College life = Oru Kalooriyin Kadhai?

Haven’t we all heard that famous line “movies are a reflection of real life”? Ever wondered why such an idea exists? It does because we tend to equate most of the things that happen in our lives with particular scenes or, at times, the name of a movie. This happens with more frequency while in college, where movies tend to invariably become an unforgettable part of the memories we all carry with us through life. When asked to give a movie name that came instantly to my mind while thinking about some of the common terms that are always heard in college, I got quite creative :p :D

Read and laugh out loud!

Bus to college = 12B

Classes = Satham Podadhey

Lecturer = Evano Oruvan

Canteen = Vattaram

Gang Leader= Sivaaji the Boss

Friend’s B’day treat = Vettaiyadu Vilayadu

Friend’s girlfriend = Kalvanin Kaadhali

New girl on campus = Yaaradi Nee Mohini

Ragging = Anjathe

Principal on rounds = Oram Po

Industrials visits = Honeymoon Travels (PVT) LTD

Exam = Kalyug

Week before exams = Andha 7 Naatkal

Viva = Encounter

Paper Out = Plan

Examination Hall = Chamber of Secrets

Examiner = Imsai arasan 23M Pulikesi /Polladhavan

Question Paper = Arindhum Ariyamalum

Answer Paper = Kora Kagaz

Caught copying = Naan Avan Illai/ Unnale Unnale

Last Exam = Independence Day

Paper Correction = Andha Kanoon

Marks = Ashambhav

Result = Pattiyal

Pass = Mayajaalam/ Vazhthukal

Fail = Devdas

No. of arrears = Aaru

Vacations = Pirivom Sandhipom

Qualification= Tamizh M.A.

Pseudo-nerd laughed too!!

Chennaiites don't forget their past!!!

Cities all over the world have had their roots, in some way or the other, associated with the names of their busiest roads and Chennai is no different! Try these names- First Line Beach Road, Mowbrays Road, Edward Elliott’s Road, - remember them? These are the old names of what are now Dr. Rajaji Salai, TTK Road, and Radhakrishnan Salai. The post-independence Indian governments made it their business to replace the street names from the British era with Indian names and nobody is complaining!

However, it can’t be denied either that there are certain names that have proves quite difficult in getting replaced- they simply refuse to go away, even though the change has officially occurred. The most renowned example would be that of Mount Road which technically is Anna Salai now. Even though the name in name took place decades ago, many Chennaiites still swear by the original name, ‘Mount Road’. My mom, who has lived in this city for the better half of her life told me one day that she thought she’ll never get over calling Mount road Mount road, because that was how it was introduced to her and first impressions are hard to get over!!!

Lattice Bridge Road in Adyar (LB Road) is now Kalki Krishnamoorthy Road,while the famous Chamiers Road is Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar Salai- both failures as far as name change is concerned. But topping this list would be Nungambakkam High Road which was rechristened to Uthamar Gandhi Salai, a name that never made any impact at all. Bharthi, my closest friend from school, had this to say when I casually asked about Nungambakkam High Road’s ‘official’ name: “I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone call Nungambakkam High Road with its official name! If I asked an auto driver to take me to that road, he would probably get confused and ask me which area I wanted to go to!”

If you thought the city’s residents were touchy about forgetting the old names of their roads then think once more! When the Tamilnadu government decided to abolish caste names from all road names, some famous ones like,Vellayan (Chettiar) Road, Beemanna (Mudali) Garden, ,Dr.Renga(chari?) Road and many more, became curiously mutilated. Of course, there were exceptions to this too, in the name of a road in T.Nagar called Dr.Nair Road- making that ‘Dr. Road’ would have been very confusing and comical to me (don't ask y...I find not comical stuff comical most o the time!! :D). Also, this abolition of caste names was not implemented in North Chennai where you can still find roads being called Linghi Chetty Street, ‘Thambu Chetty Street, Errabulu Chetty Street and so on.

And so, Chennai is the city of a splendid mix between the old and the new, for its people definitely don’t forget their ‘past’ easily! I rest my case! :)

Pseudo-nerd loves her city!!! :))

What Will I Be...?

"When I was just a little girl...
I asked my mother what will I be...
Will I be pretty...will I be rich...?
Here's what my mother said:
Que Sera Sera...whatever will be will be...
The future's not ours to see
Que Sera Sera...what will be will be..."

"Final year vandhutiya ma..? Enna panna pora idhuku apparam?" (You have come into your final year [of college :p] ? What do you plan to do after this?) This is almost like the only line of conversation people around me seem to be interested in nowadays...So what do I plan to do?? This is something upon which I ve spent enough time (thinking) over the past few months...there are 2 obvious options open to me at this point: A, I decide to go ahead with my higher education; B, I work for a year in the print medium before I pursue my Masters. It's only after a lot of deliberation that I decided upon the second option: Work.

My decision to work comes from 3 major points:
i) Print medium is where I can lay a strong foundation for my career as a political journalist and I don't want to miss out on it
ii) it will be better to have experience on my CV when I finally go for my job interview in the electronic media
iii) since my UG education in Journalism has more or less been associated with the print medium, I don't want to take the risk of doing a Masters course in Broadcast Journalism/ Masscom and then going for a job with the print medium...I might probably have lost touch with the field by that time.

Decision made, I waited for the Placements Cell in my college to start talking to those students who maybe interested in working after their third year...an abysmal 14 in a class of 49 showed interest...of which how many are truly interested is yet to be seen...this small number made me falter for a minute with my decision to work..."How can so many people think working is not a good option?", my head began to wonder....but, all said and done, I think I would like to look back at my life and feel happy that wherever I am today it is because I made a conscious choice...in this regard I completely agree with what the character Geet in the movie Jab We Met said!! I am now back to that old and tested plan for my future according to which I will work before stepping into an entirely new and vast field, the Electronic media.

Besides these serious reasons behind me wanting to work lies this other reason....financial independence...what could it possibly mean....? It is not like I come from a family that has to strive hard to make ends meet...it's the idea that I can now posses that freedom of choice to do and get whatever I want, without having to think twice. I'm not talking about frivolous spending here, though that too is definitely included!!! :D I'm talking about the freedom to save or spend the money I know I ve worked my ass off for!!! I can now join that gym I ve been wanting to join for ages....or I can go to Bounce and get a "new look"...or get the best of clothes and accessories...after all gurls will be gurls!! But there' s a flipside to this freedom where I can save up all the money I earn and fund at least a part of my higher studies...or get an education loan upon my bank credit...which'll come only when I save up...
With such thoughts I registered,yesterday, with the Placements Cell in the college...hoping for a better future to come in its wake... Pseudo-nerd really did wonder!!!

Rubbing shoulders with a lesbian...quite literally!!!

Attendence over, Asha haggled with me and Rashmi as to which staircase to use to get out of college at 1'o clock yesterday afternoon. After convincing her with something as lame as "we'll take that staircase tomorrow", the three of us walked the last few steps out of college...we walked with a purpose bcoz we had plans for the afternoon!! Just like how we do all things together (assignments, projects included :P) the three of us are part-timing with Chennaionline.com this semester and that was why we were now on our way to the bus stop just outside Isphani Center, our college's unofficial canteen!! We were headed to Thiruvanmiyur's famous 'Kafeoke' as Asha was doing a feature on them for the website, while me and Rashmi wanted to review eatouts along the Elliots' Beach.
We got on to this bus that said Thiruvanmiyur...it was almost empty:) While the two of them sat side by side, I took the seat in front of them. What we talked we don't know or care...but it definitely seemed to kind of scandalize the old (respectable, teacher-types) aunty who sat next to me during the first half of the journey!! She kept trying to not (over?)hear when me and Asha kept poking fun at Rashmi for her sudden M&B behaviour(!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and then finally gave up!! She openly started shooting us looks, if Asha is to be taken seriously!!!! :D She got off and we gave her a few minutes worth "air-time" and moved on to other more pressing issues like....well...hmmmm...watever!!!
Then suddenly the heroine (ahem...ahem!!!) of my story made her entry...she was this small (due to malnourishment I think) dark-skinned lady who didnt look distinctively different from the very many other such women you may find in one of the city's slums...lets call her Kuppamma alias Kups! Now getting back to my story...one minute I was talking crap to my friends and the next minute I'm struggling for space in that two-seater, which had seemed pretty spacious just a moment back!! Why...?? Our lady Kups had hogged almost all the space on the seat by sitting soooooooooo close to me....I caught myself thinking..."Now I know what they meant wen they coined the phrase, 'too close for comfort'"!!!!!! A
At this point our conversation about nothing in particular had to come to an abrupt stop bcoz I was too busy wondering if it was just my screwed up imagination that made me feel like Kups was rubbing...yeah RUBBING...herself against me, while the two behind me (as confirmed later) watched in mute disgust at what was happening in the seat before...some random woman incessantly "hitting" on their friend!!!!!! Then, when I turned my head to gauge their reactions, what I saw made me burst out laughing...I need not be the smartest person aboard the bus to know that they knew the woman was not straight as far as her sexual orientation went!!!!! It was written all over their faces!!! And they smirked while I squirmed...they even laughed a couple of times!!! We talked about what was happening and I made sure that I didn't resort to using Tamil words in between my otherwise English sentences...we didnt want Kups to know that we...errr...knew!!!!! :D
I tried putting up with all Kups' vain attempts at "seducing" (YUCK!!!) me...I decided it was an assault on me and was scared I'll be scarred for life!!!! :P So I told my friends that I was shifting to the empty seat behind them!!! I started getting ready to move past Kups...I sat near the window...when Kups spoke her first words( is the drama effect gud enuf?? :P): "Engamma yeranganum...?"(Where do you have to get down...?), like she was offended that I had cut short the little cosy crap she was probably having out there and actually didnt want to reciprocate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! By the time the two behind had smirked to the heavens and I had told Kups that I was just moving to a seat at the back and moved out past her, that empty seat behind my friends got occupied...So I was forced to sit on an empty seat diagonally opposite Kups on the other side!!!! I was in a few minutes shakily making my way to the rear of the bus...Kups was killing me with her 'come hitherto...'glances!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In a few minutes my friends too made their way to the back and sat with me while we saw a (rejected, dejected?) Kups getting off at the next stop...it made me wonder if that stop was her destination really...or had she just gone off looking for better company????

Pseudo-nerd is disgusted-amused by the incident...will watever later...

The Chennai Super Kings have quite gallantly batted all their way into the FINALS of the DLF IPL matches!!!!!! Me being an ardent fan of the CSKs....cant stop grinning here in Delhi, whose 'Daredevils' have been shown out of the tournament, after they faced off with the Rajasthan Royals yesterday!!!! Quite naturally im drawing murderous looks from my Delhi colleagues here who are definitely of the thought that it should have been them who was grinning from ear to ear!!!! But all said and done...Chennai is after all home to super KINGS...and who better to win battles (or matches here :P) than the KINGS themselves???? :D :D Ironically, the Punjab team whom Chennai beat the shit out of tonight, have also named their team KingsXI Punjab'....but nothing like the magic of the word 'Super' I guess :P :D :D (can't stop grinning...really!!!)

Rajasthan Royals....here we come!!!!! :D

Pseudo-Nerd grins...will wonder later :)

Honour Killings- for whose honour anyways??

The media called it 'Justice for Nitish Katara'....but was it really justice?? The trial has finally come to an end...or has it?? With reports of the Yadavs' lawyers claiming that they will appeal at the Supreme Court, one really wonders, "When were these ruthless murderers going to accept that they are at fault??" Does having the wealth and status that the Yadav cousins have, mean they have the passport to a possible future out of jail, when they so cruelly snuffed out that word 'future' from some one's life? And the girl over whom this battle of blood was fought....what did she have to say? She declines having felt once upon a time, that she could not survive without Nitish and the judge calls her a 'victim of society'!!! The death of someone she wanted to marry at the hands of her own brothers is quite a traumatic situation to go through, I agree...but a stronger person's grief would have turned into rightful anger at the brutality of the murder of someone who they loved, like that of Mrs.Neelam Katara, mother of the deceased, rather than her timid submission to the whims of her father and a society which has nothing good to offer to her or the nation. She, at least after the murder of Nitish Katara, must have known of her father's mafia connections(the media was filled with stories about her family's gory mafia history)...by playing along with what he wants her to say at the court is she sending out the message that her life too was under threat? It is shocking that such musings no longer shock us, the public, who have seen over the past few years umpteen stories of man killing his own loved ones in the name of 'honour'...we have heard news reports of parents killing their pregnant daughter and her lover because they chose to differ; we have seen 14 yr old Aarushi Talwar being murdered (apparently) by her own father in the name of honour again. 'Honour killings'- the fancy name that has been coined to refer to such murders....is the idea of people being murdered by family, by itself, getting more normal and routine than the fancy, sensational thing it is supposed to be to a shocked public? Will there come a time in time when we will stop feeling shocked by these 'honour killings', just the way we now yawn and move over reports of robbery? Will our land of values, and rich heritage that preaches love for all, come to this?
Pseudo-Nerd wonders... will wonder again...