Tryst with Madras
I got down from the cab near Chalukya hotel. My weekend trip to Madras has begun. I began my long walk all along the race course to Majestic. The weather was really pleasant with a cool breeze and a light drizzle. I reached Majestic at seven-thirty, had roti-curry and sugarcane juice and again began walking along the central business district towards the railway station. I SMSed a friend of mine who I was sure would be coming to the railway station in the night. She replied in the positive. She is someone who I have known since my school days and one of the very few who knows the identity of my crush. She doesnt miss a chance to pull my leg about it. I bought a copy of Outlook and settled down on Platform One. Udayan Express bound to Dadar was ready for departure. A couple from a foreign land was in the train right in front of me. They must have clicked around 10 photographs of the platform (I was in at least 5 of them). The Udayan Express left half an hour late. A couple of girls sat on the same bench next to me. One of them asked "Excuse me Sir, Is this platform one?" I nodded my head telling " Yes Mam, I think it is." I went back to reading about Sanjay Dutt's conviction. My train, the Madras Mail, came in at ten. Its a train I have been in at least 20 times. My hopes of a Iyengar Girl sitting next to me were curtailed. I had T Sekar, Selvaraj, Pazani, Murugan and Anbazagan for company in my compartment. The train left at 10:45. I didnt meet my friend.
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I started sweating at 4:30 in the morning. That is the first sign of entering Madras. It is always hot. I have believed that hot girls equals hot weather. But you rarely see hot girls on the streets. There are the demure ones who are very reticent and shy. The only difference I see is that these days a small percentage have started wearing jeans. But then they havent let go of their old hairstyles.
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I reached my Grandmother's home at 5 :30, put on the AC and had a cup of coffee. And then I went to sleep. Lunch was at 9 AM. That might sound absurd, but then that is lunch time in Tamil Nadu. My Grandmother (GM) asked me (in Tamil, of course)
GM : When are you going to study?
Me : Hmm...Err...
GM : You must be 24 now.
Me : 23
GM : 23 uh...hmm.....you can get married at 27. Should I look for the girl or will you do it yourself?
Now this is the question that might sound simple but then a lot hangs on the answer.
Me : Of course you can look. I dont care.
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I went shopping with my mom and grandmother. My shopping list had been prepared 3 weeks in advance. It had 2 items on it - a watch and a formal trouser - black in color. I could have finished it once hour. Ten minutes for the watch, 5 for the trouser and 45 for travelling. We ended up spending a lot more time since my mom's list was much larger. We entered a watch showroom. I asked just one question to the sales guy - "Which is the watch Ad that keeps coming on TV these days?" "Fastrack, Sir", he replied. I looked at the Fastrack collection and picked one in 2 minutes. We were out of the shop in 15. I could sense the disappointment in my mom's face. She had planned to spend at least an hour. I bought the trouser in 10 minutes. We then spent a lot of time on my mom's list. One of them included a huge jewellery store. As my mom and grandmother looked at gold bangles, I looked at people in the overcrowded shop. No sign of any pretty iyengar girls. Which young girl wears gold jewellery these days anyway. And my watch new beeps once every hour.
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I was left alone with the auto driver for sometime during the shopping spree. It was decided, after my expendable comments and opinions during bangle shopping, that I am better off in the auto than in the vessel shop. I have known this auto driver (AD) for many years now. He started conversing, in Tamil of course.
AD : So you work for a software company is it?
Me : Yes....
AD : Tell me something, why do you people have holidays on both saturday and sunday?
Me : Hmm....err.....I have never really thought about it.....
AD : There must be some reason though......
I was beginning to feel foolish. I dont even know why we have a 5 day week.
Me : I know....I know.....Its due to the americans. The software companies started there and since they follow a 5 day week, we too copied it.
AD : Ah....could be......but tell me what do the software engineers do actually....Do you invent anything?
Now this was a tough question. But how can I let my clan down.
Me : Well....today everyting is being done by computers.....you see for eg. big banks and hospitals do their work on computers and the software engineers maintain it. And we also invent a lot of things.
Before he could ask what I have invented till now, my mom and GM came back from vessel shopping and I was saved.
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I met a relative of mine. He is my grandfather's brother (GB) and a very old man. He was a big lawyer during his days and still provides consultancy. He spoke to me in impeccable English
GB : You know, all of five generations including your great great grandfather, your great grandfather, your grandfather have been lawyers....but these days you kids dont choose it as a profession.
Me : Hmm.....
GB : It is a really challenging job....tell me.... what is law....define it in one sentence
Me : Uh!.....well.....err........
GB : What is it that you plan to study now.....
Me : I have plans of pursuing an MBA.
GB : Hmm...that is also good.....whatever you do you must do it properly....
He gets up and picks ups a book from the shelf - 10 day MBA by Steven Silbeger.
GB : Have you read this book?
Me : No
GB : Strange...I expect you to read it. I am reading it now and I find that all you need to do is babble.
Me : Hmmm........
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I met another relative (AR) of mine and had lunch with them the next morning. At 9 am.
AR : So you must be around 25 or 26 now....
Me : No....23
AR : Then you have lots of time. You can get married at 28...ideal age.
Me : Hmm......
AR : So where do you work?
I mentioned the name of the company.
AR : Good....so what do you work on?
Me : I work on TVs
AR : Hmm...TVs...good. So what exactly do you do? Do you manufature them?
Me : No...I write software...TVs run on chips and the chips run on software.
AR : But what is it that you are trying to write.
Me : Well we improve things like picture quality and add features.
AR : The picture quality is pretty good now...what more can you improve.
Me : Also we have analog TVs still in India.....there are digital TVs nowadays.....I work on them.
AR : Ah....this Raj TV (a tamil tv channel) claims to be digital. But it is really bad, very hazy, and lots of block and the video is not smooth at times. Maybe you can do something about it.
Me : Maybe........
AR : You should study further.
Me : Ok....
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I boarded the train back to bangalore. No pretty iyengar girls again. Only boring tamil speaking aunties. I reached Bangalore at 4 in the morning. I was staring out of the window from the train and saw pretty girl on the platform in bangalore cantontment. A cold breeze was blowing. I guess it is pretty girls equals cold weather.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I started sweating at 4:30 in the morning. That is the first sign of entering Madras. It is always hot. I have believed that hot girls equals hot weather. But you rarely see hot girls on the streets. There are the demure ones who are very reticent and shy. The only difference I see is that these days a small percentage have started wearing jeans. But then they havent let go of their old hairstyles.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I reached my Grandmother's home at 5 :30, put on the AC and had a cup of coffee. And then I went to sleep. Lunch was at 9 AM. That might sound absurd, but then that is lunch time in Tamil Nadu. My Grandmother (GM) asked me (in Tamil, of course)
GM : When are you going to study?
Me : Hmm...Err...
GM : You must be 24 now.
Me : 23
GM : 23 uh...hmm.....you can get married at 27. Should I look for the girl or will you do it yourself?
Now this is the question that might sound simple but then a lot hangs on the answer.
Me : Of course you can look. I dont care.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I went shopping with my mom and grandmother. My shopping list had been prepared 3 weeks in advance. It had 2 items on it - a watch and a formal trouser - black in color. I could have finished it once hour. Ten minutes for the watch, 5 for the trouser and 45 for travelling. We ended up spending a lot more time since my mom's list was much larger. We entered a watch showroom. I asked just one question to the sales guy - "Which is the watch Ad that keeps coming on TV these days?" "Fastrack, Sir", he replied. I looked at the Fastrack collection and picked one in 2 minutes. We were out of the shop in 15. I could sense the disappointment in my mom's face. She had planned to spend at least an hour. I bought the trouser in 10 minutes. We then spent a lot of time on my mom's list. One of them included a huge jewellery store. As my mom and grandmother looked at gold bangles, I looked at people in the overcrowded shop. No sign of any pretty iyengar girls. Which young girl wears gold jewellery these days anyway. And my watch new beeps once every hour.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I was left alone with the auto driver for sometime during the shopping spree. It was decided, after my expendable comments and opinions during bangle shopping, that I am better off in the auto than in the vessel shop. I have known this auto driver (AD) for many years now. He started conversing, in Tamil of course.
AD : So you work for a software company is it?
Me : Yes....
AD : Tell me something, why do you people have holidays on both saturday and sunday?
Me : Hmm....err.....I have never really thought about it.....
AD : There must be some reason though......
I was beginning to feel foolish. I dont even know why we have a 5 day week.
Me : I know....I know.....Its due to the americans. The software companies started there and since they follow a 5 day week, we too copied it.
AD : Ah....could be......but tell me what do the software engineers do actually....Do you invent anything?
Now this was a tough question. But how can I let my clan down.
Me : Well....today everyting is being done by computers.....you see for eg. big banks and hospitals do their work on computers and the software engineers maintain it. And we also invent a lot of things.
Before he could ask what I have invented till now, my mom and GM came back from vessel shopping and I was saved.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I met a relative of mine. He is my grandfather's brother (GB) and a very old man. He was a big lawyer during his days and still provides consultancy. He spoke to me in impeccable English
GB : You know, all of five generations including your great great grandfather, your great grandfather, your grandfather have been lawyers....but these days you kids dont choose it as a profession.
Me : Hmm.....
GB : It is a really challenging job....tell me.... what is law....define it in one sentence
Me : Uh!.....well.....err........
GB : What is it that you plan to study now.....
Me : I have plans of pursuing an MBA.
GB : Hmm...that is also good.....whatever you do you must do it properly....
He gets up and picks ups a book from the shelf - 10 day MBA by Steven Silbeger.
GB : Have you read this book?
Me : No
GB : Strange...I expect you to read it. I am reading it now and I find that all you need to do is babble.
Me : Hmmm........
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I met another relative (AR) of mine and had lunch with them the next morning. At 9 am.
AR : So you must be around 25 or 26 now....
Me : No....23
AR : Then you have lots of time. You can get married at 28...ideal age.
Me : Hmm......
AR : So where do you work?
I mentioned the name of the company.
AR : Good....so what do you work on?
Me : I work on TVs
AR : Hmm...TVs...good. So what exactly do you do? Do you manufature them?
Me : No...I write software...TVs run on chips and the chips run on software.
AR : But what is it that you are trying to write.
Me : Well we improve things like picture quality and add features.
AR : The picture quality is pretty good now...what more can you improve.
Me : Also we have analog TVs still in India.....there are digital TVs nowadays.....I work on them.
AR : Ah....this Raj TV (a tamil tv channel) claims to be digital. But it is really bad, very hazy, and lots of block and the video is not smooth at times. Maybe you can do something about it.
Me : Maybe........
AR : You should study further.
Me : Ok....
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I boarded the train back to bangalore. No pretty iyengar girls again. Only boring tamil speaking aunties. I reached Bangalore at 4 in the morning. I was staring out of the window from the train and saw pretty girl on the platform in bangalore cantontment. A cold breeze was blowing. I guess it is pretty girls equals cold weather.
posted by Sriniketh S at
8:45 PM
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