Yaravathu soda vaangindu vaanga pa, yaravathu autova koopidunga pa - Evano Oruvan

One would be wondering why I am writing about the madhavan starrer “Evano oruvan”(EO) when the new release of kamal’s “Unnai pol oruvan” (UPO) is making waves everywhere. This blog is neither going to be about EO nor about UPO. It’s about that “evano oruvan” (X) whom we all know very well and would have come across at some point of time in our routine life.
Last Saturday, I visited Srinivasar Perumal Temple and it was crowded on the occasion of “navaratri uthsavam”. After worshipping the “utsavar” in the “oonjal” at the entrance, I proceeded to the “moolavar”. As usual, there too, devotees thronged inside the “sannadhi” and some were eagerly waiting outside to get a glimpse of “venkat”. I was standing midway at the “sannadhi”exit waiting for my turn and there came the voice of our X – “ vazhi vittu nintha, mathavalum parkalam…”


Am listing down couple of instances and situations where I have personally encountered X and which am sure you can also relate to. Read as “Situation – dialogue/action”


a. Marriage hall – For, ketti melam ketti melam - signaling to the nadaswaram goshti in Gana ullaganathan style. The Best part is, X would act as if the vadhiyar at dais has specifically identified him for the job…


b. Crowded bus – konjam vazhi vitta thaana, yerravanga yera mudiyum…


c. State Transport Corporation driver driving at snail’s speed– ippadi oorutiningana, yeppo poi seruveenga??


d. Private Bus that deviates to unnecessary routes for boosting collection – Collection parunga, athukkaga ippadi anniyayam panna koodathu..


e. Temple que – ppl waiting for prasadham – vaanginavanga nagarntha thaana, mathavanga vaanga mudiyum..


f. At the end of a road fight between two motorists and one motorist still not wanting to close the issue- aanathu achu, appadiye nagarunga..


In all the above occasions, till the point X voices out, no one knows who it is going to be. Depending upon the situation and urgency levels, it can also be you.
To my observance, X emerges on account of any one of the following:


i. To seek others attention
ii. Would be in a real hurry and want to expedite things
iii. Would have been off-mood and take that opportunity to vent-out his feelings
iv. Unconditional help


X can be compared to our informal leader in business management who takes authority and responsibility on his own without the same coming thru the formal channels. He is… Hold on – a voice from nearby housing board through my window – “thanni vara arambichirthu.. adikkaravanga “line”la vanthu nillunga.…” Yes, its X – let me go and see who it is this time…

Trip to Kurnool..

I have been trying to post this blog ever-since I returned back from Kurnool (Sathiyama thirumbi poga maatan!!) but the initial days went for recuperating my-self from the sickness I developed because of the trip and rest of the days I was occupied one or the other way. Ok, here comes the unforgettable experience...

I started for kurnool in feb end to attend one of my close friend Sree’s wedding. Eventhough there is a direct train from central to Kurnool; I took the Mumbai mail to reach Guntakal. Reason being, the direct train reaches Kurnool by early morning around 3.00 am which I felt was inconvenient. Also I was told by Sree that it would take just 1 hrs 30 mins to reach Kurnool from guntakal with good frequency of buses. So I started from chennai and reached guntakal on Saturday, Feb 28th around 9.15 am. Hoping that I should be able to reach Kurnool by 11.00-11.30, I didn’t have breakfast and had just one tender coconut (even otherwise, didn’t find any decent hotel).

In guntakal bus depot, I saw lots of APSRTC buses lined-up (all are “dabba” buses) but the name board was written only in “telugu”. First sense of fear started to creep into my mind and I was trying to get some sort help from people there. Unfortunately, due to communication gap, I didn’t get a proper response. With little telugu I know, I was able to sense that there is no direct bus to Kurnool (First let down by Sree) and everyone was constantly saying the word “Gutty”. Ultimately after spending 15 odd minutes there, based on someone’s advice, I boarded a bus without knowing where I am going to go!!

When the conductor came, I asked for Kurnool and I got the reply @##&$£ (nothing bad. Something in telugu) followed by “gutty”. In the meanwhile, Sree called me and I briefed him about everything including “gutty”. He told me that it’s “gooty”, a place from where I can take another bus to Kurnool. Adding fuel to the fire, my battery became low and I had to cut-short my conversation and turned-off my mobile. Knowing that my destination is “gooty” and I am on track, I felt better and comfortable. Hold on for a minute – Is this the same “gooty” where mumbai mail stopped for couple of minutes en-route to guntakkal?? Undoubtedly YES (second let-down)

Under scorching heat, I reached “gooty” by 11.15 types and boarded another “dabba” bus for Kurnool with some conductor’s help. By reaching “gooty”, I thought I have reached 3/4th of the distance and it would max take 15-20 mins to reach final destination and casually checked with a co-passenger as to the time it would take to reach Kurnool. The reply was a shocker – “Close to 2 hrs” (third letdown) in broken English and the ticket fare of 50 odd rupees seconded his reply. While I chose the last but third seat, others preferred to sit in the front inspite of the seats at back being vacant. The reason for the same I came to know only when the bus traversed through the roads (are they?) full of bumps and potholes and I was literally going up and down.

Finally around 1.00 pm, I reached Kurnool amid burning heat. Being a chennaite, hotness is nothing new for me but with certainty, I can say that I haven’t experienced anything like that even during the peakest of summer in Chennai – horrible to say the least. Chuck it, worst is over since I have reached Kurnool and I am just 5 mins away from reaching Hotel Royal residency where a room has been booked for me and srik, another ex-ramcoite (srik from Bangalore already checked-in since he arrived in early morning train).

I located the place and knocked room no. 103 in 3rd floor waiting for the cool breeze of AC to hit my face. Srik opened the room burning like oven with face full of heat rashes - room without AC (fourth let down). By this time, my gastritis started to trouble me and I badly wanted to finish my lunch as soon as possible and called sree to enquire about some good restaurant nearby (hotel royal residency is just lodging!!) He recommended “geetha lunch home” at walkable distance. At 40o C, walking for couple of meters, we located the place but our good luck continued and the hotel is closed some for some unknown reason!! We never had the energy to scout for another good restaurant. The need of the hour was to fill in something to regain some strength. So based on some locale’s advice, we finished a below-average lunch in a mess (eventhough they call it as a hotel) and came back to the oven. But for the heat, I guess srik was feeling ok but I was feeling terribly weak and had all symptoms to get cold and fever – Thanks to the heat and the tender coconut I had at guntakkal. In the midst of the hotness and suffocation, I slept for a longtime (In general, I can’t and I won’t sleep during daytime) and when I woke-up around 6.00 pm, I got caught of severe cold and headache. Rest is history and in-spite of being unwell, attended both the reception & marriage, never turned back and started for Chennai…

Yavarum nalam, 15E on April 04, 2009

Thanks to my company’s cost-cutting policy of not working on Saturdays, I decided to go for a noon show after very looong time. So I called ramak, my long-time partner when it comes to movie watching. Undoubtedly, I have watched majority of the movies with him.

Initially we decided on Arundhathi (AD) but later changed to Yavarum nalam (YN). Reason being, we felt that Rs.120 for ticket is too much for a dubbed movie and we don’t want to take any chance. Hence we started for sathyam hoping that we would get the tickets for YN.

We reached sathyam by 12.15 types and were about to park our vehicle when I heard a voice from back yelling “Daari”. I sensed an excitement in that voice. I turned back and it was Mowgli!! He has apparently come for the same movie all alone and on seeing me he got excited I guess. However he had a pre-booked ticket so we had to rush for the counter. But to our dismay, it was houseful. So we decided to try our luck on last minute cancellations. Luckily, I saw a group of youngsters having a bunch of tickets and I enquired whether anything extra is available for YN. They responded yes and immediately we paid for two tickets and waited for them to sort out their internal seat sharing arrangement and give us two tickets out of the bunch. In the meanwhile, mowgli joined us and checked on our status. They atlast arrived at some consensus and gave us ticket no.s 16E & 17E – Mowgli checked his ticket and screamed its 15E!!!

I am a person who seriously think that if something has to happen, it has to happen. But it took some time for me to digest this coincidence...

Joke of the Day

http://cricketnext.in.com/news/i-should-have-got-a-century-harbhajan/39665-13.html

I am sure those who had watched his batting today will definitely FOTFL (fall on the floor laughing) on reading this news. He batted as if he played with a hockey stick and nicked most of the deliveries. But for one or two clean hits, he never looked like crossing the double digit mark. His statement of missing on century is more than an over-statement. As Ravi Shastri rightly pointed, he tried his best to get out but unfortunately the edges fell short of fielders. People who missed on the match would think that he played a crucial knock to pull back the game for India which is not the case actually. Definitely his 60 provides a cushion for India but it’s not a deliberate attempt as he proclaims. Its high-time better he stops his non-sense talking and provides consistent performance with his bowling (I seriously doubt whether he can do it given his limited capacity. He is definitely an over-rated bowler)

Naan Kadavul disappointed me but not Bala...

I saw the movie yesterday evening. It was definitely one of the much awaited films which have been under productions for close to 3 years. Very few long produced movies have been successful in the past. Generally when a movie (I am talking about only the off-beat movies) is under-production for a long period and released amid great expectations, either of the following two things happens:

1. Content and screenplay would go for a toss and ultimately fail badly at box-office; (or)
2. The movie could be a well made, critically acclaimed one but fail to succeed commercially (according to me, couple of kamal movie but far “Aalavandhan” could fit into this category)

I generally rate movies under the second category if I get a personal satisfaction after watching them which I failed to get after watching Naan Kadavul (NK). It’s not right on my part to say that it was a total let-down. Definitely it’s a laudable effort for the reasons which I have mentioned in my forthcoming paragraph. Not so convincing last 30 mins plot and non-occurrence of two of my favorite songs, “Amma un pillai” and “Oru Katril” (I missed the first 10 mins but I don’t think it would have come in the initial frames) definitely dissatisfied me and reserved my decision of not rating NK under the second category.

I enjoyed all of Bala movies but as a person, I developed a hatred feeling on him as he used to mock Brahmins in his movies (Instances: couple of scenes in his Sethu and Pithamagan). But after watching a special program about the making of NK and the movie, he scaled to new heights as a humanitarian. The movie predominantly features all kinds of real-life beggars – physically and mentally challenged; eunuch etc. It was really touching to see the way Bala moved with the people without any animosity. Simply for this reason alone, I strongly recommend everyone to watch the film and motivate Bala’s humanitarian efforts...

Grahanams and customs(kastams)...

I neither know the scientific theory nor the astrological theory about eclipses. All I know are the following:

1. I should not go out during “grahanam”
2. I should stop eating few hrs before “grahanam”
3. “Dharbam” to be put in water and food items
4. Once the “grahanam” is over, I need to take a bath with “durbham” water
5. I can eat only after the bath

And yesterday it was another “grahanam” day and had to go through the customs(kastams) once again since it was a holiday (Republic day). Let’s see what was waiting for me...

After finishing our cricket match, we dropped our usual plan of going to “Saravana Bhavan” for breakfast as we had to have early lunch. So I went home and had to settle with bread and jam in place of ghee roast and sambar :-( . I was told by mother that I need to finish lunch by 12.30 pm as the “grahanam” starts by 2.30 pm. Generally a late eater (1.30-1.45 pm) during holidays, had to reluctantly finish my lunch by 12.30. After surfing few TV channels, around 1.45 pm, I decided to take a nap as I had slight headache and was feeling very tired because of play. When I was actually settling down well, my mother woke me up around 3 pm and told that the “vathiyar” would reach shortly I need to get ready for “grahana tharpanam”. I respect our rituals a lot and above all my father. Hence, inspite of having a banging headache, I got ready after having a “head bath”. “Vathiyar” came around 3.30 pm and the ritual was over in 10 mins. My mother told that I need to take a “head bath” again after “grahanam” and “vathiyar” too emphasized the same and left. I strongly refused as my head was still banging and my mother was clearly not so happy. I was dying for a cup of coffee and some biscuits to eat but the “grahanam” is still on. I tied a cloth to my head and laid down silently in the sofa waiting for the “grahanam” to get over.

Atlast, I guess it was over by 4.30 pm and I got my cup of coffee and biscuits with a “disprin” around 4.45 pm. At that moment, my feeling was akin to that of Tom Hanks in the movie “Castaway” when he got his first light of fire…

"Kings" - The Unwritten Game

Even though I have been following quite a few of my friends / relatives blog, I never had the intention to write one. I have always been a silent observer and maybe this characteristic of mine pushed me back from writing a blog. Actually, there are no hard rules for writing a blog – It’s just a medium for penning down your thoughts / feelings / memories etc... So I thought it’s high time I should open my account and here I come with a blog about the good old game “Kings”. Don’t know what made me to choose this one. All I wanted to do was to take a light nostalgic topic which would make the reader to relate it with their childhood.

Am sure 15 years back, this would have definitely ranked in top five street games among the school-goers. Following are few reasons for its popularity:

1. Cost-effective: You just need a tennis ball (Usually would be the “Lotha” ball which is unusable for cricket). Can also be played with a rubber ball but its very risky especially if the “catcher” is your then rival.
2. No. of people: Even though, technically you can play with 3 people (One “catcher” and two “runners”), you need atleast 5-6 people for the game to be interesting. Another strongpoint is, there are no restrictions regarding the maximum of no. of people.
3. Late comer: If you are late, still you can join in the middle and don’t need to wait for the completion unlike other games with the condition that you would be the “catcher” for the next game.
4. Uncomplicated: Simple rules make the game easy to play and doesn’t warrant any special skill set. Hence it’s unisex game and can be played by everyone.

Let’s see how the game is played:

1. Lines would be drawn on both ends within a space of 18-20 feet. Only the “catcher” can cross the lines. “runners” can only hop (“nondi”)
2. A small circle with normally a diameter of 60-70 cms would be drawn. All the participants need to place their right foot on the end curves.
3. Without any prejudice, the ball is then made to be dropped in the middle of the circle; usually by the frontrunner of the group to decide the “catcher” {without creating any suspicion, the ball is dropped in such away targeting the rival(s)}
4. “Catcher” would be the person whose foot is kissed by the ball.
5. Once the “catcher” is decided, others would run like mad dogs and try to hide one behind the other.

Rules of the game:

1. The “catcher” has to start the game from the border line.
2. He can throw the ball only under-arm (No over-arm; Side-arm is allowed)
3. To make a person “out”, he has to hit any part on or below the knee-roll
4. If any one gets “out”, he has to join the “catcher” to catch others and he will be the “catcher” in the next game (sounds like some visu dialogue isn’t...)
5. The “catcher” can’t move while holding the ball on his hand.
6. “Runner” can catch the ball only with folded fingers. If caught normally, it’s out.
7. “Runner” can throw the ball or hit with his fist wherever he wants. But if the same is caught by a “catcher”, then he is out.
8. The “runner” can do all kinds of tricks to escape - Some of the popular moves would be to push a co-runner in the front, hide behind a heavy guy, kneeling down in the road to hide and rotate oneself in the direction of “catcher”etc...
9. In the end, the person uncaught would be the uncrowned “King”.

Even though reasons like growing traffic, narrowing of roads and increased no.of cars parked in street can be attributed for reduction in the level of street games, I think its more to do with the attitude, interest and comfort of today’s children. For me, its still one of my all time favourite game and if I get a chance, I would definitely play in my street, running and screaming like a small kid…

Prasanna