Silly Billie

Here comes Silly billie*

Along the lines of my mojojojo

She was a silly billie *

My chikni Chameli ,

A wild cat to her inner core

Untamed by mere homo sapiens.

She unleashed her claws every chance she got

Scratching more than the surface of

Every person she met.

She was a silly billie

My very own chikni chameli.

Not a Soft kitty

Not a Warm kitty

And definitely more than a little ball of fur.

Cats get things done

Humans don't .

Queen of the concrete jungle

She looked down upon everyone

With a smile of smug satisfaction. 

Silly Billie

All behold and worship our very own Chikni Chameli

I miss her though.

* billie in hindi means cat

written for poets united midweek motif 'cats' 

Geography tests

I haven’t written in over a month and I sincerely apologize for that. To make up for this often committed mistake of not writing in SSS , I am going to confess to some of the (small) crimes I have committed in the past.

< Disclaimer: Personal Post coming up >

I know I should be writing about the increasing terrorist activity or the omnipresent rape fear, but I choose to overlook these topics (mostly because better writers have written awesome articles about them already) and am going to choose GEOGRAPHY TESTS instead.

Very Random Right? Well, expecting a sane topic from an insane person is well … insane.

Everyone has an Achilles heel , a special subject that they hate so much that they would rather burn in hell than study it for the test next day. Most people hate math , I also hate(d) math . But coming to think of it, I hated GEOGRAPHY the most. History was awesome;, math dumbfounding ; Biology insanely difficult ; BUT nothing was so irrationally hateable like innocuous looking geography.

I mean who wants to study about the rocks, climate , pressure, river delta estuaries or even longitude latitudes? I learnt so much, but hated every bit. I used to read the most amount of story books during geography. The teachers were actually pretty good but boy! I hated that subject.

(Don’t) worry. I am (not) going to ramble about my hatred and be done with it. Nahi saar, I am going to give two awe some/ful anecdotes about 2 amazing geography exams I wrote in school time.

THIS IS THE STORY OF WHY I DON’T CARRY WATER TO EXAMINATION HALLS ANYMORE.

1.    1   Water on the desk

Sounds innocent enough. But nothing is ever innocent  in semiland, my children J . I was in 8^th standard I think, the class representative – apostIneverdeservedbutdidnoworkanywayssochill- and had this geography test. Our teacher was Nirmala miss, an old but smart teacher who would sit at the back of the class so that copying was out of the picture entirely.

The fundamental duty of the class rep is to develop class rapport and I found that working towards an underlying common cause would incite us towards that direction. Henceforth, I decided to help my classmates copy. Out of 34 people , at least 30 hadn’t studied , I had studied enough to fill the pages but many were planning unsafe methods to copy.

Our class 8A , we were a pack. We made teachers cry in packs , we chewed gum in packs and we decided to commit this crime as a pack. Cheating in tests is a crime which I have later come to despise but as a 13 year old class student who hated geography , I had no qualms about what I was just about to do.

So how can the entire class copy without getting caught? We can’t all whisper – 30 whispers cause a scream , we can’t all keep the notebook underneath , even if we had a plan – we can’t all ever agree in unison .

I tried dividing the class into 4 zones – the quiet zone , nerd zone and the last 2 were the mad cheater’s zone. Whatever elaborate plan I made up , it all boiled down to the problem that the teacher sat in the back bench and could see the papers we kept below in the desk. Creating bits was logistically impossible and if everyone wasn’t satisfied , somebody would rat us out.

So , I poured water on the backbench and added a dirty paper and banana peel to it.

That was the most popular thing I did as a class rep and it had to go undocumented L :P

1. 2.       Water on the paper
2. 
   

This was when I was around the same age: 12-13 . Although , I showed criminal tendencies as mentioned above , I was pretty dumb. To prove the case in point , I am going to bring back to memory this painful incident which ruined my entire exams - almost.

We have established my particular dislike for geography already , so it isn’t entirely unsurprising that I didn’t have much knowledge of it on the exam day. However , I forgot to mention this – I am a nerd. On the exam days at the least :P

I hate leaving blank spaces in my answer, probably because I know I’ll never come back to fill it , as I never have the time for it. The exact same thing happened . For the first question on the first page of the first fricking examination! Even though, I answered other answers properly , it irked me that the first page was half blank and first impression matters.

So , I poured water on my first page.

I still haven’t figured out why I DID THAT. A blonde moment , you could call it -_- My thought process was this : If I pour a small amount of water on the page , it would be a legit reason to have omitted that space.

I forgot that

• 1)      I was a MESSY KLUTZ ,
• 2)      That water has absorbing qualities
• 3)      My bottle had a very big mouth
• 4)      I used gel pen.

So the water leaked on to all the pages I wrote afterwards and my mainsheet was a wet nightmare. I had to rewrite the entire paper in 20 minutes and the invigilator wasn’t ready to give me even 2 extra minutes.

So ladies and gentlemen, please don’t pour water on your paper . Maybe it was the karma of pouring water on my desk which led me into that disaster of a decision.

And that is why I don’t carry water to an examination.

yours thirstily ,

Semi

My Mojojojo

A post to renew my mojo. 
A catchy song to capture the Indian youth :P 
Enjoy. 

A semi song production. 

Mojojojo Mojojojo

You want jalebi kya?

You’re the bun to my jam

Meredith to my yang

Sherlock to my Watson

Mojojo mojojo

You watch powerpuff girls kya?

Mojojojo Mojojojo

Teach me Hindi na

House to my Wilson

Sirius to my son

Brooke to my Peyton

Gilchrist to the great Mathew Hayden

Teach me Please dudeee.

Mojojojo Mojojojo

There is gravy on your shirt

Your eyes are red

Mojojojooooo

You’re my bestie da

So

Arre please don’t do weed yaar

But Mojo jojo

Let’s first take a selfie :P

Daddy's lil girl

It was a breezy sunny evening , one of the better days of pleasant weather in Chennai. The dad and daughter combo slowly embarked on their healthy journey  towards Elliotts beach , also popularly known as Bessie beach. 

Preethi was not pleased with her dad, pushing her successfully to walk with him. He had won another battle , like he always did with her. She had thankfully inherited her mother's petite frame - one which would make a yoga trainer proud- yet she still gave her dad company. For among other things , he was an ideal candidate for replacing yo mama as the heavy icon and had the potential to make the yoga trainers very rich. 

While she was brooding about her dad's obesity , he was wondering how to broach the subject of her marriage. He built up his courage and asked , " Can you please do me a favor , dear? " 

She had had enough , " I cannot jog for you pa , because that is impossible" 

"I know that dear. That's why I didn't ask you. But can you get married this year for me? That would cure me of all diseases!" he cheerfully proclaimed after the initial stumbling . 

The reply came back in rocket speed . With such spontaneity that, you could swear without knowing that ,she had already given the topic a lot of thought , " a) that will cure none of your diseases dad .In fact it would worsen your health. b) Me running for you is more possible than my getting married for your sake"

Daddy sighed so deeply that she thought he had an asthma attack. But then , she was not going to care anymore. This was where she drew the line . Her marriage was her choice. If not the groom , the timing atleast.. She didn't want her dad to get hurt but and so she chose to not get married. Long run always topped short run.

Somehow he never understood that. Impulses ruled and controlled him to such an extent that it could potentially destroy him. He always HAD to get what he wanted. The latest longer iPhone , another sip of his favorite drink , the next series of bmw ... the list elongated to eternity and she didn't want to be a part of his checklist. No sir. But she knew he always got what he wanted. Eventually at least. 

For he was a man of style, this Venugopal Iyengar. Only Dumbledore could beat him in a swag contest. And the knowledge of his own powers relaxed him. He didn't need to coerce preethi . Because she knew he wouldn't . And because she knew he loved her . 

Sometimes love needs to be stated over and over again. Such relationships are at best superficial. Venu never needed to tell Preethi that he loved her. Few dads ever have to . He never bought her things to satisfy her wants and buy her love. Few dads try that. He wasn't a great believer of spending 'quality time with the kids' , true . They watched cricket matches and movies every Sunday . That was about it. 

Dads have their unique ways of showing their love. The unnecessary over protectiveness while dealing with all male elements of her life , the side glances of affection when he thought she wasn't looking , the casual hand over her shoulders and  the best of it all -the feeling of his soggy hands holding her hands firmly and assuredly whilst crossing the road was when it strikes her how much he loves her or at least how much she loves him. She belonged to somebody – somebody who would put himself to danger to protect her.

Thank god she had ended up in his side after her parents divorced. 

What was happening?! She couldn't wake up from her reverie of affectionate thought. She couldn't go back to the great road leading to Elliotts beach where her dad was calling out to her.. whispering with his usually deep voice " pree...thee.." "pree...thee" . Sounded like he wanted her to pray for him. Pray thee! Why is dad using archaic English? Why is he whispering? Why is he sweating so much? This was all but a bad dream. But wait.. she could feel his soggy sweating hands hold her tightly. Grasping her with such desperation. 

Then like a thunder hitting the tree the thought struck , but she pushed it out of her mind. The usually cool venugopal kept moaning “pree..thee” She could feel a crowd forming around them. Something was very wrong. All were senses were screeching at her . But she couldn't come back to the great grand road leading to elliots beach. She could be floating with the stars.

What was the last thing which happened before she jumped into this never ending train of thought?

Oh shit.

Her dad was most probably having an asthma attack or worse -a cardiac arrest! She could feel his soggy strong grip and his face..tears were raining down his cheek. She had never seen Venu appa cry. Not even when their mom left them. There was a legend though that he had cried when she was 2 and had broken her head. Cute baby face full of blood was what it took to make the man cry. She was getting lost again.

She must face the problem. Drop back to reality. Do more than hold his hand and most importantly save him.

Forming words seemed like an alien task. Her parched dry mouth was forming the words and she was pretty sure that she was talking. But she couldn't hear a thing of it. Screw it! Her weak body and emotionally inept brain must have gone into shock. Her dad was probably dying and here she was dillydallying with shock.

Finally she could here it “ I am here daddy!! Someone save him please. Someone call for an ambulance!”

Yippy . The devoted daughter has finally spoken.

Thankfully some random aadmi must have already called for an ambulance. She could here the sirens. The cute paramedics were coming fast with their stretchers towards them. She held venu’s hands very tightly , “ Don’t worry daddy. I will take care of you. I will  marry for you . I will run for you. Heck , I will even cook for you “

He was crying alarmingly now , bringing her hands close to his chest. He must really be in pain. His face was full of sweat and tears. Like her , he couldn't form any words . only tears .

The paramedics finally came and lifted her off the ground. “Not me you idiots! My dad is in danger. I am only suffering from shock” she said with true horror and dismay. Stupid paramedics they have these days she mused -cute but stupid. Being the lawyer she was , she vowed to sue them after this mess got cleared. “Where is my dad?” she wailed. That was when the needle pricked and reality finally hit.

“……truck out of nowhere doctor. PLEASE SAVE HER…. daughter. She is the only thing I love in life doctor”  ha and you’re the only man I will ever love , dad. The drugs are reallly starting to kick in lol

“…..miracle ....... she being....... still conscious”

The siren kept shrieking . God!,Why can’t they just shut it off?

And he did shut it all off. 

We could have it all.

Sometimes when your immediate environment gets entangled in a certain mood , the said mood tends to stick on to you. In this case, the death of a close relative of my friend caused the effect and set my mental wheels into motion. The following points are my abstract thoughts on 'loss'. There is no context for this loss - it can be something as innocuous as losing your favorite toy or something as devastating as losing your limbs. I have presented my thoughts to you in the raw form as it came to me . No explanation ; open to interpretation :) 

1.

When you lose something , it hits you .

Most often like an epilepsy attack

Ugly , painful and most importantly 

SUDDEN. 

2.

It is most important to acknowledge a loss 

when you're down and out. 

However more vital it is for you to 

appraise loss, from a position of 

strength - that so occasionally enraptures you and gives you space to lock up your unresolved emotions-.

3.

We actually never lose anything .

People - good and bad -

become memories - good and bad- 

Skills lost are actually just converted into new ones. 

Energy diverted from one focal point to another. 

4.

Sometimes some one else's loss hounds us so much that 

it haunts us to a point that 

we start imagining their losses as our own

or fantasize those losses in our already pitiable life. 

Not too healthy .

5.

People survive loss of limbs , deaths of loved ones , the vanishing acts of love and a 100 million more life changing horrors everyday and conquer it with panache. guess what? You can too. 

So just take a deep breathe . Close your eyes . And believe. 

Only your belief can save you from your mind manufactured hell . Reality is not the culprit it is your perception -who is your enemy. 

6.

Ain't nobody got time for feeling like a loser

when there is a whole world to win out there

or atleast live.

The Sickbird

I found this short story in my draftboard and was appalled that a) i wrote this in 2010 b)forgot that i wrote it c) my english was so bad xP I did find it a bit intriguing and so i am posting it. Don't ask me where i got the story line from - I am as clueless. 

Everyone got sick of the sickbird after one point or the other. She always complained about some pain or the other.At first they thought they were real and sympathized with her.That was true even for our hero Hari. She was a distant aunt to him and had come to stay in his house for a week for some unknown reasons.
The event thus follows their first meet : 
Hari came home after playing bone breaking , eyeball scratching basketball and came home with legs full of bruises and tee shirt full of dirt. He headed directly to the bedroom and locked it before his mother could stop him.He started removing his tee shirt and headed to the bathroom which was attached to his room.He was about to open the door when the door opened by itself and a small lady was there in her towel. "AAAHH" he cried out. "Abishtu! Abistusheshu!" yelled the puny lady.
"WHO? who are you?..." 
"I should ask you that, young man! How dare do you come inside an occupied bathroom"
"I.......er.....didn't know. SORRY"
"what sorry? blah blah blah etc etc.....*fie minutes later* OK who are you?
"well, I live in this house........"
"Oh !! HARI!! Ayyo evalavu valandutha!(u have grown so tall!) YOU are leela's son right?!"
"no! she's my mom" he grinned.She didn't get it. Anyways that is the weird introduction


Getting to know the sick bird:
After she finally left his room , hari had a hot shower and came down to have dinner.There only the small lady's voice could be  heard. She was telling them, " Hari is soo naughty! He was waiting outside the bathroom to scare his poor aunty! He doesn't know that I have heart problem.Shiva shiva! My BP seems to be high and heart is slightly starting to ache! Do you have jfienjadj tablet? NO! Oh my god it is such a important tablet nowadays what with all these boys screaming and yelling.........can u buy it......its only rs.200....I will soon pay it back....."
and that was only the beginning of a long list of ailments Hari had never before heard in the 13 years of his life put together , let alone in one place affecting a single woman! Immediate sympathy and impulsive concern were slowly replaced by obvious disbelief and the inevitable deafness that teenagers develop after being over exposed to adults. 
He had no idea who she was and how long she was going to stay. But he was sure as hell that he didn't care about her whereabouts and her illness. He wanted that tiny bundle of sickness to leave his abode ASAP. This apparently exaggerated hatred finds more context after we learn that the sickbird has nested in hari's room and that he is forced to sleep on the hall sofa - ouch. 

Shooing the bird : 
He decided to make her life a living hell - atithi devo bhava not withstanding the test of times - . He couldn't openly ask her to get out, for he would be thrown out if his parents heard of it. So passive aggression won the day.
At first it happened by turning a deaf ear,
"dei hari kanna! I feel very weak , can you go buy me a dozen bananas from the shop?"
Christ! What do bananas even have to do with feeling weak?! He simply continued tying his shoe lace and walked out with his basketball . When he came back two hours later , sweating from head to toe after  playing two practice matches at a trot , the sickbird was still sitting on the same sofa in the exact position from 2 hours ago!
She opened her eyes and very casually asked " Where are my bananas?" .
The next step was learning to say no. So he grinded his teeth and said " No aunty , I am very tired , I am going to sleep".
"WHAT?! tired at this young age? It is no excuse! When I was your age I used to walk 6 kilometers to the railway station and another 5 before I reached my school. We never got fancy footwear and clothes like you kids and ate very spartan food . Now go buy me my bananas or else I'm complaining  you to your parents * all in chaste tamil - translated for you *
Bewildered by her sudden outburst he did end up running the errand for her .

a hopeless hypochondriac or is something graver?

Telling  mom -
6 weeks flew by and there was still  no reprieve for Hari . It took him all his 13 years to convince his parents to give him his own room and yet all it took was an annoying aunty to intrude it! Oh how he would love to play a prank on her. However , firsthand experience had taught him that he would be the one that was crying by the end of it.
Amma was busy in the kitchen cutting vegetables. He pitched in and started cutting the onions. His mom's curiosity got aroused and so she asked , " Fine . What do you want? ".
"Nothing , i just decided to help my mom"
" On a sunday , by cutting onions! Comedy pannadha hari" ( stop trying to be funny hari )
" I know right. I'll tell you a better way - stop inviting guests all the time. That too ones who never help and never leave."
She gave him a long stare - one that usually shushed him and secretly scared him out of his wits - and then after a long silence began speaking.
"Geetha aunty is not an unwanted guest. In fact , we're the ones who forced her to stay here. You do not know anything about her and I am going to tell you some things so that you will truly understand and respect her. However , this should remain a secret and never leave these 4 walls , understand"
Hari nodded his head vigorously.
"Geetha is a very distant relative of ours . I don't want to bore you with details. Two years ago , while traveling to your poonal ceremony , she lost her whole family in a car accident and is suffering from PTSD or post traumatic stress disorder. She believes that she shouldn't have lived and that is why she keeps complaining of ailments which she doesn't seem to have. I need you to be a little patient and sensitive with her hari . I know it has been rough for you , giving up your room which you love so much. Growing up is not only about having your own room but also being sensitive to ones around you"
Hari was stunned by this over load of information and needed time to process it all and hence he simply muttered , "okay".
"Also I never ever want you to judge a person by their appearances and behavior"
"I never did!" he shot back
" I am your mother darling. If someone is unpleasant to you or asks you to do something you hate , promise me that you will try to see their side of the coin also"
"i promise"

Later that evening , Hari's dad Mr.Swaminathan was pleasantly surprised by his son's extremely courteous behaviour to their overstaying house guest. Seeing his wife's mischievous smile he asked her what was happening , to which she replied , " Hari still hasn't matured enough to respect his guests - so I told him a small lie" she winked.
" By the way when is the sickbird leaving? I'm sick of her trying to make me believe that she has pulmonary edema and that her blood vessels are leaking blood or some other impossible medical condition...! "
" I never asked you before swami... but why is she like this?"
"Oh this! She has just been craving for attention since birth - a hopeless hypochondriac . Hope her husband picks her up soon enough."

Indian mothers! xD

Hari never learnt that it was a lie and went on to become a very hospitable host in life( so much so that many relatives had a 'hari day' in their calendar and visited him atleast once a year).Geetha aunty aka sickbird continued to complain of weak blood vessels and hernia and even dyslexia wherever she went. Leela died a contented mother filled with secrets that made her son into a fine young man.
 

The family

Second post in the same month! Don't die of heart attack already xD There are many csk matches for inducing that . In another two days 'SS&S' [semi's stories and sharing's needs a nickname too :P ]

will turn three years old. This year has been a silent one to say the least :- 18 posts in 12 months = blasphemy . I saw this blog with 26 posts in one month! While even Dravid accepts that he can never be a gayle , he still has to perform in his own style to retain his place in the team. Similarly , I need to post more regularly to call myself a blogger :| Okay inconsistency rant over. 
And strangely enough 'sss' has crossed a milestone quietly even when there were no posts to fuel her :P sss has crossed 50,000 views *Fake applause* and it seems only like yesterday I was mulling over 10,000 views. 

...Aand this is also my 91st post!! Why does 91 warrant a mention?
a) My second favorite home ( cousin's place) is called that
b) 9*9 = 81 ( my favorite square no. :P ) + 10 ( god's no. = Happy b'day Sachin Ramesh TENdulkar <3) = 91 LOL.
c) I forgot to celebrate  the 90th post :|







Today I am going to write about ze topic ' family' . Partly because it is the 91st post and because I never usually write about them. Also because I read Mario Puzo's 'Family' __/\__

For the review of the book , click -->  here

Disclaimer - A personal post with a lot of I and me's :P 

So yeah lets talk about family. I live with my parents , brother and grandparents. Two characters who stand out distinctly and complete my life in unique ways are my grandmom who I call 'pattimma' and my newly found love <3 = my dog Laika!

Pattimma
She is simply amazing. I can write a book about her ( maybe i will) and it will sell a  million copies. She is a sociologist's delight. Orthodox in the expected ways and progressive in alarming ways. My incessant and annoying amount of talking can be attributed to here genes :P She can talk about tamil serials one minute and switch to complaining about the scarcity of helps in the next. Above all she loves yelling at me and brother with the most hilarious abuses ( from our viewpoint atleast) and we love ignoring it and provoking her to yell even more ^_^

What does the word 'pattimma' mean? It is an unique connotation developed by me after I began to speak. It combines the normal 'patti' ( meaning: granny) with the all important 'amma' ( mother) . For many years I thought I was the only person to use it. However sadly , my dreams were shattered when i saw many old movies where this term was used widely. Whatever. At least my family acted as if I invented it <3  and I bet i'm the only one to use 'thathappa' .
When she was young , she used to walk plenty of kilometers and catch a train and walk plenty more to reach her school. Yet , she is adamant about me cycling to my school which is only 10 minutes away from home. She actually got double promotion from second grade to fourth as she got 100 in all subjects :O if only she had completed her schooling , she would be ruling the world by now.
I am not kidding . she has photographic memory and can remember dates and events alarmingly well . She once amazed the neighbors by correcting the year THEY settled in chennai and the year THEIR DAUGHTER got married :P She remembers the color of sari she wore to every marriage ( and let me tell you , the list is 'quite' long) and can easily detect the lies we say , when they don't coincide with the previous ones :/ And i can't even remember her b'day. Y u no transmit me your good genes? :P
Her managerial skills are amazing as well. Only a taskmaster can make me work - and well , she is one. She gently cajoles the first time , and annoyingly persists with the request. And if i'm still acting dumb , she lets her high pitched voice and past memories of hardships and present bad health do the trick . Ah , grandmothers.
'Saniane' , 'panni' , 'abhistoo' , 'motachi' and other censor-able words  flow from her mouth :P and I love her the most <3 :')

She has the most hilarious contingency plans for disasters. Remember last year when everyone was convinced world was going to end and there was a small tremor in chennai?  The news channels were harping about how the tsunami was going to swallow us all and we live quote close to the beach. So what does pattimma do? Goes quickly to the safe and starts wearing all the golden ornaments! Convinced that she had finally lost it I asked her what she she was doing. And she solemnly explains that if the tsunami 'carries' us away , we'll at least survive with the gold wherever we land xP

Laika
I am not much of a dog person or an animal lover. I don't run away when i see them nor do I go hug and go gaga over them . Pretty much neutral ( semi xP )  towards them .However , when this dog landed up in our backyard , I wasn't very happy to have it around. This can be attributed to my suspicions that my brother must have smuggled it there. However , gradually in her own doggy way 'Laika' has spread her charm over our lives. She hates dogs , thinks she can challenge dobermans and alsations o.O ( very distorted self concept) , wants to fly like the crows - insanely jealous of them and hence chases them  and is scared of cats.

She is rowdy rathore no. 1 :P one cool ragamuffin . Kills you with affection when you are pre occupied and makes you feel guilty for your insolence and indolence towards her. However , when you try to go hug and be nice to her - she acts all cool and begins sleeping :P  She sleeps when she is bored , happy ,tired , angry. In different positions . Very funny ones :)
She has become my best friend in this last one year and I cannot imagine a life without her . This is for you laika  :* :* <3

Pattima + laika = I never thought the combination will work. But it does :O Tired of taking care of human babies all her life , pattimma is now deeply in love with this doggy baby xD She had gone for some marriage and was not home for 2 days. She calls  ME with GREAT concern and inquired if l LAIKA had eaten. There arouse my human envy. If I was any younger , I would have plotted her murder - like i planned my brother's :P

An accident on the highway

self constructed accidents? :P

Open the newspaper and you find tiny paragraphs reporting tonnes of accidents. So many of them that , they would give these matrimonial ads a run for their money.While the latter's content clearly shows how dumb people can still be :- "Wanted. Fair , tall -5'6 ft , good looking high caste bhramin girl. Sub caste no bar with good family values. For mechanical engineer boy earning high salary. Divorced once. Kids with ex wife." Surely gross stereotyping wouldn't get you a bride -_- and seriously yeah when would men get some REAL qualities. Ahem coming right back to the topic at hand - the latter reports show the dumber in fact, the dumbest side of human nature.
I am gonna tell you 3 stories , tell me if you can find the correlation.

15 Aug 2010
In the dawn of  an another independence day for India and the opposite for me ( my brother was born on the same day =P ) Mr.Vembu and his wife were travelling in their ancient yet still regal white ambassador. They were returning from a truly wonderful trip to back home. The word wonderful found a place in that sentence because Mr.Vembu aged close to fifty had finally finished building his dream 'mansion' or 'palace'.- for that was the magnanimity of his dream and its successful implementation. Everything about that man was big scale i remember - right from his frame , voice to dreams and his sheer generosity. His life was settled in pretty much every way , both his 'kids' were already married and he could anytime expect grandchildren to toddle with. He was stupid enough to travel on a highway.

2nd January 2011

Mr.Malayappan and his wife were making their first and last trip to their son's place in Bangalore over car. First time because his son had compelled them to make the trip with his children and wife. And last time because yay! the son was planning to shift back to chennai and re build their ancestral house , settle here and well be with them!! They were much happier than they would care to admit and their grand kids ankitha and drithi were angels from heaven gifted to them =)  Both uncle and aunty always kept their house 'spick and span' clean and were so disciplined and kind that they would suit the 'nice headmaster' role in a movie if they acted :P
They were foolish enough to travel through the highway.

4th June 2012
Mr.Raman was pleased with himself more than ever. After years of  temporary employment , he had finally started an enterprise of his own , He had gone to coimbatore to recruit some staff and gained 3 lakhs there. Life couldn't be better than this he thought. He called his wife Indra , to inform her that he would be there by lunch and asked her to make some for him. Always a staunch believer of kabalishwarar , he gave out a small prayer for go to keep him as content as this always.
He was dumb enough to drive on a highway.

If you geniuses haven' read the title or the last line of the paras already ,here it is - all the people happened to be riding on a car through the highway and either lost their life or miraculously escaped death by a few inches. Vembu uncle's driver was sleepy enough to launch his ambassador into a stationary bus. While uncle immediately lost his life in a painful way , aunt had to survive multiple fractures , neck surgeries and a bout of coma and come out alive. To this day , her memories of the accident are nil as she was sleeping when the car hit and lost conscious shortly after that. We had to inform her about her husband's death only months later as we were scared that she wouldn't survive the shock.
In the second case , when my uncle was driving in the 'middle' of the highway a drunken driven car coming at a pace of 130 kph lost control and flew in the air like superman and landed on his car. Both his parents lost their lives and he lost their parents.

Something like that

More recently , just about a week back my cousin Anish studying in 7th standard lost his father because the driver of the opposing car decided he was too thirsty for whiskey and some risk and  decided to overtake a lorry in his drunken stupor , only to crash into a poor man's car. Both the driver's family of four , Anish's dad and his friend 27 year old died in this horrific incident.
All this may mean nothing to you , just another news report or worse. But how long or how much will it cost before we realize that reckless and drunken driving will lead to nothing more than tragedy and destruction? Every time you are having a shot and driving on the road you are putting yourself and more importantly a lot of other INNOCENT people at risk.
Not to sound like a life insurance agent , but just for a second imagine your mom/dad or your loved ones being killed out there? Is it worth it?

You worry about your health ; we worry about others!

If dying out of tuberculosis or child birth is sad in this century , dying of accidents is like the saddest of this millennium. From now on when you read the news let 'an accident on the highway' be regarded as 'the accident on the highway' as life cannot be sucked out for the sheer amount of statistics.
Engaeyum Eppothum was a very moving tale trying to cover the story of lives behind an accident.  Does anyone know any other movie like that ( of the same genre? ) If so please share in the comments column.
Sorry for those readers who were looking for humor as usual from me - mocking the dead is not cool.

P.S - My uncle's friend just lost his life after being in coma for 12 days. Cause of death : He slipped and fell from a bus.

P.S.S - it may look as if it is me alone who is losing people due to accidents. But if you inquire in your family/friend's circle , you will be sure to find at least 1 death in the past  2 years. I am not even joking ,the death count is increasing by the minute.  So spread the A.W.A.R.E.N.E.S.S and most of all follow it yourself.