Note

This blog is the backup of my original one “Life Untold” I write my posts in that blog and just import them into this blog (including the comments). Since I want to gather the comments into a single one, I would rather suggest you to post your comments in that blog. You are also welcome to post your comments in this blog. This blog will be updated as usual. Thank you.

The day I got my driving license

“You will lose your touch if you don’t come in for a month”, the driving coach said to me when I said my exams were coming by. It was the second week of November and the exams were scheduled to begin on November 25,2006. Only three or four classes were pending including the two classes for reverse drive. He wanted me to finish it as soon as possible. So I agreed with finishing the remaining classes and attend the driving test which was scheduled on November 18th.

The remaining classes went smoothly and with ease. Driving the scooty was left to me as I had to practise driving the vehicle in the shape of 8. I practised two nights before the scheduled test. Irrespective of the place, whoever stood there, especially kids, stopped their work in order to watch me drive in the shape of 8 as if I am doing a stunt show. After practising every night, I was ready for the final show.

November 18, 2006.

I was asked to be at the RTO in the morning and I made it correctly on time. We were asked to go to a place where I first started driving. That was the place where the two wheeler test was supposed to be conducted. I started practising along with everyone. I was almost making the shape when I realized that the road was empty and I was the only person there. Everyone else had left. I circled the area to find any group standing there but there were none. Just then I received a call from my driving master that the test is in the RTO office itself. How did I miss that announcement?

I was back at the RTO. I was told that the senior most police was there for inspection and his policy is to keep it simple. Thats why he wanted the test to be conducted at the RTO itself. Everyone taking the test were allowed to use their own vehicles. They took turns in riding their two wheelers in the shape of 8. Almost everyone succeeded in doing so and got a nod from the police.

My turn came. It started out well. Almost made the shape and then I had to take a U-turn. That was when I kept my legs down. I thought “Gone!”. But this police was not really strict and gave me one more chance. I have to do it again from the beginning. I started again but this time, it ended up in a worst scenario. Before I could make the U-Turn, I placed my legs down and even went out of the path. The police need not say anything. I knew that I had lost the battle.

I was waiting out with my scooty for the car test. Just then the driving assistant came to me and said, “What is this? Why couldn’t you balance your vehicle?” Then came the turn of the coach, “What happened? If you fail in two-wheeler, there are high chances that you will fail in four wheeler as well. Let us see what happens!”. That was great news for me! If that happens, that would totally be unfair. “If only I had one more chance”, I thought.

The two wheeler test had ended. All of a sudden, the coach came running to me and said, “Start your scooty fast. He wants to give you another chance”. I couldn’t believe it was all happening. The police is giving me a third chance? But why? I immediately took my scooty in. I was almost near the starting place when the coach told me, “No, he didn’t call you. I misunderstood”. I got frustrated and looked at the police as I started turning back.

The police looked at me again and gestured to me to come back. I got my third chance! I started again. It seemed the entire place was too silent. I completely concentrated on what I was doing. It came out simple. I completed the 8 and also took the U-turn and brought it to a halt with a hand signal. I looked at the police to know the result. After giving a brief thought, he gave a nod. I had passed the test!

Then came the car test. Again the police wanted to keep it simple. Instead of the usual drive in the road, here we just need to start the vehicle, move it to a little distance, stop, put the reverse gear and move back the vehicle to where it started. As simple as that. It was easily finished. As I was little upset about my performance in two-wheeler test, the coach came and cheered me up. It was indeed a day to cheer up as from then, I was licensed to drive in the entire nation. “Why don’t you drop this old man in his house on your way?” The coach told me pointing to an old guy standing nearby. My experimentation with driving had begun. It began on a happy note!

Confusions

Confusions happen in everyone’s life. They are bound to occur when you don’t understand what is going on either with the surroundings or with the people. A thousand of confusions would’ve occured in anyone’s life. Some of them would have been funny. I would like to tell some of those of mine.

Mathematical Confusion

I was in the VI std and a Scholastic book fair was going on. They were offering 10% discount on any book exclusively for the students of my school. After searching for a book, I landed upon a good kids horror book. The book costed Rs.60. I had Rs.50 in my pocket. I thought to myself “10% discount means 60-10 = Rs.50″. Satisfied with my calculations, I went to the only counter where a young lady was handling it. I gave her the book and also the Rs.50 note.

The lady said, “I need four more bucks”
I stood there giving a shocked expression.
“How? 60 – 10 = 50, right?”
I held my stand but the lady gave a chuckle and continued to explain clearly, “The book costs Rs.60. 10% of 60 is 6. So after deducting the 10%, i.e 6, the remaining amount should be 54. You gave only 50 bucks. I need four more bucks”.
I didn’t have any more money. I had just brought a 50 buck note. When I stood there still confused at the calculations, the kind lady smiled again and said, “All right, You did not understand. I will pay the four bucks for you. But you must promise me that you won’t tell anyone, ok?”
I nodded, still confused with the calculations she did. After giving a brief thought, I thanked the lady and left.

Pronounciation Confusion

I happened four or five years back. Arunkumar, M.S.Karthikeyan and myself went to a Pizza Hut outlet. After ordering for a pizza, the delivery boy asked us whether we want anything else to eat and after a negative reply, he placed a bill. The delivery boy did not come to collect to bill after we finished eating. So we were busy chatting after eating the pizza.

The delivery boy finally came and said, “Check”
Karthikeyan looked at the guy and answered sincerely, “No cheque! Only cash!”
The delivery boy smiled and now said the complete words, “No sir, Check the bill!”
We laughed aloud as we exitted the shop.

Language Confusions

This incident happened six years back. The train had just stopped in Howrah and we were still waiting in the station for further arrangements to be made. People were lying spread on all the spaces available and atop a pillar, there was a TV attached and the movie “Predator” was being shown in a channel. We were waiting for a long time and my uncle told me to get two bottles of pepsi from a petty shop in the platform. I got the money and went to the guy handling the petty shop. Though I knew only a few words in hindi, I decided to test my hindi with him.

“Dhou pepsi bottle” (Two pepsi bottles), I said pointing at the 500 ml pet bottle.
He took out two bottles. I knew the standard prize but I still decided to test my hindi knowledge further.
“Kitna rupee?” (How much rupee?) Only after saying those words, I realized that I wouldn’t understand whatever he replies. Too late! He said some amount in hindi which I hoped he didn’t lie. I handed him a hundred buck note. Like all shopkeepers, he was also honest as he handed me the remaining amount. I realized one thing, “Look before you leap”

Another incident happened in a hotel in Nepal. We have heard from people that the nights in Nepal would be chilly. Who would know much better than the room boy? So my aunt and myself and one more person were there questioning the room boy. We expected the room boy to know some hindi and the room boy expected us to know hindi. Unfortunately, all of us knew only little hindi (or we knew worst hindi than the room boy). I knew that the word “baahar” means outside and the word “thandaa” means cold. “Kya” means “what?”. So I decided to experiment.

“Baahar mae thaandaa kya?”
The room boy blinked.
Then I wondered where the word “mae” came from. I replaced the word with some other word.
“Baahar thou thandaa kya?”
The room boy still blinked. My aunt also tried to explain. I decided to go on with word by word.
“Baahar?”
He nodded.
“Thandaa?” He nodded again, smiling, probably proud that he is getting to understand us.
“Baahar thandaa kya?”
He once again blinked. We decided to quit with the idea as it was turning out to be fruitless. In another fruitless conversation, my aunt ended up saying in tamil, “Poda, neenga pesuradhu engaluku puriyala. Naanga pesuradhu ungaluku puriyala” (You don’t understand what we are speaking, We don’t understand what you are speaking”

Tagged #2

Tagged by Nithya. Alright here it goes…

AMICABLE- Friends ofcourse

BEAUTIFUL- Mountains, sea, clouds, nature, altogether Earth

CUNNING- Fox

DARING- Bear Grylls of Man vs Wild

ELEGANT- A thing that you need when are you are walking on something like a red carpet

FRESH- Fruits

GRUDGE- Horror movie… lolz

HUMBLE- Dr.A.P.J Abdul Kalam

IMMORTAL- Immortality – something which is believed to have been existed, and crazed by most living.

JOVIAL- Too many I know

KILLER- Sharks

LAZY- Other than me?

MAJESTIC- Kings

NINCOMPOOP- Can’t think of anyone right now… but I guess it would be Suppandi

OPPORTUNIST – ya I know a few

PRIDE- The way to motivate oneself

QUICK- Instant coffee

RATTLE- Stone Cold Steve Austin

SERPENT- Cobra

TREE- shady, selfless

UMBRELLA- oh, I kept losing that

VENOM- Spiderman character… lolz

WIT- Albert Einstein

XYLOPHONE- wish I could play that

YELLOW- pleasant

ZEST- without which things go unpleasant

Now I would like to TAG

Arun Kumar
Karthikeyan
Vijay Ganesh

Destiny

I wrote this song a month back. The original song is ‘The Call’ from Backstreet Boys. I have modified the lyrics here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6GRKRDicTU

Hello.
Hello. Hi dude. Where is the bus? Listen, I am going to be late today. So don’t wait for me, ok?
Where are you?
Could you hear me?
Hello?
Listen I must catch the bus. We will meet in college, alright? Now gotta go!

Let me tell you the story about the bus miss that changed the history
Me and myself stepped out just when the bus had left for its destiny
Was about to go to Mad Kai when there was a 19b in the Saidapet
I thought, “Wow! I got a place in the bus, Now it should go!”
I shouldn’t have boarded, the bus was moving forward
But stopped a distance apart, conductor said,
“Listen people, I am sorry. Wanna tell you this bus is so crowdy.
You will be fined, so just wait and get the tickets from me”
“We would like to tell that we are being crushed like a tomato green
Oh no! Do you know? I could have got a dozen other buses on time,
Had I said no!

Now four years gone, nothing has been done.
Yes I can’t take it back, what’s gone is gone.
One of my friends told me that 19b wasn’t the only one
I should’ve kept the list aside. But they don’t start on time.
Its just because I missed the bus and so I said,
“Listen friends, I am sorry. Wanna tell you not to make a row over me
I am being late. So please stay there and wait for me
I am telling you again that I will be there. So be panic-free
Say it aloud. So you know? I will be there in the place in sometime.
Now gotta go”.

Let me tell you the story about the bus change that decided about my destiny
Me and myself stepped out just to board another mystery
Almost reached the gate when the watchman was
standing in front of me, he said “ID Card!?”
“I got it somewhere in my bag! Let me gooooo!”
“Listen boy, I am sorry! Wanna tell you, this is my duty!”
“No I am being late, so don’t make me stay and wait for silly things.
I will tell you again you are making me lose my class duties
It almost now! So you know, I must reach the class on time, Gotta go”

Listen friends, I am sorry. Wanna tell you that I am worried
that I will be missing the class again and wait for eve
But I shouldn’t be missing here, cause I am dropping out my morning meals
So you know, we should wait and know, I have reached the class on time
The staff should allow me; should be fine but
“NEXT CLASS!”

… and a glass of lemon soda

Last week, we went for the final year trip to Wayanad in Kerala. It was definitely an adventurous trip. The entire trip was special as it can be called as the farewell tour. Here are some of the things that happened in tour.

- Onward journey:

• Playing cards upto midnight.
• The whole class wishing Noodles at midnight for her birthday.

- Day 1

• Visit to Soochipara falls; the falls was huge and the way down the slope was easy but the way back up required two glasses of lemon soda.
• Visit to Pookot lake boating. Though I offered to pedal, ABC and Kumar took up the pedalling while I willingly took up the photography work.
• Celebrating Noodles birthday with a big chocolate cake in hotel. The party plan which all went secretive until the evening broke out like a shattered glass. Thanks to them and the cake

- Day 2

• Visit to Chembra Peak; visit to the base in jeep; then to a view point and then to the actual peak which required almost three hours of trekking. I backed off and returned to the view point after travelling quarter distance; so did many; but had to travel the same distance again due to an unfortunate circumstance.
• Visit to the Kathambara falls. This falls required a cool two km walk to the falls. This falls had a kinda steep rock but nonetheless enjoyable. The walk back was great. The interesting thing about the walk back to the bus is there were no shops to sell lemon sodas but kind hearted people who gave water on the way.

- Day 3

• Visit to Kuruwa Islands. Again a two km walk to the Islands but the most enjoyable walk of the tour. The walk in the water to cross to the other island required careful planning and co-ordination and was simply amazing and then there were two glasses of lime soda.
• Prank calls made to friends through intercom and almost everyone got fooled

- Day 4

• Watching a famous “Bluffing” tamil movie in the bus with friends
• Visit to Edakal caves and climbing up the rocks into the caves to watch the beautiful inscriptions by the people who had been there thousands of years back.
• A glass of lime soda.
• A glass of buttermilk

- Return journey

• Being awake the entire night.
• Playing cards and chatting with friends.

Nearly missed!

April 8, 2009

It was the day of my model review. I had to finish my project review early and also catch a train at 4. My batchmates and I successfully completed the project and brought it to college that day. The review was scheduled at 12:45. We still had more than one and half hour left. The other batch of our project guide was preparing with their robot for the demo while we were busy testing our project. My job was to take a printout of an analysis and also teach my sister ‘photoshop’ through phone.

The day also marked the record-winning painting event done by my college students. The students were divided into pairs and each student had to paint on the other one’s hands and vice-versa. They had to do it within an hour. I witnessed the gathering and the work as I passed the inter-dept corridor to the stores. I took the printout and managed to come back to the dept and also managed to teach my sister what is to be done. Meanwhile, a call taxi guy called me and asked me when he should pick me up at college. He was at Mahabalipuram, so he would take just a little time to come to my college. “1:30″ was my reply and I hung up.

Everything was fine but the problem just then arised. The project was unexpectedly not working. We were trying to figure out the reason for the problem and we were still trying when the clock striked 12:45. We went to the lab where the review was held. The project co-ordinators were reviewing the other two batches present there and we were still configuring the system in my friend’s laptop. My project guide, seeing our tensed faces, asked us to be calm and to solve the problem. My friend, who owned the laptop, lost the charger. He had to go searching for it cause the laptop was on very low charge. I was getting constant calls from someone but I didn’t bother to pick it up. Things turned out well when my friend realized that the charger is still in his bag and now the project was working. The review went smoothly and when it got over, it was almost 2 pm. I told my project guide that I got to catch a train at 4 and left the place.

I went out of my department. There were no call taxis. I picked up my phone, noticed that it had only a single point charge and immediately called the call taxi guy. The guy told me that the driver wouldn’t have made it and so they had cancelled it. They had tried to call me but unfortunately, I was there in the review. I had to get out of my college fast. So after informing my mom over phone, I went for the last resort – I got to join my mom and sister in train.

It took me 10 minutes to reach my college gate. Around 20 students were standing there, waiting for the bus. I was glad that there are too many 521 (from my college) and 21H (from Kelambakkam) buses which goes to broadway, a place near the railway station. No matter what, I had to take the first bus. If I am lucky, I could get 521. If I am even luckier, I could get 521 AC bus. But a van arrived. It was a good choice especially when you are in a hurry and also when there is a crowd waiting for the bus. The crowd wouldn’t prefer the van. I got a seat, as I had expected. I gave the conductor five rupees and expected him to give me change. When he didn’t, I asked him, “Kelambakkam costs only Rs.3.50, right?”. He smiled at me and said, “Those are old days!”. Old days? These vans must be suffering a lot from recession. Lolz

I got a 21H bus immediately at Kelambakkam. I paid the money for Broadway – the final stop. Thankfully, the driver was driving fast and it was a pleasant ride. At 2:50, I had reached more than half a distance when my dad called me. Knowing that the charge for my battery is too low, he had to inform me fast, “Coach B1 11,12 for mom and sister and Coach B2 6 for you”. The next second, I couldn’t hear anything. Just then I realized that the charge had completely drained.

The driver was very tactical in driving the bus at top speed in the traffic-less IT corridor but after we reached the town, he had to adjust with the traffic and it got delayed. Earlier that day just before I started from Kelambakkam, my dad suggested me to take a call taxi or an auto as soon as I reach the town. I had that option but didn’t give a second thought about it. It was 3:10 when I reached Adyar. It will take around 30 minutes from there to reach the final stop. All this while, I had to look at the neighbour’s watch to know the time since my phone had no charge. He left at that instant and I had no source to know the time.

As the bus reached the Marina beach, I spotted a huge clock in the middle of the road. It was nearing 3:35. The long road of Marina beach, the seond longest beach in the world, had low traffic at that time and it was pretty easy for the driver to move fast. The bus finally reached broadway. I had to know the time. I asked the guy in front. He need not open his mouth cause as he tilted his hand, I noticed the watch that read 3:47. He said “3:45″. “Is he rounding it off or is the watch being faster?” was my first thought. I hoped the latter would be true and I immediately got down the moving bus cause the road was a busy one and there was a higher probability of getting an auto from there.

I found the first auto and told him “Central Station please!”. “Thirty bucks!”, he said. It is just a 5 minute ride and it was reasonable, especially because I was in a hurry. “Please hurry up!”, I told him as I got into the auto. The driver understood the situation and picked up speed. He dropped me opposite the station, otherwise he had to go a long distance to take a U-turn. I got down the auto and paid the money, not before asking him “What is the time?”. He told that its 4. “Rounding off should be banned!”, I thought Anyways, he had just pressed the panic button. Wearing my bag cross shoulder, I ran down the subway to the other end and got up the subway. I had to slow down cause there were two buses heading into the station. With great anxiety, I entered the railway station.

I looked at the digital clock hung above. It just struck 3:58 pm. I immediately searched for the digital display that showed the list of trains on schedule for that day. Mixed emotions on seeing it. The good news was that the train was still in platform no.11. The bad news that I was not sure which direction I should head to reach platform 11. The platform numbers, as I could see above, was listed in descending order. So the Platform 11 should be to the left but to make sure, I contacted one of the police who confirmed my guess.

I ran to the left to find the platform 11. The train was still there. Now that the train is there, I had to make sure whether my mom and sister are inside the train or whether they are waiting for me somewhere else. Thankfully, there was a PCO booth at the beginning of the platform. I immediately headed to it. The lady, who operated the booth, was busy arguing with some man. She might have thought that I had come there to listen to the argument as she didn’t even notice me standing for 5 precious seconds. I decided to interrupt “I need to make a phone call”. That was when she noticed me and nodded and then continued with her argument. I dialed to my mom. Line was engaged! Next to my sister! She picked up and the first question she asked was “Where are you?”. “I am in the station. Are you both inside the train?”, I asked. “Yes” was the reply. That was enough for the day but I asked the coach number for confirmation which confused her. So I had to hung up, paid the lady with a 20 buck note. She was mumbling something about having no changes as she handed me the change.

I ran towards the train. As I neared the second compartment, I spotted a police again and asked where the AC coach is. Luckily, the AC coaches were just three coaches away. But I could hear a man whistle to mark the start of the train. I spotted the coach as well as my mom standing near the door. I got into the coach and as I opened the inner door to the coach, I looked out of the window and saw the train picking up speed. I nearly missed the train by around 2 seconds!

Tamil Fools Day

The title of this post or the post itself is not meant to be offensive. This post is made just for fun and not intended to hurt anyone’s feelings or sentiments. Thank you.

Phew… how long since I made a post? Almost a month! I even missed out on writing this post a week back… on Tamil New Years day (is it?)

A rumoured theory says that in the ancient days, April 1 was considered to be beginning of the calendar until the change of the calendar. The calendar adopted by the French people stated that January 1 (three months before April 1) was the beginning of the calendar. Some parts of the world were still celebrating April 1 as the New Year and people say that they were fooled into believing that April 1 was still the New Year. Thus, April 1 was called as the April Fools day. It is just a theory and may not be true.

All the Tamils in the world considered April 14 to the New Year and was still considered to be so until last year when the governemnt imposed a sudden change. They shifted the New Year exactly three months prior to April 14 thus making the Pongal, a famous South Indian cultural Festival, as the New Year.

Whether people liked the change or not, the media addressed April 14 just as beginning of Chitthirai “tamil” month whereas some people still kept forwarding Tamil New Year wishes to families and friends. If the news does not make it to the entire public atleast in a few years time, some people will still consider April 14 as the Tamil New Year. It is not unlikely that April 14 will be called as the Tamil Fools day if the news doesn’t reach to the entire public.

On a lighter note, everyone will miss a government holiday in some years from now and most of the awaited films, which would be stated for a Tamil New Year release, for a grand open, now would have to release it on just a normal day. Fooled by the days, aren’t they?

An Old Confusion

When I boarded my first ever PTC bus to go to college from Madhya Kailash, I noticed a board on which was written (The road of our dreams is under construction). Beside the writings was a beautiful portrait of the upcoming road. On that day, I wondered whether it would be completed in a year time. But then it was being constructed on and on and it seemed like forever. The Old Mahabalipuram road was under construction and I didn’t think that, for any reason, that the road will be renamed. Just few months back, the road was constructed (not completely but ya) and they are collecting toll already.

The road was fondly called as the IT Corridor as it had too many IT Companies along the road. I even saw too many shops bearing the hoarding that read “IT Corrdor’. Some still read “OMR” alis “Old Mahabalipuram Road” There came the twist from the govt who renamed the road as “Rajiv Gandhi Road”, which extends up to SIPCOT, a place 5 km from Kelambakkam.

Now the people who either live in that road or have a shop in that road are confused – whether their address will read “OMR” or “Rajiv Gandhi road” or “IT Highway”. Even the answer sheets in my college have both OMR and Rajiv Gandhi Road written. This is what we call it as confusion!

I read an interesting article in a newspaper contributed by a reader “Names which are comfortable with the people are most often used even after they are renamed”. This might be true in this case. The road would’ve been changed to any name but it will always be remembered as the short and sweet OMR.

TAGS on ERGO! Hits news stands again.

TAGS hit the news stands yet again! Just a month after appearing in ‘Pet Passion‘ column of Metro Plus, TAGS made it to ERGO, the free tabloid for the IT professionals. The 19th March issue was published online on March 18th and distributed to various companies today. TAGS team is yet again happy and would like to thank Sriya Narayanan, the editor of the article and for her tremendous support to the TAGS team.

To read the article in the original newsletter format, kindly visit the following link and turn to Page 2.

http://www.goergo.in/?page_id=1242 or view it here

Ergo March 19 Ergo March 19 goergo Ergo tabloid published by The Hindu Group, Chennai

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Periodicals & Report the hindu ergo

To read the article alone visit the following link

http://www.goergo.in/?p=3865&id=6

I would also like to congratulate and thank the rest of the TAGS team members. I would also like to thank Mr.M.Karunakaran, the photographer, who was kind enough to patiently wait for us and also to suggest how the photo can be taken. Also thanks to the TAGS team who turned up on March 14th for the photo. It was a great day!