Beyond “Boundaries”

This Saturday,Our batch( training at Cts) once again provided clinching evidence as to why it rocks big time.After weeks of discussion and speculation,we finally arrived at a consensus and chose THE BLUE LAGOON resort to spend some time together.We hired a van and started from Vadapalani at around 8:45 a.m.The van continued its smooth journey, with the members hopping in enroute.A group of 17 reached the resort at around 9:45 and were greeted by some chirpy school children who were having a fabulous time dancing to the tunes of SIVAJI.After some careful deliberations on the menu,we were all set to get into action.To begin with,we started with tennikoit, framing our own set of rules,where the teams were divided into groups of 9 and 8 each.At a time, only 5 players were to be present inside the playing field,with any member who dropped a catch being replaced by a member from his own team.A team won a point each time it made the opposing team drop a catch.A hard fought match ended up with the scoreline 14-16.The next activity was KRIKET( yes, the change of spelling is intentional because the purists who loved the traditional game would faint if they saw what was actually played there).The teams were lead by Kavya (Aravindhan,Chandrasekhar,Kavya,Praveen,Saipriya,Sanjeev,Siddharth,Swathi,Venkatesh) and Niroopa (Madhura,Manoj,Niroopa,Premnath,Sandhya,Vasanth,Veera,Vijay) respectively.Again the rules were bent according to convenience.Each team got ten overs to bat, all the players had to bowl atleast one over and runs were to be scored only on the on side when a right hander took stance( Lefties like me were at a disadvantage straight away).The girls were allowed to bat twice.Niroopa won the toss and chose to bat and captains were busy with their own strategies even before a ball was bowled.
Niroopa to Manoj:Bat la adicha evalo point..??.(ENNA KODUMMA SIR IDHU..??!!!)
Kavya to Sanjeev: nee wicket keeping panriya ?? appo come near the umpire..(ENNA KODUMMA SIR IDHU..??!!!)
The batting team were given a brisk start by its one drop batswoman Madhura Jagatjivanram Kuppal(ENNA KODUMMA SIR IDHU..??!!!) before the fielding team captain Kavya applied the brakes on the scoring by claiming 3 wickets in a single over(ENNA KODUMMA SIR IDHU..??!!!).Some late hitting propelled the batting side to 70 of ten overs.Sai Priya led the run chase but the team batting second was behind the required rate all the time and found the fieding cordon of Sandhya,Niroopa and Madhura difficult to breach(ENNA KODUMMA SIR IDHU..??!!!).The team chasing lost the match by 13 runs.The scorching heat left most of us skin-tanned and gasping for water and it was time to rush indoors for lunch.At around 2 in the noon,we mustered up energy for another round of badminton and volley ball.Then it was time for some fun in the waters,with most of them getting drenched in the salty beach water.After taking a few cool snaps and gulping down hot coffee and tea, it was time to start our journey back.We reflected upon the day’s activities during the ride back home and it had been a wonderful and refreshing experience, as our batch had jelled admirably in a very short span of time.

A few weeks back I withdrew my first salary and decided to turn my long cherished dream of getting a saree for my mom into a reality.Just to spice up the events , my sister was not in town and since I wanted it to be of my own choice, I decided that my mom should stay out of the selection process.So me and my ever enthusiastic dad started in right earnest to accomplish the task.
We decided to shop at Kumaran’s(T Nagar) and for all those males who have absolutely no idea about this ardous task of shopping for sarees, I suggest this place as the staff here are ever so patient and very helpful.Shunting up and down all the sections and ultimately rejecting most of those varieties like plain kanchipuram,cotton silk,raw silk(yes I had done my homework on this meticulously!),we finally landed up in the section that displayed machine woven kanchipuram silk.The colors there were so vibrant that it would arouse any artist’s senses( not M.F HUSSAIN though because that pervert never prefers his women wearing sarees, or anything for that matter..).I finally settled for a maroonish one, of course after those ever flowing tips over the mobile phone from mom.
But it was really a peculiar sight observing a few women who went about their task of choosing the right saree(s).The women next to me, for example( and most of them) was always inquisitive about the ones that I had set aside to have a second look.Each time I set one aside,she would pick it up and ask ” Idhu enna vilai ” only for me to gently remind her that I had my aspirations on that.She kept on doing this untill the guy was fed up..The next time she picked one up, the guy himself without any hesitation blurted ” adhu 2500..” and pat came the reply from the female..”velai ya edutha odane solladha paa.. pudichirundha evalo venalum vaaguvom”.. and needless to say could there be another ending to this..?? Of course , she left without purchasing anything..!After umpteen assurances from the guy at the counter that the fabric etc was of good quality( no other go , cos it seemed very easy when I started out but once we started having a look ,I was all at sea…)we now proceeded to another section to get a salwar for my sister..and this was how it all began..
man at the counter:”Sir CREPE( which i comprehended as GRAPE) la parkaringala ..???”
me:” GRAPE thavara micha colors um kaatungalen..”
man at the counter:” sir, CREPE color illa sir, adhu material..
me sheepishly) “oh apdiya , seri adha kaatunga”
But after this initial hiccup,there was no stopping.. for I picked the first one that caught my eye.. but still ( for both vetti bandha and to learn a few things..) , I hung around for some more time..
Call Sir Edison who had those inventions to his name, call Tenzing and Edmund who scaled Mt.Everest.. and ask Kapil who led his Devils to that miraculous triumph in 1983 to pay attention.. yes I had achieved something that could be placed on par with all these…
I HAD SHOPPED SUCCESSFULLY FOR A SAREE AND A SALWAR FOR TWO SEPERATE WOMEN WITH DISTINCT TASTES WITHIN 30 MINUTES..!
and I found out the simplest technique to achieve that.. DON’T TAKE WOMEN ALONG..DO IT YOURSELF..!