Trials and Tribulations by Fire

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

Hia all, I got the below mail as a forward. Sharing with all of you. Do take necessary actions! - NK I'm sure many of you might have watched the recent taping of the Oprah Winfrey show in Chicago where her guest was Tommy Hilfiger. On the show, she asked him if the statements about race he was accused of saying were true. Statements like"..."If I'd known African-Americans, Hispanics, Jewish and Asians would buy my clothes, I WOULD NOT have made them so nice. I Wish these people would *NOT* buy my clothes, as they are made for upper class white people." His answer to Oprah was a simple "YES". Where after she immediately asked him to leave her show. Suggestion? Don't buy your next shirt or perfume from Tommy Hilfiger. Let's give him what he asked for. Let's not buy his clothes, let's put Him in a financial state where he himself will not be able to afford the ridiculous prices he puts on his clothes. If we are small, then send it to the w

Fida, a movie that really touched me. I simply adore the songs. "Maine jisko chaha mil gaya.." An amazing rendition...The beats are too good. Listening to it. Now. Today there was a kid in the office. Kids are totally out of the league of right wrong or formality etc. They are simply..kids..They never bother to be nice or try to appear happy when they are a bit upset or vice versa... The child got a chocolate from an "aunty," but she was not ready to share the chocolate with another aunty. She simply shook her pretty head and evoked roaring laughter from all of us! So much for aksing for a choc....haaahaa... Personally, never been comfortable around kids. Dunno why. Maybe it has to do something with a childhood cause. Or it is a fear of rejection! Who knows!

The breed more popularly called the "auto-karans" are some force to reckon with. Getting an auto in Chennai is a feat needing mastery. Total mastery. You have to be standing on the right side of the road to be able to reach your destination. Say, if you want to go from Adyar to Nandanam, you cannot commit blasphemy and stand on the wrong side of the road. You will be charged with a smirk and a scowl, and you will have to part with an extra 10 rupees. In all probability, the distance would not even demand such a huge fare of Rs. 40. If lady luck is smiling at you, you might even get an autowallah who would drop you at your place for a meagre Rs. 30! Guess, I need to appease all the gods so that when I step out of my cozy coccoon, I get an auto and the auto-karan who does not have the sole goal in his life of reducing my bank balance. My dad, is a real smart guy. He never succumbs to the temptation of hopping into the awkward looking vehicle, the auto. He prefers the much bigge

Hi blog, Read a blog of a guy called Nocturne. Here is the URL. http://nocturne.journalspace.com/ He has some real strong views on love and relations. Guess must be a devdas or something. Anyway, I have tried hard to be in the Present and not think anything even remotely connected to my past. Why is it so difficult for us to pull away from something that is not tangible at all. It is something like God, you know, everyone knows He is present, but no one believes until one has felt the presence. Same way, unless you have had a heartbreak, you never know, what feeling remorse or hatred is. Hatred - an emotion, which signifies that the person who is being hated has hurt you real bad and you are kicking yourself for allowing them to do it. What else can be said. Am writing so much nowadays. My god! I must be seriously worried or sad. Guess both. I have felt all these emotions before. It is like de ja vu. It keeps happening again and again. To me. I wonder, should I just stop and let everyt

Posting some stories written by me: I Was Sold Madhumita was born in Andhra Pradesh, India, to poor scavenger parents. Her parents, Mohan Babu and Lakshmi had more mouths to feed. They had seven children. They thought contraception was a sin. Madhumita was the eighth and an extra mouth to feed, and constantly demanded milk, when she was hungry. All her mother could manage were the leftovers from the Ramprasad Hotel’s garbage bin. ******************** Anita and Karan Reddy were looking for a baby girl to give a home to, when they chanced upon the photo of a cute but frail baby in the Sai Orphanage’s office catalog. They requested to see the baby. ‘She is only one month old,’ said the Matron. Anita could already feel a tug at her heart. It was as if the baby was calling out to her and was pleading her to take her home. Anita and Karan fell in love with the almond-shaped eyes and long limbs of the infant. She promised to be