Rain Soaked..

It's been more than two weeks since I was away from blogger world. Had so many things to worry about. Now that everything is settled, and I am back to my Quadrant 2, I thought I would write something.

The rain is pouring forth outside, with the pitter-patter and the naughty wind. Yes, monsoon is 2-3 days earlier in Kerala.

I love to see the clouds running in, darkening the whole sky.. Then a sudden thunder .. Wind, all trees start dancing .. Then comes the sound like throwing sand over the roof .. Yet another round of fire ..

I first ran to my apartment to get my camera and take some photos of the rain and the dancing trees.. But I couldn't reach office back..



Lucky that my camera lens didn't get spoiled .. The wind was very strong.



The wildness of the rain and the speed of a car, when captured in sepia, came out like this.



When the rain gave me a little break, I ran back to office. Stood in front of the office building for sometime, enjoying the transition of noisy rough durga turning to a shy soft spoken stream on the ground with just a few drops falling down. And the wind, there was no trace of such an existence. Everything still, as if nothing happened... Except the small streams and puddles of water around ..



I believe that, rain has different language in different places.. Last year, we went for a trip to kodaikanal, from office.. The last destination was the kodai lake for boating ... We might have been in boat for 10 minutes when the rain started pouring in.. We sped back to the shore.. The rest is in picture.. How it rains in the lake ..



while we were waiting near the lake, the rain taught us a rare kind of sacrifice..



With rain, comes accidents. Rain opens so many doors for death to come in, and pick up people in masses. Floods, land slides, lightning what not..

It was 5 years back on a July 9, Malayala Manorama press photographer Victor George gave his life while covering a land slide near idukki.


I loved his photos.. I didn't know then that I would take a camera in my life, and it would turn out to be my passion. But I loved Victor's photos of rain .. I devote this post to the fond remembrance of such souls, who touched the heart of rain and walked with it .. Knowingly or unknowingly..

Koi Louta de - Touching Lyrics..

For all the nostalgic people, and for all friends in my life , especially those who are characters in the article below.

"Suhanee Raat Dhal Chukee, Na Jaane Tum Kab Aaoge"..
Muhammed Rafi started singing from the walkman connected to a car stereo in our class. Haroon was the owner of the stuff, and the day was our farewell day from government college Malappuram. I was passing out after having completed my Pre-Degree course. The whole room was noisy, what else can you expect from a 89 member class!! Amidst the noise, four of us sat in a corner with Rafi's magical voice flowing along.. The walkman was old, and the sound coming out itself had an antique effect, still, rafi went on "Na jaane tum kab aaoge..". The song still takes me back to those colorful days, filled with creative arguments and fun. I may attempt to write about it later..

Some songs stick to our mind associated with some moments - either good or bad.

Jayesh came online and was telling about some song he heard that morning, which remained in his lips till the time he messaged. Somehow, it took me back to a day in Food Court, where jayesh and Aneesh were sitting and singing - "Chaudvin Ka Chand Ho, Ya Aaftaab Ho Jo Bhi Ho Tum Khuda Ki Kasam, Lajawab Ho". That was the testing session of two cordless mikes. Again Rafi ..

"Chaahe tum kuchh na kaho maine sun liya
Ki saathi pyaar ka mujhe chun liya
Chun liya
Maine Sun liya.." - Liya Paul's favourite.. She was my room mate for quite a time during BTech, and good friend too. The basic trait we shared was extreme laziness. The song always had all the love towards George Mathew ;) (The 7-8 year old love ended up in the nuptial knot last year).
"Pehla nasha
Pehla khumaar
Naya pyaar hai naya intezaar
Kar loon main kya apna haal
Aye dil-e-bekaraar
Mere dil-e-bekaraar
Tu hi bata" .. dedicated to Liya Paul, or rather Liya George :-)

Tinky is one of the first characters whom everyone related to me knows. We became friends from the very early days of BTech, because of her humor sense and my tolerance :-D She used to dream a lot and worked for making the dreams come true too.. But there were always her crazy dreams like running around a tree with her boy friend. Unfortunately, she didn't have one - hence, the window of our hostel room became the tree and she would hang on it and around (ofcourse, alone) - "Ghum hai kisi ke pyaar mein dil subah shaam
Par tumhe likh nahin paaon main uska naam
Haaye raam, haaye ram.. "


Tinky, Rupa and me were the caroms board combination during the first year of BTech. It happened to be the caroms board combination because of our heights. Tinky, Rupa - 5 feet and me the tallest of the lot, with 5'2". Don't misunderstand that we were experts in carroms. The idea was Bobby Sir's, that with a 4th person of almost same height we would make fine legs for a carroms board. Rupa loved the song "Pal Pal dil ke paas, tum rahthe ho..", and "choo kar mere man ko, kiya tu ne kya ishaara..", which was always heard in our room during 3rd semester (though in the coming semesters it changed to some other song.. "tum dil ki dhatkan ho" - Best wishes to both of them)

"(mere nainaa saavan bhaadon
(phir bhi meraa man pyaasaa..)"
- Sojish was running behind it to know the meaning of the song. Thats how I first noticed it. Whenever I feel bad, it fills me with peace.

I am not able to find a proper conclusion for the article. It was just an outburst of nostalgia I was feeling these days. Hence I leave it this way, filled with memories and sweetness of voice. I wish I had an audio blog. :-)

Disclaimer : 1. If any of my friends felt bad that they didn't have place here, I deeply apologize in advance. Songs are never ending. This article will surely have a sequel in near future, with more nostalgic moments.

The Rang De Basanti Effect

"There are two primary choices in life - to accept condition as they exist or accept responsibility for changing them.
RANG DE BASANTI is about changing them"
- Rakesh Omprakash Mehra (Director of Rang De Basanti)

Let me warn all my readers first - this is not yet another review of Rang De Basanti. In the movie, there is more than one discussion about corrupt politicians and the pathetic situation of a poverty-stricken India. The youth which represents our generation sighs during each discussion that nothing can't be changed in this country. We sigh along with them, and when Aamir Khan utters the words, "kill him" (about killing the corrupt politician), we hold our breathe and wait. What is gonna happen.. Does the system change?

Let the debate about the movie go on .. Whether the climax was effective.. Whether the movie was dragging .. anything. But, in the end, what stays back in mind is the quote : "There are two primary choices in life - to accept condition as they exist or accept responsibility for changing them."

Changing conditions can be either by making a living or breaking it.

I get always confused by the people who come begging in buses and trains. Since I have to pass through a lot of bus stands or railway stations before reaching home, the frequency of stretched hands is really high. There are many arguments regarding giving money to them. One is that, we should never give them money because it would make them rely on begging as a means of living. However, most often, especially when I travel alone, I find it too difficult to turn away from a persistent stretched hand.

In such a situation,
- will you blame the govt who does nothing to ban begging?, or
- will you give them a coin so that they don't disturb you any more? Or
- will you think of accepting the responsibility to contribute your share towards changing the conditions?

In Poornam, there is a group of people who accept responsibility for changing conditions. They didn't kill corrupt politicians to change lives. Instead, they just work silently to make some lives happier, to bring smiles to a few faces. A very good percentage of Poornam people take part in this mission. As part of doing this, a few volunteers from Poornam make a visit to Palluruthy Relief Settlement every month.



Palluruthy Relief Settlement (PRS), rehabilitates beggars and destitute from streets. PRS is run by Corporation of Cochin. Each time we visit, there would be around 250 inmates. Things are not smooth always, with a lot of mentally challenged people.






Poornam adds a few drops of contribution each month to the big ocean of needs they have.

There are lots of lessons we need to learn from such visits. The first and foremost is our duty to the society we live in. Each visit reminds us, how blessed are we in our big apartments and air conditioned offices. We are expected to give it back to the society - let it be a combined effort or single.

Add your drop too, which would make atleast one person smile. It doesn't matter where you add the drop of your kindness because all good deeds are bound to reach the same ocean.

"Little drops of water, Little grains of sand
Make the mighty ocean, And the beauteous land
Little deeds of kindness, Little words of love,
Make our earth an Eden, Like the heaven above"

- Mrs. J. A. Carney