DreamingAway

What a great feeling it is to watch the misty mountain full of tall green trees! Don't we see trees and clouds everyday in our lives? Still, why those remote places so miraculously kindle the hidden joy in and around us? Why those hairpin bends are the loveliest places to stretch your hands? I think, though there is wonderfulness in the union of mountain, trees, clouds and water, the ecstasy is our own total submission to it. Don't you believe, a shapeless thought in your mind can hide the whole world from your wide open eyes? Watching the rising waves touching the shore, the distant mountain, the green valley are all really loveable. There is other side of the same, diving into the river, climbing on a mountain, walking inside the deep forest and flying in the sky - a divine feeling. Recently I had a chance to visit a small waterfall called "Thoovaanam" (தூவானம்) near Coimbatore. To reach the place, we had to walk about 7 kilometers from where we stayed. We started v...

If you need to catch the bus on the other side of the road, you will have heavy traffic in your side and you will surely miss the bus. Beautiful girls standing next to you in the bus stop will always feel disappointed as they have to travel in the bus that goes in some other route. On a rare day, if you have Rs. 50 for ticket, before you reach the conductor, he will scold the person with Rs. 10 for ticket, for not having proper change. If your bus is too crowded, then you will find another bus of same type and number follows your bus with no crowd at all. Young girls will go in a high quality college and private company buses with lots of comfort. When you see women of age 40 plus from the first row to the last row in your bus, your heart will cry. Why should my city old ladies struggle like this at this age? Oh, God, that is injustice, give them rest at home. When you pay Rs. 10 and travel in a deluxe bus, an ordinary bus (Rs. 5) will overtake your bus, that too, just a stop before wh...

M21 runs in Tambaram - Vijayanagar route. It stops at Vijayanagar bus terminus. It stops there for about 5 minutes for the conductor to sign in his office. Then the bus goes to the other side to go to Tambaram. It stops there for another 5 - 10 minutes - break time for the driver and the conductor before they start. So there is about 20 minutes time for a passenger to get into the bus. People get into the bus at different places and time. Here are few… Directly go the terminus, regardless of whether there is M21 or not, and get the bus. + Fairly comfortable travel + Good time for mobile conversation - Extra waiting time - Have to miss the other buses even if they are not crowded Wait at the other side and go the terminus iff M21 arrives. + Works well on the worst case, i.e., no M21 for a long time + Even though late, possibilities for getting the seat is nearly 100% - Might be oblivion of the traffic and run to catch the bus - Tend to be double minded...

Including her chandelier earrings, I find nothing to really say, is beautiful! Even the cigarette smoke swirling in the air is enjoyable as long as you don't see the other part, for every touch on the lungs it kills the smoker a bit. The lotus in hand is not as pleasing as it is when floating in the pond (you know, we had a pond next to our school with full of water plants like lotus). Perhaps few of you could agree with me, if I rate Sachin's sixes , particularly those hit at the later part of the match against Australia in Sharjah 1998 as the most beautiful sixes than many hit by Sachin and many other batsmen. The opponent, the spectators, the commentary, the camera work and that thrilling match situation - I think absence of any of these would degrade the excellence of those sixes. Though you hear people say some particular thing, such as sunrise, as beautiful on most occasions or always, I think beauty is momentary. It should be as it is not the thing and your eyes but the ...

I went for a short trip to Wayanad, Kerala with my colleagues and this post is just a looking back. I heard from one of my friends that Wayanad means "Vayal" "Nadu". I had no problem in understanding this (land of paddy fields) as it sounds the same in my own language, Tamil. The journey towards Wayanad started around 8.30 AM from Calicut. In fact, it is Wayanad district, located on the Western Ghats and we were travelling towards a place called Kalpetta. It looked like a town and I guess the place is dominated by Muslims. It was interesting to watch the road and the streets that connects it to the near by houses. The road is laid higher than the street level and just after half a kilo meter it is the reverse of it. Perhaps, you could imagine the structure as a graph where the zigzag line moves on the z-axis having its base on the x-y plane. The pattern repeats for a long distance and I wonder how beautiful it would have been had they not built houses there. I was e...

I am sure, if you love a thing, you wish to see the best of it. Don't you? Perhaps that is the secret of 'Chettinad' food's taste. People from that area enjoy the taste when they have their food. Their heart and mind are in it. It is hard to find a match when you get the Chettinad food served in a Banana leaf. Though many of my friends say that the "Vellai Paniyarm"/"Paal Paniyaram" is the special, I love the 'Kavun Arisi' sweet. When they get every ingredients right, for me, that tastes better than everything else. In my recent visit to Karaikudi, I got a chance to taste another scrumptious drink. It is a derivation from North Indian food (Not sure about it) and it is very famous in Madurai. In fact, the name is mentioned in the Tamil movie "Kadhal" - I had not noticed it. I wonder why they got the name "Jil Jil Jigar Thanda" for it, but believe me it is very delicious.

It was auto primetime (time when people rush to get autos and taxies rather than waiting for the bus, not just because it is late but because everyone else is leaving, and the fear, they might be left alone in the night) at Vijayanagar bus terminus and I was waiting for the bus, knowing that the bus would surely come within maximum of 20 minutes. It is such wonderful feeling to stay relaxed in the midst of disarray. Of course, thank God for the 'flexitime', both at home and in the office. Three buses came in succession: 21L, 10G and M45E. I was looking for 5A, M21 or some 51s. Before I turn my attention back to the crowded auto, I felt, I saw something I was waiting for. It took few seconds, perhaps such an unmatched complex queuing system, for my mind to pick the scene from what it had seen a second before. The word 'Tambaram' - exactly the thing I wanted. Why did I take those few extra seconds to notice it? I realise, it is because, the bus is new in this route, at le...

If you had a bus travel experience in Chennai, you would be able to get what I am going to say! I don't generally look for a seat in the moderately crowded bus while coming to the office. I prefer standing (that is equally comfortable one for me) for about 40 minutes, in the fresh morning. I know there are lots of people who get annoyed if they don't get a seat as soon as they are in the bus. This is an unwritten(?) rule: You are the owner of it, if you are standing near the seat which is going to be freed. There are professional people who could break this rule if you give them a little bit of chance. The simplest trick is to give your lunch bag/etc., to the person who is seated. He takes care of your bag (of course, will return it!). It is a 'compulsory help' that one ought to do for his co-passenger. When he needs to get down from the bus, your bag books a seat for you. Whom should you give your belongings is where your professionalism shown. Another trick is to look...