T.G.I. My Birthday :)

It all started 25 years back on a gorgeous Thursday morning around 7AM; yeah that was when I did my debut on my vocation as a “Person”. What before that? Well, my sister used to do this “What were you in your previous birth”, once she said I was a load pulling donkey and on a different occasion while playing the same game she said I was a beautiful Russian girl as if there are ugly girls in Russia. Obviously I stopped playing that game from that point, perhaps she might have told I was Martin Luther King or the bad moustache guy from the world wars or even the world’s oldest tortoise which was still alive, and in any case I settled for the “beautiful Russian Girl”.

For so long my childhood was not too happening at least I do not remember scaling Mt. Everest. I was hospitalised twice during my tiny tot days, once I was totally blah so I was hospitalised and on the other occasion I was kind of blah so I had to be hospitalised. As I was getting older I was also diagnosed with “Tonsil “. Well this I must say has left an everlasting post mark on me, while getting treated for Tonsils I was prescribed, apparently with steroids and now I wonder where I miss placed my six pack ab? I was told after the operation they would feed only ice cream and only because of that I accepted to enter the operation theatre. It was true in a sense, and when I came out of the operation theatre I realised my worst night mare was manifesting itself in the tangible world, my sister was being fed with all the ice cream. Even today my father and my sister talk about how they had to go to Aaditya (one of the decent restaurants in Madras) and eat all the good food, on their way to hospital with a small cup of ice cream, now come on – I was the one who got operated. And then my sister learns to ride a bicycle, suddenly I was on the pillion seat with my foot inside the wheel.

When I was really young only couple of things really mattered to me and cheered me, of course when the news reader in All India Radio announced the schools would remain closed due to heavy rain that did bring in cheer but the true happiness came on the day of Diwali when my father used to get up early along with me to go out and fire the loudest of the fire cracker just to see the smile in my face and the other occasion was Dec. the 12th. My mom never missed to bring chocolate bags. The year long wait would reach the peak just on the eve of 11th when I used to eagerly wait to see the bag in her hands. The happiness multiplied when I arranged the “Caramilk” toffees per colour, blue and red in the heart shaped transparent box. Now don’t even get me started on how everyone liked the red one. In 1994 though it was a double bonanza, I claimed the “Bhramachari” Status just one day before my birthday and I was upanayanam-ed

Like most of the Indians I “would” have written Cricket in the religion field in any application form in those days. I still have the memories vivid, of me literally crying when India was humiliated at the Eden Gardens by Sri Lanka in the 1996 world cup, such was my passion towards the game. I wanted to join the Indian national cricket team some day. My dad encouraged me thoroughly and he used to come with me to St.Bedes’ where I used to practice for almost three years. He had such high hopes on me and during the Initial days of my coaching he used to accompany me every day. At some point I stopped playing in St.Bede’s and started playing for a different club and that was my peak cricketing days when I set a series of personal bests in bowling and the best being 4/0 which was recorded in Indian Express’ sports column. I have a feeling that my sister still believes that I can bowl 180 kmph and that I would make it to the Indian squad. Well sweetheart I am sorry, I no longer aspire to be a cricketer. I also used to practice Karate during my school days and went on to claim a green belt after which I won a South India level tournament in Kata, immediately after which I lost my interest in Karate.

I started in a school called Sir M.Venkata whatever, I myself am not impressed with those days. I don’t mind saying I was not such a performer in Sir M.Venka blah, possibly it was because of the school itself. At some point my mom thought that I was a goner in studies because of my almost Sourav like scores during his bad days. To Saurav fans, if this helps my scores were disappointing than his. My dad used to worry that someone from the ruling party might come looking for me since I was brutally murdering Tamil time and again in all the exams. My true alma mater is Karnataka Sangha where I joined from my 6th grade. That is when I started to get a feel of what actual education was. That was also where I made some real friends and these guys are still around for me. This is also were goddess Saraswati placed her boon offering hands on my head and gave all her blessings, I passed out from my 10th class with a decent score and for those people who know my sister’s legendary performance I bet her fair and square in English (only). When I was in 12th I knew I was not going to make it to any of the top medical colleges however I missed JIPMER by a mere 3 marks. I did not have much of a confusion in choosing between Anna Univ, IITM and BITS since I did not get a call from any of the afore said colleges.

My college days were too uncanny initially but later on I got used to that flavour. I met three of my best buddies in college and one carried forward from my school. Exam days meant that all five met in my place for “group studies”. I am not really sure how much of that time really went in to preparation, but the time spent remains as a colourful collage in my mind. Like any group our group had its break and comeback etc. Even during the college days my stability in being unstable continued, suddenly I wanted to be an entrepreneur and next minute I was preparing for GRE, only to become volatile again and to think should I open the GATE and bell the CAT? For those who don’t know me I did not do any of it. I sat for placements. The first company which I appeared for was Alfon, only one gal was selected from our college and I am not a gal. The second one was L&T Infotech which I would eventually crack three times. Then my eventual company came to recruit, well this was my “gold coated with platinum” opportunity to take myself to my sister’s league. With all the blessings from my parents I would have cracked it with my eyes closed then you could construe how I did with my eyes open.

Completed my college and was waiting to join my first company, what seemed an eternal wait ended after almost one year after I passed out from college. Every day was a torture during that one year when I was at home, not only for me but for my mom and dad as well. I used to pester them about why things were not really going in my way. I and my mom used to sit in the terrace and speak for hours on several things. I used to feel very bad on my inability to pitch in and help but my mom used to constantly tell me things will be alright very soon. In one occasion the “Anti” in the next door typically eves dropping in to our conversation congratulated me for finally making it to L&T thinking that it was my first job offer(which was my third one with L&T during my wait).March 31st 2008 marked an important milestone in my life, I joined my company.

The clock ticking with its varying pace, hasty when I wanted it unhurried and dawdling when I wanted it to zoom has taken me through the trough and the pinnacle which I have thoroughly enjoyed. My mother waiting to feed me every morsel of food in my mouth pointing to the moon even today, my father who still loves to answer “which is faster, cheetah or leopard? Which is bigger Ganges or Godavari? , my sister who still sets benchmark for me and inspires me to raise my bar to join her league and friends that I can totally trust and relatives who are always there for me, life has not been “just sweet” but a “pair of sugar coated lips” for me to kiss  . My first 25 years have had both Kodak moments and not so Kodak moments but they will all remain as a beautiful montage for the rest of my life.