Tuesday, March 30, 2010

chatroom

അഞ്ചു മാസത്തെ കപ്പല്‍ വാസത്തിനു ശേഷം ഉള്ള മറ്റൊരു വെക്കേഷന്‍.
വട കാര്യമായ ജോലി ഒന്നും ഇല്ലാതെ തിരിഞ്ഞു നടക്കുന്നു, കൂട്ടത്തില്‍ മസ്കറ്റില്‍ നിന്നും ലീവിലെത്തിയ നിനിയും.
നരിക്കുണ്ടിലെ നമ്മുടെ പഴയ വീട്ടില്‍ നിന്നും മാറി പാതിരപറമ്പിലെ വാടക വീട്ടില്‍ താമസിക്കുന്ന കാലം.
വീട്ടിനു മുന്നിലെ സ്കൂള്‍ ഗ്രൗണ്ടില്‍ ഡ്രൈവിംഗ് ടെസ്റ്റ്‌ രാവിലെ തന്നെ തകൃതി ആയി തുടങ്ങും. നമ്മുടെ ബാല്‍ക്കണിയില്‍ ഇരുന്നാല്‍ ഗ്രൌണ്ട് നല്ല പോലെ കാണാം. ബാല്‍ക്കണിയില്‍ ഇരുന്നു എന്നും കാലത്ത് തന്നെ നമ്മള്‍ മൂന്ന് പേരും ബ്രാണ്ടി അടിച്ച കാലം.
ആയിടക്കാണ്‌ ഈ ഉള്ളവന് ചാറ്റിങ്ങില്‍ താല്പര്യം തോന്നി തുടങ്ങിയത്. റൂമായ റൂമൊക്കെ കറങ്ങി നാട്ടുകാരോട് മുഴുവനും സൊറ പറഞ്ഞു നടന്നു.. കൂടുതലും പെണ്കുട്ടികളോടായിരുന്നു. ഒരു ദിവസം ഏതോ ഒരു ചാറ്റ് റൂമില്‍ ഒരു പെണ്ണിനെ പരിചയപെട്ടു, ഒരു കോഴിക്കോട്ടുകാരി ഡെന്റല്‍ ഡോക്ടര്‍. മംഗലാപുരം പഠിക്കുന്നു. സംസാരിച്ചപ്പോള്‍ കൊഴപ്പമില്ല. ഒരു ആഴ്ച സംസാരിച്ചപ്പോള്‍ അവള്‍ പറഞ്ഞു ഞാന്‍ നാളെ വീടിലേക്ക്‌ പോകുന്നു,വരാന്‍ പറ്റുമെങ്ങില്‍ കണ്ണൂരില്‍ വെച്ച് ട്രെയിനില്‍ കയറു, കോഴിക്കോട് വരെ സംസാരിക്കാമല്ലോ. നമുക്ക് ഇതില്‍ പരം സന്തോഷം വേറെ ഉണ്ടോ,ഞാന്‍ ഉടനെ റാന്‍ മൂളി.
പിറ്റേന്ന് ഞാന്‍ കുളിച്ചു ഒരുങ്ങി വീട്ടിന്നു ഇറങ്ങാന്‍ പോകുമ്പോള്‍ അതാ വരുന്നു വടയും നിനിയും. വടയുടെ കീശയില്‍ ഒരു ഹാഫ് ബോട്ടല്. ഞാന്‍ പറഞ്ഞു എടാ എനിക്കൊരു സ്ഥലം വരെ പോകണം എന്ന്, എവിടെ എന്നാ അവരുടെ ചോദ്യത്തിന് ഞാന്‍ എന്തൊക്കെയോ ഒഴിവു പറഞ്ഞു. എന്നാ ഓക്കേ എന്ന് പറഞ്ഞു അവര്‍ മടങ്ങി, ഞാന്‍ ബൈക്ക് എടുത്തു സ്റ്റേഷനിലേക്ക് തിരിച്ചു.
വഴിക്ക് വെച്ച് അവളുടെ ഫോണ്‍ വന്നു, പറഞ്ഞു എന്റെ കൂടെ ഒരു സീനിയര്‍ ഉണ്ട് ,അത് കൊണ്ട് നമ്മള്‍ പ്ലാന്‍ ചെയ്ത പോലെ തോന്നിക്കരുത്, യാദ്രശ്ചികം ആയി കണ്ടു മുട്ടുന്ന പോലെ അഭിനയിക്കണം എന്ന്. ഞാന്‍ ഓക്കേ പറഞ്ഞു.
ടിക്കറ്റ്‌ എടുത്തു പ്ലാറ്റ്ഫോമിലേക്ക് കയറുമ്പൊഴെക്കും വണ്ടി വരുന്നു എന്ന് അനൌൺസ് ചെയ്യുന്നുണ്ടായിരുന്നു. വണ്ടി എന്റെ മുന്നില്‍ നിര്‍ത്തുമ്പോള്‍ എന്റെ കണ്ണുകള്‍ അവള്‍ പറഞ്ഞ കമ്പാർട്ടമെൻറ്റ് തപ്പുകയായിരുന്നു . അവളുടെ 
കമ്പാർട്ടമെൻറ്റിൽ കയറിയ ഞാന്‍ സീറ്റ്‌ തപ്പി നടക്കുന്ന പോലെ അഭിനയിച്ചു. അവളുടെ അടുത്ത് കൂടി കടന്നു പോവുമ്പോള്‍ ഞാന്‍ അവളെ ഒന്ന് നോക്കിയിട്ട് വീണ്ടും നടക്കാന്‍ തുഞ്ഞിഞ്ഞു, പെട്ടനെ എന്തോ ഓര്‍ത്ത പോലെ തിരിച്ചു അവളുടെ അടുത്ത് ചെന്നു ചോദിച്ചു, വിദ്യ അല്ലെ എന്ന്. ഉടനെ അവള്‍ പറഞ്ഞു, അതെ വിദ്യ ആണ്,ആരാ മനസിലായില്ല എന്ന്.. ഞാന്‍ പറഞ്ഞു എന്നെ ഓര്‍മ്മ ഇല്ല?,ഞാന്‍ നിങ്ങളുടെ പഴയ അയല്‍വാസി അല്ലെ,നിതിന്‍. ഉടന്‍ അവള്‍ പറഞ്ഞു ആ നിതിന്‍,ഇപ്പോള്‍ ഓര്‍മ്മ വന്നു..എങ്ങോട്ട് പോകുന്നു??
ഞാന്‍ പറഞ്ഞു ഞാന്‍ ഒന്ന് കോഴിക്കോട് വരെ പോകുന്നു . ഇത്രയും പറഞ്ഞിട്ട് ഞാന്‍ ഇരിക്കാന്‍ പോവുക ആയിരുന്നു ,അപ്പോളാണ് ഞാന്‍ നമ്മുടെ   അടുത്ത് പ്ലാറ്റ്ഫോമിൽ രണ്ടു പരിചയമുള്ള മുഘങ്ങള്‍ കണ്ടത്, വടയും നിനിയും എന്നെ നോക്കി ചിരിക്കുന്നു..ഭാഗ്യം അവള്‍ അവരെ കണ്ടിട്ടില്ല, ഞാന്‍ ഇപ്പോള്‍ വരാം എന്ന് അവളോട്‌ പറഞ്ഞിട്ട് ഞാന്‍ ഡോറിന്റെ അടുത്ത് പോയി,അവര്‍ എന്റെ അടുത്ത് വന്നു..
നായിന്റെമോനെ നീ നമ്മളെ പറ്റിച്ചു കടക്കാന്‍ നോക്കുന്നെ എന്ന് പറഞ്ഞു കൊണ്ട് വട പൊട്ടിച്ചിരിക്കുന്നു... കാലന്മാരെ ബ്രാണ്ടി മണത്തിട്ട് രക്ഷ ഇല്ല.. ആ ഹാഫ് മുഴുവന്‍ അകത്താക്കി എന്ന് തോന്നുന്നു.. എടാ കാലന്മാരെ ഇടങാറാക്കല്ലേ ,ഞാന്‍ ഒരു ഫുള്‍ വാങ്ങി തരാം എന്ന് ഞാന്‍ കാലു പിടിച്ചു പറഞ്ഞപ്പോള്‍ അവര്‍ ഓക്കേ എന്ന് പറഞ്ഞു നടന്നു..ഞാന്‍ തിരിച്ചു വന്നു അവളുടെ അടുത്ത് വന്നു.
പിന്നെ എന്തൊക്കെ വിശേഷം എന്ന് ഞാന്‍ ചോദിയ്ക്കാന്‍ തുനിയുമ്പോള്‍ അതാ സൈഡില്‍ നിന്ന് നിതി എന്ന് വിളിക്കുന്നു, ഞാനും അവളും തിരിഞ്ഞു നോക്കി..അതാ വടയും നിനിയും വീണ്ടും...വണ്ടിയില്‍ വല്ല പ്രശ്നവും ഉണ്ടായാല്‍ നീ ജീബോയുടെ ഫ്രണ്ട് ആണെന്ന് പറഞ്ഞ മതി എന്ന് ഉച്ചത്തില്‍ ഒരു ഉപദേശം നിനിയുടെ വക,വടയുടെ വക ഒരു പൊട്ടിച്ചിരിയും. അപ്പോളേക്കും വണ്ടി സ്റ്റാര്‍ട്ട്‌ ആയി..
വടകര വരെ അവളുടെ സീനിയര്‍ കൂടെ ഉണ്ടായതു കൊണ്ട് കൂടുതല്‍ ഒന്നും സംസാരിച്ചില്ല, വടകരയില്‍ പുള്ളി ഇറങ്ങിയപാടെ അവളുടെ രൂപം മാറി..നീ നീ എന്തിനാണു്‌ ഫ്രെൻഡ്സിനെ കൊണ്ട് വന്നത് എന്ന് പറഞ്ഞു അവള്‍ സീല്‍ക്കാരം തുടങ്ങി.. ഇത് നടക്കില്ല,നീ ആള് ശരി അല്ല എന്നാ കോമ്പ്ലിമെന്റ്സ് വേറെയും..ഇങ്ങനെ കൊയിലാണ്ടി എത്തുന്ന വരെ ആർഗ്യുമെന്റ് തുടര്‍ന്ന്, അപ്പോളേക്കും എന്റെ ക്ഷമയുടെ നെല്ലിപാടി കടന്നിരുന്നു.. കൊയിലാണ്ടി വണ്ടി എത്തുമ്പോള്‍ ഞാന്‍ പറഞ്ഞു നീ പോടീ പുല്ലേ,ചാറ്റ് റൂമിൽ വേറെയും പെണ്ണുങ്ങള്‍ ഇനിയും ഏറെ ഉണ്ട്,നീ നിന്റെ പണി നോക്കി പോയാട്ടെ!!
ഇതും പറഞ്ഞു ഞാന്‍ കൊയിലാണ്ടി ഇറങ്ങി,അവള്‍ വീടിലും പോയി..ഞാന്‍ അടുത്ത വണ്ടി പിടിച്ചു കണ്ണൂര്‍ ഇറങ്ങി,നമ്മുടെ മൈതാനത് ചെല്ലുമ്പോള്‍ വടയും നിനിയും അടുത്ത ഹാഫ് പൊട്ടിച്ചു തുടങ്ങുന്നേ ഉണ്ടായിരുന്നുല്ലു..
ചീര്‍്സ്!!!!!!

Monday, March 29, 2010

MONSTER

There were a few of us in engineering college who felt 4 years was too short a period for such a vast course of study. And so I,Sajit, Moori and Maaman stayed back to pursue further studies.
(some people may ignorantly call it as supplementary!!!)
I was in Bombay when the final year results came and the phone call from home said come back, you have been selected for further studies!! By the time i came back, Sajit,Reju and Maaman had rented an old home at kalliasserry which is more or less close to the college.
It was a nice place to stay. Very calm and quiet, a very old house in a big compound, surrounded by temples. We were sure that the place was blessed and that we will make it through the exams without any problem...............until the landlord started visiting frequently.
He would come riding his herohonda in the evenings. We had only the front hall and two rooms. He had access to the rooms at the back of the house . Most of the times he would go silently to his space and leave silently. But slowly he started to invite us to share a few drinks with him and he would talk for hours on everything under the earth,but mostly about god and satan . we would hide or pretend that we are busy studying whenever we saw him coming.
He was well read,well educated and well travelled also and so it wasnt easy avoiding him aswell.
then on the day of this incident, he came quite late in the evening,pretty well drunk. we were all sitting at the front and he came to us and said,''I have locked someone in the wooden storage behind,. I need to take him out at midnight after some pooja!! Are you guys brave enough to come with me??''
the question was alarming and his expressions made it look more eerie..but we managed to ask him who it was and why did he lock him. But he wouldnt tell us. He said if you are brave you can find out in a few hours!!
The challenge was difficult to let go unaccepted, so we said yes we are ready..Then he took us to the rear side and ito the main room . He said we still have time so lets have a round of drink. So Reju ,I and Maaman drank vodka with him while Sajit had to bear the nonsense in full senses!!
From time to time he would point towards the huge wooden storage near the door in next room and say ''he is sleeping now''..Then by around 11.30 he took a shower and came in his black dhothi .He teared some banana leaves, lit the lamp near the storage and started chanting while tearing the banana leaves slowly and throwing on the storage..and when it was almost 12 he stood up and said,'' beware,I am going to open the door now''... we were all excited and tensed thinking something might jump out of the storage now.!!!!
then he opened the door slowly, put his hand inside and took out a small bundle covered in black cloth...and said ''this is it''' and he slowly started to take the clothes off the bundle and finally he revealed to us the monster!!!
''a small black stone''' and said this is the saligram and its dangerous to keep it at home. Now i need to dispose this in the family pool in koodali before dawn. And he asked us again''' do you have courage enough to come with me to dispose this???''
We looked at each other and said in a single voice!!!
No Bavetta,no!! we arent brave enough..
And off he went on his herohonda to Koodali!!!!
Some monster!!!

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Passenger

On the way to office, i happened to hear Ranjit Shankar, the director of Passenger,on the radio. I guess it was John and Nayla of 96.7 hosting the show. The talks between them took me back by some years to my pre-sea training days.
it was sometime towards the mid of 2000. halfway into our training at ARI, Delhi, we had to go to Mumbai or Bombay then ,for our fire fighting training. The deck cadets had gone first and we left a week after, if i am not wrong. We were supposed to be mature, being at the institute after Btech,so we went unsupervised. We had our tickets booked on Dadar-Amritsar express with 57 halts and almost 30 hours between Dadar Central and Hazrat Nizamudeen stations. Some journey,yeah!! There were around 23 guys in our group,from across the country and at full josh from the rough and tough training by Mr.Mani and Mr.Kanwar who were the trainers.
we had sleeper class reservations and all went well when the train started from Dadar .
23 guys bith the Josh(as Mr.Mani Says!!!) and with cheap brandy mixed with pepsi in litre bottles and still all was well as the train entered into MP. There was a group of college students from Mumbai going to Agra to visit Taj, in the same compartment. It was a majorly girls group with the exception of a couple of guys and accompanied by lady staff.
Then as the train started halting at stations after stations in MP, we started to notice that people started to occupy our seats. it was not a problem at the beginning cos none of us wanted to sleep. But then we found that these guys with out any reservation were actually asking us to move to make space for the crowd, and to our dismay we saw that there was a policeman at the compartment door who was actually letting the people in!!!every station he goes ''Aao baujai aao ,dibwa khaali hai''!!! and people flocked in.
By the time the train reached Jhansi we were all fuming and we asked the Policeman to get the people without tickets out of our compartment, but he denied to do so. The crowd, the policeman and the Honey Bee had started to work on us. As the train started slowly from jhansi, someone pulled the chain, well, till now nobody really claimed responsibility for that, but i guess it was Soni.
then there was total chaos.. the combined voices of 24 pre sea cadets bith the Josh was too loud.
we managed to get everysingle person without a ticket off the compartment . the train was close to the station and ground staff and the station master also came and we got the policeman also out of the compartment. All settled, we closed the door and a few minutes later the train started slowly.
Dont know what got into Shrivastav!!! he opened the window and threw some good lot of swearings at the policemen near the track. one thing led to another and they must have talked on the walkie talkies and before we knew anything, the train stopped again and came thud thud on the door!!!
there were police and station master outside and they wanted us to open the door. that was a day when we felt maybe there are gods and angels!! all of a sudden the lady staff from the college group surrounded us and somone from their group opened the door. As the police came in shouting, these ladies said, you will have to arrest us first if you want to take these kids!!!!
a few managed to kick some of us through the gap they could find without touchin the teachers!!!
but then after a lot of shouting and arguing the ladies won!! the police agreed to let us go !!!
till the train reached Delhi, at every station there were policemen checking our compartment!!
while a part of our mind was scared like anything, the other part felt good; felt good that atleast once in our life we stood for something that we felt was right!!!
Some journey it was!!!!

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

some hearts are diamonds

some friends are real gems!!they wouldnt let you down no matter what..Anish was one of the gems that i had with me during my pre degree years in S.N college..i wonder where he is now.. he must be doing good wherever he is..

Short Anish as he was widely known , the name got even shorter when people started adressing him as Short or Shot as they liked!! I , Shot, Saleem and Roopesh were from A batch and we were quite regular absentees!! we found our solace with the rest of the gang behind the open air auditorium or in the canteen in Balettans' company much rather than the boring maths and physics classes.

this was just another day that started in front of the store, said hi to our classmates and jumped off just before the teacher came into the class. cant really remember whether the classes used to be for an hour or 45 minutes. the bell rang as Shot finished his second cigarette behind the stage .. we gave it a good ten minutes before we proceeded towards the class. normally the teachers dont stay that long.

but just as we reached near the class the teacher came out and we turned back and ran. G batch which was two classes away from ours was empty and we ran into that class and hid under the desks. Shot was under the desk nearest to the door .

well, it seems like Sabitha Madam had a pretty good eyesight!! she barged straight into G batch and immediately saw Shot under the desk.

Okay,come out Anish, I saw you running!! why you were not in the class.

we could hear the rumble as Shot came out from under the desk.

Ma'm , I came late and the class had already started......

Anish, you cant come in my class until you bring your parents!!!!

Ma'm pls i wont repeat it again,goes Shot

No way, bring your parents and we will see... Madam was quite sure

and then goes the gem of a friend, Ma'm i dint bunk the class alone!!!Nithin,Roopesh and Saleem were also with me. they are all hiding under desks!!!

and he goes okay guys come out!!!!

Man i never saw so much of sharing!!!!

well it took a whole day of standing in the rain outside her class to persuade her in letting us have one more chance!!

Some hearts are diamonds

Some hearts are stones!!!!!!!

temper tantrums

one of the very few plastic display boards in our old home said '' temper is a valuable thing, do not lose it'' and honestly i try my best to comply. but its not easy i tell you..especially on days like yesterday when i put a DVD on and reached for the remote and found it without the battery cover and batteries and the battery space was filled with kheer from yesterday!!!
okay count till 1o , dont blow off, well i tried hard..i did count till 10 , but no one says what to do after you reach 10!!!Richuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu, dont you dare touch the remote ever again!!!!
so the movie had to wait, thought i would check if there any comments on my posts.
but as soon as i touched the laptop he was besides me and went..All izz well ,All izz well!! so it meant it would only be All izz well on youtube for the next half anhour....
okay , count till 10 !!!
so movie is out,laptop is out, i thought i would try to clean the remote and see..opened the remote and cleaned everything and put it back. now where are the batteries??
another 15 minutes and i couldnt find any battery, had to take batteries out from the clock
and i could feel myself at the verge of blowing up.
so i sat down again with the cleaned up remote and tried!! NO it wouldnt work!! and there went the remote bang on the wall!!
well i did count till 10!!!

Monday, March 15, 2010

Oceans of Fantasy

one of my friends whom I sailed with about seven years back on M/T Corinth wrote on his facebook wall recently; 'there are men and there are seamen'.
six years at sea!! well ofcourse not at a stretch but for a whole eleven months on the first ship followed by six or five on and two and half off.
money was the main factor that made me join merchant navy, and a desire to see in real the big machinaries that we learnt about , rather than wasting four years of mechanical engineering in software companies and ofcourse to see the world!!!
the journeys were awesome . the heavy workload was compensated with the excitement of a mind eager to see new places. M/T Emerald Sky,my first ship took me almost through a full round of the globe in eleven months;from Singapore to Dubai!!!
but as the days turned into weeks and weeks into months, and the ports started to look similar, the loneliness started creeping!! Internet wasnt that popular and the ships agent was eagerly waited for any probable letters from home. if nothing came it would be another fifteen days easily before the next port. we were slowly starting to feel the negatives of the career.
there were two of us as engine cadets,both of us from the same place ,from the same college and the croatian first engineer could never pronounce our names correctly and so we became Bruce Lee; I was Bruce ,Vineeth was Lee!!! And so bruce and Lee lived together in a small cabin, on bunk beds; lee on top and I took the bottom one; for eleven long months!!
Rekhi is right, there are men and there are seamen!

coffee with kolu

fifteen years of togetherness. fifteen long years of never ending pranks and passtimes. college has defenitely given some of the best things in life. from a lone ,skinny boy to a beer bellied man i have carried a lot of good memories and friends with me. guys!! you have given me a life!!
those who dint know me well might be wondering what the title of the blog means;well that was my pet name since first week of college fifteen years back;ever since Maaman set his eyes on me. did i like him? no, i dint to be honest. it took me a good odd six years to realise that he actually had a lot of good traits in him. and looking back now, the cat and mouse game between us pulling legs at even the minutest of opportunity were hilarious.
it was just another sunday evening in hostel. like manytimes , i was in hostel after a heavy stint of boozing. we knew Maaman was back from home, but he wasnt in his room when I and moori went in. his bags were there . As usual , we rummaged through his bag and something very uncommon caught my eyes. its was three neatly packed coffee powder well packed in small plastic bags and sealed. learnt from moori that these were home made herbal coffee which maamans mom made. and knowing maaman, this had to be a gift that he would give to some girl.
the devil in me had to come out!!!
i and moori neatly made a hole on one of the packets, poured the coffee powder out into a jar.
went out to the hostel backyard and brought some fine dry brown mud and filled into the packet very neatly and sealed it back and put it back in his bag.
a very unsuspecting maaman went to college and neither did we show any signs.
till now he wudnt say to whom he tried to give the coffee. but i can assure that he never again brought herbal coffee powder in to the hostel..''tere sang ek simple si coffee bhi kick deti hai..tere sang''

Sunday, March 14, 2010

joggers park

a long day of waiting for a very quiet sunday's work to be over. Sundays are pretty boring days. Main offices in Europe are closed and the local customers are busy on the first day of the week.
And on top of that an overpowering thought that life is going stale with a very ordinary routine was making time pass ever more slower. Something has to be done. My shippie friend Nilesh's Facebook wall says '' I heard that women find 6 packs sexy. I've been drinking them but it's not working !'' and that triggered the thought that maybe i should start doing something about my one pack or atleast try to rev up my stamina so that during the next friendly alumni cricket match i wouldnt have to get a runner after batting for four overs.
so i put down the long standing- at- ease treadmill to the floor. well, two kilometers of jogging isnt that bad i guess for a start. but dont ask me how much time i lied down on the sofa. though partially asleep i could hear the lady screaming Thomaaaaaas in the background!!! Am i dreaming ? or has it really got into me?

shining stars

yet another weekend, pushed my ability to sleep to the limit, woke up close to noon.
yet another weekend with a skipped breakfast and an early lunch ;and the new restaurant in Ajman has made us even more lazier.. they serve nice malabarian meals,,mhmm, tastes so close to home..tucked ourselves in the heaviest of meals we could have; forget health, its a weekend!!
ideas of a matinee inhouse went dead when endless shows of Tom and Jerry and Mickey mouse went on and on..man ,i never knew Tom and Jerry could be so boring also..''you scared the afterlife off me'' said the ghost running after Tom and Jerry!! Phew!! this is pathetic,aint it..gone are the days when i would remember dialogues from mohanlal's aaryan!!!
but then i saw his face and he was so immensely drowned in the pranks of Tom and Jerry and it was much better than watching the TV to watch his face.. his eyes shining like stars, his face going through many emotions dancing to the chords of the cartoon and shooting a quick glance at me at times to check if all is well...well son, All izzz well!!!