Tagged by Deepa ...

Tagged by Deepa ...

Out of all the tags, this tag seems to be interesting to answer, so here are the questions on which I have been tagged.

1. Your Oldest Memories

2. What were you doing 10 years ago

3. Today - Your first thought in the morning

4. If you build a time capsule, what would it contain

5. Tomorrow - Next year, same day

6. What do you see yourself doing 14 years from now.

Here I go...

Your Oldest Memories ...

Ah it’s been 31 years now and I have come across many sweet / bitter memories in this span, so let me excuse myself in telling about the bitter memories that I had and would like to tell something about one such sweet memory which always lingers in my heart. It was way back in 1985, I was 8 years old, you all know that memory power at that stage would be very high for any individual, so this incident remains afresh in my heart even today, I could recollect every bit of it and could even replay that screen by screen.

I studied in a school called P. S Senior Secondary School in Mylapore, it one of the famous CBSE schools in the city. I used to go in a cycle rickshaw and that rickshaw drivers name is Maari, His face is still fresh in my mind. I would say that he is my first role model in my life, at that age (8 years) you really do not know one's financial strengths or ability, even your parents. He is just a rickshaw driver who was paid Rs 50 per month to drive me to and from the school every day, there used to be 8 kids in that rickshaw, and if my memory is still good, let me try recollecting my fellow passengers in that rickshaw - Me, Dhandapani, Sathish, Maithreyi, Cheenu, Ashok, ah I think that’s all I could remember.

I used to be an early goers to my school, I will be the first student in the class (not academic wise, it’s by the time you come into school), since maari has another trip at St. Johns school, he used to drop all P.S.S.S.S kids by 7:30 AM and then will rush to drop the kids of St. Johns. Similarly in the evening, our school gets over by 3:15 and St Johns will get over by 4:00, so he used to drop us and then go to St. Johns to pick up the other kids. Maari used to smoke lots of beedi's out of all the kids in that rickshaw, maari liked me a lot, he never allowed me to carry my bags, he used to carry that for me till the class room, I did not wonder why at that age, but now when you are grown up, I could feel that he has some special affection on me.

It was one such evening and the weather was very cloudy and it was about to rain cats and dogs, maari being a professional rickshaw man, he arranged all those polythene covers all over the top, in such a way that we are not getting drenched, he used to have these big big safety pins to which he would pin those plastic covers from not getting blown away by wind, I still remember that he used to fold those plastic over covers inside a small "Palmoil" yellow color covers and would safeguard that inside the small box which would normally be under the passenger’s seat. His rickshaw had no motor facility, so he has to pedal the rickshaw with the weight of almost 200 kgs on it. He is not a well-built man also. I used to ask him regularly - "Maari uncle, are you not feeling any pain in your legs while you pedal?" and he used to respond with just a smile and with some lecture which I did not understand at that age, but now I know what he meant - "I have a family and 3 kids, If I see this as a pain, then who will save my family ? Will you save them".

Coming to that lovely thing that happened. On that "about to rain" evening, while we are coming from the school, we all saw a shop where hot bajjis were served, we all being kids and we do not know the financial situation of Maari, we pestered him to the core to get us some bajji's, maari tried saying lots of reasons to hide his financial inability, but at last succumbed to our requests, that day, he got us 2 bajjis each and I still remember that he paid Rs 12 overall, he took changes from all his shorts and paid that bajji wala. We all thanked maari and we gave him a tight kiss, you should have seen the tears on Maari's eyes, he was never rude to us at anytime, how long you take to get ready to school or how long you take to come back in the evening, Maari would maintain a cool face. That Rs 12 should have been a huge amount to Maari at that time, but he had the heart to spend on us.

After I left P.S.S.S.S and joined some other school, Maari used to come to my house to see me quite often, even my family was not a well off family to give Maari some tips, but I could see that Maari had some special affection on me. When I was doing my college, one day I learnt from one of my fellow passenger (Dhandapani) that Maari died, I could not remember the date, but without me knowing, my eyes shed few tears for him, for my first role model. I learnt the art of being patient and the art of posing a smiling face all the time, only from Maari my great rickshaw man. Truly he is HERO to me. Today I am earning in lakhs and I could have easily supported Maari's family with ease, but Maari is no more ...

What were you doing 10 years ago ...

Wait let me pull up my calendar, ahhnn - Dec 5th 1998, I had a job on hand and I was working as a "Web Developer" in a company called "Internet Commerce and Solutions", I was 12 months old in to this IT industry and had that flare to come out with flying colors. Today it’s almost close to 11 years in this IT world and me sitting in a product company as an Architect. While I answer this question, I just could not digest the fact that 10 years have gone by in a flash.

Today - Your first thought in the morning

There were some burning issues in one of my project and also I am not at office, I am at Chennai and working from home. I know the dead line is nearing fast and there had been lots of emails floating on that issue worldwide, so I wanted to close and resolve that issue on my own.

If you build a time capsule, what would it contain

Ah, for sure that will contain lots of Anandha Vikatan's and many more books written by Vairamuthu and Kannadasan, my favourite music DVD's, I would love to listen to Ilayaraaja and SPB wherever I am. Then kgs and kgs of onion pakoda's :) I love them to the core. Then photos of Asin, Ileana, Nayan Thaara and that list is so big you see, I just don’t want to see them getting old ;-). Then lots of pre-recorded cricket DVDs of matched played by Sachin Tendulkar and Sir Viv Richards. Then one LCD plasma TV, with a BOSE home theater. I think after keeping all these inside the time capsule, I will not have place to get in, so I will stay outside and send that time capsule all alone ... ;-)

Tomorrow - Next year, Same day

Ah, who am I to predict the future ? I have absolutely no clue, if I could take a wild guess, I would still be in this IT industry and then will be fighting to solve some other issue. Ah, I may have got married, but once again, that is not in my hand, so not sure on that as well. In general I would wish for a same peaceful life as like today.

What do you see yourself doing 14 years from now.

When you cannot say what will happen for you tomorrow, how can we predict such a long future ? I cannot even think of what life would have for me in store at my 45th age. I am sure I will be having loads of issues like Blood Pressure, Sugar, Cholesterol etc etc, apart from that I cannot think of anything great. If I could have a wish list that would come true, I would see myself as a "caterer" who caters to the needs of people by serving them some quality food, I doubt I will still be sticking on to IT at that time.

I would want Amrita and Shylu to tag this in their blog and also my fellow blog-o-sphere mates.

Thanks @Deepa for allowing me to tag this.