Bloggart :D

one indicab, three passengers, one love_lorn_tam_driver, the tam hinterland...and one very very sore butt.

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Fine. It's been a week since my upcountry visit.

So here's my report.

Day1

Start at 5.30AM from my pad (hehe) @ chennai.
Reach Villupuram @ 9.00AM
Start off from Hotel Akshaya at 10AM.
...
...
...
Reach Hotel at 11PM. After a good day's work.
Distance travelled: 411km by road.

Day 2

More of the same.
Reach chennai @ 11PM.
Distance travelled: 230km by road.

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The national highways are a real beauty. Silky smooth, satin black.
Long stretches of high speed driving (
And ya, the back roads are a beauty too. Ruts the size of the indica's tyres...bone shaking bumps...and some of the most beautiful and scenic places i've ever had the good fortune of seeing, on either side of the road. School children runnin across the road at 3PM just on the outskirts of Polur. Still lakes, shimmering under the tamilnad sun. Mughal era embankments and little castles on top of hillocks. And ya, maniacal bus drivers, just to spicen things up a lil. :)

At 4.47PM (i kno, i looked at my watch) on Day 1...i caught myself wondering what i was doing.
The sun beat down mercilessly on to the metal roof of the car...i was miles away from civilization...the last place we had stopped at did not have a mail service (i saw mail being pushed off a bus onto the road...the bus barely stopped for half a minute)...there were no restrooms ANYWHERE! ... (though that did translate to my claiming some parts of the green fields of tamland as my own :-"...anyways :p ... there were no englis_speakin_ppl in the vicinity...except for the two other passengers in my car...and yes...my driver had a thing goin on with some girl somewhere...he was on his phone the whole day!...was whisperin sweet nuthings to his looouuuu... {NOT funny...considering the indica aint that big...and considering he kept talkin in this syrupy voice...even as wild bus drivers roared past..grr}...

anyways...like i was saying...i caught myself wondering what i was doing...out there...wat with my having graduated a coupla months back...wat with me knowing full well that software was an option...wen it came to placements, that is...knowing full well that a business analyst role woulda suited me perfectly...knowing that my day would be spent in a comfy office...with free coffee and tea...and food courts...and no travel...and free internet...and a computer on my desk...a DESK, for that matter!...powerpoint to play with...hmm.

i caught myself wondering why in God's good name i was out on that road. but then...

{Flashback}
Sometime in late january. My campus. 5.30AM. Dawn in the east indian winter. I'm sitting out there, talking about career choices. And i said to her: "Y'kno sumthing? I think i've had it too damm easy this far. I have yet to face the real world. I have yet to see India. I have yet to kno wat the common man feels like. And i want that. Now. Rather than later. I want to be out on the road. I want to experience it all. And then when I tire of it, I want to be able to retire to comfort. I'm 23. I don't want to be coddled anymore."

It is exactly 'bout this sorta moment that it is said:
"Be careful what you wish for, you just might end up getting it". :)

{Back to the present}

4.48 PM. Day 1.
I smiled as I looked out the window.
It's freaky, getting what you want.
It's freaky, and a marvellous thing too.
It's like Him up there said "Amen" wen i'd stopped talking.

It surely is something to be blessed.
And to know a blessing when you see one, too.

i'm_luvin_it.
syko.

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in_the_contradictory_info_section_of_the_day
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oooh...sorray! dint mention dat the A/C was on full blast in the car...and ya...i did get treated like royalty wherever i went...i'm thinkin it's my sunshades that do the trick :D

Current Mood: Thoughtful
Current Music: Very peppy tam song thang in da webworld...hooyay!

...to lay down them rules that i'd like to follow for a long-ish time.

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so if you make an obscene amount of monnay evry month...wat is it you do?

/:)

i've tried buying books on the roadside. nope. will not do. no friggin way.
i've tried eating at fancy places. hmm. that helps... slightly :D

but no. i need a better way to spend the paisa. :-"

so i've hit upon summat nice.

RULE XXI of the syko_rule_book!: 
If I respect an artist, I will, God willing and all, make sure that I pay my dues to him/her.

Explanation of RULE XXI
i shall purchase legal copies of art produced by any artist i admire, be it a musician or a writer or a singer. I will say no to piracy*. For the artists i bow down to, screaming "We're Not Worthy!", I shall buy the originals.

So it is written, so it shall be done.

crazy_man.
syko.

PS: i start counting at 20. i'm crazy l'thaat.

*Except in cases where the piece of art is a remix or some crap like that.

Current Mood: Bad Hair Day
Current Music: Girl sitting next to me discusssin her weddin with her friend over ze mobile. VERY loudly. :| Reliance Web World. aar.

ola maria! and yoo too...francisca!

ya. i wish.
it's more like ... engui irrekei kamalamma. :))
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So first off > *phooey. Looong breath taking now i am.
Coz it is the thing that i am a-havin a lot to say.
But what i not have is da patients. Or patience. Figure out it.

*Coherence returning and all :p

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Where do i begin, me_lovelies?

With May 18th? When i wanted to rush back to the hotel and access the internet to type the following words in me beloved blog --"Today is the first day of the rest of my life"?

Or May 19th...when i woke up early and thanked myself for not doin sumthin as stupid as postin dat? :D

Or May 20th...when i stepped onto the tarmac at chennai domestic and had the lovely chennai summer hit me full blast? The night i checked into this amazing hotel and i had to ask myself what i'd done to deserve it all?

Or May 21st...my actual "first day" thang...which i spent in a...umm...godown? Gaining respect for the ppl who do it day in and day out?

Or any day from the weeks that have followed?
Where I've gone from being "a guy" (and a coo-uhl one at dat :-") to "a bachelor" (!)...who house owners had problems renting out their beloved flats and rooms to? :D

Or mebbe the other day when i almost gave up the ghost on Poonamalle High Road returnin home from office at the early hour of 8.35PM? (thank u god for allowin me to type this in :D) Or even yesterday actually...freaky bus fker...who almost rammed our car..bloddy bad drivin on chennai roads i say.

Or mebbe June 2nd...when i got my first pay packet thang? for the 23 days i "worked" and all... hmm.. that smile dint take long to sober up... the government took away my money! SO MUCH of it! (#*@)*#@)(#* grr.

Or how abt yesterday...when i gave up...literally gave up...coz i realized that this is the way things are gonna be from hereon? That this is how life is gonna be...just me and the road.

Living alone is a real bummer. There aint nothing...NOTHING...great abt it. Independence? Duh...it's not like we awl come from military households... What else you got in the other court? Nothin much else mate. Stayin alone is all abt a lot of silences...and i gess some of us just are not the types who'll enjoy dat...{rolls eyes}. Ok fine..i got me some books to read...i've got a great Odyssey down the road from here...but i gess the toughest part of the day is not the time i spend at home ... it's the time i spend in the restaurants...dining alone :p There cant possibly be a lot of things more pathetic (yes i kno..there can be...but jes go ahead and humor me :D) than dining alone.

I have a feeling though...that i'll learn. and live.

to_survival!
cheerios!
syko.

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Afterthought

1. they said chennai ppl are very warm and all...gess that's true...
but i wonder why none of them hav graduated to "hot" :-" :D
(in case u was wonderin..dat's the LEAST of my problems :p)

2. the names..and what they do with them out here...it's amazing!
loGanatham, KOWSIK, maGesh...are NOT spelling mistakes here :D

3. it's FKIN hot out here...and i live on the roads ... doin market visits...
not a day goes by wen i'm not thinkin abt me pals workin in AC offices :p

4. in just 2 short weeks... i've seen so much...dat i wanna sit and post some
one thousand posts on ppl...and their reactions...to the "premiere MBA" thang. my friends in software and consulting wont be seeing these reactions...but i am...coz i interact with ppl on the street, literally.  More on dat later.

5. oh ya, those articles on "What they dont teach you at MBA"? 
hehe...i've got a long list of my own ready already.

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Postscript

There i was sitting in my room thinkin i had to..HAD to..post abt my life out here...and a title strikes me > "Stranger in a strange land". So i'm like ok fine...and then i pick up one of the DC Comics i bought (note: i'm nuts...i spend a LOT on crap :D)...and it turns out to be Superman...and on page 3...it says..Superman has adopted earth (and likewise)...but he'll always be a ..."Stranger in a strange land"! :D

spookay :-"
out.

edit: damm! so much text..and i realize it dont tell none of me story at all!
fine. this week. you shall hav it. as shall i.
documentation on the silences in my life.
~peace.

Current Mood: Feeling Better
Current Music: JavaGreen Radio thang in da Reliance Webworld b-)