Nice - The best biscuit in the world

Did I tell you all that 'Nice Time' from Britannia is my favourite biscuit in the world? Now, how do you care for that piece of news? Well, you should if you know that I can even kill anyone, be mean, lose my cool and sulk like hell if I am deprived of this piece of heaven that Vinita Bali's company makes ! It used to be called 'Nice' till a couple of years ago before Britannia renamed it as Nice Time. So my mom knows this as Nice and buy this always whenever she shops for her tea-time snacks.

Wow, irresistable and mouth watering...no other food in this world ever tastes better in my mouth than this biscuit. Lovely ! Ummmm.... dream date would be a cup of tea and Nice Time bisucits :-) and oh ya a girl too if unavoidable ! ;-P but she wont get more than one biscuit.

I have to dedicate this post to the only food in the world that makes me ecstatic. Bravo ! Ever tried dal, rice, veggies, chicken fry and Britannia Nice time biscuits? Well, even I have not. but its lying there in front of me and i will try it out. I love you Nice :-)

I believe in Angels

In continuation to the last post, I had this song on my lips whenever I was thinking about what I wrote in the last post. While on my way back from work, I started humming this song, which I had heard first on the 'Coast to Coast' album of Westlife in 1999. Its ABBA's 1979 song 'I Have a Dream'. Love the sitar riff and the lyrics.
In my downcast mood as described in the last post, I kept on humming this song and surprisingly felt better. Still do. I believe in each word of the song. Strange how some songs you never forget and come back to you at key moments of your life.

I have a dream,
a song to sing
To help me cope with anything
If you see the wonder,
of a fairy tale
You can take the future even if you fail
I believe in angels,
Something good in everything I see,
I believe in angels,
When I know the time is right for me,
I'll cross the stream,
I have a dream

I have a dream,
a fantasy,
To help me through reality,
And my destination makes it worth the while
Pushing through the darkness
still another mile
I believe in angels,
Something good in everything I see
I believe in angels,
When I know the time is right for me
I'll cross the stream - I have a dream


I have a dream,
a song to sing
To help me cope with anything
If you see the wonder,
of a fairy tale
You can take the future,
even if you fail
I believe in angels,
Something good in everything I see
I believe in angels.
When I know the time is right for me
I'll cross the stream
I have a dream
I'll cross the stream
I have a dream

:-)

Biggest success of my professional career was today. And somehow it feels so so so not worth it when I realise that I don't really have anyone to share this with other than my mother. Called her up immediately and obviously she was happy. But sometimes its just not enough. You want that someone to be there with whom you can gush about it, describe it, tell about the ups & downs while working towards your mission, etc etc. Felt like calling up a potential 'good friend' but then refrained knowing that that person is least intersted. Felt like calling up my best friend, but then he would be busy and we don't normally gush and swoon over things like this. We are too 'chilled out' for that kind of a talk.

It would have been nice if I could come back home, take a shower and go out for a quiet drink with someone, take a walk, sit on a bench in some park, watch the clouds and the moon and just feel immensely satisfied at a job well done after one year of effort. Instead what did I do? - sit up till late in office, eat some &*$%#@& meals, come home and sleep. Then I took too much of pity on myself and texted someone in the hope that I could get an ear. But nopes, all are either too busy or do not really care about me. So again I took too much of pity on myself and started this rant over my blog. Lovely na ! Anyways only time it hurts is when I think of the innumerable times that I have lent an ear to their rants, their joys and sorrows, sometimes at the cost of my own work and convenience. This someone has called me and got all hour long lessons on various things in the middle of the night or middle of my work and I have never refused - realising that how much its important for me to listen and be there. Well, am also human and I also sometimes make the mistake of expecting something or the other from people around me. Like how I expected my big bosses to react when I showed them the big deal that I cracked. Expected them to praise me ( ya, no shame in accepting that I long for praise). But they just nooded their heads and got on with their work. Does it hurt? No, but it's dissappointing. But it hurts when someone for whom you have always been there, does not react the way you want them to. No, in fact even if they dont react the way you want them to, its still ok. But its when you make it so conspicious to them that you need someone to talk to, and yet they ignore you, thats when it hurts.

Thank god for mothers. If she had not called me up in the evening and spoken about it, I would have felt very bad. She at least knows that all I need is two minutes of human voice or human touch to boost my spirits. Hmmmm... so thats it... frustruating realising that probably this is why people get married. They will have someone to come back to, some bosom to rest their heads on in joy or in sorrow, some soothing words or touches to make you feel cared for. Beiing together matters. A lot. Distance doesnt make the hearts grow fonder. It just erodes the important role that eyes play.

Chalo its getting to be a long post without any intent. So I will stop now.
Celebrate all you lucky ones....but don't derive sadistic pleasure. God doesn't like sadists :-) Lol !

Both begin with a C

What is Chauvinism? Most of us fear being called a chauvinist? When we are wooing the girl, the last thing that we want our girfriends to feel is that we are chauvinists and then later when they are in a relationship with us, we change our outlook to observe,"chuvinist, no no, you are exxagerating 'coz you are a feminist".
The girl then says, "No, am not a feminist". But then the guy becomes a chauvinist and the girl a feminist. Unfortunately, both terms are not appropriate.
I dont know much, but most women look for men who can shed their chauvinistic tendencies when they are with them. The other day Shobhana Madam was saying that "Deepak (her husband) is the only man who is not a chauvinist" Aaaahh, that hurt me. Why, even am not a chauvinist. But then I was asking the wrong person. I am not the right person to answer that. So for this survey, we need a sample (statistically speaking) So, I should ask all the women in my life. But then again mom never sees any wrong in her son, sister never thinks of her loving brother as anything but the sweetest human being, ex-gfs will have a dagger in their hand and hence again are a bad sample for this market research, friends will never comment anything lest they annoy or unnecessarily praise their unpredictable friend.
So there you go, nobody else left ! anyways leave that

Now what is chivalry? Is that not a trait that we love to be praised on? Now, opening the door - is that chivalry? Being there for your girl, no matter what the situation/problem - is that chivalry? wiping your mother's tears while ignoring your gf's - is that chivalry?
Now, our quest for chivalry never ends. But my questions also never end. When will I qualify to be called chivalrous?

and when will this stupid post end... now. Its ends now !

GOD's brother

What a brother Ajit Tendulkar must be ... a gem !!! how touching is the fact that he used to hide behind the trees of Shivaji Park and watch while Sachin practiced with Achrekar sir. Then he would point out the mistakes and analyse Sachin's game with him. Wow, Ajit didn't think of anything other than his brother.... and Sachin was not even Ajit's mother's son !!!
What kind of blind faith he would have had in his brother's abilities and his own abilities to do something for this prodigy ! The atmosphere around Sachin was such electric and conducive for greatness !!! No wonder India and people like us are indebted to such a wonderful set of people who shaped Sachin's career.

GOD II

Wow, every pulication, every site, every anything and every nothing is filled with just one name - Sachin Tendulkar. Been reading and reading since morning and it just doesn't end. What a delight for people like us.

I don't think I have told this before - there are two events for which I shall leave every other work - even if its my wedding (if ever I become a fool), my sales presentation, or anything related to me - and those events are:

1) Sachin Tendulkar's last test match in India ( if he announces in advance )
2) Coldplay's concert in India :-)

Had this chance to watch him twice, live in motion:
1) At the opening ceremony of IPL 1. He was taking oath as captain of Mumbai Indians.
2) At the test match versus Australia in Bangalore. He came near where I was sitting before the match began for his practice session. I had goosebumps and tears in my eyes. Can't ever forget that moment. He scored only 16 in that match, i think. (who remembers numbers, anyways)

whew !! Just cant get enough of him yaar.... Hyderabad was such a tragedy. But anyways cheers to Sachin Tendulkar ( already two posts on him - i must be going bonkers !! ) Dont't be happy readers, more will follow, sooner than later. Mmmuuuuaaahhh !!! :-)

GOD

Sachin Tendulkar

Every morning I am shedding tears. Why? Times of India is carrying two pages... TWO WHOLE PAGES.... of articles about Sachin. And today was the best. It was an interview with Anjali Tendulkar (his wife). Touching !!! I have this queer habit of crying at just the thought of Sachin Tendulkar. That has been the impact of this man on my life. Right from that fateful day in Baroda in 1988-89 when he came to play a 'double wicket' tournament ( he was not yet in the Indian team ). I like a kid sat near the 'pooja room' and prayed to God while listening to the commentary on the radio.... right from that day, HE has been an immutable part of my life.

Anyways, right now am too excited to write a proper post... just read the interview and wanted to pay homage to HIS family for the sacrifices they have made for Sachin. Imagine a selfless guy like HIM, having only one selfish desire. To play for the country and contribute. For this, HIS brother, mother, wife and kids have had to do a lot of things that HE has to be indebted to them for. I hope god blesses him to take care of his family and his post-retirement life in the same impeccable and honourable manner.

Enough, got to get ready for my office... can't sit like a this and keep sobbing and writing about the legend. Lol ! What a girl I am becoming !!! :-) ( women's lib, did i hear anyone say?)

The Diwali Party - 11th Oct 2009, Ettimadai Village

A teacher before she/he goes into the class knows how to behave with the students. A kindergarten teacher will talk in slow and lyrical manner so as to connect to her twinkle-eyed, innocent audience. A primary teacher will know that she has to speak in a manner that is genuine but at times childish. A secondary teacher will know that her students probably know certain things that she does not and will speak with certain amount of tact and gravity. All this comes out of the way in which the students react as per their age. Now put all of these different kinds of students into one single room or under the same tree and what you elicit out of the teacher is a range of emotions sliding over the EQ scale from 1 to 10 at rapid pace.

Each one of the volunteers of the ‘Outreach’ program has to display exemplary range of emotions and skill to tackle, tame, cajole, coax and pacify the kids of the Ettimadai village. There are kids who are 2 years old to those who are 17 years old in the motley crowd that gathers under the village tree each Saturday/Sunday for interacting with the students of Amrita. Every weekend its about a few lessons, a few poems, a few giggles, a few nudges and pokes, a few mischiefs, a few fights and so on. But Diwali is the time when it is all of these without THE BOOKS. Diwali celebration for Outreach is like the one big occasion when all the kids get to spend a full day singing, dancing, playing, shouting and basically having fun with the students and ex-students of Amrita.

The Diwali Party as we all call it is after all dedicated to the child in all of us. We all rise up to the levels of these children and try and enjoy each and every moment of the day with them. They are the protagonists of the elaborate script that is carefully crafted each year by Shobana madam and her loyal bunch of students/friends. The stage was set this time around with lots of gift being bought for the kids to be given as prizes for various events. Most of the Amritians came in with something or the other for the kids, like Pencil boxes, soaps, story books, pencils & stationary, etc . The faculty quarters of DG & Shobana madam turned out to be a common meeting point where all these tired souls gathered at the end of a hard day’s shopping in the hot streets of Coimbatore. The coffee at the dgshobs’ residence did wonders in energizing many a tired limbs. The uncertain excitement of the next day was keeping everyone on the tenterhooks anyways.

Some kids gleefully accepted a free ride in Bala sir’s car on their way to Amrita Vidyalayam – the venue. The presence of Vidyashankar meant that we need not have to worry about keeping the children entertained. I do not know if the kids understand what devotion/spirituality/religion is, but what I do know is that the kids observe the lighting of the lamp, the prayer, the somber poses of the adults around and consciously contract their movements themselves. It’s always a fascinating experience watching the children place their hands over their folded legs and prop up their heads, watching with open mouths, the performance of a singer who can hits the right notes with the young audience. As long as Vidhya holds stage, it’s a relaxing time for all of the rest. But as soon as the volunteers know that he is about to finish, a sense of panic overcomes and all of them start fidgeting to find out what next to keep the little ones occupied. If there is a slightest lapse in the entertainment, suddenly you will find dozens of children wanting to answer nature’s call at the same time or dipping their hands into the water-jug. It’s a crisis we all could do well without and that’s when there’s a Tarzanesque shout from the back of the audience and you find the lean frame of Udhyakumar making way towards the midst of the children, shouting out instructions to keep the children in their seats and telling them of what to do and what not to do. The ever-jovial Venkatesh then goes to the stage and in his inimitable style of speaking Tamil, soon takes over as the MC of the occasion and although I don’t understand much of Tamil, I still know that he connects to the audience. And boy, he and Vidhya then start eliciting responses from the kids.

Soon there is a conversation happening between the whole bunch and the volunteers, and this inspires others on the fringes to also shed their inhibitions as was evident when Banerjee sir, brought himself to the front and rendered a Bengali children’s song, replete with funny words and actions. The presence of Satwa, the group of young men from Chennai who had come down to the village with an alumni of ASB, Sandeep, made a lot of difference to this year’s Diwali party. They soon took over the proceedings and divided the children as per their various age groups and organized small games for them. Soon you had the huge hall filled with laughter and mirth with small groups of children spread across the hall playing various games. Some of the games were super fun to watch, like the one where a balloon is tied to the legs of the kids and whoever manages to keep her/his balloon from being burst by the rest is the winner. We all had a riot watching them go after each other with infectious energy.

Each of us has our own favourites among the kids. Some kids remember you and come over to you and ask you “How are you Anna? Why are not coming these day? You in Bombay?”. One of the girls came up to me and asked, “Anna, you remember me?”. I did remember her from last year, but I had forgotten her name. “I do”, I said, “Savitri, right?” “Nooooo Annnaaaa,” she said with her hand on her head, “it’s Savitha, not Saaaavitra”. I could not help but burst out laughing. This got her and her friends laughing and making fun of how forgetful I was. These kids make fun of us in such innocent ways. Then there are kids whom you think of as reticent and serious types. They will not look at you or return your gaze. They will not smile at you or connect to you in any sense. You start thinking of them as not so friendly types. But then suddenly they see some other volunteer and jump out of their seats and the next thing you know, they are climbing on top of that person, laughing and shouting and blabbering with the volunteer. Amazing! you stand there dumbstruck.

All around we could see hugs and kisses, especially the girls in the volunteer crowd were so motherly in their affection that they were showering their love on the little boys and girls. We guys, the usual reticent lot in such emotions, kept ourselves to doing the hard labour part of going to the ground, clearing the field, drawing the lines for sports and arranging the vessels etc. Each of us has a way of behaving when with kids. I remember the last year when there was no electricity for the whole day at the Diwali party and all the kids were sweating it out and poor Vidhyashankar had to sing almost 50 songs just to keep the entertainment going. There was this 2 year old child who found her way into my lap and then spent the whole afternoon there. When you feel a child’s heart beat next to your own and when her tiny fingers hold on to the back of your neck like her life depended on that ‘hold’, even if you feel tired, hungry, thirsty and claustrophobic, you still do not want to move a muscle for the fear of waking up the little one catching up on some well-deserved sleep after the daylong exertions. This time around there was less of physical exertion than last year and also the overheads fans helped. I was searching for the same child in the crowd, hoping that she might want to come over and sleep on me again. But alas, she has grown big. So she and her friends didn’t need to rest themselves on our laps or shoulders.

The lunch was efficiently taken care of under the expert guidance of Jhansi madam. These kids are such fast eaters, my god! By the time you just stretch you back after finishing one round of serving, they are already clamoring for more biryani or more sambar or more rice. They attack the food with such infectious enthusiasm that you feel more hungry seeing them enjoy the food, while you got to wait for all of them to finish.  The delightful part is when these kids come and talk to you when you are eating, “Anna why are you eating so less?”, “Akka why are not eating that piece of tomato?”, “Anna why are you eating so many papads?”, “Akka why are you not folding your legs properly?”. It’s hard not to notice how much these kids have absorbed from their interactions with the outreach crowd. They are more conscious of what is cleanliness, hygiene, health etc. I remember three years back, they used to be shabbily dressed and not very aware of hygiene. But now we all can see a great deal of improvement in the way they conduct and carry themselves. This is what motivates the outreach crowd to put more efforts into the cause with great deal of enthusiasm.

The fun and the games continued inside for the little kids, and the sports were for the bigger boys and girls. There was the usual figure of Anand and Inba, conducting the outdoor sports with efficient charm. Not surprisingly the girls showed more enthusiasm and competitive spirit in even this, putting some of the boys to shame, I must admit.

At last the most awaited part of the day, the prize distribution ceremony began. It took a huge amount of effort on the part of all the volunteers to sort out the goodies and make sure that the kids got everything. The prizes were distributed by Sandeep first up and he did it with panache, shaking hands and whispering a word of encouragement to each one who came up. Shobana madam, Jhansi madam, Venkatesh, Udhay were constantly controlling the crowd with amazing skill. Soon each and every child was holding on to a bag full of goodies and the icing on the cake was the fire-crackers that Shakti always brings to the party. The village would have reverberated that night with the sound and the light of the crackers that were distributed to the children.


Diwali party is also a chance to come back to college, catch up with your batch mates, juniors and seniors as well. This time around there was Sandeep from 2005 batch, Anirudh from 2006, Vidhya, Shiva, Saurabh and myself from 2007 batch, Shakti, Venky, Navneet, Amardeep, Mihir, Davison from 2008 batch, Udhay and his friends from 2009 batch and Jitu & his friends from the current batch. Apart from this the usual pioneers like Inba, Anand, Sreeja, Radhika and the rest of the gang from various departments of Amrita were there too. It’s always one big party with all us together. Not to mention the final ‘chai’ session in the canteen for the whole gang. I and DG always look forward to this more than anything else.

When things are wrapped up, what one is left with is the feeling of ‘niceness’. Everyone feels nice after the day is over. When the kids’ faces light up with joy, when they climb on top of you, when one allows them to compete and show their skill, when one gives them an occasion to discover facets of their personality unknown to them, when one takes them out of their usual routine and see a different world – that’s when you find yourself feeling something different and nice. A feeling that I am yet to put a name to. Ask any of the volunteers what makes them come back again and again to celebrate Diwali with the kids and they might not be able to tell you exactly – why. Some things are better left unsaid and unexplored. And maybe this is one of them.