Connexions - Part I

After a break, I feel rejuvenated and relaxed :) Three weeks before when I was boarding flights to reach India, I felt so weird that I did not have the amount of excitement that I anticipated. I felt like I was jus going to a trip to Seattle or LA nearby ;) Usually when I travel anywhere, I just dream about how the trip is going to be and how I wanted it to be (the reason I call myself a powerful dreamer ;)) but this time, I was just browsing through movies and ended up watching 4 movies amidst the food served and a small siesta in between. The crew members were very handsome and that took some time too...jus kidding! While I was sitting on the lounge before boarding flights, there was a cute kid who came to me and was playing for a while. Then got introduced to a very proficient english speaking tamil paati who belongs to Chennai but was here in CA for her son's graduation. She was telling me about her world tour and what makes her like the place I live now - Colorado Springs. She indeed specified few places here which I had no clue about...Wat a shame :( I was telling her that one of my dreams is to go for a world tour and visit as many places as I can. Although it may not be possible for a world tour, I told her that I would love to visit Europe and Singapore which looks like a feasible case. Her english was too good that I myself thought that I should keep in touch with books else I would end up lacking a good vocabulary...Grabbed the Norman Lewis's 'Word power made easy' book from home after :) After landing in Chennai, I totally forgot her and was busy with the immigration formalities but she did come to me and wished me good luck. Such good personalities do exist in this world...After she left, I thought I should have got her email id to keep in touch with her but failed to do so...

That was about the to journey :) In return, got introduced to a man who works in Louisiana in IT and we were talking about Mainframes and Databases...I did not want to have a technical conversation and slowly it
turned to a personal formal conversation for few mins after which I slept. He did wish me good luck too...

In between these to and fro journeys, there were few other trips to Chennai and Bangalore by air. Most of my friends were making fun of me that I have become so sophisticated that I don't even come by bus or train and just choose to fly even if it's Chennai or Bangalore. It was not a show off...I don't know if it I can do that in the coming years, so my point is when I have the luxury and if it's time saving, I will definitely choose that option and that's the reason here too. But I took pride in telling my dad that I have used almost all the flight services in India and abroad - Kingfisher, Jet Airways, Paramount and Emirates, British Airways, Lufthansa :) Next time if I have the same luxury, I would try some other service...Being an avid reader of Seth godin's principles of marketing and other funda, I remembered reading a column of his about the customer feedback and did provide the same to all those services I used in India. I did receive some of the 'Thank you' notes from those services.

When I went to India last time, I could not notice the differences that people asked about but this time, I was apt with answers. Some of those looked sheepish when I thought about it later. Few of those here:
1. Reached B'lore and was looking at my watch to see what time zone should I set it to...(Rombave too much dhaan but I dont know why I thought so :))
2. Got into a Volvo AC bus in B'lore and when the conductor asked for 'four fifty', I grabbed a note from my wallet and gave Rs. 10 thinking that it's dead cheap for a Volvo AC bus like this for 4 rupees and 50 paise until
I noticed the conductor laughing for a while and said 'Madam, four hundred and fifty rupees for 3 of u'. My friends and I couldn't control laughter and so as the conductor :)
3. I was saying 'Hi' to everyone I see on the street, shops. People would have thought that I am some nut case :)
4. While riding on bike with friends at Chennai, was constantly telling them that they are not following the traffic rules and signals and they are speeding :) For which friends said, 'Vaaya mooditu variya illa erakki
vitruven...Idhu US illa...' I realised the essence later and could only laugh about it :)

There are so much more to come in this way....But the greatest thing on this trip is I met almost all my friends ranging from School friends, College friends and Work friends from India. And I did talk to my blogger
friend too. As always, people showed so much of hospitality which I am proud that India can only be the sole owner of that property and it just amazes me...

Will connect more in the coming blogs...

Sorgame Endralum...

I wake up one day morning (which is usual) and have hell lots of dreams about going to India for a vacation. Alas, I did have the same effect last year but came without doing most of the things that I dreamt of :( Although it's not even a year since I visited India, it makes me feel like I have been out of the country for a very very long time. Solitude speaks here, I guess ;)

Here's my top 25 would-like-to-do activities in the agenda:
1. See all my close friends @ the airport in Chennai, sip a hot coffee and have endless chatting till I board a flight to hometown
2. W.r.t point #1, give gifts to everyone and see the smile in their faces :)
3. Once landed in hometown, hug everyone present there...(I mean my family) and see that anandha kaneer :P
4. Eat Idli/Sambar for breakfast, sodhi for lunch, dosa with onion chutney for dinner on the first day
5. Take all chottu cousins to the garden restaurant nearby and talk about their college stuff (of course it's about sighting, ragging, fashion, college jargon etc.,)
6. Play cricket with cousins & friends
7. Cook a special meal for parents that they have never tasted before or take them to an expensive restaurant that they have never been before (Probably 'Royal Court' near Railway station in Madurai)
8. Attend some friend's marriage with other friends which is always filled with fun and that's when I get to wear a saree after ages
9. Watch IPL Chennai Super Kings match live and get an autograph from Irfan Pathan Sr. (if he happens to be in the team that plays against CSK)
10. Watch a concert of Ilayaraja, if it happens to occur at that time
11. Do a get together @ beach with friends & family
12. Visit friends' new houses and new family and get a treat from each one of them for that
13. Watch atleast 3 Tamil movies at 'Satyam Cineplex' with friends
14. Meet my blogger friend who has the same name as mine and talk about blogs and MBA
15. Go to Balagurukulam and spend a day with kids
16. Go to college and meet my English Professor and tutor
17. Go to my ex-company and meet everyone I know there
18. Tune into the FM radio channels and sing whenever I am at home
19. Meet Mr.T.T.Rengarajan and ask about how he comes up with the 'Unposted letter' column in Frozen Thoughts magazine
20. Visit atleast one place that I have never visited, as a pleasure trip
21. Celebrate my B'day which has gained a lackadaisical effect for years
22. Be @ home for Diwali and celebrate it
23. Meet Mr.vinayagar at the nearby koil and put some applications for future
24. A day @ each relative's place whoever invites me or whoever I like to visit (not many though)
25. Ride in the new Thalthazhai perundhu to see what's new about it
26. Say bye without tears when the vacation ends and it's time for coming back

Though I said 25, I ended up with 26. I don't think the abovesaid items on the agenda looks unrealistic even though it's a dream...But, Welcome to my world of dreams!!!

Sorgame endralum adhu namoora pola varuma?