Ecstasy's Locks

Floyd's floating up in the air
Spirits have chained me to my chair
Chimney’s galore all around me
Heaven's passage seemed totally free

Neon lights and rays of gloom
Accompanied the music of bloom
Chords of glory and beats of irreverence
Reverberated in our empty resistance

Giving into thy strong willed hold
Johnny, to thee we are but sold
As smoke fogged our eyes and soul
Strings strained in melody’s call

Ash spilling over my fingers
Listening to great rock singers
A glass of malt on the rocks
And I finally break open ecstasy’s locks

Dannie John
31-Jan-10

Color of Red

I see it in his eyes
I see it when they fall
In the blood spilled over petty claims
In the slit of evil lies
Through the mortar shells, and the wicked pen
I see it within, I see it without
When an Innocent falls, and a war is won.

I see it in her lips
I see it in the red rose bud
In the air around, in shy crescendo
On her cheeks, the innocent kiss
Through the pretty gifts and the loving pen
I see it in my heart
When one falls in love and a life is won.

I see it at creation
And at destruction
I see it in rings exchanged
I see it when all have changed
I see it in the new born smile
I see it at the last flame
When all is gained, but the love is lost.

Oh, color of red,
Such an uninvited guest
Loved by all, despised the same
What an apt beginning, what an apt end
I see it around me at dawn
And when the sun sets;
When one day dies, and another takes birth.

Dannie John
16-Jan-10

Step Out

Step out and look at the blue sky above, feel the cool wind brushing against your cheek, look at the leaves withering from the trees around, the stars trying to hide under the clouds, the darkness of the night, the light at dawn, feel it, see it. See the world as it was meant to be. Go for a swim in a near by river, or climb to the top of misty hill. See the dew drops. See through them the beauty of life beyond. The wet bamboo or the birds chirping around. Look at the kids in the near by field. Chasing a paper-ball or flying a stitched up kite. See life in their eyes, living through the sweat. Pick up an old rattled cycle, the good old’ buddy and go across the country side. Take your hands off the handle as you speed down an incline. Breath in. The cool air. Chase the rain. Get wet. Splash mud around. Go fishing. Catch tadpoles instead. Feel the love of life around. Of that can talk or otherwise. The connection you find in your dog’s eyes. The touch of the little finger. The warmth in your loved one’s arms.

Ash spilled over my fingers and my skin burned. As I close my eyes and just enjoy the darkness instead.

Step out.

Dannie John
12-Jan-2010

Remembrance of a dream

While I lay wide awake, trying to remember my dream,
the sun came up from the horizon, overwhelming the comfortable darkness of my room
The warm rays of sunshine stroked against the coldness in my feet
and her arms stretched around my bosom;

When did I fall asleep? When did I detach?
When did I move in? When did I enter?
What was the journey? Where did I end up?
All I remember is a sinking feeling of having lost that dream

While there, I had promised myself to never come back
To live on, in the world beneath my eyelids
To sing, to dance, to love, and to be loved
Never once to return, Never once to forget

He was a tall man, and I was riding a horse
I remember her smell, of rose and many others
Alas, I cannot remember her face, but the touch is so new
The dance so mesmerizing, and her smile so enchanting

Bits and pieces of my dream lay up on the ceiling like a jigsaw puzzle
Each one of them disappearing by the second
The feeling of loss sinking me further, I try to hold on to the last one
But in vain!

As the hands on the clock get closer to drawing a straight vertical
I close my eyes once again, trying to rush into the tunnel
The door closing far ahead, encircling itself into smaller loops
Stretching my hands and my failing legs, I try to pull myself back to the world again

But someone has let off a siren, one that of alarm, the ringing growing louder
May be I should not have come out, may be they found out
The warm rays of sunshine stroked against the coldness in my feet
and her arms stretched around my bosom;

A slow movement in the bed, and the siren went out
Awake I lay, thrown out of the palace of my own creation
My foolishness to step out, in to the world to take a break
All I remember is a sinking feeling of having lost that dream

Each day I wake up, though I like it not
Each day I step out, to step into this world of rot
Waiting to pass through the seconds of pain, to go back in night to my world of joy
Hoping someday I will never wake, and live on in the world beneath my eyelids



Dannie John
19-Dec-09

Beginning

As he stood there and watched, there was a miracle taking place. He saw red, blood red really, as if he were looking at the horizon. I would more call it the rising sun. Or is it not? A new day was being born, for someone at least.

White coats rushed all around him, smell of spirit filled his nostrils. There was blood dripping into a bowl. He probably had never seen so much human blood at once. And at once, he felt nausea. But the hope of what lay ahead, kept him there. Or may be it was her grip.

She held on to him tightly, as if there was no tomorrow. She lay there, with eyes wide open, with her grip strongly around his wrists, with inexplicable pain seizing every single muscle in her body, waiting for the moment. The moment of truth. And then she thought for a second, just a flash of a thought passed her mind before pain again defeated her. Sometimes we endure pain no one can ever measure, with just the reassurance of a better tomorrow looking over us with soothing kindness. Why am I going through this?

And then he saw a strand of hair. Anxiety was slowly seeping in. With every passing second, there was a fulcrum of emotions playing around in his mind. The sight of every additional inch brought in excitement. As the grip tightened, that changed to nervousness, anxiety and sometimes sheer pain where her nails dipped.

He thought to himself, is it all? Have I achieved all? Manhood is complete.

When the head was out, his first instinct was to look for resemblance. But then she was crying aloud. Did he hear some expletives? Oh, that was a response, he realized. He had accidentally said "Push baby".

It was nine months since I slept properly, like always I loved, curled up within my blanket, knees touching my breasts. It been a long time, I ran up the stairs, got drenched in rain, danced in the shower. It has been a long time I breathed easily. It has been a long time. And then she cried out loud, a cry of pain and of giving in. A cry of victory, of having done with. A cry of happiness. A cry of emptiness, of the weight draining out. She thought, all certain done, it was nice carrying you my child.

And through the gap between her legs, she saw the first glimpses of her new born.

For them it was a new dawn. For a second the two parallel lines of thought met, they thought to themselves, my child is beautiful. It was not over, they thought, it is just beginning.

DJ
7th Aug 09

Note: I have never witnessed a birth. I have just tried to think like the protagonists.

its been a while. And I am damn pissed. Wasted 700 days of my life. Sorry.

Need to thank Jeff. Never met him, but accidentally pushed me to read my blogposts again after so long. And I need to confess, I am ashamed, sad and angry at myself for not being able to commit time to write.

So it seems I am getting back to being me. The first step is here, over the past week - dusted out myself from excuses and reasons for not thinking / creating. Today pushed myself to sign-in (after 2 years). And suddenly I realise, I have so much to say and I am wasting my life by not doing it. My mind has been swollen with ideas, nights have been again about dreaming movies, and every now and then there are two lines of unadulterated poetry spilling out. And I am enjoying it.

Thanks Jeff.
DJ

Withered Raindrops – A Story of Us

The days we strolled hand in hand
In light drizzle
The rain drops
And the rainbows we saw through them
The smell of the new born mud
Do you remember?

Do you remember the morning fog?
The steaming idlies at Iyengar’s?
The By-Two coffee
The late night cinemas?
The ride back home
The love we shared
Do you remember us?

Do you remember the first touch?
The gentle caress on my hair
The hesitant mingling of our fingers
The nervous smile
Anxious eyes
Thirsty Heart

Do you remember?
Me?
My name?
My face
Smell
My all
Do you remember me??

You wish for a nest when it rains
And
Wait to fly out
I miss you most times
Though I have you around all times

Do you remember?
The days we fought
The pillow in the middle
The cuddle at dawn, and the realization little later
The badly made coffee in the morning
The forgotten Kiss
And the hug
Careful glance, to avoid being caught

We have become memory
The present reduced to a badly directed stage act
But why is act going on?
Even after the curtain call

We have become memory
And memories of us come back to me as a sweet dream
Inflicting a pain, sweet and sour at the same time
Can we live in our past and push the present forward

A decade of marriage
And its anniversary has become a forgotten tale
We cuddle up in our sleep
But as strangers we wake
Do you remember?

Do you remember?


Do you remember?

Do you remember?

the first smile,
the first touch
Kiss
Kiss
Do you remember?

Unending phone calls
Coffee that never gets o’er
Sun that never sets
When it does finally,
It never comes back

The lazy mornings
The disturbing maid
And the sunlight

The walk around the house in underclothes
The cuddle at the gas stove
My kiss on the neck
And the lazy morning rain

To be continued….

DannieJohn

First experiments with my New Toy - EOS 400D

Ammazing song... Amazing feeling listening to it...

feelin blue feelin blue feelin blue
my heart says can't be can't be true

jane kya chahe mann bavara
akhiyaan mere saawan chala

feelin blue feelin blue feelin blue
my heart says can't be can't be true

saghan aachal sarabore hove
sajan aasuvan main kya jor hove
kya jore hove apne jiya pe
mann to mhara ye manncahala

jane kya chahe mann bavara
akhiyaan mere sawan chala

pavan purva main yoon udta jave
badra chanda se mann judta jave
aave havaa ka jhoonka fir aaisa
toote patang ki door sa

jane kya chahe mann bavara
akhiyaan mere sawan chala

Childhood Memories

I am trying to run through my childhood…. My years of growing up, coming to terms with life which was as at the same time stupidly funny and profound. I am trying to go back to the earliest day in my life that I can remember. Trying hard.

Sometimes there are bits and pieces, some days are in order and are continuous. Some were happy, some were painful. Sometimes I relate to them, can find words to articulate the experiences I have gone through, sometimes memories have become old and unclear. They have started to wear off like the old photographs in my Grandma’s album. The moment you look at it, you know this is a beautiful snap but time has erased some of its beauty and now is presenting itself to me as some Jig-saw pieces. Let me have the fun of putting it in order.

I have always tried to maintain a Diary and in some occasions I have been fairly successful in documenting some of my days (mostly it was written during the brief drowsy moments before sleep seized me). But somehow it is more exciting to look at those unclear photographs of my memories and try to figure out the beauty of it.

One characteristic of my childhood that I vividly remember is that I was constantly out of sync with rest of the world around me. I lived mostly in a world created by myself, where I chose the characters, the setting and the environment. When I first read Calvin and Hobbes cartoon strip, I could immediately identify with Calvin – mainly because I lived my childhood like him. Not as cynical, but surely as detached from the rest of the world. But as years went by, I slowly started recognizing life around me. Today, I still retain 30 to 40 percent of this trait – In fact I have a world tucked away in my privacy, in my mind, I sometimes steal a moment of secrecy to look into my bathroom mirror and act out few of my fellow citizens (of my world). But I also have my saner world, as some might call it, the one I actually enjoy much lesser, the one in which I need to struggle through 30 days to get my bank account filled so that my bread and butter can be taken care of. Given a choice I would love to remain in my world, one I created some 20 years back, when I was kid, and risk being looked down as an insane and mentally unfit fellow for community living.

My mom tells me that, once back from school, I used to finish homework and milk and run to enact a play in the courtyard of my house. I hardly remember what it was about and from where I picked up inspiration for it. But I remember the hero of the play was called “Maccedona” - God alone knows what it means.

I used to walk from one end of the courtyard to the other muttering rubbish (in my mom’s words) – probably for me it was highly intellectual dialogue of my play or was it life itself. At times I used to gallop on one leg, indicating travel of my hero on a horse. I remember the swift movements of my hands, my mannerisms indicating an adventure. Aah, now I remember, probably I was inspired by the Greek tales that I learned in my school.

I am still trying to go back to the earliest day I can remember in my life.

Something else I remember about my childhood was that, I was never academically inclined. That does not mean I was less curios of the intricacies that surrounded me. I could never get myself to sit in one place and mug all that I was required to. I had questions on everything, if I found answers for them, then that was education for me. Sometimes I could not find answers, no one would provide them. There is a C&H carton, where Calvin asks his dad, how load testing is done on a bridge and his Dad gives him some stupid answer. I have received a lot of stupid answers like that – not from my dad, from others around me.

I used to ask questions, more of them and question each answer given. I still have that trait. Some people find it irritating but for me, I derive my inspiration and learning from asking questions.

My sister was a very dominant inspiration and source of learning for me in my early days. We were two kids and our parents used to work. So most of my childhood, it was the two of us. The earliest image I can remember of me now is that of my sister giving me a bath, putting talcum powder, combing my hair, dressing me up etc. Once both of us were ready – this would be around 5 PM; we would stand on that high step in the corner of our old gate and wait for our parents to get back home from work.

To be continued…

Writer’s Block

When the sun sets and darkness prevails
Night stands out and smiles at me
The cold of the mist surrounds
Wet grass everywhere around
My eyes fixed on the eternity above
And you resting on my stretched arms below

How many more such moments do I yearn for?
My love, when you are with me and my loneliness.
Perhaps that is why I love to be alone
Alone with shapes I deem necessary
My imagination playing the creator
My whole his fingers

Shapes that come to me from my past,
Forms that breathe at times, at times not
Soulful at times, at times not
Some which make me wonder the marvel of thee
Shapes that I make love to; laugh with and cry
These are my moments, mine alone and yours

My imagination, my love and my Spirit
When I close my eyes, I see you at times
I move into this darkness and emptiness at others
I search for you for days but in vain
And then you appear from nowhere to make me crave
For more of you; but you have kept me your slave

Alas, I could say “Let there be", but I can’t
I am to struggle to create petty makes
Eyes wide open fixed on the eternity above
Wet grass everywhere around
And hope to have you resting on my sretched arms below
Alas I could say “Let there be”
And a marvel like you would come to life; over and over again

Dannie John
11-Jan-07

Some Snaps

Pictures I took for christmas. The christmas tree at home & Me at my bedroom balcony- sober of course.

Some movies.... Some Cribs
===================
Hi..
The other day I was watching a movie called " Secret window" . Predictable but Impressive. The best thing Iliked about the movie is the way it started. It started with the text display of " 6 months later". What impressed me is the way the writer/director (David Koepp) effortlessly and naturaly compressed the background story into one text card in the first scene. After reading that, all the rest of the story falls into place so nicely.Funny and errie movie. Ending was very predictable, but probably you dont like the movie for what it is, you more like it for the way it is.

Infact I stumbled upon this while I was watching Iqbal. Watched half of it. I would have probably dealt with the screenplay slightly differently. Different sensibilites, I guess. Nevertheless, fun to watch. Shreyas is a good actor (i was about to write natural actor, but suddenly realised acting can never be natutal).

Last saturday I tried writing after a long hiatus. I picked up, one of my incomplete works - "Flowers in Monsoon" and tried re-visualising the whole work. wrote only one page, but I loved it. The first draft was written 4 years back and what I wrote on sat was far better, much aesthetic and poetic. Maturity counts, I guess.

One thing I have noticed you need tremendous discipline, good mindspace to think and lot of ideal time to day dream if you want to be a writer. My current profession as a recruiter does not allow me this. I am frustrated from that point of view.

Now I am working on my discipline, tried morning walk today. As for Mindspace and time, I am trying to find a workaround for this. Lets See. I want my first movie released before 2010 ends.

All my struggle further is towards this.

Cyao.

Manu Sharma was convicted..... Some years back it would have been impossible to even imagine such a high profile guy to having not escaped the clutches of Law.. It was sheer public pressure which pushed the case to a justifiable end... Kudos to all the major campaigners for this effort...

SreeShant from Kerala.... Need I say more.... He said... over said all most all things anyone can do for him in the cricket ground.Kudos young friend for making all of us proud

And I am waiting for Guru.....Hey I was watching Jaaneman... It was cute movie... Absurd story.. Average performances....But one thing stood out and one thing made me like the movie so much, the Format in which it was taken....I am not able to define the format... you need to see it ot belive it....it is like one mega- broadway - musical.....I keep wondering how the writer would have written the screenplay...then the script........ interesting

Ganguly was one of the main contributors for India's first test win. This is what I like about this guy... Dtermination and grit.... Mental toughness.... He is probably one of the guys with just average talent aong the top players... but surely is one big example of what determination and grit can do to you.... of what the compulsive need to survive...exisit... Live....takes you to the top of the world....

Yesterday I had been to Ramnagram as a part of year ending celebration from office. It was a nice compact one day trip, mainly focusing on (as the organizers and instructors told us) our ability to push ourselves to the edge and if possible beyond it. One of the instructors told us in his opening remarks that Most of us are our best when we are thrown into the most difficult situations.

And yesterday was difficult definitely, If I was my best, I surely don’t know.

The first half of the day, we did rapling from a 90ft tall steep vertical rock hill. We were to use a rope which was clipped to a harness worn around our waist and release the rope slowly as we climbed down at 90 degrees to the rock. The initial couple of steps were scary, but as we got used to the descend, I slowly gained courage to look down and Man, it was an awesome sight and a great feeling to be hanging there up in the air. After a few more steps I imagined my self to be Tom Cruise in MI2 (Yeah a slightly over weight version though) and started looking side ways, down and virtually all ways to give the pose. But before I started savoring the feeling in, I had completed the descend.

The second half was a trek (it felt like number of miles although the organizers told us it is only few KM's) but the fun was climbing rocks, walls, descending and sliding through narrow openings. In some cases, there were much easier ways to move ahead… but we took the hard way ahead to strongly tell ourselves that there were much difficult tasks outside of our jobs…. How thoughtful….

Finally we reached the Summit…. Now Ramnagaram is the place where Sholay was shot ….. And the instructor showed us the place where Gabbar was sitting in the climax; Where Samba was sitting, where Basanti danced…….

The summit was the greatest of all; we had to climb a vertical rock hill using thin step carved out of the rock….. This was not for the weak hearted….

Over all a great day…. Though my body is still aching trying to be at my best yesterday.

Hey Ganguly is Back.. Hope he finds his form and gives us many more entertaining cricketing days ...

More thoughts to follow….

What is it with us Indians.....In the past few days so many convictions, so many altercations, Riots, rebellions.... apparently it seems to me that India thru the years has become an amalgamation many smaller countries, each with their own agenda's, ideologies, future and present. Probably the worst case of a federal setup.

Stats
- Kerala vs Tamil Nadu Mullaperiyar Dam
- Karnataka vs Kerala Border Dispute
- Karnatak vs Adhra Krishna river dispute
- Karnataka vs Maharashtra Border Dispute
- Karnataka vs Tamil Nadu Water dispute

Water Dispute tribunal's
-Godavari Water Disputes Tribunal (In April, 1969)
-Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal (In April, 1969)
- Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal (In October, 1969)
- Ravi and Beas Waters Tribunal (In April, 1986)
- Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (In June, 1990)

More reasons to worry

"100 Out of 543 Lok Sabha MPs have links to crime"

Joginder Singh former Director of CBI
The Pioneer
Nearly 33 per cent were found to be involved in heinous crimes. About 12 are charged with murder, 10 with attempted murder and 11 are acknowledged dons. It s true that most cases are old and minor in the perception of the accused. But they no longer take away the odium out of them. The world's largest democracy has nearly one-fifth of its law-makers who, at one time or the other, broke the law which they had sworn to uphold.

(Courtesy www.ourmp.com)

I think the state of our state assemblies is also not different.

Riot and rebellion at the drop of a hat. Examples from Mumbai, Nagpur, Malegoan, Mangalore etc

Where are we heading to…? I stay in Bangalore, apparently one of the most prosperous cities in India. Yeah life is different, but the bottom line is almost the same across all places.
As a Democracy are we headed the right direction. It is time to do a retrospection….

Hey I am back.

There was a gap in b/w , Blogs were banned for a while, then my previous company banned it for while. so changed my job....... just kidding.Anyways as a matter of fact I did change my job and now I am with informatica, which makes products that enable Data integration.

I also change my personal status. Now I am a married man (happily married- hopefully this will never change), a 3 years old struggle to get married to the girl I loved culminated in a happy ending on 18th Nov. If I were to become a romaticist, I would write that on that day heavens opened and it rained generously, albiet spoiling the wedding party a bit.

So what does life offer me in my new avatar, till date it has been revolving around work. Both of us are in the recruitment space , making life tiring and busy. So we go to office in the morning and come back home to cook/ eat dinner and sleep. Sometimes I feel work is eating too muc into my life. But then livelihood is an important aspect.

At times both of us dream of leaving all of this behind and going to some small villagei n the country side and becoming teachers, I can write and spend my time day dreaming. Suprisingly there are alot of people sharing the same sentiment.... but dreams mostly remain as dreams.

Lets see, I will make my dream a reality....

Ok this one is called ganja games…confused? it is a prank we played on one of our room mates.

We were all drunk that Friday evening. We had gone out to some pub and were returning home after picking up ghee rice from imperial or empire. (This one place is the only hope for late night partying folks like us in Bangalore. Open till 2 -3 am in the morning, a night out isn’t complete without the ghee rice and dal from there).

We were on Inner ring road, when we got this brilliant idea to make the night alive.

Then Raj asked casually “How about a round of ganja?”

I saw the twinkling in his eyes and got the point. I turned back and looked at Robin, with the same smirk that a hunter would have on his face. There our prey was sitting looking outside the window, totally drunk, not noticing our verbal exchanges.

Now Raj asked me a little more loudly

“Hey John, how about a round of ganja??”

This time it caught the ears of Robin and he gave as a stunned look. The look immediately changes to that of No this isn’t true sorts;

And I replied, even more casually.

“What an idea boss, lets rock it”

“But where do you think you would get it at this time of the day??” Raj asked

Now I am simultaneously weaving stories in my mind and taking stock of robin’s fast changing facial reactions. It ranged from shock, disbelief, anger, fear, and finally pathos.

“We will need to ask Kumar, stop near the empty field opposite Dell… we might be able to find him there”…I replied.

And Raj drove the car into the lane next to the empty field.

I asked robin to come along to collect the ganja from Kumar (god knows who). And he was probably least expecting it and plainly declined.

Then we started cajoling and coaxing him into this. But he kept refusing.

We were so amazed at how vulnerable someone can get and how easily he believed us.
Ra walked out into the lane, took the next turn, waited for sometime and came back.

“He has asked us to come to the end of the lane” Raj told pointing straight into the lane.

And we started the persuasion again. Robin was almost at tears and nearly believed that I and raj are drug addicts.

During this entire tussle, we saw a hoysala jeep approaching us from far. The next moment we jumped back into the car and sped away.

Through all these commotion, Robin has actually dropped our pack of dinner (ghee rice of course) somewhere there itself.

We slept hungry stomach that day.

Now the funniest part is just following;

The next day, We were planning to have dinner at home. Raj and robin and gone out to pick some beer.

As planned, I took a gold flake cigarette, took to all the tobacco and powdered it nicely. In fact we took the pain of mixing some jeera powder/ coffee powder... I don’t remember what … to increase authenticity.

Took some foil, wrapped it up nicely and kept it my room.

After we were sufficiently drunk, Raj asked me casually ….

“Do you have some stuff with you?? “

Robin till this moment and for a few after the statement was lost in the Pink Floyd music and beer, not giving much attention to our discussions.

But when I actually got up, apparently giving the impression that I am going to get the stuff, he turned towards us and gave a startling look.

I did not get to notice his facial expression this time as I went inside my room.

But when I emerged outside with the foil, I could see the range of emotions I mentioned earlier moving across his face.

The rest of the night I leave to your imagination.

And to this day he believes we are drug addicts.

John

I am back...

Recalling my Chennai experience from the last week...On Sunday, 28th Aug, I had traveled to Chennai. On my!

This one has made me love Bangalore many times over. With all the Traffic Jams, Regardless of the long waiting periods on the road...Pollution... Auto drivers... oh did I say Auto Drivers.... I should call the ones in Bangalore Saints...Any one who disagrees, please visit Chennai... Bangalore ....I love this place...

Ok... Now for the experience.....Let me start with the previous night...Sat 27th Aug...Two of my dad's friends had come to Bangalore....central Kerala Christians being Central Kerala Christians... the first and the last thing they wanted to see in Bangalore were its Pubs....(for a small comparison here... We get good stuff here. Unlimited Kingfisher... Bacardi.....and so unlike Chennai were if we need to have a decent night out with some stuff you have heard of... We need to visit some star place). So I take them to the one on Garuda Mall… the idea being they can do some shopping and then probably settle into one of those comfy cushions in SOS.

We enter SOS and the music hit us on our face…My guests freaked out….The next 1 hour was ordeal for them. And for me trying to explain and make Metal look like slightly loud and high pitched variation of Hindustani …LOL…. Funda, I do not have a choice... Need to save the night.

Then I took them to Mojos on residency road ….they played softer music... But still was loud. This was the first time I realized how loud the music can be in a Pub…Usually when I am out with pals we are almost drunk even before we reach the pub, probably the reason why this loud seemed quite to be soft…

OK.. I am drifting off topic… the end result of the night was that I was significantly drunk…and end up sleeping at 1am. That is ok if you get to sleep till at least 9:00 am the following day. But I had to get up at 5 in the morning and push my still drunk brain and sleepy body to almost run to Cant to catch the Lalbagh. Only one thing stops us from going to Chennai…. Train tickets…

When we reached Cant…the queue for open ticket is already reached outside the station building. We can wait…but one problem there is just 2 minutes for the train to reach. And God walks up in the form of a coolie and offers us tickets to Chennai…but for a little profit…Rs 10
On each ticket…hmmm not a bad deal….we grab the tickets and run towards the platform.

When the train came… we were incidentally standing near the AC Chair Car… and I see god standing with a black coat on…I request him to convert our 2nd sitting tickets to AC.. And he obliges but again for a small profit…Rs 20 per ticket…Hmm improvement…

Anyways we reach Chennai comfortably and walk out of the station all ready to enjoy the day ahead... or we thought so.

Man, how can any place be this hot, humid…I kept joking to my fellow travelers that our bodies have actually turned to salt manufacturing machine… How sick….

In fact, we had come here to attend a close friend’s engagement ceremony…Which is in a place called Nanganallur... Somewhere near Mount.

So we catch a Suburban train and go to Mount and find a hotel to relax. We are dressed formally and I am wearing a Formal Kurtha-Pyjama. When we reached the mandap (after some bargain, verbal Kungfu etc with the auto driver) , for my sheer astonishment I find even the would be groom in a normal Shirt and trouser….I just wanted to run away. We somehow managed to get out and run back to the coziness of our AC room.
One thing I have noticed in Chennai is that if you are not a Tamilian and cannot speak Tamil then you are gonna get royally screwed by the Auto fellows. And if you are not used to the climate, then you don’t even want to stand and bargain the hot sun….the attitude is … please take me to the nearest AC room... Ill pay whatever…

I have bath the second time in the day and come out of the bath room only to realize that the salt manufacturing machine has started work again. I start to hate this machine. Man it sticks, it stinks and you are most of the time wet. What a pathetic state to be in.

So towards the close of the day, we think of catching up with another friend and decide to meet him at Spencer plaza, my fellow traveler had a long lasting dream of coming to Chennai (I think that person has already decided never to come here again) and wanted to see Spencer’s.

We are on the road again. Scared of the bargain with Auto fellows we decide to walk a bit. We walk towards Le Meridian. After a while, we realize the folly of deciding to walk in this climatic conditions and finally giver into the temptation of stopping a passing auto.

Bargain time, Guys. We get into a verbal brawl, trying to give him some gyan of mathematics, time and distance, time and work…. Nothing works… our bodies start pushing us into a deal we very clearly know is stupid and finally we give in.

We get to Spencers from near le meridian for Rs 120. (Oh…Please don’t look like that; I am already ashamed of my spendthrift nature).

We meet Aaron near Spencers. He like the good old pals that I have, suggests that Spencers is a more kids place to hang out and takes us to Radha Park.

We are turned away from a Pub there because we were wearing sandals, Nike Sandals. Can you believe it, How much more presumptuous can we get. In a city that converts any average human being to a continuous source of sweat; a place where the most comfy clothes would be Short pants, cotton t-shirts and a decent pair of sandals, we are turned away for being logical and probably more apt; Blind followers of a long forgotten tradition of snobbish buffoonery.

Anyways we find another pub in the same place; not exactly a pub according to Bangalore standard – more like an Andhra restaurant for serving alcohol. May be this was meant for the lesser mortals like us who do not know the dressing tradition of Chennai.

What ever be the situation, we men are born to drink; the end result is that I am drunk again. And this time I have hardly anytime left for rushing to Koyembedu for boarding my bus. Unlike in the morning, this time I have been well prepared in advance with the berths reserved in a Volvo Ac Sleeper.

We reach the bus stand around 10:20 PM, 10 minutes… time enough before the departure. We exchange good wishes and bid good bye to our host. By this time I already have collected the boarding passes. And we board the bus…. I am shocked to see someone else sleeping on our berth. Ridiculous… these guys do not have any brains… I am ready to pick up a brawl once again, when the conductors of the bus start scolding us…

To my utter dismay… I realize that the ticket is meant for the following day’s travel…. How intelligent of me to be well prepared for something I do not need. I do not have a choice, the hunter is ready to become the prey and I start requesting for some berth that is empty.

I should say, the bus guys were very helpful. They asked us to take the last berth on the bus. Only one berth buy sufficiently wide for two to sleep. Good economics for them…1 berth for the payment of two. For me, an act of extreme kindness. Thanks god. Thank KPN.

After some acts of high jumps, Long jumps and somersaults all while sleeping, we have finally reached madivala.

We get down and as usual auto drivers cover us like a bunch of bees; we tell one of them the place we need to go and tell him that we will give him double the meter since it is 4:30 in the morning. He readily obliges. Oh, Auto drivers in Bangalore. I love you guys. Gentlemen with a very superior demeanor.

The climate is cool and soothing; the machine has stopped functioning. Skin has become smooth again. Guys, I am back to my normal senses.

I am finally back. Back home.

Thank God for bangalore.

Dannie John