The treasure box in the Attic ........

Cleaning can be the worst pain in the neck ...swish goes the broom missing out many crucial places like the fast train passing the borinf station ,,,,of course when your maid does it ...she definitely does not bend down and clean under the cupboard and misses the cobwebs etc etc etc .........the maid train is bound by duty to stop at all the sleeeepy boring stations no matter what ... Well anyway cleaning is boring .....but when it leads you to a treasure ...then what ...a hidden treasure just like the secrets underneath an ocean . A treasure that is so valuable that you need to keep it safe ....what if the Kohinoor thieves decide to just smuggle it out ! Well finally after missing out many stations i reached the spot marked X.....the treasure was close by ......my hair on my arms stood like the meerkats in the desert ........tingling as i got closer .....flashes of light sparkled in front of my eyes .......yess got it ........ What could it be ? A precious gem studded jewel box ...that opened with a click and opened with a song to reveal grandmas antique kundan ka chain .....or grandpas ruby studded earring that was centuries old and passed on from generations .....and it could make the holder richer than the Queen of England !

Nope you are all wrong ...... A round tin box ...paint painfully fading away at the edges but the flowery print still clear ...... It did not open with a click though ...you definitely broke your finger nails trying to pry it open ........hmm that was a punishment for all who tried to take away my treasure .... And my eyes shine like sparklers when i open it and reflect the joys of the world .........wow my old shiny toffee wrappers ....my exchange bubble gum cards ........my teddies bow that tore when i tried to dress him up in my fathers shirt ..........my foreign pencil bit that was my pride in school .......my double sided pencil box that was as rare as clothes are on mallika sherawat ......my old tinkle special edition in which my letter to the editor was printed (wow) , my first nail paint bottle blood red colour ........my dolls leg which i hid so that i could fit it back when i got her back .......she got lost you see ...when she went to fetch water from the well ...an old steel cooker in which i had cooked uncountable meals for my sister ........a ball made of rubber strings that my brothers had made for me when i visited them at Trivandrum ..and wow how high they bounced ! A skeleton of a little girl bag in which i hid my girly treasures and findings .....a single long earring , actually my first long hanging earring which i had worn with pride on many occasions ....... The best of all was the picture postcards of the then star Govinda and pictures of madonna and george micheal .....wow .......... The treasure tin in itself is a treasure though ...i took chocolates to school in it for my birthday and proudly told all that my uncle bought it for me from Muscat :)

So who all agree that this was really a great treasure hunting ......come on you all open up your closets and attics and do a little treasure hunting .....find your treasures and your childhood once again and relive every little treasury moment ...... Every little treasure no matter how mangled or broken will have its own story to tell .......so go on you all ....Happy Treasure Hunting :)))

The Chinmaya excursion .......(part4)

Some good writer could write a novel on my Chinmaya days in my new class :) One thing was sure ....from the minute Anithas and my friendship was sealed ...Dileep's fate was sealed too and connected to ours .....Poor fellow whether he wanted it or not we did not ask him but he too was pilled onto this bondthat formed with the strings of silliness , madness, giggles, serious discussions on equally silly topics , more giggles , laughter ...and everything mad ... You know its quiet amazing as to how we girls can find a topic daily to discuss ....and its equally amazing how the guys find all this amusing ....day in and day out :) We discussed our dreams .....they were more like comedy stories directed by the most flop director of this world .And Dileep would turn his head slowly ...in slow motion ...with the expression .... what wrong i did that i have to hear all this :) Slowly and steadily Dileep became a part of our discussions ....actually he had no choice but he was very brave and became our best buddy from then on ........I remember i had a dream once that Ganesan sir was teaching Shiva Thandavam in the Assembly and for a few days many laughed their heads off discussing this ..... Since our seats were conveniently near the window ....bird watching was a compulsory process ...though we tried hard not to :) Soon Krishnadas and Kesavan too joined the gang ..... Krishnadas ....who was always with us with his laugh and innocent smiles and Kesavan silent .... I remember A guy would cross that path daily and Dileep adn Kdas told us that hi name was Thampuran and that he was equal to a gunda ..... From that day started the Thampuran watch and we would religiously and patiently wait for this guy to walk that way ....well its not always you get to see a gunda in Tripunithura ..... Sunil and me were always teased ...since we conversed in English and to make matters worse Usha Mohan teacher made us read Romeo and Juliet !!! Well that cemented the fact that now all got the rights and the copyrights and etc to tease us without any mercy !!!! Well finally all the teasing got us and Sunil and me had a big fight one day ....reason was what even i dont know today and am sure even he did not know :) maybe it was an act to scare the others away who mercilessly teased us as Romeo and Juliet and Naani and Naanappan !! ........Well anyway that reduced the teasing and the coughs that eruptedall around for wrong resons ... Yes that reminds me if Strepsils or Halls or for that reason any cough medicine would have sold too well in our class since each and every day a few had this cough that was pretty contagiousand severe ...... Some guy smiled at Asha Mary immediately ...cough cough cough ...and many coughs Sunil asked me a doubt ....cough cough cough ....... Dildeepa spoke to Dileep cough cough cough ........Pradeep spoke to Anitha cough cough cough ..... And some even coughed like they were last stage TB patients ....you know thw more severe the cough the more contagious it was ........ And when the guys had our very own pretty Asha Mary to be courteous to ...we girls got our very own Ram Kumar ...who arrived as a breathe of fresh air and rain and whatever ......Our very own Chemistry lab assistant Ram Kumar who was courteous , polite , extra decent and above all very handsome :) ( NOTE : ALL THIS HAPPENED YEARS BACK WHEN WE WERE SILLY AND INNOCENT ....SITUATIONS SPOKEN HERE ARE NOT TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY BY HUSBANDS AND WIVES OF PERSONS SPOKEN HERE .....THIS HAS BEEN WRITTEN FOR FUN ABOUT OUR FUN MOMENTS AND WRITTEN WITH A PURE INTENTION .....ALL mentioned here are amazing guys and girls who are real gems more precious than any u could buy in a store and people who have them in their lives today are indeed lucky ) Yes now where was i ....yup Ram Kumar .....From then all of us had extra interest in chemistry practicals and extra doubts too .....:) HA ha poor guy he never knew that he was discussed so much that we could write a book on him ...... But he was equally respected too by all of us guys and girls ....and i still remember the autograph he wrote for me on our farewell .....Sathyam Shivam Sundaram ....only ram Kumar could write so much using so less words ... Smitha Francy is another person whom i admired ....She was one person who could recite every verse in the Gita more beautifully and with so much devotion than any of us in the class ...... Teachers we had the best ....and Mini teacher was without doubt our favourite ..... And am so proud to let u all know that after my initial failure my trail was only upwards and good friends and endless support laid out flowers of success on the trail and i was selected as Head girl of the school :) That was such a proud moment for me .....That particular incident wiped out most of the unpleasant past ....andthen there was no looking backwards ...... Life was beautiful and life was good ...because when u have the right friends then no difficulties are tough enough ......... May write more ........wait and read on .......

My Chinmaya Journey continues ........(Part 3 )

So here we go again but from now on a more pleasane journey that just keeps better as we go on ....... And a journey that without doubt is my favourite .. School reopened and once again i stood at the doorstep ..of a new class...new people ...old doubts older anxieties and all .........This time though the anxiety was huge ...instead of butterflies i had a stampeding herd of elephants in my stomach ...........Mini teacher welcomed me in without introductions this time ....and slowly i stepped in .........ashamed of myself ....i was a failure ...would they ridicule me or regret me based on this new tag i had on my forehead ........ But there was something nice from the minute i stepped in ...a nice feeling .....and then i saw 2 faces .....2 people who gave me the best smile i had ever seen in my life ......the beauty of the smile being not in its actual physical beauty but because of the fact that it was genuine ...without judging me ...without noticing any tags ....Dileep and Anitha ....2 friends whom i will cherish till my last day on earth ....2 people who removed the hard stairs and fitted a smooth escalator and made my journey free of any hassle from then .......and they held my hand with such a strong bond of friendship and support that from then i never made one faltering step ...i never took a fall .....it was only forwards from then ....Love you both for so much you have done for me ....much more than u even realised that you were doing much more than maybe even what u wanted to do .......I remain indebted to you for things that can not be fitted into a blog ...cannot be put in words . Soon after Nandu and Krishnadas followed .....two of my best buddies :) till date ..... I sat in the last row , second bench ...behind Dileep and with Anitha :) How and when the friendship grew i cannot say ........ There was another new student entering the class with me ....Asha Mary .... The minute Asha entered the classroom there was silence and then whispers and talks ....Naturally ;) she was so pretty that none of us could take our eyes off her ...girls and boys alike hehehehe ....... Well then my list of friends grew ....it branched beautifully and in a healthy way ...and gave out flowers of acceptance and trust and comfort ......And then i knew my place was set ....this was where i belonged ....maybe this is why i failed .... Every failure has a reason and one of the reasons for mine ...i believe ...was for me to meet and get to know such wonderful people ......It would have been a huge loss if i had not got these friends ........ The list grew ....Gomathi , Meena , Remya , Athira, Praveen , Pradeep ,Sunil ,Kishore ,Dildeepa , Smitha , and actually everybody in that class ................ Read on..............

Chinmaya ......A Sequel ( Part 2 )

So lets journey forward from where i left the trail ...and now i know i have many people with me on the forward journey ..... My first step into Std 11 Chinmaya Vidyalaya , Tripunithura .....taken with a lot of doubts and anxiety ....not knowing where its leading me to ....but taken with prayers and hopes for the best .... I was asked to introduce myself , which i did ...and ended my introduction with the words ...I did my entire schooling in Bombay .....CRASH BOOM DAAAAM DHOOOOOOM ........ those words kind of dropped a bomb in my new class :) That was a time when our dear Tripunithura was not ready to adjust and understand the alien land called BOMBAY !!!! Little did i know that for the next one year i would be judged severely based on this one sentence .. People accepted Dubai and Riyadh and Saudi and even Africa ,,,,but Bombay ! no way ....Girls from Bombay are " over smart " , " not to be trusted " .....The problem with the human mind is that it absorbs the bad more easily and lets the good linger back so that it can absorb it in leisure ... The same thing happened to me too .... I absorbed these comments faster .... There were a few who thought i was cool ...:) I remember Manju coming and asking me " Have you seen a lot of film stars :)) " Manju was a person who always made me feel comfortable ( also comfortable about my bombay tag that just refused to come off !) Slowly the girls and i got familiar with each other ....a few with caution and a few with the thrill of welcoming someone new ...... The guys kept away from me as if i was an alien ..... many times i encountered whispers like " she is from bombay right ....adhigam adipikyanda !It hurt a bit but i let it go ..... Then like an oasis in the desert i found a silent dreamy ...oblivious to all the happenings ...a silent girl sitting in the first bench of the last row ......SREEDEVI ...who later on went on to become one of my closest friends .... I enjoyed the moments i spend with her ....we had common interests poems .... stories .....and dreams and imaginations ........Sreedevi really made me feel good . A few guys too were really nice to me naming a few ...Mahesh , Krishnakumar , Ramesh Krishnan and Vineeth Vishwam ( that guy always made me laugh :) ) ...the rest stayed away .............................. I remember an incident when i tapped a guy on his shoulder to ask him something ....tapped him because i did not know his name and felt it would be rude if i did shoo shoo and called him ..... MY GOOD LORD ...the look on that guys face made me feel like i was standing trial in a courtroom for triple murders and a dozen kidnappings and many othre heinious crimes !!!!!!! Immediately his bench partner said Bombaylu padichu valannadhalle ...vivaram koodi poyeetta ( she is from bombay right ...she thinks too much of her self ) What had i done ?!?!?!?!? Immediately Saira came to my rescue and said she does not know ...and told me " Sindhu you should never touch your guy classmates ...usually we use a book to call them !?!?!?! " A book ??? If you need to call someone whose name you dont know ....Beat them with a book or a pencil case or a waterbottle or anything you get in hand ...but dont touch them !?!?! Now what sort of weird rule is that ?? Dont touch a person but u can beat him up hahahahahahahahaha The initial shock and the anger gave way to comic relief ....even today i think of that incident and laugh :) If your mind is clean then a touch is also clean it does not spoil you in any way ..........Hope that person is reading this .....;) From STATE SYLABUS to CBSE was like the transition from a road to a mountain !!! And in a semi friendly ...semi hostile environment it just gets tougher ... There were nights when i cried myself to sleep ........ Let me not forget to mention Arun Paul :) .....though my senior ...but a person who always made me feel welcome .....a person who accepted me as a friend along with my bombay tag and funny accent etc etc etc ....... I remember him going on his cycle when i stood at the van stop and giving me a big smiley good morning and i would silently wish hope all my classmates understood me equally well and accepted me the same way ....... A big thank you to Arun paul and Sreedevi and also Saira ...who gave me comfort in the desert ........ And then thanks to Sweet Rose,Rose,Anju,and ever so lively and happy Sreeja ( I loved her spirit and her non stop chatter and her friendly talks ) , Mahesh , Krishnakumar , Manju ......... My thoughts have got clogged ....the string or the chain is broken temporarily and many memories have got mixed up so i will write a few gud memories i have ... Oh how Prakashan sir used to make us laugh and i would have tears in my eyes by the end of his class , My pretty Mini teacher ...strict but very much respected , Ganesan sir ...always a father figure feared , loved and respected ..... And the final straw was when i failed my 11th std .... Something i had never dealt with in my life ......Failed ? me ? no there was some misunderstanding ....it could never happen ....my father who usually is so strict that i think twice to speak in front of him ....he too did not say a word to me ...he understood perfectly what i was going through ....and i a thankfull to him for that till this day ... Slowly i realised that after God put me in hell for a year ( with a few comforts ) now he was sprinkling chilly powder on my burns ......Not one tear escaped my eyes because i could not believe it ..... A few people who i thought were my friends ,,,became strangers overnight ! That hurt more than my failure ..... And at that moment i realised that i had struggled and reached the top of the mountain only to find another mountain waiting to be climbed ... Read on it gets better from now

Chinmaya Vidyalaya ....A nostalgic Journey (Part 1 )

Chinmaya Vidyalaya ... is the Mother of Pearl in my beautiful necklace of pearls ....where each pearl is a good incident in my life..... all stringed together with a string of unbreakable thoughts and memories and silent thanks ...And this pearl no doubt shines most brightly ...because it paved the way for the most wonderful journey in my life ........ I reached Tripunithura with a million doubts , anxieties , sorrow , fears and many other things negative ......It's but natural ........Bombay had been my home for almost 13 years ....the 13 best years of my life ...Suddenly my father got an unexpected transfer and with the click of a finger my entire life changed before my eyes ....... I left my best friends of 12 long years...the people i grew up with .....who knew me in and out .......i left my home my school everything that was dear to me ........ Oh yes it was painful .....my heart ached like being pricked by a thousand thorns .....my mind ached with the million doubts that would naturally bother a 14 year old .... standing in the most delicate age of her life ...... Now let me jump a few months forward ....I then got admission to my 11th std at Chinmaya Vidyalaya , Tripunithura ......Ok the name sounded strange at first ( no offense meant in any way ) How would i settle in with the children who have been friends for 10 to 14 years of their lives ...would i fit in ? would they accept me ? would i be teased for my different accent while speaking malayalam .....would i be accepted ? Then i found myself standing at the door to the my new world ....my clasroom ..... Ok now i knew how an alien would feel if he suddenly landed on earth :) All eyes on me , some smiling faces , some faces without any emotions , some looks that plainly stated '" Hmm now who is this ?" There were whispers and stares and smiles and again stares ....it seemed like forever before Mini teacher called me into the classroom ....... I kept my right foot in .......My first official Chinmaya Vidyalay step :) Read on there is more to come ....