Changing Times

Today, after a long time, I visited this blog and read a few of my previous posts. People say what one writes on his blog is a reflection of his personality. I don’t know how true that is, but the kind of change that had happened to me over a couple of years is evident from the posts I have written, compared to how my thought process goes these days. After all, I guess that’s the purpose of a journal or a blog; to allow for reminiscence and at times, comparison.

Last few days I got some free time to catch up with the latest happenings at my blog network, the ones who were active a couple of years back, the time when I too was in the foray. Sadly I realized that most of them have given up blogging, almost completely, just like me. But a few stalwarts are very much in action. I appreciate the spirit they posses, which I myself lack. But looking at the majority who had almost quit blogging, I feel, blogging also follows a life cycle, where old bloggers disappear in to their priorities and new ones enter into the arena. But blogging would stay and let it stay forever!

Raining Thoughts

It is raining. No. It has been raining and the rain is silently receding now. Sitting inside my room, I could feel the chilliness brought in by the cold breeze that was playing in the rain all this while and then intruded into my room through the semi opened window. I felt jealous of that breeze because I too wanted to play in the rain but I was not able to do that. Suddenly the breeze gave way to a pleasant wind which brought a thousand tiny droplets of cold water along with it. They fell all over me. I felt a quiver of excitement run through out my body, tickling each and every muscle on its way; all in the flash of a second. I felt the iciness spreading my entire body. Man, being in such a situation is a delight. I closed my eyes.

When I opened my eyes, I saw a shining droplet of water precariously clinging on the tip of a gleaming green leaf. The droplet was about to fall. I looked at myself. Omg! I have turned into a child. The old, small and naughty Jithu! The rain has just stopped and I ran outside my house shattering the muddy water on my way. I went near that dangling water droplet. I wanted to stop the droplet from falling down because it was so beautiful when it was hanging there. I was amazed by the way with which I could see the entire world in it. I doubted whether a wind is on its way to defeat the water droplet from its efforts. I suspected whether my breath would move the leaf thereby making the droplet fall down. I slowly placed my hand beneath the water droplet to hold it if it falls down. Suddenly a wind came from somewhere. It moved the leaf and the droplet lost its grip. It fell on my little index finger. It was no longer beautiful.

Meanwhile I heard my amma calling me inside. She told me that she has made black tea for me. My favorite tapioca fry was also there, she said. It’s great to have this combo when it’s raining. A cup of hot black tea and crispy chips! I forgot about that little water droplet on my finger and ran back into my house. I took the cup of black tea and the small bowl of tapioca fry to the verandah. In between I took some extra tapioca fry from my father’s share and put it in my bowl. I used to do something when it rained outside. I used to take a bed sheet and cover the chair on our verandah with it. That was my instant toy house and I soon made one; a house of my own! It felt great to be inside the coziness of my toy house when it rains. I crawled into my newly constructed house, into the small area between the bed sheet and the seat, with my black tea and the fries. The window or small opening of my toy house opened to the courtyard. Suddenly there started another downpour. I was inside my little house drinking steaming black tea, eating chips and enjoying the rains. There would be a thousand water droplets in each of the leaves now and a thousand beautiful worlds displayed in them, I thought. It made me happy.

Suddenly there was another wind which again brought in water droplets with it. The droplets were so big that they fell right on my face with a lot more power. And it made me open my eyes. The little Jithu disappeared. Hmm... That was a nice reverie. And I felt so melancholic. I know that those moments are gone. They won’t come back again. I am going to be in an office in a few days. I will be in a new city. I hope there would be rains there and there would be leaves to hold water droplets and show me that innocent world in it. I’m not so sure about that. I gasped it off. I looked at the water droplet which I saw hanging on the leaf a while ago. It was no longer there...

Hello, Onam? Its Maveli here!

Today is Onam, the harvest festival of Kerala; celebrated alike by all the Keralites! This is the fourth consecutive Onam I am away from my family and relatives. I feel jealous of Maveli (the king who once ruled Kerala). What if he was sent to pathaalam (underground; location of purgatory) by Lord Vishnu for a holiday, at least he is able to visit Kerala during Onam; and me... Well, it is not the time for such senti stuff. Onam is the time to enjoy, to celebrate and above all, to be happy!

I think it was in my 4th standard that I set an athapoo (Floral Carpet put for 10 days ending on Thiru-Onam) in our patio for the first time. Our house was well known in the village for its huge assortment of flora. Three cheers to my achan (father). So getting flowers for the athapoo was not a problem. But there was a threat. During Onam different societies (short lived co-operatives run by children & jobless majority of Kerala youth, which spring up during Onam even faster than a mushroom colony whose primary objective is to collect money in the name of Onam and secondary objective to enjoy life with that money) come to my house to get those flowers for their respective athapoo extravaganzas. So I have to surpass them to get the flowers for my athapoo.

After the sadya (lunch), children of our family assemble at my grand mother’s house where we play different games. One of my uncles would already have tied a swing in the jackfruit tree. In the evening there would be film shows (using a TV and a VCR) by the aforementioned cooperatives. Films like Vandanam, Indrajalam etc. were advertised heavily. My parents didn’t allow me to go and watch these films in the open air auditoriums aka road-sides. I continued this athapoo-ing for quite some time and it stopped somewhere in my high school.


Athapoo during Engineering, S5 - Designed by yours truly.

During engineering we had college level athapoo competitions. Our class put athapoo on all the Onams we got there. In college, someone will come up with puli-kali (a game with people wearing costumes of leopard) and stuff like that. Then there would be payasam (kheer / a sweet) distribution. In the evening people go outside their classrooms and what follows is a scuffle which even beats WWF, in what we call Ona-thallu. We also conduct Vadam-vali (tug of war) competitions and Uri-adi (madka-phod / breaking the pot) competitions.

When I was working in an IT company, a few of us decided to celebrate Onam in our company for the first time in its history. We wanted to put an athapoo in the reception. We went through all those hierarchical battles to get it approved by the admins. Well they can't be blamed for this. What if clients from GE and all see this at the reception of a Top 5 IT company of India on their visit to the company? When the athapoo was put, and the more than 1500 employees saw and appreciated it, we felt like having a cup of hot pal-payasam!

Now history is going to be written once again. We have planned to put an athapoo in our institute on Thiru-Onam. Yes, the first time in its history. I am just back after drawing the design. Early morning we will go to the nearby flower market. And I dont feel like sleeping!

Wishing you all a Happy Onam... Onashamsakal!

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Athapoo that we put today


Athapoo a bird's eye view

keralA beckonS

It's been 58 days and 7 hours that I am in Hyderabad. Three more days (exactly 79 hours) and I am gonna say good-bye to this city, rather, the twin-cities (Hyderabad-Secunderabad are together called twin cities).

The monsoon is predicted to hit Kerala coast on June 7th. I always welcomed her except for the last three years. What will she think if I'm not gonna be there a fourth time? Btw, don't tell her that I'm planning to give her a surprise this time by reaching Kerala on June 5th. ;-)

I still remember the first time I reached Kerala after joining my job. It was three years back and after a gap of (just) four months. The moment Netravati Express (He connects Mumbai and Thiruvananthapuram through Konkan) entered Kerala border I was awake. It was 6 in the morning. The sun was just out in the open from his daily hide-and-seek game. I was very much delighted to see the good old coconut trees, the green rivers and the green fields after a short time period (Not short for me that time). Why is everything green in Kerala?

To reach Thiruvananthapuram I had to travel 14 hours through Kerala. And these were some of the few hours in my life that went like a rocket, which I badly wanted to go slowly.

Even though I liked train journey during childhood, the Indian Railways have given me enough reasons to be afraid of it. One of the incurable cases of Traino-phobia! I want to change that. And this is after two long years that I'm going to Kerala by train.

Now here is something that I have noticed during those travels to Kerala. You would be using all your sense organs while you travel through Kerala, which make you feel that you are in Kerala.

Confusing, eeh? Ok lemme explain.

Tongue
Kozhikode-Aluva (Halwa) and I'm sure there is water in your mouth.

Eyes
Don't tell me that the greenery of Bekal fort was never a treat for your eyes. How about the backwaters of Alappuzha? And those lush green fields of Palakkad?

Ears
When the train stops at a railway station in Kerala, "Chaya Chayeee", "Puttum Kadalem", "Appom Mottem"! I always wanted to hear those again and again.

Nose
Well, no other sense organ will tell you that you have reached Kochi ;-) No offense meant. This is a dialogue in a Malayalam film. But to a lesser extent, Yeah!

Touch
When the gentle cold breeze, which carries the essence of Kerala, pat you on your back, and takes away all the worries from your mind.

Thus, using all your senses, you feel Kerala; you reach Kerala. No other place in this world can be proud of such a thing.

Yes! Kerala beckons.