Diwali And The Key To Happiness

In Kerala, Diwali is not traditionally celebrated with much dhaam dhoom as in other parts of India. That is the reason why I never associated this festival with crackers. We in Kerala celebrate Vishu and it is in this occasion that we normally burst crackers. I used to have lot of enthusiasm for this activity when I was a kid, but with time bursting crackers had become the least of priorities. So from the last six years that I am in Bangalore, I have never lighted a cracker for Diwali even when the whole neighborhood was enjoying their high decibel fun. 

But this year turned out to be different and how! What makes it more fun was that there was no plan till the last moment and it was just a momentary decision that made our evening the most enjoyable one in last few months. Diwali was a working day for us as the company management decided to give us off on Monday instead of Tuesday in which Diwali fell. My better half M went to meet my close friend and colleague V's wife S who stayed nearby. S had made some delicious Gulab Jamuns, and invited me too to join them after working hours. So evening I went there with V, who had got a huge box of assorted crackers, but was in a mood to gift it to kids. We four had jamuns and coffee, chit chatted for some time and then me and M took leave. 

We walked back and was about to reach our home when M remembered the key. She had kept the key at V's home when she was there. We had to walk back all the way to get the key. But when we reached their home, the plans changed. The decision was taken to burst crackers, at least some of that he had in stock if not all. We burnt the candles, took out the sparklers, rockets, wheels and had a great time. Our house key turned out to be the key of happiness this Diwali.

SPIRITual Bliss And A Bewildered Friend

A couple of years back, I had met this guy from North India who was on a short term assignment to Bangalore. He was a pale, lean and tall person, so naive that I crossed a busy Bangalore road and had to wait for ten minutes for him to cross. I had spent a couple of days with him and had took him around our locality to show the place. Everything in Bangalore- food, transport, culture, language, people- was all very new to him. If you are from Bangalore, you probably will be familiar with the sight of men fallen on ground in deep drunken stupor- in a real SPIRITual bliss. That day when I took him to a crowded market there were three of them lying just some ten meters apart. When my friend saw this sight that was alien to him, he stared for some moments, then looked at me and whispered nervously: "They are not dead. Are they?" "No, they aren't... I hope they aren't", was my reply. ...who knows?

The Survivor....!

Can you believe what might have the condition of the people in that car...? If my good friend who was there in that car is to be believed, not even a scratch was happened to the five guys who were involved in the accident... Damn good luck I should say... The driver went with police, two guys were taken to hospital for a sprain on their hands, my friend and his colleague walked back to their home...

First Information Report

While going through the latest posts in my reader list, I came on this post which was about the background check that is an essential before any marriage proposal. A very humorous incident was narrated there, which reminded of such a thing that happened to me some time back. One of my very close friend, (lets call him LA) called up one fine day asking for a favor. His room mate's parents have found a girl for their son, and he wants to get a background check on her. The girl studied in the same college were I studied, as 4 years my junior. I was not there at that time and had never met her. So LA wanted me to inquire about her with any one who studied there at that time, whom I knew. 

I am pretty bad at keeping contacts with people with whom I don't have an emotional attachment, and after thinking a long time, decided to call one guy, who was two years my junior (Lets call him JS) with whom I was pretty close then. (Later I happened to associate with him and had to severe my relationship with him because he was the cause of some pretty bad damage to me.That is another story anyway.)  

So I called him up and asked for a favor. I told him I wanted to ask about this girl, who studied as his junior and it was part of a "Pre marriage investigation". He plainly told she is a good girl. I was much relieved as I dreaded the situation where I have to break a bad report about a girl... Then conversation turned to other trivial matters. 

I was about to bid good night, when he told, "Harishetta, just because you have asked me about this girl, I want to tell something."

My heart fell. 

"Actually, at that time, I was pretty close with her."

"Hm.....!???"

"It started initially as a rumor, originated from the friends. After some time we were quite close. But I never proposed to her. And later I decided not to pursue that case. After passing out of college, I never met her or had any contact.  First I decided not to tell you this, but later if you come to know from some one else, it will not be good. That is why I am telling you now. She is really a nice girl..."

"So... what shall I do now..?"

" I don't want to destroy a good future for her. Nothing happened between us and what ever that float around was all rumors. I liked her and was friendly.. "

Shall I laugh or cry..? What a choice...in the whole world, this is the man whom I called for my FIR enquiry..

On religion, prayer etc.

This happened a few days back.... I was chatting with my friend when a friend of his, who was in the background till then chipped in to the conversation. We were talking about food, and my friend was telling a particular place was better because they served more quantity of non vegetarian items with food when compared to other places. But he had considered egg dishes as non veg (omelet or "aamplate", as they say it in my place). I told him never to consider egg as non veg because  the cost of egg is considerably less than chicken or mutton and a dish will also cost considerably less than when even compared to vegetarian dishes. At that moment my friend's friend, whom I am meeting for the first time barged in with his opinion. "Ey, egg is non veg yaar, don't tell it as veg."

A little background info now. My friend had told me before itself that this guy is a very nice chap, but he never stops talking, will talk more on religion and compel you to pray and do things like that. So I was kind of expecting to have a showdown with him sometime soon... 

"I was telling about the economy of non veg, don't bring in religion now." I retorted.

Thus started a discussion on religion which went on into topics like significance of religious scriptures, benefits of prayer, about belief....

He was telling that we should not fall into materialistic pleasures and should live a life of spiritual uplifting by doing good things like prayer, meditation. We got our life as a human after countless lives of many animals and we have to be busy with escaping from this world to a world of endless pleasures and stuff like that. He also told about the ever living soul. And if we eat non veg you will become like a lion. 

I was considerably happy hearing the last thing. I always have a liking and admiration for creatures like lions, puma, vultures....

He asked, "Who are you?"

I gave my name and permanent address. He was baffled for a moment and then tried to correct me. It seems I am an eternal soul who manifests itself in my body, whatever that means...

"That is YOUR belief." I replied.

"Yes."

"There is a chance that, it may not be right."

"No way."

"Why?"

"Have you ever read Githa?"  

"So you are arguing with just some bookish knowledge."

"Githa, Bible, Quran and such scriptures are not books. They are the truth."

"Again that is your belief. I need not believe that."

"But that is truth."

"How can you be so certain? A Belief can never be truth. Only knowledge can be true."

"We are on a constant search for that knowledge."

"Till you possess that knowledge, you are just believing and not certain. So you have no right to tell me what to follow. Because there is a scope for error."

From then onwards it was my show. I told him that I have read Githa, Quran, Bible and several books on religion like some works of Vivekananda and such things.(Actually that is half truth. I have read a few books on religion, but in an argument what counts is how much your opponent feels you knows. And I scored there. He really believed it.) That is the ground work, and then my mind should process it and the ultimate knowledge will come eventually from my inside. If you go on searching you will never find it. Do as your heart says. And one fine day if you are fit for it the answer will come from yourself. I mentioned the famous quote, the only real Christian in the world was crucified.  So why we have to be phony Christians, Muslims or Hindus if we are able to make our own  genuine private religion? 

The last nail on the coffin was the famous quotation from J Krishnamurthy. "Freedom from the known." I told him about his philosophy, which says no one should follow him or any one in that case blindly. Know yourselves, otherwise you will be a believer life long.... 

He never came near me after that till today.......

A wedding, boat ride and full body massage

Last month I had been to Pollachi for a good friends marriage. G is a great guy, wonderful friend, ex colleague who had been a good support to me when I used to work in FPL. He used to take care of system administration and we used to call him 'the father of ERP' because he was responsible

Breaking ice in Ooty

I was totally psyched that day, I was feeling like killing some one and eating their head.... I wanted a recluse. I went to a travel agent and asked him which is the best place to go for two days for total relaxation. The guy recommended Ooty, and I decided to spend some time there...

Close encounter with a Star

Last day I went to watch a Malayalam movie, "Katha thudarum" (The story will continue), directed by Sathyan Anthikad. It is a nice movie, simple and one that has a story worth to be told, a rarity these days considering the cinematic excuses churned out of the movie industry in Kerala. I was in Thalassery waiting for an email and had to kill the time. The movie hall offered a good refuge from the hot climate as it was air conditioned.

The rush was minimal because two big movies where being screened in nearby theaters. When I entered the movie was started and I somehow found a comfortable seat scouting in pitch darkness. The movie was coming around beautifully.. It was the story of a Hindu girl marrying a Muslim guy without permission from parents and are ostracized from families, living independent. The guy is killed and the wife and their small kid comes to road... and as usual Jayaram, the good Samaritan rickshaw driver helps them out...

The person sitting next to me was quite a disturbance, unrest and mumbling something inaudibly, but eyes glued to the silver screen. A crowd scene was going on... suddenly the guy give a very small jump from his seat, turned to me and said, "I was in that scene...". Now I knew why he was acting like a dumb-ass.

"I had worked in this movie for about 20 days" he told me.

"Are you there in any more scenes?" I asked.

"Ya , I am there in some more".

Through out the whole movie he was searching for crowd scenes because only in such scenes he had a chance to appear. And other times he was showering movie trivia on me, about locations and co actors.

During Intermission he shown me the photos he had taken with Innocent, Jayaram and all. He was a man of around 50, lean, around 5'6", a beard trimmed neatly wearing a good looking shirt, a lined jeans and with a small hunch back... He had acted in other movies also, he did a bit scene in Pappi Appacha.. where he helps Innocent when the latter is stabbed by the villain. He has also done the English movie from which Thilakan was kicked out...

After the interval he was able to locate himself in the background of a scene... some serious, emotional stuff is going on and he walks in the background from one end of the frame to another end, half naked, with a Lungi on and a ladder in his hands, probably as a coconut tree climber. He was very happy that I could recognize him... and I was also happy .. it is not an every day occurrence, watching a movie sitting next to a 'star' even if it is a shooting star.

Tear jerker

I had to visit a friend last week who was admitted in a hospital after a severe road accident.... I knew it will be awful, and it turned out more than that.

I should say we had become very close friends in a short while of time, in course of three months to be precise. He works in the same place where I works. When I joined there he was on a long leave and then he used to come on two wheeler for work. I travels in company cab, so we never used to meet often, just were aware of each others existence.

Then one day when we were returning in the cab he was there, sitting in front of me with another friend, and they were talking about old Hindi songs, which was my weakness too. Slowly I joined the conversation.In the end we had a wonderful time together...

After that three of us used to meet together at a nearby Dhaba, used to have a great time discussing and singing Kishore, Rafi , Mukesh and Yesudas. We became great friends in course of time. He had a great talent of mimicking singers especially Kishore and Yesudas. We were stunned by the quality by which he can sing in Yesudas voice. When we tell Yesudas he starts "Sarade..." an old Kannada song sung by the master singer.

When my mother was there with me he had come a couple of times. We had dinner together, once he brought sweets after coming from an on duty.

All was going fine, when I received a call on a sunday afternoon... ' V had a serious accident just a few moments back... heard it is serious'. He was coming back after doing overtime in company, when a truck hit his bike very badly... truck was overtaking another vehicle and came to the wrong side. He tried to avoid, but couldn't help getting hit on his right thigh. Truck sped away with out stopping. He was rushed to hospital immediatly.

Barring some minor wounds on his arms, nothing had happened any where on his body except on right leg, right thigh bone was crushed to powder, other bones also severely cracked and deformed. Doctors were recommending amputation, but later tried surgery. All bones replaced by steel rods and waiting for a major plastic surgery.

I had went to see him... Due to heavy medication and less food he has gone totally weak. Heavy pain prevents his voice from coming out, and when I saw his leg I was dumb, I didnt knew what to sayall flesh and blood. I just muttered a get well soon and rushed out. Tears were gushing down the eyes... Just wiped them out because his parents were there. Told them my condolences and came out...

Wish I will sit with him soon and he will sing with the same mood and spirit.... " Sarade"....

My vodafone friend

Yesterday afternoon I got a call....

'Hi! This is Mr. L from Vodaphone customer care, may I know your name?'

I recognized the voice, it was my friend staying with me at PG. He is a customer care executive hunting to convert people from postpaid to prepaid connection.... I was feeling this was a prank. So I just gave my name. Then he started canvasing me for changing my plan. I just went in with what he was telling, saying nothing.


He detailed the whole plan and finally asked me whether I am interested. I replied I am interested but I dont have an address proof as I am staying in a PG in JP Nagar. He suddenly asked my address. I gave the house number and then he started chuckling from other end. Then he told he will send an executive to my place the next day. I told him to send a beautiful girl colleague of his........

I didnt chatted much because as he is calling from his office it will be heard and recorded. Why to give him a trouble? Later on when I met him in evening he told he didnt knew it was me till I trold him address. I was really impressed with the way he handled the call after knowing it was me. He was as official as he was before but a slight warmth and recognition was laced in his voice... He is a good professional...

Magical dilemma

"Haree... tumse kuch baat karna hein..."
I had just returned from office and heading to my room when our watch man called from behind.

He is a poor Muslim guy whom every one in the PG despises... even I too know he is an asshole.. but I also know that he cannot help being one.... any one in his position will eventually become one...

I was seeing him for the first time when I was searching for a paying guest (PG) accommodation some where near Banashankari. I had seen an advertisement and contacted a guy who offered me one for Rs 2000 per month in a very good locality. He told me that he will send the watch man to a spot... So I was waiting near the place when this short, shabby guy about 50 years appeared to pick me up.

He talked in crude Urdu, and took me to the place. The place was ok and I agreed to stay there giving some advance. Watchman offered to provide me with dinner for Rs 20 daily and he promised that quantity will be sufficient. I gave him advance for that too...

So I started living there from next day. He lives in a small portion with his family of a wife and a girl. It was a very noisy family, quarreling and making commotions daily. Food was fine at starting, but quality was getting worse by day and finally I left eating from there. He was disappointed because it was an extra income for him..

Then I came to know that he was marrying off the girl after Ramzan, quarrelling was getting frequent and even some times I could hear abusive words flung at each other from their home...
And last month marriage was over. I was also planning to leave the place and move near to the office by a month and I had mentioned it to him....

So yesterday when he called me personally I was wondering what may be the reason. He called me to a secluded place and asked whether I know any Malayalee guy who is good in doing any Mantric deeds....I remembered him saying some time back about malayalee mantrics are the best in business and they can do some real scary stuff with lemon... so I was in a fix and was wondering what to respond... It was about his girl. Seems she is refusing to talk to him and to his wife after marriage. He suspects her father in law has brainwashed her and made her to hate them. He desperately wants to inquire what went wrong and what to do with the help of some "Mantram".

Now how can I help him? I myself don't believe in such stuff, but the paternal feeling that was oozing from his words made me to take him seriously. I tried to calm him down as he was in the verge of tears. There is no use talking sense into him so I felt it better to comfort him and told to give the details of the girl so that I can show it to some astrologer when I go home.

He was even ready to bear the bus fare to my town but I told its not required and I am ready to help him any way possible by me.

I dont really know whether I will do some thing regarding this, but I would like to note it down here just to make myself remember later that it is difficult to know when or from where a distress call comes....

Mechanical Forgery

My room mate was laughing when he saw my uniform on which company name was embroidered. My company name is ForgePro.

He is an advocate and the only forging that he knows about is forgery of documents and things. He asked me bewildered what exactly I am doing there. I had to explain him in detail that the mechanical forging is different and it involves totally different procedure. It is in no way illegal...

A friend indeed

I called one of my dearest friends yesterday...

After a long gap of 4 years...
Its my own fault... I dont care for keping up my contacts....
But the feeling when you contact some one after such a long time is awesome...
There will be a lot to say... long list of complaints, a lot of catching up.... nostalgia.. glimpses of all the time you spend together... its a great feeling altogether..

And what a time to call... next month he is getting married...
Got a sweet invitation....
A must attend wedding next month...

The Class

Last day evening I was sitting with two gentlemen much senior to me. It was a very accidental meeting. I was in darkroom when they entered. There was no space for them and I was sitting alone. Waiter made them sit next to me. They were two aged guys talking in Kannada. When they asked me from where I was I responded that I am a Malayalee in Kannada. They were impressed and appreciated the fact that I learned the local language in so less a time. Then we started conversing. About life in general, career, their views about world and stuff like that. The kind of conversation that you will die for but seldom manage to do.

They were two senior advocates- contented advocates if I borrow their words. They earns what I earns in a month as just 3 hours consultation fee. Still they considered me as a mate. The elder person was speaking of the class. He told we belonged to a class, although we were different age, profession, earning or community. I could identify it immediately- it was the class of refined, content, emotionally matured people who are brought up with a cultured parentage.... That was the thing that connected us... We are a minority. But no one can miss us.