Another January.......

From January to December time just flew,
Twelve months cruised by n we didn't knew...
Long chains of events passed away,
And a lot new resolutions will be taken today...
Some of us got settled in life,
Some of us still dreaming about making it big,
And rest of us going on as usual rig..
Expecting things will change for the best....


A new dawn gonna emerge from this dark night,
With promises of new moments of glories in de warm daylight,
And a whole lot of opportunities in store for us,
As said "Eyes see what it chooses to see",
Try to see for yourself n others, joys and happiness ,
Try to see for yourself a new life filled with prosperity,
Keep yourself away from all de pain n aches...
And try to see life with a slight different view,
Read this world with your own eyes,
And make the time in your hand a worthwhile...


Here we are once again on a brink of new year,
Let us all pray that de coming year wud be better.
No matter whatever has happened till now,
Lets hope things are gonna shape up for better..
Lets hope...
Coz, hope is de greatest medicine,
And itz the best thing you can get in times of pain..
A hope that world will be a better place to live,
A hope that all's gonna be better soon,
A hope that nothing worse can happen anymore,
A hope that Time is gonna change pretty soon....
People say we should always have an hope,
An hope to live for, and to die for...
As if in a "well of wish" its the only rope...
So dream and hope, coz only they keep you alive forever...

May god shower you with all the unseen joys n happiness
and all de joys n happiness you ever wanted......................

Wishing you Happy New Year..........

With Luv...
Zreecu..........

Mother Nature's Call!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On my way to office I saw a banner hanging upside down which has written on it-"Melting Ice - A Hot Topic".Below it was written World Environment Day, June 5.That day has gone long ago, so we will think about it next year.Nowadays we need an intimidation to know when to take care of nature and only on this day we need to have any concern about the Nature. Long scheduled meetings will be held, then rally's will be arranged and all this only on that particular day. Then slowly we get us engaged into other things that has nothing to do with nature preservation.The same person who was giving an unending lecture on Nature preservation will be using ultra modern equipments that will inturn damamge the nature's integrity.

Why should we be concerned about the nature after all? We still take things for granted from Nature. How come a single ecosystem can manage all the needs of the ever consuming nature of Human beings? It cannot be labelled as needs,it is pure greed of the humans that has depleted the cradle of nature into nothing. When will human get satisfied? Never. Ya, the Ice is melting , nowadays this topic is frequently seen on the front page. But what did we do about tht, we just feel sorry for that and then continue with what we do daily. Even if we want to do something, a simple feeling that "what can I as an individual can do to change things? Nothing". And that's the end of everything.

Whatever happens Science will find a solution to all the problems, thinking this way we tend to forget that this is the same science which has pushed us to this extreme. The industrialisation, the fast forward lifestyle everything has a major part to play in this growing unstability of Nature to sustain things. In the G8 summit, the EU(European Union) has given the world 15 years time to reverse the effects that was caused due to rapid industrialisation for past 2-3 centuries. Is it possible? No. How can we change things that happened over 300 years in just 15 years, but we can buy some more time by following the simple rules of life. Sharing means of transport, car pooling, saving electricity and water and lot of other things that we find daily in our newspapers and so on.Dont you think we have a responsibility towards the mother Nature. To take care of her so that our next generation can breathe freely and live. Dont you think we have a moral responsibilty to give them the nature's asset that our great grandfathers had left for us. Dont we?? Why wait for a new year to think about a resolution? Can't we start from today? From now itself?? Can't we??

Dream, Reality and Us:

Actually these three things are one and the same i.e Dream , Reality and Us. Why because it's us who dream to make things real. It is always a good viewpoint to see the world as a dream. When you have something like a nightmare, you will wake up and tell yourself that it was only a dream. It is said that the world we live in is not a bit different from this.

There's a fine line between dream and Reality.The line stands for de actual relation between these two worlds rather than a way to differentiate them.It's not a line that's between them but it's across them.Some of us see it as the seperator but actually it is a path that connects both these worlds in every aspect of life just like a bridge.

If one thinks that dreams can never be real then the same fine line becomes wider in the sense tht it differentiates them to a greater extent. The moment one thinks that somethings are not possible to acheive then they find it near to impossible to walk across that bridge.

Some people say dreams come true when miracle happen and they wait forever for that miracle to happen and slowly the line widens. People say dream for the Moon atleast u will land up at stars. Dont get carried away and dream big. Dream simple, coz if dreams dont come true then thers's one thing that will hurt more than the disappointment of not acheiving what you dreamt of. And that one thing is that we gradually loose our belief in dreams coming true.
Dont dream that one fine morning you will fly across the world with wings coming out of nowhere, rather dream of saving money to get yourself tickets to fly. Dont dream of becoming rich instead you dream of utilising what you have in hand to de best. Dont dream of a life full of comforts rather dream of moments of happiness in life that are yet to come coz they only give you hope to work harder and better to live life to the fullest. In short dreams are day to day plans that are very much real only thing is that you must make them work for your own advantage...

So its upto you to decide how fine that line should be....

As someone said:
"Dreaming is not an accident. It is not a wistful idea you hope will come true. Dreaming is not the stuff of long-haired hippies wistfully running along a beach. No! Dreaming is a sophisticated tool used by the elite of our society to make themselves and this world a better place. People like Millard Fuller, founder of Habitat for Humanity, Warren Buffet, Col. Sanders and Walt Disney all started with a dream. The dreams started small, but like the trickle of water that eventually formed the great Grand Canyon, DREAMS ARE POWERFUL!"

Absent from my blog....

Almost two months have passed and I haven't scribbled anything in my blog... so bad of you Zreecu....
Actually I can give many reasons why I was away, de usual stuff..buzy with work, had to travel a lot, preparing for my interview and many more. But still one reason is there that can very well explain my absence from my own blog. And what cud be that reason???

I scribbled coz I felt relieved after penning down my thoughts, but what was that I was relieved from. Whatever it is I am already relieved so didnt gave a thought at all about writing something. De coming days are gonna be really important for me, lots of decisions to be taken, lot to accomplish in this coming days..

Lemme see what life has in store for me....

A silent thought into "Indian-ness"....

We celebrated our 60th Independence day. Dunno How many of us really celebrated? And what does celebration means? Ya may be sending some patriotic forwards and mails to frnds. That's all...this has become the modern feeling of Indian-ness.

Indian-ness....
What is Indian-ness?
Indian-ness is not ethereal that circumnavigates around the religion or philosopy, but it is something that we slowly acquire from our parents,grand parents over time. A stream of feelings that we develop for the fellow human beings, a love for human kind. This is what our culture taught us.Dunno how much we are going to pass this culture to coming generation??

India : A country that has all the ingredeints to make it the best and unique in this world. Thats the way I define what India means to me and how much I am proud of my country.Rather than an physical entity surrounded by boundaries ,"India" is actually a perception of great people like Gandhi, Tagore, Vivekananda. Its a feeling that has nowadays strives hard to find its own identity because many a times we fail to carry forward that vision.

This was Tagore's vision of a great India(Geetanjali in Bold letters) and let's compare how it fare in this said to be an modern India.

Where the mind is without fear : Fear of loosing job, loosing status , money and all kind of fear engulfed everyone.

Where the head is held high: only to bow down to self desires and greed.

Where the knowledge is free: ya Education is free only if you have money to buy it.

Where the world is not broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls: with all these riots and communalisms, this statement too doesn't hold anymore.

Where words come out from the depth of truth: can you find truth anywhere, its scandals and corruption from beginning to the top of the system.

Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection: only towards the perfection of economy of oneself.

Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit:there's no clear stream of reason left, everybody trying to fulfill their own dreams(dead habit), rather than coming together for a common cause of India.

Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action: narrow minded people fill this country with a narrow minded sort of actions.

Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake: I am glad that Mahatma Gandhi is no more , because he would really have been ashamed. We are free physically but we are slowly giving away our mental freedom to get something that is really not ours.

I am not saying every person is straying away from truth(the real meaning if Indian-ness), but the truth is that narrow minded people outnumbered the real one's.

Is that vision lost now???
Yes we are loosing it gradually. Its true as Dipankar Gupta(Sociologist) says" Indians aren't so much modern as they are westoxicated".Similar is the view of Madhulika Khandelwal,author of "Becoming American, Being Indian". She says " In this age of globalisation with young men and women coming from their hometowns to Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi and making money, being independent of parental censure is fast leading to the development of a new society in which those old snobberies of linguistic, cultural and ethnic origin aren't so important".

See around for yourself what changes do you see? How are we binded to the society that we are living right now that is far away from your home(hometown). What binds us to the present society and what binds us to the our hometown?. Dont think society in terms of group of individuals , think it as "the way of thinking" or perception of individuals who are living in a group.Whats the ambiance that this present society creates around us??

This aggressive globalisation is making us loose our distinct identity of being an Indian. And how will this affect we dont know as when a culture changes victims are usually the last to know about it. Now who are the victims, definitely we are not, coz we are right now witnessing this transition of time and culture. We know both these cultures coz we are in between them and we are slowly moving away from one to the other.We know what we are loosing gradually over this time, things that will never be brought back.

By culture I don't mean the superstitions, the caste difference or the blind rituals that are followed by people . It's a feeling of sacrifice, it's a feeling that keeps those men at the borders to keep us sleeping tight, it's a feeling that no matter whatever happens, we can hold on.

By chasing this western culture,it's not the things that we are loosing instead we are unknowingly sacrificing feelings. Feelings that usually used to bind people far away, feelings that people hang on to during worst ever scenarios that itself brings out the best in them, feelings that make us cry and laugh at the same time. And see now what feeling each individual has towards each other.The more a person falls behind the value of a family, the more he lives for his own the less he will concern about the fellow being, coz its in the family where an individual think in terms of us rather than me.
Relations no longer hold any value, people tend to think all these relations comes out of necessity and indeed it is becoming going that way only. Everything happens due to necessity. Necessity is slowly eating into the emotional value that has been here for centuries. Wait and watch that time is not far, actually it has already begun to happen, where children consider their parents just like an bank account.

Sandeep once asked me "One thing I cant understand is, why are the parents sending their children away from them even without trying for a life in their own land.Why are parents not aware of the future life their kids have to experience?". I replied that its the urge within those parents to see their kids economically independent, but this urge is letting those kids only earn all the time in life rather than finding time to live for themselves, coz meaning of life has changed. First it was "earning for living", now its "Living for earning".

Friends often ask me why do I always have a grudge against this fast moving world, I always tried to make them understand that I am not against but I am only worried about how it is going to be after some time if we continue this way of life.But they never understood,and sadly they feel I am afraid of being left out and in one sense I didn't tried to clarify that opinion.I have seen things happen, I have been around to places and I have seen different cultures mingle together , but never they lost their individual identity but this mingling of Indian to the west will definitely leave no trace of our diversified culture.

Think about it.I am not saying to follow the old traditions blindly but at least we can keep those moral values within us to pass on to the next Generation.

Hope this has at least made you think about the present way the society is heading to. I think there is no wrong in waiting for your responses coz I am expecting them from you.

Its not the last time we are saying goodbye....

Another august arrived along with its charm,
To remind us this is the time when friendship blossom.
Though we are far from each other,
Life feels empty without "US" all near....

I remember there was once a time when we waited,
For this time to come n make all of us elated.....
Now we only have mails and calls to talk,
Slowly we all got absorbed in this life's busy walk....

Life always had played n plays it parts as long as it can,
And everyone has his or her fate already sealed.....
But, does that make any difference in this timespan,
With the way things have got themselves revealed....

Things, that we still remember them every moment,
Doesn't really matter to heart how far they really went.
Time always wears n tears the history as it bend,
But those blissful moments still remain deep inside...

Cant forget them neither we can get them near too,
They still go on living in those memories inside...
And in our life each day people come and they go,
But when they leave, they leave all those memories beside...

Nowadays things have become so strange,
Stranger than the people met for the first time...
It has become more hard to manage,
As it took us all in different direction of time....

We fell apart from the ideas that were intangible,
And from the strongest bonds that were ever made....
Coz, time had and has everything in its invincible,
Armour to make all these dear memories fade.....

We never thought we will be this far,
We never thought a time will come,
when we will not get to see "US" ever again,
But, still we keep our hopes alive....


Still, we keep those burning desires deep inside,
Coz, it always had n will have something to convey...
That,its not the last time we are saying goodbye..
Its not the last time we are saying goodbye....



Happy Friendship Day to all my dear friends............

The Rain!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow!!!!!!!!!Rains are here...

The Lone Lampost......

Clouds: Always my favs........

Snaps taken from my Canon 550i(Powershot)......

This is me.........

Things aren’t de way they used to be,
and things will never be same again..
Days scrolled by n nights never stayed,
But wht tht matter most is tht, I never changed….
I am still the same old person,
Coz for me "Life is what that matters",
Not the world thtz outside me, tht sucks……………………
Learned a lot about life in times,
n abt de way it pushes u down n then pulls u up,
then down, this time to a deeper level………..
Sometimes it becomes more n more difficult,
to sum up Wht Life is all about……………..
No matter how things make me feel
I am still Myself n will be Myself...

Thtz wht life is all about,
keeping ur values intact,
to be urself and face whatever comes along,
and to remain where u belong.
I belong to my own land of realities,
This is me n I cant change……

Zreecu..............................

"Kanishka"........

Sunday, May 20...

Runcy came from Pune. We met after 4 years and we had a nice time together. We enjoyed watching "Spiderman 3" and had a long chat about the happenings in life. After bidding goodbye to Runcy by 4.30, I left from Andheri. I got a train from Andheri to Dadar, then another train from Dadar to Kurla.

I boarded a train from Kurla to Mankhurd. I was on a call when someone pulled my shirt, I turned around and saw a little cute girl. She is about 5 to 6 years old, in a pink colored skirt. She was still clinging on to my shirt. Slowly I pulled my shirt out of her little hands and asked her "What u want"? She didnt say a word, calmly stared at my eyes. I took a 2 rupee coin and dropped in her hand and continued my call. She pulled my shirt again. This time I felt a bit nagged and stared at her angrily. Holding her breath she opened her mouth and said "Bhayya I am lost".

I was totally moved by her trembling voice. She whispered again "Bhayya I am lost".
For a moment I didnt know what to do and say. I waited for a while, put my call on hold and kneeled down to have a good look at her. I asked wht happened dear?What's your name?How come you are here?where do you live? where are you going? She was totally puzzled. Ya I will also be puzzled if someone ask me this number of questions in an instant. I paused and asked her again, what's ur name kid?
She murmured "Kanishka".
What happened Dear?
"Bhayya I am lost".
I cant believe, Usually kids got lost in buziest crowds, but not today as it is sunday today and there is no rush in trains. How come her parents can loose her ?
Did you come with someone?
She was silent.
Where is your home?
Near railway station.
Oh no there are more than 100 stations in mumbai. Which one she is talking about? Anyway her station will be on the harbour side only coz central n western stations are too far for a kid like her and someone might have noticed her if she crossed the foot over bridge.
Which station I asked?
She was mum.
I asked her again, Baba kaun sa station?
Patha nahin(Dont know).
Accha station ke pass kahan pe hai?(Where is your home near station?)
Station ke paas hi hai. Wahan lal lal busen bahut aati hai,aur wahan pe bahut saari auto bhi hain" (Itz somewhat near station, lot of red buses comes there and therre are lot of auto rickshaws ).
Oh my god!!! this could be anywhere. Ther's lot of stations with BEST bus stand nearby them.
But as per her way of description I guessed it would be Kurla.
I asked a fellow passenger " Have you seen this kid before?".
He replied "I saw her after Kurla only".
So it's Kurla station, about which she is telling.

The train already reached Chembur. What shud I do?
Shall I go back to Kurla or hand her over to police at Chembur itself.
I decided to alight @ chembur. Coz in both case I have to alight here only.
I asked her,
" Kaunse school mein padathi ho"?(In which school do you study).
She said"Ghar ke paas hai".
Fuzzy answers I thought.
She knows where she belong but couldnt tell where exactly is the place, similar to a person who can very well see the destination but dunno how to reach there.
I couldnt make up my mind to hand her over to police......
So what to do?
Shall I go there and search with her, her own house.
I took her along with me over the foot over bridge to the other side to catch the next train bound to CST.
She was so afraid and I too dunno how to convince her coz I too wasnt sure about the things that will happen next.Whether we get to her home or I will have to hand her over to police @ Kurla.

Next train to CST was @ 5.28. I waited for the train to come. I was still clueless shud I board this train or not. Anyway I will go to Kurla n will decide what to do.

She clinged on my hand all the way to Kurla.
We reached kurla in 10 minutes.
I went to the foot over bridge to the East side of Kurla station, coz there was the BEST bus station. We reached there and I prayed inside myself that this should be it, before asking her anything.
Before I could ask her anything she yelled "yehi hai, yehi hai, wahi auto sabhie wohi hai".
Oh god I was relieved, coz we were at the right place.
Then I asked her "Where do you live"?
"Near to the school".
Which School?
Behind this bus stand.
Which side?
"Come I will show you".
She grasped my hand tightly and took me along,there was a delight in her eyes.
I felt calm and thanked god.
She pulled me through the narrow path along the auto rickshaw stand. After around 5-10 minutes of walking she said my home is in the next gali" we took a right turn and went along the crowded street with small hutments on both sides of the street. "Ther's my home"...she pointed to second last hut. She was all in smiles n giggles. Atlast we made it, no she made it...
We were now in the front of the hut, but it was locked from the front.
I asked her is ther's nobody here? where are your parents , brothers or sisters?
She said baba went to sell khulfi's, mama will be at some home, she is maid and I dont know where my brother is.. I have seen him in the afternoon.
I was wondered by her way of reply, she is the same kid who was afraid to speak up, and see now she is all with words..
I asked how come she got into the train. She told she with her frnds went to station to play and when she entered the train , it started moving.
I asked what abt your frnds?
"I dont know. Shall I go and find out".
I said please dont. Sit here till your parents come otherwise I will tell them you went in a train to chembur.
Shall I?
She said "plz bhayya nahin bathaana nahin tho baba bahut maarenge...".
Her cute little smile fade away.
I said ok I will not tell, but promise me you will not move from here till your parents come, saying that I bought her a Munch from the nearby shop and handed it to her.
I was so relieved after this whole episode, at last I was able to take her to her home... I am happy.....
On my way back I thought Where are those playgrounds? If there were any playground nearby then she might not have went all the way to station. Daily many people die on the tracks.But she lived. I thanked God for that.
I went to station and caught the next train to Mankhurd.
By 8.00 pm I was @ home, I am happy n delighted today.
Kanishka was my sole reason for happiness today....

My recent visit to Godz Own Country-Part 5(Concluding Part)

Dunno how these days passed so quickly. I always felt de best days were those in which I waited for de moment to start to home, it was so much of fun to count de remaining days.Now I am in home preparing to return.A sad feeling creeps upto heart, oh cant I have few more days.On my way home in train i thought thru this route i will pass again but with a heavy heart..those places which made me happy once will become a burden on de way bak. Am I leaving my home.More than my home I leaving behind a feeling, a feeling even if I try to carry over there will be of no use.. But one thing, whatever i left here i am sure i will retain them de moment I come again.So my waiting starts again dunno how long I have to wait, but i will be bak here one day, after all everybody lives in a hope, I am leaving today with a hope of returning in my heart. Today I definitely have to carry on de hangover, have to break all my rules once again.. have to get accoumsted to other set of rules tht doesnt have a part of mine in them.

Eventhough a lot of people were there @ de station but I felt a silence in each face. Everybody was just waiting for de train to come, as if they just want to run away. I also felt the same pain, why people luk different on their way bak? why they luk sad? dont they know u have to leave to get bak later, u have to part to meet later.I came alone as I cant see people waving me gudbye. This is lesson of life, de things or persons u luv de most are kept away so tht u miss them every moment to let u know how u r incomplete without them. I believe I learned tht lesson. Here it comes, de train which brought me is now here to take me bak. I think i hate this train now more than ever, this is de same train which gave me a lot of moments to cherish, now it is here to change those moments to memories. I hate it, no I am loving it for presenting me such a wonderful boquet of memories.

I got a window seat. Do I need this seat? What will I stare @ now?Can I see things de same way? No was de answer to all de questions tht rose in my mind. But I gathered de strength to luk around, dunno when i will see these places again. AC was so chilling, de coach attendant gave me a pillow and a blanket. I thought of covering my face with it, so that i dont have to see anything. What a rubbish idea? I opened my kit, took out my Selected Editions buk and turned over to page number 91. It was a story of a broker who was involved in a big scandal. I no longer felt it interesting anymore. Closed it even before completing a page. My mind was restless. I wished I had brought my sleeping pills, checked my baggage once again but tht was to in vain.

I thought "Cant i get a gud job in here somewhere?". After 2 years father will return to settle down here. Cant I be with my family then? He had left Kerala @ de age of 17, to serve military, he have given 36 years of his life for his job without any complaints, why am i complaining then?. His job is a dangerous one, encounters, life threatening attacks, he overcame all those, still he thinks what he will do when he retires? What a commitment? Why shud i be left behind in that? And slowly I get engaged in my work mentally, coz day after tomoro I have to get involved in new assignments. Need to format my mind kepping a backup of all de memories to cherish later thinking about those moments. Now I felt a bit easier n relieved. Leaned out door once again to feel the air...A travel to write about was about to finish in a matter of few hours..needed to pen down this feeling.. tried to put my heart out in this, but still ther's a lot of left to convey..may be sometime later..may be during my next travel...

My recent visit to Godz Own Country-Part 4

De long hours of train journey, and now this travel was taking a huge toll on me. After my visit to Sabarimala, I was waiting to lay hands on fish curry prepared by my aunt. Oh I cant explain how delicious it was.Thts wht we call homely fud. By evening i just went for a walk with cousin brother along de paddy fields and de channel which fetches water for de fields. Long bak we used to take bath in this channel.It was so much of fun then, I asked my cousin "Shall we have a bath in this cold water"."Oh com'on we have grown up" was his reply and it didnt took me long to understand he is not interested. Why do we grow old?" Ok whtz ur plan for de night, dining out", he asked. "No baba I will have fud from home only, will have a beer if u insist".He said ok.

Soon we were cruising on de highway.Itz was so easy to ride a bike here, no traffic nothing to disturb you on de road. Everything seemed to be so perfect, just then my cell rang.It was mama, " wht r u doing?I know what r u upto?Itz not gonna happen today.We have to visit an aunt so comebak as early as possible" n she hang up de fone. She knows itz always better to hang up fone before i protest n she did de same thing today. I came bak soon, with a silent protest in my eyes I luked at her. She said "better luck next time". So days were jus passing by visiting relatives n riding bike. On sunday i told her I needed a break, i am going to see my frnds @ trivandrum and will stay there overnight. She told me to come bak early in de morning, I said yes and started for Trivandrum. Sandeep came to pick me up and we all had a nice time together. In de evening I went to see one of my best frnd, it was so nice to meet her after a gap of 7 years. She was going to US next week so ther's no better time than de time we met. On monday morning i was bak @ my home. Atlast 9 days of travel came to an end, but tht was for just one day. Next day I had to start again.

I have just 5 more days left, and de countdown started. De saddest part of every vacation started. Last 5 days more or less revolved around Temple City of Harippad, visiting temples, Mama was also preparing to go back to Delhi, she will come back next month with dad for a month's stay. Brother was also enjoying his time watching films, visiting frnds and i was stuck in front of TV watching my favorate channels.Oh I forget to tell I won de cricket series next two days. What an acheivement, felt like lifting de World Cup. And days passed on and de day came which i hated de most, itz not de day of my travel bak, but de day before. Oh itz so hard to tell people i am going tomoro.Mama asked me to come to Delhi next time, I told mama it wud be better we can come here next time. It was de longest night of my stay here. So all's gonna be over by today, tomoro i will start for Mumbai..............

Part 5:
http://sreekumar147.blogspot.com/2007/03/my-recent-visit-to-godz-own-country_4954.html

My recent visit to Godz Own Country-Part 3

Itz twilight and almost 6 pm,de diffused light is coloring the canvas with crimson red color... havent i seen this before?? did something like this ever happened in Mumbai..afterall de same sun was there too n de vast blue umbrella sky is also de same.. but i havent seen it there, may be i didnt get enough time or i didnt get myself to enjoy this small beautiful things which we oversee always.Whatever may be de reason I dont wanna figure it out now..i just wanna enjoy seeing things happen here. So after a long time i get to know wht actually we all meant by "Gud Evening"...

I wandered around ,checking out things whether they have changed and whatever new things came up during my absence.... nothing much except some plants tht have grown up... "when will these plants bear fruits" I asked not knowing from whom i was expecting an answer.. it will take 2 to 3 years replied grandma.. i turned around saw her standing behind me... staring at me from top to bottom.. "u have grown weak my boy, dont u eat anything there, ah u dont get our kind of fud there"..she asked and she gave de answer too..."yes grandma i miss our type of fud there, itz very hard to get a South Indian kinna dish over there"
. She beacame weak too.. last year she had an accident... she broke her leg...and now she walks with the help of a stick.. poor grandma clearly shows de burden of oldage...

"Shall we play cricket" asked my brother with a bat n tennis ball in his hand.. "let him take rest u can play tomoro,itz already dark outside" mama's voice came from kitchen.. "Plz bhayya just a single 3 overs match".. i said ok...and we both marched to our "Lords" just in front of home..not a big place but we made it luk big with smaller boundaries...from a single match we ended up playing a series of 5 matches which he won comfortably 3/2.. i was no match for him afterall i missed lot of practice games...practice games where de hell will i practice bak in Mumbai.. i told him de next day's series will be mine and he said "we will see"....

I felt a bit tired..needed to have a nap..slowly i crawled up de steps and went to hall.. oh my gudness lotz of people inside .. mama , grandma, aunts, granddaughters..all in front of TV..their favourate Serial was about to begin..."mama will i get dinner tonight" I asked..mama replied " I have already prepared it"...i went inside my room, had a small nap..then had my dinner and bid an early gudnight to everyone seated in front of TV.Lying on bed staring into darkness...i was soon into thoughts... thinking about all my previous stay @ home... thinking about frnds who came here with me n de housewarming ceremony.. felt as if that was yesterday....

Dunno when i slept after dinner, mama woke me up with a cup of tea in her hand...de best part of staying @ home..having bed tea right in your bed...I asked mama any plans for today..she said "we r going to Kollam today evening..U will go to Sabarimala from there tomoro with cousins.. everybody is waiting there for u"..that reminded me i came here for visiting places..
By 10am i was ready to go to town...going to one of my frnd's home."mama i will walk till de bus stop".."OK".. i started along de path i walked long bak..many new houses have came up..no other changes..i reached bus stops in 15 minutes..ya bus services have improved, got my bus within 2 minutes..

My cell rang..call from office.."ya i reached here safely, will get bak to u in de evening" saying tht i put my fone in a silent mode..enough of this buzy life...i am @ home n i am free to do anything..ya ya i convinced myself.Went straight to frnd's home,met her parents.. was so gud to see them.Had my lunch from there Amma's special vegetarian fud...@ 4 Pm i started from there as we have to catch de 4.45 bus to Kollam, mama n brother r waiting for me @ bus station.We are going to my mama's parental home,from there we will go to Sabarimala.Reached there @ 8 PM. Everybody was waiting over there. So gud to see everybody gathered over a single place, "relations still hold values here" I thought.

Part 4:
http://sreekumar147.blogspot.com/2007/03/my-recent-visit-to-godz-own-country_02.html

My recent visit to Godz Own Country-Part 2

De coffee wasn't tht bad enough..itz only de fact that I compared it to my mom's preparation...thtz not fair at all.. poor vendor ...Shornur has something special in itself...Itz a corridor to de Konkan Railway.... de most beautiful one after Darjeeling n Ooty rails...Oh why I am going back to Konkan I have left it long before in de night.. I will see it again only after 13 days..so stop thinking about that I said to myself... de train passed de bridge over Bharathapuzha...no water left in it...only piles of sand...I was only 4 n half hrs away from my home.. this time duration felt so long even though de last 24 hrs of my travel passed like anything...

Wadakancheri went along, no stoppage for this train there, good god it saved almost 10 minutes of time ..then next was de Cultural capital of Kerala ---Thrissur. I remember this place..I used to come here frequently to visit Abi n Mithun..now all that visits were distant memories...
Chalakudi, Angamaali both were main stations but train doesn't have any stoppage there...it slowed down as it neared Aluva...now Alappuzha (popularly known as de Venice of de East) is just 2 hrs away..itz almost 1.45 PM..didn't had my lunch..waiting to get home to have something from mama..enough of outside food...

Watching those backwaters...itz so beautiful n simple....really de Nature God has given a lot to Kerala to be called as God's own country... I admire de simplicity in beauty or vice versa... Kerala has lot of such places... people from all sorts of life come here n enjoy what mother nature has designed to perfection... wow can I live here??? oh what am I thinking?? is it possible?? noway.. I closed my eyes n thought about my home...and I had no more complaints...

Itz almost 4.05 pm de expected time to reach my place.. I leaned thru de door once again ... itz Harippad ,I am going to alight here after this long journey... searched for a familiar face on de platform... brother told me he will be there to receive me... so looked again n again... there he is... raised his hands .. he has changed, his long hairs gone.. with beard n mustache he suddenly seemed to be a big person.. de train screeched to an halt.. I stepped on this station after a long time... last time I came to this station was in April last year.. a complete year haven't passed at all..but I missed my place as if I hadnt come here for last 10 years.. ya this is de affect of de fast life I was living there in Mumbai... this places seems to be decade old...

He carried my bag in his as usual Delhi style as if ther's nothing in that... I knocked him on the head n said "baba b careful..it has lot of things tht will break if it falls"..he gave me nasty luk n asked me "When is ur leave going to be over"???wow what a simple way to ask when r u going bak... I have always been a fan of his humour sense. A frequent question tht I have faced all my life... as we were not living in Kerala..we used to come here only during vacations for 1 month or 2... so relatives always asked us when we are returning... dunno exactly wht they meant by tht question.. I told him i am leaving only when he wants me to leave... I know he will never want me to leave.. I said tht way coz I know he is also going to Delhi de next day when I start back..

"Will u go to Kaatimukku??" I asked the auto driver.. he nodded and we were in it in a moment.. "I am dying from hunger please make it quick" I said to de driver.. he nodded again but he made it sure I gotto know about all de potholes on de road... I didnt say a word coz all I was thinking about my home n its surroundings... if I was going to office in de same way it was cent percent sure tht I would have a mouthful of bad words for de auto driver... There she is , waiting at de doorstep.. my mama... before she cud ask anything.. I yelled I am hungry..give me something to eat.. poor mama she rushed to kitchen and got all tht she prepared for me.. she knew tht I will not eat this afternoon so was well prepared for my appetite..Coconut Chatni, Bittergroud fried, Pappad .. de things I luved was before me in a second.. I finished my lunch @ 5 pm..what a time to have lunch... na na itz my home n here rules are mine...

I went straight to my room... ther's a wallpaper on the wall with "This is my room Luv it or Leave it" written on it...when i saw things arranged in there.. I whispered mama always luved my room...I had a long bath after a long tiresome journey... felt a lot of energy still left inside me... lot of relatives came along to see me..enquiring things..lot of concerns..wah I thought wht will they ask after one week....
the first day of vacation @ home is always special....itz always special ..I felt it!!!!!

Part 3:
http://zreecusblog.blogspot.com/2007/03/my-recent-visit-to-godz-own-country.html

My recent visit to Godz Own Country-Part 1

Here's my travalogue ........

I started at 12 in the noon on a buzy monday... nearly missed de train..thanx to the cab driver he was so expert @ wheels...and we made it in time...Rushing thru de crowded platform pushing thru de people.. i made it to my seat atlast..thank god i made it....Slowly de long train moved leaving all the faces behind..people waving gudbye's..soon it was cruising above 50 km/ph.

So after a long gap I was going to my hometown leaving behind de most buziest city what others call "Aamchi Mumbai" meaning our own Mumbai..I never felt that way..i never felt like belonging to this city.. nothing can be done as of now..i have to get along with this city of Mumbai as my work demanded this from me..

Anyway i am grateful to this city of fast life, it always reminded me of my calm n quiet surroundings of my village..but sadly, it no longer remain a village ... it is too changing but not @ de same pace in which mumbai is.. it will take decades to grow up anywhere near this buziest city..oh leave all this bloody statistics.. letz go to my home..
de train is heading south...and i felt relieved as mumbai was now almost out of sight...
my mind now bubbled up with numbers... numbers relating to number of days i will be @ home.. number of places i have to visit..suddenly days seemed to be not enough at all for all the plans i made a week b4.

"Hello can i see your traveling pass(ticket)"..I turned around and saw de ticket checking officer was standing up in front with a hand leaning towards me..i reached for my bag and handed over de ticket to him.... he marked all over my ticket.. how neat it was when i bought it.. now see it full of lines up n down.. i saw a valuable piece of paper b4 journey made into nothing within a second...

I was waiting for this person to come n go.. now i am free to get to one of de 4 gateways of the long cubicle from where u can watch things fly by and left behind by de speeding train... i wondered what wud have happened if there was only one door in de compartment..
Itz an offense here in India leaning out de door of a running train, a offense that is not punishable compared to other countries where itz an punishable offense..

Rivers, mountains ,villages all were so good to watch but missed something in them...and sun started settling down somewhere in the west... i whispered in my mind.. i was waiting for this moment for a long time.. next morning i will have fresh air from my own GOC(Godz Own Country).... I had a decent sleep thru de night.. i kept my mobile alarm @ 5.00 am so that I wudnt miss to watch a single place..

A long alarm woke me up, i wondered how come ,so fast 7.00 am came.. itz de usual timing i keep my alarm on weekdays and it was Tuesday...but this Tuesday had a difference I woke up @ 5.00 coz i am traveling...

Train left Mangalore by now...slowly nearing Kerala...and by 5.45 i was @ first station in my GOC.. Kumbla.. Gr8 cricket player Anil Kumble belongs to this place.. how come de air felt so different.. how come de mountains , de rivers, de birds all seemed so different from what i saw de day before..all had a special way of attraction...a feeling of something tht's my own.. I have travelled almost all other parts of India be it North east, north, east or west.. but de moment i entered Kerala it has a different atmosphere in itself... even if i come from other side i.e thru Coimbatore thru Valayaar i cud very well feel the difference in the fragrance , a difference in the air...what an effect...I think I got de missing part in previous day's viewings..

Then there was a list of stations and I can relate myself to each of de stations in de list...
Kanhagad, Payyanuur, Kannur...slowly I was heading to my home..to de land of Temples(Harippad)..Thalasery, Mahe..passed along
I was waiting for Vadakara ...someone is coming to meet me @ Station ... I met Dhanya after a long time after our college get2gether... Train had only 2 minutes of stoppage there.. I know tht wasnt enough... I prayed de signal to be red for little longer period..sadly it didnt.. I met her conveyed my regards and de train started... I felt sad as I opened de card tht she gave me... I missed my college .. I missed my frnds...

Soon de train passed Quilandy and had a long halt @ Kozhikode.. a station very familiar to me as i used to alight here long ago with my classmates till the bus service(Sonia) to Kottayam started from Mananthavady. Nothing much have changed...people seemed to have time for everything... thats a change I loved to happen in Mumbai..noway thtz going to happen there.. thats Mumbai and this is Kerala.

Train left Kozhikode ..thru Kadalundi(I still remember de accident on this bridge)..made a stop in Parapangaadi.. felt as if Jyothish was there to see me..but he wasnt...Then came Tanur, Tirur and Kuttipuram...we first went to Kuttipuram for a college festival Mazzini..................wht a gud experience tht was in my life...traveling without ticket in Parashuraam Express after the festival was over.. Linu, Sandeep, Alshob we enjoyed that travel.. seemed as if they were somewhere around in de same compartment....

Next was Pattambi along the banks of river Bharathapuzha... it was really so beautiful...really unexpressable....Reached Shornur..... Chai Chai..caape caapiiii... not a single difference in the prunanciation of vendors..I had a coffee... but tht was not gud enough...missed my mama's Coffee...


Part 2: http://zreecusblog.blogspot.com/2007/02/my-recent-visit-to-godz-own-country.html