Bridge

Lalu is one guy whose stories are never ending.Such a prankster!! The same age as me, there wouldnt be one single guy around whom he wouldnt have pulled legs. Cento, the Club where we sit around in the evenings is right in front of the school were I did my primary schooling. From the school ground ,if you have to come to the main ground near the club then you have to walk through the small slab which connected the two planes at a different level, it was a makeshift bridge .
Every evening when we would be sitting at the club gossipping and puffing away Wills after Wills, we would see see this guy on his Hero Honda Splendour speeding from one corner of the ground, through the slab to the other side and disappear around the corner. None of us knew him. Two things were enough to mount hatred against him amongst us club dwellers!!one,he ran his own business in the town;so he is rich and the other, he never looked at us!!! And he always rode his bike so fast that he would leave a trail of dust flying behind which made us hate him even more. But we could do nothing; I said we,not Lalu.
One evening when I came to the club,I saw lalu writitng something on a big cardboard.
I looked over his shoulder..Man this guy is crazy!!
In ten minutes, he finished writing the board, took a long stick from the neighbourhood and tied the board to the stick with wires and planted that near the slab.
We were puffing away when we heard a bike coming and then heard a loud screech of tyres slipping on the mud when you brake suddenly. We ran out from the club and saw this guy braked in front of the slab. He read the board, put the bike in gear, took a turn and went back the way he came.
The board read: ''Bridge under repair!!Pls take a Diversion'''

Pappu's corner

As much as I had wanted to own a bicycle in my childhood, I never had one. So on the many ocassions that we boys wanted a ride, we would either rent one from Gopalettan's shop or borrow a ride from my friend Unni. I and Unni had roamed around our small village,Chovva many times, either on rented cycles or him giving me a lift on his cycle; though we would never go out to the highway or the main streets. But those roads soon started to get boring and we planned to venture out into the main road connecting to the national highway.
So on one Saturday evening, we set out from home,I and Unni. He was riding and I was sitting on the bar at the front. All going as plan. We passed the school ground and was almost nearing the main road. Tension mounting as we saw the cars and buses zooming ahead on the road.
Unni said ,Okay as we enter the main road ,you look behind and I will watch out front to see if the road is clear. I said Okay.
Now if you had checked our roads clearly, the tar road is always at a higher level than the muddy side walk which is infact quite a safety risk for ammateur cyclists.!! But we never thought of it. Now as we were about to enter, I looked behind,but Unni forgot that he was supposed to look ahead at the road.
Thud!!!!!I could feel myself loosing the grip on the handle and flying towards the road. I crash landed on my head, luckily no vehicle was coming. All felt okay, I stood up and touched my forehead, and then i took a look at my palm, it was covered with blood!! I hadnt seen blood before like this and that was enough for me to loose control...
''AAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaa''' I started to cry and people started coming out of Pappu's tea stall.
From nowhere,Archu who was the most popular drunkard of the village brought a scooter and took me to the doctor.
the doctor gave me two stitches and Archu took me back home on his scooter. As i reached home ,I saw a small crowd in front of the house and I could hear my mother and my grandmother crying on top of their voice,and when I climbed the steps to the front of the house people were looking at me shockingly!!!they asked ,are you okay??
I said yeah!!!Amma came running and held me and said
''Unni came here and said you met with an accident near Pappu's corner and that you had been take to Hospital''
God!!! Some accident!!!
the crowd dispersed, but Archu stayed a little longer; till dad gave him money to buy a half bottle.

Chattarpur

A few kilometers from the Qutub Minar, somewhere in the outskirts of Chattarpur lies the campus of ARI where we were sent for our pre-sea training. A farmhouse turned into one of the finest marine training facilities in the country now. I joined the farm almost 10 years back into a batch of 22 engine cadets and 14 deck cadets, called the Faraday batch. The training was more or less like an army training. Each day started strictly at 6 and ended strictly at 10. The wake up bell rang at 6 in the morning and we had 10 minutes to get our asses out of the bed and put on our blue shorts and blue T shirts and the canvas shoes and report for PT at the ground. PT would be on till 10 minutes to 7 and we had to report back at 7 AM dressed in coveralls,safety shoes and helmets and carry on with the assigned job for the week which would be either cleaning the kitchen or the office or the toilets etc etc. When the bell rang at 7.30 ,we had to run back, freshen up ourselves, put on our white shorts, white shirts with the shoulder stripes on,polished black shoes and caps and report for breakfast where Mrs.Anand would teach us table manners.
We could go out of the campus only twice a month,on alternate Sundays and on other sundays we could just go out for 10 minutes to the nearest telephone booth. Incoming calls to the campus was not allowed and none of us had seen mobile phones at that time. It felt like a jail at that time. And to top it we had some strict wardens aswell. Any three of us would be on duty at all times except during the class room hours at the main office. One guy who was in charge of the station who would pick the calls, one guy who was the messenger to be sent to pass messages and one guy for utilities;to check the level of water in the tank and to stop and start the pump.
On one such evening, I,Bakle and Parvez were on duty and the rest of the batch were out in the ground playing games. The duty station was next to the galley or the kitchen. Maharaj and Biku were busy preparing chicken. We had chicken once a week and meat once a week. It was a lousy evening and Mr.Kanwar,the duty officer was not anywhere near. The smell of the chicken was ver tempting and the thought that we would only get two pieces for dinner was quite an inspiration to go into the kitchen and beg Maharaj for a piece or two. So I and Bakale asked Parvez to stay on watch and we went in the kitchen.Maharj was happy to feed us and we indulged ourselves in the chicken so much that we dint hear the phone ringing. But a loud roar did
''WHO THE BLOODY HELL IS ON DUTY???''' It was Mr.Kanwar roaring. We threw the chicken and ran to the duty station. ''SUDARSAAAAAAAAN!!!!!WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THE GALLEY??''
''Sir sir,nothing sir,just went into drink some water..
''SUDARSAN ,DONT FOOL ME!!!! YOU BOTH TO THE GROUND!!!! CONTINUOUS!!!!!!!''
Shit!!!! that was Kanwars style of ordering us to do contiuous rounds of the ground.
We were still going round and round the ground when the guys came for dinner and Mr.Kanwar noticed us and said'' SHIT!! HAVENT YOU GUYS STOPPED??''
''eh,no sir!! you dint tell us to stop!!!''
''YOU BUFFOONS!!!ENOUGH NOW!! GO FRESHEN UP AND COME FOR DINNER''
''ok sir !! thank you sir''
We could see on his face that he was upset because he forgot that we were doing rounds!!
He called out to us, ''YOU IDIOTS!!! ASK MAHARAJ TO GIVE YOU AN EXTRA PIECE OF CHICKEN!!! I WILL TELL HIM!!!''
Chicken never tasted better!!!

Dharmashala

At a throws distance from Dharmashala, Govt college of engineering,Kannur could be said to be suitably located in a RED fort; i would not rather go much into politics having said that.

When you go towards the college from Dharmashala, the first thing that you see as you reach the campus border is the basket ball court on your right hand side and on your left hand side across the road,on top of the small hill is the Ladies' Hostel.

It was a common practice for us hooligans to get drunk at the friendly neighbourhood bar,The Highway Inn at Thaliapparambu and ride our bikes back ;park them near the basket ball and conduct a small session at midnight on testing our vocabulary and vocal finesse!! It was fun doing it because our voices could be heard clearly at the Ladies Hostel,so the girls claimed. And this went on for almost 4 years without any complications;until one fine day during our Final years week,we pushed our limits and luck a bit further..

All i remember of that night is drinking my wits out at the bar, riding my cousin's beaten down Delhi registration Yamaha back and trying to put it on stand. I guess it fell down. Next thing I remember is waking up in the hostel porch(no idea how i reached the mens hostel) sometime in the wee hours of morning when i heard the loud noise of a mob chanting slogans. I crawled my way into the first open door near the porch and slept on the floor.

When i woke up in the morning with a terrible headache and came out into the passage something felt strange. I reached the washroom and saw Shijith . He looked dismayed.

''dey, wassup?''I asked '' and where are the others?''

''Where were you lastnite'' he asked '' arent you aware of what happened?''

''No!! I was zonked out and slept on the floor in some room, why what happened?''

'' We came walking all the way from the basket ball court to the hostel chanting dirty songs and abuses and when we reached the hostel we saw that Pavithran was missing!!''

And then? I asked

''then Hanagan went to look for him on his bike'',know what he saw??''

''What???'' I cried

'' A mob of around fifty localites were carrying Pavithran and heading towards the Hostel'' and they saw Hanagan and caught him also.

And then??

''They came in front of the hostel gate, made Pavithran and Hanagan give them the names of the full group who were out at the basket ball court and on the road, and they called each of us one by one and beat us!!!!'' Where were you asshole?? We called out your name many times,Were you hiding somewhere??''

''No man , i wasnt aware of anything!! i heard a mob coming,but i thought it would be you guys ''

By then Reju,Mercu and all started coming out and all had finger marks on their faces!! Though I had a narrow escape, thanks to the few extra shots, I couldnt' stop myself from laughing my heart out!!!

''yeh safar bohat hai katin magar

na udaas ho mere humsafar''!!!

Free Fall

It was a day of mixed emotions the day I met my wife

.I was supposed to see her in our college campus,my cousin ,a junior to her being the mediator. I,my brother Nikil, my friends Sooraj and Ashis reached the campus quite earlier than as planned. We parked the car on the passage to the main entrance. I called Sree and he said the classes are still on,you need to wait for another half an hour.

I thought i would use the time to meet my old professors and I went to the first floor of the new college building. As I entered the Chemistry Dept, Prof.Govindan looked up from his seat. I dint see the usual welcome smile on his face. He said, come ,take a seat.

I sat in front of him and he said,'' did you come after hearing the news?''

I said ''what news sir?''

''oh'' he said, ''so you dont know?'' Shaljan suicided today morning!!

''What?'' I was on my feet again,''but why and where?''

'' He jumped from the terrace of his friends house near the hostel, the body has been taken for postmortem''

''I will go there'' I said and ran to the car. By the time i got into the car,Sree called me saying shes on her way. I saw her walking past the car and thought , I guess shes the one,

Anyway,more to do now, ''guys lets go to Thaliapparambu govt hospital''

''But why??'' I kept pondering over and over on the way to the hospital..

About three weeks back , the day I reached home on vacation, Thakku had brought Shaljan to my home. Thakku had told me on the phone that Shaljan had some financial issues. And when we discussed it at home he said he needed some money to sort out the issues and that would be it. I was happy to help some one who never ever asked for any favour all through our college life.

But then a few days later he called me again and asked for some more money. We met at the city center and I gave him some more,but i said '' hasnt your issues been sorted? you said that day that what I gave that day was enough''. He said ,no there are still some more issues..

A week later he called me again and asked for more money, I said'' see, I cant keep on giving you money. Either you tell us in detail what are the issues and how much you need to sort it fully, then we can try to sort it together.''

he said that he will call me later..

But he never called me again!!

As I waited near the hospital, I realized that he would never call me again..!!

It was a day of mixed emotions...

Dreams

I rode a white horse in my dreams;

a white horse saddled in brown leather.

I rode it all the way to school while my friends came on bicycles.

I would proudly hold my head high when they waved me from the school bus while I passed by on my horse.
My horse would graze near my class till evening
and when the bell rang, i would run and jump on to her back and ride away
I had a white horse in my dreams!!!!

Vishu

പടക്കങ്ങളും പൂത്തിരികളും ഇല്ലാത്ത മറ്റൊരു വിഷു കൂടി.
കടയില്‍ നിന്നും വാങ്ങിയ കൊന്നപൂക്കളും ,സെല്ലോ ടേപ്പ് ഒട്ടിച്ചു കൊല ആക്കിയ കണ്ണി മാങ്ങയും ഉള്ള മറ്റൊരു വിഷു കൂടി.
കൂട്ടുകാരോ അച്ഛനോ അമ്മയോ കൂടാത്ത മറ്റൊരു വിഷു കൂടി
എന്നത്തേയും പോലെ വടയുടെ (സൂരജ്)വിഷു ആശംസകള്‍ മാത്രം ടെക്സ്റ്റ്‌ മെസ്സേജ് ആയി വന്ന മറ്റൊരു വിഷു കൂടി.
എന്നത്തേയും പോലെ കുടുംബക്കാരെ ഞാന്‍ വിളിച്ചില്ല എന്നാ അമ്മയുടെ പരാതി നിറഞ്ഞ മറ്റൊരു വിഷു കൂടി.
നിങ്ങള്‍ ഇല്ലാതെ എനിക്കെന്തു വിഷു എന്ന് പറഞ്ഞ അച്ഛന്റെ സങ്കടം മനസ്സില്‍ നിറഞ്ഞ മറ്റൊരു വിഷു കൂടി.
നാട്ടിലെ ക്ലബ്ബില്‍ പതിവ് പോലെ പടക്ക പിരിവു നടക്കുന്നു എന്ന് അറിയുന്ന മറ്റൊരു വിഷു കൂടി.
ഒരു വെര്‍ച്വല്‍ ധനികന്റെ പരിമിതികള്‍ നിറഞ്ഞ മറ്റൊരു വിഷു കൂടി.

Soldier

Though the incident which I am writing now is a thirdhand narration, the characters and incident are real and any resemeblance to persons and places are purely intentional. This was described by Soni during one of our gossip sitouts during our college days in Southshields,over a neat shot of cheap house whiskey from ASDA.
Being sailed on vessels with a mixed crew so varied, we all had our portion of humor on language skills of the Turkish fitters onboard ,but by far this one is the best i ever heard.
This happened on Soni and Ghate's first ship. A cadet is screwed by everyone, cheap labour they being. they are screwed by the chief engineer and first engineers, who let the ratings like fitters and motormen to screw them further. so whoever needed assistance on any job , a cadet was at their disposal.
And so Soni and Ghate were called to assist Osman( i dont remember his real name), the senior fitter to fix some pipe aloft by welding. And so these two cadets went with the super fitter who went up climbing on the myriad of pipes and did the welding dangling there and Soni and Ghate stood below passing on welding rods and stuff whenever he asked. Everything went smooth and after half an hour,Osman called out to Soni,''Soni!! Soldier''
Soni and Ghate stared at each other and looked all around..now wheres a soldier, they coud see tools,fire hose,welding rods,but where the heck is a soldier
Osman was getting impatient and he yelled''' Soniiiiiii,Soldier!!soldier!!!
Soni and Ghate started to search around and Osman started yelling more...but he got fed up soon and unhooked the safetly belt and climbed down and came to Soni
''Soni!! no understand Soldier, you no understand nothing!!!!
and with that he made an attention pose as Soldiers would stand in attention,and said this is Soldier!!!
Then Soni understood what he meant, he wanted Soni who was the taller of the two to stand in attention so that he could take support on his shoulders and climb down!!!
Soni!!!!''''Soldier!!!!!!!