A day in college...

Its been 9 years since I had bid farewell to classroom education with a B.E degree from College of Engineering, Guindy. Shriya likes to feel younger though by saying its only 4 years since she completed her MBA :) Out of all good things that happened in college, Shriya's friendship must be somewhere at the top. Our friendship reminds me of a nice quote in a card that another one of my best friends had given.  'Friends are people you just like without even trying'. Our friendship started off just like that by the end of the 1st year in college. 

All these years, we have managed to stay in touch regularly even when we were in different states or countries. Now that I am settled in Chennai, we get a chance to meet whenever she comes home to Chennai. On that day, we decided to meet up as she was in town for the weekend. I suggested meeting at our college instead of the usual place (her home). I chose to leave my bike at home and go by public transport. I had some apprehensions about whether they would let us in without any ID card. I did not want to further complicate that by taking my bike there. 

As in college days, I woke up late and rushed off from home to catch a train to Guindy, and a bus from there to my college. The only difference during college days was that it was always hitch hiking that got me to college. While I was on the bus, Shriya gave me a call and said the security guy did pose some questions but let her in when she said she is an alumni. I got off the bus and tagged myself along with some of the college students and got in without much fuss. She had told me that she was waiting near the clock tower, the iconic building of our college. 

We met up there and went to the canteen to quench our thirsts. After moving through the queue at the canteen, we treated ourselves to some fruit juices. We noticed the things that have changed (example, new look RCC, giant clock in working condition) from what they used to be and how some things have pretty much managed to stay the same way (a Reva car roaming around the campus and the Xerox centers). There were new round tables near each department with an umbrella shade have popped up through out the campus. There were some studious minds discussing and working on their laptops. 

On our next stretch of walk, we walked by our department buildings and saw some extensions being done to Computer Science department. We then roamed around through the hostel areas and saw much to our surprise the new hostels that have been constructed. Those were called International hostels, not sure whether that International portion referred to the students or the building quality. The new hostels looked great and inviting with a well built structure and well maintained appearance. Hostels are no longer named with numbers, each one of them has been given a flower name (mostly written in Tamil). We did reach one end of the college and slowly returned to the college exit through a different route. 

While we were on this nostalgic tour, something weird happened. One of our mutual friends, who is in Singapore, called me on my mobile. I noticed that the call was coming from his local number and he told me that he just flew into the city last night and asked me if we can meet. How is that for a coincidence? We just couldn't believe our luck. I told him about our get together and asked him to join us for our lunch plan. Shriya and I went to Adyar Sangeetha and waited for our friend to join us. Once he joined us, we had a sumptuous North Indian Thali and returned to our homes.  

Needless to say, that was nostalgic and unforgettable. We had talks about the college days and remembered quite a few incidents from those golden days . Revisiting your college for a day with your best buddies, just priceless. Try it out some time. 

Goodbye Uncle Sam!!

The time had come to bid adieu. It was a long fought and hard thought decision. It wasn't that tough to make the decision, but it was tough to time it and tougher to stick to the timeline.

On the brighter side, no more freezing temperatures, no more winter boots, no more wrap-me-up-in-4-layer clothing, no more back breaking snow removal and certainly no more of check-the-website-before-you-step-outside protocol. On the other side, no more of fall colors, peaceful long drives at midnight, no more long weekend flight trips, no more of multiply-savings-by-45 to see a larger smile :).

In more than one sentimental way, we got very much attached to NJ. After all, that is the place our son was born. The life in NJ started rather boringly, at least for my wife, with literally no known faces around. We must thank all my friends who soon became her friends too. Thanks to Skype, we didn't miss our family much. Given that even marriages nowadays almost happen thru Skype, one can't complain about not being in touch with the family when one has Skype.

Weekdays were mechanically monotonous with the 9 to 6 work schedules and late night calls. The weekends were a well deserved relaxation for a week's hard work. The first few weekends went in shopping, shopping and some more shopping. A few more weekends after that went in unpacking the baggage from India and setting up the house. The kind of shopping that Desis like us do in the US on weekends will tire out any strongly built human bodies.

First there is the essentials (milk) for which you go to Shoprite, Krogers or Pathmark (this visit is almost every other day), next there are certain desi essentials (from pudhina paratha to puliogare podi), stop over at Indian store, then that visit to Kohls to use the $20 off weekend coupon by buying $100 of needless apparel and then for big-ticket items, one last stop at Costco or Sam's club. Hold on, the weekend isn't over, even after all this, we used to catch a couple of flicks in DVDs at home. Whoa, loaded weekends those were!!

The long weekend that used to pop up once in a while was a godsend. Especially in US, the long weekends are marketed well by the airline industry. Sometimes, you get deals that you couldn't refuse. We used to plan well ahead of time and take trips over the long weekend, flight trips or road trips, anything that gets out of home was a true relief. After such long trips, we will feel re-energized to resume the daily routine while eagerly turning the calendar for the next long weekend.

First year, we were only able to visit Florida, SFO, Niagara and Virginia as our then soon-to-be-born son restricted our mobility :). Then came a couple of lovely family times, one, our parents-in-laws' stay with us and the other, our parents' stay with us. Once he was about 6 months old, we started our trips again. We covered Niagara (yeah, once again), Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas and Grand Canyon, Washington DC, Vermont, Pittsburgh, Florida (this time for my son) and finally Smokies. The last one was literally an icing on the cake, unforgettable get-together with all my NJ friends and their families. Apart from these long trips, there was the small matter of visiting Liberty statue and NYC every long weekend that we stayed home. Bitter-Sweet gifts of staying close to NYC.

Though the life was all happy and enjoyable during the trips, once in a while we used to feel the loneliness. When our friends or cousins get married or have a get together, we will desperately want to move back. All Indian functions are celebrated in the same way in US. Dress up, visit the temple and finish the day off with a meal at Indian restaurant. Those are the times we really used to question ourselves, how long must we keep doing this. As our son grew up, we felt more and more of that emptiness and loneliness in our lives, especially in our son's life. It must have been greatly boring for him to play with the same toys over and over again. The NJ winters were the final nails on the boredom coffin we enclosed ourselves in.

Hence we made the decision to move back to India in the summer of '11 and be back with the family forever. Though we sometimes miss some of the niceties we used to enjoy in US, the pleasure of living in India with parents and relatives outweigh those niceties and the pollution, traffic and political issues that people cite for not settling in India. While it lasted, we enjoyed our stay in the United States of America.

இளமையில் கொடுமை

நாடிப் பிடித்துப் பார்த்து மருந்து அளிக்கும் கைகள்

பீடி சுருட்டி தேய்ந்தன அதன் கல்வி ரேகைகள்

கலைப் படித்து சிலை வடித்து தரும் கரங்கள்

கல்லுடைத்து இலையெடுத்து வரும் நிஜங்கள்

கேலி கிண்டல் எனக் கூடி யிருக்கும் வயதினில்

போலி சுண்டல் எனக் கூவி விற்கும் கடலினில்

பட பட வென வெடித்த தீபாவளி பட்டாசில்

சட சட வென சிதறியது காகிதத் துகள்கள் மட்டுமல்ல

சில சிவகாசி சிறுவர்களின்

பள்ளிக்கூட ஆசைகளும் தான்!!

சற்றே சிந்தியுங்கள் இன்றே செயல்படுங்கள்!

குழந்தைத் தொழிலாளர்கள் முறையை ஒழிக்க

உங்களால் ஆனவற்றை செய்யுங்கள்!!

ஐந்தாண்டு திட்டம்

இன்று வரும் தேர்தலின் முடிவுகள்

என்று வரும் மாறுதலின் விடிவுகள்?

ஆட்சியில் அமர்வது அய்யாவோ அம்மாவோ

தேர்ச்சியில் நிமர்வது தமிழகமாக இருக்கட்டும்

எம் அரசே!

ஊழல் தீர்க்காமல் இருப்பினும் உழவன் தன்

உயிர் நீக்காமல் இருந்திடச் செய்!

இலவசத் தொலைக்காட்சி கொடுப்பதை விடுத்து

இலங்கையில் கொலைக்காட்சி நடப்பதை நிறுத்து!

வரிப்பணத்தை உன் வங்கிப்பணமாக எண்ணி

ஒட்டு வாங்க வாரி இறைக்காதே!

பாரதத்தை உன் பரம்பரை சொத்தாக எண்ணி

குடும்பத்தாருடன் கூறு போடாதே!

தரணியில் தமிழகம் செழிக்கப் பாடு படு

தன்னலமின்றி என் நிலம் காக்க உறுதி எடு!

இது ஒரு பொன் மாலைப் பொழுது

உன் வட்ட முகத்தை எட்ட நின்று

பார்த்திருக்கும் நிலா

உன் மல்லி வாசத்தை அள்ளிப் போக

காத்திருக்கும் தென்றல்

உன் முகவொளி காணாமல் தன் அகவொளி

மறைக்காத மாலைக் கதிரவன்

உன் அடிப் பாதம் நனைக்கப் பிடிவாதமாய்

கரை வந்து போகும் கடலலை

எனக்காக இல்லை என்றாலும்

இவற்றுக்காக வா

காத்திருக்கிறேன் கடற்கரையில்

என் காதலி நீ வரும் வரையில்