De-Cold

Head feels as if a military march past is on, eyes feel like two painful water balloons, nose – part leaky part blocked, not letting air pass through to my lungs, throat – a cacti forest, a rain of sneezes, a bonanza of coughs, a sick, ill, cranky, exhaustion throughout my body. I do not like getting a cold. As if anyone fancies it. But I HATE it. It’s a constant irritation. My jaws, joints and the last bit of every bone is also aching. My already huge nose is serving as a nice bright red clown’s nose. I want to sleeeeeep. But I’m stuck in office, on a Friday evening, dreaming of hot and sour soup, tucked in bed and reading Shantaram – wow! Just a few hours away – and yet it seems so far away. Boo hoo!

My office chaaya!!

Served thrice a day, the same pathetic chaaya, has sadly become my habit. As they say beggars cannot be choosers. I am repulsively accustomed to this tea served in office. It is watery with a stale milk smell. It is bland sometimes, cloying and nauseating other times. I miss the sexy coffee served at my old office. Man! That was something I could kill for. Standing on the third floor ka fire exit, gazing up at the vast spread of sky above, with a steaming cup of perfectly blended fresh coffee beans and milk, thick foam sticking on to my upper lip, aah! Bliss!!! The pantry guy Venkat is my best friend in office. Good mood ho toh celebration ke liye coffee. Bad mood ho toh support ke liye coffee. Somehow he used to serve me with that elixir at the very precise moment. I miss him, his smiling face and most of all, his knack of making the most awesome coffee in this universe. This chaaya, I am staring at right now tastes like puke. Not that I have tasted puke but you know, it is just terrible. Once in a blue moon there is ginger tea which is bearable. Just like this dump of a place, the tea depresses me. Oh Lord, lift the dark clouds, give us lowly mortals some hope, let my poor organization afford a coffee vending machine!!!! Till then, I silently endure this steel cup mein pathetic chaaya.

Mercury Rising!

Radio Mirchi playing in the car blares out aloud – Semma Hot Machi!! Yes, Chennai has become unbearably hot. I do not like it. Along with the weather, people’s temper's also shot up. It is a sheer torture to drive to office and back everyday. Civic sense is simply non-existent. Cops are eunuchs, lorry drivers are drunk, auto fellows are rowdies and cyclists have the mistaken belief that their grandpop left them the city in his will. And of course, to top it all, you will find some road between potholes and puddles. Such huge cracks that you wonder whether you slept through an enormous earthquake! It as much as drizzles and the traffic is a huge mess. Muck splashed on all vehicles, rubble of under-construction flyovers occupying half the roads, cows and goats occupying the remaining half! God, I mean what has this city come to? It is not a rare sight to see a cop lazing away at a tea kadai or Beeda kadai while a plush car owner is being hurled abuses at or even manhandled by a van or auto driver, surprisingly for no fault of his! Here people simply assume that at every blind turn there definitely won’t be any forthcoming vehicle, a horn is unheard of and an indicator! Oh forget about it! I am a pretty calm and patient person by nature. But now there is almost a blinding fury every time I am put through the agony of driving with a huge bus dangerously chasing me, an obstinate auto guy hell bent on overtaking me from the left and a cyclist royally cutting across diagonally without so much as a hand signal! Another juvenile thing is for people to gape at a girl behind the steering wheel. It is just a marvel for some of them. They will cat call, follow you, honk or simply scare you while driving! I mean, For Chris’ Sake, grow up! This city’s roads and citizens both need a lot of repair. I was shocked to learn that in Chennai alone there are 600 accidents per year on road. Appalling! Why don’t people realize the value of life! An adventure is only foolish guts not gone wrong, luckily. But luck does not favor a person eternally, especially on Chennai roads.

"Truth is a bully we all pretend to like!"

Gregory David Roberts

Heart Dis-ease

People love creating issues of the heart, probably to feel alive, to feel more ‘human’. Whether it’s for pleasure or pain, it doesn’t matter. They just want to ‘feel’ something as though if they didn’t, their hearts would jump out of their body and flee. There is a bigger threat to humanity than poverty, terrorism, corruption and global warming – the human heart! Everyone’s made a big deal out of it. And there are some people I know who would go to any extent to cause discomfort to others only to pacify their own sobbing heart. They cannot stand rejection. They will fight back. They disguise themselves as “friends”; buy your trust, and then Boom! Just when you feel that that the road ahead is smooth, they grab you and take a steep u-turn and come to a screeching halt right at the spot from where you fled the last time! It is unfair. U.N.F.A.I.R. What do you get by scratching on a dry wound? Why don’t people understand the meaning of the phrase ‘move-on’? Sometimes I fail to totally understand and appreciate people’s persistence over certain things in life. They blindly believe that this is what they want; this is what feels right so they presume it must actually be right and then they pursue it incessantly. Why are only those who profess love, support this ‘blissful’ feeling, always justified? Only being in love is right? Not being out of love?

First Post, Mine!

People all around me are Blogging like crazy. Until recently I enjoyed only reading others’ thoughts. Phir socha, chalo I’ll also write. Atleast whenever my mind plays noisy gongs to drive me deaf and crazy, I should drill a hole in this cauldron and let it leak away excesses! So, I hope I persist with this new habit, which, in my case, is quite rare. All the best to me as well as anyone who stumbles upon this site by mistake, of course!!!