Trip to my native.

I had been to Trivandrum for my cousin's wedding. So as to spend my weekend (awaying from boring Blore) I went to my native place Parakkai (7 kms from Nagercoil). It was such a nice feeling to experience the serenity of our village. Myself and my cousin bro had a great time out there.

Parakkai (see wikimapia on your left) is a nature's gift pregnant with fresh unpolluted air, dashed with greeneries and fresh water ponds (kulam) all around. Our house is part of the beautiful Agraharam (houses around the temple). The Madhoosodhana temple has a beautiful fresh water pond facing it. Almost everyone in and around the Agraharam take their morning bath in this pond. Straight after bath a divine darshan of the Almighty. I realized how peaceful life is away from the pollution, space crunch, concrete jungles of the cities.


Saturday Evening... We decided to visit Sothavilai Beach.(see the pic) Its just a 3 km drive from Parakkai. I must say this beach is one of the best I had ever seen in my life. No crowds, zero pollution, whitish sand with lots of corals, surrounded by thick blanket of coconut trees etc.. U cant get better than this one... We drove the bike through the beach coast, cutting across the waves and strong wind... it was an experience to cherish for lifetime.

We took a bath there and it was a exhilarating experience as the waves were very strong and ferocious. There were none at the beach except two of us. At a roadside shop, just outside the beach we had hot Chilli Bhajjis and Chukku Kaapi(Dry ginger coffee). It was time to get back to home as it was getting darker, but we decided to visit Manakudy(a village 4 kms away). This village was devastated by the Tsunami and so was Sothavilai beach. More than 150 had lost their lives then :-(


When we reached Manakudy I was shocked to see a big bridge broken away in the lagoon by the Tsunami (file pic attached). Now there is a small makeshift bridge to connect the two villages across the bay. There was aroma of fish all over the place(Manakudy is a fisherman's village). I got a glimse of new houses all similarly designed for the Tsunami affected. After spending some time in Manakudy we headed back to Parakkai. We were feeling very hungry [forget the Bhajjis we had ;-) ] we stopped at a roadside small hotel. We both had Rasam Vadais, Paper roast Dosas and Coffee all for Rs.14/- . Surprised huh?? Tats village life for u.




Next day we visited Suchindrum(1 km from Parakkai) which is house to the famous Anjaneyar(Hanuman) temple and KaniyaKumari. We visited Vivekananda Rock memorial, Tiruvalluvar Statue, Gandhi Mandapam and surrounding beaches. U can see the Vivekananda rock and Tiruvalluvar statue in the adjacent pic.

Then it was time to say Bid Adieu to my brother and Perima and Peripa(Uncle and Aunt). It was a great break for me away from my boring job.

Now I am back in pavilion(I mean office) :-(
but rewinding my trip through this blog.

Oh No, Not Again!!!!

It was a rocking week in Bombay. I had been there for a family function as well as seeking a much needed break. The week got spend like just few minutes. Finally, yesterday i had to leave for Bangalore. I just didn't feel like coming back... :-(

My train was Udayan Exp. at 9:00 am from Bombay. Traveling alone that too in train..cannot get more boring than this.. My only hope was finding some good looking girls. Suddenly, 1 nite@ call centre book by Chetan Bhagat flashed my mind shoving in more excitement. I was hoping against hope..

My watch said 9:05 am and i could see Udayan slowly chugging in platform no.4 of Kalyan JN. I quickly went through the chart of S-8 coach. My seat no. was 48. What I saw was....

Seat No.~~~ Age ~~~~~Sex
-----------------------------
. . .
46~~~~~~~~61~~~~~~~ F
47~~~~~~~~67~~~~~~~ M
48~~~~~~~~23~~~~~~~M
49~~~~~~~~48~~~~~~~ M
50~~~~~~~~30~~~~~~~ M
. . .

There were not even any girls (leave alone good-looking) in my bogie.

Luck never favors me these days.... :-( :-(

Meeting !?!

Today its busy in office than usual... everyone seems to be in some sort of hurry... These days its very chilly in Bangalore. Mercury level has decreased and visits to the loo has increased considerably. ;-)

I went to the restroom, and could hear a gentleman talking loudly on his phone. It was like someone was barking inside the toilet room. He was obviously in a unloading session. Suddenly, he seemed to end the conversation and said, "Right now, I am in a meeting.. Will call up later.!!" :-)

Btw I have a meeting now, catch u later. :P

Army Diaries

SSB Army selection

It was year 2002. I had just joined my engg college. I never wanted to do engg. just for the reason that there are enggrs everywhere. Most of my cousins are enggrs. I was desperate to do something different at that time.

Kargil was fresh in my mind and I had, have and will have lots of patriotism in me. Adrenalin was running high. I decided Army is my destination. I wanted to become an Armyman and do something fruitful for my country.

The SSB (Service selection board) army interview for Men (10+2) advertisement caught my attention. I wasted no time in applying for it. After some days I got a call from them to attend the selection camp in Bangalore.

My mood was upbeat on getting the interview letter. It was a feeling that I had already become an Army officer. I arrived in Bangalore(for the first time) and was intimidated by the scores of aspirants. Finally, we reached the SSB campus in Brigade Road, Blore. We were welcomed by Col.Singh and were briefed about the selection process.
There were some 180 candidates in all from nook and corner of the country. For the first time I got a taste of Unity in diversity. It was proud feeling.....

Next day morning was the written test followed by a GD. It ended by 10:30 AM and then started the anxious wait for the results. The candidates who passed in this test would be asked to stay back for the physical tests(and various other tests) for next 3 days, others would be heading back home. Everyone was feeling nervous. We had made quite a few friends by this time. Again it was aggregation of people on linguistic basis. There were tamil group, hindi groups, bihari gangs, marathi guys and so on.

Here I met Jegan, Jones, Ashok Kumar and 1 Telugu guy(forgot his name though). We gelled nicely and had long chats discussing about life, girls, food etc.. Then a officer came and asked the folks to re-group based on our ID. Butterflies were flying in the stomach. The officer started to read out ID and names of the pupils who were selected. I was just praying to get selected. I saw the shock and enjoyment on faces of others. My ID was 73. The officer called out 69, then 72, and then went on to call 78.

My dreams were shattered. It was as if I couldn't breath for a moment or two. Life seemed to have ended and I couldn't hear anything after that. A guy beside me shook me up and said he is calling ur number. I was shocked and surprised and then realised that he had missed calling out my number. Hurray, I was selected for the physical rounds. It was a great sigh of relief more than pride.

All of us, Jegan, Jones and Ashok got selected for the physical test. The poor Telugu guy had to make his way back home that day :-( We felt very sorry for him and missed him.

The next 2 days were gruelsome days in my life. I remember a drill called "Tiger leap" where we had to climb up a platform and jump some 3 meters in air to catch hold a big rope. I jumped but couldn't grip on to the rope(thanks to my extra pounds). The force of gravity was unkind to my weight. I came down screeching with the rope and was left with skin peeled-of from both my hands. I was girthing in pain and was given a dressing by the medical team.

3 more days passed. Everyday, Our drills/tests/GD et al would end by 11:30 am and we were allowed to go out and return back by 8:00 pm. Myself, Jegan and Jones went out everyday roaming the streets of MG road, Brigade road etc. It seemed to be girls, girls and girls everywhere. Jegan was at his flirting best in those days.. :-) We saw 2 movies in those 3 days and did lotz of shopping. Jegan used to say ,"Maapla, MG road la oru TEA kadai podanumda!!!" (Dude, We should open up a TEA stall in MG road) obviously to have a peep at the babes 24/7.. :-)

It was D day, the fifth day of our stay in the garden city. The results were going to be announced. The guys getting selected would be commissioned permanently in the Army. The unlucky would as usual go back home... Col.Singh came dressed in full Army Uniform. After the usual pep talk, he received a paper from his sub-ordinate. It was a feeling which i could never again experience. From Army uniform, Movie Border, Bofors, AK 47, Paki enemies, Param Veer Chakra...everything brushed my mind. The officer started reading the names.. We were 28 in all. He read 3 names and said,"Thats All". And my name was in the majority :-(

It was the most killing moment in life. There seemed to be no future. All hopes were shattered. I was not going in the Army. A so close, yet so far kinda feeling. Me Jegan, Ashok and Jones all heading back home. Only relief was no one got selected from our group. The officer left. It was a moment of grief amongst the 25 unlucky folks. It was pin drop silence in the hall. Everyone was unable to come over the grief. Suddenly Jegan shouted with great enthusiasm jumping up and down....

"Heyyyy!!!!!!! All of us are selected for going HOME, CONGRATS"

Hall burst out in laughter hearing that....Everyone got relaxed and shared a light moment after that..

Thanks to Jegan...

:-)