In search of myself...

I had been to a wedding in Bangalore recently and the devil in me noticed things that make me scribble here. First of all, a lot of people gather at a wedding to look for matches for themselves or their own relations. Blessing the couple tying the knot there is secondary. The gaze reaches far and wide and envy fills the heart of a parent if either the groom or the bride is slightly well qualified. Unnecessary comments fill the air and generally, people hint at the most trivial details that don't match. " The girl is too short for the boy. The groom doesn't match our girl's complexion. Look at the girl - can't wear a saree properly. The boy is too fat for her. The girl seems to be heavy-headed. The boy seems overaged. He is BALDING!! The girl might be sporting a wig. Why did she have to marry so early, she is just twenty two. The bride has a squint....." These are just samples. There are many more comments that a human, I feel should not bother to speak. The br...

This course on finite element modelling here at IIT seems to be of immense benefit to me. There is more Greek in it than English, besides the havoc of higher mathematics. I seem to have picked up the Greek alphabet instead of learning FEM. And every alphabet is pronounced equal to an entire word in English. Oof... Anyway, I could boast of having learnt a foreign language and boost my CV.

My mobile has a flair for receiving a multitude of messages that go this way. 1. "'Om Shri Ganeshaya Namaha'. Send this mantra to ten people and good luck will hunt you down in two days. But if you break this holy chain, you will have to bear the wrath of Lord Ganesh's fury." - forwarded by a friend of mine who claims to be an atheist. Lord Ganesha now comes on mobile. Ohm e-ganeshaya namaha. Wake up people!!! 2. "A test to find how many people are close to you. Send this message to ten people who you think really matter to you and in whose lives you are willing to make a difference. I sent this to you because I deem you as being the closest to my heart. I wanna be a part of your list of lucky guys" - another friend who has been out of touch for long. Suddenly we are making a huge difference in each other's lives. Please relieve me of such messages. That should make the difference! People since time immemorial, have been living and dying in their own...

I still can't believe the transformation happened in me as well. Not very long back, I was mischievous, yet innocent. Now, after only a little more than a decade has passed, I see the same things very differently. Things like a super-hero in a movie jumping off infinitely tall buildings to catch the 'bad guys', cartoons that shot arrows at each others' butts, puppet shows etc. that would amuse me then mean nothing now. In fact, they are trampled by criticism. There was a time when the usage of the word "fellow" was thought of as part of abusive language, the word "love" meant nothing other than a boy and a girl hugging each other in hiding and cricket was played with under-arm bowling and 'one-pitch' catching allowed. Weather was no bar to daily outdoor activities. Going out to friends' homes and meeting their parents was common. Times have changed. 'Fellow' is used freely. Tom, Dick and Harry are addressed 'fellows' irres...

Where did I stop? Oh yes. We reached Kukke Subrahmanya at midnight on Saturday with the help of some adept driving amidst the downpour. I learnt from our driver later that we had lost our way somewhere in between and were put back on track by a helpful truck driver. I had dozed off gloriously through the entire episode. The bed seemed cozy and I hugged it tight. It wasn't long like always, before I fell asleep that night. Early next morning my aunt woke me up after quite some struggle. We reached the temple and performed anga pradakshina . We had splendid darshan and were also fortunate enough to take lunch inside the temple. Satisfied thoroughly, we started back from Subrahmanya at half past two. Our train back to Chennai was scheduled to start from Bangalore on Sunday at 11.30 pm. We had to make it by then. And Mysore had to be visited enroute. That day, I realized what Murphy's law (fate) is. Our van broke down in the ghats on a steep hairpin bend. A nut had fallen off from...