A Birthday made special!!!

This post is dedicated to my UG friends...

Location: VT Station.        Date: 24th January         Time: 9.45pm

The platform was bustling with activity. Coolies loading passenger's luggage, passengers frantically running from one coach to the other trying to find their name on the seat allotment chart. My friends were laughing and chatting as they got into the coach and pushed their luggage's below the seats.

At 10.05 pm, the train started moving. Everyone was saying their bye's to their families and friends. He held my hand, came closer to me and whispered "Happy Birthday". His eyes welled up with tears. Oh! My king...........my dad! I was feeling so terrible to leave my parents and go on a trip to Hyderabad. After all, the next day was my 18th birthday!!!

1 month back....

Location: Home

"Dad, I don't want to go on this trip. Its my 18th birthday and I don't want to be away from you and mom".  "Nivi, go and explore places. Its your first trip from college. Go and enjoy with your friends. It will be fun!!!".

Back to VT station

"Dad, I didn't want to go, but you told me to go and enjoy. You promised that we'll celebrate my birthday when I'm back......and now you are emotional", said my mind. The train left the platform. But the visual of my dad's teary eyes didn't leave me. The moment his hand left mine, the first tear drop rolled down my cheeks. Then it became unstoppable. I was crying as though I was getting married and leaving my parents house (I feel really silly today when I think about the way I cried). My friends tried to console me for sometime. But seeing that it was fruitless, they left me alone and started enjoying themselves. I cried till 11:45pm and when I realized for how long I had been crying, I decided to stop and go to sleep. Everything will be fine in the morning, I told myself.

I went to wash my face. When I returned to my seat, there was a huge gathering there. I wondered what had happened. I wanted to get through the crowd, when my friend caught me and said, "I'm so jealous of you!" I couldn't understand anything. And then suddenly, there was a spray of snow all over me and my friends screaming "Happy Birthday". I was too shocked to react. They remembered!!! A cake was taken out and it was time for the birthday baby to cut the cake!!! With everyone wishing and smearing cake on each others face, I momentarily forgot that all this was happening inside a train.

Words cannot express the emotions I went through at that time. Other passengers, though we had disturbed their sleep, too wished me. It was the first time ever, that I had celebrated my birthday in the truest sense. And with that being my 18th one, it turned out to be even more special. With that, the night ended leaving many emotions and memories in my heart and mind. 

"Memories last forever,

and never do they die....

True friends stay together,

and never say Good-Bye."

Unreal world in the reel world!!!

Indian serials are so cliched.....be it the stories or the characters. 

All the mummyji's, dadi's, nani's and bahu's adorned in beautiful sarees and chunky kundan jewellery are shown to be very happy and go about doing their daily chores and also go to sleep in their heavy attire and makeup!!! The morning pooja is performed in the presence of all the family members and the 'ghar ki bahu' performs the 'arti'. All bahu's religiously fast for their pati's on 'karva chauth'. The male characters never seem to go to work and always seem to be embroiled in the domestic issues.

The male and female protagonists always seem to hate each other in the beginning. Then they fall in love, get married, go through a break up, fall in love with someone else, remarry and then destiny again brings the protagonists together!!! And of course, there is always an antagonist who wants to separate the love birds. And the poor audience has no other option but to become a silent witness to all these drama's !!!  

The new breed of serials which claim to be different unfortunately also follow the same pattern after the first few runs. If there is nothing the characters can do....there's a leap of a few years....new faces, new environment but same old story!!! If an actor decides to quit the show....an accident scene is shown and the protagonist wakes up in a hospital with a new face!!! And his family is mourning his death unaware of the fact that the person is still alive. What amuses me the most is that do doctors even perform surgery to change the height, physique and voice of the person?

These soap operas seem even more unreal when middle class people are shown living in a huge flat in a city like Mumbai and if the story is based in another city then their abode is a huge bungalow!!! Background music and cinematography plays a vital role in these shows. Loud background musics in case of a shocking news and the camera zooming on the face of all the characters, flying curtains n filmy songs for romantic scenes, a female singing a sad song in the background in case of a very emotional scene and the camera shakes when a person is shown fainting!!! A person is slapped 3 times during a confrontation, the door is opened 3 times (mostly when an antagonist enters or when a dead person comes alive)!!!

Indian television has truly become degenerated. But in spite of such stereotyped characters and overstretched story lines, most of these shows do well. Really don't know from where the producers and scriptwriters get the inspiration to write such mega dramas but I really wish they step out of their offices and look at the real world before penning more scripts and characters.

Naadi Astrology ~ To believe or not to believe?

In today's scientific world, if someone told you that your past, present and future was written some 1000 years ago on palm leaves, would you believe it? I first heard of naadi astrology, few years ago, from an uncle who had done his own reading. He said whatever was read out to him was true!!! I did my little bit of research online...and the history of this pseudoscience really captivated me.

Apparently, in the ancient times, wise sages such as Agastya could foresee the future of human beings born or yet to be born. These predictions were recorded on sacred palm leaves. The information is broken into various chapters such as family, education, health, career etc. These palm leaves were classified according to the thumb prints and bundled together. This astrology was made famous by astrologers around the Vaitheeswaran Temple in the state of Tamil Nadu. However, these predictions were not made for all. Only those destined to see their future will be able to find their leaf and at the right time. 

I guess I was destined to see my future more than once! 

When you go to a Naadi reader, he'll tell you to first give your thumbprint in purple ink. Then he'll compare it with the bundled palm leaves and identify the matching bundle. Once the bundle is found, he'll start reading from the leaves one by one and ask if the mentioned information is true, to which you have to answer with only a 'yes' or 'no'. If the answer to a question is 'no' it means that the leaf is not yours and the reader moves on to the next leaf. If the answers to all the questions are 'yes' it means that your leaf has been found! 

The first time my parents went alone. I gave them my thumb print on a paper. When they got home and made me listen to the Cd recording of the readings, I was speechless!!! This person had actually given all the details about my past and present life so accurately that I felt as if someone had peeked into my life!!! I was so intrigued with it that I decided to get one more reading done, but from a different person. 

I went this time with a friend, and had to follow the same process of giving the thumb print and waiting for the reader to be able to identify my bundle. Once identified, he came out and gave me a brief description about what naadi astrology is all about. Then he started with the Q&A session. I had read many reviews on the internet where people said that the reader asked them so many questions (the answers to most were 'no') that it was easy to get some details about the person such their name initials, parents name, occupation etc. I too expected something of that sort to happen. However another surprise awaited me. The reader took the second leaf and asked me:

" Your father's name has a letter 'la' ". 

" Yes " .

" Your mother's name begins with 's' "

" Yes ".

" Your father's name is ------ and mother's name is ------- and your name is -----"

I was dumbstruck..........." Yes!!!!! "

He asked me a few more questions to confirm if that was my leaf and yes it was! All that he said matched! My leaf had been found! I was beaming from ear to ear.!!! After some waiting, the reader appeared again and started reading out all that the wise sage had written about my future. He gave me details of my life in chronology. Every time he said something unpleasant would happen, he said it could be corrected if I perform some remedial pooja's which would be told to me in the end. During the course of the reading I noticed that some facts which were told by the first reader (the ones my parents saw) differed. While my mind was stuck on that, we had already come to the end of the reading. And now time for the remedial actions! He gave me list of temples I should visit and also I should perform a special pooja for 48 days and this could be only performed at the naadi reader's place, by him. For this I should pay some amount daily for 48 days!

At this point, my mind was racing. Were sages so business minded in those days? At a time when there was no currency system, how could they even think of money? An ancient astrology system which ideally should have been a guiding light to mankind is today being commercialized. Everyday, I get to see ad's of this service in newspapers. Out of curiosity, I called up another astrologer and asked him the charges to get my reading done. I was shocked when he said, Rs. 1500 for the general chapter and Rs. 3000 for a detailed reading. I was aghast!!! What a business!!! Charge an amount for a basic reading (which doesn't give you too many details and just builds up curiosity inside you), charge additional amount for each chapter and then charge a huge amount to for the remedial pooja!!! 

Though the past and present were accurately mentioned, the future predictions are true or no, the answer to this only lies in the future. However, with the ongoing commercialization of this system, I'm sure people will definitely think twice before falling into the trap.

Can I go back in time????

Wish life had a rewind button....would love to go back to my schooldays!!!!

It seems like just yesterday....and its almost 7 years since I passed out from school!!! Memories are still fresh, lingering in my mind. 

Get up early in the morning, finish all my morning rituals and sit in front of the TV. Switch on cartoon network and start watching all of them one by one!!! 10:00 am - TopCat, 10:30 - Richie Rich.....(loved this cartoon just for all the wealth Richie Rich possessed). Then a break for half n hour....get ready for school....and then again start watching Scooby Doo at 11:30!!! (This one cartoon really made me fall in love with mysteries....and till date I look for a mystery in every possible thing!!!) Then at 11:45 am rush down to catch the school bus....and once the bus comes...you get to hear all the children screaming at top of their voices....."4 no. bus khattaara bus".(khattara means useless, bad, broken etc and 4 no. bus was another bus from our school only which also went on the same route.) All students in neatly pressed uniforms, polished shoes, ponytails or plaits for girls, ID cards pinned to their uniforms, schoolbags and water-bottles!!! Showing off their new cartoon bottles, bags, 'pencil box' and 'tiffin box' used to be a favorite with the students!!!

Once in school, rush down to the assembly for the prayer song. And then checking done by the school captain to see if your hair is neatly tied, uniforms are of the prefect length and neatly pressed, socks are worn properly, shoes are polished, and nails are cut and NO NAIL POLISH!!! 

Go back to class before the period bell rings. All student hurriedly finish their homework and the teacher walks in, and students sing "Good Moooorrrrrnnniiiiiinnnngggg Teeaaacchhheeerrrrrr"!!! Teacher starts checking the homework, and those who didn't finish them become 'Outstanding students'.

Things changed a lot when I was promoted to the secondary section. I still remember the tears I shed because I would have to leave my old friends (classes were shuffled when we all were into secondary). Physical training classes became more of gossiping hours for us. All of a sudden girls realized that they are Girls and started behaving like one too! Crushes, fights, backbiting all became a daily scene!!!

Those sports day preparations, annual day preparations - cant forget being dressed like a Bengali woman, Assamese lady, practicing songs (was a part of the choir) - would just feel proud of being on stage!

Those days we felt as if a lot of burden was put on our weak shoulders, didn't like people calling us kids, we wanted to grow up, explore the outside world,....but today after 7 years I realize what burden actually is! Sometimes I really feel like running away from clutches of this big, bad world and escape into the innocence of school days. 

Can I live it once more? Can I go back in time?