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Rains!!

Its been raining for the last few days, a welcome relief from the scorching heat of the past few months.I can even hear the birds chirping with relief.
I am reminded of the rains in Calicut.My college was located in the hills outside Calicut city and when it rained,it poured.Gigantic droplets would pound relentlessly as if trying to flatten every building in sight,strong winds would whoosh around sending the tall coconut trees into a tizzy.Rains would be accompanied with a sudden drop in temperature making it a perfect time to take a stroll along the hostel building,drop into a friends room and indulge in banter.
Most hostelites have a craving for a warm cup of tea or coffee at these times.You could either get hold of an umbrella or share an umbrella with someone who had one and was interested in tea/coffee.There are two ways to get to the mini canteen.You could either take the well paved path or if u are in he final year hostel,take the shortcut through the shrubbery.The shortcut is a lot more entertaining with force of the drops splattering mud on your feet and an assortment of creepy crawlies littering your path, bent on looking as ugly as possible.
If you happen to be going to the city in a bus when rain strikes, then the window seaters need to be alert.The shutters are tarpaulin sheets rolled up and held in place,near the top of the bus by clasps attached to the top of each window.When each of these clasps is released the single sheet rolls out to cover its side of windows.Window seaters late in making the move to release their window clasp could find a few prods and harsh stares from his fellow passengers.Those unfortunate not to have got seats would remain standing, a pretty daunting task as the drivers believed that the bus had to match steps with the wildly swaying coconut trees dotting the landscape, sending occupants crashing into each other.
Making ones way in the rain from the hostel to the building hosting the classes was eased by presence of the long mechanical engineering lab which covered most of the length of the distance from the hostel to the main building.One could squelch past these labs for a brief respite, before opening the umbrella to take on the elements again.
Umbrellas are omnipresent during the rains.You would see a lot of them fluttering wildly in the rain with a poor soul trying her best to hold on to it or they would be crowded around at the entrance of the library or the computer center, happily preening away.
Of all the rainy days I remember one vividly and that was the day we had to get no dues certificate from the hostels ,labs libraries and departments i never knew of, in my four years of existence in college.I remember leaving from hostel at around 9 am and returning back by 5 pm with the rains pouring nonstop in the intervening hours.Needless to say, the umbrella was as good as useless that day.
Hmmm me reminiscing college days..mebbe I am getting soft in the head :)

Trip to Mumbai

Mom and me had been to Mumbai to attend a family function.It's been 10 years almost to the day since I last visited Mumbai and incidentally that time too it happened to be just Mum and me.
I had booked tickets on the Air Deccan flight to Mumbai after considerable planning to ensure that both mom and me would land around the same time.Unfortunately Air Deccan chose to play spoil sport and my flight was delayed by 5 hours. I finally landed at Mumbai at the unearthly hour of 2 am after a very cramped journey.
Spent the next hour at one of my uncle's place chatting with my mom's siblings before crashing.Next morning had to get up real early to get to church and by noon the ceremony was over.Mum and dad grew up in Mumbai and so there happen to be lot of relatives and friends, who are almost family.Times like this can be amusing for example when one pretty lady and me traced down the family tree and discovered that we were related; much to my dismay! ;)
Hectic day notwithstanding cousins and me managed to squeeze in a movie too and a cup of coffee at the Cafe Coffee Day by Carter Road which must have the highest density of awesome babes per square feet in India.I think I would have ended up with severe neck damage with all the eye candy on display @ CCD when cousins dragged me for the movie before I could become a further source of embarrassment.Movie was Cheeni Kum and revolved around a 64 year old cook Amitabh Bachan chasing a 34 year old software engineer Tabu.The movie had its 'eye rolling in incredulity' moments but qualifies to be a decent watch.
Had a smashing dinner at uncles place and chatted till late in the night.Next day woke up to a scare that my Indian Airlines flight back to Chennai could possibly be canceled due to a strike by the ground staff but thankfully the my flight was spared.Mom,me and mom's sis went exploring Mumbai visiting their childhood hangouts.We went to the Mount Mary's Church in Bandra and then a quick peep at Sharukh's and Salman's houses with a friendly and amused autowallah acting as our tour guide.Auntie chipped in with the the useful info that Salman was constructing a house near Abishek and Ash's new house :)
Next we made our way to another uncle's place in Vikhroli
for lunch.Uncle spun us around Hiranandani City and for a moment I felt i was in Europe.The place was that awesome!
Finally by evening I was back to the airport and on my flight back to Chennai.Too much stimulation in too little time!! :)

Gasp...

There's been so much happening over the past few days that it feels like a year has passed by

The Pursuit of Happiness

I seldom blog about the activities of community service that I am involved in because they are few and far between and I would hate it if a curious wanderer would ever come across my blog and mis-understand that I am deeply involved in it.
This week I volunteered to distribute clothes for the needy with some of my office mates.The clothes and other items that were collected from the donations made by the company employees were sent to a school nearby where the principal(Lakshmi) there packed it neatly into parcels with each child's name attached to it.They were meant for two orphanages in Chennai.When we assembled at the common pickup point I was surprised to see our mail room boy Mark there.Mark is an ever smiling and hardworking guy and I am sure if he were to receive the education that people like me received he would have been places.
The principal Lakshmi (who is completely immersed in social service) joined us in the visit.She must be around 50 years and as energetic as a 15 year old.We made an odd motley group with a project manager,a mail room boy,a principal and a few software engineers like me.
The orphanages that we visited were in really bad shape especially the second one where there must have been at least 35 children cramped into three small rooms.The single fan in the building was in the reception where we were met by the founder.When it was time for us to leave he and some of the children folded their arms in gratitude...I felt so small:)
At times I really regret not knowing Tamil.I would have loved to converse with these people,especially the founder and the children, but also at times I think it is a blessing in disguise.I can afford to remain ignorant of the existential crises they face in their pursuit of happiness and sleep peacefully.

PS: Names here have been changed.

Weird/Funny articles

Read three weird/funny articles in the papers recently.

1)A female shark managed to reproduce without mating.Seems it is pretty normal and there is even have a name for it Parthenogenesis.

2)A german man fell off the second storey balcony while trying to outspit his 12 year old son in a spitting contest

3)There is a hen turning into a cock in some part of Eastern India