I was thinking for a few minutes on something clever to start this post with, but as you can see, I am unable to do so. But if you have been loitering here for the past few years, you will know that I am not prone to clever poetry or wordplay. Verbosity passes for wordplay here and so I will just go ahead and say what I want to say.

Right. So, most of you know I have been in Chennai for the past 6 months. Some of you (3 of u, really) have wondered why I am not blogging. Let’s just say that now I have a life. Actually no. I don’t. I am just joking with you. My laptop’s been under the weather and my PC is senile. No really. That’s the truth. (more…)

Ten days ago, Lekhni tagged me and urged me to essentially recycle 5 of my old posts. Normally I don’t do tags. I mean, unless there is potential for me to play the fool and essentially evoke a few laughs even if the joke’s on me. With this tag, however, the laugh potential seems to be rather marginal, but then I remembered something else.

I realized that I was closing in upon a milestone. By the time this post is online, it will be 5 years since I started blabbering. My first post was posted on Blogger on the 10th of February, 2003. And barring a few months early on and around 100 days in late ’04 and early ’05, I have been posting rather regularly.

Looking at Lekhni’s tag, I realized that she had given me a good chance to take a retrospective look and to reminisce upon these five years gone by. But the problem with my blog is that, as my erstwhile tagline (( I have an ever-changing tagline now, courtesy Twitter?)) goes, it is the record of an egoist’s road trip through life with cricket, music, books, cars and movies for company.

Which means that this blog is about me and me alone. So, as the days go by, it becomes increasingly difficult to remember the odd posts that one has “written” relating to some of the keywords of this tag. Also, the difficulty is compounded by the fact that I took an oath, with myself as witness, that I wouldn’t post anything personal here. So the odd heartbreak has almost never found an outlet here, even if some friends (both online and IRL) have heard me obsess over it.

I have come to a conclusion that wherever I think I won’t be able to fit within the confines of the tag, I will bend the boundaries to my whims and fancies. Hey, this is MY blog and I do what I think is right. Also, my ego prevents me from sticking to the “1 post per keyword” rule of this tag. I will hence go ahead and regurgitate multiple links wherever possible. But let me just make the basic rules clearer to everyone. (more…)

The last few weeks, I have been getting, on an average, one invite a day to join Shelfari. While some of them are from people that I know on a personal basis, a lot of them are from casual acquaintances (friends of friends and the types). And I asked one friend if she had sent me an invite, she said she had. But the same day she sent me an invite, I got two more invites from people who she had introduced to me and who I haven’t talked in about a year or more. And not only that, I am also getting “friendly reminders” a few days after the original invite. (more…)

It is natural that everyone feels important at some points in their life and wishes that people take them more seriously. Of course in a egotistic bastard’s (e.g. me) life, those points happen everyday. And that’s when pretentious, verbose blog posts (like this one for example) result.

But, having said that, the only reason that the last mentioned does not happen to often on this blog is because of a serious lack of time in between the hectic weekdays and the languorous weekends spent on the couch with a X-Box controller in my hands. So consider yourself lucky, ladies and gentlemen and pray that I stay a couch potato.

Right. But even with my big heart, one part of me does fight that “couch potato” tag and goads me into taking up every opportunity to spend time out of the confines of the apartment. So when one such opportunity came up a couple of weeks ago, that part of me jumped up in glee.

So, go to UberDesi and read TOW the SAJA convention ‘07 and look at some pictures here (Thanks Preston!) and you might even catch a glimpse of me somewhere along the way.

Oz, the crazy brain responsible for PFC, is now a published author. This was his first work of fiction and was first published online on his blog. The book is available for download in electronic format.

Way to go Oz bhai! Looking forward to seeing more of your work on print.

A week of feverish planning culminated in the incorporation of ChRRaNaM (Chapman Road Rajini Narpani Manram, named so by me), comprising of seven individuals (one of whom did not know neither a word of Thamizh nor the existence of the manram). This is an organization formed with the aim of making it to New Jersey on time to watch Chandramukhi. The aim was not too lofty, but I think you must read on to decide if we achieved our goal completely.

After much deliberation and a review of available finances, we decided that the original intention of driving to NJ early Saturday morning to watch the noon show at the Pathmark 13 Cinema at North Bergen was not viable due to the high insurance costs for the rental car. We decided to shoot for the 10:30 show on Friday, returning back to our base at Newark in the wee hours of Saturday. It was decided that I would drive us back to Newark, while S, being the more experienced driver would drive us down there. The tickets were booked and the car, an Altima, was commandeered from one of the local Enterprise offices.

Two hours before we were due to leave, I decided that this road trip would be incomplete without appropriate music blaring out from the car’s CD player. I had heard so much folklore about a memorable road trip made by other Thalai fans between St. Louis and Chicago (a 4 hour drive each way) for the first show of Baba a couple of years ago, that we, at ChRRaNam had to simply do something equally huge. Again, whether we did or not, seems irrelevant now, but I like to think we tried. So, I hustled up Thalai’s intro songs from previous movies and compiled a CD with classics like “Oruvan Oruvan”, “Podhuvaga En Manasu” right up to “Devuda”. Of course, there were one or two exceptions (i.e. non intro songs), but memorable thalaivar songs nevertheless.

Five or six miles into our drive, we ran into our first snag that brought forth continuous ribbing from the others directed towards the self proclaimed “World’s Best Navigator”, i.e. me. We, rather I, missed a sign board and we found ourselves on I-295 rather than I-95. A good hour before the show, we found ourselves approaching exit 18W (NJ 3 toward Secaucus/Rutherford). That was due to the lack of vital info in our map, a redundant detail usually, but made very relevant by the fact that all of us were new to New Jersey. A close shave followed with a huge trailer bearing past us on the left fork with its horn blaring. Another close shave followed, this time a car braking hard to avoid us on the right. I think the driver realized our predicament and merely reversed a few yards to avoid us and continued on his way on 3 East. We however decided to go on 3 West and ended up in the parking lot of a stadium complex (seemed to be the Continental Arena, the home of the New Jersey Nets). We took a 15 minute drive back in the opposite direction, took a U turn and proceeded on 3 East. Another wrong turn later (with half hour remaining now), we pulled into a gas station on NJ 1/9 South and were told to “take a U turn at the second light and drive in the opposite direction to go to the theatre”. What followed was a nightmare, with around 2 miles of traffic proceeding at about a meter at a time, due to road work!

By this time, the guys in the other car, who had been a mile or so behind us when we were on I 95 had already reached the venue and started directing us to the Plaza 12 theatre over the phone. We gave up after a 15 minute drive in the general vicinity and went into a gas station. By this time, we realized that the guys in the other car could be at the wrong theatre since the ad that I had printed out, was for “Pathmark 13 Cinemas”. The gas station attendant directed us to the cinema, which he said was just a 5 minute drive. We landed finally at Pathmark, a good 35 minutes after the movie started, with the other guys already inside (they were in there, but had been confusing Plaza 12 with Pathmark 13, while directing us!). We staggered into the empty foyer and were directed towards Hall 1. By this time, I was thoroughly pissed after my navigating gaffes and the subsequent ribbing (which I realize now, on hindsight was totally good natured) and decided that another couple of minutes would not matter and made my way to the loo. Ya, that’s right, I chose the loo over a Thalaivar movie. Sacrilege, I know, but that was how “pissed” I was.

I walked into Hall 1, a few minutes later and found the whole hall reverberating with “Repeatu”. The other ChRRaNaM members were still waiting to see where we could sit and I pulled them towards the second row, which seemed to be the only place where there was a group of seats available. We sat down and I leaned over to the guy in the next seat (was sitting at the end of the group) and asked him how much I had missed. My grin matched Thalai’s on the screen as I heard the words “Maximum 10 minutes, Sir”. And that was when I realized that all was not wrong and the movie had been delayed by half hour! I then had the whale of a time whistling in response to Thalai!

I walked out during the interval and then got the first taste of the pleasant bizarre experience that has since made me term it as a “bizarro Thiruvizha”. I was accosted by two different people who converged on me at the same time with the words “Dei, nee enna da inga panra” (What are you doing here?). One was a friend’s brother and the other, an acquaintance that I had made during our IMS CAT coaching classes at Stella Maris. And looking around, I could recognize at least two other people who I knew from Chennai, but who probably did not recognize me. I also saw a girl from my days in Thanjavur, but being a “Mechu P**** Mavan” (as Badri calls me, referring to my degree in Mechanical Engineering with the word “Mechu”), I could not obviously approach this gal without getting raised eyebrows from her (if she still remembered me). He he! I then found a friend from school, sitting three rows behind us, who grinned at me as soon as I noticed him. Another 5 minute catching up followed before the movie resumed again. But that was not all, driving back to Newark, I met a junior from Shanmugha who had been at the same movie and was driving back to Philly. We met at a rest area where we stopped to catch some dinner to fill our growling stomachs. Whewwwwwwww!.

As for ChRRaNaM, I think we will disband it as soon as we settle the financial issues arising out of this trip. So, do you think ChRRaNaM served its purpose?

Apparently it was Friendship Day today (3rd August). Well, my roomie just corrected me by saying that because today was the first Sunday in August, it is Friendship Day and not because it is the 3rd of August. For someone who spent 4 years in a hostel and then two years now away from home in the US, it is not really a surprise that my life has passed in such a way that the thin line between friends and family has been kind of fogged. These days I don’t really differentiate between them. In fact sometimes I feel that I am more comfortable with my friends than with family (barring my parents and my sister of course)!Students of sociology and the associated sciences would affirm to the fact that this is just a logical phase in one’s life and I am inclined to agree with the same. But I don’t really agree that these relationships that form an integral part of life should be celebrated. Why do you want to just put a day aside and say today is ‘Friendship Day’? Aren’t friendships (or for that matter, any other relationship) a clear part of everybody’s life as they live it? Wouldn’t ‘Magic Nathan’ be my friend if I don’t send him a line thanking him for being a part of my life? I am sure he won’t react in the most negative sense and disavow our friendship (which I am quite glad to say, goes back like 18 years now), but I think he would be miffed. But then, he is miffed with any such trivial proceeding or the lack thereof. So life goes on.

Sorry dude, no virtual greeting cards today. Too much waste of bandwidth. I am using that bandwidth to put up this posting, so the world will be enriched. That is just why my father/mother does not get a greeting card for ‘Father’s Day/Mother’s Day”. I am sure they don’t really care, because they hail from the days when India was still a sheltered and closed economy and Archie’s was still a figment of someone’s imagination in India. I think of you everyday guys, so I am sure you don’t really want me to send you an e-card just to say so. And Magic dude, I am sure you will understand that, if the situation demands, I would gladly spend four hours inside an entertainment center (if you find a size that will accommodate me).

But yeah, courtesy demands that if I get a card today, I reply to it either with a similar card or e-mail. I am doing that just now. ‘Magic’ sent us all (the group) a mail on the account of today with a sweet verse affirming his sense of belonging to the group and how we are his friends. Dude, you have already done enough for all of us. We know you. This posting is actually in response to that email. Now another friend of mine, who normally does not resort to such sugary emotions, sent me a card and I dutifully sent her one in return. Hope that’s enough saccharine for all you biker babes out there. It’s enough for me. And yeah, no offense meant to all you ‘Friendship Day’ fanatics. Send me a card and I will send you one in return. Don’t shun me completely. As John Lennon once said ‘I get by with a little help from my friends’. So do I.

And to end today’s post, I have to include something from what is probably the best ode to friendships in the modern world ‘ the NBC sitcom FRIENDS!!! (Non-believers please excuse!!)

QOTD-1: ‘Married a lesbian, left a man at the altar, married a gay ice dancer, threw a girl’s wooden leg in the fire, lived in a box!’ (Monica describing each of the ‘Friends’)

QOTD-2: “Ross’. Joey. Joey’Ross.” (Monica, introducing Ross and Joey to each other for the first time)