Of Hospitals and Marriage Propsals!

Monday evening I get a call on my mobile from an unknown number, I answer it and surmise that a distant uncle has had a massive heart attack and has been admitted to a hospital. It is his neighbour who calls me and gives me this information. I pack a change of clothes in a duffel bag take some cash and rush to the hospital.

I hire a taxi and wonder at the man who served as a source of inspiration to me and all the other kids in the extended family. Seshumama was a bachelor, a man who was an enigma. He had studied Law and then been to Oxford to pursue a slew of degrees. He was a man of incredible physical strength. I remember me and my cousins four of us hanging on to his powerful arms and he would lift us and again set us down with incredible ease. He had gone on to join the United Nations and worked in various countries in Africa. It seems his work was top-secret. It was something to do with Crisis-Prevention and Disaster-Management. No one knew where he was and when he would suddenly land up at their doorsteps with a bag full of goodies for the kids.

The elders in the family considered him to be the "black sheep" as he had not married and settled to lead a normal life. He had retired about seven years back and used to shuttle between his cottage in Munnar and flat in Chennai. I had always stayed in touch with him, and he used to treat me like his own son. He would often remark to my parents" Watch out Meshu(he used to call me that) is going to be a great man." I have not achieved any greatness yet. I have a regular job and a normal life. He used to gift me books and stamps and would always listen patiently to the stories that I would narrate to him. It is a matter of pride for me that in spite of there being so many relatives, he had two sisters and a younger brother; it was my name and number that was given by my uncle as an emergency contact number.

I am lost in my thoughts, when the taxi-driver announces that we have reached the hospital. I pay the fare and rush to the reception. My uncle's neighbour is waiting there and he informs me that my Seshumama is undergoing surgery; and that he has also informed the other relatives and all of them were on their way to the hospital.

As the clock ticks my nervousness increases and slowly the relatives troop in to the hospital. People whom I had not met for more than seven or eight years years arrive and they are surprised to see that the lanky Meshu has grown up into a man. Meena Aunty comes up speaks to me and in a most embarrassing situation asks her husband-Raju Mama-"Ennanga Maheshkku namma Shriyava ponnu pakkalama?"(Why don't we seek an alliance for Mahesh with our Shriya [Damn! of all places and times an alliance/proposal in a hospital]

The doctor comes out and says Seshumama is out of danger and he will be moved into the General Intensive Care Unit after a couple of hours. I heave a sigh of relief and thank God and the doctors who saved his life. When I see him he is still in a drug-induced sleep. He is tired and weak but even then with an enigmatic smile on his face.

As I return home I wonder if I am going to end up like him all alone and without any one! My thoughts are interrupted as I get another call this time it is Meena Mamai-" Dei Meshu Ammakitta sollu njan Shriya jadhakatha courierla send panren!" (Hey! Mahesh tell your mother that I am sending Shriya's horoscope through courier." )

I manage by saying-"Mami signal weak a irukku aathukku call pannunga"(Aunt the signal is weak try calling home.)

Now Where to From Here.......


Once again on the crossroads of life, I can't help myself from thinking about Robert Frost's poem-"The Road Not Taken." I am reproducing the poem here for the benefit of people who have not read it.

THE ROAD NOT TAKEN
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
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I am quitting my current job, and taking up another job, in a totally different realm, from the one in my current organization.

So perhaps years ahead, I shall be saying that-"I too took the road, less travelled by, and that has made all the difference.

Life is a quest, everyone has a goal, and works to achieve his/her goal. As long as the quest does not end in a fruitful goal, the restlessness, and the need to keep changing paths, keeps happening.

Some people find their goal early in life, some people achieve it a bit late in life, and there are many others, for whom the quest goes on till the last breath of their lives.

Hopefully I should complete my quest soon.

Let us see what happens......

A True Experience

Yesterday, I was travelling by the bus 52 B, from Chennai Central to Guindy. It was evening around 7:30 P.M., many people were returning back to their houses after a hard day's work. The bus was jam-packed, and I was able to find a place to stand. When the bus reached the L.I.C. bus stop, I felt a hand going into my trouser pockets. I realized that someone had flicked my mobile phone. I turned around quickly and shouted-"Enn phone kaanam"(My phone is missing."

I spotted a seventeen-twenty year old youth who was behaving supiciously, I stared at him, he turned around and shouted-"Ivar phone kaanam"(His phone's missing)

I looked down and saw my phone the floor, I bent down and picked it up.

When I searched for the youth, he was missing, he had alighted at the Spencer's traffic signal.

Truly an unforgettable experience.

I thank God, and am happy to have got my phone back.

Madras Nalla Madras
If you have not done this in Chennai...

Chennai, no I will rather stick to good old Madras, it is a melting pot of different cultures with people from many diverse traditions living in this city. The I.T. boom has brought in more and more tech-people from all the stes of India and many people from foreign countries also.

The following is a list of things that one should experience in good old Madras.

1-Wake up to the melodious voice of M.S. Subhalakshmi singing Venkatesa Suprabatham.
2-Have a tumbler of hot filter coffee, follow it up with a plate of steaming hot idlies with sambhar and fresh cocnut chutney.
3-Visit the Kapaleeshwarar Temple at Mylapore and the St. Thomas Church.
4-Go to the Marina Beach, walk bare foot on the soft sand, and have molagha bajji(chilly bajji) and sundal with green mango.
5-Visit Valluvar Kottam near Nungambakkam and the Theosophical Society in Besant Nagar.
6-Go to T.Nagar, a place where you can buy anything, and make a visit to Saravana Stores to look at the crowd that comes to buy all things under one roof.
7-Travel by the Mass Rapid Transit System(M.R.T.S.) flying train.
8-Go to Spencer's Plaza and blow up your hard earned money on things you can buy at half the price in Pondy Bazaar.
9-Visit the Vandaloor Zoo, and the Children's Park at Guindy. Have a look at Gandhi Mandapam and drink a glass of lemon juice from the guy who stands just outside Gandhi Mandapam(It is the best lemon juice that you can get in Chennai).
10-Travel by an auto and haggle with the auto-driver before paying your fare.
11-Go to Burma Bazaar near the Beach Station buy dvds of the latest movies.
12-Go to Devi theatre and watch a movie. I guess its Sathyam theatre for the younger generation.
13-Look at the chaos and order with which the people perform their daily tasks at the Central Railway Station.
14-Have food at a Kaiyendhi Bhavan(Mobile eatery)
15-Buy second hand books from Moore Market and Triplicane.
16-Make a trip to Mahabalipuram, V.G.P. and MGM Dizee World.(The last option blows a big hole in your pocket)
17-Attend a music concert during the Marghazi Music Festival in December-January.
18-Watch the frenzy and adoration of cinema crazy fans during the first day first show of a Rajinikanth, Kamalhassan, Ajit or Vijay movie.
19-Watch a cricket match at Chepauk praying fervrently that it does not rain and stop the match.
20-Travel by the M.T.C. bus service.

If you have not done these things then you have not experienced the true spirit of Madras.