to KUALA LUMPUR, and the air hostess served a non vegetarian dinner for me. i told her it might be a mistake it would be a vegetarian dinner mentioned on my ticket, her answer was flat “NO”. even SHERLOCK HOLMES’S assistant DOCTOR WATSON could solve this case, culprit was the one who booked my ticket. i asked her to arrange for a vegetarian dinner if possible. she politely broke the news that there were no extra vegetarian dinner packs on board. the only option i told her was to skip the dinner, and survive on a fruit juice. she smiled took the plate and vanished. to my surprise she came back after sometime with a vegetarian dinner for me. after enquiring with her, it came to light that she had exchanged her vegetarian dinner with me. i appreciated and admired her service. i gifted that lovely FLUTE to her as a token of thanks.

contribution 3
i came back from SOUTH AFRICA to BOMBAY on a weeks leave. the best part about the south african project was that we were always left with ample time in the evenings after work. i decided to once again pursue my dream of learning a musical instrument. this time i bought a VIOLIN from a shop near TALAO PALI in THANE. i took it with me to south africa. i downloaded and printed violin lessons from the internet. i worked for a couple of months on the violin. our project was soon over, and it was time to pack my bags and return to bombay. after lot of traveling i have come up with a theory “the number of bags when going on a tour is indirectly proportional to the number of bags when coming back”. i was left with a question mark. my baggage was definitely in excess. i knew some things were to be jettisoned. i ended up gifting (sorry it should be ”donating”) my readers digest world atlas book, weighing approx 4-5 kg’s, and my violin case (with the violin inside!!) to EDDIE, our chauffeur for airport drops.

i just can’t stop smiling when i imagine the airhostess has become a famous flautist in THAILAND and the chauffeur has become a famous violinist in SOUTH AFRICA. i am just hoping someday SARASWATI, the goddess of learning and arts bestows her gift on me too!!

fir milenge break ke baad!!

i came to chennai on 5th of june. it’s almost two and half months away from home. i was desperately looking forward for a break. and at last! the good news is that i am going home tomorrow, back to AMCHI MUMBAI !!

i am just excited to go back. i heard its raining cats and dogs in mumbai, hope i reach home from the airport in a taxi and not a BOAT !!

the most i was missing was the MEHFILS at our ADDA on TALAO PALI near MAAL ROAD. i am sure we will have another one this weekend. luckily, abhi, somu, amya, allan and sally, all will be in town. hoping for a good time once again, as we always have.

will be back in chennai on the 16th.

tot siens!

rambageecha, shop no. 37

i was starting to get worried; we were all supposed to gather back at RAMBAGEECHA, SHOP NO. 37 by 7.00 am. this was where the bus had dropped us early in the morning. we were clearly instructed by the tour guide “the bus will start for the next destination at 7.00 am, and those late will have to arrange their own transportation to reach there”. time was running and i was still standing in the queue of devotees waiting for my turn to get a glimpse of lord VENKATESWARA (commonly known as BALAJI) at the TIRUPATI temple. the queue was long and with a width of 6 persons standing side by side. it was already 6.15 am by now. myself, nilay and viren had planned this visit a week ago. unfortunately nilay could not accompany due to his work commitments.

even viren was supposed to meet me at the same spot. we were not together in the queue. the tour guide had separated all the members, including me, who wanted to perform a MUNDAN (shaving the head) before facing the lord. rest of the group, which included viren, proceeded for the DARSHAN, while we went the other way.

i reached rambageecha, shop no. 37 by 6.50 am and saw viren standing there waiting for me. rambageecha is a small enclave, near to the temple entrance. it has 2 rows of small shops, 5 at each side. There is a good amount of space between the 2 rows. one is a tea stall, one is a snacks stall and the rest ones sold flowers, garlands, coconuts, framed pictures of balaji, spiritual stones, spiritual threads etc. this place was quite busy with tourists. some having breakfast, some bargaining with the vendor, some chit chatting, and some just wandering over the place. but the common property in all was that they were waiting for their bus to pick them up for the next destination, like us. it was more of an assembly point, i would say. it was quite cold and very windy up there. luckily i was wearing a sweater, burnt umber coloured and with a zip in the front. i remember i had bought it last year, during my stay in dubai, on my way to south africa. i use it more as a jacket than a sweater. i was feeling the chill in the climate as my sweater was unzipped, as usual.

we had few idlis for breakfast . we then went to the tea stall which was situated 2 shops besides shop no. 37. “randa special tea” viren told the vendor. “RANDA” in tamil means two. the knowledge of few local words made our survival a bit easy. while having tea, viren showed me the balaji picture which he bought from shop no.37 before i had arrived. i too was interested in buying one. so we went to the shop next to the tea stall, i was still sipping the tea from my glass, we browsed through few balaji pictures, i liked one picture. nilay too had asked us to buy a small balaji picture for him. the smaller pictures were a bit costlier here compared to shop no. 37, while the price for the one i choose, a little bigger one, was a good bargain. as we had less time, we agreed that viren should go back to shop no. 37 to buy the balaji picture for nilay, while i stayed there to buy the other one for me.

i asked the vendor to pack the picture while i quickly went and kept the empty tea glass at the tea stall. i took the bag from the vendor, and holding it with both my hands close to my chest, i started walking towards shop no. 37. all of a sudden i felt a jerk, which pulled me back slightly. i turned almost instantly to see what the hell had happened. It took few seconds for me to realize what had happened. my sweater zipper was entangled at one end of a girl’s DUPATTA (scarf), who was moving swiftly in the opposite direction. both my sweater and her dupatta were stretched to the maximum, in mid-air. she was holding the other end of the dupatta, so that it didn’t fall completely from her shoulders. it appeared as if somebody had tied a knot with one end of her dupatta and one end of my sweater. i recognized her, i had seen her in our bus, she was a part of our tour group. she was fair, in her twenties, and probably belonged to an orthodox tamil family. she was wearing a salwar and had glasses on her eyes. in my observation she was quite “SIMPLE”. there was absolutely no reaction from both of us, we were just standing still, lost in our own thoughts. i became conscious when a figure hurriedly came between both of us; she was her younger sister i suppose. she was holding my sweater with one hand and her sisters dupatta with the other and was trying to pull them apart. she was trying hard to free her sisters dupatta from the entangle. still there was no reaction from both of us. I had not regained my senses completely. next i saw an elderly man coming to help his younger daughter, their father i suppose. at the corner of my eyes i also saw an elderly lady coming towards us, undoubtedly her mother. “AIYO!” her father exclaimed. that was loud enough to bring me back on earth. i could see her younger sister still struggling, she was making it worse, the runner of my zipper was getting more entangled in the threads. at last i reacted, i turned, walked a step back, and i spoke softly. “wait, let me help you” i said. she promptly obliged. in a moment i freed the entangled runner of my zip from her sisters dupatta. “thank you” she replied, as she pulled the dupatta back on her shoulders. i still had this blank expression on my face, i was mum. she went her way and i went mine.

by evening the bus was in chennai city, we were going towards the last drop point, where the tour would be culminated. i and viren got down at the airport road, a few kilometers before the last drop point. she was still in the bus.

i realised it was not a “larger than life” bollywood movie. she was lost in the jungle of people.

july 29, 2006. i will remember this day for 2 things I saw, the awe-inspiring idol of lord VENKATESHWARA and the simple “her”.