Prabhu n Ferrari

What is the right name for the instrument that is used for pressing clothes(Isthiri)?

Is it iron(some pronounce it as i-run) box?

Read Encounter first
Ok. Here goes the first of climax series :-p

Foreword: Be very careful, when you read this. If you get confused on the relationship between every character, I am not responsible

K Balachandar Climax

Anand is shell shocked with what Sarika had just said. He goes and sits quietly near the lake. The place is bit crowded. There are vendors selling fruits and other eatables. Small children running here and there, couples holding hands and walking by etc etc. Suddenly someone places his hand over Anand’s shoulder. Anand turns and is surprised to see his dad. Anand tells what had happened to his dad. his dad looks so serious and tells Anand its not possible. He says ‘Anand. There is a secret, that I havent told anyone in this earth’ and continues ‘Twenty five years back, I was in Rajasthan for a field work. Since you and your younger sister were very young, your mom did not come with me. I stayed alone. And thats when I met Aparna. She was a maid at my house. One night, whatever should not happen, happened. And after 9 months, Aparna delivered a girl child. And that girl child is Sarika. Sarika’s parents now have adopted her. She is not their child. After leaving Rajasthan, I have been trying to trace her for past few years. Your mom knows about it. I wanted to see Sarika atleast once before I die. Sarika is your sister son!’
Anand says ‘Dad. I just cant believe whats happening to me. So much in a day, and I cant take it!!’
Anands dad says, there is more son. When I was in Rajashtan, your mom was very lonely here. And on one rainy night, you were crying due to fever. She ran to the medical shop to get a medicine for you. At that time, the medical shop chemist raped her and she got a son due to that. That son is none other than Rahul!!!
He turns and calls ‘Mallika. Come here’.
Mallika draped in a blacksaree arrives at the scene. Anands dad says ‘You said no to Mallika and stopped talking to her. She came all the way to Delhi to see if I recovered from heart attack. All this happened when you were in Germany and I had promised Mallika I wont tell you. Mallika had married one guy from chennai, and on the same day of her wedding her husband ran away. And that guy is none other than Rahul’.
Anand looks at mallika. She runs towards him, cries and hugs him. Anands dad says ‘I think you should marry her’.
At that moment Rahul arrives, with a band aid on his head. He is in tears. He says ‘Mallika forgive me. I was a fool to have ditched you. After we got married, I thought I will convince my parents. that didnt happen and I married Sarika. But I have not been a good husband. I met with an accident now and it was Sarika who saved me. I think I will go back to her, fall in her legs and ask her to be with me always’.
After this, Anand and Mallika marry each other, Rahul and Sarika live happily. And the servant maid Aparna joins Anands dad, with the permission of Anands mom. All ends well and everyone happily lived thereafter!!!

Afterword: So the encounter between everyone ended out to be a good one in the end I know logically Sarika and Rahul are brother and sister. But Balachandar movie You should ignore such things :-p

Nov 1999

Anand a sentimental and emotional guy joined Lala & Lala Infotech Mumbai. It was his first job. There were some 60 odd people, who joined with him. All from different parts of the country. Anand was slowly getting used to the fast placed life of Mumbai. He was missing his friends and family very badly. Many a days in the evening he used to walk all the way from office to home(some 6 kms).
Since Anand was a trainee, he wasn’t allocated any machine. And there was a machine in the office library, which had internet access. Whenever there was a break during training, he used to rush to the library for checking/sending mails to his near and dear. And most of the time, there will be another trainee Mallika in the library. Mallika and Anand got into an agreement. Those days, internet connections weren’t that fast. So Anand and Mallika used to open 2 browser windows. In one window, Anand will open his mail box, and in another mallika will open hers. They had a good agreement that each other wont peep into others mail box.
This went on for quite some time. And one evening Mallika saw Anand avoding the company bus and walking down the road. She jumps out of the bus and joins him. Since they all were staying in company accommodation, their houses were in the same building (Different apartments). Anand looks at her smiles and says nothing. It was a lonely highway, with thorny bushes at both sides. There was a long black water pipe that was there for the entire stretch. At some places, water was leaking and gushing like a fountain. The slum children used to play around that. They keep walking for some distance. Then Mallika breaks the ice and asks him why he is dull and all. Anand says he is home sick. Mallika tries to console him saying, this is bound to happen to everyone. And what he will do if he goes abroad and all. Then they keep talking on a variety of subjects and reach home. They have dinner together that night!
And from that day onwards they were together most of the times. It didn’t take very long for Anand to propose to Mallika, and she readily accepted. Life was full of roses for Anand and Mallika for the next 2 months.
Mallika had a room mate, Sarika. Sarika was a very cheerful girl. She became the best pal for Anand. And it was to her, Anand first confessed about his feelings for Mallika.

Jan 2000

The training came to an end, and each person was posted to different locations. Mallika’s location was Chennai, whereas Sarika and Anand got Mumbai. For the next days, Mallika and Anand were feeling very bad. It took sometime for Anand to regain his senses. And he tried to console Mallika by saying that, he will visit chennai once in 3 months. And this is only a temporary separation.

The first 2 weeks was like hell for Anand. Every direction he turned, he was reminded of Mallika. He called her almost daily. Slowly Mallika and Anand accepted reality and started focussing on their careers. They got e-mail access and that was a welcome relief for them. And one fine day, they both decided to break the news at home. They did and as expected met with negative response from both the houses.

Apr 2000

Days went by, months went by. Mallika was able to see some light at end of the tunnel. Her dad and mom finally agreed. But in Anand’s house, there wasnt much change. In fact it became worse. Anand’s dad had an heart attack, and this was attributed to the bad luck of Mallika. And to the shock of Anand, his mom fell in his legs and asked him to forget Mallika, for the sake of his dad. Anand was shattered. He hugged his mom, cried and promised that he will forget Mallika.

When Anand broke this news to Mallika, she didnt believe him first. Then she was very upset and bitter at him. She asked him very practical and logical questions like ‘If you were not so sure if your parents will agree, then why did you propose to me?’, ‘If I say I will commit suicide, if you don’t marry me, what will you do’ etc. Anand had no answer to any of her questions. Here was one guy stuck in between his parents and the girl whom he loved. He stopped talking to Mallika. Mallika was hysterical. She used to send him hate mails, call him around 10 times a day. But Anand seldom responded or did anything.

July 2000

After a while, Mallika slowly started recovering. All this while Sarika was very upset with Anand. She was under the impression, that Anand had ditched Mallika just like that. And she was so upset, she stopped talking to Anand. This was a double blow for Anand. He had enough. One fine day, he called Sarika and poured his heart out. And at the end he cried over the telephone.

August 2000

Sarika’s attitude towards Anand immediately changed. She was very loving caring and affectionate. And she tried to be with him, at the given opportunity. They both became pretty close and slowly Anand was getting back to his normal self.
Sarika’s parents were looking for an alliance. Anand was more thrilled than Sarika. He used to check the photographs her parents sent and tease Sarika.

One fine day Sarika met Rahul and agreed for marriage. The marriage took place in her native Jaipur, Rajasthan. Anand went some 3 to 4 days before the marriage. He voluntarily took some tasks and helped Sarika’s dad in arranging for the wedding. And during the reception, Anand gifted them a package tour to goa.

September 2000

Anand’s project was nearing completion. One day, his manager called him and said that he has been short listed for a trip abroad. He had to go to Germany for a 2 year assignment. That’s what the doctor had ordered for him. Back from a love break, it was like a new beginning for Anand. He grabbed the opportunity and went abroad

December 2004

Anand came back to India. He had been to india, for 2 to 3 times. But he used to go straight to his home town and get back. He was back in Mumbai after 4 years. Anand felt very nostalgic entering the mumbai office. He still hadnt completely got over Mallika. The pain had gone, but the scars were still there. He was doing his level best to evade the topic of marriage at his home.

The first thing Anand did was to look out for Sarika. They were in touch through mails initially and as days went by the frequency reduced. Anand didnt mind that. He accepted the fact that Sarika had better priorities in life, and he didnt want to disturb her. But once in Mumbai, he was very eager to meet her.

He couldnt believe his eyes, when he met Sarika. She was looking very tired. Dark circles around her eyes. The moment he saw her, he knew something was wrong. That evening, he asked her if they can go somewhere. Sarika hesitated for sometime and then agreed.

It seemed that Sarika’s marriage wasnt a success. Rahul was not that much interested in her. He was career oriented, and all he wanted was money. Sarika said that many a days, he never used to come home. Stay in office and get the overtime money. Many trips abroad, leaving her alone. He didnt want to take her, because it will be costly. Sarika was very upset. She had no one to turn to. Even her in-laws were money minded. Later Sarika realized, Rahul had married her just for the sake of status symbol. Sarikas dad was a famous businessman in Rajasthan. He was a granite dealer. And Rahuls family gained a lot because of this marriage, through Sarika’s dads contacts. It was more of a business deal rather than a marriage.

Anand felt really sorry for her, and didnt know what to say. He just put his hands over her shoulder and tried to console her. Sarika started crying. She cried real bad. It looked like a dam had burst. Anand was very patient and quiet. When he was in depression, it was Sarika who brought him to normalcy. Now she is suffering. And as a good friend, it was his duty to cheer up.

From them on Anand, tried to be with her during lunch and tea breaks. Slowly a smile returned to Sarika’s face.

*****************************************************************************
February 14 2005

Valentines day. Sarika wanted to be with Anand that day. Rahul as usual was busy. They went to a restaurant called Namaskar in Thane. Its a beautiful restaurant facing the lake Talao Pali. Sarika very casually broke the news. She wanted to divorce Rahul. Anand was shocked. Before he could respond to it, Sarika looked at him in his eye and asked if he can marry her.
Anand was speechless. He had not expected this. He told her, he needs sometime.

Once the dinner was over, he was getting back home. The evening was too much for him. He hadnt recovered from the shock. He was not aware of what’s going on around him. He walked for a very long distance away from home. All of a sudden he heard lots of noise and people running around him. He turned and saw a guy running and 3 policemen chasing him. Anand wanted to move to the side but it was too late. The policeman fired a shot at the guy running, but the bullet landed straight in Anands heart.

Next day, there was an article in times of india. ‘Software Engineer killed in Encounter’.

P.S. Ok. This is my version of the story. Now will from the **** thing, I will post different endings. Like if K Balachandar handled the climax, Ramanarayanan handled the climax, SP Muthuraman handled the climax etc etc

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

I cant delete the above line or this post. Then haloscan will stop working
So trying to scribble something here

Nothing. I have changed the blog template. A template that is very simple. More importantly this template can coexist with both IE and Firefox. Thanks to blogskins

Have you heard of this phrase ‘Happening Place in Town’.
In Bangalore, its the Brigade Road. In chennai, its the Besant Nagar beach
and in Pune its ‘FC Road/MG Road’.

When you are new to the city, almost everyone points you to visit these places. I have been to these places many a times, but never understood what the term happening means.

What do people do in happening places?

Young guys and girls are found at these places. Either single or in a group. What they do? Walk from one end of the road to the other. Cross over to the other side of the road, and walk back to the starting point. Cross
the road to this side and start again. Do this for some 4 to 5 times.

Guys do that so that they get to watch poor girls(Read as girls, who have no money to buy dresses). Either their jean will start 1 inch below where it should actually start, or the t shirt ends 1 inch before where it
actually should end. And guys. Most of them with sleeveless t shirts, to showcase their arnold like body. But its sad to see that they arent like the austrian arnold s. But like the srilankan cricketer russel arnold!
And everytime a girl or a group of girl passes by, the guys hand will goto his head for weaving the hair (This action resembles a military salute). If they had been in the army, their superiors would have been really proud of these blokes.

Every week you go, you will find same set of people with different costumes. Like the forest department allocates a number for the trees, police can allocate numbers to these dudes and babes. If a Munusamy or bangarappa or some patil goes to these places, he becomes a dude. And similarly a muniyamma or karupaayi becomes a babe.
I fail to understand what is the pleasure one gets by doing this. Yes, beautiful babes are a sight to watch. Then what? Seldom do I see, a dude trying to make an approach to talk to any of the babes. Whats the point of
gaping at them time to time, when you are not going to talk to them?

I would rather prefer to goto some garden restaurant, for a candle light dinner!

But onething for sure. It is really funny to observe what these people are doing. And I pity the shopkeepers. For the amount of crowd that comes in only 10 % enter the shops and only 5 % of that 10 % actually buy something!

When I called one of my dude friends last week to Bandipur, he said ‘Mad or what? Who will go all the way to watch elephants and monkeys. Instead come over to brigade road. Lets hang out till evening and then go pub hopping. Learn to enjoy life(????) buddy.’

I have no clue what our government is upto. Is it absolutely necessary to have a bus service, with the Militants threat?

True that people across the border find this convenient and cheaper to travel by bus. But apart from that what does everyone gain? There are more losses than gain.

Everyday, the guards at J&K need to be extra careful about these buses. Even for the inaugural run there were two bomb attacks. Provide extra security, make sure that no militants infiltrate. Worse. What if some militants kidnap the bus and ask for some prisoners to be released? Like what happened with that fatso militant. Forgot that bloody rascals name , who escaped to Islamabad when an Indian Airlines passengers were taken as hostage.

The present government at the centre is spineless. And doesnt have the guts to combat the terrorism. There was a law called POTA and they happily withdrew it, for coalition purposes.

Naxalite activities on the rise in Andhra and parts of Karnataka.

We can cope up with poor economy. But not with militants and terrorists. Damn these selfish politicians!!

1st Leg quarter finals results

Liverpool 2- Juventus 1
PSV 1 - Lyon 1
Chelsea 4 - Bayern Munich 2
AC Milan 2- Inter Milan 0

Bayern Munich will come out all attacking in the second leg. But can they get that crucial 2 goal difference? Sounds very tough looking at the current Chelsea form.

AC Milan’s semifinal berth is all but guaranteed.

Juventus got that crucial away goal. Can they sneak through with a 1-0 victory?

Nothing to say about PSV or Lyon. It was an evenly contested match. Atleast the score line says so!

I found round of 16 matches more interesting than the quarter finals. Nevertheless, I dont mind waking up at odd hours of the night to watch these matches.

UPDATE: Those who missed the matches, can check the goals here. Thanks to Maverick for the link!

What was Ilayaraja thinking when he composed Vande Mataram?
Or What was Kamal thinking.

I listened to two songs. Vande Mataram and Kurangu Kaila Maalai.
Is the movie music really tuned by our Maestro!!!!!

Was Ilayaraja too preoccupied with TIS and other stuff!! Was Kamal, completely preoccupied with screenplay and movie making that he forgot about the music???

IR and Kamal combination has always been great. Who can forget the great songs of Aboorva Sagothrargal, Michael Madana Kamarajan. Or the excellent BGM in Pushpak?? These are comedy movies.

Needless to say about the other movies. Leave the old movies. Wasn’t Virumandi too good??

A big let down. Mumbai Xpress music is a big let down A big disappointment for Kamal and Raja fans

Last but not the least. Vande Mataram! What on earth was that? Making school children giggle and increase or decrease the pace of the song in random???

I hope atleast the movie turns out to be good!!

Ottagatha kattiko
gettiyaaga ottiko
vatta vatta pottu kaari

Check out more on Penelope Cruz and her latest flick ‘Sahara’ here

I always enjoy sleeping. Rather I would say I enjoy falling asleep in the following ways

1. Monday evening come back early from office. Cook a light dinner, and have it before 8.30. Watch TV for some time, and fall asleep in the hall itself.
2. Saturday afternoon. It should be raining heavily outside. Around 2 PM, watch some movie in Sun TV and doze off to sleep listening to the rain
3. Should wake up at some 3 AM or so. Look at the watch, and feel happy that I can sleep for some 3 to 4 more hours and sleep
4. After a tiring day in office. Have dinner somewhere on the way itself, reach home by 10.30 PM or so. Change, have a quick shower and hit the bed.
5. Saturday night during winter. Be awake till 3 AM or so, watching something or other in TV. Eye lids should become so heavy, that I cant stay awake. Switch off TV, cover myself completely with blanket and sleep.

The list goes on, but am feeling so sleeeeeeeeeepy now. Will update remaining later *yawn*

Remember? I had written about this cool pants from Van Heusen.
Today I got a courier from these guys advertising about the cool pants stuff

If they give some discount it would be good. Guess Maverick also received this courier!