Ek choti si train yatra .. (A short train journey)

2-3 years back I got Add Request in Linkedin.com, Not sure who the person is I accepted the request thinking will find out later who the person is. But soon I forgot about it. Then after few months I got a message in my linkedin mail from this same person wishing me on my Birthday.( My bday is not visible in any of yje networking sites) Little curious I thought of checking out details of the person, for I was sure that I have not worked with him in any organization before.

Vivek, from USA, ... still no clue, and how come he knows my bday ? Still curious checking his profile snap again ….. and a faint familiarity and in a flash (and flashback ) I remembered who Vivek was ! And I just could not believe that somebody who had met me only once that too almost 13-14 years back , found me out in Linked in and remembered to wish me on my bday after all these years !

Thangamani ….

Don’t remember how many years back it was , atleast 5 years back when I had been to my ancestral home at Angamaly after a long gap. It’s a small village around 3-4 kms from Angamaly which once upon a time was very beautiful place with paddy fields and coconut grooves all over. Lot of childhood memories attached to this place. In last 15 years lat of things changed after the International airport came there and people stopped cultivation and real estate soared up high. And in last 15 years my visits also reduced drastically ….

So it usually for some family get together that we go now once in 1-2 years and 5 yrs back also it was similar visit , sitting at my Granddad’s kitchen having some tea and snacks and talk in general , when I happen to see a lady who reminded me of one lean, fragile lady always chewing Betel leaf in her 30’s  ‘Thangamani chechi’ from my childhood days who used to work in our grandfather’s paddy field and during the harvest season would lead the other workers and manage cooking of lunch for them at home. Getting curious I asked my Aunt pointing at the lady ‘ Is she related to Thangamani  Chechi ?’ My Aunt little surprised that I remembered Thangamani – Called the lady Geetha – and introduced me to her ‘Geetha is Thangamani’s daughter’ …

I looked at her closely and she was just replica of her mother Thangamani minus the red lips (which was because of chewing of Betel leaf) Happy to see her I asked where is Thangamani Chechi (I thought probably she is too old to work now) Geetha then told that Thangamani died previous year , she had cancer …… Oh ….  Not  knowing what to say … there was silence for few moments , then Geetha asked, ‘you remember Amma ?’ I smiled at her and nodded ….  How can I forget Thangamani with the coarse voice, who when I was a child 12-13 years old gave me my first and I guess the only experience in getting down in a Paddy field full of water and slush, asking me to pull my pyjamas up, handing me the paddy saplings, asking me to watch her plant them in the slush and making me do the same, while I watched small crabs running all around the field and few over my feet , wondering how come they don’t bite , and how cool the mud and whole experience of being on field is …. … Cancer ….. hope she did not suffer much …..

One Rainy day . …

Jannamma (68 yr old), our house help and Ezekiel’s caretaker was about to finish her work for the day when it started raining , initially it was drizzle so she continued doing whatever work she was doing outside , but by the time all her work was done and she was all set to leave it started raining heavy . I asked her to wait till it stopped raining , she not having an umbrella and we having just one umbrella which could not have been spared then, decided to wait …. 

Living Single - Pavitra

10 years back I met Pavitra at office. In her early 40’s then she was in a senior technical role in one of the technical departments, my initial interaction with her were very minimal. Things changed after 3-4 months and Pavitra  and I  got to work together directly with one of the clients. Though in the same project we were handling 2 different streams and again were independently working. It was almost after 1month of working in this project that Pavitra started discussing the problems she was facing dealing with the client team – getting information was difficult, they were not open to suggestion/feedbacks, and if she had any doubts to be clarified they wont take that as priority – I thought even I was having similar problems so its not just me who felt miserable :) And so we started talking more and often discussed project issues.

Moving On - Sumitra

Sumitra – in her mid 20s , expert in her technical field. She was technical consultant in one of my projects in Trivandrum and I was not sure if her inclusion in team would make some of the guys insecure, for she was younger than most of the team members and was suppose to review their work. My first meeting with her , I told her about the project in brief and the team in little detail, and introduced her to the team. She was little conscious/cautious meeting with the team, and soon I realised, she was very level headed and took everybody along , and I was lucky to have her in the team. The project was very stressful and hectic and Sumitra who’s base location was Banglore (which was my concern , as people get homesick and want to go back as early as possible) used to  travel once in a while to Bangalore during weekends.

Trapped ....

Couple of weeks back, monsoon was almost there and it had rained a little the previous night and early morning. That particular day it had not rained much , and evening I decided to go for a leisurely walk since we were in Ala (a small place near chenganoor) where the roads are flat, there are lot of fields (though not much cultivation happens) and trees and greenery all around, and after rains it is even more greener and fresher … 

The footwear (slippers) which I was wearing was not the right one for the long leisurely walk and after 10-15 mins walk I removed my slippers and holding it in my hands I continued walking , looking around and observing birds and squirrel chirping and running around , and then suddenly I saw something trapped in the net which was put over a well so to keep away leaves or anything falling into the well … I walked by and then thinking what was struggling , I realized it was a l squirrel … I walked back and looked carefully , it was indeed a squirrel , struggling hard to get free. The gate was wide open and the front door was open, I entered the gate and called ‘Anybody there’ … no response , i called out couple of times still no response …

Then I thought about it …. When ever squirrel sees a danger , say a cat or any other animal or bird which can be probable threat to squirrel or other smaller animals around it shouts and makes a peculiar sound … anytime I hear squirrel squeaks in a particular way and I know it has seen something moving around …. But did not understand when it was in danger why didn’t it squeak for help ….  

I looked around to see if there was anything which I could use to help the squirrel get out … , by this time squirrel had managed to get its head out of the net … and somehow managed to squeeze throught the small opening and fell into the well … and I thought ‘End of the story’ from a small trap to big well, Khatam ho jayega  ….  I peeped down , it was a deep well , saw that it swam and tried climbing the concrete rims of the well but could not succeed much …  still I tried to look out for a long stick to branch around the backyard of the house …. I could get nothing …. Again I came back and saw the squirrel was sitting on the concrete rim down below ….. guess trying to catch some breath …  I watched it for few minutes and left the place, continued my walk ….  Somehow had a feeling that it will manage …..

Security is mostly superstition. It does not exist in nature…Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold. – Helen Keller

Fazal …. Grace

I met Fazal last october at the local market …  He a fruit vendor like other vendors comes everyday early morning in his ‘petti auto’ sets up the fruits and stays there till 11 am. I, had been purchasing vegetables and fish , from this market for more than 5  years (I knew most of the vendors but kept her distance from most of them) So when I saw new fruit vendor, I decided to check, it was season of Orange and I asked him – ‘how much orange?’ 40Rs per Kilo replied Fazal .. reasonable I thought , ‘Ok , give me a kilo, but please do not put very big and green oranges’ I said … Fazal picked one and then smiled and said …’ You can pick which ever you want’ ….

Mathiri Aunty

Annie  came to know Mathiri aunty few years back, when she came across Ad in newspaper under Buy/Sell section for 2 wheelers. She called up and went to see the vehicle where she met Mr. Joseph and when the deal was finalized she came to know Mrs Joseph – Mathiri Aunty. Annie build up a very good rapport with them and once in a while visited them having great time talking, discussing current events. Joseph uncle did most of the talking while Mathiri aunty kept her grace and clam and spoke whenever necessary. Annie found Mathiri aunty very approachable and sensible, Mathiri aunty was well educated, had something similar to  Dietian’s  job in Bombay before she got married, was well travelled , Tech savvy (Mr. Joseph was lagging far behind) she was good in speaking English and Hindi and was very practical in all the things she did (atleast when Annie was around )

Chotu ….

‘Chotu – Mehmano ko unka kmara dikhana ‘ (Chotu – show the room to the guests) said our host to the house help – I was busy getting our luggage inside the guest house. Madam leave it I will ask Chotu to get it in your room said our (home stay)host  Kanwar. I thanked him, went towards my room with one of the bags I put the first bag in when Chotu came lifting by Backpack and then I saw Chotu , a little taller than the backpack, probably 11-12 years old ! ‘ Arey arey chodo, ye bag mein uthaa loongi, chotu aap ye saare kaam kartey ho kya ?!’ ( Leave the bag Chotu, I will carry, you do all this heavy work is it?) Chotu grinned and nodded ….

Teen Deviyan ....

Happen to read a forward written by Chetan Bhagat on Working Women. I instantly clicked the ‘Like’ button for I found it very relevant in my life. Basically he had mentioned that his Mother worked for 40 yrs, his wife is COO of some bank, and he does not expect her to do cooking cleaning at home as they have outsourced those work. I could relate to everything he had mentioned and liked the facts given on how working women are exposed to better things in life and should not be wasting their energy in the daily struggles of managing things at home ….. It was only after sometime of thinking over it that I realised that I am no COO and nor is my husband a celebrity writer … So are millions of working Women/Couple ….. My this post is about 3 very ordinary women , 3 Vineetha’s I know , yes coincidentally all 3 of them have same name !

Fate ......



Last year's train journey Blr-Tvm :)

Last Saturday I along with Kids got into train from Thiruvalla @ 3:45 pm The expected time to reach Trivandrum was around 6:15 pm. The train was crowded , and luckily we got place to sit as a Lady with her 2 grown up daughters were getting down at the next station and seeing me carrying Ezekiel , she offered me seat saying she is getting down soon. I pushed our bag on the rack on top and managed to sit with kids both on my lap.Then I glanced around – there were 3 Guys sitting opposite seat and all of them were reading rather studying , I looked at the adjacent seats similar seen around 4 guys were studying … Was curious to know what are they all studying for and then saw common 3 letters NET/UGC .. Exam which I had tried cracking 10 years back with absolutely no preparation ! :D