To smoke or not to smoke!!

Was reading the article on "smoking being banned in Indian movies" and another one "Smoking banned in England"!! Is the world getting to be a better/ healthier place to live in? Or are democratic rights of the citizens being questioned;)?? Well there aint any democratic right that says "You may smoke" but then i guess this can be included in indvidual liberty or maybe even in freedom of expression..
What is the govt trying to do by forcing the NON-SMOKING law on to the people? It first started off with NO SMOKING law in the train, then it was restriction of sale of tobacco within a 100 metre radius of the school, university etc and now no smoking in movies!! Come off it please...Does the smoking by hero or villain actually inspire the aam junta to smoke?? Maybe if they had introduced this law way back when the movie industry was coming up in India, the law would have been practical but now i guess its a trifle bit too late!! (personal opinion). I was laughing my ass off the other day reading about Amitabh being sued for smoking in a movie....i guess they expected him to chew a pan or probably a bubble gum (incidentally both these are known to cause mouth cancers too)!!! If the leaders who introduced these laws were actually serious about the same, then i guess they should have gone about banning smoking altogether or they should ban companies/ retailers from producing/ selling cigarettes..how do you expect to curb/ reduce the hazards of smoking, if the source itself is still kicking on without any issues.
On one hand, the govt. comes out with such laws as stated above and on the other hand, they are planning to mince money out of the Tobacco industry. One of the critical issues being discussed in The Budget 2006 is the introduction of VAT on cigarettes..this very clearly shows that our govt. is not very pro-antismoking but things like banning of smoking in movies etc. are just publicity stunts (not sure if stunts is the right word here).
Lets take the second govt in question - the English..Now these guys have banned smoking in all public places which includes - bars n pubs too!! I mean a mug of beer in one hand n NO fag in the other?? Its unimaginable..i cant even think of a pub where there is not a single trace of smoke..this may hit the pub sales soon in the UK. The whole point of drinking in a pub is the ambience and what , to a certain extent, adds to that ambience is the smoke (guess all the hard core non-smnoker will strangle me:)). Personally i'd rather drink at home now where i have the liberty to smoke my heart out rather my lungs out rather than in a pub where i would have to just drink n sit around!! At this rate, I wouldnt be surprised if soon they ban drinking alcohol in the pubs or bars!!! or even resort to something like the below -


more of these available on www.quitsmoking.com

The normal human tendency is that of OPPOSITION!! If someone asks me NOT to do something, then the tendency or inclination to do that is very HIGH!!I am sure all, if not most of them would agree to this. A classic example is how the indian govt. banned the advertising of alcohol in the media and what happened? All those alcohol/ beer companies (Kingfisher, Mcdowell etc.) came out with bottled mineral water with the same brand name and started advertising supposedly for the "mineral water".
One of the ads/billboards for Mcdowell displayed a guy in business suit smiling with his index finger raised and the script read "One on the rocks, pls" and beneath in small lettering was written "packaged mineral water" - Now u make whatever sense n meaning that the above ad depicted!!!!!

Coming back to democracy ,is this what the people wanted when they elected their respective representatives to the legislatures or where ever? I dont believe so...
What we need now probably is a participatory democracy - a democracy where every citizen takes part in the decision making of the government and it is not left in the hands of the 'so-called' representativies of the junta..but how practical this would be taking into account the population of our country..hmmm - No idea!!


trivia: there are only 4 products which does not have VAT on them currently - sugar, textiles, cigarettes and petroleum.

and yeah just for information - I DONT SMOKE:)

Seniors, we have become/ Freshie 2001!!

Second yr came and we had first glimpses of OUR prey;) The innocent lambs ( we were too when we joined, rather even now we ARE) moving arnd with their parents, the corner of their eyes trying to capture a glimpse of the seniors - not knowing what these loving seniors are holding in store for them!!
Ragging was bad for our juniors - i have to accept. They saw stars everyday/ night!! I could safely say that i am glad that i was not my senior! (did i make sense??) anyway the period of ragging went by fast...(i am sure the jus' would disagree with me on this point)!!!
The ragging had almost come to an end except for the "chosen few" who due to their over smartness or dumbness ended up getting thulped by the seniors even during the fag-end of the rag period...the lucky few included Boris for his stupidity, Chandra/ Tinku/ Sreeni for their over smartness??;)...n whtever...The NRI freshie had got over and the very next day was the our Mallu freshie for our beloved juniors..
the tough part was getting the Nri - mallu juniors to come for the freshy..what with them havin boozed their guts out the day before for the NRI freshie, most of them were not in their senses when mallu freshie had to begin and after numerous calls by the seniors to the first yr hostel all of them turned up for the freshie...one person though who was completely bonkered out was Sundeep...he had had a bit too much the day before and he could hardly stand on his 2 feet...he was even reluctant to come for the freshie..but somehow the Nri-mallu's of our batch..convinced him n pulled him for the freshie....
then there was the arrangement of freshie...we had got the Royal Southern hotel for conducting the freshie..esp since we had given them a double deal...NRI freshie n Mallu freshie on consecutive days and courtesy us..they got a lot of business for that yr for almost all the freshies..!!!it was something we had discovered - good hotel, cheap rates and suddenly everyone wanted a piece of the pie.......
the hall booked for the freshie was a medium sized hall (they called it the banquet hall) with food catering to both the veg n non-veg buds....along with the hall came the Music system and the mike...the system was pretty decent..good enough to play some songs and for juniors to put on music and present the first yr event..whatever they had to do...there was a small stage/ podium...that was carpetted in red...a chair was kept in the centre..where each junior went up..and gave his/ her intro...and where they were bombarded with questions abt their baap/ their maa and so many other questions which would make them sweat...and at the same time would please the sadistic minds of their over powering seniors...this was also the chance for each senior to tease another of his batchmate/ his senior by asking tricky complicated questions to the juniors abt their college heriditary...!!!all those seniors/ batchmates who were despised...were made fun of courtesy thru the juniors at this juncture...!!
another memorable thing was the invitation card that we had published and sent out for all the seniors inviting them for the freshie...the FUMS were infuriated with this action of ours..they created petty scenes like, one of them dint get the invitation card and it meant they were not invited for the freshie...after a lot of coaxin many of them,...all of them finally agreed to come for the freshy...(it was obvious they would come ..but then they wanted to make us beg them n this was their way of making the whole freshy very formal - as they termed it - by giving out invitation cards)
the whole work of organising the freshy was divided up into tasks amongst us second yrs...some were given the work of getting the girls to the hotel...some were in charge of transportation - to n fro..others to check if things were in order in the hotel before the function started off...and one was given the duty of getting the then final yrs to the hotel...I was the chosen one for supposedly having the knack of talking soft n cooling them off..(this was told to me, i think..so that I would not refuse the OFFER)..anyway I acceded..
on the chosen day all had got set going ...I went to the final yr hostel - to get those seniors..and boy was not I scared..what with all these towering characters boozed n their anger regarding invites still not calmed down...I got together everyone in the van designated for them (as per their request...they wanted a separate van altogether for 13 of them to reach the hotel)...and when i was abt to enter...couple of them pushed me out..telling the van was exclusive for them...and not for any freaking junior..be it the organiser or whoever...smart me -instructed the van driver then to take the van to royal southern n decided to come by TNSTC to the hotel..but few of the other seniors (sidi, sujith etc..) got me back into the van despite what few others said...the journey started off...i was a sitting duck in the last seat..just trying to hide myself n prayin that this trip to the hotel ended soon...while the final yrs were hurling abuses at me n my batchmates for not providing them A/C coach../ video coach and what not :-P...in between one of the seniors...(Jiby)..came behind..and started narrating story of how he n his batch mate slapped each other during one of their ragging sessions or so...and to illustrate this..out of the blue..THUD...the whole van that was buzzing with noise n abuses...became silent...there was just the humming of the engine that could be distinctly heard...the pain of the whack could be felt by my innocent soft cheeks only later on...I was shocked - for having got the slap, for not knowing the reason why I got slapped and for the humiliation of being prob the only 2nd yr to have got slapped by the FUMS.....however thanks to that...all the abuses being hurled were stopped...suddenly everyone came back to the senses except the one who had delivered the slap...all were calmin me down..(they probably thoguht I would get angry or upset or whateever) and now the abuses were on to that senior...prob he dint realise the strength of the blow he had just metted out...anyhow..later on he came n apologised and the remaining part of that long journey was spent in silence...
anyway the remaining part of the freshie was pretty uneventful..the regular happenings and nothing in particular...!!!

Freedom is my birth right!!!

The NRI freshers party had got over. The only memorable incident that happened for that freshy was the Ramayanam2K, a lot of comedy. We had Pradeep Muralidharan playing the Ravan with Gangster's paradise song running in the background. Anila was Sita and then the characteristic "Ada poya" by her which was picked up from the "shakalaka baby" song. I remember myself and kartik sitting at the last bench and immitating her and irritating her all thru the practice sessions for the freshy... (later i came to know that she was real angry with me for that and was irritated to the core;-)). We did the "suno to diwana dil" dance and the girls, i guess, had done a dance for "rang de"...anyway that was over and all were enjoying their new found freedom, when we as mallus had ragging ongoing even now..The mallu freshers party was the following week. And i dont think in the 4 years of college life, we NRI mallus have ever looked forward for anything more eagerly than for this particular day when we would be freed from the bonds of slavery...no more slaps...!!
it was the most painful week of the lot. ur remaining NRI counterparts were partying..going places...having fun..goign to the gate for dinner...and we were content seeing the snaps of their outings with the girls and listening to the fun times they had outside while we were undergoing another week of brutality by our very dear seniors...!!hmmm....
anyway finally the day came . We got our freshie. I was happy beyond words...and i guess the feelings were the same amongst all of us...esp after the formation of IBMk and restart of ragging and all the crap that followed..this was a welcome shower of monsoons for us...!!During the freshy there was a proper mimicking by Kuttan of the seniors including Johnny n Vinod and it was mimicked so perfectly that all were rolling on the ground..!!All fresh memories and then we did perform the "Suno tho diwana dil" partly and performed some rubbish on the stage when we were supposed to do a proper drama or dance or something...anyway then we heard a lot of advices from the seniors ..abt the mallu unity and their freshers party stories...!!one memorable day..!!!
and this was the very day when i made my entrance into the world traversed by almost all my seniors!! I tried my first voluntary gulp that day- no tensions...no mind blocks( for the NRI freshie as well, I had gulped but then i was more worried about the mallu ragging that was scheduled for me the next day more than enjoyin the freshers party)..
it was bliss....i remember one of my seniors Subhash Narayan(mallu prod) challenged me and Addy to a competition. He thought he would get a easy victory over us. We too thought the same. But for the heck of competing we competed. We had the first swig - bottoms up - on the rocks and Subhash was aghast and he too without loosing a moment had his first glass...we were al pumped up now...!!It was the moment when we had to show that we were not the "pavam pavam" types which we had portrayed ourselves to be...!!We ahd another 2 swigs and Subhash followed suit...and then we slowed down on advice from final years...esp since it was the first time for myself and addy..so we had the 4th and 5th drink slow n steeady...and sudenly we saw someone was shouting and moving arnd completely drunk. Turned arnd to see that it was none other than our dear Subhash.
He was Blown...myself, prem, dwipin carried him to someone's room, i guess it was prem's room and left him there to sleep..and we carried on..
Later on heard that never before had Subhash drank so much in his life..and we had coaxed him into it..courtesy the challenge. Anyway after that the real fun began...All the guys were pretty high up and the singing session began with parady's and vallips and first years (us) abusing all our seniors to the core for what all they had done to us...!!
The night however belonged to Addy. He was drunk and all that vaashi n hatred that had built inside him against the seniors came out and he caught the seniors one by one..starting from final yrs Ashif and ending with Vinod (2nd yr) in Diamond hostel.\He ragged each one of them...with his tongue so much that all seniors were completely flabbergast. They dint have a word to say...the best was Addy's ragging of Vinod - a common irritating guy for all the first years then. Vinod had retired early from the freshers party since he was a teetotaller and he had obviously got bored...But that was not an issue for our dude Addy...he went to his rooom..pulled off the characteristic towel which was wrapped arnd Vinod's eyes when he slept...pulled him out of his bed and abused him beyond anything...so much so that finally Vinod got irritated and me and Yeda (anand P) had to pull him out and make addy sleep somewhere else..!!
Then me and Yeda continued talking about our past, got a pep talk from him about the various departments etc..etc..!!It was the same night when Ghattis (maharashtrians) had had also their freshy and we joined Chatlawar (a 2- time year back, then studying in second yr - and a pretty good footballer though hot headed). We asked him for water and he gave us a bottle...which was just on the rocks Vodka..and both me and yeda gulped it down and realised what we had drunk was vodka and not water...!!anyway...then myself, yeda and chaat sat and talked abt football for sometime..then we went to one of the dhabas outside and had some sweets...early in the morning by arnd 4:00 am and then got back. By this time 3 of us were properly high and we decided to play football to practice for the inter-year finals due to be played that evening between 1st yrs v/s 2sn yrs...kicked arnd the ball till abt 9:00 am...and then we went to mess and had breakfast and went back to the hostel and slept off...!!
i got up at 4:30 pm only just in time for the match which was to begin at 5:00 pm...went to the field..paddded up ...and match started.but there was no sign of Yeda or Chaat...2 main players for the 2nd yrs then..!!anyhow...we had a thumpin win of 3-0 - if my memory is right. and we were doing the victory dancing and shouting happily..when chaat and yeda came in...all droopy..they obviously had had too much to drink and their head was spinning even now...pity them and saw the look of hatred for them in the remaining 2yrs eyes..!!I was glad that i had got up in time for the match..>!!
and that day it dawned upon me..that I have a great capacity..!!I am a tank..!!The news spread fast to all seniors..the rest of the second semester was spent accompanying every other senior...giving company to many...roaming arnd with the seniors..seeing places...and enjoying every moment.!!Second semester - i hardly saw the classrooms...!!
After the eventful nights of comradeship...i would get baclk to hostel by 7:00 am...have breakfast and sleep till evening...and the cycle continued...!!!This was jut the beginning of the TANK...and more was yet to come....

Suno to Diwana Dil

Well for those of you, who could not make sense of the title, it is nothing but a song by Kamal Khan (the one who sang "oh oh jaane janna" - salman khan dance number) to which we danced.
Now the we comprised of Vineesh, Akhilesh, Kartik, Adarsh, Vithal, Ashwin, Pranay. I am not very sure how exactly we had started the whole process...but it was Akki's brainwave, if my memory is right...!!!
This was almost to the end of ragging when our seniors said that we would have to perform something for the fresher's party..some dance or skit or something of the sorts...and we were unsure of what to do exactly..!!!and then akki came up with this idea of dancing!!!
now before i get into how we started off and how we prepared ourselves and got guys to dance...let me tell u something...all those guys who danced for this..were novices?? no not even that...they (including me) never ever thought in their entire life till then that one day they would be dancing on stage and that too for a fast number..nothing folk or slow!!!
anywy it was intially for the freshers party and so the above said guys were all forced to dance along with me n akki..the entire choreography was directed by both of us only..!!!Basically we tried to recollect all those dance steps we had seen over the ages in the movies and on stage in school and tried redoing that!!
First myself and akki used to try the step and we would perfect it....and once we had perfected it..we would teach the rest of the guys and make them practice over n over again...until they were comfortable doing the step and even in their sleep, if asked, they would be knowin the sequence of steps..!!!we started with one step at a time and after perfecting each step , the song was played and we danced in one shot till the point where we had perfected..!!
I dont know if dance pundits (the girls - remya, shivani, anila etc) would call our dancing as dance but atleast we were giving it a shot and that is what mattered..!!we were, frankly speaking, doing more of aerobics than dance over there...!!!Lots of steps where we jumped, did splits (almost), made few formations...(picked up from watching numeroius dances over 18 yrs of life) etc etc..!!we initially had started off practice in A-22. We used to move the beds to the sides and create space and dance...and slowly coz of the music (whch was vey upbeat) we attracted a small crowd from the neighbouring rooms and iut became a everyday routine for 7 of us to dance and practice for our fresher's party while the crowd just looked on...!!
anyway we had reached only half way thru the song when one of the guys, Shantanu Das, asked us to perform for the first year Rotract function. He was a member of the Rotract Club of RECT and they were conducting a function for the first years and this guy wanted us to dance for the same..!!initially we were very reluctant...as none of us have danced before and we were not sure if we could pull it off together..and moreover our Ragging schedules might clash and we would not be able to make it after all..!!so kept declining but he never gave up and kept pestering!! the 7 of us sat and thought abt it.and decided to give it a shot..!!we told him that it might be the case that one of us might not turn up for the dance due to some ragging calls by senior and if the dance went bad...never to point the fingers at us..!!after all this was said and dance..the practice sessions became even more vigorous...coz the Rotract function was just a week away and we still had another stanza to put the dance steps for and then practice from beginning to end for a few days..!!we shifted our dance room from A-22 to the bathroom verandha...where there was just sufficient space for the 7 of us to dance together..!!!
the main problem we were facing was that in between one of us without fail ended up forgetting the steps...and thus it would look bad on stage..slowly our confidence level was going down but then we held together. In between Adarsh even gave up sayin, it was beyond his capacity..but somehow convinced him and all others and gave them the incentive that this might be the chance to break the ice with the girl folks.
Which guy would not like to be famous and attract girls?? in my opinion None..!!and that indeed was the driving force...it worked like a charm!!myself and akki used to dance less for practice sessions and conc more on coordination and perfecting everybody...!!!
we jst did 2 -3 rounds wherein all of us danced together!!!
anyway the finaly D-day arrived..!!!We wore our cargoes and tight t-shirts, and shoes for the first time..(remember it was ragging time and we were not allowed all this little happiness' of life) and to avoid being called for raggin at the same time...what we did is..we invited all our second year seniors (both mallu n NRI's) for the program and it helped to some extent that few of the NRI n Mallu seniors(3rd yrs n Final yrs) were members of the Rotract club and they warned us not to skip the dance and go for ragging..else we would be done for..!!that was the last straw!!there was nothing that could stop us from dancing now...and after days of practice and perfecting the steps...finally the D-day had arrived...!!morning we bunked couple of classes to practice on what was going to be our final stage for the evening!!We were committing mistakes now...getting tensed..our first dance performance and thoughts of getting battered by tomatoes and rotten eggs did pass thru our minds!!!
anyway like they say in mallu "randum kalpichu njangal irangi" meaning leaving our faith in the ONE above we got onto the stage when we were beckoned upon by Das!!and the music started and we started dancing full fledged...emotions on our face..atleast we thought so...and in between mine n akki's eyes were darting behind to check if all was in sync!!and amazingly everythin seemed fine..!!we were dancing our hearts out and when one of the steps came where in myself and akki bent backwards...did a step and then fell to the ground and jumped back up...the crowd was on its feet...everyone were shouting, dancing clapping...in APPRECIATION and finally the song came to an end...we bowed and we had a really loud ,strong and all superlatives possible round of applause...!!that was one of the best moments in my life...!!!
This had put us the NRI's of 1999 batch in the lime light...everyone knew us..and the following days we spent baskin in glory and then for the freshers party (every state) the first years (our batch mates) came to us..to learn the steps and all of them performed the same for their freshie and it became so famous that we were ordered by our seniors(mallu) not to p[erformthat dance for the freshie...!!every tom, dick and harry were performin that for the freshies now and we had established our stand as NRI's...the STUDs..and later on known as the DUDES in final yr...!!!
And this incident was just the beginning of my talent in dancing...;-)

Formation of the IBM;)

Well one would be wondering where IBM came from in my first year of college days..!!well this is not the S/W company that all of you know..but this is Ist Boycotted Mallus, Kerala. This was formed as a result of merciless ragging by our mallu seniors on the guys who had come thru the Kerala quota and later on the NRI mallus also joined the group. An account of the events leading to the formation of this group is.. given below. Since I myself did not have a first hand experience here, i had asked Kuttan (sankar) to write this chapter for me. And i have added on in the end describing what was happening simultaneously at the NRI mallu front.
KutTy's account starts here:
****************************
read vin's blog abt his 1st day of ragging n' wuz reminded of my time. well.. there were innumberable incidents, n' i rem. all of 'em vividly, but the one that stands out the most is the session by the FUMS. before i go into it, there are a few basic things abt RECT that readers shud be aware of.. tho' those very readers are all RECTians themselves n' need no explanation. anyway, here goes:
one's family is constituted of by people who occupied his/her seat in subsequent n' previous years. we have baap [known as 'technical father' in REC bhopal, as my friend sunil told me later], dada n' pardada. slapping is the way ragging happens at RECT, of course accompanied by other things that appear as humorous to seniors. at least to mallus, they don't do indecent things. kandus have to do grosser things like **** on a pole at a junction. UPs probly strip their juniors to satisfy their innermost desires. odiyas only slap, but they do enuf to compensate for all other forms of ragging.. an average odiya score is around the figure of 300. score is the no. of slaps you received n' is a figure that lives in ur brain as long as ur degree does on ur CV ;)
one day i'm reclinin in ravi's room.. when sandeep n' darsan walk in at noon.. sandeep has red marks on his cheeks- darsan is unscathed. i ask 'em what happened n' they say they'd been to the bank, where they met 'basheer'. he'd taken sandeep to a toilet near the bank [which i never knew existed!] n' banged him a few times n' sent him off with darsan to get me. well.. shiver me timbers! i didn't have a choice but to obey the wishes from above n' accompany darsan outside. we were picked up by deepu [yeah dwipin, that bastard who's made it to my list of top ten best friends] n' a guy who introduced himself as manu narayan. but i knew from my sis [who incidentally, had graduated from RECT a year earlier] that this 'manu' wuz 1 yr her junior. i guessed it wuz karthik, my dada. well they took us to BHEL [a nearby township], where we took on the role of pack-asses to carry their laundry; another common phenomenon during ragging. they treated us well for pack-asses tho', feeding us supper at abt 7 at 'bhuvaneshwar', an open-air eat-out at BHEL. we returned to college later.. n' continued beyond agate [that safe haven- the 1st yr hostel] to the dark n' dreary regions of the senior hostels.. we passed diamond on the way, the 2nd yr hostel that hid untold pain n' suffering. we'd never been there as our 2nd yrs found it fit to take us to BHEL for their exclusive pleasure in our ragging experience.
soon lapis loomed into sight.. n' we crossed it n' exited via the rear gate as we were sapphire-bound - when suddenly, into the night, erupted the wild yell of 'POOOYEEE!!!'. all four of us glanced up n' to see a row of dark faces at the top floor beckoning wildly.. and we knew that moment that we were done for. prayers flew up to the heavens from darsan's n' my throat like disturbed pigeons fluttering from a treetop.. but we cudn't evade the prospect of havin to climb up those stairs which got over all too fast for our liking.. as we walked down the corridor towards the wing-end.. wild screams n' laughter greeted us.. i don't exactly rem. what transpired afterward except that a pugilist complete with red gloves appeared from nowhere n' dealt out a series of swift punches to the region of darsan's tummy. he then turned onto me to playfully dab my nose. it wuz getting quite dark, when the play wuz abruptly cut short by someone pushing us unceremoniously into a room.
they closed the door n' asked us to latch it from inside. the door had a barred window which could be swung open. they asked us to switch the lights off n' await our destiny while they went out for dinner. the last person to leave changed his mind n' came back, to inquire of me.. 'kutty, ninakku ente adi kondattundo da?"(kutty, have you got slaps from me ?). i squinted out into the night n' realised that it wuz none other than the famed 'basheer'.. well, i replied truthfully in the negative, wishing i wuz fortunate to have done otherwise. basheer's slap wuz a legend which i was about to witness firsthand... 'engottu vaada'(come here), i heard n' complied. he slid his right hand thru the bars n' dealt me... ONE SWIFT BLOW. the force of the slap flung me backward, n' i landed on the bed at the other end of the small single room. basheer left, darsan switched off the light n' bolted the window n' came n' lay down beside me. i wuz still shocked with that slap. we consoled each other..
the wait that ensued wuz among the most fearsome periods of darsan's n' my lives.. we waited for what seemed to be just minutes, but really wuz closer to an hour, before the knocking on the door began. 'THORAKKADA'(Open the door) they yelled, as we fumbled with the latch n' finally threw it open. they burst into the room one by one.. n' arranged themselves around us.. basheer pushed me to the ground n' somebody took the sole comfort that wuz darsan, away from me.. outside the room. then began the legendary session of ragging which wuz to be related again n' again to an awestruck audience.. no less than twenty exclusively-basheer stunners landed on my poor cheeks.. soon the slaps stopped hurting n' all i felt wuz the dull pain in my head n' the jerks which came as each new blow wuz dealt. at the end of it, both sides of my face were bleeding. the surprise on their faces was evident but they grinned outwardly n' brought basheer a small vial of dettol.. he applied it on my cheeks n' they smarted like mad. i hid all emotion n' after ten mins of respite, he resumed to relentlessly take my score ahead another twenty n' then ceased..
darsan wuz brought into the room n' taking my sorry state into cognizance, he saddened.. they sat him down next n' mr. basheer meted out twenty of 'em unabated.. after which they released us. we went back to agate the next day n' our friends paled at the sight of us.. that day, we decided to boycott further ragging n' under the able n' hidden-for-long leadership of giridhar, forged IBMK.. Ist Boycotted Mallus, Kerala..
The next few months saw us released from the torture of ragging.. we enjoyed while the others suffered. a coupla seniors called us for a peaceful meeting, where we refused to return.. another meeting with the final years occurred where we stubbornly held onto our resolve.. but the walls fell apart one day, when i wuz home for the weekend n' darsan, jithu n' sandeep relented to attend non-physical ragging, the biggest mistake. giri, anil n' sumesh held back, n' escaped from physical fitness sessions consisting of push ups, etc.. which gave in to slaps again.. i had to give in too.. n' had a lone session with basheer where i confirmed that his slaps had lost the splendor of lore.. probly after peer-counsel. it all ended well.. with us getting our freshie- the only drawback being that giri, anil n' sumesh missed it.
basheer.. wuz an alias.. his real name being premlal p. k.. yeah, the same guy who accompanies dwipin on my list of top ten best friends ever.. surprising, isn't it? ;)
****************************************
Well this is what exactly happened on the mallu front...well till then..rather till before the formation of IBM, the NRI mallus had a choice of going for mallu ragging...!!As in only if they wanted to be close to their mallu seniors and wanted to attend the mallu freshie they had to atten!! but with the mallu first years all boycotting the ragging completely, the seniors were all frust. This was considered to be a humilation for any seniors to not have their juniors come for ragging and that too the main reason being excessive ragging!! So then what else..but rope in the NRI mallus and after a long tug of war we finally acceded to attend mallu ragging...!!!We were promised by the mallu third yrs and final yrs that we would not be ripped apart like how our mallu quota counterparts had faced (pun intended here:-))But intially we were not convinced coz during the begining of ragging, Ashwin had his ears slammed out by none other than Johnnie George in the train compartment's toilet. The slaps intended for face ended up on Ashwin's ears due to lack of space and this had become a major issue which is why we were given a choice to go for mallu ragging by our seniors....however this sudden twist of fate forced us to go for mallu ragging..to save the pride of the mallu seniors..!!so we became the bakraas and every day we had some ragging session euther by the NRI's or by the Mallus' and if we skipped one to attend the other...the next day all hell was loose!! Many of the guys even thought of runnin away from college due the excessive amount of slaps we were facing every other day...!!The mallu seniors used to rag us severely for the formation of IBM and for those guys not comin for ragging..!!The situation was getting pathetic.
We as NRI's at times slowly develpoed an aversion too for the mallus since it was their boycott due to which we were suffering...anyway this went on for the first semester and second semester on one fine day when i was returnin from kerala...lo!!behold...all the NRI/mallu final yrs were on the train and i had a small session of ragging there.!!Thats when i met the likes of Sajan Abraham, Sonu Sam varghese, Chandy, Pavil Jose (my par-dada) - these were the terror final yrs and i got ragged by them in the train on my return journey. One humorous incident that had happened, i shall narrate now..!!!

well in one of the previous raggin sessions one of my batchmates(mallu - dont remember who exactly) was ragged by Johnnie george!! Johnnie asked him the ? "which state do i belong to?" when the junior answered him "Kerala" , he got whacked beyond belief coz the expected answer was "Solid state" (with reference to chemistry "states"). And telling each other's ragging experiences was a commoner in first yr hostel and this was there in my mind when Sajan asked me to guess his state. Prompt came the asnwer "SOLID"!! The expressions on all these final years face i remember to this date. If i had had a camera then and had the balls..i would have taken a snap of al lthose 4 wonder strucken face as if they were struck by lightning !!! They didnt get the flow of what i was saying..and suddenly it dawned on them what i was referring to and they thought i was trying to get cheeky with them...!!sheesh poor me:-(;-)) and the rest what happened to me...its better untold...i am leaving it to your imagination!!!!
After reachin trichy i was asked to come for raggin that evenin by these seniors for my cheekiness..and i meekly agreed (as if i had a choice)...and along with me came sankar and sandeep...their first return session after boycotting!!man..the whole day..atleast half of the day..i saw them gettin physical fitness ragging...everythin except slaps...pushups...and what not...!!!This was done to so much extent that finally both these guys agreed to getting slapped than going thru this painful physical torture..!!and voila..i could just hear then what was happenin...just could not keep my eyes open seeing them get thulped...!!Sandeep almost as on the verge of tears !!!and then it was done..they were back and in for the ragging...!!and then they were left free..!!
Suddenly the seniors realise that i was just a spectator for the whole session today and their poor minds thought that i was feeling bad for being ignored and they called me...and i had a lone ragging session courtesy all of them just conc on me while kuts n sandy watched on..!!perfect reversal of roles...!!!anyway the dreaded day came to an end...!! We were then taken to Celestine Michael's room (Ghatti Mallu) where half of the guys were drunk and remaning were doped...!!and there me,kuts and sandy were forced to drink liquor for the first time - RUM to be precise..!!3 of us didnt feel anything...we resisted intially but then the seniors forced us to...Asif being the one who forced it down my throat...!!!This was just the beginning of the drinking days for all of us..!!hmmmm....and with this day over..it also meant another thing...as of now atleast the NRI's were also automatically included in the mallu ragging (NRI mallus) and henceforth one commmon freshie for mallus and NRI mallus and no distinction between the two!!!
the only good part of the whole thing for me personally was that it just brought me closer to all the mallus - kuts, sandy, Darsan, Anil, Jithu and to some extent to giri, sumesh and anil!!

Freinds - VAAKS!!

Well these are the ppl who became thick pals of mine..some of them stuck..rather most of them stuck but for a few...!!!
Kartik- My best pal...who knows everythin about me..and vice versa...the initial days were just ok with him..but as time went past...we became as thick as thieves...going after the same girls...having the same likes n tastes...and the very attitude coz of which i thought i would hate him..ended up being our common attitude...(i guess i had the same attitude and he would have felt the same first impression about me )He is the only one who has seen me crying , i guess , in my 4 years of college life...!!there was nothing that was kept between us...theremight have been delays in communcation but then ultimately we used to tell each other anything and everything...from parents,girlfriends,relatives,guys,girls etc..etc.....he has hardly done his studies in the gulf. it was all Delhi, Delhi and more Delhi. Basically from alwaye!!

Sankar - Another one close pal that i had made. Many thought he was intolerable / not compatible but amazingly i found nothing wrong with him..just another normal guy but with major LEO attitude bursting within him...ego,vanity etc..etc...u searchin for someone with this...someone who thinks he is the best ...then Sankar..lovingly called Kuts is your man:-)a genius in the field of computers (this is not my view point -everyone else feels the same. for me everyone and anyone is better than me in computers..)

Akhilesh - He came, he conquered, he lost and he went..thats my relation with him...till 2nd year mid...he was my best pal...and kartik was also second to him...infact 3 of us together were the cool dudes...we started this group called VAK (acronymn for vineesh,akki,kartik). we were very close...tellin each other about our past experiences and present experiences and everything until that dreaded day in Second yr when things took a turn and that is a different story altogether which i shall narrate later on...!! there never was a moment (other than when we went for ragging) that we were not together and 3 of us were very naughty too...to put it in juvenile terms..playin pranks with everyone else and makin a fool out of everyone..!!!and this guy was a shahrukh fan!

Adarsh - a typical gulf kid...as in never seen the outside world...hardly knew anything abt anythin in the first year..rather first semester and then the VAK's trained him to know everythin about everything...!!A real gem at heart...with the mickey mouse ears and expression..he had stole a place in my heart permanently..atleast i had thought so then..!!we both used to run away to his uncle's house to escape raggin during weekends in first semester and used to hog out like crazy with his uncle and aunty..!!!amazing guy..a great all time sallu fan...(salman khan)!!

and eventually the 5 of us together came to be known or rather called ourselves as the VAAKS - the first letter of the 5 of us..!!!!
almost everythin and anything we used to be together doing it..atleast in first 2 semesters..!!the rest of the guys and girls (NRI's) only used to call us Quack Quack.but we considered it their jealousy for not being in this group !!!anyway thats us..the VAAKS!!!and unity amongst us was amazing at that point of time..it was a "one for all and all for one" motto which was our driving force!!
our headquarters used to be A-22 (IF MY MEMORY IS RIGHT)..this was Adarsh's room...!!
the other guys who were my friends in first year were Sandeep, Ravi, Darsan, Talwar, Thakur, Pranay, Vithal, Kiran, Anil, Dejice, CG, Baba, Ashwin , Angyan and Das!!
but it was more or less always gthe VAAKS roamed together everywhere and anywhere!!:-)
There were few more to come in second year..Siddharth menon - Siddhu especially who along with me and Kartik called ourselves the "Dil Chahtha Hain"'s and our Pndy trip (simulating the Goan trip). All this later on probably!!:)

Warm welcome by the Seniors!!

Day 2...i was just back from class and for a change that day |Trichy was not HOT..there was a slight breeze which prompted me to come outside the hostel where there were hazaars of freshers acquainting each other. This guy almost as tall as me..though on the thinner side with specs walks up to me and introduces himself as Ashwin Menon - NRI - basically mallu!!He asked me if iwas an NRI and i said YES!!He said then i will have to go for the ragging today itself and this was a one time thing..!!he told me he was providing me a soft cushion for gettin least possible raggin!!and that if i voluntarily went along for raggin today..i wud get the minimum and i could be a fre bird henceforth!!and if i chose not to go for raggin today..then i would be caught someday or the other by seniors and thulped to a squishy-shquashy white pulp (picked from "the mark of Vishnu";-))..and i decideed..then and there...i am grabbin this opportunity of "Soft cushion" provided to me and finish it off..once and for all....!!
and i was waiting then for some sign from Ashwin to go to the senior hostels. He had asked me to hold on for sometime...!!!
In the meanwhile...this dude comes up to me..!!he had a sort of arrogant look on his face..i mean a guy with attitude!!He was as tall as me..maybe a niche shorter;-)(i hope he doesnt see this) with rectangular specs...hair centre split and slightly curly and build pretty much like mine...!!we shook hands...i told him i am Vineesh, NRI from qatar, basically mallu. And he introduced himself to me..."Hi, I am Kartik Krishnan, NRI from Delhi - the 'i' here being pronounced as in "I" and not as "e" - i too am basically mallu" and i was taken aback for a moment...the accent..the superiority in him..hmmm..i decided then and there that this guy would be someone whom i would not interact much with (how wrong first impressions can be:-)...he turened out to be my best pal till date...anyway all that will come up in the later chapters:-))). Anyway by then Ashwin came back and pointed at this huge figure who was walkin about 100 mteres ahead of me and told me...just follow that guy to the senior hostel.
I was shit scared man..!!This guy walkin in front of me was huge. He was abt 6' tall..double my size...lookin at his forearms i got the creeps in me...imagine gettin thulped by him..!!hmmm..anyway pissin in my pants..i followed him..heads down..not daring to look anywhere else...and justlookin at this huge figure and followin him like a good disciple of his!!anyway suddenly this dude in front of me disappeared and i could see a hoard of seniors, hungry lions, waiting for me in front of 2nd year hostel - DIAMOND.one by one they caught me and asked me who i was...where i was from etc..and when they heard NRI n mallu..al lof them just left me..sort of sympathizin with me...now this frightened me even more..!!it looked as if i belonged to a diffrent class altogether...!!!and this senior guy then came..a proper hairy guy..and he was sweatin profusely and he takes me away...from all these seniors..explainin to me the norms and conditions of ragging etc..etc..!!
I was taken into this room...and there was this guy sleeping there. This senior who had brought me to this room asked me to wake him up...and i tried wakin him up..but no use...i tugged at him and shook him and finally he woke up..!!man this guy had a cold stare in him...i was like..oops..i have woken a sleeping lion from its sleep..!!!he took me to the corner of the room..and started talkin to me...it turned out he was a mallu too and started talkin in mallu..!!
i sort of eased down as soon as he started talkin in mallu...but from the corner of my eyes i suddenly saw the big guy whom i had followed enroute to the senior hostel..was kneelin down and gettin whacked left n right...!!wow...i realised then..the huge guy whom i was scared of was indeed a guy from my batch only..!!hmmm..that was one relief!!
anyway continued talkin to this senior in mallu and i started smiling and laughin too at somethin he said...and he asked me not to smile..but i just could not hold back the smile..till...................................
till...i got SLAP number 1 from him...and voila...the very smile i was finding it hard to stop automatically disappeared from my face..i realised my raggin had begun...This guy who started my raggin was none other than Yeda (Anand P. - ICE mallu - 1 yr senior) who turned out to be one of my closest association amongst seniors!!!and the guy who took me to the room givin me all the fundas was Krur singh aka Anil Kumar Kuruganthi - NRI ece !!!
Then suddnely someone rushes into the rooom...and says Gururaj was in the hostel. This was the first year warden and he kept frequentin the senior hostels to catch someone who was involved in ragging and save the pitiful souls like myself...!!I thought my saviour had come and i would be left back to my hostel..but behold..we were asked to run..thru the back gate of diamond and we entered a bigger hostel with even more seniors awaiting us there!!!
We entered hostel LAPIS - 3rd yr hostel then..and myself and the huge guy were waiting for some 2nd yr seniors to guide us where to go..they were comin to lapis thru some other way..!!And here i had another experience..!!This group of seniors came to me and asked me who i was and to give my intro. I did that and then followin conversation took place:

X : Kaunse branch ka hain?
me: Electronic and communication Engineering

X: Quota?
me: Non-resident Indian

X: kahan se ho?
me: Kerala

X: oh NRI mallu ( and the entire group laughs out loud)
me: (silent and looking down)

X: Baap kaun hain tumhara?
me: Mathew Oommen

X: kaun?
me: Mr. Mathew Oommen , sir (thought they were demanding respect!!!)

X: kaun sa branch?? ( a bit perplexed all of them)
me: Electrical and Electronics Engineering

Y: magar tumne bola tumhara branch ECE hain na??
me: (nod my head in agreement - y shold my dad n me be in the same branch i wondered)

X: kaun se batch ka hain Mathew Oommen
me: 1971 REC-calicut

X: (gives me one tight slap o nmy face) tumhe tumhara REC baap ka naam poocha saale
me:(SHOCK OF HAVIN got a slap and not able to make head or tails of the conversation...i had told them the truth and nothin but the truth)
suddenly out of no where another guy comes up and says that this is my first day of ragging and i didnt know the funda of baap and dada and all that!!and i was spared.
For those who didnt follow y i was slapped..well baap, dada, pardada..are all RECTIAN terms of your immediate senior, 3rd year senior, and final yr senior and these guys are supposed to be your mentors kind..!!!and i a novice in getting ragged had told them details of my DAD (father) who was also a REC product and that had pissed them off and i got slapped!!!
anyway X here was gy called SIKKIM. and Y was Saurabh Ghosh. and the guy who saved me from further thulping from them was my Baap to-be - Rajgopal Bodapati - NRI ECE - basically from Hyd...the most loved senior for all the firts years in the time to come...
amazing guy...!!!
anyway he took me to lapis hostel room - a small one..in which there was hardly space for 2, there were about 15 seniors and myself and the other huge guy - my batchmate!!
and there started our actual ragging...we were hit by seniors left n right...me and the huge guy were made to hit each other...and both of us showed what potential seniors we could be by slappin each other as hard as possible..!!met a lot of seniors that day...to name a few Gotti (Madhav), Vishal (my pardada), tintin , pip (who turned out to be a distant relative of mine),premlal (3rd yr mallu senior - the terror aka BASHEER) and cant remember the rest...!!all of them ragged us proper...made us massage vishal's legs...and dance and jump and sing and what not..!!
another fresh memory was when my batchmate was asked his favourite song and the dude replied "Britney spears - Kiss me baby one more time2 and he was asked to sing that and when he sang "Hit me baby one more time" a round of slaps fell on his face..and i was lke...if ever they ask me any song that i would want to sing..i would make sure tat it had no violence in it...!!
anyway they got fed up ragging us both!!and took us to Juicy which was forbidden area for the first years unless they were accompanied by seniors. the risk of going to juicy those days were that even though u would have finished a raggin session and would be with a senior having something..and this other senior would come n pick u up and rag u for somemore time.>!
neway on the way back to the hostel after havin juice RAJ AND GOTTI gave us fundas in ragging..how to behave..how not to behave...the DO's and DONT's..and left us at our hostel gate!!!
oh!i forgot to introduce my batchmate who accompanied me on my first day of ragging...none other than K.V.S. Vithal..who was to be another one of my closest pals esp in eating n drinking;), in the years to come...!!!
After we got back to hostel...there was a crowd of NRI's who were waiting for us to relate our story of ragging to them...!!and we told them everything..obviosuly puttin it in a light manner..so that none would complain against the seniors...!!!
it was so very funny comin to think of it..!!the very guys who had thulped u..who had crushed your ego.your self esteem..now we were tryin to safe guard them from being caught by faculty when normally it should have been the other way round..!!anyway thats college..and thats ragging i guess..!!!
Lookin back now..the first year was the best year of colege life...though there was a lot of ragging...it was fun..and there were no tensions!!:-)

Day 1 in college - Land of the unknown

well, i had another blog where i had penned down - the first year of my college. But no point in wasting space/blog in the webworld....i shall put down over here, whatever i had penned there. so here goes...my day 1 in college!!

It was something of a different feeling altogether the day i entered the well known reputed college of R.E.C.-Trichy!!



Didnt know how i was going to survive there. For a person who has spent 18 years of pretty much a posh life in the gulf enjoying the air-conditioned rooms, travel by cars and food in the likes of KFC, HArdees, Pizza huts and Mcdonalds, it was a drastic change to take up...an man didnt i dread the place for the first one week...!!it was hell on earth for me..the heat was unbearable!!frankly it was not much of heat compared to deserts of gulf but then i was missin the A/C's which had shielded me from the heat for 18 years.!!anyway...after settlin down myself in the room Agate - 7...I went to the mess...and man that was the Biggest MESS i had seen!! (for those who didnt get it...the mess - where we eat- was a total mess).Anyway somehow had something and ran out of that place...!!you can imagine the agony of a guy surrounded by strangers in a land which was absolutely new to him..!!
on my way to the room..i met my first senior - Johnnie George..he had the typical - bollywood villian looks with scars on his face...completely bald and a very straight stern face!!he talked a bit rude for sometime and then left me!!and innocent little me (hmmm) thought...i was done with the ragging abt which i had heard lots n lots of horrifyin stories from seniors in school and family..!!was not i glad at that moment that i had got thru the worst phase ( this was to extend upto next one whole year - though then i didnt know that). I just ran to my room and covered myself in blanket and slept scared that if i roamed arnd too much i would face ragggin again..!!didnt even bother to introduce myself to my room mates!!
next day mornin i got up at 5:00 am..nothin unusual then for me..took bath and was ready for my first day of engineering at 7:00 am itself:-)That day i made my firt friend in college...T.Shivashankar - later called by everyone as BABA - This guy was actually innocent, had his father with him for the first couple of days. he was from kanyakumari/nagercoil region !!
then there was another uy by the name Udayakumar in my room. This guy had a slight squeaky voice and his dad stayed with him for one week..!!man!that was the only time i actually ever missed my parents a lot...in my 23 yrs of life so far!!i envied all these guys for their parents being with them!!anyway I used this guys' dad as a guide for me to go to bank and open my account!!!
Let me describe the way to the bank from the first year hostels...!!it was a long stretch of road with almost all the senior hostels fallin in the way...!!there was not a way you could avoid a senior and go to bank and be back.>!!now u understand my plight fornot havin my dad with me.>!:-)) anyway went with Udaya's dad to the bank..opened my account and back with him...!!on the way..there were a humpty number of seniors who cast their evil eyes on this poor lamb me!!me just looked down and continued my walk...never dared to look back at anyone..!!
Class was ok the first day...had this impression that this would be real huge rooms with 100's of students in each class...but all my impressions completely went wrong when i entered the class for the first time - Section B. It was a small room similar to the ones we had in school and we had hardly 60 in a class and all my hopes of a college romance also went down the drain when i saw the girls of my class...not that they were bad lookin but someohow the thought of having BABES in my class whom i would have loved hanging out with...ended right then ...right there!!All this thoughts courtesy the movies "Kuch kuch hotha hain" "pyar mein kabhi kabhi" etc..etc...i had thought i would be sitting on the college balconies, gardens singing "musu musu " and so many other fun songs and romantic songs and all i got was a Green colured steel bench in the class with hardly any greenery (forget the garden) and girls who interested me in the least bit in my class..!! if someone had shown me a cliff or something at that point of time..i would have happily taken a jump then!!Imagine what must have been runnin thru my mind!!!:-)
then came our teachers one by one..and only one who was of some interest was Miss Hilda - our physics teacher..who was a paka thambi in talk but pretty looking..!!and once again my hopes came alive...!!imagine having an afair with a teacher!!amazing at that moment!!:-)) but then interest in her took a steep curve downwards after we heard her talk..!!one of her most quoted dialogues were "You come to the room. We will spend time together"...this was her response when of the guys asked her some complicated doubts..!!She was just intending to ask him to come to the staff room where she would clear her doubts..!!but the perverted minds of the adolescents sittin in the class -...imagination runs wild:-)!!guess she never had even the slightest clue of the inner literal meanin of her statement!!!anyway...that was that..after that..none of us dared to ask her doubts for the fear of gettin a similar statement from her and then being ragged by fellow mates on the same lines;-))))
those were the dayssssss...in short...first day of college - disaster day!!

Footsie

ManU lost !!!:( secretly wished they had won against Liverpool. Not exactly able to decide my favourite between these 2 teams. Both have their own style of game but i feel ManU is a better team though off late they aint clicking much!! and to think, one of my least favoured players scored the goal - Peter Crouch...in no way does that dude look like a football player. He seems more like a volleyball player (not even basketball)!!
His only advantage and only good thing - his bledy height which the Liverpool team uses to the full advantage during free kicks/set-pieces!!Coz of this guy ManU is out of the FA cup...The only remaining thing for ManU is the Carling cup final against Wigan next week!!
On the brighter side, liverpool is still performing well following their champions league victory last season!! this is one team to reckon!! On the EPL front, they seem to be doing well but not as well as they perform(ed) in Champions league. In the latter, they are an altogether differen team playing vengence and vigilance!!
Hope atleast ManU secures this one!!Wigan is surely the team of the future. Having come from the First Division into Premiership this season, they have done extremely well so far. If they continue playing the way they are, they surely are going to be one of the top teams in the near future!!
Anyway now the match to be watched is the Chelsea v/s Barca on Wednesday (Feb 22)!! last year the match between these 2 was a spit of fire between Rijkaard and Mourinho with accusations and what not!!! Lets see what this years' match holds!!!!
Just came across this in the UEFA website -
Team of the year:

Coach - Jose Mourinho (Chelsea)

Striker - Samuel Eto (barcelona)
Striker - Andriy Schevchenko (Milan)
Attacking Midfielder - Ronaldinho (Barcelona)

Central Midfielder - Steven Gerrard (Liverpool)
Right Midfielder - Luis Garcia(Liverpool)
Left Midfielder - Pavel Nedved (Juventus)

Central Defender - John Terry (Chelsea)
Central Defender - Carles Puyol (Barcelona)
Left back - Paolo Maldini (Milan)
Right Back - Cafu (Milan)

Goal Keeper - Petr Cech (Chelsea)

Wow!! thats what i call a team but i wonder how they will function as a team - the above actually reminds me of Real-Madrid!! A world class team with top-flight players but not coming out with the right combination as expected (But they manage to stay right behind Barcelona in the Spanish league)!!!
Thats the footsie news/ my thoughts for the time being!
signing off!

WeekEND!

And there goes another weekend..Saturday morning woke up at 6 to play football. Reached the field to find just 5 of us. We played 2-a-side v/s 3-a-side - burnt a lot n lot of fat:) it was more like a table-tennis score than football at the end of it - score read 19-14!!!lol!!
anyway got back home - had a refreshing bath - made burger for myself and had it along with Tropicana Apple juice! read the papers for a while - especially Mittal v/s Luxembourg v/s Arcelor!! Man - this dude is dead after getting this Company - he just does not seem to be satisfied being the steel tycoon. He wants this too!! is it just a sure shot way of getting his competition out of the way - after all arcelor was the biggest before Mittal took over!!!
anyway back to the topic, reading the newspaper, i dozed off - only to be woken up by the sweet essence of food being cooked in the kitchen!! (drooling) - woke up and had lunch..In the evening just watched some tv, got food ordered from Nandhini palace and hit the sack early!!
Sunday - as usual went to church. This was followed by lunch at Empire - me, Anila and kutz!! Went there to have chicken Shwarma but they were serving that only from the evening. So had kerala parotta with pepper chicken masala and got back home. In between we bought kutz a football boot - Nivia - size 11!!We actually found boot of "Vector" to be better than "Nivia " but they had only one size which was bigger than kutz foot!! so stuck on to Nivia:) Evening we had Kutz, deepu, akutty, tahir and rajiv at home. Tahir was on his way from kolkata to EKM. CHatted with all of thm..had a nice time. They left arnd 9 pm and we(me n anila) had dinner of mushroom curry n bread:)
Well that was quite a quiet weekend!:)