School Times #2 - Snapshots

The general scene when us gang of girls raids Anandha Bhavan which is our staple "treat" place be it buddays, end of eggjams or just a very boring day!! :)

Niranjan a.k.a Ninju and Rushi a.k.a Paddyman a.k.a The Giant Koala Bear.
Fellow Last Benchers, Perpetual Troublemakers, Partners in Crime and fully responsible for all entertainment in 12 A!!!

Sou, Ram n Me - Last Day at school. Freakish!! :D

Outside 12C classroom on the last day. Result of vetti roaming in corridors!! :)

Some of 12A with our much-adored vice-principal LS!!

The very same "fussiest english teacher on the planet"!! :)

Our awesome, "state-of-the-art" Chem Lab.

Holds a lot more than lab equipment and chemicals - more memories than I can remember reside here!! :) Esp. for me and vara.

Aaaand....Presenting, Class Teacher of 12A 2005-2006, KVKK a.k.a The Student Union Secretary of Pachaiyappa's College during his time!! (Reminding us every day of which, he takes immense pride and pleasure!!)
/*Read - "Ina da?? Ni porukki na, naa onnoda periya porukki!! Don't mess with me!! Onnoda theory paper liye kaiya vechiduven!!" :)) */
Attendance each morning - a pain and a necessary evil!! :D

Top Up, Topped Up, Topping Up!!!

Following is an e-mail my friend sent to Hutch in the aftermath of "gross negligence" in their part!! Read on!!

-----Original Message-----
From: Shravan Srinivas
Sent: Wednesday, April 19, 2006 12:30 AM
To: ALEX MENDES
Cc: G.Dhananjayan
Subject: My Miserable Experience!

It started out when I headed back home from Manipal, Karnataka to
Coimbatore. I have a number from Manipal, 9886480614. Upon calling
customer care there in Manipal, they said I can topup in Coimbatore as
Hutch is now in Tamil Nadu. So, upon coming here, I bought topups worth
Rs. 60/- ( rs 30 + rs 30) and tried topping up! But the codes didn't
work here. I came to the Hutch office and they told me it was not
possible to topup from Tamil Nadu while Karnataka Customer Care told me
exactly the opposite. So, later, I called up Karnataka Customer care
from my landline ( num: 9886098860 ) and asked them what the problem of
topping up from Tamil Nadu was. They still said there wasn't any problem
and I should try a 'validity recharge' as topping up may have 'server
problems', he also added that I could call Karnataka Customer care FREE
of cost from my Hutch Karnataka number even though it was on roaming,
which i did later and lost the last rs. 3/- of my balance! My balance
being zero on the Manipal number and me having no option ( as all my
friends in Manipal too, have left for their study leave ), I bought a
new SIM card. Upon asking the shop keeper, he told me that is was the
'College Scheme'. I went ahead and bought the number 9843971347 and
topped it up, while submitting the required documents at the BPL / HUTCH
office, I did ask them to activate me as the 'College Plan'.


So now using the previous topup I had bought from you to recharge my
Manipal number, I topped the new number up happily assuming it was
anyway valid by default for 10 days as it was in the college special
scheme. When I rang up your customer care, to my rude shock, they told
me that the validity by default on the sim wasn't 10 days, but seven
days! They said I was in a Basic Plan and I could change to the "campus
plan" if I wished now. Upon arguing (that I asked the shop keeper for
the "college plan"), the customer care promptly told me that it was the
"Campus Plan" and not college plan. He furthur went on to tell me that
I should've looked for 'specially marked' packs which said "CAMPUS
PLAN". Im here for 10 days, and now after all this HUNGAMA, I only get
the TN sim for 7 days! Even then, I kept my cool and asked them if I
could exchange balance for validity, to which they replied the offer
wasn't there in Tamil Nadu! So, now if I've got to make the card work
for the remaining 3 days, I've got to recharge for rs.150/- as thats the
least denomination that gives any validity!

I have been cheated, exploited and mentally harassed by your staff,
retailers and customer cares lack of knowledge and plain INDIFFERENCE!.
I was cheated when:

- Karnataka Customer care told me I could top up using cards pruchased
in TN and later tell me to buy 'validity cards' because they 'think'
that the later might work! - what do they 'think', that I grow money on
trees!!! And if I did, you'd probably be in court by now!

- I asked for the College Plan - Am I god to know the difference between
College and Campus. If you've done your marketting right I think you
will read that "Customer is GOD". It wasnt my fault that I asked for it,
you bloody retailer should've had the courtesy to tell me that the SIM
didnt come with the CAMPUS plan and it was the tariff that I could
change later! As far as I'm concerened, all colleges have campuses! And
the plan too bloody well!

I would like you to at any cost give me the three extra days of
validity i.e. till the 28 of April.

And Hutch's Reply:

Dear Mr.Shravan Srinivas,

This has reference to your email dated 19/04/06 and the subsequent
discussion you had with our Executive, Mr.Movin regarding the extension
of your talk time validity.


We thank you for your valuable feedback and deeply regret the
inconvenience caused to you. Based on your feedback, we have extended
the validity by 3days - from 25-April06 to 28-April06 for mobile number
9843971347.


Trust this meets your requirement. We appreciate this chance to be of
service to you. In case you need further assistance, please do call or
email us. We'll do our best to assist you in any way possible.

Warm regards,
Usha Nandhini
Customer Service

:)

Ars Poetica - Updated

I've updated my poetry blog. Those interested can read it here!!!

School Times #1 - English Essays

*Click To Enlarge Images*

1. Half-Yearly Exam - Speech by "Vikas" on Economically Backward Children - 9/10. Result of which were several euphoric minutes after receiving paper.


2. Revision Exam - Essay on Globalisation: 5/6 and a good from LS. Who btw is the fussiest english teacher on the planet. Good from her is beyond Cloud Nine.


Unforgettable, these!!

Warm Days, Then And Now

It is a warm and sultry day. You know. One of those days, on which you just want to curl up with some book and some cold juice. Or maybe invite some friends over and watch a movie. Today, it was déjà vu.

She remembered the warm days then. Days when paati* used to have big bottles of rasna in the fridge. When papa soaked her with cold water from the garden hosepipe. When her mom made her drink elaneer** everyday!

She remembered the hot, dusty terrace where paati and she would put out the vadam*** to dry. And mangoes! There would mangoes or mango milk shake for desert everyday at lunch. She remembered thinking that her mom made “the bestest mango shake in the universe”!!

And today was just like so many of those days in the past. There was rasna and mangoes in the fridge, vadam on the terrace and elaneer in the kitchen. She’s smiling to herself now, realizing how much these small things mean to her. :)

________________________
*paati - granmom!! :)
**elaneer - coconut water
***vadam - home-made crispies that you fry and eat

Happy Birthday Freakspace!!

Exactly one year and three days ago, Freakspace was born with the sole intention of torturing the daylights out of both the author and readers alike!! :)


A Very Belated First Birthday to Freakspace!! It's been a great place to vent, to share and to FREAK!!

P.S: I really wish that cake was real! :P

Church Bells

In an expanse of bare land, there stood a beautiful chapel. On entering it, one could feel that every pew and aisle was full of prayer. It was here that a kind priest served. His faith in God and in his fellow beings afforded him that rare kindness, a little of which he had for everyone.

One fine day, there came at his doorstep a little orphan boy, poor and hungry. The priest fed and watered him and told him that he could stay and work at the church if he liked. And so the boy did. He would ring the church bell after every mass and at every fourth hour. Many such happy years passed. The once little boy was now a young man who knew nothing else but to ring the church bell as he had done in days of yore.

The priest, now old and weary, retired from his services to the lord. His successor, on finding an uneducated young man in residence ordered him to leave the church at once. He had no place for people who couldn’t read and write. Giving the young man a small sum to live off, he bid him farewell.

Having been turned out of the only job he knew, he wandered in search of something to do. Soon, he felt pangs of hunger. Looking around, he saw miles and miles of dusty, brown land but not a place he could rest his tired self and have a spot of lunch. And so he walked until he came to a wayward village bakery. While eating, he mused that it was indeed a tiresome task for churchgoers to walk this enormous distance and back without refreshment.

It struck him that he might buy some stuff from the bakery and start shop at a reasonable distance from the church. This enterprise of his turned into a flourishing business. Soon he expanded his little shop and in time he was a prosperous restaurateur and owner of a chain of eateries. Being somewhat a noteworthy public figure, banks soon flocked to him in search of prospective patronage.

During one such rendezvous, a banker expressed his absolute shock at the fact that such a vastly successful man was uneducated. He said, “Sir! If you are this successful without any education, imagine what you would’ve be doing if you were learned!”

The man said nothing. At the sound of distant church bells ringing, he just smiled and said, “I would’ve been ringing church bells.”

A Transition

It feels different. Sort of weird – like I’ve somehow suspended the reality of a few weeks before. Like these next couple of months are just a “phase” and I’ll revert back to the comfort of that reality. It just dawned that it wasn’t to be.

Doesn’t seem like I’ve left school. As if I’ll go back to it again someday in June. Reopening day. :) Half-day, new timetable, new class teacher, new benches, new windows to look out of, new books to mug up. It’ll still be all those things. Just in a very, very different scenario. College. Someplace in the middle of nowhere or someplace right here at home. The word of the day is uncertainty.

I’m just thinking out loud. A week since the boards ended and I haven’t called a single friend. To chat, to reminisce together, to groan about impending CETs, to tell them I’ll miss them so and that we should keep in touch no matter what and “be friends forever”.

I feel bad about that. Nights this last week, have been filled with conversations, good and bad times, free periods (read gossip sessions) and mostly, thoughts of my friends. Even though I miss them sorely, I don’t know why I can’t bring myself to call them up. May be it’s the feeling that the conversation won’t go beyond bitsat, tnpcee, aieee etc. I don’t know. Don’t know if it’s just me, but things are getting really strange.

That I might have lost my best friend doesn’t help. I’m not feeling really great. For all that talk of leaving school, growing up, and moving on into college, responsibility and adulthood, I’m not feeling great.