An Ode to Angels

You gave me life, you brought me into this world,

Enduring pain that no other mortal could bear.

You cared and loved me like no one ever could,

You quitely shed a tear when I wasn't near.

You made me the man, that I'm now.

And I would owe everything I have, to you forever.

I wondered where you got all that strength and love.

You're a goddess, but you chose to be called a Mother.

- To a Mother - an Angel, a Woman

I've broken a few of your Barbies myself,

And hid a few other dolls when you broke my bike,

Although I feel embarassed to admit it,

Those imaginary tea parties were the best ones in my life.

Oh those days of fighting, about whom mom loves more,

Pulling hairs, and throwing pillows at one another

The world thinks, that its fight, that we do best,

But only we know how much we love each other.

- To a Sister - an Angel, a Woman

You came as a stranger, and became my life,

You held my hand for eternity,

You walk by my side, as a constant companion,

And promised to love me unconditionally.

You work at office, you work at home,

You stay busy when the rest of the world is free,

You're a Manager, Counsellor, Friend and Critic,

They say men are stronger, but I disagree.

- To a Wife - an Angel, a Woman

You are the happiest when I succeed,

And the first one to tell me when I'm wrong,

You pull my ears when I do something naughty,

And listen to my non-sense all day long.

You tell me all your secrets, and I trust you with mine,

And I can tell you about my latest crush without fear,

With you around, I am never alone,

You are always there to wipe that tear.

- To a Friend - an Angel, a Woman

A woman, I believe, was created with care,

God indeed took that bit of extra time.

A big heart, strong mind, in an aura of splendidness,

An embodiment of brains and beauty, Oh Woman, you are divine.

Here's wishing all the Women-
A Very Happy Women's Day!

(P.S - This was written by me for Women's Day 08th Mar, 2008)

Sudhi Learns to Drive - 2 (Top Gear)

Part 2 - Top Gear

"Vaanga Sir, ukkarunga. Namma vandi dhaan". I wasn't so sure about that. It looked as if it belonged more to the dirt and mosquitoes of Ambattur. It looked absolutely Un-sittable with a capital 'U'. However, the vision of me driving a Red Ferrari in OMR, while waving out to the traffic police who were bowing at me in salutation was driving around in my head. I had to learn to drive. I closed my eyes, mouth and nose and garnered all my might to slither into the 'cockpit' of the Omni. As I gradually opened my eyes and saw the steering wheel in front of me, just behind the dusty wind-screen overlooking the vast expense of road - I wanted to floor the accelerator and scream across the turf as fast as the Omni could take me. There was only one problem however. Of the three pedals near my legs, I did not know which was which.

I was given a crash course on the car ABC's by Karthik, all while I was seated in the driver's seat. Accelerator, Brake and Clutch. Quite literally the ABC's of driving a car. I realized that Karthik may have had a few bad apples like me. That was primarily the reason why, there was a set of brake and clutch on his side as well, perhaps to save our lives if I decided to do anything funny (or even anything normal by my standards). I did not like it at all. I wanted to be in sole control. The Matrix fan that I am, it reminded me of one of Neo's dialogues in the movie.

Morpheus: Do you believe in fate, Neo?Neo: No.Morpheus: And why not?Neo: Because I don't like the idea that I'm not in control of my life.

Atta boy Neo. And I didn't like the idea that I was not in sole control of my Car. But in hindsight, I am rather thankfull that I wasn't the only one with car's controls that day. I was taught about the gear shifts by Karthik. "One-u, Two-vu, Three-yu, Four-u, Revers-u" Karthik motined his hand across the gear-rod to make me understand. I learnt that Omni did not have a high speed engine because of which it did not have a 5th gear. I was shattered again. Wiping that tear off my eyes, I was busy practising the gear shifts with an imaginary gear rod while Karthi was advising away to glory. I had a few vrroom vrrrooom sounds thrown in to set the mood, before Karthi realized that I wasn't listening at all. My instructor gave me a sombre 'Why-does-it-always-happen-to-me' look and told me to start the engine. Those were the exact words that I was waiting to hear since a good 15 minutes. I moved the gear rod to neutral, turned the ignition key clockwise, and smiled like an idiot at Karthik and Shiva (Who was trying to find something to hold on to in the back seat) as the engine coughed to life. Karthik checked if everything was ok, made sure that he had his control of the car as well, and then nervously signalled - "Polaam Saar" (Let's go Sir).

The auto-driver who drove past me, gave me a puzzled look as he crossed my stationary vehicle. I don't blame him. I was grinning from one ear to the other. That day, I was perhaps the happiest guy who ever started an automobile. The road beckoned. I throttled the engine, slowly released the clutch and we were moving. A Snail would have moved faster, but we were moving nevertheless. Gradually we gained momentum. I was just about to put my arms out and cry - "I am the King of the World", when Karthik ordered - "Now go to 2nd Gear". "Huh… what… Oh gear… this one… how.. Why?" I was already under pressure. I moved the gear-rod up, and it did not bulge. "Oh my God, the gear-rod's stuck. What do I do now?" I shouted as I slammed on the brake and nothing happened. "The brakes are gone too.." I screamed as we scorched the road at an unbelievable speed of 10 kmph. I was about to slam the hand-brake when Karthik shouted "Irunga saar" and told me to cool down. It took me a while to realize what had happened. I then realized, that the gear-rod had to be moved DOWN for the second gear and not up. Also I was stomping on the clutch thinking it to be a non-functioning brake. It was embarassing. I sheepishly looked up and lied to him as confidently as possible - "In UK and US everything's placed opposite you know" as if I was born and brought up in a foreign land, and praying fervently inside my heart that he knew nothing about the driving habits of other countries. But I think he knew that I knew nothing about the US or the UK. But being the gentleman that he was, he said nothing, and was content with a 'yeah-right' kind of a look, while Shiva was going hysteric in the back seat.

After having put the embarassment aside, and Shiva having survived his laughter marathon, I was doing pretty OK for a beginner. Karthik is a compulsive yapper. One of those unique pieces of work that can talk non-stop. Kind of like Sholay's Basanthi or Jab We Met's Geet. He has something to say about everything in this world. And that made me even more determined to concentrate on the road, especially after my gear-shift debacle a few minutes earlier. The steering just could not keep the car straight, and hence it needed constant manouvering to keep it from hitting the median or the pavement. Everything was fine untill I reached my first 'U' turn. I down-shifted to the 2nd gear as per the instructions and having found a clear spot, decided to turn. That was when I was told - this vehicle did not have power steering.

It was like the wheel of Captain Jack Sparrow's ship, that required serious physical labour to make the Omni boat do a 'U' turn. I turned and turned, when suddenly I forgot about the accelerator and the Omni stalled in the middle of the road. I bet you have heard of parallel parking. Well this was Sudhi's version of 'perpendicular' parking. I even scared the mosquitoes away. A lorry driver was honking away the horn to glory screaming for me to get out of his way. Karthik was as cool as cucumber and kept on yapping something about neutral, start and first gear. That was exactly what I did and slowly but surely, negotiated the Omni out of harm's way. I brought the vehicle to a stop and reluctantly got out to let Shiva do his share of driving for the day. Karthik was wiping the sweat off his brows, as I took my place at the back. As I sat down in the passenger's seat, I contemplated on the mistakes that I had done, and what I should have done in those situations. But more than that, I was dreaming away about the Ferrari, the OMR, the crowds of people 'wow'ing at my ride and the embodiment of coolness - me waving out to them. Man I love that dream…

I practised my driving on route to Office and back to home, in my seat in the bus, driving my imaginary Ferrari as the bus crawled throught the traffic, to TCO and back. I woke up occasionally to mild screams and taunts, when I kicked the legs of the guy sitting in front of me when I pretended to hit the brake or when I woke up my friend in my adjacent seat when I fell on him negotiating that hair-pin bend. I was all set for my lessons for the next day. Not bad for a day's drive eh?


DAY 2

I was determined as ever, when I dropped in at 6 o'clock sharp, to find Karthik just driving in. The Omni looked cleaner that day. Perhaps he had watched the geography of my face change the previous day, as I was trying to sit inside the car, and perhaps had invested a couple of buckets of water for the car. As I prepared to sit in the driver's seat, I checked with Karthik as to when I would get his Santro to drive. The usually chirpy Karthik, grew a wee bit serious - "Very soon saar. Apparam saar, payment…?" Aah.. Then I knew what a major reason for not driving the Santro was. I promised him that I'll pay him once we come back from driving today. Karthik grew back to his old chirpy self immediately…

I was over-all better with driving on the second day. Except a minor incident in the start, where I tried to reverse the car without even starting it. Aah well, everyone does that once in a while so lets forget about it. Also today, the van did not stop while executing the 'U' turn. I had constantly revved up the accelerator throughout the exercise. Everything was perfect. The only catch, however, was that I almost gave a poor old man in his bi-cycle, a heart-attack, when I missed him by just a whisker during the turn. Also Karthik had told me to avoid a pit on the road. "Right-a ponga saar" (Take the right, sir) he had advised. I promptly followed him and turned left and avoided the pit. Karthik was fuming. He wanted to know why I had gone to the left when he told me to go towards the right. I innocently told him that I thought he had told me to drive right (correct), and for me, at that moment, 'left' was indeed 'right'. I smiled, but perhaps Karthik did not get 'Mokkai' Sudhakar's P.J.

After we finished our rounds for the day, I handed Karthik the money and the documents for my LLR and License. I was planning on visiting the Red Hills RTO that day for the LLR. I asked him in all seriousness if I had to drive an '8' on the RTO grounds for me to secure a license as for the bikes. He shot back - "For Car and all, you not put eight saar, you put eleven. Ha ha ha ha…" I knew immediately that this was his revenge for my 'right' joke.. I was at the receiving end this time, while Karthik laughed his guts out. "Hee hee.." I coughed up that fake laugh, that I usually reserve for the bad jokes at office. After he was done laughing, he counted his money, checked the documents and told me with an air of utmost confidence - "Saar, in 1 week you will be ready for taking license saar. But license you will get in 1 month only saar. Very easy for you saar. Nalla drive panreenga…" (You drive well) Yeah right! I was impressed by the man's optimism. He really did have an eye for detail, he knew a Michael Schumacher when he saw one. Only that this Schumi clone was called M Sudhakar. And about the 'only 1 week' thing, well, Dream on Karthi boy. I want my 15 days of driving… I nodded at him with a sinister smile on my face and that Ferrari dream still running in my mind…

(To be concluded… When I get my License...)