Poo, Kolams and Mamas..

When i told my grandma that i would come for a visit to tirunelveli with her i was sure that the time i am here i would be bored to death. Suprisingly i find that im quite content here. I find myself appreciating small towns.The amount of one on one interaction is amazing, everyone seems to know everyone else's business.

So every morning at 5.30 when im up to put kolam (Ya suddenly ive become the pakka iyer athu ponnu :P) im accosted by atleast one mami or mama.The same kolam which i put in maybe two mins here at home takes atleast 15 mins to get done in tvl :).The conversation always goes the same way..

mama: ne sowndharam ponnu thane..
me: ama
mama: enaku unga amma chinna vayasu lenthu theriyum... unga appavayum nanna theriyum ( then follows a long story abt how they know our family..)
mam: ne enna panra ippo? unaku thambi undu ella?
me: nan Msc mudichiruken.. (get interrupted)
mama: ama shankar enna panran ippo? un perimma pasanga bombayla thane erukanga..(asks questions about almost every cousin or second cousin i know or dont know...)


i took my grandma to cast her vote. She forgot her glasses hence couldnt see the symbols properly on the voting machine. The electoral officer there says " madam neenga ungapaatikita ketu podungalen" .. im like "er...isnt tat lik wrong".. the dude says its okay.. Ethe in chennai he would probably be saying "seekirama votea potutu move panu perisu"

And then there are those really annoyingly chirpy mamis that i meet in the temple everyday.. even if i forget to keep Poo one day they'll make sure to get some and place it on my hair ... :)

Then there are the older thathas who accost you with a I-know-it-all expression and look sadly at you and say with a straight face..
"Biotechnology is useless.Nee IT panirkanom. So evlo pannum onakku kadaikum?"
When I mumbled some number,He looked at me wildly.
"Do you realize you are going to be poor? How are you going to live on a salary like that?"
I felt bad on adding an extra zero. I silently thanked aryabhatta. :P

Here is the picture of the kolam i put.. i also found the basket i made which i gave it to my grandma so took a pic of tat too :)








I made the whole basket by myself :) true story !!

Hilarious apology :)

Not mine... This is the apology note my friend sent his girl after a fight! i thought it was hilarious :)

1.“Because he said so” is not, as common consent states, a feasible argument.

2."Because she said so" is, and will always be, a feasible argument.


3. Manisha is a very beautiful girl.


4. Your the only girl worth making lists for.


5. If Harsha was correct, that would mean that Manisha was wrong, which is patently untrue, for the occurrence of “Manisha being wrong” merits the event of hell freezing over. I don’t know if you’ve noticed it, but I think we’re enjoying fine weather.

6. Of course the egg came before the chicken. I don’t know why I ever suggested otherwise.


Yours sincerely, truly, forever and ever or at least until you chuck me to the side,

Harsha ramakrishnan

When i was stupidly drunk...

M and H recently got “officially” engaged. So we decided to celebrate…. Ms parents were out of town so we decided to have an evening at her place... Watch some cricket, order some pizza and you know generally hang out.

Despite the fact that ive been out with my friends a number of times to pubs I have always made it a point to never get drunk. Stick to club soda! Be the one who mocks those who puke or those who end up bearing their souls…I am twenty two and I was the only one of my gang who had never been drunk before. I remember my first drink was a coke… I had one...then two...then a club soda…...then some vodka shots AND THAT'S WHEN IT ALL WENT WRONG! I MIXED ALCOHOL! Novice mistake…. The only upside of the whole experience being it wasn’t in public…

For someone who claims to have great self control I din handle getting drunk really well… And you would expect my pals to control me right.. but nooooo they were having fun watching their rule following “mami” friend making a complete fool of herself….

The foolish things that I did…

•I emailed this “terror” prof at college and called her all sorts of names…. I actually told her tat the reason why she was so uptight was coz she’d never been in a relationship her whole life.. (thank god she has no idea who the sender of the email is).

•Sang along with “linkin park” to numb. (which to my horror they hav it on video)

•Smsd my brother and told him tat I never appreciated him enough and other senti stuff..

•Told the entire group about the supposedly secret crush V had on S.

•Went on to tell them all an A joke which I would never ever in my right minds would consider sharing...

•Called my school math teacher and told her she was the worst math teacher in the history of teachers… ( i am deeply and profoundly grateful to my parents for giving me such a common name)


The rest is all a blur… The next thing I remember…. Puking my guts out…. I had a massive headache for almost an entire day…. So next time I go to these things Ill make sure I carry an extra bottle of coke nd most of all id never ever make fun of the one who is drunk... Getting drunk once was enough to last the rest of my life…

drifting along..

I search through days that have been hard
To try to understand
The life that I have had.
You see me in my daily life
So confident and strong
Yet when I am alone,
I question just where I belong
I often try too hard I find
To analyze and guess
To scrutinize investigate
My life I will confess
I struggle to bring clarity
To what awaits me tomorrow
And yet i fail to realise
What happens to me today
It seems the harder that I try
To focus through the haze
Just serves to add more questions
Perhaps I'm trying just too hard
To understand it all
For can we ever truly know
Just what will really happen
Each incident each moment passed
Perhaps I make it harder
Than it has to be sometimes
But will my searching bring to me
My meaning over time?
Or will it leave me broken
And confused as I feel now.

Why the discrimination?

So today a really good friend of mine and me walked down to the beach … There was a bunch of people who were looking at us really weirdly… why? Coz my friend was wearing baby pink tracks and carrying a pale blue balloon.. Now why would that be weird??? Well my friend is a guy..

We passed this group of college boys who yelled “hey homo!”... Why does it bother you who goes around wearing what? Comment on it in private but to actually be so cruel about it.. I wanted to pick a bone with those guys but my friend said it wasn’t worth it and he was getting used to it.

Our society is not a very open minded even about things like live in relationships, sex before marriage, women visiting pubs.. Why even a simple coffee date… so there is no way they will ever accept homosexuality..

There are many open minded people I know who say “hey im cool with it” unless they actually meet gay men or women. When they do actually meet they don’t know how to act around them.. And it ends up being embarrassing for everyone involved. They are people like us… they smile, laugh, cry, hurt the same way as we do.

And these preconceived notions against them are the worst.. Who says gay guys are more sentimental then straight ones? What makes you assume they like boy bands and not heavy metal? The movie DOSTANA was a joke.. It wasn’t one to open the minds of the public but one to make them more prejudiced by giving them a stereotypic behaviour…

And the laws which deem such relationships to be illegal make it even more difficult for the public to accept them... After all if the government cannot recognize them then why should the public? Although when gay activists in India agitate for repealing Article 377 I wonder if they are being counterproductive. If they insist on being seen and heard, we as a society will be compelled to confront them and take a stand

Homosexuality as a concept has been accepted and has existed ever since the days of the greek philosopher Plato.. (The word “platonic” to explain a nonsexual relationship between a man and a woman is an example). There is awareness of forms of alternate sexuality that have long been part of Indian society, like the hijra community. There is acceptance of this, but it comes with very definite prejudices some of which are extended to the gay community.

My friend warned me against writing about this… this is because he thinks that once people read this they would assume I was gay too.. I don’t really care… people can think what they want.. But the heart of the matter is that there is gross injustice meted out to them and they don’t deserve it.. We are born the way we are.. To force someone to change their identity to fit in with the norms of the society is definitely not acceptable.

All that went wrong with the media!!

Anyone else getting annoyed by referring to the Mumbai massacre as India’s 9/11?? Am asking this because each time I see it on television I get so angry… Our media cannot even at this juncture keep drawing parallels between us and the United States. Some time back the attack on the parliament was our 9/11 and before that the suburban train attack in Mumbai..

As news of the unfolding Mumbai terror attacks spread countrywide, shock and horror was the reaction of the entire country. But soon this empathy began to be a TRP bonanza for India’s electronic media. It became a battle on who was “sabse teez” on giving information ( no they don’t care if their info is obsolutely correct).. The info on the second attack on CST giving for god’s sake twitter as the source was the worst.. Did they stop to think how many people who might have been traveling by train at that moment would have family worrying at home??

If you had followed the reports of the attack on the various “reporting live” you might have noticed one thing. The attack on the CST was just not given importance. While a list of all the celebs and all those important people who were in the TAJ or the OBEROI or the (lets face it its not like all of us can afford it) the CST attack where 52 people were killed was always mentioned as an after thought. It seems to me that the media as usual cares more about the privileged over the common man.

Im sure you saw the various celb interviews who expressed their utmost sorrow against this attack on the hub of India. Is a statement from Amitab Bachan on how he hid a gun under his pillow before he went to bed supposed to inspire all of us?? Or those exclusive from a top US Television channel brought to us live by our very own media where Brad Pitt extends his support to all Indians going to make ANY difference in our lives???

Why not interview all those hotel attenders who warned the guests to stay in their rooms and turn off all lights?? Why not give the spotlight to the announcer in CST who had the presence of mind to warn all passengers not to alight from the train? What about the constable who put his life at risk to save the scores of passengers walking onto the platform by warning them? They are the real heroes… It sets an example for how normal “junta” can act in times of terror and probably make a difference.

To top it all off… here is the news from TIMES a couple of days back…. The editor seems to think we are all interested in what is the menu that is served to the captured terrorist.. Apparently he wants more of Non vegetarian food… But excuse me Mr. Editor… who cares??

the wedding mania

Typical reaction from parent when their kid turns 20 is

if its a girl: oh god we better start getting jewelry for her wedding.. our Lil girl is growing up

if its a boy: okay he has a yr to go and then he better get atleast a partial scholarship to go do his MS. ( You should listen to surya's dialogue in Vaaranam ayiram on this issue.. its hilarious.. but well ill make the MS issue my next blog)

Being a girl im going to concentrate on the gettin married part... A couple of my friends are engaged to be married.. if u see the exorbitant amount of money that goes into this whole wedding business you would be shocked. im sorry im still not able to wrap my head around it.

i agree tat marriage is a cause for celebration.. but at such costs? wouldn't it make more sense to give the money to the bride and the groom for their future or something..

I believe in traditions and all.. but tell me what is the point of having a nichayathartham twice ( as in once before and one before the day of the marriage)...
And dont even get me started on the whole janavasam stuff.. the poor groom in tat really slow car with pesky kids sittin around bickering...

The cost of feeding a sizable crowd for four meals is around 3 lakhs.. add the cost of renting the mandapam.. Add on the cost of transport, accommodation with the basic amenities and you are at 5-6 lakhs.

And why on earth should the bride have so many sarees.. what is the point?? I dont see her using most of those sarees.. My brother pointed out sometime back at another brother's engagement that his wife's sarees bought for her wedding were too grand for such a function.. My mother who has been married 22 yrs probably hasn't worn most of her wedding sarees more than five or six times..Its just neatly pressed and kept in the cupboard.And most importantly the cost of all the clothing purchased runs upto another lakh or two..

I understand the idea of thambulam but why be obliged to give that useless piece of blouse bit.. or some fancy Ganesha doll which i assure you is being handed out the next navarathiri.. The shopkeepers should have a return an undamaged blouse bit for money business. Would probably make a fortune out of it..

Then the reception.. why "Kutcheri"...Who is listening??? not more than 25 people.. I like carnatic music but in the wedding hall no...how is one supposed to enjoy the music with a zillion people chattering around...its just wasting money for what? Prestige? To say that famous singer was at my son/daughter's wedding?

Finally the jewelery..atleast that i concede are an asset and gold rarely ever loses value.. But what i concur from all this is you cant possibly have wedding if you dont have ten lakhs bank balance.

Dont you think its better to have a quiet ceremony in a temple and then have reception and get over with it???