Trip that tripped....

"Come on...come on... pleaeese.." my heart was pounding. "Your payment has been successfully processed" the screen flashed the message & I heaved a sigh of relief. It was my 5th attempt to book the air tickets online as none of my debit cards worked as they were trying to send OTPs to my India number, finally the corporate credit card came as a savior. Filling all personal and passport information online in a small screen of cellphone and getting timed out in payment step especially when you are in rush is the last thing I that wish even my enemy to face.

"Dimuthu, please come back to the hotel real quick". We need to rush to the airport".

"What??" I could hear his muffled voice that tells me that my call woke him up from deep sleep.

"Yes, our return flight to India is cancelled for tomorrow without any reschedule option as Indian government issued travel advisory in light of Covid 19 situation, I was worried if other airlines also would start snapping their services, so booked the return tickets today itself. I am cutting short my trip".

My wife started stuffing our things haphazardly in our suitcases in rush. The scene was very different an hour back. We were in Nuruwa Elia, a picturesque hill station, thoroughly enjoying our much-deserved vacation. We were just relaxing in the homestay and about to take nap after lunch on our 4th day of Srilanka trip. The plan was to go for boating in the beautiful Gregory lake in the evening and have dinner in the most rated restaurant of the hill town. Thank God, I checked my mail before taking nap and I got a jerk when I read the mail about flight cancellation. The family was asleep, not wanting to terrify them I did all initial searches on available airlines & tickets to get back home in the next available flight to India. Emotions were running high in my mind and started preparing myself mentally to spend indefinite period in Srilanka if we get stranded.

The phone rang, "I just reached the hotel, waiting outside for you", it was Dimuthu. He was a cheerful driver & we had already spent 4 days with him and visited Pinnawala Elephant camp, Dambola Royal caves & Kandi. He was engaging us in the conversation throughout ranging from Srilanka to Buddhism to his European customers to Super star Rajinikanth & Dhanush.

I saw my watch , it was quarter to 5pm. "How much time it would take to reach Colombo airport?" I asked, "anywhere between 5-6 hours depending upon the evening traffic on the hilly winding road", he replied. "God, it will be neck to neck, Lets go Lets go , I screamed. Our flight to Bangalore was at 1 am, and barely had any breathing time. The Schumacher (Formula 1 fame) in him emerged. He exhibited all his driving skills in overtaking vehicles, taking short cuts, driving through country roads in pitch dark, navigating sharp curves and nicely gently bumping on speed breakers without coasting much.

It was quarter to 11pm when we reached Colombo airport."so, you are not going to stay with us any longer" he quipped. After settling his bill and thanking him abundantly, we took leave of him and checked in our luggage in Srilankan Airline counter and walked up to the gate with a stride of exultation,  "Yes, we did it".

A fish in me !!!

I think I was a fish in my last birth. The reason I am saying this is that the love I have, being in water no matter whether it is small pond or a well or a river or a sea. As my childhood was spent in a village, taking bath in a pump-set of a agricultural field was a normal routine. My Chitthappa (father's brother) was a brave person and a great diver too. He used to dive deep into water in the village common well to bring out the motor & pump that would submerge due to heavy rain. He was my guru in swimming.

My first swimming training (!) happened when I was 12 when I visited his place near Vellore during summer holidays. In the first day of the swimming training, the task assigned to me was to jump from top of the village well (may be 30 feet depth!). Without a second thought I did it. He later mentioned to my mom that he was worried when I did not come out of water for a minute and got earful from my mom :)

Swimming in Cauvery is a nice feeling. In our school summer holidays, my family used to camp at another chitthappa's place (Marudur near Trichy). Going to Cauvery as whole family with sisters, cousins & parents for bathing was our daily ritual. It was not easy for our parents to get us out of water, every time it would be a begging by us for '5 more minutes' :)

When I was in 8th class, my name was picked up in lucky draw in a temple donation drive in my village (my donation was 2 rupees :)). I went to Kodaikanal with my childhood friend on a free tour without my parents accompanying me but the neighbors and known organizers. On the way to Kodai, the tour bus stopped in Silver Cascade water falls. In spite of biting cold in the morning, I plunged into water and had nice bath but had severe ear pain for few hours.

When we shifted to Dharmapuri, I used to pedal for 5 km to the nearest public swimming pool & swim with my friend Shankar in spite of knowing someone drowned there and were rumours that ghost was haunting around the pool :)

During bachelorhood days in Bangalore, Jayanagar 4th block swimming pool was my favorite. It is a large and deep pool. My real kick was to go down to touch the floor of the pool at its deepest point. Initial few times I had to abort my attempt in half way as it used to get darker inside, but felt too good when I achieved it.

Once I went to Hogenakkal with my office friend. On seeing kids of fishermen jumping off from a cliff to the gorge  I could not resist myself, thank God my friend thwart my idea, so I am writing this blog now !!!

Once while swimming Cauvery alone in Mokkombu (near Trichy) , I got cramps and could not move my legs. Scariest moments.

In Chicago I used to swim in Lake Michigan during summer while my little daughter enjoyed playing on the shore & my wife had an eye on me for not going too far in water.

During our second trip to US,  I enjoyed north shore beaches in New Jersey.  Swam in Atlantic ocean Asbury beach, Atlantic city,  Point pleasant & sea side height beaches. My daughter used to give me company until she complaint of discomfort due to rough wave and after that it was no-no from my wife.

I always thought there should be some purpose of my swimming skills eventhough I am not an expert. During our offsite trip to Siluguri (West Bengal) in 2018, we were staying in some resort in the Himalayan range. I along with a group of my colleagues were enjoying in the pool and it was raining. Suddenly I noticed one guy was drowning at a distance. I immediately swam to him, went underwater and lifted him out of water and took him to shallow place. I forgot the incident until he sent me a WhatApp message on his birthday thanking me !

This fish never stops swimming ... :)

Nanbanin kavithai

I took a couple of days off last week to visit my home town.
Mann!! What a scorching heat in Tamil Nadu!I need to think twice in future before moving out centralized A/C city -Bangalore.

The city was not peaceful when i was not there last week :). The aftermath riots of Rajkumar's death is quite disgusting.He is not a political leader,he died in a natural way,but still violence erupted after his death.It is ridiculous. What did the people behind such incidents really need? I am very sure that they are not the real fans of Rajkumar or real mourners.Those bad social elements should be ruthlessly shot at sight! It is disheartering to know that the innocent onlookers & fans including a policeman died in the riots.

I read many articles on Rajkumar after his demise. He was known for his humbleness, simplicity and his affinity towards his Karnataka motherland and mother tongue. On the flip side, there are rumors that Rajini, in his beginning of the career opted moving to Tamil film industry because of Raj's overshadowing in Kannada tinsel world.

I got a kavithai from my friend Gokul.It is good .! Since it doesn’t have any copyright warnings, I publish it here. Good job,Gokul..!

I love to read Tamil kavithai's and tried writing some also :). I will bother you guys by publishing them in future. Knowing my Tamil interest, Gokul, Algates, Dakshna & friends presented me ‘Vairamuthu kavithai thoguppu’ as marriage gift to me. That is the only gift I can remember till date !!!


Cheers!
Srini

The traveller !

I met with a minor accident this morning. I fell down from my bike while taking a steep curve in Koramangala.The sole of the shoe struck in the foot rester thus hindering my balance and made me fall. Thankfully not even a minor scratch.

I struck my first love with my bike (Yamaha) few years back.Its shining black body and the mejestic look stole my heart. I have been riding at its peak till date.My average speed may be equal to Sachin's average score. I have been praising my bike for not ditching me to fall in a big way so far:).. Lakshmi..! You are the great.. !! , but please control your boozing !! My petrol bill is crossing 1000 rs per month :(

During my Tuticorin days, I used to drive at 90 kmph on an average in the highway. Every Sunday, I used to break my own record in the truck free road. My final mark so far is 110 Kmph.My friend Divakar would have almost started to the office when I wake up from bed. But still I used to overtake his Auto (Hamaaraa Bajaj scooter) on the way because of my thunder speed yamaha..Yongsters pride is Yamaha !!

Do you believe I have traveled in almost all the modes of transportation? I had traveled in country boats (Parisal) to cross the river Cauvery from Musiri to Marudur to reach my paternal uncle's place in my childhood. The bridge was not build those days. It was the most adventurous thing for me to travel in water seeping parisal in swirling Cauvery. We used to travel in bullock carts (Tyre vandi) to go to cinema from Marudur to Kulithalai.

In my 3rd or 4th std, I had traveled with my mama in a cycle about 100 Km.Whenever he comes for a vacation from Malaysia, he travels the country sides in a cycle. He visited my place, I made sure that I was the pillion rider to his way back to Srirangam.Just few km's away from the destination, the devil played in my destiny. I became the brake Inspector as my right leg struck into the wheel. As he is the doctor, he gave me some first aid and the stalled journey resumed.

When I visited Rameshwaram for a photo shoot in last Jan, I hired an auto. The auto driver was so generous to let me ride the auto in Rameshwaram-Madurai highway about 4 km. My heart was singing "Nan autokaran..autokaran.."

Oops! I forgot to mention my most hi-fi ride. When I traveled from KL to Los Angeles in with my friends in 2001, the pilot of the Malaysian Airlines was taking a stroll inside the aircraft. I established a chat with him and told him that I would like to have a look at the Cokpit.He grinned and went back without giving any answer. When I was taking a nap, the airhostess came to our aisle and asked "Who is Mr.Shrini here". I said "Yes, it’s me". She said, "The caption has invited you to the cockpit". Wow! She accompanied me to the cockpit where I spent 10 minute with the pilot. He explained me all the controls and the theories. I requested him to allow my friends also to have a look. Inquisitive Al gates (Alagu) went inside and clarified all his automobile related doubts (which he had not clarified in his 4 yrs of Batch-Automobile).

Ticket less travel in CBE, travel on bus top in Mekedatu, yamaha ride to steep hillock of Doddanakalli (Cauvery river camp)..how can i forget ?

The travel never ends..!!

Cheers
Srini

Naukri..

Getting a job in the IT industry is like a cake walk nowadays.Since India is flourishing in IT and ITeS domains, more and more talented people get their coveted jobs very easily.Recently much discussed/debated whopping job offers to IIM and ISB grads have kindled fire in many minds to think of pursuing management degree in any of such premier institutes. But the recent news on government mooting quota systems in the IIMs will definitely have an impact in the quality of the IIM products in long run.

Risk takers exist everywhere.Recently one of my close friends quitted his job even without having any job offer on hand.His intention was to finish PMP(project management related) certification and to try for a impressive hike from his new job.He finally succeeded clearing the PMP and searching for a job now. I know one of my family friends quitted his job after serving in Engineering industry as a Sales manager for 13 years to start his software career.It was amusing to see him studying HTML book for the tests at SSI at his mid 30's. He did SAP after that and got a job in a decent IT company.He achieved what he dreamed,settled now in the US and I got to know that he has purchased a house too there.!

For good or bad reasons, i hop job once in three years. In one of my recent interviews the interviewer asked me "So,can i expect you to quit our company in next three years?". I replied him, "It is too early for me to make any statement". Still I got the offer:).

In this dynamic world, only one thing is constant, that is C.H.A.N.G.E !!!

Okay guys! It is sin for any IT guy if he works beyond 5 'o clock on a Friday evening..So I am packing up ..Have a nice weekend !!


Cheers !
Srini

Sensex - It is nothing about sex..!

We have been hearing a lot about the buzzword 'Sensex'
through newspapers and elelctrnic media. Gone are my ignorant days when I thought it was something like 'Safe sex'.Though I am not an expert in this(I mean, in stock market :)), let me give my one cent!

Sensex is an achronym for Sensitivity Index which indicates the pulse of the Stock market.It is just a scale to measure the healthiness of a stock market to know whether the market is in Bull run (profit) or bear run (loss). Nowadays the market is in upward trend as we all know, and everyday it is setting a new record (crossed 11,700 points yesterday !).I read a good article in rediff, you may have a look at it http://in.rediff.com/getahead/2004/dec/10sensex.htm.

In my personal experience, Mutual funds are reaping decent returns. It is more safe way of investing as compare to stock market and it protects us from burning fingers in secondary markets which is very volatile.The fund managers of mutual funds are the experts who know where to invest our money to mint money and give us the peanut portion of the profit which itself is a good return for retail investors like us.I would recommend the novice investors to start with SIP (Systematic Investment Plan) in any top performing mutual funds. Itz all money dude..!

Nowadays I have become a proud frequent customer to Southern railways becuase of my increased personal trips.Getting train tickets for travel to bangalore(both inward/outward) during weekends is a nightmare to me thanks to my poor planning and laziness. .The trains are always running in full owing to weekly trips of homesick young crowd (I guess!).After having tried out many options like unreserved travel,getting tickets thro' agent, by waiting in serpentine queue in Indranagar booking office and in KPN &KSRTC, the hassle-free e-ticket booking came like a boon to me.Last time I booked tickets online,took printout and traveled with ID proof.I thought that the TT would ask some questions for authenticity,but absolutely
nothing. My only concern is the security of the credit card payment though a payment gateway. Three cheers to techy savvy Indian Railways and two cheers to Lallu ..!! :). For e-booking- http://www.irctc.co.in/

Cheers!
Srini

Rang De Basanti

Last Sunday, I watched Rang De Basanti in Abhinaya Theater near Majestic.This film was a long overdue in my calendar to watch. When the auto driver dropped me in front of the theater, I realized that I had come to this theater before with my friend Sundar to see a Akshay Kumar movie few years back. It was the time when we did 'In plant training' in Kirloskar during 3rd year of our college. Golden days they were..!! We used to go to Kirloskar in Yeshwanthpura around 11am after having sumptuous lunch in Sundar's uncle's house, have a casual visit around Motor, generator assembly division as if we are MD's of company, eat vada in canteen, timepass under shadows of Kirloskar trees and push off around 4pm after getting charged by a strong tea to have a walk along MG road to witness the cat walk of bevy of beauties. This used to be our schedule for almost for a month.

Coming back to R D Basanti, I liked the film though I could follow only 50% of its dialogues. It shows how the life of a group of irresponsible teenagers (Amir&friends) takes a U turn after they loose their best friend (Madhavan) in a MIG plane crash.
They kill the minister irked by his involvement in buying inferior quality aircrafts. Sometimes, I too get pissed off while coming across such corrupted people/officials. As writer Sujatha rightly wrote a dialogue in the film Indian, "Yes, the corruption exists all over the world. But the key difference is, in the rest of the world people bribe to get their illegal things done, but here in India we bribe to get even our legal things done”. Unless bureaucrats on the top vouch for a change, fair and free social system will be a mirage.

I was chatting with my neighbor who came to renovate his house before renting
out to some tenant. From his candid speech, I got to know that he owns around 7-8 houses at different part of the city zooming his asset values in crores.Surprised by his growth, I asked him what his occupation was. He said ,"I am a Civil Contractor
in BMP (municipality),Sir". All my questions answered !!!

thanks
Srini

My Thalaivar affinity

I was thinking what to write in my first post in this blog. I was in the same plight as Kamalhasan in 'Guna' film.Don't take it in the way as you think of. I was telling myself ' Blog ezhudhanumnu nenaikumbodhu matter aruvi maadhiri kottudhu, aana adha ezhuda aarambikkum bodhudhaan....".
Though i started off with Kamal, let me not control my gushing heartfelt feeling about my thalaivar Superstart rajini. I have been the hardcore,ardent,diehard fan of Rajini since my childhood. Not sure when it started,how it started, but I could still reminisce my tenderhood school days in my village, i fought with my dad to write my name as 'Rajini' in the wooden frame of the slate which he bought for me. He assured me that he would keep my name as Rajini in school.But i ran to my dad and complained him that the class teacher was still calling me as 'seenivasan' while talking attendence.
During my higher secondary days, the 'Rajini's tempo dampened a bit,but my cousin fuelled it again.He taught me how to make Rajini's hairstyle. I was having it during college days. To my bad, people could not realise that and assigned me a nick name as "Manjoor Ali khan". We celebrated Rajini's birthday (Dec-12th) in our final year of college in a big way. I drew a 4 feet rajini sketch, other rajini ruffian arranged garlands and the photo was taken as a procession through the corridors of the hostel with banging drums music(with bucket) & slogans. Two things achieved, 1.Celebtating thalaivar's Bday 2.Distrubing Mechanical guys who were having exams on the next day :)
I could not recall of watching any Thalaivar's film in first day first show. But after moving to bangalore, i watched "Baba" and "Chandramukhi" with Radha in the first show by bunking office. I am eagerly waiting for "Sivaji", planning to watch in Chennai for a real kick.
Last week i had been to chennai on a personal visit. I invited some of my ex.colleagues for lunch. After a stumptuous lunch in RA Puram Sangeetha hotel, my friend Ramesh and myself were coming back in his bike. He drove through different roads and we finally entered a posh area. Ramesh told that it was Poes Garden and I made him to drive further so to that we could have a glimpse of Thalaivar's house. we never minded about the police pickets.The number of policemen in the street kept increasing as we progressed, we crossed 2 police booths and finally were stopped by safari clad special force of police personnels. We just looked ahead, we were just in front of "Veda Illam". We realised that we were in a VIP's secrity zone(JJ). Sleuths chided us for entering into the high security area and we were let to go after a minor interrogation :).
" Aayiram karangal thaduththu niruthinalum....",


Cheers !
Srini

My maiden attempt

Dear friends,
I have never had an opportunity to write a pageful of verbose in a more presentable,more reachable manner. I had been longing for that for a long time.This blog is my maiden attempt to pen down my thoughts.I will try to keep this blog as much interesting as possible. Please give me sometime to refine myself in terms of content and language. Expecting eggs,tomatoes,whistles & applauses from you going forward.

thanks
Srini