Trials and Tribulations by Fire

This is a true incident narrated by my friend when she went on a Blind Date! Read on.... Saw the movie with err a friend. A friend who was close, but not so close, with me! Why I went, I dunno, but this is a question even my best friend, the lady with the eliminator is trying to figure out. The movie had already started when we went in. The animals in question were having a meet in their icy homeland and planning to migrate towards land. I had gone to Rendezvous to see the movie but my companion err had other not-so-icy ideas for the duration of the movie. Probably because of the fact that English was still a phoren language for people be-longing to a certain community . As my wise big friend told me (predicted) that my companion would be far far away from the dialogues, I had scoffed at her. But after I laughed at a joke and my friend was looking slightly lost, i decided that my big friend was, after all correct. She usually is. I am slightly impulsive and tend to do whatever I want ...

Coffee - its heady aroma makes you come alive, truly. What all could happen when a group of 20 somethings go on a coffee trip around Chennai, looking for a place called Barista. A lot in fact. For instance, an estranged couple could feel one's eyes boring into the other, or the presence of pretty young things in teen weeny tops could make the female of the couple suddenly feel conscious of her bulge and her expanding waistline. But love has a way of blinding a man and he cannot see any woman except his loved one. So was the case with the couple who itched to hold hands and lock eyes but rarely looked at each other and tried to act as if they were just part of the group, who were out on a trip to the cafe at Khader Nawaz Khan Road, Chennai - Mocha`. Three boys and four girls from different age groups made their way to the cafe near Barista. The couple of our story had been seeing each other for quite some time, but meeting in a group and acting as if they knew each other only as fri...

I wonder why people get so worked up about their first dates, first loves, first cars, first wives etc (!) As they say there is always a first time. Well, almost, for everything. But these firsts always leave an indelible mark on your psyches. My First Date: I don't remember my first first date, but yeah I do want to share my first date (and last date ) with a guy called Sankar. He was a wannabe groom. A typical Tam-Bram, who exudes all the necessary Kalai (charm) which a TCS-Engineer is expected to possess. He is a decent-income generator, who is a wannabe USA-Flyer, and who expects a bride who would fit into all moulds available in his house. Mr. Groom asked me to meet him in Cafe Coffee Day. I went dressed in my casuals, with no idea of what I was gonna talk to him. He had already arrived, dressed in a bottle green shirt and grey trousers, with not to forget, vibhuti (sacred ash) on his forehead and chest!! I gulped down my rising apprehension and forced myself to remain calm....

Have you ever seen a Goonda? Well, a goonda is a person, mind you it can be a woman too, who is just chickened out at the thought of showing people their weakness. A goonda shows of his (for the time being I will consider the male version) biceps power and tries to scare people into believing that he is the best. Well, most of the times he is wrong! He is just plain scared to face his inner demons and thus he tries to mask his inner demons by acting demonish on the outside. I have seen many goondas in my life. There are educated and uneducated goondas. There are goondas with a suave tongue and sleek cars, but nevertheless they are goondas. They can be bankers, engineers or even a rikshaw-wallah. But inside they have this devillish itch to show off their "goonda-ism" to the public and try to gain that extra edge that life has somehow snatched from them. One goonda lives in my apartment. He is a lawyer. I like him so much that I have been nurturing a wish of pushing a bucket fu...

I am so embarassed I cant say. My friend happened to read my blog where I had vomitted my inner most thoughts that had bubbled up! They were pure hatred put into words. Well I regret my instant writing. I do. I think I will remove the link immediately. Already I have done a lot of damage today. Guess I should keep my gab closed. Many a times we say something in a rush of adrenaline and then have to swallow our words. Today was such a day. I had to swallow my words. Well. Literally. I deleted the post. It was unfit for polite consumption. Umm..People looking for the "hate post" please forgive me. I am sorry for it. : (

Indians as a nation believe in stones, statues and trees more than oxygen-breathing people. They have this trust on non-existent powers and charlatans. I dont want to fight the belief system. I do believe that people have a great love for temples and gods, be it the smallest of stone shaped like a Nag under a Banyan tree or a statue trying to consume milk! The people at Aavin can probably sign up Pillayar as a brand ambassador, maybe ;) This blog is about belief-systems, temples and Gods. One of the greatest belief-systems plaguing Chennai is Astrologers. A dime a dozen, they are everywhere. Especially in Mylapore! I have seen Astrologers, Nadi Josiars, Temple priests doubling as sooth sayers and more. Some of them are charlatans and some are true to their professions. I am not saying all of them are dishonest. But some of them are. Take the case of one Mr. Shastry. Mr. Shastry must be in his 80s, a toothless grin, a self-satisfied stance, and a rudraksha mala to complete the effect. H...

Love - An oft misquoted term, which simply means a plethora of misplaced hormones going into overdrive. A strong feeling of magnetism that tries to pull two confused beings into a bubble, which tricks them into a false sense of joy and serenity. Love, is a shortlived emotion. Let it rest! Love, that springs from the bottom of the heart when a week-old baby gurgles at you, has a longer life than the hormonal surge. I am not talking about honey-sweet emotions connected with mothers, siblings and flowers, puppies etc. I am not even talking about the babies sleeping on bathtowels, like those in a Anne Geddes card. I am talking about the bonding between two unsuspecting people, who are unable to behave rationally once they are "bitten" by the love bug. Why I chose to call it a bug, is that once you are bitten, you become devoid of rational thought and behaviour. You tend to forget things, as your hard disk is on an overdrive trying to store images of your beloved! If only you coul...

The blog title might look a bit local but the content I am going to write is certainly not. This thing has happened to many of us and happens everywhere, irrespective of the industry and fields. An omnipresent phenomenon... I choose to add humor to this and I am naming my perpetrators, Chinna Aunty and Periya Aunty For the non-Tamils, this literally means Small Aunty and Big Aunty {Chinna Papa and Periya Papa is a sordid tale of a mother-in-law and a daughter-in-law pair that wrecks havoc on poor unsuspecting audience!} My sordid saga, starts at this place called Jivraj Palace...My work place...OK I have changed the name..so that I dont end up paying moolah to any idiot who chooses to feel bad that I let their secrets out in a public blog! For God's sake, whatever happened to words like Friendship, forever friends and honesty etc... Are they simply words and should remain within the confines of a dictionary? Well well, by the looks of it, certainly seems that the world as I have se...

I just happened to chat with a friend, from Orkut. Something that started only as a timepass has become something good..something to look forward to... I am very optimistic of everything...Dunno if this is a bad habit...or something to be scared of...I never let anything go..lets c... Habit is a horrid thing...It makes you cringe whenever you do the rote things..on and on...and on...

Have you ever seen a woman driving in Chennai and still be sane? I am just being modest when I say, being sane! Chennaiites are renowned for their offbeat abusives when it comes to treating their fellow road-mates. Believe me, I have heard a lot of the un-parliamentary words in the past 3-4 years I have been a resident of this city. Chennai as a city is very orthodox and claims that it is a very safe city. Safe it is. But when nobody ventures out after 9 out of their coccoons,where the hell will they find any trouble. Unless trouble is lurking anywhere near their bedrooms or outside their homes. Only then. Coming back to the topic, women who brave the dare-devils on the Chennai roads should be given the President's award for bravery. They do need recognition for the fact that they are doing a commendable job of not getting home with a broken limb or missing eye, courtsey, one of the high flying bikers who think they are heroes aka Rajnikant! Chennai as a city is very rude on the ro...