Me and my Maddy Madness

I’m sure all of us have THAT one person in our lives who teaches us what it feels like to be in love. Singers, authors, musicians, dancers, actors, actresses, teacher, neighbour’s dog walker, it could be anyone.

There is an actor who portrayed the role of Shekhar Sinha in the very popular Saaya (Sony, every Tue 8.30 PM). He was in love with Sudha, his college buddy played by Mansi Joshi Roy. The show revolved around 3 friends, their lives in college and lives after college. Throughout college life, Shekhar’s role is all about wooing Sudha, who thinks of him “just as a friend”. (Useless female). Little did Shekhar know that somewhere in the Thane suburbs, was a girl who was falling for him. She used to fight with her college pals saying Shekhar belonged to her. And that she was glad since Sudha wasnt responding well to his proposal. As the episodes progressed, her love for him grew. So much that she really felt she’d meet the man of her dreams (Shekhar) some day. The serial ended with Shekhar ending up with Kamya (Achint Kaur). This broke the dreamy girl’s heart into a zillion pieces and like all other females she started hating Achint Kaur. The girl is none other than Sam (yours truly) and Shekhar Sinha, R Madhavan. Yes, to this day I hate that bitch Achint Kaur.

Maddy did appear in other serials like Sea Hawks, Banegi Apni Baat, Ghar Jamai. These didn’t do all that well. Moving from TV serials to motion pictures, Maddys’ first (hit) movie was Alaipayuthey. He was actually approached by Mani Ratnam for his movie Iruvar (Ash’s first movie), but was rejected on the grounds that he looked too young to play a serious role. His eyes looked young, Mani said in one of his interviews.

Now coming back to Alaipayuthey. A little background before that. For the kind of chatterbox that I am, the film review from me starts immediately after I’m out of the theatre. But this time everything was different. I was very quiet. I’d thought I couldn’t love him more after Saaya, only to realize I was so wrong. I was hopelessly and insanely in love with him.  The way Kartik proposes to Shakti was the scene that blew my mind. It was simple, yet cute. Had to be considering it was Maddy who was playing Kartik. The way he took care of Shakti, the way they fought, the way they made up after every fight, had a huge impact on me. I wanted my man to be JUST LIKE HIM. Sensitive, loving, caring and above all understanding.

The movie was a cult hit and there was no stopping me. I used to collect Maddy’s pics from all sides of the print world. What’s more, I pestered my mom to teach me Tamil so that I could read his interviews in Tamil magazines. I used most of my pocket money in buying his posters or getting them framed. This had my dadda see red since, like all Tam Brahm daddas,  he didn’t want his daughter to waste her time behind some loser actor (that’s what he thinks about him, to this day). Instead, dadda wanted his daughty to solve maths!! Yet another Maddy thingie that I did was to get a yellow churidaar stitched from my local tailor, though I hated the colour (Kartik proposed to Shakti while she was aboard a local train and Shakti was in a bright yellow churidaar).

It’s been almost 10 years since Alaiypayuthey released. My Thane home still has all of the Maddy posters, cut outs and pics neatly pasted in big drawing books. No one’s allowed access to that shelf and the key to that place is with me in my bag. Such is my love for that man. I like him not just for his looks but also for the way he conducts himself in front of media. Polished and classy, unlike all the other loser maniacs who are Rakhi Sawant’s relatives (bloody attention seeking and loud). May be his public speaking course (where he met his wife, she was his student there) helped him in saying just what was required. 

Kannathhil Muttham Ittal, Dum Dum Dum, Nala Damayanti, Anbe Sivam (yet another fav), Run, Aayutha Ezhuthu (Yuva in Hindi), Rang De Basanti, Guru have been his hits and needless to say I’ve seen all of these more than 10-12 times. A loving hubby, doting father to Vedant and a complete family man. What can I say? Love you Maddy! Or like Van Halen said ”Cant Stop Loving You!” Freddie (Queen) was right. Love is crazy and Crazy li’l thing called love!

Some Stupid Updates

1. Last few weeks have been a mixed bag. Work life is the same, nothing ever changes there. People who know whats going on are asking me to be hopeful, but I’m like whatever! Its futile to even search for a ray of hope when you have no expectations from anyone around. But the thing that I’ve begun to dislike (cant call it hatred since that’d be too strong a word) is, the situation has changed me. And whats worse is that it has started showing. Family is worried and that hurts me. But….

2. My appetite has grown. Its completely contradictory to whats mentioned above & I know. Due to Half Yearly Closing, there wasnt much work on 30th Sept. So our team and our super boss went to Rajdhani for some timepass lunch. A li’l background about the food served there – the plate is huuugggee with 6-7 cups (bowls??) for the curry and stuff. They serve piping hot theplas, rotis, puris (at times) and an assortment of veggies. Desserts are always there and  ghee floats atop saying a big hi to your hips and butt! Oh, how on earth could I forget buttermilk?!! And the service is pretty quick. Here’s what I ate that day: 4 theplas, 10 rotis (the size aint that big you see), some bhaji (have no clue of what the hell that was), dahi kadi, daal, daal bhaati (Rajasthani food), 3 glasses of buttermilk. Desserts? Oh yeah, 3 servings of Gulaab Jamun and 2 servings of Doodhi Halwa. My team members were zapped and my boss was shitting bricks since I wasnt saying “I’m full”. He had to pay the bill you see. I dont care if no one believes in this, but I’m writing this since this is something that has never happened to me before. Yes, Sam ate like a pig and she digested a freaking horse that day!  

3. Some malls have some pretty good stuff [though I've never been in favour of blowing thousands for a pair of shoe or bag or apparels]. I belong to the category who picks up stuff from the roadside after a good bargain (read fight). I get a feeling of accomplishment when I shop that ways. But 2nd October was when Sam shopped like a freak in a mall! Shoes, bag, cosmetics, apparels and I bought them all. I would have never stopped if it wasnt for the rains. On the hindsight, I feel it was Rain God who felt a pinch (rather many pinches) on behalf of my wallet. Damn you Rain!

4. The Monday Holiday stops this week. This sucks bigtime. Atleast for someone who thoroughly hates Mondays.

Memories of Navratri

Navratri. These 9 days bring back a hell lotta memories. Golu (its a creative display of dolls in odd numbered steps), Vettalai Paakku, Chundal, Naivedyam, Saraswati Poojai, Vijaya Dashami.  The building where I used to stay was Southie dominated. It was a combo of all Iyers, Iyengaars, Andhraites and Kannadigas. Here’s a glimpse of what used to happen:

The entire house was washed and Mamma drew amazing Kolams. Mango leaves torans (festoons) were put up on the main doors and in our poojai room. Though we didn’t have Golu at our place, Mom used to keep a Kalasham and do the pooja. My favourite part was the one where in I used to arrange for the Vettalai (betel leaf) Paakku (betel nut) in a plate. 2 0r 4 betel leaves, 2 betel nuts, a pair of tumeric roots, kumkum packet, a coconut, fruits, flowers, one or two rupee coins, one packet of prasadam (invariably, it was Chundal) and a small gift. Now this gift changed every year. Small mirrors, bangles, kajal, etc.  

I had an Andhra neighbour (Avva [– grandmother in Telugu]! Meeru ippudu ekada unnaru?) who used to baby sit me as a kid and I was treated like a granddaughter. Man, there’s was a big family with 4 sons, 4 daughters-In-law and their kids, where each couple had 2 kids! I, along with other granddaughters, was given complete freedom in deciding which doll needs to be placed in which step, which colour to be chosen for decorating the Mara Paachi bommai (doll), etc. My responsibility didn’t end there. I used to dress up and go to all the other flats to invite all the aunties and their girls for Vettalai Paaku. Yep, to the Andhra couple’s house as well as mine. I used to invite them in Telugu for Avva’s house and in Tamil to my place. Gosh! Those were the days.

I had 3 friends and these were my paattu class (music class) friends. We were always invited to all the houses and were supposed to sing in front of the Golu. So Navratri was something that we as kids always looked forward to. We used to decide days in advance what colour pattu pavadai to wear, how to do up hair, what colour pottu (bindi), glass bangles or plastic ones, etc. I was never in favour of glass bangles (though I love them and have an amazing collection) since they could end up getting broken while putting Thalam, while singing. So there used to be some tu tu main main before deciding to go with plastic bangles (matching ones).

Vijaya Dashami, the last day, is the one that I will always recall fondly. Our music teacher used to teach us new songs, new students would get enrolled and all this happened in Bhavani Temple. The temple used to be beautifully lit up and Goddess Bhavani used to be decorated in the most spectacular way! Yellow and Red coloured silk sari nicely draped, decked in fine jewels and flowers, the Goddess looked bewitchingly gorgeous!

These images and memories are so etched in my mind and are so fresh as if these happened just yesterday! Wonder if that temple still celebrates Navratri with such aplomb. 

 BTW, Happy Navaratri all!

Tagged and “Bakri”ed.. DAMN ^%*()@*

I hate tags. Period. But doing this just for G3. I dont like to disappoint friends. However realized towards the end that this could be fun.

1. Grab the book nearest to you, turn on page 18 and find line 4 –Its Outlook (my fav magazine) and 4th line says “Writing from London, I’m witness to…”

2. Stretch your left arm out as far as you can & catch air? – Yeah.. I’m all alone in the room and I can stretch whatever I want..

3. What is the last thing you watched on TV? – SUNTV!! My M-I-L watching some serial. Where someone in each frame has to cry. Wonder how their lives are so bloody crisis ridden!

4. Without looking, guess what time it is? – 10.30 PM

5. Now look at the clock, what is the actual time? – 10.25 PM

6. With the exception of the computer, what can you hear?- Listening to some Mr Big. No TV now. Serial khatam.
 
7. When did you last step outside? What were you doing? – Went for my walk (gym was closed due to Ananta Chaturdashi. Whats the connection betweeen my darling treadmills and weights and Bappa?). I was walking. What else?

8. Before you started this Q&As, what did you look at?- My cellphone. Sent a message to G3.. She knows what I wrote and why.

9. What are you wearing?- Well this is gross! Still if I have to answer it, my tee and track pants.

10. When did you last laugh? – During my evening walk. Shared some dirty messages with friends.

11. What is on the walls of the room you are in? – A wall clock, a big photo of Lord Balaji, switch board and tubelight

12. Seen anything weird lately? – Hell yeah! Saw lizards mating.. Eeeeeeewwwww!

13. What do you think of this quiz? G3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wait till I catch you! On the other hand, this is fun..

14. What is the last film you saw? Kaminey. (I dont have brotherly feelings for Shahid)

15. If you became a multimillionaire overnight, what would you buy?- All the bags, shoes, perfumes, apparels of the world!

16. Tell me something about you that I dunno!- I have this habit of smelling stuff before eating/drinking them. My hubby calls me a dog, but if its something new that I’m gonna taste, the food automatically goes for a smell check. 

17.If you could change one thing about the world, regardless of guilt or politics, what would you do?- These days, I’d just change one thing: Organized Religion.

18. Do you like to Dance?- Boss!!! Who are you asking this question to? I can dance anytime, anywhere, any music. Just play and watch me sway..

 19. Imagine your first child is a girl, what do you call her?- No idea!

20. Imagine your first child is a boy, what do you call him?- No idea, again.

21. Would you ever consider living abroad? – Absolutely. In fact I’m thinking very seriously about it these days.

22. What do you want GOD to say to you when you reach the pearly gates? – Bhaaaaaaaaagooooooooo!! Run like hell (Pink Floyd) or Run to the hills (Iron Maiden), these are the two songs that I wanna hear when I get there.. God, did ya listen??

Dhan Te Nan!

People (living forever under the assumption that my blog has some readers), lemme ask you something. When was the last time you came out of the theatre screaming “Paisa Vasool” after watching a Bollywood flick? Taare Zameen Par? Really?? That long??? Well, wait no more. With Kaminey, all of us can scream our guts out.

The story revolves around 2 G**dus. The first G**du is Guddu and the second G**du is a G**du. Charlie, my fav! Guddu stammers while Charlie says “Mein f ko f bolta hoon”.. Its how they hate each other and the cliched how their paths cross. Its a crime drama with a killer combo of dark humour and violence.

This movie can truly boast that each and every character does full justice to his/her role. I was bowled over by Amol Gupte’s performance as a crackpot politician whose lines are suffixed with Jai Maharashtra. The way he snaps “Ae Gap re” reminded me of my neighbour who uses the same dialogue whenever her husband tries to say something. My second fav character in the movie was Chandan Sanyal. Mikhail, Charlie’s buddy. Nothing much to say here since he’s bound to give a crisp performance considering he’s a seasoned theatre actor. Sweety (PC) was adorable with her Marathi lines and so was Tashi as the dope guy. One very important thing that I noticed was there were no background scores for some large portions of scenes. Nice. I like it.

Amidst all crap like Life Partner, Love Aaj Kal, Tere Sang (or whatever that was *YAWNNN*) Kaminey comes a breathe of fresh air. So go watch it and have fun.

Shahid,

No matter what Fid says, I do not, I repeat I DO NOT have any brotherly feelings for you. Lotsa kisses!

PIA – Palakkad Iyer Airlines

Disclaimer: Not my imagination. This is the baby of some guy called Hari Krishnan on Orkut. Dont wanna transalate this since the fun will be gone, if I do. Read on:

Headquarters: Palakkad, of course! 

 Insignia: The logo of the airline will be panchapatram & Uddharini! The tails of all the aircrafts will carry this sign.

 Inaugural flight: PI 108 from Palakkad to Chennai! (108 is a significant no. for us)

 Crew: The entire aircraft crew will be PIs. The stewards and stewardesses will be clad in soman/angavasthram and 9  yards podavai respectively.

 Menu: The snacks menu will have idli, vadai, adai, bajji, bonda, dosa etc, served on different days. On festival days, the relevant food will be served. Kali/puzhukku on Tiruvadirai, appam/pori on Karthigai and so on. The beverages will include panakam on Sree Rama Navami day. 

 Announcement: The cabin announcement will be in PI Tamil  followed by English as is the standard practice. The  announcement in PI Tamil will run like this: Ellarum vango.  Naanakkum Bhagyalakshmi, intha flight la cabin crew chief. Intha plane no. PI 108 Palakkad lenthu Chennaikku porathu. Porathukku ekadesam oru manikoor aakum. Intha flight la  ongalukku pidicha palaharam ellam vilambuva.

 Intha plane parappikkarathu Capt. Ananthanarayanan aakkum.  Avar kooda Capt. Gopalakrishnanum irukkaan. Cabin crew ellarum nanna namma bashai pesuva. Ongalukku ethavathu venamana engale kooppudungo. Udane varuvom. Ellarum nanna sukhichundu  pongo!

 International Flights: The first international service will be from Palakkad to New York. Flight No. PI 1008. (another no. of significance to us) The announcement will be on the same lines as domestic flight. But being a long haul flight of about 18 hrs, will additionally have the following too: Intha flight 18 manikoor edukkum. Athinale aarukkavathu paduthukkanamana jamakkalam/thalagani kidakkum. Sandhyavandhanam pannandavalukku panchapathram/uddharini kidakkum.

 On Amavasai days, for those who need, Vadhyar service will be available for performing tharpanam! Business and first class passengers will receive compliments: velli panchapatram/uddharini. But also to maintain tradition, the miniskirt will have jarigai and hostess willl have mali poo on head wid kungumam and metti and stuff. and the seats will b alotted according to the gothram…so that the passengers can find their long lost relatives….

 The seats wont have numbers…as in 3 A,B ,C…it’ll have da names of places….lik 3 kodavayoor, 5 perembavoor etc. The entertainment system will have live proceedings of the poojais of kula deivams .. and seats can be allotted according to that also. Another part of the initial annoucement should be: Kulimuri yum kakkoosum pinnaltha side la mathram thaan irrikku, kettela? athu ennathinaala-na… minbhagathila antha edam naangal kovil kettiyurukkom – left la pillayar kovil, ight la bhagavathy kaavu. chapadarathika minnala kovil-kku poyittu vaango”

  At the end before landing ”ippo palakkad la eranga porom, ayyo bhayangara choodu appa velila. flight-lendu erangaratta complimentary visheri eduthukango. rombha santhosham neengal flightla vandel. oru last vishayam – vera flight-leyum kovil kettara kaaryam baaki irukku, therinchida? enna.. kaiya toranthu subhikshama donate pannungo ennu request. sheriya.”

I love..

1. when my GL balances tally with my RTGS payouts!
2. that one cuppa coffee in the afternoon. Its my “ME” time (when I’m alone, sorting my head) and I wouldnt trade those 10 minutes with anyone/anything in the world!
3. it when my superboss asks for my help for explaining some stuff to my team members. I know I’m sounding pompous, but can you imagine how it feels like when the EVP of the unit calls for your help??!
4. walking. Yes. I’m super crazy about them. Though I’m clumsy and keep tripping (Ram feels I have this hidden talent to trip and that I can fall down even on the world’s most flattest surface), I’m always game for a good walk with anyone. It could be the kids in my building (they make me run actually) or my hubby or my dad or a friend. But I love it the most when I’m either alone or with Ram. I can just be ‘me’. Plus, its a known fact that it helps your heart remain healthy. What more, it shapes your butt! So ladies, get into those track pants and sneakers, and start walking.
5. music. I’m not writing much here. Simply put the range is Carnatic to Metal. Keep ‘em coming is all I keep saying.
6. shopping. Bags, shoes, perfumes, watches, earrings, kajal, tops, trousers, jeans, kurtis and more! Orgasmic.
7. my books. Fiction, war novels, autobiographies. Everything. My mom dreads just one sentence from me “I’m going to Crossword”. She fears I wont come back before this civilization ends.
8. lonnnnnnnng drives. Need I say more?
9. that cold shower after a rigorous work out. After all the foo-foo sounds during weight training and 20 minutes of treadmill, all I need is a cold shower! Its yummmmm. Believe me.
10. blogging. Its therapeutic. Thanks Zackie.
11. the kiddos in my building. Nigel (3) and Jaden (2) are my escorts. The way they come running towards me, when I’m coming from work, yelling “Hiiiiieeeeee”.. I forget everything. Muaahh kiddos!
12. dancing. I’m gonna say that again. I love dancing. Period. Right from ball room dancing to Ganpati Bappa’s Visarjan that involves some rough raanti moves. Though that has toned down after marriage. Nonetheless, you put on music, I start swaying.

I’m not able to think of anything more, since there’s SunTV howling on top of its lungs on the background. I’m beginning to panic now.

Quote Analysed

Dave Matthews Band quoted: A girl and a guy can be just friends, but at one point or another they will fall for each other. Maybe temporarily, maybe at the wrong time, maybe too late, or maybe forever .

Yes and as usual, the monkey in my mind started questioning it. The first thing that I thought was “Is this really true?”. For starters, quotes and sayings are just some bunch of words put together that mean something. I always believe that these sentences make sense to us because, we always knew that whats being said is true.

For eg: Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom. I mean, now everyone knows that if you fall down, you will get up. Its a given. You’d have got up even if these words didnt exist. So this is there at the back of your head. Subconscious. When you actually read this statement, you’d nod in agreement, bacause you already knew this! Get my point?? (Now I’m confused!) So to get back to what I was saying, I was wondering if this was true. 

May be its true.  I feel there are many who do end up comparing their partners with their friends, probably to see whats been missing or whats unique in the partner/spouse. Even if there are any shortcomings, love and commitment does overlook such trivialities. Some may not agree with me, but then thats my opinion.

Also I have begun to feel, since there’s always this chance of two pals coming closer, the partners begin to feel insecure. Jealousy creeps in. Women show it very easily, while men, given their king size egos, may live in denial for sometime. May be its due to this “chance/possibility” that married people have hurdles in going out with their pals of the opposite gender unless the spouse accompanies them.

To sum it up, is it safe/sensible to conclude that even if you are commited to one individual, the search for a companion never stops? Then who are you with? And why are you searching? If you are searching for that one person, why are you still together with your current partner? If at all you do end up finding that person, will you stop the search?

I don’t know. I’m leaving the conclusions open!

Lateral Thinking…

Its a forward.  Brilliant one!

Contestants from all Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) were asked to title this picture

Study the picture for 12 seconds And think about how you would title it:

This winning entry came from IIT Bombay

So whats your Tamil like?

Though I’m not very sure of the Statistics, atleast 8/10 of the Tamilians, who I’ve met in the last 27 years, have asked me this “So are you from Palakkad or…?” The latest of them being my buddy, who I met after more than a year, last week for dindin.

 Honestly, I’ve nothing against this question. But just the lineage where I come from makes things slightly complicated for me.  Dadda is from Palakkad, but born and brought up in Coimbatore. Mom is again from the same place. In laws (here comes the total and chaotic complication) are: Pa from Trichy and an Iyengar & Ma, an Iyer, is from Thrissur. (Yeah baby, perfect love marriage set in the late 60s, with all the Iyengar and Iyer fire attacks during the wedding). Hope I got this right, atleast this time. So whenever I’m asked this question, I actually fumble and tumble before giving out the complicated answer. Its kinda weird coz I’ve to give names of 3-4 places when most have just one native place! There have been times when I’ve really took long to answer this simple question.

So whats my Tamil like? I dont know. Seriously. I know to read and write Tamil. I can perfectly understand whats being said in Patti Mandram (Debates). My M-I-L is teaching me to read and write Malayalam now. Ok, now if you are asking me about my dialect, I guess its Tamalayam (Tamil+Malayalam). May be thats construed as Palakkad Tamil. As a kid, however, I used to feel, Pala”kkad” Tamilian means coming from the Kaadu (Jungle/Forest). [See, thats exactly how and where things get confusing.]

Whatever! We are one of a kind I tell you. Let me do an analysis of how a quintessential TamBrahm home looks like:

1. The moment you enter, you will get the strong Filter Kaapi fragrance in the living room. With tons and tons of pics of all the Hindu Gods displayed in the wall cabinet (or showcase as some call it). Kindly do not mistake the wall cabinet to be a Pooja Room. I still havent got that far. As a kid, my bro used to ask me why so many Gods. I used to convince him saying “With the number of wants and likes that a human has, it becomes highly confusing for ONE God to handle so much. So if you want wealth, you have Goddess Laxmi, you want Intelligence Ganpati Bappa is there, etc.” Call it Super Convincing prowess!!! Oh yes, there WILL ALWAYS be a BIG statue or a pic of the Kuladaivam in the living room. This pic/statue will the biggest in the room, so spotting or understanding the Kuladaivam of a clan is no problem.
2. Moving ahead, there’ll be this kitchen that’ll always see a flurry of activities ranging from preparing tiffin to making Kaapi to everything thats remotely linked to eating. Again a strong aroma of Coconut Oil or Kaapi.
3. Pooja Room. Phew. No discussions here. If wall cabinet had 124 pics, this place will have 12400 pics of all the possible Ummachis and Kadavuls. Just one difference, the photos here would be all King Size. And yes, there’ll be this big Kuttuvillakku (Diya) thats forever lit up.
4. If there are some more rooms, more aroma of Incense Sticks (is the spelling right?) more Kaapi and more Coconut Oil.

So whats its like to be a Tambrahm? Another question!

1. Days start with Slokas and hymns. Yes. All days of the week are specifically allocated for different Bhagwans. Monday is for Lord Shankara, Tuesday is for his cutest son, Lord Ganesha and so on. So different mantrams all through the week. Fridays. Aaaaahh yes!!! The day when my Ma and M-I-L feel, atleast 1 bucket of coconut oil on each strand of hair and Turmeric for the body is a must. Yes. Its a day when we Tambrahms are all slithery and slippery and really Yellow!
2. Marriages and functions. Honestly I avoid them. Too much talks of who’s doing what, who’s son-in-law is the cousin of the second daughter-in-law of the neighbours family living in the US. I lose my ear brain connection within the first 2  minutes. So I cant write much about things that I dont know.
3. Carnatic Music OR Bharatnatyam. Yes. I’m a trained vocalist. 12 years of rigourous training with Bhavam, Thalam and all. Now I sing “The Evil Has Landed” by Testament. *Whatta band.. Bows down in respect.*
4. Curd Rice. Now this is my life. You take Curd Rice out of my life and you’ll find me dead. To all those who dont like curd rice – You all are missing out on something truly celestial.

There are more, but let me reserve it for sometime later.

PS: This post might sound cynical. But yes, Tam brains are considered to be one among the best!!!  

PPS: Wonder why my brain is an exemplary display of perfect distortion!