cassataa: September 2009

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Appavum nanum............

Father-daughter relationship is something that is not much talked about. Its definitely worth a mention. "Abiyum nanum" was telecast today and after watching it I am more than tempted to write about it. My mom used to say that my dad was so scared to even lift me for the first few months...he was scared that he might hurt me. Most of my actions are photographed. Those days there weren't digital cameras that we can keep clicking pics. He never said no to any of my wishes, though there might be delays. I am sharing a few incidents in this post.

He has grown me into a very brave n bold person (of course a great contribution from my mom too). During my Engineering internal exams (we had two exams a day), I had Electronic circuits and Linear Integrated Circuits(LIC) on the same day. Both these are real tough. I wasn't able to prepare well for the exam. I didn't want to write both the exam and was in the verge of crying. My mom was like "Ask Dad". My dad told me only one thing, " If I were u, I would go and flunk in the exam or happily bunk college and go for some movie and never cry like this". What more, I bunked college but sat home studying for the next exams.

Hope everyone remembers this Sneha and Shyam rumor a few years ago. Every Tamil magazine had the news about it with all silly pics around. Me and my dad were sitting near each other holding a magazine each. I wanted to read it but wasn't sure of my dad's reaction, in case he sees me reading it. So I was holding and reading in such a way that in case of emergency I could flip to another page. I finished the article and kept it on the table. Now my dad took this magazine I was reading and just as fate would have it, the book opened with that article as though that was the last page read. He was very very cool abt it. All he did was teased me for reading it with the fear of getting caught :D.

And the best part that, these days, any guy(whom my dad doesnt know) who talks to me looks like a buffalo/rowdy/pig to him. He gets very protective wen it comes to guys. He doesnt even spare "Madhavan" or "Surya", my favourite actors :D. It feels very nice, he thinks am still that small girl in his arms. Very much like Prakash Raj fro Abiyum nanum :). Sometimes I notice him come near me n my sis wen we are asleep (atleast half asleep), kisses us on the forehead and goes back to sleep.

We tease each other, we have fun, fight with each other, what not, We are more like friends more than a father-daughter. I love u dad!!

Half yearly exams

Eighth standard half yearly exams and it is Chemistry today. All the chemicals and their formulas raining in my head...poor me trying to do the last minute study outside the exam hall. I always believed that the questions I read in the last minute always turned up in the exam paper. So I never waste even a minute outside the exam hall. Just 2 minutes before entering the hall, San*** who sits right behind me said that she started studying just at 5.00am that morning and she does not know any thing and I should help her. Just to cut the crap, I said ok, not knowing the consequences.

Our school has this practice of clubbing students from different classes to sit next each other. This time it meant that I sit with a 6th Standard boy by my side nd my friend San*** behind me and another 6th Standard boy by her side. This boy who sat next to me was a typical class 'rowdy' type. "Thats enough of the observations, try to
concentrate", is what I told myself. The question papers were distributed. Spent 5 minutes reading every question in the paper. Ok it seems fine. I knew most of them and
started writing the answers. Being a slow writer, completing the exam within the stipulated time was itself a big challenge for me. I had 30 minutes to complete the exam
and two 10 mark questions to be answered. San** shaking my chair to pass my answer sheet for the 1st 10 mark question. Now she asks, silly female. I continued writing
my exam....she started nagging me even more. For the peace of mind to write my exam better, I passed the sheet to her without being noticed by my teacher. Oh that was
a task well done!! I appreciated myself still worrying abt getting the paper back. Tried hard to finish the exam and the bell rang "Tringgggggggg". Our teacher asked us to hand over the paper. Oh God, What would I do. I didn't get back my paper. Turned back and signaled her. Now am a little experience and got back the paper carefully,
pinned it and submitted it. Phew wat an experience.

The next day, San*** did not ask me for anything before the exam. I was happy about it. Went and sat in the exam hall without any overhead. Before the question papers were distributed, this rowdy boy next to me noticed my brand new PARKER fountain pen and asked me if he could use it to write his exam. My Parker pen? "No, never",
was my answer. To my surprise he started threatening me by saying, he will get me caught. Ok, now that was my overhead for the day. The exam started and so did
San***'s nagging. Probably she thought I didn't require prior notice now. How much overhead can an 8th standard girl handle. But now, I started getting more experienced and my teacher too. She noticed something fishy between us. Now and then she would stand right near us. But that wouldn't stop San***. We continued exchanging papers.

Our teacher was sure of wat we were doing with the rattling of the paper but couldn't catch us red handed. So every time she gave us an additional sheet, she wrote our
names on it. Poor me, I joined the list of notorious ppl in class!! I guess nothing would stop San*** from getting the papers from me. She continued asking and I gave her one of my answer sheets. But was very scared abt passing the paper to her. I asked for it immediately and just when she passed it and I placed it with my bunch of paper, our
teacher came to us, really pissed off by our behavior. But to her horror, all the papers in my hand were mine and all papers in San***'s hand was hers. Pity our teacher,
went back disappointed. I noticed the rowdy grinning mischievously. I returned the grin and went back scribbling my papers. Though I didn't dare to pass my papers for my
other exams, I let go my parker to that rowdy to stay on the safer side.

I decided never to pass the papers again. It was a real thrill and nice to recollect but that time it was horrible.

Monday, September 7, 2009

Visit to a place of great importance in Ramayan

Rameshwaram, an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal. Rameshwaram Express was our mode of travel. Pamban to Rameshwaram is over a railway bridge and the sight was a very beautiful one with the remains of an older bridge nearby.

Reached our destination around 8.30am and headed straight to the Tamil Nadu Hotel, run by Tamil Nadu tourism, not a very good place but OK. After breakfast and refreshment, headed straight to the beach for a holy dip. Was a little hesitant abt it, but was forced to do it. And then directly to the Rameshwaram temple for a holy shower in the 22 theerthams. The minute you are out of the beach, ppl throng you to hire them for the theerthams service (hmmm, they actually fetch a bucket of water from the well and pour it on you and follow the person to the next well and then it goes on…) and the charge is on a per person basis. These theerthams are actually wells located at different parts of the temple, each one name after a God or a character of Ramayan. All these wells had only about one or two feet of very clear water. Though these wells are located very close to each other, the taste of water varies from sweet to very salty water. Nature at its best, I would say! Went back to the hotel fully drenched.

By afternoon, we were ready for the local sightseeing and was amazed at the fresh breeze, beauty of the ocean, the sun set and what not! A few pictures for you

The view from Ramar padham, a place where Lord Rama is believed to have set his foot. May be that where he drafted his project plan ;)

The Pamban Railway bridge, that opens up to let the ships pass by. Pic taken from the Pamban bridge (roadway)

Seeing the beach from a bridge is a very exiting sight!

The Sunset ............

The sethu shore - Calm amidst the controversies

The next day started off as early as 3.45am to get ready for the Spatika lingam dharshan that statrs at 5.00am. Finished the dharshan and were back to the hotel by 6.30-7.00. By 8.30am we started off to Dhanushkoti, the tip of India closest to Sri Lanka. The Ram made bridge of floating stones is said to have started here, though we weren’t able to spot it through our naked eyes. This place was a fully functional town till 1964 and then was fully washed away in the floods that year. The town that had a population of about 15,000 people now has only 250 people, only fishermen. My dad was saying that during the floods, actors Gemini Ganesan and Savithri were caught there and the whole state prayed for their wellbeing. More pics…

I've never seen a sun rise so beautiful...