Oru Chinna Romance*

She clutched her books in one hand and caught the railing of the bus with the other. The bus jolted along the many bumps of the uneven road and she had trouble maintaining her balance. Yet she couldn't help returning the looks from the guy in the red shirt hanging on the foot-board. She told herself that she wasn't . Yet she wished she had one hand free to smooth down her frizzy hair. She tried to keep an austere face while inwardly giggling to herself, as she caught him steal a look at her one more time.

He didn't usually travel on the foot-board of buses, much less oogle at college girls inside the bus. But he saw something in her eyes and he couldn't help himself. And then he realized that she was looking at him too and that was all the elixir he needed. He decided to hang around on the foot-board for some more time and added a sly smile to his glances. He caught her eyes once and when she blushed and turned her face away, his heart raced a little.

She walked up the stairs of her apartment giddily, still on a high. She was greeting by her husband carrying their wailing baby. He heaved a sigh of relief and promised her that the next time she wanted to go to the library, he would gladly drive her there as long as she didn't leave him alone with the baby. She bounced and cuddled the baby and saw that her husband hadn't cleaned the house like he promised. But today she didn't mind.

He walked into his son's school and his wife met him at the gate and admonished him about being late for the PTA meeting. He would have usually flared up right then and the situation had "Big Argument in a Public Place" written all over it. But today he surprised her with an apology and a hug.

* - A Tiny Romance

Public Service Announcement

I have been recently informed that my recent tweet "My cup of happiness overfloweth! :) Sunshine and smiles all around" has caused some unnecessary excitement and people have been assuming a lot of things.

That was a premature message I posted on learning that my darling husband S is now moving to Madison for good (or so we thought). However since then we have come to learn that it might be temporary thing. However it's been all celebrations here, coz you know now I don't have to be alone and all that. Can you believe that I am actually excited to be packing lunch for S, ironing his T shirts and doing other wifey things :) It feels like we are getting married all over again.

Love Letters

1990

She was busy clearing out her late mother's house. She was going through her mother's things to see if there was anything important or valuable and donating the rest to charity. In the attic, she came across a small box of carved wood. She opened it gingerly and came across a bunch of letters tied in a satin ribbon. She broke into a smile and realized that these were the letters that her father had written her mother when they courting. She was amazed that her mother had kept them safely as they moved across multiple cities and houses. She carefully set the box among the things that she was taking back to her home.


2060

She was busy clearing out her late mother's laptop. She was going through her mother's files to see if there was anything important to be saved or deleted and was donating the laptop to a charity. In her D drive, she came across a small folder marked "Personal". She gingerly clicked it open and found a bunch of emails in a zip file. She broke into a smile and realized that these were the emails that her father had written to her mother when they were dating. She was amazed that her mother had saved the mails as she moved to different mail servers and laptops. She carefully copied the folder into her memory stick among the other files she was taking.

Commercials - Does Anyone Love Them?

I often think about what I miss most about India/Madras. Obviously, I miss my immediate family. I also miss my extended family - aunts, uncles, cousins and most recently my darling nephew. And I miss Thamizh - hearing it all around me and seeing it on billboards. I would be amiss if I didn't mention the food - the wholesome goodness filled homemade food and the various restaurants that serve a wide variety of Indian food. I am officially sick of the crap that is served at most Indian restaurants (and yet I keep going back, because sometimes the heart wants what it wants) The movies - there seems to be a slew of good Thamizh/Hindi movies these days and I hate having to drive over 100 miles to see it in a theater.

The above paragraph should not come as a surprise to anyone, coz God knows I have written about this several times in this blog. Lately I have come to realize that I miss something that I never thought I would miss - I miss the ads on TV. I always believe that however long I live in the United States, I would never fit in completely, because a lot of cultural references from their childhood would just go right off my head. And I think advertisements are big part of that. Though I had given up on Indian programming while in India and lived entirely on sitcoms, it feels like I have severed all my ties with Madras. I spend a lot of time hunting for new ads on Youtube. I feel that it might help to have some Tam channels at home. But again, I have no interest in watching any serials, I am not a music lover, I hate star interviews of any kind (except when Kamal Hassan is interviewed) and the lesser said about Indian reality TV the better. So S (rightly) feels that it is not a good idea to pay double of what we pay to Dish Tv to have Sun TV and Vijay TV! Besides S dislikes these channels more than I could ever do and I don't forsee him budging from his stance, unless my parents or V Athai visits. Hmm, maybe it is time for someone to visit. :-)

I know that I always give an impression about missing India and absolutely hating it here. While I do miss India, it's not that I am having a bad time here. I guess it's a case of the grass being greener the other side. I am sure I will have plenty to complain when I do eventually move back. So till that time, lay back and listen to my gentle rants about this topic :-)

Also I would love to hear about your favorite ads. Drop in a comment (with a YouTube link if possible) Thanks everyone - you guys are the best!

The Girl - Part II

Read Part I here.

Rukku’s heart stopped and the proverbial thunder and lightning went off in her head. She started having visions about Vatsan bringing home a White American girl clad in skimpy clothes. She cursed the day that she had allowed her darling son to go to the big bad USA and wished that he could have stayed home with her. She screamed for Ananthu and started babbling incoherently on the phone, with tears streaming down her face.

It took a minute for Ananthu to understand what his wife was telling him. All he could make out was words like “church”, “grandkids”, “America”, “Janaki Maami”, interspersed with chants of the Lord’s name and try as he might, he could find nothing in common between all those words. He grabbed the phone from his hysterical wife and tried to find out what had actually happened.

Vatsan repeated the sentence to his father and Ananthu’s heart did a double leap as well. But before his father could react, Vatsan started talking again. “Her name is Sandhya, Sandhya Krishnamachary. She had come to the US to study and is now working in the same place I work.” Ananthu’s face relaxed. And then Vatsan said the golden words “She is also an Iyengar Vadakalai.” Ananthu couldn’t contain his glee and beamed happily at his wife. Rukku stared at Ananthu with dagger eyes, but as Ananthu explained, she heaved a sigh of relief. She started seeing everything in color again and said a silent thanks to Venkatachalapathy.

When the initial rush died down, Rukku diverted her attention to the Krishnamacharis. She pried their phone number out of Vatsan and made plans to contact them immediately. The initial phone call was made and she invited them home.

Rukku liked Mr & Mrs Chary. They had seemed genuinely happy at the alliance. They were impressed with Ananthu’s modest home and said the right things about Rukku’s filter coffee. They even agreed with Rukku that the marriage must be held as soon as possible. When Mrs Chary showed a photo of Sandhya to Rukku, she decided that Sandhya was much prettier than Janaki’s daughter. She reasoned to herself that even though she hadn’t arranged the alliance herself, Sandhya was a very good match for Vatsan. She was also working, which means that Vatsan could buy a flat in T.Nagar in no time. Also Mrs Chary had told her that Sandhya was tall, 5’ 7” to be precise. Since Vatsan was over 6’ tall, they would look good standing on the reception pandal. Rukku decided that she would become modern and accept the love marriage without any fuss. Anyway, since Sandhya was Iyengar too, she could always tell everyone that it was a “love-cum-arranged” marriage.

Saturday finally rolled around, Vatsan informed Rukku that he was planning a vacation to Madras in a couple of weeks and that Sandhya was coming with him. Rukku’s joy knew no bounds.

The days after that passed in a whirlwind with Rukku being busy prepping the house. Dust, cobwebs and dirt were hunted down and cleaned. The bathroom tiles were scrubbed till they started to look like once white. She made visits to various electronics stores and decided on a spilt AC that had to be installed in Vatsan’ room. The big TV that had adorned their drawing for more than a decade was replaced with a thin LCD TV. This was Vatsan’s first visit home and she wanted everything to be perfect. Also she wanted Sandhya to see that they lived in relative luxury and she would face no trouble as the daughter-in-law of the house. They had decided to have a formal engagement ceremony in the next week, and Rukku got out her jewels from the bank locker. She picked out a beautiful diamond necklace that her mother in law had given her during her wedding and decided she would give this to Sandhya during the engagement.

The day dawned bright and clear. Vatsan’s flight was supposed to land at ten in the morning. Rukku was bright and ready at eight and nagged Ananthu to get to the airport in time. They met with Mr and Mrs Chary at the airport and waited with them. After what seemed like an endless wait, it was announced that their flight had landed. Rukku squinted at the crowds and tried to spot Vatsan. Slowly people collected their bags and trickled out to meet with their waiting families. Rukku carefully scanned them and finally saw Vatsan pushing a trolley. And then Rukku she saw Sandhya.

Rukku and Ananthu looked at each other in confusion. The Charys shrugged their shoulders and nodded apologetically at them. If words like “gothic”, “punk” or “emo” had been a part of Rukku’s vocabulary, she would have used them to describe Sandhya. She was wearing tattered jean and a “well fitted” tank top. Her hair was as straight as sticks and was streaked with pink highlights. Her eyes had dark makeup around them and she was leaning on Vatsan casually.

To say that Rukku was taken aback was an understatement. In all her 55 years of existence, Rukku had never seen someone like Sandhya from close quarters. Before meeting Sandhya, Rukku had invited the Chary family home for a quick coffee and brunch and they had accepted. And now they were on their way home.

Rukku felt that she could think better with caffeine streaming through her body and brought out her famous filter coffee. Sandhya refused and said she was vegan. Rukku was perplexed until Vatsan explained that she did not drink milk and as of Jan 2010, neither did him. He went to the kitchen and brewed some watery tea sans milk and they both seemed to enjoy it. Conversation was minimal at the table and Rukku wanted them to pack up and leave.

No sooner than they stepped out of her home, she turned to Vatsan and begged him to reconsider. He was adamant and tried to convince Rukku that Sandhya was a “nice” girl. He refused to listen to any argument and Rukku knew she had lost the battle.

Things didn't go well between Rukku and Sandhya. She did not want to have any engagement ceremony and said that she had already accepted Vatsan’s proposal and was hence engaged. She refused Rukku’s gift of the diamond necklace and said that she didn’t want any “blood” diamonds. She was against silk sarees and gave a spiel about silk worms that Rukku didn’t understand a word of. She told Rukku quite emphatically that she hated all religious ceremonies and had planned to get married by the beach. When Rukku gasped, Sandhya was kind enough to say that they would definitely be invited.

Rukku remembered a wedding that she had attended an year ago. One of Ananthu’s friends' sons had married an American girl. She fell in love with Indian culture and had insisted that they have a traditional Indian wedding and had even worn an Aandal kondai. Rukku stared wistfully at Vatsan and wished he had brought home a nice American girl.

Concluded

The Girl

Rukmani was busy in kitchen, making the usual lunch-for-two. She minced and sautéed in silence today, so that she wouldn't miss the phone ringing. You see, today was Saturday and this was when Vatsan called home usually.

Srivatsan was Rukku's youngest son and the constant cause for concern for Rukku and her husband Ananthapadmanabhan. Their eldest daughter Vaidehi had done her Bachelors in IIT, Madras and her PhD in IISC Bangalore and now worked as a Associate Professor there, alongside her husband, also a Professor in IISc. They had 2 kids, who seemed to take after their parents' academic genes and were forever winning something at school. They called their Paati every other day and told her about their exploits at school, which Rukku promptly broadcast to the entire neighborhood. The middle child, Rangan (named Rangaswamy after her father) had decided to go the commerce route. After passing the SBI clerical exam, he had gone on to write all possible promotion exams and was now a Manager of the Siruthozhil Branch in Nungambakkam at the young age of 32. He lived with his wife and son in a 2 bedroom flat and visited home frequently.

Vatsan was a whole other story. He had always been a problem child at school. When Vatsan started school, Rukku and Ananthu had been shocked that teachers were actually complaining about a child of theirs, rather than heap accolades. He got into fights frequently, talked too much in class and wasn't the brightest bulb in the room. While Vaidehi was an accomplished Veena player and Rangan an avid quizzer, Vatsan had not shown any interest towards extracurricular activities. Ananthu tried to drag a screaming and kicking Vatsan to Mrudangam class for a few months, but gave up when he realized Vatsan had neither the attitude nor the aptidue. Vatsan finished his schooling with less than stellar grades and thanks to Ananthu's friend, who knew someone, who in turn knew someone at Akilandaparameshwari Engineering College, Vatsan got admitted for Bachelors of Engineering, Computer Science, aided by a sizeable dent in Ananthu's retirement savings. Rukku and Ananthu heaved a sigh of relief, thinking they had 4 years until they had to worry about Vatsan again. But Fate got other plans and in his first year, they got a call from the college saying that Vatsan had been caught drinking. Rukku gave a wail that put ambulance sirens to shame and promptly fainted. Ananthu prayed to Venkatachalapathy in anguish. They pulled Vatsan out of college for 2 weeks and took him to Tirupati, Srirangam and Kumbakonam, hoping that the Gods would knock some sense into the head of their prodigal son. It seemed to have some effect, because they never received another complaint about his drinking again. After graduating (with 3 arrears), Vatsan roamed the streets looking for a job and finally found one, after 6 long months, in one of the bigger IT companies in Chennai. Rukku liked to think that her prayers had something to do with it. A couple of years passed in relative peace and it seemed as though Vatsan had mellowed with age.

As with most companies, Vatsan was asked to go to the US for a yearlong project. Ananthu liked the idea, and felt that staying away from home would give Vatsan a sense of responsibility. Rukku had initially protested, but later gave in when she realized she would now have something to say to the NRI Maamis who gathered at the temple to regale stories about celebrating Diwali in Fall. After a tearful farewell at the Anna International Airport, Vatsan began his sojourn to the United States.

Life ambled along and Rukku realized that she missed her trouble making son. He called frequently the first couple of months. And then Rukku started talking about suitable girls and the call frequency dropped to once a week. Rukku tried in vain to convince him that he needed a nice Iyengar girl to take care him, to make filter coffee in the mornings, to wash his good shirts by hand, making sure the collar is squeaky clean. She didn’t like it that Vatsan always tried to evade the topic and was non committal about the whole thing.

Rukku decided that today she would convince Vatsan to talk to Janaki’s daughter. Janaki was one of Rukku’s oldest temple acquaintances. On the occasions that she had gone to Janaki’s house, her daughter Priya had been hospitable and chatty. She remembered the chocolate, eggless cake that Janaki had proudly served, saying Priya had baked them. Chocolate cake was no badushah or mysore pak, but she was sure that Priya would learn. And Janaki had been receptive to this idea as well. A girl like Priya was just the woman Vatsan needed! Rukku waited for the phone call, practicing what she would say to convince Vatsan.

Tring, tring. Rukku ran to the living room to pick the phone, yelling at Ananthu to turn off the gas after the cooker had given 2 more whistles. Ananthu looked up from his newspaper with a small smile and continued reading. He was used to the weekly drama, and he didn’t think today would be any different.

After the initial formalities of asking about his health, his cooking and satisfied with his answers about if he was eating well, Rukku jumped into the topic. “Vatsa kanna, I really think you should get married soon.” To her surprise, Vatsan didn’t try to cut her off and agreed with her. And then he said the fateful sentence “I like a girl here and I would like to marry her”

to be contd...

PS1 - Will post Part 2 if all of you comment

PS2 - Just kidding! (Sort of!)

General Rambles (aka I am Offically Out of Sensible Titles)

I love visiting used book stores. I have written about this in the past as well. I love the smell of freshly minted books as anyone else, but I think that old books have more character. Also the smell of old books take me back to Easwari Lending Library, where I spent many happy hours as a child. Yesterday, I went to Frugal Muse, a new used book store that I had been meaning to check out for a couple of months now. And it was really different than the second hand book sellers that I had been used to in India. All books were in very very good condition. Everything was neatly categorized and sorted alphabetically (which makes me think that more than half the cost of the book is the cost of identifying it and placing it at the right spot) But I missed digging through the piles of books and finding a hidden gem. Or just picking books that looked interesting. I remember when S and I were kids, we went to the platform book sellers near ESI Hospital in KK Nagar (this was back when my husband actually used to read for pleasure!) We spent nearly an hour and I was so happy to dig through piles with S. Once, during my final semester at Pilani, I went to Rungta House to sell the textbooks I couldn't carry home. And digging through the ginormous book stacks filled with textbooks in all editions, I came across a Wodehouse! I was thrilled beyond measure and incredulous that someone would actually sell "Righto Jeeves!" Long story short, that book cost more money than I got from selling my texts, but I still have that book (that is if my mom hasn't thrown it away or donated it very generously).

You all know best that I love watching sitcoms. Back in Hyd, my sitcom watching was whatever was on Zee English and Star World and the DVDs from the US sent by S to me and by K's brother to her. When I landed in the US, Grad living did not permit the time and cash for TV and satellite/cable. So I caught up most of the shows on hulu and other sites on my trusty laptop. Going to Florida to visit S would equate to a TV wonderland for me and I would be loathe to stir out of the sofa to actually go out somewhere in Tampa. Naturally when I got a job and my own apartment, the first thing I did was to buy a decent TV and a get it hooked to Dish. You would think that all is for best and that the reason I don't blog is because I am too busy watching TV. Well you are almost there, except I am watching the same shows over and over and over. I have 15-20 shows that are set to record on the DVR and barring the the current ones which have new episodes almost every week, I always end up watching staples like Seinfeld, King of Queens, Frasier, Will & Grace etc. And I have watched every episode there is of these shows and I am too lazy to try and find reruns of some interesting old shows. This wasn't a problem when I was using my laptop as my primary entertainment device. Since there was no schedule of any sorts, I would dig and find a lot of new things to watch. So gentle readers, do you see my dilema? Since I pay an obscene amount of money to Dish each month, I feel a moral obligation to watch my money's worth of shows on TV. But digging through hundred channels trying to find something new is not easy. This is where you, the readers of this blog who have excellent taste in TV viewing, come in. Suggest shows for me to watch. Doesn't have to very good - these are shows that I would see while cooking or have in the background while getting dressed for work (I know I watch too much TV) etc. So it has to be new content and at least slightly interesting and funny. So suggest away!