I recall my late grandfather today. Somehow I have been flooded by his memory in recent days. And I would like to share with you guys, one of many memories I have of him,a trick my grandfather played on me.
This happened when I was 4 years old.
It was one morning when my grandfather was getting ready to go to the bank. He didn’t want to go alone and asked me if I wanted to come along.( His plan was to give my grandmother a break from all the mess I make at home. ) I initially refused, but grandpa managed to buy me over by suggesting that he would buy me KFC fried chicken, if I came with him. For that friend chicken, I was sold.
It seemed like a good idea cos if I came late I can miss school which is at noon. My plan was to delay the trip so that I can miss school as well. Two birds with one stone.
So we went to the bank. I went with lots of hope. As our turn arrived at the bank, my grandfather made transactions. Has he was getting finished I reminded my grandfather that he has to buy me that friend chicken to uphold his end of the bargain.
My grandfather told me “there is no more chicken! If you don’t belief me ask this aunty”, as he pointed to the very puzzled bank teller. He asked the teller “do you have chicken?” and the lady replied with a “no! “. (An Obvious answer, since banks don’t sell chicken and poor Little Vas didn’t know where those KFC chickens were sold.)
My grandfather knew it and tricked me into believing that banks also sold chicken. Since there was no stock for the chicken I returned home. When I returned home, grandmother was waiting for me with my ironed set of uniform, that very moment it struck me that it was time for school and I have failed my mission to miss school and feast on that KFC chicken.
My readers: You must have similar tricked that had been played by your parents on you. Please recall and share it with me, I am sure it will being a chuckle and bring back nice memories.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Thursday, July 24, 2008
My silver jubilee
I was my 25th birthday yesterday, this is the second time in a row I am not celebrating my birthday with my family. Year was in Brisbane, and this year in Chennai. I would like to thank all my friends who appreciated my invitation to celebrate my birthday with me at Casa Piccola. Although I sent a lot of invitations due to circumstances only 6 did show up, but nonetheless the day was one of the best birthdays I had cos. everything went on as planned.
Birthday started at 10.30 Indian-time when it was midnight in Singapore. My buddy Rafeek surprised me with a call and wished me. I didn’t know he remembered my birthday; it’s during these times that I understand how much my friends cherish my company and my existence.
Then it was Indian time 12 and my friends, relatives started calling and wished me. I must say this birthday was the one I felt like a movie star cos, my phone kept on ringing from calls from Australia, Singapore and India.
My day began with a trip to the temple as per my mother’s wishes. Every year with or without me around my mother would visit a Vinayak Temple and pray for me. This year I made it a point to pray for her instead.
In the afternoon, I booked movie tickets for myself and 3 other friends to watch “Subramaniyapuram”. It had nice avant garde storyline with little of the customary Indian movie style which I liked. If u haven watched it yet, just catch it in the cinemas before it’s gone.
After the movie I still had time to kill before my dinner treat in the evening so, I gathered some more people who are” vetti “at that time to go play pool at Anna Nagar. Due to my birthday luck I had made some spectacular shots on the table, the balls just went in against my initial plan.
At 6 all who had promised to come showed up at Casa Piccola, a restaurant that served decent Italian cuisine Nungambakkam, Chennai. I had picked the restaurant because of its pleasant ambiance. It had 2 floors. Level one with a standard restaurant look, and the open top floor was open roof with weak lighting, which made the ambiance perfect. We had our Italian dinner on the first floor and went upstairs for the cake cutting and trash-talking. After 50% of my company had started yawning, we called it a day and headed home.
It turned out to be a perfect birthday and I couldn’t have wished for anything better, thanks to all who wished me and the ones who help make my day a best one.
It is from now on that I stop counting my birthdays.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
You are a Tamilian Only if .......
i got this from a forwarded mail that my sister sent me:
i think many of my readers can relate to it. and the non indians, just enjoy it.
1- You arrive one hour late to a party and find
out you are the first one to arrive.
2- You think it's perfectly normal to call someone who's 30 years younger than you 'anna' just because he's behind a counter.
3- You wear a suit to a wedding... and you are
only 3 years old.
(most of my childhood pictures are like this!)
4- The wedding takes an hour and the group
pictures take five hours.
5- Your mom and sister together own more
jewelery than a Chinese jewelery store.
(my mom alone can take care of this)
6- Your parents' idea of a vacation is to
go down to the temples in India .
(yep my father asked me to visit some, but i have only gone to my neighbourhood Vinayanagar temple)
7- You talk for an hour at the front door when
leaving someone's house.
8-The second your guests leave the house, your
parents start talking about them.
9- You rent a cassette from the grocery store,
it's been dubbed 6 times... & you return it 3
months later.
PPL borrow dvds from me and they NEVER return.
10- You go to a Tamil Cultural program only to
find one barathanatyam and six hip hop shows.
11- You are somehow related to every new friend
you meet.
12- Your remote control is still in its plastic
packet.
( In my new apartment the landlord kept it this way.)
13-You get a 95% on a test and your parents ask
What happened to the other 5%?!'
(This never happened for me. cos i have never scored 95%)
14-You stare at Tamil people when they walk by.
(in Australia, yes! because its quite rare to find one in Brisbane)
15-You see married couples kissing on TV but
have never your Mom & Dad get within 3 feet of each another.
16-Your parents never address each other by
name.
(My dad does. i Don't care, my wife should call me by name)
17- When you get your first part-time job, your
parents expect you to give them half.
(They took full)
18- Your mother has a minor dispute with her
sister-in law and doesn't talk to her for 10 years.
(My mom left the country!)
19- Your parents say Swiss instead of
Switzerland, Germany is German and England is London.
20- you go to a party and your aunt comments on
how your skin color has changed.
(Yes , and they ask why i go out in the sun that much)
21- You watch a Tamil wedding tape and all the
songs from Roja are dubbed in it.
22- When the teacher took attendance and there
was a sudden pause, you put your hand up and said
'here.'
(Vaa...saann ten...yes i am here! Australia was the worst! i cursed my grandparents for giving me that name. My name is Vas now.)
23-You shortened your name to make it sound Anglo.
(:[ as above...)
24-You have dinner at 10pm.
(nope in singapore its at 11pm and supper at 3am. breakfast at 12noon, earliest)
25- When your parents say 'BBC' they
don't mean the news station but your uncle Nathan or
aunty Kamala.
26-It's normal for all the relatives to
bathe the groom on his wedding day.
27-You KNOW that your promiscuous second cousin
on your father's side is pregnant even before she does.
i am sure what they meant was rumors that is being spread. Not something i did.
28- Your aunties tease you about a particularly
eligible cousin... & you like it!!!
yeah makes me feel like an alpha male. but Not gonna happen. I don't let then choose my clothes, a bride?? not in this life.
29- You serve all your guests tea with milk and
5 spoons of sugar.
30- You only stop putting more rice on your
guest's dinner plate 7 times after they tell you to
stop.
(Its fun to see them beg you to stop!)
31- Anytime you speak back to your parents, you
get: 'I toiled my life for you, and this is how you
repay me?!' - 'Naanga eppadi khasta pattathukku nee
ithuvum solluvae ithukku melayum solluvae!'
i am sure both my parent's ears and mine are numb to these emotional blackmail.
32- If you are a girl, you are expected to come
home before dark - however if it's a son, 'OK rasa,
jaakirathaa poitu vaa...'
(they don't give me the green signal, they just give me the customary nag in the morning, its just my alarm clock.)
33-Halfway through your shower you realize that
your Head and Shoulders shampoo is gone and has been
replaced by Siyakkai shampoo.
(Never, i only use herbal essences shampoo and i get it myself.)
34-You walk in to another Tamil family's
house and they have the same furniture and dining set as
yours.
(i blame dad for his tacky ideas.)
i think many of my readers can relate to it. and the non indians, just enjoy it.
1- You arrive one hour late to a party and find
out you are the first one to arrive.
2- You think it's perfectly normal to call someone who's 30 years younger than you 'anna' just because he's behind a counter.
3- You wear a suit to a wedding... and you are
only 3 years old.
(most of my childhood pictures are like this!)
4- The wedding takes an hour and the group
pictures take five hours.
5- Your mom and sister together own more
jewelery than a Chinese jewelery store.
(my mom alone can take care of this)
6- Your parents' idea of a vacation is to
go down to the temples in India .
(yep my father asked me to visit some, but i have only gone to my neighbourhood Vinayanagar temple)
7- You talk for an hour at the front door when
leaving someone's house.
8-The second your guests leave the house, your
parents start talking about them.
9- You rent a cassette from the grocery store,
it's been dubbed 6 times... & you return it 3
months later.
PPL borrow dvds from me and they NEVER return.
10- You go to a Tamil Cultural program only to
find one barathanatyam and six hip hop shows.
11- You are somehow related to every new friend
you meet.
12- Your remote control is still in its plastic
packet.
( In my new apartment the landlord kept it this way.)
13-You get a 95% on a test and your parents ask
What happened to the other 5%?!'
(This never happened for me. cos i have never scored 95%)
14-You stare at Tamil people when they walk by.
(in Australia, yes! because its quite rare to find one in Brisbane)
15-You see married couples kissing on TV but
have never your Mom & Dad get within 3 feet of each another.
16-Your parents never address each other by
name.
(My dad does. i Don't care, my wife should call me by name)
17- When you get your first part-time job, your
parents expect you to give them half.
(They took full)
18- Your mother has a minor dispute with her
sister-in law and doesn't talk to her for 10 years.
(My mom left the country!)
19- Your parents say Swiss instead of
Switzerland, Germany is German and England is London.
20- you go to a party and your aunt comments on
how your skin color has changed.
(Yes , and they ask why i go out in the sun that much)
21- You watch a Tamil wedding tape and all the
songs from Roja are dubbed in it.
22- When the teacher took attendance and there
was a sudden pause, you put your hand up and said
'here.'
(Vaa...saann ten...yes i am here! Australia was the worst! i cursed my grandparents for giving me that name. My name is Vas now.)
23-You shortened your name to make it sound Anglo.
(:[ as above...)
24-You have dinner at 10pm.
(nope in singapore its at 11pm and supper at 3am. breakfast at 12noon, earliest)
25- When your parents say 'BBC' they
don't mean the news station but your uncle Nathan or
aunty Kamala.
26-It's normal for all the relatives to
bathe the groom on his wedding day.
27-You KNOW that your promiscuous second cousin
on your father's side is pregnant even before she does.
i am sure what they meant was rumors that is being spread. Not something i did.
28- Your aunties tease you about a particularly
eligible cousin... & you like it!!!
yeah makes me feel like an alpha male. but Not gonna happen. I don't let then choose my clothes, a bride?? not in this life.
29- You serve all your guests tea with milk and
5 spoons of sugar.
30- You only stop putting more rice on your
guest's dinner plate 7 times after they tell you to
stop.
(Its fun to see them beg you to stop!)
31- Anytime you speak back to your parents, you
get: 'I toiled my life for you, and this is how you
repay me?!' - 'Naanga eppadi khasta pattathukku nee
ithuvum solluvae ithukku melayum solluvae!'
i am sure both my parent's ears and mine are numb to these emotional blackmail.
32- If you are a girl, you are expected to come
home before dark - however if it's a son, 'OK rasa,
jaakirathaa poitu vaa...'
(they don't give me the green signal, they just give me the customary nag in the morning, its just my alarm clock.)
33-Halfway through your shower you realize that
your Head and Shoulders shampoo is gone and has been
replaced by Siyakkai shampoo.
(Never, i only use herbal essences shampoo and i get it myself.)
34-You walk in to another Tamil family's
house and they have the same furniture and dining set as
yours.
(i blame dad for his tacky ideas.)
Friday, July 11, 2008
Back to the village!
Last week I got week off from my daily routine in the institute. One week break to go visit my grandmother and my cousin sisters in a village very close to Sirkali. I must say it was a break that I needed badly. I was starting to be in a rut with my daily routine.
In the village everything was pretty much primitive, but my life was like a king. I no longer had to go and find lunch and dinner, but my aunt brought everything to me. I was served like a king. They cooked whatever I wanted and whenever I wanted. Don’t get me wrong that I took them for granted but that’s the way they treated me. My cousin sister had never used the internet before and so I introduced them to the internet. But with the data card that I had I could only access the internet from the top floor open balcony of the house. Thanks to me grandfather for building the tallest building in the area and I got a clear line of sight to the towers.
Life in the village had a lot of difference to the life in Chennai. Life did go very slowly in the village and it was more peaceful. But in Chennai, the life and the pace is pretty similar to the life I had in Singapore, hectic, fast, crowded and tiring.
Basically my whole trip back was just about eating and sleeping. Just like in a holiday resort, minus the cost.
During my trip in Sirkali, I had to attend a Valaikapu (bangle ceremony at my neighbor’s house). I took special interest to attend the function because a lot of people whom I used to know attended that function. I have seen them when I was like 4-5 years old. So many people came to me and asked “do you remember me?” seriously I was clueless, but trying my best to not offend them, I was apologetic and told them that I am a suffering from “ghajini” fever, they laughed and understood.
After the ceremony I helped in serving the food for the guest, when I was the joke of the eating area, cos apparently there is a code on where each food item has to be placed. I put where every on the banana leave that I found space. It was lot of fun forcing people with more food and their reaction.
All these years I have missed this cheap fun by staying in Singapore all these while.
I miss Singapore, but I am loving every minute of India at the moment.
In the village everything was pretty much primitive, but my life was like a king. I no longer had to go and find lunch and dinner, but my aunt brought everything to me. I was served like a king. They cooked whatever I wanted and whenever I wanted. Don’t get me wrong that I took them for granted but that’s the way they treated me. My cousin sister had never used the internet before and so I introduced them to the internet. But with the data card that I had I could only access the internet from the top floor open balcony of the house. Thanks to me grandfather for building the tallest building in the area and I got a clear line of sight to the towers.
Life in the village had a lot of difference to the life in Chennai. Life did go very slowly in the village and it was more peaceful. But in Chennai, the life and the pace is pretty similar to the life I had in Singapore, hectic, fast, crowded and tiring.
Basically my whole trip back was just about eating and sleeping. Just like in a holiday resort, minus the cost.
During my trip in Sirkali, I had to attend a Valaikapu (bangle ceremony at my neighbor’s house). I took special interest to attend the function because a lot of people whom I used to know attended that function. I have seen them when I was like 4-5 years old. So many people came to me and asked “do you remember me?” seriously I was clueless, but trying my best to not offend them, I was apologetic and told them that I am a suffering from “ghajini” fever, they laughed and understood.
After the ceremony I helped in serving the food for the guest, when I was the joke of the eating area, cos apparently there is a code on where each food item has to be placed. I put where every on the banana leave that I found space. It was lot of fun forcing people with more food and their reaction.
All these years I have missed this cheap fun by staying in Singapore all these while.
I miss Singapore, but I am loving every minute of India at the moment.
Its TAG time!!
I have been tagged by Shalini, and here i am with my version and my turn to tag someone else
The rules are:
1. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
2. Using only the first page of results, and pick one image.
3. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into Big Huge Lab’s Mosaic Maker to create a mosaic of the picture answers.
The questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food? right now?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. What is your favorite drink?
7. What is your dream vacation?
8. What is your favorite dessert?
9. What do you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. What is one word that describes you?
12. What is your user name?
And i would like to tag Arvind, Bryan and gunj and any blogger that sees this post.
I am sorry for the late post. i have been busy preparing for my CCNA exam which was on the 10th of July, which i have have passed with a 960/1000 score. My handwork paid its dividends. Thanks Arvind for wishing me in your blog.
The rules are:
1. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
2. Using only the first page of results, and pick one image.
3. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into Big Huge Lab’s Mosaic Maker to create a mosaic of the picture answers.
The questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food? right now?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. What is your favorite drink?
7. What is your dream vacation?
8. What is your favorite dessert?
9. What do you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. What is one word that describes you?
12. What is your user name?
And i would like to tag Arvind, Bryan and gunj and any blogger that sees this post.
I am sorry for the late post. i have been busy preparing for my CCNA exam which was on the 10th of July, which i have have passed with a 960/1000 score. My handwork paid its dividends. Thanks Arvind for wishing me in your blog.
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