Boomerang

Some of the greatest joys of travel are gleaned from knowing that your preconceptions were wrong.Sometimes right.And that sometimes that you are a real lucky bum.You cant be all three of them at the same time.I must have been a lucky bum for a change,then.Unfortunately I never went to check whether the bee had developed knees.

One rather normal night I started off to my home town.Since the urge to go home had spurted only a day before I was travelling in a special bus due to unavailability of tickets in others.Trying to make most out of the 10 hour journey I settled in to sleep only to wake up an hour later to be chased out of the bus along with my co-passengers into the unbelievingly active and swarming Bangalore-Hosur highway.The 'special' bus had no inter-state license.It was to spend the rest of the night at the polices'.As a chaiwala tried to make the most out of the situation,we stood staring at the dispersing bus,unbelievingly .Some of guys who had snapped out of the numbness a little earlier had succeeded in man-handling the bus driver who seemed totally lost.Among them I noticed a guy who was a little more active at it.His gilded bride stood glowing at her hubby's heroism.

Surveying the scene I realised that there were only two other women present.The bride and another girl about my age.When the men were done with their machismo some of them went about calling the travel agency demanding them to arrange another bus for the rest of the journey.I for my part also called up the agency to notify them that women were also involved.By then it was 11 in the night.The agency was all apologies and promised to send a bus to Hosur at the earliest.By then the husband and wife were making other plans to reach atleast till Coimbatore and borad another bus from there to Cochin.They also succeded in getting 2 tickets to Coimbatore at a travel agency along the road.Yet others, unbelieving about the agency's promises were hitch-hiking at every possible passing buses which would take them anywhere near their destination.I realised that Anu(that was the girl's name if I remember right) and I were not part of any action at the moment.Now we were in a hole.We did not have the courage to jump into any passing bus.The husband offered to take us along if we were willing.Anu was game.Atleast they were a couple.I was not very interested,yet diffident about losing the company of a more seemingly mature woman.But then the agency had promised another bus.

"Lets wait for the bus.I guess we can manage this".I assured Anu,hoping I was not being a pea-brain.Much to my relief she only needed me to say that to her.She relented.We began our wait.The couple's bus came around midnight.Before departing they warned us that we girls were being silly and that no bus was to come.Nevertheless they asked us to take care.The number of people who remained was reduced from 20-something to 7.It was a freezing and intermittent winds added pain.I wondered whether I would have to enter feet first into the bus when and if it arrived.Anu and I discussed everything but about the not-arriving-bus.It must have been on a mutual understanding.Our wait did not go waste.At 2 in the morning a tempo-traveller arrived."Fantabulous!.As if not enough we were supposed to travel with the torso erect".I discussed with her.But the traveller interiors were a little more promising.The seats were plush though erect.But to our absolute horror the driver was playing tamil folk songs.The vehicle would be taking us to Coimbatore and from there another bus had been arranged to take us to Cochin.Not very confident about this proxy bus arrangement I decided not to sleep,lest I woke up changed.

With folk songs for company,I watched the traveller drive into the dawn with swimming eyes.At around 7 in the morning we reached Coimbatore.Much to our relief there was a bus waiting for us.Doing a few stretches we boarded the bus which was luckily, a sleeper.Without further hiccups we would be reaching our hometown.As Anu and I settled down into our seats we let out a sigh and exchanged smiles before trying to catch some sleep.The bus started off immediately,only to be stopped the very next moment.A"What now!!??" must have been on everyone's minds as we craned necks to see what had happened.I wanted to hoot and whistle as I saw last night's couple enter the bus.Situations like these brings back the kid.With a little provocation I would have gotten up,wagged my fingers at them and given them a "You did not get very far did you!". Anu shared my sentiments.We let the men in the bus do the hooting.Feeling unnecessarily puffed up we settled down to sleep into the afternoon.

The Swing

I remember,back in school when we had 10 minute breaks in between 40 minute class hours it was a dash out to the little park in the school backyard to take turns at swinging.The person who reached the swings first got the first turn.Others who dashed in subsequently waited for theirs.No bullying.Peaceful wait.No timers.The person on the swing had to get tired of his stunts.It was all about swinging to the greatest heights.You were a star if you recorded a good height.

Today if I feel like getting into swings,mood swings are the only option.Yeah you could ride high on them.More so with greater amplitudes.And anyone who tried hauling you over to mean position would be a victim of rarer stunts.

About a month back when I visited my school with some friends and tried using the swings again we would not fit into it.Squeezing myself into it I had looked up to see the school roof top which we in our swing-fitting sizes ,claimed to 'virtually touch' as we rode high on it.

Well.. I sound desperate enough to spend my day on a swing rather than an ergonomic office chair.Not really.If I had been,I would have put up a swing in our apartments' balcony and swung on it day and night.But would not people in neighboring flats summon fireforce to bring the girl down -from the swing- who seemed to have lost it?

Coming to the point, swinging is not a passion.But then this piece of writing was inspired by how the meaning of swinging gave way to another.Though life is not about swinging the next time you see a swing(I mean the one with ropes and a sitting thing) dont look at it with apprehension.If you can fit onto it dont miss a ride.

Your berth or mine?

A few weeks back I was travelling from Banglore to Chennai to meet a few friends.The train started after 11.30 in the night.Maybe everyone had gone beyond their getting-into-bed times.I noticed that all my fellow passengers including me, were not in a hurry to call it a day.Three young ladies were chattering away and nibbling at chocolates.Two young men were chattering away about(no prizes for guessing) technical jargons.Well.. you can't miss software proffessionals anywhere you go.Being in the field myself I did not stop myself from trying to decipher where and on what and for how many years they had been working.Without much strain I got to know that they were both about 2 years experienced and that they worked in respectable firms.

Dousing my curiosities, I happily settled down with my music player and a book I had won over from Letha after a squabble.In about an hour everyone was ready to settle into,for the night.Mine was an upper berth.As I prepared to climb up,one of the men asked me whether he could swap his berth with mine. Since his was a middle berth I did not have a problem.I agreed.

I heard the other man asking his friend."Hey why do you want the upper?".And my friend was like "Oh I dont want anyone to disturb me yaar.It is so much peaceful up there.The middle berth will have people either staring at you or dashing against your feet as they pass by.I choked on the water I was drinking out of a bottle.Pretending not to hear I struggled to tie up my hair while settling into the middle berth."You are right there, and yeah....verrry little head space too".The other guy offerred,seeing me struggle to keep my head high.I would not attempt any yogic posture other than a Shavasana in the middle of the night ,I wanted to assure him.Suppressing my irritation I smiled brightly at him and said."You should not have enlightened him in front of me".They grinned and went on their way to the upper berths.

The train was scheduled to reach Chennai at 4.30 am.I woke about 15 minutes early and went ahead freshening myself up.When I returned the guys were just waking up.Stiffling a huge yawn my friend was saying."Arrey yaaarrr the mosquitoes ate me alive.The fan wind was not coming onto me"."Yeah exactly!Even I was awake almost all the night.I had just slept when my alarm went off!".The other guy was saying.Both of them had not noticed me come in.They looked down at the same instant while I looked up at them innocently.

"The next time am asked to write an essay about the advantages and disadvantages of using the upper berth I will not get stuck".I said suppressing a much awaited giggle.As we grinned sheepishly at each other,I added hurriedly."Hey no hard feelings.Bubbyee".With that I dashed out into the already buzzling Chennai Central station.

Hard feelings or not they were just two other faces in the crowd.

What have thou wrought?

The other day as I walked the flight of stairs to my apartment one of the kids in the flat came running down.I gave him a hello,ruffled his hair and moved on.I froze on spot when he called out."Aunty is looking glamorous today".He looked up and smiled innocently at me as I looked at him confused wondering whether the 6 year old had said what I had heard.Well...I sighed as I thought.Atleast the comment stopped there.He had not left me embarassed.

On one occassion as I sat with my friends in McDonalds we noticed a kid trying to catch our attention.He stood behind a glass separation and was all expressions and actions at us."Oh he is sooo cute!" I exclaimed."Ohh yeah cute!These days they could'nt get any cuter!".My friend said.When I frowned at him ,he went on indignantly."Hey dont go about cootchie-cooing him, I tell you.You might end up hearing colorful expletives or atleast see his finger".He narrated as to how a kid had called out a 'Get lost you dog!!' when the kid's seductive innocent smiles had led my friend to cuddle him"."Oh you must have tried to steal his french fries".I offered,triggering a war of words.We looked on at other kids around us.One Mama and Papa were grinding out french fries lovingly for their 6 - 7 month old kid.Well, if a baby can have a diet restricted to adults then why cant kids mouth statements restricted to the latter?

Talking of diet maybe the baby will grow up to hate its parents for its obesity.Like my little niece once said "I dont want to be fat like mama" or "Do I not have Aishwarya Rai's figure?" or "I would not eat that.I would grow fat".????!!!!!?????.How can anyone her age even consider such things!

A child's innocence is worth pursuing.But if it gets caught up in the 'wisdom' of the world what are we left with to pursue?

Fall in place

Travelling in an office cab to and fro from work is inevitable.It was a week before route buses were allocated to us freshers.It was all about excitement from the start.We were excited to know that we had a cab service right in front of the flat where we were put up.Excited enough to be early to board the cab the first day. It would be quite a buzz that we created inside the bus.Rush for a window seat,call out to a friend to come and join ,celebrate when a popular song was on air in Radio Mirchi,do everything but jump out of the window when another cab passed ours and even more so if it was carrying a batchmate.

When I became sober enough to notice other cab mates they seemed out of the world.The first few days I did not care to bother as to why they seemed so abnormal.When I did care to, it frustrated me.Everyone looked like robots.No one seemed to talk or smile.Some of them had headsets on.Some slept.Once in a while one of them would be brought out of his trance by his ringing phone.At times one of them would turn around and give us a sick look."They look like bobbing hydrogen balloons plugged to the seats!"I had thought then.

Present Day

The time in between getting into the office cab and settling down into a seat moves with lightening speed.Most of the time we run behind cabs or the cab waits for us or we board an auto on realising that we have missed all possible buses along our route.The other day I was sitting in the cab with my headset on.A young man joined me in my seat.He is a new face who has started coming in my cab.There is a whole gang of them now.Freshers from the 2007 batch.Before the bus has started towards home,he had collected his gang around him.God!What a clatter they make!I refrain from turning around and giving them the look.I look at my other cab mates.Bobbing heads.Before I had noticed, I had joined their club.

Sound Of Music

Singing and I share a very intimate relationship.I have been associated with music for more than 3/4ths of my life.The decision to learn classical music was made when I was 7 years old.At that time I never realised the repercussions of it.

My first music teacher was a Bhagavadar(music maestro) in my colcony.With all due respect I just hated him.Sincerely.Ofcourse I learned the basics of classical singing from him.Not that I got far.Every evening after school I would give him my attendence.We would sit on a mat .He opposite me and he would go."Varaveenaaaa mrithu paaaniiiiii".I was supposed to repeat after him.I would do the same in front of him as many times as he thought it necessary for me to get it right.Now that was not all."Now you can repeat that 100 times so that it gets embedded into your grey cells".He would say as he went out of the room for some entertainment .Grrr..I knew what he was upto.He would be getting his evening tea while I would let my stomach do all the singing.

I studied 'trying to sing' further for 7 years under him and one more Bhagavadar.By and by I began to hate displays of singing talents.Yet I was dragged into it on innumerable occasions.For me it was always horrendous.Why did God ever create audience??It was either in front of a visiting distant relative, during power cuts when no one had anything better to do,to earn an extra house point on the order of house captain, inside the excursion bus,for a college function.And that was not all.I had to listen to template comments.

I can never forget the first hoot I got .It was when I sang for my colony day.It came even before I finished the first line.It felt great.At least people were being honest.I did not have to listen to plastic comments.Like my bro once said if the ransom that had been invested in sharpening my singing skills had been utilised in planting a few coconut trees around the house it would have given us coconuts by now.

Band Baja

One school year I had this sudden interest to become a part of the school band.Maybe the prim and uniformed band girls and boys invoked my interests.The process was simple.I just had to register my name for the band training and if I did well I would be in the school band.Ah a cake walk! I observed.And it was, until the classes began!

Hanging out with known faces and other wannabes was something.But to be able to play the instruments,another.The band master gave me the option of choosing between the drums and trumpets.Since trumpets reminded me of puffed cheeks and elephant trumpets themselves I opted for the drums.And I had always believed that I gelled well with wind instruments.

Imagining myself in those red and blue checked skirts drumming away to the National Anthem and leading the whole school in the drill ,I lifted a drum.Mannn! Was it not heavy!!.How in the whole world did they do it???I succeeded in getting its strings around my neck.As it hung against my body I felt the full force of it and my shoulders slumped.Before I fell with the drum crushing me down, I got my friend to remove it out of me.

But Lakshmi was not going to go back and tell everyone that she quit the band classes as she could not carry one of those puny drums.But then I could not be in the band drill drumming away while someone else carried it for me.So there I was.Back to where I started.Only those trumpets could save my face.Maybe I thought, trumpet was what was meant for me and I could get to play the whole National Anthem's background music unlike those dumb drums.Now that was something I had not thought of before.Bingo!Trumpets!My thing!

Now trumpets were not feather light but atleast I could carry it about.The band master must have realised from the start that I would not get anywhere anyway or he cared less.All the same he did not discourage me from trying out the trumpets.

He explained that for the first week I would have to try and get the windy sound outta the thing.Now that was quite a blow- because I had believed that I would be playing the tunes from day 1- especially when I tried blowing through it the results were either sound of wind through an hose or if lucky, the sound of blowing the nose when you have cold.Patience girl,Patience I told myself.Let us try for a week.Nothing happens in a day.

I continued the ritual for 3 days.The sound from the instrument began to become more audible with the more time I put into it.But on the third day I had lost all my wind ,blowing wind into it and I had my decision.I was quitting before my lungs blew up or I developed a heart attack.And just imagine how it would sound, if it did.Please!I wanted to die in style.

I dropped out.I did not bother to tell the band master what my reasons were.The last I heard from him was via a friend who said that he had asked for me."So are you getting back?"She had asked on his behalf.Err..well..ESCAPE!!!!