Heart-to-Heart-II

My first part...

http://oreponnu.blogspot.com/2010/02/maiden-attempt-heart-to-heart.html

Rest...

The moment arrived with a bang. Can you imagine it? Oh my god!!!!! Were those really those three precious words? Did he really utter them? Does he know the meaning? I started looking left , right and the top floor to make sure he threw those words towards the right person – is that really me?!!!!!!!!!! Or am I imagining something.

To a person who always grew up being compared with cousins physically as well intellectually , this came as a shock really. Common friends always used to admire the more beautiful, fairer and the talkative cousin. At school too, friends , classmates used to admire the younger one more. Hey your cousin is really pretty. Though she switched schools often, she managed to stand out on her own and this was the reason she was favored upon.

Everyone irrespective of their bearings have certain expectations regarding the attributes they would look upon on the opposite sex. So mine always had these ones – tall, lean, spectacles a must and the complexion never made an issue (on the fair side added advantage but one cannot overlook their negatives in this aspect). The first glimpse was caught on the deepavali day – what a cliché – he was very active and was busy bursting the crackers along with his brother (older one I assume due to his bearing personality). Not only their money he was burning to ashes but also those of their neighbors (two beautiful girls, but older ones , I dare say) with whom his brother was busily flirting. We didn’t have deepavali that year because of our uncles untimely death , all the more looking forward to get it past on us. Though his brother also fell into the category of favourite attributes, he lacked one and the foremost of it being slim. Nevertheless ignoring him would be foolish cos he might be the pathway leading to his sibling. Keeping said thoughts to self I got more involved in the immediate events, being the marriage of my uncle.

Marriage being the last one in the family in the immediate future was an elaborate event. This occupied the thoughts to the brim and in the commotion "kannadi"(nick name given owing to the fact that spectacles occupied large portion of his attractive face ) conveniently took the last of it. Since the hormones of the teens were in full swing, the thoughts or the attention couldn't be kept tied to one person, so there were way back many crushes and on-lookers. And the competition was fierce in the home-ground owing to the cousin factor, so all those crushes were to be kept safely hidden for the fear of being mocked.

Sufficient time passed between the first encounter and the next with "kannadi". The time factor in this case due to distractions extended to more than a year. The next one happened in a bus stop....

Maiden Attempt - " Heart-to-heart"

All the crows were eagerly waiting for the dawn to crack. They all are aware of the “no moon day” being the residents of Chennai, a metropolitan trying to catch up the cosmopolitan tag. Apartment balconies and the terrace walls would be full of eatables ranging from dhal rice to vada, payasam depending on the mood of the offerer, waiting for the gorgeous crows to indulge and in return bless them.
And he was waiting in the terrace under the pretext of drying the clothes, which have been long in the practice , but a bit too early for the day, trying to catch the glimpse of the angel of his dreams.

The words cannot do justice to her features, but what can be expressed would be a fraction of it. She is epitome of perfection with good cheek bones and the complexion like that of the “fair n lovely” advertisement girl. The features to the T much to the dreams of every man present in the universe. Who wouldn’t like to see the perfect girl given the first opportunity?
Ippadi yellam sollanumnu aasai thaan, but what to do, she is an average girl with Dravidian complexion, not so tall, but about 5’3, more on the leaner side. Only plus is her hair which is waist length and the unpainted face which is the true reflection of innocence. And she is pavithra.

He was waiting for her awhile which has become the usual practice for him for about a year.
Hey, “ kakkave illadi” she was screaming to one of her cousins as she was climbing the stairs. Though she was looking for the crows , her eyes were constantly on the run like the biker in the “Globe of death” as had been trained for a month to the opposite terrace. Girls, generally, Indian or western, south or north, irrespectively have an inborn talent of spying. This they can do like driving the vehicle. Why iam comparing with driving is that, they can have million thoughts simultaneously going on in their mind but the road sense and the goal cannot be dispensed with.

The moment she stepped into the terrace, he, remembered to release his breath.
Mahesh, on the other side, cannot be called as an average boy. He is 6’ft and can compete against our Gwalior men on the looks and body building departments.
Physically they can be termed as opposite sides of a coin.
What is that attracts them? (to be continued)

On to the story...

This story was told my "bedda avva" (means big grandma in telugu) (iam telugu and my aathukarar tamil, so is the cause of Ps tamil). She is older sis of my grandmother and around 18 yrs older than her and the story goes that she delivered my grand-ma while she came to her mothers house...(appollam athu sagajam illa) . She just passed away last december in bangalore and was around 98..... She stayed with us untill my 13 th bday and after went to live with her daughter in bangalore. She used to narrate stories only in tamil and that too in a very demonstrative manner. There are actually two stories and i remember telling this to a friend while i was waiting for riksha during my 5th standard. And i tell them to P too.

The first one...
A good story about the spirit of a sparrow...It was one of the hot day during summer, and there was a sparrow who didnt get anything to eat that particular day. So it was bit tired to fly and started to look into the "kuppaimedu". And after prolonged search it came across half-grain of rice and was very happy.
So, being a very nice sparrow it wanted to have a bath cos it was dirty due to its exploration in the kuppaimedu.. Appo, ange oru paatti kitta athu ponathaam. And it went to her house and gave her the grain and asked her to keep it safe. Aana, antha paatti enna pannangalaam, maavu araikkumbothu, athaiyum kooda pottuttaangalaam.
Now the sparrow returned and asked for the grain, and she said , she had grinded it . It got angry and refused to go. So, she said i will give u a aalakku of grain instead of 1/2 grain and the sparrow gladly accepted.
Since the sparrow had no use having a aalakku of grain, it gave it to another merchant to be kept safe, and the similar way the helper sells it along with a bag of grain without the merchant's knowledge. So, again the sparrow comes and demands the next day and when he is unable to give the same old grain, he compensates with a padi of grain.
The story goes in the similar fashion till the padi of grain becomes a bag. So when a feast was announced in the kingdom the minister unknowingly utilises the bag of grain. Now the sparrow goes to the king for justice. And then the king finally gives the sparrow a chariot , gold coins and few bags of grains.
The sparrow thus ends rich for the rest of its life....
(Etho sumaara ezhutha mudinja alavu brief ah ezhuthi irukken , actually it would go on and on....it would sound good to the children when u say it with modulation and in tamil)


The second one would be posted later....

P.s - I know unga porumaiya romba sothikkara kathai ithunnu.........

First story.....

Reading the title , please donot come to the conclusion that iam writing a story or something (iam not such a sadist you see, and antha kashtamellam naan thara maatten). This is just a tag and i thought of it, while telling stories to P.
Someone, either your mother or grandmother or a relative would have told you a story during your childhood. So, if you think of a story which one comes to your mind first. Please donot quote "paatti vadai sutta kathai and all". It would be better if it is unique, in some way. I think in someway or the other it would be unique, sometimes passed on from family, or may be native-oriented.....
Also, please give a brief description of the person from whom you got this story.
It would be better if you give a link in the comments section to the story, and who-ever comes across this post can take up this tag. And not a compulsory one......(compulsory irunthaathaan panna maattom). Let me , do the first one...