a blessing from above ...

I realise so suddenly that I am right now leading a very sedentary and comfortable bachelor life. Not as leisurely as Bertie Wooster perhaps but in my own way I do feel like the Nawab of Hyderabad! I am high on the feel good factor right now. Its the bloody climate I guess. Makes me stupid and happy. The rains do that to someone who is from Chennai. You don't get to see water for so long that when it actually falls out of the sky, you lose your marbles. Rains in Chennai do just one thing. It brings one of the biggest metros we know to a complete standstill. The rains seem to make up for lost time and unleash all they have in a very short time.
Rains in Chennai are rare and when they do happen, its the perfect storm! So a chennaiite no matter where he or she is learns to appreciate every drop that trickles down from the heavens. The rains make me happy. I'd rather not go into a 'wordsworth'y description of water rolling off leaves and branches. Instead I give you these lines that have touched me.
“The quality of mercy is not strained; It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath. It is twice blessed- It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes.”(sorry shaky)
I have not come across a more beautiful comparison. Mercy and rain.
My best holidays have been when it was raining heavily and you can just barely make out the landscape from the misty windows. The rain is like the veil that is thrown on the face of a beautiful woman. It gives you a shimmering look at the astounding beauty that she is. It leaves you intoxicated and aching for more. It makes you want to reach out and touch the drops and try to reach for what lies beyond the curtain of water. Everything is more beautiful in the rain. The ordinary neighbor who comes running in all wet trying to avoid the water(like I said more about her later! ;)). The little kids thrashing around in the slush and of course sizzling hot cappuccinos while we watch the drops of water trickle down the glass walls of the office cafeteria where I am stuck until bloody 6:00 in the evening with no hope of salvation because my idiot boss thinks it is good management to hand out all the work and then scoot off to god knows where to enjoy bloody life yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa X(. That felt good.
People tell me they hate the rains because it means they come to office all wet and muddy. People like that grow up to be the crazy uncle or aunty who yelled at you to get back into your house because playing in the rain will give you pneumonia and kill you. Screw them I say. I love biking in the rain! Every drop is a stinging bolt of pain on your face and every puddle is an opportunity to plaster your neighbor! I guess this is the reason why I have never been good at giving a lift to anyone. I am just having too much fun all by myself! I have very consciously ignored some very pointed but indirect hints from people. Sorry ladies and you other people ;).
I say screw the rules. Balls to the norms. "People who love sunshine have never danced in the rain!". Just remember, if you see someone standing in the rain just taking it all in and he or she has a beatific smile on the face, you are either in Chennai or the fella/felli in front of you is from Chennai. ;)
Get wet people! :)

Oh Damn!!!

I have filled countless "Slam Books" in my time. It is a silent promise between friends to keep in touch. Sometimes I think I have been so misty eyed, I must've made a hundred mistakes while writing things. However, the eyes dry up and the antennae get alert when we come to the part where the form prompts you to fill in your most embarrassing moments. Right! Like I am about to spill the beans at my most vulnerable moment! We exchange Slam books, quickly scan down to that part and see what the other person has written.
Most Embarrassing moment : "Its a secret ha ha".
Good move. We nod at each other giving a silent "Nice try" look to each other. Some things transcend friendship.
No seriously. What is a really embarrassing moment?
Some people would die rather than wear the wrong dress. I would think nothing of wearing a pair of old shorts and T Shirt with something utterly silly written slap dang across the front and back. That is apparently a no no for my neighbor. I am really curious about this girl. More about her later. What I want to emphasize is that she is always dressed immaculately even if she is only drying her clothes on the terrace! Like I said more about her in a different blog.
A large percentage of people will kill themselves rather than be caught flatulating loudly. Flatulence means farting(thank you Barron's). However when it comes to guy groups, I think we really let lose and fart in front of each other. Its ok to do it. Its social behavior. I think similar to how monkeys groom each other.
Tripping and falling is silly. We do it all the time. It does not count. Now if you were to trip and your face were to fall in a pile of dung. THAT would be funny. డాన్'t feel too bad ..the dung probably cushioned the fall..but we are deviating.
So what could be embarrassing? I feel the definition changes depending on what age you are at. When you are a kid tripping and falling will have you in splits. As we grow older however, the "fear set" is simply redefined. The things we fear are different. The most common fear is of course being termed a social outcast. However all the outcast tend to get together and so that is taken care of by itself. For men, it is committing a faux pas in front of a woman. Its the age at which we are doing the mating dance and convincing them that if we can walk and talk nicely we must be good in bed.
The past can come back to haunt us too. Consider this scenario. You go out with a girl, spend time with her and then you break up. You obviously get on with life and marry another nice girl you met somewhere. So you are out with your wife. You are having a good time. A friend turns up. Now this friend has seen you with girl number one and now sees you with wife number one. End of act one scene one.
Before you jump to conclusions .. this friend knows you broke up and knows u got married thats not the scene.
Act one scene 2.
You are with the aforementioned friend and other friends from the Girl one time zone. The discussion turns to how similar your wife and ex girlfriend look. How do you deal with that??! I think its real. People will be tut tuting about how you have not moved on. They will ignore your desperate pleas that you have a very standard and straightforward taste in women that you do not deviate from.
Imagine the same scene where you proposed to a certain girl ... she rejects you and then your wife is again accused of looking similar to the girl you proposed to. It will be embarrassing. Firstly because you would not have realized it! Secondly you cannot change it. You cant dust yourself and walk away from the laughing people. You cant whistle and say it wasn't you.
Some moments you live with. Before you ask .. yes this has happened to a friend of mine! I only pray i don't repeat his mistake!