A Decade and counting - My entry for the Get Published contest

What is Love?

“Well! Love is lust. That’s it.”

“Love is looking at a person and knowing that I want to spend the rest of my life with her” (Suspiciously familiar ! Film- lifted I suppose)

“Love is for losers man!”

“Love is that beautiful feeling that builds in a person … and on …and on … continues for another hour” 

Some say love happens at first sight. Some say love develops from friendship. Some don’t believe in love at all. Some say love is only infatuation. It just arises from the need to have somebody to call your own, to take to the movies, to go out for dinner, or to talk to when you are down.

This is a story that spans nearly over a decade. A friendship that was made from school to college and then work , a series of fortunate and unfortunate events made some relationships even more stronger while others turned threadbare.

They were 6 friends.

They had nothing in common except that they had joined the same high school. Starting off with an awkward “Hello”, none of them knew that the friendship they were forging would be the pinnacle of all their forthcoming endeavors. They shared the same desk , ate the same food, slept over at each others’ houses, made a zillion Maggis to extinguish inconceivable hunger, drove the boys and the teachers insane in equal measures.

There was nothing that they hadn't done. And if they hadn't done it, they just didn't know it.

If they ever fought, it would be over the last morsel of mouth-watering biryani or who had to pay the ice-cream man.

Who knew that there was a bigger villain coming to turn their world upside down .

A villain called Love.

A love triangle that threatened to break a friendship that was the envy of all and sundry, read this ordinary story of a set of friends, caught between friendship and love,between family and friends and between betrayal and commitment.

If you like this story, please vote for it here at http://www.indiblogger.in/getpublished/idea/369/

 This is my entry for the HarperCollins–IndiBlogger Get Published contest, which is run with inputs fromYashodhara Lal and HarperCollins India.

  

An Open Letter to the Indian Railways Ministry

Hi.Hello.How are you. How is the IRCTC doing these days?

Till a few months ago, I was a happy go lucky college student in one of the most foreknown engineering universities in Chennai. My extreme level of concern would be badly written semester paper and its impending results- spelling doom all over it. Then campus recruitments happened. God pulled a few strings and I landed a plum job in the city of the Youth – Bangalore.

This was six months back.

Today I have become a seasoned traveller of the Indian trains. I book tickets beforehand on the internet , I even book tickets through tatkal which is a God-given boon for last minute travellers. Bangalore Mail, Bangalore Express, Guwahati Express or the Kaveri Express, you name it and I would have travelled in it.

And I’m proud of you. Seriously. I know everyone mocks the IRCTC when the server crashes and comes up after 3 hours. I know the site leads us to believe that we have a confirmed ticket only for it to error out in the very end. I know all this. But still, I’m proud.

Atleast I was , until today.

Today I came home for Diwali to spend some time with my family. Today basically half of Bangalore had moved to various parts of the country to be with their families. I prefer the train because I get a good night’s sleep usually. But bad luck was that my usual train Bangalore Mail ticket was on the Waitling list so I had to board the Guwahati Express.

I do not know how to describe the sight before me when the train was standing at the platform. There were people overflowing (the closest I could come to describing it) out of each boogie. It was a whole ten minutes before I realized that my berth was in one of the overcrowded boogies. There were atleast 10 people at the entrance of the carriage and I wouldn’t have been surprised if some had occupied the toilets too. People were already sleeping on the floor. The stench was unbearable. I walked in and past the men thinking that the Train Ticket Inspector will remove the passengers without valid tickets. To my relief, I had an upper berth. I quickly climbed on to it while twenty eyes hawked on like a feast for sore eyes. There couldn’t have been anything more embarrassing. Look down, and see the same twenty eyes looking up right at you. Again I told myself that probably the TTR will move them all out to unreserved compartments. So I waited.

Forget a proper night’s sleep , I was more worried about waking up to find a stranger sleeping next to me on my berth. Vomit-inducing thought, really. After an hour, the TTR came. He checked our tickets. He made a very half-hearted, feeble attempt at telling the encroachers to move out of the compartment. They stared on , unresponsive to the request.

So cursing myself and vowing never to travel in that train again I covered myself with a blanket too afraid to fall asleep. I failed to understand how railway rules differed from one to another. On the Bangalore Mail , not having a ticket would entail moving out of the carriage asap. There was no second option unless we could convince the TTR that we deserved the extra seat more than the others. But no, this Guwahati Express played a whole new ball game. Confirmed or not , the passengers are the Maharajas of the train and nobody was going to make them get off it.

My friend woke up to find the upper torso of a man on the aisle berth and his lower limbs stretched precariously placed on her berth. Another man perched himself on the lower end of another woman’s berth. I could barely stifle myself from screaming. We got down from our berths and looked up to find them immediately occupied by other passengers.

If that was horrible , the worst was yet to come. Disembarking from the train included groping .

Hell if I could explain that in clearer terms.

Only a minor percentage of trains are fit to travel in . The rest are covered with bedbugs, cockroaches and rodents that have made trains their homes. I agree that with the train fares that you charge, its difficult to maintain the hygiene on the trains.  That’s why you have First Class!!!  Increase the fares for the classes that can afford to pay no matter what the rate is.  No one is going to vote you out of power for giving one class the option of paying more and going for cleaner rail travel.

And I presume you already know all this and more.

Then why don’t you do something about it. Improve the hygiene, allow only legitimate ticket passengers and increase the goddamn number of trains.

I know its easy to say and difficult to implement. But that’s your job isn’t it ?

Regards

A very disgruntled Indian Railways passenger

p.s. You could might as well look into the infamous IRCTC website and stop becoming the pun of all jokes.

Death is only the beginning (Lifted shamelessly from The Mummy)

I’m going to die.

I already told a room full of serious ,dedicated bloggers not to read my blog unless they were frustrated with life. So this is in keeping with the same genre. I’m not so dark and gloomy in real life. I laugh, work late hours for lack of any goal in life and spend money on all artificial things.

But seriously, I mean it. I’m going to die.

I’m Muslim okay. I don’t believe in suicide. And from what I can see, even I think you are going to die.

See this is how my brain is working. You are reading this because I posted it on Facebook or Twitter. So you are most likely my friend who I threatened into giving a very positive feedback on my writing.And if you are my friend , then you would have to be in the range of  2 metres to 350 km distance from me (Bangalore and Chennai distance). The remaining few that I would have missed out on are too busy putting up pretty pics of their foreign universities on facebook.

2012

Nilam was one tiny-meeny-winy cyclone compared to Sandy ,yet it caused everything to come to a standstill. Chennai was drowning and Bangalore was getting its share of rain.Must have been the puniyam(rewards) of sharing the Kaveri.(sensitive topic) That really got me thinking.

Imagine you knew you were going to die on say Dec 21^st 2012. By the way, I will be precariously placed on the upper berth of a Chennai-bound train at that particular time. So that ain’t happening.

Imagine you knew you were really going to die. Would you be doing what you are doing right now?

Would you be at home scrubbing the dishes to make way for tomorrow’s breakfast.

Would you be at work putting in those extra hours to get a pay raise next year.

Would you be rolling in bed all day long, watching Formula One.

Would you be yelling at your mom that she never understands you.

Wow did I just say that.I think I ‘ve been watching too much of these Hindi serials that I just used the Mere 

paas Maa hai twist here.

So this is what I decided to do.

1. Move into a new house. One matchbox of a room is not what I bargained for when I came to a new city.
2. Write shit like this every day. Confine the majority of the shit as Drafts so that they never see the light of Day.
3. Start writing a novel.

What are your threes before the world ends?*
                                                                                                      *Not being pessimistic but its gotta end when its gotta end

Immature Behaviour

%&%*&^*(*^*^*&^&*%*

That’s me cursing under my breath, out loud and in my head every single day.

Yes, every bloody single day.

I’ll tell you my problem. But before my actual problem; I have to tell you my pre-problem.

Why this big melodrama on hearing the big F-word. It’s just a combination of 4 letters where the worst possible meaning is something very biological and in-depth to the evolution of the human race (Actually every race)

This word is blessed I tell you. Believe me, can you find any other word that can describe pain ,happiness ,sorrow and ecstasy all-in-one. Can you?No ,no? Then what.

 It can be used as a noun, a verb, an adjective, an adverb, a compound or as any part of the sentence. Basically, even if your grammar is downright pathetic, you will never go wrong using it.

Why are you getting all offended and going all dramatic when you hear this word. As if it has robbed you of all your purity and you need to close your ears and go “Please don’t use that word in front of me. I can't stand it”. Seriously girls, if you think this makes guys fall for you, then you are all so out of your minds (Guys, please tell me I’m right)

See Indian drama is known all over the world for its little over-the-top-ness. But this is really too much.

The first time I used that word, my teacher and my mother gave me a lengthy, painful sit-down. First my teacher was shell-shocked because the topper in the class was teaching her classmates words beyond their age. That time also I was thinking that what is there. It’s just a word. Then my mother embarrassed me full-on and asked me if I knew what its meaning was. She actually told me that there is no way I knew what it meant. Embarrassment iced with more embarrassment. All my fate only.

Okay don’t laugh. I was in 5^th standard only. And we all looked too innocent and cute to utter such immoral words.

Just because Shah Rukh had to censor his film and say “What the Fish”(Seriously?! Fish?) doesn’t mean you also can go to that level. What is this fish? Fishes are so harmless and pretty. Atleast say What the Fox or What the Fly. One is dangerous and the other sits on me even after I take bath.

This word has evolved so much; we have derived new words from it too.

One derivative is called Dafaq. You would have seen it in all those 9gag memes that are all over facebook. Maybe you didn’t know that it was a close relative to the word you abhor.
In tamil standards, Dafaq would be equivalent to the infamous EKSI. Get the feeling?

You don’t have to draw a halo around your head and act like one angel. We know everyone has problems. Everyone curses everyone and everything around them.So blow the steam off your top in style.

And if you still putting on the holy act , then I have a way out for you. You don’t have to utter a syllable. It’s more effective and you can also burn more calories. Just use your finger.

 Fuck,i forgot my actual problem.

It's a small world !

Coz we'll always miss your pants on the wall.
Coz you are our best elder sister number 2
Coz we don't get to see your pants on the wall anymore.
Coz you are the "Shriya" of our dreams.

Coz you are so shy, that asking for a photograph only gives me this ->
 as a result,
Coz you talk so fast, nothing makes sense,
Coz you call up at 12 a.m. asking me where in the world I am
and Coz you love Ganja

Coz you do Bharatnatyam while you talk

Coz i love taking pics of you in Instagram

Coz you introduced us to a real-life Olive-Bluto
Coz you are "one kind"

Coz you harrassed a mannequin in a shop,->
Coz you introduced me to the word Jijips
Coz you always stood by me when no one else did(Couldnt resist this cliche)
Coz we crooned to Enrique's Hero and sounded retarded

Coz this was originally a picture of a PILOT,
which can't be shown to the outside world
Coz the referred pilot is the epitome of living in two cities at the same time
Coz this infamous pilot streams Youtube videos while the rest of us curse the wifi waiting for Facebook to load

Coz you are Milk and Honey , literally
Coz you promised to take us to Goa
Coz you made us learn the phrase "Mad or what?"
Coz you are a "pure" Non-Vegetarian :)

Coz you got so freaked out at the Fish spa,
Coz you should have got a job as a story-teller
Coz you always fight with your cabbie
Coz you should become the brand-ambasaddor for Iss Pyar Ko Kya Naam Doon

Coz you are the Studs of your buildings,
Coz there is nothing in this world as too much girl-attention
Coz you are living an extended-college dream(envy)

Coz in our phone contacts, you are saved as the Ticket-Bookers

IMAGINE …

Imagine a world , a world with no religion category in application-forms

A world where no one cared if there was a God

Where turbans and burqa were not banned

Where no one treated you with suspicion if you were a Hussain.

Imagine a world, without borders.

Without developed and the forever-developing countries.

Without invasions under false pretences.

Where cities were not destroyed because of wars-on-terrorism

Where life was not full of severed body parts.

 Imagine a world where no one need be scared to walk alone at night,

Where no one needs to be groped by strangers while bystanders look on

Where no one needs to be killed for a night’s dinner

Where there is as much trust in the police as there should be in the government.

Imagine a world where men and women are equal, till the grassroots

Where eyes don’t wander to your assets and hands don’t move to wrong places

Where women are not objectified to be placed on a mantle.

Where dressing well was not a legal certificate for harassment.

Imagine a world with only love, pure unadultered love

A world where friends don’t fade into aquaintances.

And parents are not dusted and thrown in old-age homes

Where everything was not only about yourself.

Imagine a world where the gun lobby was not as strong

And unstable college students didn’t go on shooting rampages.

Where alcohol sales were not the chief source of income to states
And suicides weren't the only way out of problems.

A world we never had.

What You See Is What You Get

We live in a small world.

A world which comprises our work, our friends, our homes, our happiness, our problems and our entertainment.

We don’t see the homeless old man sprawled across the railway station floor desperately seeking a few sips of water .

We don’t see the young woman, amputated at the limbs trying hard to climb into an auto despite her handicap.

We don’t see the gross injustice being done when underage children are being made to work even after a Right to Education has been implemented.

We look the other way, refusing to acknowledge their presence, consoling ourselves that someone else will come along and help them.

The day isn’t far when we become deadened to the voices of our own family, become insensitive to the requests of our parents and grandparents and push their existence to the back of our minds

That day is getting sooner rather than later.

If you are reading this and thinking “What bullcrap? I love my parents and I would never neglect them!” then drop all that you are doing and head to the nearest old-age home in your locality. Some of you might even consider it a western concept, but you would be amazed at the sheer number of such places that have sprung up across the country.

Last week, we as a group of around 25 freshers headed by the ever-cheerful Roma and accompanied by Susheel spent a whole day at an old-age home in Bangalore. To be honest, we were a little apprehensive. A day at an orphanage sounded okay, but an old-age home deep-down was royally depressing.

This is my first job. And to elaborate on the subtle side, it has far exceeded my expectations.  Leaving aside the work-aspect ( the most important bit) the amount of importance emphasized on Corporate Social Responsibility(***CSR)  was impressive. From the MD  to the CSR head, the passion they had for bringing out some social awareness among the working  IT class was inspiring. Their core focus was this - work will come, work will go. But what we do to give back to society is what counts at the end of the day.

My manager literally threw me out of some very important training, shaking his head saying “CSR is extremely important. You are not missing it under any circumstances.”

The place we were visiting is called Omashram. It houses 40 inmates, mostly women. They have either been abandoned and left to fend for themselves or dropped off by their children along with a sum of money as a token of their responsibility.

Each woman there had her own little story to share with us.

One woman told us about how she was born in Karnataka but spent 40 years of her life in North India. She had lived in New Delhi and Ayodhya. She used to visit Haridwar and Rishikesh every year with her husband. She had moved back to Bangalore a few years ago after which her husband passed away. She has one son in Delhi and one in Bangalore. Why was she here then?

Another woman had just moved in 15 days ago. She had brought her little T.V with her. She told us stories about her trips abroad mostly to the US. Like Miami, Houston and Chicago. She was the epitome of a grandmother etched in a cartoon. With short white hair, a little tanglish and an endearing smile to match she squealed with excitement when we explained to her the concept of a missed call. Her kids were abroad. Why was she here then?

Relatively young, another woman was the cool dude of the home. She gave us advice we wish would come from our parents.

Her advice list went as

1.       Do not get married early.
2.   Enjoy life di khol ke for the next 2 years.
3.  Find a good boy once you are ready to handle responsibility.
4.     Strictly, restrict the number of children to 1.

She had multiple children capable of taking care of her. Why was she here then?

I have been living in Bangalore for more than 1 month now. And uptil that moment in the old- age home, any language barrier was never felt. If not English, then Hindi. If not Hindi, then Tamil. If not either then mix everything up and some understanding is bound to happen. This is how we survived.

But not at the Home.

At the Home, we met women who spoke English, Hindi, Kannada, Telugu and Tamil in various combinations. One room was occupied by a group of women who knew only Kannada. They described their lives before the old-age home, their children who hadn’t visited in ages, their grandchildren they never knew in flesh and blood. All this they said in a language we didn’t understand a word of. Still we somehow understood. Some things don’t need language. They are just felt.

At the home, there was a separate block for bed-ridden patients.

Here every single person spoke only in Kannada. One old woman caught hold of me and admonished me for wearing heavy earrings. She spoke about her daughter who had left her in the home and promised to return but hadn’t. She told us about her new-born granddaughter whom she had never met. Typical of old people, she complained about the food, the caretaker, the surroundings. But when we spoke to the caretaker, she turned out to be an amazing woman with an even more amazing story who had decided to stay at the home but helped out for free because she was more physically capable.

When leaving the home, a woman caught hold of our hands with tears in her eyes. She spoke in a language we didn’t follow, but we knew what she was trying to convey. She held on tight and asked when we were coming back again. No matter how much we tried reassuring her, she refused to agree.

She reminded me of my grandmother.

In fact, every single one of them reminded me of my frail, old grandmother who passed away 3 years ago. She had us all around her till the very end.

These women were not that fortunate. That’s when we felt like staying a little longer. We bade goodbye with a heavy heart and promises to return. But as they say , promises are meant to be broken.

I just wish I am wrong and empty promises don’t linger .

*** CSR :  a term we never thought would hold so much importance in the IT world

With HER,Without HER

Once upon a time, there was a plan to go on an All-India Tour as an IV. Fights, misunderstandings and stubborn professors later that plan was dropped. After college,an unofficial trip was organized that concluded last week.
Now write down 10 differences between going with a professor on an official IV and going for a tour without any staff

With HER	Without HER
1.   Gross overexpenditure on staff and family tantrums	Excess money to spend on chocolate truffle cakes.
2.   10 mt distance between genders of the opposite sex	Orey the gujaals in the couples
3.   DO NOT dip your feet in the lake	Exploration of deep waters and some swimming races by the experienced swimmers
4. If TASMAC is in sight, all restaurants in the nearby vicinty will be avoided. And if need be we shall go hungry than eat in such a filthy place.	Everything North/South/East/West is a National Wines Shop including the neighboring room-mates.
5.   Love will diminish	Love blossoms
6.   Declaration of love will not happen even in the dreams.	Declaration of love followed by a treat by the concerned Romeo-Juliet will happen
7.   “Girls Wear one burqa and go to your room” - Staff	Boys wear indecent shorts and leave room open for unsuspecting girls to enter and run out off screaming
8.   Eat.Sleep.Brush.Get ready.	Walk up to the movie theatre at midnight and beg the drunk watchman to open the gates
9.   Snoring sounds from yeverybody in the bus	Childhood romance stories and epic failures about girl spanking boy.
10.                No comparision	Staying up the whole night on the terrace of blood-stained hotel narrating goose-bump causing situations. And nodding head when receptionist says he is not responsible if anyone jumps off the building.

  

******************************************** HENCE PROVED*****************************************************

Oh Knight of the dark sky

Dear Future Husband,

                              I don’t know which corner of the world you are in right now, but as of right now you are in America . Tomorrow you might be in Bangalore. Chennai the next day. I can’t keep up with the imagination of my family and their wild fantasies of where they might find you. Oh prince in shining armour!

Let me enlighten you a little about the situation in my house. I have a father who is hell-bent on finishing his responsibilities, a mother who couldn’t have grown a brain of her own and a brother who well does everything I abhor. So by tradition morning ,noon and night we eat our food together. 
And what could be the only topic of discussion?
 Obviously the union of two pure souls who are destined to be together by destiny and the will of God. Don’t you worry , my manners are intact. I still eat my food with them ,only drowning their ambiguous chatter by telling myself in my head repeatedly that All Izz Well.

How is it that when they ask you for specifications about a bride , all you want is a fair, thin and beautiful bride? Where will people like me go? And what about the rest of the details?So the bride has done her Phd. But you still want her to stay at home and take care of your family. So everyone wants a pretty wife for obvious reasons, but can’t you have some decency and forcefully specify that you don’t want any dowry/demands. I’m certain that 100 sovereigns of gold will be kept in the locker for future use but you do have to grow a heart to realise that shelling out 21 lakhs just to dump in a bank locker isn’t a piece of cake for most people.  I can understand your parents being all old-fashioned, so they might take what my father gives with open arms.Be a man and say no to torturing helpless fathers whose only wish in the world is to see their daughters happy.

You males aren’t the only one with dreams. We have big ones,huge ones. You couldn’t begin to imagine the extent of our dreams. We may not be Miss Worlds, but we still want to do things that can change the world. You take time off after college, do all wild things, study all over the world and satisfy your fantasies. Why aren’t we given the same privilege? It feels like some kinda luggage that our parents are waiting to unload of their worried chests. Give us some time, let us also enjoy life a little before we get mature enough to get down and dirty in this union of two pure souls.

As of now, almost all my cousins are married. Some before graduation, some after. Some without even speaking to their “would-bes” ( shouldn’t it be will-bes?) and some for the money. Some have kids, some are still trying.Some get cheated ,while the ones in the movies live happily ever after. We are not all angels, some run away with the family jewellary while some do the dreaded D word

Relatives. I cannot mention a marriage without the truckload of relatives that come along with it. Even if your parents are a little on the saner side, these relatives will make sure that vanishes. So RED ALERT on them. Keep yourself and your parents away from them. The first question my relatives ask my parents is when they are throwing me out of the house into some poor guy’s arms. If this continues, I might be long gone before you come along.

So much money down the drain for just one day’s worth of happiness.I tell you , a register marriage is the most economical thing to do. It will be thrilling and not boring like the ever typical briyani eating weddings we always attend and doze off over.Why buy a 1 lakh ghaghra to wear just one day when we know we are not going to wear it again. Think about it. We could donate it to some deserving person or rather all that money saved could go into a nice trip to some exotic country. 

All I hope is that I don’t meet you anytime soon. And if I do, later rather than sooner, I wish you could cut off those horns on your head.

Love

A very concerned not-in-the-near-future wife

TEDxKCG

Waking up obscenely early one lazy Saturday morning, travelling 30 kms down the OMR,shelling out 1k just to get a student’s pass to watch some random people talk and hoping to God that atleast the food makes up for all that money spent.

These were the thoughts running through my head as I sipped some refreshing coffee just before TEDxKCG on March 3,2012 was scheduled to begin. Chocolate boy Marti Bharat was there interacting with some other speakers(I mistook him for a student organiser, he’s only 22). Anita Ratnam came striding in with all her elegance and persona. Mansoor Khan stood talking animatedly to his TEDx buddy.

So now I'm thinking, this can’t be that bad.

The emcees for the day introduced the first speaker for the day, Yuvraj Pandian aka Yuvi Panda. He’s following me on twitter, so I’m going to say nice things about him. He started with a hilarious presentation on how not to be a zombie. Zombies according to him are the kind of people who don’t ask “Why?” to everything they are asked to do. They just do it because a hundred other people do it. He started coding when he was 9 and thinks coding is the purest form of creativity. He’s taken a 1 year break from the very same college KCG and has worked for some of the biggest names in the computer world. He hacks for Wikimedia Foundation and lives life out of a suitcase. We think he will get his degree from KCG very soon, not that it makes a difference to him except for better marriage prospects."If you haven’t figured out what you want in life, go do something fun. You might just find something you like doing" he says. First step to undo being a zombie is to admit that you are one in the first place. Very casually dressed, and simply delivered, his talk was just the starting of some powerful inspiration at the aptly titled TEDxKCG theme Ekavira- Be original ,Be different.

                                                           Off-stage speech

Yuvi Panda sure had set the standards high for the rest of the speakers. Next up was Dr Kumaraswamy,Chief Medical Officer at YRG Medical Care Centre. He started with an eye-opening presentation into the world of HIV. Shockingly, marriage was the primary reason for the spread of HIV in India. The slides dived deeper into how major breakthroughs in the science world have led to reduction in HIV positive cases by reducing the HIV transmission in the first place. From being one of the most dangerous incurable diseases in the world to reaching a stage where we can prevent the disease itself raises hopes for the future.

Mansoor Khan ,the man behind the success of Aamir ‘s Qayamat se Qayamat Tak was up next. He also part-produced Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, a superhit romantic movie starring one of his nephews Imran Khan and is currently into organic farming (????).

We thought he might talk about his awesome Khan family.
Or maybe about film direction.
Okay, atleast organic farming?

Fortunately or unfortunately Mr Khan dived into a sea of economics and explained life through a series of curves and graphs. Bell curves, concept curves, reality curves etc came and went, while he engrossed the audience about the importance of ‘The Third Curve’. Concept curve meant the infinite desire of man to make money grow exponentially until it reached the sky. But reality brings us down to the ground. Reality curve has direct relation to the energy on the earth which is finite. Hence reality is a little more bell-shaped. If that didn’t make sense to you, you are not alone. Math being my least favourite subject, you should know better to google to find out more about his talk.

Anita Ratnam didn’t speak a word. Yet, she captivated the audience with a performance that depicted her life. She enacted the goddesses in her life – Saraswati,Lilavati and Arya. From her grandmother Saraswati who oiled her hair,her mother Lilavati who was hell-bent on her learning dance, French and cooking  to her daughter Arya refusing to have anything to do with dancing, her entire life unfolded before us in 18 minutes. Definitely one of the best performances for the day, no one dared tear their gaze from the amazing array of expressions on her face least they missed something exceptional. From her rendition of her mother’s “Anita ! Stop dreaming about boys .” to her daughter’s love for rock songs and Harry Potter , she herself looked like a goddess on stage.

Up next was Uma Prajapati and boy did she surprise ! Originally from Bihar she had only one dream  , to go to Delhi to learn fashion. Her father told her to learn all that she wanted from the next street tailor but this young woman had her heart set out for Delhi. She graduated from NIFT and worked as a fashion designer . But something wasn’t right. She didn’t feel happy, she wasn’t satisfied. Then Auroville happened.  Very simple and down to earth , her talk made her still seem like a little girl ready to take on the big bad world. Her own start-up Upasana has started many a social project for the betterment of society. From Tsunamikas which are little dolls that represent the Tsunami that changed the lives of so many to ‘Small Steps’ where bags stitched by women are distributed across the country, Uma made everyone in that auditorium believe that no matter who you are;if you want to make a difference, you can.

Next up was a speaker whose video you have to; just have to get hold off after reading this article. Ashwin Ramesh started his own server project to fund his addictive yet expensive gaming habit. He would tell his mother that he was going to the tuitions and spend it on “15 minutes of tuition, 45 minutes of gaming”. The people around him telling that he couldn’t be an entrepreneur without an MBA leave alone a degree just spurred him on to prove them all wrong.  He started his company in his uncle’s godown, his first employee was his house maid. He thought her the MMC’s (Mouse, Monitor, CPU) of computers and today she works as a programmer at Infosys. His entire family has stood by him, fanning the servers when they got too hot, cooking lunch for the entire employee team when they demanded lunch and he himself has cleaned his toilets. An extremely candid talk, he said that being a CEO was not a bed of roses. Fail spectacularly, go broke, go to jail that is better than getting married – this was the advice coming from the man who hired anyone with 2 hands, 2 feet and 2 eyes ( one and half would also do)

Notwithstanding the fact that so far the speakers had been mind-blowing, even the food was pretty much A-class,except for some suspicious phirni that didn't look even a little bit like phirni. Enter the Mirza auditorium post-lunch and notice a bearded man conducting a choir. Dressed in pearl-white,the choir was getting ready to put us to sleep or so we thought.George Mathew proved every last person wrong by showing what went behind the working of a choir. The choir ,we learnt has the sopranos, the bases and the altos. The job of the conductor is to ensure the perfect combination of these sounds to get the perfect symphony. He made the different sections of the choir communicate among themselves in stages, and by the end of his 18 minutes he got the choir singing their song without the slightest help from the experienced Mr Mathew.

Sebastian Cortes being presented with his caricature

Some spoke, some performed but Sebastian Cortes decided to let his pictures speak for themselves.  With a little help from him, the visuals were a treat for unused eyes. From sensual fashion models to ethnic shots of Indian villages, he believes that a photo isn't just a photo but a glimpse into the character of a person.Another Auroville resident, he said that a photo should reflect a story. People better start realizing that photography isn't just about clicking away with a really expensive DSLR.


Jitender Sairam was one of the surprise speakers for the day. A first year Aeronatical student, the level of his intellectualism made me feel little a dumb witt. His fascination with flying and space had led him to design a space station that is soon going to become a grand reality. Titanium, uranium and copper ruled the presentations as he explained every gory detail about its design and construction. So young and yet so much passion!

The man with the kondai Dharmesh Jadeja ,a civil engineer by qualification spoke about his two most passion-est things - Architecture and Calligraphy. Another Auroville resident , he said "Discovering Auroville is reconnecting with where you come from. To make you think about where you want to go. What you want to do." Bizarre fact of the day came from Dharmesh. He told us that the Ambanis live in a 1 billion dollar house with 5 inmates and 300 workers and consumed a few lakhs worth of electricity bills. Ironically titled the Greenest building in India. He also told us that Gujarat never has any power cuts. Ever. Something TN has to learn from Gujarat.

According to Preetha Pulsani , CEO of DeepTarget Inc there is a lot of difference between invention and innovation. There lay the difference between India and many other countries of the world. She said that even if a regular college student had a brilliant idea that could change the world, there is no proper system in place that give the student a pedestal to work on it. This large gap between the thinkers and supporters has led to a stagnation in innovation in our country. Parts of her talk reminded me of a school teacher urging us to do better, work harder and come out as the best of the best.Maybe her caricature had more to do with that feeling than the actual speech.

The beautiful Ujjaine Roy and the man with dreadlocks Edward Degenaro took the audience on yet another musical journey. Ujjaine’s sweet as honey voice, coupled with the acoustic tingles of Edward’s guitar and some help from Tapass, she sang a well-known Kollywood number and a Bengali track. What a couple !

Everyone saves the best for the last. Marti Bharat was the icing on TEDxKCG’s yummy cake. For once, he wasn’t a college dropout , he wasn’t even a CEO but a regular guy who just loved his music and his gadgets. After a summary on the day’s morals that he had picked up from the other speakers, the lights went off to show us what Marti was known best for- creating music. Looking suave with an LED jacket which kept switching colours, he churned out some foot-tapping music that left the crowd chanting “Once more!Once more!”.

Hats off to the coolest college management I've ever seen as well as to a very professional student organiser team.

TEDxKCG trended on twitter all over India that day.

Surely,they must have done something right.

Pics: Courtesy someone on the Internet

Tamil Valga !

Voting.Feminism.Education.Patriotism.

Rapping.BeatBoxing.Ciphering.Bboying .

Can't connect the dots? That’s only because you missed HIP HOP TAMIZHA,the most exciting,energy-skyrocketing ,awe-inspiring concert to have ever happened in the history of MIT since Karthick 3 years back.

Adhi, the man behind the birth of Hiphop Tamizha with his talented band literally set the stage on fire with their overwhelming introduction as to what hip hop was all about.

Hiphop is not just long Tshirts,baggy pants and saying Yo-Yo , he told the crowd.

Why Hiphop Tamizha? We got the answer to that when we got a lecture on how the dudes go “Wassup Bro/Dude/Homey” and the girls go “Hey you know what ya ….”.
 Quit the act and speak in Tamil,he says.

“Ennaku konjam konjam than Tamil theriyum ,Tamil theriyum” –  He made the crowd repeat this a zillion times to stress how silly leave alone plain desperate it looks when youngsters do the “I know only English act”

They had just 10 minutes to carry out their entire sound check completed, yet not a single complaint, not the slightest fuss. Dressed in black with red shoes to die for ,  Adhi made each and every person in the OAT fall in love with him that day. Not for his hip-hop antics, not for his adorable looks but for what he believed in. From voting to education to women empowerment, the songs weren’t about some long lost love but issues of society.

While he stressed on the value of 99% women on one side, he sent the the reputation of the remaining 1 % down the drain with the hit song of the day “Club illa ,mubbula…. Ladies ellarokom vannakamanga”

“MIT , make some noiseeeeee….” Bharadwaj Balaji aka Beat Box Machine BBB ,India’s first harmonica beatboxer enthralled the audience with drums,harmonics and what not flying out of his mouth. “Boom jhak chak chak boom chakk chakk boom”  he went  and the crowd went crazy. Siraj did the vocals , Suzanne wowed us with her strong attractive voice and the Bboyers led by Bboy Bravo introduced us to the authentic breakdancing .

Cant forget the campus’ own boy Fenny Daniel , a first year student who must have pinched himself for he was standing on stage with the Hip Hop Tamizha group,performing with them. They had picked him up for his extraordinary violin playing skills.And boy was he in heaven !

Remember that lone teacher that makes class both informative as well as fun? Well, Adhi just donned that role. No matter who he introduced , no matter what issue he highlighted ,no matter how he insulted/praised the girls, in the end the spotlight was only reserved for Adhi.

Here’s to the band that prefers to remain Underground !