Secret Rule Of Age!

I always enjoyed when someone tells me I don't look my age. Dress in shorts and  I will qualify for lower school! Not sure whether they tease me or jealous of me, I liked it. So when this fellow, a student, asked me 'Uncle, where is Central Mall' I was surprised. Do I look like an uncle was not my thought it was more like, is this guy blind! Anyway I gave him the direction and he happily said 'Thank you, uncle...'

In Keralam, to greet an unknown person, we generally use 'Chetta' ( elder brother ) or 'chechi' ( elder sister ) and it was always accepted. Most other places, uncle and auntie is the way to greet unknown and that was always accepted.

Until last week... I needed to ask my new neighbour about the visit from broadband company. And following the custom, I addressed her auntie. She smiled and gave me the information I wanted. I was happy to get a new acquittance. It lasted only few minutes. Till my wife with a big laugh announced that the neighbour was annoyed and conveyed in a 'strong' manner not to call her auntie! She told she might look like one and may have a kid going to school, but she in fact is lesser in age than me! I need to call her only by name! I don't know from where she found out my date of birth! 

Well, that taught me a lesson. Now, in order not to annoy anybody, I use 'excuse me..' It helps ;)

Another 'Different' Trip To Home

I always like the trips to home.  Many of the times, it will be different than the routine trips, in the wrong way though. The trip last week ( for Onam ) was one like that. One I really wished I didn't had...

Because of the rush, I didn't get tickets in my usual 6:30 Karnataka KSRTC Rajahamsa, I got to get into the Kerala RTC bus. Though it claimed Super Deluxe Air Bus, it was anything but airy ! Both the buses, to and from Thrissur, were poorly maintained. The KL 15 7116, which was the one took me back to Bangalore was pathetic. The seats were untidy, the whole bus was rattling. The overhead luggage shelf was wide enough only to slide a laptop bag in ( for both buses ). There was a hole in the roof above seat no 35, and I enjoyed the cold rain all the night. Worse, the metal lamination sheet under the luggage space was hanging loose and I was afraid anytime it will fall on head.

The trip to Thrissur was ok till we reach Mysore. It started on time ( 4 PM, I liked it ). This was after a long time I took the Mysore road and man, it was nothing less than a trip to hell. No wonder Bangalore Mirror chose it the worst road in the city..

From Mysore, 4 elderly gentlemen boarded the bus, despite there was no seat. I thought of giving my seat to the eldest, but thinking it will keep me standing for good 6 hours and those guys always had a choice of taking the next bus, I decided against it :) After a while they were all restless, and one among them vomited inside the bus !!! The driver and conductor became furious ( naturally ) and asked them to get out to do the needful. He did, got in and after sometime did it again !!! The good part is there was one guy who was sober and cleaned the bus at the station.

There was one interesting thing happened. We were crossing Bandipur forest area, and suddenly the bus stopped. There was a small elephant herd in front of our bus, including a baby. The baby was careless, took his sweet time to cross the road. The mommy elephant was vigilant and looking us with her ears open wide. I was expecting her to charge at us any time !!! I felt we should ban the traffic through the forest entire night, so that at least the nights the animals can claim the forest theirs !

The return journey was at 11PM, and supposed to reach Bangalore by 10AM. But, thanks to the Onam rush and no free platform at Thrissur, the bus started a good 20 minutes late.

The next incident was classic, I never seen anything like that. Again, an old man was the hero. He slept and missed the stop where he had to get down ! He started blaming the conductor, for sleeping and didn't wake him at the stop ! The driver and conductor first started heated argument, but then softened as this guy was adamant that the bus should reverse and drop him back to the stop! Because he knew that, as the forest road closes in the night, no vehicle will come from the other direction. The pace of the journey was drastically reduced because the driver was also trying to convince the old man to get another bus back home. The argument lasted very long, that I slept in between ! I don't know how it ended.

The argument made the bus reaching the forest checkpost late and needed to wait there. Precious time wasted ;) But it gave a peaceful sleep :) We resumed, only to get a flat tyre soon ! In the last five years I took Kerala RTC buses hardly six times, and this was the third time the tyre went flat. Too bad Kerala RTC..

Reaching late to the city made things worse. The Mysore road, being busy at the morning hour made things worse. The 10AM bus at last reached by 0130 PM !!! I reached home 2:30, precious one day was wasted...

Next time, I will go with Rajahamsa. They made take an hour or two extra, because of the slow driving and tea breaks, but that will be the most they do. The buses are comfortable, at least...

Why So Serious...

Yesterday, the guy at the mess was very serious. He was lost in thought that he didn't see me coming. And when I wished him, his head turned. Though his eyes saw me, it failed to recognise me. I asked him why so serious, all he said was, we should get serious sometime.

True. Very true. We need to be serious. But do we need to remain so.. I doubt. We should never be in the serious mood for long. Especially if we end up thinking about the same stuff again and again in a circle, and not able to get out of it. We should stop thinking, should stop being serious. Only if our thoughts are flying, like one leading to the other and to the next, it is justified.

What if the situation is such that it demands us to be serious for long... Get help. When your thinking ends up in a circle, take the help of somebody. May be he/she can break the circle and get the thoughts lead in a new direction. After all, the point of being serious is to get over a difficult situation. If one is fall short of solving it, make it two.

So what you decide now.. How long you want to be serious ;)

I Love This City !

Yesterday on my way back from work, I met a girl in  Scooty. We were waiting for signal. Then I heard a humming, rather loud. She was singing without giving a damn about the world around  her. And the world around her - gives no attention to her either.

I like this about this city. You can be yourself. You can sing, shout, dance, laugh, cry, kiss anything on the streets and others are not going to stop you. They will not give you 'what are you doing' look or will not comment on you either. They pretend like you don't exist !

I like it that way. You may call it the city culture, which is so selfish that it is not bothered. Is it ?? Not at all. When you are in need, like you fell from bike, there will be people to help you. If you are lost, there will be people to guide you home. But they value your privacy, your life - your way.

Often I end up thinking why should others be so interested about my life. What I am wearing. Why I smile on the streets. If I do, I got the reason, why are you expecting an explanation ??? I will do what I feel like, and I am not bothered about how you are going to take it. Please let me be myself.

I am part of the crowd. Still, I am me. Leave me my own. Please...

Respect Elders, But NOT Everyone

From kids we are asked and conditioned to respect elders. And we do it, most often with pleasure. But now I guess it is a time to think again about that lesson. Reason - the times have changed. This is kalikaalam, when even God will be struggled and Evil makes victory, however momentary it may be.

There was this old man, who is a Yoga teacher. He used to take class about life, its preciousness, how to live it completely, devoting oneself to good etc. When you become close to someone, we unknowingly shed the mask we wear. We forget to modulate the fake accent, talk without thinking about the image we have with the other person. Once this man made a rude comment about a girl I know, and recently he was 'treated' for an illicit relation he had with a lady who goes to his house for private Yoga sessions. I felt pity to myself to call him Guru...

Last  week I was travelling in Volvo, which is supposedly how gentlemen travel and there is no separate seats reserved for ladies in it too. I was sitting in a seat facing rear, and from Mayo Hall a lady boarded with her girl child. Girl child was sitting next to an uncle. He smiled, the baby too. Then he pinched her cheek, I was sure she didn't like it, but she was still smiling. Then he put his hand on her lap. But when he saw I was watching him, he took his hand off. If there is no bad intention, why should have he took his hands then... We should teach our kids, both boy and girl, what a bad touch is. And should teach them to raise alarm in such situation too. 

During my college time, we used to bunk classes to watch movies. One day there was this old man next to my friend. Oldy put his hands on my friends thighs, he asked him to take  it off, oldy did. It repeated twice and then my friend stood up and shouted to the oldy ' you moth^* fuc&^*, behave yourself, else I will chop your bal@$ off'. The oldy left the seat instantly. At times it is the only way to make them aware that they will not be respected always for their age. Speak up. I am sure there will be many incidents you are in or heard of like this.

Do you still say we should always respect our elders...

I Just Had An Art Today....

Today I had haircut. It was very different... The one who did the cut was not a barber or hairdresser. He was an artist.

He asked me how I wanted my haircut be. I never was choosy or considerate about the way my hair looks. I mean, it never looked good, so I never bothered to correct it either. Still, to say something I asked him to cut it short, but leave some in the front to cover my ever growing forehead ;)

He started the work. He will plan for two second, cut a few hairs and then will take a break to plan next cut. And in between he will keep on clicking the scissors. He had three variety of scissors and two combs. He just shuffled them every minute. After few cuts, he will lean back and will check how his 'art' shaping up. In the middle, he gave the comb and asked me to check whether it is the way I want it. I was totally confused and told him yes it is ok. He was not satisfied and kept on cutting for some more time.

After coming home I tried various way to comb my hair to see whether there was anything special he did !!! But didn't find any :) Let me see what my friends say...