Jul 29, 2008

Mohammed Uncle - I

I’ve been meaning to write about this man for quite sometime now. Mohammed uncle – my dad’s driver for as long as we were in Coimbatore, has played a significant role in my life. He has influenced the lives of all of us, my sister, parents and me in more ways than one. I discovered that it was not just us, but so many more others from the ranks of founding partners of my dad’s firm till my dad’s junior partner, all loved as well as hated him, alike.

Oh, love him for what he was – hate him for the same thing actually, for taking control of most situations. He’d decide things for you and stand firm on it. The reason for his deciding for you would always be – ‘in your best interests’. Some of my dad’s partners couldn’t live with that. They would comfortably transfer him to another partner who could cope. I think he stuck to my dad’s senior SN mama (uncle) and next my dad, the most. Neither opened their mouths to contradict him. They just let him be!

Brief history of how we came to get associated with him:

My dad was taken partner at his current firm (he has never worked anywhere else in life, yet) and was posted in Coimbatore, under SN mama (that’s how my sis and I used to call him). Mohammed Arif (Mohd.) was the then driver to SN uncle. My dad only had this Vespa scooter then. So, whenever we needed to run an errand, or maybe rush us to the doc or some thing, we would call our dad at his office and Mohd uncle would be sent home for that purpose. That’s how we first got used to him. Our dad told us to call him Mohd 'uncle'. These errands were at least once a week and SN mama being a home-loving person, used to almost give away his car to us on evenings or weekends. We started getting to know Mohd better that way. After, maybe after a couple of years, I think all partners met and decided my dad became eligible to get a car of his own. Well, then he did not know how to drive. So, Mohd got us a driver, in the form of Azeez. I don’t remember to have ever liked him. I don’t know about the others, but I remember to have thought that had it been Mohd uncle in this situation, he would’ve acted like this, like that etc.

Soon after, SN mama was transferred to Chennai to take up a senior role in the Head Office. I think my sister and I were in primary school then. Mohd uncle became ours! Because the then junior partner, who came by to join my dad, knew to drive, and wanted to drive to work, himself.

That is where our journey began……..

Jul 15, 2008

Did I write this?

I'd actually written this in an older blog of mine - as some one out there said - quoting self is so much fun LOL

Glorification of the self will eventually lead to a better expression of thought and help me move beyond the realms of the self.

Whatever that means!

Nithi

My sister. She is off to the US to do her Masters next week. She was away from home for her undergrads too. I will miss her, bad.

She and I have been and still are at loggerheads for most of the issues that we happen to discuss. If we think we would both have the same opinion on something, we don’t discuss that at all. What’s the point? You get the drift. Our sole existence is to contradict each other.

But, she taught me fun. I am this, super-boring homosapien on earth. I never broke rules, never forgot homework, books, pencils, money, nothing. She always borrowed…I thought borrowing was below one’s pride. You admit that you failed (duh! Whoever gave me that idea?!). She thought it won you, friends. She always forgot. Every time she left for college, in a couple of days a parcel (huge or tiny) would follow from home, containing all things she left behind. This time, all of us have warned her that she will not get a parcel to the US.

She taught me how to shop. I excelled my teacher in the days to come, is a different matter. She demanded things, fought for her rights – against me, our mom and dad. She teased me till I cried for belonging to another family, after I got married. The fact that I still retain my maiden name professionally never bothers her. She disowned me. She probably still does. I vowed never to speak to her again some ten years back. She told me it was fun to shout “Kappathunga” (save me), when being driven back from school as if we were being kidnapped (poor Mohammed uncle, our driver – he used to sweat bullets!)

How I cried the last time, when she left for college after summer holidays, just before my wedding? She had finished all hers at home, but then I hadn’t broken down. I only consoled her. There she was, in Chennai Railway station, at her window seat and that’s when I burst out. All her friends had later told her, what a senti sis I was and what a b**** she was to not have responded. I liked that angle to it :-)

I don’t think I will cry this time, this weekend when I go visit her. I still don’t think we have grown apart or something. We still have our differences of opinions in some basic issues and I am sensing that’s why we aren’t like we were before. We still love to shop together – literally she’d shop till I drop. She is never tired……We still laugh at all our movies. They are ‘our movies’ because no one here at Sri’s enjoys it the whole-hearted way, we do. They need more humor. Bah! My sis and I could laugh our ass-off at things so silly…..most around us would only ponder why!

I would love to recall so many more things, love to keep on narrating, the fights we’ve had – that one where we were done with pillows, started hitting each other with hands and at one point were hanging from the side of the bed, the time when I was in teens, when she wasn’t yet, the way she was jealous of me…..when I grew jealous of her later, those days when she got her phone-calls when she was in her 3rd or 4th – oh so many more things. Fyi, I never got calls until I was in my secondary school. The way she exhibits a better taste in creative things, she being a better singer (way better), etc etc etc…..I think both of us share the same passion in only loving our dad…..we both love him, so very much.

Nithi holds a special place in my life. I still loathe her for her selfishness, rudeness and many a times condescending attitude to loads of people. She also finds many of my attributes objectionable. Heck! :-)

Not that we will not bump into each other again. It can’t happen like before, but. All said and done, she is my kutti sister. I will miss her around. I think I need to plan a vacation to South Carolina next.

Tata, bye-bye, see you, best of luck Nithi.

Oh, btw, Happy Birthday to you di....I know its tomorrow - but see naan dhaan first!

Jul 2, 2008

Romance and me

The title sounds like one of Mills & Boon’s romances. How many I used to read during those days, when all my friends had love-interests in their life (in their 10th, 11th and 12th standards!), and I, being one outcast that I was (read I am), would cuddle up with some romance like this and dream!

Even for being whatever I was, I remember to have tried to put off (what a big joke) some guys getting a little too friendly with me, telling them that I was interested in one of my cousin’s cousins and that he also felt the same way. I had also given the character a name and a qualification, MBA. Years later, I get to marry one (MBA, that is), is a different story altogether. Hell, suddenly all these guys were more eager to know about the love-angle of my life. They thought it was impossible for me to have such a thing. And to say, I kept them interested in my stories for close to 2 years is something. Isn’t it? I think I have been well qualified to direct a mega-serial and maybe I am destined to do one soon. LOL

Then comes the real twist to the story…..I vacation to my cousin’s place one summer and end up falling heads over heels for her cousin there (more about this, in coming posts) – just months after I reel this story out at school to keep those charming Romeos at bay. That helped me add details to the romance I never had, backed by the reams of imagination and fantasy filed in me from the M&Bs. I started something up, 6 months down the line I am smitten and fulfill my dreams with stories for another 18 months. And, I had one of the finest audiences one could ever have. Come to think of it, I think that’s why autobiographies sell. We are all nosey curious.

Believe it or not, I even conjured up a fitting break-up story to it, when I started finding one of my classmates more attractive than the character I’d created! How my friends sympathized!

Important Note: I am still friends with at least a couple of those guys from school and I know they don’t read my blog. But being as lucky as I am, I should only expect them to start exploring the blog world rightaway. If you are one of my school pals, then I sincerely apologize for taking you for a ride. But for that entertainment you sure owe me some money.