965. How I fought my drug addiction problem in college.

In my first year of college I met this guy called Sundar. If you wanna know more about Sundar, all you have to do is watch the Tamil movie Kaadhal, and look out for a character called Virutchagakanth. He is that unassuming character whom we would never ever in our wildest dreams think of as a bad influence for us. Little did we know that he would change the fate of 5 guys in college. 

Sundar, single handedly spoilt all 5 of us. I had never tasted a drop of alcohol till that moment. But as I did my college in Pondicherry, alcohol eventually found me. Sundar never made me drink alcohol. Alcohol was my own personal choice. 

People in my close circle would know that I was addicted to drugs during my college days. Sundar was the stash supplier for all of us. It all started in the fall of 1999. I know we dont have a climate called "fall". I just wanted to sound cool in my blog. 

So It was sometime in the month of October. On a cold and hot sultry night ( Don't give me that look. That is how those nights were) , I was preparing notes for Basic Engineer Mathematics ( I flunked in that paper) paper, when I heard someone knocking my hostel room door.

It was Sundar. His eyes were red and he was smiling. I ushered him inside the room and he was sweating profusely. I knew something was wrong.

" Enna machi aachu? ( What happened bro?) " 

" Nothing much da! I am just high" 

"Are you drunk?" 

"No, I snorted 10 grams of Cocaine" 

"What! Is not that a drug?" 

"Yes! I am now high and I can see the 7th dimension?" (Appavey avan Christopher Nolan-kku tough koduthaan) 

" What is that?" 

" You will not understand" 

"Tell me please na" 

" You have to experience that to understand it" 

"But I am scared to take drugs" 

"Smoking is injurious to health macha! But Cocaine is just like sugar" 

" Will I behave weird and odd once I snort it in?" 

"No! Am I behaving odd? I am just high. You can try this pack"

He pulled out a small pack from his pocket, unwrapped it and there it was. I was seeing Cocaine for the first time in my life.

"How should I snort it in?"

He immediately pulled out a broken Reynolds pen and asked me to insert one end of the pen inside my nostril. There was a small hole in one end. It acted like a straw. Then he asked me to snort it in one go. 

When I was about to snort the powder, he stopped me and said that the pack would cost me Rs 10/- He said that it was usually in thousands; but because he had a cousin who has contacts with the underworld, he could buy that imported Cocaine from Brazil. 

I gave him a  Ten Rupee note. He gave a kiss to Gandhi thatha. Then I snorted that Cocaine in. I felt as if I was floating in the air. I actually felt as if two ladies were holding my hand and walking in a cushion laden road. I started to smile too. Sundar and i giggled till we slept off that night. Eventually I started to yearn for Cocaine and every week we started snorting Cocaine. 

This 'once a week' habit became an alternate day habit and eventually we were snorting Cocaine on a daily basis. We even went to our classes under the influence of drugs. Five of us had become drug addicts in our college. Cocaine was in our veins and no one could tell that we were under the influence of drugs because we acted normal even when we were high.

There was no stopping us. Even though I flunked in one of the papers, I eventually cleared that paper and even started scoring great marks in all semesters. I was literally my department topper when I entered the seventh semester in college. 

That night, we were waiting for Sundar to bring us some stash. Even after waiting for a long time, he did not arrive. So I walked up to his room and knocked on his door. He was not in his room. But the door was open. 

I walked inside the room and found some aluminium foil, a hammer and some newspapers in his table.  I heard someone walking towards the room. I thought it was the hostel warden. I did not want to be caught with drugs in my hand and hence I went and hid behind the cupboard in the room.

The door opened and Sundar walked inside the room with strips of tablets. He locked the door and opened all the tablets and placed them in the aluminium foil and started to powder them with the hammer. He then packed them in the newspaper and went out of the room.

I knew that he was going to supply Cocaine to my friends who were waiting for it in my room. So I decided to follow him too. As I came out of the cupboard, my instincts told me to check the tablet strip. It was VITAMIN C tablets (Celin).

I had my heart in my mouth. So this guy Sundar had cheated us for 4 years by giving us Vitamin C powder on a daily basis. That was when reality hit me. We acted normally all those years because we were never ever high. I was angry with Sundar because he had already pocketed hundreds of Rupees, not only from me; but also from my friends.

Note: Please do not tell anyone that I was a drug addict in my college days. Adhu enakku asingam illai. Adhu ungalukku dhaan asingam. 

Additional Note: Due to large amount of Vitamin C in my body, I seldom caught a cold during my college days

-Chronicwriter

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964. Jurassic Park - The scariest movie I have ever seen

I have seen Evil dead, The Exorcist, Exorcism of Emily Rose, Child's Play and many more Horror movies in my life. I have never ever been scared. In fact when I watched "The Omen", I just treated it like a comedy film.

But one movie that scared the living daylights out of me has to be Jurassic Park. I watched the movie in a movie hall. We never had the habit of watching a movie in a movie hall. In fact the first movie I watched in a movie hall was "The Ten commandments". I was a small boy at that time and I slept off in the movie hall.

The second movie I watched in the movie hall was Jurassic Park. I watched it in Nagercoil in the legendary Pioneer Muthu movie hall. I added the above picture for a reason. That scene is what made me almost shit in my pants. Those two dinosaurs chased two little children and while watching that thrilling scene, I literally pulled my legs up and placed them on the chair because I feared that a dinosaur might creep from under the chair and bite my legs.

The two little children would scamper around the room to flee from the dinosaurs and eventually they would escape from the room through the ceiling. When the boy is pulled up through a hole in the ceiling, a dinosaur would jump to bite his legs off. That was the precise moment, I felt warmness in my pants. My bladder gave up and I peed in the seat.

Even today, when I watch the movie, I remember this scene and it still scares me big time.

- Chronicwriter

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963. Why I did not become a policeman

I always wanted to become a cop.I had a fascination for guns and policemen. Late in the year 1985, my folks took me to an exhibition. I was just three years old at that time. 

As we were approaching the entrance, I saw a policeman. I was holding my father's hands and taking tiny steps. I freed myself from my father's grasp, ran up to the cop and poked his butt with my tiny fingers and shouted " Appa! Is this a Policeman?"

My father did not know what to do. He ran towards me, picked me up, apologized to the cop and walked away. I was angry with my dad because he had not yet answered my question. 

"Appa! I want to see that gun"

"No! That is a real gun. I will buy you a toy gun"

"Okay. Appa"

He kept his word. We came out of the exhibition with lot of goodies. My mom had bought lot of kitchen household items. My sister had a doll in her hand and I had a gun in my hand. As I walked out of the exhibition, I pointed the gun at the policeman and said "Hands up". He smiled at me. 

I had a doubt and asked my dad in a loud voice "Why does that police man have a big tummy?"

My dad closed my mouth and walked out at a faster pace. I was angry because my dad did not bother to answer my second question too. 

I assumed that the policeman had big tummies because they hid ammunition for their guns in their stomach. At that young age, I thought that belly button is the entrance point through which they push bullets inside the tummy.

I tried to push a nail inside my tummy too because I thought iron nails were nothing but bullets used in guns. That landed me in hospital.

Even when I used to play the game " Robber and Police" with my friends, I always chose to be the police. I liked to wear a cap and chase robbers. During one police chase, I became too hyper, and ended up kicking the robber in his head. Too much of Vijaykanth and Jackie Chan movies made me do that. My folks made me stop watching action movies after that.

When I entered college, I started riding a bike. The traffic police always had a ball and I ended up paying fines at regular intervals even when I followed all traffic rules. That is when I decided not to become a cop in life.  

Now I am putting a lot of weight around my tummy. I think I might become a police officer sometime in the future.

-Chronicwriter

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962. No Plastics in TamilNadu after 2019

When the Tamil Nadu Government announced that they will ban disposable plastics from Jan 2019, I was pleasantly surprised and happy. I was hundred percent sure that Scientist Sellur would have been behind this decision. 

The ban excludes using disposable plastic for packaging milk, curd, oil and medical utilities. So we can still pollute the environment by throwing these plastics around.

The Industries that will b heavily affected by this ban are

1) Supermarkets

Supermarkets rely heavily on branded plastic bags. They have a big bunch of plastic bags at the billing counter. Now these bags have to be replaced by cloth or paper bags. The percentage of customers who visit the supermarket will definitely fall in 2019. E-tailers will have a great growth in their market-share in 2019. It is time for shops to venture into the E-tailing space soon.

2) Catering services

The plastic cups and plates will also be banned in 2019. So caterers will have to use paper cups or leaf cups. Marriage reception costs will go high and caterers will invariably charge high for this change. Plastic straws will be off the radar too. Tender coconut sellers will have to find alternate means to sell their products. And lovers will no more be able to drink from two straws in the same coconut.

3) Political parties

Plastic flags will also be banned. Party flags will now have to be in cloth or paper. The spend on flags will by political parties will have to change drastically. 

4) TASMAC

Plastic sachets for packaged drinking water will also be banned. Lower income people will find it difficult to mix sarakku while drinking. They will start to drink raw henceforth.

5) Silicone Implants

I am not sure about this. But plastic surgeons might be able to answer this.

Now you know why Pamela Anderson's image is used in this blog. It is because she has a plastic floating device in her hand in the picture. Neenga enna nenacheenga?

Chronicwriter

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961. Three decisions that changed the face of TamilNadu

January 1968 should go into the record books as a memorable event in TamilNadu history. The country was facing a major turmoil.

The Cauvery tribunal board was not yet finalised. But the tension and animosity between the two southern states was on an all time high.

At this time, three major amendments to the constitution of the South Indian party was made.

DMK leaders K. A. Mathialagan, V.P. Raman, C.N. Annadurai, A.A. Arumugam and M. Karunanidhi with Swatantara Party founder C. Rajagopalachari (Rajaji) met together at a function and concluded on three major decisions which eventually changed the face of TamilNadu politics.

First decision: The politicians should always wear veshti for political events. Till date when ever there is a political party meeting, they always wear white veshti.

Second decision: The second decision was to field Mathialagan as a candidate in Thousand lights constituency. He went on to win three elections in the constituency and served as the Finance Minister, Minister of Food, Revenue and Commercial Taxes in the Tamil Nadu government and Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly.

Third decision: A.A. Arumugam was responsible for the third decision. He knew that bribery and fraudulence was at its peak in the party. He decided to curb it. While heated discussion was going on between Rajaji and Annadurai, A.A. Arumugam beckoned Karunanidhi and told the three important words " Alert Aayikodaa Arumugam". Later on he was fondly remembered as Alert Arumugam by his party cadres.

Spot Alert Arumugam in the above picture

-Chronicwriter

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960. Five myths about bed wetting

Warning: Reader excretion is necessary for reading this post

Clarification: Yes! You read it right. You need to read this blog in an empty stomach; because it will make the food in your body knock the back door while you are reading this blog

Relief: If you are suffering from constipation, you will feel alright by the time you finish reading this blog. You might need a cork to stop the flow

Confession: Last night I got in touch with my inner child. I realized he was a bed wetter.

Now you know what this blog is gonna be about.

I have written a lot about bed wetting and about my history with this art form.

This post is about the top 5 myths about bed wetting.

Myth #1

Bedwetting is a hereditary problem

Reality 

It is a myth. My friend Reena’s mother stopped bedwetting when she was a child. Her father also stopped bed wetting when he was small. But Reena still wets her bed. She is 29. If you ask me how I know that, the image below is the answer

Myth #2

Children wet the bed because they’re deep sleepers

Reality

My friend Vijay wets his bed not because he is a deep sleeper; but because he is lazy to get out of bed and go to the loo.

  

Myth #3

Your child will “outgrow” bedwetting and accidents if you wait it out.

Reality

Haha! I am 36. Do you think I outgrew that habit. Poda Ponga! Pulla kuttigala padikka vainga

Now you would know why I leave the towel in my bed most of the time. 

Are you still searching for the 4th and the 5th myth? They are nothing but myths.

-Chronicwriter

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959. My class room love story

Dedicated to the pink mangoes

It was the year 1988. I was 6 years old then and I was in class 2. I was already deep in love with Renu. Shabir was already the most hated boy in my life. Those who read this blog would have already known how much I love(d) Renu. But none of you know how much sadness I used to carry in my little tiny heart at such a young age because of the quantum of hurt she inflicted on it. This post explains how I survived all such hurt and still live to tell those tales.

Renu was the class monitor when I was in class 2. I used to sit in the front bench.

The benches were small and two students could sit in one bench.

I used to sit with Nisha.

Renu would sit behind me and Shabir would sit next to her.

Every now and then I would turn and look at them because I never trusted Shabir.

When ever I turned to look at them, Shabir would place his arms on Renu's shoulders and that would break my tiny heart into many pieces.

Tears would immediately well up in my eyes.

The class teacher will ask me why I was having tears in my eyes.

I would tell her it is because of the chalk piece dust and she would tell that she was sorry.

Shabir would have a wry smile on his face all this while.

Nisha, who used to sit next to me would notice all this and one day she gave me the idea to have my revenge on Shabir.

When our class teacher was not in the class, it was Renu's duty to mind the class as she was the class representative.

Nisha gave me the idea to make Shabir talk so that Renu would write his name on the board.

This would mean that the teacher would eventually punish Shabir.

I thanked Nisha for her idea and we decided to somehow make Shabir talk out loud.

So the next period, when the teacher was not in class, I rolled up a small piece of paper and flicked it at Shabir when he was not noticing me.

It hit his neck and he understood that the paper had come from the first row.

His doubts zeroed down towards me.

There was pin drop silence in the class all this while and suddenly Shabir screamed at the top of his voice "Chriz! that was you. right?"

I looked at him with an innocent face (The same look that Nithyananda had when he said that it wasn't him)

Renu wrote Shabir's name on the black board.

When the class teacher returned, she saw Shabir's name on the board.

She got furious with him and punished him with the wooden ruler.

Shabir started to cry and as he came and sat in his bench, Renu touched his shoulder and told him that she was sorry.

He now did some over acting and cried even more. She wiped his tears away and told him that she would give him a Maha Lacto sweet the next day.

He wiped his tears and with a wry smile winked at me

That was the day I learnt the story that you can use your sad story to hit on a girl.

I left school that evening with a heavy heart. 

-Chronicwriter

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958. The legend of Ramar - Athadi Enna Udambi

Vadivelu Balaji and Robo Shankar are two forces that took the Vijay TV comedy scene by storm after the fall out of the Lollu Sabha series. These two could make anyone laugh and they were mainly responsible for the humongous success of Adhu Idhu Edhu.

When these two guys were reaching their peak, another Tamil scholar from a place called Madurai made people to turn around and notice him with his effortless “Enna ma ippadi panreengaley ma” dialogue which became a cult hit. People started searching his name on YouTube.

Ramar anna became a household name. These days, all he has to do is just make his appearance and people automatically start laughing. His trademark body language, lady getups, reverse moon walk, and his songs have taken silver screen comedy to a whole new level.

His spoof show “Ramar veetu kalyaanam” will eat up all the TRPs in the Tamil TV network history. Having praised him too much here, I would like to draw your attention to this video - Ramar’s “Athadi enna udambi”.

99% percentage of Tamil movie lovers would not have heard this song till Ramar came up with his version. The song “ Athadi enna udambu” is a song that was featured in the movie Sindhu Nathi Poo. The song had a meagre 1500 views on YouTube. But when Ramar’s version of the same song became popular crossing 4 million views in record time, people started to search for the original song. 

The manner in which he says udambi for udambu and palli for pallu will make anyone to roll on the floor laughing. To add to his singing prowess (which is a jazz version of the song), he also dances between the words to make it even more comical.

Ramar can sometimes become vulgar with his talk. But if we knock that off and start appreciating the humour he delivers, one can assuredly say that he has reserved a special place for himself in Tamil comedy.

- Chronicwriter

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957. I have become a bhakt

I am not ashamed anymore. I know you would smile at me and make fun of me. But I have to admit. After much consideration, I thought of coming out of the closet. Yes! I have become a bhakt. After fighting, trolling and rolling with fellow bhakts for more than 5 years on FB, I have finally found that I am a bhakt too.

Two incidents made me to convert into a bhakt.

Incident 1: My great grandfather's friend's diary.

My great grand father served in the army in the Pre-Independent era. His friend Mr Biplap Kumar was a secret agent. He had a 56 inch chest. Mr Biplap was the right hand of Subash Chandra Bose. Using the latest technology available at that time, Biplap trained a man called Modi who went on to become the advisor of Subash Chandra Bose. My respect for Modi immediately jumped two storeys higher. This truth was not known to anyone as it was available only on Mr. Biplap's diary. It is also a national secret. I know I have committed a treason for revealing a national secret like this. But I don't care because I am a bhakt and bhakts like me cannot be questioned or cornered with logic. We defy logic with our sense of stupidity.

Incident 2: MRS Saguntala aunty.

When I was a 6 year old boy,my grand mother taught me how to pronounce Mr, Mrs, Master and Miss. My neighbor Mr David uncle and his wife Mrs Saguntala aunty used to spend their evenings at our house playing with me. One evening I tried to practice my lessons on them.

I wrote the words Mr. David on a piece of paper and spelt his name as Mr. David. I tried doing the same for Sakuntala aunty too; But instead of spelling it out as Mrs Sakuntala, I ended up saying M.R.S. Sakuntala. Everyone laughed out loud. I did not understand why they were laughing; so I ended up laughing with them too.

Recently I saw a video with a title insulting our PM as a fool. I got furious with the title of the video. To cuss the person who uploaded the video, I watched the video. Modi addressed Mrs Sirisena as M.R.S. SIRISENA. It was at that moment I realized that I am the Modi of TamilNadu.

You can smile at me, make fun of me, cuss me and even abuse me. None of your abuses will do anything to me because I am a bhakt.

- Chronicwriter

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956. Don't change for others

I am at a stage in life where I don't find the need to please others. There was a time when I would behave in a certain manner just to be accepted. But now I have reached a point where I don't give a hoot. 

Do people around you think that you are crazy? Do they make fun of you? Does that bog you down? And do you try to change yourself to get into their good books? If the answer is Yes, then this blog is for you.

You don't have to change yourself for anyone.  Seriously! You can change for your own betterment. But don't do it just to be accepted by others.

Our Hero's father abandoned him when he was two years old.
His mother became mentally ill.
Without having any form of parental support, he started to work as a laborer at the tender age of 7.
He was so much stricken in poverty that he would go without food for 3 to 4 days.

He started step dancing and started using his skills on stage plays and auditioned for getting a role in a Hollywood movie. He was rejected and was told that he was not macho enough to don the role of a hero. He was told to workout, enhance his looks and mellow down on his non verbal skills so that he could be accepted. But he knew that he had a skill that would connect well with the audience and he put his foot down and made a statement that he won't change his style just to fit into the conventional "Hero" role.

He is none other than the greatest silent-movie actor of all time - Charlie Chaplin.

He was diminutive, had a comical mushtache, did not have a masculine body nor a great body language and he was considered to be less manly for his posture. But he used all these so called minuses and packaged them all into his acting.

If you are looked down by people, just pause for a second and think if you can still pull it off with those actions. And if your conviction for that thought is an Yes, just don't change for anyone. Harness your skills and go rule the world.

- Chronicwriter

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955. Anya saves C.Muthukumar

He is C.Muthukumar. He is Anya's favorite doll. He came into her life when she was 3. She is turning 6 next month. 

She gave him the name Muthukumar. I don't know what that initial "C" stands for. That man "C" might remain a mystery. May be the Illuminati knows.

Today when Anya was probing through her cupboard, she found a diaper. 

Immediately she wore her Doctor's apron and her play-stethoscope and analysed Muthukumar's health. She then declared that Muthukumar was suffering from dysentery. 

She then made him wear the diaper. Muthukumar was then made to drink lot of fluids as she did not want him to get dehydrated.

I request my blog readers to wish Muthukumar a speedy recovery so that he can be freed from the diaper. I don't want him to recover within a day as I might end up wearing that diaper if he gets alright tomorrow itself. I thank my daughter Anya for the timely diagnosis that has helped Muthukumar in a big way.

-Chronicwriter

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954. The last straight drive from Sachin's Blade - The 2011 world cup winning men. Part 2

The fourth over of the chase in the finals of the 2011 world cup. Sehwag is already gone. The Little master is at the crease. As a mighty big fan of the little master, I was waiting for his first boundary of that match. Little did I know that that would be the over in which he would be scoring his last two boundaries of his world cup career.

Kulasekara was the bowler. Sanga stood up to avoid Gambhir going down the wicket. Gambhir mistimed his shots but scampered for a single to pave way for the little master to bat. Sanga immediately went back to his original position. The Little master has seen all these tricks in his lifetime at the crease.

In came Kulasekara to bowl the 3rd ball of the 4th over. He bowled a brilliant good length delivery down the middle, giving no room to Tendulkar to free his arms. This ball was so straight that it would have got many batsmen plumb in front of the wicket. But the little master treated that ball as just another ball. He leaned forward and showed the full face of the bat and the ball hit the sweet spot and raced down the ground for a straight driven four. That was the last straight drive in a world cup from the little master.

That was the last lesson for the king of straight drive for cricketers around the globe. If you had not seen that straight drive, please take a look at the video. The commentators go gaga over that shot. Many batsmen have come after he left the scene. But for me, there is only one word that defines batting and that one word is SACHIN.

Read Gautam Gambhir - The 2011 world cup winning men. Part 1

Chronicwriter

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953. Ponnoliyil kallarai minnidudhey

In my previous post, I had written about the latest male quartet in Chennai. Well, I am a part of it. We have released our first single "Ponnoliyil kallarai minnidudhey", which is a Tamil translation of a Malayalam Easter song.

You can download sheet music of our arrangement and use it freely using the following link

Download sheet music

Watch the video here

You can follow us on FB too :  Follow us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/fisherfour/

 -Chronicwriter

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952. Fisher Four - Chennai based male quartet band

After being in many choirs and bands, I am finally part of a four member male quartet. This has been my dream for quite some time. When four men with an interest for music got together, Fisher Four was born. This is our logo which is a result of the words of Jesus from Matthew 4:19 in the Bible.

We will be singing traditional christian songs and write our own songs too. Our first song "Ponnoliyil kallarai minnidudhey" is a tamil translation of a famous malayalam easter song. I have to talk about the members of this quartet.

Enock Stephenson

Enock Stephenson is known for free style singing and his ability to hit the high notes. He sings countertenor for FisherFour. He is a dedicated worshipper and is a well-known graphic designer in the Tamil Christian circle. He started his career as an editor and went on to become the first graphic artist of Jesus Calls. As a forerunner in the Christian media industry, he has anchored and directed many worship videos that are telecasted in Christian TV channels. He writes song lyrics, plays the guitar and a few other music instruments. Apart from rendering his voice, he also directs and edits the music videos for Fisher Four. 

Finley Abraham

Finley Abraham, the Tamil choir in-charge at Bishop Heber Hall Chapel is also the organist at Madras Christian College from 2011 till date. He became an organist when he was 13 and he has been playing the organ in churches for the last 12 years. It is always a joy to watch him play the pipe organ during worship services. He is the recipient of the Victoria Lancelot award for music (’13-’14). He was also winner of the Victor Paranjothi award for music (’15-’16). 

Finley is a Commerce postgraduate, pursuing his PhD after completing his MPhil. He holds a post graduate diploma in Biblical, theological and ministerial subjects from IACS, MCC. He writes sheet music for the songs sung by us. And yea! He plays the organ for our songs. He also sings tenor at Fisher Four. 

Prason Christopher Robin

Prason Christopher Robin is a blogger and a digital marketer by profession. He has been singing tenor right from the age of ten at CSI NesamonyNagar Church choir. He is the great grandson of Rev Samuel Packianathan (First missionary of Indian Missionary Society, Palayamkottai to Dornakal in 1904), who was the author of the song “Aseervathiyum Kartharey” ( sung at Christian weddings) and many Christian paamalai songs. 

With a strong desire and burden for discipleship and sound doctrine, Prason has written and composed many Tamil Christian songs, mainly Christmas songs. He sings the treble and baritone for Fisher Four. He is also the author of this blog.

Anu Selvin

Anu Selvin and "choir singing" are like two peas in a pod. He can sing both tenor and bass with ease. He was a part of the "Nagercoil Mixed Voices" as an organist during his childhood. He has sung tenor for Nagercoil Musical Association. When he relocated to Chennai, he joined St Andrew's Church, Chennai choir to sing bass and later rendered his bass voice for Voice Of Eden. He has sung in three Classic Hymns albums. For the last two years he has been teaching children in chorale singing. 

He is a professional four part orchestrator and arranges music for Fisher Four. He sings the Bass for us.

So that is the four of us. The teaser for our first song is here below.

Do follow our Facebook page : https://www.facebook.com/fisherfour/

If you would love to watch our videos, subscribe to our YouTube page: [Fisher Four]

-Chronicwriter

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951. Gautam Gambhir - The 2011 world cup winning men. Part 1

That dive in a match winning knock of 97 is still in my memory. To me, that was the turning point of the match. Gambhir is known for his poor running between the wickets and has been responsible for running out many batsmen while running with them.

In the finals, he gave it all. Ultimately he fell for a brash shot and finally Dhoni took the honors for guiding the team across the finish line.

In that match, when Mallinga dismissed both Sachin and Viru cheaply, Gauti stood his ground and guided both Kohli and the Dhoni during his stay at the crease. The spin trio of Dilshan, Murali and Randiv were handled brilliantly by him, which helped Dhoni and Yuvi to have a go at the quicks.

Remember! He was also the leading scorer for India in India's final win against Pakistan in 2007 T20 world cup.

The man who never got his due - Gautam Gambhir

-Chronicwriter

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950. The Paati near my school

My diary: Flashback to 1995

I don't know her name. I don't even know her story. But all my classmates used to have a special bond with her. We used to call her Paatti (Tamil for granny). 

She was so poor and she would sit outside my school gate. All she would have is a plastic sheet spread in front of her. Some mangoes, gooseberries and jamun would be kept in that plastic sheet.

During lunch time (12:30 pm to 1:15 pm) we would rush out our classrooms and go near the gate and stretch our hands through the gate. For 50 paisa, she would give a few pieces of mango sprinkled with chilly powder, a few gooseberries and some jamun to each one of us. 

Some times when we did not have money, she would still give a piece of mango to us. She would have probably made a profit of Rs 10/- everyday. What made us respect her is the fact that at her age, she still chose to make a living through hard work.

She knew all my classmates by our names. During PT period, when the ball goes out of the compound wall, she would pick the ball from the road and throw it back inside. I have never seen her getting angry at all.

" Makkaley" ( Dear)

That's how she used to call us all. When I was in class 10, the school management thought that she was a menace to the school because some parents had complained that their children were getting sick because of eating the unhygienic fruits from Paati.

At first the headmaster, warned us to not buy anything from her. But when we did not listen to his warning, the management decided to chase her away. I never saw her again.

In the year 2010, when I was in Singapore, I met a guy called Thirunavukarasu. He was also from my hometown. During one of our conversations, he opened up about how his folks struggled hard to educate him. He was particularly grateful for his late granny. 

When he told that she used to sell some fruits near my school, I had a strong doubt that it could be her. And when I asked him if she used to sell mangoes, gooseberries and jamuns, he said "Yes". My eyes had already welled up. I did not ask her name. 

-Chronicwriter

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949. Everyone deserves a second chance

How would a person feel if his wife cheats him with his good friend? It would be a very bad experience indeed. Dinesh's wife cheated on him and to make things worse, divorced him and married his good friend Murali. Both these guys are cricketers for team India. 

With a blow in his personal life, his professional career also was in tatters. He made his cricketing debut in the early 2000s and when he was seen as the next wicketkeeper for India, Dhoni entered the cricketing scene with his thundering batting prowess and stole his position. Dinesh was sidelined for almost 14 years. 

When India was battling against Bangladesh in the finals of the Nidahas Trophy, all hopes were lost. Dinesh was already furious because Vijay Shankar was sent up the order by Rohit Sharma. When 34 runs were required by India in 12 balls, no one thought that we would win. But Dinesh Karthik made it possible for us.

Indian parents would be like " Hey what are those 0.1 and 2? Even Sharmaji's son has scored three  double hundreds.

He got a second chance in his personal life and he has married the beautiful and talented Dipika Pallikal. When he got a second chance in his professional career, he grabbed it with both hands, making the entire nation to become his fans.

If you are thinking why I had to write about his personal life in this blog, you should know that he would have gone through a great emotional trauma and it is not easy to come out of it. But he did.

 He is definitely the wicketkeeper-batsman we need. But he is not the cricketer we deserve.

Read this blog I wrote about Dipika Pallikal ten years ago. [link]

BTW, Do I look like Dinesh Karthik? 

- Chronicwriter

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948. A fresh start

We might have seen certain scenes from movies and laughed out loud. We would remember those scenes for the comedy and the emotion it triggered in us while watching it. Some of these scenes have more to offer. They can be applied in our life too and it comes handy in taking vital decisions in life.

One such scene is the "Parotta eating scene" from the movie  "Vennila Kabaddi Kuzhu". This one comedy scene made actor Soori an overnight success. He got prominent comical roles which were left void by the absence of the Vaigai storm.

Coming back to the comedy scene, Soori and his friends would visit a hotel to eat Parotta. The owner of the hotel had a weird marketing technique to boost his sales. He challenged his customers to eat 50 parottas with a unique offer. The offer was that he would give them Rs 100 if one of them ate 50 parottas. At the same time, if they feel to eat 5- parottas, they have to give him Rs 100 and also pay the bill for the number of parottas they ate. Soori would take the challenge and eat like a crazy elephant. Just when he crosses 40 parottas, the owner of the hotel will play many cheap tricks by making bigger parottas and purposefully miscounting the number of parottas. When Soori finally claims that he had eaten 50 parottas, the hotel owner would argue with him saying that he had eaten only 42 parottas and he had to still eat 8 more parottas. This is when the audience would get angry at the hotel owner and when all eyes would be on Soori to see how he handles such a situation, he would blurt out the unthinkable dialogue " Remove all the lines. I will start eating again from the beginning". We all would have laughed out loud seeing this scene.

This scene teaches us a great lesson not to get bogged down by anything in life. It also teaches us to start afresh at any given point in time.

I remember a man who lost his job, his wife became ill and he had to stay at home to take care of his two children. Taking care of the family in such a situation became almost impossible for him. I have sat with him and he would cry. After a few months, he decided to start from scratch. He started to use the internet to acquire projects from other countries and he started to do Back office work for them. Now after three years, he has his own company and more than 500 people work in his office. He did not give permission to reveal his name.

I would like to quote the example of a cousin of mine. This guy moved to Chennai after a disaster almost struck his entire family. They had to move back to Chennai and the whole family had to make a fresh start. This cousin of mine got married at this juncture and he had a job that was paying a meager salary at that time. He got back to the basics, worked on his strengths and now he has a business model that not only pays him well but also helps many families.

I have to talk about my uncle here. With just Rs 100 in his pocket in the year 2003, he did not have any job in his hand. He already had a baby. And life was difficult for him. By God's grace and sheer hard work, he has risen up the ladder and he is now one of the best event managers in the country for corporate entertainment.

How can I not write about my dear friend Bragadeesh Prasanna? I have already written about him on my blog [link]. He lost almost everything in his life, his job, people close to him. Now he is a published author, a businessman and a successful entrepreneur. 

One trait that is common to all these four people I personally know is the fact that they never shied away from starting again from scratch. They did not sit and cry and think that it is the end of the road for them. They did not take foolish decisions in life. They faced life head on and moved forward with grit and determination.

The next time you watch this comedy scene, do not just treat this as a comedy scene. Try to understand the life lesson it teaches. Have a fresh start.

-Chronicwriter

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947. Couch potatoes

I have a habit of lying on the couch to watch TV. My doctor saw my tummy and said that the sudden increase in my waist size is because I lie down on the couch for long periods of time. 

The couch in this picture is from my father's house. That couch is as old as me and it has a long history. Back then we could treasure hunt under the cushions. Biscuits, hair clips, coins, sketch pens, and even love letters have been found underneath. The love letter was written by my me for my crush in school.

All these years, I had the couch for myself. I did not have anyone to fight for the couch. But nowadays, my daughter Anya fights for the couch too. 

As soon as I switch on the TV, my daughter and I would make a sprint to occupy the couch. I would always win the race and she would start crying. Women and tears go hand in hand. (Brickbats are not welcome from the feminazis). The whole family will support Anya and I would be asked to vacate the couch for her.

I would then plead with her if she can share some space with her. She would have mercy and give me space on one condition - that I would buy her chocolates. We would then share one pillow and watch the TV together. We have two couch potatoes in my house now.

-Chronicwriter

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946. Kaala Teaser Leaked

My friend told me that Kaala movie teaser was out on Youtube even among speculations that the teaser release was postponed because of Kanchi Sankaracharya's death. I wanted to immediately check out and de-code what that movie has in store for the world. But instead of  "Kaala", I ended up typing in the word "Kala" and google gave me hundreds of videos and images of Kala master.

Now I have seen everything. I don't want to see that teaser anymore. I am scarred for life. 

-Chronicwriter

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945. Beulah Sam - My first book

My first book is out. It is a short story I published it on Juggernaut Books. It is available as a free download now.

Click this link - https://www.juggernaut.in/books/9eb7be283faf4e93 to download and read.

Reading time: 10 minutes

Pages: 20 

Special mention: My friend Bragadeesh Prasanna who edited the book and my friend Anton Naveen who designed the book cover.

- Chronicwriter

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944. Corn flakes - The rich man's food of the nineties

When I was in school, Kellogg's Cornflakes entered the Indian market. For South Indians like me who were accustomed to the idlis, dosa, puttus, idiyappams and the dreaded uppumaas, Cornflakes came in as a blessing in disguise.

It was the rich man's breakfast of the 90s. If you walk up to a store and ask for a box of corn flakes, everyone around you will turn around and notice you. Immediately you will be considered a multimillionaire in your neighborhood.

I never had the chance to taste cornflakes in my entire school life, because we were from an upper-middle-class family. Cornflakes separated the rich fro the middle-class families.

When I entered College, my rich friend Dinesh brought with him a box of cornflakes. We would all flock to him in the mornings to see him eat Cornflakes. Except him, the rest of us would have the dreaded uppuma from college canteen. Sometimes he would feel sorry for us and give us all, one flake each. We would bite them and look at him with a sense of gratitude.

Days went by and Cornflakes started coming in different flavors. Soon everyone in India became a software engineer irrespective of the course they studied in college. My colleague Ramesh is a software developer. He has a Bachelors degree in economics. Another friend of mine Sheetal is a software tester. She studied civil engineering during college days.

The irony is that my friend Arun who got out of IIT with a bachelors degree in computer science is now running a dosa shop. What I am trying to imply here is the fact that because of the advent of software engineering in India, almost everyone can afford a box of cornflakes.

Take a closer look at the above picture. Do you want to eat corn flakes now? 

-Chronicwriter

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943. I was Captain Haddock or Tintin

When I was in class five, I had a habit of sleeping under the bed with Tintin comics. The book " The Red Sea Sharks" was my favorite because it was the only Tintin book I had.

My folks inculcated reading habit in me at a very young age. Tinkle, Archie comics, Enid Blyton series, Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys were a part of my childhood.

Tintin was my favorite of them all because I loved Captain Haddock's curses "Ten thousand thundering typhoons and Billions of Bilious blue barnacles". I added his curses in my vocabulary and used it with my friends. None of them understood them.

On weekends, I would use my dad's black shoe polish and draw a beard on my face and become Captain Haddock. When my dad hid his shoe polish, I had no other option but attempt a mohawk hairstyle and become Tintin himself.

My pet dog Bubbly would become Snowy and we will have great adventures in our home by climbing walls and trees only to receive constant complaints from neighbors.

No other book had the power to transport me to another world. But the  Belgian cartoonist Herge's artistic skills almost made me picture myself as one of the characters in the book.

I have never got bored reading that one book again and again. It reached a point where my parents would hide that book during exam time. Tintin, the reporter would investigate in different countries and the cartoonist Herge would transport the reader to that particular country with his detailed cartoons.

I have not touched this book in the last 15 years. But I know that this book will be on my bookshelf in my father's house. When I go to my hometown during the next vacation, I will once again, take this book out, smell the papers and relive my childhood days.

-Chronicwriter

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942. My Valentine's day date with Renu (School day Romance)

I used to be a hunk when I was in high school. The girls in my class were crazy about me. They were particularly jealous of my then-girlfriend Renu.

She used to tell me that they always troubled her with sarcastic remarks. She even told that they used to scribble funny graffitis about me in the girls' restroom. I, being a 14-year-old teenager became curious and asked her what those lines were

Renu: "Chriz is a hunk" is one of those lines

Me: *Smiling to myself* Anything else? (I was expecting more praises)

Renu:  Minu even scribbled " Chriz comes in my dream every night"

Me: She looks cute

I got a punch on my face

Renu: Look! If you talk like this, I won't be your date this valentines day

Me: Sorry sweetheart! Anything else about me on the restroom wall?

Renu: Shilpa wrote "Amazing arms! That fellow Chriz has."

Me: Does she like my muscles?

Renu: I think so. How do I look?

And she started to blink her eyes.

Me: You look like a doll

Renu: Don't lie. Sandhya had scribbled "Renu is indeed lucky to have Chriz."

That made me go to cloud 9. I walked around the school campus with my head held high.Valentine's day was just around the corner and I was planning to celebrate it big time with Renu.

On 13th February 1996, Renu came running to me and said that the girls had written something bad about me in the girls’ toilet. After much pestering, she told me what they had written about me.

“Chriz wets his bed in his sleep”. 

I did not take it seriously because I had gone through insults that were worse than this. I carried on with my studies like a perfect gentleman that day.

The very next day, the school management dragged me out of the class for interrogation. I was told that they found something scribbled on the walls of the girls' toilet that read,

“No! I do not wet my bed in my sleep”.

Now, do you guys doubt me too?

Note: Renu did not celebrate Valentine's day with me that year as I spent my time kneeling down outside the Principal's office.

-Chronicwriter

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941. I was thrashed because I loved Renuka Sahane

When I was 10 years old, I started developing a crush on Renuka Sahane of Surabhi Fame. Surabhi was a lovely program which was telecasted in Doordarshan in the early nineties. I used to wait for every Sunday to watch this program. 

During those days robbers used a new strategy of using small kids to steal valuables from houses. Seeing my ever increasing habit of staying up late to watch Surabhi, my parents came up with a new rule at home. 

The new rule shattered my love into bits and pieces as the rule did not permit me to stay awake after 9.30 pm. I was banished to my room every night after 9.30 pm. So I missed my favorite programs - "world this week, Oshin, Byomkesh Bakshi and of course Surabhi”. 

But my love for Renuka would often make me sneak into the drawing room where I would hide behind the French window curtains and watch Surabhi. On one such occasion, my dad happened to see my leg under the curtains. 

He took me for a robber. Being a brave man unlike me, he jumped from the couch like Tarzan and landed in front of the curtain, wrapped me around along with the curtain and what happened after that was pure disaster.

No one has ever thrashed me like that in my life. Maybe he too might have had a crush on Renuka.(My Mom reads my blogs too)

-Chronicwriter

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940. Different ways to get pregnant

When I was in class 2, my classmate Arun told me that if a boy shook hands with a girl, she would become pregnant. I was so scared to shake hands with any girl in my class as I was not ready to father a child at such a tender age.

When I was in class 3, I discovered that a baby needs to be inside the mother’s tummy for a default period of nine to ten months. The discovery made a big impact in my liking towards biology at a later stage in my life.

I would rate this discovery as the discovery that revolutionized me. My discovery was disproved by my aunt’s son who did not have the patience to stay inside her tummy for more than 6 months.

They call him a premature baby. But I have doubts if she was already pregnant when she got married. But I am not gonna dig into the details.

But back then, when I was in that confused state, my girlfriend Renu took advantage of the situation and shook hands with me. I was so petrified for the next ten months that I would often check Renu’s tummy for any bulging effects. 

After ten months, her tummy did not bulge. I gave her two months grace period too and when she did not deliver a baby even after one whole year, I was convinced that shaking hands doesn’t help in the baby making process. 

One fateful day when I was just nine years old, my teacher Anu started throwing up when she was taking classes. When she was throwing up, one of her co-teachers came to lend her a helping hand. Later we were told that she was pregnant.

So I came to the conclusion that vomiting results in baby birth. But a few days later when I became Ill, I started to throw up too and I had a doubt that I might be pregnant.

It was a great mystery then. It was the most confusing topic for me.

But then when I was in class 8, we had this sex education classes in school and I enlightened myself with all the necessary information with my never-ending questions which often resulted in the teacher blushing in front of us.

- Chronicwriter

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