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!!!

Return To The Land Of Machis

Two years of Hyderabad – my life was a riot there. I was enjoying in every possible. I felt that my life was like a donut – creamy, sweet, fluffy, yum, exotic and appealing, with a large hole in the middle.

I don’t know how things conspired for me for situations to turn against me; it was all in the wink of an eye, that I was to leave Hyderabad, with all my dear ones there. I must confess that I did shed some tears, that I was leaving a city that taught me what life was. But I had forced promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep, and those were the miles that I had already covered, and I was going in reverse.

Back to Chennai, the land where I grew up, lived my like a demi-God, in and around Madras Christian College and St. Joseph’s Hr. Sec. School. This demanded an entire change of perspectives – my idea of a road-ride was no longer Banjara Hills, but NH-45. Shopping meant Spencer Plaza and Burma Bazaar and not City Center or GVK. My one-stop movie place is Satyam and not Prasad’s . No more go-karts and no more scenic drive to the airport. No more late-night hangouts and sleepover at my friends’ places. MAD-HYD is distant to me now and so is Google Hyd.

Even then, it feels great to get back to Chennai – no place like home they say. It feels great to dine as a family, and to be back irritating my brother. My friends, who were in school, are now proud employees of multi-nationals. The wave of nostalgia that sweeps my when I get to Koyambedu CMBT, or Chennai Central or East Tambaram, cannot be cached in words. The joy of showing the true colors of my gluttony in a roadside joint in here can never be close to the 7-star buffets.

All this said and done, I miss Hyderabad too. Every branded attire that I wear, the fact that I can understand Hindi movies, pub etiquette, American accent, spiked-up hair, sport shoes, five-star dining, all the things that I have at my home now from Hyderabad, and all the photographs that I have, will continue to remind me of the days that I know for a fact that I will never get back. Hyderabad is not nostalgic for me – it is a class apart, a life apart. If I have to take names to thank, the list can go on, but I wish to conclude with one - God.

I am in a place where I belong to, I am (100 – pi)% happy, with the pi being the Hyderabad factor. It is small when compared to 100 but it is still infinite and special. No one knows how I can compensate for that missing piece in its entirety. Hyderabad was like being in a romantic relationship - heavenly days, treasured moments and a few bittersweet memories. But what to do… I guess I was born single, and born to be single. (Only in this respect, not anything beyond that… )

From Student to Corporate...

Remember those interesting lecture sessions, and bunked sessions that were even more interesting? The galleried classes whose walls could speak of the aeons it had seen, and the Bell Tower that speaks even more? The tours that we enjoyed and the tour plans that we enjoyed even more? Remember the day of Spectra, and the days we painted banners for it?
Dah!!! Those are memories ever to be cherished.


And now it's totally different. Stay in a six-storeyed apartment and office in a twelve- storey IT county and almost weeks since I experienced the sunlight in the noon on weekdays. And working under the banner 'Google' is fun. All my favorite chocs and ice creams scattered around, friendly seniors and more friendly peers-all this makes me wonder if corporate concerns can be like this.

Oh yeah!!! It's all about that non-spatial continuum called time. Time is unchanging and times are changing. And now the college days are just a memory. And my life in Google is continuing.... peacefully... and i hope it does.