Those were the best days of my life...

What Roy mentioned in the groups mail is absolutely true…10years have gone by after our class 10 exams!!..cant believe…everytime I remember those good old days, of fun and laughter, of friendship and petty fights, of sharing and sacrificing, I can picture myself in that check pattern skirt , white shirt and overcoat, ready for one more round of school life..Though there were comments from some others making fun of Anjin for expressing his desire to go back to school, yes, I feel each one of us want to bask in that old glory..those sunny days of carefree life..when promotion, appraisal, global economy never worried us..true, we all have grown up, some became wives, husbands, mothers, fathers…but still all hold a secret desire to relive those mesmerizing hours of full freedom…

All my schooling was in just 1 school…SV gracing the Bethany hills…I have vivid memories, starting from LKG till the 12^th std..14years in my alma mater…a second home.. where my character got sculptured..

Kinter Garden was fun , I think , though I don’t remember much incidents ..except for a few good friends, with whom I am still in touch..and of course teachers like Prema teacher, Laila teacher, Reena teacher, Anne Sister, lily sister and so on..I have a special place for Paula teacher in my heart..no idea where she is now..remember her once giving me a choc though I didn’t score full marks in English dictation..I remember that I misspelled fisherwoman…how easy it sounds to spell that word now..thank you all my dear teachers..

Primary school was more exciting....i became more or less like a class bully, was too notorious for making all other girls cry…remember Bindu was the most sensitive and then resmi..years after when resmi left SV and joined another school, I happened to meet her ..the first Q she asked was do you still bully other students..I could laugh at it then though felt a lil embarrassed..it was during that time I enjoyed participating in youth festivals. We had the Mar theoplilus BEd college working in our school building then.We loved sneaking into their science labs – as it had specimens of so many organisms in brine solution, there was even a foetus I believe…and the much popular skeleton..Once Sasi teacher caught a few of us red handed for our misadventure. Though we had to go through her punishment, there was that secret excitement of daring to do something which half the class feared to do. :D

It was during this phase that I took part actively in youth festivals..getting prizes never mattered..whether it was singing, dancing, recitation, essay writing, memory test or anything, I used to try hands..never won in any items except for memory tests.. ;)..Specially remembering Jolly teacher for giving me a pearl chain for scoring high in 3^rd std…as I look back, I realize that it is no big deal, but these tiny incidents made life a lot memorable…

Activities diminished once I reached my upper primary classes…somehow withdrew from everything and studies became the focal point..too much competition in class :D...but I did have my share of fun, in the form of some damn good friends till high school..we were a super duper gang – rogi, deepa, reji, deepthi, dhanya, jeny, anuradha, galeena,saritha n all...mischieveous lot ..thanks buddies, for making my days lovely.

Cant forget the classes 6 &7 , then 9 & 10- my fav years- under two remarkably motivating teachers-Alex Sir and Mariyamma Joseph teacher. those classes are special, in many many ways..who can forget the rigourous class day specials in the assemblies, the wonderful rehearsal times, especially the ones in the physics and biology labs..

I don’t hav a count of the no of history test papers we wrote to byheart the texts, pleas to each other to give atleast the passing marks while evaluation, to avoid retests by history teacher., the survery map/world/India map sessions in geography classes, the funny lab episodes in physics and chemistry..Rogi was too good at mixing different chemicals and getting damn bright colours and her jokes about her next dress to be made in those colours..it was quite difficult to escape mathai teacher’s stern looks if you get less marks in maths, special mention about PP’s biology classes when she gets a sudden adrenalin rush to teach for 10 more mins after the bell rings, her hilarious lab sessions where we struggled to find even a single cell when she could identify multiple cells through the microscope.., exposure to the literature world through Nimmy teacher and Mable teacher….the list of the teachers is long…I will always be indebted to them for what I am today…all of them had their share in making me what I am today..A big thank you my dear teachers..

The school day celebrations, the annual sports meets, youth festivals, the SUPW and prefect years when every opportunity was used to terrify juniors.. ;)..who can forget the basketball tournaments…where every SVian prayed and cried for a moment when our team could lift that coveted trophy..

reji’s Malayalam poems together with dhanya’s chalus in her typical thrissur slang…anu’s and saritha’s endless doubts….galeena’s style statements, anuradha’s harmless lies, deepthi’s and rogi’s lunch boxes for the fish fries , pickles..dhanya’s for the moru curry, deepas for pickles…I don’t know…those tastes still linger on my taste buds…together with those sweet memories..i realize my memories are not organized..nor I want to jot them dwn in an ordered manner..one way it is better to be like this..a sudden rush..

I know I have not mentioned everything which made my 14years in SV truly memorable..I have left out certain things…some intentionally, some the other way…let the ones who chance upon this, work their memory and relive those…then my goal is attained.

Gotenburg,Sweden..2

Radisson has free buffet breakfast-as expected, awesome breakfast.We, along with Dwain, headed to Customer’s site at 8 in the morning.In 15mins, we reached the place, and waited in the reception. Magnus, our field application engineer from IBM, was waiting in the lobby. The proj manager David, came to welcome us and he got us the ID badges. Their security system was really funny. Most of our badges didn’t work and we ended up tail gating most of the time.And once we also got stuck when their reception gets closed after 5 in the evening.
After the introduction round, the presentations began.Since we had 2 big shots, Dwain and Magnus, to take care of everything, slowly I found myself and rest of the India team relaxing. The customer team was very friendly, be it David, main proj designer cum engr LG.They made us very comfortable and we had really good discussions.

Evening, we met at Ritz for the dinner with the customer.It started around 6pm and went till 8.30. It was really nice, got to meet the customer mngr, Martin. The food was more or less ok..I realized that it is very diffcult for a vegetarian from India to survive in Sweden. Being a country surrounded by sea, fish is a staple food there, and the people love meat like anything else. Ritz didn’t have any veg starter and they conjured something in front of us :D.After dinner, Dwain went back to the hotel while we four explored the city a bit more.I got some curios to take back home.

Next day, first talk was mine.It went without much confusions.Everything got over very early . The customer site was awesome, in an island, surrounded by sea, always with views of ships and boats.Very cool weather. When we were standing in one of balconies, we were shivering like anything and wind was very blowy. Afternoon, we left the customer,thus winding up the meetings officially, though we 4 had lot other plans in mind.
After freshening up in hotel, we 4 set out to see the archipelago – scattered , inhabited islands in the sea surrounding Gotenburg. We took tickets for the boatride…It was a good ride indeed..We got down at one of the islands, which was having a population of around 800.. a very beautiful place where we caught the first glimpse of country life in Sweden…it was more or less like, we were seeing the country side which we have read in books of Enid Blyton.We were almost exhausted and finally found a small café in the island – had some refreshment and headed back to the dock just in time for our boat.

Gotenburg, Sweden..1

It was more or less like my first trip to Europe, grateful that my customer was in Sweden and they insisted on our proj team visiting their site. We four, prat, sivaram, amit n myself started from Bangalore on aug12 early morning, reaching Gotenburg,Sweden on aug12 afternoon, via Frankfurt. The journey was good, enjoyed, unlike my US travel, mainly because I was not alone. After reaching Gotenburg , we hired a cab to the hotel, Radisson SAS, which was going to be my home for 3 nights.
After getting freshened up, we met Dwain , the US proj mngr, in the reception and he volunteered to show us around the place. He knew the way since he landed 1 day before us and already completed a part of his major sightseeing.
It was slightly drizzling then.We all took umbrellas from the hotel and startd walking.We started clicking pics as soon as we were on the road and were struggling to keep up with Dwain.We had a short brk at a bar, where the rest had beer.After a little more sightseeing and trying to remember the roads, we stopped at Hard Rock Café to have our dinner.
I ordered Mac n cheese , thinking it would be completely veg, and it turned out to be MC with chicken. Amit volunteered to eat all the chkn pieces. Honestly, I hated it.It was not tasty, and I ended up paying almost 160 Swedish Krone for it ( almost 1100Rs). After that, we started back to the hotel, and on the way, we saw a street performer from Australia. An awesome performer he was !!...He put a pretty long sword into his mouth, fascinating to see the length of the sword disappearing into his insides, and took a bow before the crowd.He said, he has practiced yoga and meditation and can actually control the way that the sword takes, once inside his mouth. He also did blindfolded cycling, mount on a very tall monocycle, while juggling 2 knives and a flaming torch. That was one of the best performances I have ever witnessed in my life.We got to see more street performers in the same city, but non of them could excel what he did.

We went inside some malls, but most of them get closed around 6pm itself.By 7pm, even restaurants get closed and it is more or less party time for everyone on the street.Maybe, because it was summer. Here everybody has a night life.We saw many fairs, many bands performing and dance parties. People enjoying life as if there is no tomorrow for some. 

I tried connecting to the internet after reaching the room.Found that The phone rates are too high, so mailed my brother, chatted with a few friends then slept off, with thoughts of how the customer meeting as going to be the next day.

വിനായക.. :)

വിനായക ..ഒരു സ്വപ്നസാക്ഷാത്കാരം..
ആരാണ്‌ സ്വന്തമായി ഒരു കൂട്‌ കൂട്ടാന്‍ ആഗ്രഹിക്കാത്തത്‌..അങ്ങനെ ഞാനും ഉണ്ടാക്കി ഒരു കുഞ്ഞു വീട്‌..കുറേയേറെ ബുദ്‌ധിമുട്ടുകള്‍ ഉണ്ടായെങ്കിലും സെപ്തംബര്‍ 11, ചിങ്ങത്തിലെ ഉത്രാടത്തിന്‌, നിലവിളക്കും കൊണ്ട്‌ വലതു കാല്‍ വച്ച്‌ വിനായകയിലേക്ക്‌ കയറിയപ്പോള്‍ മനസ്സ്‌ നിറഞ്ഞു..ഒപ്പം എന്റെ കണ്ണുകളും.

സ്നേഹം

സ്നേഹം ശിക്ഷ പോലെയാണ്‌. പ്രഹരമേറ്റ്‌ പുളയുമ്പോഴും വീണ്ടും അനുഭവിക്കാന്‍ തോന്നും.
സ്നേഹം വിഷം പോലെയാണ്‌. എത്ര കയ്ച്ചാലും തിരുമധുരം പോലെ വീണ്ടും കഴിക്കാന്‍ തോന്നും.
സ്നേഹം ആര്‍ത്തലച്ചു വരുന്ന മഴ പോലെയാണ്‌. അതില്‍ നനഞ്ഞു നനഞ്ഞു അലിഞ്ഞില്ലാതാകാന്‍ കൊതിക്കും.
സ്നേഹം ഭ്രാന്ത്‌ പോലെയാണ്‌. ഞാന്‍ ഒരു ഭ്രാന്തിയും.

മുഴുവട്ടാക്കല്ലേ ഈശ്വരാ.. :)

അച്ചുവിന്റെ ചേച്ചി

അച്ചുവിന്റെ ചേച്ചിയുടെ കല്യാണം കഴിഞ്ഞു. പത്തിലെ പരീക്ഷ കഴിഞ്ഞ്‌ രണ്ടാമത്തെ ആഴ്ച ആയിരുന്നു കെട്ട്‌.ഒരു കൂലിപ്പണിക്കാരനത്രെ പയ്യന്‍.അങ്ങനെ പതിനഞ്ചാം വയസ്സില്‍ അവളും ഒരു അമ്മ ആകാന്‍ പോകുന്നു. ഒരു വിധത്തില്‍ പറഞ്ഞാല്‍ അവളുടെ അമ്മയുടെ വഴിയെക്കാളും ഭേദം.
ജീവിതം മുന്നോട്ട്‌ കുറേ ഏറെയുണ്ട്‌.അതവള്‍ക്ക്‌ നന്മകള്‍ മാത്രം നല്‍കട്ടെ...

Most Valuable Possessions !!

A few days back, I happened to come across my cousin's orkut profile. She has put an album with the pics of the bday and other greeting cards she had received from her family and friends over the past years. And the album was titled "my most valuable possessions".I felt happy when i saw that - how truely she has said that. I too have not lost a single card given to me by the loved ones - it ranges from the stamp size new year card that I received from her when she was hardly 5yrs old to the a big card with many folds that I received from my dearest school friend , from the card that i received for the first time from Sibi in 4th std to the latest bday card from D&A.Yes, for me also, they are valuable.
So are the starred chat logs saved in the gmail. I love reading some of them again and again -reminds me the evolution of the emotions behind the words spoken -the fights with best friends, sweet and open talks with them, revelations about others' crushes, serious love affairs, gossips about the classmates, dilemma regarding work and work pressure-If i am down and I read some of them, it just tells me how much I am loved and that makes my day.I might sound stupid to read about the said words repeatedly -but i dont care if you call me crazy.It means a lot to me.
When my grandfather passed away, we had a 'competition' in our family regarding who is going to get what - no , of course, not the property -but he had some valuable possessions which we all coveted- his knife -the "penakathi", his fountain pen, the bottle of rum in his cupboard,the pumice stone he always used and also a sword which we could never find, though we got its cover.I wanted that pen badly- it reminded me of the very systematic and practical appoppan that I ever had, his love and affection-he always treated me like his daughter than a grandchild -he was the one who taught me to be independent and he is one of the big reasons why I am what I am now.I have his fountain pen and its last bottle of ink, safely locked in my cupboard back home.

American Dreams - 7

I became friends with Nanju through Tomoko. She is another lady who was really kind towards me after Alison and Carol. One day when I told her that I had to buy chocs and so was leaving early to walmart, she took me to costco , where you can buy things in bulk, but need to be a registeresd member there and helped me in shopping using her account. And in return I was supposed to get her just a hotdog :) . That lady was awesome and she s one reason why I am sitting here and writing this.During the last week of my stay, I was chosen as the “Guest of the week” at Hawthorns – I got a big gift pack from them – which had a nice letter and lot of goodies –cheese, sausage, cookies, popcorn, chocs, maple syrup,honey mustard spread and a scented candle. Hmm..I was touched. BTV was making me sad that I was leaving.

It was my last day in office. I was given a farewell lunch. I bid goodbye to the people in the office, and when I went to say bye to Nanju, she thrusted a pizaa into my hands and insisted that I should have it on my journey back to hotel. I felt my heart beating faster when I told goodbye to the cab driver. No more morning and evening calls to 'quick cab'..hmmm.

Alison insisted on having my last dinner in btv from her place. It was a very nice and elegant dinner , after which we went to Barnes and Nobles and spent some time there. They dropped me for the one last time at Hawthorns :(- bid goodbye and I didn’t have enough words to express how grateful I was and touched by their sweetness – They treated me like their relative and took care of me a lot. The word “thank you”, sometimes, never convey the meaning that we badly want it to.

My return journey was not that great.After settling the bills and other related stuff, I got ready to leave to airport , on sept 18. Hawthorns had complimentary airport drop. I was supposed to catch a flight from btv to JFK, from there to CDG, Paris, then to Bangalore. BTV flight was late by an hr, flight had some problems which they found out while we were in air, they said it s actually air traffic and the flight was taken down to Albania airport. We spend some 2 hours there and I was going to miss my flight from JFk by 1 hr. As expected, I missed the flight and delta was nt goin to give me a tkt to Paris in another flight. And I didn’t have any numbers of the IBM amex which organizes our travels.Thankfully, God was there with me in the form of Nanju, who urgently had a business trip to Korea and she appeared in front of me in the JFK airport. She was there with me throughout the arguments I had with delta. Finally I got the tkt for the next day, and delta provided me the stay in NY. I always wonder if she had not been there, I would have had the courage to argue with them. The next day, everything went fine and I reached Bangalore on 21^st morning. My heart was leaping with joy when the plane touched Bangalore- so happy to be back home. :)

For 2 months, it was more or less, a very luxurious life…but I always felt like I was in a golden cage…I realized that I would rather prefer to be in my own place, where I would feel absolutely home. :) But the trip brought about a lot of changes in me.. I guess I became lot more stronger in facing my life. I started accepting it as a challenge and I am happy today, to a greater sense than what I used to feel before. Life indeed is interesting.

Thanks once again to all the folks who made my trip truly memorable. :)