4 Idiots ! .....Our Beginning...."Part IV"

Hi Folks !...Sorry for the delayed post !..For all who were keenly waiting for the next post, here it is..Kindly read & enjoy !..In fact, i thought of putting an end to this story with this part ,but somehow i had an urge to write more....

The Ephemeral Joys of Shankara...

Her long hair flew softly on the slight breeze of the sunny day; her lips uncurled themselves into a natural and beautiful smile.

I felt the depth, in her light blackish- brown eyes that held more secrets that could ever be envisaged. I kept admiring @ her pulchritude that appeared, as if God himself had drawn every part of her body to perfection. She had the beauty, which could only have been carved by an angel…

“My Daydreaming had not stopped for the last 4 days & I kept fantasising a girl in my lucid dreams from the day I reached Shankara...In fact, I had not actually dreamt of any one girl in particular !..It was totally an imaginary one, dreaming to see an angel like one @ Shankara …”

More than a week had passed after joining Shankara & we slowly started getting accustomed to the place … We met around 5 Mallus one after another to expand our elite Malayalees gang !!..... Two were from Trivandrum , 2 from Calicut , one from Palakkad !..Later we understood that our class consisted of Multi-lingual & Multi-cultured people …Kerala, Orissa, Bihar , Andhra , U.P , Dubai etc !...

We also had few Iyengars, dressed in Semi-traditional attire, i.e. with Veshti (Dhoti) & T-shirt….They also had Kudumey (Long hair tied in the back; usually kept by Iyers/ Iyengars/ Priests after the thread ceremony)!! We were equally surprised to see few girls wearing half- saree!!.....I was later told that they were entrants from Ahobillah Matt Vidhyalaya …The only school in Chennai, which followed T.N State Syllabus & Sanskrit as their language …, Admission only for Brahmin girls & boys …. At Shankara, they were undoubtedly among the best students …

“As she walked into the class, I was appalled!...Never before had I spotted this girl in our class!.. For me, she was the only female who suited the description of my lucid dreams in our class…Alas, I found an angel walking in front of me …”

Back in the class, the only professor whom I liked was a person who took Macro Economics …Atleast it had some general topics of discussion like GDP, Inflation, Economic growth etc which was quite light when compared to other subjects !....

Even if we met few Mallu acquaintances, apart from few initial conversations, we had not gelled with them properly during the first 2 weeks…

Oh! Yeah!...I forgot to mention about an interesting character … Rahul Bose !!...Oh! Err; I am definitely not referring to the Bollywood actor…But this guy was a replica of R.B who looked as if he was his twin brother …Till the end of our session in Shankara, we neither got his name nor did we speak to him, but kept on teasing him towards the end (silently!!)… !..Strange, yet true... He was an Engineering student who had shifted his profession to Commerce from Science…Mr.NJN (Chief faculty) always had words of appreciation for this chap …

Another interesting person in our class was a Short 5ft guy who always sat in the first or second row!..He was one among the few people whom we always teased!..

Well, we teased this guy not coz he always sat in the first or second row , but he always wore only “2” repeated T-Shirts !..Lol.. An orange T-Shirt & a Brown T-Shirt … This was alternately worn after every 3rd or 4th Day!!........We had even plans of getting him a perfume or an additional T-Shirt on his B’day!..But the irony was, we never spoke to him till the end of our Coaching class apart from some occasional smiles 

“I felt a striking spark in her eyes … For the first time, had I seen a girl in Shankara who was as gorgeous as ever. She was dazzling amidst the sunrays that hit the whole class…The shock numbed my senses …Couldn’t but admire @ the subtle pulchritude of this female, much beyond what I could fathom .”

We bunked our classes for the first time after almost 2 weeks …The Day was quite interesting … My Aunt & Sister are into dramatics …They had invited all of us for their drama that evening @ T-Nagar …

The play was supposed to commence by 6.30 in the evening. We had attended the first half of our class & after much persuasion, I pulled Ashwin & Madhav along with us to witness the play…Goodness me; it was such a huge task to convince both of them, as they were literally scared to bunk the class. Finally, by 5.45 we reached Luz & called on an Auto to go to T-Nagar..To our astonishment, we were told that it would cost around 100 bucks to reach T-Nagar.. A big argument broke out between the Driver & me! I spoke as if I knew all the places in Chennai...Even if my mother tongue was Tamil, getting the right Madras accent was really a tough Job…I always felt the people at Chennai had a contemptuous accent, which was alarming to hear!

Finally, we agreed to pay Rs.50/- & boarded the auto … It took around 25 minutes for us to reach T-Nagar amidst the heavy traffic …

After giving a brief intro about all my friends to Sharan, we entered the hall …My parents had arrived to stay with me for a couple of days ... As discussions went on between my Mom, Ashwin & Madhav, we (Swp & me) were busy discussing about the events that were happening on the stage…Mr.Y.G.Mahendran was being conferred with “Kalai Maamani” award...The stage was filled with few famous celebrities like lyricist Vaali, Actor/Director Mouli & few others …

By 7.30, the play (NRI Wedding) commenced & I started translating every line to Ashwin, as he hardly had any clue about Tamil. By 9.15, the play ended & after dinner, we departed to our respective places.

“She kept haunting me from the day I saw her in the class. Later I understood, that she had shifted from Morning batch to our (afternoon) batch along with her friend …Reckon it was Swaroop who found her name from the register.

Well, should I reveal her name???....Sorry, no ways…For safety & convenience sake, let us keep it as “Abitha Kunjalaambal”!! Lol!...This was the name which my friends had kept for her & with which they usually teased me ...” Ok…I know it sounds really funny. So, let’s keep it as Anjali or something...”

As days passed, we had new friends roaming along with us..Zeezhan (Marwadi), Nithin (Mallu), Ranjith (Mallu), Vivek (Mallu) & Kranthi (Golti)! Before & after the classes, we flocked inside the Luz mansion & gossiped…! At times, we even studied!!

@ One point we had a feeling if we had actually arrived to study or to play around coz we hadn’t prepared anything seriously!...Bunking classes were becoming more frequent ! The only exception to it was that we got separated slowly .In the sense ,if two of us happened to attend a session, the next session would be taken over by other 2 !..On Sundays, we had extended classes from Morning 7 to evening 5.30 -.6.00 ! At times the classes were shifted from Shankara Coaching centre to Lady Shivaswamy School .

Apart from our first outing to T-Nagar to watch the play , we went to our old school mate, Mr.Parakh’s house @ Rostrevor’s Garden (Railway Head Quarters) in Teynapet one Saturday! The place was situated adjacent to Sun Tv’s office!..We all looked @ it with awe; it was such a huge building….

“Everyday I met her; I wanted to speak to her... We discussed all stupid options on earth to initiate a conversation with Anjali! However, everything went in vain…In the meanwhile; Swaroop had a crush on Anjanli’s friend, Ms… (Errr… what shall I name??) Janitha?!!..Sadly I was on the silent track hesitating how to start a conversation with a total stranger girl!..Unfortunately, we didn’t know how to flirt!.... :(… Nevertheless, Swp was a step ahead of me. He tried all avenues to speak to her … While me, Ashwin & Maddy sat in the back, this guy started sitting in the front rows along with Nithin as if both of them were too studious …”

We got an excellent reception from Parakh & his mother …. As I started conversing in Hindi, his mother got even more excited & spoke for quite some time with all of us!. After an hour, we left his house & our next plan was to go to Marina Beach!.. My last visit to Marina was some 5-6 years back when I came on a Holiday to my Aunt’s place …

By 5.30, we reached Marina… The excitement was huge!.. Madhav had brought his Camera …We played, ate, clicked few snaps & left! . In toto, we had sizzling fun !

This was perhaps our first & last outing “together” @ Chennai … …the coaching was nearing its completion in just 12-15 days !.. Things started to change as days progressed

4 Idiots ! .....Our Beginning...."Part III"

Overwhelmed after reading each one of your comments! It gives me immense delight & encouragement to write more … Now onto my next Post! For all new readers, please have a glance @ my previous posts to get the connection right!

Life @ Shankara after Day 1 ~

Post dinner @ Geethanjali, we walked towards Mylapore tank bus stop. By 9.15 P.M, we reached there .While Ashwin & Swaroop was discoursing with me, Madhav was busy talking to his parents …After sometimes, we saw 29C (The bus in which I had to board to reach Kilpauk) coming from Mandaveli towards Mylai Tank. Once it reached the stop, I was shocked to see the crowd in the Bus coz back home @ Palakkad, by 9.30 people would have slept & the buses at that time would be mostly empty!!...

I skipped the bus & waited for the next. After 5 minutes, another one arrived & it was neither an exception. As it was already 9.40, I boarded the bus amidst heavy crowd. The Journey from Mylai to KMC was an unforgettable one. In the morning, I had drafted the names of all the stops from Mylapore to KMC in my mobile, as I had to travel alone @ Night...15 minutes had passed & I was literally hanging inside the bus. Clueless about where the bus had reached, I requested the conductor to inform when the bus reached KMC…..

Suddenly I hit an aged woman as the Bus stopped abruptly in the middle of the road …The female stared @ me & started to yell as if I was trying to eve-tease her!…I was shocked…The scene was as if a handsome young guy was trying to molest a beautiful lady!!.. But this was a middle-aged aunty who looked pathetic in shape!!.. Ridiculous!!!.... After traveling for a week, I understood that it was an usual stuff in every Bus! In fact, I also found, that only the old ladies bothered to make a big fuss while the young chicks kept silent whenever a guy happened to hit them by mistake!! I wonder how ironically the Tamil Industry has been portraying such scenes in the movies…Lol ….Finally by 10.15; I reached home safely & successfully!!! I hit the bed after narrating the day’s events to Sharan & aunty …..

Good morning Chennai!!!! Oops, it was 8.30 AM & I was still in the bed trying to get up…After refreshing myself I called up Maddy …He briefed me about what they did the previous night & also said ,that Ashwin was trying to Crack the Maths problems that was given to us as a homework !... In our whole group, Ashwin was a big time Nerd who was always worried about something or the other!! …The morning session was spent in shopping & checking mails …From 11.30 to 12.00, I had a power nap in order to curb the sleep during class hours. By 12.45, I left home after lunch.......

“Man, there are no Babes in the class” … As I started this conversation with Swaroop, Ashwin interrupted & asked me to shut up & study! Class was about to commence in another 15 minutes & not many had reached the Institute...

We four were totally different from one another... Madhav rarely spoke about anything while Ashwin always had something to be concerned about ….. Both of them preferred listening to us most of the time...The only exception was me & Swaroop !.. We were movie Buffs & always discussed about Movies, Softwares & Music... While, he takes his stride in praising Yuvan Shankar Raja, I always contradicted him being an avid Illayaraja freak! However, it was always fun being together... Never before in our whole life, we had so much fun on one end & worries on another… not even during our 11th & 12th …The Best thing about us was that we never differentiated each other...Such was our friendship!!

The very purpose of coming early to the class was to catch a comfortable seat under the fan & settle down either in the ultimate or penultimate bench! By 2.15, our classes commenced & we had a new faculty for Mercantile Laws!.. Thank god, he was an exception to all the faculties who taught yesterday…His class was lively & interactive except for the fact that we did not know even a single stuff in M.L to interact!!........

By 4.00, the King of Accounts, Mr.NJN (Abbreviated for safety reasons...Lol) took over the dais & started his story about the way he struggled & cleared C.A examinations with all India Rank!! Even though it was a thought provoking speech, we have heard such stories N times from our Fathers, Uncles and Grand-Fathers & Great Grand fathers!!......

Jokes apart ,he was truly an inspiration for all the students @ Shankara...By, 6.30 another new Economics professor turned up to teach the Micro Economics theory …Suddenly it reminded me of our great professor in 12th, Mr.Srinivasan who made us laugh & shout all the time except teach Economics !..The last 2 hours was spent in studying statistics..

Prior preparations made us slightly comfortable being in the class on Day 2 (I am not talking about our syllabi though, I mean the way to sit & listen to hours long lectures)!!.

Few days had passed & we were totally bereft about our preparations. It hadn’t moved even a single step. The same routine followed for all four of us... Get-up , have breakfast , chit chat , have lunch , go to class , have dinner , reach home , have fun for a while & finally hit the bed...Nothing happened to change... Infact, i was much more pampered @ aunt's place. Sometimes i went for outings @ late night with Sharan & Aunt...Fun was unlimited...

But back @ the Institute, did we get accustomed, neither to the place nor with the people around the Institute ……

4 Idiots ! .....Our Beginning.. "Part II"

Our first day of Incarceration !!!

As the sun approached from above & went upwards and onwards, until our car had left behind the view as we happened to see a mirage some 200 mts ahead like a mosaic, that was now on roads expanding into vehicles that were moving & heading in the mid-noon over the TTK fly over @ R.K Salai.As i caught  the glimpse of Acropolis & Music Academy ,i was awestruck !..It was in the movie "Anniyan" that i  had last heard of Music Academy,but watching it live was for the first time..Even if it doesn't form any architectural marvel ,it is definitely a place where any music lover would want to go ...

By 1.10, we had reached Mylapore tank.. As our car took a left turn crossing HSB( Saravana Bhavan) & heading towards Chitrakulam West,I  saw a huge crowd that was pulling in & out ...Unaware of what was actually happening out there,i thought some fight broke out between some political parties until i realised that Mylapore was on a festive mood. Later i was told, that a famous yearly festival named "Aruvathumoovar" was nearing & certain prior preparations were being carried out which has led to huge herd of people from all over Chennai & other places...

So Sharan had to drop me some 500 mts away from our Coaching Centre (Shri Sankara Coaching centre) which was situated in West Mada near Chitrakulam @ Mylapore.As if i knew the place for ages,i told Sharan to leave & promised to give her a message once i reached the Institute !!...The moment i got down,i was reminded of a similar festival ( Kalpathy Ratholsavam or Theru or Car festival ) way back in  my hometown  @ Kalpathy / Palakkad .The noise was such that i got seriously petrified because the place was totally new to me & i had to walk some 500 odd metres to reach Shankara ..!!Totally clueless about where to walk ,i moved to the side of the road & tried calling Swaroop ....After essaying for the 5th time,the line got finally connected ...As Swaroop,Maddy & Achu was on the other side of the temple in a restaurant , i had to move alone.. Surpassing the crowd & reaching the Institute was a humongous task!! Finally by 1.40 ,i reached the destination with a great sigh of relief .. 

Around 7000 bucks for 35 days crash course on CPT was what we had paid ...Thus,we had a  great imagination about the location & the classroom ambience....

By 1.50 we moved on to complete some formalities like confirming the registration,  submission of our photo ,collecting some materials & finally settled inside the class...

Oh!Yeah!...i haven't described the beauty of our classroom! 

The entrance was such that if more than 5 people stood together ,it would be a total chaos.Amidst that,we had to literally swim & do all the registration formalities....By the time we entered the class, we were totally drenched in sweat !...Once we got inside, we were shocked to see the strenght of the class..Some 85 students had  already  occupied all major middle & back rows ( our favourate ones)& the rest 15-20 were seated in the initial rows..We had no other option than sitting in the second row ..Finally after a brief discussion, we settled in the second row in the right  hand corner of the class ! ...The building must have been some 6 deades old & the classroom had huge pillars in between them  which would help few last benchers in the left & middle end of the class to sleep well!..The best thing about the classroom was that you don't need a heater even during heavy winter in Chennai (Heavy winter in chennai -Not even in anyone's wildest of dream i suppose!!!!)..So how about summer!Just imagine

By 2.10 "Mr.ExWhY" , a handsome gentlemen who was around 75 years old entered to teach Statistics .As the class commenced , statistics was turning sweeter & sweeter like never before & we all listened to it with rapt attention ! By 2.30, drowsiness was creeping in & it was irresistible to control from closing our eyes.But we somehow managed to open our eyes & sleep!!As it was the 2nd bench , we were watching him as if we were seeing a docu movie in the 2nd row of a theater !An exception to it was that,this movie would prolong upto 6-7 hours without DTS & A/C & with just one intermission !!...

By 4.00 ,we saw "Mr.ExWhY" leaving the class only to see another faculty gushing in immediately ..As if our heads were chained from top , we were looking straight up to the faculty standing on the dais ! The place was new,the people around were new ...So we had no other option than sit & listen silently..Gosh man...never in our whole life we had ever pretended to be this studious in any class!!...And the worst part of it was that,we couldn't spot even a single Angel, ahead or even in the left hand side of our bench ..By 5.30 ,our Economics professor had also left...Thinking that there wouldn't be a break at all , we kept staring @ the empty dais without realising that the next half an hour was a tea break !!..By 6.00 came the Mathematics professor !..For me Maths was a nightmare in 12th...Somehow coming across mathematics in 12th itself was a huge task & now back to the square 1!Omg!..This was un-acceptable for me..But i kept staring..The faculty must be around 65 years who hated when students made noise!..It was as if a judgment was being given in the court!..Extreme silence...I still remember the day when Permutations & Combinations were being taught as Madhav kept on murmuring in my ears that he didn't have even a single clue about the subject!...

Well....Madhav was an exception in our group in terms of Knowledge in Mathematics coz he had opted for Commerce with Geography & we all had opted for Commerce with Mathematics !!....But even if i had studied Maths, i was either an exception coz my Maths sucked when compared to Swaroop's & Ashwin's!..

8.15 & the Mathematics prof had left giving us some problems to do from our material !..Our first day of incarceration inside the so called classroom came to a halt !

Our necks were getting screwed & we experienced pain in every part of our body...Finally we were back to the streets of Mylapore.It was as if we had landed the place after months of long journey !!..Next, we had planned to enter a restaurant that we would first spot on our way back ...I guess it was hotel Geethanjali where we went to fill our tummies ... We ordered our dinner & went to the restroom... Minutes later , i saw Madhav weeping silently ...I was taken aback.Later, we consoled him;but truly speaking, we were also vexed & had no clue about what to do next  ....We hated the place, we hated the faculties ,we hated the class timings & we hated everything o'r here...We didn't know what was  gonna come next???!........

4 Idiots !...Our beginning ! "Part I"

Initial Kick-off !...

Before i actually commence this post ,let me first brief you on what this post is all about !?..This is probably an example of how screwed up your life can get initially , if you are clueless about your Alma-Mater !..Sounds strange right?!....Well...this is all i can say for now...So keep reading..!

Blog !The very thought of  writing one happened some 15 days back when i was  taken aback after reading a  girl's Blog about which i shall script a bit later on some other posts....And when it happened ,my first priority was to write about our beginning ..."OUR Our OUR"..!Ooopss..You might be wondering who the other 3 idiots are  or rather whats this all about?! .Let me start alphabetically ...Mmm.. Ashwin ,Madhav ,Swaroop & myself (i.e Vignesh Krishnan)...this is about us ..Our beginning into the  Journey of life soon after of  our 12th board !........

27th March 2007 .....5.00 AM !...If my memory is right , it  was platform No:3 @ Olavakkod junction where 3 parents who were supposedly getting ready ,to send their children altogether to a new city about which none of us had a clue !... As there were talks which went on between my dad ,madhav's & swaroop's ..there were two mothers (Swaroop's & Madhav's) who were emotionally groaning while my mom was  busy consoling them !..Fortunately or Unfortunately, Ashwin's parents never turned up to send him off or rather they couldn't witness all these..

The scene was as if a long separation was going to happen between all of our parents ...... For us it was a 35 days tour that was going to come !..Listening to few final advices ,on what & what not to do inside a train,we finally boarded ...

Since, almost 3 years have passed , reminiscing our train journey is a tough job!...The only thing i remember is....A train journey happened ....We,ate ,slept & had terrific fun altogether ~

3.30 P.M...We reached "Singara Chennai" ; all set to begin a new journey in a place which was going to decide our fate !!....While i was busy attending calls from my aunt asking her where to come & stand, outside  the station , Ashwin was busy speaking to his brother (who was working in Satyam @ Chennai ) ...I reckon we were at platform 3 @ Chennai Central,totally clueless on where to move ??!...Finally after 15 minutes ,we spotted Ashwin's brother ..Well.. to make it clear ; i was all set to move ahead & go with my aunt to their house, while the other three were set to move towards Luz Mansion @ Mylapore where our (CPT -Common Proficiency Test) classes was being held !...

By 4.15 PM..I had reached Kences Apartments @ Kilpauk ...Even if it was not the first time i was staying away from my parents,this was perhaps the first time in last 17 odd years that i was gonna stay  away for a much longer period..Uneasiness crept within me as i entered 6C,Block No:5 of Kences Apartments !...Million thoughts were galloping inside me .... On one side , it was various questions like "Have i taken the right decision by coming to Chennai" ..."Am i doing it right by staying @ my aunt's place & not with my friends "....& many more...Now million thanks to Sharan (my cousin) ..She kept me going with her witty talks .It was infact not tough to stay away from parents..But ,it was tough to imagine if i was traveling on the right path..!......By 6.00 Ashwin called me to confirm that everything was fine & that ,they have settled @ Mylapore Luz mansion comfortably...Our biggest worry was that ,our classes were going to commence from the very next day !..Its been just 2 days since we finished our Board exams &  now ,back to class...the only exception being a totally different ambiance..

    I spent the evening watching the movie ,"Mozhi" with Sharan,Aunt & Uncle @ a multiplex ..I was totally bowled out after watching it...Back home by 11.30 ,i got a message from Swaroop saying that the classes were from afternoon 2 PM ...