Seasonz Chapter 2 – The Yesteryear (Part 2)

 

The link to the previous part is as follows:

Seasonz Chapter 2 – The Yesteryear (Part 1)

 

Returning to our journey on Jalandhar, the big day was arriving, and I was eagerly counting it since that would mark my first flight journey. It will be a memorable event in the book of Raghav’s history.

Hmmm…sounds little funny though when reading right! But not for him.

Fine, so our goods were packed and shipped a week early through a logistic company since it would take a week or more to deliver it, as the road trip from south to north was quite far and the road infrastructure was challenging in those days.

The flight to New Delhi from Chennai was due in 2 days’ time. We had planned to leave for Chennai the following night and stay there at my cousin’s place from where we shall proceed further with our journey. The only sad thing that I had when departing out of Coimbatore was not able to play with my pet dog, Jacky, anymore.

The next morning, we had reached Chennai and it was a pleasant sunny morning. Way in the 90’s, the city witnessed low population density comparing to this day and it was much more fun then. Reaching my cousin’s home, I had a nice time enjoying with them while the elders were into some serious discussion, which hardly bothered us kids.  

Finally, the great day had arrived.

My uncle had booked a cab to take us all to the airport. I had never been to the airport before and was totally clueless about how it looked like. The drive was a short one from their home and as we entered the Kamaraj Domestic Terminal of the Chennai Airport, I was awestruck. I never imagined that I would be so captivated about it and my excitement knew no bounds.

De-boarding from the vehicle and getting hold of our luggage, my parents bid farewell to all those who came to see-off us while I was much focused on the activities taking place around me. Not just once or twice but many a time I would have made a complete 360-degree rotation to capture every single frame of the place.

The scene was totally lively and engaging with people rushing in all directions madly, trolley’s extra loaded with luggage, flight status being announced on a continuous roll, gorgeous ladies of hour-glass structure draped in sleek uniformed attire and with the apt complexion to suit their profession, commanders and first officers in black and white attire walking majestically making onlookers turn towards them and finally the cops, looking out suspiciously at everyone.

My relatives bid adieu to us and we headed towards the check-in counters. With every step taken, my excitement curve just went upward. Once done with all the procedures, we were waiting at the departure lounge for our aircraft to arrive. Back in the 90’s the Indian aviation was not well developed as of now, and it was the era of private carriers just stepping into the market. Two private airlines, Jet Airways and Air Sahara, had started operation along with the existing center owned Indian Airlines. As we were officially moving to a different state, the travel desk had made our reservation through Indian Airlines.

I still remember the heavy ticket booklet that used to be issued back in the olden days, unlike now wherein everything is encompassed within the 5” display of your mobile phones. With the advancement of technology, things seem to be simpler these days.

The giant Boeing 737 was parked at one of the remote stands and the aircraft was shining from the first rays of the day, and I could clearly see it from the gates, as back then the air connectivity was not so improved and very few flights used to visit the airport. We were finally shuttled to the aircraft and I was about to board the first flight of my life.

 

To be continued…

Seasonz Chapter 2 – The Yesteryear (Part 1)

 

The link to the previous part is as follows:

Seasonz Chapter 1 - Happiness and Beyond It…(Part 4) 

 

The human brain that weighs close to 1.3 kilograms has never failed to fascinate me. Being so tiny and just a handful in size, I have always wondered how it stores innumerable bytes of data and that too without even giving the slightest warning of low storage space 😊. Adding to the amazing role it plays, there are few icing on the cake facts like, how it brings out all the wonderful and exiting memories of our past in just a fraction of second and how it takes us on a jolly ride into wonderland, not just once or twice, but every single day, in the state of dream.

Even manual records that are stored or preserved, after couple of decades get stonewashed or destroyed, but those that are registered in our mind remains fresh till the last breath of ours, unless until you are suffering with Alzheimer disease.

And though the plausibility of dream’s coming true has been on a lower scale for almost everyone, it is often good to dream as it helps one to achieve great heights and improve your thinking. Dreams can sometime turn out to be true only if appropriate action items are taken to make it so.

Hence Dream big to achieve big is something that I had followed ever and I had been trying to work towards it to achieve it one such day, though not aware of the fact that how many roadblocks I am going to face in the due course. As mentioned in the former pages, I was fascinated towards Aircraft and it was not some kind of puppy dream which comes and flows out of you after a period. I was rather determined to somehow achieve it and thus my ambition right from kid was to become a Pilot.

Well, this might sound funny to a lot, as there are many out there who do fancy airplanes and do wish to become a Pilot. But that was not my case. I was focused all my life towards it though not knowing when, where & how to start but was confident enough that that one special day may come soon to accomplish it.

So, you might be wondering how come such fascination got its root within me. It was way back in the 90’s, when I was a 6-year-old naughty kid, who had just passed out of the kindergarten. I was a happy little chap enjoying the privilege of being at my native with all goodies around me.

Right from getting up in the morning with my mother feeding me food and father dressing me up for the school, to my paternal grandfather taking me to the school which was just two houses away from mine, to the wonderful class teacher Ms. Geetha, to enjoy with my then friend Sanjay, to get back home in the evening and go on for a walk to the nearby Murugan Temple with my paternal grandfather and my pet dog, Jacky, my life was filled with happiness and no regrets.

There was nothing much to bother about as love and affection was overflowing in the air around me. But a day arrived when all my happiness came under a big full stop. As my father was a bank employee, he was promoted as Manager and was transferred to the land of warriors, Punjab. 

This was an unexpected move to the entire family and so slowly we started preparing ourselves for roller coaster ride ahead. Although it was just my mother who knew Hindi among the three of us, my father rather than backing out stood ahead and took the decision to move on and face the situation believing in my mother, in spite of constant pressure from the relatives.

And this is one such quality of his which I had always envied and try to follow it up in my years to come. It is then that I understood the formula to survive and the importance of having a supportive partner.

“Whatever be the situation and how hard it may turn out to be, stand up right to its face and challenge it. Once or twice it might push you down. Get up, dust yourself and once again stand before it, as for sure you will succeed in your next try, despite any number of times you get sledged.”

This might sound as if thinking way beyond my age, but this helped me cross most of the hurdles all through the 22 years of my life. If I had restricted myself to a place and had got too comfortable over there, switching to a new surrounding itself would have been a greater challenge itself.  

So next to my father, the other person who stood by our side and gave morale support to head up to Punjab was my Maternal Grandfather and there are not enough words in any language to describe his kind and open hardheartedness. Such a gem of a person he is.

A very strong man of the yesteryear who had faced all sort of odds right from his childhood and through his teenage days, to marriage & post marriage, parenthood and continuing. Born and brought up in the God’s own country, Kerala, he was an excellent football player of his time. Even at his 60s he is hyperactive and there is never a time when he has said “no” to any of his grandchildren.

By education he was a civil engineer and by profession he was a cinematographer working with leading stars of the 70’s and 80’s. I had always envied his passion towards photography and to call him a photographer rather an engineer would be the right term to honor him. His dedication and hard work are innumerable.

 

To be continued...

And There Were Those Anguished Long Haul Days

A rough phase of life is definite to hit every single one over their lifespan and how well one reacts to those situation displays one’s willpower and the ability to sustain over the long run. And here is one such period in which the protagonist had to face some really hostile days.

                                  

The story rewinds back to a time in the past and is set in the hustle bustle capital city of Tamil Nadu, Chennai, where Vinesh is in his final leg of graduation. Well as I say it is from Tamil Nadu and as the protagonist is a male then for sure you should have guessed it by now that by default he is in the process of becoming an Engineer. Vinesh was well blessed with a great family, amazing friends, had a good paying job offer too, right before he even completed his studies and so he felt that life was being so generous with him. But, little did he anticipate the events to happen in the short run.

Graduation was over and he was eagerly waiting for the call letter to make his move into the corporate world. The initial few days’ right out of college, he gave himself a break and traveled back to New Delhi to spend some quality time with this family who were stationed there. Days flew by and there was no news from the company that had hired him. Very slowly it had started bothering him much and he could no longer accept being idle when most of his friends, who were all working with a different MNCs had already started working.

So, Vinesh packed his bags and decided to come back to Chennai, with a great hope on the city that it would definitely lay a new path for him. By the way that was his initial step towards success & the first lesson that he learnt, i.e. staying confident and having belief on your city, as it will never fail to support those who come seeking for its help. Once again days in Chennai weren’t a piece of cakewalk as day in and day out was a total struggle. Normally his weekday starts off early in the morning, dressed up well in formal attire and packing his backpack with all relevant documents and multiple copies of CVs, as he heads out in searching for jobs, hitting every single tech park of the city.

Just a small packet of biscuit is all that fuels him up for the rest of the day, and stepping in and out of companies submitting his profile across the cities was something that he never even dreamt off doing. But when reality hits you hard, you ought to do certain unimaginable stuffs right. Though no companies called back he never stopped submitting his profile. And on other days when there wasn’t any walk-in drives happening, he would stay back at home happily cooking food for his friends who shall return home after a long tiring day at work. So, over the dinner, everyone used to share their respective stories that happened over the day and Vinesh used to be a silent spectator listening to all the stories of his friends. Of course he enjoyed them initially, but over a period of time, it started having a negative effect within him. Depression was slowly eating him up and he did not wish to bother his friends by sharing his sadness with them. And neither did they understand his plight that they kept continuing with their everyday story.

Months flew swiftly and all those who had promised of helping Vinesh in bagging a job went totally unresponsive. Here is where he learnt his second most important lesson towards success. Nobody gives a fuck about your life, it’s only you who will have to plan and work on chiseling it. It is after all an artificial world, where relationships are all just faking out.

But, little did he knew that it was just a matter of few more month during which he had to go through all the current mental struggles, before which the lessons learnt actually will pay him off, though not permanently but as an interim break from the present situation. So, ultimately the city didn’t fail to support him and neither did his attempts to figure out a way go in vain.

Lesson well learnt is what he understood closing his eyes that night and thinking about the new beginning that is to happen the next morning. 

A totally new life waits ahead with lots of surprises and memories to hold on to.

Madras Madness: Part 4 – A night not to be forgotten

Let me begin this article with a note of gratitude to all those readers who took their time off their busy schedule just to go through my last post. I highly appreciate it, as your constant support and constructive feedback makes me write more such articles or to put it in a fancy way, to share more of my memories with you J

So, getting into our new post right away, the following event that is to unfold is yet another memory out of my hippocampus. Well it is almost a decade now since it happened and to be more precise, from the late evening of Dec 31^st 2009 to the dawn of Jan 1^st 2010.

Hence, with the above dates mentioned, I am sure that you would have got a clue as to what the rest of the post might be all about. Well your guess is absolutely right, as it was our (me & my buddies) first New Year celebration out of our college hostel. In the last two years, we were totally confined in that so called “hostel” of Sri SaiRam Engineering College, which was of course one of the top-ranked colleges in Tamil Nadu, but was even more known for its insane rules & regulations imposed upon students. And so staying at such a place we weren’t even given the complete freedom of celebrating New Year. Amidst the stupid rules we still had our fair share of happiness and small-small celebrations happening occasionally, and which now brings me to think of putting a separate post on it.

So, right after the end of the fourth semester exams, we all had stepped out of the college hostel and had rented a small house in Chrompet. And the highlight of moving out was that all our parents had unanimously agreed to our decision of moving out of the hostel and they were totally against the cruel treatment of the college authorities. This made our decision easier to implement than what we had initially thought off.

Getting back to our story, on the 31^st evening, ultimately the plan was to head to Marina beach where one could find the best New Year celebration happening. Back then we didn’t have vehicle with us and so our only mode of transportation was the city bus. Aravindh, who popularly goes by the name “Mama”, had also turned up at our place for the night out. So, with the dusk approaching we took the bus “21G” to our first destination, the City Center Mall and from where we shall later be heading to the beach. The mall was just 2 kilometers from the beach and so spending the rest of the night at the mall and having our dinner over there was the best option to us.

As it was New Year eve, the roads were heavily packed and so it took a considerable amount of time to reach the mall. So, as planned we had our dinner over there, spent few hours at the roof top view point enjoying the cool sea breeze hitting our faces while we got an amazing view of the seashore.

With half-an-hour left for the clock to stuck 12, we made our way to the beach. It was unusually crowded with the air filled with excitement and people of all classes had gathered over there to share their happiness with the rest. Finally the clock ticked midnight and amount of fireworks display organized at the beach was amazing. People who had brought cakes with them started sharing it around with any stranger that they met over there. And the best part was you get randomly hugged by innumerable strangers on a single night, all wishing and exchanging their happiness with you. This was a new experience for all of us.

With the clock at half past midnight, people gathered there were made to disperse by the law enforcement department and we too made our way to the closest bus station, not being aware that we might be surprised right on the first day of the year. As we reached the bus station, the bus station supervisor informed us that the first bus to start from there was around 5 am only and that we were also not allowed to stay there until then.

WTF!!!

We were little confused and worried, since we had totally ignored the mode of returning home while drafting out our plan. Also, as we were students, we did not carry enough cash to even hire a taxi back home.

Since Aravindh had a considerable amount of experience being in the city, he suggested on checking out at the closest MRTS station for any night service train that might take us somewhere close to Chrompet. But, as we enquired over there, the station master disappointed us again by saying that there were no night service on that day and the first train in the morning was by half past four. Now, both the option of public transport was ruled out. However, looking at our plight, the station master informed us of a night service MTC bus available at the DMS (Directorate of Medical and Rural Health Service) bus stop.

Though it was a long walk from the Lighthouse station to DMS, we decided to take it still, as we were left out with no other option. As we made our walk there was total excitement filled in the air, all through the way and that made our walk even more entertaining. And every now and then we grouped up for a selfie or just find random spots to relax our tiring feet. The St. George’s church on the Cathedral rode had arranged for a special mass and it was so refreshing to hear in that hour of the day. Refreshing ourselves for quite a while, we further made our move towards the DMS bus stop.

The bus stop was deserted and we were the only ones making noise over there, well apart from the vehicles that were passing by the Anna Saalai. Say after twenty minutes or more, a bus made its approach near the bus stop.

Oh fuck, was our reaction looking at it!

The bus was jam packed with people clutching dangerously even on the tiny foot board and totally no room for anyone to even set a foot inside. It was such a terrible scene and we had no interest to put our own life at risk and board the bus. So now even the last hope of us getting back home was also lost. Sitting alone at a deserted bus stop at the early hours of the day, we never felt unsecured or dangerous, as Madras was by far considered to be one of the safest cities in the country.

So, for the first few minutes we were lazing around the bus stop, but after sometime we decided to move ahead as we were getting bored of staying at the same spot. Once again it was Aravindh who came up with a brilliant idea. He suggested us walking to the T.Nagar bus depot and by the time we reach there, we shall be able to comfortably take the first bus departing out of there. His idea did sound right and moreover we guys had nothing much to do, rather than stare at the deserted Anna Saalai. Our route map was to take the Mount Road and then turn right onto the Pondy Bazaar road. And on reaching the Panagal Park junction, we take the North Usman road until we reach the bus depot.

The route was pretty interesting to take and we marched all the way down the Mount Road. Once we entered the Pondy Bazaar area, it was such a rare scene to see the ever crowded road with no activity happening at all. We felt as if we owned the entire stretch of the road.

And one such interesting moment worth sharing here is that on the front yard of one of the houses, we found a strange rangoli put up for the New Year. A rangoli is not strange a sight at the entrance of the South Indian homes, but this rangoli had a strange message on it, which instantly grabbed our attentions. The message was “HAPPY NEW YEAR 20010”.

All of us burst out laughing looking at it and I still remember Sreeni trying his best to erase the extra 0 from it. It was so funny to think how crazy people become in the zest for celebration. So, walking further down the busy shopping lane of the city, we finally reached the T.Nagar Bus Depot and by the time we reached it, it was already dawn. The local tea shops around the depot had opened up for a fresh year of business. Gulping down some tea and biscuits, we saw the first bus getting ready to take us back home.

As we got down at Chrompet and made our way back to the room, we knew that the entire country had woken up to begin a fresh start into their life and here we lazy asses were so tired that we bounced straight onto our beds, later waking up by mid-day.

Wow!!! What a start for the year it was…