For All That Matters

It might be like a good dream where you want to stay all the time and where you want to be left alone and not be disturbed. But soon you realize, like a rainy cloud, it has touched past you leaving memories to cherish for life than staying with you. It was just the same for him, it was there and it was all gone. 

For it was a time, when he thought moon followed the bus in which he travelled and felt bad when it hid behind the veils of the cloud. For it was the time, he bought new erasers just to smell the scent of it. For it was a time, he loved festivals as he was allowed to be at school ununiformed the next day. For it was the time, when tears used to drop down when he saw Manick Baasha getting beaten up by villains. For it was the time, when the world looked gentle and kind in his eyes, for it was the time, when he was in his fifth grade.

Tucked in shirt, combed hair, polished shoes, talcum powdered face and holy ash in his forehead, this is how he used to enter the school.  The moment his dad takes off his bike after leaving him, his shirt collars were up, sleeves of his half shirt gets rolled up, combed hair gets its treatment and obviously the vibuthi in his forehead loses its place. Surrounded by friends who thought they are the dons of the street, he walked around the corridors, ground and auditorium. He felt unstoppable and indomitable. For all his underplay in home, he took the revenge in school. His mischief during his fifth grade went to an extent when he told his fellow classmates that to be part of his “gang”, they have to enter the ‘girl’s toilet’ and touch the distant wall in there. And that is how the recruitment was done. After his third grade, he felt that talking to the girls in the class was the most infidel act one could perform and he stopped doing it.

Not for long, the rough desert saw its rain. With the breezy monsoon winds and drizzling rain, he saw the pony tailed girl standing in the doorstep of the classroom. He never thought colors would make so much sense until he saw the beads and ribbons that were holding her hair. It is said brain can transfer 20 million billion calculations per second in its full capacity but it was the first time when it was happening to him. He was wondering how even a white Monday usual uniform would look so good. After looking at her, for reassurance he checked himself, the hair and shoes showed the wannabe untidy and collars and sleeves showed the wannabe rowdy. He adjusted his shirt collars, his sleeves and his hair. After looking at his stunts, the guy sitting next to him frowned at his unusual behavior. All he could do was, give an embarrassing smile with a shrug.

Days slowly passed, but all he was doing was staring at her. You never know, in which avatar fortune might glee on you. It was a usual day and it was the lunch break, the “Catch & catch” game was on with the arch rivals. The usual fight over the score went on to become a full-fledged war during the break. At the tipping point, his fist kissed one of his classmates face and the end result was crying with blood dripping from lips. Never has this fight been moderated by class teachers, but this time, the issue got escalated though it was against the guidelines of grade five gang-wars. The class teacher came to a conclusion that the bad behavior of students in her class is because of the seating position and therefore she decided to revamp the whole arrangement. From the next day, every guy was made to sit next to a girl and the faculty decided had the take on position.  And to his surprise, he was made to sit next to the gleaming beauty. I guess that is why they say, the whole world conspires for you when you want something. 

Never did the teacher expect such a turnaround in discipline in such a short time frame. When she felt the whole class has improved by 80%, she saw 250% improvement in him. To the teacher’s surprise, his scores topped the class, he was punctual and to add more, he came early to class to clean the board!

His friends realized that there has been a slow disassociation in their friendship and he was more into her. There were no lunch time games, no fights and no disciplinary actions in the class. He walked in with her to class and walked out with her. The skills acquired over the time to make fun of others became his charm to make her laugh. He held her hands in the classroom, when she asked ‘why’, he said, “I’m afraid of light!”. Lunch break was with her, he started playing volley ball with the girls, intentionally lost notebooks just to use her notebooks. Back at home, he danced for the love tunes of Kadhalar Dhinam and DDLJ, he felt as if these romantic songs were just made for him.  He called her up all the evenings in his landline when his mom was out for temple. When her parents picked up the phone, it ended as a blank call and when she picks it up, it went on forever. 

Even the dreams wouldn’t have been this better but his life was. There is an old tricky saying, this too shall pass. His love did not pass away but the love filled moments were put in danger. The news that his dad got transferred struck his ears when his parents were having a conversation. His dad was excited of the new city and the job description; he tried his best to be happy for his dad but still the tears for the love were floating in his eyes. He didn’t ask for the moments with her, he didn’t pray for the love but when he thought he had everything, someone suddenly snatched the whole paradise he had built with dreams. Tears wet the pillow covers. He wanted to share his pain, agony and the dreams that were put on fire but to whom? He lost his friends and he couldn’t open up to his parents. The unsaid words started eating his mind. He wanted a way to vent out his feeling and the passion for love. And that is the moment when he decided that he will propose to her on the last day of the year.

When there is true love, a man discovers himself in some form. And that is how James Blunt, Elliot Smith and many others came into real existence. They found their music and lyrics in the love they had and dreams they saw. The walk he had with her were the lanes he took on the city of love and they started taking shapes as a poems. He was 10 and he was all set for proposing her with a poem. Though he was not sure of what would happen even after she accepts his love. But he was completely for it. The day came; His heart was pushing more blood than it should be and the palms that were holding the paper with words was sweating too. After the exam, he was waiting in front of the exam hall to give away the paper to her. He was waiting. He was waiting. But she didn’t turn up. Even the evening wind started embracing the dusty lands but he was standing all alone in the playground waiting for her.

He called her up during the evening to hear no response. For the next few days it was the same, no one knew what happened to the bird that was flying around in his life. The day came when he had to move out of the city to a new alien land. Less he realized that, more than the heart which he lost over the year, he had also lost the boisterous fighting survivor in himself for the one.

Time flew, seasons changed, old trees died, new ones bloomed and he grew up to become old. She might have become a vague memory but the feeling that she isn’t there pinched him sometime. He may now be suited and booted but the fact that he did not open up to her comes to his mind whenever he saw a kid. 

Then he didn’t realize, love meant getting hurt either ways. Though it hurts, it is worth taking the hits. Life attains greater meaning when it closely works with love.  It should start drive your day; every second in the clock should revolve around that. You don’t need a huge structure to showcase your love; all that is required is opening up your heart to the one. Every animal in the world does almost everything to woo its love, but only we humans, because of the six senses miss doing it, for we think little too much. Make her feel special, for she is special in your life. Give her the attention, for she makes your life complete which otherwise isn’t. If she wants you to breakdown the whole stretch of Himalayas to be with you then break it down because it is worth spending your life trying to move the mountains for her. For all matters is being with her!

-With love,

Alagiri

A Walk Down The Lane

There are moments in your life when you won’t realize that a walk down the lane can take you to the corners of your brain digging deep into your thoughts to find the pleasant beauties of life. There are also moments in your life when you won’t realize that a walk down the lane that can be a start to a wild chase of something that is humanly not understandable but still you try to.  And now, you are on one such walk down the lane.

Night is up and the sodium vapor lamps are on. The roads are yellow and the rain that poured make the roads reflect the light all over the street and the high grown temperate trees shade the light from the moon.  You start walking down the street after bidding a bye to your friend down the lane that was lit up in yellow.

The moment of Loneliness

When you are alone on the roads, you realize that you are most vulnerable not to the people, but to the bad memories which start taking control of you. You start remembering the moment you went to patch up your broken friendship with the wonderful moments with her in mind and that is when you realized that your friend hasn’t changed much from the last incident that put you off. You feel bad for the loss of a nice friend and that loss makes you feel lonely and the gloomy roads add more to your loneliness. You plug yourself to the earphones connected to the mp3 player. Thinking no one is here with you, you say aloud, “I’m not afraid of miscreants on the road, but to the bad memories that I want to forget. Oh beautiful mind! Why can’t you stop thinking? I’m fine outside, but these memories are hunting and ripping me off.”

The world is watching

From a distance a couple walk pass by you to sit on the bench that is outside the park, they see you, they start getting intimate and adorable.

The moment you see it, you get a satire smile which you want to hide it and gladly the lights help you keep it down. You ask yourself, why do people do that? Do they want picture themselves as someone else? Before answering it, you travel to the moment when you were left by the one whom you want to be with all the time. After a deep breath, a sad smile comes and the unheard voice of yours wishes them best with the thought in mind that nothing is permanent.

The thoughts stop flowing and you ask the same question of why they acted before you. Even if they think I’m somebody to whom they have to act, but why do they do it? The numb legs slow down with the conceived thought, “What if they are longing for recognition of a good couple?”

The Transformation

We always have the feel that the moon travels with us and today it is the time for the crescent shaped moon to walk with you. The friendly cold breeze takes you to a plane of realization on how everyone has had their own small expectations from their peers, friends, office, and parents and how most of them have remained as wishes. And you are no exception and for you only a few have turned into reality and that too at a time when you were little old for it to feel happy. Now, when you look back at it, you feel bad for the lost time and wish, but at the same time you feel happy for how you handled the moments of defeat with the act of defiance and how determined you are for the oaths you took during the days of subjugation. From the inside you realize how strong a human being you became by moving from where you were. You realize how strong you became by not expecting things from others and how you started fulfilling your dreams. Yes, you became strong.

Workers of Society

After a few hundred meters down the lane, you see a Bhai with his “mobile fruit stall” selling Apples, Oranges and Muskmelons. You always had a craving for oranges and you know for a fact that craving doesn’t means buying, so you check your purse to realize that all the money you have is only good for another two days with seven more day to go for next credit of salary. And so you try to fulfill the craving with the dreams of oranges and you decide to walk past the stall, but the previous realization that “you have become strong by fulfilling your wishes” hits you strong and then again you took the two steps backward to get to the stall. “Ah the temptation!” you say yourself.

The Fruit seller Bhai who was looking at your two steps forward – two step backward game that you were playing in dilemma gives that weird condescending smile when you get close to his stall.  You ask for the price a variant of orange and he says “50 bucks”, but you know for a fact that is close to 30 bucks. After minutes of bargain he comes down to 40. You leave the place with the thought, “Bhai, I know you are toiling hard in the sun and rain to earn, but never think I’m not. I have my own types of toiling hard, at the end we are all workers in society, but why do you want to cheat on another worker?”

Dreams of becoming BIG

The thoughts around “earning” starts lingering in your brain to bring in all the pictures of the successful people in your workspace; you then ask, what makes these guys be successful? You know for a fact that it is their hard work all throughout the year, but it will not stop you there, it makes you ask the next question, “What makes them work all throughout the year?” You have been telling this answer to yourself for a very long time and yet again you tell yourself, “They do what they like to do. They do what they want to do”. You aspire to do what you love the most and you want to struggle like how the warriors do in a war. But, even to do what you really want to do, you have to struggle a lot, that’s the current scenario, your parents will oppose, your friends will make you think twice, pessimists will try to break you down, society will stare at you and overcoming all these is a struggle by itself and then only starts the real war. Sometimes, you wonder where this whole life is enough for it!

The connected dots

The roads go turning left and right, your sub-conscious mind knows how you should go because of the training it got in walking through these paths over the days and you are still walking. Off a sudden, you see a snail on the side of the road trying to move slower than what you read in the books.  You admire it; yellow light on the snail makes it adorable too. The feeling of what if a car drives over the snail makes you push the snail off the road into the grasses which have grown after the seasonal rains. You feel happy, but that is when another realization strikes you, there are times when you thought you were on right path, but all of a sudden you saw yourself thrown out of the path because of a few incidents. You smile, you say, what if Gods took the role you took for the snail?  You leave with a thoughtful smile.

What if I’m no one

Though it was little late in the night, you still find people jogging around you with pride all over his face. Even without your prior admission your thoughts start talking to you, “Why should one be a proud person? What if we human-kind are more like a group of cells working in a tissue, a group of tissues working for an organ? What if we are part of bigger organism? What if this whole earth was like a cell working in a tissue called universe? Or what if the whole universe was just the size of a tissue in big organism? What if the whole scientific/technological advancement limited the race in finding that?” You feel amazed. You feel bewildered. You even think twice whether you without your own knowledge got stoned? But the strong feeling what if it was true still amazes you! And that is when you start thinking of how small you and the whole organisms are. You say to yourself, even if the case this world being part of organism is true, I’ll still work for the betterment of my people and the bigger one.

Expectation, Joy and sorrow

After heavy rounds of thinking you realize that you have crossed miles staying in your sub-conscious mind walking down your own path forgetting the road.

In a signal-less junction, a car driver leaves way for you, you say thank you to him courteously without looking at him as you dint really want to check whether he took your courteousness. You say to yourself I’m not expecting anything in return to my courteousness and you keep walking. You walk forward; you tell to yourself that expectations are the biggest lies in your world. But, you know for a fact that expectations give you joys in life which otherwise is not living.

Yes, you are confused. You want small joys in life; you don’t want sadness and heartbreak; but you know joys and sorrows are like Sun and Moon; you can’t get to choose one but get the complete package.  You want to “live” your life, but you don’t know what is “living” other than the contemporary meaning. You want a meaning in life but you don’t know where to find it.  

Save me for I’m a fool

You go the last resort and you ask her, “Dear God, I’m not able to understand anything. I’m lost in this world. I’m a pseudo thinker, a pseudo philosopher, Please educate me or make me ignorant, but this state of lying somewhere in between is taking a toll on me, please help me. Either gives me answers to my questions or atleast please don’t make me ask questions. I’m tired already!”

The walk down the lane has burned some calories physically and mentally it has left you in the middle of nowhere. You say to yourself that you are going to free yourself from the train of thoughts, but still you are conscious of your thoughts and you keep thinking and walking till you reach your place and you say to yourself, “I’m little broken and that’s okay”.

Thanks,

Alagiri Samy.S

I miss being with you

The coffee chat, the unpretending face,

The lovely smile, the lamenting words,

Is no more in my world, is no more in the life,

Holy Grail, I miss being with you,

I miss being with you..

The missed movie, the blissful bird,

The resurrected gallery, the neglected museum,

Is waiting for us, is longing to see us,

Tweety bird, I miss being with you,

I miss being with you.. 

The more I talk, the more I fall,

The more I see, the more I fall,

So, I stopped talking … So I stopped seeing,

The more I do, the more I miss you.

Wonderwall, I miss being with you,

I miss being with you..

-To my dear friend whom i miss a lot,

Alagiri

To my Crush

https://soundcloud.com/alagiri-samy/oh-my-love

VERSE 1:

Your charming eyes, the pretty cheeks,
your caring words, the lovely smile,
They left me in a giddy,
I have a crush on you,
a love for you,
oh my love..
my love..

VERSE 2:

You left at airport, bidding me,
my heart bled,tears shed,
I felt like killing me,
my life is short,
so be a part,
oh my love..
my love..

BRIDGE :

I'm somebody else's baby
I'm somebody else's baby

VERSE 3:

I'm black in love, feeling  sacked,
I was flying high,now rooted to die,
It is his worst,
For not allowing us to meet first,
please come back to me,
oh my love..
my love..

- Alagiri

* Last assignment for Master Pat Pattison's class.

Master, you are great! *Bows*

Betrayal - V3

Where will i go?
What will i do?

I gave my best,
to find myself pressed,
But why is this test?

Where will i go?
What will i do?

My pride was slashed,
The reason was smashed,
But why i got transhed?

Where will i go?
What will i do?

I believed you,
I was proud of you,
But you ditched me,
But why me is it me?

Where will i go?
What will i do?

Things cannot be changed,
my life got rearranged,
I'm already deranged

You made me feel bad of myself,
You made me question myself,
To assert youself,
you left me in the iceshelf


Where will i go?
What will i do?

- Alagiri

P.S : Added/Changed a lot after listening Pat's lecture.

Betrayal

Where will i go?
What will i do?
For I'm left dead.

I gave my best,
and i never took rest,
I got stressed,
and then got messed.


Where will i go?
What will i do?
For I'm left dead.


My pride was banished,
The reasons were smashed,
My dreams were trashed,
And from real life i got washed.

Where will i go?
What will i do?
For I'm left dead.


I believed you,
to get ditched,
I was proud of you,
to get twinged.

Where will i go?
What will i do?
For I'm left dead.


Things cannot be changed,
Here i'm deranged,
to your pleasure,i'm estranged,
in the world of love unchanged

Where will i go?
What will i do?
For I'm left dead.

You made me feel bad of myself,
You made me question myself,
what did i do?
and Why did you do?


Where will i go?
What will i do?
For I'm left dead.

- Alagiri

P.S : This song was written as a part of Song Writing Assignment 3 for the course Songwriting held by Mr. Pat Pattison.

The Sri Lankan Fever - Travelogue

I have always had plans to visit my grandmother in Sri Lanka whom I last saw when I was 6 year old and now it was about time to meet her and when I was planning a trip, Viswa and Gopi also tagged in.

We booked our tickets to Sri Lanka by December and the round trip cost was 6.5K in Air India Express flight. We didn’t plan much and it was because we were little too lazy!

Yes, the day came for us to fly.

03- 03-2012

From Chennai we had our flight to Colombo, Bandarnayake Airport by 7AM in the morning and therefore we had to be there at the airport by 4AM. Out of excitement and Mosquito bite, we decided that we will stay awake the whole night to catch the flight and we started to the Airport by 3.30 and we reached the airport by 4AM exactly. After passport verification and security check we were allowed to enter the International Departure gate by CISF jawans. My perception about Indian Army totally changed after looking at the Jawans there, I felt proud and even without my knowledge my hands were saluting. Well Build with a 48 Inch shoulder and 6.3 feet height they will always look intimidating to the terrorist and to the Anti-Nationals.

After rounds of checking we got our boarding passes to the Air India Express flight IX671 and only then we realized that we haven’t changed the Indian currencies to dollars. So, we were searching for the ATM inside the airport but only then we realized that there is no ATM inside the airport! So, we had to surrender our boarding pass and had to get AI employee with us to get the money from the nearest ATM outside the Airport. And that was not the end, the ATM engulfed my card and refused to give the money as well, yeah right, great start.

After this Viswa had to get the boarding pass again and then we went to the Thomas Cook for currency conversion and then hit the next tragedy, Thomas cook converted Indian Rupees to US Dollars at Rs.64 while the price outside the airport was Rs.55. Yes, we lost around 8K Indian rupees on this.

We summarized to ourselves, there is no ATM inside the airport and two never do a currency exchange inside an Airport and that to with Thomas Cook.

By 5 in the morning, we almost completed all the procedures from boarding pass to VISA we almost completed everything. VISA, we applied online through a website, thanks to Gopi. He saved quite sometime in the airport. We saved all these time to take a few pictures in the Airport, yeah, It is our vacation and we have every right to do whatever we wanted to do!

By 6.45 we boarded the flight and we were able to see a lot of carriers, who carry things from India<->SriLanka using the loop holes in the law. They take liquor bottles from the duty free shops and will sell these in the local liquor shop and make some money out of this and they do more work of this sort.

 We heard the captain of the “chotta flight” on the speakers saying that the visibility was less than 100Mt and so it is not possible to take off immediately and the flight will take off by 7.45. And he kept his word and we took off by the time he told us. To suffice our hunger, the flight served us Pongal, vada, Idly and Cutlet. (WOW! For the 3k, we paid)

After an hour journey, we touched the Srilankan soil by 9AM. 25 degree and was breezy. To our surprise there was no time difference, apparently they removed the day-light saving in the recent times. We came out of the airport by 11 after getting Airtel Simcard with Data and we also exchanged the Dollars with Srilankan Currencies. No we had a good amount of money in our hands thanks to exchange rates.

After another 30 minutes of discussion on whether to go to Batticalo directly or to stay in Colombo for a day, we finally concluded that we will stay in Colombo till the evening and will leave to Batticalo on a night bus. So, we took our entire luggage and started to Colombo-3 where one of my Uncle stays. With Srilankan rupees 2500 we travelled the 30KM from Airport to Colombo-3. The ride from the airport gave us a glimpse of Sri Lanka, they listen to Jazz music like happy people do, they wear Caribbean style clothes, if you ask them a cup of tea they will serve you 400Ml of tea and last but not the least they are really good set of hospitable people.

We met our uncle and from there we saw a few places in Colombo-4 which is supposed to be the prime business/political area of Colombo and then by 2 we had our lunch in a Chinese restaurant and then we were left alone for the next 4 hours. And by 8, we started to Batticalo from Colombo.

04-03-2012

By 3.30 we reached my relatives place in Chengalady, Batticalo and after that we had chit-chat for the next 5 to 6 hours and by 10 we went to a school where one of my uncle is a Principal and apparently we found that the war has affected even the eastern province very much.  And by 11.30, we went to a beach called Passikudah which is famous for its zero to no waves. And after an hour of bathing, we had our lunch and then we started to Batticalo town which is covered by water in three sides and we were able to still able to see the remains of the 2004 Tsunami. The plight of the people because of the war and Tsunami was very much visible. And after our entire visit we reached our home by 8 and then it was a happy night’s sleep.

05-03-2012

After two hectic days of travelling we preferred to stay at home and relax so that we don’t mess up with the upcoming days.

06-03-2012

From Batticalo we started our voyage to Kandy, a hill station in the up-country by 6.30 in the morning. In the bus we were charged some Srilankan 200 rupees for the whole 200 kilometers. We reached Kandy by 12.30 and we had a good lunch. Kandy was really hot and humid and so we decided to go to Nuweralia which is supposed to be like Ooty. Out of plight, we took an AC bus to Nuweralia and we were there by 4 in the evening.

In the bus stand, we found a broker who got us a room for 2000 bucks for a night.  Happy we were as it was just 666 per head! We stayed in Victoria Inn which is right in front of the Nuwereliya’s Victoria Park.  It had three beds and a decent bathroom with geysers.

We ordered a pot of tea and we thought it would be a milk-tea (This is how they call our normal tea) but instead they gave us something like tea water, sugar, milk separately and they asked us to mix it for ourselves. Oh yeah, we had the worst tea of the century. Learning, always ask for Milk tea and be specific in explaining what you want otherwise you might get something which can be your nightmare.

And then by 5, we started to the Labook ellie tea factory for a visit.  The cab driver charged us 2500 for the ride and we had to accept that. He was very professional and greeted us with a warm smile. The taxi driver had a certificate from tourism department on the Hospitality and he was more like guide explaining us things about the hill station and he also helped us taking photos and we also got him in for a photo. Meanwhile, he entered the International politics which was something where we should be a little careful while talking because you are in SriLanka.  He was offended by the way the Tamil groups in India treated the Srilankan Singhalese travelers in India and he was also talking about his plans to visit Buddhist monuments in India. But nothing to complain, we dropped us back at our hotel where there were literally no one staying except us.

During the same day, we also looked out for options to reach Hikkaduwa, the sunshine beach paradise in Sri Lanka and we found that the Taxis’ were charging 18 to 20k for the trip so we decided to take a bus to Hikkaduwa.

07-03-2012

Apparently, in whole of Sri Lanka the night buses or luxury buses are not really popular and therefore most of the buses start at daylight and reach the destination in the evening giving no room for the travelers to spend a day properly.

And we took the bus to Hikkaduwa and it started from Nuwereliya by 9.30 in the morning looking at the Sri Lankan map we thought that it would take maximum of 6 hours to reach the places but to our defeat the bus took 9.30 hours to reach Hikkaduwa. To support the transit customers, the bus almost went through the whole of south coast road and by the end of the journey all our bones got adapted to the bus and they were still shaking to the tunes of the bus movement.

By 6.30 we reached Hikkaduwa and even the first sight of it gave us all the hopes we wanted. More similar to Nuwereliya, a broker approached us and he got us a good hotel with AC for 4.5 Sri Lankan grand.  The best of the bestest was, the sea was right outside our room and it was more like a heavy wave would enter the room and if was a Tsunami wave then it would just get ready in our room.  In rest of the places the average AC room charge was 7 to 8 grand but luckily we got the best one.

The tourist population was more than the local crowd and the whole place was thriving because of tourists. It was a “Micro” Goa with one major difference, low local population.  One thing about Hikkaduwa was the Caucasians came there to stay for months together and not for a day or two. It was more like the hippie population of Goa and that makes them go for local brands in all the cases J

After a good bath, we went out for a good dinner at Millennium hotel and they served us a really good dinner and we were the only brown skin there and from there we went to a local pub which is supposed to very active on a Thursday night, “Funky de bar” with Bob Marley’s photo all over the place the pub was filled with smoke! The pub was empty when we entered and the time was 9.30 and only then we realized this was not Bangalore where party starts by 9 and ends by 11 and this is Hikkaduwa where party starts by  11 and reaches climax at 4.30!

We were waiting for 11 and when it happened we opened the dance floor and then till 1.30 the whole dance floor was in our hands and after that the stamina was not in our hands and so we had to leave.

It was fun but it had a lot of problems attached to it. For browns they charge 1K as entry fee and we paid it that day. And apparently they don’t have card machines there and you have to use cash for buying anything and both these things screwed our happiness. And adding fuel to the fire, the exchange centers closes by 7 in the night and therefore if you are out of cash by 7 and you are left with dollars then it means you have to go home and sleep. Period.

After good partying to forget the sadness, we went to our room by 2.30AM.

08-03-2012

We woke up by 10.30 in the morning and that too because to have a breakfast. We had an awesome continental food, egg sandwich and a cup of “milk tea”. And then we started to the beach.

Every single image my eyes captured was a screensaver or wallpaper, the beaches were pristine. People were smooching and making out. Yes, I’m saying that. And when we said to ourselves, we also said, this is Hikkaduwa. After a good time in the beach, we went to shack and out of the million shacks we chose the shack with Indian flag because we thought there won’t be any discrimination. And then started our massive food-ing we started by 1 and we completed by 3. Meanwhile the shack owner, white women almost finished a 20 pack of “Gold Leaf”, a SriLankan brand of Cigarette. What we noticed was the increasing trend of the Western people settling down in the coast town with a shack with their entire retirement fund. They settle down to drink beer, bath in the sun, smoke and then drink and the shack owner was one among them.

After this we went back to our room and then we again took a good bath because of the sand from the sea and salty water. As we were still tired of the last night partying, we decided to go a restaurant and have a drink and eat as we already felt that it was about time to come back to home. And there we three friends happily toasted for laughter with a beer and took the first sip and an old tourist overlooked at it and he was happy to see three young guys drinking happily. Seeing that he gave us a name of a pub and told us a lot of illegal things happen and also mentioned that we guys would have fun. But I’m still not sure why he told us! But we said, “Sir, no.. We had an awesome night yesterday and we planned a peaceful night” and he was fine with this but not for long, with the book in his hand, he called the waiter and was talking to him for a couple of minutes and by the end of the conversation he called us and told that we should go to the place “Vibration” about which we already knew. And after this information he just went back to drink his nth beer. After a couple of minutes, we started talking to him and we found that he is a Scottish man in early 60’s and is on his 4^th month of vacation outside his country. Alexander, he introduced and we also introduced each other.  On the question what he was doing, he replied that he is a former BBC employee, Merchant Navy officer and also an electronics engineer.  We had a good conversation with him till 11 and before the bar when I ordered a beer, he obstructed and said 4 more and he also asked the waiter to bill it on his account. And after the four beers which he found was not enough invited us to his cottage and placed chairs outside. And he also brought 4 more beer after the 4 more order to the hotel from his room and for today we almost drank 6 beers each and thanks to Mr.Alex, he bought us each 4. Now the time was 1.30 and we decided that it was about time to leave and we greeted him and left the place after a photo.  On our way back to room, I still wanted party and I refused to move, falling to my demand Gopi and Viswa agreed to “Vibrations”, the best party place.

With our Passport, we got a free entry into the party and then it happened to be the best party I have ever been to. By 3.30, we started back to room and slept by 4.30!

And that is when the whole place went to sleep.

09-03-2013

From Hikkaduwa we started to Colombo by 10.30 in a AC bus to counter the scorching sun outside. And by 3 we reached Colombo-4. We stayed in Seaview apartments at 5K because in the rest of the places with taxes it came around 18K. Seaview was facing the sea in the Galle road and had almost everything that Colombo required for. To get adjusted to Indian food habit, we went to a Indian food restaurant called Amaravathi in Colombo-4 to have a yummy Briyani.

We entered a shop with antiques and about Buddha statues and Key Chains for 6K and came back to room.

10-03-2013

The flight IX681 to Chennai from Colombo was at 9.30 and therefore we had to be there at Colombo airport at 6.30. So, we started from Colombo-4  by 5.50 to the Bandarnayake airport. We were there by 6.30. We completed all the procedures that we were required to do and we sat in a lobby.

I saw a book store named “Good for Thought” and intrigued by the books, lockets and Buddha, I started checking the store.  And the shopkeeper, a sexagenarian lady helped me with the items. And as a souvenir, I bought myself a Dharmachakra, a chakra that reminds us that life is cycle and it was that good lady who explained me the Dharmachakra and by taking her as my guru I took that on my neck. And that is how ended a great vacation.

And with that we took the flight back to India, the flight was on time and dropped us at Anna International airport by 10.30.

With a Srilankan hangover and with a promise that we will trip to Thailand, we reached my house.

Thanks,

Alagiri Samy.S