Success

I was walking along. There was a crowd. I wanted to know what was happening. Curiosity always gets the better of me. So, I walked in the midst of those people. They were telling each other their experiences. They seemed really happy. The one that isn't fake. There was no need for drama there. The moment seemed priceless to those people. They were smiling. I observed them carefully, real carefully. 


Some of them were crying. They weren't sad or anything. In fact, they were smiling amidst tears. I didn't understand how that worked but they did seem happy. But they were crying. I observed them carefully. I tried to figure out what was happening. 


Some of them seemed like they were lost in thoughts. I wished I could read their thoughts. They did not seem lost though. Their eyes were clear. They had a certain Zen which was unbelievable. Again, I couldn't understand how it worked. I took it all in. At least I tried to. 


I came back home. I stood in front of the mirror. I remembered all those faces. I tried to do whatever they did. I smiled. Smiled so wide. I thought this is how they must have felt.


I cried. Silently. I tried to remember all the awful things that had happened to me. I cried. I cried till I choked. And then I tried smiling, smiling between tears. I thought this is how they must have felt.


I freshened up. Tried to get lost in thoughts. I started thinking and wondering about stuff like, why is darkness black. Why should earth be habitable. And so many other questions that I thought were unanswered. I thought this is how they must have felt.


I couldn't decide. I couldn't fix on a single emotion. I was curious to find out. Then I thought, someday I'll realize what success feels like.




This was something I wanted to write about. Don't leave condolences and consolations as comments. Thanks in advance.

Dear ladies using MTC, why?

Dear ladies of Madras,

"Since everyone is quoting all kinds of nonsense and saying that I said all that, let me make my mark on this blog post also." - Mahatma Gandhi.

This is not just a blog post. This is the culmination of the outrage I have accumulated over the years and since this place is where all the open letters end up, mine shall also. 50 percent of the ladies population can perhaps relate to this post, the rest can simply read and laugh. The former, do not take it seriously and send lawyer notice and all to me. Trust me, na avlo worth piece ellam illa. (I am not worth the effort)


First of all, second of all and third of all, one big salute to you. I mean really, with so much amazingly awesomesauce talent you occupy the gents side of the MTC buses and sit like you belong there. If only a guy sits on the ladies side, one lady from each seat will start yelling "Yen pa,  ladies nikkaraanga la!"(Ladies are standing no?)  I mean wow. You want equality and reservation, is it? If I come and ask you to get up saying this is 'gents' seat, that's all. You will start one anti-me group, recruit members and collect donation before the next stop comes.


I am ok with standing also. But what I don't understand is that you ladies are standing alternatively along both the columns like one Bharathiraja dance sequence and making it difficult for men to walk inside the bus. The conductor is also one paavam fellow. Apart from all this you will give one look. I am seriously asking, you think we wake up at 6 o'clock, brush teeth with close up, drink bru coffee, wear pant sattai, run behind the bus and all to come stare at you or rub against you? 


Whilst the process of engaging my superior colliculus on serious thoughts like "Will the canteen have Masala Dosai during lunch or not?" and other first world problems, we accidentally look at you. Or may be you look pretty and we look at you. That's all. Finish. You will picture a scene where Mahmood Ghazni is looting and pillaging Somnath temple where we men are Ghazni and you are, well do the math.  If I give my bag also you won't carry. You will give one expression that will seem like I asked you to carry my child. 


Nobody wants to travel in bus ok? If you stand near the door and ask evreryone to go inside followed by the most conscience less dialogue ever "Ulla avloo edam iruke pa!" (There is so much space inside no?) when all the men inside including the conductor are standing like dogs before transformers, what will we do? 


One special service for students were started. That also you started occupying. Now they call it the students/ladies bus service. Why is there no gents service? This and all if I ask I will come off as one male chauvinistic anti feminist posh scene putting boy who can't adjust with reality.
Most of the boys turned like this only after getting off 21G or 21L.


Slighta understand the situation. Cut down the drama, a little bit. Because, a journey of a thousand miles begins with an MTC season ticket.


Yours sincerely,
Yet another footboard commuter.

Every dog has it's day

"Happy Friendship Day"

Now that 'friendship day' hath cometh, my mobile inbox and facebook wall are being flooded with deeply thought messages like this. I am teary eyed as I read through every single message just like the million other people on whose wall you 'ctrl+v'-ed it. So what is all this hoopla about one particular day to spread fraandsheep? I firmly believe all these 'days' were started by greeting card companies to improve marketing. Except for one particular day which was the brainchild of Cheran in Autograph. It's 'Happy vayasukku vandha day' of course.

So as I sit here overwhelmed by the number of friendship day texts I receive and disgusted by the ultimate pichakarathanam of my mobile service provider I try to place myself in the shoes of those creative geniuses who come up with such 'days'.

There is Mother's day. There is Father's day. And then there is - Wait for it- Parents' day. I am nothing short of spell bound to know of all this. Might work in America but nevertheless its nothing but ultimate douchebag-ism.

You think Google is the source of all the info that is available today, right? You might want to rethink.  Facebook status updates have replaced Google's databases. Did you know that 'International Brother's week' and 'International Sister's week' both fall on the same week? Also thrice in the same month every other month? Beat that. Added incentive is that if you are the first person to put up such a status everyone on your friend-list will wish your brother/sister instead of 

their own brother/sister. Yes there are so many smart phones but very few smart people to note that ctr+v will not change their friend's brother's name into their own brother's.

There is 'international cute puppies day'. Where people upload pictures of KITTEN! Yes, KITTEN!

There's 'World AIDS day'. I don't want to know what people do on that day and I'm pretty sure you wouldn't want to either.

There's 'International Mommies day' which I don't know how is entirely different from International Mother's day. You should be careful to wish your mommy and not your Mother, not even accidentally.

Oh wait, these days are not just days but 'events' on Facebook. Some lonely teenager who couldn't grab a beer or a girl to get laid on a Friday evening decides to spam everyone on Facebook by creating 'events' like FDFS for Korean movies which don't even release in the same continent as his.

Amidst all this there are cool days like 'Pi day' which makes me relieved that some sanity exists in today's world.

All said and done, happy friendship day all. I won't text or wall post you people for I am scared that this post will be reduced to a single twitter hash tag: #meta.

So long.

Pay attention, its free!

Life, is a social experiment.

For plenty of people social networking is life, while in actuality life is a web of social networks. Its said that joy doubles and sorrow halves when shared. People have stopped realsing the value of that, thanks to the fast growing world where people can't even spend time to smile at the next guy. People today feel lonely in a crowd, lost amidst best of friends. Why? Lack of attention. It so happens that in a group of friends you might have favorites. As the group gets bigger the attention naturally gets divided and sadly people tend to forget one or two. Yes, in a group of best of friends. Being left out is not their choice or leaving out them is not their option. Yet it happens and there comes a divide between people which may rise due to inexplicable reasons. Isolation is something that no man has mastered to deal with. Life, both social and the social networking phase of it, is all about notifications. Learn to appreciate the existence of the fellow being. Pay attention, it costs you nothing :)

Life, is a social experiment.

A life is a life is a life

Life's a bitch,
That last minute hitch.
Throws you lemons,
Shows you demons.


Life's double the time I spend on facebook,
Its the last page of my notebook.


Life's a satire sung to sad tunes,
Life's a parody of pathos.


Its the dawn that never broke,
Full of hearts which were silent and never spoke.


Sometimes it sucks to the core,
Otherwise its simply a bore.


Life's poetry that doesn't rhyme,
Often there's not much time.


Life's you,
Life's me,
It gets better when we say we.


Its the smell of a new born,
Sweet like the cream on corn.


Life is when you feel every letter,
Sometimes it just can't get any better.


Life is hot coffee in the morning,
Atleast once a day it gets annoying.


Life's a goodnight's sleep,
Same law for the poor and the rich.
And all in all life's a bitch.