Getting married...

Navarathri is in full swing. We have Kolu in our place(For those who dunno, it is festival which lasts for nine days, when dolls are displayed and ladies visit each other's place and exchange yummy sundal)..

Well, when I was young Navarathri was bliss. I would look forward more to Navarathri than Diwali. Mostly the Navarathri would coincide with Quarterly holidays.. Back then, there were 6-7 girls in my apartment of my age group. We would tie our moms' pattu sarees in different styles and go to approximately 32 flats to get sundal..

These now seems ages.. Most of my friends in my apartment have either left the city or gotten married. I certainly don't mind going to most flats if not 32, but the invariably the topic "when I am going to get married?" would come up.. I would fail miserably in convincing them, that I am not getting married any time now...

If at all, I am to get married, there are two possibilities.. Either I find the guy myself or Allow my parents to do the job. Both, at this juncture does not seem feasible. Allowing my parents to find a guy would be a pain in the wrong place..(ponnu parthifying, then settling with a guy whom you hardly know is just not possible).. so this option goes out of the window.. On the other hand, if I were to fall for guy, I don't think I would have the guts to go talk to him. And my huge ego would not allow me to talk fearing failure.. So this option is out of the window too..

Staying single at this point is not all that difficult.. But only problem is keeping all these aunties at bay...

M going to miss Chennai

As I plan to move on to a life outside Chennai, I was trying to list the things that I am going to miss(Not a healthy sign though). I have grown sooo attached to Chennai, the more I think about moving out, more I dread it...
The following are some of the things that I would miss...

Amma's sapadu(I have just started cooking and each dish is a disaster... every now and then I would have to go to my amma ask "Evalvu uppu?? Evalvu karapodi....", my fights with my bro, the way my dad and bro partner to rag me, I pair up with any of the two to rag the third.. remote control fights, fight over what music is played over comp, tie tie for my bro, polish shoes for my father, shop for the entire family with amma... hmm...

Office, Colleagues, my super boss, qmail, s*mail, the excitement of logging into a live server to fix/identify issues, gossip, mani's horlicks, my bay, atrium, hopeless inter team fights, team treats...

Places to freak out... be it Globus or road side shops on Pondy Bazar, Satyam theatre, restaurants on ECR, Beasant Nagar beach, guys I sightadchify in Chennai, my huge crush...

Right now I cant imagine life outside Chennai..

As planned...

We (my friends at my work place) have long been planning a wild night(evening rather) at a pub. We have run through the same exercise quite many times but nothing really materialized. We plan and at the last minute, mostly I, would chicken out of the plan. If we were to start at 7.30 pm I would message at 2 in the afternoon saying I wouldn't be coming.

This time, I was determined to go out, come what may. So afternoon, around 2, for a change I messaged to confirm the place we are meeting before we go to Zaras.. I decided not to take the car(I have never had alcohol my entire life.. and the first time I was going to drink.. trust me I dun want to be behind the wheel).

I did not dare to breathe a word about where I was going at home. Probably 2 weeks down the lane I would tell my brother. So at 7.30 all dressed, met my friend at a junction( I was waiting for her for a couple of minutes on the road, I freaked out at the kind of stares that I got).
We finally reach the destination at around 7.45 and one other friend joined us.

I browsed through the menu card. Only first few pages (Italian food) and the last few(deserts) made some sense to me.. All others just went over my head.. vodka.. cocktail.. mocktail... phew...
I decided to have some Italian food and was contemplating to either take a vodka or chicken out and take a mocktail. After some 10 minutes, decided to have summer sailor.. Once the order was placed, I was little worried about going home totally squashed.. I really dun want to face my parents and my bro totally drunk.. Others did a good job convincing me that this was least strong and had hardly any alcohol in it.. It was a little uncomfortable because of the amount of smoke that lingered in the air... but the music eased things in.. I thoroughly enjoyed what was being played( though I have not heard many of them).

We were happily chatting when the food and the drinks where served. The floor manager apparently looked hot.. but never got to see him... Food was good.. Vodka was bad.. I dint like the taste at all... So much for it.. We spoke for quite sometime and the music really picked up.. It was really good. Finally left the place around 9.45 (Yeah so early!! I will get jacked beyond that at my place)..

I think I would enjoy a dance floor better than a pub. Drinking is definitely not me... I hate the taste... Unfortunately u need partner to go with, to a dance floor... I don see that happening for a long long time..

When the going gets tough...

I have always wondered whether there has been any tool that can be used for decision making. A black box which would take the requirements and come out with the decision.. I am one of a kind.. I try to make decision.. then keep revisiting them.. thus making life difficult for myself..

I make sure that I keep all these from my parents, but let out on 4 close friends of mine and my bro. Some of these friends, I have known them from school, through college. They exactly know my thinking process and are very supportive.

Looks like I am moving to Banglore. I am totally dependant on Vyshu and I am excited about it. I have been living in my home for the past 20 years and never been outside it beyond 30 days. This is going to be huge change(for good or bad). I should learn to live on my own.. be more independent and more outgoing. Downside is my dad and my bro are a little apprehensive in sending me out(in spite of the fact that this Banglore is 5 hours drive). With great difficulty, have convinced the two (of course, with the help of my mom--- super cool lady).

The decision to move out of office, has not been easy either. Its like you drop lot of things half way through... wondering whether there would be anyone to take it forward. I have broken the expectations of many, some of them I revered the most and who have help to grow what I am today. But uncertainties.. is something that I can never take..

Satyam theatre rocks...

All said and done, Satyam theatre rocks, when it comes to customer satisfaction. Last week I had booked tickets for "Laga raho munna bhai" Sunday 9 O clock special show. After a nite out with friends at my place, I had a tough time getting up for the movie. So we arrived at the theatre just in time.I have been driving for the past 2 months only. So I am little apprehensive about parking in slots like in Satyam theatre. But they are way too organized. People are asked to park in places according to the movie they have come for. Considering the number of cars and the complexity involved it is neatly charted. I drove and had no trouble parking. We reached the Window (Place where u collect the tickets if you had booked online) at 9 O clock(worried that the show would have begun).

We were seated 5 minutes past 9 and we were surprised that nothing was screened while the hall was full. There where 2 small , adoring, cute kids in front of us with their father seated besides us. The gals where handful having one demand or the other for their dad ( I want coke, pepsi, masala corn, puff... ). 15 minutes past 9 and the screen crackled to life only to be stopped in another 5 minutes due unbearable, horrible audio.

We waited for ten minutes, but nothing really happened. We were happily chatting with the 2 kids. Then we decided to help ourselves to the Miranda, popcorn and coffee. The kids had a huge list yet again, promptly denied this time by their dad.

After some thirty minutes from the actual show time, the Satyam cinema officials came to announce that they where having some problems with speaker and it would take another some 10 minutes for them to fix it. We were told that, we can cancel the tickets and the money would be refunded. But I was looking forward to the movie. I had liked the previous prequel and this movie was recommended by friends. I was in no mood to take the refund.

We waited for some 15 minutes, when the announcement came that coffee and popcorn would be served free of cost. First I thought it was a hoax and even if it was true, I was not ready to wade through a sea of people to get popcorn(Night out effect). Once we had finished the paid popcorn, my bro offered to get the free popcorn.

Finally, after a total delay of about 45-50 minutes, the show started. the movie was good and was worth waiting for. Finally one the movie was over, we left the theatre through the emergency exit.

In spite of the problems, the theatre authorities handled the situation well.

Finally exams over...

Last minute preparation helped me sail through exam yet again after 2 years.. The course has a schedule, where you would have to read few chapters every week, spanning over 8 weeks. Well as you can see that was never followed(old habits die hard). Back then in college, you had this comfort level, everyone was equally bad. But here I know very few who are taking up the exams.

I had to take 4 exams, 2 exams per day over a weekend. I felt kinda too old to take up an exam. But once I reached the examination center, this feeling just disappeared(Probably because it was a men's college).

I have always travelled to college by college bus. Only on 2 occasions, had I driven down to college on bike. Going to college by car was exciting. I was apprehensive about where I would be parking the car within the campus. But that turned out to be least of my problems. I had reached the college an hour earlier. I am taking up this exam with a colleague of mine. She had already reached the place and had identified the rooms where we would be taking up the exams.

We had almost 2 hours between the two exams. This so reminded me of my college days. We sat on the ground had lunch and then we started studying. Lot of interesting people to watch. A guy walked up to my colleague, claimed to know her. Apparently they had worked for the same company. It was so funny and cliched, the way he walked up and introduced himself....

Two hours of exams and bad bench that I was sitting on when taking the exam, had taken its toll on my back. We moved to verandah. I studied in all girls college. All of us have the habit of stretching our legs and resting over the wall in the verandah. I was comfortably seated the same way oblivious to the surrounding. A professor in charge of the floor, walked past us gave me a look that said "What the heck..", not that I care.

The exams as such where ok. I think I should sail through them. I have become so accustomed to air conditioned rooms, fans in the hall did not help much. I had sweat so much that my kameez stuck on to me. So during the afternoon session, I had taken a tissue pack into the exam hall. After an hour of examination, I retrieved a tissue from the pack. The invigilator walked across the room with a shocked expression. He looked at the pack of tissues and asked me what they where. The poor guy thought that I had carried bit papers into the examination hall. I could hear laughter from the back benches.

When the exams where over and I had just drove my car outside the campus, it started pouring. I had to take a U turn in a place and the wiper was in full speed, but I had problems seeing the road. Had to use my dupatta to clean the shield on the inside to get a better view of the road. But the drive back was good. I relaxed by watching KNPH for the millionth time and a quite dinner in Sangeetha with my cousin...