Varun's blog

Rhythm/Hotel Senndhur Review- A hotel worth knowing!

2011-07-17T12:32:00.000-07:00

In the age where ‘you’ have to please the waiter at the restaurant to get the food properly and in time, I magically stumbled upon this restaurant with a difference. It was just a stroke of luck that we found it actually. Me, my sister and some friends casually decided to try out the vegetarian restaurant on the other side of the road for dinner when we were out on mount road for some purchase.

And so we tried out ‘Hotel Sennthur’. It has 3 restaurants, A non-ac one, ac one and another ac restaurant that goes by the name of ‘Rhythm’. We decided to try the rhythm. We were surprised to find it almost empty. With the emptiness popped in a question about its quality! The ambience was not great, but there was a difference in its decoration. There were some musical instruments on the wall and some pictures of popular musicians. Surprisingly, music was playing in perfectly nominal volume- Soothing and at the same time low enough for us to have our own conversations. Seriously, when is the last time you remember a normal restaurant having music in nominal volume?

We were a group of 7 people. The waiter there saw us and immediately joined two 4 people tables! That was a pleasant surprise. And to add to that he gave us a warm smile. We took our time to settle down, the waiter ‘did not’ rush to the table and wait as if we were there to repay some loan he gave us some time back.

And the menu, that’s the great part. It had South Indian, North Indian and Chinese. What more? It had its own recipes like Pizza Dosa, Paneer Tikka masala Dosa, Beetel leaf dosa, pizza paratha, chilli ice-cream etc…! They were all specially highlighted in red in the menu. We decided to try those out. There was a decent list of starters too. The waiter patiently took our orders even during our typical this, that, no, no, back to this, that Blah..Blah..!

We decided to try out the new ones. The waiter asked us to choose our main course patiently and took orders just for the starters. And surprisingly the soups were delicious. The waiter had missed writing down a starter we ordered because of lack of proper communication. When we asked about it, he deeply regretted and told 'sorry'. Really!!! Woah!! So we decided to completely indulge ourselves in the menu and that waiter guy helped us out in choosing by giving us good options.

The food came quite quickly and it was hot too. Now next question, when was the last time, all of your ordered dishes came together and all of them were hot? And the taste of all the dishes was really good. Not one disappointing dish, even the hotel’s specialties were nice. I tried out the Pizza paratha and it actually was yummy.

Good food, great service, good dining area! Ironically, it was a hotel totally out of ‘Rhythm’ with the majority of the restaurants that lack a class. I know this sounds like a sales promotion, but restaurants like these are hard to find. Hats off to Ajay the waiter for giving us a good time.

Oh yeah, you are wondering about the price! 2 soups, 1 starter, 7 main course dishes (mix of north and south cuisines) and 6 desserts went into our tummies and the bill was did not even touch 4 digits! It was somewhere in the 900s! And a hearty 50 rupees tip to the waiter.

We personally thanked the waiter for the good service and asked him to maintain the good work. We even went and met the MD and asked him to maintain the quality of the restaurant. Apparently we found out that this restaurant has been there for 6 years now. Sad, I had not heard before about such a good restaurant before.

It seemed that the restaurant holds some awards for having the best Idli, Vada, Sambar combo and was rated as one of the top 15 restaurants in Chennai by a daily.

So if you find your tummy rumbling when you are somewhere near mount road, now you have a place to go- Rhythm/Hotel Sennthur.

Website- http://hotelsennthur.com/default.aspx

AGS ROYAL (Villivakkam) Theatre review

2011-07-17T00:05:00.001-07:00

After booking 6 seats for Harry Potter in the only theatre that had seats available, I wanted to know more about the theatre. I had seen a lot of promos of this new in town theatre- AGS. Now I had my tickets booked in AGS Royal Villivakkam. I wanted to know how good the theatre is.

I went and searched online and all I found was news articles, news articles and news articles. Not one soul had taken some time to write a review of the quality of the theatre. I did find a couple of few word reviews that goes like ‘good theatre’, ‘bad experience’ and all! So, I decided I will write a review for this theatre. So here it is,

The Locality:

Villivakkam is not a posh, high class area. It is quite the opposite. The theatre’s location is not on a main road either. The road it is actually located is a bit hard to find as it’s a narrow residential place.

Parking Space:

Though I didn’t personally check this, I heard that two-wheeler parking would not be a problem, but there is only limited space available for car park. No wonder when the road’s whole width is only that of 2 cars.

The Ticket Counter:

There are 3 counters and then there is a separate counter for online booking. So the crowd management at the ticket counter wouldn’t be a problem.

Cleanliness:

The theatre was pretty clean when I went. I saw little litter.

The Theatre people:

The people working there, I mean the one who checks your bag, the one who checks your ticket and all were really friendly. They told us that the cool drink bottle we brought was not allowed inside and we could get a token for it and collect it when we get back.

The Crowd:

Now this might be a little problematic. For a theatre that has its ticket priced at 120 Rs. you would expect the crowd to be that of Sathyam’s or Inox’s or PVR’s. But apparently no. The locality does have its influence and the crowd does not have a class. Because I went to an English movie, I didn’t face any problem. But I read in another review that the crowd that came for a tamil movie was very unruly.

The Ambience:

As soon as I entered the Cinema hall, I found it pleasing. The lighting was not too dark; I mean you wouldn’t have to walk like a blind to find your seat which is the case in some of the theatres.

The Seats:

The seats at AGS cinemas were very comfortable. They were the recliner models. Only problem was the squeaks. I guess it needs a little oiling.

The Screen and the sound effect:

Now, this being the core aspect of movie watching, I would grade this A+ for AGS Royal. It was a wonderful movie watching experience. I went for a 3D movie and the effects were very nice. The only problem is the way they handle 3D glasses. They have the whole lot in a card board box without proper protection. At this rate, the glasses will get a lot of scratches very soon. They need to do something about this.

The Snacks:

The snacks are priced premium. Well, every theatre that has its ticket priced around this range has its snacks priced around this range too. Popcorn Large and Coke 1000 ml Combo costs around 150. Don’t go for the samosas though, AGS cinemas samosas weirdly resemble the 1 rupee ones sold in the electric train!

Overall Experience:

The overall experience at AGS Royal villivakkam was really good and I would recommend you to go for this theatre without a second thought. Although, I would say the key to AGS Royal’s success depends on how well they can maintain this quality over the years to come.

Movies- Of good and bad ones!

2011-07-17T00:03:00.000-07:00

I met one of my friends from my Under Graduation College after a long time. After getting over with the prerequisite talks about latest movies, we got on to other topics. Now mind you, when I and my friends discuss about movies, it’s not always the same. We are students of Visual Communication i.e Media Students, so we can discuss anything about the movies and it won’t come under the category of useless time pass talk!

My ever inquisitive father was sitting there to get to know more about the field. This friend of mine- Hari Krishnan holds PG Diploma in film making and had one and a half years experience in the field of video editing after training under Editor Lenin. Now, he is trying his hands (Well hands, legs, body and eyes in this case) at acting.

My father asked him about his work timings when he was being an editor. Hari Krishnan told that there is nothing called as work timings, you go there, get the work done. That is how it is done. He further told that there were times he would be spending 3-4 days completely in the studio. And the sleeping time averages around 2 hours per day. Obviously I asked him what if he decides to sleep for more time. He told that the assistant directors would come and give so much pressure that they won’t be able to sleep!

I asked him how much time it takes to finish the editing of one song from a movie. Here is what he told- The editor gets a 3-5 hour footage for one song, Every dance step would have around 5-6 takes and more than one would be shot OK. So, the editor essentially has to go through the whole footage. Then the choreographer comes in, sits with the editor and the editor has to go through it all over again. This process goes on and on for days till the song is done. Then he has to go through it all over again while doing the audio sync!

This is just for a song and the process of the whole movie is just an even more tedious version of the same. Mind that we are looking only at the editing part of it. Imagine how much time and efforts it would have taken for the shoot, the set-up, the makeup, location shifts etc.

And what do we do, we watch the whole effort presented as a capsule- The movie. We come out of the theatre and say- ‘Dude, it’s a bad film, very badly taken/bad story, don’t go, it is such a waste of time’. I agree that we have our own tastes of everything. But still it would be very unfair on our side to totally ignore all those efforts that went behind a movie. Logically, a bad movie doesn’t take any less effort to produce than the supposedly good ones. So, next time you got a movie irrespective of how you liked it, take a second to appreciate the work that went behind it.

P.S: Hats off to the editors and their patience! Hari told me that essentially an editor would have seen the movie 50 times over before the whole editing work is completed. When my father asked him whether the editors would know whether the movie would be successful or not considering they watch the movie so many times, he told that they would have a fair Idea. But wouldn’t any movie taste sour the 50th time??!!

My One Day at IIT

2010-02-02T10:22:00.000-08:00

I was in my happy college days doing B.Sc. Visual Communication, away from my dreaded PCM subjects. Life was only about being creative. I was enjoying it. One day, I got a call from my school friend –Vaidhy. He informed me that IIT becomes an open house for the coming weekend and asked whether I could join him and other two friends of mine there. I thought about it. IIT was perhaps the most allergic location to me – Full of brainy geeks and Departments that could give me nightmares...

But, I agreed to it, after all it was a rare opportunity. The last time it was an open house was 25 years ago. That time my father visited IIT. He said it would be a nice experience. So, I thought of trying it out. What is the big deal? After all, I would get to know how interesting subjects seem when I don’t have to study them.

So, the coming weekend we went there in our two wheelers. I rode to IIT in my XL Super! It was the only moped in the whole campus! Perhaps I set a record by riding the first moped into IIT.

I and my friends went to various departments. At the start I was sort of feeling nauseatic seeing the Departments of Physics, Chemistry, Maths and various other heavily technical departments. But as time went on, I started to love it. It was like viewing a Discovery channel, where you get to know amazing things. There was this Astro-Physics presentation at the Physics Dept. It was really amazing.

Vaidhy was registering himself for some paper presentation in the biology department. In the meanwhile I continued to explore various departments. It was when I saw the Mathematics department, I felt pathetic about myself. IT was as if I remembered absolutely nothing in mathematics. Not one formula. All I remembered was to add, subtract, multiply, divide.

My other 3 friends joined me at the Maths Department. It seemed there was a Maths quiz that was going to happen. My friends wanted to do it. As I didn’t know how much time it would take to finish and as I was bored of wandering alone, I decided to wait in my much hated department.

It seemed the first round was a written objective questions round. Something inside me wanted me to attend it and have some fun. So I too got a paper and sat next to my friends. There were about 50-60 people on the test hall.

When I saw the question paper – *FLASH*, my mind went blank. I knew that I had studied many of the formulas needed to solve the paper. But I became dyslexic, I understood nothing in the paper, it seemed to me that all the questions were animated and was running all around the paper. There was this particular question that was still on the paper in an un-animated form. I looked into it. It was a probability question. If you apply one simple formula to it, it would be over. But alas, I didn’t know the formula. But then there was the advantage of solving the probability question the long way – tallying. I decided to do that to while time. I was pulling my hair with frustration while trying to solve it- the simplest question in the whole paper. It took 3/4th of the total exam time for me to finish it. At the end I was really confident that I had done it right. I was sort of proud of it. We were asked to give the sheets on which we did calculations! I gladly gave mine. It had nothing but scribbles of the longest route to answer a question. If any IIT staff saw it, he would definitely have searched for me. For it had no other answers worked out.

Then I looked at the other questions, understood absolutely nothing and then I did the Magic- The world famous ‘Inky Pinky Ponky’ on the IIT Maths paper. I was so happy to do it. I rejoiced it. I was smiling and laughing while doing it. It was such fun. After the exam, as my friends were discussing the answers amongst them. I found that I answered right to the probability question. I told them that. They were all very surprised. After all they knew me and my skills only too well. I winked at them. After half an hour the finalists listed was pasted on the wall.

*BANG* It hit me right in the head, My name was amongst the 18 finalists of the Maths quiz. I didn’t believe it. All that Inky pinky ponky worked!! I had the brain and technique that no other contestant had!! I was laughing after seeing the result. I had beaten a lot of IITians in the process.

One of my 3 friends did not even make it. He glared at me. I was feeling awkward. If I get teamed up with 2 IIT guys, I would be in hell. I thought of running away from IIT that instant. But my friend asked me to stay and have some fun. I was totally embarrassed. But I stayed.

The quiz started, I was glad that one of my friends was in my team along with an IIT-madras guy. I told him with an embarrassing face that I don’t know anything and I got selected because of luck. He said “No problem mate”. He was obviously thinking I was being humble. He knew little about me. We were placed in the first row. I felt awkward. I sunk down my seat, dipped my head down and half closed my eyes!

The questions were fired and the big brains around me went to work. 'I understood the questions as much as an illiterate understands Shakespearean English'. I hung my head down and let the others of my team answer. Apparently I found the questions were a bit tough even for them. The IIT guy with me was totally funny; he wrote a few steps to solve the question and came up with a wrong answer every time when the question was targeted at him. Not only that, Every single time someone else answers their question, he just wrote down that answer alone in a corner of his sheet, showed it to us, banged the table and said loudly “Shit, I got that”. My friend and I exchanged glances and smiled knowingly. The quiz came to an end. Our team scored a rightful ‘Zero’ and held the prestigious last position!

I was so glad that there was no embarrassment but all the same it was such a hilarious experience for me. Who would have thought that a teetotaler at Maths like me would make to the finals of IIT Maths finals? This was an unforgettable experience for me.

How I dealt with a Cell Phone Harasser

2010-02-01T09:30:00.000-08:00

When my sister was in here college a few years ago, she used to receive messages from an unknown number. The messages were really dirty and cheap.

At first she thought, some college mate who hated her is doing this. But it kept on coming. She asked who it was and what he/she wanted with her. The answer came, the person said that he is ‘Pradeep’ and is an unemployed graduate of mechanical Engineering.

It had stopped for a while. Then as time passed on, sister finished college and started going to work. Suddenly, the messages started to sprout up again as dirty as ever. My father messaged back asking him to stop being a rogue or he will take serious action. He replied something like- ‘Wow! It is a pleasure knowing you Uncle, let us be great friends.’ We called up customer care and asked them to block that number. But, they told that was not possible and they won’t do that. So, my sister was left with only one option Ignore and delete. But it kept coming.

A month passed like this. I thought of taking up the initiative. I spoke to him from my sister’s cell, saying that I bought this sim card I am having recently and that I received certain wrong messages from him. I hoped to persuade him to believe.
He said sorry and that he knew the previous owner of the cell very well. I was surprised, but then I asked him to stop messaging. He told he wanted to be friends. I thought about it and said that I am going to give this number to my father, so asked him to contact me through my so and so number. After all it was a chance I could get to know the rogue and bust him. Also, in my cell there was the option of blocking numbers in case of excessive messages.

After a week, he messaged the same dirty messages to my sister’s number as if nothing had happened. I attempted to call him but he never attended. As my sisters phone number was her official contact number, she had no possibility. After some time it had stopped.

Suddenly, around a month back from this day, the message came again. I was totally angry, although there was little to do about it. We thought that going to police might just be too harsh and for all we knew, it would mean more time waste. Sister told she would rather delete the message than walking to and fro between home and police station. I had to agree with her.

And 3 days before this day, I thought of calling up a recently acquired friend of mine working at Vodafone. I asked him whether he can help. He was very kind and willing. He gave me the details. The guy’s name was actually ‘Samson Pradeep Raj’. I had his full address and his two landline numbers.

I called up my sister and asked whether I can take this to the police now that we had done everything in our hand. She being soft at heart said no. I asked her at least whether I could warn him. She permitted me to go ahead.

I called him and he attended the call. I kept my voice stern, angry and menacing. I told him I am Varun and a friend of the person whom he used to message badly.

He replied with a soft yes that was like what is the big deal about it. I told him that I have his full contact details and mentioned to him his full name and started saying his address. That was it, he started pleading for mercy. He said thanks for calling him up before going to the police. He said sorry, and said his actions were because he was mentally affected because of some family problems of his. I told, I don’t care about it and I don’t think the police would either.

He came to the verge of tears. If I didn’t know better, tears would have been rolling off his cheek, considering the way his voice wavered. When I asked him whether he knew what his punishment was, he said he knew that he would be sentenced to jail for 7 years if he is caught (Man, he knew the exact years. All this time he thought he couldn’t be traced). I asked him to stop this nonsense hereafter and if I get one more stupid message, he is going to the jail and I meant this from my heart with a menacing tone. He got it and was definitely very scared. He pleaded sorry. I asked him to call up my sister and beg for forgiveness. He agreed to it.

And so he did, I informed my sister that she would get a call from that rogue and he will be pleading for mercy. I asked her to use the record call feature in her phone. He called up and that conversation was recorded. She was too soft on him, all she said was ok, I told her that she could have scolded him badly for the mental trouble he had caused her for such a long period.

You can listen to the conversation here and know I was not lying all this time-

My Pathetic School Life

2010-01-04T23:09:00.000-08:00

Hi this is an account of my life at school. If you reach the bottom of the blog before getting bored, please post a comment.

L.K.G to 2nd standard:

I was in “Vaani Vidhyalaya matriculation”. I don’t remember much, except some faint memories of Raji miss teaching me, Sitting outside the class and listening due to my frequent vomiting sensation. My parents used to say it was “Vaandhi” Vidhyalaya for me. (Vaandhi is the Tamil word for Vomit!). Other than this, I could not remember much from those years.

3rd standard:

I switched to “Modern Senior Secondary School”- a CBSE School. I was a child, going to school everyday with a sober face. Tears would dwell in my eyes as the starting bell rings and my mom says goodbye. Some instinct in me always scared me that she won’t come back for me in the evening after school gets over My sister also studied in the school, she was three years elder than me. Somehow the teachers are so interested in a sibling of an already existing student. I was branded as Raaga’s (Name changed) brother, over my original Identity as C.V.Varun. She was exceptionally good at Academics.

In my 3rd standard, my mom used to sit with me after school hours to teach spoon feed me on my academics, made me mug up things write a home test. All together, it was a big effort from her side. All that effort paid off. I was quite good at academics. I was ranked consistently amongst the top 5. Still can’t forget the days, when I would think my mom forgot me and start crying if mom came even two minutes late from the final bell.

4th standard to 7th standard:

Started going to school in Cycle at 6th. No more fear of mom forgetting me stuff. My mom was still with me helping me with my academics. Her patience was heavily tested. Still she was successful, and so was I. My marks were still good, and I was amongst the Top 7 consistently. I found that English was the subject that interested me the most. I developed a great passion towards it. English teachers started to like me. I had a decent amount of friends. (Though my parents said some of them were Indecent).

Sister scored amazing marks in here 10th board exam and came out as school first. Heads of teachers turned to me in expectation. My inner mind screamed “Nooo…!!!”

Found out I was no good at sports. My poor stamina and my body was not fit for sports. I was very happy to win with a first prize at English oratorical competition. This was my first winning in anything.

8th standard:

Syllabus started getting tougher, Mom was troubled enough, my less interfering dad interfered and said that it is High time I stood on my own legs. She asked my mom to stop helping me in my academics. My mom was against his view point saying I was not mature enough. But she lost her argument. From 8th, I was on my own in academics. My marks started to go down every exam and it hovered around 80%. My ranks were no longer mentionable and flickered between single and double digits. Won some second prize in English Oratorical.

Mom was a bit cross with dad, now that what she feared happened. English was still my favorite subject. I loved it dearly. And scored good in it. Teachers were really shocked with “Raaga’s brother’s poor performance”. Every parent teachers meeting was a disaster to my mom- only she comes to school. My father never comes; He didn’t show up even when Sis got her ‘school first’ prize. I found it irritating. That is a big achievement that every parent would be proud of. My parents are made of some different stuff. They try not to appreciate us for any reason; they only emphasize the negative side of us. While every parent goes around with their faces proud about their children, my parents even if asked would tell only of our negatives.

My friends group changed (The same group I am in contact with till today). I got on with people I really liked. They were so close to me, though I wasn’t even half as close to them. My friends used to have a chat after school at the road side. But my mother banned me from spending time with them. When I asked for the reason, I got one of the most stupid reasons I ever heard, “Only porukkis (Tamil version for Rogues) stand in roadside and talk”. As usual, it was hopeless to argue with my parents, they are very stubborn in what they say. That was probably one of the very few decisions that my parents made that affected my life negatively to a BIG extent.

My friends kept me a little away from our circle for the reason that I don’t spend time with them. Somehow, their parents didn’t think spending time with friends is a rogue’s character! Probably, one of the reasons being- My mother did not have any friends in her school days, she didn’t know what friendship meant.

Even today I am not as close to my friends as they are to me. It pains very much in the heart every time I realize it. Sometimes, even tears dwelled in the eyes as I thought of it. Had to control it telling that “You are mature” to my inner self. It slipped out sometimes even with all that efforts. I think there is nothing worse than someone who is close to your heart ignoring you.

9th standard:

Syllabus got even tougher. Science was a big book. I started to struggle big time in academics. My marks flickered between 65-75%. Parents started to get tense, especially mom. Rank never entered a single digit. Respect from teachers reduced. No change to my favorite subject. I still scored my best in English.

I found no talent in me. None whatsoever, an Inferiority complex started to build in me. Found that I was unable to converse with people as confidently as before, and a sudden stage fear got me in my throat and I was no more fit for oratorical competition.

Friends circle remained the same. I was moved away from the circle even more. The Reason? Friends started to meet up in each other’s houses and played and spent fun time. When spending time with friends on roadside is rogue, you can imagine what my parents would have said about going to friends’ houses. “What? Want to go to friends’ houses? Crazy, you must not linger around other people’s houses, it is not a good culture!” Conversation ended.

10th Standard:

Now, this is the year that perhaps changed my entire would-be career. Generally, people at my house asks these questions for any situations- namely, 'Why? What? How? When?' After I come home after writing exam, i would be asked the periodic question of “ How much will you get?” Though I would know almost 5-10% marks plus or minus where I would score, I would lie the marks as a usual 75-80%. Parents would not trouble me if I say so.

The first mid-term of the year got over. I got “FAILED” in physics, this was the first fail mark by anyone in my entire family history! All of them, including me, was so shocked, I knew I might score a just pass. But never guessed I would fail.

At home 1 week went sober all of our faces were dull, many in my class failed, but that was not a consoling reason to anybody. Soon, people at my home became a bit supportive, they asked me to do well next time. I nodded. But all the same, my computer gaming hours (My main source of Hobby) was cut down to a lesser time.

I asked for a tuition, they did enroll me in one! But was that a tuition, HELL NO! It was a home that was open to everyone who didn't have a place to read, it so fell out that there were so many of that sort, that it was more of a chat area than a study area. There was no teacher there, the ma'am who was present there was the one who taught me at U.K.G!. The students who came there ranged from pre.K.G to 12th. She taught only for those in pre.K.G. To first standard. I was frustrated, no use of telling parents that it was of no use. They would only blame me. That teacher knew nothing to teach me. Time passed at that tuition without any useful fruit.

All in my friends group passed. They did group studying, helping each other on the things they understood. Parents at my home said, “Group studies? No way, what a dumb thing to do for you? Go sit and read yourself!”. Sister was very much shocked on my failure in mid-term. She was then studying at of the very reputed Engineering Colleges in south India, She was on her own legs, she stayed in hostel and had a gala time. After all, she earned it.

Time passed, things got worser and worser, every term, I started to fail, In 'Physics, Chemistry and Maths'. People at my home started to treat me like a vermin. Nothing wrong in doing that. On my side, they said laziness is the primary reason. Cut down all recreational activities and I would shine. I would nod to that after the result comes, but the addiction of computer games took me after a week passed. The marks didn't affect me very much, except for the fact that I would have to tell it at home. Some times I took a week after the paper was given to my hands to show it to home, building up courage in the mean time.

Time passed, they got frustrated with me. They heard a word from my close cousin that I felt that my tuition was not effective to me. My Mom said “You could have told that to me” The tuition continued all the same! Eventually found out her tuition benefited none. All of the failures there still failed.

My results were associated with my so called Laziness, Lazy I am, I agree. But not in studies. Have you heard of the disorder dyslexia (yes, the same thing the child in Taare Zameen Par experiences)? What I was experiencing was similar to that. The physics derivations, the chemical formulas, the mathematical equations all swam before my eyes. I bought big guides, that didn't help me with anything. My father used to say, I buy it as if it is a must do ceremony once the book comes to market and there is no more value to it. But all the same, nothing entered my mind. It was all confused. The only subject I was able to study well was English, fine, a decent amount of tamil too.

My friends were with me, of course again more farther, what with me failing too! But they were supportive, they used to offer me help. Soon, the year end exam came, the much dreaded “10th standard board exam”. It happens in another school nearby as per CBSE regulations. We all used to sit tense. People scare us saying that this was the exam that would decide my future. It got over and I was quite sure I would pass. And pass, I did, Much to the surprise of my parents, actually. Of Course, the same bullshit 75-80% estimation was what I gave them, but they had understood me by then.

11th standard:

I had to choose between, Computer Science, Biology and economics department. Sister suggested an alternative for me. She said, In CBSE, they offered a choice of having Tamil instead of Computer Science or Biology. I took that to reduce my burden of another subject. But I was seated in the Biology section, though I didn’t have that subject.

But Alas, The same that occurred in 10th repeated, all over again. Every term, I failed in Maths, Physics and Chemistry. I joined different tuitions for Maths and Chemistry. Unfortunately for me, Another new physics staff was added to the class. She was incapable of teaching. Even the brilliant ones suffered with her around. The failures in physics fell in heaps. Almost half the class if not more started to fail in physics. It was a shock to the school. Though they very clearly knew the reason, they were reluctant to take any actions.

I was allowed to spend a little more time with my friends. But I had to bear the 'When will you come back question and the big scolds for coming 5 minutes late'. Though, In class, I was like, Whats this guy? Acts like a nerd but is a failure in academics. Totally useless fellow.

Time went by, the annuals came, I was struck with with Appendicitis. I had to be admitted in the hospital, I had to skip 11th practicals. My mom spoke with school principal about it and it was told that the school would take care. I chuckled to myself, 'I wouldn't have passed had I gone to the practicals'. The final main exams got over comfortably in mathematics and chemistry, thanks to the decently successful tuition. But I was not sure of physics. That would be just passed or a fail.

I visited Sri Harikota, the rocket building and launching center along with my friends who invited me. I had fun time. When I came back, I saw my mothers face dull. Oops! That was not a good sign. I saw her returning from opposite house, where a class mate of mine studied. I guessed it. She asked me to relax for some time, as I had just returned. After that, the much feared came out. I failed in the Physics final. Whrrrrrrrrr.......... MY head spun, people said, once you fail in school, thats the end of your life. I didn't know what to do. But, My school was one proud school with good records. This time, they couldn't afford to fail people and lose their 100% pass results. What with about 25 students failing in physics? Even the average ones were taken down. Thanks to the new teacher. School conducted a secret re-exam. We all attended it. I tried to put in my best effort, but again, it was all fuzzy to me. Nothing entered my mind. I failed in re-exam too; it was a big blow to me and my family. I was thinking about going to tutorials to study something to lead on my life with. But then there were 8 others like me. School did a re-re-exam. They asked us to study well, the re-exam question paper. We did, they repeated the same question paper and all of us cleared the exam. This was one of my pathetic and a shameful experience at school.

12th Exam:

Nothing much happened, the same tuitions, poorer scores in Mathematics. Syllabus was too much for my brain to hold on to. The same marks repeated in every semester. Math became the most unbearable. What with all the chapters that would not be of much use to all. Why? I ask myself. What is the big reason of studying chapters like Trigonometry, Permutation & combination, Matrix, Integration and Differentiation? After all irrespective of what you read, you most probably will end up in an A/c Cabin sitting in computer and programming for some freak in America. Time went with my hatred increasing towards Mathematics. I was better off in Chemistry compared to the other two. The tuition did me a great favor there.

Time went on. The final exams were near. I was on the special class for the weak students on Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics. Teachers had as hard a time with me as I had with them. Time went on, the special classes got over for Physics and Chemistry. But I was horrible in Mathematics. I was in special class at my teacher’s home even 2 days before the exam. Thanks for the CBSE to have let out the question paper pattern properly, my teacher did her best to me. I would ever be thankful to that. If not for her, I would have definitely failed in Mathematics. Main Exams came, I was sure I would clear all. I cleared all.

Mathematics was the lowest in my marks with 55. Tamil the highest, and English my second highest. I had developed a great respect towards English. I heard later that, the day the result arrived, my principal and my physics teacher was so worried that this year I might spoil their 100% pass result. But they were glad, I was glad, we all were glad. I PASSED.

This is my school life. When I look back now, I realize how much I have missed; I didn’t have much of Fun in school. How much of it was a mistake from my side, I am still Unsure, was it really laziness only. If so, why are people in different career lines? Why can’t all working out everything for themselves using their brains? So, my theory remains the same, my brain WAS NOT designed for that.

I guess, the people who studied with me, my friends who kept me a distance out of their circle will all understand me after reading my whole school life. The guys and girls, who would have thought of me as the useless nerd, would get to know me better. I can’t get back my school life, but at least I can get back my school mates and have them back as friends. So, here is Varun anew. Probably the new enhanced Varun, Version 2.0?

When I became the Police- Real Incident

2009-12-12T08:52:00.000-08:00

A REAL LIFE MOBILE PHONE ROBBERY INCIDENT

During my semester holidays, I paid a visit to my Aunt's (My mother's younger sister's) home in Bangalore. I had a great time there. My Aunt (Called Chitti' in Tamil) showed me her newly bought Samsung Handset. It was simple and elegant. The model's cost was around
Rs.4,000.

In Samsung phones, there is an feature called as Mobile tracker, which allows notification to any two numbers if the SIM card is changed on that phone. This helps us to track the cell phone, in case the phone gets stolen and the new user puts in a new SIM Card there. I found that the feature was not activated. So, I activated the feature and hoped that if at all it is stolen, we can always call Samsung security center and they would help us. So, I gave her husband's number and my number as backup numbers for safety. After a week's stay at Bangalore I left to my home in Chennai.

A few days went by; one fine day I heard from my mom that 'Chitti' is going off to Kerala for a few days. That was just normal news to my ears because they used go there 2 to 3 times a year. I carried on my daily routine of going to college, having fun and coming home and then complaining of boredom! Yes, at 19 years of age, I felt that staying at home bores me very much than spending joyous time with friends at college.

One day in the middle of my sleep in Tamil class in the college, I was woken up by a vibration that my cell issued. At the end of the hour, when I had the break time, I looked into the cell as to who sent me a message at that odd time of the hour. I found that the message had come from my Chitti's cell notifying me about the change of SIM in that cell. I thought, perhaps Chitti's husband (Called Chittappa' in Tamil) has inserted a Kerala SIM for the time being to avoid roaming charges.

In the afternoon, I got a call from my Chittappa. "Hello, Varun?"

"Yes, Chittappa, How are you, How is your Kerala visit?"

"All are fine. We are on our way back, but there is a bad news and consoling news!"

"Well, what is it?"

"The bad news is that Chitti's cell phone has been stolen in the train and the consoling news is that I got a message stating the new SIM number, thanks to your activating the notifying feature"

"Oh! I too got a message, but I thought that it was you who put in a new SIM!"

"No, it must be the thief's number; just send me the customer care centre number of Samsung so that I can contact them for help. I am in Cochin
now."

"Sure, I will message you the number in 5 minutes."

I messaged him the number in a few minutes. I was waiting for his call in the night. At around 9.00 PM I got his call;

"Hey Varun, I contacted the Samsung care centre. They said they can't help me, but they advised me to give the number to the Police, so that they might help. But the problem is I am in Bangalore and the Cell is most probably in Cochin."

"I don't know, I thought they might be able to help you, anyway, just give a name sake complaint to the police, we will think of what to do later."

"I have a friend in Bangalore, I will ask him to complain to the police of that area, if I don't get any updates from the Bangalore police in a week."

"That a good idea Chittappa, All the best. Good Night!"

"Good night, Varun!"

That night I was unable to sleep, my mind was revolving around the Cell phone theft. That was when an idea occurred to me. The next day, the first thing I did was to call my Chittappa. "Hello, Chittappa? I just got an Idea!"

"What is it?"

"I will try to speak to that Number as if I am the Police; Let's see what happens, we have got nothing to lose."

"Hmmm....I tried to call that number, it was switched off, anyway give it a try!"

"Ok, then I'll call you later."

In the morning, I tried to call the number; I got the recorded message saying that the cell is switched off. ''Oops, dead end.' I thought. Then, anyway I tried to call him after a hour. The number rang and I got tensed up; I never expected it; I did not even plan on what to speak to him. The phone kept ringing, on the last ring a voice answered,

"Hello?" I heard a heavy Malayalam accent in his voice. ''Oops, I don't know Malayalam' was the first thought that came to me.

"Hello, this is Dinesh, Sub- Inspector of Chennai Police."

"What? Yes, Sir" a tensed voice replied.

I thought ''Wow! My harsh voice is after all useful. He believed me!'

"I have got a complaint that the user of this number has stolen the cell phone"
"Sorry, I don't know much English, speak in Malayalam"

''Dead end again' I thought.

"You know Tamil?" I asked him.

"Yes, I know it somewhat!"

''Thank god for the similarity between Tamil and Malayalam' I thought.

(The following is translated to English, but was actually spoken in Tamil)

"Well, I got a complaint that you stole a mobile phone. The model number
is......."

I told him the details of the phone, its content and the owner.

"Sir, I am afraid; I don't know anything about it"

"Well then, if you lie to me, you will be tracked by the Kerala police and the consequence will be severe!"

"Oh! All right, I will accept, please don't do anything to me; I am a owner of a mobile shop where we buy and sell second hand mobiles, I think I got your model; I will check and tell you."

"Well then, I want the call within 10 minutes, else you will be busted!"

"I will sir, I will."

All this happened in the privacy of my room. I didn't know whether he was lying or telling the truth, but I knew one thing, It was funny to have him believe me as a police. I was giggling to myself thinking over the shock, fear and respect in his tone while speaking to me. Only after 10 minutes I was able to stop giggling. Then that too was because, to my surprise, my cell rang and in the caller ID it was written 'Thief' - as I stored it. Only then I remembered that I never asked for his name,

"Hello, tell me" I said over the phone.

"Sir, I have that phone, what am I supposed to do with it?" the voice came.

"By the way, what's your name?" I asked to get a reply ''Mohammed' something.

"Sir, how am I supposed to send the phone and where should I send it?"

"You send it by courier to the address I say." I told him the full contact details of my Chittappa and then added "If I don't get it before day after tomorrow, you are gone!"

"There won't be any necessity like that sir, I will send it". It was said in a tone of such fear and respect that I thought I am going to give out myself by laughing. Then thank god, he cut the phone. I laughed heartily. After 2 minutes, I got a call from him again,

"Sir, I don't believe in courier, what if they lose it?"

''What a brilliant escape route for him!' I thought.

But to my surprise he added "A friend of mine is a van driver and he has a work in Bangalore, can I send it through him? He will reach the City market there by 6.00 A.M; can you ask the owner of the phone to collect it?"

"You speak to the man who gave the complaint"

"I will do just that
sir!"

"Ok! Hope you send it alright."

I disconnected the call. The excitement made my fingers go numb. Who would have thought I would come up so brilliantly? Also, this was going on as a secret - none of my family members knew it. I made a quick call to my Chittappa and told him that the thief would call. He understood. In another 15 minutes, My Chittappa gave a call and told me that all went fine and he would collect the cell from the driver the next day.

The next day, when I woke up late, my mom told me that Chittappa had called me when I was sleeping. She told me that Chittappa somehow got his cell back. Somehow? ''Wow! That's my effort' I thought to myself happily.

I called Chittappa after I felt refreshed.

"Hello Varun, what a surprise, thanks a lot!"

"No problem Chittappa." I replied.

"You did so much for a cell phone!" he exclaimed.

"No Chittappa, I did so much for a rare oppurtunity for adventure and of course a special treat from you!"

"What treat? Oh yes, I will give you, you definitely deserve one!" he spoke and laughed for sometime happily. Then he gave the phone to his wife and then their children, they all congratulated me. I felt so elated.

Later, during the breakfast I told my parents the real story of the coming back of the cell phone; they were totally amazed to hear it. They all praised me for being intelligent and smart. I was so happy because people at my home rarely ever appreciated me.

"Wasn't it hard to maintain the tone?" my sister asked.

"Yes, especially when I had to control giggling when he believed me totally and spoke tensely" I replied.

We all laughed together on hearing that. Well, this would be an incident that would be etched strongly in my mind. After all, how many people would have a chance to act up a police and have some thief believe completely in them?

MY DAYS WITH THE PUPPIES

2007-10-23T06:44:00.000-07:00

MY DAYS WITH THE PUPPIES

Golden yellow light was pouring in through the window. I was standing near it, deep in thoughts. I had always wanted a puppy. Whenever I spoke to my father on the topic, I would get a reply that generally ties up my tongue. That day the urge was some what uncontrollable.

I asked him in a stern voice, Father, I want a puppy, cant you afford one? My father gave a sarcastic look and said It isnt money that is the problem. Then what is it? I asked.
It is the puppy that matters. Dont wonder how! Having nurtured a dog named Varun for 17 years, I and your mother know what a pain it is to have a dog in the house! . This was followed by a serious bark (angry retort) from me proving his statement right. But still.... I whined.
There is no use talking to a dog which doesnt understand my mother intervened. My father had a hearty laugh, which made my mood go even worse.

Suddenly the sky darkened as if expressing my mood and the rain started to pour down as my emotions. I went and stood by the window looking at the heavy rain with a heavy heart. My friendly street dog started to bark. I thought it was because of the rain as the dog usually barks whenever it rains. But the barking continued for a long time. Out of sympathy and to divert my mood I took an umbrella and went downstairs to have a look at the dog. After going down I saw the dog standing under the roof of our opposite flat, staring at my house. I went out to the street and looked around for the reason. There were two cute puppies, stranded alone under the tree adjacent to my house. They were the sort of puppies I used to adore. After seeing me, the two puppies came and rubbed my leg for warmth and started to yelp, no wonder out of hunger. I felt very pitiful and wondered whether my parents would allow me at least to give the puppies a temporary shelter.

I ran upstairs in despair and explained the situation to my parents.
Thats how they learn to survive, remember Darwin s theory? they told to me. It was hopeless to argue with them.

I tried to divert my mood by reading a story book, but the thought of the two cute little ones refused to go away. The rain did not seem to stop. So, I paid frequent visits to see the puppies. The puppies kept on yelping and the sound was quite audible at the first floor. My parents mind also got affected by the pitiable yelping.
Varun, see here, you can bring the puppies in and keep them near the stairs but you have to leave them outside as soon as the raining stops my mother said.

That was enough for me - after all something is better than nothing. I ran downstairs and lifted the two puppies carefully taking care not to hurt them. I kept them near the stairs of my house. I sat near them patting them; soon one of them fell asleep. The other cuddled near my legs. My heart was ecstatic. I sat looking at the two puppies with little heart to return them to the road after the rain. I wished that the rain would continue for a long time.

The Adorable Puppies

My next door neighbor who was watching me offered a help. Seeing my plight, she said, If you can take care of the puppies for some more time, I will ring up Blue cross; they will collect them and take care.

I gladly accepted the offer. She called up Blue Cross and they informed that their van would come only the next morning. That was actually good news to me! Surprisingly, my father and mother came down to see the puppies. They too were charmed by the beautiful puppies. My mother immediately went upstairs and came down with a bowl of milk which utterly surprised me. As she kept it near the puppies, I waked up the sleeping puppy which later joined the other to drink the milk hungrily.

While I was seeing the puppies going to sleep, a call came from my father. I realized it was already dinner time. Only then I realized that my stomach was growling which I had failed to notice in my preoccupation with the puppies. I gulped down the food hungrily like a dog. I tried to have a little chat with my father about puppies, but, as usual he was least interested in such silly topics.
Why dont you go down and talk to the puppies, I would doubt whether they would bother listening to a bore like you!

I scowled and went down to see whether the puppies were still sleeping. I saw that one puppy was awake and one was still sleeping. The one sleeping seemed to be ill. As I just patted the sleeping puppy it opened one eye and gave a look that seemed to say Oh, its just you! and then continued to sleep again. The puppy which was awake just sat near my leg for a few minutes and slept very soon. I also started to feel sleepy after seeing that. So I went up and brought a cup of milk to the puppies and kept it near them so that it could drink it whenever it wishes. Then I went upstairs and slept well.

The next morning I woke up and after doing my morning duties, I went down to see the puppies and found something brown floating on the milk. On questioning my parents about it I heard a pleasant surprise that as the puppies whined in the night, my father fed them a few biscuits by softening them in the milk! Oh! They managed to soften my Dads heart too!
I took my breakfast and it was time for school. Before I left, I asked my parents to take care of them and return them carefully when the blue cross van comes.
I got the reply I expected Do not worry; we have 17 years of experience in growing a dog! Thats all I wanted. I left for school with a mood not so good.

As I returned tired, I heard a bark. I saw that the puppies were still there and I wondered whether my parents had changed their minds about me having the puppies at home. I also felt that it was a step next to impossible. When I enquired, my neighbor told me that the van would come only at 6.00 in the evening. It was already 5.00 pm. I sat with the dogs waiting for the van with a fervent hope that it wont.

But soon it came. I handed over the dogs Half-heartedly to a grim looking man from the Blue Cross, wondering about the type of care the puppies would receive. Suddenly the street dog started barking at me angrily after it saw me handing over the puppies. I saw the puppies being caged and taken away along with my hopes of petting them.

Then as I thought of handing over the extra milk to the street dog which was usually very friendly, it ran away at my approach, as if completely hating me. It was so surprising! After all, the puppies had been abandoned by some other stray dog and this friendly dog of mine had no business what so ever connected with the puppies. Even among animals, there is so much of compassion about their clan!
How can I explain to the dog about my predicament? Will it think of me only as an un-trustable person who hands over hapless puppies to grim looking strangers whose treatment to the dogs remains unknown?