InteRestinG TiMeS...

So day started out for us with the promise to turn into one of the memorable days of our lives. The scene was set in Varkala, during phase 2 of our 'Life to the waters of Kerala' project. Each of us from the group is entitiled to our fixed quota of mandatharams during the course of the day. Mine was the first one, with me mistaking the starting point of our survey, up by one point and making the group walk an extra 2 kms through beautiful country territory in the 'starting to get hot' sun. So this stretch too had its amusing moments with Chala and Mag carrying a "thengum thadi" to try cross one of those irrigation canal networks we found ourselves in with no way out. Finally they understood that their quota of mandatharams were used up too and decided to take the help of a local woman and taking her advice, worked our way back up around the field (I still regret having been slow in taking out the camera and having missed the wonderful shots).

So we entered our target area promptly at 11:15 and started out with the socio-economic survey(includes the details of the family members: name, age, occupation, education etc ; and some details like where they get their water and what they do with their sewage). The houses were almost invariably mud houses, some with bricks and everyone of them thatched, and many of them single roomed. The people were exceptionally friendly and welcoming, and we recieved several invitations to a glass of lime and even vellam from the neighbouring shop. The work was mostly done by Chala and Mag because most of the houses had only women in them and they were comfortable with the gals asking them the questions. But me and Maneesh did our part too, taking the survey of a few houses. So by 1 we had our lunch on the compacted mud verandah of a survey subject house and had a chit chat with the occupants who brought out water and mats for us to sit on. By 2 we were completely bushed and me and Chala had enough, deciding to skip the return trip survey on the other bank and stroll back to the starting point. The day ended after a trip for two glasses of ice cold lime water and snacks at my aunt's place and a fairly uneventful trip back to Trivandrum.

Back in Trivandrum phase two of the day was about to start. The plan initially was to go to the beach with 15 bikes and recapture the old glory. The events veered into its new path with everyone crashing in at Jojy's( Rajan) place and opening up their bottles of beer. Me being a considerable noobie in this area made do with a couple of sips from the beer bottle. A full bottle of brandy was sitting there almost over, so I could guess the state of my buddies who were already there (not that drunk, cos there were 14 of us there). So we set out to the beach on 4 bikes and 1 amby car ( total 14 of us). JJ and biji showed there style, getting another full bottle going in front of a long que in front of the "kilivathil" at the civil supplies store. Then we were off to the beach with biji sitting behind me and screaming at everyone most of the time and sometimes doing rough road rash impersonations against the amby by trying to kick the car off track and understandably failing in his task and fairly unnerving me. When finally on the beach, it got more interesting than it has ever got on a beach trip, mostly since everyone, even though not actually drunk, wanted to act drunk and were on hyper drive. Everyone in a 50 m radius of our group slowly took their leave and I could completely sympathise with them. After a while the situation reverted to throwing sand at each other and flying through the air and crashing into each other and falling onto the sand, kicking and fighting. So after almost getting into a fight with another considerably drunk(er) bunch of guys (I was impressed to see the guys quitely turn away unnoticed and remove their watches and mobiles and consolidate all the rocks in the vicinity with their toes for the eventuality , without even one word being spoken). After getting back, the full became not so full quite rapidly and became an empty eventually. So JJ went out an got two more pints, and work began on emptying them too. So now one by one the guys began to get wasted, and things began to get quite funny with suni hugging and kissing everyone and professing his undying love for each of us. And we went out to East Fort( buhari hotel -24 hours) and had second dinner at 2 am, and JJ got quite loud and slurred in his observations about his life and his accession towards the 'clay' of his region. JJ and biji, both were quite wonderstruck at how they were teleported from the house to buhari and back so quickly. Biji had got over his incessant sobing, thinking about Ajmal and how he had hurt him. JJ crashed and burned out as soon as we got back home and I began to try my hand for the first time on the drinks. But I was quite disappointed with the lack of effect after 4 glasses and I finally stopped, dejected. We hung around the large first Laurie Baker designed house till 4:30 a.m. and then crashed down onto the bed.

P.S: Damn.. I had thought my first foray into the world of alcohol would make for a little more interesting story. And I did not even have a hang over. Woke up at 10 and came home. Blogging by 11.

Defrosted...

As I walk ... the mist parts in front of me... dew drops forms on my stubble... yet my fingers find warmth from her fingers... The moonlight shines in through the clouds .. filtered in through the mist .. lighting up her face.. ah.. so beautiful .. I want to keep looking at her.. She smiles... I tighten my fingers around hers... the wind flutters her clothes about her fragile body .. I want to take her in my arms.. hold her .. never to let go .. a tear forms in my eye.. not from sadness.. but who knows why... it fills my eye ... rolls down.. she turns to me... looks into my eyes...her face shows it all.. so clear ... I could see into her depths.. I could see myself there...her hair flows over her face... her delicate hand rises brushesing those tender tresses off her face... I knew she was happy... happy to be with me.. because she knew she made me the happiest man on earth.... I raise my hand and take her hand in mine.. intertwining my fingers in hers ... we stand still .. looking into each others eyes... time suspended ... We move towards each other... I hold her waist ... her lips parted yearning for mine... I leaned forward and my lips found hers .. to be forever....

I love her forever... she is my girl ... and she is happy for that.. Because I would be her's forever.

A Week To Kill

So the college has been suspended indefinitely and we are all sad that we cannot enjoy our college lives in campus. So we came up with the next best thing, that is going out the whole day and laying around in veli tourist village, trying not to get stares and verbal abuse from the guards and the passerbys. We ended up having a wonderful time and taking about a 100 pics. So I thought may as well post some.



Thats the gang. From left Kulu, Malu, Anjana, Lekshmi, Mag and Muthapa. Madavan is missing from the pic. And Dasan joined in later. 

The chicks and ducks. :P 

That's most of the gang. So its Muthapa & Lekshmi in the back and Kulu and Anjana in the front. 

Muthapa found a nice spot to pose. He was positively esctatic afterwards. 

Me lougin' on pavam Kulu's leg. I was on a short break from being the official photographer. 

The lunch was at the local five star hotel and chayakada. Apparently the meen karri was superb but I stuck to my good old mirinda.

Mag and Anjana swinging, trying not to drag their feet on the ground, cos the swing was obviously for kids under 10. They both fit in mentally :P. 

The old monkey inside comes up once in a while in Anjana. Letting it all go after the tension of the elections, the S8 representative candidate. 

Madavan and Mag flying in the wind. 

Fed up with this world. Everything is upside down. So thats me trying to turn everything right. 

Ofcourse, finally the beach. It was extreme fun. 

Day at a shoot : Pics

My gang at the shoot. 

Thats philiposes shot. For most of the night he was in that condition. And it was damn cold out there. 

The shoot going on, with philiposes tied up solo scene. 

Rage drummer Midhun. He was a cool dude. 

The Actress putting on her makeup. 

Thats the so called band in the water. Jonathan is on the left, Philipose in the middle and Rage bass guitarist Pramod on the right. 

Perfect Shoot

We were on my bike, me and podiyan, he with a Manvetti in one hand and a laptop in the other. We were on the way to one of the darnest days of my life.

Philipose had set up the shoot of "Thalarathe" video (Thallae Vid for short), which he had set out to do on his own without any help from professional production handlers. So we (that is about 30 pro film unit guys and some guys like directors, camera man etc, and ofcourse then us 6 guys, a beautiful chick and Philipose's grandma) went to our first location in nagercoil. So Philipose being himself was late, and the outdoor unit guys started to set up all the filmy stuff out in the jungle, while it was already getting dark (remember in the jungle no lights).

So this is when it started going crazy, and the mammoth flaws in the producer's aka Philipose's planning started to dribble out. It turned out the permissions that he claimed he had already taken did not exist and now there was no way to shoot in the forest. I had fun walking around in circles three times trying to find Jonathan and the guys in the pitch dark forest.

So a local pandi annan (kumarettan) came to the rescue and finally got us a new location. By the time philipose and jojy (new entry) showed up with the actress, bringing Sankar and more importantly the food with him in his omni. The new location turned out to be about 8 kms into the wilderness, by the side of a pond with a, made for shooting 'single tree in the middle of the water' look and a lot of good sceneries nearby. The time was 10:30 pm when the shoot began, and philipose was running about with his chest painted with red scars by the makeup man. The so called band was made to stand in the water and philipose was tied to the tree with chains and mud sprayed all over him.

The shoot would have been pretty boring if it were not for the actress and her gimmicks, which Indian Board Of Certification would not allow me to publish online. Anyway Sankar and Jojy made away with the girl in the morning when the shoot was over and they apparently got married (atleast exchanged rings, and dont look at me like that). I had a fun time with Jojy's nikon D50, his laptop and his mini dv cam, so I was not complaining. Anyway after a few more very interesting events the day came to an end with me storming out in an auto saving myself a lot of unbearable scenes (unlucky for him vishnu got away too late) and I got back to college in time for lunch. And finally yesterday I got my lost sleep. I'll post the pics as soon as I get them.