Thursday, April 21, 2005

Happy Birthday to me.....

Yea....21/4/1980
Its something which will be remembered, which will be marked for the most dramatic event ever happend in the history of mankind(after 25th december ofcourse!)
Y am I saying like this???
Hey,if not me then who else will say this?? C'mon, show some commonsense dude!:(
And today??? 21/4/2005..my birthday! ;)
And 2005-1980=25.....;)
Fortunately this time it happend to be on Milad-e-Sherif,the holyday for Muslims, so more excitement than if it wud hav been on a working day!Atleast I dint had to see his face today!

Recently I realized this fact! There is too much confusion related to my b'day. Actually, its supposed to be on Sreeramajayanthi according to the
calendar that we malayalees follow. Now I learnt that there is something else called Sreeramanavami which the NorthIndians celebrate as the b'day of Sreerama-Wondering, whether he took his avatar on two occasions!!-This year it was on 18th of this month.

(Edited now: After researching on my B'day for years, I found out that both Sreeramajayanthi and Sreeramanavami refers to the same date! So, no confusion at least on His Avatar happening on two occasions...Ok, continue reading..)

Got lots of greetings-sadly no
gifts,it needs to spend money-yea no wonder!-, best wishes, warm smiles, hugs-not a single one from the opposite gender, sigh!- and i dont remember wat all! But all the while I was wondering, why my parnets dint call me to express their love affection etc etc for their only son-I remember they had rang my sis at hyd on her last birthday and talked all sort of nonsense for about 1hr!Now they dint seem to remember me at all!Strange,and those fools say parents are harsh on their daughters!How weird!!-And finally, by about 8 in the night they called me.Talked to me as if they were completely unaware of the situation and I had to point it out to them like, "Hey mom,oh dad, I have this good news for u...today is my birthday!!!".Then there was a pause.I was waiting for their response and they kinda frozen...except for some whisperings. And then came the voice saying "U fool, its not today,its on may 13th, the Sreeramajayanthi and today is Sreeramanavami". Thought it came like a relief, the next day, I had to tell my friends that my b'day is on Sreeramajayanthi the coming May13th. I had to describe the entire conversation that took place between me and my parents to force them believe it.And once this happend, pooof! All those smiling faces, warm wishes everything vanished! Now only laughing faces!!
Next is today-21st of april, my b'day according to roman calendar,my birth certificate,my sslc book. Again the same old story- Got lot of greetings-sadly no gifts,it needs to spend money-yea no wonder!-, best wishes, warm smiles, hugs-not a single one from the opposite gender, sigh!- and i dont remember wat all!- But this time i was smart enuff to tell'em in a more definite convincing way that they will have to wait till may 13th, the Sreeramajayanthi- I checked this with my parents-yes i am sure-well,almost-c'mon yar,believe me....this time I am positive!!-

signed:Sreeram R.Warrier (kaliyuga fame!)

(Edited again)
Mystery unraveled.
Lets zoom in to the past.
It is Thretha yuga.
It is the Navami tithi of Shukla Paksha in the month of Chaithra.
(9th day in the increasing phase of the moon in the lunar month of Chaithra)
The nakshathra or star was Punarvasu.
And that is when Lord Ram was born, as per the Hindu Calendar. 

Now lets Zoom in to some 40+ years back in time.
It is Kali yuga,
It is 21st April, 1980.
It is Punartham Star on that day of the month of Medam, as per the Malayalam Calendar (Kollavarsham or Malayalam Era)
And that is when the Kaliyuga fame was born.

Call it coincidence (I prefer calling it SuperNatural), it also happened to be the Navami tithi of Shukla Paksha in the month of Chaithra as per the Hindu Calendar.

And due to the very same reason, my parents never had any confusion/arguments/fights/war in finding a name for me.

Malayalam Calendar and Hindu Calendar are not the same. They overlap, but they don't coincide.
As time passes, in some year they coincide totally (as in 1980!)

Now, this is the funny part.

Whenever they coincide, I will have only 2 birthdays.
And whenever they only overlap...;Well, I will have 3 holidays!! 

;-)



 



Saturday, April 02, 2005

Welcome to my small already shrunken world.....


Now that I have landed on this stuff, it remains my duty to write something. Yeah, one more addition to the list of my duties.. Hell, Damn it!!!! Seriously, my first inspiration behind taking an account in here was that, well, I hate to admit it but was that “Hey, everyone else is doing it so why cant I??” kind of feeling!!! Fine, I have joined you people, but now is the question. What to write???
Fine lets start with who and what I am!!!
A person who spends his time staring at a
computer monitor which stares back??? A person who daily goes through the English words if, else, for, while, return and nothing else??? A bug fixer?? - Sounds like a vamp slayer rite? - My thoughts have really become localized.
In chatting slang I am 24/m/tvm, (as of now), woopdrive according to yahoo messenger, psychicbrain according to msn, but in reality who am I??? Strange!!! Am I in some kind of identity crisis??
I may have to wear the
dress of a storyteller if I have to really answer this question, which saints like to answer most!!

Flashback…………….

Kottayam
The city of three L’s, Letter, Latex and Liquor, my
home place!
21/4/1980
I was
born as a half premature child to RaveendranathaWarrier, a teacher and Rajalekshmi, a Govt. servant. The day happened to be Sreeramajayanthi, the birthday of Lord Sreerama and they promptly named me Sreeram. Before me, someone else had also come to this world, my sister Swapna.

I remember my childhood days were filled with real
fun and colours. From day start to night end, I played and played only. I remember going to Velloor my dad’s place during the Vishu season where all of my relatives would have arrived. Velloor is a beautiful village with lush greeneries and good people- unless they are drunk! - The house an old warriem is in the middle of an almost 10 acre property with acres of paddy fields, waste lands with plants, trees unknown shrubs etc ranging in all size and beauty. My cousins and I used to bath in the temple pond near to the home -my dad’s family used to earn their bread by serving this temple- or in those small rivulets that flowed through the home property. We slept on bare land laying palm leaves and played tribal people. When it was time for food somebody would come calling us and the food were be served in long plantain leaves. Really had a blast of a time then. I have stood in disbelief when the workers jumped from one palm tree to another using the leaves like a swing. I had requested them several times to teach me the trick but they never did that - those were their own intellectual property! - I was the champion kite flyer of my locality and we used to fly kites during Onam vacations at the Thirunakkara temple ground. We used to tear the long tail of opponent’s kite and watched with devilish delight as they find their fate on nearby buildings or the tall banyan trees in the place. Yeah! Occasionally I also suffered the same fate. My sis, Swapna is three years elder than me. I always used to fight with her for such silly things like that place near to my dad or mom while having food, for that glass in which she was having her drink, for this for that, well for almost everything. (Not any more, she is married now and is away from home!!). It was an adventurous life!

The reason why I enjoyed my life so much at that time was really simple. I was a dumb student!! Having no real worries about exams, class tests, questionnaires, I went
school in bright white shining uniform and came back in wrinkled, mud stained light brown dress! Without washing machine my mom might have had a hard time washing those clothes. My parents being really cooperative, accepted this, and had limited expectations for me. So no real pushing from their side also. “ Let him Njoy now, he is a small kid”, they said to others. Whatever be the case, I was a pet at the school-Chinmaya Vidyalaya where I had my primary education- because of my abilities in sports and arts. I was learning classical music from my 1st standard onwards and was the winner of every music related competitions. Whether it was Light Music or Geetha Chanting or Recitation or whatever, I was there right on top. Similar was the case with sports. Running-nobody could beat me!! - and Cricket -the real all rounder and a great fieldsman!! I remember, I used to dream a lot about getting into the Indian cricket team at that time-used to practice a lot-

Somehow I managed a “PASS” in the 4th standard and joined M.D.Seminary High
School, Kottayam. New atmosphere, new friends, new teachers and all of a sudden, I started scoring good marks!! I became the first student to procure a place in the Kottayam District Cricket team. I also won prizes in Classical music and Kadhakali Sangeetham at the district level for the school “Yuvajanotsava”. But, my parents had started expecting something out of me by this time and without warning they changed their saying-“ Let him Njoy his studies, he is a studious kid!!”-.

To C.M.S
College, the first college in Kerala, which started as a grammar school-started by the British missionaries to teach the wretched Indians, some grammar-. This college is something like a “family college” (just like a family physician) to me. My mother, sister, uncles, and almost everyone had their PreDegree (the eqlt of +2) from here.
I think, the roots of my personality starts from here. Lots of friends-hey my own gang- We, Brijesh, Ratheesh, Chettayi, Jaison, Sajanish, Rajiv, Sajeev and I-. And the spicy
stuff, gals- Hell!! All were beautiful-!! The 2-B class was such a mixed blend of intellectuals, beauties, jokers and villains. We bunked class, went cinema, played cricket during chemistry class- now wondering, how I managed to escape through the classroom window-, Stole juice containers from canteen, teased senior gals when they were away from their local body guards, played lover boys in front of junior gals, and well- every day was another life-!! Alas, I passed the entrance exam and got into Rajiv Gandhi Institute Of Technology as first year Electronics and Communication Student -Fresher!! As my seniors called us–

Life became a misery. Assignments, series tests,
university exams, and every thing at the blink of an eye. I even remember my fifth semester when I had to write two exams per day, for two days in a single stretch- I got my pc during the fourth semester study leave- a big mistake! - I was wondering whether it was university exam or series test-it resembled a lot like series test- and then the shock. It was indeed university exam!! Neways, exited the college on August 2002, of course with somewhat decent marks to the credit, but also with a “No job, No girlfriend” label – Gosh! What were I doing all these years?? – Not a single person from my class except two, the buji Jayakumaran and Sanoosh got placed. Even Reeman, the class toper + university topper (with record percentage) stood jobless- to his worry and to my relief ;)-

Dark future it was then… September 11th, planes crashed, IT slashed, those who had jobs were fired and me still jobless! Days passed, years passed and here now I stand, as Senior Research Fellow at CDAC Thiruvananthapuram, the
premier Central Government Organization conducting research at different levels. (Thank God)

Present…………..
And now if somebody asks me about my identity, I start saying, “Sir, I am Sreeram R Warrier, working at blah blah, have 2+ years in more blah blah … and ‘am an expert in blah blah blah”!!
My world is shrinking…..
Welcome to my small already shrunken world……………

Signed: Sreeram. R. Warrier