Category Archives: Life is like that

On a break…

This month has been and will be dull for personal reasons. I know, ‘This too shall pass’. Yet, until it passes it is going to be difficult. I don’t want to whine here, or post something just for the sake of posting. Anyway, there is not much to glorify! So, for few more weeks, I may not post regularly (may be nothing at all).

Angiogram for Buva’s father is planned today. Hope it goes on fine. Further steps will be decided after angio. If surgery is planned, we may wait for Dr. Rao (he has gone to Saudi Arabia to setup cardiac unit of a new hospital).

My sister is scheduled to be back by 27th.

Other than these two, there are no events of importance for this month. Until we meet again, have an enjoyable time. Ciao!

Family Entertainment

Saturday started dull and lonely. Though I didn’t feel enthusiastic, I didn’t want to get depressed. So I dragged myself into doing one thing after another like washing clothes and grocery shopping. Nothing seemed to cheer me up and change my mood. That is when I got a call from a relative with whom I get along pretty well. ‘Hey the whole crowd is here, would you like to join us for lunch?’. They are in Bangalore but have a bungalow in Neelankarai and had come down for the weekend. It was actually 4 families together – 2 sisters and 2 brothers, one of whom got married recently. Thus started the fabulous family entertainment time.

After lunch and bit of a nap, we decided to go for a movie. Little debate and ‘Ullam Ketkumae’ became the choice of the crowd. 8 adults & 3 kids loaded into 2 cars headed to Mayajal for 19h30 show. It was the first time, I was going to Mayajal and I should say that it was pretty impressive. Not only outside but the theatres are equally impressive too. Wide screen, clean theatres and decent crowd makes the time really enjoyable.

The movie starts on the same note as of ‘Autograph’. Though I liked ‘Autograph’, it was bit boring in-between. However Jeeva knows to weave the story interesting, and highly complemented by an excellent cinematography. I could relate very well to the movie. It has everything that life offers – fun, tears, failure and success. I enjoyed the movie well. I should be honest though that few in our crowd didn’t like the movie much.

After dinner, I had a very interesting discourse on theology with one of the family member (He is my brother, by relation – he is married to my cousin). Little after midnight, I went to bed satisfied.

Going back to an earlier work place

Given my personality (mostly introvert) and current state (still going single and ready to mingle), I am given the gift (?) of going down the memory lane quite often. It gets better when you visit a place where so much happened, like your earlier work place, that too after 8 years.

I, along with Buva, went to Apollo hospitals to get an appointment for conducting angio for his father. Being such a huge commercial hospital, they should do something about parking space. One gets a parking slot, so far away from the hospital. May be they are spreading the gospel of ‘walking is good for health’!

While at the Cardiology section, this is how my conversation with the secretary went:

Me: Mam, I need to see the doctor.
She: Go sit there and wait
(Wow, what a service! I could’ve come there for consulting him, as like most; or to sell something, like some medical reps; or to seek permission to take his cute daughter out for dinner, which some insane person like me would do – that might answer why I’m still single! Anyway, I thought I’d clarify myself)
Me: I’ve come to get an appointment from Dr to conduct angio.
She: Ya, Go sit down there. We’ll call you.

I didn’t want to aggravate her further. In my experience, one thing I learnt: Don’t piss off the secretary. You may never get to see the doctor. So we went and sat down.

After I bored Buva with all the interesting events (his expressions were, what was so interesting about it anyway) that happened, I went back to her to check.

She looked at me as if she is seeing me for the first time. It somehow went with my expectation. Little bit of explanation and she requested (ordered would be a right word to go with her tone) for medical records. Another boring session for Buva, before we were called in.

I was more than elated when he recognized the ‘computer man’. After checking with the records and few preliminary questions, he gave us an appointment for Monday evening.

One striking factor is the growth of the hospital. Sindoori hotel is annexed to the hospital. The hospital is so crowded and there is no one to guide the otherwise worried and lost patients and relatives. Customer service and empathy are getting lost in the commercialization of the hospital.

It’s no big deal anymore

My brother-in-law, who was here on Sunday for conducting interview, got free earlier than planned and his flight back to Bangalore couldn’t be preponed. So I picked him up and took a long drive to a beach near Mahabs. That is not the point of this entry. On our way, suddenly a red Porsche cabriolet zipped through. Yes, it is big news for those poor folks in India. Until few months back, spotting a Benz used to be a news; not any more. Same goes for BMW. And now Porsche. I know actor Vikram has a blue 911. Have no clue about who got this beauty.

Who knows the power of dreams? One day, I might drive in a BMW cabriolet.

Good-bye, my friend

I should blame it on my (un)luck. Or is it my stars? Definitely it can’t be me!

Little before midnight, my neighbor vacated and left to Coimbatore. They have been in Chennai ever since they can remember and all the while had a luxurious life, however in recent years life took a low dip and now they have to move out of the city and shift to Coimbatore where they’ve an own house, so they could save atleast on house rent.

They were my neighbor only for a little while and as the regular readers of this blog know, we became good friends in this short time. Be it having little chat in the evening, or going for a movie to Prarthana or celebrating a birthday or going out for dinner, all of them were fun and we got to know each other better through such events. It is a pity that after getting to know so much, they should leave!

Who is going to come next?

Getting ready to bid farewell

My neighbor is getting ready to vacate. As part of bidding farewell, today we went out for dinner. We went to Pastas & Noodles along the Besant Nagar beach road. Surprisingly, the food was damn good. I enjoyed it. For deserts, we went to near-by ‘Cool Cats’. It is a mixed feeling – enjoying their company but also knowing that in few days, they will be gone.

It is almost an year back, I went to this neighborhood. Real life changes drastically than fiction.

In a different spot

Until recently, all I knew about finances were credit and debit. Even that I use to confuse way too often. Yet, as a measure of re-inventing myself and being part of growing up in the corporate ladder, I decided to dig deep into the world of finances. So far, I am content with the progress that I’ve made.

In the recent budget, a new tax was introduced – Fringe benefit tax. Most of the firms went ahead to change the pay structure to incorporate this tax. Earlier, I use to ignore such changes and would take it as, ‘be content with whatever pay you get’. It wasn’t so this time. I took it upon myself to study about it, discuss with colleagues & my auditor and devised my pay structure accordingly. I along with another colleague, became a point of reference.

Such events may not be ‘big’ thing for business savvy or functional folks. But for me, a tech guy, it is.

Yet another busy weekend

Since two weeks, every day has been hectic and hence I thought of relaxing during the gone by weekend. However, both days turned into busy days. On Saturday, I drove with neighbors to their farmland near Sriperumbudur. We were supposed to start before noon, but then their daughter slept, slept and slept. With much cajoling, she was finally ready. We got out of the house, only to notice that folks from electricity board came along and cut the road to lay underground electric cable, thereby successfully insulating us from reaching any road. After little bit of argument by neighbor with those contractors, we were able to start around 13h00. To my pleasant surprise, much of the distance had very well laid road and the ride was smooth, except for the last stretch which was full of bumps that really tested my driving skills. With mango trees everywhere the farm looked green. The kids played around while we talked everything about nothing – nothing different from our other day’s conversations.

In the evening, I went to the wedding reception of an ex-colleague. It was fun to see all the ‘old’ folks and catch up with ongoing events in our lives.

Life is strange. I wanted to meet Dr. Rao, a close friend of mine, for sometime now. Every time, I visited Bangalore, he was out on some trip and we never met. However, he was in Chennai this weekend and I got to go to his house on Sunday. (Earlier once, we accidentally met in Spencer Plaza). There was also another reason for the meet. A friend of my sister, Buva, who was in Minneapolis, returned since his father had a mild heart attack and a blackout. He has sub-mitral aneurysm and I offered to get Dr. Rao’s opinion before proceeding further. Dr. Rao took time to explain about the state and further steps. So nice of him!

For lunch, Buva came home. On our way back, we bought Godrej real-good-chicken (packaged chicken). He proved his skills. We had a spicy lunch. In the evening, we went house hunting for him. After the long day, we went to beach and relaxed before bidding farewell.

Happy Birthday sister

Today is my sister’s birthday. Last year she was here in Chennai and we did such a lot of shopping & had such a lot of fun. This year, I wanted to go to Bangalore but then I had to attend the wedding reception of an ex-colleague. (The weekend has been hectic). I already presented her a birthday gift – an ultra-thin Titan watch.

Good old days

Yesterday night while I was driving back home, both FM stations – Suryan & Mirchi – played melodies from Chandrababu & Sivaji days. I was enjoying the drive, as it was pretty late and there was no traffic. One of the songs was, ‘Antha naal Nyabagam’. The lyric goes to say, the present days are unlike the good old days. That got me thinking. It is true that I had very pleasant days in the yesteryears. Childhood was without any responsibility, college was enjoyable, career until now is filled with satisfaction and dream-come-true trips. However, they were also filled with sorrow, pain, and a longing for a better future. I was always longing for what I didn’t have.

But something dawned as I struggled through life. I realized, longing – otherwise stated, troubles/losses/heart-aches – is part of life and I got to make the best of the situation. Then life seemed to have gotten a different meaning. Life remains the same, but I, rather my perspective of life, changed. Now, I don’t groan that life is bitter or wish yesteryears never changed or fantasize future would be better. I’ve come to realize that good-old-days is a myth and a better future would remain a fantasy, unless I enjoy life to the fullest with what has been given to me. With few adjustments in life, my motto is, ‘Nevertheless enjoy’.