Posted in Meanderings, tagged firangi paani, friends, mumbai, vishu on April 30, 2009| 2 Comments »
Part 3/3
We walked into Firangi Paani at 2 hours to midnight on the 13th of April 09.
Wow Surprise #1. They were playing Classic Rock – all the way from Beatles to Elvis to Floyd.
Wow Surprise #2. Happy hours from 10:00 p.m. onwards. Buy one get one free.
I can’t write much more about what happened. It would spoil the magic. Here’s my snapshot for keepsake.
Best . Vishu . Ever
—
Mumbai Part 1 – Pleasantly Mumbai
Posted in Arab Days, Emotional, Milestone, tagged crossword, friends, recovery on November 4, 2008| 2 Comments »
I guess everyone is allowed to go through the process of a crash. It always follows the same steps in perfect succession. The only thing to be wary about is the time in between the steps. I guess the time would be dictated by the extent of the crash and the impact thereafter.The sooner you can pick yourself up, dust your knees and resume your trot the better.
All’s well that ends in a well I say! I’m back to running and I’m not stopping. Not until the next vehicle on the road stops me that is.
Things have to be looking good. I managed to almost finish The Hindu Crossword 9368 yesterday night. Missed 2 clues – 10a. and 3d. Not bad. I consider solving a cryptic puzzle a fair indicator of a person’s state of mind. The more one can actually finish the puzzle, the more crazy he has become conforming to global standards.
Here’s proof and the actual answers
A very special thanks to all my friends and relatives who helped me through this time. Sorry this sounds like an academy award speech, but you need people like that especially when you’re having difficulty getting up. And because of all you guys, I managed to get up a lot sooner than I would have. I don’t take names on the blog, so I hope you don’t mind. To all y’all – here’s a nice one that guaranteed to make you smile!
P.S. Were you wondering why I used “thereafter” in my post? Do people still use that?
Posted in XIMB, tagged friends, prank on May 12, 2008| 5 Comments »
Hima was getting married in Kerela and I had suddenly decided to walk in at her wedding. When I got there, Sanky and I felt that simply going tada at her wedding, would be so blah! Sanky (prankster to the core) decided why not dress up as a girl. I wheedled out of the makeup and the other scary details by suggesting a burkha.
Only problem is we didn’t have a burkha.
Enter Naru!
First, Naru walked around the streets of a fairly conservative Trichur asking muslim ladies where they got their Burkha’s from. Then he asked shops if they were selling Burkha’s that would roughly fit him. Finally, he went to asking drama costume rental companies, if they had anything to spare. I managed to get my parents to pick up one from somewhere near the station. We picked up Naru, drove him to my place and explained the plan to him. His reaction (in the pic) was exactly this. “You guy are mad … Great Idea … You’ll get us all killed”. Needless to say, Naru hasn’t changed much from what he was in XIM, ever ready to pull a fast one on the nearest breathing prey. We went back to the hotel and I tried on the Burkha. The other 3 bachelors kinda lost it.
The Scam (as we planned it):
Hima had invited us for a dinner at her place before the wedding. Sachin would be our inside man. He would arrange for Hima and some more people from her age group to be present a nice location in front of the house so that we wouldn’t have to make a scene in front of the elders. (Hah!) Naru would tell Hima that he had a new girl friend (Fatima) from Hyderabad and he had bought he along to introduce her to his parents. It was a good story, because Naru was looking out for a girl and he could find a Muslim girl in Hyderabad. I would also play along with my practiced-on-the way female voice. We also considered doing a small jig for the song ‘Hey Baby’ with Sanky on the audio. (Yes, spank et ell 🙂 )
The Best Laid Plans …
For starters, the burka could not cover my legs entirely. A aprt of my legs above my ankles was completely exposed, hair and all. When we reached there, Sachin came to the gate and told us that he had managed to isolate Hima in a small room on the first floor and asked us to follow him. We did. Right through an entire line of guests who were till that point happily enjoying their dinner. I was completely covered in my Burkha, and their expressions were priceless. Most of them forgot the food that their hands were trying to put into their gaping mouth. Bewildered, they just watched as four guys and a muslim girl with hairy legs raced up the stairs. I’m not suprised that no one complemented me for my svelte grace later.
When we reached “the room” that Sachin had arranged for us, Hima was there with Supy, a couple of her brothers friends and her cousin. And her grandmother. Granny looked like she might have throw a fit or her chappal, whichever she could muster up first! Naru with all his stage presence and lack of stage fright, muttered one line – “This is my friend from Hyderabad”. That was like saying if that thing looks like a girl, that’s your problem, not mine.
That left me with no lead but stand there as ungraciously as could. Hima thankfully decided to check who was under the veil. Boy, was she in for a suprise!
If you can’t see the video above, go here.
You can check out some more pics at this site
Posted in Emotional, XIMB, tagged death, friends, kaus, XIMB on June 27, 2007| 2 Comments »
As I alighted from the train in Chennai, the cold morning rain slapped hard on my face. Rains in Chennai are not very common. Uncommon rains have one thing in common for me.
They always spell bad news.
“Machan, bad news da. AK passed away some time back”. That was six hours ago. After that came a flurry of shell shocked phone calls. The truth was impossible to swallow. Doubt, disbelief and sadness combined in my head in proportions they never had before.
As I made my way back home, I tried to push my mind to remember what ever it could of the wonderful times that we had had together; moments that defined AK for me.
Somehow each moment always had him jumping up and down, a uncorked cracker of energy, with a voice that was always set on ‘cheering-at-the-stadium’ accompanied by a smile that could light up a few street blocks. His pants hung loose about him and his pure enthusiasm threatened to rub on to everyone within a considerable distance.
I can never put a word to describe the relationship we shared. In some ways, I felt very close to him for one simple reason. We understood each other perfectly. He’s helped me many times and I have tried to reciprocate it.
To the end, I believe that he remained how he used to be. He’d love to take matters into his own hand. He chose not to worry his friends with the bizarre details of the disease that he was battling. I am told he even reported to work the day before he was taken to the hospital.
Now that he’s gone, only one thing worries me the most is that I am not able to mourn him the way I feel I should.
Curd Rice Chronicles 
