The Stupid Six

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Very emotional state of mind. Might make sense or not. Means a lot to me.
No annoying comments pl.
GO

Long long ago, in a land far away from civilization, there lived a bunch of little kids who used to run away from their families just to spend time with each other. These kids weren’t all that bright in bringing up great ideas to escape home-boredom; but their parents understood and let them be. You had Hazel-Boy, who was the leader of the pack, very silent, and yet very sweet; never hurts people. And then comes, Giggly-Girl, who was the umpire for the pack and keeps it going. Puny-Boy and Fat-boy compliment each other with stupid jokes and annoying cricket score sthat they keep tab of. Of course, you had Maami-Girl, the ever brilliant, beautiful, energetic…er.. ok..fine.. I'll stop. God! You guys never believe me!. And Last, but not the least, was Sorna- Girl (ripped off from our Dhool movie) who posed as a terror to Maami.

So happy were the Stupid Six that they never once felt worried with what the future held for them. Times were spent by playing book cricket during rainy days, pulling out petrol plugs from vehicles, chasing juju the stray dog by tail, trying to sneak in home with muddy feet, running around the Pettai temple for no reason, maska adichifying Thaatha for his secret locker burfis, sneaking 25 paise coins to try out that stupid, shiny Hero Jet cycle from RDX cycle repair shop, “cleaning up” Chittu’s car by flooding water all over, playing Contra and Mario over and over again, whisking pakathu aathu maami’s souri-mudi and making her curse us loud….

As the years passed away, the Stupid Six had to choose between different career paths to start a whole new chapter in their lives. They now live in the corners of the world and do not even have the time to meet up for a small game of Tetris.

Maami-girl has graduated to Pettai Maami now. What she is now, wouldn’t have been without the rest of the gang. Missing them big time.

Post Dedicated to SH, PP, VRC, BN and Sorna akka SD. Muuah!! Lub ya guys…

Learning Hindi in 30 days

Have you tried ?? I am yet to try, though circumstances are going to make me go crazy about Hindi right now. Till the eleventh of August ‘08, effectively, I was proud that I can converse in fluent Hindi. After doomsday, I feel like I am in some alien country with a bunch of people talking in some weird language that absolutely make no sense to me.

Before I go any further, let me make some things clear. I know Hindi, had taken it up as my main subject all through schooling and can read, write, and well, thought can speak well too. This, “thought can speak well too” comes from a person who has so far given 4 gaalis along with college kids in Hindi. I know, but those were college days, and we all assumed that we were right in everything, didn’t we?

Anyways, right now, my status is that, I am nowhere near Tamil Nadu, leave alone Chennai. The place where I am staying in is in the middle of India, where, the only way I can get to meet someone speaking in Tamil is through Kalaignar TV -that’s the only Tamil channel that’s here!! Sniff sniff.. I am not even aware of the movies that have released in the past couple of weeks. Left Chennai on the day of Kuselan release. Life is very unfair I say!

The brighter part of everything is Khaana. Food intake now comprises of imli-free-dal-full substances. Realized that Paneer in abundance makes life good. :D . Though have started missing seeramilagu sathamadu, vettha kozhambu and vadam. Other than that, I’m loving this place just for the food.

Language is where I’m struggling. They stare at me as if I’m talking in gibberish. Stares turning into silent glee and laughter. Laughter turning into mockery. Oh! The Misery reaches no bounds. Fact is that this has made me re-think my actual knowledge of Hindi. Thankfully, some people are kind enough to try and help me out. Worst part is that, my job profile also involves teaching people about the garment trade and processes. When I am taking a class consisting of 30 students who can only speak in Hindi, I sometimes feel like am a part of some stand-up comedy. During this process, realized that sign language can also be helpful!! So goes the Hindi story, likely to continue for the almost the whole of next year. I’m sure I would learn the actual words by then. ‘coz, the other day, I was asking for scissors, didn’t know how to explain in Hindi; ended up showing a sign which made the other run off for his dear life!!

Though the overall experience is as such fun, the only thing I am actually missing is the non-existence of Internet. Boo Hoo… No blogs, no social networking. The maximum time I get is only consumed for checking mails. Survival testing it seems. Hopefully shall still be surviving by the end of it. Have no idea about when I would be accessing the net again. So, for all few, but, lovely blog readers, Adiyen, will reply back in due course. Till then, Samathha irungo kozhandela…

Sing in the rain..Im singing in the rain...

Aan aan….for all the kindly souls wondering where I had ran off to, I assure you guys that it certainly wasn’t any sane place. Last month was filled up with ups and downs. The ups being the usual minimal and the downs, dominating the scene (or as my friend describes, it was filled with bumps and lumps!).

So, moving away from the depressing topic, I thought, I would dedicate this post to the one of the lifelines of Chennai. We shall discuss the critical modes of survival using the transport systems of Chennapatnam.

Requirements for getting qualified so as to attempt would be:

1. Patience
2. More Patience and
3. …Did I not mention Patience??? (And yes, it always comes with a capital P)

So, now that you’ve learnt basic mantra, we shall move further on to discuss specific topics. My first suggestion to you guys would be…don’t ever think about trying to ride a four wheeler in Chennai in peace… you would end up cribbing about the insanely bad roads there are or the lovely madras bashai being used by the fellow commuters about the perfectly divine art of driving. Trust me…it is never too late to learn about “Vootla soltu vantiya” type phrases.

Since, I live a bit farther than the actual city; I’ve been blessed with opportunities to try the exotic Suburban trains and the Metropolitan Buses. Though I trust the trains rather than the buses, I would recommend the buses to those who live out of pocket money from the dads. I mean, how else would you be able to travel 25 kms in Chennai with 5rs!! Though it becomes a herculean task to catch one when it is leaning at an angle 60 degrees towards the ground and does not have any safety belt as such. But it’s the one of the best way as long as you can avoid sitting in the driver seat and honking at anything and everything around. Surprisingly, in the recent times, there has been an introduction of news swanky buses to manage the Chennai crowd and I’ve found them rather comfortable and preferable to the suburban trains.

Talking about the trains, there are in total three routes that can be taken to reach various parts of Chennai. The best one and the oldest one is the route that covers south Chennai to the central part of the city- it’s the best one coz Her Highness uses it :P !! Anyways, these trains aren’t like the Mumbai ones, crowd- wise. They are such a pleasure to travel with good entertainment around; what with the hawkers selling yummy one-rupee-samosas, hankies, hairclips etc, and office going women and men singing old movie songs aloud to pass the time, tussles breaking between women as to who gets the window –seat, you get the picture. :). I have spent almost 6 yrs travelling in these trains, and have had some of the best times of my life. This is the best optionsif you want to avoid traffic in Chennai.

After all the above said, I really shouldn’t miss out the life and soul of Chennai- the autowalas. They are such gifted people who have learned the book “How To Drive And Survive On Pot-holed Roads”. The book apparently also offers a supplement which throws light on “Gonna Getcha Manni”! Still, it is worth a try to have an adventure on an auto through the traffic in Chennai, especially, in T.Nagar. But try bargaining in Tamil, else, forget your Manni. Anyways, As the saying goes, there are more Autos in Chennai than its actual population, you are never bound to miss one. And after 8PM, when the moon goes high, so will their targets be. So, beware of hearing the most ludicrous prices that can ever be quoted.

So, now that you kids are well fed with food full of fluff, Please..Please..grace the lovely city of Chennai soon. This information is not provided or sponsored Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation or by the Umbrella in the Logo. Come come…Besant beach ish waiting….

For those who were wondering the link between the title and Post, Go Crack NUTS!!