A Glimpse of Life - On a Rear-View Mirror!!

I was seated in the Corporation park outside Ampa Skywalk in Aminjikarai – flanked by the massive mall on one side and the terrific traffic of the Poonamallee High Road on the other. In the middle of the sea of chaos, I had found my island of solitude.

Kinda frustrated with the chain of events on that day, I just decided to relax over a plastic-cup of Chukku kaapi. I took the small plastic cup filled with that piping hot and spicy beverage, and sat on the bench in the park.

The park stood apart from the surroundings – not because of the landscape but because of the mood – A couple of couples, and a couple of parents with kids, just restricting their world to a maximum of a meter radius around them.

In all this, I saw a li’l girl leaving the hold of her parent to give some company to a forsaken slide in the middle of the park – I was wondering how it was right before my eyes, and my mind never caught it. The kid patiently climbed over the ladder, sat on the plane of the slide, and came down sliding!

Then I saw it…something that I’d not seen in long…that unadulterated smile born out of that little joy. My mind made a small time-travel – there was a time when I just wouldn’t spare any slide, and it was, like for any other parent, tough for mine to get me off it! Now I’m sitting in the park with that once-my-addiction in front of me, and it wouldn’t strike my mind that it was in front of my eyes!

Immersed in these thoughts I was, well-fueled by that ray of silence in a spectrum of noises, until a bunch of boys came in to conquer the park. From the speed, and from the crudity of the speed, from their style of speaking and from their language, I can easily tell that they are typical last-benchers of some school. What they spoke was the Chennai-Tamil-equivalent of those ‘beep’s you hear in MTV Roadies.

But who cares? In spite of all this, they were above me in something…their josh, their energy! I did not have it! In a li’l time, they started organizing a game…I could not figure out the rules, but it was orderly, by some strange way. They started running around, raising small sand-storms, much to the irritation of the couples and parents.

Undisturbed in all these, was that li’l kid who was playing on the slide. She’d gathered company now: another small boy. They were taking turns to slide down ; sometimes they were bold enough to climb up on the slide, and slide down stomach-flat!

As I’d shifted focus from the boys to the kids, something stimulated my olfactory senses – it took me only moments to realize it was a disgusting smell: the stink a body drenched in sweat. I could hear someone panting behind me. It was one of those boys, hiding behind me. The droplets of sweat, for some reason, started to gleam in the lights of Skywalk. The force of the stink was beginning to disappear. I bet he was 10 times more tired than me, utterly exhausted, but he was at least a hundred times more energetic than me, all charged up. His eyes were twinkling, fixed, sniper-scope-sharp.

I was just beginning to think about what he would have been looking. He sprang up and charged upon someone – he was faster than my thoughts. Just as he dashed past me, a droplet of sweat from him just landed on skin over my phalanges. The chill in that drop broke me off my thoughts for a moment…and a moment bit too long.

I did not want to become philosophical again. Being a subtle camera-stalker, I thought I’ll take a pic of those kids playing in the slide. I took my bag, went near the slide, thinking that shoot one as one of them slides down. The slide was at my shoulder-level at the highest spot. The last sane memories of me having been near a slide – I was not even half the height!

I silently ditched my thought to click a pic and walked towards the gate. The happenings that were close to me in that park were now too far – just a few meters away! I shot a last look back at the scenes – the two kids still on the slides and the boys playing with the same energy – just that the scene was hazed by the sandstorm of their feet!

I began thinking – when was the last time I found joy in a small thing like a slide? When was the last time I played a game out of nowhere? When was the last time I ran for no reason with unattenuated energy? I went as far as I could (I even thought of my Facebook timeline!) but could not find an answer. I tried my best to think further…

..but before even I could recognize, I was in the middle of that bustle of the city again! All the images before my mind’s eyes just crumbled down at the hard hit of reality! What could I do? Nothing!! Nothing at all!! I knew it…but it’s fine! It was just those insightful moments that mattered!

I got in to a bus, lucky enough to get enough space to stand near the door! The bus passed by Skywalk, and the last thing I remember - those set of kids enjoying a world I know for sure I don’t have a chance!! I got a seat…I sat down, took out my tablet, and I started to play Angry Birds!! Amazing life isn’t it!!?! !

A Glimpse of Life - On a Rear-View Mirror!!

I was seated in the Corporation park outside Ampa Skywalk in Aminjikarai – flanked by the massive mall on one side and the terrific traffic of the Poonamallee High Road on the other. In the middle of the sea of chaos, I had found my island of solitude.

Kinda frustrated with the chain of events on that day, I just decided to relax over a plastic-cup of Chukku kaapi. I took the small plastic cup filled with that piping hot and spicy beverage, and sat on the bench in the park.

The park stood apart from the surroundings – not because of the landscape but because of the mood – A couple of couples, and a couple of parents with kids, just restricting their world to a maximum of a meter radius around them.

In all this, I saw a li’l girl leaving the hold of her parent to give some company to a forsaken slide in the middle of the park – I was wondering how it was right before my eyes, and my mind never caught it. The kid patiently climbed over the ladder, sat on the plane of the slide, and came down sliding!

Then I saw it…something that I’d not seen in long…that unadulterated smile born out of that little joy. My mind made a small time-travel – there was a time when I just wouldn’t spare any slide, and it was, like for any other parent, tough for mine to get me off it! Now I’m sitting in the park with that once-my-addiction in front of me, and it wouldn’t strike my mind that it was in front of my eyes!

Immersed in these thoughts I was, well-fueled by that ray of silence in a spectrum of noises, until a bunch of boys came in to conquer the park. From the speed, and from the crudity of the speed, from their style of speaking and from their language, I can easily tell that they are typical last-benchers of some school. What they spoke was the Chennai-Tamil-equivalent of those ‘beep’s you hear in MTV Roadies.

But who cares? In spite of all this, they were above me in something…their josh, their energy! I did not have it! In a li’l time, they started organizing a game…I could not figure out the rules, but it was orderly, by some strange way. They started running around, raising small sand-storms, much to the irritation of the couples and parents.

Undisturbed in all these, was that li’l kid who was playing on the slide. She’d gathered company now: another small boy. They were taking turns to slide down ; sometimes they were bold enough to climb up on the slide, and slide down stomach-flat!

As I’d shifted focus from the boys to the kids, something stimulated my olfactory senses – it took me only moments to realize it was a disgusting smell: the stink a body drenched in sweat. I could hear someone panting behind me. It was one of those boys, hiding behind me. The droplets of sweat, for some reason, started to gleam in the lights of Skywalk. The force of the stink was beginning to disappear. I bet he was 10 times more tired than me, utterly exhausted, but he was at least a hundred times more energetic than me, all charged up. His eyes were twinkling, fixed, sniper-scope-sharp.

I was just beginning to think about what he would have been looking. He sprang up and charged upon someone – he was faster than my thoughts. Just as he dashed past me, a droplet of sweat from him just landed on skin over my phalanges. The chill in that drop broke me off my thoughts for a moment…and a moment bit too long.

I did not want to become philosophical again. Being a subtle camera-stalker, I thought I’ll take a pic of those kids playing in the slide. I took my bag, went near the slide, thinking that shoot one as one of them slides down. The slide was at my shoulder-level at the highest spot. The last sane memories of me having been near a slide – I was not even half the height!

I silently ditched my thought to click a pic and walked towards the gate. The happenings that were close to me in that park were now too far – just a few meters away! I shot a last look back at the scenes – the two kids still on the slides and the boys playing with the same energy – just that the scene was hazed by the sandstorm of their feet!

I began thinking – when was the last time I found joy in a small thing like a slide? When was the last time I played a game out of nowhere? When was the last time I ran for no reason with unattenuated energy? I went as far as I could (I even thought of my Facebook timeline!) but could not find an answer. I tried my best to think further…

..but before even I could recognize, I was in the middle of that bustle of the city again! All the images before my mind’s eyes just crumbled down at the hard hit of reality! What could I do? Nothing!! Nothing at all!! I knew it…but it’s fine! It was just those insightful moments that mattered!

I got in to a bus, lucky enough to get enough space to stand near the door! The bus passed by Skywalk, and the last thing I remember - those set of kids enjoying a world I know for sure I don’t have a chance!! I got a seat…I sat down, took out my tablet, and I started to play Angry Birds!! Amazing life isn’t it!!?! !

A Glimpse of Life - On a Rear-View Mirror!!

I was seated in the Corporation park outside Ampa Skywalk in Aminjikarai – flanked by the massive mall on one side and the terrific traffic of the Poonamallee High Road on the other. In the middle of the sea of chaos, I had found my island of solitude.

Kinda frustrated with the chain of events on that day, I just decided to relax over a plastic-cup of Chukku kaapi. I took the small plastic cup filled with that piping hot and spicy beverage, and sat on the bench in the park.

The park stood apart from the surroundings – not because of the landscape but because of the mood – A couple of couples, and a couple of parents with kids, just restricting their world to a maximum of a meter radius around them.

In all this, I saw a li’l girl leaving the hold of her parent to give some company to a forsaken slide in the middle of the park – I was wondering how it was right before my eyes, and my mind never caught it. The kid patiently climbed over the ladder, sat on the plane of the slide, and came down sliding!

Then I saw it…something that I’d not seen in long…that unadulterated smile born out of that little joy. My mind made a small time-travel – there was a time when I just wouldn’t spare any slide, and it was, like for any other parent, tough for mine to get me off it! Now I’m sitting in the park with that once-my-addiction in front of me, and it wouldn’t strike my mind that it was in front of my eyes!

Immersed in these thoughts I was, well-fueled by that ray of silence in a spectrum of noises, until a bunch of boys came in to conquer the park. From the speed, and from the crudity of the speed, from their style of speaking and from their language, I can easily tell that they are typical last-benchers of some school. What they spoke was the Chennai-Tamil-equivalent of those ‘beep’s you hear in MTV Roadies.

But who cares? In spite of all this, they were above me in something…their josh, their energy! I did not have it! In a li’l time, they started organizing a game…I could not figure out the rules, but it was orderly, by some strange way. They started running around, raising small sand-storms, much to the irritation of the couples and parents.

Undisturbed in all these, was that li’l kid who was playing on the slide. She’d gathered company now: another small boy. They were taking turns to slide down ; sometimes they were bold enough to climb up on the slide, and slide down stomach-flat!

As I’d shifted focus from the boys to the kids, something stimulated my olfactory senses – it took me only moments to realize it was a disgusting smell: the stink a body drenched in sweat. I could hear someone panting behind me. It was one of those boys, hiding behind me. The droplets of sweat, for some reason, started to gleam in the lights of Skywalk. The force of the stink was beginning to disappear. I bet he was 10 times more tired than me, utterly exhausted, but he was at least a hundred times more energetic than me, all charged up. His eyes were twinkling, fixed, sniper-scope-sharp.

I was just beginning to think about what he would have been looking. He sprang up and charged upon someone – he was faster than my thoughts. Just as he dashed past me, a droplet of sweat from him just landed on skin over my phalanges. The chill in that drop broke me off my thoughts for a moment…and a moment bit too long.

I did not want to become philosophical again. Being a subtle camera-stalker, I thought I’ll take a pic of those kids playing in the slide. I took my bag, went near the slide, thinking that shoot one as one of them slides down. The slide was at my shoulder-level at the highest spot. The last sane memories of me having been near a slide – I was not even half the height!

I silently ditched my thought to click a pic and walked towards the gate. The happenings that were close to me in that park were now too far – just a few meters away! I shot a last look back at the scenes – the two kids still on the slides and the boys playing with the same energy – just that the scene was hazed by the sandstorm of their feet!

I began thinking – when was the last time I found joy in a small thing like a slide? When was the last time I played a game out of nowhere? When was the last time I ran for no reason with unattenuated energy? I went as far as I could (I even thought of my Facebook timeline!) but could not find an answer. I tried my best to think further…

..but before even I could recognize, I was in the middle of that bustle of the city again! All the images before my mind’s eyes just crumbled down at the hard hit of reality! What could I do? Nothing!! Nothing at all!! I knew it…but it’s fine! It was just those insightful moments that mattered!

I got in to a bus, lucky enough to get enough space to stand near the door! The bus passed by Skywalk, and the last thing I remember - those set of kids enjoying a world I know for sure I don’t have a chance!! I got a seat…I sat down, took out my tablet, and I started to play Angry Birds!! Amazing life isn’t it!!?! !

Kaiyendhi Bhavans - The Real Taste Of Chennai

The city of Chennai - the entity responsible for that stellar spot that you see in the light-map of South India. It's a place after my own heart, and it's my own hearth. It's late night per normal standards, but it's never too late in a city like Chennai!

KathieePara Junction grade separator - the marvelous piece of engineering that heralds the grandeur of Chennai City to those coming from down-south or from the airport. A beautiful clover leaf for a bird's eye, a scintillating array of lights for a person crossing the place and the rounding paths that thrill a rider encountering the flyovers. Standing proud in its north-east side is Le Royal Meridien, a name not so unknown in the hospitality industry. A pacifying landscape and greenery that welcomes you, the fountains that greet you before the smart security-officer and the subtly sexy receptionist do - all these, along with that scrumptious spread of dishes on their buffet - add to its appeal to both the eyes and the tongue.

A small street runs beside this, utterly dwarfed by the magnificence of the architecture right beside it. In the corner of the street, oblivious to all the buzz happening inside the Meridien premises, the dances to the trances in Flame Le Club is a cart-shop. Barely grabbing the eye in the buzz of the activities around, the shop, with a few scattered utensils and a few kerosene-stoves, is surrounded by buckets of water. The shop is illuminated by a battery-powered lamp and the steam emerging from the vessels gives a ghostly haze to the anthropoid figures in the background.

This dismal setup can be so deceiving that a person unfamiliar to the galores of that food-joint would miss the most exquisite, tongue-tantalizing, yummiest and yet wallet-friendly cuisine of Chennai. And this is just one of the many thousands of such cart-food-joints that (both figuratively and literally) cater to the rural population of Chennai and people who have a palette for authentic roadside Tamil food. This is the world of cart-restaurants, fondly addressed by the locals as kaiyendhibhavan!

The one that I've referred to is my all-time favorite - it's got a good range on the menu. Parotas with Kurma (Salna or Saerva is it's known here), Idly, Dosas, Beef Curry and Briyani. What more can I ask for when I'm famished after a day's work and roaming?

These do serve other meals of the day as well. On a busy weekday morning, you won't be surprised to find a business-formal-clad man share the premises of such a hotel with a daily laborer - it's the same taste after all - we all love Idly, Vada, Sambar and Chutney...and not to mention the dosai, masala dosai, muttai dosai, rava dosai, podi dosai, kal dosai..all variants of a single dish!

The joints boast of a lavish lunch-spread too! A veggie place will offer no less than three curries viz. Sambar, Vathal Kuzhambu, Rasam and Moar...and non-veg joints, in addition to briyani, will have two varieties of non-veg curry in addition to the veggie selections!

Kaiyendhi bhavans hold a significant place in pop-culture; in many movies, they've been extolled for capturing the taste and feel of an average Chennai-ite! You can see them scattered all over the city – some stand out near important junctions and some lay hidden insignificantly in street-corners. The tastes, nevertheless, are always awesome irrespective of the location.

I know people who will talk about hygiene and risk of contraacting cholera and all such stuff...even Kaaka (crow) briyani scams that might happen in these places – thanks to Chinna Kalaivaanar Vivek who brought this up in one of his conedy-runs. However, from my experience with these places spanning over ten years, I've never encountered any bad experience that has bashed up my bowels. This statement covers all the roadside food-joints including but not limited to Pani Puri, Mutton Soup, Samosas, Bajji/Bonda...and much more!

I may have dined in different elite restaurants in different cities...but as a foodie savage and unpolished, none of these fine dining experiences can even come close to showing the true colors of my crude gluttony at one of these prized kaiyendhi bhavans!

And the above words are thoughts stimulated by the taste-buds of a true Chennai-foodie!!

Are you a Photographer??

You know you are a photographer when:

1) You are asked to name a medieval-age artillery and you write “Canon.”

2) In a conversation, someone says 'Focus' and you can actually empathize with what it means.

3) Algebra is no longer that easy, because 3X and 5X do not mean the same anymore as they used to.

4) The first thing that comes to your mind when someone asks 'What's your new-year resolution?' is 'Hmm... maybe 12.1 Megapixels'

5) You see 'frames' instead of 'sceneries' when you visit places.

6) People talk about a rated film saying 'too much exposure' and you can't think of the actress shedding clothes, but only over-brightness.

7) You key in 'f' on your browser and Flickr is ahead of Facebook.

8) The pictures you clicked are your desktop backgrounds.

9) Others see a sexy girl and think 36 24 36 and you think 50mm, f/2.8 and 1/250 seconds.

10) You no longer consider 270mm as a small distance.

11) Your camera kit eventually becomes heavier than your clothes, but still feels light.

12) You start arguing with someone on the supremacy of Nikon over Canon, or vice versa.

13) You've read all the above points and are wondering, "is there something I could add to this??"

At the tail end, it's small yet cute fur of thank you's to all the people who got me in to photography, the people who gave me the push to stay aloft, and the people who make my occasional models, my vacation-mates and my critics, and the people who give me that much-needed nudge to tell me that there are a coupl' o' lenses in my eyes too!!!

Leisure - Of this Day and Age!!!

One poem that always manages to send a wave of regret when I think over my life, the minuscule scintillations that could have been beautiful bokehs, the small joy that could have intensified in to an evergreen memory is the one that starts:

What is this life if full of care?

We have no time to stand and stare!

The one and only 'Leisure' - a masterpiece by William Henry Davies, a futuristic practically emotional work of his age.

When I think of how much the world has changed since the days of Davies, I thought I'll give my rendition of his work. With the most deserving respect to the greats in the field of literature, this mere mortal also pleads for forgiveness if I've inflicted any damage to the language.

The first one is for the most common elite employee of today, at least in my life - a software engineer:

What is this life if full of care
My work does not give me a minute to spare

No time to address the client's woes
And put up with the manager and the deadline he throws

No time to see when the woods we pass
Where I can do booze and smoke some grass

No time to see (?) broad daylight
When I enter so early and leave late in the night

No time to turn at beauty's glance
And develop it in to proper romance

No time to wait till her mouth can
Finish those swearings that her eyes began

A poor life, this, if full of care.
It's so much like a buggy software!

____________________________________________________________________

The second one is for the epitomes of beauty, and this also goes as a dedication to all my style-savvy gal pals. With no offence meant to feminists or their emotions, these lines below are for the modern day woman:

What is this life is full of care
I don't have the time to do my hair

No time to shape my sleek eyebrows
And walk in those new sexy stilettos

No time to look at mirrors when I pass
Where I can casually check my lip gloss

No time to try, in broad daylight,
The pair of shades bought of my boyfriend's plight

No time to turn at beauty's glance
At that figure and shape I don't have a chance.

No time to wait till her mouth can
Acknowledge the J that her eyes began

A poor life this, if full of care
Is a wardrobe, yet nothing to wear!

____________________________________________________________________

Just my possibly futile attempts in being the WH Davies of today! I'll pat myself on my back if I've succeeded even at a 'negligible yet non-zero positive' level. If this has triggered words that ca be only expressed as symbols like &$# and * on a public forum, please feel free to do so, but direct it at my inbox!!!

What is this life!? I don't make the most!
But still have time to write this blog-post!!

On the right track - My Experience with the Chennai Suburban Railway

I had to write about a special entity, that I had been experiencing since my childhood, had been integral part of my life in my college days, and after a two-year break, back with the same intensity and radiance.

For anyone who is in need of traversing the spinal cord of Chennai, the suburban electric units are the way to travel. Ripping past the toughest traffic -epicenters of the city and the suburbs, these trains can take you to the terminals from where you can efficiently shift to different modes of transport. As a matter of fact, I am writing this post, sitting in one of them, comfortably beside the window.

These trains cover a wide area encompassing different zones. From Melmaruvathur in the South to Arakkonam in the West, and from Sulurpeta in the North (it’s not even in Tamil Nadu) and Velacherry in the East. The important stations include Chengalpattu, Tambaram, Chennai Egmore, Chennai Beach, Chennai Central and Thirumalpur. It’s one of the best-networked and best-maintained suburban railway systems in the country, and but for the trains, the entire world. Many of you might not even be aware that the second railway line in India was opened in this circle, from Royapuram to Arakkonam.

Until seven years before, the Chennai network was full of meter-gauge trains that had been in service even before Independence. In the time they were decommissioned, they were the only active meter-gauge units in the world. No wonder, it has been the flagship of Southern Railways, almost like how the Concorde was to the British Airways.

Now the entire circuit operates on broad-gauge, much to the disappointment of the ‘fans’ of the meter-gauge unit. I could not believe when people were clicking photographs and wearing black dresses on the day of its decommissioning. However, broad-gauge trains proved to be an efficient option because of its capacity, and universality in usage.

There were level-crossings (yes… sad) that lay across the hottest highways in here, thanks to the new Government, flyovers have been built. There are times when people feel, if the railways weren’t there, things would be so much easier. It is true to a good extent. So many constructive projects can be completed in Chennai if the crucial piece of land had no rail tracks. But if the trains stop for one day, I will not be exaggerating if I say that the life in Chennai will almost come to a standstill.

The Railway stations and the rail lines are important landmarks in Chennai. Most of the areas in Chennai that are bifurcated as East and West, like Tambaram and Mambalam, is with respect to these railway lines and stations. It was an important factor in influencing industries and commerce, and even to this day, the proximity to a railhead determines the popularity of a business. No wonder, Chennai Beach and Velacherry are preferred office locations and Ranganathan Street near Mambalam Railway station still continues to be an undisputed choice of the middle class, and the rural population that comes to Chennai for shopping.

Electric unit trains will continue to be a preferred mode of transport for office goers, students and people commuting from suburban locations. And as long as these classes of people continue to use them, there is always a green-signal for Chennai to see drastic improvements in the railways system, like the upcoming metro rail project.

...and an era was born...and soon it died!!

Imagine this: You've been wanting something very badly some years before... and you finally get it!! You go gaga over it, and show off.. and you spend a lot of time with it, alter it according to your wishes... and as time moves, you forget all about it, and move on.. much ahead...

Suddenly one day, you stumble upon it.. and a wave of nostalgia sweeps you, of how you were so fond and crazy of it once, and it's all gone now except for the memories that you've had being there.. how you were once entertained by its presence, and now all of it seems like an irreversible distant point...

You know it's not worth being your mate now... none of your friends are impressed about it! It made you friends with whom you are really close, and they too moved on, forgetting it..

But you still cherish your presence that was, and your friends' presence that used to be in there.. and it remains untarnished, unerased and undisturbed like footprints on the Moon!! Forever and forever!!! With this feel, you dust it, and stuff it back to its near-antique state, without disturbing it, but still getting a feel of it through your eyes, re-assuring you that it's not worth being with now, but in the heart of hearts, let out a sigh, and a whisper of thanks, for all that it has done, and how the impact clearly reflects in your similar current interest!

THANK YOU ORKUT!!! IT WAS REALLY A GREAT EXPERIENCE WITH YOU!!! And Facebook, Thank you for what you are...

A Ride In The Rains!!

One of my favorite songs of all time happens to be John Denver's 'Annie's Song. Be it the arpeggio of guitars, or the ultra-soft yet clear voice of John's or the lyrics. The lyrics steal the lime light: Every line of the song is so carefully crafted that every lovelorn heart can empathize with the feelings, every poet can relish the words that are very truthful to the feeling that they carry and every nature-lover can's just help but be enthralled by the very rapture of the moments that are described in the song.

Of the three roles mentioned above, the first one does not apply to me, and right now, I choose to ignore the second one. considering that I am a nature lover, the line that impresses me the most is the one: “Like a Walk in the Rain.” I do enjoy walking in the rain. However, one experience that surpasses the joy of walking in the rain is the experience of riding my bike in the rain!!

I generally do not take my bike out in to the city, but there are times when an unruly brat in me surfaces and I get my bike to the highways. Before you start imagining things, I should warn you that my bike is a Hero Honda Splendor+...not some cross-country cruiser/chopper. It's an amazing machine and it can never go beyond 80Kmph in the maximum throttle...a bliss in disguise. The ride from my home to office is mostly on NH-45 and a little on the Pallavaram-Velachery road. Both these roads are really smooth and it's a couple of hours ride one way.

This, by itself, is an amazing experience....especially on days when the sun is on maintenance mode. The rains are something that garnish this phenomenon: Late in the night, after I have secured all my vulnerable possessions (I usually carry my laptop, a couple of phones, and occasionally, a camera.), just get on to the seat and kick-start my bike and set my ride in the rains. Every drop that kisses your face, the way the drops trickle down your spine and send a surge through your senses, the feel of getting head-on with a force of nature, all these are feelings of bliss that I will surely cherish forever. For me it's a show of attitude: Like in the BJ Thomas's song, Rain Drops keep falling on my head. It's a feeling of Nirvana: when you are cruising gently at 30 or 40 Kmph and you feel the rain all over you, transporting you to a feel of being suspended in intellectual oblivion.

Do you want to make it even better? Stop by a road side Tea Shop and order for piping hot tea. Please make sure that this happens in a local tea shop and not some hi-end cafe. Need I say more? You'll realize how magical it is to enjoy the duel between the chill that surrounds you and the warmth that fills you from within. The sound of the rain all around you takes the moment of relaxation to an unfathomed magnitude.

I feel lucky when I get to ride in the rain (my parents find it the other way round!). And the highway is another plus point I have; the road does not have people who cross the road darting like a meerkat and this avoids the pressure on my brake shoes. I know I might sound eccentric, poetic or philosophical, and impractical, but I really feel that people miss out on small but rejuvenating joys like these. All we can think of is to get in to an air-conditioned bus (now that Chennai has AC Volvos) and reach home as soon as possible and as dry as possible.

This riding-a-bike-in-the-rain experience has graced me more than once...and I don't seem to get frustrated or bored of this. As I've said in my earlier blog post, my passion towards riding my bike in the rain acts weird too. And I am sure I'll cope up with the weirdness!!!