Sai February 17 at 4:43pm Report

hi dis is sai tracksinger from chennai…hope yu heard ma songss..hw r yuu….?i got yu 4m FB suggestion list…by d way smile suits yu damn…kp smilin…kp rockin…

Prithi .L.narayanan February 18 at 1:09pm  which songs?

Sai : m a rapper…..i did rap for many films…..ma songs yethi yethi frm varranam ayiram…..recent g@a,pa@@$,a#a$….gooooin

Me : oh nice

Sai : wer r yu frm…..?wat yu doooo…?yu luk and smile was damn cuteee…awesum…

Me : am from china, dont i look chinese? the smile is from china too .

Sai : wooooow……..yu luk likee chennai gaaal..omg..miss yuuuu……..

Me : ooh.. you are terrible

Sai : omgggggg….me terribleeeee…….wwaaat i did………?

Me : desperate arent u. is this wat u do? apart from whatever u sing? claim u miss someone who u dont even know?

Sai : m jus kiddin yaaar…don take it serious…omg m sryy……plzzzzzzzzzzzz………don mstkk meee……

Me : oh okay. but u said u were a rapper.if this is the way u stretch syllables and talk, i wonder how u rap. ?? rap in slow motion or what?

Sai : Omg…do yu knw..?wat yu mean by rapper..yu tuk in wrong sense…english song raper….don yu knw..?

Me : wait, are you a rapper or a ‘raper’. and yeah, i do know ppl who ‘rap’ in english. but i wonder what u do

Sai : Ya m a raper.…a spell mstk makes yu to think me bad.…m rly sry 4 tat…

Me : no no . thats okay. so u are a raper? hmmm

Sai : Yaa…yur rytt….

Me : ok raper. sorry, my bad i assumed u were a rapper. great then. so what do u rape

Sai : Watvr d composer gives...wil make it as rap…

Me : oh okay. the composer gives it to u.

Sai : Yaaaa….i luv musiccc…

Me : yeah, i figured. anyways good luck with what u do. am sure u ll be a great ‘raper’ some day soon, in all fame and g(l)ory

Sai : 10q sooo muchhh…..

Me : you are welcome

Sai : plzz add mee in yur list and keep in touch…

Me : ouch. a rap(p)er friend ? no no am good.

Sai : no probsss 4 meeeee……won yu send me a request…i rly wanna b yur frnd….

Me : nope.

idhukkum mela pesa mudiyala. Quit .

P.S.Thanks to Meenakshi, we always end up with the double scoop special falooda, save the royal falooda for another day. And excuse the bad quality of the picture . enjoy this one

Method I :The online way – done through matrimonial sites. These websites have hope for all – be it a divorcee or a single parent or a normal unmarried person .The concept really revolutionized and capitalized on the arranged marriages scene here . It’s really popular now because it works…  And this is how :

1. Putting up the girls’ profile and “(decent) photos” on matrimonial sites.
2. Scouring through hundreds of profiles to find the perfect boy ( good boy,fair boy, good family and preferably settled in the US- more points if the boy lives in popular business hubs-  yeah! Silicon valley, Texas and New York  sound great. Earlier only software engineers were in demand, but now thats out-thanks to recession)
3. Once they hit upon a good profile, the parents call and exchange the jaathakams(astrological charts) and see if those match.If yes, then photos are exchanged.
4. If okay, both the fams meet. This meeting typically consists of the parents asking questions, judging the family and eating vada,bajji, bonda, kesari.. Oh nowadays its really cool to offer cookies (only eggless mind you Cuz we are strict vegetarians but  conveniently forget that most of our tam bram foreign boys love chicken) and diet coke – in case the foreign mapillai isnt too much into our (oily)snacks..
5. Then the girl and guy are asked to go into a separate room to get to know each other( don’t get ideas now) for abt half hour and in some lucky cases an hour or so …
6. If all goes well, the families agree on a date for the engagement and proceed with the other prep. If the girl / guy is not okay, then they just make up random excuses to the other party.. I mean you cant obviously say that the girl is too dark or the boy earns a little too less or that she would like to work (to be an independent working professional- which is at times not acceptable) or that he is going bald …

Method II: Maami – Mama  socializing networking

Note: For the benefit of the ignorant – Maami generally refers to married and older Tam Brahm women.Mama – any married Brahm man maybe?

Though this could be the less treaded path, am sure most maami’s and mama’s attend weddings to look for potential partners for their children or at least for other eligible and single men/women who are looking-to-marry. This also probably because a Tam Brahm wedding can possibly have only a majority of Tam Brahms attending – makes it easier i guess. They look, they observe, they ask around then strike up a conversation with that poor unassuming girl / guy and then take it forward…

I had a minimum of at least 4 such conversations, though I refused to let them move any further… I have heard that this approach has worked many times… lol… so here goes:

” Hello aunty… yes, am doing good. How about you?…

I work for blah blah organization…(am sure it wouldn’t have mattered)

Am 23 aunty…( rude, very rude)

No not married…( oh! )

Yes, I am single.. no no  am not seeing anyone.

No my parents are not looking out either..(its not a crime right?)

No, not for another couple of years… Am not in a hurry.. (What? REALLY?! yeah, really aunty)

Yes, I want to be independent, on my own.. Work for a bit and stuff .. I ll know when am ready to marry, if at all I want to that is…  ( Scandalizing-  it was too much for her to take – She gave up:) ) ”

Note to self: This is fun.

So going back,I can say that though the processes themselves seem surreal and movie-like, both the weddings I witnessed were beautiful. I say beautiful because it’s really not easy to get to know new people, understand their ideas and accommodate  their preferences in a short span of time . Putting together a big wedding is a herculean task. So many silent compromises are made and so many new bonds are established.Its an effort taken by both the families to make this work for their children. And with so much love and hope going into these efforts, it can never possibly go wrong. Sigh

]]> http://prithinarayanan.wordpress.com/2009/11/14/arranged-marriages-tam-brahm-style/feed/ 26 13.060416 80.249634 13.060416 80.249634 prit http://prithinarayanan.wordpress.com/2009/10/26/the-first-one/ http://prithinarayanan.wordpress.com/2009/10/26/the-first-one/#comments Tue, 27 Oct 2009 04:15:44 +0000 prithinarayanan http://prithinarayanan.wordpress.com/?p=4 ]]> Today was one of those days that I would mark “important/defining/ MAAAD” in the calendar of my life…I was going to take up a job offer that I had received from a reputed IT company(only and only for the money), an offer that was made more than two years ago, and they finally asked me to join today. So I was all set to take it up and set off from home. I took the local suburban train, all excited because I hadn’t been in a train since college days… I was proud I could still identify some stuff from back then – mainly the eunuch beggar, he/she still wears the same, horribly dirty yellow skirt, sells the same safety pins and colorful rubber bands – for the same three bucks a dozen sigh, proud me … Well, I was having these major déjà vu attacks, the crowds, the dirty seats, the working women combing their hair and doing their make-up-oblivious to the fact that the person next to them has to smell their hair/ feel it in their mouths at times too … and the best part- standing at the door and feeling the wind on your face, hair flying and men on the opposite side gaping at you Oh c’mon, everyone gets a kick out of it, so admit it.

So I reach this place, a mile long queue awaits me (like a ration kadai I remember noting).We get done with the procedures and then get shooed into an auditorium. This really smart chic(HR) says hello and starts this sermon on what the company is all about and stuff. And then its q & a time!!! There were a few hopeless, lost souls in the group who came up with the most mundane questions and put 300 others through the torture of sitting through those as well. Now tell me, how many 23 year old grads(engineering) wouldn’t know the difference between verticals and horizontals in an organization? Or for that matter, what retail trade is? Apparently MANY.All I did was grunt in exasperation every time a hand was raised to put forward a question. Anyways, we got done with all the procedures and I was whining all the while in my head. Should I, Shouldn’t i? Should I, should I should I?? (Sign the offer letter: P) Look the HR guy was cute and all, but dint really make up for the rest of them. Well they had a clause I dint agree with. But anyways, I signed the agreement, fully in doubt, walked up to the cute chap, gave it to him, butt FLASH #1!  - In a moment of intense clarity (everything around me turned all white and hazy – I mean REALLY), I took it back from him, struck out my signature and said am declining the offer. He asked me why and I just said – I cannot do SOFTWARE. I just can’t put myself through that J you should have seen the expression on his face. I said my thanks and walked out, picked up a sandwich from the cafeteria (where all my potential but now ex-colleagues were having a free meal – first day is on the house I believe, hehehaha ) and took the train back…

I had taken a very important decision in my life and I was glad about it J …And then the floating, and light and all-excited me and Sethia – Intro 1 : saving grace – fun factor – adopted brother- punching bag #2 (#1 will be introduced soon) in my life – decided to catch a movie urgently… Bought tickets in satyam, attacked adai avail and pesarettu at their awesome resaurent called ID(for idli dosa) and ran for the flick… It was terrible… Mind you – I hate watching movies, especially badly scripted, masala movies. I either walk out or sleep to make it through such movies. Well we walked out, kolai padam. Took an auto, dropped off Sethia and that is when FLASH #2 happened! I dint have my file with me – read THE FILE with all my original documents. The next one hour was a blur- my phone was dead, somehow found Sethia on mount road, went right back to sathyam and searched all over the place. Finally I had a brain wave and ran to the security office, only to find my file on top of the chiefs’ desk. Listened to a well deserved, lengthy lecture from him as well, picked up my file and we left.

We had to celebrate my good luck, so I drag S into this awesome place for desserts, only to find that they dint have eggless pastries(S is a veeery strict veggie, am good with eggs in cakes J ) I shamelessly order something for myself, we heave a big sigh of relief and sink into those super comfy chairs when this major commotion gets our attention. There was a middle aged man who was suffering a sudden attack of some sort, he got all breathless and was carried into the café. We fussed a bit and helped him out in whichever way we could and finally went back and settled into our chairs, I couldn’t wait to attack the cheese cake I had ordered. We waited. The man started throwing up. He threw up his intestines I think. And add my appetite to that. We cancelled our orders and walked out, all yuck and miffed and headed home…

That was how my day turned out and it was all the madness that finally pushed me to write about it. More later