The old man and the dog

The lack of structure in life is of late being more than made up by domestic problems and management time spent in managing the cook. The other night, the pump used to pull the water conked off and I had to fetch a plumber to solve the problem of a trapped air vent stopping the water from being sucked to the overhead tank. Then after some time the tank started overflowing and I switched off the motor, only to realize that there was no water in the kitchen taps.

The next day the house owner and the plumber come together to try finding the cause of the problem, the plumber whacked his head for 15 minutes, later the plumber went to the terrace and told me the valve was turned off, so no water in the kitchen. I was expecting some major mishap here, but sadly it was a minor reason. Still, I was surprised as I hadn’t gone to the terrace much less turn off the valve. Later, when connecting the dots, I realized, hearing the sound of overflowing water from the water tank, some over enthusiastic, environment conscious monkey came over to my terrace and by mistake turned off the kitchen valve rather than the tank valve.

After solving this triple integration problem, the plumber said, 40 rupees, and then the house owner said, 40 rupees. I also said, yeah 40 rupees, but it wasn’t clear who would shell out, I or the landlord, then the landlord politely asked, please pay and I had to. Earlier the day, the landlord had come to check how well I am handling all the problems which his house was throwing at me. As I was making some coffee, I offered him to stay and have coffee, he replied he has to go to bank and he will have it after coming back from there. My landlord is a 65 year old retired gentleman, as he prefers to describe himself. He likes taking his dog out for walks in the evening the most, I guess.

But when he made me shell out 40 bucks, due to me only, I did not offer him coffee or tea. Though he asked for some water, to which I obliged. On reflection I realize that his call to water was an indirect reference for me to ask for tea/coffee, a mandatory courtesy in our country.   

There is this Marathi play, 3 hours long, I had seen on my comp a few days back, in which there is an old couple, the wife has gone blind and they are raising their grandson, whose parents have separated and as they are chasing their career dreams in US, they do not have time to bring up the kid. A young couple, some family friends, who is organizing a play within the play, come to their house to distribute tickets which the old man happily buys, for both himself and his wife. After some time the old man informs the young couple that he will not be able to come as anyways his wife cannot see. After the young couple leaves, the old man says to them, keep coming to my house, it feels nice. Bar wadto, roughly translated, aate raha karo, accha lagta hai.

The next time, my landlord comes to see how well I am handling life’s troubles; I will surely ask him for some tea or coffee. 

Dylan, I am ready to take over

How many roads must a man walk down

Before you call him a man?

How many movies will I watch,

Before I watch the first CD ,first

And the second CD, second.

I saw DEV D the other day, after the movie, I kind of felt that it was pretty short and I did not understand many things, I did not take this thought seriously during the course of the movie as I was expecting not to understand the movie anyway. And then I pressed the eject button, and…, it was CD 2, then I found the CD 1 and saw the first part.

It actually sharpens one’s analytical reasoning skill this way though. 

Chennai A critique

You will perspire. No end.

Otherwise, I kinda liked the roads and the buses. But there was one problem, like any south Indian cities, a few seats are reserved for woman, but which ones, I kept struggling to find out.First I got into a bus and sat on the left side, somebody asked me to get up, as the entire left side was reserved for woman. Then in another bus, I sat on the right side in front, in company of an elderly gentleman and the conductor asked me to get up and sit somewhere at the back of the bus. It was quiet irritating, the non standardization of woman empowerment across buses in Chennai. Kandhe se kandha mila kar chalna hai.

One of my major problems was how to I pronounce Thiruvanmiyur, the place where my friend was put up. The people in Bangalore and Chennai, though not Hyderabad, are a trifle rude when one asks them for directions or generally which bus goes where. When I attempt to pronounce thiruvanmiyur, I get struck at thiru , after thiru I start mumbling and the people who are obligated to answer my call for directions have long stopped listening to me and snubbed me. So, I took the next best thing, I asked my friend to send me an SMS of that name. But ,by the time I flash out the cell and struggle to the inbox section, alas I have been snubbed again.

Somehow I reached his place and spent half an hour practicing the pronunciation. Then it occurred to me, my problem was my confidence, I did not believe in my abilities to say it. I then took the bull by its horn. Another mistake was that I was stopping after thiru, the trick in pronouncing it is to go in one breathe thiruvan , get a breather and then call out for your friend mayur. Ok Miyur, happy ?

This just goes on to prove that when puts one’s mind, soul and time in achieving the grandest of frivolous  goals, one cannot but give up until the cliff is conquered and yes, patience and a self critical look at how one does things, helps.

I went to anna nagar in a bus from Thiruvan-miyur and sat on the window seat on the left side, soon a lady shooed me away to the left side, and I meekly obliged. Then a lady sat beside me for some time who was heading for a Loyola college. 20 minutes into the journey, I asked her, so how long before I reach Anna Nagar, my friend had said that I would take barely half an hour. She smiled and said, 10 minutes. Then I tried to show the map of where I was to reach, and without looking at the map, she smiled again and said, no idea where the place is. After 20 minutes, Loyala College came and she happily told me another 10 minutes from here. And I said, yeah, sure, 10 minutes. I just wanted to ask her, was she even new to Chennai, but then I thought she might get offended so I just stopped there. It took me a cool one hour and my friend got the blasting due to him, later on.

Finally, is Chennai as bad as everybody whose mother tongue is not tamil, makes out? No, not for me. I miss the easy going demeanor of people from Hyderabad, but a beach more than makes up for all the shortcomings. Any day, one can pick up a book towards the twilight and sit on the beach and just read a book. Just remembered Anita Desai and games at twilight the other day, was feeling like the protagonist who sits for a couple of hours, in hide-n-seek. I don’t recall why that came to my mind though.

One of the most beautiful road was the one, the bus took from Paris to Thiruvan-miyur , Sea on the left side for more than 5 KMs. Oh yeah, there is also a Paris in Chennai, but the good thing about Chennai, is that the number boards in buses are inscribed in English also, unlike Bangalore.

I soon realized that Paris was actually Parrys. On the Volvo I took to come back to Bangalore, they played 2 telgu comedies. I guess it is a common practice for buses travelling between TN and Karnataka, that they will play movies in a neutral pitch, sorry language. Are they still fighting over Kaveri, I don’t know. Yeah, the movies were decent enough.

 

 

Sinquerim beach ,Goa

2^nd week of Jan, 2007.

I have picked up a job with a chance of 14.28 % that it will be a good enough for me. RM had done bookings a while earlier as he was placed in laterals, a month earlier than the others. He has booked rooms near Candolim beach, with one eric vaz.

Today we went to Sinquerim. Since I am a swimming pool swimmer, I am on life guard. The coincidence of me putting a life guard and I managing to get into waters has just occurred. I am floating on water, my eyes closed. The sunlight keeps hitting me while my eyes keep going in and out because of the waves.

I am the crest on a wave.

I am the realization of a dream.

I am the air over a field in my village

I am the fire in my belly

I am the mind, which wanders on its own

I am the heart, which is above love

I am the twig, in search for a tree

I am the bird, out of its flock

I am the book which is read backwards

I am the one who is not born to be understood

I am love which will never stay

I am the nettle in the rose

There is a song on these lines, which actually has got nothing to do with the above, but the style is same. The pity is I can’t exactly recall my two year old thoughts, they were far too many, what do I call it, Citi moment of success…errr..Let’s call it Citi moment of thought.

waqt ne kar daala banta dhaar,eib ke hovega re agge yaar, that’s the song playing on radio now.

Conversations with (Cook) God

God: So did you put my number on the internet

Me: No

G: why?

Me: coz you did not tell me which website to put on

G: What is a website?

Me: Go to hell, I don’t know.

G: Why don’t you put my number on the internet, so that I can get more business?

Me: Ok, now for god’s sake, cook some food for me.

G: Do it by today, ok.

Me: why not.

So I had to go to sulekha and put his ad, the copy reads something like this

My cook wanted to put this on the net so here it is. He goes by the handle…R cook, Cooks good food, lives in Bangalore’s outskirts, but is willing to travel on business.

This happened today morning and when I tried calling him to tell him what vegetable should he buy for tomorrow, his phone was switched off, for more than a couple of hours.

He is going to get another earful tomorrow, for putting an ad on net in morning and switching off his phone in evening. 

Ina completely unrelated development, I went to BSNL's office and they said, one month after I had applied to change the address, that it is not feasible as they will need to lay a cable, just for me. I almost freaked out, ran to airtel's office and the dude started educating me about all the tariff plans, I said, drop that just tell, is it feasible for you to give me a broadband connection. , Which area...ohh-ho seems difficult, we will try our best. Went back to BSNL office, expecting that AE might have come by now. The JTO lady who threw me out last week was on a leave. I asked the AE, so what now. He said, there is enough bandwidth in that area, I will send my man tomorrow and mostly you will get a connection. 

It seems, though I might be wrong, that somebody here was expecting me to grease their palms, hence they faked an unfeasible cable reason. The truth is not yet out; it depends on the dude who should come tomorrow to check feasibility, god willing. Again, I have been told before that I am a pessimist and as of today I am short on cash, so the greasing will need to be thrown out of window. 

But, life has humbled me many times before, when I have had to chew my words, reverse my actions and generally own up irresponsibility. 

Time will tell what I will need to do.