Attapadi Diaries Part 2

This has been long overdue so let me get down to it.In the evening, during our first day in Attapady,we were all taken to Thunduur ,A hamlet of the Mudugar tribes who live in Attapady.The trek to the hamlet was a lovely one.It started with all of us walking on an extremely narrow concrete path which led to a small bridge over a stream.That led into this grove with really tall trees and plants.The path after that was a beautiful one, A stone path that was above the flowing waters of the waterfall with thick shrubs and plants around it.All through our walk to the hamlet , we could hear the gurgling of the stream beneath us and the loud calls of birds.(If this resembled a Wordsworth or Keats poem , It just goes on to show how beautiful it was and how it inspired me!)

When asked what were our notions about tribals , Most of us vehemently stated that we did not think of them in the stereotypical notions, but all of us sure were bluffing.We were in for a big surprise.The people we met were the warmest ,politest and of the most friendly kind.They did not hesitate to answer any of our questions about their living or culture.We spent our whole evening there and when darkness fell,A huge bonfire was lit and The Mudugars danced and sang for us,giving us a peek into their styles of art.We were on top of a small mountain and the stars above us shone like never before.However the rains had made most paths slippery and I had a small mishap of my own when i slipped down a path and landed straight on my backside.Sigh,Im still being given a hard time for it.Since It was pitch dark by the time we left the hamlets,Our trek back to the bus was a rather interesting one.2 fire torches were all the source of light we had and balancing on all those narrow paths in the dark was not easy though very exciting.My friends were not amused when amidst all the wilderness,balancing on the narrow path with the sounds of the waterfall in the background I exclaimed "This feels just like an episode of LOST".

We went back to the hamlets the next day to complete our projects and interact with them even more.We learnt a lot and spoke to many of them.They chopped a huge Jackfruit right of a tree of theirs , peeled and gave us all pieces to eat and believe me , it was the sweetest Jackfruit I have ever tasted.You simply cannot find ones like those in Chennai.We bade them a rather loud Good-bye with a farewell song we sang much to the amusement of many there.We visited a bridge built on the beautiful kunti river.It was one of the most picturesque spots we saw.Apart from that,we climbed a small hill which was a really beautiful place coupled with the green grass and mountains and stretching for miles around you and the continuous blowing of a strong breeze.We indulged in many activities such as trying to roll down a hill and climbing on top of our bus-activities that kind of had to be stopped after our teacher threatened to disown us.(Lillian Maam you rock anyways for putting up with a bunch of girls like us!)

When we see people living as one with nature,We actually begin to realize what has been happening to the planet where nature has been exploited ruthlessly and we are forcing our dominance.The trip did make all of us think about what we have been doing to contribute to it and we made small silent vows within ourselves to try and do something about it.Experiencing nature in its untouched and very pristine form can change you for the good!

MUN memories

Weirdly enough,given my obsession with extra curricular activities,I have never gone for a Model United Nations(MUN)all through school.The only things I knew about MUN came from a bunch of pictures posted on FB by a few friends which mostly involved them wearing starched formals and posing with serious looks holding files and placards or frowning at their laptops.My first MUN experience came with the Stella Maris MUN from the 16th to 18th of august.

It all started with the MUN SG Poorvaja (!) who came to college and invited us to participate.Almost immediately I vowed to go and Boy am I glad!Everything right from the procedure to the agendas seemed so complicated at first.I never ceased tearing my hair out and an introductory workshop did help but its only actually when you go and sit there that you know what to do.And it gave me endless joy that i was representing Spain(The land of HOT sportsmen..Much to my mother's dismay).

My tryst with the UN started and ended with my 8th Std Civics textbook.So feverish looking up of facts and knowing all what there was to know about Spain ensued.My almost non-existent GK rose to alarming heights and Boy ..Dad is glad!In short 10 Things about this MUN in no particular order.

10.FOOD:everyone who complained about it needs a reality check.Aloo Parathas,Kachoris,Fried Rice and samosas.It cant get better!The first day's Aloo Paratha got my instant love and loyalty to the MUN.

9.SPAIN:As I discovered Spain is too rich for its own good.The country didnt seem to have any freaking problems!FAO reported no cases of malnourishment..and the agenda was hunger.Moral:HOT SPORTSMEN do not give you good debating points

8.GENERAL ASSEMBLY:With 66 Member countries at SMC MUN it was the largest council and this ensured people scrambling to speak or shouting each other down(Which as I discovered is not exactly allowed).I kept my mouth shut for most of the time being a first timer(NOTE:For my friends-Yes This does happen once in a while)

7.HUNGER:There is a lot to it than I thought there was.Its not just the feeling that you experience 10 minutes before the bell at 12 50 PM)

6.EMERGENCY:An emergency situation introduced did a lot more than inducing wars and invasions.Columbia's loss in the form of Shakira resulted in two delegates breaking out into a jig for "Waka Waka".May she rest in peace and not turn in her grave.

5. ASSASSINATION:The sudden declaration of the death of a Famed PM left me and the delegate next to me,very immersed in the emergency, thinking that it was true.

4.LATIN AMERICA:The Latin American countries there had promptly ignored SPAIN while forming a bloc of their own.When realization dawned,they tried to convince me and Israel meanwhile was left to convince me to stay on with the bloc that had nuclear weapons and the superpowers of the world.Some talk that was!

3.WILD STATEMENTS:

DELEGATE 1-"There are no anti social elements in *insert country*,only terrorists"

(The drug cartel govt had just been overthrown in a country and amidst all the supposed seriousness)DELEGATE 2:" Point of personal privilege-There is something in my eye, can I go and wash it?"

DIRECTOR:"If there is any food found in the hall, we will throw it"

DELEGATE 3 :"Can we donate it instead"?

DELEGATE 4(At the end of day three,examining the MUN newspaper and wondering out aloud )"Who is Suryadeep seal?"

2.UNMODERATED CAUCUS:Probably my most Favorite part of the GA.The chaos and confusion that ensues when an unmoderated caucus is declared is awesome fun.I should say i was looking forward to this right from the time we were instructed not to climb on tables or remove coats(or shirts) and wave them to attract attention.

1.RESOLUTIONS:We managed to pass two resolutions...with some difficulty though.And when they were passed a lot of air punching and table banging ensued.Overheard A Delegate saying "Wow some people get too emotional"Hmpphh What would he know!

0.PEOPLE:The best part of it all.Ive met so many people and made many friends who Im sure Ill not forget in a haste.Catfights,Arguements and foreign policies aside,At the end of the day we were all a very happy bunch of countries :)

SMC MUN was super awesome and an experience .I loved every minute of it and Im sure many other did too.Applause to all the people who organized it and made it so special for so many of us!

P.S.Is it just me or did any other delegates hear "Delegates! Decorum!" or "We shall start a moderated caucus for the time period 10 minutes 45 seconds speaking time" in their sleep?

Creepy?Ok, Forget it.

Attapadi diaries-Part 1

This trip can almost be called a

beginning to life in college.After all whats college without those

excursions or "Study trips"?Let me assure you they are nothing like what comes in movies..A luxury bus with a college banner strung on the back and most often with a creepy guy in a bike following it.19 of us students with five faculty from my college went on an Eco-trip

to Attapadi,a small district 3 hours away from Palakkad,Kerala which houses the famous silent valley.We were taken there by Prof. Rayson Alex who had writte

n one of our texts in Eco literature..almost all of us were in awe of him.We went to Attapadi to see the Silent Valley as well as study the Mudugar tribes who inhabit the area.The Trip was a two day one.

(ONE OF THE MANY SMALL WATERFALLS WE ENCOUNTERED ON OUR WAY)

The train journey was uneventful.Seriously what harm can a bunch of girls get into?(Hahaha so you think).At Palakkad we

were transferred to a bus which would take us to Attapadi and at three in the morning we did what sane students would do..promptly doze off.My friend and I thought it would be extremely wise to sit in the last seats of the bus...on an UPHILL drive.We were thrown about so much I swear some of my body parts fell off on the way.Amidst the excessive shaking we did manage to fall asleep an in an hour we were rudely woken up by weird noises the bus was making.Reason?We had come close to colliding with a wall on the way thanks to the zero visibility due to the mist.The next half hour saw all of us clutching our life in our hands as the bus driver made his way through thick mist and soon enough the day dawned.

(THE JEEP RIDE TO SV)

The way to attapadi was an absolutely beautiful one with extremely scenic locales.We reached and after a bath in ice cold water and a most delicious breakfast of Puttu-Kadala,we began our trip to the Silent valley.Beyond a point silent valley can be reached only by Jeep.The two hour jeep drive through the most amazing of deciduous and later Rain forests is one I will never forget.The trails were beautiful and the roads that our jeep had to go through were mind blowing!The continuous on and off rain proved to be the perfect foil for the setting.

We realized Attapadi has more to its name.Also known as "Home of the Leeches", the silent

(THE ENTRANCE TO SV IN THE RAIN)

valley in Attapadi is extremely leech infested thanks to its forest cover and heavy rain.The end of our jeep ride to the top was to a watchtower.When climbed you could see the valley all around you and the sight was beautiful.A museum that documented the rich flora and fauna that the valley hosted was also there.Most of us got leech bites and apparently, disgust apart, there was no need to worry as leeches sucked only the bad blood from your system.It was extremely windy and in true retro style almost all our umbrellas got turned upside down or was simply blown away by the wind

P.S:There was more to this trip.Coming up in Attapadi diaries Part 2!

(I COULDN'T GET ENOUGH OF THESE TRAILS!)

ZINX @ Chennai Citi Centre

The normally crowded Chennai Citi Centre had a dash of music added to its hustle and bustle on Saturday,July 10th.Zinx,a contemporary fusion band based in chennai went live for a Club Mahindra promotion.The band comprising of Vivek on the mandolin ,Ananth krishnan on the violin,Anirudh and Leon on the keyboards,Ravishankar on the Ghatam and Kashyap on the tabla treated all of us to about 12 of their own compositions.

Fusion music is refreshing at times like now where rock and metal seem to be the call of the day.And for a person like me who despises loud jarring music,the songs performed by Zinx were a definite pleaser.The classical touch in almost all their songs was a crowd pleaser...to those Chennaiites used to listening to carnatic music,the blend in these songs is bound to become a favorite.The band also seemed composed and well organized and did not outwardly falter during their performance.The guys on the drums.keyboards and the violin shone through song after song and were the best of the band.

They had quite a good response from the milling crowd as well.Many people stood by them from start to finish and people who were entering CC and were window shopping couldn't help but stand and listen to them.A sudden request from the people organizing the event to end their performance with a filmy song did seem to worry the band ,but they finished with a flourish with "Arabic Kadaloram" from "Bombay" and were joined with enthusiastic claps and singing from everyone around them.Do catch a performance of Zinx if you are into fusion or you really need a break from all that death metal and the stuff kids nowadays call "MUSIC" :-p

P.S.Some of the technical details like the number of songs performed might not be right. Want to know more about them?Here is a link to their facebook page.
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/ZINX/113263634450?ref=ts

Tambram weddings and the chronicles that follow

Hosting a wedding has been my best life experience till date.Seriously...There is a lot of work that goes into it and when everyone convenes you actually begin to appreciate and love your (large) family.This wedding was really special because it was my brother's and for the fact that his wedding was the first of our generation.Half my family lives abroad and the wedding saw almost all of them descending down for it.It was probably two weeks of sarees,Veshtis,Vethala paaku,Lots of paayasam and vadai(banana leaf sapadu),Mehendi and homams(trust me that smoke is torturous)Lots of fun I tell you!and lots of these too :-

*Your parents take the wedding as an oppurtuinity to remember the extent of your family.There cannot be something worse than leaving out an onnu vitta chithappa or mami from the guest list.absolutely forbidden!To ensure this weeks were spent in figuring out where they were and tracking them down.and at the end it also resulted in me welcoming hundreds of people not knowing who they were.cheery "Vango Vango" followed.

*My brother's early marriage sadly ensured in a lot of our long lost neighbors who had been contacted to shriek over the phone and to ask my dad if it was me getting married.Ya right.seriously why is everyone in such a hurry anyways?

*Dad thought it would be really cool to yell "Heyy Mappilai" at the airport when he walked towards us(lots of foreigners..lots of weird looks).My brother also thought it would be the coolest thing to wear an "Iron Man" tee and a spiderman cap worn backwards on his flight here..Yes it was him who got married.

*Old maami(teary eyed): "Poorvaja..I cant believe you are going to get married next!"
Me:"see I dont have a boyfriend yet so i really do not see that happening in the near future"
(*Mom shoots death glare*)

*All your well read NRI uncles deem this as perfect to ask you about your future plans.Conversation as follows

Uncle 1:"So pooji ..whatcha gonna do next?Any plans of coming to the U.S?"
Me: "Oooh Ya..Berkely or some college has a good journalism programme.And guys in San Fransisco are supposed to be really hot.But an Indian college with cute guys totally works too."
(*Dad looks horrified and mom says "Poorvaja dont be so desperate"*)

*All my cousins range between ages 3 to 10.So there were about 8 of them in the house and i now officially hate anything to do with Pokemon and Oggy and the cockroaches and Chotta Bheem.They are all little angels though!!

*My 8 year old cousin sat me down and thoroughly explained to me the tax policies of the democrats and the republicans in the U.S.It all ended in me asking him if Obama was a democrat or a republican.Trust me...Kids these days..they know way too much.Another cousin of mine was most excited when he saw that we ate on banana leaves.He asked me if we had to eat them as well.

*Smoke should be banned from Iyer weddings.Me complaining about it got me an hour long lecture about the benefits of "homam smoke" from my grandmother.The overly long wedding ceremony and the clouds of smoke that came with it saw me running from the stage every 5 minutes with watering eyes.Most people mistook it for me being emotional that my brother was getting married.Yeah..right.

All in all..I cant wait for the next wedding in the family.(Next person who says "ITS GOING TO BE YOURS" gets shot..no kidding)

Five Point Someone on stage

While other people have been deeming it heights of uncool to be a "Chetan Bhagat" fan , im one of those who have been his very steadfast and loyal readers through the years.Five point someone till date remains my favorite book of his and what more could i ask for than to see it come alive on stage?"Five point someone on stage - by Evam" proved to be the perfect foil.Retaining most of the book - The characters and the dialogues , it was a delight for every fan of the book like me.

The story follows Hari , Ryan and Alok entry into IIT and the twists and turns their lives take - they are not the best of students , Hari is in love with his HOD Prof.Cherian's daughter Neha and the three manage to stumble into trouble with every hair brained scheme of theirs- specially "operation pendulum"which lands them a suspension as well as leads to Alok attempting suicide.

The simple stage setting conveyed almost every famed setting from the book - be it the famous "insti roof" , the railway station , or their hostel room.Props played a huge plus here in adding to the sets - The vertical bed is a scream- truly a brilliant idea!The three leads have been cast well...you cant help but reah out to them. Ryan is definitely my pick of the lot...he entertained as well as looked awesome(hehe).Neha is a bit of an irritant and not being audible did not help either.The narrator ( uncanny resemblance to Chetan Bhagat) was very effective and some of the best lines in the play came from him . Eg.- "men always have to ask the tough questions - will you marry me?...is that my baby?" "Being called a commerce student is the worst insult an IIT student can get-its like a prostitute calling her client impotent".The continuous Pink Flyod which was played in the background matched the mood on stage and my friend and i couldnt help but sing along.

On the flip side some of the character monologues do not work.Hari's is impressive.And in some parts, the play does lag. But it does work to a very large extent because of how the characters connected with the audience and the narration which leaves an impact.Do not give this play a miss..it is definitely an evening well spent and will definitely be remembered!

Heroes-an epic spoof

My friend Namrata says i am the best kind of audience a pantomime can get *ore flattered* and yes i love to watch them too.Battling the mosquitoes outside museum theatre , four of us got ready to watch "Heroes - an epic spoof" by ASAP productions.The hall was packed with the crowd ranging from overtly excited kids to equally excited adults cheering with the superman theme which kickstarted the panto.

The pantomime in a nutshell-Cream bum azhagan and the Fairy godmother recruit a superhero dream team comprising of a delightful medley of heroes and heroines alike ranging from Superman , Shakthimaan , Harry potter , james bond , Little Red Riding hood.Cinderella, Snow Shite and belle to find a time extendinator (i think!) which will add years to the mayan calendar which prophecises the end of the world in 2012.going against this are Dr Manchurian Boo and Wella the wicked witch who plan on finding the time extendinator themselves with the help of three bumbling spies Spicey , Spidey , and Spikey.

What really makes the pantomime thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining are its characters.My personal favorite would definitely be Cream bun.With the flashy quick gun murugan costume and the very south indian -tamilian quirks to be precise and an accent to boot , the audience rooted for him.The cast have no qualms in making fun of themselves and this is evident when a little boy on stage yells "superman looks like a girl"!!Harry potter bears a striking resemblance to the original and is effective too with the "Hey dude..." and is a delight for every HP fan like me .Shakthimaan and James bond also shine in their parts too.The heroines each represent the quintessential dramatized girl forms - snow white always snacking , cinderella trying to be a film actress and Lil red riding hood - the tantrum throwing and candy loving kid.The Spy with the mallu accent(aye mandathalas!) and her two bumbling sidekicks were an enjoyable trio and earned their fair share of laughs for their quirky costumes and make up. The wicked witch with her "IMBECILES" provided for an effective villainess too.The costume and green make up complemented the character perfectly.

The scene with the heroes visiting Parrys is a scream.The chennaiites make up the quintessential characters.It does reflect the sorry state of our city though through a humorous take where james bond is sold his own pirated movies(Bond Biit Collection was brilliant!) ,Harry Potter looks on in disgust as people spit on the streets and Shakthimaan further cheated into drinking cooum water.The drunk guys in this scene are so genuine that you cant help but wonder if they downed a peg or two.The children are a delight as always and their confident dances leave you amazed.heroes also had some of the best renderation of songs(its raining men!!) and dances in the recent crop of pantomimes in the past few months.The technical aspects provided good support with the sounds being amazing.

On the flip side some characters do not work as well as the others but is compensated for the many others that do work with the audience.The panto tends to lag towards the end of the first half a bit.The pantomime works largely for a hard core chennaite like me because of the numerous references and inclusions of tamil pop culture right from the accent,P.James grafitti(hilarious!)to the popular film songs.The inclusion of many current events too in the jokes left some of the audience looking puzzled(and tempted me to ask them..hey do you even see the news??).Right from BT Brinjal to Krish srikanth's selection fiasco to the ban on beach cricket ,it packs it all and provides for some side splitting laughs.

Heroes is definitely and evening well spent at the museum theatre.It is not that easy to make people laugh after all!!

Poorvaja

(sorry for the painfully long post..but when i like something i tend to write lots :p)