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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939. Bajaj Sunny and the girls who were crazy about me

I was doing my final year of Engineering (2002) when this photo was clicked. My dad bought this bike for my sister. But I was the one who used it most of the time. If you have used this bike, you can relate to this post. 

Bajaj Sunny was the elder sister of Scooty. She came into the market which was ruled by Kinetic Honda. When Bajaj Sunny came into the Indian market, all the girls who were riding a BSA SLR or LadyBird bicycle immediately upgraded themselves to this bike. My sister belonged to that category. It was purely a ladies bike.

It was nothing more than a bicycle with a motor attached to it. You could call it a hybrid version of a moped. With the speedometer having a max limit of 80 kmph, the Bajaj Sunny could reach supersonic speeds of 40 kmph. Whenever the needle hit 40 kmph, the handle will start to gyrate. The bike had a plastic body.

My parents had a policy of not giving me the bike till I got my license. However, the same rule was not applicable for my sister. Women had their way with things and they had their say in decisions at my house.

I would feel like Arnold from Terminator while riding this bike. I would visualise that the babes in our hometown were crazy about my riding skills. Every evening, I would wear a cooler (The one that I bought for Rs 20/- from Kanyakumari) and ride the bike. Stylenu nenachuttu Piles vandhavan maadhiri I will sit on the bike and ride. Not even a fly or crow would look at me.

My Dad was noticing my behaviour for some time. My sister, mom and dad secretly conspired against me and sold the bike without my knowledge. They knew how to nip my romantic thoughts in the bud.

-Chronicwriter

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938. A visit to Gell Memorial School Ooty where my mom studied

How does it feel to go back to your school after 50 years? When my sister came down to India in 2016, my mom decided to take us all to the place where she studied. Mom studied at Gell Memorial School in Ooty. So off we went to the school as a family. A proud grandmother with her three grandchildren walked into the school premises. In the above picture clicked by me, my mom had already overtaken all of us, scampering her way into the Principal's office.

I was worried in particular because the classes were going on and I was hoping that we should not be kicked out. We all followed her to the Principal's room and there she was sitting and talking with the Principal. The Principal gave too much of respect to my mom because of her age. If I go back to my school or college, I would be literally kicked out for the kind of behaviour I exhibited in my youth. 

A row of photos adorned the pink wall in the Principal's room. My mom proudly pointed at the two foreign ladies in the photos and said "That is Miss Mallalieu and Miss Kitchen. They are our God Mothers". In Mainline Christian denominations " God Parents" take care of the spiritual well being of children. My mom went into an Autograph Cheran mode.

Then we came out and my mom wanted me to click a picture right in front of the school assembly stage. Apparently, that is the exact place she used to stand and lead the school prayer it seems with her songs. She went on and on with her school day stories.

We were bored. But my mom was reminiscing her childhood days and we just wanted her to have fun. One day, I will take Anya to my school and show her around and she will write about it in her blog.

-Chronicwriter

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937. The Great Wall of India

How would you feel if you are selected as a replacement for one of the finest left-handers of your time (Vinod Kambli) only to be labelled by the media as a slow cricketer lacking the flamboyance of the left-hander you replaced?

How would you feel when you score two magnificent hundreds in your very first world cup appearance but someone else gets the accolades on both occasions?

In his first world cup appearance (1999), he scored two hundreds against Kenya and SriLanka; but in both these matches, another cricketer took the honours. In the match against Kenya even though he scored 104, every one praised Sachin for the 140 runs he scored two days after his father's death.  In the match against SriLanka, he scored a brilliant 145. But Ganguly was the man of that match for his brilliant 183 in that match.

How would you feel when you have to become the wicketkeeper of the team and end up being criticised by the media because you are not a natural wicketkeeper?

How would you feel when you become the Captain of the Indian Cricket team but an idiotic coach (Greg Chappel) does not allow you take decisions?

How would you feel if even after playing for 16 years for the country, you always end up playing second fiddle to Tendulkar?

How would you feel when you eventually become a coach of the Indian Under 19 team and make them stronger in every department only for them to choke in the finals against a weak West Indian team in the finals?

Many would have called it quits. But this man still had faith in what he loved the most. He made sure that the boys won the 2018 U19 world cup, that too in style.

Take a bow! Rahul Dravid. You always stand tall. You are the cricketer we wanted, but not the one we deserved because we always took you for granted.

If 2011 World Cup win was dedicated for Sachin, the 2018 World Cup win is surely a dedication for the Great Wall of India - Rahul Dravid.

- Chronicwriter

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936. How I stopped wetting my bed

My Sister and me

Today my friend's 10-year-old son posted a status message on Facebook stating that he was heartbroken because his girlfriend ditched him. 

At his age, I was still wetting my bed. My mom would ask me to carry the mattress to the rooftop and leave it there in the sunlight for it to dry. 

My neighbors would see me dragging the bed up the stairs and they would say " Hey Chriz, That is 100 days in a row".

My parents tried many ways to stop me from bed wetting. They stopped giving me water after 8 pm. But still, my bladder had the capacity to produce uric acid out of thin air. 

Then they kept alarm clock at 3 am and made me go to the loo to empty my bladder. Still, I would end up wetting my bed between 3 am and 6 am.

I would literally pray every night for strength not to wet my bed. But every night the bladder would win the battle of wits. 

One night I decided not to sleep to find the exact time the bedwetting process culminated. Around 4 am, I saw my sister walking towards me with a tumbler of water.

I acted as if I was sleeping. She poured it on my bed and went back to her bed and slept as if nothing happened.

Tears started flowing down my cheeks to realise that I had been a victim of soolchi done by my sister all these years. Out of sadness, I ended up wetting my bed that night.

The next day onwards, I told my parents that I won't sleep in my bed; but on the floor. Never ever did I wet my bed.

I am revealing this truth after many years. I hope that you all will not reveal this secret to anyone else.

-Chronicwriter

(Note: Floor wetting cannot be included in bedwetting department)

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935. The crazy lunatic cricketer from India

He would sniff and twirl his nose while gripping the bat. He was a heavy smoker and he had breathing difficulty. I saw him in the 1987 world cup where he scored a quickfire 75 of just 58 balls. That scoring rate was a rarity those days.

That is when I noticed this crazy opener from India. He did not have a great technique and would often get out edging the ball to the slips or planting his foot right in front of the stumps and getting out LBW to a loose delivery. But what made me like him is the fact that this crazy man would just see the ball and smash the ball to all corners of the ground. I used to imitate his sniffing style while playing street cricket as a kid.

A great memory of this man is from the match India played against Pakistan in the 1992 world cup. He opened the batting for India and faced 39 balls to score just 5 runs. I was waiting for him to erupt, but he seemed so out of touch. Facing the likes of Wasim Akram, Aaqib Javed and Imran Khan was never an easy joke. Indian posted a low score. However, he made up for his poor batting display in that match by putting the brakes on the Pakistani chase by pouncing on a low sharp catch to dismiss Aamer Sohail who was cruising at 62 runs of the bowling of my all time favorite cricketer- Sachin. That was the defining moment of that match and India defeated Pakistan in that match.

He does a lot of trash talk and he was a party animal of the yesteryears. One thing that made him stand apart was the manner in which he faced the West Indian fast bowlers.  There was one fiery fast bowler Pat Paterson (Patrick Patterson). He was the fastest of all the fast bowlers of that time. He bowled a full over of 150+ kmph bouncers to the Australians and literally made them wet their pants in the famous WI VS Aus 5th test in 1991.

If facing the likes of Joel Garner, Malcolm Marshall, Andy Roberts, Holding, Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh without a Helmet was no easy joke; this crazy Indian opener must have been really a lunatic to go without a helmet to face the fiery Patrick Patterson. But he did that too. 

People often laud Viv Richards for his bravery for not wearing a helmet throughout his career. But I like this Indian lunatic because he was the one who made me to follow and fall in love with the game of cricket. If you have not figured out who I am talking about, check this six by the craziest Indian opener of all time Krish Srikanth as he thunderbolts a Patt Patterson ball out of the park. Tony Greig's commentary adds flavor to the video.

Do not get offended because I called him a crazy lunatic. I am one too.

- Chronicwriter

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934. Manakudi Beach

Manakudi beach is situated 10 kilometres from Kanyakumari. I love this beach for many reasons. Look at the picture below. The old bridge was ravaged by the deadly tsunami in 2004. A new bridge was constructed after that. You can see both these bridges in the below picture.

The newly constructed bridge is constructed over the manakudi lake. Every time I visit my hometown, I make it a point to visit this place for the fishes, safe clean water to swim and the beautiful beach, because Kanyakumari is usually polluted and crowded. Last year, when my sister came to India, I took them to this beach.

Anya, Jeremy and Jolena are all set to hit the beach. The beach hats are out too.

Finally, we are at the beach. Even when my mom insisted on using the DSLR(in her hand), I still prefer to click pictures with my phone. The Americans are wearing sunglasses because namma ooru sun is so hot it seems. You can see the bridge and the fishing boats behind us.

The kids are ready to hit the beach. The sea behind us is the Arabian Sea. We are sitting on a small patch of land between the sea and the backwaters.

Anya is ready to swim. She has more muscles than me. Jeremy and Jolena are ready to splash too. The backwaters are just one foot deep and you can walk at least 50 meters inside. This place is safe for even little kids to play.

Anya in her dhyaanam mode. Moments before she attained Zen nilai. Nothing like the gentle water ripples kissing your feet.

Finally, we settled down for a catamaran. Fishermen had just returned from a catch. We got some good fish.

If you visit Kanyakumari, do not forget to visit this place.

-Chronicwriter

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933. Tamannaah Bhatia attacked with a shoe

Tamannah Bhatia was invited to inaugurate a jewellery store in Hyderabad. While she was about to inaugurate the store, a 31-year-old BTech graduate from an unknown Engineering college hurled his slippers (read as shoe) at her.

His aim was as bad as Ishant Sharma's throw at the stumps as the slippers missed her and hit a salesperson. The terrorist was immediately nabbed by the Police. Apparently, he was unhappy with her acting it seems.

The slippers he hurled at her was handed over by the salesperson who was at the receiving end of the poor throw. Forensic reports revealed that the brand name of the slippers was Paragon. Samantha is the official brand ambassador of Paragon. 

I have a doubt that Samantha might be behind this terrorist attack. Tamanna pipped Samantha for the infamous role in Bahubali. Hence Samantha might have tried to take revenge by using a 31-year-old BTech graduate. 

I have to draw the attention of my readers to the fact that Osama Bin Laden also was a BTech graduate and he became a terrorist when he was 31. We can draw many parallels to this terror attack and some sources have privately revealed to us that the Illuminati is also behind this attack. As our source is a board member of the Illuminati network, she did not want to be named.

Six months ago, in Stockholm, at the Summerburst festival 2017, Justin Bieber had a shoe thrown at him because he could not remember the lyrics to Spanish single, "Despacito". That song is Tamannah's favourite song too. Kaniyan Poongundran has contacted Chronicwriter office and said that Bieber also might have some role in this fiasco.

In 2011, Tamannah also won the Kalaimamani award. Our team of detectives are trying to see if this incident has any connection to that award. Chronicwriter condemns this attack.

-Chronicwriter

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932. The mysterious steel mug

Just woke up

Anya loves to travel by train. Recently we traveled from Tuticorin to Chennai by train. She is scared to go to the toilets on the train and she makes sure that I am there with her when she makes a loo visit. Both the Indian toilet and the western toilet will be there on most Indian trains. I usually avoid Indian toilets because they are yukky. I am not going to explain it here. At least I can close the lid in western toilet

Anya held my hand and walked into the western toilet and this is how our conversation went

Anya: Appa! What is this?

Me: That is the flush lever

Anya: Why is the toilet shaking?

Me: The toilet is on the train. And the train shakes. So the toilet also shakes

Anya: Where will all the waste go?

Me: They fall down on the tracks

Anya: So if we fall inside, will we also fall on the tracks?

Me: Yes

Anya: I am scared

Me: Don't worry. Appa is there for you

I did not tell her that I was scared too. But I guess she found out that I was scared.

Anya: Appa! What is that?

Me: That is a steel mug for cleaning purpose

Anya: Why is it tied to a chain?

Me: They don't want robbers to steal that mug

Anya: Who?

Me: The train people

Anya: But why would the robbers steal such an ugly mug?

Me: We have to ask that question to the robbers

Anya: You know one thing?

Me: What?

Anya: There is a steel mug like this in our school too

Me: I know

Anya: How do you know that Appa?

Me: I have seen it

Anya: That is a girls toilet. Boys are not allowed inside girls toilet

Me: Well. Err! I have seen it inside boys toilet

Anya: Oh okay. But boys are not allowed in girls toilet okay?

Me: Okay baby

I can actually write a whole book from the conversations that I have with Anya during our train journeys. More train journey conversations to follow

-Chronicwriter

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931. Anya's first movie theatre experience

Anya watching "Finding Dory" as my sister and her family pose for the picture

I seldom watch movies in a movie theatre. My friends and my cousins usually leave me out when they go for a movie because I have a habit of dozing off in the movie hall.

AC effectla light off panna udana thookam vandhudum. 

I remember my cousins and I heading to watch the dark knight rises in 2012. I dozed off and they were literally cursing me for taking me along.

As a family, my dad was strict and almost never took us to the cinema hall to watch a movie. The last movie that my sister and I watched together in a movie hall was Jurassic Park in Muthu Paradise in Nagercoil. So in the year 2016, when my sister came to India, we decided to watch a movie in a cineplex. 

Anya had never been to a movie hall. We decided to watch "Finding Dory" and off we went to PVR cinemas Velacherry. Nine of us went to the movie hall. My dad, my mom, my sister, my brother in law, my nephew - Jeremy, my niece - Jolena, me, my wife and my daughter - Anya

Anya was fascinated with the 3D glasses and she was soon engrossed in a tub of popcorn. When the movie ended, she said in a loud voice

Who is Dory?

She had no clue on what was happening on the big screen. Like father- Like daughter.

- Chronicwriter

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930. Casuarina Christmas Tree Memories

I love to unpack the Christmas tree, decorate it and add serial lights to it. But once Christmas is over, dismantling the Christmas tree has to happen and that is one job I hate. After dismantling, the same tree does not fit inside the box. My wife coaxed me and later forced me to remove the Christmas tree from the drawing room yesterday.

I grew up in Nagercoil and every Christmas, we would go to the Market to buy Casuarina ( சவுக்கு) tree. That was the Christmas tree of the eighties and nineties. My mom would wrap the casuarina seeds with a silver foil and I would blow balloons. My sister will fill a bucket with sand and plant the tree in that bucket. We would avoid using the bucket from the loo. My Dad was the official electric man of the house. He would buy a lot of bulbs and make serial lights. 

My sister would always take charge of the nativity scene. She would sprout mustard seeds on a tray and would arrange Baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, Shepherds and wise men in the tray. I always wanted to keep my He-man toy in that crib. But she never allowed it.

In the summer of 1995, My dad taught me to solder a circuit board. It was fun to use the soldering flux, lead and resistors to create my own circuit of serial lights. That December I told him that I would take care of the Christmas tree decoration. I designed the serial lights. When I plugged in and switched it on, smoke came from the switchboard, followed by a loud noise from the transformer. I think my creation had some technical glitch. We had a candlelight Christmas that year. It took three days to restore electric power at home.

Nowadays I miss this activity because Christmas trees come readymade with all sorts of thematic decorations. This year a tulsi tree at home died and I added some serial lights to it and this is how it looked. 

Now I am planning to paint this tree and create the ninth wonder of the world. If you are wondering what the eighth wonder of this world is, I should admit that it is you. Ippadi oru sooora mokkaiyaana blog-a vaasikura neenga kandippa eighth wonder dhaan.

-Chronicwriter

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929. Sangili Bungili Open The Door

What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. That is the story behind this blog post. Samyuktha, the unstoppable force who likes to call herself "Semi", is the owner of the randomest blog out there - Steady Meanderings. When she posted in the Chennai Bloggers Club that she wanted to collaborate for a blog post she ended up meeting an immovable object (That is me). 

So Semi and I started snowballing a story and we created a detective story. A story that Benedict Cumberbatch would die to portray on the big screen. We named our creation

Sangili Bungili Open The Door

Semi- The co-author of this post

Prashanth was frantically searching for his laptop.

"It was right here inside my backpack.  And now it's not. The backpack zip is open and my favourite key-chain that was fixed with the zip is missing." 

My hands instinctively reached for my Jean zip and I was relieved to know that they were all in the right place.

"Someone had definitely stolen my laptop. It definitely cannot be my mom. She already has a mac. My backpack was under the bed, and hence it cannot be the maid too because she does not even bend down to clean anything under the bed."

It cannot be my girlfriend because well I don't have one and it cannot be my boyfriend too because I am not gay.

Yen ipdi mokka potu saavadikiraenaa, technically and basically I'm an IT guy and this is all I have in my life. As I am an IT guy, I do have a photography page and all my pictures are on my laptop. And oh my Yesunadha! I just realized there are damning pictures of me trying out my nandu brand lungis. Well, I am kidding; there’s more than just my nandu brand mishaps. There is a floor plan of my office which I am going to rob day after tomorrow.

There are three other people on my team and I hate one of them. It cannot be Surya because he recruited me. Or could this be his master plan all along? It could be because we both like the same girl – “Smitha” from our team.

Trust me when I say Smitha is worth sending someone to jail. Her eyes! They make my heart beat so fast that if I let it out, it can out run Ussain Bolt and create a new world record in the 100 metre dash.

Her voice makes chinna kuyil chitra sound like kovai Sarala. So I never tell her to sing. I never tell her anything actually. But I do talk a lot with Pooja, the other girl in our team. Surya hated it whenever I talked with Pooja or Smitha.

Why did I agree with the stupid robbery plan? I thought it was a stupid joke of course till it was not and by then I had already revealed too much to Pooja. I think she hated me because I liked Smitha and maybe she was the one who flicked the laptop?

My thoughts are jumping so wildly today. I shouldn't have probably had all the free filter kaapi shots. I guess Surya drugged me with that kaapi; he was too friendly with me. I am sure Pooja and Surya are together on this.

I try to call them with my phone. Alas! My phone is also missing. I had last seen it in my back pocket. What the fruit is happening guys? 

All I have is this one Rupee coin. I have no other option but to invest this coin and become a millionaire. And for that, I need to leave this damned room. And this is when I realize that the door is locked. Not the sharpest day for the 10th topper today.

Well, I gotta pee now. My bladder is full and time is ticking too. I have used all my karate and yoga skills to control this tsunami attack. But aathratha adakkalaam. But moothratha kandippa control panna mudiyaadhu.

Let me unload eshwaraaa! I wake up in a pool of sweat from my bed and I look under the bed immediately. I can see my laptop peeping through the backpack.

-Chronicwriter and Semi.

Note: To read the same blog post from Semi's point of view, click this [link]

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