No Name Yet - Part 7

I moved to Denmark with my husband, apparently there were very less Indians at that time. Seema was the first one whom I personally know.
She was my husband's colleague's wife.
I have an admiration for her lovely hair, clean looks and great collection of attires.We started with dining at each other's house and watching each other's wedding DVDs. She was then newly married like me. After watching her DVD, I developed great respect towards her mother. She and her husband joined us for a trip to our dream destination Switzerland.

We all were looking for jobs in Denmark. During one of our tea time chats, she mentioned Freescale has an office in the city where we lived, which I did not know until then. Then I applied with them and infact joined them as I found it to be best among the few offers that I could find there. It was a big break for me and I felt lucky to have known her at that time, though this freescale stuff did not work out that good later!

She was one of the first few visitors at the hospital when I delivered Arjun and it was so thoughtful of her to bring some food for my mom and husband. They relished it after a tiring overnight stay at the hospital.

I am generally very good at making and maintaining friends and so is she, but somehow we both did not become great friends, I actually thought we would, as everything between us started very well. However, wherever we met at get togethers, we have smiled and waved and chit chatted.I was truly happy when she could start her career after a long wait in Denmark, which she has been badly longing for.

I come up with some more interesting ladies whom I met in Denmark. Keep wathcing this space.



(To be continued)

No Name Yet - Part 6

From the time I started to write this series, I have been waiting for this time, to write about the people I feel,

'Blessed with'

.

During my tenure in Sasken, Bangalore, I gained few important people in my life.
This little piece of writing goes as a dedication to them, they deserve much more though.

Pavani
We joined Sasken on the same day. We sat next to each other in the induction, had lunch together, we did not realise we were going to make a beautiful relationship, A relationship that does not expect anything from each other, A relationship which will last lifetime, A relationship which will be filled with hearty laughs, speechless tears...
She is one of the best people I have come across in life. How can one think good for all the people around? She can!
She is the most intelligent I know, too sincere in her work.
She is very irregular in writing mails, replying mails, making phone calls etc. But I for sure know, I hold a very special place in her heart, Afterall, if she has chosen my name to be her password. I left Sasken around 3 years ago and she still remains there. She may have got acquaintances.But I am her only friend and I am very proud about that.She says, 'A friend at work is too important, I miss you Priya'. Its selfish of me, wanting to hear this 'I miss you', especially from her.
I miss you too Pavani, you are a great friend!

Aparna
I met her also on the first day in Sasken, I asked her about the bus route.
We smiled at each other in the subsequent days, went for coffee times...and that is how we became friends. The first thing that attracted me about her was, the way she writes emails. Normally mails from quality team asking for metrics and time sheet filling used to be so boring. But this person knows how to even make those bugging mails interesting. She has amazing quizzing skills, a good singer and her language is awsome. She is very straight forward, even more than the required extent, that she appears rude to many people. Our common colleagues have asked me, "how could you keep close to her?". To me, she is like that and I like her that way!
Whichever company I am in, my coffee time would surely remind me of her and I am sure she will feel the same. We have enjoyable gChat sessions and thats how we are in touch for years now.

Now about some little Angels.
Padma, Anitha, Sonnia, Uma and Raji.
I have many a times felt, God has sent these little Angels to my life. I shared an accomadation with these girls for sometime. They are four years younger to me, but lot matured than me.
I have learnt a lot from them.
Right from silly little things like how to fine chop onions to great lessons in life like, what it means togetherness-one thing that was missing in my earlier stays, what it means not to hurt the people around us, what it means caring for one another...
It does not mean we never had differece of opinions or fights, but we have made up much earlier, quicker, which made our relationship so strong.

Padma
This word means lotus, but to me this word means 'unconditional affection'.
She has quite many times made me guilty, if I am worth all what she has done for me?
She has gone through lots in life, but I used to wonder how could she keep smiling and energetic amidst all these?
She has a passion for craft work and I love the perfection in it.

Anitha
Whenever I knead the dough for chapathi, I think of her with thanks, she has taught me that...She is such a great dancer and a wonderful cook.

Sonnia
She was so dear darling to all of us. Later in life, we happened to sit in two different branches of the same company across continents. I did not have any friends in my office, as I happened to be the only Indian in the whole office, only lady in the technical team. But Sonnia has wiped off my loneliness with her lovely chat session through IM.

Uma
She was a kiddo in our house. A very sensitive but caring person.She has got a perfect nose and lovely hair.She has been so sincere in her love life and she is Blessed with a peaceful wedding with her beloved.

Raji
I have always looked upto Raji for her cool head and wide interest towards movies and sports.

All I said about these five little brats are just too less for what I feel for them. They are very very special to me!And yes, each of them made me felt very special to them at many instances.


(To be continued)

No Name Yet - Part 5

From Delhi, I moved to another company in Bangalore, and stayed in BTM layout with few other girls. Subhashini (yes, the same one as in Part 3), Kala, Bhamimi, Ramalakshmi, Sathiya and Prabha. We were more or less of the same age group. All the complications that would arise in such a stay would arise among us also. Like, who would take bath at what time, whose liking the menu would be based on??...May sound silly, but they were serious issues frankly. We all really lacked that feeling of togetherness. One would like green chilly and it would not suit the other. 'For one beetroot would be a favourite veggie and the other hates it like nething'...and 'which channel to watch'...'Who will give up on such issues'...During most arguments, I was the one moderating...and these arguments were not verbal, it was all through group e-mails. Finally they named me Nattamai..:-)...and I used to make that pose like Vijayakumar in the intro scene of Nattamai movie.

But inspite of all these, we had loads of fun. We would hire DVDs and watch movies all night in the weekends, Kala was the one to plan the snacks, marie biscuit and tea mostly. We really relished each others' cooking. I have watched lots and lots of hindi movies with these girls. And we have been to many theaters in Bangalore. Also we made trips to Nandi hills, Mysore and Fun world. We used to celebrate our festivals like vinayaka chadurthi, pooja in the most traditional way, with all the traditional items like kozhukkattai, sundal etc.

We always had home-made sunday snacks, even though we would want to make some, and it would turn to be something else. Whether we enjoyed the snacks or not, we enjoyed the making of it...:-)Gobi manchuriyan was the ultimate one, as we did not have corn flour, I like a 'Big Chef' suggested to grind corn flakes to get corn flour, and the other ducks believed it and did the same and when we were trying to fry the gobis dipped in corn(flakes) flour, all the flour got seperated and we got gobi and flour manchurians seperately. The tragedy was that Ramalakshmi told her collegues who were working on sunday that she would get them gobi manchuriyan and they were waiting...

One thing none of us were good at, was to keep the house clean. Our house used to look like 'kuppa thotti' all the time.

All of them are well settled now, and we are in touch, not so often though.

People I am gonna blog about in my next episode, are some that I feel "Blessed with".
Watch this space!


(To be continued)

No Name Yet - Part 4

Took so long a gap to write the part 4...*sigh*
Here I go!

After college, I joined a company in chennai where I acquired some friends.
30 of us from this company have got transferred to the head office in Delhi, after one year of being in Chennai. Amongst this 30, 6 of us were girls and we took a house for rent and stayed together, very close to our office in Gurgaon.
Along with me there were Subha Santhanam, Vidya Anantharaman, Anitha - I used to call her Antoo, Malathi S Iyengar - she loved to refer her this way, Namrata Limaye -the only Non-tamil of the six.
All that was common in us was that we worked for the same company and we lived in the same house. But otherwise, we were like navagrahams, each facing one side...yeah we were so different, our kind, our tastes, our interests...nothing was alike.
The moment we step in office, we would have different friends for each of us!!! huh.
One thing I must really thank these girls for, I started cooking for the first time during that stay and whatever crap I made, they never complained and they used to encourage me and appreciate me.
I have become beauty conscious while I was with them, have learnt a lot about doing facial, pedicure etc...
They insisted me to buy a jeans and that was the first time I wore a jeans...funtime.
Each had a unique talent, Subha was so witty and she had loads of mind presence, Malathi used to sing so well, Vidya too and she was the one to teach us beauty tips, Nam was so trendy and bubbly and Antoo, so composed.
Me and Antoo made a trip to Agra with few other colleagues on a friday, we went all the way to find out that Tajmahal was closed on Fridays...~Sigh~
We also had few other outings, shopping in Delhi etc...
After leaving from Delhi, we were not so much in touch, but its not that we totally lost it as well, we catch up on yahoo,gchats with some smileys and hi,bye..they are all well settled, Antoo being married to a common friend of me and my husband - Surya.
Actually my husband and Surya also worked with us in the same company, transferred to Delhi etc, and Antoo and Surya got married and few months later when me and my hub announced our wedding, our colleagues were like, "நம்ம கம்பெனி ல எத்தினி பேரு டா இப்புடி கிளம்பிருக்கீங்க??"

There were many other people with whom I used to pass time while in the chennai office, we used to share the lunch table, have lengthy coffee breaks and leisure walks and I am in touch with only Vaneetha, that too very occasionally in gchat.
I was staying in a PG in Velacherry while in Chennai, and me being a chatter-box obviously had many time-being friends. Ezhil, who I felt damn sweet, is still in touch with me through email and phone. From her I get to know about the other girl Jeyalakshmi, but about my other room-mates, Gayathri, Jinci, Swetha..I really dont know.
We all had visited Mangaadu amman temple together...that was the first time I went there. We all would sit together and watch 'Chithie' serial in sun TV and also sun music was our all time favourite. The day when Chithie climax was to be telecasted it was like a big day in our PG, with all the girls sitting and biting nails in front of the TV...:-)

Jincy was from Kerala and she made me watch, 'Summer in Bethlegam' mallu movie, which was later remade in Tamil as 'Lesa Lesa'. She was the only one to have a mobile phone in our room....hoooo.
I was the one to sing(?) to some extent in that room, so these girls would ask me to sing, and they would listen and say, "its good...". Me happy.I used to even sing to their choice...hee hee.
Had good time in this PG, though for a very short period of 5 months or so, before leaving for Delhi.


(To be continued)

No Name Yet - Part 3

Huh have been out of this space since long.
Have taken a short break from work for parenting full time, wah what an experience it is...to enjoy home all time.
Should write about it some other time, and now no name yet continues.

My college - Like everyone else, I have gained many good, life time friends in college. Indeed, my husband is one in that too...:-)

I write about them here in no order.

Kavitha : From my day one in college, we were together all through the four years. We sat next to each other in all semesters, know where ...in first bench. This one is too too sincere and just because I sat next to her, it was assumed by some lecturers that I was sincere too! She is sensitive, yet practical, trust worthy, open. She does not poke her nose into anyone's matters, yet she cares for us.


Subhashini: செம வாலு
I used to call her Kapish. Unfortunately we did not spend much time together in college, except for our project duration in the final semester. Our trips to Sriperumbuthur in the chennai outskirts, where we did our project, were unforgettable. We used to play lots of games in the bus...
Kavitha was with us too.
But then it was yahoo messenger where we spoke even more than personally, after college days, while I was in Delhi. Then I moved to Bangalore and shared the house with her. I must say, I really cherish the time that I had with this girl. She is so passionate, does not give up so easily...
I went to Paris for a short trip (knife and fork flight travel...), when she was in Germany, and she came down all the way just to meet me, despite she has toured in Paris twice before.
But she is sensitive to an extent that if she is hurt by someone who means to her, she gives the biggest punishment of quitting them forever.
Unfortunately I made a blunder in her case and the same punishment, inspite of my repeated sorries. I was thinking the episode between me and her was closed forever, but God Saved me, during my pregancy and after delivery, she started speaking to me and we are on track again. Now she is a mother too, I was so touched when she called me while she was in labor and just after she delivered...

Anu:
This is my sweet heart. She was my junior in college, 2 years younger to me, but I always have wondered that she is much more matured than me. She is so fun loving.
I was out of college 8 years before, but me and this girl still know what happens to each other day to day...we are so constantly in touch. She came to meet me quite many times when we were in India, when it was actually so dificult for her to come down...I mean in terms of the distance she travelled, and amidst her schedule...We talk so much on phone, chat lots, still mail each other...
இப்போ ஒரு தெலுங்கு பையனை கல்யாணம் பண்ணி
பப்பு, அந்த்த scene லேது, பச்சடி னு எல்லாம் பேசிட்டு இருக்கா..
She does not cry so easily except for few occasions, and she did while bidding a farewell to me at college.
I am sure she is my lifetime friend. Dont want to write more, but her friendship means a lot to me.

Mercy:
Actually our college has sister concerns and we all have the same hostel. Mercy was studying in a different college but we were in the same room. Maths expert, no wonder she inherited it all from her dad who was a Maths teacher, but generally she is very intelligent, she loves her family a lot and she does a lot of things for her
friends too. She is quite religious, has lotsa faith in God and everyday prays for all of us. Even now, when I am in trouble, I tell her to pray for me:-)
She is so humorous, cant ever forget our exam time studies in our hostel room balcony.With mosquito coil on, we would be studying the whole night. In order not to know the time, we would not have watches. But we used to sense the time through the adjacent house TV, the guy in that house used to watch TV all night. One night, itseems to be Vanakkam Thamizhagam advertisement in TV around 1AM, and me and mercy apparently thought it was already morning and got really panic...as we had lot more to study.Then when we realised it, we had so much of laugh that night, and even now thinking about it, a smile crosses my lip. I am sure it does for her too, if she happens to read it. There were many more funny incidents, and I really enjoyed the time with her. I used to be so possessive on her...:-)
Married and a mom too, her husband and son are her world, she has been making a lovely home, and then recently chose to step into the industry and is working now, I am sure she must be performing great there too.

Geetha:
When I write this, I am chatting with her. She is one kind I really like. Unlike few, who used to be so close when they are together and then when life gives them differnt roles, they forget friends. But this one is like me, who likes to be in touch with friends, forever.
She was my junior by a year. She vacated the hostel in her final year and was staying as a paying guest and I was searching for job, so shared her room.
She was so adjustable, a well wisher. When I got a job, she was genuinely happy for me.
All that she cant tolerate was stinginess, she is ofcourse very generous.
Married and a happy mother now.
While all of us were running after software jobs, this one is moving ahead in HR field. I feel its her strength area, as her communication skills are excellent.
She is on a break too, for parenting. One of the inspirations for me to decide about my break.

There is another one who inspired me to take this break, will write about her in a forthcoming episode.

I have had many more friends in college life, Hema, Anu, Shobana, Revathy, Gayathri, Pallavi, Karuna, Madhuri, Another Anu, Deepa, Gajalakshmi, Aarthie...to mention a few down here, but the busy life style had put us out of touch, I mean I still mail, chat, talk to some of them but rarely.
I pray God that all my friends are Blessed with good health,wealth and happiness ever.

(To be continued)

No Name Yet - Part 2

From 9th-12th standard, I was put up in hostel, as I moved to a school, in a town, which is about 3hours by bus journey from my native village.
I had many friends in this school; unfortunately I am not in touch with any of them now except for my mathematics teacher, thanks to ‘Orkut’ where her son found me and that’s how I am back in touch with her.

Otherwise, when I finished 12th and moved out of that town, the means of correspondence with my friends was just those blue and later pink inland letters(God, I must find a sample of an inland letter to show my son)and rarely phone calls through PP numbers...(while I was writing this, I even forgot this word PP and recollected it after a long struggle), which lasted for a year or two and then slowly wore out. The mobile phone and internet culture was not that popular and I never visited that town except to collect my mark sheets. Each time I log in Orkut or any such forums, I spend sometime in searching for those lovable ones, but did not manage to find one also yet.

Fatima Princy: My classmate for 2years, from Mumbai, catchy eyes, she sings well. She left the school when we completed 10th. The day when we had to collect the 10th certificates, that was when I met her last, while everyone congratulated me to have topped the school, the district and stood 3rd in the state, she was angry on me to have missed those 3 marks; I would have topped the state otherwise.

Manjula: My hostel mate, but we were in different classes in school as she was in English medium, a very pretty girl; I was kind of her fan. We shared the same tuition classes in 12th as well. She desired so much to become a doctor and went for improvement exams, donno what next with her.

Veni: My hostel mate and in English medium too, from Singapore. A humorous person.

Anandavalli: She is an early morning queen. When we were in 12th standard, she was my competitor in my class, I used to sleep at around 2AM and it seems she used to wake up and start studying at 2AM. We kind of agreed to remember each other when I go to sleep and when she gets up from bed, every day/night. I knew she went for BDS, but after that???

Geetha R(whenever she was tensed, she used to close her eyes and chant Kandasashti kavasam), Bhuvana K( too good in narrating, she used to explain us – the hostel students about satellite channel programs),
Gayathri (A black beauty, very humorous)
Bhuvana R, another Manjula,
Anbarasi and Krishnaveni (we were in the same tuition classes too),
Rajarajeswari (I lost to this girl in 12th standard, school topper, in English medium too, absolute genius, polite, School Pupil Leader, I liked her lots, she used to come and discuss the examination tips she got through the TV programs with me, as we don’t have TV in hostel, this is in spite of one trying to overtake the other in ranking)
Priya , Gomathi, two other Rajarajeswaries, Sona (super dancer), Premalatha,
Anusha and Saranya (Was in touch with these two for little longer than the others, as my aunty was the warden in their Engg college),
Mookambikai akka(we used to call her mooki, though she had a perfect nose, a very tender looking person),
Jyothi akka, (these akkas were my seniors and in hostel)...
These are just to name a few and the list goes on, like our attendance book!

Oh I am getting too nostalgic :-(
Where are you all gals? Knock my mailbox (look at this!!!mail box itseems), sometime please…

(To be continued)

No name yet - Part 1

This is in my mind from so long, that I must write about all my friends who have lightened my life in various phases.
Again I am thinking what to name it?
Thought of some names like Chellame, Ennuyir thozhi, Priyamanavale, Natpukaga, Autograph and so on (ellam tamil movie titles)...Don’t like it myself, amateurish a iruku. It’s a trouble to name a thing.
Also I must have a series. Hmmm...
Ok, I will forget the naming and the formalities and just put down whatever that comes in my mind. And if I can find some good title on the way, then I shall name this, THAT.

Anuradha! We studied together from Pre-KG(‘enga kalathula‘ we used to call it 'Baby class' …aiyo avlo vayasu ayiducha) to 8th standard.
We shared those lovely innocent moments, we were always rivals when it comes to studies and extra curricular competitions, yet we were/are friends.
She is my relative in a way, and now settled very close to our native itself. So I can meet her each time I visit home town. She is that typical Ramani Chandran heroine types, we can give her things that we consider as ‘no use’ (ice cream cup/ wooden spoon for instance),and she would craft it and place it in her showcase. Such a good crafter.
She is now a goody-goody house wife, married to her ‘morai paiyan’ and a mother of two.
She was quite good in curriculum during schooling/college but has chosen to be a home maker. Her world is very calm and composed, she enjoys taking lunch box to her daughter’s school every noon, and feed her, visiting her parents in the nearby village(our native) every week, dressing up and being very presentable when her husband returns home from work, not missing any functions and the like.
“Oh! Women can be so happy and peaceful, this way too!!!, In the name of being career oriented and being an active earning member of the family, perhaps I am missing these luxuries???” – This thought crosses my mind every time I meet her.

(To be continued)