Random Ramblings

The auto driver told us that it is a good 2 km walk from the Mumbai-Pune Express highway to Karla caves. It was a pleasant morning with chill breeze. So, we(2 of my friends and I) decided to walk down the beautiful road.

[caption id="attachment_597" align="aligncenter" width="300"] We were headed towards the hill[/caption]

The road passed through a small beautiful village, with vehicles crossing us on and off. Just as we were enjoying the pleasant, un-polluted breeze, we noticed a XUV stalking us. They had crossed us twice already. And this time we noticed that the car slowed down near us and the two guys from the car staring at us. Within 10 seconds, we heard the car taking a turn and following us, yet again.

Yes, all of us had smart phones. But none of the applications could protect us in that situation. There are so many applications which would send out help texts with our location to friends or cops. But anything could have happened before some helping hand could reach us. I tweeted immediately, so that my location is known, at least to my followers. Just in case.

We got a bit more nervous as we noticed that there were no houses around, after 50 metres from now. Two ladies were sitting outside a house nearby. We went over to their place and explained what was happening. These morons in XUV drove around that house, twice from the time we went there. They slowed down in front of the house and kept staring at us.

Then, two guys came out of this house. The XUV guys moved away from the house. But they were waiting for us, a little ahead.

The folks of this house were very caring. They sat us down in their house; offered chaai. They decided to drop us at Karla Caves in their car and gave their phone number just in case we needed any help.

Three girls cannot walk peacefully walk on a beautiful road at 10 in the morning?? Can't imagine what these guys would have been up to if not for the nice folks who drove us down that road.

Every child grows up with a lot of dreams and aspirations about Life. Landing in a job of your choice can make your parents very happy and proud. But that's all for a while, if you are a girl. They start troubling you with the marriage talks just when you start exploring the world. Let me share my opinion about this marriage market!

"We are growing old. Getting you married is the only thing we are worried about". So, you just want to get me married? What if I don't like the good-looking, money-making robot that you marry me to? What if he turns out to be gay? Oh, that cannot happen, because your astrologer said so!

Alright. Just for their happiness, I permit them to start looking for my "soul-mate". My dad takes my photo and goes to a matrimony centre, gives my photo and it got rejected by the manager. He asked for a "better" picture of mine. Come on. That photo has got 100 likes in facebook! He asked my dad to get a picture where I was wearing a Saree, lot of jewels, hair plated and flowers on it. Basically, he wanted a photo from the 1980s. Why should I portray myself as someone who I am not!

Not being able to respond to any of my questions, Dad asks, "How am I going to get you married?" Lately, this has become my Dad's response for every single thing I say. I'm getting a haircut; I'm going for dinner; I'm going to my friend's place. Why should everything revolve around marriage?

On the top of all these is the Dowry concept. Why does marriage involve money, car, house, gold, platinum?  Is it an entry fee for the bride to enter the groom's family? What kind of business is this?? What hurts me is, even educated people don't seem to get it! Why should the girl be covered with Gold ornaments(most of which she will never wear again in her life time) ? Why not invest this money in something else, say shares or house? Oh, that's a prestige issue. The people who attend your wedding will not get to see the price tag on your neck.

Though everyone agrees that Dowry is a shameful concept, when it comes to their son/daughter, they are not ready to change. Honestly I feel there's no prestige in giving/taking dowri. You've gotta be ashamed of it.

"I can understand what you say. But 4 baer 4 vidama pesuvanga(4 people might speak about it in 4 different ways)"

Your daughter's happiness has always been your top priority till she turned 21. But now, all you are worried about is some 4 people's opinion. I don't know who those 4 jobless people are.

Be the change you want to be!

PS: My Dad is super awesome and he tries to understand my arguments, though he is from another generation. I feel sorry for some of my friends whose folks are not ready to listen to any of these arguments.

FRIENDS is my most favourite sitcom so far. I never thought that I could get addicted to this sitcom. Because, I had a problem with those random voices which laugh hysterically in the middle of a conversation. But later, my brain found its way to filter out those laughters from bothering my system. I tried to start watching many times. But failed right at the Season1 Episode1.

I got a very good tip from a friend. Start watching from the 3rd season. Because the first 2 seasons are mostly to break the ice among those 6 characters. It did work!

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="691"] FRIENDS[/caption]

I was insanely into FRIENDS that I watched all 10 seasons in 40 days. It did not stop there. I kept watching it again and again. Whenever I felt bored or lonely, FRIENDS was my first choice.

I started reacting like the characters in FRIENDS. Mostly like Phoebe, giving silly explanations, crazy ideas. I could relate whatever that happens around me with some scene. (Like, Joey doesn't share food) :D But the best part is, when people around me are also FRIENDS addicts and they could relate to the same scene. <<Whoopah>> (In Chandler's tone)

I understood how stupid it was after an incident. I was not able to sleep after a long tiring day, because I heard voices of Joey and Phoebe in my head. A small doze of FRIENDS got me to sleep. The next day, I made a rash decision and wiped off all seasons from my disk so that I would focus on something else. But haha. I still miss them. All 6 of them :(

I got a new vision about friendship a few days back. I wanted to share it with you guys. But tweets/facebook status msgs cannot be too long. So I decided to write this blog post.

I classify friendship into two types. Friendship with those who

1. naturally become friends with no intention.
   (Classmates, colleagues, neighbours etc)
   
2. become friends coz of some reason or presumption about us.
   (Social networking, friend's friend etc)
   

We tend to get close to the 2nd kind of friends so easily. We often tend to ignore the 1st category ones for the later.
But if we analyse our friendship, we can see that the 1st kind of friends are more affectionate and caring towards us.

True friendship is not about shaking hands in the best times. It is about holding hands even in the most painful situation.

This is just my opinion. Comments are welcomed.

Disclaimer: This post is not intended to hurt anyone. :)

Rewinding 15 yrs from now.. I was in 1st std. In the math annual exam, I just attempted for some 40 to 50 marks. My parents mock at me for this almost everytime I speak about math. Here is the reason for my not filling the paper.

1st and 2nd std students sit together during exams. I liked the way the 2nd std students attached many papers with a single "pin" (gundoosi). They give a pin only if I write more than a sheet. I was keen about getting an additional sheet. But I forgot that I was writing an EXAM. I filled in the 1st page properly. Then wrote 2 lines in the 2nd and third pages. Left the 4th page. Got an additional sheet.  Wrote 2 lines there too. Thats it. I got a pin now. Yippee.. Attached the papers, submitted the paper and walked out. Innocent me!! I was mesmerized by that little pin. ;)
The next morning, my dad dropped me in school. I noticed my dad and math teacher talking. I knew its about my math paper only. My dad blasted on me. (Who wouldnt) She offered me an unofficial second chance. That mam's house is near mine. Dad took me to her house and I wrote the test again. Know what? I scored 90+. Everyone was wondering why I dint write properly at first. I dint have the guts to disclose the reason on that day. So I left them mazed. :P

All for the best.. From that day, our family and mam's family became friends. We go to their home for every Diwali and they come to my home for every Christmas. Only before 2 days, I told the reason to my parents. Waiting to tell mam about it. I would like to mention that kind teacher's name here.. She is Mrs.Hedwig,my class teacher in 1st, 5th std. All my primary school friends would remember her.

When I joined college(in 2008), I remember my seniors telling me,

1.No rules in SSN

2. Rule number 1 must be strictly followed!

This was true till the end of my second year. Now strong rules have been imposed! :(

We should get leave letter from parents/warden if we bunk a lab session! Things are not always explainable. If the 3 hrs of lab is not worth attending, it is nothing wrong in bunking it and doing something constructive. We are not kiddos. We know what is right!

We are not supposed to enter hostel before 3.30 pm(except for lunch). If we are ill, we need to get permission from the class incharge before entering the hostel. Isnt it sickening?? A person who is not feeling well should roam about in college, find the staff and get leave letter signed and go to hostel??

Only three outings per month.. This sounds better than the other two rules. But it is not so! :(

What is the necessity of these rules? Every student knows his own responsiblities. They know what is good for themselves. If someone bunks, he obviously knows the consequences. Why did these new rules come into play all of a sudden? Wasnt SSN good without these rules?

I am still happy for the freedom we have in terms of mobile and dress code.

It happened an year ago. I said *Sayounara* to my car and came home from school with my best buddy,Archana in her black scooty pep+. I am a rash rider.
It wasnt raining when we left the school. But within a minute, it started raining heavily. We dint want to wait. We wanted to have some fun. I was riding the vehicle at 40 kmph on the National Highways on that day. As usual, Archu was slapping me and screaming "Suganthi... Go slow!!". I dint give a damn to it. Actually,Archu was too happy with the ride. But she was a little scared. We happened to see one of our schoolmates in front of his house. We howled and shouted "BYE" to him. We were singing songs on the road. We reached home entirely drenched in rain. My mom was shocked on seeing us. She was wondering for a moment,thinking who these people are. Our white uniform was entirely spoilt! It became brown in color.

All I am gonna write is from my own experience. This is the problem faced by many people like me. First let me give a brief intro of myself.

Born in a middle class family in Tirunelveli(a not so developed city). Only daughter to my parents. Had a good neighbourhood. Lot of good friends since childhood. Not just friends. I would say "another family" rather. I dint have the feeling that am the only child. Was surrounded by friends often.

Now let me say about my schooling. Did till my 10th in a good Convent school.Convent schools do not just spread Christian religion.They preach True Christian values;True definition of Human Life. This school had taught me loads about Life;purity of soul;Eternal Glory; Virtues. The motto of my school is "Virtue is our strongest shield". It is a Girls' school. The teachers were partial. I dint get any oppurtunity to realise my hidden talents till my 8th. I realised that I had a very good leadership quality from my English Teacher, in my 8th class. My class teacher in 9th n 10th, she showed me who I am exactly. Now I enter my Higher Secondary Schooling. I entered an orthodox Hindu school(contradictory right?). I got a hand full of good friends by the end of 11th class. All of us enjoyed learning. All of us were almost of the same kind. I felt great when I was accompanied by all those people. Lion may be the king of the Forest;But its pride increases when it is surrounded by many other lions. None of us had any kind of jealous or superiority complex. Our friendship became thicker during the summer vacation(after my exams were over). We knew very well that we may be seperated (by distance) when we enter college. But still, this fear dint affect our happiness at that time. Now,College life. I am in a very good institution(in Chennai,a developed city) now. I have met a lot of people now. Here too I have a number of friends. They are from various parts of the State. A few from other states too. Lots of changes in behavior,attitude,topics in which people are interested etc.May be, it is all the effects of westernisation! But still I enjoy Life in my own way. But the difference is, I wear the mask of a quiet gal in the coll.I dint change myself to a quiet gal. Coz,still there are people who says that I am a chatterbox!!! Till the end of 12th,I had more than 100 good friends. The way we mingle with each other is entirely different from those people whom I met in my coll.I was surrounded by friends all the time. I have never felt lonely before. What people near me tell often is,"You are the source of Joy". But now!! I couldn't find even a single soul like my school pals. Words couldn't explain,how a gal brought up like me would feel under this situation.Everyday is a battlefield. I could take this too in an optimistic manner. These incidents too teach me about what Life. Every incident teaches something about Life. I learnt to be what I am, whereever I am. Mind filled with Golden memories;Eyes filled with tears,in search of them. Will I get back those golden days?

As days pass by, I got used to all these and realised that I need a change. I revealed the mask. Back to form. Happy with my new friends in college. Realised that "Things are not what they seem". Got to know people who could understand me the way I am. They too taught me lot of lessons in life. Lovable pals gave good times at college. I came across a few cunning people in my Life. They too taught me great lessons like Never trust anyone.

Miss you all,my dear school friends, Teachers and everyone, who moulded me into what I am now. I will be thankful to all of you forever and ever.