My Relationships!!!

 

I am right here at the Changi airport, Singapore, gate number 15, waiting to board into EK 404, the flight to Melbourne.  There is a little girl, sitting in the same row, is playing something on her iPad2. I can see her excitement and the care when using it, a brand new piece. What was I doing at age of nine? Indian Peace Keeping Force(IPKF) was on the march to capture Jaffna town. I can still recall a moment, my father was carrying me while fleeing to Nallur Temple with all my neighbourhood families with the belief of forces won’t attack religious places, there was a shell went pass us and exploded few hundred meters away. We all fell, father, mother, brother and sisters, we all fell down on the ground. Fortunately none of us hurt, we just had scratches! I stare at this little girl playing with iPad now. I can see a great peace in this girl’s face! Reminding me this soulful song from academy away winner A R Rahman. Who the heck said “The World Is Flat?”

My friends Kajan, Ajee and his wife Laxmy all came to airport to give me a warm send off. We went for coffee at the airport Dome Cafe.  We were chit chatting about my future plans, Kajan’s wife called from  Colombo and wished me too, not to forget their son Sangeeth, the kid is too cute and we always love playing together. Thank you guys!

Suddenly Ajee and Laxmi presented a gift, I opened it and it was Thomas Friedman’s "The World Is Flat". Ajee has been recommending this to read for long time, an influential book for him. I don’t remember a day he forgot to talk about this book. Now he has given his own copy of such a book to me. It takes greater courage for someone to present the book he or she owns and loves. Its our habit, while presenting books to each other, we make sure, we don't give it just for the sake of giving it. When you present a book to someone, either you should have read and realised that the receiver would adore it or it should be a book he or she long waiting to read it! Two weeks back, I visited Ajee’s place for a dinner and presented my Gladwell’s “The Tipping Point” copy to him. Its a book I loved when reading, its a book which was in Ajee’s reading list so I was sure, he was going to read it! Now its my time to read “The World Is Flat”, I will start it once I finished my current reading Terry Pratchett’s Mort!

Mort, a gift to me, during my last days at hSenid from my colleague turned friend Harsha,. The book is a serious and serial exciting, a topic which is something I am passionate to know about. The novel is full of metaphorical critics on mankind’s beliefs. A story of Death and his apprentice Mort. The flow is so demanding and tricky with full of clichés, made me reading some of the pages twice before understanding the theme of them. I was almost stuck at the re-annual farm concept. Is he challenging the belief on so-called destiny being designed upfront? Clueless metaphor!!

My friend, Anbu bought me “The Sprit Of Music”  from India. The book was by then just got released, only in India. There were couple of other friends who were in India too. But I only asked Anbu, because I know he loves music and he can understand how much I was already excited about that book. So he bought and given it as a gift.

Amudha, my best friend in Singapore by far, who shares probably the maximum common interests with me,  read Lahiri’s “The Namesake” under interesting circumstances. It was the time I wrote the “Coffee” story in Australia. She is usually the first reader of my stories, she is a native English speaker, so I usually ask her to review before go on to publish any of my stories, so did the case for this too. While reading, she told me she bought “The Namesake” when visiting to Kolkata recently, but haven’t touched it still. I told her its a must read, especially being married to a Bengali gentleman who’s migrated to Singapore, she can relate a lot from the book. She nodded, they both went for a weekend trip to Sabah, Malaysia. She finished reading it while just relaxing in the beautiful beaches of Sabah. It was so meditative she said though was bit slow in pace. Of course it was Namesake!

There is something common on the books Ajee, Harsha, Anbu and Amudha shared with me. The respective books are totally different in their genres. One is about business, other is about music, another on man kind’s beliefs and theories around it and “The Namesake” is contemporary.  But they represents the type of relationship we share between the presenter and the receiver. With Ajee, we usually discuss on career, financial and personal management, so exchanging “The Tipping Point” and “The World Is Flat” represent that flavour. With Harsha, we usually discuss Antagonism, Theory of God, Life After Death, relationships and of course girls, so it was apt he gave me Mort. Anbu, a guitarist by himself, discusses a lot on music with me, so it was A R Rahman’s biography. Amudha shares more close to heart friendship, someone who mentors me in life! So it was not surprising that it was the book “The Namesake”

I am clueless on how to end this post. Post modernist writing style emphasizes not to stick with any plans on writing. Let your thinking to wander and flow like a river and it will reach the final destination. I feel its the destination for the post too. Its a kind of post, which doesn’t require a finishing touch. May be an open ended post!!

There you go, the final boarding call is made, getting ready to leave with a hope of finding more friends to share more books and relationships in Australia!! May be its a REANNUAL WRITING like Mort’s re-annual winery!!! 

“The things I want to know are in books, my best friend is the man who'll get me a book I never read.” -- Abraham Lincoln

Note: The content of the blog neither modified nor reviewed, keeping the feel of the moment as it is.But the links are added just now.

Cruel Thirties!

This post is not a cry of getting into my thirties, you don’t cry when you get older, otherwise nobody would be celebrating their birthdays. This is a post about how cruel a Thirty would become, if you are not moved on from what you were doing in your teens and early twenties!!!

Let’s take a shot at it, the influencing characters of my teen ages and twenties. The best offside player of his time, Saurav Ganguly and by far the best bowler in the history of cricket, Shane Warne are no more playing. Michael Jackson is passed away two years back. Genius Indian composer Illayaraja is not composing music as good as he used to do. The legendary contemporary writer Sujatha passed away two years back. No Ronaldo is in football. Bill Gates is doing Charity and enjoying his retirement life. Steve Jobs is still roaring, but his body is tired and weakened unfortunately. Promising Sun is already cherished and Gosling was all over the place and finally joined Google without knowing what exactly he is going to do! Who would have thought the fates of Prabakaran and Sadam would be decided in this manner? And many presumes Java’s beginning of end is already started!!!

		No More! VIEW SLIDE SHOW

This year I am witnessing one of my favourite sportsman’s beginning of the end. He is the man who turned lots of  people watching tennis back again. Tennis was dominated by power hitting players like Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi and I think lots of people in 90s started to enjoy women’s tennis than men’s due to this factor(I may be wrong, the perception based on what I have seen and heard during the time from the kind of people around me). Steffi Graf was rocking the stage more than anybody those days.

Roger Federer arrived, in early 2000s, immediately drew the attention by his single backhand slices, which is referred more classical tennis play. He doesn’t show any emotions on the stage, determined and focussed most of the times. He is known for his unforced errors, understandably due to his attacking play maker. 

Then this guy Rafael Nadal came, not a graceful act on the stage, but effective, very effective. His never-say-die approach earned him many grand slams. Obviously I am not a big fan of him but I admire his forehand curve in returns. The rivalry started in Tennis. It made Tennis interesting, and since French and English times have mere 8 hours difference, I had to lose my  sleep to watch all these rivalries. No regrets though.

A rare emotional outburst in the field, Australian Open Finals 2009!

This year Australian Open was the beginning of end for the magician. Roger lost in the quarter finals and when asked he said wait for six months and then tell its the case. He managed to get into the finals of Rolland Garros, given some hopes to his fans. But yesterday was a disaster! He lost to Tsonga in the Wimbledon 2011 quarter finals, even after winning the first two sets comfortably. He didn’t look convincing, committed or exciting yesterday. I think its a fatigue of playing one too many grand slams and there is no motivation to prove anything to anybody including himself!

Watching Wimbledon 2011 Live, Fourth round matches in two laptops and iPad!!

He is still ranked world number three, it could be still early to write him off, but I am sure his prime is well past, he is hanging on and unless he finds an incentive to play better, I doubt he will ever get back to his usual groove. He knows better than anybody else on when to hang his boots though!

So there you go, an end of another idol’s power demises!

Checkout this guy Tomic, an eighteen year old Aussie, showed some promises!

Let’s move on!!!

I Am A War Victim!

June 5th, 2011, I was on my way back from Sri Lanka to Singapore. I especially requested for front row seat, only to alight early so won’t miss any action of the final of Rolland Garros that day between Federer and Nadal. Soon after I cleared the immigration, I checked the score, Federer was leading, having just broken Nadal’s serve. I was so excited, called my brother-in-law and checked whether is he watching the match? He said he isn't, neither subscribed to the channel this year. Disappointed, but fortunately he too was interested in this rivalry, so immediately subscribed to the channel. Subscribing to a channel in Starhub TV is as easy as finding a girl friend. You just have to chose the channel and press yes, everything through remote control. Yes just like that and you will get the bill end of the month!!!

So the match went on, Federer eventually lost the first set, and as expected, it was yet another loss to Nadal. Federer can’t play against Nadal in clay, any Spaniards for that matter. You don’t have to be a Nadal to win Federer, but just learn a bit Spanish accent, talk to him just before the match, he won’t stop laughing for next few hours, you can even win a game with dodgy serves! If you don’t believe me, watch these two videos.

The moment he hearing the Nadal’s accent, he couldn’t stop laughing afterwards!

Its even worse!

Now the Rolland Garros is over, I was personally happy with the way Federer played there. His back hand cross court slices came back to live, and the number of unforced errors dropped. So I was(am) confident that he will become better in much  faster grass Wimbledon court, which was due in two weeks.

Singapore cable TV operators looked so awesome! Starthub TV has two dedicated channels(205 and 207) for racquet games named “Racquet Channel”. I was cursing bother Australian and Sri Lankan cable operators for not providing such cheaper priced channels so we can afford to watch Tennis like this. Its all going really well so far!

Queens Tournament, which is considered a warm-up before the Wimbledon, started. Though Federer opted out, Nadal lost to Tsonga, enough for me to get my adrenalin pumping. Yes Federer is going to do it again! I didn't still know what was coming ….!

Wimbledon qualifiers started. The Racquet channels were telecasting some badminton tournaments and repeat telecast of Rolland Garros. I was still ok since I missed most of the clay actions when I was in Sri Lanka. I thought they didn’t telecast the qualifiers. Fair enough.

Round one started, I skipped my exercise session to watch the Nadal’s game, the Starhub TV was still showing repeat telecasts and some boring badminton Singles. I was little curious. I asked my in-law, he was clueless too. The fact that we subscribed to Racquet channel in June, only to watch the final of Rolland Garros and then the Wimbledon. But Wimbledon is not being telecasted in Starhub TV.

So we called the operator and checked, they said, Starhub didn’t get the Wimbledon rights this time but only Rolland Garros. What the hell? The Cable TV which has two dedicated channels for Racquet games couldn’t secure the most important racquet tournament. And the rights have gone to Mio TV, another competitor cable operator in Singapore owned by Singtel.

So what does it mean? You now need to have two cables, two operator devices and pay twice the rental to watch Tennis tournaments. The same story has been happening for other sports like cricket, where cricket world cup was in Mio TV and IPL is in Starhub TV. It wasn’t the same situation two years back, now they regulated to have fair for all ground and we are now in this situation! They can’t be kidding, can they?

Now what is to do with this post’s title? How I became the war victim? They say(who are they btw), war is fought in this world as a part of the agenda of arms dealers. They sponsor the war, sell weapons to both the  warring parties and let them fight. It’s the people who are victimised end of the day. So what’s the relevance?

Starhub’s and Singtel’s, who secured the Rolland Garros and Wimbledon rights respectively, majority of the shares are held by the same company Temasek!!! Now if you are a diehard tennis fan, you got to subscribe for both the cables and eventually paying to this farce play!

So what do I do now? Subscribing to both? Cmon, when there is a war, you either fall for the farce or you flee from the scene!!! I obviously do the later! So I am watching matches live in this following cool link!!!
http://www.lshunter.tv

He he he he!!

The Girl Is Mine!

"Good Morning Jessie, past six already, Coffee Time, get up, get up"

"Good Morninggggg Jake" , Jessie mums with a deep yawn without opening her eyes, stretches her hands, turns to freefall and continues sleeping. I stand still and start staring at her proudly. Jessie has a mid length sleek hair with a slight curl in the end. It never sticks as much as she would love to, but still looks pretty. Half of her face is covered by her hair and the rest tilted into the pillow. She is wearing an uptown stripe Flannel Pyjamas, which we bought two years back at a ck warehouse near  Chadstone. That was the second or third day after she moved into Melbourne with me. I still remember, she was wearing a Sudithar which I bought from Delhi. It was felt awkward for us to check in to all the branded shops with an Indian outfit. For first three months she was not comfortable wearing Pyjamas, cursing me for paying hundred dollars for a night wear. I kept insisting that this would suit her in this Melbourne weather. She did find it out good in the end, now has three different styles of Pyjamas from the same warehouse, and even recommends ck to her reading group colleagues at her university. She still wears socks when sleeping though. She gets stuffy when turning the ducted heater on. So we always switch off the heater before we get to bed. Perhaps we should buy an electric heater.

"Is somebody staring at his princess?" Jessie chuckles without turning her head up. I know she isn't sleeping. She is waiting for my next wakeup call to get up. I am like her alarm with snooze button always.

"Somebody's favorite coffee with almond milk is waiting.." she now gets up, adjusts her hair and checks my eyes to see whether she looks ok, I nod even though I still don’t understand why she does it every morning!

"Thanks Jake, you know you don't have to do this, could have wake me up man...” she still yawns

"Waking you up, come on, I know you are tired, don’t ya?" I say wittingly.

"Shut up you idiot, shall we go to lounge, I wanna check today's newspaper. There is an announcement of our readers’ group gathering... "

"Yes yes I checked it out already, you are chairing the panel right  ... What is it "Goat Runner" or something?"

"You fool, its "Kite Runner", how many times we talked this before"

"Come on honey I know it, just kidding"

"Hushhhh... hopeless guy"

"Put on the hooded lounger girl, its damn cold in the lounge"

We get up, leave the bed unarranged and head to the lounge. It is still pretty early in the morning in Melbourne winter.  We both normally like to get up early, enjoy our coffee chitchats, at times even for an hour. Jessie works as a part-time tutor in Monash University, teaching English Literature to undergrads. She is also reading her doctorate in contemporary literature of Asian migrants. She herself is a writer too, just got published her first novel "Door Mat".

"So how is your new story going Jess? The one you told me yesterday…"

"Ah, that “Girl Is Mine”? Just started it sir, long way to go. It’s in kind of a mess now and I am thinking of trashing it actually!"

"Oh no, every story would look lovely when you start and then get crappier when you finish it, that's how a writer would normally  feel when writing, otherwise you can't write ... And I know you can write some serious literature!"

"Jeez where did it come from? You do make sense at times ha!"

"As always! And do you have me in the story?"

"You in my story? My goodness, I don't write loser's story maite"

"Maite, ha? That’s funny!!! I am not a loser ok!"

"You are a loser, big loser"

"I am not … I gotcha doggone, mind it!"

"That's why you are a loser, wake up Jake, you know it better than anybody else"

“Will you fuck’in stop calling me loser?...” I screamed rather whined all of a sudden. I feel bit cold now.

“Oh come on, relax my boy, let’s have some music, turn it on honey”, typical Jessie, never gets mad, always turns the awkward situation round.

"Now see, when you need something, loser turns honey, perfect" I go to our little Sony Dream Machine, docks my iPhone and play "Way Back Into Love"

"Good on ya, perfect for the morning, there you are my nice man"

One of those things we both got attached to is music. Especially this song, we probably would have played more than the original song writer did.

"I’ve  been  watch – ing  but  the | stars  re – fused    to  shine |   I’ve  been  search – ing  but  I | just  don’t  see    the  signs |    I  know  that  it’s  out |...." she sings.

"Jessie! Tell you what? Let’s get to the piano, come on…"

"Are you crazy? Its morning time, we need to get ready, will have it tonight darl…"

"No time like the present! lets play for few minutes" She gets up, moves to our small upright piano, takes out the small photo-stand and the flower-vase and keeps them in the coffee table, cleans the dust and slowly opens it.

"Hurry up girl, you are taking ages"

"Wait my son, not everybody is messier as you" she starts playing now. Half past six, Melbourne chill weather. It’s still dark outside.

".. F  D  F  D  F  D | A  G    D  F    F |    F  D  F  D  F  D | A  G    D  F    F |…" She plays delicately, with her eyes closed, digests and feels the music.

"I’ve  been  liv – ing  with  a | sha – dow    o  -  ver  -  head |    I’ve  been  sleep – ing  with  a | cloud  a – bove    my  bed |”

We sing, we continue singing ….

"..  .. F  G  B^b || C  C  C  B^b    A  E^b | DC    F  G  B^b | C  C  C  B^b    A    E^b | F    G    B^b  G  F |  "

"And  If  I | o – pen  my  heart    a – gain |      I  guess  I’m | hop – ing  you’ll  be    there   for | me    in   the  end"

She is still singing with her eyes closed, effortlessly hitting the high end notes. Her fingers have such a control on that instrument. She feels the music, sings and continues singing. It comes from her heart.

I now stand up, get closer to her, look at her face..... stare at her forehead and ……. kiss her on the cheek and whispers ....

"I love you Jessie"

"What? Come Again ...You said that?" Jessie was shocked when I told my love to her. It was a typical tropical Colombo sunny morning; I was going to drop her in the university which is on my way to office. She lives in my neighborhood and I usually give her a lift to her university in the mornings. We know each other well; at least I thought we know. We do share common interests, talk about the books we read for hours. Its just one of those many reasons I probably would have fallen for her.

"Yes Jessie, I mean it, will you marry me?" perhaps this probably is the worst place and time to propose your girl; Early morning, on the way to work and school, inside a car which is parked in a roadside where heavy traffic noise coming through the closed windows. May be I should have taken her to a sea breeze and done this. Mmmm.

"Oh my Jake, Where does it come from? Seriously didn't expect ...."

"Why Jessie, I think we can make ourselves a good couple, I given a serious thought to it, not today, not yesterday, almost for an year ... "

"Gosh, then why didn't you tell me before? Oh Jake…"

"I took my time, I wanted to make sure everything gonna be ok and everybody gonna be ok, and Jessie.... it will be perfect, I swear"

"Jesus Christ.... you telling this to me Jake? Is this happening?... you know what Jake, I really like you, and you are my best friend and too good of a guy to miss out....... but I can't ... I can't do this, please don't ask ..."

"Jessie, but  ..."

"Please Jake ..."

I stared at the car audio player, which I just paused in order to talk to Jessie. I began to shiver rather violently, the car instantly feeling ten degrees colder even though the cooler is switched off. I put my seat belt on suddenly, lowered the window glass and started staring outside. Its morning still, students just started  to gather inside the campus compound and chit chat. Some students are talking to themselves with some notes in hand. They must be memorizing something, it should be an exam period.

"Who is it Jessie?" ,I am still staring at the girl who is sitting on a bench stone, studying the notes with a bit of a panic, should be memorizing something for today's exam. I didn’t turn my face to Jessie.

"Gogol"

"Oh, that medical student …” I was stunned a bit, and started whispering.

“We all came out of Gogol's overcoat..." I was still staring at the girl studying for the exam at the last minute, scared to turn my head into my own car. Jessie might find me out weeping.

"Overcoat, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, nineteenth century ...” She finished my sentence. This is the Jessie I love. A literature student, she knows everything about me, every time correctly reads my mind except of one thing eventually which mattered most to me.

“You guys just entered the campus, don’t ya?”, I couldn't hide my frustrating inquisitiveness.

“Its been six months Jake” she said

“Fuck ... Fuck ... Fuck .... this fuck'in damn loser waited ..waited... waited for one long year...... exactly twelve months” My voice cracked with self pity.

"Please Jake.... don’t go there. Sorry, by any means had I disturbed you, I am really sorry, you are my friend... my best friend, who else I can talk about Lahiri for hours?” I know she meant it, but then after all she didn't even discuss about Gogol with me. She didn’t feel the way I felt.

"You never felt it, did you Jessie?"

"Its Over Jake, Over .."

"Yeah, Over ... I will be good Jessie, I will get through this.....", The sudden muzzle brought in. 

"Wanna pick you in the evening?", I still didn't turn to Jessie.

"No, its fine Jake, Thanks and.... Take care; I am sure you will have much better find” ,now I turned at her and given a dry smile.

Its you Jessie! Sorry for everything, call me later, hey don't forget “The Kite Runner”, will collect it tomorrow"

She smiled, got down from the car, hesitated a bit, and waved at me. I started the car ignition.

"Did I lock the door?" I wasn’t sure. I made this habit of not locking the door when leaving my house only to coming back and check. I stopped my car, got out and checked the door. It wasn't locked; I waited for a moment and got into the lounge. The piano’s fall-board was left open, with nothing placed on the top. I closed the fall-board. Took the flower vase on the coffee table and placed it on top of the piano. I took the "Kite Runner" book which was kept open upside down, bookmarked it and put it in the shelf. I found my empty tea cup is also left out there with another cup full of coffee with almond milk. I poured the coffee in the kitchen sync, cleaned the cups and kept them inside the pantry cupboard. I switched off all the lights and took few steps towards the door, turned back and had a dry stare at my house. It's emptiness scared me. It looked so dark at early Melbourne morning eight o’ clock. The new house’s wall paints' smell chilled my spine.
I suddenly went in, walked through all the rooms. The bed room, study room, baby room, visitor’s room, bath rooms, living room and kitchen; I went every where, turned on every other lights in the house. It was still dark inside. It looked even more scary now. I moved to my piano and opened it. I kept the flower vase back on the coffee table. I took the "Kite Runner", opened it and kept it upside down again on the coffee table. I went to the kitchen, made a coffee with Almond milk, poured into two cups, brought into my lounge. I finished my cup.  I got up, didn't look back my lounge, rushed to my car and started the ignition.

"The door is left open yet again!"

There is emptiness, and there is love. Emptiness is pristine, clear, ever peaceful awareness. To get to love, though, you have to be willing to feel, and agonize, and laugh, and hug, and weep, and roar, and tremble. And it is worth it.

We must be both intimate, and detached.

We must become the emptiness. Then fill it with love. Then invite others into it.

It is only by rising out, and staying connected, that we elevate the whole, which we are.

-------------Jack Haas

 

--------------------------------- THE END--------------------------------------

My Picks of 2010

Technology/Industry

• Best Applications : Singapore iPhone Maps and SG Buses
• Best emerging product : Tablets ( iPad ofcourse ;) )
• Flop application/framework : Mobicents! ( !@#$)
• Emerging Concept : Domain Specific DSL, way to go!
• Best Blog Post : Subscriber Created VAS ( He he !)
• Best I learned/ing : Scala(Contd), DSL
• Regret : All is Well!!!

 
Politics

• Political Incident of the year: Wikileaks
• Best Politician : Rahul Ghandi (Promising young leader)
• Worst Politician : Awarded, but anonymity kept since many know it!!!

Sports

• Sporting Incident : Shocking AFL drawn, never imagined!
• Best Sportsman : Sachin - Cricket ( Rock Solid )
• Best Sportswoman : Serena Williams
• Worst sporting incident : Tiring three days' eleven hours Wimbledon match :)
  

Entertainment (Tamil)

VTV : Best Film for many!

• Best Tamil Song : Anbil Avan (Vinnay Thandi Varuvaya)
• Best Male Singer : Benny Dayal(Omana Penne)
  
• Best Female Singer : Harini (Pookal Pookum Tharunam)
• Dialogue : Manthira Punnagai 
• Song Lyrics :  
• Vairamuththu (Kandai Aninchava kondai sarinchchathum vanda sarasaram pochchu) 
• Arivumathy (Intha Mounaththai naan unara eththanai vaarththai kadanthu vanthen)
• Best Actress : Emy Jackson (Madraspattinam)
• Rest of ALL the awards go to  :Vinnai Thandi Varuvaya(What an honest attempt!)

Entertainment (English)

• Best Song :Hold My Hand MJ and Akon (MJ fans, watch "This is it" again, you will be heart broken for sure)
• Best Female Singer : Taylor Swift - Speak Now( Classic Guitar and Her voice combo!)
  
• Best Male Singer : Now Awarded
• Best Movie : Inception (Any doubt?)
• Biggest Flop :  Salt (Even Anjelina cannot cure ! )
• Best Actor : Leonardo Dicaprio  ( Shutter Island )
• Best Actress : Not Awarded

 
Novels/Contemporaries/Biographies Read this year

• The Kite Runner(Khaled Kosseini)
  
• Interpreter of Maladies (Jhumba Lahiri)
• Five Point Someone (Chetan Bagat)
• Tipping Point (Malcom Gladwell)
• Sujatha Short Stories Volume2 (Sujatha)

Places Visited

• KL, Malaysia 
• Desaru, Malaysia
• Melbourne, Australia
• Perth, Australia
• Jaffna, Sri Lanka
• Colombo, Sri Lanka
• Delhi, India
• Kathmandu, Nepal
• Pokara, Nepal

Man of the year : Assange 

• To see my 2009 picks Check Here
• To see my 2008 picks Check Here

Papaya Story!

I used to tell people whether they know the Papaya story when ever they try to butter to get things done from me. But I never revealed the story to anybody. People became curious in the end I had to tell the story eventually. The story is nothing but the old mother-times story but I made it little more interesting :)

Here you go ...

"There is this guy called Saya! He does things for pride always!
One day he and his girlfriends were walking along a street, there was a tall papaya tree with full of ripe red papaya fruits in it.
One of the girls wanted the fruits, asked him to pluck one for her! He hesitated first but then all the girls insisted, so he started climbing. 

Midway through, the tree started to creep. So this guy scared and stopped climbing. But all the girls were still cheering "Climb Saya Climb" (Read like "Run Forrest Run" from Forest Gump!). So this guy was pumped up and excited, kept climbing despite the tree still creeping.

In the end the tree was broken and he fell, his nose cut down :). There was this handsome guy called JK came to rescue him, called ambulance and madesure he is safe and secure! The Girls had their papayas and walked away with JK and had a wonderful evening time with him.

Moral of the story : Over to you!!!

Door Mat

Dawn to Sunrise: Credit: Sayanthan

Its still  not dawn in Jaffna yet! Time is half past five in the morning. Wilson's sudden barking woke up every dog in the neighborhood and neighbors too. Jessie noticed her mother has already woken up.

"Wake up Jessie, I don't know why is this dog howling like seen a ghost, can you go and check, this dog will never listen to me" -- Jessie's mother from kitchen asked Jessie. Jessie's mother never calls Wilson with his name which she found really odd. She was suggesting typical dog names like "Jimmy" or "Zesor".

JK's Jaffna Home Portico

 "Wilson must have seen something ma, lemme checkout", Jessie slowly gets up from the bed, checks herself in the mirror, adjusts her long hair and goes to backyard where Wilson is tied up.

"Good Morning Wilson, what's up with you? Are you ok?" --Wilson turns to happy mood after seen her and barks playfully now. Jessie raised the small Wilson and cuddled him with a delicate touch on his head. Now his bark turns into a little yip. Jessie recalls the namesake of Wilson refreshingly.

Feral Domestic Dog, Zesor

"So you got a little dog, ha? Labrador or something?" Jake asked Jessie.

This is their second meet. Its a canteen of the university where Jessie working as an English literature lecturer.

"Ha ha ha, my salary is not even enough to feed a Labrador. This is a feral domestic dog, just two days old I guess, so cute and lovely"

"So you love dogs... well is it he or she?"

"He of course, Do you have a dog at your LA place?"

"I would love to, but who will dog-sit and clean its poops haa?"

"Oh, they can't just go out on their own? Jaffna dogs can do things on their own.."

"May be you just come and tell that to Americans! haven't told his name yet?"

"Name? I just got him yesterday, ma is calling him Jimmy, but no naming done yet"

"Wilson?"

"Wilson, you mean the dog name?"

"Yeah, Wilson"

"Never heard such a name for a dog in Jaffna, where does it come from?"

"Its a character in Tom Hanks' latest movie, you watched Cast Away?"

"No, I seldom watch English movies, Who is Tom Han?"

"Hushhh..."

"What's that Hushhh..."

"Forget it, its a long story, there in the movie, Wilson is an interesting character, I have the VCD at home, may be we can watch when you come there"

"When?"

Jake has been seeing Jessie just less than a week now. Jake moved to Los Angeles fifteen years back, had his schooling there. He came to Jaffna to visit his aging parents for a three months vacation. One of Jessie's colleagues is his distant relative. That's how Jake was introduced to Jessie's father.

Wilson seems to be calmed down now. Jessie goes and makes a coffee and comes to sit at their porch garden. There is still a mild breeze out there. No feel can match having a strong coffee on a Jaffna early morning cold weather. Divine!

"Such a cunning smile ..erghh.. "
"Its fine to call me Jake"
"Why did you smile... Jake, my mum made the coffee!"
"The coffee is nice!"
"But that was more of a grin smile!"
"No, I was just comparing this awkward situation with US"
"Awkward situation? Don't they drink coffee? I heard they drink coffee with no sugar? sooo funny!"
"Yea, I didn't mean it, first day of date at girl's porch garden, her parents and friends hiding behind the window glasses, eavesdropping what we speak .. ha ha ha"
"Of course this is not US, in fact I am surprised my father allowed even to this extent"
"So you are fine moving to LA"
"LA?"
"Los Angeles, that's where I live"
"Oh, Is that a statement or question? I don't have a say anyway right? Do I?"
"Well not really, this is only a meet and its your life after all"
"Yeah its my life after all..."
"Look Jessie, world is much much broader than Jaffna, this war, deaths, fights for nothings, all these hoo haas, you are an English literature lecturer, you can come and work there, may be doing a fellowship at CSU, US is a country of opportunities"
"Me working there? You kidding me? Then who looks after the house? kids and all later?"
"Hey doormat! don't go there right away, too fast for kids haa"
"Na na na, I just telling"
"See this is what our problem is, just let the life loosen up, There are lot to learn from Americans. You hardly see housewives in American families, yet they do everything we managed to do, most of the times with much much betterment. Bottom line is they enjoy their lives!"
"So you called me doormat haa? That's funny... May I ask you a question? Why did you change your name to Jake? Jeyakrishnan sounds far better... Identity crisis?"
"Identity crisis? You dangerous literature people ha, I always felt so embarrassed by my name.... You feel like you're causing someone pain just by being who you are."
"Ha ha ha, That's Lahiri"
"What?"
"That's from Ms Lahiri, Pulitzer Price Winner this year, what you just said..."
"Damn, so you read her too, finished Intepreter of Maladies?"
"Of course, few times..."
"Cool, My favorite, I can relate myself a lot with those stories in it, loved them.."
"So cute, then I am fine"
"Fine what?"
"Seems, ma is calling, are we done?"
"Hey doormat, you said something... fine with what?"

Jessie got up, collected the empty coffee cups and the tray, took few steps towards the portico, stopped a bit, turned and smiled.

"Hushhh..."-- Jessie told with a little shy and went into the house, or was she running?

Time runs so fast. Three months with Jake had passed like a blink of an eye. Jake and Jessie talked a lot  during this period. Renovating their LA house, history of civil war, Oprah Winfrey, Ilaiyarajah to Back Street Boys, Merchant of Venice, Sengai Aazhiyaan, share market, Sampras, they just wanted a topic to keep talking, spending time with each other. When two different value systems interact, there will be lot to talk, discuss, argue and fight. Jake and Jessie had everything happened in this last three months. They found something common in them, related each other, at least they thought they did!

Its still not dawn yet, Jessy finished her coffee, but still little sleepy to get up. Jake left to US two days back. He must be on his way to LA now. May be he will call her in few hours. Hopefully ma's friends won't call and engage the phone for hours early in the morning. Jessie had a big yawn and then got up just when the phone was ringing.

"Jessie, attend the phone, it may be Krishnan's" -- ma never wanted to call Jake with his nick name. She thinks its odd to call a Jaffna person with a name like Jake.

"It can't be him ma, he must be still flying",  Jessie went and took the phone with a disbelief.

"Hey Doormat!", Jake from other end for her surprise.

"Wow Jake! you already reached LA? I thought you are still flying"

"Yeah still flying...Using in-flight phone "

"What, you are crazy!"

"Can't wait to call ..."

"Hushhh... Big liar, you didn't call me at the transit, seems boring air hostess this time haa?"

"Hey, you caught up with this Hush haa? I woke you up so early?"

"Na na na, you know what, Wilson woke up all of us early, he must have found something wrong" -- There is no reply from Jake for a second

"Jake, are you still there?"

"Hang on Jessie, Something wrong out here"

"What? Didn't hear you"

"Something fishing out here, Captain announces there is a bomb aboard, looks like a hijack"

"Jakeee, tell me you are not kidding, I am scared"

"Jessie, ... Yeah its a joke, don't worry, the line is not clear, sometimes it may get disconnected, don't worry"

"Are you sure Jake, stay with me, you hear me?"

"Yea I do, hey doormat, don't worry... I love you.."

"Jake, are you ok? I can't hear you well"

"I love you doorm..."

 Jessie hears some abrupt noises,  eventually the phone gets disconnected..

"Jakeeeee!!!"

Its still  not dawn in Jaffna yet!
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On the morning of 11^th September 2001, terrorists hijacked four commercial passenger jet airliners to attack the World Trade Center twin towers. From this four hijacked airliners, two airliners were deliberately crashed into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City that killed everyone on board and many others working in the buildings ....
------------------------------------------------THE END---------------------------------------------------------------------

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