Somewhere around the late 1990s. The settlement located quite far from the town. Not far when u drive on your machines on the wheel. There were few houses in concrete and bricks, very few and not old too. Not close to each other either. They had two characters in common. one, every house had neem trees at the entrance, which gave enough shade and chillness and the second, they were calm and deserted. The place was hot, really hot during summer and all because of the sun, the permanent member in the settlement. Equally the rain showed it fondness towards the people. Not always, but it filled the ground whenever it showered. The soil was red, red soil and all the foots carried the red dust to home and sometimes the dress of the kids too strained with it.
There were not much population. How much population do you expect from the settlement of 7 or 8 houses?! very few... but there were enough open spaces... they can be called open grounds, thats how the kids call them... Ground! After every rain, they saw clear rainbow, till it touches the ground somewhere far. Sometimes the people can see the hill clearly when the early sun hits the hill. Won't you feel surprised to see a hill clearly, which is 30kms far from your doorstep? The ground will carry green grass and plants, unknown plants after every rain. They increased the aesthetic look of the surroundings. And they enjoyed the wind and breeze traveling through the open spaces into their home through small windows.
Earlier i told that the place was calm, but it was not always... Not every evening and weekends. There were enough kids in the settlement to make ground active. Not all are kids! few in their primary classes and few from the higher classes. Tall and dark, short and sweet, fair and sensitive, the active girl, the brilliant, fast, lazy etc etc. They had everything among them. They were a group of nearly ten, from different places and religions and lifestyle. But they had something in common... Nothing but Cricket. Cricket is the common religion of India and for them too. They were fans of Azarudhin, the captain then.., Sachin, all time blaster,.. Sourav, the young hitter and don't wonder... there were fans of Afridi, Michael beven, Brett lee, Warne, Lara and many more foreign players too.
They spent almost all the evenings and weekends in ground. The grounds of different sizes. The small, in which telephone post was the stump. Pretty okay kind of ground in which the stumps were the 3 black lines on the side wall of the house. And the large one, which is far bigger than the international stadium.
They made teams among them, they fought well for their victory. They had fight, revenge, victory, losses, anger, smile... everything that the kids of their ages have. They had the records of breaking the windows and cars too. And when they played opposing other team from neighbor areas, they were not the same and they were together to fight. They had enough movies to see, enough topics to talk, enough new games to try, enough exams to write...
they enjoyed their life as it was... without any target, without feeling for future... Their sounds heard everywhere with the sounds of birds, with the sounds of frogs in rain waters, with the sounds of wind that dashes on trees and window curtains...
When the days rolled on, year after year, the sounds reduced.
Kids are not kids anymore, the plants then are trees now. And the grounds are filled with buildings. concrete and bricks... and no place to play and no kids with bat.
And now, to see the far hill, i have to climb to my terrace but i see only the top of hill...
I miss those days. But can't get back to it. Some days in future, i may tell this as a story to my grand children... if they are free from their laptops!!!
I was chatting with my childhood friend Karthick (one from our gang i mentioned above). Our chat remained me the olden days.Here it is,,, some of those memories and many more inside me.
Dedicated to all my friends... Karthick, Raji, Ravi, Jeeva, Sathik, vikky, dhinu, my bros, puppy, kumar and bros and many more...
P.S. And sorry if i used too many "they were".
Showing posts with label friend. Show all posts
Showing posts with label friend. Show all posts
Monday, March 01, 2010
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
change for life
I dropped a very simple question to my friends on 22nd may...
the simple question is "What change do u want to see in your life when u come out of ur room tomorrow morning?"
sad part was that i got very less reply... so
the question should be very tough to answer...
or no one is vetti like me!!!
or no one thinks about their tomorrow really!!!
anyways those answers i got are really interesting and as follows...
Mani: "hmm i wnt me nd my gf transformed to zoozoos... nd we ve zoo zoo car 4 a ride... :)"
Anujna: "mmm
I want to see myself, more opened out and less sensitive.
Reason... If I am a better person, with lesser flaws within me, everything else will automatically look wonderful to my perspective! I wont need to change anything else. Right?"
i like her answer... she wants to be the change she expects... cool
Balaji: "Tomorrow morning when i wake up and get out of my room I just wanna find this world full of GREEN and full of NATURE... just like as it wud have been some 1 million years before". ;)"
good thought bajji... but time machine mite help u...
Ishu: "karunanidhi govt. gets dismissed."
r u sleeping still... u need to come out of ur dreams ishu... Wht bajji thought may happen, but this won't...
Sathya: "time clock and calendar should show 2020 ..
reason : wanna see if i got wat i wanted ... if all my wishes r fulfilled ..
if not gud tat it changed to 2020 at one night...
if yes.. enjoy with the rest of my life with my new wishes,,,"
sathya... u need to watch the movie CLICK for sure :)
Arun Tilak: " Another new day!"
u r very practical...
My answer: " I should get a confirming call for my new job...
Reason: am badly in need of a new job since i wanna quit my present job soon :( "
am i that lucky?~~
Anonymous: " i thought of it for long time but i didnt end up with any good answer"
good that u don't have any expectation... u r lucky :)
i don't feel to tell anything with my friends answer...
but wanna tell...
Life is beautiful.......
the simple question is "What change do u want to see in your life when u come out of ur room tomorrow morning?"
sad part was that i got very less reply... so
the question should be very tough to answer...
or no one is vetti like me!!!
or no one thinks about their tomorrow really!!!
anyways those answers i got are really interesting and as follows...
Mani: "hmm i wnt me nd my gf transformed to zoozoos... nd we ve zoo zoo car 4 a ride... :)"
nd the reason is ......"v wd like each of us more in a dffrent mask with a bubbly environment...."
haan... u r really affected by both love and zoozoos... and mani, u can get dating tips from vodafone... will help u for sure... Anujna: "mmm
I want to see myself, more opened out and less sensitive.
Reason... If I am a better person, with lesser flaws within me, everything else will automatically look wonderful to my perspective! I wont need to change anything else. Right?"
i like her answer... she wants to be the change she expects... cool
Balaji: "Tomorrow morning when i wake up and get out of my room I just wanna find this world full of GREEN and full of NATURE... just like as it wud have been some 1 million years before". ;)"
good thought bajji... but time machine mite help u...
Ishu: "karunanidhi govt. gets dismissed."
r u sleeping still... u need to come out of ur dreams ishu... Wht bajji thought may happen, but this won't...
Sathya: "time clock and calendar should show 2020 ..
reason : wanna see if i got wat i wanted ... if all my wishes r fulfilled ..
if not gud tat it changed to 2020 at one night...
if yes.. enjoy with the rest of my life with my new wishes,,,"
sathya... u need to watch the movie CLICK for sure :)
Arun Tilak: " Another new day!"
u r very practical...
My answer: " I should get a confirming call for my new job...
Reason: am badly in need of a new job since i wanna quit my present job soon :( "
am i that lucky?~~
Anonymous: " i thought of it for long time but i didnt end up with any good answer"
good that u don't have any expectation... u r lucky :)
i don't feel to tell anything with my friends answer...
but wanna tell...
Life is beautiful.......
Monday, May 18, 2009
Karthik
this story is long but don't miss it plz...
The clock ticked 10pm when the mangalore express started from the egmore station. We were in joy of attending Godi-ophy marriage next day.
We includes me, gowtham, nasher, iman and aslam(my friends cum roommates).
When we felt there is no movement inside the coach and everyone are settled, we quickly finished our supper and the train reaches tambaram station by 10.35pm.
We settled in the individual berth we liked when the train crossed tambaram. I jumped up to the upper berth near the door, since light can reach me easily and it will help me for reading. We didn't talk much among us since we were busy with our own work. Nasher and Aslam were busy on call, Gowtham and Iman tried to catch up with sleep... and i was enjoying music...
Other 3 in our cabin were a boy of age around 10 and his parents...
In another 15min every lights in the coach were off except the lights in service area. I felt black and white effect with white light on my left and black cabins on my right.
I stopped the music for a while to hear the rythemic sound of the train... wow... i enjoy this sound always ... always with the rythemic shake of train that makes one to dance for the sound of train... in fact i enjoy this daily in local train, but this was different, no noise of public and its late night, cool breeze... i enjoyed the feel and i remember the lines from New radicals' someday we'll know...
"if i could ask God just one question...
y rn't u here with me, tonight..."
I tried to sleep but in couldn't and i started reading... thanks to lights in service area...
i didn't feel like reading after a while and so i took out my scribble pad to scribble something...
i checked my watch for time... it showed 11.20pm... i started scribbling.........
am not sure when did i sleep, voice of a tea boy woke me up... adjusting my spex, i checked the time, it showed few minutes passed mid night...
i moved the scribble pad with pen to the corner and came back to the position to sleep looking the door,
the train started moving... i didn't feel like knowing the station since i knew the train will reach my destination only after 4.30am.
i enjoyed the rythemic sound and dance of the train with my eyes staring at the door...
to my shock a boy of around 16yrs old jumped into the train... i raised my head with shock and gave a strange look at him... he was panting and sweating, he might be running to catch the train...
he saw me after a quick check in the lower half of the dark coach, he felt uncomfortable looking at me and his face showed his fear...
i started at him for a while... felt like asking what made him to take risk to jump into the moving train?
but he was panting... his face changed like he need help...
he checked the dark coach again, everyone were sleeping...
he showed his finger for water! i stretched the water bottle to him... he readily accepted and consumed half the bottle,
he thanked me stretching back the bottle, i sighed... he smiled...
i felt strange to see a young boy jumping into the coach without bag and panting, sweating also not getting into the cabin if his berth is reserved...
i guessed he don't have ticket... but he looked young and i thought i can pass sometime with him...
i jumped down to talk to him, also thinking i can help him if he need any...
i went near him, he moved to the corner near the door... he might be uncomfortable!
what's your berth number?, i will help you to find it out! i told him, later i felt why the damn should i ask him this when am not the TTR...
no sound from him in reply...
don't u have your ticket? i asked him...
rubbing out his sweat with his hand he said he forgot to bring...
really? i bugged him again...
i didn't reserve one really, he replied
don't u know this is punishable to travel without ticket? i told him searching for the notice board that explains about the fine amount.
he didn't reply and he peeped into the coach to check if someone is watching us...
i looked back and found everyone were sleeping...
why did u jump into the train? i bugged him again and again...
tears started rolling down his cheek...
i felt sorry about my attitude, also am not the right person to ask him the ticket.
I didn't know what to do...
don't cry, don't cry... i tried stop him crying.
he sighed and showed his finger for water, i gave him the water and he emptied the bottle...
no sound for sometime... i left him alone to relax and i searched my mobile to check if i got any sms...
no sms or buzz... i moved back to him...
i thought i should be more friendly to him, since no men make mistakes wantedly and he is young, also he may have good reason to travel without ticket.
i went to him and spoke friendly than before...
the overall hints from our conversation are...
his name is karthik,
he just got the results for his 12th exams and to his shock he is failed in a subject. He used to get good marks in his school and he really can't figure how he failed. His parents were broken badly than him. So he ran out from his home with an idea to get back to his home only after getting a degree in medicine.
Sad to hear these, I tried to console him...
this is not end of the road, this is just a speed breaker! i told him...
when we were talking, suddenly we felt the light from the other end of the coach..
oops TTR!!!
i want to hide this guy from TTR... and how???
i took him inside the cabin and asked him to hide below the lower berth, i moved all the bags outside...
he thanked hidding himself under the lower berth... i moved the bags again to hide him... i jumped up to the upper berth quickly...
thank god, no one saw us...
I raised my head to check the TTR... he was nearing to the next cabin...
i closed my eyes pretending to sleep...
after few minutes i felt like he was nearing our cabin and nearing me...
he started shaking my shoulder...
He sounded strange... Get up! Get up!...
his voice faded...
but i heard it again...
Get up! Get up! but it was Gowtham and not TTR...
Get up... we are nearing to Trichy, he said...
oops, is that a dream?!?! i questioned myself rubbing my eyes...
something flashed in my head and i jumped down to check Karthik under the lower berth...
he was not there... but the bags were not at place where we stuffed them before dinner below lower berth...
something inside my head told me to check the water bottle...
i did, quickly... but it was empty!!!
how?... so it was not dream... he was here, but he left without informing me...
and the train reached trichy...
i felt bad...
we took all our bags and stepped out of the train... i searched on either side of the platform to check if i can see karthik by chance...
but no... i didn't see him...
i walked to the main bus terminal near to catch the bus to manaparai.
We had coffee, grabbed couple of newspapers and got into the bus...
bus moved out of bus terminal exactly at 5.30am.
I started to check the results of IPL match. oops! KKR lost the match again... bad bad bad...
i flipped the newspaper from back...
i frozen when i flipped to 3rd page... shocked and i felt someone is tightening my neck...
i widen my eyes to get the clear view... ya... i saw the picture of karthik and the news said he commited suicide!!!
My head started spinning... is that him!!! i started to read the news...
the news said...
his name is karthik, he commited suicide the previous day night jumping from the moving mangalore express train(the one which i travelled yesterday) after knowing he failed in his 12th exams, but actually it was an error in printing the results. Later the authority confirmed he got school second rank.
My heart stopped. I felt like someone nailed my head...
if he commited sucide the previous day then who travelled with me yesterday night? Whom did i helped to hide? Who emptied my water bottle?
so many questions flowed out of my head... without answers...
and
the papers of my scribble pad that i forgot to take from the train started moving to the rythmic move of the train...
the last page showed...
"he thanked hidding himself under the lower berth... i moved the bags again to hide him... i jumped up to the upper berth quickly...
thank god, no one saw us... "
P.S. I dedicate this to my friend Karthik, who committed(reported as!) suicide before our 12th results, fearing of failure(again, reported as!). We missed the chance to wish you for getting School Second Rank... we missing u...
and so i named this post Karthik.
The clock ticked 10pm when the mangalore express started from the egmore station. We were in joy of attending Godi-ophy marriage next day.
We includes me, gowtham, nasher, iman and aslam(my friends cum roommates).
When we felt there is no movement inside the coach and everyone are settled, we quickly finished our supper and the train reaches tambaram station by 10.35pm.
We settled in the individual berth we liked when the train crossed tambaram. I jumped up to the upper berth near the door, since light can reach me easily and it will help me for reading. We didn't talk much among us since we were busy with our own work. Nasher and Aslam were busy on call, Gowtham and Iman tried to catch up with sleep... and i was enjoying music...
Other 3 in our cabin were a boy of age around 10 and his parents...
In another 15min every lights in the coach were off except the lights in service area. I felt black and white effect with white light on my left and black cabins on my right.
I stopped the music for a while to hear the rythemic sound of the train... wow... i enjoy this sound always ... always with the rythemic shake of train that makes one to dance for the sound of train... in fact i enjoy this daily in local train, but this was different, no noise of public and its late night, cool breeze... i enjoyed the feel and i remember the lines from New radicals' someday we'll know...
"if i could ask God just one question...
y rn't u here with me, tonight..."
I tried to sleep but in couldn't and i started reading... thanks to lights in service area...
i didn't feel like reading after a while and so i took out my scribble pad to scribble something...
i checked my watch for time... it showed 11.20pm... i started scribbling.........
am not sure when did i sleep, voice of a tea boy woke me up... adjusting my spex, i checked the time, it showed few minutes passed mid night...
i moved the scribble pad with pen to the corner and came back to the position to sleep looking the door,
the train started moving... i didn't feel like knowing the station since i knew the train will reach my destination only after 4.30am.
i enjoyed the rythemic sound and dance of the train with my eyes staring at the door...
to my shock a boy of around 16yrs old jumped into the train... i raised my head with shock and gave a strange look at him... he was panting and sweating, he might be running to catch the train...
he saw me after a quick check in the lower half of the dark coach, he felt uncomfortable looking at me and his face showed his fear...
i started at him for a while... felt like asking what made him to take risk to jump into the moving train?
but he was panting... his face changed like he need help...
he checked the dark coach again, everyone were sleeping...
he showed his finger for water! i stretched the water bottle to him... he readily accepted and consumed half the bottle,
he thanked me stretching back the bottle, i sighed... he smiled...
i felt strange to see a young boy jumping into the coach without bag and panting, sweating also not getting into the cabin if his berth is reserved...
i guessed he don't have ticket... but he looked young and i thought i can pass sometime with him...
i jumped down to talk to him, also thinking i can help him if he need any...
i went near him, he moved to the corner near the door... he might be uncomfortable!
what's your berth number?, i will help you to find it out! i told him, later i felt why the damn should i ask him this when am not the TTR...
no sound from him in reply...
don't u have your ticket? i asked him...
rubbing out his sweat with his hand he said he forgot to bring...
really? i bugged him again...
i didn't reserve one really, he replied
don't u know this is punishable to travel without ticket? i told him searching for the notice board that explains about the fine amount.
he didn't reply and he peeped into the coach to check if someone is watching us...
i looked back and found everyone were sleeping...
why did u jump into the train? i bugged him again and again...
tears started rolling down his cheek...
i felt sorry about my attitude, also am not the right person to ask him the ticket.
I didn't know what to do...
don't cry, don't cry... i tried stop him crying.
he sighed and showed his finger for water, i gave him the water and he emptied the bottle...
no sound for sometime... i left him alone to relax and i searched my mobile to check if i got any sms...
no sms or buzz... i moved back to him...
i thought i should be more friendly to him, since no men make mistakes wantedly and he is young, also he may have good reason to travel without ticket.
i went to him and spoke friendly than before...
the overall hints from our conversation are...
his name is karthik,
he just got the results for his 12th exams and to his shock he is failed in a subject. He used to get good marks in his school and he really can't figure how he failed. His parents were broken badly than him. So he ran out from his home with an idea to get back to his home only after getting a degree in medicine.
Sad to hear these, I tried to console him...
this is not end of the road, this is just a speed breaker! i told him...
when we were talking, suddenly we felt the light from the other end of the coach..
oops TTR!!!
i want to hide this guy from TTR... and how???
i took him inside the cabin and asked him to hide below the lower berth, i moved all the bags outside...
he thanked hidding himself under the lower berth... i moved the bags again to hide him... i jumped up to the upper berth quickly...
thank god, no one saw us...
I raised my head to check the TTR... he was nearing to the next cabin...
i closed my eyes pretending to sleep...
after few minutes i felt like he was nearing our cabin and nearing me...
he started shaking my shoulder...
He sounded strange... Get up! Get up!...
his voice faded...
but i heard it again...
Get up! Get up! but it was Gowtham and not TTR...
Get up... we are nearing to Trichy, he said...
oops, is that a dream?!?! i questioned myself rubbing my eyes...
something flashed in my head and i jumped down to check Karthik under the lower berth...
he was not there... but the bags were not at place where we stuffed them before dinner below lower berth...
something inside my head told me to check the water bottle...
i did, quickly... but it was empty!!!
how?... so it was not dream... he was here, but he left without informing me...
and the train reached trichy...
i felt bad...
we took all our bags and stepped out of the train... i searched on either side of the platform to check if i can see karthik by chance...
but no... i didn't see him...
i walked to the main bus terminal near to catch the bus to manaparai.
We had coffee, grabbed couple of newspapers and got into the bus...
bus moved out of bus terminal exactly at 5.30am.
I started to check the results of IPL match. oops! KKR lost the match again... bad bad bad...
i flipped the newspaper from back...
i frozen when i flipped to 3rd page... shocked and i felt someone is tightening my neck...
i widen my eyes to get the clear view... ya... i saw the picture of karthik and the news said he commited suicide!!!
My head started spinning... is that him!!! i started to read the news...
the news said...
his name is karthik, he commited suicide the previous day night jumping from the moving mangalore express train(the one which i travelled yesterday) after knowing he failed in his 12th exams, but actually it was an error in printing the results. Later the authority confirmed he got school second rank.
My heart stopped. I felt like someone nailed my head...
if he commited sucide the previous day then who travelled with me yesterday night? Whom did i helped to hide? Who emptied my water bottle?
so many questions flowed out of my head... without answers...
and
the papers of my scribble pad that i forgot to take from the train started moving to the rythmic move of the train...
the last page showed...
"he thanked hidding himself under the lower berth... i moved the bags again to hide him... i jumped up to the upper berth quickly...
thank god, no one saw us... "
P.S. I dedicate this to my friend Karthik, who committed(reported as!) suicide before our 12th results, fearing of failure(again, reported as!). We missed the chance to wish you for getting School Second Rank... we missing u...
and so i named this post Karthik.
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