I survived

It has been a while since I blogged and I thought, what better way to resume the activity, than by updating my survival story.

I had gone to watch “The Amazing Spiderman” with Raghu and Madhu last Saturday, for the 7 PM show at Santham – part of Sathyam Cinemas, Royapettah. Some 10-15 minutes after the interval, Raghu asked me if I smelt anything burning. As should be evident by my facial structure, my power of smell is probably the least potent of my senses. But despite that handicap, I did my best to sniff strongly without making a noise and I did sense a burning smell.

Even as we were debating in mild tones as to what it could be, a couple of the staff members were seen running from one door to another; from our left to right to be precise. This running happened a couple of times within a minute and that did seem to attract the attention of a lot of the audience. The others may have mistaken it for some 3D effect in the movie, though thankfully they didn’t applaud.

A lot of thoughts went through my mind about how the public would be informed about the possible fire – Raghu and I pretty much confirmed that viewpoint – and how the evacuation would be done. Would they just sound sirens and ask us to follow the Exit – and I just remembered that they hadn’t shown the customary Fire Exit slide before the movie was screened. Or would they put up some notice on the screen that due to technical issues they won’t be able to screen the movie any further and then ask us to leave?

Were their staff positioned at the right places to guide the crowd? Was the issue localised to just this theatre or all the theatres in that complex? And what happens to the ID restaurant? Won’t it add to the hazard? And if so, what happens to our plans of having dinner there? Where do we go around at 10 in the night for a decent meal?

Obviously all these things went through my head for less than 5 seconds and in the meantime, I did notice that the running around activity of the staff had reduced. As had the burning smell. Like Raghu rightly pointed out right then, the AC had been cut off. We also noticed that one Inspector type of dude walked across the passage where the staff had been running around and we presumed he was some kind of Fire Marshal. Somehow I felt that the fire was under control and started concentrating more on the movie, feeling quite relieved that my dinner at ID wasn’t going to be impacted.

You can read the report about the fire here: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/article3590467.ece. And if you can read Tamizh, check this link as well: http://www.dailythanthi.com/article.asp?NewsID=741468&disdate=7/1/2012&advt=2

It was not just the tree that killed Pavit Singh

On the evening/night of 2nd May 2010, an accident took place at 3rd Avenue Besant Nagar. The stretch of the road is also referred to as the Besant Avenue. The accident spot is just off the curve around the Besant Scout Camp, when you travelling from Adyar towards Besant Nagar.

The accident was quite gruesome and involved a car crashing into a tree. The driver of the car, Pavit Singh, 21 years old, died on the spot. I express my heart-felt condolences to his near and dear.

I am not writing this post as a eulogy to the dead man, because, I just don't know who he is. I am writing this because, I am not happy with the outcome of this tragic event.

What was the outcome? Well, the Police and much of the public have arrived at the conclusion that the accident took place because of the tree that was in the middle of the road and the fatality ensued because the driver wasn’t wearing a seat belt. And the Police have gone ahead and cut down the trees. But, I beg to differ. The reason in my firm opinion is rash driving.

I have been travelling on that road for practically my entire life. I have been driving quite regularly too on that road. And if you drive with discipline, it is one of the most pleasurable drives you can get in the city, what with the smooth surface and dense foliage in the form of old trees. Even in the day time during peak summers, one can find a distinct difference in the temperature there.

However, the youth have been known to drive very indiscriminately on that stretch. The bikers are especially the worst of the lot. With the improving economy in the last few years, more cars have also joined the list.

The other fact is that, a lot of these drivers and riders are new to the stretch. They generally see a pretty wide stretch of good road with not much of traffic. That somehow triggers them to show off their speeding capabilities. And they naturally miss out the continuous warning signs placed on the road. The warning signs basically ask the motorists not to speed and also warn them about the presence of trees.

But once you are into speeding, you don't care about the signs. How can you care when you don't read them right? And adding to the thrill is the presence of a pretty good curve on the road near the Scout Camp. And the issue comes up right there.

Once you round the curve, the experienced (those who use that road regularly) motorists tend to keep to the middle of the road, because there are 2 big trees that are away from the “platform” and pretty much on the road. One of them in fact has a 2 feet gap between the platform and its trunk.

I have often seen the inexperienced drivers try to overtake other vehicles on the curve, from the left. They invariably head straight into the tree and then swerve right, into the regular lane to avoid it. This obviously causes trouble to the vehicle that is already there to the right.

Now coming back to this case, Pavit Singh is reported to have been driving a car with at least 4 others in his car. Some reports in fact suggest that there were 6. I heard from my friend that he was driving a new Maruti Ritz (he saw the damaged car near the Besant Nagar Police Station). And most of the passengers in the car were girls. And the average age of everyone in the car was 21 or 22. The accident took place late on Sunday night, because the reports appeared only on Tuesday in the local newspapers.

To me, that clearly says that the driver wouldn’t have been driving in a disciplined state, because, as a long term resident of the area (his house was in Indra Nagar and did his schooling in Adyar), he would be well aware of the tree. I am not alluding that he was under the influence of alcohol, but going by the other data available, I am willing to conclude that he was just showing off his driving skills to his buddies.

The tree just didn’t spring up when he took the curve. So don't blame the tree as being the cause of the accident. He wasn’t wearing a seat-belt and yes, that would have ensured the fatality. But, why wasn’t he wearing one? Do you know that Seat-belts are mandatory for the front occupants of the car and this is a rule ratified by the Supreme Court more than 10 years ago? So, why weren’t the Police booking people for not wearing their seat-belt?

And now everyone’s launching a campaign for educating people about wearing seat-belt. Why educate I ask? Just enforce the law!

I said earlier that this is not a eulogy for Pavit Singh. But after reading this rant, you may well think that this is a tirade against him. No, that is not my intent either. I have used this case of Pavit Singh, though it can very well be applied in toto to countless Amits, Rajendrans, Bashas and Daniels who drive badly.

My target audience for the rant is the Police who acted swiftly in ensuring that the trees in contention were cut off. If at all they were so concerned all these years, why did they not cut the tree earlier? If there were cases stopping them from cutting it, have they acted in contempt of court now? If there were protests to protect the trees, why didn’t they increase the patrolling on that stretch? Why didn’t they ensure that there was no speeding on that road? Why didn’t they put up speed-breakers on either side of the curve on both lanes? And why didn’t they put additional speed-breakers in the middle of that curve? Did they simply decide that the trees had to go and were waiting for a fatal accident to happen?

I will tell you this. Now that the trees are not there, more moronic motorists are going to be speeding up faster on that stretch. Mark my words, the next fatal accident is only around the corner – pun unintended.

P.S: You can read about the accident and the follow-up actions in these websites.

http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/04/stories/2010050460460300.htm

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Dont-miss-the-tree-for-the-road/articleshow/5887902.cms

http://lite.epaper.timesofindia.com/getpage.aspx?pageid=2&pagesize=&edid=&edlabel=TOICH&mydateHid=04-05-2010&pubname=&edname=&publabel=TOI

http://lite.epaper.timesofindia.com/getpage.aspx?pageid=2&pagesize=&edid=&edlabel=TOICH&mydateHid=05-05-2010&pubname=&edname=&publabel=TOI

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Victims-kin-plan-road-safety-drive/articleshow/5904939.cms

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pavit-Singh-SeatBelt-Campaign/119780684713527

Local pilgrimage, eventful one though

After months and months of persuasion, my parents finally agreed to come to Singa Perumal Kovil. The decision was made yesterday and we set out this morning around 8 AM. For the benefit of those unable to understand where the aforementioned Kovil is, it is in the town of Singa Perumal Kovil (what a coincidence!). And that town, is like a kilometre and a half before the place where my office is located.

We had breakfast at Sai Surya motel and shortly thereafter, went to the temple. As soon as we entered the temple, my mother spotted the strategically positioned 'neiy villakku' sales counter and insisted that I light up a couple. Even as we were buying them, an old man asked our help in lighting up his lot of 25. Basically, he said he had to, but was unable to strain himself. He extended the offer to everyone around the place and so we took only 4.

You see, there is a rule to be followed while lighting these lamps. You are not supposed to inherit the flame from a nearby lamp lit by someone else. The funda being that whatever bad things that the other person was lighting away, you are absorbing them all. Quite a complicated proposition in front of quantum physics, but that's how things are.

So, my father went out and brought a new matchbox for us. I started lighting but with no luck. Invariably, the flame in the matchstick never even got beyond the head of the stick. The minute it hit the wooden portion, it started going off. After exhausting some 10 sticks, I duly handed over the matchbox to me mum. She too had a tough time, but being a very experienced person in the matter of using match sticks to light lamps, she succeeded. It was then an easy job for me to light the other lamps using this one. I stepped away to let my dad light a couple. Once everything was lit, we decided to go proceed towards the main sannidhi. I turned and started walking.

But it turned out that I wasn't walking. I took a step backwards, turned my body and was about to make my next step with the other leg, when I felt a major obstacle on my path. Even before I understood what it was, I suddenly saw the side walls take a 90 degree turn. In other words, I was falling down. While I was doing that, my peripheral vision deciphered the obstacle to be some sort of human being. So I started trying to balance myself in the hope that I don't trample that person.

Amidst shouts of "aiyo" and "paathu" and the stares of all 200 people around that area, I continued to fall. I tried to balance myself and felt a bit of success. Realised that I was only spinning some more and after another failed attempt at balancing, fell down on my left side with a nice little thud.

Due to all my numerous balancing attempts, I was closer to the ground, which by the way was laid out using rocks (like in all old temples). So, I didn't have to worry much about broken body parts or even my mobile phone spilling out of my pocket. But, I did land a bit heavily on my left palm and the elbow and sustained bruises worthy enough of mentioning.

After all sense of normalcy prevailed, I saw who that human being was. It was a middle aged iyengar maami, who insisted that it was me who bumped into her while she was "saevichu"fying Perumaal. Say what? There was so much space in the temple. And she chose the exact spot behind me to do her sevai? Wont common sense tell her that anyone could have bumped into her at that place.

Yes, one can argue that I should have first turned fully, looked around and then walked. But other than a robot, I don't think anyone or thing moves in that fashion. With my attitude of not picking up a fight, I just glared at that lady and walked to the place where there was water to wash away some of the blood that was oozing out.

After this adventure, we went inside the temple and got a good darshan after standing for a long time in the general queue. I realised the availability of a special queue, but somehow felt guilty of using it today. You see, while we were trying to light the lamp, I made a comment about not being happy with this whole lamp lighting funda and felt that probably God punished me right there. So I wanted the darshan after a good wait. While still inside the temple, met an old classmate of mine from school. Sripradha had come with her family and we just exchanged pleasantries and moved on.

The temple praharam is quite interesting. From the outside you only see a plain terrain. Around the Thaayaar sannidhi, you see a small rock like projection inside the temple. And when you start going around the praharam, you see the other side of the rock. The praharam is basically full of steps and takes you on par with the main sannidhi's gopuram (dunno the technical term). It then takes a downward trend and brings you back near the place which the temple authorities are planning to inscribe my name!

After completing the namaskaram formalities, we started the next part of the journey. I took my folks on a guided tour around Mahindra City. I didn't exactly set foot inside my office's campus, but went around the whole place showing them the companies that had opened shop there.

After filling up petrol, we set out to the Hyagreevar temple in Chettipunyam. With expert guidance from some of the kids around the temple, I parked my car in a narrow lane and we went to the temple. There was quite a long queue at the temple and we joined and had the pain of being the last in line, though the pain was alleviated in 5 seconds.

While waiting, we noticed a lot of monkeys in the temple. They seemed to be running around, jumping up and down trees, cutting across the queue thereby scaring the devotees and sorta demanding the prasadam from those who were coming out of the temple. Basically, they were behaving like monkeys.

Everyone in the queue - me, me folks, those in front of us, those behind us etc. - were all talking only about the monkeys. Admiring the skills of an earlier stage of our evolution, everyone was calling out their near and dear, pointing them to one here, one there, one to the side and what not.

I too was following all this chatter and studying the monkeys, when I saw 2 of them climb the compound wall of the temple. One of them was bigger and was a bit behind the first one. After a quick glance and showing of teeth, the bigger one started humping the smaller one - doggy style. The recipient was looking back at the donor, showing teeth, growling and the donor was at it with full vigour.

I instantly noticed a silence in the queue. Probably everyone was equally shocked at the show and worse, most of them had come there with their kids in tow and so they obviously had a very embarrassing moment. After what seemed like a long time, everyone started looking at the diametrically opposite direction of the show and started admiring the botanical layout in the temple and how the temple folks had built a separate enclosure for lighting lamps.

While we were nearing the sanctum sanctorum, I saw a whole lot of activity amongst the devotees in front of me. People were sending school bags across to the kurukkall who in turn placed it at the lord's feet and returned it. Similar actions were done with pens, pencils etc. That's when I told me mum that if only she had done something like that for me, probably I would've scored better grades at school and college. I also instantly realised that I had to take up a certification exam at work and so prayed to Lord Hyagreeva with a specific purpose!

After the darshan was complete, we returned to our car and headed back to Chennai. We had lunch at Mathura and returned home around 3.15, quite exhausted!

Nearly became an article in tomorrow's newspaper

I had yet another long night at work on Friday. I had some calls and some work as well, till around 4 AM. I didn't want to drive back at that hour and so decided to spend some more time at the desk itself, so that I could leave around 5.30.

I somehow managed to doze off for 30 minutes in the meantime and managed to leave the office some 5-10 minutes before 6 AM. I was actually quite fresh by then and so had no issues while driving home.

However, I started getting sleepy when I neared Adyar. That's when I made my mistake. Whenever I drive at such odd hours, I usually chew some gum or the other just to ensure that my eyes don't doze off.

This morning however, I felt a bit of acidity and so decided not to chew gum. And since I was in Adyar, I told myself that it was only a short distance and ignored chewing gum.

I drove along Besant Avenue and was near the curve in front of the Scout camp. Frequent users of the road would remember the presence of a speed-breaker at the start of the curve.

I distinctly remember going over the speed-breaker on the fourth gear itself. I was doing like a rolling-stop - reduced speed but on the same gear. That's when I kinda passed out I think!

Next thing I saw was that I was actually rounding off the curve and there was a middle-aged couple walking on the road. If the car had continued along its line, I would have surely hit the lady at some 30 Kmph. I got a real rude wake-up call and reacted quickly, applied the brakes and swerved the car away from the lady.

But since it was a curve and since it was sandy in that area and since I was at a reasonable speed, there was quite a bit of screeching noise. Next thing I recollect, I was having thoughts that I had skidded and was having a tail spin.

But somehow I managed to control the car and bring it back on track and proceeded. There was an auto guy in front of me and he moved quite a distance to his left and let me pass him. While I was passing him, I looked at him and he was giving me a weird look that said "kaalang kaaarthala vandhuttaan paaru saavu giraakki".

All this happened in a matter of less than 5 seconds, ok. And to be specific, the time that I must have dozed off would have been around 2 seconds. In fact most of the events are quite blurry to me, even now. I distinctly remember a violet colored sari clad lady directly on the path of my car, screeching noises and an angry stare.

After I reached home around 7 AM, I initially decided to freshen up, have my coffee and some biscuits. Then the plan was to call up some of my team members to find out if anyone could come to work later in the day. I thought of calling them around 8.

I went up to my room to get out of the clothes that I'd been wearing for the last 24 hours. I saw my bed and literally fell on it. I hadn't even switched on the fan and was lying diagonally across the bed. Since its only a single bed, my head was sorta on the edge and one leg was actually resting on the floor. Yet, I fell asleep.

I have vague recollection of my parents coming in to check on me frequently. I got up at 10, because I had to make the calls to the people. I dragged myself out of bed and by 11, I had consumed coffee and few biscuits and had some energy to call up people and earn their wrath for asking them to come over the weekend.

I had a relaxed lunch and then dozed off on my sofa for some 45 minutes before a series of phone calls woke me up. I came to the office (the one closer home) around 4.30 PM. Am still here (9 PM) and I think a long night lies ahead of me tonight as well.

But I am barely able to keep my eyes open. I think I will try to leave home by midnight and hope to sleep the Sunday off!

All in all, I think its only some left over karma from my previous incarnations and more importantly, those of my parents, that saved me from running over that lady or getting into an accident or in other words - it saved me from being mentioned in the daily vernaculars.