The long sigh

"Oh thank you my darling" said the gentleman in his hoarse, yet strangely calming voice. 

I involuntarily let out a long sigh that lasted a few good seconds.

I looked up slowly and furtively and took in the scene. He must have been in his fifties. The lady who joined him at his table had brought him a cup of coffee along with her cup of tea. 

A simple gesture, I thought as I reluctantly dragged my eyes away from the couple. That is something I do everyday, more than once. In fact, something like this would be one of the least laborious things I do every day. I am expected to do a whole lot more than bring over a cup of coffee that someone else had made. 

Yet, I have never ever been thanked like this in my entire life. His words had a musical quality to them. It seemed to me that he had sung it to her, not simply said the words of thanks.

Thank you my darling, he had said. 

To be called darling by someone who matters to you. What a privilege. Or may it seemed like a privilege only to the common observer, and not so for this lady. She may have been given this lovely attention by her people everyday. It might even be something she takes for granted. 

Yet, the man does not seem like the kind of person who grants anyone anything so easily. Perhaps not even when he was a child. It is hard to imagine him as a child, but i try. 

In my imagination, he is five or six years old. he is seated at the breakfast table with his mother. If he graces her with his attention, his mother would have surely placed her coffee down at the table and turned to him, giving him all her attention. "What is it, my darling?" she would say. 

"Would you like a piece of toast?"

She would then proceed to pop in a slice of bread into the toaster. She would choose a good shaped slice and would not choose the crusty piece. She would wait for it to pop up as she sips her coffee calmly. She would not start eating her sausage in the middle of this, because she is still making the little man's toast. She would not want it to grow cold before she can apply butter on it. 

Or maybe she already had a piece of toast on her plate, which was untouched and it had butter applied on it evenly, all over it. She would have given that to him, so he can have his toast right-away instead of waiting.

But if there was no perfect toast on her plate, she would be doing exactly this - waiting for his toast to pop out of the toaster. As it does, she would pick it out nimbly and apply butter to it carefully. Bit by bit, smoothing it out, reaching all the corners, covering them evenly and then she would present him with the nice toast, which he would eat, after thanking her. 

That is the kind of child he must have been, this gentleman who thanked his lady so kindly and musically as she brought him a cup of coffee that someone else made.

An ode...

I am not new to this game, consider me a novice by no means.

I have done my share, mind you. I have used the likes of you! some much better than you. Deserted them all and never looked back when I had to move on. I never felt any regret, nor did I sense any guilt or remorse. Not even once did I feel compelled to linger, to come back, to surrender, to feel addicted. But with you..

The smile I have when I think of you.. is not exactly new, I admit. but I am surprised that it has not changed even after the novelty has worn off. On the contrary, I feel your need more and more and I do not want to think of those days when I cannot kiss you anymore. In simple words, I need you.

You have changed my habits, my whole day.. in a way, my life.

Addiction is not a good thing, I know. but thats what I have for you - All beans, no chicory, freshly ground.. oh my cup of coffee now that I know you, have you, I dont ever wanna let you go.

Lets go fishing

After living in Chennai city for 7 long years, its only now that I realized one of tthe culinary joys of living on the coast!

Freshly fried fish!! the kind thats sold on the beach from makeshift shops.

The oil used to fry the fish is questionable. you dont know when the fish last saw the sea. you dont know how well (if actually) they cleaned the fish... there are a dozen other reasons why it is risky to try eating it, which is why i had never tried it till now.

Weeks ago when Shonali Muthalaly of the hindu metroplus came out with an article of how the reporters tried the fish from these shops and lived to write about it, I figured, i have lived in this city this long, I might as well take advantage of it. and given my craziness for fish it wasnt a very difficult decision

Now, to gather the task force, I wasnt planning to go eat there all by myself. So I started hunting for 'the right person(s)'. Need not be tall, dark, handsome, but should be brave, adventurous, daring, any gender! The reactions that I got from prospects (my friends)

What the!?

Nahiiiiii.....

crazy??

but anyway...like all things that end well, my search was fruitful. I did find one soul who was willing to try it out! Thank you thank you dear Rosh..sniff.. (happy tears)
this post is dedicated to you! :P

On the appointed D day, we surveyed the whole stretch of shops which were roughly 2 dozen in number before finally settling on the multi-coloured plastic stools and chairs for that ideal fried fish reverie. They displayed masala covered fishes of different castes and creeds. We had chosen a shop that kept their wares covered in transparent plastic sheets. We were asked to choose the fish we wanted. once chosen, it was taken out and slipped into the oil kadai, then served hot with chopped onions and a lemon quarter.

First try: half a tiny fish :)
The next day, I smsed to see if my friend is also ok.

Second try: three pieces of fish. and we agreed it was yummy!

Will I try it again: You bet!

Best birthday surprises -Part 5

Lucky's birthday. He was(still is) the most matured and practical guy in our gang. well, some would argue that he has to vie with me for the title, but lets leave it at that ;)

It was his first birthday post marriage. We hadnt seen one another in ages. We decided to go straight to his office to celebrate! but yes, we wanted to surprise him. So, tripleR befriended the HR of the company where Lucky worked and arranged with her to keep him in office at a decided time, so we can barge in and surprise him.

8 of us met in a common place and started towards his office in Mylapore. We had also taken an eggless bday cake, drinks and snacks. We set up the cake with candles and other food and drinks on tables and Lucky's HR (I forget her name, but I am sure TripleR would remember ;) brought him in and we sang the birthday song. Lucky's eyes popped out!
He cut his eggless cake as we sang happy birthday.

Actually, we ended up surprising more than just Lucky that day, his colleagues and his boss. It was a super success.

Another memorable one was Suresh's birthday treat. There were about ten of us, and we made Lucky and Asha drink spitfire(a pungent, infact spicy orange drink) at the Greams road Fruit shop. Of course, I had helped them with the order assuring them it was an amazing drink :)
Lucky nearly spit it!

Continued...

Best birthday surprises -Part 4

My Belgian birthday: The latest of my birhtdays was spent in a strange country, with people I had known only about a week. It was all very different, alright, but I missed the possibility of the usual surprises that we used to have in the good ol days :) But then, I thought to myself 'aint I getting a bit too old for that'.

So that was that, a regular day at work - or so I thought. It turned out to be a really joyful day! For starters, my colleagues in the Belgium office knew it was my birthday, I had not expected them to. When I came to office, my PC was already on and had 'Happy Birthday' on it, I thought that was so sweet of the colleague who did it.

Then, Linda gifted me a home baked cake with lots and lots of hazelnuts(from her parents' garden!) in it. It was so yummy. now i know why those squirrels in the cartoons are so crazy about hazelnuts! Later, I went around the city buying a lot of hazelnut chocolates! Anyway, I didnt miss my mom's cake :) Her son who was studying to be a chef had made it. I thought that was so terribly sweet of them!

Since I had been in Belgium for the past 10 days, I had been having totally bland food everyday and that killed the life out of the joy of eating. anyway, I had tried many of their dishes and actually liked them, so no regrets. Today, my kind colleagues decided to feed me spicy food and took me to a Thai restaurant! And the food was REALLY spicy and toooo good! It was another colleague's wedding anniversary so we celebrated jointly.

Lunch done, we got back to the office after a quick stroll. To our curiosity, there was a huge cardboard box standing at the door and it was carried upstairs to the office and stripped. Imagine my surprise when it contained colourful flowers addressed to me! My friend was nice enough not just to remember my birthday, but also to send some customised flowers abroad. now, thats a surprise!

Continued...

Best birthday surprises- Part 3

Ashwin's birthday: He was my boss, a real good one in fact! We were a small office and each one's birthday was celebrated specially. Mostly we surprised the birthday person, atleast we tried to ;)

Ashwin was a model boss. He was always the first to get to office everyday, at 7.30 or 8 in the morning, worked real hard, treated all his employees importantly, AND encouraged us to plan everyone's birthday surprises. So, it was going to be difficult to surprise him, but we badly wanted to..

For days we toyed with different ideas and plans and finally came up with a fool proof one ;)
The night before his birhtday, Shobz and I went birthday shopping and bought his gifts, a cricket book by Steve Waugh and a smiley stress buster rubber ball - He was crazy about cricket and had wanted to get the book himself. We got chocolate cake, glitters, balloons and other decorative strings and papers. We came back to office and did up his room till i think 9 or 10 in the night.

The next morning, at 7, all of us huddled inside his small room in the office. The plan was to stay locked in his room silently and surprise him by singing happy birthday and bursting the balloons, just as he opened the door to come in. Everything was perfectly arranged. We heard his car and waited breathlessly. He was on the phone when he came up the stairs and opened his door. All of us screamed "Happy Birthday", balloon bursting, glitter flinging et all! He dropped his bag, almost dropped his O2 phone on the hard floor.

I saw more shock than surprise on his face! :D but then, we did manage to genuinely "surprise" him :) ha ha

Continued...

Best birthday surprises - Part 2

One of my own bdays- It was my first year in college and I was not fitting too well -either into the course or into the crowd. But life was going on, in its own pace.

In the college facility, the staffs' room was among the PG (Post graduate) area and I had to go there to submit an assignment. As I was getting back, a senior girl who travels with me in the college bus took me by my hand and started talking animatedly.

I was wondering what was wrong with her, she never even used to smile at us kids (UG first years). She deliberately pulled me into a class room where there were few more seniors, taking a break. Then I got the hint..

I started getting very nervous. I had thought ragging was practically non-existent in the college, as the previous year there had been a death related to college violence and punishment for ragging was very severe. I was already preparing in my mind what I would complaint to the college Principal when the girl suddenly presented me in front of a guy and left in a whiff.

I was paranoid standing before him. This senior guy looked completely laid back and cool and he waved off the other guys who tried to join him in the fun. "So!"he bellowed, making himself comfortable on the bench "can the baby sing?". I shook my head furiously. "Liar! I heard you sing on the bus day!" Silence "Ok, then dance for me". What nerve! I thought to myself.

The break was over and the classroom started getting empty, much to my horror. In a few seconds, there were just the two of us in the room. I was close to tears. I told him I wanted to leave and started to, but he stopped me. "You are not going anywhere" he said firmly.

I finally sang a song in a shaky voice and then he smiled and said I can go. I was so relieved! I almost ran out, he stopped me again. He brought out a huge chocolate bar, Cadbury's Fruit & Nut and extended it to me saying "Happy Birthday"! I was completely surprised and I broke into a wide smile and thanked him and off I went with my thrilling birthday wish!

We bumped into each other many times later that year and he turned out to be the one to show me the ropes in the college. We did keep in touch even after he left the college, but slowly lost contact. I hope to bump into him again in the future, but whenever I remember the first encounter, my heart pumps faster! :)
Continued...

Best birthday surprises - Part 1

For the record, I am gonna put down the best birthday surprises (my friends' and mine), not because I am gonna forget them, but just for a fun read. am not ranking this or anything..

One of the best was Asha's. She was engaged to marry Naren a few weeks ago and it was her birthday that day. Our gang usually tries to meet up to give the bums (pun) on all of our birthdays. That particular day was a weekday and it was crazily hectic for me. I could not spare a minute and was certainly gonna work late. but i so wanted to surprise her. I knew she would expect me to meet her. and she was not even allowed to meet her fiance' before marriage-the usual story..

So, after a bit of positive conspiracy, we traced Naren's phone number through his colleagues - none from the gang knew him personally, all we knew was he was working in Infy. I phoned him up, introduced myself, and asked him if he wanted to meet her, but of course they were not permitted to see each other. I told him that I would call asha and tell her that I wanted to meet her and that he can go in my place and surprise her. Another gang member got Naren even a flower bouquet!

So, I called her and told her that I was going to pass by and wanted to see her to wish her. She fell for it and agreed to come out of office and we fixed timings and all that. Imagine her surprise when her fiance' hopped out of the car, complete with flowers to wish her Happy birthday ;) - that time I was in a high tension meeting and didnt even pick up when she called!

Whats good when its fat? ; )

Other than the pay check, of course...
The newspaper for one thing :)

This year, as always, we had lots of Independence day specials- special discounts at shops, special programs on TV, special promotional events by brands. The Hindu (newspaper), for its turn, brought out a real fat edition on 15th August, Wednesday. The newspaper was about 90 pages of printed matter. Of course there were lots of print ads, but still there was so much to read! Just the mere sight of a fat newspaper increases the joy level you know.

Not many of us read the whole of the paper, no matter how much time we have on our hands. But its a fact that we do like to see a fat newspaper everyday. Atleast, thats how i feel. I have always felt that information/knowledge is the most difficult thing to get. And the fact that so many journalists and editors put in their whole days' work in to it, only increases my respect for the mighty bundle of black and white! All this comes to you for just 4 or 5 bucks! I think its amazing..

Yeah..but that does not mean that i read the newspaper everyday just because i respect it so much. Appreciation is one thing, it is better than 4 bucks, it doesnt cost me anything ;) My sis knows better, she had had to try all tricks when i was younger to make me read the papers everyday. But fat newspapers are a totally different subject, no one has to motivate me to read them, the reason why they interest me, still intrigues me!

Yellow Stars on the floor

We were working late in the college computer lab again; the next day was the great show down of the computer projects. We had been working late for almost a week now and the application that we were supposed to present, the billing system was not working yet. When I stared at the monitor trying to figure what could be the possible code to make this **** thing work, I still had not understood why an MBA grad was expected to do a computer project and make the application work! Our profs had told us that the objective of this ‘exercise’ was not just the output that we have on the d day. It seems we pick up incentive skills while we are at this. Ya right! like these:

Learning new things: Yes, we are trying to crack .NET coding. No positive results so far.
Teamwork: The six of us had not reached the stage of exchanging blows yet, not bad.
Meeting deadlines: Of course, we haven’t finished our project, and the 2 assignments that are to be submitted tomorrow- we haven’t even started them. Great going!
Working under pressure: Why not, no lunch, the hostel mess closes at 9 pm. It was nine thirty already and we were still in college, no dinner.

My team-mates were exhausted, partly because of work, partly because of the high-pitched screaming-at sessions that we had had (for ease, I would call it ‘subject discussions’). There is always noise when great minds are at work, together! All of us were hungry, frustrated and angry at each other and also at the application we had chosen to develop.

After a brief intermission, we started arguing again. Five minutes later, Ramya cracked, she started sobbing. I couldn’t stand it anymore either. I took her out leaving the rest of my lunatic team and the systems behind. The lab attender threatened to lock us in if we didn’t leave sooner.

It was a cool night. Inside the building, there were workers welding something on the ceiling. As the sparks flew, they made an amazing sight. They were doing up something right in the middle of the ceiling and as the drops of fire travelled down, the height of about two floors and hit the ground below, it split into numerous smaller drops of light, bright yellow light. It looked almost like stars on the floor. We stared at this beauty for about 5 minutes, then we couldn’t look any longer, it sort of blinds the eyes.

I felt lighter and for some stupid reason, I even felt happy! Ramya also had recovered.

We got back to the lab, we had to wind up soon, we didn’t have too much of a choice. I knew our project is going to fail big time, I had trouble accepting the fact, especially because the expectations from us would be very high as we had won both the previous projects, the social research and the remodel one. Nevertheless, this is the result that we have today and we will be presenting it tomorrow with as much grace as possible!

We returned to the hostel and drank tea, finished half an assignment before we drifted off. Early morning was chaos, I wont go into details, otherwise, I wil end up writing a book!

So, we presented the project, of course we failed miserably. The judges, two experts, tore us into bits and pieces. And I felt the team that won just had beautiful html screenshots and not a single screen that actually worked, leaving all of us look like some stupid over worked blockheads!

To top it all, I was awarded grades for the two unfinished assignments also. I don’t even want to discuss it :(

It was a hard day, full of disappointment and bitterness. After all this, when I was getting back from college that day, I had a picture of beautiful tiny yellow stars on the floor. I was not trying to console myself by visualising them. I knew I had failed the project that I had so badly wanted to win. I have definitely learnt from the whole thing. But I was glad that something as insignificant as few sparks flying from a construction had made my day better.

Now, more than three years later: that day, is just another day of the past. Making silly billing systems work is no more on my list of important things. But, when I think of that day, more than the disappointment or the anger, I feel a sense of happiness, the sort of happiness i felt when i saw those sparks. How these small things of beauty give us such good memories!