Imaginary Short Story

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"Loving you was the greatest mistake I have ever done in my life", He was politely telling Her. Normally with this kind of statement the reaction would result in a quarrel for most other people, but, She smilingly replied back, "Thanks for honoring me, honey". She knew the moment she saw him that something is troubling him that day and she even knows what that something is. He didn't expect this answer though, and he was mildly surprised. Trying so hard to hide the smile and even more harder to keep a serious face, he asked, "How in the world is that honoring you?"

"I thought you were smart enough to solve this", She told playfully.
"I am angry here, right? Do you mean that repenting for loving you honors you?"
"Hmm... God... you are really out of form today", She giggled and continued, "Since you told loving me was the greatest mistake in your life, I was honored that marrying me was not"

Realizing that He has been outsmarted again, he smilingly shook his face and slowly walked near her. Since blushing is something which you can't control, she almost became red, blushing, and he stood near her. Right at that moment, they heard a very enthusiastic announcement, 'I am ready!!', the two years old Arvind entered the room happily.

Thinking 'How adorable... going to the pre-school for the first time and he is not crying and is much more happy about it... Good that I have talked great things about the nursery yesterday', and with tons of love, she lifted Arvind kissed him and left the room and switched on the TV and asked him to watch Cartoon Network till the pre-school van comes and picks him up. Within seconds, Arvind got engrossed in the TV and she was a bit concerned about the other child in the other room being a little angst today.

 She entered the room and asked Him with a smiling tone, "So... where were we?". He tried to answer with a toneless voice "We were fighting...". Unable to control the laughter, she laughed aloud and told him, "Honey... I know you are upset that Arvind is going to the nursery school. I am also going to miss him. But -loving me was a great mistake- is too much to get my attention". There was a momentary silence. His eyes showing a little shame and his lips showing a little smile, he started to say something, but stopped.

Just to break the ice and bring him out of the awkward pause, she said "I can't believe it is actually happening... Arvind is actually grown enough to go to school". He replied with a sense of victory, "It is not school... it is nursery... and I can't believe that, even after all these years, you still use the phrase 'I can't believe it is actually happening...' for all the things-that-happen-first-time.

It took her couple of seconds to control the blush and shy and when she was about to pat him on his head playfully, they were interrupted by their son Saravanan, "Mom... Dad... since today is the first day, I and Laksmi are going to take Arvind to the nursery just in case if there are any formalities and to  make sure that Arvind is comfortable. Lakshi will be back in another 30 minutes by auto."

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Well... this is my 100th post and probably, my last story. All my creativity, if I had any, has depleted, and this post could be a proof for that, and I have no more stories in my draft. Of course, if I get any new idea which I can concoct and convert in to a story, I will write. I can't believe that almost one fifth of my posts are stories. I thank everyone who had read this story and any of my other stories. Your comments had made a lot my days and kept me writing. I wish you all a Happy Valentines Day. 

Along Came Another Friend

[It is my custom to dedicate the first few lines of my post to simply blabber about something which is completely irrelevant to the topic, especially, if I have given some gap between the posts, which will repulse the few people who start to read my blog. I had written 98 posts (excluding this one) and in the hurry to reach 100 posts, I wrote some very junk posts which I resented and disliked, which eventually made me to stop writing. I am sorry about that.]

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"Which group of friends you relish more in your life?" is a cliche topic everyone would have discussed/listened. Are the friends you got during your school life? College life? During your professional life? (and now there is a new group called internet/online friends) whom do you think is the closest and best?  If someone says 'the friends you get during your school life is the best. bla bla bla. bla.' or if they say about college friends or whatever, I usually say Yes. Though, I don't agree in my mind.

The reason I don't agree is, it does not matter when and how you formed a friendship with someone. All that matters is, what is the current behavior/character/lifestyle of both of the people involved (for example, if either yours or your friend's character has changed, the friendship will obviously deteriorate) and how much time you are able to spend with/for your friendship.

Now, coming to a completely different topic: As far as I know, anyone who resigns from their job will feel very sad and upset towards the end of last working date, even though they would have tried very hard to leave the company. Towards the end, no matter how much anyone detested their company (when I say company, it is 99% of the time, their manager), they will feel sad mostly because of leaving their friends and a little bit because of loyalty towards the company.

Recently, one of my close friends, left his company and was terribly upset the day before the LWD (last working day). When I was chatting with him and consoling him, I got the feeling that he is going to miss all the good friends in the company. I said to him, 'don't worry... you will get good friends and you will have good time in your new company'. He replied, 'no... I am not going to get close to anyone'. It is a typical feeling when you are losing/leaving/missing something close, right?

Most of the times, it is inevitable to lose some close friendship (I mean friendship, not the friend...). In your life, no matter how hard you try, how many compromises you make, how many risks you take, it is inevitable to lose some close friendship, friendship which would have meant almost the world to you, be it the school friends or college friends or professional friends (professional friends... funny phrase... I mean the friends you got in your professional life).

C'est la vie... But, as long as you are of your natural self, you will always get new friendships. You can't resist it. You can't stop it. It is the innate nature of the humans to want to be friends with people. Along will come another friend. Will the friendship get stronger and survive for a long time? Now, that is in your hand.

 

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First Offcial Letter - A Flashback

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[This could be 'yet another' very boring post from me. Be aware.]

I distinctly remember the first ever official (professional) mail I had sent. In May 2005, when the HR of the company had sent a mail asking me to confirm that I would join the company, I had to send my first ever official mail. Not having any exposure and not knowing anything about the "so called software culture", I was wondering why would anyone turn down an offer?

The later had come from someone called Kanchan. With a lot of eager and enthusiasm, I clicked the 'Reply' button and for a long time, I couldn't type even a single word. How to address the person? Respected? or Dear? I was in a great dilemma, and even the bigger doubt is, is that a He or She? I asked my father and he was not sure.

So, I called my sister and asked 'Is Kanchan a female name?' and she was not sure. She said it is a female's name, but not confidently. I reasoned 'Kanchana is a female name... Kanchan should be a male name only... but is very odd...' After agreeing to join the company on the given date, I had the next big hesitation.

How to end the letter? All the training I had ever had was to finish the letter with 'Thanking You, Yours Obediently' or 'Yours Faithfully' or 'Yours Truly'. Nothing seemed right. So, I called my other friend who got placed in another company and asked him how to finish the letter. He said, "Start with Hi and end with Thanks..."

Not convinced with his answer, I started the letter with 'Respected Sir,' and ended the letter with 'Yours Sincerely'. The fact is, Kanchan was a female HR ;)

ஏன்டா?

டேய்... நீ ஒரு பொண்ண love பண்ணா அத அந்த பொண்ணு கிட்ட போய் சொல்லு... இல்ல, நேர்ல சொல்றதுக்கு பயமா இருந்த chat ல சொல்லு... அதுக்கு வக்கு இல்லனா  mail ல சொல்லு... இல்லன்ன SMS அனுப்பு... Indirecta  blog ல சொல்லு... இல்ல creative ஆ எதாவது யோசிச்சு செய்டா...

இப்ப நடக்குற கதை எல்லாம் கேட்டா... அவன் அவன் 9th 10th லையே fix பண்ணி,   அந்த பொண்ணு எந்த High  School ல சேருதோ அதே  school ல சேந்து Collage வரைக்கும் follow பண்ணி, படிப்ப முடிகுறப்ப  marriage வரைக்கும்  plan பண்ணி settle ஆய்கிட்டு இருக்காங்க...

நீ என்னன்னா, 'I love [some name]' னு கோவில் செவுத்துல oil வச்சு எழுதுற... ஏன்டா கொவில கலீச் ஆகுறனு கேட்டா 'என் காதல் தெய்வீக காதல் சுண்ணாம்பு காதல் னு சொல்லி வாய கேளருவ... சரி டா... கோவில் செவுத்துல எழுதுற... ok... ஏன்டா train toilet ல எழுதுற?

ஒரு பக்கம் வேற ஒருத்தன் அசிங்கம் அசிங்கமா வரஞ்சு வச்சுருகான், இன்னொருத்தன் கொச்சையா ஒரு  கவிதை (மாறி ஒரு கருமத்த) எழுதி   வச்சுருக்கான்... பக்கத்துலையே நீ 'I love [some name]' னு எழுதுற... உனக்கே கொஞ்சம் ஒரு மாறி இல்ல? திருந்துங்க டா... உருபுடுங்க டா... படுத்தாதீங்க டா...

[Don't Say] Happy Independence Day!

I really hate it when people show insincere love or fake care or pretense. It is not their act which sickens me, but the fact that I can't do anything about it. I know that it is fake and they know that I know that and I know that they know that I know that... etc. But still, diplomatically, you have to say 'Thank You' or at least give a fake smile back.

That is the reason I don't like when a lot of people simply say 'Happy Birthday' or 'Happy Diwali' etc. Most of the times, people wish others for diplomatic reasons 'oh... he/she wished me, I have to wish him/her back' or 'he/she wished him/her, so, I should also wish him/her'. Even if only a few people wish you, it should be sincere and it should come from their heart.

At least the other kind of wishes are necessary for the social lubrication, but why fake a 'Happy Independence Day'? How many of the people who say 'Happy Independence Day' really care about it? How many of you are still patriotic? You may like a particular political party (God only knows why) and you are going to vote for them even though you know that they may swindle India if they get a chance. Or you may not even vote.

Army people can say 'Happy Independence Day'. They are patriotic. Children can say 'Happy Independence Day' as they are truly happy about it as they may get toffy. Other facebookers, google+ers, bloggers saying 'Happy Independence Day' is bull shit.

When getting to know about politicians who have 10 or 12 digit number money in foreign country banks, what was your initial thought? "What are they going to do with that much money?", or "I would be happy if I can get a very small portion of that money", or "Bastards/Bitches, they are swindling my country, let them go to hell" I don't know how many will truly think about it from the country's stand point.

I love my country. I love her so much that now I can only pity her or even hate Her that She can't do anything about it and I can't do anything about it. I am not happy or proud the way She is now. She smiles and bestows wealth, fame and fortune even to the people who destroy Her. May the Gods be with her and bless her and give her real independence from the corruption within Her.

 So, if you are going to post 'Happy Independence Day' on your Facebook wall and 'Like' all the girls' similar status and check your mailbox for the old mail titled 'Proud to be an Indian' and send it to all your contacts in BCC and then go and sit in front of the TV (or computer) and spend the rest of the day without giving a damn about the Independence day, please save yourself some 1 or 2 minutes... Don't post that 'H I D' in your wall or send a mail. India is not going to miss your wishes and your contacts definitely are not going to miss your wishes.

Tamyl MaDrimony

Image: nuttakit / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I didn't think I would be ready and willing to take the risk, but recently after my friends have either got married or gone to US, I have started to feel somewhat lonely and confused. I was out of mood for few days and I told one of my other friends about this. That wise guy replied, "It is time you have to start to look for marriage alliance. I too felt the same when my close friends got married, but trust me, you will get over this in two weeks." [The same thing which I had discussed about an year ago in this post.]

So, after some embarrassing moments I told my father to start looking for a bride and consequently, my matrimonial profile was created. It was quite exciting, I have to agree. That day, I told my friend that I am in a mixed feeling and showed my profile. He saw that and told me, the "'about you' is not selling... because my profile had sports and technical interest there... I started to browse through other profiles. There were so many profiles and one of the profiles seemed charming, and strangely, the details given were in accordance with my interest; and the expectation of the profile was matching my profile.

Immediately, the negative chain of thought started its duty by telling/thinking, 'no... the girl looks very beautiful... they will not give yellow+blue to you... bla...' and is defended by the positive chain of thoughts 'why not? you are a good person, you earn well and you also look handsome...bla bla [don't mind that guy... he will tell/think anything to make me feel better ;)]' Anxiety, excitement, angst, fear, the two minds, kept me awake very late that I even started to starve and had to cook dosa and have it at 3 AM.

The next day, I pinged my [another friend] and told him 'started to look for a bride and this is my profile description, please give me your feedback'. He has some experience with the sites and profiles as he had used it for two of his brothers and himself. Even before he gave feedback about the description, he said, "It does not matter what you have in the profile". I was confused and asked him why. He said, "I have tried bride-searching for three persons as of now and everyone got married by friend's/relative's contacts and none of us got an alliance through these sites.

Wow... that was a big honest feedback. He explained as to how he is positive that bride-searching through the sites is not going to help/happen. He then formally welcomed me to the 'bride-searching paradigm' where you start to look for an alliance and you will get married after an year or two. Suddenly everything was clear. The excitement hit the low ground like tan(90). So, in my case, I didn't need two weeks to get over the excitement, but just a five minutes chat and wisdom from my friend was enough.

The next day, I was able to sleep peacefully and splendidly. Cia la vie.

Good Morning

What do you think is the best way to start a day? Of course, it depends on a lot of things, and there would be a lot of many amazing ways you can start a day. Here I am just going to tell you one of the million possibilities to kick off a great day.

Some months ago, I stumbled on a youtube video, which does not fail to raise my energy level every time I watch it. It is true that music can control people's emotion and this one especially will increase your energy level.

Have a blast!