The New Year Post

Ah!! this time I am late. Damn!! There were quite a few reasons. But, finally, this had to come.

Image source: Wikimedia commons

HAPPY NEW YEAR to you. :)

Not much happened when the year changed for me. I was at home, sitting idle, watching the TV. Everyone else at home was asleep. I was the only one at home, waiting for the new year. The date changed with no big bang. After that, I switched of the rooms lights, and got busy with the movie. At about half-past midnight, my phone rang.

"An unknown number". Must be someone from college, I thought. Without concentrating much on the caller, my eyes still focused on the TV, I answered the call while I lowered down the volume.

A girl answered.

She: "Hi, Happy New Year".... Come down, I am waiting for you.

She sounded very very familiar, and I almost instantaneously recognized her. She was Radhika, a friend from school. We weren't really great friends, and we probably hadn't talked for more than 10 years now. I wished her back, still trying to confirm if it was her.

Me: Hey, A very very Happy New Year to you. But, why are you here at this time?
She: Come down. I am shivering outside. We are going somewhere.

This was a mistake, I thought. It can never be her. Even if it were her, she wouldn't be here waiting for me in-front of my house. I got up from the chair, walked towards the window and looked down. I could see the shadow of a car below in the dark. I could also see a girl inside the car, although it was just her silhouette.

Me: Ummm. Wait. It's a mistake. Who is this by the way?
She: Come on. Be a sport. Let's go now. I am shivering.

Still confused, I thought of going down and getting a better view of the woman waiting inside the car. And then I heard a big loud horn. Startled, I almost trembled and closed my eyes.

The TV was still playing that movie, and I was on my chair. I had dozed off.

I never knew anyone called Radhika. Huh.... Just to be sure, I looked down from the window. The roads were empty, and even the car. This time, the street lights helped me look inside the car.

I wished if she were a bit more patient and not honked so loud.

Dreams. Our minds can be so imaginative. I am sure, if she wouldn't have honked, I would have celebrated the next year in my dreams as well. A whole year of thoughts, within a span of a few hours. That would have been fun.

Ooops!!! Sorry...

People lose their cool all the time. So do I. I am generally believed to be a powerhouse of patience. People believe that I have loads of it. But the fact is, I don't have that much. :(

Well, yes, I do have a considerable amount it, but at some point I, too, run out of patience. I am only a human. And I am not perfect.

Anyway, Today, I want to say sorry to everyone at whom I was mad in the past. There are quite a handful of people. Friends, at home and at office. I honestly do feel that I should have exercised more caution then, and perhaps I could have handled those situations differently. At-least, I shouldn't have really shouted at them.

It's a little difficult, however, to keep your cool when people all around you behave crazy. When someone is pestering you, it really takes a lot of patience not to turn around and gag them or shout at them. Most of the time I am cautious. But at times, it gets out of control and hell breaks loose on them. Although I am not violent at all, but people seem to get scared or may be very very angry at me when I shout. It's probably because they don't expect me to retaliate ever. They probably feel like I am not the same person they knew, when I am mad at them.

There have been some instances in the past when I was mad and didn't react at all. Well, most of the times I am like that. Nobody wants to be angry. But sometimes, you have to react, voluntarily or in the spur of the moment. I do, however, at times, regret for my inaction when I should have just blasted off the other person, may be even killed them once and for all.

It isn't a big deal, though, if you can easily shrug off that feeling, and get back into a peaceful state of mind soon, when you could go over it again and decide for yourself if it was right on your part to behave the way you just did. It's perfectly normal to get mad at someone as long as you can ponder over it again and if required apologize for your behavior if you think you were wrong.

Well, I guess, this is not new. Everyone knows what anger can do to a relationship. Everyone also knows that ego is not really a good thing to have. That doesn't help in keeping your relationships if you have a short-temper. We tend to get angry on people frequently who are close to us. It doesn't really matter if you shout or not at a stranger or a person who you don't consider to be close to you. They are not an important part of your life. You are probably never going to meet that stranger again or won't have a life-time relationship with that acquaintance. But that doesn't mean that you could go on swearing and shouting at people on the roads. Your conscience will get to you for that sometime for sure.

Ah!!! I am just talking gibberish. Let's come straight to the point. People, again, I apologize to all of you on being rude or for getting mad at you. To make all those people feel a little better,

"I shout at those people who I consider close to me, hoping that they would understand why I did that"

By the way, Friendship day is round the corner. Those of you who are willing to revive the jagged threads of our friendsip, get ready. :) Happy Friendship Day in advance.

Teaching kids is tough

I bet you would agree. Well, sometimes, they can be smarter than you at alphabets, arithmetic or whatever you are trying to teach them.

She was a 3 year old girl just beginning to learn alphabets. Kids can get difficult at times, and might also be uninterested, particularly when their favorite cartoon characters are starting out on yet another adventure on TV. Her mother found it too difficult to draw her attention away from the television and make her concentrate on her books. Her uncle offered to help. Her mother was more than happy to hand over the responsibility and go back to the kitchen.

Mr. Uncle seemed confident and determined at the job at hand. "She is just a 3 year old, and I have my ways of teaching", he must have thought. Today's target was to teach her at-least 2 alphabets, A and B.

She was more fond of her uncle. He used to bring her chocolates, take her out on his bike and was never angry at her. She had her reasons. Perhaps, she was bored of the cartoons and thought this was going to be interesting.

Mr. Uncle pulled out a blank sheet of paper. She sat down beside her, with a pencil in her hand, with all the focus and concentration required of her. Mr. Uncle started with 5 DOTS on the paper. She seemed confused. Mr. Uncle explained her, "Look here, the first DOT is your house, the second one is my house, the third DOT is your school, the fourth one is Papa's office and the fifth one is your friend's house. Now, to learn how to write an "A", you start from your house, go to my house, then go to your school, and then Papa's office and finally to your friend's house." He didn't connect the dots, rather he explained it to her(sequence) 2-3 times.

After Mr. Uncle was satisfied that his point was put across, he asked her, "Understood?". With a little smile on her face, she nodded her head. And then Mr. Uncle said, "Now write A with the help of dots".

Without a live demonstration, she looked confused and perplexed. Mr. Uncle tried to help her out. He said, "Ok no problem, I will help you out. How would you go from your house to mine?"

She was now smiling again. That's the hint she was looking for. With the pencil in her hand, she stoop up, and put her foot on the sheet of paper. :D

Friday night friend

Who doesn't want a few extra bucks for a few clicks! Even I, at some point of time was lured by those paid survey sites that make grand promises of paying you dollars in return of a few clicks. My initial clicks fetched me quite a few dollars, but very soon I realized that this is just a scam. They never actually pay you.  Well, that's not really what I have in mind right now.

I was just killing my time browsing, and watching TV happily. I noticed my gmail window blink with a new chat message. It was 3:00 am in the morning, and I was quite surprised to see someone ping me at this hour. It was from an old friend. It must have been almost about half a year when I had last talked, chatted or seen him. Here's our conversation.

He: Hi
Me: Hey, long time, wassup?
He: Are you free?

Me: Yup, sort of, just enjoying the Friday night.
He: Can you do me a favor?

(Ah, there he goes, I started thinking about what would he ask for. In a split second I knew exactly what he would be asking for)

Me: Hold on, Are you going to ask me to complete one of those damn MBA surveys?
He: Hehehe, LOL, How did you know?
Me: Dude, you MBA guys only contact non-MBA people only when you need these surveys done.
He: Hehehe, please, yaar, I have to submit this tomorrow, and you are the first one who would be helping me out. It's an interesting one and you will actually like it. I have personally prepared it, keeping today's generation in mind. It's about alcohol consumption, and....
Me: Ok Stop, I don't want to know the details. I will do it.
(@#$!$%&@ a good 10 minutes of my already ending Friday up for those MBAs)


I got the questionnaire within a second of typing out that line. He must have already prepared the mail even before he started chatting with me, all prepared to hit the "Send button". Well, the questionnaire was all but interesting. I really don't understand what are they going to make out of it. Anyway, I just skimmed across the questions, and marked my random answers, and sent it back.

He: Thanks dude, I will mention your name in my assignment. Can you do me one more favor?
(Well, I couldn't think of anything else this time. I brain had gone completely dead)
Me: WHAT? I just did it.
He: Can you send out this questionnaire to your friends and ask them to fill it up?

:@ :@ :@ I clicked on the "SIGN OUT" button right after that.

PS: "He" was actually a "She". :D I have just decided that I wouldn't be doing any more such surveys, and I would refuse any such requests right-away. So, the MBAs, beware. I will not do anymore surveys for free. You have to pay up now.

The Last SMS - contd.

That wasn't actually the Last SMS. After that day, when we met for the first time, I explained her the whole story, ummm...., not the whole, only a part of it. I didn't tell her that I had any feelings for her. I said that it was just my friend's mischief, and there was nothing more to it. And she believed, at-least, I believed she did. And then, we started talking again.

After our final exams, we(I and my friends) packed our bags to leave hostel and college forever. It was our last day. We hadn't quite planned out our journey back, so, were short of time. I couldn't meet her before leaving, though I was dying to meet her the last time, perhaps, the last time ever. We had a train to catch. I was somewhat saddened by the fact that probably we would never talk again either. She was still in college. I was cursing my friends for not being able to arrange tickets for the next day.

After a few good byes, and hugs, and a few tears, we left the college premises. Somewhere within my heart, I still had the hope of seeing her the last time. Perhaps, she was waiting for me at the railway station. I was nervous. We reached the station. My eyes rolled in all directions. I couldn't see her. I looked at my watch again and again. There were still a few minutes left. All the time, I was expecting a call. I had told her that I would be leaving today. "How could she forget?", I thought.

Our train had already arrived. I wanted to give her a call. But, somehow, I couldn't. I didn't know what to tell her. But I wanted to say, "Why didn't you come? Why didn't you call?". 5 minutes before the train left, I gave her a call in the hope of listening to her voice for one last time. The phone rang, I was still thinking what to say. It kept on ringing. "She must be on her way", I thought.

And then, a voice answered, "The number you have dialed is not ......". @##$#%

I tried once more, still no answer. I was still on the platform, my eyes fixed on the entrance. The train started moving. My friends called out. I felt like crying, felt like running back to the hostel. But I knew I have been expecting for something that would never happen. She would never come, I knew that. Dejected, I boarded the moving train.

I got on the train, settled myself. My friends thought I was sad for my other friends and college. They thought I was already missing the hostel life, and made fun of my. I was in my own world. I was looking at my phone all the time.

After sometime, I typed in the words, "I Love You, I always did, from the very first day we met. Sorry and Goodbye", and sent it to Ms. 291. THAT!!!! was the last SMS.

The last SMS

There was a girl in my college. She was in my class. And her Roll No. was 291. Mine was 294. The guy with Roll no.  292 left college after some days. And Roll No 293 was a great friend of mine. After the first year of college, Ms. 291 and I were enrolled into a new class. Mr. 293 was now out of the story. Well, Mr. 293 actually had a greater part in this story, but I chose to cut short his involvement in this affair, in our affair. In the new class, there was no one between 291 and 294. I thought, someday, I will let her know my feelings when we were alone. I was sort of sure that there was destiny's play in all this, and the whole world was working towards getting the two of us closer to each other. See, we both got into the same class after the first year, and Mr. 293 was left behind. :D

Being in the same class meant always being in the same group of friends, lots of chats, exchanging notes, coffee breaks and snacks, phone calls, sms, emails and a few lunches and dinners. When we used to go out for project work together out of our campus, I always insisted on having dinner at some good place. I had already prepared a list of nice food joints near our campus. She never gave in and said her friends would be waiting at the hostel. Though I always had my proposal ready, I was actually waiting for the appropriate time and opportunity, which never came. But I never gave up hope.

I never got a chance to know how she felt about me. I never asked her. I was afraid. I made my best efforts of  hiding my feelings for her. Actually, I was, and I still am, quite good at it. We were almost at the end of the semesters of the 3rd year of class, when something changed in our relationship. Ahh, I can't forget that day. And I can't forget the culprit as well. Mr. 013. All my friends knew about this girl. Mr. 013 also knew about our affair. He is still a good friend, but I was very angry at him that day. 4 of my friends, including Mr. 013 were celebrating someone's birthday. No points for guessing that the main attraction of the party was, THE WHISKY (some brand, that's not important though, but I remember), and not the birthday boy. He was forgotten after we each landed a few kicks on his back. And there was an oversupply of it (whisky), enough to make us lose our minds. I had already lost my sanity. I could only hear the music playing on the computer with half closed eyes and an empty glass in my hand. Well, I was also thinking about Ms. 291, but I still wasn't insane enough. I thought, alcohol gives you that rush of extra courage, but I needed a few more pegs to get to that stage where I could even think of surviving a fall from the 11th floor. Just then, my phone beeped. It was an SMS. As soon as I took it out of my pocket, Mr. 013 snatched it from my hands. He read out the contents of the SMS aloud. It was from Ms. 291.

"Hey, wassup? I am bored with these stupid girls, care to talk?"

I had to reply back. So, I asked Mr. 013, to return my phone. He said that he will reply that we were drinking and I would call her once we finished the alcohol. All my efforts of getting my phone back went in vain. So, I just let him do whatever he wanted and said, "Go ahead". We had a little conversation.

Mr. 013 : Why haven't you proposed her yet? Are you afraid?

Me : I am not afraid. I think she already knows how I feel about her, but I am just looking for the right time.

Mr. 013 : What the hell? It's been 3 years, and you are still waiting for the right time? Anytime is the right time for this stuff. So do it today, right now. Else I will.

Me : No, please. I will take my time, I am not in a condition to talk, else I would have called her up right now. You always get me pumped up. Thanks.

The very next moment, I was back to my senses, when Mr. 013 thrust my phone into my face, which said, "Message Sent". After a few clicks, I realized that the damage had been done. Mr. 013, sent "I Love You" to Ms. 291, from my phone. Damn!!!! Doomed forever!!! That night, the whole night, I was awake, waiting for my phone to beep again. But it never did. That was the last SMS.........

And it stopped raining...

Just a few days ago, I was complaining about Chennai's weather. It was getting unbearable for me to survive here. The moment I reached home from office, the first thing I would do was to switch on the AC. Not to mention, the electricity bill for each month would be always directly proportional to the temperature, raised to the power of temperature itself.

On friday evening, I had plans of going to Bangalore to escape from the heat. But I guess, the rain gods had other plans. After I reached office, it started raining heavily. I was not aware of how Chennai's weather will be at this time of the year. I had a train to catch at 11:30pm (note: station was around 35kms from my place). I thought, by that time the clouds would have poured down all their drops. So, I got busy with my work. Ironically, I am currently working on a weather forecasting application. :) When I configured this application to show Chennai's weather forecast, something seemed to be out of place. It said, "Thunderstorms" for the next 5 days. Well, last week, it said the same thing, and that week was quite hot.

It was 5 in the evening, and I prepared to pack my things. Then my colleague stopped me and asked me to look outside. It was still raining heavily. Damn. I hadn't done my packing yet for Bangalore. I would get late if the rain didn't stop, I thought. After 30 minutes, I decided to leave. By the time I entered the open skies, it was only drops here and there. I reached my room without getting wet. :) Lucky me....

Switched on the AC, oh, that had become a habit, it wasn't needed. After 5 minutes or so, switched it off. Started packing. Got ready, to travel 35kms.

At about 7 in the evening, the rains came back. It must have been the heaviest rainfall that I would ever experience in Chennai. And it didn't stop until Monday morning. I had called up around 4-5 taxi services, but they were over-booked. The bus stop is 1km away from my house and there was no way that I could have walked that distance in this downpour. I had never thought that I would not be able to step out of my room because of rains. Lost hopes at around 9:30pm.

And now, on Monday morning, finally "It stopped raining". 2 and a half day, locked up inside my room, and above all, India loosing the series, it was certainly a test of my patience. My room mate was lucky to leave for Hyderabad at the right time. I slept a lot though. And for food, I used to call up a restaurant. The delivery boy would be cursing me. Ahh... Need to re-plan for the Bangalore trip again, next week.

Please don't rain next week. Please please please