Independence Day Celebrated!!!

Gone are the days when Independence Day was celebrated by hoisting the flag and distributing sweets with rendering of patriotic songs. TV programmes have taken over and Independence Day is more considered as a day off from regular work or an opportunity to earn more through overtime wages.

The last time I really witnessed flag hoisting live was during my last year in school. As any other day, we used to assemble at school dressed in our ironed uniforms to salute the flag and sing the National Anthem. Patriotic songs, mass drill and March past used to be part of the honour. Sweet distribution would follow after which we would disburse to allow the TV programmes to take over for the rest of the day.

This year Independence day falling on a Saturday, it’s a holiday here. On the previous eve, there was a dinner get together organized by the employees of a corporate company on the pretext of the occasion. The dress code was decided as ‘Kurta and Jeans’ to depict Indian culture and there was almost 70% compliance. The other 30% constituted more of other nationals. ‘Bindhis’ were distributed at the venue (But I already had one on my forehead!!!). Inspite of all these, to me, it looked like just another dinner with music on a Friday night with no relevance to the spirit of the occasion. There were spot prizes, music and dance, dinner and desert which made the occasion look more westernised.

But amidst all this pub culture, there was a little ‘Indianism’ evidently shown when all the Indians stood in attention when the national anthem was played at midnight sharp. At the same time, the Indian flag was put up from somewhere. I gave a proud grin, when the other nationals seated at the adjoining table stood up saluting the Indian flag along with us. I sang the National Anthem with all my heart and a light sense of satisfaction flashed over.

It’s Weird Sometimes

‘Hurry up, Swathu, getting late’. That was my dad and he had come to see me off at the airport. My aunt and cousin had already finished their formalities and had passed the gate, ready to board. The terminal building was pitch dark and the surroundings seemed to be really sickening. As I proceeded to the immigration desk, I found four Tamilian ladies. The second lady in the row asked me for my passbook. I handed it over and she examined my photograph, then asked me again, ‘Where is your passbook?’ I gazed at her dumbfounded. She pointed to the photograph and told me the photograph was not acceptable. It was one taken during my school days. I tried arguing, but in vain. Aware that I had not much time, I pleaded to the lady near her. The lady winked at me and indicated to me to hide below the desk while she would stamp the passbook and drop it down. I obeyed her instructions, picked up my passbook and sneaked away just as the other lady caught a glimpse of me. I moved towards the gate to board the flight.

What I saw last was a crazy mob chasing me, when I jerked and woke up only to hear the laptop beside me still singing one of the tunes of A.R Rahman’s album. I got out of my bed, turned off the music and went back intending to sleep, but ended up analysing my dream. It was one of the weirdest dreams I have come across.

1. I am just back from a vacation and have no intention of travelling at least for the next six months.
2. My dad could not have seen me off from here. He would have received me at the destination.
3. I never ever can imagine that aunt and cousin of mine travelling in the flight as mine. They are stationed elsewhere.
4. The terminal building here is never pitch dark. It’s well lit up, for that matter at any time of the day.
5. I never knew or heard about any airport, where the immigration authorities asked for a passbook instead of a passport.
6. I completed (tried to) my immigration without check-in. Throughout the run, I never knew where my tickets were.
7. I hardly remember carrying any baggage, save for the laptop bag that slung across my shoulder. In reality this was near to impossible. At least I would be carrying a small travel bag.
8. The funniest part was having seen four Tamilian ladies in a row at the immigration counter of an international airport in a gulf country.
9. The way the passbook was stamped, hiding and running through the gate, would have been the most adventurous act I would have performed in all my future births to come.

The only thing I could relate to reality is the ‘Photograph’. My passport contains a photograph in which I have posed in my school uniform and normally, I encounter a question or two at the airport check-in counter or the immigration, be it in India or outside.

And regarding the terminal building, it was very different from the actual terminal building. I can recollect I have seen this kind of building earlier in one of my dreams. It was somewhat related to flying, but I can hardly remember the sequence of events.

I have heard that dreams are a result of your imagination and wishes. But this is one of the weirdest ones I have dreamt off.

Vacation Fever

Being severely affected by the vacation fever for the past few months, am slowly recovering to write this post. The attack was scheduled only for three weeks, but the symptoms existed for quite a long time before that.
Since the time I left my country, vacations play an important role in my life. It’s the big factor that keeps you going for the rest of the year. Below is the sequence of events involved in implementing a successful vacation.
1. Decide on the dates; let others at work know about it so that there are no clashes. This is normally done at the beginning of the year, when leave balances are credited.
2. Search for tickets; Login to all the websites and check out the different flights, routes and cost and book the tickets. Lesser the choice it’s easier. This step is time consuming with a huge number of airlines providing too many flights and routes; the cost varying based on the route and time. To worsen things here, all of a sudden you will find all flights are being filled like crazy in a day’s or may be even an hour’s time. Finally you land up booking the tickets based on availability. This step is normally done at least 2-3 months before.
3. Time to start shopping; Think of every person in the other part of the world and decide and shop the suitable things. Of course not to forget yourself, shop whatever you haven’t done for the past many days.
4. Inform your buddies about your trip; just thinking of a possibility of meeting up.
5. Time to think about official submission of the leave application; Now you may have to slog to avoid rejection of the application. Try to achieve near to impossible in the next one month if you got to get things right.
6. Roughly plan the trip; the visits, the movies to be watched, the malls to be visited, the pleasure trips to be arranged, the shopping to be done and what not. Everything is on the list and at this point of time it seems possible to do all this in the scheduled 3 weeks.
7. Now you are almost done with the near to impossible target, so submit the leave papers officially, praying for the right things to happen. Yes and finally it’s done.
8. Dust out your suitcases, empty the contents and dump them somewhere and start packing; Fear of excess baggage prevails until everything fits in and the baggage is weighed and checked.
Out of sheer excitement, it’s difficult to get a glimpse of sleep for at least a week before you travel. Then the big day comes, when you leave home with the luggage and your heart beats faster when you reach the airport. Flying seems to be really interesting.
Now landing at the destination, the first thought is about the return journey which will start from the same point. The time starts flying from this point and in no time you are back at the same place to board the flight for the return. This journey normally seems like a never ending one and sleeping during the entire flight becomes the only solution.
All is not over yet. Cleaning, unpacking, sharing experience and photographs continue for at least a week. Now Gear up, you got to get back to normalcy. And yes start planning for the next vacation.

The ‘Dave’ Days

I have never been crazy after video games or computer games during my entire life. Yes I love to play a few small games. PacMan has been my favorite for quite some time now. I have heard my bro talk about counter strike where they do heavy setup at home connecting n number of comps and laptops. I have the least idea what the game is all about, I can guess from the name though. Am sure that in no way can it be compared to the flash games I play.

The first time, I can recollect having played video games was when my uncle gifted us with a video game console with 2 joysticks. It was supposed to have 1000 games built in (I doubt it). The package used to lie in the shaft at home through out the year. We used to dust it out and connect it to the television set during our summer vacation. (Used to imagine ourselves as great techies at that time) There were a couple of games similar to PacMan and all kind of sports (football, tennis, racing, etc ...). Most of the games were shoot out games and there was one or two related to spellings.

Then came the computer days. We always had a computer at home, though unfortunately, we couldn’t use it that efficiently (for playing games). Initially we had a lower configuration comp (upgraded from MS-DOS) that wouldn’t survive if we loaded games on it. It was used to type out question papers rather (no better than a typewriter). Inspite of all these restrictions, we managed to play ‘Dave’, spending hours during the night. This game seemed to have impressed us so much that we normally ended up fighting for the comp often. Later we gave up the comp as my dad had arranged to get another one for his business use and the idea of having two comps at home was not that appealing. We were thrilled about the new comp as it was supposed to be of a great configuration. At the end, we felt that the old one was better, as we were not allowed to install/play games or any other software for personal use. We used to keep ourselves satisfied with Solitaire or Minesweeper (I like this one also) and the ‘Dave’ days died off slowly.

After my college days, I never had a comp at my place of stay and so no more games (apart from the ones I used to play on my mobile phone to kill time) until I got my laptop a few months back. Two days back, I was browsing through my bro’s comp and was amused to find the ‘Dave’ game (I wouldn’t have even remembered the name if I hadn’t found it there). Since then I have played that game more than a dozen times and have already copied it to my Laptop as well. Now nothing can stop me from loading it to my laptop. After all it’s mine.

Fact And Fantasy

After India lost the 3 super eight matches in sequence, I almost lost track of the series, when by chance I happened to watch the SA Vs Pak semi-final match. For obvious reasons, I wanted SA to win. Moreover the fact that, there have been several occasions when SA stays unbeaten throughout the league matches and loses a knock out game sympathetically to exit the tournament, made the game a little more interesting.

When I started watching the match, it was the end of the Pakistan innings and we were 5 supporters of SA watching the chase. All of us agreed that the target presented was not really tough to get at, not easy though.

When the South Africans came in to bat, the following is the train of facts and fantasy that came in.
Facts:
Kallis and Smith came in to open the batting.
Fantasy:
With Kallis opening the batting, it’s going to be tough for the Pakistanis.
Facts:
Score: 1/40 (5.5 Overs) Smith gone and Gibbs coming in. Not a great start. Kallis didn’t really click and he slowed down his rate of scoring.
Fantasy:
Smith is not in form. But If Gibbs strikes, the opposition is finished.
Facts:
Score: 2/46 (6.6 Overs) Gibbs gone and AB de Villiers is walking in. Run rate is not in any case sufficient.
Fantasy:
Hmmm....Anyway the South African batting line up is very strong and long. Its AB D now....he’s going to smash the ball around, with Kallis hanging there.
Facts:
Score: 3/50(8.3 overs). AB D is walking out and Duminy coming in with the run rate still deteriorating
Fantasy:
Duminy is the guy who struck for the Mumbai Indians. He is the guy for the day.
Facts:
Score: 3/69(12 overs). Duminy couldn’t do much and the required run rate climbing drastically. SA is tending to lose the game.
Fantasy:
South Africa still has got chances with Kallis still around. (Back to square one)
Facts:
Score: 3/83(14 overs) Kallis and Duminy just hanging around and Fawad Alam to bowl
Fantasy:
This is the over. If SA strives to get 3 sixes, they will be through.
Facts:
Score: 4/111 (17.1 overs, 39 required of 17 balls) Kallis walking to the pavilion and Morkel gearing himself.
Fantasy:
Morkel is a dangerous man. He is capable of scoring huge boundaries which in turn will change the stature of the game.
Facts:
Score: 4/121 (18 overs, 29 required of 12 balls)
Fantasy:
2 sixes in this over and the SA will be back. (The batsman at the crease is no longer significant)
Facts:
Score: 4/127 (19 overs, 23 required from 6 balls)
Fantasy:
4 sixes and SA will win with 2 balls to spare.
Facts:
Score: 5/133 (19.3 overs, 17 required from 3 balls) Morkel is walking out, doesn’t matter who’s next, Duminy is on strike
Fantasy:
3 consecutive sixes and SA will play the final.
Facts
Score: 5/136 (19.4 overs, 15 requred from 2 balls)
Fantasy:
Pakistan will bowl a no ball and SA will be awarded with a free hit and the 3 consecutive sixes will still work.
Facts:
Score: 5/140 (19.5 overs, 11 to win from 1 ball)
Fantasy:
Is there a possibility of 2 consecutive no balls?
Facts:
Score: 5/142 End of Game
Consolation:
SA lost by 7 runs. India lost only by 3 runs in the last super eight match.

Flight Hungama

It was a Sunday evening and I was at the airport for a flight changeover. There wasn’t much time left at the airport, but I was wondering how I am going to spend the next 4 hours during the flight. I got into the aircraft and finally settled on my seat beside my cousin after a big lot of confusion created by the attendant there in finding the place. Then came the announcement instructing passengers to keep their seat belt fastened and switch off the mobile phones and other electronic devices. The aircraft moved for a while and then halted, but there was no indication of taking off for some time. While everybody was wondering what the problem was, there came the second announcement instructing to keep the mobile phones switched off. This time the announcement was repeated twice.

And now, the guy sitting in front of me got a call and was happily chatting with his wife (I thought) in his (mine as well) mother tongue. I was just wondering if he ever understood any of the 3 languages in which the announcement was made, or atleast did he bother to. My cousin and I made an effort to get his mobile switched off, so did the others around. Finally he stopped talking, though am not sure if he switched it off. But I was relieved that the aircraft was taking off now.
All was well for the next ten minutes, after which we could hear the same guy talking again. I looked at my cousin and he at me and we laughed together. Then we settled down eating our noodles silently, while the talking still continued. I went off to sleep after that and was then suddenly awakened by a well known Tamil Number. It was the same guy again, playing the song on his mobile in high volume. One of the ladies who had put her kid to sleep with great difficulty revolted and he stopped the music, but his mobile was not switched off. I wondered if he really knew how to switch off a mobile phone.

Now the next thing guy was upto, was to open up a can of bear in a non smoking and non alcoholic flight. The flight that I was travelling was a so called budget flight, so the crew won’t bother to walk through, except to serve a glass of water or to check the seating position before takeoff or landing. But now a member of the crew came to him and snatched the can and took away his boarding pass (didn’t know how that helped)

Almost time to land, the announcement to fasten the seat belt was back and I could hear several ‘clings’ at the same time. When I looked up from my seats, I found the guy had got up from his seat and was walking to and fro in the middle of the aircraft.

An Expensive Mistake

As any other day, I was passing by the other side of the department. An empty seat caught my attention and for a moment, a lean, ever smiling figure solving network issues on the phone flashed across my mind. Then suddenly I realized I will never ever see him in my life again. Yes, he was the poor victim of a ruthless car accident.

Drunken Driving with over speeding caused the death of a young boy and for no fault of his own.

Drinking for pleasure may be considered personal right. But drunken driving is just not that. Every nation has its own laws against drunken driving. But it is inevitable that the law cannot do much after the irrecoverable damage is done.

It’s normal to say people learn from their mistakes. But drunken driving is too expensive a mistake to commit.

P.S: The message that I am trying to convey by this post is not new and it has been brought out several times as chain emails, articles or by word of mouth. We hear about several similar cases, but when witnessed personally we realize the significance. I am just hoping that this post might enlighten somebody or other who takes a chance of visiting my blog.