Tirupathi.. The hills are alive!

Travelled to Tirupathi with my parents. Learned a lot of things and cherished some moments :

1) Travelling with parents can be fun at times. Unless of course you end up arguing there as well. In which case you have the three of us (mum, dad and I) walking our own ways up the hills, until dad cracks a joke to lighten the mood (as usual).

2) Glucose water is good.

3) There is no difference between Goli Soda and Paneer Soda.

4) People never grow up (yes ranj hard as it may sound ;)). Even if they are at a temple. We were walking up the hills as you know and there is a stretch of the road (towards the end) winding up to the temple. Now, the road is mainly used by the buses that transport people (who have already climbed the hill) back down to the foot of the hills. So as we were walking along the pavement, a van passes by with a bunch of guys in their late 20s and as they cross us poor souls walking in the heat, they scream and point out as if to say - "oh look! People climbing still!! We finished! Yay!!" And I was muttering - "Obviously you morons! We are still climbing. People still will climb. And even after I finish I know people are still climbing!!"

5) There is a huge diffrence between buying stuff, like water or even a chocolate bar at ground level and buying the same stuff at thousands of feet above. Yes.

6) You do not lose a lot of weight climbing 7 hills (hard to believe).

7) There is a second golden temple in a place 12 hours from Mumbai!

8) Kids have it easy at Tirupathi. All they need to do when they are tired of climbing steps, is stop, drop and roll.
9) If you need to get to any place in Tirupathi you have to, I repeat, have to climb atleast a two flights of stairs.

10) Karma doesn't work here.

11) The deer is very greedy. (O yes, there are lot of those along the hillls)

12) Basically you are travelling in circles. I remember starting out with windmills at my back. And when I reached the temple I saw the same bunch of windmillls right in front of me, on top of a hill.

13) All roads leads to the sanctum sanctorium. The only difference is the cost it takes. Pay a 1000 and you can take the shortest route.

14) Once inside the temple, everyone looks the same. Shaved heads is all you get to see standing in the queue.

15) Men and women are extremely immature when they visit temples.

16) People like to strike up conversations, which will lead to the topic of comparing the different temples. That's when you act as if a sudden lightning struck out of nowhere, leaving you speechless.

17) Riding down a curving multiple hair-pin road in the night, with the breeze hitting you is just an awesome experience.

18) Curd rice at Kalyan Residency - with finely chopped chillies, grape pieces... is yummy!

19) When you are checking your weight, be absolutely certain that you are not carrying a 100 Kg bag! I realised it after i read my weight slip and almost fell in shock.

20) After climbing every step, you will somehow be forced to take out your wallet and pay.. for something or the other.

I know it now. I have lived in this bubble. Always a foot above the ground. Floating along at my own pace. Stopping once in a while to escort another bubble. Maybe. But I will not say that I am entirely oblivious to things and people around me. I would be lying then. But really. I cannot help but look at my reflection in the moving transparency and feel ashamed. I cannot help feeling grossly misunderstood at times. I cannot help looking down at my green slippers and feel... nothing. All these years of living and... nothing.

There is a difference between grabbing a pen and holding one. When you are grabbing a pen, you are not even familiar with the contours of the object, let alone trying to understand it. But when you are holding a pen, you know what is in your hand and you know how to use it. I don't kow how to hold a pen. And I so wish I did.

I so wish for the sun to set when I want to. For the sun to rise when I am awake to see it. I wish for the moon to be red. For spring in December. For wild flowers outside my house. For that hug. That kiss. I so wish for 15 degrees in Chennai. For that smile on that little girl's face. For that frown to vanish. For that applause. For that praise. For that kindness to knock unlock my heart. I so wish to see that generous soul standing beside me, praying for me...

There is a huge difference between writing and essaying. I write. I always did. I don't think I ever learnt to essay. You write out a shopping list, a things-to-do list, notes in the class, telephone numbers...

You essay letters, love letters, cooking instructions, notes in your diary at odd hours, a journey, a dream, a thought an ambition...


There is a wall of a difference between grabbing a pen and holding it... between writing a note an essaying the same........




I take a sip of watermelon juice and sit back in my chair... When will the pen be held. When will the note be essayed. When will the moon turn red. When will the faces smile and the frowns recede..

A river of flowers meandering down the road
... and I know a funeral march had come this way
Splatter of sugar and a rocking hand
... and I know the wails will subside...

Got a Job!

And after some interviews CNN IBN decides to take me in so that I could be a part of their TV 18 family.
I am happy (really happy). Delhi is where I will be heading, staying for a year. Don't know what's happening
after that.

A job finally. It looked like that is what I was doing all along in ACJ. Practically living here.
Sleepless nights. Empty stomach. Hunger. Editing. Voicing over. Scripting. Producing. Did I say Editing. I
mean lots of editing! Shooting... What am I complaing.. I loved it all!! I probably never spent so much time with
my parents this year... But I know I made many friends. People I am never going to forget, few of whom I am
going to continue working with...

Ahem... don't know what's in store for me. But I'm surely ready for it.