A Night to Remember.....

October. Chennai. time for unforgetable moments of rain. The memories of lashing rain and the experience of last year still lingers fresh in my memories. I had never seen so much of non-stop downpour and it continued for three full days. Had to shift to my colleague’s place in KK Nagar inorder to escape the myseries at Velacherry. The road was flooded with water and I couldnt drive my bike as the water level was upto my Hip. With the assistance of Murali, managed to push my bike upto the main road and thanks to my 7 year old sweet heart as it chose not to give me any strating trouble. I still used to wonder why the rain God who refuse to show any mercy on Chennai all year long unleashes in October.

Oct 25, 2006. Yet another dull day in Office and my team was packing home. We used to travel to our client place in Sholls(Thats the new term coined by the IT ppl for Shollinganallur) in our PLs car. Its another mystery that in the evenings whenever we start home it starts raining. I very much doubt that one of our bosses sits in the sky and opens up the tap so that we will stay longer. Unperturbed by the October showers we started home in the car.

As we started, I got a call from my client(from Denmark) clarifying on some report. I convinced him that I will give him a new report first thing tomorrow morning. Unable to control the anxiety I opened up my laptop and checked on what could be wrong. Just wanted to ensure, so that I could give him a solution as promised. After analysing a bit I had a reason to give and also the solution. Feeling a bit releived put my laptop back into the bag.

By this time the rain had started pouring down and we were at descent speed so that we could reach home before it gets to bad. As it goes without saying there werent any lights by the road and it was very difficult to sight the path. Just then heard a heavy crash and I was tossed in the car. My legs felt a deep pain and I could see that the car had stopped and something was wrong. First I thought that we had mistakenly hit one of the pits which is very common when one drives by the chennai roads. But then when I saw Martin(who was driving the car) bleeding and Anbu with his hand to his head and I could clearly see blood drops from his head. Felt terrible. Meher also was holding on to his legs.

Got down from the car and was shocked to see the car had hit a broken divider and had struck. Gearbox was jammed and the engine did not start. Martin and Anbu assured that they were not fatally hurt. After it was clear that trying to backup the car is an useless option we put on the parking lights and signalled the vehicles so that they do not come straight and hit the car that remains right in the middle of the road. One gentleman stopped by and said that he will send the mechanic to fix the car. Tried stopping a couple of autos so that the two who were hurt could get some first aid. But they refused to stop by. It was pouring heavily now. After a bit of a struggled one gentleman(Really Hats off to you sir and my sincere thanks to you) in a maruthi stopped by and offered to drop them in the near by Hospital.

Then then next task was to get the car to the nearby garrage. Had told Martin not to worry as I assured to care of the car. To make things worse the power in that area went off. Now it was pitch black and I could see only the headlights. Many vehicles slowed down seeing my signal and were taking the left end of the road to avoid collision. But a few cracks made me mad when they tried to go around the car(It was not possible as the car was parked on the divider). Wont they have any sense. Cant they understand when someone stands in the middle of the road in lashing rain and gives some signal, it will be only to help them.

After some time the mechanic had arrived and quickly concluded that the car cant be moved as the engine was hit in the impact and the only option is to tow the vehicle. Now all three of us were standing in the road and were trying to get some vehicle to tow the vehicle. Witnessed couple of sparkling lightning like never before. Did not have much option but to close my eyes and stand still after each lightning as the Thunder almost made me shiver(I know I should have closed my eyes at the lightning but as per my Physics master light travels faster than sound. If he had thought me the other way then I could take hint at the Thunder and close my eyes avoiding the Lightning, which almost makes me feel as if Im going blind).

We called up the person who had sent for the Mechanic and he agreed to tow the vehicle and said he will be there in 30 minutes. By then Martin and Anbu called up and said that the injuries were not severe. After standing there for almost 2 hours we managed to take the car to the nearby mechanic shop.
It was a close shave( probably Mach3) and Thank God that Im still alive. Probably next October I should take a vacation and stay out of Chennai ;-)

(I sincerely thank and pray for all the souls who helped us out and offered to help us on that night.)

Nokia 6600 – The Philosopher’s Phone

Last week went to Blore to visit my friends. Mohan suggested a visit to Bannarghatta National Park and felt it was a good idea. On the way to BNP I had missed my mobile. Had slid it in my pant pocket as I had already experienced it flying off my shirt pocket.But that time I realised that Mobile had fell down immediately and was able to spot it after searching back the path for a while. But now I had no clue where it could have fell. This time we were racing at real speed and I thought that I wont get it in a single piece.

With no hope whatsoever traced back the road sides. Just wanted to ensure that no one had taken the mobile tried calling my mobile and to my disbelief I could hear my phone ringing. But still how am I supposed to search it when I didnt even know where I had lost it. After a while got a call from my number. I really was not able to beleive it. Some gentleman had found my mobile and called us back inorder to give it back. With Arjun’s prowess in Kannada we went back and waited for that person to get my mobile back. It was quiet feeling when the person handed over the mobile to me. There were only some more scratches on the mobile. I was feeling very happy not only for getting my mobile back but to realise that I am still living in a wonderful place with such nice and noble people. Thats what makes this land so special.

What Famous Leader Are You?

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Marching towards Perfect Drive..

It is the most satisfying drive ive had so far. You will soon know the reason why. What better day to watch the movie Laghe Raho Munna Bhai than on the Oct 2nd itself. Am back after an official trip to Denmark. Was totally impressed by the amount of discipline the Danes had in life. Just thought why cant I be like them and decided to start by following the traffic rules. Its been on my mind earlier and have tried to follow them before but failed in my previous attempts. This time I told to myself its pretty simple and straight forward. Just follow the signal, stick to the lanes, stop before the stop line and start after the GREEN light is ON. But its not as easy as it sounds.

Have to accept that I succeeded on most occassions on the rules I set myself. Even a couple of days ago as I was going to Satyam I was at a signal. I was waiting for it to turn Green but most of the vehicles were already on the move. My friend was saying if we try to stick to the rules we will appear as fools to them. It was certainly true as the vehicles behind me started spanking the horn. My friends who have been with me on my bike know how much I love to fly on my bike and at times I switch lanes as its easy to wizz past the buses. Even today was off my rules, as I was getting late to the movie. I had compromised myself as its just one day that I broke the rules.

The movie was fabulous. True its bollywoodish but the Director made his point very clearly. Basically one should try to accept his mistakes and speak the truth.(Lets not discuss Non- violence here) As I was watching the movie I realised the part where Gandhiji speaking to Sanjay Dutt is infact very much possible. Very recently I finished reading Chetan Baghat’s ”One night at the call centre” in which God will make a call and speak to the characters in the novel. In the Epilogue the author says if you cant believe God speaking imagine an elderly person saying the things that were told by God, which seem to be perfectly possible. It could be the inner voice or the kind words from the elders at home or the strict words from your parents or in the form of affection from your lover. See it in any form. If one can recollect the values taught to us by our elders and if one could afford to listen to the INNER VOICE, it will tell more or less the same thing that Gandhiji says in the movie. Why stick to the movie it will lead you more in the path that Gandhiji was preaching all along.

Never mind if we fail at the beginning. To err is human. Ganhiji was not born as Mahatma. He listened to his conscience and stood firm on his principles. I believe he had gone through a lot of sufferings to get to that stage. We all have a very easy excuse stating the entire nation is corrupt and no one follows the law. What difference will it make if I stick on to his ways which can never be effective in the current scenario. The politicians, the governent officials, the police everyone are corrupt. Its the same compromise that I used to give whenever I break the rules. But the important thing that I always forget is what about ME. As soon as I came back from Denmark I went to Salem to take my Driving Licence. I did not even test drive at the RTO office as I did not have much time and just had to spend a few more bugs to get the Licence. Forget the RTO person who took the bribe to get me a Licence but am I not corrupt. I just took the short cut as it was more convenient for me. Almost each one of us would have taken the easier route as its more convenient and finally blame the politicians and the system. But its not right to put the entire blame on the country. After all we are the country.

In today’s fast paced world, its not that easy to stick to rules, but what is easy? Right from getting a seat at school, college and finding a job is tough. So why not we try to stick on to the rules a little longer, without giving up in one or two attempts. Came out of the theatre filled with these thoughts and not to mention the beautiful smile of Vdhya balan  and decided to start over again from the traffic rules. Started my bike and fixed the speed not to exceed 50 Kmph. Perfectly stopped at a couple of signals. At the third signal its turned yellow when I reached it but noticed it late so I did not bother to stop. When I was half way through it turned Red but I said to myself when I was crossing it was yellow and its not my fault. But soon I said to myself that I should have stopped at the signal when it was yellow. At the next signal it was yellow again and this time I stopped and also noticed a few more guys stopping with me. Its this acceptance of the mistake we do and correcting it sooner is the key. When the signal was about to turn green I was able to hear the spanking of the horn by the Car behind me but I chose to simply ignore him. At times Ive experiences the guys scolding me but just ignore them as it is always bound to happen. Beleive me I was feeling so good when I reached home as I completed the ride also following the speed limit. The ride gave me more pleasure than the 80 plus Kmph drives I usually do at nights. May be this drive could be in the right direction.