“Memories”, you are simply amazing

Raghav, the protagonist from the other blog post “She Moved In, But I had moved Out” is now working at a Multi-National Firm somewhere in the foreign land and is quite comfortable with his new relocation. Most of his time gets totally consumed with the office work, as he barely finds some personal time to take off from the hectic & dynamic schedule.

Some turbulent days did pass by him and some gentle ones too, which was well taken care off by him, as he was matured enough to believe the truth that no single day is the same and no single situation is gone stay the same. 

And it was one such gentle day at the office when suddenly a long lost memory of his flashed right in front of his eyes, barely lasting a second or two, just like how a lighting would hit the earth and vanish off swiftly. 

An unsettled confusion turned up within him instantly. How can a long lost event suddenly flash up before him was his question to himself when he had not thought of it anytime now? Thinking of what caused the sudden trigger of the memory flash, Raghav found out that it was from the Radio that was playing out of his mobile phone.

He had this habit of listening to songs while working, as it helped him stay focused, be always connected with Chennai and refine the unnecessary noise surrounding him. And it was this time that over the radio the Radio Jockey had mentioned the name of a small town, which ignited the memory out of his brain.

It was just a town located twenty three kilometres east of Erode, a city in Tamil Nadu, wherein once Raghav had established a close connection with it. Mixed emotions started flowing within him as soon as the name of the town echoed inside his brain. He was no longer able to concentrate on the work that he was doing and the thought of revisiting the place urged within him. 

Thanks to the technological development the world has seen now, one's actual presence is not exactly required at any place. You can be virtually connected anywhere from the Arctic to the Antarctica. Well when tools like Google Maps & YouTube depicts most of the places on the earth so accurately and gives a complete virtual tour of even some of the most inaccessible place on the planet, all that you need to do is to sit and relax while the World Wide Web does it magic.

Coming back to the present situation, it was nearly fifteen years now and not even once did he actually think of revisiting that particular place, in person or virtually. So, what was the connection with the town that Raghav had? 

Well in the early 2000's a set of educational institutions blossomed across the state of Tamil Nadu boasting itself of specializing in giving exemplary training for the higher secondary students to excel in their board exams. Their marketing strategy has a serious impact in the houses of many middle class family, not just within the state but with the neighboring states as well. There were many kids who became victim to it and Raghav was one of them. 

(To know more about the life of students in such institution, please visit the actual blog post - https://krish-thefriendly.blogspot.com/2014/03/she-moved-in-but-i-had-moved-out-part-1.html )

However, today when Raghav was viewing his school after fifteen years, none of those painful moments even showed up because all the good memories had actually overshadowed the bad ones. So, when he was looking at each of those buildings from his school, only those fond memories of it were being played at the back of his eyes and he could actually feel himself reliving those moments again.

The hostel wherein he and his roommates used to spend long nights sharing spooky tales, the assembly area where he and Mithun used to take the last row during the yoga session just to evade the direct view of the warden, the playground wherein they used to show off their sporting skills, as it was right close to the girls hostel, the higher secondary academic block where he and his cousin brother used to secretly meet every day and their secret spot on sharing paper chits containing coded information, the main academic block wherein there were individual stairs for boys and girls, the study hall where every morning he used to pretend studying when actually sleeping with the book wide open and Mithun staying guard to alert him in case of the warden coming by at close range and meeting his first crush, the girl who was totally mad on him despite knowing the school rules, all brought in a big smile on his face.

Staying still for a moment at his work desk, he was still not out of the time travel that he just had, wishing how good it would be to actually revive them. Feeling cheerful about travelling down his memory lane, he was amazed knowing how the brain works and the need to encode more and more good memories into it, so as to have a happy retired life.

A life when you sit relaxed with your partner in the balcony of your high-rise apartment overlooking the beautiful mountains of the western ghats and sharing the wonderful moments with her.

She moved in, but I had moved out – Part 8 (The Movie Night)

Over the next few days Mithun had almost come close to revealing the incident to Kishore, however my timely interruption saved the day. It was not that Mithun wanted to deliberately share it with Kishore, but it was his natural behavior and he can’t be blamed for it, in any way. Moreover he can never conceal even a tiny piece of information with his close friends, and now since I had put him in such a tight spot, he really found it difficult to handle the situation.

While this was happening on one side of my life, in parallel on the other side, the secret cute smiles & glances between Sri and I started rising rapidly, as we couldn’t resist looking at each other even for a short interval of five minutes. We never missed a single moment that gave us the chance of looking at one another and we both seemed to relish it deeply. That was the first real infatuation that we both had in our lives and well of course during the early years of your teens, the hormonal reactions within you are totally uncontrollable. So, we just let it go by the flow and didn’t suppress our feelings. And as I had already mentioned in my last post, she had a fair complexion and every single time that our eyes met, she totally blushes out and her cheeks instantly turn pink, making her look like a Barbie doll.

So, amidst all these happy moments, there were times when somewhere deep down our heart a little fear would pop-up, especially while thinking of the school rules. However, the fun side of the hostel life overshadowed our fears and we continued with our so called puppy romance. And then there was this night, one among the innumerable memories that I preserve from that time, which remains fresh in my mind even now.

As there was no television at the hostel, the school authority used to screen film once in a month. So, as we were in the middle of the academic year, it was one such movie night that we were all so eagerly waiting for. Right since we got back from school, Kishore, Mithun and I were in full-on discussion about the movie and we were so excited about it. It was a newly released Tamil movie called “M. Kumaran S/O Mahalakshmi” starring Jeyam Ravi in the lead role and a debutant actress from Kerala called Asin. The first study hour was indeed busy that evening, as every single student seemed to be heavily discussing only about the movie, which the hostel wardens mistook it as students engaged in serious group study. Well, yeah that’s how stupid they were in real.

Dinner was served early that night and we were all chit chatting merely at our rooms, by the time when the technical team was setting up the projector and the screen. Minutes later, the announcement was made for the students to come and assemble at the hall. The wardens had actually expected students to turn up in an orderly fashion. However, to their surprise every single student barged out of their rooms in such a hurry that they even knocked down couple of staffs who were standing at the entrance of the hall.

But no one cared about it and every one were in a rush to grab the first few rows of the hall. It was a complete chaos and the crowd was being totally uncontrollable. Nobody seemed to pay heed to the warden’s instruction and it was well enough for the staffs be enraged at us. And in that rage they just went and shut down the projector. In an instance the entire hall fell silent and we could clearly sense the anger on all their faces.

It was for sure that we would be subjected to heavy punishment that night and our guesses turned out to be true in the next few minutes. All the students were sent back to the hostel and were made to kneel down at the assembling point. By now we had spent quite a lot of days at the hostel and we knew there were more aggressive punishments, in line for us. The faculties arrived at the assembling point and had started clearly identifying those miscreants who had behaved wrongly with them. They started filtering them out from the entire lot, and luckily Kishore, Mithun and I were not one among them or to say it on a brighter note, unfortunately we were held up at our rooms and we were among the few to reach the hall last. And therefore the staffs had very well seen us entering calmly.  

But I would say that was not us totally and our starts were shining bright that day to save our asses from the terrible punishments. Every single time the thought of punishments made our blood run cold. So, on one side as the miscreants were being filtered out, on the other side the studious one were also getting filtered out and they were sent to the cinema hall.

Again we were held up in between. Because unfortunately, we did not fit into either of the category and we were actually wondering how come being studious related to not being mischievous? But if that is how the understanding of the educational system is, then we raising voice against it is like an ant trying to pitch its voice against an elephant. So, with the only other option left with us, we started making innocent faces and tried all sort of ways to get noticed by any of our class faculty, as we were so desperate to watch the movie.

And this time our trick actually worked out, as Mr. Basha, our Mathematics teacher noticed us and called us forward. He gave a suspicious look at all three of us, but we still maintained the same innocence on our face and then he asked us to move out to the cinema hall, as he was one among the few staffs earlier to notice us entering the cinema hall late. So, our false act plus our unplanned late entry earlier paved us the way for us this time. We actually couldn’t believe our luck, as our stupid trick worked out with one of the most dreaded staffs of the school. Hiding our joy within ourselves, we maintained the same composure until we reached the hall and then burst out laughing heavily.

Finally getting settled there feeling accomplished we were exchanging excited looks as the film started screening.

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…