Ticking Heartbeats

My mom’s penchant for temples knows no bounds and it can be easily understood by the number of kilometers our cars have clocked so far; 32000 kms in the past one and a half year!!!! Coming the month of April, 2011 between the dates of 11th and 23rd we did a road trip from Chennai to the states of Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. I have done quite a few drives so far but this has been my longest and most demanding one, mainly because I had to cover almost 7000 kms within 2 weeks time in largely unknown territories, bear the summer heat, visit all the places and more importantly manage with my limited knowledge of Hindi..!!!! This trip was even more adventurous because, till one week before our start, we did not know clearly where we were heading and which places to be visited. Usually, before any of our drives, me and my parents would sit around and discuss about the distance and places to be covered each day, plan for the night halt and would arrive at a fairly decent outline wh

In life,many moments pass, but some moments pause.They will loom large over you till you can digest the magnitude of the happening. On April 2,2011, the entire nation witnessed the moment which paused at them, which loomed all over them, which threatened to suck of all the sadness from them, a moment which was befitting for a country this large, this diverse but yet, this united. The "World champions" tag had been erased from the face of mighty Australians and rewritten on the face of India after a span of 28 years by none other than the man who was blessed with the destiny of doing it; Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The script of the final of the Cricket World Cup 2011, could not have been written better, thanks to Sreesanth's inclusion. Had he not been there in the team, the target would have been significantly lesser and more importantly, it would not have irked Mahendra Singh Dhoni to promote himself ahead of Yuvraj Singh to nullify his errors in team selection. The innin

Suddenly, my student life is about to end. Every passing day reminds me that am getting closer to the expiry date. The school, the staff, my friends, the hostel, everything which I had taken for granted for the past two years are suddenly turning out into an irreplenishable resource. Those faces, which were part and parcel of my everyday life will suddenly turn into something that can be cherished only in the photos. And suddenly, I feel I should have spent more time with my friends and these two years weren’t certainly enough.For some reason, I couldnt get along close to many people and I realise maybe I should have done more. The student life at ASB is certainly one of the happiest moments in my life, esp the life @ our boy’s hostel. I certainly feel pity for the girls for having to endure a “dictatorship” rule in their hostel but here, life is heaven. Come on, where else can you put an arm around the warden’s shoulder and talk with him?? Where else can you make fun of the warden

The next morning started like any other usual day...tight sleep with laziness embracing you with all its love...!!! The most pleasurable moments in life are those when you get up, see your watch and realise that you can still sleep for some more time...but that sunday I couldnt get any such pleasure as I found out we had overslept by one hour and woke up others with haste. A brief view outside our hotel window was not very encouraging with decent rain and heavy fog limiting the view to nothing more than a few metres. Hoping that it would clear soon, we started our bikes and searched for a roadside shop to quench our hunger. A small shop called "Kalaivani Coffee house" served us with delicious Idlies and Pongals and Aapams and the spicy chutneys were in perfect sync with the numbing climate. After the heavy breakfast, we started towards Avalanche, some 30 kms from Ooty and the route was terrific. The majestic mountains, draped in white sheet of mist, ocassionally revealed them

Sometimes, the destination is not important....how you reach it is...the weekend of November 27 and 28 was one such moment in my life. A hectic college life practically drains all the juice out of you and my college was no exception. I was longing to do a road trip to redeem myself and this weekend seemed perfect . With exams just getting over, I had some breathing space and decided for some adventurous ride. I remembered the unconventional road to Ooty from Coimbatore via Kerala which H.V.Kumar sir had told me a few months back and decided to take that on this time. A few hours in the Internet and with some valuable inputs from him, I arrived at a route plan.So, me and three of my other friends Jose, Vignesh and Punith Bhaiya joined hands in two very capable bikes Apache RTR and Pulsar 220. The original plan was to start early on saturday morning, visit Silent Valley in Kerala, then ride to Ooty via Manjoor. But as always,things never go according to plan. I had given my bike for serv

  The perpetual debate that is waged about the inadequacies of a vegetarian diet versus the hazards of a non-vegetarian diet is both accurate and wrong on a number of levels and if one really looks at both groups of people and their eating habits, there is room for healthy living in both. Confused? As human beings, we are creatures of comfort, habit and stubbornness. People take ill from time to time by consuming an inadequate diet, overeating or from leading sedentary lives. Did you notice the missing key words in the sentence above? There is no mention of the 'vegetarian' or 'non-vegetarian' -- it is a rule that applies to both categories. It's not the cultural or religious beliefs we hold, but the actual diet and the food we consume that is pulling the rug out from under our feet. The World Health Organization (WHO) has stated that death from diabetes and heart disease alone costs India about $210 billion every year, and it is expected to increase to