You are my....

Last evening, I was listening to FM on the way back home. The hosts of the show I usually listen to, were cajoling listeners to call up and speak to them about a specific topic.

The topic was being driven mainly by the lyrics of a tamizh song, from the movie 'pori'. Apparently, the lyricist came up with this fantastic line, where the hero refers to his girlfriend as the window seat in a bus.

And they were asking the listeners to come out with similar lines. And everyone was giving all senti stuff. But, the whole thing got me thinking.

If I were to have a girlfriend and if I were to write her a poem and if I were to compare her to something, then it could be on the lines of:

"You are the front seat in a car"
"You are the ice-cream attached to the wrapper"
"You are the ghee that is left on the fingers after iruttu kadai halwa"
"You are the candy given by the air-hostess in a plane"
"You are the lower berth in a train"
"You are the cashew nut in the mixture packet"
"You are the ear bud inserted in my ear after a refreshing bath"
"You are the free curry leaf given after purchasing vegetables"
"You are the cheese stuffing in the crust of a pizza"
"You are the lime soda taken after a heavy meal"
"You are the butter scotch topping on a vanilla ice cream"
"You are the crisp currency note from an ATM"
"You are the free calendar given after a purchase in January"
"You are the vacant parking spot in the first level of Citi Center"

Not too romantic obviously, but I am sure that you will agree to one thing. All the things listed above, are definitely heart-warming for you at some level or the other. So shouldn't a girl be impressed by this, instead of being compared to flowers and the likes!

Random Jotting # 007

I did an "auto select" on the FM radio last evening and it gave me 9 preset stations.
So excluding the 2 AIR FM channels, there are 7 private operators in the fray in Chennai!!
Hope we soon get a dedicated FM channel for hip-hop... :-D

Alpa vasool in auto

After the fantastic treatment at the reception (read previous post), I stepped out of the Hotel to return home and shortly was brought down to Chennai earth at a rapid speed.

Courtesy - auto drivers.

There were 3-4 fellows standing near the gate. The conversation between self and one of them went like:
"enga saar ponum?"
"besant nagar"
"polaam saar", accompanied by a movement that suggests that he is heading towards his vehicle, but in reality he has not budged even an inch in space.
"evlo"
"polaam saar, vaanga"
"evlonga"
"besant nagar-la endha edam saar"
"maharaja store theriyuma?"
"theriyum saar"
"adhukku pakathla"
"maharaja store-na, bus stand thaandi varumay, adhaanay saar?"
"amaam. evlo?"
"kudunga saar. oru 120".

thats when a whole of thud sounds were heard inside me. me falling back to Chennai earth!

think of this. i came to the reception at that same place only 15-20 minutes back. I'd given 80 bucks to that fellow then. And suddenly, its become 120 bucks to go back to the same place?

I presented this case to the coterie and heard a cacophony of "varaadhu saar" "10 mani aavapodhu saar" "angaendhu galliya varanunga" "70-80 rooba petrol-kay povum, idhula naanga approm ennatha pozhappa pannardhu" "idhellam paakadheenga".

I simply started moving out. And the conversation continued with the typical "evlo tharuveengo?" and "100 rubees polaam saar".

I didnt look back and continued walking. In the meantime I touched base with Superthumby and like the true gentleman that he is, he offered to drop me home if I come there.

So I flagged down another auto on the way and asked him the rate to Luz. After another round of bargaining exorbitant prices, we settled at 70 bucks to Luz.

After a couple of minutes, the dude switched on the FM radio in his vehicle. The way he bent down to reach the controls which were below his seat - that's a whole different story in itself. Net-net, I suddenly heard some Ilayaraja melody blast out behind my head. I turned back in disbelief and found two giant speakers in the parcel tray!

The driver continued his driving and also fiddling the audio system to locate his fav radio station. On normal days, I ask these fellows to turn off the radio. But today, the alpam in me surfaced out and told me to make him continue with the radio. At least, for the money I was paying, I get to listen to some music.

Thankfully, the station he finally stopped at, played the Remo song from Anniyan and so in a way, a got some alpa vasool in the auto ride.

Offer from a mobile telephone service provider

I've been listening to radio of late and there's this ad that first impressed me. One of the mobile phone service providers has an offer that says 2000 free minutes. For two years. To any mobile phone of the same network.
First time I heard it I was like wow, that's a super cool offer.
Then after hearing it for 2-3 times, I decided to do the math.
To enjoy the full benefit, one can talk for 2000 minutes in 2 years.
Which is 1000 in 1 year.
Breaks down further to 83.33 minutes a month.
On an average that's 2.77 minutes a day.
Now, does that look like a great offer?
Hell NO.

FM Radio in Public Transport Buses, whats next?

The Metropolitan Transport Corporation buses usually ply in various stages of decay in Chennai. A month or ago, I traveled in a bus in which, due to the rains, there was a steady stream of water that kept pouring in from the roof on 2-3 seats.

But the one I used last night was amazing. It was quite new. The bus was really well lit up with many tube lights inside. The seats were comfy - as in new cushions so you didn't have to feel the wooden base alone. The ceiling was covered with mica sheet.

And there was FM music being played. I don't know if its now installed in all new buses that the Corporation is inducting into its fleet, but this is the second such bus that I have observed it over the past 3 months.

In a way it does beat the monotony of travel in the bus. But then, the music system (if i can call it that) is directly taken off from some tea stall. And like Superthumby observed earlier, we SIs do tend to prefer noise. This was one quite shrill and possibly the driver was trying to let any spying alien spaceship pick up the high frequency signal.

But pretty soon, I think the passengers are gonna be fighting with the drivers about which channel to hear. And as long as the DMK is in power, the Corporation could possibly supply FM radios that play only Suryan FM.

Maybe, the ruling party will also go one step ahead and install a TV set in the bus. After all, when the Government funds can be abused to supply free color TVs to the public, why not install it in a bus? Add a VCR and keep playing pre-recorded tapes of how good the administration (sic) is.