A different Anniversary

I am almost back to my normal bubbly self after a hugely stressful week . My husband and I have been going through a gruelling work schedule leaving us even no time to really celebrate our sixth anniversary even.And there was this event that happened this week that I feel I need to write about.


It happened on Sunday 30th Jan . It was our sixth anniversary and I had just woken up and was making tea ,resolving to cook something much better than what I'd been doing the past week for breakfast and lunch , when hubby got a phone call from one of his team members. It wasn't unusual, since the whole team had been working day in and day out , and I had helped my husband and him for debugging a java requirement the previous night. Today how ever , he sounded really agitated and on the verge of a breakdown. I heard my husband asking him to come over to our place. I cursed inwardly. Why did this guy have to come over and work at our house on a Sunday morning , that too on our anniversary? But then , when I actually saw what a nervous wreck the guy looked like, my stance softened. I served coffee and also offered my suggestions to their web development problems.


As time dragged on ,and it was apparent that the problem was more psychological than technical. He pointedly refused to have any food and insisted that he was alright , when he looked as far from it as could be. We began to get worried and my husband suggested that they go out and buy lunch. After they bought lunch, I persuaded both of them to come and eat, and then as he tried to get up, fell flat down the carpeted floor unconscious. My husband revived him with water whilst I got our friends to come and help, and made him have food But the guy was a nervous wreck. He kept apologizing for causing us trouble and was on the verge of tears. My husband then took him home to his friend's place and left him there to take rest.


Nevertheless,the incident left many disturbing thoughts in my mind. Was IT causing so much pressure that it was causing nervous breakdowns in employees? Where the companies in their greed to meet unreasonable deadlines , making the employees (their golden egg laying geese) to work just too hard?My husband and others in his team had been working into the wee hours of the night to meet their expected goals.


I looked at my husband. He looked as disturbed as I did , and I knew it was more than meeting the project deadline that was causing it. I then decided that I wasn't going to give him any more pressure than he was already having, for not spending time with me. It was an anniversary sans celebrations , but it was not going to be one without love and understanding.

In rememberance of a Friend

A pen with the initials RSM inscribed on it which she used to say she would have inscribed on all the Nokia phones once she became CEO, a box of thoughts(suvisheshams) handed out to any one feeling blue, a big smile for her friends,the asbsolute freedom to say what ever you pleased with out minding the language,and the absolute terrbile way she destroyed the most beautiful songs .That is the Rekha Susan Mani I remember.

I wish I had never seen the mail, never heard the news , never known that she is no more in this world, for I would do anything in the world today to know that the smiling facebook photo is for real and that she is still alive and well.


From a cobweb of memories old,
I can still see your smiling face
Oh thoughts , they come in a flood
flashing scenes in my mind's maze

I remember the smiles , the jokes and fights,
Those rainy nights , when all was dark
I remember the laughter that echoed our room
The clouds too that made our friendships strong

When we parted ways , and you moved away
New friendships came and blocked our way
Time moved on , future beckoned
To distant lands we flew away.

We drifted apart ,as friends would do,
Not keeping in touch as we so promised to
With a pang in my heart , I realise today,
That you are gone for ever ,with angels for friends,

 Now I can see your smiling face,
in my mind ,clearer than ever before,
As I close eyes and let tears fall,
To grieve for a friend forever lost.

Wonders of Social Networking

Well, one of the wonders of social networking as we know it or can I just say Facebook is that gives intelligent suggestions as to who your friends might be ,and today , I found that a class mate from school (4th standard) had invited me on facebook.It was amazing to think that I was adding somebody that I had never seen , may be never even thought of after my primary school.But it brought back memories . I remembered our class being in the auditorium split up with separators. New classrooms were just being built, and the teachers had decided to place one girl between 2 boys on every bench. I was placed between , this guy say N and another guy who used to crack absolutely horrible jokes and N never used to open his mouth. What a pathetic place to be. But ultimately , N and I did become good friends, mostly because we couldn't stand the other guy and also because just before exams , he would come to my home with his mom and get my notes to get his notes corrected. Now I see his FB page and looks like he has become a hotshot mobile platform developer or something. My,how time does fly...I wonder if he remembers any of this himself, or  just add ed me seeing an intelligent suggesion from FB showing "You have many common friends , you come from same school, common sense says you might have come across each other somewhere" . Probably the latter . I would have done the same myself.

Little Hearts-A story from school

It was a day in kodaikanal in 1998.Two bored girls were walking around the kodaikanal wondering what they were doing there. It was the last day of a week long science camp with geeks from all over India. It was finally over and they were giving us the last day off to explore the place. The whole lot of be-spectacled black hole loving set of bujis were making a crowded conversation about bernauli's theorem with respect to the lake or something of that sort..The girls made a quick escape and were soon walking along a different path. They were checking their pockets to see if they had any money to rent bicycles when a young boy who was probably only 5 or 6 approached them trying to sell a packet of little hearts biscuits. Neither of the girls liked the biscuit he was selling , much less the fact that he was trying his best to force them to buy one of the packets. They walked away to another place , but the child was persistant. A good half an hour later the girls found themselves with a packet of little hearts for which they had paid much more than its cost. But they felt good about themselves about helping the young child.

My husband bought little hearts biscuit the other day and that made me remember this story that happened long ago.

New Year at Brainerd- A Travelogue

ഒരു അടിപൊളി യാത്ര കഴിഞ്ഞു തിരിചെത്തിയപ്പോഴാണ് ഇനി ഒരു യാത്രാവിവരണം ആയാലോ എന്ന ആശയം മനസ്സില്‍ ഉദിച്ചത്.

പത്തു പേരടങ്ങിയ ഒരു സാമാന്യം വലിയ സംഘമായിരുന്നു ഞങ്ങളുടേത്.

അഞ്ചു കുടുംബങ്ങള്‍ -ഹര്‍ഷ &സുബിത് ,ശ്രീജിത്ത് & ആതിര ,വീണ & സുബ്ബു ,രാധിക,സംയുക്ത & ഭദ്രന്‍ ചേട്ടന്‍ ,പിന്നെ ഞങ്ങളും (സുനിത ,വിജയ്‌ & മനുകുട്ടന്‍ ).തലേ ദിവസം കാലേ കൂടി എല്ലാരും രോസ്വില്ലിലെത്തി.പിറ്റെന്നത്തെക്കുള്ള ഭക്ഷണം എല്ലാരും ചേര്‍ന്ന് പാകം ചെയ്തു . ഞൊടിയിടയില്‍ ഇഡലിയും, ഉപ്പുമാവും പുളിയോഗുരവും റെടിയായി.പിറ്റേന്ന് പത്തു മണിയായപ്പോള്‍ ഞങ്ങള്‍ അവിടെ നിന്ന് തിരിച്ചു.കുറച്ചു ദൂരം ചെന്നപ്പോഴാണ് വിനുഎട്ടന്‍ ക്യാമറ കാറില്‍ വെച്ച് മറന്ന കാര്യം ഓര്‍ത്തത്‌. പിന്നെ തിരിച്ചു പോയി അതെടുക്കാന്‍ ചെന്നപ്പോളാണ്‌ കാര്‍ പൂട്ടാന്‍ മറന്ന കാഴ്ച ഞങ്ങള്‍ കണ്ടത്. കാറും കാറിലെ സാധനങ്ങളും നഷ്ടപെടാത്തത്തിനും തിരിച്ചു വന്നു നോക്കാന്‍ തോന്നിച്ചതിനും ഈശ്വരനോട് നന്ദി പറഞ്ഞുകൊണ്ട് ഞങ്ങള്‍ വീണ്ടും യാത്ര ആരംഭിച്ചു .

വാശി ഏറിയ അന്താക്ഷരി മത്സരത്തിനു ശേഷം സുബ്ബു വളരെ രസകരമായ ഒരു കളി കൊണ്ട് വന്നു.എല്ലാവരും കൂടെ ഓരോ ഓരോ വാക്യങ്ങള്‍ പറഞ്ഞു ഒരു കഥ ഉണ്ടാക്കുക.ശ്രീജിത്താണ് കഥക്ക് തുടക്കമിട്ടത്. ശ്രീജിത് വിജയും കൂടെ സ്കി ചെയ്തതില്‍ നിന്ന് തുടങ്ങിയ ആ കഥ ഒരു കൊലപാതകവും , ആത്മഹത്യ ശ്രമവും പ്രണയവും നിറഞ്ഞ ഒരു ത്രില്ലെര്‍ ആയി മാറി. സഞ്ചാരികള്‍ ‍ എല്ലാരും കഥാപാത്രങ്ങള്‍ ആയി മാറി മറഞ്ഞ ആ കഥ അവസാനിച്ചപ്പോളെക്കും ഞങ്ങള്‍ ഗുല്‍ ലയ്കില്‍ എത്തിയിരുന്നു.

     അവിടെ ചെന്ന് ഞങ്ങള്‍ സ്നോ മൊബയില്‍ വാടകയ്ക്കെടുത്തു .രണ്ടു സ്നോ മോബയിലുകളും നാല് സെറ്റ് സ്നോ ഗിയറും ആണ് എടുത്തത്‌. കുട്ടികള്‍ക്ക് ഭക്ഷണം കൊടുക്കനുള്ളവരും പിന്നെ ഗര്‍ഭിണിയായ ഹര്ഷയും കാബിനിലേക്ക്‌ പോയപ്പോള്‍ ശ്രീജിത്ത്‌, ആതിര , സുബ്ബു, വീണ തുടങ്ങിയവര്‍ സ്നോ മൊബയില്‍ ഓടിക്കാന്‍ പോയി. കാബിന്‍ വളരെ വിശാലമായ ഒരു വീട് പോലെ തന്ന ആയിരുന്നു. നാല് ബെട്രൂമുകളും വലിയ ഒരു ഹാളും അടുക്കളയും ,8 പേര്‍ക്കിരിക്കാവുന്ന വലിയ ഒരു തീന്‍ മേശയും അവിടെ ഉണ്ടായിരുന്നു.അവിടെ ചെന്ന് ഞങ്ങള്‍ ഇഡലിയും ചമ്മന്തിയും ആതിര ഉണ്ടാക്കിയ സ്വാദിഷ്ടമായ സാമ്പാറും കഴിച്ചു.സ്നോ മൊബയില്‍ ചെയ്യാന്‍ പോയവര്‍ തിരിച്ചെത്തി വസ്ത്ര വിധാനങ്ങള്‍ അടുത്ത സെറ്റിനു കൈമാറി.കുട്ടികളെ മറ്റുള്ളവരെ ഏല്പിച്ചു സുനിത, വിജയും , രാധിക ,ഭദ്രനും സ്നൌമോബയില്‍ ഓടിക്കാന്‍ പോയി.അതിനു ശേഷം പല യാത്രകളിലായി എല്ലാവരും വീണ്ടും വീണ്ടും സ്നോ മോബിലിംഗ് ആസ്വദിച്ചു. ഒരിക്കല്‍ ആ യന്ത്രം സ്നൌയില്‍ കുടുങ്ങി പോയെങ്കിലും വലിയ പ്രശ്നങ്ങള്‍ ഇല്ലാതെ അധികാരികളെ വിളിച്ചു അത് പരിഹരിക്കാന്‍ കഴിഞ്ഞു. മഞ്ഞു പെയ്യുന്നതൊന്നും വക വെയ്ക്കാതെ 70 ഇലും മറ്റും കുതിച്ചു പാഞ്ഞ ഞങ്ങള്‍ നിശ്ചിതമായ ആറു മണിക്കൂറും ഉപയോഗിച്ച ശേഷം യന്ത്രങ്ങള്‍ തിരിച്ചെല്‍പ്പി ച്ചു . അതിനു മുന്പായി രസകരമായി പോസ്‌ ചെയ്തു ഫോട്ടോ എടുക്കാനും ഞങ്ങള്‍ മറന്നില്ല.ആതിരയെ പൊക്കി എടുത്ത ശ്രീജിത്തും ,മികച്ച യോ പോസുകള്‍ ചെയ്ത വീണ സുബ്ബുവും , മോഡേണ്‍ ശകുന്തലയായിപോസ്‌ ചെയ്ത സുനിതയും എല്ലാവരെയും രസിപ്പിച്ചു.

വൈകുന്നേരം അവിടെ ഉള്ള ന്യൂ ഇയര്‍ പാര്‍ടിക്ക് പോകണോ എന്ന് ആലോചിച്ചെങ്കിലും പിന്നീട് എല്ലാരും കൂടെ കാബിനില്‍ തന്നെ ന്യൂ ഇയര്‍ ആഖോഷിക്കാന്‍ തീരുമാനിച്ചു. രാത്രി വൈകുന്നതു വരെ ബ്ലുഫ്ഫ് കളിക്കുകയും അതിനു ശേഷം കുറച്ചു നേരം സംസാരിച്ചിരിക്കുകയും ചെയ്തു. ഈ സമയമത്രയും പല തമാശകള്‍ പറഞ്ഞു ഭദ്രന്‍ ചേട്ടന്‍ എല്ലാവരെയും രസിപ്പിച്ചു.2011 തുടങ്ങുന്നത് ഗണപതിയെ കണി കണ്ടിട്ടാവണം എന്നാ വീണയുടെ ആഗ്രഹം കേട്ടപ്പോള്‍ എല്ലാവര്ക്കും അത് ഒരു നല്ല ഐഡിയ ആയി തോന്നി. പുതു വര്‍ഷത്തിനു ഇത്രയും നല്ല ഒരു തുടക്കം കിട്ടാനുണ്ടോ ?. 11:59 ഇന് എല്ലാവരും കണ്ണടച്ചു 12:00 മണിക്ക് വിഘ്നേശ്വരനെ കണികണ്ടു എല്ലാവരും പുതു വത്സരം ആരംഭിച്ചു. പിന്നീട് ഗ്രൂപ്പ്‌ ഫോട്ടോ എടുത്ത ശേഷം ഡംബ് ശരടെസു കളിച്ചു.അതിനു ശേഷം ക്ഷീണിതരായി എല്ലാരും ഉറങ്ങാന്‍ കിടന്നു.

പിറ്റേന്ന് രാവിലെ ഫോട്ടോ സെഷനുകള്‍ ആയിരുന്നു. എല്ലാരും തണുപ്പെല്ലാം മറന്നു ജാക്കെട്ടുകള്‍ ഊരി വെച്ച് മഞ്ഞില്‍ ഫോട്ടോസെടുത്തു .അതിനു ശേഷം എല്ലാരും ക്രാഗുന്‍സിനോട് വിട പറഞ്ഞു സ്കി ഗുല്‍ രേസോര്ടിലേക്ക് തിരിച്ചു. അവിടെ രണ്ടു സ്കി കിറ്റും നാല് സ്നോ ട്യുബിംഗ് പാസും എടുത്ത ഞങ്ങള്‍ ദിവസം മുഴുവനും അവിടെ ചിലവഴിച്ചു.മഞ്ഞു മൂടിയ ഒരു കൊച്ചു കുന്നിന്‍ മുകളില്‍ നിന്ന് താഴേക്ക്‌ ഒരു ട്യുബില്‍ ഉരസി വരുന്നതാണ് ട്യുബിംഗ്. സ്കിയിംഗ് ആകട്ടെ രണ്ടു വടികളില്‍ കാലു തിരുകി കുന്നിന്‍ മുകളില്‍ നിന്ന് താഴേക്ക്‌ വരുന്നതും. ഹര്‍ഷ ഒഴിച്ചു എല്ലാരും ടുബിങ്ങിലും സ്കിയിങ്ങിലും മുഴുകിയപ്പോള്‍ അവള്‍ സംയുക്ടയെയും മനുവിനെയും നോക്കി .തണുപ്പ് വളരെ കൂടുതല്‍ ആയതിനാല്‍ അവരെ പുറത്തു കൊണ്ട് പോയെങ്കിലും വേഗം തന്നെ അകത്തു കൊണ്ട് വരേണ്ടി വന്നിരുന്നു.ഇതെല്ലം ചെയ്യുകയും ഫോട്ടോ എടുക്കുകയും ചെയ്തു സമയം പോയത് ആരും അറിഞ്ഞില്ല. വിശന്നും ക്ഷീണിച്ചും എല്ലാരും തിരിച്ചെത്തിയപ്പോള്‍ സമയം ആറു മണി ആയിരുന്നു.

പിന്നീട് ടാകോ ബെല്ലില്‍ നിന്ന് ഭക്ഷണം കഴിച്ചപ്പോഴാണ് എല്ലാവര്‍ക്കും ആശ്വാസം ആയതു. അതിനു ശേഷം വണ്ടിയില്‍ ഇരുന്നു അശ്വമേധം കളിച്ചു. എന്നാല്‍ സാധാരണയില്‍ നിന്ന് വിരുദ്ധമായി സിനിമ പേരുകള്‍ വെച്ചാണ്‌ കളിച്ചത്.രസകരമായ ആ കളിയില്‍ ആര്‍ക്കും കണ്ടു പിടിക്കാനാവാത്ത സിനിമ ആലോചിച്ചു രാധിക വിജയി ആയി. കളി തീര്‍ന്നപ്പോളേക്കും വീട് എത്തിയിരുന്നു .അവിസ്മരണീയമായ ഒരു വിനോദയാത്ര തന്നെ ആയിരുന്നു അത് .യാത്രയെ കുറിച്ച് അയവിറക്കികൊണ്ട് കുറച്ചു സമയം വീണയുടെ വീട്ടില്‍ ഇരുന്ന ശേഷം എല്ലാവരും സ്വ ഗൃഹങ്ങളിക്ക് മടങ്ങി പോയി.

2010- A recap

2010 was arguably one of the most fun years of my life. It was only the second in 5 years of married life that we spent in the same place.-Us being the migratory birds that we are.Minneapolis and 2010 gave us the peace,fun and friends that had been missing in our life for some time now.


January: 2010 started with a bang with us (ettan, me , amma and manu) leaving for grand marias to join our friends there. It was a very enjoyable 2 days of excitement and fun.After a lot of tension over a delayed EAD card and 2 job offers,January ended with us completing 5 years of married life.

February:My EAD card finally arrived and my dream of working in US was finally realized. The temperatures were absymally low ,but that did little to dampen my spirits as I started travelling by bus all by myself to and from my new job. Manu on the otherhand started his daycare and was not enjoying it one tiny bit.

March:March was a month of get togethers and brthdays.Our gang was now huge and each weekend was looked forward to eagery for the food and fun and frolic that it brought.


April:April came with vishu.We placed a vishukkani at home and manu got his first vishu kaineetam from his acha.The vishu potluck in traditional kerala style attire brought back memories of a distant homeland.


May:May was the month I had been looking forward to as my parents came to visit us.as we hadn't done much site seeing in minneapolis ourselves, we discovered minneapolis together visiting the cherry and spoon, mall of america and minnehaha falls.

June:June was a truly relaxing month with my parents .Ettan enjoyed excellent food cooked by my mom and manu had a great time playing with his grnd parents.Cricket season started for ettan and he was playing cricket on weekends.

July:July witnessed another great trip-this time to Las Vegas and Grand Canyon, Us , some of our friends and my parents.It was an amazing trip.July also brought me one of the best birthdays I had in a loong time.the traditional cake smashing and food and having soo many friends made my birthday memorable not for the number of candles I would have blown , but the number of people who were there with me when I did that.

August:August was a busy month , with thiruvathira practice , skit practice and lots and lots of cricket.all the practice paid off and it was a grand show at KCF onam celebrations at the end of the month.Altogether ,tt was an exhausting , but satisfying month.

September:A trip to LA marked the start of september and though it was only us , we had a relaxed and peaceful trip.We enjoyed seeing the whales at san diego and the amazing sights at universal.Back at MN , we were dissapointed that our trip to kerala got cancelled , but cricket and potluck were daily activities.

October:We celebrated manu's birthday twice, once with just the three of us at lake itasca and the second-a party with around a 100 people.Without the help of friends, such a huge party could never be realised.Halloween came and went , but as manurefused to wear his costume for even long enough to click a photo,it wasn't much fun.

Novemeber:Novemeber was a month of birthdays, every weekend having one or more birthday parties. It was also the month of birth of Devesh one of the most eagerly awaited babies in the gang.Thanksgiving saw us become proud owners a TV and a laptop.It was a real experience to see people queeing up in front of shops and putting up tents for me , where as for ettan it was first hand experience to stand in the cold negative temperatures to get the TV that he wanted.


December :December started with ettan getting the surpise of his life as we arranged a surprise party for his birtdhay.It also saw one of the most relaxed holidays that ettan and I had in a long time. We both had around 10 days of vactaion. We sent Manu to daycare and had the whole day for ourselves.For the first time in years, we sat down to enjoy good books,movies and even made a snow man.We also had 2 christmas parties with friends and went bowling.The year ended on a euphoric note with our trip to brinerd and a day of snow mobiling fun.

Old anecdote from college hostel

Ever since I started my blog at infy long ago, I had wanted to jot down small anecdotes of different people I had met in different stages of my life and one person who I always wanted to write about before she disappeared from my memory forever was our engineering college hostel and its warden (Nighty Thalla).

Hajira Bivi was one person who you couldn't forget easily. She was almost always dressed in a night gown with a shawl covering her part of her hair..and falling lazily around her rake thin shoulders, haunting the stairs and corridors of the hostel with a sour expression most of the time.The name was coined by would be romeos stalking the hostel who invariably got her at her angriest sour faced expressions.

In all the time that I studied for engineering , Cochin University never had hostels for BTech students , and we were all left to the mercy of private hostel owners who charged exorbitant rates for jam packed rooms and meager meals.But with its apartment converted structure and sweet talking owner, the suburban hostel had seemed like one of the better evils of the lot at first glance.

The initial honey moon period soon ran out and soon I began to find that vegetarian food just meant no non vegetarian (albeit the occasional bug in the food) and not necessarily any of nutritious stuff that we were supposed to get. Hajira warden who was super sweet initially started finding fault with us for no reason and soon , she would start stalking the staircases at night to catch people who were awake late night and report them to the hostel owner. Soon , we found that people who got along well with her seldom got reported while people who got her ire , got reported for minor matters like reaching 2 mins late after the 6:00 PM curfew. At 6:00 PM , she would wait at the hostel gates to see who were late and woe betide anyone who got caught.

During this time , somehow she started telling a few of us about herself, how this job was the only way she could support her family and this endeared her to us in-spite of all her faults. After all those were part of her job.But then some strange things began to happen. Things began to disappear. Small things like audio cassette tapes at first, but then things like watches , even money.These missing things were seldom heard of afterwards , until some one saw all of them in a bag in her room. Sometimes, long after something disappeared, she would return the things to its rightful owner citing that she found it somewhere. Many of the hostelites secretly thought that she might be a kleptomaniac who takes things and then returns them  after months.But she was sweet in many ways , and on one occasion , even let me and three of my friends in at 6:30 pm when we had a true emergency.

Soon afterwards, she was removed from her warden post supposedly for some misappropriation and we had a new dragon of a warden. We thought that was the last that we would hear about her , but that was not the case.During that time, yours truly and some of her friends decided to move into a rented house and almost paid the advance , but for some reason, the house owners backed off from giving us the apartment at the last minute. Later we found that a character assassination had been made and by none other than our Nighty Thalla..which prevented the house owners from renting it to us. She was very much there in the neighborhood and was hoping that we would join the new hostel that she had just started .

Then the story of the egg black magic or "Motta matnthravadam" happened. and it seemed to me at that time one of the funniest stories of the time. One evening , our new warden came running to our room and said , "You know , I 've known it all along. This place is jinxed". We thought she was being a bit too silly , but were eager to hear the story. "I went to the church priest and he confirmed ." She continued. It seemed that the from the day she joined for the new post , she was having a head ache and illnesses. When she finally had it checked by a priest, he told her that she had been a victim of ,hmm what else other than "motta manthravadam" by the old warden.. The idea of our Biwi casting a spell on the new warden was so funny that it was the topic of hostel dinners for weeks.But black magic or not , she could do nothing much to influence many people to join her hostel and soon I heard that she had left for her home town permanently.

Some times, I have wondered what became of her, and though we have cursed her a good many times while we were at the hostel, in my heart of hearts , I wish her well.