Sunday, March 21, 2010

Four unrelated paragraphs...

I can hear the drone of my refrigirator. Distinctly. At 3 am you usually can. Unless you're in Mandaveli, right behind a petrol pump that stays awake for the lorry drivers who never sleep. But I've heard they sleep some times while driving. Placing a brick on the accelerator to avoid the labor of stepping on it while dozing off. Where i live right now, i can choose to hear it's cries any time of the day. I think it cries a little more loudly than it's peers out of emptiness. One unfilled and unfulfilled fridge mine is, holding just beer and the occasional stale food that never get's consumed. I need to throw out a 3 week old red fluid i bought at a Thai place. I forgot it's name. It tasted terrible. I was in an adventurous mood. I am usually the kind who goes to the same place and orders the same things. I should stick to my tenets.

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When you see a skeleton, do you wonder about the person the skeleton used to be? I didn't hear much of what Mangala miss told us at the Bio lab that afternoon a million years ago. My head was filled with thoughts of the person's life and how he died and how he ended up at the Bio lab of our high school. I did hear the part where she said the person was a smoker. Can you get that from a skeleton? Or may be she made it up to sneak in a moral science lecture on why smoking is bad, without actually giving that lecture. You show a skeleton to a 7th grader, and tell him the skeleton used to smoke, that would keep him off cigarretes for a good many years. I wasn't much of a student for most parts. I don't remember when exactly the turnaround happened. Not the rags to riches turnaround, but more of a rags to middle class turnaround. Maybe after i started taking TT lessons. Or after i failed in Chemistry in 9th grade and Baby miss formed 2 groups of 'weak' students and put them under the tutelage of a couple of the elite. I remember taking it as a personal insult, and studying for the next Chemistry exam furiously. I didn't top it, but i got much more than what a pass needed. And i have no freaking clue why i have think about it now.

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What makes people pee on their past, or convince themselves that they don't belong there and those who still belong there come from another planet? If you had run through college drinking tea from that 2 rupees per cup tea shop, served specially with dipped fingers, and can't bring yourself to go back there and do the same, a part of you has died. And that's not such a good thing.

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I am heading home in a month. Again. Taking a two month vacation. Part of the time shall be spent finding out if yoga or ayurveda can do the magic to my neck and shoulders that Cortisone shots and chiropractors couldn't. Another part of it would be spent on a Delhi->Manali->Ladakh->Kashmir->Delhi bike trip. Assuming my neck and shoulder get good enough for that. Else i might do the same route on whatever moving thing i can get myself on to. At the end of it i guess i'll resume writing code.

17 comments:

Arun said...

get back soon, so i can kick your ass.

mumble said...

hi avi, this is siva. let us know if you have any trekking plans. ashwani, laks and I trekked KP last weekend. And yeah have a nice trip back.

june said...

If you've never been to Ladakh by road before, then you are about to be spell bound! :) But, not sure if 'biking' would be such a good idea. The weather is bound to be hot and dry, not to mention how tired you are going to get from all the 'braking' and 'clutching'. But, that also depends on how long you set aside for the road trip.
The stretch from Kargil to Srinagar under the full moon is spectacular!

Have fun.

I miss mandavali!

Heathcliffs Girl said...

have fun at home! its the heat height but what the hell!

frissko said...

Aroon - yea yea...heading back on May 1st da...will ping you guys once i am there...

Siva - Enna machi, bloglaan ezhudhara...If i do something in Karnataka, will keep you guys posted (don't plan to do any treks in Himalayas...in the mood to just laze around there)...

June - Never been to Ladakh, by road or otherwise. Even i am undecided about the bike thing, but will be doing it over 20+ days, so i guess i should be fine. And thanks. Can't wait to be on the road...

HG - Thanks...And i don't particularly mind the heat...I actually enjoy riding my bike with the hot chennai afternoon air hitting my face :)...

trauma queen said...

nice nice and very nice.

and have fun on your two month trip. my work life is completely effed up and totally eating into my own life. oof. so I am jealous of those who go on biking trips :)

yoga IS good. give it a shot.

Anonymous said...

"... If you had run through college drinking tea from that 2 rupees per cup tea shop, served specially with dipped fingers, and can't bring yourself to go back there and do the same.."

Maybe you didn't know any better then..Or maye you ended up with Hepatitis-A after drinking that finger dipped cup of tea on a road trip to Manali and lost a semester in college..and that roadside chai never experience has never been the same for you!

Perspectives my friend. Shelve that broad brush of yours...

frissko said...

Trauma - Thanks...But don't be jealous or anything...I am quite directionless in my head...And am being extremely whimsical about stuff that are meant to be thought over :)...In any case am quite looking forward to the break..

Anony - Err i specified the tea thing as an analogy, not an absolute...I was talking about divorcing yourself from a place in life you've actually lived through...You get the drift right...Guess i didn't pick the best of analogies though...

Anonymous said...

I love your posts as usual. Can I say that you make me want to write better? :)

frissko said...

Childwoman - That's a tall complement...Thanks...

pallavi said...

Read all your posts for the first time...bowled over by your honesty.they are not meant to impress/show off/what so ever, I took a liking of your blog.Awesomely written:)) Keep letting it out:))))

frissko said...

Pallavi - Thanks...

Sindhuja Parthasarathy said...

iam going to do ladakh at the sametime. (not bike though) am also doing srilanka and a few other places( if u didnt know i travel 20days a month) why dont u catchup when u are here and we could plan trips

zeldan said...

Well, I spent 10 minutes furiously working out in my head as to how I ended up on your blog. I can't quite remember the specifics now though. I've been reading you for a while; figured it was time to get over the silent-reader thing. Good stuff. :)

Tys on Ice said...

iam one of those guys who pees on the past.. i agree with u,its not a gud thing...truth be told, i dont recall much of it...it always appear to have occured to someone else...no identification with it...it is not gud...i wud have loved to feel nostalgic...

do write abt the trip...with lots of picture if possible..

frissko said...

zeldan - Thanks...

Tys - Ouch...But as long as you're happy now, you can show the finger to past-huggers like me :)...Yet to take off on the trip...Back in super hot chennai land though..

GB said...

This skeleton thing. I do it too! Whenever I meet a skeleton...ok, not meet, but see one...I can't help thinking- hey, how did you get here? Bootifool, boy. Romba nalla iruku.