Anecdotes in Daily life- II

How..........."Daddy" became the greatest person for Jiah

My husband usually drops Jiah at school. Once she told me "Mum, my friends moms leave them at school why don't you drop me at school." I ignored her request couple of times çoz I could not possibly drop her without getting late to office. Finally when her requests were persistent, I decided to drop her at school. I informed office that I would be late that day. We set out for school. I hadn't been to her school for a long long time........The school was far from town and was on the "not so frequently traveled routes".
I was not very sure of the way but I set out confidently. As I drove Jiah kept directing me "Mum this right"or "this is not my school way". When her directions became too loud I asked her to keep quiet and just sit tight........ and not disturb me. I assured her "Don't worry I know how to go" but I kept assuring myself that even if we were a bit late to school we would still make it..............
I vaguely remembered that there were 2 signals and a round-a-bout before I could take a right. But there were a lot of schools falling in the same route and roads are horribly jammed..............and its even more difficult when the Arab ladies drive their kids to school: Road ko Baap ka maal samjhte hain..........Cursing all the other fellow travelers we were going horribly slow.......which was also frustrating me.
I did not notice that I had already crossed both the signals and the round-a-bout but like as in a trance i kept going. Suddenly i could see the "Mall" right there in front of me..........Oh no where are we I thought....... we are well past my "Right turn" and It would be useless to take a "U" with all the lines of snaking traffic. I decided to put on my thinking cap. I thought the world is round so why not take the next right and do a full turn so that I reach back to where I had lost the way. I then took the next right and reached the E Ring Road which would then lead to the industrial area. Using my best judgement I navigated myself hoping to reach the D ring road................sooner or later......
One look at the watch told me that the time was well past 8:30 am. Jiah was already an hour late....... I could not imagine that we had been travelling aimlessly for the last hour. It was then I realised that I could not hear Jiah directing me. One look on the back seat..............there was Jiah........poor girl was fast asleep on the seat............. Now I decided that I was not going to drop her at school but head directly home. Just then I could see a familiar landmark far off. Slowly and steadily I drove towards it and then soon I was heading home.
Till now my ego had not allowed me to call my husband and tell him that I had forgotten the way to Jiah's school. Now that I had almost reached home, I gave him a call to tell him about my trip to Jiah's school.
At home Jiah was extremely cross with me. She could not believe that she had not gone to school because MOM had FORGOTTEN THE WAY !!!!!!. She was almost in tears.........After a lot of cajoling, I left for office.........
That evening from my kitchen I could hear her complaining to her father that inspite of her directing me I had forgotten the way............Later I heard her telling her grandma "My dad is a great man.......He never forgets the way to my School............"

Anecdotes in Daily life

This incident happened when we visited one of our friends house for dinner. During the loong talks..... post dinner we were introduced to one of their friend. Coincidently this friends' friend (Mr Fr) worked in the same industry as that of my husband and they started discussing work and football. Soon we were making new acquaintances when Mr Fr said he stayed in the same area as we did. Now a quite interesting conversation was shaping :-

My Hus: Where did you say you stay?

Mr. Fr: Do you know Sahariya signal (In Ham Hammed)

My Hus: Yup. So do we........ But where near Sahariya. We were trying to recollect all the buildings near to our place........as converssation progressed.

Mr. Fr: Do you Okras Building? 

My Hus: Okay............but where near Okras building? (trying to hide the fact that we stayed in Okras Building)

Mr. Fr: I stay in the same building. Dont tell me you stay in the same building said he quite amused.

By now our friends were almost in splits.

My Hus: Haan Yaar we too stay in the same building. How come we haven't met before. We tried to reason saying "Maybe your office timings are quite different from ours"

"Okay on which floor do you stay. Maybe we stay on different floors and so have never met. Now dont tell me that you stay on the 6th floor"............we were ....on the sixth floor

Mr. Fr: His eyes widenend and .................

For a second every one was quiet and then all burst out laughing................. Mr. Fr too lived on the SIXTH FLOOR................. 

Oh how could it be?? We had been staying there for the past 10 months and never once did we meet this person. I was thinking hard but could not recollect seeing this person..........on our floor.........or at least in the lift............or corridor ............or parking

My Hus: But then how did we miss each other........you must be in the A wing of our building .......

Mr. Fr: Ah yes I do live in Wing A...............

This incident left me thinking ..........the kind of mechanical lives we live. I must admit I wouldn't know a single family in our floor apart from our neighbour's cat that keeps purring at me and Jiah whenever we pass her door.

When we kept in tuch wid all the people around the world thru FB we really didn't  care about who lived around us.............

Man O Man

When without money, eats wild vegetables at home
When has money, eats same wild vegetables in fine restaurant.

When without money, rides bicycle;
When has money, rides the same ‘exercise machine’.

When without money, walks to earn food
When has money, walks to burn the fat

Man O Man !  never fails to deceive thyself !

When without money, wishes to get married;
When has money, wishes to get divorced.

When without money, wife becomes secretary;
When has money, secretary becomes wife.

When without money, acts like rich man;
When has money, acts like poor man.

Man, O Man!  never can tell the simple truth !

Says share market is bad but keeps speculating;
Says money is evil but keeps accumulating.
Says high positions are lonely but keeps wanting them.
Says gambling & drinking is bad but keeps indulging;

Man O Man ! Never means what he says and never says what he means!

Eddie Murphy as in BEVERLY HILLS COP

Mr M had to go on site for a few days and we had arranged a driver to drive him out to the site. Incidentally it happened that this driver(Mr S) was the same person who picked him up at the airport and dropped him at his accomodation in Beverly hills, Rayyan (Apartment name).

I informed him of this and he just told me this interesting incident. Mr M thot the driver who was a typical mallu guy looked like Eddie Murphy. Now Mr M wanted him to know this and on one occassion .........................when he met Mr S...........

Mr M: " You look like Eddie Murphy".

Now this poor mallu does not understand who Eddie Murphy is ? He does no even understand the Brits accent. But he tries hard to understand what Mr M said.

Again in a bid to make the mallu understand………………..

Mr M: " U know you look like Eddie Murphy as in Beverly Hills cop".

The mallu now nods his head. He understood something…………………

Mr S:" No sir its Beverly Hills Rayyan.................I drop you from airport……………."

Now Mr M was at his wits end.

Mr M" No u dont understand me …………………….its Beverly Hills Cop and Eddie Murphy is in that."

Mr.S: No sir .......................no Eddie Murphy from office at Beverly Hills. I pick you up at airport last day and drop you there. Mr. S is confident.

Mr M: "No you dont understand me. Please download the film Beverly Hills Cop and you will find Eddy Murphy acting in it"

If only the poor guy had enough time to watch a malayalam movie……and here Mr M was asking him to download and watch hollywood movies…………I thought

During the narration of the incident I saw Mr M get up and go to get some prints……………… Oh no it was the print of Eddie Murphy. I asked him "why do you want this??"

Mr M: "Oh I wanted to show him that he looks like this"

Oh gosh Mr M!!!!! What else could I say...........

Serial Number................Indian or Non......................Day-1

Martin came in today. He occupied the seat diagonally opposite to me. Myself and VAP had shared the room. Both of us were mallus and we were used to speaking in malayalam but now with Martin(Brit) sharing the room we could not speak in malayalam.

Day -1

Enter martin………… A rotund person with glasses in his  mid fifties.  He soon got settled into his seating position and started out to work on his laptop. After exchanging pleasantries I also got absobed in work, when Martin interrupted me…………."Xcuse me do you have the list of Wells??. I handed him the list given to us by the Client………….. Then he raised a volley of questions………………What do you mean by S.No. was the first……………. Without hesitation I  replied serial number ofcourse……..

" Serial number?!" he burst out. "what is the meaning of serial number? What do you mean by serial number? Serial number is used only for computers or books etc . How do you put serial number for the wells……….. wells should be having a well number..!!" he blasted.

For a moment I was taken aback.  I quickly explained to him that it was perfectly normal to write S. No to list the well heads to which came his quick response……………" U know what............. this must have been made by some Indian for sure……… They always write serial number for all things." This was enough to boil the hidden patriotism in me. How dare he make a comment on all Indians.

" Mr Martin do you know that this English language that we speak is the funniest. There are so many meanings to a single word like serial…………. " I blurted. May be he felt that he had said something twhich had offended me ……….so he kept quiet………………..

For the rest of the day we all maintained dignified silence only to start a fresh episode the next day.

This day that year

I sit on my couch watching the news about heavy down pour in Mumbai. Something that strikes me is the date............. this day 5 years back I was battling the wrath of rains in Mumbai. Now that I think of that day memories are still livid in me.
Thanks to the weather department in India, we got no indication of heavy rains. Everything was taking its normal course when someone at office broke the news that heavy rains had disrupted train traffic in the Western line. Disruption of  rail traffic was no big deal for us so we continued with our work until a mail came from the HR requesting the western railers to leave for home.
I was excited on the idea of leaving early oblivious to the gravity of the situation outside. I made a dash for the office bus and secured myself a side seat. My friends(read BGMM) were already there. As we sat chatting we could see that the rains were quite violent. The water levels on the road was rising steadily. When we were halfway to the Santacruz railway station, bus driver informed us that the bus would no more go. We got down in knee deep water. The rain had not abated. But I was in high spirit. I closed my umbrella and decided to enjoy the rain. But there was something I felt was not right in the weather............. soon there were lot of people walking towards the station. Soon word spread that this was not the usual rains which disrupted traffic for a few hours. Stories began of how people in different parts of Mumbai were braving the rain. I was not at all serious about the whole situation until someone told us that it was useless to go to the station because it was horribly crowded. Soon one of us (BGMM) got a phone call to intimate us that one of our colleagues had drowned by falling in the gutter. Now the gravity of our situation was dawning upon us. Kiran (she was the senior most amongst us) decided that we would go back to office. The journey back was extremely ardous.............. all the drains had over flowed and the stench was intolerable. All of us were soaked to our skins but we had to make our ways back to office.................. a tedious 2 km journey wading in chest deep water. The biggest hurdle was to stay clear of the manholes and drains. Mannu had managed a stick which he used to grope for manholes and drains. We held to each others hands and by evening managed to reach office. Water was soon flooding our office. We quickly made way to the 2nd floor. There were many like us in office including the Director. Completely exhausted, drenched and miserable we made way to the pantry for water. By now our director had ordered a stock of bread, biscuits, water bottles, candles. My mobile was running out of charge and all the cell operators were jammed with signals and calls were not just getting through. There was no way of informing my folks back at home. Soon the UPS would run out of battery back up and we would be left with the candles. We were instructed not to have more than 1 candle for a group of every 10 people. Bread, biscuits were rationed for each group. It was horrible to think that the toilet flushes would run out of water soon.  Soon it was night. All the ladies were asked to occupy the board room and the directors cabins. Water level had climbed upto the first floor of our office. From the staircase I could see the office stationary, cartridges in water. We spent the whole night in a huddled position. I could possibly not sleep in this condition so we decided to make the best out of the situation. Mumbaikars are quite bindaas. We broke into antakshari..................... till it was dawn. It was still raining but lesser in quantum........ Water from the office had subsided considerably. Slowly, cautiously we made our way to the railway station. There was news that trains had begun service but when we reached station, we understood that we could never make it onto any of the trains. Also the stench on the platform was nauseating. We decided to walk uptil Andheri or wherever we could get a train. There were many like us to give us company. There were good samaritans on the roads with bottles of water, packets of biscuit for all. We reached Andheri by afternoon. It was maybe due to the excitement that we never felt the hunger or thirst. Luckily busses had started plying. As we walked on we could see dead bodies of men, cattle and animals floating in the water but we had closed our senses to all sights and smell. We were only driven by our urge to reach home. A bus then took us to Goregaon railway station. We could see a lot of stretchers laden with bodies on the platform. Soon a train came by. I made a dash for the train and by late evening I was home................................. exhausted but relieved.
Now I donot remember whether I even said good bye to my friends before boarding the train............ but I know we(BGMM) will never forget this incident.............
It has been 5 years since i went back to Mumbai. This vacation I am defnitely going back to office................................

yaathra

ഞാന്‍ ഒരു സ്ഥിരം ഇല്ലീഗല്‍ ട്രാവേല്ലെര്‍ ഒന്നും അല്ല. പക്ഷെ  പലപ്പോഴും  മുംബൈ  രയില്‍വെയ്സ്സിനു നഷ്ടം വരുത്തിയിട്ടുണ്ട്. മുംബൈയില്‍  ജോലി  ചെയ്യുന്ന  കാലത്ത്  വീകെണ്ട്സ്സില്‍  സമയം  ചിലവഴിക്കാന്‍  സൌത്ത്  മുംബയില്‍  പോയീ  ഫ്രെന്ട്സ്സുമായി ചുറ്റി  കറങ്ങി  നടക്കുമായിരുന്നു. ആ ശനിആഴ്ച  ഞങ്ങള്‍ ബാന്ദ്രയില്‍  പോയീ "വിന്‍ഡോ ഷോപ്പിംഗ്‌" ഒക്കെ ചെയ്യാന്‍ തീരുമാനിച്ചു. ഞാന്‍ ഉച്ചക്ക് സ്ടെഷനിലേക്ക് വിട്ടു . ഉച്ചക്ക്  ട്രയിനുകളൊക്കെ കാലി ആവും .......... ഓഫീസ്സുകാര്‍  ഒന്നും  കാണില്ലല്ലോ . അത് കൊണ്ട് ഞങ്ങള്‍  ഉച്ചക്കാണ്  മിക്കവാറും  യാത്ര. മിര റോഡില്‍  ഇറങ്ങി  ഫ്രെണ്ടും ഞാനും ബന്ദ്രയിലേക്ക് ട്രെയിന്‍ കയറി. ഓഫീസിലെ  ഗോസിപ്പുകള്‍  കൈമാരിക്കൊണ്ടിരികവേ  ബാന്ദ്രയും  ദാടരും  പോയത്  അറിഞ്ഞില്ല. എന്റെപക്കല്‍ ബാന്ദ്ര  വരെയുള്ള  പാസ്  മാത്രമാണ്  ഉള്ളത് . ഫ്രെടിന്റെ  കയ്യില്‍  ചര്ച്ച്ഗെറ്റ്  വരെയുള്ള  ടിക്കറ്റ്‌  ഉണ്ടായതോകൊണ്ട്  അവള്‍ക്കു  റെന്ശേന്‍സ്  ഒന്നും  ഇല്ല . അവള്‍  പറഞ്ഞു  " സാരമില്ല നമ്മള്‍ക്ക്  ഇന്നത്തെ  കറക്കം  മറൈന്‍  ഡ്രൈവില്‍  ആക്കാം ". ഞാന്‍  വിചാരിച്ചൂ  "അടുത്ത  സ്റ്റേഷനില്‍  ഇറങ്ങിയാലും  ടീടീ പിടിക്കും  ചര്ച്ച്ഗെട്ടില്‍  ഇറങ്ങിയാലും  ഇത്  തന്നെ  സ്ഥിതി . ചര്ച്ച്ഗെറ്റില്‍  ആകുമ്പോള്‍  ചിലപ്പോള്‍  ടീടീ  പിടിക്കാതെയും  രക്ഷപെടാം . "എന്നാല്‍ ചര്ച്ച്ഗെറ്റ്  തന്നെ  ആവാം"  എന്ന്  പറഞ്ഞു . ഇനി  ടീടീ  ട്രെയിനില്‍  കയറിയാല്‍  എന്ത്  ചെയ്യും എനായിരുന്നു ചിന്താ. നമ്മള്‍ ‍രണ്ടു പേരും വാതിലിന്‍റെ അരികില്‍  തന്നെ നിന്നു .ടീടീ വരുവാണെങ്കില്‍  അപ്പുറത്തെ സൈഡിലെ  ഡോറിലൂടെ ചാടി  ഇറങ്ങാമല്ലോ. ട്രെയിനില്‍ നിന്ന് ചാടി ഇറങ്ങാനും കയറാനും ഞാന്‍ ഉഷാര്‍ ആണ്. പക്ഷെ ടീടീ ഒന്നും ട്രെയിനില്‍ കയറിയില്ല. ട്രെയിന്‍ ചര്ച്ച്ഗെറ്റ് എത്തി. "സാധാരണ ചര്ച്ച്ഗെട്ടില്‍ വലിയ തെരകുള്ളതാണ് pakshe ഇന്ന് ആള്‍കാര്‍ വളരെ കുറവാണല്ലോ. ടി ടിയെ എങ്ങനെ പറ്റിക്കും? " എന്ന് പറഞ്ഞു ട്രെയിന്‍ ഇറങ്ങി. ഓരോ എന്ട്ട്രന്ച്സിലും രണ്ടു കറത്ത കോട്ടിട്ട കശ്മലന്മാര്‍(ടി ടി  എന്ന്  വിളിക്കാം.................) നില്‍പ്പുണ്ട്‌ ഞാന്‍  വളരെ കുളായി നടന്നു. മുമ്പില്‍  നില്‍ക്കുന്ന  ടി ടി  ആരെയും  വിടുന്ന  ലക്ഷണം  ഇല്ല . രണ്ടു  പേരും  ഓരോരുത്തരെയും  നിര്‍ത്തി  ടിക്കറ്റ്‌   ചെക്ക്‌  ചെയുന്നു . " ഇവര്‍ക്കൊന്നും വേറെ  പണി  ഒന്നും  ഇല്ല  നട്ടുച്ചക്ക്  പോയീ  എവിടെയെങ്കിലും  കിടന്നുറങ്ങിക്കൂടെ എന്ന്  മുരുമുരുതോണ്ട്  ഞാന്‍  നടന്നു . പെട്ടന്ന്  എന്തോ മറന്നത് പോലെ ഞാന്‍  തിരിഞ്ഞു  നടന്നു. ചര്ച്ച്ഗെറ്റില്‍, ട്രെയിന്‍ നിര്‍ത്തിയിട്ടാല്‍ രണ്ടു വശത്തും പ്ലാട്ഫോരം കാണും. ഞാന്‍ സ്പീഡില്‍  നടന്നു.......... ട്രെയിനിന്റെ ബോഗീയില്‍ കയറി  അപ്പുറത്തെ  വാതിലില്‍കൂടി ഇറങ്ങി രക്ഷപെടാന്‍  തുടങ്ങിയതാണ്‌...................... അപ്പോഴതാ  ആ  ടി ടി  എന്‍റെ  മുന്‍പില്‍  നില്കുന്നു  ." ടിക്കറ്റ്‌  ടിക്കറ്റ്‌" എന്ന്  ചോദിച്ചു ........... "ഈശ്വര  ഈയാള്‍  എങ്ങനെ  ഇവിടെ  എത്തി ?" "മേരെ  പാസ്  ബാന്ദ്ര  തക്ക് പാസ്‌  ഹൈന്‍" എന്ന്  കാച്ചി. "तोह  फिर  चुर्चगेट में  क्या  कर  रहे  हो ? मैडम  टिकेट  दिखाओ  नहीं  तो  फैन  भरो "എന്ന് പറഞ്ഞുക്കൊണ്ട്  അയാള്‍  ഒരു  ഫൈന്‍  ബുക്ക്‌  പോക്കെറ്റില്‍  നിന്ന്  പുറത്തെടുത്തു.
കാശ്  ഞാന്‍  റെയില്‍വേക്ക്  അങ്ങനെ പെട്ടന്നെ വിട്ടോകുടുക്കാന്‍  തീരുമാനിച്ചില്ല. ഒന്ന് ട്രൈ ചെയ്യുനത്തില്‍ എന്താ കുഴപ്പം എന്ന് വിചാരിച്ച്‌ അടുത്ത  അടവു  പയറ്റി  നോക്കി . മുഖത്ത് വളരെ നിഷ്കളങ്കതയോടുകൂടി ഞാന്‍ പറഞ്ഞു "സര്‍  മേരെ  പാസ്  സിര്‍ഫ്‌  25 rs ഹൈന്‍ ." കൂട്ടുക്കാരി അവിടെ എങ്ങാനും ഉണ്ടോ എന്ന് നോക്കി ............. ഹും ............... അങ്ങനെ ഒരാളെ ഇല്ല അവിടെയെങ്ങും ................. നല്ല സുഹൃത്ത്‌!............. അവള്‍ വല്ല തൂണിന്റെ പിന്നിലും ഒളിച്ചു നിന് കാണും
ടി ടി വിടുന്ന ലക്ഷണം ഒന്നും ഇല്ല. എന്നെ ഒന്ന് അടി-മുടി നോക്കിക്കൊണ്ട്‌....... "पर्स बताओ ". ഒരു സങ്കോചവും കൂടാതെ ഞാന്‍ പെരസ്സ് കൊടുക്കുകയും ചെയ്തു. എനിക്ക്  ഉറപ്പുണ്ടായിരുന്നു  എന്‍റെ  പെര്സ്സില്‍  മുങ്ങി  തപ്പിയാല്‍  പോലും  അയാള്‍ക്ക്‌  ഒരു  ചില്ലി  കാശ്  പോലും കിട്ടില്ല. എല്ലാ തരം ബില്ലുകളും, താക്കൊലുകളും കാണും പക്ഷെ കാശൊന്നും ഉണ്ടാവുകയില്ല.  കോളേജ്  കാലം  മുതലേ ഉള്ള  ശീലമാണ്. ഓസ്‌ അടികുന്നവരില്‍ നിന്ന് രക്ഷപെടാന്‍ ഉള്ള ഒരു കൊച്ചു അടവ് മാത്രം. ആ  ഡാഷ്  എന്‍റെ പെര്സോക്കെ തപ്പി ഒന്നും കിട്ടാഞ്ഞപ്പോള്‍ പറഞ്ഞു " ठीक हैं पचीस चलेगा".
മനസ്സില്‍ ഞാന്‍ വിചാരിച്ചു ഉവ്വ ഉവ്വ കാശ് കിട്ടിയത് തന്നെ അമ്മട ഭയങ്കര !!!!!!!!. അടുത്ത അടവ് പ്രയോഗിച്ചു.... ഡാന്‍സ് പഠിച്ചത് കൊണ്ട് നല്ല ഉപകാരം ആയി. ഒമ്പത് ഭാവങ്ങളിലെ പത്താം ഭാവം ഉപയോഗിച്ചു  " സര്‍ വാപാസ് ജാനേ കെ ലിയെ പൈസ നഹി ഹൈന്‍..........." ആ അടവ് ഏറ്റു. അയാള്‍ പറഞ്ഞു "जाओ मेरा टाइम बर्बाद मत करो"...............ആണ്ട് ദി അവാര്‍ഡ് ഫോര്‍ ബെസ്റ്റ് അക്ട്രെസ്സ് ഗോസ്സ് ടു .............എന്ന് മനസ്സില്‍ പറഞ്ഞു.
ഒരു നല്ല താങ്കസ് അടിച്ചു ഞാന്‍ അവിടുന്ന് തല ഊരി. പുറത്തു വന്നപ്പോള്‍ അവലതാ ........... എന്‍റെ കൂടുകാരി മുഖത്ത് ഒരു പുഞ്ചിരി ഫിറ്റ്‌ ചെയ്തു നില്കുന്നു. "എത്ര ഫൈന്‍ അടിച്ചു?" എന്നവള്‍ ................. " കുച്ച് ഭീ നഹി" എന്ന് ഞാനും.......... സല്‍വാരിന്റെ പോക്കെട്ടിലുള്ള നൂറു രൂപ നോട്ട് എടുത്ത് കാണിച്ചു..........................