Chennai Days with Gupta and The Gang!!

After joining cognizant,I was at chennai for close to 14 months before I made move to hyderabad.
Today,Suddenly started thinking of those wonderful days I spent in chennai ,as one of my roomies Gupta is moving to Puna after staying there for close to 2 and half years.
A nostalgic moment it is.Though I am no longer there,I still somehow feel that something is missing from my life with Gupta no longer being in chennai .
To begin with,we used to crib a lot.Training period was horrible.
But life was better once we moved to house.House owner being retired wing commander.A Man of words.I admire him a lot.
There after it was circus with 6 of us staying together in three BHK house.our house was never short of action.
scribbled a mail to all roomies on occasion of gupta`s move to puna ,who happens to be a fine human being.This scribbling  shud pretty much sum up the chennai days(of course censored it a bit to retain some of the skeletons intact in the cupboard . Here I go.

Finally,Gupta`s tryst with chennai is ending (ahem, well hopefully .  As we all know it may , it may not  ) .
Wish you all the best,Gupta.Thodasa initial reluctance rahega mann me,about new place.but dont worry,everything would be alright.Khobra,ramnya and me have loads of friends there. so I am sure you won’t face much problem there.
pata nahi gupta chennai se puna ja raha hai par mujhe yaha ajeebsa lag raha hai.
The days I spent at chennai were truely memorable  with gupta,saket verma,khobra,bhau,watal,Mridu,Nandini and Dey.(Rams being the last entrant to the circle after my exit.)
Though there were many problems we faced in chennai initially,looking back now,I feel I enjoyed my stay at chennai a lot with kind of friends I had there in form of you all…
and with time,we all are moving on in life.
Mridu got married to Nandini and moved to his place.Their marriage is something I will always cherish.A fairytale kind of affair , one of those love stories which would not happen even in bollywood movies.one Lucky bastard Mridu is :)) . Still waiting for snaps of his marriage.
Vermaji ka shadi,which is round the corner .sabse bada khiladi aadmi humme se .
Till date,whenever I remember saket telling us about how he landed up in jail aur salakho ke piche se hath bahar nikaal ke “Maa hume bacha lo…” karke , he shouted  ,I end up laughing like anything..
and that tale of shikari babu ,the guy who was thrashed by all seniors everyday in their first year was awesome :).
And the funniest part of the stay was new year party when me , khobra and varma three of us gorged over about 5 pounds of chicken .we were devils incarnate that night :).
khobra ka gym craze,aur diet change ,the efforts he put up to  build physique were commendable ,but the effort at the end slightly backfired .He ended up with a potbelly
Gupta ,not to mention was jaan of our place.His witty one liners were something which nobody ever dared to mess with .
The runaway couple that we got married at one of temples again is something we will always remember .   I wish they  are doing good .                                                                  aur bhau , the non-resident room partner of us in those days , used to be with us on weekends :).
Those dinners at beach side restaurants basera and Miami were amazing . That chilly chicken at City Gate.Those visits to Spencers ,for all those pretty faces out there  . Besantnagar beach,Thiruvanmiyur beach.Those blog friends I made there .
And not to mention highly fun filled trips to ooty and Kodai .
chalo me getting bit nostalgic here…can keep on writing like this,will better stop. .
And I do wish someday again we can spend a day together in chennai.or catch up over marriage of one of us.
To quote Ramnya`s words ,
who knows this could ever happen or not, as Kishor da has sung “Jindagi ke safar main gujar jate hai jo makam….wo fir nahi aate…wo…fir nahi aate.”
The fond memories are going to be with us forever for sure,though.                                       PS : Dont forget to read Ramnya`s take on those days in chennai.He has come up with an out of the world image :). Please click here to Visit Raman`s Blog.          

Here are couple of snapshots out of those beautiful days.  First one with Gupta ,second one with watal ( aka Psycho ) and Khobra.                           

 

Past quarter century :)

Yup,me turned 25 yesterday.was bit dipressed for sometime over past one month,as somehow turning 25 had some psychological impact on me.Reminded me of FRIENDS episode where all of them cribbing when they were turning 30.But now that I am past the barrier ,I ain’t caring anymore .                                                                                                                  I Was reluctant how the day would be spent here ,as on the day of diwali,I was bored like anything.But birthday was lot of fun.Was at Guru`s place to take my written test for driving license.Birthday was celebrated at midnight with rituals of cake cutting and decorating my face .It was memorable budday with Guru,srinath,suresh,pradeep,Raj.In the morning , I almost failed  the written test,thanks to the beautiful blonde taking test adjacent to me who bailed me out by telling answers to 4 questions .without her help I would definitely have flunked.God bless her soul .
 We went to the beach after test,and roamed around there taking snaps.After lunch at beachside hotel,we headed back to our place.And then me watched Tamil movie Run  ,something I wanted to watch for sometime for Madhavan and Meera Jasmin.The day ended with sumptuous Dinner at Dosa grill and movie Borat after that in theatre.My first movie in theatres in US of A .Decided to do something worthwhile on budday and me wrote the previous post ,The journey called life which I think is the finest among whatever I have been writing so far.And that made me really happy.Here is a snap taken by Srinath.Click to Enlarge it. Missed all friends back home very badly ,though….

A journey called Life !! [Part 3 ]

Note: This be the third and final part of the series of short story.First one being ,Aur phir Ek Din.Second one , And the Ice was broken.Please read these two first before you start off with this story.

Its been six years.six long years since Rams last visited chennai…
the city had changed a lot with time.He was trying to remember and relate the place with what he left behind then.
Rams was visiting chennai on official work .He got into cab waiting for him outside airport ,which was supposed to take him to hotel.
Looking around he became nostalgic …Those three months he spent six years ago..
those were the most beautiful days of his life…which changed his life forever…he never was the same soul again…
cab was passing by Marina beach…he could see a couple sitting by beach ,below tree in that scrotching heat of summer…and he reminisced …                                                                                                                                                              he was sitting somewhere nearby six years ago …with sireesha.
Life passed on just like breeze of fresh air…he thought it was not really long ago when they were sitting there .
“saar,reached the hotel saar”..cabbie finally broke the chain of his thoughts.
He got down ,had to go to office in another hour or so.so he hurried.Rams was manager with the company he was working for past 8 years,married with a kid.For long time,his wife wanted them to go to kerala,so he decided that they would go to kerala,his wife was to join him once he would finish his work at chennai in a day.
That day ,In the evening,he thought he would take a trip down the memory lane,and visit the places which were his hangouts during his last stay.somehow he wanted to sit there all alone reliving the beautiful memories.Next day his wife was supposed to come down.
“Lets go Besantnagar Beach”.He said cabbie.
On the way after about a mile ,there was an ATM,this was the place he first met with sireesha.He smiled.It was sheer stroke of luck,after all,that they met.
Once he reached the beach,He asked cabbie to wait for couple of hours,removed his shoes ,and went to the shore of the sea.
It was half moon,he always loved it..the waves..the soothing effect of rythmic sound they made..the beautiful moon accompanying it..
He slept on the sand…lost in thoughts…
and they took him right in the past.about 6 years ago.when it was first time he fell in love..the bittersweet memories for the lifetime..
after about two months,he realised that sireesha was as close as possible to his definition of somebody he would wish to spend his rest of life with..time just flew by.those after dinner walks..going out to movies on weekends…sitting for hours on beaches..and talking about everything under sun..
He tried to tell her about what he was feeling about her,but it always was an exercise in futility.
And finally the day came..when he was supposed to move back to puna.sireesha was going to be in chennai for another month before returning to hyderabad.with heavy heart,loads of emtions still locked in his heart ,he packed bags.Sireesha came to see him off .
“Rams,this is for you , a memoir .”she passed on something wrapped in cover.
“Damn”.he cursed himself.
“sorry,sireesha.I didnt bring anything for you”.she smiled ,the very smile which took his heart away.
And the train started.she was standing there till the train disappeared .rams was waving his hand out of train.                                                                                                                                                                                                       Next two months were most difficult in his life.though they were in touch,there was something missing from his life.he was completely lost .It took him sometime to realise that life is going to be difficult without her .He sensed Sireesha somehow was sounding bit different of late,for reasons he couldnot comprehend.
Finally he decided he will go to hyd and meet her under pretext of meeting his friends there.He decided he would tell sireesha whats on his mind,come what may.
“Helllo sireesha” .
“Rams,you in hyderabad ?? when did you come? you didnt tell me you were coming”.
“well its a surprise visit,you see.came to meet my long time friends,actually. And its been sometime we last met. so when can we meet madam,when are you going to take me out for the biryani you were taking at length about”.Rams said.
“haan,haan chalenge.today evening we will meet at Eat street ,husainsagar lake at 6 PM.aur uske baad leave it upto me.waise there is a surprise from my end as well,I will be leaving on onsite assignment next month .isnt that great ?”
He didnt know how to react to that news.That meant he didnt have much time left.
He was very happy to meet sireesha after 2 months ,he felt its been ages since he met her.And he had bought a gift in advance for sireesha this time.
It was 6.10,and still she was not around.
“Damn.”he cursed his luck.every passing minute was like an hour.he already had drunk a bottle of mineral water,and his confidence levels were all time low.
and finally she came.he saw her waving her hand at him from other end of the place.
He was literally spellbound looking at her.He had met her almost everyday before two months.But there was something special about her today.
she looked the most beautiful girl to him at that moment.Time stopped still for sometime.
“oye,kya ho gaya, kahan kho gaya tu?” ,she interrupted.
he faintly smiled,he was yet to recover out of the magical spell she cast on him.
And he could not recover out of that trance whole evening.she was very excited for having him there.she took him to many places that evening on her scooty.The rendezvous ended with sumptuous dinner .A memorable evening it was.
“so how did you like kababs and biryani,sir ?” she asked.
“yeah,they are awesome”.He said.
“kya hua,you alright ? ” .Sireesha.
“i am perfectly fine.I wanted to tell you something but i forgot .anyway some other time.”
“Tu thik tho hai na?” .
“Haan haan.I am alright”.
He cursed himself zillion times for his inability to express himself.
He wanted to tell her that he loved her in person ,but he just couldnot do it that day.Next day morning he was supposed to return to his place.And that meant he wouldnot be meeting her in forseeable future.she was not going to make it to see him off due to some function at friend`s place.And he finally left hyd ,dejected and heartbroken.”If only I could tell her yesterday…”.                                                                                                                                                                                              A strong wave of water touched his feet,and he got up.He realised it was long time he was sitting there.He decided to go back to hotel.Back on the way,he was smiling the way life shaped up after that.
Next day morning he was awakened by knock on the door.
“Hey sireesha,how was the journey ? “
“yeah,it was fine. hey you know what ,I saw that ATM on the way,where we first met.Its still there.Thanks to that autowallah ,who stopped his auto there that day”.
“Nah.Not thanks to autowallah ,thanks to you who called back that night and told me that you love me .”He smiled .
“Hmm,thats true.Hey we shall better  go to cochin tomorrow.today we will stay in chennai and go the places where we used to meet .would that be fine? ” She said.
“Yeah,anything you say madam “.He smiled back. ” A Cup of coffee at Coffee day, a fish at Besantnagar beach,  dinner at Basera and a walk after dinner by the side of beach.Just like good old days.Does that sound good ? ” Rams Said.  “Hmm,I didnt make mistake calling you up that night after all” Sireesha smiled.