Book Fair Visit

 Before exchanging our "Super Splendor" bike for new one, I wanted to have a long drive with my friend. So, we started out in an afternoon, and the idea was to go on the GST road upto Perungalathur. It was a pleasure to drive my drive, especially with my friend behind. The Perungalathur area has changed a lot. I had come to this place twice earlier, for a happy joy ride. Once when my sister got a baby, when my friend's sister got a baby. On both the occations, my extreme happiness made me to take my bike that was parked in my office parking lot, and to go on for a long ride. I came upto Perungalathur, and bought sweets in a sweet shop near the Perungalathur bus stand, and distributed them in office, on both the occasions. There were only a few shops in that place in those days.

But in our today's trip, I found lots and lots of shops, the area has grown big and posh. After crossing the Perungalathur area, took a U-turn and turned back. On the way back home, my friend wanted to visit the "Book Fair" that was put up near the Tambaram Railway station. She had noticed the Book Fair during the on journey. It was a small book fair, including old and new books. Most of the old books were available at half the price. 

I thought my friend will just browse the books and select one or two for purchasing. But she went on to check book after book, and almost saw all of the books present there. Finally we selected 3 tamil novels. 

They were - 

1. Vellai Nirathil or Poonai (By Lakshmi)

 2. Idaiveligal Thodarkindrana (By Vaasanthi) and 

3. Soorya Vervai (By Melanmai Ponnusamy). 

We also took Mom's advice over phone for selecting the books. We also decided to have another trip with our little friends on Saturday. On Saturday we all went in our car, and reached the venue around 2:45 PM. We were there almost till 4:30 PM, and we selected a lot of books, including tamil novels, english novels and books for kids. Again this time, we were constantly consulting Amma for her inputs to select books of Tamil authors. We all had a happy time there and we all were busy selecting books. Kids were running up and down, selecting various books for them. 

Below is the list of books we purchased on that day.

1. Puzzle Train

2. A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens

3. The Prince and the Pauper - Mark Twain

4. Detective Stories - Sherlock Holmes

5. Vikramaditya's Throne - A collection of 32 Moral Stories (For my little friends cousin sister)

6. Brave Little Train

7. Fire Engine Flynn

8. Might Mac

9. Jokes & Riddles

10. The Sleeping Beauty

11. Prayachitham - La Sa Ramamirtham

12. Vanitha - Lakshmi

13. Vaani - Ramanichandran

14. Pavalamalli - Lakshmi

15. Kadasi Vari - Vaasanthi

16. En Veedu - Lakshmi

17. Thulasi - La Sa Ramairtham

18. Manjal Veyil Maalai Nee - Kaanchana Jeyathilagar

19. Porkasu Thottam - Indira Soundararajan

20. Andharangam Alarugirathu - Rajendra Kumar

21. Kathoram Oru Kavithai - Anuradha Ramanan

22. Nadhasura Osaiyile - Ramanichandran

23. Thulli Varuguthu Vel - Indira Soundararajan

24. Nesam Marakavillai Nenjam - Ramanichanran

25. Azhagana Kathaigal - Anoothama

- SPGR.

28-Feb-2021.

 

2020 Diwali Release Movies

 This year we watched 2 of the Diwali release movies - Mookuthi Amman and Soorarai Potru - thanks to the O.T.T platforms. Both were interesting for their segment of audiences. 

Mookuthi Amman

Mookuthi Amman:

Mookuthi Amman, is a God movie of a different kind. Upon watching this movie, I understood one God (Goddess here) can become jealous of another God. The movie is more about God Vs Godman. In reality Godman become God themselves. One can realize that at one point of time, Siradi Saibaba should have been a Godman, with some good qualities. Thus we can come to conclusion that, with time, Godman become God themselves. We can even see statues of the prominent disciples of Saibaba, and they also are worshipped as God. 

The movie is all about who wins at the end: God or Godman, leading to an obvious ending. The best thing about the movie is that they shown the Greeneries of Nagercoil in its full. Many parts of it being shot in Vellimalai and Vattakottai. 

Being the son-in-law of Nagercoil, and a person who likes the city a lot, I know its landscapes and greeneries very well. Earlier I thought that the story will revolve around Mookuthi Amman, the Goddesss in the famous Kanniyakumari Amman temple, and the areas around the temple and Kanniyakumari beach. 

RJ Balaji keeps on talking, but think its needed for the role he's portraying, a Local TV reporter & the first son of a family with only younger sisters. As it happens to every Guy in such a setting - no one in the family listens to him or minds his words ;-).

Vellimalai is shown in full length and breadth. Also Vattakottai, which is shown as the Godman's ashram. The performance of the Godman is fantastic. 

The movie is worth a watch. Kids too enjoyed. My little friend Deepak initially was scared to watch God movie, as he felt that God will look similar to Ghost as shown in Ghost movies. I told him that God will be beautiful and will come in a three-layered make-up, and it did :-). The Goddess was beautiful indeed. 

Thank God, none in the movie spoke Nagercoil slang, which made the movie completely understandable to me, else I would have needed my friend's service to translate it to neutral Tamil :-). 

Capt. R. Gopinath

Soorarai Potru:

Story of R. Gopinath, founder of Deccan Airlines. Anyone with Entrepreneurial apatite will like this kind of movie. Suriya was the only disturbing factor as far as I was concerned, as I am not a fan of him and avoid watching his movies. But still went ahead due to its story, though my friend also hesitated to watch his movie. 

A kind of movie that drives one emotionally, and hence keeps us tied to it till the end. The hero, from a normal background faces lots of hurdles, financial hardships, betrayals, opposition from the powerful elite lobby and inactions from the Govt machinery. At every step, he never loses hope, keeps banging until the door opens for him. 

Finally, things happen as expected. Hard, constant, continuous, un-ceasing work never goes un-rewarded. The movie is a good entertainer - but for Suriya. But, however hard I try, I have to agree that his presence made me uncomfortable and it was not an enjoyable experience for me. 

Getting to know about Capt. R. Gopinath, he had achieved when was 52, holding onto the Entrepreneurial dream until 52 is something I admired, since that's an age, at which people in India, resolve to their fate. 

- Pavala.

2018 - Diwali Purchase - Part 1

Like all years, Diwali purchase this year too was unique. This year it started in Trichy, when me and my friend went to Town. First we thought of going to Pothys, as we crossed it on the Holy Cross road. But we are anti-pothites, and we decided to continue to be so. So, we decided to go to Chennai Silks and then to Sarathas, if needed.

[photo:Chennai Silks in Trichy]

We entered Chennai Silks, and we could see the difference in which its employees treated us. I remembered my co-brother using the phrase "Pothys Effect", to describe some of the changes that happened in Nagercoil, after Pothyees came there.

First we decided to do dress shopping for kids. We went to the boys section, and the Guys in that section showed us many varieties, and helped us a lot in selecting the right dress for my Little friends. After we become fashion conscious, it really takes us a long time to select dresses and apparels, as we are considering many factors like color, cost, quality, fit and uniqueness. Then we went to girls section, where we wanted to get a good modern fashionable dress for my niece. This time, it took us a really long time. Much longer than what we had expected, as our expectation was a bit high. This time again the sales-women was very helpful. She went through the floor, from end-to-end and brought us different varieties of dresses. We were considering from chudi to midi to other modern outfits. After a long search, we found the one, which we both liked, and especially my friend liked it a lot.

Then we moved to men's section. As soon as we entered, the salesman who first caught us, started showing us formal shirts. I stopped focussing on formal shirts long back, and they are not enforced even in software companies nowadays. We went straight inside and started looking into casual and trendy ones. I was not impressed with any of them in the display. My friend liked one particular design, in orange color, which when I tried was a bit misfit. When I tried another one of the same design in a smaller-size, and it was a perfect fit. When I came out of the trial room, my friend was holding another pink-colored-designed shirt, which she wanted me to try. Thus, this time I got two shirts for Diwali. Then we went to the pant section, where the salesman said "free-ya irukkum". We laughed at it, as we were looking for the ones that will be a perfect fit.

We then went to the ladies section. Not much collections were there. We were close to the lunch time, and by this time we became tired. Not much salesperson were there, probably because they might have gone for lunch. Hence we dropped the idea to take Diwali dress from my friend there. We decided to see in a different shop on the next day, but later postponed to take care of it in Chennai.

Then we went to the nearby Archana sweets, where we had snacks. Then we got some sweets and started our journey back to home. That completed the first phase of our Diwali purchase.

-SPGR. 

Book Exhibition 2017 - Visit

Coming back to writing after a really long time. Though I had many things to tell, I never thought of writing them down, as I became busy with other things in life. Now, back to writing. Not sure how long this will go on.

Yesterday I went to the Book Exhibition in Chennai. The Exhibition is back to its old venue of St. George Anglo-Indian school grounds. This time the path from the main gate to the Exhibtion hall is not just a simple straight path, with banners of writers and stalls on both sides but it was a curvy one, with no space on either side for the banners. But still some writers (or stall owners???) managed to keep some flex banners. Since I came by walk, I by-passed the long route to the Exhibition hall, by entering through the bike stand. In the front, there was a dias, where some meeting was going on. Some eminent persons from the literary world were giving speeches. The meeting was in full peak with all the chairs occupied. Saw a big food court next to it.

Took the entrance ticket by paying Rs. 10 at one of the counters. This time I paid with a ten rupee coin. After the rumor that the ten rupee coins will be banned, they are in decent circulation. I went inside the Exhibition hall. As I am used to this exhibition, this time I didn't wonder about the size of the hall (or tent???), number of the stalls, or the number of books on display. I just went to Stall No. 1 and started strolling from there. My friend Ramani had asked me to buy some books for kids, if possible. She also told the stall number (Stall No. 45). Though later I found that stall number didn't exactly match. Or may be that I missed the actual stall that sold imported books for children. Whatever be the case, I didn't buy book for kids. I went inside a stall where there was heap of books for children. I opened a few books and tried to read them, but unfortunately I couldn't understand anything and hence dropped the idea of buying those books, as I thought that even kids will find it difficult to read and understand them.

I just kept strolling though the pathway between the stalls, exactly in the middle, with stalls on both sides. Through any pathway, I traversed only once. This is different from my early visits, in which I will traverse twice, once on the left and once on the right, so that I don't miss the shops on either side. Also, I used to get into almost all the shops and browse through the books. This time I just kept walking. Books didn't attract me anymore (Or may be at the moment???). In Uyirmai stall, I saw Manushya Puthiran, writer Charu Nivedhitha, and three more people seated in chairs and chatting. As usual there was a lady (Manush's wife???) was sitting in the counter. Earlier Manush used to sit in his foldable wheel chair, but now he is seated in a comfortable small cushion sofa. He seemed to be more happy compared to my earlier encounters with him. When I was about to leave the Uyirmai stall, saw the blogger Cable Sankar talking to writer Charu Nivedhitha. More than talking he was laughing most of the time. He was a short, stout man, in his middle ages. Earlier when I used to see writers, I used to go and talk to them, and try to take a photo with them. Now I am least bothered about them. I just kept walking.

In one shop (Stall No. 293), I saw some old tape-recorders, telephones, hanging from the roof. I just stopped to watch them. Then I understood that its a trick to make people notice, enter, and eventually buy a book. Also most of the book readers belong to that period, when they listened to songs on a tape-recorder and made phone calls on those black rolling number dial telephones. Upon seeing Jayamohan's (somewhat big) photo I entered that stall, thinking that if I find a copy of the "Rubber" novel, I will buy. But I couldnt find "Rubber", but found many bundles of "Aram", book by the same author. I thought of buying a copy of Aram. The price was Rs. 300, after a 10% discount, it will come to Rs. 270. Somewhat a big money. So, I called up my friend and she asked me to buy if I want. This "Aram" is a collection of long stories. I have read 2 stories from it on net, one among them was "100 Naarkaligal" (100 chairs). A story I liked a lot, and was very inspiring. I told my friend that I will continue with the walk and after completing all the stalls, if I still feel like buying, I will buy the book.

I went ahead with my walk. I understood that I have crossed this stage of life, and no longer will required to go for a book exhibition (for some time???). Mostly because I lost interest in reading books, and also got used to reading books in electronic format in laptop and in mobile phones.  The latter can be done without spending a rupee, most of the time. Also I have discovered other hobbies that keeps me busy and healthy. After giving one last thought, I came out of the exhibition hall, without buying the "Aram" book. I already have a print out of the "100 Naarkaligal" and thought if I wanted to read the other stories, I can do so on the net, in writer jayamohan's blog. Upon reaching home, I gave a beautiful (according to me at least) punch about this to my friend. But someday I may buy this "Aram" and "Rubber".

On the way back, saw the platform shops. Not the second hand book shops that used to be there earlier. A few years back I bought "Fountain Head" from one of the platform shops for just Rs. 10. It was the first version of that book. I saw one person selling plastic device, which looked more like a big injection, with a 2 litre water bottle attached to its neck. I was spraying a jet of water at a high speed (velocity???). The shop keeper said (to some other person) that it can be used to water the plants and also for water-washing the bike. The latter interested me, but I thought it will be costly here, and hoped that soon it will be available everywhere, and I can buy one. Dreaming of that day when I will fill soap or a shampoo solution into that 2 liter bottle, and will happily water wash my bike with it. From the net found that it is a "universal jet spray gun bottle water sprayer"(Images below). We need to attach a bottle with water, pump, and then it sprays for sometime, due to the pressure built inside the bottle. An ingenious invention indeed.

After reaching home, I was happy that I didn't take Dhanesh with me, as it would have been very boring for him. Also I felt exhausted due to long walk, to and from and within the Book Exhibition Hall and also I felt that I have wasted the ten rupee (entrance fee).

- Pavala
Jan 18, 17. 

Siva Rathiri

Like most Tamils the first thing that comes to my mind on a Siva Rathiri day is the "Siva Rathiri" song from the movie "Micheal Madhana Kama Rajan". All these years I was believing that they danced on a Siva Rathiri day. This year only I understood that they made their "Subha-Rathiri" a "Siva-Rathiri".

This year the Siva-Rathiri was on Feb 17. This year I decided to observe the Siva-Rathiri by keeping awake all through the night. Earlier I read in a book about the rituals to be followed on a Siva-Rathiri day. From the nearby Siva temple, I got to know that there will be five Poojas all through the night in the timings 7:00 PM, 10:00 PM, 1:00 AM, 4:00 AM and 6:30 AM. I decided to got to temple and participate in the Poojas at 7:00 PM, 10:00 PM and 6:30 AM.

Morning as soon as I woke up, I watched the "Siva Rathiri" song that I mentioned in the first paragraph three times. Then prayed to God in home and went to office. Came a bit early from office in the evening. I missed the Pooja at 7:00 PM. So, prayed at home around that time. I went to temple around 9:40 PM, and stood in a big queue. Reached God in about minutes and prayed. Got Prasadam and reached back home. After dinner, I started my Siva-Rathiri. Worked on office tasks till around 2:00 AM. After that I didn't know what to do. Just kept reading some blogs.

Every one hour I was hitting mosquitoes with the mosquito bat all around the house. In that way I was able to keep myself busy. I somehow managed till 4:00 AM. After that it became really difficult to be awake. But still I pushed and managed till 5:00 AM. From 5:00 AM, I started preparing to take a bath and visit temple. Around 6:00 AM, I went to temple again and prayed to God. This time there were not many in the temple. Prayed and came back home, but surprisingly I didn't get sleep. I laid down for sometime on the cot, but still didn't get sleep. So, I started my routine and went to office. I felt very tired in office, but still I was able to manage. But there was a calmness in my mind and a sense of satisfaction.

In the night after dinner, slept early and had a long deep sleep. Thus my first attempt to observe "Siva Rathiri" went successfully.

- SPGR. 

Designated Story Teller

You have to believe me. Like "Software Engineer", "Senior Assistant", "Section Engineer", "Technical Assistant", the "Designated Story Teller" is the job title of a person who came to my little friend Deepak's school. Her main work is to tell stories to the kids. I was surprised to find that such a job exist nowadays. 

When I was a child, it was my grandparents who used to tell stories. Primarily my maternal grandparents and when considering the number of stories told, its my maternal grandfather. I still remember many of the stories told by him. Most of those stories were from him his imagination. One of his famous story was that of a King who makes an attempt to go to a war, but the wheel of his vehicle gets broken. He tries all vehicles right from a chariot till cycle, but the cycle too gets punctured. Finally he decides to go by walk, when he falls into a pit and his leg gets broken, where the story ends. 

But these days, the grandparents neither have the time to spend with their grandchildren nor they have the time to tell stories to them. This situation has given rise to jobs like "Designated Story Tellers" like the Madam who visited Deepak's school. They charge a hefty amount it seems. They come with lot of charts, toys, and using them they tell stories to the kids. I am not sure if kids enjoy them, but got to know that some kids slept while hearing them. This is a success on their part to some extent, since the main intent of telling stories to the kids is to make them sleep. 

Due to the changing lifestyle I think we can expect many such new jobs which we would have never had heard. 

- SPGR.

The story of my watches (4)

HMT Kohinoor:

This is my grandfather's watch. It laid idle for many years after it came into my possession. While at college I asked my father to give it for servicing. He gave it an old watch mechanic who brought it back to an excellent state. This watch mechanic was a retired school headmaster who had taken up watch sales and repair after his retirement. Around this time I was in college and in hostel. I used to come home once in a month. Once when I came I found that the watch was serviced and ready for use. I keyed it in. But unfortunately I kept keying in, until I heard a knocking sound and the watch stopped working. The main spring gave up. My father took it again to the headmaster, who repaired it again. In the next time when I keyed in, I keyed very carefully and stopped with 12 winding. But this time, unfortunately I dropped the watch, with the crown directly falling on the floor and receiving the impact. The crown was still functional, but it got into a slanting position. Appa again took it to the headmaster, who probably would have replaced the crown. After these two incidents I never touched the watch for a long time.

Nearly after a decade, I took this watch to the HMT service center. The watch mechanic there serviced it and brought it back to near showroom condition. This time, the face-plate is changed to a grey colored one, and also the back plate is changed, since the original back plate had a minor crack in it. But, through these upgradations, it lost its vintage look. Now the movement and needles were the only ones from my grandfather's days. Now I think that I should have changed the needles too :-).

[pic: HMT Kohinoor, My Grandfather's Watch]

HMT Kohinoor

- SPGR.

The story of my watches (3)

Nelson Quartz:

When I was in 11th standard, Appa got me this watch. Appa took me to Mainguardgate with an idea to get a watch for me. We went through many watch shops, but I didn't like any of them. When we went to a shop in Super Bazaar, I liked one watch, which had a day-date feature and a dual tone dual tone dial - white and gold. It had the name "Nelson" written on it. It was a bit costly in those days, costing about Rs. 450. But still Appa went ahead and bought it for me. I wore this watch from 12th standard until I completed my UG. It was used almost daily. I still remember the day it received its first scratch on the crystal, the evening before my 12th chemistry public exam, when I was wearing it and studying for the exams. After that it received many scratches, but served loyally. Later on I gave it to my father, who changed its case, strap and used it for some more time. Eventually it was destroyed.

TIMES:

This was a quartz watch bought by my sister from Vizag. It had a black case, black resin strap and a gold face. The needles of this watch was especially cute. Once when I banged the door of "Rockfort Express" in an attempt to open it, it received an impact on its crystal and the crystal cracked. I moved the machine of this watch to my another watch and this watch was eventually destroyed.

Casio DB-36:

My younger sister got this watch from US. This was a wrist watch that had many features and it is one of my favorites, since my watch wearing habit started with digital watches. It also had the ability to store 30 phone numbers which came handy whenever I forgot to take my mobile phone to office. "10 year battery" is written on its face-plate, meaning that its battery will last for 10 years. Bought in 2010, it still keeps perfect time, and didn't required a battery replacement.

[pic: my casio DB-36]

Casio DB-36

The Educationist

For some strange reasons, I was not getting sleep during those days. All night I used to just lie on the bed, closing the eyes, but not sleeping. Sometimes I used to get up from the bed and walk here and there inside the home. As this continued day by day, I started looking very tired and dull during the day time, and people around me started commenting that I look dull and also started inquiring whether I am not well. I tried many things to get sleep. First I started watching TV. That was the time of IPLs. After 20 years I started watching cricket again in my life, just to kill time. On the first day when I switched on TV to watch cricket, it was a person called "Shikar Dawan" who was batting in a wonderful way. Then I moved on to watching movies, cartoons and what not. But the end was not reached. Even after watching TV till 4 am or 5 am in the morning I was not getting sleep, but only short naps for an hour or so.

 Then I moved on to do some physical work - like cleaning home, washing clothes, cooking. All these tasks made me more tired, but I was nowhere near my goal. I even tried going for a walk and jog. Nothing helped.
During that time, I happened to travel in Pallavan Express from Trichy to Chennai in 3rd AC coach. I think that was my first trip in the AC coach of Pallavan Express. The train was at 6:30 in the morning. As usual, after a sleepless night, I reached the station on time and had just enough time to get into the train. I was just gazing through the window when a person called me from behind  "Sir, is that your seat...".

I turned back and saw a calm and quiet person, should be in the late forties or early fifties, very neatly dressed, with a beautiful smile. His face had a divine charm.
"No, sorry, this is not my seat...", I said as window seat was not mine.
He replied "Sir, it is my seat, but if you want, you can continue to be there and I will take your seat"
Normally, like many, I prefer to have the window seat, but upon seeing his face, I said "No, thank you..." and moved to my seat.
He occupied his seat and was continuously getting phone calls, in which he was talking about some churches and brothers in those churches. I thought he himself could be one such brother.


As the train started, he asked whether I am into business. This is the second time I am encountering this question. First time I encountered this question was again when I was traveling in the AC coach of Rockfort express, which made me to assume that, it is mostly the businessmen, who travel in the AC coaches.
I replied "No, I am not into business..."
"Then... you are..." he asked.
"I am into software... I develop software..."
"Oh Ok..."
"To Chennai...", he enquired
"Yes...", I replied.

Then I got into some deep thoughts. But, I thought that I should ask him what he is doing, though normally I never ask anyone any such questions.
"And you..."
"I am an educationist...", he replied.
I didn't know exactly what he was meaning by that. I thought he should be a lecturer or a professor in some college.
"In which college Sir...", I asked. I started addressing him as "Sir" in somewhat a respectful way now.
"Not college... school... I am headmaster of (he said some school's name, which I forgot now) in Royapettah."
It sounded to be a famous school in that area. Having faced a lot of difficulty in putting my dear little friend Dhanu into school, some 2 years ago, I thought I should get to know more about him and interact well with him, so that in future, I can put my cute little friend Deepu into some good school, with his recommendation. But at the same time, I was so doubtful whether I can do that in the short train journey of 5 hours.
"Nowadays almost all are into software..." he remarked.
"Yes Sir... most of the service companies has established processes, and now software can be developed, even without any knowledge of data structures or algorithms..."
He seemed to have got more interested into it and started asking me more and more questions and I tried to answer as much as I could.
Finally he remarked... "Whatever it is... it is indeed a good field, that provides jobs to many and almost eradicated the unemployment, which was in its peak in the 90s..."
"What you do in your school sir... I mean what are your day to day activities in school..." I asked him.
He seemed to have got interested in this question and started answering in an elaborate way.

"Morning I go to school about 8:30, attend the prayer and then around 10:00 will go for rounds all around the school..." and then he went on to explain his day to day activities.
"One of my main activity is to constantly watch the mood and enthusiasm of the teachers and whenever I find that they are not enthusiastic or happy, its my duty to help them in getting their worries resolved and bring them back to normal... Because if they are not happy, they cannot do their job well... and it will directly affect the students..."

He continued "One day while on the rounds, I found the one teacher had a very sad face... It was like as if it is written in his face that he is having a miserable life..."
He went on... "I asked him what his problem is... He immediately started crying, unmindful of the students in front of him... I took him aside and asked him again what his problem is..."
"From what he said, I understood that his personal life is miserable. He is married for about 10 years... has 2 kids... and now have almost come to the stage that he cannot live with his wife anymore, who was a teacher in another school... and the only way to spend the rest of his is to get separated from her... I found that day by day, he was having a miserable and painful life in home... In that situation, definitely he cannot do a good job in school..."
He added... "By this time, we both started walking and came to the main gate of the school... The gate was locked... There was a road in front of the school's gate and at the other end of the road, there was a ditch in which dirty water was running... We both saw a man, wearing dirty clothes-that looked as if it was never washed, his hair-looked as if it was never combed... He was holding a small stick in his hand and was standing on the shore of the ditch and was playing by hitting the stick on that running water..."
He went on... "I asked the teacher, do you know why he is so happy now... The teacher looked at my face, confused... He is happy because he had a good meal in the morning... and he is celebrating it by playing in that dirty water... though he knows very well that his next meal is not guaranteed..."
"But see... In your case, you both are working as respectful teachers, and the meal for you and your family is guaranteed for the next thirty years... But still you don't know how to celebrate it... And instead you are worrying about it..."
"She is your wife... Who else will fight with you.... She bore your 2 kids... Go home right now, ask her also to come home... talk to her... tell her that you want to celebrate your life day-by-day, with her..."
"He left the school immediately and came to school after 2 days and this time he was happy... I never asked him what happened in home, but I was sure that he will be a good teacher after that, celebrating his life in school too..."

The educationist went on and on. After a long time, I was hearing a monotonous speech, more or less a lecture... I started dozing... as I used to do on hearing the lectures in college and I was finding it tough to keep myself awake ...

But I tried my best to keep myself awake, just to listen to what he said.

 He went on... "See the Russia... most of the time it is cold there... covered everywhere with snow... But see India... where we have sun almost all the days..."

I was wondering why he is comparing India with Russia, when generally India is compared with the US these days. I assumed that he should belong to the previous generation. As far as I know during the British rule, India was compared with Britan, even Gandhi went there for his higher studies... But I am not sure whether Gandhi attempted and cleared GRE or TOFFEL to reach there. And for a couple of years after independance, India was compared with Russia... and in the recent days India is compared with America.I guess the "Sir" should have been an child or young boy during the days of comparison with Russia, as one tends to remember their childhood days for the rest of their life.

He continued "There people cannot work on the field(probably he is referring to agriculture). But see our gifted climate, where we can work round the year... But how we waste our time and energy on useless things, fighting with each other..."

After that I didn't know when I slept. I had a sound sleep, after a long time. I dint know for how long he kept talking. But when I woke up, I found that he was also asleep. I also observed that in every station, he got down from the coach, and met his old students in the platform. Upon knowing that he was traveling in this train, many of his old students had come to the station in that odd hour to meet their teacher. He should be a famous teacher, and should be a role model for many, I thought.


As the train entered Egmore station, we got ready to get down.
I thanked him, for which he returned a beautiful smile, and came out of the station. He was received by a couple of people at the platform. I started walking towards the bus stop to take a bus to home.

After that I never had a sleepless night, probably because I have decided to celebrate my life, day-by-day... Thank You Sir...

- Pavala.

சுதந்திரம் குடு...

[Reepeetttuuu...]

 சுதந்திரம் குடு...

தாணுவிற்கு இரவு சாப்பாட்டிற்கு இப்போது எல்லாம் இட்லி தோசை பிடிப்பதில்லை... அவனுக்கு 'பெட் டோஸ்ட்' தான் வேண்டும்... அவன் அம்மா இப்போது எல்லாம் காஞ்சி பேக்கரிக்கு சென்றால், கேட்காமலே பிரட் பக்கெட்டை எடுத்து தந்து விடுகிறானாம். இவன் எல்லாம் அமெரிக்கவிலோ லண்டனிலோ பிறந்து இருக்க வேண்டியவன் என்பது அவன் அம்மாவின் கருத்து.

ஆம்மாம் நம்ம வீட்டுல தான் ஒரு வெள்ளைக்கார தொரை இருக்கிறான் என்று பேகேரிகாரன்க்கு தெரியும் போல... என்று அவளிடம் சொன்னேன்...

நேற்று இரவு அவன் பிரட் டோஸ்ட் சாப்பிட்டு கொண்டு இருந்த பொது, எங்க வீடு தொரை கிட்ட சுதந்திரம் கேட்கலாம் என்று நினைத்து கேட்க ஆரம்பித்தேன்.

"தம்பி, சுதந்திரம் தா..."

"தடமாட்டேன்..." கையை வேறு பின்னல் வைத்துகொண்டான்...

"சொஞ்சம் சுதந்திரம் தா கண்ணு..."

"தடமாட்டேன்..."

நிச்சயமாக இவன் வெள்ளைக்கரனாக தான் பிறந்து இருக்க வேண்டும் என்று நினைத்து மேலும் தொடர்ந்தேன்...

"தம்பி..."

"என்ன..."

"Quit India..."

"மாட்டேன்..." மேலும் உறுதியானது...

"சரி... எப்போ சுதந்திரம் தருவே?..."

"நாளைக்கு கீச்சுக்கு போகும் பொது தான் தடுவென்..."

"அப்படியா.."

"அமாம் அப்படித்தான்..."

"சரி..."

பிறகு வேற வேலைகளை கவனிக்க தொடங்கினேன்...

சிறிது நேரத்திற்கு பிறகு, சேரில் உட்கார்ந்துகொண்டு தீவிரமாக எதோ யோசனை செய்து கொண்டு இருந்தேன்...

அது அவனுக்கு நான் வருத்த பட்டு கொண்டு இருந்ததை போல் தோன்றி இருக்க வேண்டும்...

மெல்ல என் அருகில் வந்தவன்,

"அப்பா..."

"என்ன..."

"சுந்தம் வேணுமா..."

"அமாம்..."

"இந்த வச்சுக்கோ..." என்று சொல்லி நான் அவனிடம் சுதந்திரம் கேட்ட பொழுது அவன் கையில் வைத்திருந்த பொம்மையை கொடுத்தான்...

- எஸ் பி ஜி ஆர்