Buses & Bus stops

I have been traveling in buses for the past 2 years. By the way my college started; it went well until after that I had to take a bus. Too many holidays, Cold winds, and a distance of 1.5 Km between the college and the bus-stop can make anyone to think twice to take a bus. Even though I was super sleepy and tired, walking is something I always preferred, plus it doesn't cost you any money, just your calories. So, one step at a time with different music tunes from the memory to distract tiredness and reach my destination: The bus-stop. 

Finally!!! I reached the bus-stop. I felt proud of myself whenever I reach the bus-stop and this achievement is something unique and gives me satisfaction even though it is just a walk to reach a bus-stop. So, reaching bus-stop is like Level-1 task; Level-2 is known as waiting and having patience till the correct bus that takes you home arrives. While waiting, we observe a lot of things, the roads, the vehicles, the skies, the birds (mostly crows and pigeons here), etc. This doesn't happens when the travel is by own personal vehicle. So, at first my patience and waiting for the bus was good, until I got bored and weak as the bag I was carrying was heavy.

My thoughts wandered towards questioning the need for urban lifestyle, pollution, no chairs to sit at the bus-stop; what if the bus never arrives? (The Nightmare). I even thought about why humans don't have hibernation period. Also, certain thoughts like what if someone is stalking or staring at me can occur if the wait is too long. An eyesight similar to Binocular vision is extremely important in order to read the signboards on the bus or else suffer missing the correct bus which leads to even more waiting that will test your patience. At last, When the correct bus is coming, my first thought would be Is this a mirage? Is my bus really coming? When it is confirmed a sense of euphoria occurs to me. But reality checks in and shows the bus so crowded which makes me to think twice to get into the bus. Lesson learnt ~ when we get joy, we get haunted by disappointment. 

So, without any further thinking I get into the crowded bus, crammed with people who stare as if I am forbidden from entering a bus. Then, other struggles can be taking out the exact money to get a ticket; holding on to the metal rod which can only prevent from falling and being stable even though the bus is drove on bumps, pits, etc. At this time, I wish and pray teleportation is invented and available to use. When the bus-stop where I need to get down is soon to be reached, I need to reach the open end of the bus to get down so I had to try squirming in such a way I think Yoga is easy to do. Alas, I reach my place safely and the song “we are the champions” by Crazy Frog comes into the mind.

Thanks for reading :)

Festival special: Karthigai deepam

Today, most of the Tamilians celebrate Karthigai deepam i.e. festival of lights. My mom wasn’t that much into religious practices; she says god has to be prayed from within. But she never restricted me to lit a lamp or go to temples. 

When I was a school kid, I used to collect broken chalk pieces on the floor after last class of the day ends. Then carefully I put those tiny chalk pieces into my pencil box. I used to draw beautiful... okay somewhat creative murals on the floor of the porch at my home. These abstract yet wonderful patterns/drawings on floor are called as “Kolam” in Tamil Nadu. I always find tranquility whenever I do kolam. Traditionally, Kolam are made using rice flour so that it also acts as food to birds. And the patterns are also filled with different shades of contrasting colors.

The best part comes when the clay lamps a.k.a Vilaku are lit in the evening. I won’t say to lit a vilaku is an extremely difficult skill to acquire but the way it is lit is somewhat fulfills the soul with satisfaction. We had three lamps at house, i used to clean them properly with a wet cloth then use it. Adequate amount of oil is poured into the lamps and then a small amount of cotton is taken from the First aid box and rolled into wicks. The wicks are dipped into the oil and one end is kept ready to be lit.

I always insist my mom that only I will light the lamps. So, she turns the gas stove on, where the luminous blue flames arise. She lit the candle and gives it to me so that I don’t burn my hands. I keep the fire near the wick until the wick gets lit. Sometimes the November weather is cold so the wick doesn’t gets heated up soon and this used to test my patience but still if there is interest the level of patience increases.

Then we keep these lamps on the porch. I used to break a small piece from the broomstick and use it whenever to adjust the wick and have spare oil to pour over the lamps whenever I feel like the oil is less until i get tired and drowsy. I also enjoy the view of neighbor places filled with tiny specks of lights. So, that’s how I used to celebrate my karthigai deepam. 

Hope today is also awesome and happy karthigai deepam!!

Rains of Chennai lead to my boredom

          College was something that I dreaded as a routine in my life. When finally the holidays are announced after my exams; I was definitely at cloud nine. But eventually, I got bored of holidays too. The same old Facebook, YouTube, and whole lots of websites became my cheerleaders during my holidays. Finally, I was counting days to enter the first day of my Final semester at college on November 16, 2015. And the skies in Chennai had other plans.

In Chennai, I believe most of the youth/students are diverse yet united by Rains. Because getting heavy rains in Chennai is like a spectacle for every Chennailite. And when it happens especially every school/college student like me turns the T.V. on and looks at the flashing News section of all the Tamil News channels. We all usually wish the college and schools announces holiday due to heavy rains. Whenever they announce holiday due to heavy rains that day has the beautiful sunshine. But this time it was different, the rains were constant and flooded the Chennai. Even though holidays are fun when there are rains it is hard to go out or take a vacation especially for a person who thinks too much while stepping out of the house.

So for past few days my life schedule is dependent on the Tamil news channels, Internet and weather. Now, I am dreading this kind of routine. By God’s grace me, my family and my friends are safe. But there is this feeling of getting annoyed by constant heavy rains, no college, no actual social interactions, no activity, etc. So here I am finally giving a try at blogging about my life experiences.

P.s. All the opinions above are mine and it can be pointless, nonsense, etc. But if you like it thanks for reading it. 

This area was near my house.. hope rains becomes less constant for a while. Picture courtesy: My dad