The Stage Debut

It was the first time in my life. It was the first time that I would have to shut off the surroundings completely from my head and concentrate only on the dialogue that I was going to tell. Though the set up was scripted, I wanted to impress with my own Tamil verses. I was not afraid of the consequences, if I was not accepted. I had no other go. I didn't want to be someone's mouthpiece on such an occasion by just talking their sentences. "Cometh, whatever may be", I thought. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, leaned forward and started . "Madhipirkum mariyadhaikkum uriya..(Honorary dignitaries....) Yes ! There is a way to kick-off everything and this one being a Tamil debate organized for the annual day in my school also had to be started off with the formal introductions.

Some 10 days before this, I was sitting in my Class 11 Organic chemistry class. The benzene and phenol rings were too heavy for the last period of the day. The class was absolutely silent with many falling prey to the unconquerable Sleep God, while some others were honing their drawing skills in their notebooks. I took a glance at the watch to check how long it would be for the long bell to ring. "Phew! 15 more mins of Phenols and Ketones", I thought. "Prasoon! The principal wants to meet you. Can you quickly come with me?" asked the History teacher interrupting the class. "Principal a?!?! ", my mouth gaped in fear. " Did she see me dozing off in the physics class? Cha cha! No way! Then why is she calling me?", I thought. I gave a puzzled look at my friends who were trying to check with me on what happened .  I overheard my history teacher informing my Chemistry sir that my meeting with the principal would be related to the school annual day celebrations . "What am I supposed to do for Annual day? Amavasaikkum Abdul khaderkum enna sammamdham ?Oru Vela, are they planning to request a solo dance performance of mine? Or a song in my mellifluous voice? But I know only classical songs la? Sindhu Bairavi or Hari Murali ravam? No! 'Thanni thotti ..' only". All these thoughts were going through my mind when I was walking towards the principal's room.

"Hello Prasoon! We are planning to have this year's annual day on Feb 28. " started my Principal. "Oh! Good, Madam!", I responded. "I have never seen you participating in any of the cultural activities all these years. You will get busy next year as you will be in 12th. So, why don't you get into something this year?" said my Principal. "Sure Madam. I will try", I gave a plastic reply. "Good! Anyway we are planning to have you as the judge for our Tamil debate program on Annual Day", she said. My eyeballs almost popped out of their respective sockets hearing this. "Debate a? That too in Tamil?", I thought. On top of this, "Judge Vera! Everyone knows how good my Tamil is(Read in a sarcastic tone)". "If you want me to participate in the debate and talk, I can manage , but to act as the judge would be difficult Madam. My Tamil is not that good", I told my Principal. "That is fine. I am not asking you to give en extempore . YS Sir(History Teacher) will prepare the script . You just have to memorize and deliver it. We will have rehearsals to ensure you talk according to the script. After all, who else in our school now can remember and recite a 6 page dialogue apart from you?", She completed. Was that a sarcastic comment? Cha! Can't be!

I nodded my head in all directions in sync to the long bell signalling the end of the day. I left the Principal room in a hurry. It was time to go home.Just then my History teacher asked me to meet him at the seventh standard 'C' section in some 10 mins. Be it school or office, when someone asks you to stay after hours, you tend to become Anniyan. I had no other choice. I went to the class as he told. He was taking tuition classes to some 20 class VII students. He asked me to sit in a bench and started talking about the topic of the debate. It was "Is Technology ruining the current generation?" He then introduced me that I would be the judge of the debate and all to some four students who had been staring at me as if I had stolen their tiffin box, from the time I entered the class.  Being a humble person, I was floored by the way my teacher was introducing me.  I smiled at them thinking, "Yeah! It's me". My teacher then said to them, "Make sure you teach this Anna(bro) on how to prepare for this debate and what points you have come up with. Prasoon! By the way, these 4 would be the debaters, you would be moderating on stage".

The next few days leading up to the Annual day went completely on rehearsing and improving the scripts. I was advised by every Tom, Dick and Harry who watched our practices to talk boldly like the other 4 students, to improve my intonation and bla bla. I was asked to improve my speaking skills as well. All of a sudden, I became a lab rat with people examining every huff and puff I did while talking and pointing out improvement areas and so on. I was seen as the weakest link in the setup. Being someone shy of talking in public(really!), talking pages of Tamil dialogues with appropriate intonations and also to interrupt and give counters(that should look spontaneous) when the participants talk is not my cup of tea. On top of this, I was told that I should talk as if I were trying to impress someone(Idhu Vera!).I badly wanted to get this done soon.

                            Photo courtesy

At last there I was seated in the middle of the stage with the four participants sitting by my side on the Annual Day and delivering the judgement speech on the debate. Though it was not a flawless presentation, I was happy that I didn't fall on my face in the course. I was thoroughly enjoying the applause at the end. I didn't want to look in the direction of my History teacher as I had deviated from the script and talked to my will. I don't know whether I was able to 'impress' anyone with that performance.  The people present there got a different impression that 'Ivanukku vai konjam jasthiyo? Pesikitte irukkaan.'(Looks like this guy is very talkative). Though it was a success overall, I was not satisfied, as I still believe the applause would have been more, had I sung the song from Sindhu Bairavi. "Hmmm! Can't help! The world probably wasn't ready for that marvel!!" :P

The Return

"So, Prasoon! Not writing blogs nowadays? Didn't see any Facebook posts asking people to share.  Anyways , good thing only. You won't torture us to read it, though you know we will never ever bother to read even the title :P", Rahul told with a tongue in cheek expression. Yes, it has been some time since I have put pen to my thoughts .Though I badly wanted to write the manifesto behind my return or prepare atleast a YouTube interview video describing my efforts to write one more blog so that the interviewer gets some publicity and in turn, gets interviewed by hundreds, if not thousands, being a humble person, I have decided against it magnanimously :)

Himesh was also returning not to blogging but to India, after being away in the land of the United States for several years on an onsite assignment. There were stories that only a very few in his current project had seen Himesh at offshore as it had been some time since he traveled. Like everyone, his promise to his offshore team when he traveled was "Don't worry. I will be back in a year as I won't be able to stay away from my motherland for long." The team was sad not that they would miss Himesh but knowing that he might not return soon and in turn block their travel chance.

After almost a decade, Himesh decided to return because of various intricacies (read visa problems). It was his first day back after a short vacation.The office building had changed. The canteen vendor had changed but the taste of the Upma remained the same. After entering his floor, he looked around hoping to find some familiar faces. He then happened to meet one of his seniors from his offshore days. "Hey Ravi! How are you? Are you still at offshore? Better get moving , dude. When is your visa expiring? Make sure you travel once and not waste the chance. Also, Nowadays, our onsite assignments are not that stressful and all , like when I initially went there. All is easy now. Just go, party and chill".

Ravi didn't respond anything but managed a sheepish grin as he was used to such advices mixed with boastfulness for past few years from every Tom, Dick and Harry who were getting down from their planes.  He had been slogging day and night for his project at offshore but couldn't get to travel on-site anytime. He was seen as the not-so-lucky guy in the project, thanks to the myth that you need to travel on-site, spend years there(the way you work there is irrelevant :P), get 'the card' to be praised and worshipped by the poor junior blokes in your team who would welcome you cheerfully on returning not for your heroics but for the chocolates.

"Nice to meet you Himesh after such a long time", Ravi politely finished the conversation and reached his cube. He then opened his notes and jotted down "Met that idiot who blocked my onsite travel all these years. Thank you Almighty! I learnt that the idiot will now report to me from today. :P Thanks to you Mr. DT for making this happen. Ini singa paadha thaan(It's gonna be the aggressive route hereon). After all, 'All is fair in love and on-site' :P"

Just in!!

"Ravi! Lets go to our desks. We have been here in the canteen for almost an hour for the morning coffee. If we sit for another 15 mins, lunch will be served. So, lets go to our desks now, work hard for 15 mins and come back again for lunch :) " " Two mins boss. Look there is a breaking news scroll in the TV. Let's see what it is and then leave". Ravi pointed to one of the LED TVs in the canteen where the scroll read "The AYZK party launched yesterday has got around 10 new members. Is this a sign of change in the political landmass?" in the middle of various scrolls like 'The day dawned first on our TV office' , ' The country is fortunate to have 'The Breaking' channel'.

There is nothing breaking(obviously. New  political party is anyways a daily affair nowadays) about this news. The only thing that comes somewhere close to the usage of 'breaking' is those self-proclaiming scrolls appearing 73 times(more than your heart rate)a minute, seeing which you might get tempted to break the remote and sometimes the TV . 

Eye-catching graphics, use of animations to recreate and show what could have happened during a disaster and the pace at which the news is reported are certainly things that I hope everyone would appreciate in the modern news reporting. But without all this, I still remember how eagerly we used to wait for the clock to tick 8:30 pm to watch the DD news in the regional language. Though we would have hoped for  better than the plain background with the monotonous rendering of the news with file pictures and clips, I believe some of us are having a thought that atleast the news was reported those days and not that a news is created, interpreted, judged and branded like now in few channels.

People are busy 'breaking' news in their channels all through the day now, whereas they use the evening/dinner time to debate(That is how it is called) on the one news that would garner more interest. The dos and don'ts in these debates may look something like "Do not allow anyone to talk more than 30 seconds without interruption; Do tell that you are asking this as someone wants to know; And the last thing 'Shout!' (Read it in the same time as Cap America told Hulk in Avengers I -Smash :) )"

Gone are the days when elections were fought in campaigns, now the actual fight during elections happen in channels in reporting the most inaccurate lead status while counting. Gosh! The power that news reporting wields now is so great that they can make or break any individual's career through one interview/debate.

Though there is some blame attached to the people who serve us these, we who consume this also are to be blamed. After all, we the people look for entertainment in news channels and not news/facts . We get what we wish!

The Hunt

"Hey Samir! Are you tensed?".
"No"
"Then, cheer up, da! After all, it is your first attempt, right?"
"Hmmm. Yes "
Samir then took one last glance at the mirror to see if everything looked fine before leaving his home. Everything was fine. Or was it? He was indeed tensed just like his sister had said.

Though this was his first attempt, Samir had experienced a similar state of nervousness and excitement mixed in equal proportions previously, some years back. Dressed in a classic black and white that day, he was able to slay the fear and become victorious. He never thought that he would have to put so much of care in his dressing and grooming again as people at that time told, " Samir! Since you are now an IT employee in AtoZ software org, finding a girl for marriage would not at all be a task for you. That too, if you manage to go onsite to the US for a couple of years in between, you may have to hire 'Z' class security to keep the queue of prospective brides in check in front of your house". Years passed by and Samir after returning in the middle of a 3 year stint at US, couldn't find even a single person, let alone a queue to choose from and marry. After some 2 weeks, there he was getting ready  to visit a girl's (read bride :P)home nearby along with his dear and near. His first crack at the CEM(Compatibility and Eligibility for Marriage)Test which like every other test nowadays, has its fair share of unknowns.

After exchanging pleasantries for some time at the girl's home, the moment came. The moment which Samir was preparing for. The moment, which he thought might never come. The moment when 'He' had to answer his prospective 'She' for a barrage of queries about his job and his stay in the US.  Expecting 'her' to listen in awe of his life as a software engineer in the US, Samir found only empty laughs and faceless expressions in return. He was not able to make out anything from their reaction.

After getting in the car, his dad said, " Phew! Atleast this family didn't seem much concerned about the IT industry and abroad stay stuffs. Hope they don't change their mind!". Samir got confused. He was not able to understand what his Dad told. He asked his dad on what he was talking about. "See, Samir! Nowadays some parents are thinking hard to have their daughters married off to software folks especially if the guy is said to be working abroad." Samir realized that What was once seen as the 'the duck that would lay golden eggs forever'  is now looked down on , thanks to various reasons. "To hell with the person who told about the queue when I took up the job,  it is now a null pointer exception!". On the way back home, Samir suddenly asked the driver to stop the car in front of a shop. He went in and came out with a couple of books, one of which read "Bank officer's exam guide!!".

The New Born

It was busy everywhere. Everybody seemed anxious and disturbed. Some of them found it difficult to remain in their seats. They preferred to walk the length and breadth of that small hall. Some were anxiously peeping through the small opening in the door leading to the next room. Some were silently praying to God with their eyes closed and hands folded. Inside the closed room, were people murmuring in hushed voices which were not clearly audible to the outsiders. A tinge of worry masked everybody's face. I sat in a corner of the room, watching everything with a numbness in my mind. After all, these were a repetition of the scenes I could witness some 30 years back, when I too was a worried man, praying to God Almighty. It was also a special moment in my life, something we long for but something we pray not to backfire.

The nurse showed her face through the little opening in the door and called a name. Some six to seven members rushed to her and she gave some instructions to them and a medical prescription. One or two of them immediately rushed to the pharmacy to get the medicine quickly.

After about half an hour's time, she called out another name. My wife, who was by my side, till then, sprang up to the door to reach to the nurse without delay, I too automatically followed her. We were asked to wait at the next door of the room. We were kept in the dark as to why we were asked to wait there. Within 10 minutes, she came out with a new born baby in her arms and handed over the baby to my wife. We found no boundaries to our joy. A baby girl, wrapped in smooth shawl. Yes, it is our Grand child. Some unknown joy filled my heart. A feeling which could not be expressed in words. A twinkle in our eyes, which cannot be explained. At least a new blood of ours in the form of a new born baby.

The same joy, the same feelings and the same twinkle in my eyes were experienced that 30 years ago when I stood before the labour room of a hospital where my wife was admitted for delivery of my child, and was handed over a baby boy by the nurse of that hospital. I felt history is repeating. Then our own children and now our own grand children. It will go on as a chain.

The innocent look of that new born took me to a world, which I have conquered, to be joyful, to feel the unexplainable feelings that ran through my mind.

An Enigmatic Evolution

"Molu! Turn off the tap. Don't waste the water. Water is very precious. Also don't forget to switch off the light when you leave the room." No, this is not an environment conscious mother educating her spoiled brat to use water and electricity judiciously so that the future generation can live a happy life. This is an ordinary housewife/mom yelling at her house help Robot to use the little water available in the tank and the 10 units of electricity yet to be drained from the inverter to the minimum so that they could somehow manage till the electricity is restored or till some help arrives from the Universal Space Station(USS)

The people are getting excited, in spite of the falling oxygen levels, whenever they hear the sound of any spacecraft hoping that it would be the help from the USS. It has been 2 weeks since these people were hit by a mammoth tidal wave which caused destruction in a gargantuan scale in their colony. The automated seismic monitor bots which were devised to predict such calamities had failed. Without the disaster relief robots developed for such emergencies, all the mankind in the colony would have been dead.

No one knows if there would be another killer wave . With the monitor bots damaged, the relief robots programmed not to leave the colony under any circumstance and the oxygenator completely destroyed, the people have no other way but to depend upon their demigods at the USS to rescue and move them to some other safer planet. A distress signal was sent to the USS through their drone Pidge-IV, but no help has come. The USS , though anchored near the lifeless earth's atmosphere now and some 20 light years away from this new home to the elitest of mankind, should have done something by this time. Don't they? After all, that is what they told when they came here virtually to campaign for their elections.

Which is better?

"ABCD party calls for statewide Hartal next Friday", Vinodh read the newspaper headline. His face turned pale, as another Friday holiday meant another day of PT period gone in school. Vinodh is the captain of the school football team and is touted to be a future Football star. Though he had his daily training sessions from the coach, the boy still in his eighth standard loved to play with his classmates in the PT period. "Why do these people call for bandhs only on Fridays?", he thought. After skimming the dozen and half pages of the newspaper almost at the speed of Chitti(The Robot), he concluded that newspapers are not having anything interesting these days barring the full page promotional ads. With nothing interesting to do on a boring Saturday morning, Vinodh opened his drawing book and started to sketch.

"Da Vinodh! Close that useless drawing book and study your lessons. I heard from Sunil's mother that you have your monthly tests from Monday. I also learnt that Sunil got the first rank in the quarterly exams! What have you got? A worthless tenth rank! He is also like you right? His Mom told that Sunil studies for five to six hours everyday after school. That is how students should be, especially when they are nearing the Board exams and not wasting time like you in doing trivial things", lectured Vinodh's mother. Vinodh got irritated and angry, not with his mother, but with Sunil who actually didn't do any harm to him directly. From that day, Vinodh visualised Sunil as his No.1 enemy, whenever his Mom talked about Sunil and compared them.

Comparison, thus could be the triggering point of enemity, jealousy and the feel of pessimism. I am not sure, whether the tendency to compare is inculcated in our genes by Lord Brahma during the development process. But the comparison process is seen immediately after the product release aka a baby's birth. "Lachchu! The baby is fair and cute but not that fair as Karna's daughter. You know how beautiful the baby is? Probably you didn't get Kumkumapoo for your daughter-in-law as I told. Anyways congrats di Amma!"

Another random conversation that we could hear very often in this time of the year would be " That tall fellow got a rating of 4.6, whereas I am given only 4.59. How come? I will surely go to the HR and demand an explanation for this atrocity. After all, I stay more hours in office than him" Thus from LKG marks to ratings to Dowry(sorry to say, but learnt that it is also compared) people attribute success in something only if they have gained more when compared to others or they start feeling jealous of the so called successful one.

Though there is no denial that we evolve by relating ourselves with others and comparing how good or bad we are, it should also be remembered that what is easy for Tom may not be that easy for Harry and each has their own way.

Who knows Sunil might have been scolded by his mom for not indulging himself in sports like Vinodh. After all, we sadly believe that we and our closer ones are faring poorer compared to our neighbours and other relatives. I am waiting for the day when we understand that everyone/everything is different and hence stop comparing with the so called successful ones.

My sincere advice is 'Why don't you start this journey towards realisation by not trying to compare this post with my previous posts. After all, this post is different from the other so called 'good' posts of mine :)'.