Our Third Empire!

Off late Google [read Third Empire] is playing a very vital role in decision making session of my family members. For example, last week all of us, including my Gundu mama and Yo Uncle (If you are wondering who are they, then please read this. And ya, please don’t forget to comment! :D) were watching TV. Nothing great was on TV so I simply switched to a random music channel. A song started playing (unfortunately I don’t remember which one!)  And suddenly my dad made a statement!

Dad : Hmmm.. It’s been really long since I listened to Hariharan song. Such a nice rendition by him.

My mom gave him such a horrified look as if he told her that an alien from Pluto came to earth and gobbled up Hariharan as a revenge for removing its name from Planets list.

Mom : Oh please! Don’t insult Hariharan by telling that he sang this song and all (She is a major Hariharan fan)

Dad : Oh is it?! Then tell me who sang it?! It is Hariharan.

Mom : No, its not!

Dad : Ok then tell me who is it!

Mom : Wait I will tell you! I don’t remember this guy name now. He is that tall lanky looking guy!

Gundu mama : Its that guy! Shankar Mahadevan!

“Yo” Uncle : Eh Gundu! Its not Shankar Mahadevan!

Gundu Mama : Then who else!

Mom : Ayio.. I can’t remember his name.

She turned to me and asked me to help! Since I had no clue, I just rattled off my in depth knowledge on Tamil Industry singers.

Me : Karthik?

Mom : No!

Me : Unnikrishnan?!

Mom : No No!!

Me : SPB?!

Mom (Also a great fan of SPB) gave me such a threatening look as if she is going to push me down from the LIC building!

Me : Eh.. sorry.. came out in a flow! Naresh Iyer?!

Mom : No!!!

Me : Douglas Kennedy?!

Mom : Eh.. who is that?!

Me : He is a writer! I was just testing if you are really listening to me or not!

Mom : Hmph.. Ya! Krish! That’s it! Krish is the singer!

Dad and Gundu mama : NO!

Yo uncle looked at me – Uh huh! Fight is boring! Come we will go check out Third empire.

Thus we ended up in the front of comp and it turned out that some Belly Raj has sung the song. So the fight came to an end with everyone getting disappointed and myself and Yo uncle having a nice laugh!

Next day some other issue came up. This time it was the population of Chennai.

Dad : Would be around 3 to 4 crores.

Gundu mama : Cha cha.. Would be in lakhs!

Dad (with again a horrified look) Are you mad?! Ever visited T nagar during Weekends?! You cant even come out alive from that place, esp if it’s a festive season! And you are saying that Chennai population would be in Lakhs!?

Mom : 8 crores!

Dad and Gundu mama looked at each other and started laughing!

Yo uncle, who was happily sitting on sofa with a book turned to me and said: Comp is on! Go consult the third empire!

I googled and found out that its 4.34 Million. The reactions?! Don’t even ask about it!!!

The story behind my "Yo" Uncle's sheepish smiles!

Recently two uncles of mine, has come down to spend some time with us. I am pretty fond of both of them. One of them is lovingly known as Gundu mama (Gundu means fat in Tamil!) Everyone calls him like that only. In fact, majority of our common friends don’t know his real name at all. And the second one has landed straight down from Dubai. Nowadays he is trying to differentiate between Kozhambu (Kudumbu in his words) and Sambhar and also between Podi (chilli gunpowder) and Maavu (batter used for making Idly and Dosai). Thus, you can see his expert knowledge in Tamil. But he is one super cool person! So let’s call him the “Yo” uncle! (I do hope they don’t read this post in near future!)

Yesterday scene is something which is worth mentioning here. My mom generally makes the batter at home itself (In other words, Maavu archify with the help of the grinder). As in we don’t buy it from outside. She always does that in the evening but then, she remembered that she had to go to market to pick up few stuff!

My mom : Ok I have to go to market.

Yo uncle : (Since he knew that she had to carry out the maavu archifying process, he offered to help!) Oh ok akka, you carry on. I will put the podi in the grinder and finish your work.

[Sensing that some hilarious moments are about to follow, Yours sincerely and Gundu mama positioned ourselves on the sofa so that we don't miss out anything!]

My mom : ?!?!?! why do you need to put podi in the grinder?

Yo uncle: Why? Are you planning to buy podi from outside to make the Dosai?

My mom : AYIO! Podi is different. We use Maavu to make Dosai’s!

Yo uncle: “55 watt bulb sheepish smile” (In order to cover up the situation) ok then I will make Kudumbu!

Me : Is it a goan dish?! (He is from goa!)

Yo uncle: Eh? No, your mom only made it yesterday!

My mom : No I didn’t! I don’t even know how to make such a dish!

Yo uncle: But you made it yesterday for dinner!

My mom : What did I make for yesterday dinner?

My dad : Same old Sambhar! What else!

Laughter erupts which gets silenced by Mother dear’s chilly stare directed to dad!

My mom to Yo uncle: That was Sambhar!!

Yo uncle: “75 watt bulb sheepish smile”

Gundu Mama: What’s the connection between Kudumbu and Sambhar?! I mean, how can one get confused with 2 different words!

Yo uncle : Actually I thought Sāmbhar was the one which you made for today’s lunch!

My mom : Now what did I make for lunch?

My dad : You showed some mercy and made Kozhambu for a change!

Another laughing session which was again silenced by Mother dear’s threatening advances, following which my dad disappeared from the scene!

Mom : That’s Kozhambu !! Not Kudumbu!!

Yo uncle : “100 watt bulb sheepish smile!”

This announcement has been pending for a very long time! Parzi has awarded me Freakin Fabulous award.

Though I feel that I am not eligible to receive this award (as you can see from the amount of cobwebs my blog has gathered from past few weeks!) Please do visit her blog ! She is a total sweetheart with a nice blog!

Her Beautiful Life

This is all I was able to come up with for the Moonlight contest @ WL. I had to write something related to the following pic. So here you go :)

She saw the clock strike eleven and got up immediately from her bed! Then she started searching for her slippers in the darkness, trying not to make even a slightest sound. She can’t afford to let her mom know that she was trying to sneak out of the house. Tip toeing to the front door, she opened it quietly and crept outside. The darkness devoured her, making her quite similar to her shadow. At first, she took cautious tiny steps like an excited kid who is just learning to walk. Once she was far away from her home, she broke into one run. She can hear the big waves at the sea nearby, roaring away. She smiled to herself and headed in the direction of the beach. One can sense the excitement and happiness she is feeling at that moment, when she was heading towards her favorite place. 

Suddenly she stopped! She was speechless. The sight of the beautiful full moon caught her by surprise. Why surprise?! Because at that moment, she realized that her life is also so beautiful, just like that sight. The sight which showed the full moon playing hide and seek with the dark clouds! The clouds didn’t spoil the splendor of the moon in any way at all. Instead it created a mysterious aura around the moon. This made the moon look even more magnificent! She stood there silently, savouring the peace she felt, drinking in the beauty of the sky.

Suddenly, someone gave her a warm hug from behind. Someone stood right behind her, whispering in her ears, “Hey beautiful”. This time she was not caught by surprise! Instead she turned and smiled at him. The same smile, which made him fall in love with her and which made him propose her. The same smile, which she gave him when she said “Yes”!

As she rested her head on his shoulders, she thought, “Yes, Life is very beautiful indeed”

Hey Arjun, this post is for you :D

I was bored and jobless (for once and again!!) and was catching up with lots of left out posts!! Saw this at Aarthi's blog and decided to do it for the sake of someone who has been like "write somethin!! atleast a tag"!!! :D

1. Grab the book nearest to you, turn on page 18 and find line 4 Line 4??! I see only 4 numbers! 1896 :D Paths of glory by Jeffery Archer!

2. Stretch your left arm out as far as you can & catch air? Well, I stretched and my arm bumped into the bed nearby and now it hurts!! So my advise to ppl who are going to take up this tag - Don't attempt this one :P (Mokkai, I know!)

3. What is the last thing you watched on TV? Chicks on Flicks! (No, its not a porn movie! Its a show which comes on Sony Pix! :D)

4. Without looking, guess what time it is? 9. 30 Pm?!

5. Now look at the clock, what is the actual time? 10.04 Pm (See, that's why I keep telling that I am bad at guesses!)

6. With the exception of the computer, what can you hear? My mom happily braying.. er.. sorry singing "yeh dosti hum nahi chodenge!" (No, she is not mad! It happens in my family :P)

7. When did you last step outside? What were you doing? I stepped out at 6 40 to be precise! had given my bike for servicing! Went to pick it up!

8. Before you started this Q&As, what did you look at? Aarthi's blog!!

9. What are you wearing? Dress :D

10. When did you last laugh? Just now! My friend called from Delhi! I started laughing the moment I heard her voice :D (She is like that! Kya karoo)

11. What is on the walls of the room you are in? Photos, Photos and more Photos! : )

12. Seen anything weird lately? Yeah! went to book my tickets at railway reservation place near my place. I went at 8 in the morning and all the GOVT officials were ACTUALLY working! Can you believe it?! 8 IN THE MORNING!

13. What do you think of this quiz? Fun !!

14. What is the last film you saw? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.... HP (And I regretted watching it!)

15. If you became a multimillionaire overnight, what would you buy? A Bottle of cold water would be the first thing! To cool off the shock (which I will obvi feel at that moment! :D) !!

16. Tell me something about you that I dunno! Am addicted to coffee!? (That was lame, I know but nothing else striked me "grinning widely showing all the teeth")

17. If you could change one thing about the world, regardless of guilt or politics, what would you do? Take a gun and shoot all the corrupted ppl on earth! "Tishkaw Tishkaw " Mind it!

18. Do you like to Dance? No, Not even in bathroom! :P

19. Imagine your first child is a girl, what do you call her? Love the name "Michelle"

20. Imagine your first child is a boy, what do you call him? Dunno! Never got a name till now!

21. Would you ever consider living abroad? Nope! East or West, India is the best! :D

22. What do you want GOD to say to you when you reach the pearly gates? See, I do exist!!!

Cool choice!

She was standing near the bus stop.

Adi and Akshay were admiring her beauty from a distance

“So how is my choice?”

“Yaar, I never thought your taste was so good man!”

Smacking his head over Akshay’s sheepish smile, Adi went near her and wiped off the speck of dust on his new Yamaha R15!

The Chemistry!

“How about a walk?”

She smiled warmly and replied, “Sure”

Both of them started walking on the pavement. It was 10 in the night and the road was quiet. Neither of them spoke anything but the silence was not suffocating either. They enjoyed the silence and savoured each passing second, spent in each other’s company.

It was cloudy, but they enjoyed the breeze. Suddenly the weather changed its mind and rain started pouring! She started running and took the shelter under the big banyan tree nearby. He started laughing and stood right there, enjoying the feeling of the raindrops on his face. She gave her warm smile again. He looked at her and suddenly saw something in her eyes. What was it? The same look of love, which he had in his eyes. For her!!

Both of them looked at each other, transfixed on the spot. He took a step towards her. She went a step back. He smiled and went near her. Slowly! Suddenly, she turned away, smiling to herself. He smiled and touched her tender hand. She shivered. Not because of the cold rain, but because of his warm and loving touch. Then she slowly faced him.

Yes, he was right!

He can see the love in her eyes. Love for him!

He can see the desire in her eyes. The same desire, which he had!

He can see the longing in her eyes. It didn’t hint any lust, but mere passion!

“OK, CUT”, the director shouted, “Good Shot, both of you! I can almost feel the chemistry”

The hero and the heroine smiled at the director and went to their respective chairs, while the spot boys cleaned up the so called “rain” on the set!

The Decision

He thought over his final decision again.

Then with a firm nod, he took the pen in his hand.

He looked at the paper in front of him and then finally, he signed inside the box.

Next hour he gave the report card to his class teacher, which carried the forged sign of his father's.

Far Yet Close

She stuck her tongue at him
He frowned

"Dont do it again"

"I will, I will. What will you do?"

"I will pinch your cheeks"

They both started laughing. Suddenly the power went off.

"Uh huh, Gotta go"

"Take care dear, Love you baby"

She smiled and switched off the webcam and her computer.

PS : Sorry Arv, I stole your title !! Was not able to think of a better title.

Books! Moi best companion for now (If u don count Mafia wars @ FB)

Disclaimer : LONG post and it’s all about books. So pardon me if you find this post very boring !!

Of late I am really very jobless. Another sign which reminds you that college life has come to an end. So am having ample time to nag all the people around me to the extent that they go mad and wonder why the hell my college got over..! Ever since college started I didn’t get the pleasure of reading any novels back to back, which I used to do when I was in school. My mom used to get so much irritated with that habit of mine that one day she threw all my books up at the loft. But she forgot that I used to have one big source called library at school. Fortunately mine was a good one. Being one of the bright students of the readers club at my school I was given 2 issue cards, which enabled the privileged to issue 4 books at the same time. So my happy soul used to issue 4 hardy boys collection and used to hide it between the big computer “C+” book. I never read that C+ book. Hate that subject. I still wonder how I passed in computer science. I still detest it. But that bloody subject still haunts me, cos now my sister is learning it at school and she comes to me with all scary doubts. Anyway this post is about the novels which I have finished in the past one week. So bookworms are welcome while the souls who use novels as pillow can close the window now itself.

I have been trying out new authors. I have not heard about some of them at all. But since I have lots like that right now so thought that why not give them a shot !!

My first one was THE BLUE HOUR by T.Jefferson Parker
Murder mystery. 2 detectives nab down a psychopathic serial killer, who abducts beautiful young women from the malls and kills them in one horrifying way.

Nice plot. The author wanted to develop a very different type of serial killings which he tried to do in this book. The book has couple of kickass one liners, which prompted me to use them while I was chatting with one of my friends. She got so surprised that she logged out abruptly without even telling me bye. I guess I scared her off :D

At certain points, the author has given lots of technical details which will confuse you at times unless and until you are medical students. Such details lead to cooking up of biryani in the end, which is absolutely tasteless. You have to go back by few pages and read again to see what you have missed. But the climax was built nicely. You can almost feel the suspense.

Bottomline : “OK” book, which you can read when you are really jobless like me.

ABSOLUTE RAGE by Robert. K. Tanenbaum
A lawyer and detective (husband and wife duo) investigates their neighbor’s murder mystery and in the midst fights hard to protect their own family from the killers.

Again nice plot. I loved the detective character, Marlene. Samma character. Even otherwise all the other characters sketched out in a nice way. All were given equal importance. Entire story was gripping.
Lots of useless details were given. They were of no use at all at times. Got bored when such huge paragraphs in the name of conversations came up.

Bottomline : “Good” one. It won’t bore you.

THE JOB by Douglas Kennedy
One smart salesman finds himself a victim of downsizing and then grabs upon a job offered by one of his friends. Unfortunately that job definition includes murders, fraud, embezzlement and lots of trouble !!! How he comes out of all the trouble is the story.

Now this guy can write !! If I remember this is the only book which I was not able to keep down at all, after Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code. I just wanted to finish it in one go. The book is very fast paced and you enjoy the pace also. The Times has described it as “A furiously paced, compulsive thriller” which is really true.

His main character talks a lot !! Like my 4 year old cousin. At times you would like to shout out ”Will you stop thinking for a while and shut up?” But in the end, you will find yourself sympathizing with it when his wife leaves him.

Bottomline : “Brilliant” one. In fact I am going to try other books by this author.

WISH YOU WELL by David Balcaddi

2 kids, aged 12 and 7 meets with one accident which marks their dad under dead and mother under paralyzed and in coma. So they go off to Virginia mountains to their great grandmother where they have to get up at 5 in the morning to help her out with all the chores. But the new town’s greed and justice brings the family in one difficult position. How they protect each other and how they stand up for the other is the story.

This author is usually known for his suspense novels and this novel is his first attempt at a different beat. And I must say that it’s beautifully written. You will sail along with the flow of the story. Its written to the point. No useless dialogues. The characters and their feelings is sketched out beautifully

Bottomline : I loved it !! Finished the 368 pages in 7 hours flat !!

HORNET’S NEST by Patricia Cornwell
Murder mystery again but never mind!! I was never able to go past 4 chapters. It’s beats even history books by making you feel sleepy.

Presently I am reading BEYOND YESTERDAY by Robert Wheeler. Kind of OK book but let me first finish it !!

This is called "Teamwork"

Taken at my dad's office !! The lady who pitched up the line " Team work when the manager is not around" surely has a good sense of humor !! Notice the different names written on the puppies. Names of the people who work out there :D Unfortunately my dad name is not there :P

Close call

“Groan”
“Yawn”
“What?!
“What the !@#$%”
“aiyo”
“Hey bhagwan”

Emotions that came out of different kinds of individuals when they came to know that the gate no has been shifted from 224 to 216. After some time, the temperature intensified to alarming rate when they discovered that the gate no has been shifted again from 216 to 116. Pleasant words were exchanged (sorry not exchanged, since it was only one way communication) between the airport authorities and the passengers. The lowes overflowed so much that authorities ears started bleeding.

After finally settling inside, we patiently waited for the flight to take off.
15 mins … half hour.. 45 mins… one hour… 1hour and 15 mins… 1 and half hour.. 1hour and 45 mins and finally after 2 hours the pilot announced that they were ready to take off.

Passing the time was not a big deal for me. 3 chinki guys were sitting next to me. They looked pretty professionals with all suits and ties dotted on. Would be in their early thirties. One was making planes out of the napkins provided to him, another was sticking the feedback forms over the first one’s head and the last one was trying to capture the art with his mobile camera. After one point they became so noisy that the airhostess came to them and made them do “finger on your lips”. Only after they got calls from their head office, they hushed down.

Finally the plane took off and we were given menu cards and were asked to pick our choices. Totally there were 3 dishes and 2 of them were non veg. Yours sincerely, being one pure vegetarian asked for the only vegetarian dish – Avial curry. While I was waiting for my turn to come, one steward came and placed a plate in front of me. I gave him one quizzical look and asked him for avail curry. He told its Shavial. I thought he pronounced Avial as shavial and tried to correct him.

Avial?
Shavial mam!
Avial?
Shavial !!
No, I want the avail curry (Showing him the menu card)
Oh !! You didn’t ask for Shavial?
(Almost in tears!!) NO!!!
Oh!! Sorry mam!!!

I still don’t know what he meant by shavial.. ! Finally my Avial curry came and I happily scooped it in a spoon and placed it in my mouth. The minute I placed in my mouth, the colour of my face changed from turquoise blue to peacock green!! With the steward watching my reactions intently, I quietly kept the spoon down and gulped down water. In the end, I was very much contented with the bland coffee, dry bun and not so fresh fruits !!

The final blow came when the plane started shaking violently on air. Announcement was made by the pilot requesting us to put up our seat belts. After one point of time, one was able to hear “allaaaaaah” on my left side, “sai ram, sai ram, sai ram” chants on my right side and “oh lord!! jesus save us” at the back. Even the chinki guys were murmuring something. Though I tried to decipher what they were chatting but I was not able to understand. Amidst all these confusion, one fat guy was snoring away to glory. He got up only when his wife smacked his head!! First came a big roaring yawn and then only he understood the seriousness. Ultimate comedy was when the pilot warned us to gear up for a belly landing. The volume of the chants became louder and occasionally someone played along in the orchestra with sounds of burping and puking. We did have a rough landing. People even also got small bumps on head. Which looked like the bumps Tom cat gets in the Tom and Jerry cartoon series. People were walking like drunks when they were getting down from the plane. It was a complete circus!!

Thus an eventful day came to an end. The funny part was that I was so busy in observing others antics, that I forgot the seriousness of the situation at that time. The Funniest part was when one air hostess was busy watching me observing others and forgot her job and when she mentioned that when we were getting down. My reaction?!

“:D”

End of one era!

Time: 12.30pm!

Venue: College OAT

Scenario : Random conversation ranging from few department’s sense to NCC talks to council talks to cousin’s talks to friend’s talks to latest news on IPL Over paratha panner, Manchurian rice, Sambhar rice, idli , fried rice channa and one lime tea !!

V : hmmm.. eppa enna panalam? Enga polam? (For those souls who don understand Tamil, its now what do we do? Where should we go?)

N : Anyplace is fine “Yawn”

“Excuse boss you have a msg!” A checks her mobile

L : Hey will go for ayan huh?

M : Yeah! “with a big 100 watt bulb smile on her face” (she is a big fan of surya!!) But I have to withdraw money.

V and N : Inward “Groan”

“Excuse boss you have a msg!” A checks her mobile

Me : “Yawn” Guys dabbu ledhu.. ! Didn’t know that you will plan to go out. We will go some other day

“Excuse boss you have a msg!” A checks her mobile

L : Ya.. even I am bankrupt.. What about Beach?

Me : I don’t have any prob!!!! (I am a big fan of nature you see :P)

N : It will be too hot!

“Excuse boss you have a msg!” A checks her mobile

V : Ya!

M : “Yawn”

Me notice a big smile on A's face!

Me asks her : What?

A: No more current affairs paper in our life!!! “With another BIG grin”

M: Yaaaa!!!! Then she gives another 100 watt bulb smile and claps her hands and starts jumping up and down!

V, L and N watch M do all this circus tactics for 2 mins and burst out laughing.

M sees them laughing and laughs along!!

Me and A look at each other and shake our heads! A gets another msg and again she checks her mobile. After 2 mins again V repeats the first dialogue, Hey where shall we go?

Me and N : “Yawn”

N : You know what? Let us all go home and sleep!!! I am sleeeeepy !!

Me : Ya ppl! Even I am sleepy. Myself and N started studying at 12 only yesterday night and I slept at 3.

“Excuse boss you have a msg!” A checks her mobile

N : I slept at 5. 30. We will go out some other day.

M : Ok ok ok!!

Conversation ends!

Bottomline : The conversation may be a waste of time but still I will miss it!! College life is coming to an end and there will be no more V’s comments on dress sense of few departments, N’s attitude and sarcasm loaded replies, L’s endless bitching about “You know who” and A’s endless talks on NCC and M’s circus tactics.. !

Yes Anusha I will miss your mokkai also... And I will miss all my other classmates also!! But I don’t want to get all emotional and nostalgic and write one big post about it...! Though these three years in this college were utter waste but I gained lottsa experience in many things (I don’t want to talk about it here cos my dad will bash me!!) (Includes good things also so pls dont get upset dad :P) and got lots of good friends and am happy for that :)