MADDY
25th March 2008, 07:42 AM
[tscii:7d3f41168d](Inspired from a true life incident reported in a tamil weekly 7 yrs back)
“dei perusu, enna nakkala? Ellarukkum late aagudhula. Vandiya mudhalla vazhiyilarndhu edu” - shouted the burly cab driver behind me. He was 6 ft tall, dark. I just stared at him. After a while, he got out of his car and moved menacingly towards me. He is angry because I stopped my bike in front of his car seeing amber flashing in the signal and let some school kids cross the road freely. Well, I'm really proud as Indian that we don't waste those 10 seconds in traffic signals, the time when signal goes to Amber and then to red and finally when vehicles from opposite direction kiss your front wheels. OK, now he is inching closer to me, his forearms were broad and thick to swat me for wasting those 10 seconds of his. I just peeped at the signal, it started flashing green again as it does every 90 seconds. I just put my foot down and sped off, leaving the cab driver and horns from the cars behind him.
Don't worry, I'm not the typical old man who has got stuck in the 1960's and calls all old things as gold. I don't keep complaining about the moral standards slipping down in today's youth, since I do understand the “lack of opportunity” that my generation had. I love changes and have accepted them as they come, be it Borg to Federer or MSViswanathan to ARRahman. Well there are 2 changes that I still have to come to terms with – one being, my 50 yr. old son taking control of the family and my personal space too. Second one, Laskhmi's death is a change I still haven't come to terms with. I feel, old men who lose their wives are orphans too. Not that, my son and daughter in law treat me badly, its just that they don't treat me good either. On more than one occasion, they have indicated that I'm a burden to them. I've always wanted to leave them and stay alone but I have stopped making impulsive decisions 50 yrs back – second show padame poi irukkalam. When I sit and think about leaving them, I always get a no in my mind – because of my lovely grandson – Sidarth is a very fine boy who has done wonders in academics and reached pinnacle with his placement in a big IT firm. About Sidarth, he likes to drink, but pretends to be a good boy in parties, he watches girls in the corner of his eyes but pretends as if he has not opened his eyes for the past 20 days, when his mom passes by. He calls Vijay a bad actor but silently watched pokkiri with me in the theater. I wont call them contradictions in his character, after all i'm his grand dad :lol2:. I don't attempt to change him a bit,because I believe people should be left to stay the way they want to be. But he simply loves me and we share great rapport from his childhood.
Trouble started when he was put in a UK project, where he had to work till 11'o clock or 12'o clock in the night. The journey back home must have been a pleasant one in his bike, only if there were not as many dogs in our street. There are around 10-12 dogs, never know where they come from. They are so silent like hibernating wild boars in the day time but they become as wild as credit card bill recovery agents in the night. They don't let any biker go through them peacefully. I have myself faced them once, when 4 dogs run in front of the bike, two by the side on either side and 2 at the back to counter any smart reverse move ala 70's heroes from you. They have rescheduled many biker's travel plans in the night. They were a terror in the locality and people just budged down to the threats.
Sidarth once coming back from work, got into big bother with them. They chased him and he sped off. But he had stuck a stone and lost control of his bike and fell down. Then he came running to our house, with inches to spare from dog's bite – and thoppula suthhi 7 oosi. He was shaken up so much by the incident that he either wanted to quit the job or wanted to take up a house near the office. I suggested him to request for project change or buy a car. I didn't want him to quit a good job for this reason. Project change within 3 months of joining was ruled out and my son disapproved the car theory. He just flatly instructed his son to manage such things on his own. How will the kid manage? He needed direction or help from us. Wish I could slap my son at that moment.
I promised Sidarth of a solution, and I went to municipality office to lodge a request to send dog van to our area. I came out with info that they had 24 district head offices in TN, 36 health officers monitoring them, 55 licensed dog vans and 21 yet-to-be-licensed vans, 52 employees to catch the dogs and 20 support staff to bring tea/cigarettes(to ophicers of course, what did you think?). But they told me “Sorry sir, currently we cant help you, since we are yet to finalise the animal laws” - did I hear a sorry? Thamizh-la enakku pudikkaadha orae vaartha. It seems they are still unclear whether culling of dogs is legal or not. Menaka effect. Call it cliché or not – it seems every solution seeking self-respecting Indian is forced to take law in his hands. I came back home and informed Sidarth about my plan to handle the devils. Sidarth was shocked, “no thaatha , its risky. “ I told him “risk edukuradhellam enakku rusk saapidara madhiri”. I went to our backyard into the banana tree plantations. They were lakshmi's idea, she nurtured them as her kids. Having only one kid those days was close to a natural calamity, so she took solace in growing these banana trees alongside my son. Next day, I took Sidarth's guitar bag and told him “come lets go”
I sat behind him in his bike and we went to his office. I took a comfortable place in the office lobby, and a book in my hand. I saw Sidarth coming twice outside and he enquired about me. I assured him that I would take care of myself, and asked him to concentrate in his work. I remembered his school days where I would wait the entire day to take him back. Of course I would drop him in school and wait at home. He came out once with a pretty girl, whom he refused to introduce to me, infact, did not even look in my direction when he was with that girl. Hmmm, my son is a big no-no to love marriages. Maybe this is a just a office fling. Time was 10 PM. I felt a bit drowsy and drowsed off. There was tap on my shoulder – it was Sidarth and time was 12 midnight. He was like “polaama thaatha?”
All through the way, he was repeatedly asking me, whether we should go ahead with our plan and whether it will give a permanent fix. I kept telling him to drive the bike looking at the road. We reached 2 streets before our street. He stopped the bike and was like - “are you sure?” . I told him - “just keep driving, don't look back”. As we entered our street, the devils were waiting. I took out the banana stems from the guitar bag, and was holding them from their top. The banana stems were hanging from my hand. The devils went into 4-4-2 formation, and were hounding us. As bike moved ahead, the dogs on either side pounced to bite my leg. I just kept the 3ft long, 1 ft thick banana stem near their mouth. The dog feeling challenged, bit the banana stem with its razor sharp teeth. Yahoo! The other side dog was no smarter and its tooth too got stuck in the banana stem. I shouted to Sidarth “fast-a poda”. He increased the speed and I asked him to take 2-3 rounds of our street. The dogs caught in the banana stem lost in race with bike's speed and started getting dragged on the rough road surface with their front foot in the air, the other dogs nearby were so shocked and scared that they ran off. My hand was paining because of the weight the dogs were causing on banana stems. But I didnt mind. We dragged the listless dogs around the street with their mouth stuck in banana stem in vicinity of the other dogs. The other dogs just ran off to oblivion. The 2 dogs started bleeding, and they couldn't even make sound since they were mouthful. Sidarth took one more round and stopped near the house. I threw the banana stems on my either side, with unconscious dogs' mouths stuck in them. We entered the house and had 1 peg of scotch each.
2 days later, Sidarth woke me up in the midnight after coming back from office. He was so excited “thaatha, oru naayi kooda illa, rendu naala. Yess.” I smiled at him and tapped his head and hugged him. I was so happy that I could solve a small but important issue for my grandson. Next day, our neighbor Gowri maami was talking to my daughter-in-law “nethhu raathhiri oru thirudan vandhu pakkathu aathhula naga, tv ellam kondu poittaanaam. Adhukku munnan naal 2 aalunga vandhu, naai ellam verattitaangalaam. ini namma street-la safety-ae illa, andha naai virattina rendu pasangalayum pudikkanum”. I looked at my grandson and told the maami “yaen maami, andha naai verattina aalungale dhaan venuma? Yaen indha tv,naga thirudana aala ellam pidichhu things-a ellam recover pannalaame?” :shaking:[/tscii:7d3f41168d]
“dei perusu, enna nakkala? Ellarukkum late aagudhula. Vandiya mudhalla vazhiyilarndhu edu” - shouted the burly cab driver behind me. He was 6 ft tall, dark. I just stared at him. After a while, he got out of his car and moved menacingly towards me. He is angry because I stopped my bike in front of his car seeing amber flashing in the signal and let some school kids cross the road freely. Well, I'm really proud as Indian that we don't waste those 10 seconds in traffic signals, the time when signal goes to Amber and then to red and finally when vehicles from opposite direction kiss your front wheels. OK, now he is inching closer to me, his forearms were broad and thick to swat me for wasting those 10 seconds of his. I just peeped at the signal, it started flashing green again as it does every 90 seconds. I just put my foot down and sped off, leaving the cab driver and horns from the cars behind him.
Don't worry, I'm not the typical old man who has got stuck in the 1960's and calls all old things as gold. I don't keep complaining about the moral standards slipping down in today's youth, since I do understand the “lack of opportunity” that my generation had. I love changes and have accepted them as they come, be it Borg to Federer or MSViswanathan to ARRahman. Well there are 2 changes that I still have to come to terms with – one being, my 50 yr. old son taking control of the family and my personal space too. Second one, Laskhmi's death is a change I still haven't come to terms with. I feel, old men who lose their wives are orphans too. Not that, my son and daughter in law treat me badly, its just that they don't treat me good either. On more than one occasion, they have indicated that I'm a burden to them. I've always wanted to leave them and stay alone but I have stopped making impulsive decisions 50 yrs back – second show padame poi irukkalam. When I sit and think about leaving them, I always get a no in my mind – because of my lovely grandson – Sidarth is a very fine boy who has done wonders in academics and reached pinnacle with his placement in a big IT firm. About Sidarth, he likes to drink, but pretends to be a good boy in parties, he watches girls in the corner of his eyes but pretends as if he has not opened his eyes for the past 20 days, when his mom passes by. He calls Vijay a bad actor but silently watched pokkiri with me in the theater. I wont call them contradictions in his character, after all i'm his grand dad :lol2:. I don't attempt to change him a bit,because I believe people should be left to stay the way they want to be. But he simply loves me and we share great rapport from his childhood.
Trouble started when he was put in a UK project, where he had to work till 11'o clock or 12'o clock in the night. The journey back home must have been a pleasant one in his bike, only if there were not as many dogs in our street. There are around 10-12 dogs, never know where they come from. They are so silent like hibernating wild boars in the day time but they become as wild as credit card bill recovery agents in the night. They don't let any biker go through them peacefully. I have myself faced them once, when 4 dogs run in front of the bike, two by the side on either side and 2 at the back to counter any smart reverse move ala 70's heroes from you. They have rescheduled many biker's travel plans in the night. They were a terror in the locality and people just budged down to the threats.
Sidarth once coming back from work, got into big bother with them. They chased him and he sped off. But he had stuck a stone and lost control of his bike and fell down. Then he came running to our house, with inches to spare from dog's bite – and thoppula suthhi 7 oosi. He was shaken up so much by the incident that he either wanted to quit the job or wanted to take up a house near the office. I suggested him to request for project change or buy a car. I didn't want him to quit a good job for this reason. Project change within 3 months of joining was ruled out and my son disapproved the car theory. He just flatly instructed his son to manage such things on his own. How will the kid manage? He needed direction or help from us. Wish I could slap my son at that moment.
I promised Sidarth of a solution, and I went to municipality office to lodge a request to send dog van to our area. I came out with info that they had 24 district head offices in TN, 36 health officers monitoring them, 55 licensed dog vans and 21 yet-to-be-licensed vans, 52 employees to catch the dogs and 20 support staff to bring tea/cigarettes(to ophicers of course, what did you think?). But they told me “Sorry sir, currently we cant help you, since we are yet to finalise the animal laws” - did I hear a sorry? Thamizh-la enakku pudikkaadha orae vaartha. It seems they are still unclear whether culling of dogs is legal or not. Menaka effect. Call it cliché or not – it seems every solution seeking self-respecting Indian is forced to take law in his hands. I came back home and informed Sidarth about my plan to handle the devils. Sidarth was shocked, “no thaatha , its risky. “ I told him “risk edukuradhellam enakku rusk saapidara madhiri”. I went to our backyard into the banana tree plantations. They were lakshmi's idea, she nurtured them as her kids. Having only one kid those days was close to a natural calamity, so she took solace in growing these banana trees alongside my son. Next day, I took Sidarth's guitar bag and told him “come lets go”
I sat behind him in his bike and we went to his office. I took a comfortable place in the office lobby, and a book in my hand. I saw Sidarth coming twice outside and he enquired about me. I assured him that I would take care of myself, and asked him to concentrate in his work. I remembered his school days where I would wait the entire day to take him back. Of course I would drop him in school and wait at home. He came out once with a pretty girl, whom he refused to introduce to me, infact, did not even look in my direction when he was with that girl. Hmmm, my son is a big no-no to love marriages. Maybe this is a just a office fling. Time was 10 PM. I felt a bit drowsy and drowsed off. There was tap on my shoulder – it was Sidarth and time was 12 midnight. He was like “polaama thaatha?”
All through the way, he was repeatedly asking me, whether we should go ahead with our plan and whether it will give a permanent fix. I kept telling him to drive the bike looking at the road. We reached 2 streets before our street. He stopped the bike and was like - “are you sure?” . I told him - “just keep driving, don't look back”. As we entered our street, the devils were waiting. I took out the banana stems from the guitar bag, and was holding them from their top. The banana stems were hanging from my hand. The devils went into 4-4-2 formation, and were hounding us. As bike moved ahead, the dogs on either side pounced to bite my leg. I just kept the 3ft long, 1 ft thick banana stem near their mouth. The dog feeling challenged, bit the banana stem with its razor sharp teeth. Yahoo! The other side dog was no smarter and its tooth too got stuck in the banana stem. I shouted to Sidarth “fast-a poda”. He increased the speed and I asked him to take 2-3 rounds of our street. The dogs caught in the banana stem lost in race with bike's speed and started getting dragged on the rough road surface with their front foot in the air, the other dogs nearby were so shocked and scared that they ran off. My hand was paining because of the weight the dogs were causing on banana stems. But I didnt mind. We dragged the listless dogs around the street with their mouth stuck in banana stem in vicinity of the other dogs. The other dogs just ran off to oblivion. The 2 dogs started bleeding, and they couldn't even make sound since they were mouthful. Sidarth took one more round and stopped near the house. I threw the banana stems on my either side, with unconscious dogs' mouths stuck in them. We entered the house and had 1 peg of scotch each.
2 days later, Sidarth woke me up in the midnight after coming back from office. He was so excited “thaatha, oru naayi kooda illa, rendu naala. Yess.” I smiled at him and tapped his head and hugged him. I was so happy that I could solve a small but important issue for my grandson. Next day, our neighbor Gowri maami was talking to my daughter-in-law “nethhu raathhiri oru thirudan vandhu pakkathu aathhula naga, tv ellam kondu poittaanaam. Adhukku munnan naal 2 aalunga vandhu, naai ellam verattitaangalaam. ini namma street-la safety-ae illa, andha naai virattina rendu pasangalayum pudikkanum”. I looked at my grandson and told the maami “yaen maami, andha naai verattina aalungale dhaan venuma? Yaen indha tv,naga thirudana aala ellam pidichhu things-a ellam recover pannalaame?” :shaking:[/tscii:7d3f41168d]