I never thought I will write again,
As I don’t have that passion anymore
But here I’m writing again
Am I writing with same thoughts?
I don’t think it’s same now
But here I’m writing again
Writing for the sake of writing
Is the worst thing that can happen
Am I writing for the sake of writing?
I don’t know and don’t want to know
I know one thing now and it’s what matters
Here I’m writing again.
Friday, April 15, 2011
Monday, July 12, 2010
Life at Moolamattom- 6
Friends Moving Away- New Neighbors
One thing that was happening very common in our KSEB colony was people moving out from Moolamattom once the kids finished their 10th ( SSLC). There was one good college near to Moolamattom and it was again run by Christian missionaries. One reason why people were moving out might be attributed to Engineering/Medicine fever. Engineering/Medicine seemed to be only option that was available for kids those days. For getting seat in good colleges you had to exceedingly well in entrance exams. All the students were studying in entrance coaching centers those days. That was required to get used to the questions in entrance exams and also to pick up the speed which was most essential for getting good marks in entrance exams.
In few years time Anup and his family moved out from Moolamattom once Anithachechi finished her 10th. They had moved out to Kalamassery (Ernakulam). In the same way, Arvind also moved out to Thrissur once Amrithachechi finished her 10th. The movement of people seemed to be inevitable at those stage. Amith and his family who had moved out to C-5 in an year or so after we moved in to Moolamattom also moved out when Kavithachechi finished her 10th. I am keeping in touch with many of my old friends thanks to some American’s brain whose idea was Orkut. Yesterday I got an invitation from my old friend Anup. We hadn’t heard of each other after Anup’s marriage. Now I hope I will be able to keep in touch with him again. Those good olden days will never come back again and but there is no point in weeping over it. Better to make use of available options to keep in touch with old friends, right? I always believe that the friendships that started during the childhood are really special as there is innocence associated with those relationships. That is something which is very hard to find these days.
Once Anup and his family moved out from C-3, we had another family. Mansoor Uncle, Hasina Aunty, Farzi and Fayaz. It was great to have them as our neighbors. Farzi was one year younger to Kingini and Fayaz was 2-3 years younger Farzi. Mansoor Uncle and Hasina Aunty were unlike from many other families who stayed at Moolamattom. Firstly they were more young and were less traditional than most of the other families. We always tend to associate certain level of orthodox mentality with Muslims but I don’t agree with it. That is not the case with all the Muslims. Hasina Aunty was always willing to be one among us and used to join us while we were playing cricket or badminton. Mansoor Uncle is no more and Hasina Aunty did well in bringing up the kids. Farzi is married now and settled in Middle East and Fayaz has finished his B’Tech. He is working now in Hyderabad.
Another family that were very close at Moolamattom was Sasi Uncle and Girija Aunty. They had a good library at home and I was very close with Priyachechi. She used to give me many good books and I got interested in reading that way. Those days we used to read fictions alone. I always feel that the best way to start reading is through fiction. Priyachechi was exception in her studies as well. She secured 5th rank in SSLC exam in spite of studying in government school. That was something quite unheard of during those days. She secured Gold Medal for Pre-Degree as well for MG University. They were at Moolamattom for more than 8 years.
How can I forget my Table Tennis sessions that we had with Nanu Sir? We used to go for playing Table Tennis those days. Nanu Sir was working in KSEB and he was instrumental in developing Table Tennis in Moolamattom. There used to be around 30 players who used to be trained by Nanu Sir during those days. He was a very strict person and because of this strictness alone Idukki Team was doing well.
More about Moolamattom in next one..:-)
One thing that was happening very common in our KSEB colony was people moving out from Moolamattom once the kids finished their 10th ( SSLC). There was one good college near to Moolamattom and it was again run by Christian missionaries. One reason why people were moving out might be attributed to Engineering/Medicine fever. Engineering/Medicine seemed to be only option that was available for kids those days. For getting seat in good colleges you had to exceedingly well in entrance exams. All the students were studying in entrance coaching centers those days. That was required to get used to the questions in entrance exams and also to pick up the speed which was most essential for getting good marks in entrance exams.
In few years time Anup and his family moved out from Moolamattom once Anithachechi finished her 10th. They had moved out to Kalamassery (Ernakulam). In the same way, Arvind also moved out to Thrissur once Amrithachechi finished her 10th. The movement of people seemed to be inevitable at those stage. Amith and his family who had moved out to C-5 in an year or so after we moved in to Moolamattom also moved out when Kavithachechi finished her 10th. I am keeping in touch with many of my old friends thanks to some American’s brain whose idea was Orkut. Yesterday I got an invitation from my old friend Anup. We hadn’t heard of each other after Anup’s marriage. Now I hope I will be able to keep in touch with him again. Those good olden days will never come back again and but there is no point in weeping over it. Better to make use of available options to keep in touch with old friends, right? I always believe that the friendships that started during the childhood are really special as there is innocence associated with those relationships. That is something which is very hard to find these days.
Once Anup and his family moved out from C-3, we had another family. Mansoor Uncle, Hasina Aunty, Farzi and Fayaz. It was great to have them as our neighbors. Farzi was one year younger to Kingini and Fayaz was 2-3 years younger Farzi. Mansoor Uncle and Hasina Aunty were unlike from many other families who stayed at Moolamattom. Firstly they were more young and were less traditional than most of the other families. We always tend to associate certain level of orthodox mentality with Muslims but I don’t agree with it. That is not the case with all the Muslims. Hasina Aunty was always willing to be one among us and used to join us while we were playing cricket or badminton. Mansoor Uncle is no more and Hasina Aunty did well in bringing up the kids. Farzi is married now and settled in Middle East and Fayaz has finished his B’Tech. He is working now in Hyderabad.
Another family that were very close at Moolamattom was Sasi Uncle and Girija Aunty. They had a good library at home and I was very close with Priyachechi. She used to give me many good books and I got interested in reading that way. Those days we used to read fictions alone. I always feel that the best way to start reading is through fiction. Priyachechi was exception in her studies as well. She secured 5th rank in SSLC exam in spite of studying in government school. That was something quite unheard of during those days. She secured Gold Medal for Pre-Degree as well for MG University. They were at Moolamattom for more than 8 years.
How can I forget my Table Tennis sessions that we had with Nanu Sir? We used to go for playing Table Tennis those days. Nanu Sir was working in KSEB and he was instrumental in developing Table Tennis in Moolamattom. There used to be around 30 players who used to be trained by Nanu Sir during those days. He was a very strict person and because of this strictness alone Idukki Team was doing well.
More about Moolamattom in next one..:-)
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Life at Moolamattom-5
Weather at Moolamattom
Weather at Moolamattom was something quite different from most of other places in Kerala. In Idukki district itself, weather was very tough. During the rainy seasons there used to be heavy rains. When I say heavy rains, those rains never used to stop for 2-3 days. So it was like house arrest, We couldn’t go out anywhere except to schools. Things were not better at schools also as we were not able to go out and play.
Idukki district was quite famous for natural disasters during the rainy season. Most famous one being ‘urulpottal’. (Landslips are locally called "Urulpottal", resulting in loss of life and property are frequently reported in Idukki). We used to get holidays for schools when there used to be heavy ‘urulpottal’ in Idukki. So whenever there used to be heavy rains in our place, we used to listen to radio in the morning for news. We kids were just waiting to know if there were any urulpottal around and if any holiday was announced. Those days District Collector seemed to be all powerful man for me. Announcement for the school holiday came from District Collector.
There was a small bridge connecting our KSEB colony to outside world. All the school and office vehicles took that path to go from our colony. During one of the heavy rains this small bridge collapsed. I don’t think we went to school that days as there was not many options available during that day. In next day or so, they made alternate arrangements. Now when I think of it, they did something great in a day. There was a small bridge which was used people to cross the river by foot. It was of wooden frame it was not strong enough to carry any vehicles. But there was no alternate arrangement also. So they got 2 big metallic beams and placed them on the top of the bridge. Those beams were longer than length of the bridge and so weight was not going to come on the bridge. The distance between the 2 beams were adjusted in such a way as to carry a Jeep. It was just enough for a Jeep and not suited for any other vehicle. But then we had many jeeps in our campus and most of the people went to offices in jeeps only.
For us, this was a very big thing. But because of this disaster many families who was staying near the river side had to be evacuated. Many lost their houses also. They were staying inside the KSEB colony but were not part of the colony. I remember we used to collect money, food and clothes for those families in school. That was something good about studying in schools run by Christian missionaries. They have some social commitments and they try to do something back to the society. This is my thoughts and you can agree or disagree with me.
Weather at Moolamattom was something quite different from most of other places in Kerala. In Idukki district itself, weather was very tough. During the rainy seasons there used to be heavy rains. When I say heavy rains, those rains never used to stop for 2-3 days. So it was like house arrest, We couldn’t go out anywhere except to schools. Things were not better at schools also as we were not able to go out and play.
Idukki district was quite famous for natural disasters during the rainy season. Most famous one being ‘urulpottal’. (Landslips are locally called "Urulpottal", resulting in loss of life and property are frequently reported in Idukki). We used to get holidays for schools when there used to be heavy ‘urulpottal’ in Idukki. So whenever there used to be heavy rains in our place, we used to listen to radio in the morning for news. We kids were just waiting to know if there were any urulpottal around and if any holiday was announced. Those days District Collector seemed to be all powerful man for me. Announcement for the school holiday came from District Collector.
There was a small bridge connecting our KSEB colony to outside world. All the school and office vehicles took that path to go from our colony. During one of the heavy rains this small bridge collapsed. I don’t think we went to school that days as there was not many options available during that day. In next day or so, they made alternate arrangements. Now when I think of it, they did something great in a day. There was a small bridge which was used people to cross the river by foot. It was of wooden frame it was not strong enough to carry any vehicles. But there was no alternate arrangement also. So they got 2 big metallic beams and placed them on the top of the bridge. Those beams were longer than length of the bridge and so weight was not going to come on the bridge. The distance between the 2 beams were adjusted in such a way as to carry a Jeep. It was just enough for a Jeep and not suited for any other vehicle. But then we had many jeeps in our campus and most of the people went to offices in jeeps only.
For us, this was a very big thing. But because of this disaster many families who was staying near the river side had to be evacuated. Many lost their houses also. They were staying inside the KSEB colony but were not part of the colony. I remember we used to collect money, food and clothes for those families in school. That was something good about studying in schools run by Christian missionaries. They have some social commitments and they try to do something back to the society. This is my thoughts and you can agree or disagree with me.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Life at Moolamattom-4
My love for cricket
As a young boy I was very much interested in playing different games. I was not a very good athlete and I was more in to games like cricket and football. Cricket was more easy for me as I was not the fastest of the movers around. Those days we didn’t play cricket near our quarters.I think I learned playing cricket by watching TV and playing with my cousins.
My friends who were staying in another part of colony had started playing cricket and they used to discuss cricket in school. So I felt I was left out of the group and I wanted to be part of them soon. I was waiting for an opportunity so that I could also join them and play cricket. One day we went to school only to know that there won’t be any classes for the day. I heard my friends saying that they will play cricket. I decided to join them.
Problem was, during those day we didn’t have any mobile phones to call and tell folks at home about our plan and I didn’t want to miss out the opportunity to make a name for myself among cricket playing students group. So I got down from the school bus at their place and started playing with them. I knew that I will be in trouble once I reach home but I still wanted to play. Another reason why I wanted to play was they were playing with good cricket bat and I have never used them till then.
I really liked playing with that bat and it was good fun when we were playing. I think Achan took me home when he went home for lunch. No prizes for guessing what followed.:-) Since I had never expected a hero’s welcome at home, I think it was OK. Now I can imagine the tension that my mother must have gone through when she didn’t see me along with others. She would have asked Kingini but then she also didn’t know where I was. But then it was all the problem with technology. Why didn’t they invent mobile phones those days?? Am I to blame for that?? No way.
Seriously speaking, I should not have done that. It was my love for cricket and chance to play with new cricket bat that urged me to do it. But that’s not a justification for what I did that day. My love for cricket is still intact and these days I fight for TV remote with Anju when ever there is match on TV.
As a young boy I was very much interested in playing different games. I was not a very good athlete and I was more in to games like cricket and football. Cricket was more easy for me as I was not the fastest of the movers around. Those days we didn’t play cricket near our quarters.I think I learned playing cricket by watching TV and playing with my cousins.
My friends who were staying in another part of colony had started playing cricket and they used to discuss cricket in school. So I felt I was left out of the group and I wanted to be part of them soon. I was waiting for an opportunity so that I could also join them and play cricket. One day we went to school only to know that there won’t be any classes for the day. I heard my friends saying that they will play cricket. I decided to join them.
Problem was, during those day we didn’t have any mobile phones to call and tell folks at home about our plan and I didn’t want to miss out the opportunity to make a name for myself among cricket playing students group. So I got down from the school bus at their place and started playing with them. I knew that I will be in trouble once I reach home but I still wanted to play. Another reason why I wanted to play was they were playing with good cricket bat and I have never used them till then.
I really liked playing with that bat and it was good fun when we were playing. I think Achan took me home when he went home for lunch. No prizes for guessing what followed.:-) Since I had never expected a hero’s welcome at home, I think it was OK. Now I can imagine the tension that my mother must have gone through when she didn’t see me along with others. She would have asked Kingini but then she also didn’t know where I was. But then it was all the problem with technology. Why didn’t they invent mobile phones those days?? Am I to blame for that?? No way.
Seriously speaking, I should not have done that. It was my love for cricket and chance to play with new cricket bat that urged me to do it. But that’s not a justification for what I did that day. My love for cricket is still intact and these days I fight for TV remote with Anju when ever there is match on TV.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Life at Moolamattom-3
Events in School
We used to have assembly in the school most of the days before the classes started. If there was any message in general that need to be communicated to the students the formal announcements were made in the school assembly. In our school, there used to be ranking systems in the classes and not the grading system. So the students who got first three ranks in the class were given badges of different colors according to the ranks they secured for the exams. In some cases, PTA president of our school came to school and use give prizes to the students.
Dr. M.G. Menon (Our Dr. Uncle) was the PTA (Parent Teachers Association) president of our school during those days. He was practicing in Bishop Vayalil hospital at Moolamattom during those days. They were also part of our family get-together and we became family friends soon. Dr. Uncle and Kalyani Aunty had two kids. Arvind, who was my class mate, and Amrithachechi who was 2 years elder to me. Amrithachechi was her class topper and she was very good in other activities for school as well. Arvind later became one of my good friends. But things were not the same in the beginning.
We as kids always used to wait for drill in the school. It was the name given for the period in which we were allowed to play in school. Those days we used to play football in school. Cricket was also getting popular but it was not possible to get results in I hour and 45 min. That was the duration of our each period. And also there will be more participation for students if we are play football. So we preferred football. In our class there used to be few 10-12 students who were good in football. I was also one among them and so was Arvind. Mostly we used to play in opposite sides. Since there was no referee for our matches, fight between teams were imminent.
I don’t remember why we had a small flight that day but he was running behind me in the school ground. There were concrete walls around the school ground. It was not that tall, might be around 3 feet tall. I was running as fast as I could but I was sure that he was going to catch me pretty soon. He was taller and faster than me.:-) I tried to jump past the concrete wall to escape from him but my feet got locked somewhere and I feel down. My face hit the concrete wall. I got injured in multiple places on my face and blood was rushing through my face.
Few seniors took me to staff room and they tried to apply some medicines on my wounds. But bleeding was not going to stop that way. So they had to rush me to the hospital. It was really painful for me during that time and I was crying aloud during that time. Dr. Uncle was there in the hospital and he came to meet me in the hospital. There were 2-3 stitches on my face during that day. But when I met Dr. Uncle I told him that Arvind had pulled me down. There were many other doctors also in the same room and I was shouting at that time. Now I know I shouldn’t have done that. But then at that age and when you yourself are in pain, you won’t think of all these things right.
Arvind later become one of my good friends and since we are family friends we still have not lost touch of each other. At least we know where we are and our families meet each other once in a year or so.
We used to have assembly in the school most of the days before the classes started. If there was any message in general that need to be communicated to the students the formal announcements were made in the school assembly. In our school, there used to be ranking systems in the classes and not the grading system. So the students who got first three ranks in the class were given badges of different colors according to the ranks they secured for the exams. In some cases, PTA president of our school came to school and use give prizes to the students.
Dr. M.G. Menon (Our Dr. Uncle) was the PTA (Parent Teachers Association) president of our school during those days. He was practicing in Bishop Vayalil hospital at Moolamattom during those days. They were also part of our family get-together and we became family friends soon. Dr. Uncle and Kalyani Aunty had two kids. Arvind, who was my class mate, and Amrithachechi who was 2 years elder to me. Amrithachechi was her class topper and she was very good in other activities for school as well. Arvind later became one of my good friends. But things were not the same in the beginning.
We as kids always used to wait for drill in the school. It was the name given for the period in which we were allowed to play in school. Those days we used to play football in school. Cricket was also getting popular but it was not possible to get results in I hour and 45 min. That was the duration of our each period. And also there will be more participation for students if we are play football. So we preferred football. In our class there used to be few 10-12 students who were good in football. I was also one among them and so was Arvind. Mostly we used to play in opposite sides. Since there was no referee for our matches, fight between teams were imminent.
I don’t remember why we had a small flight that day but he was running behind me in the school ground. There were concrete walls around the school ground. It was not that tall, might be around 3 feet tall. I was running as fast as I could but I was sure that he was going to catch me pretty soon. He was taller and faster than me.:-) I tried to jump past the concrete wall to escape from him but my feet got locked somewhere and I feel down. My face hit the concrete wall. I got injured in multiple places on my face and blood was rushing through my face.
Few seniors took me to staff room and they tried to apply some medicines on my wounds. But bleeding was not going to stop that way. So they had to rush me to the hospital. It was really painful for me during that time and I was crying aloud during that time. Dr. Uncle was there in the hospital and he came to meet me in the hospital. There were 2-3 stitches on my face during that day. But when I met Dr. Uncle I told him that Arvind had pulled me down. There were many other doctors also in the same room and I was shouting at that time. Now I know I shouldn’t have done that. But then at that age and when you yourself are in pain, you won’t think of all these things right.
Arvind later become one of my good friends and since we are family friends we still have not lost touch of each other. At least we know where we are and our families meet each other once in a year or so.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Life at Moolamattom-2
Small Incident in school
I think this happened one day in school in the month of June/July. School re-opened in the month of June and I was a new comer at that time. As I told, I was basically a very shy student. And since all of them were new to come, I took even more time to open up.
I don’t remember in which bench I was sitting at that time, anyway not in the front seat. It has to be in 3rd or 4th bench from the front. I think it was in seventh period (In total we had 8 periods/subjects) and someone sitting close to me whistled in the class. Teacher was taking the class and she somehow noted it. The sound might have come from the direction in which I was sitting and she thought it was me. At that time I didn’t even knew how to blow a whistle. So she asked me, if it was me who did, I told no. She didn’t believe me and I think she asked few others in the class. They also told that they heard sound from my side. Oh God, I was in trouble.
Teacher told me to go and meet headmistress immediately. Our headmistress Sr. Cyril was a terror at that time. So I was really afraid to go to her room. Somehow I went to the room and told the whole story. She was in no mood to believe what I told her and I got scolding from her. Did she beat me? I think so. But that was OK. Worse was about to come.
In our school we used to have prayers the before and after the classes every day. There was a mike set in Sr. Cyril’s room and there used to be a team in school who used to recite the prayers every day. The punishment that I got that day was to whistle in the mike after the prayer for the day. Imagine my situation when I didn’t know how to whistle at that age. She told me that I will be able to leave home only if whistle in front of the mike. Was I able to make some sort of noise in front of the mike? I’m not sure,but I think I was able to make some noise and leave for the day.
I told about this thing to Achan and Amma that day itself. I was very sad that nobody in the school was ready to believe me. But things were much better at home. You can imagine the happiness that it brought to me. I was really happy when Achan told that he will check the matter with headmistress. He came down to school in couple of day’s time and I was also called to the room of headmistress. This time they believed me and I was really happy.
Couple of years later, one of my friends told that he had lied that day to teacher. He knew the person who whistled that day and that was his best friend. So to save his best friend from punishment, he lied to the teachers. What was there in my mind when I heard that? I really don't know. Anyway I always believe delayed justice is denied justice.
I think this happened one day in school in the month of June/July. School re-opened in the month of June and I was a new comer at that time. As I told, I was basically a very shy student. And since all of them were new to come, I took even more time to open up.
I don’t remember in which bench I was sitting at that time, anyway not in the front seat. It has to be in 3rd or 4th bench from the front. I think it was in seventh period (In total we had 8 periods/subjects) and someone sitting close to me whistled in the class. Teacher was taking the class and she somehow noted it. The sound might have come from the direction in which I was sitting and she thought it was me. At that time I didn’t even knew how to blow a whistle. So she asked me, if it was me who did, I told no. She didn’t believe me and I think she asked few others in the class. They also told that they heard sound from my side. Oh God, I was in trouble.
Teacher told me to go and meet headmistress immediately. Our headmistress Sr. Cyril was a terror at that time. So I was really afraid to go to her room. Somehow I went to the room and told the whole story. She was in no mood to believe what I told her and I got scolding from her. Did she beat me? I think so. But that was OK. Worse was about to come.
In our school we used to have prayers the before and after the classes every day. There was a mike set in Sr. Cyril’s room and there used to be a team in school who used to recite the prayers every day. The punishment that I got that day was to whistle in the mike after the prayer for the day. Imagine my situation when I didn’t know how to whistle at that age. She told me that I will be able to leave home only if whistle in front of the mike. Was I able to make some sort of noise in front of the mike? I’m not sure,but I think I was able to make some noise and leave for the day.
I told about this thing to Achan and Amma that day itself. I was very sad that nobody in the school was ready to believe me. But things were much better at home. You can imagine the happiness that it brought to me. I was really happy when Achan told that he will check the matter with headmistress. He came down to school in couple of day’s time and I was also called to the room of headmistress. This time they believed me and I was really happy.
Couple of years later, one of my friends told that he had lied that day to teacher. He knew the person who whistled that day and that was his best friend. So to save his best friend from punishment, he lied to the teachers. What was there in my mind when I heard that? I really don't know. Anyway I always believe delayed justice is denied justice.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Life at Moolamattom-1
Life at KSEB Colony was really special one. Last year, I had been to KSEB colony at Moolamattom with Anju and I was really sad to see the state of colony. When we were kids, the KSEB colony was a very happening place. There was families staying in most of the quarters and it was really fun with all the kids around. I don’t know why most of the people are staying alone in the colonies leaving their family at home town.
There were three good schools around Moolamattom. The quality of education during those days were also quite good as most of the schools were run by Christian missionaries. There was a good college also around the same place again run by Christian missionaries. These were managed in a very good manner.
I was an above average student in school during those days. But like most of the kids who were at that age group (7-8yrs), I was more interested in playing more than studying. We were waiting for the evenings so that we could go and play outside. I don’t remember what we used to play those days but it was not games like cricket or football. I think we really liked going for a walk to Inspection Bungalow (IB), Circuit House and water tank etc.
Circuit House was very big guest house of KSEB. There was a helipad also in circuit house. It was told that Late Mrs.Indira Gandhi stayed there in Circuit House when she came down for the inauguration of Moolamattom Power Station. She was the Prime Minister of India then. She came there in a helicopter but I have not seen much of helicopters landing in that helipad. We used to play in the helipad. I still remember Paatti (Grandma of Vijay) used to take us for a walk in the evening after the school time. There was very small pond and beautiful garden in circuit house. I was very happy to see that they have maintained garden and the pond in a good way even now.
Another thing that I remember now is the monthly parties that we used to have near IB. Almost all the families staying in the C quarters used to the attend the party. It was dinner party with small games for kids and family. There also used to be some cultural programs in which mainly kids used to sing songs and dance. Kingini used to sing in almost all the parties. Remember she was in LKG/UKG during those days. Pens/pencils were given to all who used to sing/dance. So she used to get a lot every time. After all those cultural programs, we used to have dinner. I think there were Porattas, Chicken/Egg/Vegetable curries served to us. We kids used to enjoy those small parties and it was time when we used to gel together and make friends. In few weeks time, we all knew each other and we kids were waiting for those parties.
We never had tuitions those days and Amma used to teach me in the initial days. One rule that she wanted us to follow was to finish home works before going to play. Though the schools finished at 4.00pm, we were traveling to quarters in the second trip which took us from school around 4.45pm. It was good in one way. We were able to play in school till 4.45pm till the bus came. I will just try to say why we were in second trip. In the morning, we used to go to school in first trip, which used to come around 8.30 or so. We were staying in the top of the hill and in the morning they first used to come to our place to pick us. That was not welcome for us as we were not able to play in the school in the morning even if we reach there early. Also we need to get ready early in the morning. People who used to stay in the bottom part of the hill were lucky in the morning. I used to have many friends there like Renjith, Prasanth, Prabhakumar etc.
Headmistress of the school was Sr. Cyril. She was a very strict person. In our class, there were around 40-45 students. I don’t remember the name of most of students but I remember few faces. Coming first in the class was very special those days. In the school assembly, first three students were given badges which they could wear on their dress till the results were out for the next exam. Since I was not the best student of the class I was never in the run for those badges. I think first three ranks in my class went for girls. Sreeja was the first rank holder in my class. Reason why I remember the name is because she had first rank in my class till she left the school. Another reason was that she was also from my colony and our parents were good friends. All the teachers were ladies in school and only one male staff in the school was PT sir. I don’t remember his name.
Those days, school was giving very much importance to Arts festival and all. But I don’t think it was in my blood those days. Not that its in my blood now.:-) But Kingini was exactly opposite to me, she was always one among the toppers in the class and she was very much in to art festivals also. When ever there was any competition in school she used to give her for it. I remember how Amma used to get tensed during those days when Kingini used to tell her about those competitions. Anyway I didn’t give that kind of tensions but gave her tension in some other ways!!
There were three good schools around Moolamattom. The quality of education during those days were also quite good as most of the schools were run by Christian missionaries. There was a good college also around the same place again run by Christian missionaries. These were managed in a very good manner.
I was an above average student in school during those days. But like most of the kids who were at that age group (7-8yrs), I was more interested in playing more than studying. We were waiting for the evenings so that we could go and play outside. I don’t remember what we used to play those days but it was not games like cricket or football. I think we really liked going for a walk to Inspection Bungalow (IB), Circuit House and water tank etc.
Circuit House was very big guest house of KSEB. There was a helipad also in circuit house. It was told that Late Mrs.Indira Gandhi stayed there in Circuit House when she came down for the inauguration of Moolamattom Power Station. She was the Prime Minister of India then. She came there in a helicopter but I have not seen much of helicopters landing in that helipad. We used to play in the helipad. I still remember Paatti (Grandma of Vijay) used to take us for a walk in the evening after the school time. There was very small pond and beautiful garden in circuit house. I was very happy to see that they have maintained garden and the pond in a good way even now.
Another thing that I remember now is the monthly parties that we used to have near IB. Almost all the families staying in the C quarters used to the attend the party. It was dinner party with small games for kids and family. There also used to be some cultural programs in which mainly kids used to sing songs and dance. Kingini used to sing in almost all the parties. Remember she was in LKG/UKG during those days. Pens/pencils were given to all who used to sing/dance. So she used to get a lot every time. After all those cultural programs, we used to have dinner. I think there were Porattas, Chicken/Egg/Vegetable curries served to us. We kids used to enjoy those small parties and it was time when we used to gel together and make friends. In few weeks time, we all knew each other and we kids were waiting for those parties.
We never had tuitions those days and Amma used to teach me in the initial days. One rule that she wanted us to follow was to finish home works before going to play. Though the schools finished at 4.00pm, we were traveling to quarters in the second trip which took us from school around 4.45pm. It was good in one way. We were able to play in school till 4.45pm till the bus came. I will just try to say why we were in second trip. In the morning, we used to go to school in first trip, which used to come around 8.30 or so. We were staying in the top of the hill and in the morning they first used to come to our place to pick us. That was not welcome for us as we were not able to play in the school in the morning even if we reach there early. Also we need to get ready early in the morning. People who used to stay in the bottom part of the hill were lucky in the morning. I used to have many friends there like Renjith, Prasanth, Prabhakumar etc.
Headmistress of the school was Sr. Cyril. She was a very strict person. In our class, there were around 40-45 students. I don’t remember the name of most of students but I remember few faces. Coming first in the class was very special those days. In the school assembly, first three students were given badges which they could wear on their dress till the results were out for the next exam. Since I was not the best student of the class I was never in the run for those badges. I think first three ranks in my class went for girls. Sreeja was the first rank holder in my class. Reason why I remember the name is because she had first rank in my class till she left the school. Another reason was that she was also from my colony and our parents were good friends. All the teachers were ladies in school and only one male staff in the school was PT sir. I don’t remember his name.
Those days, school was giving very much importance to Arts festival and all. But I don’t think it was in my blood those days. Not that its in my blood now.:-) But Kingini was exactly opposite to me, she was always one among the toppers in the class and she was very much in to art festivals also. When ever there was any competition in school she used to give her for it. I remember how Amma used to get tensed during those days when Kingini used to tell her about those competitions. Anyway I didn’t give that kind of tensions but gave her tension in some other ways!!
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
C-4-Our old quarter at Moolamattom..
We started from Koyilandy in train to Ernakulam. Distance was around 250kms (which is quite a distance in this part of world). Train took around 5-6 hours to reach Ernakulam. From Ernakulam we had lunch and took bus to Moolamattom. By the time we reached Moolamattom, it was already quite dark out there. Might have been around 7-8pm. We took auto from Bus Stand to our quarters. It was around 5kms around the hill to reach our quarters.
We were in for a shock when we reached our quarters. The quarters in itself was very beautiful with very big rooms. It had couple of bed rooms, living room, dining room, study, kitchen, work area, room for servant etc. There were big in-build wardrobes and glass shelves in all the rooms. It was built long ago during the commissioning of Idukki Hydro Electric project developed with the support of Canada. Every room had tube lights and big fans. Now that was good part about the quarters. About the shocking part now- We were opening the wardrobes that we had in room and check cloths kept inside the bags. We were able to see any bags or cloths but instead we could only see termites in all the wardrobes. Now that was something that we never expected there. It might be because of the climate out there. It was quite chilling there at that time. One of the major reasons why I prefer such climate as compared warm days might be because of getting used to such climate at Moolamattom. We had some cloths in the suitcases and which Achan didn’t keep inside any of the wardrobes. So that saved day for us. It might have quite difficult for Achan and Amma to manage all the things there with two of us running around in the new house.
It was closing days of the vacation time for the kids and most of kids in the neighborhood were not around. As I told earlier, everyone was going to their hometown during the vacations. So I could not see much of them at that time. There were 6 quarters in our place. Our quarter no was C-4.
Let me take you through the others who are staying from C-1 to C-6.
C-1
Balakrishnan Uncle and Jayasree Aunty. They had a daughter- Sreebala(Mithu). She was one year younger to me. We were family friends even before moving to Moolamattom. So it was to nice have them there. They were from Calicut itself.
C-2
Venkiti Uncle and Booma Aunty. They had a boy Vijay who was 3 years younger to me. They were from Chennai.
C-3
Gopi Uncle and Usha Aunty. They had two kids- Anitha Chechi and Anoop. Anoop was of my age and Anitha chechi was 5 years elder to me. They were from Perumbavoor.
C-5
That was vacant when we moved in.
C-6
Sasi Uncle and Girija Aunty. They have two kids. Priya Chechi and Lakshmi. Priyachechi was 4 years elder to me and Lakshmi was of Kingini’s age. They were from Kottayam.
Since there were only six quarters in the locality, all the families were very close to each other. We used to have family get together at any of the quarters once in a month.
After C-6, there were another 12 quarters belong to C class itself. C quarters belonged to Asst. Exe. Engineers of KSEB. C-7 to C-18 were in another part little far from our quarters. There were many kids staying in those quarters also. I still remember many of those faces even now. Rajish, Manu, Ashokan, Deepak, Eldhose, Darshan, Abhilash, Anish, Sajith and many older chettans. I don’t remember all of them now. I’m getting old.
Oh yes, there was one more C class quarters situated away from rest. That belonged to the doctor who was working in the hospital of KSEB. Yes, we had a hospital over there to look after all the people staying over there. In total there should be around 150 quarters and with almost 500 people residing there.
In addition to hospital, there was also an school and club facility available there. But I'm not sure if it was the best school available around. School was called IHEP (Idukki Hydro Electric Project) Upper Primary School. One thing I remember was there was big football ground for that school which was always filled with people in every day evening. Same can be told about club also.
I was asked to take a test before joining the school. School re-opened on first week of June as always. It was time for heavy rain during that time in Moolamattom. School bus used to come to our place around 8.30-8.45. I was sad that Anoop was studying in a different school. By the time school re-opened we had about 2-3 days to play with each other it was a good time. Anoop was a very good boy and we all kids played together. So I had started to enjoy the new place.
It is a totally different world when we join a new school, right? I was a stranger in the class and there were few like that who joined the new school. There were many people from KSEB colony and they all went to school in a green school bus. I still remember Ramachandran Chettan who used to drive our school bus. So in few days time, I was able to make few friends. But it takes some time to get in to any new group and that was the case with me also. Also me being a shy person at that time didn’t help me in anyway.
Kingini joined the same school in LKG and she was very interested in going to school. Almost opposite to how I was when I was a kid. I don’t think she ever cried while going to school. Though it is around 23 years ago, I still remember how I used to take Kingini to LKG class room. LKG and UKG were in a different building as compared to other classes.
As the school was run Christian management, there were lots of nuns who were taking the classes. It was the first time in my life I met a nun in my life. For me they resembled Muslim ladies whom we see in plenty in Calicut. But the only resemblance between them was that both were wearing Parda (scarf of their head). It was told to me that school was a very strict one and they won’t give you breathing space and all. On joining the school, I also understood that what ever I heard was true.:-)
More about Moolamattom and my school days in the coming posts….
We were in for a shock when we reached our quarters. The quarters in itself was very beautiful with very big rooms. It had couple of bed rooms, living room, dining room, study, kitchen, work area, room for servant etc. There were big in-build wardrobes and glass shelves in all the rooms. It was built long ago during the commissioning of Idukki Hydro Electric project developed with the support of Canada. Every room had tube lights and big fans. Now that was good part about the quarters. About the shocking part now- We were opening the wardrobes that we had in room and check cloths kept inside the bags. We were able to see any bags or cloths but instead we could only see termites in all the wardrobes. Now that was something that we never expected there. It might be because of the climate out there. It was quite chilling there at that time. One of the major reasons why I prefer such climate as compared warm days might be because of getting used to such climate at Moolamattom. We had some cloths in the suitcases and which Achan didn’t keep inside any of the wardrobes. So that saved day for us. It might have quite difficult for Achan and Amma to manage all the things there with two of us running around in the new house.
It was closing days of the vacation time for the kids and most of kids in the neighborhood were not around. As I told earlier, everyone was going to their hometown during the vacations. So I could not see much of them at that time. There were 6 quarters in our place. Our quarter no was C-4.
Let me take you through the others who are staying from C-1 to C-6.
C-1
Balakrishnan Uncle and Jayasree Aunty. They had a daughter- Sreebala(Mithu). She was one year younger to me. We were family friends even before moving to Moolamattom. So it was to nice have them there. They were from Calicut itself.
C-2
Venkiti Uncle and Booma Aunty. They had a boy Vijay who was 3 years younger to me. They were from Chennai.
C-3
Gopi Uncle and Usha Aunty. They had two kids- Anitha Chechi and Anoop. Anoop was of my age and Anitha chechi was 5 years elder to me. They were from Perumbavoor.
C-5
That was vacant when we moved in.
C-6
Sasi Uncle and Girija Aunty. They have two kids. Priya Chechi and Lakshmi. Priyachechi was 4 years elder to me and Lakshmi was of Kingini’s age. They were from Kottayam.
Since there were only six quarters in the locality, all the families were very close to each other. We used to have family get together at any of the quarters once in a month.
After C-6, there were another 12 quarters belong to C class itself. C quarters belonged to Asst. Exe. Engineers of KSEB. C-7 to C-18 were in another part little far from our quarters. There were many kids staying in those quarters also. I still remember many of those faces even now. Rajish, Manu, Ashokan, Deepak, Eldhose, Darshan, Abhilash, Anish, Sajith and many older chettans. I don’t remember all of them now. I’m getting old.
Oh yes, there was one more C class quarters situated away from rest. That belonged to the doctor who was working in the hospital of KSEB. Yes, we had a hospital over there to look after all the people staying over there. In total there should be around 150 quarters and with almost 500 people residing there.
In addition to hospital, there was also an school and club facility available there. But I'm not sure if it was the best school available around. School was called IHEP (Idukki Hydro Electric Project) Upper Primary School. One thing I remember was there was big football ground for that school which was always filled with people in every day evening. Same can be told about club also.
I was asked to take a test before joining the school. School re-opened on first week of June as always. It was time for heavy rain during that time in Moolamattom. School bus used to come to our place around 8.30-8.45. I was sad that Anoop was studying in a different school. By the time school re-opened we had about 2-3 days to play with each other it was a good time. Anoop was a very good boy and we all kids played together. So I had started to enjoy the new place.
It is a totally different world when we join a new school, right? I was a stranger in the class and there were few like that who joined the new school. There were many people from KSEB colony and they all went to school in a green school bus. I still remember Ramachandran Chettan who used to drive our school bus. So in few days time, I was able to make few friends. But it takes some time to get in to any new group and that was the case with me also. Also me being a shy person at that time didn’t help me in anyway.
Kingini joined the same school in LKG and she was very interested in going to school. Almost opposite to how I was when I was a kid. I don’t think she ever cried while going to school. Though it is around 23 years ago, I still remember how I used to take Kingini to LKG class room. LKG and UKG were in a different building as compared to other classes.
As the school was run Christian management, there were lots of nuns who were taking the classes. It was the first time in my life I met a nun in my life. For me they resembled Muslim ladies whom we see in plenty in Calicut. But the only resemblance between them was that both were wearing Parda (scarf of their head). It was told to me that school was a very strict one and they won’t give you breathing space and all. On joining the school, I also understood that what ever I heard was true.:-)
More about Moolamattom and my school days in the coming posts….
Monday, May 31, 2010
Preview- Moolamattom
Where do I start about my life at Moolamattom!!
I am totally at sea as I don’t know from where I can pen down my thoughts on my life at Moolamattom. I didn’t know anything about that place when I first heard about Moolamattom. Obviously no one will expect a 7yr old boy to know anything about a place like Moolamattom at that time. I think it was in the year ’87 Achan got transferred to Moolamattom from Neeleshwaram. I was in the middle of my 2nd standard. I don’t remember the exact month in which it happened. It might be Jan-Feb, I’m not sure of it. One thing that I knew was that I am going to miss all my friends out there.
When Achan went to Moolamattom, we three (Amma, Kingini and myself) went to Koyilandy. I think we stayed for 2-3 months, I’m not sure. Since it was in the middle of year with 2-3 monthly remaining to complete the academic year, we decided that I will be joining school in next academic year in the new class. Also we didn’t know anything about the new place. So Achan decided to go the new place initially and see how things are there and later we will join him if everything was alright.
Moolamattom was very far from Koyilandy. Also we can’t travel in train from Koyilandy to Moolamattom. I hate traveling in bus and I used to vomit while traveling in train. So whenever we used to travel in bus, I used to take ‘Avomin’ and sleep. So more bus travels and more ‘avomins’ to swallow. Achan told that we will be staying in staff quarters in Moolamattom. Also the entire set of quarters was location in big hill. So I was thrilled to hear that as I have seen those hills only in movies. Now I am going to stay in such place. Great!
Achan also enquired about the school and they agreed to take me in the new class. (3rd). It was a school run by nuns and it was supposed to be a good school in the locality. Name of the school was Sacred Hearts. Also there will be school buses that used to take us from our quarters to school. Sounds good. In the last school (Chinmaya mission Neeleshwaram), I used to walk to school as there was no school bus to our locality. Also there were more kids in the neighborhood. So I can play with them. But one thing that I didn’t like about the place was that, we will be traveling to Koyilandy only during the major holidays like Onam, Christmas and summer vacations. So only three visits a year! Now that’s not good. Kingini will also be joining in the new school in LKG.
Climate was also quite different there. It used to rain heavily in the months of June, July, Aug etc. So no going out and playing during those months. On added attraction was that we could see 2 waterfalls if we walk outside out house. Now that sounds good. I don’t think I have ever seen waterfall before that. That’s also good. I was really eager to go and see all these things over there.
Seems this were thoughts that I had before going to Moolamattom from what I heard from Achan.
Lets see how it goes from here. Will pen down more next time.
I am totally at sea as I don’t know from where I can pen down my thoughts on my life at Moolamattom. I didn’t know anything about that place when I first heard about Moolamattom. Obviously no one will expect a 7yr old boy to know anything about a place like Moolamattom at that time. I think it was in the year ’87 Achan got transferred to Moolamattom from Neeleshwaram. I was in the middle of my 2nd standard. I don’t remember the exact month in which it happened. It might be Jan-Feb, I’m not sure of it. One thing that I knew was that I am going to miss all my friends out there.
When Achan went to Moolamattom, we three (Amma, Kingini and myself) went to Koyilandy. I think we stayed for 2-3 months, I’m not sure. Since it was in the middle of year with 2-3 monthly remaining to complete the academic year, we decided that I will be joining school in next academic year in the new class. Also we didn’t know anything about the new place. So Achan decided to go the new place initially and see how things are there and later we will join him if everything was alright.
Moolamattom was very far from Koyilandy. Also we can’t travel in train from Koyilandy to Moolamattom. I hate traveling in bus and I used to vomit while traveling in train. So whenever we used to travel in bus, I used to take ‘Avomin’ and sleep. So more bus travels and more ‘avomins’ to swallow. Achan told that we will be staying in staff quarters in Moolamattom. Also the entire set of quarters was location in big hill. So I was thrilled to hear that as I have seen those hills only in movies. Now I am going to stay in such place. Great!
Achan also enquired about the school and they agreed to take me in the new class. (3rd). It was a school run by nuns and it was supposed to be a good school in the locality. Name of the school was Sacred Hearts. Also there will be school buses that used to take us from our quarters to school. Sounds good. In the last school (Chinmaya mission Neeleshwaram), I used to walk to school as there was no school bus to our locality. Also there were more kids in the neighborhood. So I can play with them. But one thing that I didn’t like about the place was that, we will be traveling to Koyilandy only during the major holidays like Onam, Christmas and summer vacations. So only three visits a year! Now that’s not good. Kingini will also be joining in the new school in LKG.
Climate was also quite different there. It used to rain heavily in the months of June, July, Aug etc. So no going out and playing during those months. On added attraction was that we could see 2 waterfalls if we walk outside out house. Now that sounds good. I don’t think I have ever seen waterfall before that. That’s also good. I was really eager to go and see all these things over there.
Seems this were thoughts that I had before going to Moolamattom from what I heard from Achan.
Lets see how it goes from here. Will pen down more next time.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
After a long break...
It’s been a while since I wrote here.
Well I am not looking for any excuses; it’s just that I did not have enough motivation to write here. That’s the truth though I can look for common excuses like hectic schedule, work etc. I feel we go for excuses when someone is going to question us on something and somehow we need to defend our self.
Time is flying really fast. Quite lots of things happened from the time I stopped writing till today.
On the personal front, Adi is growing and he is quite a handful at this stage. He has started to stand up slowly on his own. Before he used to sit in one place and play from there but now it’s not same anymore. He doesn’t sit and play anymore. He is moving around in his own way all the time. Somebody needs to be with him all the time these days.
Anju and Adi are at her home in Cochin now. It’s been around one month now. They will be back in TVM by June mid or so. So I am all alone home at TVM. So I am a commuter between Cochin and TVM during the week ends.
Achan and Amma are now in Singapore for one month vacation. It’s vacation time for Achan and it seems that they are enjoying it over there. They visited Malaysia last weekend. We (me n Anju) had been to Singapore n Malaysia last year or so. It was a good break for us as well. We might be planning for our next vacation in a year or so.
News from office is that I have moved out to a new project. Though the new project is very small project compared to my old project, it feels good to be here. It’s a good learning experience for me as I move to a totally different domain. I am sure this will help me in my career one way or other. Only thing that I am missing from my old project is my friends. But we still keep in contact one way or other but I know that things won’t be same with them anymore.
Before when Anju, Amma n Adi were here at TVM with me I was not getting much of free time. I had lots of things in my mind to do then. I planned to do lots of things when I get free time. Bought lots of books and wanted to catch up with many movies. But now that I have lots of free time at home, I am not doing much. I do read books and watch movies but not enjoying it that much.
Last week I had been to Chennai for US Visa interview. It’s through and I got the visa stamped for 10 years. So I can travel to US anytime in the next 10 years. Before, getting US Visa was very tough. The rejection rate was more than 50%. Now it seems it’s easier. I could also feel the difference in the interview. The interviewer had many questions last time when I went for the interview. Then it was all your luck. Now it seems rejection rate is much less.
I am still not able to come out of one of the country's worst aviation disaster, of Air India Express, in which 158 people were killed. Before, aviation disaster was less frequent but it is becoming more n more frequent these days. On comparing with other modes of transportation, frequency might be less but the fatality rates are very high in this case. Dreams of many families might have shattered ‘coz of this mishap. Hope they are able to come out of it soon.
I had a chat with one of my childhood friends last week. He talked about our good olden days when we were kids. Only tension those days was home works and exams in school. Let me gather my thoughts on my school days at Moolamattom and I will try to pen down my thoughts soon.
Well I am not looking for any excuses; it’s just that I did not have enough motivation to write here. That’s the truth though I can look for common excuses like hectic schedule, work etc. I feel we go for excuses when someone is going to question us on something and somehow we need to defend our self.
Time is flying really fast. Quite lots of things happened from the time I stopped writing till today.
On the personal front, Adi is growing and he is quite a handful at this stage. He has started to stand up slowly on his own. Before he used to sit in one place and play from there but now it’s not same anymore. He doesn’t sit and play anymore. He is moving around in his own way all the time. Somebody needs to be with him all the time these days.
Anju and Adi are at her home in Cochin now. It’s been around one month now. They will be back in TVM by June mid or so. So I am all alone home at TVM. So I am a commuter between Cochin and TVM during the week ends.
Achan and Amma are now in Singapore for one month vacation. It’s vacation time for Achan and it seems that they are enjoying it over there. They visited Malaysia last weekend. We (me n Anju) had been to Singapore n Malaysia last year or so. It was a good break for us as well. We might be planning for our next vacation in a year or so.
News from office is that I have moved out to a new project. Though the new project is very small project compared to my old project, it feels good to be here. It’s a good learning experience for me as I move to a totally different domain. I am sure this will help me in my career one way or other. Only thing that I am missing from my old project is my friends. But we still keep in contact one way or other but I know that things won’t be same with them anymore.
Before when Anju, Amma n Adi were here at TVM with me I was not getting much of free time. I had lots of things in my mind to do then. I planned to do lots of things when I get free time. Bought lots of books and wanted to catch up with many movies. But now that I have lots of free time at home, I am not doing much. I do read books and watch movies but not enjoying it that much.
Last week I had been to Chennai for US Visa interview. It’s through and I got the visa stamped for 10 years. So I can travel to US anytime in the next 10 years. Before, getting US Visa was very tough. The rejection rate was more than 50%. Now it seems it’s easier. I could also feel the difference in the interview. The interviewer had many questions last time when I went for the interview. Then it was all your luck. Now it seems rejection rate is much less.
I am still not able to come out of one of the country's worst aviation disaster, of Air India Express, in which 158 people were killed. Before, aviation disaster was less frequent but it is becoming more n more frequent these days. On comparing with other modes of transportation, frequency might be less but the fatality rates are very high in this case. Dreams of many families might have shattered ‘coz of this mishap. Hope they are able to come out of it soon.
I had a chat with one of my childhood friends last week. He talked about our good olden days when we were kids. Only tension those days was home works and exams in school. Let me gather my thoughts on my school days at Moolamattom and I will try to pen down my thoughts soon.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
My Back Pain
Hi All,
I was having back pain from the last two weeks. I am not sure what was the reason but somehow there was no improvement in spite of using common pain balms.
I went to hospital couple of weeks ago and it was the biggest hospital in Trivandrum. Since my company was making payments directly to the hospital it was automatic choice for me and my friends. We all know that the hospital was very expensive compared to other hospitals but we still went there as there was less headache for settling the hospital bills.
I reached hospital and met a physician. As I mentioned last time, he gave me paracetamol tablets. It didn't do me any good. Also I didn't like the doctor and hence I didn't want to meet the same doctor again. Luckily for me that doctor was not available at that time and I met another doctor, this time another physician. The new doctor was much younger than the first one and I had met him once. He did a very short analysis and he asked me to take blood test and X-rays. I was actually little tensed when doctor told me that he was not ruling out the possibility of Spinal TB. He said that the chance for Spinal TB was very less and he will be able to rule out the possibility of Spinal TB based on results of blood test and X-rays.
The doctor was on leave for the next couple of days and he told me to come on third day with the results. I collected the results for blood test on the very same day and I was quite relieved to see the results of the blood test. The report said everything was fine and I thought doctor would rule out the option of Spinal TB as he promised last time. How wrong I was!
Achan had come here for the extended weekend and he also come along with me to the hospital. We met the doctor and I thought he would suggest some exercises to get over the pain. But doctor told me that he was not able to rule out the possibility even based on results. He suggested me to take MRI scan to completely rule out the possibility. Since we trust doctor's judgement most of the times, I decided to go by what doctor has advised. Another reason why I decided to go by what doctor had advised was, treatment was free for us in that hospital.
We went to take MRI scan in the hospital and the place was not crowded. In fact I was the only patient there. They told me that it will take 20-30 min for scanning. I was asked to change my dress and they gave me a pair of dress to put on while doing the scan.They told me that it will be little hot and loud sounds inside. It was little frightening for me. The whole thing was little suffocating for me even though they told me to relax.But once you are in there's no way out of it. Hence only thing that I could do was to close the eyes and pray. I some how managed it, thats the best that I can say about it.
Once the scanning was completed, I was given the bill. It came to Rs. 8,000. It was bit too much for me to digest and I did not expect bill to be that high. If I was aware of it, I would have taken opinion from couple of other doctors before doing the scanning. Poor company who's going to pay the bills for me.
Next day, I went to the the doctor and as expected he said everything is fine. He told me to meet physiotherapy department. So I went to meet the physiotherapist and he advised me to do few exercises. I think I am going to do few exercises in the coming days and just hope that I will be alright soon.
I heard that doctors are paid commission if they bring income to the hospital. So I made my doctor richer by doing MRI scan. I am not sure if he could have avoided the MRI scan. I feel he could have avoided and as results were more or less evident from the X-rays and blood results. I was also told that, that particular hospital while taking new doctors told them that they had to increase the business of the hospitals. So what will happen to the poor patients who go to such hospitals?But poor people normally don't go to such hospitals. Even if they go there couple of times and doctors refer them for some expensive scans or operations, then they might not go there again. But will I go there again? As long as bill is not paid by me, I will be going there. What about the common man going there? Are any authorities looking in to it? If they have not started, please open your eyes soon.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Another Weekend
It’s yet another weekend. If you ask me which my favorite day in the week is, it has to be Friday. I just love Fridays both at office and also at home. Friday is one day when I have lot of free time at home,where I go to bed little late compared to other days. So I get more time to read or write or watch TV on Friday nights. These days Fridays are even more welcome as I get time to be with my Adi during the weekends.
There was nothing special about last week at home or at work. I saw movie ‘2012’ on last Tuesday. It’s been a while since I saw one English movie at the theatre. Movie was a good one and I enjoyed it. Another thing about this week was, Manu was also to
Adi is growing up every day. These days, it seems he like to play more than sleep. This seems to be happy news for all but when you have a baby at home who doesn’t sleep much then it’s not easy at all. It is much difficult for Amma as she’s the person who is at home during the day time when Anju n me go to office. I like to play with Adi but when it’s holding him to stop him from crying, it’s a different story.
I was having back pain from last week. So I went to hospital and they gave me medicine. I was not happy with the doctor there as he gave me paracetamol tablet for my back pain. I was expecting him to give me some tips for doing some exercises. But we can’t expect the doctor to give us what we need all the time, right? But anyway I didn’t like the doctor and I don’t think I’m going to meet him again. My very first impression of the doctor was not good and when he gave me medicines instead of giving me tips on how to overcome my back pain my dislike become more stronger.
Tomorrow is Anju’s Birthday. I ordered a
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Anju n Adu
Hi,
I am enjoying a good weekend at home.Now thats Anju, Adi and Amma are all at home,its real fun to be at home.
This week it was tough time at office.Work was hectic and it might remain same in coming week also. That really worries me as I would have to stay late for few days in the coming week. But when Anju's also going to office its not easy for both of us when one of us has to stay late. Anju's already saying that she can't imagine how she's going to go to office when Adi's at home. It will be really tough for all of us. Hope it will not be that bad as we think. Adi's becoming a really good boy and he does not cry that often these days. Hope Amma will be able to manage him during the day time without Anju.
There is always something special about the relationship between mother and her son,right? And that will remain like always, I think. So I was thinking how Adi will find it when Anju's not at home. I am sure it will be very difficult for him as he will miss his mother when she's not with him. But what will poor Adi do? He cannot do anything except to cry. Hope he will get adjusted to it because it will not be easy for working mothers to stay with their baby all the time. If he is finding it really difficult without Anju, only way left would be try to to get an extension for Anju's maternity leave. But in the current situation it will not be easy to get Loss of Pay leave. But if there's no way out then we might have to think of resignation.
Yesterday it was fun to have Benoy and Basil along their family with us in the evening. Adi was a really nice boy during that time and he was not at all crying when they were here. It will be really difficult for both the guests and hosts when Adi starts crying. No hosts would like to have any guests at home when their baby boy is crying for something. We are no different. Adi thus saved the day for us..Good work Adi.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Adi, Anju n Amma at TVM with me..
Adi, Anju and Amma joined me here at TVM on Nov 1st.
It feels really great to have them with me here. It was quite boring for me without them. Now that Adi is also here with me for the first time, life's totally different. I come home for taking lunch and spend some time with him. He's such a great fun to be with..:-)
When everyone told me that your life will not be same with a baby, I never understood what they meant by it. But now I understand every single word of it.Yes, life's not that same for us anymore. But I don't know how to explain but there are lots of changes in my life. We know that we can't live life just in the way we want to live. Normally when we have that feeling, we are bound to get irritated but when it is for your baby, its totally different. I normally get irritated when I don't have the freedom to do what I like. Now I know very well that I cannot do whatever I like to do but I'm really enjoying this phase.
One thing that I don't like is when my Adi's crying. It makes me more angry when Anju or Amma can't stop him from crying. I know very well that they both love him in the same way I love him but when he's crying I can't think properly. I guess that will be the same with all the parents.
These days I manage to come home from office early and spend time with Adi. At times we stare at each other and we talk with each other. But our language,its a special language.Now when I'm writing this,Adi's sleeping.I just love looking at him when he's sleeping.Adi, we love you a lot....
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Adi's growing and growing fast!!
Hi,
Adi, my baby boy is growing up really fast. He is 3 months and 17 days old today.
I go home most of the weekends so that I could spend some time with him. Every week I go home, he shows me new tricks that he has learned over the week. At times, I think how he came to know all these things as nobody is teaching him these things. But he learns it by himself. Its much easier to learn new things at younger age. I don't think I 'm learning anything new these days. My mind is so occupied most of the times and when your mind is always occupied its not conducive for learning.
Let my Adi learn all the new things that he can learn now. Does he recognize me? I would like to believe that he does. The biggest joy for me seems to be the time that I spend with Adi now. But when he's not in good mood things can go really bad. Then I will look for Anju or Amma to handle him.:-) I can always say that he is with them all the time they can do it better than me.
We both talk to each other a lot in a language which we both understand,right Adi? But if someone else hear the same thing, they will definitely not understand our language. Now that Adi has crossed three months we are giving him 'Kurukku' (I don't know the English word for that one). Maybe that is the reason why he's growing up. His cheeks are getting bigger every week and that is one thing that I notice when I am there.
One thing Adi seems to like a lot is going out. When he's crying loudly, if we take him out of the house and show him flowers and different colors he stops crying. But it does not happen every time. Only if you are lucky, he will stop crying. Another thing that he love is going for car drives. I have not seen him crying loudly when he is in the car. Most of the time he will be looking out and enjoying the outside beauty. It must be really boring for him to always be inside the house.
Adi's gonna be here with me in another two weeks time. I have to get lots of things sorted out by then before welcoming little prince..
Saturday, October 10, 2009
What if there's no Tomorrow!!
Just another crazy thought came to my mind..
Can we even imagine what will happen in this world if someone announces that today's the last day and there will be not be a tomorrow for any of us?
Let the person making the announcement be President of America Mr.Barack Obama, the all powerful man in this world.If he cannot stop this from happening to this world,why do we need to call him the most powerful man in this world?It is something that can be debated if any of us are left alive after tomorrow.
Once Mr.Obama makes such an announcement what will happen next? First thing might be traffic blocks all around the world. Each n everyone would be dying to be with their loved ones.All the people who are not with their loved ones would be on the roads to reach home. But about the unlucky people who does not have their vehicle for commuting? They will be suffering a lot as it would be real hard to find any more cabs on the road once the announcement is made and whole world comes to know about it.
What about the people who are at their work? They will also follow the rest and will be heading home. What about the work that they are doing now? Will anybody be thinking of the work or their life when they know that their life's in danger? No, life comes first and everything will come after the life.
Will there lots of people running to temples, churches and mosques? I really don't know. But I think many people will be running to almighty when there are in trouble. So there will be people running to the temple when they come to know of the news. What will be clergy telling to all those people who come to temple for some peace of mind? This is something I am really curious to know. Will the clergy be in a position to console the millions like they always do? I think they will try that as they believe in miracles that God can perform. May that will clearly differentiate between real believers and others.
Can we leave behind our faithful companion- Mobile Phones? The telephones lines will be so busy most of the times and it would be really difficult to get in touch with loved ones through phone. What will be service providers do when are facing tough situation like this. I don't think there will be many people who will be working hard to keep things intact.
Your mind will tell you where you need to be and you will be ready to give up all you've to be with your loved ones for one more time,,,one last time...
Monday, October 5, 2009
Life's tough!!
Hi,
This is one thought that I always had in my mind.
One of my cousin in his younger days wanted to be a crow.Any guesses for such a thought? Because crows do not go to school daily like him. Such an innocent thought at such an innocent age. Did we all think in that way when we were going to nursery school? I think many of us had such kind of thought when we were young. At least in my case I was sure that I had such thoughts in my mind.I did not want to go to nursery school when I was young.
When I moved to another school, I wanted to go to the school on those days when there was sports and games. When I was studying 4-5th, I could see my seniors who were studying on 8-9th classes playing cricket after the school days. Since we were kids, we were not allowed to play with them in the school ground. So I wanted to grow up faster so that I could play cricket in school ground. We got a chance to play when we were in 8-9th classes but then I wanted to have a bicycle. Many of my friends had it during that time and I wanted one. But I didn't get one.
In the tenth standard all the teachers were giving us special attention. They wanted us to do well not just for our sake but for the sake of school. I remember sisters telling us about it every now and then when they got a chance. So it was a really hectic time at school. I was a studious student and I think most of the teachers liked me.They were all ladies except one drill master.:-)
We just wanted to get out of the school and join a college. Since we were in a convent school it was very strict. So I wanted to enjoy the freedom in college after completing my 10th.
Life was quite different in college. There was more freedom in college days but then there was again pressure to do well in studies. All wanted to get into get good colleges for engineering or medicine. I also wanted to get in to get in to an engineering as that appeared to be the safe option of the lot. Of course it was not the first option but I was afraid to take risk. So I just followed the pack and I did not know anything about any branches of engineering when I joined for engineering. So any branch was OK for me. My suggestion for all the students preparing for engineering or be any other higher studies is to learn more about the options that you have got before coming to a decision. Once you make a decision, you cannot go back and change it. Its going to be with you for your life time. EVERYONE NEED NOT TURN TO ENGINEERING OR MEDICINE, there is lot more in life than being engineer or doctor.
Once I was in engineering college, next main pressure was to get a good job.But that thought came to me quite late in college and so I suffered like anything after completing my engineering. Only thing that I would like to treasure about my college days is few friends with whom I keep in touch even now.Few of them are for life time and they know and I know it.:-)There are places where I could have done better but there's nothing that I can do about it,right? Life just moves on. When I think of those days, I think I can make Chetan Bhagat proud by writing a book like Five Point SomeOne..(Sorry Mr.Bhagat). I know not everyone can become Mr. Bhagat, but can I?Don't know.But lets see where my life take me. I just want to move with the tide and not fight with it.I just wanna survive and make most of my life..:-)
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Neeleshwaram days..
We moved to another place as Achan got transferred. I moved to another school. In the new school, I was really into games and sports. I used to skip my tiffin so that I could play during that time also. So it was more or less same in the new school as well.
Then we moved again to Koyilandy. I really loved being there. This time it was coz Mom was pregnant. I don’t know they explained it to me but the easiest way is to tell me that new baby is going to come to this world. I was really excited as I was going to get one more person to play with. I wanted a baby boy so that I could play cricket with him. Everyone asked me whom I want to have and I told everyone that I want a baby boy.
On Dec 30th we got a call from hospital informing us of the arrival of the new born baby and it was a baby girl. I think ever one except me wanted to have the baby to be a girl and God answered their prayer. I think I might have felt sad when I heard the news but little did we know that the little princess was going to charm life of all of us.
I really wanted to hold the baby and play with her but little did I know that I was not supposed to play with her at that time. I wanted the baby to grow faster so that I could play with her. I didn’t know that baby will take time to grow up.
My little sister was very sweet and cute. Since she was the first baby girl in my Mom’s family, she was always given a special treatment in the entire family. I really liked it as my little princess was getting all the love. I used to sit with her but when baby started to cry I was also very sad. Many a times I also started to cry when baby started to cry.
We moved to another place afterwards, this time it was to Neeleshwaram,near Kasargode. It was one of northern most part of Kerala. People over there were also quite different the people I had met till date. The language they used was much different from the Malayalam that I had heard till date. The influence of Kannada was too much in their Malayalam.
I don’t remember the exact name of the place in which we were staying at that time but I have faint thoughts of our neighbours. There was school master and his family staying quite close to us. How many kids did master had? I don’t remember the exact number but I guess there were 3 of them. All of them were much elder to me maybe 15-18 years to elder to me. So I was a very small boy compared to them, I was around 5 by then.
There was another neighbour who used to have small shop in front of their house. Aunty used to look after the shop and uncle was an auto-rickshaw driver. They had 2 boys who were maybe 5-7 years elder to me. So I used to play with them during my school days.
There was another neighbour who was staying on the left side of our house. Uncle used to be the ‘Velichappaatu’ in the nearby temple. I was not able to find the correct English word for ‘Velichappaatu’. He also used to do the cleaning work of the outside of nearby houses. The reason why I used to remember them quite well is coz of one incident. One day uncle was doing cleaning of one of the nearby ground. By mistake, he injured a snake and it seems the snake bite him. He fell unconscious and was taken to the hospital. Later that day, we heard that uncle passed away. I heard Amma saying that snake was not a poisonous snake. But then how did Uncle passed away? I was not able to find answer to that question then. Later Amma told me that uncle’s father had also died coz of snake bite. So he was afraid and he died of heart attack when he knew that a snake bite him.
I was asked to look after Kingini one day when Amma was doing some work at home. Kingini fell down from bed when I was playing with her. She started crying and I started crying even louder. Amma was all at sea as she was not able to stop both of us from crying.
There are few other people also whom I remember. One is our maid who used to come to our place every day morning. She also used to take me to school in the morning. During the lunch time, she used to bring lunch to me. All the others used to take the food which they brought from home. They used to take the lunch from the lunch box that they used to bring. I was always different from the rest J. I used to take lunch in the plate which she used to bring for me.
Last person whom I remember during the school days is the Principal of the school.I think her name was Swarnam. We were family friends and I always had that freedom with her. So I always used to run to her if I had any issues with anyone by-passing teachers. So there also I was special. She always used to tell Amma about the complaints that I used to bring to her notice.
More to come about my school days in the coming posts..
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Nursery Time
I still remember how my day used to start when my parents decided to put me in nursery school. They decided to put me in nursery school when I was not even 3 years. Was it coz they were finding it too difficult to manage me at that young age?I wont find fault with them coz I was not easiest of the baby to manage at home.
"When it will be 12:30?", this was question with which I used to wake up when I was a kid? Any guess whats so special about 12:30. It was the time at which my classes ended when I was in nursery. So I was always longing for 12:30 every morning. That will sum uo my love for mursey school. The name of school was Eden School. Teachers were mainly Anglo-Indians. I do not remember many teachers who taught me at school at that time but how can I forget Mary Teacher.
Mary Teacher was my class teacher when I was in LKG. I never liked to see my mother leaving the school after dropping me. So once she was trying to leave me, I will start crying in school. So my teacher used to tell me to stop crying and pacify me. My class used to start with Mary Teacher's class. So she used to try to pacify me when I was crying. One day it was not working well and she was not able to pacify me. I think she lost her temper and she beat me with a small stick. U know what I did, I beat her back with my slate. That might have pained her also. So when Amma came to school, Mary Teacher told about this incident to Amma. No prizes for guessing what happened next.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
When I was a baby..
Hi,
I was just thinking of going backward..Around 29 years back from this year..
The year 1980, that was the year when I was born. I was born on 21:18, June 16th at Koyilandy. According to malayalam calendar it was 2-Midhunam 1155. It was a monday, the day which I have always hated in my life from my school days. It was after saturday and sunday, our weekly holidays. Monday mornings were always tough for me as I did not like to go school those days. Now also,it remains the same. Instead of going to school, it is going to office that makes me distressed these days.
I dont remember much about my Pre-School days. Few things that I know are from what others told about me. But knowing what I am now, I think what they have told me is no exaggeration at all.
As a baby I used to cry a lot when I was hungry. When my mom used to feed me, I used to take milk till my little stomach was 100% full. Once that I was done, I was a happy boy. Then I will vomit a little before going to sleep. Did I used to sleep long, I dont remember nor anyone told me about it. Then after six months or so, I think my mom understood that I needed something more to fill me. So they moved to Cerelac which was the common baby food at that point of time. My mom used to tell that I used to finish one tin of cerelac in one week.So,no point in blaming me that I'm a foodie now,right? My parents should've thought of it while giving me cerelac and letting me finish one bottle in 7 days..:-) I couldn't say No then,right?? These things, I dont remember but I heard about this from almost everyone who used to be with me when I was a baby. I get great pleasure when all my relatives tell that my Adi is exaclty like what I used be when I was a baby!!So I try to understand more about me and how I used to behave as a baby by looking at my own baby.
I was very stubborn as a baby.(Not that I'm less stubborn now). Dad used to hold me when I was small boy, say around 1.5-3 yrs. I dont think I was a light boy then. So when dad used to get tired after holiding ,me for some time, he will try to keep me down and ask me to start walking. But you know, what I used to do?I will be standing the road without taking a step forward. My poor dad, will come back and take me again even if he was tired or his hands were paining. But I dont think I have inherited t that quality from my dad. If Adi's also going to be like me only then I'm going to have a to have a tough time with him. Maybe, I will also become a very patiant dad. U never know,right?
I remember I used to love biscuits a lot when I was a small boy. My parents used to keep a pack of biscuits near to my bed which I used to take in the morning.Did I take it after brushing or was it without brushing?I dont remember. But I have that thing in my mind now also.My love for biscuits.
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