You are currently browsing the category archive for the ‘Chennai’ category.
Last week, I walked through fire, at an office picnic in Mahabs.
“Walk through the gateway of fear! Radically re-evaluate your fears, beliefs and barriers when you discover that you can walk unscathed across a bed of coals in excess of 1200 degrees!” (source)
Click here for more stuff on similar lines or here for the science behind it.
Sajeev helped me survive the roller coaster ride these last four years.
Thanks mone!
Legend has it that when she was born, the third girlchild in her family, her mom said ‘Chahiye na!’ and that became her name.
We used to work together (the photo above was clicked a few days before she quit), and today she is a good friend.
Chain, thanks for being around.
From 1991 to ’93 i was with Ashok Leyland, in the Marketing Services Group, handling market Research. It was a dream job – opportunity to travel and meet people, lot of free time to catch up on reading (on the train) and good money.
Once, in Central Station, while walking to my coach, i saw this beautiful Mallu girl boarding the train. After the train started, i tracked her down and struck up a conversation – She was studying in Cuttack (hey! i am going to Cuttack), She was from Calicut (I studied in Calicut). I told her i will be in Orissa for a week and that i would like to meet her sometime. She wasn’t very enthusiastic…
Let us call her Devi, She was studying in NIRTAR (National Institute of Rehabilitation Training and Research).
I asked everybody i met in Cuttack, starting with the auto driver who took me to my hotel, about NIRTAR and nobody had heard about the place. Finally, on the day i was to leave town, i was told NIRTAR is located in Olatpur, some 30 km away from Cuttack.
I decided to make the trip (!). It was pouring like crazy, the bus was leaking, and by the time i reached the institute (the last 2 km in a cycle rickshaw with open sides) i was drenched to the skin. I located the Girl’s Hostel (which i remember as an old bunglow, nothing like the pic below), met the warden and asked for Devi.
Devi made her entrance after a good 30 minutes. She was cold, and bundled me out in a few minutes.
From Cuttack, I went to Calcutta. Jose was working in Cal then. I recounted my story to Osa and he deadpanned “Ninakku NIRTARayille?”
Vaalkashnam: When i got back to Chennai, there was this letter from Devi waiting for me. And that was “the beginning of a beautiful friendship” (From Casablanca, check out the movie)
I lived in Perambur with Chacko, Biju, Puthu and Chacko’s dog (the last few months) during 1993-94. Rakesh also stayed with us for a few months.
I had had some crazy highs and crazy lows in Perambur, and today, i look back upon the days we spent there with much fondness. Perambur was in many ways an utopian experiment – there were no rules and there were no limits. And naturally, our flat was a big time party hub – Ani, Jose, Pattar, Aliyan Rakesh and Unni are the regulars i remember, and the entire Cochin gang, including Biju, Bobby, Diji and TV, has jammed with us during Perambur’s halcyon days. And once, the ENTIRE Cochin gang landed up in Perambur together – that was for the Jethro Tull concert – and that in many ways, spelled the end of Perambur as we had come to love.
Sajeev asked for a post on Nandanam.
And threated to use the RTI Act if i didn’t comply.
So, here goes…
Heppy?
Posted on www.lntvalves.com/blog on 1 June 2007
In Chennai, starting today, motorcycle riders are required by law to wear helmets. This law has provoked a lot of debate and I feel sharing a page from my motorcycle diary would benefit my friends.
10 May 2000
It was the annual performance review season, and that morning I was supposed to meet my boss with the appraisal form. On reaching office I realized that I had forgotten the form at home and decided to rush back and get it. I knew I was pushing the limits of my old KB100 but I did not want to be late – not on performance appraisal day.
The next thing I remember, I am in a hospital, drifting in and out of consciousness. I remember a doctor by my side; asking me my name and the panic rising, as my mind was blank.
I recovered from the shock after a few hours, but I still have no recollection about how the accident happened; from my memory, the event was thankfully blacked out. Based on what my friends could gather from the people who carried me to the hospital, I was driving at a very high speed, lost control, hit the lane divider, got thrown off the bike and landed on my face.
What I know for sure is that the impact loosened the bonding of the cranial plates in my skull (in simpler terms, I cracked my skull), and I was bedridden for two months.
I also know, without my helmet, I would have been dead.
So, to quote my favourite trucker,
Rule or no rule, Wear a helmet
OK TATA, Sound Horn
Babu Kuriakose 